Visual Guide To English Idioms

let's give YouTube a moment to  fire up uh but hello welcome to  

another video on YouTube here let's  see here for live we should be in a

moment Let's Go YouTube you can do it I believe  in you or it should be just a second if you can  

see this uh post a comment let me know when  you're where you're from if you have any  

questions uh I want to go through these pretty  quickly just to make sure I get through them all  

make sure everyone uh can learn a lot at the  beginning of this video uh but it looks like  

we're ready to go so I am Drew Badger the founder  of englishanyone.com and the English fluency guide  

and today we're going to be talking about idioms  uh lots of people ask me about these uh they're  

not as important as learning phrasal verbs but  I have a whole program about that so I thought  

I would talk about edms today uh but try to help  you understand them like a native uh because I  

think last in my last video what was that like  a week ago uh I had a question uh from uh from  

the chat about what was that about it was uh it  was uh like how to how to say something it was  

Japanese like how to say like uh before you leave  leave like during the or at the end of the day uh  

and I I didn't spend a lot of time talking about  that but I thought I would begin this video just  

mention mentioning that quickly uh because a lot  of people when they're learning a language they  

learn it through translations and so they they  think about how do you say an expression like  

this when it's much better I'll just draw this  for you visually uh so it's easier to think so  

there's a a situation something is happening in  this case a person is is going home early so in  

Japanese people are typically polite about it and  they say something like I'm sorry for going first  

like pardon me or excuse excuse me I'm going first  so it just means like you you kind of feel bad for  

the other people who are still working so you're  going home before them and that's part of the  

culture and then the language comes from that  so you have the situation that leads to uh we  

just say like the language over here and so what  people try to do uh is they will try to translate  

from this language uh into this language in  English so let's say just from the Japanese  

example so uh so I'm sorry for going first so  we will translate that uh into English uh but  

what you should be doing is is really trying to  look at the translation of well not really the  

translation but just look at the situation and  think like try to go directly to the language  

and if there's something you should be saying so  we don't want to go from situation to vocabulary  

and then try to translate again so that's where  we start creating problems for uh how to think or  

remember vocabulary uh and and that's what causes  a lot of people to struggle when they speak so  

instead of beginning with vocabulary really think  about the situation and look at how a native would  

say something in this situation and in this  situation uh a native English speaker like in  

America we just say like see you tomorrow we we're  not really we don't really feel bad for going home  

first in fact it's it's like the opposite for  people are like aha like you have to stay working  

or something like that now it's not in a mean way  but it's it's kind of part of the culture uh so  

it's a different thing so we wouldn't take this  and like translate it in the same way we would  

look at the situation and try to understand how  we would use uh or whatever uh for that language  

for that situation okay so I'm starting talking  about this uh because idioms are the same thing  

uh and so often people will will hear an idiom and  then they will just try to think about well how do  

I translate this into English so there's like an  idiom like uh and sometimes iums work the same you  

know like they will have um like like EO so this  is uh like two birds with one stone this is the  

same thing actually in Japanese and English uh but  often the specific vocabulary will be different  

and the funny thing about idioms is that they  often don't mean what like what the words sound  

like so there's a little bit of a a difficulty  there for people understanding them if you just  

look at the words but if you look at the situation  and we're going to to talk about even like uh we  

we'll just kind of put like kind of the vocabulary  or like the the idea that goes into the situation  

in this video we'll be talking about that um and  when you understand the situation and really like  

the origin of the vocabul then it's much easier  to understand things directly in English Okay so  

that's my kind of long introduction to this  video but we'll get right into it I'll check  

chat just to see if anybody has any questions  but I I really want to make this point very  

clear so this idea from going from one language  to English so whatever your native language  

is this is called learning English as a second  language because you're learning English through  

this other language and this means you probably  have to translate and think about vocabulary and  

grammar rules and other things that instead of  just going directly from the situation itself to  

the English and so how do you get this well you  pay attention you pay attention to what natives  

do in these situations rather than trying  to think about what you would say in in a  

situation like that so what does a native say so  instead of a Japanese person going home first a  

native English speaker uh in you know Chicago  or whatever where I'm from what do they say at  

the end of the day if they are leaving before  someone else they just say well I'll see you  

tomorrow all right so very rarely would people  say oh I'm sorry for going first you might have  

someone who's very polite say that but it would  not be very common okay so always focus on this  

situation and that's what we're going to talk  about today as we cover a bunch of interesting  

idioms all right uh let's look at the chat here  nice to see everybody Martin I love your videos  

glad to hear if you guys know anyone else who  would enjoy the videos then please like them uh  

even if you don't tell anyone else just click like  it's very easy to do and that will tell YouTube  

Hey like we should tell other people about this  video as well of course it's always nice if you  

tell other people and say hey come watch this guy  uh Diana says from Mexico nice to see you there  

oh and Annette over there hi duu hello from  Wisconsin yeah you always tell me you're from  

Wisconsin I'm waiting to hear you're you're like  in a different location or something sometime ji  

says hello from Canada Unice Hal hello everyone  Nona says I have my first interview tomorrow in  

the US praise uh uh please wish me luck well  good luck uh very true what you're saying uh  

let's see glad to hear it let's see nargas hello  from Michigan juky good luck oh there we go hello  

from Korea and hello from Vietnam and got some  Arabic over there thanks sometimes translating  

helps but it's better to check the way natives  say things yes um sometimes like when you're  

when you're just hearing something and if you're  learning a language by yourself often that's what  

people do so they just get a translation because  that's the fastest way to just understand what  

something is but if you spend a little bit more  time and think about why people say something  

uh then it will be a little bit easier for you to  understand and you start uh thinking about things  

more more like a native speaker rather than from  uh like from a learner's perspective or learning  

a language as a second language all right Thiago  says hello from Brazil let's see uh I can't read  

the ab ab youah hello from Japan F from Sudan ice  to see there hello from Indonesia hello from Ted  

and Bera from Alabama look at that that's that  sound that's kind of like an Alabama name Bera I  

like it I'm I don't know that's familiar to me for  some reason uh jel hello from Brazil s yo F all  

you guys are talking with each other morania look  at that people from all over the place all right  

Louis giving my thumbs up yet well please do hello  from China all right following from Haiti please  

everyone give a thumbs up yes enjoy the video all  right let's begin so what we're going to do today  

uh is we're going to look at situations and how  we get vocabulary for that and then we're going  

to look at the origin of vocabulary so maybe  I didn't draw this very well but uh hopefully  

this makes sense so what we do on this channel is  help you understand English as a first language  

because that's when you start speaking I know  it it might seem like you need to practice a lot  

maybe you need to speak with other people or you  need to review a lot of grammar rules or live in  

an English-speaking country to get fluent but the  truth is you just need to understand the language  

very well because if you don't feel confident  because you don't understand then you won't  

speak okay so the whole point of this channel is  to help you understand things like a native uh so  

today I'm going to give you what I call fluency  triggers and these are things that really help  

you understand the language very well help you  understand it quickly so you feel confident about  

speaking all right let's go through our list over  here nice to see little hearts uh floating up over  

there I can't see those on uh on the on the on  my phone where I'm recording this but all right  

uh so the first one uh so we're going to begin  we'll kind of look at all these in the same way  

so we have our situation we just put something s  up here and then we have the vocabulary down here  

so don't really think about it like an idiom as  a as a special category that's just the name of  

these kinds of phrases uh but it's still just  vocabulary the same way a native child would  

understand it so a native child doesn't know what  an idiom is all they know is in this situation we  

say this okay so that's really what a native  speaker is doing when you learn English as a  

first language this is how you understand it so  something happens and then this is what people  

say so let's say uh for our first example here  somebody is doing something uh they really did  

it perfectly uh like they could have maybe made a  mistake but the situation is wow they really did a  

fantastic job of something and there are many ways  we could express this but the one I want to focus  

on first is to hit the nail on on the head to hit  the nail on the head so the situation is somebody  

did something amazing uh like I just delivered  like a really great presentation or I had a like  

a sales call or something and I was able to sell  a product get a large order of something uh and  

my friends or colleagues or co-workers they are  praising me and they're saying wow you really  

hit the nail on the head you really hit the nail  on the head so what do they mean by that so they  

mean I did a good job but why are they saying  this so let's look at the origin of something  

like this the way we would understand it like a  native so if we look at a nail so a very simple  

looking nail right here this top of the nail here  this part is called the head the head of the nail  

so I don't know if we call this kind of like  the body of the nail but this is basically the  

head and the reason we have this this large flat  piece is to give you a a kind of larger area to  

hit with a hammer now if you've ever tried hitting  something so if we take a hammer like this it's  

going to draw a a not so goodlooking hammer but  you can imagine some people sometimes when they're  

trying to hit a nail with the hammer maybe they  hit it incorrectly so maybe they they swing and  

they miss it or they hit maybe like the side of it  sometimes you've seen people like they Bend they  

bend the head of the nail because they don't hit  the nail right on the head okay so you might hit  

it or you might miss it completely or maybe like  you if you don't hit it properly you bend the nail  

like that and then you have to maybe hit this back  up and so the whole point is to perform something  

perfectly and this is when we talk about hitting  it right here right on the middle of the head and  

that's when the nail goes smoothly into some wood  or whatever you're nailing into so to hit the nail  

on the head we're talking about the head of the  nail we're not talking about like hitting a nail  

uh onto your onto your head all right now another  press uh unit just said okay now I understand the  

origin of you nailed it yes so another thing that  the same idea about about nailing something like  

to hit something correctly so you nailed it this  is another expression of Praise congratulations  

you did it you nailed it all right so you often  hear this in sports maybe someone is doing um  

like where someone's doing gymnastics and they're  they're flipping around or something and they they  

do the landing perfect ly and they don't fall  over oh they nailed it they nailed the landing  

so you can nail something just in the same way  that you're hitting a nail and that means doing  

it well all right so very simple so once you  understand it like this again we're trying to  

you might hear something like this but really try  to think about why so what's actually happening  

here even if you don't understand the vocabulary  by looking at the words you should still say okay  

