Hello English learners and Happy New Year!
Welcome to the very first episode of 2026 of the Easy English Podcast, the best place to learn and practice your English skills.
I'm your host, Oliver, and today we aren't just talking about learning English.
We're talking about mastering it and improving it in 2026.
So in this year, 2026, the world is more connected online than ever before.
We have AI partners, instant translation and global digital communities in our phones, in our computers and on all of our devices.
But even with all of this technology, the questions and the challenges remain the same.
How do I get better at English?
How do I improve this year?
And today we're moving away from boring textbooks and we're discussing how systems over goals can really help us to learn English and how the compound effect can transform your English fluency this year.
So stick around to find out.
As always, let's first learn our key vocabulary for this episode.
And I want you to listen for these words in today's main content.
I'm going to read you the word, the definition, and maybe an example.
And you will hear these in context throughout the episode.
Our first word today is consistency.
Consistency.
Great word.
Consistency means the quality of always acting or doing something in a similar way, usually to achieve a result.
So I am consistent at studying English every day.
I have good consistency with my studies.
Consistency here is the noun version.
Our second phrase, we could say, is the compound effect.
The compound effect.
We will talk about this a little bit more in the episode, but in short, it is the strategy of getting huge rewards from small actions performed over time.
So doing lots of little things and over time you get huge, big results from this.
Our third word today, and we've had this word before, I think months ago, but it's a really, really good one.
And that is nuance, nuance.
Maybe important to note that British people they say it like nuance and Americans say it more like nuance, nuance.
Kind of like a bit like new, the word a bit more.
So, nuance means a very slight difference in something.
So, usually a very slight difference in meaning, tone or expression.
So, there is a slight, let's say, nuance in learning English between B2 and C1.
Our fourth word today is stagnation.
Stagnation.
Great word.
Stagnation is the state of not flowing or moving.
So the state of not moving forward.
A lack of activity, a lack of growth or development.
Stagnation.
You might be having stagnation with your English studies.
You're not improving.
You're staying the same and you're not moving forward.
And our final word, another reminder word, because this word is a great one that I always like to teach, and that is immersion.
Immersion.
Listen out for this.
And immersion is the state of being deeply involved in a particular environment.
So in this case, an English speaking one.
Immersing yourself in English.
So, Why have I chosen this topic to start the new year?
I've chosen this topic because I get asked as a teacher of English, as someone that makes this podcast every year.
I've been doing it for five years, over five years now.
I get asked the same questions every year.
How do I improve my English?
You know, why am I not improving?
Or people tell me all the time that they've reached a point where it feels like they're not improving anymore.
They are feeling stagnation with their English studies.
So today I want to break down and look at a few points into 2026 about how you can improve your English and a few tips and tricks.
Of course, every episode I like to share.
You know, ways to improve English, new vocabulary, new tips.
But today I want to focus exclusively on this coming year and really give you a little bit of motivation for the year to start, and to start as you mean to go on and to really set high goals for improving your English this year.
And on that note, if you want to get transcripts and flip cards for every episode, as well as a bonus episode each week, you can consider subscribing to the Easy English Patreon.
The link is in the description below on every episode.
This week's bonus episode, or sorry, the last week's bonus episode now was my New Year's reflections and resolutions.
So it was more of a personal episode where I shared on Patreon my reflections on the past year.
Some things that happened in my personal life and my goals for this next year, both personally and with the podcast.
So if you're interested in that, you're interested in bonus content and taking your learning to the next level this year, do consider subscribing to the Patreon.
Okay, so the first point I want to talk about, specifically about 2026, which is something that I think applies to a lot of people, and that's looking at technology, the use of technology in years past and even right up now to 2025 and this year, many people and many learners and i see it all the time, even in comments use technology to translate english, and this is great, like it's good.
It's a fantastic tool to be able to translate, but not for everything.
So we need to ask ourselves and we need to sit down and look at our use of technology and ask ourselves the following questions.
Is it helping me to improve my English?
The way that I use it, is it helping me?
If you're using a translation tool to write comments in English or to translate everything that someone has said or something you've read online, is that helping you to learn English?
The answer is probably no.
If you're using it to translate one or two words here and there, to learn the meaning and to then add them into a flip card, is that helping learn English and improve?
Probably yes.
And why I'm making this point is I see this more and more, particularly with the development of AI.
People starting to rely more on artificial intelligence for translation, for writing English and for understanding.
And AI is a fantastic development and tool, and it can really be used in positive ways.
But I feel that you need to use it in the correct way to learn English.
Using it to replace your language skills is not a positive.
You need to use it rather as a tool to help you learn.
If you want to rely on AI to write comments, to write letters in perfect English, then there's no point even learning English in the first place.
You need to make mistakes.
You need to try to create things on your own.
Make grammar mistakes, speaking mistakes.
All of those things are part of the learning process.
And I do fear that in 2026, many people are going to become more reliant on this technology rather than using it as a tool to help them.
So try to use AI more in a way that will help you.
For example, you want to write a comment in English.
You talk to your AI tool, the chat GPT, whatever it is, and you ask it to explain what you have done wrong, what you've written incorrectly.
You ask it to show you where the grammatical errors are, to break down what you have done, rather than asking it to translate something or to write something for you.
That's one example of just using it more as a tool to help you rather than something to do something for you.
Okay, the next main point I wanted to talk about looking at improving your English this year is systems versus goals.
It's something I've talked about a little bit before, probably on Patreon, and it is very relevant this time of year.
So at the beginning of each year, we often set huge goals.
