This is an all ears English podcast, episode 15 42, do you know English like the back of your hand?

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. Linda McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York Radio Girl coming to you from Colorado and New York City. You?

S a how do you consume information today? We show you new English ways to say that you are taking something in. Learn how to talk about this as a great conversation starter or to comment on your own learning today.

Hey, Michelle, how's it going today? Hey, Lindsey, I'm good, how are you? Oh, well, it's all good. It's all good. I get to podcast with you and that is a good thing. So feeling good? That's awesome.

Yes, yes, yes. We have a lot of fun. A lot of fun on here, guys. Yes.

It's a good it's a good gig.

Yeah. Well, today we're we have another question. We had a question recently from Miho about rabbit holes. Right. So that was episode fifteen thirty seven, which was business English and bunnies. What do they have in common. Remember that one. Lindsay.

That's a great title. I love that one. I love that one. So good. So good. Yeah. So are we going even further down the rabbit hole then with this question today, Michelle, what are we doing?

Well, we are going further down the rabbit hole of mehos message. Right, because Mehul asked a second question, so I guess you could say we're going down the rabbit hole. But guys, listen to that question and listen to that episode fifteen thirty seven, because Miho is asking some incredible questions. Thank you, Miho. Yes. And so we are going to get into the second one today.

Those questions make sure and you listen to that other episode. Fifteen thirty seven.

I know, guys, we love your questions. OK, so this is what it's all about. It's about you guys. It's about what you want to learn. So don't hesitate. Send me an email, lindsy at English dot com and ask your question. Don't be shy. We want to hear from you guys. OK, cool.

Definitely. Please, please do. So Lindsay, do you want to read the. OK, here we go. So the question is, Miho is quoting something she said she heard. Right. So she heard the word digestive or easy to digest when someone explained when someone's something is difficult. Difficult concepts are easy to understand. Is it common? I kind of like this expression and I want to try to use it to thanks and have a great weekend.

So she wants to know how to use this idea of digesting something when something becomes easier to understand, Michel.

Right, right. Right, right. Exactly. So, yeah, I'm excited about this topic. I thought this was definitely a really good question. So, mijo, we are going to get it into it in just a second. But before that, guys, if you want to know your fluency level, yes, we are here for you. We can help.

How can we do that, Lindsay? Well, we've designed this quiz, guys. It's quite simple. It takes you a couple minutes. Take the quiz and get your fluency score. You know, someone at an eighty percent fluency level would probably understand this term. How to the idea of something being easy to digest, not in the sense of food, but in the sense of a concept. OK, so find out what your fluency score is. Is it fifty percent?

Sixty five percent or 80 percent. Go to all your English dot com slash fluency score.

Fantastic. Awesome. OK, yeah. So this is a good one. So yeah, I don't see me always asking about digestive.

I don't really hear people say digestive Linzey do you. Not so much.

Not so much. But easy to digest. Yes. Or digestive.

Yes, yes, yes. Yes, yes. So yeah. I mean to digest something. That's what happens when you know you eat food on your body is taking in this food and it's going through your system.

That's what it means to digest something, right, Lonzie? Exactly.

Exactly. But we do use this in ways beyond food. And that's why I'm excited that Miho asked this question because it shows that her fluency level is high because she's asking about how to use things in a non literal way. And that's a big deal. Right.

Right, right, right. Exactly right. Because we have I mean, there are so many words in the English language. We could do another episode on this. We could do a series on this, I'm sure, where it means one thing, but then it has more of like a metaphorical meaning that is used all the time. Exactly.

Exactly. But today we'll get into this. You're right. We could do a whole series on it, on metaphors, non literal stuff. How to up your level in English. But let's get into digestion today. Let's do it.

Let's digest this topic. OK, good. OK, so we're going to you know, we use it in a couple of ways. And this is the main one that we're going to talk about because I think that's what he was referring to. So, yeah. So digest digestible. I mean, this is about understanding something or, you know, like kind of changing something from the moment you see it or read it or hear it and it goes into your head and you develop your thoughts and then you understand it or form an opinion or whatever it is.

But so instead of like your digestion based on your stomach. Right. It's really more about this concept of understanding. Right. Lindsy. Yeah.

Just like food goes into your stomach, down through your intestines. Right. The information goes into your head and goes to your heart and your mind in one way or another. I do you get it or do you not get it. How do you consume. We also use the word consume to to say to take in information. Oh yeah.

Oh yeah. For sure.

Oh, you know that would actually be a cool episode idea Michel. We could do an episode on all the. Rude words that signify taking in information like binge right, binge watch, consume, digest.