I guess when someone is being prayed prised or  we're congratulating something or someone did  

a good job this is a way of expressing that so a  way of expressing praise but as you go a little  

bit deeper you think about what the origin might  be so this is something you can do by yourself or  

if you're learning with someone like me so this  is the kind of thing we do in fluent for life  

where we help people understand the language like  a native okay so hopefully you understand this uh  

but the point is instead of trying to look at  the vocabulary and then translate it back into  

your native language we don't want to do that  we want to think about why or what situation uh  

when did somebody say something okay and then  try to understand well what is the origin the

origin the origin of the word okay so typically a  an idiom like this has some kind of origin story  

and it just makes a more interesting way of uh  of expressing something so it's fine to say you  

did a great job you did it perfectly or something  like that but you can uh you really hit the nail  

on the head so this is just one way of expressing  this idea okay there are many many others but I  

just wanted to focus on this nice and easy to  understand and again uh Unice gave that other  

example of you nailed it that's another perfect  example you nailed it all right I think someone  

who was that was that uh Lewis just said bring  yeah bring the hammer down so to bring the hammer  

down it usually means like to bring some kind of  force or some kind of like now like the kids or  

or being loud in your house or something so the  situation is uh somebody is causing trouble but  

I'm not doing anything about it yet but now I'm  getting very angry and so I'm going to bring  

the hammer down like okay the party is over uh now  I'm going to uh I'm going to like stop people from  

doing something to bring the hammer down but it's  interesting as you start looking at these these  

other meanings of words or idioms appear isn't  that interesting all right so if you have any  

questions about specific idioms as I go through  let me know but let's just go through the list  

all right but we'll be following this same format  of trying to understand the situation and then  

looking at the vocabulary and then understanding  the origin of that thing so pretty pretty simple  

formula for understanding these things uh like a  native all right next thing uh all right you're  

at a store let's imagine you're at a store uh  and you want to buy let's say a new bicycle

so here's my new bicycle uh and I say okay I want  to buy this bicycle I think maybe the the price  

tag let's see I'm going to draw a little price  tag on this uh so the price tag will be uh let's  

say $200 let's say it's $200 so I think it will be  $200 but I look at the actual price tag and oh my  

goodness it's like it's like $2 million or what  is this 1 2 3 4 5 yeah it's like 2 million ion  

so I look at this and say oh my God that's $2  million so I think something is very expensive  

okay so I want to express the idea the situation  is something is very expensive and there are many  

ways to express this but one idiom we will look  at is to cost an arm and a leg to cost an arm and  

a leg so if I look at a price like this and  I say wow that's really expensive okay but a  

more kind of interesting or native or natural  or expressive way of saying oh that's really  

expensive is it costs an arm and a leg now this  means like if we have a a body over here not going  

to draw this very well like usual but so something  is so expensive something is so expensive that we  

actually have to like cut off our own arm  and a leg to pay for that thing so it's  

it means it's like it's it's costing us so much  we're actually having to like sell our arm and  

our leg to pay for that thing okay so that's  the basic idea it costs an arm and a leg all  

right now uh if you think about something like  this like other things like maybe something we  

we don't really say like it costs you two arms  and two legs or whatever but the basic idea is  

that it's something so expensive that uh like  wow like I I don't even it's not not even worth  

me paying for it because I would have to lose my  arm and a leg to pay for that so I could buy a  

$2 million bicycle uh but that's really costing  me an arm and a leg okay so it's probably more  

trouble than it's worth and if you spend a little  bit of time thinking about it again we start with  

the situation then we get the vocabulary okay  to cost an arm and a leg all right we're going  

through these nice and speedily here all right  uh you got it drew all right s is when do we  

use use the word uh Cave you mean a caveat I'm  hearing it a lot at work oh a caveat just means  

uh like there's a condition or something like uh  like we all should do something but the caveat  

is maybe one of us will die so there's like  a condition or something it's better to if  

you just get since it's not the focus of this  video uh just Google that Google like caveat  

and examples or ask chat gbt but the basic idea  is that there's like a or something else that  

maybe people should also consider all right so  maybe something seems good but there's probably  

a like a problem with it some in some way all  right uh okay I very good idiom Portuguese say

cost kidney oh I guess like it cost you a kidney  in h the same mediums yep so I'm guessing yeah  

and so like the the there are lots of idioms in  different different VOC vocabulary or different  

languages uh but the important thing is not to  try to translate it but rather to understand  

when people say these things and often like humans  have the same experience in many different places  

so seeing something very expensive for somebody  like that's a universal thing like people will  

say like no that's like that's too expensive for  me or whatever like that costs an arm and a leg  

okay so it's relative maybe some people see a $2  million bicycle and they think that's cheap Maybe  

some people do uh but other people might think  it costs an arm and a leg all right Kendall says  

glad to see you Persian says it costs someone's  blood I guess wow all put a sock in whole water  

bury the hatchet yeah so we're not trying to cover  like every idiom in this video but the whole point  

uh is understanding idioms like a native that's  really the point of this video so you can do this  

by yourself or to get help from someone like me in  what we do in fluent for life all right Ariel says  

the way you are talking to us right now it's the  same that you would always talk with everybody to  

communicate in a native way with your friends uh  somewhat so I'm I'm using a lot of the same words  

I would use but I'm speaking this is my like  teaching way of speaking all right so what we  

do in fluent for life is we're trying to help you  understand this so I want to help you understand  

the language but then you see lots of examples of  how I really speak with other native speakers okay  

or how other natives are talking to each other  okay so a lot of native speech you will find  

idioms a a lot of phrasal verbs uh movie quotes  or other things it it's it's not just about using  

the vocabulary people want to uh make a connection  with other people and so if I know about a movie  

and I know you know about that movie then I can  use a movie quote to demonstrate something and  

that that makes a connection between us okay so  that's a higher level than just understanding  

the vocabulary kind of like this all right so  this is important to understand but there's to  

get to that native level of uh a native way of  speaking and being able to understand natives uh  

that's where we we need like a lot more training  all right but this is again what we do in fluent  

for life so really the purpose of videos like this  that I do on YouTube is to help you understand how  

you should be learning so either you're doing it  by yourself uh or you're getting some help but uh  

this is how you should be doing it so learning  English as a first language understanding the  

language the same way a native would rather  than trying to translate things okay uh let's  

move along so this is another one I I also thought  about doing this video because this was a question  

we got from a fluent for life member uh and so  this was asking about uh the idiom I'll give I'll  

give the idiom in just a moment but let me talk  about the situation first so a friend of mine  

asks me uh hey do you know any good restaurants in  in like some area and I and I and I say well like  

off the top of my head I can't really uh let's see  there's a good like Mexican restaurant uh up that  

Street all right so off the top of my head I'm  just thinking about something right now off the  

top oops off the top of my head off the top of  my head so when I'm thinking uh the situation is  

I want to give a quick response I'm not thinking  very deeply about that and if you can imagine uh  

somebody's head over here so we got kind of the  brain up here and you can think about it in a  

physical way like some idea up here at the top of  your head you don't need to think very hard you're  

just very quickly like oh okay uh so yes I am uh  I am just giving you a very quick response so down  

here we might have a deeper idea if you give me  some more time then I can think about oh here's  

another restaurant that's also really good but I  I didn't think of that okay so off the top of my  

head is a very commonly used phrase you'll hear  this a lot in business when people need to give  

maybe some explanation very quickly but maybe they  could give a better explanation if they had more  

time so they will say uh this is kind of like a  warning where you're telling people yes I will  

explain something but it it's not probably the  best explanation okay so if my boss comes to me  

and he says uh why are sales down this month and  I might say well off the top of my head uh we're  

trying to think about I don't know like sales or  marketing or something so I don't really have a  

good response for him uh but so I say off the top  of my head here's a very quick response maybe I  

don't know for sure but I could give a better  response or a more detailed or indepth response  

uh if I had more time to think so this is when  we're talking about it's almost like reaching  

into your head and grabbing some quick response  okay so here's something superficial maybe not  

very well thought out I'm just thinking of it  quickly without thinking of it at all okay off  

the top of my head okay so we don't say like off  the bottom of my head we don't use that expression  

but you can think about this idea of ideas that  are easy to grab very quickly are just on the top  

of your head okay so like off the top of my head  this is what I think okay off the top of my head  

all right let me go back check chat make sure  we're moving along here uh let's see Lou says  

