Chimps chat like we do: BBC Learning English from the News

From BBC Learning English,

this is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

In this programme, how chimpanzees have conversations just like us.

Hello, I'm. Phil. And I'm Beth.

In this program, we look at one big news story

and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode,

as well as a worksheet, on our website,

bbclearningenglish.com.

So, let's hear more about this story, Phil.

OK, so this story comes

from a study that's been observing chimpanzees over many decades.

And they've seen that chimpanzees gesture with their hands to communicate.

Yeah. And chimpanzees or chimps, as we sometimes call them,

take turns to do this.

And they even interrupt each other, just like humans.

So, this turn-taking, and the time between these turns, is actually

very similar to the way that we do it as humans, when we're communicating.

And I have a headline here that's about the main finding of the study.

Chimps share humans' 'snappy' conversational style.

And that's from BBC News in the UK.

Yep, again that headline. Chimps share humans' 'snappy' conversational style.

And that is from BBC News, in the UK.

Now, this headline is all about the way that chimps communicate with each other.

We have this adjective 'snappy', which means quick, concise, and effective.

Yeah, and 'snap' is one of these words that sounds like what it represents -

that's an onomatopoeia, and it's a very quick sound.

You can snap your fingers, a crocodile can snap its mouth shut.

OK. And here, where it's describing the chimps' conversation as snappy,

it means that it's quick,

it's concise, and that each turn has impact.

Exactly. Now, we also have a phrase 'make it snappy', which means 'be quick'.

Maybe you're in a hurry,

someone's forgotten their keys, and you say, come on, make it snappy –

means 'be quick'.

So, we had 'snappy', which means quick, concise and effective.

For example, the writers managed to come up

with a snappy three word slogan for their advert.

This is Learning English from the News, our

podcast all about the news headlines.

Today, we're talking about a report,

and it says that chimpanzees communicate in a similar way to us.

Yeah. So one of the things in this study is looking at

just how snappy chimps are when they communicate,

and comparing that to humans.

So, the average human response time in a conversation is 200 milliseconds.

That's a fifth of a second.

And for chimps, it's 120 milliseconds.

So a little bit quicker. Now,

actually for humans you do get variation between different cultures.

Sometimes these turns are longer and shorter.

And, actually, that was also seen in different groups

of chimps in this study.

So, we've got another headline here which is talking

about the speed of this turn-taking.

This is from The Guardian, in the UK.

Chimpanzees communicate in similar quick-fire fashion to humans,

study shows.

And that headline again, chimpanzees communicate in similar quick-fire fashion

to humans, study shows.

And that is from the Guardian, here in the UK.

Again, the two things in this headline are that chimps'

communication is similar to ours, and is quick.

So, we have another adjective here.

It's a compound adjective that's 'quick-fire'.

And we usually write this with a hyphen between 'quick' and 'fire'.

Now, some of the earliest examples of 'quick-fire' are about guns,

meaning that they can fire a lot of shots quickly.

And that is still one way that 'quick-fire' is used.

But, that's literal,

and of course, here in the headline, it's metaphorical.

And as a metaphor, 'quick-fire' just means that things come one

after another, quickly in a sequence.

In fact, a common way that we use 'quick-fire' is to describe things happening

in quick-fire succession.

And it's often used to describe the way that people speak,

particularly if someone is very talkative, or if they speak very quickly.

I asked for directions the other day

and the lady gave me a really quick-fire set of instructions.

She spoke very fast.

So we had 'quick-fire' – very fast, one after another.

For example, the rapper is known for her quick-fire delivery of rhymes.

This is Learning English from the News, from BBC Learning English.

We're talking about a study that says chimpanzees communicate

in a similar way to us.

So, this study says that sometimes chimpanzees wait

for the other chimp to stop speaking, but sometimes they interrupt them.

And in fact, in this study, up to seven turns in a row were observed.

Sometimes, chimps communicate to avoid conflict,

and sometimes they do it to make plans – to organize activities

with other chimps.

And this communication can also be used to say that they want to share food,

but it can be the opposite.

They might communicate to tell the other chimps to go away.

And we've got a headline here that refers to this communication.

Chimpanzees gesture back-and-forth quickly, like in human conversations.

And that's from the website EurekAlert!

which is from the US.

Again, that headline: chimpanzees gesture back-and-forth quickly, like

in human conversations.

And that's from the website EurekAlert!,

in the US.

OK, so here we have the idiom 'back-and-forth',

which is being used to say how something happens.

It's like an adverb.

Now the word 'forth' is a bit old fashioned,

but it has survived in this phrase.

But really, it just means forwards, doesn't it?

Yes. So, if something literally goes back-and-forth,

it goes backwards and forwards.

Think about a swing in a children's playground.

Now, here in the headline, it's not about literal movements, like on a swing.

It's about the flow of conversation that goes in two directions.

So, from one chimp to the other, and back again, and up to seven times.

'Back-and-forth' is also often used about conversation.

So, if you want to talk about a really successful social event,

you could say that the conversation flowed back-and-forth for hours.

So, that's back-and-forth,

which means moving in one direction, and then coming back again.

The negotiations went back-and-forth until an agreement was reached.

That's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.

We'll be back next week with another new story.

If you've enjoyed this program, make sure you listen to 6 Minute English.

And don't forget, we're on social media,

so search for us under 'BBC learning English'.

Bye for now. Goodbye.