Easy English: Learn English with everyday conversations

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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Isi and Mitch discuss the final courses of a pub menu; unhealthy halloumi sticks, slimy onion rings, French/Belgian fries vs English/Dutch chips, jacket potatoes, Mary Rose sauce, sticky toffee pudding and... spotted dick?

Before all of this, let Mitch and Isi treat you to an uplifting, school assembly song...

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Transcript

Intro

Isi:
[0:22] Hello.

Mitch:
[0:23] Hiya, welcome to the Easy English Podcast episode 61.

Isi:
[0:28] Wow. Do we always want to say welcome?

Mitch:
[0:31] Well, until we reach 100, I always consider that people are still stumbling onto us.

Isi:
[0:37] God, and everyone now, 39 more episodes. I would like to know if there's a Monday morning song that you can sing for us? It's Monday morning, we have a coffee, our second actually, and I want you to sing a typical song, that you would sing to kids going to school like, yay! Monday morning!

Mitch:
[0:54] hat's exact... I wasn't thinking exactly that, but I was thinking... the first thing I thought was this one song; morning has broken... very sad. And then I thought what's actually more uplifting and upbeat? And I thought what are the songs we sang at school assembly? Did you have an assembly before school started

Isi:
[1:16] No, not every day, with special occasions, yes. I think I only did it in primary school, those assemblies. But do you sing a song, then? I don't think so, no. And your song was quite depressive I have to say.

Mitch:
[1:27] Yeah yeah, but we we didn't sing that song at school assembly, that's why I thought, what did we sing at school assembly? Because it was always a way to get the kids up and running, early in the morning, because I mean early in the morning, we started at nine. (That's holidays.) And so, the only songs can really remember us singing, are... before I get into the one I was thinking of, we had this bizarre one called '20th century highway man', which was an eco-song we'd sing. And it was like about a guy, who's like, working for a big business destroying the Amazon. (Okay.) And it's like; 20th century highway man... he's the 20th century something something man. And then the chorus goes; stand and deliver, he's heading for the Amazon River. He'll steal from the forest, he'll steal from the trees, He gets what he wants and he wants what he see. (Why?) I don't know Okay, but forget that It just came in my head.

Isi:
[2:25] That's what you sang. In the assembly room?

Mitch:
[2:27] Yeah, yeah. (What?!) 20th century highwayman. It's like a Bob Dylan song.

Isi:
[2:33] Wait... is that to educate children about colonialism?

Mitch:
[2:37] I think it's more about eco...

Isi:
[2:39] Not that Britain was in the Amazon.

Mitch:
[2:42] No, the empire never quite reached that part of the world.

Isi:
[2:46] Would have been better to have a song about...

Mitch:
[2:50] About what? Bringing slaves over?

Isi:
[2:52] No. Well, if you want to do the make... The next generation feel the guilt thing, which is good, I think. at least do it properly, with a region that you did colonise. Colonise?

Mitch:
[3:09] Colonise, yeah?

Isi:
[3:10] Colonise. But now... well, anyway.

Mitch:
[3:13] Anyway, you want to wake up the kids. So the song we actually sung, which I remember, and you probably also did it, because I think... it's almost a hymn, but it's not religious or anything. And it was; If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning, I'd hammer in the evening, all over this land. I'd hammer out danger, I'd hammer out a warning, I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters, all over this land... la la la la, la la la la, la la la la, second verse, la la la, If I had a bell, I'd ring it in the morning, (Ding ding ding ding.) I'd ring it in the evening, (Ding ding ding ding.) all over this land, I'd ring out a danger, I'd ring out a warning, I'd ring out love between my brothers and my sisters, all... and I'm just... I'm doing like a globe, I'm doing jazz-hands while sort of doing a. .. (Yeah, Mitch is dancing.) I'm doing a jazz-hands while sort of like drawing the outline of the world, with my hands. I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters, all over this land.

Isi:
[4:22] Okay, third one, come on.

Mitch:
[4:24] I don't know what that instrument is.

Isi:
[4:26] If I had a song.

Mitch:
[4:27] Oh, yeah?

Isi:
[4:28] I'd sing it in the morning, I'd sing it in the evening, all over this land, I don't know... how's that melody? I'd sing out danger.

Mitch:
[4:37] D...

This week, with Christmas on the horizon, Mitch and Isi discuss gifts. They talk about the joy of giving gifts, Isi's thoughtful gifing vs Mitch's practical gifting. Mitch reveals the worst gift that Isi ever got him and are surprise gifts better than expected gifts for Isi? Even if it's a splintery, handmade spoon?

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Show Notes

*Gift our membership perks for Christmas this year: Choose a membership tier to gift

Transcript

Intro

Isi:
[0:22] Hello. Oh God. Hi.

Mitch:
[0:28] All of our podcasts always begin with you like hello oh god.

Isi:
[0:31] Oh god.

Mitch:
[0:32] My voice is gone. Illness update.

Isi:
[0:36] I'm back.

Mitch:
[0:38] I'm back. Oh yeah!

Isi:
[0:39] From the ill bed

Mitch:
[0:41] Did you hear the last podcast we... I recorded?

Isi:
[0:44] I didn't actually. Oh my god people will hate medidn't record uh didn't listen to it yet, no. But I want to listen to what you talked about. Oh god, yeah I didn't. I didn't have the headspace in my two-week illness to listen to it.

Mitch:
[0:58] Some could say I took one for the team. Some could say I took advantage of the fact you weren't here.

