📙 Part 2: Describe a cultural place

You should say: where it is, how you knew about this place, what it is like, and explain how this place is related to culture.

This episode's vocabulary

• Dock (noun) - an area of water in a port that can be closed off and that is used for putting goods onto and taking them off ships or repairing ships.
• Awareness (noun) - knowledge that something exists, or understanding of a situation or subject at the present time based on information or experience.
• Motto (noun) - a short sentence or phrase that expresses a belief or purpose.
• Mast (noun) - a tall pole on a boat or ship that supports its sails.
• Numerous (adj.) - many.
• Component (noun) - a part that combines with other parts to form something bigger.
• The Industrial Revolution (noun) - the period of time during which work began to be done more by machines in factories than by hand at home.
• To dwarf (verb) - to make something seem small by comparison.
• Paintwork (noun) - the covering of paint on a surface.
• To dock (verb) - if a ship docks, it arrives at a dock and if someone docks a ship, they bring it into a dock.
• Core (adj.) - the basic and most important part of something.
• Embedded (adj.) - if an emotion, opinion, etc. is embedded in someone or something, it is a very strong or important part of him, her, or it.

Questions and Answers

R: There's this amazing piece of history in my hometown. Well, I say it's in my hometown... It's actually floating next to it in its own special wet dock near the riverbank. So basically, this is like a floating museum. When it comes to how I know about it, I mean, it's a giant early 20th-century sailing ship called the RRS Discovery with this tall mass that just sits in this open space between its own dedicated Museum and the branch of the Victorian Albert in Dundee. It's very hard to miss. You definitely don't see something like that every day, even in a country as steeped in history as the UK. I also went on a few school trips there when I was younger, which helped raise my awareness of it even further, as if I needed any help with that. The ship and its role in history are a key feature of my hometown's identity. Our town motto is actually the city of discovery, which is a fun play on words now that I think about it, in greater detail about the ship or the ship museum itself. It's got these three tall masts, like I said, and it's mostly made of wood, though it also has numerous metal components, since it was built during the Industrial Revolution when metal work was becoming more commonplace. I'm not sure how big it is, but it definitely dwarves your average house, and it has this striking black and white paintwork. So it really stands out. It's docked in Dundee because it was built there, initially, as a trade ship before being sent on an expedition to the Antarctic at the turn of the century. And while on the expedition, she became trapped in ice and was nearly destroyed in the process of escaping. Despite that, she made out and went on to have a long career in shipping, research and the military. I think ultimately she became a museum in the 1980s or the 1990s. And like I said, has become a core part of her identity ever since, apparently, she has had an even wider impact on Western culture, too, since the shuttle Discovery was named after her. I think it's great we have such a cool artefact right here on our doorstep. If we didn't, it's actually quite hard to imagine what my hometown would be like. It's so embedded in everything.

M: And what about your friends? Do they like this place?

R: I've never heard a bad word said about it, to be honest.

Discussion

M: So, dear listener, when you choose what cultural place to talk about, well, you should make a wise choice. What can you talk about? A museum, a theatre, a library. What else is cultural? An art gallery?

R: Did you mention a statue?

M: A statue, yes. A monument. Rory told us about what...

R: The RRS discovery, which is a floating museum. Although it's got a floating part and it has a land-based part too.

M: Yeah, a floating museum which is situated on water, right?

R: Yeah, in a wet dock. You have a wet dock which has got water in it, and you have a dry dock, which does not. The dry dock is used for repairing ships because you couldn't repair them in the water, otherwise they would sink.

M: So you can start it off with, there's this amazing piece of history in my town, or there is an amazing museum in my town or in my city. And then you describe the place. Like it's a giant museum. It's like a big museum, or it's a popular art gallery, for example. In this context, Rory told us about this ship, so it's a sailing ship called the RRS Discovery. So it's pretty much like a ship, but turned into a museum.

R: It's an old research vessel.

M: It's very hard to miss. So you can't miss it. It's like very visible. You can see it easily. It's very hard to miss. And you don't see something like that every day. Yeah, if, for example, you are talking about a museum which is big or is very unique, has a unique shape, for example. Yeah, you can use it. When I was younger, I went on a few school trips there. So Rory went to this museum when he was at school. And he learned about the history of his hometown and the role of this shape in history, which is a key feature of my town's identity. And you mentioned your town's motto. What's a moto?

