Quarter-life crisis

Is he angry or maybe suffering from a quarter-life crisis?

Callum and Kate learn about the expression "quarter-life crisis" and how it compares to the more well-known "mid-life crisis".

Are they the same thing or do the young have different crises to the middle-aged?

This week's question

According to a recent survey held in Britain when does middle-age begin?

a: 35 years old

b: 40 years old

c: 45 years old

Listen out for the answer in the programme

Listen

here

Vocabulary:

a mid-life crisis - anxiety and depression that affects some people in their 40s or 50s as they become worried about getting old and losing their youth

to be status conscious - to want to have a high material standard of living by, for example, owning the latest gadgets and wearing fashionable clothes

student debt - the money that young people owe from the loans they took out to pay for their higher education

competitive market job - a situation where there are more qualified people looking for jobs than there are jobs available

Callum: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English, I'm Callum Robertson and with me today is Kate. Hello Kate.

Kate: Hello Callum.

Callum: Now today a subject which I am far too old to know anything about and that's a quarter-life crisis. Are you familiar with this term Kate?

Kate: Yes, I think I have heard it. Though there is a much more common expression

'a mid-life crisis'

Callum: Yes, I'm more familiar with that expression too! But quarter-life crises was a new one for me, I only heard it for the first time this weekend just gone. Today we'll be learning a bit more about this expression. But first, as always, a question. There was a recent survey which asked people in Britain when they thought middle-age began. What did the survey say? Does middle-age begin at …

a: 35 years old?

b: 40 years old?

c: 45 years old ?

Kate?

Kate: Well I think people tend to think they're staying younger much longer these days. So I'm going to go for c: 45 years old.

Callum: We'll find out if you're right later on.

What is a quarter-life crisis? Well this phrase comes from a more established phrase, which we were talking about before, a mid-life crisis. So first, let's look at that phrase. Kate, what can you tell us about the meaning of that phrase – a mid-life crisis?

Kate: Well, a mid-life crisis describes the emotions of someone who is in their 40s or

50s and who realises that they are more than half way through their life. In other words they are beginning to realise that they are getting old and are closer to death than to birth. For some this causes them to become depressed or to look for ways to recapture their youth, to be young again. So you might see a middle-aged man buying a leather jacket and a motorbike, or leaving his wife for a much younger woman. These are some examples of what people have described as symptoms of a mid-life crisis. But essentially is a worry and fear of getting old.

Callum: From your examples there it seems that it's only something that affects men. Is that right?

Kate: No, I think women are affected by it too. I think everyone worries about getting old and becoming middle-aged and never going to be young again.

Callum: So if that's a mid-life crisis, what's a quarter-life crisis? Damian Barr has written a book about the subject and in an interview with the BBC he explains what it is.

Damian Barr

It's that kind of, you know, people asking who they are, where they're going that are doing it in their twenties rather than their forties. A lot of people being really depressed,very anxious and very kind of status conscious in a way that their parents certainly were not.

Callum: Kate, what was he saying there?

Kate: He was saying that it was something that happened in people's 20s rather than 40s. Young people being worried about who they are and what they were doing.

Callum: He also mentioned that people were 'status conscious in a way that there parents weren't'. What does he mean by that, being 'status conscious'?

Kate: I think he was saying that young people feel a pressure that their parents didn't

- a pressure to have the latest gadgets or most fashionable clothes, for example.

These things seem to be more important now than in the past. Young people are more 'status conscious'. These material things are seen to give status.

Callum: Let's listen again

Damian Barr

....

Callum: Apart from material pressures, what are other reasons for a quarter-life crisis?

Here's Damian Barr again. How many different things does he mention?

Damian Barr

I think it's kind of caused by student debt, unaffordable property and a really competitive jobs market in the recession.

Callum: A few reasons there, could you run over them again for us?

Kate: Oh dear! Yes, he mentioned three things: the first was student debt – the money that young people owe from the loans they took out to pay for university education. The second thing was unaffordable property – so it's very difficult for young people to afford to buy a house or flat. The third thing was a very competitive job market in the recession. So lots of qualified people are all looking for jobs and there just aren't that many jobs around.

Callum: Let's listen again.

Damian Barr

.....

Callum: Oh dear, it all sounds so depressing!

Kate: Yes, doesn't it?

Callum: But is this something new? Is this different from a mid-life crisis or is it just the same thing but 20 years earlier?

Kate: Well no, I actually think they're very different things. I think begin in your 20s is a very stressful time. I mean I remember being very worried about the job market and finding a place to live. And I think a lot of my friends at the time felt the same. And I think actually it's getting worse for the young people now.

Callum: Oh dear, how things have changed. I mean, there was always pressures but I don't think when I was in my 20s I had the same kind of pressure that I think young people feel themselves under these days. Just time now for the answer to today's question. According to a recent survey in Britain, when does middle age begin? Is it …

a: at 35?

b: at 40?

c: at 45?

Kate, you said?

Kate: Well no one likes to think of themselves as middle-aged really, so I went for the oldest option – c: 45 years old.

