How To Feel Confident In Any English Conversation

get started I am Drew Badger the  founder of englishanyone.com and  

the English fluency guide welcome  to another live video here on

YouTube uh as I'm working on my book finishing  that up uh I wanted to talk specifically about  

one of the really main pieces of it which is how  to prepare for English conversations how to feel  

confident about them how to not be worried or  nervous that you might get get stuck or say the  

wrong thing something like that uh it's actually  much easier than most people think but uh the way  

most people most Learners try to practice for  communication is not the way that you should  

be practicing uh like you would practice for  playing the piano or trying to learn a dance  

routine or something like that uh so we're going  to talk about that in this video I'll just say  

hello uh quickly to people nice to see everybody  there so we got Tom Lewis uh in the house George  

over there some usual faces nice to see you all  hopefully you're having a nice day wherever you  

are syvan nice to see you from Brazil yes like  say hello to each other Joel Min Nic the the  

beard suits me huh and net over there as well  accesses back accessing the video as usual well  

I I don't know how long I'll keep the beard I  was talking with my uh younger daughter Noel  

she said shav it B off so and maybe my wife will  start complaining uh pretty soon as well we'll  

see uh anyway uh so the first thing I wanted to  talk about is the kind of preparation you need  

for a conversation is different than the kind of  preparation you need for practicing an instrument  

or uh learning a speech or anything else where  you are the only one doing something and you can  

control every aspect of it I've talked about this  before but I was just thinking it was a good idea  

to refresh uh maybe have a just another  quick video about this we'll see how long  

today's video goes it actually should be pretty  quick but I will stay to answer questions uh if  

anybody has any uh so first just preparing for  anything uh I'm going to I'm going to write a  

word up here that really makes conversations  different from most of the things that people  

would think about for typical practice when they  think about the idea of practice and this is the

unpredict so I'm just going  to say unpredictability the

unpredictability i t y unpredict I can't write

unpredictability b i l b i l i wait  predictability t y I'm predictability  

okay if I've got that correct uh but pardon my  sloppy handwriting I should just write it in the  

chat make it easier for people let me see if I  can do that actually I don't know if I'm signed

in yeah I can't I'm not signed in actually but  anyway uh the unpredictability is what makes  

everything different for communication basically  you never know what the other person is going to  

say thank you Tom uh unpredictability uh wait a  oops actually right unpredict ability excuse me uh  

but thank you very much uh so the main point here  is that when you're in a conversation you don't  

know what other person or what the other person  or other people are going to say so you can't  

really practice for a conversation like an actual  conversation uh the way you could practice for  

something like playing an instrument or whatever  so if I am a piano player I'm learning a new piano  

song and trying to play in a concert and I'm  the only one playing and the only thing is just  

me getting very good at playing that song then  I don't really have much to think about it's not  

like the song will change in the middle of the  concert or someone will try to come on stage and  

stop me from playing and it's like a video game  where I don't know maybe some something happens  

and I can't control what's going on uh but in  conversations you never know what's going to  

happen so each conversation is unique even  if you try to plan things ahead of time or  

memorize specific phrases you may or may not use  those and the other people may be saying you know  

other things uh that you just don't expect so the  whole idea is being uh getting the unexpected and  

so preparing this you can really prepare for  this in stages and the simple way to do this is  

by seeing examples of how other people do things  before you have your conversations all right so  

the basic idea of this video is thinking about how  you would train for the UN predictable because you  

can't memorize everything you can't be prepared  for how every conversation will go because the  

conversation unfolds naturally the other person  says something then you have to respond in some  

way maybe you don't know exactly how they're  going to say something or they begin talking  

about something else it's really difficult to  control that but you don't have to control it if  

you feel prepared and you do that uh within just  by seeing other people do examples of that thing  

like getting examples of other people having  conversations about the kinds of things you would  

like to talk about so as an example before we even  talk about uh specific conversations the the core  

idea is understanding the [Music] situation and  then thinking about what vocabulary would go for  

that situation when native speakers are learning  their language this is the same thing that  

happened to you when you were younger the you know  your parents or somebody would be doing something  

and then they would speak as they're doing that  thing so they're describing something like I am  

writing words on a board I am writing words on a  board and when I think about like what's happening  

here I'm not trying to trying to express like  this particular thing like I am writing so I'm  

actually just writing some words on the board  I'm saying what I'm doing I'm describing that  

uh but I could describe this in a different way  so the situation is me writing things on a board  

but I could say I'm writing words or I'm writing  letters or I'm making sentences or I'm scribbling  

like this I'm more kind of scribbling on the  board rather than like neatly writing things so  

there is a situation and then there are many ways  that you might Express that so the way you become  

prepared for these things is uh even before or  within a conversation there are lots of specific  

pieces of a conversation like how you change the  subject or how you apologize or how you switch  

from uh like you're talking about one thing then  you say but something else so often people uh are  

learning uh specific things like like for young  kids when they're basically just starting to talk  

they learn simple things things like and and but  as ways of changing the sentence or changing the  

topic or describing something else saying the  opposite thing because they see adults talking  

about those same things and in that situation so  if I'm explaining something but then I want to  

say the opposite I would use the word but or  I could use something like however and there  

are different ways that I could express that but  the point is I have a situation and I'm learning  

these various ways of expressing that so I begin  with a situation and then the vocab for that thing  

so when you're preparing for conversations  themselves you begin with the smaller pieces  

of a conversation so things about changing topics  or how do I switch from one and like I'm explain  

explaining one idea and then I start talking about  something else so how do I switch from one thing  

to the next or how do I ask a question or how do I  get more information or go into more detail those  

are the General kinds of things where I might uh  talk about like what's a good example so I might  

I might talk about I could be really talking  about anything and use all of these different  

ways of you know connecting sentences or things  like that so I've made quite a few videos about  

doing that but I want to bring that all together  uh for this one uh and talk about wherever you  

feel stuck in conversations is really where you  should be focusing so so that you feel confident  

and prepared for conversations so as an example  uh let's say the highest level of communication  

would be really feeling comfortable talking  about whatever you like it doesn't it doesn't  

matter what the the conversation topic is uh and  maybe you might not know uh like every word which  

is fine I don't know every word in English and  there are many topics that I probably couldn't  

have intelligent conversations about so if I'm  learning about even fixing cars I use this example  

a lot because I don't know much about fixing cars  uh so like if someone starts asking me I could  

learn about that I could have a conversation with  someone about fixing cars or if I go to a mechanic  

and they say oh well this problem is here I would  say hey can you explain that in plain English for  

me so this is a common expression that natives use  so in plain so plain like regular or just usual so  

in plain English so even native speakers will  use this expression and you can use it as well  

if you're getting a lot of technical vocabulary  like I'm at the mechanic and they're saying well  

the carburetor is is disconnected from this other  thing and it's causing this I said well I'm sorry  

