Easy English: Learn English with everyday conversations

This week's episode is a flu-based survival guide, Mitch and Isi cover lemon & ginger tea, spicy soups, fruit salads, vapour inhalation, reality TV, fishing shows, bed rest and tissue-plugs. Mitch also reviews the British, metaphorical horror/thriller movie 'Men' in his new section 'Mitch's Movie Club'.

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Intro

Mitch:
[0:24] Hiya, welcome to episode 38 of the Easy English Podcast. Isi, how are you?

Isi:
[0:30] I'm okay. I am a bit congested, still.

Mitch:
[0:33] Well, that's good. Not good, but good for the podcast because...

Isi:
[0:38] Good for the podcast?

Mitch:
[0:39] Yeah, because I wanted to do an episode about getting over illnesses. Tips and tricks from Mitch and Isi. (What a great episode.) Let's go.

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After a question last time round from listener Georgia, Mitch and Isi discuss the influence of modern day influencers; the Royal Family. From backing British made products, influencing the EU referendum and championing mental health and environmental awareness. They also discuss the controversial topics surrounding the armed forces and the love/hate relationship they have with tabloid media.

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Intro
Mitch:
[0:23] Hello, welcome to episode... what is it? Oh God.

Isi:
[0:27] 30...

Mitch:
[0:29] 30, what would you think? 31? No, don't be silly.

Isi:
[0:34] Oh God.

Mitch:
[0:36] Episode 37. (Wow!) Of the Easy English Podcast.

Isi:
[0:41] Hello.

Mitch:
[0:41] I planned for us to do an episode about Georgia's question from the last episode, asking; how much the royal family affects our day-to-day life, in the UK.

Isi:
[0:52] Didn't we talk about the royals before? We did a video episode about the queen's jubilee with Cari from Easy German who's a big 'Crown' 'The Crown' fan and Netflix series.

Mitch:
[1:04] Yeah I mean that is already one way in which the royal family affects, their part of (The world.) Yeah, they're like... they're back they're back again into common culture. There was a period I think between Diana and now, where they're kind of had a bit of a dip. But now they're kind of like, influencers. They live a life of influencers, in a way, don't they?

Isi:
[1:26] I guess they're representatives of the monarchy. But in a way, I think they see themselves also as representatives of Britain, of the Commonwealth.

Mitch:
[1:37] They have some power, in the sense of they don't have any...

Isi:
[1:41] They're influential.

Mitch:
[1:42] Yeah, exactly.

Isi:
[1:42] To a lot of people still.

Mitch:
[1:44] If they mention a brand or something, then they can have... or talk badly about a brand.

Isi:
[1:49] But they don't do that, on purpose, they don't they don't want to be political and they are actually they shouldn't be, right? From the legal stand.

Mitch:
[1:59] They shouldn't be, but obviously like, if you think of Harry and Meghan they had a Spotify and did Kate and William also have a Spotify. (No, I don't think so.) Harry and Meghan had a Spotify podcast right, exclusive.

Isi:
[2:09] Do they still have that.

Mitch:
[2:10] No. (I've never listened to it.) It got dropped. (Okay.) Because they're so boring. (Are they?) But Spotify obviously has like...

Isi:
[2:18] I actually like their Netflix series. I found it quite entertaining.

Mitch:
[2:22] That was good. (Yeah.) But if you think they have these brands... that they promote, they put their stamp on things that they agree with, principally, things that are British-made.

Isi:
[2:33] Ah, true, yeah. Like very old, traditional products, like brown sauce.

Mitch:
[2:39] Twining's tea?

Isi:
[2:40] I love Twining's tea.

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Mitch and Isi discuss a topic recommended by Easy English Member, Marketa; childhood. Isi explains how her street was a construction area for skate parks, igloos and prison cells. Whilst Mitch tells of crossbows, conker fights and... offensive language. Did any of it happen, or are these just tall tales, recollected from hear-say and distant memories? They also answer Georgia's question about the Royals, in their regular section of Unhelpful Advice.

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Show Notes

Opinions on the Royal Family: What Do English People Think of the Royal Family? (Easy English 98)

Reacting to the Queens Jubilee: The Queen's Platinum Jubilee (Easy English 123)

Transcript

Intro

Mitch:
[0:23] Welcome to the Easy English Podcast. Today, we are doing, we're sort of catching up with some requests of things that you've sent us in. We wanted to cover a topic, which one of our members of Easy English; Marketa, one of our longest standing, dearest members, requested us to do a topic, comparing our childhoods from the perspective of growing up in the UK to growing up in Germany.

Isi:
[0:51] That's a good topic.

Mitch:
[0:51] Which is interesting. And they mentioned school and birthday parties, specifically.

Isi:
[0:58] Perfect. I mean, obviously, the kindergarten school system is different. I think that should not be part of it, though. That could be an own topic. What is the difference? I would say in general, the upbringing in both our countries are similar. There's definitely countries where we would find bigger differences.

Mitch:
[1:18] It's hard to compare a little bit, because you grew up in a a 300,000 city and I grew up in a 30,000 town.

Isi:
[1:24] Yeah you're the village boy

Mitch:
[1:27] I'm the cauliflower-eared, village boy.

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This week, Mitch and Isi bring you the podcast from the Easy English-mobile. Mitch is drving whilst Isi navigates the infamous Antwerp bottle-neck into the JFK tunnel. And what better situation than to discuss driving in the UK. The duo discuss, roundabouts, service station, exploding tyres, car fridges, speed limits and drunk French drivers.

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Intro

Mitch & Isi:
[0:27] So, welcome to the Easy English Podcast from the streets, just entering Belgium. From the A67 in Belgium. Today is a special episode. - It's a special episode. - Is this even legal, what we're doing? - Why? - Are you allowed to podcast while driving? -

We're not watching anything or listening to anything, we're just talking. - I know, but multitasking is hard. - We normally talk in the car. As we were talking about public transport, this is not public transport, I mean for Nola it is, kind of, but it is transport.

And we thought, as we, so many times go back and forth between Germany, and England and France also, sometimes, around Europe, that we will do an episode from the car.

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Today, the duo talk about the strange cultural rhetorical greeting "y'alright?" How to be the giver... and receiver of it, before going into the Topic of the Week, discussing typical British etiquette around queuing for buses, cashier desks and buying rounds of drinks. Long-time member James also asks us a question about teaching English in our regular segment of Unhelpful Advice. If you would also like to ask us a question, go to easyenglish.fm.

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Show Notes

Transcript

Intro

Mitch:
[0:22] Good evening.

Isi:
[0:23] Good evening Mitch, how are you doing?

Mitch:
[0:27] Very well, thank you. Yeah, how would it be done... I'm thinking of 1930s/40s Britain. Hello welcome to the Easy English Podcast.

Isi:
[0:35] Alright. (Alright?) Alright (Are you alright?) Are you alright?

Mitch:
[0:40] And always the answer; yeah you? But never really meaning it.

Isi:
[0:43] Yeah me to, thanks, thanks, bye. Such a stupid conversation, really.

Mitch:
[0:52] Yeah you? Welcome to the Easy English Podcast... I said that already.

Isi:
[0:55] By the way, I always walk on when people ask me that, I always say like; yeah... and then I just go and I make the 'yeah' so long that I don't have to ask 'and you', because then I think in my German manners, that I have to wait for the answer that nobody wants to give me anyway, so always I'm like; oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you, yeah. And then I just make a chewing gum and I'm already around the corner. (Oh really?) I did it yesterday, in the hallway, with one of the builders.

Mitch:
[1:22] Oh yeah, he said; "hey, yeah, you alright?"

Isi:
[1:24] Yeah, and I was just like; oh yeah, thank you. Yeah, yeah. And I just went on.

Mitch:
[1:29] You don't even need to respond.

Isi:
[1:31] Yeah, you should say; yeah, how are you? But then nothing comes back. And that is for me, a weird end of a conversation, right?

Mitch:
[1:39] Yeah, I find it weird. It happened also to me we were in the park and two school girls got jumped on by Nola, in a loving way.

Isi:
[1:46] Well, they provoked her to jump on her. They were running at her like... While running at her they were like; is she friendly? And we were like; yeah. So basically, they jumped on her.

Mitch:
[1:57] And then I said... because I was actually asking; are they all right? I was like; are you all right? And she went; "yeah you?" And then I realised; oh she thinks I'm asking like; are you alright? Like, how are you?

Isi:
[2:12] That is really... we had another podcast I think in the very beginning where we talked about this and it's still a big topic for me. I find it weird, because it's also about the intonation.

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This week, we answer Arthur's question on improving one's English when nervous to speak. But the main topic is about Britain's transport network, notably it's iconic buses. We talk double-deckers, Megabuses, thanking the driver, tapping on, cashless buses, USB buses, plus dog, bikes, prams drinking on buses.

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Transcript

Intro

Mitch:
[0:23] (Hey!) Hello Easy English peeps, welcome to the Easy English Podcast, how are you doing?

Isi
[0:30] That sounds so radio show-ish. Are you not into our podcast Mitch? My voice is a bit weird today isn't it?

Mitch:
[0:37] It's the second coffee podcast we've ever done. It's always a bit of a weird feeling. Uh, before we start with today's topic, I want to do a quick Unhelpful Advice / Your Messages section. Sound good? (Go for it.)

Unhelpful Advice

Mitch:
[0:59] We have, yeah this isn't a question, it's just a statement; "Easy English Podcast". There you go. (That was it?) Yeah that was it.

Isi
[1:09] Oh hello, then. That was hello wasn't it?

Mitch:
[1:12] Yeah.

Isi
[1:12] That was a greeting, maybe.

Mitch:
[1:14] Thank you for calling in. Uh yeah, that's us, that's our name, don't wear it out. Thank you for calling in. Our next one is um actually a question from uh someone who left us an audio message, who goes by the name of Arthur? I'd say Arthur, but i don't... that's very um... it's a very British sort of pronunciation.

Isi
[1:40] Think it's a name that is used in a lot of different languages. But maybe in a different way. Arthur, Arthur.

Mitch:
[1:46] Did you have a cartoon show called Arthur. And it's called yeah 'Hey Arthur'? (Yeah, yeah, yeah.) Did you? (I think I know that yeah, is that Nickelodeon?) Yeah! (Yeah, I know it yeah.) What a wonderful time to play, hey! And he had a sister called DW. (That is weird.) and his Neighbors were rhinoceroses and he was like a weird...

Isi
[2:06] His name was rhinoceros

Mitch:
[2:07] The neighbours were rhinoceroses and he had a crush on an elephant and he... but he was like a weasel or something. (Cute.) With glasses on. This isn't from a weasel with glasses on. This is from a normal person called Arthur. Here we go; "Hi, everyone. I am Arthur. I want to learn English, because I think, when I try to talk, to speak, it's very basic, because my vocabulary is minimal than the others. When I try to talk, with other person, maybe the other person might understand me, but I think so, that I need to speak very well, to have more vocabulary, I try to express it, maybe it sometimes it's very difficult to me, but I never... I think so that I'm nervous about speaking English. Thank you very much".

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Mitch and Isi start their first episode in a series about dogs. They want to give you their experience... and lack of when it comes to being a dog-parent. In this episode, Mitch and Isi talk adoption; finding your new furry friend, how to prepare, the practical and emotional elements you'll need to survive and the nerves and excitement you'll go through when adding a four-legged friend into your family.

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Transcript

Intro
Mitch:
[0:19] Three, two, one, happy new year.

Isi:
[0:23] Three, two, one, happy new year.

Mitch:
[0:28] Oh God.

Isi:
[0:32] Okay, chin, chin, ting, ting.

Mitch:
[0:35] How fitting that the dog is trying to get into the room, as we're today, going to speak about dogs.

Isi:
[0:42] Dogs.

Mitch:
[0:43] Dogs in the UK.

Isi:
[0:45] Dogs.

Mitch:
[0:45] But first, so today as we're speaking is the 2nd of January, which for those who don't know is the start of our 30 Day Challenge. (Will we always do this now?) It's like we're rehearsed. (Yeah.) Three, two, one, 30 Day Challenge. Like a game show; you've won the star prize! (Or a morning radio show.) Yeah. A speedboat, but you live in Birmingham, so you're never going to to get to use it.

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Mitch and Isi discuss the differences between a German and a British Christmas in their festive cabin. What do you eat? Who delivers your presents... and on what day? They discuss Mrs Claus, raclette, Zulu, zuzhing and of course... booze, booze, booze.

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Transcript

Mitch:
[0:00] For those who are listening and have children in earsight, we may approach subject of Santa, Weihnachtsmann, of the Christkind. So there might be some spoiler alerts for little ears.
Christmas song? Bing bong, bing bong, bing bong, bing bong.

Isi:
[0:23] Oh, my singing is fantastic. No one has Christmasy mood now.

Intro
Mitch:
[0:58] Okay no, let's have a relaxing one. Okay. Let's imagine we're in a little log cabin.

Isi:
[1:03] Ooh.

Mitch:
[1:04] It's snowing outside.

Isi:
[1:06] Mm-hmm.

Mitch:
[1:07] We've just opened a bottle of whiskey or red wine. What would you like?

Isi:
[1:11] Red wine. Bottle of whiskey!

Mitch:
[1:14] Or Prosecco.

Isi:
[1:16] Prosecco.

Mitch:
[1:17] Okay. And the fire's on. I'm just going to open up and throw a log on the fire. All the sparks go up in the fire and it's Christmas day for our listeners.

Isi:
[1:29] And we're alone in a cabin in the woods or what? (Yeah, this isn't another survival episode.( And we are live, let's be authentic here it's the 20th, not far away from the 25th. So we are recording this five days before for Christmas day. (But for you guys.) For you guys, it's a Christmas day today, if you listen on Christmas but it's the 25st of December and this podcast will be a short one, a short hello for Christmas because we didn't want to go on a break. We wanted to produce a little something, something podcast. (A snippet.) A snippet um... to talk about Christmas and say hello and wish you a merry Christmas obviously only if you celebrate and otherwise a good end of the year a good start out into 2024 because it will be our last podcast of the year.

Mitch:
[2:21] Isi, what does Christmas Day look like for you as a German? And then we can compare notes. (Yeah.)

Isi:
[2:28] So in Germany, we start celebrating Christmas on the 24th, on Christmas Eve. That is like the big day.

Mitch:
[2:36] We do 25th in England.

Isi:
[2:37] Yep. We celebrate in the night.

Mitch:
[2:41] Day.

Isi:
[2:42] And that's, yeah, Christmas Day is like morning through the whole day, isn't it?

Mitch:
[2:46] In England, the whole day is dedicated to...

Isi:
[2:49] In Germany, we have the 24th, 25th and 26th for Christmas.

Mitch:
[2:53] Hmm. We just have 25th.

Isi:
[2:55] No, you don't.

Mitch:
[2:56] Yeah.

Isi:
[2:57] Boxing Day.

Mitch:
[2:57] Oh, 25th and 26th. (Yeah.) Yeah, yeah. Sorry. But 24th, I even worked one day on the 24th.

Isi:
[3:04] Hmm.

Mitch:
[3:04] And I was driving home for Christmas.

Isi:
[3:09] What else? We do have gifts. (But are you open on the 24th?) On the 24th. I mean, not everybody does the same,we do it we we do gifts first and gifts and drinks and then dinner. (Gifts, drinks, dinner. And in England we go; drink, drink drinks, drinks, gifts, drinks, drinks, drinks, drinks, little sleep, then dinner, then another little sleep whilst watching the film Zulu, or the great escape and then...) What is Zulu?

Mitch:
[3:40] It's like an old Michael Caine movie. (Okay.) And then After Eight / Bailey's session and then pass out on the sofa again.

Isi:
[3:48] Okay. On the 25th, we usually in our family rest. Because our Christmases usually, are very long into the night.

Mitch:
[4:00] Hibernating like some grizzly bears.

Isi:
[4:03] And we also have like some good food or so. but it's like, it's a day of not doing much. We also have a small family so um there was no one else to visit on that day so we just chilled, long walks, good food. But um... (Is that normally the day you do a visit the old and wrinkly people?) Hey! (Sorry.) No, other families go either yeah, grandparents, aunts, uncles somewhere or you go visit your friends or so. But it's the day where you change places to celebrate with someone else. And then, Boxing Day for us, is not called Boxing Day, obviously.

Mitch:
[4:39] I don't know why it's called Boxing Day. I'd have to look that up.

Isi:
[4:42] Then people meet again. My parents always meet friends on that day. Have a little Christmas. We always, my sister and I, have been meeting friends for the past, nearly 20 years. And do like a Friendsmas, or however you call that. Friends Christmas. And in some countryside regions, people go to pubs and they keep a stone with them and if you forget a stone you have to buy a round or so, I never understood it, I don't know. (And who is Santa Claus for you? He has many names he goes by, like the devil.) we don't have Santa... well, it depends if you... if you celebrate Christmas, in the religious way, then it's the Christkind coming on the 24th, bringing the gifts, which is basically, I don't really know. It has the looks of an angel.

Mitch:
[5:31] The Christ child in English, I guess.

Isi:
[5:34] It's the Christ child. So basically it's Jesus. But it looks like an angel and it comes, I think, with a sledge as well. It's a bit, yeah, that's how I know the pictures. It sits in a sledge.

Mitch:
[5:47] Like a cherub? You know cherubs that fire little love arrows?

