Adventures in English

Hello and welcome to Adventures in English, a weekly podcast for English language learners  covering a range of topics often,from a Scottish perspective.  I’m your host Jenni. So, you may have heard that the weather is not so great in Scotland. In this episode I’ll be telling you a bit more about it.The Scottish weather has a bit of a bad reputation and actually seems to be something people are quite afraid of, I’ve lost track of the number of people who have, on finding out where I’m from, made some comment about how fierce the weather is here. Well let’s consider Scotland’s location, if we look at where Scotland actually is,Scotland is in the North of the UK and starts about 300 miles or 482km north of London and continues for another 300 miles or so north. It lies between 50 and 60 degrees north, in line with parts of  Northern Canada and Russia.  So we’re right up there, well in the north!  Another point to consider is that we’re part of an Island and surrounded on 3 sides by the Atlantic Ocean, If you head straight across the Atlantic and you’ll eventually reach Canada, if you head straight across the North Sea that will find you in Norway or Sweden. Head north and it will likely be Iceland or maybe even Greenland, so I think we can safely say that none of these places can be regarded as tropical so perhaps we’re expecting too much of Scotland, of course it’s going to be a bit on the cool side! Now being an island can mean the weather is very changeable and I think that’s true for the British Isles as a whole, By changeable I mean that it can be different from moment to moment. This is something that visitors sometimes don’t understand so  Let me give you an example by telling you what happened to me yesterday. So  I decided to go out for a walk with my family. There's a lovely walk around a reservoir near my house and it looked like a nice day.  It started off well, it was sunny and there was no wind at all, but 20 minutes into the walk, the wind suddenly started to pick up, then the clouds came and all of a sudden  there were hailstones which for those of you unfamiliar with that, it’s basically tiny icey stones so like rain but the rain freezes as it falls and finally by the time we were on the way home, the sun came out again and the wind died down.  All of this happened within the space of an hour and a half! So I think that’s  the perfect definition of changeable! It’s important to remember that  Just because it’s raining in the morning doesn’t mean it will be like that for the rest of the day. So wherever you’re going, you kind of need to be prepared for all eventualities, we advise dressing in layers, bringing a waterproof jacket and don’t forget some sunscreen too! We’ve got an expression in the UK that there’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. However on top of all that, the weather varies greatly from place to place within Scotland. For example:the differences in the amount of rain that falls on the West coast and in the East of the country is quite striking and something that can easily be overlooked.  Scotland’s a small country after all so how could it be so different?  But In actual fact it can be markedly different so if you don’t like the weather - head east and it just might be drier!Another challenging aspect of the Scottish weather is the wind, according to the Wikipedia, and I actually didn’t realise this, but according to Wikipedia Scotland is the windiest country in Europe!  The windiest parts are some of our islands, especially the western isles.and   I do actually recall one cycling holiday in the islands where we were cycling on the flat but not actually moving because of the force of the wind against us! 

In this episode, I share the story of Rita Cowan, a young woman who helped take Scotch Whisky to Japan more than 100 years ago. Hello and welcome to Adventures in English, a weekly podcast for English language learners  covering a range of topics often, from a Scottish perspective.  I’m your host Jenni. In this episode. I’d like to tell you about a remarkable Scottish lady who helped to take one of Scotland’s most famous products, Scotch whisky to a whole new market and a new country more than 100 years ago. Her name was Rita Cowan and she was born into a middle class family in 1896, her father was a doctor and she was the oldest of 4 children.  She grew up in the small town of Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow where she experienced a fairly typical middle class upbringing,  she attending the local schools and also learning to play the piano.When WW1 struck she was engaged to be married, but her fiance was tragically killed in the conflict.  In 1918, her father died and  so the family chose to take in a lodger to help pay the bills. The lodger was a 25 year old Japanese man called Masataka taketsuru, he was studying at Glasgow University and had been sent to Scotland by the drinks company he was working for to discover the secrets of making malt whisky so that he could take this back to Japan and open a distillery there.It didn’t take long for Rita and Masataka to fall in love and despite strong family opposition they got married in Glasgow in January 1920.After two short apprenticeships at Scottish whisky distilleries where Masataka learned how to make whisky, it was time to return to Japan,  it’s hard to imagine just how Rita must have felt at travelling thousands of miles to a new country with an unfamiliar language and culture, leaving behind her family, her friends and the life she had known. She was to spend the rest of her life in Japan.On arrival in Japan, things did not go to plan and Masataka had to wait several years before he had the chance to make whisky. During this time, Rita taught English to help make ends meet while learning all she could about Japanese culture and language. Masataka taught Chemistry. Eventually  Word got out about Masataka’s knowledge of whisky making and he was soon hired by the founder of Suntory whisky to get Yamazaki Distillery, Japan’s first ever whisky distillery up and running.10 years later in 1934 Masataka and Rita were finally able to open their own distillery in the North of Japan in a small town called Yoichi, they chose the area because the climate was similar to Scotland, when they built the distillery they even planted some heather, one of Scotlands’ most famous plants. Masataka had finally achieved his dream of running his own whisky distillery but  It was thanks to Rita’s connections through teaching English that they got the investment they needed to make that dream come true.They settled into life in Yoichi but During WW2 life became difficult . Despite the difficulties, Rita remained in Japan with Masataka.  Nikka whisky went from strength to strength and the distillery is still run by the family today. Sadly Rita died in 1961 and Masataka much later in 1979.  They are both buried in Yoichi and  their legacy lives on. The main road in Yoichi has been named Rita road and Rita also helped to establish a nursery school there before she died, known as Rita nursery. Yoichi even has its own tartan. Here in Scotland,  there’s a permanent exhibition about her in Kirkintilloch at the local Town Hall. Today Rita and Masataka are known as the Mother and Father of Japanese Whisky in Japan.