I don't understand what that means can you just  explain that please explain that in plain English  

and they say like well this box is not connected  to that box or something something very basic and  

simple that even a child would understand okay so  I don't want you to feel bad you could also say  

simply yes simply in English but in plain English  is a very common uh way of expressing that there  

are also book series uh that talk about like for  dummies or the idiots guide to something so it's  

just saying we're going to explain something  to you very simply so you understand it easily  

and without using lots of technical or difficult  or Advanced vocab all right so remember that uh  

even explaining something about fixing a car you  could express it with more difficult or Advanced  

uh specific vocabulary that mechanics usually use  or plain English Basic things that normal people  

would use in everyday conversations who like me  don't know much about cars all right so uh when  

thinking about that if you're if you imagine and  you can do this as kind of a test for yourself  

uh about the kinds of things you can speak  comfortably about or yes plain yogurt is the  

same idea so plain is like there's no flavor  there's no you know extra things on it it's  

just very simple very easy very common uh so when  you're thinking about what you're able to speak  

confidently about are you able to have really good  conversations about basically anything uh or are  

you noticing well I could speak confidently about  some things but not others or an even lower level  

than that would be even in conversations I I just  can't link sentences together so wherever you are  

on that scale if you're lower then you really  want to have more time looking at individual  

things like really focusing on that for watching  conversations so as an example uh let's say I'm  

watching an interview of some Japanese people  so if I'm learning Japanese I would be watching  

an interview just as an example of something and I  might not feel comfortable or understand the whole  

thing but I might be focusing specifically on how  do they change topics or how do they how do they  

interrupt each other so I don't want to focus  on everything I'm just looking for particular  

things to focus on and then just learning about  that so even if I don't understand something else  

then I want to have uh just a good focus on a  particular thing so that I can learn how to do  

that by seeing examples of other people do that  so if I'm just focusing on uh however or but or  

whatever Ju Just for that particular thing then I  can focus on that so what we do influent for Life  

uh this is the same kind of thing where we have  a particular conversation and we could focus on  

lots of different things about it you could  pick really lots of different grammar points  

or particularly uh maybe difficult or more  common vocabulary structures things like that  

in a conversation but the point is just to pick  something and then focus on that and really get  

lots of review seeing that thing in different ways  used by different speakers and then you will feel  

much more confident about it but uh again think  about the specific area where you feel like not  

where you maybe you feel some level of confidence  but you still don't feel maybe like talking about  

something because you're not 100% confident about  it so it depends on you specifically but that's  

how you would think about it so for me uh I'm  able to have conversations in Japanese just  

fine and uh the things I like learning about are  different ways of expressing particular topics  

so that's like a really interesting thing for  me uh and that's one of the things I recommend  

that's one of the things I teach a lot about you  know using naturally varied review this kind of  

review where you have a particular situation and  then describe that with different vocabulary so  

how might different people Express something  in different ways so even looking at this chat  

if I go back and uh look at the like the specific  phrasing of let's say someone wants to just greet  

someone so how could you do that you could say  Hey or hello or how are you or how have you been  

or how is your family it's the same situation of  greeting someone but we have these different ways  

of EXP expressing that so I'm paying attention  for those things and if I go back and look at  

those like you know some people say like hello  or some people say good morning or some people  

say hi or how you been or hello there or hi there  if you look back at all the different ways people  

are greeting right in this chat on this video  you'll see examples of naturally varied review  

so that's the kind of thing I pay attention for  uh when I'm when I'm focused on this more specific  

training for conversations so again the nice thing  about speaking is that I don't need to get into  

conversations until I feel comfortable unless I I  don't know I'm forced to speak because uh I don't  

know like some something happens and I have to  talk for whatever reason but for the most part you  

should be able to spend more time getting review  of things and seeing other people talk before you  

speak okay so remember you don't need to spend a  lot of time trying to practice certain things you  

get the a better sense for what to use as you see  other people speaking and now that could be other  

people speaking in a conversation with you but  it's a lot easier if you're just watching other  

people speaking like them talking to other people  like a conversation or a dialogue uh or you could  

watch a group of people or even just one person  explaining something so let's say for example I  

I I have like a pretty good understanding of basic  things and how uh like I might connect sentences  

but I just don't have a deeper vocabulary for  talking about more interesting topics or more  

diverse topics or something like that so maybe I  use quite simple language and I can't use like the  

mechanic example if I go to a mechanic I don't  really feel confident talking about fixing cars  

because I just don't I don't even know the names  of car pieces other than like the body and the  

wheels you know that's why my drawing are so bad  about cars I can't draw cars well because I don't  

know the the pieces of cars very well uh but again  if I want to do that it would be very easy for me  

to go right here on YouTube and watch a bunch  of people talking to mechanics or mechanics  

explaining things about cars uh or learning  the different pieces of an automobile it would  

be quite easy to do it if I cared about doing  that so let's say my car breaks down in Japan  

and I know I need to go to a mechanic to to find  out how to fix that thing so before I go to the  

mechanic it would make sense for me to watch some  videos just learning about oh how do people talk  

about things how do you explain this or what are  these car parts in Japanese how do people explain  

those things and again it's the preparation  not from trying to memorize a bunch of phrases  

although you might have some specific things like  in the car example my wheel or some particular  

part of the car or the engine or whatever is not  working so if that if that's the case then I can  

actually learn about that specific thing but  if I'm talking about really anything else and I  

just want to be able to have a conversation and go  with the flow of those other people then it would  

make sense to see some other people doing that  first and then I will feel much more confident  

and prepared in the conversation does that make  sense so uh the kind of practice that you do if  

if you're trying to learn a song or I'm trying  to learn some dance moves something like that  

it's going to be different than the kind of thing  I'll be doing when I'm learning about how to have  

a good conversation because I really want to be  prepared for all of the variety that might happen  

