📘 Part 3: Holidays

This episode's vocabulary

Frankly (adverb) - used when giving an honest and direct opinion, often one that might upset someone.

Spontaneous (adj.) - happening or done in a natural, often sudden way, without any planning or without being forced.

To be enshrined in something - if a political or social right is enshrined in something, it is protected by being included in it.

Exuberance (noun) - the quality of feeling energetic, or the behaviour of someone who feels this way.

Collected (adj.) - brought together in one book or series of books.

To come down to something (phrasal verb) - if a situation or decision comes down to something, that is the thing that influences it most.

Neurotic (adj.) - behaving strangely or in an anxious (= worried and nervous) way, often because you have a mental illness.

To go according to plan (phrase) - to happen in the way you intend.

Stroke (noun) - a quick, forceful action.

Brainstorm (verb) - (of a group of people) to suggest a lot of ideas for a future activity very quickly, before considering some of them more carefully.

Questions and Answers

M: Do you think people in your country have long enough holidays?

R: That probably depends on what your definition of long enough is, frankly. And the kind of people we are talking about. I mean, for example, if you're a creature of habit, you probably have more than enough, since work just fits into your routine. But if you hate work, and you like to be more spontaneous, then it will probably feel like you don't have enough. And that's not something specific to my country, though. That's true everywhere. We've got a minimum number of days, of our holidays enshrined in law. And that seems to work well for most people. Since you don't hear many complaints about it.

M: Which holidays are popular in your country?

R: That's strongly dependent on what you're into. But probably the Christmas and summer holidays for most people. They break up the year quite nicely and have distinct purposes like going away and seeing family.

M: What are the differences between old and young people when they spend their holidays?

R: I imagine most old people would prefer to do something more sedate since their energy levels are generally lower. While young people probably love something more risky and active because of all the youthful exuberance that they have. Of course, what your preferences are is also important, not just your age.

M: How do people generally react to unexpected situations in your culture?

R: I think most people are rather calm and collected most of the time, assuming it's not like a massive terrorist attack or something like that. When one of our main airports was targeted by a terror plot, people followed instructions well, or they seemed to. It always comes down to how your personality is structured, really. More neurotic people would obviously struggle in such situations, but most of the people in my country cope just fine.

M: Do you think it's important to always have a plan or is it better to be spontaneous at times?

R: I'm not sure that you can stick to a plan 100% of the time, can you? I mean, there's always something that doesn't go exactly to plan because life isn't a machine that you can just program and watch it go. Of course, it'll be important to think about what you want to do and where you want to go in broad strokes so you can get important things done. But I would do that with the expectation that sometimes you will also have to go with the flow.

M: What are some strategies that can help individuals deal with unexpected challenges in life?

R: Well, being prepared for them, or at least thinking about what you might or what you think might happen in advance is a good start. And from there, you can think about how you would cope with these things when they do happen. I find that brainstorming and visualizing are quite good for that. Though, I don't think that's widely done. Since no one, well, at least no one talks about it as much as I do.

M: How do you think technology has helped us in managing unexpected circumstances better?

R: Well, I think we can access content focused on this more with YouTube and other places like that on the internet. It depends on what you're planning for too. Oh, wow. Actually, I just remembered. There are some stock firms and large companies that use algorithms to make educated guesses at future market changes and trends. And that has generated a huge amount of wealth through effective risk management. That's pretty cool. So that's another really important way that technology has impacted just how we live.

M: Hey! Rory, thank you for your answers!

Discussion

M: So here we talk about going on holiday. Not like holidays, like the 8th of March, Women's Day, or the 31st of December, New Year, not like holidays, like celebrations. But like to go on holiday, to be on holiday or to have a vacation, American English. And people may have long holidays. And the first question is about like, are they long enough? And Rory uses his favourite strategy. It depends on what you mean by long enough. Like how do you understand long enough? Okay? And here it depends on what your definition, and explanation, is of long enough. And then Rory gives an example. For example, if you are a creature of habit, if you are a person of habits. If you enjoy habits. So if you are a creature of habit, you have more than enough time on a holiday, because your work just fits into your routine. Okay? So my work fits into my routine. So I have my routine and I have my work. So yeah, and it's my habit.

R: Are you a creature of habit, Maria?

M: No, no. I'm all over the place.

R: A creature of chaos.

M: I'm the master of chaos. Chaos is in my blood.

R: That sounds painful.

M: So if you are a creature of habit, you have enough time for your holidays. So they're not too long and not too short. If you hate your work, and if you want to be more spontaneous. So like the antonym of routine, to be spontaneous. Then you might feel that your holidays are not long enough. So you're kind of like, you have short holidays and some people would love to have longer holidays.

R: Would you like to have longer holidays?

