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SBS Learn English 에피소드 89: 우리 집을 소개합니다 (중급)
SBS Learn English 에피소드 89: 우리 집을 소개합니다 (중급)

SBS Australia

time29-06-2025

  • General
  • SBS Australia

SBS Learn English 에피소드 89: 우리 집을 소개합니다 (중급)

LISTEN TO SBS Korean 29/06/2025 15:21 Korean 이 내용은 중상급 이상 학습자에게 적합합니다. 먼저 팟캐스트를 들으신 후 간단한 퀴즈를 풀어보세요. Learning notes Lesson learning objective: Learn how to describe your home and talk about house layouts, renovations, and space. Different phrases you can use to describe a space: My room has heaps of storage. I love how the kitchen opens straight into the lounge. The layout's spot on – it doesn't feel cramped at all. The floor plan really works. The place has good bones. It's definitely got character. It's a bit of a fixer-upper. The bathroom's been recently done. The bedrooms are a decent size. Colloquial expressions: When you tell someone, 'M ake yourself at home ,' you're inviting them to feel relaxed and comfortable, just like they would in their own place. When a room 'opens straight into' another room, it means there's an open connection—you can walk from one room to the other without going through a hallway or doorway. If you say that the floor plan of your home works, you're saying the layout of your home makes sense and feels right for you. To check something out is an informal way of saying to examine or look at something closely. Spot on is an informal way of saying that something is really perfect. If your house has good bones , it means that the structure—the walls, floors, and roof—are strong and solid, even if the house needs some repairs. When we say a place has character , it means that it's interesting, a bit unique, or has something special about it. Heaps of storage means a lot of space, like cupboards, shelves, or closets to store things. The word room (without 'a' or 'the' ) means space, usually the space to do something, like store things or move in. Ample means large or a lot of something, and usually implies that that something is large enough. It's often used to describe space or time, or quantity. Layout means the way things are arranged. It is often used to talk about a space in a room, document or page. A floor plan is the way the rooms are arranged in a house. To fix something up means to repair it. A fixer-upper is a house that needs repairs, and often renovations. Claire and Allen use some different ways of saying how much they like something: Allan: Finally – a …. (finally….! Shows that you have wanted. Something for a long time) I've been dreaming of.. (if you have been dreaming of something then you really like it) The floor plan really works (if something works, then you like it) Claire: I love how it ….. (I love + how it + verb) The layout's spot on (spot on = exactly right) Practise speaking dialogue from this episode: SBS English 10/06/2025 03:36 English Transcript: (Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript) SBS acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country and their connections and continuous care for the skies, lands, and waterways throughout Australia. It's early morning. The kettle's just boiled, the house is quiet, and for me, this is the perfect time to learn something new. Hi, I'm Kate, and you're listening to the SBS Learn English podcast—where we help you develop your informal spoken English so that you can feel more confident and sound more natural. Whatever you're doing, whether you're out and about or still in your pyjamas, grab your tea, coffee — or whatever keeps you going — and make yourself at home so that you can listen comfortably. When you tell someone to make themselves at home , you're inviting them to feel relaxed and comfortable, just like they would if they were in their own home. We often say this to be polite to someone who comes to our home. And speaking of home — today we're going to learn some useful everyday phrases you can use when talking about yours. I chose this topic because Allan has just moved into a new place—a house he bought after months of looking. There are still a few boxes on the floor, but the kettle's unpacked, and that's what counts. His friend Claire has come over to check it out. To check something out is an informal way of saying to examine or look at something closely. She's excited to finally see what Allan's been talking about all these months. As they walk into the kitchen, the conversation begins… Allan Finally – a kitchen with heaps of storage! I've been dreaming of this. Claire Yeah, and I love how it opens straight into the lounge. The layout's spot on – it doesn't feel cramped at all. Allan Exactly. The floor plan really works. The place has good bones. Claire It's definitely got character. Allan Yeah, it's a bit of a fixer-upper, but the bathroom's been done recently and the bedrooms are a decent size. As always, Allan and Claire used some fantastic everyday phrases. Let's take a closer look at a few of the words they used—these are the kinds of expressions you can use yourself when talking about your home. Allan first said, Finally – a kitchen with heaps of storage! I've been dreaming of this. I also love a kitchen that has heaps of storage, that means that has a lot of space to store things, like cupboards, shelves, or closets. In other words, if a place has heaps of storage, it means there's plenty of room for you to put things. By the way, the word 'room' here doesn't mean 'room' like bedroom or bathroom, it is another word for space. But let's say you're in your office and you want to sound a bit more formal, in that case you could use the word 'ample', as in, 'There's ample storage for all our files'. 