Audio zepis no mertri gza da ni tri.0:00
Listen to an interview and complete these statements in your workbook.0:03
An interview with a journalist.0:07
Ms. Rossi, among journalists you are regarded as a specialist in languages.0:10
They say you are a famous polyglot who knows more than 20 languages.0:14
English, German, French, Spanish, Polish, Czech, Italian are among them.0:20
Do you speak Russian?0:27
I can read and understand Russian texts, but my speaking skills are not very well developed yet.0:28
English is not your mother tongue, is it?0:34
My native language is Italian, but I began learning English as a teenager and have been practicing it ever since.0:37
I hope my English is fluent enough.0:44
When you are learning a language, how do you get to know which words are embarrassing or offensive?0:47
You should certainly look the words up in a dictionary.0:52
But the dictionary is not always the best reference when you are dealing with people's prejudices.0:55
To find out which words can cause offence, I talk to people.1:01
For example, the dictionary says that the adjective elderly is a polite way of saying old when speaking about people, the indication is old should not be used in such cases.1:05
But is elderly the best way?1:16
And how can you find that out?1:19
I speak to various groups of people, scholars and those who are not very well educated.1:21
Their opinions are often far from being identical.1:26
Thus, a working class Londoner, says that pensioners is the most common word when one speaks about old people.1:29
And he adds that he personally likes the phrase senior citizens, which in his view is quite good, and hates the terms old man or old woman.1:36
He characterizes these word combinations as terrible.1:47
So we should use the word pensioner or the unit senior citizen instead of the expression an old person.1:51
Is that the solution?1:56
For instance, Peter Shea, a certain lecturer in gerontology, which is the study of aging, has a different point of view.1:59
Peter says that for him the word old is not insulting in itself, especially if the tone of the voice is pleasant and friendly.2:07
And as in the question, how are you, old man?2:15
Oh, but that's different.2:18
It's just a form of address.2:20
Like old boy or old tap.2:21
By the way, dictionaries mark these collocations as old fashioned.2:24
It is also important to mention that the phrase old man is usually used by certain educated or middle to upper class people.2:28
Peter Shea points out that an accurate description for an old man or an old woman should be an older person.2:36
Peter stresses that the word pensioner is nowadays outdated too.2:43
Yes, and some people find it even offensive because it refers to a person's financial status as pensioners are not employed.2:48
So how does Peter Shea like to describe people who are not young anymore?2:56
He offers a neutral term, a euphemism, which is coming into popularity now.3:01
The first age is the age of education, the second one is the age of work, and the third age is the age of mobile, active life without full time work.3:08
So in Peter's terms, I'm a third ager and I'm not against being called like that.3:18
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