The Doing English Podcast

Ever lived in a foreign country? What took you the longest to get used to? In Ireland right now, it’s the light. The winters are dark and the days short. In the summer, it’s the opposite. Yesterday the clocks changed to summer time, and with it a sudden increase in the length of out days. So it’s still light outside when the kids go to bed at 8 pm. And this IS NOT going down well. The kids’ve never had to go to bed when it’s still light out. And understandably they’re finding it a bit odd, and don’t want to do it. In fact, they HATE having to go to bed when it’s light out. The light does change in Japan… But only a little. An hour or two either way? Not much, though. Well, they're going to have to get used to it 'cos no amount of complaining is going to stop the light. Or get me to change their bedtime. This is the same for language, of course. Learning to speak a foreign language is about more than memorising words and expressions. You’ve got to get used to the fundamental differences in the way people think and behave in the language. Just because you’re used to going to bed when it’s dark at home, doesn’t mean you can do the same here. Or to put it another way… Just because something is true in yours, DOES NOT mean it will be the same in English. In a sense, then, learning to speak a language is actually learning to THINK in a language. MEFA, of course, accounts for this. Not on the course? And you can (and should) get yourself on the Priority Notification List for next time here: http://DoingEnglish.com/MEFA Best, Julian

  This morning we start the second run of my Accelerator course. I won’t lie. MEFA is a bit “weird” for an English improvement course. And Week 1 is especially weird. The first time I ran the MEF Accelerator course, I actually debated whether or not to even include it. I knew I should. But I worried people might get confused. You see, the topic of Week 1 has got nothing to do with English. Or even really language learning. Actually... it’s more of a science lesson than anything else. BUT it’s also the secret sauce to my English improvement methods. The reason the rest of the programme works so well. As Kyoko and Deniz both said: "It has changed my fundamental attitude towards language learning" Keeping the unusual topic in Week 1 was definitely the right thing to do (while you’ll know if you were on the first. MEFA has been my most successful course to date. My most enjoyable too, I’d say. If you’re on the second run of the course, see you at 11 am Ireland time for the first session (the recording will be sent out shortly after). If you’re not on the course, sucks to be you. You can (and should) get yourself on the Priority Notification List for when the course next opens. Best, P.S. If you are already on MEFA… Nothing is broken. I used to re-write my daily emails for course members. In an attempt to save time and streamline my work (I've got a PhD thesis to write) I’m now sending the same emails to everyone.

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Episode 59: How to Survive a T-Rex Attack http://doingenglishPLUS.com

Episode 58: Beauty and the Boreing Beast Speak English Confidently: http://mybook.to/SpeakEnglishConfidently http://doingenglishPLUS.com    

Episode 57: What do you do? ? How to be unforgettable http://doingenglishPLUS.com   What will you say if someone asks you: “What do you do?" Chances are you’ll answer like everybody else. “I’m an English teacher” “I make cakes” “I’m an engineer” Booooooring. … and utterly forgettable. The brain only pays attention to interesting things, and subsequently … you’ll be forgotten in seconds. So what do you do? Well, that’s where the elevator pitch comes in. A very short explanation of what you do designed to make people go... “Wow!” My basic elevator pitch is: I help experts master English so they can get shit done, faster, with less stress and fewer headaches. Which is…. OK. It has all the most important elements. It’s short, concise, and it outlines what I do, and for whom. But it’s still not very memorable. Well, there’s a very useful advertising formula that you can use in this situation to convey the same information in a way sounds much more interesting. A.I.D.A. Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. And along with this week’s Doing English+ lesson, all about elevator pitches, I’ve recorded a bonus lesson that will teach you how to use this formula to make sure people never forget you. The lesson is out tomorrow.

DEWJ56 ? What apps and websites do you recommend?

Episode 55: How to become a millionaire taxi driver (or other) http://doingenglishPLUS.com   Yesterday’s Podcast got mixed reactions.   Some good.   Others complaining. Nothing new there.    “Yes, but…"   “My situation is different…"   “That won’t for me…"   Bollocks is it different, and how do you know if you never try?   For example, one rather sarcastic comment read:    I was a taxi driver, I could work for 24 hours a day. Should I had driven a taxi without sleep time? ? Takuya Yamamoto   Yeah, yeah, I get it.   This is a pretty typical attitude, though. And it’s one that holds you back. For two reasons. The main, and most important reason is something I talk about in detail in June’s Doing English+ newsletter.    But the second problem here is that Takuya, like many people, is limited by his thinking.   Say you work for $10 an hour, and you want to increase your wage.   You just work more hours.   So instead of working 8 hours, you work 10 hours.   Very quickly you reach your limit….   … and you’re left feeling bitter and frustrated like your friend Takuya.   But in reality this kind of thinking is totally wrong.   The Pareto Principle tells us things are never, ever linear. 80% of a result always comes from 20% of the causes.   Let’s say you work for 10 hours, and make $100.   How much is that per hour?    If you say $10, you’re totally wrong.   It’s actually more like $80 for one hour, then the remaining $20 spread over 8 hours. Essentially you could have worked 1 hour, then gone home and you’d still have 80% of the money.   The question then is simply ?   What did you do during those super-productive 1 hour, and how can you do more of that?   This isn’t as simple as it seems, but with a little creative thinking, it’s not really that hard.   Don’t believe this can be done for a taxi driver?   Go read this article:   http://www.earlytorise.com/lessons-from-a-millionaire-taxi-driver/   Then ask yourself, how can I do the same thing?

