English Listening Comprehension | Expressions Used by Natives

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Today's speaker was Kevin 🇨🇦 - cheers mate! Full transcript: Today's native speaker is from Canada, and the topic is about being too old to do things. We will listen to a 30-second section first and then review everything that was said and check your listening comprehension. First, I have a warm-up question for you: which of these phrases can you hear in the speech we're about to listen to? Try not to look at subtitles, and let's start. -------------------------------------------------------- What do you mean you're too old? Literally, anyone could say that. Think of it this way: there are people in their 60s who would love the chance to be in their 40s again, and people in their 80s who, you know what I mean? It's all relative. As long as your body's in good check, who cares? Also, if it makes you feel any better, I've seen people much older than you signing up for their first class as well. You're not going to stick out like a sore thumb. No one's going to judge you, and I think if anything, you might inspire others to join as well. -------------------------------------------------------- Okay, sorry about the audio quality. I think he was in a big empty room when that was made, but the answer was "if it makes you feel any better." Now, if you're not sure exactly what that means or why he used it, don't worry. We will come back to it in a second. We'll also come back to these comprehension questions, but pause the video right now if you want to take a look before we break everything down and explain. And this is the color coding that goes right above my head. So he said, "What do you mean you're too old? Literally, anyone could say that. Think of it this way: there are people in their 60s who would love the chance to be in their 40s again, and people in their 80s who, you know what I mean?" Okay, there's a lot here. So whoever he's talking to must have said that they were too old. So he's asking, "What do you mean? That's nonsense. You're not too old." He's saying anybody could say, "I'm too old." Then he says, "Think of it this way." So he's using this phrase because he's thinking of a way to explain his point. We often use this when we're trying to change someone's mind or just to give your opinion. It's not quite a fill phrase. It usually comes at the beginning of the sentence. You can also say, "How about this?" or "What I mean is..." It's something to tell the listener you're trying to say your thoughts in a certain way. It's actually pretty simple. Think of it this way, and then that person will give an example. So maybe you've tried to say something. First, the person doesn't understand you, or you don't think you've expressed yourself very clearly. You can say, "Think of it this way," and then say it a different way. So he said, "Literally, anyone could say that." Then he goes on to explain more: there are people in their 60s who would love the chance to be in their 40s again. So people who are in their 60s think, "Wow, I want to be 40 again. That's so young." But people in their 80s think, "Wow, 60s? It's so, so young. I want to be 60 again." So he's saying it's the same for everybody. Maybe even people in their 40s think, "Oh, I want to be in my 30s or my 20s again." And because of all of this, he says, "It's all relative." So that is referring to this right here. It's important vocabulary to learn, but it is very tricky. The best way I can describe it is how something seems is different for each person or situation. So this is a slightly more simple example: my job seems stressful, but it's all relative. A surgeon would think my job has little stress. So for me, I have lots of deadlines. I'm always busy, so I might seem stressed out. But then, if I think, "Hold on, do I have to cut anybody open? Do I need to perform surgery on people?" or no. So what's stressful for me might not be stressful for somebody else. I'm sure a surgeon would think, "Oh, deadlines? That's nothing. Why are you stressing out about that?" So it's for every person and every situation. He's referring to people in their 80s, 60s, 40s, etc. They all have a different idea of what seems young and what seems old. Then he kind of changes the topic. He says, "As long as your body's in good check, who cares?" So instead of talking about age, he's saying your body is in good check, which means in good condition. We can also say good condition or good check for talking about a car or some kind of object. You could sell it for a lot of money if it's still in good check, if it's still in good condition. And in British English, we also say "in good nick." If you hear that, you're probably talking to somebody from the UK. So forget about this age. If your body is in good check, who cares? It doesn't matter. It's not important. Then he says, "Also, an extra point: if it makes you feel any better, I've seen people much older than you signing up for their first class as well." Well, he just said forget about being old, but now he's saying he's talking about people's age again. So why? Well, the phrase "if it makes you feel any better" is when you want to say something that might be good news or it might be helpful, but it's not the main point that you're trying to say. So maybe somebody at work, a new coworker, is feeling nervous. You might say, "I was also nervous on my first day, if it makes you feel any better." Now you're adding that in because you being nervous too isn't really helping the person you're talking to. It's not really helpful. It's just showing the, you know, I know how you feel. Me saying this might make you feel a bit better. You can also say "if it helps" or "if it's any consolation." So age doesn't really matter, but if it makes you feel any better, there are even older people as well. You're not going to stick out like a sore thumb. "Sticking out like a sore thumb" means to stand out or to be easily seen as different. So if you're in a group of people 20, 25, 23, 21, 22, and then suddenly an 80-year-old person in a group, that person might stick out like a sore thumb because they're a very different age from everybody else. You can also say "to be the odd one out." You might stick out like a sore thumb wearing that hat. So maybe that hat, it's not a regular baseball cap. Maybe it's a big orange hat or something. No one's going to judge you, and I think if anything, you might inspire others to join too. Okay, this "if anything" can be quite tricky, so let's look at how it's used. Instead of just this thing, also this thing as well, or actually, it's even this as well. The second point can change from a good to a bad thing or the other way around, or it could just be more extreme. He's really good at doing his homework. It's a good thing. If anything, he studies too much. It's flipped into a bad thing. Okay, maybe he doesn't go out and play. Maybe he stresses about his work. So it's a good thing at first, but you can't say that he's bad at doing homework. It can't go this way. But if anything, maybe it's even too much. So he's saying nobody's going to judge you, but if they do, if anybody is judging you, it's going to be in a good way because you might inspire other people. People see you and think, "Oh, wow, that's amazing. Like somebody that age is taking this class. Wow, I have a lot of respect for them." That's the point he's trying to make there. Okay, that was a lot of tricky grammar points and a lot of tricky phrases, so let's check that we've understood everything. Question one: which does the speaker say is the most important, health or age? So he does talk about age a lot, but he does say, "As long as your body's in good check, who cares?" So I think that's the main point he's trying to make. I would say health. Why would the speaker mention that older people have joined? Well, it's a good question. He just said health is the most important thing. So why after that does he talk about age again? Well, if it makes you feel any better, he's trying to make the listener feel better. Maybe he really wants this person to join him, so, you know, he's just trying to say things to maybe convince that person to come along. Last question: is the listener likely to be the youngest person in the class? I feel like that's trying to trick us. Well, he said, "I've seen people much older than you signing up." So maybe this person is not going to be the oldest, but based on the whole conversation, it's pretty clear that they are going to be, if not the oldest, one of the older people there. So no, it's not very likely that this person's going to be the youngest, but that's okay. There was a lot there. Please feel free to go back and listen one more time, and I hope that that makes a lot more sense. There were some difficult points in there, so good job on getting through to the end. If you want to keep the studying going, I have the next lesson lined up for you right here. That's it. Take care. See you again.