The Vocab Man - Fluent Vocabulary

Audiogram version:
https://share.descript.com/view/OW7tejYoHYY

Interesting vocabulary in this episode:


-permutations
-IELTS


0:00 Start
Hello guys, this is the Vocab Man. I am Daniel, and this is meant to be a bonus episode.

I hope you're going to like it. It is actually an excerpt of an interview I conducted with Alastair and I think that there are many gems in it and I thought that it would be a great idea to share it here.

And of course, if you like it, you can also listen to the whole interview on my other podcast called My Fluent Podcast, but now let's get started.


0:40 Start Interview
Do you have any favorite expression in English?



I know you mentioned before that this might be a question that would come up. Instead of saying a favorite expression, I wanted to add a favorite word with numerous, kind of, varieties of it. So perhaps some of your listeners know this already, but

The word "set" has 430 meanings!
the word "set" in English according to the Guinness world records has 430 different meanings, depending on what you add before or after it. And also the context. So things like all set set up set go set it right, kind of set up that kind of stuff I think is I think it, it can seem so confusing. And this sort of a mixture of phrasal verbs and idioms. It's tough but I think it's sort of one of the nice things, one of the sort of weirdly beautiful things about the English language that you have these sort of different building blocks of words.

And when you are going to add a different blocks together in different permutations, then it completely changes of the meaning.


1:54 Alastair's least favorite words
In addition to this kind of favorite word I did have 2 kind of least favorite words that that I wanted to add.

And one is something that native speakers, are often terrible at. They use this word far too much and that's literally and , it's very common to see people use that in a wrong sense really saying like he, he was literally dying of laughter, all those kinds of things, which I think is just, it makes me feel, it makes me cringe if you know that expression.

It's very strange use of language. And then my other thing, my other little personal battle was with, you know, people on YouTube or Instagram or or things like that, telling non-native speakers that they should stop saying words like very or don't say good, say marvelous or fantastic, or don't say very, say it incredibly, or, you know, magnificently or things like that.

I think not a non-native speaker speakers should continue saying very and good and they should be very happy to say very good, because that is how people speak. And I know that some slightly artificial language exams like IELTS or things like that perhaps punish you for using these kinds of words or phrases, but ultimately you will sound a lot more natural if you start saying things like very, very good rather than say like incredibly fantastic.

Just sounds very, very strange. And I don't know how many times every day I say very or I say good, and, and that is not due to not knowing these other words or not kind of not having them in my vocabulary. It's that very and good and words like that are in many cases, the most appropriate words for what you're trying to communicate.

And ultimately the role of language is to communicate an idea from one person to another. And these simple words are often the most effective way of doing that So So, my last passing thoughts it is my favorite expression not very good of course, but is saying to people that that you can mainly ignore anyone who tells you to stop saying very

Yeah,

I love that I loved it very much because we shouldn't over-complicate it. Right. As you said communication is important and thank you very much. It was really great chatting to you

4:43 Outro Daniel Goodson
I hope you liked it, guys guys. I loved it to be honest, and I could learn a lot of things and I promise you that there will be normal episodes again in the future, but I just thought, it would be a great idea to integrate this excerpt. And as I mentioned in the beginning on My Fluent Podcast, I published the whole interview. And if you want to learn how to learn languages with podcasts

This will be A great way for you to watch the. the Youtube video as well because I always do a video your version And a podcast version So my. My Fluent Podcast Thanks and. Bye


full interview: https://youtu.be/Sk55GOe_3TE
My Fluent Podcast

Audiogram version with subtitles: https://share.descript.com/view/dhzSEl2wiZY

Full Transcript:

Up in the air

Hey Daniel and Hey Vocab Man listeners. This is Steph from the Geopats Podcast coming to you from Rome, Italy. I'm an American expat, who has turned into a digital nomad. And so my current location is where I'm living right now. And that will change at the end of my three months in Italy. All right.

So forget location. I have a really juicy phrase to dig into that. Daniel gave me for this episode and that is up in the air. I love this one! Thank you Daniel, for giving me a phrase that is so connected to my current expat life from my current digital nomad life, my current crazy geographical life. Okay. So up in the air, let's do this


Up in the air.

Is a phrase that you really can't translate directly. I have to give you a visual.

So are you ready? Can you close your eyes, please?

Both of them. Okay, great. Thanks. So your eyes are closed.

