Category Archives: Hello

183. Luke’s D-Day Diary (Part 1)

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Join me on a trip to Normandy for the commemoration of the World War 2 D-Day landings. Podcasting on my feet, some unexpected things happened during this trip.

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Introduction
Friday 6 June this year was the 70th anniversary of the DDay landings in Normandy. My Grandad Dennis was one of the soldiers who landed on the beach that day. Along with thousands of other men he risked his life to fight the Nazis in the 2nd World War. Many of his fellow soldiers did not survive. Last Friday I went to Caen in Northern France to take part in the D-Day commemorations and to see my comedy hero Eddie Izzard performing stand-up in 3 languages. I recorded a podcast during my trip, and some unexpected things happened! Listen to the episode to join me on my adventure.
6 June 1944 – D-Day
D-Day was a very important moment in World War 2. This was when the Allies fought back against the Nazis on the Western European front. It was a key victory for the Allies, but it was also very costly, particularly for the Americans, who lost thousands of men on June 6 alone. For more information about why D-Day was so important, click here to visit the website of the Imperial War Museum in London.

Ultimately, D-Day was a success, but it came with great destruction and loss of human life. The success was due in part to the very careful planning of the Allied forces before the day, but also to the extremely tough fighting in which the Nazis were engaged in the east with the Soviets.

Why was it called D-Day? Click here to find an answer to this question on the BBC Newsround website.

My D-Day Diary
In this episode you’ll join me on my journey to Caen, a town in Normandy that was a very important location during the Normandy campaign in WW2. Caen is where most of the commemorations were taking place (or so I thought). On Friday the town was visited by lots of people including heads of state such as The Queen, Barack Obama, Francoise Hollande, Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel. They were all very excited to learn that Luke from Luke’s English Podcast was also going to be in town ;)

I was podcasting regularly during the trip. First you hear me on the train, then walking through the streets of Caen on the way to my rented apartment room, then sitting on the steps of a church with my friend Sebastian Marx (from episode 130), then in a car with Yacine, on the street again, and finally in the train on the way home the next day. In the episode I talk about D-Day, my Grandfather’s involvement in D-Day 70 years ago, my experience of seeing Eddie Izzard’s comedy show, the dumbfounding excitement of having dinner with Eddie Izzard. All in all it was quite an emotional experience all round. I hope you enjoy the episode…

My Grandad, Dennis Hallam

Dennis is 94 this year. 70 years ago he was just 24 years old but he was an officer in the army, in charge of 35 young soldiers. It was his responsibility to lead these men off the boat, up the beach and ultimately all the way through France and deep into enemy territory. It was very brave of him, and he fought for my freedom. Without Grandad, I wouldn’t be here today and there would be no Luke’s English Podcast. Thanks Dennis.

Recently my Dad (Dennis’s son-in-law) wrote to Dennis to thank him for what he did on D-Day. Here is a copy of Dennis’s reply, typed onto a computer by my Mum (Dennis’s daughter). Some words are defined below.

Dear Rick,
Thank you for your “Thankyou” card which made me feel both proud and embarrassed – I was only one of thousands.

It was pretty hairy, and for me and many others it started long before we reached the beach. The Channel crossing was vile – I was dreadfully sick. At some point during the night it was my turn to be Duty Army Officer on the bridge and I had to climb up there being sick and miserable. So it was almost a great relief to get onto the beach, even though wet through, having had to wade ashore, and even though there were assorted bits of metal flying around. What amazes and horrifies me is to think that I was just 24 and in charge of and responsible for a platoon of 35 soldiers. If there were privileges attached to commissioned ranks – and there were, of course, I think we deserved them – a lot was asked of us.

However, it was a war that had to be fought, I think, and one simply called on one’s training and did what seemed right at any situation.

I hope the celebrations will go well and it is good to know that what we did is remembered and honoured.

Thank you again – it was very kind of you.

Yours, Dennis.

Thank you too Grandad.

Eddie Izzard
He’s a stand-up comedian from the UK. I’m a huge fan. I won’t write more about him here because I’m planning to do an episode about him soon, in which I’ll play you some of his stand-up comedy. On 6 June he put on a special show, doing 3 performances – one in German, one in English and one in French. That’s really impressive, especially considering he is learning both German and French as second (or third?) languages. I was pretty awestruck to actually meet Eddie on Friday and then sit down to dinner in his company. I still can’t believe it happened because he’s sort of a hero of mine. Listen to the podcast to hear my reactions. I was quite excited.

Here’s some video of Eddie talking about how Anglo-Saxon English evolved, including his version of how English became a non-gendered language, distinct from the gendered French which existed in England at around the same time.

Here is a video showing footage of the D-Day operation. To be honest, the video doesn’t really show us how big the operation was. It was the biggest naval armada the world had ever seen, and has ever seen since. It must have been an overwhelming sight to behold.

War Is Hell

“Some of you young men think that war is all glamour and glory,
but let me tell you, boys, it is all hell!”
-General William T. Sherman

170. Basking in My Moment of Glory / Vocabulary of Success & Failure

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I won the competition again! I got a hat-trick! Thanks for your votes. I’d like to teach you some expressions related to success and failure in this episode.

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In this episode
I’m just going to talk about it for a little bit, but I’m not just going to bask in this moment of glory, I’m also going to present and then teach some phrases to you. The phrases are all associated with success and failure. I’ll also teach you some really common things you can say to someone who has won, or lost something.

Phrases related to success or failure
So, I’m going to bask in my moment of glory for a few minutes, and talk about winning this competition. I’m going to use about 40 expressions. Yes 40! See if you can notice them. Which phrases or expressions are the ‘target language’ of this episode? Listen carefully, and I’ll explain them properly in a few minutes.

