Unit 1 Life is a learning curveListening to the world ScriptsH = Hina; W1 = Woman 1, etc.; M1 = Man 1, etc.Part 1H: I have a full-time job but I like learning new things in my spare time. At the moment, Imstudying Spanish. Im enjoying it but Im finding it quite difficult. Today were asking people about learning new things.Part 2W1: Im learning to speak another language, actually. Im learning French. Im also learning, er,to drive.W2: Im learning to play golf at the moment. Um, my husband and my son play golf, and whenwe go on holiday, I feel that I want to be able to play with them.W3: Im learning to speak Spanish.W4: I am learning Arabic.M1: Well, Ive been learning to play the guitar for about 50 years now. And its a constant process,so still learning bits, yes.W5: Im learning yoga at the moment, and Im finding it quite hard.M2: The courses Im taking are, are training courses for leadership, er, negotiation, (and)evaluation.M3: Im learning Swahili.W6: At the moment, Im learning to paint and draw in evening classes for adults.W7: Im studying part-time after work.M4: Ive er, just learned how to er, do a lot of kayaking.W8: I am learning how to design a website at the moment.W9: Im in a choir so singing, I guess, is pretty much the only thing Im doing at the moment. M5: At the moment, Im taking up a new instrument. Its a traditional instrument from Zimbabwe,and its called the mbira. Er, let me show you.Part 3H: Whats the most difficult thing youve ever learned?M5: Patience, I think.W4: Arabic.M2: Courage.W3: Learning a language is particularly difficult for myself (me), so probably learning theSpanish.W6: The most difficult thing I have ever learned is Mandarin Chinese. I did it in evening classes afew years ago and I found it really, really difficult.W5: Probably capoeira, which is a Brazilian dance, martial art, fight thing. Its a combination ofall of these things. And yes, that was very difficult because there were lots of unusual bodymovements to learn.W1: Learning to drive was the most difficult thing.M3: Well, I learned some Sanskrit, and thats got um, nine cases, two more than Latin. Its quitedifficult by most standards.M4: I think I found French very hard at school.W2: Um, I learned to play the trumpet at school. That was pretty difficult. Er . and maybelearning to drive. I hated learning to drive.ScriptsP = presenter; S = SallyP: Hi. Youre listening to Ask the Expert and in todays program were talking about languagesand how to learn a language. Our expert today is Sally Parker, who is a teacher. Hi Sally. S: Hello.P: Sally, our first question today is from Andy. He says, “Ive just started learning English. Myproblem is that Im too frightened to speak. My grammar is not very good, so Im worried about saying the wrong thing.” Have you got any advice for Andy?S: OK. Well, the first thing is I think Andy should practice speaking to himself.P: Speaking to himself? Im not sure thats a good idea.S: I know it sounds silly, but talking to yourself in a foreign language is a really good way topractice. You dont have to feel embarrassed, because nobody can hear you. You can talk to yourself about anything you like what you had for breakfast, where youre going for the weekend anything. And the more you do it, the more you will get used to hearing your own voice and your pronunciation, so you wont feel so frightened in the classroom. Andy should try it.P: Hm, I suppose so. Anything else? What about his grammar?S: H e has only just started learning English, so he is going to make lots of mistakes, but thats nota problem. Thats how hell learn. Andy shouldnt worry about making mistakes.P: Youre right. So Andy, try talking to yourself, and dont worry about making mistakes. Ournext problem comes from Olivia in Brazil. She is worried about pronunciation. She says, “The problem is I cant understand native speakers. They speak so fast and I cant understand their pronunciation.” So Sally, any ideas for Olivia?S: Well, first of all its a good idea for her to practice her listening skills. She should listen toEnglish as much as possible to get used to how it sounds. Listen to the news, listen to podcasts, (and) watch English television.P: OK thats a good idea.S: And another thing she should do is to focus on listening and reading at the same time. If youlisten to something on the Internet, you can often read the transcript. If you listen and read at the same time, itll help you see what the words sound like and how the words sound when a native speaker is talking.P: Great. Thank you, Sally. Well, huh, Im afraid thats all we have time for today, but next weekwell be ScriptsN = Narrator; I = Ian Deary; W1 = Woman 1, etc.; M1 = Man 1, etc.N: Recent research into the history of IQ tests in Scotland suggests your IQ score might predict