If you've listened to an episode of English Learning for Curious Minds on our website recently, you might have noticed that things look a little different.

We've redesigned the episode page from the ground up (1).

The idea behind it is simple: help you learn as much from each episode as possible.

Here's a short video where I walk you through it:

If you'd rather read, here's what's new.

1. The Transcript Follows the Audio

This is the biggest change.

Press play, and the paragraph being spoken is highlighted. As the episode goes on, the page scrolls with it, so you never lose your place.

If you want to look back at something, or read ahead, just scroll. The page will stop following you, and a Current line button appears to take you back.

And, as before, you can click on the time next to any paragraph to play from there. Useful for shadowing, or for hearing a tricky sentence again.

(If you'd rather the page didn't scroll on its own, just switch Auto-scroll off.)

2. Key Vocabulary, Right Next to the Transcript

The harder words and phrases in each episode are in purple.

Hover over one (or tap it on your phone) and you'll see what it means, in English.

On a computer, you'll also see every key word listed on the right-hand side, in the order you hear them. Click on one to see where it's used in context.

On a phone, you'll find the list behind the Vocabulary button.

The episode in the video, about the man who sold the Eiffel Tower, has 122 of them. Most episodes have between 100-150. And we have more than 600 episodes. That's a lot of vocabulary waiting for you.

3. Easier Translations

Translations aren't new, but they're now a little easier to use.

Choose your language from the Translate menu, then double-click a word (or press and hold it on your phone), or select a whole sentence.

The translation in your language appears right above it.

4. Bigger (or Smaller) Text

Quite a few of you asked for this one.

Click Aa to make the transcript text bigger or smaller.

5. Previous and Next Episode

If you're the sort of person who works through episodes methodically (2), you can now go straight to the previous or the next episode, from the top or the bottom of every page.

At the bottom, you'll also find similar episodes from the same category.

Enjoyed a biographical episode? You'll find more suggested for you after you finish.

6. A Few Other Things

• Speed: slow the audio down or speed it up. The page remembers your choice.
• Lock screen and headphones: on your phone, you can now play, pause and skip from the lock screen or with your headphones.
• Copy the transcript: as before, one click copies the whole transcript, ready to paste into ChatGPT, Claude or whatever you use. (Here's a video on how to use ChatGPT with podcasts to learn English.)
• Study packs: as before, if you're on our Pro Annual membership, you can download the full PDF study pack from the same toolbar.

The first time you open an episode, you'll be offered a quick tour of the page. It takes about 30 seconds, and you can take it again any time from the "How this page works" link under the toolbar.

And of course, everything works just as nicely on any device (laptop, tablet, mobile).

What's Next?

I hope this makes it easier to learn new vocabulary, to understand the harder phrases, and to improve your English more efficiently.

And, of course, to enjoy listening even more.

If you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it. Just email me at alastair@leonardoenglish.com.

🎧 Try it yourself: browse our entire catalogue, or see a selection of our free English podcasts with transcripts.

Here's to a more interesting way of improving your English.

(1) from the ground up = completely, starting again from the beginning
(2) methodically = in a careful, ordered way, one step after another