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AEE 2558: Let's Talk Cars Part 3: Essential Car Vocabulary
00:22:00
Get the vocabulary you need to talk about cars
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This is an All Ears English podcast. Episode 2558 let's Talk Cars Part 3 Essential Car Vocabulary.
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Welcome to the All Ears English podcast downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American hosts Learning Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Colorado and New York City, usa. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com subscribe are you looking to buy a car or want to know how to talk about a friend's new car purchase in English? If want to, you get all of the key vocabulary that you need today.
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When you want your spring break to feel like.
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And your kids pool day.
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To feel like and your hotel bed to feel like.
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Ooh.
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And room service to feel like.
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Because at Hilton hospitality feels like.
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Your cabana's ready. Would you like fresh towels?
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It matters where you stay. Book now@hilton.com Hilton for this day. Hey Michelle, got a question for you.
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Hi, Lindsay. Sure. What's your question?
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So, Michelle, when is the last time you bought a car?
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I am in probably like eight or nine years ago at this point. Yeah, it was new at the time. What about you?
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Okay.
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Oh God.
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Years. I think 20 years. I bought a car. I bought a car in college and then I sold it because I moved to Japan. I was like, I don't need my car moving to Japan and then New York and then Boston.
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Right.
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And I never bought one after that. So my partner and I have a car. We kind of share it now, but my partner had that car before we started. Yeah, already had it. So I haven't bought a car in 20 years.
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Michelle, that's pretty good.
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Yeah, I know, I know.
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So today we're going to be talking about what to say when you go to the dealership to purchase a car. So guys, even if you aren't looking to buy a car right now, this is really useful for basic car vocabulary. So definitely keep listening. It's not like there's we're teaching just a lot of vocabulary dealing with cars and how you can describe cars. So this is going to be really helpful. But this is part three, the last part of a three part series that we did. So we're going to give you those episode numbers in just a second. But yeah, this is just about starts the conversation and what you, what you're looking in, like what you want in a car. So this could also Be good for describing your car. What features does your car have? Lots, Lots to talk about. But, Lindsay, what were some of the other. The other two episodes in the series?
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Oh, I loved this episode. 25:49. Let's Talk Cars, Part 1. Why this Builds connection with Americans. Honestly, Michelle, in that episode, I felt like we could have talked for an hour.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Because.
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Yeah, there's so much. There's so much to say in an American culture. There's. For some reason, we just really love talking about cars.
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Well, because it's a huge part of our lives. We don't have a train culture in the U.S. yes, you have a subway in New York, which is pretty good, I guess, kind of. But we don't have a train culture here. We have a car culture. So it's everyday life 100%. So definitely don't miss that episode. And then part two is over on Business English. If you're not over there, you've got to get over there. Guys, open your search bar. Search for business English. That was 5, 2, 1. Take the wheel and your business conversations. Okay, so this was really cool too because we showed you how we take business car vocabulary and idioms and bring them into business. Really, really cool.
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Yeah, actually, definitely. So. And this was all again inspired by a listener question who wanted us to speak more about cars. So thank you again to that listene listener. What a great idea and an important topic. So let's get into it. We're going to talk about, you know, different lists, wish lists, on how you might describe what you're looking for in a car. And we want to say one more thing before we get into this today. This is really exciting. We want to shout out a very special listener.
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Yeah, a one more very important thing before we get into the content today. So a huge shout out. We know that Spotify wrapped came out and we know that thousands of you, you have Allers English as your number one show. But a special shout out to Kimberly G. She is not only a listener, she's also a student in our courses. She comes to open Conversation Club. She listened to Allers English for a total of 2, 206 minutes in 2025.
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That's amazing.
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I've gotten to know her a little bit. She's working really hard in her English in her courses. We just want to say a shout out. Thank you, Kimberly, for being an amazing, super fan and super listener.
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Thank you so much for listening. We really appreciate it. And then, as always, hit the follow button if you are not already following along with the Podcast. So, yes.
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Good.
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Let's get into it. Here we go. To start off, you walk into the store, and the Someone comes up to you and says, how can I help you? What could you say?
