5 Native English Phrases I Used Today

let's see if YouTube is going to kick in hopefully  everyone is doing well out there let's go

YouTube we should be all right okay we're in I am  Drew Badger the founder of EnglishAnyone.com and  

the English fluency guide welcome back to another  live video here on YouTube we are working if you  

have any questions or comments uh just post them  in the chat like usual and we'll get rolling I  

thought this would be Amar nice to see you there I  thought this would be an interesting video uh just  

to talk about some of the differences in how  I communicate in these videos so how I speak  

in a lesson like this versus how I speak in a  normal conversation with another native speaker  

especially in a casual way so many people complain  uh many English Learners complain that they have  

trouble or they can understand English teachers  but they have trouble understanding Natives  

and the reason is because people actually speak  differently and I want to give you a demonstration  

of this in this video so I wanted to talk uh I  give you an example really from a conversation I  

had uh with a friend of mine about uh him looking  for a present for his wife uh so we're going to  

talk about that we're going to look at part of  that conversation and I'm going to show you how  

natives communicate differently uh even though the  native language uh it's still correct so the the  

kind of things that you would learn in a regular  uh English classroom uh they are correct English  

but again if you don't have exposure to Native  speech especially actual conversations between  

Natives and lots of exposure to this then it's  going to be more difficult for you to understand  

natives so let's take a look at this so today uh  I knew I would be writing something so I actually  

prepared look at that boom a whole conversation  right here for everybody actually it's not a  

whole conversation and it looks like a lot but uh  as you will see it's actually not that much and  

we're going to talk about how we can take this  and make it into a a shorter faster easier more  

natural and Native uh way of speaking and I'll  talk about pronunciation A little bit as well uh  

so what I've done as I mentioned earlier in this  video is that there really are two different ways  

of speaking and of course we get a fire truck  or something like usual uh so there are two  

different ways uh of speaking you have the more  kind of textbook version and this is the way most  

people are teaching English and this is why it  becomes really difficult even if you take private  

lessons with an English teacher to transition to  real communication with different kinds of native  

speakers so you must you really must have this  different kind of uh exposure to lots of different  

native speakers uh so we're going to talk about  that now uh This what I have written up here is  

not the actual conversation uh this is a more  textbook version of that and so we're going to  

go through and I'm going to help you understand  this and then we will train uh kind of train you  

a little bit on some more natural speech all  right hopefully that makes sense uh if you  

have any questions before you get started let me  know I'll just go through comments right quick but  

nice to see everybody here I want to make sure I  get through all this without taking too much time  

but nice to see everybody here uh let's see nice  to see everybody hello from Miami so we just got  

started Julio says hello from Dominican Republic  when I started learning English on my own a couple  

of years ago I used to watch you all the time  and your videos really helped improve my English  

skills glad to hear all right let's get started so  I'm going to go through this again this is a more  

textbook version of the conversation and I will be  saying it uh slower more easily so you understand  

everything but uh hopefully this should make sense  to everyone so uh my friend begins so this will be  

my friend a and I am B uh so a asks uh may I ask  your opinion may I ask your opinion I need an idea  

for my wife's birthday may I ask your opinion  I need an idea for my wife's birthday hopefully  

this makes sense it should be pretty easy this is  a typical way of asking what someone thinks uh or  

if you want to ask for someone's opinion you can  also say may I get your opinion that's something  

you can also say so may I ask your opinion or may  I get your opinion or uh an even longer way you  

can say may I ask for your opinion or may I ask  you for your opinion but as you'll see uh it's  

much easier we can uh eliminate many words we'll  cut some of these out in the conversation uh as  

we get to the more conversational version but I  want to make sure everybody understands this what  

we have so far so this should be pretty easy may  I ask your opinion I need an idea for my wife's  

birthday and I respond how about getting her some  flowers how about getting her some flowers So This  

Is My Idea okay what if you get her some flowers  so how about is actually a very native and natural  

way of expressing what if so why don't you do  this uh or here's a potential idea so how about  

uh particularly we use this uh with kids a lot so  we're asking kids questions like how about this  

or how about that or what do you think about this  it's not only for kids but uh children learn this  

uh when they're very young but often adult natives  or adult non-natives who are learning English do  

not all right so why not buying her some flowers  yes Tom that's another thing you could say nil is  

nice to see you there from Wisconsin so again  uh I want to say before we go any further that  

yes there are many ways we could express these  ideas and you are welcome to post more just like  

Tom did so you can say like why not get her some  flowers so that's another way of expressing this  

uh and this is uh I talk about this in speak  like me this idea of moving like water where  

if you have lots of ways of expressing yourself  you never get stuck with only one thing if you  

can't remember what that is so there's always  something else I don't remember this way well  

why don't I say it this way instead so instead  of how about you can say why not why not get her  

some flowers okay hopefully that makes sense and  so he responds no I have already given her flowers  

many times I have already given her flowers many  times all right so I say what about flowers and  

he says no I've I've done that many times before  so I have already given her flowers many times or  

you could say you don't even need the already in  there uh it makes it sound a bit more natural uh  

people will use this but I have given her flowers  many times it means the same thing so already uh  

you don't really need to put that in there but  natives will use this a lot actually so I have  

already done it all right it puts a little bit  more emphasis uh on like yes I did this thing in  

the past like yeah I already did that so my friend  is a little bit frustrated he's trying to think of  

an idea and so I give you know pretty like bad  you know use of the idea like what about some  

flowers that's a pretty basic thing most people  think of that already Tom asks can I use yet at  

the end of this phrase let no uh at the end of  which phrase time the correct sentence is why  

not buy her some flowers uh well you could you  could say why not why not buy her some flowers  

or why not get her some flowers that's all that's  all fine all right so you can get is another very  

common word that you could use in place of buy  so instead of saying buy her some flowers why not  

get her some flowers all right again uh there  are already a few kind of more native ways of  

expressing things instead of saying buy we use  get which is just much more common and we can  

use this very easily for all kinds of things so I  could get her some flowers it means I could like  

pick some flowers or I could buy some flowers or  I could get some flowers from somewhere else but  

get really could be any of those things so the  the idea is just we're going to give her some  

flowers and it doesn't really matter where we  get the flowers all right uh given her flowers  

many times no you wouldn't say yet because it's  already happened uh so like already is that we're  

talking about the past here and so if I say no I  have already given her flowers now if we wanted to  

say the opposite like uh oh I have not given her  any flowers yet uh again you don't need to use yet  

but that would be the use of that so if you're if  you're talking about you did not do something uh  

I have not given her flowers yet I have not given  her flowers yet Vladimir nice to see you there all  

right so he says uh no I have already given her  flowers many times he's a little bit frustrated  

and I say well what are her current interests  abdil AB nice to see you there from Egypt what are  

her current interests so now I'm trying to think  uh you like how can I uh like how can I help him  

find something and make him think more about his  wife so he's asking me what to get his wife and  

I don't really know so I'm trying to think okay  well what are her current interests what is she  

uh what is she interested in what does she like  okay so what are her current interests what are  

her current interests so what does she like right  now what is she interested in right now like is  

there a TV show she's watching or does she like I  don't know she's talking about something whatever  

and my friend says I'm not sure I'm not sure I'm  not sure so you could also say I don't know or  

I don't really know uh I'm not sure so any of  these things would be fine remember there are  

always multiple ways to Express certain things  this is really just one General situation and  

each one of these phrases is a kind of mini  situation within this conversation so here I  

don't know that's the idea he's trying to express  and these are the words he's using but he could  

use something different all right and then I  say she must have said something she must have  

said something so he's saying well I don't know  what she's interested in and I say well she must  

have said something so she must must be uh saying  something like I like this or talking about this  

or I have a problem or something like that there  must be something she said that she's interested  

in uh and you should pay closer attention you  should pay closer attention all right so to pay  

attention means to watch and to listen carefully  like right now you should pay attention uh this  

is an interesting idea to talk about paying  attention so if we think about attention we  

giving attention uh to something right now like  you were watching this or you were listening to  

some music or something you were giving attention  or you are paying attention you are paying like  

just like you pay money for something you were  paying attention all right let me go back through  

comments before we go through uh and adjust some  of this so right now you are paying attention glad  

to hear all right uh let's see yes to get Muhammad  is it is like a magic word I've done actually  

quite a few videos on the verb get uh what does  she like most currently you wouldn't say most  

currently you would just say uh recently if you  want to say most so we don't say most currently  

but we do say most recently most recently that's  an interesting thing sometimes you will have these  

slight differences in the language where one  thing is okay and another thing is not and so  

really pay attention so again pay close attention  or pay even closer cler attention so you can hear  

and and listen to what natives are saying in  different situations all right so we wouldn't  

say uh what was that most uh most currently  we would just say most recently uh Neil says  

the only thing that helps is a handbag or shoes  that's Neils are you married let let me know if  

you're married or you have a a special someone  over there uh Min says hi Drew since a few days  

back I started to watch your YouTube video videos  you are so inspiring and your videos are awesome  

please continue regular update I am improving  by the way I'm from Nepal well I'm glad to hear  

their health uh if you know other people who would  also enjoy them please recommend us buter says hey  