So, I came in first place in the competition, in my category, and I’m really pleased.
This year the competition was a bit different. I had no idea of the vote count.
For all I knew, I could have been in the lead, or neck and neck with the others, or falling behind. I had no idea.
I had my doubts of course.
Lots of people reassured me. “It’s in the bag mate”, “no worries” “it’s a sure thing” “it’s a dead cert” “You’re bound to win”.
But I had no idea if it was a sure thing or not. I didn’t think it was a dead cert or anything. I knew there was some stiff competition.
In fact I was thinking, well, every dog has its day. Maybe I’ve peaked. Maybe that’s it. For all I know, most people are fed up with me now. Maybe I won’t get three. It’ll be a fall from grace – from the heights of winning it two years in a row, maybe I’ll just fall flat this year. Perhaps this podcast is just a flash in the pan, and it’s all going to the dogs now. Perhaps my plans for Luke’s English Podcast will just go up in smoke. Maybe everyone’s just fed up with me now, after all this time. Maybe I’m yesterday’s news.
It turns out that I had quite a considerable lead. I didn’t realise, but I was the front runner in this competition. I was ahead of the pack by quite a lot of votes.
The results came through by email, and everything came up roses.
I won and in the end, in fact I smashed it.
I knocked the ball right out of the park.
I won by about 700 votes, which is a clear majority. It was a landslide victory.
And I owe it to you my listeners.
It’s pretty simple – if you hadn’t voted for me, to the tune of 1017 votes, I wouldn’t have won.
I guess, the reason that you voted for me is not just that you’re generous people, but those people were expressing their appreciation of the podcast. So, that’s very satisfying. It’s a win-win situation.
I guess what I should do now, as has always been the case, is take advantage of this win, and use it as a springboard for more exposure and success. Now I’ve got a foot in the door, so to speak, I could perhaps get more listeners, and attract sponsors and things like that. I’m getting about 4,000 page views a day (which is incredible – and I guess this means that not all the people visiting my page voted for me – in fact, just a fraction did – I wonder why. Maybe some people just don’t realise how incredible Luke’s English Podcast really is. Or perhaps, voting is not why they came to the website.)
so the podcast is coming on in leaps and bounds.
Sometimes I must admit that I feel at a bit of a low ebb. I mean, sometimes I feel a bit low. It can be hard to achieve everything you want, and I think that I’m putting lots of time into this without reaping the benefits (although it’s nice to get comments and recognition), but I usually bounce back from that, and most of the time I’m just really chuffed to have an audience, and the opportunity to talk to people around the world.
Other doubts are that I’m just not getting anywhere, and that I’ve missed the boat somehow – meaning that I should have cashed in on this earlier, and that the opportunity to make this into a profitable venture has already passed, somehow. Sometimes I think that I’ll have to pack it in eventually, like if I have kids, because I won’t be able to devote as much time to it, but then again I think I’ll always be doing something related to Luke’s English Podcast. I’m certainly not planning to throw in the towel any time soon. I have too many ideas that I’d like to create.
At the moment though, I’m riding high. You could say that I’m on cloud 9, because I’m just over the moon to have won. You’re probably fed up with hearing me go on about it now, but at the moment I’m top dog, so I feel I deserve my moment of glory! You’ll just have to bear with me for a few more minutes, and then it’ll be business as usual again, and I won’t bask in the glow of victory any longer. I’ll just focus on teaching you useful things. At the moment it feels like things are on the up and up, and I’ve got the world at my feet. Thanks to everybody for rising to the occasion and showing your support. You’re the best.

Vocabulary
Let’s look again at some of the vocabulary I just used

  1. a hat-trick
  2. to bask in this moment of glory
  3. I came in first place in the competition
  4. be in the lead
  5. be neck and neck with
  6. falling behind
  7. It’s in the bag mate”, “no worries” “it’s a sure thing” “it’s a dead cert”
  8. You’re bound to win
  9. stiff competition
  10. every dog has its day
  11. Maybe I’ve peaked
  12. It’ll be a fall from grace
  13. maybe I’ll just fall flat this year
  14. Perhaps this podcast is just a flash in the pan
  15. and it’s all going to the dogs now
  16. Perhaps my plans for Luke’s English Podcast will just go up in smoke
  17. I was the front runner
  18. I was ahead of the pack
  19. everything came up roses
  20. I smashed it
  21. I knocked the ball right out of the park
  22. It was a landslide victory
  23. if you hadn’t voted for me, to the tune of 1017 votes, I wouldn’t have won
  24. It’s a win-win situation.
  25. use it as a springboard
  26. Now I’ve got a foot in the door
  27. the podcast is coming on in leaps and bounds
  28. I must admit that I feel at a bit of a low ebb
  29. without reaping the benefits
  30. but I usually bounce back from that
  31. I’m just really chuffed to have an audience
  32. I’m just not getting anywhere
  33. I’ve missed the boat
  34. I should have cashed in on this earlier
  35. I think that I’ll have to pack it in
  36. I’m certainly not planning to throw in the towel any time soon
  37. I’m riding high
  38. I’m on cloud 9
  39. I’m just over the moon to have won
  40. at the moment I’m top dog
  41. it’s business as usual
  42. things are on the up and up
  43. I’ve got the world at my feet
  44. Thanks to everybody for rising to the occasion

What to say if someone wins:
Well done!
CongratulationS (don’t forget the ‘s’ at the end of that)
Nice one
Good job!
That’s great news.
I’m really happy for you.
You deserve it.
You’ve done really well (sounds patronising!)
I’m proud of you.
You must be chuffed to bits.
I’m really glad for you.

What to say if someone loses:
Commiserations
Bad luck mate
Sorry to hear that
That’s a pity
Chin up
Oh well, you did your best
Never mind
Don’t let it get you down
Better luck next time
Don’t beat yourself up

I have a few questions for you:
-How are the phrasal verb episodes? Are you listening to them? Are they useful? I just want to make sure it’s worth me doing them regularly.
-Which episodes have you liked best recently?
-How was my conversation with Daniel Burt? Did you find it hard to understand him?
-How do you listen to the podcast? What context are you in?
-How’s my website at the moment?

Do leave other comments too and let me know what’s going on where you are.

Thank you very much for listening and for voting.

168. Please Vote! (and “stuff” like that)

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Please vote for me in the Macmillan Dictionary Awards. Voting closes at midnight GMT on 14 February – so you only have a couple of days! Click here to vote for me. Thanks! If you’ve already voted – thanks a lot! In this episode I shut up about the competition after 9 minutes, and then just improvise, while using the words ‘stuff’ and ‘thing’ as much as possible.

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I also talk about a few other things in this episode, including quite a lot of stuff about working for the secret service, drinking coffee and setting the world to rights over a few drinks. So, do listen to all of the stuff and things I say in this episode ;) 

Here’s George Carlin talking about stuff (transcript below)

“Stuff” by George Carlin

I would’ve been out here a little bit sooner but they gave me the wrong dressing room and I couldn’t find any place to put my stuff. And I don’t know how you are but I need a place to put my stuff. So, that’s what I’ve been doing back there. Just trying to find a place for my stuff. You know how important it is. That’s the whole… that’s the whole meaning of life, isn’t it? Try and find a place for your stuff. That’s all your house is. Your house is just a place for your stuff. If you didn’t have so much goddamned stuff you wouldn’t need a house. You’d just walk around all the time. That’s all what your house is, that’s a pile of stuff with a cover on it. You see that when you’re taking off in an aeroplane. You look down and you see everybody’s got a little pile of stuff. Everybody’s got their own pile of stuff and if you leave it you’ve got to lock it up. Wouldn’t want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff. They always take the good stuff. They don’t bother with the crap you’re saving and nobody’s interested in your fourth grade arithmetic papers. They’re looking for the good stuff. That’s all your house is, it’s a place you keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff. Now, sometimes, sometimes you’ve got to move. You’ve got to get a bigger house. Why? Too much stuff! You’ve got to move all your stuff and maybe put some your stuff in storage. I mentioned that. There’s a whole industry based on keeping an eye on your stuff.

Enough about your stuff. Let’s talk about other people’s stuff. Did you ever notice that when you go to somebody else’s house you never quite feel 100%  at home? You know why? No room for your stuff! Somebody else’s stuff is all over the place! And what awful stuff it is. Where did they get this stuff? And if you have to stay overnight at someone’s house, you know, unexpectedly, and they’ll give you a little room to sleep in that they didn’t use that often. Someone died in it eleven years ago and they haven’t moved any of his stuff! Or wherever they give you the sleep usually near the bed there’s a dresser and there’s never any room on a dresser for your stuff. Someone else’s shit is on a dresser. Have you noticed that their stuff is shit and your shit is stuff?! Get that out of there!

