The Fewest # Of Words You Need To Speak Fluent English

I think we're working

hi there I am Drew Badger the founder of  englishanyone.com and the English fluency  

guide welcome to another live video here on  YouTube today we're going to talk about the  

fewest number of words you need to speak English  fluently all right pour over to speak fluent  

English I'll explain why I wrote it like that in  just a moment but make sure we're live over here  

think we should be going yep we're all right  and if we have anybody in the chat we'll see  

hopefully some people in here do like the video  click on that like button right now you know this  

is going to be a good video I think we should be  doing that later all right now we can erase this

I hope everyone is doing well out there  

this should be an interesting video I should  be exciting for people hopefully because you  

need a lot fewer words than you might think uh  actually oh it looks like Chad is working now  

nice to see everybody out there I'll keep  my eye on the chat but yeah let's begin  

so I often uh get asked this question from  Learners they want to know how many words  

you need to speak fluently I've seen quite a few  answers to this on YouTube but nobody really just  

says the only answer that makes sense which is one  and the truth is that you really only need to know  

as far as like being able to communicate something  fluently you become fluent in particular words or  

phrases you don't get fluent in the whole language  you really get fluent in pieces of it and and we  

just kind of say that you get fluent in a language  as you learn more and more of those pieces  

but you only need to know one word to speak fluent  English because you can get fluent in that word  

you can be fluent in this thing but not fluent  in this other word over here so what I'd like  

to do in today's video is actually help people  kind of redo retrain their mind so they speak  

fluently part of what you need to do to become a  fluent speaker is you have like vocabulary that  

you already know and then you have new vocabulary  that you're trying to learn and so you take the  

vocabulary you already know and there is probably  I don't know let's just say let's just say it  

like this part of that vocabulary uh so this is  vocabulary you know uh and this is like unknown

vocabulary over here and so of the vocabulary you  know you have mostly like a passive vocabulary and  

then an active vocabulary this is the vocabulary  you feel confident about using so again you become  

fluent in individual words and phrases so you  only need to know one word if you can say one  

word fluently then you are fluent in that word  so fluency is not how many words you know it's  

how well you know that vocabulary so again what  I'd like to do is look at people's comments and  

I'd like you to type just a sentence or something  in the comments that you know but you don't really  

feel confident using and so I'd like to take that  I'll just look often people will make kind of  

simple errors in the like in the chat when they're  writing or when they're speaking to one another  

and so this means you you probably have a passive  vocabulary where you understand that but you don't  

yet feel confident about that vocabulary so you're  not fluent in that vocabulary you haven't gotten  

to what I call the ownership level of vocabulary  so you have a good awareness of it you recognize  

the vocabulary when you hear it but you're  probably just not feeling very confident about it  

so let's take a look at the chat uh what I'd  like you to do uh anybody you can just just post  

something in the chat like a sentence or something  that you feel uh it could be a specific sentence  

or a grammar point or something like that but  just try writing the sentence out don't mention  

the name of the grammar point I don't want you to  think about present continuous or past perfect or  

whatever just think about like trying to write  a specific sentence like something you'd like  

to say but you don't feel very confident about  using it and so we'll look at maybe it could  

be one word or a few words even just one word is  okay if you maybe heard that word but don't feel  

very confident about using it so what we'll do  is get you fluent in more pieces of the language  

so we start increasing this more and more and  so you really start feeling much more confident  

about expressing yourself all right so I'll  go back as people do that I can give you some  

examples myself but I thought it would be fun just  looking at the comments uh people have over there  

all right Olympia says I hi teacher Paula hello  from Brazil Queen English says hello hello from  

Chile morning hello from Algeria hi from the  Philippines more people from Brazil hi teacher  

hello from Colombia what chat disconnected  oh no are we out which had disconnected over  

here oh no it looks like my maybe my let me  see here oh no that's going to be trouble  

if the internet is not working over here let  me see if I can do something about that we are  

we'll see if the chat is working make sure we're  doing that all right all right let me refresh this  

well look at that so you always have to  improvise over here make sure we're still  

all right still working all right but I think  let's see so the chat is still working we should  

be okay all right uh so it looks like yeah the  chat is working back and it should be okay so yes  

let me know like anything it could be even just  one word that you have trouble using or it could  

be a phrase or even a sentence but something  maybe lately you tried using it something you  

might feel comfortable lately you tried using it  something you might feel comfortable uh uh maybe  

writing even if you make a mistake about it but  you would feel uncomfortable maybe writing even  

if you make a mistake about it but you would  feel uncomfortable saying that word or phrase  

all right let's go back to the chat all right  looks like we are still working back over here  

all right so nice to see people from all over the  place we got people from Canada Philippines hey  

teacher Drew good morning to you says Tom nice to  see you there it looks like Aesthetics life I like  

that word Aesthetics Aesthetics good morning from  Pakistan let's see is that fried fried star it's a  

nice name uh thanks for your terrific class glad  to hear Alan Lee I'm from the Philippines you're  

my idol Drew oh my goodness no don't make me an  idol don't don't need any more Idols over here  

all right uh let's see are you from  California no I'm actually from Chicago

Theodore I think you were in the last  video too on uh what was that Monday I  

guess Muriel fellow from China blue  butterfly I'm from Egypt hello from  

Ontario all right so what happened  okay I think we should be working  

yeah I think the video is working just fine now  but that was on all right looks like a chat is  

working Sam says hello nice to see everybody there  okay blue butterflies I don't have one okay why  

are you here that's really the better question for  this video is if you don't feel uh I don't know  

like a lack of confidence or you feel confident  using everything then you shouldn't be watching  

any English language learning videos you should be  out speaking with people or just watching content  

for natives because you understand everything but  I'm going to catch a few things in the comments  

even if people don't have anything specific I'm  probably going to find some errors and maybe  

we'll start there I know everybody gets a little  bit shy when we're in kind of a classroom format  

like this but this is for your own good this  is a four nice little phrase right here for you  

so when you want to do something for someone  else's benefit even if they might not like it  

you can say this is for your own good and a  simpler way to say this is just I'm doing it  

for you I'm doing this for you it's  for your own good and for your own good  

all right let's see what we got there Eric is here  I've noticed that many of my classmates myself  

included have problems with the pronunciation  of words like comfortable and automatically  

automatically oh very good all right well  we can talk about pronunciation A little bit  

um I'll just answer the questions about these  there are longer words like this like comfortable  

comfortable so if we're going to count the  syllable the syllable is a sound in a word so if  

we have like table has two syllables table table  that's the syllable so comfortable comfortable you  

will hear that with four syllables pronounced  comfortable or you're here uh like comfortable  

comfortable it's like come comfortable comfortable  like three sounds three syllables comfortable it  

really just depends on uh on who's speaking and  how clear you're trying to be so if you go to a  

really nice hotel like let's say I travel to  some four star five-star hotel somewhere and  

they give me this really beautiful pillow and  they say drew this is really to make you feel  

very comfortable so they're trying to really  pronounce words very cleanly clearly enunciate  

well so they're going to pronounce the whole  thing but if I go to a friend of mine's house  

and he's just like have a seat get comfortable  have a seat get comfortable so he said you know  

sit down on the chair or something so have a  seat get comfortable so again this is why it's  

so important to get naturally varied review when  you learn because what usually students are doing  

in a classroom is they will get a very slow clear  pronunciation of words so if we have comfortable

so a word like comfortable the teacher will  pronounce it clearly comfortable comfortable  

comfortable okay but in real life you will hear  it from many different people in different ways  

just like I gave in the example the hotel says  comfortable are you comfortable sir are you  

comfortable or people will just pronounce it  like comfortable so it sounds more like calm  

comfort it's like Comfort comfortable comfortable  are you comfortable comfortable so it's it's  

it really just depends on the situation  but that's again why it's important to  

hear lots of different people  saying that same word okay  

so what was the other word you had automatically  uh that's the same thing like again automatically

Auto

so automatically you might hear some people say  

Auto automatically automatically  or you might hear ah like odd uh  

automatically automatically automatically it  just depends on who you're speaking with and  

there's not like one correct way to pronounce  it it's just how people pronounce things in  

different situations so you hear different  things from different people all right um  

uh let's see but yes if you'd like to hear uh more  if you want to learn how to pronounce these things  

step by step you should get Frederick which is in  the description below this video it's an app that  

will teach you how to make these sounds one at a  time and actually you can learn to pronounce these  

things the same way natives do so native children  learn these sounds in a very specific order called  

phonics so these are the rules of the sounds of  English and Native children are learning the rules  

of those and also what words break those rules so  rather than starting at a word like comfortable  

you start at a word like I don't know like uh like  can and then we move up to Kane and then we move  

up to other things that get more difficult longer  words but once you learn the pieces of them it's  

much easier to put them together and this is the  same idea about fluency as well so if you can't  

make fluent sentences it's because you don't  yet feel confident about particular words in  

those sentences all right all right hopefully that  makes sense um let's see all right Olympia says  

for me two and four okay so if you have trouble  using even like simple words like two and four  

it's much better to to focus on a particular  situation and then Master each of the meanings  

for these words by the situation as an example  so we'll start with the word two so if I'm going  

to this is talking about like the direction  for something so we first want to just pick  

one situation and get lots of examples of that  thing so I am going to and then what's the name  