I don't think are talking between two natives the  rhythm is different contractions yes uh please use  

this H in two different senses off the top of my  head uh so if a friend of mine again is asking me  

about like restaurant recommendations I might say  oh he's like I need a I need a recommendation for  

a restaurant in 10 minutes and I say oh well off  the top of my head uh there are two restaurants  

near you uh that are pretty good okay so off the  top of my head so right now if if I have to give  

you an answer quickly then here is a a quick  answer it's probably not the best one but it's  

okay okay so off the top of my head or if my boss  is asking me for things that's another example or  

if my wife says like where would you I don't know  like to go for vacation like we need to we need to  

choose right now so I say okay well off the top  of my head let's go to uh I don't know Hawaii  

or whatever so I'm just thinking of something  very quickly I'm not putting any thought into it  

uh and if I had more time I could come up  with something different but understand  

the situation you're trying to give  a response without thinking and this  

is a way of expressing that okay Ordo nice to  see you there all right let's continue moving

along all right uh this is another good one  we'll begin with the situation as usual see  

I'm I'm tempted to to write it down first but I  always want to give you the situ sitation first  

uh so let's say I I see some like delicious  food or something this is going to be a very  

simple example but I see like a really delicious  sandwich we're going to imagine it's like a big  

I don't know burger with many layers on it you  know interesting burger like that and I'm just  

like ah like I try to I I try to bite into this  whole thing and I get this whole piece but it's  

so much food in my mouth that I can't chew it okay  so it's just a really uh Big Bite of this thing I  

was so excited to eat it ah so I uh bit off or if  we're talking about the present to bite off more  

than you can chew to bite off more than you can  chew to bite off more than you can chew so this  

is a physical example understanding the origin of  something like this uh where I bite off like I'm  

I'm taking something like a physical burger like  this with like a lot of layers on it and I bite  

off more than I can choose so I take a piece  of that thing and well it's just it's too big  

and I can't chew it okay so this is the idea of  this uh but we can think about using this also  

in lots of situations where like I'm I'm going  and I start a new job uh where I have to work  

as a teacher in a school and there are a hundred  kids in the classroom and none of them want to  

sit down and listen to me and and so like oh wow  like I I told people I could do that that I could  

go into a classroom and manage a classroom of  100 little kids but I think I bit off more than  

I can chew all right I bit off more than I can  chew so I I I did something I thought I could  

handle that thing but I actually couldn't all  right so that's the situation uh I'm I'm in a  

situation where like my boss says hey I have this  new project I'd like you to manage and I say okay  

I I think I can handle that thing and it's it's  way too much it's overwhelming for me I bit off  

more than I could chew okay so for this one you  will hear like it can uh and also could uh like  

if you're talking about the past so I bit off more  than I could chew all right a bit off more than I  

could chew all right hopefully that makes sense so  to bite off more than you can chew means you're in  

a situation where uh something is overwhelming  for you uh or you're uh yeah you're unable to  

to handle something for it uh Bridget says yes  another like in this same situation again there  

are many ways we might Express that so another one  is your eyes are bigger than your stomach okay now  

that one particularly it's it's it's really used  for talking about food like you order too much  

food but you could use it in other situations  as well but bite off more than you can chew is  

more commonly used in in way more situations so  it's the same kind of idea where you're being  

overwhelmed by something so you thought you  could do it but you actually can't all right  

so same idea so your eyes are bigger than your uh  your your eyes are like bigger than what did you  

what did you spe yeah like your eyes are bigger  than your like stomach or whatever uh there are  

different ways you could express it but yeah so  that's typically more for uh for food um but you  

could use it for other situations like that like  like at work but typically bite off more than you  

can chew is more commonly used all right I think  people are getting it though all right not my cup  

of tea yes people are just putting putting random  idioms in there all right uh let's see L say you  

don't think a lot it's quickly answer usually a  piece of cake ah yes if you're if you're talking  

about that different kind of sentence at all yes  so like a piece of cake means to do something  

easily it's not about like performing something  quick quickly I guess you I mean you could do  

something well if you do it quickly um but a  piece of cake just means you're able to do it  

well because it's easy for you to do all right  so we always want to understand the situation  

first you see someone like one person is able  to to like erase the board and they do it like  

like they erased it very well very easily very  quickly I say wow like I'm it's really hard for  

me to erase the board for some reason and but for  you it's a piece of cake so it's just very easy to  

do all right moving on let's see how many we of  these would get through we're at 31 minutes all  

righty keep the party going over here all right  next one uh let's say I have a problem so again  

we begin with the situation so I'm talking with  a friend of mine about a problem uh and maybe I'm  

I'm I don't know if I should quit my job and move  to another another city uh or if I should keep my  

job and maybe I don't know work harder and get a  raise or something like that so I have a choice  

uh there's some kind of problem I have but I  don't want to deal with it right now so I'm  

going to maybe like delay that or do something  else and I will think about that problem later  

uh and a lot of people do this so this is a  common a common situation where people people  

don't like making especially big decisions so  where we have to choose something that could  

be a big impact on our life or our family and we  think well I I'll maybe I'll I'll not deal with  

it now I'll deal with it later and so the idea  of that uh is to kick so Kick the Can down the

road to Kick the Can down the road so if you  imagine yourself you're walking uh and sometimes  

if you see a little rock or act an actual can on  it like some garbage or something like that you  

might kick it just for fun uh but this is the  same idea of you're kind of kicking something  

down the road but you will keep walking and you  will have to meet that thing again all right so  

even if you have a problem which is like the can  in this case you're just kicking it down the road  

so you often hear this problem uh or this idea  talked about in government or business as well so  

in government like maybe they they don't want to  have a I don't know what's a good example like a  

there there's like a law that people want to pass  uh and maybe it will cause trouble for people in  

the future so they're they're taking something and  they're deciding well we're going to I don't know  

we're going to change some law that hurts people  like young people in the future uh so the people  

right now don't have to deal with the problem but  the people in the future will so the government  

is kicking the can down the road and someone will  have to deal with that problem then so you have to  

confront the problem at some point but you don't  do it now you are kicking the can down the road  

all right so always understand the situation  first and then you can think oh there might  

actually be other ways to express this but this  is uh uh typically a way that people would would  

Express this situation so there's a problem  you want to deal with it but H maybe you'll  

deal with it later all right so to kick a can uh  down the road over here all right uh let's see  

how to handle the eye contact on my boss that  time I can't compl about that uh if if you're  

what is it just like like the the electric sorts  asks uh about that so if you're if your boss is  

asking you a question and you don't have a good  answer I would I would direct his attention as  

something else so I would say if he's looking  at me I would say oh look at this you know and  

try to you know draw something or here's like a  chart or something like that if you're if you're  

worried about the eye contact that's how you would  do it uh incidentally that that's also like a good  

a good thing for like going on a date with someone  so if you let's say you go on a first date uh you  

meet someone uh it's much better to try to find  something you can do rather than just like sit  

across from each other at a table because if you  don't talk very well that could be an awkward  

situation but if you go somewhere and do something  like you're you're looking at something else  

together so it's a little less awkward and maybe  you can uh develop like a a better relationship  

in that way so find something else to look at yes  TJ uh please guys like the video so more people  

can see it yes all right ghost character can Kick  the Can that's true CA is back the manager yes a  

lot of a lot of likes very good all right next  up all right oh this is another good one uh so  

we just talked about uh an example where there's  a problem you have and you're going to deal with  

it later but sometimes uh you have two problems  and you don't know what you do like either way  

you're you going to have some kind of problem  so you are you can think about this like here  

is like you actually I should draw probably a  sad face on that oh no so the person is not in  

a very good mood because uh they have kind of two  problems and we typically say like you're caught  

between Like a Rock uh and a hard place so a hard  place we're talking about something difficult so  

the rock like you can't get around that thing so  this is two uh excuse me to be caught c a u g HT

between a rock and a hard

place to be caught between a rock and a hard place  so in this case like hard just means difficult  

like a rock is also hard probably uh so it sounds  like it's kind of a funny expression I guess you  

could actually be between two rocks but the point  is you have some situation where if you you can't  

go that way and you can't go that way either so  you're stuck so like if I if I quit my job then  

maybe I will also uh not have enough money to  to feed my family but I hate my job also okay  

so some people they don't like what they do but  they have to keep doing it because they don't have  

a different option or something they are caught  between a rock and a hard place okay now typically  

you could just say something simple like I feel  stuck or I feel trapped it's the same idea but  

you will hear this longer expression to be caught  like I'm caught between a rock in a hard place and  

often when people use idioms like this uh you will  hear natives kind of Express an idea and then they  

will they're they're kind of repeating themselves  because typically if you if I only say this I talk  

to my friend I and I begin a conversation this way  and I say hey I'm caught between a rock and a hard  

place now he understands my friend understands  this situation there's something like this where  

I can't do this thing and I can't do that thing  or there will be a problem either way so this is  

what it means to be caught between a rock in a  hard place uh but then I would have to explain  

what that means all right so what specifically  am I talking about so if I say this uh I'm  

caught between a rock and a hard place I still  have to explain what that situation actually is  

is okay so the person knows that I'm in some kind  of trouble but then they want to know well what  

what's the problem okay so then I will explain  well it's work or my wife or my kids or I have a  

medical problem or something like that I'm caught  between a rock and a hard place so often when we  

use idioms like this like you will especially a  longer uh a longer phrase in this way uh you will  

hear either like before or after you can use this  so you can tell your friend first that you have a  

problem I have a problem at work and then you rep  you kind of add this to just make it sound a bit  

more native I'm caught between a rock and a hard  place so it's describing how you feel about being  

in this situation to be caught between a rock  and our place all right all right let's keep

moving this is nice just want to make sure I have  to check chat make sure the video doesn't just  

like freeze or something on me but is everybody  getting this you are these becoming more clear if  

you didn't know them already or even if you did  are you feeling more confident about them so the  

whole point of this by understanding it more like  a native you should feel oh I'm I'm understanding  

it now so uh you should start feeling more  confident about uh saying these things all right  

next up uh let's see oh there's another good one  uh let's say uh so the situation again uh is I'm  

