Why You Can’t Say The English You Know

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moment and then we should be able to get started  let's see how we're doing all right we'll give  

YouTube a minute let me erase this and I think  we're live all right I am Drew Badger the founder  

of englishanyone.com and the English fluency guide  welcome to another live video here on YouTube this  

is a continuation of the previous video uh I  wanted to try doing something different so that  

one is just a uh a very focused lesson my uh just  fluent and 15 minutes uh series of videos uh that  

I'm trying now uh and seeing if they're helpful  for people uh because that kind of learning  

has certainly been helpful for me uh it is the  focused uh review of things and you review things  

in different ways and it becomes even better  if you get more voices and you can hear more  

examples and and rather than uh just reviewing  things and repeating them again and again so  

when I often uh speak with people or they tell  me that they have trouble understanding people  

or the specific topic of this video which is  how can they know so much and yet struggle to  

speak the answer is typically they don't know  the language as well as they think they do  

and so we're going to be talking about that in  this video uh how to solve that problem what's  

actually going on uh and why people struggle  with that uh but even people who have private  

or personal teachers they will still struggle  with things because it's just one speaker and  

usually a slower and clearer teacher rather than  all of the real variety that you get with the real  

world all right uh so if you have any questions or  comments uh I will try to keep my eye on those if  

people have anything uh pertinent or if they have  any specific questions but nice to see everybody  

there thank you for joining me uh in the previous  video as well so that in that video we're talking  

about uh a story called The Mitten uh so we  reviewed this one over here so I recommend  

you go back and watch that one or that video after  this one uh but it gives an example of naturally  

varied review uh so let's see I want to have uh so  let me just get right into it today uh we're going  

to talk about how you can know some information  or how you can know so much English but not be  

able to say a lot of that uh and I wanted to begin  with just a quick example from driving so if you  

imagine uh we're in a car together over here uh  I am I guess I'll make this the uh like American  

American style of driving over here so I am on the  actually now I'll do I'll be on the uh the right  

side since I'm in Japan I don't want to confuse  myself uh so in Japan we drive on the right and  

the passenger is sitting on the left of here so  we'll just put the uh the wheel on this side uh  

and imagine we have one person you're looking  at the back of their head like this and then  

maybe you are a passenger over here so you're  looking out uh you can see the road in front  

of you there are the lines in the road as you're  watching and if you think about uh understanding  

languages versus speaking we'll put speaking over  here and then we'll have listening over here so  

these are actually two different skills and I  think this is a really simple way for people to  

understand why and often people will ask me well  why can I understand so much well it's actually a  

different skill and so you can see it this way  when you're just sitting and watching someone  

else Drive even if you have uh like a you could  have someone drive you somewhere a hundred times  

like my let's say my children were taking them to  school or something like that uh or even if you've  

been in the car with someone else and you see them  taking this same route so root so root is the way  

you're going the car route so if I'm driving in  a particular direction and you can see that you  

can easily maybe follow what's going on but there  are so many things you're not thinking about and  

the driver is actually the one who's being active  and they're thinking about things and maybe they  

have to move out of the way or they have to go  in a different direction if if the the situation  

changes and so it's actually actually a lot like  real communication when you're just listening or  

watching to movies there's actually far less doubt  because you might understand the general idea of  

something maybe I can be explaining something  and you don't uh understand uh exactly what's  

happening there uh but like you don't understand  every specific word but uh we can understand like  

the general idea and and so in that case there's  a lot less doubt because maybe it doesn't matter  

if you understand something completely or not  but when you're speaking there's a lot more  

room for doubt and there's a lot more worry that  happens because you really want to make sure every  

individual thing you're saying is correct so if  right now you can follow what I'm saying this is  

like being in the car listening to me speaking uh  because I'm doing all all the work it's a passive  

process for you even if you call it maybe active  listening where you go back and try to pay more  

attention or focus on particular things it's still  a lot less worry for you as the listener unless  

you have to respond to what I'm saying and so in  that case that's where we really start worrying or  

thinking oh no did I understand exactly what some  explanation is or something like that especially  

if you need to understand something for work  so maybe some kind of professional situation  

uh where there is still some kind of uh  specific example or specific information  

you need to hear so this is the main difference  there's uh again like I could be explaining a  

whole thing over here and and you maybe you you  don't understand every word so there are maybe  

like a few a few words or some things maybe you  understand a lot of it but you don't understand  

everything 100% but you get the general idea so  I say hey tomorrow we're going to the store and  

we need to buy some things for a trip and you get  the general idea even if you can't say that like I  

did okay so listening and speaking two different  skills all right so that's the basic idea so how  

do we correct this problem and how do we make sure  that we we balance this out so most people uh even  

myself my listening ability for Japanese is going  to be higher than my speaking ability so even if  

I can speak very well there will always be more  things I can understand so the the point is uh  

to continue increasing both of these at the same  time so you're listening will naturally improve uh  

as you get more examples but you have to be more  strategic you have to be more thoughtful about how  

we improve the speaking especially if you don't  have people to practice with but let me know if  

this idea makes sense I really want this to be  clear for people uh but again the basic idea is if  

you're driving if you're in the car with somebody  and you're watching them do the driving or you're  

watching you know the road or something like  that there's a lot less to think about and you  

you can deal with more doubt so if you experience  more doubt it's okay but when you're speaking you  

really want to have no doubt at all so if you want  you know someone imagine you know flying a plane  

or driving a car or a bus or something like that  you want that driver to be 100% confident not 50%  

confident or 80% confident you want to know you  get on an airplane like that pilot is going to  

be very qualified very confident like feeling very  strong about what they're going to do all right so  

when we're in a conversation we worry about making  mistakes with individual words or grammar points  

or things like that but that's the reason there  so you have a lot more room for doubt and a lot  

more to worry about when you speak but when you're  listening you don't have to think about it so much  

