Fluency Triggers Speech: Learn English As A First Language To Speak Fluently

a moment let me know where you're from as usual  if you have any questions uh as I go through this  

I'll have my kind of lesson portion of this  at the beginning of the video and then answer  

questions after that uh but let's check YouTube  and it should be firing up any minute [Music] now  

there's always a delay I think it's like  live for some people but it takes a moment  

over here and now we're okay I think we're  live all right I am Drew Badger the founder  

of englishanyone.com and the English fluency  guide and today uh I'm going to be sharing some  

something that's actually probably going to be  very surprising for many people if you've been  

following my channel for a while you might know  this already but this is especially for new people  

uh I'd like to share a story and then really  go into some detail about how fluency actually  

happen happens how you become a good speaker um  and this should hopefully make some sense for  

people who have been struggling for a long time  maybe they know a lot of English or they know  

a lot of grammar rules they kind of understand  them logically but they have trouble using them  

correctly and automatically in conversations  so we're going to talk about that in this

video all right I'm excited about this one uh  I wanted to start start today with a story so  

this is something that happened uh with my family  this was a few days ago and I was at home I woke  

up and I was asking my wife if she made me some  eggs because often she makes some eggs for our  

daughters you know they're getting up and going  to school and she makes some breakfast for them  

I usually just make my own breakfast but she  will often have some eggs uh and I asked did  

you make any eggs for me uh and she says I'm  sorry make sure you can see that I'm [Music]

sorry I'm sorry I slept over I'm sorry I slept  over and uh when I heard that at first I thought  

oh okay I understand what she's trying  to say uh she meant to say I'm sorry I

[Music] I'm sorry I overslept I'm sorry I  overslept and what I want to talk about in  

this video is how this happens how people make  mistakes like this now first I want to say my  

wife's English is actually really good uh and  I would say like her Japanese is or obviously  

her Japanese is amazing because she's Japanese  but her English is it's probably I would say she  

like she knows more English than I know Japanese  so her her English is really quite good uh but  

she will still make mistakes like this based on  how she learned and uh before I get into that I  

want to just finish this story but basically this  is what I explained to her so I'm sorry I slept  

over I'm I slept over so she's using the correct  words but she's not putting them together in the  

right way uh and so here this slept over this  means to sleep over sleep over sleep over means  

to stay at somebody else's house uh and so you  can see how this would be funny to me uh you know  

in the morning she was like oh I'm sorry I slept  over meaning I'm sorry I stayed at someone else's  

house which I would be maybe well probably pretty  sad about if that had happened uh but so she said  

I'm sorry I slept over she meant to say I'm sorry  I overslept I'm sorry I overslept so to sleep over  

this idea of over it's really talking about  distance so uh like in a regular everyday  

casual way you might say here and there and over  there so here there over there so something over  

there is further away that's why we talk about  sleeping over at someone else's place and often  

so this is two words here to sleep over at  someone else's house and we might have one  

word where a lot of uh this is kind of a  typical American thing well kids will have

sleepovers so a sleepover this is one word  a sleepover or sleepovers this is when you  

stay at someone else's house like kids will stay  at their friend's house or you have a birthday  

party that is a sleepover where people will  stay all the friends will come over and they  

just sleep at their friend's house so this is a  sleepover or sleepover party now overslept this  

is a different thing over sleep to oversleep  now it's easy to see how you could get these  

things confused because it's basically the same  word but the thought process thinking about these  

things uh really shows the difference between  someone who understands the language well and  

someone who has kind of learned it as a second  language and they maybe memorize some words but  

they don't really understand what they're saying  and so in this case like this is an easy thing to  

confuse for a non-native speaker so I slept over  or I overslept now when you overdo something to

overdo to overdo something means to do it too much  so I could overthink something for example over

think I'm sure you can think of some others maybe  I uh overate so so you could overeat as well

so anytime you're really doing something you're  you're being like overactive or overthinking  

overdoing something overeating something or  you could even drink too much like over drink  

overdo it uh all of these examples are doing  something too much so you've got like you're  

doing something but then you do it too much  you're overdoing that so if I were to show this

visually so I might like here's maybe zero and I  eat I eat up to like this level let's say I don't  

know this is like 10 or something so I eat this  amount of food but if I E I eat too much oh now  

my my stomach is uh not feeling very good over  here so I went over this amount so I went past  

or I went beyond that but we talk about this as  overdoing something and so when you understand it  

like that you think oh now I I actually understand  what this means and so now like when you when you  

hear the word you should be as I'm explaining  this having these little uh aha moments what I  

call an aha so this is like a flash of insight  it's like oh I I I I finally understand what  

something means so an aha moment so as you  experience aha Moments by understanding the  

language as a first language that's how you start  speaking because you actually feel confident that  

you understand something okay so hopefully that  idea makes sense so I explained this to my wife  

and I said it's okay okay if you over sleep  but please don't sleep over at anyone's house  

okay so I'm I'm making a little joke with my wife  using that uh but now she gets the idea all right  

so the point is not just to to learn the words  to a low degree but to actually understand the  

vocabulary really well so you feel confident using  it all right so this is an example just wanted to  

start this uh with a very quick story about that  I want to go into more detail to compare these two  

different different ways of learning especially  for new people because we always get new people  

asking us questions and I like having these  videos where we can send people there hey just  

watch this video and it will explain everything  you need to know about why you're struggling and  

what you should do instead if you want to become  a fluent speaker all right so again just to give  

a quick recap of this story for anybody joining  us late so my wife woke up and I said oh did you  

make any eggs for me this morning she said no  I slept over so sleeping over means to sleep a  

distance away like you're staying over at someone  else's house when she should have said oh I over  

slept just like I overdo something or I overdid  something or I overthink something like you're  

thinking about something too much I'm overthinking  something people might often hear this like you  

know don't don't think about something too much  don't overthink it don't overdo it don't do it too  

much so that's a different thing we're taking the  same words but we're using them in a different way  

and when you really understand them like a native  as I've explained them here that's what it means  

to understand something as a first language the  same way a native does and how you learn is how  

you speak so if you feel very confident that  you understand something that's really where  

the speaking comes from so you you don't become  fluent by by taking like a word like over and  

just repeating it again and again because that  doesn't help you understand the vocabulary better  

okay I can just repeat this word over over over  but people typically when they think about over  

they have this idea of here's a here's a box  and the ball is over the Box okay so here uh  

maybe the ball is on the box but over there's  usually some kind of space or distance between  

here but we can also think about this horizontally  like something is here and then some other thing  

is over here there's some other distance between  those things okay I'll go back and check chat and  

I want to go into this idea in detail and really  compare these two different ways of learning uh  

because it all begins with a belief that people  have and if you change this belief it will change  

the actions you take to get fluent and those will  change the results you get to become a confidence  

speaker all right let me check chat uh if people  have any questions just uh go ahead and post them  

I will do my best to answer them as usual uh Al if  I'm pronouncing that correctly hello from Gambia  

look at that Gambia representing uh good morning  I'm Frank from Taiwan and now trying alive in  

Canada well welcome to the program hope you're  hopefully you are enjoying Canada deem says uh  

or de hemus if I'm pronouncing that correctly let  me know if I'm mispronouncing your name I'd like  

to say it correctly uh a hug from Brazil the toy  again I think I remember you from before if this  

is the same toy from before hello Drew greetings  from again from Brazil Artur is here George is  

there Eduardo a lot of people from Brazil there hi  to uh fall asleep so fall asleep is a little bit  

different uh this is that same idea of like you're  awake moving from being awake to oh now I'm kind  

of falling you can imagine yourself lying down  like that in bed and actually falling asleep so  

you move from waking mode into sleep mode the same  way a computer would Mohammad says when I talk  

with my mother tongue the sentences automatically  generate on both my mind and tongue so the  

question is how can I do the same with the English  language that's a great question and we will be  

answering that in this video uh so Nicholas  says hi what's new well what is new what's  

new over here uh it's really hot here in Japan all  right Ela says I didn't understand sleepover well  

hopefully you understand it now let me know if you  do not my job here is really to make the language  

understandable so you feel confident and you start  speaking fluently all right let's see Kathy says  

hi so glad to learn English with you or your you  wrote here but you would say you welcome uh analia  

says hello from Argentina uh okay Muhammad again  answer that question already nazera nazer nazer  

excuse me hello and jelly says good morning all  right so let's take a look at these two different  

ways of learning and explain why this happen so  how this uh particular example happened and again  

