Baseball | Learn English quickly with podcast | Episode 114

Summary

The latest episode from English Podcast Zone dives into the colorful world of baseball while teaching valuable English language skills. Hosts Marco and Erica explore baseball's cultural influence, particularly in countries like the U.S., Japan, and the Caribbean. They introduce key baseball-related vocabulary, illustrating how these terms integrate into everyday English, from business meetings to casual conversations. Through lively dialogues and examples, listeners learn to apply phrases like "curveball" and "home run" in various contexts. Whether you're a sports enthusiast or learning English, this episode combines fun storytelling with practical language lessons.

Highlights

• Explore baseball's cultural impact and its popularity across different countries 🌍
• Understand key baseball vocabulary and how they apply in real-life contexts 🗝️
• Enjoy lively back and forth between hosts, making language learning entertaining! 🎙️
• Gain insights into using baseball idioms in business and personal conversations 💼
• Relate sports and language learning with practical, everyday examples 🎯

Key Takeaways

• Discover the global reach of baseball, loved from America to Japan and beyond! ⚾️
• Learn how baseball terminology like 'curveball' & 'home run' is used in everyday English! 🗣️
• Perfect your sports lingo and impress friends during any baseball conversation or game! 🎉
• Get practical English language tips while enjoying the excitement of America’s national pastime! 🇺🇸
• Engage with fun dialogues and relatable scenarios, making English learning a home run! 🏆

Overview

In this podcast episode, English learners get a sneak peek into America's beloved sport, baseball, expanding their vocabulary in the process. Hosts Marco and Erica delve into the sport's history, explaining its immense popularity not just in America but also in regions like Japan and the Caribbean. They make sure to highlight the sport's influence on everyday English, demonstrating the usage of baseball terms in regular discourse.

Listeners are treated to a dynamic dialogue that mimics a real baseball commentary, providing context to the new vocabulary. Familiar phrases such as ‘home run’ and ‘curveball’ are more than sports jargon; they're essential idiomatic expressions in English, used to describe success and unpredictability in various situations.

Whether you're gearing up for a business meeting or watching a live baseball game, this episode is packed with fun insights and practical tips. Transform your English learning experience by catching the energy of a live baseball game and integrating its lively, action-packed language into your everyday conversations.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction In the introduction of the lesson, Marco and Erica welcome listeners to English Pod and introduce the topic of baseball as part of a sports series. They refer to baseball as America's national pastime and mention its popularity in the Caribbean, United States, Japan, and Korea. The introduction sets the stage for a lesson focusing on baseball terminology and concepts.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Sports Series: Baseball This chapter introduces the topic of baseball and its significant influence on the English language. The hosts, presumably of a sports show or podcast, kick off the discussion with a warm welcome to baseball fans. The dialogue is set in the context of a baseball game, with Rick Fields and his co-host Bob Copeland setting the scene for an exciting match between two world-class teams. The chapter promises to explore various interesting aspects related to baseball and its broader cultural impact.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Baseball Commentary The chapter begins with the national anthem being sung, signaling the start of a baseball game. The game quickly gets underway with Roger Vargas coming up to bat. The pitcher delivers a striking curveball for a first strike. Vargas responds with a line drive that sends the players scrambling. Despite the strong defensive play, Vargas successfully reaches first base and continues his advance, sliding safely into second base.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Language Takeaway: National Anthem and Pitcher The chapter opens at Richie Stadium, where a thrilling baseball game is underway. Brian Okami is up at bat with a runner on third base. He manages to hit a home run, propelling his team ahead by two points as they approach the bottom of the fifth inning. The enthusiastic audience's applause and music punctuate the event, highlighting the excitement of the game.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Language Takeaway: Line Drive and Scrambling This chapter introduces the 'Language Takeaway' segment, with a focus on sports terminology, particularly from baseball. It features interesting players Roger Vagas and Brian Okami, and examines common sports phrases. The discussion begins with the 'national anthem,' a term often heard at international sports events.
• 05:00 - 06:00: Language Takeaway: Innings and Recap The chapter begins with a discussion about the term 'anthem,' clarifying its use as a song sung about one's country. There's an emphasis on avoiding the common confusion with 'national hymn,' explaining that in English it's correctly referred to as the 'National Anthem.' The dialogue further hints at a continuation into a discussion about a pitcher, suggesting that the conversation might be integrating elements of language learning through sports terminology.
• 07:00 - 08:00: Fluency Builder: Up to Bat The chapter 'Fluency Builder: Up to Bat' introduces the concept of a 'pitcher' in baseball, explaining the role of this player on a team, which is to throw the ball quickly so the batter can attempt a hit. It delves into the language used by commentators, especially the phrase 'the pitcher winds up,' and uses the metaphor of a clock to clarify the meaning.
• 08:00 - 09:30: Fluency Builder: Strike and Curveball The chapter titled 'Fluency Builder: Strike and Curveball' discusses the concept of 'winding up' in the context of baseball. It compares the action of a pitcher winding up to throw a ball to winding up a clock to make it work. The example illustrates how the term 'wind up' can be applied beyond baseball to other scenarios, such as preparing toys or mechanical objects to function with maximum efficiency. This metaphorical use of language helps in understanding the action and its applications in various contexts.
• 09:30 - 10:00: Fluency Builder: Home Run in Business The chapter "Fluency Builder: Home Run in Business" discusses the phrase 'line drive' in the context of baseball. A line drive is described as a hit where the ball travels low towards the ground, moving along the foul line which is marked by a white line on the field. Roger Vargas is mentioned as someone who hit a line drive.
• 11:00 - 12:00: Recap and Outro The chapter discusses the term 'scramble' in the context of baseball, where players rush in a disorganized manner to retrieve a line drive. It elaborates on the use of 'scramble' as a verb meaning to move quickly in a chaotic fashion, drawing parallels to its use beyond baseball, such as in everyday actions like retrieving objects.

