Advanced English Conversation: Vocabulary, Phrasal Verb, Pronunciation

Vanessa: Hi. I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

Are you ready to hear a real English conversation? Let's get started.

Vanessa: Today, I have something super special to share

with you. I met an interesting woman whose family runs a salt business. Yes, salt. You're

going to meet Carla and hear how her family started the salt business three generations

ago. You'll also learn some differences and different types of salt and just some interesting

insight into something that every human needs, but we don't often think about. I'm sure that

you also have things that you're passionate about, so it's a good chance to listen to

our conversation and try to imitate the way that we speak.

Vanessa: Throughout this conversation, you're going

to see subtitles down here. That's going to show some vocabulary, phrasal verbs, and important

pronunciation that we're going to talk about after the conversation lesson, because after

the conversation lesson with Carla, you're going to hear a vocabulary lesson between

my husband Dan and I, where we're going to explain some important vocabulary expressions

that you heard in the conversation with Carla. I hope that you're going to be able to remember

these expressions a little bit better, because we're having a natural conversation about

those expressions. Vanessa:

Then, you'll have a grammar lesson, where we focus on some important phrasal verbs that

you heard in the conversation with Carla. And finally, at the end, we'll have a pronunciation

lesson where we'll focus on some important sentences that you heard in the conversation

and how you can accurately pronounce those yourself to try to speak as naturally as possible.

Vanessa: This is a pretty big lesson. There's a lot

going on. We've got the conversation, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. So, you can always

click on CC, which is the subtitles, so that you can catch every word that we talk about.

If you enjoy this lesson, I hope that you can join me in the Fearless Fluency Club,

where you'll get a lesson set like this every month. Today, you're only going to see a little

bit less than half of one lesson set, but each month, I send you a new lesson set, a

full one, where you can learn about new topics, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and practice

using those conversation skills yourself. Vanessa:

All right, let's go meet Carla. Hi, everyone! I'm here with Carla, and Carla has a quite

interesting family business to share with us. I've got some visual aids as well, but

I'll let you explain. What do you say you do, or what would you say your family does?

How would you describe it? Carla:

Sure. I am third generation in a sea salt family business.

Vanessa: Okay.

Carla: My grandfather, back in the '70s, was the

first to start importing sea salt from out of the country. He brought it over in suitcases,

and he didn't know how much to charge. He was like, "I don't know, I'll bag it up, and

give me $5." And that's kind of set the price for the next 30 years. We just kept it there.

Vanessa: Really?

Carla: Yeah.

Vanessa: So, he just thought, "Oh, people will buy

this." That's cool. Carla:

Yeah. Vanessa:

Was he doing that back home, or... Carla:

No. He is from Belgium, originally, or he was. He passed away. But yeah, he was best

friends with Michio Kushi, who was the person that brought macrobiotics into the United

States. Vanessa:

Oh, okay. Carla:

And Michio told him, "You need to bring sea salt into this country because there's going

to be a shortage of minerals at some point, and they're going to need this." So my grandfather

traveled all over Europe trying to find the most clean, most high mineral sea salt he

could find, which he settled into the coast of Brittany, France, and this little town

called Guérande. Vanessa:

Okay. Carla:

And they do this ancient harvesting technique that was originated by Celts.

Vanessa: Okay. So that's where this originated, the

name. Carla:

Yeah, they think that it was from the Celts that originally did it, but then studies have

shown that it dates back even further with this harvesting technique in Asia.

Vanessa: Wow.

Carla: Which they're always doing something before

the rest of us. Vanessa:

Sure. Carla:

So instead of boiling the water, boiling to evaporate it and using up all the valuable

wood that they needed for other things back then, they realize that they needed to create

these ponds using these clay beds and let the sun and the wind do the evaporation for

them. So this started a very sustainable practice that has lasted hundreds of years, and it's

still there today. Vanessa:

Wow. It's, it's incredible that they had the thought process to say, "We need to save wood.

Let's use what we've got." Nature, the sun. Carla:

Right. Vanessa:

To be able to do that, So at this point are the origins of the salt still in that area?

Carla: So we import from all over the world, and

we have found some really fascinating high-tech ways that they're still sustainably harvesting

and producing all different kinds of salts with different mineral composition.

Vanessa: So I would love to hear more about that in

detail. Carla:

Yeah. Vanessa:

I want to show them the salt that you brought. Carla:

Sure. Vanessa:

Is this available internationally? Carla:

It is. Vanessa:

Okay. So maybe they've seen this. Is it mainly in Europe or could be anywhere?

Carla: Parts of Europe. We're also in Malaysia, Australia.

We were working on China a few years ago, but they have a lot of laws around it with

it having to be iodized. They've lifted that since, but it's a huge investment to, as you

can imagine, to tackle that kind of distribution. And we're still a family-owned company. We've

never had investors. Everything has been grassroots grown.

Vanessa: Wow, that's really amazing. So if you see

this brand, the Celtic Sea Salt, I'll put links to all the websites.

Carla: Okay.

Vanessa: So you can check it out. But if you see that,

that's the company we're talking about, and this one's the fine ground, regular kind of

white, what you kind of recognize as salt. Carla:

Right. Vanessa:

But there's also other ones that you brought. Carla:

Right, so the light gray are these in these grinders, which this is the same salt, but

they just don't grind that for you for convenience. They didn't really have that available before

we kind of started demanding it from our providers, saying that the Americans really want their

shakers. They don't do the European way of grinding or pinching their salt.

Vanessa: Oh, got you.