I will say my wife's uh English is very good and  uh I will notice times when she is speaking when  

I notice she feels very confident about something  and other times when she does not and usually the  

times where she feels confident is because she  understood something as a first language or when  

she doesn't feel so confident she tried to learn  it as a second language like the way most people  

learn languages in school so let's compare these  I think maybe there was one Hassam says hello  

from Morocco painter says what's the difference I  made it very deep and the depth is over I I made  

it very deep and the depth is over I don't I don't  quite understand like in what in what context are  

you talking about because it would be like deep  deep is deep and depth could be used in the same  

uh situation uh but we can also talk about those  in like figurative Expressions as well like if I'm  

in trouble you can say I'm in deep trouble like  something is uh often we we get that idea from  

water like we feel like we're we're in deep uh  below some water so we can think about that idea  

and apply that to uh feeling like we're trapped or  we're in some kind of trouble uh let's see J says  

how often do you take English lessons well we're  just doing these lives just to answer questions  

from people uh and uh if you want to learn more  about actual classes you can click on the links  

in the description below this video flabia says  you're an amazing teacher thank you for uh sharing  

you would say thank you for sharing your lessons  it's my pleasure all right so I want to make this  

idea very simple for people again we always have  new people joining us uh and I want them to really  

understand why they struggle to speak especially  after they've been maybe uh learning English for  

many years so this happened to me uh of course  trying to learn different languages so French  

Spanish uh what else Spanish French Latin uh and  Japanese and I struggled and failed to learn all  

of those things because I was learning all  those things uh as a second language so I'm  

just going to put uh we're talking about English  here so I'll put ESL and contrast that uh with e  

FL over here which is learning English as a  first language but this idea applies to any  

language you're learning so I could be learning  Japanese as a first language learning Spanish  

as a first language Etc the basic idea uh of  this second language thing is your learning  

through translations but it's also how you  learn the language so I'm trying to study  

rules or memorize vocabulary rather than getting  lots of good native context ual examples so I see  

real natives speaking in real ways and in real  situations which really helps me understand the  

language well so the most fundamental part of this  is the belief that people have uh so we're going  

to cut this off here so the first part about the  difference here between uh an ESL learner and efl  

learner uh is the belief that people have and  that belief is uh that speech triggers fluency

so if you're learning English as a second language  the advice that most people get is you need to  

speak as much as possible because speaking is  what gets you fluent okay and so if you believe  

this then what are you going to do so next so  these are we'll just put a make sure I can fit  

this in here we'll just put a b here uh for belief  and we'll put an a here for actions so the kinds  

of things you would do if you believe this then  what what kinds of things are you going to do  

well you're probably going to believe that I need  to speak a lot so you would try to speak a lot so  

we try to speak maybe uh talking with friends or  people online or however you can speak uh and if  

you're unable to speak with people then you're  going to think I'm not able to get fluent so  

often when people uh who are learning English  as a second language they're trying to learn  

more uh and they never feel like they really  know enough so they might have a really large  

vocabulary actually but they still never feel  very fluent um so again they're the the basic  

way that people are learning a language is they  will try to learn something and then try to say  

that thing as much as possible okay because again  the belief here is the speech creates fluency or  

speech triggers fluently fluency or or speech  causes fluency but this speech is the main the  

main driver of that the main thing that's going  to make you fluent so if you can't speak speak  

uh or you're trying to learn as much as possible  uh you're you're always continuing to learn and  

you're typically trying to study more uh and maybe  you think you need to live we'll just put live uh

live so live in an englishspeaking country uh so  speak learn live uh and these are the kinds of  

things you would expect so if you don't get  to speak a lot or you don't really learn so  

much or you you have trouble maybe you think you  just don't know enough or you don't live in an  

English-speaking country then you are probably  not going to get fluent okay again it comes from  

the belief so the belief we we start with the  belief about how fluency happens or how fluency  

develops and then we we take that belief and  then we start you know people have beliefs and  

then they apply that belief with some kind of  action okay so what happens uh we'll just put  

an R here for the result of this now the result  of this is really interesting and typically this  

is like people uh they will start learning uh and  they will try to speak but they don't really feel  

very confident uh so they get frustrated uh  and now they're they're they're feeling like  

they don't understand something very well they're  feeling very nervous but they still try to speak  

and they're basically stuck in in this this Loop  here so it's a what we might call a vicious py  

or just a loop where you stay in the same place  for years you keep learning more you try to speak  

you don't really feel very confident but okay  maybe I need to learn more or I don't speak enough  

or I'm trying to I need to live in an english-  speaking country or I'm not uh young enough  

whatever the the reason is you're staying in this  Loop basically all right so this just I'm trying  

to make this very simple for people but it begins  with the belief that people have and typically  

this is because of how people just learn in school  so your teacher will tell you okay I'm going to  

teach you some things here are some translations  of the language and now I want you to go and  

study that it's really on you as the student to  get fluent so the teacher will tell you things  

that's what they call teaching and then it's on  you to become fluent in the language all right  

hopefully this makes sense now it should become  a bit more clear uh as I explained the uh the efl  

method but the efl method is actually the opposite  belief which is really interesting so when I was  

first uh learning and this was maybe 15 years I  believed this excuse me as well so that speech  

uh triggers fluency or speech develops fluency  or speech uh is is the thing that's triggering  

your ability to communicate uh but with efl the  actual thing that's happening is we've got fluency  

develop [Music] speech so you actually become  fluent first as you understand the language better  

and that's what gives you the ability to speak  okay so this is really the most important idea  

if you can just change this one way of thinking  then it will also change the actions you take  

and it will change the results you get that help  you communicate fluently so let's talk about the  

actions that we have here so here you're really  just trying to get as much input as possible with  

the goal of D drawing doubt all right so that's  really the the goal of this like when we talk  

about fluency fluency really means you understand  the language well enough to use it without  

worrying about grammar rules or translations or  or you're worrying about making pronunciation  

mistakes or anything like that so you're worrying  about uh input you want to get as much input until  

you can understand something where you have  no doubt about that thing so we we want input

so doubt destruction d e wait d e s t r u c  excuse me t i o so doubt destruction and we  

really want to understand something well enough  to use it fluently all right so in the case of my  

wife that example I gave before about sleepover  and oversleep when a non-native speaker uh or  

someone who is just learning English as a second  language typically they will think about that as  

okay I'm trying to learn these words I know  what sleep means I know what over means and  

oh I just I don't remember what order they go in  so that's a problem you get from learning this  

way it's confusing rules where you're trying to  study rules and memorize vocabulary but when you  

actually understand something like a native you  really feel confident this is learning English  

as a first language again over here you're trying  to learn as as much as you can to eliminate the  

doubts that stop you from speaking okay so the  thing that like when people think that speech  

triggers fluency over here they try to speak but  they don't really know what they're saying they  

don't really feel very confident about it they're  still feeling kind of nervous so of course they're  

going to be stuck in this cycle over here but with  this way uh even if you don't speak you're really  

just getting lots of examples just like I gave  at the beginning of this video the the difference  

between uh understanding sleep over and over sleep  and when you when you when you just learn both of  

those through a translation it's going to stop you  from understanding them very well you won't feel  

very confident you might think oh no I'm in the  conversation is it sleepover or over sleep I don't  

remember which one it is and you just try saying  one and maybe you will be correct maybe you are  

not but the people who really know what they're  talking about they understand the language very  

well because they don't have any doubt about  what they're saying and so the beautiful thing  

about this process is this one over here you think  you have to speak and so you spend a lot of time  

trying to speak or worrying about are you getting  enough speaking practice but over here you're not  

worrying about speaking at all I haven't said  anything about trying to speak all we're trying  

to do is get lots of examples until we really  feel confident and comfortable about something  

then we speak okay so this this part here all  the actions we're doing is actually developing  

fluency meaning we're understanding the language  very well before we say anything okay so that's  

why fluency actually develops speech and you can  learn comfortably as you just get lots of good  

examples uh and you don't have to say anything So  at the beginning of this video again I gave you a  

very simple example a story with a few examples  about the difference between sleep over and over  

sleep and because you got that example you should  feel more confident now about saying sleep over  

like I'm staying over at someone's house or I'm  oversleeping where I should get up at 7:00 but  

