English with Kirsty

You first met Maria in episode 244 of the podcast about the conversation club.I first met her at our networking for language professionals events and through her interview on the Language Worker podcast.Maria also shared more of her story at one of our conversation club meetings and I thought it would be interesting to share this story with you as well.We talked about:* Maria’s interest in writing and how it has continued throughout the different stages of her career* Maria’s blog in Portuguese* Tips for how writing can help you to improve your language skills – either in your first language or an additional one* How writing by hand and typing in other languages with additional characters are good ways* How writing or journalling can help us to be present and get to know ourselves better.We also discussed Maria’s upcoming course for those who want to learn more about subtitling. You can find the details here: https://www.translastars.com/course/master-subtitlingWho is Maria?>Maria Virgínia Barros is a passionate wordsmith with a background in export and international communication. After completing her degree in contemporary languages and literature from the University of Porto, she deepened her skills through a postgraduate program in specialised translation at Porto Executive Academy.Today, Maria Virgínia dedicates herself exclusively to translation and subtitling projects for various companies and television networks.Her love for language extends beyond professional work. Maria Virgínia continues to write poetry and has maintained a personal blog, Sítio da Saudade, for nearly two decades. She believes that poetry and translation share a fundamental connection: the pursuit of the perfect word.Find out more on the show notes page: https://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode260/Connect with us on LinkedIn:Kirsty - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-wolf-a8478235/Maria - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariavirginiabarros-language-consultant/ 

September can be a time for new beginnings, although really, we don't need to wait for a certain month to start something new. Still, lots of people are talking about new plans and ideas at the moment and it got me thinking...Some people just get an idea and run with it. For others, there are a number of things that get in the way or that make us put things off. Sometimes just taking the first step and getting started is the hardest part.So what are those things? This week we're looking at 8 of them and what we can do to prevent them from getting in the way of us starting something new and exciting!Here is the show notes page. https://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode259/I mentioned my 3 main programmes too - details of all of them can be found on the home page of my English with Kirsty site. ***********Send me an email if you have any questions or suggestions about the English with Kirsty podcast:podcast@englishwithkirsty.comor come and find me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-wolf-a8478235/

Today I'm bringing you my conversation with Helen. You may remember her because she featured on episode 235 about the conversation club.This is part of a new series where I'm talking about different aspects of learning languages. We'll explore some of the challenges that my clients have faced and how they overcame them.Helen isn't someone who loves learning languages, but she needed English for some professional training that she was doing and she was motivated enough to get some help with it. Helen went from someone who felt nervous about speaking English to someone who now talks to strangers at the gym and prepares presentations for us at the club.What changed? Find out in the episode! Find the show notes here: https://www.englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode258and you can connect with me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-wolf-a8478235/

I have two announcements for you this week!Firstly, I'm doing a survey about the podcast and I'd love to get your input. It's always good to hear from my podcast listeners, but I'd be especially happy if you have a few minutes to fill in my survey because I'm making plans for the next 250 episodes and it helps me if I know what people are enjoying/finding useful. Here's the link to the survey!https://englishwithkirsty.com/english-with-kirsty-podcast-2024-survey-and-meet-up/secondly, I'm organising an online meet-up for my previous podcast guests and listeners who have completed the survey. Details are on the survey page and if you leave me your email address when you complete the survey, I'll send you the joining details for the event.Thanks in advance to anyone who gives me feedback and I'm looking forward to meeting some of you or seeing you again at the meet-up!

I decided to contact Inês because I’d been listening to her podcast, Your voice matters, for a while. I was even more excited to discover that the first episodes were in Portuguese, because it means I have some more interesting content to listen to that will help me improve my Portuguese and learn about other voice-related topics!But originally, our interview wasn’t going to be about that. I wanted to talk about voice coaching. We covered topics such as getting used to hearing your own voice and practising how you want to sound before you actually speak in public. Also, how we can use our voice to communicate our personality, even if we’re feeling nervous about the language.We can adopt vocal habits in another language that aren’t ours and it’s liberating when we learn to move past this.We also discuss why Inês decided to start a podcast, why she switched the language after the first two seasons, how she did it, what the process was like for her, and what advice she would give to people who are thinking about creating content in another language.I also love one of the things that Inês said at the beginning when we were talking about her career journey. Deciding to work with a coach or trainer doesn’t have to be because you have a problem. It can also be because you want to do something better!I decided to contact Inês because I’d been listening to her podcast, Your voice matters, for a while. I was even more excited to discover that the first episodes were in Portuguese, because it means I have some more interesting content to listen to that will help me improve my Portuguese and learn about other voice-related topics!But originally, our interview wasn’t going to be about that. I wanted to talk about voice coaching. We covered topics such as getting used to hearing your own voice and practising how you want to sound before you actually speak in public. Also, how we can use our voice to communicate our personality, even if we’re feeling nervous about the language.We can adopt vocal habits in another language that aren’t ours and it’s liberating when we learn to move past this.But we also discuss why Inês decided to start a podcast, why she switched the language after the first two seasons, how she did it, what the process was like for her, and what advice she would give to people who are thinking about creating content in another language.I also love one of the things that Inês said at the beginning when we were talking about her career journey. Deciding to work with a coach or trainer doesn’t have to be because you have a problem. It can also be because you want to do something better!Here's the show notes page:https://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode256/Or you can connect with us on LinkedIn:Kirsty - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-wolf-a8478235/Inês - https://www.linkedin.com/in/inesmoura/