M: No, I'm okay. I'm like, personally, when I feel like it, I just take a holiday. So I take some time off every week. So...

R: Every week is a holiday, really.

M: Yeah. No, like, seriously, I do have some time off. So I take some days off. And I can do it every week. YOu see?

R: Nice.

M: Then you can say we have a minimum number of holidays enshrined in law.

R: Yes. So this was me moving from talking about people in general, because the question is actually about my country. And I spoke about people in general. And now I'm just focusing on my country because we've got this number of holidays in our laws that we must get for most people. And it seems to work well because I don't hear many people complaining about that. We have 5.6 weeks of holidays guaranteed to us by law.

M: Ooh, okay, so every year, yeah?

R: Apparently, yeah. That's... I mean, that's for most people. There will be jobs where this is not true if you do not have a contract with your employer, for example.

M: Yeah. But usually, if a person has a contract, so they work and every year they have like a month of paid holiday. Yeah?

R: Or a month and a half if you're Scottish. Oh, yes.

M: Ooh, nice. Nice.

R: I mean, you couldn't take that all at the same time, clearly, but like, that's pretty good.

M: No, but usually, it's kind of like, and the company pays for it. Plus, you can take some time off, if you want. Maybe. But yeah, that's different in different countries. But what does it mean, like enshrine? So to be enshrined in.\

R: Oh, enshrined in law, it just means it's part of the law. It's protected by the law.

M: Yeah. So you see? You can say that, like, a minimum number of days of holidays is enshrined in law. So by law, a person gets this paid holiday, if they have a contract.

R: They have a right.

M: And some people want longer holidays. Well, I think everybody wants longer holidays.

R: Do they? I mean, I feel like you and I have pretty good lives.

M: Yeah, but we don't work for a company, Rory.

R: We work for our own company.

M: Yeah. But like if you're an office worker, so you just go there every day. And like you can't take a holiday whenever you want.

R: That sounds sad.

M: And some people tend to complain that their holidays are not long enough. And then actually we do talk about holidays like celebrations. Like which holidays are popular in your country. Here, kind of the context is celebrations. Like Christmas, yeah? Like summer holidays, May days.

R: I think those are the big ones. Summer, Christmas or winter holidays in lots of countries and then there are these random one-day holidays.

M: Yeah, like for example, like Mother's Day, Father's Day, Saint Valentine's, Halloween. Also, questions could be about the differences between old and young people. So how do they spend their holidays? Most old people would prefer to do something more sedate.

R: I love that word. I do, I use it a lot. Although the pronunciation is important, like sedate is the adjective to describe a relaxed activity. If you use it like a verb it means to put someone to sleep.

M: So sedate - avoiding excitement; without activity; something calm and relaxed. Old people's energy levels are generally lower than younger people's energy levels. That's why they prefer sedate activities. And then young people love something more risky, more active.

R: I think. Unless you're me.

M: Because of their youthful exuberance, dear listener. So please make sure you use this word. So young people prefer something more active because of their youthful exuberance. So because of their energy, you know, excitement, they're full of life, full of joy. Kind of like they feel energetic. Yeah? So they maintain their youthful exuberance, kind of enthusiasm and life. And here you can give examples. So old people prefer walking in the forest, while young people prefer skydiving.

R: I just have this image of the opposite being the case, like old people going skydiving. That's quite funny.

M: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then like, yeah. Like most people, yeah? Or you can say like, young people usually prefer travelling to different countries, being active, going on different tours, while older people prefer going on a cruise, for example. Yeah? Or package bus yours, for example. While younger people usually go... What do you call this type of travel when you organize it yourself? Like backpacking? Yeah?

R: Oh, yeah. Backpacking. That can be fun.

M: Yeah, with like a huge bag. So you go travelling around the world, you sleep in the streets, you know? You kind of, do all this stuff. And also about places. So which places do young people choose? And which ones do old people choose to go on vacation? What do you reckon?

R: In my country? I think...

M: No, just like, usually.

R: Oh, right, okay. Oh, God. Well, I mean, young people in different countries are really different. I think they probably, in general, prefer to go to warmer places, with lots of fun activities. So lots of Americans, for example, go to Mexico. It's close. It's warm. In my country, lots of people go to Spain, because again, it's close and it's warm. I think in Russia, isn't it popular for people to go to Turkey? For example.

M: Turkey, Thailand, and some Maldives. Dubai. Oh, Dubai is super popular.

R: Well, here's a fun question, though. Because if you're from a place like Dubai, where it's, you know, really hot, where do you go?

M: Well, you go to the North Pole, you go to Europe, you go to, well, I don't know, Australia? No, but I think to Europe, for example.

R: Yeah, maybe, I don't know. I've not seen many people from Dubai in my country, but it's a small country. So maybe they miss it.