Carla: So we're the ones that brought the fine ground

here. Yeah. Vanessa:

So that is a cultural thing. I guess it depends on what your family is used to using.

Carla: Exactly.

Vanessa: But just shaking it, especially at a restaurant,

that's really common that this is more a European-type style. Got you.

Carla: It is.

Vanessa: It probably has some steam in Asheville, though,

I imagine. Carla:

Oh, yeah. Some people, they're like, "Oh, I like to pinch it, and I like to grind it

and I like to shake it. So it's a kind of a funny little question we have at shows and

stuff. Vanessa:

How would you like to serve yourself? Carla:

Right. Vanessa:

So can you tell me a little bit about the different types of salt? And I am quite ignorant

about that except for just hearsay that I've heard. And of course, what you see, different

colors and whatnot. Carla:

Yeah, I mean, salt, I mean it can be an endless topic. There's so many different kinds, everything

from mass industrial salt that we use that you see like in the Morton shaker that has

been highly processed and things added and removed and anti-caking agents. For our table

salt, they originally started putting iodine into the salt to help with a goiter issue

a long time ago, which it did help, but the iodine actually caused a discoloration to

the salt so they had to bleach it. Vanessa:

Oh, interesting. Carla:

The bleaching caused it to be bitter, so they had to sweeten it. So they added dextrose,

which caused it to be sticky so it wouldn't shake out of the jar. So they added anti-caking

agent chemicals. Vanessa:

One thing on top of another. Carla:

So what we have kind of come to terms with is we've realized the salt is actually perfect

in its own way, and yes there is an iodine deficiency which we created a seaweed seasoning

to help with that. Vanessa:

Oh, interesting. Carla:

Because there was a demand people asking for us to put iodine in our salt. But because

of all those complications, we were like, let's leave our salt alone. Keep it in its

whole form that the body knows what to do with. And then we offered a a seaweed seasoning.

But you'll see all different colors and all those different colors come from different

mineral compositions coming from the different regions. We even have a super white, white

salt from Hawaii that is super white cause it comes from 2,000 feet under the surface

of the water at the base of a volcano. Vanessa:

Whoa. How did someone find that? Carla:

People know us in the industry as we kind of have figured out ways to launch these amazing

commodities into the U.S. market, and the U.S. market's one of the hardest ones to tap

into. Vanessa:

Really? Carla:

Yeah, when you're importing from other countries. Vanessa:

Okay. Carla:

So a lot of people write us letters and send us samples. We get dozens a month.

Vanessa: Wow, saying, "Can you please get us the part

of this?" Carla:

Yes. And that was just one that somebody came to us at a trade show and said, "You've got

to check this salt out." And it's an amazing salt. It's beautiful, and it's clean, and

it has a great source of potassium and calcium. Vanessa:

Okay. So I'm curious, when you say that it's great and it's clean, does that affect the

taste of it? Carla:

Yes. Vanessa:

Because this term of, "Oh, it's salty. It tastes like salt."

Carla: Right.

Vanessa: Is there a difference?

Carla: There is, and you'll start to notice, once

you start to taste different salts side by side, you'll start to go, "Oh, wow, I can

taste that this one's a little more bitter. This one's a little more like has a saline

taste." When you taste oysters, some people go, it's just slimy. But when you become create

a palate for it, you go, "Oh, this is more briny, or this one tastes more fresh." Or

you start to kind of compare. Same with wine or beer or cheeses, you just start to understand

different notes. A higher sodium content, you're going to have more of a bitter taste.

With higher minerals such as magnesium, potassium, and calcium, you're having a little more mild

or tastes almost like an ocean flavor. Vanessa:

Okay. Carla:

And it naturally enhances the flavor of your food as opposed to just making it salty.

Vanessa: Oh, got you. So it's really going to work

with the things that you're putting it on in a different way. I'm really curious now

after this, to taste this side by side with what I've got at home and if I have any different

types at home to see. Carla:

And the key with salt tasting is you want to start off with the highest mineral content

salt going to the highest sodium salt because once your taste buds have been triggered in

their bitter and sodium levels, you can't taste the difference of the other things.

So you got to kind of work your way up. I used to host salt parties in California. Yeah.

Vanessa: Wow! I would love to go to that.

Carla: Yeah, it was so much fun. We made cocktails

and... Vanessa:

Yeah, what do you do at a salt party? Carla:

Yeah, it's a lot of drinks. Vanessa:

Okay. You put them on the rim? Carla:

On the rim. Vanessa:

Okay. Carla:

And I did a lot of like things like edamame with salt on it or fun things where you would

need the salt on it. And then we did a salt tasting where I would show people how to kind

of taste the different notes of salt and the textures.

Vanessa: The education part of it.

Carla: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Vanessa: Because it's not just like you said, it tastes

salty, but it could actually bring out other flavor notes in the food.

Carla: Even the shape of the crystals will cause

a different kind of, where is it going to burst in your mouth? How is it going to break

down in your mouth? Like these crystals are very coarse, so some people are a little bit,

you know, they need it to be ground up because it's strong. Whereas a flake salt, which we

offer as well, kind of dissipates in your mouth and it's not as like potent.

Vanessa: Okay. And that's actually flat flakes of salts.

Carla: Yeah.

Vanessa: Okay. I feel like I've seen that in a picture

before, but I've never bought flake salt before. Do people add that when they're cooking, or

is that more for... Carla:

Garnishing. Vanessa:

A garnish to look at the nice shape? Carla:

You can, yeah. I mean, cooking is fine with it, but I mean some people spend a lot of

money on salt , so some salts you only use for garnishment or finishing the salt.