Drew it's Drew isn't it you seem like talking in  a Southern accent don't you yes some people uh say  

or they think I sound a little bit Southern uh I'm  from actually the south side of Chicago and uh the  

way I'm speaking right now it's a kind of special  voice voice I have uh really for these lessons uh  

to make sure people can hear me but I'm speaking  a little bit more slowly uh and that maybe that  

has a little bit of that southern way of speaking  that's a little bit uh slower just to make sure  

people can understand what I'm saying all right  uh oh you are married oh okay great well hopefully  

maybe you can think about something for your wife  too for for her birthday or whatever all right so  

let me go back I'm going to read over the whole  thing again uh and then we will look at the more  

native natural version that I actually said okay  so the actual conversation we had uh again this is  

a more formal textbook version of it just so you  can understand each of these situations remember  

we have the the general situation of trying to  figure out a a present for somebody's wife but  

then each one of these little sentences is an idea  and we could express that in different ways all  

right so my friend says may I ask your opinion I  need an idea for my wife's birthday and I say how  

about getting her some flowers no he says I have  already given her flowers many times many times  

and I say well what are her current interests and  he says I'm not sure all right don't say that to  

your wife if you you can say that to your friend  but don't say that to your wife like I don't know  

what my wife is interested in uh and then I  say she must have said something so probably  

usually women will tell you something uh and you  should pay closer attention you should pay closer  

attention all right so hopefully uh it doesn't  look like we have any more questions about this  

so let's go back and tweak some of this uh Ohio  from Yokohama nice to see you there at subasa  

Tom I'd like to listen to you sometimes speaking  faster so I can see whether I understand you uh  

if you look at some of our conversation videos or  if uh I think you are a member of fluent for life  

if you are not uh you should be in the program  but that's where I speak normally uh how are you  

from aeran wish to talk with you VI email address  if you have questions you can email us just go to  

info@ English anyone.com all right uh let's see  Mohammad says can we say why don't you get get  

her you wouldn't say get to her you wouldn't say  get to her you would say just get her something  

uh if I want to get to someone usually this  means I'm trying to communicate with them in  

some way like I'm trying to get to my son maybe  he does doesn't want to do his homework and I'm  

trying to get to him like get through to him it's  it's a different idea of just getting something  

for someone so you can get flowers for a person so  get like get flowers or get a present for someone  

so that's the where the the action is going I'm  getting it for my wife or I can just get my wife  

some flowers all right sometimes in English uh  the language can seem confusing if you don't use  

those words so like here how about getting her  some flowers or I can say how about getting some  

uh flowers uh for her I could say that as well  so there are different ways of saying it but  

you wouldn't say get to all right we get something  for because we're doing it for like the benefit of  

someone else it's not just the direction but we're  talking about uh doing something for their benefit  

all right uh so let's talk about this we're going  to erase some of this and if you want to see the  

textbook version of this again will be down in the  description uh below this video all right so may I  

ask your opinion can you think of a better way to  express that what's a different way what's a way a  

native might say this we're asking for some help  or we're asking for some advice can you think of  

another way to say this now I'm going to give you  one what I actually said or what actually uh my  

friend said in the conversation uh but there are  different ways you could say this in addition to  

what I'm going to what I'm going to show here  so may I ask your opinion we're going to erase

this and see get my black marker here can

I can I pick your brain can I pick your brain so  you can think think about like there are ideas in  

my head and my friend is asking can he like pick  pick at some of those ideas in my brain so can  

I pick your brain can I pick your brain uh again  uh can I pick your brain I mean we we would also  

say like may I but pick your brain this is the  idea of doing something where you're just you're  

like trying to get at the ideas in somebody  else's head okay can I pick your brain this  

is one way of expressing this all right I don't  want to cover lots of different things but this  

is the basic idea of I need some ideas so can I  pick your brain can I pick your brain all right  

what we had before is perfectly fine but again  this is just a more natural native way of saying  

this that you could also use it's correct oh bega  says all ears so all ears would imply like that  

that's kind of something you say after you're  asking for help so if I'm listening to someone  

then I'm all ears but first if I'm asking for  someone's help or they opinion about something  

I'm beginning by saying this can I pick your  brain can I pick your brain can I pick your  

brain so remember we have the idea of picking uh  to pick something like to choose something like I  

pick uh like this food or this drink or something  for my lunch I pick this or I pick this person to  

be my wife but picking also means like you can  you're kind of scratching at something like if I  

have a pick axxe and I'm trying to get some gold  out of the side of a mountain like a pick axe so  

I'm picking at someone's brain I'm not choosing  your brain I'm picking at it like this hopefully  

that makes sense all right make sure people  are following along here uh oh nil says I am  

a woman and my name is Anette Neils hogr is this  name of the ship that took oh that I took oh wow  

oh okay oh I didn't know that well all right uh  so I guess maybe all right well you can you can  

tell me then I guess you know about Handbags and  and shoes I guess I don't know why I thought you  

were why I thought you were a man I guess oh  because of the name that that's where that's  

from you didn't correct me this whole time uh  let's see she might have mentioned something  

around you you must uh be more all ears all ears  when dealing with women yes so that's we we don't  

really use the expression that way we don't just  say like I'm all ears in general but uh typically  

when we're listening to someone in a particular  situation oh I'm all ear so I'm really listening  

carefully to what you have to say uh so can take  your advice or you would say can I get your advice  

or can I ask advice can I ask uh for your advice  about something all right uh Ze lumbo says your  

way of teaching is very impressive really I'm just  helping you understand same the same way I would  

teach my own kids uh it's figurative saying I'm  going to have your brain and see what you yes so  

that that's the basic idea uh it's just like I'm  I'm literally looking for ideas in the same way  

you would pick for for goal gold or some kind of  you know like an actual I'm looking for something  

I'm using a pickaxe we draw a pickaxe for you  so it's a pretty large like shovel kind of thing  

you swing it like that and try to get gold or  something out of rock uh and so I want to pick  

like some of the good ideas out of your brain so  there already are lots of ideas in your brain and  

I want to pick I want to pick your brain and try  to get a few ideas from you that's the idea can  

I pick your brain all right so I need an idea for  my wife's birthday we're we're going to keep this  

one the same because this is about as simple as we  could get or just say I need an idea for my wife's  

birthday and so I say how about getting her some  flowers all right now now I'm going to take this  

and just shorten it just to show that this is  the way uh like I could say this is it's fine  

to say how about getting her some flowers uh but  I could just take this and just say erase this how  

about flowers very simple very easy remember  natives like we understand the point we don't  

need to say like where we're getting the flowers  from or what kind of flowers we're not talking  

about the the the main point the idea is just  how about flowers how about flowers how about

flowers yes I think the name Nils is is a is  man's name and the only way I knew that was from  

die hard that Die Hard movie so how about flowers  okay so I could say this with anything how about  

I don't know like any any other thing any other  present how about shoes how about handbags how  

about jewelry how about something like that all  right I could also say what about that'd be the  

same way to do it how about what about but you'll  notice we can try to make things much shorter and  

easier because we don't need to say the whole  sentence that that idea is all implied okay all  

right Nils is looking good over there or Anette  I should say all right actually I think I'll just  

call you Nils still I think I will I will just  like think about that the whole time but let me  

see here make sure I got that correct let's see  all right a net all right I'll I'll try to try to  

use that over there all right I can understand  all words in the sentence but it takes me some  

time to digest this information and Gra askas what  is being conveyed to me yeah uh so this happens uh  

typically the I'm when I'm giving these lessons  some people it might be a little bit too easy  

other people it might be too difficult uh but  hopefully you can get at least a little bit of  

information from this and have it make sense so  don't worry if you don't understand everything  

here I'm actually giving a lot of information  in this lesson uh teaching quite a few different  

phrases uh so even if you only remember one  from from from this video it's okay come back  

and watch it again later and you will learn even  more each time so how about flowers uh and then  

he says no I have already given her flowers  many times so what would be a different way  

of expressing this idea so we've done something  many many times already that's really the idea  

so no I've already done something many times I'm  going to write something up here and if you have  

a thought or a different idea of a way we might  Express this then go ahead and put it in the  

comments so no I have already given her flowers  many times all right I mentioned before we don't  

need to have the word already in there it adds a  little bit of emphasis but it's not necessary uh  

so no I have given her flowers many times I just  erase this part no I have given her flowers many  

times as fine but I'm trying to think of a more  or he is using actually a a more natural way of  

expressing this uh so first instead of no going to  erase this whole thing here so we don't say like  

we we don't have to repeat give flowers because  that's already implied that's already understood  

so he said nah now instead of saying No this  is a common way people will say it's like nah  

like nah nah and and the pronunciation is not so  important uh it some people will have a more Nas  

sounding like nah nah or some people have a more  relaxed sound like nah nah I don't care about that  

or n but it just means no all right it's just a  casual way of saying this so not I've done that to

death now I've done that to death now I've done  that to death I've done that to death so I've done  

that to death to do something to death means  you've already done something many many times  

and especially in this case I've already given my  wife so many flowers or i' like I always give her  

flowers it's just boring I've done it to death  all right so I I did it so many times I killed  

that thing I've done it to death I've done that  thing to death all right ban says how to master  

phonetics uh in English uh if you click on the  link uh don't spam the comments though uh if  

you click on the link in the description below  this video get Frederick you can see the link  

down there and that will show you exactly how to  master phonetics uh and pronunciation listening  

and spelling so anyone who would like to learn  how to pronounce these things better just get  

