What to do when you LOSE YOUR FLUENCY

33,835 views ・ 2022-10-25

Accent's Way English with Hadar


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Can you lose fluency in a language?
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The question of all questions.
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Is it even possible?
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What happens when you lose fluency?
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Does it really get you back to square one and you have to start over?
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Is it even possible?
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What do you need to do to get back on track if you do lose your fluency?
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How does it feel like?
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What makes you lose fluency?
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All of these questions are questions that you might have asked yourself if
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you don't live in an English-speaking country and use English daily.
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What we're gonna do today is discuss just that: What it means to lose fluency?
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If it's even possible?
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And if it is, what you need to do to gain your fluency back.
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But before that, if you are new to my channel, then first of
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all, thank you so much for being here with me, you and me, today.
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My name is Hadar.
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I'm a non-native speaker of English, and I'm here to help you speak English
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with clarity, confidence, and freedom.
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And if you wanna find out more about what I can offer you, I have
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a lot of free resources and content.
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You can come on over to my website at hadarshemesh.com or follow me on your
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favorite social media platform: TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook.
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I'm everywhere.
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So now let's talk about fluency.
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But before we talk about what to do if you lose your fluency or if you can
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even lose fluency – it's not something that you lose, like, "I lost my
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glasses, or my keys", or "My fluency...
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oh my God, I lost my fluency".
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No, it doesn't work that way.
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I wanna talk about how to measure fluency.
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Right?
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Because if we lose something, we need to know what it feels like to have it.
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Or if we're at a certain level, we need to know what it feels like or what it looks
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like or sounds like to be at that level.
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So if you regress, then you know what it feels like to not be there.
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And this is a really tricky question.
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Because yes, I know there are proficiency tests.
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And there are all these levels: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1.
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And I'm gonna make a separate episode about that cuz I have
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something to say about all of that.
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But...
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yes, we have levels, but fluency is something that
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sometimes feels very elusive.
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Sometimes you feel like you're really fluent, and some other times you
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may feel like a total beginner, like you have no idea what's happening
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to your English, even though yesterday you feel super expressive.
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So it can be really, really tricky.
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And fluency is something that is not really measurable.
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It's like confidence, it's like love.
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Can you really measure those things?
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It's an experience, it's an emotion.
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And yes, I'm sure that there are some AI experts that might tell me, "Oh
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yeah, we can measure the number of words you use per minute and how many
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fillers you have and how clear you are.
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And that, my friend, is fluency".
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But none of us have access to such tools.
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And honestly, when we're being tested, we actually perform a lot
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worse than what's possible for us.
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So let's put that on the side and go back to your real experience speaking English.
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So I want you to ask yourself, what does fluency feel like for you?
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What does it mean?
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How do you identify it?
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How do you quantify it or measure it?
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For some it might be speaking without getting stuck.
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For others, it might be being able to speak about different
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topics without feeling hesitant or without second-guessing yourself.
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For others, it might even just be being able to speak because
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usually they might avoid speaking.
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For some, it might be speaking in public in front of a lot of people.
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Then I would feel fluent.
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So, your individual experience and assumption is what matters.
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Now, please make sure that you're not creating an unattainable goal regarding
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fluency - to sound and speak like a native because it's not gonna serve you.
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And to be able to sound and speak like a native takes a
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lot of work and a lot of time.
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And a lot of times, you know, we would be totally fine and happy with just
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being able to express ourselves fully.
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So to me, fluency is to speak and not even notice if I'm speaking in
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my first language or in English.
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For me, fluency is speaking and not thinking about the fact that
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I'm speaking, not having opinions about how I speak, to just speak.
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For me, fluency is to be able to listen cuz I'm present and I'm attentive
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to the other person listening.
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To me, fluency is to be able to make people laugh.
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To me, fluency is to be able to be quick and respond and to follow the impulse that
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I have to speak without pushing it down.
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That is fluency to me.
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Now, I can't tell you if scientifically you can lose fluency.
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I can only tell you from my own personal experience what it has been like.
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So, I don't know if you know my story, but when I was 21, I
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moved to New York (20, actually).
