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Hello listeners, welcome back to Luke's English Podcast.
Here I am again feeding your brain with English in an entertaining, educational and informative way.
Today, I'm asking the question, is the glass half-empty? or half full.
I expect you're aware of this idea.
You've heard this before, right?
These expressions, the glass is half empty, the glass is half full.
If you're a premium subscriber and you've heard P77 part one that I uploaded recently, then you heard me talking about it a little bit there as well.
But anyway, the glass is half empty or the glass is half full.
Now, if you look at a glass, let's say a glass which can hold 200 millilitres of water and it has exactly 100 millilitres inside it, is that glass half empty or is it half full?
The way you answer that question tells us something about your personality.
It reveals something about the way you see the world, if you have a negative or positive outlook on things.
If you say the glass is half empty, it means you're a pessimist and you have a generally negative view of things.
You see the emptiness in the glass, you focus on the lack of water.
You're a glass half empty type of person.
But if you say the glass is half full, it means you're an optimist and you have a more positive view of things.
You focus on the water in the glass and you're a glass half full type person.
In this episode, then I'm talking about being an optimist or a pessimist, what this means, why people tend to be optimistic or pessimistic, how we talk about these things in English, and which one is the better mindset for learning English.
Here are some questions for you to consider or discuss in the comments section right at the start here okay.
So feel free to just consider these questions or even write your answers in the comments.
So the first question, what about you?
Are you a pessimist or an optimist?
What do you think?
Is the glass half empty or is it half full in your opinion?
Does it depend?
If it depends, what does it depend on?
Second question, do you have another clever or funny answer to this question?
Because there are other answers, like perhaps you could take the scientific view that, in fact, the glass is completely full because it's full of air as well as water, right?
It's 50% water molecules, but the glass is also full of air molecules too.
Right, so feel free to leave alternative answers in the comments section.
There are various funny answers to this question.
I'll share some later, actually.
Third question, what do you think causes us to be either optimistic or pessimistic?
Why is it that some people are generally optimistic and others are generally pessimistic?
Why does this happen?
Is it a choice?
Are we just free to choose the way we see the world?
Or are we sort of designed that way because of our upbringing?
Is it about our childhood, the experiences we have in our life, that make us optimistic or pessimistic?
Or is it genetic?
Are we just born one way or the other?
What do you think?
Which outlook on life is healthier?
So which type of people are more likely to be healthier and live longer, optimists or pessimists?
And E, or the fifth question, do you think most people in the world are optimistic or pessimistic?
Which outlook is more common?
Which is the more common position among human beings on Earth?
Optimism or pessimism?
What do you think?
And which outlook is best for learning English?
What do you think?
Do optimists or pessimists tend to learn English more effectively?
What's the more effective approach? mindset for learning English.
So let's get some answers, discuss this subject and learn loads of useful English in the process.
So we're going to start with some scientific insights.
I found an interesting video on YouTube just the other day which actually inspired me to make this episode.
And this video will help us to get answers to some of those questions.
And I'm going to read the transcript of that video for you in just a moment.
It's only a couple of minutes long, but it's packed with fascinating information on this subject and also loads of very interesting and useful English vocabulary and grammar for clearly and efficiently discussing this kind of subject.
So the video is by a channel called ASAP Science.
ASAP, A-S-A-P, that's as soon as possible.
So ASAP Science, a channel on YouTube devoted to making science make sense.
The channel is run by Mitchell Moffat and Gregory Brown.
They make videos which apply scientific research to common questions that we have about the world.
This particular video is called, Is the Glass Half Empty?
So let me read the script from the video and we'll try to answer some of the questions I asked you earlier.
I'll also explain some of the useful English which you can learn from this.
You'll see.
If you look at the PDF for this episode, you'll see in this text I've highlighted some words and phrases.
Those are the bits that I will explain later.
So questions to consider.
Here are sort of three of the questions I mentioned earlier.
The first one is what causes us to be optimistic or pessimistic?
Is it a choice?
Is it due to our upbringing or is it genetic?
So what makes us optimistic or pessimistic?
Second question, which outlook is generally healthier?
Which type are more likely to live longer?
And do you think most people in the world are optimistic or pessimistic?
So we'll get answers to those questions as I read the transcript for that video I mentioned.
So here it is.
Is the glass half empty?
The optimist will say that this glass is half full, while the pessimist proclaims it's half empty.
Of course, others may suggest that it's completely full of all the atoms that make up water and air.
Others still might remind you that atoms are in fact 9999 empty space, making the glass mostly nothing.
But in all seriousness, can science explain your emotional perspective and outlook on life?
It turns out it may not be in your control.
Research has shown that those with two long alleles on specific genes controlling serotonin are more likely to focus on positive images, like someone enjoying ice cream, compared to those with a short allele on the same gene, who are more likely to focus on negative things, like someone being robbed.
Variation in the oxytocin receptor gene can also affect your outlook.
Individuals with two copies of guanine are noted to be more optimistic, with higher self-esteem, while those with copies of adenine were less positive.
So it seems that people may be genetically susceptible to pessimism.
Interestingly, optimists are less likely to be re-hospitalised after coronary artery bypass surgery, show higher academic achievements and even better socioeconomic status.
But it's not all good.
They can overestimate their abilities and underestimate risk.
Pessimists, on the other hand, have a more realistic view of the world, are more cautious when planning for the future and may even live longer.
A landmark study spanning 20 years found that pessimists use a cautious approach to their finances and health, avoiding risky behaviours such as smoking and excessive drinking, ultimately giving them the last laugh, literally over optimists.
But statistically, most of us are hardwired to lean towards optimism.
Known as the optimism bias and found in around 80 of the population.
We tend to overestimate the probability of positive events occurring in the future, while grossly underestimating the probability of negative ones.
For example, even though the divorce rate can be as high as 40, most newlyweds predict their probability of getting divorced at 0.
Chances are, when you imagine your future, it's usually better than your current situation.
Furthermore, we often imagine ourselves as being more intelligent, sociable and honest than other people.
When we look at the brain, we actually see the left half exhibits increased activity when imagining positive events, whereas during negative events the right half's activity does increase, but to a much lesser degree.
This suggests that the brain chooses to ignore and filter out negative information and focus on positivity.
Our perspective is whether you're genetically predisposed to see the glass as half empty or half full, don't waste water and just drink the damn glass already.
OK.
How are you doing, everyone?
Did you keep up with that?
Let me give you those questions again and I'll answer them.
So what causes us to be optimistic or pessimistic?
Is it a choice?
Is it due to our upbringing or is it genetic?
So this video suggests that it seems to be genetic.
The answers are in paragraphs four, five and six of the text.
It's the section where it says research has shown that those with two long alleles on specific genes controlling serotonin are more likely to focus on positive images.
Blah blah, blah.
So basically...
Some people have certain genes or some people have too long alleles on specific genes controlling serotonin.
Basically, some people have genes like this, which make them more positive.
Other people have genes like this, which make them more negative.
So it seems to be our genes which push us towards positive or negative thinking.
And so it seems to be genetic, right?
There are other details in the text, but basically that's the answer to that, that it seems to be genetic.
Which outlook is healthier?
Which type are more likely to live longer?
So this text suggests that probably pessimism is healthier.
You can get the answer in paragraph seven and eight.
Let me find the answers there.
Interestingly, optimists are less likely to be re-hospitalized after coronary artery bypass surgery.
So actually that bit there suggests that maybe optimists have a slightly healthier life.
They are less likely to be re-hospitalized after coronary artery bypass surgery.
So after like serious surgery on your heart...
If you're an optimist, it seems that you will probably have lower chance of going back to hospital for another operation.
So it seems that optimistic people recover better from heart surgery than pessimistic people.
But...
It's not all good.
It says that pessimists have a more realistic view of the world.
They're more cautious.
So pessimists tend to be more careful.
They tend to avoid risks.
When planning for the future, they're more careful.
And as a result, they might live longer.
There was a landmark study mentioned, a 20-year study that found that pessimists take a more cautious approach to their finances and their health.
They avoid risky behaviour such as smoking and excessive drinking.
And this ultimately gives them the last laugh over optimists.
That means that basically they win.
They're the ones who sort of win in the end. literally giving them the last laugh.
I mean, that's an expression which I'll explain in a moment, but it basically means they live longer than optimists.
Okay, so that's the answer to that.
The third question was, are most of us optimistic or pessimistic?
Apparently, it seems that most people are hardwired to lean towards optimism, meaning that we...
Genetically, we seem to be more optimistic, right?