Or even just if you have started a new habit or a new skill that you want to learn.
We often set these massive goals.
You might say, I want to be fluent in English by July this year.
And the problem is, goals often have an end point.
It is good to have smart goals for maybe milestones or particular points, but for these general goals, especially once we reach those end points or if we fail them, we often stop.
And in 2026, the most successful English learners will focus on what I call systems.
Systems.
So a goal is for example, I will read an entire English book this year.
Whereas a system is I will read five pages of English every morning with my coffee.
If you listened to the last episode, we talked about smart goals.
And systems are built on smart goals.
And the most successful English learners will develop.
They will create their own language learning systems this year, their own routines and habits and structures that are going to help them get that compounding effect that we will talk about a little bit later.
When you focus on the system, you benefit from this compound effect.
Small 1 improvements every single day.
That don't look like much in a week, but by the end of 2026, when we're sitting here next year talking about 2027, you will have received quite a large increase in your English abilities, both listening, speaking grammar.
Whatever your goals are for this year,
What I'm trying to tell you is you can do it.
There's little improvements.
That's how you get there.
Think about this podcast, for example.
When I started this five years ago, for the first three or four years it was slowly growing, getting a little bit bigger.
And that compounding effect over time has allowed it to start to grow into a much bigger podcast.
I didn't expect in two months that we were going to have even a thousand listeners, let alone now 44000 of you.
Okay.
Let's go to our next section.
Well, first I'll take a very quick break and say today's question that I do want to ask on this topic and I asked it in the last episode, but I'm going to ask it again is I want you to challenge yourself and I want you to comment on this video and answer to this question.
I want you to tell me what your goals are for this year.
It can be with English, your English learning.
It can be personal life.
It can be work, professional, whatever you want.
But tell me what your goals are.
It helps to write them down and I will read a few of them in next week's episode.
So I'm going to take the best from last week's episode and this week's and I will read and share some of those goals.
So do challenge yourself and write in the comments an answer to that question.
Okay, back to our episode.
So if...
Most importantly, you know, one way to improve your English this year is to make sure that you're following the podcast and that you've rated it five stars.
Okay, I'm joking.
What I really want to say is that most of you listening to this podcast are probably at an intermediate level of English.
So you may be at what I call the intermediate plateau.
And this is the stage where you can communicate maybe quite well.
Perhaps you're at that start of being able to understand English in spoken English, listening to podcasts like this or slow versions with subtitles.
Maybe you're able to form basic sentences and talk about certain topics.
But many people in this range because the intermediate range is a very broad category are likely at a stage of what we call stagnation, which I mentioned earlier.
Stagnation.
You aren't getting worse, but you're also not getting a lot better.
Very, very subtle, very small improvements.
And to break through.
If you're at this level in 2026, you need to look and hunt or look for the nuance.
And the nuance is the little details, the little things, those little improvements.
So, for example, just focusing on your speech, how to improve vocabulary instead of using very all the time.
You can start using more complicated adverbs instead of using, you know, again, very.
Start using more specific adjectives as well.
And this is where that immersion becomes vital.
Because you have reached that level where you're starting to understand more, and you're at that level.
It's important that you begin to immerse yourself.
You understand the foundations of grammar.
You understand a good base of vocabulary.
And now it's important that you use the language to listen to lots of English, to practice speaking English.
You need to immerse yourself and use the language in every way possible.
The new year is also a chance to reflect about why you're stagnating.
If you are proactively learning and you're trying new things, you're keeping it fresh.
You should be making progress.
So it's important to ask and reflect why are you stagnating?
There usually is a reason.
Perhaps we're not being honest about how we're studying.
Perhaps we are fatigued, we're tired and bored. with the routine that we have.
And in that case, you need to do something different.
Try new ways of learning.
Get the brain active and working by doing different things and using different methods.
It's an exciting time to practice and to try new techniques and ways of learning English.
And my final point is add a social aspect to your language learning.
I think that you can really improve this year by using English as a tool for connection.
In 2026, just knowing English is probably not enough.
You need to use it and connect with it to be able to create a consistent learning habit.
Well, you can, of course, just learn on your own, but it's a lot less fun.
Get involved in the comments online.
Start replying to other people's comments on this podcast and have conversations.
Join a group online.
Join a conversation class or a club.
This is something I'm planning, by the way, on the Patreon this year.
As humans, we do so well with human connection, with social connection, and it can really help us to learn.
If you meet people and connect with other people that are learning English as well, it can help to motivate, to inspire and to keep us going.
And finally, I want to leave you with a little message, and it's to say, don't stress so much.
You're doing great.
The fact that you're listening to this right now and I love to say this the fact that you're even listening to this podcast right now, at the end of the episode, tells me that you are trying to improve your English.
You're working hard and you're developing it for whatever reasons you have.
There are so many people out there that are not trying to learn another language.
There are so many people that have given up, that have stopped and that have been defeated with their language learning.
But you're not.
You're still learning, you're still listening, and you're doing great.
So thank you for your effort.
Thank you for all of the listening and support in 2025.
And I will tell you that keep going, be consistent and try new ways of learning.
And you will become a more fluent, better English speaker in 2026.
And I wish you all of the best.
I will be here every step of the process and you can ask me always questions and advice.
I'm always just a comment or an email away and I'll be happy to answer your questions.
Thank you so much for listening.
Remember, if you want to get the flip cards, the vocabulary lists, the transcripts and bonus episodes, subscribe to the Easy English Patreon.
And I will see you in the next episode of the Easy English Podcast.
Have a wonderful rest of your day.
Goodbye.
