This is an all -ears English podcast episode 23 97 experiences part 1 how to talk about your life Welcome to the all -ears English podcast Downloaded more than two hundred million times.
Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection not perfection with your American hosts Lindsay McMahon the English adventurer and Michelle Kaplan the new york radio girl coming to you from Colorado and New York City USA To get real -time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized Vocabulary list try the all ears English app for iOS and Android start your 7 -day free trial at all ears That's english .com forward slash app.
Talking about your life experiences is one of the best ways to build connection in English.
In this part one of a two part series get two structured ways that native speakers use the word experience to recount moments of their lives in English.
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Hey, Michelle. How are you today?
I'm good. Lindsay, how are you?
Fantastic. Fantastic.
What are we getting into in all there's English today, Michelle?
Well, let's see. I have a question.
Um, what would you say is one of the top experiences you've had in the past year?
Oh my gosh. I it's hard to, it's hard to say, but probably hiking in Slovenia was amazing at that altitude and just being in a new place was was awesome it's usually a travel experience for me yeah for me I guess I guess just it was a whirlwind of a year and so I would just say moving in general okay I don't know if it was like the top experience like as if you would be traveling but it was pretty, pretty awesome to move into a house and just kind of start building a new life.
So, yes. Yes, I love that.
I love that. So experience.
You asked me about my top experience of the year.
Is that what we're talking about today on the show?
We are. We're actually doing a mini series.
This is the first part.
Um, and guys, stay tuned because the second part is going to be about a different way to use the word experience.
And we're going to do this over on the business English podcast. So I don't think if you're not looking to excel at work, like if you're if you're just listening for fun, you would like to do all there is English.
This is still going to be helpful.
This is not just for business, but it's going to be really good for the business English podcast to go ahead on over to that one and hit follow because that one is going to be coming out very soon.
I love it. I love it.
Yeah, go ahead and hit follow.
hit the follow button guys, you don't miss a single episode, either here on all others English are over on business English.
But Michelle, we do have some poll results to share today.
We do. All right. So this was from episode 23, 71 was is this seat taken and Lindsey, what was the poll question?
Okay. The poll question was this.
Is it acceptable to save seats in crowded places in your culture?
We had a whole interesting conversation on saving seats and we thought maybe it's kind of cultural this idea of saving seats and especially saving more than one seat next to you right yes that was fun so yeah so is it acceptable to save seats and crowded places in your culture so lindsey what were the results all right so our listeners the verdict is yes it is acceptable for 68 percent of our listeners and no for 31 of people that are listening to the show very interesting breakdown here.
Yeah. Oh yeah yeah I would definitely be curious to learn more about it it's it's always those things that you don't think too much about right we don't think about oh saving seats around the world but it's always when you travel that's those are the things that you kind of pick up on how things are different but you don't think about it ahead of time right that's true absolutely wow there's so many differences around the world but I think the thing that brings us together is the desire for connection I mean that's what we're coming together around here in the show.
So using the correct vocabulary words is one way to do that, right, Michelle?
Love it. Yeah, exactly.
So talking about experience, so we're going to talk about some really useful ways to refer to an important situation, something you've done, something like that.
So this is, you know, when we talk about work experience, that's a kind of a different way to use that word. So we're going to talk about a slightly, um, it's a slightly special way to use it.
So, okay, Lindsay, what's the first one?
Okay, so the first one we're talking about today is a or an experience, right?
So this could be anything, right?
A way to describe something that you've done.
Again, like you said, so throwing out some common ones here, we have a wonderful experience, a terrible experience, a learning experience.
What else, Michelle, might we say?
You could say an unforgettable experience, a unique experience, a special experience, sometimes somebody might even say a once in a lifetime experience.
Right? It's a cliche, but it's a good one.
I think. Great. Exactly.
Exactly. So let's do some examples here.
So, um, well, this one is for me, it's, uh, I had a wonderful experience living in London.
I will never forget it.
Oh, for sure. Any kind of, like we said, at the top of the show, any kind of a chance to live abroad or travel is usually a wonderful experience.
Sometimes Sometimes it can be hard, right?
But wonderful. Or, here's another example.
I just had the best experiences I've ever had at a nail salon.
Best experience I've ever had at a nail salon.
You have to go there.
I actually went to get my nails done recently before – Yeah.
I never do but I had a photo shoot and I was like, oh, I have to do my nails, right?
It was fun. It was like pampering.
You put your nails in there and it was great.
Did you get a color or?