even though a lot of things will not I don't I  just don't know which things will happen in the  

conversation and so uh seeing lots of other people  have conversations about that thing will make me  

feel much more confident about it all right let  me go back can look at chat see if anybody has  

any questions about this I think people are uh  excited talking about yogurt over there abdos says  

uh uh please can you use indirect question what  do you mean indirect question give me an example  

of what you're trying to talk about try not to  think about grammar point and think more about a  

situation what is the what is the situation you're  trying to describe and this is another thing when  

people ask me about a specific grammar point it's  a lot easier if you try to think about it more  

like what is the situation uh and so this will  help you understand the grammar point but it will  

also help you understand other ways to express  that same thing and sometimes there's a uh like  

an easier way to express something with a less  complicated grammar Point that's easier for people  

to understand and remember all right so let's get  past the uh Sig says hi Drew and yes you guys are  

talking about plain yogurt let's see all right it  looks like it makes sense over there yeah you guys  

like the expression in plain English jelman says  you made a live stream a few months ago about the  

Five Laws of thinking in English I just bought  your fluency program do you have information  

about the Five Laws of thinking in English in  the program uh all of that is applied in the  

program itself so like one of the laws is talking  about how we can change things as we learn so we  

might think about how we apply something from one  situation and apply it in another so in the book  

I'm writing right now i' give the example I'll  just kind of go through how we uh talk about the  

different pieces of learning and what actually  destroys doubt the the doubts that stop you from  

speaking if you can destroy those doubts if you  don't have doubts anymore that's when you start  

speaking fluently so in the book I just give the  example of some kids walking in the woods and uh  

the Sun is setting and you can see the Shadows  going through the trees and the kids are starting  

to get quite nervous so they're walking through  a forest and at first they're having a good time  

they're laughing and joking around but as it gets  darker and they're feeling a bit lost then I want  

to show okay like now we're uh we don't know  exactly what's going on they're feeling quite  

nervous they get quiet and then suddenly behind  them they hear a sound and they see something  

run across the path like right behind them  and then one of the kids says run and then  

uh they just start taking off running and running  as fast as they can and they get to a clearing  

so an open area where they're fewer trees and  they're they're huffing and puffing like this  

and one guy says well like I I think uh like  the trouble must be over or I hope it's over uh  

and then another guy says well we're not out of  the woods yet so we're not out of the woods yet  

so this is an example of of how a situation  teaches you vocabulary so in this situation  

something crazy just happened the kids are all  scared and they're literally physically in some  

trees like in a forest or in a Woods uh and they  they narrowly escape or run away from something  

that could have been dangerous or caused some  trouble or whatever we don't really know what it  

was but one character says well I I guess like the  problem is gone and the other character says well  

maybe but we're not out of the woods yet we're  not out of the woods yet so if I were to draw

this and think about the idea uh figuratively uh  so we have we're just going to imagine this is a  

bunch of trees over here and then I will use uh  my little red marker here to show some kids you  

know the kids are walking through it's kind of a  path they're walking on lots of trees they don't  

really know what they're going and they start  running and they get you know about over here  

and maybe there are still you know some other  trees but it's a fewer number of trees and so  

they're out here and they look back and they  don't see anything chasing after them they were  

in the middle of the forest over here something  ran across the like something large ran across  

the path behind them and it made a loud uh noise  and it scared them they started running so they  

get over here and one character says that was  close uh it looks like maybe the trouble is gone  

and then another character says we're not out of  the woods yet we're not out of the woods yet so  

we're not out of the woods yet we're not out of  the woods yet so here we have a situation where  

maybe there's still some trees uh until they get  back to their car and their car let's draw the  

car over here so here is the car we're kind of  looking at this from above seeing what's going  

on these are the tops of the trees and the kids  over here so until the kids get back to the car  

they won't really feel safe so they're they're not  they're they just escaped some trouble but they  

still have you know we don't know for sure they're  not 100% safe they can't completely relax so we're  

not out of the woods yet this is a phrase it comes  from this expression here this situation of being  

in the woods and then having something go wrong  now uh this idea about like the laws of thinking  

in English we want to take this and think about  when we might apply it someplace else so part of  

the naturally varied review we get is thinking  about how we take a physical thing like this  

and then apply it in a different situation like  uh maybe I'm at the hospital and uh my wife is  

is sick and she just had an operation and I'm  talking with the doctor I say doctor how is  

she uh the doctor says well she's doing better  but we're not out of the woods yet we're not out  

of the woods yet so there could still maybe be a  problem we're not 100% safe or sure what's going  

on we can't relax completely yet but maybe  you know we did have you know some good news  

or something okay or uh maybe maybe in like a  sports situation so the same idea like a team  

is uh they're they're still down uh but they just  scored some points and so they're feeling pretty  

good but now the other team has the ball and so we  still don't know what's going to happen so we're  

not out of the woods yet so the coach says okay  everyone stay focused we're not out of the woods  

yet we still can't uh relax until we complete  the game okay so uh that that idea like all of  

those things you will see all of those laws used  in uh fluent for life without worrying about like  

it's a good idea you watch that video about the  the Five Laws of thinking in English uh but you  

will see exactly what I'm doing when I'm teaching  and this is like one example of that all right so  

again when you're learning something we want to  think about how we learn the information how we  

apply the information uh and really try to extend  vocabulary as much as possible so most people  

when they're learning a language they begin with  something uh just the vocabulary in their language  

and then they try to translate that into English  but then if they get a translation maybe they'll  

forget that and they don't remember what something  means and they can't use it confidently but the  

translation means they don't really understand the  vocabulary like a native W so me if I'm learning  

something uh like just like I'm teaching this  expression here we're not out of the woods yet  

then this means okay something happened maybe we  were able to get I don't know some good news or  

something but we can't relax yet that's the idea  okay and then you can recognize this much more  

easily when you hear it in other situations but as  a learner you might think how might I apply this  

so you could even ask like chat GPT for example  give me some examples of how I might apply this uh  

in you know whatever that uh that like situation  is so like completely different like how might I  

apply this if I'm talking about doctors or  if I'm talking about sports or if I'm talking  

about relationships or whatever so maybe I had  like an argument with my wife and we we kind of  

like worked something out we we feel a little bit  better but you know maybe something else happen  

so we're not we're not out of the woods yet but we  are we are talking and trying to kind know repair  

the relationship or whatever okay so there are  lots of different situations where we might use  

we're not out of the woods yet and of of course  I'm not just talking about us like it could be  

me uh you know I tried doing something and I did  it all right but I still can't relax I'm not out  

of the woods yet so I'm not out of the woods yet  you're not out of the woods yet he or she is not  

out of the woods yet same idea so seeing a variety  of of examples this is just one way where we take  

what we learn and try to think about it more like  a native so asking yourself how might I apply this  

in different situations if you haven't seen that  video go watch that it's the Five Laws of thinking  

in English just search the channel for that uh  but it it explains a lot of the tools that I use  

uh when I'm teaching and then you can apply those  same things yourself as you learn all right looks  

like a a bunch of comments coming in uh let me see  if I skipped anything uh so yeah flu fluent for  

life is interesting because there there are a lot  of lessons and obviously there are I think over  

