How To Become A Native English Speaker

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working all right hello out  there nice to see uh people  

here hello wherever you are make sure YouTube is

working and we should be okay all  right I'm going to erase the board get

ready all right if you can see this post comment  we see that we should be working all right here  

we go okay I am Drew Badger the founder of  englishanyone.com and I am back for another  

live video over here on YouTube and this should  be an entertaining one it might be a little bit  

unbelievable for some people but if you clicked  on the video and you're curious about how to  

speak English fluently uh it's actually almost  easier for me to explain to people uh that they  

can become a native speaker rather than like  how they get fluent cuz if you understand how  

natives learn then you can really just do the  same thing uh so nice to see everybody there  

we'll give a moment for people to file in and  then we're going to get right into it uh if you  

have any comments as I go feel free to post them  I want to get through this content uh quickly uh  

then I'll come back and answer any questions  people might have but this really is quite a  

simple idea once you start thinking about how  to be a native speaker the right way and it's  

yeah again actually quite simple all right uh  let's get into it let's see what are okay just  

making sure we're working over here all right U  so the basic idea here again I will say I will  

come back and check chat nice to see everybody  in chat but I want to get through this quickly  

just to make sure I'm helping people uh and again  I'll come back and check uh chat and questions  

after I'm done uh but the basic idea here is that  most people think uh or most Learners think that  

they can't become fluent uh because maybe they  aren't born in a native English-speaking country  

or they don't have English-speaking parents or  whatever uh but over 20 years more than 20 years  

of helping people get fluent I've seen again and  again that the thing that actually gets people  

fluent is how you learn so it's what you learn  the specific content you learn and then how you  

learn it that's the really uh the real difference  between uh people who speak fluently especially  

natives uh and those who struggle to speak  so the things that people think they need are  

really what they don't need uh again living in an  English-speaking country or trying to speak with  

people every day you really just need to get the  right input so as an example my two children they  

have a father so one parent who is a native  speaker uh and by native I just really mean  

uh the way I learned English was understanding  everything all in English and I also got lots  

of cult cultural references and other things that  help me understand the language and the culture  

of where I grew up in the United States uh so me  having native parents uh or them also like just  

learning the language uh again these same things  where they're uh it's what you're learning and  

then how you're learning it that's actually  what helps them speak fluently and it's not  

because they were born native because nobody is  Bor native so I can take a like a like a Chinese  

baby and raise that baby in America and they will  not learn Chinese naturally because they were just  

like from China uh they will grow up and learn the  language of the place in which they're living uh  

and so it's the same thing with uh anybody trying  to learn the language just like my own kids today  

so they have one parent uh who had that experience  and the other parents so my wife is Japanese and  

uh she's able to teach them English and uh help  them understand a little bit of English but also  

mostly teaching them Japanese but the important  thing is they're learning those languages in  

that language that's the important thing so  I really want to get clear at the beginning  

of this video that native speakers are not born  they're made okay so you can become one too just  

by changing the way you learn especially if you've  been spending many years learning English as a  

second language all right uh so I had an actually  uh an interesting uh lesson I think the last  

video I did it was another live video uh and I was  talking about how to uh like go through uh how to  

learn how to learn a language in that language and  so this is what I call learning English as a first  

language rather than learning English as a second  language which is what most people do uh but then  

I got I gave an example like I often do it was a  I'll just do this very quick example again just  

to show you what I did uh but this is an example  of me teaching Japanese uh in Japanese so helping  

you understand Japanese as a first language so I  gave this example I'll give it very quickly again

ma

Kuru okay so just very simple example about  how to understand Japanese in Japanese uh and  

this is just a glimpse like a small just look  that it is possible to understand a language  

in another language uh but I got a question  from a learner that said well I'm still kind  

of thinking and translating in my head when I do  that so today I wanted to take this idea further  

and really help you understand some things in  English that uh that really break this kind of  

cycle of trying to learn through translations  so you can imagine uh like a native speaker  

uh or someone who speaks fluently and they  can understand and learn new things in the  

language they're learning uh the the learner  typically I I like to think about kind of  

translations as like a like a life uh this is  like a life you can call this a life preserver  

or a life ring so when someone is out there  they're kind of uh maybe floating uh in the  

water so this is supposed to be some water over  here uh and so this lifing is kind of like the

translations so many people feel actually a little  bit nervous if they don't use translations in  

order to learn so they really feel like they need  they need something to hold on to because they're  

just nervous about trying to go kind of go in we  call that going into the deep end uh so into the  

deep end so if you think about a pool over here  usually a pool has kind of a like a shallow a  

shallow end and then the it gets maybe a little  bit lower and then you have a deep end down here  

so often people you can kind of walk around over  here or Swim just a little bit but when you get  

into the deep end you actually have to know how  to swim uh and if you can't then you get maybe a  

life ring or some kind of floating thing to hold  on to uh and this life ring for language Learners  

is typically learning through translations  because this is how they're taught to learn  

and they think it's impossible to learn another  language in that language okay so I just gave you  

an example of learning Japanese in Japanese  but this speaker or this uh this learner was  

commenting U well actually I'm still translating  through my native language so just like you know  

obviously I'm teaching you colors here so I've  got blue and black and red but you're uh if you  

could actually continue learning those just giving  you one example probably won't make you fluent in  

that thing but if I could continue to teach you  more and help you understand more examples all in  

Japanese you would become fluent and you would  become a native by thinking in Japanese okay  

so that's really the idea so it's not about  me being born in Japan the whole idea of me  

becoming a fluent speaker or even a native speaker  in Japanese is that I'm learning Japanese the same  

way a native does okay uh so this again means  what I'm learning and how I'm learning it all  

right so what I'm learning I'm actually learning  the real vocabulary that people use and then I'm  

actually learning it in the same way they do  so I'm not learning Japanese through English  

I'm understanding Japanese in Japanese itself all  right but today I wanted to take this idea further  

uh and and just give you two simple ways that you  can trick your brain uh or kind of kind of work  

around your brain trying to translate things so I  want to give you some examples uh two basic things  

we could go into more if you have more questions  but these are two examples that should be simple  

enough to kind of trick your brain or get around  this desire to translate uh and so this is when  

you're learning something uh just give you these  two options over here uh we're only going to to  

talk about too but there you know basically there  are more but this is the general idea of all you  

need to prove to yourself that you really can  learn English in English and that's what a native  

does okay so a native learns English in English  and they're understanding those same kinds of  

cultural references obviously someone who spends a  lot more time getting that would be able to speak  

more fluently and they would feel more confident  but it's still the same thing so just like a  

young child if you start learning the language  and a young child starts learning the language  

uh you can both become native speakers that's  exactly how it works okay so the first thing  

we're going to do uh is take something in  English so I'm going to do both of these  

examples in English not Japanese because we're  here to learn English uh but the first example  

is like something that uh that you don't know  in your native language already uh so don't know

so don't know in your native language I'm just  going to write this very quickly so something  

that you don't know in your native language I will  give you just a quick story about my own life uh  

for learning so when I came to Japan I came here  to study Japanese gardening and so as I'm learning  

gardening I knew like the kind of basic words for  gardening but as I'm learning that I'm learning  

all kinds of interesting vocabulary that I didn't  already know in English and these are things like  

the names of trees and flowers or the names of  gardening tools or uh other things like that  

that I just don't have in English at all and so in  this example it's impossible to translate because  

there's nothing to translate from I I don't know  that thing in English already so if you show me  

I don't know let's say there's some special kind  of uh flower that's only in Japan and I learned  

the name of this flower oh like it becomes a  native word for me because I'm not translating  

anything all right and so an example uh one of  many examples uh there was this thing we were  

uh when I was working in the garden I I worked  with actually a gardening company and we had  

these three uh it was like three uh wooden posts  Three Wooden posts uh and there was a chain block  

on here a chain block now this is a probably some  new English vocabulary for you but a chain block  

is basically like a a gear system that lets you  pull something heavy uh with a chain on the on the  

side of it so you spin this chain around and it  can help you pull something up and so this chain  

block was on here uh and then the the chain would  help you turn the inside of this and then you're  

using that Force to lift something like a like  a rock or something like that so if I if I had a  

rock like a big rock and I'm building a garden and  I don't have enough space I can't get maybe like  

a tool or a crane or something in there I can use  this and the name of this thing in Japanese was s  

ma s so the the this is a word I learned for a  thing that I had never heard of in English all  

right so I could I maybe i' had seen that before  but I just didn't know the name of that thing all  

right so this was an example for me uh in Japanese  and I thought I would give you one in English so  

there are lots of these things I just gave you an  example chain block uh if you don't know what that  

is already you can Google it it's better just to  get a picture uh of that thing but it's basically  

a little like a pulley that you can use to lift  things even by yourself yeah so exactly look at  

that Mike in the chat thank you very much so it's  a pulley system uh and again like even the word  

chain block is something that people probably  don't know but you can figure oh it's like a  

like a little square looking block thing with  a chain on it oh now I understood that word in  

