Get Fluent, Then Speak: Native English Nuances With Phrasal Verbs

we'll give YouTube a moment as usual let's see how  

we're doing here all right I think  we can get started let me erase the

board I am Drew Badger the founder of  englishanyone.com and the English fluency guide  

welcome to another live video here on YouTube  we'll give you to just a second let me know if  

you can see this uh post a comment and I'll make  sure we're working I think we should be though uh  

and we are beautiful all right well today I wanted  to do something interesting we got a question from  

a fluent for life member uh and so we were helping  him understand some English and this is basically  

the key to speaking fluently so if you understand  English like a native then you will speak English  

like a native and so as I'm often telling Learners  you should get fluent first and then speak so you  

don't need to spend a lot of time time trying to  practice your speaking like learning something  

and then repeating it again and again you really  just need to understand the language very well and  

that's what gives you the confidence to speak so  get fluent first and then start speaking all right  

so what I'm going to do actually we're going to  look at a bunch of phrasal verbs because he had  

asked about some and was uh commenting about that  specifically and I thought I would just make a  

video about that so I'm going to use this towel  here and demonstrate a bunch of phrasal verbs uh  

and maybe we'll talk about some other things  too but the point is really just to help you  

understand English like a native so if you feel  confident that you understand something well then  

that way you will feel confident when you speak so  instead of trying to learn through translations I  

can actually show you how the language works and  then we can apply what we learn so the the subtle  

or the the slight differences in uh maybe one  word versus another one I'm going to show you  

those with one towel so you should be able to  uh play with this yourself if you have a towel  

or a t-shirt you can do the same thing uh but  this should be pretty fun so uh the initial I  

think the question was he was asking about the  phrase so push my way into so to push my way  

into something and he was thinking it would be  very difficult for him to uh to try to translate  

this through his native language and understand  the uh kind of the Nuance or exactly what someone  

is trying to say so let's look at this towel we're  going to start with something a bit more difficult  

and then we will go back and cover a bunch of you  know other things and if you have any questions  

we can go into more detail but again the point is  to actually help you understand something like a  

native so you feel confident about saying it all  right so you don't have to say anything you don't  

have to repeat after me or anything like that if  you don't want to uh or if you're you know sitting  

somewhere and you look kind of funny speaking to  yourself uh the point is just to understand better  

so we have push my way into something and let's  take a look at this towel here let's imagine so  

we're going to go through uh some more examples  over here but let's imagine I have a a space in  

this towel here so there's a little bit of space  maybe I could easily I don't know put like a few  

fingers into this or I could put you know a  marker there's enough space in here that it  

can move around but if we start making the space  very very tight it's very difficult to to kind of  

get my finger or anything inside of this little  space so here I have to really push my way into  

this space in order to get into it all right so  it's it's very small or narrow or we just really  

don't have very much space to work with so there's  not much space to move around much different from  

something like this so if we have a larger space  like this this this whole area here I can easily  

get the marker in there putting a marker in or  a finger or even my hand something like that uh  

so I have a space here but here I'm just putting  something in I don't have to I don't have to force  

anything or really push hard to do that but if I  have something very tight like this very tightly  

wrapped and there's not much space I can't really  get in here uh then we should be able to ah okay  

we can call that pushing my way into something  else so we have a very simple physical example  

of this but you could imagine something like  a large crowd of people so if I'm outside uh  

let's say I have to uh I want to get from this  door over here down to this door uh and I have  

to walk like this if there's no one in the room I  can easily just walk across the room like that so  

I can walk through just like there's space in this  towel I can easily move my hand uh always move my  

hand in there very easily uh but if if there is  a a big crowd of people in here you can imagine  

I'm not going to fill up this whole thing but  imagine uh this whole thing this whole room is  

packed very tightly with people then I have to I  have to push my way through that group of people  

so again push my way into or push my way through  that group of people so just to get in the door  

I'm I'm kind of pushing my way into the room but  if I want to move through this group of people  

then I push my way through you see the difference  so when we're just moving into some way over here  

into some area so I'm kind of kind of pushing  my way into this uh and we did I think that  

was last week I read the story The Mitten where  we were talking about different animals pushing  

their way into uh into a mitten that was on the  ground and so we have the same kind of idea here  

when you're when you're really trying to push  and force your way into something that's going  

to be like this idea here we're pushing our way  into something because it's harder to get into  

if it's just an empty room there's no one here I  can just [Applause] walk I can just walk into the  

room okay so I can walk into the room and then I  can walk through the room but if I if there's uh  

like a huge group of people or something there  there's a lot of something in the way so I can't  

move very easily then I have to work very hard  like pushing my way through you can imagine you  

know like a worm or something I'm going to draw a  little worm in the ground here so we'll erase our

room so here is a little little earthworm and  it's just traveling under the ground I'll put  

some grass up here but you can see as he as he  pushes his way through the dirt he has to move  

the soil so moving the soil uh or the  dirt out of the way so he's pushing his  

way through the soil as he makes a you know  a little tunnel like that all right so the  

same basic idea so let's look at some  other examples there are many things we  

can do if you think of anything in the uh  the mic is emitting Some Noise let's see I

wonder let me know if that's better is that  better hopefully that let's see I shouldn't  

be making any noise but uh is that okay let me  know should be the usual now it's okay okay I  

apologize for that that's interesting all right uh  so hopefully people get the idea here we've got a  

little worm and it's pushing its way through the  soil pushing its way through the soil all right  

so we can take this towel same kind of thing and  we can express a lot of different phrasal verbs  

in the same way all right so the first thing we  can do watch this one we have something like fold  

up fold up fold up so I'm going to take this and  I'm just actually folding something and my hands  

are kind of moving in an upward way like this so  we fold up fold up now if I have even something  

like this I could fold something down in the  same way so phrasal verbs we can use them uh  

just talking about the direction that something  is moving in so if you want to be more specific  

or more precise about how something might be  moving we we could fold something up or fold  

something down or we could even fold something  into something else so I I could fold it into  

something or I could even like fold this into a  ball so make it more like a ball shape or fold  

it into a particular shape to fold something now  another thing we can do uh if I take this towel  

and I want to wipe the board just like I can wipe  the board with this eraser are here we can talk  

about wiping something down or wiping something up  in the same way walking well wiping down wiping up  

same kind of idea so I can do it with a towel or  I can do it like this wipe it down uh and this is  

usually like wiping off like I'm taking something  so there is some kind of writing or marking uh on  

the wall and I want to remove that so I'm going to  wipe that thing off off to wipe it off so if it's  

on there the opposite would be off we're going to  wipe something off now I think somebody just asked  

me about folding it yes typically phrasal verbs  uh often they are just making the convers it just  

it makes it sound a little bit more casual and  conversational so if we take something like fold  

or fold we could fold this towel in different  ways and and a native speaker would understand  

that but sometimes we just want to say yeah could  you please fold up the like fold up the blanket  

or fold up something like that it's the same idea  as just folding but it sounds a little bit more  

natural and conversational to fold something up  to fold something up all right but I'm just I'm  

giving you these examples so you can understand  the difference why a native might say fold up or  

fold over or fold back so in in this example  I could I can unfold something so I'm folding  

something and unfolding at the same same time or I  could fold something back all right fold something  

back so it's it's more about the the perspective  how I might look at something and okay I've got  

