IELTS Speaking for Success - 🛍️ Street markets (Part 1 ) + Transcript

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

Get access to our episode archive: https://www.patreon.com/ieltssfs Are there many street markets in your country? When was the last time you went to a street market? Do you prefer shopping in a shopping mall or at the street market? What do you usually buy at a street market? Tune in and have a great day! - Book a class with Rory here: https://successwithielts.com/rory Our course on Phrasal Verbs: https://successwithielts.com/podcourses Transcript: https://successwithielts.com/s12e03 Find an IELTS Speaking Partner: https://links.successwithielts.com/ieltspartner Our social media: https://linktr.ee/successwithielts © 2025 Podcourses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, lovely, I'm Maria. And my name is Rory, and we are the hosts of the IELT 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've started this podcast to give you gorgeous grammar and super vocabulary. For your high IELD score? Your band 9 score. Oh, Rory, what's that necklace you're wearing?

Oh, look at that. Oh, thank you. Yeah, I got it at a street market, actually. Really? Street markets, shopping, on the street, at a market. Let's talk about street market, dear listener. Are there many street markets in your country? Um, yeah, there are a few village markets that get put on from time to time,

and occasionally they bring their wares to the city centres as well. When was the last time you went to a street market? Um, that's a good question. Um, I think it was. It was when I was abroad, actually, there were rows of stalls flogging all kinds of things from jewelry to stationery. It was very interesting to see, actually. We don't see so many stationary stalls at street markets in my country. Do you prefer shopping in a shopping mall or at the street market? Well, I like to get everything in one go, so shopping malls cater to this nicely, unless I'm shopping for something special like a souvenir. Then I head down to the markets.

What do you usually buy at a street market? Whatever catches my eye, really. Like I said, it's usually something that signifies a particular place or something for a specific person. So there's quite a range. One of the last things I picked up was a candle holder, actually, but before that it was a necklace. So like I say, there's quite a lot of diversity in the things that I can buy from the street market. As you know, we now release all of our premium content for free and it's available for one month. After one month, it goes into our super secret archive.

To sign up for the archive, click the link in the description below. See you soon. Yay! So deal is now. Street market. So what's a street market? Usually it's an open-air market. So a shop in the open.

Okay. So you go to a market square, or to kind of like a big street or a square, and there is a market, open-air places, open-air markets. Usually they happen on the weekend, but not necessarily, and there are different markets. For example, a market where you can buy food or a flea market. Rory, what's a flea market? Isn't that where you can buy second-hand things at reduced prices? Is that right? I've never been to a flea market, so I don't know.

No, oh wow. So there are like famous flea markets all over Europe and they're quite like beautiful markets with music and food and dancing and different events like every weekend. So you can buy secondhand clothes, bags, antiques, some vintage stuff, furniture, a flea market. like F-L-E-A or you can talk about farmers market where you can buy food

local products there are also some I don't know like a garage sales so for example if Rory wants to sell his stuff Rory organizes a garage sale

of his personal stuff even though I don't have a garage yeah just like it's still called a garage sale the reason reason why is that's usually where all of your old things are kept if you are from a middle-class background but I live in an apartment so there is no need for a garage or a garage. I also don't drive so there's like a compounding lack of need here. So, Dielsena, in your country,

there are flea markets, there are garage sales, there are farmers markets, okay, even if you don't know of them, there are a lot of street markets. But some of them are called, aren't they like, fairs? A fair. What's a fair? A fair? That's less a market and more, I think they're usually connected to some kind of celebration. So, for example, you might have a fair with different rides on for a particular holiday, and there might be stalls connected to that, but they're, very, you're, Fares and markets are generally separate things.

One is about celebrating and having fun and one is about buying things. Yeah, so a fair is a large public event where goods are bought and sold, usually from tables that have been specifically arranged for the event. Yeah, actually, a craft fair. And you go there and you can buy some wooden stuff from local people. So a craft fair. You can talk about, like, craft fairs or vegetable fairs that are organized every weekend in your city or village, wherever you live. If indeed they are.

People bring their wares to the city centres. Ware. What do you mean by wares? Wares are just the things that they sell, or the things they make in order to be sold. Their products, their goods, their wares. the where's when the examiner asks you

when was the last time you went to or when was the last time you saw and then you kind of you react naturally dear listener it's super band nine important you just say well I don't know really

that's a good question well let me think like a street market probably it was when I was abroad actually okay so a very natural response from Rory

And then you talk about stalls. So when you are at a market, you see different stalls. And a stall is where products are laid out for you. A stall, like a vegetable stall, a large kind of table with products. And you can say that there were rows of stalls. So lines of stores, many stalls. and people sold all kinds of things from jewelry to stationery.

So all kind of things. Rory, if I say that I can buy knick-necks at a market, what do I mean? Is that not just you buy odds and ends, which is another word for bits and pieces? Yeah, so all you kind of like little thingies, you know, like little like... Usually we don't need them, but little, I know, souvenirs, magnets, I don't know, or some useless stuff, which is so cool when you are at a market. You can say like, oh, lots of knick-necks. I usually get bits and pieces for the kitchen, for my house, for myself, some hats, socks.

