Transcript of my podcast episode (18)

Here is ENGSPRESSO episode no. 18. It’s lovely that you’re here with me again because every time you listen to my podcast, you learn something new, and you boost your English skills! We finally have amazing autumn weather, so I guess that many of you are going to listen to me on the fly while you’re on a walk. Let me remind you that going for a walk and talking to yourself in English, for example, about your surroundings, i.e about what’s happening around you, is a great habit. In that way, you start thinking about your life and the world in English, and guess what? You become more and more fluent. Soon, you will even start dreaming in English! I give you my word!

Talking to myself is exactly what I did when I was a teenager. I walked my dog in a nearby park and practised English, as well as other foreign languages such as French, by talking to myself aloud. Yes, out loud! And no, nobody called me a loony or a weirdo because there wasn’t anybody who could overhear me. Even if somebody had overheard me, I wouldn’t have cared. My life, my choices, right? Believe it or not, I also talked to my dog in different languages. She understood me best in Polish, though. Sometimes she also paid attention to the phrase intonation, so from time to time she was able to understand what I wanted her to do. Anyway, in the end, it was much easier to keep talking to myself.

All right! We’ve got some introduction, so now I can teach you another two expressions.

The first one is TO FOLLOW SUIT. This expression means ‘to do the same thing’. So when somebody follows suit, they do the same thing as somebody else.

For instance: All students decided to skip the last lecture, so I followed suit. Now, repeat after me.
The translation is: Wszyscy studenci postanowili pominąć / nie iść na ostatni wykład, więc zrobiłem to samo.

Another example: When I started going on luxurious holidays, my siblings followed suit.
Gdy zaczęłam jeździć na luksusowe wakacje, moje rodzeństwo zaczęło robić to samo.

The second expression is AT LAST. I think that most of you know that it simply means ‘finally’.

For instance: She’s made up her mind at last – she’s getting married.
W końcu podjęła decyzję – wychodzi za mąż.

Another example: At last, we’ve got to know the truth!
W końcu poznaliśmy prawdę!

And now it’s time for your ENGSPRESSO to go!

Our context for the phrases is:

We had been trying to talk our parents into moving abroad for a long time, and they followed suit at last.
Długo próbowaliśmy namówić rodziców, żeby przeprowadzili się za granicę i w końcu to zrobili (zrobili to samo, co my).

Excellent! I hope that you followed suit when I was repeating the phrases. Then your learning does make sense. So don’t be hiding there, chin up and speak loud and proud! 

Have a look at the transcript of this episode and analyse my example sentences. To find the transcript, you can use the link in the description down below, or you can just go directly to my website angielskidokawy.pl because all my ENGSPRESSO transcripts are right there.

Thank you for spending your time with me and talk to you soon!