Doing English With Julian Northbrook

"The piss-pot that changed the world"   ◆ Watch the Doing English FILM: http://doingenglish.com/film The 1917 art piece that upset art committees (remade in 1964), was refused by almost all art museums and pissed off art fans every where. This upside-down piss-pot caused outrage across the art world, and it's fair to say that Duchamp was not a popular man in 1917.   Submitted to the Society of independent artists - a group that was supposed to be against the traditional way of choosing exhibition pieces, and said they would accept any art piece without bias. But they rejected it!   See things in a new way...   art is a transformation of materials into something new and beautiful. What is art?    "ready made" - does art have to be made by the artist? Yet "The Fountain" literally CHANGED art… … and is now known as the most influential art piece of the 20th century. The lesson here is clear. Fear negativity, and you'll never do anything great. If Duchamp had

Got this question:   How can I practice my English?? I'm in manchester and I can't practice my English. Which places are good to practice English? Thanks.   First off, just "practising" isn't much help.   I'm not sure, but I think this misconception comes from conversation schools and the like. They love to use in their adversing things like, "You learned grammar at school! Now you just need to practise with a native speaker!"   What a load of rubbish.   Look – just practising isn't going to help your English improve. At best, you'll be polishing a turd (sorry for the crude idiom).   If you want to get GOOD at English, you need a balance of learning and practise.   And the kind off practise you need?   You don't NEED people do to do it with. So the answer to the question "which places are good to practice English?" is "anywhere… how about your own home, or in your car?"   The way I teach follows a very specific step-by-step process.   The idea is to learn the

The TTT method So you want an easy way to learn English? One which lets you do it without studying? Well I have just what you need. I call it the "TTT Method". I ummed and ahhed about sharing it with you. Because, you know, if everybody knew this method then EVERYBODY would speak perfect English (not just like a native speaker… but AS a native speaker). Then I'd be out of a job. But whatever. I'm going to tell you, OK? Just listen to the Podcast Episode to find out. Watch the Doing English FILM http://doingenglish.com/film  

WHAT IS AN ENGLISH ACCENT? One listener asked "What is an English accent?" In this week'sDoing English PODCAST I answer that question. http://doingenglishnewsletter.com

Coca-cola and The Power of Investment Join the Doing English Daily Newsletter: http://doingenglishnewsletter.com In 1886 John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola... then two yearslater, he died. A guy called Asa Candler bought the rights to Coca-Cola, andworked hard marketing it. Soon it became a popular drink. But not as popular as it could be. At that time Coca-Cola was sold as a syrup to shops, who thenmixed it and sold cupped drinks. And then one day a man walked into the Coca-Cola office... "I can teach you how to double the company's profits overnight," he said. "I'll cost $5000." Some versions of the story say $50,000... but regardless,Candler agreed. He paid the money, and in return was handed a slip of paper. On the paper was simply written "Bottle it". And that, apparently, is how Coca-Cola started to be sold inbottles. Now, I have no idea if this story is true. It sounds like an urban-legend. But it doesn't matter. The important point is this -  Simplicity. Double profits? Wow, that must take somethi

English Learning - THE FILM Recently I've been a busy boy. Doing what, you ask? We'll get to that in a moment, but first join the Doing English Daily Newsletter: http://bit.ly/1SuhP1S OK, so what? Well. Learning film production and editing techniques. The "why" I'm doing this is a story for another day, but it is related to the soon-to-come Doing English book, and a whole series of major updates across Doing English (including Two Step Speaking 3.0). One thing I realised though... … learning a language and learning to make great video is very, very similar. Just studying the theory isn't enough.  And just practicing isn't enough. It takes a balance of the two. Learn the the theory and the technique… then practice them until they become automatic. Sound familiar? It should do. Because this is what I've been constantly banging on about for the last year. Just practicing your English is a waste of time. But just learning theory isn't useful, either

Today's Podcast episode is totally disgusting. So if you don't like stories about random people vomiting… er, don't listen. You have been warned.   Join the Doing English Daily Newsletter ▶︎ http://bit.ly/1Tz1UVo Last Friday I went out for a couple of beers with a mate of mine. Not something I do much, it must be said (I'm somewhat of a hermit). But occasionally it's good to get out. Unwind.  We didn't start until quite late… and naturally then, coming home was quite late too. So there I am. Waiting for the train home. I'm stood at one end of the platform. All of a sudden I notice a guy stumbling past me.  Must have been, what, about 21? Probably a university student. He's absolutely wasted. Can barely walk. He goes right up to the corner of there platform... … then takes several plastic carrier backs out of his pocket.  He puts the bags on the floor to make a kind of sheet, with one more bad lying on top. Next he takes a packet of tissues and puts them down next to the bag

