Listen And Get Fluent In English?

okay I think we're live as usual give YouTube a

moment to fire up microphone's working video is  

working that's kind of a funny  thumbnail all right let's see

here all right we'll give that a moment as  usual let me know where you're from if you  

have any questions you can just post them  now and I will go back and look at those  

this probably won't be that long of a video  I really just want to answer a very common  

question actually two related questions uh but  hopefully this should be an interesting video  

for people who want to speak all right I am  Drew Badger the founder of englishanyone.com  

and welcome to another live video here on  YouTube amera K nice to see you there good  

morning yes it is a nice morning here in  Nagasaki Japan uh and we're going to talk  

about listening uh today because people  often ask me can I really just get fluent  

by listening and I think a lot of people well  maybe some people uh might misunderstand what  

I'm talking about when I talk about how  people get [Music] fluent so let's review

[Laughter] well nice to see you there a Sky  I nice to see you there hello Muhammad from  

Morocco and Kitty uh didn't say where you are from  Jose good morning all right well everyone let's  

get right into it I want to make this clear just  because I often talk about uh the big picture of  

learning so when people think about learning they  often uh misunderstand me they think uh maybe I  

mean you only have to listen and that's how you  get fluent but let me let me give you the whole  

picture right here cuz it's actually quite simple  but I want to make sure everybody understands  

so I'm going to put your five senses up here so  you've got your eyes I'll just draw this little  

picture to make it easier you got your nose  here it's kind of a nose I guess uh your mouth  

and you got an ear over here uh and then you can  also you can taste things so put your uh tongue  

over there too uh we'll kind of we I guess we'll  put these together we'll just say your mouth and  

your your tongue is the same thing your tongue  yeah like that and yeah let me draw a little bit  

a little bit better picture of an ear there uh  and then we'll put a hand over here is that it  

looks like a chef's hat uh let me draw a better  a slightly cleaner picture of a hand here oh no  

that doesn't look better I didn't save myself  much space uh but anyway that is supposed to  

be your your hand so have your eye your nose your  nose your mouth or your tongue your ear and your  

hand all right so these are basically the uh the  the basic five senses you could use in order to  

learn so when people ask me like can I get fluent  from listening what I'm really saying is that you  

actually get fluent by understanding the language  better so we're just going to put understanding

here so to understand the language better  and any one of these things can give you  

that understanding so when little kids are  just starting to learn uh we want to make  

sure that that like people can understand and and  little kids they don't put like a blindfold over  

their eyes when they're learning so they're not  only listening when they're learning but I think  

people have this question because they think oh  you don't have to speak in order to become fluent  

I do say that is true so you actually don't have  to speak in order to become fluent because what's  

really happening with fluency is that you're just  developing understanding so as you understand  

the language better this means you're erasing  any doubts you have about the language that's  

what actually allows you to speak so once you  understand uh then uh this is you over here uh  

speaking and lots of words coming out of your  mouth all right so this is the basic process  

of how fluency works and maybe some people like  watching movies or you know maybe you like to I  

don't know smell things but the basic idea the  reason I include all five of these senses here  

uh is because if I ask you to to feel something  like if I say oh the the board is smooth and  

people might not know what exactly I'm talking  about like the board is smooth over here I mean  

am I talking about like I don't know kind of  how it feels but I can't you don't really know  

you have to actually feel the board to know  that it's smooth and so we can contrast that  

with something like this eraser which would  be rough so we have a smooth board smooth

board and a rough eraser all right so even on the  Eraser itself we have a part of the Eraser that  

is smooth and a part of the Eraser this rough all  right so uh hopefully this makes sense now I just  

wanted to talk about this a little bit and how  speaking actually develops now usually what people  

are doing is they try to listen and maybe they  they get some examples of something but they don't  

really understand so let me use my my red marker  uh so the way people typically learn is they begin  

with maybe listening to something or you could  read it or uh you know you see an example in a  

textbook or even even if you're watching a video  like this but if you don't really understand  

something something and you try to go to speaking  directly then that's where you're going to have  

trouble so you will maybe think about grammar  rules or translations when you speak because  

you don't really understand what you're saying  you still have some kind of doubt in your mind  

about what you're talking about could be a doubt  about the grammar pronunciation or whatever but  

the point is uh like with the the the smooth  and rough example I can try to tell you what  

that means so you could listen to what I'm saying  but it's much faster and easier to understand the  

difference between smooth and rough if you just  touch it okay so the goal is not is not like to go  

from listening to speaking I mean that is helpful  if the listening is something you can understand  

if it eliminates your doubt but usually all five  of these things working together are what allow  

you to speak okay so hopefully this makes sense uh  I just wanted to make that kind of short uh quick  

introduction at the beginning of this I'll I'll go  back and answer questions there's one more thing I  

wanted to talk about which is how practice works  like that the when people talk about speaking  

practice so the first big question or the big  misunderstanding people have is that like Drew  

are you saying you only have to listen and you  become fluent only by listening and I would say  

no you're actually understanding is the key and  there are different ways to understand whatever  

is the best thing for the situation is is the most  important thing so again like I can look at this  

and I can I can maybe see that it's smooth but if  I touch it it's much faster I can tell immediately  

right now instantly I can see the difference  between ah smooth and rough like that okay if  

you touch it so that's the same thing if you're  learning a different language like if I want to  

smell the difference between a rose and some other  flower or a fruit or a kind of food something like  

that I should be using all of my senses on that  so especially eating something tasting something  

I will be able to tell the difference between a  banana and an orange but if you try to explain  

that to me like how does a what does a banana  taste like you're going to explain that to me  

like you that's just listening I could listen to  an explanation but uh like that the point here is  

that you don't really understand okay so the the  best thing is like for whatever that is uh for  

the situation I think somebody just mentioned  comprehend ible comprehensible input I can see  

you try to apply Dr crash's uh theory yes so  crashion talks about the same thing crashion is  

talking about comprehensible input uh which means  you understand something but I'm I'm basically  

extending that idea to talk about how much  comprehensible input why we need comprehensible  

input what is the actual point of this because I  remember I don't know like a few years ago I got  

an email from another uh teacher so this is like  a university professor and they were saying oh  

you're you're you're talking about comprehensible  input but how much do we need how how do you know  

like what kind of comprehensible input to get and  the answer is actually very simple the point is  

if you destroy the doubt the doubt is the thing  that really stops most people from speaking so  

as I said here you can listen to something and  try to repeat that thing but that doesn't mean  

you understand what you're saying so I could start  like I could I could say some some Japanese words  

or I don't know like pick a different language and  just start hearing some some random speech but if  

I don't really understand and by understanding  mean like I'm actually eliminating the doubt  

so there are different levels of this I might  hear something but still not feel confident  

about saying it because I have some kind of doubt  about what I'm saying okay so yes like crashing  

like as far as I know like I don't know if he  ever like went into more detail about it but  

uh the understanding I have and this is the same  thing I discovered when I got fluent in Japanese  

is that like you're not the point is not just to  get like a lot of input the point is to destroy  

the doubt as quickly as possible so again we can  look at the two examples of what is comprehensible  

input I can explain to someone what smooth means  or I can explain to someone what like light or  

dark are but if I just show you those things and  you can see the difference or you can feel the  

difference between something that's smooth and  something that's rough like this then it's very  

easy to learn the language and you don't need  to think about uh translating or or having to  

think about rules or anything like that okay so  now these are obviously simple examples but the  

same thing would happen for any kind of grammar  anything else you would be learning the point is  

do you understand what you're learning or do you  not and often just listening is is part of that  

but if I if I only watch or if I only listen to  a video and then I watch the video I'm going to  

have a different experience I'm probably going to  understand something better and that's the whole  

reason I use video to help people learn because  you can see what I'm saying you can like literally  

see what I'm explaining I usually try to draw some  pictures I know my pictures are not the greatest  

but uh the point is I can show you how something  works and it's much easier than just telling you  

all right so to answer this question to make  sure everybody understands listening is one  

way to help you understand something but really  the goal is that you remove any doubt that stops  

you from speaking okay so the whole point is to  keep getting input but you can you can get the  

input as quickly as possible uh with the purpose  of destroying the doubt that's the that's the  

whole point of comprehensible input so rather  than getting an explanation about the language  

which is like the worst thing you can do to learn  because we just don't really learn that way and  

it's going to teach you to think and translate and  hesitate when you speak it's much better to try to  

understand the language directly in that language  so this is what comprehensible input means and  

that's what gives you the confidence to speak okay  so most people uh they are going to feel hesitant  

or embarrassed or shy or whatever about speaking  if they don't really feel confident about what  

they say so you should keep getting more input  until you feel confident and that's what allows  

you to speak all right so now that I've answered  that I'm going to go back and check chat and then  