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And I've lived there for a few years.
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Then I moved back to where I now live, which is Israel.
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I was also born in Israel and lived there all my life.
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And when I moved back, I did not use English for a few years.
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And only a few years into my life in Israel, I decided to teach
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English and teach pronunciation.
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And even though I was using English fully, and I was actually performing and
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acting in English in different dialects back when I was in New York, when I
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started teaching, I did not dare to speak in English cuz I felt so rusty.
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And so incapable and so incompetent that I didn't want people to find
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out that my English actually sucks.
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So back then, yes, I felt that I really regressed and my fluency got a lot worse.
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And then I started teaching, and then I moved to teaching English
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when I wanted to take myself seriously and challenge myself.
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And I felt like I'm getting back on track.
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Now, after a few months of just teaching in English, I felt like I'm picking up
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my speaking power and that my fluency is getting better, and I'm becoming less
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and less judgemental of how I sound.
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So, I see fluency as others may see building up your muscles
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or being fit and working out.
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Let's say you're a gymnast and you worked out all your childhood.
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And you can do all those crazy things up in the air, and your
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body is so fit, and you are strong.
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And then for several years you don't do anything.
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So, is your body going to have the same strength, the same fitness level that
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you had when you were working out daily?
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Probably not.
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Will you be able to go back to where you were?
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Most likely, yes.
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Is it going to take you the same amount of time?
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Probably not, because the body remembers, and that's the good news.
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Because if you felt fluent in the past and more expressive, and let's say
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you took a long break and now you feel like your fluency has regressed and you
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feel like, "Ugh, I have to start over".
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The good news is that it doesn't take much to get back on track
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and to get back to this feeling of fluency, but it does require work.
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So, I'll give you another example.
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When I had my first child, my first girl – now she's nine, oh my God,
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that was nine years ago – up until the day I gave birth, I was teaching
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English several hours every day.
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So I was speaking English all day.
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I was speaking more English than I spoke Hebrew.
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And then for three months or two months, I did not speak English at all when
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I was like adjusting to being a mom.
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And then I started taking lessons again, and I truly felt that I had gravel in
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my mouth when I was speaking English.
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So even after two months for someone who has been speaking, you know, hours
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and hours every single day teaching pronunciation, I felt it was a little
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hard for me to get back on track.
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But it only took me a week to lose that feeling and feel, Okay, I got this.
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According to a research published in the Journal of Cognitive Science in 2014,
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loss of fluency can include more pauses, more filler words like, 'um', 'eh',
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'so', 'hmm', and decline of speech rate, and even more correction of mistakes.
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But it also says that it's not permanent, but only temporary because it's harder
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for the brain to retrieve the language.
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So, the language is there, it's just that the brain focuses on other more
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important things that are relevant for your day-to-day communication,
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relevant for your survival.
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So to not lose your fluency, ultimately you do have to speak English almost daily,
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like you would work out daily to stay fit.
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And that is why I always say that if you want to be more fluent, you
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have to build the habit of using it and practicing it every day.
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So the good news is that even if you feel like you've lost your fluency and
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a few years ago you were a lot more fluent, it's not too late and it's not
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gonna take you a lot to get back on track and to get back into fluency.
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But you do need to take action.
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Now, if you want more advice on how to improve your fluency, I have
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selected a bunch of videos for you and I put them in the description
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on how to improve your fluency, and the best strategies to improve.
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And let me tell you this, it's not just about speaking even
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though it's a big part of it.
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It's also about how you manage your mind and how you manage making mistakes, and
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how you manage negative thoughts about your loss of fluency while speaking.
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All of that is a crucial part of your personal development inside of English.
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Now I want to hear your story.
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Have you ever felt like you're losing your fluency?
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If so, what was the thing that has led to that and what have you done to change it?
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Let us know in the comments below and let's start a conversation.
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Thank you so much for being here.
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If you want more information about how you can learn from me, I have a ton
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of content, free content and freebies on my website at hadarshemesh.com.
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And I publish content daily on different content platforms: TikTok,
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Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
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So come follow me there.
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Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day, and I'll see you
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next week in the next video.
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Bye.
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