And this is the optimism bias that our brains seem to focus naturally on positive things and to filter out negative things.
80% of the population, 80% of people tend to be more positive in their minds, right?
Okay, I'll get into the details in a second.
I'll get into the details now.
But anyway, those are the answers.
Were those surprising for you?
That optimism or pessimism seem to be genetic?
That there are genetic factors that drive the way we think?
Is that a surprise?
Are you surprised that And pessimists seem to be healthier?
Because I think a lot of people would assume it's optimism which is the healthier view, right?
That if you see the good side, if you have a sunny disposition, that naturally this is going to lead you to be happier and therefore healthier.
But being optimistic potentially can make you take risks that you shouldn't take.
It means that you're not very careful, you don't maybe take steps to protect your future, and therefore it's the pessimists who are more careful, more cautious and safer, and therefore the ones that perhaps don't do dangerous behaviour or dangerous things and then live longer.
And do you think most people are optimistic or pessimistic?
Well, apparently most people are optimistic.
Is that a surprise?
I don't know.
Let's consider vocabulary at this point.
Let me now go through that text and explain it all and break it down for vocabulary and grammar.
I'll explain the meaning of each paragraph or section, and then I'll focus on the highlighted words and clarify them.
So let's go through the text again and look at language at this point.
So...
Here we go.
Loads of stuff to learn from this.
So is the glass half empty?
The optimist will say that this glass is half full, while the pessimist proclaims it's half empty.
Now there are a few different words, a few different verbs which basically are alternatives to saying say, you know.
So the optimist will say the glass is half full, while the pessimist proclaims it's half empty.
So to proclaim something, it's another way of saying say, and you may have noticed there are lots of different ways of saying say or said right.
If you're writing an essay, writing an article, writing anything you don't want to just say say say say, say all the time when you're reporting what someone else has said.
It's not always just say or said.
By the way, pronunciation there, pronunciation, I should point out, say, the verb say, the past, S-A-I-D, is not pronounced said, it's pronounced said, okay?
So say, that's pronounced say, but said, as I've just said, is pronounced said.
Okay.
Not said.
That's a common mistake I often hear.
So it's say, said, said.
Right.
But we don't always want to say say or said.
We want to use other words.
So you can use a word like proclaim, mention, state, point out.
Those are different alternatives to just saying say all the time.
This researcher pointed out this.
This researcher mentioned this in their study.
This researcher proclaimed.
In this case, pessimists proclaimed that the glass is half empty.
But to proclaim suggests that you not just say something, but probably say something publicly and say something with a certain level of enthusiasm.
Enthusiastically tell everyone.
That's what proclaim means.
But it's a nice alternative to just using say.
Of course, others may suggest that it's completely full of all the atoms, blah, blah, blah.
Others here don't. means other people.
So we've got.
Optimists will say this, pessimists proclaim this, others may suggest it's completely full of atoms.
So others just means other people.
Okay, and then we've got a couple of different ways of referring to people in this text as well.
You've got these people say this, these people say this, whereas others would say that.
Others may suggest.
There's another way of saying say.
They say this, they suggest this, they mention this, they proclaim this, they point this out.
Others may suggest that it's completely full of all the atoms that make up water.
Makeup is a nice phrasal verb.
We use makeup to refer to the constituent parts of something, all the different parts that combine to create something.
In this case, the atoms that make up water, H2O, right?
These are the different atoms that make up water.
They combine together to produce water.
Water is made up of oxygen and hydrogen atoms.
Now, you could say made of, but normally we use made of to refer to the material.
My shirt is made of cotton.
But if you're talking about the constituent parts, cotton is made up of these different molecules or fibres, for example.
My shirt is made of cotton.
That's the material that was used to create the shirt.
But made up of refers to the different constituent parts when combined together create something.
In this case, all the atoms that make up water fill the glass.
Others still might remind you that atoms are in fact 99.99% empty space.
So we've got others still.
So again, this means we've had these people say this, these people say that.
Others suggest this.
Others still.
So the still part actually means even yet another group of people.
So some more other people, let's say.
Others still.
And it's emphasised.
Others suggest it's completely full of atoms.
Others still might remind you.
So this just means even yet another group of people might remind you Again another way of saying say
And it's interesting that we say remind you that something is true.
And I just want to point out the difference between remind and remember.
I remember that this is true.
You remind me that this is true.
So remind means help or make someone remember something.
Right.
And we say remind.
You reminded me that this is true.
And also you can say, you remind me of my brother.
You remind me of my friend, meaning you make me think of that person.
Anyway, here it's.
Others still might remind you, help you remember, that atoms are in fact 9999 empty space.
By the way, when we're saying numbers got the decimal point here right 9999 and we say that using the word point, not dot.
Dot is in email addresses websites, wwwteacherlukecouk.
So in websites, email addresses, we say dot, but in numbers, if it's a decimal point, we say point and um The number before the decimal point.
We say it like a full number, in this case 99.
After the decimal point, we say the individual numbers.
So it's not 99.99%, it's 99.99%.
So the numbers after the decimal point are said individually.
99.99% empty space, making the glass mostly nothing.
But in all seriousness, can science explain your emotional perspective and outlook on life?
So, in all seriousness, it's just a phrase that we use when you've been joking and then you want to go back to being serious again.
So it's a bit like saying seriously, but seriously, can science explain your perspective?
But in all seriousness, can science explain your, your perspective and outlook on life?
The difference between perspective and outlook, they're very similar words.
They're both ways of saying the way you see the world, right?
Um, So they're synonyms that could be used interchangeably.
You have a positive perspective on things.
You have a positive outlook on things.
So they're very similar synonyms that are used interchangeably.
To get more specific about them.
Perspective normally refers to the position from which you see things.
So it's like your point of view.
It's a very close synonym with the expression point of view.
And I can have a different perspective to you because you're in this position, I'm in this position.
For example, I am a 40-something English man living in Europe.
This is my perspective on the world.
And you might be a different type of person living in a different context.
You would have a different perspective on...
Also, finding out what things are like from someone else's point of view gives you perspective.
You can get perspective on a situation which helps you to understand it and judge it better.
Outlook normally specifically refers to the way you see the future.
It's often used to talk about the future.
You can have a positive or negative outlook.
Refers to the way you expect things to happen in the future.
But they both refer to ways of seeing the world.
And you can say a positive or negative perspective or outlook on life or on things in general.
Um, so can science explain your outlook?
It turns out it may not be in your control.
So it turns out this is a nice phrasal verb uh, it just means that this is suddenly what you understand.
Uh, it's what you understand after um, after you've learned some things, or after you've realized something, or after you've seen the whole thing.
Okay, so I'll give you some examples of that.
So, for example, when I first started teaching, I became an English teacher a long time ago, 25 years ago.
I became an English teacher really because I didn't quite know what else to do with my life.
OK, it wasn't because I had a burning desire to be a teacher, although I liked the idea of helping people.
But I didn't really know what to do with my life and I needed work.
I needed a career.
I needed an occupation.
I needed to start earning some money and also wanted to do something that would let me travel to different countries.
And so English teaching sort of fit.
Fit the the the.
So English teaching just fit the bill for me, right?
It turns out, when I started doing it started actually doing it, and it turns out that I was actually quite good at it and that I really enjoyed it.
And it was a natural fit for me, right?
It turns out it was perfect for me.
That's just kind of like after doing it for a while, that's what I learned.
It's a bit like realize, I realized it was good for me, okay?
Anyway.
So it turns out meaning, after looking at the research, we've learned that it may not be in your control, meaning that you might not actually be the one who decides whether you have a positive or negative view of things.
That's interesting.
That does suggest that... What, does that suggest that it's...
If you're a negative person, if you're a glass-half-empty type person, is that it?
There's no way you can change your view of the world?
Is it not possible to choose to have a more growth mindset, for example, towards your learning of English?
I wonder.
It seems that...
Your genes will naturally push you one way or the other, but I wouldn't be surprised if we also can apply our own freedom and our own decision-making to kind of change our thinking.
But it seems that it's our genes that are the starting point for those feelings and thoughts.
It may not be in your control.
If something's in your control, it means you can control it, right?
We also say under your control, too.
Research has shown that those with two long alleles on specific genes.
So there's a bit of specific sort of genetic scientific English here about genes and stuff which I'm not very familiar with myself.
I think it's not stuff that the average, the average lay person, meaning non-specialist, it's not stuff that the average lay person knows very much about.
I think so words like alleles and some of the other stuff.
We're getting into more specific scientific knowledge that I think most people don't know.
