This is not an accurate word-for-word transcript of the programme. Группа Learning English. Продолжение транскрипта: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/webcast/makeover_prog8.pdf
ANNOUNCER: It's time for English Makeover from BBC World Service. In this series, learners of English from around the world tell us their language problems. And there's advice for them and you, from experienced teacher of English, Karen Adams. Clip: Karen Adams Hi, I’m Karen Adams and I’m an English language teacher and teacher trainer. The English Makeover learners will be telling me about their problems and well…I’ll see what I can do to help. ANNOUNCER: In today's English Makeover, Karen will be advising Patricia Pereira from Portugal. Patricia works in a top hair dressing salon just outside London, and she works as a colour technician – she specialises in colouring people's hair. Presenter Vicki Sullivan went to meet Patricia at work in the salon. She started by asking Patricia how long she had been learning English. Clip: Vicki interviews Patricia about her English language skills PATRICIA: Three years and a half. I didn’t speak any English before, so I came here, I came to work in Toni and Guy and I learned here really. VICKI: So you didn't speak any English back in Portugal? PATRICIA: I could understand things like ‘Hello’, ‘I don’t understand’ or something like that, but not really a conversation like I’m doing now. VICKI: What do you do day to day? What’s a typical day for you? PATRICIA: Uh, come to work, do my clients. Go back home. VICKI: What kind of things do you do while you are at work? PATRICIA: Uh, really, colour people's hair, clients, and do some consultations on daytime, people who are not sure about their colours and what they want, and that's it really. VICKI: How hard was it for you when you first came here to use English all day long in your work? PATRICIA: It was quite hard. I couldn’t really understand what they said but then I started to click, like. VICKI: And do you still have any problems with understanding? PATRICIA: Not really, no. VICKI: And what do you think about your standard of English? I mean it sounds reasonably fluent to me when you are speaking. What do you think? PATRICIA: It’s not too bad compared to people I know. They live here for ten years and they can’t even go to bank by themselves, doctors and stuff. I think it’s good. VICKI: So people usually understand you? PATRICIA: Yeah VICKI: And are there any particular problems that you have when you are using English? PATRICIA: Not really, no. Maybe sometimes I can't really think properly what I want to say and I end up saying it in Portuguese, but not really that bad. VICKI: Ok, and with your written English, how good do you think that is? PATRICIA: Not too bad. A little bit, it's quite difficult but it’s all right. VICKI: So what kinds of problems do you have with your writing? PATRICIA: Er..everything really. It's like, really, it might be laziness sometimes but I find it really hard to write a letter or something like that. I can read but writing, it’s quite hard for me, writing a letter. VICKI: What kind of aspects do you find difficult? PATRICIA: More with the grammar, verbs including past and future because in Portuguese it’s different and it really confuses me. Sometimes for the future I use that past and for the past I use the future. VICKI: Ok. So you have problems knowing which is the right tense to use when you’re writing. Ok. So what types of writing are more difficult for you? PATRICIA: Er using formal language yeah, is more difficult for me. Writing like, a note to my friend is quite easy but formal letters is a little bit more difficult for me. Vicki: We’ve just met Patricia from Portugal and she talked about her problems with formal and written language, and tenses.