Can you picture a coin in whatever currency? It doesn't matter, a picture of a coin going up into the air and coming down.

Now picture a person flicking the coin up into the air and it coming down in their hand and them looking to see which side of the coin is facing up.

Now in a few different cultures. English, isn't just one culture. It's about language that bridges a lot of cultures, but in a lot of cultures that use English tossing a coin like that, flipping a coin like that is a way to make a decision.

So for example, in the United States, a lot of our coins have. a symbol on one side and the head of a president of the United States on the other side. And so when we flip a coin, if there's two people in this decision, which there usually is, someone will say, Hey, heads or tail. And that means you're picking which side you want to be facing up.

And if you pick heads and the person flicks the coin into the air and it comes down and it's heads and some people, they just take it when it comes down, some people take it when it comes down, then they flip it over. There's different ways to read the coin. The important part is, however it's read in that case, if it's head you, quote unquote, win.

Your decision is the decision that happens. So the thing is, this is connected to up in the air because if something is up in the air, it's the coin - and again, this is where your eyes are closed - Don't open them! Picture the coin at the top of where before it starts to come down. So you flicked for the coin, it's up in the air just before it comes down.

That!

That moment. That's what this phrase is focusing on. When something, when an idea or an experience or a decision or a situation is up in the air, it's that uncomfortable, uncertain moment in time. That snapshot in time before we know what's happening, the discomfort. In the uncertainty is absolutely the heart of this phrase.

If something is up in the air, it's usually there's usually an impatience. It doesn't always have to be, but usually there's an impatience with not knowing what's going to happen. Whether it's your decision, somebody else's decision, whether it's a job interview or are you going to get the apartment that you want?

Does the girl you like, like you back there? It's up in the air. Like you just don't know.

You're close to knowing. Cause the coin has been flipped, but you don't know. So it's that uncertain moment in time. So let me give you some examples and these are going to get personal really fast because this is my life right now.

My geographic existence is up in the air right now. So there's an example right there, but let me give you. A more specific example right now. I know where I'm going to live in March. April may and most of June, but where I'm going to live in June, July, and August is up in the air again on.

Discomfort with the uncertainty and the unknown, but it's close. I wouldn't really say where I'm going to live in 2030 is up in the air. It's too far away. Do you know what I mean? Like it has to be something that's about to be clear. Now about to be clear, could be days, weeks, or months, but it's at least in the planning stages or almost about to happen. Do you know what I mean? Like, it can't be so far away in the future, but it also can't really be in the past. How can you have an uncertainty about the past, about a decision or something that's going to happen? Let's try an example and I'll show you why, where I was going to live in.

2020 was up in the air. So that's past tense, right? It's in 2020 the year 2020. Can it still be up in the air if that year already happened? No, because there's no uncertainty, the year's over and it all happened. So it's not really something that could be in the past, in that way. Now, as I'm saying that I'm thinking, oh wait, what if it was uncertain for a period of time?

Can we talk about that in the past? The job offer was up in the air for most of 2020. That one's okay. Cause you're stressing how long it was uncertain and uncomfortable for. The job offer was up in the air. But honestly, even though that makes sense. And I wouldn't question anything if somebody said that it's probably more common to say they didn't make their decision for a long time.

So I probably wouldn't even use up in the air for that. The vast majority of usage for up in the air is for things that are about to be known in the present and very near future.

Let me give you one more example. Uh, what I'm going to have for dinner tonight is up in the air. I love food by the way, the food in Italy is amazing, but I'm sure you already know that.

Okay. So, yeah, but. Now that one's not as uncomfortable, except for me right now, I've got three weeks left in the country. So the pressure of having all of my favorites in those three weeks, without gaining tons of weight, by eating them all at once is a little bit uncomfortable. Cause I'm coming to the end of my time here.

So that does fit. It's a little jokey fit, but it fits because getting all of that food in is a pressure for me .

Anyway. I hope this makes sense, and I hope you feel more comfortable and less uncertain with using the term up in the air. Thank you so much, Daniel. This was really fun to dig into and it was nice to be able to bring in my crazy daily life as a digital nomad in Europe right now.

