Comments on: Who Is Michael Hurt?

By: socius » Teaching Resource: Bomb English

socius » Teaching Resource: Bomb English — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 13:03:11 +0000

[...] Michael Hurt (the Metropolitician), Jennifer, and Yunji have come together to create ííƒ„ì˜ì–´, or Bomb English, a free podcast for students of the language in a way that strives to be actually interesting and avoiding condescending to students. They provide a 30-minute talk show on a weekly basis with full transcription for students who wish to read along. Their first topic beyond introductions was President-elect Lee Myeong-bak’s new policy on English Education. It’s basically an English “talk show” with a different topic each week, with a full transcript available for download with each episode. The idea is that there’s a lot of English “conversation” on the TV and radio that is just plain useless or insulting to one’s intelligence as a thinking adult. There’s some good stuff for sure, but there isn’t much oomph! in terms of the content of the discussions. [...]

By: Lucy Park

Lucy Park — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 15:49:00 +0000

Hi.. Michael. It’s 2:30 in the morning and I’m still listening to your podcast. I discovered your podcast 2 days ago and listened almost all the episodes except a couple. I got addicted and attached to your podcast. I love it!!! I love your voice as well as Jennifer’s!!!
Next time I go to Korea, I’d love to go for the off line meet-up. I thought I heard something about weekly or monthly gathering in one of those episodes, do you guys still do that?
Anyways, thanks for the good podcast and have a lovely day.

By: SSG John Lapp

SSG John Lapp — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:28:16 +0000

Love your cast dude. I pretty much banged through all your episodes in one night. Nothing much else to do working midnight shift as the desk sergeant for a US MP station in Germany. Envy your setup. Would love to live in Korea and hopefully I can get stationed their again. Now the closest I get to Korea is watching pro starcraft events on my comp. Great Job and looking forward to your next cast.

By: min

min — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:01:54 +0000

Michael,

When is new podcast going to come out ?
I am dying to listen to new one~

Don’t make me wait too long like this! ^^

By: Thomas

Thomas — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:19:57 +0000

Hi Michael.

You’ve got an impressive CV and you’re a cool guy!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:24:13 +0000

echem – Eric . . . when are you going to go fawn over my academic credentials, eh?

By: windbyun

windbyun — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:11:49 +0000

Well… I can see an English professer here…

By: Eric Whitman Sangrin Shin

Eric Whitman Sangrin Shin — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 01:46:51 +0000

Jesus. Brown..;;

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:49:38 +0000

Well, different people like different methods of study, but we actually did suggest that people listen first, then listen as they read the transcript.
On the other hand, unless I’m listening specifically to test my comprehension rather than study, I like to read a transcript before I listen, so I can familiarize myself with the contents ahead of time. But that’s me and my own quirky method.
We would love to have a language preview, but right now our resources are limited. This is a labor of love, but also something we do in addition to all our other responsibilities, like school and work. If ever we have the ability to do so, rest assured that it’s on our list of things to do.
Finally, everybody has different speech styles and we’re aiming for colloquial English, as it is spoken every day. Lots of what you’ll see here will reflect the way Mike and I speak as individuals, with all the influences of our backgrounds and personal quirks. When we catch actual mistakes, of course, we’ll try and correct them, but sometimes you’re just getting our own voices.
Even among English speakers there isn’t a lot of agreement about what is “proper” English and when you can deviate from it. So what one person thinks is just fine and dandy will send another person into fits.

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 00:30:44 +0000

Michael,

I appreciate the earnest effort you are putting into this new website and the potential win-win for you and your podcast listeners. While browsing the site, I noticed immediately some unnatural English, “…for your English studying” and “…as well as some other silly things as well.” The second is probably just slopping editing, but the first sounds non-native. “…to study English” sounds more natural. If you are going to provide authentic language models for learners, please take the time to proofread carefully. I cringe sometimes when I read the awkward, idiom-ridden prose of the English papers.

I also think you need to revise your suggested method of using the podcast. When I listen to foreign language content with a transcript, I listen a couple of times without the transcript, then check the transcript to clarify unknown words, and listen again. This is more natural and enables me to concentrate fully on listening, rather than trying to read and listen simultaneously. If you’re really ambitious, you could provide a language preview with key vocabulary and expressions.