I'm going to fold something back like unfolding  it fold unfold fold folding it back like that  

okay so I can fold it in different ways and it's  okay to just say fold the towel all right but if  

you want to be a bit more precise and sometimes it  is useful and necessary to add the the preposition  

there like fold up or fold into or fold uh some  other way fold back but you can see that with the  

way usually a person is moving okay so we're just  taking something nice and easy the same way with  

wipe or if we have something like I'm wiping the  table I could wipe off the table just like I could  

wipe something off up here and often we'll use  you know a like a a a phrasal verb like clean up  

because we have something on the ground or on some  kind of surface and we are removing that thing so  

we're going from on that thing to off so taking  it maybe something is on the floor like I have  

a marker on the floor and I clean that up I clean  it up so if I take something and I remove it I can  

take it like either off or on or or remove it like  up or down in the same way all right so if we're  

just talking about like applying something like  if I have some wax on my car and I put that on my  

towel I might want to like wipe down the car  because I'm taking this and putting it down  

on the car I'm actually wiping down something uh  in the same way that we might take uh just water  

if I'm working at a restaurant or cleaning at my  house and I take some water put it on the towel  

and wipe down the tables I'm wiping down the  tables so I'm actually taking water and putting  

it on there I want the water on the table because  I'm cleaning the tables in that way so when people  

talk about like should we say WIP down or wipe  off you can say both usually in the same situation  

but often the difference is that if we're talking  about putting something on like I'm putting water  

down on the table to wipe the table down it just  means I'm getting kind of water on there or am I  

talking about removing the dirt like wiping up  all right so both of those are fine and I don't  

want you to worry you know worry about oh should  I like which which is the correct thing the point  

here is more to understand the slight difference  is in how natives might describe a situation all  

right so when you see people doing it I have some  water on my towel I put it on the table and wipe  

the table down wipe the table down okay or I could  do the basically the same thing and I could talk  

about wipe off the table so it's like I'm trying  to wipe maybe some dirt or something like that  

and removing that from the table so I can do the  exact same action but my thinking about it changes  

the way I speak all right so one more time if I  have some water on the towel I can wipe down the  

tables so I'm getting the tables wet which is  cleaning them off that's the point of what I'm  

doing so I can think about the action as putting  water on the table or I can think about the action  

as removing dirt from the table but it's the same  action okay so hopefully you get it you see the  

idea about how we might wipe something down uh  or wipe something off in the same way all right  

let me know if you have any questions about that  let me go back and check chat uh I'm trying to go  

through these pretty quickly because we do have a  bunch of examples and we'll see if we have uh time  

for questions uh so I'm going to go quickly but  nice to see everybody here today I'm just looking  

to see if anybody has any questions I have a small  problem that I'm busy I have to do my homework as  

fast as I can well enjoy the homework push my way  into something what does mean okay hopefully we  

make uh hopefully that makes sense yes Anette uh  look at that you guys know each other There's real  

names over there so it's nice to see you guys uh  everybody out there uh and hopefully I guess like  

the mic should be working fine now all right but  I think people are getting the idea here all right  

so when you're taking something like this the  point as as often as you can is to watch what  

natives do so if you see a native doing an action  and talking about that this is really good when  

you're watching things like uh like cooking shows  so maybe you're watching ing a native cooking  

show they will describe what they're doing so you  can see exactly what's happening as they describe  

that and there are lots of phrasal verbs and don't  worry about just phrasal verbs the point is more  

just to see something and actually understand how  natives are are using it and then you could take  

a an example like we did with like push your  way into a crowd or push my way into a job so  

if I want to do something a bit more figurative  first I understand the physical use of it so how  

we can see something then we can think about  well I like pushed my way into a job so lots  

of other people were applying for the same job  but I was really loud and I went to the boss and  

I tried to talk with him I I kind of pushed my  way into that job okay so I'm kind of forcing my  

way into doing that thing using some pressure or  pushing in some way so it's not just a physical  

thing like this I can do this figuratively as well  all right let me know if you have any questions  

uh I wanted to cover just like a few of these  so uh some more of these you can think about I  

can I can talk about rolling something up as well  even if I don't have a particular direction I'm  

thinking about I could roll something up I'll  just turn it this way for you to roll something

up see I've rolled up the towel I rolled it up and  now I can unroll the towel so roll the towel or  

unroll the towel but typically rolling up is like  this this kind of thing now watch the difference  

here if I just say roll the towel so if I just  say roll the towel typically that means like  

I'm moving the towel in a rolling way like this  this is rolling the towel like I might take this  

uh this bottle over here and roll this bottle  down the street or something to roll something  

so rolling up uh is really being more specific  about the towel is in one space and I'm putting it  

making it smaller by Rolling the towel so this is  rolling the towel up to roll up the towel I think  

there's a when I was a kid there was a little it  was a fruit snack or something called a fruit roll  

up and it was just a like a thin piece of thing  that was rolled up like this all right so rolling  

typically just rolling by itself uh if we only  use the word roll this is more talking about the  

motion of something moving from one place to  another like a car tire might roll but if we  

have something in one place and we're just doing  like this rolling it up okay now I might have in  

a similar way like let's say I have something  hanging up up here I have a towel hanging up so  

that's another example to hang up and I might  unroll it or roll it down like that to roll  

something down roll something down let's see I  think I just saw a quest question I would rather  

use verbs without up over or whatever well the  the the point of these is really just to make  

it more specific about what you talking about  and sometimes as I mentioned it is important  

to use this like here if I just say roll the  towel if you told a native speaker to roll the  

towel they would take it and and like maybe  try to roll the towel down down the street or  

something they would think about moving the towel  some way but if we're talking about rolling up  

that's actually a different meaning so sometimes  when we're using a phrasal verb like there's no  

real difference between fold the towel and fold up  the towel it's exactly the same thing but a native  

speaker might have a slight Nuance they might  be thinking about it in a slightly different  

way but for you speaking both of those are fine  please fold the towel please fold up the towel  

it's the same thing all right but sometimes it  is important to have that uh the preposition  

there like if we're talking about rolling up  the towel rather than just rolling the towel  

so if I roll something up I'm actually closing  it like this in a rolling way rather than just  

rolling something by uh moving it in a particular  direction okay so uh the the point if you're if  

you're feeling overwhelmed or you're annoyed or  it's frustrating that you have to think about  

these different things just watch natives doing  these different kinds of things like cooking or  

cleaning or something like that uh I've made a  couple of videos like that but there are plenty  

of them right on uh YouTube here that you can  see lots of examples of people describing what  

they're doing so right now I'm cooking something  I'm going to uh unfold my napkin or my towel and  

now I'm going to fold my towel I'm going to wipe  my hand or I could even talk about drying off my  

hands so if my hands are wet maybe I just washed  my hands now I'm going to dry off or dry my hands  

so here I could say dry or dry off so I'm removing  the water and the water is being absorbed by the  

towel so I'm drying off my hands I'm drying my  hands with the towel both of those are fine to  

dry off or dry my hands but you can see lots of  examples like this when people are uh and again  

this is another reason why we want to see many  examples especially different people talking about  

the same situation because someone might say fold  the towel and someone else might say fold up the  

towel and so as you see those different examples  you feel more confident and comfortable because  

you see that both of those things are fine if  you just get one example then you're nervous  

