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Describe a time you were in a place where you didn't know the local language.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • When was it?
  • What were you doing there?
  • How did you manage?
Show all 27 answers

Cue 1:When was it?

  • Start by mentioning the specific location and the time of your visit.
  • Include any relevant details about the trip, such as the purpose or occasion.

Example

It was last summer when I traveled to Spain for a vacation. I had always wanted to explore the beautiful architecture and vibrant culture of Barcelona.

Cue 2:What were you doing there?

  • Describe the activities you were involved in during your stay.
  • Mention any specific places you visited or experiences you had.

Example

During my time there, I visited famous landmarks like the Sagrada Familia and Park Güell. I also tried to immerse myself in the local cuisine by dining at various tapas bars.

Cue 3:How did you manage?

  • Explain the challenges you faced due to the language barrier.
  • Share the strategies you used to communicate and navigate the situation.

Example

I faced difficulties when ordering food and asking for directions since I didn’t speak Spanish. However, I used translation apps on my phone and relied on gestures to communicate. The locals were very friendly and often helped me out.

Conclusion

  • Summarize your overall experience and what you learned from it.
  • Reflect on how this experience impacted your view on language and travel.

Example

Overall, my trip to Spain was an enriching experience despite the language barrier. It taught me the importance of being adaptable and open-minded while traveling, and I now appreciate the value of learning new languages.

Following this structure will ensure you cover all the essential points while providing a clear and engaging response to the cue card topic.

Tips to answer this Cue Card

1: Avoid Vague Responses

Giving vague or general answers can make your response less engaging. It may leave the examiner with unanswered questions about your experience.

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Tip

Provide specific details about the place and your activities to create a vivid picture for the examiner.

2: Don't Overlook Emotions

Failing to express your feelings during the experience can make your answer less relatable. Emotions help to connect with the listener.

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Tip

Share how you felt during the experience, whether it was frustration, excitement, or curiosity, to add depth to your answer.

Neglecting Problem-Solving

Ignoring how you managed the language barrier can weaken your response. It’s important to show your problem-solving skills.

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Tip

Explain the strategies you used to communicate, such as gestures or translation apps, to demonstrate your adaptability.

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IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

Reported by Leap students who gave IELTS

Describe your favourite food at a traditional festival or a special event in your country
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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Pitampura Test Centre, New Delhi

Answer

I like to taste different types of cuisine. Here I would like to talk about my favorite dish at my traditional festival of Onam which is Sadya. Sadya is popular in my city. We are experimenting these cuisines on Onam festival day. Onam is a famous festival in my city. All family members get together in my home and we make a delicious Sadya. There are many ingredients includes that Sadya. Moreover, we make a big feast that day as well as we create a lot of memories together and we wear that day the traditional dress called Sari and men wear the Dhotis. That festival is really important to us because the whole day we are conducting different kinds of games at our homes and all the family members came together. It's a memorable day in my life. This is the festival. We are making the Sambar and Aviyal. These all the kinds of foods are making with the vegetables.
Talk about a toy you liked in your childhood
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 8

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Sector 34 Test Centre, Chandigarh

Answer

The toy which I liked in my childhood was a panda doll, which makes me pleasant and makes me more blush. The pandas are the most beautiful creatures of the world, which looks gigantic and has pooshy cheeks and they are like stars in the clouds and they dream in me. Furthermore, these have been given by my father. My father is a very very beautiful artistic person, who makes me think of that. Every day you will face every difficulties and make you suffer and move forward. Pandas are always seen in Japanese countries. It is my lifelong dream to visit a Japanese country and click a photo with the original pandas, which makes sounds better.
Describe a time you were in a place where you didn't know the local language
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 6.5

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Whitefield Test Center, Bengaluru

Answer

As India is a very large country full of diversity, so there are many places which have their own language and speak their native language. The place which I visited and I didn't know about their language was Leladakh, which is about 300 km away from my hometown and it is a very good place as it consists of different kind of trees, animals and have many scenic views and I visited over there last year in summers as it was the best time to visit because it has many, it was cold over there and we had summers in our area so it was the best time to visit over there and I went over there with my whole family.
Describe a time when your friend damaged something you owned
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7