Vanessa: Okay.

Carla: This is a great cooking salt cause it's got

the coarse crystals and it dissolves nicely into liquids and heat.

Vanessa: Okay.

Carla: And it's cheaper. So you don't want to put

a handful in your pasta water of the flakes that are so expensive, right.

Vanessa: Yeah. So would the flavor of, for example,

this is fine ground, if I had this in a coarser version, would it taste different or what

would the experience be like to compare that? Carla:

It's actually really interesting because even though these are the same salts, it's just

this one ground up. This one tastes a little different. What we have found is part of what

makes the minerals higher and in the salts that we have offered is the moisture. So when

you grind it and you lose its little crystal box encapsulation that holds the brine, the

liquid, you lose a little bit of the minerals. So you have a higher sodium. So this does

have a slightly higher sodium than the crystals. So you have a little more of a bitter taste.

Vanessa: There's something that's moisture inside.

Inside the little crystal itself, it seems quite scientific.

Carla: It is. Yeah. We've worked with lots of scientists

and doctors over the years, over 600, actually, that endorse our salt that have seen the difference

firsthand with their patients. Vanessa:

Yeah. Tell me about that health benefits or the difference in health because there's a

lot of problems with too much salt nowadays. Carla:

Definitely. Yeah. Sodium is something that is 100% needed in the body, no matter what.

We lose it constantly through sweat, tears, and going to the bathroom. So we have to replenish

it in a way that the body knows how to get it back in our body in a way that can be assimilated.

The body has... it's kind of like a key where there's a potassium pump in between the cell

walls, and without that potassium key, the sodium can't go in between the cell walls

to replenish itself. So when you have a super high sodium table salt that you're using,

you're going to have swelling. You're going to have all these issues because the sodium

can't get into the cell walls where it needs to go.

Vanessa: Oh, interesting.

Carla: But if you have a salt that, even if it has

similar sodium content but also has potassium, that potassium pump can actually work, and

the sodium can go and hydrate the areas that need to go.

Vanessa: So having the other minerals with it can help

the sodium to actually be more beneficial for your body.

Carla: Right. Now there are some people with sodium

sensitivities that obviously we do have salts for those people as well.

Vanessa: Really?

Carla: Yeah, because that is a thing, too. Everybody's

different just like your body reacts differently to caffeine or to dairy, you need to listen

to your own body. Vanessa:

Yeah. Yeah. So I'm curious, what salt do you use at home?

Carla: Oh, gosh.

Vanessa: I'm sure you have a plethora.

Carla: I do. My table's covered in salt with all

these different jars, and right now because I am pregnant I am more on the higher potassium

because my potassium level was so low. Vanessa:

Oh, interesting, okay. So you're using that to help supplement your baby.

Carla: Right, right. Yeah.

Vanessa: When you use it, are you just using a little

bit, and that's enough to give you potassium? Because I know when you take a pill, there's

a big amount of something in there like a supplement.

Carla: Yeah. Right. I was still taking a pill because

I was so low, but I realized, okay, I'm going to not go with my magnesium, my high sodium

salts. I'm going to go with my potassium ones, and I'll just pinch it. And your tongue is

a great tester. If something tastes good to you, and it feels like it's satisfying, that's

usually your body's saying, "I needed this." There are some cases where it's extreme. If

you're going to eat a whole chocolate cake over there, your body probably doesn't need

all that chocolate cake. Vanessa:

You can overindulge, but when you eat something that's got just enough of the seasoning on

it, then that could be really helpful. Carla:

Yeah, and a lot of the doctors, what they saw was people have this unquenchable salty

tooth where they can't seem to get enough, but when they switch them to a high mineral

sodium sea salt ratio, their salty tooth becomes a little more quenched because their body's

finally getting the sodium where it needs to go in their body. It's really fascinating.

I wish there were more studies. Vanessa:

So maybe they were lessening the amount of salt that they were intaking, but they're

intaking the right type? Carla:

Right. Yeah. They finally felt that satisfaction. Yeah, and this is just in people's practices

where they contacted us and shared these stories, even in children, they were saying.

Vanessa: Oh, wow. I'm really curious to test that on

myself, too, and try and with different things, and I think people around the world, My students

can do that as well, especially if there's something that, like with the U.S., Morton

salt. It's just the typical salt that you're probably going to find in a lot of typical

places. Carla:

The American salt, right? Vanessa:

Yeah, I'm sure a lot of other countries have that kind of typical thing, too, but to try

something that's actually been maybe more studied and has a lot of thought gone into

it. It'd be interesting to feel that difference yourself.

Carla: Yeah, definitely.

Vanessa: So I'm curious when, because this is your

family's business, is everyone in your family involved in Celtic salt? Sea salt?

Carla: We have a huge family, so no.

Vanessa: Okay.

Carla: There's only a handful of us that are still

involved. Vanessa:

So you chose, "I'm going to do this." Carla:

Yeah. Vanessa:

Okay. Carla:

I went to culinary school, and then it just kind of seemed to be a nice fit, and yeah,

it's just been a passion that we've all kind of shared for years.

Vanessa: Nice.

Carla: My sister is a Pilates instructor in New York,

so she kind of went on her own thing, which is cool.

Vanessa: Yeah.

Carla: I stayed here and just continued the legacy.

Vanessa: And that's awesome. So when you were growing

up, I'm sure that was something that was big in your family.