I mean, we could do a whole episode on that one. That would be cool for sure. I just typed it, guys. Have you heard typing? I'm sorry about that, but it's very clever. Very good. OK. It. OK, Michelle. So let's give some examples then.

All right. So the first one is I know this is tough news, but it will be easier to digest if you take a night to collect your thoughts.

OK, so what are we trying to say here?

Has this been like sad news or just a lot of information or what it could be?

It could really be either.

Right. Just something that's like intense. Right? Like not just something, you know, not something like, oh, hey, Lindsay, it's raining tomorrow. Right? You know, it wouldn't be something about that. You know, maybe maybe it is bad news or just like, you know, some something I mean, something you don't want to hear. Unexpected changes your life. Something like that. Yeah, for sure. Exactly.

Exactly. Or what's another example?

And this is the common way that we use this. Right. Talking about the format of the information you're taking in. So, for example, guys, write this one down. The book was not easy to digest, so I found it frustrating to read. This makes me think a lot of our blog posts. We try to make our blog posts very easily digestible and like using bullet points and quotes and indentations and things like I bet we could still do better, but we try to do it because it's so hard to read big blocks of text.

Nobody does it anymore.

Yeah, no, that's true. That's true. Yeah. Have you got to like giant things like, oh my gosh, you've got to really commit to reading for a long time.

Oh it's so hard. That's why I like when I go on a blog and has that progress bar that goes across as I wrote the post. I like that. Actually it's quite satisfying. Yeah.

Or another or another example is this information will be more digestible if you write it down and review it later.

Yeah. This makes me think actually of attending conferences because I feel like I've been drinking from a fire hose when I finish a conference. Do you feel that way when you go to a big conference? Yeah, kind of, yeah.

You have to like go through all of your information at the end business cards, you know.

Oh my God, it's so exciting and it's fun, but and you feel so inspired. But you come back and you're like, what do I do because I learn so much. Right.

Right, right. Exactly. It's so true. I know. I know. I love that feeling. But yeah, you also it's like, oh my gosh, it's a little bit, it's a little bit intense.

Yeah. It's intense for sure. Absolutely.

Find out what your fluency score is.

Are you at fifty percent fluency. Sixty five percent or 80 percent fluency. Get your score now with our simple quiz. Go to all ears. English dot com forward slash fluency score.

OK, so what else, Michelle, do we have one more example? Let's do one more. You want to read it, Lindsay? Yeah, here it is. I'll be able to digest more of the information if you use pictures to explain it as well as talk about it, OK?

Yeah, it's all a presentation. Right.

Right, right, right. And also, like, what kind of learner you are. Right. So, you know, sometimes people are more auditory. They just can hear things. Sometimes people are more visual. So that will kind of depend like that will help you digest things if you have it in the right learning style. But, Lindy, this is about, you know, understanding something, picking it up. I mean, Lindsay, what do you do when you need to digest something difficult?

So, like, maybe there are a lot of information or something complicated like what do you do to make it easier on yourself? I mean, maybe this is about how you study things like that. I don't know if you have any thoughts on this.

Yeah, for sure. For sure. I tried to eliminate my distractions so that I'm just focusing on that one thing because that makes it even harder. If I have if I'm learning online through a course and I have 15 tabs open plus the thing, it's hard to consume. And then I find it useful to write down what I hear as I hear it. So I'm both hearing and I'm writing.

Yeah. So that's how I do it. And then explaining it to someone else is always a really good way to really solidify that information.

Yeah. My gosh. That that's to me always the best one. Like I actually remember, you know, times or explain something to somebody else. And I was like, oh, OK, I get it in a different way. God, so. So, I mean, this might be a good study strategy for you as well, right? Just explain it to someone else.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So are there other ways, Michel, that we could talk about learning something or getting information into our minds? Right.

Yeah, well, I love this one. So this is more about knowing something. Or maybe you're trying to learn something, but the expression is like the back of my hand.

Lindsay does that one. Oh, yeah. This is a classic. This is the classic. Yeah.

I remember hearing this when I was a kid too. So to know something like the back of your hand means, you know, it's so well it could be anything, it could be material. Maybe you're a Ph.D. in literature and you know it so well. Everything has ever been written by William Shakespeare, you know, like the back of your hand or what else Michelle could, you know, like the back of your hand.

I mean, you could know a neighborhood like the back of your hand. Yes. You know, like, oh, I know the Upper West Side, like the back of my hand. So that's another another way you could use it.

Yeah. That's a good example. Knowing a city. Right.

