Georgie Hello! Welcome to Real Easy English from BBC Learning English. I’m Georgie.
Neil And I’m Neil. We’re here to help you improve your English with a real conversation in easy English.
Georgie If you want to read along, you can find a text version of this podcast at bbclearningenglish.com.
Right, let’s start the show. How are you today, Neil?
Neil I’m very well, thank you, Georgie. What are we talking about in this episode?
Georgie Today is all about friends. We’ll talk a bit about our friends and why they are important.
Neil Great, let’s get started.
Georgie So, Neil, do you have a lot of friends?
Neil Yes, I do have quite a few friends. How about you?
Georgie Yes, I also have quite a lot of friends. I’ve lived in different places, so I have made friends in lots of different areas and times of my life.
Neil So, Georgie, you said that you have lived in lots of places, and I know you have lived in Spain. So, do you have lots of friends in Spain?
Georgie Yes, I have a few friends in Spain. But now that I live in London, it’s quite difficult to stay in touch with them. But, actually, one of them is coming to visit this weekend.
Neil Ah! So you try to keep in touch with some of your friends. That means to keep contact with them, to make sure that you stay friends by speaking to them.
Georgie Yes, exactly. And if you have a lot of friends, it can be difficult to stay in touch with so many.
What do you like to do with your friends, Neil?
Neil Well, I like to talk to them, mainly. So, I like to meet them maybe in a pub or restaurant, or we go to a sports match sometimes and we… and we talk there and have a good time.
Georgie That sounds nice.
Neil How about you?
Georgie Yes, I’m the same. During the week I think a nice plan is to go out for dinner with friends. At the weekends I like going for a walk or getting a coffee with friends.
Neil You can do both of those at the same time!
Georgie Yeah. That’s right. Sometimes I meet friends, we get a coffee to take away and then go for a walk around the park.
Neil And are you happy about the number of friends you have? Or would you like to have more or fewer?
Georgie I always like making new friends. If you start a new hobby or you move to a different place there are always more people and new people to meet. I like making friends. What about you?
Neil Yes, but I like to see my old friends and if I make new friends, I know it’s something that happens slowly and that’s OK.
Now we have used this word friends a lot, but there are other words for friends too aren’t there?
Georgie Yes. One is mate. I use mate a lot. We also use pal. So sometimes I refer to my friends that are girls as gal pals.
Neil** Gal pals**. That’s a nice expression.
Georgie So, Neil, why are friends important to you?
Neil Ah, yes, good question! Friends are important I think because you can be yourself with your friends. You don’t have to pretend if they’re good friends because they know you as you are. And that’s not the same everywhere you go in life.
Georgie Yep, that’s true!
Neil Let’s recap the language we learned during the conversation.
Georgie We learned mates and pals, which are other words for friends.
Neil We heard keep in touch with, which means see or speak to someone regularly. We also say stay in touch.
Georgie And a few, which means more than two, but not many. So I have a few friends in Spain, but not many.
Neil Thanks for listening to Real Easy English. Visit our website for more activities and courses to help you with your English: bbclearningenglish.com.
Georgie Next time, we’ll talk about holidays and places we would like to go.
Neil See you then, goodbye.
Georgie Bye!