I got up at 8:00 instead so I slept too long I  overslept I'll add one more thing right here uh  

which is another common thing people say uh in a  similar situation that is to sleep in so to sleep  

in is like you're intentionally staying in bed  you're sleeping in like you're sleeping longer  

because you don't want to wake up okay so maybe  on a weekend you don't have work or you don't  

have anything to do usually you get up early  like 7:00 or 5:00 whatever time you get up but  

maybe one or two days a week you like to sleep  in so you're actually staying in bed for longer  

you're sleeping in okay so in this case sleeping  in is something you want to do but when you over  

sleep it's typically something you don't want to  do all right just like you don't want to overthink  

or overdo something or overeat you're doing those  things too much or more than you should Okay so  

hopefully uh this makes sense where we're we're  talking about uh and again just the belief that  

people have about this if you remember just one  thing from all of the videos I have or all the  

lessons just remember this one idea here it will  change everything about how you learn and how  

you speak and instead of having this cycle where  you keep learning more you keep trying to speak  

but you never really feel more fluent instead we  actually have a process like a kind of staircase  

here where you really feel you're making progress  so we're not trying to stay in this cycle over  

here where we're oh no I I still feel nervous I  know I have to speak but I'm too nervous I don't  

want to speak but I have to force myself to speak  instead of staying in this if you change the way  

you think it changes the way you act and that will  change the results you get with your learning okay  

so here like today we're just covering one thing  like sleeping over versus oversleeping and even  

just these two different things we're also getting  more examples like oversleep or to overdo or to  

overthink or to overplay or to any anything like  that and you start thinking oh like I understand  

something as a first language without thinking  through my native language you're not using any  

translations and so you actually feel yourself  making progress because you understood something  

better and because you understood something better  now you start speaking so the result here becomes  

speech all right here we're trying to speak as  like the action that makes us get fluent but even  

in a conversation you don't become more fluent  by speaking by using the vocabulary you know  

you actually become more fluent as you listen to  other people talking to you in that conversation  

and especially if that person is a better speaker  or they use vocabulary that you're not familiar  

with but you you actually learn something new  it's the learning process those aha moments are  

what raise you up to the next level with your  learning okay so they actually make you more  

fluent and you can feel them happening when  it's happening over here you really just have

hope okay but here we have proof because we  can actually feel ourselves improving while  

it's happening each time you understand something  better when you get that aha moment you feel like  

oh so that's what that means all right so now you  actually understand it but you understand it as  

a first language just like a native speaker does  so you're actually learning the same way a native  

does and that's what it means to learn English  as a first language you're not using another  

language you're understanding the language all  in English rather than again trying to use some  

kind of translation or me explaining some some  rules or something like that I'm just giving you  

a very simple story that helps you understand  the language like a native okay does this make  

sense uh hopefully does because when I understood  this this is when I finally started getting fluent  

in Japanese after I had failed for 15 years  to learn four different languages so I spent  

a year living in Japan and still not being able  to speak because I believed this I would try to  

say something but really I was not feeling very  comfortable speaking because I didn't I didn't  

think I was saying things correctly I think uh  my pronunciation is bad or I'm not using the  

right word or maybe the grammar is incorrect or I  could remember something when I'm reading it in a  

textbook but when it came to the conversation  I would forget what I was learning okay and so  

again uh because I believe that I would try  to speak and I would just I would be hoping  

all the time that I became a better speaker  but I never felt like I was really improving  

but here you actually feel your improvement so  the story I told you earlier if that helped you  

improved that's the that's the actual proof  you have that you understand something better  

okay hopefully that does that make sense let me  know click click the like button or or just post  

a comment let me know if what I'm explaining is  is making sense I really want to make sure people  

understand this idea I talk about like ESL versus  uh efl or learning English as a first language a  

lot but I wanted to just compare uh these three  pieces of it so you've got the belief the actions  

that you take because of that belief and these  are the results you get so if you are in this  

situation down here it's because you're trying  to do these things because you believe this but  

if you actually feel progress It's because you're  you're you're uh destroying the doubt that stops  

you from speaking and you destroy that doubt for  individual words and phrases maybe you understand  

sleep over and over sleep better now but there  are probably lots of other words you still don't  

know and that's fine so we actually get fluent in  individual words and phrases as we understand them  

better so what happened for me like I discovered  this when I was uh at a park uh not not far from  

where I'm recording this right now uh so here  in Japan and I was thinking about why I was  

struggling to speak but when I went to a park  and saw some kids uh talking with their parents  

it finally made sense to me the children are not  being forced to speak they're actually getting  

lots of input and that input is destroying the  doubts that kids have about using things so when  

you hear from your mother and your father and  your friends and your teachers and television  

and books all these different things are teaching  you the language so fluency is it's like something  

that other people outside are doing to you okay so  over here you think that you learn something and  

then it's like fluency is something you have to do  where you have to try to practice it and of course  

it is possible to try to get fluent by yourself  but it's just more difficult because really what  

you're doing is trying to get more input and  destroy the doubt that stops you from speaking  

okay but once you understand uh how that works  uh hopefully that should makes sense all right  

so I I say like makes sense all the time but uh  I really want this idea to be understandable but  

if you if you remember only one thing from  this video remember this or you remember  

only one thing I teach you just apply this idea  really think about that for a moment uh because  

it sounds uh it sounds uh backwards obviously I  mean it's the exact opposite idea here it sounds  

stupid or silly it's like of course you you have  to speak to become fluent but remember even in  

a conversation when you're speaking with someone  else if I just repeat things so it doesn't matter  

if I'm speaking with someone or I'm speaking to  myself talking in my mind whatever if I'm just  

repeating things to myself I'm not improving more  because I'm not understanding the language better  

I'm just saying something I already know but when  I actually learn something new or understand some  

vocabulary more deeply I get that aha moment that  moment of understanding where I think oh I now  

I'm I'm really understanding why people say this  okay so when people don't know a word before and  

then they hear a good example of it that really  makes it clear for them they actually feel that  

Improvement and they move to the next level okay  so when you're in a conversation again when when  

when I ask people what is it about a conversation  that you think you need why do you need to speak  

with people uh and and often I don't get a clear  answer from people but what's really happening  

in a conversation is you are saying things you  know already or that you feel pretty confident  

about but most of the Improvement will come from  the other person if they are a better speaker  

than you now if you're speaking with someone  who is a worse speaker or they don't really  

know the language very well and they just don't  communicate very much then you are not going to  

make much improvement for that conversation so you  don't actually have to speak in order to get that  

Improvement as long as you keep getting the input  to destroy the doubt all right now I talk on this  

channel about like understandable messages or  comprehensible input but really the goal is to  

get the input to get enough examples of something  until you destroy the doubt that's the the doubt  

here is that that's what really stops people from  speaking so they know something a little bit but  

they just they they still oh no is like there's  like a little voice in the back of their head that  

says am I using this correctly am I saying this  is a pronunciation correct there's always some  

kind of doubt there but once you destroy that  doubt then you feel confident okay so hopefully  

you understand now fluency is something you  can develop before you speak and then you  

feel confident expressing yourself okay all right  uh let me go back and check chat if people have  

questions about uh this or anything else I'm happy  to answer those uh where did I leave off before uh  

I think oh let me let me just come back  to uh Muhammad's question right quick I  

want to reiterate this to say this one again so  when I talk with my mother tongue the sentences  

automatically generate on both my mind and tongue  so the question is how can I do the same thing  

with English and hopefully I've answered that  question so when you learn English like it is  

your mother tongue that's when you use it like  it is your mother tongue okay so if you learn  

English as a first language the reason people  speak their first language well well is because  

they're doing all of these things they spend a lot  more time getting input that destroys doubt and  

that's when they feel confident using something  so the first time even in your native language  

maybe you learn some new phrase or some new thing  happens on the news whatever you probably don't  

feel very confident about saying it but if you  get many more examples of that when you really  

do understand it well you finally feel confident  about using it okay so this is the same thing that  

happens it doesn't matter what the language is if  it's your your like the language you were learning  

since you were a child or a new language you're  learning the difference is just how you learn  

it so there's nothing difficult about English  or learning Chinese or Spanish or whatever the  

language is but you make it much more difficult  if you learn it as a second language rather than  

learning it as a first language so the belief you  have changes the actions you take and that gives  

you the results that come from learning that way  so if you are feeling stuck like you keep learning  

more but you're not becoming more fluent it's  because you believe this so the good news is you  

don't have to speak to become fluent fluency just  means you understand something better and then  

you can start using it as you feel more confident  obviously the goal is to be able to speak we want  

to get there but when most people have chances  to speak but they don't feel confident about  

speaking you should probably stop doing this and  start doing this okay all right now if you have  

an argument against that let me know I'd like to  hear that but this is again uh how I became fluent  

finally in Japanese and I continue to get fluent  today and this is why I've been teaching this idea  

over here for 20 years all right uh all right I  think I answered that one let's go through again  

and all right hosam oh I think I read that one  already from Morocco and Flavia you're an amazing  

teacher thanks okay I read that one already Sergio  good evening teacher you are beautiful thanks for  

your classroom it's my pleasure Mari says hi I'm  new I like your videos glad to hear it Ethan says  

my partner wants to buy an ESL dictionary well  I mean an ESL dictionary would just be a regular  