I'll speak briefly about practicing like what  this means so you've already seen kind of like  

the practice I'm talking about when people talk  about uh can can you get fluent only by listening  

then they think oh I guess I don't need to speak  with anybody else and that's basically true if  

you can understand uh the language well but  let me go back and see if anybody uh had any  

questions that I missed let's see uh let's see  here Mr smart from Vegas Samuel ice see there  

cam from Thailand uh kamusta Jose from Nicaragua  Islam nice to see you very kind man well I try I  

try uh sophan let's see hello I'm from Indonesia  let's see ce's are you an Illuminati why do you  

think I'm you think I'm like in the Illuminati  no I I don't know I don't have like a special  

I don't know where did you get that idea I'm not  I don't think so your drawing skills are amazing  

says can well I appreciate that and let's see  tar says good morning sir Queen of the island  

thank you Aman from India and Marissa how can I  lose the fear of speaking English with people who  

is a native speaker so people who are a native  speaker uh for your specific question this this  

is the answer right here so uh if you if you feel  nervous about speaking with natives then there's  

usually a reason for that like it could be your  pronunciation or you're worried about making mist  

mistakes like you had uh like a grammatical error  in your writing uh and often if you are unsure  

then you're unconfident so you still have some  kind of doubt that's stopping you from speaking  

so even if you you can understand generally when  other people are talking that that doesn't mean  

you you have the skills you need to communicate  all right so understanding a language and then if  

if you think about how how the practice works  I I'll talk about this in just a moment but  

the basic idea is is that it's easy to have a  controlled environment for learning like right  

now you don't have to say anything you're just  listening to me speak uh or if you're reading a  

book or doing something even looking at a textbook  or or watching something whatever like watching a  

movie um you're not uh it's like a a controlled  environment so it's much easier you don't have  

to worry about anything like understanding  pronunciation whatever uh you can understand  

everything you know probably pretty easy and if  you have a question maybe you can look that up or  

stop the video or something and and get the answer  to that but in a conversation the conversation is  

not controlled it's like a a a like a chaotic  thing uh and so when we when we think about how  

we practice we need to make the practice more like  the actual communication situation all right I'll  

talk about that in just a moment but uh basically  you need to have no doubt for most people anyway  

this is the thing like if they're nervous about  saying something they won't say it all right so  

you need to clear that doubt away if you want  to become a confident speaker it doesn't matter  

who you're speaking with whether that's speaking  with natives or anybody else uh moham says I can  

understand all what you say you can just say I can  understand all you say or everything you say but  

I can't speak as you yes and that's because like  the the understanding part and the communication  

part are different because of the usually the  way people are practicing which I'll talk about  

in just a moment but the understanding part is  much easier because you don't have to think about  

what you're saying you're you're just getting  the information and usually you can understand  

the general idea but if I said hey I want you to  say that thing now or something express the same  

idea even if you don't say the same words  uh then you would probably struggle to do  

that no usually it's because you're you know it  could be problems with grammar or pronunciation  

or whatever but usually you just don't know the  language as well as you think you do that's the  

problem uh let's see David says from Colombia  Marley says from uh let's see from Oro and slam  

what is the difference between soap and soup in  pronunciation uh well it's there two different

sounds s o a p and s o u p so this  is a long o sound so we have a o  

soap and typically when we have two vowels  together you say the name of the first one  

that's not always true just like this one here  we don't say soap like this is soup this is an  

o u sound ooh ooh more like a long youu uh but  if you most of the time the rules will follow  

like this so this is the same pronunciation  for uh like boat or goat same thing the OA  

sound o it's just a long o sound uh but if  you'd like to see and and actually learn  

these you should get Frederick just click  on the link in the description I'll put

Frederick so I made this so people can learn all  of these different pronunciations and understand  

the same way natives do so if you'd like to  improve your pronunciation you want to improve  

your spelling you want to know how to say all  these things just get the app so click on the  

link in the description below this video all  all right who is next over here Marcela says  

what do you say about understanding the normal  everyday English does that work the same yes  

uh and so I I'll show you that in in just a  moment but yes the goal is to understand not  

just teachers you know people who are speaking  slowly and clearly like I am doing right now but  

to be able to understand anybody so you can uh  follow movies or TV shows or people in everyday  

life bill says hello Drew uh how are you today  how do we understand a language understanding  

in terms of what well understanding just means  you're eliminating doubt about what something  

means so at a very basic level there's a sound  uh yeah let me let me clean this up a little

bit uh so you hear I don't even know  what you maybe this is a better way to do

it so there's some kind of sound and there's  a a word and well you can all right let me  

let me let me make this very clear and  simple so the sound is is the word but  

it's it's not always a word so that's  why it's a little bit tricky like if I  

say ouch I'm making a sound or I say oh I'm  making a sound but it it might not like they  

might not all be words but basically  you connect a sound with some kind of

meaning and when we think about understanding  something if you hear like sound a do you  

understand what that means for that situation so  if I if I drop like if I if I just say the word  

like in Japanese if I just said that to you  you're hearing a sound but you're not really  

getting to connect that with any meaning  so you don't understand what I'm saying

it now if I keep repeating this word you're still  

not going to understand what  I'm saying I could write it

down do you understand what I'm saying like I  could put it in in Japanese let's see e same

thing now if I continue to say that I could  say this word 100 times and you're still not  

connecting the sound or the word with the meaning  so you don't understand again understanding is  

the connection of sound and meaning or the word  in the meaning okay so whether you're reading  

this on a piece of paper or you hear it in you  know you're listening on headphones or something  

like that the sound and the meaning that's the  connection between those things that gives you  

understanding so if you don't know what I mean  when I say it then you don't understand and you  

probably couldn't use it now if I can help  you connect the sound with the meaning then  

you would understand and you would feel confident  about using it so let me give you some examples

all right is it a little bit more clear  now where did my marker go where did  

that go I don't even know where that went  completely ran away so if I say like if I

like then you understand a little bit better  about what I'm talking about and as you get  

more examples of that then you feel very sure  that you understand and here it becomes like an  

expression of pain kind of like ouch all right  so when I'm talking about like the goal is to  

get to understanding the point is how can I bring  this sound and this meaning to you as quickly as  

possible all right so when people say like I don't  understand it means like they heard something or  

they read something but they don't understand  the meaning of that okay so here I'm giving  

you the example of like like a typical lesson  would either uh just give you a translation so  

I would give you the English word or whatever  your native language is and then I would say  

so the Japanese word for that is all right but  it's much better if you can like if I'm walking

and then you can understand what I'm saying you  connect the sound or the word with the meaning  

okay so the point when we're when we're trying  to do this like the fast F you can do that the  

faster you start speaking because that's what  actually lets you speak so now I understand  

what itai means and I can start using okay and I  hear how people might say it differently so one  

person says like like a little kid is like  and and uh like a like a high school kid is

like you know something like that so each person  will pronounce it a little bit differently  

but in general we're just talking about this  is what people say when you're in pain so  

you understand you can connect the sound or the  word to the meaning all right so if when people  

understand when I say oh I understand what that  person means they connected the sound with the  

meaning and that's what we mean by understanding  so comprehensible input the idea of that is really  

to connect this as quickly as possible so people  who have uh seen my videos before I've given this  

example but it's like it's a very clear Simple  Thing uh you know that I I can just show you  

very quickly how it works but that's the example  of how you can just learn something very easily  

in a new language without translating does that  make sense let me know if you understand hopefully  

that makes sense so I am Portuguese yeah so it's  it's much better like when you learn it that way  

you actually discover the meaning yourself and you  feel much more confident about it because you're  

like oh look at that I I I figured it out I con  I connected the meaning with the with the sound  

and that feeling that gives you an aha moment I  call that an aha moment where you're like ah now  

I get it now I understand what that means so if I  start teaching you something like if I if I just  

like if I draw you know something on the board and  you don't understand what it means then then like  

that's that's where the confusion comes from and  you will hear you know Japanese people saying it  

like that when they get hurt and and so you you  learn that like without opening up a textbook if  

I see three or four people get hurt and they say  I then I'm I'm understanding pretty quickly Ah  

that's the sound they make is connected with that  meaning and that's how language works all right  

let's see Aman says hello from India I think I  answered I think I answered that one uh let's  

see oh I'll come back to marcelo's point uh after  after we go to this so does that work the same so  

