Ottawa: a weird (but beautiful) capital city (B1)
- Nick Nantais NEWN
- Mar 3, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 4, 2021
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Hi everyone welcome or welcome back to Natural English with Nick, your favourite podcast for learning North American English through interesting content presented in a naturally spoken way. Your favourite podcast well at least I hope, I wouldn’t want to put words in your mouth which brings us to our first expression. To put words in someone’s mouth means to speak for that person, to twist or distort their words to favour your own opinion. I would never want to put words in your mouth. But something that I would like to do is remind you that if you would like to support this project for as little as $1 a month on Patreon, you can cancel anytime and it will help me out greatly. You can find the link to my website in the description. I also plan to start making extra content each week so I can offer you something more in return other than the time and effort it takes to make these free podcasts which I must say I do honestly enjoy. And of course also on my site, you can also find the transcription of today’s episode so you can follow along, learn new words in context, listen and repeat after me.
Alright, in today’s episode, we are going to talk about Ottawa which is definitely the weirdest capital city in North America. In today’s episode, I’m also going to use some sarcasm and satirical humour so look out for that because well it’s an important part of the language to understand as daily conversation between friends and colleagues in any language often consists largely of this kind of word play. Not to mention the fact that the English is rich in synonyms, turns of phrase and use of stress to show irony, emphasis and imply double meaning which makes it one of the most fascinating languages out there. So don’t hunt me down for being cynical (negatively critical), I promise it comes from the best of places ( I don’t mean anything by it).
As many of you may not know if you don’t follow me on Instagram @languageguyfromcanada, which is my personal page. I’m actually in the midst of creating a second Instagram page ( @naturalenglishwithnick) I live in Ottawa, Ontario, the capital of Canada. I moved here to go to University at Uottawa last september. I’m taking what’s called an Honours Bachelor's degree in Modern languages and International studies which so far has just been a fancy term for “ give me all your money if you want to be successful” It’s funny because I remember when I was a kid and my family and I went to Toronto for the first time and I had thought Toronto was the capital because it was so big, such a bustling ( busy, alive figurative) and vibrant city. Some foreigners also assume Toronto is the capital given its multicultural nature, corporate atmosphere and modern look (apparence). That would make sense right? But in fact, Toronto is just the capital of Ontario, which is only one province in Canada, the province in which I live, but not the capital of not Canada. Ottawa has about 934,000 ( nine hundred and thirty four thousand) people and is separated by the Ottawa river that divides Quebec and Ontario. Ottawa is about two hours from my favourite Canadian city Montreal. Ottawa is a quite bilingual city, about 37% of the population can speak both English and French. Not to mention, the immigrant populations which compared to other Canadian cities are quite small. The origin of the name Ottawa comes from the local indigenous Algonquin language adawe which means trade. But nevertheless, Ottawa is a youthful capital with over half of the city’s population being under 35 (thirty five). The famous Rideau Canal in the winter months is the longest skating rink in the world. But Ottawa isn’t all fun and games, it’s cold man. According to GEOOttawa.net, Ottawa is the 7th (seventh) coldest capital city in the world. I can tell you from personal experience having nearly survived my first winter here, it’s brutal and winter seems to last forever. You’re probably thinking to yourself “Nick, Ottawa seems pretty normal to me, why is it so weird” well my friends let me tell you. Ottawa is one of those cities you arrive in scratching your head thinking is that it? Sure the first few days after arriving in a new city are always the most exciting and it’s normal for that same appeal to wear off after a while. But if after day 4 you’re not already bored, I’ll be shocked (surprised). Sure Ottawa has a long and I guess you could say interesting history. There are many museums 14 ( fourteen) to be exact. Ottawa’s byward market is home of the beavertail, a Candian culinary delicacy consisting of buttery fried dough, ridiculously sweet icing and other various toppings (condiments). Ottawa’s Parliament hill and Centennial flame on Wellington street is just one of those things you can stare at for 15 minutes and then ask yourself well what’s next? If you ever come to Ottawa which I can’t really recommend you go out of your way to do ( make an extra effort to do) unless for some reason your flight to somewhere else got canceled, you have to see the giant spider outside of the National Gallery of Canada. I’m kidding of course that would be a huge waste of time since you know the museum is currently closed. But hey maybe my perception of Ottawa is a little warped you know, I mean I have never lived here pre-COVID so I guess we’ll have to wait and see right? But one thing that has truly astounded me ( truly surprised me) since coming here is Ottawa’s nearly nonexistent entertainment industry. Ottawa in the wintertime is practically a frozen wasteland (a ghost town, post-apocalyptic place) especially to foreigners coming from densely populated and simulating countries (despite the influx of winter activities less present in other Canadian cities like Toronto that seem to shut down completely). In fact, I recently met my girlfriend’s cousin Jack who was born and raised in Vietnam and actually just moved here a couple months ago to study. He comes from Southern Vietnam, a very temperate, fun and bustling place from his accounts. One of the first questions I asked him was “how are you liking Ottawa so far” his response was that the quietness is hard to get used to and that Ottawa is boring as hell. And well I can’t say I was surprised by his response. But hey don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful to live here and it has been an interesting experience moving away from my home city for school. At the end of the day, Ottawa isn’t all that bad, the freezing winter has its charm, the ducks are friendlier and probably more talkative (likes to talk a lot) than the people do, not to mention the stunning array of beautiful parks and nature at every corner. It’s just atypical for a capital city. On the other hand, what I will promise you is that the homelessness ( the concept of being without a home) , drug addiction, snob sense of entitlement ( snobbery, feeling like you deserve something for nothing) and outrageous prices definitely live up (reflect) to their capital city benchmark.
That’s all for today my dear students, I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and found it entertaining ( fun). As always, go check out the free transcription on my website, I put a lot of time into making them for you guys and I want to see them go to use ( get used). Feel free again to follow me on Instagram, let me know if you would rather me create a separate page for the podcast like I said I was debating. Let me know if there are any other platforms you would like to see Natural English with Nick on, that would be more convenient for you. There is a link to my website in the description where you can book one-on-one beginner to intermediate lessons with me from which you will get personalized feedback on how to improve your spoken English, get a list of recommended resources after each lesson and new vocabulary that’s most relevant to you from each lesson as well as coaching tips and goal setting advice on how to take your English to the next level. If you’re interested, simply email me through the site and you’ll get 15% off your first lesson. You can also find the links to my Patreon page and Paypal if you wish to donate monthly or in a one-time sum ( amount).
Thank you so much for listening and until next time!
Take care
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