Join the Doing English Daily Newsletter ▶︎ http://bit.ly/1RwKljW   I listen to the radio a lot.   Not because listening passively to the radio all day long is going to get me fluent in Japanese. Because it won't. But because I love the radio. But anyway. There was an advice show on. You know, you write in a letter… then they read it out and give you advice.   One of the people who came on was a guy.   He said that he'd been happily married. But his wife had cheated on him, and gotten pregnant with another man's baby. She then dumped him (the husband). They got divorced, and she went off with her boyfriend to have the baby and live happily ever after.   Unsurprisingly, though, their "happily ever after" was pretty damn short.   Because new boyfriend, and father or new baby… cheated on her and left her for another woman!   So now she's a divorced single mum.   Sure this is a tough life. But I bet it's not uncommon.   But here's the thing -    The guy w

Doing English Newsletter ▶︎ http://bit.ly/1QU0RxB Wanna know the key to getting damn good at anything fast? Whether it's English, or any other skill? At the end of language year I spent a month in England on research. And although I got A LOT done (perhaps I tell how how and why some other time), it completely destroyed my routine. I stopped getting up early and spending an hour learning. And I stopped running. And it's only now, in the last few weeks that I've got things back again. With running it was as simple as setting the goal to run every day... … regardless of the distance. 10 meters or 10 kilometers. Both are fine. In the beginning, yes, I only ran 1~2km a day. Considering most of last year (before going to England) I averaged 6~7km a day, this is nothing. But for the last 5 days I've run a minimum of 6km. The key? Consistency. If I'd tried to run 10km every day right from the start I would have failed. I'd have managed to do it once a week…. which would have been totally pointless. Sa

Join the Newsletter:  http://doingenglishnewsletter.com Good review on this podcast recently: The Podcast is rather a motiviation for learning English than an English course. The suggested technique to hearing English lessons during running works great for me. Listening to the podcast places a lot of thoughts and ideas about learning techniques into your brain. I like it, although some of Julians opinions are hard to accept, like that there is no tatent, but phobias are genetic. Also the pronounciation is not as good as I would prefer. Therefore I give only 4 of 5 stars. Thank you! I appreciate the kind words. And the honestly with some points. Thing is though, the part about talent and genetic innateness? Is not my opinion. There is plenty of research that suggest phobia are genetic. Google it. And I never said there is NO talent. What I said was: "The idea of talent as this innate gift, something special that we were born with that other people don't have…that idea of talent doesn't exist." I

Why "I need natives speakers to practise my English!" is just stupid and irritating To get more like this, join:   http://doingenglishnewsletter.com I'll be honest. Today's podcast might be offensive. One of the really common challenges was "I don't have any native speakers to speak to."   Now, I'm going to be honest.   I don't get this.   I really don't.   People who answered this - do you REALLY believe that's a problem? Or is it just an excuse?   I guess this attitude comes from advertising.   Japan's full of this shit.   "You've learned grammar - now just chat with a native to make you fluent!!"   Riiiiight.   Because what you REALLY need to master English is some spotty westerner who is paid minimum wage to sit pretending not to be board while asking "what did you do last weekend?"   If you didn't know that these "teachers" have no qualifications, or idea how to teach, you do now. And yes, schools do lie about how qualified teachers are and how much

Today I'm talking about running again. Whether you're just learning English in general, looking to improve your English speaking skills, writing, pronunciation or whatever - today's lesson will help keep you motivated. Join the Doing English Daily Newsletter here: http://doingenglishnewsletter.com I talked about this a lot in episodes 3 and 4 of the podcast. If you're reading the newsletter or have been paying attention to the podcast, you'll know I run. I'm not amazingly good at it. I don't run amazingly fast or amazingly far. But I love it. This is something which happened in the summer. But for a while, I ran almost the same course every day. Around in a loop. From my door, it's about 5.2 km. I was doing this because I wanted to improve my speed. I was running it about 35minutes (yes, I know, it's not amazingly fast - whatever). But I was stuck there for ages. I'd tried, but I never managed to beat that record. Every day I'd run. And I need to get faster than that. BUT then one day I ran the whole course i

