Richard Vaughan Interview

Few people have had such a profound impact on language learning as this tough Texan has. This prosperous pioneer has been pounding the pavement for ages and his popular system has stood the test of time. He empowers people to bring out their full potential. I’m proud to call him both my friend and mentor. We’ll rap with Richard Vaughan on this week's episode of FYI! 

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few people have had such a profound impact on language learning as this tough Texan has this prosperous Pioneer has been pounding the pavement for ages and his popular system has stood the test of time he empowers people to bring out their full potential I'm proud to call him both my friend and Mentor we'll wrap with Richard Vaughn on this week's episode of f why I welcome to for your info English you got it[Music] foreign[Music] the topic based podcast where you can learn about everything and anything in fact I'm the first one who's learning what do you think I knew about the Seven Ancient Wonders or all the wonderful things there are to discover about pizza or Donuts or Pirates or any of the episodes we've done but today to kick off our fifth season I can't believe it myself thank you thank you thank you for uh your effort for your support for downloading it for spreading the word I really appreciate it and as a reward we've got a really special guest here to kick off the fifth friggin yeah I gotta put that emphasis there the fifth friggin season of FYI and we've got none other than El Mis misimo Richard Vaughn Alberto good morning how are you it's a pleasure to be here wow it's a it's an honoring it's great to have you I've been thinking about having you on the podcast since I started doing it but I was just getting the hang of it to use the Expression getting the hang of it learning the the ropes great we're off to a good start learning the ropes just learning how to do something sure and how do you do it well by doing it over and over and over and over they say ignorance is bliss but I don't follow that I think ignorance is just ignorance yeah yeah we learn things it's an excuse to not look away yeah sure sure I say these days now where we have all this information at our fingertips there's no excuse for ignorance I don't know it's not a it's not acceptable anymore what my age I've started I've started to enjoy it learning new things at my age when you reach my age you'll understand don't don't I don't want to learn a new computer program or a new application I'm getting that already because they're like oh now the newest social media is this and I'm like wait uh another other one you know so I get that already and I'm I'm 45 45 years old well you're getting up there yeah I am I'm getting I'm getting old you're almost a member of the Over the Hill Gang yeah like me well they say the 40s is the new 30s and blah blah blah I think it's true what's the what was your what is you maybe it's now the greatest phase of your life if you had to put it into like maybe chapters or phases I would say from 50 to 60. wow that decade you're telling me that that decade is the most powerful from the point of view of the experience you've accumulated you still have the energy and and so you can apply energy to knowledge and wisdom and so it all comes together and you've got that retrospect too where you can analyze it's amazing because you've seen your kids grow up you're watching your kids kids grow up so you've seen you've been around the track a few times yes and no it's definitely the best if you're working on your own if you if you have your own business or if you work freelance Etc I think that's the point if you're working for others in large organizations sometimes impersonal they often don't appreciate people after age 45 or 50. for sure you're hirable if that's a word you know here in Spain a lot of uh people at that age are let go with early retirement plans I don't agree with that however a lot of these people have just lost their desire to to produce and to be productive sure so I understand from both angles but if you're a freelancer of your own if you're if you are your own boss or as I teach on television if you're you're you're you're your own pronunciation you're you're Your Own Boss uh then uh and you work hard and do your best by the time you're 50 you're ready to conquer the world yeah yeah that's great and you've I mean there is no secret to success but you've definitely worked hard if that's one of the things they say and like you just said about being in a company this is something I can say from working for Vaughn for so long I lost track already how long I've been working there but it didn't feel like another company it doesn't it felt like a family you know I remember being at Andreas I went to your house the first I think the week before I started working at Vaughn so there's is that family vibe there are people some people who have been working there decades it's it's okay for a family orientation to accompany as long as you don't go become too paternalistic in right in how you deal with people you know people have to produce they have no no no no they have to help there are no free rides to use the Expression right and there's a tendency to be paternalistic when it's too family oriented right but I didn't for example I do radio and I do television um I had never stepped into a radio studio until I was 51. and I hadn't known one of them yeah and I had never entered a TV studio until I was 53. wow which um of Allah as we say which you have the new question it's never