I'm like working really hard on a project let's  say I I stay up very late so I'm staying up until  

like like 3 in the morning uh so I don't get much  sleep and then I wake up at at 5: to keep working  

on that project okay so I'm working very hard uh  I'm kind of overwhelming myself I probably should  

get some sleep but I really need to do that thing  so this is a situation all right so I'm describing  

this to someone and they say to me wow you are  really to burn they would probably they would  

say like you are burning or what but I'll just  give you the actual edium here to burn burn the

candle at both ends to burn the candle at both  ends so the idea of this if we look at a regular  

candle so here's a candle with a little flame on  that a regular candle burns Burns this way and  

it burns pretty slowly because it's just burning  here so this is one end of the candle but we could  

imagine another candle like this that has two ends  so both ends have the flame on it like that and  

we can imagine this would burn twice as fast okay  so two times faster so if you're working normally  

you're just kind of burning a candle we don't  use that as an expression but from this idea we  

get this one so we're burning the handle at both  ends so if I'm working really hard I'm staying up  

uh really late and I'm waking up very early I  only get 2 hours of sleep in here if I get any  

sleep at all uh I'm working very hard and you can  feel like I'm look very tired and I'm I'm you know  

not very happy about whatever I'm working very  hard I'm burning the candle at both ends burning  

the candle at both ends so this is uh typically  used for like business situations where people  

talking about how hard they're working or a  school student maybe they're working on some  

some project or a paper they have to write for  a class uh and so that's how we have that oh I'm  

burning the candle at both hands uh Louis says  use the paper well you probably you say toilet  

paper not a paper toilet hopefully you don't  if a paper toilet would mean a toilet that's  

made out of paper and you probably don't want  that but that would be pretty funny so yes like  

toilet paper is the paper we use for toilets  uh but yes uh so burning the candle at both  

ends it means you're working you're kind of  over overworking yourself you're stretching  

yourself out or too thin I would say all right  uh we'll keep going look at that we're moving  

quickly though so I think we've done seven  of these so far if I didn't skip anything uh

yep but pretty easy seems like people don't have  many questions about these which is nice all  

right glad to hear people are uh understanding  this all right let's see electric uh sort says  

we have big team as Leaders sometime my mind  something missing words I can't explain yes  

so this is a typical thing that happens to  many English Learners if that's what you're  

talking about like you want to say something  but you're not able to express it uh but if you  

start understanding English more like a native  speaker you start learning English as a first  

language and understanding it like a native  rather than as a learner through a typical  

like second language explanation then you will  understand the language better and that's how  

you will become more confident and fluent so  remember you don't need to spend a lot of time  

practicing with other people and practicing just  means repeating things you already know it's much  

better to get lots of good explanations or good  examples from people using the language so when  

you understand the language you feel confident and  that's when you speak okay all right uh moving on  

to our next example make sure we have let's see  Cynthia says yes pretty clean and well explained  

thanks glad to here and steppan says hello from uh  Kenya and we got let's see George from Mexico all

right next example so we have our situation  over here uh situation is I'm doing something  

but like let's say I'm I'm making a uh like a  a recipe for my uh for some food that I sell so  

usually I use like the best finest ingredients  and I I spend a little bit more money to do  

that but today like maybe I don't have so much  money so I'm going to get some lower quality  

ingredients and maybe people won't care uh but  actually some people notice it uh but in this  

case like I'm doing something when I'm talking  about making something uh like making some food  

uh and I'm not doing it very well  so I'm I'm I'm not doing it as  

well as I could be doing it and in this  expression we just call this uh cutting

Corners now this is a very simple idiom a way of  expressing this idea of doing something that you  

should be doing but you're not doing it very  well and the idea comes from you can imagine  

uh somebody walking over here here's like a  sidewalk so here's like the street over here  

here's a sidewalk and here's some grass uh people  will typically walk down this way and instead of  

walking here like the correct way to walk is  down here and you walk that way but you decide  

no I'm just going to cut this corner and just  walk across the grass over here to cut Corners  

so you might let's say this is someone's house so  they have a grass lawn over here people if if you  

don't have a fence or something like that then  people will cut this corner usually so cutting  

Corners is anytime you're you're trying to do  something and uh you don't want to maybe put  

in the work so it's more work it takes more time  to walk this whole way all right and when you're  

cutting cutting corners on things it might not be  that big of a deal like for you walking on some  

grass but lots of people walking on this grass  will kill the grass on this this section of uh  

of this area if unless it's a park or something  like that but uh when people talk about cutting  

Corners so you could cut Corners at work you  could cut Corners at school it's just anytime  

you're doing something where you should be doing  this but you're going to do it at a lower level  

or intentionally not do it very well because  you're trying to save time or energy to cut  

Corners okay so this is different from if you  talk about like cutting costs you can cut costs  

on things that maybe you don't need uh but when  you cut Corners you're actually doing something  

that will hurt the situation somehow and it might  not hurt you now maybe you're like kicking the can  

down the road a little bit uh well a problem will  happen it will come again later but you will have  

to deal with it at some point but cutting Corners  in general just means to take something like this  

we're going to cut this corner over here and I  don't really care so much about it uh or I'm just  

trying to save myself some time but it's probably  causing some kind of trouble or harm to someone  

okay yes so you could be cutting Corners like to  finish something again uh but it it it usually  

is lowering the quality of that thing so you're  doing something less well like I get uh I don't  

know like lower quality markers or lower quality  microphone to try to save money or something like  

that like I'm cutting corners on things okay  so if you're talking about cutting corners  

on something so this restaurant I I I like they  they stop using this really good ingredient like  

good eggs or something like that I notice oh  like the the the food tastes worse so I notice  

they're cutting corners on ingredients okay  so cutting corners on something uh let's see  

all right so says hi Drew can you explain what  is the difference between even though and even  

if uh I'm not going to do that in this video but  I've covered that if you search the channel you  

should be able to find uh content about that  Stephen says any software engineer here okay  

you guys are talking with each other hello sir  good morning from Malaysia I'm single father for  

three young kids well welcome cutting Corners okay  you guys got that already all right see I don't  

like cutting Corners like often cutting Corners in  language learning uh just means that you're you're  

trying to give someone like a translation and you  notice it it takes a little bit more time to get  

a really good understanding of something but if  you get a good understanding it's much faster  

actually in the long run uh than than learning the  traditional way so actually if you're learning the  

traditional way like through translations you're  kicking the can down the road uh where like you're  

kind of learning things but you won't be able to  use that fluently okay so it's better just solve  

the problem understand uh what's happening and  then you will feel more confident when you speak

all right let's see okay you guys are  speaking with each other glad to hear  

so Stephen says what is the meaning of shortcut  yeah shortcut is a in in a similar way where uh  

like maybe you're you're Crossing something  like there or it's just a faster way to do  

it but it's typically not like hurtful  you know it's not going to harm you in  

some way or harm other people it's just a  faster way of doing something a short cut  

and it might actually help you but uh so  cutting Corners is more of a negative idea  

of you're not doing something you should do and  that's probably going to hurt you some way okay  

so I could do like like a learning shortcut uh  it's actually going to benefit people rather than  

hurting them but if I cut Corners as a teacher  so I'm trying to help you learn I'm just like  

okay here's this vocabulary and that's what it  means and here's this vocabulary and that's what  

it means I'm cutting Corners in actually helping  you understand because the job of the teacher is  

to make the language understandable so you feel  confident about speaking okay so good question  

though uh let's see hey there J say elar nice to  see you there have you watched Eurovision no I  

have not all right I think we have two more  look at that we're working through only 50

minutes all right next one uh so let's  say I am walking down the street uh and  

uh I don't know I I happen to notice  some very uh attract Ive lady you know  

just I'm walking down the street and I  see oh like you know I wasn't I wasn't  

thinking about that lady but it's it's like  I see her and like oh like she kind of she  

got my attention right there uh so we uh use a  very simple idiom to talk about this to catch

someone's to catch someone's eye to catch  someone's eye so you can think about it  

it's like she reached out and grabbed me and  was like ah like like I'm I'm looking this way  

and I kind of notice her and like oh like  she caught my eye she caught my eye now we  

use typically talking about eye because you only  need to kind of catch one of them we don't talk  

we don't use the Expression catch someone's eyes  we don't use the plural for this we just say she  

caught my eye or to catch someone's eye so you  would use this like the girl caught his eye or  

the guy caught you know like that car caught my  eye or that $2 million bicycle caught my eye or  

that uh this ambulance is like catching my ear  over here this is kind of a joking way of using  

the language although people don't use that but  you could and logically you would be able to  

say that uh but this is a common phrase to catch  someone's eye to catch someone's eye all right yes  

