TRANSCRIPTS

UNIT 1
“Hi, my name is Andrea. I live and work in London though most of my family live in
Brazil, I get on well with my sister when I see her but that's only once a year. Do you
spend much time with your family?”
“It's been quite a bit of time my family obviously less now since I left home and left
University but I go back every kind of every other weekend or every say three weekends, so
yeah it's even quite a bit”
“Probably not as much as I could because their kids are busy and I don't have any parents
anymore and my husband's family live a fair by away, so, probably, not as much as we'd like
to”
“I tried to.. yeah.. I try to spend as much time as possible, my..I've got two sisters.. my older
sister lives in London. There she lives on a houseboat actually on the Thames which is very
nice and my little sister lives in Tenerife with my parents”
“I don't know where geographically quite spread out”
“Yeah I do I go to school in Toronto and they live there and I see them on weekends and
whenever I can really”

“Do you think you have inherited any family characteristics?”

“Oh often people say that I found and look a lot like my dad which I don't see but but
everybody else does so I guess I guess I have done”
“Yes I do. A lot of people sometimes say I look like my aunt or my mother but then there
are a couple of my aunts and my cousins that when people see us they're like - “Are you
guys sisters?” ”
“Unfortunately I think I have, but they are probably not all bad. My family seems to all have
fairly good personalities and it is usually fun being around them, so I think I might have been
inheriting some of that”
“Oh absolutely I get stressed very easily I ...I guess take things too seriously sometimes but I
really value spending time with my family and that's probably a big thing that I've inherited”
“Physically yeah, definitely, yeah. I think I'm quite slender and quite tall which is like my
mum but in terms of personality probably not no, I don't think so, no, no”
“Yeah, definitely. I think from my mum I've got the kind of bubbliness and chattiness, she's
very much like that and most of the time I'm like that, but, then, when I'm in a bad mood I
get the dad side and that's he's kind of my mum used to call him “a volcano” because he kind
of just erupts he's really peaceful most of the time but then when you really make him angry
he'll erupt and that's kind of how it is with me”
” There’s this moment I think probably happens to all of us where there was something mum
or our dad did which we hated and then we find that we're doing it”
“Do you know much about your family history?”
“Yes I know quite a lot… group of eccentrics really my family was essentially lived in
Scotland and Argentina different bits of Latin America, so I know… I know quite a lot about
it”
 “We, like, were great writers and historians so we do a lot of work with, you know,
collecting that we did a lot of work collecting that data of our family's history coming from
Barbados and going to Liberia which is where I'm from originally”
“A little bit. One of my aunties did a family tree and it appears that I'm about, I think, third
generation Australian originally, we came from Kandy, clear, in Ireland, so that's as much as
I know”
“Yeah it's quite interesting, actually because my father and my mother were both Catholic
missionaries from Spain and they met in Zimbabwe. They… well… my father was a priest
and my mother was a nun and they fell in love and they, kind of, left the church and decided
to settle down in Zimbabwe and, then, have kids.”
“Yeah I mean Canada is a country of immigrants so my family's from Scotland and France”
“I remember conversations with my grandparents and them explaining but I wish I had
written more down because it's amazing how much you forget and you think I'm sure it's so
vivid I'm sure I'd remember more but I wish I did”
“With your family history play a part in your sense of who you are”
“Yes, very much, so, and part of that is that I was brought up in Latin America speaking
Spanish to my friends and English to my parents so in a sense I was brought up between two
cultures and that at the end is part of who I am”
“Definitely because family is a big part of me and we just try to keep those connections
going”
“I guess it's difficult moments in my head to see what's how much is me and how much is
my family and knowing about my family history and knowing what have I I've inherited
which I'm sure there's lots and lots of habits I must have inherited but I feel that although it's
me but it probably isn't”
“No, not really at all. I left home when I was about 16 or 17, so I think my sense of identities
has been very much formed by my own belief systems and my own lifestyle rather than
being particularly keyed into anything to do as my parents or my grandparents”
UNIT 2
“Hi, I'm quite a private person and I don't ask other people for advice about personal
things very often. If I do, I ask my brother, he's really good at seeing situations clearly.
How about you? Are you the kind of person who asks other people for advice?