I don't know 13,000 words and phrases and  other things so there's lots of vocabulary  

but you will also get uh actual tips and kinds  of things like this uh that I've covered for  

many years uh and you will find those so  they they'll be kind of little nuggets that  

you that you discover as you go through the  program uh let's see what did I miss ah yes G

chimpo brother for the world

uh let's see yes I I I would watch the uh the  live the live video joelan but welcome again to  

the program let us know if you have any questions  about it always excited to welcome new people and  

get more people fluent uh let's see MBO is back  why am I having problems with remembering words  

when I want to speak in English uh there  could be a number of reasons but the most  

common one is that you're probably learning  English through your native language uh and  

if you are learning in English you're not really  understanding it well enough to erase any doubts  

or to to really put things deep into your brain  to make you remember them so people will get a  

list of words and then not really review those or  get enough varied examples to try to understand  

it like a native would and because of that uh the  vocabulary doesn't really stick in your mind uh  

I I talk about this often but the the idea of a  like a web like a spider web uh is is much more  

if you think about all the connections and the  way uh this is let me just draw a spider web over

here does that look like spider web that's pretty  good I guess so the thing one interesting thing  

about a spider web is Even If part of it is broken  or something the rest of it still works just fine  

all right so it is the network all of these  little we call these nodes so a node is all of  

the points here this is a node here a node like  that a node so the nodes are all connected and  

if something is broken in one place you can still  make connections through the other nodes that you  

have this is why it's important to think about  building vocabulary as constructing a network  

rather than trying to get like two nodes so you  have a node in your native language and a node  

in English through a translation if this gets dis  disconnected like if you forget vocabulary then  

what are you going to do all right but in this  example if we maybe forget one way of expressing  

something we can easily switch to something else  or if we can't remember like one way of how we  

learned something we can probably remember another  or another example so this is why it's important  

uh to learn things uh and build these networks  like that and ALT together they they begin these  

networks connect with other networks and it it  all makes it very easy for you to remember what  

you say so depending on how you're learning  it's usually because you're learning through  

translations or not getting enough examples  that really help you understand things like  

a native would all right so if you're only seeing  something in a textbook and a translation what you  

should do is start seeing more examples  of that vocabulary like if you use uh

yish so ug.com they will let you uh get this uh  kind of natur natur Al varied review where you can  

put in some specific vocabulary and see different  examples of that in like in other situations like  

it'll give you YouTube videos where even if you  search we're not out of the woods yet you would  

probably find many videos that use that phrase  and you can see how oh look at that people are  

talking about this for war or sports or dating  or you know medical stuff whatever it could be  

all right but that's the main reason why uh  people forget things when they learn uh let's

see what did I miss I'm skipping past  the yogurt stuff over here okay got  

that hello teacher is it possible to  become fluent without saying a single  

word just by listening to the right input  in the perfect context or is speaking at  

least 10 to 20% of the time important well  speaking is like I usually give the example

it's certainly a lot less important than people  think it is so I draw these little pyramids here  

little triangles what people usually do like this  is the kind of the typical like we'll just say  

this is ESL learning English as a second language  and often what people do is they learn something  

a little bit like the example I just gave for um  for why people forget words so there's a little  

bit of learning that happens and then there 's a  lot of effort put into trying to speak and usually  

people don't get to speak that much but they think  a lot about wishing they were speaking more so  

they will just like and that's the one of the one  of the biggest complaints I get from Learners is  

that I can't get fluent because I don't speak  enough I don't have people to practice with  

or whatever because they think speaking is what's  required in order to get fluent all right so they  

learn something don't really understand it very  well don't remember it very well and then try to  

use it in conversations or try to repeat it to  themselves and of this is why most people don't  

become good speakers because they don't actually  spend a lot of time uh on the learning so what  

I do is the opposite I actually spend uh most of  my time on the learning phase and this just means  

we're really erasing doubt so I don't want to just  give you a definition of a word I really want to  

help you understand it I'll spend you know five  minutes explaining something like we're not out  

of the woods yet and as you hear that you begin  to feel oh like I understand why people use this  

I understand what situations it might be used in  I've heard different natives using it in different  

contexts all of those things they again build  this network up here that helps you understand  

so that when you do speak speaking is obviously  the goal when you do speak you just start using  

things correctly so this happens to me all the  time I will spend my time learning some Japanese  

just listening to things or paying attention to  people watching TV shows or whatever uh and then  

there's little time in my day very little time  that I'm actually speaking Japanese but when I do  

speak I speak fluently and even for things that  I've not like practiced I don't I don't spend  

my time repeating vocabulary the key is simply to  understand it all right so I could hear something  

many many times or even repeat it like say it  over and over and over again but the only way I  

really feel confident about saying something in  a conversation is if I have no doubt about what  