Isi:
[5:50] Yeah, it's like the typical angel thing. But yeah, I don't really know. It has like a white dress on.

Mitch:
[5:56] Floaty dress. And they bring the presents?

Isi:
[6:01] They bring the presents. Um... and then there's also Nicolaus who looks a bit like Santa Claus, but more religious. (Yeah.) And he comes on the 6th of December and brings gifts then already. (Ah, you have Nicolaus Day or something, no?) Well it really depends what you teach your children, really. So you can also obviously just have Christmas for the traditional way and not for the religious way and then you would maybe also say Santa Claus comes. But I don't know. Oh yeah, the Weihnachtsmann.

Mitch:
[6:35] Do you think?

Isi:
[6:36] Oh yeah, we actually do have Santa Claus.

Mitch:
[6:38] Okay. When he comes on the 5th.

Isi:
[6:40] The Weihnachtsmann. Christmas Man

Mitch:
[6:41] Christmas Man. (Weihnachtsmann.)

Isi:
[6:43] He comes also on the 24th.

Mitch:
[6:47] After or before the lady Jesus?

Isi:
[6:48] Either Christkind or Weihnachtsmann. Or baby. Baby? Did I say baby?

Mitch:
[6:52] The baby?

Isi:
[6:53] You said baby.

Mitch:
[6:54] I didn't.

Isi:
[6:55] Maybe Jesus, you said.

Mitch:
[6:56] I said after or before the lady Jesus.

Isi:
[6:57] Lady Jesus. I don't know if it's a lady. Let's say it's a baby.

Mitch:
[7:02] Baby Jesus. Who delivers the gifts? Weihnachtsmann or Baby Jesus lady?

Isi:
[7:07] I think they can both deliver the gifts. I'm not well prepared for this.

Mitch:
[7:10] Should we make a disclaimer at the beginning of this, warning parents that your children may lose all faith?

Isi:
[7:16] So, yeah, one of those come. Or maybe... maybe for some they come together. I guess it's like how you define your own Christmas story.

Mitch:
[7:25] It's very confusing. We just have one man and he comes through the chimney, through keyholes. He has a magic key. He has magic reindeers, that can fly. He has a sleigh and in that sleigh, holds enough presents for... how many people are there in the world? 6 billion people?

Isi:
[7:44] A lot more.

Mitch:
[7:45] But he has enough presents for everyone around the world. He has a naughty list. He has a wife. He lives in the North Pole. (He has a wife?) Mrs. Claus. She looks after the elves, who they make the presents. They make the fur...

Isi:
[7:57] She looks after them? What does that mean? She cooks for them? She gives them the salary? She does the accounting?

Mitch:
[8:03] I don't know the details. Yeah, maybe.

Isi:
[8:04] Company management? Is she an HR?

Mitch:
[8:07] HMRC should make sure she's, you know... the elves make the skateboards, the rollerblades, PlayStation 4s. They make all that stuff, that goes on the back of the sleigh. He comes, when he comes on the 24th night, you're supposed to be in bed and not see him. He has big black boots and you're supposed to leave out a mince pie for him to eat; a glass of sherry or whiskey depending on what he... your grandad likes to drink. And a carrot for his reindeer. One of the reindeers has a red nose called Rudolph. There's a weird song in British culture of a kid coming downstairs to see his mum making out with Santa Claus, yeah. I saw Mummy kissing Santa Claus, underneath the mistletoe that night. (But it's not a real Christmas song, right?) And it's sung by Michael Jackson, so the morals are all over the place.

Isi:
[9:00] Let's stop it right here. Kids sing that?

Mitch:
[9:03] Yeah.

Isi:
[9:06] Isn't Christmas so confusing anyway? Such a confusing thing. And the elves, they make all the gifts.

Mitch:
[9:13] In the North Pole.

Isi:
[9:14] Whatever you want? They know how to do it all

Mitch:
[9:16] And he and you... sometimes... (If i want a new laptop, are they building it?) Yeah exactly, they make... they work with Apple to build laptops they work with Sony to make Playstations they work with Hitachi to make TVs. (We need to put a disclaimer in here as well, laptops you can also get by other companies.) Yeah, yeah, laptops available outside of the north pole.

Isi:
[9:42] So, what is the dinner? I think we've talked about this before on the podcast. So, what will you consume, eat, drink over the day? Give us a quick round up here.

Mitch:
[9:51] It's a roast dinner, but zhuzhed.

Isi:
[9:53] What?

Mitch:
[9:54] Zhuzh, is a really good kind of, phrase of the week to go into, but let's not do the theme tune. You can zhuzh something up. So, let's say…

Isi:
[10:04] Where does it come from, zhuzh?

Mitch:
[10:07] Zhuzh.
It could be like a... it sounds Yiddish doesn't it? Let's say, you have a Christmas tree, just a Christmas tree, like a pine tree on its own. You would zhuzh it up by adding lights and decorations, to make it look prettier. (Yeah. )You can zhuzh yourself up a little bit. Oh, I just need to zhuzh myself.

Isi:
[10:25] Lipstick?

Mitch:
[10:26] Lipstick, whatever. A bit of cologne. Yeah, but it's nice to say, isn't it? (Wait, let's look that up. How do you write that?) It's a verb. Zhuh. Uh. Zhuh.

Isi:
[10:39] UK informal. To make something more interesting, more attractive by changing it slightly or adding something into it. The stylist says he would zhoosh up the outfit with a hat. Zhoosh.

Mitch:
[10:50] Zhoosh.

Isi:
[10:50] Zhoosh. It's like that H, U, Z, H. Ah, and it's Yiddish.

Mitch:
[10:56] Is it?

Isi:
[10:57] Yeah. Interesting. That's a nice, nice phrase.

Mitch:
[11:00] And how... (Ah, zhoosh me up. )It's a zhooshed up roast dinner.

Isi:
[11:04] Give me a minute. I need to zhoosh me up.

Mitch:
[11:06] I need to zhuzh up my face, zhuzh my life up. And so, yeah, it's a zhuzhed up roast dinner, basically.

Isi:
[11:14] What does that mean? What is different?

Mitch:
[11:15] This is the time we'd crack out the turkey, because usually roast dinners you'd have either lamb, beef, pork or chicken. For Christmas dinner, it's usually turkey. Don't know why, because turkeys are Christmas animals, apparently. And you'd really just fill it with more stuff. These things called pigs in blankets, which is sausage, wrapped up in a bacon blanket and then, you know, fried or oven-baked. What else would you have?

Isi:
[11:41] Oh, yeah, I remember when we had English Christmas in your family, your mum did vegan or vegetarian picks and blankets. Do you remember?

Mitch:
[11:50] I do remember. Or as Boris Johnson says, vegan. (Yeah, does he?) Vegan. (Very German.)

Isi:
[11:57] Okay, go on.

Mitch:
[11:59] Yeah, yeah, that's kind of, to be simple, that's what it is. (What do you drink?) Yes. Uh... so but um... specifically, I mean this might not be every family but in the mornings it's nice to have something called a Buck's Fizz or in the U.S you'd say a Mimosa. Buck's Fizz is an orange juice mixed with a fizzy wine, and then you'd work your way up slowly throughout the day, until you basically cannot stand. You'd usually end with like a Baileys or an Amarula. Something creamy.

Isi:
[12:31] Mm-hmm. Very nice.

Mitch:
[12:32] I'm also someone who likes this thing called a Snowball, which is eggnog, basically. Vodka and egg. And then you make a shot of that and then you fill the rest of your glass with lemonade. It's like a good pick-me-up drink when you're hitting that kind of, slump hour. Just after you've watched Zulu and it's like a three and a half hour film and you're like, oh God, I'm dying here. Then you have a quick Snowball and you're back in the game, ready to play charades with the family. And what do you do in Germany?

Isi:
[13:08] Oh, everybody does it differently, really. Some people have...

Mitch:
[13:13] A zhuzhed up something.

Isi:
[13:15] We do raclettes often. um often some other people do fondue, which is putting meat into hot water basically, or into oil, or both, then... (You can have a cheese fondue.) That as well, some people do like a traditional thing more like, the English dinner like, duck with like a gravy and like potatoes and like red cabbages that kind of stuff, which is a bit like a roast. Um... some people and I don't really know where it's coming from, but there's something that it's traditional to have a potato salad and a Wiener sausage, Wiener Würstchen with it. (Really?) Which is like super, super, super easy, simple food. And I don't know where it comes from and probably has a, has a story. So some people even do that. And then on the 21st do like a big dinner. So it's very mixed up. Like it's in England it's always the same, right? (Yeah.)

Mitch:
[14:09] But I feel like there's something we have in common, which is typically for a typical Christmas dinner is mum just completely overworked, sweating, because she's having to cook for like 10 people. And then your dad, getting really annoyed because he has to find where the raclette is somewhere in the loft. And he's all covered in dust. And he's fallen over a couple of times, because he's had a few too many drinks beforehand. And then, not doing anything from about 4pm onwards, because he's too busy trying to fix the... DVD player or whatever, so everyone can watch Home Alone.

Isi:
[14:40] Yeah, that's true.

Mitch:
[14:43] I'd like to hear, well... we'd both like to hear how Christmas looks for you guys. So feel free to send us a message, write to us, speak to us, go to easyenglish.fm or write to us at podcast@easyenglish.video.

Isi:
[14:57] And if you don't celebrate Christmas and have another celebration, another holiday that you celebrate, please tell us about that too. That's it, we do a quick one this this year we would like to remind you of our 30 Day Challenge, our first ever 30 Day Challenge starting on January 2nd, 30 days until January 31st, you can practice your English with us, every day, for continuous 30 days we give you little challenges it will be fun it will be about different topics about speaking writing understanding English. And it's all happening on our Discord server, where we anyway are every day chatting with our members. And you only have to do one thing. Become a member, join our community, and go to easyenglish.video/membership And yeah, join us. We are so much looking forward to this. We hope you all come there and spend a month of learning English with us. Yeah. Please, please join. That will be fun.

Mitch:
[15:57] Yeah, we have a nice community on Discord, don't we? )Yeah.) you'll get to meet and chat with and yeah, we'll be there to chat with you as well and to get to know you. (Yes yes.) all right, that's it. (That's it, end of the year, we want to thank you all, thanks for listening, thanks for it's it's incredible still to me, to you probably too, that people actually listen to this. Yeah, have a good and... and hopeful end of the year. We hope you can all relax, you're healthy and next year will be a brilliant year. Te-ra!) Merry Christmas.

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Join Mitch and Isi as they explain how to use the word 'grim' whilst trying to survive a ChatGPT ispired survival challege, armed with only their wits and useless YouTuber gear. But before that, there is an exciting update for all Easy English members at the start of the new year, in the form of the 30 Day Challenge. Become a member now to take part and improve your English in 2024!

Interactive Transcript

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Transcript

Intro

Mitch:
[0:19] Welcome to the Easy English Podcast, episode number... wait.

Isi:
[0:23] Are we on 30?

Mitch:
[0:24] Wait.

Isi:
[0:25] Are we 30?

Mitch:
[0:26] Wait, don't get so excited yet. (30!)
Episode number 30.

Isi:
[0:32] I mean, it does sound like nothing.

Mitch:
[0:34] The big three zero.

Isi:
[0:36] When will we be on 100?

Mitch:
[0:37] Dirty 30.

Isi:
[0:39] Wait.

Mitch:
[0:40] What?

Isi:
[0:40] We do, every two weeks a podcast?

Mitch:
[0:42] Yeah.
Yeah. 15 months, podcast, we missed our year anniversary.

Isi:
[0:50] I know, I know, we started on October, okay, I accept it.

Mitch:
[0:53] Okay, 30th birthday.

Isi:
[0:54] So 100 will still take.

Mitch:
[0:57] Yeah.

Isi:
[0:58] Three years.

Mitch:
[0:59] And when will we?

Isi:
[1:00] Well, who knows? Maybe one day we'll do, every week, a podcast.

Mitch:
[1:03] Yeah, and at what podcast number will we become professional and not speak over each other?

Isi:
[1:08] Hey, we don't.

Mitch:
[1:09] What?

Isi:
[1:10] You interrupt me. (What?) I don't, (What?) I don't, (What?) I don't. Okay, we have to start this episode with an Easy English update because we have a really good one.

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It's the end of November which can only mean one thing... Christmas is coming! Mitch and Isi have a gift for you in the form of the first episode from their new series 'Slow Easy English'; a way for beginners to intermediates to improve their everyday English. Later on, Mitch and Isi bring three films each to the table to decide which is the best Christmas film of all time!

Interactive Transcript

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Show Notes

Slow Easy English Episode One! : RESTAURANT CONVERSATION in SLOW ENGLISH (Super Easy English 24)

Transcript

Mitch:
[0:01] Bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah,

Intro

Mitch:
[0:50] We're there. We're trying to get in there before everyone else.

Isi:
[0:54] We are in Christmas mood!

Mitch:
[0:56] We are in Christmas mood. (Wait.)

Isi:
[0:59] This is Amarula on ice, which is very much, probably only for us, I don't know if other people also do that for Christmas. It's a Christmassy drink for us. I think other people, for that, choose Baileys, but Baileys for me is too creamy.

Mitch:
[1:16] What is Amarula?

Isi:
[1:18] Amarula is a liquor made out of the marula fruit. I know it from Namibia, but I think it's originally from South Africa and it's a fruit that elephants eat from the trees. That's why there's a big elephant on it. Did you know it before me?

Mitch:
[1:34] I'd always seen it. I'd always seen it. I always thought, oh, that looks a bit like Baileys. But whereas Baileys... Baileys is kind of... it's almost a dessert rather than a liqueur.

Isi:
[1:46] Amarula is also creamy.

Mitch:
[1:48] Yeah, it looks almost identical to Baileys, right? What is the alcohol? Because Baileys is whiskey.

Isi:
[1:53] Ah, good... I don't know. Maybe it's just the fruit, maybe it's like fermented fruit or something.

Mitch:
[2:01] Oh maybe, Amarula alcohol.

Isi:
[2:04] It's a bit more boozy than Bailey's.

Mitch:
[2:07] Ah, yeah it is actually the marula fruit, which has started to ferment. (Ha!) So it's almost like a vodka of... where is marula fruit like native to?

Isi:
[2:19] Well, definitely the southern part of the African continent.

Mitch:
[2:26] South Africa and also in parts of West Africa.

Isi:
[2:30] Yeah.

Mitch:
[2:31] It's nice though, and it is Christmasy, which is... the theme of this week's podcast, hate us or not, you're going to have to listen.

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Isi and Mitch recount their trip up north to The Peak District National Park. They talk about the friendliness of the people, precarious drone flying, mountains, caves and ginger shots. Easy English member James leaves us a belated Halloween tale of terror and we answer YOUR questions in our Unhelpful Advice section.

Interactive Transcript

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Show Notes

Transcript

Intro
Mitch:
[0:23] Good morning, Isi!

Isi:
[0:25] Good morning! So here we are.

Mitch:
[0:27] We're back.

Isi:
[0:28] A bit tired.

Mitch:
[0:30] What did you pick up, from our trip from the north? Have you brought anything back?

Isi:
[0:35] It rains a lot.

Mitch:
[0:36] No, I meant have you brought back any characteristics or personality traits from the north?

Isi:
[0:43] They're very friendly.

Mitch:
[0:44] And you've adopted that now? You've become more friendly yourself?

Isi:
[0:47] I hope I was already. They call you love even more than down here.

Mitch:
[0:53] Tell me the times you were called love and who called you love.

Isi:
[0:57] How many times I was called love? I don't know, not so many times.

Mitch:
[1:01] Supermarket?

Isi:
[1:01] Yeah, mostly in supermarkets, little stores, little pubs, and from different people, all older than me, but not much older, some. But in a very loving, caring way, not in a weird way.

Mitch:
[1:17] So for people who don't know what's happened. We recently made a week-long trip, which ended up in us visiting the Peak District, which is an area, between Manchester and Sheffield. And it's a national park. If you're interested in seeing what the Peak District looks like, it's a really beautiful area, it's crazy dramatic; rocks and cliffs and fields and heaths and caves. We didn't go in any caves but we made a road trip video getting there and driving around some of like the best things to see in the Peak District. We didn't cover it all, but if you wanted to see a video where you can join someone on a road trip, getting there and speaking absolute nonsense for a while. But there's also some really beautiful things that you captured on your phone.

Isi:
[2:09] Yeah, I think it was like, well, first, I think the best thing about this is the drone footage. If you enjoy big pictures of great nature, then that's for you. But also, we did observe and comment on everything, I guess. And that, yeah, it's like you're with us in the car, basically, seeing the difference between the South and the North. Or, as someone wrote in our comments, it's not the North yet.

Mitch:
[2:38] But we were in Derbyshire, and Derbyshire is a Midlands county, but the peaks are so big, they span across into...

Isi:
[2:46] We were directly next to Manchester. So I would say we were in the North.

Mitch:
[2:51] Yeah, we're not going to be too specific about it. We are coming from Brighton, which is the absolute South.

Isi:
[2:59] Yeah, more South, you fall in the sea.

Mitch:
[3:03] We definitely... going back to the whole lovely people thing, we definitely witnessed some Northern character traits, right?

