This episode’s vocabulary
Unsolicited
adj. — not asked for.
To narrow something down
phrasal verb — to make a number or list of things smaller, by removing the things that are least important, necessary, or suitable.
To shy away from something
phrasal verb — to avoid something that you dislike, fear, or do not feel confident about.
Outright
adverb — completely or immediately.
Mercifully
adverb — in a way that makes you grateful because it stops something unpleasant.
Concrete
adj. — clear and certain, or real and existing in a form that can be seen or felt.
Questions and answers
So, Rory, give us your story.
To be honest, I really don't like giving unsolicited advice, because I'm of the opinion that you never know or really knew all aspects of the situation, like the person you're talking to. However, I'm a teacher, so it's also part of my job when students request this. And one time, a student asked me whether or not she needed to, or she should take an exam to improve her English. She was of the opinion that she needed to take an exam in order to be more successful at English, and it would do her good to have something to work towards. We'd been studying together for several months since I came back from Turkey. And she had come back from her own holidays. So it seemed like a good time to discuss such things. I pointed out what the different exams were that she could take and what the drawbacks and advantages of each one were. For example, in the case of IELTS, it's a good exam to determine your level of English. But it only lasts two years while something like the Cambridge Advanced exam only has one level to work towards, but the certificate is valid for the rest of your life once you have it. At least it was at the time, I don't know if that's still true or not. There were a lot of choices. So she asked me my opinion, and I narrowed it down for her. If she wasn't going to emigrate to another country or go to university somewhere, then it seemed like Cambridge Advanced was the best choice. And following that she applied for it. And we've been working on it ever since. It seemed like the most helpful thing to say at the time since I had a greater background knowledge than she did. However, I often shy away from outright telling people what to do in case it goes wrong, or I wind up taking away their agency. Mercifully, it seems to have worked out this time. If I hadn't given that advice I've no idea what we would have done. Just thinking about how we talk to each other, we might even still be talking about it making the choice and not going anywhere. So it's nice that we had some concrete choices made.
And was this advice helpful to her?
I certainly think so. Yes.