Carla: Yeah.

Vanessa: Did they also have a table of salt?

Carla: Yeah, oh, our whole family is... They're all

about the salt. Vanessa:

Sure. Carla:

They send us pictures. "I'm at this grocery store. Here it is," or "I'm in this country

here. Here it is." So that's fun. Vanessa:

Oh, that's so cool. Vanessa:

How did you enjoy that conversation with Carla? Was it a little fast, a little tricky? Did

you understand everything? I hope that it made you think about something, salt, that

we don't often think about. Next is a vocabulary lesson. You're going to see my husband Dan

and I explaining some key expressions that you heard in that conversation with Carla.

After our explanations, you're going to see a clip from the original conversation with

Carla so that you can just remember the original context and use them yourself. All right,

let's get started with the vocabulary lesson. Vanessa:

The first expression that we're going to talk about today is the word "sustainable."

Dan: Ooh, "sustainable."

Vanessa: The typical way that we usually use this is

to talk about the environment, and that's how Carly used it. She was talking about how

different salt practices are sustainable for the environment or unsustainable for the environment,

but there are some other ways we can use this as well. How would you use the word "sustainable"?

Dan: Sustainable. Yeah. So I think today, primarily

I do think environmentally, and some people even just say "sustainability." Like, "We

have great sustainability in this country," or "We're very unsustainable." I think most

environmentalists say that we're unsustainable right now. But yeah, there's other ways you

can use this. You can use it in certain situations that you don't think can continue. So maybe,

for example, you're in a relationship with somebody, and you argue all the time. Somebody

might be talking with you and saying, "Yeah, I don't think your relationship is sustainable.

I don't think it can keep on going." Vanessa:

Yeah, you can't continue at that in that same way for a long time, at least while still

being happy. It's not possible. And you could even use this to talk about your English practice.

If you say, "Okay, I'm going to make an English plan for myself. I'm going to study for five

hours every day." Do you think that that's sustainable?

Dan: No.

Vanessa: No, because you have to have a life, too.

You have to eat and sleep and go to work and hopefully see some family and friends. It's

not possible to continue doing that. So you might say to yourself, "Okay, I need to create

a sustainable English practice." Dan:

Ooh. Vanessa:

"What is something that I can continue on doing into the future?" Maybe it's something

simple like, "Okay, I'm going to listen to a couple minutes of this vocabulary lesson

every day while I drive to work." Cool. Okay. I think that's pretty sustainable. You can

continue doing that without too much stress to your personal environment. So what we're

going to do for each of these vocabulary words, is we're going to also show you a clip from

the conversation with Carla so that you can see how it was originally used, which is what

we're going to do now. Let's watch the clip. Carla:

This started a very sustainable practice that has lasted hundreds of years, and it's still

there today. This started a very sustainable practice that has lasted hundreds of years.

This started a very sustainable practice that has lasted hundreds of years.

Dan: The next expression is "thought process,"

and this just means a way of thinking or thinking deeply about something. And I think we usually

say this when you want to maybe question somebody, either if they did something wrong or if they're

just doing something well and you want more details. For example, maybe somebody is like

a science student, and they solved a problem that was really difficult. You could ask them,

"What was your thought process when you went into this problem? How did you think about

it?" And so "process" means that you're going step by step how you did something. So it's

something in detail. Vanessa:

Yeah, maybe you want to imitate what they did. What was your thought process so that

I can imitate that in future experiments? Dan:

Right. But on the other hand, if somebody did something wrong, most people would probably

say, "What were you thinking?" But you could also say, "What was your thought process here?

Why did you do that?" Vanessa:

Yeah. It's just another way to say, "Huh? Why in the world did you make this terrible

decision?" But it's a little more indirect than "What were you thinking" or "What was

your thought process? Why did you think that driving the car down the street when it was

icy was a good idea? What was your thought process?" And maybe you didn't have a thought

process. Maybe you just did it. You didn't think about it, but it's maybe someone questioning

your judgment. Vanessa:

You can also use this to explain or defend yourself. So a common way to use this is to

say, "My thought process was..." So let's see, if I decide to save money, and I want

to save a lot of money. And in the end, maybe I don't really save that much. But someone

might ask you, "Why are you trying to save money?" If I say, "Oh, I can't go out to eat,

I'm doing other stuff," and I might say, "My thought process was if I save enough money,

then I can replace my car because our car is getting old or it's breaking down a lot."

So I'm just kind of explaining why I'm doing something. Why am I saving money? My thought

process was I'm doing this because I want to hopefully buy a different car in the future.

So you can use it to defend yourself. "Why are you doing this?" "Oh, my thought process

was this. Please understand." So you can use it in both ways as a question or as a defense.

All right, let's watch this so you can see how it was used.

Vanessa: It's incredible that they had the thought

process to say, "We need to save wood. Let's use what we've got." Nature, the sun. It's

incredible that they had the thought process to say, "We need to save wood. Let's use what

we've got." It's incredible that they had the thought process to say, "We need to save

wood. Let's use what we've got." Vanessa:

The next expression is "to tackle." Dan:

Ahh! Vanessa:

Yeah. Have you ever watched rugby or American football? The players will just slam into

each other and kind of like wrestling, push each other down.

Dan: It literally means to grab and throw somebody

down, but you go down with them. Vanessa:

Yeah. So you are tackling someone. This is the literal definition of "to tackle," but

is that how Carla used it? Dan:

No. So yeah, there's a figurative way that we use this that is probably more common and

it's just- Vanessa:

Yeah, we use this all the time. Dan:

Yeah. It just means to do something that's really difficult and big, maybe too big, even.