English all right so let me give you just a quick  example uh of something that you can understand in  

English I have a friend uh who always wears Mist  like he he always wears different colored socks  

so uh this is my friend over here very smart guy  uh but for some reason uh he'll wear like a red  

sock uh and we put a a black sock on this side  over here so he he has the socks uh but um but he  

doesn't do this like I I don't know why he does  it uh it's just a weird Quirk that he has so a

weird it's a weird Quirk it's a weird Quirk let me  see here let me check chat uh make sure everything  

is over here uh if people putting things that  I can't read over here then I'm not going to  

be able to read that but make sure people are  not spamming chat uh anyway so he has a weird  

Quirk a weird Quirk of wearing two different  kinds of socks so he always wears two different  

socks I don't know why he does that uh a very  smart guy but I guess he just doesn't think very  

much about his socks now another weird Quirk uh  that I noticed about a home so a friend of mine  

a different friend of mine not this guy uh he  bought an old house an old house uh and one  

of the weird quirks about this house is that he  would kind of uh like the he would walk like on  

one side of the house but it would that you would  hear like a sound on the other side of the house  

it really like weird kind of Quirk we couldn't  figure out why that was happening uh but you  

could walk sometimes you walk on a floor and it  and it Creeks a little bit it's like like it has  

a a creaking sound but this is just a weird Quirk  about the house okay so when you when you talk  

about somebody having like an interesting thing  or like like a weird Quirk about the town I live  

in uh is that there are like there are lots of  like dog grooming places but everyone owns a cat  

it's just like a weird Quirk about my the town  where I live it's really weird so I I never  

see anybody walking dogs or anything lots of dog  grooming places but everybody has a cat it's just  

a weird Quirk about my town okay so here again uh  without me taking time even to explain what this  

word means you're understanding it just by getting  different examples and you're understanding it as  

a native okay so when I'm talking about becoming a  native in something this is what I mean so you're  

learning without having to translate and even  if you have a word in your native language for  

something like this already you're thinking  more about the story and understanding the  

situations I'm telling you which helps you learn  it like a native and that means you're becoming a  

native okay so being a native doesn't mean that  you're living in a particular place or that you  

have parents from a particular place none of that  matters the thing that actually matters is how you  

learn and what you learn so Quirk is a very  common word that natives will know but very  

few Learners would know this word okay so this  is a quirk I think yes Fabio just says a duck  

makes a similar sound now that is qua c k quack  which is a different sound quack quack so Quirk a  

quirk like you could have a quirky a quirky friend  who's always doing kind of interesting things they  

seem seem a little bit weird so my friend uh like  they they they usually walk on their hands another  

friend of mine walks on their hands I don't know  why they do that it's just like a quirky it's a  

quirky thing about them they do everything else  normally but this one kind of weird thing they  

do it's a little bit quirky a quirky thing that  they do okay so notice here uh I'm explaining  

this the same way I would explain this to my own  children all right and so when when they ask me  

something I don't go into a like a grammar or  like a linguistic example trying to explain a  

lot of things about like the language that most  regular people wouldn't know I'm just helping  

them understand the situation like a native okay  hopefully everybody's getting this so this is  

the the first kind of example where I'm trying  to help you understand something uh in English  

that maybe you don't have in your native language  and the point is to get around the natural like  

the the first thing your brain is really trying to  do is okay how can I translate this into my native  

language but if you understand something you don't  need to translate so a native speaker doesn't need  

to translate that's what it means to be native all  right so a fluent speaker like you're not trying  

to translate from one language into the other when  you learn so you don't have to translate when you  

speak all right hopefully this makes sense so  just one example uh there are lots of you know  

interesting quirky people in my town too that  you know like one guy he always he wears a hat  

uh but he wears a hat on his hand I don't know  why it's just he's a a kind of quirky guy that  

everything he everything else he does is finds of  most people they wear a hat on their head but he  

puts the Hat on his hand it's just a weird Quirk  that the guy has okay I bet you can probably think  

of some maybe quirky things that you've seen in  your town or your even yourself maybe you do some  

some quirky things all right just a weird Quirk  uh that people might have but she uh but you you  

should be starting to get this uh like I like idea  of oh like it it is possible to become uh fluent  

and and actually to think like a native and that's  how you become native and you do this again one  

word at a time I didn't just make you magically  a native in the whole English language but as you  

start getting more words and start understanding  the language this way that's how you get fluent  

okay so it's easier really to to think about  this as oh I should learn everything in English  

as a first language and that's how I start  learning vocabulary so you learn it in context  

you understand things much faster much easily  much more easily uh that way and that's how you  

become a great speaker all right let me go back  and check chat uh and then we will look at the  

second example that here uh kind of circumvents  so uh this is another good another good word for

you this blue marker is really  strong I think this is all I have  

to work with the red is red is a little  bit faint all right good word for you

circumvent so you probably oh look at that that  looks like Circle okay so we have to circumvent  

something means to go around it so if I have a  rock over here and I'm trying to walk this way  

oh I can't go straight I have to circumvent the  rock I need to go around it try to go around it  

okay so what we're trying to do is get around  this rock here this rock is your desire your  

natural habit of translating information because  that's what you've been taught probably uh most of  

your life in learning languages all right so if  you had to learn English in school you probably  

learned English through your native language and  now we need to circumvent this so I'm trying to  

show you ways that help you do that so the first  one we've done this already trying to learn new  

things that you don't know in English Okay so  new things that are in English that maybe you  

don't have them in your native language uh and  we'll look at the second one in just a second  

after I check chat all right so if you do have  questions let me know I want to make sure all  

of this is clear because when you understand  something well that's when you start speaking  

uh so you don't you don't become I don't I don't  like write the word Quirk on the board and then  

give you a def definition of it and then or  even a translation which would be even worse  

I don't do that I want to help you understand it  like a native okay so when you understand like  

a native you speak like a native but remember a  a native very rarely is learning things just by  

getting uh translations of them so we really  want to help you understand like a native all  

right uh let's see as it says hello Kendall George  nice to see everybody Mary kicha says Elena Nish

innocent I'm available thank you for your  assistance all right lady says hello K can I say  

there's a lot of people instead there are a lot of  people yes so you can say that you will even hear  

me using the language incorrectly in this way it's  incorrect grammar but natives use it because it's  

just faster and easier to say but don't write it  if you're writing that's like a very basic mistake  

so don't put that in your writing but you can say  that and you will hear native speakers using that  

often uh the the only difference where people will  notice a mistake like that is your pronunciation  

so if you feel confident you're speaking smoothly  and you use the grammar incorrectly then no one  

will care but if you have really bad pronunciation  and you say the same thing then people will think  

oh his grammar is just really bad too even  if you're even if you understand that native  

speakers are using that same thing incorrectly  so it doesn't become a native go against the  

definition of native unless you are born a native  well the definition of native isn't doesn't mean  

born a native this is what people think but  a baby is not born native a baby isn't born  

knowing how to speak the language the baby  has to learn the language just like anybody  

else so people assume they think they believe  that being born native means okay if I'm born  

like I'm just magically born in Japan but I have  no one to teach me am I going to learn Japanese  

probably not uh if I'm born in the United States  and no one to teach me I'm not going to learn  

English either all right so no one is born native  you happen to be born somewhere but then people  

teach you the language and if I could take a  native English child and teach them the same way  

they learn like English as a second language uh  I guess that would be a little bit weird because  

typically you're doing that through translations  but if we could imagine that they would not become  

a very good speaker all right like most of the  people uh that spent even many years learning  

English as a second language they still can't  speak because they have the same problem so if  

you're learning through translations it's going  to be much more difficult for you to speak because  

you will be thinking about translations when you  speak all right so being born a native that no one  

is born native you become native by how you learn  so how you learn and what you learn and I've given  

you both of those examples here so what you learn  meaning the real vocabulary that people use every  

day so part of this is regular grammar vocabulary  you know uh idioms phrasal verbs but also culture  

Al references like quotes from movies and things  like that uh so they also learn that uh the way  

they learn that is important they're not trying  to learn that through translations they understand  

it all contextually uh and so that's how you  can become a native in the same way if you're  

getting those same examples and you will learn to  understand those things in the same way all right  

nice see you from uh julo from eador and Mike  what's up people how you doing let's see I'm a  

mul I want to learn speaking like native speakers  can you help me yes so that's what this video is  

about uh so I follow you since 2014 you are a  great teacher glad to hear it if you know other  

people we can help uh let them know tell them to  follow the channel it's 3:40 a.m. oh my goodness  

in turkey and I've just met your lesson luckily  again I am old enough remembering the film serial  

tited Shogun in trt Channel decades ago uh yes uh  I remember that show uh they re they remade that  

