Birthdays
What do you usually do on your birthday What did you do on your birthday when you were a child? Is it important for you to celebrate your birthday? Whose birthday do you think is the most important to celebrate in your country?
Vocabulary
- Frankly (adverb) - in an honest and direct way
- Party game (noun) - a game played at a party, esp at a children's party.
- Run-of-the-mill (adj.) - ordinary and not special or exciting in any way.
- Fussed (adj.) - (of a person) feeling concern, distress, or annoyance; having strong feelings about something.
- Hard-and-fast (adj.) - not to be changed.
- Extravagant (adj.) - spending too much money, or using too much of something.
- Materialism (noun) - the belief that having money and possessions is the most important thing in life.
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Questions and Answers
M: What do you usually do on your birthday?
R: I mean, I don't think I've had a normal birthday for the last 10 years, frankly. One thing they've all had in common is that I've had a party with different friends, but the who, the where and the what of it all changes every year.
M: What did you do on your birthday when you were a child?
R: The same thing as most people in my country, we had a party with cake and party games. It's all very run-of-the-mill stuff, really. Nothing particularly exciting.
M: Is it important for you to celebrate your birthday?
R: It's important for me to be with my friends. So a birthday is just another ideal excuse for that. Otherwise, I'm not really fussed, to be honest. It's just another day of the year.
M: Whose birthday do you think is the most important to celebrate in your country?
R: Well, good question. I honestly couldn't say. Birthdays are such a personal thing, and there are so many people you could choose. Some people think it should be their birthday, and other people think it's their mother's birthday because mothers have a special place in people's hearts. But I don't think there's a hard-and-fast rule about this, at least not in my culture.
M: How do children celebrate birthdays in your country?
R: That's a good question. I haven't been to a child's birthday party in my entire life, now I think about it. I would imagine, though, that it's probably much more extravagant than the ones that I had. I think kids are exposed to much more materialism these days.
R: I mean, I don't think I've had a normal birthday for the last 10 years, frankly. One thing they've all had in common is that I've had a party with different friends, but the who, the where and the what of it all changes every year.
M: What did you do on your birthday when you were a child?
R: The same thing as most people in my country, we had a party with cake and party games. It's all very run-of-the-mill stuff, really. Nothing particularly exciting.
M: Is it important for you to celebrate your birthday?
R: It's important for me to be with my friends. So a birthday is just another ideal excuse for that. Otherwise, I'm not really fussed, to be honest. It's just another day of the year.
M: Whose birthday do you think is the most important to celebrate in your country?
R: Well, good question. I honestly couldn't say. Birthdays are such a personal thing, and there are so many people you could choose. Some people think it should be their birthday, and other people think it's their mother's birthday because mothers have a special place in people's hearts. But I don't think there's a hard-and-fast rule about this, at least not in my culture.
M: How do children celebrate birthdays in your country?
R: That's a good question. I haven't been to a child's birthday party in my entire life, now I think about it. I would imagine, though, that it's probably much more extravagant than the ones that I had. I think kids are exposed to much more materialism these days.
Discussion
M: It's my party... Cry if I want to... So our birthday Rory, dear listener. Rory, how old are you?
R: 21. Still.
M: Ah, yeah, you're 21? Oh, okay, you're 21. Hey!
R: If people want to know how old I am, they can message me on my Instagram or something like that.
M: Go to Rory's Instagram and just bombard him with questions.
R: And bother me with requests for my age.
M: Send me a copy of your passport. So we celebrate our birthdays, and we do something on our birthdays, dear listener, because on this day, on my birthday, my birthday. So we say I was born on the sixth of May in 1990.
R: That's a good point, though, you should probably practice how to say the dates of things. Like I was born on the sixth or I was born on the eighth. Because I think in some countries and cultures, they just say a number. They don't say the numerical form. They'd say like the eighth of May or May 8, they don't say the eighth. And that's a good thing for pronunciation.
M: Yeah. In English, we say, I was born on the 1st, on the 12th of May.
R: What's the most difficult one to say in Russian? Oh, sorry, what's the most difficult one to say if you're a Russian speaker? Like the number, like the 13th.
M: It's like 30th. But also it's true for other speakers.
R: Yeah, 13th and 30th, they're hard.
M: Yeah. The... 5th, 10th. Yeah, 13th, the 30th.
R: Make sure you practice this. That's important.
M: Yeah. And... So we say do things on your birthday, and I was given a present on my birthday, for my birthday, or at my birthday?