I did study biology at college.
I vaguely remember stuff about alleles.
I think they're just parts of genes.
Parts of genes that You take genes and break them down.
They get broken down into alleles, which are like little sections or parts of genes.
Anyway, but I'm interested in the word those here.
Research has shown that those with two long alleles, what does those mean there?
Well, again, it's another way of referring to people.
It means those people.
Or you could say people.
So research has shown that people with two long alleles, but we use those alleles as another way of saying people.
Okay.
So we've had others meaning other people.
Now we've got those meaning those people, those with two long alleles.
As I said, alleles are parts of genes on specific genes, controlling serotonin.
Serotonin, I think is, um, what is it?
A hormone, hormone or chemical in your body which can make you more positive, makes you, gives you more positive feelings.
Um, People or those with two long alleles on specific genes controlling serotonin are more likely.
That means there's a higher probability.
So you've seen the word likely, you've heard the word likely, it refers to probability.
The likelihood of something, the probability of something happening.
If something is more likely, it means it's more probable.
Less likely, less probable.
Okay?
So likelihood, probability, chance, these are all related ideas.
So those people with genes like this are more likely, more probable, to focus on positive images, like someone enjoying ice cream, compared to those with a short allele on the same gene.
So basically, people with genes like this...
I guess, if they're given various images to look at, the ones with the long genes focus on the positive image, like a person eating an ice cream, which I assume is a universally positive image, especially if the person looks happy.
Whereas people with genes like that tend to focus on a negative image, like someone being robbed.
It's interesting the way that these scientific tests are conducted.
This apparently, is how we decide whether someone has a negative or positive outlook, whether they focus on a positive or negative image.
Does that prove that someone is positive or negatively minded?
I mean, why isn't it?
Why could could it not be possible that a person would focus on the person being robbed?
Because they want to help them, because they see someone in need and they, they want to help that person.
That might be evidence of a more positive mindset, no?
Anyway.
I always have trouble with scientific studies and whether they really are objectively true.
How do you really measure these things?
Anyway, that's what the text says.
Then we've got language compared to.
Yes, OK.
Compared to those.
And we've got those again, meaning those people.
Okay, let's move on to the next paragraph.
Variation in the oxytocin receptor gene.
Again, more specific scientific language relating to... I guess genes could be receptors.
That means they receive oxytocin.
Is this another hormone or chemical?
I suppose it is.
The oxytocin... a variation in the oxytocin receptor gene.
So you've got different types.
There's a gene that receives oxytocin.
This can affect your outlook.
Some people have this gene like this.
Other people have this gene like that.
Individuals with two copies of guanine...
Again, this refers to ways that genes can be different.
Some genes have got, I suppose, one copy of guanine.
I'm not sure what guanine is.
I don't think we need to worry about it.
Should we worry about guanine?
I don't think you should lose sleep about guanine.
Oh God, what's the matter, darling?
I just couldn't sleep last night.
Why?
What's the problem?
Just guanine.
Just worrying about guanine.
Trying to find out what guanine is.
Come on.
According to Wikipedia, guanine is one of the four main nucleotide bases found in the nucleic acids DNA and RNA, the others being adenine, cytosine and thymine.
In DNA, guanine is paired with cytosine.
The guanine nucleoside is called guanosine.
Right, does that help?
Not really, but it's basically part of something that makes up your genes.
Okay, don't worry about guanine.
Individuals meaning people.
There's another word for people individual people individuals.
People with two copies of Guanyin are noted.
That's a nice passive form.
Noted means that this has been observed and recorded in research.
Individuals with two copies of Guanine are noted to be more optimistic, with higher self-esteem.
Self-esteem is the way you feel about yourself.
If you have high self-esteem, it means you feel positive about yourself.
You think, yes, I'm good.
I'm all right.
I'm good at English.
I'm doing well.
And that gives you confidence.
Low self-esteem is that feeling of feeling bad about yourself.
Oh, i'm no good, i can't do this, i'm rubbish.
That's low self-esteem.
So individuals with two copies of guanine are noted to be more optimistic, with higher self-esteem, while those with copies of adenine were less positive.
So guanine is what you want.
You want two as well.
You want two copies of guanine please, and no adenine.
Anyway, genes like that make you more positive.
Genes like this make you more negative.
So it seems that people may be genetically susceptible to pessimism.
If you are susceptible to something, it means you are open to experiencing it or likely to experience it.
You're susceptible to depression, for example, means that you are kind of likely to be depressed.
And it's often with negative things, harmful things.
You might be susceptible to certain types of disease.
You might be susceptible to liver damage.
For example, if you've got this viral infection, it might make you susceptible to other types of health issue.
So it seems that people may be genetically susceptible to pessimism, that if your genes are a certain way, that you are more likely to experience pessimism.
Okay, interestingly, and it's always nice to begin a sentence with an adverb, isn't it?
Interestingly curiously, funnily enough surprisingly, unsurprisingly in this case interestingly.
When was the last time you began a sentence with an adverb like that?
I think everyone should do that more often.
Interestingly, optimists are less likely to be re-hospitalised.
That means put back in hospital.
If you're hospitalised, it means you are taken to hospital.
If you're re-hospitalised, it means you're taken back to hospital.
After coronary artery bypass surgery.
Your coronary artery is one of the main blood vessels that goes into your heart.
Okay.
I can't remember exactly which one it is.
Is it the one that goes your artery?
So that means it's one that takes blood from the heart somewhere else.
Does it take blood from the heart to the brain?
Is that what the coronary artery does?
Come on, let's find out.
Oh, okay.
The coronary arteries wrap around the outside of the heart.
They send oxygen-rich blood into the heart's muscle tissues.
So it's actually the blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood into the heart itself.
Your coronary arteries are major blood vessels that supply blood to your heart.
They make it possible for your heart to beat and pump blood throughout your body.
Your coronary arteries branch off your aorta, the main artery in your body.
So, yes, okay, there you go.
So, optimists are less likely to be re-hospitalized after coronary artery bypass surgery.
Bypass is where you I guess a surgeon does something so that if, let's say, a coronary artery is blocked, bypass surgery happens, is how a surgeon finds a way for blood to go around the blockage and keep doing what it needs to do.
So it's heart surgery.
Okay.
Um.
So if you've got a sunny, optimistic disposition, hey great, everything's fine, the world's a wonderful place.
You're less likely to go back to hospital after you've had heart surgery.
So just keep that in mind at all times.
If you just think, oh, God, I had heart surgery.
Oh, no, that was terrible, wasn't it?
Oh, no, why me?
Then it's like you might end up going back to hospital again because something might go wrong.
Whereas if you come out of hospital and think, well, that was fantastic.
Those surgeons are brilliant.
And I'm so glad they gave me a new lease on life.
I can't wait to keep doing the things I was doing.
But you know more healthily then you're less likely to go back to hospital that your heart will recover better.
I'm not surprised.
So optimists are less likely to be re-hospitalised.
They're more likely to show... They're less likely... Wait a minute.
Optimists are less likely to be re-hospitalised.
Show higher academic achievements.
Wait, does that mean they're less likely to show higher academic achievements?
Or optimists show higher academic achievements?
That's not clear to me.
Optimists are less likely to be re-hospitalised, show higher academic achievements and even better socio-economic status.
I have to say that's slightly... I know, but then it says, but it's not all good.
Okay, so sorry everyone.
It doesn't mean that they're less likely to show higher academic achievements.
It means that they will show higher academic achievements and even better socioeconomic status.
But it's not all good.
And then some negative stuff.
So socioeconomic status.
Your socioeconomic status refers to your position in society, your status overall.
High status, low status.
Socioeconomic refers to maybe your social class or how much money you have.
If you have high socioeconomic status, it means you're probably in a more wealthy, richer class of people.
You're in a higher class.
You've probably got more money.
You live in a nicer part of town.
You drive a nice car.
Your kids go to a good school.
You've got higher socioeconomic status.
And apparently optimists show higher or better socioeconomic status.
But it's not all good.
They can overestimate their abilities and underestimate risk.
If you overestimate your abilities, it means you estimate or judge your abilities as being higher than they actually are.
Yeah, I'm brilliant at English, me.
Absolutely fantastic.
Actually, not so much.
I think you overestimated your abilities there and you underestimate risk.
That would mean where you judge or assume risk.
Risk to be lower than it is.
Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine.
No, I'm an optimist.
I'm sure that jumping out of this plane without a parachute, I'll be fine.
That's to underestimate the risk.