I think they're I don't know if that's a new if  it's a TV show or a movie or something but they  

uh there's a new version of that available now  Abdullah says hello sander nice to see you there  

again uh alas says does a paid program differ  from what you offer on YouTube please clarify  

uh yes of course uh what we have on YouTube like  this video it's explaining people or explaining to  

people uh the principles about how do you get  fluent and so often I give examples and teach  

some vocabulary as well uh but what we do in our  actual programs especially fluent for life is we  

take you step by step and we get you fluent  so if you think about this kind of video I'm  

teaching you what we do and how you could do that  yourself if you like and often people take this  

information and they they oh they realize there's  a better way to learn and they start improving by  

themselves and that's what they do and that's  great uh but some people actually many people  

they still want help and so if they'd rather just  have me tell them exactly what to learn exactly  

how to do it I get them fluent that's what we do  in fluent for life so if you're just looking for  

principles about how to learn and some vocabulary  things like that that's what we do on the YouTube  

YouTube channel uh but you can click on the link  in the description below this video to learn more  

about what we do in fluent for life all right uh  let let see a weird Quirk it's like a weird habit  

yes all right P says Hi teacher I understand  that everybody and everyone are singular but  

often I hear Americans say for example everybody  loves their country uh is that to avoid saying his  

or her yes so and it's the same example like  I gave before when you when you hear common  

commonly used incorrect grammar it's just because  it's faster and easier to say so it like adding a  

having a preposition at the end of a sentence like  like where are you going to or like why don't you  

come with so it's incorrect it's kind of odd but  people use it that way just because it sounds a  

bit more conversational or because it's faster or  easier to say hello good morning uh from Korea I  

can't read the honga so put your name in there  if you'd like me to know your name all right  

uh what kind of sound does a cicada make you mean  like the like the name of that sound uh what is  

the name of that sound I maybe people would just  call that a chirp like a it's like I mean the  

actual sound is like sh but I don't know the like  the name of that in English I don't know what we  

call that actually that that would be like a good  thing to learn but if you learn the name of that  

sound like what do we call that what do we call  the sound of a cicada chirping in English I guess  

we would maybe call it like a kind of a chirp  something like that uh but if you look that up and  

you get some examples you would you would become  a native about that thing all right so you would  

understand it in English uh let's see MOS says  uh how are you I'm doing fine try to translate  

it's a hurdle to fluency yes CU said would you  please emphasize some common grammatical patterns  

for some intermediate students like me thank you  we won't be covering that in this video but that  

is the kind of thing that we cover INF fluent  for Life basically we teach you those patterns  

but we help you understand them like a native so  rather than just telling you a list of grammar  

patterns that you should know and there there  are lots of YouTube videos about that already but  

they don't really help people become more fluent  there's there's a big difference between logically  

understanding some grammar and then using that  grammar fluently all right hello out there sadly  

late again it's okay Abdu says teacher I'm happy  to watch please explain to me how to use modal  

verbs yes that's not the subject of this video but  I have covered that in other videos if the if if  

you do have questions about specific things just  search our channel for that and you should find  

videos I've got over 600 videos on the channel  and so you'll find quite a few things about that  

John says hi there this is John I come from China  I really appreciate your teaching style glad to  

hear it thank you for the kind words if you know  other people from China or wherever you are tell  

them hey you should come watch the channel us says  hello from Morocco appreciate your efforts all  

right uh the environment is really important when  coming uh when is coming to learn says Nicholas uh  

yes but by environment it really just means the  input that you're getting so I could be living  

in America but if I surround myself with lots of  input for Chinese and I can understand that like  

a native Chinese person then I will learn Chinese  that is the environment so it doesn't mean where  

you physically are it's the environment of of the  information that you put around yourself okay so  

if I go to like Chinese Cultural festivals and  got Chinese friends and I you know I'm eating  

Chinese food or watching Chinese cooking shows  or something like that all of that information  

is going to get me fluent in Chinese and help me  become a native speaker of Chinese okay all right  

uh let's see Monica says my problem is that I  forget the pronunciation if you would like to  

understand how to pronounce words uh we had an  example before of Quirk and Quack so these are  

the kinds of things that we cover in Frederick  Frederick is our app that will teach you over  

2,000 words and sentences and help you understand  the pronunciation the same way a native does so  

if you'd like to learn those pronunciations uh  and spelling and understand native speakers more  

easily just click on the link in the description  below this video uh let's see says I have a dream  

to know eua I'm Brazilian Fabio says chir yes  maybe a chirp I guess or a cheap or something  

I don't know what the sound of that is but look  that up that would be an interesting question  

when you have those questions don't just  forget about it actually make an effort and  

look them up all right you can you give us some  examples of when to use the Expression there is  

nothing like home well that that's typically  an expression used just by itself like we we  

typically say there's no place like home uh so  there's d h e r e there's no place like home uh  

there's no place like home and probably the most  famous example of this is from The Wizard of o  

uh where Dorothy is just saying like ah there's no  place like home like I wish I could be back home  

and uh it just means it's a special thing for  you and there's nothing else like it all right  

so there's no place like home uh like if you're  going out and traveling maybe you feel a little  

bit nervous or uncomfortable or tired because  it's just different from what you're used to when  

you come back home uh it's very comfortable for  you it just feels very good so there's no place  

like home all right there's no place like home  but you could use that really for anything so  

there's no place like this local restaurant that  we go to so it just means this is a special place  

it's different from everything else and it's  uh particularly important for me or for us or  

our group or whatever so there's no place like  uh whatever that thing is all right um Natalia  

says good morning from Alat nice to see you there  trano says you are the best one it's my pleasure  

Alejandro nice to see you there again greetings  from Mexico I appreciate your uh teaching style  

here in Korea Monica again thank you John put  all the information into my mind yes that is  

the goal so that's what I do uh I'm I'm trying to  make you a native speaker all right so if you're  

listening to me if you're understanding things and  you're you're thinking wow I actually understand  

what this guy is talking about and I feel more  confident you might not remember everything in  

one video but as you continue to learn and you get  more examples you start to recognize the patterns  

you are becoming a native speaker that's what  that means so the more you can understand things  

I don't want you to just translate faster in your  head I actually want you to think like a native  

and become a native all right kazim says thank  you so much let's see I can't read that ceric  

should I write down all the words that I learned  to remember them better uh yes I mean writing  

words down is helpful especially if you want to  go back and review them but uh I would write down  

different examples or look for various examples  and try to write those down so you're you're  

trying to create this idea of uh patterns in your  in your mind so that you recognize oh like you  

see somebody doing something it seems a little bit  odd or different or weird or whatever that's like  

a weird Quirk like a quirky kind of thing and so  as you hear those examples you feel more confident  

that you understand that vocabulary and then you  can start using it yourself like well there's like  

a a quirky thing about this you know I like I go  to uh here here's a here's an example of like a  

quirky thing I noticed in Japan I think I've told  this story before uh but if if I go to and this is  

not just me like people who go to the uh like the  train station and I was trying to explain this to  

a guy I was on a Japanese TV show a few weeks ago  uh if there I don't know if there are any Japanese  

uh people out watching this video right now are  watching it later but if you know who do OSI  

I was on his show uh he's like a uh kind of famous  comedian actor uh but I was on his show a little  

bit uh and when the producer of the show when I  was talking with him he was asking me what are  

some interesting things or like some different  things or surprising things or whatever that I  

uh that I noticed about Japan uh and I told a  bunch of them but I was trying to explain this  

one thing that I just and he he couldn't quite  get it cuz I couldn't show it to him physically  

um but if you go to uh so imagine this is a tablet  like a computer screen and if you go to the ticket  

counter with an actual person there so there's  a person using uh this little uh kind of tablet  

thing and it's got digital buttons on it so you're  buying a ticket and you want to go here and like  

this and the person is touching these different  buttons so this is in Japan at a an actual window  

a ticket window where I'm talking with a person  and they're helping me buy a ticket and so I said  