English dictionary where you're not you're  not trying to learn like English to Spanish  

or anything else so you don't even you don't  even need to buy a dictionary you can just get  

a regular online dictionary and use that but if  you want a regular dictionary it's just an English  

so it's it's it's not like a language learner  dictionary um although I I might recommend  

using a like a dictionary for kids so an English  speakers dictionary for children because that's  

a little bit easier and maybe it will have  simpler explanations of things it might not  

be like a thick dictionary but that's a good thing  to learn so I I have one of those uh it's actually  

a children's picture dictionary for learning  Japanese I don't really use it very often but  

uh again that was when I was first starting to  understand language and I wanted to understand  

it in Japanese so trying to learn Japanese as  a first language rather than English as a first  

language uh that's what I used so it just look  for an English to English dictionary Denny says  

greetings from the middle of the world Ecuador  hello and George says hi Andrew I'm understand  

very clear your speech I'm from Mexico living  in Chicago thank you for teaching me people how  

to be fluent it's my pleasure you would say for  teaching people how to be uh be fluent uh Sergio  

says I love you your hands are big and I love  that actually my hands aren't that big I guess  

comparatively but but welcome okay good morning uh  let that's it t Drew it's hot every day isn't it  

yes it is quite hot over here in nugui so I'm glad  to be inside with some air conditioning blowing on  

me it's like uh 20 22 degrees or 23 degrees right  now which is nice heartbeat says you are doing an  

amazing job now but spellings do matter as well  I would suggest that you focus on spellings while  

putting it on the board uh yes uh it is obviously  good a good idea to spell things correctly and  

my writing is a little bit sloppy because I'm  trying to do it very quickly and make sure I'm  

not wasting time uh but I do try to say what I'm  writing as I write it up here so Jack Smith says  

good morning drew the comprehensible inputs are  the most important to master language right thanks  

yes uh and like people people forget the point  of comprehensible input is to destroy the doubts  

that stop you from speaking so I remember getting  a like an email from a teacher in the UK I think  

so this is an English teacher a native speaker  that was asking me questions about about this uh  

and they were saying well how much comprehensible  input do you need and I just said oh well until  

you understand something the the point is like you  don't just get infinite comprehensible input you  

you want to think about a specific word or phrase  and then get examples examples of that until you  

feel you really understand that thing and then  when you feel confident that you're going to say  

it correctly then you move on to the next thing so  the point is not just like only uh only input the  

the point is really why do we get the input the  point is to destroy the doubt that stops you from

speaking oh no where do we live off let's see  uh and Harpy says yes I'm a language trainer  

as well I always have this back of mind to avoid  errors and being uh pointed out yeah and it's like  

especially me you know when I do notice I wrote  something incorrectly or whatever like I feel bad  

about that you obviously you want to give people  correct answers um but yeah you want to make  

sure like as a teacher you're giving people good  examples all right uh K says overthinker is it a  

positive word uh I'm not sure typically it's also  one word like to overthink or when someone is an  

overthinker uh uh typically when people are doing  something over like they're doing it too much then  

that would be a negative thing so someone who  thinks too much someone who is generally an  

overthinker or they overthink things that means  uh it would be a negative thing all right Flavia  

says makes a lot of sense glad to hear Ethan  with a smiley face over there Sarah looks like  

a flower thank you for your advice teacher glad to  hear it uh Louis says great illustration Luciano  

hi everyone Elder hi there Drew Louis one of the  best English uh YouTube English Channel thanks for  

sharing the knowledge it's my pleasure Abdullah  says are there another series of phrase Builder  

lessons the U are there another series of phrase  Builder lessons that you made a few years ago uh  

well we have uh influent for life we have uh  every every phrase Builder video is in there  

so that's like I don't know I don't know how many  like thousands of words and phrases that is but  

people INF fluent for Life uh they have access to  all of those so I think we only have uh like in  

the native fluency blueprint so that's a program  we offer people get one of those but you get uh  

all of them they're like seven of them five six  five or I don't remember exactly how many there  

are there are a lot I think I made like so many  of them uh but they're all connected with the  

lesson sets in fluent for Life uh so if you enjoy  this uh the things that we do in fluent for life  

you can click on the link in the description  below to learn how to do this but again the  

really great thing about efl is that like other  people can get you fluent okay so that's how I can  

I can guarantee what I do because I'm the one  controlling whether you understand something or  

not I can make something very easy to understand  you feel more confident about it you understand  

it easily you remember it so you start speaking  but if I make something confusing if I'm teaching  

badly or I don't actually teach you anything  I just give you some translations and then you  

have to try to practice and learn and understand  things by yourself then that's what's going to  

get you stuck over here so uh again the nice  thing about this you become fluent first first  

and then you start speaking so if you'd like to  get fluent comfortably actually have me just make  

the language understandable along with lots of  native examples that's what we do in fluent for  

Life uh and all of those phrase Builder videos  are included in that you can click on the link  

in the description below this video to learn  more Alexander says from the Philippines how  

oh okay nice to see you there Abdul says  I I would mean you teacher make more uh  

videos about phrases Improvement well there  it's already done we have all that finished  

so we like most of the videos that I do on YouTube  is welcoming new people trying to get them to  

understand this idea because if you understand  this idea then you can become a fluent a fluent  

speaker very quickly but if you don't understand  this idea and most people do not so right now you  

know more than 99% of people learning any language  really because most people are going to tell you  

this if you ask your friends you say hey how  would you get fluent in another language and  

they would probably say well you go to school and  you learn and you try to speak as much as possible  

but that's like those those uh those memes you  see where like uh it will be like Step One is  

learn uh step two is like uh speak and then uh  step three is like you don't really know what it  

is uh and then step four is like fluency because  you don't actually there there there is no actual  

way that you become fluent that you could explain  easily with this method So when you say like okay  

you should speak to get fluent what does that  mean should I how exactly should I speak to get  

fluent I should just repeat the same thing again  and again what exactly should I do because I'm  

I'm not actually becoming uh more confident as I  repeat something so I could learn a word if I gave  

you two lessons here so one lesson was just here's  the word sleepover and we're going to repeat that  

again and again here's a translation of it uh then  maybe you think okay like okay I got sleepover but  

I also heard this other term over sleep and now  my mind is confused because I don't know which  

of those I should I should say and that's what  happened to my wife so in that situation she  

said I I oh I'm sorry I slept over rather than I'm  sorry I overslept okay so again uh Diana says I'm  

at stage three over here if you're talking about  this like if you're if you're in this situation  

don't feel bad about that it's not your fault  this is is just the advice that everybody gives  

about language learning uh the important thing  is that all you have to do first is to change the  

way you think if you change the way you think you  will automatically change all the actions and the  

result will improve very quickly okay so this  is exactly what happened to me I was learning  

this way for 15 years and basically hoping the  whole time I was just hoping I would get fluent  

because I didn't know exactly how fluency worked  but now it's it's like very scientific very easy  

to understand how it works you can actually feel  it happening when you when you learn something  

and understand something better and you know it  in a conversation okay all right let's see here  

hopefully that makes sense though again the point  is we really want to understand something very  

well and you don't need to speak to do that you  just need to get lots of good examples that really  

make sure ah okay I actually understand what I'm  learning now uh let's see Rah says from Nepal  

says English speakers are not found in my daily  life yet want to develop my speaking skills what  

can I do so right now you're not speaking with  me you can type something sure but you're not  

actually uh speaking with me and we are not in the  same place but I can still get you more fluent by  

helping you understand the language and that's why  it doesn't matter where you live it doesn't matter  

how old you are it doesn't matter uh how much you  try to like learn or how many words you learn if  

you don't really understand the vocabulary you're  not going to use it fluently okay so even if you  

are living by yourself up on a mountain somewhere  if you have access to the internet you can get  

lots of examples that really help you understand  the language very well okay so I give examples  

of that in pretty much every video and then  fluent for life that's the whole program where  

we actually take people step by step and help them  understand the language like a native okay so we  

teach English uh as a first language and that's  we basically take you through this process here  

we destroy the doubt that stops you from speaking  and you can actually feel your progress so again  

you don't have to speak it doesn't matter if you  have people to speak with or not the whole point  

is uh you should be understanding the language  better and we know this because there are lots of  

people who live in English-speaking countries and  they try to speak every day but they still don't  

feel more confident or they basically stay at the  same level they say the same kinds of things over  

and over and over again they never really feel  like they're becoming better okay so you don't  

have to spend more time speaking you need to spend  more time understanding the language better all  

right FL says uh please let's hit the like button  to help the channel yes I always appreciate that  

thank you very much teacher says okay go well  oh no I say oh go man yeah all right well I  

guess you got to go to work or whatever let me  know what you do what do you do exactly Pedro  

says very nice tips glad to hear it Miro says  thanks for all your efforts Pedro talk more uh  

in specific about your course uh what is the  advice or there are courses to that one cost  

