Friends & Family: English Vocabulary and Word Stress

Katie offers a saying — "Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet" — and gets a counter-saying straight back: "Friends are just strangers who won't go away." Then, immediately, a small retraction: "that's a...a little bit pesi...pessimistic". That exchange tells you what this Level 2 unit is like. Real answers, real hesitations, and around fifteen words and phrases you need for talking about friends, family and the people you'd rather avoid.

What you'll hear in this episode

The unit runs in two halves, and each half works the same way. First Katie asks a set of questions on their own, so you can listen for the target words without any distraction: Have you got any enemies? How many close friends do you have? What kind of thing do you argue or row about? Then we check the meanings and the pronunciation. Then you hear the same questions with real answers.

Donnie takes the first set. One of the speakers describes rowing with flatmates about "whose turn it is, to clean the kitchen", and how the dispute is settled: "we always try to settle our argument with a cup of tea and a conversation". There's a thoughtful answer about respect — respecting a writer or a musician, then meeting them and not liking them — and a firm recommendation on how to know someone properly: "if you want to get to know somebody – go travelling with them".

Kami answers the second set, on background, loyalty, making friends, in-laws and relatives. One reply is beautifully honest: "I don't have any in-laws." Another explains being shy in some situations but outgoing overall. Katie joins in too, saying her closest friends tend to be people she met in completely different situations, often abroad — which leads to a shared point about bonding through difficult experiences.

Quick facts

Episode	2.4
Title	Zapp! English Vocabulary & Pronunciation 2.4 - Friends & Family
Pack	Vocabulary and Pronunciation 2
Level	2
Duration	20 minutes 32 seconds
Workbook	Included in the all-in-one pack (€39)

What you'll learn

The vocabulary is useful, but the pronunciation work is where this unit earns its place. We count the syllables in enemy — three — and put the stress on the first syllable of partner. We isolate the opening sound of respect as /rɪ/, and take stranger apart at both ends: the str cluster at the front, the weak /ə/ at the back.

Then come the connections that make English sound like English. In mother-in-law, listen to how the words run together. In get on with, the t in "get" joins the o in "on" — one of those small links that separates a fluent speaker from a careful one.

You'll also meet a genuine pair problem: relatives and relations mean much the same thing, but they start differently — /re/ and /rɪ/ — and the stress lands elsewhere. The workbook's pronunciation exercise pushes the same point, asking whether loyal and close share a vowel (they don't: /ɔɪ/ against /əʊ/), and whether in-law and loyal do (also no). And a grammar detail worth noting: row works as both noun and verb — you can row with someone, or have a row with them.

The words in this unit

an enemy – a person who is against you, wants bad things for you and might want to hurt you. Katie's opening question, and the answer looks back to arguments at school.
to argue / to row (have a row) – to disagree with someone in an angry way, like a fight using words. Both appear in the flatmate story about cleaning.
a close friend – a friend that knows you very well and you know them very well. The subject of a whole exchange about whether you can only have three at a time.
to have things in common – to have similar interest or opinions. Weighed here against the idea that opposites attract.
to respect – to show someone that you think they are a good person or that they are above you in position, by being polite and nice.
a stranger – someone you don't know. Central to both sayings quoted in the episode.
to get to know someone – to start to know someone, to become familiar with their character.
background – information about a person's past, such as their family, where they went to school etc.
loyal – to stay friends with someone and help them even when things are difficult.
in-laws – someone who is in your family because of your marriage.
a relative / a relation – a member of your family, but usually the ones you don't live with.
to get on with – to have a good relationship with someone.
to make friends – to become friends.
a partner – the person you are in a romantic relationship with.

In the workbook

The workbook for this unit contains the full transcript of everything said, including the guests' answers, so you can go back and read the parts you couldn't catch. There's the complete glossary above, with phonetic transcriptions for every entry.

Then three exercises. Practice 1 gives you sets of three and asks which is the odd one out — an in-law, a partner, a stranger — and the answer key explains the reasoning rather than just marking it. Practice 2 is error correction, using the mistakes learners actually make: "We have lots of common things", "We are very near friends", "We get in really well together". One of them is a trap of a different kind: "He's a really great enemy, I love him!" Practice 3 returns to the sounds, asking whether underlined parts match, with the vowel symbols supplied in the answers.

The workbook comes with the all-in-one pack at €39, which covers every episode across the courses.

Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39

Is the audio scripted?

The conversations are unscripted — Donnie and Kami are answering Katie's questions for the first time, hesitations and all. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.

What level is this?

Level 2, from the Vocabulary and Pronunciation 2 pack.

Do I need the workbook to follow the lesson?

No. The audio works on its own and the pronunciation drills give you time to repeat. The workbook adds the transcript, the glossary and the three practice exercises with answers.

What's the difference between a relative and a relation?

Very little in meaning — both are family members, usually the ones you don't live with. The real difference is how they're pronounced, which is exactly why both appear here.

How long is it?

20 minutes 32 seconds.

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