📙 Part 2: Describe your favorite climate

You should say: what kind of climate it is, where the climate occurs, how hot or cold the climate is, and explain why you like this type of climate.

This episode's vocabulary

• Mediterranean (adj.) - relating to the Mediterranean Sea or the countries around it.
• Bucket list (noun) - a list of the things that a person would like to do or achieve before they die.
• Balkans (plural noun) - a region in southeastern Europe between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.
• Coastline (noun) - the particular shape of the coast, especially as seen from above, from the sea, or on a map.
• The Adriatic Sea - a sea in Europe that is part of the Mediterranean, between Italy, Albania, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• The Med (noun) - the Mediterranean Sea or the countries near it.
• Strong suit (noun) - a particular skill or ability that a person or an organization has.
• To cool (someone/something) down/off (phrasal verb) - to become less hot, or to make someone or something become less hot.

Questions and Answers

R: Well, I quite like Mediterranean climates like that in Spain or Slovenia, to be honest. Other than Argentina, Slovenia is the only place left on my bucket list. It's a small country in/or near the Balkans, depending on who you ask, and it shares a land border with the north of it. Given its location, it's probably safe to say it has a pretty typical European climate with these cold winters or cool winters and warmer summers. Like I said, you could even call it Mediterranean since it has a small coastline with the Adriatic and that's kind of part of the Med, or at least I think so. Geography is not my strong suit, but it's roughly in that location. When it comes to the temperature, I'm not sure that they differ greatly from the surrounding countries. And they seem to do rather well for themselves, at least in terms of temperatures, especially in the summer. It's possible that with a smaller coastline, the influence of the sea is greatly reduced compared to others. So they might have massively warmer summers without the sea to cool things off, but that's just a guess. Like I said, I haven't really experienced this specific climate in this specific place before, but it's similar to what I've experienced in Spain, for example. So how different could it be? And regardless, I like the heat, so that's not going to be a problem for me. Indeed, it's one of the reasons I want to visit there. Like I said, I hear the summers are rather spectacular, in addition to the culture and the architecture, and there's one particular seaside town I'd like to go to called Piran. And since that's next to the sea, even if it does get too hot, I'll still have somewhere to cool off. And that's why I like that sort of setup, climate-wise, because it gives me options, and you can never have too many options, at least in my opinion. If I don't get the chance to experience this climate again, I won't feel too bad about it, but like I say, I quite like the sunshine, so this would be a good opportunity to experience that.

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

R: I imagine they'd like it more compared to the climate here, for sure.

Discussion

M: So dear listener, what a topic. Climate. So describe your favourite climate or weather. Or, for example, describe a country where you like the climate, okay? Or describe the climate you'd like to go to. Something like this. Right, dear listener? listener?

R: So I have tried to compromise and do all three.

M: Yeah. And Rory doesn't like the climate in his own country, because he lives in Scotland, in the middle of nowhere, the weather is absolutely dreadful. So Rory told us about Slovenia. He likes Mediterranean climates. Okay? I like Mediterranean climates. And actually, what other climates do we have? Mediterranean climates. What else...

R: I have absolutely no idea. The only climate I'm aware of is the Mediterranean. Maybe we could talk about Northern, so it's like cool summers and cold winters. What else could we talk about? We could talk about Siberian or Arctic climates.

M: Warm climates.

R: Warmer climates. Yeah.

M: Yeah. People enjoy warmer climates. So countries with temperate climates. What's this? Temperate climates?

R: Grossly oversimplifying, temperate climates are what... They're cool, but they're not cold. They're sort of in the middle, moderate climates.

M: Yeah, moderate. Like not super hot, not super cold. And, dear listener, you can also say - a pleasant climate. Ooh, like, what countries have a pleasant climate? Greece, Portugal, and Spain have pleasant climates. Brazil, Italy, New Zealand. Surprise, surprise. Mexico. Come on. Doesn't it get super hot in Mexico? Costa Rica. Argentina has a pleasant climate. Australia. So there's a top 10 countries with a pleasant climate, according to usnews.com There you go. So Mediterranean climate, like Greece, right? And Spain?

R: I think so. Yeah. Those are the popular ones and Italy as well. But I think Slovenia also has one. Like I say, I'm not an expert on geography, so maybe it's got a slightly different one.

M: Yeah, dear listener, so this topic does require us to know things about climates because speaking part three is going to be about climate. Surprise, surprise. And if you are far away from this topic, you should go to National Geographic and read some stuff about climates. I don't know, climate features. What's going on? Microclimates.

R: And if not, then you can check out our geography episode. We have an episode on geography, I'm sure.

