How to Have a Conversation in English | Interview with Emma from mmmEnglish

Good day Sheilas and Blokes! You might be  familiar with today's guests, so I had a  

marvelous interview with Emma from mmmEnglish .And  today's lesson is an excerpt from that interview  

that I think could help you a lot on your English  learning journey. And after you finish it be sure  

to check out the full interview with Emma for  free by clicking the link down in the description.  

Emma, a warm welcome to Beyond Borders! - Hey! It's awesome to be here thanks for inviting me.

And for you newcomers this real lifer bellow from  Argentina says that our lessons have helped them  

to overcome their fear of speaking. We are excited  to join you on your English learning journey too  

and help you every week to  understand fast native speech,  

to be understood by anyone, and to even  connect to the world. But we can only do  

that if you hit the subscribe button and the  bell down below. Now let's begin the lesson.

Using english as the tool that connects us  

it is about understanding the world, understanding  different perspectives, understanding and learning  

truths about different cultures and  different people. I think we we have been  

you know, for a long time fed information from  certain, you know, generic sources like the news or  

you know, through politics and that kind of thing  and we come to our own conclusions often  

ingrained in us since we were very young about  different people, different cultures, different  

ways of life and I think that the more that we  genuinely and deeply connect with each other  

and obviously language is a powerful, the power  most powerful way of doing that, we get to

re-imagine or re-experience the world on our own  terms and, you know, often that's quite eye-opening.  

Yeah, definitely it's a big goal that we have  as well is that through connecting people from  

different places you're able to come to your  own conclusions about what's true and what's  

in some sense a stereotype or what is  something that you've been lied to about,  

or maybe lie is kind of a strong word but at the  very least that maybe you've been misinformed  

about. So, I think that can be so powerful  when you're using your English as a vehicle as  

you've said to start connecting with other people  and discovering kind of the truth about different  

parts of the world and using that to inform your  own ideas about the world and your world view.  

I was curious what does real world English fluency  mean for you? - It's really like, the question now is  

what is real world English? Because 75% of the  world who speaks English are non-native speakers.  

And so when we talk about real world English  we aren't just talking about standard American,  

standard British, Australian English at all,  we're talking about this incredible diverse mix  

of people and experience and accent and  cultures you know, it really starts to filter  

into something that's so much bigger than just  a language for me. And so real world English is  

continually expanding I think, and becoming more  open, more accepting and more perhaps curious  

about the other types of English speakers in the  world, and I think that's a really exciting thing  

for English learners. - That is exciting, I think especially because so many learners  

when they think about using their English they  tend to think about, "I'm going to speak to an  

American or I'm going to speak to a person from  the UK or from Australia" or whatever the case is.  

But nowadays, obviously depending where you work,  but if you're working in any international company  

it's much more likely that you're going to be  using your English with someone from Germany or  

from Japan or from Thailand or wherever that  isn't going to actually be a native speaker,  

and it might actually become more the minority of  speaking your English it's going to be with those  

native speakers, so that's very exciting I like  that you say it that way, but it's almost...  

you need to be training yourself as well to not  just be able to understand one type of English or  

not just saying English as American or British,  but being able to see it as a global language  

in some sense and needing to prepare yourself,  right, for that reality of the language.

- Yeah! Absolutely, I couldn't agree  with you more. Even the idea of just  

obsessing over or focusing on a particular  accent locks you in, you know, to a certain  

way of life, a certain experience, a certain limited  or finite set of opportunities where by exposing  

yourself to a much richer or diverse range of  accents and English speakers your opportunity to  

interact, engage with, connect with people, you know,  all around the world is so much greater than

by restricting yourself to just one, or prioritizing one. - Yeah, I imagine in some sense at some point  

it's going to be, it's going to become more  that we native speakers like in order to  

participate on a global scale, we're going to  have to be like developing these skills even  

more so than the people coming from non-native  speaking countries that have, you know, along the  

way of learning the language have had to also deal  with these cross-cultural sort of challenges.  