For example, if you say, "I'm going to learn 1,000 words tonight"...

Vanessa: Whoa.

Dan: ...you're probably tackling too much.

Vanessa: Yeah. If you say, "I'm going to tackle these

verbs" or I'm going to tackle some big problem," just like the American football example with

you're physically taking down a big person, that's a big task. It's not impossible, but

it's just a big task. So maybe this year, at the beginning of the year, you decided

you had a couple goals for yourself. "I'm going to tackle my fear of public speaking."

Ooh. So maybe you're going to join a public speaking organization and just practice public

speaking each month, or you're going to do something actively to try to overcome some

difficulty. "Oh, that's a lot to tackle, but you can do it."

Dan: Yeah. It's kind of used as like a confidence

boost. And some people just say, "It's a lot to tackle, but I think I can do it." Right?

So you just put it in this one catchphrase. "It's a lot to tackle."

Vanessa: Yeah. "So learning all of these verbs is a

lot to tackle, but I think I can do it." So I hope for you that all of the vocabulary

from this lesson, even though it's a lot to tackle over the whole month, you can do it.

Study little by little. Keep practicing. You can tackle it. You can do it. All right, let's

watch the clip. Carla:

They've lifted that sense, but it's a huge investment, as you can imagine, to tackle

that kind of distribution, and we're still a family owned company. We've never had investors.

Everything has been grassroots grown. But it's a huge investment, as you can imagine,

to tackle that kind of distribution. But it's a huge investment, as you can imagine to tackle

that kind of distribution. Dan:

The next expression is "on top of," and this can mean as it literally sounds, you're on

the top of something or at the greatest point. For example, "I'm on top of the world!" People

say that figurative, actually. It means that you're the best person ever if you say, "I'm

on top of the world" or- Vanessa:

You might be on top of Mount Everest, though. In this case you are literally on top of the

world. Dan:

Ooh, that's true. But you may also say to your child, "Don't stand on top of the table.

Right. Don't stand on the top of it. So this is literal, but we also use this to mean "in

addition to." So "I have a lot of homework and on top of that, I also..."

Vanessa: Have a part-time job.

Dan: Yeah. "I also have to work tonight." Right?

So this plus this. And we would say that if it's we're already kind of overwhelmed or

we already have something big, then you're going to say, "I have this on top of this

other thing." Vanessa:

Yeah. It's usually adding responsibility. So it can be used in a positive way, like,

"Oh, he's such a great guy. And on top of that, he's really handsome." You can use it

in that positive way, but I feel like it's used negatively more often. What do you think?

Dan: Yeah, I mean that sounded all right, what

you said. Vanessa:

Yeah. It's natural. But I feel like we tend to use this in a more negative way.

Dan: Certainly, if you have a lot going on, that's

usually the situation. You have a lot going on, and on top of that you have other things.

Vanessa: Yes. A lot of stuff going on. What if I said,

"I was really on top of my game last night"? Dan:

Yeah. Yeah. You're really on top of your game. That means that you're playing the best or

doing the best that you possibly can. You're on top of your game. You can also just say,

"I'm on top of it." Vanessa:

Yes. Dan:

Meaning that you're on it. You're doing it. You're doing the best you can.

Vanessa: You're staying current. So maybe if your boss

says, "How's the project going? Is it going to be done by 4:00 PM today?" You could say,

"Yep, I'm on top of it." Dan:

Yeah, and you can kind of picture like literally standing or sitting on this thing, right.

Vanessa: You are conquering it.

Dan: You are conquering it. You're on top of it.

Vanessa: Yeah. I think that's a common expression to

say, "Don't worry, I got it. I'm not falling behind. I'm not procrastinating. I'm on top

of it." And that could even be a personality trait, too, like "she is always on top of

it. She always knows what's going on and she doesn't forget little things." This is kind

of an A-type personality. She's always on top of it, and "it" means life.

Dan: Yeah, or on top of things.

Vanessa: On top of things. Yes, that could be different

things that are going on in her life. Because we talked about a couple of different ways

to use this like standing on top of... Dan:

The world. Vanessa:

...a mountain, to be on top of something or one thing on top of another, kind of building

this responsibility, I recommend checking out the lesson guide so that you can just

visually see each of those sentences. It's going to help you to remember them, but also

hopefully be able to use them yourself. That's the goal. I hope so. All right. Let's watch

the clips that you can see how I use this wonderful expression to talk about salt. Let's

watch. Carla:

The bleaching caused it to be bitter, so they had to sweeten it. So they added dextrous,

which causes it to be sticky so it wouldn't shake out of the jar. So they added anti-caking

agent chemicals. Vanessa:

One thing top of another. One thing on top of another. One thing on top of another.

Vanessa: The next expression is "to come to terms with

something." There's lot of words in this expression, but "to come to terms with something" means

you're accepting something that is maybe emotionally difficult. And I feel like we have to do this

a lot in life. In order to live somewhat satisfied, you have to come to terms with difficult things

in your life and then move on. So what is something for you that you've come to terms

with and you've lived? Dan:

Yes, I have a personal example. Vanessa:

Okay. Dan:

So some of you might have struggles with body image. I will say that it wasn't a huge struggle

for me, but in puberty I realized that I'm a really skinny guy. Right? So that used to

bother me. I kind of wanted to be bigger and stronger, but I had to come to terms with

the fact that I will never be a buff guy. I will never be very big or strong. I'm just

a skinny guy, and I've come to terms with that. I came to terms with it a long time

ago. It doesn't bother me anymore. I've embraced it, one may say. I wear skinny jeans or a

skinny shirt, and I just say, "Look at me. I'm a skinny guy and I like it."