too late sure and so I say between age 50 and 60 is perhaps the best period of a person's life but you can also learn new things during that sure my father is learning Chinese now he he listens to the show with no name every day I mean he's I think he's learning more now than when he was working and in the the routine you know yeah yes well it's good that your father's still has energy and still has curiosity oh yeah well you know him you met him he's he's definitely a character my mom would say a piece of work they say curiosity killed the cat but for people at my age and your father's age curiosity extends life I think well you know what I say poor cat in my case because I'm you know I've always been a curious person I've always asked questions and I urge my daughter to do the same you know like I tell the students it's not a crime to not know the word you're looking for it's a crime to not be able to describe it in a different way right you know the thing that you hang clothes on oh yeah that's a hanger well the Spanish educational system traditionally doesn't teach people to to approach knowledge this way they approach knowledge and just uh in taking it into their head cramming it into their brain right and reproducing it on the exam and then often they conveniently forget it after the exam sure I don't remember most of the exam you know the content of the exam I mean I passed them some with flying colors but but I'm sure you remember if you had an outstanding teacher who just swept you off your face then I'm sure you remember many many things from that class when it wasn't necessary to be examined on them or to cram them or to study them or to memorize them you simply remember them because that teacher made such an important impact and influence on you and instead of like you know you know this inundating you with stuff they kind of taught you how to think yes they taught you how to see things in a different way or even maybe giving you some advice hey you listen you better keep your nose out of trouble those kind of little moments are like I'll never forget if you have a strong desire if you enjoy acquiring knowledge yeah I remember one of my best friends in school in high school Lane Phillips he became the youngest federal judge in the history of the United States wow spoke where Ronald Reagan chose him but I remember in in 12th grade the history teacher why do you want to take history and he he wrote on a piece of paper and showed it to me lust for knowledge nice what a great one you had lost thirst for nothing but he was pulling my leg he was kidding right you know but in any case uh knowledge um is power they say knowledge is power sure but the acquire the acquire the acquisition of knowledge gaining it is a lot of fun and so that's that's something about the Vaughn method I tell the students you can't take the fun out of it it doesn't mean every minute is going to be fun but there's fun there's uh an element of surprise you'll be caught off guard curveballs it's always stimulating to you know to learn a second language is a real pain in the butt it's a pain in the neck the older you get too yeah and it's it's uphill it's hard to learn a second language well right and so the classroom atmosphere or the atmosphere you have with the teacher has to be stimulating and to make it cool he said if the teacher's cool English is cool absolutely if the teacher's cool Shakespeare is cool if the teacher's cool algebra and geometry become cool sure it's always the importance the the Catalyst in all of this is the teacher a bad teacher is a is an assassin they kill people's potential interest or capability in certain fields of knowledge or or activity sure but um and inversely an outstanding teacher changes people's lives more you know outside the classroom even as I said changing the way you see the world well the teacher is the prep for me is the person best positioned to change other people's lives sure but they have to be outstanding teachers absolutely to go above and beyond well we're going to do a little rewind now because we're going to try and tell your whole story without going into in third grade I kissed Mary Jo Williams under the bleachers no it was Anne White under in kindergarten she kissed me I didn't kiss her nice nice well see we even got some of the juicy details well you were born and bred in Texas tell us because everybody Associates you with Texas tell us a little bit about your childhood in Texas well I'm gonna I'm a product of Texas and Oklahoma Oklahoma is just North of Texas crossing the Red River and um but I was born in Houston my parents are from father is from a small town in Central Texas called Bertram which was founded by my great grandfather he called the town Bertram because the railroad commissioner's name was Mr Bertram and he said if you if you root the railroad through my new town we'll name it after you now still happening these days on a different scale by the main street is called Vaughn Street wow my mother's from San Antonio they met at the University of Texas and he ended up finding a job in Houston so I was born in Houston and I spent my first nine years in Houston minus nine months in Queens Queens just north just just next to Brooklyn I think Flushing Meadows what a Twist there right my father was working in New York Life Insurance company and when they decided to move him up to general manager of a branch office in Houston they took him they sent him to New York or brought him to New York for nine months of training that's a serious business right right yeah yeah nine months living