THIS Can Make Or Break Fluent English Communication

fluency guide welcome to another live video  here on YouTube this will actually be my  

final video for this year so I thought I would  talk about actually the first thing really the  

most important thing for when you're having  everyday communication everyday conversations  

with people it could be meeting someone like  a a clerk at a store or just walking by random  

people as you see them and saying hello to  them uh or any other situation uh but again  

this is called this can make or break fluent  communication I'll begin with a quick story  

about something that happened recently what  George nice to see you there Gans sham nice  

to see you there too looks like you got your  name changed back I guess good morning over

there all right uh so we're going to talk about a  little bit of uh kind of psychology I almost said  

philosophy there oh look at that Nils over there  greets from Wisconsin nice to see you there what  

Brett is there nice to see you hello uh nice to  see you from Indonesia oh we got people from all  

over the place happy day today let me know what  your name is I can't read the Korean but let me  

know anyway uh so today we're going to talk  about an interesting psychological thing that  

happens with communication and this is how your  expectations determine whether you can understand  

what other people are saying so I'll go back and  uh make sure I check comments as usual if you have  

questions let me know but I want to get through  uh just talking about this basic idea first uh  

and give you some tips about how you can have  better communication with people it's actually  

very simple to do this if you start things the  right way so I was at a uh it was a store here  

in Nagasaki with a friend of mine a few days ago  he was shopping for a Christmas present or maybe  

it was a birthday present for his wife and uh  we were in a store and he had actually he had  

told me a story while we were shoing shopping um  about him like not really enjoying shopping very  

much but part of the reason was so again we're  in Japan uh he and I are both foreigners he's  

from uh New Zealand I'm from the United States  um but he was telling me that he went to a store  

and he was trying to explain to a woman at just  like a clerk a staff member at the store this is  

a different store not the one we went to uh he  was just telling me this story but he explained  

how now when he was trying to explain to her  something and he couldn't explain it very well  

like right from the beginning the conversation  we say it got off on the wrong foot or it didn't  

start off well I'll put this phrase up here for  you uh to start like to start on the right foot  

and this just means when you begin something  to start off on the right foot like you start  

off with a good relationship or a good feeling  something like that uh so anyway uh because he  

had gotten into uh this this conversation he was  just basically asking this lady some things he  

wanted to know about store credit so store credit  and this is a just a very simple General shopping  

term for you when you go to a store and you buy  something especially clothes and then you maybe  

give it to someone or youing bring it back usually  if you have a receipt you can get money back for  

that thing so the store will give you a refund  uh that just means getting your money back but  

you can also have a situation where the store  does not allow refunds but they will give you  

store credit this means that they'll allow you  to actually just get something different for the  

equivalent amount of money so if you buy a shirt  and then you try to get maybe you don't like the  

shirt you take it back they won't give you money  but they'll let you pick a different thing like  

a hat or something so he was explaining to me he  had gone to a different store and he had had some  

trouble he just he was saying the right words but  he couldn't he just couldn't connect he couldn't  

help this woman understand what he was saying and  I know this guy very well he knows actually a lot  

of Japanese but his pronunciation is not very  good uh it's it's it's okay it's like pretty  

good but you can you can hear an obvious accent  and uh because he gets like noticeably a bit more  

uh or I guess a bit less confident as soon as  he starts speaking Japanese you can tell just  

like his body language his intonation the way  he's expressing things and you can you can tell  

a general a sense that like a Japanese person  listening would feel okay this person doesn't  

feel confident about using Japanese now this is  a an English speaker a native English speaker  

speaking Japanese that's the example but it's the  same anywhere now what's interesting is that his  

vocabulary was correct so he was trying to explain  like you know how can I get like a refund if I  

want to get my money back or whatever is that  possible but the same thing happened on this  

occasion too so just so I'm clear he was telling  me a story about a previous time he went shopping  

uh and uh and then the same thing happened again  so I'm kind of standing there I'm looking at the  

other clothes in this store and this woman comes  up she's just a Japanese like shop Clerk and she's  

asking some questions and just saying hello and  he's trying to explain the same thing to her uh  

and again like she doesn't quite understand what  he's saying she's just like it it's it's almost  

like um she basically didn't assume he could speak  very well and so she didn't think that she that he  

would say what he was trying to say and so this is  an interesting thing about psychology that maybe  

you've noticed in your own life uh and the weird  thing is that you can use the correct vocabulary  

but if you feel or seem less confident or your  pronunciation is not very good then that will  

change the impression the other person has of you  and that will change what they think you can do  

or what you can say so if I let's say I walk into  a uh like a Japanese store or something and this  

the same thing would be true in English it would  be true in any language but I go into a Japanese  

store and I feel I'm like physically kind of  a little bit nervous you can you can see it  

in my body language and my pronunciation maybe is  I'm like feeling a little bit shy to say a kicha  

kicha so I say kicha to people uh and and this is  incorrect pronunciation so if I say that I walk up  

to a clerk I'm I'm a little bit a little bit shy  a little bit nervous you can see it in my body  

language you hear it in my voice and I'm using the  incorrect pronunciation they will assume I can't  

speak very well so that will actually change the  way they communicate with me and it will stop them  

from hearing things they will just assume I can't  I can't like say what I'm talking about so I had  

this problem when I came to Japan as well uh when  I would say like explaining why I'm here I say oh  

I want to like learn about traditional Japanese  ins and I would explain that to people and they  

would like I would have to say that thing four or  five times and then try to explain it even with my  

bad Japanese and they it still couldn't understand  what I was saying because they they didn't assume  

they they just they they guessed or they assumed  that I didn't know what I was talking about or  

that I couldn't be talking about that and so again  this is an interesting thing about psychology and  

so we can use this in the opposite way by having  if you notice like I change my posture instead of  

like kind of being closed off like this I want  to be open even if I'm not so confident about  

my language I should be more physically open like  this I really want to be uh trying my best uh to  

begin the conversation it's the beginning that  can make or break that fluent communication so  

if I start the conversation or the meeting  whatever I'm meeting someone at an office or  

I'm meeting someone at a store if I begin that  way with uh the open Communication open body  

your good pronunciation even if I just say one  word correctly that will set the tone to set the

tone that will set the tone for their  impression of me and also whether they  

can hear me or not and also how they will  respond to me so if I go into some place  

like a Japanese store as an example and  I'm I'm I'm hunched over to be hunched over

remember that your communication is not just the  words you use it's also your tone it's your your  

your body language and pronunciation is a big  part of that as well uh so I'm always telling  

people yes grammar is the most important thing you  need to know because you need to speak correctly  

but as far as actual communication when humans  are communicating with each other it's it's more  

than just the words that you're using and uh the  interesting thing is that if you if you imagine  

a conversation any kind of conversation even  if it's just a quick conversation maybe you're  

out walking your dog and you see another person  just in your neighborhood or something like you  

live in an English-speaking I don't know town or  country or something like that or just you meet  

another English speaker if you you begin you think  about the conversation uh however long it could  

be a minute long or it could be 10 seconds or it  could be an hour the beginning of that that sets  

the tone for the whole rest of the conversation so  if I'm feeling incon like unconfident or I'm not  

able to uh even just pronounce the first greeting  correctly uh I'm unsure of myself you can you can  

physically see it in my body that I'm kind of  closed off I'm feeling a little bit shy and I  

recognize this about myself even when I first  came to Japan so I would be more like a little  

bit nervous with people now I'm I'm just like I  stand around and I actually project to people that  

I speak Japanese without me saying anything so I'm  I'm like physically open to to people speaking to  

me and people actually respond to that isn't  that interesting so this is not a thing about  

like language learning specifically but it's  an important part of communication generally so  

even in your native language the same rules would  apply if you were if I'm an English speaker native  

English speaker fluent English speaker but I have  a a general kind of sh I a closed off body posture  

or like I'm sitting down or I'm crossing my arms  in front of myself like this uh and there are lots  

of little things like that that tell people that  I don't want to speak so like please don't try to  

speak with me I'm a little bit shy so I project  the opposite I want to show people hey you know  

and they they don't know if I'm fluent or not but  what's interesting uh is that now in in Japan more  

people will walk up and just start speaking to me  about whatever and they will assume I I understand  

and can speak Japanese isn't that interesting they  like they they don't know I didn't tell them they  

don't know who I am I'm just a stranger like a  person will walk up to me and ask me questions  

about like I remember one one time a uh like an  old lady an old Japanese lady just walked up to  

me and asked me about the train schedule so I'm  just standing there you know like looking around  

waiting for the train and she walks up and asks  me there were other Japanese people standing at  

at the train station but she asked me and it's  just because I was I was projecting that kind of  

feeling so how do we start this uh this is the  thing I want to focus on in this video about  

having really good greetings that are something  you can easily I mean you can practice this but  

it's really more about like the the kind of  setting the tone of the conversation uh for  

regular greetings uh and I want to keep this very  simple because this is again something you can use  

anytime when you're greeting people but it's very  important like when I walk into a store I'm I want  

to greet people uh and and project that confidence  to them so that they don't feel nervous it's the  

same thing when I get into a taxi now taxis when  I first came to Japan taxis uh frightened me so  

