English with Stephen

The placebo effect is often associated with medicine and medical trials. Discover the surprising origin of this phrase and how you can use it.

Discover what the future might hold for English speakers. Will English be the same as Latin in the future?

Get some strategies for how to make reading in English a normal part of your language learning experience.

Discover how the enemies of Rome live on in the English language 2,000 years later.

Do you think your grandchildren will need to learn English? I don't think they will. Listen to my latest episode to find out why.

Why is reading such an effective way to learn a language? In this episode, I look into why reading is so powerful for language students. Get the free transcript for this episode here .

Memes are everywhere. Especially if your 10-year-old son has just got a new mobile phone! In this episode, I look at the origin of the word 'meme' and discover how it is a fantastic example of a meme. Read the free transcript here .

We've talked a lot about the history of English, but what is going to happen in the future to this world language? In this episode, we ask if another language might become more important than English. Read the transcript here .

This is the first in a monthly feature of interviews with successful language learners from around the world. Martin, from the Rock 'n' Roll English Podcast, talks about why stories are so important to learning and how he is using stories to help Ukrainian refugees. Show notes can be found here .

In this episode, we look at some of the surprising contributions to English, and many other languages, that originated in Ukraine.

Are you having difficulties finding the motivation to learn English? Do you find it hard to start your studies? This episode is for you. By following the 2-minute rule you can discover your motivation to learn English, or indeed anything. FInd the transcript here.

It was one of the largest empires ever, but how did the British Empire affect the development of English as a language. Read the transcript here: https://englishwithstephen.com/2021/12/18/reasons-for-english-the-empire-strikes-back

In this week's word story, we look at the origin of the word 'January', how it is used and why it gave its name to one of the greatest cities in the world. https://englishwithstephen.com/2022/01/08/word-stories-january/

I've been learning the guitar recently. There are a number of lessons I have taken from learning the guitar which are useful for learning English.

English doesn't have masculine and feminine words, which makes learning the language a bit easier. But have you ever thought about why English doesn't do what most other languages do? And does this mean English is not a sexist language? Listen to find out.

Listen to a story that includes lots of expressions that use the word "bed". 

10 top tips to improve your listening skills in English. These tips are guaranteed to improve everyone's listening abilities.

How and why did American English become different to American English. In this episode, we look at some interesting reasons for the differences between these two varieties of English.

Today we look at some of the words in English that originated in the country of Poland.

Your linguistic landscape can be a powerful tool to help you learn English. Find out what your linguistic landscape is and how you can fully exploit it in the latest episode of the English with Stephen podcast.

The English we speak today has been heavily influenced by the way the Bible was written. Even if you don't believe in a Christian God, you will use language from the Bible. Find out how and why in this latest episode. https://wp.me/pc09Eo-kB  

As the cricket world cup is starting, I bring to you a number of expressions that come from the second most popular sport in the world. Don't worry if you don't know anything about cricket, you will still learn a lot of useful English expressions. Get the transcript to this episode here: https://wp.me/pc09Eo-kT

What do you need to know about a word to really understand it? In this episode, we look at what it truly means to "know" a word. You can get the transcript for this episode here: for https://wp.me/pc09Eo-iC

RP stands for Received Pronunciation and is the standard for British English. But where does the name come from and how did it become the standard? Discover the fascinating story of RP and find out some other peculiarities along the way. Get the transcript for this episode here: https://wp.me/pc09Eo-iu

Two of the biggest sportswear manufacturers are Adidas and Puma, but do you know the origin of these words? Listen to find out the crazy story behind these two names and practise some vocabulary for talking about sports clothes. Get the transcript for this episode here: https://wp.me/pc09Eo-iy