Hello and welcome to English with Languissimo®, the podcast in English where I share stories of my week and that of the world with you.

My name is Vanessa Rocket. I’m the founder and CEO of Languissimo®. 

Let’s go!

The Voice of the Hundredth (La voix du centième)

It’s sick !

Today, I’m celebrating my hundredth podcast!

I can’t believe it.

According to statistics, there are more than 4 million podcasts registered on the web and more than 464 (four hundred and sixty-four) million podcast listeners worldwide.

The most popular podcasts are about the news and true crime stories.

The number one podcast in the world is “The Experience with Joe Rogan” with 11 million listeners per episode.

59% (fifty-nine percent) of listeners listen to a podcast while doing something else at the same time.

Women listen to more podcasts than men: 48 % (forty-eight percent) against 43 % (forty-three percent).

The two most popular platforms to download podcasts are Apple Podcasts and Spotify so don’t hesitate to download our “French with Languissimo®” podcasts too.

Did you know that Sweden and Norway have the largest monthly number of listeners in the world?

Who would have thought?

The Voice of Human Space Flight (La voix du vol spatial habité)

Today, April 12 (twelve) is International Day of Human Space Flight which celebrates the beginning of the space era for mankind.

It reaffirms the important contribution of space science and technology in achieving sustainable development goals and increasing the well-being of States and peoples.

On April 12, 1961 (nineteen sixty-one), Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet citizen, carried out the first historical human space flight.

On October 4, 1957 (nineteen fifty-seven), the first human-made Earth satellite “Sputnik” had been launched into outer space, thus opening the way for space exploration.

Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth, opening a new chapter of human endeavor in outer space.

Some Study Points

-          “A hundredth” comes from the number “a hundred”.

-          “According to” means “d’après”.

-          “A listener” means “un auditeur/une auditrice”. 

-          The superlative in English is composed of “the most” or “the least” + adjective. Example: “the most popular” (le/la/les plus populaire(s)), “the least interesting” (le/la/les moins intéressant(e)(s)). When using a noun, the structure is a little bit different from French. The noun goes after the comparative: “the most popular podcasts” (les podcasts les plus populaires)

-          “While doing” means “en faisant”. 

-          “To download” means “télécharger”. The opposite is “to upload” (téléverser).

-          “Who would have thought?” means “qui l’aurait cru?”. It’s the third conditional of “to think” (penser/croire).

-          “Mankind” means “l’humanité”.

-          “Era” means “l’ère”.

-          “Sustainable development ” means “le développement durable”.

-          “Well-being” means “le bien-être”.

-          “To carry out” means “effectuer”.

-          “Had been launched” means “avait été lancé”. It’s the past perfect of “to launch” (lancer).

-          “Became” is the simple past of “to become” (devenir). It’s an irregular verb: to become, became, become.

Some Practice Questions

-          Do you do something else while listening to a podcast?

-          What kind of podcasts do you listen to?

-          Do you think that the space era contributes to a sustainable development?

-          Have you heard of “Sputnik”?

Tada! That’s it for today! I hope you enjoyed this podcast. Subscribe to English with Languissimo®, practice, take care and have a great weekend! Big hugs 😊