Mitch and Isi recap their past weeks as Easy English had their first ever meetup, Mitch got nervous, Isi brought the whole family and Nola became the selfie-queen. They then discuss last weekends Eurovision results as Switzerland cleaned up, the UK felt zero (points) love and Germany finally did quite well. They then also describe their excitement at seeing the Northern Lights for the first time, but at the seaside in Brighton... WTF!?
Interactive Transcript
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Transcript
[0:22] Okay, welcome to episode 41 of the Easy English Podcast.
[0:28] Do you have a sweet in your mouth during a podcast? That's not cool.
[0:35] People will hate this. Okay, he puts it out. Don't worry. Now it's on your laptop.
[0:42] Save it for later. We're back in Britain.
[0:46] We're back in Britain.
[0:47] How are you all? yet again more grinding of building materials .
[0:53] Yeah, do you remember when we told you our building work is coming to an end our building work started again.
[0:58] They've started again from day one they do it all over again.
[1:03] Wait, we already said they started again didn't we and now they started again again.
[1:06] Again again they're working backwards. They're gonna take it back to how it was and then do it all over again but a bit better.
[1:12] There's drilling in the background now yay.
[1:14] Um today we have three topics for you. Let's do topic number one.
[1:22] Easy English Updates.
[1:28] Easy English Updates.
[1:30] When was it? Last week? Yeah, last week.
[1:34] Yeah, it was, it's only a week ago. Well, a week and two days. (We had) our first ever Easy English meetup together with Easy German so we did an Easy German and Easy English meetup to meet viewers listeners maybe some some people of you that are listening now. (Oh yeah, can you write if you were there.) Yeah write us a message. (It was in Münster so it was more German-based,obviously.) In my home-town and we met for like three hours i think it's in the end it was much longer than three hours.
[2:12] cool venue right called Gasolin. An old gas station or petrol station sorry.
[2:17] A bar that I've known for many many years in my life and we met there it was much fun um... (I was nervous.) yeah?
[2:28] Yeah, I didn't want to tell you because I don't want to give empathy nerves. I had to drink maybe two beers to feel a bit more like I drank Radler which is like a shandy in English. (Yeah.) Which is a mixture of lemonade and beer and the sugar just made me feel more nervous.
[2:46] Oh yeah it's a bit nerve-wracking isn't it because we are just always behind our microphones behind the camera or in front of the camera but on our own doing our stuff.
[2:57] Yeah, we're kind of faceless in a way.
[2:59] Yeah, and it's really nice to get direct feedback. But we are lacking this really in like our...job. I know you you give sometimes comments on YouTube or here on the podcast or as a member on Patreon. But it would be great to actually have more of a feedback even so actually now I can directly tell you it would be great if you on your podcast app where you're listening um give us a feedback um on most apps you can give rating or even a comment with it um like on Spotify for example you can give a rating and you can also ask questions or give us comments on specific episodes and we would be really really happy to get that because you know when you're doing something and you don't really know what people think of it so it does help us a lot if you give us a feedback so if you could now now now quickly quickly it takes a second go on I mean you are on the app now but see on the app that you can um whatever app you're using, um that you can review and rate our podcast that would really mean a lot a lot thank you very much so now going on with the meetup. Mitch in the meantime had his sweet again in his mouth and again out of it you're like a kid. But it was it was much um it was much fun to meet people. (Yeah, it was. Everyone was so nice.) Yeah everyone was so nice and we had a lot of fun the weather was in the end really good it was not too hot not too cold sun was shining we could sit outside as well it's a good mix wasn't it we had an outside terrace an indoor room that was really cool.
[4:37] Yeah, there were there are photos from it as well on uh both our Instagram and Easy German's Instagram if you want to see what a meetup looks like because I would be inclined to do it again.
[4:47] Was quite... was quite nice is the weird thing is is people were there for Easy German mainly. And the thing I felt nervous about was I didn't know who was there for us.
[4:58] Yeah we didn't ask that in the registry process So we didn't really know I think a lot of people know us from both because we both I mean I obviously I'm part of the Easy German team as well um but we also both together produce episodes for Easy German sometimes so even Mitch is in the videos of Easy German so I guess people came maybe for both as well.
[5:21] Yeah, you should go and watch them because we we sometimes make the videos for the Slow Easy German.
[5:26] Or Super Easy German as well yeah.
[5:29] Oh, Super Easy German, sorry. Not Slow, Easy German.
[5:31] Hasn't been now for a longer time. I think autumn, last autumn was our last episode. But the script for the next one is ready. So also there. But anyway, you might not learn German, but people actually maybe knew us from Both. Did you just put the sweet back in your mouth? Can you not just leave it outside?
[5:50] It's made like a weird stain on my laptop. To be honest, actually, people... What was quite nice is Nola was our buffer and people actually... were more interested in meeting Nola from my point of view to be honest. I think Nola had multiple selfies taken with her.
[6:06] For her it was actually quite fun as well wasn't it? It was not too loud she could chill outside we had also my dad, I mean both my parents were there um my mum also is part of the Easy German team.
