Best way to learn English with best podcast … and more… with Guy Kawasaki’s “Remarkable People”

Many people spend their commuting time listening to music or the radio, I’m sure.
Although it’s been of the norm lately to work remotely, some of us don’t perhaps go outside the house at all, it happens to me too.

When you think about it, commuting time itself (although the journey itself was full of pain especially here with Tokyo Metro…) was always a time slot one could set aside to do anything you want, such as learning something new or playing games.

Me, I’m an avid podcast listener. I have a number of programmes stored in my favorite files.
Some are news-related, Economist and BBC World News which I listen to every day, and others are more on creative stimulant stuff like how-to-write materials, ones I find helpful when stuck with writing.
I listen to almost anything depending on my mood at the time.

From such diverse programmes the very programme I introduce today is called “Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People“.

Guy Kawasaki, as many of you may know, is a well-known evangelist who contributed to the success of the Macintosh as an Apple Fellow in the early days of Apple Computer.
He is known for his diverse activities, including founding various companies, publishing business books, giving lectures and lately running this podcast programme, and is one of the top gurus of Silicon Valley innovation community today.

The content of Kawasaki’s podcasts is simple: one-on-one interviews with the extraordinary, innovative and remarkable people from various fields.

The guests are from leading figures from a variety of industries. They are Jane Goodall (British animal behaviourist), David Ige (former Governor of Hawaii), Margaret Atwood (Canadian author), Marshall Goldsmith (executive coach), Steve Wozniak (one of the co-founders of Apple), Marc Benioff ( Founder of Salesforce, Inc.), and many many more, were interviewed on the secrets of their successes, to name a few.

A Japanese-American from Hawaii, Mr. Kawasaki’s spoken English is relaxed, voice clear and calm even to us foreign listeners, helping us focus on the content even if English isn’t your native language.
His voice conveys his emotions so well that sometimes you’d feel as if you were there with them in a same recording room (indeed, Mr. Kawasaki often laughs during the recordings).

Now back to today’s topic.
There is a reason why I am recommending his programme as a tool for learning English with the title “The Strongest English Learning Method”.

We can learn something new from the lives and talks of these leading figures through the conversation in English language.

My point is that learning something new through this programme with English is the key.

For example, on 19 January 2022, Professor BJ Fogg, founder and director of the Behavioural Design Institute at Stanford University, appeared as a guest to discuss the Behavioural Design Model, more commonly known as the ‘secret to developing ideal habits’.

You may have read this research in a published book called “Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything”.

The programme with Prof. Fogg with Mr. Kawasaki also touched on research findings that were not included in the book, and introduced very useful points for developing good habits.
The whole content was just full of new findings. Totally immersive.

What I want to emphasis is that Kawasaki programme offers insightful points in lives, work and philosophy through their well lived lives.
All about improving your life tomorrow.

Listening into the programme with intention of improving one’s English may become a side effect. It is that good.

But if you’re non native English speaker and wanting to improve your English, do listen carefully, your English will improve through this programme.
Guaranteed.

Why?

When listening to podcast programmes on the move, so often the case that you can’t stop and rewind the programme where you didn’t understand.
So you just let it slide and by the time you finish listening the whole thing you’d have forgotten the part you didn’t understand.
It happens right?

So here’s another advantage of the Kawasaki programme: there is a transcript attached with every show!

For example, when above Professor Fogg came in, this was how the show began.

——-

Guy Kawasaki:
I’m Guy Kawasaki, and this is Remarkable People.
My guest today is BJ Fogg. He’s the author of the New York Times bestselling book, Tiny Habits.
He founded the Behaviour Design Lab at Stanford over twenty years ago.
BJ has his back bachelors and master’s degree in English, from Brigham Young University, and a PhD in communications from Stanford.
BJ’s theory is that behaviour happens when motivation, ability, and a prompt come together at the same moment.
If you want to change some behaviour and add a good habit or two, keep listening.

——-

How about that?
When you read the transcript, it gets much easier to get into the programme at once, don’t you think?

If you find it a bit tedious to follow the English transcript, you can also use Google Translate or the DeepL translation tool to get the whole thing in your mother language.

“We shouldn’t cheat” – we’re often told when learning something new, right?

Yes but no, no, no. The most important this is not to play by the rules but to keep playing with it all the time, every day.

So, use whatever you can, and just have fun with it!

All in all, I learned so much from this Kawasaki programme.
Not only did I learn a lot from the guests talk, but from the man Kawasaki himself, from his positive attitude and his courage to stand up for his belief.
How it was that he lived his life as Japanese-American, such a role model for all of us, especially us.

I would write more about him at another time.

Conclusion:

Here is a summary of how to use this podcast programme for your English learning.

By all means, in any order you like,

(1) Keep downloading the shows you’re interested in! It’s easier to start with the guests you’ve heard of or know them or read about them!

(2) Listen to it, Dive in!

(3) When you listen, don’t think: “Okay, I’m going to study English!”.
No no, just focus on the content of the conversation, hear what the two are saying, what are Mr. Kawasaki’s questions.

(4) Finally, check the transcript (you can copy and paste the translation to make into your own language) to get the gist of what is being discussed, and check if you understood them correctly, also use it to pick up on what you missed, (especially when you’ve been on the move) etc.

That’s all. If you find it interesting even for a slightest, Please do try.

You’ll learn something great and simultaneously improve your understanding of English!

Absolutely worth a shot.