Now, sometimes you go on vacation you’ve got to bring some your stuff with you. You can’t bring all your stuff, just the stuff you really like. The stuff that fits you well that month. Let’s say you want to go to Honolulu. You want to go all the way to Honolulu and you’ve got to get two big bags with stuff plus your carry-on stuff plus the stuff in your pockets. You go all the way to Honolulu, you get to the hotel room and you start to put away your stuff. That’s the first thing you do in a hotel room is to put away your stuff. I’ll put some stuff in here. I’ll put some stuff down here. Here’s another place for stuff for you. I’ll put some stuff on here. You put your stuff over there and I’ll put my stuff over here. Here’s another place for the stuff. Hey, we’ve got more places than we’ve got stuff! We’re going to have to buy more stuff! And you put all your stuff away and you know that you’re thousand of miles from home and you don’t quite feel at ease but you know that you must be okay because you do have some your stuff with you. And you relax in Honolulu on that basis. That’s when your friend from Maui calls and says – Hey, why don’t you come over to Maui for the weekend, spend a couple of nights over here? – Aww, shit, no! Now, what stuff do you bring? Right, you’ve got to bring an even  smaller version of your stuff. Just enough stuff for a weekend on Maui. And you get over… And you’re really spread out and now you’ve got your shit all over the world! You’ve got stuff at home, stuff in storage, stuff in Honolulu, stuff in Maui, stuff in your pockets so, supply lines are getting longer and harder to maintain. When you get over to your friend’s house in Maui and they give you a little place to sleep. There’s a little window ledge, some kind of small shelf and there’s not much room up there but it’s okay because you don’t have much stuff now. And you put what stuff you do have up there. You put your important French toenail clippers, your own readers with that 45-day guarantee, your cinnamon flavoured dental floss and your Afrin 12-hour decongestant nasal spray. And you know you ‘re a long way from home. You know that you must be OK because you do have your Afrin 12-hour decongestant nasal spray. And you relax in Maui on that basis. That’s when your friend says – Hey, I think tonight we’ll go over to another side of the island to stay at my friend’s house overnight – Oh, shit, no! NOW, what do you bring?! Now, you just bring the things you know you’re going to need. Money, keys, comb, wallet, lighter, hanky, pen, cigarettes, contraceptives, vaseline, whips, chains, whistles, dildos and a book.

158. & 159. A Cup of Tea with… Paul Taylor (Parts 1 & 2)

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Part-transcript available below
Hello! In this Christmas episode I am joined by Paul Taylor who is that rare thing; an English guy who can speak other languages.

Paul is also a stand-up comedian who specialises in observing funny things about different cultures. He is also really good at doing different accents.

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Part 2

[DOWNLOAD]
A TRANSCRIPT FOR THIS EPISODE IS CURRENTLY BEING PRODUCED BY LISTENERS. CLICK HERE TO HELP FINISH THE TRANSCRIPT OF THIS EPISODE ON A GOOGLE DOCUMENT :)

In the episode we talk about Christmas traditions, his experiences of living in other countries and plenty of other things, including some examples of different accents in English. Enjoy the show!

Here is a video of Paul performing stand-up comedy around the world:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q2Xn6jEsdQ&w=500&h=281]
And here’s one from a performance in Spanish, with English subtitles:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1H5bpbSm30&w=500&h=281]

Here is a link to the Wkikipedia page for Fawlty Towers, which is the sit-com set in Torquay on the south coast of England. And, here’s a clip from the show. It’s old, but it’s a classic ;)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-oH-TELcLE&w=500&h=375]

Merry Christmas everyone!

Luke

TRANSCRIPT FOR EPISODES 158 & 159
Here is a transcript for the first five minutes of episode 158, sent in by a listener called Dmitry, and proofread by me.
Hello ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to Luke’s English Podcast.

– “What is that sound”, you are probably thinking. Well, that is the sound of Christmas, ladies and gentlemen. It should be the sound of Christmas. It is actually a tambourine.

Paul – Ho, ho, ho!

Luke – Is that Santa?

Paul – Ho, ho, ho!

Luke – It sounds like Santa. It is not actually Santa. It is just my friend Paul Taylor who is joining with me for this episode and it is nearly Christmas, so: Hello, Paul! How are you?

Paul – Hi, Luke! I am doing very well. It is very close to Christmas. 19th of December currently.

Luke – Yes, we’ve just got six days, before Christmas

Paul – I used to be more excited than this…

Luke – Me too.

Paul – …six days, before Christmas. I used to be going crazy.

Luke – Yeah, me too. I used to… I used to get so excited, when I was a kid, about Christmas. You don’t get excited anymore?

Paul – Um, noooooo, I do not know why. It is particularly this year, like I am very unexcited. I have been excited previous years. Um, but just not feeling it this year. I do not know why.

Luke – I used to…, you know, every day, I used to count the days, literally, I used to count down the days until it was Christmas. You know, starting the December I would be – “Only 28 days ’til Christmas”, for example.

Paul – At the beginning of December, when do you have Christmas?

Luke – Yeah, I couldn’t count, I was only four and anyway, I used to get so excited and when it got to Christmas Eve I would be so unbelievably excited that  I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I remember lying in bed on Christmas Eve, I would just trying to force myself to go to sleep, so I could then wake up and open my presents.

Paul – That is scarily similar to how I used to feel. Although, probably, a lot of English people maybe have gone through the same experience. I think, one of the things, that, potentially, I am not excited about or the reason I am not excited about is that I do not have this year an advent calendar. I have noticed that you have a Kinder advent calendar, which I was almost going to buy, but it was  too late and now, you have eaten nineteen chocolates or shared nineteen chocolates.

Luke – It is an advent calendar. What is an advent calendar, Paul?

Paul – An advent calendar – so, “advent” is a term which I do not know where It comes from, but it is the term that depicted for the calendar that usually you open every day. So, there’s twenty-five or some, calendars go up to thirty-one, but most go up to twenty-five in the UK, anyway. Twenty-five days and behind …you open each like a door, each day, and each day, there is something waiting for you. Whether it is a picture… so the kinder calendar you have, em, I presume, has kinder branded chocolates behind, whether it is like a mini egg or whether it is a kinder Bueno. Whether it is whatever else it is. I love kinder.

Luke – You, you are quite familiar with a range of kinder products – Bueno?

Paul – The kinder Bueno and, the kinder Bueno It is like the soft, the soft one is really good. Yeah, that is an advent calendar. I believe an advent – it is something to do with a religious aspect of Christmas.

Luke – Yeah

Paul – But, I can not remember the exact. It is something to do with the date, emmmmmmm.

Luke – Yeah! Exactly! So, when I was a kid, I used to have an advent calendar which, um, was very nice. It had like a religious scene on it, some Christian image on it and you would find, um, there would be a door for each, um, um, day of the month and you would open, you find a door, you open it and behind it there is a picture, like a wise man or something.

Paul – Uhoo.

Luke – Or there would be a picture of, you know, some Christmas related to a Christian thing, a picture of, em, aaaaa, mmmmm, a shepherd, you know, a picture of a church and then, the last picture is always the baby Jesus. There he is. But this one, I have got here, is completely un-Christian, I think it’s… There is nothing religious about this, this Kinder advent calendar at all.