[6:22] It was a real family event.
[6:23] My dad came well he is also in some videos of Easy German. So we are basically all part of it.
[6:30] We've all been dragged in.
[6:31] My dad's major role at the meetup was dog sitting. He just walked around with Nola.
[6:36] The dog handler. (Yeah.) It was really nice. And actually, I find these things often quite awkward because I hate icebreakers and I hate organised fun. But that people were there for one purpose and were discussing their level, because I'm also learning German. It was quite nice to get inspiration and also find out what people are looking for. I was surprised. A lot of the Germans that were there, their level of English...
[7:03] The German learners, you mean?
[7:04] There were Germans there who watch Easy German. And they're just like fans of watching it. (Yeah, yeah.) From what I saw. But their level of English surprised me because I always consider that Germans don't need English really. But they were like, it was good to pick up on certain things that I realised that Germans sort of maybe make mistakes on quite commonly. Or, you know, there was a lot of like people saying that their writing skills aren't very good which is something.
[7:27] saying Germans can't speak English? (Oh God.) No think every native speaker of a certain language for if you're a German native speaker does specific mistakes in a specific language that you learn that sounds very complicated what I mean is German native speakers make different mistakes in English than Spanish native speakers for example so I think that is actually actually we began a list about that months ago um with the mistakes that I still do and things that I notice or that you notice on how I speak. So um we definitely want to do a video about this like mistakes that German, native speakers do in English.
[8:12] Yeah, to be fair... oh actually just remembered Manuel asked... has a question for us.
[8:20] That he sent to us at the meetup but we'll do it next next time.
[8:22] Okay, Manuel, next time.
[8:23] Next time, you'll have to wait. (You'll have to wait.) And to be fair, English speakers also make so many mistakes. And in a fun way, this is what our project is all about because they're not going to change for you, to be honest. So you have to sort of figure out, the common mistakes English people make in order to understand them which is where we come in and if you're not aware we run a membership for Easy English not only for our videos where you can get transcripts and worksheets but also for the podcast, we offer something called an Interactive Transcript and the way it's interactive is; you will press the play button on your phone, on your laptop whether you're at home, or on the train or wherever you are wherever you listen to the podcast and it will follow along with what we're saying on the transcript with this little yellow highlighter box... what are you smiling about?
[9:18] You do a lot of gestures that people can't see you know?
[9:22] I know but it's helping me actually now I sort of understand why politicians use their hands a lot, and as it's following along with our what we're saying on the trend on the Interactive Transcript you can press a button... oh God. I'm dying slowly... and you can press a button and it will ask you if you'd like to have the transcript translated into, hopefully your native language there's a whole array of languages offered now and so not only are you following along on the Interactive Transcript you're also having it translated next to each paragraph that we're talking about and if you still have no idea what I'm describing even with my invisible hand gestures you can go to easyenglish.fm and on our trailer; episode zero there is a free example of that transcript working so go give it a go and if you like it and if it's helping you or will help you to improve your English then become an Easy English member by going to easyenglish.video/membership sweetie going back in.
[10:33] There was a big event.
[10:36] A big cultural event on the weekend that we watched, right? Or we watched a bit of. We missed a few.
[10:43] We missed the beginning because of time zones, which shouldn't be a problem for us any more, but it sometimes is when we travel very spontaneously to places. So we missed the beginning...
[10:54] Sorry. (Of the Eurovision.) Song Contest in.
[11:00] We said it like we were advertising it.
[11:02] It was a very bad advertisement. Yeah, it was the Eurovision in Sweden this time.
[11:08] In Malmö. And it had a big cultural relevance to where we are because Brighton was the birthplace of ABBA, basically. ABBA got big from winning the Eurovision and they won it in Brighton in the Dome.
[11:25] Why was this year such a big topic anyway? It was 50 years of ABBA also?
[11:30] It was 50 years since ABBA won it.
[11:31] And then ABBA got big.
[11:33] I think they got big through Eurovision. Most Eurovision bands don't tend to get very big. (No, no.) They're the biggest of the bunch, you'd think, no? And then this Maneskin, money skin. But even they're not big in England. ABBA, huge. Oh, my God. So it was not only the 50th anniversary, it was also in Sweden. Did Sweden win it last year?
[11:59] I guess so. (In Liverpool.) don't normally the winner then also.
[12:06] No not host it but like have a gig.
[12:10] It'll be in... so Switzerland won it this year and actually wasn't that bad not something I would listen to.
[12:16] No but, he will probably next year then when it's in Switzerland present the song again no? is that not a thing? God we missed everything, we were also not prepared at all I think it was very well earned they had definitely, the best biggest talent I would say maybe not the biggest but um well maybe the biggest I mean the French guy was also really, really talented but Nemo they were good in singing rapping and like opera singing even like so talented and then also great obviously that's the first non-binary winner ever of the Eurovision Song Contest so that's amazing. The song was cool um probably not something I... I would have caught on the radio to listen at home myself. But I think it was really one of the best songs, yeah. So amazing, yeah. Congratulations.
