IELTS Speaking Test- Perfect Band 9

Let's talk about travel. Tell me about

the last place that you went to.

>> The last place that I traveled to was

Thailand, Bangkok to be specific. Um,

big city, but also has um places that

are close by that you can travel to that

are not cities, it's more countryside or

nature like Karabi. Um, one of my

favorite countries in the world. It has

the best food, the best people, quite

multicultural,

and uh just fun experiences. It has

something for everyone, whether you're a

man, woman, old, young. Um you can find

something to do in a city like Bangkok

or in a country like Thailand.

>> So, would you prefer a city break or a

beach holiday? definitely a beach

holiday because um I grew up in a city

and although it has its perks. I feel

like sometimes it can be too much. So

when I like to get away, it's definitely

to something that's more in nature and

hence a beach holiday. Sun, sand, the

ocean, peace, quiet, the slow life is

definitely something that I'd like to

get away to.

>> Is there anywhere you haven't been yet

that you would love to go to? several

places. Istanbul, Turkey is at the top

of that list. I haven't been to the

Philippines. I'd really like to go to

the Philippines.

Um, yeah, very many places that I I

haven't been to. I'm a I'm a huge fan of

uh different cultures. So, any chance

that I get, I'm excited to get out of my

hometown and go visit other places.

>> Now, let's talk about the future. In 10

years time, what job would you like to

have?

>> I would like to have my own business.

I'm a closeted entrepreneur. So, um, and

it's always been my dream to be able to

have a business of my own. Um,

hopefully in the home design, buying and

selling space. Uh, I have a passion for

interior design on a on a separate note.

But yes, uh a businesswoman is

definitely something that I hope I'm

able to be in the next 10 years.

>> And will English be useful in your

future career?

>> Yes. Uh where I come from, English is a

very commonly spoken language and the

places that I see myself living in, uh

English is the official language. So

English would not only be useful, it

would be necessary for me specifically.

So yes.

>> And in your future career, would you

like to travel a lot or would you like

to be in one location?

>> I think when I have children, I will

slow down the traveling a little bit

just to have some structure and uh a a

feeling of groundedness in their lives,

especially when they're younger. But

up until then, in the near future,

because I don't have any children at the

moment, um I would love to travel as

much as possible. So, a bit of both, I

would say.

>> How do you think your life will change

over the coming 5 to 10 years?

>> I don't know about how it would change,

but I know how I want it to change. I

would like to get married. I would like

to start a small family. And by small I

mean have three daughters. Um that's big

to some people. Uh I would like to start

a business of my own and I would like to

retire my parents and see them uh take

care of their health and grow older in a

safe place and um yeah and just be

healthy, happy, wiser hopefully.

>> Now let's talk about social media. Which

social media sites do you use the most?

>> Um, before we continue, I have a gift

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>> Instagram. It's my most frequently used.

I think it's the only one unless YouTube

counts as social media, which in that

case YouTube as well. And how much time

do you spend on those social media

sites?

>> It depends on the day. So on busy days

when I'm working, I don't get a chance

to spend too long on my phone or any

social media in general. And then on the

weekend when I'm rotting on my couch, uh

I can doom scroll for sometimes a couple

hours.

>> What kind of information do you feel

comfortable and uncomfortable putting on

social media? I feel uncomfortable

posting anything any personal

information. So I don't like posting

anything about my family, about my

relationships, about too much about my

friendships. I'm just not somebody I'm

private, so I don't like to post too

much about it on social media. But um if

it's something related to work,

something that I can benefit off of

using using social media to promote

something or promote something that my

friends doing or you know just get more

eyeballs on something. Um I'm happy to

post that on social media.

>> And is there anything that you dislike

about social media?

>> Yes, very many things. I think sometimes

social media can have a very negative

effect on your mental health. Sometimes

sitting behind a screen and looking at

the highlights of everyone else's life

makes you feel like you're not doing

enough because you see all the things

that people are doing, whether it's

someone looking really good or someone

getting married or someone buying a new

house or a new car and it kind of gives

you a skewed perception of someone's

life without showing you the negative

things. And it's very easy to spiral and

feel like everybody else else has a

fantastic life and I'm here and I have

these problems and why isn't it working

out for me? And I think that's not a

very fair representation of reality. A

website that I bought something recently

from is called Etsy. Etsy.com to be

specific. Um I bought a Oh, sorry. The

website is basically

uh a place where you can go and buy

things from small businesses or people

that run businesses from their houses.