I I mean I would imagine uh I'm I'm getting into  a taxi and I have to talk with the driver but I  

couldn't speak Japanese very well so I didn't take  any taxis uh but now I get into taxis and the the  

opposite problem is that drivers might be nervous  about me about whether they can communicate with  

me or not so when I get into a taxi I'm very I'm  very like open and friendly I give a big kicha  

and I can and start speaking with people and I  want to make them feel comfortable and confident  

and and then they start having all kinds of you  know they tell me lots of interesting stories  

about you know their personal lives or whatever  so now it's a completely different thing for me  

being in a taxi uh when I came to Japan versus  now and it's just because I start with like a  

nice greeting and let them know uh hey you know  I'm someone you can communicate with I'm being  

open and I want to communicate with that so as  an example uh just something very simple you can  

begin with even in a uh a casual situation or  a professional situation instead of saying good

morning or good after afternoon or good afternoon  you can just say morning or afternoon so this is a  

very simple way to show that you are a little bit  more a little bit more fluent a little bit more  

natural you just say morning morning very easy  very simple uh nice and easy to say I know this  

this might seem obvious to people uh you certainly  can say good morning to people good morning but  

morning sounds a lot more casual conversational  and friendly and it makes you seem like you know  

the language a lot better all right remember what  we're trying to do it it doesn't matter how good  

your your language ability really is it's it's  probably better than you think but the the tone  

that we set right at the beginning of meeting  someone right when we begin speaking we want to  

control that and we want to set the tone for that  meeting so when I go into a store in me you know  

like speaking Japanese the way I normally would  I would go into a store and I would I want to  

greet people first before they say anything to  me so regular Japanese store you know you have  

people kind of walking around they're like must  say like welcome you know but I'm like ah K you  

know I walk in I'm I'm letting them know that I'm  confident that I have good pronunciation and then  

I'm able to speak all right so my body language  is open like hey let's talk it's okay and then  

from there I can begin talking about more things  but a lot of this the greeting is is a lot about  

making the other person feel comfortable okay  especially because they might assume you can't  

speak very well so before you meet someone  let's say like someone just sees me walking  

into a store even before I say anything I want to  be projecting confidence and that I am like happy  

to be here and and I I know what I'm doing doing  all right so if I walk into a store and I'm kind  

of looking around like that and feeling a little  bit nervous they are going to assume either I'm  

trying to steal something or that I probably can't  speak very well and if I do that then they won't  

try to help me and and they will be a bit more  nervous because they they don't want to embarrass  

me either if I can't speak so if like a shop clerk  comes up to me and they start just speaking some  

Japanese and I can't understand what they're  saying then like I'm going to feel bad about  

that they are going to feel bad about that okay so  uh again a very simple way we can do this we can  

just begin AG greeting with people whether it's in  the office something uh professionally you can say  

good morning it's okay good morning good morning  but you hear how the pronunciation is a little  

bit different it's not good morning it's good  morning good morning good morning good morning  

good morning we're really trying to blend this  together make it sound natural and this is again  

something very simple that you can practice even  just by yourself but I would also pay attention to  

this if you see people in your everyday life the  especially more confident people they want to be  

starting the conversation or that situation that  speaking situation right from the beginning right  

from that that first word even before you say  anything you want to be projecting confidence  

and showing that you are someone who can speak  okay so remember just like I explained before so  

my friend from the very beginning he's looking  a little bit unconfident his pronunciation is  

a little bit incorrect it's pretty good but you  can tell he's a a foreigner uh and and because  

he's he's saying that right from the beginning  the person listening they actually assume like I  

I don't think he's talking about it's like they  there's like a switch in the brain that happens  

where people can't understand you as well because  they just assume you don't know certain vocabulary  

because you don't speak well but you can switch  this you can do the opposite and help the other  

person understand you better by you actually  just projecting confidence so I know people  

talk about pronunciation and good and saying good  pronunciation is important but I really want you  

to understand why this is especially from the  beginning of the conversation because you could  

imagine uh like let's say I have two two ways of  beginning the conversation and then after that I  

could say exactly the same thing so the first part  so number one and number two over here number one  

I'm not very confident you can see it in my body  language I'm closed off maybe I'm I'm covering  

myself or crossing my hands over my body or  something like that feeling you know kind of like  

my shoulders are up like this I'm I'm generally  uh projecting a lack of confidence and so I say  

something and maybe my pronunciation isn't very  good so that's the first thing I say and then  

the second one I come in and then uh really good  pronunciation just very good relaxing I don't need  

to say a lot it's the greeting itself that lets  people know hey this is someone who can who can  

communicate and so I could have one or number two  here and then still have the exact same thing for  

the rest of the conversation even if I pronounce  uh pronounce something badly for the rest of the  

conversation people will hear it more easily if  the first thing I say is accurate is confident  

is delivered well does that make sense so if  you're worried about your pronunciation it's  

okay it's understandable I we want you know to to  be able to pronounce things well and to express  

ourselves clearly but the the kind of big tip  the major thing here is that you should focus  

your attention on delivering the greeting the  first thing you say uh that should be where like  

90% % of your your effort is in so right when you  greet someone nice and friendly hello or how are  

you morning afternoon and so when you're greeting  someone not only the the words that you're using  

but your body language and are you projecting  confidence and and feeling that that kind of  

warmth or welcoming welcoming feeling to the other  person because again you could say two different  

things or Express them differently and then the  rest of the conversation could be exactly the same  

but the greeting is actually what determines how  well the rest of the conversation goes I could say  

the exact same thing and I know I've like I've  kind of kind of tested this before uh like if I  

walk up and and ask people things so I could walk  around in a Japanese department store and talk to  

different different people and the way I behave  with them even if I'm talking about basically the  

same thing that will change the whole conversation  but if I speak well and and and again this is not  

about like trying to speak for a long time or  trying to remember some phrases or something  

the point is just a very simple greeting that that  communicates that you were there to to you know to  

have a conversation with that person so that's  how fluent communication the the foundation of  

that begins with the greeting the first thing you  say to that person and it might not even be hello  

so I might walk up to someone uh and like let's  say I'm looking for shirts and so I say oh like  

do you have this in green or do you have this  in blue and if I say that so this is me like  

being an English speaker I walk into a store I  mean typically you should say hello or something  

first but after that hello do you have this in  green or maybe that's a bad example because this  

is green do you have this in yellow do you have  this in yellow or I could just say have this in  

yellow have this in yellow so you can even prepare  that and and this is something very simple you can  

do before you get into that situation so this  will make you feel more confident you walk in  

you don't know maybe you don't have a reason why  you're there or you're just shopping or something  

uh but if you if you want to take control of the  situation to set the tone and that will help you  

just have a much better conversation even if  the pronunciation here is not so good so don't  

worry about all of your pronunciation or maybe you  don't say a word correctly the person will be much  

easier uh it will be much easier for that person  to understand you if your greeting is good if the  

first thing you say and you can practice that  or think about what you want to say before you  

get into that situation because you can control  that so rather than the the person controlling  

your situation you control that that situation  you control that speaking environment yourself  

does this make sense all right so whatever  you you want to say say here and you can ask  

uh I'll I'll look at comments now and if people  have any questions about specific communication  

situations so if you're meeting people at work  or you're you're going shopping those are kind  

of obvious ones where you would meet other people  uh or if you were maybe at a train station and  

you need help with something there are lots of  times when you might need that but if you have  

specific things you'd like help maybe creating  a greeting for or if you think maybe there was  

a time you had had a chance to speak but you you  don't feel like you did it very well you can ask  

me a question about that and I can help you do  it but the most important thing the real point  

of this video is that this can make or break and  to make or break something to make or break and  

this is a really great English uh expression  where you're talking about uh this one thing  

if you do it well could lead to success if you do  it badly it could lead to failure or problems or  

something like that so to make it like make it  successful or to break it to end up destroying  

that thing so the greeting the first thing you say  the tone that you have and and again it's not just  

your words it's your body posture as well so are  you walking in are you confident and again even  

if you're not 100% confident about your ability to  speak you can be 100% confident about this because  

it's very simple uh you can easily just begin a  conversation with hello or something like that  

so I will meet uh Japanese people sometimes and  like I will hear them say like hello hello so ha  

