Human Emotions (1)

Hello.

Welcome to 6 Minute English, I'm Neil.

And I'm Sam.

And we are sitting here in New Broadcasting House, in the middle of London.

Would you say, Sam, that this is an isolated place?

Oh no, not at all.

Isolated means far away from other places and people.

Does that mean then, do you think, that you can't be lonely here, with all these people

around and all these things to do?

Ah, good question.

Can you be lonely in a crowd?

Yes, of course, I think you can be because being lonely isn't about physical isolation.

I think you can be lonely anywhere if you feel that you are disconnected from the world

around you, if you feel that no one understands you.

If you are living happily in isolation in The Scottish Highlands, for example, I'm sure

you could feel lonely if you came here to London.

Well, loneliness is today's topic.

The BBC has just completed a big survey about it which we will learn more about shortly.

But first, of course, a question: Where is the most isolated inhabited place on the planet

- by which I mean the place furthest away from anywhere else with the fewest people

living there.

Is it:

a) McMurdo Station in Antarctica

b) Siwa Oasis in Egypt's Western Desert, or is it

c) the island of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic

What do you think, Sam?

I've got absolutely no idea, so this is just a guess - I think it's the one in Antarctica.

I'm going to go with that.

Well, we'll have the answer later on in the programme.

Loneliness is seen as a big problem for the mental health of the population, so much so

that the British government has a minister for loneliness.

But which age group suffers most from loneliness.

Here is a BBC report about the research.

There is a common stereotype that loneliness affects only the old and the isolated.

It does, but what this experiment also shows is that loneliness is felt throughout life.

People aged between 16 and 24 experience loneliness more often and more intensely than any other

age group.

So according to the research, Sam, which section of society is most affected by loneliness?

This might be a surprise, but it's 16 to 24 year olds.

I was surprised by that because like many, I would've guessed that it was older people.

The reporter did say that that was a stereotype.

A stereotype is nothing to do with stereo music, but it's the noun we use to describe

a very simple and basic judgement of someone and their character and personality based

on their age, nationality, profession and so on.

So a stereotype of British people is that we can't cook, we have bad teeth, we are very

reserved and never say what we mean.

I don't know what you mean, my cooking is wonderful, Sam.

And the stereotype is that old people get lonely.

Much like the stereotypes of British people, this may be true in some cases - I've eaten

some of your home-cooked meals remember, Neil - but it's not true for the majority.

It is young people who feel lonely more often and more intensely.

Intensely here means strongly.

The feeling of loneliness is stronger in young people than older people.

The reporter goes on to give some explanation for why young people might be more lonely.

Researchers from the University of Manchester who analysed the data, suggested feeling lonely

may plague the young because it's a time of identity change.

Figuring out your place in the world and of learning to regulate emotions.

He says that feeling lonely may plague young people, what does he mean there?

If you are plagued by something, it means that it troubles you, it bothers you and not

just once, it's something that happens continually or repeatedly.

And he says this may be because at that age we are still figuring out our place in the

world.

We are trying to understand the world and what we are supposed to do with our lives.

He also suggests that younger people have not yet learned how to regulate their emotions,

which is another way of saying to control their emotions.

Right.

Time to review this week's vocabulary, but before that let's have the answer to the quiz.

I asked: Where is the most isolated inhabited place on the planet?

Is it:

a) McMurdo Station in Antarctica

b) Siwa Oasis in Egypt's Western Desert or

c) the island of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic

What did you say, Sam?

I said a).

Well, I'm afraid to say the answer is actually c) the island of Tristan da Cunha in the South

Atlantic.

It has a population of fewer than 300 and it's only accessible by a 6-day voyage by

ship from South Africa.

So not a popular place for a weekend break!

Indeed not.

Now it's time for a recap of our vocabulary.

The first word was isolated which Tristan da Cunha certainly is.

It means far away from other place and people.

Then there was stereotype the noun for a simplistic view of person or group based on their nationality,

age, profession and the like.

Intensely means strongly.

Being plagued by something means it causes you problems and difficulties.

If you are trying to figure something out, you are trying to understand it.

And to regulate something means to control it.

Well, sadly, that's the end of the programme.

Hopefully you won't feel too lonely without us, remember we are always here on Instagram,

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, our App and of course the website BBClearningenglish.com.

See you soon.

Goodbye.

Bye!

Hello.

Welcome to 6 Minute English, I'm Neil.

This is the programme where in just six minutes we discuss an interesting topic and teach

some related English vocabulary.

And joining me to do this is Rob.

Hello, Neil.

Now Rob, you seem like a happy chappy.

What's the point of being miserable?