of the place right now I'm going to the toilet I'm  going to Tokyo I'm going to Brazil I'm going to  

uh and then you can talk about like whatever that  physical location is so this is again one example  

of the word to you don't want to try to take a  word and then we're going to learn 10 different  

meanings of it you want to Master One situational  use so we learn words situationally the same way  

natives do remember that what happens with the  native speaker so native English children will  

hear a word like two and they will hear oh like  go to so let I want to go to the park I want to  

go to the toy store I want to go to the party  I want to go to my friend's house okay and then  

they will hear slight variations like I went two  so they feel more confident about okay we're going  

to use go and the past tense of this is a little  bit different so to go to and went to someplace  

but we're still really focusing on just one use  for this word okay now I might also again like  

as a child I'm hearing this uh like a slightly  related usage of usage of this is like go to  

uh going to eat so I want to talk about like I'm  doing something like I'm still moving I'm talking  

about the direction like moving to something but  for the purpose of that thing so I'm going to eat  

at the restaurant I'm going to play at the park  so I'm like moving in that direction so I can do  

that thing okay does this make sense so this is  why when I talked about uh like being able to use  

even one word fluently we're really talking about  situations for those particular usage usages and  

we don't want to think about just the word to by  itself because it's got many different meanings  

and a native speaker if you say what does two mean  this is what they will tell you this is how they  

will answer that question they will say oh well  it depends on the situation I can talk about too  

like where I'm going so I'm going to my friend's  house or I can talk about a purpose like I'm going  

someplace else I don't want to cover every usage  of that but the same thing with four so four is  

another simple word but it has many uses and  so I could talk about like uh like a present  

which is like similar we're talking about the  direction of something like that like this train

is four wherever or you might you might  also hear like this train is Bound for  

to be back beat you know oh my goodness b o u n  d to be bound four means we're going someplace so  

that's the like the final location we're going to  so this train is Bound for whatever or you might  

hear a train conductor or a bus driver say like  this is just four whatever so if we're talking  

about different trains like the number two is for  Texas the number three is for Illinois the number  

four is for California so we can talk about the  like the purpose of it and the direction of that  

as well but we're just focusing on one usage of  that thing okay so we we want to make sure that  

you you don't try to think like a like a language  student you should be thinking like a native so  

this is the difference between learning English  as a first language rather than learning it as a  

second language okay so when you learn as a first  language you focus on just one usage of it don't  

worry about the other ones just feel confident  okay we're just looking at one thing and we we  

will get used to that we will feel confident  about that and then we can learn others okay  

so that's how you do it I don't want to spend  too much time on one example but hopefully that  

makes sense all right hello from Panama let's see  I have difficulty in using in into and on to says  

Tom okay let's look at that there we go more good  examples and this is interesting because these are  

all they're like short basic words so very common  uh but the interesting thing about fluency is that  

even a short or common word if you don't feel  confident about using it then you can't use it  

fluently so if we have in Let's see we have in in  two uh what was the other one like on onto okay  

now from usually like native children when they're  learning these things they will learn just the  

physical motion idea first and this is the same  thing I do when I'm teaching phrasal verbs so I  

want to show you physically how they work like  take off or put on just like a hat so I put on a  

hat or take off a hat so a child will like see  something like a ball is inside a box so you  

can say in or inside and really this is just like  it's not moving it's just a physical thing inside  

something else so right now like the tip of the  marker is it's in the cap in the cap all right but  

in two is typically we're talking about motion of  some kind like I'm moving into so I'm putting the  

uh the marker into the cap into the cap all right  and then on to is typically the same thing but  

it's it's so it's motion but on top of something  and it could be like on the top of it or it could  

be on the side like I'm putting the marker on to  my face it's like I'm putting the sunscreen onto  

my face so remember that word we just talked about  too by itself and when you hear this it's like oh  

like in we've got a location and two we've got a  Direction so we've got movement it's like oh look  

at it like we're gonna move in to something move  into something all right to move into something or  

we're going to move on to something so we're just  talking about the direction of that thing and then  

where is it going okay but remember the point  is it to look at something like this and then  

we learn just the beginning uh most kind of basic  understanding of it in a physical way so we can  

understand it the same way a child does because  we might again like take it to a more figurative  

meaning like let me go deeper into this so if I'm  explaining something right now I could go deeper

into something so I want to explain more I'm going  to explain more I'm going to go deeper into a  

topic so you can have a physical idea like a hole  in the ground I'm digging a hole right now here's  

my shovel and I'm digging down digging digging  digging digging digging I'm going deeper into all  

right I'm going into the ground because I'm moving  down in there okay but I can also go deeper into a  

topic I could talk about it so this is a physical  meaning and this is a figurative meaning it's the  

same basic idea but this is how people learn like  oh okay I can use into when I'm talking about  

something physical like I can also use it when I'm  talking about something figurative all right so  

like I'm talking about going deeper into something  or as I get deeper into my career so as my career  

moves on you notice I'm still talking about Moosh  let's see movement and motion at the same time  

so I said motion it's like a new word for you but  don't use that in your conversation so I'm talking  

about movement still as I go deeper as I get  deeper into my career or as we go deeper into this  

lesson or into the conversation it's still talking  about movement okay so hopefully that makes sense  

anyway and another thing I'll just add one last  point about this is if you're ever if you have  

like a longer sentence that you don't understand  always break it down into pieces hopefully we'll  

get some examples of that uh but you see we're  just beginning with something very simple like  

this and once you understand the simple words  then you can start combining them to make more  

fluent sentences so you make fluent words words  become fluent when you feel confident about using  

them and then you start combining them together to  start having fluent sentences all right greetings  

from Bolivia from Panama nice to see more people  from Brazil from Ecuador I think we have all the  

South America represented all right everyone tell  your friends get on the chat and like the video  

all right uh uh let's see more from Brazil heading  to the supermarket for shopping very good Iran  

was just using four like we have a different  usage of it it's the same basic idea of like  

the purpose of something all right so we're  going someplace to do something all right H  

Ray says I have trouble using how come when is it  not used properly I could sound offensive right um

now this is a great native expression

and I use this with my kids all the time so  typically a more and this isn't Y is not a  

formal word but you will hear it more frequently  especially when non-natives are speaking so  

natives will often use outcome and how come by  itself is not offensive at least I've not like  

just seen the word by itself or these this  phrase how come but typically uh why and how  

come the meaning changes slightly based on your  attitude and how you say it so if uh if a friend  

of mine is is telling me like oh I can't come to  the party I might I might be like what how come  

how come why not you know um but I I might ask  someone at a factory like oh how come you use  

this this material and not that one so there's  nothing offensive about what I'm saying I'm just  

using like why do you do this and not that or how  come you do this and not that all right so kids  

will often use how come but anybody can use that  as well y typically sounds a bit more professional  

you would probably not see how come in in like a  I don't know a legal document something like that  

so if you're if you're feeling nervous at all  just use why but really there's nothing wrong  

with howcom so especially in casual conversations  or I'm asking especially like like if you watch a  

comedian so a comedian talking they're always like  like how come like how come people always do this  

you might hear someone say why but how come is  the kind of more casual way of saying that okay  

all right uh oh no the chat skip down again uh

uh okay now why did that that's weird  did I did it like it like skipped down  

again on me oh no all right I have  uh we are always very shy says Tom  

it's exactly like in the personal classes  to ask a doubt about ask the doubt to the  

teacher yeah and so again like this is  so you've given me another example here

so you said to ask uh doubt and again I understand  human psychology and as a teacher as someone  

trying to guide you and help you learn like I know  that you probably will not if I'm in a real class  

with people I will say hey who wants to speak and  nobody wants to speak and so I don't I don't force  

you to speak I don't recommend you speak before  you're ready but I do recommend like you're like  

oh like how do we do this how does this how can  how can we make sense of this how do we understand  

this so to ask a doubt so to ask a doubt now you  probably mean let me make sure I got that correct  

uh uh yes to ask a doubt to the  teacher so ask a doubt to the teacher  

so you could just make this easier  it's like just to ask a question

okay so when you're talking about the word doubt  you could mean like to address a doubt or to  

um probably be more like a concern concern  so I'm asking about a like I have a concern  

about something but question is really the  easiest fastest simplest way to say that so  

to ask a teacher about something or to ask a  teacher a question to ask I'd like just to ask  

a question so when in doubt so when you are in  doubt do you have a doubt in something or have  

a doubt about something it's much better  just to like begin with something what's  

the simplest easiest way you think uh to express  something and you can just say I have a question  

so I have a question about something I have  a question or I have a doubt about something  

both of those are fine or I have a concern  about something I have a problem with so we  

usually have a problem with something but a  question or doubt or concern about something

uh let's see around Thea being from Chicago  have you heard uh that it means onions yes uh  

so uh and I don't know if that's true or not  that that's the story that the word Chicago  

comes from some like Indian word like Chicago  which means Wild Onion so I don't know if that's  

correct or not but I like the name Chicago  I think that's a cool name for a for a city  

let's see so Emily says didn't versus  hadn't can't comprehend the difference  

awesome all right well let's help you figure  it out let's get you fluent in these words  

now remember again it depends on the  situation so if we just look at did not had  

so let's think about some sentences when  could we use this so did not I'm just  

talking about like something I uh like maybe  physically did do or did not do like I did not

and we always want to keep the examples simple  so who is doing it and what are you doing so  

