英語リスニング力のスキルアップに最適なPodCast
最近は、Netflixなどのネット映画にも、Closed Captionの英語字幕がつくようになり、英語のリスニング力をアップできる教材が大幅に増えています。しかし、生きた時事問題をテーマとしたポッドキャストで、オーディオと完全なトランスクリプトを提供しているものは少ないようです。
This American Lifeとは？
そうしたPodCastとして、これはいいなと思うものが見つかりました。"This American Life"というPodcastがそれです。
This American Lifeは、週1回の公共ラジオ番組とpodcastを提供しています。主に時事問題をテーマとして扱っていますが、なかでも娯楽的な色彩の強いテーマ、つまり面白いストーリーを頻繁に取り上げている点に特徴があります。いわば、映画のようなラジオ番組といえるでしょう。
This American Lifeのリスナーは200万人以上もいます。全米の500以上の公共ラジオ局で放送されている他、podcastで250万以上もの番組がダウンロードされているということです。この番組が始まったのは1995年で、それ以来600を超えるエピソードがarchiveで公開されています。podcastのウェブサイトは、つぎのところです。このサイトにアクセスすると、とくに登録しなくても、無料で多数のpodcastをオンラインで聞いたり、パソコンにダウンロードすることができます。
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/
トピックスは毎週更新され、旬のテーマで生きた時事英語を学ぶことができるので、上級英語リスニング力を磨くには最適のpodcastだと思います。
This American Life放送のサンプル
サンプルとして、最近の放送を一部オーディオクリップとトランスクリプトの形で引用しておきたいと思います。テーマは、「ラブコメ (Rom-Com) について」です。私自身も、ラブコメが大好きなので、興味深く聴くことができました。
http://medialabo.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/RomCom.mp3
トランスクリプトNeil Drumming
I used to say that it was just watching just the close-ups of two beautiful people being funny and clever and witty to each other.
Ira Glass
Yeah.
Neil Drumming
Being their sort of best selves, or sometimes worst selves, but then eventually their best selves. And that was kind of enough for me.
Meg Ryan
Now, why shut me out? You know what happens to people who shut everybody out?
Kevin Kline
They live the quiet, peaceful lives?
Meg Ryan
No, they fester [footnote]悪化させる、苦しむ[/footnote].
Ira Glass
That's Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline with a fake French accent in the movie French Kiss.
Kevin Kline
Fester. I am festering.
Meg Ryan
Inside, fester and rot. I've seen it happen. You'll become one of those hunched-back lonely old men sitting in the corner of a crowded cafe mumbling to yourself, (FRENCH ACCENT) my ass is twitching. You people make my ass twitch.
Neil Drumming
If there's there's a simple thing that resonates for me, it's that, in the best of these movies, you get to see two people get along in a way that is great.
Ira Glass
It's just like nice to see that part of people.
Neil Drumming
Yeah. Yeah. And I think, if you're projecting at all, it's the idea that you can be that connected to someone or receive someone that well. When you see it, you're like, oh, yeah, that would be nice. That's why I like the ones where people spend a lot of time together.
Ira Glass
That's key for Neil. In Neil's personal ranking of these films, which has the 2009 film The Ugly Truth at the very, very bottom, the three rom-coms that sit at the very top like the tousled hair above Hugh Grant's head, are French Kiss, Two Weeks Notice, which is a real estate rom-com, and his very favorite-- lots of people's favorite-- When Harry Met Sally. And they're all at the top of the list for this very reason, because of how much time the couple spends together talking. Take When Harry Met Sally.
Neil Drumming
The thing that I like about it is that at least you get a vision of what their relationship actually is, because they spend 12 years together before they finally get together. So you get to see real fights. You get to see their relationship grow. You get to see their personalities clash.
And so they actually have a chance to fall in love by talking to each other, as opposed to, in romantic comedies now, or like where there's the montage and music playing and then you're just supposed to come out of that thinking they're in love, they actually spend time with each other. Like there's a sequence of scenes in When Harry Met Sally where they're just getting along, and they're just talking on the phone.
Meg Ryan
Hello?
Billy Crystal
You sleeping?
Meg Ryan
No, I was watching Casablanca.
Billy Crystal
Channel, please.
Meg Ryan
11.
Billy Crystal
Thank you. Got it. Now, you're telling me you would be happier with Victor Laszlow than with Humphrey Bogart?
Meg Ryan
When did I say that?
Billy Crystal
When we drove to New York.
Meg Ryan
I never said that. I would never have said that.
Billy Crystal
All right, fine. Have it your way. Have you been sleeping?
Meg Ryan
Why?
Billy Crystal
Because I haven't been sleeping.
Neil Drumming
I think if I was dating someone who hated When Harry Met Sally, I don't know that I could date them. Like, [LAUGHS] I don't know that I could. If you're not interested in the relationship between Harry and Sally, I don't really understand what kind of person you are. [LAUGHS] I don't know.
Ira Glass
Wow.
Neil Drumming
That's not to say that you're a bad person, it just means I don't think I understand you.
Ira Glass
OK. Romantic comedies are contrived. The people are way more clever and way better looking than in real life. The stories are full of things that would be ridiculous and sometimes maybe even on the stalker-y side if they happened to any of us. But this totally artificial form, when it works, reminds you of what it feels like to be in love and of somebody who wants to listen to what you say and who says things that you want to listen to. And so for this Valentine's Day, we're devoting our show to rom-coms.
In each of our acts today, we found a story that reminds us of some aspect of a movie rom-com. And yes, we did go on a search for stories of people running, sprinting down the street in real life in an urgent rush to tell someone that they love them. Stay with us.
(quoted from "This American Life" Feb.9, 2018 Rom-Com)
スマホアプリで聴く podcast
This American Lifeは、Apple Podcastsなどのpodcastアプリで聴くことができます。この他、有料になりますが、This American Lifeという専用のアプリも用意されています。iPhoneとAndroidの両方に対応しています（360円）。このアプリを利用すると、放送のバックナンバーを簡単に検索して再生することができるので便利です。操作はApple Podcastと同じです。
