20 Essential English Phrases to talk about The Economy

- If you are an IELTS student

and the word economy makes you nervous, relax,

this video is going to help you become a confident speaker

when talking about the economy.

(pleasant music)

Hello, this is Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy.

So in this video I'm going to help you

become a confident speaker when talking about the economy.

I'll go over some essential words that you need to know

and then some really useful phrases

so that you can face the IELTS examiner with confidence.

The great thing about this is it's gonna help you,

not only with your IELTS speaking,

but also with your IELTS writing.

The other great thing,

(laughing)

can I say that?

Okay, the other great thing about this,

is that even if you are not preparing for IELTS,

and you just want to improve

your daily conversational English,

this is gonna help you.

Lovely, let's get stuck in.

So what is the economy?

Before I define it, let me talk about English.

When we talk about the 'economy',

we always use the word THE, right?

Economy always has an article, right?

'The economy'.

What's more, 'the' becomes 'the', the economy

because economy begins with a vowel sound.

When a word begins with a vowel sound

the becomes the, the economy.

The apple, right?

So definitions in very simple terms.

The economy is the financial state of a country.

It's how well we are doing organizing our money

and our resources, like people and things.

So basically, if there are plenty of shops

making and selling things,

and people have enough money to buy those things,

the economy is doing well.

That's it.

That's all you need to know, really simple.

Now, I know probably there are some economists

watching this, economists, right?

And thinking, oh, that's not quite right.

I'm making it simple to make it understandable.

Feel free, give us a comment,

and give us the real description,

or definition of the economy, right?

So the noun, the economy is that.

There's another noun, economics, economics.

So notice this change in stress, right?

We've got economy is the financial state of the country

and economics is the subject.

At university you can study economics, right?

It's the study of the economy, okay.

Now, don't worry if this is still a little confusing.

Actually, it reminds me,

in English when you don't understand something

or it's confusing,

you can say, "It sounds Greek to me."

Why is it Greek, and not French or Spanish?

I don't know.

It sounds Greek to me.

We also say, "Keith, you are talking Double Dutch."

Double Dutch.

Dutch is the language from Holland, right?

You are talking Double Dutch.

Don't worry, things will get clearer.

A tip, if you are taking the IELTS speaking test

and if you're not really confident about this topic,

but you will be at the end of the video,

but if you are not you, you can show off your English a bit

and gain time by saying,

"I'm not an expert on this, but I think."

Or even better, "This is not my field of expertise,

but I think."

Or "Yeah, I have a limited understanding of economics,

but I think."

Or "My grasp of economics is not great,

but I think."

Dadadadada, right?

Lovely little phrases you can use.

Great, let's move on

and talk about good economies and bad economies.

Okay, so if the economy is going well, right,

meaning it's in a good financial state,

we can use the present simple

to describe the economy now, right?

We can say we have a robust economy.

Robust meaning strong, okay?

You can describe what the economy is doing right now

using the present continuous, okay.

The economy is booming.

Put the stress on the boom.

The economy is booming.

Booming meaning it's growing, getting bigger.

We can also describe a recent change in the economy

using the present perfect.

We could say, "There has been an upturn

in economic growth."

Okay, there has been, present perfect.

There has been an, we would say there's been an.

There's been an, there's been an upturn in economic growth.

Can you say?

Nice, split it into two.

There's been an upturn in economic growth.

Lovely, very, very good.

Okay, now on the other hand,

if the economy is going badly, again,

we can use the present simple to describe it now.

We can say we have a stagnant economy.

Stagnant just means stuck, right,

or not moving.

Normally we use this for water, stagnant water,

which is water that isn't moving,

and often smells bad, like the water in a well or in a pond.

So here, idiomatically, we're describing the economy

that it's not going well, right?

We have a stagnant economy.

The shops aren't selling goods,

the people aren't buying, not good.

You could also say the economy is really slow at the moment.

So as well as being bad, it can be slow.

The economy is really slow at the moment.

In addition, we can use the present continuous

to describe what is happening, right?

We could say we are heading for a recession.

To be heading for, or to head for,

to go towards a recession is where the economy goes down,

nothing's working, prices are too expensive,

nobody's got any money.

It's all doom and gloom, a recession.

So we are heading for a recession.

We can also use the present perfect to describe

that recent change.

So we could say there has been a downturn

in economic growth, okay?

Remember there has been an, there's been an,

there's been an, there's been a downturn in economic growth.

Two phrases, there's been an a downturn in economic growth.

Put it all together, repeat with me.

There's been a downturn in economic growth.

Now, we're cooking.

Nice, very nice.

Let's move on.

Now, we're gonna look at some essential economic terms.

