Reacting To Elon Musk's English (Listening Practice)

Today we are reacting to Elon Musk's English. Let's get started. Hey everybody,  how's it going?

Thiago here and welcome to another episode of the podcast. In case you're new here,  I've created this podcast and YouTube channel to help intermediate and advanced learners of  English communicate with more confidence, more accuracy, more clarity, and more awareness.  If this sounds like something you want for yourself and your English, subscribe to the  channel here on YouTube and follow the show.

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All right,  so today we are reacting to Elon Musk's English. The clip we're gonna watch today  is from an interview he gave on the Lex Friedman podcast a couple of years  ago. And in this clip in particular, he's giving young people some advice.

Let's  see it. All right, so let's get started here. Thiago Alencar (01:23.

254) You, like I mentioned with the SpaceX, you give a lot of people hope and a lot of people  look up to you. Millions of people look up to you. If we think about young people  in high school, maybe in college, what advice would you give to them about if they  want to try to do something big in this world, they want to really have a big positive  impact.

What advice would you give them about their career, maybe about  life in general? Try to be useful. You do things that are useful to your fellow  human beings, to the world.

It's very. . .

Try to be useful. Nice piece of advice, I would  say, but notice the connected speech here, yeah? He says, try to be.

Try to be  useful. He doesn't say try to be useful, but try to be. Try to be useful.

He also  used the word fellow. Try to be useful to your fellow human beings. A fellow is  a person who is at a similar position.

as you, you know, so your fellow human beings  are other people that you interact with. Yeah, we are all fundamentally the same,  right? As humans, we are all humans, right?

fellow human beings. I like that word  as well. Very hard to be useful.

Very hard to be useful. I agree. Very hard.

You know, are you  contributing more than you consume? You know, like Nice guys, I like that. Are you contributing more  than you consume?

It's a nice question for all of us to reflect on, right? Am I contributing more  in this world than I'm consuming? Nice question.

Like, can you try to have a positive net  contribution to society? I don't know if you guys got that, but you know, he says try to  have a positive net contribution to society. Try to have a positive net contribution.

But if you  didn't get that, I understand. Yeah, because, you know, he he doesn't speak in a  very clear way sometimes, you know, check it out. Can you try to have a  positive net contribution to society?

Thiago Alencar (03:40. 728) Did hear that? Not contribution.

That's what he said. think that's the thing to aim  for. You know, not to try to be sort of a leader for for the sake of being a leader or whatever. 

That's expression to try not to be a leader for the sake of being a leader for the sake  of is like just because don't try to be a leader just because you want to be a leader.  Yeah. So just for the sake of being a leader.

Notice that he repeats this chunk a lot  in this first part, you know, try to be, try to be. So the two is reduced to a  da -da -da sound. Try to be, try to be, you know?

A lot of time people who. . .

A lot of  time the people you want as leaders are the people who don't want to be leaders. So. .

. Many times  people who are good leaders or people we want. .

. as leaders are people who don't want  to be leaders. That's interesting.

If you live a useful life, that is a good  life. A life worth having lived. You know, like I said, I would encourage people to use  the mental tools of physics and apply them broadly in life.

They are the best tools. When  you think about education and self -education, what do you recommend? So there's  the university, there's self -study.

There is hands on sort of finding a company or a  place or a set of people that do the thing you're passionate about and joining them as early as  possible. There is taking a road trip across Europe for a few years and writing some poetry.  Which which which trajectory do you suggest?

OK, Lex is asking a very nice question here,  but I want to go back a little bit because, you know, he is describing here,  let's say, some possible paths. Thiago Alencar (05:44. 888) that usually young people take, know, when they finish high school,  for example.

Yeah. Like, okay, I'm fresh out of high school or I'm fresh out  of college even. What do I do now?

Yeah. So he's listening here. Some examples of things  that usually young people have as options, right?

In life, there are the best tools. When  you think about education and self -education, what do you recommend? So there's the  university.

So there's university. Okay. Like, know, after high school, what's next? 

There's university. There's self -study. Self -study.

Yeah, you learn by yourself.  There is hands -on sort of finding. Hands -on is practical things.

That's why we  call it hands -on because, you know, you actually learn by doing something. Yeah,  hands -on things. A company or a place or set of people that do the thing you're passionate  about and joining them as early as possible.

So you're talking about maybe going to work  for a group of people who are doing what you want to do. Yeah, that's more something  hands -on. Like you're not going to go to school or you're not going to spend more  time studying per se, but you're just going to get hands -on experience or practical  experience about whatever it is you want to do.

