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M: Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name isMarco.

E: And I’m Erica.

M: And today we’re gonna go back to the movies, but this time we’re gonna do it a little bit

different.

E: That’s right, uh, we’re gonna be listening as two movie critics offer their opinion on the

latest release.

M: Right, so, we’re gonna be learning how to criticize or give your opinions about

something.

E: That’s right and, uh, here we’re talking movies, but a lot of this language can be used to

offer your… your criticism or ideas on literature, um, or art or other artistic pursuits.

M: Okay, so, before we listen to this dialogue for the first time, let’s take a look at

“vocabulary preview”.

Voice: Vocabulary preview.

E: Well, we’re gonna look at one word here that we will hear in the dialogue and it

is erudite.

M: Erudite.

E: Erudite.

M: Okay, so, this word erudite, some people pronounce it Erudite.

E: That’s true and, basically, it’s an adjective, describing someone, who has a lot of

knowledge about a subject.

M: Okay, so, an erudite in engineering.

E: Yes, or an erudite professor.

M: Okay, very good, so, that’s the word that we’re gonna preview today and now let’s listen

to our dialogue and find out what movie they are criticizing.

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

E: Alright, so, The Lion King, one of my old time favorites.

M: A very good movie and, well, mixed feelings about it, right? Some people think it’s good,

other people th… other people think it’s not that good.

E: Um, I’m in the good camp, as you know, um, but anyway there’s tons of really useful,

um, and quite difficult language here, so, why don’t we look at that now in “language

takeaway”?

Voice: Language takeaway.

M: Alright, on language takeaway today we have five words and we can start with the first

one.

E: So, the critic… the first critic said that this was a movie, depictingmen’s eternal greed

for power.

M: Depicting.

E: To depict.

M: Alright, so, this word depict, it sounds a little bit strange, so, before we explain it, let’s

take a look at some examples.

Voice: Example one.

A: I don’t really like the way that novel depicted the role of women in society; it was pretty

sexist!

Voice: Example two.

B: The film depicts the realities of war very accurately.

Voice: Example three.

C: See, this image here is depicting some of the most well-knownscenes from Australian

history.

E: Alright, so, depicting, um, I can basically understand that this means to show something.

Now, If… now, we can notice, uh, that the word depict has th… this short and little word –

pict in there…

M: Uhu

E: That… that sounds like picture.

M: Uhu.

E: And when we think about, um, depicting, we’re often thinking about “in a picture” or “in

a book”, um, or “in a painting”.

M: So, in his case the story is depicted in a movie, right?

E: That’s right.

M: So, you can see it, it’s a picture, basically.

E: Exactly.

M: Alright, very good, so, to depict. Well, moving on, the critic also talked about the grim

portrayal of the villain of the movie - Scar.

E: That’s right, so, grim portrayal.

M: A grim portrayal.

E: Okay, let’s look at the word grim first. When something is grim, it’s really unpleasant or

uncomfortable or even shocking to think about.

M: Okay, so, something that is grim. Now, what about portrayal?

E: Really close to depict. A portrayal is something that shows or describes something,

especially like in a book or in a picture or in a play.

M: Okay, so, a portrayal. I guess we can relate it again to a portrait.

E: That’s right.

M: Alright, so, portrayal.

E: Now, we can also use this as a verb – to portray. So, this movie portrays men’s eternal

greed.

M: Okay, so, we can use this as a noun or as a verb.

E: That’s right.

M: So, moving on with our third word today we have an enchanting movie.

E: That’s right, the story was simply enchanting.

M: Okay, so, if something is enchanting…

E: It’s really, um… it’s really attractive and beautiful and interesting and it holds your

attention.

M: Okay, it holds your attention. So, it’s something very nice, something that is enchanting

has to be nice.

E: That’s right, and it has this sense of magic around it.

M: Okay, very good, so, an enchanting moment.

E: Or an enchanting woman.

M: Okay, and now, what about our next word? It’s very… And what about our next word?

It’s French, actually, but we use it in English.

E: That’s right, so, the… the critic said that this story was cliché.

M: Cliché.

E: Cliché.

M: Okay, so, we hear this all the time, what is a cliché?

E: Well, basically, a cliché is a phrase or an idea that is used so often, um, that it loses its

meaning or importance or interest.

M: Okay, so, can you give us some examples of a cliché moment or maybe, uh, a phrase

that’s cliché?

E: Okay, well, how about this one? When you’re breaking up with your boyfriend, then you

say “honey, it’s not you, it’s… it’s me”.