Well, that are many things that could make you feel down in the dumps – a phrase that

means 'unhappy' – but what are the things that keep you feeling happy, cheerful and

chirpy, Rob?

Oh, many things like being healthy, having good friends, presenting programmes like this

with you, Neil!

Of course – but we all have different ideas about what makes us happy – and that can

vary from country to country and culture to culture.

It's what we're talking about today – concepts of happiness.

Now Neil, you could make us even happier if you gave us a really good question to answer.

Here it is.

Happiness is an emotion that actually gets measured.

The World Happiness Report measures "subjective well-being" - how happy the people are, and

why.

But do you know, according to a United Nations agency report in 2017, which is the happiest

country on Earth?

Is it… a) Norway

b) Japan, or c) New Zealand?

WeIl, I think they're all very happy places but the outdoor life of many New Zealanders

must make New Zealand the happiest place.

OK, we'll see.

I'll reveal the answer later on.

But now back to our discussion about happiness around the world.

Happiness can be hard to define.

Research has suggested that while personal feelings of pleasure are the accepted definition

of happiness in Western cultures, East Asian cultures tend to see happiness as social harmony

and in some parts of Africa and India it's more about shared experiences and family.

It's something author and journalist Helen Russell has been looking at – she's even

created an 'Atlas of Happiness'.

Her research focused on the positive characteristics of a country's population – and guess which

country she found to be one of the happiest?

New Zealand?

Actually no.

It was Japan.

Here she is speaking on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour programme.

What concept – or belief – is it that promotes happiness?

Millennials and perhaps older people are better at remembering wabi-sabi – this traditional

Japanese concept around celebrating imperfection, which I think is something so helpful these

days, especially for women – it's this idea that there is a beauty in ageing, it's to

be celebrated rather than trying to disguise it, or trying to cover up the scars instead

you gild them with kintsugi – if you break a pot instead of chucking it away, you mend

it with gold lacquer so the scars, rather than being hidden, are highlighted in pure

gold…

We all have laughter lines and rather than being ashamed of them, they're something to

be celebrated.

So in Japan, there is a belief that people should celebrate imperfection.

Imperfection is a fault or weakness.

So rather than hiding something that's not perfect, we should celebrate it.

Getting old, for example, is not something to be ashamed of – don't hide your wrinkles

or laughter lines – these are the creases you get as you skin ages or even you get from

smiling too much!

Rather than spending time being ashamed of our faults, we should accept what and who

we are.

This concept is something that Helen feels is particularly being celebrated by Millennials

and older people.

Yes, and Helen compared this with the process of kintsugi – where the cracks or scars

on broken pottery are highlighted with gold lacquer.

This is called gilding.

So we should highlight our imperfections.

This concept is something that maybe English people should embrace more because according

to Helen Russell's research, they are not a very happy population.

Here she is speaking on the BBC's Woman's Hour programme again – what word does she

use to describe people like me and you?

In England what we have is 'jolly', which many of us now associate with this kind of

'jolly hockey sticks' or maybe an upper-class thing but actually it's something that really

plays through a lot of British culture in a way that we may not think of so much.

So there's this sense that in a lot of our comedy, in a lot of our approach to life you

just sort of… you get out there, you go for a dog walk, you have a boiled egg and

soldiers ['soldiers' in this case are small slices of toast that you can dip into your

egg and eat], and we do sort of get on with things – it's a coping mechanism, it's not

perfect but it's worked for many Brits for a while.

In the past we would use the phrase 'jolly hockey sticks' – a humorous phrase used

to describe upper-class school girls' annoying enthusiasm.

But Helen now thinks 'jolly' describes an attitude that is used as a coping mechanism

– that's something someone does to deal with a difficult situation.

We smile, do everyday things – like walking the dog – and just get on with life.

I guess she means carry on without complaining.

Well, here's something to make you happy, Rob – the answer to the question I asked

you earlier, which was: according to a United Nations agency report in 2017, which is the

happiest country on Earth?

Is it… a) Norway

b) Japan, or c) New Zealand?

And I said c) New Zealand.

The answer is a) Norway.

The report has been published for the past five years, during which the Nordic countries

have consistently dominated the top spots.

OK, now it's time to remind ourselves of some of the vocabulary we've mentioned today.

We mentioned the phrase down in the dumps – which is an informal way of describing

the feeling of unhappiness, sometimes with no hope.

The next word was imperfection, which is a fault or weakness.

You won't find any imperfections in this programme, Rob!

Glad to hear it.

Maybe we should gild this script – to gild something is to cover it in a thin layer of

gold.

We also heard about the word jolly which means 'cheerful and happy'.

And being jolly can be used as a coping mechanism - that's something someone does to deal with

a difficult situation.