all right so we're going to talk in this video  about how to solve that problem and typically  

why this we we we understand here why why it  happens uh naturally uh but I really want to make  

it clear why exactly like kind of the way people  learn that causes this so we're going to look at  

three different ways that people learn typically  uh and then we're going to show you like what  

are the best things to do if you want to build a  vocabulary that you can remember uh and also one  

that you can use fluently so let me go back and  check chat very quickly uh today is a little bit  

different because I finished another video right  before this one so hopefully those people can come  

join us uh in this video as well that one I just  wanted to do a quick 15minute video one that was  

just focusing uh on on that particular story so  again if you have not seen that video go back  

and watch the previous one uh the fluent in 15 uh  about the vocabulary building machine all right  

uh so H Ray says good morning again and PR Marcelo  says good night so here you would say good evening  

unless you going to sleep right now so right  before bed before you go to sleep that's when we  

say good night but if it's just night time in the  evening maybe dinner time or after that you would  

say good evening so that's the difference between  these two situations good evening versus good  

night Jose says hello teacher Olympia nice to see  you there my dear teacher always excited Joseph  

says good morning from Dar giling Gloria nice to  see you there exess says hi folks uh sa says hello  

everybody from Indonesia Annette says it is uh  is it my age or un or not understanding something  

today I don't know how old you are Anette uh but  if you have a particular question about something  

I'm not being clear about let me know so if maybe  I'm not explaining something well or I could  

explain it better or give you a different example  that's what I'm here to do so let me know sa here  

says why international call center guys speak  fluently after 6 months they start with a script  

because they just repeat themselves and you said  repeating doesn't make you fluent all right uh so  

that's a good question now uh speaking for a very  specific situ sitation probably a lot of that like  

the the call center person might be repeating a  script but all the people they're listening to are  

saying different things and so the person is in  fact not just repeating a script they're actually  

getting real life exam examples and experience  from lots of people so let's say I work at a  

hotel it's the same kind of idea although maybe  it's a little bit slower so each person who comes  

to the front desk to check in maybe they will say  uh yes I'd like to check in today and I will say  

hello welcome to the hotel and uh may I have your  name and your credit card or something like that  

whatever the process is I actually used to work  at a hotel so I know how this works but it might  

be a little bit different for each person uh but  what what's happening here and this is actually  

I I I gave kind of a lesson uh to a woman who was  uh trying to improve her English so she actually  

works I think she well this was a while ago I  don't know if she still works at a hotel uh but  

I basically explained to her uh this is an example  of naturally varied review so the first customer  

comes up so you are uh behind the counter over  here and the and the customer comes up uh and  

they say hello and you have maybe some kind of  script or something so a script like hello welcome  

to McDonald's how may I help you or or may I take  your order so there's a specific thing that people  

are trained to say and they repeat that again and  again but the training is not enough you have to  

be prepared for what the other person says and so  in this example we're we're going to be having a  

pretty limited number of things that we learn and  this is why just like when I covered in this book  

we're only talking about this particular situation  so it's not that repetition is bad it's just that  

number one it's boring and number two it doesn't  really reflect the way life is normally so again  

in a hotel the training will happen where like  this person the staff person at the hotel will  

be trained about what to say they have a script  okay when the person walks in you say this you say  

hello how are you may I have your uh credit card  or your name or something for checkin and they  

will have that conversation about this particular  thing so you will probably not have a situation  

where like the uh they're talking about I don't  know food or I don't know going grocery SHO  

in or I don't know riding bikes or you know  animals or something like that it will be  

a focused conversation that still has some  variability to it all right so as you learn  

there or as you work as a server or something like  that there is a range of usually a limited range  

of things that people might talk about what do you  say when you go to the front desk of a hotel it's  

check in check out maybe asking some questions  about local things things like where is a good  

restaurant or other things like that and usually  that information is prepared and because people  

have seen these things again and again that's  how they improve but notice it's not exactly the  

same it's not really repetition it's naturally  varied review because each customer is going to  

be different even if the staff tries to say the  same thing it's not going to be the same thing  

because the customer the guest or the patient  or whatever that person is they are going to say  

something different you don't know what they're  going to say exactly they're going to maybe say  

some slightly different words now in my guide  to fluency I actually talk about this how uh  

exact same situation I was learning Japanese by  listening to people order food at a cafe so like  

a coffee shop they're ordering drinks or food and  each person you know there's a general situation  

so we're we're not we're not learning about  everything here this is not about science or  

technology or business or something like that  there's a typical specific General range of  

things that we might be talking about but within  this range you're going to have you know people  

will have different voices you know if I go to  Starbucks or some coffee shop there there will  

be 20 30 different things I could order and  I could I could order a coffee and customize  

that coffee so it's not exactly the same but  as you get this varied review so it's not just  

repetition repetition is when you PR practice  reading a speech to yourself but when you have  

to interact with another person usually it's going  to be within a context so this this situation of  

uh checking in at a hotel or ordering food at  a restaurant or something like that that is  

the context and there is always going to be some  variation or variability within that situation  

so someone says hello or good afternoon or hope  hopefully you're having a nice day or something  

like that they might Express themselves a little  bit different so in the case of the call center  

employee a lot of the Improvement they're getting  is coming from the other people they're listening  

to so they're they're recognizing the patterns  they hear even though they may have a particular  

script they're still getting the uh all those  examples all right so yes it's it's a good example  

but I just want to make it clear if you only  repeat things number one it's going to be boring  

and number two it's going to be more difficult  for you to understand things in the real world  

because you're not really prepared for all these  different things okay so it's much better like for  

hotel training rather than just having and this  is a like a role play kind of thing Ro to role

play so you pretend to be someone checking in or  pretend to be someone doing whatever but the real  

world is going to be a little bit different so  if you could watch 20 30 100 people checking into  