Frederick click on the link in the description  below the video all right uh let's see uh vas  

says I can can I pick your brain I never have  heard of this way of asking for opinion thanks  

yes well that's the point of this video to share  new ways of expressing things um and again if you  

are if you were not in a native environment or  you're not getting a lot of native input uh like  

we give influent for life if you're not getting  that uh then you are going to miss a lot of these  

things in uh in real conversations so can I pick  your brain I need an idea for my wife's birthday  

how about flowers nah I've done that to death n  I've done that to death I've done that to death  

all right now this could apply to anything  that you've done so many times like like oh  

I've watched that movie to death all right I've  watched that movie to death or I've played that  

game to death all right so anything you've done  it like so many times you don't like doing it I  

don't like playing it or I don't like you  know because you've done it so many times  

uh or even common expressions like oh people  have used that to death people have used that  

expression to death done that to death it just  means they did it so many times or so much or so  

often that they killed that thing all right right  hopefully everybody's getting it it's pretty good  

expression uh but you know when I when I hear  things like this like this is not the kind of  

thing you hear in a regular English lesson like  in a textbook but you will again like people are  

trying to be more expressive like no no I don't  want to give flowers I've done that to death I'm  

so tired of that my wife is tired of that too by  the way uh so I've done that to death I've done  

that to death all right uh let's see uh Anette  yes I whenever I think Nils now I will think  

Annette all right I got you all right uh let's  see subasa with the DAP over there boom gotcha  

look at it made its way all the way to Japan  uh yes and says welcome very useful to death  

very useful expression all right uh thank you  Frederick is the best yes Tom if you know other  

people who would enjoy it please recommend the  app also go to the App Store wherever you got  

that and leave us a a comment just say hey the  app is awesome and recommend it uh Bogden says  

sorry for spam just making sure you were seeing  my comment I was asking for a third time don't  

worry I'm I'm trying to go through them uh yes's  with a little heart over there I just try freder  

R after this class you'll enjoy it a lot oh let's  see it's like some other language I can't read  

let's see I don't have any writing and listening  problems but I hesitate to speak I have none to  

practice could you provide some advice to me uh  remember and this is for everybody else that you  

don't improve by practicing your speaking if  you if you think and I know this sounds like  

weird advice because everybody tells you you have  to practice but if you think about what speaking  

practice really is what are you really doing when  you practice speaking the idea is that you repeat  

things because that's all it would be is so if I  like let's say I have a thing like how about and  

I just repeat that how about how about how about  how about so I'm not really learning anything more  

more uh and what really stops me from speaking  is doubt so if I'm uncertain about grammar or  

vocabulary or pronunciation or anything else  that's what really will stop me from speaking  

so instead of repeating things again and again  and again I need to get more examples or whatever  

will help me eliminate that doubt and so the  what I'm going through here is I'm I'm going  

I'm taking you through just a simple quick part  of a conversation and help helping you eliminate  

some doubt about particular things so as I'm  answering questions from people I'm eliminating  

the doubt so I call this a fluency trigger uh  this is kind of a longer version of that uh but  

the idea like this idea over here so I'm giving  you a kind of visual way of thinking about this  

idiom here of like picking someone's brain okay  so I'm not choosing that I'm actually like click  

click click click I'm picking I'm picking at your  brain to try to get some information from you so  

this is just a way of asking can I have your  opinion about something or can I get an idea  

or some kind of help for something so can I pick  your brain and so we don't become better speakers  

by speaking we actually become better speakers  by getting lots of different examples that help  

us understand the language better so once you  understand then you feel confident because you  

don't have doubt anymore and then you speak all  right so even if you are in a conversation with  

other people uh especially if you're talking  with a native uh you really should be paying  

a lot of attention like that where did I have  that before about like paying attention to pay  

attention because the Improvement will really  come from listening to what the native person  

is saying to you it's not from what you say it's  what the other person says to you okay so this  

is the opposite uh the opposite advice that  you will normally get from people about like  

you should just speak and that's how you will  improve but you don't really improve if you do  

that because just repeating things doesn't help  you understand them better you just need to get  

more information until you feel very confident  about individual words and phrases and then you  

will use those things fluently so you don't need  a practice partner you just need to get lots of  

examples that help you understand something you  need to eliminate the doubt that's when you start  

speaking all right it's my quick speech about that  all right um let's see Mom says I usually hang out  

with friends to celebrate birthdays of each other  yes you would say each other each other you don't  

need an s on yet we send many hearts that's right  uh Andy says thanks very much it's my pleasure  

hello Mr Drew to death means number one I did it  so many times well yes you could say it's it's a  

way of talking about something being boring but  it also means that you've done that thing many  

times all right so it's not interesting anymore  or people don't like it so uh the reason it's not  

boring like just the meaning of boring by itself  is because I could watch a movie one time and  

that movie could just be a boring movie I've only  seen it one time I wouldn't say oh I watched that  

movie to death if I watched that movie to death it  means I've seen that movie a hundred times so it's  

it's more the idea that you've done something so  many times and that's why if you look at the the  

original version of the the textbook version of  this conversation where uh my friend is saying  

well I've already given her flow many times all  right so that idea of I have already done that  

done that thing many times uh so that that's the  more important part about doing something to death  

all right so it just means you've done it so many  times and because of that now it's boring or not  

interesting or whatever but the more important  the the main idea of that phrase to do something  

to death means it's it's it's just been done so  many times it's overused uh or it's cliched or  

any anything else where it's just not interesting  anymore okay hopefully that makes sense all right  

uh and let's see what's the best way to ask the  cost of something is it correct to say how much  

does this cost so you would say how much does  this cost so no s on the end of it remember  

the the subject verb agreement there so how much  does this cost or you could say like this thing  

costs uh however much it is but yeah you just how  much is fine how much how much uh Zelo says how  

many languages do you speak I speak English and  Japanese I know a little bit of French and Spanish  

a little bit uh MOS from Bangladesh hi from ukra  uh Ukraine glad to see you here live again uh I  

have worked to death but my employer didn't even  pay my salary yes that's another excellent use of  

the expression so just like we can take any verb  really and say like I've done something to death  

like oh my boss is working me to death my boss  is working me to death he's working me too much  

it's like he's actually doing something that's  that's going to kill me and so you notice an  

interesting thing about conversations is people  will exaggerate uh just to make the like the  

conversation or the speech more interesting so  it's the same idea I I'm actually saying I have  

done something many times but I'm making it sound  a bit more interesting like oh I've done that to  

death I've done it I've done that thing to death  okay so same basic idea uh you can say both of  

those I have given my wife flowers many times but  this again nah I've done that to death nah like  

nah I don't want to do that so especially this  this nah right here we often use this when we're  

especially speaking casually so you wouldn't want  to talk with your boss like this unless you were  

very friendly with your boss so your boss says uh  hey I need you to come into work tomorrow and you  

say nah you probably would not do that but if  you're talking with your friend and your friend  

says oh should we get pizza for dinner you say nah  I I had pizza yesterday okay so that's where the  

the nah rather than no comes from okay so that's a  slight Nuance there all right hopefully that makes  

sense will what are her current interests what are  her current interests so what's a better way to  

express this well what are her current interests  uh let's erase this so well what are her current

interests and I can ask well

what's she or she into

lately nice and simple well what's she into lately  all right so to be into so what is she into lately  

lately what is she into lately what is she into  lately now the reason we use lately instead of  

recently you could use recently uh but lately and  this is this is one of those uh kind of tricky  

tricky words where we would prefer to use lately  uh what's the best way to describe it well like if  

