How To Improve English Pronunciation With Imagination

all right let's see if we're live check

YouTube we should be good to

go all right I am Drew Badger the founder  of englishanyone.com and welcome to another  

live video here on YouTube today we're going to  be talking about using imagination to improve  

pronunciation uh and to sound excuse me to sound  more like speak all right let's get the party

started hopefully everybody is doing well you  can let me know if you have any questions about  

this or anything else in the chat I think  somebody asked me a while ago why I don't  

erase the board before I begin and the reason  is sometimes the lives don't work so if I start  

the live and I erase what's on the board and it  doesn't work I have to do it again in anyway uh  

hello everyone out there you can feel free to post  your chat looks like everything is working now so  

we should be able to go all right uh so before  I talk about improving pronunciation with your  

mind rather than even uh saying anything which  uh should be a lot of fun and interesting for  

people I wanted to tell a quick story because  this is just something that happened to me it's  

related to the mind and I just thought it was an  interesting story I would share with everybody so  

a few days ago uh I was talking with a learner uh  this learner is a dentist uh and they do use some  

English with their um like their customers their  clients you know the the people the patients I  

guess you would say um but like on their website  there were lots of errors with their English uh  

and so I was saying oh you should fix these like  here are some examples of how you would fix these  

errors because when people look at these things  even if you are a good dentist even if you're  

good at what you do if people see you making lots  of errors in how you write so the written English  

that's representing you uh they will obviously  think that maybe you're not as qualified to be  

a good dentist so this is how people think if the  way we present ourselves especially the words we  

use uh are not presenting like a good you know  like good grammar good pronunciation then it's  

going to make people people reconsider maybe doing  business with us or U you know associating with us  

in some way uh but what I heard from this learner  is that well like yeah English is important for  

them but it's not like so necessary for what  they do uh and I said that's fine it's okay  

if you maybe don't need English I was surprised  they had uh English on their website uh even if  

they don't really have like a real need for  it so it just got me thinking oh there there  

are like a lot of people that that like the way  English looks and they present that just because  

English itself looks cool so like you you come  here so I live in Japan and you will see kids  

or people just with like random English on their  shirt you know I guess in a similar way people  

in the United States they'll have like you know  Chinese or Japanese character tattoos or shirts  

or whatever but sometimes the characters are  incorrect and people have fun with that uh but  

the interesting thing about this story is that  uh after that I was just thinking I bet there are  

some people that use laurum ipsum uh let me write  I'll write this on the board for you if you don't  

know what this is people who design uh webites or  do uh like any kind of design they will often use

this if I'm spelling it correctly it's actually  Latin not English uh but lauram ipsum is just  

it's like just random Latin text that people use  in place of something if they don't have anything  

just to see how text looks on a website so you  can you can just copy this or generate it it  

will just repeat this thing over and over again  uh just so you can have that and I said I bet  

somebody is just having random like Latin like  this on their website or on their advertisement  

or something uh just because it it looks like  English and it was crazy because uh like a day  

later in Nagasaki I saw this and you could still  see it today uh so I was on a just a tram a street  

car and going down towards Nagasaki and I looked  at a sign it looked like a new business it was  

for like a a dart like a dart or billiard Hall  so just a place you can go throw darts or shoot  

you know pool or something something like that  um and it had you know like regular English it  

was like a picture of a like a dart board with a  dart on it I'm not going to draw this very well  

so imagine this is a dart board and there's a dart  going into it and it said darts but it had lauram  

ipsum on the on the picture and so it's it's  just there because it looks like English and  

even I'm sure the people who put it there don't  realize what it is that it's Latin and it doesn't  

mean anything thing anyway uh I just thought that  was a funny story I would share with you because  

it was so quick from me thinking about this so I  thought wouldn't it be funny if someone did this  

and then a day later I actually saw it here in  Nagasaki of like of all the places I would see  

that there is lots of English here in Japan  and even in Nagasaki but I did not expect to  

see this in Nagasaki so I thought that was very  funny anyway uh so let's talk about the mind and  

how you can use it to improve your pronunciation  uh I'll go back and check questions right quick  

just to see if anybody has anything pressing so  anything that's like very important let's see  

aruro says nice to see you there Franklin nice  to see you there Earth Sky how do you pronounce  

angry please there you go Angry uh also at  the beginning of this video if you'd like to  

hear me pronounce individual words uh just get  Frederick I'll leave this up on the board here

so you can hear me pronounce over 2,000 words  and sentences and actually learn to pronounce  

these things the same way natives learn them  so native children are using this app and also  

non-native adults are using this app to improve  their pronunciation obviously non-native kids are  

using them as well um but if you want to improve  your pronunciation improve your listening uh with  

the technique especially that I'll be teaching  in this video you should get Frederick and you  

can hear me pronouncing different things so this  technique actually works very well with the app so  

anything like hearing particular words but also  just improving your listening and pronunciation  

generally you can click on the link in the  description below this video to get Frederick all  

right Tom says good morning T-Rex first time in a  live nice to see you there ITA says good morning  

Tam says hi nice to see you everybody there  morning where do I live so I live in Nagasaki  

Japan uh VJ says good morning Tom yeah all he  answered that for me CAM hello from Thailand all  

right also notorious notorious so you will hear  like notorious and no notorious notorious as well  

Victor says I drew is going to be my third live  Lon Olo from New York nice to see you there good  

morning from Taiwan uh oh awesome guys morning  this is the best class on YouTube says Tom Tom  

you're too kind uh kada says hello Arturo uh what  to do about phrasal verbs with many meanings you  

know actually lots of members of fluent for life  and uh members of the visual guide of phrasal  

verbs have been asking about that um typically  with phrasal verbs you will have uh like a core  

meaning of something it could be like one or two  core meanings of a phrasal verb uh and then you  

will have uh like outside of that like slightly  related to that like let's say I want to I want  

to like pull something in like to pull in pull  in and the way I teach phrasal verbs and really  

this works for any kind of vocabulary is you're  looking for if you can uh like a physical meaning  

or something that's easy to understand directly  without having to translate anything or needing  

any explanation so if I have like like a fishing a  fishing pole and there's a fish on the end of it I  

want to like pull in the fish so I'm going to pull  something in to pull it so to bring it closer to  

me by pulling that thing to pull something in so  that's kind of the physical core meaning to bring  

something closer to you by pulling it okay so as  opposed to like pushing something into something  

else I'm going to pull it towards me so we get the  core meaning or just the understanding of that and  

typically there's like one or two maybe three core  meanings of a phrasal verb and then you get a more  

figurative or metaphor IAL understanding of that  like I could pull someone in to my plan so maybe  

I want to do I want to start a new business I want  to build a bakery or something uh in my local area  

but I don't maybe I need an accountant and I need  a marketing person and some other people I need  

to pull other people in so I need to pull them in  to my plan as well so here I'm not like physically  

pulling them but I'm attracting these people I'm  pulling these people into my plan so when you're  

understanding phrasal verbs typically you you  have to use your imagination a little bit it's  

interesting talking about that as the subject  of this video but using your imagination to try  

to make connections because you might look at  something and not realize how something works  