I'm saying okay so if I if I'm thinking about  something and like H I don't know quite how to  

say that or I'm worried about whatever then I  need to spend more time learning or reviewing  

that thing so that's what I mentioned at the  beginning of this video talking about preparing  

for conversations the prep the prepar ation  really comes from you seeing lots of examples  

of how people speak so you can get some of that  from me but you should get a lot more of it from  

other people talking about particular topics if  I uh watch a bunch of people doing something just  

like the if you have not seen it already uh I I  recommend watching the uh espresso video I made  

so this shows examples of four different people  making espresso and how some of the vocabulary  

is used and it's the same some of it is different  but you get the general idea for number one how to  

make espresso but number two all of the vocabulary  in the various ways people might speak so you get  

the vocabulary the grammar the pronunciation all  of it is together rather than separate like in a  

typical lesson so to give you a very quick answer  to your question yes like speaking is is required  

but it's more like what you do when you get to  the end so I don't have to spend my time talking  

in order to develop the ability to speak but I do  I I really should spend my time like learning and  

understanding things very well so I have no doubt  about them if you still have doubt review it more  

okay but you're not really going to just you're  you're not going to become a better speaker by  

repeating things because again the the situation  of a conversation is different than the situation  

of practicing like I'm trying to practice  a trumpet or you know the the like playing  

the flute or something if I'm practicing that  it's just me and then I have to play the music  

correctly there's one way to do it correctly so  I can practice something until I'm perfect but  

conversations are unpredictable that's the real  key difference between something like practicing  

an instrument and practicing or preparing for a  conversation and that's why we basically we need  

a different kind of preparation for that and it's  a kind of preparation where we're seeing lots of  

examples that help us doubt rather than just  trying to take things we know and repeat them  

again and again so yes uh speaking is useful but  it's it's really just the last thing you do when  

you really understand something so you'll know  when you feel confident about something because  

you feel okay about saying it that's how it works  uh but you can certainly like you know practice  

saying things to yourself or whatever uh if  you'd like to do that uh unpredictability I  

really like this word yes it's an interesting  word unpredictability you can't predict  

what's going to happen uh and that's that's really  like the the kind of you know it's humans in  

general and this is not just for language learning  but humans in general don't like unpredictability  

we like plans we like knowing what's happening  and so that's kind of the fun thing about being  

a human we don't know what the future will bring  so can you be prepared for that as best you can  

and then deal with things uh as they happen uh  jman says thanks I want to buy your book please  

keep us posted yes uh if I think you're on the  list so you should know when the book comes out  

uh and again it'll be like digital at first I may  release a physical copy as well we'll see Gabriel  

says my problem right now is that I can understand  almost perfectly every conversation in English  

but I can't speak with fluency yet uh what you  recommend me so what do you recommend I do or what  

do you recommend for me um I would I would think  about what specifically your is your issue is like  

I can't diagnose that uh just from a comment but  if I could listen to you speak uh I would probably  

hear either problems with your vocabulary  or something else maybe you're you're making  

mistakes with grammar uh but there's something  you're uncertain about and that's something like  

you can feel that pretty easily like uh I don't  use this grammar point because I don't feel sure  

about using it correctly so that would be the  thing you would focus on uh and really the doubt  

should be your guide so the doubt lets you know  know uh what things you need to work on because  

that's what's stopping you from speaking so solve  that problem and then you will become a much more  

confidence Baker uh Alejandra says yo what's up  Drew greetings from Mexico all right let's see  

and it says how should I focus on and study  the natural Expressions such as collocations  

phrasal verbs idioms to make them Unforgettable  and truly immersive well just see uh examples of  

natives using them this is what we do in fluent  for life so uh whether you learn with me or not  

you should just be getting lots of examples  about those things and and you can focus on  

those particular pieces in conversations so  combine the thing you're interested in like  

I don't know whatever your your hobby or your job  or something like that that you like like if you  

like video games or you like cooking or whatever  that thing is you can watch cooking shows and then  

pay attention this is what I mentioned earlier in  this video about focusing on the pieces of things  

things like the pieces of conversations so I  can watch a a cooking show and pay attention  

for a lot of phrasal verbs I see uh and I noticed  like oh they're using like this verb and this uh  

preposition here to combine something and to make  um like something into I don't know like I I put  

into or uh something like popped out or flowed out  so those are examples of common things especially  

in cooking because we can see physical actions  happening uh and when you see that then you can  

you can feel much more confident and remember  those things and understand them because you're  

building that that network of seeing like oh  overflow is like something going over something  

else like I pour too much wine in a glass and it  overflows the glass or it flows over the glass  

so uh you don't have to like personally immerse  yourself like you speaking but you should watch  

lots of examples of other people doing that  that's how we learn all right dejan says hello  

uh from banca Bosnia nice to see you there Nona  says I love you teacher well thank you with a  

little hand up there anded says uh Drew you are  graying early still in your 40s well I you know  

what do you want me to do about that thank you  for noticing uh Tom go says Drew I found your  

method helpful although it's hard to explain  to someone like a friend who's just starting in  

English and I don't know the word and how would  you go about that um so this is exactly why I'm  

writing my book because I've spent many years  like I I'll I I try to make this very simple for

you I I'll tell you like two things about this  one first is so number one just my own history  

with teaching uh the first one is I'm basically  teaching the same way this whole time so I like  

if you watch my first YouTube video it's the  same kind of thing that I'm talking about in  

this video right now and one of those like one  of those first videos I made so I talked about  

phonics for a series of those uh but one of  the First videos I made about uh fluency was  

an example of naturally varied review where you  listen to different people saying the same thing  

all right so it's I'm basically teaching the same  way this whole time but uh I've had to like it's  

been like a crazy Journey trying to think about  how to explain this process to people this whole  

time so the the basic way for me like what I  started saying at the very beginning is you  

just need to learn English like a native that's  it uh and just do the same things that natives  

do but when people hear that they think wait a  minute I'm not a native how do I do that it's  

not possible for me to do that or I don't live  in an English-speaking country or whatever the  

you know the the reason is that they can't do  something and people are very good at finding  

reasons why they can't do things so uh after that  I was thinking like okay we can't really say that  

even though it's true but I have to explain what  that means uh and then I was thinking okay what's  

another way it's like well what about learning  English as a first language so I still talk about  

these ideas and this is more for the people who  know what I do and and again I like to explain  

things in different ways it's a kind of naturally  varied review uh but again over this time I'm  

thinking about different ways to express these  ideas and the thing that that made me want to  

write the book is that like now I know and I'll  just write it I'll write it here it's basically  

like a sentence that'll that you can tell  anybody else uh who's learning the language the

fastest the fastest way to get fluent  and this would work in any language uh  

although I focus on English obviously the  fastest way to get fluent is to destroy the

doubts that stop

you from

speaking the fastest way to get fluent is  to destroy the doubts that stop you from  

speaking so that's what I do so it took me  I don't know 20 years to think about that so  