$29 so if you're talking about the native  fluency blueprint uh they're they're yeah  

I'm going to erase all this so I can I can give  uh kind of like a more detailed explanation of

this so most of the people who visit uh visit  our page or find our YouTube videos or whatever  

uh they are that that first kind of learner  where they understand a lot of the language  

but they don't speak very well so what we try  to do uh for for these Learners number one we  

want to give people quick win so a quick win  quu i c k so I want to show you first of all  

uh that it actually is quick to improve and uh I  do that by helping you by uh basically improving  

the way you speak with the vocabulary you all  already know so most people uh they think like  

let's say they have a vocabulary I let's let's  imagine this is a vocabulary of 10 words most  

Learners they think they can't speak very well  uh so what they should do is try to learn more  

so they keep trying to learn more words but  they never really feel more fluent instead  

you should actually learn to use the vocabulary  you already know if you can I'm trying to draw  

this in an understandable way but uh instead  of knowing these words a little bit like the  

example I gave before about sleepover uh if if  you really understand them well enough if you have  

no doubt about these words then you will start  using them fluently and what I do in the native  

fluency blueprint the whole point is to give  you these quick wins um I'm basically teaching  

native communication techniques so the same things  that natives are doing for pronunciation or how to  

change Topics in conversations maybe you forget a  word and you start using something else I call it  

moving like water so I really want to show you how  to improve very quickly so you can do uh like in  

the same day so you can join the program and go  through the lessons and actually learn a lot so  

you learn a lot of vocabulary as well but the  program also shows you how to improve without  

learning more words or grammar so that's the  point of the Native fluency blueprint uh but  

fluent for life is for people who really want  like guaranteed fluency uh and again just one  

more contrast between these two things um so the  native fluency blueprint is going to tell you what  

to do and you can just apply those things uh  in your communication or in your learning so  

how to pronounce things better uh how to how to  switch topics without thinking about it so how to  

have smoother speech those kinds of things that's  what we teach there uh but fluent for life is for  

people who want me to actually destroy the doubts  for them and get them fluent okay so it's two  

different programs although uh both of these are  included in fluent for life so for for people who  

have fluent for life they have like all of these  lessons here but they also have the step-by-step  

training that destroys the doubts that stop you  from speaking and as you go through the program  

that's how I can guarantee your success because  I'm the one making sure you get fluent and if you  

have any questions you can ask but most people  just they like sit back and get fluent the lazy  

way because it's just making sure you understand  the language very well so most people they they  

often join the program they already know a  lot of vocabulary but they just don't know it  

very well so they don't really feel very  confident just like I I gave the example  

before about my wife so she knows the word  sleep over uh and she knows also like over

sleep but uh if she understands those like a  native she really understands like how to how  

to break these words apart how to use them  in different ways and she can say like oh  

I understand like what does over mean in  sleepover so if I ask a native they will  

easily tell me like oh that means you're over  at someone's house you're like staying over  

sometimes we will stay there like oh I'm staying  over at my friend's house so I can I can say kind  

of conversationally to stay over stay over so I'm  staying over at my friend's house tonight okay or  

I'm sleeping over at my friend's house tonight and  natives understand the difference here like it's  

like sleeping over like I'm not like on top of  something I'm I'm I'm I'm away there's a distance  

there so that's what over uh in this case means  but to over sleep means you're doing something  

too much all right and so here I'm spending more  time making the language understandable so you  

really understand like what does stay over mean  sleep over over sleep and you actually understand  

all of these words better because I've given you  this explanation okay so you're not speaking right  

now you're not speaking on I'm getting you fluent  okay so a good teacher actually knows how to make  

the language understandable so you get fluent  automatically and that's why I guarantee what  

I do because I can like I'm the one getting you  fluent a regular teacher will just say hey here's  

some translations here's a vocabulary list I want  you to go learn that and then it's on you either  

you learn it or you don't get fluent all right but  for me like I'm here to get you fluent that's what  

I do okay so I like to do that I like to see that  that uh like I can't see your face but often I can  

tell when people understand something better  and they're like ah like a little light bulb  

goes on over your head or you finally understand  something better and there you go so you actually  

understand the language better and this is how  you can improve and we show you different ways to  

do that so if you want like quick wins you want to  speak better today without learning any more words  

or grammar you just want to because you already  know so the people who join the native fluency  

blueprint I'll just put nfb up here so the native  fluency blueprint uh you can find this uh at our  

website as well uh but that's what the native  fluency blueprint is it's it's the the whole point  

of it is to give you ways of just showing the  showing you that you can improve very quickly and  

even without learning more words or grammar okay  so with Native uh with the with fluent for Life  

I'll put F fill here and you can learn more about  this uh by clicking on the link in the description  

but fluent for Life the point of that program is  to actually for me to get you fluent so uh nfb the  

native fluency blueprint is more for independent  Learners although there is lots of vocabulary  

there too so once you understand you should be  learning like a native you'll see lots of native  

vocabulary examples like I do like in this video  here so like over 700 of them I think uh but you  

learn lots of native phrases and you remember them  because you understand them like a native that's  

the whole point of of understanding the vocabulary  that way rather than learning it as a second  

language but fluent for Life covers everything uh  and you get to choose what you learn so there are  

100 lesson sets covering lots of different topics  lots of different speakers over 13,000 words and  

expressions I think but you choose what you learn  so I don't expect you to like sit and learn all  

of that but you get to choose so if you want to  learn more professional vocabulary or stuff for  

everyday communication whatever uh or you want to  solve you know particular grammar issues there's  

grammar that's causing you trouble we help you  solve all that so it's all done for you we take  

care of it for you all you do is just choose  what you want and we get you fluent in that  

all right but hopefully you understand now uh in  the same way that parents get children fluent so  

children aren't studying by themselves they're not  reading textbooks or looking at flashcards or uh  

trying to I don't know like study grammar tables  or something like children are not doing that to  

learn what they are doing is they're getting  lots of input they're getting lots of very  

examples from other people so other people are  getting children fluent and then when children  

feel confident that they understand something then  they speak okay so that's what we do so the point  

is not I mean obviously we show you how to meet  native speakers as well because a lot of people  

want to do that uh but uh it's a lot more fun  to meet natives or to start speaking if you feel  

confident about the language first all right  let's see and Luciano says what about restart  

the learning process throughout the Bible for  example which comes with a completely different  

vocabulary Luciana I don't quite understand the  question what do you mean what about restart the  

learning process throughout the Bible for example  which comes with a completely different vocabulary  

well if you're if you're learning something uh  like like imagine I start a job I guess it's  

a similar example so if I start a job working  for an airline design company I have to learn  

lots of words about airplane Parts I guess and in  that case like it's like learning a new language  

and I just have to get examples of what things  are and maybe see the parts you know and like  

oh okay this is what this is what an engine looks  like or these are different pieces of the engine  

uh and so if if that's what you mean uh I mean you  would probably get examples like that or like the  

dictionary example from before you would use maybe  a children's Bible if you're if you want to learn  

with the Bible and and try to learn the language  that way uh but again like if I'm trying to learn  

a new language I would probably not choose the  Bible because it's it's probably going to be a  

bit more uh difficult and maybe it would have um  like a lot of unfamiliar vocabulary that maybe  