Vanessa: So you have really come to terms with it,

but this is something that may be for you and puberty as you're kind of learning about

yourself and your body's changing, you feel- Dan:

I used to hate it. Vanessa:

Yeah, it's a difficult thing. And then you realized, "Okay, this is just who I am," especially

I think this might have been a difficult thing for you because your brother is twice-

Dan: He's huge.

Vanessa: He's like twice as big as you are. He's like

a big football player kind of guy. So it's kind of the opposite of your body type. So

maybe growing up you had to really come to terms with the fact that you're different

from your brother and just different kind of guy.

Dan: Yeah, it was mostly, probably just thinking

about with the ladies, honestly, like, will they think I'm just too scrawny? "Scrawny"

is like the really bad word for "skinny." Vanessa:

It's not a bad word as in a curse word, but it just feels really negative.

Dan: Yeah.

Vanessa: Did it work out for you with the ladies?

Dan: It worked out in the end.

Vanessa: Good. I'm curious, what is something that

for you, you have needed to come to terms with? You might have noticed that in Dan's

sentence, in his example, he said, "Come to terms with the fact that." So here he is stating

that "It's a fact. I'm a skinny guy." Dan:

I can't change it. Vanessa:

"This is something I can't change." Or you might say, "I just need to come to terms with

the fact that my native language of Japanese is completely different than English. I can't

change that, but I'm still going to try my best to learn English." So it is a fact that

Japanese and English are way different. We don't really share any grammar or any vocabulary,

but your native language is Japanese. You can't change that. So you could say, "I need

to come to terms with the fact that English is a little bit more challenging for me because

of my native language. But I'm not going to let it stop me. I'm not going to let it hold

me back. I'm going to push on." This is something that's maybe a little difficult, but you are

going to embrace it and continue on in life. Dan:

Yes. Vanessa:

All right, let's watch the clips. You can see how this wonderful expression was used.

Carla: What we have kind of come to terms with is

we've realized the salt is actually perfect in its own way. What have kind of come to

terms with is we've realized the salt is actually perfect in its own way. What we have kind

of come to terms with as we've realized the salt is actually perfect in its own way.

Dan: The next expression is "side by side." Hey,

we're sitting side by side right now. Vanessa:

We are. Dan:

Yeah. So this just means "next to each other." And so you could use this in a kind of comparative

way, like Carla said in the conversation. "So when you try the salts side by side,"

meaning right next to each other, one after another, then you'll be able to tell a difference.

So this is a little more complex way to use "side by side."

Vanessa: I feel like whenever someone asked me specifically

about a small difference in something, I often use this expression. "I need to hear them

side by side" or "I need to taste them side by side." So for example, we watch some Miyazaki

movies. This is a Japanese animator who makes some great movies for kids, but also for adults.

And there are some different English translations of those movies.

Dan: Yeah, it's a couple of versions. There's some

debate about what's better. Vanessa:

There's some debate about which one is best. So we thought, "Oh, maybe we should buy the

DVD of those movies so that we can continue to watch them instead of trying to find them

online every single time we want to watch them." And then we thought, "Which version

should we get? There's different versions in English. Which one should we get?" And

then I said, "I don't really hear a difference unless I listen to them side by side. I think

both are great. Both versions and English are great, but I can't hear the difference

unless I hear them side by side." So this means directly one after another, the same

sentence, then the same sentence. Otherwise it sounds the same.

Dan: Yeah, and you may even say, "I need a side

by side comparison," so use it as an adjective like that. But we also use the "side by side"

maybe as a camaraderie expression. So if you're together in something, right? "We walked side

by side into the difficult situation." I don't feel like it's super common anymore.

Vanessa: You might hear that, though. It kind of means

that you are together. "We are struggling with this together."

Dan: Right. "We're doing this side by side. We're

together in this." Vanessa:

Yeah. Yeah. You could use it like that, and it could also just mean as simple as what

Dan said at the very beginning, "We are sitting side by side on the couch." Okay. Yeah. It's

something very literal and... Dan:

That's a fact. Vanessa:

...very simple. All right, let's watch the clips that you can see how we used "side by

side" to talk about tasting different salts. Carla:

Once you start to taste different salts side by side, you'll start to go, "Oh, wow, I can

taste that. This one's a little more bitter." Once you start to taste different salts side

by side, you'll start to go, "Oh, wow, I can taste that. This one's a little more bitter."

Once you start to taste different salts side by side, you'll start to go, "Oh, wow, I can

taste that this one's a little more bitter." Vanessa:

The next expression is "to be all about something." Dan:

"All about." Vanessa:

Yeah, so in the conversation, Carla was saying that her family is all about salt.

Dan: Makes sense.

Vanessa: Yeah. That means that they like, very intensely,

salt. Dan:

Yes. Vanessa:

Her family's been involved in the salt business for a long time, so she can say, "We're all

about salt." Dan:

And they know all about salt. They know almost everything about it.

