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BBC Learning English6 Minute English7 March 2 141 WomenNB: This is not a word for word transcript

6 Minute English British Broadcasting Corporation 2014Page 1 of 4

bbclearningenglish.com

Feifei: Welcome to 6 Minute English. Im Feifei.

Rob: And I'm Rob. Hello.

Feifei: This week we're celebrating International Women's Day and I'd like to talkabout an experience I had recently. I was lucky enough to meet a group

of women taking part in a BBC event - and I heard many inspirationalstories.

Rob: Inspirational so meaning that these stories give you enthusiasm andmotivation. In other words - they make you want to do things! The event

Feifei went to was called "100 Women: Half the World Speaks". Successfulwomen from all corners of the Earth came to London to sharetheirexperiences.

Feifei: Yes they wanted to share to tell each other about their experiences,feelings and ideas.

Rob: And Feifei, how was it for you to meet these women?

Feifei: I enjoyed their stories a lot and one thing we all had in common is theability to communicate in English. Like me, their effort to learn Englishhelped them to advance their goals.

Rob: The ability to communicate in English helped you all to progress inachieving your objectives, your goals.

Feifei: And we're going to listen to a couple of stories from them. But first, let'sgo for our usual question. Are you ready, Rob?

Rob: I am indeed.

Feifei: The World Economic Forum has collected data about genderin differentcountries.

Rob: Gender that's male and female.

Feifei: Yes. They came up with a list of countries that offer better equalopportunitiesin key areas such as health, education, employment and

politics.


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6 Minute English British Broadcasting Corporation 2014

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Rob: Equal opportunities the right to be treated without discrimination. Well, Ibet youre going toask me which country is at the top of the list.

Feifei: Yes. Rob, which of these countries is best for women? Is it:

a) Swedenb) Icelandc) Denmark

Rob: I don't know so I'll have a guess. I'm going to say a) - Sweden.

Feifei: Well, I'll tell you the answer later. Now let's focus on the experience ofRazan Ghazzawi, a female blogger and activist from Syria.

Rob: And of course Syria is engulfed in a civil war.

Feifei: And some Syrian people have been using the internet to exchange

information. Razan told me how she has freedom of expression- andstays safe by using English.

Rob: Right, so freedom of expression. That's the right to say or write anythingshe likes. Let's listen.

Razan Ghazzawi, Syrian blogger and activistThe government monitors every single (bit of) information that comes out of the

people. That's why they try to control it by blockingwebsites, by monitoring who iswriting whatSo Arabic, which is the language of Syria, is highly monitored. You haveto use another language, a foreign language, to protect yourself. The regime don't knowEnglish that much, they're secretive about this, so I use it as a code.

Feifei: Razan says the government tries to control information by blockingwebsites.

Rob: Yes, she says the government prevents people from accessing thesewebsites because it monitorspeople who write things they don't wantothers to read.

Feifei: So this female Syrian blogger is saying that the government watches andchecks carefully what is said in the country. And she uses English becauseshe says the people in government don't know much about it.

Rob: She is taking a great risk. She is very gutsy!

Feifei: Yes, gutsy brave and determined! Another very courageous woman Imet was Fereshteh Khosroujerdy, an Iranian musician. Her parents didn't

want her to perform in public so she moved to London. And she had tomake an extra effort to learn English. Listen out and tell me why, Rob.

Fereshteh Khosroujerdy, Iranian musicianSightedpeople, you know, can use body languagefor communication. But for me, Ican't see people's, you know, face, when people [are] using the body language. So itwas important for me to learn English as soon as I can.


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Rob: Oh, so she is blind!People with the ability to see sightedpeople canrely on body languageto understand what people want to say. But shecan't do that!

Feifei: We all communicate our message and feelings by our facial expressions,

hand gestures it is not just about words. That's body language. ButFereshteh has only her hearing to help her. It's difficult enough to learnEnglish when you can see, can you imagine the challenge when you can't,Rob?

Rob: Yes - and her English is very good.

Feifei: I asked some of the 100 Women participants to give us some tips on how

to learn English. They are from Iceland, Syria, Kyrgyzstan and India.

Sigridur Maria Egilsdottir, Iceland's top debaterWell, your parents might tell you not to watch too much television but I found that it

helped me immensely learning English and of course reading books in English.

Razan Ghazzawi, Syrian blogger and activistI learnt English by watching four movies a day for two years.

Dinara Zhorobekova, student from KyrgyzstanJust try to talk more, chat more with people.

Aditi Mittal, Indian stand-up comedian, actress and teacherIt's an uphill climb. You climb that mountain!

Rob: Lots of tips there. Sometimes learning English might feel as difficult as

going up a mountain but, as the last woman said:

Both: You climb that mountain!

Feifei: Its the only way. And now I have to give you the answer to the question,Rob. Which is the best country to be in for a woman?

Rob: The options were Sweden, Iceland and Denmark. I said Sweden.

Feifei: Actually, Rob, it is Iceland! This is the top country in the list although theother two are up there in the top ten as well.

Rob: Well, Feifei, it was a pleasure to present this edition of 6 Minute Englishwith you, a woman, as we celebrate the International Women's Day.

Feifei: Thanks, Rob. And we hope todays programmewas inspirational for you

too. Please join us again soon for 6 Minute English from BBC LearningEnglish.

Both: Bye.


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Vocabulary and definitions

inspirational makes you feel motivated to do new and exciting things

share (here) tell others about your feelings, ideas and experiences

advance their goals progress in achieving their aims and objectives

gender the state of being male or female

equal opportunities the right to be treated fairly; having the same opportunities

as other people of different gender, race, sexual orientation

etc.

freedom of expression the right to say or write onesown thoughts and ideas

monitors regularly watches and checks on what is happening or what

people are saying and doing

blocking preventing access to something

gutsy brave and decisive

sighted able to see

body language the use of facial expressions and gestures to communicate

thoughts and feelings; non-verbal communication

Read and listen to the story online:

worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2014/03/140307_6min_100_women_spwww.bbc.co.uk//http:/

ecial.shtml

Related story:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-24650912

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-24371433
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2014/03/140307_6min_100_women_special.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2014/03/140307_6min_100_women_special.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2014/03/140307_6min_100_women_special.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2014/03/140307_6min_100_women_special.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2014/03/140307_6min_100_women_special.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-24650912http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-24650912http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-24371433http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-24371433http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-24371433http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-24650912http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2014/03/140307_6min_100_women_special.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2014/03/140307_6min_100_women_special.shtml

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