Zapp! English Vocabulary & Pronunciation 2.18 - Music, Literature & Art

Asked whether she'd like her portrait painted, Clare says yes — "I'd love someone to paint my portrait but only if they made me prettier!" — and then admits she has no idea what she'd do with it, because a picture of yourself on your own wall is a bit odd. That's the tone of this episode: two people answering straightforward questions about books, music and art, and being honest when the answer is "not really my thing".

What you'll hear in this episode

Katie puts the same kind of question to two speakers, and their answers pull in opposite directions. Clare prefers autobiographies to biographies, because with a biography "some of the...key information can be left out" and she'd rather hear it in the person's own words. On art she's blunt: "I'm not a huge art fan, if I'm totally honest", though she can name Monet. She writes her own poetry when something particular has happened, doesn't read many novels, and on heavy metal she says simply, "it gives me a headache".

Donnie is more of a talker about music. He likes rap when it's "very expressive, and articulate", but not when the lyrics are violent or misogynist. The last album he listened to was by the Scottish band Mogwai — no singing, just guitars, keyboards and drums, and good for doing the housework. He's reading Isaac Asimov's Foundations and confesses, "I'm on chapter one, and I've been on chapter one for quite a long time", partly because he's reading the Spanish version. He also makes a nice point about sculpture: unlike a painting, if you make a mistake you have to start again.

Around the two conversations, the teaching sections take you through each word's meaning and pronunciation, with sentences to repeat after the beep. One of the speakers also talks about seeing the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and another about renaissance sculptures on display in a city street.

Quick facts

What you'll learn

Sixteen words for talking about the arts, and — more usefully — the pronunciation traps hidden in them. Several of these words look nothing like they sound. Chorus and orchestra both start or contain a /k/, not the /tʃ/ the spelling suggests. The ph in biography and autobiography is a plain /f/. The letter t in fiction and exhibition comes out as /ʃ/, and the h in exhibition is silent altogether. The audio breaks the longer words into chunks — /baɪ/ /ɒg/ /rə/ /fiː/, /skʌl/ /p/ /tʃə/ — so you can build them up rather than guess.

You'll also hear how English speakers soften an opinion before they give it. "It depends", "I suppose", "if I'm totally honest", "I would struggle to give you a name" — these are the phrases that buy thinking time and take the edge off a flat no. Both speakers use them constantly, and copying them will make your own answers sound less abrupt.

Finally, there's the difference between the countable and uncountable pairs the audio points out: a poem is one piece of writing, poetry is the whole art form. Same with fiction and non-fiction, and with a sculpture versus sculpture in general.

Vocabulary from the workbook

• a chorus /kɔːrəs/ (noun) – the part of a song that is repeated. Katie asks which chorus is the most famous in music; the answer is Imagine, by John Lennon.
• an autobiography /ɔːtəʊbaɪɒɡrəfi/ (noun) – a book a person writes about their own life, as opposed to a biography, which is about someone else.
• heavy metal /hevi metəl/ (noun) – very loud rock music with guitars and drums. The audio mentions Iron Maiden and Guns 'n' Roses.
• lyrics /lɪrɪks/ (noun) – the words of a song. Donnie complains about "the same old...clichés".
• a chapter /tʃæptə/ (noun) – what novels are divided into, a part of a novel.
• a sculpture /skʌlptʃə/ (noun) – an art form, a shape usually made from wood or stone.
• a landscape /læn(d)skeɪp/ (noun) – a painting of a view of the outside world.
• an exhibition /eksɪbɪʃən/ (noun) – a showing of works of art.

What's in the workbook

The workbook for 2.18 gives you the full transcript of both conversations, so you can go back and see exactly how Clare hedges her way round the art question and where Donnie repeats himself while he thinks. There's a glossary of all sixteen words with phonetic transcription and a short definition, then three practice sections: a gap-fill using words from the unit ("There were fifty different instruments in the ______"), a matching task that pairs verbs with the right noun — finish a chapter, visit an exhibition, download an album, learn the lyrics, paint a portrait — and a pronunciation exercise on the ch, ph and t spellings. Full answers are included at the back.

This workbook comes with the Zapp! English all-in-one pack, which covers every episode across all our series for €39, with no subscription.

Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39

Common questions

Is the audio scripted?

The conversations with Clare and Donnie are unscripted — you can hear them thinking, hesitating and changing direction mid-sentence. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.

Do I need the workbook to follow the episode?

No. The audio works on its own, including the repeat-after-the-beep pronunciation drills. The workbook adds the transcript, the glossary and the written practice.

What if I don't know much about art or music?

That's fine, and it's rather the point. Clare says openly that art isn't an area she's interested in, and still manages a full answer. Learning how to say that politely is part of the skill.

How do I actually pronounce exhibition?

Silent h, and the t sounds like /ʃ/: /eks/ /ɪ/ /bɪ/ /ʃən/. The audio breaks it down syllable by syllable.

Is this useful at my level?

The episode is part of our Level 2 Vocabulary and Pronunciation series, so it assumes some English but explains every word from scratch.

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