I think actually a question we got um recently  was talking about what phrasal verb was that it  

was it's on the tip of my tongue it's on the  tip of my tongue if I can remember it uh it  

was talking about oh it was talking about putting  someone out so the phrasal verb to put something  

or put someone out so again if I think about  the opposite of pulling something in I might  

be inside my house and I take this marker and I  place it outside of my house I'm putting something  

out putting something out uh and this person was  asking well what about the meaning of put out as  

as inconveniencing someone so I could take someone  like let's say I imagine someone uh like I I want  

to go I need to stay at their house for a week uh  so I know it's inconveniencing them so I can say I  

know I'm putting you out so meaning meaning like  this is their kind of comfortable everyday Zone  

where they usually are and then I removed them  from that I plac them outside of that which is  

a little bit painful or uncomfort able or it's  inconvenient for them so I'm putting them out of  

the place where they feel convenient and putting  them really into a a place of inconvenience but  

you can see how I I make the connection between  the core meaning of of taking something and and  

placing it outside of some other location but this  is a bit more metaphorical or figurative where I'm  

taking someone who's feeling comfortable or this  is their everyday life and I'm putting them out of  

that so I'm putting you out of something like I'm  making you feel bad so if you're asking someone  

for a favor you can say this it's a very casual  conversational way to say oh I'm inconveniencing  

you so I know I'm putting you out good but could  you please pick me up from the airport or could I  

stay at your house for a few days or something  like that so I know I'm putting you out so I'm  

putting you out of the place where you feel  comfortable okay so this is how to understand  

phrasal verbs uh so typically they have fewer  meaning than most Learners think they do it  

just seems like there are all these different  meanings but really there's maybe one or just  

maybe two or three uh where you will find like the  actual meaning of it so just use your imagination  

you use your mind a little bit uh and try to find  connections if you can't but usually when I teach  

them I'm teaching like this so I begin with a core  verb uh or a core meaning and then I want to start  

going out of that to make it more okay these are  Maybe a bit more difficult to understand because  

they're metaphorical or they're figurative or  something I'll just give you one more example  

to make this clear uh so if we talk about go under  I've given this example before on the channel to  

go under you can think about a boat so we have a  boat here on the water and if the boat goes down  

under the water you can see there's a problem the  boat is physically going down under the water but  

we can also talk about go under like a business  going under so maybe they're you can imagine this  

level here of like being able to make money or  profitability but they're going under that they're  

actually going under they're not being able to do  that anymore and so it becomes more difficult and  

typically when we talk about a company going under  this means they're going to bankruptcy so the  

company will will like be dissolved or destroyed  or they will end it or something like that at some  

point but again you can see how we take something  like going under and then we we be begin with a  

physical meaning that we can see like oh look at  that the boat is going under the water and then we  

can expand that expand our understanding to more  figurative thing and this is the way natives learn  

to communicate so they're they're not necessarily  speaking uh like directly but they might be using  

that same idea to talk about another thing and  I'll make one more quick point about this uh  

and this is why it's often important to study or  to learn a variety of subjects because you never  

know what might be coming from one thing and is  used in another as an example you might have a  

like a sports analogy or something like sports  so you might have something like to to hit the  

ball out of the park so this is in baseball when  you hit a home run to hit the ball out of the  

park is a good thing it's like the best thing you  can do uh offensively so for getting more points  

for your team uh in baseball but we can also use  that same expression to hit something out of the  

park when someone does anything very well so you  did a very good job with a business presentation  

or your academic paper or anything else you can  just say hey you really hit that out of the park  

you really hit that out of the park or you hit  one out of the park okay so you see how really  

natives are making these different connections and  the reason they're able to do that is because they  

understand vocabulary from situations they're not  really trying to think about vocabulary by itself  

they're thinking about the meaning of something  and how can we expand the the uses of the uses  

of that thing how else might we use something or  what other situations might we use something in  

okay so that's how we work uh so truthfully there  are fewer meanings of phrasal verbs than people  

think they are it just seems like a lot uh but if  you use your imagination a little creativity maybe  

try to tell some stories about things it will  be easier uh for you to understand these there  

all right hopefully that makes sense uh let's see  where did I leave off here all right uh I think I  

got all those over here wait to okay uh is it  morning or evening for you it is uh let's see  

about 10:00 in the morning here in Nagasaki Japan  all right uh let's see eler nice to see you there  

all right can you tell us a simple information  about State and Dynamic verbs that's not really  

the subject of this video but if you want to  Google that rather than me like explaining  

anything feel free uh Earth Sky let's see all  right Miguel says greeting from sa Paulo Brazil  

from Morocco look at that international relations  nice to see you there MAA hello you sound American  

yes that would be correct I'm from Chicago in  the United States but I do speak a little bit  

more clearly a little bit more slowly and I'm  often using vocabulary that's easier for people  

to understand so my my typical speaking voice  is a little bit different from how I'm speaking  

now Sandra nice to see you there lra says can  take out be used instead of put out yes it just  

depends on what you're what you're talking about  like where often again you will have uh multiple  

ways of expressing something like it is probably  in your language as well uh and so we have let's  

say a person let's see here's me and I have a box  here and there's a little I don't know just a ball  

inside of this box and so I could take the box  out it's or take the ball out of the box so I'm  

kind of reaching in and I'm taking it out of the  box so I'm taking the ball out of the box to take  

something out uh but I could also put the ball  out and it's more like I'm thinking about like  

taking the ball from here and putting it someplace  else make sure I got those phrasal verbs yeah so  

you can use both of these uh the idea for both of  them is that we're removing something so I'm the  

ball is no longer in the Box either I'm holding  it or I'm putting it on the floor or something  

like that so I can either take the box out and  when I'm taking something I'm usually bringing  

it to myself in some way or I can put it somewhere  okay so I could put it in my hands or I could put  

it on the floor so it's the same meaning but you  can think about how natives would would understand  

this visually oh I'm taking something out but then  maybe I put it somewhere okay so both of those  

are fine uh Aman says the greatest reward in the  world is what you get from teaching others thank  

you sir yes I really enjoy teaching and that's why  I do it uh I like to see that uh the the spark or  

that little the the the what do you call it like  the expression I can see it in people's eyes and  

I can't see your eyes as I'm teaching you here  but I've done this long enough that I can tell  

when people understand something and that's why I  teach that's a feeling I like to see I remember uh  

the pale H put uh Paul Paul McCartney uh put it  there could you please explain what he means by  

that well I don't I don't know that song but you  can guess like probably from this same idea he's  

like placing something or putting something in a  particular place all right greetings Drew is one  

minute long fried star is that freed uh we love  you teer thanks for your dedication you deserve  

much love it's my pleasure can can you tell  us this relationship between both languages  

English and French can you tell us about this  relationship between both languages English and  

French I don't know what that's asking me about uh  how is your normal speaking cell I don't want to  

spend a lot of time doing that in this video but  you can watch uh actually any of the conversation  

videos I have on this channel and you will see my  regular speaking voice all right uh so let's talk  

about imagination uh one of the reasons I wanted  to talk about this I know people would like to  

sound more like a native speaker and people can  say well what is a native speaker and there are  

millions of examples just pick one you know like  I am a native speaker anyone who speaks English  

confidently and fluently you'll notice that we all  sound a little bit different and so pick whoever  

you like you know you could pick uh you know you  want to sound like a celebrity or you want to  

sound like like people in your local community or  whatever it doesn't matter uh but this is how we  

can do this by ourselves and actually improve our  pronunciation a so this is one of our members of  

fluent for Life who was asking me about improving  pronunciation uh and how to do this more uh by  

himself and so anybody can do this as well uh  so just before I explain this uh a similar study  

actually I think multiple Studies have been uh  done about people shooting basketballs and Studies  

have been shown uh Studies have shown that mental  rehearsal so even just sitting down with your eyes  

closed relaxing or even standing up and pretending  like you're shooting a basketball so if you're at  

the free throw line where you try to shoot that  can actually help you improve your game so it can  

help you improve your free throw shooting ability  without actually shooting the ball so the ability  

of the mind to help you practice and prepare uh  this is really powerful and so you can use it to  

improve your pronunciation as well so what I like  to do when I'm teaching people pronunciation is  

really the most important part part uh the most  important part is that you should be getting  

lots of examples from many different native  speakers this is why influent for Life we've  

got I don't know maybe over a hundred I think  different native speakers that you hear uh you  

don't want to listen to only me because maybe  you will sound like me and that's fine but we  

need to prepare you for lots of different people  so maybe you can understand my speech but someone  

in a movie or maybe someone with a thick Scottish  accent or someone in a part of the United States  

it's more difficult for you to understand like the  South so whatever you're not used to that will be  

more difficult for you to hear and also uh just  really just make it generally more difficult to  

communicate so uh we want you to practice being  able to make these different sounds in your mind  

because it's easier to do this than it is to  mimic someone's voice actually so I can hear  

like anybody I want to I can hear their voice  clearly in my mind even if I can't sound exactly  

like them as an example a singer like Barry  White so this is like a big black guy with a  

deep voice I can't I can't like physically make  my voice sound like his but in my mind I can so  

