How English Language Practice Builds Fluency And Speaking Confidence

all right let's see if we're working hopefully  we've got the live coming through I am Drew  

Badger the founder of englishanyone.com and the  English fluency guide and welcome to another live  

video it looks like we should be live and working  hopefully we'll see always takes a little bit all  

right let me see here yeah I think we should  be going live Yep looks like we are Live Well  

hello nice to see everybody there especially  uh any new people if this is the first video  

you've seen this should be an interesting video  hopefully it will uh help you see things clearly  

so you can get fluent faster George always early  nice to see you there uh hamam nice to see you

there all right so I just came back from a trip  to Tokyo I was there with a friend of mine and  

had a lot of fun and while we were there I was  uh able to help him kind of learn a little bit of  

Japanese and it was a lot of fun just to to meet  new people and yeah just get out to the big city  

and it were uh actually there were quite a few  interesting language learning stories uh one of  

them I'll probably tell this like to subscribers  as well I can share it with you guys very quickly  

uh but there was a couple so I was at this uh  bar with a friend of mine and it was a uh two  

it was a couple from California and the wife was  Filipino and the husband was Armenian and the the  

wife went they so they were just in Japan now for  their honeymoon and the the the wife was saying  

uh she wanted to surprise her husband while they  were actually on their wedding uh by saying some  

vows so the wedding vows these are like I will do  this and I will take care of you so she said these  

things in Armenian and uh so she studied this  like in secret uh she was just learning Armenian  

with a teacher for about four months without her  husband knowing about it and then on the day of  

the wedding she was saying these things and he was  just he was kind of crying about that he was even  

like starting to cry a little bit in the bar when  they were telling this story but it's just amazing  

what can happen when you learn another language  and the way people treat you differently or  

they expect certain things or they relate to you  differently because you can speak their language  

and this is actually an interesting uh just phrase  expression in English when you're talking about  

like you're able to connect with someone you say  like wow now you're speaking my language so even  

native speakers will say this to each other like  some guy is like hey I'd like you to come help me  

do something and the other guy says uh all right  well I need some money can you pay me to do that  

and the first guy says yes sure we can pay you a  lot of money to do that and he says oh now you're  

speaking my language so you're talking about money  that's like a thing that that I enjoy or whatever  

as an example so another actually quick uh story  from the trip uh I was sitting in a taxi with my  

friend and his dad was with us at the time and uh  so we got in uh this was in Kyoto so we went to  

Kyoto Osaka and Tokyo uh for a couple of days and  uh when I was in the taxi I just started talking  

I was talking with the taxi driver for like I  don't know 25 minutes or something just like  

talking with him about the stock market and the  price of the Yen or the value of the Yen and like  

whole whole whole bunch of different things it was  really an interesting conversation and when I got  

out of the taxi at the end and we paid uh he gave  us a discount because he liked me because I could  

speak with him and so that was like if you're  it's it's kind of hard sometimes to think about  

what the value of fluency is uh because it's not  it's not like a direct like I'm going to you know  

pay you money or something like that but often  like I will get little discounts or bonuses or  

other things like that just for speaking the  language and so this is again another reason  

you really do become like a like a human in the  eyes of other people so when you're when you're  

kind of here as a tourist or whatever as soon  as you flip into the language so I did that as  

well I would like the last night we went out uh  I pretended like I didn't speak any Japanese so  

we're just talking to people and we were using  this little pocket translator thing which is  

pretty funny uh but anyway so today I do want to  talk about practice uh I'll check back comments  

it looks like comments are actually displaying  properly nice to see everyone there uh I want  

to get right into this so I won't go back back  and address everyone but I do thank you all as  

usual nice to see everybody here if you do have  questions as I go through uh just talking about  

today's lesson let me know post them in the chat  I'll keep an eye on things and respond to them as  

best I can John in cave are you in a in a cave or  from cave is that the name of a place all right  

uh so today we're going to talk about practice  and I wanted to talk about this specifically  

because I know a lot of people have really two  problems uh the first one is they don't like  

have anybody to practice with they don't speak  with anybody uh and the other thing is they're  

too shy to do it so let me just I'm going to kind  of walk you through this process and help people  

understand how practice Works what practice is  really supposed to do and how you can get it  

by yourself I've talked about this before but I  thought I would make a video just talking about  

practice specifically so we begin with really two  problems uh so you have maybe like no one to speak

with so most people they think they don't have  a like a practice partner or whatever they don't  

have enough enough opportunities to practice  what they learn and that's why they lack fluency  

so these are kind of the reasons why they lack  fluency uh and the other one typically is too  

shy I just call it too shy but it's like too  nervous or whatever you're wored wored about  

making mistakes with pronunciation or grammar  or vocabulary whatever um but these are the  

things that that the reasons that people don't get  enough practice all right uh but before we talk  

about getting practice I want to talk about what  practice is and what practice means so the idea of

practice what people think practice is is me  kind of repeating things and trying to get  

into a con conversation and speak with someone  else all right so that's the the basic idea of  

practice but really the the goal of practice if  we begin with the goal the goal of practice is

certainty so just like anything else people want  to be good at what they do and especially with  

language learning you don't like making mistakes  in front of other people some people can it's  

okay but most people do not uh and so they would  prefer to feel certain about the words they use  

so if you feel certain then you will speak if  you feel confident that you're going to speak  

correctly then you will use you know the words  you feel that you would use correctly uh but  

if you do not if you worry about using the right  grammar point or your pronunciation or something  

it means you lack certainty so you're feeling  unsure uncertain about the language so the goal  

of practice is to develop certainty okay does  everybody get that so far I want to make sure  

this is clear when people talk about practice  like what is really what we what are we really  

trying to do with this I just want to make sure  if people disagree with this or they they think  

I'm I'm uh incorrect or something I'd like  to know so let me know if this makes sense  

but the basic idea is that you want to practice  the language practicing really just means you're  

developing certainty and when you have certainty  then you that's another way of saying you have  

speak confidence and the certainty develops  as as certainty you feel more certain about  

the language then that's when you develop fluency  all right what is the best practice for spelling  

says a mom uh this isn't this isn't quite related  to what we're talking about but if you're talking  

about learning to spell well get Frederick it's  in the description the link to that is in the  

description below this video it will teach you how  to spell uh and how to improve your pronunciation  

as well but it goes through the same lessons the  same steps that native speakers get so it starts  

you at the alphabet and then teaches you how to  spell more difficult things like synthesis and  

apocalypse that kind of thing so if you'd like  to learn how to spell understand natives more  

easily pronounce words more clearly get the app  it's uh in the description below this video all  

right so everybody get this let me check chat  right quick make sure this is working uh let's  

see got some looks like a Korean there's this my  first time for me to see this handsome teacher  

in a live real time you guys are too kind well  thank you very much if you know other people who  

enjoy handsome teachers then send them my way all  right let's see I didn't know it's a live stream  

yes it's a live stream okay but I think people are  getting it I haven't I haven't seen any comments  

to the contrary that's another good expression  to the contrary so like the opposite so to the

contrary the contrary so contrary means the  opposite so I haven't seen any comments to  

the contrary I haven't seen any comments that are  saying the opposite of what I'm talking about all  

right so if the basic idea of practice like we're  trying to practice anything we want to improve  

what we do we really want to feel certain that  we understand the language well so we can use  

the language well that's the goal all right  now how does this practice happen so people  

are again we're coming back to this issue of no  one to speak with or you are too shy to speak so  

how do you get the practice that you need to build  fluency now remember we're talking about certainty  

certainty is what you develop as you learn so as  you feel more confident about the language as you  

hear something more and more as you understand  something better then you feel confident about  

using it so it's when you feel that you will say  something correctly that's when you feel confident  

speaking okay so what people usually think happens  uh is you get into you're in like a conversation  

let me make this little mouth here so you're  speaking with someone and people think like the  

the speaking is how you develop fluency kind of  that that's what the practice is but really what's  

happening even in a conversation with other people  is let's say this is you over here and this is uh  

we just say someone else we'll put an S there  for someone else so you are saying something  

and then the other person is is talking you're  listening to them the actual fluency the actual  

understanding that improves is is what the other  person says to you isn't that interesting now the  

reason this happens is because if we imagine  let's say we just like erase this person over  

here and you're just talking by yourself you're  either talking in your own head or you're talking  

out loud to to say things all you're really  doing at this point is just repeating things

so if we if we remove the other person and it's  just you talking by yourself like me like I'm  

talking right now I could be I'm not speaking  with anybody else I'm speaking to you uh but  

no one is no one is responding back to me so  as I do this I'm not actually improving my  

understanding of anything because I can't improve  my understanding by talking by repeating myself so  

if I'm only saying the thing things I know if  I just repeat the word like eraser and I just  

repeat that eraser eraser eraser I might become  a little bit better at at saying that word my  

pronunciation might improve a little bit but the  the reality is that my pronunciation is not very  

good because I probably haven't had many examples  or I haven't understood what people are saying so  

a perfect example this is my friend who was out  here uh so he was you know listening to some Japan  

jaes and I'm trying to teach him a little bit and  I just said pay attention to different situations  

and what people are saying so instead of trying to  translate something just watch what people do so  

if we go to a restaurant what do people say like  how do we order food that kind of thing uh and so  

