Podcast Recommendation: No Stupid Questions

Source: https://freakonomics.com/series/nsq/

Listening to English podcasts on a regular basis is an excellent way to improve your listening skills. You can listen to free podcasts while commuting, going to the gym or lying in bed. Again, you can choose a podcast that suits your interests. It doesn’t have to be about English learning at all. My advice is to listen to a podcast that comes with a transcript so that you can refer to it if needed. You can just focus on the main ideas unless you’d like to do an in-depth analysis of the speech and treat it as a model for pronunciation practice.

          In this article, I’m going to introduce my favourite podcast – No Stupid Questions, an American podcast hosted by Angela Duckworth and Mike Maughan.

Suggested level^: Advanced (~HKDSE Level 5 or above; CEFR C1-C2)

Topic: Psychology

Duration: Around 40 mins for each episode

Features:

• In each episode, the hosts have a discussion about a topic which is usually inspired by a listener’s question. They cover a wide range of topics, such as happiness, relationships and decision-making.

• The hosts usually share their personal experiences and observation in their discussion.

• They ask their listeners a question every time and invite them to share their thoughts by recording a voice memo and sending it to the podcast team.

Some interesting episodes:

• Episode 158 Bigger Fish, or Bigger Pond? (https://freakonomics.com/podcast/bigger-fish-or-bigger-pond/)

• Episode 164 Do You Have Impostor Syndrome? (https://freakonomics.com/podcast/do-you-have-imposter-syndrome/)

• Episode 176 Why Is It So Hard to Make Decisions? (https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-is-it-so-hard-to-make-decisions/)

Potential challenges:

• The hosts often cite academic research in their discussion so you may come across a lot of names and experiments.

  • Don’t worry if you can’t catch all the names or details. Focus on what the hosts are trying to say by citing the research.

  • Refer to the transcripts on the website if needed.

^The suggested level is only for your reference. If you’d like to challenge yourself, feel free to have a go and maybe you’ll enjoy it!

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在聆聽考試中，常常都會設定情景為你在聽播客(podcast)，但相對英文歌、電影和電視劇，較少學生在日常生活中有聽podcast的習慣。如果你有空餘時間，例如在坐交通工具、做運動或休息時，不妨嘗試選擇一個有興趣等節目去聽。我建議盡量選擇一些附有講稿的節目，方便你參考，尤其是提及到一些陌生的話題。聽的時候不用強迫自己要聽懂每一個單字，能夠理解大意就足夠，除非你想分析發音和訓練說話。

這次會跟大家分享一個美國的podcast，兩位主持人在每集都會討論不同的話題，例如快樂、人際關係和如何做決策。他們在討論的過程中會分享很多個人經歷和觀察，亦會引用很多學術研究作討論。

因為兩位主持人語速較快，有時會討論一些專有名詞，所以可能比較適合進階的學生。我推薦了幾集特別有趣的集數，有興趣的你在手機podcast app就可以找到這個節目。