H Hollow so lot a lot of like like Japanese will  be it'll be like ha like like ha uh instead of  

uh hello and so it's interesting whenever I hear  that I assume that person's speaking is not going  

to be very good just by this one word One sound  pronounced incorrectly so instead of hello like  

and I explain this to Japanese people it's it's  better to say he hello not H hello hello so the  

very first thing especially little kids like I  I will teach them this when they say ah I say no  

no no he hello hello he hello and like even this  sound is in Japanese but a lot of them pronounce  

it ha so again uh the very first thing you do  with that reading that sets the tone for the  

communication even if you make a mistake here okay  it's okay they they will they will not even notice  

your mistakes if the beginning is good so don't  worry about all this worry about this here and  

really I don't mean worry like oh no worry I mean  just focus on that think about this thing so when  

you go into a store imagine it like a mission I'm  going to walk in I'm going to project myself to be  

confident hello hello hello afternoon morning very  simple okay so I can give you some more greetings  

if you if you have more questions about different  situations I'll go back and look at comments now  

but hopefully this makes sense the idea is not  to worry about your pronunciation in general it's  

really just to give yourself something very short  very simple just to set the tone okay so try this  

when you're out walking around you know talking  to people whatever just begin with a nice hello  

you control the situation don't wait for them to  like a person walks up to you like I walk into  

a like a convenience store whatever I'm just like  kich kich kicha so I'm like making it clear I can  

pronounce the language properly and they will  assume I think we talked about this like what  

is an assumption in the previous video uh but  people will assume I can actually communicate  

because I'm pronouncing that first word correctly  so I could mispronounce something later but it's  

it it won't be a big deal deal uh they will not  really be thinking about that so much because  

even native speakers will mispronounce things  or say whatever have kind of making mistakes  

in grammar or pronunciation it does happen uh but  in general because of the Assumption people have  

the beginning of the conversation where people  think oh this person can speak they are judging  

you right from the beginning even before you say  anything by how you look okay so you don't need to  

like I mean you could like look good or whatever  but but the more important thing is do you feel  

relaxed and confident and so don't worry about  this don't think oh my God like I I I I don't  

know how to pronounce this or I don't know how  to say these words over here just focus on this  

and you will be forgiven a lot you know that that  will help uh people they they will relax also and  

it will be much easier for you to have a really  great conversation with them even if you make  

mistakes okay so don't worry about that point  a start the conversation off right on the right  

foot you want to make or break that conversation  with what you do up here all right let me go back  

and look at uh any questions comments people had  nice to see everybody here though from Indonesia  

let's see happy day Dr says what's up gry hello  Marcelo Mary let's see here GM from Osaka nice  

to see you there Jonna says hello this is Jonna  originally from the Czech Republic living in us  

or in uh is that Missouri I'm guessing uh thank  you for your teaching video was my pleasure yes  

I'm Korean a beginner at learning English let's  see well you're your Korean or your English must  

be pretty good if you're watching my videos let  me know what your name is if so I can address  

you properly if you want me to uh and Graz says  what can I do to have an accent like you uh if  

you want to sound like me uh specifically or also  uh just be able to understand natives more easily  

people will probably know this if they've been in  the chat for a while or if they've been watching  

my videos f r e d e r i c k Frederick uh get this  app it's in the link in the description below this  

video you can actually hear me pronounce over  2,000 words and sentences and I will teach you  

how to pronounce the app or how to pronounce the  language uh and understand native speakers you  

will actually really teach yourself to do it but  you can hear me doing this uh and it's the first  

app in the world that will let you learn English  as a first language so you teach yourself pronun  

ation and listening and grammar and vocabulary  the same way natives are learning it all right  

so if you'd like to have an accent like me sound  like me uh then just get that all right uh let's  

see what do we go through all right uh all right  Tom says good morning teacher have a great day  

yeah you too Antonio nice to see you there how  are you I'm doing fine Jay K says good morning  

it's freezing out here uh actually it's uh it's a  little bit cold here in Japan too we've got some  

snow today in Nagasaki uh it's not snowing right  now but it was snowing maybe we will have a white  

Christmas Tom says a sense day nice to see you  there Hassan says hello in Korea teacher from  

French Guana best teacher I've seen I've learned  English Portuguese sarango if I pronounce that  

correctly now I'm applying your method advice  is to learn French you are amazing glad to hear  

it yes uh what I'm teaching people you should be  learning any language as a first language that's  

the real secret to flu but everybody ignores this  because they think it's not possible to do it and  

truthfully it is a little bit difficult without  a teacher but you have the internet to teach you  

uh but people just join programs like uh like  Frederick or fluent for life that actually let  

them to do uh allow them to do that much easier  much more easily I should say uh C says what's up  

a what'sapp you mean what's up everything's going  well ah my name is Marco uh again James says I  

agree when we see foreign people we can recognize  them easily and where they come from by listening  

to their articulation set the tone attract  attention yes so Nar says good morning from  

Korea look at that lots of people from Korea right  here actually should be well it should be early  

what time is it there maybe like 9:00 again Jam uh  you didn't wear a sweater I think in Japan uh you  

don't freeze well I have the the heater on and I  prefer not to you know have a sweater or something  

I just you know like to be nice and relaxed that's  why I don't wear a suit and a tie when I teach uh  

because it's just more comfortable and easy for me  can I say learning topic more dier you mean deeper  

de p r deeper also part of breaking fluence in  communication yes so like I'm for a video like  

this I really want to help people just learn  something and do something simple that they can  

start using immediately in their conversations  today so yes the more you learn the language  

itself the more you confidently uh understand  the language that's what that's what will help  

you with like the rest of the conversation here  but just for beginning a conversation you can  

change the whole conversation just by how you  begin it and that's really the point of this um  

it's it's a basic idea of Leverage where we can  take like a small just a small point of Leverage  

and really uh affect the whole conversation just  with one or two words with our body language with  

our in our intonation pronunciation right at the  beginning uh of that conversation with someone  

so yes so I you of course the deeper you learn  the language the more confident you feel about  

it because you understand the language very well  the more fluently you will communicate this is  

what we teach actually INF fluent for life all  right uh let's see ello hello teacher I'm Brazil  

you're from Brazil I'm guessing please can I study  English with you thank you well you're studying  

with me right now you're learning G sham says  my problem is whenever I go to the store ladies  

at the main counter I'm not afraid to the ladies  but I avoid them sometimes not daily why just say  

hello make them feel better say you know you look  nice today or like you know nice weather today or  

you know just something where you can I like to  put other people at ease you know cuz a lot of  

people uh you know maybe they're even working at  a store or something like that maybe they're not  

you know so outgoing or friendly or whatever  and it's nice when other people can make them  

feel more comfortable so even if I can't like I  could go to a like a store in Korea and and not  

speak any Korean I could maybe say one thing but  just to walk around like I think hello is like  

anaso or something like that I don't know how to  pronounce it correctly or accurately anaso you  

know when I when I hear that uh but if I'm saying  that to people if I know what that is even if I  

don't speak Korean I could just be a foreigner  and and say that and they would be oh like this  

person is is making an effort to communicate with  me so I could say hello and maybe they walk up to  

me and I say oh I'm sorry I don't speak Korean but  they might think like oh you know like he like he  

made an effort to to say something to me in Korea  Danny says hey Drew very interesting point I'm an  

English teacher here in Brazil I always need to  be aware to help my shy students to set the tone  

otherwise they will be always insecure yes so  the two things you can do as a teacher number  

one is try to explain more about about how  to make the language easier for people just  

everyday communication with information like this  but also the second thing and really the deeper  

and more important thing for there their whole  communication life is to help them understand the  

language like a native speaker because if you feel  confident like truly 100% confident about this  

the greeting part is really easy because it's  just oh hello let's get into the conversation  

let's talk about whatever we're talking about so  now in Japan when I walk around I have you know  

interesting conversations with people about about  all kinds of things and I've You Know spoken with  

company presidents or politicians or just every  everyday people on the street because I I feel  

confident that I know the language very well uh  and I'm also able to just begin the conversation  

usually I find something interesting about the  person or notice something about them um whatever  

like one one thing I I try to do when I see like  people with little kids I will try to talk with  

the kids also I will say like oh hello practice  your English know and of course we got a uh like  

a traffic an ambulance or whatever all right uh  yeah lot Tom says lots of people from Brazil here  

yeah we do yeah got lots of fans in Brazil lots  of English Learners over there rundo Fantastico  

says uh is perfect pronunciation necessary this  is something we should all ask ourselves well the  

the point is not like when I when I talk about  perfect pronunciation it's more am I am I am I  

communicating that I'm confident about about my  ability to speak so I want to tell other people  

even very simply because there are different  ways of of pronouncing something and so when I  

talk about like perfect pronunciation it's more  like appropriate pronunciation that shows I I I  

can actually speak so lots of Japanese people  like a foreigner comes to Japan and they say  

Tokyo Tokyo Tokyo so in America like we say like  oh like did you go to Tokyo too Tokyo but Japanese  

people know you're a for and if you say that  because the correct pronunciation is like Tokyo  

it's like it's like two sounds not three and so  something like that like when you when you you  

don't have to have like perfect pronunciation  because each person will pronounce the word a  

little bit differently each person has their own  you know mouth shape and they're going to change  

the the sound of the the word a little bit or they  will have a slightly different tone but the point  

is you know the difference between someone who  can speak well and someone who's probably not  

very confident about their language so when a  foreigner walks into a Japanese store and says  

Tokyo like we know that person is a foreigner  because they don't know how to pronounce the  

name of the city correctly uh and and they're  probably not going to be able to speak Japanese  

but if they say like ah Tokyo like then it's oh  like it's a completely different conversation  

because the assumptions are very different all  right so the this the point of this video is not  

about how to have perfect pronunciation it's just  really focus on this especially if you're worried  

about pron pronunciation or you're maybe you're  worried about um like some vocabulary that you  

don't know don't worry about that just begin on  the right foot start on the right foot and you  

can and that's something you can easily prepare  for before you say anything to people as well  

all right uh Asar says Hi everybody man when did  you start oh no I started uh 38 minutes ago even  

though I set an alarm to attend from the beginning  you started 15 minutes in advance yes I started 15  

minutes early uh today I just got in and was like  hey let's let's get it going uh Le says is it live  

morning nice to see you there uh well it's live  right now but if you're watching this later then  

it's not live depending on when you're watching uh  Eileen says let's say hey Drew I'm from Brazil and  

I feel that I have good vocabulary but I don't  know what happened when I start speaking in  