Would you like to own your own private Scottish Island?  In this episode, I'll talk about a small undeveloped island that's recently come up for sale. 

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this week’s episode, I’m your host Jenni and today I’m talking about something that actually causes a lot of pronunciation difficulties for English language learners. Islands or land surrounded by water.  Many learners actually pronounce it island for logical reasons as that is how is is pronounced so it seems right to assume that island would be the same, but that’s not right, I think the best way to remember is to think of some other words pronounced in the same way: ice cream or idea or even Ireland!

Anyway, in Scotland as you may know,  we have quite a lot of islands, around 790 in total I think, but not all are inhabited.  Some are surrounded by the sea and others are in a loch, Loch, for those of you who don’t know is a Scottish word for lake.  We refer to most lakes in Scotland as Lochs.  Another word that can be tricky to pronounce because of the ch at the end.

I must confess I love small  islands and take every opportunity to visit one when I can. Island visits are great for escaping from city life, perfect for adventure and completely addictive!  Every island has its own character and atmosphere!  I can tell you that when travel is safe again, one of the first places I’ll be visiting is a Scottish island.

So what do you think about owning your own private island? You may think this is only a dream, something available just to the very wealthy but not necessarily.  Every so often here in Scotland, one of our little islands is put up for sale. Right now, There’s a lovely little island called Deer island for sale through an  online auction.  The bids started at just £80,000 that’s  $110,000  and while it will probably sell for much more than that, it sounds like a good deal to me,  it seems it is possible to own a little bit of Scottish paradise for the same price as a small house in Glasgow or Edinburgh. .

Deer island is a loch island in the West Highlands, it’s 11 acres, no one lives there and according to reports it’s been owned by the same family for 500 years.  It’s completely undeveloped with no buildings, no amenities and it’s covered in woodland, with this little island you’d be starting from scratch, limited only by your imagination, finances and of course,  Council planning regulations!

But what an amazing opportunity to create your own little world!  You may be wondering how accessible it is?  Well, it’s around 45 miles from The nearest town, Fort William and not too far from the Glenfinnan Viaduct, made famous more recently in the Harry Potter movies. A nearby island has self catering holiday accommodation which is accessible by a 15 minute speedboat ride from the mainland and of course there’s wonderful wildlife all around the area, red squirrels, seals and the occasional dolphin! The perfect spot for some peace and quiet.

According to some reports, sales of private islands around the world have tripled since the pandemic, I guess it really is the perfect place to isolate, enjoy a bit of solitude or some much valued privacy.What would you do with your own private Scottish island?  Leave me a voice message on Anchor, I’d love to hear your ideas!

It's Spring Equinox and in this episode I'll talk about some of my favourite signs of Spring here in Scotland.  Please see below for a transcript of the show. 

Hi everyone

Today it’s Spring Equinox, otherwise known as the first day of Spring, many cultures also celebrate new year at this time so Happy New Year to all those celebrating.

Here in Scotland, it looks like early spring has definitely sprung and we’ve been enjoying exceptionally warm weather for this time of year. Temperatures were higher than Greece yesterday but I don’t think it’s going to last much longer.  March is usually very unpredictable weather wise and we may even still get some more snow!

In today’s episode I wanted to talk about some of the main signs of Spring here. For me, personally  it’s really all about the flowers,  during the winter months it’s fun to watch out for the first flowers, usually snowdrops, quickly followed by  brightly coloured  crocuses and finally the most popular spring flower across the UK, the daffodil. It’s not native to Scotland and in fact is the national flower of Wales but  You can see daffodils almost everywhere here in springtime, in people’s gardens, growing wild by the side of the roads, in fields, in the middle of roundabouts,  basically everywhere. Hundreds of them.  They are pretty yellow flowers and really brighten things up especially after a long dark winter and seeing them means warmer drier weather is on the way and that soon winter will be a distant memory! They bloom for quite a few weeks so we even have an annual daffodil festival held in Fife although I think it will be online this year.

Another wonderful sign of Spring is new life being born, so much land is used for farming, especially the farming of animals,  so you don’t have to travel far to see brand new baby lambs jumping around in the fields, this is  a wonderful sight to see, they love to play and it’s great fun to watch.  If you are lucky you may also see some Highland calves which although it’s hard to believe, are even cuter than the grown up version.if you visit a farm you might even see some baby yellow chicks.

Finally, the clocks change time.  In Spring time at the end of March the clocks go forward 1 hour and we move from GMT or UTC to BST or British summer time.  What this means is that there’s more daylight in the evening and less in the morning.  So we can enjoy those long summer nights, such a contrast to the short dark winter days.

Spring is a time to be optimistic and In terms of weather, mid to late Spring is actually one of the best times to visit Scotland, the weather is drier, it can be quite sunny, especially in May and the most popular places aren’t as busy as they can be in summer time.  Obviously things are a bit difficult at the moment with lockdown continuing but keep that in mind for any future visits!

What are the signs of Spring in your country? How do you celebrate the end of Winter?  Whereever you are I hope you are able to enjoy the best of this season.

See you next time.

A weekly English language learning podcast for Intermediate level and above. join your host, Jenni, a Scottish English language teacher living in Glasgow. Each episode will explore a different topic often from a Scottish perspective or connected to Scottish culture. Improve your listening skills, learn something new and enjoy the adventure.