Paul – No, it is, um, it is just full of chocolate. Now, be honest. Well, now, you are probably at the age when it does not really matter, but when you were younger and you had an advent calendars which had chocolate in them

Luke – Yeah

Paul – …did you secretly open, …

Luke – Yeah

Paul – … like… day… twenty-four.. when It was actually the sixteenth and you eat the chocolate and then kind of close it up?

Luke – Yes. I did.

You can help to finish this transcript here, by using a google doc. Click for more information and to collaborate with other listeners. 

142. The Annual General Meeting (Part 2)

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Here is the second part of the AGM. For more information, see episode 141.

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Thanks for attending the AGM. Here is the agenda:

Part 2 – Agenda
13. Set List Show (see video below)
14. Meeting listeners
15. Music mixes
16. Holidays and weather
17. New job
18. New episodes
19. Wearing trainers without socks – The Dangers
20. Flip flops in Paris – The Dangers
21. The sound of your own voice
22. Zdeněk Lukáš
23. Length of episodes
24. Pacific Rim
25. Statistics
26. Emails
27. The new Star Wars movies
28. AOB

Thanks for attending the meeting. If you have any other business, just leave a comment below. Happy holidays. Luke

Your donations make this podcast possible.

Set list show
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6ZrNS_HwOQ&w=500&h=281]

141. The Annual General Meeting (Part 1)

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You are formally invited to attend The LEP AGM (Luke’s English Podcast Annual General Meeting) which will take place during the recording of this episode.

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The AGM is a chance for me to just summarise some news and give some information before we all go away for our summer holidays.

Here is the agenda for the meeting (which is split into two parts).

Luke’s English Podcast
Annual General Meeting
August 2013
Location: Baddesley Clinton House (not haunted)
AGENDA:
1. New listeners
2. Thank you
3. Sweat
4. Bassline
5. Best voice for the podcast
6. Toilet seats
7. Playstation 3 – system update required
8. Time
9. Happy music
10. Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino
11. Pedagogical Approach
12. Whiskey in meetings
13. Background music

…This episode continues in the next episode of Luke’s English Podcast

Part 2 – Agenda
14. Set List Show
15. Meeting listeners
16. Music mixes
17. Holidays and weather
18. New job
19. New episodes
20. Wearing trainers without socks – The Dangers
21. Flip flops in Paris – The Dangers
22. The sound of your own voice
23. Zdeněk Lukáš
24. Length of episodes
25. Pacific Rim
26. Statistics
27. Emails
28. The new Star Wars movies
29. AOB

Thanks for attending the meeting. If you have any other business, just leave a comment below. Happy holidays. Luke

Your donations make this podcast possible

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139. Hard Driving / Car Vocabulary

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One Man. One Car. One Destination. Lots of vocabulary.

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In this episode you join me in a BMW Mini as I attempt to drive across Paris, through some of Europe’s busiest streets, on a very hot July afternoon. My mission is to deliver the car to a car-park while avoiding angry Parisian drivers, pedestrians with prams, and busses full of Japanese tourists. The ultimate goal – a glass of cold beer on the terrace of a cafe, and to save the world through another episode of Luke’s English Podcast, of course.

Do I manage to complete my mission? And what driving-related vocabulary can you learn during this episode?

Listen, and you will find out…

Vocabulary
Here are extracts of the transcript for this episode that contain all the driving-related vocabulary.

  1. Hard Driving – driving vocabulary

 

[5:42]

The car is on. I’ve got my hand on the handbrake on my right. I’m in the first gear. And I’m going to get moving, so I just lift the handbrake up. I’ve got the clutch. My left foot is on the clutch. I’ve put myself on the first gear. Handbrake is down.

[6:00]

 

[16:05]

So, [the] vocab is, what I’m holding, what I’ve got in front of me, the wheel. The thing that I’m turning in order to control the direction of the car, that’s the steering wheel, folks. The steering wheel. Turning the steering wheel to go left and right.

[16:27]

 

[16:45]

The gear stick to control the gears.

[16:51]

 

[17:32]

Gear stick. First gear, second gear, third gear, fourth gear, fifth gear, sixth gear sometimes and reverse gear, of course. Handbrake, I’ve already mentioned that. That’s the way you can sort of… how you stop the car when you’re on a hill, or you park, you pull the handbrake up. Sometimes, if you’re in a Hollywood movie and you need to like turn the car around very quickly, you might pull the handbrake and do the handbrake turn. It’s very dramatic and exciting. But I’m not going to be doing it today, folks, no! I’m going to try drive safely.

[18:08]

 

[19:35]

So, the pedals on the floor to…

[19:37]

 

[20:40]

So, the pedals on floor, the one on the furthest right is the accelerator pedal or the throttle, which is the accelerator.

The accelerator pedal, the brake pedal on the middle and the clutch on the left. OK. I’ve got some switches behind the steering wheel. You can hear the indicator switch, which sounds like this: “Indicator sound” Yeah. This is the indicators, they indicate left and right. And I’ve also got things like headlights, and stuff like that. I’ve got the speedometer in front of me, I’ve got a fuel gauge, rev counter which tells me how I’m revving the engine.

[21:40]

 

[24:07]

We also have the glove compartment on the right in front of the passenger seat, which never contains gloves. They call it the glove compartment, you know, it’s like a little box that little storage cupboard thing in front of the passenger seat. I don’t know why they… I know why they call it the glove compartment. It’s because traditionally that’s where you keep gloves. I’ve never ever seen a pair of glove in the glove compartment. Usually, it’s just like an old map or some boiled sweets or something like that. Never, never any gloves in the glove compartment.

[24:50]

 

[25:16]

There’s the horn, which makes the car go “Beep beep beep” this is the horn. The seatbelt, which can obviously save your life if you have a crash. Hopefully, that’ll never happen. You also have mirrors, don’t you? Mirrors, what you can, which allow you to see behind you. You’ve got the wing mirrors on the left and the right. And then you have the rear view mirror.

[25:41]

 

[37:02]

So, the windows, the window in front of me, we call it the windscreen, in front of me, it’s the big window at the front of the car. The windscreen. In America, they call it the windshield, but we call it the windscreen. Then the other one, it’s just this the window in the back window. It’s just pragmatic. The front part of the car that you open if you want to look at the engine, it’s called the bonnet. But in America, they call it the, what do they call it, the hood, hood, but we call it the bonnet. The front of the car is the bumper. That’s the part which is used to sort of bump other cars.

[37:43]

 

[53:46]

Summary

 

I’m just going to run through the vocab of the car that I attempted to teach you during the journey just as a summary.

  1. You got in the car. You’ve got the steering wheel, which you use to turn left or right or to steer the car. You have accelerator pedal, the brake pedal and the clutch pedal. You use the clutch to change the gear. And also you have a stick on the right if you’re in Europe and that’s the gear stick.

You have the seat-belt to keep you safe. If you have a crash, then the airbag will come out and protect you so that you don’t get badly injured in the event of an accident. You have mirrors, the rear view mirror in the middle, the wing mirrors on the left and right. You have the indicator to show which direction you’re going to turn, left or right. Tick, tick, tick, tick, like that. The indicator. You’ve also got things like the windscreen wipers, which are those things that clean the water of your windows or the dead insects after a long journey, you use the windscreen wipers to wipe them off. You also have like jets of water which spray onto the windscreen. And if you angle the jets correctly, you can spray pedestrians as you drive past them, which is quite good fun, isn’t it?