and thinking about oh like do we say fold up or  fold or you know and you start worrying about  

that so this is why it's really important to get  many many examples of different native speakers  

doing things so to listen to different speakers  actually see different people performing the  

same action uh and that's what's going to help  you understand the language much better even  

before you speak okay so again the whole point of  this video and in all of the videos I make it's  

really trying to get you fluent before you speak  so that way when you when you do start speaking  

you will feel much more confident all right uh  let's go through a bunch of uh other ones over  

here this is another interesting one I'm going to  do this more like a quiz and see if you understand  

and maybe you can give me some examples of what  I'm doing uh with the towel what is this one

so there are a couple different ways I could  describe this action I'm doing right now what  

do you think I'm doing if you can use two words  like a phrasal verb to describe that let me know  

just put those in the comments right now but  what is this giving up are you giving up so  

giving up would mean to quit that's kind of a way  like well that would be a slightly different use  

of this this is the uh throwing in the towel  to throw in the towel George says fling fling  

would mean actually throwing the towel in some  way all right so throwing the towel or tossing  

the towel those different things like you would  be uh maybe moving but you would actually throw  

the towel in some way yeah so Roger says waving  yes I could be like this like if my hand is up  

here I'm waving the towel maybe there's some dust  or some dirt in here I could be shaking the towel  

out so I'm shaking out the towel all right so yes  throw in the towel means to give up but that like  

I wouldn't just be like holding up a flag like  this or I suppose if you're or a towel or a flag  

some people do like hold up the White Flag like  that so that means I Surrender or I give up or  

you actually take the towel or something and  throw it into the ring we talked about that  

in a uh what was that like a previous video but  we we talked about that specific ific example  

uh and Revo says can we use flick so flick would  mean you're doing something like this moving like  

a very quick motion like that so I could like if  there's a little fly I could kind of flick the the  

fly away like that or hit the fly but here I'm I'm  shaking so I could shake the towel or you could  

talk about waving the towel it depends on what  my what my thinking is so if I have if I think  

oh there's some dust or some sand or something  like that on the towel I want to get it off I  

might shake off so I'm shaking it off like that  Taylor Taylor Swift song Shake It Off that's that  

same idea of getting getting something off you  that you don't want it on a wave is a bit more  

of a relaxing motion so if I'm waving the towel  like this I'm trying to get someone's attention  

like that I'm waving the towel or I could kind  of spin the towel like this so if you're going  

to a like a sports game or something watching some  baseball basketball whatever uh people might swing  

the towel like this to swing the towel around  so to swing around or to wave around wave around  

but here I might be you can even hear that little  crack that sound that little that that snap there  

so I'm snapping the towel so I'm shaking out or  I'm shaking off any of the the little dirt that  

might be on here okay now remember the the point  is not to try to memorize all these phrasal verbs  

it's to see lots of examples and then understand  how we might take a verb but express it in a  

slightly different way depending on maybe we want  to move something up or down or in or out whatever  

the movement might be all right so don't worry  about trying to memorize all of these the point  

is just to see lots of examples and then to be  thinking about that as you learn so as you uh  

instead of trying to learn English through your  native language you should be getting examples at  

your level like you're watching even TV shows for  kids or cooking shows or something like that but  

those are going to give you lots of examples where  you can see people talking about what they're  

doing okay if you just have a person talking there  it's less helpful uh than having a person actually  

describe it and that's why little uh TV shows for  kids and especially cooking shows they want to  

show you what's happening as they're talking about  it okay so I could be shaking it off or shaking it  

out shaking it out like maybe there's you can kind  of think about stuff inside this I'm shaking it  

off or shaking it out I want to get all the stuff  out of here and now I have my clean towel again o  

it's a little bit hot I'm going to wipe off wipe  off my uh wipe off my sweat or if I have a lot of  

sweat I could like wipe wipe myself down I need  to wipe myself down like just clean my body like  

from top to bottom to wipe myself down okay so you  see how these work so I could wipe the board like  

this I could wipe off the board because I'm  cleaning the board there's something on here  

some writing on here I could also wipe off the  sweat or I could wipe myself down wipe myself  

down so if I'm training very hard at the gym  I'm very sweaty you can see Sweat Just rolling  

down there's another phrasal verb to roll down so  instead of rolling we're rolling down like in a  

particular direction to roll down uh just like we  talked about the towel over here so if I roll up  

here I'm going to roll up the towel for you again  rolling up the towel here we go roll up roll up  

roll up and then we roll down look at that so it  kind of comes down it rolls down just like some  

sweat rolling down my face so now I'm going to  wipe myself down wipe myself down so when you're  

talking about wiping yourself off it's usually  maybe just some kind of small thing I'm I'm wiping  

off a little face or like my part of my face here  or wiping off my hands or something but when you  

wipe something down you're really trying to clean  it thoroughly and cover the whole thing I'll be  

rolling as an expression so typically rolling  is like is moving so if you're saying that's  

kind of a slang expression talking about movement  like picture me rolling like I'm you know rolling  

somewhere I'm I'm going like it's time to roll  like the PAW Patrol PAW Patrol is on a roll like  

you're you're starting to move somewhere uh on a  roll also means that you're talking about doing  

something continuously or or maybe continuing  to do things well so you could have a uh like an  

athlete uh a basketball player who shoots one shot  and it goes in and then they shoot another shot  

and then another shot goes in they're on a roll  at this point so meaning they've done something uh  

a number of times and it's it's continuing to go  well so there are lots of different reasons why we  

might use this uh but just to make this idea clear  we begin with uh the situation so you think about  

this like this basketball player shooting lots  of uh maybe maybe lots of buckets uh and then in  

that expression they someone might say like he's  on a rooll he's on a roll so we're talking about  

this like this situation gets connected with this  vocabulary and you might have a similar situation  

that's also connected to that same vocabulary like  uh a person did a uh like delivered a speech very  

well and then delivered another speech very  well so it's it's like when you're starting  

to see a trend happening so there's movement  going there and so look at that like he's on  

a rooll or that other person she is on a rooll  or she's doing something very well so it just  

means like she started doing something and look  at that now we're we kind of have that continuous  

motion or something is performing better or  looking better something is on a rooll all  

right something is on a roll all right hopefully  that makes sense so it's the same kind of idea  

where we think about we get something uh another  expression similar to this is like to get the

ball to get the ball rolling so to get the ball  rolling means to start some kind of operation  

usually when we're we're beginning some kind  of activity if I imagine I have this some heavy  

thing and I need to push it so it's hardest at the  beginning like I need to get the ball rolling but  

once you get moving uh then the ball continues  to move and it's much easier to keep that motion  

going so often that's why we're describing things  in this way like oh he's on a roll or he's doing  

something uh continuously and doing it well  it's like a uh uh the the the continuation is  

is just like movement in that way uh let's see in  Portuguese it would be something like rolling and  

unrolling yeah so you can use rolling and  unrolling in the same way uh but I'm I'm  

trying to give you more ways that natives might  Express themselves so again the the point here  

is to understand taking things from a situation  so you see what's happening or you can understand  

the situation maybe someone is describing it or  talking about it whatever even if you can't see  

it but then you connect the situation with the  vocabulary all right so we're not trying to take  

a a a word or a sentence or something in English  and then connect that into a translation in your  

