Frequently Asked Questions
Are the stories in Boxcar English true?
Sure, they’re true in the way that fiction is true. Karl, his dog, his neighbors, and everyone that appears in the podcast is a character that comes from the imagination as channelled through Clark Williams.
How do seemingly random stories help learn English?
These stories may seem not to address the issue of learning language. But, they are in fact made specifically to support learning English.
Part of the design of the podcast is avoiding directly discussing grammar and language mechanics. This allows the English learner to focus on the meaning of the story and absorb authentic phrasings and native pronunciation.
This philosophy is based on the research of Paul Nation, a renowned researcher in language acquisition from the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. The podcast is designed using research-based tools such as the New General Service List and the “Input hypothesis” elaborated by Stephen Krashen.
How do I get the most out of these podcasts for learning English?
Podcasts are extremely helpful in learning languages. First of all, select the right difficulty level. The flagship Boxcar English podcast is designed for lower-intermediate English learners, at, roughly, a B1 level. You should be able to understand almost everything in the podcast at first listen. If that one is too hard to understand, try the Boxcar for Beginners podcast. (If the podcast is too hard to understand, you can of course still use it, but it will take some extra work.)
Next, listen to the podcasts a lot. Listen many times to the same podcast. Listen when you’re paying close attention, and listen when you’re doing something else. Because the more your ear hears authentic speech in your target language, the more the sounds become familiar, the more you hear them! So the most important thing to do is: listen many times to the same podcast.
Also, when you listen, you can repeat what you hear. This is a technique called “shadowing:” repeat as much as you can right after the voice on the podcast. I’ve tried this while learning French, Spanish, and now Japanese, and it isn’t always easy, but it’s a very helpful exercise for connecting your hearing to your pronunciation.
You can also read along to the podcast by supporting my Patreon page! Reading the text along with the audio can be a very helpful tool.
In the future, I will be adding more study materials to my Patreon page, like questions and quizzes.
Why don’t you use AI?
There are 2 main reasons why I don’t use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make this podcast.
First of all, because I want this podcast not just to feel human, but to be human. You’re human; so am I. These days, on the internet, a lot of stuff is being made by AI, and it’s made to imitate human work as closely as possible. This isn’t a podcast that “comes close” – it’s a podcast that “is.”
I believe that language is human, and that the best way to learn a language is through real human contact. That’s what this podcast is all about: it’s warm and full of life. And you can listen to this podcast from any country in the world, where there might not be anybody who speaks American English around.
The other reason why I don’t use AI is it consumes an enormous amount of resources — much more than a human body thinking, feeling, and writing! The impact of artificial intelligence on the planet is not worth how much faster I could write with it!
Also, I enjoy writing this podcast and using AI would deprive me of that pleasure!