1. Our language journeys: The origins of English and Beyond

Transcript + vocabulary list + exercise:

Episode 1 (English and Beyond)

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Transcript:

[00:00:00.000] - Oliver

Welcome to English and Beyond, a new intermediate English podcast for learners of English as a foreign language. First, I want to highlight straight away that you may not understand every word in this podcast. Don't worry about it. The aim is not to understand every word the first time you listen. Instead, come back to the episode at a later date and give it another go. I'm also publishing a transcript, which you can find online at www.morethanalanguage.com. The aim of the podcast is to go beyond just language learning. Of course, we want to help you learn natural-sounding English, but we also want to entertain you. Each week, I will talk to you about a whole new topic, different every time. Often, these topics will relate to my own interests or about the UK or other English-speaking countries. In most episodes, I will also enlist the help of other native English speakers or people who are already learning English as a second language. Most often, this will be my partner César, who is a native Spanish speaker but has an advanced level of English. Hopefully, by listening to this podcast, you will learn a wide range of new vocabulary, and you'll also hear a lot of idiomatic natural English in a variety of accents.

[00:01:18.610] - Oliver

For this first episode, I'm actually going to talk to you a little bit about myself and a little more about why I've decided to start this podcast. I live in London, in the United Kingdom, and I work in a secondary school as a teacher. A secondary school in England is for students between the ages of 11 to 18. Somewhat unusually nowadays, I teach Latin, the language of the ancient Romans, which is a classical language. This means that it's no longer spoken aloud by any group of living people. Some people say that it's a dead language, but I prefer to think of it as simply very old. Actually, because I teach in a secondary school, I'm going to call myself a different name because I really don't want my students to connect me to this podcast. Instead, I'm going to use my middle name, Oliver, which is, fortunately, much more common than my real forename. One of the reasons I chose to study Latin myself is because I was actually an extremely shy teenager. When I was little, I was genuinely terrified of learning modern languages, languages that I would actually have to speak out loud.

[00:02:26.170] - Oliver

I don't know if you, listener, can relate to that fear. Perhaps you feel nervous just listening to me speak right now. I hope not, but if you do, I definitely can relate and I can understand how you feel. So, the modern language which they taught in my school was French. Now, being an adult, I have a lot of love for French, but back then, I absolutely hated it, especially the accent, which I found impossible to pronounce and even harder to understand. When the teacher went around the class asking questions in French, I was so scared that she would ask me. I knew I wouldn't be able to answer because I wouldn't be able to hear the words properly. I'm embarrassed to say that I actually even cried sometimes in French class because I found it so stressful to understand the spoken language. The teacher would look around the classroom searching for her next victim. Whenever the teacher's eyes locked onto mine, that is, whenever she looked directly at me, I would begin to panic. I would start to sweat, I would start to shake, I would start to stutter. No full words would come out, and everyone would turn to stare at me.

[00:03:38.170] - Oliver

It was awful. On the other hand, Latin, unlike French, gave me the chance to learn a language without having the pressure to think on the spot. It was slow, methodical, logical. I was in control, and I wouldn't have to worry that I couldn't distinguish one word from another. I know it's not common, but I loved the grammar rules and how it all fitted together like a puzzle. As I got older, I saw other people speaking modern languages like French, and I was suddenly so jealous. It seemed so cool that they were able to speak so easily and fluently in a whole other language. That's why I started to teach myself Spanish. Slowly, I built up my confidence. I began to really enjoy the process of meeting new people and making friends in my chosen language. Eventually, I even met my partner, who I will introduce in a moment. Now, as a language teacher, it's ironic that I am in the position of having to choose my own victims in the classroom, like my French teacher 20 years ago. But I tried to make it as comfortable for my students as possible. I try to make sure that they don't feel stressed and that they're not scared to put up their hands and to volunteer an answer.

[00:04:51.270] - Oliver

I now know that the only way to learn a language is to relax, and in fact, to make mistakes. And so that's what I try to do with my questions in my classroom. That's what I want to do for you with this podcast, listener. I want to make learning English an enjoyable and stress-free, but interesting, experience. As I mentioned at the beginning, I'm now going to introduce someone who has a lot of experience, both in learning English and with his own very successful language podcasts, my partner, César. César will be my special guest in the vast majority of episodes. And a big part of the reason for this is that César has a lot of experience helping people learn languages. He's the host of three successful Spanish language podcasts with over six million downloads in total, each one aimed at a different level of learner. And he has been building an online learning community over the last few years. His Spanish Language Coach brand now has over 3,000 students enrolled in his online school, so I couldn't find anyone better suited, more appropriate, to start this podcast with. It also helps that you live with me, César!