so we can say like to catch someone's attention  but I wanted to give something that's even simpler  

uh just easier to understand and remember to catch  someone's eye so yes it's also uh at the same time  

you're catching someone's attention Okay and now  yes uh so Among Us episode I like that name so if  

we if you catch someone's eye so maybe I kind of  noticed something something caught my eye but now  

it is keeping my attention so if I'm if I'm still  looking at it so it's keeping my attention keeping  

my attention so that's probably a bad idea like if  I'm walking down the street let's say my wife is  

with me and I'm walking in some like I don't know  lovely lady catches my eye I'm just like oh you  

know uh but then I I don't want to keep looking  and staring at somebody that would be that would  

be a little bit mean you know and so I might you  know I would I would keep walking but I remember  

uh there was a comedian years ago uh and and he  was this is kind of uh kind of related to this  

but uh he is explaining here's how to look at  women uh if you like let's say if you're out  

walking with your wife or your girlfriend or  something and you and you see like some woman  

catches your eye and but you actually want  to look at that woman you would say like oh  

my go like look at that woman over there can you  believe she's dressed like that so you actually  

get your like wife or girlfriend to look at  that woman too that was his advice anyway  

uh so that is to catch someone's eye all  right so yes you can also say to catch  

someone's attention but to catch someone's eye  all right and the last one uh good one to end

on in this example our situation over here is that  maybe I'm being uh I'm in a fight or I'm uh I'm  

trying to do something I'm being very overwhelmed  by that thing and it's very difficult for me and  

it just decide I quit I quit so when I give up  uh a very common way of expressing this is to

throw in the towel to throw in the towel now  this idea comes from boxing uh I guess it could  

come from like wrestling too or whatever but you  imagine a like a boxing ring over here we have  

two uh boxers and one guy gets he gets knocked  out so he's lying down on the ground and usually  

they have like a manager on each on each side  of the boxing ring and the manager will take  

a towel like physically here's a towel so he  actually physically throws his towel into the  

ring like that to throw in the towel and that  means okay we give up we give up or we quit so  

to the phrasal verb to give up means okay I'm  going to accept defeat I lose okay or to quit

so if something any kind of thing it doesn't  obviously you can see how this comes from boxing  

that's a physical thing where we actually throw  in the towel but you can throw in the towel for  

anything so going back to my example before uh I'm  trying to be a teacher in uh when I when I I go to  

a classroom and I say hey I can I can be a teacher  uh in this class of little kids there are 100 kids  

running around I don't have much experience um  but but I will try to try my best or whatever but  

I fail and I okay I I quit I give up I throw in  the towel throw in the towel all right so any of  

these things are fine you can say I quit or I give  up but this is just a more casual conversational  

way that shows that you understand the language  the same way a native does okay so remember we're  

throwing in the towel so the the manager is on  the outside of the Ring he throws the towel inside  

like to throw in the towel okay to throw in the  towel all right all right let me check chat make  

sure everybody's following let's see Atomic says  give in uh so give in is a different phrasal verb  

with a different meaning give in oops Excuse  me give I wrote given give in now to give in  

to something means to accept that thing like let's  say I I uh I'm walking down the street and again  

I see the like lovely uh lady with the beautiful  dress on or whatever and I give in to Temptation  

and I walk over and talk to her instead of staying  with my wife or girlfriend all right so I'm giving  

in to something it means I'm kind of accepting  like something that is pulling me all right so  

if I see some delicious cookies sitting on the  counter at home and I I know I shouldn't eat them  

but oh I just want oh I want a cookie so I give  in and eat a cookie so I accept that thing it's  

so it's it's kind of it's quitting in a way but  it's a very specific thing where you're talking  

about accepting like something that's pulling you  in some way all right so the cookies are pulling  

you or the beautiful woman or whatever uh anything  where you accept that thing you give in to that  

thing so you give in to pressure like other people  like go on Drew you should do it you should do it  

and I'm like no I don't want to I don't want to  and they go ahead go ahead and I say okay fine I  

give in yes so canero says surrender all right  but I'm trying to explain it so you understand  

the situation rather than just get a definition  of it uh but yes you're you're accepting something  

you're surrendering to that thing okay all  right uh make sure we got everybody uh Cynthia  

says that's great I never understood why it was  throwing in the towel great info yes and so as  

you understand the language better you feel more  confident about speaking isn't that interesting  

so you don't you don't become more confident by  repeating the phrase again and again to throw  

in the towel to throw in the towel to throw in the  towel but when you think like oh look at that like  

the manager is throwing in the towel and that is  like a sign for quitting we give up okay throw in  

the towel so if I'm at work I have an overwhelming  project or the school example where I'm talking  

with like the principal I say okay I give up  I throw in the towel I can't watch a class of  

100 children by myself okay so I give up I throw  in the towel all right illness say We Will Never  

Surrender that's right all right uh let's see PGT  says we all really glad to having Drew here please  

put some jokes while you explain to us drew it  will be more fun some more jokes more jokes well  

I guess I could put some more jokes in there if  I think of any I don't really know a lot of jokes  

actually I mean I try to be entertaining like say  something if I think about it but I don't really  

know a lot of a lot of jokes do do you want to  know I I I'll tell you uh do you want you want to  

hear my it's not my joke but like one of the three  jokes that I know if you if you want if a bunch of  

people tell me yes Drew tell me the joke uh I will  tell you the joke all right uh do you have classes  

for intermediate level students says R KD yes so  this is what fluent for life is uh so if you enjoy  

these explanations and you would like to learn  a lot more not only vocabulary but also seeing  

how natives are using the things and you really  become a confident speaker because we help you  

understand the language so well that's what we do  influent for life so it's for intermediate uh and  

advanced speakers who know a lot of English but  still don't speak and typically the reason they  

don't is because they still have doubts about the  language so we uh eliminate the doubt and that's  

what still uh stops you from speaking so you start  speaking uh so very easy to understand uh let's  

see so in Spanish it says terar toala oh is that  towel I guess maybe it's the same thing yeah so if  

you would have boxing same kind of thing uh Lily  says do I teach writing uh not specifically but if  

you'd like to get better at writing just look for  people who write well and and copy that writing  

so you get like actually write it out by hand so  you get a good sense for how to write Adriana from  

Brazil Jean Claude hello over there says hi and  uh let's see ol Deo or dejo from Nigeria Brazil  

Drew when will you have an offer for your  programs uh well if you if you're talking  

about like an offer you mean like for fluent for  life or whatever uh I don't know maybe in a couple  

of months or something maybe like maybe we'll do  like a Black Friday thing maybe um but you never  

know if you're if you're on our list uh maybe  you will get an offer from us so Cynthia says  

yes please tell me the J all right Fabio uh hi  Drew I see there Nicholas says hi from Dominican  

Republic hello good evening well we only got one  person to hear the joke so maybe I will save the  

joke for another time it's not even really that  funny of a joke uh but again like I'm I'm not I'm  

not very good with just like remembering jokes I  enjoy jokes a lot so if I hear them but it just  

uh jokes and I and I'm kind of a like a silly  a silly person in general but but hopefully uh  

everybody gets the idea here when you especially  if you're trying to learn a language by yourself  

we don't want to just begin with the vocabulary  you might hear something but you should stop  

and think okay wait a minute I heard this but  what's happening what is the situation why did  

someone say that so what is happening here and  why did someone say this thing and even if you  

don't understand the whole thing especially  idioms they can look confusing but they're  

actually not if you understand the origin of these  things so that's what we're doing in this video  

uh but again the whole point is to get some  vocabulary and rather than quickly try to  

translate that thing just spend a moment and  think oh like someone did something well or  

some other situation where they have uh I don't  know like they did a bad thing or maybe they're  

upset about something and then they they use this  this is how children learn the language this is  

how you learned your native language and so if  you learn English the same way uh then you will  

become a much more confident speaker all right  see if anybody has any final uh questions over  

there hello good evening says Sergio what's the  difference between real and apparent uh well those  

could be two different things I mean it depends  on the situation as I often say uh so we always  

begin with the situation something might be uh  something is actually real like maybe this is a  

like the reality is this is a or this is an eraser  uh but apparently it's like actually something  

else or I could I might see it in a different way  uh but I recommend you get more examples of that  

rather than me continuing uh giving a bunch of  examples but I would find uh a bunch of examples  

like either through chat GPT whenever you have uh  vocabulary like that and often uh I try to answer  

questions where I think it might be difficult for  you to get a good explanation from like chat gbt  

or or Google or whatever all right uh let's see  a couple more here Neil says uh uh Anette says  

yes please a Carmella a man from Canary Islands  writing from Ecuador some advises for essays well  