Isn't So useful for me but it depends on your life  if you know if if that's important to you then you  

can try using that it just might be a little bit  more difficult for you all right uh and PO says  

hello Drew and DET Trin says maybe uh most of us  catch what a teacher's saying because the teacher  

is teaching it would be different and we listen  to a podcast or film then comes the problem yes uh  

and so in the example I gave before I didn't want  to spend too much time talking about that but most  

people are getting lots of examples of what I call  Textbook English and it's correct English but it's  

often not the way people would regularly speak in  a real conversation so the way I'm speaking right  

now is different than how people would speak in a  movie okay especially a character who's not very  

clear or they're speaking with a difficult accent  or they're using uh vocabulary that you just don't  

know so obviously it's a completely different  situation so in fluent for life we teach you that  

vocabulary okay we make it understandable we show  you how to learn that vocabulary and we get you  

fluent in that vocabulary Showtime says thank you  for your offer you are an amazing teacher glad to  

hear it Wellington says why does he talk so fast  I don't know I guess I'm not talking that quickly  

but uh most people can understand the speed of my  speaking even if it's a little bit faster because  

I'm speaking clearly by says I'm looking forward  for a live session where you explain a specific  

word you've done a few such as run get it set  I find the specific focus on one word build my  

comprehension faster yes so Bou understands  again this is what we do INF fluent for life  

so we we focus on things like that like you have  a whole lesson set that's dedicated to specific  

vocabulary and helping you understand things in  that way um so we do have uh lots of videos on  

the YouTube channel that focus on vocabulary  as well but we take you through all the steps  

in fluent for Life uh Nathaniel says EXO from  Panama your lessons are awesome glad to hear  

it bonus says hi brid says hi TJ Drew and Dan oh  I think I read that one already uh let's see uh  

heartbeat says the speech rate is perfect yes so  like uh it it it depends on the speaker if your if  

your English level is lower then even if I speak  slowly it it won't help so much uh but typically  

the people who watch my channel they understand  quite a bit uh but you'll notice I'm not using a  

lot of difficult vocabulary uh I should do that  take my I don't know 10 most recent videos take  

the transcript and put that just through a like  a vocabulary filter and tell me what vocabulary  

I'm using but it should be uh fairly low level  PO says Drew uh is it possible that when we get  

fluent we think we are not translating but really  deep in our brain we are but everything happens  

so quickly that we don't realize we are doing it  uh there could be some of that so some people who  

are really good students they really just put a  lot of pressure on themselves to try to translate  

something as quickly as possible um but often what  happens uh is when you when you stop trying to  

learn through uh your native language then you're  actually not learning through a translation and so  

this happens to me a lot like I know many words  in Japanese that I don't know the names of that  

or I don't know the word for that in English like  the names of flowers for example so it's like I'll  

learn like uh I don't know like uh what's a word  I'm trying to think of like a flower a flower or  

plant name or something it doesn't matter but the  point is I will I will learn like a uh like like  

tubaki so that like I know what that is tubaki  is a kind of uh flower like a kind of plant but  

I don't know the English word for that so in this  case like people typically uh they have like uh  

whatever their native language is and then they're  trying to learn uh what you would call like the  

second language over here and so they're they're  thinking and they're like you're mentioning trying  

to process this very quickly where're like okay  I'm thinking very quick here's a native word I'm  

going to translate into that second language over  here but I'm suggesting you you break this this  

over here by connecting directly with the other  language and it's easy to do that as you're like  

I'm giving you examples of that uh in all of  my videos but that's what it means to learn  

something as a first language so this language  over here what we call your native language it  

just like this language could also become a native  language for you too it's just how you look learn  

it so you learn this language as a first language  not just because it was the first one you learned  

like you were a baby and you it was the first one  you learn uh it's like the only you you couldn't  

learn it as a as a second language because  you can't use a translation to learn your  

first language the only thing you can do is just  to understand that language in that language and  

that's why parents are giving you lots of input  to try to make sure you understand something  

um so if I give you uh like I could teach you  some Japanese and uh and and like actually  

teach you Japanese in Japanese and help you  understand Japanese that way uh like let's  

say I'll give you like if I'm uh a parent  and you are my child and we see uh let's

see so this is not not a good picture  uh but we see this and I say ah toy  

to to to and at first you're like  okay what maybe that means bird you  

don't really know for sure what that  means but then I like we see you know

like ah to T

to so if I if I draw both of  these for you we see all these  

we start seeing like here's a different [Music]

ah to a h this is a bad picture but uh also to  and so I'm not like here you you don't know if  

you just if you see this one example and I say  toy you don't know if I'm talking about the name  

of this kind of thing like the name of what kind  of bird it is or if I mean bird in general but if  

I give you like to to to to then you think ah okay  like toy means bird and what I'm doing I call this  

naturally varied review and it's how your parents  taught you your native language but it's only your  

native language because they couldn't use any  translations to teach you they had to teach you  

in this way to make the language understandable  so you're not speaking like nobody is forcing you  

to speak your parents are not standing you in  front of a classroom and telling you to speak  

they're saying oh look like they're just telling  you what something means and as you get lots of  

examples then it becomes clear but as soon as  I change this like now I I I explained you all

like this this this so if I if I start using more  of the language you will start to understand more  

but I have to make it understandable  and usually you get lots of examples

suur so now like I'm I'm telling you a different  word as I point to these things and you're like  

oh maybe that means like a different kind of  bird or something and your brain is trying  

to figure this out it's like a puzzle but I can't  use a translation because you don't know anything  

else I can't use Chinese to teach English to my  2-year-old child because they don't know Chinese  

either okay so suzet like Sparrow fudo owl Washi  Eagle you know and this is a really bad picture  

particularly bad and maybe that looks like an owl  maybe that looks like I don't know a baby I don't  

know chick or something I guess I don't know  but anyway the point is when you're learning  

a language in this way uh you don't think about  translating because your brain is like oo look a  

puzzle I can try to figure this out and then you  start as you hear this you you think oh now I know  

the Japanese word for bird which is toori toy toy  toy okay and uh as you learn the language this  

way you naturally stop translating because your  brain isn't trying to translate you learned it as  

a first language you learned it directly okay so  uh hopefully it's clear that we we really don't  

have a native language we just have languages  that we learn directly and languages that we  

learn through other languages okay so that's  why we call it English as a second language  

because it's it's like not your first language  you're learning it through another language and  

not only is the translation a problem you're also  uh trying to just like study a list of words or  

trying to understand rules logically instead of  seeing examples of them okay but this is how it  

works so uh you don't you're you're not trying to  like translate things really quickly you actually  

feel that you understand it the same way a native  does because this word toy to your mind it's just  

another word you're not you don't have like a  separate category in your mind for like Japanese  

words and English words so you could have a  word in English like [Music] Tsunami Tsunami  

T So tsunami like a giant wave tsunami so now  this is an English word but it's from Japanese  

okay but little kids they just they they learn  the word tsunami from from their parents uh and  

or they hear it or somebody is like they see a  person surfing and or they watch the news and  

they hear that word they just think it's English  because they're they're not learning they don't  

make a a connection in their mind they don't  separate English word versus uh like Japanese  

word it's only later that they understand oh like  interesting English is a language that comes it's  

a mix of other different languages we have some  German words and French words and Japanese words  

other things like that so as you get older  you understand that but when you're young and  

you don't know it's just another sound you're  connecting a sound with a situation so that's  

how you learn something as a first language and  there's no need to translate anything that's kind  

of a long explanation but uh hopefully this makes  sense all right ideally you're understanding the  

language really well as you get more examples  the first time you hear something it's not it's  

not going to be 100% understandable but if I keep  giving you more examples of something I'll give  

you one more example of this just to make sure so  this point is clear uh and we can imagine this as  

like an alien [Music] langage uh other people  who have been uh followers of the channel for  

a while they've probably seen these kinds of  examples before uh but let's say I let's see  

so I'm I'm going to give you like a flash card you  imagine just kind of one example uh from something

here uh and I'm going to tell you a  word that is not in English this is  

not English uh let's see we're going to  call this uh de dep so this is our word  

over here dep now what is a dep I've given  you one example I've drawn a picture and  