 

You’ve got the… the back window with a windscreen wiper on it, you’ve got the brake lights, you have bumper at the back, bumper at the front. You’ve got the boot of the car or in Ameri… that’s the back, that’s the storage area at the back of the car. We call it the boot. In American English, they call it the trunk. The front of the car, you’ve got the bonnet, which covers the engine. And in America, they call that the, what do they call it, the hood. That’s right. You’ve got also the petrol cap, which you remove in order to fill a car up with fuel.

 

Let’s see, what else? So, the number plate on the back and the number plate on the front, they have the registration number of the car. Also the wheels, of course, they’re very important. If you want to actually travel anywhere. You got the wheels… the wheels have, what are do they called it?, alloy covers, often if you’ve got like you know very nice cool car, you might have alloys on the wheels, which look cool. Then you’ve got the rubber bits that go around and they’re filled with air. Those are called tyres [tires in US English], of course. The tyres that go around the wheel. Just the same as a bicycle, in fact. Headlights on the front help to illuminate the road as you’re driving.

[57:23]

 

[57:27]

There are some verbs we associate with driving, as I mentioned before you. You accelerate. You brake, brake means to stop [or slow down]. You turn left, you turn right, you steer the car. You reverse, I mean, you go backwards. Mirror signal manoeuvre. Mirror, obviously, check the mirror before you move. Signal, that’s to indicate which direction you’re going to go. And manoeuvre, that means to turn or to make some sort of specific movement in the car. A manoeuvre. A manoeuvre might be, for example, a 3-point turn or a U turn or a… if you reverse into a parking space, to parallel park, which is one of the most difficult things that you can do when you’re driving is parallel park. When you’re learning to drive, that’s very difficult. If you have a space in the road and you have to try and park the car in that space. So, that’s nicely positioned, close to the curb, without too much space between the car and the curb and you don’t actually touch either the car in front or the car behind. That’s… if you can master that art, then you should be able to pass your driving test, how to parallel park.

[58:36]

 

Other vocab:

  • traffic
  • traffic lights
  • zebra crossing
  • satnav
  • petrol

A listener has written a finished transcript of this episode. Click here to read it. Be aware that it hasn’t been fully corrected yet, but is about 90% accurate.

131. Rickipedia / Listener Q&A with Rick Thompson

11 Replies

A conversation with my Dad, Rick Thompson. We answer various questions sent to us by listeners on Facebook.

Small Donate ButtonRight-click here to download this episode.

Rick is a journalist who worked for the BBC for about 30 years. He now runs his own media training company, called T-Media. He’s also been my Dad for 35 years. In my family we consider him to be like Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. His knowledge is pretty encyclopedic. If I have a question, he is usually able to give quite an extended answer to it, although sometimes the facts can be a little bit unreliable. That’s why I’ve started to call him “Rickipedia”.

In this episode I ask my Dad various questions which were sent in by fans of Luke’s English Podcast on Facebook. To visit and like the facebook page, click here.

What do you think of my Dad’s answers? Leave your comments below.

My Dad and I both hope you enjoy this episode, and find it interesting and useful as a way of practising your English listening.

Questions from Listeners
Here are the questions that some of my listeners sent in via Facebook.

[4:47] Tuan Do Sir What’s the difference between UK today and UK 30 years ago?

[12:25] André Domen What does it feel like to be British these days?

[13:52] Bruno Alves Which team is going to win UEFA Champions League this season?

[16:35] Stefano Pierini I’d like to know what he thinks about Eastern Europe, especially the South-Eastern part (Serbia and bordering states)… I know he worked there sometimes.

[21:56] Hiroshi Maruyama Why did you (Rick) get the good idea to present dram set to your sons for Christmas many years ago?

[25:45] Hiroshi Maruyama Have you ever had Tetrisitis?

[27:34] Hiroshi Maruyama Please tell me about the pleasure of bird watching. In Kumamoto, my home town, we have a lake and lots of birds come. I sometime go to watch them.

[31:16] Francesco Moscato Good afternoon Mr. Thompson. A few months ago Luke uploaded an episode about the Maya people and their prophecy about the end of the world. What do you think about them?

[32:25] Romain Bsn Hi Luke’s Dad, I’d like to know what are your thoughts about French people (it can be about any topics)?

[35:54] Lucianna Liveira Ask him if he can speak Portuguese or whatever language?

[37:09] Garoina De Vergerach Hi Mr.Thompson! What dou you think about the Spanish bullfighting?

[39:55] Стефан Слободяну Hi, Luke! Please ask him what he thinks about life in the UK! What are the best and the worst things? :)

[47:10] Claudio Natale Hi Luke! According to your dad, which are the most common stereotypes about Italy and Italians.

[50:12] Claudio Natale What’s his favorite food?

[50:37] Khazan Anna Hi Luke! Please ask your dad what his favourite dishes are. What does he think about English food. What does he have for breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc.?  Does he have high tea?

[57:05] Mariana Ramirez Hey Luke. Does he have any funny anecdotes or stories of you and your brother when you were children.

[1:00:35] Ubiratan Silva Silva Why 2 + 2 = 4?

[1:02:10] Jairo Trujillo García Well, we could ask the Oprah’s legendary: “What are you sure of?” as a final question maybe.

Click here to see the transcript.

126. Your Emails, Comments and Questions

5 Replies

Luke responds to your messages with questions about English, and more.

Small Donate ButtonRight-click here to download this episode. 
Thank you very much for your emails and comments over the last few months! I am going to reply to some of them here.

I get loads of emails in my inboxes and unfortunately there’s no way I can respond to them all. I’d end up spending all my time at my computer and that’s neither possible nor healthy. Nevertheless, please continue to send me messages. I really love hearing from you. I find it motivating and encouraging. Also, your messages tell me a lot about the people I am talking to on the podcast.

There are lots of ways to get in touch with me: FB, twitter, comments on Pod, comments on Blog, emails, youtube comments, youtube emails, LinkedIn, AudioBoo etc. I appreciate your messages, but I can’t always respond. I like it best when people leave comments on this website, either under episodes of in the forum (click the Discussion Forums link in the menu above).

Below you can read some comments, messages and questions I have received in the last few months. In the podcast you can listen to me responding to these comments. This is just a selection of some of the messages I’ve had. Not every comment is included here. Some I have already replied to or dealt with before.

THE BACKGROUND MUSIC is all produced/made by my brother. You can check out his youtube channel here to listen to more tunes.

COMMENTS, MESSAGES AND QUESTIONS (I reply to these during the episode)

I just listened to your first podcast and I was wondering, do I have to do the ‘interactive’ things (like asking questions, etc.,) now? I mean, the first one is not new so I don’t know if I’m supposed to do it or not.