I can actually imagine him in the same way AI so  artificial intelligence now you see more examples  

of this where people can take a celebrity voice uh  or you know anybody like that if you give that uh  

the AI lots of samples of a person speaking you're  kind of training them to make or recognize certain  

patterns about their speech so that you can make  that same thing as well and as you practice this  

so this is the same thing I get good at doing  in my mind I can take Barry White's voice in my  

mind so he's like a really like low deep singer  uh and I can make him say whatever I want to in  

his voice so I can imagine how he would say that  in his own voice and it's important to learn how  

to do this because that will help you improve your  pronunciation as well this mental rehearsal it can  

also take you with your own voice and you can  imagine yourself that's kind of the result of  

this so you start by imagining other people I'll  just give you some very quick steps for how you  

do this but you can imagine other people and then  you get some good examples of them speaking maybe  

if you like listening to my voice uh or if you've  watched a lot of my videos you probably know the  

sound of my voice in the way I'm speaking here so  you could imagine if I give you some text that you  

could imagine me saying that and how my voice  would sound and so I'll give you some examples  

of that as well but then you could take something  I have not said and then try to imagine how that  

would say and then compare it back with what the  actual person is saying so you can do this with  

any example uh I'll just give you some very quick  steps for this just to make it easy for people so  

the first thing is you need to find some example  of speech it could be me it could be anybody else  

just someone you want to sound like or you want  to help to understand their own pronunciation  

uh because your pronunciation and listening are  linked as you improve one you improve the other  

so just find something uh like find a person find  a speaker whatever that person is just a native  

speaker or somebody that you want to sound like  or that you want to understand better so find a  

speaker find a speaker uh and when you find  something you need to have an example with  

text it doesn't have to be that but it's a lot  easier if you do something uh so there should

be should be some text and this is actually a very  simple process you just need to find something uh  

like in my videos I have uh transcripts from  them you can see these right on YouTube or  

the subtitles as well uh typically for live  videos it takes about uh a day for the video  

to process and for the subtitles to be created so  if you're watching this right now uh and you're  

watching it live then you have to come back and  watch the subtitles but any previous videos you  

will find the subtitles for those uh but that's  a very like easy part because there's lots of if  

you're maybe trying to do this with the movie  uh then you can have a uh like a movie script  

so whatever that that thing like the the person  is just find someone who has a transcript it's  

just easier to do it this way so you find someone  with a transcript uh and then the next thing you  

want to do is just listen so you're you're kind  of listening to them so listen to them while you  

read the transcript just so you can understand  the words it's much easier while you're reading  

the transcript because if you're just listening  you might miss some words so find a movie script  

or something like that where you can read along  with the person so listen while you read along and  

again uh I'm I'm listening to them I'm actually  hearing their voice so maybe I find someone like  

I watch a movie like The Lord of the Rings uh  and I'm listening to some character and I have  

the script or the subtitles on the video while  I'm watching it okay so very simple step one  

find something it could be a movie it could be a  person like a YouTube video something like that  

but something where you can hear that person and  seeing them is a good idea as well so that's why  

I talk about about movies or videos rather than  listening to a podcast something like that you  

can just improve your pronunciation better when  you can visually see the way people are moving  

this is why children really should see people's  uh people's mouths moving as they're listening  

to their speech all right and then while you're  listening to something you're beginning to read  

along so what's happening in this process you are  if we just imagine like we'll put your ear right  

here uh and then we have like your eye you're  listening to them but you're also reading ing  

the transcript so you're listening to the the  transcript and you're read or listening to the  

speech reading the transcript and then the part  three of this make sure you can fit this in here  

all right three fits so now what we want to do is  imagine how they will say something next okay so  

so far we've been listening and reading at the  same time we're paying attention to what they  

say and we're also uh listening or reading the  transcript and so the next thing if we continue  

following this what we want to do actually  we'll we'll continue reading the transcript  

but we will stop listening okay so we're right  so far at the beginning we're listening to them  

and we're reading the transcript at the same  time but then we will stop listening to them  

like I'm watching a movie or something while I'm  reading the transcript of that thing and I will  

just continue as if it's them in my mind and I'm  they're so they're not saying anything I'm not  

watching them pause the video or whatever I'm  watching but I still read the transcript in my  

mind like it's their voice okay so this part here  where I'm listening to them and I'm reading the  

transcript it's kind of giving my mind input about  the way they would say something and so this could  

be like 5 minutes or 10 minutes or whatever if  you know that person very well it will be easier  

but if it's a like a new person a new example or  a movie something like that then you should give  

yourself more time uh so you're going to listen  and you're going to listen to them and you're  

going to read the transcript at the same time and  then you continue so let's say I have a speech  

where someone is saying uh tomorrow I will go to  the park uh and then I will play with my dog so  

tomorrow I will go to the park and then I will  play with my dog so at this part of the speech  

here we from here to here is tomorrow I will  go to the park and then this part it just I'm  

reading the transcript tomorrow I will go to the  park and then I will play with my dog tomorrow I  

will go to the park and then I will play with my  dog so we're listening to their speech here and  

then over here we're imagining what they would  sound like you're just seeing it in in your  

mind you're you're actually you could close your  eyes see them and imagine them saying that thing  

in their voice okay so just imagine how someone  would say that and then after that so step three  

after you do this thing you're going to go back  and let it continue and compare what you had in  

your imagination with how they actually spoke it  okay and so even if it doesn't sound exactly right  

you know you can do this a couple of times with  different speech but the point is for you to get  

good at understanding how that person would speak  it's really like you know good exercise for your  

mind and your pronunciation and listening uh but  you can do this a number of times so with the same  

person it could be the same actor or a person  like me anyone else but this is how you prepare  

yourself you can take some new speech and then  actually test how good your pronunciation is okay  

so you can and again it's it's not even like you  speaking this is all in your imagination all of  

these steps so the first thing you find something  you listen to it while you're reading along and  

then you continue reading while you stop or while  you stop listening to them all right so the step  

three is then you go back and check that as well  okay so check your progress or check your progress  

check your understanding and then compare so I  can easily listen and then I can continue to do  

this maybe for you know the next five minutes or  something so I could I could read the transcript  

a little bit imagine how they would sound and then  continue to play the video and then see how that  

sounds okay now to give you a good example of  this again it really is a very simple thing but  

we just want to get used to how they would sound  imagining that other person uh sounding in our  

mind okay we're just we're just trying to imagine  someone else and how they would sound in our

mind so we're going to do an example of  this right now just so I can show you how  

this would work all right so we're going  to use me as an example and I want you to  

try to imagine how I would say something and  then we will compare that okay so the first  

thing uh we just imagine this is like a a real  thing where you're watching a video or you're  

watching me talking about something but we'll  have I'll just write something very quickly  

at something simple uh we'll just do the same  kind of thing we did in the previous example  

tomorrow Leto all right I can't write  and and talk at the same time o r r o

tomorrow

okay so we have uh just two sentences  here the first thing we're going to do  

I'm going to say this one just so you can get  a feeling for how I would speak you've already  

been listening to me for a while especially  if you've been listening for many videos you  

you're you're used to the sound of my speech  you can probably imagine how I will say this  

second sentence here but I'm just going to  say this one and then I'll give you a moment  

to try to imagine how I would say the second  sentence okay so this is just an example of  

how you would do this with any speech or any  text uh text in video like a movie transcript  

uh that you would find okay tomorrow I  will play baseball tomorrow I will play

baseball

so just imagine me saying this in my or in your  

mind tomorrow I will play some  baseb or tomorrow I will play

baseball tomorrow I will play

baseball okay hopefully you've got this in your  mind now I'm going to say the whole thing and you  

can compare that with how it sounds in your mind  tomorrow I will play baseball then I will eat some  

pizza tomorrow I will play baseball then I will  eat some pizza tomorrow I will play baseball then  