R: It's just a phrase that's associated with the spirit of the town. So here we call it the spirit of discovery.... Sorry, the spirit of discovery... The city of discovery, meaning people discover things here. But also the name of the ship is discovery. So it's got two meanings. It's a play on words. It's a pun.

M: Hmm... Yeah. So a moto is a short sentence or phrase that expresses a belief or purpose. For example, work hard, play hard is a motto. When you talk about details, you can say in greater detail about the museum itself. In greater detail about the art gallery, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And Rory described it. Which specific words did you use to describe the ship?

R: Well, it's made of wood. It has metal components. Another way of expressing that is, it's got metalwork. One word. And then we talk about how big it is. It dwarfs the average house, which means it's much bigger than your average house. And then we can describe the colour. It is striking black and white paintwork. It has striking black and white paintwork, which just means that it stands out. It's very easy to notice.

M: Yeah. Here you do need some description of the place, right? And if you're talking about a museum or an art gallery or a theatre, go to their website. If you have the website in English, take some descriptions from there. Or get ChatGPT to write a description. And then Rory continues describing the ship. And he says, like, oh, it was a trade ship. So they sold things, and then he says she became trapped in ice. Rory, she?

R: I think this is one of the few times in English when we give pronouns to inanimate objects. So ships are traditionally called she and he, her, sorry. She and her.

M: Yes, dear listener, remember the Titanic, the Titanic? And the Titanic is a she. Well, was a she. So if you say, like, oh, the Titanic, they built the Titanic. She...

R: I can't think if we do this to anything else, to be honest. Maybe for space shuttles. Although I usually just say it or space shuttles.

M: When you finish your ideas, you can say, ultimately, she became a museum. So ultimately it became a museum. Ultimately? Like finally. And this is a good idea to add this like, ultimately, apparently. What's apparently?

R: Just according to my understanding of the situation, it is a comment adverbial, in fact. And we've talked about these before, and I've created many activities for listeners to do, well, to practice this. And so if you're interested, drop me a line on Instagram, and I can always send this.

M: Yeah, very useful exercise. And we can say, like, apparently, it has become a very popular place for tourists. So as far as I know, I've been told, I read it somewhere, but I'm not certain it is absolutely true. So still, I have some doubts. I can't say it's true for like 100%. Apparently everybody knows about it. I heard about it, but I'm not really sure. For example, about the weather. You read the weather forecast like, oh, apparently it's going to rain tomorrow. And to finish it off, you can say like, I think it's great we have such a cool museum. I think it's great we have such a cool place. We can wrap it up with second conditional, if we didn't have it, but we do have it. If we didn't have it, it's hard to imagine what my city would look like. So if we didn't have this place, I don't know what my city would look like. What other cultural places can our learners talk about, Rory? Something like, what would be an easier option?

R: Well, any museum, to be honest with you. I think museums are the easiest ones. Anything that's located at the centre of a town. So in my case, that would be the town hall. But I think museums have more stuff in them to talk about, which is why I talked about a museum.

M: Yeah, I agree. Like some attractions, dear listener. Which are connected to culture. Pretty much museums. And you know, if you Google best cultural places, Google gives you cities. Like, for example, Cuba, or even countries. Cuba is a cultural place. Peru, like Cusco. The town in Peru. Yeah, but here, dear listener, we should name a specific place, so not just a country or a city, okay? Yeah.

R: Well, I suppose if you come from China, then you might talk about the Forbidden City. That's like a massive museum.

M: Right, dear listener, so if you are not into culture, well, sorry, then you have to talk about a museum.

R: Time to get into culture.

M: Yes, it's high time, you just started liking culture. So sorry, yeah, but maybe you know a popular museum in your city, and then you can just talk about it. Okay? And you can say it's okay to say, I don't like culture, I don't like museums, but I'm gonna tell you about this museum, which is popular in my city, okay? Or you can say I I'm not into culture, but I know that the Louvre in Paris is a very popular place. I'm gonna tell you about this. I haven't been there myself, but one day I would like to go. It's also okay, dear listener. Alright? Feel free to lie. Thank you very much for listening, and we'll get back to you in our next episode about culture! Bye!

R: Bye!

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