Pessimists, on the other hand, so there's that phrase which we use to show contrast.
We could equally say, whereas pessimists have a more realistic view, or pessimists, on the other hand, have a more realistic view of the world.
A more realistic view of the world, right?
Realistic means that they just see things as they actually are.
They're more cautious, meaning they're more careful when planning for the future, and may even live longer.
They may live longer...
We're not saying that they definitely do or will, just may.
So that's just an interesting word to say that we're not completely certain, but it looks like it.
They may or they might live longer.
A landmark study.
A landmark study.
This is a scientific study that is very important and that is very influential in the scientific community.
A big, important study that lots of people refer to, that really sort of seems to that has made a lot of progress in this area of research.
This is landmark study spanning 20 years.
Spanning means it's it.
It continued for 20 years.
It started and 20 years later it finished.
The the, the sort of the period of time the research was done, lasted 20 years.
If something spans something, it stretches across.
OK, it stretches across it.
You talk about span also can refer to the size of your hand.
If you're a piano player, it helps to have quite a large span of your hand because you can reach more keys on the piano.
That's your hand span.
But spanning 20 years means lasting 20 years.
So this landmark study found that.
We had noted.
We can also have found as well.
These were the results of the study.
It found that pessimists use a cautious approach.
This is like a cautious way of doing things.
A cautious approach.
Attitude, you might say, to their finances, right to their money and health, avoiding risky behaviours such as smoking and excessive drinking.
So that's drinking in excess, drinking a lot, right, drinking more than you should.
Ultimately and this is like after everything is being considered, after the entire process is finished ultimately, at the end of the process, Ultimately giving them the last laugh.
If you have the last laugh, it means that you win in the end.
Imagine you're having an argument with someone or a dispute with someone, and if you have the last laugh, it means you're the one who ultimately wins at the end.
So because pessimists are more cautious, this gives them the last laugh over optimists, just meaning that they they win.
But it's literally gives them the last laugh.
Because it's literally, because I guess they actually do have the last laugh because they they live longer.
And so they are the last one to laugh.
Because the other ones the optimist has died, you know, because they jumped out of a plane without a parachute, assuming everything would be fine.
And then it's the pessimist who is still there and who, you know, has the last everything the last meal, the last laugh, the last time listening to Luke's English podcast, because they just lived longer, because the other one's dead.
Okay, but statistically, there's another nice adverb that you can use near the beginning of the sentence.
Statistically, meaning based on statistics, numbers, figures, facts and figures.
Most of us are hardwired to lean towards optimism.
If you are hardwired to do something, it means it's in your design.
A machine is normally hardwired, meaning that the wires are built in, fit in, constructed, fitted.
A machine can be hardwired to do something.
Robocop, for example, is hardwired to protect the public.
This is in his design.
So here it refers to genetics, that most of us are hardwired to be optimistic.
It's in our genetic design to lean towards optimism.
If you lean towards something...
It means that your body moves in that direction.
So basically that just suggests that we are hardwired to be more optimistic, to point in that direction.
Known as the optimism bias.
Bias refers to the way that you favour one side over the other.
Bias is often used in relation to a situation where something is not objective or not impartial.
So newspapers, you know, when we're talking about newspapers, they often have a political bias.
So this newspaper tends to favour the conservatives or the right wing side, whereas this newspaper tends to be more left wing.
So that's political bias favouring one side or the other.
A referee in a football match, you don't want them to be biased.
That's bias ED.
You don't want them to be biased.
You want them to be fair and objective.
If a referee is biased, if they have a bias towards one team, then that's not fair.
The optimism bias means the way that people naturally favour optimism instead of pessimism.
This is a scientific pattern that people have noticed.
The optimism bias means It's found in 80 of the population.
We tend to overestimate the probability of positive events.
Tend to, such a common and important phrase, just means usually.
We usually overestimate the probability of positive events.
We tend to do that.
It's a nice phrase.
I mean, you got used to, which refers to the past.
I used to think like this.
I used to live in London, meaning something that I usually did in the past.
And for the present, we use tend to.
I tend to do this.
I tend to, you know, I tend to eat cereal for breakfast.
80 of the population tend to overestimate the probability of positive events, meaning that we assume that things are going to be more positive events.
We overestimate the probability of positive events occurring in the future.
Occurring just means happening, while we, while grossly underestimating the probability of negative ones.
So not just underestimating this probability, but grossly underestimating it, which just means largely, in a big way.
OK.
OK.
Gross can sometimes mean big, large, right?
We talk about gross profits.
For example, this means profits before...
We've taken away costs and tax and stuff like that.
Then we get net profit, but gross profit is the largest figure.
Grossly underestimating something means massively, hugely underestimating the probability of negative ones.
So most people, it seems, are positively minded.
We tend to just assume things are going to be a bit better than they actually will be in the future.
We massively underestimate the probability of negative things.
That again is a surprise, because in my experience I don't know if I'm just in the 20, but I am sure that I'm a bit pessimistic.
When I look at the news, I look at the state of the world.
I think about what's the future going to be like for my children.
I look at the climate, I look at the way that AI is changing the job market.
I look at the kind of political situation in the world and I can't help assuming a kind of doomsday scenario.
I kind of think it's the end of the world.
So I don't feel like I grossly underestimate the probability of negative outcomes.
But maybe I'm just in the 20%.
I don't know.
But it goes on.
For example, even though the divorce rate that's obviously the number of people getting divorced marriages breaking up, even though the divorce rate can be as high as 40 percent, most newlyweds that's people who've just been married, newlyweds right, that's again another word for people, in this case, people who've just been married most newlyweds predict their probability of getting divorced at naught percent, zero percent.
I mean again, is this a fair way to judge whether someone is being positive or not?
Surely.
I don't know if that's going to be the same thing.
If you ask people who've just got married, do you think you're going to get divorced?
Of course they're going to say, well, no, of course not.
But if you ask them other questions about the future, they might be more negative about other things.
I don't know if asking newlyweds about their likelihood of being divorced is a good way of measuring their optimism or pessimism.
But anyway, most newlyweds predict their probability of getting divorced at 0, even though the divorce rate is around 40.
Chances are, when you imagine your future, it's usually better than your current situation.
Chances are.
It's a nice phrase, just meaning probably when you imagine your future it probably when you imagine your future, it's usually better than your current situation.
Or chances are, when you imagine your future, it's blah, blah, blah.
So chances are it's just a nice phrase to put at the beginning of a sentence as a way of saying this is probably the case.
Chances are England might.
Chances are England are going to get knocked out of the World Cup on penalties, because that's what always happens.
Chances are it's going to rain this afternoon.
I mean, it's already raining now.
The weather's horrible today.
OK, you get the idea.
Chances are this episode is going to end up being two hours long, because I've got lots of stuff planned for it.
Furthermore, we often imagine ourselves as being more intelligent, sociable and honest than other people.
OK, it seems that we are naturally inclined to just take a more positive view of everything.
When we look at the brain, we actually see the left half exhibits or shows increased activity when imagining positive events, whereas during negative events, the right half's activity does increase, but to a much lesser degree.
I'm not sure exactly what this means about the two halves of the brain, but it seems that basically our brain is more active when we imagine positive events than when we imagine negative events, and this suggests this seems to show that the brain chooses to ignore and filter out.
So if you filter something out, it means you, you use some sort of filter to kind of remove or or get rid of other things, in this case negative information.
Okay, our perspective, our perspective, that's the perspective of the people who made the video.
Our perspective is whether you're genetically predisposed, meaning whether you're genetically designed, the way that you're genetically designed, which is going to lead to a certain outcome.
If you're predisposed to something, what was that other word that we had?
Susceptible.
Susceptible suggests that, you know, you're likely to have something bad happen.
But if you're predisposed, it just means that you, by design or your genes, decide what's going to happen.
For example, I have genes like this, so I'm predisposed to be more positive.
Okay.
Whether you're genetically predisposed to see the glass as half empty or half full.
Don't waste water and just drink the damn glass already.
Good advice.
Let me have a water break.
OK.
Right.
How are you doing, everyone?
That took quite a long time, that vocab section.
I mentioned before that there are various other funny answers to the question of is the glass half empty or half full?
For example, a scientist might say well, it's actually 100 full, because it's not only full of water molecules, it's full of air molecules as well.
Here are some other funny answers to this question.
Is the glass half empty or half full?
The optimist, of course, would say the glass is half full.
The pessimist would say the glass is half empty.
The realist would say the glass contains half a glass of water.
The cynic would say, well, someone drank the other half.
Someone stole half my glass of water.
