Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.
00:08
Feifei: Hello and welcome back to The
0
8880
1860
00:10
English We Speak – I’m Feifei.
1
10740
2360
00:13
Neil: And I’m Neil – hello everybody.
2
13110
1340
00:14
Feifei: So Neil, word round the office is
3
14450
2720
00:17
that you had quite an exciting weekend!
4
17170
3150
00:20
Neil: That I did! I went away this weekend
5
20320
2680
00:23
to do some rock climbing!
6
23000
1600
00:24
Feifei: How exciting! I didn’t think that
7
24600
2440
00:27
would be your kind of thing.
8
27040
1950
00:28
Neil: What are saying, Feifei? That I’m not
9
28990
2150
00:31
in good shape?
10
31140
1060
00:32
OK, fair point. It has been a long time
11
32200
3820
00:36
since I’ve been rock climbing, but I used
12
36020
1940
00:37
to go all the time. I may not have the
13
37960
2260
00:40
stamina any more, but I still have the
14
40220
1600
00:41
technique. It was like riding a bike.
15
41829
2861
00:44
Feifei: What? You rode a bike while
16
44690
2560
00:47
climbing? Or did you carry the bike up
17
47250
2830
00:50
with you? What are you talking about, Neil?!
18
50080
2760
00:52
Neil: No, I was struggling to pull myself up
19
52840
2840
00:55
the rocks, never mind a bike! What I
20
55680
2360
00:58
meant is that it’s a skill I will always have
21
58040
2920
01:00
and always remember.
22
60960
1280
01:02
Feifei: So we can say ‘It’s like riding a bike’
23
62240
3340
01:05
to mean that once you learn how to do
24
65580
2208
01:07
something, you never forget it. Let’s take
25
67788
2452
01:10
a look at some more examples.
26
70240
1920
01:14
Though it’s been a while since I made a
27
74780
2320
01:17
video, I managed to do it easily – it was
28
77100
3140
01:20
like riding a bike.
29
80240
1800
01:22
I used to do a lot of baking with my
30
82049
1959
01:24
mother as a child, and recently I’ve got
31
84008
2212
01:26
back into it. It’s like riding a bike really.
32
86220
3760
01:29
I know it’s been a long time since you’ve
33
89980
2520
01:32
done any knitting, but honestly, it’s like
34
92500
3000
01:35
riding a bike.
35
95500
1160
01:40
Feifei: This is The English We Speak from
36
100400
1780
01:42
BBC Learning English and we’re talking
37
102220
2720
01:44
about the phrase ‘It’s like riding a bike’. It's
38
104940
3700
01:48
used when we want to say that once you
39
108640
2520
01:51
learn how to do something, you never
40
111160
1519
01:52
forget it. So Neil said that rock climbing,
41
112680
3420
01:56
an activity he used to do all the time, was
42
116100
2560
01:58
like riding a bike.
43
118667
1833
02:00
Neil: That’s right, Feifei – it was difficult
44
120500
2440
02:02
because it was tiring, but I remembered
45
122940
2500
02:05
with ease how to tie the ropes and all the
46
125440
2440
02:07
best techniques.
47
127880
1260
02:09
The idea is that once you have learnt to
48
129140
2040
02:11
do something once, like riding a bike, you
49
131200
2140
02:13
will never forget that skill.
50
133340
1740
02:15
Feifei: Well it seems that setting up the
51
135080
1580
02:16
studio is not like riding a bike for you,
52
136660
2520
02:19
Neil. The volume in my headphones is
53
139180
2840
02:22
way too loud!
54
142020
1380
02:23
Neil: Oh dear, I think I’d best get away
55
143400
1520
02:24
from here as fast as I before Feifei gets
56
144920
2620
02:27
really mad! Where's my bike…? Thanks for
57
147540
3320
02:30
joining us everyone!
58
150860
980
02:31
Feifei: Bye!
59
151840
1060
New videos
About this website
This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.