I did not eat I did not eat I did not eat we're  just talking about here is now uh here's in the  

past sometime and we're going into the future so  I did not eat it's just like at some point in the  

past it could be a specific point or it could  be a time period it doesn't matter we're just  

talking generally about the past so yesterday I  did not eat breakfast so it doesn't matter like  

uh if if that was at eight o'clock in the morning  because I didn't I did not eat I didn't do it  

anyway all right I did not eat I did not eat so  this is uh just a very basic idea about like what  

you did and what you did not do okay so I ate if  we're talking about something we did like I ate  

we can even use like uh here what's  what's a simpler way to say this  

because we don't use like a irregular  verb here let's just say I walked

so yesterday I walked and that could  be you know at a specific time like I  

walked across the room or I walked through  a park or I walked somewhere or I did not

foreign

so at first we really just want to get fluent we  want you to get lots of practice with one thing at  

a time to really understand that oh look like  I walked I did not walk so you can do this by  

yourself just get lots of examples if you don't  remember if it's an irregular verb or not uh just  

get like past you can this is basically past  simple but you can just get examples of this  

from Google or chat GPT or whatever or textbook  or something but you're just trying to get really  

good at this so you recognize the pattern it's  the pattern that recognizes oh like now I'm fluent  

because I can understand when to use this and I  know the pattern very well the same way children  

do so children you can tell that they learn by  recognizing patterns because they they get like  

their brain gets scrambled when they hear an  irregular verb so that's why kids say like I  

goed to the park and we say no no it's you went  to the park and kids are like why you know why  

do you do that you know and we just say well it's  the way it is that's how we do it all right so I  

walked I did not walk over here all right and so  once you get comfortable you understand what this  

is I did not then we can put it together just to  make it faster so I didn't I did not so I did not  

eat but casually I didn't I didn't I didn't you  hear how this Blends like didn't didn't didn't  

we don't really say didn't we say didn't so it's  like the second D here basically disappears it's  

like didn't yeah I didn't I didn't I didn't eat  yesterday I didn't eat breakfast yesterday okay  

so now we had had not now had not gets a little  bit more complicated but we'll just look at have  

as an example so let me erase this over here  all right but hopefully you got did and did not  

and uh and that makes sense so far so it's just  something you did or did not do in the past okay

now uh rather than kind of comparing did not with  had not we'll just look at have and had okay just  

to make this a bit more clear now I made a video  a while ago talking about the verb have by itself  

um and just like I talked in this video about like  a physical understanding something physically and  

then we understand the figurative meaning  of it we can learn that vocabulary like a  

word like have we should learn this the same  way so we have something like I have a marker  

okay so I physically am holding something  like this I have a marker or I can talk about  

a part of myself like I have green eyes  or I have short hair I have like a gray  

t-shirt okay so these are things that  I have but I can also have experience

so something is a part of me like  I have experience doing something  

okay so I have experience like  like I have uh like I have and  

we would just use this uh talking  about the past like I have been

a teacher

so I have been a teacher uh this can be  talking about one point in time so maybe  

20 years ago I was a teacher well  since I'm teaching right now we'll  

do we'll do something different so I had  been or I have been uh to say a swimmer

so I used to be a swimmer and I am not  anymore okay so I can I can have this and  

have it be two different meanings actually  so if I'm talking about one thing like many  

years ago I I swam so I did swim before  and now I do not so I have been a swimmer  

so I had one time this just means I have  the experience of that thing I have the  

experience of that so just like I can have  this marker I can have green eyes I can have  

an experience like me being a swimmer it's  still part of me I'm not swimming right now  

but it's it's a part of me like this shirt  or this marker or my eyes or whatever okay  

and so I can have I I have been a swimmer like  in the past but we can also usually when people  

want to make it clear because you can be talking  about like a whole period of time so I have been  

a swimmer for 10 years okay so that means like  from now and into the past I have been doing  

something all right now I had not if we're not  if we're talking about had like I had not we're  

still talking about some moment uh in the time  in like in the past let me clean this up for you

Now watch how this gets like a little bit  it's a little bit tricky but if you if you  

kind of look at it on a on a timeline here  it gets a little bit easier to understand  

so let's say we're going to  have uh like two periods of time  

so this is uh I don't know like 10  years ago and this is today over here  

so at this point so right here at this  point uh like I had not so I had not swam  

okay so for all this time over here I like I had  not I had not swam okay but until this point like  

this is the first time I try swimming okay so from  here like now I have I have this experience and I  

I did not have that experience so we're still  talking about something uh just the same thing  

like my green eyes so if I say like uh like I had  green eyes or let's say I had I had blue eyes here  

but they they became green 10 years ago all  right so now they are green we're really talking  

about like a change in something happening uh  when we're talking about this this like usage  

of like had not done something or something I  had not had that experience that kind of thing  

so I had not swam here and then I had swam  over here so over here this time is had not  

so I did I did not have that  experience and over here I did so I had  

The Experience okay and then it just like  depending on when we're talking about that  

uh like I did not and I had not it's just like  we're talking about kind of an experience you  

have something that's a part of you rather than  something you did all right so we we still can  

be talking about the same thing like like I did  not swim if I'm talking about the activity but if  

I'm talking about myself I want to talk about the  experience like oh I I had not I had not swam then  

so I had not swam when I was five years old but  when I was 10 years old I had so I had I had when  

I was 10 years old or we can do is even uh we'll  just use a like a simpler a simpler verb like play  

all right so at this point in time like uh let's  say I didn't get like a like a video game or  

something like that so I had not played the game  when I was five years old but when I was 10 I had  

played the game okay so again we can talk about  a physical thing like I had a Nintendo okay so I  

did have one or I did not have that but  when you're talking about like had not  

where really it's like it's it's it's kind  of like a backwards way of talking about an  

experience but that's what we're that's what we  mean so I had the experience or I had not had the  

experience this is a tricky thing but this is  why I'm trying to give you many examples of it  

uh and so like had not and did not or like you  you can talk about the same thing let me maybe  

give you some more examples if this is making  I want to make sure this is clear for everybody

so I'll put our timeline back  up here make this a little bit  

clearer so here's our timeline here is now

and then we have the past and the future so  if I want to use like I didn't play so I can  

talk about like any time in in the past let's  say right at this point so I was 10 years old

and and I got I got like a video like a Nintendo  

you know I've got Mario or  something like that so I got

Mario all right so at this point in time  

I didn't play Mario because I I didn't have the  game so I didn't play Mario I didn't play Mario

okay and you can be more specific like I didn't  play Mario until I was 10 years old so I didn't  

play Mario until I was 10 years old and so it's a  it's a slight difference in the meaning but we're  

talking about the activity so I did not do that  thing I did not play so I got I was born here I'm  

zero and now I'm 10 years old and this whole  time I did not play Mario I had not I like I  

didn't have the uh like a Nintendo or something  but until so until this time I had not played that  

all right so again I can change this and talk  about uh the experience of that so I had not  

played all right so I had not played Mario until  I was 10 years old so you can say both of these  

things but the meaning is is slightly different  one is talking about the activity and one is  

talking about me as having the experience okay so  it's basically the same thing it's just are you  

talking about the activity like playing Mario  are you talking about me having the activity  

or having the experience whenever we're talking  about have in that way we're just talking about  

me having an experience doing something okay  so I explain this even further in that video  

about half hopefully uh this makes sense but  this is how you can use these in like they're  

similar but when we talk about I had not and  then we can make it shorter as hadn't so here  

I hadn't I had not played that I did not have  the experience of playing Mario and I can also  

say I didn't play so just a simpler way is like I  didn't play here and I did play here so I did not

and did okay and here I can say I had not

or I had okay so I had played Mario and then I can  

talk about like maybe if I want to  be like even even more complicated I  

want to explain it a little bit further  maybe we have three time periods here

foreign so here I had not played  Mario and then I got a Nintendo so  

this is maybe from like age 10 to age 13 or  something and so I had played I had played

I had played over here but then  I stopped so I don't play anymore  

all right so it just depends on what you're  talking about but it's important not to think  

about the vocabulary you want to think about  the situation first so are we talking about the  

activity or are you talking about yourself  and you're kind of describing yourself as  

having an experience okay so when you have an  experience it becomes a part of you just like  

your memories are a part of you okay so my green  eyes you can see that physically you can't see my  

experiences but I can tell you about them like  I have like I have experience doing something  

okay so I had not done something and then I had  and then maybe I I stopped doing that thing okay  

all right that was a pretty long explanation let  me know if that makes sense or if you need me to  

go uh deeper into that but hopefully that makes  sense availability is a difficult word too yes  

again like if you learn the pieces of these words  available ability availability availability so  

if you'd like to listen to me pronounce all of  these things you can hear uh what is it over 2  

000 words and sentences in Frederick so  just click on the link below to get the app  

all right but I can't get it a do I really  watch every video you make and I understand  

the idea of varied review but I can't get it  okay assistant let me make sure this is clear

all right uh so just so people understand the  difference between uh learning English as a  

second language and learning English as a first  language so when you learn English as a second  

language you begin with your native language so  it's English as a second language like okay I'm  

learning it not the way a native would learn it  but I'm getting some explanations or translations  

or something so I'll just use let's say Chinese  as an example so I'm from China and I'm trying to  

learn English over here and then I have again  some kind of translation to learn that and so  

