English With Kirsty

My "31 ways to improve your English" challenge is back again and we'll be starting on 1st January 2025!I don't believe that the beginning of a new year is the best time to start new things or bring about change! But it is true that our routines change throughout December and sometimes it's hard to get back into the habit of practising our additional language skills outside of the things that we need to do for work.Also, sometimes people want to learn new things, but they feel bored with what they're doing at the moment and want to change things up a bit.This is where my 31 ways to improve your English challenge comes in.Each day, you receive a new activity to develop some aspect of your language. If you're doing it to improve your English, you also have access to me to ask questions or get written feedback about any of your tasks.Find the show notes page here: https://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode265/or sign up for the challenge here: https://englishwithkirsty.com/about-the-lessons/31days/The challeng

I met Dolores a few months ago at a networking event and since then I’ve been getting to know her better at my networking and language exchange events for language professionals.Dolores is also a podcaster – in fact that was one of our first topics. I thought it would be interesting to talk about Dolores work, her podcast, and why she decided to split it into two separate podcasts with content in both Spanish and English.We talked about: Dolores podcast and why she decided to have a podcast in English and one in Spanish How having a podcast helps Dolores to learn more and develop her speaking skills Why Dolores enjoys translating in the area of education Why we will never stop being language learners, however fluent we become How the role of people working in translation and localisation is changing Dolores’ advice for anyone who is thinking about starting a podcast. You can find all the links and further details on the show notes page:https://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode264/

In this week's episode I'm talking about my new interactive workshop, which is all about the challenges that we can face as advanced language learners. We've got our language to a good level, but then, for whatever reason, we feel stuck and it's hard to move forward.We'll explore 5 challenges that you might be facing and what you can do to move past them.Talking about problems isn't fun, so I wanted to make it a bit more approachable and light-hearted. I also didn't want to make case studies with these 5 challenges in case anyone had the same name as the characters. So instead, we have 5 dogs. You can see the retriever in the picture here - she struggles with perfectionism. Does anyone relate to that? If you do, come along to the workshop!We also have 4 other dogs with different situations, so if you come, you'll discover whether you're more like the spaniel, the labrador, the German shepherd or the collie!Or maybe you'll have elements of more than one. As a language learner, I do!This is where you can find o

If you use access technology or have other accessibility requirements, you can’t just find a good language course and sign up for it! First you need to check out how accessible that course will be for you, how willing the course provider is to make any adaptions, and then you can make an informed decision about whether it’s going to be a good option to meet your needs.I’m a learner as well as a teacher and I have a lot to say about this too, but I thought it would be more interesting to have a discussion with one of my clients who also uses access technology.I’ve known Elisabeth for a number of years now. In fact, she was my second customer! We talked about: Elisabeth’s previous experiences of learning English Why Elisabeth wanted to find an online English course and what was important to her in terms of accessibility Why it’s important for designers of courses or learning materials to be aware of different accessibility requirements and to consider them from the beginning of the project What Elisabeth does t

Today I'm talking about some of the activities in which I've been participating in order to develop my language skills in a way that's relevant to work. Whether that was attending a Women in Localisation webinar in Portuguese, meeting a Toastmaster's group in Portugal, or planning future attendance at a workshop in German - all of these things are somehow work-related and at the same time, they help me to develop relevant, work-related vocabulary. I should add that I didn't need to look for these opportunities. all of the invitations came to me through my network. If you spend time getting to know people and building relationships, those people will probably invite you to things!I also talk about some other things you can do such as looking for industry-specific podcasts, publications, or social media accounts.Whether you're developing your passive listening skills at a webinar, participating in a workshop, or even going on a podcast in an additional language - all of these things can help you to grow and bec

You first met Maria in episode 244 of the podcast about the conversation club.I first met her at our networking for language professionals events and through her interview on the Language Worker podcast.Maria also shared more of her story at one of our conversation club meetings and I thought it would be interesting to share this story with you as well.We talked about:* Maria’s interest in writing and how it has continued throughout the different stages of her career* Maria’s blog in Portuguese* Tips for how writing can help you to improve your language skills – either in your first language or an additional one* How writing by hand and typing in other languages with additional characters are good ways* How writing or journalling can help us to be present and get to know ourselves better.We also discussed Maria’s upcoming course for those who want to learn more about subtitling. You can find the details here: https://www.translastars.com/course/master-subtitlingWho is Maria?>Maria Virgínia Barros is a pass