No, no. like it more of a neutral I just got the neutral just the gel and the neutral it's yeah yeah I know so fancy exactly all right here we go um you have to look at this as a learning experience you may not love every minute of it but it will get you to the next level hmm so yeah I think we do throw around this idea of experience and describing the experience a lot and it's part of kind of coming of To in American culture going to college is a learning experience Separating from your parents when you're 18 19 years old is an experience, right?
Yeah. Yeah, exactly I mean Lindsay, what would you say you were talking about Slovenia?
But any other experiences you want to share?
I mean, what would you say has been your most unforgettable?
Experience while traveling.
I know that's probably Yeah, they're all pretty unforgettable I mean living in Japan was dramatically altered my life, right?
I just had dinner with, did I mention this on the show?
I just had dinner with someone I hadn't seen in 20 years that I had lived it not lived with in Japan, but we were very close and we were trained together as a group and it changed me, you know, when you go do something like that when you're 24 years old, it changes how you envision the rest of your life, what kind of work you're going to do and how your life is going to look.
Right. So that would be it.
Yeah, yeah. Mm hmm.
Absolutely. All right.
Love it. OK, so another thing you can just say is and this is I love this.
Do you ever say it was an experience?
Yeah. And I love this because we can say an awful lot and not saying very much. Right.
It's emphatic. It's generally used to say something was a little crazy, maybe a little chaotic.
Maybe there's a we're hinting at something maybe not that great.
Right. Let's give an example, Michelle.
All right, little role play here.
Hey, I heard you took your kids on the plane.
How was your flight with your kids?
Well, it was an experience.
So when if you hear me say that, what do like, well, do I possibly mean?
I gather that you you survived it or you came out of it, but it was not easy.
Right. That's the key.
Right. Right, exactly.
Exactly. Maybe you don't want to go into all the details for me today, But you're just I get it, OK, all right.
It was a little challenging what she did.
Yeah. Right, right.
Something was a little while.
I mean, it could be positive, but it's mostly to say it was wild or chaotic.
I mean, have you ever have you had any experiences like that recently?
Oh, wild and chaotic experiences like that.
No, not recently. Things have been relatively smooth, I would say.
But although when I came back from California A few weeks ago I was carrying back some heavy some heavy items And I had to like load up the suitcase and load it from you know From the ground to pull it up into the overhead bin.
That was kind of unwieldy and crazy So I'd use the leg muscles.
Yeah. Yeah, so you could say oh my gosh.
That was an experience.
Yeah Yeah for me. It was going on the plane with both of my kids.
That's a true truth.
I can't imagine I don't even know.
I've seen it on TV, but I just don't know how people do it.
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All right, Michelle, we are back, so is there another way that we use this term experience?
Yeah, so this is one that comes about quite frequently, I think.
Do you have your hair if somebody says you're paying for the experience?
Yeah, you hear that.
Yeah. Yeah, totally especially when we're paying too much for something, right?
What kind of context with this?
Okay, yeah, so yeah, this is an interesting one I I'm pretty sure this one.
It was probably in this episode was inspired by this expression because I feel like this comes up a lot So this is used when you want to say something maybe overpriced for the service provided or simply that the quality isn't wonderful, but there's something special or unique about it that makes it worth it.
So I to me, I think like theme restaurant, do you remember?
Did you have something called the rainforest cafe?
Yeah, it sounds familiar.
Sounds familiar. Yeah.
Yeah. Growing up, you know, we love to go to the rainforest cafe and I'm, I actually don't know how much it was because I was a kid, but I'm assuming it was expensive.
Yeah. And like, you know, it's a really cool atmosphere.
It's not that there's anything special about the food, but you would say, oh, you're paying for the experience.
Another one that I can think of is, did you ever go to the Stardust Diner in New York?
Sounds very familiar too.
I mean that one, or what comes to mind for me is Benihana.
Ah. Oh yeah, that's the ultimate, right?
Cause you're paying to watch people, put things in the air, and you bring kids and they love it, there's onions flying and there's fire going.
and you're eating a hibachi and the foods maybe not outstanding.
You could get better Japanese food somewhere else but you're paying for the experience.
Right? Yes, exactly.
Or let me think. There was one I wanted to share.
Oh my gosh, I'll come back to it.
So let's do a little role -play.
Okay. Here we go. So how's the food?
food. Uh, the food was okay, but really that's not what it's about.
You're paying for the experience.
Of course, of course.
Acrobats at your seat.
That's so much fun.
And sometimes it's okay.
Yeah, we have to decide when do we want to pay for the experience?
Maybe that's the event of the weekend, right?
And that's right. Or, but sometimes you're thinking, okay, I just want good food, right?