How much are you worth? You're probably not getting paid half as much as you should, and here're 3 reasons why. http://doingenglishPLUS.com

Purchase here: http://mybook.to/SpeakEnglishConfidently Hi this is Julian Northbrook from DoingEnglish.com. And I have a question for you: Do you speak English as confidently as you like? Do you feel nervous? Terrified, even, before you every situation where you have to speak english - before a conversation, before a presentation, before a meeting? Do you feel fear about that conversation? Do you feel like crap after every conversation? Do you have a conversation in English then spend the next month thinking about all the stupid things you said and feeling bad about it? Because if you do, first of all, you’re not alone, second, I’ve got just the thing for you. It’s called Speak English CONFIDENTLY: Even if you're introverted, not confident in your first language and have screwed up in the past. This is a Kindle Exclusive ebook audiobook that I have created, and it shares with you my top 20 confidence building lessons. The idea behind the book, the goal of the book, the aim, is to help you speak English confidently - but not just English - to help you be more confident in your life in general. Because hey, let’s face it, I think we could all do with do with a little more confidence day-to-day. So, to check it out, just head over too your local amazon store, type in my name - Julian Northbrook - or alternatively type in “speak English confidently” and pick a copy for yourself. And good news - if you’ve got Kindle Unlimited, it’s free. Because it’s on Kindle unlimited. So, hey, bargain. But even if you don’t have Kindle unlimited, it’s a low price, because I want this to be accessible to as many people as possible. So head over, pick up a copy and don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon because I’m looking forward to hearing what you guys have to say. Thank you, and goodbye.

Need to make time to study?    I know the feeling. Life gets busy, and suddenly things like English just don’t get done.    We have a sub group called “The 5am Club”.   Get up early, get stuff done. You get the idea.   But why 5am?   Well, it all started in 2010.    I’d just started by masters (I did it online) and suddenly found myself having to work a full time job and study a completely new subject at the same time. To be frank, I was struggling.   Work was busy…   And we had a crying baby at home. Studying wasn’t happening. So I needed to find a time where I could study every day undisturbed.   My wife and son got up at about 6:30 every day.   Which made 5am perfect.   Of course, in the beginning it was tough, but as I got used to it, study progressed.   As study progressed…   I got more motivated to get up.   Which in turn helped me get more done, until eventually I finished my masters.   Listen to the full story in today’s podcast.

Link to the YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1ZSvn6VIWqM68J_2USwH3Q

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What is the hardest language to learn?   This is a good question, but of course the hardest language depends on your first language.   For English speakers it’s Japanese.   The Foreign Service Institute has a language difficulty ranking based on five categories. It shows what most difficult language to learn for native English speakers is, as well as of course, the easiest language to learn. They then indicate languages WITHIN the categories that are more difficult than the other languages in that category.   With me so far?   In the top 5 category we have:   Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, *Japanese, Korean   These would be considered the most difficult languages to learn. Of course, if any of these are you first language, that will explain why English is hard to learn.   You’ll notice that only Japanese is indicated as more difficult.   Making it the hardest language to learn for English speakers.   But how hard is it to learn Japanese, really? Is japanese hard to learn?   Well… yes and no.   We discuss this in this week’s Doing English Podcast episode.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4-ab-aLSuk    Subscribe on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-doing-english-podcast/id1054863578?mt=2 Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/julian/the-doing-english-weekly-rant  

Is English easy … ?   Many English teachers like to say it is...   But I disagree.   The way to master English is simple (not easy — simple), but a second language is always going to be hard. Mastering english language is never going to be straight forward simply because it’s DIFFERENT to your first language.   Recently someone asked me...   “Why is English hard?"   Of course, English difficulty is going to change depending on your first language.   But I thought about this...   And 4 things came to mind as to why English is hard. There are other reasons, of course.    But these are 4 things I think make English tricky.   To hear all about them…   Listen to this week’s Doing English Podcast Episode.   We’ll talk about why English prepositions are so difficult...   How to learn them...   And several points related to the history of the English language.