You HAVE to try this | Learn English with Gavin Roy from SmallAdvantages

Arm themselves with phrases that they can say  during their first conversations like "Oh wow  

I've never heard that word before!  Thank you." You know? Or "What does  

that mean? Sorry, I've never studied that." Some little explanations that sound friendly,  

that give you information and that make  the other person feel comfortable too.

If you are a Brazilian then you are no stranger  to my guest today: Gavin Roy from the USA became  

an overnight celebrity in Brazil thanks  to his YouTube channel Small Advantages. 

He blew Brazilians minds by teaching English  while he taught himself Portuguese he has  

acquired more than 2 million subscribers and  has repeated his success by starting a second  

channel where he does the same through  a completely different language: Czeck.

So Gavin welcome to the show. Hey thanks for having me!

Gavin is going to give you some phenomenal  English learning advice today, but quickly  

before we get into that if you are new here every  week we help you to understand fast speech, to be  

understood by anyone and to connect to the world. So hit that Subscribe button and the Bell down  

below so that you don't miss a single  new lesson, just like RealLifer Lucy  

who says that she has finally discovered  that learning English can be fun!

The Nike slogan "just do it" I've heard so many  so many people saying "I'm so afraid for my first  

conversation, can you give me tips?" and yes,  I can give you tips but at the end of the day  

you are gonna have to do it and it won't be easy. That first conversation will probably be  

the worst conversation you've ever had, you  know the awkward, you're going to feel bad  

about yourself, there's no way to go around it  but there's so much good that comes out of it. 

And every following conversation gets easier.  It's just having that first conversation and the  

same thing applies for my fellow Americans--  but there's a great word in Portuguese. Like  

earth, like people who share  the same country as me. 

And no one hardly anyone learns languages here  but since I've become famous in Brazil and in  

the Czech Republic my friends have come up to  me like "Oh I want to learn German," or "Oh I  

want to learn Spanish, can you kind of give me  some tips?" and so yeah I sit down with them,  

talk about it and it's probably happened maybe  50 times that someone has approached me and to  

this date only one person has actually sat  down and taken the same journey that I have,  

and she has become remarkably fluent  in Spanish and it's the kind of thing-- 

like if you're thinking about it, stop  thinking about it, just do it. You know,  

same thing with creating YouTube channels, so many  people come up to me like "I have this great idea  

for a YouTube channel: a ninja cooking show." Awesome dude, like here's some tips you should  

do that like okay sweet yeah. Not a video is  created, you know, so many things just echo in  

the chamber of the mind for forever and never  become reality and so that over and over again- 

I see this piece of Nike advice "Just do it."  It's gonna be imperfect but you're gonna improve  

and let's make it a reality that would be my  Ted Talk, I'd figure out a nice and eloquent  

way to deliver this message in a 12-minute space. You're easing people and do it in some sense but  

that part is in some sense self-development in  English, so I imagine it's things that would  

carry over into their life so you're kind  of using your English as a portal in that  

sense to not just improve your English but  also to improve other aspects of your life. 

That's true, yeah, whether it's going to law  school or playing the guitar or getting better  

at painting, I mean and in language learning  specifically the first time you learn a  

foreign language you're learning two things: 1) you're learning the language and 2) you're  

learning how to learn a foreign language, which  is why polyglots are amazing but every single  

language that follows your first language gets  easier and easier and easier, because you know  

the hacks, you know, that you don't need to  be afraid for your first conversations, that  

spaced repetition system, flash card apps work. You know what to do, you know what works for you,  

you know you don't need to focus on grammar  and so in how to fly in these classes. 

In my course I try to focus on that part of how to  learn a foreign language any foreign language or  

any skill really when I'm speaking Brazilian  Portuguese to my followers there in Brazil  

it helps them to see that I'm not speaking  perfectly, that I still have a bit of an accent,  

you know, and it makes them realize that they  can let go of their standard of perfection. 

They need to sound like a native speaker with  zero mistakes. You know, I'm making mistakes  

and I struggle to find words every once in a  while but that's okay, like that adds to your  

charm even when you have an accent and so uh  yeah to add to a point that I was just saying  

earlier_ I think that that helped me get rid  of my perfectionism too and it's a beautiful  

part of being able to have this exchange. Yeah I could not agree more. I heard you  

say something-- because people obviously see  you too nowadays they probably if they haven't  

tracked you so much they might think it was  really easy for you or maybe you have some  

natural talent that they don't have or whatever  excuse, that you can do it but they can't. 

But I saw you saying in interview something  like that you're not a language genius,  

that your passion makes you good  at the languages that you learn,  

so where would you say that that passion comes  for you for learning Portuguese, Czech, Spanish? 

Yeah I remember saying passion, and I  think passion is a good word I would  

say even more precise word would  be "dedication." In terms of  

when you're learning a language you need to  dedicate that time to studying flash cards, to  

scheduling conversations online, and for me  it's just something that I'm interested in. 

That's like an easy answer. Two pieces  of advice that helped me with this too: 

1) is one that my dad always told: "Always  finish what you start" and I've always had  

this feeling I can never just read the first  sentence of a book and say like "Ah this isn't  

for me." If I pick up a book I'm gonna finish  it, dang it, you know, I'm gonna finish it. 