I want to go here and the interesting thing  a kind of quirky thing I noticed is that they  

will touch the buttons here and that makes sense  but they will also touch the side of the tablet  

that doesn't have anything on it so they're doing  this quite quickly and then they touch up here and  

then and then touch up here again and I said is  there a button up there and they said no it's not  

actually doing anything so that's like something  that they actually learn it's kind of a a quirky  

it seems like a quirky thing to me that they would  take time to do that but that's probably part of  

their training if anyone else out here works at a  Japanese like ticket place maybe you can explain  

to me why that is but I've asked people and I  couldn't I didn't get like an answer I just said  

oh that's an interesting uh kind of thing so this  is a an example of a quirky thing that I noticed  

it's just like a weird kind of unexplainable thing  all right so as you get more examples of that you  

feel more confident about using this vocabulary  uh let's see all right um CU again thank you okay  

answer that one all right uh FAO says do I Miss  America uh not not particularly I don't know I  

mean it's I miss the people you know my friends or  family or whatever but I still get to see people  

from time to time uh but yeah haven't I I don't I  don't really it's interesting whenever I go back  

to America I I miss Japan so I'll be in you know  America or something for a little while I'm just  

like yeah it'd be nice to go back to Japan so  I I enjoy America but I I enjoy Japan more all  

right Andra says can we use pull off like using  achieve or are they different uh pull off is is  

like an achievement but the difference the  slight difference here is that when you pull  

off something uh people think maybe you probably  were not going to do it so it's like an unexpected  

thing you were trying to do a trick like if I  throw this marker up in the air and catch it in  

my mouth if I catch it well I I really pulled  that off so it's kind of an achievement I did  

something but I was just able to do something so  I throw up the marker uh and it comes down I try  

to catch it in my teeth and if I do it so I've not  practiced this before I just throw it up and then  

try to catch it in my uh in my teeth I'm probably  I don't know you could say I pulled that off all  

right so it is an achievement when you achieve  something you can also achieve something through  

hard work so if I spend a lot of time practicing  this and then I I do it I'm not really pulling it  

off I just did it after a lot of hard work okay so  that's the difference between you could like you  

could reach uh like here's the goal of achievement  uh if I work hard and study hard and practice and  

get there I could get to the achievement or I  just try it the first time and like luckily do  

it so I'm reaching the same achievement but one  is actually through a lot of trial and and effort  

and study and practice and the other is just I  pulled it off luckily okay so that's understanding  

the difference there so it's more about the  way you do something rather than what you

do uh okay hi says thank you Aro says the more  you listen to the more fluent you become is that  

accurate well it's not just listening to English  the point is how well do you understand something  

and I explained this in my previous video so  usually what what happens with people uh who  

are they're trying to learn a language I gave  this example here very simple uh idea about  

how well you understand something so let's just  say this is 100% understanding and this is 0%  

understanding over here so you learn a new word  or a new phrase or something and at first you  

don't you don't really understand what's happening  but maybe you get more examples and look at that  

now I'm at like I don't know 40% I understand  something pretty well and at this point you can  

recognize information you can hear what other  people are saying but all of this over here  

this is still some kind of doubt that you have  that's stopping you from speaking okay so when  

you eliminate or destroy or get rid of all of this  you move your level of understanding all the way  

up here now you feel really 100% confident about  using something and that's when you speak okay so  

most people when they're learning a language  they get to this point so I I hear this from  

Learners all the time this is really the number  one problem that people have and they they often  

still won't listen to me about how to fix it but  it's okay yeah I'm here to help the people I can  

help who want to be helped but the main problem  that people have is that they understand something  

well enough to recognize it in a movie or a TV  show or something but they don't really know it  

well enough to use it fluently because they still  have some kind of doubt or question or whatever  

so they're in a conversation and ah like I forgot  the word or uh how do I use this am I using this  

word correctly or did I remember the pronunciation  there are lots of little problems like this and  

these little doubts stop you from understanding  actually how to become fluent okay John says this  

picture looks like a signal sign I don't know  if you're talking about this or something else  

but uh so this is the basic idea so we begin by  not understanding anything at all so if I I I'm  

let's say I start learning Turkish or Swahili or  some other language like I I I move to the country  

uh or I just start listening I'm if someone  is talking to me in one of those languages I  

don't understand anything at all so as I start to  understand a little bit more now I'm feeling a bit  

more confident but uh this is not about me like  being able to speak because I I still have some  

kind of doubt all right so uh and Mike just said  this this phrase of practice makes perfect now  

what does that mean so in the previous video  I talked about how to actually practice your  

English and so what we really mean by practice  is getting more input so putting more input in  

here and destroying the doubts that stop you from  speaking okay so that's the actual practice just  

like I'm giving you uh for the examples I gave  before about something being quirky so I've given  

you like 10 different examples uh of something  being being quirky and as you get another example  

another example more examples you start really  feeling more and more confident until okay now  

I really understand something and I can use  it fluently okay so that's what it means to  

be confident and to actually practice a language  all right so when you're when you're listening to  

to some information if you don't really understand  it or you're not really uh feeling more confident  

because you're not eliminating any doubts you  have maybe some questions about something but  

those questions are not answered then you won't  feel confident about speaking okay so this is why  

you can know a lot of English but not speak okay  let me repeat that this is why you can know a lot  

of English so you can recognize a lot of English  you can understand people but still have trouble  

speaking still forget words still be uncertain  unsure worried nervous whatever about these  

you know particular questions about whatever the  grammar point or some pronunciation or a cultural  

reference or something like that uh so here's  here's like a perfect a perfect example we got  

uh an email from a learner uh that was using some  quite good English uh there were I think not many  

mistakes in it but one I thought was uh like  my teen told me about this I thought it was it  

was just kind of a funny example uh what was that  what was that example it was it was it was pretty  

some so kind of like a it was an interesting  example because I had not heard anyone um

I had not heard anyone use it but now this is  actually a good opportunity for me to teach  

this vocabulary to you because it's it's actually  very common uh and very good vocabulary um so the  

the student was using the vocabulary or trying  to explain uh they have so they have or let's  

just use it from their perspective so I have  uh many and they're basically trying to say  

I have many uh like like uh appealing let's  just say appealing so appealing a p p e a e a  

l i n g so appealing uh job opportunities okay  so this word appealing it means ooh like that  

thing looks good it sounds like a good idea to  you an appealing thing all right but instead of  

using appealing they used a different Native  expression but they used it incorrectly okay  

uh and so I'm going to just give you like  the actual correct thing that they should  

have said but what they said in the email  was something like I have many uh Mouse

watering so many Mouse watering job opportunities  or something like that so I have many Mouse  

watering job opportunities and it it feels funny  to say it like you will understand if you don't  

know this expression already uh but I have many  Mouse watering job opportunities and this is  

because they heard the expression maybe somewhere  uh but they didn't hear it quite right because the  

correct expression is mouth mouth watering okay  so if you think about Mouse watering like imagine  

I have I will draw a little mouse over here uh  and here's the tail and here's like a watering  

can you know you think about pouring like water  water on top of a mouse like Mouse Mouse watering  

and just thinking like reading that I heard this  example and I thought okay so this is an example  

of someone heard an expression and maybe it was  a typo but probably not it was just someone who  

had like kind of heard this but didn't really  understand what was happening here so the actual  

expression is mouthwatering and by mouthwatering  it means when you look at some delicious food and  

your your mouth starts to water so it just means  you start getting saliva or spit inside your mouth  

so you look at whatever your favorite food is  just imagine that right now imagine there's a  

plate of your favorite food right in front of you  oh my goodness it looks so good you can smell it  

like your mouth is watering uh and so the you're  looking at this uh delicious food and so your your  

your mouth it naturally starts to make saliva  because that's what helps to break down food  

it's the first thing that breaks down food in  your mouth okay so you eat food you your saliva  

is kind of breaking it down you start chewing  it all of that is to to make the food into tiny  

pieces so it can go into your body okay so that's  the first part of that so when we talk about some  

food looking delicious it gets you excited to eat  that we call this mouth watering mouth watering so  

this is an example of someone who learned uh if  it's not a typo I'm guessing it's not a typo uh  

but it's someone who who had learned an expression  uh but didn't really feel 100% confident about it  

all right so they're like maybe they said Mouse  watering but they probably would think like  

like what does that mean why would you say mouse  watering what it's like a weird idiom or something  

like that okay so this is an example of something  where uh like to give our little triangle example  

again they understood something pretty well  so they used the they used it correctly the  

context was correct so there were many appealing  and you could say like many mouthwatering job  

opportunities that's not the most natural way  to use it but a native speaker would understand  

understand what you're saying so that's a correct  usage uh but they used it incorrectly because  

they're not quite understanding what's happening  with the expression so a native speaker wouldn't  

make that mistake because they know oh like it's  mouthwatering okay yes so you could say appealing  

and attractive are similar there are usually many  ways to express yourself and that's another thing  

we won't really cover a lot in this video uh but  when you're a native speaker you know different  

ways of expressing yourself so you don't have  to think a lot uh about okay I forget this word  

or I don't know maybe I don't feel so confident  about this I just express it in a different way  

all right all right hopefully everybody's getting  it I'll go back through chat very quickly make  

sure all right I think we've got some all right  uh let's see so yes the to just to finish with  

Armando's question over here the goal is not just  to listen to a lot of English it's to destroy the  

doubt okay so you can be very specific about this  so if you hear a word like you think it's Mouse  

watering like oh that's interesting is that  correct maybe you search that in Google and  

it automatically corrects you like no that should  be mouthwatering and this is why so when you hear  

that oh okay I eliminated the doubt and that's  why I can now use it fluently okay so if you have  

doubt about something you won't speak all right  Maria says how do you describe understand the most  

of the Native person talks but when you talk uh  you feel stuck and cannot talk properly so that I  

just I just explain what that is so again when you  understand something you just don't understand it  

well enough to feel confident about using it okay  so there is still some kind of doubt uh when when  

you hear something uh where ah yeah I understand  what the person is saying but when you try to say  

that uh now you have to translate or try to  think about rules or something and it becomes  

more difficult for you to express yourself  that's the that's the difficult thing uh is  

watching videos through YouTube Make Me fluent  well I don't know is it is is watching YouTube  

videos making you fluent you know and this is  a question you can ask yourself uh most of the  

videos I see on YouTube for helping people learn  English it's it's usually a bunch of vocabulary So  