“I do actually, as a matter of fact, all the time”
“Very much, so, yes I think there is a great deal of wisdom with a multitude of counselors,
so, yes, very much, asking my parents, my sisters”
“I often ask me for advice when I'm at work and I'm often consult with my friends and a
different piece of advice: what I should do, when I should do it, if I should do it at all”
“No I don't think so, not really, I'd tend to keep myself to myself, so I don't really need too
much advice most of the time. If it's good advice, I'll obviously take it into consideration”
“I'd probably ask people for advice less than my friends but I like to figure things out for
myself”
“Very very much not so. Now I'm one that likes to that likes to do things myself, finding
information myself”
 “I think I would ask more advice on practical or technical things, but… otherwise I don't
really like people to give me advice on my life personal emotional life unless I have a special
problem but there are always people who tend to give you advice nonetheless.”
“well I suppose anything that's… that's really important like I might want to have an advice
about choosing a home or buying something expensive”
“If I want to start a new project make a big change in my life, make a big purchase or
anything that's really a large investment in either time or energy or money then I like to
answer people's advice but ultimately I was like to have the… the last word”
What's the best or worst advice you've ever been given?
“The best advice I've ever been given was to carry a sketch but wherever I go it men sort of
got opportunities through doing that and met my wife through doing that”
“Recently I’ve just won London Marathon and my colleague was just telling me to run faster
he said just run faster and so that was a good piece of advice because I did and to go good
time so”
“I think the best advice I've ever been given was to recapture my love of what I was doing in
order to really be able to truly enjoy it and finish it”
“I think probably… probably for my parents is that if you get your head down and work hard
good things will come to you”
“Never marry again”
“I think the best advice I've been given is to be my own master and trying to have more faith
in myself and that I can find everything if I look closer deeper into myself”
“Worst piece of advice I've ever been given was that I need to blend in, I came from friends
really both from the states and also in England this idea that I just needed to fit in like
another guy at a party or you know that sort of thing”
“To buy that car I shouldn't have bought it in Ireland I don't know I shouldn't anyway”
“Nothing really springs to mind maybe it's because I ignore advice when I think it's bad”
“That was to set up my own business”
What would be your best advice for living a happy life?
“I would encourage you to try and laugh and smile every day”
“Not to focus on yourself”
“To do something that you really enjoy doing. I think whatever it is, if you enjoy doing it
you will also be successful in it and you’ll have a very nice life”
“Just listen to your heart I guess like do what you feel in every moment and try to live life
accordingly
“ Um…take some time out to think about what… what's really… really important to you,
who's really important to you and then act on it”
“Just do whatever you feel right for you don't live how society you might decide but do
whatever you believe in”
“I think for living a happy life I think you have to you... have to find a some.. someone else
who is very much your soul mate, somebody that you can share… share the good times and
the bad times with because it all comes together, but if you've got somebody else to do that
with – that’ll keep you happy in life”.
UNIT 3
“Hi. I love traveling around my home country of Brazil and since settling in London I
miss been there, but I found this little cafe Mia where I live where lots of Brazilians go
at the weekend so I spend lots of time there. Today I'm gonna be talking to people
about travelling in their favorite places. Do you have any holidays or trips planned”?
“I just been on holiday so I just came back last week from Singapore and that was just
amazing, was really good time over there”
“Yeah in about six weeks I should be going to Barbados for a fortnight. I'm really looking
forward to it”
“Yes I do, I'm going to Canada this summer. I go to Canada every summer because that's
where my family is”
“How many dates planned yet but we will probably be off for our usual three weeks in Spain
I think probably August”
“I'm going to Center Parks next week with some friends from UNI and then I'm going to
Scotland my cousin's wedding and I'm going to visit a friend who lives in Spain for a week
as well”
“I'm going to Kuala Lumpur to visit some UNI friends out there who are working, so I'm
looking forward to that”
“For a time be not yet maybe Scotland …in a few month time”
“I haven't got something planned concrete but I next year intend to travel to China via the
trans-Siberian railway. I want to start off in st. Petersburg and then that end up in Beijing.
I've got some friends who live in Beijing”
“I'm here from Australia so we're on a working holiday at the moment so yes so New York
in August and we're hoping to get to Scotland if the money allows it”
“Do you have a favorite place?”
“I really like to go to a place where I've been as a child, so we always went to the North Sea
after…a part of Germany – BIZUM, it's a tiny village but I spent half my use there and it
was just amazing summer holidays so I like to go back there, just for the memories”
“Well I was born in Trinidad and Trinidad and Tobago and Tobago is tranquility for me you
know”
“I don't particularly go to the same place a lot because I quite like to explore so I prefer to
go to all different places”
“My favorite place to go on holiday is probably still Corfu with the place of Elias Stefano’s
which we used to go to until my daughter became 8 and started to get bored with the village
life so we had to get someone more lively and… now, we tend to go to Spain”
“I do enjoy going to South Wales at least once a year. I grew up there and I enjoy going back
there now you know just to see old friends and the old places I used to go”
“There are a few favorite places in London that I just visit occasionally a few parks that I
like…umm..such as Hanson Heifer”.