Disclaimer: I'm in no way qualified to give weight training advice   If you want to join the Doing English Daily Newsletter, you can do so here:   http://DoingEnglishNewsletter.com You wouldn't know this to look at me (I'm pretty small - 180 cm, but only 60 kg). But I life weights. The reason I started doing that is because a few years ago I was feeling tired and had no energy, so I started running (see episodes #3 and #4 to hear the story of this) but I also thought it'd be a good idea to do some strength training. But it went nowhere.  Nothing.  And for several months I did it with no results at all. It wasn't until one of the Doing English+ members pointed out my mistake and told me why it wasn't working that I actually started to see results.  My mistake? My weights were too light. He advised me to change to heavier weights. I was using tiny, tiny weights. I could lift them all day… and they did nothing. I didn't even get tired. But I didn't know any better. I

In this week's Podcast I tell you a story about the world's greatest telephone salesman that's going to be really helpful for your English learning.   The lesson I learned form this was huge.   Something that has made a big, big difference to my life over the years. Something that, in fact, has given me a lot of confidence. And it is something that can help you be more confident with your English.   Not only that, but this is a big mistake a lot of people make when learning English.   If you like this week's Doing English Podcast, don't forget to sign up for the free Newsletter on:   http://doingenglish.com

A while ago, JiEun (one of the Doing English+ members) was talking in the Doing English+ Community about learning a third language.  And it reminded me of something. Something funny about languages that you might find interesting. When you learn a second language, you experience transfer from your first language. So my Japanese is influenced by my English. We all know this, of course. But what you might not know is this - when people learn a third language, it tends to be the SECOND language that they get transfer from. Not their first. Meaning... ... if I learned, say, French, my French would be influenced by my Japanese. If I then decided to learn a FOURTH language, guess what? It'd be influenced by French. Not English or Japanese. Actually this is something I experience a lot. When pronouncing Indian names, and other non-English or non-Japanese names (this seems to be especially the case with Polish names) it's my JAPANESE pronunciation that influences the way I say it - not English. Sometimes thi

Bit of a bizarre podcast this week.   Because I'm talking about a really strange dream I had, and an English learning lesson relevant to that.   We'll discuss... The thing Japanese people do (without realizing) that makes Westerner's angry (but really shouldn't, because it's the westerner's who've got it wrong) Why you MUST understand culture if you want to speak English well (and the best place to learn it) Why English just isn't about British and American culture any more And much, much more.   Check it out here.   If you haven't already, don't forget to (1) subscribe on iTunes, (2) rate the show and (3) leave a review   Want more like this?   Go to: http://doingenglish.com and sign up for the Doing English Daily Newsletter.   Cheers,   Julian

Laziness Driven Positive Change: How to use your natural laziness to improve your English faster   In this week's episode I discuss something I call the "LDPC" principle (Laziness Driven Positive Change).   This is something I totally made up.   The idea is to use your natural laziness to improve your English faster, and with less effort. It's the same principle used by people to lose weight, read more or eliminate any bad habit.   Want to know more?   Listen to the episode.   And don't forget: if you haven't already, take a moment to subscribe, rate and review the show.   Want more like this?   Go to: http://doingenglish.com and sign up for the Doing English Daily Newsletter.

I this weeks podcast episode I give you 3 tips for speaking English well.   These aren't stupid "magic tricks" that you can use to get fluent in English instantly (those don't exist). Instead they are fundemental ideas that will help you… if you use the advice, and do the work.   The Two Simple Steps of English (and they really are simple) When we say "I want to improve my English speaking!" what are we actually doing? What you need to be basing your English learning on (random learning just isn't good enough). The kind of people who SHOULDN'T try to improve their English speaking An example of a very successful English learner (and what he did to make his English so good) Spend a lot of time building a bank of _____________________. The tragic story of my friend who completely lost confidence when everything went wrong with his English. "Speaking English becomes more fun after learning _____________________." The one thing you can work on first that will trick people believe you are much more flue

What do Tiger Woods, Mozart and good language learners have in common? In this week's episode you'll discover the "dirty word" of language learning: talent.   I discuss the evidence for and against talent in language learning, why it's silly to think you CAN'T do it, and what exactly it is that successful people do to get REALLY good.   I also tell you a little of my story as an "untalented" secondary school student, who everyone said would never do anything other that work in a factory. Well, I did work in a factory for a while - and it was one of the most educational times of my life.   You can learn more about that story here: http://doingenglish.com/story

How good at English can you get? In this week's podcast we answer this question, and discuss why it's stupid to base what you can and cannot do on "normal" people. My opinion is very frank in this episode. So if you're the kind of person who is easily offended, probably best not to listen. However, if you pay attention to this advice I think you will make a big improvement with your English. Did you know I also write a free daily newsletter? Just go here to sign up: http://doingenglish.com/