Episode 03

Episode 03

Tess and Ravi discuss a topic that many British people like to talk about all the time. Can you guess what it is? Adam reports on some of the different ways you said you greet each other.

Transcript

Adam

Adam: Hello and welcome! My name is Adam. Rob is on holiday this week – lucky man! He’ll be back for the next episode.

Thanks for your comments – we love hearing from you. It was really interesting to hear how you greet each other. Adilson Santos sent us a great message telling us the different ways to greet people in Brazil. He said that people who are not close friends just say ‘hi’. If they are better friends, a girl might hug a boy and kiss his cheek, but boys never kiss each other, they only shake hands and boys who are very good friends might hug quickly. He also said that boys don’t really shake hands, they slap their hands together, and that at church he kisses men on the cheek and shakes hands with women.

Isn’t it interesting how complicated greetings can be!

Langtucoiam from Vietnam said that, when meeting an old friend, people will normally shake hands, but again it can be different depending on how close you were, how old your friend is and your friend's sex.

Finally, Hess in the Ivory Coast said that people in his tribe always ask for news when they meet, but they don’t bow or shake hands. He said that two people who slept in the same room will even ask what the news is when they wake up in the morning! I found that fascinating.

Do you remember what Tess and Ravi are doing in this series? They are looking at all the things that people think about when they think about Britain. So, what’s the topic today? Well, it’s something that British people love to talk about. Can you guess what it is?

Tess and Ravi

Ravi: Hi everyone, hi Tess!

Tess: Hi Ravi.

Ravi: Right. I think you know that Tess and I are here to talk about some of the things you think you know about Britain.

Tess: Things like ‘drinking tea’, ‘the Royal Family’ and ‘fish and chips’ – things you think are very British.

Ravi: And what could be more British than today’s weather? It is horrible out there, Tess.

Tess: Is it raining?

Ravi: No, it’s not raining but it’s grey and cold and miserable and… it’s exactly what people said about British weather. We asked our listeners around the world what they think about when they think about Britain and lots of people said ‘British weather’.

Tess: Do people think the weather here is bad?

Ravi: Well, they think it rains a lot – and it does. They think the summer is wet – and it often is, they say that…

Tess: I don’t think British weather is so bad though, do you?

Ravi: I do today.

Tess: It’s true that we don’t have very hot summers but, you know, we don’t have very cold winters either. Britain’s got a temperate climate – that means …

Ravi: A what climate?

Tess: Temperate climate. It means that we don’t have extreme weather – we don’t have very hot summers or very cold winters. But that also means that the weather is quite changeable – the weather changes quite often.

Ravi: Yeah, it can be raining, then five minutes later it’s sunny, then it starts raining again. You never know what the weather is going to be like.

Tess: But that’s a good thing, Ravi. I like that. People sometimes say you can have four seasons in one day in Britain and it’s true.

Ravi: But how can you decide what clothes to wear, Tess? You don’t know if it’s going to be cold or hot or what...

Tess: That’s typical of you, Ravi. And, because the weather does change quite a lot, that’s why British people seem to talk about the weather so much. It’s typical small talk, isn’t it? The sort of thing you say to people when you’re waiting for a bus or something. ‘Nice day today’ or ‘I think it’s going to rain later’. That kind of thing.

Ravi: That’s true. It’s difficult to talk about the weather if the weather’s the same every day. We say ‘I think it’s going to rain later’ because it usually is going to rain. It does rain a lot here.

Tess: Well, I don’t know. I think it’s about the same as other countries in the north of Europe. It’s just that we get rain all year round rather than just in one season. Anyway, the rain means that we have beautiful green countryside. Lots of visitors love the countryside because it looks so green – and that’s because of the rain.

Ravi: Hmm. You know how I feel about the countryside, Tess, but I suppose it does look nice, if you like that kind of thing.

Tess: Lots of people do. I think the British countryside is beautiful – and so do lots of visitors. And it wouldn’t look so green if we didn’t have all that rain!

Ravi: Hmm.

Adam

Adam: Mmm, I agree with Tess. I grew up in Scotland and the weather there can be very changeable. You can have hot sun, snow, rain and wind all in one day. People say "If you don't like the weather in Scotland, don’t worry - just wait half an hour and it will change!"

Many people love talking about the weather and there are lots of words about it. I think there are a lot more words to describe bad weather than good weather! Perhaps that’s because when the weather is good, people are too busy enjoying themselves to discuss it.

If it’s dark, you can say that it’s a grey day, perhaps because there are lots of clouds covering all the sky – which means that it’s overcast. That probably means that the weather is miserable and dull. If there’s a very light rain that doesn’t stop, then you can say it’s drizzly – this sort of rain is called drizzle. If the clouds look like they will rain hard soon, then you can say there is an angry sky.