a hotel you would get a very good feeling about  how that works all right so this is exactly what  

happened to me when I was uh sitting at a cafe and  paying attention to different people so Japanese  

people ordering food I have a particular context  I know they're not talking about like science or  

you know some other money or random things like  that they're here to order some food so the the  

conversation is going to be around that now you  might have some people maybe the staff knows the  

customer really well and uh they say oh like how  are you or how is your family or something like  

that but in general most people are just going  to come they order their food and then you know  

there's some variation there uh but again it's  very important to understand here repetition is  

not going to prepare you as well as seeing lots of  native examples that's where the naturally varied  

review comes from all right good question though  so Joe says hi Drew I was wondering what's your  

opinion about teachers with certificates such  as TOEFL uh but is still teaching English as a  

second language I think like I don't do that and  I don't recommend people learn with teachers like  

that but it depends on what your goal is for for  trying to improve uh like conversational fluency  

uh it even even like even learning with just one  teacher whether they have a certificate or not  

uh you really need to get many examples of lots of  different natives in a a structured systematic way  

that's going to be the fastest way you learn so  the the kind of lowest level we we'll talk about  

about that in this video actually about these  different levels of learning or the different  

ways of learning vocabulary or grammar or whatever  um but in general uh people who are still teaching  

English as a second language or or helping you  learn that through that language that's the that's  

like the lowest level we'll talk about um so it's  not as good for building fluency but if you need  

to learn something very quickly to pass a test  then that's something you might want to do just  

understand that that might hurt your ability to  speak if it trains you to think and translate in  

your head uh say says sir do you offer any class  for speaking specifically public speaking uh no  

I don't but there are probably people that you  know teach you can find right here on YouTube  

about public speaking Marl says I don't understand  when I started to be a conversation with American  

people but I intended I understand my teacher ah  you don't understand I see so you don't understand  

regular everyday American English speakers but you  understand me I'm guessing uh and so usually what  

happens like we gave the driving example before  I'm speaking very slowly clearly or maybe not  

too slowly but uh much uh much more slowly than I  normally do uh when you know when I'm in a regular  

conversation with people but it depends on the  situation so I was visiting a I'll tell you this  

story in a minute but uh on Monday I went to  do some translation work so I was doing like  

kind of simultaneous translation or like back and  forth translation uh A friend of mine has has a  

barber shop and one of his staff wanted to learn  how to do braids and dreadlocks and things so we  

went and saw another friend that knows how to do  that but that doesn't know a lot of uh Japanese  

so so one one woman doesn't know English really  and the other doesn't know Japanese and so I was  

translating for both of them uh but she was asking  me lots of questions about how to learn English as  

well so she could just kind of learn it directly  uh but we talked about that same thing where  

we're we're really trying to make sure people can  understand things uh within the language itself uh  

and if you get exposed to more natural examples  of things like I gave uh again like watch that  

example go back and watch this video the one right  before this one uh talking about the Mitten uh but  

uh again the naturally varied review is going  to prepare you much better because you you kind  

of hear things from one teacher uh but you don't  you don't know things uh as well or you're not as  

well prepared for um for for how people actually  speak in uh in the real world so you want to get  

both of those things it's good to have a good  teacher plus people who can help you understand  

things AB says uh skills thinking any kind from  there to skills uh ryzen says am I late uh where  

can we put it I don't you mean thinking oh it's  like you mean thinking about things like that's  

if you're talking about different skill well I I'm  I'm only talking about specifically for language  

learning but in general the better you understand  something something the faster you can think about  

it and that's why if you learn through through  translations it's going to slow you down all  

right so Anette says I'm always happy to see you  uh today I'm seeing you for the second time in a  

row and on an unusual day yes I'm trying something  different I thought I would do both of these  

videos on the same day but that way uh I can make  one focused video and then one where I'm talking  

and explaining things a bit more and answering uh  more questions from people so access again nice to  

see it by the way the Mitten video was awesome  can you do more similar videos in the future  

thank you yes if people enjoy uh these fluent and  15minute ones where again we're tightly focusing  

on something and then reviewing it in different  ways so I'm trying to help you understand giving  

you both fluency triggers and naturally varied  review so helping you understand things like a  

native and we'll talk a little bit more about  that uh in this video uh SAR s says uh let's  

see as are we as England uh uh excuse me Indians  are fortunate uh that Englishmen rule over us and  

taught us this beautiful Global language thank  you for strengthening our English in terms of  

communication your videos help yes uh well I'm not  I'm from America not the UK but uh I guess you're  

welcome they they kind of ruled over us too for  a little bit uh but then we we said no we're not  

we're not we're not going to do that anymore uh  Denise says hi professor and Tim says uh shangai  

of China I can't read that but something let's  see maybe about sounds or something yeah I could I  

could read that in Japanese maybe uh but that's in  Chinese uh native speaker very limited VOC native  

speaker very limited vocabulary ah is that is that  what that means or if you're Translating that let  

me know what you mean Tim uh marcelian says hello  uh from Brazil all right Joe says thank you ILO  

nice to see you there long time no see let's learn  some English with you it's my pleasure BBY says uh  

thanks for everyone hello from California uh I  think grammar helps us to build better structure  

sure that our says are sentences well I mean yes  obviously you want to learn grammar but you it's  

it's much better to learn it by understanding from  situations rather than just getting grammar rules  

uh let's see uh from China who can speak Chinese  Mandarin oh okay uh let's see Dan Dan Dany if I  

got that correctly says little igore says Drews  helped a lot to become a better English speaker  

thanks a lot man it's my pleasure just a random  Channel where is a good place for beginners to  

start expanding their English vocabulary uh watch  our beginner series you can start there uh just to  

understand the vocabulary but then I would also  watch uh content for uh for for natives so young  

children just to answer this question for people  in general uh I I really think a lot about like  

organization of the language but you can think uh  for yourself uh just using like using the example  

