'The English We Speak' is a programme BBC Learning English puts out every Tuesday. Each time, it picks just one expression from everyday conversation and firms up how to use it through a conversation between the two hosts and three example sentences.

In recent episodes, for example, it took up leave to one's own devices, meaning to leave someone alone and let them do as they wish, and in a tizzy, which describes being in a flustered, agitated state.

Because each episode is short, it is easy to start, but you cannot tell until you listen whether it is fast for its length, or what level its vocabulary is. I transcribed the five most recent episodes (released from 22 September to 20 October 2026) and measured their length, speed, and vocabulary.

The Measured Numbers: Main Programme 2 Minutes 9 Seconds, Speed Averaging 167

Start with length. The podcast files run about 5 minutes 20 seconds to 5 minutes 40 seconds, but much of that is ads and announcements for other programmes, and the main programme averaged 2 minutes 9 seconds (1 minute 57 seconds for the shortest episode, 2 minutes 19 seconds for the longest). The ads side is longer than the main programme. The main programme runs to 358 words on average.

Dividing gives a speaking speed of an average of 167 words per minute (147 to 185 words, depending on the episode). The measured average for the same BBC's '6 Minute English' was 162, so the speed is at much the same level. The speakers are Feifei and one other host, plus separate voices reading the example sentences.

The vocabulary was checked against the NGSL list of frequent words (2,801 words). Average coverage was 84% for the top 1,000 words, 90% for the top 2,000 words, and 91% for the list as a whole. On average, about 9% of all words fell outside the list. When you look at what they are, the centre of them turns out to be the very expression being taught in that episode.

In the in a tizzy episode, tizzy appears 17 times, and in the sack something off episode, sack appears 12 times. In other words, the places where you run into an 'unknown word' in this programme cluster around the expression you are meant to learn that episode. The structure is that a word you could not catch becomes that episode's homework as it is.

How It Differs from 6 Minute English

Put it alongside the same BBC Learning English's measured article on 6 Minute English and there are three differences. Length: at 2 minutes 9 seconds, it is about a third of the main programme's 6 minutes 21 seconds. Speed: 167 against an average of 162, much the same.

Vocabulary: coverage by the 2,000 most frequent words is 90% against 87%, so this one sits slightly on the easier side.

The biggest difference is in how the content is made: 6 Minute English digs into one topic, with expert voices mixed in, while this programme firms up a single expression through conversation and example sentences. Which programme you choose changes depending on whether you want breadth of topics or retention of expressions.

Who It Suits, and Who It Does Not

It suits people whose 1,000 to 2,000 most frequent words have more or less firmed up. Put into test numbers, around TOEIC 500, or from Eiken Grade Pre-2 to Eiken Grade 2, can be considered a guide for the entry point.

Because coverage reaches 90% with the 2,000 most frequent words, you can more or less follow the main conversation, and the remaining unknown words cluster in that episode's expression. At about 2 minutes per episode, it fits a way of use that stacks up 'today's one expression' in one leg of a commute or between household tasks. The once-a-week update pace is also a length that makes it easy to catch up if you fall behind.

There are two types of people it does not suit. One is people in the middle of systematically firming up basic grammar and vocabulary: this programme is a collection of expressions, so it is hard for it to serve as a substitute for building the foundations. The other is people who want the load itself of continuing to listen to long audio.

Two minutes of script-based conversation is not enough in volume to serve as practice for building tolerance to the looseness and speed of natural conversation. In that case, combining it with a longer programme such as 6 Minute English is a better fit.

Using the 2 Minutes 9 Seconds: Through, Check, Chunk

The way to use it has three stages. First, listen through without looking at any text, and grasp in what situation that episode's expression was used. Next, check the expression's meaning and example sentences in the official transcript. Every episode of this programme comes with a free transcript (episode page).

Finally, take just one of the example sentences that you can bring close to your own life, cut it into short segments, and listen to it repeatedly. With a 2-minute programme, even doing all three stages fits into about 10 minutes. Because the expression is fixed at one per episode, there is also no time lost wondering 'which one should I learn today?'

For the stage of cutting into short segments and repeating, Rehear is another option. It is a listening practice app made by the team behind this magazine, and with it you can cut just the example sentences you could not catch into short segments and listen to them again and again. You can also open this episode in Rehear.

On other services, you can also listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

There are two cautions. One is the length of the ads. If you plan by the file length (about five and a half minutes), you will end up taking nearly three times as long as the main programme (about 2 minutes). The other is that many of the expressions taken up are casual, everyday expressions.

in a tizzy and sack something off are also turns of phrase that depend on the situation. To be safe, check — together with the meaning — what kind of person and situation the phrase is used with, in the flow of the scripted conversation.

In Summary: Use One 2-Minute Episode to Judge Expressions

Whether The English We Speak suits you can be judged, more or less, with one listen. If you listen through and can follow the main lines, you can then use it as a programme for stacking up expressions one by one. Conversely, if you break down frequently in the main conversation before you even get to the expression, you are still at the stage of firming up your vocabulary and grammar foundations.

Use the numbers — an average speed of 167, and 90% coverage by the 2,000 most frequent words — as the yardstick for that judgement. The shortness of a 2-minute main programme is a condition for continuing, and at the same time, because the density of a single episode is high, this is a programme you cannot get away with merely listening to in the background.