- Absolutely. - That's really important is that we're able to bring that back to the native population.

Now remember that this is just  a small taste of the full interview with Emma  .

you can listen to it absolutely free anywhere that  you enjoy podcasts. However, what I would recommend  

is that you download our RealLife App and listen  to it there. It is the only place where you can  

listen to all of our podcasts with the full  transcripts so you don't miss anything. Plus  ,

you get definitions for all the most important  vocabulary. That's not all! On the RealLife App at  

the touch of a button, you can connect to another  learner in a different part of the world for a  

fun and dynamic conversation. And this is all 100% free! So, improve your real world listening  

and speaking now by downloading the App! Just  search for Real Life English in the Apple App or  

Google Play Store, or simply click the link up here  or down in the description below. See you there!

When you're speaking with another non-native  English speaker you still have that opportunity to  

ask that question and if neither of  you know you have the opportunity to  

find out together and you get to create  an experience around learning that thing, 

you don't get given the thing you have to find  it yourself and in terms of retention, in terms of  

you know, really helping that  piece of information to stay with you  

by creating that experience around the learning  really helps with that, helps to facilitate that.  

- Yeah, I think also beyond just the retention thing  it helps you to build the, to get the resources you  

need and to kind of build that mentality that  when there's a challenge that you overcome it  

in a sense, so you're building because any, we're  talking about real world English, so if you're  

using your English in the real world maybe  you're in a situation where there's not even  

a teacher around, you're having a business meeting,  or you're having a, you're helping out a tourist  

on the street or whatever the case is where, you  know, you're not going to know some word and so  

you need to figure out, you need to be able to  kind of like put the pieces together in a sense  

to figure out how can I still communicate my  message and I think that's really what fluency  

is, in some sense, is when you're able to kind of  have those resources of I've, I don't know the  

exact word but I can explain it another way  or I can figure out some way to communicate  

this to you, so that the message is not lost. - Yeah it's about empowering our students or

empowering yourself to be able to solve those  problems, you know, when you need to, because by only  

relying on having a teacher there to answer your  problem or answer your questions. Obviously that  

isn't a real experience, unless that person  happens to be, you know, there are a few of us who  

have a partner who might speak the language that  we're trying to learn and in that case maybe that  

person is often with you, but for the majority  you know, we have to find ways of overcoming this  

and solving that problem ourselves. And I think  that the experience of engaging in a language  

is made so much richer when you step outside of  the classroom or the teacher-student environment.  

The part that's missing in a standard  teacher classroom experience is that  

longevity that motivation to keep continually  showing up and, you know, it's hard to do that in  

a really traditional environment, but if you start  pulling the experiences the topics the interests  

that you have towards your learning experience it  becomes, and of course then you start connecting  

with others who are equally as passionate or  interested in that thing as you, then it becomes  

so much easier to continually show up to then make  progress and to be inspired by and supported by  

people around you who are doing similar things and  I think that, you know, that is one of the the hacks  

I think of the 21st century with language  learning it's about getting the heck out of a  

classroom and around pulling the things that you  need to make your experience richer towards you.  

Right, yeah, that's such a great insight I think  it's really a paradigm shift too because  

so many learners when they think about the  using the language they're thinking about I  

need to find a practice partner or I need  to find a native that I can speak with or  

even like I need to get a teacher and instead if  you're shifting with what you're saying which  

I totally agree with is you're shifting your focus  instead to connecting with other people who have  

the same interest and actually living  your interests living your passions  

with English as the vehicle to do that, and  I think that when you're able to do that  

then you know you're kind of transcending  English as a language, and you're using it  

really as a tool to connect to the world  and to live the life that you really want to live.  