Uh, again, GEOPATS, G O P A T S is one of my podcasts and probably the one that you'll find the most interesting. And my handle is Steph Fuccio, S T E P H F U C C I O. Everywhere online on the social medias. It's also my.com website address. So if any of this resonated with you and you'd like to hear more of what I'm doing with language and other things in the podcasting space, then please do reach out or check out all of the things that I'm doing or any of the things that I'm doing.

Again. Thank you, Daniel. And thank you, Vocab Man listeners. I hope you have a wonderful day and that you don't have too much up in the air yourself right now. Bye bye.

GEOPATS language:
https://www.stephfuccio.com/geopatslanguage

For the video version with the subtitles in it: https://share.descript.com/view/H4H4oBGx8Uo

Full transcript:

Today's expression is to lean into someone or something.

Hello guys. This is Daniel Goodson. It's good to have you back here on the Vocab Man, where the listeners and me as well are trying to get better in English by listening very closely to different clips or expressions from daily life.

Now, all I have to do is lean on him. -Check- until he falls over.

Did you understand the text or the clip that you heard right before? .Don't worry about that if you didn't. Because. There's a transcript in the show notes.

And I'm going to do an audiogram with a video version of this episode as well. So that you can read along while you are listening to the Vocab Man.

So the speaker of the first clip said " now, all I have to do is lean on him" and then we could hear a second voice saying "check" that means someone

kind of approved what the other speaker said.

And then the other one continued and said until he falls over.

Now, all I have to do is lean on him. -Check- until he falls over.

So this is the first meaning of the expression to lean into something. So actually it means to push into or to press against someone or something. So imagine you pushing against a wall for whatever reason. Or a better example would be, let's say there are

zombies out there and they try to enter the room or enter your house. And then you are going to try with all the effort to leaning into the door. Right.

So that nobody will enter the room.

So this was the first explanation and the first meaning. And this is easier to imagine, right? Because you can always have some sort of a picture in your mind. And the second meaning will be different. And we want to focus on that. So listen closely to the next clip.

Why did you start podcasting?

I actually, I started podcasting because I was in software sales and it was a way for me to make more sales through my podcasting. And I quickly learned that I liked the podcasting part of it more than I liked the software sales part of it. So I kind of leaned into that. My first ever podcast was just interviewing local businesses about, you know, what they do for their business.

So I kind of leaned into that.

So I kind of leaned into that.

Here is the link to the full interview: https://1day1hack.libsyn.com/098-top-3-strategies-to-monetize-your-podcast-even-if-you-have-no-listeners-jase-kraft

So the second meaning is slightly different. It means to pursue some task or activity with great effort, determination and perseverance. For example, She's really been leaning into her English books lately.

At this rate, she could have a shot at a professional carreer as a translator . Or for example,

Let's imagine this scenario. I quit my job . So I gave up my job so I could lean into my podcasting career for The Vocab Man. This would be hilarious. Right.

Yes, you can lean into greatness. You were born to do something special.

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you think there's no way I'm coming back from this, I urge you to lean into these strategies and think again,

And if you are really serious about learning English, than I urge you to lean into it and give your best. You can make it!

THIS PODCAST WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY my fluent podcast

https://1day1hack.libsyn.com/098-top-3-strategies-to-monetize-your-podcast-even-if-you-have-no-listeners-jase-kraft

Want to send in your recording about your favorite expression?
Send me an e-mail:
[email protected]

Your Daniel Goodson



Bill Withers - Lean on me (not the same as lean into sth.)
https://youtu.be/fOZ-MySzAac

This is the video version of episode 76. Unfortunately, it didn't work the way I wanted.
If you still want to watch the video you need to click on this link: https://www.myfluentpodcast.com/76-not-my-circus-not-my-monkeys/

If you want to listen to the audio-only verison use this link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/48700037


What is YOUR favorite expression? Use the link below and send in your message (audio-only, video or text-only)
https://www.videoask.com/fwegskglw

Full Transcript:

"not my circus, not my monkeys"

Hello guys, this is Daniel. I am the Vocab Man. And this time we go over a very funny and cool expression. Not my circus, not my monkeys. And it actually came from Poland (originally). But. These days especially in the UK, people are using it in English too. So I had a conversation with Sadie and she is the host of an excellent podcast called Accentricity and it's all about accents and languages. So I recommend you to take a listen. But now let's see what Sadie tells us about her favorite expression.

https://www.accentricity-podcast.com/

Yeah, so my favorite expression, I mean, I've got, I've got loads. But I was thinking about this beforehand and there's a Polish expression that I really like, which is I've heard it being used in English a bit more recently.

