WHY NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOUR ENGLISH 😅 | Go Natural English

154,169 views ・ 2018-05-21

Go Natural English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Hey, what is up naturals, how are you? Welcome to my new office
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We're still working on the decor. This video is all about why some people
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can't understand
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you
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Yes, I don't mean for this to be a negative video
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I don't mean for this to be making fun of you or to say that your English is bad
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It's not if you can understand me right now
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Your English is awesome. But we've all been there. Even when we speak a language really well
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Like I speak Portuguese really well
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But there have been situations where I'm trying to communicate and the person I'm trying to speak with doesn't
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Understand me. So in this video, I'm gonna share many many many many many many different reasons. Why
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native English speakers and even other non-native English speakers anyone who's speaking English with you might not
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Be able to understand you
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sometimes or all the time
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Not to make fun of you not to tell you how horrible your English is
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but actually to point out these very specific reasons so that you can fix them and you can do better and
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Each day, you can improve your English
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fluency
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Because each day you're learning English a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more and after this video
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You're gonna be a lot better in English
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You're gonna be able to fix these errors
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That you may be making that may be confusing other people and your English fluency is going to improve
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So much. So if it's okay for me to share these points with you, then let's do it
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so I remember when I was in Brazil a few months ago, I went to the supermarket and
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This memory is the whole reason for this video. I remember I went to the supermarket looking for cilantro and
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I actually learned Spanish before I learned Portuguese. So I was thinking cilantro is this same?
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in Portuguese big mistake big mistake on my part
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I know Portuguese is not the same as Spanish, but sometimes there are some words that are the same for example
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Amigo is in Spanish and Portuguese
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Hey amigo
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Anyway, I wasn't looking for a friend in the supermarket I was looking for
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cilantro, which is
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Cilantro in English is cilantro in Spanish
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But I asked in Brazil for cilantro and the guy the supermarket had no idea what I was talking about
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Just like what and I kept saying it a slightly different
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cilantro cilantro
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Cilantro and you're just like no girl. I don't understand anything you're saying
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what are you talking about crazy gringa but
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finally after I left the supermarket without
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cilantro I
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Was able to look up this word in a portuguese dictionary
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And I finally realized just not cilantro at all that cilantro in English is Quinto in Portuguese
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So yay now, I know how to say his launcher in Portuguese, and I'll never forget because of that situation
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but that is one reason why some people may not
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Understand you in English because you may be using what's called a false
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Cognates or a false friend. We don't want no false friends
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Excuse my bad grammar. That's just
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You know how we talk sometimes because why not?
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We would not like any false friends. Let's
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Correct grammar here. All right. This is this is some serious English learning. So be careful of false
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Cognates in English. So for example
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Another one in French would be like a tongue is not to attend
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Although they're very similar. That's a false friend or false cognate in English or like Oh,
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Liberty or
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Lolly Radia in Spanish is
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Not library in English. It's the bookstore
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so even though library sounds like love leader dia or
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Liberty
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Sorry for my French accent. It's not the same. It's a different thing or like in French
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The magazine is not a magazine in English. It's a store
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So I think these things are so interesting what I learned actually, is that in a store
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They used to sell magazines and maybe that's where the word magazine came from. I don't know. I think it's interesting
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so if you know any other false cognates or false friends in
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English that come from your language
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Write them in the comments. Let's learn from each other
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Another reason why people might not be able to understand your English is a lack of correct
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syllable stress
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stress in English is super important even more important in my opinion than
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Pronunciation well stress is a kind of pronunciation. But what I mean is stress is more important than
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Individual letter sounds so let me give you an example. I
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live in Missouri
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which is a state in the middle of the United States if
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I said the same sounds but with a different stress it would be
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misery not, Missouri
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ok, Missouri is the state but
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misery means
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Sadness, so if I said I live in misery
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that's a completely different meaning and
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honestly if I just
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interjected that into our
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Conversation you'd probably think that I had problems
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I'm probably depressed and I go I need to go get some help
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So people might not understand you if you have the wrong syllable stress, so be careful about that
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also, if you have the wrong vowel sound going on in your words vowels are super confusing but also
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Very very very important in English. I remember once when I was living in Boston, and I went to a salon and
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I wanted to get my eyebrows waxed and the woman there
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She was a non-native English speaker in English was super good
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But she had some issues with vowel sounds and she asked me if I wanted my brows the sue shit
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And I was like the SIM chip. What is that? What is the sim ship brow?
