Transcript of my podcast episode (30)

Hi again! This is ENGSPRESSO episode no. 30. Are you on holiday? Have you visited any foreign countries lately? I haven’t, and I really miss travelling, so I hope to go abroad soon just to enjoy a different environment.

Today’s episode is a special one because this time, I’ve got some English expressions for you straight from England! Let me introduce to you Stephen from ’Simple English News Daily’ podcast (SEND7). Stephen is my guest here, and he’s going to teach you two expressions of his choice and give you example sentences so that you can practise with him. How exciting! But before that, let me also tell you what Stephen’s podcast is about. I’m just going to quote what he says in his podcast description:

’Simple English News Daily’ podcast is a 7-minute podcast released Monday to Friday. We tell the most important stories from around the world, in easy, clear language. The podcast is mostly aimed at English learners and people with English as a second language, however, many native speakers have told us that they too enjoy hearing a clear summary of world events in 7 minutes.

So if you enjoy clear British English and want to be up-to-date with the world news, make sure to check out Stephen’s podcast. You can find the link to his podcast in the description of this episode. And now, let’s get started, shall we?

Our first expression is TO SCALE BACK. Listen to Stephen and repeat after him.
’To scale back’, or 'scaling back’. It means to reduce something or reduce an activity.

For example: Doctors have recommended scaling back the use of antibiotics. Now, repeat after Stephen.
The translation is: Lekarze zalecili ograniczenie stosowania antybiotyków.

Another example: Some companies have scaled back their working hours so that they only work four days per week.
Niektóre firmy zmniejszyły / zredukowały godziny pracy, aby pracować tylko cztery dni w tygodniu.

The second expression is TO PICK UP STEAM.
’To pick up steam’, or 'picking up steam’. It means that something is becoming more popular or successful.

For instance: Europe’s tourism industry has started to pick up steam as more people return to travelling.
Europejska branża turystyczna zaczęła nabierać tempa, ponieważ coraz więcej osób wraca do podróżowania.

Another example: The presidential campaign was picking up steam after receiving celebrity endorsements.
Kampania prezydencka nabierała tempa po otrzymaniu poparcia celebrytów.

And now it’s time for your ENGSPRESSO to go!

Our context for the phrases is:

The renewable energy sector is picking up steam as more countries invest in sustainable energy and scale back their use of fossil fuels.
Sektor energii odnawialnej nabiera tempa, gdyż coraz więcej krajów inwestuje w energię odnawialną i ogranicza wykorzystanie paliw kopalnych.

Well done! That was something, wasn’t it? You’ve just learned two English phrasal verbs in news-related context. I know that many of you may think our today’s expressions and example sentences are slightly more difficult that our usual ones, but I’m happy we’ve got something more challenging here. Make sure you listen to Stephen’s examples a few times and try to imitate his British accent too. I always repeat phrases after native speakers to sound more like them. It’s just fun for me!

Many thanks to Stephen for his contribution to this ENGSPRESSO episode! Don’t forget to find his podcast ’Simple English News Daily’ (SEND7) on Spotify. And if you want to have a look at the transcript of today’s episode, visit my website angielskidokawy.pl. You can also check out my English e-books and courses online, which you’ll find in my shop.

Thank you for your time and talk to you soon!