So it's I hope I'm pronouncing it right. I'm probably not, but *in Polish* "Nie moj cyrk, nie moje malpy". And it means not my circus, not my monkey. And it came to mean something along the lines of, if there is a big fuss, a big mess, lots of chaos going on but it's nothing to do if you, you want to distance yourself from

it's not your problem. Not my problem, not my problem, not my circus, not my monkey. So in Polish, it's not my circus, not my monkey. And then when I've heard it in English, people usually say, not my circus, not my monkeys, so plural . But I quite like that, especially because I think there's often a lot of focus of the influence that English has on other languages and less so the influence of other languages coming in into English.

And I imagine the fact I've heard this expression a lot in English recently has to do with people from Poland moving to the UK quite a lot. And

kind of that being passed over. Yeah.

So I wanted to share it because of that reason I quite, I quite like it, and I think it's just a great expression as well.

Isn't it?

Yes.

It's very useful. I use it all the time.

Cool. Thank you so much, Sadie.

Thank you so much.

So this was all about the expression, not my circus, not my monkeys. And of course, if you want to listen to the whole interview, which lasts about one hour, so we had an excellent discussion

Then I encourage you to head over to my other podcast, which is called My Fluent Podcast. And why did I like this expression as well. It's because, yeah, it has a funny connotation in a way. And I think that even people. Who. hear it for the very first time will understand.

What it means. Because of the context.

Do you feel like you want to share your favorite expression with us? Then you can hand over to the show notes. Because there you will find a link. Which are going to .

Help you with the recording so that you can send me a voice only recording or video recording. In which you are going to tell us about your favorite expression. But of course you can drop me an email as well at [email protected].

So that's it for today. I am the Vocab Man and I just wanted to say that if this was too fast for you, of course, you can head over to the show notes because there, there will be the full transcript for you. So thanks for tuning in. And have a good one

---------

If you want to listen to the whole episode with Sadie Ryan you can head over to my other podcast called My Fluent Podcast

https://www.myfluentpodcast.com/104-accentricity-podcast-with-sadie-ryan/
https://open.spotify.com/show/4ZSpC6NaOOJhttlgpxQsDV?si=a55608aece1e4ce4

In the interview with Sadie we cover topics such as:

- How people react when they hear of Sadie's profession as a linguist/sociolinguist
- The term "Linguist" has more than one meaning
- How Sadie got involved into linguistics
- Speaking with a posh accent
- Remember: Everyone has an accent!
- Schools should teach more the listening skill!
- The best thing Sadie learned about language (Ep. mentioned)
- Sadie's PhD research
- Podcast recommendations (Linguistics)
- Language documentation (a specific branch in linguistics)
- The Podcast Accentricity - Every voice is valid
- Sadie's language journey (Polish/Gaelic)
- Is it easier to learn a language as a linguist?

This is the audio-only version of the episode. For the video version use this link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/48700225 or select the second file with the number 76.

What is YOUR favorite expression? Use the link below and send in your message (audio-only, video or text-only)
https://www.videoask.com/fwegskglw


Full Transcript:

"not my circus, not my monkeys"

Hello guys, this is Daniel. I am the Vocab Man. And this time we go over a very funny and cool expression. Not my circus, not my monkeys. And it actually came from Poland (originally). But. These days especially in the UK, people are using it in English too. So I had a conversation with Sadie and she is the host of an excellent podcast called Accentricity and it's all about accents and languages. So I recommend you to take a listen. But now let's see what Sadie tells us about her favorite expression.

https://www.accentricity-podcast.com/

Yeah, so my favorite expression, I mean, I've got, I've got loads. But I was thinking about this beforehand and there's a Polish expression that I really like, which is I've heard it being used in English a bit more recently.

So it's I hope I'm pronouncing it right. I'm probably not, but *in Polish* "Nie moj cyrk, nie moje malpy". And it means not my circus, not my monkey. And it came to mean something along the lines of, if there is a big fuss, a big mess, lots of chaos going on but it's nothing to do if you, you want to distance yourself from

it's not your problem. Not my problem, not my problem, not my circus, not my monkey. So in Polish, it's not my circus, not my monkey. And then when I've heard it in English, people usually say, not my circus, not my monkeys, so plural . But I quite like that, especially because I think there's often a lot of focus of the influence that English has on other languages and less so the influence of other languages coming in into English.