Random vocabulary about something uh or maybe  some tips about I don't know like traditional  

language learning kinds of things or it will be  grammar tables like Hey we're going to learn uh  

like every grammar point in one video and and  then of course like people are still not using  

grammar correctly and they still make lots of  mistakes um so when you think about uh like  

learning with video on on YouTube you could get  fluent if you had all that content and knew how  

to use it uh and learn with it the right way  but most of the content should not be regular  

English learning videos so the basic idea is yes  like you can learn uh English on and get fluent  

with English uh videos but it would it's most of  that content should not be regular like English  

teachers telling you to learn English or trying  to give you examples of stuff you should be just  

watching content that you enjoy and the same  way you would do it in your native language so  

if you're from Mexico and your native language is  Spanish and you're trying to get fluent in English  

watch content in English for native speakers but  at your level okay so don't try to watch something  

really difficult like maybe you enjoy I don't know  kids shows or something like that but that's how  

you're going to understand it like a native rather  than trying to translate that information all  

right uh let's see all right I think I got that  abdos says teacher I understand a lot of words but  

when I speak uh a bit slowly my mind thinking  like a turle yeah maybe mean Turtle I guess  

uh please how can I pass uh this program again  uh that that's this is the main problem so you  

see lots of people with this same the same comment  here it's it's just the same comment in different  

ways I understand a lot of English but I don't  speak and the reason is you still have some  

kind of doubt about whatever that is so as you  eliminate the doubt you speak and so I I haven't  

really talked about fluency triggers in this video  uh but I gave some examples of them already all of  

these little stories I'm giving you that help you  remember things and understand new English those  

are each what I call a fluency trigger and some of  these work together but the point of these things  

is to help you it's basically to trigger your  mind to understand things in English and feel more  

confident about using them by eliminating doubt so  if I can make you understand something well if I  

can eliminate doubt about pronunciation or grammar  or cultural whatever then you will feel more  

confident speaking okay so you don't just uh take  a word you learn and repeat the word Quirk again  

and again you actually have to hear it used by  different people in different context and then you  

really start to understand it well all right Mike  says I'm going to practice shadowing technique to  

improve my pronunciation or what another technique  would you recommend thank you in advance remember  

you you don't need to repeat after people in  order to improve your speaking what you just  

need is lots of basically you need other people  talking to you okay lots of different examples and  

you can find those on YouTube this is what we do  INF fluent for Life the whole point is to help you  

understand things and remove doubt so if you're  trying to get lots of examples like shadowing a  

teacher is going to teach you to to sound like  that teacher but most regular natives don't talk  

like English teachers they talk normally so even  even me like this is still normal English but I'm  

not using a lot of extra vocabulary I'm speaking  more slowly more clearly uh and I'm blending my  

sounds together so it's still sounds like a  native speaker but I'm I'm I'm speaking more  

SL more slowly uh and so if you spend a lot of  time Listening to English teachers on YouTube  

and that's how you're learning English then that's  a different language than the way natives really  

speak so you need to get both but you need to get  a lot more of how natives are actually speaking  

so you need to get those examples uh and if you're  trying to like Shadow those people that's a better  

idea than trying to like just copy what native  speakers are saying all right um uh all right  

uh MD from India natal is my opinion people who  understand you're speaking about 100% are very  

intelligent and have high level in English uh I  don't know I I can't speak to like the intelligent  

like level of people see I'm not using a lot of  very difficult vocabulary I'm intentionally using  

uh like some things but like the word intentional  so I'm I'm trying to use something I'm thinking  

about that actively using it but typically I  will explain things and help people understand  

the vocabulary but we have a wide range of people  uh but your intelligence level doesn't have much  

to do with your ability to understand a language  it's just are you getting good examples is the  

teacher good or do you understand what's happening  all right uh not but not least what is the color  

of your t-shirt it's blue I guess I don't know if  there's a specific more nuanced name for that but  

it's blue thanks Drew uh okay let's see I'm from  Turkey says Anil nice to see you there Ariel says  

it is very hard to learn English when you're old  like me I'm 63 well we have people of course we  

get a firet truck or whatever like usual we have  people over 80 years old and fluent for life just  

because they want to continue learning um so it's  it's not about if you've understood what I've said  

in this video and you feel more confident now uh  it doesn't matter what your age is because you are  

probably also continuing to learn new things in  your native language as well so we don't really  

become worse at learning but uh we need to be smar  about how we learn because your brain is it's just  

less interested in trying to write something again  and again or the typical methods that most people  

use okay so uh it has nothing to do with your age  it's the important thing is really do you have  

good like good teaching or if you don't have  a teacher are you getting good examples from

things uh all right let's see so John says  I got you the main point is confidence  

yes and confidence comes from eliminating doubt  that is the most important thing all right uh  

teacher what do you like the most among Japanese  characters for example Hello Kitty d uh like oh  

that kind of character I thought you meant like  kanji uh let's see what character do I like well  

I like Doon you know I have a Doon book in my in  my bag actually think I do let's see yeah so I'm  

like here's here's an example of a Japanese comic  book right here doo look at that look at that face  

look at that that's like a mouthwatering  face right there isn't that look at that  

mouthwatering so he's like excited about something  like oh my goodness all right so he can he he's  

he's basically going back in time in this in this  example he's going back in time and he thinks he's  

smarter than everyone else but he's actually not  but look at that isn't that amazing mouthwatering  

so that's the that's the kind of face people have  when they look at you know some steak or something  

like that when they're or whatever your favorite  food is all right uh let's see now where did I  

where did I get that oh my goodness you guys got a  whole bunch of extra questions over here all right  

I'm going to try to go through these quickly so I  can finish these examples we're almost at one hour  

so far manga says I struggle to create questions  in English what is the best method for creating  

questions well number one I would get at lots of  examples of other people creating questions just  

look at those examples uh and this is again the  kind of thing we do in fluent for life where we  

give you lots of examples of how native speakers  say things and that's when you feel confident  

about saying them yourself uh Yousef I think we  touch out of a tactile screen to deactivate the  

mouse from the uh yeah I have no idea I have  no idea what's going on Drew nice to see you  

there ilar uh let's see Abdul says is it good to  keep many ready translated sentences in mind for  

speaking no no don't do that you're you're most  people if you try to prepare a lot of information  

what is good is actually feeding your mind lots  of examples and then they will naturally come out  

when the time is ready but if you try to if you  try to prepare a bunch of things so you're ready  

to say something then usually it doesn't come out  well okay so it's it's the same idea if you're  

trying to think of new ideas for something it's  better to just get lots of examples put that into  

your mind your mind will do all the hard work for  you but you have to feed your mind good examples  

and that means getting lots of good native  examples where you understand things and you're  

eliminating the doubt that stops you from speaking  all right UHA yeah I don't know exactly how you  

would say that in Spanish but sounds like it uh  Dr Pavo yes and so that's the the same thing about  

making a dog's mouth water with with the bell in  the movie artificial intelligence they're talking  

about how to make a robot to have dreams and one  guy says a robot dreams how exactly do we pull  

this off and they start to laugh yes and so exact  again like when you're not sure how you would do  

something that's the idea of pulling something  off so like I gave the example before like if you  

know how to do something and it's difficult and  you accomplish that thing okay great like you're  

you're supposed to do that but if you don't know  how you're going to do something but you try to  

do it anyway and you do it you pulled it off okay  all right uh but now you should understand better  

and because you understand better you will feel  more confident and you can get the joke and you  

can laugh along with people all right uh thanks  for the explanation hi nice to see you there  

Mike says I look up the expression Mouse water and  cam with a water and can and a mouth shame that's  

pretty funny uh ahed says what do you think about  just listening to podcast and other videos with  

like 60% of understanding well again what is your  goal do you want to speak well or do you want to  

just understand information it's okay some people  don't need to speak or they don't care they don't  

want to speak it it's not important for them they  only want to understand maybe movies or TV shows  

or something like that so in that case it doesn't  matter this information the things that I teach  

on my channel they will help you but it's just  not that necessary if you don't need to speak so  

if you don't care about speaking correctly uh or  it's not important to your life or whatever you  

just don't need to speak it's not something you  do maybe you're just watching these videos for fun  

or something um but it's not necessary to do that  okay so my videos typically uh are for people who  

actually want to speak fluently so in this case  I'm talking about understanding English like a  

native and I'm giving you examples of how to do  that all right mouthwatering yes a mouthwatering  

job opportunity uh I'm afraid I made a Sally I  don't know what that means let's see I'm Brazilian  

says Rodriguez just understand a little bit but  I don't give up glad to hear what about someone  

who can speak but doesn't have a good knowledge  English is that possible yes it's called a child  

this is what this is what a child is so a child  they get lots of examples they might not have a  

large vocabulary but they can still speak fluently  of you know just using what they have okay so  

that's the difference Ana says are Japanese  students cleverer than others as they have a  

seafood diet shall I be on this diet to improve  my results thank you uh I have no idea about how  