I will eat some pizza so usually what people  are doing when they're trying to improve their  

listening is it's more of a passive uh like a  passive exercise of just listening to someone  

speak but if you get active with this and try  to anticipate what the other person will say or  

maybe you're not like anticipating what they'll  say but you know what they'll say you're trying  

to understand how they would say that it really  improves your listening and it really trains you  

to think more like a native speaker and to get  your accent and your pronunciation much more  

smooth and natural all right so we'll give  you this one more time tomorrow I will play  

baseball then I will eat some pizza tomorrow I  will play baseball then I will eat some pizza  

all right I'll give you one more example we'll  write uh a different set of sentences here but  

hopefully you get the idea tomorrow I will play  baseball after that I'm going to I'm going to eat  

pizza isn't it well again there are different  ways to express this the point of this example  

is not that there's only one way to do this the  point is I'm trying to listen and then just when  

I know what the person is going to say this is  the easiest way to do it now the highest level  

of this which we're not going to talk about in  this video is actually being prepared for what  

people will say as your English imp proves  you're able to anticipate what other people  

will say even if you don't know what they're  going to say so this example is just about  

pronunciation I'm not trying to guess what the  other person will say next I'm just listening  

and just trying to improve my pronunciation or  my ability to to sound or make English sound  

the way I want to by listening to someone who's  already a native speaker so someone who already  

has good pronunciation we want to take that  example and just practice that in our mind mind

okay so I'm going to give you another

example all right let's try one more time  I apologize for the red hopefully you can  

see it but this should make sense so will  you come to the party will you come to the

party will you come to the

party will you come to the

party okay we'll do the whole thing now will  you come to the party I'll be there late will  

you come to the party I'll be there late I'll  be there late I'll be there late all right so  

remember the whole point of this exercise is  to stretch your mind stretch your imagination  

uh and then you can do the same thing as  well this is the maybe the first step for  

uh improving your pronunciation anticipating  what someone else will sound like uh yeah I  

think I'm I'm trying to give you this example  it's okay if uh you know there are lots of  

examples you can find even if this one is not  the clearest example uh I can do some blue we  

can give you one more uh just to make this  a little bit easier a little bit easier to

read let's try a

black

all right hopefully this  is clear I'm going shopping  

today I'm going shopping today I'm going shopping

today so can you imagine how I would say this I'm  going shopping today I'm going shopping today and  

it's okay if it doesn't sound exactly right if  your pronunciation isn't perfect that's not really  

the point because I could actually pronounce  these things or say them slightly different uh  

differently especially if I'm uh focusing on a  particular thing as an example I might say I'm  

going shopping as opposed to someone else or I'm  going shopping today as opposed to some other day  

all right but for this example the point is we're  just trying to listen to something and anticipate  

how you think in general I might sound okay I'm  going shopping today do you need anything I'm  

going shopping today do you need anything do you  need anything okay I think everybody is getting  

it all right no thanks all right that's good cuz  I'm not really going shopping today oh all right  

so I'm going shopping today do you need anything  hopefully everybody gets this again this is just  

an exercise for you to uh to anticipate how other  people might speak so you can start to manipulate  

their speech in your mind so you are kind of  becoming an AI this is how you would naturally  

do it now if you watch people who do voices for  characters like you know people who do cartoon  

characters that kind of of thing they're trying  to imagine how that character would speak and  

then they give that voice so that's what they're  doing uh with the same kind of technique all right  

so the next thing you can do a as you get good at  doing this is just doing it with your own voice  

so before you speak imagine how someone else  would speak and then you try to imagine it with  

your voice so the fourth step in this process is  just imagine try to do it with your own voice all  

right so as you get used to hearing other people  pronounce things you don't need to sit and and  

physically pronounce things uh in order to improve  your pronunciation you can actually do this  

mentally just to prepare for that and as you get  used to doing that your mind you will naturally  

uh begin you know changing the way you you think  and the way you pronounce it will become a natural  

process for you okay so I'm going shopping today  do you need anything all right so do you need  

anything do you need anything do you need anything  there are different ways I could pronounce this  

but the general idea is that I'm just training  my mind to be prepared for how people how people  

would speak and so if you're good at mimicking  actual voices or taking someone's voice and  

saying something new with it the same way AI  does that's the same thing you can do with your  

pronunciation okay all right it's like someone  just mentioned water which is a good idea there we

go so you can imagine anybody saying anything and  you can also imagine yourself saying something in  

the kind of voice you would like to have so I can  take somebody's voice and and change what they say  

or give them some new words in the same way that  a cartoon uh voiceover person would do this all  

right so that's the whole technique very simple  something you can try and I do this uh regularly  

with Japanese I can listen to a Japanese speaker  and take their speech and change it a little bit  

so it fits my voice and when I actually speak  then it you know it's my actual speaking voice  

but I can uh prepare I can understand this thing  uh in in my own pronunciation okay hopefully this  

makes sense all right let me go back and answer  any questions people have this is actually a very  

simple process and uh the point is it's just  rather than you being passively uh trying to  

listen to something you're actively trying to  anticipate what other people would say or how  

people would sound and as you get better at that  you can improve your own pronunciation in the same  

way so I can take their sound or their voice and I  can make it my voice in my mind I can do whatever  

whatever I want in my own mind all right it's your  mind you do what you want with it all right uh  

let's see all right I'll go back and answer these  let's see Telson says hello from Brazil G says  

how is your nor oh I can't I think I answered  that already all right uh can you make a video  

with your daughter we really want to see you with  your daughter I think it will be an amazing idea  

uh you can find actually my older daughter Arya  I don't think Noel is in a video uh but both of  

my daughters actually this is an interesting story  uh I can't show it because I have it's on my phone  

right now but my my two daughters so Arya is8  and Noel just turned 5 years old uh they're very  

creative they like to make things and build little  stuff Arya made like a phone with some pieces of  

paper uh it was an interesting little thing that  she made um but they decided they wanted to do  

a they were kind of playing pretending to be news  reporters uh and so Arya has a tablet like a like  

a like an iPad kind of thing that she got from  her school uh and she also has I think like a  

different one that we got just another tablet she  can use uh but she and and Noel so both of them  

like they put some toy cars on the ground and  they were talking about like a traffic accident  

and so Arya recorded that so she took a video of  that and then they took the iPad and like put it  

up behind Noel and Noel was standing there being  like pretending to be a reporter with the with  

the screen behind her just like an actual news  broadcast so I thought that was very entertaining  

uh so that that's like you know the kind of  thing they do but this is a similar idea of  

actually what I just explained about using your  imagination uh and so I don't know if they will  

be in uh any videos if that's helpful maybe we  could do that but uh I did that before with Arya  

just because it was new like it was a different  thing I could show her so I have a video about me  

teaching her uh some phrasal verbs and I use that  same process in the visual guide to phrasal verbs  

uh as well as fluent for life all right aha music  group has a song called Take On Me what does take  

on me mean ah well you should watch do you do you  know the video you should watch the video watch  