September can be a time for new beginnings, although really, we don't need to wait for a certain month to start something new. Still, lots of people are talking about new plans and ideas at the moment and it got me thinking...Some people just get an idea and run with it. For others, there are a number of things that get in the way or that make us put things off. Sometimes just taking the first step and getting started is the hardest part.So what are those things? This week we're looking at 8 of them and what we can do to prevent them from getting in the way of us starting something new and exciting!Here is the show notes page. https://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode259/I mentioned my 3 main programmes too - details of all of them can be found on the home page of my English with Kirsty site. ***********Send me an email if you have any questions or suggestions about the English with Kirsty podcast:podcast@englishwithkirsty.comor come and find me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-wolf-a8478235

Today I'm bringing you my conversation with Helen. You may remember her because she featured on episode 235 about the conversation club.This is part of a new series where I'm talking about different aspects of learning languages. We'll explore some of the challenges that my clients have faced and how they overcame them.Helen isn't someone who loves learning languages, but she needed English for some professional training that she was doing and she was motivated enough to get some help with it. Helen went from someone who felt nervous about speaking English to someone who now talks to strangers at the gym and prepares presentations for us at the club.What changed? Find out in the episode! Find the show notes here: https://www.englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode258and you can connect with me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-wolf-a8478235/

I have two announcements for you this week!Firstly, I'm doing a survey about the podcast and I'd love to get your input. It's always good to hear from my podcast listeners, but I'd be especially happy if you have a few minutes to fill in my survey because I'm making plans for the next 250 episodes and it helps me if I know what people are enjoying/finding useful. Here's the link to the survey!https://englishwithkirsty.com/english-with-kirsty-podcast-2024-survey-and-meet-up/secondly, I'm organising an online meet-up for my previous podcast guests and listeners who have completed the survey. Details are on the survey page and if you leave me your email address when you complete the survey, I'll send you the joining details for the event.Thanks in advance to anyone who gives me feedback and I'm looking forward to meeting some of you or seeing you again at the meet-up!

I decided to contact Inês because I’d been listening to her podcast, Your voice matters, for a while. I was even more excited to discover that the first episodes were in Portuguese, because it means I have some more interesting content to listen to that will help me improve my Portuguese and learn about other voice-related topics!But originally, our interview wasn’t going to be about that. I wanted to talk about voice coaching. We covered topics such as getting used to hearing your own voice and practising how you want to sound before you actually speak in public. Also, how we can use our voice to communicate our personality, even if we’re feeling nervous about the language.We can adopt vocal habits in another language that aren’t ours and it’s liberating when we learn to move past this.We also discuss why Inês decided to start a podcast, why she switched the language after the first two seasons, how she did it, what the process was like for her, and what advice she would give to people who are thinking about

We often talk about what we do, but one of the things that we touched upon at the conversation club today was why we do what we do. What motivates us? What gives us a sense of fulfilment?Today I'm sharing a bit of my story about why language is important to me, how needing to learn in a slightly different way has actually helped me, and why I do what I do.In the coming months, some of my clients and friends will be sharing their stories too.I also talked about my "Discover your voice in English" mentoring programme. Send me a message if you'd like to find out more or to have a chat about whether it's for you!https://englishwithkirsty.com/discover-your-voice-in-englishHere's the show notes page for the episode:https://www.englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode255

Sometimes advice like “feel the fear and do it anyway” or “just start and see what happens” doesn’t work. You need a more structured plan to give you the confidence to create and launch something new.This is how today’s guest approached his idea to start a YouTube channel in English. He made a plan, created the content, and finally gave himself time to make sure that it was what he wanted before releasing it out into the world.It’s easy to look at successful, well-known content creators and to think that they’ve always been doing that – but every story has a beginning. Today Adrian Probst shares his content creation story with us.We talked about:

It's summer here in Europe and many people are thinking about holiday activities - which means a lot of the things that we usually do are put on hold.This episode is one of a series of quick, implementable tips - things that you can do to work on your language skills without attending a class or working with the language.Today I'm talking about why it's important for us to meet new people anyway, and how, as a language learner, in some ways it's easier to start conversations with people that we don't know. It could be to get some information that we need. It could be small talk - they don't know all the basic things about us that are easy to answer. And more importantly, we never know where conversations will lead - you might even find some new friends!Plus - you don't have to be in a country where the language is spoken in order for this to work!If you try this out, let me know how you get on! Be mindful of where you are and whom you're speaking with - if it doesn't feel good, move on!Here's the link to the