I if I say well what she into recently I guess in  this case you really could use both I think lately  

would sound more natural um you would probably get  more examples if you did a Google search for these  

uh but there there are times that so this is a  case where you could use lately or recently uh  

but lately sounds a little bit more natural I'm  trying to think about the best reason to explain  

why that would be um just to help you understand  that because there are times when you would not  

use both of them at the same time so an example  of that might be uh like uh the company has been  

doing something um actually yeah I guess in in  this case you really could use either you really  

could use either I actually want I want to do a  lesson I think I I did a lesson many years ago  

about like lately versus recently uh and I can't  think of something uh immediately I don't know  

maybe I'm still sick uh but anyway so the idea  here is so what is she into lately or what is she  

into recently I would probably prefer lately yeah  just like a personal personal preference I guess  

um but you could use either one of those but the  more important thing here is what is she into so  

to be interested in what is she into okay so what  are her Hobbies or what movies is she watching or  

something like that what is she into lately what  is she into recently all right let me go back and  

see if anybody all right let's see so to death  means a lot like I'm scared to death by the way  

well uh Bruno in that case like you wouldn't be  talking about there's there's like being scared  

to death and then doing something to death and  so I'm not necessarily scared of something like  

this example here so no I've given my wife many  many flowers I'm not scared about anything so  

death it it can be used when we're talking about  something else but it's a completely different  

usage of the word all right so done something to  death rather than to be scared to death like you  

could be scared to death of doing something to  death you could say that um and that would mean  

like you don't want to do something too many  times that's what that would mean I'm scared  

to death of doing something to death all right  uh let's see I like the way I like your way to  

explain S jerma I really enjoy your class glad to  hear it saludos uh what's she into right now yes  

you could also say that as well so what's she  into right now uh lately or recently implies a  

little bit more time span so if we just say like  right now it could I mean and this is this is a  

it's not a specific idea where right now is like  only immediately it could be you know within the  

past week or something as well when we talk about  like what is your wife into that's why it's better  

to say something like lately or recently because  that extends that amount of time it just makes  

it a little bit more General so what is she into  recently or what is she into lately um and uh and  

when we when we're using this again you could say  right now what is she into now another way like  

what is she into now uh or right right now right  now is even more specific it's like that like what  

is she doing today or the past week something  like that but we can a bit more general or have  

a bit more time so what is she into lately what  is she into lately uh let's see all right musle  

please give specific class for I speaking yeah  there are plenty of people who do that already  

just find those speakers on YouTube uh onto you  would not use onto you say what are you what are  

you into like what is the thing you are you kind  of inside it uh almost almost like you are you are  

a part of that thing all right so you you really  get into your work I really get into something to  

get excited about that thing I'm not kind of  sitting on the top of it I'm I'm inside it I  

really like that thing uh bega says watch Drew's  videos to death if you want to start your new life  

with yes so so you could it is possible to watch  my videos to death but hopefully you don't watch  

them too much well go ahead if you like but  all right uh let's see Hassan says who want to  

practi his English with me remember the practicing  doesn't come from you you don't need to like meet  

someone to practice your English you just need  to get more examples that help you understand  

the language better after you feel confident  that's when you can look for people to speak with  

and in that case you don't really need a speaking  practice partner just find people who are sharing  

your interests n says thank you let's see uh her  current interests are traveling in new countries  

and sightseeing so I guess a trip to Paris could  be a great idea yes uh the the wife his wife might  

might prefer that I don't know I don't know his  wife well so I can't say but yes if she's into  

that I mean you you could do that maybe she's into  travel or she's into cooking or something whatever  

that is uh but my friend says I'm not sure so he  doesn't really know and that's why I say well you  

you she must have said something you need to be  paying attention to to what your wife is doing all  

right so let's look at this phrase right here I'm  not sure what's a different way we could express  

this all right so native uh definitely would  say I'm not sure uh but my friend did not use  

that expression what did he say instead he said  and this is pretty a pretty common pretty casual

expression beats me beats me I think I've  actually used this on uh on I've talked  

about this before this is also in a uh in a  book that my my daughters like so there's a  

character uh that like the one lady is saying  Hey do you do you know about uh taking care  

of kids and she's like well beats me I don't I  don't know anything about that so I don't know  

or I'm not sure uh beats me is really like you  have no idea at all all right so I'm not sure uh  

is it it implies there's a little bit more  certainty there so like I kind of know but  

remember that people exaggerate so if someone  says I'm not sure about something then they  

probably they probably don't know it all and  this is a this is a it's a way of using the  

language like another thing like you've  probably heard this before uh let me see  

if this fits up here uh what and this is this  is just a different example so what does mean

exactly or you will hear we can move exactly  over here like what exactly does something mean  

all right now the reason I think I've talked  about this in in videos before I I definitely  

have influent for life um but this idea here  this is a this is more a psychology thing about  

communication where if I say what does something  mean like what does uh rubicon mean just a word  

like what does that mean uh if I say what does  that mean it makes me sound less intelligent  

because I don't know a word and it's okay really  if you don't know a word but uh the point is when  

people are when people are communicating uh they  they sound more intelligent if they use the word  

exactly because that implies that you know a  little bit about something already so so if I  

say like like if we if we imagine how much like  I know about like a a particular word over here  

from 0 to 100 I'm sorry I'm taking time to explain  this but it's it's important to understand these  

like the the deeper ideas about communication  and you probably have things that are similar  

in your language as well uh so let's say there's  a word like uh I don't know now I can't I can't  

think of just like a random word what's a random  word uh let's say uh invite it just invite so the  

random word is invite uh and maybe I don't know I  don't know what that means at all I don't know the  

word invite I don't know the meaning of invite  at all so if I say what does invite mean what  

does invite mean it means like I'm I'm kind of  stupid or or I'm ignorant it just means I can't  

I don't know what something means so if I say what  does invite mean it means basically zero I don't  

know anything about it but if I say what exactly  does invite me it means I I maybe have like some  

idea about what that means so this is a subtle  interesting thing uh in in speaking when when  

people will use this word here what exactly does  that mean what exactly what do you mean exactly  

all right uh because it means uh typically it  could mean that they actually know something uh  

but maybe they don't they don't know anything  actually all right so I just thought this this  

was an interesting thing you will hear natives  use this a lot whenever people use uh exactly in  

a conversation often it's because they have like  no uh like no particular uh maybe they they don't  

know like anything about that particular thing so  like what what exactly is biology or like you know  

any it could be any anything like that if I say  what is biology it means I I'm I'm just saying I  

don't know anything about it but what exactly is  that I sound a bit more intelligent a bit more  

knowledgeable and it's just trying to make myself  seem better about that all right like less stupid  

or less ignorant uh whatever all right part pardon  that that little little uh interlude there all  

right uh let's see all right we got a bunch of a  bunch of things while I'm talking over here okay  

what is she okay we got that already all right uh  our boss always picks our brains to death to see  

what we are into yes yes you could use it that  way like your boss is like if your boss has no  

idea he's always picking your brain to death like  he doesn't think of anything himself you know uh  

Conan says Drew is there any difference between  American accent and Canadian accent uh because  

there's a lot of Canadian teachers on YouTube  and I get nervous because I think they're a  

huge I think they're huge I don't know what you  mean by that the words rather than American well  

Canada and um uh in America are quite similar and  maybe some people have a thicker accent I mean we  

we would call it an accent they just call it how  they speak so it's it's always like an accent to  

the other person um but they're quite similar and  you will have many people like you can't really  

tell but if you're an American or a Canadian  usually you can tell the difference between  

like a Canadian speaker and an American speaker  I remember actually a Canadian told me a joke  

many years ago I'll tell you the joke right now  it's it's actually about Canadian accent uh and  

so this was uh different countries were getting  together to to think of what their names would  

be uh and they they were just like picking they  have this is a kind of common thing in in America  

um but like or I I actually many people do this  like you have a bowl or a hat and you just have  

letters in there and you pick them out and that's  going to be the name of your country so the first  

guy he's going to pick the name of his country  from the letters in the Hat and and the first  

letter he says okay u s and a and then he says  okay our country is going to be called the USA  

so the first guy pulls out those and he he gets  the he says like u a and then guy let me erase

USA and he says he pulls out the cards  it says ca na da so it means like

Canada CA na a DA so you will have that like a at  the at the end and the the end of a lot of sounds  

like that so that's one difference that that we  don't have in the United States a all right all  

right hopefully that makes sense all right all  right uh let's see yeah rub Rubicon is the name  

of a river but we we also have like there's a  more figurative usage of it like where we're  

we're going to do something like from the idea of  this Crossing the Rubicon uh meaning we're going  

to do something in like we can't go back after  that so now like we commit to doing something  

I'm Crossing the Rubicon I'm actually going to do  something uh that I can't go back on all right so  

