Views #875 | Intermediate 5

Wish List

Rebecca talks about what things she wishes she could do but can't.
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Todd: So, Rebecca, let's talk about things we wish could do that we can't do. What is something you wish you could do, that you can't do now?

Rebecca: I think it would be definitely playing music, like playing a guitar. Some of my friends can just pull out a guitar and start singing and then you have everybody around and it's such a great night. I just wish I could join them and actually, yeah, have fun with that as well, but no, I can't play guitar.

Todd: So, if you could play any instrument, it would be the guitar?

Rebecca: Yeah. Yeah. I think so. I have played piano and saxophone before but not overly that well.

Todd: Oh, really so you actually had musical training?

Rebecca: Yeah, when I was in high school.

Todd: In the piano and the saxophone?

Rebecca: Yep. Yeah. The saxophone was maybe for one or two years and I would love to get back into playing that as well, but they're quite expensive little instruments actually.

Todd: Yeah. Slightly.

Rebecca: And then the piano is very large so, you can't really transport that around with you wherever you go.

Todd: So do you think that if had learned music at a younger age, you would still be with it? Was the problem just that you waited to late in life to start?

Rebecca: I don't think so. I think it's more the friends circle that I was with. We weren't really a musical group and the people that I've met now are really musical so you sort of wish maybe if I had kept going I could have joined them now, but I do enjoy listening to them.

Todd: Well, what about singing? Are you a good singer?

Rebecca: No. Not at all. I don't think I want to be a good singer either cause then everybody would expect you to sing all the time so I just do backup vocals. Really badly.

Todd: Well, I'm the same way. I can't sing at all. OK, so basically you wish you could play the guitar, but you have played the piano and the saxophone before.

Rebecca: Yes.

Todd: OK, is there anything else that you wish you could do?

Rebecca: To be able to speak maybe a couple languages would be nice.

Todd: Yeah, that's a good one. So if you could speak any two languages, what two would you want to speak?

Rebecca: I think Japanese and Spanish.

Todd: Japanese and Spanish.

Rebecca: Yeah. Yeah. They both sound really interesting and they're both the countries that I would like to go and visit and maybe attempt to work there but you need to be able to speak the language before you can work.

Todd: Right. That's true. I think if I could choose any two languages I would choose Chinese and Arabic just because both those languages when I hear them they sound so completely impossible to speak, so if you could speak those, that would be pretty amazing.

Rebecca: Yeah, definitely. Yeah, Chinese sounds like a hard language.

Todd: All those tones.

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

pull out

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My friends can just pull out a guitar.

Here, Rebecca means that her friends can easily start playing guitar and singing anywhere, anytime without thinking about it.  Notice the following:

  1. I pulled out my wallet and bought it.
  2. The suspect pulled out a gun and started shooting.

get back into

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I would love to get back into playing.

When we 'get back into' something, that means we start doing it again after stopping for awhile.  Notice the following:

  1. I need to get back into jogging.
  2. She quit her job to get back into painting.

instruments

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They're expensive instruments.

A saxophone, a piano, a guitar, are all examples of musical 'instruments.'  Notice the following:

  1. I think the saxophone is the best sounding instrument.
  2. His shop is filled with second hand instruments.

kept going

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If I had kept going, I could have joined them.

To 'keep going' means to continue doing something without stopping.  Notice the following:

  1. I wish I had kept going.
  2. You should keep going.

backup vocals

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I just do backup vocals.

In many bands there is the lead singer who actually sings the song, and 'backup singers' who add extra vocals. At concerts or on music videos, we usually see backup singers standing behind the lead singer.  Notice the following:

  1. She started her career singing back up vocals.
  2. The back up vocals are great on that song.

Vocabulary Quiz

pulls out • back into • instruments
keep going • backup
  1. I think if you with soccer you will be very good when you're a few years older.
  2. He got rollerblading a few months after his surgery.
  3. Sometimes he just paper and a pen and starts writing.
  4. Right now I play guitar and do vocals in a rock band.
  5. How many can you play?
Answer the following questions about the interview.

 

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