I learned uh I don't know what is I don't know  any Chinese actually that's probably not the best  

example I think like is hello I guess hello maybe  Nihao Nihao I think but again if I take something  

like that I'm just learning a translation of  that rather than me trying to understand it like  

a native and then what happens is you will learn  the word hello and then the teacher will say okay  

repeat after me we're going to say the word hello  hello hello hello hello hello hello hello hello  

and then you might get good at saying the  word hello and maybe your teacher is a native  

speaker maybe they're not maybe they have  good pronunciation maybe they do not have  

good pronunciation but this is typically what  you are doing so learning English as a second  

language you begin with your native language your  first language and then you learn English through  

that so you get explanations or translations you  learn some vocabulary or phrases or grammar or  

whatever and then you just repeat those things  again and again all right so what's different  

with English as a first language is you begin  with uh like the English word but it's coming  

from some kind of situation so here let me let me  make this a little bit easier so instead of using  

like Chinese or Thai or Japanese or whatever  the language is we're beginning with just a  

situation in life like here's a marker or  something heavy and it falls on my head  

ah ouch so the situation is something  hurt me that's the situation now even  

if I can't explain that I can see what's  happening with that thing just like this  

some action is happening or I'm speaking or I see  something or I'm in a situation like I'm ordering  

food or whatever but some vocabulary is being used  at the same time all right now the same thing like  

if I just show you what this is I hold a physical  thing like this and just say marker marker so the  

situation is is the thing I'm talking about this  a situation doesn't mean like or it doesn't have  

to mean like some complicated process or whatever  like I don't know ordering food at a restaurant  

or something like that the situation it just means  you're able to to learn directly rather than going  

through your native language okay so that's how we  learn we have the situation and then the English  

vocabulary now here's where the naturally varied  review comes from and this is just one example of  

naturally varied review all right again I gave  you the example before you begin with a word in  

Chinese or Italian or French you learn the English  word for that and you start repeating that again  

and again but what natives are doing they're  beginning with a situation and they're learning  

the vocabulary for that but all right here's  the change here's the big difference they're  

also learning other ways of saying that same thing  so if I drop something on my head I might say ah  

you know it's slightly different than ouch so I  might say if I fall something falls on my head or  

I get hurt I say like ah like ah like that or I  say ouch or if you know I see my my grandfather  

does something and he curses a lot he's like  [ __ ] God you know depending on how painful it  

is so someone might say like [ __ ] or damn it or  something like that okay but they're learning all  

of these different things and this is the varied  review that we get from learning like a native  

so if we see different people getting hurt then  we will learn different ways of expressing that  

okay and then we're not really like you you  see it's it's similar to repetition because  

the point you still have to review so this is  a kind of review where we're just we just call  

this repetition we're just repeating the word  hello you listen to the teacher on the on the  

audio and then you repeat after the teacher hello  hello hello but again the problem is when you get  

into the real world people say different things  even for the same situation so instead of using  

a word in your native language and translating  into English you actually have just a situation  

so the situation is like what do you say when you  get hurt what do you say when you greet somebody  

what do you say when you when you are late what do  you say when you are surprised so sometimes like  

because I'm just used to you know being in Japan  if I'm surprised by something I might say like

the Japanese Learners will know what I'm  talking about but I just say big booty donkey  

as a joke that's just the name of a like a  restaurant out here it's like a stupid thing  

that I say but it always makes people laugh  um but again you can see that like in these  

different situations so I'm getting natural  examples and varied examples from different  

people the same way a native would okay so you can  learn this way like this is what we do when I was  

building uh fluent for life I wanted to have  all these different examples so you get real  

people like what does this woman say when she's  sad or she's telling a sad story what does this  

guy say when he's telling a sad story all  right so this is one example of naturally  

varied review another example is if we just  even take a word like ouch and then we hear

different people saying that same word so what  does a grown woman sound like when she says ouch  

like ouch you know whatever or a grown man's like  ouch or a kid's like ouch so they sound different  

okay and then you get used to you get used to all  of these different pronunciations and so when you  

were in a conversation with someone now you feel  very very confident about this so this is an  

example over here about a greeting but we could do  the same thing over here so instead the situation  

is greeting someone we learn the vocabulary we do  learn the word hello because you will hear hello  

from people but we also hear High we learn hey or  we learn how is it going what's up what's going  

down how's life how's the family how you been  we learn all these different things and we get  

lots of different examples from different speakers  saying them and this is how natives get prepared  

for real conversations while a typical learner  who's learning English has a second language  

they learn like one word they're prepared for one  clear example of a word and so if you don't hear  

that in a conversation you're like oh my what did  that person say and hello is even something pretty  

basic but you might like you can see I gave the  example before about ouch uh but it could be for  

anything so naturally varied review means we're  we're trying to simulate what natives are getting  

in the real world all right and so a native child  will hear something from their mother and their  

father and their teacher and their friend each of  those people will say different things or they get  

something from television show or a movie or radio  or a book or something they're getting all these  

different varied examples and so when you're just  learning about something you're just getting like  

a few examples of something maybe like the first  two or three examples are good for helping you  

hear just this pronunciation of it but actually  your mind stops listening because it's getting  

bored of all of these same examples again and  again hello hello hello hello hello hello hello  

okay so you're not you're like the learning  basically it kind of stops after this this  

level here so even if you get uh what people call  spaced repetition so you're learning the word  

hello and then you hear it again later to help you  remember it it becomes much more memorable as a  

network like this we've got all these different  things that are that are woven together they're  

connected like that so this is regular repetition  as an English learner and this is naturally varied  

review so we have lots of different examples I  gave some examples earlier in this video like we  

could have different grammar or different uh like  different tenses for the same thing so I played

and I will play

this is naturally varied review so children will  learn these examples and they start connecting  

okay like yesterday I played right now I am  playing tomorrow I will play and so if I will  

play tomorrow then probably I will eat or I will  do something else and so that's how they learn  

the vocabulary like we're not talking about right  now we're talking about something in the future  

but they're not thinking like as a grammar Point  like oh that's the future continuous or whatever  

they're just thinking like what's the situation  about that so naturally varied review connects  

uh these different ideas with a particular  situation and so you get lots of good Nuance  

there like do we say like hey yeah or howdy in  a like a professional meeting or something like  

maybe if I'm at a meeting of Cowboys or something  I might say that but typically I would say hello  

or how is everyone or how are you or something  like that so it gets a little bit different but  

because you're focusing on the situation  it's like oh that person is wearing a tie  

so he's probably going to speak a little bit more  professionally or that guy is just wearing like  

jeans and a t-shirt or something and so he's going  to be a bit more casual all right so we have all  

these clues that are teaching us but that's only  if we focus on the situation and learn from that  

and then get lots of varied examples of that  thing okay hopefully that makes sense all right  

teacher I have a doubt about the use of a fur  you or to you says Olympia Oh you mean like four

and this is an example where sometimes  you can have different things  

so different vocabulary mean the same thing  so I could have like four you and to you  

so I I might send something to you or I might  say like this is a present for you so both  

of those are fine you can use those when you're  talking about moving from one thing or one person  

to someone else okay so when we're talking  about like to you is kind of focusing on the  

the direction it's the same basic idea so this  is a present like and I'm sending it to you so to  

you like not not in some other direction over here  I'm sending it to you okay so that's the direction  

we're moving in just like we talked about before  uh so if we have like in two we're going we're  

moving we're talking about motion the direction  into a particular place or to a particular place

and so if we're talking about four four is  like it's more like the like the end location  

all right that could be the purpose of something  or the end like the delivery place where we're  

going so it's a present I'm sending a present  to you and the present is for you also so they  

mean basically the same thing you can use them in  the same situation but you can see how it's uh to  

a native a native would explain it this way so  they would think oh okay like I'm sending it to  

you like I'm not you know like let's say I have  a present for you but I'm sending it to your mom  

okay so I'm sending a present to your mom and  maybe she will give it to you later so again  

we're still talking about Direction uh when we're  talking about two but four it's like okay like  

it's yours it's for you okay like this video is  for you but I'm talking to you right now like I'm  

like it's the purpose of it is for you it's yours  but I'm also talking about the motion from me to  

you okay so isn't this interesting we get lots of  even simple words today but as you understand them  

and remember understand them as situations that's  how you become confident about using them so you  

might feel good about okay now I understand how  to use two because we're talking about two like  

I'm sending something to you I'm going to the Moon  all right I'm going to my friend's house all right  

but this thing is for you like the purpose or the  end the end idea is you over here all right let's  

keep moving over here uh hello from Georgia nice  to see everybody there okay I think I had that  

uh uh let's see I can't do it myself when I'm in  Italy and I'm learning Italian and English and I  

don't know why it's hard to do it by myself yes so  like in general just trying to learn a language by  

yourself is difficult because you have to there's  like three things you have to do you have to find  

the information then you have to organize it and  then you have to teach it to yourself so what  

natives are doing like often people people are not  uh they're not like active about their learning  

of their native language so a young child is not  like how can I learn like all the uses of two at  

the same time they're not thinking about that at  all it's just their parents if they're if they're  

in a situation where they need the vocabulary  the parent will use that vocabulary so Mom says  