native language we don't want to train you to  think that way because then that will train you  

to think and translate when you speak okay so if  you can think like a native when you're learning  

if you think like a native English speaker when  you're learning because you can understand the  

vocabulary directly so from the situation to  the English rather than trying to use a uh  

translation or or think about a definition in kind  of a textbook way so someone is just telling you  

the answer or explaining something we really  want you to understand what's happening okay  

so if you understand what's happening you can  learn the exact same way children do you will  

feel more confident uh that you understand  things and then you will um and then you  

will be able to speak much more confidently all  right let's look at a couple of these questions  

though ABDO says wrapping I'll cover that  one in a minute let me just put this up here

wrap uh let's see and the Rolling Stones that's  right yes so that that's from an expression a  

rolling stone gathers no Moss so if you have  a a stone or a rock that's just sitting in a  

forest it will often start to get you know little  Moss or green things growing on it uh but if the  

rock is moving continuously then the uh there's  there's no Moss it can't get old or covered with  

anything like that that's the idea of Rolling  Stones uh let's see Joseph says I drew could  

you make a prompt to see if I'm using my target  word correctly something like the prompt you made  

a few well it it depends on like on you using it  correctly you can ask chat GPT just would this be  

a correct example or you can ask like uh chat  chbt to provide some examples before you give  

yours so you can think about it it's kind of like  a quiz maybe uh how would I describe this but when  

I'm working with chat GPT it's a lot easier if I  if I describe a situation like this so if I just  

say hey chat GPT can you translate this word  into English or into Japanese or whatever the  

language is so if I just ask for a translation  like the word free if I say hey chat gbt could  

you translate that for me chat gbt will probably  ask me what meaning of free are you talking about  

do you mean free like you can move freely or  do you mean maybe something doesn't cost any  

money what do you mean exactly of course we  got we are not free of the uh the ambulances  

here but I'm going to try doing these recordings  in another space in the future uh and we'll see  

if that helps anyway uh so when you're trying to  get a translation it's better to explain to chat  

GPT what the situation is so even if you can't  express that correctly chat gbt can understand  

the situation and then give you at least one good  way to express that but you can also ask for more  

so say hey chat gbt here's a situation what are  some ways that natives might describe this so  

one of these is he's on a roll or she's on a roll  or she's doing a great job or she's continuously  

doing that another example from maybe basketball  or something else is like uh on fire he's on fire  

so here we have like another expression about so  someone shoots a basket makes that uh makes that  

score and then they get two or three more  scores now it looks like there's a trend or  

the the person is is doing something very well so  they're on fire they're on fire now in basketball  

specifically there is a thing called a heat check  so it's a similar idea kind of connecting with  

this fire or whatever so if a basketball player  is making a lot of baskets they might try some  

crazy shot just to see if it goes in called a  heat check so if it goes in they're like wow  

I'm really on fire today all right so they might  take a really long shot or something that's a heat  

check a heat check so they're checking to see how  hot they are are they on fire or not but anyway  

the point is here we want to look at that and then  see the situation and also get many different ways  

so using if you're using chat GPT in that way  I would I would tell chat GPT the situation uh  

even if you can't explain it perfectly just try  to explain it that will help chat GPT understand  

and then you can ask for multiple ways to respond  to that or what would be multiple ways that people  

might Express something uh aicon says if I can  say he he is on he is in a role so if you'd say  

he is in a role it would mean like a guy is like  inside a role in some way but on a role it's like  

he's kind of like moving like this on on a rooll  if you want to think about it that way but we  

wouldn't say in a role we would say on a role re  says is these two sentences correct you would say  

are these correct uh we clean the dust off the  table we clean the the table off wait we clean  

the table off of the Dust we clean the table  off of the Dust all right well let me let me  

draw a picture of this so you can understand  the difference between these two so you can  

have something be oh let me put wrap back up there  make sure I do that one wrap so if we have a tape

table uh and there's you know some some dust  or something like that we could take off the  

dust or wipe off the dust or clean off the dust  uh but so you can use like clean off the dust or  

we could say clean and then we could put this  over here clean the dust off both of those are  

fine but if we say clean the table off off the  dust it means like the dust is the is the thing  

we want to want to keep so it's more like here's  the dust on the ground and someone put a table on  

top of the Dust over here oh no we want to clean  the table off of the Dust so that's a different  

thing here we would we were removing the table  but we keep the dust all right so the table uh  

this is the it's the opposite of what you want to  say but if you want to say hey we need to we need  

to clean the table off the dust that means we want  to keep the dust but we want to remove the table  

but here we want to remove the dust and keep the  table so that's the difference and this is why  

it's important to look at these differences when  you're looking at these examples uh so roll up the  

shutters y so that's another good example if you  have a a store something like that where we have  

um you can imagine like a shutter coming down uh  and then in the morning we roll up the shutters  

I'm not going to roll up this whole thing but  you get the idea we're rolling it up like this  

and then the whole shutter comes up for business  and then we roll the shutter back down like that  

it's going back down uh when we close for the date  so some people if they have a shutter in front of  

their you know their door up here some kind of  like shutter like this uh and this thing this  

thing rolls down during the day and rolls up uh or  excuse me rolls down at night and rolls up during  

the day so if you're rolling up your shutters uh  and it says can I say this when I want to start  

something to get the ball rolling yes so anytime  you're beginning something like we're taking a  

trip or we're starting a project or we're anytime  we're beginning anything I'm starting to clean my  

house or I'm starting to write something let's  get the ball rolling so often the the starting  

point is the most difficult thing for people  so we want to we have to push H I'm kind of  

lazy I don't really want to do anything but if  we just just push a little bit just to get the  

ball rolling it gets easier as we do it so that's  why we talk about something like just just to get  

something started to get the ball rolling uh  let's see hi from Germany you're my favorite  

teacher well hello well whatever your name is  well I've never seen a YouTube handle with no  

name on it but hello well thank you for that says  roll up your sleeves is an expression I think yes  

so actually I have uh short sleeves here so when  people are starting to do some work they can kind  

of roll up their their sleeves in the same way so  you're rolling up in the same way the sleeve you  

can see it kind of gets bunched up a little bit  like that so it gets it kind of rolls back up on  

itself just a little bit even if it even if it  folds or has some wrinkles or something the idea  

is we're rolling up our sleeves so this means  okay it's time to get some work let's roll up  

our sleeves you know so especially if people have  longer sleeves so years ago people might be having  

longer sleeves and then they unbutton the little  uh like the the cuff links or the like the collar  

the cuff button and then roll up their sleeves  so you don't get your shirt wet or it's easier  

to to move your hands like that to roll up your  sleeves uh present says I drew how uh let's see  

how are you nice to see you long time to speak  to you I watched all your well glad to hear AB  

say please uh is rolling like folding and what  is fold mean so fold typically means one motion  

where we take something and and put it back on  top of itself uh like this so if I have a flat  

towel like this I'm I'm kind of holding it  like this for you but just to fold something  

is just to just to put some of it back over  on itself like that so now I have a towel I  

could fold it again like that so folding  it down in the same way all right I could  

fold it again like that to fold something  all right so it's a different motion than  

rolling something like if I have a towel  like this and then I start rolling it like

this you can think about it as a kind of fold  but it's a different motion it's a circular  

motion where I'm rolling something up like that  so often people get food that you know has like  

a wrap or something like we'll talk about this uh  this word wrap uh but this is a rolled up thing in  

the same way to roll roll up some food or to wrap  that thing up good questions there uh let's how  

about the roller coaster and fby says can I say my  tears are rolling down or my sweat is rolling down  

yes so you would say like it's rolling down your  face so if you watch little drops of sweat it kind  

of looks like they're they're rolling in a little  bit but they're sliding down you can say they're  

rolling down or they are running down or sliding  down your face or dripping down your face again  

and it's it's we use these different phrasal  verbs because we want people to understand  

like how sweaty we are so if I'm just I'm just a  little bit sweaty maybe just a few little drops or  

beads of sweat some some drops or beads of sweat  uh then we have like it's it's maybe coming down  