Baseball | Learn English quickly with podcast | Episode 114 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] hello English Learners welcome back to English pod my name is Marco and I'm Erica and today we're bringing you another lesson on our sport series mhm we're talking about baseball today baseball the American national Pastime is it yes it is okay so we're going to be looking at this interesting sport that is played mainly in the Caribbean and well it's actually very popular in the United States and Japan that's right Korea yep so we're not only going to learn a bunch of baseball language but
• 00:30 - 01:00 we're also going to see how baseball has a big influence on English in general that's right so we're going to learn a lot of great things today so why don't we start and listen to our [Music] dialogue hello Baseball fans and welcome back to today's game my name is Rick fields and of course I am here once again with a man that seals the deal Bob Copeland it's a beautiful day to see two worldclass teams face each other and fight for their right to be called
• 01:00 - 01:30 Champions well the national anthem has just been sung and the Umpire has started the game it's time to play ball Roger Vargas is up at bat pitcher winds up and strike one very nice curveball by the pitcher the catcher gives him the sign he winds up and Vargas gets a line drive the players are scrambling to get the ball Vargas gets to first base and he's still going the outfielder throws it to Second Vargas slides he's safe great play we
• 01:30 - 02:00 have a runner on third and up at bat is Brian Okami there's the pitch he hits it it's going going that ball is gone home run by Okami that puts this team ahead by two as we are at the bottom of the fifth inning here at Richie [Applause] [Music] Stadium all right well a pretty exciting game there at Richie Stadium exactly and
• 02:00 - 02:30 we have some interesting players Roger Vagas and Brian Okami MH all right so well we saw some great words and well it's time for us to take a look at them now in language takeaway language takeaway okay we're going to look at some uh common Sports and baseball words here now the first phrase we'll hear this almost at any sort of international sports event right exactly and it's the national anthem national anthem national
• 02:30 - 03:00 anthem so this is a song right exactly it's the song that you sing about your country and many people confuse it right yeah a lot of people might say national hymn okay himm because in some languages it might be like a hymn like literally translating y but in English it's called The National Anthem the national anthem all right so what about our next word well we were talking about the pitcher
• 03:00 - 03:30 pitcher p i t c h e r the pitcher pitcher okay and now this is one of the players on a baseball team and his job is to to throw the ball to throw the ball really fast so that the guy can hit it with the bat okay so that's the pitcher mhm now the interesting thing is that the baseball commentator said the pitcher winds up winds up to wind up to wind up okay well let me paint you a picture okay so imagine a clock uhhuh
• 03:30 - 04:00 and you're turning turning and turning the clock to wind it up to get it ready to go to make it work exactly so imagine the pitcher doing the same sort of thing bringing his arm back behind him getting ready to throw the ball okay so that is to wind up mhm very good so you can use this word not only in baseball but for other things that require you to do this action right to turn something and get it get it ready to have lots of power like some toys or maybe like a a music
• 04:00 - 04:30 box M okay wind up what about our next phrase well Roger Vargas hit a line Drive Line Drive Line Drive okay so what is a line drive what's a ter from baseball and when you hit a line drive you hit the ball sort of low on towards the ground and it it travels along the outside of the field right so the ball basically travels along the foul line mhm that white line the white line
• 04:30 - 05:00 exactly very good so that's a line drive and so the players on the field were scrambling to get the ball scrambling scrambling now we know scrambled eggs from one of our lessons yes um but the verb to scramble means to um move quickly in a disorganized way to do something okay so the players are moving very fast trying to get the ball but they're not doing it very well right and you can use this in other ways right not just in baseball right for example we
