IELTS Speaking Sample #6

I’d like you to describe a house or an apartment you have lived in and which you liked.
Er, I wanna …

All right, so remember, you can talk for one to two minutes, and I’ll tell you when the time is up. Right? Can you start speaking now, please?
OK. I will describe my, er, apartments in my country. Eh, it’s, ah, ooh, my apartments has a, er, eight level, eight floor, and we lived in, er, seventh floor, and I like, I like it because this apartments has, er, a lot of, er, er, some, er, we have a swimming pool and tennis courts, er, it has a lots of facility, er, for, er, social life and, er, I used to, er, I used to both of them. And, um, we, er, our apartments is, er, in Istanbul in Turkey, and, er, it’s, er, it has a, er, our home flat, er, has, er, three rooms and, er, has a huge, really huge kitchen and my mum actually, er, like it, like the huge kitchen and, um, it’s, er, very close to our shop and we can go by walking. It’s, er, and, er, this is, er, this house, this apartments, er, a little, er, suburb, little far to centre in Istanbul, but I like it, it’s not crowded. Our area’s so quiet and the people is, er, elite people and, er, our neighbours also is, er, kind peoples and we talking to neighbours, er, always and, er, we visit each other forgot my neigh … our neighbours and, er, we have a good relation in our apartments.

So, is your home similar to most other places in the area?
Er, little different, not similar, little different, a little, er, high quality than the others.

And has that area changed since you first lived there?
Yeah, it’s changed because, er, this, er, building, this apartments, er, built, er, several years ago, maybe, er, seven years ago, and after the finished this apartments, it’s changed, this area is changed.

All right, thank you. You’ve been talking, um, about a house or an apartment you have lived in, and now I want to discuss a few more general questions connected to this. Um, firstly, let’s look at finding a place to live. Um, how do people usually find a place to live in your country?
Er, the people, er, find a quiet place to live in my country because the centre is so crowded and so noisy. The people prefer to quiet place.

And what other factors do you think determine where people choose to live?
Others, er, I think main factor is, er, their jobs, the people’s jobs because it’s, er, really big problem in the, er, metropol cities, er, the traffic you know, lots of cars and crowded. You must go early every time and this is other factor for choose their apartments.

Right. All right, and can you compare for me, say, in Istanbul, um, living, what it’s like to live in an apartment compared to living in a house?
Ah yeah. Er, my apartment has, I like my apartments, but, er, I, er, wants to live, er, er, good view, has a good view apartments and maybe he, er, I … when I look at the window I can see a ocean or river or like this or lake.

But, generally, what are the differences between living in an apartment and living in a house, say, in a city like Istanbul?
Ah, it’s too different, it’s too different. Er, in Istanbul the people generally live in the apartment, but if you live in the houses, er, you have, er, not good relationships for their neighbors. Because it’s different in Turkey. Er, if you live apartment you can get easily, er, a friend and yeah it’s advantage for make a good relationships.

OK. Um, let’s now look at, um, home ownership. Um, do most people rent their homes or own their homes where you’re from?
In Turkey, eh, most people, eh, buy a home, not rent because this, er, our home prices is not, er, high. Is quite cheap, and you can get easily a home.

OK.
Because the people prefer to buy, buying a home.

Right. So, what do you think the difference would be? What are the different attitudes between someone who’s renting a home and someone who owns their own home? What’s their attitude towards that home? Do you think there’s a difference between a renter and an owner?
Yes, er, there are lots of advantage or disadvantage, er, the rent or owner and if you rent a house, you can, eh, you must, er, moving, eh, you can be moved other places and always you must be ready to move, yes. But if you own the house, the, er, one disadvantages own the house, you can, you live, always you live the same place and you never change in your tirement, and all the same, all the people the same.

Right.
But if you’re a renter you can change and you can get new friends, you can see a new place.

Right. Right, well let’s now look at, um, residential areas. Um, why do you think it is that some areas, some residential areas, are more pleasant to live in than others?
More?

More pleasant to live in.
Er, because the er, residence, residential areas, is er, uh er, it’s not, er, really it’s not in Turkey, it’s not, er, maybe it’s, er, for, er, develop, developed countries, it’s not, er, for developing countries, ’cause it’s different. Um, actually we have no, er, we have no one centre, and we have no residence areas. All this you can go and see, you can stay.

Right, but I guess is one area nicer than another area?
Yeah.

So what makes that area nicer?
Ah nicer, er. It’s yeah, it’s, if it’s near the centre, it’s in, er, if it’s, er, you can, er, get easily, er, transport, transportation, it’s, er, and you can go everywhere. It’s the centre like, um, it’s the people prefer the like the safe areas.

So, convenience?
Yeah, convenience.

Right, OK. Well, thank you very much. That’s the end of the Speaking Test.
Yeah, thank you.