I'm going to the store I'll see you I'm going  to the bathroom I'm going to my friend's house  

and so they learn that usage of it all right  and then they they learn like other usages later  

so it's difficult to try to learn by yourself  because you have to be in situations or watch  

other people being in situations to understand  the vocabulary and when you should use it so  

it's really difficult to find this and and I and I  had this same problem uh as I was teaching myself  

Japanese so I didn't have a teacher I tried  going to Japanese lessons and and I hated it  

because it was just more excuse me of the same  traditional lessons that didn't get me fluent  

and so I started once I discovered I should  learn Japanese as a first language not as a  

second language then I start getting more examples  but yes it's still difficult to do it by yourself  

and that's why it's good to have a teacher so  I couldn't find anyone who could teach me like  

I teach English so I wish I had a teacher I  still do it would be great if I could find a  

Japanese teacher even my own wife is like too  busy to teach me so I ask her like hey what do  

you think about this I think I get maybe maybe two  questions a week so in one week I might be able to  

ask like two questions but what I do do like the  smart thing I do is like I pay attention to what  

she says in different situations so while she's  talking with like this group of people or kids or  

somebody else they're in this situation what does  she say and so that's how I'm learning all right  

and you don't need to have like a family to do  this you can get lots of examples or you can  

just do what we do like have everything organized  for you and fluent for life so that's how you can  

do it so yes it is a little bit tricky to do it  it takes more time uh and if you don't understand  

the vocabulary then usually you're just like using  a dictionary so you're going back to translating  

but you're just doing it yourself all right so if  you are trying to teach yourself use an English  

to English dictionary try to look things up in  English if you can but that'll make it easier  

all right so it says how's it going just want you  to make a complete video I just want you to make  

a complete video about your program so say it uh  yeah I'm actually kind of working on that right  

now but if you have any specific questions about  fluent for Life what information and anyone can  

answer this uh what what if you would like to join  fluent for life but you are not joining it I'd  

love to know why so let me know like it guarantees  fluency it teaches you the way a native would be  

learning but it's much more if efficient because  we're going to take specific things we want you to  

learn and then make sure you learn those and then  you get fluent in that and then you move on to the  

next thing so let me know if there are specific  questions you have about it I'm watching YouTube  

videos about dishwashing should I keep watching  new dishwashing videos or the same videos again  

and should I watch those until I'm familiar with  everything about that topic yes if you if you want  

to know about washing dishes or anything else  then you watch lots of videos about that and so  

you will learn just like in the uh the example of  uh like making espresso that I gave before so if  

we if we look at like this is called a bell curve  because it looks kind of like uh like a bell like  

that little like ding dong a bell so you will have  uh like certain vocabulary that gets used very  

frequently in conversations so if I go to order  food at a restaurant like uh if we have like 50  

people who go to order food at a restaurant then  maybe the first person says like May may I have  

whatever and then like person number two says can  I get whatever okay so you will hear like may I  

have can I get and you'll hear lots of different  examples but some examples it will look like this  

so you have some things that are used very  frequently and then other things that maybe are  

not used as frequently so natives will learn all  these but they will use just maybe like one or two  

of these and they will like I say the same thing  when I go get you know coffee somewhere but anyway  

uh yes in the like the dishwashing example if you  watch a bunch of different videos about people  

washing dishes then you will get some vocabulary  like scrub the pot or scrub the pan so scrub  

and you learn oh you're connecting like  like here's washing and here's scrubbing  

it's like I'm like really pressing hard to clean  something that's scrubbing that's so you learn  

the difference the slight Nuance between like  wash or wipe so right now if I just like wipe  

the board like I just wiped the board you know if  I take maybe like water and soap then I'm washing  

it and if I really have something like wow this  is not coming off I'm like I'm really scrubbing  

very hard with the eraser okay so you learn these  subtle differences the slight differences in the  

vocabulary as you do it so depending on what  your goal is if you want to just know a lot of  

vocabulary about that yes like watch I mean it's  it's a good idea to watch the same video um like  

maybe one or two times but then try to listen to  it and then also read the transcript if you can  

of that video so this is what we do in fluent for  life because you're going to learn a little bit  

differently each time and you will learn a little  bit more so usually when you're watching a video  

so even people watching this video right now if we  think about like a timeline so you watch a video  

like for the first I don't know maybe like minute  or two you are paying attention to what I'm saying  

but then for I don't know like another minute  you're thinking about what do you want for dinner  

like oh I'm hungry what do I want for dinner  and so you're not listening to what I'm saying  

uh but then you like like oh look at that Drew  did this over here now I'm not paying attention  

again okay so it's good to go back and review  because like there are things that you miss in  

the video or you know whatever you're watching  dishwashing videos but it's the same thing so  

you can get maybe like one two three times  just watching the video to make sure you get  

everything all right but if you keep watching  it more than that you're probably not going to  

learn very much it's when you're using your time  it's better to switch to another video at that  

point all right but just think about what your  goal is if you really just like learning about  

washing dishes or something or maybe you're like a  dishwasher at a store or a restaurant and you want  

to talk with people about that then yeah that's  a great way to do it naturally varied review  

all right uh and let's see two and four simpler  words that make things quite tricky yes please  

oh no now that now the chats the chat uh jumped  down on me again uh please explain for Go versus  

foregone it's confusing uh well like forego  means like you're not going to do something

and this is like a a little a little bit tricky  for uh thinking about the present and the past  

but if I forgo something it's just a more  

maybe a more educated way of saying like I'm not  going to do something and and this is a good thing  

uh if you're in a conversation and you you're like  huh I want to say the word for go but being people  

don't really use that you might as a lawyer you  might use that or you might see that written on  

a legal document but it would be very rare to  hear that in a conversation uh like if I like  

um yeah like you the only times you'll really  hear that is like a foregone conclusion  

so foregone conclusion just means like you know  what's going to happen before it happens so like  

it's a foregone conclusion that Drew is going  to be talking about fluency so before you watch  

my video like you know that's what I'm going to  talk about because that's what I talk about so if  

it's like a surprise and it's not a foregone  conclusion because you don't know what I'm  

talking about but then like to forego something  the only time you would really hear that is like  

um like I will forego something in the future it  just means I won't do that thing to forego that  

thing in the future but it like it's it's not very  I don't know it's not really essential that you  

learn that uh maybe you can give me some examples  if you'd like of when you heard that but it's not  

really essential that you know it thanks teacher  from Mexico living in Philadelphia best class ever  

happy improve my English every day taking notes  with uh younger class what do you mean like a  

younger like you mean like younger people or  something what like younger people watching  

all right uh usage of synths and four okay so this  is a different thing now remember we talked about  

like why it's important to learn words from  a situation rather than the vocabulary itself

so remember the English as a second language  approach is we're going to take the word  

for and then we're going to give you  like every every use of the word for  

but then you just forget them and then you get  confused in a conversation so natives don't do  

this natives don't take a word and then give  you every use we learn different situations  

and you might learn some of those situations  at the same time or it might be a long time  

between them so English as a first language so  we talked about a different example of four like  

and again we we just think about the situation  like this is a present for you so like you are  

the target of that thing okay and so what was  the uh the question since uh since it before

all right so if we have now we're  back on our timeline again and  

we're going to talk about since  like usually we began something  

here let's say again like 10 years ago we we  use my Nintendo my Mario example so I have

been playing Mario

four uh let's just say 10 years so I know  this is me like I'm 40 and this is 10 years  

old but let's just say we're talking about  this amount of time here let's say this is  

10 years so I have been playing Mario uh  for 10 years all right a different way  

of saying that same thing is I have been  playing Mario uh since like 10 years ago

it's exact it's exactly the same thing so  I have been playing remember we're we're  

not learning vocabulary we're learning  situations and then vocabulary go into  

those situations all right so learning English  as a first language a first language not as a  

second language we don't take the vocabulary we  don't start with the vocabulary we begin with  

the situation okay so we're talking about  an amount of time I started in the past I'm  

continuing to do it now and we have these two ways  of saying it so I have been doing something for 10  

years I've been doing that since some some period  of Time same thing all right but this is this is  

the construction like it's a little bit slightly  easier it's just three words four ten years  

or since 10 years ago okay so I can I can also  describe this like I have been playing Mario since  

I was three let's say just like if I'm talking  about our age so I have been playing Mario since  

I was three have been but it's still just talking  about this same situation all right now notice the  

slight difference here all right watch so I'm  trying to kind of get you from the situation  

to thinking about what the what the difference  in the vocabulary means all right watch closely  

if we're talking about 4 4 is  talking about the amount of time

four so I have been doing something for this  amount of time but since it's talking about  

the point when we started all right  that's the main difference sentence  

so I have been doing something since it's  again like this is a time when uh when  

natives are talking about the same thing but  the slight Nuance the slight difference is are  

we talking about the length of time or are  we talking about when you started doing it  

it you mean the same thing but it's just like the  focus is slightly different okay so with a little  

bit of naturally varied review so since 2010 so  if we started in 2010 since 2010 I have been a  

professional uh I don't know marker salesman so  I I have been selling markers for 10 years okay  

so as an example so we can describe that  in the same way so let's say uh 2010 is  

the time we start so if we want to talk  about when we started okay so often like  

you will see an example of this like for for  businesses uh like they will say like since  

2 000 or Cent you know like if it's if  it's a really old business it's like since

since 1932.

