Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 44, Day 3 of Your English Five a Day. This is the series that is dedicated to improving your English by deep-diving into five items of vocabulary every day of the working week. We explore the vocabulary, make sure we understand it, then bring it all back together in a little story at the end. So, let's kick off today's episode with the adjective acoustic, acoustic. We spell this A C O U S T I C, acoustic, acoustic. Now, if an instrument is described as acoustic, then it means that it's not made louder by electrical equipment. And to be honest, you probably will only hear this describing a guitar, perhaps a piano and maybe some other instruments that I'm less familiar with, but that's where you'll mostly hear this adjective being used. So we often talk about acoustic guitar, and you may say,"Is this an electric piano?""No, it's an acoustic piano." Here's an example sentence,"My father loves electric guitar, but I have always preferred the sound of acoustic guitar." And actually, this is true. My father is a guitar player. He's a bass player. He plays bass guitar. He can play lead guitar as well, but he's always using an electric guitar. It has to be plugged in so that the sound is amplified and is very loud so he can play on stage. Acoustic guitars can also be amplified, but it's different. If an acoustic guitar is amplified so that everyone can hear it, it still won't be plugged in in the way that an electric guitar is. There'll be some sort of microphone that takes the sound and amplifies the sound. So there's a very different feel between an electric guitar. That was my impression of an electric guitar. And then there's the acoustic guitar, which is like... I'm not going to do any more instrument impressions. Okay, so acoustic. Next on the list is the noun big break, big break. We spell this big, B I G. Break, B R E A K, big break. A big break refers to a very good opportunity that will progress your career and help you to become more successful and usually your big break comes unexpectedly. So perhaps you play acoustic guitar and you want to join a successful band because you want to do this for a living, you want to play acoustic guitar as a job. You don't want to do your job down at Tesco's, stacking shelves, any longer. You want to be a guitarist. You want to be a musician, professionally. And you keep auditioning for different bands that are gigging on a regular basis, but no one takes you on. And you keep going, and you keep going, and then eventually, you get the phone call."Hi, we'd like you to join our band." That's your big break. You don't know when that call's going to come. But when it does, it's your big break. Here's another example,"We have been gigging for two years now, hoping someday soon to get our big break." Next on the list is the phrasal verb plug away, plug away. Plug, P L U G. Away, A W A Y. To plug away at something means that you work really hard in a very determined way at something, and usually something that's difficult. So, for example, if you're learning a language, you have to keep plugging away at it. It's not something that you can just work at for a few months and you're done, you're successful. You have to keep working at it. You have to be determined. And if you keep plugging away then, eventually, you will achieve fluency. Here's another example,"I've been plugging away at this essay for three days now, and I'm still nowhere near finishing." Okay, next on the list is the noun riff, riff. We spell this R I F F, a riff. A riff is a little tune that is repeated many times within one piece of music. So riffs are often recognisable. It's like a little motif that you hear over and over again. Here's an example,"Many Queen songs have such iconic riffs. I think that is why the band had huge global appeal." And it's true, isn't it? Queen songs do have quite iconic riffs. Like for example, just the simple, bum, bum, chh bum, bum, chh bum, bum, chh bum, bum chh. Ba-da-ba-da-baaa ba-da-ba-ba-ba-da. Right? You just know as soon as you hear that"bum, bum, chh bum, bum, chh." You know that's the big song, We Will Rock You. So that's a riff, a little tune, a little series of notes put together in a certain way that's repeated over and over within a particular song. Next on the list is the noun stage fright, stage fright. We spell this stage, S T A G E. Fright, F R I G H T. Stage fright. Stage fright is the severe anxiety or nervousness that you get at the moment when you have to perform. And actually, stage fright can stop you from actually performing. So imagine you are about to go out on stage in front of 2,000 people. All executives, all very clever people, maybe in your organisation, and you have to deliver a speech. And this is the first time you've ever had to step on stage to speak. You've never done anything like this ever before. And you are so nervous that your tongue is sticking to the roof of your mouth. Your lips are sticking together. You can barely hold your paper in your hand that's got your notes on because your hands are shaking so badly. You can barely stand because your legs are shaking, and you are going blank in your mind. That's stage fright, and in some cases, you're not even able to get out onto the stage and you might have to say,"I'm sorry I can't do this, I'm sorry." Stage fright is awful, I've experienced it and I know many professional performers who have experienced it. Here's an example sentence,"As a professional singer, Frank had to start seeing a therapist to try and overcome his crippling stage fright." Okay, so that's our five. Let's do a quick recap. We started with the adjective acoustic, meaning a musical instrument that has not been made louder with electrical equipment. Then we had the noun big break, which refers to a very good opportunity that will progress your career and make you more successful. Then we had the phrasal verb plug away, which is to work really hard in a determined way at something that is difficult. We had the noun riff. I don't know what that is. I promised I wouldn't do it again. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. A riff being a series of notes, a little tune that's repeated over and over within a piece of music. And then we had the noun stage fright. That severe anxiety or nervousness at the moment where you're about to perform. So, let's do this now for pronunciation purposes. Please repeat after me, Acoustic. Acoustic. Big break. Big break. Plug away. Plug away. Riff. Riff. Stage fright. Stage fright. Fantastic. Okay, so we turn up to band practice and I'm bringing my guitar and you say,"Do you need a lead for your guitar?" And I say,"No, no, no, this is just an ordinary guitar. I just play straight away. I don't need to plug it into anything. It's not that kind of guitar." It is a what guitar? It's an acoustic guitar. Yes, that's right. And if you ask me how long I've played guitar and I say to you,"Well, I've been working very hard to learn how to play rhythm guitar. It's quite difficult. But I've been doing it for a very long time. I've been working really hard at this for a long time." What phrasal verb could I use here to describe this working hard in a determined way? I've been plugging away at learning rhythm guitar and improving my rhythm guitar. And if I want to keep repeating a little tune over and over again within a song. What is that? How do I refer to that little series of notes? A riff. Yeah, it's got a really catchy riff. We should repeat this over and over and over. And finally, when it comes to showtime, I freeze and I'm really struggling to get up on the stage and do my thing. What am I experiencing? Stage fright. Very good. Okay. Let's listen out for these items once again, in storytime. When I first started out in the industry, I never imagined the path would be so winding. I grew up in a household filled with music, where my father, an avid guitarist, would spend hours strumming away on his acoustic guitar. I was always more interested in acting, but the gentle riffs that filled our home provided a comforting backdrop to my childhood. My journey to fame wasn't immediate. For years, I was just another struggling actor, plugging away at auditions, each rejection weighing heavier on my heart. The stage fright I battled in those early days was crippling. I remember one particular audition where I could barely get a word out; my nerves had turned me into a statue. But I kept going, pushing through the fear and doubt, determined to make a name for myself. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I got my big break. I was cast in a role that would change my life forever. The fear that once held me back began to dissipate, and I embraced the challenge. Looking back, I realised it was the persistence, the constant plugging away, that led me to where I am today. And that brings us to the end of today's episode. Thank you so much for joining me. If you enjoyed it today, do take a moment, please, please, please, to leave a like, a rating or review. Until tomorrow, take really good care of yourself and goodbye.