There's taking a road trip across Europe  for a few years and writing some poetry, which So taking a road trip across Europe  and writing some poetry, you know, he's kind of being funny here, but yeah, I  mean, it's a way of self discovery. Yeah, it's very important, especially for  younger people. Yeah, like, okay, who am I?

What do I want to do in this world?  You know, maybe I have to take a road trip to figure that out. Yeah.

Which trajectory  do you suggest in terms of learning? which trajectory, right? Which way,  which path in terms of learning do you suggest young people take? 

About how you can become useful, as you mentioned, how you can  have the most positive impact. Thiago Alencar (07:57. 998) But I encourage people to read a lot.

Guys, I have to point this out. You see how long  he took, Elon, mean, you you see how long he took to start talking. This is actually very good.

You  know, this is actually, I think, a good example. that you can apply in your own communication.  When somebody asks you a question and maybe you have to think a little bit to answer because it's  not so simple of an answer that you have to give, it's okay for you to take a pause and  breathe and collect your thoughts, collect your idea, and then start talking. 

So embrace the pause. I really like how he embraced the pause here. We had, I  don't know, maybe four or five seconds.

of pause here. He was thinking. Yeah.

And that  is really cool. It even makes your communication more impactful because, know, now we really  want to hear what he's about to say. Yeah, because we were waiting for a few seconds.

Right.  So that was really cool to observe, you know, the embracing the pause thing here. Check it out. 

And how you can have the most positive impact. Thiago Alencar (09:16. 19) I encourage people to read a lot of books.

read. Connected speech. Read  a lot of books.

Read, read, read. Basically, try to ingest as much information as you  can. Try to ingest as much information as you can.

So we have read, that's connected  speech. Also, he said a lot of, read a lot of books and try to remember the try to again,  try to ingest as much information as you can. ingest, consume as much information as  you can, try to ingest.

And try to also just develop a good general knowledge. So  you at have like a rough lay of the land of the knowledge landscape. The knowledge  landscape here is like everything there is about knowledge, right?

You can have a  pretty good idea. That's what he's saying here. Read a lot so you can have a pretty  good idea of what's available out there.

in terms of knowledge. Learn a little bit  about a lot of things. Because you might not know what you're really interested in.

How  would you know what you're really interested in if you at least aren't doing peripheral  exploration of the knowledge landscape? Okay, that's interesting. He's encouraging young people  to explore.

Explore topics that they might be interested in because when you are young, you  don't know exactly what you're interested in. So consume information and knowledge about  all kinds of topics, a little bit about everything, because then you can find  out what your interests are, you know? And you talk to people from different walks of  life and different industries and professions and skills and occupations, like just  try it.

Here's a very nice expression here. Talk to people from different  walks of life, different walks of life. People from different walks of life is the same  as saying people from different backgrounds.

knew people maybe who come from different countries,  different nationalities, different industries, as he says, you know, all kinds of of people,  you know, different walks of life, people, maybe who went to university, people who didn't go  to university, people who started working early, people who started working late, people  who never got a job in their lives, but Thiago Alencar (11:45. 228) Maybe people who have a business instead, you know, they decided to create their own  business. They decided to become entrepreneurs, not employees.

So talk to people from all walks of life. That's what he's saying.  You learn as much as possible.

Man's Search for Meaning. Isn't the whole  thing a search for meaning? A Man's Search for Meaning.

This is actually a great book by  Viktor Frankl. You know, I'm going to bring this book here on the channel someday and read a  little bit to you guys. We can talk about it.

I can explain also some vocabulary from the book,  but it's a great book. He's referencing that book now. Yeah.

A Man's Search for  Meaning by Viktor Frankl. All right. Yeah, what's the meaning of life and  all, you know.

But just generally, like I said, I would encourage people to  read broadly in many different subject areas. That's called location. Read broadly. 

Read broadly. Read extensively. Read all kinds of topics.

And then try to find  something where there's an overlap of your talents and what you're interested  in. So people may be good at something. Oops.

think that they may have skill at a  particular thing, but they don't like doing it. Nice. So you're talking about the overlap.

I  try to find something that someone that you like, but that also overlaps or is connected with what  you're good at. So ideally you want to find what you are good at, but also what you like, you  know, because like you said, sometimes people, they are very good at something, but  they are not very interested in that. They don't like that.

So you want to find  something you enjoy doing, but also that you're good at doing. And then if you can find  that there is an overlap, there is a connection between these two things. So you want to try to  find a thing where you have your, that's a good, a combination of, of your, of the things that you're  inherently good at, but you also like doing.

Thiago Alencar (13:57. 698) Find a combination of the things that you are inherently good at, inherently.  Like, you know, you are naturally good at those things.