of the the Mitten book that we read a little bit  ago so you begin with some kind of content and  

the at first it's like a tree uh this is the trunk  you really want to make sure you understand what's  

happening for that content so we've got like the  tree uh and as we understand that now we can start  

getting variation of that thing so when I did uh  a moment ago so before this video I did the the  

the video about the Mitten so the first uh example  is just helping you understand the context or the  

situation for each page and then we're going to  look at vocabulary for that and then we might look  

at different ways people might say that vocabulary  so or you might have a situation like uh like if I  

want to describe this situation here like put the  marker in the cap put the marker in the cap or I  

could say put the cap on the marker all right put  the put the cap on the marker all right so there  

are different ways I could say that then we could  also hear uh different people saying that same  

vocabulary okay so I could hear different  people or I could hear the same person at  

different speeds but you can see how this becomes  like a much wider uh tree as you go out and start  

um start buying excuse me not buying I'm trying  to read the chat at the same time uh as you start  

exploring more and understanding the vocabulary  more deeply so when people typically learn it's  

typically like kind of review like this it's  repetition of the same thing going up in one way  

and so uh this is more like real life and that's  why I teach this way I want to give you different  

examples of how people would normally speak so  you're going to get different speeds different  

voices men and women might pronounce things or  say things differently uh you might have faster  

uh like maybe casual speech or maybe slower more  professional language or something even for adults  

and children there is all of this natural Variety  in the language and if you learn with that then  

you will start speaking with that too you will  understand it better and uh that's what's going  

to help you speak fluently so you will feel very  confident about that information but what most  

people typically do is they get it's it's kind of  like growing a tree but you're not prepared for  

all this other stuff over here okay so naturally  varied review what we're talking about in this  

video and what I gave uh in the example of the uh  the Mitten book uh that's what I'm talking came  

out for that uh let's see Jefferson says hello  teacher how are you I just got home from work well  

welcome Superstar says I can interact with Native  Americans but when watching movies difficult to  

understand dialogu is any suggestion uh for those  either you need a teacher to explain things or  

you need to figure that out for yourself that's  the only really two ways you can uh you can do  

that so that's why what I do for fluent for life I  really want to make it easy most of the time that  

people spend learning is time wasting Ed where  they're trying to find information or understand  

information but if you have someone just do it for  you everything is all ready okay we're going to  

teach you this and help you understand it very  easily we can go very quickly through a lot of  

information and get you fluent much faster because  we're not wasting a lot of time all that time like  

I spent all that time preparing everything uh  but if you're doing it by yourself then you're  

going to have to spend time uh just like me if  I'm reading something in Japanese uh then I have  

to go back and you know get an explanation or  try to look up the word or get a teacher to  

explain something to me so that that wastes a  lot of the time in language learning uh let's  

see here so Tim again says where I hear this one  where I buyy I still don't understand what what it

Tim uh Alejandro and greetings from  Mexico and anyone anyone from China  

are you talking about like let me know if you  have a specific question about the course but  

uh now that we understand this let me talk  about these three different levels uh we've  

already talked about one of them for trying  to understand vocabulary so you remember it  

well and use it fluently that's really the goal  so we want to understand many things we want to  

be prepared for different situations uh and so  the first level of this what people typically do  

uh this is where they are going from uh like  translations we'll just put translations or

definitions and in in this way this is how most  people learn so I I call this learning as a second  

language so learning English as a second language  or ESL uh but the basic idea is we're we're trying  

to get lots of information as quickly as possible  so here is a word in my native language and now  

we're going to get a word in English so if I just  use Japanese as an example I gave this Japanese  

example uh actually to this to this woman I  was I was uh teaching well I wasn't teaching  

but I was translating for her between Japanese  and English um but I said if you learn this  

way uh like let's say we're learning the  word uh English we maybe do it backwards  

so you hear the English word free and so in  Japanese like you actually have at least two  

different things where you could feel uh like  the meaning is quite different so for example  

could say free like like gu like like I could do  whatever I want like having Liberty that kind of  

thing or I could mean free like not costing any  money which is mudo which is a different thing  

so if I'm learning something I begin with a word  in English and then just try to translate it to  

something in a different language it's going to  be more difficult for me to remember and really  

understand so that's why this is the lowest  level of that but the maybe upside is that  

this is appropriate for people who are just trying  to pass a text test very quickly so if you don't  

care about remembering the information or really  understanding it so you can use it fluently just  

do this okay yes Tom knows what's going on so  mudo like having no price or whatever but it's  

different from like G which is freedom to do  something like you you are free to go you know  

get some water or do something yourself rather  than waiting for someone else okay so this is  

what people typically do and this is what causes  uh that problem we can we can draw our little car  

example again over here uh the driver actually  knows things at a higher level and so they're  

able to understand things and respond fluently  while they drive so if a little kid runs in the  

middle of the road then you have to break or  try to go around that kid or do something you  

have to think and react quickly to that situation  but if I'm just if I'm like only learning how to  

drive like I push the accelerator and I go forward  that's the only thing I know how to do I'm going  

to hit that kid or not be prepared or not know  how to deal with that okay so when you're just  

learning with translations and definitions that  can be helpful for understanding General ideas  

in conversations oh I heard someone use the word  free but I don't know if that means I'm able to  

do something or like I can do it freely or free  as in no money okay so uh this is what people  

are normally trying to do and now let me give  you an example of the second thing I recommend  

so I don't re I don't really recommend this  unless you have a test tomorrow and you need  

to practice for something just to memorize a bunch  of words so that you can say those same things on  

a test all right but if you if you want to be uh  fluently speaking uh and we want to try uh doing  

things from number two and so this is the kind of  thing like uh stories where we're making uh real

connections with the vocabulary so let me give  you an example of both of these things with the  

same word I'm going to teach you a little bit of  Japanese okay so I know people I'm often giving  

you English examples obviously uh but I thought  this was uh something that happened recently that  