with a family so I lived in when I was two and three years old I experienced snow for the first time you know wash or down in Texas and um in but at the age of nine uh we left he was transferred to the office in Tulsa Oklahoma which is a very wealthy City because it was built on oil okay yes they discovered oil and suddenly you know even the Cherokee and Creek Indians are rich now sure well hey it's Liquid Gold but in Houston I grew up in a neighborhood of predominantly Jewish people from the East that's perhaps one of the reasons that I don't really have a noticeable Texas accent gotcha a little bit you can if you listen enough you may hear something a bit tired a little bit you can hear a little bit here you can hear just a little just enough but my best friends were Jewish and so they had a Northeast accidentally like kind of a yeah kind of what is that he's schlepping this around this guy because my mother has an incredible accent you just can't believe oh so she she's got that Southern drawl boy sure she sure does what are some words while we're talking about Texas some Texan Expressions I know the howdy part you know howdy comes from how do you do how do you how do you how do you do I just learned guys mind blown y'all of course is you all you guys which makes sense it's like use in New York just to be clear I'm not saying just you you're all invited y'all y'all and and then we have Mark and m-a-r-k-i-n Market you don't know that word oh no I'm proud to be American it's a citizen a citizen of the United States I live in America and then we have Bain b-a-n-e bang you don't know that no no it's a small edible seed like pod I really like them pinto beans oh my God oh my God it's incredible it really it sounds like a different totally different word I'm exaggerating well some people and it's you know the deep deep parts of Texas I mean if we say the Lord's Prayer for example in Texan Utah Our Father Art in Heaven Help be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and it leads not into temptation but delivers from Evil for thinest Kingdom power and Glory forever and amen it sound I gotta say I love that people love in general there are a lot of different Southern Accents but detect I mean it's a pleasing accent I prefer the Georgia the Georgia's just a little softer right it sure is it's a real pleasure to be here with you just can't imagine the honor and the pleasure it gives me to be able to come to your your humble abode yeah and to be able to deliver or to expound on the radio can you believe it what I'm telling you great imitations of I mean it's some people you know group them all into one accent but if you listen Alabama North Carolina they're they're really different accents something I've heard that they say in in Texas I don't know if this is still sad but I'm fixing to do something oh I'm fixing to do it yes but this is Texas Oklahoma that's all in the South I'm about to do it I'm fixing to do it and I'm going to do it right away I'm about to do it I'm fixing to go to the grocery store pick up some groceries I'm fixing to fix fixing to fix dinner oh good one good Double Trouble over there and is there now I've heard this too bless her heart well that doesn't mean like you know a good it's not a good thing is it oh blessing oh for my mother yes oh bless her heart poor thing exactly so it means but I know this is a misunderstood you know those nuances better than I do sure sure bless her heart you know her she lost her husband and now her son has has developed diabetes oh bless her heart I'm fixing to buy her some flowers yeah but so I crossed at age nine I we went to Tulsa and it was Tulsa is very very healthy City oh okay maybe because uh middle class and upper middle class people there it's everything Sports everything in the educational system I found very very good I was fortunate to have a good secondary education in Tulsa Oklahoma and I studied in interestingly I studied Spanish for six years from seventh grade to 12th grade simply why not also there was no real no we had to take two years of mandatory uh language and so I chose Spanish and instead of two I just extended it to six but then when I went to the university I uh forgot about it said screw it I'm not gonna right forget Spanish but in the second second semester of my second year at SMU in Dallas Southern Methodist University I saw a bulletin board and a notice that's in an academic Year in Spain oh and it's in cool why not I mean Spain is an attract just hearing the word you know it's not like Calcutta or if it had said Japan and I had six years of Japanese I would have gone to Japan right right but it was the right moment I had no in no I it didn't even occur to me to come to Spain right right if I had not been in that building and it wasn't it wasn't a building I normally visited on the campus if I had not seen that notice I we wouldn't be here new right right sure it's that's life no people wouldn't be mispronouncing your name everywhere bow gun well I mispronounce it on purpose I mean if you say Colgate instead of Colgate you're going to lose or wifey as you say Wi-Fi here you're going to lose you're outnumbered yeah Colgate will not sell toothpaste if they say Colgate so you that was that's incredible because it reminds me of story of how I found Vaughn I was working at Planet Hollywood and I got a job there instantly because I had worked it was under the Plaza Hotel if I'm not mistaken and that uh the plaza or the no I think it was under the hotel Palace yeah that's the one and uh I got a job there instantly because I had worked at