Jennifer: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English from bbclearningenglish.com. My
name is Jennifer and with me in the studio is Neil. Welcome, Neil!
Neil: Hi there Jen. In this programme, we take a look at a topic in the news and
learn some new vocabulary and phrases from it.
Jennifer: In this programme, we’re talking about the growing number of people
living in very tiny places. How big is your house, Neil? I bet you live in a
castle!
Neil: I wish! No, I live in a small, two-bedroom flat, which is not big enough
because there are four of us in it! How about you, Jen?
Jen: Well, my house is very small indeed, but I do feel grateful to have it,
particularly as Britain is experiencing a housing crisis at the moment.
Neil: There’s a shortage of houses in Britain and this has meant that the price
of houses has become very expensive.
Jennifer: The prices have become so expensive that people can’t afford to buy their
own home. A popular way to describe buying your first home in English is
‘to get a foot on the property ladder’.
Neil: Even if you can afford to buy your own home, you might find that your
money doesn’t buy very much. Research out this week has revealed that
the UK has some of the smallest properties in Europe.
Jennifer: I’m glad you mentioned that, Neil, as it reminds me: I haven’t asked you
the quiz question yet!
One European country has new homes which are, on average, almost
80% bigger than the homes in Britain. Is it:
a) Ireland
b) The Netherlands
c) Denmark
Neil: I don’t really know and I’m going to guess that it’s b) the Netherlands.
Jennifer: Well, we will find out if you are right at the end of the programme. So, we
know that there is a housing crisis in Britain, and we also know that many
of the new houses which are on the market, or for sale, are very small. A
typical one-bedroom home in Britain is just 46m².
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Neil: That is tiny! You could say ‘you wouldn’t have room to swing a cat’: now
don’t take that phrase literally; it simply means that a room is very small.
Jennifer: The people building the houses are trying to meet the demand for
properties, so they are building houses with two or three bedrooms, but
those rooms are much smaller than anywhere else in Europe.
Neil: And that’s an interesting difference between Britain and the rest Europe.
Here in the UK, houses are sold according to the number of bedrooms
they have. Elsewhere, people pay more attention to the measurement of
the floor space.
Jennifer: You’re right, Neil. The number of bedrooms you have in your house is very
important to many people in Britain. Now, according to research from the
Royal Institute of British Architects, lack of space is the most common
cause of dissatisfaction that people have in relation to their homes and it
can be really frustrating.
Neil: Yes, especially if you have a lot of belongings and kids to squeeze into a
small space! So what can you do to make a small space more habitable, or
easy to live in?
Jennifer: Well, the design of your house can make a difference. If you have a
minimalist approach it can make your house feel bigger. Listen to this
clip from BBC correspondent Jennifer Pak. She describes a man in Hong
Kong who has transformed his small living space to make it
multifunctional…
BBC correspondent, Jennifer Pak:
Architect Gary Chang lives alone. He has created a walk-in closet, with the help of
sliding walls. This apartment is only 30m², but, using tracks on the ceiling and wheels,
Mr Chang can transform it into a linen closet, a bathroom, and even a full-size kitchen
behind the television set. But the renovation cost as much as the flat itself, so for other
homes in the territory, it’s a constant battle against clutter.
Jennifer: So Mr Chang has modified, or changed, his tiny apartment using sliding
walls. That’s great if you’ve got the skills to do that, but lots of people
won’t be able to.
Neil: As we heard in the report, other people have a real battle against clutter.
If you de-clutter your house, you get rid of lots of things that you don’t
need, like ornaments, books or CDs.
Jennifer: It’s not so bad nowadays – you can store all of your music and books
digitally, which does save a lot of space.
Neil: Many people who live in small places will buy gadgets which save space
and make their lives easier. Here’s Jennifer Pak again, describing a
multifunctional cooking gadget:
BBC correspondent, Jennifer Pak:
Maple Ma likes to make food. This pot can grill, bake, fry and steam using a halogen
lamp to cook. It replaces her oven, microwave and stove. The Hong Kong company that
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makes this pot, German Pool, says its best sellers are gadgets that perform multiple
functions.
Neil: An oven, microwave and stove, all in one! That’s really handy for small
spaces.
Jennifer: Now, we’ve heard a lot about small homes in Britain, it’s time to go back
to our quiz question from earlier. I asked you which European country’s
homes are almost 80% bigger than those in the UK.
a) Ireland
b) The Netherlands
c) Denmark
Neil: And I said b) the Netherlands…
Jennifer: And you were wrong! It's homes in Denmark which are, on average, 80%
bigger than those in the UK. Homes in the Netherlands are 53% bigger
and in Ireland they’re 15% bigger.
Neil: So, all in all, living space is pretty small here in the UK.
Jennifer: Yes, if you want more space, you’ll have to move abroad. We’re almost
out of time now, so Neil, could you remind us of some of the words and
phrases we’ve heard today?
Neil: Yes. They were:
housing crisis
to get a foot on the property ladder
on the market
room to swing a cat
to squeeze
minimalist
de-clutter
Jennifer: Do join us again for another edition of 6 Minute English from BBC Learning
English. Bye for now!
Neil: Goodbye!