You are kind of, you were born with  that predisposition. All right. And, and reading is a super fast shortcut to, to figure out which,  where are you?

You both good at it. You like doing it and it will actually have positive impact. But  you got to learn about things somehow.

So reading. a broad range. Just really read it. 

know, one point when I was a kid, I read through the encyclopedia. my God. You  he said, I read through the encyclopedia.

When you read through a book, you read all of  it. So he's saying that when he was a kid, he read through the encyclopedia. Look  at that.

that's pretty helpful. And There are also things that don't  even exist for a lot. It's like as broad as it gets.

This is as broad as it gets, general as it gets. Just pick an encyclopedia  and read through it. You're going to have a really good idea of general knowledge there. 

It appears to be digestible, think, 40 years ago. Maybe read through the condensed version of  the Encyclopedia Britannica. I'd recommend that.

So read through the condensed version of  the Encyclopedia Britannica. I imagine the condensed version must  be maybe a shorter version of the Encyclopedia Britannica, but read through  it. That's what he recommends.

You can always skip subjects. You read a few paragraphs and you you're  not interested. Just jump to the next one.

To skip subjects. When you skip a subject, you just  don't read about it. You skip it.

Don't say jump. you skip it, right? You skip some topics that  you're not very interested in and then go to the next one.

read the encyclopedia or  skim through it? Read the encyclopedia, skim through it. Okay, I think I'm going  to be talking about IELTS very soon here on the channel and you know, in that  video I talked about skim reading, that's what he's saying here.

Skim through the  encyclopedia. When you skim through a book, Thiago Alencar (16:16. 524) You don't read all of it like word for word.

You just read some of the main  parts to get a general idea of what the book is about. So he's saying, hey, you don't have  to read the entire encyclopedia A to Z like word for word extensively, but  just skim through it. You know, this is S -K -I skim.

Okay, skim through  the book. Like read the main parts of it. And, you know, put a lot of stock into it. 

have a lot of respect for someone who puts in an honest day's work to do use. Nice.  He's saying that he puts a lot of stock in someone who puts in an honest day's work. 

All right. So when you put stock in something, you have confidence in that thing. You  have faith in that thing.

So he's saying that he puts stock in people or  he has faith in people who put in non -estates work, like, you know, who spends  a whole day working towards something productive, something positive. Yeah. So he respects people  like that, he's saying.

People who work to create useful things. just generally to have like not a zero -sum mindset. Generally not to have  a zero -sum mindset, a zero -sum mindset.

All right. Let's see if he's going to explain what  that is. Let's see.

like have more of a grow the pie mindset. the, if you sort of say like when,  when I people like perhaps including some very smart people kind of taking an attitude of like,  like, like doing things that seem like morally questionable, it's often because they have at a  base sort of axiomatic level, a zero sum mindset. And they, without realizing it, they don't realize  they have a zero -sum mindset, or least they don't realize it consciously.

And so if you have a  zero -sum mindset, then the only way to get ahead is by taking things from others. there you  go, guys. He just defined that.

So if you have a zero -sum mindset, you believe that the only way  for you to get ahead or to become successful in life is by taking things from others. So  a zero -sum mindset is a way of thinking Thiago Alencar (18:42. 316) where you believe that for you to win, another person has to lose.

There are  only winners and losers in the world. That's a zero sum mindset. For somebody to  win, somebody else has to lose.

So he is kind of criticizing that way of thinking  here. He's criticizing this mindset. You shouldn't have a zero sum mindset that the  only way for you to become successful is by harming other people or by taking things from  other people.

All right. If it's like if the the the pie is fixed, then the only he's talking  about the pie too, you know, like, you know, he said that instead of having a zero sum mindset,  you should have a grow the pie mindset like a pie, you know, like the dessert grow the pie.  So your focus should be OK.

How can we grow this pie instead of, hey, let me get my  piece and you don't have any pieces for you. way to have more pie is to take someone  else's pie. But this is false.

Like, obviously, the pie has grown dramatically over  time, the economic pie. Yeah, he's kind of, he's using the pie here as an analogy to economy,  you know, the economic pie, says. So, in reality, you can have, overuse this analogy, you  can have a lot of pie.

Pie is not fixed. So the pie is not fixed. There's a lot of  pie economically speaking.

So he's saying that there is abundance in the world. There  is a lot of money. There's a lot of success.

There's a lot of things that you can have, you  know, and you can get all these things without necessarily having that zero sum mindset  of, you know, having to take things from others in order to to get that, you know. So  how can you grow the pie? How can you make a positive contribution so the pie keeps growing,  right?

