The Ordinary Conversation That Suddenly Leaves You Lost | 36-Minute English Podcast (B2-C1)

Ethan spent a Sunday lunch on a balcony in Valencia, ten months into his Spanish, following every single word. A neighbour had sold his car, a green Renault that everybody on the street could hear coming, and the table of seven had opinions about it. Then somebody said two short words, and in about eight seconds all six of the others were talking about a sister who was moving to Seville. He did not turn with them. Thirty seconds later he asked, in clear and correct Spanish, how much the neighbour had got for the car. The table stopped, somebody politely answered him, and the new conversation never came back. It happened three times that afternoon, and after the third he went quiet for an hour and told himself in the car on the way home that he was tired. He was not tired. He was lost, and lost is not the same thing as not understanding. This episode is about the half of a conversation that nobody teaches you to hear: the two-word signals that warn a table the subject is about to change, the ones that say it is coming back, and the three-second repairs you can say when you have already missed the turn. Four families, fifteen signals, every one of them made of words you learned in your first month. THE 15 SIGNALS IN THIS EPISODE - "Anyway, so." - "Speaking of which." - ...and 13 more, all said out loud in the episode. Every one is said slowly, repeated more than once, and then used in a real situation, so you can say it out loud with us instead of only recognizing it. The Fluency Plateau is for people who already understand English but freeze when it is time to speak. Each episode takes one exact moment where you get stuck and hands you the signals that get you past it. SPEAKING CHALLENGE What's the last thing you missed and didn't ask about? Say your answer out loud before you write it. #EnglishPodcast #EnglishConversation #SpeakEnglish #EnglishFluency