Track 31

Track 31

What’s your mother tongue?

What other languages do you speak?

What do you think is the best way to keep in touch with friends?

Do people keep in touch differently now compared to fifty years ago?

Sample answers:

Examiner: What’s your mother tongue?

Candidate: My mother tongue is Portuguese. It’s predominantly spoken in Brazil but also in other parts of the world, such as Portugal and Africa .

Examiner: What other languages do you speak?

Candidate: Although I grew up in Brazil, I can also speak Italian because my mother and one set of grandparents are Italian and I grew up hearing the language all around me. I’m really proud to be bilingual and I’d like my children to be bilingual too.

Examiner: What do you think is the best way to keep in touch with friends?

Candidate: It depends how far you are from your friends. If you are geographically close, you should meet up face-to-face. Long-distance communication can cause misunderstandings and resentments to build up - when you write, you only have the words on the page, not body language or tone of voice.

Examiner: Do people keep in touch differently now compared to fifty years ago?

Candidate: Well, of course, people use the Internet now and mobile phones. I’m quite young but even when I was a teenager nobody in my friendship circle had a mobile. Now it’s seen as indispensible and you would feel left out if you didn’t have one. But as I said before, I think it’s better to meet up with friends than to communicate using technology. There’s much to be said for communicating in so-called old fashioned ways.