M: So you can say that it depends on the preferences. So what do people prefer? Then questions could be about unexpected situations, and people being spontaneous, because in speaking part two, you talked about an unusual holiday. So here kind of like unusual things, unexpected situations and being spontaneous. How do people react to unexpected situations?

R: It's so funny, though, because this was kind of an unexpected question. We were talking about holidays, and then this random unexpected situation showed up.

M: And you can say that most people are rather calm and collected. So if a person is collected...

R: They're in control of themselves.

M: Yeah.

R: And calm and collected is another binomial, I think. Like fish and chips, calm and collected.

M: Yeah, like showing control over your feelings. Like she is calm and collected. So she controls her feelings. It always comes down to your personality. So how a person reacts to something always comes down to your personality, right? So it depends on, you act in a specific way because of your personality, so it comes down to your personality, or to how your personality is structured. Some people are more neurotic. Okay? So they're like anxious, nervous, neurotic, yeah.

R: I love that word. Just like...

M: Like this. Panic. It's time to panic.

R: I should say being neurotic is not necessarily a bad thing. And it's not about just constantly being panicked, but it does come across that way sometimes.

M: You can have a plan. You can plan everything or sometimes you can be spontaneous. Okay? So just like think on your feet. Like no plan, you just like, I think on my feet. Like, let's be spontaneous. Let's go to Zimbabwe tomorrow. Hey!

R: Oh, wow. Can you go to Zimbabwe like that? Do you not need a visa?

M: No, I don't think I need a visa. I can just go.

R: I want to check. Do you need a visa for Zimbabwe? Oh, I must have a visa to visit Zimbabwe. Wow, that's a bit annoying.

M: Oh, I see it. Some people prefer to stick to a plan. So stick to a plan. Yeah? But not always possible.

R: No.

M: Because very often things do not go exactly to plan. So they don't go exactly as planned or things don't go exactly to plan. Because life isn't a machine, dear listener. Okay? So write it down. Life isn't a machine.

R: It's not.

M: How do people deal with unexpected challenges in life? Well, people can be prepared for them.

R: You would hope they are reasonably prepared for them.

M: Or they can think what could happen in advance. Yeah? We cope with unexpected challenges, like cope with, deal with, tackle the stress. Brainstorming could be useful. Visualizing is quite good for this. Yeah? So visualize when you imagine what could happen and like, to get ready. Technologies such as YouTube does help us manage unexpected circumstances. Okay? So we just watch a YouTube video and like, hey, we know what to do if a bear attacks you. Okay?

R: Or we could talk about algorithms. Oh, this was cool. There's a machine that's used by companies on the stock market to predict their stock prices. It's so cool. And it's got a really high accuracy rate. It's amazing.

M: Yeah. So like, effective risk management is really helpful. Like in companies, for example.

R: Well, in general, really.

M: In personal life.

R: Do you do stuff to manage risks in your life?

M: No, no. No, it's all like, all over the place, like chaos and panic every day.

R: I stay at home and don't go out outside.

M: Yeah, yeah, in winter I do this.

R: Yeah. That's how I manage the risk.

M: Just too cold, you know, just winter, okay, you stay home. So it depends on what you're planning to do. Rory, you want to...

R: I do, I wanted to draw attention to something in particular because I've been teaching for a while. And I noticed that there's a particular mistake that some of my students make, and I think it's actually quite common. And it's a really small thing. But it has to do with the word order. So I highlighted parts of the transcript that I want to draw your attention to. Starting with "That probably depends on what your definition of long enough is". And this problem happens when we have a word that's used with questions like what? And usually people say what is your definition? But it's not, it's a sentence. So it should be what your definition of long enough is? The same thing for the next question. It's strongly dependent on what you are into, not what are you into. And what your preferences are? Not what are your preferences? Where's the rest of them? Yes. Where are the rest of them, sorry. Here, how your personality is structured? Not how is your personality structured? What do you want to do, not what do you want to do? It usually happens with the verb to be, but it can happen with do as well. And modal verbs. So here, how you would cope with these things, not how would you cope with these things? Because they're not questions. So if you can look for examples of these in our transcripts, and you can try reading them out loud to help you avoid this mistake, because I noticed it happening a lot. And I want to help people bring the number of mistakes down.

M: Yeah, Yes, dear listener, a very important area to focus on. Because like, yeah, many people do make mistakes. yeah, because it kind of sounds like a question. Like, what do you want? Yeah? Like, what is it? But it's like, yeah, it's not a question. That's why do not phrase it as a question. Thank you very much for listening! And we'll get back to you in our new episodes. Okay? Bye!

R: Bye!

Make sure to subscribe to our social media to see some of the “behind the scenes” stuff:

Our Instagram: bit.ly/instagramswi

Our Telegram: bit.ly/telegramswi