ESL Podcast: In this ESL Podcast we discuss the current global financial crisis. Learn great vocabulary for Business and daily life in this podcast about the financial crisis.
Discussion forum
Financial Crisis:
ESL Conversation
| A: I’ve lost a ton in the market over these past few months.
B: We’re all in the same boat. It’s frustrating but I think the worst is behind us. Many value investors are jumping back into the market. They see this as a major buying opportunity. A: I agree. There has been a lot of panic selling. Many people fear the world is coming to an end. I’ve even heard of people taking money out of the banks and putting it under the mattress. B: That’s going a bit overboard I’d say. I think economy will contract until the credit markets get sorted out, but I don’t think this is doomsday. I also think that the market will go up before the economic recovery. The market is a forward thinking animal. A: Let’s hope so. I can’t afford any more sleepless nights. |
Phrases and Vocabulary used:
A ton:
A ton of something means a lot of something. It is slang.
I don’t want to eat dinner tonight. I ate a ton at our business lunch.
We’re all in the same boat:
A phrase that means, “we are all in the same situation”. If you are in the same boat as someone it means you are in the same situation they are in.
The worst is behind us:
This means that the worst part of the situation is over and it will start to improve from this point.
Jumping:
We often use this verb “jumping” to talk about someone going in and out of the stock market quickly, ie. quickly buying and selling stocks.
Panic selling:
Panic selling happens when many investors sell their stocks at the same time because they are scared they will lose more money. Panic selling causes stocks to become “oversold” resulting in a buying opportunity for smart investors.
Mattress:
A mattress is what you sleep on, ie, your bed. Sometimes people hide money and other valuable things under their mattress. They think this is a safe place.
That’s going a bit overboard:
This phrase means to overreact or be very extreme.
“I agree with you that he shouldn’t come to work late, but firing him for being late only once is going a bit overboard”
Doomsday:
Doomsday is the day that represents the end of the world.
The market is a forward thinking animal:
The stock market is often considered to be a forward thinking animal, because many stock prices are based on predicted future growth rather than on current performance.
Sleepless nights:
This term is often used to indicate situations where people are either extremely busy or extremely worried about something.
She had many sleepless nights after her daughter went away to university.
Many people in the US government have had many sleepless nights trying to figure out how to save the economy.
Many many thanks for this awsome lesson again... 
November 29th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Hey guys! I love you both. U have so sexy vocies and really help me to learn english. Thanks a lot
November 30th, 2008 at 8:39 am
Hi guys,
Surprised to find another one so soon…….
I thank you guys for selecting a topic that has been everywhere, i mean even in so small a country like ours(Nepal), its making news……
thanks for making it clear,
hope to find another one sooner too…..
Cheers,
November 30th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Hi Guys,
Just wanted to let you know this is the best English learning website and podcast I’ve ever seen. However, I have one little suggestion here which can make my learning much more easier - that since you guys have already put every your lessen on the website, so why don’t you also attach it into the lyrics of podcast episode. Then while downloading the lessens from iTune, I can have all those great words and contents on my iPod touch at the same time and I can read the contents while listening or right after listening.
But no matter what, really nice work here and it indeed helps a lot of my English. Thanks again for everything!
Regards,
Ben
December 2nd, 2008 at 2:42 am
Hi guys
I love whatever you do guys.
thanks a lot.
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:00 am
First time to be here! And nice work! Thanks!
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Hey guys,
I´m from Brazil and I´ve been trying to learn how to speak English for a long time. Now, I urge to speak better because in my job I´ll have to talk to some customers and partners that speak only English.
When I was looking for some material in the net I found your podcast that seemed to me very, very good.
I decided to start from the very beginning so I would not miss any expression you have already shown. I have listened to only 10 shows so far, because I do not have much time, so I listen to one each day. That was enough to convince myself that after listening to all of them my English will get much better.
Thanks for the job you are doing - great job.
Congratulations,
Marcos
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:59 am
Hey Andrew and Addison,
I should say that I absolutely agree with the guy who said that it is the best site to improve one’s English. Mainly if you are upper-intermediate or advanced, but I think it can work out fine for intermediate as well. If you want to learn real English I would recommend China232 wholeheartedly.