And I imagine the fact I've heard this expression a lot in English recently has to do with people from Poland moving to the UK quite a lot. And

kind of that being passed over. Yeah.

So I wanted to share it because of that reason I quite, I quite like it, and I think it's just a great expression as well.

Isn't it?

Yes.

It's very useful. I use it all the time.

Cool. Thank you so much, Sadie.

Thank you so much.

So this was all about the expression, not my circus, not my monkeys. And of course, if you want to listen to the whole interview, which lasts about one hour, so we had an excellent discussion

Then I encourage you to head over to my other podcast, which is called My Fluent Podcast. And why did I like this expression as well. It's because, yeah, it has a funny connotation in a way. And I think that even people. Who. hear it for the very first time will understand.

What it means. Because of the context.

Do you feel like you want to share your favorite expression with us? Then you can hand over to the show notes. Because there you will find a link. Which are going to .

Help you with the recording so that you can send me a voice only recording or video recording. In which you are going to tell us about your favorite expression. But of course you can drop me an email as well at [email protected].

So that's it for today. I am the Vocab Man and I just wanted to say that if this was too fast for you, of course, you can head over to the show notes because there, there will be the full transcript for you. So thanks for tuning in. And have a good one

---------

If you want to listen to the whole episode with Sadie Ryan you can head over to my other podcast called My Fluent Podcast

https://www.myfluentpodcast.com/104-accentricity-podcast-with-sadie-ryan/
https://open.spotify.com/show/4ZSpC6NaOOJhttlgpxQsDV?si=a55608aece1e4ce4

In the interview with Sadie we cover topics such as:

- How people react when they hear of Sadie's profession as a linguist/sociolinguist
- The term "Linguist" has more than one meaning
- How Sadie got involved into linguistics
- Speaking with a posh accent
- Remember: Everyone has an accent!
- Schools should teach more the listening skill!
- The best thing Sadie learned about language (Ep. mentioned)
- Sadie's PhD research
- Podcast recommendations (Linguistics)
- Language documentation (a specific branch in linguistics)
- The Podcast Accentricity - Every voice is valid
- Sadie's language journey (Polish/Gaelic)
- Is it easier to learn a language as a linguist?

Today, we are going to learn the expression "to get one's head around"

Here is the Audiogram version of the podcast: https://share.descript.com/view/cMpj06yu2TG

Transcript:

Get one's head around.

Hello guys, this is the Vocab Man. Let's try to understand the spoken words from different clips.

And at the same time learn the expression to get one's head around.

0:20 Clip 1

That in 1999 I got incredibly angry-- pissed off, actually--at what goes on with foster kids in America. I just couldn't get my head around it. How can we know best practice but we don't do it in 3/4 of the country?


The speaker in this video clip. Peter Samuelson doesn't understand how the system works concerning foster kids in America. So he can't come to terms with the system, how it works.

According to the Collins dictionary, it means to succeed in understanding or accepting something such as a new idea. yeah, at first I found this quite a difficult thing to get my head round, but one way helped me to think about it is I can see I've got over by my seat there a bottle of water, right. I'm looking at lots of you and lots of you have bottles of water with you, right?

Instead of to get one's head around something, you could also just say to wrap one's head around something. And remember this. It's very colloquial. So be careful when you're using these expression. And to be honest. The first thing that springs to mind when I'm hearing to wrap one's head around is a McWrap. Right from McDonald's. But of course this won't help you that much. It only shows. How hungry the Vocab man is. At the time when recording this episode. But I have another tip for you. There is a cool band. a band called the offspring. And there is a song called can't get my head around you. So you could just go. Look up for can't get my head around you youTube. And there we are. By listening to this song you will remember these expression easily.
But be aware that it's a punk rock song.

2:19 Clip 2
And then, when it comes to moralizing, are you moralizing or are you just trying to teach
your kids consequences? I'm not sure I can get my head around it.
Yeah.I mean, it's a tough question.I mean, you know, the data is the data, right?

What I find also super difficult is to get the right intonation. When speaking in English. So make sure that you can repeat some phrases so that it gets into your head.

I'm not sure I can get my head around it.

I'm not sure I can get my head around it.