“Maybe Hanson Melvin. Very often we’re livening in Ballarat sits there and a half drive and
ever since we were little girls we've always gone down there and stayed with our
grandparents and it's always happy memories there”
“I do have a favorite place in the world actually. I used to live in Sydney Australia and there
was a hidden Beach down on the south coast that I used to go and not many people went
there, it was very quiet and I loved going there just for a bit of peace and quiet”
“Do you have a regular haunt that you like to visit?”
“At the moment I'm living in Hackney so in East London and it's there's a really brilliant
market it's called the Broadway market, it's every Saturday and it's just amazing, so there's
lots of odd people lots of music people it's really good food that's a really really nice place to
be on a Saturday and just to relax”
“Well there's a coffee shop called caffeine that's over in Fitzroy via closer to Oxford Circus,
it's a really it's got a really nice atmosphere it's got great coffee and great food but it's
independently owned and everyone who works there is really nice and it always just feels
like a really comfortable place to sit around, chat with friends, or even go there and do some
work”
“There is a nice little Brazilian cafe that I like basically because they make good coffee she's
important it's and it's also two minutes from where I live”
“I suppose my most regular haunt is probably Lord's great ground where I spend according
to my wife far too much time, but I go there when I can”
“One of my favorite places to visit in London would be Primrose Hill. I think that's one of
the most beautiful spots. London doesn't normally have many places where you can go to get
a good view of the city, but I think from there because it's a hill… it's a little bit away from
the city, it's a lovely spot sitting on the top there… there are a few benches on the top of that
hill and just to go there in the evenings and relax, maybe read a book and taking the taking
the view. I would say it's my favorite spot in London”
“There's actually a place called feet River bakery it's quite near my University and it's one of
those places in London you can go and feel like you're not in London because it's so quite
hidden away and it's not very touristy so I quite like it because it's a kind of old your oldie
and it's got a log fire and you can just get away from your own … meet your friends and it's
nice.”
UNIT 4
“Hi, I've never had to call the police but a friends of mine has had to call him a few times
about a noisy neighbor. I almost once stopped by the police on my way home from a party
because of a broken headlight but that's about it. How about you, have you ever had reason
to contact the police?”
“Just once when I was at University - went missing and… and we phoned up not 999 but
phoned up the phone up a local police officer and there was very little wicked they could do
really and we never we never got it back… so … that was the one… one occasion”.
“Oh, yes a long long time ago… yes… yes I got hit by a firework in the street, I know it's
unusual… some boys they offer a rocket at the end of the street in Scotland Where I used to
live and came up and hit me on the leg… I just didn't realize what it was”
“I remember when I was a child, one occasion quite vividly where someone had tried to
break in, they hadn't managed to break in but my dad had woken up and he was shouting and
screaming and I woke up wondering what the commotion was and… yeah, we called the
police and the police kind of searched around the house and it was quite exciting in a way,
you know, quite scary at first but quite exciting to see all the policemen around because
when I was a kid, I think I kind of wanted to be a policeman”.
“No, not really, I mean, I probably maybe with neighbors having loud parties”
“Have you ever broken the law?”
“I’ve definitely broken the law, I'm sure… minor infringement… I'm sure they're not very
serious”
“I suppose I speed occasionally try not so but I suppose I do”
“Downloading music from the internet and carefully photocopying books you know say
you're at University. I'm sure you know photocopying books in the library I don't know what
your agreement the universities have but I must to make them imagine that's copyright is
doubtful”
“I've definitely jaywalked and done little things like that I've never done anything serious
“Near fire, no I haven’t …no I haven’t”
“Yeah… yeah… I was arrested last year for protesting outside an arms fair I was arrested
for criminal damage for chalking on the wall of the expo building that I'm sure I was going
to chop this way to death Expo but I only got as far as this so it cost me 20 quid a short letter
really”
“What legal or social issues concern you the most?”