Isi:
[3:13] Yeah, the general thing was really just that people just approached me and I didn't even have a talk with them. That was really nice. So there was a lady that just basically just said hello to me, just because we met at the bananas and then the fruit section. And she was like smiling at me, like she knew me. So it was a bit like, I was like, that's nice. So I said, hello. We said, hello. But that was it.

Mitch:
[3:40] Wow. She'd have hated me if she saw the banana choice I would have gone for, they're so green! What are you doing?

Isi:
[3:47] Yeah. It was really nice. I asked someone for, like someone working there for something and they were so determined to help me. It was really nice. Are people in the North friendlier and then in the South? I think down here in Brighton, but Brighton might be a little bubble itself. People are super friendly, but that person was really determined to help me. I think she was really happy that I approached her actually. I asked actually, for ginger shots, because at home we, every day, prepare turmeric ginger shots for ourselves, for health, which it's not alcohol. It's a shot of a lot of healthy things. And because we couldn't do that on tour, I asked, because in supermarkets sometimes they sell those super overpriced, little shots. But as I was getting ill, I was like, we need those. I think for a long time while she was discussing it with me where to find it, she thought it's alcohol. I think she presumed, because I asked for it that it's something really cool that you have to have. Like everybody knows it, because I so normally ask for it. And so she was like, yeah, yeah, ginger shots. Mm, where could we have them? Yeah, and then she was like, oh, you know what? I don't think we have them. And then, wait, she then said, do you mean? She said a random alcohol, like completely something weird, like rum or so. I mean, ginger, rum works. And then I was like, oh no, it's not alcohol. She was like, oh, you said shot. That was really nice. So nice encounters, yeah.

Mitch:
[5:21] Oh, cute.

Isi:
[5:22] She heard my German accent and was like, of course they want their schnapps, their shots.

Mitch:
[5:27] Oh, yeah. The German is here. I was trying to think if I had an encounter, but...

Isi:
[5:32] You didn't talk to people, did you?

Mitch:
[5:34] I didn't, I avoided people, there was actually one time when we bumped into this woman and we basically just asked her where the dog park is. And she... she did that thing that people do who forget that Google Maps exists, so was like; right what you do, right, is you go straight up this road and you look for the left, you come to a roundabout There's five exits, take the third one, third exit past the church on your right and when you come to an old dustbin, make sure you go before the dustbin, not after.

Isi:
[6:01] She even, already told us everything we could see which would be the wrong way. It's like, you cannot even remember that. If you see the field with the five horses... she actually said something, this is no joke, on the right, then you did, you did take the wrong turn and then it's wrong. (If you see an old willow tree, you're f**ked.) Then she said... she asked, if we are from there, is that a compliment?

Mitch:
[6:26] Are you local?

Isi:
[6:27] Why would we then ask? Anyway, then she asked how long we stay. It's a lot of questions. And we had it also another time, we asked for, one morning, no coffee was open in that village. And she was like, yeah, Monday, Tuesday, everything is closed. And we're like, okay. But then she told us about all the cafes in the villages nearby. So, long talk about that as well. But it's actually, is that an English thing though? You had a very funny call at the weekend, trying to get our internet back. And the person on the phone, you were just telling your problem and she was searching for something and she was like; so any plans for the weekend? And you were so confused, I heard you from the other room. And you were like, what do you mean, you want to know my plans for the weekend? And she was like, yes. And you were like, fixing my internet. Very German, by the way.

Mitch:
[7:21] That's never happened before. She was, as I was trying to again fix the internet, while she's sort of waiting to find a result, yeah, she was like, so what are you up to this weekend, any nice plans? I was like, what?! I didn't know you, who are you?! Fixing my internet, it was quite a dry response. And then what was your favourite thing you saw from the Peak District? What was the best sight? What was your favourite thing that we did?

Isi:
[7:49] Snake Pass, for sure.

Mitch:
[7:51] Yeah.

Isi:
[7:52] Yeah. Although Winnat's Pass is also really impressive, but it's such a small area. Snake Pass, being up there, on that road, that takes quite some time. And it's just, I love those... I love nature that is a bit like a moon area. There's like no tree, no bushes, no nothing, just like vast land. It was high.

Mitch:
[8:15] Yeah, your ears are popping and the clouds are...

Isi:
[8:17] You're basically in the clouds. We had bad weather when we were filming up there, but it was in the end, I think, really good, because it was so atmospheric, so melancholic, really, really nice. For the drone, I mean, it wasn't easy to operate the drone, I guess? Because it was, I mean, you did it, but it was really, really windy and rain, but the pictures are gorgeous.

Mitch:
[8:39] Yeah, the drone was... I kept getting a message saying the wind is too high, and you could see the drone was struggling to...

Isi:
[8:49] Don't worry, there was no one, so it's not...

Mitch:
[8:52] Yeah, no sheep were harmed in the filming.

Isi:
[8:54] No, but it was not in that sense and we didn't go over streets or so, so in that sense it was not dangerous for anyone, it was just dangerous for our drone, to not come back, ever.

Mitch:
[9:05] You have to remember before you fly the drone you can set a 'home point' and I always forget to do it I would say automatically assigns one. (Oh god.) And so, every so often I'd lose connection to the drone, 'cos it was so windy and then the drone automatically goes to a homing point And a lot of the one of them was in the lake. (No.) yeah, that's when I started running away. I didn't want to say

Isi:
[9:31] Can I drone swim? (Can our drone swim?) Yeah. (It can only do breaststroke.) Can it get a little like swimming...

Mitch:
[9:38] Imagine, little flippers.

Isi:
[9:41] Flippers. Like, oh, now I'm swimming.

Mitch:
[9:43] That'd be cool actually, if it'd go underwater.

Isi:
[9:45] What was your favourite?

Mitch:
[9:47] To be honest, mine is a bit of a cheat, but kind of not, because I actually like Winnat's Pass. Winnat's Pass is this... you have to watch the video, which we'll tag in the description to this podcast. A pass is like, a way through a mountain, that people have sort of carved out, or it's a natural development where a river maybe was once running through it, and now they've run a road through this incredibly, cascading, mountainous area, and there's like, bare rocks that I think are just constantly falling, at points. And, this is beautiful, but then the amazing thing is, at one point in history, they built up a town called Castleton, Castle Town, I guess it used to be called. That's a really beautiful area and it sits at the base of Winnat's Pass.
In that one area there's loads to see like there's Winnat's Pass in the background you can drive up but then in Castleton there's like loads of old little pubs, we've been there once before and then also, near that there's a couple of caves you can go into. One of which I know is called the Devil's Arse, which I went in once and it's really cool. Also, right... just next to the Devil's Arse there's one called Speedwell Cavern, where you can actually get in a boat, in this old mining cave and you get taken along in this little boat and you have to wear a helmet, because you'll keep banging your head on the ceiling.

Isi:
[11:14] That sounds amazing.

Mitch:
[11:16] Yeah, it's not for the faint of hearted. You might need a Scottish whiskey before you attempt it. But yeah, definitely watch the video because, it's a bit of a different format that we're used to and that you're probably used to if you're an Easy English peep.

Isi:
[11:31] We really enjoyed filming it.

Mitch:
[11:33] Yeah.

Isi:
[11:33] We're very happy about it and we would love to know what you think about it.

Mitch:
[11:37] Yeah, there's something quite... if you're into it, please let us know in any comments you can leave, or give this podcast a review, to let us know that you like those kind of videos, because we'd like to make more of them because it's nice to kind of do a bit of... you know, we know you guys are coming to learn some English, but also you probably want to see some cultural things and that was I hope a good mixture of us chit -chatting in the car and then, you know, showing the sights of an amazing part of England. If you're looking to improve your English, then why don't you improve your English with us? If you're a podcast listener, you can get some extra bits for the podcast by becoming an Easy English member at easyenglish.video/membership. We offer a thing called the Interactive Transcript which is a clever bit of technology that we have, which allows you to listen like you are now to the podcast, but also, have in your hand, on your phone, on your laptop, a running live-time transcript of this podcast, which you're able to selectively choose a language of your choice, that you'd like to be translated into, the podcast will then track along, with every word we say in English and translate it into your common language. Another benefit of becoming an Easy English Podcast Member is you'll be able to get your hands on the Aftershow which is where the podcast for the public ends, the podcast for our members begins and you'll get to hear some Easy English insights, some gossip, latest news and some updates on what myself and Isi will be getting up to with Easy English in the future. If you want to become an Easy English member then go to easyenglish.video/membership and become either a podcast member or check out some of our other perks you can get your hands on. Back to the episode!

Unhelpful Advice
Isi:
[13:36] Now we actually have to go back a bit to Halloween, I think, because we got a message.

Mitch:
[13:42] We asked you on the last podcast if you have any tales of terror.

Isi:
[13:49] Scary stories.

Mitch:
[13:50] One of our members of Easy English; James, has left us an audio message. If you also want to leave us an audio message, we do a section called Unhelpful Advice, where people can just ask us a random question. I always say it, do you want us to name your pet? Do you have any DIY problems? Are you looking to move to England? Are you struggling with as part of the English language? Is there something in the podcast you're hearing which you'd like us to explain? Then you can just drop us a message by going to easyenglish.fm, and you can leave us a voice message there. Ask us anything, and we will be as unhelpful as possible. So anyway, here is an audio message from James; "Hey guys, I have a very scary true story for you. I don't know if you're already familiar with it, but it's about Elisa Lam, who was this Canadian-Chinese tourist who went missing back in 2013 in Los Angeles. She was in the Cecil Hotel, a hotel that was well known for very spooky going on, spooky goings-on and I believe Ricardo Ramirez, the night staff, is still there. But yeah, she went missing there. Nine days later, her body turned up, which is where things get really weird. There's CCTV footage you can watch of her in the lift, freaking out, gesticulating wildly at this unknown thing, unseen thing, because of the way camera is positioned, so she's really freaking out and you don't know what she's freaking out is, but she's getting very distressed, panicking loads. And like, nine days later and I think yeah I think that's the last time anybody ever saw her and nine days later, the residents of the hotel kept complaining that the water, was black and it tasted bad and the water pressure was funny. And, when they went to investigate, they found Elisa Lam's naked body in the water cooler, at the top of the hotel. She had drowned."

Isi:
[16:00] Ugh.

Mitch:
[16:02] Can we play that message?

Isi:
[16:04] Oh god, that's horrible.

Mitch:
[16:05] Is that real?

Isi:
[16:06] I hope no kids are listening to this.

Mitch:
[16:08] Jesus.

Isi:
[16:10] Oh wait, there was no one ever found, so she was just panicking, is that right what I understood there? She was panicking in the lift.

Mitch:
[16:16] In the lift. Should we watch the CCTV footage?

Isi:
[16:19] No.

Mitch:
[16:20] No?

Isi:
[16:21] No.

Mitch:
[16:21] Can I watch it? Should I describe what's going on?

Isi:
[16:25] Do you see it now?

Mitch:
[16:26] Oh, it's already creepy. It's grainy footage. She's pressing all the - she literally pressed all the buttons in the lift. Is this real? The lift isn't moving. She's now getting out of the lift.Oh, she's like looking at someone like - oh wow. She like, quickly jolted forward and looked left and right. Now she's hiding behind the door of the lift, like someone's coming. The lift door still hasn't closed because she's pressed all the buttons. Oh this is creepy. She keeps on sort of going backwards and forwards in and out of the lift door. She's sort of like strafed out of sight of the lift. Now she's going back in again. She's pressing all the buttons again. Now she's leaving and she's like stroking something, in the air and doing like, hand gestures. (Okay.) And that's it.

Isi:
[17:21] I guess it's a crime scene and not a Halloween story. Maybe she saw a murder happening in the hallway.

Mitch:
[17:30] Oh, maybe.

Isi:
[17:30] And she wanted to get back into it, and then she was killed because she saw it. That's my interpretation of the whole thing.

Mitch:
[17:38] Ever since Netflix started making these crime documentaries, all these things creep the hell out of me. People are a little bit too used to seeing these weird things.

Isi:
[17:47] This is my... I don't know how we edit this later, but this is my... this is my thing. If we, if we don't put your story in James, and I say it now, this was too much for the podcast. Thank you for the story, but we can't play this. We don't want to scare people, completely. Your piano story was definitely milder. Okay. Thank you, James, for sharing. So we asked on Instagram in the story for podcast questions and we got some and one would like us to answer today.

Mitch:
[18:18] We have one from someone called David, and David wanted to know; what do Brits know of neighbour languages, Welsh, Gaelic, Cornish, etc?

Isi:
[18:32] That's for you to answer.

Mitch:
[18:34] It's a simple answer. We know nothing about them.

Isi:
[18:40] That's not true. Well, I think it... I mean, I would say it depends on if you live in that region, right?

Mitch:
[18:47] Yeah, I mean, obviously Welsh people are British, Cornish people are also British, Gaelic; yeah, here and there.

Isi:
[18:59] Where's Gaelic? There's different Gaelic's, right?

Mitch:
[19:03] If you type in Gaelic, here we go, is Gaelic Scottish or Irish? The term Gaelic as a language applies only to the language of Scotland.

Isi:
[19:12] Oh, okay. Really?

Mitch:
[19:14] If you're not in Ireland, it's permissible to refer to the language as Irish Gaelic, to differentiate it from Scottish Gaelic.

Isi:
[19:23] So you can call it Irish Gaelic?

Mitch:
[19:25] Depending on where you are, I think. If you're in Scotland, you'd call it Irish Gaelic. If you're in Ireland, you'd call it Scottish Gaelic.

Isi:
[19:31] I once started learning Irish Gaelic.

Mitch:
[19:33] Okay, that's what I'm aware of more than Scottish Gaelic, I think.

Isi:
[19:38] And, what is Welsh then?

Mitch:
[19:40] Welsh is just craziness. It's just...

Isi:
[19:42] No, is it Gaelic though as well? No, then?

Mitch:
[19:45] Welsh is just consonants and no vowels. Do you want me to tell you how to say good morning in Scottish Gaelic?

Isi:
[19:51] Yes, please.

Mitch:
[19:53] Madyn maith. Madyn maith.

Isi:
[19:58] Sounds good, doesn't it?

Mitch:
[20:00] It does. Hello is hello in Welsh.

Isi:
[20:07] Is it in Wales as well? I haven't been to Wales. Are there street signs in Welsh? Probably.

Mitch:
[20:12] Yeah, yeah, in Wales also they do English and Welsh. Here's a nice one in Welsh. Yaki da.

Isi:
[20:18] What does that mean?

Mitch:
[20:20] It's like saying cheers. Yaki da. I'm sure if you go on YouTube you'll find ways to hear all these different dialects and languages, but luckily for you, Easy Languages has such an expansive network, that we even have an Easy Welsh team (We have Easy Welsh.) who don't produce very frequently, but it's definitely worth checking out their content. So give them a search.

Isi:
[20:42] If you are listening and you know Scottish Gaelic or Irish Gaelic, that would be really, really nice, that we could talk to you. Maybe we have you as a guest on the podcast, if you have some recording equipment, just write to us. We want to know.

Mitch:
[20:58] That's a great idea.

Isi:
[20:59] At podcast@easyenglish.video.

Mitch:
[21:01] Fantastic.

Isi:
[21:01] Please send us an email and that would be really, really cool to talk to you. Maybe even if we are around at one point, make a video. I think that's it for today. Thanks for the question. Very interesting.

Mitch:
[21:12] Yeah, check out the video from the Peak District and let us know what you think. And other than that, we'll see you in a couple of weeks. (Te-ra.) Te-ra.

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Easy English has started a Discord channel for you to chat with the duo and all other Easy English members to help improve YOUR English. Mitch and Isi then talk about the upcoming Easy English tour up t'north! The two then move to spooky season and discuss how the Brits and US citizens celebrate Halloween. Isi becomes a trick'or'treat hostess while Mitch becomes a Jedi. He then brings you a spooky tale of a haunted piano in a Basement, ft. Sir Elton John.

Interactive Transcript

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Show Notes

Transcript

Intro

Isi:
[0:46] Oh! IS there's a typical sentence a English witch would say?

Mitch:
[0:51] Fly, my pretties!

Isi:
[0:56] It's actually not yet Halloween. When this comes out, it's Halloween tomorrow. But maybe you listen to it on Halloween.

Mitch:
[1:02] Maybe. And you're having a spooky day. (Okay, enough of that.)

Isi:
[1:11] So here we are.

Mitch:
[1:12] Welcome. We do actually have a Halloween themed episode today, but...

Isi:
[1:18] But, we have an Easy English update before.
Easy English Updates
Mitch:
[1:27] Easy English is going on tour! Yeah? (Yeah.) Ah yeah. Easy English has a Discord channel!

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Today, Mitch and Isi discuss all things fruit; the horrors of hairy fruits and mushy apples, Mitch's preference for a cold and crunchy banana, watermelon life-hacks, surviving on coconuts, the versatilities of apples and question; what the hell a lemon posset is and if Halle Berry is actually a fruit?

Interactive Transcript

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Transcript

Mitch:
[0:00] 12345678.

Isi:
[0:05] 12645678 What? 1264567.

Mitch:
[0:12] Easy English!

Intro

Mitch:
[0:34] (Hello!) Hiya, welcome to the new episode of the Easy English Podcast. That is so formal.

Isi:
[0:39] I don't like to look at you while we record it. I have to laugh.

Mitch:
[0:44] We're so far away again.

Isi:
[0:46] Hello, down there, in the hallway.

Mitch:
[0:49] Yeah, it feels like we're in a hallway.