Bill said okay I think I answered that so Don  says low anxiety environment yes so low anxiety  

environment or actually like a no no anxiety  so anxiety means some kind of fear or worry or  

nervousness and when you're learning like right  now there is no anxiety because you don't have to  

speak it's my job to get you fluent and as you  listen to me then you become a more confident  

speaker because I'm helping you understand meaning  I'm eliminating any doubt you have about the  

language so as I eliminate more of your doubt you  will feel more confident speaking Richard says I  

am an eager beaver to learn English however I'm a  bit sluggish I comprehend what you stated but with  

native speakers there are some words I don't get  yes and this is why as I'll explain in a moment  

the practice needs to mirror what you're doing  for the actual speaking situation all right so the  

goal is still like we want use our eyes and ears  and nose all of our senses to help us understand  

and that's when we start speaking and let's see  Bible Study zj's Bible study I can speak English  

but sometimes I'm stuck yes so often people will  have you know you have to think about what exactly  

gets you stuck so are you are you thinking there's  a specific word I want to say and then I forget  

that word so I can't speak or is it a problem with  pronunciation or grammar or something else let's  

see and Leos is good evening a great teacher  while you're too kind and ahed says something  

in Arabic which I can't read Studios is good  evening teacher Drew mil meon says is it good  

is it a good idea to improve listening if I read  the whole book and then listen to its audio book  

uh yes but I i' I've talked about this in other  videos where I recommend you get shorter content  

so if you if you read like a whole book like a  like a thick book and then try to go back and  

listen to the the audio version that's not really  giving you the repetition fast enough so I really  

recommend people getting more examples faster and  that's why I tell people like watch the previous  

the video like the one I did about reading so  like read read to speak the read to get fluent  

video watch that video uh but the point there is  that if you you should be learning with with uh  

shorter kind of shorter shorter pieces of content  like this so you can go back and then read it and  

watch it and listen to it so this is how we have  students review in fluent for life so we don't  

want you to listen to like uh a 10-hour audio  book and then try to go back and read it it's  

much better to have like half an hour or less like  15 minutes or something so you can watch a video  

and then maybe watch for some particular sounds  or words or something like that each time you're  

going back and reviewing it it's much easier if  you can go back and review it uh just simply with  

a short amount of time whatever that is like so a  short book or short video or short audio something  

like that so yes like going back and reviewing the  thing in different ways that will give you a good  

naturally varied review uh but pick something  short so it's it's more motivating for you and  

you understand it better uh let's see Jose says  I'm from Nicaragua but live in Oregon and wisley  

wisely says let's see wizzly I guess hi Mr Drew  I would like you to help me destroy the doubt  

about the word bite It's seems that it has two  ways of pronunciation if this is the case make  

it clear to me bite I'm not I'm not aware of  another another I don't know maybe there's like  

the German like b or something like B like I'm  probably not pronouncing that correctly but in  

English that word bite is just one pronunciation  uh as far as I know I'm I'm not I'm not familiar  

with another one see he says uh could you teach us  a way to study common collocations because I find  

it difficult to imagine which words uh should to  focus on which word to focus on and Commons uh you  

can just get there are lists of collocations if  you're looking for those um we also teach a bunch  

of them in um uh in how to remember any English  word so that's in uh influent for life but that  

that program is basically using the same idea of  collocations to help people remember words um but  

like collocations if you're looking for just a  specific way to learn some random collocations  

just pick a word and then put that in Google or  chat gbt and just say give me collocations for the  

word whatever and so you you like collocations  for have or collocations for some kind of noun  

whatever the thing is usually you can find uh  these are the for people who don't know these are  

basically patterns that are commonly used in the  language like uh if I say like have other people  

might think like okay like have fun or have a good  time or have a bath or have a shower and these are  

specific ways of speaking certain patterns that  people use frequently called collocations cam says  

o I see got Michael says greetings from Uruguay  and a studio be careful teacher you are going to  

end up hurting yourself giving us these examples  it's okay in the service of Education I'm happy  

to to hurt myself a little bit but now I don't  know where my marker went where did that go that  

marker like they really disappeared somewhere  no idea where that went I can't see it anyway  

uh let's see so does that mean it hurts in English  equals painful yes so like I'm giving itai means  

uh painful or like something hurts or ouch uh in  Japanese it's not an English word but the point  

is I'm giving you a Japanese example because most  people watching this do not speak Japanese let's  

see LS says I in Portuguese yeah it might be  like other like and and if I'm if I'm listening  

to somebody speaking Portuguese then probably  I will hear examples like that and there will  

be some kind of variety for people saying ouch so  one person might say like I or like another person  

like I it's like it gets louder or something  like that uh depending on how painful the thing  

is but if I'm watching that then I would learn  very quickly oh like that sound means painful  

and that's what you know people people say in  Portuguese and so I'm able to learn Portuguese  

I destroy the doubt about what to say when I'm  hurt so like when I get hurt in Japanese I'm

like or I you know I would have to see some  examples of of people doing that in Portuguese  

uh Persona says hi Drew good morning I want to  know why you wearing the same design t-shirts uh  

uh I don't know cuz it's it's simple I guess  I don't think enough about I don't know my  

presentation I guess my like I don't wear a suit  and tie because the part of the the point of what  

I do here is is try to have a uh like a casual  atmosphere so I wear t-shirts and you know shorts  

or jeans or whatever I'm wearing um but it's it's  it's not meant to have like you know like a fancy  

shirt you know you should be listening to what I'm  saying watching what I'm doing doing so you don't  

you don't focus on my uh my outfit but yes I I  basically went to the store and uh just bought  

a couple of different colors of the same t-shirt  and that's what I wear also I don't I don't like  

thinking about what I'm going to wear every day  so I just look at what's in my drawer and take out  

a shirt and wear that so that's how it works and  I try to look at the YouTube videos actually and  

see oh did I wear like the same color shirt last  video that's it so if I wore like a black T-shirt  

last time I should wear something different  this time I guess that that's about as much  

uh thinking as I do for for my wardrobe but I  wear the same thing in videos that I wear just  

walking around so I it's very easy to think  about all right uh in Portuguese it's I like  

pronunciation of the word I yeah I thought so  kids entertainment let's see good morning sir  

from India to celebrate here Teachers Day so your  English teacher so wish you a very happy teachers  

well thank you very much Happy Teachers Day  to all you teachers out there see could it  

be proper to say it when a man found out his  wife actually male uh I don't know there you  

would probably say some other things uh rather  than just like painful painful is really it's  

more like for physical pain and that's the the  nuances that you discover I don't know I haven't  

seen a textbook with that example in it like  a guy walks I don't know meets his wife and  

like his wife is actually a man or something  I don't know haven't seen that example Islam  

says I saw that episode about the fire inside of  you and I really want to do something if I have  

enough fire inside me to complete this task  even when it's hard it was a great episode oh  

I'm glad to hear it yeah that that episode was  just talking about motivation and if the the  

desire to do something is stronger than you know  kind of General laziness or something then you  

will usually find a way to do something so people  typically find a way to do something they want Le

says well if you're saying like why why is like  English difficult or whatever if that's what that  

means um it's actually not difficult the problem  is that most people make it difficult because they  

don't help you understand the language that's the  real problem so most lessons don't actually they  

they're basically lessons are incomplete they help  you understand somewhat but they don't destroy all  

of the doubt so they leave you feeling like yeah  teacher I I still don't understand like how this  

works or whatever and and until you feel confident  you will probably not want to use that vocabulary  

in a conversation Victor says hi from Guatemala  and let's see is say I'm from Burundi look at that  

I appreciate your lessons but my English level is  low it's okay just keep getting more understanding  

keep destroying that doubt and you will naturally  become more confident speaker uh English endeavor  

Happy Teachers Day sir and aish says I am  from bat and see when you reach 1.6 million  

Subs you can wear custom uh wear a hippie hippie  costume why would that be because of the six in  

there like the 60s or something I don't even own  anything like that I don't I don't know I'll put  

like a wig on or something I don't know Marcel  says there is a Brazilian guy called pong Lair  

who says that he only wears black because that's  one less decision to do during during the day yes  

uh Steve Jobs said the same thing that's why he  just wears the um he doesn't want to think about  

fashion so for me like you know I don't really  want to think about it either I I don't like  

also I don't I don't want to wear a suit every  day I just don't like doing it uh but yes the  

the less you can think about that we call that the  cognitive load so if I'm not thinking about what  

I'm wearing then I can focus on uh other things  I want to think about Rodeo Oswald says or rodale  

see from benine finally I can follow the live  my best teacher well it's welcoming uh good to  

see you here I always follow it after uh due to  the shift time right now it's 2 oh my goodness  

it's like 2: in the morning uh but wait what  time is it over there well it is what time is  

it uh 10:20 or so uh in Nagasaki Japan Nicholas  says I didn't realize that you can speak Spanish  

uh by the way good morning hello from Dominican  Republic I cannot speak Spanish I a little bit I  

my my joke is often like I can say three things  in Spanish I could say like uh mamod Drew Desta  

elban or whatever and uh what's the other thing  yeah I only know like I know very very few things  

in in Spanish but there there are some things I  can understand because the language is similar  

um but I can say like I like to say El demonio de  if you know what that means or what that's from  

uh let's see studium studios in the past I bought  four t-shirts that were exactly the same to use on  

the gym yeah so you you would say use at the gym  if you say use on the gym you're going to put the  

t-shirt on the gym itself but you'd say use it at  the gym or use it in the gym I believe everybody  

thought I wear the same t-shirt everybody had uh  and every day never Chang see people like I don't  

think other people are really they don't really  pay attention to what I wear maybe I think some  

people on these YouTube videos do because it's  like like it's like a different day with me and  

they're just like wow Drew looks like the same  and also I don't do anything fancy with these uh  

with the YouTube thumbnails it's just a picture  of what it is so I could probably do a better  

job of that but uh what's the meaning of keep it  up all what's the meaning of keep it up all night  

well to keep something up just means to continue  doing something so like if if you think imagine  

like holding something like this to keep means to  continue in some way so if I'm holding something  

up I'm trying to keep it up uh that's the physical  like if I'm holding this marker I'm trying to keep  

it up right now um but I can also think about  the um like in a figurative way like keep up my  

effort that kind of thing so I can continue to do  uh something let's see yes says Hi teacher from  