The physicist would say the glass is never empty.
It's always 100 full 50 liquid and 50 air, which is made up of nitrogen, oxygen and so on.
The quantum physicist would say that well, since atoms are 9999 empty space, the glass is actually mostly empty.
The engineer would say the glass is twice as large as it needs to be for the amount of liquid it contains.
The chemist would say well, the glass is technically full of molecules, but since there is a meniscus, the exact measurement is subjective.
So a meniscus is another specific scientific term and it refers to the fact that you know when water is in a glass.
The water, if you look very closely, doesn't just sit straight at the.
Where the water meets the edge of the glass, it curves upwards.
It curves upwards slightly so it's it's not a perfectly straight line.
Where the water meets the glass, it kind of curves up so that that gradient in the curve as the water meets the glass is, means that there is no clear definition.
The exact measurement is subjective because there's a kind of a little curve there.
The mathematician would say the glass contains half times X, half X units of liquid in a container with capacity X.
So if X is 200 millilitres, the glass contains 100 millilitres, which is half X units of liquid.
The programmer, what would the programmer say?
The programmer would say the glass is at 50% allocated memory.
The opportunist would say.
Well, while everyone was arguing about whether it was half full or half empty, I drank it.
The pragmatist would say, well, it doesn't matter anyway because you can refill it.
The survivalist would say the glass is 100 full, because even the empty part contains the oxygen I need to breathe and survive.
The realist in the domestic sphere would say well, it doesn't matter whether it's half full or half empty.
Who's going to wash the glass afterwards?
The gamer would say the glass is at 50% health.
It needs a manna potion.
The economist would say the glass is half full, but the price of water is rising.
The minimalist would say the glass contains more than enough water.
Marie Kondo would say, well, does the water bring you joy?
The IT support specialist would say, have you tried emptying the glass and filling it back up again?
If the leak persists, then I'll have to open a ticket with the manufacturer.
The English teacher would say, how can I use this glass to teach my learners about phrasal verbs?
I've already done that because the water is made up of molecules, atoms.
The YouTube English teacher would say, how to drink water like a native speaker.
Or the YouTube English teacher would say, stop drinking water wrong.
Or the YouTube English teacher would say, if you drink water like this, your English is proficient.
Luke from Luke's English Podcast would say, how can I make a nine hour episode on this topic?
And the chat GPT answer would be, that's an awesome question.
And so perfectly Luke, you really are one of a kind.
Sorry about possibly putting you out of a job in the next 18 months to five years.
Although actually chat GPT would never apologise about that, would it?
But then it would say anyway, as an AI language model, I don't possess personal opinions or emotional perspectives.
But would you like me to generate a 30 second rap song about a glass that's struggling with its identity?
Right.
Now, let's get back down to business and talk about English.
How do we actually talk in English about optimism or pessimism?
What do we say when we're being optimistic or pessimistic?
So here is a list of ways to express optimism and pessimism.
I'm looking at specific phrases in English for talking about this.
And let me just tell you that this is very useful.
Just in case you were wondering, if your mind was wondering, that's wondering, W-A-N-D-E-R-I-N-G.
If your mind was wondering and you were thinking you know about, I don't know, like anything else.
Anything else at all?
Like, what is Luke's wife's name?
What is Luke's daughter's name?
What's Luke's son's name?
These are more pertinent questions for me at this moment.
If your mind is wandering to something else, or that's wandering with an A, or if you were wondering W-O-N-D-E-R-I-N-G like, for example, what's the usefulness of this bit?
If you were wondering, let me just tell you that this is incredibly useful.
I'm going to teach you some extremely useful phrases in English that you can immediately apply to your use of English to describe all sorts of things, specifically your outlook on life and your predictions or visions of the future.
So here's a list of ways to express optimism and pessimism, including idioms, collocations and typical phrases used when talking about the future.
Now I know that the whole glass is half full or glass is half empty.
Thing isn't just about the future.
It's about how you see any situation, including the present state of things.
But, generally speaking, optimism and pessimism are often associated with our attitude or outlook towards the future.
So let's look at various ways of talking about the future today, with a positive or negative mindset okay.
So, ways to express optimism in English.
We'll start with optimism.
And we're going to start with just a few neutral or common expressions.
These are the most natural everyday ways to sound optimistic.
Now, what's the situation?
Let's say for context.
Let's say I'm talking about my ability to improve my French in order to pass the citizenship test.
Let's just say this is the context.
OK, so let's say I need a B2 level to pass the test to get citizenship, to be allowed to stay in France where I live with my wife and my children.
Let's say I need a B2 level in the test.
Now, I might not be there yet, but I think I'm close.
Right.
On a good day, I can handle B2 level French.
But I need to get my control, my vocabulary range, my fluency, my reading and listening skills up to a consistently high level.
Not to mention my pronunciation, so I don't make all those typically British mistakes, and so that people can understand me when I'm ordering water or bread or giving my opinion in a business meeting or something, without the other person just automatically switching to English, because they can't stand witnessing their beautiful language being slowly murdered in front of their eyes.
Sorry, the pessimism is creeping in there a little bit.
So anyway, that's the context.
So here are some things.
I'm optimistic, you could say, which is pretty obvious.
I'm optimistic about my ability to get to a B2 level.
I'm optimistic about it.
Another one, I'm hopeful.
I'm hopeful that within the next couple of weeks I can do it.
I'm feeling pretty hopeful about things.
Things are looking good.
There's another one.
Things are looking good.
Things are looking good.
I can't wait to get that shiny EU valid passport in my hands.
Things are looking promising.
That's nice, isn't it?
Things are looking promising.
You know what?
Soon I'll be wearing a stripy T-shirt, smoking a cigarette and calling myself Luc Dupont.
Things are looking promising.
Things are looking up.
There's another one.
I've got a good feeling about this, you might say.
I've got a good feeling about this.
Things are going to work out just fine.
There's a nice phrasal verb, to work out.
Things are going to work out just fine.
Everything's going to be okay.
In fact, I think I prefer wine to beer already.
I think it'll work out.
Work out's an interesting phrase.
Obviously, you work out in the gym, don't you?
You do exercise in the gym to build your muscles. muscles and stuff and stay fit.
But things are going to work out and everything's going to work out fine.
It means things will sort themselves out.
Everything will be fixed.
The end result of everything will be good.
Everything's going to work out great.
I'm confident.
I'm confident that if I practice and spend some time on this, I'll smash that language test.
I'm very confident.
I reckon it'll be fine.
I reckon it'll be fine.
Okay, what about some idioms?
Everyone loves a nice idiom.
Here are some idioms for positive outlook.
The glass is half full.
Well, you know this one already, but let's use it.
You know me.
I prefer to see the glass half full.
So even if I can't string a sentence together now, and when I talk to people in French, they usually just stare at me for a few seconds before shaking their heads and walking away.
So, despite that, I'm certain I'll be speaking French like a native speaker by the end of the week, if not by the end of the day.
Definitely a glass half full type person, me.
Next one is to look on the bright side.
Look on the bright side.
So you might say, OK, so you didn't pass this time, but let's look on the bright side.
OK, so you didn't pass this time, but let's look on the bright side.
At least now you know what to expect from the test.
That's look on the bright side.
Next, every cloud has a silver lining.
Have you ever heard that one?
Every cloud has a silver lining.
Yes, clouds in the sky.
Every cloud has a silver lining.
So this means that every negative situation has a positive aspect to it too.
Okay?
A cloud is bad because...
It causes rain.
They block the sun.
That's bad.
But every cloud has a silver lining.
That means that, I mean, it's not true.
It's not actually true.
Clouds are not... A lining is like fabric on the inside.
Fabric which is stitched into the inside.
Like a coat.
Your nice coat might have a lovely silk lining.
Every cloud has a silver lining, which means that the inside of the cloud it's stitched with silver.
OK, but it just means that every negative situation has some kind of positive aspect to it as well.
For example OK, so you're being deported and you won't be able to see your wife and kids anymore and you'll have to go back to England.
But, you know, every cloud has a silver lining.
At least you'll be able to get a decent cup of tea in a cafe now.
Another one.
Keep your chin up.
Keep your chin up.
Yes, your chin on your face.
Keep your chin up.
Just means keep your head up.
Stay positive.
Don't worry.
Keep your chin up.
I'm sure you'll pass next time.
And stay positive.
Just try to stay positive.
So your teacher gave you three pages of corrections and you scored zero out of 20 on your vocabulary test.
But, you know, it's not the end of the world.
Try to stay positive, OK?