Isi:
[0:51] I will just directly say it. Mitch, We had The Big Veg Show (The Veg Cast. ) The Veg Cast. I hope people enjoyed it because I said it already, what comes this week. And it's The Big, Big Fruit Show.

Mitch:
[1:05] The Fruit Show, The Veg Cast and The Fruit Show.

Isi:
[1:07] Yeah, we couldn't do it both last time, so we need to talk about fruits.

Mitch:
[1:11] It wouldn't have been fair, though, to have thrown fruits on the ends of veg, because fruits don't... shouldn't be disrespected like that.

Isi:
[1:17] But fruits have a better life. Most of them are very sugary, so people usually like them more than veg. I would say.

Mitch:
[1:25] But we're savoury people. No, that sounds like... (We are savoury people.) That's actually a compliment. Because you can be a very unsavoury.

Isi:
[1:33] Will you make us a drink? Because I wanna ask our listeners for something, in between.

Mitch:
[1:37] Okay, feels like you're booting me out of the room, to say something private.

Isi:
[1:41] No, I just want a drink.

Mitch:
[1:42] If you'd like to listen to this podcast, without Mitch, give us a thumbs up.

Isi:
[1:46] What I wanted to ask, today is a little bit of a favour. You might know that, in podcast apps, where you listen to us. Um, there are several of podcast apps. It does help, if you give us a review of our podcast, on some apps you can leave a comment about our podcast. And this interaction, if you give like, a response to our podcast, will help others to find our podcast. So, if you could just today, if you like our podcast, take a second out of your day and see in your app where you can leave us
a review, a comment, a rating That will be fantastic. It's weird to ask for things, but I think it would be really, really, really nice if you could help us with this. Anyway, and also, if you have questions for our podcast or for us, write us an email to podcast@english.video or on easyenglish.fm. You can also leave us an audio message. We have a section called 'Unhelpful Advice' and we are still waiting for your problems and issues to solve. Okay, now Mitch is back and we can go on with fruits. (Is margarita a fruit?)
Topic of the Week

Isi:
[3:09] I have a few questions first, and then I would guide you through the world of fruits. Um, what is... (Come with me.) What is your favourite fruit?

Mitch:
[3:14] Off the top of my head, I'm thinking strawberries, but it probably isn't. But strawberries are just like, a solid fruit.

Isi:
[3:21] So I wanted to say peach, I really like a really good peach, but peach can be really shit as well.

Mitch:
[3:32] I know what yours is and it's my like, curveball, because when you... when you think of fruits, you think of sweetness. But I think, actually, if we were to really go into it, what fruit we eat the most, especially you, It would be a sour fruit.

Isi:
[3:48] Lemon. Yeah, lemon is probably my favourite fruit because I eat it most.

Mitch:
[3:53] It's my favourite pudding. Anything with lemon?

Isi:
[3:54] I love citrus fruits. Anyway, I love lime, love oranges... favourite pudding.

Mitch:
[3:59] Yeah. Anything with a lemon on it. (Lemon cake.) Lemon drizzle, for shizzle, ma nizzle, Lemon cheesecake.

Isi:
[4:05] Lemon posset. (Lemon posset.) Posset. Posset. Such a thing I've learned in England. Um, with watching 'Come Dine With Me'. Everybody does a lemon posset. It sounds so posh.
I don't even know really what it is. It's a lemon cream or something. A lemon posset And they're always like; "for dessert, I have a lemon posset". And then you hear the other people talking in the off later in the car, and they're like; "a lemon posset, everybody's doing a lemon lemon posset and hers was not particularly good".

Mitch:
[4:38] I don't know what it is either. We should make one, just to sound fancy.

Isi:
[4:42] Lemon posset.

Mitch:
[4:43] Last night we had a lemon posset. Wasn't it just absolutely delightful, lemon posset.

Isi:
[4:47] I'll look it up now.

Mitch:
[4:48] I'm always very disappointed by nectarines.

Isi:
[4:53] Yeah! (Yeah.) Good nectarines are good.

Mitch:
[4:55] Yeah, but that's the... that's my I've never had a fully ripe one. I think ever.

Isi:
[5:01] I just looked up my least favourite fruit, and it's not in my list. So, we we have to do the list together. Um, a gooseberry

Mitch:
[5:10] You don't like gooseberries?

Isi:
[5:11] No, they're hairy. They're a weird mix of sweet and sour. And you know what they are... mushy.

Mitch:
[5:18] Er... mushy.

Isi:
[5:20] Don't like mushy foods at all. Mushy apples; urgh! Mushy bananas; urgh!

Mitch:
[5:26] Yeah. Oh, yeah! That That's my pet peeve. I love bananas, but they have to be kind of, not quite ripe.

Isi:
[5:37] No, yours are the least ripe I've ever seen.

Mitch:
[5:40] And in the fridge. Cold and crunchy. And probably my least favourite fruit is like a warm, mushy banana. Urgh! Urgh! Oh, I feel sick. Yours is gooseberry, because they're a bit hairy.

Isi:
[5:57] Yeah, gooseberry and my favourite. I don't know if my favourite would be lemon, but it has to be, because that's what I eat most.

Mitch:
[6:02] Uh, when you say a hairy fruit is a bit gross, isn't it? Like, have you ever eaten a kiwi? And you've forgotten to take off a little bit of the skin? And you're like, Ugh, what is that? And it's a bit of a hairy skin.

Isi:
[6:11] Actually, I recently learned that a lot of people eat it with the skin. You can eat the skin. You just eat it like that.

Mitch:
[6:16] That's disgusting.

Isi:
[6:17] OK, my favourites are strawberry, peach, mango, lemon.

Mitch:
[6:21] Yeah. Oh, I have one as well. Sorry. Do we have time for this last one? (No, we do.) I really want to use it more, but I don't know how to use it. And maybe, if anyone has a good recipe or a good way to like, cook it or prepare it. I really, really like rhubarb.

Isi:
[6:38] I love rhubarb. (I love the taste of rhubarb.) Rhubarb season is at the same time as strawberry.

Mitch:
[6:44] Oh, really? (I think so.) But I don't really know how to do it, but maybe someone who's listening can send us either a voice message to easyenglish.fm or write to us at podcast@easyenglish.video.

Isi:
[6:57] Yeah. Um... how do you? Yeah, how do you eat rhubarb in England? I've only seen it in cakes in... in Germany, I can just say we cook it, with a hell lot of sugar. (Where? In the oven or in a pan?) in a in a pot. (In a pot?) Yeah, you cook it and it kind of gets like this soupy, slimy mass. Sounds disgusting. It's quite good. And you can eat it with strawberries or with like, a vanilla sauce or something like this. Let's go now, through the berries. Strawberry, we already talked about. (Good berry.) Blueberry.

Mitch:
[7:28] I really like blueberries.

Isi:
[7:32] You like it more than me. We eat it basically every day. I still eat them. They're nice.

Mitch:
[7:36] Blueberry muffin.

Isi:
[7:38] Yeah, but you know what I don't like? And you often do it. Blueberry smoothies.

Mitch:
[7:43] Oh, I love the blueberry smoothy.

Isi:
[7:44] Too much blueberry. Then it is overbearing, isn't it? I like blueberries, I like them... I actually like both parts of them. Some are like, really big and not so sour, but really like, fresh. And then there're the little ones, that are super sour, both are good.

Mitch:
[7:58] Blueberries are... is a not safe for work fruit because, the skin always manages to sort of, somehow wrap itself around your teeth.

Isi:
[8:05] Mm, Yeah. And what is very English and maybe you can say how it's used here, is blackcurrant.

Mitch:
[8:15] Just someone saying blackcurrant makes you think of being like three years old with a glass of blackcurrant squash. I'm sure many other kids from the who grew up in the nineties, might think of that.

Isi:
[8:25] Which are the ones that we often see on our walks. Just recently, we saw a lot of them. They look like raspberries, but black.

Mitch:
[8:32] Oh, isn't that a gooseberry (No.) Blackberry? Yeah. Must be.

Isi:
[8:36] Like you don't know what a gooseberry is. Google Gooseberry now, so that you understand my.

Mitch:
[8:42] Goose... berry. They're not hairy.

Isi:
[8:47] They are hairy.

Mitch:
[8:49] Yeah? In this, they're not. Wait, it looks a bit like a grape. Which ones are hairy, though? Hairy fruits. Google is suggesting; "Are you thinking of Halle Berry?"

Isi:
[9:09] We stop with the berries, I'm not educated enough on berries. So citrus fruits, love citrus fruits.

Mitch:
[9:13] Yeah, absolutely. I have an issue, though. That I've never figured out, is that I don't know the difference between an orange, a tangerine and a clementine. I couldn't tell you what was what, or are they all types of oranges? Are clementines also oranges? And... is that what it is?

Isi:
[9:32] Clementines are the ones that you eat around like... (But is it an orange?) in winter and around Christmas and you peel them, right? That's clementines. Well yeah, I guess they're part of an orange. Then you have. Do you know kumquats?

Mitch:
[9:43] Yeah. Is that an orange? (Yeah. Blood oranges.) Oh, nice in a cocktail.

Isi:
[9:49] Valencia oranges. Best for juicing. Tangerines, juice for sweeter take on orange juice. Okay.

Mitch:
[9:56] Really, Tangerine?

Isi:
[9:58] Navel. Navel oranges, most common variety. And Seville/Seville Oranges. Perfect for marmalades. There you go. But these are the... that was the ultimate guide to winter oranges and tangerines. So there must be others as well.

Mitch:
[10:14] Right. Oranges is like the franchise. And then inside the franchise, there's different types. (Businesses of oranges.)

Isi:
[10:24] Ok, lime; amazing. (Love limes.) Ah, lime on... in drinks, on food. Basically, you can... you can put a bit of lime juice on nearly every food and it's good.

Mitch:
[10:35] Yeah. Really.

Isi:
[10:36] Melons. What's your favourite melon?

Mitch:
[10:41] Oh, I only know water and just like the yellow... what are the yellow melons called? (It says your honey dew.) Honey melon?

Isi:
[10:49] I like most, honey. (Really?) And then watermelon.

Mitch:
[10:51] More than... really.

Isi:
[10:54] Yeah, because I... I came to terms with watermelon, because you like it a lot. And we often have it in summer. And it's nice. It has to be good. We learnt how they have to look, but cannot explain it now, because I already forgot.

Mitch:
[11:06] Life hack. Not what you expect. It's the opposite of what you're expecting.

Isi:
[11:10] Yeah. Look it up. Google it. (The less round) How should the watermelon look?

Mitch:
[11:12] The less circular, the better, right? I think it was.

Isi:
[11:16] I think, yeah. And it should even be a bit yellow and weird.

Mitch:
[11:18] Yeah, circle and green is just not good. It has to be sort of like oblong and a bit brown and a bit yellow, I think.

Isi:
[11:25] Well, look it up yourself, please. I hope you don't have guarantees on that. So watermelon is nice. I like watermelon a lot, in a combination with, like, um, savoury, um, like feta, for example.

Mitch:
[11:36] Oh, yeah. Good shout

Isi:
[11:37] Um, feta cheese, watermelon, some balsamic... (Glaze.) glaze. And, um, some mint leafs. So, that's really good.

Mitch:
[11:50] I love the glaze. We should get that on Asda.

Isi:
[11:53] I'm getting hungry again. We always do this before food. Um, and but honey is also good. Also good with cheese. (Honey's not fruit!) Uh, honey melon, sorry. That also works very well. People that eat meat often eat it with, uh, in Germany, at least with ham. (Really?) That works very well, yeah.

Mitch:
[12:12] Oh yeah, we have ham and pineapple.

Isi:
[12:14] See. Stone fruits, Mitch. Cherries.

Mitch:
[12:19] I like cherries. (Like, or love?) Just like, 'cos you... It's a lot of. Is that when you're eating, there's a lot of this noise, like this. Not for say, for work, either. Just like the... blueberry.

Isi:
[12:41] Yeah, I'm not a big fan of cherries. I have to say I eat them, but I don't buy them, ever.

Mitch:
[12:47] I don't know what you do with it. They're selfish veg... like, fruits right? They don't really go with anything else, do they? What have you ever had a cherry with?

Isi:
[12:54] Yeah. And also like, cherry juice or so. It's too intense. Um, OK, we go in the world of tropical fruits. Bananas, we already talked about. (Yeah!) Coconuts, we had coconut yoghurt today.

Mitch:
[13:05] Coconut milk, I like. Coconut milk in any Asian dish.

Isi:
[13:11] Yeah, coconut milk is good. Do you like coconut meat or flesh? Or how do you call that?

Mitch:
[13:18] Doesn't it give you diarrhoea? (No! you've never eaten coconut?) I played a survival game once on the PlayStation. And if you... If you eat too many, you have diarrhoea for two days.

Isi:
[13:28] Oh dear, Oh! You know, Amarula is from the marula fruit.

Mitch:
[13:34] Oh, I love Amarula.

Isi:
[13:36] And I think the fruit is eaten by elephants. And that's why the big elephant is on it.

Mitch:
[13:40] Ah, that makes sense. Amarula fruit.

Isi:
[13:44] What do we forget? Oh, well, we forgot the big, I think the, the fruits of both our nations, probably. (Go on.) What is the... the fruit, that exactly now you get.

Mitch:
[14:00] Potatoes aren't fruit. The fruit of our nation? Both our nations?

Isi:
[14:08] Apples.

Mitch:
[14:09] Oh yeah, how did I not think about that.

Isi:
[14:12] Apples are eaten all day, every day. Apple juice, apple sauce. Apple sauce is a very English thing. Oh no, actually very German, too. With Reibekuchen.

Mitch:
[14:19] I tell you what is a very English thing with apples. (Apple mint sauce.) Cider.

Isi:
[14:26] Cider. Yeah, you see, it is a fruit of your nation.

Mitch:
[14:28] Have you ever had a proper cider?

Isi:
[14:32] Uh, I have... I have had cider... (Not Strongbow.) recently, at at our friends in London. I had cider.

Mitch:
[14:38] Did you? Oh, yeah, you did.

Isi:
[14:39] Yeah, a tiny glass, a cute little, tiny glass to try it. But it was too sweet for my liking.

Mitch:
[14:45] Oh God. Doesn't it make you realise that western... northwestern fruits are so boring, in comparison? Do you know what I mean? Do you think there are Mexican people saying; "Oh, do you know what I really love? Apples."

Isi:
[14:58] Maybe. Yeah, for sure. (No.) Yes.

Mitch:
[14:59] No. Not when you've got limes. I'm jealous. Let's go live in Mexico and just drink margaritas and mojitos all day. (Maybe we should do that. You know.) Caipirinhas.

Isi:
[15:10] We had apples today in our big yoghurt, with different fruits. Then it's OK. Um, the apples that I had were really small apples and like, red and green. And they were like, I only like apples when they are sour and hard. No mushy, no sweet, no nothing.

Mitch:
[15:25] Oh, really? Uh, we never talked about this. How have we never spoken about our favourite type of apple.

Isi:
[15:32] I know. I like Blackburn. (Blackburn?) Braeburn. Sorry. (Blackburn!) Blackburn is a place here. Bra. Braeburn, Braeburn, Braeburn.

Mitch:
[15:42] And what's your least favourite? Oh, there's actually way more than I ever heard.

Isi:
[15:45] I don't know what the mushy ones are called.

Mitch:
[15:48] I hate a pink lady.

Isi:
[15:50] Aren't they not mushy.

Mitch:
[15:52] They can get pretty mushy. That and a jazz. (Mashy, or mushy?) Mushy. That and a jazz apple. I like a Granny Smith.

Isi:
[16:01] Are those the green ones. (The green hard sour, more sour ones. ) Mm. Yeah, that's better. I also don't really like, uh, apple juice. Apple sauce, yes. Apple sauce was a good Reibekuchen. Which is like a... basically like a... hash browns. It's a bit like a big hash brown, isn't it? With apples.

Mitch:
[16:16] Yeah, that's right. Deep fried eggy, soaked, potato. (Grated potato.) Grated potato with egg and...

Isi:
[16:24] Made into like a dough with egg and...

Mitch:
[16:24] Did you know there's so many... one, two... there's Granny Smith, Fuji, Pink Lady, Honey Crisp, Envy, Gala, Pazazz, Jazz, Red Delicious, Braeburn, Cameo, Holston, Golden Delicious, Lady Alice, Hidden Rose Ambrosia... there's so many apples.

Isi:
[16:44] Oh, yeah. Jazz apple. I just see it here.

Mitch:
[16:45] 25 types of apples. Incredible.

Isi:
[16:48] Probably even more.

Mitch:
[16:49] Can I tell you one you've not mentioned yet, which I really like. I love plantain.

Isi:
[16:55] Ooh, I love plantain, too. Is that a fruit or a veg?

Mitch:
[16:58] Isn't it just a savoury banana?

Isi:
[17:01] Yeah, it is, but, uh, it's not the same as a... it's not... it's not the same as a banana.

Mitch:
[17:05] Mm. In, uh, England, because of Jamaican, uh, connections. Empiric connections, I might... might add. uh, it's quite often you can find plantain. And specifically, one thing I love. I'm not in ages. Plantain crisps. Salted plantain crisps.

Isi:
[17:22] Hm. So good. I love plantain. Absolutely love it. Plantain, you can also have sweet, by the way, if you wait long enough, you can also bake them.

