RealLife English: Learn and Speak Confident, Natural English

Moving to a new country can be an exciting and equally nerve-wracking experience, but there are lots of ways that you can prepare for this! That's why in today's podcast episode, we're talking all about how to adapt to living in an English-speaking country. The tips in this episode will also be useful if you're planning to stay in another country for a shorter period of time. Whatever your plan is...

You've probably been through a situation where you either needed to say a word, but you couldn't remember it, or that you had to speak in English but simply didn't know how to say something even though you know it perfectly in your own language. I totally know how you feel. When I was learning Hebrew, I found it so complicated because virtually every word was completely different from the equivale...

Today we're talking all about abbreviations in English. In case you're not familiar with this term, an abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. For example, we might say FYI instead of "for your information" or ASAP instead of "As soon as possible." You'll come across abbreviations in your work, studies, and general daily life. They're a huge part of communication, especially when tex...

"My weakness? Well, I'd say I'm a bit of a perfectionist." How many times have you heard someone saying that or have even said that yourself? It's quite common to repeat this over and over as an excuse to not take the next step towards a goal or a dream that you have.    Now, you may be thinking "But Ethan, I am proud of myself for being a perfectionist because it means that I care deeply about th...

There's no doubt that English is the most widely spoken language in the world. So, by learning it, it will unlock a huge range of opportunities, no matter what your goals are, and some of them may be quite surprising. In today's podcast, we'll discuss four amazing ways that English will change your life. If you're looking for some motivation for continuing with your learning, then you don't want t...

Josh MacPherson is an English language instructor and curriculum developer currently based in Japan. With over 15 years of experience teaching English, Josh has specialized in teaching English learners how to better prepare for and increase their chances of achieving a higher score on the TOEFL exam and the new Duolingo English Test. At TST Prep, he helps future test takers get the English test sc...

Have you ever wondered what type of English learner you are? The idea is that we learn best according to the archetype of language learners we are. Knowing which type of learner you are can be useful to work out which tips work best for you. Are you an Academic learner? A Jedi Master? Find out in today's episode! Show notes here. .......... We're super excited to announce that we have publicly lau...

Gabriel Wyner is an American polyglot, book author, and founder of Fluent Forever. He fell in love with language learning while training to be an opera singer at school. After feeling pressured by a deadline to achieve proficiency in French, he worked his way to fluency studying on his own. Noticing that there was valuable advice online that was not put together, Gabe decided to share his journey...

Today we'll be talking about the topic you've voted for: how to give compliments in English. If you compliment a person, you praise them or say good things about them. It's not just the words that you say that are important, but also the tone. We'll also explore a variety of sentence structures that you can use to give compliments. Show notes here. .......... We're super excited to announce that w...

Natasha Broodie is an American communication specialist and founder of Life with the big E. She's a diplomat who previously worked with the United Nations. She is also a travel and language enthusiast and has lived in Russia and France where she taught Business English and noticed how non-native speakers interacted in multicultural business contexts. This experience led her to write her new book "...

In today's podcast episode, you'll get some more practice with your English idiomatic vocabulary by learning some animal idioms. Idioms are a type of figurative language which can be very confusing for English language learners. Now, there are tons of expressions that use animals and we use them all the time. If you stick around until the end, you won't be so confused when English speaking friends...

Luke Thompson is an ESL Teacher, Podcaster, and Stand-up Comedian. He's originally from England and currently lives in Paris. Luke has been helping learners practice their listening skills for over 10 years through his podcast. His webpage and podcast were voted #1 in the Best Blog category for the Macmillan Dictionaries Awards four times in a row. His goals are to engage the learners with authent...

Do you often find yourself shying away from new experiences or opportunities because you lack confidence? Have you had that feeling of your heart racing, your palms sweating just thinking about the new challenge that faced you such as speaking English? We're here today to help you do better in those moments of self-doubt and we are with you six tips and hacks to boost your confidence, especially w...

Jennifer Kumar is an English conversation and cross-cultural coach. She lived in India for more than 10 years and even studied her masters degree there. Through her business Authentic Journeys, she helps Americans and Indians strengthen their business relationships through the development of mutual understanding of cultural and linguistic aspects. Get ready for a really unique episode of Beyond Bo...

If you're like most English learners, you've probably heard the word 'ass' used very frequently in English speaking in songs, movies, and TV series. But did you know that this word has a multitude of uses that mean completely different things? Although you should definitely be very careful with all uses of this word, often the use can in fact, be neutral or even positive. While it's important to e...

Ladies and gentlemen. English learners, teachers, and world changers. My next guest is Tiffani. Tiffani, from speakenglishwithtiffani.com, is a teacher and artist from Maryland, US. One day, she left her job as a web designer at NASA to embark on an adventure to South Korea. She lived there for almost 10 years and fell in love with teaching English as a Second Language. Since founding the Speak En...

All the time our students tell us that their biggest frustration is that they understand English well, but that they don't have any opportunities to speak. That is exactly why we launched the RealLife English app this year to give you an opportunity to practice both your speaking and listening in a fun and meaningful way. If you ever worry about not knowing what to talk about while using the app,...

For those of you in Brazil, you will be no stranger to today's guest, but if you don't know him, you are in for a treat! Gavin Roy is from Ohio in the USA. He learned Portuguese to go to Brazil for the FIFA Soccer World Cup. On his YouTube channels: SmallAdvantages (with 2.7 million subscribers) and TadyGavin he teaches English through his own journey of learning Portuguese and Czech respectively....

Isn't it awesome that English allows you to discover the world and meet people from different countries and learn about other cultures? That's exactly what we mean when we encourage you to go beyond the classroom and become a global citizen! In fact, our company vision is to create a world beyond borders. So in today's episode, we're excited to join you on your English learning journey, and help y...

My guest today is Veronika Mark, a language learner and YouTuber from Russia. On her YouTube channel, English with Veronika Mark, she shares the tips she applied on her own journey learning English for the past 6 years. Veronika speaks English and Chinese fluently, and also some French. She approaches a variety of topics, such as how you can keep motivated to learn English, where to find resources...

There are various types of jokes in English that you may have heard of, such as traditional knock-knock jokes, one-liners and more. Some can be quite difficult to understand because they contain more than one meaning. These are the jokes we'll be looking at today. So we'll be sharing some jokes with you and explaining their meaning and  what makes them funny or a little embarrassing. Try using the...

Idahosa Ness is a polyglot, musician, and founder of The Mimic Method for learning languages. After traveling to Mexico at the age of 17 without knowing a word of Spanish, and struggling to connect with locals, he worked hard to perfect his accent by understanding the sonority of the language. He created The Mimic Method and used this approach to learn five other languages. He is oftentimes mistak...

We are very excited to celebrate our 250th podcast episode with you today! For this reason, we've selected a few questions that you, our listeners, have submitted to answer for you. You'll learn a bit of grammar, a bit of vocabulary and some curiosities, like some 43-letter word that holds the record for the longest English word. That, and more, of course! Show notes here . .......... We're super...

If you can't focus, you're not alone. Let me share a secret with you. So it has taken me more than five years to learn what I need to do to focus on getting my work done. And I must say, until this day, I sometimes find myself getting distracted and switching between tasks on a busy work day. Does this happen to you? It's so easy to get trapped in distraction when facing a difficult or daunting ta...

You asked for it and we listened. In today's podcast we're bringing you a topic that you have requested us to cover. Many of you are currently studying for or have completed the IELTS exam. So, in this episode of the podcast we're giving you 10 tips to help you pass the exam or improve your score.  Show notes here . .......... We're super excited to announce that we have publicly launched much ant...