he's learning like thank you and other things so  he's still here I I I left him to come back home  

uh but he's still here I think for another day  uh but he's able to you know like say thank you  

or whatever use some basic things uh and it's  really just by understanding what other people  

are saying to him so again if we what most people  think is practice they think they have no one to  

speak with or they're too shy so they don't get  practice but if we look at what practice really  

is it's not it's not you saying anything it's not  you saying anything to other people because you  

saying something doesn't help you understand the  language any better okay again if I just repeat  

the things that I already know I'm not becoming  kind of more confident about the language I'm  

just repeating it so I'm just I'm staying at the  same level of understanding but what happens when  

we're with the other person we put the other  person back in here is a funny looking person  

so what's actually building your fluency is what  the other person says to you so especially if you  

have a native speaker to listen to and you can  understand what they're saying they're giving  

you examples and not just one person but many  people so if we we're going to put a bunch of  

other people over here as examples and I'm getting  worse about drawing these faces so as you get it's  

the input that comes from these other people that  helps you understand the language better so as you  

get more examples of things you hear something in  different ways you hear one person say a word and  

you hear another person who will pronounce it a  little bit different so each person says even if  

we have a word like watch so like a like a wrist  watch or watching something so each person will  

say that word a little bit differently and  as you hear that now you're developing much  

stronger confidence you feel more certain about  the pronunciation so you can then say it back  

all right so the thing I really want people to  understand from this is that the the practice is  

really all of these different examples that are  coming from other people so it's not really what  

you say to them that's helping you understand the  language better it's what they are saying to you  

does that make sense let me know if this is clear  so the the things that you would say when you talk  

about like practicing using the language you don't  really become more fluent by just repeating things  

to yourself it's as you understand the language  better those things that you feel conf confident  

about those are the things that you will use okay  so if you don't feel confident about what you want  

to say then of course you won't speak fluently  or confidently all right hopefully this makes  

sense now the the thing we can look at with this  is that you don't need to be physically with a  

person in order to get this practice okay so right  now you are listening to me you're not speaking  

with me it's just like this like here's me here's  a screen and this is you over here and so you're  

not you're we're not like having a conversation  here but I'm helping you develop your fluency by  

giving you more examples by explaining things in  different ways and I'm even just one teacher all  

right so just one person so you don't need to have  a person here when people say well I have no one  

to speak with so I can't practice that's not true  because you don't need a person physically there  

you don't need to be sitting next to uh someone  in the like in the same room as you in order to do  

that you just need to get lots of examples and so  the same thing while I was out uh with my friend  

we're going to different restaurants and listening  to people order even you had like two different  

uh we were at a sushi restaurant sitting at the  counter and there were two different Sushi chefs  

and so I'm listening in like kind of pointing out  look like they speak differently you know they  

might say the same word but they're pronouncing  it differently so one person says like another is  

like and this is both just saying welcome but it's  two different people saying the same thing and I'm  

I'm kind of showing this to my friend like look  they're both they're they're they're both talking  

to the same thing and he said what does that  mean and I'm like well you know what's going on  

a customer is walking into the store the same way  you would greet people in an American restaurant  

hello welcome you know welcome to the restaurant  and so each of these people are saying something  

and without me uh like improving or whatever uh  I like I don't I don't need to get just like one  

example I need to get a bunch of them and that's  how I'm going to develop uh confidence in what I  

want to say all right let me go back and answer  any questions see if anybody had uh anything all  

right let's see greetings from mermans says neilly  uh let's see morning Drew from Indonesia what is  

the best PR I answer that one this said good  morning from Pakistan it's good to be in your  

class it's pleasure to help you uh and be here  with you Lucas says a fear of judgments yes and  

so like the when people talk about feeling too shy  that's what that is so they feel judged because  

they they know they're probably saying something  uh saying something wrong you know they're using  

the wrong word or they're you know pronouncing  something incorrectly whatever and this was an  

interesting example with this pocket translator  we were playing with so this was a it's like a  

Japanese is like pocket talk and like it just  means like pocket talk it's it's basically an  

app on a little device and so you push a button  and you speak into it and then it will translate  

things for you but often it was not saying the  correct thing so it was kind of funny as like a  

party thing but I wouldn't I wouldn't use that in  like a business situation that would be a trickier  

thing to do all right Vincent says speaking alone  is not part of practicing to speak at length that  

will make be comp let's see speaking alone is not  part of practicing to speak at length that will  

make uh make me to be confident I don't quite get  what you're saying speaking alone is not part of  

practicing to speak I think if I Vincent let me  try try to rephrase that make sure I understand  

that correctly but the the point I'm trying  to make here is that you speaking it all isn't  

really what helps you feel more confident and  the reason is because you don't actually become  

more confident about what you know by repeating  the word again and again so as an example like I  

learned the word I think I've shared this story  before but I learned the word head atama uh in  

Japanese many years ago and I like I know it's  like oh that means head uh but I heard the word  

again used by my accountant I don't know a couple  of of months ago uh and she used it when talking  

about the calendar like the head of the month  like the you know early part of the month and  

I said oh wow look at that you can use head like  atama in that same way uh for like the top of a  

month the beginning of a month so we wouldn't say  like the head of the month but we would say we do  

use that in in other examples in English like  the head of a river or something like that and  

so when you learn when you get more examples of  things that that that was one example of how we  

get uh different understandings or we feel more  confident that we understand about vocabulary but  

it's the same thing with grammar or pronunciation  anything else the point is to feel certain that  

you will say something correctly and that's how  you start speaking okay so when you're if you're  

you're looking for someone to practice with what  you're really looking for is that person to say  

things to you that will help you understand the  language better but if you don't have someone to  

do that it's not necessary you don't have to be  physically with a person to get this practice to  

help you get that understanding you just need lots  of examples of people speaking real English that  

you can understand that's the whole Magic of of  being able to get fluent by yourself so even if  

you don't have anyone to practice with it's great  if you do but just remember in this situation when  

people talk about practicing the real practice is  coming from other people to you okay it's coming  

from other people to you and it could be people  that are physically with you like you're sitting  

in the same room talking with someone but maybe  you noticed that even just watching my videos like  

I've seen other people just people watching these  videos uh and they will notice something like oh  

look at that like Drew said this and and that  means this thing and now I understand something  

new and so you feel more confident because you're  you're uh like your understanding improved you  

didn't practice saying anything but you feel more  confident that you'll say something correctly  

and that's when you start speaking okay so the  practice is not coming from you it's coming from  

other people all right it's not coming from you  it's it's coming from other people and even even  

like the little bit that you that you speak like  there's there's like a small amount of that kind  

of that kind of improvement you can get just by  just by saying things but most of the Improvement  

is just you not understanding the language  well enough and that's just not understanding  

individual words and phras phrases or grammar or  pronunciation or anything else so once you feel  

more confident about something that's when you  speak okay all right let's see here we go back and  

see this what now I start getting some questions  over here nice to see that all right all right uh  

let's yes by listening alone I learn to speak  as I am doing now with attending your class at  

the moment yes so nir is getting it like as you  learn something more as you understand it better  

it's really just as you understand something  better that's how your fluency is actually  

developing so the you you needing to repeat things  isn't helping you understand anything any better  

because repetition doesn't build fluency it's just  repeating stuff so fluency fluency develops as  

you understand the language better and as you're  prepared for more varied examples of the language  

so if I only hear one teacher so even if I just  repeat a word again and again it's not really  

helping you understand it but if I can tell you  that word in different contexts and if you can  

also hear it from different speakers then you will  really feel confident that you understand the word  

and that's when you'll use it fluently okay so you  don't if you don't have this don't feel bad that's  

really the point of this video so practicing  is not about being physically with someone else  

it's just getting the input from native speakers  okay so you can get that however it could come  

from a book it could come from a newspaper a comic  strip you could watch a video you could listen to  

something but as long as you get that input that  helps you understand the language better when you  

feel that aha moment ah yes I understood something  so I heard something from someone someone else  

said something in a in a similar situation and now  I feel more confident about that so that's really  

how the uh the fluency is developing all right Sam  says hello teacher from ha see there CH says good  

morning from Myanmar all right what about improve  the accent how can I improve it so that's another  

thing uh so using Frederick will also improve your  accent but in the same way that you will improve  

your your vocabulary or your grammar or whatever  all of that will come from getting more examples  

of native speakers so if you hear 10 different  people say a word then you will feel confident  

okay here is like where my pronunciation will be  so I don't speak Japanese exactly like anybody  

else my pronunciation my accent is unique to me  just like it's Unique to each person so you can  

hear there might be some similarities uh but in  general like a person in a family they're going  

to speak like the other people in their family  because those are all the examples they're getting  

that's why children speak like their parents  they're getting those examples so they sound like  

their parents but if you move to a different place  you're going to sound different because you will  

sound like the other people around you so you will  start getting more examples of of different kinds  

of speech okay so to develop a better accent your  pronunciation and accent improve the same way that  

you improve your grammar and your vocabulary by  getting lots of examples of other native speakers  

saying those things to you so again the the whole  idea here is that you don't need to be physically  

in the same room with people you just need to get  lots of examples because the even if you're in the  

same room uh you're not really developing fluency  anymore just by repeating things there there's a  

small amount of practice sure that you get like  from repeating things but most of the most of the  

reason people don't speak is even if they have  uh chances to speak with other people they feel  

too shy they don't feel confident enough about the  language or pronunciation whatever their specific  

issue is and that's why they don't speak so even  people who have this like me when I came to Japan  