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I just wanted a simple, you know brow waxing and I was like, I don't know the sim ship just oh
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the same
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Shape she was asking if I wanted my brows to be the same shape or if I wanted them to be shaped
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Differently ladies, you know what I'm talking about when you go get your brows done. This is very important matter
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You don't want any misunderstandings
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But I finally figured it out. She's asking if I wanted the same
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Shape these are long
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Vowel sounds so if you don't make the right vowel sound people might not understand you in English
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So be careful with those vowels out there. You could be messing up people's brows. That's that's dangerous
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Another reason why some people might not understand your English is actually your English might be from a different
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Region, so you might actually know a different English than they do
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for example, if you're out here in Missouri where I'm living and you start using British English, you're like
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Hey mate want to have a chinwag?
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Or what? I'm horrible at British English but a chinwag is not something that someone is gonna understand out here
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I think that means to chat if you start using some regional English from
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another country like saying mates or a chinwag or to take the
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Piss out of someone. That's just something that we don't
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Understand out here unless of course
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We've been to the UK or Australia or we have more exposure
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But if you're speaking in a way, that's not common where you are
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Currently some people might not understand you. So keep that in mind when I was teaching English in Japan to
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Scientists, I had one of my students super super smart
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Woman super brilliant with science and language and everything using really academic
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words and once she asked me how
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my
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Homeostasis was and she just wanted to ask how are you but instead she was using this really academic words
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so if you're using overly academic words
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People might not understand what you're saying. So keep it simple. Keep it clear
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another reason how people might not understand what you're saying is if you're using
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Overly complicated verb tenses. So if you're trying to use these really
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Advanced grammar structures and you're like last Tuesday
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I had had a taco for dinner. I would be waiting
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For you to finish your thought because had-had
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Is not really a verb tense that we would just use on its own like that there would be something else
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Coming something like you had had a taco and then what?
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We just need a simple pass there. I had a taco. That's it. Great. I would love a taco right now. I'm so hungry
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anyway
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Keep it simple. Keep it simple with your vocabulary. Keep it simple with your verb tenses
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Let's not overcomplicate things. Let's keep it clear and simple now on the other hand
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the final reason and
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Possibly most common reason why some other people might not understand your English
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It's actually not even about you. It's about
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Them when you come to the US
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Especially if you come to a smaller city
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You may meet people who have never left their city. You may be people who have never been to another country or
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Spoken to people who are not from their state
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you may meet people who have never spoken to someone who speaks English as a
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Second language and there's some things that are a little different about the way that you communicate
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They might just not be used to it. So it's actually then they're not used to you and it's not really your fault
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So if you meet someone who's never been out of the United States?
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Or if you meet someone who has never tried to learn another language or never had the opportunity to learn another language
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They don't really know as much as you do about communication
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so give them a break be patient explain yourself in different words and
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be curious about
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What they can teach you and what you can teach them
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Anyway, I hope that these suggestions these specific points will help you to understand why some people might not be understanding
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you
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Remember, it might not even be about you
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But the things that you can control are things like learning about common
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vocabulary that we use in different regions
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you know use the words that people commonly use where you are think about syllables stress think about
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false cognates be careful with those
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think about
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Using simple tenses. Don't try to over complicate things using academic words
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Oh, and of course, keep it clear
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keep it simple and speak confidently speak loud enough so that people
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Can actually hear you obviously people won't understand what you're saying if they can't hear you in the first place
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so be loud be proud make eye contact and
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Help other people to understand you because you have so much to share with the world
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You are awesome, and we want to know all about you where you're from your life
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So let's keep it going. If you like this video if you found it helpful
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Share it. Leave a comment like it subscribe do all the things
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I would love to have you as part of our YouTube community here and go natural English
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So make sure to click right down there up. Just kidding right down there to subscribe and get on the go natural
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English train and I will see you soon in another video. Bye for now
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