I came across Anja and her podcast on LinkedIn because I was curious to find out what other podcast hosts are doing and to find some new content to listen to. Anja and I started talking when I posted a question about people who produce content in another language – and here we are! I hope you enjoy our conversation, and if you’re thinking about creating content in English, but you haven’t started doing it yet, Anja has some really good tips and advice for you.We talked about: Anja’s podcast – “Freelance business unlocked” – and how it came about Anja’s language story – how English came into her life Why Anja decided to change her podcast language from Croatian to English, why she made the change, and how she felt about it Tips for dealing with imposter syndrome and procrastination The importance of learning to be comfortable with our voice – in general and when we’re speaking another language. Is procrastination or imposter syndrome preventing you from starting something new? If you like, you can share someth

Today I'm sharing a tip from one of our language exchange for language professionals meet-ups and it's something that I'm doing to help with my Portuguese.If you commit to giving yourself regular opportunities to write, this will also help your general fluency. Finding time for something quick is often easier than finding time to write a long essay! You can always extend the word count - I often go well over mine - but it's a minimum and you can always make the task harder as your language skills increase.You can also add new rules such as "don't use the dictionary" - so you have to use the words that you already know. I'd do that for German and Romanian, but the Portuguese practise for me is also about vocabulary building.You can be more prescriptive about the text.Or, if stories are more your thing, you could commit to writing a bit more of your story each time.If you try this out, let me know how you get on!Find out more on the show notes page:https://www.englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode251***********

Carrying on with our voice theme, this week, Julia Michelle is here to talk with us about another aspect of voice, one which is particularly relevant to those of us who are business owners or freelancers: our brand voice.Julia was the speaker at a networking event that I attended recently and I wanted to introduce you to her as well.This is how Julia introduces herself:“I’m a registered nurse, copywriter, and brand voice specialist.Having a background as a nurse, it was a big shift for me to run my own business, and one of the hardest parts was figuring out what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it!When it came to building a personal brand, I found that so much of the advice out there was contradictory and confusing, and it just left me feeling like I had to give up who I wanted to be in order to follow “best practices”.That is… until I worked with Justin Blackman, one of the top brand voice experts in the world, and learned about how to measure and document brand voice.Now I work with entrepreneurs – a

Our voices are so much more than the way we speak. This is part of it, but finding and using our unique voice is about more than that. It’s about expressing who we are, what we think, how we feel, and the messages that we want to share.Every day, we play different roles and adopt different communication styles depending on what we’re doing and whom we’re with. That’s normal.But sometimes, the version of ourselves that people meet when we’re using an dditional language is not 100% who we are and this can make it harder for us to communicate and for others to get to know us.Today I’m talking about a couple of reasons for this – and they’re not all entirely language-related. I also talk about a short exercise that you can do to find out where your blockages might be.If you’re a freelancer or business owner who uses English as an additional language and you’d like to explore this in more detail, I’m offering a new 11-week mentoring programme called "Discover your voice in English." https://englishwithkirsty.com/d

I met Sion through the networking for language professionals sessions that I run with Rita Prazeres Gonçalves. I thought it would be good to talk with Sion about her work and her experiences of moving from the US to France and then later to Spain, where she now lives and works.Sion Dayson is an American voice actor based in Valencia, Spain. She works in many genres of voiceover, and specializes in eLearning, corporate narration, audio description, and materials for English-language learners. She’s voiced projects for clients including LG, Pearson, Business Spotlight, the National Academy of Sports Medicine, Iberian Media, among many others.She’s also narrated more than 130 titles for Blinkist, an app that summarizes the key takeaways from bestselling books. Her Blinkist credits include titles by Michelle Obama, Brene Brown, Robin Sharma, and many more.In addition to her six years in Spain, Sion’s experience with different languages includes studying in Mexico and Ghana, and ten years living in Paris, where sh

Marta is originally from Barcelona and has lived in Germany since 2002. She is a freelance translator who works from German and English into Spanish and Catalan, specialising in marketing and advertising.After many years of struggling with self-doubt, impostor syndrome and a fierce inner critic, Marta now offers consultancy services for fellow translators and interpreters, focusing on marketing and time management. What she enjoys most is encouraging people to believe in themselves and helping them to overcome their perfectionism when needed.We talked about: How we define perfectionism How perfection appears in the context of language learning How good attention to detail can help us, but perfectionism can also hold us back or make life harder Some practical tips and strategies for dealing with our perfectionist tendencies and reducing their impact on ourselves and our performance. Who and what can help us. Find out more on theshow notes page;https://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode246/