Limited Vocabulary? You Can STILL Speak Fluently! Here's How...

13,100 views ・ 2024-10-10

JForrest English


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Did you know that you can speak fluently  in English with a limited vocabulary?
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I have many videos on my channel to help you  
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expand your vocabulary because  of course, this is a priority.
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But you don't need to wait to start  speaking until you learn more words.
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Today you'll learn how to speak English  fluently with a limited vocabulary.
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Welcome back to JForrest English.
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Of course, I'm Jennifer.
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Now let's get started.
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First, let's define what's  speaking fluently is not.
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It's not speaking perfectly without mistakes.
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It's not speaking endlessly.
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It's not speaking like a native.
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It's not replacing everyday words with  phrasal verbs, idioms, and advanced words.
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Fluency is communicating  ideas clearly and smoothly.
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Fluency is the ability to manage  conversations with confidence and ease.
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Now let's review some tips on how to  speak fluently with unlimited vocabulary.
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Tip #1 Focus on the words you know.
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I'm sure one of your goals is to expand your  vocabulary, and I'm sure every day or every  
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week you watch YouTube videos like mine to  help you learn other ways to express yourself.
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But what about the words you already know?
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How often do you use those words?
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This is like filling your closet with new  shirts every day but never wearing any of them.
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This is wasted money, right?
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Wouldn't it make sense to  wear the shirts you already  
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own and only buy new shirts when you need them?
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This same is true for your vocabulary.
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Yes, expanding your vocabulary  is important, but it's equally  
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important to practice and use the words you  already know but aren't regularly using.
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Your vocabulary will likely double just by  
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using the words you've already  learned in your daily speech.
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For your action step this week, write down  10 words you already know but aren't using.
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Make it your goal to practice and  use these words in your daily speech.
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Tip #2 Use frameworks.
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I know many students lose  their words when they speak.
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They can only provide very brief answers, or they  can only offer a few words before hesitating.
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Learning a simple communications framework can  
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solve all of these problems and help you  communicate fluently and confidently.
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Let's say you're talking to someone  and they ask you how your weekend was.
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You can simply say it was great,  but that's a very short answer.
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Sure, you didn't make any grammar mistakes,  but I'm sure you have more you want to say.
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Maybe you think you lack the words, but  what if the problem isn't the lack of words,  
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The problem is you lack a simple framework  you can use to answer any question.
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One simple framework you can start  using today is the prep framework.
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Did you know that the word prep is  the short form for the word prepare?
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Native speakers frequently  use this in everyday speech.
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For example, I have to prep  for the meeting tomorrow.
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The prep framework will help you prep  Prepare for any conversation you have.
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Prep stands for point, reason, expand, point.
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Remember someone started a conversation  with you and said how was your weekend?
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Now you can answer using the prep framework.
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Your point is the main answer.
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It was great.
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Now you can expand on this  by providing the reason.
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It was great.
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We relaxed and watched a movie at home.
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This is already a more fluent answer and it uses  very simple vocabulary that I'm sure you know.
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Let's keep going and expand on this answer.
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You can expand by providing  more information or an example.
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Here you can simply state what movie you watched.
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Now you can say it was great.
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We relaxed and watched a movie at home.
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The movie was called Arthur the King  and it was about a man who found and  
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rescued a stray dog while  competing in a race abroad.
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I'm sure you agree that this answer sounds a  
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lot more fluent than simply  saying my weekend was great.
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And notice that I'm using very simple  vocabulary that you likely already know.
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The final point in our framework is point.
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This is your conclusion.
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It's a final statement.
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To end your answer here, it makes sense to  
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provide a final statement either  about the movie or the weekend.
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Overall, you can say it was an  excellent movie and I recommend it.
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I'm sure you would feel very fluent and very  confident if you provided this answer to a  
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simple question like how was your weekend?
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And remember, this uses simple B1  vocabulary you likely already know.
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You can absolutely replace some common  words with more advanced words or even  
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keep expanding on your answer, but  that isn't required to speak fluently.
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For your action step this week, practice  answering questions using the RE framework.
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You can Google random question  generator for a website that will  
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give you endless questions that you  can use to practice the RE framework.
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Tip #3 Handling vocabulary gaps When you have  a limited vocabulary, you are going to be in a  
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situation when you don't know a specific word  or you don't know how to answer a question.
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But did you know that native speakers  experience these exact situations?
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My husband is very handy, which means he likes  to fix and repair things around the home.
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He owns a lot of tools.
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I don't know the names of  90% of the tools he owns.
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When he talks about repairing something technical,  I don't understand what he's explaining.
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Does that mean I'm not fluent in English?
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Does that mean I should spend my weekends  learning vocabulary related to tools?
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I have no interest in learning this  vocabulary because I don't need to know it.
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I can effectively communicate  with my husband without knowing  
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the vocabulary and without having  in depth knowledge on the topic.
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Just like you can communicate with your doctor,  plumber or lawyer in your native language without  
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knowing the same terminology they know or  without having the same expertise they have.
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When you don't know the name  of something, describe it.
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Kevin asks me to pass him the green tube  sitting on the toolbox instead of using  
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the specific name for that green tube, because  he knows that I don't know what it's called.
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If you're talking to a doctor, you might ask  about the machine that monitors your heart rate  
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rather than saying the name of that machine.
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If you're at a store, you might ask if they  sell something to protect you from the rain.
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If you can't remember the word for umbrella.
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If you're ordering a dessert at a  restaurant and you don't know what  
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it's called, you can say the one with  a strawberry on top on the third shelf.
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Native speakers do this  regularly, and you can too.
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For your action step this week, once a day,  look around any room you're in and practice  
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describing objects using the vocabulary you  know instead of using the name of that object.
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This will also give you the chance  to practice using words you already  
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know but don't frequently use, like adjectives.
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Tip #4 Handling knowledge gaps.
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When Kevin's not fixing things around the  house, he builds complex computer algorithms.
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I have no technical knowledge in this area and  I can't discuss the topic at the level he can.
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But I can have long conversations with Kevin  about his work by using simple strategies.
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I ask questions instead of sharing information.
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I'm honest about not understanding something  and I asked him to explain it another way.
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I changed the topic when I've had enough.
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You can have amazing conversations with people  by asking questions based on the conversation.
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When Kevin says he made some sort of  change to the code he's working on,  
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I asked him simple questions.
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Was it a difficult change?
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How long did it take?
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Is it working now?
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Why did you need to make that change?
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Do you have to make any other changes?
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Notice that my questions are very basic and don't  require specialized knowledge or vocabulary.
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Now, Kevin frequently uses very complex  terminology to talk about his work,  
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and I ask him to explain it another way or  to give me an example to help me understand.
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He's happy to do this.
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And remember, you can always change the  
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conversation to something you  do feel confident discussing.
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When I've had enough computer talk, I'll make  a final comment and then change the topic.
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I might say, I'm so glad your code is working now.
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That's great.
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Do you want to go for a walk after  dinner for your action step this week?
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Think about any conversations you  had or heard in any language and  
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practice asking questions in English  based on that past conversation,  
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and also practice ending the conversation and  changing topics in a polite and natural way.
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As you can see, yes, you can speak fluently  in English with a limited vocabulary.
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Of course, I understand you  want to expand your vocabulary,  
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so make sure you watch this lesson right now.
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