Pakistan Mark says oh it's 2: in the morning over  there see what do you think about Steve Kaufman uh  

uh I don't I don't know who is that Steve  Kaufman uh oh isn't that isn't that lingo  

Steve I think uh I I've never met him um I I  know he speaks a bunch of different languages  

um but yeah never never spoken with him I  don't really watch other people's content  

I don't know maybe I should is there something  I'm missing let me know if I'm if I'm missing  

something so for for many years like I've I've  just been focusing on trying to help people  

understand the language better and I do that  because it's the same thing for me as a learner of  

Japanese I notice that when I understand something  really well I'm able to say it so that means uh if  

I have doubt about something I'm not going to be  able to speak and I've for many years been trying  

to explain that idea to Learners because people  have things like the same reason I'm answering  

this question for this video which is like can  I just listen and become fluent and people think  

like if I listen then I become fluent like  they're kind of going from one to the other  

over here but really the point is listening is  just one way to help you understand a language  

and when you understand a language that's when  you start speaking because it's really doubt that  

stops you from speaking in the first place so if  you have no doubt about speaking you will speak  

you don't really need to you know get lessons or  whatever it's just do you understand something or  

do you not that's it and most people they worry  they have maybe a little voice in their head that  

says oh do I really understand understand this or  am I saying the right thing or kind of doubting  

yourself as you try to speak and that just means  you don't really understand something very well  

and so usually that is for uh specific things and  that's why this is It's actually an easy thing to  

fix because once you know what the problem is then  you just oh okay we need to help you understand  

that thing better and we usually do that by giving  you a wider variety of examples so if I like say  

you know like it I show myself getting hurt um or  or somebody else getting hurt and you understand  

what the meaning of it is from the context uh  suria says keep it up okay I believe means it  

keep going to carry on yes so it can mean kind of  different things but they're related to that I'm  

eating boiled potatoes now will enjoy Al says can  you tell us a summary for the whole uh there well  

that was basically just it so when people ask me  can I get fluent only by listening I like probably  

not um but the reason is because there are faster  ways to get fluent and the point is not just to  

listen but to understand the language as quickly  as possible so if you want to speak like speak  

quickly speak sooner than later then the goal  is to get understanding as quickly as possible  

that's the that's how you actually speak so it's  understanding that allows you to speak I want to  

know how to use correctly what do youan I want  to know how to use correctly have I don't know  

what that means re restate that again all right uh  so understanding this let me talk about practice  

very quickly so related to this idea of of can  we get fluent just by listening I wanted to talk  

about practice as well um because people think  that they need to speak in order to get fluent  

but you'll notice from this very simple uh diagram  here oh no I got to sneeze it's coming ah it kind  

of went all right I don't know if it's coming back  but so when you look at this speaking becomes the  

end of this process not the beginning so we don't  we don't start by speaking because you don't know  

what to say you you you don't like you have no  idea what to say uh but as you understand the  

language better you feel confident you eliminate  the doubt and then you speak so the the speaking  

is the end of this process not the beginning  all right and so if we want to I think I forget  

who mentioned that uh at I don't know like a  couple minutes ago about understanding people  

in real life so what this means is that right now  you're getting a a more controlled lesson so it's  

easier to understand me you're getting some simple  examples like I gave you you know just helping you  

understand how language learning works or giving  you some examples of vocabulary uh but you also  

need to get lots of examples of how people speak  in real life so the practice the practice you  

do it needs to connect with the actual way that  people are speaking in the real world all right so  

just imagine like we'll just put r c here for real  communication and then p over here for practice  

now by practice I don't mean speaking I just mean  like this same process has to give you examples  

of this kind of speech so if I'm only listening to  One teacher then one like one teacher is just one  

part of this and that's just one part of real real  communication but there are many other like other  

people might say something different or they might  have a different pronunciation or maybe they use  

some different vocabulary or you know whatever  um but the point is my my practice what I do  

over here has to be like the real communication so  that's why if I only listen to One clear teacher  

I'm going to just only be prepared to hear  clear people when they speak and most people  

don't speak clearly or most people are using  slang and idioms and other things like that uh  

when they communicate which is different from  how a normal teacher is is teaching people so  

a a normal person wants to wants to be understood  but in real communication people are just you know  

they're talking with each other they assume like  you know you understand the language and they're  

really they're trying to the communication goes  up a level to just talking about life or whatever  

so they're not worried about you understanding  the language itself it's do you understand what  

we're actually talking about and so more people  uh like what you should be doing to practice is  

the things that happen in real communication those  need to happen in the practice as well and that  

this doesn't mean you have to speak it just means  you need lots of examples of how this speech is  

in your practice so right now you're getting one  kind of practice all right so it's not about you  

speaking it's me helping you understand something  like about the language or teaching you vocabulary  

or something like that that's one piece of what  you need all right so if you only listen to me and  

then you go out in the real world and try to speak  with people there's going to be a big disconnect  

there because I'm just I'm giving you one piece  of that thing all right hopefully this makes sense  

but you don't need to speak to get this in fact  it's much faster if you don't try to speak because  

you're just wasting your time like you know you  have to try to find some people to practice with  

or you find time to speak or whatever can be  a really frustrating thing for people uh it  

certainly was for me but it's much easier if the  actual practice you get is like the real world so  

as an example maybe we have uh the practice over  here is listening to two people talking about a  

date so like a a two guy friends are talking  one guy went out on a date with a girl and and  

they're just talking about that experience if I  listen to that like that's a real thing people  

talk about so if my practice is like that as well  then I'm going to I'm going to like feel more like  

I understand what people are talking about when  I get into the real communication situation okay  

so another example for me and this is something  you can do uh as well because there's so much  

content for learning English uh but for me like I  like watching Street interviews in Japan so there  

are different YouTube channels that do interviews  with people on the street and ask them different  

questions like what do you think about crime  in your neighborhood or whatever so there will  

be an interesting question and you'll get many  responses from people so it's like I mentioned  

before about about taking time to read something  if you can get a short thing you can practice and  

review that thing again and again in different  ways that's much better than trying to learn one  

long thing that doesn't give you much review all  right so if I'm if I'm again I'm trying to make my  

my my own Japanese learning like the real world so  I need to hear real people talking but understand  

that in more of a controlled way so I can  understand people and that's how I become  

prepared to have conversations with people okay so  uh like you'll notice that speaking is still the  

the end point of both of these things so I'm not  speaking to become fluent I'm getting fluent as  

I understand the language better and the result  is speech you can try to speak faster or sooner  

if you like even if you don't feel comfortable  you can try to speak and some people will tell  

you like just get out and speak even if you feel  you know whatever shy about it but I would say no  

that's the wrong way to do it I would just  say you could do that if you like but for  

me personally I'd much rather know the language  really well and then get into a situation where  

I I'm already prepared for that and then I feel  very confident okay now obviously you can't like  

prepare for every situation but as you learn more  you become better prepared for a wide range of  

situations all right so I think I've given this  example before uh in a previous video I'll just  

give it one more time as an example here so a  kind of practice you would get would be hearing  

different people say the same thing so if I hear a  song and I hear different people singing that song  

I'm going to hear differences in pronunciation  maybe people will even change the lyrics a little  

bit or or you know they're having different  speeds or something but all of that is giving  

me real practice because it reflects it mirrors  the same way that people would be speaking so  

in the real world you have a variety of different  people you have a variety of different voices you  

know a variety of different accents all kinds of  things so if you're listening in an English lesson  

and you only listen to clear teachers you're not  preparing yourself for the real world all right  

so it's much more difficult like often people  uh they go from a regular English lesson with  

a teacher to a real speaking situation and they  say why is it so different and I say well it's  

because the the the practice itself the learning  is different from what you get in the real world  

but it it shouldn't be it should actually be as  close as possible so if I'm going to speak with  

a person tomorrow about something and I actually  watch a video or two about that person today then  

I'm going to be much more prepared because I  know how they speak I'm going to know like okay  

this person likes this or they talk about that  thing or whatever uh the the the practice the  

learning part is mirroring what I have in the real  world whatever that speaking practice is okay so  

another way to think about this is with sports  so if I'm if I'm just uh doing practice where  

I only like if I'm trying to play basketball and  I only shoot baskets by myself I'm just in a gym  

by myself it's a much different experience than  an actual game so in a real game I can't just  

sit there and shoot people will try to block me  or stop me from shooting the ball but in the in  

the real world if I can actually practice like  that that's why people have practice games okay  

so like you actually you want to make the practice  like the real world as much as possible and often  

for people learning languages this is not true so  if you if you like look at an a uh a language on  

an app uh then you're you're probably not going  to be well prepared for how people really speak  

because an app is very clear and easy to read and  so like when you get to the real world then like  