I'm making a decision all right all right yes the  ambulance is back all right uh let's see so again  

when you're getting different accents like what  we do in fluent for life is we actually have you  

listen to different speakers from different parts  of the world so you can listen to their different  

accents and get used to them all right so that's  again we prepare people for all of that so tired  

uh could be beats me well uh if you're if you're  talking about being tired that's actually I'm beat  

if you're talking about you feeling physically  tired like oh I feel beat or I'm beat it's like  

almost like you know the work or the day or  something has been hitting you all day long  

and now now you're tired I'm beat well I'm beat  all right uh let's see um Mohammed says uh let's  

see oh wait maybe I ski that let's see all right  uh a says you're my favorite teacher I have been  

watching a video since 2017 thank you for all  your hard work it's my pleasure all right let's  

see Hello teacher I'm late today that's all  right Suzanne says hey there can't sleep so  

I thought I come here nice seeing you drew nice  to see you there solve it kind of American accent  

and Canadians resemble each other beats me let's  see kind no problem but if you'd accept that free  

offer that you would have changed your life but  now the offer is not I don't know what you guys  

are talking about uh but keep it clean over  here don't need any trouble in the comments  

what exactly do you mean by saying this I don't  know I don't know now now I'm confused over here  

all right uh let's see Fabio what's up what's all  right Fantastico what does covid-19 mean exactly  

yes that's a good example all right so I am beat  means I am tired yes that's correct so I am beat  

so remember it like the the way non-natives will  learn the languag is they will take a word and  

then they will typically get a translation  of it so like let's say uh I could I could  

use the word like like to hit something or to  beat something like in Japan would be like or  

Japanese is like T um that's one example so one  way I could express that uh but if I'm learning  

it in English like there are different uses  of the word and I hear those different uses  

in different situations uh yes Suzanne it's like  I'm exhausted and so you can hear a beat like to  

beat a drum but then you also hear like I'm beat  it's like oh like I'm kind of like I feel kind  

of like hit in a certain way like I'm tired  like I'm getting very uh very exhausted about  

something and so sometimes there is a meaning  that's it's connected like that and sometimes  

you just have words that have completely  different meanings like the word trunk for

example so a trunk this could mean like the  nose of an elephant uh or it could mean a  

box for travel so there sometimes the same word  actually has just completely different meanings  

but the important thing here is that as  you get all these different examples it  

really helps you understand the core meanings  of words uh so you can use them more naturally  

and more confidently uh let's see so kind  says Drew when I read an article or book  

I get bored as fast as my brain won't  imagine it is that a question I don't  

understand um but I if you're you should just  if you're talking about reading things unless  

you have to read it for work or for school or  something you should read something you enjoy  

find something you are interested in especially  if you're trying to learn English by doing that  

all right let's continue so we got beats me  uh and then she must have said something she  

must have said something what's a different  way we could express that she must have said

something and here we go she must

be dropping hints all right to drop hints now  to drop hints if you think about about like  

like women imagine this situation it's This  Woman's like his wife's birthday coming up  

so she's probably dropping hints meaning like  here's a hint about something she doesn't want  

to say it directly like hey you should take  me to Paris or you should do this or buy this  

thing she will probably drop a hint like you  know I'd really like a new something I really  

want a new pair of shoes or I really want to go  on a a trip or something like that so she might  

not say it directly but she will drop some hints  drop some hints a dropping hints so you could uh  

give a hint You could also say that like she  must be giving hints but dropping hints this  

is a specific expression for just kind of like  laying out little little crumbs something like  

that where your wife is telling you what  she wants even though she doesn't want to  

say it directly uh and so your wife is dropping  some kind of hint of about that all right she's  

dropping hints so she must be dropping hints  or she's probably dropping hints something  

like that she must be dropping hints pretty easy  to understand so this is one way of saying this  

there are more but I just wanted to teach this  one specific thing or uh because it came up in  

the conversation she must be dropping hints  she must be dropping hints all right and then  

the last one you should pay closer attention  uh and this one is I'm just going to replace

this you

better you better is a very common uh way of  expressing that you should do something or  

I recommend you do something but this is a very  native and natural way of saying this often like  

you should do something it sounds a little bit  more formal uh you can say that like you should  

pay attention but you better pay attention you  better pay attention you better pay attention  

uh to drop a hint on or over well you just say  like to drop drop hints you don't need to add  

add any preposition to that to drop a hint my  wife is dropping hints typically dropping hints  

about something so my wife is dropping hints about  what she wants for her birthday all right so she's  

dropping hints oh you better pay attention you  better do your homework you better get up early  

you better do this you better do that you better  you better all right or he better or I better or  

we better now typically you will have like the the  longer construction of this is like you had better  

you had better do something it's the same idea  but remember uh like typically in conversations  

if we understand like I'm talking to my friend  here uh I can say you better pay pay attention or  

you had better pay attention uh but I don't need  to say like you had better pay closer attention  

I guess I could say that but just pay attention  you better pay attention you better pay attention  

but you better this is very common uh especially  when talking about uh like children needing to do  

something like children need to do uh whatever  that is you better do your homework you better  

you better be nice or there's going to be trouble  you better be nice all right so we don't it's it's  

it's a little bit stronger than you should but  it's also more relaxed and more casual you better  

pay attention all right yes I mean it's it's it's  talking about for the future but like the future  

also implies right now so like you better like you  should be doing that right now okay you better pay  

attention so it means like we we can't really say  this for the past like it's better if you had paid  

attention we could say that so it's better if you  had paid attention but that's a slightly different  

usage of better all right you better do this all  right you better pay attention you better pay  

attention all right uh let's see all right Lauren  nice to see you there good evening to the best  

teacher in the world you're too kind all right  got other people talking to themselves I think  

or each other di says Drew you are the greatest  English teacher that ever seen because you know  

what you're teaching us well I hope so I I do my  best I couldn't it some sometimes it's difficult  

because all of these live videos I have to think  on the spot I have to think on my feet about  

examples and often I like to take my time that's  why when I'm making lessons I actually spend a lot  

of time uh preparing things especially for videos  I make because there's a lot of planning to make  

sure that I can eliminate the doubt for people I  have to anticipate what kind of questions people  

have uh but it is more difficult for me to think  more I'm still recovering a little bit from my uh  

from my my flu a little bit a little bit recently  uh let's see I'm effortlessly understanding you  

I effortlessly understand you is this because  you're explaining things like parents to kids  

or I'm actually good in English well it I mean  it's both but my job as a teacher is to make the  

language understandable because that's when you  become more confident and eliminate the doubt and  

you feel like speaking so yes like remember that  you become fluent in individual words and phrases  

as you understand them so you might understand  me and you're used to me and you can learn some  

new vocabulary but maybe you hear someone else  like a person in a movie or a native speaker  

somewhere and you don't understand them as well  but that's okay and it just means you just need  

more practice listening to that kind of speech or  maybe that kind of accent something like that so  

uh so I guess your your the answer to the to your  question is yes and no so yes you are like like  

getting good but also you know like it it's it's  you get fluent one piece at a time all right so  

if you understand one person but don't understand  someone else don't feel bad about that all right  

uh let's see uh you say Hi teacher I have one  problem with English the problem is I can't expand  

my vocabulary why not I first of all I I would I  would question I would recommend I would actually  

say you better so you better uh focus on the  vocabulary you already know uh rather than trying  

to learn new vocabulary and I promise you you  will actually expand your vocabulary as you focus  

on the words you already know so you look at what  we're what we're covering here today I'm actually  

trying to go very deep into a few different words  and expressions just so you understand them better  

all right so my goal is not to teach you 2,000  new words in one video because you probably not  

remember that and you won't really feel confident  you will still have doubts and questions and  

concerns about that information but if I can focus  on a few things help you understand at least one  

of them really well uh and hopefully understand  more of that um but if if you do that you will  

feel a little bit more fluent so you should feel  more fluent because you feel more certain and  

confident about the vocabulary or the grammar or  whatever it is we're covering all right but that's  

the goal of each one of my videos you should leave  the video uh feeling more confident and certain uh  

let's see here damn you YouTube why you always  have to I should be able to go back to where I  

was that would be a nice uh inter interface thing  here to drop a hint on or over or about what is  

the correct prepositions yeah well you you I  mean yeah I think I mentioned or answered this  

question already but you would typically drop  you might drop a hint uh up about typically we  

would we would say that solve it danila I'm in  hot water people tease me annoy me hurt break my  

heart What About You uh let's see ought to Fabio  says Hey teacher what's the difference between a  

typhoon a hurricane and a tornado uh a hurricane  is in the Atlantic Ocean and a typhoon is in the  

Pacific Ocean and a tornado is on land um that's  the basic difference uh so typhoon like a comes  

like from the like both I don't know if a chinese  also uses it but like the taiu is the the Japanese  

word for that uh but it's it's basically the  same thing YF says I can recommend you something  

really good for fluency let's see you better pay  attention sounds like advice but sounds for the  

past for me well it's it's it's talking about now  and for the future I think I'm repeating myself  

here because I got stuck on these comments here  uh I think the children good more than us let's  

see kind of advice and tips let's see says jwy  you're awesome I'm sure you only can be a reason  

behind my fluency in future I request you please  make videos regularly uh you should get fluent  

for life that's like hundreds of videos that are  already the whole system is is right there waiting  

for you all right so you don't need to wait for  me to make anything new uh Manisha is from Nepal  

uh what's the differ you think between imply  and infer uh well imply typically means like  

it's coming from someone like I imply something  by saying a particular thing like like let's say  