I'm really really hot I have like really like woo  just like a lot of stuff coming down my face like  

now sweat is running down my face face or I could  say sweat is pouring down my face okay so rolling  

down or pouring down or whatever or a tear tears  are running down my face or rolling down my face  

so this is why we can take a verb and an or like  a direction that thing is happening and put these  

things together to describe all kinds of things  so we can talk about like what's moving like the  

rain in the same way so the rain could be falling  down where we think if I talk about rain falling  

down uh it's going to be more rain if I think  about rain is pouring down so we have the same  

direction but we're changing the verb meaning  there's a lot more water so wow it's pouring  

outside so instead of just rain it's pouring rain  so it's pouring rain so we can take something and  

describe where it's going or how it's going  and that's why phrasal verbs are so useful for  

learning the language uh but all all these again  and so people can understand exactly what's what's  

happening in the situation because we want  to connect the situation with the vocabulary  

rather than you uh trying to use a a translation  in order to understand these things Marcel says  

hello uh let's see and Pablo says is this an old  live well it depends on when you're watching it  

it's live at the moment uh but it will be I guess  old technically uh when people watch it later  

Bible says rolling the wires or wrapping the the  wires so we could take if we talk about rolling  

a wire like that would mean like this is a really  thick wire you could imagine that like that would  

be rolling a wire like that but wrapping a wire  would be more like I'm going to take something and  

wrap it around like that to wrap wrap a a wire  all right we can also use wind uh in that way

wind I think someone also  asked about pore p you R so

pour if I take this uh this bottle I'm not going  to do this but imagine I do I take off the top  

here and I just tip I tip the bottle so TI I I  just tip the bottle slightly so just a a little  

bit of water runs down here so you you'll see  a little bit of water come out and run down or  

slide down the side of the bottle but if I tip  it completely all the water pours out okay so  

depending on what my action is trying to do I I  can talk about the direction or how much or how  

fast uh all of those things uh are going to be uh  like these different nuances are the exact thing  

you want to express as you see more people doing  that or or more natives talking about these things  

you get to understand how this works so pouring  like rain rain could be falling very lightly  

sometimes we have light rain sometimes we have  heavy rain and people often describe heavy rain as  

pouring rain it's like someone took a cup of water  and actually poured it on top of your head all  

right hopefully people understand the difference  there uh but you can see that when you look at  

these uh these differences in how the uh how the  language works so abis says why the fluent when  

speaking about the rain they say it's like dogs  and cats something like that oh it just it's just  

an expression means it's really raining very hard  to be raining dogs and cats dogs and cats it's  

like why it's like you can imagine dogs and cats  actually falling from the sky like there's just  

so much rain it's like why there a huge amount  of rain falling or the rain is pouring that's  

just another uh way to say that that uh having  lots of rain falling I know they use different  

examples for the basketball players baskets and  buckets for the shooting uh I can use Hoops too  

uh we don't we don't describe a hoop as a score  but you can say like uh so basket is the name of  

the thing but we don't we we can also talk about  the like getting a basket or shooting a basket but  

we don't we don't call that a hoop in that way  so yeah you're you're thinking in the right way  

about it but people don't use the Expression so I  might I might get some buckets or get some baskets  

but I don't get Hoops we don't use that expression  so logically it seems like we could but uh people  

don't use that you could say like shooting Hoops  like I'm shooting Hoops or shooting buckets or  

something like that but we like we wouldn't say  like I I got I got a hoop but you would say I got  

a bucket so it kind of refers to to the action  of something going into that where the the hoop  

is just the the actual ring I think that maybe  it might be the um if you if you want to think  

about it kind of logically uh a ring or a hoop is  like this but a bucket or a basket is like this so  

if you're if you're talking about getting a ball  in into something like this it's actually moving  

into this space but this one is just kind of going  through that one so we talk about shooting Hoops  

or you could talk about shooting rings as well  like I mean people don't use that for basketball  

but you could say that like I'm shooting uh  shooting Hoops that's just an expression for  

basketball uh but you could say shooting baskets  or shooting buckets as well or getting baskets  

or getting buckets like but it's it's more  you're getting something inside uh rather  

than uh this so that's more of a logical way to to  think about why we would say one thing but not say  

something else so it seems very similar uh but the  so the net on a basketball hoop or a basketball  

ring looks like that and so it looks more like a  bucket and you're talking about the whole thing  

rather than just the ring on the top now maybe  I'm not a professional basketball player and I  

didn't think out these things it I'm not deciding  what those are but I'm when I'm learning something  

in a language I'm trying to give my brain a way  to understand it logically so I can think oh okay  

like that might not be the real reason but it's  helpful for me in understanding it so I can use  

it fluently so I don't go to the basketball team  and say oh he got some rings that someone might  

think like they mean like rings on your finger  or something like that like he has some rings  

all right so that's one way to think about it I  think someone else uh mentioned wrap now wrapping  

uh this is another similar idea like talking about  folding something or rolling something in the same  

way so we can have something let's say I want to  uh wrap this marker I can just say the word wrap  

and not change anything or add a preposition or  anything else if I go to the store and buy this  

as a present for someone please wrap the marker so  here we go I'm just going to wrap you know I put  

a a cover on this thing so to wrap the thing up  it just means it's covered and you can't see the  

thing inside it maybe it's wrapped for a present  or some other reason or like I get some meat from  

the Butcher and they wrap the meat for me now I  could also talk about wrapping it up so I could  

use the uh the preposition up there as well to  wrap something up and this is typically if we  

take the you can think about it logically like  uh I put the wrapping paper on or whatever the  

bag or something on a table and I put the object  on top of that thing and now I'm going to put the  

wrap up and then cover that thing so I'm going to  take this other side and put it up and cover that  

thing as well so I'm wrapping something up now  this is again it's the same thing as wrapping  

something in this situation remember the point is  to connect the vocabulary with the situation so  

if I wrap something or wrap something up it's the  same idea okay so in this situation I can say both  

to wrap something up or just wrap something okay  and the same way I could talk about unwrapping  

so to wrap something and to unwrap something okay  hopefully you got it right let's see if we have so  

the wrap option appears in a Windows uh notepad to  refer to wrapping text yeah so wrapping text would  

mean if we have this is a specific computer term  so for this situation you can think about text  

like the notepad thing the text uh you can think  about it as continuing off of the pad like that  

so it won't actually show you what it is but we  want to take this and wrap it down here and and  

so this is another use of the word wrap all right  w r a p to wrap something so we want to continual  