'Ample' here means enough or more than enough of something. It's usually used to describe space, time, or quantity. Claire then said, I love how it opens straight into the lounge. The layout's spot on – it doesn't feel cramped at all. Claire first said that she loves how the kitchen opens straight into the lounge. When a room 'opens straight into' another room, it means there's an open connection—you can walk from one room to the other without going through a hallway or doorway. Claire also said, The layout's spot on – it doesn't feel cramped at all. So, what does layout mean? Well, layout is a word we can use to talk about how things are arranged or set out. You can use it when you're talking about a space—like a room, a house, or even a page or a website. Let's start with homes. When you say 'the layout of the house', you're talking about how the rooms are arranged in the house. For example, my flat has an open-plan layout—so the kitchen, dining and lounge are all in the same space. I love that—it feels nice and open. Now, we also use layout when we talk about documents. The other day I found an old presentation I made, and honestly, the layout was terrible. There was way too much on the page, and I didn't know where to look first. So I'd say: 'I didn't like the layout at all.' And of course, layout is a word we use when talking about websites or apps too. Like, 'Do you think the layout of our website is easy to use?' or 'I like the new layout—it's clean and simple.' So, in short, layout just means the way something is organised or arranged. But spot on – what have spots got to do with it? If something is spot on it is exactly right. So Claire really loved the layout. Claire also said that Allan's new home doesn't feel cramped at all. If a place feels cramped it feels small and crowded –as though there's not enough space. You might feel like there's no room to move around. What's your place like? Do you think it feels cramped? Or does it have a good layout? Allan then said, The floor plan really works. The floor plan really works. If you say that the floor plan of your home works, you're saying the layout of your home makes sense and feels right for you. A floor plan is the way the rooms are arranged in a house. It's similar to layout. Allan also said, And we're only getting started! Allan is saying - even though they've been working together for two years, that's just the start so there will be many more years of working together in the future. Isn't that nice?! He then said: The place has good bones. When we say a place has character, we mean it's interesting, a bit unique, or has something special about it. It might be an old fireplace, high ceilings, the way the light comes in, or even some kind of different layout that makes it different from a brand-new house. It may not be perfect—but it has something that makes it really special! So, when Claire says, 'It's definitely got character', she means the house feels interesting, and full of charm. It's definitely got character. A milestone is an important and memorable moment or event in the development of something. Twenty-five years together - that's a big milestone worthy of a big celebration! Hmm. I wonder if they will invite me? Allan replied, Yeah, it's a bit of a fixer-upper, but the bathroom's been done recently, and the bedrooms are a decent size. Allan's home is a fixer-upper, which means it needs a lot of work. Allan will have to repair or renovate certain parts of the house. But luckily for him, the bathroom has been done recently, which means that it's already been renovated or updated, so he doesn't need to do any work on that part of the house. The house also has decent-sized bedrooms. We say a space is a decent size when it's not too small or too big – it's just the right amount of space to be comfortable. For example, a decent-sized bedroom would have enough room for a bed, a wardrobe, and maybe a desk or some shelves, without feeling cramped. So, even though Allan's house needs work, it's got some good thing about it, like the bathroom and the size of the bedrooms. I guess we can often imagine something we'd like to change about where we live. How about your home? How many rooms are there? Does it have character? Sit back, listen again and see how many useful phrases you might be able to use when describing your home. Sign up for previews, updates and to provide feedback. A big thank you to our guest Wolfgang Mueller Paul Nicholson and Lily O'Sullivan voiced the characters of Allan and Claire, and Professor Lynda Yates was our educational consultant.