English it's like the words disappear um so I've  talked about this in many videos I'll give a a a

basic there are many reasons why people will lose  their words when they speak but the basic idea is  

that you just don't know the vocabulary as well  as you think you do so you should uh when you're  

learning the language uh especially because  people are taught through their through their  

native language when they learn so as Japan as an  example it's probably the same thing in in Brazil  

or anywhere else um usually people are learning  uh in elementary school if they start learning  

English that early but even if they don't uh  they will typically learn it through their native  

language so people in Japan will learn English  through Japanese and so this is learning English  

as a second language you're learning it through  your native language and you're trying to study  

rules and you're learning a more formal version  of the vocabulary and this makes it more difficult  

to understand and when you don't understand you  don't feel confident about the language you don't  

know the language very well and that stops you  from speaking so you will feel nervous and that  

will help you uh or I guess not help you but hurt  you when you lose your words in conversations so  

there's a a chain of of of learning or kind of  from the learning you have this chain reaction  

of I learn badly and it's not your fault it's  just like I gave the example just now it's how  

most people learn the language so if you learn  English as a second language then you will think  

through other languages or your native language  you will think about rules and translations when  

you speak and so that will make it more difficult  for you to learn the language so as an example uh  

here's one person here they're learning English  as a second language uh and and what they're  

doing is like there there's if we just imagine  like the actual English language here they're  

they're trying to yeah let me put this the other  way so here's uh the native English that people  

that a native speaker would really use what this  person is doing is they're going through a like a  

series of filters before they get to this and so  it's a slowed down version It's a formal version  

uh it's a little bit more clear the vocabulary is  different and so by the time they get over here to  

the real language like a real speaking situation  it's completely different so the the language  

that they learn in school is very different  from what you would have in a real english-  

speaking environment okay and because of that that  causes all of the trouble the problems that people  

have when they learn languages so in instead of  learning English as a second language you learn  

English as a first language which is what I do  in my videos so I want to help you understand  

like a native does and when you understand like  a native you're not thinking about rules but  

you understand the rules in intuitively so you  learn with you know simple examples it can help  

you understand something like look red marker  you can see this thing red marker blue marker  

black marker and so I'm showing you this and your  brain can look at this example and I could do it  

in Japanese like Kudo Kudo Maka AI Maka a Maka AKA  Kudo and because I do that I'm actually allowing  

your brain to understand the language as a first  language rather than trying to think about rules  

and translations and and all of the things that  cause you trouble so how you learn is how you  

speak and if you would like to not have those  you know confusing issues that stop you from uh  

expressing yourself to start learning English as  a first language uh and somebody else looks like  

practice is important as well uh the the thing  about practice is like the learning itself is the  

practice um what people what people think they  do let me let me draw this a little bit better

uh so the English the English has a second  language approach is you kind of learn something  

you have the learning phase over here uh and then  you have a practice phase and then somehow you  

get fluent from that so the teacher will say  oh like here's some vocabulary now I want you  

to practice that and if you practice that then  you get fluent but this doesn't really work for  

most people because it's not it it doesn't work  the way people actually learn languages so what  

people are really doing when they're learning like  English as a first language approach is the the  

learning phase is here but like the learning and  the practice are they're actually in in like the  

same kind of the same situation and instead of  trying to speak we're getting lots of examples  

that help us understand the language really well  and then we speak speak so speaking is over here  

so what people would think of like the the English  as a second language approach kind of speaking is  

over here like people think uh speaking means  practice but here like practice actually means  

more examples and more learning so most of the  time like this is like 90% see if that's in  

there yeah so this is like 90% of your your your  actual learning time is the practice as you get  

more examples of things as you really understand  something well and then you speak so the speaking  

like kind of speaking practice I don't know I I  don't have an exact number for this if it's 10% or  

3% whatever but the point is most of the actual  learning time is just the learning itself and  

uh the the learning itself is different so as an  example for learning English as a second language  

I might take a word I don't know like like run  and I'm just going to repeat this word over and  

over and over again and try to remember what it  means maybe I will have a translation like let's  

say in in Japanese if I'm trying to learn that  I have like a translation like hashu like to to  

run like that and so I have one idea of what what  run means but in the English as a first language  

approach we take a word like run and I'm going to  give you lots of different examples about how run  

works because we've got running like the kind  of running you do with your legs like an animal  

could run or a person could run but we also  have different uses of run like running water  

so you could have some Still Water like a lake  or something where the water isn't moving or you  

could have a river with running water or people  might have running water in their house like you  

have pipes that bring water into your house so  the movement of that thing we call that running  

and another example would be an engine where you  could have like any any kind of system like I'm  

running a business I'm operating something like  that so here as I give you these different uses of  

run you get a really strong understanding of what  the word run means and you've learned that like a  

native speaker so I'm not using a translation to  help you understand the word I'm helping you learn  

it through lots of different examples that make  you feel very confident and certain about your  

understanding of the word okay so here like your  confidence in and certainty really comes from this  

over here okay you you know a word in your native  language and you translated that into English but  

if then you hear like a different thing like you  hear about someone running a company you're like  

well wait a minute I thought run means like like  running like that but a native speaker doesn't  

I mean they they might have that same thinking  like a child a child learns uh like running like  

I'm running in the park before they learn about  running a company but when they hear running a  

company they begin like they make that connection  naturally oh look at that that's interesting like  

we're we're deepening we're strengthening our  understanding of the word but we're doing it as  

a native all right so being a native it just means  you're learning something as a first language like  

I just helped you right there so I've helped you  understand the word run like a native speaker so  

that's learning English as a first language okay  so when you understand something very well because  

you've got lots of different examples you've heard  many different speakers use that thing that's when  

you start using it fluently so you notice like  I I can I can give you that I'm helping you  

understand that that is the practice okay so all  of that explanation I just gave you that helps  

you understand the word run that is the practice  okay that's why I like learning in practice it's  

basically the same thing it's not like you learn  something like you learn a word like run and then  

my practice is like okay I have to repeat the word  run run run run run cuz if you repeat something  

it's not helping you understand it better it's  just I'm not learning anything more by repeating  

that word so I will recognize okay like run like I  see look there's a dog running in the park but if  

a friend says oh look at that look at that running  water over there running water what does that mean  

and that's because I'm not prepared like a native  speaker is okay so again the the the problems that  

people have it's really just from this or this  either you learn English as a second language  

and you have all those communication problems  or you learn English as a first language and  

communication flows very easily okay that's it  and then either you can do this by yourself or  

you do this with a lovely gentleman like me who  can actually help you understand the language  

very well very quickly and that's how you get  fluent quickly okay so fluency does not have to  

take a long time it doesn't have to be a difficult  process it should be a very natur natural thing  

just like I showed you with this example of run  uh let's see okay hopefully all right I think I  

answer that one all right hello Professor let's  see G confidence is important in the conversation  

as well as we should know what we are going to say  to someone else in that situation yeah so again  

about the the specific content the specific topic  for this video uh the basic idea is that even if  

you are not prepared I'm not saying that you need  to prepare a whole conversation beforehand I'm  

just saying get the greeting right because the  greeting sets the tone for how the conversation  

will flow and it will help you understand or  it will help other People Help The Listener  

understand you better okay so even if you make  mistakes they will they will be recognizing ah  

okay I understand what this person is trying  to say they will make a Like A Better Effort  

to do that if the greeting is good Neil says all  right makes sense uh for the great examples glad  

to hear ilder again hi there Drew yesterday I read  uh some listen a lot about War of Roses War of the  

Roses H Good Start leads a great expression  now I am a yorkist I see uh again sh say you  

told us two days ago next live would probably be  on Thursday so I woke up excited I'm excited all  

right well uh yes but it is it is Thursday today  and so welcome back I do apologize about the uh  

the ambulances uh MBO says hello teacher is it  possible to master phrasal verbs if so how can  

I master phrasal verbs because it is difficult for  me I don't know how you're learning phrasal verbs  

now but I'm guessing you're probably trying to  learn them with the English as a second language  

approach rather than English as a first language  and so learning them as a first language is like  

this so you can actually uh just search right on  my YouTube channel you will find Visual guide to  

phrasal verbs search for that that program is  also influent for Life uh but you can learn  

just the the actual way you should be learning  phrasal verbs is the same way native children  

learn them again the English as a first language  approach is not just for people who are born with  

English speaking parents you aren't born native  you become native by how you learn okay so you  

become a fluent speaker because of how you learn  and this is why you can take a child I could take  

a Japanese child and bring them to the United  States and even if their parents are Japanese I  

still raise them up in the United States they will  become fluent English speakers it's because of how  

they learn not who they are okay so it's not the  environment it's just how they learn and so you  

can learn the same way even like this just like if  you understood the word run better if you now feel  

more confident about what the word run means all  right it's without you even saying anything it's  

because I made it more understandable I helped  you understand the word like a native so usually  

a native person like a child you know they will  it will take many years my even my daughters so  

my older daughter is 8 years old and she doesn't  know run a company she doesn't know that that like  

usage of run she knows run like I'm I'm running  around running at the park she learns that very  

early but she learns running a company maybe in  high school or something like that so my job is  

to help you learn these same things but much  faster so rather than learning like you take a  

whole year or five years or 10 years between these  examples we give them to you all very quickly and  

that helps you get a really strong understanding  of the vocabulary like a native but much faster  

than the way a native would learn but that's how  you do it all right uh let's see hello from Turkey  

says aen said says uh when you make discount for  fluent for Life uh we we will like occasionally  

run discounts like you know we had one we had one  not that long ago but uh we will see uh isn't it  

hard to write Chinese characters in Japanese well  I mean it's not like hard to write them so much as  

there are a lot of them see the nice thing about  English or one nice thing about English is we have  

just the alphabet there are the capital letters  in the lowercase and so if you can you can usually  

sound something out so that means you can read  the characters and understand what the English  

letters mean probably usually uh but Japanese if  you can't read the character because you don't  

know what it is then you just you don't understand  it and sometimes uh I know what a character is but  