I thought was a really interesting thing uh  and it was a lesson from my wife's mother so  

my mother-in-law teaching my older daughter arus  something uh so they were talking about uh it was  

just something on uh t V and my uh and the Word  was Matsu uh let's see what was what was the word  

exactly uh matba matsa matsa Zu uh so matsubu is  is this is a Japanese word and I'm just going to  

translate it for you at first so I'm going to  do the first lowest level of this which is not  

very memorable but I want to I want to give  you these levels and help you understand how  

this works so so if I just give you a translation  or a definition this is going to be less valuable  

for you and you will probably forget the word  so matsubu is crutches C Ru I can't write and  

think at the same time c r u t c h e s crutches  so crutches are the things I'll draw a picture of  

it over here uh so we have a person uh usually  they're kind of little wooden things or they  

could be plastic uh that help you walk when you  have maybe trouble with one of your legs so they  

usually typically look like this it's just some  kind of uh thing for your your underarm uh and  

little handle over here and then something that  goes down onto the ground that helps you walk  

so these are crutches so we could have a person  here he's got one end over here who's holding that  

crutch and then holding this crutch over here uh  and this person has maybe one leg is okay but the  

other leg is broken so he has a broken leg maybe  he's got a little cast uh on his foot like that  

and he can't walk very well so he's got crutches  all right he's using some crutches over here all  

right so that's the name of this thing so uh  crutches it's both of these things together and  

so my I don't know why my mother-in-law thought  to highlight this word but I didn't know I didn't  

actually know the word for for crutches in  Japanese uh until she taught my my daughter  

this so I thought it was walking yes so these are  just like walking aids um so let's break this down  

and help you understand it because this is the  example that she used to teach my young teach my  

older daughter so Matsu if I draw a uh different  picture over here I'm going to draw a Matsu and  

see if you can tell me what this is am matu I'm  going to draw uh do my best I should be okay at  

uh being able to draw this it's a gardening thing  I'm going to draw maybe not so great picture of it

but okay any idea what that is all right it's  a kind of tree what kind of tree is it do you  

think what does that look like maybe you've seen  anybody who is a fan of Japanese uh Style design  

or like Japanese Gardens uh she'll know what  this is Tom says what the heck is this this is a

Matsu matu so Matsu is a uh a pine pine

tree and it's a kind of the the general so bonide  bonide means like any kind of tree in a pot but  

Matsu is a particular kind of tree so you could  actually have have a bonsai that's a Matsu uh  

but there this just this is the Japanese name  uh do I remember the Kani for this no no no I  

think maybe I do Matana somebody somebody let me  know if any uh Japanese are are watching this if  

I have written this kanji correctly uh or not  it's it's obviously not very neat kanji but uh  

so Matsu refers to this type of tree the uh a  pine tree with pine needles Okay so we've got  

the first part of this word over here Matsu so a  kind of tree yes all right so Tom's got that all  

right George has that over there Matsu's pine  tree yes all right I'm on the right we're on  

the right page I remember the Kani uh so Matsu  I don't know if this is the same thing also in  

uh in Japanese in Chinese or not if that uh  if that character represents that but uh so  

anyway so we've got Matsu the next word is ba ba  uh so this is actually for like leaf or or haa  

in Japanese so this is referring to a leaf but if  we look closely at a pine needle usually they are  

connected together so there are different kinds  of pine trees I'm going to zoom in like if we look  

at this and like make it look like a much bigger  thing we'll draw it down here you can see that so  

a pine needle usually looks like this we have one  kind of connecting thing and we've got maybe two  

needles that that are sticking off of that so if  we look if we look really closely at this we see  

these different examples a pine Leaf is really  needles uh but it looks like this all right so  

now we've got pine leaves or pine needles and Zu  uh this is the we would change it from TU which  

just means a cane so if we have like a typical  cane like this you know like an old person is  

holding a cane or the cane could look like this  you know some some kind of thing little walking  

thing a cane so that you can walk so we've got  pine tree needle can so it kind of looks like

that and I said oh isn't that interesting  so I learned matsubu at the same time my  

younger daughter did but not because like  I got a translation of it it's because oh  

like I understood the story that helped me get a  connection to that so it like c a n e just like we  

have a candy cane the same kind of idea candy  cane like this so just something you can hold  

on to while you're walking so maybe old people  would hold this and it would help them walk so  

some people if they have trouble walking they use  a cane a cane so we have a Matsu a pine Leaf cane  

or a pine needle cane so it's two of these things  connected together and that's where the Japanese  

comes from isn't that interesting so maybe you  don't care about the vocabulary but hopefully I  

wanted to give you just like uh an example of  something in a different language that maybe  

you don't know uh but this is something that  now you can understand the difference between  

getting a translation versus actually getting  a story or something that really helps you to  

connect with the vocabulary does that make sense  so when you're learning things like if you want  

to learn it quickly then of course yes if I  just say hey tomorrow we're having a test and  

the word to remember is mat mat so if I remember  that okay I can remember that for the test maybe  

I try to think of a way to remember it but if  I really understand the word I'm going to feel  

a lot more confident about it won't I all right  so same idea like we're trying to connect with  

things and really understand them uh and then  the last step over here uh is we've got naturally  

varied review so not only just getting a story  to help us understand something we really want  

to get lots of examples uh to really feel  confident about the vocabulary all right  

because we don't want to just understand it we  want to hear things used in different situations  