the music video it will make more sense so like  taking on something is like to accept that thing  

or to welcome that thing like or it could mean to  kind of fight against that thing as well watch the  

video all right again is some students practice  with movies stress and sound like the characters  

but when comes to reality is not like Cinema yes  so again the the native speaker is learning with  

lots of different examples so a native will watch  some movies like like if I'm learning uh Japanese  

in Japan I could only watch anime TV shows and and  real people don't speak like that you know it's  

like a special way of speaking that normal people  you would very rarely hear anyone speak with that  

vocabulary or or that way of speaking but it's  an example of how people speak and so part of  

that influence is what's what's informing the way  I pronounce Japanese so I'm watching a little bit  

of something I actually don't watch much anime  or or television most of my Japanese speaking  

ability just comes from listening to actual people  speaking in regular environments uh but you should  

get lots of examples and so on YouTube This is  actually me just speaking right now or you could  

find some other examples of people just native  speakers talking about whatever so it doesn't need  

to be a movie that's just an example of something  but typically movies have a script and so you can  

watch that while you read the script uh and then  you can uh get much better examples just makes  

the process easier for people all right so it  again it doesn't you don't have to do it with a  

particular thing just pick whatever you like well  whatever you like whatever you're interested in  

Ezra says Hi teacher I haven't been with you for  a while it's a good day that I'm attending this  

broadcast glad to hear so Canon says how can I  imagine the things if I didn't have any confidence  

with my word should I just keep watching movies  to improve it just do what I'm telling you to  

do what I'm recommending so again the point is  you're looking for examples of how other people  

would do something so if it's difficult for you to  imagine something then you can easily check that  

by watching a video so you watch the video while  you read the transcript then you stop watching the  

video as you continue to read the transcript but  you imagine how the character would say something  

or how the person would say something and then  you go back and check that so you listen to how  

they will do it and after a while you will get  very good at anticipating how they will sound  

and that will the point of this is just to train  your imagination so that you can you can improve  

your own pronunciation all right so it's just  a quick exercise uh to do some of that uh let's  

see as I checked some videos of yours I noticed  I needed to listen to speakers of the language  

more and try to speak without fear so that I could  speak fluently uh just to make this clear for you  

and everyone else out there the confidence that  you need to speak it comes from understanding  

the language well so listening to things if you  don't don't really understand that you will not  

feel confident using it so you don't become more  confident by repeating things just trying to force  

yourself to speak it's actually much better to  really understand something uh if you watch the  

the previous video the previous live video I did  when was that last Thursday I think a week ago uh  

so if you watch that uh it will explain an example  of this about how to really understand something  

deeply the same way a native does so that's what  I'm trying to do in all of my videos today's video  

is about pronunciation but often I'm teaching  vocabulary and helping people just just understand  

the way they should be learning so when you feel  confident about your vocabulary that means you've  

eliminated the doubts or questions you have about  grammar or pronunciation or vocabulary and then  

you're able to speak so don't worry about trying  to find people to practice with or repeating  

things or uh or looking for yeah as I mentioned  like finding people to practice with like none  

of that is going to help you improve as much as  just just understanding the language better so  

when you understand you eliminate the questions  and doubts that stop you from speaking that's  

when you speak uh let's see Elder says the day I  take a dollar the game is over all right uh Prince  

says sometime pronunciation becomes a problem sir  yeah so again like this will train you to improve  

that also if you'd like to hear me uh and and  teach or learn how to make all these different  

sounds the same way native speakers do than just  get Frederick which you can click on uh the link  

in the description in this video to get or the uh  Link in the description below this video uh it's  

like imagining speaking with another person yes  so you can speak with another person or you can  

imagine like multiple people speaking I could have  you know conversations in my mind uh of multiple  

people speaking it's almost like a dream you  can imagine that but the point is uh this is the  

exercise that will train you and help you improve  your pronunciation uh as you get good at that so  

if you can manipulate your own pronunciation then  you will get very good at making different sounds  

uh and that's how you speak more more fluently  and confidently all right uh tomorrow I will  

play basketball after that I'm gonna gonna eat  gonna you would just well gonna gonna is is a  

contraction of going to so you just say going to  eat pizza all right as it says when reading in  

English it's I sometimes read it incorrectly  unfortunately but someone gave me a sight to  

correct the pronunciation yeah so again this is  why we find something where we have an example of  

somebody speaking so it's a movie or a video and  we have a transcript all right so you don't have  

to imagine how they would sound you know exactly  how they would sound uh because you you have that  

example to check so you're listening you're trying  to get a good example this is the same way you  

would train AI so you're kind of training yourself  in the same way to use your own imagination all  

right uh let's see Juan Carlos says what's a good  way to begin a conversation that's a big problem  

for me even if it's very simple words I just don't  come out it's very embarrassing uh Juan Carlos  

watch the video I did it was maybe two weeks ago  about uh this can make or break communication so  

if you watch that video it specifically talks  about this issue about beginning conversations  

as our yes I want a lot can you buy it yes  okay I think people got it all right let's  

seea Castilla says hray are you think about that  cuz Nagasaki let's see uh zenish Beck says got it  

you're all right hopefully everyone will yeah  this makes sense uh will mimicking helps to  

improve pronunciation yes it will but I'm the what  I'm suggesting here is that you do this with your  

imagination because it's much easier and faster to  improve your pronunciation that way uh because you  

will probably become frustrated if you try to just  speak directly copying the other person because  

like the example examp Le I gave about Barry  White like I can listen to him talk and I'm not  

going to sound like Barry White because my voice  just isn't low enough I can kind of pretend like  

give give my voice but my my voice just doesn't go  that low all right so I if I find someone who I uh  

someone I can sound like uh I can kind of pretend  or mimic those sounds but it's much easier for me  

to do it mentally with my imagination so I imagine  myself doing something and then I can mimic there  

or I can take them speak and then change their  words that kind of thing uh let's see can you  

make a lesson Finance English I work in finance  feere uh we have uh a couple of different lesson  

sets about Finance uh sales investing things like  that influent for life so we've already done that  

uh hello teacher remember me says Mr Mario yes  yes I I remember Mr Mario yeah it's a me Mario  

Mario as see Sanders says great exercise thank  you uh exan says sir I ask my teacher how I can  

speak English very good because I know many words  in English but she tell me that if I want to speak  

English without translating the words I want that  if I want to speak English without translating the  

words I want to say in my mind please help me  oh what what did she did did your teacher give  

you some advice the the the only advice I give  to people is that you have to understand the  

language well enough to speak so if you if you are  learning something through translations then you  

will speak through translations so how you learn  is how you speak and if you learn English as a  

second language and this means you're learning  translations or trying to study grammar tables  

or other things like that that would actually  can make the language confusing and when you're  

confused you don't speak all right so most  people uh even myself like I don't want to  

make mistakes in front of other people either so  I will probably not say something if I think I  

will use it incorrectly instead I will switch  to a different word or something uh that I can  

express correctly and so most people when they're  learning they're they're still learning through  

translations or through all of the traditional  second language methods that actually stop you  

from understanding the language well and a big  part of that is the the language that you learn  

like the vocabulary or the speaking examples  that you listen to It's not the way natives  

actually speak and so even this like you might be  understanding my speech here very well but it's  

still different from how I would normally speak  in a conversation and you can see me speaking in  

conversations with other native speakers on the  channel so just search for uh fluent for life  

or Master English conversation and you can see  uh how that works but but that's that's really  

the whole secret and so most people either don't  know about this or if they do they just ignore it  

because schools don't really care they need to you  know just just get you to practice something for  

a test and it doesn't matter if you become a good  speaker or not but for me like that's the thing I  

specifically focus on how to help people actually  speak and so the way you learn becomes the way you  

speak and that's the same thing I've been saying  for 20 years and helping people learn like a first  

language that's the reason I do that so we really  want to help people understand the language well  

watch the the previous video uh the previous live  video I did last week uh talking about the word  

super and you will see an example of that when  you understand something really well then you  

feel confident using it all right that's when  you speak so most people think that you start  

speaking and you improve your fluency by speaking  but that doesn't really help you because you're  

not actually improving your understanding of the  language when you speak You're Just either getting  

examples from other people in conversations  uh but typically repeating things isn't going  

to teach you anything new or help you understand  language better and it's understanding that helps  

you speak all right so that's kind of a long way  of explaining that but if you'd like to speak uh  

without uh thinking in translating then you need  to stop learning that way that's basically what  

you have to do and and I I feel bad I'm not trying  to say like you guys are doing that it's it's just  

really the way everybody teaches and that's  why people are so used to doing that all right  

uh let's see hisor excellente there we go ah you  speak French okay uh I speak four languages very  

good all right so oh wow like how okay I answered  that question already Joseph says hrew uh how can  