I don't know how to read it so I can understand  like like if I'm in the toilet and I see like the  

character for like uh like nagasu or whatever like  to flush the toilet nagaru like to have something  

flow it's like ah okay I understand what that  means even if I couldn't you know read it and  

like know how to pronounce that character so the  the painful thing is there are just a lot of them  

and you have to you have to really take your  time uh making stories for these things I find  

that's the best way to remember them uh and  it's nice you can use a neonic so a neonic uh

pneumonic pneumonics are useful for learning  uh things about reading and writing because  

you have time to read and write but I found  demonics are less helpful for speaking because  

you need to be able to communicate quickly  all right anyway uh so I use pneumonics uh  

to help me learn Japanese like as an example  this is a a common one so if we learn like a  

character uh so this is the character for  tree uh and if we have uh like two of them

together uh this would be like a Grove and  we could have three of them together I'm  

just going to write it very quickly here so  if you have three of them together then we  

would have a forest you know so you get a  kind of general idea oh that's interesting  

and like this is a person next to a tree  for like relaxing or resting he's like  

leaning leaning against a tree now not all  kanji are are like pictographic like this  

but you can generally create uh like a story or  something like that that will help you remember

them so it's it's not that the like the language  or the the characters are difficult themselves  

it's just how you how you learn the language and  that's why again learning English as a second  

language makes the language much more difficult  it makes the process much more uh painful uh it  

takes a lot longer when you're learning that way  rather than the natural way of learning English  

as a first language uh let's see well Gaza noo  says hello it's my first time and I'm Japanese  

good to see you nice to see you there uh Atri  says Korea and Japan are in the same time zone  

oh okay I didn't know that oh that's interesting  why didn't I know that all right yeah I don't know  

how far that the time zone stands what's nice is  we don't have daylight savings time so I didn't  

know if any other countries uh did not have that  as well uh J Jeep says hi Drew thanks for today's  

class I have to excuse myself I have an Indonesia  class this morning all right let's see uh aen  

D says hello I'm Brazilian living in the United  States learning and training my English it's not  

easy well continue to learn English as a first  language look for first language examples that  

help you understand the language when you feel ah  I got that I understood something that's how you  

know you're learning the right way see he says I  will learn about passive voice and I heard that  

was uncommon in used in speaking uh you can I mean  you might hear the passive voice like something  

was done to you or yeah I mean it's people it's it  it usually takes longer to express that so people  

are usually using the passive voice uh like  if something happens but an interesting thing  

is young kids will learn the difference between  an active voice and passive voice where they're  

talking they're basically using that to talk about  uh the fault of something so who did something so  

as an example uh like a young child they don't  they don't really know the difference between  

like active voice and passive voice they're  not thinking about the grammar logically like  

that but they will understand like like the the  vase like the vase of flowers it fell down okay  

so like it fell down it fell down rather than like  like I knocked it over or something and so they're  

learning like these kind of differences about the  language and and that's like a common thing like  

oh no like something spilled you know rather than  like I I spilled something uh but again like it's  

in general people are you know speaking with  uh with an active an active voice because it's  

shorter and easier uh Victor says good evening  from Brazil uh got through I probably through  

a job interview in English yesterday and when I  left I realized I mispronounced the word accompany  

I said a compaign I felt so sad I hate to laugh  about that but yes it happens sometimes uh in it's  

much better to use words that you feel confident  about using and so even if you might want to say  

uh something a bit more I don't know like like a  more advanced word maybe you're not so confident  

about pronouncing it I would I would stick with  something simpler then just make sure you can  

communicate that so you notice I'm not using a  lot of complicated or uh like difficult language  

it's not a lot of advanced vocabulary when I teach  these videos and that's how I would communicate if  

I'm in a like a meeting or something like that  uh unless I I need to demonstrate some kind of  

knowledge of technical information but other than  that I would try to communicate simply G as far as  

my observation pronunciation can't improve  overnight one time I listen to many native  

speakers but over time I listen to them daily and  I could achieve good pronunciation am I right well  

it like pronunciation is improved like everything  else in the language one word or sound at a time  

so you can learn how to pronounce a word well  and then you learn you know other words or how  

to blend those words together so you can focus on  that it's instead of thinking about pronunciation  

in general often people can say some things  correctly but other things they have trouble  

with so you just pick uh pick those things and  focus on them Dennis says greetings from middle  

of the world Ecuador nice to see you there yeah I  guess you don't have to worry about like summer or  

winter whatever it's just like nice all the time  uh let's see I think I got that receiver says  

the native catch speed with wild accent and poor  pronunciation I'm worried about that the native  

catch speed with wild accent poor pronunciation  well if you're asking about uh uh like how you  

speak the speech speed like your your speech um  yeah I mean you would probably have uh if people  

can't understand what you're saying I would I  would speak more slowly if that's what you're  

asking I don't quite get that though let me know  if you have a question about that though uh what  

does walk you through mean so if you think about  like a person maybe like you and I are in a museum  

or something uh and I'm slowly walking you through  like physically through walking with you through  

the museum and saying look here's this lovely  piece of art over here and I tell you about the  

history and now we walk through a different area  I'm I'm taking you and kind of guiding you through  

that thing uh and so walk you through from that  physical idea we get the figurative idea of me  

like if I'm walking you through how fluency works  or if I'm explaining something like giving you  

instructions for a class or something like that  I'm walking you through it so I'm explaining how  

things work usually in some kind of state steps  so the first thing we will do is this and then  

that thing so you can ask someone else like you  could please explain that please explain that to  

me or could you walk me through how that happens  and that specifically means what are the steps  

that we would do to do something so if I'm trying  to sell I don't know some software something like  

that to a person and they say oh like walk me  through how that works and I'd say oh okay well  

the first thing we do is we put the software  on your computer and then we show you how to  

use it and then we monitor that and so these are  the steps you would do something to walk someone  

through that very common phrasal verb uh Abdullah  Raman says I always forget the S after he she it  

in present simple what kind of solve this problem  uh I would hear lots of examples and get lots of  

examples of that uh like we do in INF fluent for  life and I talked about this in my previous video  

so that was a few days ago Monday I think um  and I said what you focus on that will that  

will naturally you will get many more examples of  that so if you if you really focus on something oh  

I really need to pay attention for this you will  start hearing those examples from people like I  

said this and then she said that and then he said  she said uh so you'll get lots of examples of  

this when people are talking about each other or  someone is telling a story about someone else so  

this is another thing we do influent for life when  you're you're hearing different stories you're  

hearing people talk about other people in their  life or something happened to them they will say  

like well he did he does this or she does that or  whatever so when you're you're telling your brain  

to pay attention for that uh watch that previous  video the the last uh not this live video but the  

previous one watch that one and it will it will  explain more about this Lily receiver I think  

for native speakers are able to understand wild  accent better than migrants who speak in another  

language because they can guess from Context yes I  mean it natives natives especially if they've had  

experience with a lot of different accents it's  easier for them but just because they're native  

doesn't mean they have that uh have that ability  so a person a native speaker for example could  

live in a small town like someone in a small town  in Iowa in the United States and they know other  

people who sound like them and maybe they don't  travel around very much so they could have someone  

from New York or Boston or other native speakers  come and speak differently and and they might not  

understand everything they say so the vocabulary  will be different the pronunciation will be a  

little bit different so it's not just about being  native hello from China let's see here again some  

days I watch the news for Matthew Perry's friend  sitcom show he died drowning from inhalation uh  

I didn't understand properly yeah I don't know  exactly how he died but uh if that like as a as  

a news event uh like anything else if you get that  from 10 different sources so if you if you go to  

Google and search like Matthew Perry died news and  it will give you some videos about that and maybe  

some uh news articles or newspaper or whatever  even like a BL blah blog or podcast or something  

so if you listen to a bunch of those or watch a  bunch of those videos it will help you understand  

that it will teach you the vocabulary same thing  we did with the Run example that I just gave uh  