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Yeah, yeah. So this is very natural. I'm looking to buy a blank. So, for example, I'm looking to buy a minivan. I'm looking to buy a sport. A sports car maybe. Right. Or we can be a little more formal and say, what, Michelle?
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I'm interested in buying. I'm interested in buying a convertible. Right. Whatever kind of car that it may be. You know, and sometimes, I mean, we could do another episode on this, another time. But, you know, you. Sometimes you might want to stress to them if you're not actually going to buy today. Right. Like, how do you actually say that? Just at the beginning of my search. I'm gonna. I'm gonna make a note to that.
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Do you think mo. I don't know. I haven't been on a car lot in a long time, obviously. But do you think most people buy the same day they show up on the car lot? Or do you think most people maybe. Maybe look, test drive, talk, negotiate, and then maybe go home, come back?
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I think. Yeah, I think they might go. Yeah, I think they might go to a couple places. And then, you know. Yeah. Then. Then it's always like a hardball.
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Hardball negotiation. Right.
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Yeah. So, you know, if once you go in and you're serious, you know, you. You have to kind of know that.
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Yeah. Usually once you go into the. I guess from what I remember, you went into the office of the salesperson. Yeah. Right. And then. And that's probably the day you're probably gonna buy or not buy if you don't come to a good agreement. Yeah. But I feel like maybe people might visit multiple car lots and go home, talk to family, test drive a few things.
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Right. Yeah. So, you know, then they're gonna ask you what looking for. Right. So you could say, I'm looking for something with. Right. So now we're talking about the features of the car. So, Lindsay, what are some of the basic features that you might be looking for in a car?
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You might want leather seats. You know, you might like that kind of luxurious feel. I personally like heated seats. Oh, the best.
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My steering wheel also heats.
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Oh, that's so nice.
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Oh, my gosh.
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Yeah, it just. It just has to work. Like, I've. I've done a lot of rentals in the last few years to drive to California, and often the heated seats just don't Work that well, they don't get that hot. But it just has to be good, you know, good heated steering wheel, good heated seats. But yeah, so leather seats, cloth seats, heated seats, large trunk. You might want a large trunk for storage space for long trips. Yeah, you might want a. What's that, Michelle? In the Notes Theater.
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So like how many seats do you want? So maybe, maybe you want. I mean, maybe you have a large family and I think you could have like. I would not need an eight seater. Right. So maybe if that's your priority, the large car, you might want to stress how many seats you need. A blank cedar.
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Sure. Or maybe you live in a wintry snowy area and you need an all wheel drive or a four wheel drive. Maybe you need a high safety rating because you have kids and you're worried about their safety. Right. So specifying what you're looking for.
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Okay, Exactly. So those are some. Just a few of the things you might be looking for. Like then there's also so many high tech things. You know, some people, they want to have TVs for the kids in the car. Yeah, Things like.
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Yeah, it is interesting on the back of the. The seats. Right, I see that a lot in the back. Yeah.
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Or. Or another big one is like the, the camera to see behind you or if there are like alerts.
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Oh, yes, yes. And then you try going back to a car that doesn't have a camera for parallel parking. Forget it. It's bad.
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Yes, yes, exactly.
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That's. So once we get used to these luxuries, we can't go back to a basic bare bones car. Right?
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Yeah, it's definitely true.
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Yep.
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All right.
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Actually, Michelle, I want to bring that up as a little bonus here. I use the phrase in our. In our banter. Bare bones. A bare bones car. A bare bones home. What does this mean? I feel like this ties in pretty well.
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Yeah. With this conversation, it's kind of like nothing fancy. Right. I just need it to work. You know, maybe you don't want to spend a lot of money or for a house, maybe you want it bare bones because you like to renovate. You like A project. So bare bones is just. Just the start.
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Yeah, for sure.
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Just what's essential.
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My first car and my second car both were so bare bones that literally they had the non power steering. So that means that literally you were turning the wheel with the steering wheel like you were turning the wheels of the car. And I don't know if this is totally gone now or if like every car comes with power steering. I have no idea anymore. I assume. Yes. But anyways, it's just funny to think about your first purchase and talk about that with people. About how like basic your car was. Maybe.