I learn a new language quickly you just begin  it the same way I explained it before so you  

you start learning it as a first language that's  all you have to do uh and the the tricky thing is  

just like it's hard to uh collect the information  or the examples of native speech that you need to  

do that and to make it clear for you because most  people do not teach that way so if you look for  

examples of English uh I have a video series here  on YouTube it's like the best beginning English  

grammar playlist just look for that playlist  on my channel and it shows you how to learn  

English as a first language uh Mal G says I am  a member of fluent for life well again welcome  

to the program hopefully you are enjoying it and  improving with it uh let's see Sadam says good  

morning all right Drew you amazing I learned a lot  from you particularly linking pieces of thoughts  

without interruption glad to hear all right all  right I think everybody's yeah everybody's getting  

it and look at that we we we finished in under an  hour without me getting through all the comments  

so if people have any additional questions feel  free to post them here I will give a quick recap  

of what we talked about in this video uh the  point is if you want to improve your actual  

like your spoken voice you should become better  at improving mentally U your kind of ability to  

imagine the way other people sound first because  you can see examples of how they would pronounce  

things and you can test yourself about this and  this is actually the same thing I recommend people  

do with Frederick so if you have that app uh you  can imagine how I would say something and then  

listen to the app give you that or you can read  a uh an example of like a sentence and then you  

can hear how I would actually say that sentence  all right so remember this app is made for both  

native speakers and non-native speakers because  takes you through all the steps that you need  

and you will have to go through all those steps  if you want to understand and pronounce English  

like a native uh but again the whole point is to  train your pronunciation and this is another great  

way to do that just using your imagination to take  examples of speech where we listen to someone like  

an actor in a movie or someone giving a speech so  we listen while we read a transcript and then we  

stop listening and continue to read the transcript  and then we go back and play that video again and  

just listen to how that person would sound all  right so we're just trying to anticipate how that  

person would sound that's really the first level  of this the second level is taking their speech  

and actually changing it so giving them something  new to say in your mind the same way AI would do  

that so this is how you can take Ai and generate  voices where some celebrity is reading a book or  

something that they're not actually reading and  some of these sound really convincing but you can  

do this in your mind and and make it uh actually  perfect and then the next level of that is to take  

your own pronunciation and manipulate it in  the same way so you can listen to how someone  

else would speak and then you try listening uh  to how you would speak and you can change your  

pronunciation and improve your pronunciation in  that way all right so really this will again I I  

know it sounds a little bit weird that you think  maybe your mouth movements and that kind of thing  

are important and yes it's helpful to do that  but the the power of your mind uh it really will  

surprise you if you try to do this and this is how  I got good at just mimicking different voices uh  

and understanding how different people say things  and I can take you know speech that's nobody  

actually said and I can put that into the voice  of someone else in my mind so I can take that in  

my own voice that's kind of how I'm speaking how I  continue to speak uh and it's become automatic for  

me but it also helps with your fluency so there  are many good reasons to do this and give it a try  

it's a very easy thing to test uh and you should  see very quickly how it can help you improve all  

right last final questions here Sanders says have  a wonderful day Drew thank you so much awesome  

class glad to hear it uh my voice is ass oh no  well that's awful you should change don't don't  

have an ass voice you need to have a better voice  than that change that in your mind first okay so  

that's how you improve your pronunciation I don't  think I will speak like a native one day even if I  

want to speak English with my friends I just don't  do it because I don't want to be annoying in front  

of them yeah so again you have the typical kinds  of problems uh that most English Learners have and  

that's because of how they learn all right so if  we imagine like two people uh and let's say just  

like to give a I think you said you speak French  that maybe that's your your native language let's  

just let's let's assume it is uh so we have two  French speakers uh and they both live in France  

they're both I don't know let's say they're  like 20 years old uh and they don't know any  

English now there are some connections it's easier  learn English from French just because some of the  

words are the same uh but if we imagine both of  them both of these people spend like one year uh  

learning the language now the first person they  learn English as a second language and this means  

they're going to learn English through French  and maybe their teachers are going to explain a  

lot of things in French to help that person try  to understand or they will try to study grammar  

rules or they will listen to dialogues that kind  of thing uh and so after a year they will still  

probably be they will know a lot more English  but they will still continue to struggle they  

will have problems with their accent so let's  just draw a kind of unhappy person over here  

they will have problems with their accent they  will forget words in conversations and again it's  

not because of who they are it's because of how  they learned and we know that because this other  

person over here instead of learning English  as a second language they learned English as  

a first language and this means they're going to  get real native examples they're going to get lots  

of native examples that will help them improve  their pronunciation and their listening they will  

understand grammar uh more intuitively through  getting visual examples of things uh and this  

will help them improve their speaking and fluency  and confidence automatically okay so it does just  

because you don't live in an English-speaking  country doesn't mean you can't become a really  

good speaker or even sound like a native if that's  important to you now I will say pronunciation is  

less important than correct grammar uh but you  can improve both of these things as your uh as  

you're learning more like a native speaker so if  you stop learning with traditional methods that  

actually keep you stuck so again traditional  methods are not going to help you understand  

the real speech that natives are using and they're  also going to make the language more confusing so  

it becomes more difficult when you try to speak  okay so the the actual method is making it more  

difficult for you to communicate so stop doing  that and actually just start getting examples of  

how natives speak and just watch more of my videos  if you'd like to learn uh specifically how to do  

that uh but that's what we do on this channel  so this is helping people understand English  

as a first language okay so this person over  here after a year they sound more like a native  

speaker and I'm just using a year as an example  but even like a week would be different okay so  

even just a little bit of time uh this person is  like improving their fluency this person is kind  

of learning more but they're staying pretty flat  they're learning more vocabulary but they're not  

really becoming a more confident speaker because  they don't really understand what they're learning  

they can recognize a lot of information but  they still don't have the confidence to speak  

because they really don't feel that they actually  understand that okay so it doesn't matter where  

you live you can do this in France or Germany  or Spain or tell like wherever it doesn't matter  

uh wherever you're trying to learn the point is  either you learn like a native so you're learning  

English as a first language or you're continuing  to learn English as a second language all right  

all right let's see here uh okay all right let me  see if there any more uh questions over here all

right I think okay that makes sense over  here okay so yeah like just because your  

your pronunciation is bad now doesn't mean it  like you couldn't improve it okay so don't worry  

about that like the past is the past now we're  going to change the way we learn and become a  

more confident speaker so don't worry about that  feel confident feel excited about that because  

it's it's not about you it's just the way you  learn okay all right uh let's see g j says hi  