I I don't know what to say because like the app  was clear I can clearly read it it's just text I  

can read on the screen but a lot of people don't  speak clearly so I have to be prepared for that  

so like the the street interviews for me is a  really good thing I also recommend that for my  

students and so I say well uh if you're interested  in a particular thing and you want to talk about  

that then watch other natives talking about that  thing that is the practice you need that prepares  

you for the real world situation all right so you  don't need to speak to get that the practice comes  

as you see lots of examples and you feel really  confident about doing that all right whatever that  

thing is so it's a it's a different environment uh  and you have to make these environments or these  

situations as close as possible so you don't need  to speak to do that but you should be around that  

and just like right now so so you're getting part  of that by listening to me but if you also hear  

other people talking about things and get real  people uh like giving you real examples of the  

language you will feel more confident and then  you will speak all right so hopefully this makes  

sense these are kind of two ideas I'm working on  a new guide that explains this stuff more simply  

and it's taken me a long time to write I have to  go back and edit things and change things as I  

explain more and I'm like nah it's not really a  good way to explain it but hopefully this makes  

sense so the basic idea is that if the learning  part is like the actual speaking process the  

more these are similar the more you will speak  naturally in a regular conversation all right  

looks like we've had a couple of comments here  let make sure everybody's got this already all  

right let's see all right somebody laughing at  me sneezing I guess so teacher how to reply the  

question what's up uh can you say I'm good or  maybe things are okay you can just say oh I'm  

okay or you can just say yeah fine how are you  it's just like it's it's when people say what's  

up it's just a greeting they're probably not  expecting you to say a lot it's just like hey  

hey how are you you know and then if you begin a  conversation sometimes you just see someone and  

they're far away and you don't actually speak with  them for a long time just hey how's it going how  

are you how have you been or if if I actually want  to talk with that person I can say more or I can  

ask them a question like oh how have you been or  what's new with this so what is what is different  

or what's changed or you know whatever uh about  their particular situation so especially if I know  

like you know you know they told me their child  is I don't know going to start school next year  

or something like that and I see them again oh how  is your your you know son or daughter you know if  

I know their name so it depends on the situation  but in general if you're just giving a simple  

greeting then yes you can say Hey or how are you  uh how to Simply connect our MSG so message and  

thoughts uh well you just have to know again you  have to spend more time seeing how natives do this  

so if I again like if I want to know how to say  ouch in Japanese I could look up a definition or a  

translation of that in English or I could just see  natives doing that thing so see native Japanese  

people like what do they say when they get hurt  if I get a few examples of that I will know how to  

say the same thing so again when people are doing  typical learning like a typical English lesson is  

not like the real world so a typical lesson is  just a teacher explaining something clearly but  

most people don't speak clearly okay so you need  to get some examples like what we do in fluent for  

life is part of it is me explaining something  just so you really make sure you understand it  

but then you see other natives or you hear natives  you get more examples of natives saying something  

in a different way so maybe you hear someone  speaking quickly or with an accent or you know  

they express something with different vocabulary  even all right but the point is you have to make  

the real world you have to put that into your  practice and get examples of what natives are  

doing so often what people learn in a classroom is  not what natives are really saying okay so there  

there are lots of reasons why this is it becomes  more difficult and so people try to learn a little  

bit with a teacher and then try to go speak and  then they wonder why they have communication  

problems it's because this is not like this but  if you make the pr ice like the real world you  

have to make these as similar as possible then  you're much more prepared when you have a real

conversation all right let me know let me know  if this makes sense though hopefully hopefully  

that is uh is working for people let's see uh  Patricio says hello from Brazil and rustom says  

I tried your method it's really works thank  you very much DJ as my pleasure so you would  

say I tried your method and it really works  so the method it's one thing so it works so  

that tells me you should have some review with  subject verb agreement and that just means get  

more examples of basic sentences that's why  I really recommend people read uh children's  

books because it gives them lots of good examples  it's very quick you can go back and review it many  

times you will feel good because you did it go  back and watch that that video about reading the  

recent one I did Adriana says please I would  use on a date if you like your coffee hot let  

me be your coffee pot yes I suppose you could  use that it depends on the uh the person some  

people might be interested in in a pickup line  like that let's see Louis likes that I guess uh  

all right you guys you guys should uh you know  be like wingmen for each other go out you know  

the wingman this is is a good expression for you  some new uh English if you have not heard this

before so typically if we look at like a  fighter I'm not going to draw this very  

well as usual but here is looking down at  the Top This is a like a jet airplane so a  

Jet Plane will be flying and a wingman usually  is like uh like another typically another like  

air airplane that is flying next to you  like here's the wing here's another Wing  

so someone that's maybe traveling with  you you might call that person a wing

man a wingman a wingman so another another  plane so we're talking about the other pilot  

who is their wingman but see we we get this  expression from the Air Force but men will  

use this when they talk about going to a bar  or something so like hey like my friend is  

my wingman like he just you know he comes with me  maybe he has a girlfriend already but I'm looking  

for a girlfriend and we we go out together so it's  just making it more comfortable for me or whatever  

but he is my wingman my wingman isn't that  interesting you can learn some interesting  

vocabulary that way but the point is I'm trying  to help you make connections uh but using the  

vocabulary uh in in the way people would normally  use it that's how you become prepared for real

communication all

right uh and C says Steve coffin's method is  tend to improving through Reading by linking  

random words in order to build understanding and  sentences contraction it looks kind of different  

with your method which is mirroring situations  my method is just destroying doubt that's it and  

that's the basic when people think like Drew  if they ask me how will you get me fluent I  

will say I will destroy the doubt that stops you  from speaking because that's that's it and and  

so you might think about particular methods or  whatever like yes you will get some reading some  

some listening some watching things but it's all  helping you destroy the doubt that stops you from  

speaking that's it so I wouldn't say like you only  get fluent from reading or you only get fluent  

from like again if you want to communicate with  people in real life the learning has to mirror  

what the actual situation is just like practicing  for a sport if I don't do actual game practice  

then when I get into a game I will not be prepared  for how people really are that's why people do  

practice games that's the whole idea of a practi  game it's to simulate in a controlled environment  

so you could be playing a game and the coach says  stop so some players are moving and the coach says  

all right stop like look what you did right there  and they go back and and look at look at the play  

or or how they move in a certain way so that's the  the actual systematic practice you can get that  

prepares you for the real communication situation  so yeah I I don't I'm not I'm not familiar with um  

with how people get fluent but I I think over  the years I've gotten better at explaining what  

I do when it's really just destroying doubt that's  the easiest way I can explain it so like I've I've  

explained it in different ways like understanding  English as a first language or learning English as  

a first language all of that is true it's the same  thing but I think it's just it's confusing for  

people and like some people get it but some people  do not and my point is to to help you understand  

what exactly the process is so if you're going to  learn from anyone just ask how exactly do you get  

me fluent and if if they can explain to you how  that works then you know give that a try and and  

see if that's helpful for you but in general  whatever you would be doing like it's going  

to it's it should be destroying the doubt because  that's what actually lets you speak all right uh  

let's see and and a studio says I completely agree  with you teacher because sometimes depend on who  

we talk with it is difficult to understand some  people because people from the USA have different  

accents and different words regions Etc yes and  so again if I'm learning something I want to also  

hear more examples of how people say that thing  that will make me feel even more confident even  

more prepared for something because I can learn  something in a textbook and understand it but  

it can still be different from how people really  speak so a perfect example when I first came to  

Japan I had in my Japanese textbook Ohio goas  that's how you say good morning Ohio goas and  

so when I went to school and saw people in the  morning I would I would be very polite I would  

bow oh ohas but often other people were not saying  that and some older man he just he was just like  

that's what he said to me I was like what like you  can say that you know so again like when you get  

one example of something you think that's the way  people really speak but it's not people actually  

have a wide variety of of ways of speaking so  your practice your learning should mirror that  

kind of thing now this is specifically talking  about how you develop fluency all right so like  

the other things I talk about the first one is  making sure you learn that vocabulary so you have  

to learn the real vocabulary that people learn  or the real vocabulary people use and the second  

thing is how you learn it and typically I call  this uh fluency triggers where you you actually  

understand something you learn it well enough that  you feel confident like yes I understand what the  

person is talking about but the naturally varied  review is what really prepares you and develops  

your fluency because it's giving you lots of  different examples that really erase all of your  

doubt so all all of the phases you go through  as you learn it's just clearing out the doubt  

let's get all the doubt out of there so first  like what do we want to learn we want to learn  

what people really speak okay that's the first  kind of doubt we understand so we want to clear  

that doubt up we're not just learning uh basic  things or more formal English that you might hear  

in a textbook we want to learn the real things  that people say in a real conversation okay so  

we're we have no doubt about what we're learning  and now how are we going to learn that we should  

be trying to get lots of different examples and  understand how people would really use something  

uh and not getting translations but just really  understanding something as as best as possible U  

and if you can remove the doubt about that then  the last step is the naturally varied review  

where we really try to help people uh get lots of  different examples of things so the more examples  

you get and the The Wider variety of examples  you get the more prepared you will be in real

communication all

right and okay I got that one there and S says  what is your opinion on repeating the same content  

mini story conversation uh throughout the week  uh yeah so you should be repeating things but  

also I recommend as I just mentioned naturally  varied review so I I gave the example in uh what  

was that video so the reading video I did uh  I guess last week so I was talking about how I  

use children's books to get fluent and so part  of that is I gave the example of the story of  