• 05:00 - 05:30 can say the people are scrambling to buy their tickets for the concert yeah or I'm going on vacation tomorrow and I'm scrambling to get everything ready exactly it's a very good term that you can use also in your daily life exactly all right and what about our last word for today on language takeaway well they were in the fifth inning of the game okay so inning inning inning all right this is another baseball term and um
• 05:30 - 06:00 it it just means the period of play okay so we learned for example that in soccer you have two halves or in hockey you have three periods all right and in baseball you have nine innings okay great so some interesting Sports and baseball vocabulary now I think it will help us to hear this again slower so let's listen to the dialogue [Music]
• 06:00 - 06:30 hello Baseball fans and welcome back to today's game my name is Rick fields and of course I am here once again with the man that seals the deal Bob Copeland it's a beautiful day to see two worldclass teams face each other and fight for their right to be called Champions well the national anthem has just been sung and the Umpire has started the game it's time to play ball
• 06:30 - 07:00 Roger Vargas is up at bat the pitcher winds up and strike one a very nice curveball by the pitcher the catcher gives him the sign he winds up and Vargas gets a line drive the players are scrambling to get the ball Vargas gets to first base and he's still going the outfielder throws it to Second Vargas slides he's safe great play we have a runner on third and up at bat is
• 07:00 - 07:30 Brian Okami there's the pitch he hits it it's going going that ball is gone home run by Okami that puts this team ahead by two as we are at the bottom of the fifth inning here at Richie [Music] Stadium all right so as we said there are a lot of English terms that come from baseball but we use them in business context or in your your daily
• 07:30 - 08:00 life right yeah why don't we look at those now in fluency Builder fluency Builder all right so the first phrase that we have is up to bat up to bat up to bat so literally in this dialogue it means the guy is standing on home plate ready to hit the ball right right he has the bat and he's ready to hit it but what about in other context so for example you can be at a meeting MH and maybe it's your turn to talk so you're to bat so the yeah exactly your boss
• 08:00 - 08:30 will say Okay Erica you're up to bat okay so it means sort of like it's your turn it's your turn very good all right so that's another term that is used in baseball but very commonly used in other circumstances so we also saw um in the dialogue that Roger Vegas um he hit the ball but he missed and that was strike one right strike one mhm so in baseball you have three strikes three tries three tries before you're out yes and so now the same thing happens in
• 08:30 - 09:00 daily life so um if someone says that was strike one it means you made the first mistake yes and if you make two more you will be fired for example uhhuh or maybe your parents will say Okay that wasn't nice strike one and then two more times and you'll have a timeout or you'll be grounded yes okay so that's also called a strike and the pitcher threw a curve ball a curve curveball
• 09:00 - 09:30 curveball so okay pretty clear a curveball is when you throw the ball and it sort of goes in a curve it doesn't go straight right right exactly but how can this be used outside of baseball so you can say oh my boss threw me a curveball today so he gave you an unexpected problem uh-huh or something that was difficult to handle okay um this one is pretty interesting I'd like to hear a few more examples example one my boss threw me a curveball today so I
• 09:30 - 10:00 have to stay and work late example two it was a huge curveball when she asked me how many kids I wanted to have how am I supposed to know all right so that's basically a curve ball you can say an unexpected problem or situation that's right and our last phrase and well probably one that's you already know home run a home
• 10:00 - 10:30 run a home run from baseball we know that that's when you hit the ball really far and you hit it outside of the of the playing area or outside the park yes and now if you use it in a business context or in your daily life mhm it means something similar why don't we take a listen to the examples and see if we can figure it out example one great job on that sales presentation you really hit a home run
• 10:30 - 11:00 example two our sales team hit a home run this month by doubling our [Music] Revenue okay so basically a home run is a success a victory a victory yeah something a big accomplishment that's right so we've seen a lot of these great phrases and as you can see a lot of them from baseball are used in your daily life and there are many many more okay well why don't we hear them again in the baseball context and we'll listen to the