I I I I I I never felt I me I always I wanted  to write a book for a while but I never really  

was like I it's still too complicated and I'm  you know not not thinking about what is what  

is like the best way to understand this but  people really seem to understand the idea of  

just destroying the doubt that stops you from  speaking so uh like if you're nervous about  

pronouncing something then you won't say it  or if you're nervous about a grammar point you  

won't say that either but if you feel confident  about that thing if there's no doubt then you  

say it all right so my goal as the teacher is  to eliminate any doubt you have about speaking  

and it could be about pronunciation or grammar or  vocabulary whatever it is but that's the idea so  

if you're explaining to someone else what I do or  explaining to someone else uh like how they should  

become fluent the basic idea is you just need to  destroy any doubts you have about speaking and  

the way you do that uh which I talk about in the  book is learning real vocabulary getting fluency  

triggers to help you understand the vocabulary  and naturally varied review where you get to see  

lots of different examples about how people do  things so it's a basic idea which you know still  

requires some explanation but the you know the  core of it is just destroying doubt if you're  

nervous about something you won't use it in a  conversation it doesn't matter how many times  

you say that thing you could repeat something to  yourself or others 100 times but as soon as you  

understand something well and you feel that little  click in your in your mind your head like ah now I  

get it then you will be able to use something  so that's the basic idea all right looks like  

you guys are speaking with each other let me go  through these quickly uh let's see um all right  

let's okay you guys are speaking with each other  margus says thanks for the help uh thanks for help  

us gentlemen currently I can speak with other  natives however in some conversations like work  

conversations I don't know how to express some  of the ideas what do you recommend I would pay  

attention like if you're at work I would listen  to a lot of people talking and see how they talk  

about things or go online and get examples of  the same thing so whatever your work is there  

are probably people who talk about it like if I'm  in real estate or Finance or I don't know sales or  

you know whatever that thing is if you're talking  about a particular industry or a particular kind  

of job you will find information about all of  those things the more you pay attention to that  

it's like if I go to a barber shop every day I'm  probably going to get a haircut at some point like  

even by accident I will get haircut so the the  more I spend my time doing that but I don't need  

to physically go there or or even speak to those  people I just need to understand lots of different  

examples and that's what helps me feel confident  it's eras ing the doubt about things that lets  

me speak uh one just finished his exam and he was  confident about his answers he says great I got it  

his friend May reply we're not out of the woods  yet they should wait for their scores yeah this  

is a like a tricky situation because like I mean  you might feel yeah we're not out of the woods yet  

but the the the actual end is already determined  by how the score went so a different thing would  

be like if you're thinking about the school year  and you take I don't know maybe four or five tests  

in that year you pass the first three or four  tests and you feel confident but the last test  

is going to be very difficult so you might pass  the first one and you say wow I'm feeling very  

good about that but then the like another friend  of yours says well we're not out of the woods yet  

we still have this other one to go so in the The  Test example you gave the result of the test is  

already known you just don't know what that is  so maybe the teacher know what the test is but  

like so it's a little different from being I mean  it's similar so I can see how you came up with  

that but typically there's an unknown aspect like  for everybody nobody knows uh what might happen  

next so that's one we might use we're not out of  the woods yet but if I know or like the teacher  

knows that I failed even though I didn't that's  a little bit different it's similar idea though

uh let's see pretty cool to get a get a comment  from Marcus Phoenix over here let's see uh and  

Muna says wow and Richard says my issue is that  I understand what they say to me but when I talk  

to them I Stumble a bit and feel lost how can I  solve this then you should be spending more time  

really looking at where your where your doubts are  when you talk about stumbling when you speak about  

what like you're having trouble with specific  grammar points or you can't remember specific  

vocabulary I promise you that if you watch more  people talking and having good conversations and  

you really pay attention like actively Listen by  focusing on particular pieces of that then it will  

be a lot easier for you to feel confident in in  conversations as well because you will have lots  

of examples of how people do it Diego says I can  understand when some people uh speak but others I  

can't yeah well that's common you're going to find  like me right now I'm being intentionally clear uh  

and a lot of people are not so if I listen to some  people some people speak clearly other people do  

not you know it just depends on the situation and  they might change how they speak but uh instead of  

me expecting them to change it's a lot easier if  I just get lots of examples of like here's a bit  

of English uh we're not out of the woods yet so I  say it nice and clearly so you can understand what  

I'm talking about but someone else might say we're  not out woods yet not out of the woods yet not out  

of the woods yet and they can say it quickly  because other people understand what they're  

talking about if people start using new vocabulary  or they're trying to teach something to someone  

else they would probably say it more clearly but  if everybody knows the situation not out of woods  

yet not out of the woods yet then it's going to be  more difficult so it's a good idea to see things  

clearly spoken and then get more examples of them  uh made by people who are not speaking clear or  

if they have a different accent or something like  that uh let's see an MBO is it is it useful to use  

an English to English dictionary to become fluent  uh sure it's better than using a translation uh  

if you like an English to whatever your language  your native language is uh but remember better  

than a dictionary is actually seeing real people  speak in real situations like that that's the  

ultimate goal that's where you want to get so  you should start there start from the situation  

Ali says I understand almost all you say teacher  but my vocabulary is very limited I'm trying to  

memorize them yeah don't don't spend time trying  to memorize vocabulary think about what you're  

interested in number one and then watch lots  of content about that and you will naturally  

absorb the vocabulary and also uh learn how that  vocabulary can be used in other situations all  

right uh Tom say um but even if you don't have any  doubts I'll find it hard to say sentences without  

struggle when saying can't your walk and chew  a gum at the same time well so that that's youy  

trying to memorize a particular expression like  walk and chew gum at the same time so I've heard  

that expression many times walking and chewing  gum at the same time uh so I have no doubt about  

saying that but it sounds like you do have doubt  about that thing so when I say doubt it's like  

anything that you're uncertain about learning or  using or you can't remember it whatever that thing  

is like that doubt can be in any kind of form  in that way uh but the more you see examples of  

things the more you will feel confident about  saying them as well uh let's see and R says  

hello Drew I would like to know the best way to  understand English fast you see lots of examples  

of it of real people speaking in in a real natural  way but do it for your level so if you're at a low  

level you should watch some children's shows and  read children's books and things like that uh you  

made a mistake there I made you uh wait a minute  let's see yeah well understand I understand what  

you're it looks like that's a typo there but  nonah says I'm taking notes of your advice glad  