Same thing with the language, if I start a  language I have this desire to reach fluency  

which is why I know that I could  study 20 languages if I wanted to but  

I want to be conversant in the language that  I start and so I limit myself to three or four  

for now, and once I'm good I'll go from there. The biggest thing that I do before starting a  

conversation or starting to speak in either  Spanish or Portuguese is imagining myself  

either in Brazil or in Mexico. I've had very  strong positive experiences in both countries,  

so I picture myself in the Yucatan Peninsula  in Merida, in Mexico where I've spent  

several summers and I like get in this mindset. It's more than just the language it's like the  

feels, the smells, the tastes of the food and  I prep myself that way before I'm gonna speak  

and then there after that during a conversationm,  you know obviously still trying to feel that way,  

but there are certain sounds that just don't work  in Spanish that work in Portuguese or vice versa,  

and so it's just this sort of feeling  that I have, that each time that I'm  

going to say something in in Spanish that  wouldn't work in Portuguese I'm trying to  

foster that those feels a little more this that  would be awkward if I try to say in Portuguese. 

I don't have a good example  right off the top of the head but  

I love that kind of mental visualization exercise,  in a sense of trying to really put yourself  

in-- like something that excites all of  your senses into the language, right? 

Yes, exactly, yeah, that's really interesting  I've never heard anyone do that. I mean I've  

heard about a lot about using mental  exercises for different things and  

the visualization they even talk about  pro athletes, for example, visualizing  

themselves in the competition or something. So thinking about that for a language  

and that is true when you-- especially  if you have the opportunity to travel,  

there's tend to be like very strong smells you can  remember, or sites, or like the sounds, obviously,  

of the different languages and everything. Or  maybe the music that you love in that language. 

That's such a good point. I've heard  of like Michael Phelps visualizing  

each race before he, you know, swam and I've  never thought of it that way. But that's  

exactly what I suppose I'm doing in language  too. It's visualizing how it's gonna go. 

Yeah the topic of passion, dedication and  everything because I'm the same I would never  

consider myself a good language learner at least  not from the the place of talent, like it doesn't  

come out of any natural talent that I have, but  the thing that's always been key for me has been  

the the passion, like figuring out something that  I really adore about the culture or something. 

Like Catalan is the language that I speak the  best, foreign language I speak the best, but it's  

on a global scale completely useless language.  It's spoken by six million people, but for me it's  

something that I absolutely love and everything  and so I'm able to connect to that passion. 

I'm able to connect to the culture and everything  and I live now in Barcelona so it's very important  

to my day-to-day life, but I think that  when you have that passion and everything  

it definitely makes you unstoppable compared  to someone who just has the natural talent. 

That's true, yeah, and every when you have  passion your reasons are different too,  

whereas the talent is just the propensity  for that skill in and of itself. 

Yeah you're probably more likely to give up  anyway. If you have the talent but you don't  

have the motivation then it's like when things  get tough or something you might not be willing  

to push through that. I 100% agree. 

There's a ton more for you to learn with Gavin  and other incredible teachers and experts.  

You can get the full interviews from Beyond  Borders anywhere you listen to podcasts. 

However I would recommend that you listen on  the RealLife English App. Why? Because it is  

the only place where you can get a transcript  for the full episode and learn all of the most  

important vocabulary and more plus many learners  like you tell me that they are frustrated, that  

they don't have anyone to practice, what they are  learning with well on the RealLife English App. 

You can have conversations in English with  people from all around the world at the touch  

of a button and discover new cultures, so if you  are ready to step outside the classroom and to  

live your English then download the app now by  searching for RealÑife English in the Apple App  

or Google Playstore or simply click up  here or down in the description below. 

You always hear people saying I would learn  English but I don't have time for it and I think  

I understand this sentiment but  I think a better way to phrase  

this "I don't have time for it" is "I  don't-- it's not a priority in my life,"  

essentially because you make time for  the things that are important for you,  

you know, the things that are most important for  you, you will find the time to do and if English  

isn't important enough for you in terms of you  think like "Ah you know, that job promotion or  

that that travel opportunity isn't as important as  this" or you know "my family comes first," which  

is totally understandable, that's totally okay- It's just you need to phrase it not as I don't  

have time for it, but instead it's  not my highest priority, right? 

And really it's one of those things you  were saying for check I believe that you  

spent 10 minutes a day studying flash cards for  example that it's really hard to come up with  

the excuse that you don't have time. Because  you can always find like 5 minutes, 10 minutes  

here and there. You can listen to a podcast while  you're commuting to work, you can listen to music  

while you're cooking your dinner in the evening,  whatever's the thing it's always like there's  

that excuse that "I don't have time" really isn't  valid when you get down to it, it's just a sense  

like you said it's really looking at clearly your  your priorities or maybe your motivation, you know  

your why are you learning the language and stuff. And being able to kindle that so that it helps to  

push you through those kind of excuses  of not having time or when you're just  

too tired at the end of the day you're still  going to watch that series in English instead  

of in your native language for example. Exactly and you know that's a great point,  

like, again there's never been a better time  to be a language learner because we can have  

our phone with the flash card app while we're  waiting in line at the supermarket or on the bus  

but even smaller chunks of time like changing  your phone language to English is something I  

was recommending to my students because when they  look down for 10 seconds they're getting one or  

two words like swipe you know or click like any of  those words or um putting a list of words on your  

mirror that in your bathroom when you're  brushing your teeth for two minutes  

in the morning two minutes at night these  are tiny chunks of time but yeah you're still  

you're still doing something so there are ways  to hack life where you're always doing something  

that's pretty cool now Gavin has such an inspiring  story how he has helped English learners while  

achieving his own language learning goals now  you don't need to be a native English speaker  

to do this two of my previous guests anna from  ukraine and veronica from russia both have created  

successful English learning channels sharing their  own journeys of learning fluent English without  

living in an English-speaking country let's check  out a clip from my interview with veronica when I  

was still in middle school or in high school it  was really hard for me because I was trying to  

learn English I was like constantly doing  something and a lot of my classmates didn't  

really understand me they were like why you're  studying like you should go party and not study  

and I just really liked it they didn't understand  me and at first it really hurt me because I was  

a teenager I was like oh my god I don't  have any friends no one understands me.