Estate Agents!

BBC Learning English
6 Minute English
Estate agents’ language
NB: This is not a word for word transcript
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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Yvonne: Hello, I'm Yvonne Archer and this is 6 Minute English. Today, I've been
joined by Alice. Hi Alice!
Alice: Hi Yvonne!
Yvonne: Now Alice, everyone seems to have something to say about estate agents or as
they’re known in the United States, real-estate agents - the people who help
others to buy or sell houses or flats. But what would you say about the
language they use?
Alice: Oh, it can be very descriptive and often, they make things sound better than
they really are.
Yvonne: Hmm – I have to agree with you on that one. Well, estate agents do seem to
have a language all of their own. For example, if they describe a house as
'characterful' – what would you think they meant by that, Alice?
Alice: Well, 'characterful' – so full of character, perhaps old, unusual and maybe that
there are quite a few things that need fixing.
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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Yvonne: Mm-hmm, definitely! But before we go any further, let’s have today’s question.
There are lots of old houses in London Alice, but do you know anything about
the smallest house?
Alice: The smallest house? I don't.
Yvonne: Well, the smallest house was built 1805 in central London and it's said that it
was used by people who were watching out for body snatchers – people who
stole bodies from the nearby cemetery for medical examinations. Anyway, can
you guess how wide that house is, Alice?
a) 2.4 metres
b) 5.6 metres or
c) 1 metre
Alice: Oh, I think I'll go for 2.4 metres. I can't imagine anything smaller.
Yvonne: No - but I will tell you what the correct answer is later on. So, we’ve already
heard some language used by real-estate agents, but what about some of the
other things they write in advertisements. In 1968 it became illegal - against
the law – to advertise a house or a flat in a way that might discriminate against
different groups of people or encourage discrimination. Listen to this example:
Insert 1:
Beautiful 3 bedroom house, close to temples.
Yvonne: Alice, why might that language be seen as discriminatory?
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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Alice: Well, it said ‘close to temples’. So maybe that might describe the perfect house
for people of a certain religion. But it could also seem like the sellers and the
estate agent won’t sell the house to people of any other religion.
Yvonne: Mmm… so using the words ‘close to temples’ could be used to exclude or
discriminate against people of other religions, or encourage discrimination
against them.
Alice: Hmmm, it's complicated. So estate agents have to be very careful about the
language they use to stay within the law.
Yvonne: Now one of the most interesting uses of language in estate agent adverts are
the synonyms; finding words which mean the same thing. So, for example,
how many ways can you say the word ‘small’ without putting people off?
Here’s Paul Bonnett, an estate agent, who’s said that for the past 30 years, the
vocabulary estate agents use hasn’t changed much.
Insert 2: Paul Bonnett
You’ve got the compact, you've got the bijou, you've got the delightful, you've got
attractive (charming), you've got panoramic…
Yvonne: So there, we heard words that lots of estate agents use. Alice – can you explain
them for us, please?
Alice: Yes – we heard ‘compact’, which means that it’s quite small, but everything
that’s needed can still fit into it. We heard ‘bijou’ – that's more elegant. It
means that the apartment, the flat, is small and elegant.
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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Yvonne: Mm… and what about ‘panoramic’?
Alice: Well, that means there's a good view of the area. So you can see all around you
from the flat.
Yvonne: Now, Paul Bonnet wanted the adverts from his real-estate agency to stand out
from all the others – to be more noticeable so that they’d attract more
customers. They decided to make their descriptions more poetic – like poetry.
Alice: And of course, while factual descriptions appeal to or satisfy our heads – our
intellect – poetry appeals to our hearts – how we feel.
Yvonne: It does, so here’s a factual description for a flat:
Insert 3:
Two bedroom, first floor balcony flat with some superb sea views towards the Palace
Pier.
Yvonne: Okay, we know there are two bedrooms, but did the description include
anything that appeals to your emotions, Alice?
Alice: Well, not really. I mean 'superb sea views' sounds quite nice, but nothing too
attractive.
Yvonne: No, so let’s hear a more poetic description of the same flat by the poet, Paul
Lyle. He's helping Paul Bonnet write his adverts:
Insert 4: Paul Lyle
The room fills your eyes with air and space. The first thing you see is the sea meeting the
sky. The windows lead out onto the terrace, taking you above and beyond with room to
breathe.
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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Yvonne: Would you be interested in viewing that flat, Alice?
Alice: It sounds lovely! Filling your eye with air and space.
Yvonne: So adverts that appeal to our emotions but are also accurate and fair seem to
work quite well for us, don't they Alice?
Alice: They do.
Yvonne: Now earlier, I asked you how wide the smallest house in London is and what
you said was…
Alice: I think I went for 2.4 metres.
Yvonne: Oh, it’s actually 1.05 metres wide – really narrow.
Alice: So – compact and bijou!
Yvonne: Well, that’s all for today's "6 Minute English". Join us again.
Both: Bye!
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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Vocabulary and definitions
estate agents people who sell properties including flats and houses
characterful a word used by estate agents to suggest a building is full of
character, perhaps old or unusual
illegal not allowed by the law, against the law
discriminatory unfair; treating some people worse than others
synonyms words that mean the same thing or have a similar meaning
compact small, with just enough space to fit what is needed
bijou small and elegant (in French this means ‘jewel’)
panoramic a good view of the surrounding area
poetic like poetry
intellect idea of what is makes sense