M: Yeah, welcome to IELTS Speaking for Success geography class. Tropical climates, dry climates, mild climates. Oh, there you go. Mild climate includes Mediterranean climate and marine climate.

R: I thought you're gonna say Maria climate.

M: Maria climate... Continental climates, warm summers, for example. And super cold, like polar climates. Like, well, the North Pole. Dear listener, so, what climates do you prefer, do you like? What's your favourite climate? Well, the Mediterranean is the answer. So Rory told us about Slovenia. And also Argentina. But you've never been to Argentina, Rory? Not yet?

R: I have not. No, they're on the bucket list.

M: Ooh, I've been to Argentina.

R: Ooh.

M: And Argentina is on Rory's bucket list. So it's on my bucket list, which means that Argentina is on my wish list. I want to visit Argentina before I die. So yeah. It's on my bucket list. So you can say that this place has a pretty typical European climate. So a pleasant climate. A warm climate, with cold winters and warm summers. But it's not like super cold, not super hot, right? Usually, in Slovenia. And we call it Mediterranean because Slovenia has a small coastline.

R: A tiny coastline.

M: A tiny, a very small.

R: Tiny, but spectacular.

M: With the Adriatic... How do you pronounce this?

R: I say Adriatic, but I imagine there are a million different ways to pronounce it.

M: Yeah, then you should comment on the temperature. When it comes to the temperature, I am not sure... So as for the temperature, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Here you can also talk about the influence of the sea, because the temperature may be different from one place to the other. When it's closer to the sea, the temperature might get, I don't know, warmer or colder. Like closer to the coastline, it could get warmer, for example. And you can say that this country has massively warmer summers, so like real warm summers. And Slovenia has the sea to cool things off.

R: To reduce the temperature.

M: So the sea is pretty cold. Right? In Slovenia.

R: I don't know if it's cold, especially not in the summer, but certainly, the more sea that your country is exposed to, generally, the cooler it is, because it helps control the temperature. Do not ask me how.

M: You can say that I don't like the heat. The heat is when it gets like really hot. I don't like heat. I prefer mild weather, like pleasant weather, so not super hot, not super cold. Also, you can say, I don't like freezing cold. I don't like strong winters, severe winters, like very cold winters. Do we say strong winters?

R: I would say severe winters.

M: Severe, yeah, sorry. Like strong winds. I don't like strong winds, when the wind blows really in a strong way. Severe, severe, or like, really cold winters. And you can say that I enjoy warm summers, and I'd like to visit Slovenia because of its climate, culture and architecture. And also, like the coastline which is beautiful. And for example, you can say that I really enjoy places which have the sea where I can cool off. So if you cool off, you kind of like chill. Right, Rory? What do you do when you cool off?

R: You could go paddling. Or you could go swimming. You could go diving. So all of these are different levels of interaction with the water, getting deeper each time.

M: Yeah, when you cool off, you kind of, you cool yourself from the heat.

R: You chill out.

M: And you've talked about the sea, you've talked about warm summers and coastline, and you could say like ooh, I like that sort of setup in a country. Yeah? Like climate wise because it has like warm summers and pleasant winters.

R: But I'm looking forward to finding out more about them.

M: About what?

R: Well, the weather, really, in general, but the summers in particular in Slovenia.

M: Yeah, dear listener. So the topic could be about a place with a climate you like, or just about like your favourite climate. If, for example, you like the sea, you can speak about marine climate. Okay? So like the climate of a place by the sea. The climate could also be humid. Humid is, for example, like in Thailand, when it's humid. Usually, we enjoy pleasant climates or moderate climates, Mediterranean climates. Also we can talk about tropical climates. Where do we have tropical climates?

R: In the tropics.

M: Yeah, but usually it's pretty hot, right? So we don't usually enjoy it.

R: I think it's hot and humid in the tropics.

M: You can also talk about the weather. So when you talk about the climate, like the weather is usually nice, and then your vocabulary about the weather is all good. And please listen to our episodes about the weather. We give you pretty much all the vocabulary you need, because like weather and climate are connected. You can also talk about floods, droughts, and earthquakes. They are also kind of part of the climate, I think. Rains, snow. So pretty much like the vocabulary for the weather. Listen to our weather episodes.

R: Do we have an episode about the weather?

M: Yes. I think like two weather episodes. You just Google IELTS Speaking for Success, weather. And you'll find our weather episode.

R: Nice.

M: Thank you very much for listening, and we'll get back to you in our next speaking part three episode about...

R: More about weather and climate.

M: Bye!

R: Bye!

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