I think everybody's getting it everybody  understands uh this is looking a little  

bit messy let me clean up the board uh I just  wonder what this is uh and by in Japanese yeah  

so notor yes so exactly people understanding  what it means by getting a story but really  

what we're talking about is connecting with the  vocabul so not just trying to force it into your  

brain by repeating something again and again  to really understand what people are talking  

about in this point you own that word now you  really feel like wow I understand like o Matsu  

bazu that's like a cool long sounding word  but it just it just means crutches all right

now hopefully people also understand  I think maybe if some of you did

not if we have crutches for something we could  have a crutch you know like I'm maybe just using  

one I'm putting it under my arms and helping  me walk so this is a physical example I'll  

draw another one of these again try to draw this  a little bit a little bit better usually there's  

some kind of hand um hand thing here and then  another part of that that goes down and maybe this  

you know part with a little rubber part on  the bottom so that's a typical crutch so  

one by itself crutch a crutch uh so when we're  talking about this we can extend this idea if  

you don't know what a crutch is now you do uh  and probably you remember the word but we can  

also use it in more figurative ways like I use  maybe something in my life as a crutch to help  

me you know to help me live or like maybe let's  say I'm actually not a very good uh teacher and  

someone else is I have like a special earpiece or  something and people are actually telling me what  

to do or what to say like this earpiece or their  explanation is a crutch for me all right so we  

take a physical thing like this any child could  look at this and maybe they hear the word a few  

times oh this is a crutch but you could describe  anything that's helping someone often you will  

hear people using an example like that like  maybe someone uses uh I don't know like I use  

my wife as a crutch for I don't know times when  I need to use some Japanese that I don't know or  

something like that so anytime I'm getting  help from another thing and sometimes this  

is a negative meaning so you're like oh like  I'm using something else as a crutch without  

trying to do it myself all right so that's the  idea of a crutch is like it's helping you you  

should be walking by yourself maybe you can't  uh but it has more of a negative meaning like  

that when we're talking about it for um you know  in general so if I if I say like like I'm using  

this uh as a crutch or I I like to I don't know  like do something that's maybe not so good for my  

health but I'm I'm using it kind of as a crutch  for something else uh but those are the kinds  

of examples you would get from that I wanted I  just wanted to add that very quickly about the  

word crutch so even if we take something simple  like this usually we can find more interesting  

ways to use it and this is the naturally varied  review so we're getting more examples trying to  

really deepen our understanding of something and  making sure make sure that we really um yeah so  

that's another good example from Miriam don't  make crutches out of your excuses so don't let  

it like help you even when you uh should be doing  something by yourself okay so a crutch but let me  

give you one more example actually maybe I'll  give you two how much time have we got 40 right  

it's already 11:00 clock over here let's see how  we do now I gave a uh baseball example before I  

thought I would give one more in this video uh  it doesn't matter if you care about baseball  

or like baseball or not because the vocabulary  from baseball is used a lot in real life uh and  

so usually when we have a game of uh not going to  draw this very well here in the game of baseball  

you have a pitcher up here and then you have the  bases out here and this is called home plate home

plate so when you're at home plate this area over  here and this area over here these are called the  

Batters boxes so the batter so b a t t e r this  is the person who holds the baseball bat so the  

batter will stand in this box here it's just  a a flat drawing on the ground and then the  

pitcher will throw the ball over here so when it's  your turn to hit we talk about someone stepping

up stepping up to the plate if you've ever heard  this expression before uh we're not talking about  

a plate like a dish plate we're talking about  home plate like this so when a new person steps  

up so they're they're moving forward they're  stepping towards the uh the Batters box over  

here so they're stepping up to the plate so this  is the physical use of that I'm I'm looking at  

the the the home plate from the top but you can  imagine looking at it like this if you're the  

pitcher and I'm trying to hit hit the ball that  you're throwing at me uh so I'm standing in the  

Batters box and I have my bat out here to try to  swing and and hit the ball uh so a person standing  

here they are in the batter's box but as you're  walking up you're going to step up to the plate so  

from stepping up we get uh this phrasal verb here  to step up to the plate or just to step up it just  

means you are going to take responsibility you are  going to be next to do something or maybe even the  

first to do something but from this example  so this is something easily that you can see  

a regular situation someone is physically stepping  up to the plate so they're walking from over here  

where all the players are to up here where it's  just going to be one person against the pitcher  

so the batter against the picture uh and that's  where we have stepping up to the plate but you  

could Step Up in anything in life again the same  idea like we talked about with crutches you could  

step up when you have a responsibility like let's  say uh I'm very young and I have uh a girlfriend  

and she gets pregnant like I could maybe run  away and never see the child again I would be  

not taking responsibility for that child or I  could step up and actually take responsibility  

for that child so to step up it means like you  are going to take responsibility you are going  

to do that it's not just the physical moving  like stepping stepping towards something uh to  

step up you could be taking responsibility so  somebody else might step up or step forward uh  

when they want to take responsibility or they will  become a leader or something like that but that's  

the basic idea all right so what we're doing here  we're trying to understand something a a fluency  

trigger here just helping you understand  something the same way a native would even  

if you don't know much about baseball it's okay  but you understand the situation and then we try  

to get a few different examples at least uh if  you hear even more examples you will feel more  

confident about it but when you're telling  someone hey step up you know show some show  

some courage show some responsibility you maybe  like you were working on a project but now you  

don't you know you feel a little bit nervous  Miriam with another good example to take on a  

challenge so some people might step back back  oh I I don't want to deal with that but other  

people step forward or they step up but it comes  from this kind of idea here so you're stepping up  

now it's going to be this person's turn or this  person's chance to to try to hit the ball or  

become a hero or take responsibility and so from  this idea we get stepping up for anything okay so  

very common very useful phrasal verb to step up  uh and you can just tell even someone hey Step Up  

don't be shy like you know now it's your chance  to be the leader you could do something don't  

be nervous about that accept the challenge step  up and do that thing to step up all right so as  

you see how more things are connected and you're  able to to make these connections and see oh it's  

it's not just like a physical thing for baseball  we could use that for anything you could Step Up  

in business you could Step Up in life you could  Step Up In School uh anytime where you're you're  