I focus on get I would I would go like there are  lots of YouTube channels I'm sure that talk about  

that Jed in French throw the towel please ride  your live calendar uh well the I I I don't I  

don't have a calendar for this because sometimes  I don't do these on on a schedule but typically  

it's Monday and Thursday during the week but that  schedule might not be like the same all the time  

so like I thought I would do a video this Monday  this week but I did not all right so you want to  

hear the joke can I be fluent to the point where  I can't even tell if I'm American or not is it  

possible yeah sure it just depends on how you  learn did you over the girls who floor the bottle  

in the window I don't know what that means F all  right first time catching you live uh glad I did  

when are these usually again they are Mondays uh  Mondays and uh uh Thursdays Japan time uh olale  

says I can construct English sentences perfectly  but I can speak fluent on do you mean you cannot  

please how can I go about this uh again the basic  idea is that if you have doubts about your English  

that's what's going to stop you from speaking and  so people typically have doubts because they're  

learning a language as a second language rather  than uh as a first language uh and so when you  

have those issues uh that's what will cause you to  to not speak okay so you can know the language and  

understand it but not understand it well enough  to actually communicate with people okay so even  

like people say oh I understand what you're saying  but you can still have doubts that stop you from  

speaking uh let's see how often do you use the  idioms you presented Drew are you actually using  

them or not actually that's a good question but  yes like I will use idioms sometimes I and I my  

the way I speak like normally as a as like a  native fluent speaker depends on the person  

I'm speaking with so if I know someone knows a lot  about movies I will use more like more idioms or  

quotes or something like that from movies because  the point of the uh the communication is actually  

to connect with that person okay so that's why  when I'm speaking with people that maybe don't  

know as much I'm going to like lower my speed  I'm going to speak more clearly I'm tailoring  

my speech to the people I'm speaking with and so  that's the same if I'm speaking with natives as  

well so let's say I'm I'm speaking with uh like  a native speaker but it's a grandmother who can't  

hear very well I'm going to speak more slowly  and probably not use a lot of movie quotes or  

things that maybe she might not know all right  uh I did actually we have a lesson said about  

this in uh fluent for life about generations and  talking uh like learning the vocabulary for the  

if you spend a lot of time talking with older  people then you should watch movies from that  

era where they were young and like they would know  that because if you can make a making a connection  

with someone that's even more important than just  using the language well so I can like when I was  

in uh first in Japan and couldn't speak very well  uh I'm just trying to understand things through  

situations once I understood uh like how to how to  learn Japanese the right way um but I would have  

like just situations where I could I could say  something and uh and I I could actually connect  

with the person well because I use something that  they knew that they didn't expect maybe I would  

know uh so like an example uh so I I remember like  my first year in Japan where I couldn't speak very  

well at all we had like a teacher come to the  new a new teacher come to the school uh and I  

was a new teacher there and I still couldn't speak  very well and he was uh I was talking to actually  

some just some some Japanese students it was at a  junior high school and he came over to us I was in  

I was kind of visiting his gym class and uh he he  just said something very quickly to me in Japanese  

that I couldn't understand and he was kind of  trying to embarrass me a little bit in front of  

uh in front of these like it was I think it was  just like a group of students and very quickly I  

just said like a tongue twister that I knew in  japanes and like so it had nothing to do with  

what he said but he was kind of impressed by I was  able to come back with with just like something  

that was able to make a connection in that in that  sense so that's kind of a long way of explaining  

that it's a like a high uh level we talk like  some about like this kind of thing these kinds of  

things uh influent for life but uh but yeah he was  he was quite impressed and the and the kids were  

also like cuz they understood what was happening  I was having a conversation he walks over and he  

was like blah blah blah blah I don't really  remember exactly what he said but I was just

like I just I just said it like very quickly  which is a Japanese tongue twister for their two  

chickens in the yard Nan to anyway uh and I don't  even remember if I said it very well but cuz that  

was many years ago that was like 20 years ago now  but but anyway uh it was impressive at the time  

not because I I like responded well but I was able  to make a connection with that person uh all right  

let's see before we get too many more questions  so we've been going for about an hour so far let's  

see Hello teacher man from Canary okay I got that  one uh can you tell me how to use the word sort  

of just Google that just Google examples of that  you'll see lots of examples again like the the  

more you can if you the my job or the best help  I can give you is for when you when you actually  

don't understand something and you and you've  like already tried to figure that thing out but  

you still don't understand why we do something  that's where I can help you but if you're just  

looking for like a quick like something like sort  of you can easily Google that all right uh let's

see let me see uh okay out of pocket meaning  same thing just Google that e like easy easy  

things like that just Google it uh same  thing would defy anybody just asking me  

meanings of random words like you could easily  Google that F said did you know about the girl  

who flow the bottle to the window to see  the ah ah that that kind of joke I see  

she like she threw a bottle to see a bottle  fly that's like that's like a like a kid a  

kid joke do you have any opinion on bitcoin and  cryptocurrencies yeah I don't know anything about  

those I'm not I'm not the person to ask says  how are you tell me some words in Japanese I  

just gave you some what are you do in Japan  I'm doing it right now this is what I do I  

help people learn English and speak fluently so I  do that with people in Japan too but I don't have  

a like a physical classroom anymore John Wilson  says hi Drew would you be able to practice real  

English with English Learners over the phone no  no I wouldn't do that because it would it would  

be uh it it'd be like incredibly expensive it  would cost you an arm and a leg to do that with  

me but the point is like you you don't you  don't become fluent by by practicing your  

English over the phone you become fluent by really  understanding the language well and so everything  

that I've already done like all the lessons it's  all it's all laid out for people in fluent for  

life so it's it's also people people think that  if they have a private teacher that they're going  

to become fluent but the problem they find is  that uh speaking with that person that person  

might speak in a certain way or just like the way  I'm speaking to you now people will tailor they  

will change they will alter their speech and so  you might be able to understand that speaker and  

you might learn a lot of vocabulary but there's  still a whole world of people especially lots of  

natives that don't speak clearly so you need to  get uh Expos Ure to that English as well that's  

how you become a much more confident speaker  so you need to hear lots of English and you  

need to hear that from different people not just  one person K says hello teacher Drew uh I threw  

in the towel to join this lesson because I have  to go to work ex that correct uh yes so you can  

just say like I'm I'm throwing in the towel for  this lesson like by by you quitting but again  

like you're not really quitting you I guess  you could say that but yeah you can just say

because you're leaving you're leaving you're  leaving before I'm leaving it's okay but no  

no need to be so polite uh I wish I understand  you all you say very soon Sergio keep keep keep  

listening keep practicing Daniel says hi Drew do  you think it is possible to assimilate entirely  

to your target language I feel idioms and some  cultural references are very hard to adapt to it  

also depends on where people grow up uh it's more  about how how you learn with the language so what  

language you learn and how you learn it uh and  so I I could I could live in a box but if I'm  

still getting all the right input I would become  fluent the same way a native does because they're  

just getting that same information too so it's  nice if I can speak with other people but it's  

it's not as necessary as people think so people  think you need to spend lots of time practicing  

like speaking with other people but the the  actual Improvement comes when you understand  

things better so if you're talking with someone  and they say something and you're and you think  

oh like I understand that better that aha moment  that you get when you understand something better  

that's how you become a more confident speaker  all right John Claud I would like to be in touch  

with you well you can uh comment and there you  are now you're in touch guadal lupz doesn't know  

anything in English and she asks if you can turn  her into turn into her an English citizen well I  

don't know anything about that unfortunately  I'm reading Sherlock Holmes book every day  

for level two to three it's helpful or not um I  don't I know I I actually don't recommend books  

for people learning English well not I won't  say that uh for a lot of people learning like  

they might take a novel or something like you're  reading Sherlock Holmes and the problem with that  

is that you're not getting enough naturally  varied review so you might hear something but  

then forget it later and you're understanding a  novel but maybe you're not actually feeling more  

confident about that vocabulary so some things you  will improve with but it's much better to focus  

on specific things understand them really well  and then go on to something else and as you get  

better then a novel and things like that will be  will be better but you probably will not speak  

like an author of a book um you know like like  Sherlock Holmes like you're not going to speak  

like Sherlock Holmes in the way he speaks just by  reading uh like reading his words it's just it's  

just not very likely all right uh K says yes  Fabiano uh do you you ever you would say have  

you ever served uh in the Army uh no I have not  besides language learning how do you uh learn new  

skills what's a secret Jew uh typically what I've  discovered um as a good question uh is that you're  

looking for like a Lynch pin thing so a Lynch pin  uh or even it's just some like it's like a like  

the the actual thing that stops you from doing  something uh I should spend more time thinking  

about this before I explain it but the the it  applies to anything you might learn so I'll give  

you I'll give you the quick example I gave uh this  is influent for life also in the education I think  

it's in education and learning uh that lesson  step so if you're a member you can go to that  

and actually watch me do this um but this is where  I'm I was walking not far from where I am right  

now and I saw some I think high school or college  kids and they had a BMX bike and so this is a bike  

where you can do tricks on it you can spin the The  Handlebar around and and try to jump and stand on  

the bike that kind of thing and I was there with  a friend of mine and we had my camera and so we  

recorded me I just said hey will you teach me  that trick so I'm trying to learn something and  

this was I it was just happen to be like a a nice  coincidence that we could we could record that and  

we turned that into a lesson in the program about  how it worked and how I actually learn this thing  

and so there are lots of different pieces of this  um where trying to learn something whatever it is  

like learning a language or learning how to do a  trick on a bicycle um and so I I watched them and  

I was and I was trying to copy what they did so  the the trick I was doing was you you kind of sit  

on the bicycle and flip the bike up so you're on  the back wheel and you turn the handlebar around  

like that so the front bar of a BMX bike you can  rotate it all the way around a regular bike you  

can't usually because they're there's uh like  brake lines on it so you can't turn it around  

but this one you could uh and so they were doing  that trick and I said oh could you teach me how to  

do that and so they were they they spent maybe 20  minutes trying to show me how to do the trick and  