So I'm going to create more low key and unknown, right?
Right. So that actually, now I know what I was going to say.
I was going to go back to the Stardust Diner.
So the Stardust Diner is a restaurant in New York, and it's it's very popular.
And it's kind of aspiring actors and actresses who sing at your seat.
Well, they're not at your seat, but they kind of go all around the restaurant.
They takes turns singing and they are incredible.
I mean, they are just incredible, incredible singers.
And but I wouldn't and the food is diner food and it's a diner food.
It's expensive food.
I mean it's, you know, like I took my son there and we got like a bagel and a tuna mouth.
I mean this was probably a year ago and, you know, it's, you know, it's just overpriced.
The food is overpriced, but what you would say in that case is it's okay.
You're paying for the experience.
It's that there's something special that kind of warrants the extra money that you spend.
Yes. Or we also say paying for the convenience, but that's another episode for another day.
Another episode for another.
Oh, that's a good one.
Yes. Yes. For sure.
Or dagger or something a totally different thing.
Yeah, for sure. Totally different thing.
Okay. But have you ever, have you had any experiences recently where you felt you were paying for the experience?
Well, like I said, Benny Hana, we went there, I went there with my extended family on Christmas or around the holidays and I was like, oh, how are we really going here?
I don't know. I guess, but I didn't pay, so yeah.
My family paid. That's fine.
Alright, so, alright, so that is a really, that's a really fun one.
I like that expression.
So Lindsey let's do a role play here.
In this role play you just went to a new spa and I am asking you about it.
Oh yes, okay, here we go.
Alright, so how was it?
It was an experience.
Really? Yeah, I mean, it was good.
There were tons of people there, super crowded.
I don't know, maybe I'll go somewhere else next time.
Oh, well you could try my place.
It's pretty expensive, but you're paying for the experience.
They have the most beautiful rooms and play the best music and the staff is so nice.
I would say it's worth it.
Okay. Maybe I'll call them.
I want to get the best experience possible.
Definitely. You deserve it.
Nice. Nice. Yeah. It makes me think of, have you ever heard of a beer spa?
This is so bad. So there is a beer spot in Denver.
And I've been to it a couple of times where literally, like, they put beer and hops in the water and it's supposed to have anti -inflammatory properties.
I'm not sure if I believe that.
And then you could drink beer in the spa.
It's a whole thing.
So that is experience, Michelle.
Right. That's definitely probably paying for the experience.
It's like something that's so unique or something special about it that you bake that into the price of the actual quality of something.
It's so crazy. It's so crazy.
So that's, that's the kind of thing, you know, a once in a lifetime ex I probably wouldn't go back there regularly.
I tried it once. Didn't knock my socks off.
You know, bonus phrase for today.
Knock my socks off.
Yeah. I'm going to put that on in there.
That's a great one.
Let's go through the role play, Michelle.
So what did I say? Okay.
So I said, so how was it?
And you said it was an experience.
And when somebody says that you know, there's more to the story.
Yes. Yeah, it's there's a lot packed in there It's a lot implied by saying that and you have to you have to use your intonation there You know it was and then you did a pause and experience Yeah, it was an experience you definitely in and we can feel that there's a lot there a lot of thoughts there that I have right I have a Lot of thoughts here and then you said it's pretty expensive.
You could try my place meaning my spa Um, it's pretty expensive.
And what you mean by that is the spa near your home, in your neighborhood, the one you go to regularly.
Right, Michelle? Right.
Right. And I said, but you're paying for the experience.
And then I went on to say why.
So, and so I guess what I'm saying is there's nothing out of the ordinary about the actual massages or whatever you get, but it's so nice.
That's maybe it's pristine, right?
Everything is great.
So it's worth it. I love it.
And then I said, okay, maybe I'll call them.
I want to get the best experience possible So I'm saying yeah, I'm just saying I want the best. Yeah, I want to go to the best place.
I can find right Yeah, exactly Yeah, I mean this is an interesting episode because you would think experience is such a such a common word It's everywhere, but we do use it in very specific chunks to mark the moment of our lives, right?
This is talking about the moment of our lives Think about what we've talked about Michelle today our travel experiences times with our families at restaurants Relaxation this is what is going to come up in conversation or listeners.
Yeah, exactly. This is really fun So guys head on over make sure that you hit the follow button well If you don't follow all there's English yet make sure you do that first of all about of course head on over to business English and hit follow because you will be Getting part two of this series over there soon.
All right, sounds great.
Michelle. We'll talk to you very soon Bye, Lindsey.
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