It's not the end of the world.
There's another one.
Take a hopeful view.
I prefer to take a hopeful view and assume that, even though I haven't studied at all for this test, I'm going to absolutely smash it.
To keep the faith.
Keep the faith.
Let's keep the faith.
Look, you're going to pass and you're going to pass hard.
I prefer to keep the faith.
I believe in you, Luke, you might say.
Keep your spirits up.
Stay happy.
Stay positive.
Keep your spirits up.
Look, can you go for a drink with Luke and just try to keep his spirits up?
He's a bit down after failing that French test for the 19th time.
What about phrases for expressing strong optimism?
So when someone feels very confident about the future, you've got phrases like I'm certain.
I'm certain it will work out.
I'm absolutely convinced it will be great in the end.
I've got no doubt it will be fine.
It's bound to work.
It's bound to work.
That's a good one.
Bound to happen, bound to work, bound to work out.
Bound to means you're absolutely certain that's going to happen.
Oh, it's only a matter of time.
It's only a matter of time.
It's definitely going to happen.
It's just a question of when.
I'm sure things will improve.
Then we've got cautious optimism, which apparently is very common in British English.
We tend not to be so bombastic and we tend to be a bit more measured in the way we express our optimism.
So we say things like, well, I'm cautiously optimistic.
I'm hoping to scrape a 60% mark.
Feeling cautiously optimistic.
It's looking quite promising.
It's looking quite promising.
Looking okay.
Let's not hold our breath.
There's a good one.
Don't hold your breath means don't assume a positive outcome.
Let's not hold our breath, but I have a pretty good feeling that things are going to work out okay.
It's looking promising, but don't hold your breath or anything, okay?
I think there's reason to be optimistic.
I'm not making any promises, but I think this time, if he concentrates and remembers the things he's learned, he's in with a chance of passing.
In with a chance.
There's reason to be optimistic.
So we've got cautiously optimistic.
Right?
Sounds very wise, very measured.
It's looking promising.
Let's not hold our breath.
I think there's reason to be optimistic.
I'm not making any promises, but I think he's in with a chance.
Things are heading in the right direction.
Meaning we're going in the right direction.
He's made some good progress these last few days.
Things are heading in the right direction.
It might just work.
You know what?
It might just work.
I know it's a long shot, but I think he's in with a chance.
It might just work.
I'm feeling quite positive.
I think there's a good chance.
There's a good chance he's going to be allowed to stay in the country.
And who knows, maybe they'll give him free cheese as a reward.
Right, so that was optimism.
Now let's turn to the dark side and let's look at ways to express pessimism.
Now let's switch to a different context.
Let's switch to something else here.
Something perhaps more appropriate for pessimism.
Let's talk about England's chances of winning the World Cup in the football.
Something a bit more appropriate for pessimism.
Right, so we've got some neutral or common expressions to begin with.
So you'd say, I have to say, I'm pessimistic.
I'm pessimistic about... I have to say, I'm pessimistic about our chances this year.
I just don't think we have the strength and depth to go all the way through to the final round.
In football terms, strength in depth just means having lots of players in your team, lots of really good players.
If you've got strength in depth, it means you've got good players all the way through the squad.
Good players on the pitch, but really good players sitting on the bench.
Strength in depth.
But I'm pessimistic about our chances.
And the manager's trying something different.
And honestly, I don't think it'll work.
They're trialing a new formation.
I've got a bad feeling about this.
So the manager's trialing a new formation.
They're going with a... Instead of 4-4-2, they're going 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.
That's the new formation they're using.
It's literally a line of players down the centre of the pitch, starting with the goalkeeper and ending with Harry Kane standing at the other end in a perfect straight line.
They're going with a 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 formation.
I've got a bad feeling about this.
Another thing you might say is, did you see their performance in the game against Wales?
I'm not very hopeful.
I'm not very hopeful.
I've got a bad feeling about this.
I don't think it'll work.
I'm pessimistic about our chances.
Half the players are injured and they've even had to bring back Bobby Charlton into the team and he's been dead for nearly 10 years.
It doesn't look good.
It doesn't look good.
Things aren't looking great.
Things are not looking great.
I mean, look at the injuries in the team.
They've got some weird COVID variant.
They've all got COVID-20 and their feet have fallen off.
Things aren't looking great.
The manager says he's confident about their chances, but I'm not convinced.
I'm not convinced.
I'm doubtful.
I'm very doubtful.
When I saw the lads in training, they all had cricket bats in their hands and I realised they were playing the wrong sport and they weren't even very good at that.
So yes, I'm doubtful about our chances.
Unless there's a penalty shootout, of course, because I'm 100% certain we will win that.
What about ideas for pessimism?
Idioms, not ideas.
Idioms, of course.
Idioms for pessimism.
More lovely idioms.
So we've had to see the glass half full.
We've got to see the glass half empty, for example.
Come on, don't see the glass half empty.
Be more positive.
To expect the worst.
Fans are expecting the worst, as England face Germany Brazil, Argentina and Spain all at the same time in their opening game.
How that's possible, I don't know.
But that's the modern game.
So maybe this is because the World Cup is going to be hosted in America.
They're making changes to the game and they've decided that just two teams on the pitch at once isn't enough.
They need more.
So it's going to be England versus Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Spain all at the same time.
Fans are expecting the worst.
Take a dim view.
To take a dim view of something.
Well, Luke, I certainly take a very dim view of England's prospects this year.
All their players are dead.
To take a dim view of something, I think it's pretty obvious.
Just means that, you know, a negative position on it.
To be doom and gloom.
If you're doom and gloom, it's just like you've got a very pessimistic, negative view.
Oh, come on, don't be all doom and gloom.
It's England.
We're one of the best teams in the world.
To be negative about something, that's not really an idiom, is it?
I think you're being a bit negative about things, Luke.
To be a pessimist, also not an idiom.
You're a natural pessimist.
Come on, lighten up a bit.
And to be cynical about something.
To be cynical.
It's not healthy to be so cynical all the time.
Then we've got strong pessimism.
Oh, no, it's a penalty shootout.
We're doomed.
If you're doomed, it just means you're screwed.
Everyone's going to die.
It's the end.
We're doomed.
Oh, they're playing the old-fashioned long ball game.
It's not going to work.
It's not going to work.
There's no chance.
There's no chance we'll get through the knockout stages if we keep playing like this.
Or Harry Kane is injured and so is Jude Bellingham and Kate Billington and Teddy Sheringham.
Oh, we're in trouble.
We're in deep trouble.
We're in deep trouble.
I didn't realise Kate Billington was a professional footballer, but you know she's a very talented person.
I hate to say it, but this isn't going to end well.
This isn't going to end well.
What about British-style understatement?
As I said before, we tend not to be too bold and bombastic with our statements.
We tend to use understatement.
For example, I'm not terribly optimistic about our chances.
I'm not terribly optimistic, right, about our chances.
It's not looking great, is it?
It's not looking great, is it?
It's not looking great.
I'm not holding my breath.
There's that one again.
Winning the World Cup.
I wouldn't count on it.
I wouldn't count on it.
I wouldn't get your hopes up.
Don't get your hopes up, meaning don't expect things to be great.
I wouldn't get your hopes up.
I don't think we'll do very well this year.
And then some humorous or informal expressions for being optimistic.
You might say, oh, it'll be all right on the night.
It'll be all right on the night.
Just means that when we actually do it, I'm sure it'll be OK.
So you're practicing.
Maybe you're doing a presentation or something like that and you're practicing the presentation.
Each time you practice it, it goes horribly wrong.
You forget what you were going to say.
The PowerPoint crashes.
The computer explodes.
Oh, dear.
And you say, oh, it'll be all right on the night, meaning it'll be okay when we actually do it.
Oh, don't worry.
Something will turn up.
If something turns up, something arrives.
Something happens or arrives.
Something will turn up, meaning something will just arrive or happen that will make it okay.
Oh, it'll all blow over.
It will all blow over.
It refers to a storm, right?
Weather, a storm.
And when the storm blows over, it just means the wind blows it away.
And we use that to talk about a bad situation.
Oh, like zombies have arrived and they're taking over the world.
But, you know, I'm sure it'll all blow over.
If you've seen the film Shaun of the Dead, that is one of the things he says in Shaun of the Dead.
London gets overtaken by zombies.
And Shaun, the character played by Simon Pegg, says let's just go to the pub and wait for this all to blow over.
Not a bad plan.
To be pessimistic, you might say.
Knowing my luck, I see they're digging a hole at the end of the road there.
