AEE: Do Aliens Exist? How to Connect Over Extraterrestrial Life

0:00This is the All-Ears English Podcast. Do aliens exist? How to connect over extra-terrestrial life? 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 host, Aubrey Carter, the Isles Wiz. And Lindsay McMahon, the English Adventure. Coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA. To get real-time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list, try the All-Ears English app for iOS and Android. Start your seven-day free trial at allyoursenglish.com, board slash app. Have you ever had a conversation about aliens

1:01from outer space in English? Today, find out why this is a hot topic in the US right now and how to approach it to strike up a great conversation. Has this ever happened to you, your mid-sentence, and you hear yourself slow down. You simplify. You avoid the word you actually want. That moment adds up. In meetings, interviews, and everyday conversations, it weighs on you and makes you feel isolated. It becomes harder to make real connections. Our free two-minute fluency quiz helps you identify what interrupts your flow and your connections and how to fix it. You'll get your English level, B1, B2, or C1, and you'll figure out where to go from here.

2:02Start now at allyoursenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allyoursenglish.com slash F-L-U-E-N-C-Y-S-C-O-R-E. Hello, Lindsay. How are you? Hello, Aubrey. How are you doing today? I'm excellent. I'm excited to talk about extraterrestrials with you today, Lindsay. Do you believe in aliens? Do I have a leave in aliens? I really don't know what my belief is there. I went to Roswell once in New Mexico, which is a place where they're claiming them are to crash. Yes, and I left feeling like I did, but now I'm not so sure. I've seen several documentaries where I've finished that I convinced someone will be talking about being abducted or something and they seem so believable.

3:02But then I've got on with my life and I'm like, no. You're like, no. It's a little wishy washy. We're both a little wishy washy. It sounds like. But this is really a fun and common topic of conversation in American culture. I talk to people about this a lot and a lot of people have, a lot of people have some kind of experience or know someone who has seen something. My father saw UFO when he was young and my husband and I saw something. Or you know, because really UFO, we're going to talk about what it means. It just means something unidentified. You don't know what it is. So it could actually be a military aircraft or something from another country that you're just not familiar with. Who knows? There's probably an explanation. But maybe not. It reminds me of the conversation that you might have about ghosts. Do you believe in ghosts? Because I feel like some of those sightings also could have been paranormal, right? Exactly. Very possible. Yeah, for sure. So these are our conversation. Yeah, these are caught. Do you believe in ghosts? Do you believe in aliens? These conversations definitely come up in American culture

4:05with native speakers. So we're going to learn how to have this conversation today, Abri. Exactly. But first we want to thank some reviewers. We are so grateful for everyone who rates and reviews the podcast. This is like a thank you letter to us. We read them and we try to give you a shout out. Anyone who leaves a review. Yeah, so a huge thank you to Milad Asampur from India, who left us a review. Thank you to Sana Kaviani on June 21st. And SSTT from the UK. Huge thank you to these amazing listeners for reviewing our show. So thank you. Yes, and guys, leave your review for the show. If you want to hear your name announced out loud, we'll do our best to call you out on the show. Absolutely. Yes, leave us a review, rate the show. It also helps others find the show. And yeah, it's always nice to hear that great feedback when anyone leaves a comment. For sure. All right, so there have been some big Steven Spielberg films, Abri. Oh, I want to see Milad in a few.

5:07So a lot of movies have come out recently that have been really big about aliens, basically. Disclosure Day. Steven Spielberg did this film that topped the global box office earlier this summer. And Steven Spielberg also did ETN, closing encounters of the third kind, which is an older film from 1977. You seem both of those, Lindsay. Oh, I've seen ETR. I remember watching ET as a kid. It's so sweet. It's so sweet. And it holds up. I watched it with my kids. They loved it. Of course it looks older, right? But they still loved it. Because it's a human interest story. Yeah. Oh, and then Project Hill Mary, that one. New movie. Also, yes, that was a big film in the springtime with Ryan Gosling. And that also was, this is not really a spoiler because you see in the preview that he meets this alien. And a lot of the story probably by now, you've all seen it. If not, you really should. It's so great. And it's about how they figure out how to communicate and save the world together.

6:08And it's really sort of an updated ET. It's so good. Love it. Love it. So why is this kind of a hot topic right now, Aubrey? Yeah, this is interesting. So in the United States, in May of this year, the US government began releasing previously classified files related to UFOs. And this was following through on an order from President Trump to make public government documents about unexplained phenomena. So they had created a government site where you could see a lot of these, previously classified military documents, videos. And there was an article in CBS News about this and about if this is making people believe more in aliens, right? And had opinion polls. So what were some of the stats from that article, Insi? So we read that one third of Americans believe that aliens exist, which is pretty high. High pay. Yeah. 17% of Americans report having seen a UFO or something they think is a UFO, right?

