Every day I discover piles of neat videos on YouTube. Some are cute, some are scary, others are just plain fun. Every week I post my faves here, for your English studying and enjoyment. Not always specifically English school style study videos, all of them are useful to you in your language studies. Don’t understand some of the things in these videos? Can’t catch every phrases, nuance or colloquialism? Not a problem- it takes many years of study and hard work to be able to understand every word out of a native speaker mouth. I’ve lived in Shiga prefecture in Japan and have studied Japanese since 2007 and I can just barely catch a quarter of the dialogue in Japanese programs. So give yourself a big round of applause if you can understand even as little as 20% after only a couple years of study. The best way to get the most out of each video clip is to watch each video at least 3 times- at first just to get the general concept of the video, then to get more detail out of the dialogue or subtitles, then finally to bring it all together and hopefully to enjoy it. Good luck!
This week’s video is about a very clever European gentleman, Christian Schallert who transformed a tiny, dirty pigeon loft apartment into a lovely little living space for himself. Christian says he was inspired by boat design as well as Japanese home design, and that he wanted to make a space where he could not only live but also entertain guests. His apartment is located in Barcelona, and he has to climb 100 steps and walk through narrow corridors to reach his door. This type of apartment is called a pigeon loft as it is small and located on the top of the building. He seems to have enjoyed designing it as well as showing it off as a quick search on google found dozens of articles from design and architectural magazines showcasing his unique home. Although small apartments are not unique per se, his is as it has a treasure trove of secrets, from hidden cubbies to a fold out table and slide out bed to shape-shifting components which allow one space to serve multiple uses. Students- note that Christian’s English has a heavy European accent to it, so this is anohter chance to expand your English accent understanding and improve your ear. Check it out!
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