I don't know. And second-hand goods. It's good to have bits and pieces because that is a binomial, which is a special kind of fixed expression. English. It's always bits and pieces. It's not pieces and bits. It's similar to things like salt and pepper or fish and chips. We don't say chips and fish and we don't say pepper and salt. So these kinds of fixed expressions are quite useful to have. You can say that I usually pick up some bits and pieces for my house. I usually pick

some, you know, choose buy. I usually shop for knick-knacks, like different souvenirs, local produce, local food, you know. Or maybe, dear listener, pirated goods. Ooh. You know, some pirate stuff, illegal stuff. Oh my god, we cannot talk about that on the podcast. Oh no, okay, like, all right, okay. Maria encouraging piracy. You can't encourage intellectual property theft when what we sell is intellectual property. Yeah, okay, okay, yeah, that's true.

You can also shop for local delicacies, delisner. So local foods, yum, yum, yum. So I usually pick up some local delicacies. I can shop in a mall or at the street market. And, Rory, do you say at a market, in a market, on a market? I think normally we talk about, well, things are in a market for the physical space, but also at the market for a specific event as well. but those things can be interchangeable.

You can say that I prefer to get everything in one go. So I go to a shopping mall, I get everything in one go, in one place at once. Wow. Nice, Rory. No, it's just efficient. I shop for something special. So if I'm shopping for something special, like different knick-knacks, souvenirs,

I head down to the... markets yeah head down to I go to the markets I just head head down to the market or if I need to get hold of something special to buy to pick up get hold of something special I head down to the market and you can say that I can haggle at a market Roy what do we do when we haggle? It's kind of like a special kind of negotiating for the price which I am terrible at. So it's like the vendor establishes a price and you go lower, and then they offer an alternative,

and then you offer an alternative. So it's like a friendly argument over the price. But again, some people are very good at this. I am not. I just like to get the thing and leave. But for some people, it's a very important part of their culture. and how things are bought and sold. Yeah, you can say that I enjoy haggling.

So when the seller, vendor, vendor is a person who sells products. He says, oh, like this jacket is $100. No, it's $50. I'll get it for $20. No, $50, now $60. So this is a haggling. And you can find a good bargain at the market.

So you can find a thing at a good price, a good bargain. Maybe if you're good at it. You haggle and then you get a bargain, so you buy something at a very good price. And what do we usually buy at street markets? Well, again, nicks and eggs, bits and pieces for your house, local produce, local delicacies, yum, yum, yum, food, fresh veggies. And whatever catches my eye. All right, so you're just like walking along the street market.

Oh, okay. some cups, all right, so you get some cups, whatever catches my eye. And you can say that one of the last things I picked up, I bought, I picked up, a phrase of verb, was a candle holder. Again, something, you know, just bits and pieces, you know, a candle holder, wow, and a necklace. I was trying to remember why I bought the candle holder there, but it was just because it was nice. Yeah, that's, you know, the benefits of street markets, They're just like nice designs and you shop around and you find a bargain and you can haggle. There are affordable prices.

So there are different sellers and vendors, vendors or sellers. You can chat with them. You know, like usually there is a nice atmosphere and you get to meet your local community, local vendors. But it could be unhygienic, could be dirty. And that could be true, if anything, anywhere. Yeah, yeah. They could be packed with lots of people. But, yeah, when I was traveling around Europe, we would go to a flea market every weekend.

So, for example, I remember a flea market in Greece, in Athens, also in Italy, in Paris. Yeah. Because you kind of you see, like, real people, local people. So even if you don't buy anything, like, such places have a very unique atmosphere. This is something like connected to culture and if you want to know a city, go to a free market. Yeah. That's a nice, another glance at the city, you know, if you want to feel the city, to plunge it to the city's atmosphere. Yeah, and we have a joke.

We do? Of course, we have a joke. Is it about flea markets? No, Rory, you're a killed joy. You've just killed my joke. Why? You were talking about it. I'm going to tell the joke anyway.

So, what kind of market do dogs hate? Is it a flea market, Maria? Yes. Right, dogs hate fleas. And a flea is an insect, dear listener. Flee, is this annoying, disgusting insect. Are fleas insect? Fleas were arthropods.

Yeah, no, no, it's. It's an insect according to the Cambridge Online Dictionary. Is it? Popular science, Roy. We don't go into details. Oh, we should. So, a very small jumping insect that feeds on the blood of animals. Ugh, disgusting. So usually it's in the hair of cats and dogs and even people. So yeah, that's why dogs hate fleas. And what kind of markets do dogs hate flea markets?

Dear listener, we're done. Thank you very much for listening. Sexy. Sexy, please. And we'll get back to you. Bye. Bye. Whether it's a pair of running shoes or a new car.

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Funds and ETFs are not guaranteed. Their values change and past performance may not be repeated. Are the many street markets in your country? Um, yeah, there are a few village markets that get put on from time to time, and occasionally they bring their wares to the city centers as well. When was the last time you went to a street market? That's a good question. I think it was when I was abroad, actually.

There were rows of stalls flogging all kinds of things from jewelry to stationery. It was very interesting to see, actually. We don't see so many stationary stalls at street markets in my country. Do you prefer shopping in a shopping mall or at the street market? Well, I like to get everything in one go, so shopping malls cater to this nicely. unless I'm shopping for something special like a souvenir, then I head down to the markets. What do you usually buy at a street market?

Whatever catches my eye, really. Like I said, it's usually something that signifies a particular place or something for a specific person. So there's quite a range. One of the last things I picked up was a candle holder, actually, but before that it was a necklace. So like I say, there's quite a lot of diversity in the things that I can buy from the street.

market.