I've given you a sound for that picture  all right what do you think dep means

any idea what do you think dip means no idea  you guys are pretty slow today dip so imagine  

you're learning a uh just a like a foreign  language uh as a as a first language car uh  

and we hear a word like this or we hear a like a  fire truck an ambulance or something uh so maybe  

you think a dip is a car all right and maybe  it is maybe it's not um so vehicle is another

example does your bird wake up early does  your bird wake up early my does your bird  

wake up early and here we are so again  I'll draw another one so remember when  

you're learning a native uh like a language as  a first language the first time you hear it you  

might not understand it perfectly because it's I  mean it's not really clear what I'm talking about  

I could be maybe maybe it means car maybe  it means vehicle maybe it means something

else dip dip now that changes things doesn't  it it's like we have a Target and your brain  

is trying to get ding ding ding ding ding  we want to WR get right here where really  

feel confident that we understand what a word  mean dip what do you think we're talking about

dip dip what we got boat ship  George says transport [Music]

dip so now we have four different examples of  depth so we've got this this this and this so  

probably like the the word dep probably does not  mean car because these are not cars and uh so  

vehicle is like any kind of Transport or could  be a model something like that yeah like even  

my pictures are not perfect like I if I'm doing  this for real I would show you like good quality  

pictures or something truck plus education so dip  uh it means like you know some kind of Transport  

in some way so a transport could be a car it could  be a boat it could be a truck it could be a person  

carrying something so dip here uh it would mean  transport but the point is uh you don't know  

that usually the first time you hear a word and  that's why it's so important to keep getting more  

examples until you really feel like you understand  something well all right so this is one un like  

one example of understanding vocabulary really  well all right but another one is maybe hearing  

the hearing the same word from different speakers  so you hear like an old woman say the word like  

dip and you you're like what what did you say  and she said dip uh and like a like a like a a  

man with a deep voice like dip dip dip and you  hear that you're like what did that person say  

and so as you get all of these different examples  of other people saying the word now you're feeling  

much more confident about listening to that  the pronunciation of the word because you're  

hearing all these different examples but when  a teacher says Depp and very clearly pronounces  

it says Depp Depp means this and they're just  giving you translation of it you're not really  

learning anything and you're not really well  prepared for how other people will say the word  

in real conversations or maybe they say something  different maybe we have a different word for this  

all right but hopefully uh this makes it clear  that when you're learning something as a first  

language you're actually understanding it over  time as you as you you know as you get it so a  

ride like that could be another example so here  like it's it's still not perfectly clear what  

I'm what I'm talking about like here it's like  a person carrying something you're not really  

riding anything in this example I mean you could  ride in a car or a boat or a truck uh but like as  

we get more examples then the mind is is finally  hitting that that Target that aha moment of ah  

okay I understand what the person is saying all  right so don't feel bad if most of the language  

lessons you get when you learn the language in  school you get one example of something with  

a translation so of course it's going to be more  difficult for you to communicate you don't really  

understand what you're learning very well but as  you get more examples in English you really start  

to understand it as a first language and even if  you don't speak just by understanding better you  

will feel more confident about speaking okay  so the understanding comes first fluency comes  

before you speak all right you can become fluent  in a language and never say a word all right isn't  

that interesting you can actually become fluent in  a language and not say a word because you're just  

understanding something better maybe some people  who like they don't have a mouth or their mouth is  

broken or you know they're unable to speak maybe  they could write or something I guess but somebody  

could still understand the language and become  fluent in something even if they can't speak okay  

hopefully uh people are people are getting this  idea but that's how you do it and so the more  

you learn English as a first language the less  you translate so learn more in English and learn  

through your native language that's why we learn  English as a first language all right where did  

I leave off here okay that one I think and Avalon  or Avalon says that's right you can't speak about  

what you've never listened to and never understood  the meaning of I believe that writing down as much  

as possible will exponentially approve a student  skills yes certainly writing uh is another good  

form of output so speech is fine I'm not telling  you not to speak you can speak if you like but  

the important thing here is that we really want to  understand that's the most important thing because  

if if you don't destroy the doubt then you won't  become a confident speaker all right uh let's see  

sawaa says what should we do for writing read  correctly spellings please answer my question  

well if if you're talking about improving your  writing I would just get more examples and and  

write those down that's how you do it so find  correct examples and write them down if you're  

talking about improving writing Danny says once  time you would say one time I said that I would  

like to be a good speaker I will need to choose  a topic about that for example choosing any topic  

were you talking about some topic or signature  well in general uh if you want to learn something  

it's very easy to learn a language in with within  a topic you're interested in so if I like vehicles  

or I like animals or I like cooking or whatever  dramas or whatever I'm interested in I can find  

examples of that and that information will teach  me the language also because I can you know like  

if I if I watch a video for kids about how to draw  pictures that's going to use some of the language  

and it's going to show me like draw this line and  now move the pencil over here and draw this other  

line and it's much easier uh to understand what  something means in that way so if you want to  

learn what you're interested in go ahead like  this is what we do in fluent for life people  

get to choose the lesson sets they're interested  in and follow those uh let's see and shank says  

good morning or morning Drew thank you for the  great lesson I love your way of looking at things  

in the world I am wondering how to maintain  coherence when speaking such as explaining a  

concept logically um that's a good question it's  not really related to fluency so much but more  

like uh if you have a good plan for what you want  and you understand that thing really well then  

it's much easier uh so if you're going to give  a presentation like this usually I have you know  

some idea of of how I want to structure a video  where I'm explaining something so it's the same  

idea and I I want to make sure people understand  me at every step so another thing you could do is  

is test out a presentation on other people or if  you're trying to explain something logically um  

that you know anyone would be able to follow that  uh let's see Bridget says Drew when you become  

fluent do you stay fluent uh typically yeah I mean  if you if you understand something you might maybe  

not use some words so me uh I will forget some  English words sometimes I don't know if that's cuz  

I'm getting older or you know I don't use them as  much so I use some Japanese and some english but  

if I'm not thinking about some words I will I will  think what is that word I can't remember that word  

but uh my fluency is really my ability to to to to  communicate without thinking and so uh if I forget  

a specific word I can easily shift to something  else I can use a different word or expression  

instead harbe again I would suggest if people  learn root words to develop vocabularies it's an  

easy way to know more vocabularies uh yes so like  learning understanding prefixes and suffixes or  

root words um that's a good way to understand kind  of the story of a word uh and we we talk about  

that on this channel occasionally D again hi I'm  not living actually I'm not living in an English  

living in a country where English is spoken but  I'm stuck to efl approach to get ownership level  

as you said very good that's the plan so you  don't need to live with English speakers you  

don't even need to speak with English speakers you  just need to get that input so right now you are  

getting input that's helping to destroy doubt so  uh I don't want you to waste time just listening  

to random English the point is to answer questions  you have for yourself about like what is the like  

there's a particular word I want to say but I  don't really know what it means then you have a  

doubt about that word so you should fix that doubt  destroy that doubt and then you can start using  

that vocabulary but yes uh you don't need to be  living with natives or speaking with natives you  

just need to get native input and that's available  right here on YouTube there's lots of it there's  

there's uh tons of content we don't really need  any more content it's just figuring out how to  

organize it for yourself that's the tricky part  uh Shang says probably I have a mixed system of  

time topic comment and subject verb structures  of language sometimes I hesitate thinking what  

to put in the subject of a sentence yeah so I  mean it sounds like maybe you learned English  

in school where you're studying uh grammar rules  or structures like that and then that will train  

you to do that in conversations so how you learn  is how you speak so if you want to not do that in  

conversations then you need to learn more like a  native so it's important to understand grammar but  

we don't want to just study grammar we want to  actually see grammar and understand how grammar  

works so what does a native mean when they say  something or when does uh certain vocabulary get  

used that's the important thing so natives they  don't really understand uh like if I say give me  

an example of a present perfect or explain what  that means or tell me what a phrasal verb is they  

they couldn't do that but they could use those  things correctly they would understand how to  

use them and that's that's really the goal so I  I don't actually spend much time trying to teach  

um kind of names of grammar points it's I guess  it's nice to know them just so you can look them  

up um like I know those in Japanese but I mean  it doesn't it doesn't help me knowing the name  

of that vocabulary and a lot of Japanese people  would not know like UK or whatever like if I just  

gave them the name of some random grammar tense or  whatever they would do I don't know what that is  

but uh but anyway uh it's not important to know  that the important thing is to actually be able  

to use it fluently luano says my mom has been  a teacher for a long time teaching grammar for  