Mitch:
[17:31] Oh right, maybe that's what I should get instead of bananas.

Isi:
[17:35] Hm... you cannot have them in your yoghurt. Um, do you... do you, uh, know a pomelo? I don't know if it if this is in English the same. It's written the same as I would say it in German. It's pomelo. (You know it?) Yeah. ( What is that?) Pomelo. Um, Google it.

Mitch:
[17:54] Po... pomelo, pomelo?

Isi:
[17:55] I mean, yeah, it looks a bit like a melon from outside. It is more like an orange. (Oh, yeah, it does.) Or like a grapefruit. Look from inside. It looks more.

Mitch:
[18:03] It has segments as well.

Isi:
[18:04] It has segments like oranges or grapefruits, and it is very dry. You can really break off the segments, sometimes. It's not that all the juice... like, it's not messy. Um, I like it, it's super, super healthy. I think.

Mitch:
[18:19] It has anti-aging properties. (You see!) Fights cancer.

Isi:
[18:22] Better get to know about it. Yeah. No, it's really healthy. It's really good. I mean, this list is long. I could now just, go up and down with it. Sweet Dakota rose watermelon.

Mitch:
[18:35] People gonna ask; what... what did you do on your Friday night?

Isi:
[18:38] Tawa tawa, tawa tawa. I don't know. Uh, what do we do?

Mitch:
[18:43] You'll never guess what. We had a wild night. (What is a Thornberry?) We spoke about fruit.

Isi:
[18:44] I've heard of a thornberry. I think we have to stop The Big Fruit Cast now.

Mitch:
[18:54] Fruit Show?

Isi:
[18:54] Um, OK, we have to stop this now. The fruits are taking over my mind. Um, it was nice to talk to you about fruits.

Mitch:
[19:04] Yeah, I feel like I know you better now that I know that you like a Granny Smith.

Isi:
[19:07] I... I don't even know a Granny Smith. (Oh, you said you like the green ones.) Ah so, yeah. Ah so.

Mitch:
[19:09] Ah so. Sour fruits, are the best kind of fruits.

Isi:
[19:16] Sour foods in general, yeah. Yeah, everything has to be sour, not bananas, though.

Mitch:
[19:21] Cheers to that, on your margarita.

Isi:
[19:24] And, um yeah, hope you like fruits. It's healthy. Eat them. Five a day. Bye. (And I hope all your dreams come true.) Te-ra! (Te-ra!)

Stolen from an Easy German Podcast episode, Mitch and Isi talk vegetables. They decide what is an A-lister vegetable and an SAS vegetable. They ponder if can you do anything with sprouts and why celery taste between horseradish and toothpaste. They talk about the infamous seasonal greens, the best type of potatoes, how to cook without meat... and onions and Mitch reveals his deep, deep, resentful hatred for parsnips.

Interactive Transcript

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Transcript

Intro
Mitch:
[0:24] (Morning.) Good morning. Wow, it's the first Easy English podcast with a coffee.

Isi:
[0:29] Yeah, do you think our voice, my voice is weird?

Mitch:
[0:31] Yeah.

Isi:
[0:32] This is me, Isi. It's a bit harsh, isn't it? Okay, morning, morning podcast, with a coffee.

Mitch:
[0:42] And a blues, a blues voice.

Isi:
[0:44] A blues voice. I have a really good topic. Which I really wanted to do. And you maybe, don't believe that it's a good topic. It's actually stolen. I have heard it on the Easy German Podcast before. And I was a big fan of it, because I was so amazed of how much this topic gives you. I think it could even be two episodes, Mitch.

Mitch:
[1:09] Yeah, I'm a believer.

Isi:
[1:12] So this will be about veg and fruits. We are talking about different fruits and veg, we're obviously telling you how they're called in English, we will see if we like them, what we do with them, if we hate them. We're vegetarians, so we do eat a lot of veg and fruits, which doesn't mean that, if you're not a vegetarian you don't eat a lot of veg and fruits. But we love it, so we will go through all of them, not through all of them, there are lot of... I have some lists in front of me. There are a lot of veg and fruit that I've never heard of.

Mitch:
[1:50] There are fruits and veg from England and Germany that we wouldn't know?

Isi:
[1:54] Well, I just have lists that, I think, include everything, of the world. Should I do only fruits and veg of England? No.

Mitch:
[2:01] I think England and Germany probably have something similar. Before we start, can we play a game? How many vegetables do you think you can name in 30 seconds?

Isi:
[2:13] Vegetables?

Mitch:
[2:13] Just vegetables. (Six) i can name seven. (Eight.) You sure? (Yeah.) in 30 seconds? Nine.

Isi:
[2:26] Let me go through them again.

Mitch:
[2:28] No, that's not the point.

Isi:
[2:29] Of course we know much more.

Mitch:
[2:31] Yeah, but saying it, making it come to your mind in 30 seconds is stressful. (10.) Okay, bet. Liar. (Okay.) Are you ready? I get a timer. (Yeah.) Okay, lining up 30 seconds. Stop thinking of vegetables. Oh no, and fruits.

Isi:
[2:46] I'm a blackout. (Ready?) Fruits as well? That's too easy. We said veg.

Mitch:
[2:51] Okay, vegetables. Are you ready? (Oh yeah.) Three, two, one.

Isi:
[2:55] Tomato, pepper, courgette, aubergine, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, bean sprouts, rocket, carrots. Did I do carrots already? I did carrots already. (You've already done more than nine.) No, it wasn't. No, ten I have to say.

Mitch:
[3:09] Is it ten? One more vegetable. One more veg! Eight seconds, seven seconds. One more vegetable, there's so many! Five, four, three. (Beetroot.) Yeah! Oh, it's stressful, isn't it?

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We begin with a cocktail based ASMR session before Mitch and Isi discuss their love of charity shops... or, how Mitch "coined it" a chazza! They discuss Isi's mass donations, how you can't donate panties, what makes them different to vintage/thrift shops, militant chazza ideologists and how tender loving care has nothing to do with the 90's girl-power group, TLC. The duo then discuss their latest YouTube video on pub culture in the Past Week's Video section as Mitch gives tips on finding and drinking the best English ales... for FREE!?

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Show Notes

Transcript

Intro
Isi:
[0:24] Let's start. (ASMR) I do it wrong. My ice cubes are not really... They're just banging against each other. It should be... the glass is not so easy to swing though, like a wine, you know? Ah there, oh god. It's a shared, isn't it?

Mitch:
[0:56] It's supposed to be healing bowls from...

Isi:
[1:02] I have it better. Stop yours, mine is good. (Yeah?) It's like, how do they call it? Glass music or so. (No, there's like...) You use your fingers.

Mitch:
[1:13] There's monks...

Isi:
[1:15] Yeah.

Mitch:
[1:15] Healing bowls.

Isi:
[1:17] No, they do this with glasses too. Now my glass is super cold.

Mitch:
[1:26] And now you're asleep.

Isi:
[1:28] I feel a bit sleepy now. Okay, let's go.

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Isi tests Mitch's resolve as she puts the British politeness on trial. She tests him with some awkward real-world scenarios. Afterwards, the duo discuss words that don't translate into German and which language Isi, a German native feels more comfortable with, in this week's Unhelpful Advice... to improve your English, become a Podcast Member to get the Interactive Transcript and help support Mitch & Isi... ta.

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Transcript

Intro

Mitch:
[0:25] (Hello Mitch!) Hello! (Hello!) What did someone say to us recently? Oh no, we were watching Sex and City and they tried to make it out like, her and Samantha were friends. Ta! Ta!

Isi:
[0:38] Oh because she lives in London now, or so. She was in London. Ta's not American, is it?

Mitch:
[0:42] Yeah, it's English, but no one says ta to say goodbye. They were looking for te-ra!

Isi:
[0:46] It was really odd.

Mitch:
[0:47] They both said ta back to each other, both in a very bad, fake English way.

Isi:
[0:52] By the way, that was, And Just Like That, not Sex and the City. Did anyone watch this? What are your thoughts? So you got topics, I got a topic. What do we do first, Mitch?

Mitch:
[1:02] I think we should do your topic. (Yeah!?) Your Topic of the Week.

Isi:
[1:07] Mine is the main topic, yeah. (Okay.)

Topic of the Week
Isi:
[1:17] We have talked about this a few times, but we recently, also talked about it in our conversation call with our Conversation Members. We had a conversation call about do's and don'ts in British culture, but also in the culture of our members' home countries. So we talked about a lot of things that you should do or not do in daily life, in restaurants, in just like, social life, basically. And we came up again, with, I think, even my, because Germany and England are not so far away culturally, but there are some distinct differences. What? Why am I going to? And there's one that I have mentioned a few times, which is the only one I think that sometimes gets a bit on my nerves, is that people are so beating around the bush and so not...

Mitch:
[2:17] Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Beating around the bush.

Isi:
[2:20] Yeah, please explain.

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Isi and Mitch are sleepy. But using the power of a Madeira cake they just bought, the duo talk about the highlights from their most recent holiday, reflecting on the culture shocks their friends experienced whilst riding double-decker buses and shopping in the UK. For this week's Topic of the Week, they talk about the benefits and negatives of shopping in the real and digitalised world.

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Transcript

Intro

Mitch:
[0:28] Can I tell the... we're in a bit of a sleepy mood today, because we didn't sleep much last night and we're just in this like super stupid mood. So much so that, I don't know how it came about, but you... you... you wanted to go to a supermarket, we drove 15 minutes so you could buy black nail polish and when you... first of all... (We didn't go for that there, we wanted to go to a home store, like to a DIY store.) Yeah, also just to buy a light switch, a little pulley light switch.

Isi:
[0:55] I think we just needed to have like, a good job to do.

Mitch:
[0:57] Yeah, we needed some fresh air. And you, not only came out only with nail polish, but you actually when you left you went to take a picture of a seagull, which took forever, because you had to delete data off your phone. But when you came back with your nail polish, you'd randomly just bought a lemon Madeira cake. (I did. I saw it and I was thought this is what we need today.) Yeah but, you thought good to have today after we've eaten our dinner at home. But then what happened?

Isi:
[1:27] Then we decided... we went to a dog park then and parked our car there, which is also like a football park and to run Nola... to run Nola? To walk Nola or to let her run, and then we decided both, we want a bite of this cake, which is not so it's not a cake like like a round cake. It is a long cake.

Mitch:
[1:49] But it's massive, still.

Isi:
[1:51] Not so massive. It's easy to unpack. And we both tried to bite off that cake.

Mitch:
[1:58] In this grotty football pitch car park.

Isi:
[2:01] Like bloody idiots. And then we both were like; ah, this is... we cannot really do this. We were just so tired and I think we just needed sugar. We were both a bit like, shaky and like...

Mitch:
[2:12] I'm going back that way now, I feel it.

Isi:
[2:14] Yeah, and then I looked to the right and there was someone just sitting next to me, in the car watching us trying to eat that cake. And then we had a complete laugh, how do you call that in English? A complete laugh attack. (A fit. We were in fits of laughter.) Oh God, we couldn't stop it. We were just crying of laughter.

Mitch:
[2:32] We could just see it from his perspective. He was obviously just like, probably texting his wife like, oh, you know, just at the football practice with son, look over, and he's like, there's just two idiots, basically, just sat in a car, looking knackered and their dog's desperate for a pee and they're just stuffing their faces with Madeira cake.

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This week, Mitch can't control his joy at the thought of Hugh Grant playing Oompa Loompas in the new Willy Wonka "Chocoladen Kraftwerk" movie. Isi shows her extensive knowledge of English history and culture with a quiz designed by Mitch... do you know what birds are OWNED by the royal family?! And the duo discuss Indian culture and its place in British culture and history after publishing their latest episode asking what Brits think of Indians.

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Show Notes

Transcript

Mitch:
[0:23] Hiya!

Isi:
[0:24] Hello!

Mitch:
[0:26] Welcome to the Easy English Podcast.

Isi:
[0:29] Will we always start like this now?

Mitch:
[0:31] And now I do it as a southerner. The podcast. Welcome. Let's start it.

Isi:
[0:36] Do you think people hear that Nola's at my mic?

Mitch:
[0:38] Maybe. Do you know who I just realised I sound a bit like?

Isi:
[0:41] You?

Mitch:
[0:42] Hugh.

Isi:
[0:44] You? You try to... yeah?

Mitch:
[0:46] You sound like Hugh.

Isi:
[0:48] Me? I'm very confused. I sound like Hugh Grant?

Mitch:
[0:51] No, the way I spoke like this, is like Hugh, Hugh Grant.

Isi:
[0:54] But what, you or me?

Mitch:
[0:57] No, Hugh.

Isi:
[0:58] Stop this! You're annoying.

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This week, Mitch and Isi detail their trip to the capital city, working their way around the various districts, debating the claustrophobia and feelings of being insignificant living amongst millions in the big city and generally discussing the pros and cons of metropolis life. Prior to this, Mitch tells a creepy fever-dream tale about his Croatian travel experience. Isa responds after the duo "helped" her figure out the difference between the pronunciation of 'can't' and the c-word in this week's Unhelpful Advice. And the duo then recommend Brighton as the best place in the UK to celebrate Pride.

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Transcript

Isi:
[0:23] Let's go!

Mitch:
[0:24] Let's go. Can I tell a story?

Isi:
[0:27] Did you want to say hello or so?

Mitch:
[0:28] Oh yeah, welcome to the Easy English Podcast, episode number 20. (Ooh!) Wow.

Isi:
[0:34] Wow.

Mitch:
[0:37] 20 episodes. Okay, my story...

Isi:
[0:43] I want to tell a story.

Mitch:
[0:44] You want to tell a story? I want to tell a story.

Isi:
[0:46] You have to... It's not to me. You want to tell a story?

Mitch:
[0:50] So professional, this podcast, isn't it? That's what everyone has been saying after 20 episodes; that we are professional, professional podcasters.
We refer to Nola as the baby. Sometimes we say, where's the baby?
And... or I say it, because it refers to a story I have.
And I just thought, oh, I have never told you this story, but it's a weird one.
Once I went on holiday to Croatia and went with some friends, and I got ill, quite soon into the holiday, like just flu symptoms, basically.
And they decided to go white water rafting and I couldn't go annoyingly... bugger, because I was so ill.
And we were staying in a B&B, but before Airbnb really existed.
And the B&B we stayed in had a cleaner. And, I can't remember her name for the life of me.
But, she would come in the daytime when we'd already gone out and done stuff, because I think they usually come at like 11, 12, we'd already be gone. And I remember, I was in bed, just like, the blanket curled up towards my face, just completely out of it.
And I heard like, the key going for the front door. I was like; oh, who the hell is this? And then I heard like; "hello? Hello?" I was like; "hi".
And; "hello, hello", I was like; "I'm in here".
And then I just heard like the sound of general cleaning noises.
(Ah so, she didn't know you were there.) She had no idea I was in, I think.
And then, she finally like got to like, the bedroom where I was, we were all staying in the same bedroom.
It was like six, five of us, six, five of us, all staying in one bedroom, like a bedsit.
And she came in, whoo, the hoover, whoop, and went; "oh!" And I was like: "hello".
And she went; "oh no". I was like, ah. And then she said, I was like really ill.
I was like; "I'm very sick". And she went; "oh, you look like a little baby".
And I was like; "yeah I'm really ill. I'm so sorry". And she's like; "it's no problem". So she left.
And yeah, I was ill again the next day. And, I was like asleep in a bit of like a fever dream. And then I heard again, the keys going to the front door and then the door shut and I heard; "where's the baby?"

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Maybz? Tomoz? Footy? Hottie-bottie? Mitch has prepared a little game about abbreviations for Isi this week as the couple discuss their most recent Conversation Membership pub call, the upcoming cage fight between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg and answer a controversial question in this week's Unhelpful Advice section.

Interactive Transcript

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Transcript

Mitch:
[0:24] Hiya, welcome to the Easy English Podcast.

Isi:
[0:28] Very official. (Very official today.) It's weird that we look at each other. Why do we look at each other? Do we normally look at each other?

Mitch:
[0:34] We do, but usually with about a meter separation. Now, how far away are we from each other?

Isi:
[0:39] Four meters. It's actually not that long, but far. And we are not in the darkness any more.

Mitch:
[0:45] Oh yeah, we're out of the cave.

Isi:
[0:47] We're out of the cave.

Mitch:
[0:49] Trying to understand what expressions you have, which is quite difficult from this far away. happiness. Oh no, that's like, craziness.

Isi:
[0:58] Well, well, well, I wanted to have a little meeting, before our podcast, to check what we talk about. But again, it will be a surprise to me. Do you do this on purpose?

Mitch:
[1:10] Yeah, I actually have a game for you.

Isi:
[1:12] Yeah. Is it about music?

Mitch:
[1:15] No, it's about English slang. (Oh, God.) Should we do it? Okay.

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It's Glastonbury week as Isi sums up the headliners in one word while Mitch details his raclette infused bath experience with ganja-wizards at the world famous festival. The two discuss their hatred for the term 'bucket list' and whilst Mitch stops the house from burning down, Isi auditions for the BBC as they answer your questions in an extended Unhelpful Advice section.

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Transcript

Intro
Mitch:
[0:24] Welcome to another episode of the Easy English Cave Podcast. The last, the last of the podcast from the lonely cave.

Isi:
[0:34] Well you hope so. I will only believe it when I see it.

