Hi, I'm Martin. Welcome to Oxford Online English. In this visual vocabulary lesson, you can learn to describe landscapes, countryside nature in English.
What does the countryside look like near your home? What kind of landscapes does your country have? Let's see how you can answer these questions. I grew up... in a small village in England.
The countryside around there is very typically English. There are fields separated by stone walls or hedgerows and rolling hills in the distance. A hedge is something like a wall or a fence, but made out of plants.
A hedgerow is similar, but it's used as a barrier between fields. In Britain, farm fields are often surrounded by hedgerows. Rolling hills means low hills with gentle slopes. When I was a student, I studied in Canada for a year. Although it wasn't cold all year, my main memory is of these bleak, wintry landscapes, full of never-ending pine forests.
Wintry is the adjective from winter. You heard wintry landscapes. Another common collocation is wintry weather.
Leak means empty, cold. It has a negative meaning. Leak landscapes are not necessarily ugly, but they're often depressing.
After I graduated, I took a road trip across the USA with a friend. It was interesting to see how the landscape changed as we drove. A lot of the USA is quite flat.
There are these huge plains which go on for miles. A plain is a large, flat area of land without trees. You can also use the word grassland for a flat area of land. area which is covered with grass. Further south, we pass through mountainous badlands.
The mountains there have this weird, liquid look, like someone just poured them onto the land. It was a barren region, but beautiful nonetheless. Have you ever heard the word badlands?
It describes a specific type of landscape. which is made of soft rock which has been shaped by erosion. Badlands are generally quite bare, without many plants or trees, and often have steep-sided hills. Before, I used the word barren.
Do you know what that means? If something is barren, there are few plants or trees. You could also use the word bear, which has a similar meaning here. We drove through Utah and Monument Valley.
It's a rocky desert with these incredible messes and weird rock formations, like nothing I've seen elsewhere. You can use the phrase rock formation to refer to an interesting or unusual... rock structure.
One example is a mesa, which is a flat-topped rock formation with steep sides. In California, we visited the redwood forests. Of course, we have forests and woodland in England, but nothing like this. The trees are enormous!
You can use different words for land, which is covered with trees. You heard forest and woodland. If you're talking about a tropical forest, you can say rainforest or jungle. You might also hear wood, as in there's a small wood next to the river.
Technically, a forest is bigger than a wood, but English speakers sometimes use the words interchangeably. We've finished. in Yosemite National Park, which is one of the most stunning places I've ever visited.
The highlight was this towering waterfall. You can use the word towering to describe natural features which are tall and impressive. Towering is usually a positive adjective.
You can have towering mountains, towering cliffs, or towering trees. Now, I live in Germany. in a small town on the banks of a river.
The countryside is quite similar to England, with fields, forests and lots of greenery. It's pretty, at least when the weather's nice. Here's a question.
What's the difference between bank, shore and coast? They all mean a place where land meets the water, but they're not exactly the same. Do you know the difference?
Generally, you use bank for the sides of rivers. Shore is mostly used for lakes. Coast is where the land meets the sea or the ocean. Although shore is also possible in some contexts.
Another useful word you heard here is greenery. Greenery means plants. in general. It could mean grass, flowers, trees, bushes, or a mix. If you come to Germany, you should try to visit Neuschwanstein Castle.
It's a beautiful setting, perched in the mountains. The landscape all around is incredibly rugged and dramatic. If you want to describe mountainous terrain, which is very steep and rocky, you can use the word rugged.
You can also say rugged coastline. If you describe landscape as dramatic, you mean that it's impressive and beautiful. It's often used for wilder, more remote landscapes, like high mountains. I like where I live, but my dream is to start my own business and work online, so I could live by the sea, maybe on a Greek island with sandy beaches and clear turquoise water.
Turquoise is a colour between blue and green. It's not that common in everyday conversation, but if you use it to describe water or the sea, you usually mean that the water looks beautiful. What about you? If you live in a city, what's the surrounding countryside like?
Are there forests, fields, or mountains? Do you live near the coast? If you live in the countryside, describe it.
Look out of your window. What does the landscape look like? Think about your answer.
You can write it down, say it out loud, or put it in the video comments, or do all three. That's all. Thanks for watching.