I still couldn't do it because I would I would  flip the bike up and kind of fall off the side  

of the bike so I couldn't really do it very well  I could only hold the bike up just a little bit  

and kind of turn the turn the The Handlebar just a  little bit and and I like they were they were kind  

of thinking what's the best way to teach me this  and but then they gave me like the Lynch pin so  

the Lynch pin is like what's the thing that holds  it all together that makes it possible and the  

Lynch pin uh in that example was actually holding  the bike with my legs which I was not doing before  

so I was I was kind of sitting on the bike if you  can imagine like I was on the bike and my feed are  

on the the handlebars like this um and I'm and  I'm I'm just kind of like the bike is kind of  

moving around between my legs and he was like well  actually if you like kind of squeeze the bike a  

lot with your legs it's much easier to control the  bike and like very quickly I was able to do the  

trick after that so that when people are trying to  teach something they have to be looking for like  

the Lynch pin what is the like the the kind of one  thing there uh that would stop you if you didn't  

know about it or if you couldn't do that thing  so if you're trying to learn anything quickly  

you want to look for that and then the way the L  the Lynch pin is kind of like a small Domino so  

it's the easiest thing to do if you push it over  then it it knocks over a larger Domino and in the  

larger one a larger one so if you try to push on  this Domino first like this could be a very heavy  

thing but you can actually push on a very tiny  Domino here it knocks these other ones over very  

easily so with a very tiny amount of effort you  can do something and move something that's very  

okay so I was at at first when I'm trying to  learn how to do this I was focusing on this kind  

of thing like okay how do I turn the handlebar or  do this other thing but I should have learned this  

first so they didn't think about how to teach me  this and now maybe they understand it better but  

I was I was looking for that thing so what is  the Lynch pin what's like the first thing the  

easiest thing I could do so I could try to force  myself to do this and practice a lot and really  

try to do it but it's much easier if you find  like that one thing the one thing that makes  

the rest of it possible and it's much easier to  do so uh this same idea the the one thing that  

I discovered about language learning is that  doubt is what stops people from getting fluent  

all right so that's what actually stops people  from communicating so a lot of people are when  

they're learning they're trying to push down the  big Domino over here the big Domino is like I need  

to practice speaking a lot so they try to practice  speaking a lot or they try to study study a lot of  

the language but they find they they still can't  speak and that's because like the actual Lynch  

pin thing the important thing is it's just the  doubt that you have so it's much easier to push  

this Domino down if you eliminate the doubt okay  so if you want to learn anything that's what you  

should be looking for I understand how to do this  with language learning now but typically a skill  

has something like this where you're there's like  a very tiny piece of that thing where it's very  

easy to do and that makes makes everything else  much easier okay I think the chat got kind of  

quiet there but let me know if that story makes  sense so whether you're trying to get fluent uh  

in a language or you want to do anything else but  that's that's how you would learn things and so  

that's how I try to learn things now um so like  rather than um rather than thinking about like  

like obvious things like speaking practice the  the speaking practice doesn't help you if you  

still feel doubt so you can think about like okay  I have to if I still feel doubt then I need to go  

back to the thing that's really stopping me which  is the doubt and once I once I clear the doubt  

then everything else becomes much easier okay so  I what I did in this in this video I gave you a  

bunch of what I call fluency triggers uh and these  are what eliminate the doubt so somebody commented  

maybe that was Cynthia I think uh about not  understanding like oh why do we throw in a towel  

what does that what does that mean um and so the  the example of that like when you see how it works  

you eliminate the doubt and now you understand  and you can use it uh like use it fluently okay  

so that's my my quick explanation about how to how  to like learn anything faster and more easily all  

right uh we'll get through some final questions  over here uh is it by listening or by reading  

can make some influent it just by understanding  that's the whole point Tom nice to see you there  

and Alex from China again nice to see you there  uh I would like to improve my English skills so  

that I could become a teacher this is the reason  well there you go that's how you do it you must  

eliminate the doubt by understanding the language  very well and that's when you speak Daniel says  

I think I sound a bit academic or formal because  that is how I learn the language yeah that would  

be a good reason for that and I have a hard time  getting some idioms and local Expressions yeah  

so now you should spend more of your time learning  the more kind of casual conversational things that  

help you speak if you want to sound more like  that mush says good evening or good morning I  

missed last two lives but watch them offline glad  to hear it Fabio says Drew how is spring in Japan  

it's lovely uh spring if you ever come to Japan  spring and fall are the best times to come cuz  

winter is quite cold and summer is quite hot it's  actually ridiculously hot uh and so I I struggle  

even just like walking around outside for a minute  to do something I I'm just covered with covered  

with sweat all right de P says I know a lot of  good words but I am still not able to use those  

words in speaking even if I truly understand those  words what should I do well I would challenge you  

about that do you really understand those words so  when you think about it like if you're if there's  

a word you want to say but you don't say it you  have to ask yourself why am I worried about how  

it sounds do I not know the pronunciation or I'm  not quite sure about the usage of something so you  

still have some kind of doubt uh or um maybe you  just like you use it very infrequently and and you  

forget it but typically it's because people don't  know um the the actual ability to communicate  

fluently uh means that you would even if you  forget one word you can easily use something  

else so that happens to me I forgot some English  word I don't know and I'm a native speaker I for  

I forget English words all the time but I it's not  it's not because I don't know them very well it's  

just like maybe I can't think of that word at that  moment moment but I use something else and can  

express the same thing so that's the difference  between me like as a as a learner the way I'm  

learning English as a first language rather than  someone learning English as a second language so  

it it probably means you don't you don't know that  thing as well as you think you do so and it says  

can we please see the video evidence yes this is  influent for life again in the um what was that  

what lesson is that education and learning I think  so that the actual video of me doing this so like  

from start to finish so I didn't know how to do  this trick but now I do so it's it's like a pretty  

cool video about education but I am talking about  this idea all right uh I don't get the difference  

between therefore and because of well it would  depend on the situation um but typically like  

therefore is more like more like a conclusion of  something like it's like an absolute conclusion so  

this thing happens there this other thing happens  so like it's raining on me therefore I get wet but  

you're so you're you're talking about like this is  like a like this conclusion must happen uh because  

because that's that's like the only um it's like  the only thing that can happen the only reason  

for that but because of it it's almost like a  softer thing like I I got wet because it rained so  

I'm talking about like the the kind of result of  that thing but I'm not saying like definitely if  

it rains I get wet so that's a slight difference  between therefore and because of but I would get  

more examples and and you will feel more confident  about it do you have an app to improve my reading  

uh says usan yes so you can click on the link in  the description below this video for Frederick  

and that will help you with reading and spelling  and improving your listening and comprehension and  

building vocabulary as well step says practice  makes perfect guys let's speak daily in public  

thanks now again like uh this this this is like  common knowledge or common common advice practice  

makes perfect but the actual practice that  gets you fluent is understanding the language  

better okay so if I had an hour and I could like  spend one hour trying to repeat something like  

practicing saying something again or I could get  a whole bunch of really good examples that help me  

understand something well I would rather do that  because like the like the lynchpin example I don't  

need to spend hours trying to trying to learn how  to how to like turn the turn the bike um like the  

bicycle handle I just need to know like the one  thing that holds it all together so what's the  

one simple thing that makes it possible so some  things are less important than others okay so you  

might think that speaking practice is important  but the reality is that actually no you have to  

understand the language better because if you  don't understand you won't feel confident and  

you won't speak okay so very easy to to to kind  of get that get that idea there all right Eric  

says hey Drew you should come up with some ways  to give away great deals for people like me to  

get fluent for Life Ponder on it and write my name  down as well a list uh anybody anybody's looking  

for deals on fluent for Life uh you should be like  a member of our list so if you're not already um  

like get one of our guides and those guides are  free and you might discover some deals on the  

program all right uh let's see armanda who are you  voting for in the next election uh I probably will  

not be voting uh because I don't think either  candidate is is going to do anything it doesn't  

matter whether you vote for Trump or Biden the  the country is moving in the same direction s Jo  

says how much words should I learn for a day well  it's it doesn't it doesn't matter how many words  

you learn it's more do do you know that vocabulary  well I would rather finish a day with one new word  

that I understand really well than 10 words that  I don't understand so it's not the amount of voc  