The Three Little Pigs so I have three different  versions of that like three different physical  

copies of that book uh in Japanese and I read all  three of them and they're each saying something a  

little bit different so the story is the same but  the way they express it or the specific vocabulary  

they use is a little bit different so I'm  learning oh there are different ways I could  

tell this story all right and even like one  of the stories is Like the Wolf uh dies at the  

end and the other story is the wolf does not die  you know so it could be even different different  

parts of the story but the point is that I'm I'm  trying to get varied review and so varied review  

is going to number one prepare me for real life  but number two it's going to keep me interested  

in learning because if I only repeat the same  thing again and again I'm going to feel very bored  

so you really need to get uh like repetition is  good but the the value of repetition gets worse  

over time because you're not like you're not  learning anything new but if you get different  

versions of things or if I read a story and then  listen to someone read that story to me that's  

going to give me even more understanding all right  uh teacher do you will give live lecture every day  

no I don't do these every day the these it's may  be like once or twice a week uh but for people  

who like what I do and they would like me to just  get them fluent uh rather than only talking about  

the principles of fluency that's what we do in  fluent for life so if you'd like to learn more  

about that uh you can learn with me every  day uh and learn as quickly as you can to  

get fluent as fast as possible just click on the  link in the description below this video uh Simo  

says thank you sir my English is improved because  of you glad to hear you would say my English has  

improved like it started before and it's still  continuing it has improved I'm glad to hear it  

if you know other people I can help uh click on  the like button and share the video Let's see  

for me it is easier to understand people in the  USA but from people the British accent is hard  

for me to understand yes but if you listened to  more British people if you started watching some  

British TV shows I'm sure you would feel more  comfortable and confident when talking with an  

actual British person that's how it works so  you can prepare for all of these things before  

you actually speak you can get fluent nice and  comfortably and then when you actually speak oh

no I held that one in for you guys all right make  sure I don't break the microphone Anna says what's  

new look at that a metal from Anna thank you very  much Badger he I am yesen from Morocco nice see  

you there and sangan hello from Cambodia listen to  your teaching now or you teaching now Ruben I'm in  

the USA I need to understand English uh idioms  I'm guessing that's what you're trying to say  

well and ilder nice see you sup Drew what's going  on what's going on Rodeo uh all is about getting  

more inputs in order to eliminate doubts I say  this as a faithful follower yes so it's just I  

mean even uh like the the input but I also want to  make like remind people like input can come from  

many ways if I if I smell a flower in Japanese  like if I'm in Japan and I and I'm learning oh  

what's the name of that flower I don't know like  I might learn it by the way it looks or the smell  

of that flower like some flowers I don't I don't  know the name of them in English but I know them  

in Japanese because I know how it looks or the  the smell of that thing so that's what we mean  

by input but the the reason I I I spent I don't  know like a long time trying to explain the idea  

about input to people um but they're it it seems  a little bit confusing because you're you're still  

not talking about the end goal which is why do we  get the input what is the point of that the point  

of the put is to remove the doubt so yes you've  got it very good in your uh example there let's  

see and sin trigger says hi Drew good night I  guess you say maybe good evening from Colombia  

I come late I'll rewatch The live later let's  see listen and speak which is more important to  

enhance our speaking it's not listen or speak  it's just like it's just understand and that  

understanding could come from a variety of things  it could come from listening it could come from uh  

reading something something or hearing something  speaking uh but typically like it's it's the input  

that helps you understand and like clears up any  doubt that you have about the language whatever  

that is all right so says you are my wingman Mr  Andrew by the way uh Mr and sir I have different  

Nuance uh not really not in this case George says  I'm from Mexico I live in ill you mean Illinois uh  

I like your classes they're very helpful I learn  a lot glad to hear and hello from Indonesia says  

s look at that we got to the end of the video uh  so we finish the comments but hopefully that makes  

sense the basic idea is not is not so much how  you get the input but the point is does that input  

help you understand the language better and then  are you getting enough of the right practice so  

it's it's all it's all still it's just different  kinds of input so you don't have to spend your  

time trying to speak but you do uh you do have  to spend time trying to make the practice you get  

like the real world all right so especially if you  don't live in an English-speaking country or you  

don't have anyone to speak with anyway that's fine  you don't need that the whole point is if you can  

simulate that so if I can if I can put myself in  a Japanese environment by watching videos online  

then I would do the same thing you I can still  listen to Japanese people speaking but it's in a  

controlled environment so that helps me prepare  for when I'm in a conversation with someone and  

they they say something different like uh another  so here here's an example like a Japanese example  

recently so I was at a coffee shop and usually  they like people often have a typical way of  

saying things like M like that which just means  like is this like for here to go so like in the  

English version is like um like would you like  this for here or to go so to go you want to  

drink here or you going to take it with you um and  in Japan it's actually this is kind of a pain in  

the ass maybe you don't know about this but in  Japan a law changed a few years ago where eating  

in a restaurant is more expensive than taking the  food out so they they they they kind of like they  

don't want you to eat in restaurants I don't know  why they did that but uh that so it it costs more  

you have to pay a little bit more in tax to eat  in the restaurant rather than taking the drink  

or whatever out of the restaurant anyway uh so  that's why they they usually ask you like is this  

for here or to go because they actually have to  uh type it in differently in the in the computer  

and you pay a different amount so you pay more if  you're going to sit there and and eat all right  

anyway uh so they're asking me like for here or to  go uh but this lady said um the English equivalent  

is like uh uh like will you will you eat here  and then go back she was like n likeu like are  

you going to drink here and then go back and at  first I was like I was just surprised to hear that  

cuz I've never heard anyone say it that way but  I understood what she meant and so I said ah yes  

like uh like 10 night day so I will I will drink  here I will be in the in the restaurant and then I  

will I will leave later so she was like nonu you  know like are you gonna stay here and drink but  

again like if I'm if I'm listening to lots of  different people and I hear different examples  

like that then I will be prepared for when I  do hear these different examples okay so I'm  

not I I was it was a little bit surprising just  because I'd never heard anyone say that but then  

immediately I thought oh that here's another  thing I can I can learn look at that I just  

learned something else in the conversation from  the context and it becomes when you learn this way  

it becomes much faster your learning accelerates  because you're actually improving uh by  

understanding new things and you the whole thing  just it it gets faster and faster so I know some  

people might think uh you're spending more time on  things at the beginning but it's so the the actual  

Improvement becomes much faster over time anyway  I just thought that was that was an interesting  

thing that happened recently uh just another  example of being prepared for a variety of things  

in real communication so the man of interest  or no there a man of of Internet the man of the  

man of of the internet what do you think the most  common mistake people make in learning a language  

especially English the most common mistake uh  I don't know there there are a couple different  

things but it's it's not it's it's basically not  understanding the idea of uh destroying doubt  

so people think that they have to speak first  and that's how they get fluent but really what  

happens is you understand the language better and  that allows you to speak all right so the fluency  

actually happens as you understand more all right  let me let me draw a very simple diagram for

you I wish I had a like a one specific thing  people like mistake people make but it's this  

isn't this isn't really the problem or the  fault of students it's just the way people  

teach that makes the language more difficult  so what's happening is is like you begin  

you're learning more you understand more so  as like understanding increases we'll just say

understanding so as understanding goes up  then you feel confident because you don't  

have any more doubt about saying something  and that's where you speak over here so the  

same idea with this but most people are  taught that you you have to like learn  

something and then start speaking first  and then like you get fluent over here  

so they have the idea backwards but it's not it's  not your fault like you made a mistake this is  

just how most people like even me like I believe  that many years ago uh before I discovered like  

that that wasn't actually getting me fluent so  the fluency is actually developing here fluency  

is a process of understanding the language better  and destroying any doubt it's not fluency is not  

something you you like arrive at after you speak a  lot so I wouldn't say there's a particular mistake  

that uh people make but it's more that that  people get get confused about this because of  

how people teach so they think okay we're going  to we're going to teach you a little bit here's  

a phrase now I want you to go practice that to  yourself like say it to yourself and then when you  

get into a conversation then you maybe you say it  correctly maybe you don't but you probably don't  

feel very confident about about this whole process  so a a regular classroom like a language learning  

classroom we have you know 20 people 30 people in  the classroom the teacher will say something okay  

now I want you to make partners and then we're  going to say something to each other and hopefully  

you understand uh and then like hopefully you're  getting fluent but people don't they they can't  

really explain how fluency develops from this  process they think fluency is the end goal of  

this process but it's not it's actually what's  happening as you understand the language better  

because that's what fluent means like it's like  you're you're able to do something automatically  

as you do it better and so you actually develop  fluency in stages as you understand something  

better if you understand something a little bit  you can use it fluently a little bit like maybe  