H says if I mispronounce runny as of lny as in I  have a lunny nose what impression does that give  

you well well you mean you mean like runny like  you have a runny nose like yeah I would I would  

think oh okay like I mean this person has their  they like they they they understand vocabulary but  

they're not it like they don't quite understand  it as well as they as well as they could like to  

get to that native level so I will have a bunch  of assumptions about you I will guess like there  

are probably many words that you don't know so  I have to change the way I speak and this is  

another interesting thing about that so the the  opening or the beginning of the conversation uh  

like let's say I go to a party with uh so let's  say I'm I don't know imagine I'm a fluent speaker  

of French I am not but imagine I am uh so I  go to a party in in France uh and there are  

like let's say there two French people over here  I'll put a little like a beret on on there I know  

probably all French people don't have that but  just as it's easier to understand the difference  

so if I if I like join them let's say these two  people are talking and I say like bonj you know  

like but if I pronounce it correctly you know  so if I say that they're going to think oh like  

maybe this person can speak and so like they will  speak to each other and they will also speak with  

me in that same way until they discover I don't  speak French okay so pronunciation is important  

important as a as like a signaling thing uh where  I'm I'm I'm I'm showing them hey like you and I  

are in the same group so I don't I don't just know  if I say like oh bonjour bonjour they people think  

oh like what is this American you know with bad  pronunciation but if I'm likeon like and I'm I  

don't know if I'm pronouncing it correctly or not  but the point is if I do if I say it correctly  

even just saying bonjour like like correctly uh  that will change the way they they communicate  

with me all right but what often happens is like  the the non-native comes into a conversation and  

these people will speak in a different way to  this person but when they speak to each other  

it's a different way of communicating okay  so like this is why like that greeting is so  

important and so if I say like I have a Loney a  Loney nose I will think ah like it will take me  

a second to understand what you say but now  I will I will kind of lower my my my way of  

speaking so that you can understand me better all  right and so this is called code switching code

switching and so often uh Learners will find  like oh if I'm if I'm only speaking with with  

one person over here I can understand that native  very well but probably that native is changing the  

way way they speak to make it easier for you and  you know that because when they start speaking  

you got two French people speaking to each other  and I can't understand what they're saying I know  

that like okay they're speaking differently to  me and that's like they're just being polite and  

trying to help me understand the language okay so  they are uh code switching there all right Juan  

says uh hello everyone out there I'm late again  it's okay better late than never MBO says hello  

teacher is this normally how you talk because I  can fully understand are you using simple English  

yes so this is my easier way of communicating in  my I think last video I gave an example of me uh  

talking about something just as I would normally  speak about it but the main difference is so I'm  

faster I'm a little bit less clear I'm not not  like mumbling my words but I'm I'm speaking faster  

so my words are blending together more but the  vocabulary would be different the vocabulary is  

the biggest thing so I would be using movie quotes  or something that I I I change my speech depending  

on who I'm speaking with and even within different  native speakers we will we will speak differently  

so I speak differently with my children than I  do with my like adult friends all right because  

my children don't know some movie quote from the  1980s or whatever like if I tell my friend who  

knows a certain movie and I know he knows that  movie I can use that like like a quote from that  

movie but my children would not know that movie  so I would have to find a connection a way of  

speaking with them so they can understand what  I'm saying so this is not it's not only about  

people who don't speak the language it's people  uh like actually communicating differently with  

each other because the the communication it's  it's also what you what you assume the other  

person knows so like if a if a person is trying  to tell a joke I have to make some make sure that  

other person understands that reference that they  know what I'm talking about because if they don't  

understand what I'm talking about then it's not  funny you know like they they just don't they  

don't know what I'm they don't understand what  I'm talking about so that's not even a problem  

with fluency it's just a problem with not knowing  the vocabulary specifically and that happens in  

native speakers as well receiver a lily thanks  as an immigrant I still poorly recognize English  

speech with accent so I'm wondering if natives  not annoyed well people people won't be like  

it depends on on the communication situation  so if you work at like a government building  

and native speakers are coming there and they  want to you know like if you work at the like  

Department of Motor Vehicles where people want  to get a driver's license and it's difficult  

for you to understand them that that would be  frustrating for people but if you're I don't  

know you're just trying to like go to the store  and buy something that's why setting the tone  

is so important at the beginning like when you  meet someone you go to the doctor or at a store  

or or something you give a good greeting project  confidence and it will be much easier for that  

person to understand you even if you are not like  pronouncing things perfectly Mr Mario says Hey  

teacher ice see you there what's the difference  between uh through though thought and how to  

distinguish them uh Juan you should get uh get  Frederick I'll put the let's see if that fits up

there rather than me telling  you that or like pronouncing  

them differently for you all those words are in

there just get the app click on the link in  the description below this video and you can  

get that uh so it's much easier to see how those  things work and you will remember them much more  

easily that way uh xdl look at that just woke up  no class today uhoh all Call of Duty day nice to  

see you let's see uh I can't pronounce this cic  pronunciation my weakest ability and most of my  

problematic issues that I normally have nowaday  and of course ain't enough much lexicon uh that I  

really naturally very review well uh again fluent  for life will help you with that uh but Frederick  

as well if you want to improve your listening  and pronunciation get the app it will train you  

you will actually train yourself really uh like  a game and you will improve your pronunciation  

naturally the app really works it will work very  quickly for you uh just play through it and you  

will start sounding and understanding people  much more easily uh NBL says what does set  

off mean well and a an example of something for  set off could mean like to trigger something so  

if I have a bomb like I push a button to set  off the bomb to to explode it to set off but  

there are other meanings as well and this is why  it's important not to just think like what does  

set off mean it's the vocabulary with some kind  of situation so that's how you learn it like a  

native speaker so always be open to that when you  get when you ask someone what does a word mean  

if they don't tell you multiple meanings be open  to that that there might be other ones sometimes  

related to that or sometimes not related uh like  the word proof for example so the word proof

proof so a proof could mean like uh I'm giving  you some kind of evidence are showing you like  

look I have a if I say I have a red marker  in my hand maybe like you you don't know for  

sure but if I show you proof like look  I proved it see I have a red marker in  

my hand so that's proof but we also have like  a different meaning of it like waterproof so

waterproof so waterproof means water can't get  into something so I'm wearing some waterproof  

gloves so water can't get into my uh like where  my hand is all right so I could have waterproof  

or soundproof so sound proof means sound can't  get into something as well all right so I'm just  

giving you these quick examples to remind you that  the word itself usually doesn't mean anything it's  

just the word in a situation so when do we use a  word and there might be different meanings of the  

word proof depending on when we use it all right  so be careful I I'm just trying to get people to  

not think about like what does a word mean because  it's not just usually words don't mean anything  

by themselves and often they have many meanings  and some of them like these like these different  

meanings of proof uh could be very difficult uh  very different excuse me uh bangu means help in  

Chinese that's good to know Bridget says hello Mr  Drew Badger nice to see you there m says for me  

the English pronunciation of turtle is difficult  my tongue doesn't move that way uh doesn't move  

the way I want it to and work and walk uh those  pronunciation are difficult to hear I've been  

trying for many years so you you are Japanese like  so like you would probably say like t t t like n  

ninja t ninja t for Ninja Turtles yes so like a  lot of that is just because uh those sounds are  

not in Japanese so again get Frederick if you have  not gotten that already it's like it's incredibly  

cheap for what it is it's like a college uh like  personal pronunciation trainer but for like almost  

no money uh so get Frederick uh it will train you  to pronounce those words like things like turtle  

and help you understand uh also like to listen  for those things as well so it will train you  

step by step in that Alejandro yo Drew what's up  man greetings from Mexico nice to see you there  

thumbs up right off the bat thank you whenever I  see your name I think of that there isn't there  

a Shakira song it's like Alejandro I don't know  how the song goes but I know the isn't isn't there  

like like a Shakira song Alejandro I like that  name I like that name uh let's see far says sir  

how many languages do you speak and how long have  you mastered I only speak English and Japanese uh  

and I like know a tiny bit of French and Spanish  that I speak badly uh but um like I don't have  

uh that when when people ask me how long does it  take to master that it's like you you get fluent  

in individual words and phrases as you learn them  so like I gave the example a little bit ago of the  

word run so when people are learning the word run  if you understand that word really really well you  

become fluent in that word you feel confident  about using it and then you can also get fluent  

in other words but you don't you don't like get  fluent in the whole language as you get fluent  

in individual words you build your your general  fluency uh so it's it's actually a very quick  

process depending on how you learn uh but before I  started learning Japanese uh when I came to Japan  

uh I had already failed for many years to learn  different languages so I learned French and Latin  

and uh Spanish but I I can't speak any of those  things because I learn them like uh English as a  

second language the same way I learn Spanish as  a second language or French as a second language  

or Latin as a second language instead of actually  learning it like a native speaker would learn it  

and so when I started learning Japanese as a first  language not as a second language then I started  

becoming a a good speaker very quickly like like  within within like days I could say many words and  

within weeks it was it was very uh you know easy  to have uh conversations with people understand  

things there was still a lot I didn't know uh  but I could understand a lot more because I'm  

I'm understanding it like a native rather than  trying to memorize rules and and translations  

uh let's see danan says Drew can you give tips  on how to learn more from native English speaker  

while they are speaking should we take down notes  on the words they say um I I would just I would I  

would focus on something so if you think about  a particular word or something uh that you hear  

from someone that's interesting just you can make  a mental note of that or write it down or you can  

you can kind of stop the conversation right there  um so if either you are watching a video of two  

people speaking like like you would do in fluent  for Life uh or you you're in a conversation with  

someone and so I might stop a conversation with  someone they're they're saying something and they  

use an interesting expression I would just say oh  wait that's really interesting like you just used  

this like this word or phrase I didn't know  that and then I just to help me learn it and  

understand it better I would actually like make  a little side conversation about that vocabulary  

so don't feel bad about that like stopping the  conversation so a friend of mine is telling me  

um like yeah my my career was going it was like  going really well I was having promotions so this  

is like a friend explaining me this thing uh and  then suddenly like everything just like went off a

cliff and so if I'm a non-native speaker or even  if I'm a native speaker and I don't notice that  

so they're like oh my career was going going  well and then suddenly it went off a clip a

cliff and I think oh that's interesting like went  off a cliff like what do you mean by and I and  