Abul it's how well you use it all right but  if we focus on one word at a time it takes a  

long time to be fluent in all situations  uh no that's not true it might seem like  

that so at first like and I've given this example  before but I it's I guess important to review it

again one of the the mistakes that Learners  make and this is just because um it's just  

because of how people taught it's not  really like you did anything wrong but  

uh you typically get like if we imagine you're  learning a bunch of words and like let's say this  

is I don't know this is one one day and you try  to learn as many words as you can in one day uh  

but a child is learning like maybe they learn  I don't know fewer words but they like really  

understand that vocabulary very well so they're  spending less time and they understand these words  

much better so it seems like oh look at this like  this person they learned like 20 words but this  

child only learn four okay I don't know how many  lines there are but let's just say it's 20 words  

uh so if this child learns only four words but  they learn them very well and this this person  

learns 20 but they don't really know them very  well they can understand them a little bit but  

they don't really feel very confident what happens  over time with these two Learners okay so they  

both start on the same day like whatever today is  they both start learning uh and it's the same way  

and we have the the child they're it looks like  they're improving who look at that they start  

improving very fast because they understand the  vocabulary and then they can learn new things and  

it's much faster but the student who does this  basically their their trajectory is like this  

they spend a lot of time learning but they don't  actually become more fluent okay so the child at  

first it seems like they're learning less because  they're just getting lots of the same it's like  

that's why children you can have a child watch  the same TV show over and over and over again  

because they're learning a little bit something  different actually each time they watch it they're  

getting a little bit more confident about it and  so instead of doing the typical way where people  

try to learn as many words as possible but they  don't really understand them what we want to do  

is this and like really understand things well and  whoop so it it seems like it's slower but actually  

it accelerates your learning accelerates very  quickly as you do do this okay so the alternative  

is probably like to keep learning where you you  you're you're building a larger passive vocabulary  

but you don't actually feel more confident about  speaking so your fluency isn't really improving  

all right so if you want to be fluent just do what  they do do what the kids do that's what I found  

out about Japanese I said well these Japanese  kids are are like wow I should just do that  

I should learn Japanese as a first language and  so that's what I did and that's how I got fluent  

okay and I continue to learn new things every  day uh but this is my acceleration here is it's  

much faster because now I understand how to learn  and I'm learning the right way um and I have kind  

of fewer issues with communication because I know  the vocabulary well all right so it's not it's not  

like a slower thing to do that uh how did you say  Lynch pin I only know a cotton pen yeah Lynch pin  

like let me let me see if I could find like a like  an image of it or something like that because it's

the best way to to like it's

a it's kind of like some like they here like  it's better if you just Google Lynch pin so l

n uh just to see what this looks like but it's  it's kind of something that like there's like a  

pin in a little circle where you're you're kind of  holding something together um but I I suppose you  

you could kind of draw it like a like a closed pin  kind of like that where you're you know something  

this it's something that holds everything else  together so if you remove the Lynch pin like  

in this case the Lynch pin is is holding things  together and if you remove that then everything  

falls apart okay that's the point of a Lynch pan  and so it's a similar idea like this small Domino  

that's why I'm using both of those uh analogies  just so you can understand what it looks like  

but the point is for for most things and I I don't  can't think of something else where this would not  

be true but if you're trying to learn something  um it's a much better idea to to to try to find  

like that one thing that's actually going to stop  you from from ultimately doing that thing so in  

the case of speaking when I thought about that  I spent many years thinking about that problem  

and so I told people well just learn English as a  first language but it's it's still not very clear  

because it's not really getting to the heart of  what's stopping you from speaking because you  

could learn as like a first language but you still  might have um some issues with with communication  

and so the thing that really stops people is doubt  that is the thing and so that's the that's the the  

Lynch pin and it's it's basically confidence  so if you're unconfident you will not speak  

all right so that's why I focus on trying to make  sure you you really understand things and that's  

when you can start speaking so you don't become  fluent just by repeating vocabulary because that  

doesn't help you understand anything better okay  all right now I'm getting it's already been an  

hour and a half over here we go through these last  uh questions over here all right is your app free  

the first three levels of Frederick are free yes  so you can experiment with it see how it goes but  

the whole app is very cheap M says what is the  meaning of feed off uh typically like it's like  

you're feeding like off of something like you like  attach and you're getting some kind of nutrition  

or something from that uh Shang says morning in  terms of fluency what do you think about speaking  

English with Precision could you give an example  of expressing something unnaturally but not losing  

the meaning of it huh an example of expressing  something unnaturally but not losing the meaning  

of it well I mean you could there there are  different ways to speak like I could I could  

say some random words uh or I could talk about  something but it maybe has nothing to do with  

what I'm talking about um or I could I could talk  about something and I could actually express it  

like exactly but there would be different ways  of doing that so when we talk about Precision  

in language it's more are you able to communicate  what you want to say but there are different ways  

of doing that so I I would just caution people  about like Precision in language is more like if  

I say like the bird is over there but actually I'm  talking about a piano that's that way then that  

that's like the worst kind of language because  I'm saying the wrong words and I'm describing  

the wrong thing and it's totally confusing but if  I say uh like there is a bird that way or there  

is a bird over there or Over Yonder there's a bird  so there different ways I could express that same  

idea and they would all be precise if the other  person understands my meaning so it's a it's  

a connection with the other person uh where you  talk about is the is the understanding understood  

or my is my message understood all right I  think we're almost done says maros says phrasal  

verbs are a headache for me uh you should get the  visual guide to phrasal verbs it'll make them easy  

to understand all right uh round neck how much  time should we give to re book reading because  

sometimes I read them for two to three hours I I  can't really give you any advice about that it's  

just do you understand what you're reading and do  you feel more fluent because of it that's the only  

question so it doesn't matter how much time you  could spend 10 hours doing something just like the  

the bike example I could spend 10 hours trying to  learn how to do that but if I don't get the Lynch  

pin like holding the bike with my legs that's  what actually performs the trick and so getting  

that thing correct that took one like I don't  know 5 seconds or something like like oh like  

that's what I should do so I do that and now I can  do the trick and I haven't done it in years but  

I bet I could probably do it again now uh Daniel  says just to be sure Lynch pin doubt is specific  

for everyone depends on the context and needs of  each person and can also change depending on a  

given situation right um well it if this is a very  simple idea it's just that when people think about  

language learning and I try to explain to people  what they have to do you can think about this in a  

conversation so if you want to say something but  you can't say it because you're you're nervous  

or you're worried about your pronunciation or  your accent or maybe you're not going to use it  

correctly all of those things are doubt and so you  might feel confident about some vocabulary but not  

others and that just means you don't have doubt  about this but you do have doubt about something  

else so when people talk about I'm scared to  speak or I'm shy or I'm worried or nervous it's  

just because of the doubt now you might have a  situation where you're actually a good speaker  

but you're just shy about speaking in general  but if you have that same problem in your native  

language that's not a language learning problem  that's just you know that's that's a separate a  

separate issue so lots of native English speakers  who speak fluently maybe they don't want to give  

a public speech because that's maybe embarrassing  or whatever so that's a different issue than than  

developing fluency but in general like when  I get mails from people or comments and I see  

there are obvious basic errors in what they  write then it's like oh okay actually there's  

there's a problem there and and maybe this person  doesn't realize it so uh that's why like doubt is  

the general issue but it depends on the specific  person uh for that situation so whatever that is  

ryzen says am I late well not if you're watching  this uh uh like recording but yes we're about to  

finish this up because we've been going for almost  100 minutes oh my goodness all right C again since  

I got your advice I feel more confident because I  try to understand very well uh and the words and  

expressions before going to topic or word yes so  that's a good idea if you feel confident you will  

speak so it's much easier to do this and you don't  need to spend time with uh with like a lot of a  

lot of people speaking you don't need to live in  a particular place you can do this all by yourself  

so this is what we do in fluent for life and  it's also what you can do by just getting a lot  

more examples of things I wish my school teacher  explained things as clear as well you know it's  

it's better better than better late than never do  I watch uh anime uh not typically but yeah there  

are some that I've enjoyed so what is it uh what's  the difference between how much and how many thank  

you for your correction well how much is if you're  talking about like a degree of something and how  

many is if it's countable all right and MBO says  do you teach one to one uh no I do not uh because  

it would cost people an arm and a leg and it would  also require time and it's not even the best way  

for you to learn because you really need to get  examples from lots of different speakers so I  

will get people asking me for private lessons and  I just say why do you want private private lessons  

and they' like well you're a good teacher whatever  and I say yes that's important but at the same  

time you need to get the same way you learned  your native language you need to actually get  

lots of different examples for English as well so  you can't just learn with one speaker you really  

should be learning with many all right canero says  Drew do you understand well the Japanese speaker  

who wears a mask while speaking because Japanese  speaker itself seems uh yes like it's I mean it's  

more difficult but the same thing with like an  English speaker as well I mean it would just be  

it's like you know it's it's harder to hear and  and like the sounds you can't see the mouth as  

well uh Tommy that's an interesting question do  I believe in God huh I guess not not in the way  

that maybe like typical religion would would like  explain it but sure yeah uh and it's because like  

if you if you look at look at the world and this  is like like an interesting topic to end on um  

but like there are certain rules or certain rules  about a reality that like I mean I guess you could  

say there was a big bang and things happened or  whatever but like that explanation is is just as  

I don't know uh like just as plausible I suppose  as like us kind of creating this idea and so it's  

it's kind of a long discussion about that but in  general uh it's it's more when I think about God  

is thinking about rules that there are like rules  that we that we should follow and like you tend to  

enjoy a better life if you do uh but anyway we  can we can maybe save that for not not the end  

of a 90-minute video are you living in the US no  I'm in Japan how much it costs how many money do  

you need is that correct no you would say how much  money do you need uh this is not a religious video  

are you a Christian I guess well not not in like  the the typical sense in like I I don't I don't  

believe in like a god like kind of separate from  us uh but it it because it makes more sense that  

everything would be connected in one system uh  if that makes sense but again this is probably  

not the the best time to try to explain that  because it would it would take a while but uh  

I I think it's an interesting idea anyway uh if  you'd like to learn more about becoming fluent  

which I do know a lot more about uh anyway then  you can click on the links in the description  

below this video to learn more about that and  then we will see you in the next video bye-bye