Video scripts
Making Decisions
“Can you tell me about an important decision you've made?”
Caroline: The most important decision I've made in my life is probably the decision to move to a different country.
James: Er, yeah, erm, I've made lots of important decisions, but one of them perhaps was a decision to buy our house.
Matt: An important decision that l've made in my life was to start a business once. Erm, I was living here, in England, and I decided to open up a magazine. And I started a small magazine for learners of English.
“Was it an easy decision?”
Caroline: I think eventually it was an easy decision. I always knew that I wanted to do it, but it was quite difficult to, sort of, make that first step.
James: In the end, it was quite an easy decision, yeah. I live in a town where there aren't that many houses for sale and so when one comes up, that you can afford, you either buy that house or you don't buy any house.
Matt: Yes, it was an easy decision. The hard part was finding the money!
“Do you think that it was the right decision?”
Caroline: Absolutely, yes. Erm, I learned a lot, I met a lot of very interesting people, and I definitely don't regret it.
James: I think so, yeah. Erm, we either bought the house or we didn't, and so the fact that we have a house now is great. So yeah, it was a good decision.
Matt: I think I made the right decision to do it, absolutely.
“How do you make decisions? Do you consult your parents or older people?”
John: Yeah, definitely, l always consult people. When I was younger, I talked to my parents and discussed things with them, and even my brother and sister. Now I'm older, with my family, I talk to my wife; I even talk to my children about things. And still I do talk to my parents. For example, earlier this year we bought our first house, and so before I did that, I did speak to my parents to get their advice 'cause they've bought lots of houses. It seemed like such a big decision to make that I needed some parental advice and words of wisdom from them.
“Do you believe in fate?”
Matt: I don't believe in fate because I think it's very defeatist. And I think it means that, “OK, well if it was meant to be, it was meant to be, so I won't try.” I don't believe that. I believe that by trying — working hard, you know, talking to the right people, meeting the right people, you know, being determined, being passionate and trying to make things happen — we shape our future.