So a lot of things could be like this neighborhood, a city, a book. Yeah.

So not so much. Would you say that about knowing a person. That's a good question. I don't feel like I would use it in that way necessarily, but I don't think I maybe I mean, like if, you know, now I'm changing my mind off, like you said.

Oh, how do you think she's going to react or something? And I'm like, oh, my gosh, I know her like the back of my hand. Like, she's going to be totally cool with this, you know.

Yeah, I guess you could you could say that it's not the first thing that comes to mind, I think, of information or like a map, for example, a neighborhood. But I suppose you could say to express, you know, someone. Well, you could. It's OK, guys. You can say it.

We know that it's OK. Not that I'm not not at all. Not as common, but it's OK.

Exactly. OK, the next one is to get a grasp of something right now to get a grasp of something. It's like that idea of like actually grasping, holding something up to understand it. Right. So she explained it so I could get a good grasp of the material before the presentation. Yeah.

I also say to get a grasp on something, I guess it's interchangeable the of or the on in that case. But the whole point is the idea I'm there to get a grasp means literally physically to grasp something.

OK. Exactly. Exactly. And what's the last one.

Lonzie to make sense of something. She didn't understand at first, but I made sense of it for her by breaking down the main bullet points one by one, to make sense of it.

Yeah. And we continue to do this throughout our lives, not just something that we do when we're a kid in school. We learn new things as adults too, and we have to make sense of them. And they get more complicated things all the time, all the time.

We have to make sense of things. We have to digest things. We have to learn things like the back of our hand there. We have to get a grasp. Right. All of these for sure.

Exactly. Yeah.

Do we have a role played today, Michelle? Oh, we do. We do. I'm so glad you asked in this role play, Lindsay. You are. You were really good at math.

Are you good at math? No, no, not at all. But I'll pretend. But here you are trying to teach me a concept in math. OK, cool. So do you get it?

I know I really can't seem to get a grasp of how X equals thirty to look here.

That's a decimal point here. I think it will be easier to digest if we start with a clean sheet of paper.

Throw that one out. OK. Hey, thanks for trying to make sense of this for me, Lindsay.

No problem. I love math. I know this stuff like the back of my hand, like the back of my hand, the back of my hand.

You got to say it like that, right? You got to say it like that. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. OK, so here weird. Sounds like we're doing a little algebra, right. Or trigonometry or something cool like that. So fun of good memories of math class. Yeah. Oh my gosh.

So yeah I said I can't seem to get a grasp of how X equals thirty two. Yeah I can understand it basically. Yeah.

And then I said here I think it will be easier to digest if we start with a clean sheet of paper. So you're going to consume it, you're going to take it in a bit more clearly. That's what I think. OK, exactly.

Exactly. And I then I thank you. I said things are trying to make sense of this for me. Yeah.

And then I said, no problem. I know this stuff like the back of my hand. I don't know why we have that intonation certain either. Which is such a silly.

It's an old it's an old phrase. Right, guys. So if you say that you'll probably bring a smile to whatever whoever you're speaking to, if they're native speaker, does the fact that you know that it's just very natural, you know. Yes, yes, yes.

Yes, it's true. It is kind of a funny one. Yeah. So yeah. I mean, Mehul, again, thank you for this question. And you know, today we've kind of talked about study styles and we've talked about ways to express that. I mean, Lindsay, what else do you want to leave our listeners with today?

Yeah, I think this is really good to talk about, how you learn, right? How you take information. It's another great conversation topic, guys, that you can open up with someone. You know, a few a few days ago, we talked about coffee being a great way to start a conversation. So is this how you learn things? Right. Everyone could relate. Everyone has a way that they learn best. So you're not going to get any blank stares if you open up this conversation with natives.

Right. Right, right. Actually. And that brings me to another episode idea about like how to tell someone that you need something explained in a certain way because they're that kind of learning.

That would be great for our listeners. That'd be great. Yeah, I love it.

Let's do that. Yes. All right. I'm going to write that one down, too, so I'm gotta go before I forget all of these ideas. All right. You got to go. You got to go. But, guys, before we go, go over to all ears, English dot com forward slash fluency score and take your quiz. You'll be done with it in less than a minute and you'll know your fluency score 50 percent. Sixty five or eighty percent.

And then you'll get you'll get resources for your level. So good, so bad times like other.

Lindsey, thanks for hanging out with. Today, thanks for hanging out for me today and on that note, all right, anyway. OK. All right, Michelle, good evening out of you. And I will see you in the next one. Take care. All right. Bye bye.

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