Knowing my luck, I'll fall into that.
This has got disaster written all over it.
This has got disaster written all over it, meaning you expect it to be a disaster.
It's a recipe for disaster.
I love that phrase.
It's a recipe for disaster.
You're looking at a situation, you think it's going to be a disaster.
You look at all the elements and you just think, God, this is a recipe for disaster.
It'll end in tears.
It will end in tears.
That's what I say to my kids when they are sort of playing a game.
Maybe that involves them climbing on each other or fighting with each other.
And I always say, it'll end in tears. meaning it's going to end with someone crying.
And then finally, we're doomed, we're doomed, which is what C-3PO always says in Star Wars.
Oh, we're doomed.
Yeah.
What about useful adjectives for describing a positive or negative outlook?
Now for this context.
Let's imagine we are talking about my class of students who are about to take an English test.
OK, and let's be optimistic first.
So you could use the word hopeful.
I'm hopeful that they're going to pass.
Positive.
We're all feeling positive about their chances.
Upbeat.
The mood in the class is upbeat.
Everyone knows they've got a good chance of not just passing the test but getting really good grades.
So everyone's feeling upbeat.
Confident.
I'm confident that they're all going to pass.
And buoyant.
Buoyant.
Everyone's feeling buoyant about it.
So buoyant is kind of like... the way something would float on the water.
So it sort of stays up and floats.
Everyone's feeling buoyant about something.
And then the pessimistic side, we've got doubtful.
To be honest, I'm doubtful about their chances of passing.
They're a terrible class.
Many of them were absent.
And even when they were in the room, they were completely lazy and more interested in just disrupting things or being on their phones.
It's been a disaster.
I'm really disappointed. and I'm doubtful about their chances.
Gloomy.
Gloomy.
Sorry to be gloomy, but I'm not feeling very positive about their chances in this exam.
I'm certainly not holding my breath.
Cynical.
I don't mean to be cynical, but I think they've got next to no chance of passing this test.
I'm afraid.
They've got next to no chance of passing.
Negative.
It's easy.
Everyone's feeling pretty negative about this exam, which is no surprise considering the work they put in.
I think now they realise what they've done.
And then fatalistic, which is like where you just assume everything's going to go badly.
It's a bit fatalistic of me perhaps, but I have a feeling that pretty much everyone is going to fail this exam.
They've been bloody awful this term.
So what about you, everyone?
When you think about your future English level.
Are you optimistic, cautiously optimistic or not holding your breath?
Hopefully you're on the optimistic side of things.
Now, I want to give you some practice.
Here are some questions that you could use to exercise your optimism or pessimism in English.
And remember, there's that question of what is more likely to help you progress.
In English, an optimistic frame of mind or a pessimistic frame of mind?
We're going to come to that in a minute.
But first, I want to give you a chance to practice using all the language we just looked at.
I'm going to give you some questions now.
It's up to you to practice giving your responses to these questions.
You can either do that yourself if you're on your own.
Just say your responses out loud.
If you're not on your own, you're with other people.
You could say your responses out loud anyway and say, to hell with these people.
I'm just going to start talking.
Or you do it in your head.
Or you can do it with a friend.
Or you write your comments down.
Whatever.
Here are some questions.
How good will your English be in five years?
Think of your English in five years.
How good will it be?
And explain why you think that.
Well, I'm pretty optimistic about my chances of improving my English over the next five years, especially if I continue to listen to Luke's English podcast.
Of course, signing up to LEP Premium would definitely increase my prospects of improving my English significantly.
And if I wanted to do that, I would go to teacherluke.co.uk slash premium, of course.
Question two, do you think you will still be studying English next year?
Chances are I will.
I'm pretty confident I will.
Why or why not?
Third question, will learning English help your career in the future?
What makes you think so?
Question four, do you think you will visit an English-speaking country one day?
What might make this possible or difficult?
Question five, will AI make language learning easier or harder in the future?
Can you explain your prediction?
Number six, will people still learn English in schools 50 years from now?
What do you think?
Why might this change?
Question seven, will translation technology eventually make language learning unnecessary?
Why or why not?
Now, you obviously have to decide whether you think these things are positive or negative changes.
Question eight, will cats and dogs ever become friends?
Is there any chance, is there any hope for the future of cat and dog relations?
Question nine, will Luke's podcast ever reach 10 million subscribers?
Question 10, will the world become more peaceful in the future?
What makes you optimistic or pessimistic about this?
You might say, well, it can't exactly become less peaceful.
No, it can't be.
I don't know.
It's a tough one.
Number 11, will the climate improve or get worse in the next 20 years?
Some serious questions here.
Number 12, do you think England will win the next World Cup?
What about your country's team?
Will people in the future work fewer hours than today?
Why do you think so?
Question 14.
Will people's thumbs evolve to become better at texting?
Or will they just fall off completely from overuse?
Question... This is question 15.
Will you ever become completely fluent in English?
Yes, of course you will.
Question 16.
Will English spelling ever become easier?
Yeah, probably.
I mean, it might not be reformed, but you will probably get better at it.
Number 17, will robots eventually become better English teachers than humans?
Number 18, will English still be the global language in 100 years?
And 19, will AI kill us all or solve all our problems?
I will let you use those questions to help you practice being optimistic or pessimistic.
And then finally...
This question, does optimism or pessimism lead to better language learning?
Should you see, as in the English language learner, should you see the glass as being half full or half empty, and why?
What is the best outlook for successful English learning?
Now we already learned that pessimism is probably healthier and leads to longer life, fewer health issues, etc.
But Is a pessimistic or cautious approach best for learning English?
Or some kind of mindless, everything's awesome mindset?
Which one's likely to result in a better language level?
Now, research in psychology, education and second language acquisition generally suggests that a moderately optimistic outlook tends to produce better learning outcomes, although a balanced or realistic optimism works best.
So realistic optimism that's what we're looking for a balanced approach.
Let's look at the reasons why.
So first of all Optimism improves persistence and motivation.
Persistence, the ability to keep going even when things get difficult.
One of the strongest findings in psychology is that optimists persist longer when tasks become difficult.
Psychologist Martin Seligman, one of the founders of positive psychology, found that people with an optimistic explanatory style
Try longer, recover from failure faster and maintain motivation.
That's from Seligman, Learned Optimism in 1991.
In language learning, this matters because progress requires thousands of hours of effort.
Sorry to break it to you, everyone.
I mean, it might not always feel like effort if you're enjoying it.
But anyway, thousands of hours.
Students who believe improvement is possible are more likely to keep studying, tolerate mistakes and continue after setbacks.
A setback is something that makes you feel like you've gone backwards somewhat in your learning.
Like a mistake or a moment when you felt embarrassed or something like a failure.
Research in education shows that optimistic students achieve higher academic outcomes, partly because they persist longer after failure.
For example, Carver and Shea found optimism strongly predicts perseverance toward long-term goals.
For language learning, this could be summarised like this.
Optimistic learners think, I'll get there eventually.
Pessimistic learners think, I'll never be good at this.
And that difference strongly affects persistence, which is a key part of success in language learning.
So tell yourself today, give yourself a chance and tell yourself, I'll get there in the end.
OK, I'll get there eventually.
That's what you should always tell yourself.
It's all right.
I'm moving in the right direction.
I'll get there.
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.
Number two, optimism reduces language anxiety.
A huge factor in language learning is foreign language anxiety.
And I'm sure we've all been there.
We've all felt anxiety.
We've all felt nervous anxious uncomfortable awkward, embarrassed when trying to speak another language.
Research by Horowitz in 1986 showed that anxiety can seriously reduce speaking performance.
Right, we all know what that's like.
That's just where you stumble over your words.
You can't think properly.
The connection between your brain and your mouth gets broken.
So it can seriously reduce speaking performance.
Participation, that's where you're in a group situation and you just kind of, you don't speak.
You just kind of go into yourself, become all introspective and quiet and shy.
So it reduces participation and reduces willingness to communicate.
You just don't want to talk.
Optimistic learners tend to interpret mistakes differently.
They think, well, mistakes are normal, this is all part of learning.
Pessimistic learners often interpret mistakes as evidence that they are bad at languages.
That's the conclusion.
They can think, I'm just no good at this.
And that can lead to avoidance of speaking, fear of embarrassment and less practice.
In other words, optimism increases your willingness to communicate, which is crucial for language acquisition.
You have to be in it to win it.
And having a positive mindset means that you're more likely to practice.
And that's going to spin you into a positive, benevolent cycle, right?
I've talked about this many times before.
