Hi Ruixue,
Many thanks for your kind message. Speaking and listening are indeed the hardest thing to master when learning a language. I am pleased that my podcasts can assist you with that aspect.
Have a great day.
Rob

Many thanks for your efforts in making these podcasts. I just found this podcast a week ago. I wish I had found it earlier!

I live in Melbourne and study in Melbourne Uni.

I can read and write English easily and I think I know enough words. But when it comes to speaking and listening (especially when people talk fast with accent), I’m in trouble. Your podcasts are very useful and I will keep following you!

Cheers!
Ruixue

Hi Debashish,
Thanks for your comment. You can easily download the podcasts. First you need to download a podcast player, or you can use iTunes on your desktop computer. I use Stitcher on my smartphone which works well. Then search for my podcast and subscribe to it by pressing the ‘subscribe’ button. The podcasts will then download to your smartphone or computer.
I hope that helps.
Have a great day.
Rob

Thanks for your comment. I’m glad you find it useful.
Have a great day.
Rob

Hi Paul,

Many thanks for your comment. Your question is a very interesting one. In the article I used both terms, so perhaps that is a bit confusing for the reader. ‘Grind to a halt’ is a slightly stronger phrase than ‘come to a halt’. It implies that things have become so unworkable that they can no longer function. In this case, the situation is caused by a very bad fault. By contrast, ‘come to a halt’ is not quite so strong and could also be used in a case where things stop, perhaps not for bad reasons, but because someone (for example) turned off the power. You have picked up on a very subtle difference there – well done. With hindsight, I could have used the alternative phrase ‘just cease to function effectively’ in the second last paragraph. Thanks for your thoughtful comment. Have a great day. Rob