that's because they want to talk about the  time when they're like when they're doing  

it and especially if it's a long period of  time they don't want to say like 452 years  

it's like like 1932 sounds like a longer time  it's like wow that was almost 100 years ago  

but you get the difference so we're in  in general we're talking about the same  

thing and we can mean the same thing but the  slight difference is are you talking about  

when you started since are you talking about  how long you've been doing the thing four okay  

all right let's keep moving uh let's see perfect  explanation Drew okay is flabbergast the same as  

mesmerized uh mesmerized is like it's where  you're you're trying to hypnotize or to to  

get people like oh I'm I like can't control  myself I'm focused on you and doing what  

you're telling me to do but being flabbergasted  it just means really surprised and you can't  

speak You're just wow you're speechless all  right so there's slightly different things  

uh let's see get on the chat and like the video  guys says Louis nice to see you there how come  

and why let's see teacher would you explain the  meaning of find himself grappling with one problem  

all right so to Grapple with if you think about  two wrestlers grappling comes with like that's  

this physical idea of of you like connected with  someone and like rolling on the ground and you're  

fighting with a person so it's it's different  from like standing and boxing like this you're  

connected you're kind of hugging or holding that  person you have them in a hold of some kind so  

that's grappling all right so when we grapple  with a problem it's like just like two wrestlers  

are grappling with each other all right so I'm  fighting against something and like it's just  

a kind of figurative way of saying that I have a  problem that I'm fighting with so right now I'm  

struggling with something I'm grappling with that  thing I'm fighting with that thing it's all the  

same way uh or basically different ways describing  the same situation all right thank you teacher  

greetings from mecco let's see Tito would you  mind would you explain the meaning of he wound up  

inventing new ways of teaching English classes yes  to like to wind up doing something means like you  

like you kind of end up doing it maybe you had not  intended to do something but you wound up going to  

a different place and this is kind of a tricky  idea because like to wind something we have like  

like a little wind-up toy and so the like the  phrasal verb like to wind up doing something  

uh this is much more advanced because it's harder  to understand a connection with like the physical  

object or whatever um but you can think about it  as like if you want to connect those two ideas

so uh I I can't like I can't say for certain  what the origin of that is for this usage but  

I could imagine something so if we have  like here's a uh uh like a wind-up Mouse  

and it's got like those little you know  little like wind-up key thing on the top of it  

so that's like so right now I'm  going to wind up the mouse and I  

put them down on the ground here's  little wheels on him and he's like

we don't know where he will wind up  

he's kind of spinning around and then look you  wound up here all right so if I even if I can't  

think of like a logical way to connect those I  can come up with a quick story that can help me  

understand the usage of it all right so that  will make me feel more confident about doing  

that so we start the mouse and like is going  around and what he wound up here so the mouse

wound up here we go from a physical understanding  to a figurative one where like like I began uh  

like I was living in India and then I moved  to Thailand and then I wound up on the moon  

amazing so it's the same idea of like I was  here and I didn't really have a plan I didn't  

know where I was going but what now I'm here so  you can wind up being in a place or you can wind  

up doing something all right so just like to  be like that's still like a verb like you're  

still in a location so I can wind up being  somewhere or I can wind up doing something  

so maybe I started my career I thought I would be  uh I don't know like a marker a marker salesman  

but then I started like I wound up selling  erasers okay same basic idea uh let's say oh  

Illinois I am always confused about especially and  especially can you give me some examples please  

so especially so especially like put I would  recommend putting those in Google and see what  

you get if you get something that's like really  similar like that like put those things in Google  

and look at the different examples because you'll  get way more than we even have time to go through  

here but like just very quickly uh especially is  if I'm trying to give some examples of something  

like like if I'm a waiter at a restaurant and  I say we've got this thing and this thing and  

this thing over here but this thing especially  so I'm trying to like highlight this thing or  

say that this is a really good thing like  especially I recommend this one especially  

all right but especially without the e on it it's  just like kind of doing something in a special way  

all right so like uh I usually make let's say  I have a bakery and I have cupcakes like this  

uh and like and you come to my bakery every day  and this is just the regular cupcake nothing  

special about it but I say hey today I made like  this like amazing uh one uh like special for you  

like I made it specially for you okay so I and  in this sentence I can actually use both of those  

words but they mean slightly different things so  I made it special like I made it like the actual  

cupcake is like special so I made it specially  for you like it's like an adverb like I created it  

that way or I can say like especially for you is  like it's not for other people okay so again I can  

I can use the same word even in that situation but  they mean slightly different things but I would  

Google it get more examples all right Iran says  cool uh Marcelo says I struggle a lot to learn  

how to use though all right so this is another  one of those examples where you're in a certain  

uh situation and and you will hear though but it  would be in different situations typically though

is if we're saying like uh it could be like but

and that's just one situation so  rather than try to give you like  

every situation of vote think about it like  it's hot uh here I can even say like though

so though it's hot I went for a walk or I  went outside to make it easier went outside

so though it's hot and this is the same  thing in this as like although you can  

say that as well so although it's  hot though it's hot or even though

in this situation we can use all of these examples  so even though it's hot I went outside although  

it's hot I went outside though it's hot I went  outside all right but remember that we want to  

focus on particular uh situations so rather  than think about like a particular word think  

about when you would use that and then get more  examples of that thing all right so like the  

kinds of things that you're getting here this is  all stuff we do in fluent for life so we look at  

like specific words we want to look at them in  different ways hear them from different people  

focus on a particular grammar point and spend  a lot of time really learning that reviewing  

it in different ways so it just becomes automatic  for you that's the whole point of the program all  

right uh let's see Haas says teacher I don't  know how to use neither and either correctly  

could you explain them and give me some examples  please all right neither versus either and this  

is an interesting thing because my daughters  will uh be like asking me and we will kind  

of work on these as well also if you have not  clicked that like button you better click that  

like button click that like button right now  while I'm doing this so first we have either

and remember to think situationally okay think  situation so either I'm talking about like two  

of these things or two two options so I don't  know what to wear like I could wear either this  

gray shirt or a black shirt either of them  uh is fine either is okay all right either  

all right but as soon as we put like the  neither on there whenever we have like an  

N you can think about that as like not either  [Music] either so when you're thinking it's  

like no not like not not not either of those  things like we don't want either of them  

okay so neither neither shirt is good so I have  a gray shirt and a black shirt and neither of  

them are good all right so both of them are bad  all right so if I say either like either thing

it doesn't matter so either one is fine okay but  neither as both of them are bad so both of them  

are fine both of them are bad all right Google  more examples to see more examples of that but  

typically when you have something like or versus  nor like it's like ah there is that no again  

like it probably means not okay so look up those  examples and you will see more all right uh our  

interesting hi Xavier have you ever been a swimmer  in your life well I I have I have like you know  

been swimming before I like to swim but I'm not  like on a swim team if that's what you mean so no  

hi I'm Ashley from Afghanistan living in Malaysia  have you ever had this kind of experience yes so  

the same idea had not played didn't play okay all  right so just remember we're talking you can you  

can be talking about the same situation like four  and since but like thinking about it the slight  

nuances just is it when you started or how long  you've been doing that okay but it's basically  

the same thing so you don't need to think like ah  which is it it's just you know just pick one and  

use it all right but as you get better and you  understand the nuances and you want to say like  

you know I have been doing something for and you  want to talk about like how long you've been doing  

it because that's an important thing like uh like  I tell people I have been teaching for 20 years  

20 years or I could say 20 years both of those  pronunciations are fine so if I have been doing  

it for 20 years that sounds better than like  I started teaching in like I don't know 2006  

or whatever if I just use a number then people  have to think about the math they're like well  

how long is that so I just do the math for  them like oh it's been 20 years and people  

like wow 20 years that's a long time okay  so you can you can use either one of those  

uh let's see Xavier says we used to have a big  house or we had a big house do you use yeast to  

uh as a no English as a native English speaker  I struggle to use used to I think Xavier watch  

what video was that it was it might have been  last last week or on Monday but we covered it  

used to and like in in a bunch of examples of that  but yes you can exists you could you could say uh  

like we had a big house or we like we used to have  it doesn't doesn't matter both of those are fine  

Emily says thanks uh sir drew it is now clear to  me the difference of didn't and hadn't yes glad  

to hear it so whenever you have this sometimes  it's good to spend more time really going deep  

into that because natives will try to think  about this the same way and rather than just  

like looking at the logic of it try to get lots  of examples until you really feel confident about  

it again this is what we do in fluent for  Life the whole point of it is not just to  

tell you logically what something happens or what  something means like a grammar point it's like to  

help you understand it like a native so you use  it without thinking all right says in Daily casual  

conversations native speakers are actually use  these different Expressions had didn't didn't had  

Etc and convey such subtle differences from  speakers to listeners well like again people  

people aren't thinking about that like it's it's  very uh automatic for a native speaker and again  

like just to correct your English you would say  in Daily casual conversations native speakers  

are actually using uh natives are actually using  uh these different Expressions but yes so they're  

like if you stop a conversation and say hey why  did you use did or had or should or whatever if  

you're asking them that like like they will stop  thinking and most people will not they will not  

like have a good answer for that so me at like I'm  you know an expert in like being able to explain  

things and talk about fluency and how it works and  how a native would explain that but many people  

would they would have have to think about that  for a moment so some people they just like they  

have ways of speaking they're just using patterns  over and over and over again and so they just like  

automatically speak without thinking about it and  then they might think yeah I guess I don't know  

why I said that rather than the other thing so  they're they're probably not like thinking about  

it that deep that's why I explained like in the  in the since versus four example nobody's really  

thinking about that that deeply like I just gave  an example of when you would so usually like the  

kind of uh it's not really like more intelligent  but it's more when you have to be more thoughtful  

with vocabulary so a professional writer will  look at these slight differences in words and  

those slight differences will be important so  just like I gave the example of like how long I've  

been doing something so the the goal is it sounds  more impressive to say like 20 years rather than  

uh like do something uh like since a certain  time unless that unless that period of time is  

like a really long time ago all right so if  it's like my business started in like 1602.  