I think like yeah that shirt that shirt looks  a little bit tight around your stomach if I say  

that I'm implying you're fat all right uh but like  I the inferring is more what the other person does  

as they're like listening to that like the other  person infers from what I said that they're fat  

all right so I'm implying something and they are  inferring something so they are kind of trying  

to get some information for me and I'm trying to  give some information all right that's a slight  

slight difference in there I I don't want to  spend a long time uh going over the difference  

but that's how you would think about that well and  Tom says a let's see and Zak says hi Drew do you  

have any books about how to become more fluent or  something like that you don't need any more books  

to become fluent you just need to eliminate the  doubt that stops you from speaking that's it uh  

and if you'd like to learn more about that just  click on the link in the description below for  

fluent for life is said can you please tell me  what I can do bro please tell me what I can do  

about what uh Lou says you have to improve your  high frequency vocabulary I think well yeah I mean  

but it's like flu like high high fluent high high  frequency vocabulary uh is certainly very useful  

and we cover uh all of that in fluent for life  but it's also frequent vocabulary for particular  

situations and so you need to think about that  for your own life uh this is why people get to  

the program uh and they focus on specific things  like you need language for business you will also  

learn how to apply that same vocabulary to other  situations and even how to take other situations  

and apply that to business uh but the point  is you should be focusing on the frequently  

used vocab that you need for your life uh let's  see are these phrases bad to use if you want to  

sound professional no these aren't particularly  bad I mean the only thing like nah nah that's  

that's a little less professional and you probably  shouldn't write that uh unless I mean but again it  

it could be a professional situation where you  have uh even a like a casual friendship like  

you have friends or co-workers and you speak with  them casually even at work all right so it's not  

like there's only one way of communicating for a  particular situation all right but in general uh  

yes like this this kind of vocabulary you can be  using this in a professional or a casual situation  

and the more examples you get so this is why it's  a good idea to pay attention to what other people  

are doing so we get our kind of Clues other people  will drop hints about the kind of vocabulary you  

can use all right so if you're in the workplace  you listen to people are speaking or how the boss  

speaks is the boss speaking more casually uh then  you can use that more casually as well will you  

drop a hint about what your next lesson will be  so drop a hint about what the next lesson will  

be about so in that in that sense like we would  probably just say like what your next lesson will  

cover uh actually I don't know uh I don't know you  you tell me what would you like uh the next lesson  

to be about you tell me uh like uh uh all right  sir so many idioms in English and it's sometimes  

confusing yes uh it's not really necessary to  learn a lot of idioms you can actually become  

a fluent speaker just by learning a lot of basic  and simple vocabulary and that's really all you  

need to be able to speak but this video is just  an example of how to extend that I know a lot of  

people are interested in learning more vocabulary  even though I tell them hey it's much better to  

improve the vocabulary you already know but people  are always trying to learn new words and phrases  

all right Dan says teacher could you give us some  techniques uh or some tips in other understanding  

all Native English speaker please uh well that's  what we do in fluent for life so the the basic  

idea for understanding different native speakers  is you just need exposure to those different  

speakers so if you want to understand people from  like the southern part of the United States or New  

York accent or something you need to get exposure  to those different kinds of people that's how  

it works so that's there's no there's no getting  around that idea it's it's just what you have to  

do uh Roger says let me get this straight you're  saying if I focus on the words that I already know  

I grow up my vocabulary yes so like right now  you're using something like I will grow up my  

vocabulary like so you're you're using those words  but you're not using them correctly I understand  

what you mean but like you would you would say  like you increase or just grow your vocabulary  

so it means that you you know the vocabulary but  you don't know it well enough that you you could  

you could actually review that vocabulary more  and you would feel more confident about using it  

because you'd use it correctly all right so lots  of people if you look at the comments in these  

videos lots of people are explaining things but  it's not 100% correct most people have some kind  

of errors in what they're saying and that means  they have a question or doubt or something about  

that vocabulary and this is for the words even  that they already know so remember that you go  

through different phases as you learn so when you  first hear something you're getting exposed to it  

as you hear it more and more you get more aware  about that you become like you can recognize that  

information or that vocabulary when you hear it  but maybe you still have some kind of uncertainty  

about it that's how you need to get uh basically  eliminating those doubts in order to move up to  

the fluent level for that particular vocabulary so  the the Trap that a lot of Learners get in is they  

they think they need to know more words to become  fluent but you don't become fluent by learning  

more words because why would you become fluent by  learning more words uh if if you don't actually  

speak fluently with the vocabulary you already  know so as an example let's say I know 100 let  

me fit this in here somewhere my Canada example so  if I know 100 words for example but I still can't  

speak very well then why would 1,000 words help me  all right now remember I'm talking about knowing  

vocabulary uh really well like knowing it well  enough that you feel confident about speaking that  

you won't feel uh like worried about mistakes and  pronunciation or grammar or something like that so  

adding more vocabulary doesn't actually help you  improve unless you're actually feeling fluent in  

that vocabulary and this is why most Learners many  Learners I would say uh they can they can continue  

to learn new vocabulary for years and years and  years so they watch lots of YouTube videos oh it's  

like here's 500 expressions or whatever here's  like a thousand expressions for you but you don't  

really uh actually improve unless you improve the  fluency of that individual vocabulary okay so if  

I learn some words but I don't really understand  them well enough I'm wasting my time it's much  

better to learn a few things spend my time really  understanding them and then as I do that then the  

my my my fluency actually increases much faster  okay so you don't need to know more words to get  

fluent you actually need just one word to be  to really be fluent like let's say I need to  

like need to be get a a greeting to someone and  I say hello if I know how to say that correctly  

smoothly with good pronunciation I know how to  respond I don't have any doubt or any worry in  

my mind about saying it it's getting fluent in one  particular word or phrase at a time so I learn how  

to say hello and I understand when to say that I  can say it correctly confidently now I learn other  

words okay but I get fluent in these things and  I know it seems like this might take longer but  

think about people who study the language for many  years and still can't speak that's a long time of  

continuing to struggle and they think they need  to know more words if I just know more words I  

will be a better speaker but then they can't speak  all right and it's it's not because they they like  

don't know a lot of words it's it's they don't  know those words very well they still have doubts  

or worries about that and typically people are  learning English as a second language so they're  

learning English through their native language  and when you do that then you really have lots of  

doubts and you're translating in your head when  you speak but if you look at how children learn  

they focus on a few things and they're getting  lots and lots and lots of examples okay and so  

they feel very confident that they will speak  correctly then they start speaking and then wow  

like that's how they get fluent very quickly all  right so you can do the exact same thing and you  

can actually get fluent faster than a native child  if you just get lots of input the same way a child  

does all right right but the goal really is to  eliminate the doubt it's not just to like put  

lots of English into your brain it's to eliminate  the doubt that you have about vocabulary grammar  

pronunciation all right I repeat this often  because it's the most important thing about  

language learning all right uh let's see that's  a good expression though let me get this straight  

good work uh let's see Juan says hi my first time  here I want to improve my English welcome welcome  

welcome uh there's a lot of people who can speak  English like a native but if you ask them about  

grammar they get stuck why that's happened well a  lot of people can't explain what the grammar rules  

are because they're not they they understand how  the grammar rules work it's like using a toilet  

lots of people understand how to use a toilet  but they couldn't explain to you how the plumbing  

works you know same idea and so if a native  speaker recognizes how the how the rules work  

uh they just do it now naturally and automatically  but they can't tell you what a past participle is  

okay you know and so it like it it just shows you  that it's not necessary to know that information  

and typically when when natives uh if you ask a  native like why something is they probably won't  

be able to tell you the way a teacher would about  an explanation about grammar or something but if  

you say what does a word mean they will give you  just some examples of well when would we use it  

we would use it in this example and this example  and this example and this is typically how natives  

are thinking about the language so they're not  thinking about rules they're thinking about what  

vocabulary do we use in what situation okay I  think I talked in last week's video about um what  

was that like the like present present perfect  tense uh and instead of talking explaining about  

it about it like as a rule you're more trying to  think about what is the situation we're describing  

so as an example uh I can talk about myself  like I have short hair or I have two ears or  