Seafood diet improves intelligence or not maybe  they do um but I think if like Japanese were  

were more intelligent about language learning they  would not be learning Japanese or not be learning  

English through Japanese so even smart people or  you know people who are uh generally thought to  

be smarter can do stupid things all right uh  let's see where did I go I have to I have to  

keep my finger on my phone this whole time so the  chat doesn't run away all right red golden I think  

confidence equals correct yes well yeah the basic  idea is try not to think about being confident  

just think that confidence comes naturally as  you eliminate doubt that's the basic idea all  

right body says nice wton hi says how to speak  fluently with excellent grammar I can speak at  

length but I made so many grammar mistakes yes  it's because you just don't feel confident about  

the grammar you don't know it well enough that's  it that's the basic idea so you need to get more  

examples you need to understand the grammar like a  native this is what we do in fluent for life okay  

so I'm giving you examples in these videos but  we go deep into all these things and we get you  

fluent in the program so it's not about you having  to do anything if you get the right examples you  

get fluent automatically uh let's see Tak says  hi from Japan thank you for your lesson in Golden  

week yes yes this is kind of vacation time I feel  bad uh this year golden week is it's kind of on  

the weekend so people usually get some extra  vacation time but they're they're not getting  

it this week I learn it's important to imitate  other person's expression yes uh and again that's  

a that's that's part of anyone learning a language  children copy their parents and that's why like a  

grandpa says like as you pick something up and a  child will do the same thing I actually saw a I I  

don't remember if I saw this in a documentary or  I read it in a book uh but this was talking about  

a group of chimpanzees at a zoo and one of the the  kind of older male chimpanzees he had a limp so he  

walked in like his his he would walk like this and  his his his leg was maybe it had been broken or  

something like that uh but all of the younger male  chimpanzees they they looked up to him so they  

thought he was impressive and they all started  walking with a limp as well so it's interesting  

how we copy each other even if other people  are maybe not doing something very healthy or  

correct but uh we will still copy those examples  naturally and it's not just us I mean animals will  

do the same thing all right M uh Ariel says  I understand you're 100% but when I want to  

speak I have a problem yes and again it just means  you're here I've talked about this in other videos  

but this is really the number one problem for  Learners it's actually very easy to solve but many  

people just they stop trying to learn when they  think oh I understand something they say oh I I  

don't need to study that more I already know that  vocabulary and I say well why aren't you fluent  

you know when I I ask people if they're like if  they kind of argue with me about this and I say  

okay I'm going to teach you this and they say no  no don't teach me that I already know that and  

I say well why aren't you using it fluently and  correctly it's because they don't actually know  

it as well as they think they do so really you  should get more examples you should be feeling  

100% confident about what you use okay like  anything else if I'm doing a job like if I'm  

trying to fix your car and someone someone comes  to me and says hey Drew can you can you fix my car  

and I say uh sure I I can try you know if I say  that they're not going to be very confident about  

me because I'm not very confident but if I go to  a a place a mechanic a car garage where they can  

fix cars and I ask the guy hey can you fix my car  and he looks at it he says yeah it's really easy  

here's the problem this is how we're going to fix  it I say wow okay that's very impressive to me he  

understands everything I have a lot of confidence  in him because he has confidence in himself and  

he has confidence because he knows that thing so  well okay I want you to be in that position this  

is why I talk about these same ideas over and over  and over again because the people who actually get  

this idea they they get fluent they become a good  speaker all right let's see all right I think all  

right uh Selma says I keep forgetting simple  words in conversations what can I do get more  

examples that's it that's the whole that's the  whole game I know you can go to lots of YouTube  

videos and they will give you like five tips for  fluency or whatever it's like it's just one thing  

eliminate the doubt okay if there's a word you  keep forgetting go get a bunch of examples of that  

thing hear a bunch of different people talking  about that thing and I promise you you will  

not forget that thing and if you if you forget a  particular word or you just can't think about it  

right then because this happens to natives uh you  use just use something else it's it's really easy  

like if I talk about like someone having a quirk  and I forget the word Quirk maybe I just think oh  

like it's like a weird habit or like a weird thing  that they do you know I can express the same idea  

without using that vocabulary and so native  speakers they're able to move like water they  

just go around the whatever that thing they forgot  so it doesn't it doesn't matter if you remember a  

particular vocabulary word or not all right uh  V says can you explain a little bit more about  

understandable input thanks uh greetings from  Argentina yeah uh so the idea of understandable  

messages or comprehensible input this just means  like I gave the example before so if I'm teaching  

you some Japanese I want to help you understand  the language in the language because that's what  

gets us fluent and the reason it gets us fluent  if you understand something and you eliminate the  

doubt it's the doubt that really stops you from  speaking so generally uh people are nervous about  

speaking if they think they're going to make  a mistake all right so if you know I usually  

forget words or I know a lot of vocabulary but I  can't really put the vocabulary together well in  

sentences uh those are all problems of Doubt all  right so you need to get more examples of things  

that help you understand that vocabulary better so  if I teach you ah Maka MAA Maka Kudo Kudo MAA so  

here I'm giving you an example and I'm helping  you understand the Japanese in Japanese now if  

we stop and you never hear that again you will  probably forget that information but if tomorrow I

sayu what Kuro mous mous

mous s s okay so as I give you more examples  of that thing you will feel wow I actually  

understand what he's saying this is what  comprehensible input means okay so this  

is rather than me using a translation or just  giving you a definition of something I'm helping  

you understand it in English all right so the  point of comprehensible input is we should get  

you to the point where you eliminate the doubt all  right so if we have our simple example over here

[Music]

so we start getting comprehensible input  we start getting just uh Native examples of  

things we begin so I gave you the same thing  in Japanese uh so we start with zero oh okay  

I'm I'm starting to get it oh look at that  maybe we stop for today and then tomorrow I  

teach you a little bit more oh now you really  feel confident so this is what you understand  

this is what you still have doubt about over  here so so the goal is to get enough input  

that you eliminate the doubt that's it and  when you feel confident when you get to 100%  

And this is four individual words so if I if I  teach you I keep giving you example look ah I

MA

okay all right as I keep giving you more examples  you will recognize that if I hold this up your  

brain will start to fill that in ah oh so he  understands what that means uh now I recognize  

it I've got the pattern I feel confident about  it when I see that thing now I will think that  

okay and that's understanding it like a native so  when people talk about only comprehensible input  

comprehensible input is like it's like the first  step of that all right but people forget the the  

rest of it which is why do we need comprehensible  input we need comprehensible input because  

we need it to eliminate the doubt if we if we  remove the doubt that stops us from speaking  

that's when we speak all right so we don't become  a speaker by just like repeating a word again and  

again we really have to understand that thing and  feel confident that we will use it and this is  

a very logical very easy process if you're not  confident about something you need to get more  

practice with that thing and the practice just  usually means more examples okay so you don't  

get practice by just repeating the word like I  could write it in Japanese and you write it down  

in Japanese and try to repeat after me uh but the  more important thing is can you get more examples  

that help you understand something well that's it  all right hopefully everybody is getting this idea  

but this is the most important idea in language  learning if you want to become a fluent speaker  

all right uh let's see daon is the childhood of  many people yes so many people and Doon is like  

isn't it like 30 years old or more than that  something uh it's pretty it's pretty old comic  

uh long time Drew says John C I am 55 and I feel  more confident when I listen to you thanks very  

much you really are a good teacher yes uh and so  the reason people feel more confident when they  

listen to me is because I make the language more  understandable okay so I'm not I I don't want to  

like give you here's a list of 500 vocabulary  words and we're going to remember maybe two of  

those I want I want to take something and explain  to you that it is possible to speak fluently to  

speak like a native to even become a native just  by learning like one okay so if you stop learning  

English as a as a second language and you learn  it as a first language like a native then you  

become much more confident oh the hack wizard is  back why my English communication is not fluent  

at all um it just it's this there's a night we'll  keep this chart up here so I can explain to people  

um if you feel doubt about something you will not  use it that's the basic easiest way to understand  

that Dragon says Drew can I become fluent through  the short stories yeah it doesn't matter how you  

learn like you could get input from short stories  or movies or TV shows or listening to podcasts or  

reading books or whatever it doesn't matter uh  but the point is do you understand what you're  

learning and do you feel confident about using  it do you still have doubt about what you're  

learning that's it all right uh let's see what is  more important to speak or to listen uh it's it's  

not like listening or speaking is more important  the only real important thing is do you understand  

what you hear do you have doubt about what  you hear if you have doubt you're not going  

to communicate fluently that's the basic idea all  right everyone remember this I will I wish I could  

like reach out into this into the screen and just  like Shake people like that and say eliminate the  

doubt that's it okay so it doesn't matter how you  do that like you could do that with me like fluent  

for life will eliminate the doubt for you or you  get lots examples on YouTube or whatever but if  

you have a question or there's a word or a kind  of situation you want to describe but you can't  

do that because you have doubt then solve that  solve that doubt all right get rid of that and  

