AEE 2058: Five Years Down the Road - Future Plans in English

This is an All-Ears English Podcast episode 2058, five years down the road, future plans in English. Welcome to the All-Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection. With your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York Radio girl, coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA. And to get your transcript delivered by email every week, go to allyearsenglish.com, forward slash subscribe. What expressions can you use to talk about the future? Today, we answer a listener question about this very important connection topic. How can you share your hopes, dreams, and plans? Find out today in this episode. Hey Michelle, how's it going? What's happening? Hey Lindsay, I'm good. How are you? I'm feeling great today. What are we talking about? Well, do you like talking about the future? Like, I'm two different kinds of futures. Do you like talking about your future life? What's going on in your future? And also, do you like talking about the future of the world, the future text, stuff like that? Sometimes. I mean, this morning I was listening to an episode of the daily about ChadGDP and all the challenges that we're going to have coming up around copyright and things like that, right? It's going to be an interesting challenge. But I also know from experience that I could plan a future for myself personally, and it could end up being very different from what I planned. Life has a lot of surprises in store for us. I've spent a little time thinking about the future, but honestly, not too too much. Yeah. Yeah. What about you? I think less so than I used to. I think I used to think about it more. And now I just kind of try and be more present. And as far as the future, no, I do like, that's fun to talk about. Also, Dan is like obsessed with that kind of stuff. He's like, you know, he's like, really interested in all of that. So we usually end up talking about it or helping like, what do you think is going to happen with this? I'm like, I don't know. That's funny. Yeah. So, but today we have a listener question about talking about a time in the future. So we're going to get into that today. But before that, we want to remind you that we have an amazing all ears English app for iOS and Android, right, Lindsay? Yeah. In this episode, you could listen to it over there for free. But then if you become a premium member, guys, you get a chance to see the transcripts right in your apps. You just open your app and while you listen, you also see the transcripts moving down the screen. So to get that app, go to allersenglish.com slash app. Cool. Perfect. All right, Lindsay. So we have this great question from a listener. Would you read it for us? Here we go. Hello. Hope you're well. I'm ESA from Japan. At first, I'd like to thank you for helping me improve my English communication skills. Thanks to your podcast, I can join in the global company based in Japan. Oh, I love that Michelle. That's wonderful. Yes. Yes. Then I have one question that I'd like to know. What would you say in English when you want to mention about a specific time in the future? Maybe there are many ways of saying this, such as X years from now or X years in X years time or X years later. But I'm not sure how I can use respective ones depending on the situations. So if you have some tips, please share them with us. Thank you in advance, ESA. Great question. Yes. So yeah, we're going to start with ESA's ideas in a second. But before that, guys, we have allersenglish episode 1949 was can't commit to future plans, how to affirm the relationship in English. So a little future discussion, a little idea there. So let's go over some of the ones that ESA said. So the first one was in, it was X years from now. Yes. So you could say five years from now, I hope to be living abroad, or you could even, you could cut out a couple words, you could just say, or add a word, you could say in five years from now, or just five years from now. And you also don't have to say from now. So you could just say in five years, I hope to be living abroad. Yeah, for me, it sounds weird to say in five years from now. Does that seem correct to you? It seems weird to me. I would say, well, now that you say it, I would say five years from now, or in five years. So five years from now, or in five years, that's what I would say. Yeah. Okay. That's a good clarification there. So yeah, so five years from now, I hope to be living abroad. Lindsay, what do you hope to be doing five years? Five years from now, I hope to, well, this is getting into more complex grammar, but I hope to have traveled to India. I hope to have traveled to India. So that means it's something I want to have already done. Okay. So you want that to be finished over and done it. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So, okay, then the next one is in blank years time. Okay. So that was another one that you say mentioned. So that's a little more formal sounding. What do you think, Lindsay? Yeah, I agree. It feels like not the most common thing to say in American English, at least in my world. I don't hear it very much. Yeah. I say, if you want to say it, it might sound something like this. In three years time, she will be off to college, but I don't know that I ever say this. It might be a little bit more formal, maybe. Yeah. I would agree. Yeah. I mean, you might see that more written in a book. Yes. Something like that. Yes. Yeah. 100%. It also could be more British English or Australian English. I have a feeling it might be. But when it comes to American English, you're not going to hear it very much, guys. Okay. This next one though, Michelle, I like this one because this is a big mistake that we see a lot for our listeners or students. What is it? Blank years later. Now, does that sound right to you? No. It only sounds right if I'm telling a story. Right. Right. Right. Right. Exactly. That's a huge clarification. That's something to keep in mind, guys. If you take one thing away from this episode, remember that. So like, what do you mean telling a story? So, for example, if I talk about my past, I moved to Tokyo and then 10 years later, I was living in Boston. This is going back and telling a story. This is not talking about the real life for me right now, 10 years from now. It's not correct to say 10 years later, I want to have two children and be living in Denver. Right. No. No. We don't say that. I think this might be a translation from other languages that people are doing or I'm not sure what's going on, but it doesn't work. Right. Right. Right. Exactly. So, it's more for telling a story. So, for example, 10 years later, he made the team, maybe like, oh, you know, he worked so hard and you know, put in all his effort and 10 years later, he made the team. That's a story. It's just for that. It's not for when you're telling your story of what you want to happen 10 years. It should be 10 years from now is what you would say there, guys. Okay. Right. Right. Right. Exactly. So, a good thing to think about there. So, Lindsay, what are some other ways to talk about the future? Let's do some fun expressions. Yeah. Let's get some