[00:06:00.680] - Oliver

So, César, how are you doing today?

[00:06:03.990] - César

You made me blush, Oliver.

[00:06:05.660] - César

Thank you very much. It's probably because I'm Spanish, but I feel slightly emotional.

[00:06:15.020] - Oliver

Is it the stress of having to speak English in front of potentially lots of people?

[00:06:20.010] - César

Well, a little bit, but also because almost five years ago here, not on this table, in the different table, but the same place, same house, I recorded my first episode ever for my first podcast. And I love podcasting. I love teaching languages and learning languages. So I hope people can really learn and appreciate and enjoy this podcast because I know that you've been working on it very thoughtfully.

[00:06:51.160] - Oliver

Well, I mean, it's funny that you should say that in a way because obviously, one of the reasons that I've asked you to join me in the majority of episodes is because you have so much experience with a variety of different topics - right - in your podcast. I kind of want to steal lots of that experience so that we can choose topics that we already know that people find useful.

[00:07:17.080] - César

Exactly, yeah yeah, absolutely. Because at the end of the day, sometimes when it comes to language learning, or traditionally, at least, people were focused on using books, for example, and these books were oriented on the culture of the countries where that language is spoken. I remember, for example, when I was learning English at school, I remember that the book, all the text, all the images were about the UK, especially, and they would talk about British gastronomy, fish and chips.

[00:07:51.120] - Oliver

That must have been a very short chapter.

[00:07:53.990] - César

Or characters and, y'know, novels from British authors and all that, which is very interesting. But I would have loved to read and listen things from other topics, like universal topics. So that's what I try to do with my podcast, talk about things about Spain, because I'm from Spain and I'm a Spanish teacher, but also things that might apply to anyone living anywhere in the world.

[00:08:20.680] - Oliver

I think actually that's one of the advantages of podcast because, as you say, you know, textbooks do cover a range of topics. But I think that you find that one topic that always comes up nowadays is the environment. But then you're on the environment for four or five weeks of lessons. And so, even if you're massively interested in the environment, it becomes dull after that period. And so one of the strengths of the podcast is that this will be 20 minutes of a new topic every time. Hopefully, topics that are not necessarily controversial, but engaging and interesting.

[00:08:58.160] - César

It is that books for schools, for example, they have to meet their government curriculums, right, so they cannot talk about anything they want. But we can, and we will.

[00:09:09.690] - Oliver

We can, exactly.

[00:09:10.610] - César

So yeah, I'm very excited.

[00:09:12.150] - Oliver

Good. Wonderful. Well, I'm excited to have you here. So one of the things that I wanted to ask you, actually, is whether, you know... I've taught a little bit about feeling nervous when I first started learning French. So I wanted to ask you whether you feel nervous now because, you know, we have a podcast together in Spanish. Do you feel nervous now that the shoe is on the other foot? That is to say, I'm the one speaking my native language and you are the one having to think in a second language.

[00:09:43.490] - César

Yeah, I'm in your shoes now, right?

[00:09:46.970] - Oliver

Exactly.

[00:09:47.450] - César

I'm in your position because I have to speak a foreign language. Well, I've been living in the UK for a while and I consider myself an advanced speaker of the language, but I still feel more comfortable speaking in my own language, obviously, in my mother tongue.

[00:10:03.700] - Oliver

Maybe we'll get a hater emailing us saying, César, how can you think that you're advanced?

[00:10:09.050] - César

I'm sure we will. I'm sure I will. Yeah, I'm sure. That's fine. That's actually If we get to that point, that's a good sign. It means that the podcast is growing and people like it and people are enjoying it. But what was I saying?

[00:10:24.550] - Oliver

You're an advanced learner. You've lived here a long time and you feel comfortable expressing yourself.

[00:10:30.230] - César

Yeah. But I also want to take this opportunity to spread the idea, say out loud, and it's something that I say a lot to my students, that mistakes do happen even when you are an advanced student of the language.

[00:10:48.410] - Oliver

In fact, even when you're native.

