#18 - IELTS Speaking test in Australia and Malaysia – April 2016 (General Training)

Test # 18

- What is your full name?

My name is Maanvi Dutta.

- Can I see your ID?

Yes sure!

- Where are you from?

I’m from Calcutta, known now as Kolkata, in West Bengal.

- Do you work or study?

I’m working as a social service worker in an NGO.

- What do you do?

I organize social awareness drives and help collect funds for the causes that will benefit the underprivileged in the city. Apart from this I’m also handling many public relation queries for my NGO.

- Where do you live now?

I live in Indore, that’s in Rajasthan.

- Is it a house or an apartment?

It is an apartment, occupied just by me. I’m going to be staying here for a few more months, before I move back to my hometown.

- Which room in your house do you like the most? Why?

I like the living room. I’m very fond of people and I love to entertain guests so I have decorated my living room in a way that appeases everyone.

- Why do you think some people are vegetarians?

It’s just a lifestyle choice. There are some people who are vegetarians as their religion considers eating meat to be a sin. But on the whole it is just a matter of preferences.

- Do you like to read?

Yes I love to read! Hypothetically, even if you’d lock me in a library, I’d never want to come out. That’s how crazy I am about books.

- Do you read books in English?

Yes, mostly. I have read books in Hindi and Gujarati as well, but most of my readings are in English.

- How often do you do it?

Every day! There’s never a day that goes without me reading. I keep reading something or the other, be it a magazine, a book, a newspaper article or just some random topic I searched on Wikipedia. But I read every day.

Cue Card

Talk about a song that reminds you of a particular time in the past. Please say

- What song is it?

- Who is the singer?

- What does it remind you of?

I’d like to talk about a song that I heard when I was 13. It was a Hindi song from a pop album, the title of which means “I’ve fallen in love with you.” I loved the song first of all because of its video; the way it was picturized was really very romantic. The video shows a boy who’s fallen in love with a girl at first sight, and he tries to woo her, eventually succeeding. The singers of this song were two newbies at that time – Aslam and Shibani, and interestingly, they had both themselves starred in the video. This song is such an innocent depiction of young love that even when I hear it now it reminds me of my school days and the crushes I used to have! It had become very popular with teens at that time and people used to listen to it a lot, and dedicate song requests on music channels for this song. I had decided in my mind that someday I too would probably dedicate this song to someone I like, and so this song has a very special place in my heart.

Discussion

- Let’s talk about music.

Sure!

- Why aren’t some local singers as successful as the overseas ones?

Ummm I think it depends on the reach of your audience. Some people are lucky to grab the right opportunity at the right time, but some aren’t as fortunate and enjoy only limited recognition. For example, two Bollywood dingers, Shaan and Udit Narayan both have had a good amount of popularity but Shaan released a few pop albums as well, and promoted them properly, so he enjoys much more fame than Udit Narayan.

- Do you think that language of the song matters?

No I don’t think so. In fact I listen to some songs in Spanish that Shakira has sung, and I like them just as much as the English ones from her. I believe the singer matters more than the language of the songs.

- Do you think the Internet affects the music industry? Why?

Yes it does! And quite hugely too! Nowadays people browse international music videos from any part of the world. So everyone’s becoming more familiar with the different kinds of music genres. But internet also gives rise to piracy, for example there are many sites that allow you to download songs for free which is a huge blow to the music industries’ revenue.