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Begumpet Test Centre, Hyderabad

Answer

When I was a kid, I had a little pencil box which had these four buttons which gave the pencil box an operative use. When you press the button, the box would open up. When you press the second button, a little part of it would slide out. Basically it was just a little electronical and a fun thing to have and I owned it when I was in 6th. One day after break, I was standing and talking there with one of my friends and another friend of mine was running through the hallway and accidentally she pushed my shoulder and my pencil box hit the ground and it broke into multiple pieces to the point that it was not functional anymore.
Describe a book you recently read
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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CBD Belapur Test Centre, Navi Mumbai

Answer

It Ends With Us is a book I read recently. It's by the author Colleen Hoare. It's mainly a story about two teenagers, Atlas and Lily, and how they just handle their life going through high school, adolescence, and just domestic violence at home. Both of them come from very, very different families. However, they have one common determining factor between them, which is domestic violence. The abuse that they've seen their moms go through is just insane, and they connect through that on a different level. They're actually in the same high school, but they never speak to each other until Atlas actually crashes into an empty house next to Lily's villa. When Atlas is homeless and he doesn't have anywhere to go, he just comes and breaks into the house next to Lily's, and Lily helps him with all the daily necessities like clothes and food, medicines and stuff. Furthermore, their friendship blossoms into love, but it doesn't really fructify as Atlas has to leave. This book really gave me a lot of knowledge about domestic abuse and how to deal with it.

All Answers

Here are all the answers by real-users practicing speaking for IELTS Cue Cards on our IELTS Prep App.

Band 6-7

The time I was stuck without knowing the language was when I was 6 years old, my family and I had travelled to Varanasi to visit the temples of Varanasi. We stayed there for around a week and explored the areas for like 2-3 days. But the time when I was stuck without the knowledge of Hindi was when my dad sent me to get some groceries from the store. We wanted some candies and sugar because we were just hungry at that spot. I didn't know what to ask the shopkeeper, so I just gave him the money and then I just pointed to the items I just wanted. And that pretty much helped me communicate without actually communicating through language. This was actually pretty well managed later on when I was 11 years old and we again went back to Kashi. There, over there, I had a little knowledge of Hindi and I used my broken Hindi to communicate with the speakers. But this was around the time when my dad didn't come with us to Varanasi because he had work of his own. But this was later than resolved because of my broken Hindi.

Band 6-7

I would like to talk about an incident that happened in my life. Once I visited Mongolia with my friend. We know it is a land of Genghis Khan with a lot of mountains, greenery, deserts. Also, we know it is one of the coldest cities in the world. After the arrival, I didn't know their native language. Because most of the Mongolians are speaking Mongol. I sometimes managed it by using Google Translate. Sometimes it worked, but mostly there is no internet connection in some rural areas. At that, I felt depressed due to lack of communication skills. Also, I spent around one month in Mongolia. We explored a lot of places like Gobi Desert, experienced their traditional rituals. Also, I experienced their famous drink called Kumis. It is made with horse milk.

Band 6-7

It was the time of lockdown when I went to the Punjab with my father and there I don't I didn't know the language of Punjabi and I feel very uncomfortable in this city but later I read in Punjabi newspaper in which I learn many things in Punjabi and the words in the newspaper helped me a lot. In lockdown my studies completely stop and at that time I used to learn Punjabi language which is very helpful for me and for my learning language.

Band 6-7

There was a situation actually, when I went to Maharashtra with my family to a Sai Baba temple trip. We were staying in a hotel which is far from some rental shops and after some time of staying in the hotel, me and my younger brother went to a shop for buying a drink and he wanted some keys. So we went there to the shop and the shopkeeper was like, he asked us, what do you want and we told him that we need some Mazar drink and he told we want some choco chips cookies and he was like, he was talking something in Marathi and we can't understand.

Band 6-7

Yes, actually, in July 2024, I went to South India, like Kerala. I visited Kerala and there is a major issue with me is communication because I am from North side, so I don't know how to communicate with people. So, it was very difficult for me to understand his language. And actually, they were not understanding my language properly. So, it's so difficult to manage them. But, one of the best part is Kerala is one of the beautiful place in India. India, wow, so many beaches, so many beaches. There are so many different type of culture there. Even, amazing lake and amazing desert also.