We often talk about what we do, but one of the things that we touched upon at the conversation club today was why we do what we do. What motivates us? What gives us a sense of fulfilment?Today I'm sharing a bit of my story about why language is important to me, how needing to learn in a slightly different way has actually helped me, and why I do what I do.In the coming months, some of my clients and friends will be sharing their stories too.I also talked about my "Discover your voice in English" mentoring programme. Send me a message if you'd like to find out more or to have a chat about whether it's for you!https://englishwithkirsty.com/discover-your-voice-in-englishHere's the show notes page for the episode:https://www.englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode255

Sometimes advice like “feel the fear and do it anyway” or “just start and see what happens” doesn’t work. You need a more structured plan to give you the confidence to create and launch something new.This is how today’s guest approached his idea to start a YouTube channel in English. He made a plan, created the content, and finally gave himself time to make sure that it was what he wanted before releasing it out into the world.It’s easy to look at successful, well-known content creators and to think that they’ve always been doing that – but every story has a beginning. Today Adrian Probst shares his content creation story with us.We talked about:🎙 Adrian’s language story and why he chose a career in the language industry🎙 Why Adrian created his Youtube channel the Freelanceverse for freelance translators and language professionals🎙 Adrians thought process around creating the channel, why he decided to do it in English, how he made his plan, and then how he began showing the content to others🎙 How different parts of Adrian’s personality come out as he uses his different languages to communicate.🎙 Adrian’s advice for other people who want to start something new or to create content in an additional languageDo you have ideas for a new content creation project? Will it also be in an additional language? If it would help with your accountability, let us know about it in the comments!You can listen to our conversation herehttps://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode254/and this is Adrian's YouTube channel https://youtube.com/@Freelanceverse

It's summer here in Europe and many people are thinking about holiday activities - which means a lot of the things that we usually do are put on hold.This episode is one of a series of quick, implementable tips - things that you can do to work on your language skills without attending a class or working with the language.Today I'm talking about why it's important for us to meet new people anyway, and how, as a language learner, in some ways it's easier to start conversations with people that we don't know. It could be to get some information that we need. It could be small talk - they don't know all the basic things about us that are easy to answer. And more importantly, we never know where conversations will lead - you might even find some new friends!Plus - you don't have to be in a country where the language is spoken in order for this to work!If you try this out, let me know how you get on! Be mindful of where you are and whom you're speaking with - if it doesn't feel good, move on!Here's the link to the show notes page:https://www.englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode253

I came across Anja and her podcast on LinkedIn because I was curious to find out what other podcast hosts are doing and to find some new content to listen to. Anja and I started talking when I posted a question about people who produce content in another language – and here we are! I hope you enjoy our conversation, and if you’re thinking about creating content in English, but you haven’t started doing it yet, Anja has some really good tips and advice for you.We talked about: Anja’s podcast – “Freelance business unlocked” – and how it came about Anja’s language story – how English came into her life Why Anja decided to change her podcast language from Croatian to English, why she made the change, and how she felt about it Tips for dealing with imposter syndrome and procrastination The importance of learning to be comfortable with our voice – in general and when we’re speaking another language. Is procrastination or imposter syndrome preventing you from starting something new? If you like, you can share something about the idea with us – it’s the first step to making it real!Who is Anja?If you’re here, you want to know whether it’s worth tuning in to the episode, so I’ll hopefully manage to convince you! My name is Anja Lordanić Mustać, I’m from Croatia, and I love fostering meaningful relationships with other freelancers and solopreneurs. Why is that something that comes first? Because as much as we think we’re “free” and “solo”, we cannot do this thing called business on our own.I recently discovered that podcasting is my true business love, and I love to teach others how to finally launch and grow their podcast AND stay consistent.As a semi-retired translator and interpreter, podcasting has been such a great way to keep on working on my language skills, communicating with people from various countries and backgrounds, and learning more about what fills them up.Find out more on the show notes page:https://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode252/

Today I'm sharing a tip from one of our language exchange for language professionals meet-ups and it's something that I'm doing to help with my Portuguese.If you commit to giving yourself regular opportunities to write, this will also help your general fluency. Finding time for something quick is often easier than finding time to write a long essay! You can always extend the word count - I often go well over mine - but it's a minimum and you can always make the task harder as your language skills increase.You can also add new rules such as "don't use the dictionary" - so you have to use the words that you already know. I'd do that for German and Romanian, but the Portuguese practise for me is also about vocabulary building.You can be more prescriptive about the text.Or, if stories are more your thing, you could commit to writing a bit more of your story each time.If you try this out, let me know how you get on!Find out more on the show notes page:https://www.englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode251***********Send me an email if you have any questions or suggestions about the English with Kirsty podcast:podcast@englishwithkirsty.comor come and find me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-wolf-a8478235/