Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 50, Day 1 of Your English Five a Day. This is the series that delivers a healthy daily dose of English vocabulary so that you can expand your vocabulary knowledge and improve your English listening skills. So, stick with me as we start the 50th week of this series with the adjective vintage, vintage. We spell this V I N T A G E. Now A G E on the end of a word is often pronounced/ɪdʒ/ rather than/eɪdʒ/. So, we have/ˈvɪntɪdʒ/,/ˈvɪntɪdʒ/. Vintage describes something that's classic or of high quality from the past, especially with regards to clothing, wine, or vehicles, like classic cars would be described as a vintage car. So, it has to be high quality or a classic and quite old. So, you might be wearing a vintage dress, a dress that's perhaps 90 or 100 years old that's absolutely beautiful. You need to say,"Oh yes, it's vintage.""Don't touch my hat, it's vintage!" Or you might enjoy a vintage wine. I'm afraid a vintage wine would be wasted on me. I mean, I don't drink very much anyway, but I probably couldn't tell the difference between a vintage wine and just a generally good quality modern wine. Here's an example sentence,"Thea wore a stunning vintage dress from the 1950s to the gala, attracting many compliments." Next on the list, we have the noun craft, craft. We spell this C R A F T. Craft A craft. A craft is an activity involving a special skill at making things with your hands. So, if you are the kind of person who goes down to your workshop in the garden and you make something amazing out of wood or paper, perhaps you are an origami specialist, then that's your craft. That's what you do. An actor has to work very hard to become good at their craft. Here's another example,"In his free time, James practises the craft of jewellery making, carefully selecting gemstones and putting together unique pieces that reflect his artistic vision." Next on the list, we have another adjective and it is handcrafted, handcrafted, all one word. Let me spell it for you H A N D C R A F T E D, handcrafted. If something is handcrafted, then it's made by hand. And this adjective often emphasises the craftsmanship. The skill and the uniqueness of the item, as opposed to something that's been made in a factory by a machine en mass. So, if there's a production line making a little model of a deer, and this machine is just pumping out thousands of these little deer ornaments, they might be beautiful, but they're not handcrafted. As opposed to a man sitting in his shed with his tools, making a deer out of wood or stone, chipping away at the stone and making this beautiful item that has taken him weeks and weeks to make. That would be quite special. So, we'd refer to that as being handcrafted. Here's another example,"The local market was filled with beautifully handcrafted jewellery that showcased the artisan's skill." Next on the list is the noun fast fashion, fast fashion. Two words. Fast, F A S T. Fashion, F A S H I O N, fast fashion. Fast fashion refers to clothes that are made and sold cheaply so that people can buy new clothes often. These are clothes that are often poorly made or made with cheap materials or in a cheap and fast way. So, fast fashion doesn't last. It's very wasteful and should be avoided. Here's an example sentence,"Marketing is the key driver of fast fashion." Last on the list today is an adverb and it is intently, intently. We spell this I N T E N T L Y. Intently. If something is done intently, then it's done with eager attention. It's done with focus. So, if something's done intently, then it's done with earnest, with determination. It's being taken seriously. So, what have you done intently recently? Here's an example sentence,"Patrick listened intently to the lecturer, jotting down notes and absorbing every detail of the complex topic." Hopefully, you're listening intently now. But maybe not. Maybe you're cooking. Maybe you're really going for it on the treadmill. Maybe you're in a meeting and you should be listening to what's going on, but instead, you're sneaking a little listen, a little eardrum tickle from me. I don't mind. Okay, so that's our five for today. Let's do a quick recap. We started with the adjective vintage. Describing something that's classic or of high quality from the past, usually relating to clothes, wine or cars. Then we had the noun craft, which is an activity that involves a special skill at making something, like the craft of acting or the craft of making jewellery. We had the adjective handcrafted, meaning that something has been made with your hands. Then we had the noun, fast fashion, describing clothes that are made and sold very cheaply. And we had the adverb intently, meaning that something is done with focus, eager attention and determination. So, let's do this now for pronunciation purposes. Please repeat after me. Vintage. Vintage. Craft. Craft. Handcrafted. Handcrafted. Fast fashion. Fast fashion. Intently. Intently. Very good. Okay, what's the adjective that I use to describe an item that I made with my own hands? Yeah, that one's easy. Handcrafted. And if I'm wearing a dress that's classic, it's a very high quality and it's nearly a hundred years old, what adjective could we use to describe this beautiful dress? Vintage. Very good. And if I do something with focus and determination, what adverb could you use to describe how I'm doing it? Intently. Exactly. And if I am horrified to see that my best friend is indulging in the buying and throwing away of very cheaply made clothes that just fall apart within a few wears, what is she indulging in? What do we call this type of clothing? Fast fashion. Yes, absolutely. And finally, what noun would we use to describe an activity that involves a special skill when making something? A craft. Yes, very good. Craft. Fantastic. Listen out for these items once again in today's storytime. Not so long ago, Martha was addicted to fast fashion. Whenever she got the chance, she hit the shops looking for the latest trends. She got a high from every new purchase and loved being able to change her style so frequently. But as the years went by, she ended up with wardrobes and drawers full of poor-quality clothes that she didn't wear much. Not only was fast fashion cluttering her bedroom, but it was also wasting both her time and money. Even though the clothes were cheap, buying them regularly took time and purchases added up. So, little by little, she reduced her shopping trips. Martha had also heard negative things about the clothing industry. She listened intently to a podcast series about the impact of fast fashion on the environment and workers. Martha was so shocked by what she found out that she didn't want to buy or wear it anymore. The question was, how could she stay stylish on a budget? That's when she got into vintage clothes. She found it fun and exciting to go to vintage clothing shops to look for unique pieces. They weren't much more expensive than the mass-produced clothes she used to buy. In fact, they were often cheaper! Martha also got interested in textile crafts. She started off customising some of her existing clothes, making small modifications like changing the buttons or adding patches. She got interested in other crafts too, like sewing and knitting. She was soon designing and making her own clothes. The day that she wore her first-hand crafted piece of clothing, a scarf she had knitted, was a revelation. People asked her where she got it! That never happened when she wore fast fashion. Martha realised that a handcrafted piece of clothing, particularly one you make yourself, is worth a thousand mass-produced ones. Thank you for letting me tickle your eardrums today. If you found today useful or entertaining in any way, can I ask you a small favour? Please just take a second to leave a like and a comment if you're watching on YouTube, or if you're streaming on another platform, it would mean the world to me if you can leave a rating or review. And that's so that others can find this podcast and make use of it too. Thank you so much. Until tomorrow, take very good care and goodbye.