Rei

Somebody left a comment on your episode:I love when you bring more people to the podcast because that’s when it really becomes natural English. In my opinion you use rather simple expressions when you speak on your own, probably because as you are a teacher and you are used to using words that your students understand. But do no misunderstand me, I love your podcast. I always listen to them on my way to uni. Sometimes I have to turn up the volume of my mp3 to a harmful limits, because I cannot hear with all the noise of the bus.Is there any possibility that the podcasts were louder? (I’m sorry if I sounded too fussy). Thanks for your podcasts and keep doing a great job!
Somebody left a comment on your episode:I like your accent and voice, Luck
Somebody left a comment on your episode:Teacher Luke! I’m sure you will make great podcasts in Paris. I’m sad I couldn’t have time to answer your questions… I’m so sorry. I wish I could have contributed to your next podcasts. Could you talk about british bands, please ? : ) Just yesterday I listened to my competition entry again and I noticed that nowadays I sound much better than that. That’s because I always take your pieces of advice ( not adviceS ) for learning and try to copy your pronunciation because you speak clearly without patronizing your listeners. I’ve been listening to your podcasts for about 8 months now and I can say that my english it’s not the same anymore. It’s visible that you enjoy what you do because when people love what the y do, they do it much better. Thank you so much !!

hello,luke!how are u doing?i am ABDENOUR from Algeria and I am a regular listener of your podcasts.in fact I do listen to them almost everyday.yet,it’s been a long time since u haven’t recorded a podcast;we do miss your qualitative and educative podcasts really!luke,can I ask you afavour? i would really like it if u record some podcasts on british culture.that would be a mind-boggling thing really…

Somebody left a comment on your episode:I love Sherlock Holmes stories!!!!!!

October – XxxYyy wrote:

Have you ever said something more about collocations? I just realized how important they’re to sound naturally.

ps. Have you mentioned Radiohead in the latest episode? Was in used just as an example or not? If not, high five! Their music has grown on me recently. So much I’m die hard fan now.

Thanks for sharing your awesomeness with all of us.

Don’t let wild city cats to eat you.

Somebody left a comment on your episode: (Vocabulary Review 1-11)Good idea to brush up on old stuff. I’m really into this kind of episode. Thanks Luke and Kate!
Somebody left a comment on your episode:why don’t u have the full transcription of this podcast??? I need it :(

Somebody left a comment on your episode:write the full transcription,,please!
Somebody left a comment on your episode:Do you know how long it takes to write full, accurate transcripts of these unscripted episodes? It takes ages!! Hours and hours. I simply can’t transcribe every word, even though I would live to. You can find a transcript of the story by clicking the link. Have you done that? If I have time I will work on a transcript but only if I have some available time . Remember this is a free service. I can’t work on it like it is a full-time job! Luke
Somebody left a comment on your episode:Luke, Unfortunately I can’t copy the transcript straight from the page,(page does not allow to copy from it), May I get this vocabulary comments transcripted from somewhere else?

Somebody left a comment on your episode:

Wow! Sorry Luke for asking you to do something unnecessary, you are not only a great Master in English,but also an awesome computer teacher.

COMPUTER TEACHER! :=[]
NoHealer JustPain left a comment on your episode:Luke, as I proceed to listen a strange thought occurs to me, you could simply dub cartoons for children, and for adult as well. P.S. Excuse me for my excessive activity.

Carlos Vega (cool name)

Hi Luke!! what’s up?

Please, can I ask you a question? I need your help about an english issue…

Take a look please:

1) I’ve got several fruits in the kitchen, such as apples, oranges, bananas,…

2) I’ve got several fruits in the kitchen, for example apples, oranges, bananas,…

3) I’ve got several fruits in the kitchen, for instance apples, oranges, bananas,…

My question is: are all them correct sentences?? If so…which one would you use?? (I mean, as a native speaker, which one is the most common??)

Thanks in advance, I’m really following your podcasts as I told you on my last email, good job man.

Cheers from Barcelona…Spain :p

lloydo commented on Messing Around with Accents and Voices

I love talking about accents with my students. As a Canadian I like to point out how my English is different from Standard American – which from the point of view of a Brit probably isn’t that big. It’s also pretty interesting to talk about what you can learn about a person from their accent; there is actually quite a lot! It’s also great to get them thinking about accents in their own language too.

Hi, I’m Chiara from Italy and I NEED to improve my english because my boyfriend leave Italy to stay in Ireland. So I think this is a nice way to try to reduce the “distance” :) thank you!

Somebody left a comment on your episode:Some more minutes talking about Bob Dylan music and so on would have been great. Not so bad the idea of English Anxiety Podcast :-) Thanks both for the episode.

Somebody left a comment on your episode:

Hey Luke, this has been really an interesting and different kind of podcast. When you said that there is probably someone out with that profile I thought it could be me becouse a few weeks ago I had a dream in wich you appeared. I dont know why I was in your flat and I dont know why I had the flat´s key either. I just remember that you were there with your girlfriend and we had a normal conversation ( but it was kinda strange becouse we talked to each other as we have met before when it wasnt really like that ). I think I had that dream becouse sometimes I listen to your podcast before I go to bed. But definitely Im not the person from your profile lol. Take care Luke.

Hi teacher Luke, My name’s Diego Lucas and I really want to thank you for all your videos on youtube, they are all very usefull to me.

Teacher, I really want to understand why sometimes I can understand every single word that you speak and it’s so hard to understand people that speak to you on your videos.

Greeting from Brazil, Sao Paulo.

Hello Luke,

I’m Thomas, Frenchman currently settled in China, I’m from Lille, maybe you heard of it since it’s not far from England. I’m moving to the English-speaking part of Canada next year and try to improve my English by listening Pod casts , series, reading novels or  using any material I can find through the internet.  I stumbled upon yours today and really appreciate it, I’ll recommend it to all my English learning Chinese friends, keep up the good work, please. I can fairly well understand English but never have the chance to speak it. During my first weeks in Canada, I’m going to stay in a farm where I’ll work as a volunteer, I want to make a good first impression  and I fear not to be able to socially interact properly. How to use words in English to sound polite, how to make jokes, what is culturally acceptable to joke about without sounding like a jerk. There are that kind of nuances in my own language and I’m sure it’s the same in English. Do you what I mean ?

Hi Luke,

I am a teacher of English in Russia and I’d like to thank u for the podcasts I can use at my lessons.

I wonder how u find time for such lots of work. Are u married?

Best regards,

Igor

Hi Dear Luke.

First of all I would like to say thank you. I started listening to your podcast.

I’ve found very useful your podcast for me.

I have some question for you:

– Where is your school located. Is your school as language schools – St Giles International or Malvern House?

– Do you have a private English lesson via Skype? If you have, how much does it cost per hour?

www.londonenglishclasses.com – This is my friend Martin Aaron’s website. He offers Skype lessons. Check him out if you’re interested.

Somebody left a comment on your episode:i’m going to use your podcast to do some grammar dictation and challenge my FCE students a bit. Great work! Thank you.
Somebody left a comment on your episode:Hi
Somebody left a comment on your episode:Enter your comment

Hi Luke,

I’m Nina from Germany. I started listening to your podcast because I wanted to improve my (spoken) english. English is one of my – I don’t know how you call it, but I’d say “main subject” in school, I have it 4 times a week.(and I’m going to take my A-Levels in it and maths)

Besides I just really like London and the UK and I’d love to have an british accent ;)

Well, I wondred if you could do something about Harry Potter?

I’m a huge fan and I think it’s just so british.

A podcast about Harry Potter or about what you brits think about it would be great.

Thank you and keep on with your good work,

Nina

Somebody left a comment on your episode:I’m laughing… You’ve made me happy, Luke. You’ve achieved your aim all right!

It’s me again

Sorry, I forgot something:

A podcast about style or british designers (I love Burberry) would be nice too.