I was living in Japan for a year here and I still  couldn't speak with anybody so I had I had lots of  

opportunities I met people every day but I was too  shy to speak so that was me I was in the two shy  

group so some people maybe they live on the top  of a mountain in some small country and they have  

no native English speakers around them doesn't  matter you don't need to have this situation you  

don't need to be physically with someone in the  room in order to get fluent okay all right as  

hit some more questions up here look like they're  coming in pretty quickly uh Jose said the sound is  

low it should be fine should be the same same as  usual ildar what up Drew nice to hear this morning  

let's get some English indeed all right let's see  so I want to fluently English so you would say I  

want to speak fluently I want to speak fluently  or I want to be fluent or I want to get fluent or  

become fluent so you notice here I'm giving you  this naturally varied review different examples  

or different different ways of saying something  all right so often I will repeat myself but say  

things in a slightly different way to make it  easier for you to understand things M says Dear  

teacher how someone who is a non-speaking country  can achieve fluency level this is it so how do you  

get fluent if you don't have anyone to practice  with so if you have no one to speak with how do  

you get fluent it's just like this just like  right now so I'm giving you one example one  

ative speaker who's explaining things pretty  clearly uh it's pretty easy to understand I'm  

not giving a lot of complicated idioms or phrasal  verbs or movie quotes that kind of thing and if  

there if there's anything you're unclear about I  can explain it but the point is we are not in the  

same space we are not physically together even  though this is a live video I'm not listening to  

anybody talk with me you guys are just watching  the video and because of this you are developing  

fluency because I'm helping you understand the  language better and that's how you get fluent so  

as you listen to me and listen to lots of other  people that's how you will develop fluency okay  

so it doesn't matter if you live in an english-  speaking country or not the point of practice is  

to understand the language well enough that  you feel confident speaking okay so we want  

to get you like practice if you imagine like you  know you learn a new word here the first time you  

hear it so this is like we start with zero you've  never heard the word before you hear a new word  

oh look that's kind of I didn't quite hear that  maybe I didn't understand that very well but if  

you hear it you know second time third time you  know 10th time 20th time over here now you feel  

100% certain that you understand the word you  understand how to say it how the pronunciation  

is or what you might use it like how you might use  it in a sentence how it works grammatically as you  

get more examples of a word your fluency  increases your fluency it's really just  

saying that you feel more confident about using  something so we can talk about this as like your

confidence so your confidence increases  because your certainty increases and your  

fluency is increasing at the same time so  we don't we don't just like become fluent  

instantaneously unless you just understand  something but at the moment you understand  

something that's where you that's where you  really feel confident that you can speak so  

of course you could speak it's like my like my  friend uh who was was out in Tokyo with me so he  

heard a word like he was like okay how do you  say please and I said onim and he's listening  

to that he's just like trying to repeat you  know like oner you know and like he couldn't  

he couldn't say it and that's you know it's  of course he can't say it because he's just  

it's the first time he's hearing the word all  right I'll write it up here in English for you

oh so this is like you know one way of saying  please all right like you're asking someone for  

a favor all right but I just told him like don't  worry about trying to repeat that and say that  

perfectly what you should do is be listening  now you're paying attention for that word so  

we say it's on make sure that's fitting up there  on your radar now this is another great English  

expression to say something is on your radar if  you know what radar is so if you're it's like this  

little circle thing here with a line that goes  around it and it's for tracking little boats out  

in the water like so when we say something is on  your radar it means now you're paying attention  

for it you're listening for it so before he had  already heard like onas many times and I had  

used that in front of him but he wasn't paying  attention for it so when I talk about like the  

different levels of understanding this is the  exposure level over here so he's just hearing  

something again and again and again but he's not  really paying attention for it but now he's like  

okay like I keep hearing this word on what does  that mean and now he's at the awareness level  

over here so he went from exposure where like  it's just the word is coming into him again and  

again and he's not really paying attention cuz  he's not he's not really trying to think about  

it like a like a teacher or a language learner  whatever he's just you know there's lots of  

language hitting him because he's in a native  environment and so he's around Japanese people  

and lots of people are speaking to him and so he  begins with exposure and now okay he's like how do  

we how do we do this let me think about this  now he's at the awareness level and after he  

hears it enough times he feels confident now okay  he can use it he's got the ownership level of the  

vocabulary he owns the word he feels confident  that he'll use it correctly okay so you don't  

get fluent by trying to like force yourself to  speak when you don't really understand what what  

you're saying you can do that but it's much more  difficult it's like uh it's much more stressful  

for people okay so again you don't need to be  physically with a native speaker you just need  

to get lots of examples and just like you're  watching this video now that's one way of doing  

that so what we do in fluent for life this is how  we give people lots of examples lots of different  

native speakers and different different accents  from different countries different speeds so  

you're getting to listen to all these different  people and that's what develops your fluency so  

as you feel more confident and certain about the  language that's when you start speaking all right  

let's answer some more questions over here I'll  try to get through those uh try to get through  

these faster make sure I'm doing this correctly  here all right Joshua says hello teacher how can  

I be more fluent in English yes follow this  nice to hear from the Philippines Drew what  

role grammar plays in speaking and listening  well obviously grammar is the the foundation  

of how everything connects together and I'm  always telling people it's important to learn  

grammar obviously uh but what I say that's  different from most teachers is that how you  

learn grammar is important so as an example like  what what children are doing when they're learning  

their native language is they hear a word like  H Shima and they see like in in different you  

know with different people in similar situations  they still hear people using that and they figure  

out okay like this sound or this like onim that  like series of sounds it's it's what people say  

when you want someone to do something for you  so you're you're not thinking about the grammar  

you don't understand you don't really understand  if this means like if this is a word or if this  

is a a verb or a noun or whatever it's it's it's  not clear to people but as you get more examples  

of things it's like oh look at that you start  noticing patterns uh about like look at that like

onim mimu so you start it's like oh that's  interesting like we start learning some different  

verbs and they end this way and it's usually  for a little bit more polite situation and I'm  

not I don't want to give you a Japanese lesson but  this is the way people are thinking about language  

when they're learning okay so the the brain is is  naturally trying to process this information and  

when you don't understand it you can't use it okay  this should be very obvious so if you it's not  

about like hearing something once and then trying  to repeat that to other people you want to hear  

it many many times until you feel feel confident  that you can use it yourself so as you feel more  

certain about it you're you're going through  these levels of understanding you go through  

exposure where you're hearing something but maybe  you're not paying attention to it awareness where  

you really do feel like you're okay I hear oh  there's that word again now I'm listening for  

it I I can hear it I'm paying attention for it  and when you hear it enough and you can use it  

as well that's when you own that word and you  become fluent in individual words and phrases  

as you learn this way okay all right uh let's see  Jose turn up your turn up your volume I think it  

should be should be all right over here all right  let's see here if I got this let's see um oh my  

oh my goodness this's like a lot of questions over  here uh all right Rafael say hello to Brazil nice  

to see you Brazil armano says what do you think  about practicing with no native English speaking  

could it be good practice uh well I I wouldn't  do that like I I would not try to improve my  

Japanese by by speaking with non-native speakers  especially if they're not very good I know like  

I know many uh you know people who can speak  Japanese very well and they are not native but  

again I want to get as many correct examples of  the real language as possible that's why I want  

to learn with a native speaker or someone who  is you know they don't have to be Japanese like  

they I know people who were born they've lived  in Japan a long time and they are not Japanese  

but they speak Japanese perfectly and so I I just  want to learn from correct examples but the point  

is you don't need to be physically with them if I  don't if I don't live in Japan I often uh I would  

be trying to practice my Japanese back in America  when I was learning it so after I started learning  

Japanese I went back to the United States and  I met some Japanese people there but a lot of  

the practice I got was just like reading stuff  or watching videos online that's basically how  

it worked and so I can learn Japanese that way  by getting lots of examples well look at that  

in this situation people say this or there are a  couple of other things they might say but that's  

how I get fluent so it's not about me trying  to repeat things it's just uh making sure I  

get lots of correct examples but I would like to  have actual people even if I I don't have them  

physically with me I want those example uh let's  see Fabio says Hey teacher the book though I don't  

know what that means let's see I can't read that  what is the difference between proper and correct  

it it depends on the situation but in general if  you want to do something correctly like you do  

something properly you can use them the same way  uh so I could speak correctly or I could speak  

properly uh I guess in general they mean the same  thing maybe proper has a slightly more educated  

it's a little it's a little bit more rarely used  I guess in conversations you will hear both of  

of them but often you will have like like proper  like proper is like it's it's it's kind of like  

correct and appropriate for some situation there's  a slight Nuance there like I would say what is the  

correct I could say what's the correct like outfit  or attire to wear but it would be better like  

what's proper it's it's kind of like what's what's  appropriate for the level uh rather than just like  

correct I'm not doing a good job explaining this  but again this is one of those things where you  

don't think about the vocabulary itself you look  at the situations it's used in so that's why I'm  

trying to give you some different examples of  it um but in general you could use correct uh  