the one in Orlando the I'm the headquarter the one on Disney property and I was like okay you know and I opened up a magazine I think it was in Madrid or one of these and I said we're looking for dynamic fun individuals who speak English and Baba and I'm like and then it would you know a girl handed me the magazine an American girl who was quite attractive I might add and I I the rest is history I talked to Fitz and and uh well that's life for it's uh life is a chain of coincidences that you bring together and you can those coincidences in your life you can take so much better advantage of them if you are well prepared educationally and and attitudinally sure and things where the opportunity crosses with preparation the sky is the limit but you have to allow yourself to you have to react to these these unexpected inputs or these expected open to them you know and yeah because you never know the smallest thing could change your life yeah and then you impose your will on that but you have to open up the end full antenna right right your eyes wide open as we would say you know and so uh when I saw that I asked my parents hey how about I'm can I spend a a year in Spain third year of University or Gap year as the British say right the Gap yeah and so I came here and uh spent us and then I went back to to Texas and switched to the University of Texas okay yes it was so much cheaper in the while I was in Spain my father was transferred back to Texas to Corpus Christi on these Gulf coasts and so I became a Texas resident again and the University of Texas was a hundred and fifty dollars per semester yeah being a resident yeah sure so I saved my money my father a bundle sure one great great expression transferred my credits to the University of Texas I changed my major or specialty to Spanish language and literature with a minor in philosophy oh interesting and when I graduated I decided to come back to Spain to spend two years only oh wow my objective was to perfect my Mastery of Spanish in order to go back again to Austin Texas to do a doctorate in Spanish Literature so now you've gotten serious yeah so in 74 summer of 74 I returned to Madrid with 300 in my pocket oh wow so I had to find a job I needed to make ends meet I needed to find an apartment I needed to pay the rent Etc and to eat get settled in and so I found a job for three weeks in berlitz berlitz as they say here and and then immediately I found a work in a nuclear plant I didn't know I didn't know about your minor in philosophy I didn't know about the nuclear plant I didn't know about howdy I'm learning so much guys I hope you are too well the the first nuclear plant built in Spain in 1967 and 68 was called Jose Cabrera it's in foreita okay and so I spent almost a year there teaching uh technical people engineers and managers of the plant and a few of the wives and children that's another story for another day and um so I spent out in the middle of nowhere in the most rural areas of the province of Guadalajara and I honed my trade there we go to home that needs to sharpen your skills to polish to sharpen yeah great I honed my trade out there as a teacher I learned what works and what doesn't work what and and then I came back to Madrid and started teaching freelance after one year so you've always had that freelance philosophy of course and you know self-employed independent and very soon I needed an extra teacher to help me and then an extra and I realized my God after two years I had a business not yet formally but I had a business as they say in Spanish in and I've forgotten the word Infernus yeah means it's it was a budding business and I said and so I stayed on another year and another and finally it's been 48 years wow and it you know I know from you know talking to you many times your story is very organic too because a lot of people like is this picture you like sitting in like a lair like now I'm gonna conquer the radio now I'm gonna have the first town that well then you really have been it's been an organic growth by listening to your students your employees by testing your your methods the company uh has four a little more than 400 teachers we we provide 50 000 teaching hours every month right more than half a million a year oh wow we have 12 000 square meters of office and well basically classroom space 220 classrooms we are we are on Spanish television daily it's incredible and we have nine radio stations however okay that's a a unimpario chico a small Empire the first nine years of on systems from 1977 to 1986 consisted of two square meters in the corner of my bedroom where with a computer a printer in a landline telephone I was able to control up to almost 40 teachers incredible in the uh in Madrid of the in companies companies and factories around Madrid sure the teachers between the schedule every every Empire be it business or personal starts from a molecule right from a single idea in your head or from a molecule a seed of sorts yes and I think the most important lesson is humility in the sense that Empires are not created overnight despite a few of the cases we know like Stephen Jobs or Bill Gates or Jeff Zuckerberg and things sure but these These are 0.0001 there's I I've heard there's no such thing as overnight success because really even that guy you just think came out of nowhere has been you know auditioning for years well it reminds me of two people number one is uh I Left My Heart in San Francisco what's the name of a singer if you're going no no I Left My Heart in San Francisco he's a very famous he's not he's still working at age 95 right