Skip to main content

Transcript

πŸ“• Part 1: Noise

Ever wonder what gives Rory goose bumps? In this episode, he reveals the sounds he despises, from smashing glass to people talking in cinemas, offering powerful vocabulary to describe your own pet peeves.

Maria & Rory

Β· 7 min read

This episode’s vocabulary

Intrusive

adj. β€” affecting someone in a way that annoys them and makes them feel uncomfortable.

Jolt

verb β€” to (cause something or someone to) move suddenly and violently.

Commute

verb β€” to make the same journey regularly between work and home.

Clatter

verb β€” to make continuous loud noises by hitting hard objects against each other, or to cause objects to do this.

Grunt

verb β€” (of a person) to make a short, low sound instead of speaking, usually because of anger or pain.

Despise

verb β€” to feel a strong dislike for someone or something because you think that that person or thing is bad or has no value.

Go off

phrasal verb β€” if a device goes off, it starts to ring loudly or make a loud noise.

Podcast cover
πŸ“• Part 1: Noise
IELTS Speaking for Success
0:00 / 0:00

Questions and answers

Maria

Do you mind different noises Rory?

Rory

Not if they are overly intrusive, no. Of course, something like a loud bang will give anyone quite a fright or jolt them out of whatever they're doing. But generally, I'm quite good at filtering out distractions.

Maria

What types of noise do you come across in your daily life?

Rory

Well, I teach kids so screaming and loud chattering are quite common from day to day. And during the commute there are the normal traffic signs. I suppose lastly at the gym, there's the usual clattering, crashing and grunting as people go about their routines as well.

Maria

Are there any sounds that you like?

Rory

The sound of silence? I am not sure, actually. Uh, possibly... Oh, I know, the sound the printer makes when it gets ready to print, although that's just reassuring that it's working. I quite like the sound of the sea and gentle crashing of the waves. That's quite pleasant, isn't it?

Maria

Which sounds do you dislike?

Rory

Like most people I don't like it when I'm being talked over. So any interruption like that is always a bother. As as anything loud and distracting. Smashing glass is another one. And then there are sounds like nails being dragged across a blackboard that gives you goose bumps.

Maria

Disgusting. Even just talking about it. Describe a noisy place that annoys you.

Rory

Um, the modern languages department at school gets quite low when grade five are acting up. And I really despise that since it means someone isn't doing their job or looking after them, and that usually means they'll get up to no good. Oh, and any cinema in Russia. I lose people talking at the theater and it seems to be like a feature of Russian cinemas for some reason.

Maria

Do you think there's too much noise in modern society?

Rory

Uh, generally, yes. It's harder to remove yourself from distractions these days. There are always phones going off or some other sort of excess noise, maybe from building work, for example. That's probably a side effect of a growing population, increased levels of development and the invention of new technologies. -

Discussion

Maria

Rory, thank you so much for your noisy answers. Yeah. Are there any noises that people make is that you don't like?

Rory

Farting.

Maria

I was waiting for that. So, noises. Noises in the dark. We, first of all say that people make noises, we make noises. All right? Yep, yep. And some noises are intrusive.

Rory

Yeah, so this intrusive, it means it's disturbing you and preventing you from focusing on what it is you're supposed to be doing.

Maria

So the noises such as loud bangs. So a loud bang, something like...

Rory

Yes.

Maria

Like that. So, yeah, a loud bang, somebody banging on the wall or on the door. Jolt them out. So these loud bangs could jolt people out of something.

Rory

It's a good phrasal verb, isn't it?

Maria

It is.

Rory

So if you're jolted out something, it means you're suddenly stopped from doing whatever it was you were doing.

Maria

Yeah. Jolt you out. Right. But you can filter out distractions.

Rory

Yes.

Maria

Filter something out.

Rory

Another good result verb, which means you just remove them from whatever process is you're doing.

Maria

Yeah. You can say I'm OK with different noises because I'm good at filtering out distractions. Yeah. And then, dear listener, that you should use specific noises, specific words of noises, for example, screaming and loud chattering when people, you know, chatter, they speak, they talk, they chat. So chatter.

Rory

Clattering, crashing, grunting.

Maria

And also you can be exposed to traffic sounds. So normal traffic sounds on your commute. Commute - when you go from your home to work, you commute. On your daily commute there are normal traffic sounds. Rory's favorite sound is the sound of silence.

Rory

Yes, although I was kind of joking there. What does silence sound like, Rory? Just wait.

Maria

Then he enjoys the sound of the sea. So this gentle crashing of the waves.

Rory

And that's what waves do. They crash. Like pshhh.

Maria

But sometimes noises could be a bother. Yeah. So people are bothered by different noises. Oh, such a bother. Like annoying. Yeah, distracting. They're loud. For example, smashing glass. Like Rory doesn't like smashing glass.

Rory

Nails being dragged across the chalkboard .

Maria

Nooo.

Rory

Because it gives you goose bumps. Oh goose bumps. Are these small bumps that appear in your skin when you have the. Are you quite finished?

Maria

Yes.

Rory

Goose bumps are these small bumps that appear on your skin when you are uncomfortable to hot, to cold, nervous, being electrocuted. All of these things.

Maria

Yeah, goose bumps. It gives me goose bumps.

Rory

Noises can be loud. And so can people, especially when they are acting up. Acting up, meaning misbehaving. And if you want to know more about phrasal verbs with up, then you should check out our Podcourse about phrasal verbs.

Maria

Yeah, 15 glasses with quality phrasal verbs with examples. We laugh, we crack jokes. Yes. So do check it out. It's worth it. So when you talk about a noisy place that annoys you. You can talk about cinemas, because really people do make strange noises in the cinema and they talk out loud and they make comments, they use foul language.

Rory

Imagine not using foul language. Who would do that?

Maria

Oh, yeah. Once I had it, we went to the movies and then this lady, she would just curse out loud commenting pretty much like, I'm not joking. I was flabbergasted. OK?

Rory

Are you sure it was not just me?

Maria

So, and she would make these horrible comments in Russian using Russian curse words. Horrible. All the time. Yeah. So our phones can go off.

Rory

That just means it starts to ring. Bones can go off. A bomb can go off.

Maria

Alarms. Yeah. Alarms. I hate the noise of my alarm. Well, alarm clock in the morning.

Rory

You should change it.

Maria

Yeah I changed it and then I started hating the new one and then I changed it again and then the cycles starts...

Rory

It's the circle of pain. Anyway, we hope that you enjoyed our noise about making noises. Make some noise.

Maria

Oh we didn't talk about animal noises. Oh. What do mice do?

Rory

They die because I poison them.

Maria

What do pigs do?

Rory

Also die because I poison them.

Maria

Thank you very much for listening. We hope it was noisy enough for you, so we made some noise.

Rory

Make sure you give us a review with five stars on Instagram and all of the other places that we are.

Maria

On Instagram? No. On Apple podcast.

Rory

Yes, you can give five stars on Instagram. Like you put five stars in the comments section.

Maria

Oh, make some noise in the comments section.

Rory

I'm going to do that. I'm going to start a trend. V: Just say Apple podcast, Rory.

Rory

No, no, I will not say Apple podcast. Bye!

Maria

Bye! - Make sure to subscribe to our social media to see some of the β€œbehind the scenes” stuff: Our Instagram:Β bit.ly/instagramswi Our Telegram:Β bit.ly/telegramswi