R: Well, not at my birthday, at my birthday party, to describe the place, but I was given a present for my birthday or on my birthday, usually. What present have you given me, Maria,
M: I'm your present.
R: I knew you were... I knew you would say, I'm giving you the gift of my presence.
M: Exactly. I kind of, I think of you every day. I'm sending you positive vibes.
R: Think of different ways to kill me every day.
M: Killing me softly with my love. So Present Perfect, dear listener. I've had a normal birthday, or I haven't had a normal birthday in the last 10 years. And Rory being normal, says I've had a normal birthday.
R: 21. Still.
M: Ah, yeah, you're 21? Oh, okay, you're 21. Hey!
R: If people want to know how old I am, they can message me on my Instagram or something like that.
M: Go to Rory's Instagram and just bombard him with questions.
R: And bother me with requests for my age.
M: Send me a copy of your passport. So we celebrate our birthdays, and we do something on our birthdays, dear listener, because on this day, on my birthday, my birthday. So we say I was born on the sixth of May in 1990.
R: That's a good point, though, you should probably practice how to say the dates of things. Like I was born on the sixth or I was born on the eighth. Because I think in some countries and cultures, they just say a number. They don't say the numerical form. They'd say like the eighth of May or May 8, they don't say the eighth. And that's a good thing for pronunciation.
M: Yeah. In English, we say, I was born on the 1st, on the 12th of May.
R: What's the most difficult one to say in Russian? Oh, sorry, what's the most difficult one to say if you're a Russian speaker? Like the number, like the 13th.
M: It's like 30th. But also it's true for other speakers.
R: Yeah, 13th and 30th, they're hard.
M: Yeah. The... 5th, 10th. Yeah, 13th, the 30th.
R: Make sure you practice this. That's important.
M: Yeah. And... So we say do things on your birthday, and I was given a present on my birthday, for my birthday, or at my birthday?
R: Well, not at my birthday, at my birthday party, to describe the place, but I was given a present for my birthday or on my birthday, usually. What present have you given me, Maria,
M: I'm your present.
R: I knew you were... I knew you would say, I'm giving you the gift of my presence.
M: Exactly. I kind of, I think of you every day. I'm sending you positive vibes.
R: Think of different ways to kill me every day.
M: Killing me softly with my love. So Present Perfect, dear listener. I've had a normal birthday, or I haven't had a normal birthday in the last 10 years. And Rory being normal, says I've had a normal birthday.
R: I haven't had a normal birthday.
M: Ah, yeah. Like, I don't think I've had a normal birthday. But what is a normal birthday? A normal birthday party.
R: I think a normal birthday people usually have, either with their friends or with their family, and it's a party with cake and songs and games or some celebration. But in my case, I mean, I'm thinking about my... I'm trying to think about what I did for my last birthday.
M: What did you do?
R: I can't remember what I did for my last birthday.
M: Ah, so you got so drunk you can't even remember. I see.
R: No, no. I don't think I... I think I... Oh, my God, I remember. I was... Someone very nice, who shall remain nameless, paid for an extremely expensive hotel and champagne in one of the larger cities in my country. So that was very nice. And thank you! You know who you are. And then the birthday before that... The birthday before that, I was teaching in a primary school, and it was one of the worst days of my life. So you see these two things are very different experiences.
M: Yes, dear listener, so you can say, like, I usually have a normal birthday, or I don't think I have a normal birthday, and my birthday parties do have something in common. So they're kind of the same. I usually have a party with friends, but, like, the place changes every year. As a child, I used to do this and that, we had a party with cake. Okay? And party games.
R: And we would have a party with cake.
M: Yeah. So you can say we would have a party with cake, which means I had a party with cake. It was a regular thing like every year I had a party with cake. So as a child, I would have a party with cake. We would play party games. But now you can say, like, I can't pick out anything significant. So pick out? Choose. Okay? And if you usually do ordinary stuff, you can say all very run-of-the-mill stuff. Run-of-the-mill, which means, like ordinary, nothing special. Could you give us another sentence with run-of-the-mill?
R: My fashion sense is pretty run-of-the-mill, especially in comparison to Maria. There's nothing very extravagant or flamboyant about it.
M: We can say that it's important for me to celebrate my birthday or my friend's birthdays. I'm not really fussed, to be honest. This is a good expression, which means like, well, I don't bother, not really important. I celebrate it, but kind of, I'm not really fussed. Because some people like to make, I don't know, they are obsessed with their birthdays, like a massive party, and they plan it for a year. You know?