when you're talking about proper but sometimes  they're not like I would I would not have like  

a math problem here it's like 1 + 1 = 2 so if I'm  looking for the answer to that I wouldn't say like  

two is the proper answer it's it's it's it's not  like a appropriate in that way we wouldn't use it  

that way we would say that's correct though all  right so I guess you could but you would rarely  

hear someone say oh what's the proper answer all  right but proper and it it's more like what's  

what's appropriate for the situation rather than  just like correct versus incorrect kind of thing  

but yeah that's a it's a it's a better thing and  this like the reason people have questions like  

this is because there's uncertainty somewhere  it's like okay I want to I want to know what  

is the correct thing to say what's the proper  thing to say and as you get more examples you  

will develop that sense for what's correct so  rather than just getting an explanation about  

it you really do need lots of examples of hearing  people use words like correct and proper and then  

you will get that sense for what's correct all  right do you think someone can uh be fluent even  

if uh even if he ever maybe that means never try  to speak with a native uh yes you you don't need  

to speak with the native to develop fluency  because fluency develops with understanding  

that's the whole Magic of of developing fluency  so you don't need to be physically there with  

someone else but you do need there examples so  you need examples of native speakers that can  

come from me it can come from other people it come  from reading listening to things as well if you  

understand something and you feel more confident  as you get more examples that's how you develop  

fluency so it doesn't matter if you have no one  to speak with or you are too shy the whole point  

is that you were uh you're just getting getting  lots of different examples that help you feel more  

confident about the language all right Fabio says  Hey teacher the book Thornbird is easy to read I  

don't know what book that is now sir again I'm in  I'm getting aha moments in your class thanks glad  

to hear it see uh galica says oh hello from Sri  Lanka all and again sometimes we doubt uh that we  

would say really be understood by the person who  we speak with yes there are lots of doubts and  

that's another one of them another uncertainty  that people might have so if I say something I  

worry about other people understanding me and that  just means I'm I'm worried about communicating  

correctly uh and that's another thing about you  it's not about the other person it's just about  

you will you say something and and this is an  interesting thing about the language it depends  

on their understanding of you so if I walk into a  restaurant and I pronounce Japanese badly like I  

don't speak the language then they will think I'm  not a good speaker you know for obvious reasons I  

say A kicha you know like a kich kicha if I say  that in oh kicha then they will think oh here's  

a you know kind of a foreigner that he's you know  he's trying but he's not he probably doesn't know  

the language very well but if I say like kicha  then they know ah okay this person can probably  

speak and what's interesting about that is their  their understanding of you or you know like their  

understanding of me in that in that situation that  will determine what they can hear so if I start  

saying something like I could have a I could  say the same words and if they think I can't  

speak they won't be able to hear what I say and  this is just an interesting uh psychology thing  

but it's like I mentioned before about like the  difference between uh exposure and awareness where  

they if they expect me to not know certain words  then they will not hear them and this is just a  

human psychology thing about language learning but  this is why it's good to even when you introduce  

yourself uh the first thing you say to people  try to say it correctly try to say uh you know  

communicate as best you can and and have correct  pronunciation that's why it's important to people  

to do that because if you uh if you communicate  correctly from from the beginning you can make a  

mistake later and they will they will not really  think about it so much because natives do that  

all the time but if you make a mistake right  from the beginning then people think okay this  

person doesn't speak well you know that's just  part of Being Human all right uh let's see I  

I need to I need to answer these faster over  here all right here we go hey teacher uh the  

book Thorn well I got that one already let's see  uh let's see JJ I feel better and more confident  

throughout listening and start being able to use  a phrase what native speaker use at large but I  

don't know uh what Andrews thought well yeah I  mean the the general idea is that if you feel  

more confident about using something then you will  say it if you do not feel confident then you will  

not say it it's really that simple and so the the  point is not to try to repeat something uh that's  

not really practicing so I know it seems like  that people think well I just need to be in a  

conversation with somebody else but what's really  happening in that conversation how are you really  

improving the Improvement is actually coming  from what they say to you it's giving you more  

examples of how to pronounce something how to say  something more correct examples of speech and if  

if that that input from other people is really  what gets you fluent then you don't need to have  

them physically there with you isn't that cool so  as long as you get the examples if you get lots of  

examples of correct speech that you can understand  where you feel ah now I understand something  

that's when you start speaking okay so you don't  have to repeat things and start speaking before  

you feel confident you should feel confident first  because you understand something better all right  

just a dude says I can pronounce individual  words easily but when it comes to speaking  

long sentences I can't do it very well in terms of  my intonation and pronunciation yeah so often this  

will come depending on how you learn typically  people are learning uh just just individual  

words and they're not learning how to pronounce  things and blend their words together and often  

that's because they don't get many examples of  how natives really speak so the native spoken  

language is different from usually how people are  learning English in the classroom so you need to  

get lots of examples of that so that's what we  do in fluent for life even Frederick will give  

you examples of how words are Blended together so  you can click on the links in the description for  

both of those danan says what uh should I use a  pretty and quite uh well it depends you know again  

like when you when you ask me like what does this  word mean or which is better it's like better for  

what for what situation so like this is like there  there are times where you could it's like a like  

a VIN diagram so if we begin let's say we have  something like that like [Music] pretty and quite  

there will be sometimes where they mean different  things things and there will be other times where  

you can use them interchangeably so you can use  them with the same meaning so like o this is a uh  

it's a pretty difficult Class A pretty difficult  class so I'm talking about the degree of something  

it's pretty difficult or I could say it's quite  difficult in that case we mean basically the same  

thing and often my intonation makes it makes  it different uh like I could say it's pretty  

it's pretty difficult it mean it's pretty it's  pretty difficult W it's quite difficult you know  

it like it's like yeah it's quite difficult it's  quite it's quite difficult so my pronunciation  

my intonation has a more important role in in  what I'm trying to express than just the words  

by themselves and this is why I'm always telling  Learners we don't really want to begin with the  

vocabulary we want to begin with the situation  so what are you talking about I want to say wow  

that's a really difficult class so a friend of of  mine says Hey I just started taking this I don't  

know chemistry class or some difficult class in  school and I say wow that's really difficult wow  

that's quite challenging wow that's a pretty  difficult class so in that case you can hear  

me using all of those words I could say all of  them and they have generally the same meaning  

depending on my pronunciation but I can also talk  about like pretty like that's a pretty girl over  

there I'm just talking about her like physical  attractiveness or whatever but in that case like  

it's not the same meaning so we have to remember  that we begin with the situation and then look at  

the different ways we might uh express ourselves  in that so there are lots of different ways to  

do that uh it just depends on the situation all  right Ry says the more we have around us who speak  

different English like Australian British uh we  tend to mix English will that be okay well I mean  

you would you would generally have the have like  the broader culture and you would have a majority  

of some kind of speaker probably unless you're  like working in some kind of international I  

don't know like International I don't know like  a military base or you know something like that  

where you have like one of each kind of speaker  from a different country you know something some  

situation like that it would be pretty rare it  does happen uh but in that case usually people  

will will find a way to communicate kind of  in an international way so even Americans and  

Australians and Brits we we will sometimes use  different vocabulary but we will find a way to  

communicate or we will we will teach each other  what things mean so uh like my friend from New  

Zealand he says like oh that's a uh that's like  a pretty flash watch like that's a pretty flash  

watch I would just say oh that's a cool watch so  I understand what he means even if I wouldn't use  

that same expression in English like American  English but I understand what he means but in  

general you would you would there would usually  be some kind of dominant culture like the most  

uh like the most important or the most popular  the most numerous for for that situation so if  

you're living in a town and you've got like if I  live in Chicago there will be speakers from all  

over the place there but I mean the American like  Chicago English will be the dominant the dominant  

language all right uh Mo says uh how can you how  can do so we can just say how can you improve  

my English speaking improve my vocabulary and  grammar this is it you just get lots of examples  

of native English speakers showing you things  that's it that's that's really what you do so  

the nice thing is like you don't you don't need  to be speaking to get fluent I know this sounds  

weird but the point is if you don't understand  something you won't speak anyway so most people  

are still in this basic situation of either I have  no one to speak with or I'm too shy that's almost  

everybody who's who's learning the language  and still can't speak so either you're either  

you are fluent or you are not fluent and usually  the reason is like people think well I don't get  

enough practice so I don't get enough practice  because there's no one to speak with or I'm too  

shy so there are people to speak with I maybe  I work in a place or my school or whatever but  