Oh, it’s so much fun complaining about the weather! Now you know why we do it.

Write in and tell us about the climate in your country. Is it always the same or does it change a lot? What are the best times of year and the worst? What temperature do you think is a hot day and what temperature do you think is a cold day?

You can leave your comments on LearnEnglish which is at www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish or on Facebook - we’re at ‘Elementary Podcasts’. Look out for the next episode with more news about Carolina! Bye!

Discussion

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Topics

Average: 4.3 (6 votes)

Submitted by paulystano on Tue, 26/02/2019 - 13:35

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Hello everyone! In São Paulo we also have 4 seasons in a day and I think its not so good. I agree with Ravi and we never know what kind of clothes we can use and we have to charge the umbrella all the time.

Submitted by Mohammed Alsakkaf on Sat, 23/02/2019 - 18:37

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Hello from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The weather here is pretty hot especially in summer when temperature reaches 40-43!!!, but we got used to it. Actually, my favorite season is Autumn when it rains heavily here. although temperature here reaches 17 no less, we feel so freeze(:

Submitted by Ekaterina80 on Mon, 18/02/2019 - 13:22

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Hello!I am from Russia. Probably, you think the weather in Russia is coold, but it is false. I live in Voronezh and the weather here is brilliant. We have snow in winter and we have a hot summer,too hot(probably),the temperature averages from -5to -10 in the winter and from +27 to+35 in the summer.

Submitted by nikoslado on Thu, 24/01/2019 - 20:48

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In Greece, normally- but, unfortunatelly, typically during the last forty years- we used to have four beautiful, seasons, like all the Mediteranian countries.But now, year after year,we see tremendous climate changes.There are no longer those great separate seasons with their own distinct features.There is no longer those flowering quartely springs and those melancholy but still beautiful autumns.There are more or less, two main ''seasons'', summer and winter. And during these seasons, we often have extreme weather phenomenon....So the temperature averages from -15 to 20 Celsius degrees in the winter and 25 to 40 degrees in the summer...
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Submitted by diegoinglese on Thu, 03/01/2019 - 15:49

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Comment for episode 3 Hello everyone! From Italy La Spezia The climate in my town is temperate in outumn and spring some times rains . When come the winter the time it is a bit freezing , the climate become wet and there are about three or five degrees . The best time for the weather in my town is summer , hot sunny day and dry . I think that thirty-six degrees it is ok for a hot day , cold day between five or ten degrees! Now probably will the snow , it's freezy time !

Submitted by mali on Sun, 23/12/2018 - 14:40

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Hello every on In my country weather id do varied I mean we have 4 seasons but actually , some cities experience extreme weather for example in the south climate is hot and only in the winters people turn off their coolers as in some another in the north-west are frizing. by the way during the season the climate is permanent and capable to forecast. Here the spring is amazing and I think the summer is the worst season. To sum up our country mostly located in a dry and hot climate. Lately there is some changing is happened in the world and I can see this changes that are manifested as unforeseen floods and some shower rains and winds. I hope everything goes well and we can all together save our home the beautiful earth.

Submitted by hanni_abdrzk on Fri, 14/12/2018 - 19:45

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Hi, hanni from Egypt! first of all I'm in love with the weather of Britain.. actually not just Britain the north of Europe in general because the idea of having a changeable weather is great, in my country we don't have that and it's so boring!.

Submitted by Nancy Nguyen on Wed, 05/12/2018 - 14:02

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Hi everyone, I am from Vietnam, so the climate is tropical. We just have 2 seasons: dry and rainy. In the dry season, the weather is very hot and the highest temperature up to 39 degrees Celcius. About the rainy season, it rains all the day that causes the flood. In my city, it's so terrible when it's rain, it makes the traffic jam and drown. I wish I can touch the snow in the winter.

Submitted by Yury Taborsky on Thu, 29/11/2018 - 20:48

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The climate in my country (Ukraine) is very different. In summer, temperatures can be 40 degrees above 0, and the weather can be very dry or wet, rain and thunderstorms. In winter, the weather is mostly wet or frosty with snow. The temperature can be 20 degrees below 0 and once every 10 years can be 40 degrees below 0.
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Submitted by Oksi1001 on Sat, 17/11/2018 - 18:26

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I live in the most western city of Russia in Kaliningrad. We have got the same weather as in Britan.There is changeble,wet and often raining weather. And we also have soft climate without extreme weather. Generally there is warm summer and temperature from 20 to 25 degrees. Unexpektedly this Jule and August were so hot,about 30 degrees every day .Rains was not often,amazingly. In the winter temperature is in average from +10 to -5 degrees.Even the winter can be raining and often without snow.