uh or have it have it kind of flow continuously  even if it's a different sentence or something  

like that if it's one idea we're going to have  it go like this or we could unwrap the text and  

it would just continue like that okay so similar  kind of idea where we have something we're like  

maybe folding it back up on itself so you can  think about ah there they're probably other  

ways we could describe that same thing uh maybe  we could just have like maybe flow the text or  

something uh or like continue in the same space  rap just seems like a nice simple way to express  

that and that's probably why people chose that  word to describe this but you know there are a  

couple different ways we might do that uh all  right let's see here so okay we got that one  

so that yeah it's a good point Julian and Tom I  see ABD says when we add in or into or on or up  

uh and by what was changed so it depends number  one you have to look at the situation sometimes  

the situation doesn't it doesn't change at all  and you could like here we have wrap the marker  

please wrap the marker or I could say wrap up  the marker both of those are fine so for this  

situation it's not about like we always use wrap  or wrap up the point is the situation is connected  

with the vocabulary okay so for this situation  we want to wrap something or wrap something up  

that's when we would say that rather than just  like thinking about the vocabulary by itself  

the vocabulary is always used with a situation  and that's why natives are always learning the  

things because they're learning things together  connecting the situ situation with the vocabulary  

but often nonnative Learners they're learning the  vocabulary either connecting it with a translation  

or they just have a list of words and they're  trying to understand what those words mean but the  

truth is vocabulary is connected with situations  so there might be times when we should use a word  

or should not so don't try to think about it  like what are these words to memorize you need  

to connect the vocabulary with the situation to  understand it like a na all right and sometimes  

when we do that like this one I could wrap the  marker or I could wrap up the marker and in this  

situation both of those are fine all right but we  had the example before uh where we might say like  

roll the towel or roll up the towel and in that  way it's actually two different things so if I  

take you know a towel like this I could like I  could even ball up so here this is like to put  

something into a ball form that's another phrase  verb to ball up something so maybe I'm writing  

something on a piece of paper I don't like it I  ball up or I crumple up the paper and throw it  

away so to ball up something so I could take this  balled up towel and roll that thing all right so  

in the word wrap the letter W silent yes so it's  a silent W I apologize for the silent letter so  

if we could take a ball like this like an actual  ball or a a bald up towel a bald up towel and then  

roll that towel so here there would actually be  movement the ball would move or the towel would  

move from here to some other place so I'm rolling  the towel but if I want to roll up the towel  

I actually mean we take a flat towel and roll  it like this so this is rolling up you see the  

difference so here it's actually important because  it means two different things if I say roll the  

towel or roll up the towel okay so I can be I can  be talking about like the same kind of thing like  

right now I am I'm rolling the towel like this  is the the thing I'm doing I'm rolling something  

but people will usually say rolling up just so  they're clear okay this is what I'm talking about  

I'm talking about rolling the thing up see it's  rolling you can see the it's winding up winding  

up like that so I could roll it up uh or I could  roll it down in the same way so if I turn it and  

roll it the other way so I unroll or roll down  something like that same kind of idea all right  

so I know you you want to begin uh the natural  like the the kind of automatic thing that people

do when you typically learn English as a second  language you begin with vocabulary in your  

native language so your teacher will EXP explain  something to you like here is a word in let's just  

say Spanish over here so we have some some word in  Spanish and then we want to translate that into a  

word in English Okay uh but when people look  at that like they say they're beginning with  

the word and trying to get a definition of the  word by itself but that that's actually coming  

it's coming from the the definition of the thing  in Spanish and it might mean something different  

in in English so like I gave the example before  about the word free free so in Japanese I could  

say like mudo or I could talk about uh like gu  like to do something freely rather than U like  

not having to pay for that thing so if you're  if you're beginning with your native language  

and then looking for a translation you're probably  going to have more trouble expressing yourself but  

if you can understand things in English it will  be much easier for you uh and that's where you're  

going to uh feel much more confident because  you understand oh in this situation this is the  

vocabulary natives use okay so don't think about  starting with your native language or starting  

with you know like a bunch of words we actually  begin with like the situation let's put sit over  

here so we begin with the situation and think  about what words we might use in that situation  

because there could be different things like could  be different English for a particular situation  

like wrap up and wrap for for covering something  like that so if I buy a present or something and  

wrap up that present for someone uh that's what we  get all right so we could say wrap or we could say  

wrap up for this situation all right so it's  really important to connect situations with  

vocabulary uh so enroll that those those are two  those are different different things unroll means  

like to to when you see un it's like the opposite  so we take something that's rolled up and we  

unroll it but to enroll in something is like going  to a school or or joining a program something like  

that to enroll uh let's see let's just jundo says  do people confuse you with Tom Hanks uh no nobody  

ever does that it's only on YouTube videos and  probably when people say I look like Tom Hanks  

they're probably referring to Forest Gump like  that specific movie rather than just Tom Hanks  

in general but uh I've never had people in like  in America think think I look like Tom Hanks uh  

but it's interesting like the if you if you have  exper it's like when I when I come to Japan and  

I say wow like everybody looks like like Ichiro  out here you know I kind of make that joke with  

people it's like wow everyone looks like Ichiro I  mean everyone does not you know you spend time uh  

but even even in my case no nobody has ever said  I look like uh Tom Han but I do get that comment a  

lot and it's probably from people like because  of just like forest forest gum because he had  

short hair I think he was in the military in that  movie I think I don't remember it was a long time  

ago but but yes it's uh but if you think I look  like Tom Hanks that's fine fine fine fine fine uh  

let's see can I use crumple for a soft material  crumple is uh is the same as a wrap in some ways  

right uh yeah good question yes so crumpling uh  is where we take something I'll kind of squeeze it  

together and you start to see wrinkles like that  so now I I'm like kind of pushing it together you  

see the wrinkles so a soft material can kind of  crumple or Wrinkle in this way but typically we  

use it more for harder materials uh like a piece  of paper will crumple and you can see the lines  

usually um with a with a softer material the the  crumple doesn't remain there if we uncrumple it  

so I could iron this again or or lay it out flat  but if we crumple a piece of paper then those uh  

those those lines are still there so you could  crumple a car like cars would have designed uh  

crumple zones so spaces where you you hit another  car they're designed to crumple and and like to  

to absorb that that energy better so just like  a a bald up piece of paper so you can talk about  

like crumpled a crumpled up towel but it'd be more  more conversational and natural to say a balled up  

towel so we take something and kind of ball it up  in this way or just press it press it together or  

ball it up so I'm talking about more the shape  that I create with this thing so I could ball  

up uh this thing I could ball up a car actually I  could take a car if I was strong enough and like  

crush it down with my hands into the shape of  a ball in the same way so anytime we're taking  

something and and pushing it together you can ball  up a thing uh anything like that uh so mbio say  

how to get fluent in phrasal verbs like you get  fluent in those in the exact way I'm showing you  

here so as you see more examples of them you start  thinking more like a native and you can anticipate  

what people are talking about so that's how you  you really start knowing that you're feeling  

fluent because you know what natives are going  to say in a particular situation so you remember  

there's a situation something happens or you're  describing it how would you say that in English  

and there might be many ways you could express  something so roll over uh roll over typically  

means like we have something uh on one side  and we're going to now roll it over to look at  

the other side like I could roll my hand you can  think about like the way imagine there's there's  

like a little bar moving through the the inside  of my hand so I could turn over that's the same  

thing I could turn over my hand or I could roll  over my hand in the same way so to turn over or  

to roll something over okay so the the again  like this is a situation where I I could say

turnover so turn over and roll over for this  specific situation I really want to make this  

clear right now we're just talking about my hand  and looking at the other side of it so I could  