“I'm very concerned really about the erosion of rights for people who are in need of more
help sort of people with, I suppose special needs I'm talking about”
“I got very good education at university and it was you know I had a lot of grants and a lot of
help from the government and from universities themselves but I think people now may be
put off by the rise in tuition fees and it's something that a lot of young people in England are
very worried about”
“There's a big homeless issue in Toronto so that's a social issue that concerns me legal issues
not really we, I think, have a pretty good justice system”
“I suppose what concerns me most is this question of getting a balance between what you
need to do, to have a society in a community that cares for its weaker members… make sure
people get food and education and at the same time provides individual freedom”
“I think probably over the last year or two the legal issues that concern most have probably
been to do with refugees and asylum seekers”
“Probably the same as in most countries, but it's young people getting work and the right
sort of work social harmony young girls, I think, don't stand up for themselves as much as
they might don't get out in the world as much as they might”
“If you can introduce a law in your country or community, what would it be?”
“I would introduce a law that makes working for charity or for the rest of society… a
favorable thing to do”
“I would make it so that all of the museums are free and more accessible because here the
fact that they're you know available to everyone for free is incredible and we just don't have
that in Canada, so it's you know $20 to get into a museum and I would change that”
“The overthrow the state… dismantling of capitalism… dismantling of all to control, the free
movement of people… yeah… those sorts of things really complete overhaul and
dismantling of… of capitalist state system”
UNIT 5
“I'm a really open person, I don't keep secrets from my friends or family. I suppose I
have things that wouldn't tell everyone things I'm a bit embarrassed about but that's
true for most people. Are you good at keeping secrets?”
“I think, I'm very good at keeping secrets… yes”
 “I'd like to think so… people come to confide in me and I do the same… so, it's a mutual
thing”
“I'd say it depends on the secret sometimes and… yeah, it depends who's telling me the
secret”
“Yeah… I believe so, I think sometimes it's… um… is it going to have important to secretive
than what it's our covers but really things off, I've kept some secrets…trust me”
“No, I'm terrible… I, somehow, I know… don't know if it's a Canadian thing, but there's
nothing that seems really private to me. I just kind of blurred out everything”
“I've got to admit I'm not very good at keeping secrets, if it's a close friend and it's
something I know that they don't want to get out then I will… I will be quite good, but I am a
bit of a gossip. I do like to spread news, I'm quite an open person with my own secrets, so
with other people as I kind of follow the same pattern, it's not very good, it's got me in
trouble a few times” “Yes, I think, I'm pretty good at keeping secrets. I work in television,
so there's quite a few secrets one has to keep professionally”.
“That depends what they are, if it's important, I guess so… if it's gossip not so much”
“Is it ever a good thing to keep a secret for someone?”
“It depends on what secret is. I think some tiny secrets are better kept secret but if it's really
having an impact on another person - I don't think it should keep it away from the people”
“I think it's absolutely essential sometimes to keep secrets from people, I wouldn't like to
overdo it. I would like to be too secretive occasionally… yes… you need to”
“I'm the kind of person who if I think it's better for the other person not to know then I will
keep the secret, although a lot of people will say that's being dishonest but I think deep down
I'm a quite an honest person. I always try and be pragmatic and sometimes to be pragmatic…
yeah, you have to keep secrets”
“It's according to how much that person matters to you. If it's severe benefit for you to keep
it or to tell you know… it sometimes you have to make that decision as a person what's
important”
“Oh yes absolutely… yes, some things you shouldn't tell people because the… you know
hurts their feelings” “If you promise someone else that you'll keep your secret – then…
definitely”
“I think it is because in the past there's been times when I've revealed too much because I
thought that keeping secrets wasn't a good idea, but that can lead to hurt feelings… so, I do
think that sometimes it's necessary to because if the person doesn't know it doesn't
necessarily hurt them, so keeping a secret can be good”
“Do you have a secret talent that your friends or family don't know about?”
“Not many people know that I used to play rugby. I was in the National Malaysian women's
team so I don't play anymore. I should do but no, yeah…that’s the secret”
“Well I don't know, if it's a talent but it's definitely secret and it's something that I usually
bring out parties and so on, it scares people but it's the 90-degree thumb and it goes all the
way back from there to the back… sorry to creep people out, but that's my secret Talent”
“I like to write stories but I don't tell a lot of people about that because. I think they're not
good enough to be told about, so I just keep them for myself and maybe some close friends,
but that's it”
“I used to like to cook but in like the environment I grew up in you could never go cook treat
classes in a mixed school but as I've got older you know I mean I do like to cook”
“Well I like to think I can actually sing but all my friends and family think I can't and I'm not
sure why that is “
“I don't think so I… I'm quite open person so if I discovered a secret talent I think people
would know so”
“Sadly when you get to my age very few of your talents remain supers you've tried most of
them and tried to expose as many as you've got”.