to hear it ol says I understand you better than  my husband that is British uh you would say who  

is British in that case but uh with a Scottish  accent yes so if if your husband uh speaks and  

he's he's like like like William Wallace from uh  from Braveheart or whatever and he's got a thick  

accent then yeah it's going to be more difficult  to understand what he's saying even even if you're  

more used to him speaking uh Miram says greetings  from Venezuela and let's see from Brazil to solve  

an unpredictable issue you should be good at  improvisation yes so you develop the ability  

to improvise by seeing lots of other people  speak and in that way I can take pieces from  

this conversation and that conversation and I  see how to connect them together and then use  

that fluently okay so if I see like two people  say the word I was doing this but I was doing  

that other thing then I should feel pretty  confident H I guess that sentence structure  

is a good way of saying like you know this this  thing could probably apply in other situations  

or that's how I might use it so I start saying  myself I'm hot but uh I I'm happy to keep working  

or like I'm tired but I will still go out and  exercise okay so those examples are things that  

help me understand the word but and then I I feel  confident have no doubt about using it all right  

so when I'm seeing things I'm getting lots of  examples that's what's going to make me feel  

better and I will also see I can begin improvising  like doing something that's not from a script or  

something that I haven't seen I'm able to take  information from things I've already seen and then  

apply it in different ways that's what enables me  to improvise if I have no information then I can't  

improvise because I don't know I have nothing to  to improvise with but impro improvisation means  

you're able to take information and recombine it  or mix it or use it in different situations that  

that are different from the original all right so  you only learn how to do that if you get many many  

examples of of seeing people people do things  like that let's see uh okay I well looks like  

you guys are speaking with each other but glad  to hear it all right let's see looking forward  

to reading your book yes uh glad to hear it  Anette the the book should lay out everything  

and it's taken me a long time to put everything  together but I'm excited to release it and give  

it to people and hopefully people understand it  and that's my my big thing about like making it  

all about one idea about destroying doubt uh and  the core of the book is that you should get fluent  

and then speak so that's the main idea uh let's  see uh Drew you are the only one who talks fast  

but I understand perfect you are awesome well  remember that I'm speaking quickly but I'm also  

blending the sounds of my words together in a in  a natural way that's understandable for people so  

I'm I'm trying to still be clear with my speech  rather than Mumble and uh and say things and you  

you can't understand what I'm saying uh but it's  very difficult to understand when most people  

speak uh very quickly and uncleanly my brain shuts  down right away yeah um and again the to stop  

that if you only listen to teachers then it's  going to be very difficult to get to that higher  

level of understanding people who are not clear so  you need to spend more time listening to that kind  

of English as well but it becomes easier if you  know what you're listening to before you listen to  

it so for example you hear something from me like  I explain some vocabulary and then you see some  

natives using it who are less clear wouldn't that  help you become a much more confident listener you  

would feel more confident like oh Drew explained  that you hear somebody else use it wait a minute  

I remember that phrase and even if they don't  speak it clearly you understand what they're  

saying it makes you feel more confident it erases  more doubt and that's how it gets you fluent all  

right so this is what we do in fluent for life  this is why the program is organized the way it  

is to give you uh different examples of the same  thing it's just another kind of naturally varied  

review all right Gabriel says uh lately I've  been thinking about trying to translate videos  

in my native language into English as an idea to  improve my English do you think it's a good idea  

or do you think it would be counterproductive uh  I mean there's probably more efficient things you  

could do it would certainly test your ability at  translating stuff but ra like instead of me trying  

to translate one thing I would rather see a bunch  of different natives talking about something and  

that's just like a faster and easier way to get  that uh get that same kind of practice but if you  

if you want to put an extra layer of Challenge  on that you might want to do that but again like  

the the thing the thing about translating is that  there are actually many different ways you might  

say something and that's why I'd rather hear  lots of different examples of different natives  

expressing things greetings from Ecuador says one  minute long after a little blackout uh let's see  

uh v v Vino that's an interesting name Von there's  a lot of O's and I's in that V Vino vonino Castro  

hello everybody hello teacher vonino from Brazil  I used to watch your videos I really enjoy your  

teaching go glad to hear and Marcus Phoenix is  back what should I do uh when in a conversation  

uh someone speaks about a topic I don't know about  expression what do I what do you think is well if  

you just don't know what something means ask them  to say oh what what does that mean what are you  

talking about you don't have to feel shy in a  conversation about asking them for that like if  

I'm talking to a mechanic a typical thing is like  I'm going to pretend I know what I'm talking about  

or listening to something and like I pretend I'm  listening and I understand but really I don't so  

I could do that or I could to say I'm sorry I  don't really know much about this topic could  

you help me understand it and most people will  say sure people like to talk about the things  

that they know about and that they enjoy and so  let them tell you about stuff to say I'm sorry  

I don't know much about this could you tell me  more could you explain it in plain English for  

him all right so most people especially if it's  someone trying to teach you something or give you  

information about you know like your car whatever  uh it's important that you know that so let them  

teach you and make sure you understand it uh that  is the reason increasing vocabulary uh sounds to  

be the important First Step well it's not it's not  really increasing vocabulary like you don't want  

to just learn more words it's much better to have  a smaller vocabulary that you actually have no  

doubt about so if I have a hundred words and I  don't really feel very confident about them that's  

not going to help me very much in conversations  I might understand some people but I won't speak  

very well instead if I have a smaller vocabulary  and you'll notice in these videos there if you  

