Meaning of HARDER THAN IT LOOKS and HARDER THAN IT SEEMS - A Short English Lesson with Subtitles

So have you ever watched someone do something

and thought, that looks pretty easy,

I think I could do it and then when you try to do it

you realize that it is harder than it looks?

In English when we say that something is harder

than it looks, it means that it looks easy,

but then when you try it yourself,

it's actually a lot harder.

Sometimes we say this about things like playing the piano.

Sometimes you'll see someone play a song on the piano

and it will seem relatively simple

and you'll think to yourself, I could play that song

and then when you sit at the piano

you realize that it is harder than it looks

to play that song.

So again, we have this sometimes in teaching.

Sometimes people think that teachers

have a really easy job.

After all, we just stand in front of a classroom

and talk to students all day.

It looks pretty easy, but I'll tell you this much,

it is harder than it looks.

You should give it a try some time and see

how hard it is.

We have another phrase in English that means exactly

the same thing and that's the phrase

that something is harder than it seems

and it we can use the same examples here.

Maybe you see someone play a song on the piano

and you think, I can play that song.

That looks easy.

And when you sit down at the piano

it is harder than it seems.

And we can say the same thing about teaching.

I don't mean to make it sound like teachers

work really hard, but I would say that

if you watch a teacher who is really good at their job,

they make it look easy,

but it is harder than it seems.

So again, if something is harder than it looks,

or if something is harder than it seems,

it just means that it's a lot more difficult to do

than what it looks like when you watch someone do it.

Anyways, Bob the Canadian here

and you're learning English with me here on YouTube

and Facebook and Instagram.

There's a little glimpse of Oscar for you for today.

Anyways, have a good day, I'll see you tomorrow.