AEE 2348: What’s the Deal With Learning English?
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This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2348. What's the deal with learning English? Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection with your American hosts,

Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe.

What is a big deal to you? When it comes to connection, knowing what matters to people and what doesn't is the key. Today, get four new English phrases using the word deal.

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Hey, Aubrey. How's it going today? How are you doing? I'm great. How are you, Lindsay? Good. Have you been shopping lately? Out there shopping? Maybe the holiday season or post-holiday deals? Totally. I'm not a huge shopper, but I do look for deals. I'll go straight to the clearance rack and often I'll wait to buy something once it's on sale.

Nice. I usually just get hand-me-downs when it comes to clothing. People just like family members are just like, here, I don't want this anymore. And I just take that. I get hand-me-downs from my teenage daughters now. They were like getting rid of clothes and I always go through it. I'm like, I'm keeping some of this. You're like, it's still in style for me. Okay. We have different style rules, but

Aubrey, what is something recently that you got a great deal on? Anything specific? Yes, we got, we gave ourselves for Christmas. It's like a vacuum mopping robot that like, you know, goes around the house. You can program it. Oh, I love it. But it was

on sale $250 off at Costco. So we had wanted it, we'd seen it, but it's a little pricey. And then when it went, we're like, okay, that's a good deal. That's a good deal. You kind of have to go after those deals when you see those because you know, they won't come back. Does it work or does it get itself stuck in the wall and just jam against the wall? It works great. I'm

because you're able to program it with like Bluetooth every now and then. This one actually hasn't, we used to have just the vacuum one and it would sometimes get like stuck something maybe between the carpet and the tile, but this one never has. I think they've improved the technology. - That's kind of awesome, I love that.

So I'm excited to let our listeners know what we're getting into today. You know, at the top of the show, Aubrey, I asked you, what's something you got a great deal on? So getting into this word today, deal. Yeah. Yeah. And we use it a lot of different ways. It's not just about cost savings. That is one of the ways we use it. That came up recently when you and

Michelle, we're talking about buying in bulk, so stay to the end. We'll share that episode in case you missed it. But I heard that and was like, oh, we use this for a lot of interesting phrases and a lot of interesting ways. So that's what we're going to dive into, all the ways we use the word deal in English. Yeah, but first, guys, hit the follow button. If you love All Ears English, if you love our philosophy, which is connection, not perfection, it means that we believe connection is the most important reason

We're learning languages, right? We're learning English to connect. We show you how to do it. Hit the follow button if you want to become part of this community. Right, Aubrey? Absolutely. And this vocabulary is a great way to connect in English because when you find out what is a big deal for people, we're going to share this phrase among others, something being a big deal. You learn everything.

more about their values, more about them. So this is an interesting way to connect. I love this kind of episode where we can, you know, ask a question or insert a vocabulary word and learn so much about someone to truly connect. So let's start with the meaning we had at the top of the show. Cost savings, right? Number one, the first meaning.

Yes. I was saying I got a deal on that vacuum mop. We could say, you know, I got quite a deal on this car. Sticker price was twenty five thousand and I got it for eighteen. Yeah. Wow. That is a good deal for sure. Yeah. Or I go straight to the clearance rack to get

the best deals. Yeah. So you go to places like Nordstrom Rack, right? I think you mentioned Aubrey, you like Nordstrom Rack before. I do. I go to Nordstrom Rack, but then I go straight to the clearance rack. I'm not even going to the regularly priced discounted stuff. I used to go to TJ Maxx all the time. Do you ever go to TJ Maxx? I do. Yeah. I like to go there too. I've been burned a couple of times because I would buy something there that was like dry clean only. Oh,

Didn't realize so now I have to check labels and I don't go there as often because I realized some of the clothing there I can't just throw in my washer. Yeah, maybe it's a phenomenon of the odds I don't know but I used to go there all the time when I was like a teenager a kid in my hometown So anyways, we all have our go-to kind of discount racks. So we go to Aubrey what's the second way that we use the word deal? Yeah, the second one is something is a big deal and it means that something is important and

So as an example, maybe it'll be a really big deal if we get awarded this contract at work. And this is probably the best one for connection. If you ask, if someone's talking about something and you're asking them, you know, okay, like I can see this is a big deal for you. It's even a good way to, you know, sometimes when you recognize something is really important, but you don't know what to say, you don't want to give advice right away. You're sort of, you know, saying like, I can hear you.

hear that I can tell that this is a big deal to you. Yeah, you just want to respond somehow, right? You don't want to be a blank face, nothing, no response, something all this seems like a really big deal. I love that I can see this. That's a really wise comment, right? When it comes to connection. Exactly. It has this very similar meaning to I can tell that this is really important for you, but even more native and natural.

I love that. And then natives also say, "No big deal." Right? No big deal. So that's just kind of the opposite of that. It's no big deal to get here early. What do we mean when we say that? It's no big deal. Yeah, it's not important. Like, oh, you know, maybe someone's like, "We have to be there 15 minutes early." And someone else might say like, "No, it's really no big deal to get there early. Like there's not going to be anything important happening." But we use this most often as a response. So let's do a mini role play to show that.

Okay. All-star desk. Thank you so much for watering my plants while I was gone. Oh, no big deal at all. Yeah. Like, ah, it was no big deal. No big deal at all. It's you wanting me to not feel like I've put you out. Right? This is a connection skill too when you are saying you're welcome, but in a way that lets somebody know like I wasn't really inconvenienced. Yeah. We find we...

