IELTS Speaking for Success - 🚲 Bicycles (S04E03) + Transcript

Episode Date: August 31, 2020

Are bicycles suitable for all ages? What are the benefits of riding a bicycle for a child? What are some of the world's countries with the bike-friendliest cultures? Tune in and have a great day! - IELTS Speaking for Success PREMIUM: https://linktr.ee/sfspremium Transcript: https://successwithielts.com/s04e03 Our social media: https://linktr.ee/successwithielts © Success with IELTS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, lovely, I'm Maria. And my name is Rory. We are the hopes of the IEL Speaking for Success podcast, the podcast that aims to help you improve your speaking skills as well as your listening skills along the way. We started this podcast because we want you to use high-level words and grammar in your everyday English and in your IEL speaking. Rory, tell us about our speaking course.

Well, it's almost ready and it's, well, it might be even ready by the time this podcast goes out. It should be starting on the first. of September. What else could I tell you about it? I have one question. So there on the course we have three Rories. How do I spell Rories? I-E-S or Rory's like Y and S? It's a good question, isn't it? I would spell it with Y and S just because it's a proper noun and I don't think there is actually a standard form for it. But that's just the way I would do it. Yes, dear listener, we have three Rories on the

course, so go check it out, and if you want to do the course, go to our website, SuccessfulIELD.com, or check our social media. It's on Instagram, Telegram, or YouTube. Go have a look. Rory, what did you do today? Oh, I was teaching online, actually. How was it? It was great. It was very easy to do, even though I'd had a break. It was actually like riding a bike, to be honest. What a coincidence again on this podcast. Today we're going to be talking about bicycles. Yes, in speaking part one, they can ask you questions about bicycles or cycling. Rory, how often do you ride a bike? Probably not as much as when I was a child, to be honest. I think the closest I get these days, it's on a cycle machine at the gym, but that's

hardly ever. Did you learn to ride a bicycle when you were a child? Yeah, my mom and dad taught me. It took ages, but it was worth it in the end, and you never forget how to do it either, why I guess people have that expression. It's like riding a bike. Is it easy for you to ride a bicycle in your country? Well, I think it's easier to ride a bike than in a lot of countries in the world. We have a lot of cycle lanes and people are encouraged to be healthier. It's not as easy as it is in a small number of countries. I think in maybe the Netherlands, they have a more bike-friendly culture.

Yeah, but in Amsterdam there are very angry. angry cyclists. Why? aggressive cyclists, because there are a lot of tourists, and they get in the way, and, yeah, the locals don't like it. Have you ever been there? I have, but I didn't notice people being angry on bikes. I thought everyone was very relaxed. Oh, good. What are the benefits of riding a bicycle for a child? Well, they, I suppose they have a greater sense of freedom than if they're just walking around everywhere.

they can just jump on their bike and go anywhere they want to. And they can do that with their friends, so it's good for encouraging their social relationships. And I suppose if they were encouraged to maintain their bike, it makes them more responsible as well. So there are a lot of upsides to this, really. Is it safe to ride bicycles on the roads? Well, in Russia, probably not.

There are fewer cycle lanes, and the driving is generally more aggressive. probably if we think about it more generally, it might not be safe to ride a bike, regardless of the country, if the weather is bad, because you could be blown off your bike in high winds, for example. I think it's probably safer and quieter, more sheltered and more developed areas.

How popular are bicycles in your hometown? It's hard to say. I don't think it's as popular as in some parts of Europe. for example, well, we already talked about Amsterdam. It's not as popular as it is there. You're more likely to see cars, but I think quite a few people still cycle. It's not an unusual sight to see someone on the bike.

Do you think that bikes are suitable for all ages? I suppose as long as you can keep them stable, yeah. Maybe if you're very old or very young, you might need to reconsider it, because, of course, if you're very young, then you don't really know how they work so well. Although you can have stabilizers on your bike, so it's not that bad. And if you're older as well, you might struggle to keep things upright.

But the vast majority of people should be fine. What are the advantages of a bicycle compared to a car? That's a good question, actually. I'm a little bit biased because I prefer cars to bikes, but I think about it, you don't have to pay for petrol. So there are no petrol costs. and it's probably more versatile because you can go to more places.

For example, cars usually almost always need roads. But with a bike, you can go mountain biking, for example. You can't really do that in a car. And it's healthier and quieter, I suppose. And that's a good thing if you don't like having a lot of people when you're driving, for example. Would you like to go traveling by bicycle? If it's a short journey, I don't see why not.