I'm just too shy so I don't speak all right and  so what you see here is like what they're really  

missing is practice it's true that people are  missing practice but what people don't understand  

is that practice actually comes from just getting  examples from other people that's what practice  

means it doesn't mean you repeating things because  you're not really improving anything is like maybe  

a tiny amount of improvement you get but it's not  really much compared to all of the Improvement  

you get from hearing all these examples from  other people and you could even just hear one  

example and understand a word well and you feel  it ah okay I got it I understand what that means  

but that's how fluency develops so you could  very quickly go from zero to fluent in a word  

just by understanding it well so someone says  something it's like ouch like oh okay I got it  

like I understood like they say ouch when they  get hurt it's pretty clear what that means and  

especially if I hear that from many people so if  I watch like a bunch of people get hurt uh and  

and they say like ouch you know something happened  to me you know they they they recognize that why

is that's weird saying my battery was not working  on the phone but now it is okay that's weird all  

right uh but hopefully that should make sense  so you don't you don't need to be with people  

physically to improve you just need you need their  it's like it's like the movie The Little Mermaid  

this will be kind of a bad example but uh so in  the movie I don't I haven't seen the new one but  

the old the Disney cartoon uh Ariel she's the The  Little Mermaid she has this voice and the the sea  

witch the octopus lady she takes Ariel's voice  from her and so she's got she's got the voice  

with her and Ariel doesn't have the voice so  she can't speak anymore uh but the voice is  

is like the thing and so Ariel can't speak but  now the the sea witch can like use her use her  

voice and the point is like it's it's just about  like if you can get the voice from other people  

if you can get examples and not just listening  but watching people or reading things and all  

those different examples are going to help you  get fluent but the point is you don't need to  

be physically with someone in order to get that  all right Hiller says when I hear an idiom from  

native speaker it makes me cracking smile if I  know it well yes and so again you you get that  

there's like a trigger that happens it's like I  know that word I remember that and especially like  

if you're prepared for something you hear it in  a conversation you will feel very confident about  

that like ah I got it I was prepared I knew the  pattern I recognized that and then that's again  

it's something that will make you feel even more  confident about using it even if you don't speak  

so you will recognize something when you recognize  that that's again like we're moving from exposure  

to awareness and then when you really feel  confident you will own the language and you  

will speak Joshua again okay now I get it in order  for me to be fluent in English I just have to be  

better at constructing a phrase or knowing deeply  the English language yes and so the idea is that  

you become fluent in individual words and phrases  as you understand them so you don't really get  

fluent in the language you understand pieces  of it well and some of them maybe you don't  

understand well and others you don't know at all  so that's the same thing even for me as a native  

speaker I know I don't know what like small 5%  not even 2% of the language maybe there are lots  

of words and phrases I don't know so I might hear  new things all the time and usually what happens  

is I might hear something and not know I'm hearing  it but I will hear examples of things I'm getting  

exposed to the language and then maybe okay  now I'm listening for it I know the word and  

then after I feel confident that I understand it  that's when I speak so I don't Begin by speaking  

I begin by understanding I'm going through  this process of understanding the language  

better and then I speak okay now of course you  can try to hear something and then just start  

speaking but why would you do that and for most  people they are stuck that's where they get they  

just describe that as being too shy all right or  I'm too nervous I'm worried about making mistakes  

and there are lots of worries I'm worried about  other people misunderstanding me or maybe I can't  

understand them or whatever so there are lots of  lots of worries that people have that stop them  

from speaking but the thing that solves those  worries is just getting lots of examples from  

native speakers and that's it and as you develop  fluency in in each word and phrase you will feel  

more confident about the language generally so  like with me learning Japanese at the beginning I  

was I was just getting fluent in pieces of the  language but now I I feel kind of more fluent  

in general in the language but it's just because  I've filled in more pieces of the puzzle there's  

still a lot I don't know all right but I know  how to get fluent that's the point and so if I  

if I know how to get fluent then it's much easier  uh to answer those questions all right let's see

here oh my goodness all right let's see okay I  got that and then Joshua again uh is it not the  

amount of time you spend in learning English it is  just the accuracy of how you understand yeah so I  

gave this example before I'll give this again  because it's such an important example of how  

fluency developed so people will ask a question  like how long does it take to get fluent all  

right so we we've already seen that you get fluent  in individual words and phrases so you don't get  

fluent in the whole language you get in you get  fluent in pieces of it as you understand it better  

so the first time you hear something you probably  don't feel confident about using it but if if you  

heard something a hundred times from different  people all about the same situation you would  

probably feel pretty confident about what you're  learning and then you would use it all right but  

just as an example so this is an example from  my life for learning Japanese uh this was like I  

don't know three let's just say so this is today  this is four years ago so four years ago uh my  

daughters uh well actually my my older daughter  then she she had this little like card that she  

would bring to kindergarten called a Sho sicki car  Shiki so this is Japanese word Shiki and I heard  

that it was like it was over here like I had been  exposed to it but I wasn't really thinking uh like  

thinking about it you know I was just like okay  I've heard it but I I don't really know what it  

means so I didn't feel confident about using it I  didn't I just didn't recognize it but this is the  

first time I heard it and I heard it kind of many  times but it's really just uh the repetition in  

the same situation so if you hear someone repeat  something again and again it doesn't really help  

you understand anything more so like a teacher  can just say like sh Sicky sh Sicky Shi and it's  

like it doesn't mean anything to you you need  more examples to help you understand something  

and then like three years later I got an example  of uh Shiki in I don't know it was just I was was  

like reading a just a I don't know like a business  book or something and it was talking about shui  

like attending a meeting and then suddenly I had  that aha moment like my my brain just clicked it's  

like ah okay Shi means attend and so she had  an attendance card and you can use Shi in that  

way so the Japanese word for that but I didn't  get a translation of it I just understood the  

meaning from the context and so when people talk  about you need time to develop fluency what you  

actually need are the examples themselves it's  not the amount of time if I had this example and  

then right after that I got this one like we just  compressed this you can get fluent much faster by  

just how quickly you can understand something  so that's the value of a good teacher is how  

quickly can that teacher help you understand all  right now some why are people I don't know how  

the volume can be different for different people  it doesn't make any sense because it's the same  

volume it always is it might just be when I'm  speaking into the mic or when I'm like looking a  

different way but just turn your volume up should  be fine all right so hopefully this makes sense  

it's not about how long you spend it's not like  okay I need to repeat something for 10 minutes  

no you need you need to get enough examples that  help you really understand something and so if  

you spend time if you focus on something you can  get fluent in it very quickly all right it's like  

like that it's instantaneous almost so instead  of three years it could have done that in five  

minutes just by getting those those varied  examples that's why naturally varied review  

is so important you don't want to just repeat  something you want to get varied examples of that  

thing you want to hear it from different people  in different context different speeds different  

tenses and all of that will get you fluent so  don't worry about spending a lot of time you  

want to just get as many examples as you can uh  you need enough examples to help you understand

something uh all right here yeah let's see next  one uh tip to choose or use either to the contrary  

or on the contrary uh or can I just go with both  in any cases no and again you would you would  

listen like I would I would put both of those  phrases into Google like on the contrary like  

they mean the same thing uh but you will see them  used differently in sentences so just type in like  

on the contrary uh example and it will usually  give you something like like a phrase like we  

did this but on the contrary this other thing all  right but when I was using it earlier it's just  

in one sentence like uh like I did like nobody is  saying anything to the contrary all right so but  

rather than again you should get lots of different  examples of that but then then you will understand  

uh exactly how it works so find a bunch of  examples and just look at those and you will see  

ah okay now I got the pattern Hashim says hello  teacher M says good evening how can I memorize  

IR regular verbs uh well for the few irregular  verbs there are you can just get lots of examples  

of them the same way excuse me the same way uh  we do this in uh influent for life so we want to  

give you lots of examples and then it becomes a  lot easier to remember those things all right G  

shim today you have a more formal shirt first time  in your live stream I saw you first time in this  

formal shirt you were looking handsome in this  shirt okay okay Yes actually I have of my usual  

t-shirts on under this this is I didn't take this  off it's just a flannel shirt and you guys are too  

kind Hashim teacher I know so many words but I  can't speak fluently what is the issue do you  

think this is the issue this is the issue right  here if you know a lot of words you have awareness  

of them but you don't have the ownership level  it just means you didn't get enough examples to  

feel confident about that so if you know something  like you're conf confidence increases as you know  

something better okay and your so your confidence  and your your fluency are improving at the same  

time as you get more examples of something as  you really understand something that's when you  

that's when you feel uh confident enough to use  that thing so if you know a lot of vocabulary but  

you don't speak you just need to get more examples  to help you really understand something so this is  

why uh often like you will hear vocab abary and  you can understand what other people are saying  

but you yourself do not feel comfortable because  you you just don't feel confident that you know  

the vocabulary well enough so it could be  pronunciation grammar whatever that thing  

is but this is again that this is where people  usually get stuck so I made another video about  

this about the three levels of understanding  and how fluency develops but again you have  

exposure to the language even if you don't know  it you're you're listening to things you might  

hear something on the radio or your brain sees  some words written on something our minds are  

taking in information all the time but we're often  not consciously aware of it um but the as you go  

through the different stages from exposure to  awareness to ownership that's where you really  

start feeling fluent so the fluency and speaking  confidence develop as you get practice okay so  

the practice we're talking about here the practice  is really more examples that come in to you it's  

going into your brain If you hear 10 different  people say something then ah okay now I feel  

very confident I understand something and that's  how you get fluent all right you don't get fluent  

by just repeating things to yourself or to other  people I know this sounds weird but if you think  

about it it's like yeah like how would I really  get fluent by just repeating something to myself  

or other people it doesn't help me understand  anything more it's just repeating something and  

the same way if I keep getting the same thing  over and over from one person like a teacher in  

a classroom or whatever that's why influent for  life I'm not the only person saying things so I  

want to give you examples of lots of different  people because you need examples of lots of  

different people to feel very confident about the  language that's how it works all right uh let's

see right I think I got that

on uh oh well there's like a bunch of must  been some ones I I missed over here all right  

uh Bridget says good day great teaching from the  UK nice to see there Alejandro yod Dre what up  

bro greetings from Mexico nice to see there  jeel so speaking long time nothing comes out  

say something I don't understand what let me  know what you mean by that if you're talking  

about yourself or you uh complaining about me  I don't know let me know uh thank you for the  

answer about proper and correct you are the best  yes and remember like I will say something and  

you will still hear other people sometimes  people will use a word and you're like oh  