I should actually analyze all the vocabulary I  use in these videos but it's a lot of the same  

simple words again and again I'm not using  a lot of advanced vocabulary or idioms or  

other things like that it's all pretty similar  like kinds of things in my videos and I do that  

intentionally because I want to show you that  you don't need a big vocabulary to be fluent  

fluency doesn't mean a large vocabulary  it just means how well you're able to

communicate uh let's see what I list so that  is the reason increasing okay I got that one  

there uh all and you guys are speaking to each  other hey Drew see and uh we're in the heart of  

okay you guys are speaking with each other all  right Fantastic look at that we got to the end  

of the comments over here but hopefully people  get the idea um for you you have to evaluate  

your own English unless you have someone there  to to do that for you uh but the basic idea is  

that you will think about where you get stuck in  conversations so if you can't have a conversation  

at all then you should really focus more on  the basics and making sure uh that you can  

make connection like you know even basic sentence  connectors like and and but and or making sure  

you can use those that you understand them well  you've seen lots of examples of how other natives  

uh are doing that so not just teachers not just  people who are speaking clearly but seeing lots  

of examples of natives actually use these things  in the real world and that will make you feel much  

more confident that you know how to do it too so  remember this is a different kind of practice a  

different kind of preparation than what you would  do if you're just trying to like if I want to  

practice a punch and learn how to do it well I  need to do that thing many many times and just  

repeat that again and again but I'm not doing that  for English I really need to get lots of varied  

input which helps me develop a network because  it's a different kind of output a different kind  

of skill and because it's unpredictable I can't  I can't like have a specific thing that I need  

to remember um and that will also take pressure  off me if I'm trying to memorize things I don't  

need to try to do that I just need to see  how different people talk I remember like  

an example some years ago for Japanese for myself  I was um I was watching someone talk about like  

the percentage of something and often uh Japanese  people will say like nento like what percent that  

that kind of English is borrowed for Japanese  uh but this person said like NW and I said oh  

look at that that's very interesting like you  can talk about like the piece of something in  

that same way like nanw and and so I heard that  I didn't need to repeat it many many times I  

just understood in this situation or in this  context this is also some vocabulary I could  

use and there my vocabulary grew but not because  I was trying to memorize things or repeat things  

it's just I made the connection and I had no doubt  about how it was being used so I heard it used I  

knew the pronunciation I knew the context all  those questions were answered for me and very  

quickly another example I'll share uh this was  a recent one uh is just being at a coffee shop  

and usually people ask like for here or to go so  that's the the English version someone might come  

to your restaurant or whatever they're going  to order some food is it for here or to go or  

you might hear like for here or take out you know  something like that and so in Japanese it's like  

uh 10 so it's like is it is it for like eating in  or or taking away uh and then I and then I heard a  

different expression which was like T N like are  you going to eat here and then go or drink here  

and then go and then I th and I thought oh wow  isn't that interesting it's a much more casual way  

of expressing that but that's because the staff  know me pretty well um but in that case look at  

that here's a different way like people might  describe that same situation or ask me if I'm  

having something here or to go or if I'm going to  like eat first and then leave that's what they're  

asking so so in that case again I'm seeing lots  of examples and understanding it from the context  

because I'm paying attention to that not because  I'm looking for specific phrases to use for  

certain situations I might do that maybe at the  start just to understand some vocabulary but it's  

a lot better to start with the situation and then  see lots of examples all right I'll answer these  

uh final questions over here uh let's see Ali  says you are giving us a lot of useful tips I'm  

writing down glad to hear and so remember uh these  videos are also available you can watch them again  

and uh the transcript should be available maybe  in a day I guess uh teacher I would like to hear  

you hear from you about connected speech uh well  I don't want to talk about whole bunch about that  

but you know you can see lots of examples of that  on YouTube with uh people explaining that already  

it's like V Fredo uh you look great better with  beards glad your ERS says good morning nice uh  

nice to hear this morning nice beard sir and venon  says connected speech is American English uh is  

not so easy especially when talking to Americans  from countryes out yeah so people are going to  

blend their speech and and say things and put them  together and that's I I don't know what language  

that would not be true for I don't I don't know  if there is a language where people actually speak  

clearly like robots so we call it connected speech  but uh it's basically how everybody talks normally  

when they're speaking in just an informal way  all right so the the best way to prepare for  

that just like I'm talking about in this video is  to see lots of examples but you need to focus your  

example like hearing something from a teacher and  then seeing other people talking about that same  

thing all right that's going to prepare you a lot  better than just like watching some random content  

and not understanding what's going on all right if  you'd like to see how we do this this is the exact  

format of fluent for Life the reason we built  the program like that is because it actually is  

a great way for you to understand the language  to get lots of naturally varied review and to  

prepare for conversations before you speak so if  you'd like to get fluent before you speak click on  

the link in the description below this video and  you'll see how to do that all right looks like  

last kind final questions here manin says good  evening from the Dominican Republic and Shang  

says morning Drew thank you for your great lessons  does ditching doubts apply to writing I sense is  

speaking and writing are both the same as using  English but uh with different wording yeah I mean  

it would it would be the same thing so reading a  lot or actually writing things and seeing examples  

of how other people do it so if you if you read  something interesting and you try to copy that  

down that will improve your writing and speaking  like imagine describing a sunset how might a bunch  

of really good authors describe that like people  would describe that in a in an infinite number of  

ways and so if you're looking at all those it  would improve your writing it would improve  

your speech you would learn a lot of different  you know interesting ways of connecting things  

uh and last one looks uh look like that is that is  so tiny over here I can't see looks like sun looks  

like water I don't know the the CH I'm guessing  that's Chinese but uh that is that water star I  

don't know if that's the same thing in Chinese or  not I can't understand clearly next next phrase  

it is our official wedding photos are out yeah  it means they're publicly available uh can we  

use textbook language when we write yeah sure the  point the point is it's not like textbook English  

is bad it's just incomplete so if you're thinking  about how do I prepare for real communication some  

textbook English is going to be useful but also  you should be getting examples of how natives  

actually communicate so if you never speak and  you don't care about watching movies or TV shows  

or whatever you probably don't need to watch my  videos either then uh but if you don't care about  

speaking then you don't really need to learn that  information but if you want to understand movies  

and TV shows and newspapers and like anything  else that's English related then it's a good  

idea to move beyond the textbook English and then  you know like do get like the real information the  

real things that natives use andan says with a  beard uh you're not like Tom Hanks anymore no  

Tom Hanks Tom Hanks in Castaway he still had a  beard so he he actually grew out the beard in  

Castaway when people say I look like Tom Hanks  they're probably talking about Forest Gump that  

character specifically because I have short hair  but I don't think Forest Gump had a beard in that  

movie I don't remember anyway it's not important  but yes I'm glad maybe I'll do like half and half  

I'm going to shave half the beard off so people  can't tell if I look like Tom Hanks or not but  

it interesting it's only it's only like people who  watch this channel that think that all right well  

have a fantastic day again if you'd like to see  how this works and just have me do all this hard  

work for you click on the link in the description  I John Renault as well yeah John Renault that's  

right all right well have a fantastic day  click on the links in the descriptions to  

learn more both about Frederick and fluent for  life and I'll see you in the next video bye-bye