📙 Part 2: Describe a family member that made you feel proud

This episode's vocabulary

Arm-twisting (noun) - behaviour in which you try to make someone do something by threats or by persuading them forcefully.

Prominent (adj.) - very well known and important.

Be your own person - to be in control of your life and not allow other people to tell you what to do.

To pan out (phrasal verb) - to develop in a particular way or in a successful way.

Encouragement (noun) - words or behaviour that give someone confidence to do something.

Identity (noun) - who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group that make them different from others.

Perturbance/perturbation (noun) - worry.

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Questions and Answers

M: Rory, are you ready to rock and roll? To Rory rock and roll?

R: I am proud to say that I am. Behold my puns.

M: Are you ready to Rory roll?

R: I'm ready to rock and roll. Right.

M: Go, Rory, go.

R: This will be difficult because I'm proud of everyone in my family. But if I'm having my arm twisted on this particular occasion, then I suppose I should speak about my cousin, Callum. He's about half my age and going to a prominent university in Scotland to study languages. I think it's great that someone in our family has chosen to do this, and has gotten into this university. Since on our side of things, we usually focus on business or arts. And it's great to see someone doing something different for a change and being their own person. Since it's a lifestyle choice, this is sort of an ongoing thing. But I think it will pan out great. And he'll really make something of himself and his life. It's probably important to point out that everyone else in my family has done something similar in that sense. So it's not like I'm picking favorites here. I think it's important to be proud of your family, regardless of what they do, although provided that they are doing the right things. It provides encouragement, and gives you a sense of wider identity in place in the world and relation to how you connect with other people. So that's how I feel, and hopefully everyone else in the family shares this feeling too. However, if they didn't, then you know, I would have to tell them, because of course, sometimes when someone decides to do something very different, then it can cause a little bit of, I don't know, a perturbance in terms of people's feelings. But there's no reason for that. Because I think it's entirely in keeping with the sort of culture of our family that you do something and you do something well, and this time they've just decided to do something a little bit different. So here's hoping that everything goes according to plan.

M: Does this person make other members of your family proud?

R: I would definitely say so. We all make each other proud, I suppose.

M: Thank you, Rory! That was great. Well done you!

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