creative stuff. So, you can say blank years down the road, like five years down the road, or you could just say down the road. I like that one. You know, down the road. So, were we talking about an actual road? We're talking about the road of life, Michelle, the road of life. The road of life, the metaphorical road. Yeah. Exactly. So, blank years down the road, or down the road. But four years down the road, she'll be old news. Right. Right. Right. I love that. So, guys, throw that one in there and here's another one that you could also throw in. What is it, Michelle? Fast forward. Right. So, you think of like on a, well, I think on a VCR. No, or updating myself, but yeah, or just on Netflix or whatever you're listening to, it's a fast forward, a fast forward, a period of time. And, right. So, you could say something like fast forward two weeks and we'll be on our way to California. It's like you're suggesting that we're watching a movie of our future here, isn't it? It's kind of interesting. It's kind of fun. It's, it creates images in our mind. And that's the kind of thing, you know, guys, by the way, if you're taking IELTS, go check out our IELTS energy podcast. I have a feeling this kind of expression would get you that seven or higher in vocabulary, right? It's really creating images in our mind. It's playing around with words. Love it. Exactly. All right. So, when could we use these expressions that we've just thought are listeners? Well, these are great for things like coordinating plans for the future. So, maybe you're making plans with someone or even just more generally the sharing hopes and dreams and aspirations, right? Like so, you know, five years from now, I hope to, well, like Lindy said about India, that's like a dream of hers, a hope. Yes. Yes. What else? I mean, if you're expressing excitement or dreads about something coming up in the future, maybe you're anticipating something, I know we have done some episodes together, Michelle, about, you know, articulating anticipation about something coming in the future. So, guys, go through our archives, go to our website, allersenglish.com to find those. Okay. Definitely. Yeah, for sure. So, I mean, what do you think about work? Do you think you would use these at work as well? I think so. Yeah. I don't see why not. I mean, again, business English, workplace English is about building relationships with other human beings. We don't become robots all of a sudden we walk into the office. So, yes, completely. Yes. Yeah. And guys, just a, just because we mentioned it, guys, remember, we have another podcast, the business English podcast. Go on and search for that and start listening to that as well. There's a lot of good stuff over there. Yeah. And how do these, how does this topic itself, Michelle, help you connect? How is this a connection skill? Yeah. Well, I mean, I think sharing the future is a definite connection skill. I mean, we can do like this was about specific ways to talk about the future in five years, right? Like things like that. But we can talk about more, you know, like less specific ways in the future. But I mean, I think that just sharing plans, sharing hopes, sharing dreams. It says a lot about who you are. Like Lindsay is saying, oh, that she hopes that in five years, she will have travel to India. If I didn't know Lindsay, you know, I could still learn a lot about her by her saying, oh, I want to go to India, you know, just like, oh, she gets to travel. She wants to experience other cultures, things like that. Yeah. And I think that these moments of connection where we talk about our future and especially our dreams, they're important, you know, it reminds us that we're here for more than just the day to day. You know, I was saying in the in my aunt celebration of life, I gave a speech this past weekend in California. And you know, part of my speech was, you know, we get so wrapped up in our to-do lists and our, our politics, our online worlds. And we forget that we're here for community and connection and living bigger lives. Like we're here for something more than just checking off a to-do list. Yeah. That's really, yeah. That's important to know. I think a good, good, good words to live violence. It really is. Guys, so bring up these topics. You know, now you have a couple of casual ways to introduce it. But first, Michelle, before we get off the mic, shall we do a role play? I think we should. So we're not going to use every single expression, but we'll do a throw in a bunch here. So here we are friends and we're talking about, ah, the funny trips that we hope to take. Oh, surprise, surprise. All right. In three years, I really want to visit Portugal. Oh, I'd love to go there. Maybe a few years down the road. Fast forward two weeks and you'll be on your trip to Spain. Yes, I can't wait. Oh, Spain. Oh, I'm actually going to Portugal on November. We booked a trip. I'm super excited. Yeah. Oh, I actually also, that's true. That's really funny because I do really want to go to Portugal. Everyone is hot right now. Portugal's hot. So we'll be doing our Thanksgiving in Portugal this year. Well, that's fun. That's how long are you going for? Oh, like, I think six or seven days. Not that long. That's great. Oh, that's great. Well, that's very cool. Yeah. Okay. I'll take Portuguese food over Thanksgiving, Turkey any day. Any day. Yes, I say. That's great. So here you said, in three years, I really want to visit Portugal. So yeah, we were talking about how like, you might not say in, you wouldn't say like in three years from now, but you would say in three years. So you cut out the four now. I love that. Sounds much better to me. Yes. Okay. And then you said, oh, I'd love to go there. Maybe a few years down the road. There's that down the road that we taught you guys. That's a road. Okay. And then you said, so you're kind of changing because I have a trip coming up and you fast forward two weeks and you'll be on your Spain trip. Nice. Okay. This is a nice. So this is, we seem to know each other well, right? So this is a more logistical. Oh, we're looking forward to this. We're looking forward to this. But you can take this skill in a lot of different directions. Like I said, you can sit down with someone and remember that your life is about more than just getting tasked on. It's so inspiring, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's so much there. Such a connection skill Michelle. Good for sure. Yeah. Definitely. Lindsay. So guys, let us know. Let us know. Do you like talking about the future? Does it make you nervous? Some people love talking about it. Some people are like, eh, let's just live in the here and now be present. So, um, yeah. I love it. So good, Michelle. Well, guys, don't forget that we have again, like we said, we have an app for all our English. And you can see the transcripts while you're listening. So go to all earsenglish.com slash app a p p. Okay, Michelle. I'll talk to you soon. Bye, Lindsay. Bye. Thanks for listening to all ears English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our two-minute quiz. Go to all earsenglish.com forward slash fluency score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.