002_Apartment_hunting

002_Apartment_hunting

Apartment hunting vocabulary. Studio, Duplex and Townhouse

Kevin:

Hello, Welcome back to Nichibei Kaiwa Gakuin Podcasting. A great place to review English vocabulary and phrases. This week Emi and I talked about apartments.

Kevin:

Hi Emi. How can I help you?

Emi:

Well I’m trying to help a friend rent an apartment in New York but I’m not really sure about some of these word. Here, take a look at this, it says studio apartment for rent. What exactly is a studio apartment?

Kevin:

Let’s ask Nichibei instructor Tony Demko for his opinion on this. Hey Tony you got a moment for me?

Tony:

Yeah, sure, What’s up.

Kevin:

Well, Emi’s looking for an apartment for her friend in New York and she’s a little confused by the term studio apartment. What does that mean to you?

Tony:

Well, a studio apartment is just one big room that has everything that a big apartment would have. For example it would have a kitchen, it would have a couch and a sofa and it might have a partition to separate it from the bedroom area but it’s still just one big room.

Kevin:

So it’s just a one room apartment.

Tony:

One room apartment. That’s a good way of putting it.

Kevin:

Why do they use the word studio then?

Tony:

That’s a very good question.

Kevin:

Thanks for your time Tony.

Emi:

Oh I see. In Japanese we call it a one room. So why do you call it a studio apartment anyway?

Kevin:

Well this is an American English term and I guess it’s used because it sounds nicer than one room apartment. It makes me think of an artist studio. So Emi, what’s your next question?

Emi:

Here. look at this, it says “Duplex” what’s that?

Kevin:

Let’s ask Ray Parnell’s opinion on this one. Hey Ray, do you have a minute?

Ray:

Sure, what’s up?

Kevin:

You live in a duplex, right?

Ray:

Yes I do.

Kevin:

What exactly is a duplex?

Ray:

A duplex is house or apartment divided into two separate dwellings or two separate apartments.

Kevin:

So it’s like a house with one roof that’s been divided into two apartments?

Ray:

Yeah in most cases that’s true. You share a wall.

Kevin:

OK thanks.

Ray:

No problem.

Emi:

OK. I’ve got it. I’ve seen a duplex before. Kevin, I have one more here. This advertisement say “Townhouse for rent”.

Kevin:

Townhouse? let’s ask Charles Tully for his opinion. Charley do you have a minute?

Charlie:

Ah Kevin hi, have a chair, yes.

Kevin:

I have a question. Emi’s looking for some apartments and we don’t really know the meaning of townhouse. Have you heard that before?

Charlie:

Yeah, a townhouse is like Japanese row houses. Houses that are usually built out of wood. They’re close to each other. There’s no space between the houses and when you look down the street, it looks like a row of houses.

Kevin:

Thanks a lot.

Charlie:

You’re welcome. See you later

Emi:

So it’s like a duplex but longer?

Kevin:

Yeah. that’s right. It’s many apartments together that are sharing a common wall. Thank you Emi. let’s review. Studio apartment. Duplex. Townhouse. OK, that’s all the time we have for this podcast. Thanks Emi. To find out more about Nichibei Kaiwa Gakuin visit www.nichibei.ac.jp and follow the podcast link for information and transcripts of this podcast. This podcast is a production of Nichibei Kaiwa Gakuin and Live Mix Media.

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