7:10Right. Well, and that's what's interesting. We're going to get into the vocab here. But so UFO just means unidentified flying object. So we also refer to these informally as a flying saucer. But anyone, you could see a plane and call it a UFO because to you, it's unidentified. You can't look into the sky and know what it is, right? But if it's like a government document and they're calling it a UFO, then it's like, OK, this is officially, if the American government is saying they don't know what that was and it's not military spacecraft, then it's like, no one in this country knows what this was. Right. I haven't heard the term flying saucer in so long. I feel like that term was used a lot in, I don't know, in the 80s, the 90s. But I haven't heard it in a while. That's so funny. It is funny, right? A flying saucer. We hear this in older movies about extraterrestrials life on other planets, but yeah, it's very informal. You would never see in these official government documents. They would never be called flying saucers. This is like a term we used as kids more, right? Yeah, for sure.

8:11So some conversation starters have you ever seen a UFO? I mean, let's just be direct and obvious about it, right? Exactly. Yeah. So when my husband and I were just dating, we saw this row of lights in the sky, like hovering at a distance. It would have had to be something very big. And we were headed to his parents' house so we wanted them to come out and see it. And see if we could, you know, we're like this maybe military, but nothing we know of that could have, that could just be hovering like that, right? And in Arizona, there have been a lot of sightings and photographs of, they call them the like, Sonoran lights or something, I don't know. And then when we went in, there were these military jets that flew overhead, more like the top gun jets, right? Those jets. And then it was just gone. So it was just strange, like to us, definitely a UFO, because we could not identify what that is. Like we don't know of any military aircraft that is that big or capable of just hovering like that, right? Yeah. It's of course always possible that there's just some kind of military intelligence

9:12that we don't know about. Sure. Well, it's funny, because I feel like I recently saw someone being interviewed about this and he was like a NASA scientist or something. And I feel like what he said was, it's possible that they exist because, you know, when you know so much about space and science and things, you know enough to know you can't know everything. There's so how vast it is and how little we can actually know about the vastness. What's actually out there. He's like, I'm not about to make any kind of comment about what's out there in the unknowable space, right? It's exactly the same. Yeah, that was kind of what he said. So yeah, interesting. Yeah. And so then it's also an interesting conversation to talk about whether aliens, extraterrestrials have potentially visited Earth. So you might want to ask if someone's ever seen a UFO or if they've seen, you know, anything they couldn't explain. But you might also want to ask if they believe aliens either have visited our planet. Some people believe they are here living among us hidden, like on men in black, right?

10:13Hiding as humans. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. So what does this mean? Alien, Lindsay, that. Alien, kind of, we use the term extraterrestrial, like ET, the movie, right? Basically just a being from outside of the Earth that might show up on Earth or may not, may remain in their place, in outer space. Yeah. So relating to life beyond Earth, right? And so for example, you could ask someone, do you believe that aliens have visited our planet? And you could say extraterrestrial, or you could say, just do you believe aliens exist, right? Yes. And it's interesting. This word alien, this is just kind of a note here. It has historically been used to refer to immigrants to anyone to, and this is really, as language has evolved, we have started to believe that this is problematic, because it is used to create, to make someone other, right? Right. And being from outside Earth to increase the gap of difference.

11:18So more and more, that's not really considered correct to call a person, you know, an illegal alien, for example. And we use terminology that is more inclusive now. Yeah, yeah, that's a really good point, Aubrey. And often you'll, maybe you'll have an intergenerational conversation. Some of our age might be talking to our parents, or grandparents, or something, and they might use the term illegal alien and we'd correct them. We'd say you can't say that anymore. Right. Like give them a better term, right? Yes. Yes. So that's not what, obviously that's not what we're talking about here, completely different, but I'm glad it is interesting. We're talking about people here, the word alien, right? We're talking about extraterrestrials, that you may have heard the word alien used that way as well. And you might have been wondering, like, why don't we use it that way anymore? Right. Yeah, good point. Do you ever start speaking English and suddenly the words disappear? You pause too much, you hesitate, you know what you want to say, but only later, not in the moment when it matters. This is where your fluency is breaking down, and it's fixable. That's why we created our two-minute fluency quiz.

12:21It shows you your exact English level right now, so you know what to work on next. Are you B1, B2, or C1? Find out. Go now to allhearsenglish.com slash fluency, score, and get clarity on your English level and how you can improve this year. Starting today, one more time, go to allhearsenglish.com slash F-L-U-E-M-C-Y-S-C-L-U-G. D-O-R-E. All right, Aubrey, we're back from break. Let's go into a role play here. In this role play, we are friends and we're chatting at a party, so aliens are gonna come up. Exactly, I'll start us out. Have you seen disclosure day? I did, it was fascinating. I couldn't stop thinking about it afterward. Same year, it really made me wonder if there's life on other planets. Honestly, I think it's plausible. The universe is enormous.