Many thanks to you guys!
Take care,
Fernando.
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Hey!
I really like listening to your podcast while drawing. I do that in my free time. The most thing that make your podcasts special is that it’s not formal and the jocks you make are funny. Your are really helping us to LIKE English speaking.
Thank you.
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Keep it up bros.
December 4th, 2008 at 3:34 am
Hi’ Guys..
My Name is rendra. I’m from Indonesia. your website is very good..it helps me to learn English language. i want to ask how to download the podcast? so that i can play it with my Mp3 player. i found difficulties to download the file.. please help me, thank you for the answer guys..
December 5th, 2008 at 4:53 am
Rendra,
you just have to click on “Download” that on the podcast you want to download. You will get the audio to listen to. Now if you have the last version of “Realplayer” you can right click on the audio and you’ll find “download this video to real player”. I hope that it would work with you.
Good Luck
December 7th, 2008 at 5:09 am
hey guys…. u people are doing wondefull job , GOD Bless u ….
December 7th, 2008 at 5:51 am
hi. you are doing here great job. i am living in new york . i been here for 2 years. english language is a big challenge for me. but i realized if i would continue listining your lesson. i am sure i will be ok very soon. coz the best way to learn any language is just Listen, LIsten. ok thanks for everything ,,,
December 7th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Hi guys! I have listened to many of your podcasts but I still don’t catch the name of your site… :)) Anyway I have found a nice stuff for the next podcast - it’s about traffic exactly from China. Maybe it will be a good subject :))
http://www.koval.net/china_driving_test.htm
Mateusz
December 8th, 2008 at 9:57 am
I like China232 very much. I want to improve my English speaking and listening, so I hope I can communicate with others who come from different countries(I’m from China).
December 8th, 2008 at 10:53 am
a new and refreshing look guys..thanks for it ,,changes are always welcome . it means so much to us, i mean it shows that you are so much concerned towards us…
thanks again….
Eager for another one!
bhaskar
nepal
December 8th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Wow ….I like the new look , It is great , we appreciate all the work you’ve been doing , thank you guys.
December 9th, 2008 at 3:54 am
hi, guys. I think you are doing fantastic. But, here are some things that I expect you could consider in your future podcasts for further improvements.
1. Would you pls consider spelling out some key words when you are teaching them? Those phrases you were introducing to us are great but sometime i just don’t get it without referring back to the texts on your websites. I think it could be more convenient if you could go ahead and spell them out, especially when people are listening to you on a bus,
2. The sounds you make at the beginning of each podcast are really funny and it helps to get people in a “listening” mood. But i think the volume is a little too loud compared to your normal speech after.
Thanks a lot! I really love this show. Please keep it up.
December 9th, 2008 at 4:30 am
Skycan,
thank you very much for your answer, it’s help me much.
December 9th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Great disign!
I love it!
December 10th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
thanks guys, another great episode i would say.
i listened to all of your lessons twice! No surprise, it´s worth it. Meanwhile i jumped into the business section. Also good stuff. What can i also say?
I absolutely appriciate your work. Go ahead.
December 11th, 2008 at 11:54 am
I’ve listened 53 of your masterpices in a short time. Don’t worry guys, I will be here soon
December 12th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
thx so much for the hard working , and congratulations for the great job that you guys have done over here! By chance, i saw this show on iTunes, and i loved it at once ! And then i realiased that you are in my lovely country !!!
December 13th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Hi my name is juan Im from colombia, and its my first time congratulations I didnt know this sistem “the podcasts” and I think its exelent for us to learn a lot of English thanks
December 20th, 2008 at 11:38 am
i am really thankful to all of u who made this site and made english easy for me and for many many others i specially pray to God for ur progress and hope u will make much better ur efforts though its still very very helpful in learinging real accent of english
i love ur site and its really more than enough and a brillient effort
December 21st, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Hey Addison and Andrew
How are you doing?
I agree with Ben, This is the best website about learning english I have ever seen.
but it could be a great idea to see the transcription while we’re listening to the podcast.
Thanks a lot guys!
See ya!