But not if it's like going between countries, for example. I don't like that idea. I'd prefer to take the train. I like the train. No, like for a month or something, just riding your bike, traveling around the world. No, I'd prefer not to. But I can see why it's attractive for some people, but it's not my thing. Rory, thank you so much for your lovely answers.

Now, when we talk about bicycles, bicycles, cycling, what's going on there? Like, can we say a bicycle or a bike? Yeah, you can use both. I think a bicycle is more formal than just saying a bike. But there have been the same thing. And then the verb is to cycle or go cycling. We can also say ride a bike or ride a bicycle. You can.

Rory, you mentioned the phrase, jump on your bike. You can jump on your bike. Yeah. So if you jump on your bike, it means, well, it literally means that you go on your bike very casually. But it also means that if you jump on a bike, then you do it with very little preparation. And then you can be blown off your bike. You can if the wind is very high. But of course, you could be blown off anything. You could be blown off your feet if you were walking and the wind is very high. And we can go mountain biking. Biking is? Yes, so that's the name of the hobby It's like cycling, isn't it? Except mountain biking is more specific

To a certain kind of sport And can I say, like, I enjoy cycling Or I enjoy going cycling Well, that's too much You can say either or I don't think it makes a difference To be honest with you You've mentioned a cycling machine

What is a cycling machine? I think it probably has another more specific name But I don't know what it is There are just machines that are like bikes in the gym and you can go on them and it's like cycling. If anyone knows what they're actually called, then they could write it in the comments because I have no idea. Yeah, we can also say, use a bicycle, for example.

And a bike is a vehicle. It is, yes. It is an interesting word. How do we spell it? A vehicle. Vehicle, V-E-H-I-C-L-E? Yeah, and that's a nice word to use, a vehicle. also in the essay you can write it vehicles.

There are many vehicles on the road. You've mentioned cycle lanes. Yes. So they're like roads, but they're for bikes. Yeah, can I say bike roads? There are many bike roads? No, it's always bike lanes or cycle lanes. Cycle lanes, yeah.

And for example, you can say there are fewer cycle lanes in my hometown than in Amsterdam, for example. Can I say less cycle lanes or fewer cycle lanes? or fewer cycle lanes? Well, if you ask me, I'm your teacher, then I would say no, because fewer is for countable nouns and less is for uncountable nouns. So it's for me, if I'm laying down the law in terms of grammar, then it's got to be fewer for cyclones. However, apparently there's an argument that people use these interchangeably,

even native speakers do, but it sounds wrong to me. So. Yeah. Fewer people, fewer students, fewer bicycles, fewer cycle lanes. And motorist, can I say that a person who rides a bicycle or walks along the street is a motorist? Who's a motorist? Not quite a motorist drives a car, but a cyclist rides a bike and a pedestrian is someone who is just walking. Hmm.

Mm-hmm. When we talk about the process of riding a bicycle, or we can say, that it's easy to keep them stable, right, Rory? Yeah, so if you're keeping it stable, then, well, it's not falling down by itself. It's able to go forward with minimal problems. And you mentioned some stabilizers. Yeah, so, well, in America, they're called training wheels, but in the UK, they're called stabilizers.

So these are like extra wheels that you attach usually to the back of the bike. So it, well, it helps people learn. how to ride a bike, basically. So we don't expect people to ride a bike just, like, at the very first thing, just with two wheels. So we add these extra wheels to make sure that the bike is stable and people don't fall off when they're learning. Yeah.

When we talk about the advantages of cycling, we can say that it's environmentally friendly, it's cheap, it's healthy, right? Well, I think a lot of people think so. And also, you said that bikes don't need petrol, so fuel. Yes, I suppose it's petrol in the UK and fuel in America, or gas. Gas, gasoline. And I can say I prefer bicycles to cars, or I prefer cars to bicycles. Or I prefer cars over bicycles.

So you are more like a car person. Well, if I'm not the one driving, then I'm a car person. Not a cyclist. No, I'm not much of a cyclist. Rory the cyclist? No, no. Do you have a bicycle? No, no, actually.

I haven't had a bike for about 10 years. I've never needed one. The listener, he's talking about bicycles, and he doesn't even have a bike. Yeah, when we talk about bicycles, we can talk about riding downhill, right, and riding uphill, and you have to pedal, right? pedal fast, intensively, yeah, very quickly.