That's kind of his analogy here. So you really want to make sure you're not operating  without realizing it from a zero sum mindset where the only way to get ahead is to take  things from others, then that's going to result in you trying to take things from others,  which is not good. It's much better to work on adding to the economic pie.

much better  to work on adding to the economic pie. Thiago Alencar (21:05. 462) Like he said at the beginning of the video today, being useful, making  a contribution, creating something useful for the world.

And he said also, that sometimes  we don't even realize it. We don't even realize that we have this or we are operating  with this zero sum mindset. Interesting.

more than you consume. I like that.  Creating more than you consume.

Cool. more than you. Yeah.

So that's a big deal. I think  there's like, you know, a fair number of people in finance that do have a bit of a zero sum mindset.  mean, it's all walks of life.

I've seen that. You see, Alex, using the expression again, that's all  walks of life, all industries, all professionals from everywhere. They tend to operate with  that zero sum mindset.

And one of the reasons And Rogan inspires me is he celebrates  all there's a lot is not not creating a constant competition. Like there's a scarcity  of resources. What happens when you celebrate others and you promote others, the ideas of  others, it actually grows that pie.

I mean, every like the the resource, the resources  become less scarce. that. OK, he's kind of a.

paying a compliment to Joe Rogan here. Yeah, he's  saying that Rogan inspires him a lot because you know Rogan celebrates people. Yeah, all his  guests on his podcast, you know, he doesn't want people to compete.

He celebrates everybody.  Yeah. So that's what Lex is saying here.

And he used a nice word. He said scarcity, you know,  when you celebrate other people, you promote a culture of abundance, actually, not of scarcity.  Scarcity is when there isn't enough of something.

So if you have a scarcity  mindset, you believe that the resources in the world, they are limited.  There isn't enough for everybody. So, you know, I better make sure I take my piece of pie  here, my portion, I secure it because, you know, otherwise, you know, I'm not going  to have it.

Right. So that's scarcity. OK.

But based on what I understand here from  their conversation, they are promoting this. Thiago Alencar (23:24. 088) The opposite of that, which is the abundance mindset, not the scarcity mindset.

That  applies in lot of kinds of domains. It applies in academia where a lot of people are very, see some  funding for academic research is zero sum. It is not.

If you celebrate each other, if you make,  if you get everybody to be excited about AI, about physics, about mathematics, I think  there'd be more and more funding. I think everybody wins. Yeah.

That applies, I  think broadly. Yeah. Yeah.

That exactly. Alright, really cool guys. Alright guys, really  cool.

My impressions on Elon Musk's English are, in my opinion, he is not the most articulate  person. He doesn't project his voice so much, I would say. He kind of speaks inside  a little bit.

He tends to mumble quite a lot as well. When you mumble, you don't  articulate the words as well as you could. And also, I would say that he stutters  sometimes.

To stutter is when you go like this, know, when you do this, you  know, to speak. This is stuttering, okay? So I would say honestly that he's not  the most articulate person.

But in this clip specifically, he's sharing some really  cool ideas, and I agree with all of them, you know? He's sharing some really  nice wisdom about the importance of reading extensively, reading broadly, gaining  general knowledge on as many topics as you can. And I also like what he said about not having  a zero -sum mindset.

And sometimes we might not even realize that we have this mindset, like,  for me to win, somebody else has to lose. instead, what he's defending here is having  more of an abundant mindset, like, hey, There is enough for me, there is enough for you,  there is enough for everybody. Let's all focus on becoming useful, creating positive useful  things and then growing the pie as he says.

So, know, really powerful ideas. I agree  with everything that he said here, but from an English standpoint and  from a communication standpoint, I would say that he is not the  best articulate communicator. but.

Thiago Alencar (25:45. 002) really nice ideas nonetheless. And just a small comment about Lax's  English here, yeah.

I really like the way he speaks. He speaks in a very calm  way. He speaks calmly, he speaks slowly, and he speaks kind of in a stoic way. 

know, I say stoic because, you know, he doesn't show a lot of emotions when he's  speaking, you know. He's kind of just, you know, Stoic I think Stoic is the the best definition  here in his communication, but at the same time I get a vibe from his communication that  sounds serene Sounds peaceful. It sounds calm, you know, so that is also really  cool.

All right guys, that's it These are my impressions on Elon Musk's English  and a little bit on Lex Friedman's English here I hope you enjoyed this video. I hope you  enjoyed learning some vocabulary here and also listening to these interesting ideas that Musk is  sharing here in this clip. What is the next person you would like me to react to?

Leave me suggestion  here under the video or on Spotify. You can also do that if you're listening there. But give me  some more names of celebrities, of people who I can react to when it comes to English.

And  then I can explain some vocabulary they use, how they speak and give you my impression  on their communication skills in English.