[00:10:50.180] - César

Even when you're native, exactly. Native speakers make a lot of mistakes, different mistakes sometimes, than, compared to the students. I want you to know that I don't mind if you correct me because I think that could benefit anyone listening to the podcast. So please do correct me if I make any mistake, because it might be a frequent mistake.

[00:11:10.460] - Oliver

And maybe someone listening will be like, I'd never make that mistake.

[00:11:13.860] - César

Probably.

[00:11:14.440] - Oliver

They can feel good.

[00:11:15.480] - César

Good for them.

[00:11:16.150] - Oliver

But so far, I don't think I've noticed any mistakes. Also, if I make any mistakes in English, feel free to correct me.

[00:11:22.510] - César

Okay.

[00:11:22.900] - Oliver

Because you've obviously learned English in a highly logical way, whereas I have not.

[00:11:29.810] - César

Yeah, it's, exactly, I was saying before that native speakers make different mistakes. I remember vividly when I was watching an interview on YouTube years ago, it was an interview with David Beckham, Victoria Beckham, and Ali G...

[00:11:44.940] - Oliver

Oh, yeah.

[00:11:45.370] - César

...Which is a very controversial character.

[00:11:47.790] - Oliver

Yeah, what an infamous interview. Very good interview.

[00:11:51.320] - César

So Victoria Beckham said, "We was." And I was like, "Why did she say we was?", it's "we were" because for me, that's like, it's a mistake that I think English learners don't make. It's very interesting.

[00:12:06.220] - Oliver

I can imagine you sitting in front of the TV, pulling out this massive grammar (book), slapping it down on the table, leaping through it, finding verb tables and be like, "No, it's 'we were'!", writing an angry letter to Victoria. Yeah, no, it's totally typical that native English speakers make mistakes. I think that's one of the things that we can actually talk about in a future episode, non-standard constructions and forms, and well, basically, whether it really is a mistake or not, because it's quite a controversial topic. You don't need to speak like the Queen - or, sorry, the King - to speak good English.

[00:12:52.150] - César

Exactly.

[00:12:54.820] - Oliver

So...

[00:12:55.610] - César

I think it's very important to set the expectations as well. When...Because in my mind, probably before moving to the UK, I thought, Okay, after a couple of years, I'm going to be a native speaker. I'm going to be bilingual. I think some people still, people who are starting their language journey or they are, like,  beginner-intermediate, they might think that... Some people can speak perfect English or perfect Spanish as a second language. But being an advanced student doesn't mean to be, to have a native accent or to not make mistakes. It's more about being able to talk to anyone, understand-

[00:13:37.480] - Oliver

To communicate a message.

[00:13:39.420] - César

Communicate efficiently, exactly.

[00:13:41.140] - Oliver

I mean, I think that that's a really important point to make because learning a language is such a long process, and it's a bit of a cliché to say that you have to enjoy the journey rather than the destination. But I think it's really true, and that journey will have lots of ups and downs, at least for me, having learned other languages, that some days I will feel, wow, I really can speak this language and other days, or even within the same day, I can be like, how is it possible that after a decade of learning Spanish, I still can't say this basic sentence, I keep tripping over the words. I think that it's really important to have expectations in place that allow you to relieve that pressure on yourself. That really is a focus of what we want to do with this podcast, to allow people to feel good about themselves while they're learning a language, because for both of us, learning languages is such an important part of our lives. Not only now is it essentially our career, for me in a school and you with your podcast empire - podcast number four now! - but it's just something I simply enjoy. I'm really glad.

[00:14:59.970] - César

It's a lifestyle, and I see it with my students. Well, it is a lifestyle because it's something that people who study languages normally when they are intermediate or advanced, they incorporate their language routine on a daily basis, almost.

[00:15:16.760] - Oliver

For sure. So many of my friends, for example, are native Spanish speakers now.

[00:15:22.030] - César

Exactly, yeah.

[00:15:22.360] - Oliver

Yeah. So it's totally... I think it is true. I chuckled when you said it's a lifestyle, but actually, I suppose that even if you don't intend it to be one, it can become one. And that's true for people using English to work abroad, for example. Well, César, I think that that's it for today. This was really just an introductory episode. So please, listener, check back next week for the first proper topic. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to email me at oliver@morethanalanguage.com. And in typical podcast fashion, you can probably guess what's coming next. Please don't forget to rate this podcast on your listening platform. Have a great week and hopefully see you next time. Thank you very much.

[00:16:09.980] - César

Bye-bye!