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Yeah, yeah, definitely. It's a. It's an interesting topic. And then, then people. Some people really love like the classic cars or they go car shows. I mean my dad, he. Guys, we just did this. We were talking. I can't help doing something. My dad can't help stopping and looking at a. Like an old car if he sees one. Michelle, look at that car. Michelle, do you see that car?
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Does he. Does he like collect them? Because that would be okay. Okay. Okay.
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He just thinks that he just likes them. You know, he just likes the look. So he gets excited if he's.
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Okay. Got it. Yeah. So. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, that's. People have collections, right? People. People collect things and then they can't help it sometimes. It's true for sure. But cars are kind of cool. Like I actually kind of like those car shows are kind of fun.
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Yeah, it's pretty cool. Some cars are really amazing. When you see like the old timey cars, it's pretty amazing.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. What are the kinds of cars that we might talk about?
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Well, SUV is a very popular one now. Sports utility vehicle. So what is an suv? It's just a. I just think of it as a big one.
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I mean, what a big. It's a big one. What is an SUV anymore? Because I feel like SUVs now have good gas mileage. They didn't used to. And I feel like they. They kind of ride and feel more like cars than they used to. They used to feel like trucks. Like we have a Toyota 4Runner which rides like a truck. Because it's a 2006 4Runner. It rides like a truck. But nowadays you buy an suv, it feels like a car. So what is an SUV anymore? I mean you. Sometimes they have four wheel drive. Not always. Yeah, they just. There's. It's supposed to be a sport utility vehicle. Right.
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Wait, so your current car is 2006?
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Yes.
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Okay, Lindsay, you need to get.
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Now. We Love our Toyota 4Runner. Oh, my God. It's amazing. Like, I, I've said this in the show before. Like, it's, It's. It's got almost 300, 000 miles on it. It's amazing. Yeah. Wow.
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That's very impressive.
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Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
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Then. Then there's this word sedan.
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Yeah.
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So a sedan is just kind of an umbrella term, as. Am I right? It's like for any small. It's any car that's not an suv.
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Right.
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It's like a smaller car. It's not a minivan, it's not a suv, it's not a truck. It's just a regular car.
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Yeah, I think you. I think, I guess sedan could be a. A two door or a four door. I know they used to call two doors like coupes. A coupe, but that's a more like niche term, so I wouldn't worry about that term here. The sedan is just a car with two or four doors, let's say that much. And then a minivan. These are always fun. We had these when I was a kid. Right.
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Station wagon. That's another one. That's what I had as a kid.
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Yeah. That makes me think of. What is it? Griswold's family.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. Vacation.
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Christmas vacation.
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No, that one.
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The.
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The vacation movie.
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That's the first one.
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It's where they go to Wally World.
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Yes.
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Yeah, yeah.
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And then.
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But in all of them, they always. They also in Christmas vacation, they have a scene where they're driving in their station wagon.
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Yeah.
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The beginning. Yeah.
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Just to let our. Listen, these are the Chevy Chase movies, right? The.
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They're so good.
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Look at, look them up. Lots of references, guys, in American English that people are going to continue to bring up, especially if you're talking to millennials or Gen Xers, they're going to bring those up. Okay. Yes, yes. What else, Michelle?
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So, yeah, minivan, it's a. It's also larger, but it's. It's like thought of as like the mom vehicle. Right? It's like.
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Sure, yeah. For sure.
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You know, a lot of people with kids might get a minivan. It's easy to open the doors on both sides. The kids can slide them. Sliding doors.
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Yeah.
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Yes, exactly. Then there's convertible. What is it?
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Which is pretty much the opposite. The polar opposite of the minivan.
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Right?
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Yeah. It's like the one you actually want to buy, but you have to buy the minivan. Convertible. Just the top comes off generally, is what that means. Right. The top is. It's like a soft Top and you can bring it down. So in the summer you can have the wind running through your hair.
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We, my dad had a convertible for fun. A period of my childhood. It was a red convertible.
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Oh, it's got to be red. It's got to be red.
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Exactly. So it was kind of fun. And then there's sports car, which is a sporty, cool looking car.
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I mean, kind of, kind of all the brand names that you think of, like, what are they? Thunder, Viper. I'm not coming up with any hilarious. Porsche. Okay. Porsche, Porsche, good job.