I didn't expect that person to use that or native  speakers will use incorrect grammar you're you're  

constantly refining your understanding of the  language as you understand more nuances of like  

oh look like that person said this thing in  this situation but they didn't say that same  

thing in this other situation so your brain is  trying to figure out this puzzle all the time  

and it's just much easier to do it with someone  who knows the language and knows how to teach  

properly rather than just looking for random  examples of things Rocky says uh you don't seem  

to have so here you would say you don't seem to  have you don't seem to have a foka dialect well  

I live in Nagasaki but I don't I don't really use  Nagasaki bin that much I'll just like people will  

say like oh do you uh like do you understand  nag I could Ben and I'm just like oh get

a walk out on it's I'll just like say  something they're like oh can you say  

that in Japanese like Nagasaki Ben I will use that

likeo but yeah like I I just do that to be funny  around here I don't really speak Nagasaki ban  

normally though Sandra says hello Drew looks like  the Brazilian flag there what is the best way to  

use and study that new word I just read or heard  get more examples of it that's it so let's say  

you hear a new word that you're in a conversation  boom like here's some new word you heard you know  

write that down remember it put it in your phone  or something and then get more examples of it even  

if you just Google examples just to get some  more text examples in different sentences or  

whatever get more examples of that and the more  you hear and see and listen to and and even try  

to read or write those different examples that  will get you fluent automatically uh uh lean  

let's see greetings from the Philippines hello  Drew I declare good health for you hi to your  

family well thank you very much I agree with you  fluency comes really understanding something and  

speaking from experience yeah and so if you it's  very simple if you don't feel confident you won't  

speak and so when I try to explain to people  like they're they're trying to begin with the  

speaking because they think they need to speak  they think they need to get practice but they  

don't understand what's really happening when you  get practice and practice is really the input you  

get from other people it's not what you say so you  don't need to have people around you physically to  

get that practice you just need to get examples  from lots of other people around you all

right uh okay I got that Muhammad says my  listening still sucks how can I improve it  

it's really hard for me to get what native speaker  is talking about unless I look at the subtitles uh  

and we don't have subtitles in real life indeed uh  yes it can be hard to to get examples and that's  

why again you want to get naturally varied  review you want to get more examples from  

other native speakers who are saying the same  thing or talking about that same thing so one  

example I made a video about uh making espresso  in English where and four different you hear like  

four different people uh talking about that and  so some things will be the same vocabulary or  

pron iation or whatever and some of them are not  but as you get more examples this is why it's so  

important to pick something and focus on it see  what most people do is they will just get to the  

awareness level and they think like well I know  this now I want to study something new but if  

you're not up here at the ownership level then  stay on that thing you should continue to learn  

more about something until you feel confident  using it now you don't have to do this with  

every word like some people just you maybe you  hear a word and you nobody use uses that that's  

fine but for everyday things if you use something  and you don't feel confident or you hear it a lot  

from people and you want to understand it then  spend some more time with that word and it works  

the same thing this one thing will solve every  issue that people have with vocabulary grammar  

pronunciation listening everything else so it's  just getting lots of examples and that's how  

you actually you develop fluen you in that way  so don't worry about uh like I don't know like  

trying to learn as much as possible POS you  want to you want to be fluent in vocabulary  

and as you do that it will naturally make you  more fluent in other things as well and the  

process gets much faster as you do it all right  Claudia says hi it's a great pleasure to see you  

and listen to your class it's my pleasure let's  see L from China nice to see you there uh why I  

don't understand natives when they speak quickly  well again the way I'm speaking in this video is  

different from what natives are usually talking  about and often the vocabulary is different the  

speed is different pronunciation is different so  what we do like INF fluent for life or the same  

thing if you want to try to do it by yourself is  get lots of examples of how natives are talking  

about something that's how you get fluid and  that's how you understand people better so  

if I want to you know whatever your situation  is maybe you're learning English for your job  

or everyday life or something if I if I go to the  grocery store like I could go to the grocery store  

and just walk around and listen to people like  what are the kinds of questions people ask the  

staff so I learn I learn languages in a completely  different way now than I than I used to so before  

I would try to take something from English and  translate it into the language I'm learning but  

now I just connect the vocabulary and that's the  vo the vocabulary is the pronunciation and the  

vocabulary like the grammar and and everything  is all one thing and then I'm just connecting  

that with the situation so in this situation  what do people say when a person walks into a  

Japanese restaurant or a store or something like  that what do you hear it's like uh that's like a  

very a very common thing oh it's like okay like  I hear I hear that same kind of thing so it must  

mean welcome of some kind and as I'm getting more  examples of it then I have a more finely tuned a  

more nuanced a more refined way of understanding  that and so I feel more confident about using it  

I can see why like one person uh would like say  it differently than another place or there might  

be like a a local thing like in kilo it's like  OK like for thank you or whatever like people  

will say different things in different places just  like in the United States we have like like some  

soda or pop or a soft drink or Coke or whatever  people would call it but it will be different even  

for that same thing and so you pay attention to  what people are doing uh in that same situation  

so what did different people say in that same  situation and that will help you understand

it uh let's see I think I got that one all right  I got that I don't understand it too so yes  

you would say I don't understand either I don't  understand either and so as you hear like if you  

can understand what I'm saying right now you just  need more examples of like the kind of speech I  

have but you also need natives talking about that  same thing so this is what we do in fluent for  

life it's like it's getting you from where you are  to where you want to be so understanding natives  

better speaking fluently all of those things  because you get lots of examples that's what we do  

all right uh Joshua says thank you for answering  my questions no problem computer engineer style I  

see I see and Joel says when I describe something  nothing comes out after telling something what's  

your opinion uh like you're asking what my opinion  is of that when I describe something nothing comes  

out after telling something you mean like you can  you can describe something but then you can't say  

anything after that I I don't know exactly what  you mean tell me more tell me more uh are not you  

native speaker teacher yes I am a native speaker I  am a native speaker born and raised in the United  

States Tony says it's me nice to see you there and  we got moo saying during conversation with native  

English speakers I can mostly understand them but  I cannot speak very fluently uh then they speak  

more simply how can I ask them to speak naturally  well you and this is a tricky thing that's a good  

question but this is a tricky thing about human  psychology and language learning people want to  

communicate well and they will they will kind  of go to the lowest level or the easiest level  

for everybody to communicate well so if you were  like if if they think you are not a good speaker  

then they will lower their ability and this is  another reason reason why like you don't need  

to it's it's often a good idea not to not to  speak directly with natives because they will  

change the way they speak around you so if  you're in a real conversation with someone  

and they think that you can't communicate well or  that you're not understanding them then they will  

we we call this dumbing down so to dumb down is  a good phrasal verb for people to dumb down it's  

just a way of saying simplif so they will simplify  their language like dumb it down for you to make  

sure you can understand what they're talking about  so what I do again it's more like and I've talked  

about this for years but like being a spy so I go  and I just listen to other people natives having  

conversations about all kinds of things I will  just sit in a cafe pretend like I'm reading a book  

but I'm just listening to other people speaking  and I'm you know I'm not really spying on them I  

don't really care what's going on but it's more  like like oh that's interesting like this person  

said that I might like look up a word or whatever  but in general like I can learn the language that  

way and so when you're in a conversation with  people um it's actually easier to learn you  

will improve a lot more with just seeing other  people talking so this is again why we do this  

in fluent for life like everything in about fluent  for life is designed around this about how humans  

learn language so you need to get lots of examples  of people really speaking and often you can't even  

in a conversation you can't get those examples  from people because they're trying to speak more  

I don't know like in a kind of dumb down way  all right so again like you don't need to be  

physically getting those things from other people  um but uh if you can even just like from watching  

people on TV or something that will that will show  you real examples of how people are speaking all  

right so if you're not getting if you if you feel  like people are are making their language simp  

simpler for you then you should try to get them  speaking to each other and listen to that instead  

uh but as you feel more confident then they will  improve their speech as well that's how that

works uh let's see how are we doing okay I got  that one right Rose says yes he is I don't know  

what that's referring to hello my friend it's  been a long time says Jose nice to see you there  

all right and again the uh the Korean there let me  know what your name is if you want me to say your  

name comparing the volume we normally get from  your live video now the volume is quite low but we  

are all good that's that's really weird cuz it's  it's I I don't change the gain on the microphone  

at all but I notice like the way I am let's see  yeah I should be the same setting as always you  

believe me I have a microphone I showed it on the  last uh last live video uh when will teacher live  

time what's the teacher live time yeah I don't  have specific times for live videos often I will  

do them like Thursday morning Japan time uh or  maybe Monday but it it just depends I don't have  

a schedule for these but the important thing is  you do not need to be live with me just like this  

like what I'm explaining today you don't need to  have a live teacher uh with you in in the video or  

whatever you just need to see examples of people  speaking so if you're watching this now or you're  

watching this in a few days when it's not live  anymore you still get the same benefit from the

video uh yeah all right I got that one all  right move man again I mean how can I ask them  

to speak naturally yes I understood your point  like about asking them to speak naturally but  

diff the typically when you ask them to do that  they will not do that so if you say oh please  

speak naturally like they like they're they're  trying to tailor their English to your level and  

so I mean you you can just say like uh like as  a learner like um you can you can like feel free  

to speak naturally you can you can you can say  feel free to speak naturally or you could just  

yeah like that'd be an easy way to do it I don't  know like they might feel conscious about that  

because they want to make sure you understand  what they say so you know you can ask them to  

say hey even if I don't understand everything  please talk normally like imagine imagine I'm a  

native speaker and and speak to me you know but  it's much easier if you just get those examples  

from actual native speakers who don't know  you're listening to them just dude says your  

voice and the microphone are totally fine I can  hear everything clearly all right glad to hear  

all right uh you just told them don't speak simple  words yes you could you could say that as well but  

also it's not like the difference between native  communication and what people get in a regular  