R: Some people make a huge deal of their birthdays.
M: Yeah. Or you can say I made a huge deal out of my birthday, okay? Or I'm not really fussed. Like I have a party, but kind of, I don't really care. And, you know, Rory? This year I celebrated my birthday, and I got into the hospital. It was one of the worst moments in my life. Can you imagine?
R: Were you partying too hard?
M: No, like my body was partying too hard way before my birthday. So dear listener, stay healthy, okay? Especially for your birthday, and the night after your birthday, and just every day. Then a strange question, whose birthday in your country is it important to celebrate?
M: Ah, yeah. Like, I don't think I've had a normal birthday. But what is a normal birthday? A normal birthday party.
R: I think a normal birthday people usually have, either with their friends or with their family, and it's a party with cake and songs and games or some celebration. But in my case, I mean, I'm thinking about my... I'm trying to think about what I did for my last birthday.
M: What did you do?
R: I can't remember what I did for my last birthday.
M: Ah, so you got so drunk you can't even remember. I see.
R: No, no. I don't think I... I think I... Oh, my God, I remember. I was... Someone very nice, who shall remain nameless, paid for an extremely expensive hotel and champagne in one of the larger cities in my country. So that was very nice. And thank you! You know who you are. And then the birthday before that... The birthday before that, I was teaching in a primary school, and it was one of the worst days of my life. So you see these two things are very different experiences.
M: Yes, dear listener, so you can say, like, I usually have a normal birthday, or I don't think I have a normal birthday, and my birthday parties do have something in common. So they're kind of the same. I usually have a party with friends, but, like, the place changes every year. As a child, I used to do this and that, we had a party with cake. Okay? And party games.
R: And we would have a party with cake.
M: Yeah. So you can say we would have a party with cake, which means I had a party with cake. It was a regular thing like every year I had a party with cake. So as a child, I would have a party with cake. We would play party games. But now you can say, like, I can't pick out anything significant. So pick out? Choose. Okay? And if you usually do ordinary stuff, you can say all very run-of-the-mill stuff. Run-of-the-mill, which means, like ordinary, nothing special. Could you give us another sentence with run-of-the-mill?
R: My fashion sense is pretty run-of-the-mill, especially in comparison to Maria. There's nothing very extravagant or flamboyant about it.
M: We can say that it's important for me to celebrate my birthday or my friend's birthdays. I'm not really fussed, to be honest. This is a good expression, which means like, well, I don't bother, not really important. I celebrate it, but kind of, I'm not really fussed. Because some people like to make, I don't know, they are obsessed with their birthdays, like a massive party, and they plan it for a year. You know?
R: Some people make a huge deal of their birthdays.
M: Yeah. Or you can say I made a huge deal out of my birthday, okay? Or I'm not really fussed. Like I have a party, but kind of, I don't really care. And, you know, Rory? This year I celebrated my birthday, and I got into the hospital. It was one of the worst moments in my life. Can you imagine?
R: Were you partying too hard?
M: No, like my body was partying too hard way before my birthday. So dear listener, stay healthy, okay? Especially for your birthday, and the night after your birthday, and just every day. Then a strange question, whose birthday in your country is it important to celebrate?
R: Yeah, I never got that question. I was like, what do you mean? Like, is there a special birthday that everybody celebrates?
M: Yeah, let's think about it. Maybe like some famous people, they celebrate their birthdays. Maybe like the president, but not really, maybe the birthday of your city. Oh, there we go. But the question is, whose birthday? So maybe, like parents, like my birthday, my parents' birthday, my friends' birthdays, my relatives' birthdays. Okay, dear listener? Maybe you have your favourite grandmother.
R: Allegedly or apparently, the King's birthday is celebrated in this country, which I didn't know about until somebody mentioned it to me. And I was like, really? So I wonder, if you are from a place like Thailand or Japan where you have a monarch or an emperor, do you have a day off for your birthday? I don't think so. Maybe they do.
M: Yes, dear listener, you can say like we usually celebrate our monarch's birthday, so the Queen or King's birthday with national celebrations, and it's a national holiday or a day off, okay? Do you have anything like that in Russia?
M: No.
R: I think you have like Russia Day, which is the day that Russia got its constitution. That's kind of like a birthday for the country.
M: You also celebrate our city's birthday, like Moscow's birthday.
R: Oh, yeah.
M: And dear listener, children these days are really materialistic. Okay? So they are in some materialism, so material values, so like more phones.