So obviously the speaker's speaking very fast here. So that's why I'm having some difficulties to repeat the phrase or the expression. But what's the time. It will get better. Well, I hope so. And in my opinion, it's a very useful phrase. And I'm going to relisten to this episode of the vocal man. And by reading the text over and over again. It will finally stick in my memory
But do you have to know it's one thing to know that expression. Another to being able to use it in a day to day conversation. And that's the reason why I also try to shadow the text. What I mean by that is I listen to a very small portion of it and say it out loud afterwards. And that's why I will get used to it. And I will get my head around it.

We tried to learn the expression "rain check" or "To take a rain check" together.

= You can't accept an invitation now but you would like to do it later.

British English might say something like 'I'll give it a miss' or 'I'll catch you/it next time'.

Other weather related expressions:

- a storm in a teacup: unnecessary anger or worry about an unimportant thing
- it never rains but it pours: bad luck and bad things tend to happen at the same time
- to be/feel under the weather: to feel unwell or ill


What is your favorite expression? For more info see the link below!
https://www.videoask.com/fwegskglw

Audiogram version of the podcast: https://youtu.be/_-jIEBIOj6o
Vocab Man Website: https://www.myfluentpodcast.com/73-you-can-have-your-cake-and-it-it-too/


What is your favorite expression? For more info see the link below!
https://www.videoask.com/fwegskglw



Full transcript:


Next time you're making chocolate cake. I hope you'll consider some of these sweet tips so you can have your cake and eat it too.

I was wondering, do you have a favorite expression in English?

I do. I think my favorite expression is the phrase. "You can have your cake and eat it too", meaning that you can enjoy whatever it is that you're enjoying and you don't have to feel guilty for it. You don't have to feel bad about enjoying it. You can simply have essentially the best of both worlds.

Yeah, I love that one. That is cool.

The question was, um, if you take industry out of research, there'll be less research done. What do we do about that? So the money blinds proposal that I put up on the slide is intended to preserve the industry funding, right? And to just separate off the negative effects. So that's trying to have your cake and eat it.

My argument about the, trying to have your cake and eat it is even if you can get that to work. All right. Even if you can get that to work, even if you want to preserve industry funding in that way, we are deluding ourselves, right? Just as you would accuse me of deluding myself to say, government money will appear magically to replace industry money.

We are also deluding ourselves. We are engaged in mass delusion that we are looking fully and broadly at the solutions to important social problems. Right. With a system we currently have. So there are different kinds of delusion. And what I would say is I take your point. If you take our industry money, where's the rest going to come from?

What I would say is you could initiate the money blind solution, but you shouldn't pretend that's a solution completely .

Let's say I started a mutual fund for my neighborhood and all the neighbors had stock. Okay. And, and so they heal the environment and their stock went up in value. So instead of getting drained financially, they're making money, they're making money from things that make their kids safer and, and prevent the planet from dying.

So you kind of have your cake and eat it too, instead of working all way to make money and then coming home and trying to save the planet on the weekends, you can spend Monday through Friday making money, saving the planet and then, you know, go to the beach.

02:28 Outro
So actually with this podcast, you can have a lot of fun and along the way, you can learn English. So stick with me, the vocab man, and by doing so you can have your cake and eat it too. And if the podcast is too fast for you, then the transcript might help you out. Right? So because sometimes I make these audiogram.

I mean, you'll see the subtitles. And at the same time you can listen to the podcast. So I have also a YouTube channel, just search for my fluent podcast or the VOCAB man. Then you will find it. So the vocab man is sponsored by my fluent podcast. And just so you know, This idiom suggested Doug , who I interviewed on episode 99 of my fluent podcast.

So if you are into language learning with the help of hypnosis. This might be of interest, check it out. And here's the trailer.

03:29 Trailer of episode 99 of My Fluent Podcast (Learn languages with hypnosis)

Well, my name is Doug Sands and I am a hypnotist. I help people primarily with weights and anxiety, but I also see it, some clients for things like confidence and, language learning and language retention, both things that can really help us to practice that language and really help to, cement that in our neural networks hypnosis and language learning, they go hand in hand hypnosis works with that part of our brain that really stores the ability to speak a new language and to speak it fluently. And so hypnosis is, is kind of a way to fast track language learning.