English class is very different it's it's like the  language itself the physical words you know or the  

not physical but the actual words people people  are using uh the pronunciation the speed of the  

language is different as wello says according  to you uh is it a good idea to use chat GPT  

for learning English if yes what could a proper  way to use this tool be uh that we have nowadays  

it's been very powerful yeah so I would just use  chat GPT to get more examples of stuff so like I  

would tell chat GPT give me uh 10 sentences or  give me a 100 sentences or whatever with this  

grammar Construction I mean I would only worry  about it saying something incorrect uh it's just  

as easy to go to Google and just like type in a  phrase like like I I use what was the word we had  

before like to the contrary so if I put whatever  I'm looking for in quotes like I just like uh cat  

runs just as an example so I can search for this  I put Like the quote marks and this and just type  

that into Google and it will give me a bunch of  examples of sentences where people are using that  

and I can just look at them right in Google so  that's probably correct English that a human made  

rather than uh chat GPT so you could use chat  GPT for the same thing and just ask it to give  

you a bunch of examples like give me some varied  examples of of this grammar point and so that's  

one way to get it uh and then of course like uish  is another one y u g l i s h so if you already  

know the particular word or phrase or something  you're looking for then you can go there and hear  

different examples of it from different speakers  um but those are those are good things when you  

already know the vocabulary you're looking for  so if you don't know the vocabulary it's less  

helpful uh but that's how you would do that I  would I mean Google is perfectly fine for that

too all right uh P we got from India hi from  Mexico says a Momo nice to see you there MGA  

your English is pretty understandable well I  hope so so I'm trying to be understandable it's  

quite difficult uh to do for me means I cannot  agree with you it's pretty difficult oh wait are  

you it's quite difficult to do for me means I  cannot agree with you it's pretty difficult to  

do for me means letting me have time to think  about it and GTO uh uh ning I keep didn't it  

not not hold on so you're you're you're asking  like uh yeah so like in in Japanese it's like

it's like this is a little bit like yeah you  can just say this this might be but I mean  

both of those would mean the same thing uh and  in Japanese like often like that that's a Nuance  

of the culture uh not so much The Language by  itself because when like a Japanese person is  

like ah like like they mean no or I mean you can  kind of get the feeling for that like you know  

when they're when they're talking talking about  something if like if you're asking permission  

to do something and that's why I usually tell  people like I told my friend who came out here  

I said it's better to ask for forgiveness than  permission in Japan so don't ask for don't ask  

for permission to do something just do it and then  if it's a problem say I'm sorry after that that's  

what you should do I mean don't do anything bad  but you know that's it's much e like because in  

in J in in Japan I was trying to like he wanted  you know asking me lots of questions about uh  

like the language and the culture and how it  works and stuff and that that was the basic  

idea so most people even if something would be  easy to do people are like they don't want to  

do something different and it can be it can be  very uh very hard hard to kind of change those  

ways or get permission to do something new uh  yeah but again like I don't I don't want to be  

we say this is the oh I'm getting too many let  me clear some space clear clear some space over  

here to clear some space so the final word on  something so I don't want to be the final word  

on any particular word or phrase because you will  hear it you should hear it from other people as  

well so don't just okay Drew said this and now  I do that like my you can you can trust what I'm  

saying but you should also get more examples  of things all right always do that all right  

I guess you guys are speaking with each other  Juan says I've been watching your videos for  

about two months seems like I can understand  more but I still can't speak yeah so again uh  

what we what we try to do what I'm doing here  in these videos is really make it easier for  

you to understand how to learn and I will also  be teaching you know some pronunciation or some  

vocabulary or grammar or something like that  but in general it's just teaching you how to  

learn the language and then then you can either do  that with me like INF fluent for life or you can  

just do that yourself and go improve the same way  I did so it's obviously much easier and faster if  

you do it with me like that's what we do in fluent  for life um but typically you're not going to get  

you're not going to get the like native level of  understanding because I'm not giving you native  

level of speech I'm trying to be understandable  in these videos and often in real life like we  

are not understandable unless you have practiced  you've learned those different things so that's  

what we do in fluent for life so think about these  videos as a way to help you learn some things and  

help you understand more about how the language  works and the reason it's hard to get you fluent  

with just YouTube videos like this is because you  really need lots of different examples and many  

different native speakers okay so I'm just one  guy I can't I can't I can pretend to do different  

voices or whatever uh but you need to get lots of  different examples from different native speakers

let's see okay all right how can I learn English  says Mohammad go back and watch this video again  

watch it from the beginning Rachel says most of  the time I understand what people say in English  

they often use very simple sentence structures  when it's my turn the situation is quite different  

I always get stuck yeah so if you know a lot of  English I'll keep this up here if you know a lot  

of English but you still can't speak fluently it  just means you don't feel confident enough about  

whatever that word or phrase is you want to say  there is some doubt you have that's stopping you  

it's the uncertainty you have about the language  that stops you from speaking so if you're worried  

about grammar or pronunciation or if you're using  the right word or you can't understand what other  

people are saying any doubt anything like that  it will stop you from communicating so you just  

need to get more examples to help you feel very  confident about the language and then you get  

confident and fluent ENT in individual words and  phrases as you learn them all right Kos says in  

your opinion should we focus on getting fluent and  confident in one specific situation than moving to  

other situations rather than trying to get so  in multiple situations in parallel well it it  

just depends on how quickly you can do that and  what situations you need for your life so let's  

say uh I if I need to do grocery shopping every  day I should probably get fluent in that and I  

would do that just by getting lots of examples of  that thing so and you can think about it like the  

same way if you learn new things in Japanese let's  say there's a new I don't know some new company or  

there's a new way of doing something or some new  government thing you will learn that in English at  

the same time or excuse me uh you will learn it in  Japanese and you will go through this same process  

in Japanese it will probably be faster because  you're you already know a lot of other things and  

so the new uh the new thing that you're learning  in context is probably easier to understand  

understand but you will still go through this  process and if you can learn multiple things at  

the same time that's fine it's just how quickly  can you understand that so like what we do uh in  

fluent for Life Lesson sets we're focusing on a  particular grammar point or like usually like a  

couple different things related to a situation uh  but you'll also learn lots of vocabulary that you  

can then use in other situations so if I'm talking  with someone like let's say I learn about um like  

i t I gave you the example before about to dumb  something down so I could talk about that like  

teaching you know like little kids or I could talk  about that like giving an explanation to someone  

or someone explained something to me and I say uh  I didn't understand that could you dumb it down a  

bit for me and so I'm taking something and I'm  applying it in different situations but or like  

kind of different context but it's the same basic  idea for that meaning of the word so I could uh  

another example would be if I learn something like  uh I don't know like a phrase for for business or  

something or I like I learn I learned a phrase  from from sports like baseball uh so like in the  

game of baseball like you probably know that in  Japan but we've got like four bases so you got a  

home plate and we're talking about like I took  a girl out on a date and oh I got to I got to  

first base with the girl I got to first base it  means you know it could mean different things to  

different people but usually it's you know I got  a kiss or something so o like how far did you get  

you know how far did you get like or did you get  all the way to home probably not but maybe you say  

I got the first base like I got I got a kiss from  her so here we're taking a baseball situation so  

I'm learning about that but then I'm applying it  in different situations but it's it's it's about  

the same kind of situation does that make sense so  it's it's like it's more uh how many puzzle pieces  

can I fit and that I'm not overloading my brain uh  but the point is that if you're learning something  

and it's important for your life you should focus  on it until you understand how to use that thing  

properly now fluent for life is organized kind of  around grammar points and specific topics because  

it's easier for people to find information that  way so if I want to I don't know I want to learn  

how to how to use a particular I don't know modal  verbs or like past whatever whatever that thing is  

I can focus on that uh because grammar is really  the foundation of all of that but you will notice  

as you learn more things you can then apply that  information in other situations so don't don't  

worry about uh like a specific rule for how to  learn it's just uh can we get more examples of  

something until I really understand it for for  whatever that situation is all right uh okay  

so your name is a Kim yongju okay nice to see  you there all right me again uh your answer is  

very clear I will start spying on people yes so  especially now I don't know I don't know if you're  

