Talking To Your Roomate

Hello everyone and welcome to another lesson here at EnglishPod. My name is Marco

And I'm Catherine. And today we have an elementary level lesson all about life with a roommate.

That's right. So sometimes, during college, you have to live with a roommate because you know, living alone is too expensive.

Also after college. I know that a lot of people, who are just starting their jobs, often live with their roommate to save some money.

That's right. Or maybe eh your girlfriend can be considered kind of like your romantic roommate.

I.. I hope not. Eh in the sense of today's lesson we're talking about problems with the roommate. So let's listen to this dialogue and we'll be back in a moment. Dialogue first time 0:45- 1:40

All right, we're back. So, we have a couple of different words that we're gonna take a look at, eh now in "language takeaway" Voice: Language takeaway

So the first word is a dreaded word, that means that most people don't like it. They fear it. This is: bills.

That's right. You have to pay your bills. So a bill is the paper that tells you how much you have to pay.

That's right. So you can have a gas bill.

An electricity bill

A cable 2:13? bill.

Or, even at the restaurant, you ask for the bill.

All right. So this is the amount of money you need to pay. And usually at the end of the month, you receive many many bills in the mail and you have to pay the companies like the gas company, the electricity company.

That's right. So those are bills. Eh singular it would be a bill. Okay.

And so, this is how the argument starts. The two roommates decided they have to pay the bills, eh but they don't want to split the bills in halves, go halves, eh they have to pay their own. And so one person says: listen, this isn't fair. You leave your computer on all night, downloading torrents.

Okay. So we understand what it is to download something, you download this podcast. But a torrent, what is that? That's kind of technical.

That is. So a torrent is a kind of file that you can download from the Internet. So basically, when you wanna download a movie or some music from the Internet, you go to a website that will connect you to someone who owns this, movie or bug or music, and they'll have a special file that's called the torrent file. And that's what you download.

That's right. So eh it's a new way of downloading files off the Internet,eh from many people, kind of like a peer-sharing.

That's right. So when one person disappears, he goes off flying??? 3:33 it shares you with another person.

That's right. So those are torrents. And now while they kept arguing about "you have to pay this", "I have to pay that" so you say: "you know what: you should just move out".

Eeehw, so to move out, this is a .. a phrase that has two words. To move out. It means to leave this house forever. This apartment. So, that means to find a new place to live.

Right. So I can say: Oh, I'm moving out this weekend. That means I'm changing apartments.

Right. Or: my boyfriend just moved out.

Okay, so that means..

That's really sad.

Ha ha. You left your house. Okay, so that is to move out. And now we have a word that is more colloquial of how to say a house or an apartment.

This is place.

Okay, you just say a place.

So place normally is a location. Okay. Where is this place. But we could say: Hey, we gonna have dinner at my place. Would you like to come?

So that means we've gonna have dinner at my house.

Right. My place, his place.

His place. Or, you have a really nice place.

Thanks.

Okay. So that means you have a really nice house.

Exactly.

Okay. So four keywords today, why don't we listen to the dialogue again and we'll back in a little bit. Dialogue second time 4:50- 5:45

All right, we're back. And we've got some great phrases today coming up in "fluency builder", so let's take a look at some of those. Voice: Fluency builder

All right. So the first phrase that we have, very common, very very common, but also very difficult for English learners to answer this question.

All right: what's up?

What's up. So if somebody says "what's up", what does that mean?

That means: what's going on, what's new, how are you, how is it going, hi.

Okay. So how should you answer this?

Okay so think of "what's up" is being a question about what's new, what's happening. You can say: eh what's up ?. Oh not much.

Not much.

Okay, "what's up" means: what's new? Oh,not much is new. Not much.

Everything is the same.

Or "what's up", you could say: hey, hi, how are you. It's another way of saying hi.

Okay.

But you can't say: the sky.

Right. Or sometimes English learners will say: fine, thank you. Because they think that "what's up" means how are you.

No, that's different. So you cannot say fine thank you, fine, well. These are words about how , that ?6:56 answer "how are you" questions. But this isn't a "how are you" question. This is a "what's new" question. What's new, or Hi.

Okay. So somebody says: what's up. You can say not much, or you can say "hey what's up". You can say "what's up" back.

What's up, what's up with you.

Yeah, what's up with you. Okay, so that's our first phrase. Now when the guy was talking about the hair dryer and the computer. He finished off that paragraph by saying. You see what I'm getting at here?

Okay. You're doing this. You use the hair dryer. You leave the computer on. Do you see what I'm getting at here? This phrase, do you see what I'm getting at.

It means, do you understand where I'm talking about, do you see my point.

That means I haven't said exactly what I mean, but you should understand what I'm saying. So he's saying: you're wasting electricity. You use all of these services more than I do. And we could say: Maybe Marco didn't get a good 7:52?? grade in his English test last week. I said: listen, maybe it has to do with you study habits, or how much you love video games, or how little time you spent at school. Do you see what I'm getting at?

Okay. So you're not saying directly that I don't study, you just telling me the reasons maybe why as to?? 8:10 I'm not studying.

Right, like a hint.

Okay. So that's what you say when you don't tell somebody directly what the problem is. You say: you see what I'm getting at here?

Do you see what I'm getting at? Getting at means hinting.

Ahem ahem. Okay, and our last phrase when they kept talking about the bills, eh one of the persons said: you are using way more gas and water than me. So what about this "way more"?

Way more. Way means much, or a lot. So you could say: you are using a lot more water than I am. Or: you're using way more water. This is very spoken language, this is not written language. So don't write this down on your test. But, a way more means a lot more, much more.

Okay. You can say Bob is way more attractive than Bill.

That's right. Or, this is way more interesting than that show.

Okay. So you can say "way more" in stead of "much more", or "lot more", but it's usually spoken English.

Exactly.

All right. Let's listen to our dialogue for the last time, and we'll be back in a bit to talk a little bit more. Dialogue third time 9:15 - 10:10

So Marco have you ever had any of these problems with the roommate?

I've actually stayed away from roommates, because of issues like this.

Do you mean you have not had many roommates? cuz you're afraid ?10:22 of this situation?

Yeah, I've always actually tried to live on my own, by myself, like in a small apartment or in a studio. Or if I have to have a roommate, maybe just like one. Not like a house full of roommates. Because I think? the more people there are, they're a little bit more complicated I guess?? 10:41. And if it's just two, you know, it's a little bit simpler.

This is true. Although sometimes I think it depends on the people that you're sharing a house with. I've had one awkward experience where people did not want to pay, ever, and they were always late with their payments and one situation where people were very good about it. So always remember then??they 11:00 were very helpful. So it really depends.

Yeah, yeah. I think it's hard to live with someone always of course, even, you know, if you start living with your girlfriend or your boyf riend, or you're get married. It's kind of different to live with someone, you know. So, and especially money. Why is that? I think it always ? 11:20 complicates things with people.

Definitively. So I think you're right though. If there's two people it's very easy to share the bills. But eh if there's five people or six people, it's very hard to find out who spend more money or what the rules are.

Yeah, so it it can get a little bit complicated. But I'm sure a lot of our listeners have probably had roommates before, maybe in college, eh maybe even now, so let's hear those experiences and maybe those good and bad stories about living with other people.

So please get in touch with us. Our website is EnglishPod.com, there's a lot of places for you to ask questions and to post your own experiences with roommates. We hope to see you there and until next time. C,M Bye, bye everyone.