No goo-goo gaga: Humans stand alone in using ‘baby talk' — great apes don't do it, study finds
No goo-goo gaga: Humans stand alone in using ‘baby talk' — great apes don't do it, study finds

Malay Mail

time29-06-2025

  • Science
  • Malay Mail

No goo-goo gaga: Humans stand alone in using ‘baby talk' — great apes don't do it, study finds

ZURICH, June 29 — Talking to babies in a high-pitched voice and using exaggerated pronunciation seems natural to most parents. This way of speaking, found in all human cultures, is thought to facilitate language learning in young children. But is this universal human practice shared by our closest cousins? A study published in the journal Science Advances reveals that great apes communicate very little with their young, suggesting that our propensity for 'baby talk' is a distinctive feature of the human species. Previous research has shown that this 'baby talk' promotes vocabulary and language skills, but its evolutionary origins remained a mystery. To find out more, a team of biologists and linguists from the University of Zurich and the University of Neuchâtel teamed up with colleagues from France, Germany, and the US. Together, they studied five species of great apes (humans, bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans) to observe how they communicate with their young in their natural environment. They found that humans stand out significantly for their use of 'baby talk,' unlike their primate cousins. 'We were surprised by how little of this type of communication we actually observed in our closest living relatives,' explains Franziska Wegdell, UZH postdoc and one of the three first authors of the study, quoted in a news release. This raises the question: how do the young of these great ape species learn to communicate? Researchers believe that the answer lies in indirect listening. In humans, infants acquire new words simply by listening to conversations around them. The team therefore compared this 'infant-surrounding communication' in the five species studied and found that all infants are exposed to it in a similar way, except for orangutans. It may therefore be that, like humans, great apes acquire certain aspects of their communication system socially, but by relying on communication in the surrounding environment rather than direct exchanges. This study nevertheless has limitations. The researchers focused solely on vocal communication, whereas great apes also communicate with their young through gestures. 'We know that non-human great apes direct gestures at their infants, and that some of these gestures even exhibit features also found in human infant-directed communication,' says study co-first author, Caroline Fryns, of the University of Neuchâtel. Understanding the evolution of language requires studying our closest living relatives, because language does not remain static over time. This study reveals that 'baby talk' has developed particularly in humans, even though other species — monkeys, bats, cats, and dolphins — also communicate directly with their young. This unique feature could partly explain why humans excel in the art of speech. — ETX Studio

Princess Beatrice's stepson Wolfie has a nanny just to teach him one incredible skill, his mother reveals
Princess Beatrice's stepson Wolfie has a nanny just to teach him one incredible skill, his mother reveals

Daily Mail​

time25-06-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Daily Mail​

Princess Beatrice's stepson Wolfie has a nanny just to teach him one incredible skill, his mother reveals