M: Okay, that’s cliché, it’s typical.

E: Yeah, or maybe, um, a cliché portrayal of a Frenchman would be a guy, riding a bike with

a baguette, smoking a cigarette and with aberet on his head.

M: Okay, that’s a cliché portrayal, very good.

E: Yeah.

M: So, it’s common, it’s even to a certain point a little bitstereotypical.

E: That’s right.

M: Alright. And what about our last word?

E: Well, they described this story as a fable.

M: Fable.

E: A fable.

M: Okay, so, when we were small, we all read fables.

E: That’s right, uh, they are stories, um, about animals that are used to teach

people a lesson.

M: Okay, so, a fable teaches you a lesson, I think the most famous one is the one of “The

Tortoise and the Hare”, right?

E: Yeah, and another good one would be “The Three Little Pigs”.

M: Okay, that’s also a fable.

E: Yep.

M: Okay, so, we’ve looked at these five great words and now it’s time for us to move on to

“putting it together”.

Voice: Putting it together.

E: Okay, here we’re gonna look at some phrases that you can use in a bunch of different

ways to help you criticize or give you opinion about a piece of art like a movie or a book or

whatever.

M: Okay, so, let’s start right away with our first word. So, the film critic asked “what is

your impression of this film?”

E: What’s your impression of.

M: What’s your impression of something, right?

E: That’s right.

M: Alright, so, before we get into explaining impression, let’s listen to some more

examples.

Voice: Example one.

A: I don’t know where, but I have the impression that we’ve met before.

Voice: Example two.

B: I get the impression that he’s a very organized person.

Voice: Example three.

C: Somehow Jim got the impression I was gay; did you tell him that?

E: Okay, so, I can see that this means, basically, what’s your opinion or how do you feel

about something.

M: Okay, so, you can have an impression of something or of someone.

E: Yep.

M: Alright. And what about the next word?

E: Well, the critic Richard Clarke said that it was a really enjoyable film, even despite

the accusations of plagiarism.

M: Okay, so, now we have an interesting phrase here – the accusations of plagiarism.

E: Accusations of plagiarism.

M: Okay, so, accusations is a noun, right?

E: Right, it’s the action of accusing.

M: Okay, of blaming somebody.

E: Yeah.

M: Alright, and what about plagiarism?

E: This is an academic term. If you, uh, plagiarize, you copy someone’s work and take

credit for it.

M: Okay, so, if I copy somebody’s book and I say I wrote it, then that’s plagiarism.

E: Yeah, that’s pretty bad, so…

M: Alright.

E: Accusations of plagiarism. Now, we can use this phrase,accusations of something, in a

bunch of different ways. So, Marco, what… let’s have an example.

M: Alright, so, for example, we can say “he was cleared of all accusations of tax evasion”.

E: Okay. He denied accusations of cheating on his wife.

M: Alright, very good, so, accusations. And now, moving on to the final part of putting it

together, we have this word – lacks.

E: The film lacks a certain originality.

M: Okay, so, the film lacks a certain originality. What does he mean by that?

E: It doesn’t have enough of.

M: Okay, so, if you’re lacking something, you don’t have enough of it.

E: Or you don’t have it at all.

M: Alright, so, can you give us some more examples of how we can use lack?

E: Okay, the same way it’s used in the dialogue – “our team lacks the… appropriate talent

to complete this project”

M: Okay or I can say “our school lacks infrastructure for so many students”.

E: Or we can also say “infrastructure is lacking at our school”.

M: Okay, so, you can use it in those two ways, right? You can use it as a gerund or as

a verb.

E: That’s right. Okay, lots of great language here and why don’t we hear one more time in

context with the dialogue?

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME

M: Alright, so, a good movie. What do you think about The Lion King? What do you think

about his critique?

E: Well, I am with Dick on this one. Um, I think that this is a great film, it was one of my

favorites and I’ve seen it about five billion times.

M: Really?

E: Yeah.

M: You really liked it?

E: But I’m not interested in my opinion. I wanna hear criticisms and film criticisms from our

users.

M: Right, so, come to our website at englishpod.com, where you can leave your questions

or comments and also any criticisms on this particular movie or maybe the other one that

we mentioned, uh, “How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days”.

E: Personally, not so fond of that one, but looking forward to hearing from our users.

M: Alright, or maybe any other movies you might like. So, uh, come to the website and until

next time…

E: Good bye!

M: Bye!

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