Japanese or not but if you are around native  speakers you can just listen to them or just  

like this you can just go online and get lots of  people just speaking and you can listen to them  

the speech is all over the place the point is do  you have it organized well and can you understand  

it when people are talking to you R says always  clear Armando again you English is awesome yeah  

I think it's just called yish yish I use it a lot  for getting tons of examples and pronunciation of  

phrases and words yeah n says K CH I'm Japanese  and from Arizona I love your video so much well  

thank you very much if you know other Japanese or  arizonan arizonians I don't know how do you say  

that in Arizona arizonians I guess maybe uh let  them know let's see J says your sound is great  

glad to hear it uh table says I understand  some people talk to me but it's hard for me  

to reply back sometimes it's slow for me to reply  to them yes so the the understanding like you can  

see how this works the the fluency development the  conscious or the confidence development this goes  

through these stages and so obviously you're not  hearing something you're not recognizing at all  

but then you you begin with understanding and so  you hear something and often people stop here so  

they don't continue to learn something and really  understand it to get to the fluent level of that  

and again as I showed here earlier the process can  go very quickly if you get good examples so if I  

get like a couple of good examples and this is why  I talk about naturally varied review all the time  

because what most people do is they will find  like one example of a word it's like let's say  

I just use bird as an example and I just hear  the same teacher repeat this over and over and  

over and over again I'm not going to learn as much  so I could be spending let's say I'm spending 10  

minutes doing that or I spend 10 minutes getting a  wide range of different uses of bird so they could  

be talking about like the bird that flies or like  like some people call airplanes it's like look at  

that bird up there or a helicopter or something  and as I get all these different examples I feel  

much more confident about that word okay so  this it's the same amount of time but one  

of the one of these is just repeating something  I'm not really improving very much the other is  

actually helping me understand that thing better  so I feel confident using it and the important  

thing is like both of these like you can call  this practice both of these are practicing the  

word but this one it's it's you're not actually  learning anything new and remember the whole  

goal of practice is to feel confident and certain  about the language okay so as you feel confident  

and certain about the language that's when you  speak all right I think I got that one him says  

hello from Bangladesh Daniel says what kinds uh Mr  what kinds of of us accent are you speaking I want  

to sound like you clean and simple well I'm I'm  speaking kind of a neutral I mean you just copy  

my voice if you want to sound like me um but you  will I mean my my my native way of speaking is is  

a little bit different from this is my kind of you  know teaching pronunciation and presentation kind  

of voice so it's a little bit easier to understand  I'm speaking I'm speaking more clearly for sure  

I'm changing my vocabulary to make sure people  understand what I'm saying I'm kind of dumbing  

it down a little bit and I know that that can  also mean it has kind of a negative meaning as  

well but you can often ask that for yourself um  or if you're talking with natives uh who was that  

was that Mo or Mika somebody was asking before  uh about uh like asking Natives and not to not  

do that uh you can say oh you don't have to dumb  it down for me so if you respond back with like  

a phrase that you practiced and that's a native  a very native phrase like oh you you don't have  

to dumb down your speech for me that might make  them feel a little bit embarrassed but they will  

get the idea like ah okay like you know just you  can just be honest with people and that's a nice  

thing about native speakers of English rather  than Japanese typically uh as you can be kind  

of honest with people about stuff just say oh can  you please speak normally I just want to listen  

to real native English you know even if I don't  understand everything uh but again if you don't  

have that you don't need a person physically  there to do it you just need examples Don says  

when I'm studying those examples of this specific  word but I don't understand the other words that  

are written in those examples that already to  get help from the mother language and translate  

it uh I mean you can always get an English to  English translation if you wrote like what you  

just wrote that comment that you have there like  you you should have enough English ability to get  

examples of things in an englishto English  dictionary if you don't understand something  

uh but you should hopefully I don't know what  examples you're getting but and this is why  

I try to give simple examples you know I'm just  like focusing on the vocabulary but just so you  

can understand what it means but if you're doing  like chat GPT you can ask for like give me simple  

examples or with easier vocabulary you can tailor  it that way all right let's see talking to a

songbird I see is that the Space Needle there oh  that is that what that is or is that just alien  

ship or something that's interesting all right  look at that it looks like we got through we got  

through everybody fantastic all right just to give  a quick recap of everything here all right most  

people they get stuck like they can't improve or  they they feel that they they're they're kind of  

like stuck at this level where they understand  but they don't speak fluently they think this  

is because they don't get enough practice and  they're correct so they are correct it is true  

that they don't get enough practice but they think  practice practice comes from them speaking when  

practice actually comes from you getting lots  of examples from other people speaking okay if  

you just repeat something again and again it's  not going to help you improve because you're not  

you're not learning anything it's not helping  you understand anything better you might get  

to practice your pronunciation A little bit but  that's usually not what's stopping people from  

speaking they actually just don't feel confident  about what they say so they're worried about the  

grammar pronunciation or something but but  if you get lots of different examples enough  

to help you feel confident about something that  you'll use it correctly that's where you go from  

just understanding something up here to ownership  when you really feel confident so if you want to  

practice you don't need a physical native speaker  there you just need to get lots of examples to  

help you understand something and remember it  could be just one example you might hear a word  

one time and understand it immediately and then  you're fluent in that word very easy but you know  

maybe for lots of people people and this happens  with me as well I might hear something and then  

I need more examples to really feel confident  about that but that's how it works I don't need  

to be with people physically I just need their  input I need to hear lots like for my case I  

need to hear lots of different Japanese people  saying things and that's when I feel confident  

using something all right and it works the same  way in any language for all of us all right Kos  

says when a native speaker acquires a new phrase  like you're not going to get away with it do they  

do so as a sentence a collection of certain words  or just like one word well it could be but I mean  

they will also hear they will they will probably  break that down in um I guess the better way to  

answer this is children and adults will learn  new new things differently so if uh if you hear  

something as like one complete phrase or even  one sentence and you don't have a pattern already  

then you will remember that as one thing thing  so that's how children are often learning the  

language so they're like everything to Children  is new the first time they hear it so they hear  

like uh something like you're you're not going to  that by itself becomes a phrase that they would  

remember and then they can apply that to other  things so if I hear let's say I'm watching like  

I don't know a movie let's see what was your  specific phrase you're not going to was that  

get away with that uh yeah you're not going to get  away with it so you you're not going to get away  

with with it or that or whatever we just say that  you're not going to get away with that you're not  

going to get away with that and and kids are like  well get away with that like they might they might  

not quite understand exactly what that means but  they think like a criminal did something badly  

and the police are trying to get them or the good  guy is trying to stop someone in a movie and they  

will kids will repeat something like that as one  thing you're not going to get away with that so  

they look at this as kind of one unit but they  probably heard this a lot more already so like  

you're not going to like you're not going to do  this or you're not going to you're not going to  

do well you're not going to sleep well tonight or  whatever so there are lots of things you could put  

with this and then you're not going to get away  with that it just depends on what other phrases  

you already know and so what we're doing when  we learn new language like that we learn new  

new vocabulary uh we're trying to put it in into  patterns that we already know so that way we don't  

need to remember this whole thing it's just we  already know this so we could change this like  

like oh he is going to get away with that oh he's  going to get away with that so I could Chang this  

instead of you're not gonna it could be you are  GNA get away with something so yes uh it just  

depends on what you already know and that's why  the foundation of something uh is very important  

for understanding new things and then as you know  like as a as a like a native speaker of Japanese  

as you learn new things it becomes much easier  to put new things into that because often like  

the the basic structure of that it's like you're  not going to and then you will learn maybe some  

new phrase that you attach into that look at  Nils better late than never better late than

never better late than never better late than  never so even if you are late it's better than  

not being here at all better late than never  better leave than never my dad used to say like  

he would uh you know people introduce themselves  and they're like oh what's your name he's like  

well you know you can call me anything you like  but don't call me late for dinner don't call me  

late for dinner and so there two kind of uses  of the word call there I just thought of that  

with this here with this l example better late  than never all right looks like we're shutting  

it down here we'll get these last couple ones  M again hi teacher what time is it there here  

is 11:29 in Tokyo uh it is uh 11 well it's the  same time I was just in Tokyo yesterday actually  

I was in Shinjuku was had like an underground  Starbucks thank you very much see you again  

LOL all right yes it's a pleasure come again uh  M says from Chad look at that in Africa uh am a  

fluent self-taught English speaker would love to  know how to really practice the US accent in my  

French speaking country look it doesn't matter  where you are it doesn't matter where you are  

you just get lots of different examples so if  you want to sound like a native English speaker  

from the United States watch content on that from  you know from YouTube or whatever uh and you will  

hear how native English speakers are sounding  you know from the United States or wherever it  

is you want to sound that's how you do it all  right Jo Chan look at that again starting the  

first comment and last comment over there nice to  see you again but thank you all if you'd like to  

learn more about how to do this again getting  all the examples is the thing you really need  

to get yourself fluent so either you can do this  by yourself which is fine it's just if you don't  

know how to do that it can be troubling just  like I had to go through that same process of  

getting fluent in Japanese because I didn't have a  teacher I still don't have a teacher uh but I just  

get my examples from lots of different people  so kind of the world becomes your teach but if  

you'd like help doing that because you want  to get fluent as quickly as possible you can  

click on the link in the description below this  video and I'll see you in the next video byebye