'Terms' just means terminology, right, words.

First of all, inflation, inflation.

Inflation is the increase in the price of goods

and services.

Simple as that, right?

Normally, it's a percent, like 10%.

We talk about the rate of inflation,

is how fast or how much the prices are increasing.

The rate of inflation.

I think now in England it's 10%.

It's very, very high.

You can also say the inflation rate.

The rate of blank or the inflation rate.

There are other rates as well.

We've got the unemployment rate.

Unemployment, employment is having a job,

'un-' is 'not', so not having a job.

So it's how many people don't have a job,

how many people are out of work?

Nice, collocation, out of work.

So the unemployment rate again is often a percentage.

In some countries the unemployment rate is 30%

amongst young people.

So I think the unemployment rate is the number of people

without a job divided by the number of people

in the working population.

Working population or labor force.

The labor force, that's people available to work.

Good collocations, make a note of these, right?

There are other rates.

There's the interest rate,

which is how interested you are in this video.

No, of course not, I'm pulling your leg.

The interest rate is nothing to do

with how interested you are.

It's how much money you have to pay back

to the bank on your loan.

So a loan is money that you borrow from the bank,

and, of course, when you give it back to the bank,

you have to give them more.

I know, right?

What's that all about?

Banks making money.

That's the interest rate,

is how much more money you have to give them back.

So the interest rate has been rising, right,

over recent years in, at least in Europe and the USA.

And another very, very useful acronym is GDP,

stands for gross domestic product.

So an acronym is where you take the first letter

of the word GDP, gross domestic product.

And again, this is normally a percentage.

Like the GDP in the UK last year was, I dunno, 2% maybe.

I think China has had one of the highest GDPs

in recent years.

And so it's the gross domestic product,

which is basically the total value of the goods produced

in a year in a country, or in an economy.

Okay, great, GDP, gross domestic product.

I remember, I think it was Bhutan,

there's a country that was famous

'cause it changed gross domestic products

to gross domestic happiness,

which they felt was more important,

or at least as important as what we are producing.

Yeah, I would tend to agree.

Let's move on.

Right, let's look now at things going up

and things going down,

and how we describe that in English.

First of all, things going up,

like your excitement as Saturday gets closer.

Things going up.

We can say to go up, we can talk about, let's see,

GDP, remember, gross domestic product.

GDP has gone up to 6%.

The gone up, gone up to 6%.

GDP has gone up to.

(speaking gibberish)

GDP has gone up to 6%.

We can also say GDP has risen to 6%.

GDP has climbed to 6%.

GDP has increased to 6%.

If it's gone up a lot,

we can say GDP has rocketed to 6%,

or GDP has soared to 6%.

GDP has shot up, shot up to 6%.

Notice as well the difference to, between to and by.

If it's risen TO 6%, that's the final percent.

If it's risen BY 6%, that's the change in the rate, okay.

Now, two nice expressions here.

One of them is to go through the roof.

Go through the roof, that's the roof,

which means to go extremely high, right?

We can talk about inflation has gone through the roof

or the (speaking gibberish)

or the unemployment rate is going through the roof.

The second expression is to hit an all-time high,

which means to be the highest ever in all time.

So you'll hear journalists and politicians using this a lot

'cause it's very exaggerating, exaggerating.

Yes, inflation has hit an all-time high

or the unemployment rate has hit an all-time high.

Okay, nice expressions.

Let's move on and think about, not just think,

but talk about things going down, right?

Maybe like your motivation

as the test gets closer and closer.

(chuckles) Things are going down.

We can say, of course, GDP has gone down to 6%.

Remember to is the final percent.

If we say GDP has gone down by 6%,

that 6% is the change.

We can also say GDP has fallen.

GDP has decreased.

It has declined.

It has dropped.

And if it's gone down a lot,

we can say it has slumped or it has plummeted.

Lovely words, slumped, plummeted, nice words.

And, of course, you can use those expressions,

like the going up one,

like it has hit rock bottom these days.

GDP has hit rock bottom these days.

It's a very, very low, late,

very, very low rate,

or it is at an all-time low.

Excellent, nice expressions.

Great, so although this is not your field of expertise,

maybe, I hope now you feel more confident

to speak a little bit about the economy,

at least to understand the basics,

to have some useful phrases,

and the essential terminology you need

to talk about the economy, excellent.

If you've enjoyed this video,

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And listen, if you are preparing for IELTS,

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and develop your speaking skills,

go and check out my website, the Keith Speaking Academy,

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And basically every topic under the sun,

you'll find a free lesson there, I think.

Go and check it out keithspeakingacademy.com.

And great, I will see you in the next video.

Take care my friend.

Bye bye.

(pleasant music)