We need this a lot, you know, like taking care of your neighbor's plants or their cats or their dogs when they're gone. You do need something to say because people might feel guilty for having asked you to do that or they might want to repay you somehow. But you want to make sure you're really emphatic. Oh, it was no big deal at all. I was happy to do it. Exactly. This is one of my favorite options. And I do this a lot. I want people to feel comfortable asking me for favors. I want to be able to help when I can. And I don't want them to feel guilty about it, like they've inconvenienced me.

Yeah, exactly. And then number three, Aubrey, there's still another way we use the word deal. And what is it? Yeah, it's what's the big deal. So this is telling someone they're making too much out of a minor issue. It's similar to we recently talked about the idiom making a mountain out of a molehill. If you miss that, scroll up. Don't miss these. Make sure your followings, you don't miss these great episodes. So like you might say to someone, you know, why are you so upset? What's the big deal?

Right. So this one you have to be a little more careful with because you are definitely implying that you think they are making a big deal about something that you don't think is that important. Yeah, yeah, you have to be careful. You could sound kind of dismissive of what they're worried about. You could sound like you're just not you're not taking care of the person very well. Right. So be careful there. But here's a good I asked myself this question all the time every weekend between August and February.

What's the big deal with football in the US? Right. Or, or I suppose for our listeners around the world, soccer is a bigger deal. What's the big deal with soccer? And they would say it the same way wherever they live, right? What's the big deal with football? And they would mean soccer. I said this just yesterday, because there was a big college playoff game that everyone was making this huge deal out of. And I'm just kind of like, what's the big deal with this game? I'm just not as into it as a lot of people are.

I feel your pain. I spent all of Saturday. It was my partner's birthday. And that was what we were going to do. That was the fun thing. And so the family came and we watched two games in a row, the Denver Broncos. And then Colorado State or University of Colorado is just one game after another. And all of a sudden people were jumping up and screaming. You really took one for the team there. Wow.

big time, big time. And I bought the cupcakes and everything. It's okay. It's what you do, right? Right. This is what you do. Sometimes we have to do what our partners do. So yeah, exactly. Yeah, for sure. All right. You just realized that your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast, easy, just use Indeed. When it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job posts seen on other sites.

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Okay, Aubrey, we are back for a role play. Are you ready? Let's go into it. So here, what's the scenario? I am an auto mechanic and you have brought in your car in this role play. Perfect. Here we go. So go for it. What's the deal with the car? Well, the brakes are making a squeak squealing noise. Gotcha. Should be no big deal to fix that. Well, my friend Marie recommended you and said you'd give me a deal if I mentioned her name.

Absolutely. Yes. Nice. Okay. So again, a very different use, but we're not talking about football anymore. And what matters it's what's going on with the car, right? Exactly. Right. That first thing I said, you bring in a car, this might be what the mechanic says. Okay. What's the deal with the car means what's going on with the car.

Exactly. And then I you said, Gotcha, should be no big deal to fix. So you're being very you're just saying I can take care of this. I can Yeah, I can fix it quickly. It's not going to it's not a major issue. Exactly. And you also took off a pronoun there. What did you take off?

Yeah, instead of saying it should be no big deal. Yeah, we'll drop that and just say should be no big deal. Yeah, it should be no big deal or this should be no big deal. Mm-hmm. Either of those would be good. And then what did I say Aubrey? And then you said my friend Marie recommended you and said you'd give me a deal if I mention her name. So you're sort of asking for a discount. This is the kind of deal like you're asking them not to charge you the regular price because you've been recommended by a friend or a current customer.

Yeah, and this feels very natural, right? This conversation, this back and forth, inserting deal here and there in different ways, don't you think? Yeah, it doesn't really feel, because they have such different meanings, it wouldn't even be like, oh, this is weird. I'm using the word deal over and over. Nope. We probably would have them all in the same conversation.

Exactly. I love that. Now there's another episode our listeners should check out. That is 2337. Guys, go over and check it out. Why do Americans love bulk buying? And again, that's our conversation about Costco. And Costco is a global phenomenon. So we want to know what you all think about Costco and bulk buying. Is it common in your culture? We asked those questions in that episode.

Yes. And that's the episode that inspired today's episode because you guys were talking about how, you know, is it a better deal, right, to buy in bulk? Is there some cost savings there? Yes, I love it. What's our takeaway for today? Yeah, you can find out a lot about someone by discovering what they think is a big deal. So not only is it a good connection skill to, you know, respond, oh, I can tell that this is a big deal for you. When you're having these conversations, often that's the goal to find out what is a big deal to people, right?

Yeah, it's so important, right? Asking those questions or you're asking, is this a big deal to you? Maybe someone is kind of holding their cards close, you know, close in. What's that expression? Holding their cards close to the chest, like you're playing poker and they're making sure no one can see their cards.

A lot of people are that way, right? Personality wise, they just aren't very expressive. So you could ask the question, Hey, is this a big deal? Do you want to talk about it? Really good way to start to build connection. Absolutely. Yes. I love these phrases. Excited for you to be able to use all of them. So fun. All right. Good stuff. Guys, hit the follow button on All Ears English and we will see you next time. Aubrey, have a good week. You too. See you next time, Lindsay. Bye. Bye.

Thanks for listening to All Ears English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our two-minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.

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