now that's like that's much better than  saying like 400 years or something I mean  

it doesn't really matter but like since  since like this long period of time that  

that sounds very impressive to people all right  so that's that's when you would think about that  

but often people do not so you can also think  about this in your native language like you  

know I'm on kangai tonight so you're probably  it's like an automatic thing that you're doing  

let's see Orson says could you please give  me more examples about did and had thank you  

all right Pat is working over here this is this  is kind of weird let's see uh let's see here

um but yes if you if you're looking up like  the difference between those also watch the  

video I made about half and it will talk about  that in general we're talking about physically  

holding something physically like again like  my eye I can't take I could take my eye out I  

guess but it's like a part of me just like my  experiences are a part of me as well so that's  

when I have something all right is there Logic  for the usage of ache and sword now again like  

a a doctor might know like a subtle difference  between like like different kinds of pains and  

they might have like a cut versus a lesion so a  lesion is like a much like bigger wow like and you  

just kind of learn that and there's certain doctor  vocabulary or whatever so people in a particular  

industry will know more about it uh but in in a  general thing like if I say like that hurts or  

that's painful it doesn't matter it like there's  there's no difference between those two it's just  

different ways of saying the same thing so don't  don't try to think about it too much but you will  

just get these over time the important point  about naturally varied review is that you will  

encounter so you will meet different people even  if you don't go to an English-speaking country  

you will meet different people online or just you  know listen to them speaking and then you should  

be prepared for that all right so that's how you  become a fluent speaker is being prepared for the  

vocabulary natives use all right Adriana says  Wonderful class glad to hear it oh it's alive  

let's see is there all right I answer that one  uh Again Jim says good morning today I missed  

a little of a live stream I love you my favorite  coach glad to hear it Iran says Network you see  

the best class from a native teacher glad to  hear it uh you guys are very nice click that  

like button and tell five people say hey click  that like button just tell people you you notice  

hey come to this video and click the like  button oh my goodness let me get some water

oh all right here we go you know I don't  mind losing my voice for for class it's a  

lot of fun all right the first time  I heard ouch was watching Bonanza  

essentially you will hear that I mean I've made  videos I think I made a video a long time ago  

um if you look on my channel for the video  called silence and I think as I have a video I  

think about that it's like an older naturally  varied review video I made but you can find  

these on uh YouTube as well um just about like  certain expressions or sayings or whatever on uh  

like from movies and things like that and I think  actually like other people have made this as well  

so there's just an example of telling people to be  quiet so you could say like shut up you will hear  

that often in like kind of casual conversations  but a like a kind of like the boss of a company  

or like even a boss of some gangsters or  something like that I'll be like silence  

silence everyone and then see what I hear  like everyone gets real quiet but you can  

find that look up like like a super cut about  that on the on the channel you will find that  

all right Ordinary People need Simple Solutions  learning is too yes yeah I mean I'm I'm not trying  

to make this complicated I really want the the  problem is because people have been learning  

English uh as a as a second language they get  they're like thinking about the vocabulary in  

a very complicated way so they begin with  one word like four and then they learn 10  

different meanings of it and then when they're in  a conversation they're like ah I don't remember  

which way is the correct one is it like for this  or for that or uh whatever but natives natives  

know like you know 20 different uses of four  but it's just four a situation and so that's  

how they can they can make these different in  their minds so part of the way the mind works  

is that we have different categories for things  like kinds of words or ideas or situations in our  

mind and then we kind of get more maybe more  specific so I could get hurt as an example

uh like uh so we'll just say like I get hurt but  then there are different kinds of hurt depending  

on how bad it is and so these are nuances that  I learned like wow is it is it just ouch or  

like like it's not so bad like you know when you  you stub your toe you hurt your toe when you're  

walking or you bang your arm or something and  it's not really that painful but it's just like

you might say ouch or something or if you get  really like you know you get like a bullet in  

the Army like ah no it's something like that  you know so there are different ways that you  

learn from the situation as it gets more we say  granular so we start with like big rocks and move  

to more kind of small particular ones for like  just this situation and so when I was saying  

before like if you're a writer you're looking for  like something really good just for this situation  

but for most people generally like  this vocabulary up here is fine

all right uh Cielo you're watching you live for  

the first time thanks for the  free videos it is my pleasure

um where did uh let's see all right uh

okay glad here all right and Nils is back ding  dong hello from Wisconsin nice to see you there  

Nils Nils is back Nails is back Yoshi again  says you hardly say any filler words and make  

any pauses either how and when do you think what  you're going to say next it's all just spontaneous  

and improvised yes that's correct your English is  very good by the way uh or at least you're written  

English hopefully your speaking is good as well so  what I'm doing right now this is what I explained  

to people is called moving like water where I can  be thinking of something and I have a general idea  

of what I want to say and I let the vocabulary  just come out naturally so I teach this and  

speak like me so if you have the native fluency  blueprint or if you have fluent for life that's  

included in there and so typically again like  the English as a second language way of learning  

is you will learn like one word for something so  just take Japanese example we get like a word in  

Japanese and then we translate that into a word in  English but then in a conversation if you forget  

that vocabulary then you don't know what to do  but in English because we're learning so many  

different examples we usually find something at  least one thing that we can remember and it's  

easy to use and so when I'm in a conversation like  okay now I can I can talk about something I maybe  

like forget a particular word or phrase that I'm  saying I can easily switch to something else okay  

so that's that's the difference so when I'm in a  conversation with people even then I'm usually not  

like uh or um or something but you know again it's  just because I've given myself lots of input so I  

can get lots of different examples of things and I  just flow from one to the other so that's the same  

thing that I teach like as you get more examples  so rather than thinking from Japanese into English  

you're thinking about situations in English and  oh look like my mom said this and my dad said this  

and now I said that and so you have all this you  have like a real a wealth of lots of vocabulary  

that you can use and often like I can see usually  professional speakers uh like I can tell when  

they're saying something and then switching to  something else so if you're good at it you can  

also notice other people doing it too and maybe  you notice like like a tricky thing I will do  

when I'm speaking like this I don't I don't really  like talk about it I guess I could make a lesson  

about that but like I'm might be saying one thing  and then I'm like oh no I said the wrong thing so  

I have to think quickly about like how I can  rephrase it so I say something like if I say  

like I wanted to say something I don't know but I  meant to say the opposite so I'll have to change  

that in my mind and say I did not do something  all right so there are a couple different things  

I'm doing but in general I just call this moving  like water but you can learn to do this too it's  

not hard the problem is like instead of getting  one example like a traditional student you need  

to get many with naturally varied review and so  with all those examples it makes it much easier  

to switch to different things without uh and um  and things like that all right a lot of things and  

Nuance let's see zuzette again hello sir please  when you use don't and not ah well it's just if  

you do not do something so like not something  is like a physical thing like this like marker  

not marker not marker marker all right but do not  is where we're talking about doing something so  

like play baseball do not play baseball okay  get more examples look up both of those online  

uh Mary says should we also learn grammar the  same way yes so if you're listening to me like  

the things I've been explaining about this  is grammar and vocabulary and pronunciation  

and listening and everything together as one  thing because this is how natives learn the  

language you can't get a grammar lesson that's  not pronunciation or vocabulary because you have  

all these things combined as one one thing so  you should just be learning it as a native and  

then you learn it all at the same time so even  in fluent for life we have uh like it could be  

a it's like a grammar lesson but you're hearing  pronunciation and vocabulary and making sure you  

do things correctly that way but yes you learn all  of this the same way it's just learning English as  

a first language that's that's the whole thing  sub Drews is ildar and I see you there thanks a  

lot great teacher Olympia my pleasure uh let's see  Queen Jed have you done anything on word stress  

if yes please help me with a link I Want To Know  Much on pronunciation yeah I created a whole app  

about that it's called Frederick get it in the  link before or in the link down below this video  

so yes I like and it's not it's not so much  like teaching you about stress in a in like a  

traditional way it just helps you understand  word stress like a native so you learn like  

actually how natives pronounce things and you  learn them step by step get the app it will  

help you and if you do not have that app I would  love to know why everyone should have that app  

all right uh let's see it's Hearth Tarth it tar  Tartan if I'm pronouncing that correctly how do  

we know wind means air thing or rotating key  thing it depends on the situation it depends  

on the situation okay and so this is a like a key  to learning the language where you're like if if  