• 11:00 - 11:30 dialogue one more time hello Baseball fans and welcome back to today's game my name is Rick fields and of course I am here once again with a man that seals the deal Bob Copeland it's a beautiful day to see two worldclass teams face each other and fight for their right to be called Champions well the national anthem has just been sung and the Umpire has started the game it's time to play ball Roger Vargas is up at bat pitcher winds up and strike one very nice curveball by
• 11:30 - 12:00 the pitcher the catcher gives him the sign he winds up and Vargas gets a line drive the players are scrambling to get the ball Vargas gets to first base and he's still going the outfielder throws it to Second Vargas slides he's safe great play we have a runner on third and up at bat is Brian Okami there's the pitch he hits it it's going going that ball is gone on home run by Okami that puts this team
• 12:00 - 12:30 ahead by two as we are at the bottom of the fifth inning here at Richie [Applause] [Music] Stadium all right so an interesting dialogue a very interesting Sport and well personally I never played this as a child uh me neither really I don't really like it too much but it is kind of fun to go to a game and especially in the United States have those hot dogs and all that stuff okay y well a cultural event a really important piece
• 12:30 - 13:00 of American culture exactly so well we encourage you to come to our website english.com tell us what you think and also of course if you have questions or doubts be sure to tell us if you have any other sort of baseball related phrases let us know about them the English pod audio review listen to the meaning then say the vocabulary word ranking with the best in the whole world
• 13:00 - 13:30 world class the song that represents a country and that is played in ceremonies national anthem a person who controls and judges a baseball game umpire get ready to hit the ball up at bat
• 13:30 - 14:00 get the energy to throw the ball wind up a ball thrown on a curve not straight that is hard to hit curveball the player who throws the ball to the batter pitcher the player behind home plate who catches the ball without being
• 14:00 - 14:30 hit catcher a hit that travels low along the Baseline Line Drive do something quickly and in a disorganized way scramble a player who plays in the area that is relatively far from the pitch
• 14:30 - 15:00 outfielder successfully gets to the base safe a hit that strikes the ball out of the field home run a set of baseball containing a turn at bat and a turn in field for each side inning
• 15:00 - 15:30 the next in line to do something up to bat an approximate number ballpark figure to do something very well or very successfully hit it out of the park immediately without delay off the
• 15:30 - 16:00 bat an unusual crazy or eccentric person screw ball let's try that faster immediately without delay off the bat the song that represents a country and that is played in ceremonies national anthem
• 16:00 - 16:30 the player behind home plate who catches the ball without being hit catcher get ready to hit the ball up at bat a ball thrown on a curve not straight that is hard to hit curve ball an approximate number ballpark figure
• 16:30 - 17:00 to do something very well or very successfully hit it out of the park a hit that strikes the ball out of the field home run ranking with the best in the whole world world class do something quickly and in a disorganized way scramble a player who plays in the area that is
• 17:00 - 17:30 relatively far from the pitch outfielder the next in line to do something up to bat a set of baseball containing a turn at bat and a turn in field for each side inning a hit that travels low along the Baseline
• 17:30 - 18:00 line drive an unusual crazy or eccentric person screw ball successfully gets to the base safe the player who throws the ball to the batter pitcher a person who controls and judges a baseball game
• 18:00 - 18:30 umpire get the energy to throw the ball wind up now say the word and hear it in a sentence world class that was a world class performance that the actors display tonight world class
• 18:30 - 19:00 we are building a world class management team World Class our company aspires to be worldclass leaders in it development curveball
• 19:00 - 19:30 my boss threw me a curveball today so I have to stay and work late curveball it was a huge curveball when she asked me how many kids I wanted to have how am I supposed to know curveball
