Speaking on a stage after a while was frightening but the process of listening to the podcast was much more challenging. By accident I started listening to the wrong episode of podcast, I tried listening to it for at least three times without any sign of cracking it. The issue was not me being not being able to understand the language but the structuring of the concept. Each episode is split into two parts, but the method of narration is not user friendly. By fourth time I was able to connect the pieces together and walk through the narration with ease. Once I started with the right podcast it was easier for me to be in track with the narration.
The episode was about marketing of Christianity in China and Whaling ships leading to Sea Shanty. The topics and points were interesting when put in simple structure such as during the second half of the episode while discussing about Sea Shanty. In comparison to the second half the first half were not clear and direct due to the excessive number of names, and it felt as if they were speaking inside my head. Initially if felt that they were talking close to the mic and the there were fluctuations until the seconds half.
I was relieved to know that I wasn’t alone in finding the structure difficult to understand.