I feel confident saying it uh in this situation  or I can understand it when one person says it  

but I can't understand when someone else says it  but over time your fluency is actually improving  

as you understand more and destroy your doubt and  then when you feel comfortable you speak okay you  

can always continue from here and continue to  learn more like I just gave the example about  

the coffee shop so I've been speaking Japanese  for a long time but here I hear a new way of  

saying something so the situation is to go or are  you going to eat in or whatever so to to dine in  

or eat here or for here or to go so there are  different ways of saying that and then I hear a  

new way of saying that and I look oh look at that  now that that word becomes a part of my uh a part  

of my vocabulary immediately because I'm already  fluent in in like explaining that situation so  

this is the actual process that gets you fluent  this might work but it typically does not for most  

people and if you ask someone how do you really  get fluent like how would you like Drew how would  

you get me fluent I would just say oh it's just  this we help you understand something really well  

until you feel confident using it that's that's it  and it it it might seem like it's a slow process  

but actually it's it's very quickly and it gets  faster as you do it more all right so fluency is  

not the destination it's the process of feeling  more confident as you understand better when  

you don't have doubt you you feel fluent and you  communicate well uh let's see and then English I  

use your voice and acts in the classroom you're  a good man and you look like Eminem yes when I  

was younger I actually had like bleached white  hair I actually did that before Eminem back in  

high school I did that but but yes people have  said that and other people on this channel say  

I look like Tom Hanks all right see there's a man  of the I think maintaining correct grammar and yes  

so maintaining correct grammar is is like another  another thing but that's the fault of the teacher  

it's not really like a mistake about learning it's  just from the very beginning people don't actually  

understand why um like how the how the learning  process works and and for most people they they  

don't actually need to speak so that's why you get  a lot of people teaching this way in a classroom  

because the student doesn't need to speak they  just need to pass a written test so here we're  

going to teach you something quickly maybe we'll  have you say it a few times and now go home and  

review that thing so you can pass the test the  this typical learning method is not for preparing  

you to speak because it doesn't doesn't actually  prepare you to speak it doesn't give you examples  

of the way people really speak all right uh Simo  says I can have basic conversations in English  

but I lack confidence and no one here speaks  English how can I improve my confidence you just  

see examples of other people talking that's how  you do it so I I don't need to speak to know how  

to do something I just watch other people doing  it and then I know how so even like chimpanzees  

you know monkeys are are they like apes they can  learn how to do something one ape starts using a  

tool so there's a like here's a like a hole in a  tree going to draw like a kind of tree here and  

there's some some bugs down there a chimpanzee  will come with a little stick and put the stick  

down in there and try to get the bug out of  that tree and if another chimpanzee sees that  

chimpanzee do that thing then they will try to do  the same thing and so you're just you're you're  

you're seeing how other people do it and so you  get much more confidence about how you should do  

it as well you understand the language better  you see what people say in real communication  

situations and then you feel confident so you do  it as well that's how it works so we're watching  

other people do it and seeing how that works  but if you don't see that in a regular learning  

or practice environment like a regular classroom  then of course you're not going to feel prepared  

when you you get into a real environment all  right so that's why a lot of people struggle  

with that uh so if you if you don't you don't need  to have physical people around you to speak with  

you just need to have lots of examples which  you can see other people speaking so this is  

what we do influent for life you get to actually  see people having conversations and you learn how  

to have conversations like they do that's how we  that's how we do it so you can learn how to speak  

that way just like you learn how to do anything  else by watching other people all right Leo says  

do you mean the person who is starting learning  should not speak yes yes so if you're if you're  

just teaching someone for the first time think  about learning a like a child's native language  

you know whatever their first language is when  they're very young they can't speak they don't  

even like a baby can't even say anything but that  baby is still understanding and as the baby grows  

they're hearing lots of examples of the language  and then they start to speak and usually even when  

like young children especially if you think about  elementary school kids in a classroom they're  

going to be very shy about speaking uh in in front  of other people but if they know something really  

well then they will they will feel more confident  about speaking so yes like the the the speaking  

becomes the goal or the result of understanding  the language well so if I start teaching you  

Japanese I would not tell you to repeat after me  I would just start giving you lots of examples  

until you felt comfortable and started speaking  so if you want to repeat after someone you can  

but the repetition isn't what gets you fluent  repetition is just it's it's kind of using  

what you know but it doesn't help you understand  the language better but when you destroy doubt  

that's where you actually feel confident that you  understand something and that's when you start  

speaking so if you if you just hear something and  then want to go directly to speaking even if you  

don't understand it that's fine most people would  rather not do that most people would actually like  

to understand the language well and then speak all  right so yes I would not force uh anyone to speak  

and that's why I don't I don't recommend people go  out and try to speak and you don't have to go out  

and try to speak you just need to see more people  actual natives speaking yourself and so you can do  

this just watching YouTube videos and you will  learn a lot and you will actually improve your  

fluency by yourself let's see why old Greg became  so funny I have doubt in my sense of humor I don't  

know what that's referring to all right teacher I  have a question if two witches uh would watch two  

watches which witch would watch which watch just  kidding it is a tongue twister yes that's a good  

question though like how many how much wood could  a wood chuck chuck of a woodchuck H chuck wood I  

remember a uh a Japanese example that I was in in  a school and we had a new teacher come into into  

the classroom or into the school so typically  every year there will be uh teacher exchanges  

so teachers will go to different schools or they  will teach different classes and we had a new gym  

teacher at our school and he was kind of a cocky  guy and he he was kind of challenging me a little  

bit and my Japanese was very bad uh but I was I  was standing in the the just like the gymnasium  

in the like Little Gym basketball court area and  I was talking with some students trying to trying  

to speak with them they were using a little  bit of English and the gym teacher walks up  

uh and just very quickly he kind of interrupts  the conversation and says a lot of Japanese to  

me really quickly that I did not understand and in  the moment I felt quite nervous about that because  

like I don't know how I'm like I don't understand  what he said and so I just used a tongue twister  

uh kind of back at him and the people thought that  was like very funny I was like and that that just  

means like there are two chickens in the yard uh  so niwa like niwa nii is is chicken uh but I was  

able to say that and he was surprised that I said  that back to him and the other students thought  

that was very funny too but he he kind of gave  me some respect because I said that I I really  

had no no better way to respond but sometimes a  tongue twister is a good idea uh let's see so C  

says build flu without talking with a partner is  it that not sound boring well I mean you have to  

choose what you want to do uh do you want to get  into a conversation before you feel comfortable  

would you rather feel uncomfortable and have  a bad conversation or would you rather watch  

some people actually having a conversation and  see how they do it first and then get lots of  

examples of what the language means now when you  say like is that boring like is it boring to watch  

a movie I don't know do you like watching movies  or do you watch TV shows for me like I like like  

watching those uh Street interviews or whatever  that's entertaining for me because I'm getting to  

learn the language and learn about the culture  or whatever um but the I I if I had to choose  

I would rather watch somebody do something  first especially for language learning than  

just like try to do it myself and not not like  explain it well or or feel nervous in the convers  

at this point now I don't have trouble getting  into a conversation with anybody about really  

anything in Japanese but um at that point of of  course like I wish I had learned this sooner so  

nobody told me about this I had to discover this  and I found crashing as well so crashing had the  

same idea but when I was thinking about it it was  just what is the point of comprehensible input  

like how do we know we're learning ah we know  we're learning when we destroy doubt so that's  

the actual goal the the end goal is to destroy  doubt so that you unlock speech yes I think it  

is time to drink water but it's also time to  end the video estudios or estudios let's see  

says you are you are a funny teacher teacher time  drink water yes uh so we need practice muscles of  

the mouth as well do you agree with that teacher I  don't know like the the the like the practice the  

muscle practice thing is is like like I could  a lot of that I I could just do that by myself  

if that was a if I really thought that was a  a like an important thing to do so let's say  

I try to learn some uh tricky like tricky for me  language like if I go to Africa so I go to some  

country in Africa and they they have a different  way of speaking that's like you know some like  

interesting different thing that's different  from what I usually do now of course it may it  

might take me a a few times to try to repeat after  someone to mirror that sound but I can I can sit  

there by myself and practice that as well like if  I if I there's no difference between listening to  

a real person and a real person on a video give me  the same thing so right now I'm not physically in  

your room but you're still improving by listening  to me all right so if I'm physically in the room  

I you would get the same benefit as you're you're  getting from this video but because it's a video  

you can stop the video or or pause it or rewind  it or whatever you want to do like play it back uh  

but in in general the the the kind of how we make  sounds thing uh is is I don't know that's that's  

not like a real reason to get into a conversation  with someone I can easily practice that by myself  

all right uh all right I'm happy to watch happy  to be with you says mid yep you can watch a  

video later and shank says hi Drew uh have you had  feelings of indirectness in directness while using  