I can I can kind of understand from the context  they're saying like oh like my career was going  

well you know it's I'm getting promotions it's  increasing it's improving and then suddenly like  

boom if we think about like like an actual Cliff  like here's some some plants and the and water  

down here so this is a cliff right here it's  like the edge of a of a land area and so like  

oh no I fell off a cliff like this is the this  is the cliff right here the edge the edge of  

some like the cliff side here and so we use this  same like oh they're using that figuratively very  

interesting like oh my career was going well and  then oh no like my career so my career went off a  

cliff so I can understand contextually like oh  like going off a cliff probably means suddenly  

going badly so if I know what the word Cliff is I  can understand like it like even even if I don't  

understand like any of these words I know that  they're they're explaining one thing and then  

suddenly it's it's the opposite or suddenly it's  different so I recognize like oh like they're  

explaining the career is going well but then but  so something is changing I'm looking I'm listening  

to the key word there and then I hear oh like they  went off a cliff and now when I hear that I think  

oh like that's some interesting you know that's an  interesting way of explaining that and so suddenly  

I get excited and I stop the conversation instead  of you know like continuing to listen to them I  

want to control the conversation at that point  and say oh like what do you mean what do you  

mean it went off a cliff and then and that's  me just using the vocabulary uh listening to  

something like that and oh so they're explaining  yeah like it was going well and then suddenly like  

I lost my job and something else happened and you  know so it's like wow like there was just it was  

going up and then suddenly something happened so  it went off a cliff so that's how like either uh  

if you're just watching people speaking you can  stop or pause a video uh and then do a little bit  

of research get some more examples or you can  actually turn the conversation to discuss that  

thing so look at that oh oh we can talk about  the language itself that's really interesting  

you like it it went off a cliff what do you  mean by that like that's an interesting way  

to describe it and so you can just talk about the  vocabulary in the conversation itself okay so any  

of those things are fine uh but you can you you  probably wouldn't like if I'm in a conversation  

and I don't want to stop the conversation I would  try to remember that but you don't I don't know  

it's a little bit awkward to say oh you just said  went off a cliff let me like pause right there let  

me write that phrase down you know but to help  you remember it you would make the conversation  

about that vocabulary okay so my life is going  well but suddenly it went off a cliff my career  

went off a cliff and you might hear other people  uh describe it in a different way instead of like  

went off a cliff someone might say like went off  the rails and you think oh that's an interesting  

way to describe it my career went off the rails  and I'm thinking if I'm thinking like you know  

like a non-native speaker is is trying to look  at all these individual words and they're like  

well I guess this is an idiom because I don't  really understand what these things mean but if  

you're paying attention to the conversation so my  career was going well but or and then something  

the opposite or something different happened and  then it went off the rails and then you can talk  

with them like oh that's interesting like it went  off the rails what do you mean by that if you need  

more help to understand it but this is like the  same idea of like some train track so the train  

is is usually going on the track it's on the two  rails you can imagine a train moving like this but  

if it goes off the rails oh no so here's the train  moving like this like it's going on the rails so  

like the train wheels are on the rails like this  but oh no ah something happened the train went  

off the rails it's off the rails like now that's  a huge problem because you get the train off the  

track and it's it's really difficult to put it  back on again and so it's the same kind of idea  

like it went off a cliff it went off the rails  all right but uh hopefully let me know if this  

is making sense the chat got a little bit quiet  right there uh but the the main idea is when  

you're in conversations with other people it's  not what you say that gets you fluent it's what  

the other person says that gets you fluent okay  and that's why like you can repeat things but you  

don't become more fluent by repeating things  yourself you become more fluent as you hear  

these examples of vocabulary and you're paying  attention you're connecting the vocabulary with  

the situation my life was going well and then  suddenly it went badly but a native speaker  

usually they would use a kind of more interesting  expression like this so suddenly my life went off  

the rails it went off the went off a cliff okay  so you will hear people expressing things like  

this and it's okay to to talk about that in  the conversation you can say oh that's like  

an interesting way of describing it or whatever or  like what do you mean by that you know if you if  

you really don't understand from the context what  something means but that will help it become more  

memorable for you and as you're using that now now  you begin repeating something that you learn from  

somebody else so the learning the fluency happens  as you understand the language better so now you  

have a situation like something went badly but  here's a different way I just gave you two new  

ways of describing that so something went off the  rails or something went off a cliff to describe  

a sudden and really bad bad problem or something  that changed from going properly to now just being  

in a really bad situation all right that was a  long explanation uh but hopefully this makes sense  

where uh either you can stop a video and do that  same kind of thing look for more examples of that  

or if you're in a conversation you can continue  to speak about that how we doing 11 o'clock uh  

let's see here all right I got that one again sham  if we watch a prank same topic for example dating  

someone if we watch many videos of dating someone  probably can improve our English sometimes I watch  

American pranks yes and so there there are lots  of ways again like focusing on a particular thing  

this was just an example of um like something  going badly like suddenly going badly my life  

was going well and then suddenly it was not going  well but people don't speak like that they speak  

in a more you know like a kind of interesting and  and figurative way so they want to create an image  

and you can think of myself oh my God like it  went off a cliff you can think about something  

just like going well and then suddenly like going  very badly all right uh is it correct to say your  

alarm went off yes so I can cause something to  go off like I can trigger a bomb or the bomb  

can go off by itself it went off very good uh is  writing correctly important well yes in the same  

way speaking correctly is important especially  if you need to communicate something accurately  

to people like in a professional situation aland  says hi I don't know that's Shakira song maybe  

you're thinking of Fernando from ABA no no no  it's not Fernando it's like Alejandro I think  

that's a Shakira song look that up I don't  know if it's Shakira I think it's a Shakira  

song uh Blue Sky alow Drew it's very cold around  Osaka yes someone else was just saying it's cold  

around Osaka it's cold in Nagasaki too uh it was  snowing this morning uh I think some schools are  

actually closed here just in case uh they were  worried about the weather getting too bad Jose  

says practicing English phenoms phones excuse me  I read that badly uh can improve pronunciation and  

then going after each word to study that can help  study connect speech Yes uh so this is exactly  

what we do in Frederick it will teach you uh not  only the phonetic rules of the language but also  

lots of words that break those sound rules these  are what we call call sight words because you have  

to remember them by sight uh D just heard run  their card in a restaurant yeah so again like  

if you think about processing a card like to move  something through something else like like to run  

a card through something like that so you can also  think about like running someone through with a  

sword so if I take a sword like be careful before  I run you through like like an old pirate might  

say that like to run you through with a sword  it's like I'm going to quickly like move it or  

stab you with something like that it's the same  idea but you see how you get more examples and  

you're like ah like wow I understand the language  much better like wow like let me run your card let  

me run let me run your ID so like I'm I'm checking  some information processing that in that same idea  

of like running it through the system so people  often talk about computer systems in this way so  

you're running something through something else  all right let's see uh it might be Lady Gaga song  

really I don't know if that's Lady Gaga or not let  me let me see here I I feel bad like Googling this

but

uh actually no maybe it's not I don't know maybe  is there's a song called l l l to I don't know if  

that's correct or not uh but I'm pretty sure  there's some some Like lyrics with something  

like it's it's like a kind of like Dancy kind of  song like Alejandro some someone has a song called  

just look up song called Alejandro uh let's see I  can't understand what the Frederick means exactly  

something like a free direction or what is it  so if you click on the link in the description  

below this video Frederick is an app so just like  you can use it on your phone or your iPad or your  

tablet uh that will teach you pronunciation so  it will teach you the rules for how pronunciation  

Works uh and it will give you lots of examples  and it's like a game where you teach yourself the  

language uh let's see Lily says you couldn't learn  Latin as a native speaker because native speakers  

of Latin are not laugh well uh yes and no I mean  like you like it's it's like a dead language but  

people used to learn that just like people learn  Greek so like you would you would still learn  

those languages and you would you would know how  to say them so I still remember like like puer  

and puera for uh like boy and girl it's like the  one thing I remember from Latin class uh Neil says  

yes with some thumbs up over there Jose uh is it  a synonym of fall but formal what do you mean oh  

like fall off a cliff are you talking about or  something else well fall I mean you could have  

different ways of expressing that but like uh  like to go off a cliff so this is like to to to  

go off or to move off so my you can I mean you  could also say yes like my career went or fell  

off a cliff it's the same same thing you could  you could say that again I can understand native  

without captions but when I listen to English  songs I don't understand without captions yeah  

sometimes uh music can be more difficult to  understand but it's okay to read transcripts  

