Catherine ...and I'm Catherine. Hello! Welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary.
Rob Our subject for today is onomatopoeia. That means, words that sound like the thing they mean. And Catherine and I will be trying to demonstrate some of these words today.
Catherine Yes, like that sound most people's phones make when you get a text messages. We call that sound a beep.
Rob Beep!
Catherine That's it Rob, yeah. That's onomatopoeia: the word sounds like the thing it means. Beep!
Rob Beep beep! Yes, have I got a message? Hold on. Right, OK. There are lots of examples of onomatopoeia in the English language, and we'll take a look at some of them on today's show.
Catherine So let's start with a clip of Oliver. And he's talking about living in the city.
Rob While you listen, try to answer this question: How does Oliver feel about city life?
INSERT Oliver It's too noisy for me! All the cars zooming around and honking their horns, music blaring in shops, machines buzzing and bleeping… even at night, it isn't quiet, you can still hear the fridge humming, and the rumble of the traffic outside. Then I wish I was far away from the city, sleeping in a tent, with no sound except the rustle of the wind in the trees.
STING
Catherine So that's Oliver. And we asked you how he feels about city life.
Rob And Oliver said it's too noisy for him.
Catherine I know how he feels – London: same. Anyway, here's another question: what words did Oliver use to talk about the sounds of the city in the daytime? Listen again.
INSERT 1 CLIP 1 All the cars zooming around and honking their horns, music blaring in shops, machines buzzing and bleeping.
Rob Lots of lovely vocabulary there! Oliver talked about cars zooming around. Zoom, spelt z - o – o – m - is a verb, which means 'to move very quickly, making a zooming sound'.
Catherine Zoom, zoom.
Rob Watch out!
Catherine Then he mentioned the cars honking their horns. A honk – spelt h – o – n – k - is a short, loud sound – like a car horn makes. Honk honk!
Rob OK, next, Oliver talked about music blaring. The verb to blare: that's b – l – a – r – e, means 'to make a loud, unpleasant sound' – like music that's much too loud. Blaring!!!
Catherine You got teenage kids Rob?
Rob Not yet, no.
Catherine They'll be blaring their music soon enough. OK, and Oliver also mentioned machines bleeping and buzzing. Now a bleep…
Rob Bleep bleep.
Catherine That's one b – l – double e – p - is a short, high sound, which electronic devices make. Something like this: Bleep, bleep, bleep. That sounds like a heart monitor.
Rob Very good.
Catherine And a buzz - that's b – u – z – z - is a low, continuing sound, like machines and insects make.
Rob Yes. Buzzzzzzzzzzz….
Catherine That's it Rob.
Rob Like that, yes?
Catherine Well done. Perfect.
Rob Is there a bee in here? Now, the sounds of the city don't stop, even at night. Here's Oliver.
INSERT 1 CLIP 2 … you can still hear the fridge humming, and the rumble of the traffic outside.
Catherine So he can hear the fridge humming. The word hum – h – u – m - describes a low, continuous sound. And a hum [HUMMMMMMMM] is different from a buzz [BUZZZZZZZZ]! Can we listen to your hum and your buzz, Rob?
Rob OK, why not? Here we go. [HUMMM] and [BUZZZ].
Catherine Is that your fridge and your bee?
Rob That's right, yes, in that order.
Catherine Oliver also spoke about the rumble of the traffic out in the street. Now, a rumble – r – u – m – b – l – e - is a bit like a buzz, but there's a difference – a buzz [BUZZZZZZZZZ] continues without changing, but a rumble goes up and down, like the wheels of a truck on rough ground going rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble.
Rob Rumble. You carry on rumbling.
Catherine OK.
Rob Finally, Oliver spoke about the sound of the wind in the trees. Listen out for the word he used.
INSERT 1 CLIP 3 Then I wish I was far away from the city, sleeping in a tent, with no sound except the rustle of the wind in the trees.
Rob Rustle describes the sound of the wind, A rustle is a soft, dry, moving sound. It's spelt r – u – s – t – l – e. And in pronunciation, the t is silent, so it's rustle. Rustle, rustle, rustle…
Catherine Quite a nice sound really.
Rob Thank you.
Catherine Yeah.
IDENT You're listening to BBC Learning English.
Catherine And our subject today is onomatopoeia – words that sound like the thing they describe. And it's time for a quiz! Question one. Rob, what sound does a car horn make?
Rob Easy, it's a honk! Question two: what sound does a fridge make?
Catherine And it's hum. And the last question: what sound does the wind make in the trees?
Rob The correct answer is rustle. And that's the end of today's quiz. Well done to you at home if you got them all right.
Catherine And before we go, here's an idea to help you remember new vocabulary: choose one of your favourite songs in your first language, and write some new words for it, in English.
Rob Yes, and then, practise singing your song! It will help you to remember the new words.
Catherine There's more about this at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again for more 6 Minute Vocabulary.
Both Bye! _____________________________
Session Vocabulary
Noun - Example
a honk - I heard a honk, then a car came around the corner.
a buzz - There was a buzz of conversation in the audience
a bleep - That bleep means that my battery is dying.
a hum - There's a problem with my TV. It's making a loud hum.
a rumble - We saw the lightning, then we heard the rumble of thunder in the distance.
a rustle - There was a rustle in the bushes, then the fox appeared. Verb - Example
to zoom - The motorbike zoomed down the road.
to honk - Don't honk at me! I'm driving safely!
to blare - I can't sleep because of the music blaring next door.
to buzz - There was a mosquito buzzing around the room.
to bleep - My phone bleeps whenever I get a text message.
to hum - I can hear something humming in the kitchen. Did you leave the dishwasher on?
to rumble - The train rumbled down the track.
to rustle - He rustled the pages of the newspaper.