going to maybe take responsibility or become  a leader in some way all right let me give  

you one more uh not related to baseball but just  to show you that this is uh something you should  

be uh spending more time on so this third level  of thing is the more time you spend in getting  

enough varied review until you really understand  things and remove any doubt you have about them  

that's what's going to get you fluent so you don't  get fluent uh just by trying to memorize something  

for a test because you don't really understand it  very well and I'll often hear this from learning  

hey I I know some I know a lot of English but I  can't use it very well I say well how well do you  

know it do you know it well enough to translate  it or do you know it well enough to use it in  

different situations like a native speaker so yes  uh it's faster at first if you're just trying to  

memorize 10 words and we want to understand these  as quickly as possible so that I can you know pass  

a test or whatever then yes go ahead and do that  but uh if you actually want to be able to speak  

more confidently then we really want to spend  more time become more familiar and remove any  

doubt we might have about vocabulary uh Mir says  teacher Drew can we have more videos like the one  

about hand uh yeah so uh I will probably make more  of those so this is the fluent in5 but Miriam if  

you did not watch it already I just did another  video where uh we're giving more naturally varied  

review uh using this book so the hand example  was another thing uh where we're talking about  

like a physical thing like look at this here's  a hand and we can talk about it in more detail  

and describe things that maybe people might not  talk about but it's the same idea of taking a  

particular thing like a context or situation and  then focusing on that all right so let me give  

you one last example here we've got I think a few  more minutes uh who knows what this thing is over

here who knows what that is does anybody know  I think maybe somebody might know what this is  

we'll put a little chain on it too what is that  an anchor look at that Tom already Tom is the  

new teacher for the class an anchor let me put  that up here for a n c h o r what do we do with  

an anchor what does an anchor do anyone else  what does an anchor do what does an anchor do  

I'll give you a moment see if anybody can  tell me when we use an anchor yes we got  

uh let's see a couple other examples well Tom you  can do it remember you can focus that's what we

do all right uh I'll be quick about this I  want I know people want me to like do all  

the hard work for you I know I know so an anchor  uh I'll draw a we'll leave this one here but I'll  

draw another example uh so let's say we have a  boat over here if you don't know uh what this is  

already uh we'll have the uh the bottom of the sea  and we've got our uh waves over here so the anchor  

is a little little thing that goes down here  it kind of catches on the bottom that's why it  

has these little hooks it's like a giant uh fish  hook but yes it holds the boat in place so that's  

why we would uh we would not be like just floating  around we drop this heavy anchor on the ground and  

it stops the uh the the boat from moving around so  this is an anchor all right now we could also have  

an anchor where we have an anchor like let's say  I want to put a a picture I want to hang a lovely  

picture on the wall uh and so I take a hammer  or something and I'm going to put this nail in  

the wall up here I could put actually a stronger  thing within the wall that is the anchor for that  

the anchor all right but you get the idea so it  stops the ship from moving it's anything that's  

trying to hold something in place all right so  it's like the strong thing uh we're trying to  

hold something in place how else or where else  might we use this word uh it's kind of like a  

break yes you could you could think about it like  that so the the boat might might float around a  

little bit but it's not really going anywhere if  we have the anchor so anchor away look at that  

we're going drop the anchor to drop drop anchor or  drop the anchor that means we're going to stay in  

one place for a little bit to drop the anchor now  and we have an anchor like this we could also have  

an anchor like my grandfather is the anchor in my  family or the anchor for my family so there might  

be other people have problems but my grandfather  he's always strong he always knows what he's doing  

and people come to him for advice he becomes  the anchor he becomes the anchor for the family  

yes Hope is an anchor for the soul yes you could  think about it like that to Anchor the soul  

another example this is a very common one as well  uh if you go to malls so a like a department store  

in the United States you might have I'm going to  show you from the top you might have like a some  

long buildings and different different stores  like this so each one of these is a different  

a different store and people can walk around and  go to these stores but sometimes uh or actually  

usually you will have an anchor store so this is  the anchor the anchor store so the anchor store  

would be like a really large uh or very popular  or very big store that usually people come to the  

mall for this big thing right here so like years  ago like Sears was an anchor store at uh you know  

like particular malls all right so it's same kind  of thing like the anchor store is the the store  

that holds the rest of that thing uh in place  so to answer Elder's question uh no I don't mean  

physically like that's not where people come from  it's like if you imagine like one person in your  

family uh he's usually in a good mood or she is  in a good mood she's kind of the strong one or the  

the one that you know some problem could happen  but she still feels very good uh this person would  

be the anchor for the family so everyone else  else is you know getting worried about things  

but ah but we still have the anchor over here to  help us and to guide us and to lead us that kind  

of thing okay so the anchor for a family or the  anchor for a a company or something like that you  

could have a group of people and one of them is  the anchor one of them is like the source of the  

confidence and the uh stability in that situation  all right so just like we have an anchor like this  

you can see how we get get different examples that  help us really understand the vocabulary not just  

trying to memorize it or get a definition or a  translation okay is this making sense hopefully  

it is because this is very powerful if you apply  this in your learning whether you're learning  

with me or you're trying to do stuff by yourself  it doesn't matter but the more examples you get  

until you really feel confident about something  uh that's what's going to help you speak without  

a doubt all right you guys excited hopefully  hopefully you are so when we talk about why  

people are unable to speak uh even if they know  a lot of English they probably just don't know  

that very well that's the real problem all right  so it's usually because they've got translations  

or they didn't really spend a lot of time ah see  that's another another good example the backbone  

of something so the backbone it's the supporting  thing the thing that that doesn't move so even  

if the boat moves a little bit the anchor is not  not going anywhere okay so the core of something  

or the uh so in the example of the family it's the  unmoving thing that other things might move around  

so while other people maybe maybe you know getting  people upset or something like that you are okay  