I have green eyes uh I'm describing myself and  these are things you can see or I can talk about  

like my shirt I have a red shirt or something  um and I can also talk about the experiences I  

have so I have uh played baseball okay so like  playing baseball I can talk about the activity  

like I played baseball many years ago but I can  talk about that also as a part of who I am so I  

have played baseball I have that thing all right  and so we we we can talk about this as like oh  

this is the the present perfect or whatever uh  but instead of talking about the grammar rules  

natives don't really think about that if you  ask a native what is the present perfect they  

probably can't tell you but they do know how  to use the present perfect correctly because  

they're just they're thinking about it as as like  vocabulary connected with situations not trying  

to memorize as rules all right so that's why you  will get uh people who can't answer questions like

that um I think May did I I thought I skipped over  a question asking about my dad if he's still alive  

while back and yes he is just to answer that  [Music] uh let's see about phrases or Advanced  

vocabulary oh you talking about like um like  videos what we' got plenty of those already  

Drew do you have Monsoon weather yeah we we do get  uh we have like a typhoon season we actually we  

kind of have like two of them here uh and it's  a little bit rainy now but no typhoon but my  

friend dropped a hint that he will buy a Ferrari  this summer wow pretty cool all right idioms are  

so interesting many times yes there are lots of  interesting idioms and if you understand how they  

work then they're not really very complicated uh  yeah it can help if you feel confident yes you'd  

say it can help not it can helps it can help and  so here that's an example of like this is basic  

uh subject verb agreement but it's still incorrect  which means that you're still not understanding or  

you're probably not feeling very confident about  that and I don't want to make anyone feel bad like  

I'm singling you out like oh no there's an error  in your grammar or pronunciation or whatever just  

by looking at comments um but I'm trying to help  people remind them that look like you're using  

basic things incorrectly so why would you try to  learn more difficult things focus on the things  

that you still don't understand that you're not  using correctly really understand them well and  

then all the the advanced stuff becomes very easy  after that uh it's finish your live stream well  

I'll be finishing uh soon Mino but your no problem  with pronunciation is that or my problem with  

pronunciation is that I get influenced by the way  different speakers pronounce certain words I can't  

really stick to one particular way this gives me a  headache and I end up stuttering get get Frederick  

just click on the link in the description below  this video get that and it will teach you how to  

do it you can listen to me pronounce uh thousands  of words and and learn how to pronounce them uh  

do you know what take a rain check means yes it  just means do something later a rain check so the  

uh like and here's a perfect example of like an  English lesson so a typical lesson either you get  

a definition of something or you get a translation  of that so the student asks what is a rain check  

and I say oh it just means to do something later  now if I stop the lesson right there then you  

probably will like okay I I guess I understand  but I haven't really eliminated the doubt so let  

me give you a little bit of History a little bit  of story this is the fluency trigger that helps  

you understand the vocabulary so you eliminate  the doubt so the idea for this comes from people  

maybe you go to a baseball game or something like  that uh but if there's rain then the game gets  

it's cancelled and you get a little check like  a little ticket to come back for another day so  

you get a rain check uh for another game you can  come back and watch it for free later so that's  

where the idea of a rain check comes from uh but  when you understand that then we can apply that to  

other things like my uh doctor's appointment or  something well I can't come uh this weekend but  

uh let me take a rain check all right so it means  let me come back let me apply that to a different  

time okay so that's the difference between just  getting like a quick regular English as a second  

language lesson versus getting a fluency trigger  that helps you understand something hopefully that  

makes sense but the point is uh if I can help  you eliminate the doubt and really understand  

something then you will feel much more confident  about speaking uh all right it's 308 for me huh  

well hopefully get some sleep over there do you  think that exams like Toof will really measure the  

level of English uh well they measure your ability  to take the test I'm sure I mean you have to be  

able to speak a little bit especially if they have  a speaking test like a speaking part of the test  

but uh the way people speak in those tests is  going to be different from how people speak in  

a regular conversation so the only thing that can  really test you is how you are in the real world  

so if I go to a Japanese class and I sit and I  study and I listen to the textbook and examples  

and things like that it will be a very different  situation than uh how I am in the real world so if  

I can't really understand people in the real world  then it like you see there's there's that that  

disconnect between the lesson and the real world  and this is what I'm I'm showing you with this uh  

lesson today so that's why we're contrasting how  a textbook might present the English and how the  

native language would express it uh more lessons  like this one where textbook language altered into  

the Casual one good job yeah uh again we we do  this in fluent for life as well but yeah it's  

I do this sometimes in email lessons also uh  you can advice your friend giving a wife yeah  

so you can uh you can recommend to your friend we  wouldn't say you can advice you could say you can  

give advice or you can advise advise your friend  uh like advise your friend that he should give his  

wife a watch I have around 500 words or more but  I can't use it okay then go back and review what  

you know Zak says Drew how many hours per day  to practice listening to have real Improvement  

to understand English natives uh well if it  depends on what you're listening to if you're  

listening to real examples of native speakers  and you understand what you're learning then  

you will improve really quickly but if you're just  listening to traditional test prep information or  

textbook English that kind of thing it will take a  lot longer uh but you again you you improve uh in  

individual words and phrases as you understand  them better uh Dana says teacher I would like  

you to make an English class where the students  can react speaking with you uh i' I've done that  

occasionally but it's not really necessary for  you to speak with me it's more important that you  

understand what you're listening to uh and you can  still ask uh ask questions if you have them here  

lowbudget stuff says do you think the best way  learning English on YouTube is stop watching how  

to learn English type videos well there obviously  there's there's a there's value in getting lessons  

where you're it's like a controlled environment  where you're understanding things but you also  

have to add to that more information and more  real examples of natives speaking so this is  

why we created fluent for life so we want to have  like me being able to explain things well because  

I'm good at that but also you get to see how  native speakers are actually communicating so  

we're taking like all of the fluency triggers  you need to really understand the language and  

then you get to hear lots of different examples  of native speakers with different accents from  

different countries and you get to see them  actually speaking so whether you're in the  

program or not this is what you have to do and you  can do this by yourself on YouTube it's just more  

difficult without having someone there to explain  it so like if I were trying to learn by myself and  

I'm not in a program or something and really for  me uh this is how I have to learn Japanese because  

I'm not aware of anybody who teaches English or  teaches Japanese the way I teach English um but  

it's more about like uh instead of me looking for  uh like Japanese lessons for English speakers I'm  

looking at like Japanese content for children  or Japanese content for teenagers or Japanese  

content for adults so I I listen to content or  watch TV shows or whatever that are for native  

speakers or I I sit in a park or something and  I listen to people talk so just getting actual  

input from actual native speaker so I don't I  don't have like a program like I created for  

people I have to structure that for myself so it  can be frustrating and difficult because I don't  

have people to explain something I can't listen  to Somebody's conversation and I and I interrupt  

them and say oh excuse me I'm listening to your  conversation right now what did you mean by that  

uh but I can maybe take something and I'll write  it down or something like oh that's an interesting  

word and that's how I'm teaching myself Japanese  um so it is possible to do that so you should uh  

like find some information on YouTube like learn  about that thing but spend more time with just the  

actual native content about that thing whatever  that is so I I made a video about how to make  

espresso in English and it gives four different  examples of other native speakers talking about  

making espresso and so you can hear how different  natives talk about that and each time you're  

you're getting a new uh like a new perspective  on the vocabulary that helps you understand it  

so some of the vocabulary is used again and again  other things will be new but as you as you keep  

getting all this you're you're kind of improving  your fluency in layers uh and so that's how you  

would do it so you don't have to stop watching  people but I would watch uh like get maybe a few  

lessons and then try to use that information about  something so if you watch a video like if I have  

a video about I don't know getting like if I talk  about the word get or something like that like you  

can actually find YouTube videos that are talking  about getting a present or getting something for  

your birthday or whatever and then you will hear  people use that word get and as you learn that  

your brain will be paying attention for these  specific words that you hear in conversations  

so people like and this is why this is exactly  why we structure fluid for life the way it is  

so each lesson set is focusing on a particular  grammar point so that your mind is getting lots  

and lots and lots of review of that thing in  different ways all right so you don't need to  

spend time practicing speaking uh you don't need  to watch a lot of lessons but you do need all all  

that input that really helps you understand the  language better all right um let's see all right  

that really triggered glad to hear it all right uh  thank you very much for the great way of teaching  

it's my pleasure let's play now take a rain check  to your study yes thank you drew the lesson helped  

me glad to hear it sir where are you from I'm from  Chicago in the United States grow up is different  

from increase I got my mistake there I better  use increase next time well you can remember like  

you can grow something like I'm just like growing  growing something like there there's a difference  

between and again this is the whole point of  really focusing on vocabulary because as you  

you realize you don't know it very well and that's  not a bad thing it's more like wow there's so much  

more I can learn about that so let's look at the  word grow for a minute because you did a good job  

recognizing an error and you want to improve so I  want to encourage that uh I'm going to erase some  

of this over here again if you would like to look  at both versions of the conversation just go in  

the comment section below this video you can see  the uh kind of pre version or the um uh like the  