And you've mentioned the phrase like as popular as, so like bicycles are as popular as or as easy as something. That's a nice phrase. Could you give us an example with as-as thingy? In Amsterdam, probably bikes are as popular as cars, maybe even more popular. And we can also say this word about people who are, fanatical about bicycles, they are bikeaholics.

Can I? Chocco. Yeah, bikeaholics. It's like chocoholic. Like, I'm a chocoholic. I'm a shopaholic. Rory, are you a bikerholic? I have never heard that expression before in my life.

Yeah, but we can kind of coin it, right? You can make it up, bikeaholic. You can coin it. I'd never use it, but I don't like bikes as much as you do. Yeah, but you should be creative with your own language. Alpaholic, chocoholic, shopaholic, bikeaholic? Why not? Rorin, could you explain the word biased to us?

So if I say I'm biased, what does it mean? Yeah, so bias means if you've openly prefer something over something else. So for example, well, for me, I prefer cars over bikes. So I would say that cars are much better than bikes just because it's my preference. You usually hear this word when we talk about news channels, for example. There are some news channels which favor some opinions more than others, so they're biased in favor of these opinions, or they're biased against other opinions.

Thank you very much for listening. That's all from us about cycling and bicycles. And remember, life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep going. Oh, so profound. Bye. Bye, bye. Rory, how often do you ride a bike? Probably not as much as when I was a child, to be honest. I think the closest I get these days, it's on a cycle machine at the gym, but that's hardly ever.

Did you learn to ride a bicycle when you were a child? Yeah, my mom and dad taught me. It took ages, but it was worth it in the end, and you never forget how to do it either, which is why I guess people have that expression. It's like riding a bike. Is it easy for you to ride a bicycle in your country? Well, I think it's easier to ride a bike than in a lot of countries in the world. We have a lot of cycle lanes and people are encouraged to be healthier. It's not as easy as it is in a small number of countries.

I think in maybe the Netherlands, they have a more bike-friendly culture. Yeah, but in Amsterdam there are very angry cyclists. Why? Aggressive cyclists, because there are a lot of tourists, and they get in the way, and, you know, the locals don't like it. Have you ever been there? I have, but I didn't notice people being angry on bikes. I thought everyone was very relaxed. Oh, good.

What are the benefits of riding a bicycle for a child? Well, they, I suppose they have a greater sense of freedom than if they're just walking around everywhere. They can just jump on their bike and go anywhere. they want to. And they can do that with their friends, so it's good for encouraging their social relationships. And if, I suppose if they were encouraged to maintain their bike, it makes them more responsible as well. So there are a lot of upsides to this, really. Is it safe to ride bicycles on the roads? Well, in Russia, probably not. There are fewer cycle lanes and the driving is generally more aggressive. Probably, if we think about it more generally,

it might not be safe to ride a bike regardless of the country if the weather is bad, because you could be blown off your bike in high winds, for example. I think it's probably safer in quieter, more sheltered and more developed areas. How popular are bicycles in your hometown? It's hard to say. I don't think it's as popular as in some parts of Europe, for example. Well, we already talked about Amsterdam. It's not as popular as it is there.

You're more likely to see cars, but I think quite a few people still cycle. It's not an unusual sight to see someone on the bike. Do you think that bikes are suitable for all ages? I suppose as long as you can keep them stable, yeah. Maybe if you're very old or very young, you might need to reconsider it, because, of course, if you're very young, then you don't really know how they work so well. Although you can have stabilizers on your bike, so it's not the same. that bad. And if you're older as well, you might have, you might struggle to keep things upright.

But the vast majority of people should be fine. What are the advantages of a bicycle compared to a car? That's a good question, actually. I'm a little bit biased because I prefer cars to bikes, but I think about it, you don't have to pay for petrol. So there's like, no, there are no petrol costs. And it's probably more versatile because you can, you. can go to more places. For example, cars usually almost always need roads. But with a bike, you can go mountain biking, for example. You can't really do that in a car. And it's healthier and quieter, I suppose. And that's a good thing if you don't like having a lot of people when you're driving, for example. Would you like to go traveling by bicycle?

If it's a short journey, I don't see why not. But not if it's like going between countries, for example. I don't like that idea. I'd prefer to take the train. I like the train. No, like for a month or something, just riding your bike, traveling around the world. No, I'd prefer not to.

But I can see why it's attractive for some people, but it's not my thing.