I just say a random word you don't really know  what I'm talking about so it's always in this  

situation and I've used this example before but  like a word by itself is like trying to trying  

to stand up one stick you need to have the meaning  the situation the context for that thing to stand  

up like this all right so like Japanese uh this  is like an interesting thing learning about like  

like the word for uh person like that it's like  it's like two sticks going up against each other

uh let's see Ben says you are the best teacher  glad to hear again thanks for the explanation  

says Tom so to wind up is a higher level but it  is usual yes you can't like people often wind up  

or you can say to end up doing something so it's  like end up might be a better a better uh easier  

to understand example of that but you can wind up  doing something or end up doing something as well  

like the mouse example I gave it's the same thing  so the mouse is like and it ends up over here all  

right it just ends up doing something so it's  typically uh what you like don't expect about  

something so if you like anticipate something or  expect doing something like expect to do something  

so if I expect to go to the beach and then I go to  the beach I don't end up at the beach like I went  

to like that was the point I was supposed to go  to the beach but if I'm trying to go to the beach  

and then I go to the fire department now that I'm  thinking about the fire truck or whatever then I  

will be I end up at the fire department all right  uh let's see next how do native speakers pronounce  

a word which they don't know is there any natural  pronunciation approach yes it's called it's called  

Frederick so basically what people are doing when  they learn and they see a new word they're using

phonics phonics is the sound rules of English  so phonics teaches us like you basically learn  

the the pronunciation patterns of the language and  phonics like some people I don't know some people  

will like not like phonics because it doesn't  cover every word but and who cares it's like  

84 of the language if you learn all the rules of  phonics and you learn some very common exceptions  

then you can learn to pronounce basically anything  and so this is what Frederick teaches you to do  

so we have as an example you learn the pattern  uh like can alright so like the first thing you  

learn this is called a consonant vowel consonant  or a CVC word all right so after you learn the  

alphabet like a b c d we learn two things like  and and then we have can so we start putting  

sounds together and then we learn oh like if we  put an e at the end of this the E becomes silent  

and the a says its own name and so we get the  word cane so can like we have a can of soup or  

something becomes a like a cane like a candy cane  okay and so if you learn the rules for this then  

you can take like this kind of thing and you  find uh like a and e or something like that  

at the at the end of a longer word then you have  a pretty good idea of how you would pronounce it  

all right so most words you can figure them out  and that's what natives are doing they're using  

these uh phonetic rules the sounds the sound rules  of English to learn those pronunciations yeah all  

right let's see how okay I got that one Bruno says  finally I could make it we're live good to see you  

again Drew what's up Iran Theo says neither  shirt is good neither of them are good yeah  

that's fine what's the role of hand manipulations  and conversations you mean like when I'm moving  

like this I mean I could I could just stand here  and not move my hands around I mean typically I  

mean I'm not like not like Italian or something  like I'm really moving my hands it's just a like a  

cultural thing or if I'm trying to trying to show  something typically when I'm teaching something  

to people I want to show something physical like  I'm bringing something together so you understand  

what I'm talking about that's why I use my hands  a lot when I teach but I might not do that if I'm  

talking with a friend of mine you know it just  depends on the situation depends on the situation

let's see here and uh all right nice I can't  believe uh bunny is there okay let's see uh  

my sand yellow Mike and yellow sorry so  so you notice like what I'm doing when I  

maybe pronounce them correctly I'm using  phonics to try to pronounce them but I'm  

also using like what I know about maybe  the the pronunciation rules of different  

languages all right so like in Japanese like  uh like what's like like an example like

so in English I would say this word is like  karate this is how we pronounce it in English  

but in Japanese it's like karate we don't  say t we say te because it's like hand okay  

all right but you learn those things as you  as you get more experience with the language  

all right uh Bruno says Drew is there any way  to hit you up email DM Morse code I'd love to  

know more about your program fluent for life  now that's interesting I'm wondering why like  

some chats are coming through but some are not  I guess maybe maybe people are like sending me  

a direct message or something like that I guess  that's how that's happening just send us an email  

at info English anyone.com but if you have  any questions about fluent for Life uh you  

can just post them here again I'm much better at  writing than speaking that's why I'm here on your  

channel your advice is are very practical thank  you now it's my pleasure remember advice is not  

countable just like I've got some pasta in my  hand I've got some water I've got some advice  

now if I want to talk about pieces of advice if  I want to count them like I got a good piece of  

advice like piece of advice like a piece of cake  that kind of thing so I got a good piece of advice  

from a friend or you just say I got some advice  and this is just a common thing as you you learn  

these examples like what's countable and what's  not so it's the same thing like information  

so I got some good information I got some good  advice I got a good piece of information a piece  

of advice let me give you a piece of advice all  right let me give you like one one specific thing  

all right but it's my pleasure all right though  we enjoy these lessons it is time to save the  

voice all right looks like are we getting down  to the end it looks like we did Olympia says  

yes and right as we're getting to the end of  the lesson let's slow let's say all right so  

limpy says I told him to drink water yes so how  is that wait what are you guys doing to send me  

why are some of those chats coming through as uh  as it's like some of them are not coming through  

and some of them are I don't know why that is now  I just re-installed the YouTube app on my phone I  

noticed the YouTube app does something very stupid  and it like takes up all of your phone storage and  

it like there's no way to delete it or at least  I couldn't find anything like the instructions  

online are like yeah just delete the app and  reinstall it what that's it's kind of a silly  

way to design an app but yes uh thank you very  much I will enjoy my nice uh little bit of water  

over here I got a sports drink today too because  I'm there you go he is drinking water thanks now  

here you would say thank God thank God not thanks  God if you're talking to God you're like thanks  

to you God but if I'm just like thanking God in  general I just say thank God thank God foreign

yes feeling good all right well we've got time  for maybe like one or two more questions uh but  

if you have questions about fluent for life or  Frederick or anything else like any programs  

you'd like to know about or if you have like you  know questions about pronunciation or whatever

and look at there goes another one like I stuck  all the time when I start speaking English but  

interestingly enough I always notice the mistakes  of non-native speakers to while they speak can you  

explain what kind of situation I'm in yes that's  a very common one actually so when you notice  

like native speakers or non-native speakers or  whatever make a mistake and this is a common thing  

um it means you're like you're getting quite good  but you just haven't practiced enough yourself to  

use those things correctly so if you make mistakes  even though you notice other people and and some  

of that like like you might like an example that  I used to make a mistake in Japanese I'd be like  

like uh like I would say like like walking walking  at the park or whatever like the Japanese version  

of that um but I would say it incorrectly because  that like the English version of it I was kind of  

thinking through the English grammar rather than  understanding it as a native and so a Japanese  

person is like they're kind of thinking about  that grammar a little bit differently uh than I  

would in English so again once I start learning  it the English way it becomes a lot easier but  

you still need to get lots of examples so  all the things that I cover I try to give  

many examples of them but you still need like many  more and not just for me so it's really important  

probably like the my like favorite thing about  fluent for life is that it gives you so many  

different Native examples we probably have like  a hundred different Native English speakers in  

the program that are giving you audible like  you're listening to them or you're actually  

seeing different people giving explanations about  whatever but the point is that you're you're  

kind of learning like a native it's simulating a  native environment but a much more efficient one  

so it's not just like you being at somebody's  house it's like you being at someone's house  

with experts that are explaining how everything  works and so you learn it very quickly that way  

all right let's see all right and so now now like  Chad is like kind of coming back or not this is  

really weird I don't know why I didn't have chat  on my phone before uh and now we do uh Bruno says  

besides getting lots of comprehensible input  what do you think uh uh when do you think we  

should start speaking well it's just you you  start using things when you feel comfortable  

with them remember like you don't get fluent in  the whole language you get fluent in individual  

words and phrases or grammar points whatever you  feel comfortable with so you can start speaking  

at any time like if I'm teaching English to a  complete beginner and on the first day if I have  

them understand something and they start feeling  comfortable and they can understand it and use  

it confidently then they'll start speaking it but  they will speak that they will use that vocabulary  

it doesn't mean they can use other things fluently  so usually what happens as you're learning you're  

trying to improve the vocabulary you already know  so you become fluent in that vocabulary and then  

you expand your vocabulary as well but you maybe  not feel uh so confident about that yet so you  

think about like the like if you're trying to use  a new thing like usually you say this like all the  

time you say this but then you want to try saying  something different as soon as you understand it  

really well then give it a try even if you make  a mistake doing that thing it's more because  

you're kind of nervous as it's a new thing but you  should be getting all of the uh like the testing  

and the practice and all of that by just getting  naturally varied review so just getting all of  

the input you need the understandable messages of  real vocabulary and then hearing that in different  

ways from different people so remember you can do  this by yourself or you can get someone like me to  

help you out all right if we have I think that's  everybody look at that we made it to the end and  

just in time it's time for lunch time for me to  get some food over here but thank you very much  

uh it's always my pleasure to come in and answer  these questions for people hopefully you're you're  

seeing now like okay if I can get fluent in one  word then I can probably get fluent in two words  

in three words and four words and it just expands  from there because you're changing the way you  

learn all right so you're learning more with me  like an English speaker rather than learning like  

a like an English student or whatever all right  so if you have any questions you can send us a  

mail at info englishanyone.com uh we're happy  to answer questions about like fluent for life  

I want to make a new video that explains more of  it but honestly I don't I'd love to know what what  

information is missing for people to explain the  program so if there's something you're like yeah  

what what does this do or how does it work or  something let me know because I'd love to make  

like one video that just explains everything  and makes it much much easier for people to  

understand because then they can join the  program and get one all right well that's  

it have a fantastic day let's see and I think  that's it I'll see you in the next video bye-bye