And I think it would be really interesting to hear which prejudices there are about Germans, Frenchmen,…. in the UK or what people imagine a “typical” German etc. to be/act/ look like.

Now that’ all. I won’t annoy again ;),

Nina

Dmitry

I think past perfect sentences are easier to understand than present perfect. :)

I got on a train today in the morning and I saw a girl which was sitting alone. I realised that I had never met such a beautiful girl in my whole life. I came closer and said to her – HELLO! :)

Somebody left a comment on your episode:hi Luke, great job! Only a question: why i can understand your speaking and i cannot understand other people speaking (for example people in London interwievs)??
Thomas left a comment on your episode:you’re not going to tell us exactly how you open your trousers…? What a pity! :)
Somebody left a comment on your episode:Fortunately, I came this site not because I placed my coffee on my laptop….it’s intentional.. I really want to listen to. …and I’m not in the gym, too..I think I’m probably relaxing?hmm..

About the sick in Japan episode

Somebody left a comment on your episode:Wow, thank God you’re alive teacher Luke! I wouldn’t be able to hear such a bizarre but wonderful story of yours if…. Anyway, when my grandfather had a liver disease, He never recovered until he died a few years from now. I don’t know how the disease was called but it seemed that his liver shrunk. The doctor said there was a lot of holes in it and he kept on releasing blood. And so, my grandmother who was as drunkard as my grandpa was, decided to stop drinking even though she can’t help it sometimes….. I’ve been to taiwan (shortly, just 5 days) and the only problem I had there was that I got dandruff in my head.. gladly, my scalp returned to normal when I got home. Maybe it was just because of the shampoo…I don’t know. Just as I live in a hot country ( I mean, the weather is hot), the Philippines, we just normally put lotion on exposed skin with higher spf.. and use umbrella most of the time.. I had a great time listening to the podcast! Not only was it entertaining but there are also some note-worthy things like those related in medicine… Thank you teacher Luke! ( btw, i said that in british accent!) ;)

Somebody left a comment on your episode:

Thanks Luke for sharing such an interesting experience, at times your report sounds kind of a fight for survival! For some reason it’s more amusing to tell not so nice travel experiences rather than the good ones :-) I spent a month volunteering in a Gloucestershire farm two years ago, leaving Italy with a few stitches on my shoulder. A nurse in the farm removed them but she wasn’t so confident and eventually said: “You’d better go to a clinic”. I feared an infection since I felt pain, anyway it was nothing serious. Something similar may happen when you travel off the beaten track, but it’s definitely worth it! By the way, antibiotics are useless and even harmful for mononucleosis, that’s why you had a rash.

evgenia derevnina left a comment on your episode:

It’s 4 a.m here in Irkutsk. Outside around 15 degrees below zero. I can’t sleep (too much energy probably) So instead of wasting time rolling over in bed, decided to listen to another Luke’s podcast. Thank you again Luke that we have you.

evgenia derevnina left a comment on your episode:

This is a great real life episode! Luke must be a very brave person to have got through all this experience. It’s just impossible to stay calm while listening to it. Man! It was hard! Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us. Be healthy and happy in all your lives! I remember once staying in India in may, in a valley of Kangra District. It was about +40C or more, very hot and humid, I noticed you can’t even think properly in such heat. some friends slept on the roofs at night, but it didn’t help anyway. There was no air-conditioning, just fans in the rooms. Don’t know why I just kept on drinking hot tea with milk,it felt good drinking hot tea while the air was hot too.

Cheers.

Hi Luke,

I’ve just started to listen your podcast and I’m very grateful to you for the work you’ve done. About the podcast n 2, I’ve found really difficult to understand the meaning of some sentences said by you and your father during your interview; especially when you use expressions like these: Mind you you do see (why here Rick uses do + verbs)

Luke! One of my friend who is an english speaker said, “i am going back to ‘me’ home.”

Is that wrong? because he is native speaker so…

Thx!

Billy

Somebody left a comment on your episode:Please, how can I download the podcast. I liked it so much.

LENA

Somebody left a comment on your episode:A very shrewd analytical piece, funnily presented,capturing and rib-tickling in some places.The key words – champagne, a smell of perfume and urine,water in gutters, fresh bread aroma,car sirens, morning sunlight,stone colors – all these refer to senses rather than to mind and give a very insightful and penetrating picture. It was a pleasure.
Somebody left a comment on your episode:Enter your comment
Somebody left a comment on your episode:i m from pakistan keep it up luke..

Hi Luke,

What’s meaning of “half 12”?

I know American got anyother way to say it, but what is it?

thanks!!

Billy

 Zahid

Hi Luke

sorry to disturb you. i just to want to ask u a question.Which is the correct sentence.?

who do you live with?

or

whom do you live with?

I am a bit confused about the use of who and whom.

Thanks

 

luke,

In what situation will you use ‘he don’t’ instead of ‘he doesn’t’?

Thanks a lot!

Billy

Somebody left a comment on your episode:help me speak english please Luke

Somebody left a comment on your episode:

Brillant!!!! Very nice episode, I enjoyed every second!!! Thanks!!

Somebody left a comment on your episode:Faux pas= literally means “misstep”. Faux means something wrong, a mistake,”pas” means step…

Super Luke!! How’re you?

Still podcasting?? I’m still on my way to improve my english, so listening to your podcasts in between of doing CAE exams! Also reading some grammar…actually I wanted to ask you if you could help me with some short issues, please? I’d be very pleased if you do that Luke since I’m not attending any lessons in my city, I’m just studying on my own! (I think at certain level is much better and fast to study in that way…anyway I’ll go to some lessons maybe 1 or 2 month before the CAE exam)

1) Well…first af all I’ve read a sentence like this:

NEITHER MARGARET NOR JOHN WAS THERE

Question: Why ‘was’ and not ‘were’? Margaret and John…two people…so should be ‘were’ no? (no because it’s ‘neither – nor’)

2) Which one would be the correct preposition after the verb TO BE FED UP??

3) in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, at night, at midday……ARE ALL THEM CORRECT?

Hanouf left a comment on your episode:

You don’t mind if try to add to your list of expressions do you? How about saying: Mind how you go as a way to say bye. 

 

Dear “Mister. Bean”, I’m delighted reading your Paris notes! Do you teach only English? Don’t you teach English Literature or Philosohpy? You’ve got a nice sense of humour and you are just a very good person. Have you read something from Russian Literature? (Olga)

NEW TRANSCRIPTS AVAILABLE from Crista Bartels and other listeners. Episodes 1-6 are now fully transcribed, and a lot of other episodes. Keep checking the blog for more transcripts in the future.

Hello Luke,

It is me, Andrew again, one of the student addicted to your podcasts.

I found having transcript or at least more difficult phrases indispensable part of my method of learning English which is:

1. listening to the material at least twice

2. writing down everything exactly what is said there

3. reading aloud following the speaker, sentence after sentence

4. moving useful words, phrases, expressions, sentences etc. to SuperMemo application

5. and of course trying to used all of that stuff during lessons with my local teacher of English, who is really great too.

Thank you for your really great job. I appreciate it very much.

— Best wishes,

Andrzej

It’s now been 11 days since ZAHID sent you an ecard.

Luis commented on What is this?