Callum: Well, in fact the answer, according to this survey was a: 35 years old.

Kate: Really? Gosh that seems very young to be middle-aged.

Callum: I know, I don't feel middle-aged now myself and I'm, what, nearly 100.

That's all we have time for today, but do join us again next time for another 6 Minute English. Good bye.

Kate: Goodbye.

Multi-million dollar sound

What makes this instrument so valuable?

Violins made by the Stradivari family in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are worth millions of US dollars. Why are they so special?

In this week's 6 Minute English, Alice and Neil talk about quality of sound and some of the language used to describe it.

 Alice asks Neil which language the word timbre comes from. Is it:

a) Russian

b) Italian

c) French

Listen out for the answer at the end of the programme.

Listen

here

Alice: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English: the programme in which we talk about a story in the news and learn some vocabulary while we’re doing it. I’m Alice and joining me today is Neil. Hi there, Neil.

Neil: Hi Alice.

Alice: Now, Neil I know you’re very musical – but can you spot a multi-milliondollar violin when you hear one?

Neil: A multi-million dollar violin? So, that’s a musical instrument which costs several million US dollars? Who’s got that kind of money to spend on an instrument?

Alice: Somebody with lots and lots of money. When we talk about dollars in English, they usually mean US dollars. Anyway, let's listen to these two violins, and then tell me which sound you like the best, and which do you think is the most valuable?

Neil: OK.

The same musical scale played on two different violins

Alice: So, did you like the sound of the first violin, or the second?

Neil: Well, my perfect musical ears are telling me the second violin was the multi-million dollar one.

Alice: And was that the one you liked best?

Neil: Oh yes. Of course!

Alice: Good taste. Well done. One of the qualities which makes the sound so wonderful is what’s called timbre – the quality of the sound. And that leads me to another question, Neil. Which language does the word timbre come from originally? Is it:

a) Russian

b) Italian

c) French

Neil: Hmm. Definitely not Russian. I would be tempted to say French but most musical expressions come from Italian. So I’m going to say Italian.

Alice: Well, as usual we won’t find out the answer until the end of the programme. Let’s talk some more about violins. What makes one violin sound so much better than another?

Neil: I like that very mellow sound – a sound that that is sweet and rich.

Alice: Mellow. We talk about coffee being mellow, rich and sweet - and sound can be mellow too. What makes an instrument top of the range? The best that is on offer. Here’s Professor Tasmin Little from the Royal Academy of Music, who is also a concert violinist – a soloist.

Professor Tasmin Little:

There are two most famous and great makers. Stradivari is the most famous, but also there is Guarneri del Gesu who is also very favoured by top soloists, perhaps the instruments are more mellow in sound. But certainly, there is nothing to beat a Stradivarius, because they are just really the top of the range instruments. And I'm very, very fortunate to have this instrument on loan from the Royal Academy of Music.

Alice: So Professor Tamsin Little says there is nothing to beat a Stradivarius –it’s the top of the range.

Neil: And she’s very fortunate – very lucky to have one on loan. That means she’s borrowing the violin to play at concerts.

Alice: Yeah – as some Stradivarius violins cost several million dollars, I don’t think many musicians would be able to afford them themselves.

Neil: And what is it about violins made by the Stradivari family in 17th and 18thcenturies that makes them so special?

Alice: As we’ve heard that word before, they have great timbre – the sound they make reverberates.

Neil: Reverberates – it echoes back at you. A really rich, deep sound. How did violin makers like the Stradivari family give violins that special sound quality?

Alice: Professor Little says that’s the billion dollar question. It means that’s the question that everybody would like answered. If we could only understand what gives these violins their very special quality, people would have copied the technique ages ago:

Professor Tasmin Little:

That’s the billion dollar question, isn't it – it's one that has foxed people for centuries.

People have come up with all sorts of explanations. There are a few, such as: at the point when Stradivarius was choosing his wood, there had been a particularly cold spell of temperature and the trees had grown very slowly and, therefore, with more density.

Apparently he used to go into forests and tap on the trees and listen to how reverberant they were and, according to the results, he would chop them down or not.

Alice: So it’s believed that violin makers chose the wood they used to make the violins for their reverberant qualities. There had been a cold spell, and the trees had grown slowly, so the wood was more dense.

Neil: Professor Tasmin Little says that’s one possibility why the violins are so special.

Alice: Now, before we go, Neil - have you had a think about the origins of the word timbre? I asked if the word came originally from French, Russian or Italian.

Neil: Well I said Italian, but judging by the way you’ve been pronouncing that word, I think I’m probably wrong!

Alice: You’re right. It’s French. Well, well done anyway. Now, time for a recap of some of the words we heard in today’s programme.

Neil: They are:

multi-million – several million

timbre – quality of the sound

mellow – rich and sweet

top of the range - best

reverberates – echoes back

the billion dollar question - the question everyone wants to know the answer to

Alice: Join us again soon for more 6 Minute English from bbclearningenglish.com.

Neil: And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter.

Alice: Bye for now.

Neil: Bye.