Listener Feedback:

Say ‘Hi’ to Juan Carlos Alumbreros who listens to us in his car while he’s driving to work (on his COMMUTE)

Juan Carlos says, thanks a lot for your awesome job to help Spanish people learn English. Your way is different and very addictive. I love listening (to) your podcast when I commute to my job, every day.

What do you call a man from Calaluña who doesn’t have a car? CARLES – CAR Less!

(fallo) Hello, before anything, thank you for amazing work. I’m really enjoying learning with you.
I have a question, why do some expressions and verbs use ‘up’ at the end. I don’t know when to use it.
Example: shut up, built up, meet up, drive up, come up, etc… I hope can help me. Thanks again… Regards (Fallo)

Completion/termination: eat up and drink up, use up, wash up, Shut up! – “I ended up doing all the work”

Increase: the price has gone up, they’ve put up the price, turn up the music, please speak up, I need to pump up the tyres on my car. (to pump up = inflar, hinchar), (to hype up = exagerar, dar bombo a)

Emergence: to pop up, something’s popped up on my screen, I can’t meet you. Something’s come up, What’s up with you?

Construction, composition: we’ve built up a good relationship with our advertisers, water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, (to make up = maquillarse, reconciliarse), the council are putting up a new bridge.

“put up or shut up!” – Do something or don’t speak
An email from Sonia:

Hi Reza and Craig,

I need your help again. I’d like to know if there is any clue, any trick, to know exactly when I should use an infinitve form or an ing form. inglespodcast.com/14 and inglespodcast.com/15

My problem with those direct objects is to know exactly when I should use them as an infinitive in Spanish.

Actually I’ve just had a problem just few lines above, as I couldn’t decide between “…to know exactly when to use…” and “…to know exactly when using…”, so I chose “…to know exactly when I should..”

“….to know when + infinitive” – to know when to go…, to know when to use…, to know when to say… etc.

I forgot to close the window? I forgot closing the window?

“Yesterday I forgot to close the window.”

“She forgot closing the window when she went on holiday last week.” (She didn’t have a memory of closing it)

Craig went out and got completely drunk. He doesn’t remember getting home.

Keep listening (keep + gerund). We’ll be explaining gerunds and infinitives a lot more in future podcasts.

I also find difficulty in those sentences where in Spanish we use an infinitive as the complement of the verb TO BE:

Mi intención es ganar: My intention is to win? My intention is winning? (both sentences sound odd to me)

“Winning is my intention.” and “To win is my intention.” are both correct. Use the gerund when you’re talking about something in general, “Smoking may kill you.” Here, smoking is the subject of the sentence.

Can you give me a hand, please?

Thanks in advance! Keep on with this fantastic podcast which helps us so much!

Best, Sonia
A Question from Alberto (Madrid)

What’s the difference between England, Britain, Great Britain and The UK.?

We touched on this subject when we spoke about the flags (las banderas) in episode inglespodcast/34

British and Northern Irish? Reza is British and Northern Irish. Craig is English and he’s British.

Great Britain is composed of England, Scotland and Wales. There’s more information about Great Britain on Wikipedia

The United Kingdom is composed of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. There’s more information about The United Kingdom on Wikipedia

Ireland (or The Republic of Ireland) is a separate country. There’s more information about the country of Ireland on Wikipedia

A Welshman is Welsh and British. A Scotsman is Scottish and British. A Scottish person can also be called a Scot.

Blighty is a slang word for Britain or England.

American V North American (North American is composed of Canada, the US, Greenland, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and more…)
A question from Mara, Valencia

I have a question for you; I listened to a friend saying ‘I have time to spare’. For me, the meaning of this expression is different from saying ‘I have time to waste’. But he said that is the same.

Is this true? And then could you explain the difference between ‘to spare time’ and ‘to waste time’?

to waste = malgastar, derrochar. To waste time is to spend it in a negative way. “I wasted time playing video games all day.”

trainspotting = observación de trenes

“Don’t waste my time!”

“He’s a time-waster.”

spare key

spare batteries

spare bedroom

A comment and some questions from Elisa

What winds me up is when people arrive late to an appointment. People can be 30 min or an hour late, this drives me crazy!

Reza often keeps Craig waiting, but never too long!

Craig can’t stand people who use kids as an excuse – leave earlier!

Comment: Would be nice to hear your opinions about students now and some fifteen years ago. Are people better to learn English (better at learning English/to be good at, bad at, better at, worse at) now than earlier?

Are they learning quicker? What about grammar, is it any easier for people to learn or understand it now?

Are people still shy (timido/a) when it comes to talking? What about pronunciation, has it become better because of the internet and many voice applications and software?

Reza thinks that it’s easier for hard-working students to progress because of the extra resources.

Craig and Reza don’t think their job of teaching English has been made any easier. In fact, technology has perhaps made people less likely to speak and communicate in English face to face.

Reza is troubled by the use of mobile phones in the classroom.

Too much use of mobile devices may affect the students’ ability to write notes.

Vocabulary: Asking for directions

Hi Reza and Craig again.

I am John from Buenos Aires.

I am going to travel to California in August. Could you talk about travel vocabulary?

For example how to ask for some place to arrive by car (How to get to places by car), how to order in a restaurant, how to shop, etc

Thanks a lot.

I listen to you every day and I am thinking to do (thinking of doing) it at night while I am sleeping. Bye!
We spoke about travel vocabulary in episode 13

This week asking for directions. Next week and the week after, eating out and how to shop

We spoke about indirect questions with Nicola in episode 50

Do you know….where the bank is? Do you know how to get to….? Can you tell me how to get to….,please? (remember to say ‘please’)

Excuse me, can you tell me where the station is, please?

go straight (on) / keep going, turn right, turn left, (take a right/left – US). It’s the first on the left, it’s on your right, it’s on the right hand side

Go across the lights (semáforos), roundabout/traffic circle (US) – rotonda, glorieta

a junction – a place where roads cross

How far is it? How long will it take? How many kilometres is it? Is it (very) far? Is it nearby/near/close/near here?

Go back on yourself = go back in the direction you originally came from. Do a U-turn.

Craig and Reza’s Weekly wind-ups (to wind up = annoy, irritate, bother: fastidiar, disgustar, molestar)

Reza: Civil servants who are always having a coffee break.

Craig: Computer website pop ups.

*Dispones de más PODCAST en inglés publicados en los cuadernos anteriores
a los que puedes acceder directamente así como al índice de su contenido.