Hi Luke!!! This is Luis from Spain.
I just arrive to London two months ago, and i have been listening the people, they usually use a lot of verbs ended with up or off…
Could you please make a podcast with the most common verbs that you use ending with up, off,down…?
Thank you so much
Great work

Hello, Luke

How are you?  Are you in England with your family or in France?  Wherever you are, a happy new year!

The last three or four months, I have not be able to make donation due to Japanese law (they say).  Every time I try to, they say:  PayPal does not currently support Donation Payments from buyers in JP. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Actually, it is extremely inconvenient!!  I would appreciate if you give me some advice of any other way to donate, so that I can support you and enjoy your wonderful podcast.  Many Japanese must have this kind of problem, I guess.  Please help us to make a donation.

With best regards,

moriya

I am writing just to thank you for doing the Luke’s English Podcast!

Sometimes I focus so much on the listening that I start smiling or even laughing with my headphones on, while no one around knows what is going on. Then I feel a bit stupid because some people start looking at me like I was a freak or something :D

But whatever…I will keep listening because it’s just fun!

Best regards,

Michaela

listener from Prague, Czech Republic

Daniel commented on Who is Luke?

Hi,
I enjoy your lessons and would like to donate as you actually deserve it.
Unfortunately I’m unable to find where is the link with Paypal in your site.
Could you help me please ?
Daniel
An elder english learner and lover.

New comment on your post “Episode 4 – Joaquin Phoenix”

Author : gerardo

URL :

Whois : http://whois.arin.net/rest/ip/186.79.136.177

Comment:

Hello. I’m gerardo from Chile ;) I was wondering what’s the difference between he may have an emotional problem and he may be having an emotional problem ;) that’s it thanks for your podcasts ;))) bye

hi luke, just wanna ask how do you read the word “negotiation”? ne-go-she-a-tion or ne-go-c-a-tion?

THX

billy

*Billy always asks me very quick and very specific questions. They’re pretty easy for me to answer, so he usually gets a response. If you do ask me a question, make it quick and specific. Very long and very open questions are much less likely to get responses. I don’t have time to write an essay. Please don’t ask me questions like “How do I  improve my pronunciation?” – it’s too big a question to get a response from me, know what I mean?

Hello

I like your podcasts very much and i have a question about learning english.

You said Try to speak in english with people more.

Could you recommend me a website where i can speak with other people in english (voice chat) ?

Best wishes

Gábor

http://www.sharedtalk.com/ (If anyone else knows any good sites for this, please leave comments below ;)

    • Hello Teacher Luke
    • First of all , you are totally the man. You totally rule. Thanks for your great podcast.
    • Second, you mentioned in a recent podcast “Maybe your name is Jose and maybe you want to speak like me” or something like that. You got it right. My name is Jose and I would really like to speak like you do.
    • Thirdly. I was practising my english the other day and a phrase came up: “One of the most Interesting things that have happened to me” My question is , is it have happened or has happend, I googled it but I found examples of both, How a londoner would say it?
    • Thanks again. Cheers.
  • Luke’s English Podcast
    • Ah ha! I knew someone called Jose would be listening to the podcast! Nice to hear from you.
    • And it’s ‘has’ in that sentence.

Luca Ricci

Hi, I’ve got a question about the use of “ain’t”.

I’ve noticed that you never use it in your podcasts and i don’t remember to have heard it from any of your guests.

In some website I’ve read that it represents an american semi-unpolite grammar form and it should be better not to use it. What do you think about that?

Another Award-Winning Year!

6 Replies

Hello!

If you’ve been following this year’s Macmillan awards you’ll see that Luke’s English Blog just won the award for Best Blog 2012. This is due to the fact that so many of you went out of your way to vote for me. Thank you very much! Your votes counted for a great deal, and I’m very proud that so many of you consider Luke’s English Podcast to be worth voting for.

If you are new to Luke’s English Podcast, then welcome! Let me tell you a few things about this website, so you get a flavour of what goes on here.

Firstly, this is Luke’s English Blog. This is where I post all the text which relates to each episode of Luke’s English Podcast. So, to be honest, the blog is not where it all happens. Really, this is a podcast with a lot of written content as well. The podcast is really how I communicate with my audience, and that is what I put most of my time and energy into. What’s the podcast all about? Well, there is a link in the menu at the top of this page that will explain all that to you. Can you see where it says ALL EPISODES up there? If you click on that you’ll get more information about the podcast. You can see that I do some other things as well, like videos on YouTube. They’re really popular and I’ve had over 2 million views now, in total. People keep asking me to make more videos and I will as soon as I find time!

In the podcast you can listen to me speaking directly to you. The show is intended for learners of English, although a lot of native speakers listen to it as well. The original concept behind the podcast was to provide a listening experience that is authentic (not scripted) and entertaining as well as informative from a language learning perspective. One of my main aims is just to make learners of English listen to English for extended periods of time. I know that to do this I have to make my episodes as engaging as possible. Often, I try to do this just by keeping my speaking ‘in the moment’. By that I mean not planning what I say too much  in order to keep the listening experience as interesting as possible. I believe that just because I am talking to non-native speakers of English, there is no reason to make it overly simplistic or even patronising. I try to make the episodes funny if possible, or at least enthusiastic and passionate. I try to talk to my listeners as if I was talking to some friends in the pub over a pint or two of beer. Hopefully, this comes through in the episodes.

As a teacher in the classroom, I find that inevitably some parts of my lessons are boring. I’d be kidding myself if I thought that every part of my lessons was engaging and fascinating. I know  in class when the attention of my students drops. Usually, this happens when we discuss grammar, or go through lengthy reading texts or exam tasks. I’ve found that the students interest is most stimulated when the lesson seems to go ‘off topic’ or ‘off piste’. I have found that the students become much more engaged during break times, when suddenly they stop acting like students and just start communicating and interacting more naturally. I also find that they respond well to me telling them more personal stuff. Also, I know that in class, TTT (teacher talking time) should be kept to a reasonable limit, and yet I often feel that I have so many things to say to my students! So, I decided to start doing a podcast in which I could just speak personally, without having to worry about TTT, and in a way that I hope is engaging for the listeners. In the end, I hope that my listeners just get hooked and as a result do a lot more listening than they normally would.

There are plenty of reasons why I do Luke’s English Podcast, but those are some of them. Perhaps in the future I’ll tell you the whole story in an episode of the podcast.

By the way, at the moment I am experiencing some seriously annoying technical problems with my podcast host Podomatic.com
They have blocked downloads and uploads for a while, so you won’t be able to download, and I can’t upload new episodes. This is because they believe I haven’t paid my annual subscription fee, when in fact I did pay them quite a large sum of money in November for my “Pro Broadcaster Plus” membership package. I have sent them numerous emails about this and I still have received no reply. I am now seriously considering closing my Podomatic account and moving to another podcast host. It’s particularly annoying that at this crucial time, when I’ve just won this award, no one can download my episodes and I can’t talk to my listeners. Understandably, I am pretty peeved, cheesed off and generally quite angry about podomatic’s billing error.

Anyway, in future you will be able to download more episodes of the podcast, but for now I suggest that you have a look at the previous episodes of the podcast or the YouTube videos I’ve made (click VIDEOS above).

Thanks again for reading, and thank you very very much for voting for me. I am seriously proud to have won this award again!

Best regards,

Luke