13:21It seems unlikely that Earth is the only planet with life. I agree. What I'm not sure about is whether aliens have visited Earth. I get it. Some of those military sightings are super compelling, though. I'm sure there's an explanation for all of them, though. You're definitely more skeptical than I am. Daze, this is interesting. I love a conversation like this. Rarely, will two friends be exactly on the same page about something like this? Right. Might be more skeptical than the other. And we do need this language to be able to respect and recognize validity in each other's beliefs. Yes, for sure. So what were some of the phrases that we used here, Abrey, where she would start? Yeah, so first of all, we're just kind of sharing. And I love this way to start this conversation. You can ask just like, do you believe in aliens? Or do you think there's life on other planets? But you can also enter the conversation this way, like I did. I said, did you see disclosure day? Or have you seen disclosure day? And this is a movie that's about aliens. And if they haven't seen it, then you could ask one

14:22of these other questions like, oh, it's actually about aliens visiting Earth. And then you could ask like, what do you think? Do you believe in aliens? But if they've seen the film, then you already have this in common, this foundation to build on. Yeah, it's a little weird if you just completely cold-start a conversation by saying, do you believe in aliens? I guess you could with a close friend, right? But usually it will have led in from something like this, right? Someone's mentioning a podcaster of Yelp or something. And then you'll ask. Yeah, exactly. Any other phrases we want to point out here, Aubrey? Anything. Yeah. So when we start talking about our beliefs about whether, it's my first, I said, it seems unlikely that Earth, or you said, it seems unlikely that Earth is the only planet with life. And then I said, what I'm not sure about it is whether aliens have visited Earth. So this is interesting. This phrase that we use at the beginning of an opinion to say what I'm not sure about is. Yes. And then because I don't know your beliefs yet, right? So I'm throwing out something that I know a lot of people

15:23believe, but I'm not sure about. And that's such a respectful way to get into that. And then I'm opening it for you to share your opinion, but without directly asking for it. Right. And you're not definitively saying, I don't think this could be true or I think it's true. It's just kind of testing the waters. Sort of. Exactly. Because I could instead say there something like, I really don't think they've visited Earth before, though. And then I've created awkwardness if you believe really strongly that they have. Or maybe you wrote your dissertation on it or something. Exactly. And we will make this sort of faux pas sometimes at parties. Well, like comes out strong with an opinion, then find out the other person disagrees. And if we had known that, we probably would have phrased things differently or come in a little softer. Yeah, I think this is good advice. It applies to this topic and a lot of other things. Definitely. It's not the best thing to always come in super strong if we do want to build connection, right? Exactly. And then I love the phrase you used at the end to say, well, you're definitely more skeptical than I am. I feel like it's such a great phrase for showing respect

16:26and acknowledging that you and I clearly see this very differently. We're being polite. We're having a friendly conversation about it. But the more we say, the more we're realizing that we're not really on the same page. And this is a great way to say that. And then from there, we can pivot to something else. Or we can continue sharing our opinions, but we're respectfully acknowledging the difference and saying, that's OK too. It's OK to not agree about this. Oh my God, there'll be so many things that we won't necessarily fully agree with people on. But we could still find that moment of connection despite that, right? Absolutely. Good topic today. Now I'm going to go back and rewatch ET. I'll have to go to the movies and watch disclosure day. I have a lot to do now, Abri. You do. We've given you a laundry list and Project Hail Mary. You've got a whole list of movies you need to see. All right, good stuff. Guys, go over to 2689. Don't want to sound harsh. Soften the blow with these phrases. So get some great phrases to not sound too harsh. Abri, any final takeaway? I think we hit some important stuff here. This is a cultural topic.

17:27And what else? Anything else that comes up? This comes up a lot in American culture. Be ready with these phrases, these questions. But this is so important for connection to acknowledge and recognize from the outset that you might not agree. You can still have the conversation. But we do want to be careful, too. Like we said, don't come into hard and fast with opinions that sort of stop the conversation before it can get started. I also think we could do another episode one day on how to articulate that you don't quite have. You're not quite sure about something, right? It's a complex topic. Maybe this could be for another day. So guys, I love that idea. Yeah. I started or you're sort of saying, I'm not sure. I'm kind of undecided. And that happens, right? You need phrases for that as well. So we don't want to have to just go silent. We want to say something. We'll come up to that episode. We'll come out with that episode soon, guys. So hit the follow button. And Abri, I'll see you another day. All right. Awesome. See you guys next time. All right. Take care. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English.

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