Mitch:
[0:37] Yeah, we will be given literal and metaphorical daylight.

Isi:
[0:42] We will live in daylight again.

Mitch:
[0:43] Wow.

Isi:
[0:44] Like those luxurious people do.

Mitch:
[0:47] Like the people from the outside. So today, we have kind of a, not purely unhelpful advice audience-based, podcast but we do have some unhelpful advice to bring you at the end. But first, I was just looking at topics of what we can speak about and there is a big elephant in the room... (Oh God.) in terms of British culture. The name of the elephant, this big elephant, it's name is Glastonbury.

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This week, a pub in Hove tries to dismantle British conduct by questioning the queue, whilst Isi feels the heat of queueing culture when asking for a doggy bowl and Mitch defines his own term doing a 'Londoner'. The duo talk about their first online conversation class in their online pub for Easy English members, and we answer YOUR questions in our Unhelpful Advice section.

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Show Notes

Transcript

Isi:
[0:24] do do do do da da da da da... Let's go. (It feels weird not to do it with a drink.) Yeah no drink today. (One o'clock podcast.) And i have bad mood. (Why'd you have bad mood?) Our construction works are... beep beep beep beep beep beep! (You know i can also beep it, you can say how you feel.) Ah, today was rough.

Mitch:
[0:57] Anyway, welcome to the Easy English Podcast.

Isi:
[0:59] Well, yeah, sorry for the bad mood, but it's probably quite... it's also okay that we share our real... you know, we cannot always pretend everything is perfect. Well anyway, let's say, besides that, I have actually very good mood this week. It's perfect weather for the past... has been for the past three weeks, I think. We've really enjoyed the outside. We were out a lot with friends and filming. Well yeah, wait, I'm coming to that. And we will this weekend enjoy outside. So we'll get out of the shithole.

Mitch:
[1:36] Yeah, we're recording this on Friday night, oh no that's 'Saturday Night'. (Friday, midday.) No, Rebecca Black did. Friday, Friday, it comes after Thursday. Getting ready to have a drink on the weekend.

Isi:
[1:50] That's not the song.

Mitch:
[1:51] It's something terrible like that.

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Mitch And Isi celebrate hitting 100,000 subscribers on YouTube with a recap of the past weeks. They debate bodily mishaps, Rammstein stereotypes and Edgar Allen Poe's Eurovision cameo. They then answer one of your questions on teaching and learning English in their online pub in this episode's Unhelpful Advice section.

Interactive Transcript

⭐️ FREE 100,000 SUBSCRIBER GIVEAWAY! ⭐️

⭐️ Get the Aftershow and all Video perks with this link - https://bit.ly/3IEM62n ⭐️

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Show Notes

Transcript

Mitch:
[0:24] We have got 100,000 subs and we would like 100,000 more. Welcome to the Easy English Podcast. Hopefully by now we have the blue tick of confirmation. What does it mean, the blue tick? Do you know? Is there like a meaning behind it?

Isi:
[0:51] You are now considered (Responsible.) I mean, we didn't do anything. We didn't send them like a passport or so, to give us like an official thing. But I guess you're considered a bigger creator. (Wow.) I don't know.

Mitch:
[1:05] We did it.

Isi:
[1:08] We should know that. I Google it.

Mitch:
[1:09] We did it. And we wouldn't have done it without the help of our listeners and viewers and members, all of which are amazing people, who have helped us get to this milestone. And we would like to celebrate that in a few ways. I think one, we will do a video podcast, which you'll be able to listen and watch, and we'll put it on our YouTube. (Yep.) But also we will do a special YouTube episode, which will be the next one that comes out that you'll see. Yeah, we'll show you a bit of a behind the scenes thing / Brighton, why we love Brighton, and show you some people of Brighton, why they love Brighton, show you some of our favourite hangouts, but not all of them.

Isi:
[1:51] And an ode to Brighton.

Mitch:
[1:52] Yeah, an ode. Or an ode. (Ode.) An ode to Brighton. (Oh, God.) Is that German; ode?

Isi:
[1:59] Ode.

Mitch:
[2:00] Ode.

Isi:
[2:01] Eine Ode.

Mitch:
[2:01] An ode, ode.

Isi:
[2:04] Ode could have been right. (Could have been right.) Okay, I'm very sorry.

Mitch:
[2:07] It's not English anyway, it sounds too nice to be English. We wanted to start off by saying thank you to everyone, because we didn't invent those 100,000 subscribers. They are you. You are the 100,000.

Isi:
[2:22] Maybe they're not. Maybe they just listen to the podcast and they don't even... have ever seen a video of us.

Mitch:
[2:27] Oh my God.

Isi:
[2:27] So if you haven't, we have a YouTube channel, by the way.

Mitch:
[2:30] What are you doing?

Isi:
[2:31] No, but thank you so much. It is incredible. It seems a bit unreal, so I cannot really... it's like, not that you really think like, oh, we got 100,000. A bit unreal, isn't it?

Mitch:
[2:43] Yeah. And yeah, we're still working on things like, just because we have 100,000 doesn't mean that we're a set channel, like we're quite far from it. (Yeah.) Like, you know, we still have quite big ambitions of Easy English. You know, it's a lot of people do like a full-time job and then they're YouTube from the side, but Easy English is quite a demanding beast and does require a lot of... (A lovely beast.) It's a lovely beast that we enjoy doing, but yeah, it's something we'd like to do, both of us, full-time in the future. So this is what we're going to be building towards, and having 100,000 subscribers is definitely a big milestone for us, in getting there.

Isi:
[3:22] Yeah.

Mitch:
[3:22] We're still beginning, that's how it feels like. But this is confirmation that we've achieved our first big goal.

Isi:
[3:29] And we couldn't and can't do it without your support. So we want to thank the ones that that are already a member of Easy English, thank you for supporting us. And if we can once ask for support, it would be great, if you enjoy our content, our podcasts, our videos, if you would consider supporting us, so that we can keep doing this, that we can keep producing regularly, podcasts and videos. We obviously offer even more if you become a member. We've got worksheets for our videos, transcripts for our videos, vocab lists for our videos. We got, an interactive transcript for our podcast, where you can basically translate the transcript while listening into lots of different languages. And what else, Mitch?

Mitch:
[4:19] We also have a conversation membership where we host people in our online pub and we just get to talk about day-to-day English to help you improve your speaking and listening skills. And finally, we have our donor membership, which is for people who want to really help support us and have a little private Zoom with myself and Isi, right?

Isi:
[4:40] Yeah. Oh yeah. Well, first of all, thank you, if you support us already, and it would be really, really, really great to see more of you in our community. If you want to become part of it, go to easyenglish.video/membership. And, to show you a bit what we are offering and to say thank you for your support, for listening, for sending us questions and ideas and everything. We want to give you all our perks.

Mitch:
[5:09] A free giveaway, for this podcast and for our episode that came out on the 24th of May. We'll be giving links in this podcast, on the website, in our show notes. We'll also be posting it on our YouTube, on our community section and on our Instagram and on our Facebook. So, it should be quite easy to find. We'll probably have it in bold, caps lock, underlined, exclamation marked, there'll be a free giveaway link to not only our video perks which is our transcript, our vocabulary list, our worksheets and all of our audio and video downloads, but also for our podcast membership, which is our interactive transcript for the podcast and also the extra bit the aftershow. You'll be able to download all of those bits in our free giveaway to say thank you for helping us reach the 100,000 subscriber milestone. So if you didn't get that before, go to easyenglish.video/membership to get all of those goodies for free.

Isi:
[6:18] Okay, now to the real topics.

Topic of the Week

Mitch:
[6:32] Recap!

Isi:
[6:32] Okay, let's start with the coronation.

Mitch:
[6:34] Katy Perry was there.

Isi:
[6:37] But not how you said it would happen.

Mitch:
[6:40] She didn't sing at Westminster Abbey, no. That's what I thought was happening. But she did sing the day after.

Isi:
[6:46] And did she actually, I didn't see that. Did she actually perform the songs that I thought?

Mitch:
[6:50] Didn't her tit fall out or something? (What?) Something happened though. There was like controversy with her. I think like her tit fell out, or something happened when she was...

Isi:
[7:00] She couldn't find her place, or, in the church?

Mitch:
[7:02] Oh, that happened. Oh yeah, she had a massive hat on and couldn't find her seat.

Isi:
[7:06] It's not Britney Spears. That was a tit.

Mitch:
[7:08] No, Janet Jackson was the tit.

Isi:
[7:09] Oh, wait. That was like...

Mitch:
[7:11] She kissed Madonna and Janet Jackson's tit fell out.

Isi:
[7:14] So the coronation, we watched it. Not all of it.

Mitch:
[7:18] We watched it with your family.

Isi:
[7:20] With my family. (In the living room.) But no one... actually, none of them watched all of it. We all went in and out, the TV was just on.

Mitch:
[7:27] It went on for ages.

Isi:
[7:28] Yeah, it went on for ages, and it was a bit ridiculous. And I made the comparison very early onwards. If any one of you has ever been to Germany and knows German carnival, especially in Cologne and the surrounding, in Dusseldorf and the Rhineland area, I know that Creighton knows that, so this is for you, Creighton. If you look at pictures of... I just wanted to say Prince Charles, King Charles and Queen Camilla, especially him, it looks a bit like carnival. Really, it's all this red and white stuff as well. And you could put him on a carnival stage and he could give a... they do those funny speeches. That could have been happening. Although he didn't smile once. He didn't have fun, did he?

Mitch:
[8:15] No.

Isi:
[8:16] It's just really exhausting. I can understand that, actually. It's an exhausting thing. You were there, what, three hours or so? Four hours?

Mitch:
[8:23] He was basically just a coat rack. There's just lots of people coming to him, putting shit on him, taking it off. Hold this. Hold this, please. Here's a cape. Take that cape off. Put the crown on. Crown off.

Isi:
[8:34] It's such a huge protocol, which is obviously thousands of years old, but it's a weird thing. I'm sure they were all not really into it. It cannot be that much fun. The party afterwards, the dinner afterwards is probably more fun than just sitting there. And then all the guests, they also just have to sit there, straight and smile and don't move. And then you just sit there on those wooden benches forever, and half of the church didn't even see anything. Do they have monitors? Do they stream it?

Mitch:
[9:05] They have their phones on BBC News.

Isi:
[9:09] No, but it's just a long, long, long, long thing. It's kind of impressive too. It's something that you really never ever see. So it is, in a way, although I'm not a fan of the monarchy, it is quite interesting to witness, I would say.

Mitch:
[9:24] My favorite bit was they played the Champions League theme at one point.

Isi:
[9:27] You know, it's not the Champions League theme.

Mitch:
[9:31] And then I saw the meme of people interpreting the songs wrong, because they were all done in Latin or Welsh. And there's one about Camilla having a wide vagina.

Isi:
[9:42] Can we say vagina in this podcast?

Mitch:
[9:44] We said tit. (Mmm...) Tit and vagina.

Isi:
[9:48] What is a good word that like, teenagers would use instead of saying vagina?

Mitch:
[9:52] Fanny.

Isi:
[9:55] Is that bad or is it like, just to have a word for it?

Mitch:
[9:58] No, Fanny is... (Isn't Fanny a name?)

Isi:
[10:00] Oh, that's bad, isn't it?

Mitch:
[10:01] Also, yeah.

Isi:
[10:02] I mean, why wouldn't we be able to say vagina? Vagina's not a bad word.

Mitch:
[10:06] It's medical. Spending way too much time on fannies. Yeah, fanny...

Isi:
[10:09] But you see, cultural thing. I didn't know that.

Mitch:
[10:12] But bum bag, this is in the video I made with Justin, part two, American English versus British English. In British English, it's a bum bag, the little bag you wear down on your waist. And in America, it's called a fanny pack.

Isi:
[10:23] They're also have fanny?

Mitch:
[10:25] They don't know what fanny is. I told Justin that fanny means vagina and he freaked out, which is probably the best bit of that episode.

Isi:
[10:32] Because you normally have it in front of your V. (Eurgh.) Okay, let's stop now.

Mitch:
[10:38] How did we get on to vaginas from the coronation? We also, whilst in Germany, watched the Eurovision. Woo!

Isi:
[10:48] Yeah, for the first time in forever.

Mitch:
[10:52] Which was a delight. I was laughing my head off the whole way through.

Isi:
[10:56] Yeah, but we only watched it because two German entertainers, who also have a podcast that I listen to and Mitch kind of co-listens to when I listen to it, they did the commenting for Austria. So we watched it on Austrian TV, well, online, but that was just a funny thing. We just wanted to hear the commentating. But the whole show is just so ridiculous. It's such a long, boring thing. I don't know. I'm not a fan.

Mitch:
[11:23] I'd like to do it. I'd like to... I think it'd be really fun to get drunk and do like a live streaming of the Eurovision if it's possible, on YouTube next time.

Isi:
[11:33] We could do that next year, but not for four hours. Then let's only, I don't know, it just goes on forever and forever. I didn't even see the end, which you only watch it for. You want to see who wins. And then I slept.

Mitch:
[11:44] I don't want to see who wins. I don't care.

Isi:
[11:46] Yeah. But you want to see like who...

Mitch:
[11:47] And who won?

Isi:
[11:48] Sweden.

Mitch:
[11:50] Sweden won.

Isi:
[11:51] Have not until today. Have ever heard the song because when they did the song, I was washing up in the kitchen. We had dinner with it. Then, when they won, I haven't watched the winner's performance, so I actually have no clue what the winner's song is.

Mitch:
[12:08] It was scary Billie Eilish Lady with the long nails.

Isi:
[12:11] Can you sing it?

Mitch:
[12:13] The only one I can remember of all of them was the first one when I was not drunk, because after that, we'd already started drinking. And it was the Austrian... Austria went first and he did the song about the gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe and it was Edgar Allan Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Edgar Allan, Edgar Allan, Edgar Allan Poe.

Isi:
[12:34] Well, not bad.

Mitch:
[12:39] He'd be spinning in his grave, never mind turning, that people used his name for like, Euro pop. It was all terrible. But my favourite was the Boy George guy.

Isi:
[12:52] Yeah, I liked him too. From Belgium.

Mitch:
[12:54] Yeah, Belgium. (He was good. He was good.)

Isi:
[12:56] I liked the song.

Mitch:
[12:58] There was a Take That kind of, rip off somewhere in there, wasn't there?

Isi:
[13:02] There was one other, I think, female singer from, I don't know where, but the song was not for me at all. It was a bit ballad-ish, but she was a good singer, which is also not given, that you come that's a good singer there.

Mitch:
[13:16] Yeah, that's got nothing, singing has nothing to do with it.

Isi:
[13:19] But where was she from? Lithuania or so? Maybe not, I don't know, but she was good. Do you remember? She had like a pink/purple dress on or so. Maybe also not, maybe she had a blue dress on. I don't remember, but I know that I thought someone was good.

Mitch:
[13:35] We were just watching because there was basically, a battle as to who would finish last, Brexit Britain or... I don't know why Germany does so bad always.

Isi:
[13:44] It's always... well, we do send in quite weird things always, but I mean...

Mitch:
[13:50] Oh yeah, you had the Rammstein band.

Isi:
[13:52] Yeah, which people outside of Germany and in Germany, sorry for Rammstein fans, a lot of people love that kind of music. What is it actually?

Mitch:
[14:02] What Rammstein?

Isi:
[14:04] What metal, kind of metal is that? Entertainment metal? I don't know.

Mitch:
[14:09] It's not nu-metal, Rammstein, but maybe it is nu-metal.

Isi:
[14:13] Well, anyway, a lot of people love it. So I actually thought that song does fit what German music is to the outside world, outside of Germany. So actually, I thought people would be like, yay, someone like Rammstein coming from Germany. Let's actually vote for them. It didn't work.

Mitch:
[14:31] It didn't do German stereotypes any good.

Isi:
[14:33] I don't listen to too much German music or music coming from Germany. It doesn't have to be particularly German lyrics, but also, there is good music coming from Germany, I would say.

Mitch:
[14:47] Yeah, I like, who was that 90s band, that did like house music, Shaka Khan. Is Shaka Khan not German? No, no, not Shaka Khan.

Isi:
[14:56] You mean...

Mitch:
[14:57] What do I mean? From the 90s house scene.

Isi:
[15:01] Well, you know Alphaville.

Mitch:
[15:02] Haddaway?! Are German?

Isi:
[15:05] Are they?

Mitch:
[15:06] What is love? Baby don't hurt me no more.

Isi:
[15:11] Was ist liebe? (Was ist liebe?) Oh God, good that there was never, well there was probably, well Kraftwerk.

Mitch:
[15:19] Yeah but Kraftwerk made it very clear they were German. But I liked it, it suited it.

Isi:
[15:24] That's what I mean. (Oh it's nice?) And then, hmm.

Mitch:
[15:29] Haddaway were German, amazing.

Isi:
[15:31] Well we do have good music.

Mitch:
[15:32] H-Blockx.

Isi:
[15:34] Although I don't listen... do you know H-Blockx?

Mitch:
[15:37] Of course.

Isi:
[15:38] How? What? Where? Why?

Mitch:
[15:39] I had the Kerrang channel and they did the cover version of I Got The Power.

Isi:
[15:46] Really!? Do you know that they're from Münster?

