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  • In this American English pronunciation video, I am filming from Umbria, on a farm, here

  • in Italy and I'm going to talk a little bit about my experience in Italy and also we're

  • going to talk about phrases that Americans use when talking about time.

  • We'll go over phrases that use these verbs: kill, waste, spend, save, bank, take, give, and buy.

  • First, let me show you where I am.

  • It's too beautiful not to show.

  • The breeze is blowing.

  • The farm is quiet. Everyone's on their siesta.

  • I have decided to do a little bit of work and share with you a video that I'm going

  • to make here with some reflections on my time in Italy and also doing a contrast with some,

  • something cultural about America, the way we use and talk about time.

  • As David and I were getting ready to go on this trip, we listened to some podcasts, we

  • watched a lot of videos, travel videos, some movies that were filmed here.

  • We were so excited to get to know a little bit about culture in Italy and how it's different

  • from American culture and one of the podcasts that we listened to was an interview that

  • someone was doing for an American who has moved to Italy and she was pointing out that

  • in America, we have all of these different phrases that we use, all of these different

  • verbs that we use with time that they don't use in Italy.

  • In Italy, there seems to be more of a relaxed feeling around time than there is in the US

  • where being on time is very important and we don't want to waste time. That would be terrible.

  • Time is a commodity. So it, it made me think a lot about just the cultural difference is

  • there and then I was thinking it's so interesting the words people use, the verbs people use

  • when talking about time. Waste.

  • So we have the phrasewaste timewhich means we think it is possible to waste time.

  • Not all time is equal.

  • We have the phrase: to kill time, to bank time, to spend time.

  • These really sounds like money kind of terms, don't they?

  • So I found this interesting and I was very excited to come here to Italy to sort of absorb

  • what does it mean to not think about time in these terms because I am definitely guilty

  • of thinking about wasting time. So before I go any further, I want to say that I have

  • prepared a podcast that David and I are going to record and actually, we think we're going

  • to record three that have to do with our time in Italy and they're gonna focus on three things.

  • One of them is going to be just what has it been like to not be a native speaker, what

  • have we learned from that experience, and what might you learn as a non-native speaker

  • of English when you're in America.

  • The next podcast will be on what does it felt like as a person to be somewhere different,

  • cultural differences, what's it like as our personalities being an outsider or someone

  • who's not from here, and then the third one is we both have terrible Italian skills and

  • so we have sort of struggled with speaking and one of our main concerns is being polite.

  • So the third podcast, that's going to come out of this time in Italy, is how to be polite

  • in English when you're asking for something.

  • So the first podcast comes out tomorrow and then the next ones will come out in the future.

  • Make sure you check these out. They're going to be so useful.

  • www.rachelsenglish.com/ podcast

  • You can also search for my podcast in the

  • iTunes Store or also Stitcher.

  • But now, let's come back to this video and talk about this topic.

  • Phrases that we might use when we're talking about time.

  • Studying vocabulary is very important and interesting but also studying whole phrases

  • that we use will really aid in your conversational ability.

  • So in this video, we're going to go over phrases that we use when we're talking about time

  • in American English.

  • Kill time.

  • We use this term to mean find something to do while we wait for something else.

  • For example, let's say I'm meeting a friend for lunch but I arrive 30 minutes early.

  • What will I do for those 30 minutes?

  • I might kill time looking in some shops in the area.

  • With my son, I might sayWe're going to the playground to kill time before his nap.’

  • This phrase is neutral it's not really positive or negative butwasting timenow, that is negative.

  • We do not like to waste time.

  • If we're wasting time, we're doing something that in the end, doesn't matter.

  • For example, I don't want to waste time working on this report if no one's going to read it.

  • Or a parent might say to a kidStop wasting time and do your homework.’

  • We might also accuse someone else of wasting our time.

  • My client keeps changing her mind on what she wants, it's a complete waste of my time.

  • Spend time.

  • The idea here is that time is precious so what we do if it matters:

  • I want to spend time with my son this weekend.

  • I don't want to spend time cleaning the house.

  • I'd rather be outside enjoying the sunshine.

  • He spends a lot of time exercising.

  • Notice with the wordspendandtime’, when I say them together: spend time,

  • I tend to drop the D.

  • This is because it comes between two consonants.

  • And I linked the N into the T. Spend time.

  • I love to spend time practicing the piano.

  • Save time.

  • We use this when we're able to do something faster than we thought.

  • I can skip grocery shopping today so that will save time.

  • If you use our software, you'll save time scheduling the meetings.

  • Saving time is always seen as a positive.

  • Bank time.

  • This is something you do when you're saving and it's usually used with a set amount of

  • time like your vacation time at work.

  • I'm going to bank time so I can take a long vacation over the holidays.

  • That means you're not going to take much time off until then so you can take a really long

  • and nice vacation.

  • Take time.

  • This can be used to show that something isa sacrifice, or it's for something that requires some effort.

  • It's not necessarily a negative.

  • It can be something you really enjoy.

  • For example: tending my garden does take time but I do love it.

  • Making a good YouTube video takes time with all the planning and editing.

  • Fixing my car will take too much time I'm going to take it to the mechanic instead.

  • If yougive something timethat means you have to be patient with something.

  • It may require no effort or taking a break from working on something.

  • For example: I’ve been trying so hard to come up with a topic for my book.

  • Now I'm just going to give it some time and see if a great idea comes to me.

  • But giving time can also mean being patient while you continue to work on something.

  • I just started taking piano lessons again.

  • I have to give it time to feel confident in playing.

  • Give it time, your boss will notice how hard you're working.

  • Buy time.

  • This means you're delaying something.

  • Let's say you're supposed to give a presentation but the projector isn't working, everyone's already there.

  • You maybuy timeby serving snacks while you try to figure out the projector.

  • They want the first draft of my paper but it's not ready yet.

  • I'm going to try to buy some time by telling them I'm sick.

  • Kill, waste, spend, save, bank, take, give, buy.

  • Do any of these translate directly into your language?

  • Okay, guys that's it.

  • I hope you've learned some useful phrases that you may want to use when you're talking

  • to Americans about time and also maybe this has shed a little light.

  • There's an idiom for you.

  • To shed light on.

  • Maybe this video has shed a little light on American culture and how we relate to time.

  • Alright guys, that's it.

  • And so from the beautiful Umbria countryside,

  • that's it and thanks so much for using Rachel's English!

In this American English pronunciation video, I am filming from Umbria, on a farm, here

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