Talking About Change in English – Vocabulary & Pronunciation

Ask two people about change and you get very different answers. In this episode Katie asks about England's weather and Alec decides that changeable "was probably, invented" for it, before adding "Or unpredictable." Later, Stuart hears the phrase queue switcher and stops dead: "what the hell's a queue switcher?" Between those two moments you get fifteen words for describing how things change, stay the same, rise, fall or refuse to budge — and a fair amount of pronunciation work along the way.

What you'll hear in this episode

The unit is built in two halves, each one a set of questions that Katie puts to a guest in an unscripted conversation.

In the first half, Alec answers. He talks about converting to a religion — a friend who became an ordained Buddhist monk and has recently left the brotherhood — and Katie mentions a friend who converted to Islam and has been fasting over Ramadan. Asked what the biggest transformation in life is, Alec says having children. Asked which animal he'd turn into, he starts with the obvious answer, a bird, then changes his mind: "I'm a massive cat person", mostly for the sleep, the attention and the fact that cats "can do whatever they like". One of our speakers also describes a January trip to Iceland looking for the Northern Lights, where the landscape is "like the moon but icy".

The second half is with Stuart, on numbers and stability. Living costs going up, organic food coming down, energy prices hard to call. One of the speakers says his weight "fluctuates between around about…about ten stone and ten stone one", which prompts Katie to point out: "So it doesn't fluctuate really at all!" Then there's the identical twin question, Katie's excellent objection — "How can you be an almost identical twin?" — and a story about passing one twin off as the other at a university reunion, with nobody noticing.

Quick facts

Episode	3.11 – Discussing Life Changes
Pack	Vocabulary and Pronunciation 3
Level	3
Duration	20 minutes 21 seconds
Words and phrases taught	15
Speakers	Katie, with Alec and Stuart

What you'll learn

You hear each set of questions twice: first on their own, so you can decide which words you already know and how you'd answer, then again with the answers. That second listen is where the work happens, because the answers are real speech — full of false starts, self-corrections and hedging. Stuart's reply on prices is a good example of how English speakers avoid committing to anything: "it's all difficult to say really", "I don't know, but yeah".

The pronunciation sections focus on the sounds that learners tend to give too much weight. In changeable, the stress is on the first syllable and the second is /jə/. The second syllable of to alter is weak, /tə/. In natural speech convert starts /kən/, not /kɒn/. In to turn into, listen for the way the /n/ joins the /ɪ/. And in to fluctuate, the /t/ sounds like a /ʧ/.

The workbook takes this further with a sound-matching exercise: rise pairs with identical on /aɪ/, fall with transform on /ɔː/, fluctuate with switch on /ʧ/, adapt with alter on the weak /ə/, and fluctuate again with changeable on /eɪ/. It's a useful reminder that spelling tells you very little about which sound you'll actually need.

Vocabulary from this unit

changeable /tʃeɪndʒəbəl/ (adjective) — changes quite often and with no warning. The word Alec decides was invented for England's weather.
still /stɪl/ (adverb) — shows that something has stayed the same, even when we thought it might have changed. Used in the question about parents staying in the same house.
to alter /ɒltə/ (verb) — to change a person or a thing, to make it different. Alec would alter the length of his beard, "Reluctantly."
to convert /kənvɜt/ (verb) — to change from one thing or way of doing things to another; also used about changing religions.
to transform /trænsfɔːm/ (verb) — to change completely, in a positive way.
to turn into /tɜːnɪntʊ/ (phrasal verb) — to become something different.
to adapt /ədæpt/ (verb) — to change the way you behave so that you can fit into a new situation.
to rise /raɪz/ and to fall /fɔːl/ (verbs) — increase, go up; decrease, go down.
to fluctuate /flʌktʃueɪt/ (verb) — go up and down, not stay at the same level.
stable /steɪbəl/ (adjective) — staying at about the same level, not going up and down.
to switch /swɪtʃ/ (verb) — to change one thing for another thing.
identical /aɪdentɪkəl/ (adjective) — exactly the same.
steady /stedi/ (adjective) — not changing amount or speed, moving at a constant speed.
slight /slaɪt/ (adjective) — small, about differences in size.

In the workbook

The workbook for this unit is part of the paid all-in-one pack. It opens with the two sets of discussion questions written out, so you can read them while you listen or use them for your own speaking practice, then gives the full transcript of both conversations — Alec on weather, beards and cats, Stuart on costs, queues and twins.

After that comes the glossary, with all fifteen terms, their phonemic transcriptions and short definitions, followed by three practice tasks. Practice 1 asks you to match sentences with paraphrases, so remained steady has to line up with have not fluctuated, and never the same from one day to the next with very changeable. Practice 2 is a choice of the best word in each sentence, including the steady or stable increase in sales, and the trousers you need to alter rather than adapt. Practice 3 is the sound-matching pronunciation task. Full answer keys are included.

The pack contains the workbook for every episode across the series for €39.

Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39

Common questions

Is the audio free?

Yes. The English conversations are free to download. The workbook that goes with this unit is part of the paid pack.

Is the conversation scripted?

The conversations with Alec and Stuart are unscripted — you can hear the pauses and the rethinking. The teaching sections that set up the tasks, give the words and provide the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.

What level is this episode?

Level 3, from the Vocabulary and Pronunciation 3 pack.

Do I need the workbook to follow along?

No. The audio works on its own, including the repeat-after-the-beep pronunciation practice. The workbook gives you the transcript, the glossary and the three written exercises if you want to fix the words in place.

How long does the unit take?

The audio runs 20 minutes 21 seconds, and the written practice adds a little more.

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