Mitch:
[15:48] They're from Münster? Wow. This is gonna sound like a crazy, unbelievable story. It's gonna sound really stupid, but my parents had a back garden. Every summer we did two weeks camping with me and my friends in our back garden. And we'd cook our own food and it was sort of us learning how to look after each other and cope without parents.

Isi:
[16:09] But the parents were five meters inside and they would actually give you food later.

Mitch:
[16:13] And we went to the toilet inside as well.

Isi:
[16:15] Yeah. And then your mom actually gave you some real food later.

Mitch:
[16:18] Yeah, exactly. And we played like that... my parents had set up these little tasks so we could win nice prizes. (Oh, that's cute.) It was really fun. And we did it with four or five people in my mom and dad's trailer tent, when they didn't want to use it in the summer. And at that time, H-Blockx, I Got the Power was the biggest song on Kerrang! It was number one for ages and we got obsessed with it. We had a competition who could headbang the longest out of the whole song. Like, really headbanging, like, really throwing your head back. And we had a competition of it in the trailer tent. And the next day we all had like, minor whiplash and we all couldn't move our necks. We all pulled our neck muscles out. (Okay.) So H-Blockx lives in my cult memory.
Unhelpful Advice

Mitch:
[17:09] So we have a message that someone left for us um... through our website easyenglish.fm, where you can also if you want, leave us a message or ask us a question through our unhelpful advice section and so we uh... have a message today from James. Let's have a listen. "Hi Easy English my name is James,I'm a native English speaker who very much enjoys watching your videos, because you never really stop learning and it's always interesting learning more about my language. I wanted to ask, I know you've touched on this before, I wanted to ask more about how you became English teachers. Did you have to take the TEFL qualification to TELF or is it TELT qualification? And do you have any advice for anybody who might want to start teaching English as a foreign language? And also, I think I quite enjoy joining your pub, your online pub, to have a chat with others. But as I'm a native English speaker, I don't want to be taking the place of a learner who's trying to learn English. So I don't know if it's okay for me to join the pub? Thank you for all you do. Te-ra.

Isi:
[18:21] Aw, that's very nice. (Te-ra.) Hi, James.

Mitch:
[18:24] Hi, James.

Isi:
[18:25] Really, really nice message. Well, where do we begin? English teachers. Well, I'm certainly not an English teacher. I could be one, obviously, even though I'm German, but I'm not an English teacher.

Mitch:
[18:36] Yeah, and I'm also certainly not an English teacher.

Isi:
[18:40] Why certainly?

Mitch:
[18:41] Well, because there are, not because I can't do it, but it's because there are people who have, for sure trained and put a lot of work in curriculum-wise to become an English teacher. However... and by all means, I think it's good to look for those people. But, I think what's so great about what we do with Easy Languages, is that,this idea of learning from a book or this kind of, I would call it old-school methods, learning through reading or... but, there's nothing quite like being here and, well yeah, just listen to how much I'm mumbling, this is what real English people do. They can't even get their own English words out of their mouth.

Isi:
[19:27] The thing is you learn it in school or in a course and then you go to a country where that language is spoken. And mostly, if you really only learn in a course and then go to that country... or to any country that speaks that language, you're like, oh, that was different.

Mitch:
[19:44] One time when I was out filming, I interviewed a German guy and what he said to me, I always now, say to people when I'm asking questions, like, why do you do this? What's this for? And I always say, you know, teaching authentic English. And I always use what he said. And he said that he had been learning officially, through like teachers who had taught, who had learned through this TEFL course. And he'd been studying English for years, and he finally came and he flew in at John Lennon Airport in Liverpool, and he said it all went out the window, instantly.

Isi:
[20:17] Well, that's Liverpool, isn't it? So it's not so easy to start with the Scouse accent. But, yeah. So, we are not teachers. I guess we kind of, you kind of become a teacher in a way, on the way.

Mitch:
[20:31] Yeah. We're kind of like the middle, like third party, aren't we? Helping you find...

Isi:
[20:36] Your way through the language. (Yeah, yeah.) Yeah. But, like with the...

Mitch:
[20:42] Conversation membership.

Isi:
[20:43] Conversation membership, of course you can be part of it.

Mitch:
[20:45] Absolutely. (It would be amazing.) I mean, anyone can support us and you don't have to use the perks we give out in the same sense that with the Conversation Membership. If you want to be a Conversation Member, you can come along, you can just listen, you can get involved, you can do what you like!

Isi:
[21:00] I mean, English learners will be probably very happy about another native speaker joining in and like, making it even more British, so.

Mitch:
[21:08] Yeah, if you want to just come along just to hang out, you know, if you're a supporter of Easy English and you are a native speaker, you're also very welcome just to come, meet new people, hang out with us for an hour or so, share a drink in our online pub, all are welcome. And you don't feel like you're under pressure to speak, you can just listen along and you know...

Isi:
[21:29] We just talk for an hour.

Mitch:
[21:35] We'll just talk for an hour. God forbid.

Isi:
[21:37] Okay, thank you, James. (Thanks.) What a really nice message and yeah, keep on sending those, James and any other of you listeners, any other person, please send us messages because it's really nice to know who's listening, who you guys are. Yeah, we only hear about you and who you are if you send us a message, or if you leave a review somewhere on the apps that you're listening to, that would be also great, because we sit here on this side, and we know a lot of people are listening, actually, surprisingly more than we thought and we would also like to know who you are. Anyway, write to us, send us messages. We are always really, really happy to hear from you. So, now we have dinner.

Mitch:
[22:24] Thanks again for your support. (We have dinner.) We have dinner.Yeah, thanks for the 100,000 of you that have subscribed. And if you haven't subscribed, do it now. Why not?

Isi:
[22:38] Bring us to 101,000. Thank you! (Te-ra!) Te-ra!

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This week Mitch & Isi are joined by their first ever guest! The Easy German Podcast host Manuel! Mitch and Manuel share their mutual love for the iconic Britpop band Oasis. They talk about their passion in discovering and listening to Oasis, Manuel shares his experiences watching Oasis live, Mitch describes how Oasis inspired him to become a musician and Isi describes how she missed Oasis due to a Liam Gallagher altercation. Later, Mitch and Isi test Manuel's loyalty to the band as he takes on the 'Oasis; Would You Rather' quiz.

Interactive Transcript

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Transcript

Mitch:
[0:00] Hello, welcome to the Easy English Podcast, episode 15.

Isi:
[0:04] Yee-hoo! That's my hello, for today.

Mitch:
[0:10] We're having to... I'm currently doing a thing where I'm sort of doing, finger pointing, because we are doing an impromptu podcast, in Germany and we forgot to bring all of our gear, so we're using one microphone. And in order for the Interactive Transcript to work, we have to take... (turns) to...

Isi:
[0:31] Record.

Mitch:
[0:34] Individually.

Isi:
[0:36] Yes. Yeah, so today is a bit different. We will talk after each other, very natural. And... but, it's a special one because we will have our very first guest.

Mitch:
[0:51] Yes, our very first guest. You probably already know who they are, because our first guest is... as I will already mention when we speak to them, is the Inceptor. He was the Leonardo DiCaprio character in 'Inception' when it comes to the Easy Languages podcast franchise/universe/thing.

Isi:
[1:16] It is Manuel, who is the host, one of the two hosts of the Easy German Podcast, together with Carina, who is... yeah, the founder, kind of, the helper, founder, birth helper.

Mitch:
[1:29] Midwife.

Isi:
[1:32] Midwife, of all the Easy Languages podcasts, so also this podcast. He helped us set it up.

Mitch:
[1:38] He delivered the Easy English baby.

Isi:
[1:40] He did. And, a coffee lover, Berlin lover.

Mitch:
[1:46] Cycle enthusiast.

Isi:
[1:47] Cycle enthusiast. Organizing lover, and...

Mitch:
[1:52] Tech wizard.

Isi:
[1:53] Tech wizard. Yeah, and the most important fact, which is important for today, as Mitch, a big, big Oasis fan. That's what it's all about today.

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This week, Mitch and Isi build up the incoming coronation of King Charles III. Will Prince Andrew come? Will Susan the Corgi rise from the grave? Will Archie postpone his LA bouncy castle party? Will Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg perform? And will Posh, Becks, Elton, Macca & Sir Attenborough make the final cut to attend the party?

All will be answered in this week's podcast as the duo also discuss Lily Allen's 'Dreamland' and the British desire to mumble about the weather.

Interactive Transcript

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Subscribe using your private RSS feed to listen to our bonus content and find the interactive transcript right in your podcast app.

Transcript

Isi:
[0:24] Hello!

Mitch:
[0:25] Hello, welcome to the Easy English Podcast Dungeon. Here comes Nola.

Isi:
[0:29] Nola, you're also here. Then we can start.

Mitch:
[0:31] Let us begin.

Isi:
[0:32] Everyone is here. What are we talking about today?

Mitch:
[0:38] So we're recording this on the eve of our next visit over to Germany.

Isi:
[0:47] And today, we have a few days left until... the United Kingdom... will have... a new king.

Mitch:
[0:57] Built that up for a well long time.

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ANNOUNCEMENT: Easy English will be in Berlin for a meetup on the 27th April, alongside Easy German, Easy Polish & Easy Spanish. Go to https://www.easygerman.org/meetups to get your FREE ticket.

In this week's podcast, Mitch and Isi talk about the subject of hobbies. Did you know Isi used to be a synchronised swimmer? Or that Mitch was proficient in Taekwondo? Can you guess who of the two is a spreadsheet nerd? And who, embarrassingly admits to collecting sea glass?

We learn about dog friendly pubs in the UK, Isi's cycling related scars, Mitch's failed football career and the couples shared passion for music and sweaty gigs.

Interactive Transcript

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Show Notes

Transcript

Mitch:
[0:23] We're back!

Isi:
[0:24] Why do you do a weird biceps move?

Mitch:
[0:27] I don't know, it felt like...

Isi:
[0:32] Stronger than ever!

Mitch:
[0:36] Like a WWE wrestler. We're back!

Isi:
[0:38] Yeah we're back! We had a little tiny break.

Mitch:
[0:41] Yeah.

Isi:
[0:42] No actually not. We already had another podcast out. But that one was pre-recorded.

Mitch:
[0:46] Yeah, we've not recorded a podcast in a long time, it feels like.

Isi:
[0:50] A few weeks, yeah. So, today I think we start with some updates.

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This week, in our special Unhelpful Advice themed episode. We answer questions from the self-proclaimed cocktail king on travel advice for couples; how we like to experience holidays together and how a couple who are both organised and spontaneous can enjoy travelling together. David asks why Mitch is a pathetic Brit and shares his empathy on his fear of complaining. And Marketa asks Isi for her advice on learning English, Isi shares her tips and experiences of learning English through school, work, friends and media. We also have an exciting NEW ANNOUNCEMENT for Easy English at the start!

Interactive Transcript

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Transcript

Isi:
[0:24] Okay, what do we do today Mitch? Tell me.

Mitch:
[0:28] Today is a weird day. (Why?) Because we're recording this in the very, very distant past.

Isi:
[0:37] Are we telling this?

Mitch:
[0:39] We're recording this in the very distant future. No, for the future, 'Back to the Future'. (Okay.) Marty!

Isi:
[0:46] When you hear this it will be a bit, a bit... long ago.

Mitch:
[0:51] Yeah, we're recording this for the future, but, when you're listening, this would have been recorded in the past, like 'Back to the Future', where he went to cowboy days and had sex with his mum.

Isi:
[1:00] You're very confusing.

Isi:
[1:12] So the first thing we have is an...

Mitch:
[1:14] Exciting update! Easy English is now expanding its membership to now include conversational lessons? (No.) Conversational... (No.) Conversation...

Isi:
[1:30] It's called the conversation membership and it's not a lesson, but it's a conversation meeting, I would say. It's a meeting where we talk English. Yeah, we did this because we heard from a lot of you, what you really lack is English practice because, you don't live in an English-speaking country or you don't have friends to speak to, or colleagues to speak to and it's just not in your everyday life. And to learn a language, this is really important to just speak, to use the language and to make mistakes and to hear someone speaking and react on this. So we thought, it would be a lot of fun... sorry, I took over from you, is that okay? (Keep going.) To meet once a week, in a virtual online pub, so it's an online meeting. And, pub-style-ish, we'll come with our favourite drink and we talk about everything life.

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This week, Isi takes the test in our Last Week's Episode section to try and identify all 12 accents from the British Isles... can YOU beat her score? Later, Mitch and Isi talk about the success of hosting their first ever, members-only pub quiz and answer your questions about our language learning history and what we think is the most beautiful sounding language.

Interactive Transcript

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Show Notes

Watch the 12 accents challenge video: 12 BRITISH ACCENTS... 1 VIDEO (Easy English 149)

Transcript

Mitch:
[0:25] Hello and welcome to the Easy English Podcast.

Isi:
[0:28] Hello, hello, hello. Test, test, one, two.

Mitch:
[0:32] Red lorry, yellow lorry. Red lorry, yellow lorry. Red lorry, yellow lorry.

Isi:
[0:36] Yed... already done. Red lorry, yellow lorry. Red lorry, yellow lorry. No, I can't.

Mitch:
[0:43] Peter Piper picked a pickled pepper.

Isi:
[0:45] Okay. Episode 11. Nice number, isn't it? In Germany, we say Schnapsal. (What, sorry?) Schnapsal.

Mitch:
[0:53] What's this?

Isi:
[0:54] Schnaps number.

Mitch:
[0:55] Eleven?

Isi:
[0:56] Yeah, everything with like, the same numbers. Eleven, three hundred and thirty three.

Mitch:
[0:59] It makes me think of number eleven from Stranger Things.

Isi:
[1:04] There we are again.

Mitch:
[1:05] Mike! Mike!

Isi:
[1:08] Okay, what's our topic, Mitch?

Mitch:
[1:10] Okay.

Isi:
[1:11] You said you prepared everything. I'm just here.

Mitch:
[1:13] This is good though. We can surprise each other with topics, maybe.

Isi:
[1:17] Nola's just sitting in front of me, waiting for me to give her F-O-O-D. We cannot say the word, because then she will get excited.

Mitch:
[1:25] The magic word. Feed me! (Okay.) First topic is related to one of our past week's episodes, in which, I went down onto the streets and I had some pre-recorded local British people, including British Isles, including Ireland, reading out a transcript and I made people from Britain, guess where they're from. And now I want to test you. You've been in Britain for some time now.

Isi:
[1:55] Oh God!

Mitch:
[1:57] How do you fancy your chances?

Isi:
[2:00] Not good. .

Mitch:
[2:11] Okay. (Let's go.) Let's try some. (Let's try, yeah.)

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The Easy English Podcast has made it to 10 episodes! Mitch and Isi discuss the pros and cons of the modern interpretation of the British motto 'Keep Calm And Carry On' in relation to ongoing building works in their block of flats. They debate if te-ra is even a Welsh farewell and Mitch tries to sell the biggest TV "horror-drama" to Isi.

Interactive Transcript

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Transcript

Intro

Isi:
[0:24] That's episode number 10.

Mitch:
[0:28] 10 is the magic number.

should we directly jump into the topic of the... day? Topic of the day? What is our category named? Topic of the... (Week.) Week.

Topic of the Week
Isi:
[0:50] Okay, Topic of the Week. (I've forgotten what it is.) I know what it is. (I've forgotten.) When English people are too polite.

Mitch:
[0:58] Ah yeah.

Isi:
[0:59] How would you call that? It's actually coming from my point of view.

Mitch:
[1:03] Well, I'd call it the... the lack of backbone. But, it has a name. Well, it's actually a phrase, which all Brits kind of, inadvertently stick to, which is 'keep calm and carry on'. Someone, somewhere, listening to this, probably has a tote bag, they bought, that one time they came to London, which has 'keep calm and carry on', with a crown behind it or something. You see it everywhere (Yeah?) in these souvenir shops.

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The duo over-enunciate into this week's episode, as Isi and Mitch rate themselves out of 10. Mitch reveals the correlation of skinny-jean tightness to his own self-worth. Isi chooses Disney fox over Keven Costner Robin Hood as The Easy English Tour takes shape. And they answer Your Questions about Brits lack of door security as Mitch reveals his previous career as a door-to-door, front door salesman.

Interactive Transcript

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Transcript

Isi:
[0:24] Hello.

Mitch:
[0:24] Hi! (Hi!) Hi! (Hi!) New Year's energy... hi!

Isi:
[0:33] Hello. How are you?!

Mitch:
[0:35] We so sound like we're children's presenters. Hi! Do you like triangles?! I love triangles! Do you know how many corners they have?! Two?! Ha! You're stupid! They have three!

Isi:
[0:52] That's like morning show, radio host, from morning shows. (Oh yeah!) Good morning in the morning.

Mitch:
[0:59] Oh, yeah.

Isi:
[1:00] Where are you now? Are you in the car, on the way to work?

Mitch:
[1:04] Yeah. Good morning, you log-jammers on the M25.

Isi:
[1:07] Yeah. God... M25. The horror of my dad.

Mitch:
[1:12] Today is a great sunny day and if you're stuck in a traffic jam, this one's for you. It's 'Stuck in the Middle With You'. Shabba! I'm loving this radio voice, from last... the last episode we did, over enunciating voice.

Isi:
[1:27] That's probably because it's not my native language, but I can do a better radio host voice, in German.

Mitch:
[1:34] How do they... how do they do it, on German radio?