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I don't know.
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BMW, Porsche, Audi, maybe. Maybe just all those. You know, our listeners know, they know, you know the brands. They know an electric car now. So electric cars are becoming popular in the U.S. although now they're kind of going backwards. I think the electric car industry in the US But I know in other countries this is really progressing.
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Yeah, yeah. So interesting. I mean, Lindsay, what is the most. If you were to buy a car now, which I think you should know, what is the most important thing for you? Like, what would you want? Sounds like you like the heated.
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I mean, obviously longevity of the car. Right, right. Because heated seats and I want the car to last another 300, 000 miles. I just don't think cars, this is my personal, like money opinion. I think cars are a really bad investment.
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Yeah. Because they don't, they don't gain value.
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They immediate. What is it like? They lose 50 of the value as soon as you drive it off the lot. So it's like I just don't want to spend money on cars. Totally agree. Yeah. Yeah.
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But some people, they really love that. And that's okay too.
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Yeah. If it's a hobby, if it's an interest, then it's the same thing as whatever we do for our hobbies, hiking, whatever it is. Right.
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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All right, guys, before we do our role play, just want to remind you again to check out part one and part two. We gave you the numbers earlier. Yeah. To complete the series, but this was so much fun. Let's do a role play.
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Here we go. Michelle, we are. I am going to buy a car at a dealership and you worked there. Okay. So we're going hardball now, Is that right?
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There we go. All right. All right. Hi, how can I help you?
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Hi, I'm looking to buy a minivan.
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Oh, okay, Excellent. We have a huge selections. What are some of the most important things that you are looking for in your minivan?
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Well, I'm looking for something with a high safety rating. Also, I'd really like to have leather seats.
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Okay, excellent. And do you want heated seats?
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Oh, yes, definitely. In this weather.
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Oh, I hear you.
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And I'd love to have an eight seater.
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Okay, perfect. Let me go over our options.
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That's funny. Leather seats in a minivan. I'm trying to like, soup up the minivan. Right?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
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Oh, that's funny. I love it. So, all right, so I started by saying, hi, I'm looking to buy a minivan. And earlier in the episode we said that you could say, I'm interested in. But looking to do something is just slightly more casual.
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Yes, okay. Yes.
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Yeah.
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And then you said, I said, what are some of the most important things you're looking for? And you said, well, I'm looking for something with a high safety rating. Also, I'd really like to have leather seats.
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Yeah, nice. And then he said, okay, excellent. And did you want heated seats? And you know, we've done grammar episodes on. Why would you say, did you. Because right now we're having this conversation. It's the present tense. Yeah.
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And.
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And the quick answer is just, it's a little bit more indirect. Yeah, right.
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Yep, exactly. So heated seats. And then you said, and I'd love to have an eight seater. So you need a big car.
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Yeah, a big car, big family. Nice. Love it. All right, Michelle, what is our takeaway for today for? I mean, I know a lot of our listeners might be looking to buy a car in the US and what can we take away from this episode?
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Yeah, well, there's so many things that are important to different people when they're buying a car. I mean, a car is a very personal purchase. Right. What is the. Who's going to be driving the car? Who's going to be riding in the car? How much do you want to spend on the car? Are you really into cars or do you just want a bare bones vehicle? So it's such a personal topic. And again, guys, even if you aren't buying a car right now, these are all very useful words just to know basic vocabulary about cars and different features of cars, different kinds of cars. So overall, you know, this has been like a really huge series. This topic of cars is very important in American culture and it can lead you to an incredible amount of connection opportunities. So, yeah, we gave you a lot of tools to talk about cars through this series. So again, if you haven't listened to the others, listen to the Part one was on Allers English and the second part was on Business English. Our other show.
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Love that, Michelle. Good stuff. Thanks for this putting together this series. So important. Even if we're not walking onto the lot to buy a car, you might be walking to your over to your friend's house and they just bought one. Now, what's the conversation you're going to have? You have the tools now to have that conversation. All right, good, Michelle, we'll see you soon. Have a good day.
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A
All right. Bye. You too. Bye, guys. Bye.
- [20:36]
B
Thanks for listening. To all ears. English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our two minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com forward/fluencyscore. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.
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