If you are a new listener, If this is your first time here, welcome! I’m Craig. This is Reza, and we are going to help you improve your English and take it to the next level.

In this episode: Urban living  

Listener Feedback: Surferlobo on iTunes Chile (24th June)
Este podcast es lo mejor que he escuchado. Los profesores hablan muy bien,
se entiende perfecto lo que dicen y además son muy simpáticos y eso hace que sus clases sean muy entretenidas.
Me reí por montones cuando un profesor habló en inglés pero con acento español. (5 stars)

Vocabulary: Urban living
Where people live:

flat (UK) / Apartment (US) – a block of flats / an apartment block
terraced / semi-detached (a semi) / detached
a penthouse
a condo = condominium (US) – bloque de apartamentos
a bungalow
a farmhouse
a cottage – casita de campo, cabaña
a mansion
a villa – Mediterranean
a tent
a caravan
a mobile home
a council house / a council estate

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Collocations:

a residential area
an industrial estate
a shopping/pedestrian precinct, a shopping centre (UK) / a shopping mall (US)
a building site (UK) / a construction site (US)
green belt
shanty town
local amenities/facilities
red light district
Chinatown

Expressions:

on the outskirts
in the suburbs/suburban area
in the city centre (UK) / downtown (US)
slum
to sleep rough, homeless
to crash (on someone’s floor)
to put someone up
to rent a house/flat/apartment X to rent OUT a house/flat/apartment
The tenant rents the flat – The landlord/landlady rents OUT the flat

Adjectives:

run-down / shabby
to renovate/restore, to do up (an area or a house, flat etc)
bustling
lively
picturesque
cosmopolitan
prosperous
inner-city
dull
depressing

Have you ever been to a dull, depressing place?
City life or country life? Which would you prefer?
What was the area you grew up in like?

to demolish, to knock down

Is it better to demolish and rebuild or renovate and restore?

Send us a comment or question [email protected] or [email protected].

Next episode: Listener Questions: go and come, would and could, como leer en inglés

The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’