Isi:
[1:36] Should I do it now, in German? (Yeah.) Hello. No. Wait. I have to do it in... No... Uh, I have to go higher... wait, wait... not higher, but, more weird.... A bit like, always a bit like, haaaa...

Mitch:
[1:57] Yeah, it sounds like the microwave is on.

Isi:
[2:02] A bit like this high.

Mitch:
[2:05] I don't like that, creeps me out. (Hi.) Sounds like you're holding in a big poo. Hello!

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Godzilla / Building work causes havoc on the podcast as Mitch and Isi tell tales of ice throwing parties and cocktail dressed locals in Ireland. They answer David's advice after he's "taken aback" due to tea lacking facilities and update you on Easy English's first ever online pub quiz for the members.

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Show Notes

Transcript

Isi:
[0:23] Well, hello hello.

Mitch:
[0:27] Welcome to a time limited and critical episode of Easy English Podcast.

Isi:
[0:31] Yeah. So the situation is, we are sitting here, having exactly 25 minutes or half an hour to record, because we have our construction work going on and they are on a lunch break, now.

Mitch:
[0:48] It has this sort of, sound of an earthquake, doesn't it?

Isi:
[0:52] But I don't think you can hear that. So let's go.
Past Week's Episode
Isi:
[1:04] The Irish.

Mitch:
[1:06] Yeah. Brits' perception of the Irish. And before we get into it, I'd actually like to know; maybe you could write in, or send us a voice message via our easyenglish.fm website. What are your thoughts on the Irish? What have you sort of, learnt through TV and media? And have you met any Irish people? Have you been to Ireland?

Isi:
[1:25] I have been to Ireland. (Where in Ireland did you go?) Uh, it's long ago. 13 years ago. Yeah, I've been... oh, the workers are back, guys. If you hear something in the background, we'll just keep on going now, because, it's real life guys. We don't have a recording studio, we're just at home.

Mitch:
[1:49] Just imagine, it's like a sci-fi movie and Godzilla is approaching.

Isi:
[1:53] Whaa... oh no, sorry. Does he do a sound? Whaa...

Mitch:
[1:59] That sounds like a cat. (Okay.) An annoyed cat.

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Today, Isi's helps Mitch remember New Years Eve's binge of eggnog and BBC's 'The Traitors'. Isi descibes her longing for Britains country lanes, tiny pubs and thatched cottages. The two reminice on the blossoming stages leading up to the beginning of the Easy English YouTube channel... Happy New Year!

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Transcript

Intro

Mitch:
[0:26] Isi, Happy New Year.

Isi:
[0:28] Happy New Year! Ting... ting we are too far away from each other to bing.

Mitch:
[0:34] Make a toast, to the New Year. (To a better one.) No more shit things happening. Let's drink to no more... (Stop... stop the shit!) No more shit.

Isi:
[0:48] We actually, um, for everyone not seeing this, which is basically everyone, we actually, do drink sparkling wine. It is not New Year's Eve, we are, way into the year. But, we wanted to cheer with you on the New year 2023.

Mitch:
[1:04] So Isi, how... how was our new year?

Isi:
[1:07] Super exciting. It was actually really, really nice. Because, we decided to stay home. Um, which we actually really enjoy, anyway on New Year's Eves, because we're both not really into those New Year's Eves parties, where you have to have a ticket to go into a pub or club, oh God's that's horrible anyway. Um, home parties are good... are good, but yeah, we stayed home this year. And, we had... should I say... tell the whole story, yeah? Not much more to come anyway. We had good drinks, good cocktails. We had, um, like an Italian little buffet from our favourite Italian restaurant here, that was delivered to us. And we had good drinks and we talked to some friends. And yeah, it was a good night, wasn't it?

Mitch:
[2:00] I don't really remember much of it actually, but I'm not sure that's my bad memory or the cocktails.

Isi:
[2:04] Well, I will now do the super duper transition to our first category of today.

Mitch:
[2:10] Remind Mitch what happened on New Year's Eve.

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We begin with a dramatic tale of glass eating and evasive, spider driving before discussing the incredible, but dire state of the NHS. Isi describes horrific British wallpaper choices whilst Mitch opens up on his love and ignorance for mince pies. And finally... Germany has multi-pack crisps!

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Transcript

Intro

Mitch:
[0:23] Hello, welcome to the Easy English Podcast. We have, yet again, changed erm... I was gonna say continents. But England has... the UK didn't quite leave all of Europe, just the European Union.

Isi:
[0:37] They are not yet a continent. We travelled yes... no, the day before yesterday. And, we are now in Germany, and I directly want to start with telling... (Revelations.) that I saw a multi-pack of crisps. But... (It wasn't a real multi-pack.) It was not. It was four little packs, stuck together as a four times four... why was it four times four?

Mitch:
[1:04] A "4er". It was so funny. They were just sellotaped together, back to back.

Isi:
[1:08] Yeah, so it wasn't a multi-pack in that sense, because, it did show what you get. The multi-packs that I mean, they trap you.

Mitch:
[1:16] The UK is having a big influence on the German crisp market.

Isi:
[1:22] Anyway.

Mitch:
[1:23] You can tell your story. (What story?) You have a bit of a story coming up, I think. Maybe you want to save it for a section. (Oh, yeah.) It's been an exciting couple of weeks.

Isi:
[1:35] People think always something is happening to me. Run over by car... nearly run over. Yeah. (This one was pretty...) but it has a reason, why we tell this story.

Mitch:
[1:45] Yeah. This one was like something out of a crime thriller.

Isi:
[1:48] What? For you, maybe. For what you saw.

Mitch:
[1:52] Okay. (Okay, yeah.) Let's go straight into our first segment then.

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Mitch adapts the '12 days of Christmas' carol to make it more "British", Isi re-tells her account of a near-miss and asks for your moral help, they talk about the British phenomenon of multi-packs, answer your questions on differences between Northern Europeans and South Americans and reveal plans for the Easy English Tour!!?

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Transcript

Intro
Mitch:
[0:00] On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love sent to me; Bluetooth earphones, IKEA vouchers, an ill-fitted T-shirt, tenner in a card, secondhand bike, multi-pack of condoms, stationary set, Sports Direct socks, bottle of Bailey's, six-pack of Carling, two spa days and a Blu-ray of Die Hard 2.

Isi:
[0:57] Welcome... to the Easy English Podcast. Nola is confused. (I worte that.) That is brilliant. (I'm the new John Lennon.) You are right after him. And my first question goes out to you; why am I always having a very uncomfy recording situation, and you sit there, like King Mitchy?

Mitch:
[1:20] Yeah, I feel a bit like... yeah, like a King. Or like, how the Godfather would sit.

Isi:
[1:22] I mean, it's obviously my decision to sit on this chair. At least I have a good drink in my hand, because we just prepared espresso martinis for the first time, this season, this Christmas season. But also for the first time for... uh, since last winter.

Mitch:
[1:42] It was a while ago. I forgot how to make them.

Isi:
[1:44] Did we even do it this year, yet? (Er... no.) Maybe not. Uh, and aren't they still the best?

Mitch:
[1:51] There's something... they're not very Christmassy, but...

Isi:
[1:54] It is Christmassy for me, though. (Why?) I think because I connected it to Christmas last year.

Mitch:
[2:00] Christmasy to me has to have cream in it. Cream and Christmas go together.

Isi:
[2:03] Yeah, but you know how much I (do) not adore cream in anything drinkable. So for me, the froth... or how you call that, on top is cream. That's cream for me, that's good cream. That's ice... icey cream and not milk, or...

Mitch:
[2:19] Yeah, it's the only frothy coffee that you can really have.

Isi:
[2:24] We can really do a whole episode (On frothy coffees?) about people putting cream or hot milk in their drinks.

Mitch:
[2:33] Even oat... flrothy oat... oak... oat milk.

Isi:
[2:36] That's a bit better than cow milk. I think hot cow milk smells like vomit.

Mitch:
[2:42] Oat milk, also, when you froth it, smells a bit like burnt porridge.

Isi:
[2:45] Yeah. (Excuse me.) Well anyway, this froth is good... froth!?

Mitch:
[2:50] Froth, (Froth.) Froth, frothy coffee.

Isi:
[2:53] Um... yeah, so here we are. We have some good topics today.

Mitch:
[3:00] We do. Should we do our first one?

Isi:
[3:022] Yep.

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Mitch and Isi exorcise their sobriety to debate their favourite style of potato, choose their favourite part of a Sunday roast dinner, discuss why Brits resort to shorts in Arctic conditions and consider why Brits make the best music when they have such rubbish weather.

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Show Notes

Cook a traditional Sunday roast dinner: Sunday Roast Dinner RECIPE (Easy English 140)

Transcript

Intro

Isi:
[0:23] Hello! Hello, hello. Welcome to episode number... what is it four? Three? Three. Four? (Four.) Four! (God.)

Mitch:
[0:36] Hiya! (Is it really number four?) We are on episode number four. And it's... well, when you're listening to this, it will be Monday. Unless you're a Podcast Member, then you'll be hearing it on Friday. But for us, it is, the Friday before the Friday that the Podcast Members listen to. (Yes.) It's Friday, Friday, Friday. We have reason to celebrate. (I guess.) We've been released from the sobriety demons.

Isi:
[1:04] Yeah, we had a... quite long detox. A bit over five weeks, I think. And all in all, it was seven. And it's good, isn't it? Seven weeks really does something. Why are you looking so weirdly at our dog? She just came in.

Mitch:
[1:17] Just like Darth Vader's come into the room, breathing so heavily. So the reason we're excited is because... she just threw up in her mouth. We've kind of, been looking forward to having like, a little cheers for the weekend and having our first little boozy drink in... yeah, nearly seven weeks. So now we're gonna do some ASMR of opening our drinks.

Isi:
[1:40] Yeah, unfortunately, I have a wine bottle with a screw-top. So it's not the nice plop. Should I do it first? (You do that one first.) Listen. Open. (Oh, head tingles everywhere.) Doesn't smell so good. Okay, should I should I pour it?

Mitch:
[1:57] Oh yeah. What are we doing? Right, and what is it you're drinking, Isi?

Isi:
[2:07] Um, a pinot grigio, ice cold.

Mitch:
[2:11] Lovely! Oh God. Nola's a big gross sound effects machine of burping, farting and throwing up noises. Okay, and now I'm gonna open German Krombacher pils. Ready? Here's the ASMR for me.

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Join Mitch & Isi as they attempt to stay warm in their cold flat, Isi prescribes lemon and ginger tea to the world. They curate their own one day music festival, Mitch gives up on queuing and Isi tries to become more British... D'you know what I mean!?

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Show Notes

The Easy English Festival: The BEST Music Festival (Easy English 139)

Transcript

Intro

Mitch:
[0:23] Hello. (Hello.) Hello. Welcome to the Easy English Podcast. (Okay.) Episode number three.

Isi:
[0:32] Nobody knows who... who can talk now. (What do we say next?) I'm freezing.

Mitch:
[0:36] Yeah, okay. Describe the situation.

Isi:
[0:40] Should have... we should have made ourselves a tea before. (Very English.) Um... uh, basically, I'm so English now, I... the past two months... I mean, I've always been drinking tea, but now I drink seven or eight teas a day.

Mitch:
[0:55] But not builder's tea. (Not builder's tea.) Which, builders tea is a black tea with a splash of milk. Like a breakfast tea with milk.

Isi:
[1:02] I hate milk in tea. No, I only drink like... things like, lemon/orange/ginger/fennel. Uh... what else?

Mitch:
[1:11] It's your like, homoeopathic remedies, (Peppermint.) isn't it right? (Yeah, basically.) Your witchcraft.

Isi:
[1:15] Even... really, until... into the night, I always drink, only tea, tea, tea. And now we don't have a tea and we're freezing because our heating is broken, again.

Mitch:
[1:24] If you go... if you go to Isi with any illness should just prescribe lemon and ginger tea. I've got bronchitis - lemon and ginger. I've got tuberculosis - lemon and ginger. I've got eczema - lemon and ginger tea.

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Mitch and Isi talk about previous job interviews, the true meaning of Bob's your uncle and answer your questions in their 'Unhelpful Advice' section.

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Show Notes

Our Job Interview Video: How to prepare for a job interview in England (https://youtu.be/aYIEJKIUTcQ) (Easy English 54)

Transcript

Intro
Isi:
[0:23] Hello.

Mitch:
[0:25] Episode number two of the Easy English Podcast. (podcast.) Podcast. So northern.

Isi:
[0:32] Here we are again. Was exciting, wasn't it our first podcast? It's weird that we look into each other's eyes today. Last time we didn't.

Mitch:
[0:40] Nah, I can't remember how we did it, but it was very rude!

Isi:
[0:44] I will look out of the window now.

Mitch:
[0:46] There's less pressure on this one.

Isi:
[0:48] Well, there's always pressure, Mitch.

Mitch:
[0:51] No, but I uh... much less pressure to... because we've started it now.

Isi:
[0:56] True. So if you listened to number one, thank you very much. That is... yeah, it's exciting. We got a lot of messages. A lot of really, really lovely feedback, so thank you very much. Uh... we got some questions and... yeah a lot of you listened to it, so we were really, really grateful and happy for it. It's a good start, isn't it?

Mitch:
[1:17] Yeah, I was actually quite impressed, 'cause I didn't really expect people would write in. But I saw how many people have listened, and it's really overwhelming. And the fact that people have even written in, to say how much they enjoyed it and that it sort of, filled that 20 minute gap of their life.

Isi:
[1:36] Yeah, it's a bit. It's still a bit weird that people listen to our... talking.

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Easy English consists of Mitch and Isi; a bi-national couple experiencing British life on the south coast of England. You might know us from our YouTube channel Easy English, where we interview the local folk of Brighton in order to teach you authentic English. This week, we discuss Queen Elizabeth's funeral, podcast recommendations and answer your questions in our 'unhelpful advice' section. But as per usual, we like to throw in our analysis of British slang, small talk and passive-aggressiveness.

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Transcript

Mitch:
[0:25] Hello, welcome to the new Easy English podcast.

Isi:
[0:28] Hello! That was weird. Hello!

Mitch:
[0:33] And who are you?

Isi:
[0:35] So I'm Isi. I'm a German living... nein. Oh God!

Mitch:
[0:39] Jesus, can't get past the first step.

Isi:
[0:40] You will record this forever. But I hate introductions. I actually hate introductions.

Mitch:
[0:46] Yeah, I just want to start this without the feeling that we're starting something. I want it to feel like we're in Episode 10 already.

Isi:
[0:51] Uh, who are you? Who are you? uh! (Yeah.) I always hated introductions. I hate it when you go like, to a conference or in a classroom or so; can you please stand up and say two to three sentences about yourself and just your name, your age, where you're from and a few of your hobbies. What do you like to do in your free time?

Mitch:
[1:10] That's a great idea. What we should do instead, then, because I also don't like doing this, we should do what I had to do when I was at school for icebreakers, where you have to turn to the person to your right and you have to find out something, then you have to introduce each other. And you have to remember something about them.

Isi:
[1:24] That will be really fun with the two of us.

Mitch:
[1:24] You introduced me and I'll introduce you. (Okay.) Who am I?

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The Easy English Podcast is here! Get to know and learn English with Isi & Mitch; a bi-national couple in the UK. We talk all things British including pubs, small talk, music, food, the stiff upper lip and the bloody weather! We love to hear from our listeners and answer your questions on the English language or British life and culture.

This is the authentic way to learn the language with day-to-day conversations and getting to know Isi & Mitch a little bit better.

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Interactive Transcript

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Transcript

Mitch:
[0:01] Hiya, I'm Mitch.

Isi:
[0:02] Hello, I'm Isi.

Mitch:
[0:03] We want to give you a free podcast to learn English.

Isi:
[0:08] We talk about all things English. Maybe you're thinking of moving, visiting or holidaying in the UK. Or maybe you're just a fan of British culture. If so, then this is the podcast for you.

Mitch:
[0:21] We'll bring up the topics featured on our YouTube channel Easy English, where we produce videos of authentic English from the streets. The aim of our podcast is the same, we want you to feel confident, understanding authentic British English conversations.

Isi:
[0:36] We'll also talk about our life and experiences as a multinational couple living in the UK, about our love of British pubs, small talk, music and film. And our annoyance of the British stiff upper lip, food, and the bloody weather. I'm a German ex-pat in the UK.

Mitch:
[0:55] And I'm a native Brit, born in the north and now living on the South Coast with Isi and our dog Nola. Yeah, what would people want to listen to in a trailer? Two people, one podcast.
The Easy English podcast.

Isi:
[1:12] Isi was just a lonely girl going on a world travel, when she saw the white cliffs of Dover, coming bigger and bigger. She knew... she knew that's the beginning of something... huge. Her first stop; Eastbourne.

Mitch:
[1:32] That's the ferry coming in. Hello, what's your name? I'm British.

Isi:
[1:37] Make sure to follow the podcast to get alerted when each episode is out. And if you're an English learner or just want to support our work...

Mitch:
[1:47] Then become a member of Easy English at easyenglish.video/memberships and in return, we'll give you an interactive transcript of the episode, translated so you can understand and follow our conversations.

Isi:
[2:02] And we'd also love to hear from you. So send us your feedback, recommendations and questions to podcast@easy english.video Now, listen to episode one.

Mitch:
[2:15] Here we go.

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