Princess Beatrice's stepson is being taught how to speak fluent Chinese by a nanny after his mother Dara Huang says that it is important for him to 'appreciate his roots'. Dara Huang, 42, who is from the US but now lives in central London, was with Princess Beatrice 's husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi for three years from 2015 until 2018 and the pair even got engaged in 2017. The pair welcomed Wolfie - whose real name is Christopher - into the world nine years ago. Since they split and his father Edo married into the royal family, Wolfie has been warmly welcomed into the Firm and appeared alongside them at key events including the Christmas Day walkabout. During an interview with content creator World Microphone, which was filmed in February - Dara apologised for 'butchering' her Chinese and said that she had hired a nanny to teach Wolfie the language. She said: 'His Chinese is better than mine. I think growing up Chinese in America is very hard. You have to pass down your identity and culture to your kids. 'He has an Asian face so he should speak and he should understand [the language].' Dara also said that she was taking nine-year-old Wolfie to Taiwan, Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong this year 'to experience it all'. She added: 'I want him to appreciate and absorb the culture.' The architect said her parents are from Taiwan but moved to America because her father got a high-flying job at NASA, where he worked for 40 years. She said: 'When I was little my dad always told me "You are an American but you have an Asian face, you need to be more hard working than everyone else".' Every year, Dara throws Wolfie a big party to celebrate Chinese New Year, adding: 'All of his friends come over and they wear traditional Chinese outfits.' She added that Wolfie has immersed himself in the food and beverages from East Asia and particularly enjoys drinking bubble tea and tucking into noodles and dumplings. Dara captioned the clip: 'Remember kids! Appreciate your roots, it will help you in your future.' She posted the clip on her Instagram page which racked up thousands of views and comments from fans who were impressed with her bilingual skills. One wrote: 'Wow. Your Chinese is awesome Dara,' while another penned: 'Love what you're doing to pass the culture to your son.' A third said: 'My parents said the exact same thing to me growing up!' Dara Huang, 42, who is from the US but now lives in central London , was with Princess Beatrice 's husband Edo for three years from 2015 until 2018 and the pair even got engaged in 2017 Dara decorates their house for Chinese New Year every year with vibrant red wall hangings and throws Wolfie a party with his friends This comes as Dara awkwardly dodged a conversation about the Royal Family while an estate agent showed her around a £60million London penthouse. Constance Cunningham took her onto the balcony to show her the views where she pointed out three visible landmarks from the Bayswater property - the Shard, London Eye and Royal Albert Hall. But Cunningham then drew her attention to Kensington Palace Gardens in front of her, which led Huang to say 'Kensington Palace'. Cunningham said 'the Royal Family', before Huang added 'right' - and Cunningham gently said: 'Who we love so much…' The exchange happened during a tour of the property in an upcoming episode of Britain's Most Expensive Houses which airs on Channel 4 this Wednesday at 9pm. The two women were looking at The Penthouse at the Park Modern development on Bayswater Road, which is one of London's most expensive new properties. Cunningham is given the chance to sell the home which boasts impressive views of Kensington Palace Gardens and Hyde Park and would be her biggest deal yet. She believes the property would particularly appeal to US buyers keen on investing in London, and therefore turns to American interior designer Huang for advice on how to sell to Americans and how to convince a Miami-based agent contact to take a look. Christopher 'Wolfie' Mapelli Mozzi was born in March 2016, with his parents splitting up two years later in 2018 before Edo then married Beatrice in July 2020. Beatrice and Edo have two daughters together – Sienna, who was born in September 2021, and Athena, who was born in January this year. Wolfie has since made appearances at royal engagements, including at the Together At Christmas carol services at Westminster Abbey. Harvard-educated Huang was born and grew up in the US and was granted British citizenship in 2022. Speaking to Tatler in January, Huang referred to Wolfie as her 'little man' and revealed he likes to paint and that she once sold one of his paintings for £40,000. She shares joint custody of Wolfie with Edo but said: 'If I had all the money in the world, I would probably build a commune for single parents, because it's so nice to be able to put children together. 'I feel like I spend most of my life looking for single mums to hang out with.' In May, Dara made a wry comment about her dating life following the news that she has split from her former partner. The 42-year-old Chinese American architect, who now lives in Chelsea, was previously dating London-based financier Filippos Kodellas de la Morena in 2020, the Daily Mail's Richard Eden revealed. However, it has since come to light that the pair went their separate ways because the investor last month announced he is engaged and set to tie the knot this summer with his new partner, Sofía Marti Marti, a businesswoman and dentist, according to Spanish magazine El Confidencial. Dara appears not to have taken the news too heavily and is back on London's dating scene, making a humorous comment to apparently confirm this. Taking to her Instagram Stories, Dara wrote, 'Just a small note for all you single ladies out there. 'Go to Mayfair on a Friday at around 5 pm because it's 99 per cent men flooding pubs'. She accompanied the comment with a photograph of a London pub brimming with punters enjoying a pint in the sunshine.

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