uh in Portuguese the Anora if I'm pronouncing that  correctly but yes so it's the it's the thing that  

like holds everybody together just like the anchor  in the wall that I use to put my screw or my nail  

in that's holding things together that is the  anchor so it's important the reason I'm taking  

time to teach this way is because when you really  understand it you will feel confident about using  

it okay so that's the whole point uh of taking  time like this so at first it seems like wow we're  

taking a lot of time just to focus on one word or  one phrase or something but then you don't forget  

it and we can start connecting that with more  vocabulary and that's how you get fluent even  

faster so at first it seems like this is a slower  way of learning but it's not it actually saves  

you time and your learning accelerates over time  because you can understand more you can get fluent  

faster and you don't forget what you learned it's  not really you know a very smart thing to do if  

you uh if you get like you learn something and  then forget it very quickly Miriam asks does food  

quartz and Whole Foods uh is like the anchor store  food quartz and Whole Food well if they're like if  

you're if you're talking about like Whole Foods  as a as like like the name of the store typically  

Whole Foods would be an anchor store for a mall  it's a larger thing that many people know so  

typically a large thing people know the store and  there might be other stores in here in the same  

mall that people don't know like less famous or  new businesses or something like that so these new  

businesses hope hey like if people come you know  to the anchor store maybe they will come to to  

my store also so that's what the anchor is for so  even though these other stores might change people  

know okay like Whole Foods or whatever is U is  like the the good thing we're coming for so that's  

the anchor So within the store itself I mean maybe  you might have some like anchor kind of things  

yeah gravity is a is a similar idea but uh that's  the idea of an anchor an anchor so something that  

is is holding other things or supporting other  things it's the important big thing the thing  

that doesn't move while other things might move  around it but you don't understand that if you  

just get a translation of something uh the rotor  or anchor is a revolving part inside the electric  

motor well yes if you're like inside a boat you  might have uh the the motor that actually lifts  

the anchor up and down yes you could say anchor  Yourself by my side or like you can you can like  

like be connected to me in some way so if you  look actually on a boat you've got tiny little  

kind of shells these are called Barnacles and a  barnacle anchors itself onto the side of the ship  

in the same way so you have to clean all the  Barnacles off the the other side of Barnacle  

kind of looks like it's like a kind of Me Like  a Rock looking flower thing it's a it's a it's  

an animal a barnacle see Barnacle b a r n i c l e  it's it's either bar bar yeah bar I think with an  

eye Barnacle I think uh someone can check that for  me Barnacle uh but these little things here they  

are anchored onto the side of the ship a barnacle  all right but again as we get the naturally varied  

review we feel more confident that we understand  the word so we feel more confident about using it  

understanding it everything that's where fluency  comes from so right now you're not saying anything  

but you're actually becoming more confident and  fluent by understanding the language better but  

just notice you're doing this one piece at a time  like we can make a a video about one book and and  

hopefully understand the book better and learn  a lot of this vocabulary and use it in other  

ways if we understand it but the point is focused  review about a particular thing all right it will  

actually get you flu much faster all right uh it  looks like we've gotten through this how long did  

we go that was 60 Minutes not bad all right so we  got in two videos today uh if you did not watch  

the previous video about about this so I give  another example of naturally varied review in that  

video that's the 15 minutes uh or fluent excuse  me fluent in 15 so go back and watch that video  

uh but this is the basic idea so the more you  can connect with the vocabulary you're learning  

even if it takes a little bit more time at first  you will feel more confident because you actually  

discovered the meaning of things for yourself and  then you start asking questions like oh I wonder  

if we could do this like does this mean an anchor  to something else yes it does so as you start  

thinking more like a native you start using the  vocabulary more like a native as well Isn't that  

cool all right all right let me go back check any  final comments I think people are maybe speaking  

to each other over here but I think let's see  okay yeah I think everybody everybody's getting  

it though if there are no uh more questions then  look at that we made it to the end Katherine says  

I really admire you well that's very kind I'm  glad you do uh if I've been helpful hopefully  

you're speaking better uh but let's see uh Miriam  says what is the plastic balloon thing around the  

ship when it gets to the pier a plastic balloon  thing ah you're talking about a buoy a buoy and  

I think and I'm going to make uh buoy I think let  me let me make sure I'm spelling that correctly

too it's Bui that's right excuse me

a buoy buoy so this is the thing on the side of  the boat over here it kind of looks like a little  

it could be plastic or it could be a rubber thing  to make sure that the boat doesn't hit into other  

things like that but that's called a booy a buoy  so a buoy you could also think about that in more  

figurative ways as well like we have to maybe  keep some distance or protect myself like I'm  

going to make a kind of mental buoy or something  so I don't deal with other people something like  

like that a buoy a uh dumper bumper I guess you  could use that you could you could use bumper as  

well to stop it from bumping into other things  a buoy but hopefully people get the idea again  

this is easy to do and uh the faster you can  you can get this the faster you can understand  

things the faster you get fluent so if you'd  like my help to do that you can click on the  

link in the description below this video to  learn more about fluent for Life uh Frederick  

as well teaches in the same way you can also learn  about that in the link but whether you learn with  

me or not this is how you really should be doing  things if you want to become a fluent speaker it  

will guaranteed improve your English because it's  just helping you understand the language more like  

a native and when you eliminate any doubt you  have you will feel much more confident about  

speaking you don't need to spend a lot of time  speaking with people but you do need to spend  

more time getting more information that really  eliminates any doubt you have it's really the  

doubt that stops you from speaking all right  uh ill says often use old tires yeah yes and  

that would be tire t i r e a tire all right uh  hopefully everyone has enjoyed this if you have  

do click the like video and please share this with  anyone else who might be interested in learning uh  

this way who wants to actually speak fluently  and then I will see you in the next video it  

should be uh whenever that is I guess next week  have a fantastic day and I'll see you then byebye