In the first episode of the English for Engineers podcast, Olivia introduces herself and explains why a civil engineer ended up building a business around language. She also shares four ways to work on your English starting tonight, no course required.
Olivia's story, in brief
Olivia spent years as a project manager at an engineering office in Tyrol, Austria. Then the office landed a project in Belarus, which required three languages. She ended up translating all the project documentation herself, and that's the moment she realized where her career was actually headed.
Want the full story, including why this podcast didn't exist sooner? Read Why I Started a Podcast for Engineers.
Four habits to start tonight
You don't need a course to start improving your English. Try these:
- The evening recap. While brushing your teeth, replay your day out loud in your head, in English. More on why this works: Self-Talk: The Quickest Way to Sound More Natural in English.
- Switch your subtitles. Put your favorite show in English, audio and subtitles both. Sci-fi gets bonus points. Need ideas? Best TV Shows for Engineers to Improve Your English.
- Change the station. English-language radio helps, but skip anything without full sentences. Country and singer-songwriter tracks work well. BBC News is even better.
- Find a study buddy. Regular text exchanges with someone will sharpen your spelling and vocabulary fast. No study buddy around? Wordfeud works too.
Watching and listening build your language input. Talking and texting build your output. You need both. For the full breakdown of habits like these, see How to Keep Learning English When You're a Busy Engineer.
What's coming on the podcast
Expect practical tips on Technical English, Business English, and communicating across cultures, backed by the actual research behind why these techniques work. Olivia will also bring on guests from all over the world, so you get used to different accents and different ways of thinking, always with a tie back to engineering, construction, or technical communication.
Resources mentioned
- Free guide: Unstuck Your English
- Blog post: Why Engineers Are Naturally Good at Learning Technical English
- Emails for Engineers template package, a Marcode product
- eBook: How to Write a Report and Present It, Too
What got answered in this episode
Because there wasn't a podcast that gave her clients the exact thing they needed. Engineering podcasts existed, but hosts spoke at native speed, tiring after a full day on site. Business communication podcasts were too generic. Grammar podcasts brought back school-level dread. So Olivia built the one that was missing: made for engineers, by an engineer. More on that in "Why I Started a Podcast for Engineers".
Not initially. Episode one covers four habits you can start tonight, no course required, including a two-minute evening recap and switching your show's subtitles to English. But if you need extra help, please reach out.
Practical tips on Technical English, Business English, and cross-cultural communication, plus guest interviews from engineers and specialists around the world.
You can find it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Search "English for Engineers" — it is exactly what engineers type into the search bar, which is either very clever or very obvious. Possibly both.
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