Japanese I came across the saying that English is  straightforward in contrast to the Asian languages  

what do you think about it um well yeah actually  Japanese is interesting that way because it's we  

we say it's like a DEC contextual language  so in English like I would say like I will  

go to the store but in Japanese it's just like  meiku meiku like and it's understood from the um  

from the from the situation like that it like  I'm the one doing that so often like for for  

me I like the the Japanese way of speaking better  because it's it's easier to get to the point and  

you can express a lot more without saying very  much so in English you like you always have to  

say well I am doing that who is the subject of  doing something like that I can't just say go  

to store or go store but in Japanese it's like  K like I'm going I'm going home or whatever so  

people understand and you can use the language uh  that way so you actually like English becomes a  

little bit more difficult for that reason uh but  at the same time you also get lots of examples if  

you get those examples uh of how natives are using  the language so there's nothing really different  

different uh or difficult uh for me in in Japanese  in that way but it is an interesting thing about  

the languages uh Sim says you are awesome and  let's see nobody will understand me if I don't  

practice I don't know I like you you tell me uh  Leo what you would do for for practicing what  

what does that mean no one will understand me  if I don't practice for me people understand me  

just fine like if I learn something if I watch a  movie or learn a a phrase or something from a TV  

show uh or even just a YouTube video and then I  use that in a conversation people understand what  

I'm saying just fine so like it it it's not it's  not an issue for me and I don't worry about like  

you know my the the problem is usually some kind  of doubt about pronunciation rather than me moving  

my mouth in a certain way and especially if you  are coming from Spanish or Portuguese or something  

the pronunciation is quite similar it's or like  at least those sounds are already in your language  

but in Japanese it's a little bit different it it  just depends on what language you're coming from  

so Japanese like like this uh like this this  character here you would say this is like da  

da it's kind of hard to hear what I'm saying  if you're an English learner or you don't know  

the the pronunciation of it but in English  it's a combination of l d and r so l d and r

da so I'm actually it's sounds like I'm saying  all three of those sounds at the same time so in  

that case it's helpful to to maybe practice doing  that but I would feel better listening to more  

examples of a variety of Japanese people saying  those things so each person is going to say it  

a little bit differently uh let's see better to  train your bicep muscles than your mouth muscles  

I understand you but yes like when you when  you start doing this it it's much easier than  

trying to trying to do the opposite and the  opposite is having people to speak with so  

people say to me Drew well I have to speak in  order to get fluent I say okay fine go ahead go  

do it like what are you waiting for then and then  people say well I don't have anyone to practice  

with or I there's nobody in my country or whatever  and so there's usually some reason why they can't  

do that thing so they say they need to speak but  then they don't speak or they can't speak so I  

say well why would you worry about this when this  easy solution is right here it's just watch lots  

of examples of how natives speak that's it and  so if you see examples of other people doing it  

then you become a better speaker most people again  like I gave the example earlier most Learners are  

just learning from English teachers and English  teachers often are not speaking the way people  

really speak so that's why people would not be  prepared for uh for real communication that's  

the basic idea so if you think think you become  fluent by uh by getting into conversations and  

talking with people then go ahead if that's  working for you then then keep doing it but  

if not the much easier and faster thing is just  to learn uh getting lots of good examples that  

destroy the doubt you have about speaking that's  it as you understand the language better you will  

feel more confident about speaking all right Shan  says I see thanks somehow I sense that it affects  

how we go with the flow yes and and it like part  of the language is actually learning how people  

uh how people communicate so in Japanese like  I know that people are more indirect and and  

that's not just the vocabulary people learn  it's actually how people speak so I might say  

like can I do this and Japanese like a Japanese  person would typically just say no uh or or or  

excuse me like an American person would just say  like yes or no but a Japanese person is not is  

not like they're not going to be direct like  that now now I don't know about Chinese but I  

remember before we finish up the video I'll just  show you I can't find this it was just a meme I

saw that I thought was uh I thought it was  really funny that was a a good example of of  

this this difference that you're talking about  here so it looked like this uh it had uh let's  

see it was an American flag uh you know we  got the stars and the stripes over here uh  

and then a Chinese flag and then had a Japanese  flag down here and the question was 1 + 1 equal  

whatever like what's the what's the answer to  that and how how different people answer that  

question so like the the Chinese the Chinese flag  over here the American flag and the Japanese flag  

so the American answer is uh two so 1 plus 1  equals 2 and the Chinese flag was like this  

it was like you know written out in the Chinese  character or whatever and the Japanese one it was

like and if you don't understand Japanese it  basically just said like oh that's like a really  

interesting question and we could talk about that  and and so that's how Japanese people respond to  

to something like they're they're kind of making  it a bigger thing but that's the basic idea of  

it not being direct so American and Chinese  I don't know about Chinese I'm guessing like  

maybe it's more direct than uh Japanese but  typically Japanese like they don't just say  

simply what something is they usually have to  like explain it in some way um another similar  

uh experience happened to me when I went to a it  was a just a burger restaurant in in another part  

of Japan and um when I I went there they were  talking about it it was something very simple  

like barbecue sauce or something that they put on  the burger and and so like and they had a little  

a card on the table I think I took a picture of  this I can't find it right now but it was it was  

just talking about something simple like putting  avocado on the burger or some kind of sauce or  

something but they have said like we have we have  received the question of why do people put avocado  

on the burger so let us tell you what's going on  with that and why we do that thing and it's like  

the the they had to restate the question and like  and I was just just say why you have the avocado  

on the burger you don't you don't need to have  a long a long explanation like that but I just  

it's just a very very Japanese Japanese thing  so sometimes the indirectness leads to a lot  

more speech interestingly uh let's see Leo says do  you know shadowing yes so shadowing you're you're  

getting to listen to other people and repeat after  them and I I think that's helpful uh but the the  

point is if you don't destroy any doubt than  than just repeating After People isn't going  

to help you speak better son says hello guy  all right teacher don't forget to drink water  

I can't speak for so long without drinking water  if you go to the Olympics you win the first place  

yes so yeah I do have my bottle of water here  but I'm almost finished anyway so see said do  

you think I can throw an African love spell to  native English speaker so I can get a partner  

for speaking that could be but I'm telling you  you don't need to partner you just need lots of  

good examples So speaking alone inside my room yes  you can you can speak to yourself but understand  

that you're probably not going to improve your  fluency by speaking to yourself because you will  

use what you already know and you're not going to  learn anything new by talking to yourself it's a  

way to review what you already know but the the  greater practice and understanding and fluency  

develops as we get new information that helps us  understand the language even better all right so  

that's why I'm saying speak to yourself it's  certainly fine if you want to speak with other  

people I'm not telling you not to do that but if  you feel uncomfortable about it then you don't  

have to force yourself to do that that's the uh  that's the basic idea uh Leo try using the pencil  

technique for improving your pronunciation and  articulation shank says Ah awesome story yes I  

I just I remember seeing this one and it was it  was like a really long like thing in Japanese

n it's like that's a really good question what do  you think about that like let's talk about that  

so I don't know actually I don't know about  Chinese Chinese seems like it would be more  

direct I'm guessing and I hear Korean is more  direct also uh but I I don't know for sure and  

see says Leo you are doing better than me many  years ago I thought the same as you and I or  

even we spoke with a poll yes like you can speak  if you want to but I'm I'm letting people know  

it's okay if you don't speak because the point is  really to understand the language better all right  

uh which language have a specific sound which  language have specific sounds I don't know I I  

don't know enough about like every language to to  know that but if you're talking about comparing  

your own language to English usually you can tell  what things are new sounds and what things are  

something you already know like if I say like uh  I don't know like student like the word student in  

English but it's like I don't know what is it  in Spanish it's like estano or something like  

that so I mean it's it's it's similar and I have  those sounds already in English so it's not that  

difficult for me to make anyway all right I think  we've gotten to the end of this video but lots of  

good questions here remember the basic point is if  you're getting lots of input from various sources  

the point is understanding is the key and that's  what unlocks the ability to speak okay so don't  

worry about trying to speak with other people or  even if you want to speak with yourself that's  

fine but you don't have to speak before you feel  comfortable you should feel comfortable first and  

then start speaking all right obviously you will  get into conversations and maybe people will say  

new things that you're not prepared for you know  it's it doesn't work like 100% but the point is  

you will feel a lot more confident that way and  you can obviously improve just by seeing how  

other people talk about things when you see other  people talk about things you will understand how  

to talk about them it's pretty simple this is the  way everybody learns like how to do anything like  

if I watch like other people try to like Draw  Something I'm I'm probably going to get good  

at at drawing that too all right so everyone have  a fantastic day if you'd like to learn more about  

how I can help you improve you can click on  the links in the description below this video  

definitely get the app uh Frederick if you want  to know how to pronounce things and then fluent  

for life will get you fluent guaranteed  we'll see you in the next video bye-bye