Band 6-7

As India is a very large country full of diversity, so there are many places which have their own language and speak their native language. The place which I visited and I didn't know about their language was Leladakh, which is about 300 km away from my hometown and it is a very good place as it consists of different kind of trees, animals and have many scenic views and I visited over there last year in summers as it was the best time to visit because it has many, it was cold over there and we had summers in our area so it was the best time to visit over there and I went over there with my whole family. The problem, but the problem which we faced when we went over there was that we didn't know about their language as they spoke their native language and we had to suffer about that, the problem was that we were not able to ask about the roads and the views which we want to see to the local people as they couldn't understand us, so we faced that problem but it was not that difficult for us because we know some words of that language but according to me if any foreigner goes over there he will have to face a lot of problems as one of my brothers was with us and he was from Australia and he didn't know any other language like Hindi or any words of that language so he couldn't understand any word of their language and he was facing problems.

Band 6

Languages are the medium of communication. I am a native of Bengal, so my mother tongue is Bengali and my secondary language is English. However, in 2022, when I was transferred from Kolkata to Bangalore for my job and I landed in Bangalore International Airport, when I called a cab, the driver only knew Kannada and bits and pieces of Hindi. So, the first time I faced that to communicate with other languages, we need more than verbal communication and hand movement. So, as he knew the pieces of Hindi, so I tried to communicate with him in Hindi, which I knew quite well, courtesy to Bollywood and I managed the situation. But later, when I went to my office, it is in a rural area, so most of the people don't know any Hindi or English, so they only know Kannada. So, I used to ask my assistant what the other people are saying or what is the meaning of that to communicate with them. That's how I managed the first situation and currently I am managing like that. I know some few Kannada words and I have learned some, so that's how I am managing.

Band 6

As I am from West Bengal, I didn't know, I didn't know the language Haryanvi. I went to Haryana last year and I was totally, I was totally mesmerized by the language Haryanvi. But I don't know how to speak Haryanvi and it, it took me to a great trouble. As the locals people were talking with me in Haryanvi language, I was understanding some bit of them, but I didn't speak well or fluently in that language. So, but I somehow managed to speak in Haryanvi by just listening to their accent and understanding that and then applying it to normal life due to normal conversation.

Band 5-6

There is an incident in the sky at a time when I was in a place where I don't know. I was in a place. I was in Meghalaya where I don't know the local language of them. So, at that time I came with my friends to roam around. In June 2024, I was in Meghalaya in a particular place called Karagasuri where I don't know the local language and I want to buy something from the local store and they didn't know the English so I have to speak the local language. I was with my friends to travel there and enjoy our Sunday holidays in Karagasuri but they didn't know the English so I have to speak the local language. So, I don't know the English so I have to speak the local language. In June 2024, there is a place called Karagasuri. I went there for my summer holiday with my friends and then. There is an incident in June 2024 when I was in Karagasuri, Meghalaya. I am with my four friends enjoying our Sunday holiday from our work and we are going to buy some fruits and water bottle but the store owner doesn't know the English and Hindi which are common language for a kid and we didn't know the local language also but somehow we have to buy water bottles and the food because we are too hungry and there is no other shops in that area at that day where we can get and the only store which was open was that store and and we have to buy something now so we did it like we are showing our sign language like we need water so we send it we show him pictures of water and then we want to buy some fruits so we we are pointing out that how much is it that of that particular food and then he will he will say his price by showing his like 10 for one banana it will cost me 20 rupees but I I said I will give only 10 I put my 10 but he is putting his 20 so that's how we communicate and buy from that place

Band 5-6

A time where I, in a place where I didn't know the local language of this town. This was Dubai and Dubai mainly language is Arabic. So I didn't know how to speak Arabic. So it's very difficult moment for me and I don't know how I introduce myself to other people but I thanks to God where second language is English. So I communicate with someone in English, they help me, a lot of help me and also there is a moment where I feel very...
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