I could put my hand on a table or I could put my  hand up here and someone says hey could you roll  

over your hand or roll hand over and that's what  I would do so it's it's kind of like a rolling you  

can see like my arm is like a pole here and I'm  rolling something over so it's it's going from one  

side to the other but moving in this in this way  so it's it's kind of spinning around on something  

like this so to roll something over like that so  I could turn something over or I could also say  

flip so to flip over so if I'm if I'm showing it  it's a it's a slightly different Nuance like flip  

over it's a faster motion flip over but I can use  all of these things for describing this situation  

so here's my hand oh can you turn it over or can  you roll it over or could you flip it over the  

same thing so the same thing if we have a piece of  paper or whatever uh the the slight difference is  

like if we have something like this so this this  bottle doesn't really have different sides like my  

hand does so my hand has a top and a bottom it's  pretty easy to see so I could turn it over uh or  

or something like that but this one we would we  we could say like flip it over but it's hard to  

see like what like what side you're talking about  so here with a round object people talk typically  

about rolling something over so it's on this side  now we want to roll it so it's on this other side  

over here to roll something over okay also uh I've  put lots of these phrasal verbs in the description  

below this video so if you click on the link uh  or you'll find the link there too for fluent for  

life to learn more about this uh but you can also  see lots of these phrasal verb examples uh let's

see and ask you says can I say she had him wrapped  around her finger yes so this expression like a  

woman or a man or something like that or a boss  different different ways you might describe this  

but to have someone Wrapped Around Your Finger  it means you're controlling them or you're  

you're able to tell them what to do in some way  so that's a a casual expression for that so she  

has him like there's a a a guy that really  likes some girl but the girl maybe doesn't  

care about him or whatever but she can say could  you please go get me a diamond ring and the and  

the boy will go get the diamond ring for her wow  she really has that guy wrapped around her finger  

or wrapped around her little finger yes lots of  interesting expressions with these things uh so  

roll over meaning oh so I think I just gave that  example though let's see stormy uh stormy stormy  

love says Hi teacher I study in Australia now it's  so many different accents and slang the US I'm so  

confused sometimes yes I know this happens and it  can be confusing when you have lots of different  

examples or different accents but but you can use  that to your advantage so you can actually use  

that to help you improve by uh kind of focusing  so if you get a bunch of people talking about  

the same thing and try to keep that very focused  like even this I could describe this situation to  

Natives and to say what am I doing here what what  is the what is the action I'm doing right now and  

some people might say turn over or someone might  say roll over or someone might say flip over all  

of those are correct but you can see ah now I feel  a little bit more confident that I I could use  

these expressions in this way and that way maybe  I forget turn over but I do remember roll over  

okay so maybe I'm lying uh on my on my stomach or  something and then I roll over like that now I'm  

lying on my back okay so if I'm getting if I'm  on a massage table and the person giving me the  

massage so the the massuse or the massure says uh  could you please turn over or could you roll over  

they probably wouldn't say flip over like I'm a  pancake or something so in that situation it's  

slightly different they would probably have a  slower movement oh could you please turn over  

or could you please roll over so instead of making  the the client or the customer feel like a pancake  

or something like that where you're going to  quickly flip that person over but if you want  

someone to move faster and you can speak casually  in that way then it's okay to say flip over as as  

well all right some good questions though let's  see here like like an omelette exactly yeah to  

flip over ier fan back uh there are 111 connected  watching the live and I'm like number 58 let's  

thumb up if you can cherish learning yes cherish  Cherish The Learning so this means like you really  

love something deeply to cherish that and if you  do that would be fantastic uh ask aski says can I  

say that I've have been dragged through the mud if  someone had scolded me completely you can be you  

can be dragged through the mud for different  reasons uh and this is another thing we can  

actually demonstrate with a towel so if I if I  take someone and I like attach them maybe to my  

like the back of my car and I drive them through  a bunch of Muddy Puddles like that I can drag them  

around or drag them through some uh some muddy  puddle that's where we get that expression so  

I'm taking them and and just making making life  very unpleasant for them but I could be doing  

that um it's typically it's typically used when  people are are maybe uh like even if you don't do  

something wrong but someone else is trying to make  life difficult for you uh so I could maybe I'm a  

new person at work and I don't know maybe some  some people like me but one person does not like  

me and he's he's like dragging my name through  through the mud so he's saying bad things about  

me or so it's not even just dragging me uh it's  the idea of that it's not physically dragging me  

but you could talk about dragging someone's  name through the mud also so even if uh you  

don't do anything wrong it's just other people  making life difficult for you or or giving you  

a bad reputation or something like that to drag  someone through the mud uh let's see PA says flip  

over the chicken yes you could say flip over the  the chicken or flip the chicken over same thing  

someone on a roll yeah okay I think everybody's  got it though all right looks like we've been  

going for about 60 Minutes uh I'll do like some  last examples here but if anyone have has any  

questions you can let me know again the whole  point of this is to make you feel more confident  

about the vocabulary before you speak so you don't  become fluent simply by reading like you get a  

translation or a list of words and then trying to  just repeat those again and again you really have  

to connect the vocabulary with the situation for  that situation so you become fluent you become  

comfortable and able to speak about something  when you see examples of how natives would do  

that so this is how children learn their language  they see what Mom and Dad and friends are saying  

like if they describe something like a person gets  hit and they say oh ouch that's how children learn  

to say ouch all right so mbio is why I forget the  meaning of words uh it's typically because you're  

you're kind of thinking about words rather than  than connecting words with situations and words  

become much easier to remember when you can  actually make that connection yourself so when  

I'm teaching I'm trying to give you examples along  with the vocabulary that people would use and then  

that will help you to make those connections  and keep those connections in your mind but if  

you begin with vocabulary or you just begin with  some maybe things you want to say in your native  

language then it's going to be more difficult  to understand and you will probably forget  

the English you learn okay so if you want to  remember your vocabulary this is the way you  

do it you really have to understand things well  see lots of examples and hear different natives  

describing the same situation in that way uh in  the the book I'm working on now I tell the story  

about how I go to uh a Japanese Cafe and I'm  just listening to all these different people  

ordering food so it's the the the situation is  people ordering stuff so I don't uh maybe maybe  

people order like a slightly different thing but  I I start getting the um like the understanding  

for the patterns that people use so when you're  ordering something in English maybe you would  

say may I have something or could I get or  could you please something like that so in  

this situation there are a couple different ways  you can see people um expressing themselves so  

that way you really come to feel confident that  wow it's not just one thing that the textbook  

told me I'm actually discovering all these  different things and the things you discover  

those are the things you believe the most because  you have personal experience with that all right  

so there are a couple different ideas here but  if you're forgetting vocabulary it's usually  

because you're starting with vocabulary rather  than starting with a situation and then seeing  

how natives would Express that so this is  where it's also uh useful to use something  

like chat GPT so you would describe chat GPT  like you know like ordering food or whatever  

