October, 1 around the world

I don't know about you, as for me, I measure the pace of time in months. The beginning of each month nudges* me to stop, take a breath and zoom in/out on what's going on in my life and in the world. We learn English to connect with the world, so it matters

Here's what October, 1 means to people in 6 countries

🇮🇳🇵🇰India, Pakistan: Goddess Durga Day. Celebration of Durga's victory over the buffalo demon Mahishasura. Mother fugure, protector against evil
🇺🇿Uzbekistan: Teachers' Day
🇨🇳🇳🇬China, Nigeria: National Day
🇺🇸 USA: #CoffeWithACopDay Inspired by policemen’s stereotypical love for doughnuts (Think The Simpsons). An opportunity to have a coffee with your local community’s police guys. It breaks down barriers and makes police more approachable*

Glossary
🫧To nudge - to gently push to do something
“Our channel nudges you to learn English vocabulary”
🫧Approachable - friendly, open to interaction
“My approachable personality makes it easy to ask me questions”

Does October, 1 mean anything to you personally? Which country out of 6 would you go to today? 🙂

Feeling nostalgic about 2016? Well, it's the year when Dollar Shave Club was sold to Unilever for $1B in cash

Michael Dubin went viral with this video and got investment from A16Z and other VCs who typically invest in tech startups. His successful distribution got users to pay $1/month subscription for razor blade refills

You can learn to be as convincing as Michael too

Transcript
Hi, I'm Mike, founder of DollarShaveClub. What is DollarShaveClub? Well, for a dollar a month, we send high-quality razors right to your door.

Yeah, a dollar. Are the blades any good?

No, our blades are great. Each razor has stainless steel blades, an aloe vera lubricating strip, and a pivot head. It's so gentle, a toddler* could use it. And do you like spending $20 a month on brand name razors? Nineteen go to Roger Federer. "I'm good at tennis."

And do you think your razor needs a vibrating handle, a flashlight, a back scratcher, and ten blades? Your handsome-ass grandfather had one blade and polio. Looking good, Pop-Pop.

Stop paying for shave tech you don't need, and stop forgetting to buy your blades every month. Alejandra and I are going to ship them right to you.*

We're not just selling razors; we're also making new jobs. Alejandra, what were you doing last month? "Not working." What are you doing now? "Working." I'm no Vanderbilt, but this train makes jobs.

So, stop forgetting to buy your blades every month, and start deciding where you're going to stack all those dollar bills I'm saving you.

We are DollarShaveClub, and the party is on.

Take-aways
🫧Keep it simple
🫧Don't be afraid to attack competitors by name
🫧Mention a social responsibility program (in this case - creating jobs)
🫧Self-deprecating* humor is ok

*Glossary
🫧To ship it - to send, deliver (not only by ship)
🫧A toddler - 1-3yo child who learns to walk
🫧Self-deprecating humor - making fun of yourself, pointing out your weaknesses to be funny and close to audience

Your turn
🧸 Speaking like Michael is a great skill
🐷 Speaking like Michael isn't useful for me

5 quotes & phrases from @durov (Telegram's Founder & CEO) & Lex Fridman's interview

Have you watched it already? Released 2 days ago, it's got 775K views on YT already (The Link)

Throughout his podcasting career, Lex's already interviewed Elon Musk (Space X), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Sam Altman (Open AI), Jack Dorsey (Twitter), and Ray Dalio (Principles). It's great to see a non-native English speaker founder join the league and get heard internationally

Pavel Durov's net worth is estimated to be over $15B. Telegram has over 900M monthly active users and its valuation is over $30B

@ybeymlina gets infinite inspiration from watching people with massive achievements and wants to make their speech more accessible to the readers, with all nuances

Here're 5 phrases from Pavel Durov's interview broken down to you with time codes
Check yourself, how many do you know?

