BBC Learnings · Section 4

The Human Library

If you browse through a library, you'll find a variety of different books from fiction to crime to romance.

Level: B2 · 89 sentences

Transcript

  1. If you browse through a library,
  2. you'll find a variety of different books from fiction to crime to romance.
  3. And if you walk through a city, you'll see a variety of people of different ages,
  4. body shapes, skin colours and genders.
  5. In this 6 Minute English,
  6. we'll be hearing about an unusual library where the books are people made of flesh and bone instead of paper.
  7. It's called the human library and the books are individuals who have faced prejudice,
  8. which means an unreasonable dislike of certain types of people.
  9. Readers may borrow these books,
  10. who are people from all walks of life, for a 30-minute conversation.
  11. The book titles are short and to the point.
  12. titles like transgender, former criminal or immigrant.
  13. The human books are volunteers
  14. and visiting readers are encouraged to ask those awkward
  15. or embarrassing questions they've always wondered about.
  16. This means the human library needs to be a safe space:
  17. a place where people feel protected from danger and harm.
  18. It's a fascinating idea, but before we find out more,
  19. I have a question for you, Sam.
  20. The human library started out in Denmark but soon spread across Europe and the world.
  21. So how many countries have a human library now?
  22. Is it a 75, b 85, or c 95?
  23. Well, everyone likes to hear a story, so I'll guess c 95.
  24. OK, Sam, we'll find out if that's right later in the programme.
  25. The first human library was founded in Copenhagen by Ronnie Abergel.
  26. Here he is telling BBC World Service programme People Fixing the World about the inspiration behind his original idea.
  27. We don't have time on the street to stop and get to know everyone
  28. so we drop people in little boxes.
  29. So it's instinct that's guiding us
  30. and we never get beyond the instinct
  31. if we don't get to know the person.
  32. So at our library we recommend sitting down and meeting some of the people
  33. that you normally might actually not feel interested in sitting down with
  34. because there's something about them that you may feel a little bit uncomfortable about.
  35. You'll learn tremendously not only about them, but also about yourself.
  36. When we meet someone new, we often already have ideas about what they are like.
  37. Ronny says we put someone in a box,
  38. an expression meaning to judge what kind of person someone is based on their appearance,
  39. or on a limited understanding of who they are.
  40. He recommends meeting people who you wouldn't usually spend time with,
  41. even if this makes you feel uncomfortable,
  42. feel slightly worried or embarrassed in a social situation.
  43. So the main idea of the human library is to challenge the assumptions
  44. and stereotypes that we all have about other people.
  45. Runny uses social media to find volunteers who are willing to talk about their lives at public meetings,
  46. which anyone can attend.
  47. As the Human Library spreads around the world,
  48. more money is needed to keep the project going.
  49. This mostly comes from hosting events for private companies,
  50. including famous businesses like Google.
  51. Transgender volunteer Katie John-Went is a regular host for the Human Library's business events.
  52. Listen to this clip of her introducing the project
  53. to a group of Dutch businessmen from BBC World Service programme
  54. People Fixing the World.
  55. When we're in the workplace or on social media,
  56. what we often find is we're walking on eggshells around diversity and difference.
  57. Many people don't want to get it wrong, quite understandably.
  58. The important thing to remember...
  59. is that you can ask them anything.
  60. They're never going to make you wrong for the question you asked today,
  61. which is an incredibly rare offer.
  62. When meeting someone with completely different life experiences,
  63. people can be worried about saying the wrong thing or asking embarrassing questions.
  64. Katie says they are walking on eggshells,
  65. an expression which means to be very careful about what you do and say
  66. because you don't want to offend or upset anyone.
  67. But in fact, the human books are rarely offended.
  68. The event is all about celebrating people's difference and diversity,
  69. a term which describes how many different types of people are included together.
  70. Exactly. It's a celebration for everyone, regardless of race, age or gender.
  71. Or nationality. And that reminds me, what was the answer to your question, Neil?
  72. Oh yes, I asked how many countries today have a human library.
  73. What did you say, Sam?
  74. I guessed it was c 95 countries.
  75. Which was the wrong answer, I'm afraid.
  76. The correct answer was b 85 countries,
  77. from Norway and Hungary all the way to Australia and Mongolia.
  78. Wow, I bet that makes a lot of interesting stories.
  79. OK, let's recap the vocabulary for this programme about people sharing their experience of facing prejudice,
  80. the unreasonable dislike of certain groups of people.
  81. A safe space is a place where you feel protected from danger and harm.
  82. When we put someone in a box,
  83. we judge them based on their appearance or a limited understanding of them.
  84. If you feel uncomfortable,
  85. you feel slightly worried or embarrassed in a social situation.
  86. The expression walking on eggshells means being very careful
  87. about what you do and say
  88. because you don't want to offend anyone.
  89. And finally, diversity is a term describing many different types of people being included together.