that thing is and then chat GPT will give you  some different ways that natives would Express

that uh let's see axis says is it correct to say  never throw the towel like never quit never throw  

the towel like never quit no you would just say  don't throw in the towel or you would say don't  

quit you so you're you're kind of putting those  things together so to throw in the towel means and  

remember it's not it's not just just like throw  the towel throw in because the idea is that you  

have people like a boxer and the boxer is losing  and the manager says okay we're just going to  

throw the towel inside the ring so the boxing area  and that means please stop the fight we give up  

that's why we say throw in the towel and not just  like I'm not just throwing a towel like oh I threw  

the towel people what do you mean throw the towel  like oh I threw in the towel so it's like I'm  

putting something into the ring to tell everyone  else hey uh we give up so we quit all right so  

you could quit or you could throw in the towel to  throw in the towel so don't give up uh count says  

it's really helpful to put some imagination with  photos which will let you know without even one  

uh without even saying one single word yep uh and  you can also do uh Google image searches so if I'm  

looking for a word let's say a word in in English  uh like the word bridge I can look for that word  

as an image search and it will give me a bunch of  different image examples uh to help me understand  

all right uh Kenny says hello I understand  listening more than speaking it's normal that  

maybe I get used to listening more and I don't  practice much speaking um well yes for everybody  

everybody's in general uh I can't really think of  someone who speaks better than they understand I  

mean pretty much everybody would understand better  than they speak pretty much um but the the point  

for for developing your understanding so that  you can speak you don't need to speak in order  

to do that you just need to get more examples and  eliminate the doubt that stops you from speaking  

so what what's really uh stopping most people from  speaking is that they feel nervous or or worried  

or unsure about something it could be grammar or  pronunciation or whatever the problem is uh but  

that's that's their issue so it's it's not that  they don't like understand something but they they  

have a a concern about using it themselves and so  I might I might recognize something a native could  

speak to me and I could follow the general idea  of what they're saying but when it's my turn to  

speak I don't feel very confident about what I'm  talking about so I can't really use it correctly  

okay so that's the reason that it's better to get  more examples until you really feel confident and  

so you can eliminate the doubt that stops you  from speaking before you speak that's why I  

talk about get fluent then speak the typical way  people learn is they learn something a little bit  

but they don't really understand it very well or  they probably have some kind of doubts but then  

they just start speaking they try to repeat that  thing again and again but they never really become  

fluent okay so the the the the practice that  gets you that gets you fluent is understanding  

the language better so for me learning Japanese I  don't spend all my time just talking with people  

I I spend actually very little time speaking but  I spend a lot of time getting lots of input that  

helps me in my doubts about Japanese so if I  have a Japanese I don't know like a word or  

something I want to say but I can't I don't feel  confident about it then repeating that word is not  

going to help me okay I really want to make this  clear like uh so let's just let's just contrast  

these two ideas very quickly and this is something  it's very easy for you to test yourself and prove

it so I used to think this is my like  uh I used to think that like you are  

like you you learn something uh and  then you repeat that and then you get

fluent that's the that's the general idea so you  learn something and then you try to repeat it to  

yourself again and again and then you get fluent  but this this doesn't really happen for most  

people and even a lot of the people watching  these videos or other videos that are trying  

to learn they do this part and then they do this  part but then like where is that part why doesn't  

that why doesn't that come you know from like  from the like I should I should be getting this  

part over here why doesn't that happen so this  is this is called learning English as a second  

language and this is what most people are doing  and this is for most language learning in general  

so you learn something like a a you know you get  a a translation or something uh and then you try  

to repeat that and then somehow you get fluent  that's the idea of how it works so it seems like  

it it's a simple thing oh okay you learn something  and repeat that and then you get fluent but why  

doesn't that work so why for most people for me  why didn't that work and the reason is because  

at this point right here learning and repeating  things is actually really easy to do excuse me  

uh by yourself so if I'm learning something  and just repeating it saying it again and

again uh I can control this I can control  this situation but this situation I cannot  

control all right so I get into a conversation  and I don't know what people are going to say  

all right uh the the the real problem with ual  communication is it's unpredictable we'll just say

uncontrolled and so in an uncontrolled situation  there are many different things you have to think  

about and if you don't know what people are  going to say or you're not prepared for that  

then you're going to have a lot of trouble  with that situation okay so the opposite  

thing so this is what I used to do I used  to do this okay uh and I I want to make it  

clear that like the the point is not just to  like listen to the language it's to understand  

the language very well okay uh so like when  you learn English as a first language the the  

thing that I recommend like the learning  process like you don't really worry about  

repeating so much but the point is to end doubt  so listening is one way you can do this but if  

you have any questions about about vocabulary  or what you might say in a situation then you  

will not be able to speak fluently okay so all  the the work is really done over here ending

doubt okay so if you if you uh is not it's not  just like listening or even speaking like again  

I spend uh very little time in my day or even in a  week speaking Japanese I I could say I don't know  

maybe like an hour or less actually speaking  uh but I'm becoming more fluent the flu the  

fluency the fluency uh uh actually comes like  as I'm learning and understanding the language  

better so that's how it works so for maybe for  other people it works in a different way but  

uh for me and and the people I've helped if you  end the doubt that stops you from speaking then  

you will speak so speech becomes like the last  thing over here and the fluent part happens over

here okay you see the difference so it's the  it's the opposite so we want to move we want  

to move from understanding the language like  just a little bit and maybe like you still  

have a lot of Doubt over here doubt and  here you have no doubt all right so you  

and and you can do this before you actually  get into a into a conversation with someone  

this is why I say you should get fluent then

speak so yes you can you can start repeating  things to yourself if you like and it's going  

to help you a little bit but the more important  thing is to end the doubt that you have about  

speaking whatever that doubt is so it could be  doubt about pronunciation or grammar or something  

but until you end that doubt that's going to cause  you a lot of trouble okay so the typical thing is  

like learn a little bit but not really understand  things perfectly and you're just like well I'm  

kind of nervous I don't really understand with  whatever like you know that that's what you're  

talking about so this person Kanon over here that  like keeps uh keeps commenting so I'm working on  

my a and I want to sound like a native so here's  how you do that you do that not by like working on  

your accent you do it by seeing lots of examples  of how natives actually talk if I see aund  

different people say a word I'm going to feel  very confident about how to say that word I'm  

not like working on my accent I'm seeing a bunch  of other people do that so before I speak I'm  

seeing lots of examples of that and it's not  just for accents it's for anything if I want  

to know how to communicate about a situation uh  that's that's what I want to do so again like  

even before you before you're speaking with other  people you can improve your pronun iation you can  

improve your use of grammar you can improve  everything about your uh vocabulary and the  

point is you're doing it in like a controlled  comfortable way rather than trying to know  

something a little bit and then speak before you  feel comfortable okay hopefully that makes sense  

all right so that that's basically the idea and  uh the more you can eliminate doubt before you  

speak the more you will feel confident when you do  speak all right we're going to close it down here

but thank you for joining me as usual if you'd  like to learn more about how to do this you can  

click on the link in the description below this  video but remember the main idea is that you  

don't have to put a lot of pressure on yourself  to speak you don't have to speak to become fluent  

you get fluent as you understand something  better okay hopefully that makes sense you  

can click on the links in the description to  learn more and I'll see you next time bye-bye