Brazilians in primary and high school and she is  not able to speak fluently after all these years  

you mean speak she she can't speak when you say  teaching grammar you mean teaching English grammar  

but uh yeah I mean I know actually lots of lots of  teachers are like that you know I mean they they  

know what they need to know for the classroom and  that's it's usually easy to do that as a teacher  

uh but getting people to actually speak well  that's a different skill so that's what I focus  

on I focus on making the language understandable  so if you destroy the doubt that's when you speak  

uh which book would you recommend to become fluent  in English uh you should watch my series on that  

Ethan um I have a book it's these books get you  fluent in English you should watch that hello  

from mexo says Eli or Ellie sh one more question  when do we normally Express things in a passive  

voice is it frequently used in conversation or  speech uh I think I think people typically speak  

in uh or not not use a passive voice because those  constructions are more difficult to make so it's  

like I was like the thing was taken like you could  say that but like typically people say someone  

took something like the jewelry was was taken  it's like yeah you could say that but it's like  

someone took the jewelry as just a like a faster  way to say that so uh again if you're looking for  

examples of things like that like I mean this is  the kind of thing we cover in fluent for life just  

so people can understand the difference in them  uh but typically passive voice would be used less  

often uh just because it's it's just typically  longer to use DET says by the way I was waiting  

for your stream on Monday but you didn't come  up anyway thank you sir yes well uh where was  

I I think well my my older daughter was sick uh I  did not I did not do a video on Monday Elizabeth  

says for your speak fluent English listen uh a  lot of things is the most important in practice  

with other people who speak native English uh yeah  I would not like let me be very clear about this  

the point number one is not to just listen to lots  of English because the goal is is not just to get  

input it's like to get specific input that will  destroy the doubts that stop you from speaking all  

right so this could uh from tasting something or  from um I don't know from like feeling something  

like if I feel the difference between hard and  soft or uh let's see like I could I could see a  

visual example of something or whatever but the  point is for me not not to just listen to the  

language but to understand the language well all  right and it's often better to do this visually  

where you're getting to you know touch something  or taste something or whatever you're hearing it  

uh but that's how you become fluent uh and the  second thing is no you don't need to spend a whole  

bunch of time speaking I would spend more time  actually just listening to uh lots of examples  

of native people speaking just like you're doing  here all right uh let's see AR says Poland uh hi  

Drew I'm from Myanmar glad to hear okay we got our  examples over here uh for our word Deb all right  

thank you good night says Ethan taking off uh dip  I'm from Russia let's see I don't understand how  

to use de yeah Deb is not an English word this  is just an example of like like teaching someone  

uh in a language as a first language so I can't  use a translation to teach you that I could but  

if I use a translation then you will think about  a translation and not really understand the word  

but as you get more examples of it you think  oh I guess dip probably means like transport  

or moving or carrying something or like it's not  vehicle because there's a person over here too uh  

let's see so don't worry about uh this specific  word it's not an English word Bridget says it's  

true some people are born not able that's true  some people born not able to speak uh but they  

are fluent in a language because they listen  well and they go on to write Brillion articles  

books exactly yeah so again like you don't have to  speak to get fluent all right if you did like it's  

not really possible how that would work because  you you don't your your speech doesn't help you  

understand the language better and it's really  understanding that lets you actually use the  

language PO says uh imagine I'm American in the  example of birds toi How can I block the meaning  

uh in my language bird so I can use it with that  relating it to the word I knew from before in  

another language um I talk about this in a in a  program I have have called how to remember any  

English word and the the idea for specific things  that are tricky like that U is you're trying  

to create like a new category of thing in your  mind so the example I or one of the examples  

I give in that training is uh if I have I'm  trying to learn a word uh in in Japanese so  

this is a personal example from my life learning  Japanese so if there's a word that I already know  

something uh for in English so let's say like uh  this is this is m moss and I'm going to draw a  

really bad picture of it because it's it's  kind of hard to draw Moss but Moss is it's  

kind of like a little plant that you see on maybe  tree branches or on the ground in a kind of wet  

area Moss usually green something like that so  if I if I have Moss that word is already in my  

head in English uh how do I remember that word  in Japanese so what I have to do is actually  

create a new category in my mind of something  like like moss uh which is like okay I hear the  

word uh so the Japanese word for this is Koke  um but I could try to learn a new category for  

this uh in uh in different ways one of them is  I could combine it with another word to create  

a new kind of story so as an example we have like  there's kind of a decoration thing in Japan that  

looks like this there might be a flower or a  small tree or a plant or something on a ball  

like this and um and the ball sits on a tray so  this is a kind of Japanese decoration called a

Kama Kama uh and kok dama is like oh we've got  like Koke means moss and Tama or dhama in this  

case means ball so we have a moss ball now that  is something I had not seen in English so this  

creates a new category in my mind of like oh look  a moss ball which helps me to remember the word  

c or I could also remember like actual different  kinds of moth and so I just use one example like  

like uh like yamag is a is a particular kind of  moss and I I know this because I study gardening  

in Japan uh so I might have like uh I'll just  write it in English for you like y ma go so  

yamama it's like Mountain like mountain Moss  basically and this would help me understand the  

word Mountain as well and you could probably guess  what the word mountain is from that example and  

that's how you would learn the word mountain in  Japanese and so often the uh examples that we get  

for for learning a new language we're we're able  to understand things by the connections we make  

and that's how we understand something as a first  language all right so hopefully that makes sense  

so it's easy to take things uh that we that we  know already like we have a word for that thing in  

our native language uh if I'm if I'm clear that's  what you're asking me about uh but that's how you  

would do it so you create new Connections in your  mind that help you uh remember that thing and use  

it fluently all right let's see I think did I  skip one say Peter L says hello from Shanghai  

thanks for your live it really helps glad to hear  it P says oh okay I got that word right all right  

George says could you read Japanese horse racing  game via radio commentary could I read Japanese  

horse racing game via radio commentary I don't  know what that what do you mean George uh but  

I mean like the way of like someone commentating  on a horse race like a Japanese person doing that  

I don't even know what what that Japanese would  be like how that I I just don't you know like I  

could I could speak like about a baseball game  because I know that a little bit better but um  

like horse racing I don't know what that would  be but if I if I went to horse races or I played  

those games and I heard that a lot then I would  get fluent in that kind of speech you know in the  

same way like soccer commentators or whatever  um are doing that same same thing so like they  

people speak differently about it and as I spend  more time with that thing I will become better at  

speaking in that same way all right see how we're  doing for time here oh Cam nice to see you there  

sorry I'm late Miguel says teacher will you vote  for Donald Trump for president yeah we'll see if  

he survives hopefully hopefully he survives um um  but yeah I I I probably would I have not voted in  

in like like forever that's a long story though  heartbeat uh let's see message disappeared you  

do I have to express my dayto daily life I mean  what I did the whole day to myself in English  

in order to improve my speaking because I have  been listening podcasts that didn't work for me  

uh no why no I don't know why why you would do  that I mean there there are things you can do  

all right as I explained at the beginning of  this video because most people think you need  

to speak to get fluent then people will tell you  advice about how to speak to get fluent but I'm  

not doing that I'm saying you don't have to speak  to get fluent you actually speak by understanding  

the language better so if you're listening to a  podcast and it's not helping you understand the  

language better stop listening to it find actual  examples of things like watching a children's TV  

show would be a better idea because you get  to see examples of the language and really  

understand it so based on on your writing uh  that's what I would recommend for your level  

so no you don't have to sit and try to talk with  yourself to get fluent don't spend time talking  

with yourself spend more time getting examples of  things that you don't understand so that you can  

destroy the doubt and that's what really stops  you from speaking p po says got it thanks uh and  

Lester says congrats for your podcast speaking of  Japanese it would be interesting to see you again  

with your couple speak uh greetings from tipic  ah you mean my wife uh yeah maybe I could get  

her on a on a video someday we'll see anyway uh  hopefully this makes sense uh but again if you'd  

like to learn more you can click on the links in  the description below this video the basic idea is  

that you don't get fluent by speaking speaking  is not what develops fluency fluency actually  

develops speech okay so begin there just really  think about that idea I know it sounds weird  

and it's the opposite of what everybody tells you  about anguage learning but it makes sense because  

if you if you've been trying to speak and it's  not helping you then stop doing that you don't  

have to hope that you get fluent because you keep  speaking you know don't worry about that actually  

uh spend more time destroying the doubts that  stop you from speaking and you will become a more  

fluent speaker all right if you'd like to help  uh or have me do this for you basically you can  

click on the links in the description below this  video and I'll see you in the next video bye-bye