I'm just giving you different all of my videos  are really different examples of how to do that  

thing uh let's see where are we going I'm still  not at the end of these comments yet let's see uh  

the teacher could you please tell us what time  you're able to open the live seriously ah okay  

well I might have too many people on these lives  if I if I'd say when they're going to be but we  

always make them available after the fact and so  you don't need to be with me live you can watch  

this same video later and you would still get  the same benefit from it so typically they're  

like Mondays and Thursdays Japan time but might  not always be like this week is uh it's like a a  

holiday week and I just happen to be here anyway  uh but maybe maybe I will not be here on Thursday  

I don't know we'll see Louis says started learning  English 5 months ago now I'm in my third month  

INF fluent for life because of that I began to  understand the language much better do you believe  

me fluent in one year ha well you're already very  like that's great Louis send us a video of you of  

you speaking that would be awesome uh so Lewis is  an example of like you start and as soon as you  

start eliminating doubt you start speaking more  fluently so remember that you become fluent in  

individual words and phrases and you get hundreds  of those in each lesson set so as you're going  

through the examples then you should feel more  fluent about that thing and now you just continue  

doing that and you will be uh become more fluent  as you go through it so excellent work all right  

uh let's see clavier says haha I just finished  my breakfast car mechanic I don't uh know how but  

it's fixed could be let's see uh Drew how often  you okay I answered that question already Olga  

says hello D thanks a lot for helping us learn  English better it's my pleasure Dan says glad  

to be here with you all right some little hearts  uh thanks for explanations about understanding  

may God blessed greetings from Argentina oh Koo  there look at that hopefully you're enjoying your  

golden week uh what do you think writing uh what  do you think is wait think writing oh you would  

say do you think writing is good for speaking yes  I do and actually INF fluent for life we we have  

you do some writing uh but this is just writing  down individual pieces of maybe like a phrase or  

something like that uh just to help you remember  it a little bit better so like if you you learn  

something like mouth watering we really want to  make sure you understand what that means so you  

you write it correctly okay you feel a little  bit more confident as you do it that's why we  

have all these different angles as you're learning  it just means different ways of understanding the  

vocabulary so people can understand these uh I  think Japanese people have you would say fewer  

opportunities to come into English than other  country people uh I would say that's not true  

especially with the internet so everybody watching  this video right now like all of those people or  

people in fluent for life we have people I think  I remember one one guy who joined fluent for Life  

a while ago uh he he he just lives on like he's  like in Nepal or something just like in a small  

Mountain Village or something like that so he  doesn't have anybody to speak with but he's  

improving with the lessons just by learning with  that so with the internet you have information  

access uh to all the things that you need need to  eliminate doubt that's the important thing so you  

might not have a person to talk with but you don't  need a person to talk with to eliminate doubt you  

just need to get the examples so if you feel more  confident as you listen to me you're not speaking  

with me right now I'm speaking to you I'm trying  to eliminate any doubt you have and if you have  

questions then you can ask those but my my job is  to eliminate the doubt for you that's what I do  

all right so you don't need to speak in order to  do that uh but even in Japan you will there are  

plenty of foreigners around around uh depending  on where you live uh Dan again it is easy to get  

what you say here but it is hard to understand  what people say in movies yes uh and so this is  

why again in a program like influent for life you  could do this by yourself it's just harder to get  

the examples um but INF fluent for life we give  you examples of how natives actually talk all  

right so we want to move you from understanding  teachers to understanding how natives talk and  

getting you used to that kind of speech all right  so it's very simple yes it is like a different  

kind of different kind of English n says I have a  doubt like I was watching the movie lights out but  

how can the name of the movie be on a daily life  I don't understand your question rephrase that if  

you could cassim thanks for thank you wizard for  your advice I don't know if you're talking to the  

wizard or you're calling me a wizard of course  I am trying to prepare for eternal life but I am  

still alive in this world I I'm trying to balance  both I see uh let's see all right we're almost at  

the end of the questions very good uh how can I  know if I'm learning English as a first language  

and a native as a second language please clarify  good question um if you're learning English  

through your native language you're learning it  as a second language so if I'm a like a Japanese  

person as an example uh so I live in Japan maybe  I'm an elementary school kid and and Japanese  

is my native language and I'm learning English  through [ __ ] Japanese so I have a textbook and  

it's got Japanese in it and here's the translation  in English that's learning English as a second  

language but if you're learning English as a  first language you're able to understand English  

in English all right that's the that's the main  important difference between those all right hello  

everyone from Brazil and canero says hey Drew do  you usually think in English or Japanese in your  

mind and also does your wife consider you fluent  Japanese uh I guess my wife would think I was  

fluent yeah um I don't know we don't really like  talk about it I think my my Japanese is probably  

better than her English at this point and and  her and it would be an interesting test uh she  

understands a lot but she has like less speaking  confidence than I do um but I was just uh in terms  

of thinking in the language if I'm speaking a lot  in the language I think in the language so if I'm  

speaking in English I will think in English  and if I'm speaking in Japanese I will think  

in Japanese but if I'm if it's a situation where  I'm like trans translating for someone and I have  

to think about something I might do a little bit  of both uh but I was recently I spent about an  

hour at a friend of mine's business so he he's  trying to figure out how to improve his business  

and um and I was giving him some advice about  that and I was doing this all in Japanese and  

so I wasn't thinking in English at all I was  just like just explaining what you have to do  

in Japanese all right um let's see like give me  some examples to use lights out in my daily life  

well typically you you learn something like that  and like you turn out the light boom like lights

out so like that's it lights out it lights  out right there that's lights out okay so if  

you think about uh just getting different  examples of uh which I don't want to go  

into uh right now but that's where  you understand something from a like  

a physical example turning the lights out it  usually means ending something cuz it becomes

dark all right so we've been going for 80 minutes  yes you can say like lights off or lights out same  

kind of thing yes so you can say turn you will  hear people saying turn the lights out or turn  

the lights off same thing all right uh thanks te  Drew awesome classes always have a nice day all  

right well we're not quite finished yet I thought  I would use since I have a little bit of time yeah  

we got a little bit bit of time uh so sorry did  you just want to answer your student ah okay you  

guys are talking to each other Elizabeth says  in my opinion generally speaking we can't speak  

fluently without pronouncing and spelling the  words uh well typically yes I mean you you could  

actually speak fluently but pronounce everything  badly that's possible uh like often little kids  

they're they're kind of speaking fluently  but maybe they don't pronounce words exactly  

correctly but they're still communicating fluently  so fluency a part of that like an important part  

especially for uh like professional communication  is making sure you sound well um so other people  

uh can understand what you're saying but uh  yes so pronunciation is certainly important  

uh grammar would be more important uh because  if people don't understand exactly what you're  

trying to say or you communicate something like  it's like if you look at the comments here some  

of them are worded well uh and I can understand  what they're saying but other people are not like  

if the grammar is in correct then it takes me some  time to try to understand what people are saying  

all right Aro again do you consider yourself  fluent in Japanese yes I do uh if so have you  

put in practice your knowledge about how to get  fluent uh at English yes so so me like I feel more  

qualified to help people get fluent in English  because I understand what it's like to learn uh  

and so I spent uh 15 years struggling and failing  to learn different languages including Japanese  

so I failed to learn Latin French Spanish and  Japanese over 15 years and then I came to Japan  

uh and and even after spending a year in Japan  trying to learn I still got uh still got stuck  

all the time I still had trouble expressing myself  um and and so the traditional methods were not  

working for me and they don't work for most people  and I wanted to understand why uh and when I when  

I learned about like comprehensible input and and  understanding things in the language itself then  

