In this bonus episode, Andrew shares a few quick updates from behind the scenes at Culips and tells a story about following the World Cup as a fan with more than one team to cheer for. Listen along to learn some vocabulary that will help make your English more natural and improve your listening fluency.

Free study guide: This episode comes with a free study guide for everyone. Download it to review the vocabulary, follow along with the episode, and practice using the new expressions.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• RSVP for the Culips meetup in Seoul
• Become a Culips member
• Join the Culips Discord server

Have you ever asked the internet about a health problem before asking a doctor? In this episode, Andrew and Anna talk about using AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini for health advice, and whether you can really trust them. Andrew shares a small health problem of his own and the answer he got from AI, and together they work out when a chatbot is actually helpful and when it is time to see a real doctor. Along the way they get into how confident these tools sound, who should be responsible when the advice is wrong, and what a visit to the doctor might look like in the future.

To build your fluency, try listening to the episode more than once and saying the new expressions out loud until you feel comfortable using them yourself.

The Best Way to Learn with This Episode:

• Culips members get an interactive transcript, a helpful study guide, and ad-free audio for this episode. Take your English to the next level by becoming a Culips member. Become a Culips member now: Click here
• Members can access the ad-free version: Click here.
• Join our Discord community to connect with other learners and get more English practice. Click here to join.

Keep an ear out for these phrases during the episode:

• To get something checked out
• First port of call
• To take something with a grain of salt
• Off you trot
• Hypochondriac
• To go through the roof

What do you think is hiding on a 20-year-old iPod that someone forgot in a drawer? In this episode, Andrew and Indiana share three news stories and trends they came across recently. The first is about a woman who buys old iPods and shares the playlists she finds on them, like a small window into strangers’ lives. After that, they talk about a new idea for spending less time on your phone, and a surprising change in what makes food popular today.

To build your fluency, try listening to the episode more than once and saying the new expressions out loud until you feel comfortable using them yourself.

The Best Way to Learn with This Episode:

• Culips members get an interactive transcript, a helpful study guide, and ad-free audio for this episode. Take your English to the next level by becoming a Culips member. Become a Culips member now: Click here
• Members can access the ad-free version: Click here.
• Join our Discord community to connect with other learners and get more English practice. Click here to join.

Stories mentioned in this episode:

• iPod archaeology (NPR):
• The analog bag trend:
• Texture is the new flavor:

Keep an ear out for these phrases during the episode:

• To come across someone’s desk
• Time capsule
• To have dirt on someone
• To hold something over someone
• In vogue
• To have hang-ups

Have you ever loved something your partner just won’t try? For years, Andrew’s wife said no to baseball. In this bonus episode, he finally gets her to the ballpark and finds out what she really thinks. Listen along to learn some vocabulary that will help make your English more natural and to improve your listening fluency.

Study resources:

• Become a Culips member:
• Join the Culips Discord server:
• Get the interactive transcript and vocabulary glossary here:

Glossary expressions:

• To brush something off
• To prod
• To level with someone
• To put yourself in someone’s shoes
• To come around
• To look the part
• To pay through the nose
• A who’s who
• Nosebleed seats
• To be priced out

What if there were a copy of you at work, answering emails and joining meetings while you slept? After Anna read a BBC article about people who are building AI versions of themselves, she brought the idea to Andrew, and the two of them talk about what these “digital twins” could mean for the rest of us. They look at the same question from three sides, the worker, the boss, and the business owner, and they keep coming back to one worry. If a company has a copy of you, do they still need you?

Read the original BBC article on digital twins here:

The Best Way to Learn with This Episode:

• Culips members get an interactive transcript, a helpful study guide, and ad-free audio for this episode. Take your English to the next level by becoming a Culips member. Become a Culips member now: Click here
• Members can access the ad-free version: Click here.
• Join our Discord community to connect with other learners and get more English practice. Click here to join.

Keep an ear out for these phrases during the episode:

• The bottom line
• To not sit right with someone
• Joe Blow
• The cat’s out of the bag
• M.O. (modus operandi)
• Dog-eat-dog

Have you started seeing videos that celebrate Chinese culture all over your feed, like someone swapping coffee for green tea? Andrew and Indiana noticed this trend too, and in this episode they teach three pieces of China-related slang and ask why it is all happening now. Their answer touches on the Djo song that went viral on TikTok, the move from TikTok to RedNote, soft power, and Canada’s anti-tariff billboards in the US.

To build your fluency, listen for how the hosts define each expression, then try using one yourself.

The Best Way to Learn with This Episode:

• Culips members get an interactive transcript, a helpful study guide, and ad-free audio for this episode. Take your English to the next level by becoming a Culips member. Become a Culips member now: Click here
• Members can access the ad-free version: Click here.
• Join our Discord community to connect with other learners and get more English practice. Click here to join.

Links from this episode:

• End of Beginning by Djo:
• RedNote:
• Canada’s anti-tariff billboards:

🔑 Key expressions

Keep an ear out for these phrases during the episode:

• Chinamaxxing
• A baddie
• You met me at a very Chinese time in my life
• To age out (of something)
• A false alarm
• Soft power

In this bonus episode, Andrew shares some thoughts that have been on his mind lately about time and the way we experience it. He looks back a little, sits with the present moment, and wonders about what’s coming. Listen along to learn some vocabulary that will help make your English more natural and to improve your listening fluency.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis: Click here
• The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment: Click here
• Introducing the Sackbut: Click here
• Introducing the Anton Walter Fortepiano: Click here

Study resources:

• The interactive transcript and vocabulary glossary for this episode are free for everyone. Get them here:
• Take the comprehension quiz for this episode:
• Join our Discord community to participate in the June monthly challenge:

Glossary expressions

• Crummy
• To go to a dark place
• Crafty
• Shrewd
• To clue in
• To give someone goosebumps
• To morph
• Crude
• A cool cat
• In the blink of an eye

What have you been up to lately? In this Simplified Speech catch-up episode, Andrew and Kassy share stories from the past month. Kassy talks about a family visit to Jeju Island, where rainy weather didn’t stop them from hiking Hallasan, the tallest mountain in South Korea, and seeing some of the island’s stranger attractions. Andrew shares what happened during his birthday and fifth wedding anniversary, which fell in the same week and involved more cake than one person should eat in seven days.

The Best Way to Learn with This Episode:

• Culips members get an interactive transcript, a helpful study guide, and ad-free audio for this episode. Take your English to the next level by becoming a Culips member. Become a Culips member now: Click here
• Members can access the ad-free version: Click here.
• Join our Discord community to connect with other learners and get more English practice. Click here to join.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Jeju Island
• Hallasan

Keep an ear out for these phrases during the episode:

• to put words in (someone’s) mouth
• niche
• to call for (rain)
• (one’s) legs are like jelly
• to get away with (something)
• to go ham