now I Left My Heart in San Francisco and he became an overnight success when that was Tony Bennett Tony Bennett and Tony Bennett became an overnight success when and at the age of 45 or 43 or something with that song and the journalists asked him well what does it feel like to be an overnight success and he said well after 30 years 30 years working on it tonight and the month your take as the second person who's the richest man in Spain and it's been in the world I think up until age 60 nobody knew who he was suddenly he appeared in Forbes Magazine among the top 10 Fortunes in the world and suddenly he was an overnight success but he started he left school he dropped out at the age of 14 began working in a shirt shop in La Corunna and he continued working for others not for himself until the age of 37. he started Indie texts at the age of 37 and another 23 years until he was an overnight success so he was 46 years learning everything about the business before he became an overnight success that's what I mean even people who seem like they're an overnight success because you haven't heard of them you don't know they were struggling to pay their rent and everybody's got their Beginnings unless you're ejode you know you come from a family that you know gives you the the on a silver platter now you're hosting the show on CNN or I lived for one year in Princess a studio apartment of NF what we call in Texas and efficiency apartment of 35 square meters so you know right humility Beginnings humility humility means you have a capacity of yourself enough analysis a capacity for introspection or soul searching great and that but if you also combine that with energy in your body and your spirit you can't lose in the long run you have your ups and downs but in the long term for me it's impossible for a person with humility and energy to fail because they become very intelligent and they learn along the way well that's the thing you haven't just taught people how to be speak English or be better communicators but you've inspired them and many people have told me this our radio what we do to start their own business to you know break out of to learn more to change their lives in a positive way well Spain traditionally and historically the the mindset is a bit pessimistic a bit skeptical of things and a bit distrustful of things we can maybe talk about that in the second half hour but but um and so our message and just what we convey the vibrations we emanate Are vibrations of positivism optimism cool Dynamics why not the the also the teachers that's the key word dynamism yeah and so it becomes contagious to for people who are sensitive to this absolutely well this is this is great this is what a great chat I'm learning so much tons of Great Expressions we're talking with the one and only Richard Vaughn he's giving us some business advice even telling us a little bit about his background and Richard if I'm not mistaken you're on patreon as well yes I'm a patreon if you're interested you put patreon and you put Richard Vaughn live Richard Bowden live patreon yeah slash Richard Richard Von live tele junto Richard Vaughn live and there you have uh probably about 200 hours of content wow on 25 minutes segments on history geo-literacy that's geography oh excellent alphabetes a hodgepodge which is about my life every crazy things sure and also on the power of a positive attitude and many other things you can learn a multitude of things guys it's Richard well it's patreon.com Richard Vaughn live you know I'm on patreon as well in fact if you want to catch up with us in the bonus episode you have to join us on patreon because this will be available the second part to all of your patrons and mine as well so Richard Vaughn live Alberto Alonso on patreon and a quick shout out to all my patrons especially my super duper students candy Javier Roberto David Jose Maria Mila Alex and Patricio and don't forget about my Interstellar students Carmen Lina Isa Paco and Edgar thank you so much again if you want more information you can go to patreon.com Richard Vaughn live I urge you guys to join them if you want more information about my community it's slash Alberto Alonso also at patreon and in the bonus part we're going to look at some of the beginnings of Von town of Vaughn radio we're also going to find out a little bit more about Richard Vaughn the man the myth the legend well the person and what your hobbies are we're going to learn some do's and don'ts some pitfalls that maybe some students have had and we're gonna finally nip it in the bud how would we say that expression we're gonna nip it in the bud and we're gonna give you Richard Vaughn's top three English mistakes grammar pronunciation so the ones that he's heard the most throughout all the years or maybe a mistaken prioritizing how to prioritize when you want to really gain a good command of English excellent excellent that yeah it doesn't have to be a grammar mistake it could be a mistake well people is we already know that one that one should we shouldn't have to mention that one because it's oh man or you are yes yes you are no yes yes there you go it's the E is yellow yellow all right well folks uh we're gonna say goodbye with Richard Vaughn imitating me I'm gonna ask you to do that hey welcome so you just have to say one sentence and then we're gonna go and we hope you guys will join us in the bonus part say thanks for joining us and thanks for joining us and don't don't even don't dare leave that guy that will take it guys we'll see you in the bonus episode of today's f y i foreign[Music]