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Real Easy English

Easy level

Talking about communication

Episode 250124 / 24 Jan 2025

(Photo: Getty)

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Introduction

Neil and Georgie have a real conversation in easy English about different ways to talk. Learn to talk about phones, email, social media and which you like best.

Vocabulary

communicate
speak or write to someone

in person
meeting with someone rather than talking to them on the phone

prefer
like something more than another thing

Grammar Tip:

Use superlative adjectives to talk about why you prefer different types of communication

  • I think sending texts is the easiest way to talk to my friends.
  • Email is the best way to make a plan.
  • I like to meet my friends in person. It's the most fun way to talk to them.

Transcript

Georgie
Hello and welcome to Real Easy English, the podcast where we have real conversations in easy English to help you learn. I'm Georgie.

Neil
And I'm Neil. You can read along with this podcast and get a worksheet to help you learn on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

Georgie
Hi Neil, how are you?

Neil
I'm very well, Georgie. How are you?

Georgie
I'm also pretty good, thank you. Today, we're talking about the ways we communicate. Now communicate, this means to speak or write to someone.

Neil
Yes, we are communicating now, Georgie, we're speaking in person. That means we are both together to talk.

Georgie
So, Neil, do you like to speak to people in person?

Neil
Well, sometimes, yes. It depends, I guess. I like to speak to my friends in person, but I probably prefer to arrange things using email or something like that. What about you? Do you like speaking on the phone?

Georgie
No, I'm not a big fan of speaking on the phone. In fact, I almost hate speaking on the phone.

Neil
Really? What, to anybody?

Georgie
No. I speak to my family on the phone. I speak to my friends on the phone as well. But it has to be arranged in advance. I don't like it when people call me without telling me they're going to call me. But I think that's a millennial thing. What about you? Do you have the same problem?

Neil
I used to speak on the phone more, I guess. That's the strange thing about mobile phones. They do everything, but we don't really use them to talk on very much, do we?

Georgie
No, no we don't. I usually just like to communicate with people via text. I find it it's less distracting. When someone calls me, it takes my attention away from the thing that I'm doing in that moment.

Neil
Yeah, I know what you mean. Sometimes, I think it's more fun to have a conversation on an app because you can send emojis. You can send pictures and also you can drop and pick up the conversation over many hours.

Georgie
Yeah that's true. And also, you can have group chats on apps as well. That's quite nice. You can do group calls as well but it's not as common. I don't do that much, do you?

Neil
No. It's too much like work.

Georgie
Yes.

Neil
Do you write letters anymore?

Georgie
I don't usually write letters, but when it's someone's birthday or a special occasion, I write cards. And I like to write quite a lot, like a meaningful message to my friends and family.

Neil
Yeah, it's quite sad, actually, that people don't write letters much anymore because it's a different kind of communication. It's quite special. You spend a lot of time writing the letter and maybe really thinking about what you want to say.

Georgie
Yeah, it takes more effort, doesn't it? Yeah. It's more, more meaningful.

Neil
Are there any other ways that you like to communicate with people. Do you do stuff on social media?

Georgie
Yes. In my old job I used to have some social media accounts where I made teaching content as well. And I used to speak a lot with people that I didn't know as well, using their instant messaging, and comments as well.

Neil
I don't really like commenting on public posts. I feel, it feels strange when a stranger says something about my point of view. Sometimes, they're quite rude.

Georgie
Yeah, it's a, it's a difficult place to be, the internet. Neil, what's your favourite way to communicate?

Neil
I think face to face communication with friends is the best because it's the most fun, the most immediate. You get to see people's faces. You know how they're responding or reacting. So how about you, Georgie?

Georgie
I think I like instant messaging apps because they are the easiest way to communicate for me.

Let's recap some of the vocabulary we heard during the conversation. We had communicate, speak or write to someone.

Neil
We heard in person, meeting with someone rather than talking on the phone or writing to them.

Georgie
Prefer, like something more than another thing. For example, I prefer instant messaging apps to phoning someone.

Neil
And we learnt some superlatives, ways to talk about something being the best. For example, we had best and we also heard easiest.

Georgie
Yes. For example, I think instant messaging is the easiest way to talk to my friends.

And that's it for this episode of Real Easy English. To test what you've learned, try the worksheet on our website. You can find a link in the notes for this episode.

Neil
Next week, we'll talk about our wishes.

Georgie
See you then.

Neil
Goodbye. 

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