• 19:30 - 20:00 I've been throwing so many curveballs this month with this new project I can't take it anymore great job on that sales presentation you really hit a home run our sales team hit a home run this month by doubling our Revenue
• 20:00 - 20:30 Janice hit a home run today with her great dissertation on consumer psychology our team is ahead by Five Points we are going to win that Runner is ahead of everyone else by
• 20:30 - 21:00 more than 2 minutes our sales team is ahead by more than $1,000 on this month's Target sales scramble I woke up late today and had to scramble to work as fast as I could
• 21:00 - 21:30 scramble when Mike's cat got lost we all scrambled around the neighborhood looking for him scramble I saw a mouse in the kitchen but he scrambled under the stove before I could catch it
• 21:30 - 22:00 the English pod audio review listen to the meaning then say the vocabulary word ranking with the best in the whole world world class the song that represents a country and that is played in ceremonies national anthem a person who controls and judges
• 22:00 - 22:30 a baseball game umpire get ready to hit the ball up at bat get the energy to throw the ball wind up a ball thrown on a curve not straight that is hard to hit
• 22:30 - 23:00 curveball the player who throws the ball to the batter pitcher the player behind home plate who catches the ball without being hit catcher a hit that travels low along the Baseline Line Drive do something quickly and in a disorganized
• 23:00 - 23:30 way scramble a player who plays in the area that is relatively far from the pitch outfielder successfully gets to the base safe a hit that strikes the ball out of the field home
• 23:30 - 24:00 run a set of baseball containing a turn at bat and a turn in field for each side inning the next in line to do something up to bat an approximate number ballpark figure to do something very well or very
• 24:00 - 24:30 successfully hit it out of the park immediately without delay off the bat an unusual crazy or eccentric person screw ball let's try that faster immediately without
• 24:30 - 25:00 delay off the bat the song that represents a country and that is played in ceremonies national anthem the player behind home plate who catches the ball without being hit catcher get ready to hit the ball up at bat a ball thrown on a curve not
• 25:00 - 25:30 straight that is hard to hit curveball an approximate number ballpark figure to do something very well or very successfully hit it out of the park a hit that strikes the ball out of the field home run ranking with the best in the whole
• 25:30 - 26:00 world world class do something quickly and in a disorganized way scramble a player who plays in the area that is relatively far from the pitch outfielder the next in line to do something up to bat a a set of baseball containing a
• 26:00 - 26:30 turn at bat and a turn in field for each side inning a hit that travels low along the Baseline line drive an unusual crazy or eccentric person screw ball successfully gets to the base safe the player who throws the ball to
• 26:30 - 27:00 the batter pitcher a person who controls and judges a baseball game umpire get the energy to throw the ball wind up now say the word and hear it in a sentence world class
• 27:00 - 27:30 that was a world class performance that the actors displayed tonight world class we are building a world class management team World Class our company aspires to be worldclass
• 27:30 - 28:00 leaders in it development curve ball my boss threw me a curveball today so I have to stay and work late curveball it was a huge curveball when she asked
• 28:00 - 28:30 me how many kids I wanted to have how am I supposed to know curveball I've been throwing so many curveballs this month with this new project I can't take it anymore great job on that sales presentation you really hit a home
• 28:30 - 29:00 run our sales team hit a home run this month by doubling our Revenue Janice hit a home run today with her great dissertation on consumer psychology
• 29:00 - 29:30 our team is ahead by Five Points we are going to win that Runner is ahead of everyone else by more than 2 minutes our sales team is ahead by more than $1,000 on this month's Target sales
• 29:30 - 30:00 scramble I woke up late today and had to scramble to work as fast as I could scramble when Mike's cat got lost we all scrambled around the neighborhood looking for him
• 30:00 - 30:30 scramble I saw a mouse in the kitchen but he scrambled under the stove before I could catch it [Music] [Music] [Music]
• 30:30 - 31:00 [Music]