[13:08] Yeah, the French one was actually like a normal song. Do you know what I mean? That's when you...
[13:13] Yeah, like a ballad. Quite, yeah, quite big though. Quite a big like... how do you call those ballads that are like, yeah, but like, mega ballad or so whatever. I think it was actually actually really good.
[13:26] Yeah but to win Eurovision you have to do something a bit special don't you?
[13:32] Yeah. They were doing Matrix moves while spinning on this disc.
[13:36] yeah, and then singing that amazingly with it. (Yeah.) While really like bending over it's good.
[13:42] Sometimes I watch it generally because it's always a bit of a fun joke like it's always fun to have a drink because it's all a bit silly and a bit over the top and a bit extravagant a bit eccentric.
[13:55] Yeah, very much theatre.
[13:57] And it goes on for ever.
[14:01] Oh my god and again it was like 1am to go to bed and for people in like europe mainland it was like 2 or 2:30 it's not my time... (People in Switzerland!) I don't like to go to bed that late.
[14:17] The performance bit is actually quite well done. As I used to work in technical theatre, you see how quick they're able to change between acts, right? Like the person finishes singing, they cut to the announcers, and they only speak for about 30 seconds. And in that time, the act's off, new act's on, prop on, props off, lights off, new lights on, and everything's rearranged. back to zero and they do that like 30 odd times throughout the whole day but then the ironically the longest thing is that when they're just counting numbers when they're going okay and now we're going over to Moldova hello Moldova big break because there's a gap in audio hello Eurovision and then they always do something quirky to stand out.
[15:06] God yeah. Anyway it was a really, interesting night good entertainment I was actually into this time into it more than other times I've watched it. I haven't watched it that often as a kid more than last year we watched it together and now it's the second time in a long long long time but this year was actually a lot more exciting than last year for sure so yeah thanks Eurovision.
[15:32] And Germany did quite well.
[15:34] Oh yeah, they... I'm sorry I just wanted to end the topic without telling that you got zero
[15:41] Zero from the public.
[15:45] Not one member of the public enjoyed our performance.
[15:48] Yeah zero and Germany did not so bad yeah 12th place I think but.
[15:54] We never heard the song.
[15:55] We never heard the song not even later every time that they showed the recap or how do you call that of like all the songs, every time I did something else, looked somewhere else, and then only switched in with my brain, like looking at it, when it was anyway at the point where we started late watching the show. So I did not once hear the German song, really. (And what was your favourite of all of them?) I liked...
[16:25] Ireland's was just a spectacle, right?
[16:29] My favourite... hmm... (Switzerland!) Maybe Switzerland I liked a few of them though I must say like it wasn't as like there were some some shows when I watched it and there wasn't really like no song that I liked. There were a few that were quite good.I
[16:45] I always... I always look out for Finland are always the one to look out for in my opinion they always do the maddest stuff like just bonkers s*t last time they had the guy in the green um shoulder pad like luminous green outfit and uh he had this like bowl haircut but then this year they had a guy with a mullet and a trucker hat and he was running around pretending to be naked his penis out and then finally some hot pants were delivered from up in the gantries and once he put them on sparklers came out or from his hot pants, just bananas yeah I'm looking forward to next year already.
[17:24] And then we have one more third topic, which is a little topic just to tell you how lucky we were We saw the northern lights in Brighton. (In Brighton!) By the sea in south England and um.
[17:42] That wasn't during Eurovision was it?
[17:45] No it was the night before. (The night before, wow!) The night before. (Two spectacles.) I, by accident saw it somewhere that um that northern lights that the possibility is there to see them and we went on the balcony and we saw it and we were like what the f*k! What the beep and then what the f (At first thought it was light pollution.) WTF. we were (WTF.) And it was the first what? We thought it was light from the city first it was really really dark and then yeah it got green and pink and then we made photos obviously through photos it even looked better and it was very very exciting.
[18:26] Yeah, and it was like slightly pulsing which was like the most exciting thing for me. Because I always, have in my mind how it would look and it kind of was exactly like this sort of like wavy pulsing...
[18:39] It wasn't moving so much.
[18:40] It was very vague yeah it's very subtle but you could if once you're outside for a bit you could really pick it out right?
[18:47] Yeah, it was really really nice so maybe you saw it too it was visible over a lot of European places.
[18:53] I wanna know if any of our listeners are more north than we were and if... (That must have looked amazing.) If you were in In Finland or somewhere, it must have been crazy.
[19:04] Even in Scotland.
[19:05] I saw it had 100% visibility in some places. If you have a good picture of it, that's hashtag no filter and not a long exposure, which is how your naked eye saw it. I want to see it because it must have looked mad.
[19:23] Wow. Once in a lifetime, we can cross Finland off our to-do list, our bucket list. Been there, done that. don't have to stay in an igloo in an ice hotel to do it. Okay!
[19:37] Coolio. I would say te-ra te-ra.
[19:40] Te-ra, te-ra. See you next time.
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