Drew learning pronunciation is a tricky part uh if  you put up with whatever words or phrases listen  

to many uh watch different native speakers you'll  be able to say those words comfortably yes so the  

more examples you get you more you will feel  more confident about it and that's what will  

also let you try to say new things so you're  listening to someone who is saying something  

and you know what they're going to say and you  can practice that but then you can also imagine  

how they would say something different okay and so  you can get lots of examples of that and practice  

and train yourself and you will become very good  at doing that and really the ultimate level uh is  

you will know what the other person is going to  say before they say it when your language level  

gets good enough you already know what the person  is going to say often it's not like all the time  

but this is why people can finish each other's  sentences uh or people will interrupt each other  

because they know what the point is and obviously  you shouldn't be doing these things anyway but  

people can because they know the patterns so well  okay that's like the highest level when you're  

really fluent you actually start doing this  and it becomes much easier to do that you can  

really anticipate what other people are going to  say because you know what their like their their  

questions are uh or the way they pronounce  things uh Canon says what is the difference  

between them I mean there's a lot of people learn  English language like a second language and they  

get fluent I agree with you but sometimes  you can make it yes like uh if you imagine

uh I don't know what country you are from  but let's imagine uh Japan just as an example  

because I'm in Japan so I'm going to draw a  quick uh picture of Japan over here so here  

is Japan uh and I'm going to draw this pretty  close over here but let's imagine uh America  

is over here now there are different ways that  I could get from Japan to America I could swim  

I mean how long would it take me if I could swim  how long would it take me to swim to America how  

long would that take I don't know you can Google  that and find out let's let's let's just say it  

takes I don't know 2 months cuz I think a boat  like it takes maybe a week or something or for  

for those big like shipping containers for a boat  to go from uh Japan to the United States I don't  

know how long it takes uh but you can imagine  it takes a long time or I could fly so I could  

fly from Japan to the United States and it takes I  don't know 11 hours or something maybe from Tokyo  

to to the West Coast okay so there are different  ways to get to the destination so I can start in  

Japan and get to the United States I could swim  and maybe that would take many months if I could  

do it or I could take 11 hours and I could fly  so in the same way you could learn English as  

a second language and become a good speaker you  could learn English as a second language become  

a good speaker but that's kind of like swimming  when it's much easier and faster to fly wouldn't  

you rather fly wouldn't that be easier I would  rather do that like uh because I failed for many  

years at learning different languages I don't want  to swim from Japan to the United States that's a  

huge waste of time maybe I die or get eaten by  sharks or something like that I want to fly make  

this nice and easy and quick okay so it's the  same thing so English as a second language it  

is possible to get fluent that way but it's very  difficult because you're while you're learning  

you're making it more difficult to communicate so  it's it's just it's a really I don't know like it  

doesn't make any sense to me at all to learn that  way uh unless you're trying to be uh a linguist  

specifically what I'm talking about is being able  to communicate fluently and confidently uh and so  

I would much rather learn English as a first  language or whatever so I learn Japanese as a  

first language today uh and that's how I'm able  to get fluent much faster so you could uh like  

some people do get fluent after they've spent  many years of something but if I was trying to  

learn a new language starting today I would do it  this way okay so yes like it is possible to learn  

uh a different language the traditional way and  continue to do that uh but again like why would  

you do that all right uh let's see Kevin Mendo  says thanks Sensei all right Daniel says I'm  

talk English so you would say I speak English or  I talk in English Alex the great says is accent  

important uh not not as important as people think  I know people like to sound native like I like to  

improve my Japanese pronunciation and try to say  things in the way a native would because that's  

really impressive to people and it can change  the way uh people talk with you so I want to  

get as close as I can to the native way someone  would speak that way like I'm speaking with and  

they're surprised and impressed by the way I  speak uh because that's going to change the  

relationship I have with that person so if I if I  can if I can use some vocabulary or pronunciation  

that sounds like people like if I if I meet  I remember traveling one time here in Japan  

I was in a different part of Japan uh and I met  um like I heard like just a woman talking with  

her kids in Japanese but she was using like  local Nagasaki dialect and I was like oh are  

you from Nagasaki and she was just surprised to  hear a foreigner asking that because foreigners  

typically don't know the difference between like  you know different accents in different parts of  

Japan uh but this is the same way a uh an English  Learner in the United States would know oh you're  

from Texas you're you're maybe you're from here  or that it just means you have a good depth of  

knowledge and experience with the language and so  that changes their impression of you uh or their  

understanding of you and you know that could that  could mean uh like a Better Business relationship  

or a discount it's something like there's always  you know interesting things that happen because  

of those experiences and that's why I try to  do that but more important than accent is just  

communicating correctly so having good grammar  uh let's see xan again says that can you give  

us some activities that we can do to improve my  skills uh so if you just watch my channel and  

you will you will learn lots of different things  but uh I always like to keep it simple for people  

so just focus on this one thing which is learning  English as a first language that's really all you  

have to do so instead of learning like all of the  tricky things you need to do for learning English  

as a second language so trying to study grammar  rules or make flashcards or something like that  

just learn English as a first language watch the  previous video I made I forget the name of that  

uh but it was the one it's like from a few days  ago last week watch that video and also how to  

get a deep voice uh you I answered that question  with this video as well so you have to imagine uh  

like the way you speak now or imagine some other  people with deeper voices and and really practice  

with that and I mean you have a a kind of natural  limit like you couldn't be really low I don't know  

how how you sound but um I mean most people have a  comfortable lower voice of speaking so even right  

now I could you know if I'm like angry at my kids  I might might make my voice a little bit lower you  

know but typically this is the way I speak all  right uh M says what you mean learning English  

as a first language please give an example as I  joined a little later thanks you should watch the  

watch the uh the video on my channel actually I  have many videos on the channel about this uh but  

learning English as a first language if you just  search my channel for that uh the basic idea I'll  

give you an example of Japanese like a lesson of  Japanese as a first language I haven't given this  

lesson in a while um but right now I'll teach you  some Japanese as a first language and this means  

I'm trying to help you understand it in Japanese  rather than through translations uh so if we have

K Kudo Kudo Kudo Kudo Kudo kudo K Mak K okay  so that's an example of how how we would learn  

something and I don't expect you to remember those  words now uh I didn't you know it's the the point  

of language learning is that you're getting uh  many many lessons over time that really help  

you understand things but the point is I don't  need to use English or your native language to  

teach you Japanese I can teach you Japanese in  Japanese Okay so that's what it means to learn  

a language as a first language and you can just  think about how you learned your native language  

as a child I don't know what your native  language is but if you maybe from China  

or Vietnam or whatever uh you learned Chinese  or Vietnamese or whatever your language is in  

your language because that's the only way you  can teach someone your parents cannot use one  

language to teach you another language because  you don't know that language either so the only  

thing they can do is give you examples of  things that you understand and when you  

understand something you have the confidence  to speak okay so you begin by understanding  

that's when you speak you don't like repeat  I don't I don't just say like if I say like  

a Kudo Kudo Kudo Kudo and I keep showing you  this you don't really understand what I mean  

Kudo Kudo Kudo Kudo but because I show you like  Kudo then you think ah he's talking about colors  

like your your brain begins to understand the  difference there because I made it understandable

okayo and now you're learning oh that's  interesting like the color comes before  

the object maybe oh that's like English that's  interesting like black marker K Maka blue marker  

a makaa Maka okay so your brain is processing  all of that information because I'm making the  