textbook version and the native version all right  so let's look at just very very simply if we have  

a word like grow versus growing up like anything  that grows it can it can increase in size but we  

can have like increase in size or we could have  increase in number so when we talk about growing  

a vocabulary we're talking about increasing the  number of it all right but when we're talking  

about something growing up typically growing up is  talking about increasing in size so if we want to  

talk about like a child growing up over time it's  like think about a plant that's getting bigger  

all right it's actually increasing in size it's  not increasing in number it's increasing in size  

and so this is where we talk about growing  up and so as you focus on a word like this  

and you get different examples that help you  compare okay so grow up like I wouldn't grow  

up my vocabulary because I'm I'm not I'm not like  making my vocabulary larger I mean I am but I'm  

like we're we're talking about the number of words  that I know all right so it's not like increasing  

like the size of an animal or a plant or a child  or whatever that's where something would grow up  

or you can think about like a city getting bigger  over time like the city is growing up all right  

so something uh we can typically just use grow by  itself or if you want to use the phrasal verb grow  

up we're talking about the size difference rather  than the number all right and so as you get these  

different examples you feel feel in your mind  like ah now I got it okay now I got it that's  

what we're looking for all right so I'm growing  in size rather than growing in number all right  

how we doing for a time over here 11:30 oh my  goodness all right we're going to wrap this up  

uh almost done but very good though very good  I could listen uh only to today uh what do you  

think about a't construction should people use  more intell sounding English uh watch the what  

was that video I did Nils you remember that we  were talking about a't like either either the  

previous video or the video before that I covered  eight watch those uh thank you for coming and  

explaining all that stuff yes it's my pleasure uh  it is pointless to watch movies in English if you  

can't understand a lot of words uh I don't know  about pointless but it's certainly it will feel  

frustrating for you all right and so like it's  the the motiv ation you need the the psychology  

about um about how how you feel about learning  is really important and so if something is  

boring or frustrating for you it will become more  difficult for you so it won't be pointless but it  

will be difficult so if I don't know let's say I'm  learning Japanese and I don't know a lot of a lot  

of characters if I try to read a novel in Japanese  I'm it's going to be a very frustrating experience  

for me because I will look at this character  I don't know what it means I know how to like  

look it up in a dictionary but that's that's just  not a very enjoyable experience it's much better  

for me to read a comic or something like that for  kids that my level is appropriate for and so as I  

improve my level then I level up the content I'm  learning with like that and that's how I improve  

so I'm not trying to learn uh like Japanese novels  or whatever because it would just be too difficult  

for my level of reading uh is okay that works for  me I hope you will correct me if I make mistakes  

well you could you could communicate the same  thing when you're writing as well uh yes you don't  

need to use ink uh but yeah you it's again there's  some things it's important for you to understand  

the vocabulary like a't if you watch movies and  there are people using slang or something like  

that in it but you don't necessarily need to use  that same vocabulary uh renan says oh no I didn't  

get any notification about the live stream going  to watch it later from the beginning sorry to hear  

that I don't know how YouTube notifies people or  not uh but yes we always make the videos available  

so people can watch them again uh zakara says  when I read some book with difficult sentences  

how to fix that well try to not read difficult  books or you know go go to something where you  

understand at least 80 to 90% of that information  already that way it's much easier to learn new  

information in the context and you don't need to  have a dictionary or something like that to learn  

with uh thank you drew I hope you will be back  soon yes so I don't have a a a video idea yet for  

Thursday but I should have um something by then I  guess let's see W says my idea doesn't grow up yet  

yes well if you're talking about like an idea  growing up as a similar kind of idea all right  

thank you this actually a huge live stream glad to  hear it if you know other people who would enjoy  

this do recommend the stream yes for some reason  YouTube doesn't like like recommend the channel  

or whatever I think I think I'm guessing I don't  know this for sure but I like years ago I turned  

off advertising on my channel so I don't get  like advertising Revenue like I get like a very  

very tiny amount from YouTube but you'll notice if  you watch my videos there's no advertising before  

that so I don't know if YouTube uh doesn't show my  videos because of that or not like some videos it  

does but other videos it doesn't but I don't know  so anyway um but I don't I don't have monetization  

on uh on the YouTube channel so I don't know  if that like hurts my uh I don't know then like  

showing the channel uh but yeah so if you know  other people who would like it then please share  

it g says hi Drew you are a you're very teacher  maybe mean very good I guess I realize that we  

can learn a language uh that we can learn  a language by listening and understanding  

vocabulary yes that's the whole point that's how  you learned your native language all right so the  

what what I'm doing to help you learn English is  how you learned your native language all right uh  

wherever I behind you you would say I behind you  for your name uh I've watched some of your videos  

I have to say you definitely teach English very  well glad to hear uh bega says my ability to speak  

more spontaneously has increased like five times  since I started watching you well fantastic again  

if you know other people who would enjoy that  recommend they watch the channel uh zakar says  

I want to learn linking words uh we'll search  our channel for that or just search YouTube in  

general I'm sure you'll find lots of videos uh  but I'm going to lose my voice again if I keep

speaking but hopefully you all have enjoyed this  if you have remember the main goal of this video  

is just to help you feel more certain about  vocabulary and explain that there really are  

different kinds of English the kinds of English  uh that you get get in the classroom it's useful  

and it is good to know that but again it's just  a different thing it's like a different language  

than how natives really speak so you really need  to get more examples this is the kind of stuff  

we do in fluent for life so if you'd like to learn  more get the whole system that we have for getting  

people fluent you can click on the link in the  description below this video and Frederick as  

well for improving your pronunciation listening  and spelling all right uh last uh questions over  

here was it says first time to cat you live  I came late but next time I will well again  

watch the videos anytime you like knowing says  thank you so much for your lessons I think you  

should add some ads N I don't want to have ads on  the videos I it's I don't I don't like watching  

ads on the videos and I don't want to make people  watch ads so like the only way I earn money is if  

people join my program all right let's see why do  you turn off advertising when you can make money  

because it's it it ruins a learning experience  it's frustrating for people to to have that uh  

so like the the typical way people make money  on YouTube especially like teaching English or  

whatever is like they just they need to get you  to watch the video so they can get advertising  

Revenue um and so like the video doesn't need  to be very good it doesn't really need to help  

you learn it just needs to get you to click onto  the video uh but for me like I actually have to  

help you speak uh or I don't get paid so that's  more of it's like a personal thing for me for  

for teaching and like like I don't I don't want  to waste your time with watching other content I  

know not everybody can join my programs which is  fine but for the people who do uh thank you to  

all those people because those are the people who  really support what we do uh but yes that's why I  

don't have ads on my videos so enjoy all the the  adree videos uh uh Ellen says this is my first  

time joining I want let's see I don't know what's  that I want to teach my students to read fluently  

I'm Bismark from Gunner oh you should get get uh  Frederick click on the link uh below this video  

and that will teach them how to read they can  teach themselves uh do you think it's better to  

talk with some grammar mistakes or it's better  to think more before talking I think it's it's  

a it's a personal decision for you some people  don't mind making mistakes uh and if you don't  

like you can you can kind of push yourself to  do that uh but a lot of people do mind making  

mistakes and so if you want to speak correctly  and uh and you worry about making mistakes then  

I would spend more time really understanding the  vocabulary all right so it's up to you personally  

for me like I don't mind making mistakes but I'd  rather not make them so like I I I I really want  

to like learn something and really understand it  well first uh the thing that you turned off ad  

says a lot about you well it says like I'm I'm  kind of consistent I don't like watching ads  

either I understand that's that's like kind of  part of how the process works but I think more  

people would be better teachers if they turned  off ads because then they really have to show  

that they can teach well uh but again it's just  it's it's just a different it's a different model  

you know uh do you think it's a good idea to  learn the short stories and remember them if  

well yeah like any any it doesn't matter like  what you're using to learn the point is do you  

feel certain about that information or not all  right so you should be learning something and  

you should actually feel oh I get it now now I  understand what something means uh and now I feel  

confident about using it so it doesn't matter if  you're using stories or podcasts or whatever like  

do you understand the information and are you  getting lots of examples from different people  

so like lots of short stories or whatever uh is  a good example of something to do but there are  

many is this the end of the lesson yes it is but  thank you for joining me uh I don't know yet what  

I will be talking about uh in the next video but  it should be this Thursday if I'm not here it's  

either because I'm sick or dead or something  I don't know uh so I apologize if I don't uh  

notify everybody but YouTube doesn't even notify  people if I am here I don't know why that is but  

uh but yes but thank you all for joining me I  hope you have enjoyed it if you have do click  

the like button and do recommend the channel  to anybody else uh that will help us grow so  

we're not growing up the channel we are growing  the channel we are increasing the size of it to  

grow it up to grow the channel all right have a  fantastic day and I will see you in the next video

bye-bye