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Daily English Pod
Daily English Pod is a space for learning English beyond grammar and textbooks.
During the week, you’ll learn practical vocabulary, expressions, idioms, and real-life English- the language people actually use in everyday conversations, emotions, and work.
On weekends, we slow down. Through ideas from psychology, philosophy, and real human experience, we explore language as a way to better understand life, emotions, identity, and growth.
This podcast is created by Jale, an English teacher with 13 years of teaching experience and a Master’s degree in English language and literature based in Canada, who teaches with patience, clarity, and care, and believes learning works best when students feel seen, respected, and safe to think aloud.
The goal is simple but meaningful: to help you understand English deeply, use it confidently, and connect it to your real life. English here is not just a skill. It’s a gentle companion for clearer thinking, honest expression, and deeper human connection.
Daily English Pod
The Pleasure of Being a Beginner
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For checking the transcript: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2379282
When was the last time you allowed yourself to be bad at something?
Not practising secretly until you could look competent.
But trying something unfamiliar, making mistakes, and allowing yourself to be seen as a beginner.
When was the last time you allowed yourself to be bad at something?
Not practising secretly until you could look competent.
But trying something unfamiliar, making mistakes, and allowing yourself to be seen as a beginner.
Hello and welcome to a weekend episode of Daily English, where we try to grow—in English and in life.
Children and adults often approach learning very differently.
A child draws something almost unrecognisable and proudly shows it to everyone.
They mispronounce a word and try again.
They fall while learning to ride a bicycle, get up, and continue.
They are not constantly asking: “Am I talented enough?”
They are curious.
Adults often become more cautious.
Before trying something new, we wonder:
Will I be good at it?
Will I look foolish?
Will people judge me?
And sometimes, we avoid experiences we might enjoy because we do not want to look inexperienced.
Perhaps we do not lose our curiosity as we grow older.
Perhaps we become more afraid of being seen without competence.
As adults, we build an identity around knowing what we are doing.
Then we enter a dance class, learn a new language, or try an instrument—and suddenly, we are beginners again.
We have to ask basic questions.
We make visible mistakes.
Someone much younger than us may know far more than we do.
But perhaps that discomfort is part of the value.
The Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki wrote:
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”
A beginner has not yet decided what is possible.
They are still open.
They ask questions experienced people may have stopped asking.
They notice details experts no longer see.
Of course, expertise is valuable.
But as we grow older, maybe we also need opportunities to return to a beginner’s mind.
Because familiarity, while comfortable, can make life feel smaller.
We follow the same routines, use the same skills, and gradually stop noticing what is around us.
Learning something new can create a kind of defamiliarization.
It makes the world feel unfamiliar again.
You have to slow down.
Pay attention.
Listen carefully.
You begin seeing details you would normally overlook.
Learn photography, and you notice light, shadows, colours, and shapes differently.
Learn a new language, and you begin noticing how people express ideas—not only what they say.
Begin gardening, and weather, seasons, and tiny changes in plants become more interesting.
The activity teaches you a skill.
But it also refreshes your attention.
Being a beginner does not only teach us something new. It teaches us how to see with new eyes.
There is another pleasure in being a beginner.
You are allowed to experiment.
You can laugh at yourself.
There is no standard to maintain yet.
You can simply explore.
Modern life often encourages us to turn every interest into an achievement. It has sort of commercialized everything
If we enjoy painting, perhaps we should sell our work.
If we start writing, perhaps we should publish.
If we learn a skill, perhaps it should improve our career.
But not every interest needs to become productive.
Some things can remain wonderfully unnecessary.
Enjoyment is enough.
Curiosity is enough.
So choose one thing you would like to try simply because it interests you.
Give yourself permission to be completely new at it.
Ask the obvious question.
Make the awkward attempt.
And instead of asking:
“Am I good at this?”
Ask:
“What am I beginning to notice?”
The point is not always mastery.
Sometimes, the point is to interrupt familiarity and remember that the world still contains surprises.
maybr being a beginner is not an embarrassing stage we should rush through.
Maybe it is one of the few places where life still feels genuinely new.
Thank you for being here.
Take care, and I’ll see you tomorrow.