I finally discovered oh you just have to eliminate  the doubt so that that is like that's like my own  

like final understanding because the doubt is the  last thing you need to remove before you speak so  

if you're going to say something in a conversation  but you don't feel sure about it maybe you'll use  

that but you you probably won't feel feel very  happy about that all right so if you remove the  

doubt and you can do that by yourself I don't  need to have anyone there with me I just need to  

understand something well ah okay now I get it  and I've given in my videos uh even this video  

as well many examples of clearing the doubt away  if you eliminate the doubt then the speaking is  

just it's a natural result of that uh fabrio says  hello teacher Drew before to start conversation  

what do you need the student to learn now well  I mean depending on what you're talking about I  

would focus on that all right uh people from other  countries other people is that a question I don't  

know let's see thank you drew I make the day with  such a great teacher on Earth well you guys are  

too kind all right uh let's go through the last  uh or the second thing over here I think you get  

the point anyway um so the first one is if you're  learning something uh completely new in English  

that you don't even have a word for in your native  language so if I as an example just to give one  

more example for this let's say I start working on  a boat and I'm work and I go to France uh and I I  

don't really know French very well but I get on a  boat I'm going to learn the names of all of these  

like little pieces of the boat and I'm going to  learn those in French and I don't know what they  

are in English so I understand it directly like  oh look at that like you know I know what a sail  

is but maybe I don't know the name of this pole  or this other thing or you know different pieces  

of the boat so these things are all things I would  learn in French and I have no way of translating  

the only thing I can do is connect directly with  the piece of the boat so I learn that and then I  

hear that vocabulary again and again as I work on  the boat all right so this is something I actually  

did but it was in English I worked I lived on a  boat in Alaska for a few months and I learned a  

bunch of boat vocabulary that I didn't know  before and I became fluent in talking about  

that kind of stuff so when I first got on the  boat I didn't know what I'm talking about but  

after a few months I'm able to have conversations  about things on the boat and a lot of people that  

don't have that experience they wouldn't know  that information okay so this is it's just an  

example of how you would teach your brain that  it's okay you don't need the translations so if  

you get good examples and you understand something  you don't need the translations all right so that  

was the first thing we looked at the second  thing is taking vocabulary you already know  

and even if you know this in your native language  as well you're trying to extend this vocabulary  

all right and when I say extend like using it  in a slightly different way or maybe something  

surprising and different that you might not use in  your native language as well uh so let's say you  

know the word as an example Flip Flip so here's  uh something like I have uh do something uh kind  

of flat actually this this book over here is  a good example so I take the book and I flip  

the book like that to flip flip it over flip it  over I'm flipping flipping the book so I could do  

a flip I could jump and and turn around like this  but this is the basic idea like to turn over like  

this so this is like turn around but this is to  to turn over but to do it quickly is a Flip Flip  

like that so if I'm flipping the book all right so  you probably know this word already and maybe you  

have the idea of something else uh in your in  your native language maybe you understand what  

that is you might even translate that word  in your head but to take this and we extend  

it and help you understand it more like a native  we we want you to be thinking to become a native  

um so if we have an expression I I'll I'll teach  the expression in just a moment but I'll give it  

to you in context first uh so I was talking with  another friend I talk with lots of friends of mine  

um and he was talking about quitting his job to  quit his job uh and so I was saying oh are you  

are you you really want to quit your job are you  sure you want to do that and he was telling me  

well uh I guess I could like if I stay in my job  I don't really like what I do all right so like on  

one like one thing is like uh I don't like don't  like like I don't like the work but on the flip

side on the flip side it's good

money this is a really good expression for  people talking about money it's good money  

it's good money so it's good money means it pays  well it's good money all right but this is the  

expression that you probably heard so I don't  like the work but on the flip side it's good  

money on the flip side it's good money so you can  probably guess what this means means so maybe you  

know this word flip and if you didn't I've given  you some examples of it already so I take this  

marker and I like here's one side I could flip it  over wh and now you're looking at the other side  

of the marker so on the flip side it's good money  on the flip side it's good money so this is where  

we take a word that you might know and we want  to extend that and use it in a more interesting  

native way that maybe you don't also have in your  native language so the idea of on the flip side  

uh it comes from records so usually you're playing  like a like an old uh record you put the needle  

down and you're playing the music on that and so  the records would typically have another side with  

some other music on the back side so on the flip  side of the record and so radio DJs they would  

use to say like I'll see you on the flip side  I'll see you on the flip side so I'm going to  

play a music uh like a song from one side of the  record we will flip it over and play something  

on the other side so on the flip side so when  we use this expression we're talking about uh  

maybe the opposite of something or just here's an  alternative or something else okay yes so that's  

another good example to flipflop on something  so you don't know what you're going to do like  

you say yes then no you're flip-flopping you're  flip flopping flip-flopping same idea so as you  

get more examples of that you might not have an  idea for flip-flopping in your native language  

I remember uh I was in Vienna in a German class  uh and I was not there I was just like visiting  

a friend of mine but I was in the class and I  remember the teacher was explaining something  

he said wow there's this cool German word for  thinking of a good like way to respond to someone  

but after the conversation is finished there's  actually a German word for that and they're  

interesting German words for like you know like  they they make these really long words of of of  

things that it's like oh that's interesting you  can like turn that into a word you know like the  

word for like a windshield wiper fluid or just  we weird things like that so it's a it's kind of  

quirky about the language but a very interesting  thing uh but that was something that I don't have  

a word for in English and so I was like oh okay I  actually don't remember the word now but it just  

it was interesting that there is such a word uh  but the idea here is that we can take something  

that we know and we want to extend that as we  learn more in English and understand it more in  

English uh then you will start feeling more  confident about the word flip but also look  

at that now I can use it in more interesting  ways okay so just wanted to give you uh I'll  

give you one more quick example uh we'll use the  word catch again when we learn a word typically  

you might have some word like this in your native  language so I throw the marker catch the marker  

throw the marker catch the marker catch something  so this is this is the physical idea just like we  

have the uh physical flipping of something I flip  something up in the air so it's turning like this  

quickly the basic idea so if I catch something  but I can catch more than like catching a fish  

or catching a marker or something I can catch  some [Music] z's so catch some z's so Z's this  

means to like take a nap so to catch some z's or  something might catch my eye so if I'm looking  

like uh something catches let's say to catch my  eye so if I'm looking this way and I see like oh  

look at that like a like a just a beautiful woman  walks by me and like oh she like she caught my  

eye she like got my eye and was like look at me  you know like she caught my eye so again we can  

take something simple and physical like this but  as we as we learn a little bit more we play with  

the words a little bit more we understand it more  like a native so we become a native okay isn't  

that isn't that exciting hopefully you're thinking  like yeah like I could be a native too so yes like  

a person born in the United States is going to  know more references and other things like that  

but you can start anytime to become a native it's  really that easy it's just what you learn and how  

you learn it that's the difference all right I'll  go back and check chat uh but look at that we've  

gone through an hour and a half so far uh let's  see all right T says I'm beating with meeting I'll  

watch later good idea flip turn around twist yeah  so again like to twist something like if I take a  

towel as an example twisting is a different thing  and it's it's it's easier to understand these  

things as you see them which is how a native would  learn it rather than you just getting examples so  

if I take a towel like this and here I'm I'm I'm  turning it in two different ways that creates a  

Twist in the towel so this is to twist something  okay but if I take the towel and and flip it like  

that like I'm turning it it turns around like that  way that's flipping flipping the towel okay so I'm  

taking one side of it and now you see the other  and very quickly so if I just if I do it slowly  

this is turning over I'm turning the towel over  but if I do it quickly I'm flipping the towel all  

right uh let's see now all right uh can't decide  okay we got that example already so did he quit  

eventually or not ah like the friend looking for  the job uh I think he he did quit he did quit the  

job so like even even though the money was good  on the flip side he had more time with his family  

and that was more important to him okay uh D says  thanks for streaming sir I cannot wait to watch  

your next live stream wish you good health well  thank you very much all right Cano says you always  

catch attention yes so you can catch someone's  attention say hey look at that I I just I just  

caught you okay I didn't physically touch you  but I can still catch you in the same way all  

right be sure to catch the next live video and if  you can't watch it you can always watch the replay  

later all right uh says oh can you pronounce cut  versus CAU so cut caught caught that a u c sound  

if you'd like to learn more about pronunciation  you can hear me pronounce all of these things you  

can hear me say cut and caught and quit and uh and  Quirk and all kinds of other words in Frederick  

just click on the link in the description below  this video and you can hear me pronounce basically  

anything because I go through all the different  sounds of English all right uh and all in one  

learn with denish is great glad to hear it and  look at that we got to the end of the comments  

All right so remember you don't have to be born  in a particular place or from particular parents  

being native is just what you learn and how you  learn it so if you understand like a native and  

that just means you're learning real English so  the real vocabulary that people use but you're  

also understanding it without needing your native  language to do that so if you're learning English  

in English that's how you become a fluent  speaker that's how you can actually become  

native and even starting today if this is your  first video with me you're starting today you're  

starting to think more in English like a native  English speaker than you are becoming already  

a native English speaker Isn't that cool all right  if you'd like to learn more about that though you  

can click on the link in the description and learn  more about fluent for life are you twisting the  

towel or ringing it well it's both so if I and  this is like a kind of and this is you learn  

these kind of nuances as you're going through them  but let's say I have this towel here so let's say  

I just I I twist the towel like this like that's  just this twisting motion so I don't need to do  

it but if I really like like now I'm like really  really twisting it then I'm ringing the towel okay  

so I could twist like something just a little bit  I could twist my body but I'm not ringing my body  

but if like a giant comes and like really like  squeezes me like that that's to ring something  

so if this towel is wet and I just twist the towel  probably water will not come out but if I ring the  

towel like now I'm going to squeeze it really  and get a lot of water coming out that's the  

difference okay but see how you understood that in  English Okay I didn't try use whatever your native  

language is uh but like even for people in Japan  I don't use Japanese to teach English because it  

wouldn't really help people speak all right all  right uh well that's it again if you'd like to  

learn more uh if you would like me to just make  you a fluent speaker like I do in fluent for life  

you can click on the links in the description  and then I'll see you in the next video byebye