So, it's uh art craft. It's like very

niche uh things that you can buy like

keychains, mugs, and more importantly,

it's from small businesses and um

stay-at-home moms and that kind of vibe,

if that makes sense. What I bought was a

dog bed for my dog. It was customizable,

so I could get the size that I wanted

and I could get the color that I wanted

and get a custom dog tag. Um, I loved

it. I loved it because um not only was

it something that uh I needed, it fit my

home aesthetically

in every way because it was it I could

pick out the color, I could pick out the

texture, I could pick out the height,

the width, everything. My dog loves it.

Needless to say, she doesn't sleep

anywhere else other than the bed. She's

on it. She's probably on it right now.

When I go home, I'll see her on it. Uh,

I also like the fact that I could

support small businesses. I hope to be a

business owner in the future. So, I like

to support small businesses over big

corporations. And

>> that's the end of part two.

>> So, we've been talking about a website

that you bought something from, and

we're going to continue to talk about

shopping online and online business. In

your country, what are the most popular

things people buy online?

>> Everything. We buy groceries online.

where you buy electronics online,

clothes, bags, shoes. Um, Amazon is

probably the most uh famous website that

you can buy things on and uh entirely I

don't think people go to stores anymore.

It's very uh especially our generation.

I think online shopping, you can buy

everything online.

>> And why has online shopping become so

popular in your particular country? It

can be quite overwhelming in a place

like India in the big cities to kind of

go through all the the stores. It's a

lot of stimulus and it takes a lot of

effort to do it because there's a lot of

people and it's a lot of interaction

with people. It's a little bit noisy and

it's, you know, um, so I think our

generation, we're a bit uh

I don't want to say introverted, but we

like a a personal space a little bit

more. So just the convenience of having

being able to click things on a screen

and have it shipped to your house and

not having to interact with people is

very enticing. So um for those reasons I

think people prefer to buy things online

more than in store.

>> Are there any possible disadvantages of

the growth of online shopping?

>> Perhaps um in terms of how it may

pollute the environment and I say that

only because when you buy something

online usually with the big corporations

they have a pretty good return policy.

And although that's very handy as a

consumer, a lot of people take advantage

of it and they order things that they

don't need and

return it just to be able to return it.

Um, and uh I think that in terms of

delivery, in terms of packaging, in

terms of shipping, uh, in general, I

think can cause a lot of, uh,

pollution to the environment that you

don't need. If you go to a store and

pick up a shirt, you can just pick it

up, put it in a bag, and bring it home.

But if the same shirt gets shipped to

you, it comes in a lot more excessive

packaging than is necessary. Um, can be

quite uh damaging, a lot of waste.

>> Do you think it's justified that some

brands charge more for you to purchase

something in store compared to online?

>> It depends. I think for to be able to

buy something in store, if they're able

to create a certain experience that

differentiates the the buying experience

from a consumer's point of view, it

would make sense. Um, but I imagine if

you're going to get the same product

online and in store, although I

understand it from the business's

perspective that that's a brick and

mortar store has a lot more overheads

that they have to worry about. Thinking

about it from a consumer's point of

view, if you can buy the same product

online and in store and there's no

difference in the experience, as a

matter of fact, it's perhaps a bit more

of an inconvenience to go to a store, I

don't see why it should cost more.

>> And do you think that in the future

shopping malls will continue to be

popular or will they be less popular

because of online shopping?

>> I think it depends on the place. in

certain places. I recently visited

Dubai. Um, and shopping malls are uh a

part of the culture because they have

such um extreme weather for many months

of the year. Malls are where people are

able to spend a lot of their times when

the outside weather conditions aren't as

good. And I imagine that's the case for

places where there's torrential rain in

the monsoon season or it's really hot in

the summer or really cold in the winter.

It's it's it has everything. It has

food, shopping, entertainment. So I

don't see it being something that will

go out of style in a lot of places.

Um but I don't think that it will

compete with online. I think online in

the long term will continue to grow even

more. And do you think some businesses

in the future, for example, banks or

travel agents will go 100%

online?

>> I don't know about 100%,

but I would say pretty darn close. A lot

of the services that are offered by

banks and travel agencies can be quite

efficiently executed online. So, I'm

trying to think of why there would be a

reason, at least travel agencies, I

couldn't think of a reason why they

would need to have a physical store. Um,

with banks, they can have maybe a small

section for their VIP clientele,

but

I would say pretty close to 100% of it

can be executed online. I'll leave the

1% for any extran extranuous variables

that um I I can't think of at the

moment.

>> Very good. That's the end of the test.

If you want to hear Priyanka again, we

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