42:50 "If some employees don't have enough work to do, they demotivate everyone else by their mere existence"
= by their presence only, they don't have to do anything else

56:04 "Increasing taxes and regulations suffocates free markets & free enterprise"
= to die or kill from a lack of air

57:55 "They read me the list of crimes I was accused of — which was mind-boggling"
= your mind tries to understand it, but it can't (because it's too big, difficult, crazy, or frightening)

58:08 "They're accusing me of all possible crimes that some users of Telegram have allegedly committed"
= claimed to be true, but not proven or verified

1:43:51 "Europe's struggling to keep up with China, South Korea, Japan, where educational systems are based on ruthless competition"
= harsh, cruel, and determined, without any concern for the harm or suffering it causes to others

We have got an idea — to release a full guide on the whole interview, 4h34min. Deconstructing Pavel's vocabulay, pronunciation, style of speech delivery, response structures, and even a couple of mistakes we caught. PDF and/or video format

💅 What do you think, shall we do it? If this message gets 20+ reactions & 10+ shares in total (private, to chats, channels, and TG stories), we'll get to work to release this content piece here

Monday Pep Talk 💅

Reference: IG shakedhadad

Glossary:
🫧Appraisals based on politics - performance review & promotions depend on who likes who
🫧Pep talk - a talk to make someone feel courage/motivation
Eg: A coach gives a pep talk to the team before a game

You think the girl is...
🌷 Infantile & immature
🌼 Truthful & sincere

3 Challenging to Pronounce B2/C1 Level Adjectives

This week, on Wednesday 6PM MSC time, our most ambitious readers will be summarising and sharing opinions on Pavel Durov's most controvercial quotes from the latest interview.
We anticipate a problem: some words will be challenging to pronounce during our meeting. But not after this post 💅

🫧Undecipherable - impossible to read and/or understand
/ˌʌndɪˈsaɪfərəbəl/
"Without the keys, Telegram messaging data remains undecipherable."

🫧Entitled - to have the legal or moral right to get something
/ɪnˈtaɪtəld/
"All my children are entitled to a share of my estate."

🫧Paralyzed - unable to move
/ˈpærəlaɪzd/
"When paralyzed by fear, you stop trying"

🎧 Start the video to listen, repeat, and nail the prnunciation. Feeling ambitious? Drop a voice message saying these words
💓Like & share to motivate us to continue production

9 Popular Ways to Learn English

The world of teaching and learning keeps changing. We’ve made an attempt to catalogue most common learner behaviors today. What should we add?

1. Textbooks and Self-Study Guides
Classics like English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy

2. Private Lessons with a Tutor
One-on-one with a teacher, either by recommendation or a marketplace platform like Italki, Preply, Profi

3. Online English Schools and Structured Courses
Skyeng, Yandex Practicum, or EnglishDom

4. Gamified Learning Apps
Duolingo, Memrise, Quizlet

5. AI Tutors and Chatbots
Chat GPT, Praktika AI, Fluently

6. Watching English Content
YouTube videos, Netflix shows, or movies in English

7. Social Interaction
Language exchange (HelloTalk), dating apps, online chat platforms (like Chatroulette or Omegle)

8. English Clubs (Online and Offline)

9. Working in an international team
Learning while swimming

💅 We want to hear from you
# Use: Learning way you use now + the name
Example: Use #3 Online school Skyeng
# Like: Learning way you like + the name
Example: Like #7 Social Tinder
# Dislike: Learning way you dislike + the name

📹9 favourite YouTube channels of @englishforimpact

Watching educational and entertainment videos in English isn't just about passive language growth. It's about widening your definition of what's normal, sparking new ideas, and soaking up the world's culture

1. Lex Fridman Long interviews with people who put a dent in the universe (Elon Musk, Pavel Durov, Mr Beast)
2. Startup Pitches YC demo days and applications from unicorns and beginner founders
3. Headspace Guided meditations & mental health awareness
4. Kleiner Perkins VC fund's interviews with portfolio company founders
5. Lenny's Podcast Interviews with world class product leaders to uncover actionable advice to build & grow products
6. Brendan Kane Tips on engineering viral content
7. Vox Making sense of complex issues
8. Team Coco Comedy with Conan O'Brian (North Korean border episode is especially fun)
🪴 English For Impact by Yulia Beymlina Videos to learn vocabulary and pronunciation from successful founders & Forbes’s billionaires

💅 Share with a good person