I think there there are funny videos on YouTube  of native English speakers not knowing lyrics to  

songs because not everybody does from Brazil hello  says Leonardo Lily says app for provation the link  

is in the description yeah thank you I totally  agree with your method of learning English I can  

still remember uh the example of harsh which you  learned from previous video months ago says Anglia  

yep glad to hear it so that's what I do like I  mean if you imagine the the English as a second  

language way it's just to tell you a word here's  harsh here's I don't know maybe some examples  

but usually with uh like a translation I will  give you a definition of the word and then you  

have to repeat that word to yourself to but but  repeating the word the repetition of something  

you can do this with with a word right now so  if I say the word bib if I just repeat that to  

myself bib bib bib bib bib after a while I will  actually like not understand what the word means  

it's a it's another weird psychology thing that  that happens when we repeat words over and over  

again so your brain your brain gets like kind of  tired of information if you repeat it that's why  

we're bored by repeating things and we always want  what's new we watch the news because we want to  

know what's new we ask other people hey what's new  what's happening what's new in your life because  

our brain it doesn't care about what happened  to you before unless you know that's important  

to to your life now um but repeating words over  and over again won't help you get fluent instead  

you should really understand them by getting  lots of different varied examples and hearing  

those from different people so it will help you  understand the word like a native speaker so you  

feel confident about using it all right you become  a good speaker when you actually become fluent as  

you learn so you learn you feel more confident  and then you speak that's how the process really  

works yes I figur la la is uh the torture but I  don't know if that's um if that's if that has like  

Alejandro in that or not uh let's see call your  captions like Subs equals subtitles yeah uh let's

see let's see for your information to incidentally  no uh so for your information is like there there  

those are actually two different things for  for your information uh people will sometimes  

shorten this as FYI it just means I'm explaining  something uh to you like just letting you know for  

your information uh like the store will be closing  early today so maybe you don't care about that but  

I'm letting you know I'm just giving you some uh  some vocabulary about that um but incidentally  

is like usually there's a there's some kind of  connection uh about something else like so I'm  

talking with a friend of mine like maybe you say  hey uh I'm looking for like I'm looking for like a  

green shirt like this and I can say oh you can buy  one at at uh like this store like like you can get  

one at uniclo like this is a uniclo shirt um and  I say oh incidentally I I was at uniclo yesterday  

and I saw the shirt for sale so incidentally  like I'm I'm connecting those those two things  

I wouldn't just say like incidentally like I  bought bananas two weeks ago because there's  

no connection between those two things so I could  say like I could just tell tell my family hey for  

your information I bought bananas yesterday but  if if that's not important to them or they don't  

care or like if I just tell them some news  like it it is like for their information but  

it's not like for them that's important for them  hopefully that makes sense so there there're two  

different things incidentally is typically  there's a connection between two things uh  

but for your information could just be giving  information that like maybe there's a connection  

there but uh it might it might not be it's it's  something you might want to know it's just news  

you might want to know hopefully that makes sense  uh and also like for explaining that you can say  

I know you're your English is better than your  writing but rather than putting it in Japanese  

you can just say What's the difference so what's  the difference between incidentally and for your  

information what's the difference what's the  difference what's the difference again Jam 107  

people are watching this live but 70 people like  that button uh I think people forgot well you know  

people people get lazy it's okay you don't have  to yes like feel free to click the like button uh  

if you like the video uh Lady Gaga had Lady Gaga  that was really like a Lady Gaga has Al Alejandro  

song maybe maybe wow all right I guess um why did  I think that was Shakira oh that's interesting she  

kind of sounds like Shakira in that song Hello  teacher what does runoff mean well it could mean  

different things but rather than like going on a  bunch of different uh I want you to run off and  

and go figure that out so go Google that all right  uh okay I got I saw the formal point of view of  

formal or informal speaking yes uh so you could uh  like uh if I understand you correctly uh depending  

on what you're talking about like you could have a  formal way of expressing yourself or a more casual  

way of expressing yourself uh so set off and go  off and again like I I don't want to spend a lot  

of time just defining words for you because uh a  better lesson is actually to take something and we  

go deeper into it to help you understand what that  thing is uh and give you lots more examples and so  

like you can you can Google those examples uh and  get just like look for you know or even use chat  

GPT and it will give you uh a bunch of different  things but you will learn if they're the same or  

they can be used uh similarly or not blue sky  says if I take a private lesson with you is it  

on Zoom or Skype please give me your information  uh we don't do any private lessons it would be  

far too expensive for people and it's also not  necessary uh I don't recommend you take private  

lessons with anybody because you don't want to  just have one teacher to learn with when you  

learned your native language anguage you had lots  of different people who taught you the language uh  

so you had like your parents uh or your brothers  and sisters or your school teachers or people on  

television so this is what we do in fluent for  life you should not be learning with a private  

teacher it's I mean it's nice to have someone  who can explain things but you must also have  

all these other examples of of native speech from  different people so this is what we do in fluent  

for life so rather than try to pay for uh like  private lessons with us which we don't offer any  

anyway uh just get fluent for life just click on  the link in the description below this video and  

it will get you fluent faster uh and give you a  lot more examples than than you would just having  

a private teacher uh let's see canero if I if  I got that pronounced correctly nice to see you  

back over there uh hello Drew I think by setting  the tone of a more fluent Speaker gets yourself  

in more uh demanding situation accordingly this  will put you in a more embarrassing condition in  

the end uh yeah it's possible but I think for  most people like uh I could still like I could  

go I gave the example before about like being in  a Korean store and I just like say hello where I'm  

in like a French store and I'm like bonjour and  they're like oh and they'd like start speaking a  

lot and I'm just like oh I don't I don't speak so  much French uh but you know typically if you're  

if you're in that situation uh where you know you  would like e either you're just saying a greeting  

for being polite or uh you would be in like you  actually are able to communicate because you need  

to express something my point is uh I mean you  you you don't it's not like you have to like say  

something perfectly uh and then everything else is  going to be awful after that I mean there usually  

this is for people uh who might make some mistakes  but it's much better to start the conversation uh  

helping that person feel maybe that you can speak  better that uh that they it's it's really for the  

other person it's not for you um because because  you want that person to to kind of give you we  

say the benefit of the doubt it means they will  assume that you're your pronunciation or your  

vocabulary or whatever is a little bit better and  that way they will understand you better even if  

you make mistakes so yes like it is possible  that like you could you know like something  

could happen but I don't most of the time when I'm  in a situation like that like it's it's never been  

you're not going to die or anything so so good  good thinking but don't overthink it uh I says I  

had Latin classes in college it's an interesting  language but at the same time it's very hard I  

remember these words magistra MX friends do you  do you know any words in Portuguese uh I don't  

think so but I could I could probably figure  some out I guess because it's related um to  

English but don't forget your delicious water  because you are teaching us above the hours or  

you could say like four many hours let's see yes  it's been 99 minutes almost 100 minutes right now

ah all right yes we're going to close it down uh  very soon yes you pronounced my name correctly  

thanks canero canero yes because you taught it  well and so we understand uh the vocabulary yeah  

so I mean Latin Latin is is certainly helpful for  understanding a lot of words because many English  

words have Latin roots and I'm guessing it would  be the same in other uh like Latin origin language  

as well like you would have I don't know Italian  French Spanish um yeah so any words like that or  

languages like that that would be similar uh it's  helpful to know those things all right looks like  

we did get back to let's see oh Dave is there I  speak Portuguese I'm from Brazil uh let's see s  

Coos so I know that's like something maybe like  greetings greetings from everyone or something  

like that if that's if it works the same way in  Spanish Sal I don't know what that means it's  

time to drink water H okay like maybe people are  talking talking to talking to each other but what  

what does that mean a greeting ah greetings  like it's so it's similar to the English like  

um like salutations I guess greetings and  salutations but it's interesting how that  

works uh have you ever tried to speak Hindi uh  no I have not but interesting my my daughters  

uh they were watching some YouTube videos years  ago of just it was like some I don't know some  

like a Disney cartoon but it was in Hindi and  they were watching and they had watched it for  

maybe a week and they were just they started  speaking some Hindi words it's interesting  

greetings everyone that's right teacher glad to  hear it all right well anyway I think that is uh  

it I think we've gotten to everybody over here  but yes thank you for joining me this is again  

the last video of this year uh I don't think  think uh I should be able to do anymore I'll  

be taking a break rest my voice a little bit so  I can come back strong for 2024 but we will be  

uh as always around if you can send us an email  at info@ English anyone.com or if you'd like to  

start getting fluent before the new year you  got Frederick as well as fluent for life that  

you can click on in the description below this  video yes have a happy holiday uh everyone enjoy  

your you know whatever you celebrate if anything  enjoy the start to the new year and I will see  

you guys then all right see you next year like  you uh said on December 31st yes have a happy  

holiday happy uh Happy Everything George look  at that right in at the end with the pink hand  

over there George you never say anything else  it's always hello and goodbye I want to know  

more about George Isaac says just want to say  thank you for all the resources you put out  

for us yeah it's my pleasure I know what it's  like to struggle to communicate uh and I know  

it's hard to find information because most of  the information available is trying to help you  

learn English as a second language which will  keep you stuck so remember uh as I'm trying to  

help you learn use these ideas and start you  can actually learn a lot all by yourself and  

you don't need to spend a lot of time speaking  spend more time if you have some vacation time  

during this holiday season get more input spend  more time focusing on things learn more rather  

than trying to speak and then the next time you  do speak you'll be much more prepared for that all  

right uh I says happy holidays young says Merry  Christmas happy New Year happy holidays thank

you and so soon we say yes English is learning  English is no learning English is easy all right  

nowadays focusing on American English happy  holidays thank you all right now before I get  

a thousand comments about happy Holidays  happy happy holidays uh to everyone Merry  

Christmas Happy New Year whatever you guys  celebrate and I will see you next next year

bye-bye