Vanessa: Yeah. Yeah. So they are deeply involved in

that. They like it a lot. "We're all about salt." If you like something a lot, maybe

if you like English a lot, you can say, "Yeah, I'm all about English. Every moment of every

day, that's what I think about. I'm all about English." But it could also be to talk about

a main reason for something. So how would you use this if you were going to use it to

talk about a main reason? Dan:

The main reason? Vanessa:

Yeah. Dan:

What comes to mind for me, obviously, is hockey. Vanessa:

Okay. Dan:

Because I love hockey. So "hockey is all about skating" or "being good at hockey is all about

skating. Can you skate well?" So this is the primary factor. The thing you need to know

more than anything else or the thing you need to be able to do more than anything else.

So you could say, "Yeah, being good at hockey is all about skating."

Vanessa: I would say the same thing about starting

a business. Starting a business- Dan:

It's all about skating? Vanessa:

It's not all about skating. That would be pretty fun, though. Maybe a hockey business.

But starting a business is all about dedication. If you are willing to dedicate your time and

your energy, then you're probably going to succeed.

Dan: It's all about diligence.

Vanessa: Yeah, it's a really important factor, is diligence

and dedication. So starting a business is all about dedication. Yes, you need good ideas.

You need to be probably good at what you're doing, but if you're not dedicated, it's not

going to work. Dan:

Yeah, and this is an exaggeration, so it's not literally all about this. You need to

know other things, too. But if you really want to emphasize the most important thing,

then you'll say "all about." Vanessa:

Yes, "it is all about dedication. It is all about skating." Or you could just say, "I'm

all about English," and it means that you like English a lot.

Dan: Yeah. You always... You love it. You want

to study all the time. Yeah, that's probably you, right?

Vanessa: Yeah. I hope so. All right. Let's watch the

clip so that you could see how this was used. Carla:

Our whole family is... They're all about the salt.

Vanessa: Sure.

Carla: They send us pictures. "I'm at this grocery

store. Here it is," or "I'm in this country. Here it is," so it's fun.

Vanessa: Oh, that's so cool.

Carla: Our whole family is... They're all about the

salt. Our whole family is... They're all about the salt.

Vanessa: How did you enjoy that vocabulary lesson?

I hope it was useful and enjoyable for you. Next, it's time for a grammar lesson, where

we're going to focus on some important phrasal verbs that you heard in the original conversation

with Carla. Phrasal verbs are an essential key to English sentences to help you sound

natural. So I hope that the phrasal verbs we talk about in this lesson will help you

to expand what you can say and also to understand native speakers better. All right, let's get

started. Vanessa:

The first phrasal verb that we're going to talk about is "to use up." And when we use

something, you're just making use of it. But what is "use up"? Is it putting it up high?

Dan: No. That means you have finished something.

Vanessa: Completely.

Dan: Or used something completely, and we often

use this for things in the kitchen. For example, we eat a lot of oatmeal. Therefore we have

used up the oatmeal. Or if somebody is looking for something in the kitchen, they might say,

"Where's the oatmeal? Where's the flour? Where's the milk?" And you can say, "Oh, I'm sorry

I used up all the milk." Vanessa:

Or we could split this phrasal verb and say, "I used it up" because we already know that

we're talking about milk, so we can just replace the word "milk" with "it." "Oh, sorry. I used

it up when I was making some hot chocolate last night, or when I was doing something

else." "I used it up" or "I used up the milk." It's completely gone, but we can also use

this a little bit more figuratively. Dan:

Yeah. People do use it figuratively sometimes. Maybe they say, "I've used up my energy."

If you're awake, you probably still have energy, but if you're just really tired, you could

say, "I've used up my energy." Vanessa:

Yep. I'm completely ready to rest. Dan:

Yeah. And perhaps somebody will say, "I've used up my patience."

Vanessa: Oh! Okay.

Dan: That means that you're not going to wait for

somebody anymore. Or sometimes if you have a child, they may be... Oh, our kid does this

all the time, just trying to distract you and do one more thing and just keep on doing

what he's doing and not listening. You could say, "All right, I've used up all my patience"

or "I've used up my patience." Vanessa:

Let's do this. Let's go. Dan:

"It's time to go to bed now." Vanessa:

Yeah, you might use this. If you're a teacher, you might say, "Ugh, today was such a hard

day. I used up all my patience, and I'm ready to go home." So you can use up something that's

a little bit more figurative, like patience, energy, or you can also use up money, like

if you are saving to buy maybe a new car. And then you buy the car, you can say, "I

used up all my savings to buy the car." So your savings is completely gone. Your savings

account is at zero, or figuratively, maybe close to zero, and you've used up that money.

Carla: Instead of boiling the water, boiling to evaporate

it, using up all the valuable wood that they needed for other things back then, they realized

that they needed to create these ponds using these clay beds. And using up all the valuable

wood that they needed for other things back then and using up all the valuable wood that

they needed for other things back then. Vanessa:

The next phrasal verb is "to come from," and here we're talking about originating at some

destination, but I want to let you know that we do not use this to talk about your country.

If someone says, "Oh, where are you from?" If you said, "I come from Brazil," it feels

really weird. It's kind of like you're a package that's being mailed from Brazil.

Dan: Yeah, it sounds too impersonal or like a real

origin, like "I was born in Brazil," right? "Brazil made me."

Vanessa: Yeah.

Dan: It's kind of got a weird feel to it.

Vanessa: You might hear this in really, really formal

situations, but I just want to let you know upfront that we don't talk about this specifically

for your home country, but there's a lot of other ways that we can talk about "come from"

for people or for items. So what do you think is a main way that we use "to come from"?

Dan: So I think somebody might use this in a question

a lot if they don't know where something came from. So if there's something in your house

that you don't know where it's from, you might ask, "Where did this come from?"