The worst thing that could happen, you could say  something completely wrong and mess it up and  

you can look at that and be completely mortified  at that situation, but you can also look at that  

and think that in that moment in the heat of  the moment when you are sweating, when you know  

you're shaking, you're really nervous, that  is the moment where you're pinning an  

experience to your, like it's it's hardwiring  into your brain, you make that mistake there  

it's unlikely that you will ever make it again,  because you'll have this reference point from that  

moment on, okay don't do that you know, or you know  at least you have the opportunity if you make that  

mistake to think about it and know how to get  out of, get out of it next time or what to do in  

that situation because you've had that experience.  And you know, that is what learning is all about  ,

it's about building that experience slowly  over time if you don't step out there into that  

space you don't get to have that experience, you  can't you know, you can't watch and observe that  

and then know exactly what to do in that situation  when you find yourself in it so, you know, to some  

extent I'm always telling my students, if you  feel that fear, that is the moment to step forward  

into that fear rather than stepping back, and that can be really hard to do at times.  

It's super hard to do, but doing, so knowing  that decision is taking you one step  

closer to where you need to go no matter  what happens whether it's complete flop,  

or nine times out of ten it actually  turns out better than you're expecting

you know, then you've taken one step  and there are many more to go, but you've  

taken one and you're on your way. - Exactly, and that total like reframing of it too if  

you get in a conversation and someone laughs or  they don't understand you, you can look at that  

as like, you know, I'm just gonna close up here and  not say anything else or you can say like, why was  

that funny or you know, or tried to take if they  didn't understand take that as an opportunity to  

re-explain and and that's what I tend to do  is try to understand, okay why was that funny and  

then I can avoid that next time, and a lot of  times when that happens to us I end up laughing  

at myself it's like, oh yeah that is really funny. - That's a hugely important part of  

learning a language and learning to interact  with someone else who is different or has had a  

different experience in the world, it's not just  stereotypes and understanding that our  

perspective is just one perspective on a certain  situation, but it's also like more practically it's  

about learning the tools or having the resources  to deal with that in your second language, and  

for all of our English learners that's a huge  challenge not only is it awkward and uncomfortable  

for you and I to deal with disagreements or  a different opinion in our own language native  

language, but then to be trying to navigate that in a second or third language sometimes it's  

not even the fact that there's a disagreement  or that there is it's just that it's unclear  

or the other person is you know, feeling a little  uncomfortable about something because they don't  

understand or they don't have the tools that they  need in the language to help get themselves out of  

that situation comfortably you know, approaching  a conversation with curiosity rather than  

questioning and... But it's always going to be a  challenge because there's you know long-standing  

conflict there's you know, racism, there's all  sorts of of you know, darker aspects of what it is  

to connect as people on our planet and to be  different and to experience the world differently  ,

So it's really about giving those functional  expressions to use in that situation.  

- Yeah, that's really cool. I really admire what  you are doing there because you said you're not  

sweeping those kind of things under the rug, but  you're actually saying how can we turn this into a  

productive conversation and maybe you won't always  see eye to eye, right, but at least that you can  

like what you said about being curious  before you're being judgmental, and I think  

really in order to be a global citizen in a sense  to be able to speak real world English it's not  

just developing the language skills but in so much  it's also just developing the skills to be a good  

listener and to ask questions and to put yourself  in that other person's shoes before judging them,  

and not letting your emotions kind of take hold  of you and even just questioning your own place in  

the world and you know, how much veracity there is  in the beliefs that you have so that's  

really fascinating that you've been able to find  different tools to do this in in your community.  

- Yeah, I mean I think that's a lesson for anyone  not just anyone learning English but you know, any  

human on the planet, so you know, but hopefully  the opportunity of lots of diversity in  

English speakers will help to you know, bring some  of that out even in the native English speaking population as well.  

So remember that you can  continue getting inspired with Emma by listening  

to the full interview that's linked down below, and  while you're at it you might want to check out the  

RealLife App so that you can listen with the  full transcript for free and speak English with  

other learners at the touch of a button. You'll  also find that linked in the description below.  

And now it's time to go beyond the classroom and  live your English. Aww yeah!

differential i couldn't see that as hey you  know what i'm different that's actually better