R: Well, I don't think the children are. I think they're exposed to it. It'd be very difficult to encounter a child that was like, yeah, I'm very into my things. But I think parents often confuse being a good parent with having lots of stuff for their children. So you can say that children's birthday parties these days are more extravagant than they used to be. Extravagant, unusual. They do crazy things, these children. And materialism, like, what did you say? They kind of have turned to materialism.
R: They're exposed to materialism more these days. I would say so, anyway. This is what I see on the internet. I don't know if it's true or not. I hope it's not true.
M: And also, you can say that I haven't been to a child's birthday my entire life, like my whole life, all my life I've never been to a child's birthday.
R: That might be a bit of an exaggeration. My entire adult life I haven't been, I've been to them when I was a child, obviously, but as an adult, why would I go? I don't have my own children.
M: Or you can say that I've recently been to a child's birthday, and it was this and that. The children were absolutely crazy. Right, dear listener, are we ready for a birthday joke from Maria? Rory is super excited. Rory, this joke is like a nice present for you. What type of birthday cake do monsters eat? Ice cream cake.
R: Oh...
M: Dear listener, did you get that? So ice cream cake. Monsters? When you see a monster, you scream. And you eat an ice cream cake. Rory, is it funny? Are you laughing your head off?
R: I'm laughing politely.
M: Right. Happy birthday, Rory! We love you! We hug you! Okay? We are happy to have you. Yes, dear listener? All our listeners agree.
R: I hope so. But even if you don't, hopefully, our episode gave you some nice vocabulary to help you out. A gift on my birthday from me to you.
M: Happy birthday to us.
R: Bye-bye!
M: Bye!
M: Yeah, let's think about it. Maybe like some famous people, they celebrate their birthdays. Maybe like the president, but not really, maybe the birthday of your city. Oh, there we go. But the question is, whose birthday? So maybe, like parents, like my birthday, my parents' birthday, my friends' birthdays, my relatives' birthdays. Okay, dear listener? Maybe you have your favourite grandmother.
R: Allegedly or apparently, the King's birthday is celebrated in this country, which I didn't know about until somebody mentioned it to me. And I was like, really? So I wonder, if you are from a place like Thailand or Japan where you have a monarch or an emperor, do you have a day off for your birthday? I don't think so. Maybe they do.
M: Yes, dear listener, you can say like we usually celebrate our monarch's birthday, so the Queen or King's birthday with national celebrations, and it's a national holiday or a day off, okay? Do you have anything like that in Russia?
M: No.
R: I think you have like Russia Day, which is the day that Russia got its constitution. That's kind of like a birthday for the country.
M: You also celebrate our city's birthday, like Moscow's birthday.
R: Oh, yeah.
M: And dear listener, children these days are really materialistic. Okay? So they are in some materialism, so material values, so like more phones.
R: Well, I don't think the children are. I think they're exposed to it. It'd be very difficult to encounter a child that was like, yeah, I'm very into my things. But I think parents often confuse being a good parent with having lots of stuff for their children. So you can say that children's birthday parties these days are more extravagant than they used to be. Extravagant, unusual. They do crazy things, these children. And materialism, like, what did you say? They kind of have turned to materialism.
R: They're exposed to materialism more these days. I would say so, anyway. This is what I see on the internet. I don't know if it's true or not. I hope it's not true.
M: And also, you can say that I haven't been to a child's birthday my entire life, like my whole life, all my life I've never been to a child's birthday.
R: That might be a bit of an exaggeration. My entire adult life I haven't been, I've been to them when I was a child, obviously, but as an adult, why would I go? I don't have my own children.
M: Or you can say that I've recently been to a child's birthday, and it was this and that. The children were absolutely crazy. Right, dear listener, are we ready for a birthday joke from Maria? Rory is super excited. Rory, this joke is like a nice present for you. What type of birthday cake do monsters eat? Ice cream cake.
R: Oh...
M: Dear listener, did you get that? So ice cream cake. Monsters? When you see a monster, you scream. And you eat an ice cream cake. Rory, is it funny? Are you laughing your head off?
R: I'm laughing politely.
M: Right. Happy birthday, Rory! We love you! We hug you! Okay? We are happy to have you. Yes, dear listener? All our listeners agree.
R: I hope so. But even if you don't, hopefully, our episode gave you some nice vocabulary to help you out. A gift on my birthday from me to you.
M: Happy birthday to us.
R: Bye-bye!
M: Bye!
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