Link to the full interview with Doug, the hypnotist:

https://www.myfluentpodcast.com/99-hypnosis-to-learn-a-language-interview-with-doug-sands/

What is your favorite expression? For more info see the link below!
https://www.videoask.com/fwegskglw


Transcript:
Link to the video version with transcripts in it: https://youtu.be/VhtlJCmLBBQ


Forget raining cats and dogs in Guam. It's raining mice.

Omar. Do you have a favorite expression or an idiom in English? That is good question. idiom idiom like that. I could say for example I live in Ecuador and it's close to the mountains. The place that I live in and unusually it is raining. And when the people asking me, Hello Omar, what is the weather in your country?

I usually say here it is raining cats and dogs, cats and dogs. It's like a, it is a bad day it is only raining. So this was a very short clip from an interview that I conducted with Omar, a very motivated English learner. You can listen to the whole interview on my other show called my fluent podcast. And it's episode 97.

You can say it's raining cats and dogs. Although in reality, we don't actually use that idiom that much, but it seems to be the first idiom that anyone ever learns. You can also say to bucket down, if it's bucketing down with rain, it's raining really hard.

01:18

To be honest, I am also an English learner who learned that idiom on a very early stage.

Right. But apparently these (that!) Idiom is not used that much by native speakers. Well, at least I stumbled upon various videos in which native speaker told us so. Would you ever say it's raining cats and dogs? Have you ever said that in real life? I have said that, but only as a joke. Yeah, because when I was a kid, this is kind of like one of the first idioms that English learners learn, but I feel like native speakers

never or hardly ever used that to describe weather like that. You might get a smile. If you said it's raining cats and dogs outside, people might like a little joke maybe(they might laught a little bit). That's the only context when you'll actually hear people use that in real life is just as a little joke. Well I think that the idiom might be just a little bit old fashioned, but at least I could find it in a film in a movie.

From 1999 with the name Magnolia, which is an amazing movie, by the way. And Tom cruise is playing as well as an actor there. Is that all right? Just raining cats and dogs.

Yeah. And in this scene, by the way, it was not raining cats and dogs but in fact, frogs. So I'd rather say it's raining like hell or something like that. So I hope you liked this episode and I hope that you could learn something.

Bye.

Sometimes we don't feel confident with our level. Sometimes we don't have time. Sometimes we think that we don't have money for learning English, but more of them are only excuses. Like was my case, say, okay, Omar, you don't have time. You don't have money. Your English is not good. But when you really want to do something in your life, not only learn English, you could do it.

Only put a deadline and start doing. Of course at the beginning it will be difficult, but you need to do a step by step. So that is the most important.


Link to the full interview with Omar:
Youtube
https://youtu.be/q_weV6Z5jzM

Podcast: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/myfluentpodcast/Omar_from_Masters_Of_English_-_Zoom_Meetings.mp3

Transcript:

In this episode we are going to cover the phrasal verb to make up to someone.

I am Daniel. and you are listening to the Vocab Man.

0:14
What does to make up to someone mean?
It means to do something to show that you are sorry about the problems you have caused someone.

Let's listen to an example from a woman who forgot about their marriage anniversary.

0:26 example 1:
You're always forgetting what we have to do is your family coming to our anniversary? I am so, so, so sorry. I swear to God, I will make it up to you. I will take you to that place that you wanted to go to last week, the, um, which place, which restaurant you don't, you don't remember anything? Not one thing .There is too much in my head.


Let's listen to another one. Because in my opinion it sticks better when it comes from a real example.

0:56 Example 2:

The policies of a country do not necessarily always affect the tribal and rural communities. It was devastating like, oh, we can't actually do something about this. We found out there's a huge gap when it comes to official policies and the real truth on the ground. So this time we were like, we are going to do something different.

We are going to use strategy and we are going to go back and apologize. Yes apologize. We went back to the communities and we said, we are very ashamed of what we did we are here to apologize. And in fact, we are here to make it up to you. How do you do that? We are going to promote three of your main cultures.

We know that it's music, language and embroidery. Nobody believed us. Nobody wanted to work with us. It took a lot of convincing and discussions with these communities until they agreed that we are going to promote their language by making a booklet of their stories, fables and all tells in the tribe.


1:57 Outro
I must apologize. I have to be frank here. In this episode I did not use my own voice. Maybe you did notice it. Maybe not.


I'll make it up to you one day.
Your Daniel