Lang anguage understandable so as me uh for like  finding an example of something just to make it  

easier uh and this is like a very simple and  easy way of understanding this but you could  

begin doing that with any language okay so you  don't need to learn English through a different  

language the I mean the only reason to translate  really is if I need to go to another country on  

business and I need to like just learn some  expression just to say that okay so it's not  

you know I'm not actually learning the language  I'm just learning a few phrases uh so maybe I can  

say where is the bathroom or you know Hello nice  to meet you or something like that all right uh  

let's see all right can says hi Drew I think one  must have hardworking tongue and mouth apparatus  

to pronounce words correctly in English and also  especially women should sound more kidish maybe  

because of more nasal sounds Yes again I uh I  don't want to to have a discussion about like  

how people's voices actually sound uh really the  point of this video is just to show you hey you  

can do all this with like do do the mental work  first and the physical work becomes a lot easier  

so once you can start making sounds once you  understand something mentally and you can do  

that practice all day you can do it very easily  and so you do that just getting used to you making  

those sounds even the things I'm saying right  now I can imagine all that in my head before I  

say it uh and so that will help me uh produce  sounds as well or I can imagine how someone  

else would do something so just do that mental  work first don't worry about exactly how your  

pronunciation is uh but as you get more examples  of different people and this is why we organize  

fluent for life around different speakers because  I want you to get examples of lots of different  

people number one so that you understand different  people in the real world but number two so that  

you hear that each person has their own unique  way of speaking speaking you don't have to sound  

exactly like me to speak English like they're  like literally millions I mean billions really  

I guess uh native English speakers there are lots  of people who speak English uh as a first language  

and so you can listen to all of them uh or even  just a few of them and here ah so like my dad he  

sounds different than my mom but my pronunciation  comes from them and also how my my physical like  

what you're talking about like the physical  Hardware uh that I have of my my voice coming  

from my nose or the size of my mouth that kind  of thing uh but don't overthink this we really  

want to give people examples uh just to help them  understand and make them more confident by just  

doing the mental practice with imagination first  all right uh let's see G there is no such thing  

as learning a language as a second language who  invented that stupid idea well I mean there there  

is such a thing as people learning that way it's  just I don't recommend it it's what most people do  

because they think the only way to teach someone  is by explaining something first in their native  

language which isn't true because nobody does that  in their native language so there's no reason to  

do that in a second language as well uh yes but I  found Wikipedia big relationship between English  

and French specifically in vocabulary 50% if  you can explain this to me Point well if you  

if you think about like language Origins like  if we have like a language like Latin uh that  

would contribute to like English and French and  Spanish so there are going to be some words that  

are the same but they sound different maybe  they even have a slightly different meaning  

uh but like you know uh like International like  an American would pronounce it International but  

I don't know someone from Mexico would say like  I don't know actually I don't know if that word  

is the same but like here here here's an example  of like there's a television uh I think it's like  

a a studio or like the company name called like  Univision so like one one Vision so an American uh  

like a typical way of pronouncing this an American  English speaker would say Univision Univision like  

you would have like television so Univision but  the like in Mexico someone would say like univ  

so it's the same word but people would pronounce  it differently and I'm not a Spanish speaker but  

the point is it's the same word so it can come  they have like the same uh origin and obviously  

there are many words that are not the same but  a lot of this is just uh the pronunciation is  

different so if you know the word already like a  reason Japanese is more difficult is because it's  

a different written language like they don't I  mean they actually do use a lot of English uh like  

Roman English characters what they call uh DOI  uh but like if it's coming if I'm trying to read  

that the the written characters are coming from  China and so that's a like a Chinese character  

uh like yasumu so if I have like yasumi like this  like I if I can't read this I don't know what it  

means means all right but if I if I can read it's  like ah like if someone writes it down so like  

Yumi like if I have like yes of me like that uh I  can write this in in Japanese because I I I read  

it in English all right so it's more difficult uh  when the language especially the written language  

is different but if the written language is also  the same and many of the words are the same then  

it would be easier so I'm surprised the Wikipedia  article didn't just explain that but uh uh let's  

see X says how many years have you been in Japan  I've been in Japan how long have I been here like  

20 years I guess on and off but Mo most mostly  20 years uh but I will say the reason I speak  

is because I changed the way I learned uh and I  have friends out here who are older than me who  

have been here longer than me that don't like  speak Japanese very well so being in Japan is  

helpful but it's not the necessary thing you need  to become a fluent speaker of Japanese you need  

to actually understand the language the same way  a Japanese speaker would uh also I'm married to  

a Japanese woman but she doesn't really teach  me much all right let's see con says uh c yeah  

so you got you got the idea but it's a little  it's like also my my pronunciation it's more  

difficult to hear that so something like uh like  the Japanese like C Kudo like it's like a u r o  

but that that R sound is not in Japanese so that  that's I don't want to give a Japanese lesson but  

like this R sound it's like a combination of l d  and r all together kud Kudo Kudo Kudo Kudo so if  

you're trying to learn Japanese you would begin  by saying like auro like if if you're coming from  

English Kuro Kuro but it's it's not like that and  as you listen to Japanese speakers they don't say  

it like that so another thing like to improve  my own pronunciation I can listen to people in  

my own mind saying these things Kudo Kudo Kudo all  right uh let's see all right hello from aler says  

Cy nice to see you there I ared late it's all  right is it okay to study English with English  

sometimes when you don't know the defin like the  word yep just use an English to English dictionary  

and then it's it's easier to do that now I confess  I do use like an English to Japanese dictionary  

sometimes because if I can't read the character I  don't know what it is so it's it's just impossible  

to do that uh without getting a translation of  it but if I can understand something I will look  

it up in Japanese uh let's see in a few months  we'll be speaking English and Japanese yes and  

like you could it would be easier to easy to do I  don't know if anybody teaches Japanese as a first  

language uh but that's how how you would do it  well yeah me K says yeah con all right a mod from  

Sirius as thanks de Eric says I want to talk to  you whenever you're not online teaching well if  

you have a message feel free toh email us let's  see Dave says hello Drew I see there Cas said  

it's 3:05 a.m. in Al year what time is it in Japan  it's 118 11:00 all right international relations  

G there's several langues oh okay you answer  that question I've been living in the United  

States for 18 years and I still not speak English  yes so as Juan Carlos is talking about being in  

an English-speaking country doesn't make you a  fluent speaker the only thing that makes you a  

fluent speaker and I have not uh heard anything  contrary to this uh is just understanding the  

language like a native that's all all you have  to do so it doesn't matter where you do it you  

could be living in America you could be living  in Canada or you could be living in you know  

Africa somewhere on a mountain and you don't  speak with anybody at all you can still learn  

English as a first language and become a fluent  speaker without actually talking with people I  

know this sounds like a weird idea but especially  if you have been learning and trying to do things  

a typical way for a long time then try something  different give give it a try and hopefully like  

in many of my videos I give uh examples of how  you would learn English as a first language and  

helping you understand things uh that help you  understand and become a fluent speaker Sandra  

said you are teaching us English and Japanese  yes I give I give some Japanese examples even  

though I do have a few uh Japanese uh like native  Japanese speakers who follow me but I don't I'm  

not like a big I don't know like personality in  Japan so uh typically people in Japan uh prefer  

to learn through Japanese because that's just  what they're used to they're more comfortable  

that way uh but more people are starting to  understand that if they need to to speak they  

should be learning English as a first language so  this is why I don't I don't like teach uh I don't  

have lessons here where I teach Japanese speakers  English using Japanese so I would teach the same  

way wherever anywhere in the world all right well  it looks like we've gotten to the end uh thank you  

to everyone else uh and especially my fluent for  Life members if you have any questions uh you can  

also post comments in the system about specific  lessons but hopefully uh you were going you know  

going through the program and you improving uh  you really can learn if you get lots of examples  

I think Alex just mentioned uh watching cartoons  yeah so you can improve watching all those things  

the point is to understand the language when you  understand something really well when you know it  

really well that's when you can speak all right  have a fantastic day I will see you in the next  

live video or whenever you happen to be watching  us uh the next video should be let's see I think  

next Monday Japan time so today is Thursday Japan  time so next Monday whatever day that is uh that's  

when I'll be uh seeing it well my system works  glad to hear it all right says Mal and uh again  

thank you for joining us have a fantastic  day and I will see you all in the next video

byebye