You want a virtuous cycle of behaviour, reactions to your behaviour and your mindset.
You spin it positive and it's a snowball effect where the positivity helps to keep your momentum going, which leads you to practice more effectively, and so on.
Thirdly, optimism is linked to a growth mindset.
Research by Carol Dweck on growth mindset is very relevant.
I've talked about growth mindset before.
What is it?
A growth mindset means believing that abilities can improve through effort.
It's the belief that you are not fixed.
Your brain is not a fixed single state, that it can change and it can improve.
And that happens through effort.
If you apply yourself, you can change, you can improve, you can be better.
Growth mindset learners view mistakes as feedback and opportunities to improve.
They believe improvement is possible and they embrace challenges rather than running away from them.
This mindset is strongly associated with optimism about learning ability.
Studies in education show that growth-minded students work harder, perform better and recover from failure faster.
In language learning terms.
Optimistic learners believe they can become better speakers and probably will do as a result, whereas pessimistic learners often believe I'm just bad at languages.
I think it's like a very natural thing to think.
We've all been there.
I've definitely been there.
I often think to myself... maybe I'm just one of those unlucky people who's just no good at this.
But that mindset doesn't actually help you.
And it's not true either.
It's all about the way you apply yourself.
But pessimism can sometimes help with planning.
Interestingly, psychology research also shows that a certain type of pessimism can be useful.
Psychologist Julie Norum believes or describes something called defensive pessimism.
Defensive pessimists imagine potential problems, prepare carefully and then work harder to avoid failure.
In learning, this can lead to better preparation and more detailed study habits.
Right?
For example, in language learning, preparing vocabulary before a conversation can help you perform better.
Anticipating possible questions... can help you perform better.
If you're about to do a job interview, think of all of the most difficult questions.
Think of all of the worst possible, the worst case scenarios and prepare to deal with them.
Preparation, preparation, preparation before using English in certain situations.
However, defensive pessimism works only if it leads to preparation and not avoidance.
So, for example, if you think, oh God, I could get some difficult questions, I think I'll just run away in the other direction.
That obviously doesn't work.
But if you think oh, it could be difficult, let me prepare myself.
That's going to lead to much more successful outcomes.
Remember, fail to prepare, prepare to fail.
Number five, the best mindset is realistic optimism.
Many researchers suggest the most effective approach is realistic optimism.
This means believing success is possible, but recognizing effort is required.
Optimists sometimes fall into overconfidence, which can reduce preparation.
But pessimism can lead to giving up too early.
The ideal learner attitude is something like this thinking to yourself this will take time and effort, but I can improve if I keep practicing.
Number six, positive emotions improve language learning.
Research by Barbara Fredrickson from the broaden and build theory shows that positive emotions extend attention, mean that you could maybe listen to a podcast for longer, improve creativity and increase cognitive flexibility.
These are extremely helpful in language learning because learners need to focus for longer on.
Listen to episodes of Luke's English Podcast.
Notice patterns in language.
Interpret meaning and experiment with language.
Negative emotions like anxiety do the opposite.
They narrow your attention and encourage avoidance and self-defense.
So the conclusions are this.
Optimism tends to produce better language learning results, because it increases your motivation, your persistence, your willingness to communicate effectively and your resilience after mistakes, your ability to recover.
However, a little bit of pessimism can help with planning and preparation.
So the best attitude is probably realistic optimism.
Believing improvement is possible while recognising that learning takes effort.
In language learning, pessimists might say, my English is terrible.
But optimists might say, my English just isn't perfect yet.
And the opportunist just opens their mouth and starts speaking.
So what's your opinion on the subject of learning English?
Is the glass half empty or half full?
What do you think?
Is the glass half empty or half full in terms of learning English and your prospects of getting to the language level that you want?
But you should probably say, well, it's obviously optimistic, positive.
Yes, I can.
I might need to do some work.
It's going to take time, but we will get there in the end.
Here are some questions for your consideration and discussion at the end of this episode.
So some more questions for you to consider, perhaps for the comments section.
Now, I could ramble about these questions forever, but I will let you come up with your own answers to these.
You could argue any answer you want, but consider some of the things I've talked about during the episode.
So How many questions?
I've got 15 questions here.
Right.
If you understand 70 of a conversation in English.
You listen to a conversation and you understand 70.
Is that success or is that failure?
You didn't understand 100%, you understood 70%.
How do you classify that?
Number two, if you can say what you mean, but you make mistakes.
Are you communicating well or are you speaking badly?
Now, as I said before, there's not necessarily a right or wrong answer to all of these questions.
It's really just a way to let you exercise a form of cautious optimism or realistic optimism.
Thirdly, if you learned 10 new words today, but you forgot five, did you succeed or did you fail?
You studied 10, you learned and remembered 5, and you lost 5.
Is that success or failure?
And I strongly suggest that you actually take the time to answer these questions and try to push yourself towards a cautiously optimistic outlook.
But really do it.
Really, really do it.
Really say your answers out loud and try to encourage yourself to look on the bright side.
I'm sure it would be very helpful and beneficial to your English.
Remember, we're always attempting to spin ourselves into a virtuous cycle of positivity and growth mindset.
Number four if someone understands you, even though your grammar isn't perfect, is your English good enough or not good enough?
Number five if you can watch a film in English with subtitles, is that cheating or is that learning?
Now, I'm not suggesting it's learning.
I'm suggesting, to be honest, it's a combination of the two.
But OK, you watch your Netflix with subtitles on.
That's great because it does give you the opportunity to notice phrases and it's a little bit of scaffolding, a bit of support to help you understand.
But you know, you should also consider switching the subtitles off from time to time and just kind of, you know, just focusing on your pure listening skills.
Are mistakes, signs that you're failing or signs that you're learning?
Well, it's kind of both, in the sense that you're failing to be correct or to use the language correctly, but they are all opportunities to improve.
And when you make mistakes, if you do an exercise, if you do one of my vocab quizzes, if you're a premium Lepster and you notice that you've got quite a few things wrong in a way.
That's The positive way to look at that is to think right, here are opportunities to learn things.
Here are the gaps I need to fill.
If someone corrects your English, is that criticism or is it help?
Depends on the way they do it.
But anyway, if you speak slowly in English, are you bad at English or not?
It depends.
It depends.
Sometimes speaking slowly is actually helpful. a very powerful way to communicate.
And taking your time saying each line very carefully can actually give your English a certain strength.
Don't you agree?
So it depends, doesn't it?
Number nine, if learning English takes years, is that discouraging or is that actually impressive?
Number 10 if you practice English every day but you struggle.
Are you stuck or are you just improving slowly?
Struggling in English, is that a sign of a problem or is that a sign that learning is occurring?
Number 12.
When you hear a native speaker talk quickly, is it proof that your English is poor, proof that their English is poor, or proof that we all still have things to learn?
So when you hear a native speaker talking in a way that is not very clear or very helpful and it's difficult to understand them, what does this mean?
Does it mean you've got bad English, they've got bad English, or we all have room to improve?
Thirteen, if you know more English than you did last year, but you still feel limited, are you progressing or are you falling behind?
Number fourteen, is fluency a destination or is it a journey?
Number fifteen while everyone is arguing about whether their English is good or bad, should they just start speaking?
And number sixteen, is the glass half empty or is it half full?
OK, that's the end of this episode.
I look forward to reading your comments in the comment section.
Um, thank you very much for spending this time with me.
I hope that it's been useful.
There's been a lot in this episode right, check out the pdf that's available to download free.
You can just read all the stuff i've been reading from all those notes, all those bits of english, all those phrases, everything.
You could work with it and improve your English.
Thank you so much.
Have a lovely afternoon evening, morning or night.
Wherever you are in the world.
Whatever you happen to be doing at this moment in time, whatever sort of situation you find yourself in, whether you are walking down the street, whether you're sitting on a bus, sitting on a train, sitting on a plane, flying a helicopter in a hot air balloon tunneling under the ground for some reason, swimming through some tropical waters, listening to Luke's English podcast on special waterproof headphones, or you are floating in zero gravity in the International Space Station.
I do hope that you have a fairly positive outlook on things.
Despite the nature of the world as we see it today, the madness of the world.
Let's just keep.
Let's keep our collective chin up in Lepland and see the glass half full, certainly full of vocabulary that you can learn in order to push your English as far as it can go with the time that we've been given.
Okay, everyone, take care, be excellent to each other, and I will speak to you next time.
But for now, it's time to say, good bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye.
Thanks for listening to Luke's English Podcast.
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