Isi:
[1:04] eah I'm back, had a nasty virus. Still am a bit... my voice is still not coming yeah it's kind of back now. Still have a bit of a, in the back.

Mitch:
[1:18] We're back in our usual position.

Isi:
[1:19] And it's not the morning, it's Sunday evening. (It is.) It is, I think the first time that we are having a little drinky. (We are, yeah.) With our podcast, since I don't know a year? We always did a morning podcast.

Mitch:
[1:37] And we're joined by a guest; Bert.

Isi:
[1:40] Yeah storm Bert.

Mitch:
[1:43] Storm Bert in the background just whistling away.

Isi:
[1:45] So we're two weeks, just home, two weekends two weeks and two weekends , just home, doing nothing. And now I was like, the weekend, I'm back.

Mitch:
[1:56] The last weekend before we go to visit our parents for Christmas.

Isi:
[2:01] Back to the mainland of Europe. So I was like, we do everything, we go to all the places, all the pubs, we meet friends.

Mitch:
[2:09] And what did we do?

Isi:
[2:10] We did not... well we did nearly nothing, because um, storm Bert came and... it's actually really really stormy and people... well, it was kind of like a weather warning to not leave too much and we obviously went for walks, because we got Nola, and it did feel not so good to do long drives, or go anywhere with a bus or so, because it's really stormy.

Mitch:
[2:38] Yeah, it's like the Michael Jackson 'Earth Song' music video out there.

Isi:
[2:41] So here we are, Sunday night episode, because tomorrow, actually, we will do an early, end of the workday. Because storm Bert will disappear tonight, they say. And then we will do, tomorrow afternoon, our Sunday. So hopefully a lot of Christmas deco, a nice Christmassy, pre-Christmassy dinner.

Mitch:
[3:03] We're in that early Christmas spirit, because, yeah, why the hell not?

Isi:
[3:09] Christmas is already full-on.

Mitch:
[3:10] And as I look at you, you are sort of engulfed in Christmas presents. They're on the table where we usually put the microphone. It's just a stash, a stack.

Isi:
[3:23] It's a lot of gifts, yeah. We have every gift we wanted for our families. We are absolutely ready for Christmas. And that's our topic today, gifts and gifting.

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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

• British Etiquette video: WHAT is Considered RUDE In the UK? (Easy English 172)

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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After discussing the phrase 'mad as a hatter', Isi and Mitch discuss the British etiquette of interacting with strangers in private, in public and in pubs and restaurants.

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Transcript

Intro

Mitch:
[0:23] Welcome to the Easy English Podcast, episode 62.

Isi:
[0:28] Hello, good morning.

Mitch:
[0:29] Good morning.

Isi:
[0:30] From Germany.

Mitch:
[0:31] From Germany. I'm living the German dream.

Isi:
[0:35] Mitch is just eating a pretzel with butter. Just had coffee and a pretzel, very German. We arrived, already over the weekend. It was the first thing in the supermarket that we got.

Mitch:
[0:46] What is the... this has now become a small topic, but how would you rank German supermarkets?

Isi:
[0:55] What does that mean?

Mitch:
[0:56] From top to bottom, which is considered the most premium, to the most scabby.

Isi:
[1:00] I don't even know all the supermarkets any more.

Mitch:
[1:04] In England?

Isi:
[1:05] I would say the best is, well, the best, the most expensive is, is it Marks and Spencers?

Mitch:
[1:14] Yep, I'd say so, Marks and Spencers.

Isi:
[1:16] You know that you eat, should our listeners hear you eating? Marks and Spencers and then...

Mitch:
[1:23] Morrison's.

Isi:
[1:24] Morrison's. Is that actually, even more premium?

Mitch:
[1:27] No, Morrison's is a more premium supermarket. M&S, which is actually a clothing store, has like, a small sort of, supermarket section.

Isi:
[1:38] Yeah, M&S. Then not Morrison's, next one. And Tesco's?

Mitch:
[1:45] I think Tesco's and Sainsbury's are kind of locked.

Isi:
[1:49] Sainsbury's and Co-op is also somewhere around them, I'd say. Or is Co-op actually better than Sainsbury's?

Mitch:
[1:55] Co-op is actually probably better than Sainsbury's and Tesco's.

Isi:
[1:57] Saino's, as we call it.

Mitch:
[1:59] Saino's.

Isi:
[2:00] And then probably ASDA, which is a discounter.

Mitch:
[2:05] Yeah.

Isi:
[2:05] And then the German ones.

Mitch:
[2:07] Then the German ones.

Isi:
[2:08] Lidl and Aldi. Where Lidl is better in England and Aldi is not... or?

Mitch:
[2:14] I'd say that Lidl could be above ASDA. ASDA also goes by the other name of ASBOs, which stands for Antisocial Behaviour Order.

Isi:
[2:23] Oh, God. I think ASDA has a lot more to offer, at least.

Mitch:
[2:27] It's usually massive, because it's owned by Walmart.

Isi:
[2:29] Yeah, and they have a lot of, if you like to cook from different cuisines, they have like World's Food Isles and all that. Lidl doesn't have that.

Mitch:
[2:37] Okay, so we're saying Marks & Spencer's M&S, Morrison's Co-op, Sainsbury's and Tesco's, then Asda, Lidl, Aldi. Okay, shall we move on to our actual program?

Isi:
[2:53] I would like to, yes, can I start?

Mitch:
[2:56] Please.

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