Vanessa: Yeah.

Dan: And then Vanessa might say, "Oh, it came from

Target," for example. Vanessa:

It came from Amazon. Dan:

Yeah, it came from Amazon. Vanessa:

The most likely situation. Dan:

Yes. Vanessa:

So if you are a walking in someone's house that you haven't been in before, and they

have a really cool statue, a really cool painting, you could say, "Oh, that's really cool. Where

did that come from?" And you can use it in that questioning situation, "Where did it

come from?" But we can also use this for maybe for defending yourself as well. Like, "I don't

know where it came from." This is kind of the classic teenage situation that if your

mom goes into your bedroom and she smells weed, for example, which is marijuana. So

if she smells that and she's like, "What is that smell?" You're like, "Oh, mom, I don't

know where that smell came from." You're kind of defending yourself. "It wasn't me!"

Dan: Sure!

Vanessa: So you might say, "I don't know where it came

from," and this is a vague sense. We're not talking specifically about the destination.

Dan: Or you might say, "Where'd that come from?"

Vanessa: "Oh, where'd that come from? My friend must

have put that in my bag. I didn't even know. Where did that come from?" So we often use

it in those kind of vague situations. "Where did that come from? I don't know where it

came from." Dan:

And actually, people use that question if they're really surprised about something somebody

said, if you say something really rude or mean, you might ask, "Where'd that come from?"

Vanessa: Oh, so this is kind of the figurative sense

of using it. Dan:

Yeah, a little more figurative. Vanessa:

If someone is pretty positive, and you're having a good conversation, then all of a

sudden they say, "Oh, it's so terrible, blah, blah, blah." And they feel really frustrated,

right, instantly, you might say, "Whoa, where did that frustration come from?" So it's like,

where did your frustration originate from? Because all of a sudden, you just kind of

felt frustrated. It seemed kind of weird that that just happened.

Dan: But you would always ask, "Where did that

come from?" Vanessa:

Yeah. "Whoa. Where'd that come from?" That means that statement or that feeling that

you're expressing. But there is another figurative way that we can use this that is often used,

quite interesting. Dan:

Yes, "You need to see where I'm coming from." Vanessa:

Oh, yes. Dan:

Or "Can't you see where I'm coming from?" Vanessa:

What does this mean? "Can't you see where I'm coming from?" Does it mean my home? I'm

coming from my home? Dan:

No. It means your point of view, from your perspective or your opinion. So if you say

this to somebody, you're basically telling them that they're only thinking about themselves,

only thinking about their feelings. So if you say, "You need to see where I'm coming

from," that kind of reminds them that you have an opinion or a feeling in this situation.

Vanessa: I know I've used that in discussions or arguments

with Dan before. Dan:

Oh, yes. Vanessa:

Where I've said, "Oh, can't you see where I'm coming from?" Just to put in perspective

that- Dan:

It's probably a common female refrain. Vanessa:

Maybe just "Please see it from my perspective." And it's not necessarily rude. It's just saying,

"Okay, please look at it from my perspective. Can't you see where I'm coming from?" Or "Don't

you see where I'm coming from?" You're asking them to say, "Okay, I understand why you have

that point of view. Maybe I don't agree with it, but I understand." So this could be if,

for example, maybe if you don't agree with something that your parents say and you feel

like, "Oh, their generation is so different," you might think to yourself, "I understand

where they're coming from. I understand their point of view because of the way they grew

up, because of their parents, because the world was very different back then. So I understand

where they're coming from. I understand their point of view. That's kind of the origin of

their thoughts." This is a lovely phrasal verb with many different meanings.

Carla: But you'll see all different colors, and all

those different colors come from different mineral compositions coming from the different

regions. And all those different colors come from different mineral compositions coming

from the different regions. And all those different colors come from different mineral

compositions coming from the different regions. Vanessa:

The next phrasal verb is "to start off" or "to start off with something," and you can

imagine the verb "to start" is the beginning. But when we use "to start off with," we usually

are talking about the beginning of some kind of series of events. So multiple things are

happening afterwards. For example, if I said, "Oh, man, I really, I want to make bread,

but I don't know how to make bread." If Dan is a bread expert, he might say, "To start

off with, you need to have a good recipe." Dan:

Toss the flour into the air. Vanessa:

Oh, wow. You're really an expert. Dan:

That's from the magic of practice. Vanessa:

Throw flour in the air, and it just comes down like a loaf of bread. Amazing. So we're

saying, "to start off with, you need to do this." We're using that phrasal verb kind

of as an introduction to the series. "To start off with, you need to do this and here's kind

of the things that you need to do." Dan:

Yeah, I think you use this usually when you're introducing something or if you're giving

instructions. So if you're giving instructions, you might tell the other person, "We need

to start off with this" or if you're- Vanessa:

You need to start off with a good recipe, then get the ingredients, then have a lot

of time. Dan:

Right. Or if you are maybe making a presentation, you might say, "We're going to start off today

with a little bit of a story," for example. Vanessa:

Yeah, so you could use it to begin something that's going to have several other events

or activities that happen afterwards. So in Dan's sentence, he said, "I'm starting the

meeting by saying, 'Oh, we're going to start off today with something.'" I want to let

you know that you're also going to hear the word "by." "We're going to start off today

by telling a joke. We're going to start off today with telling a joke." You could use

either. You're going to hear both of those, but the main part, "start off with" or "start

off," it's going to be the same for all of these.

Carla: And the key with salt tasting is you want

to start off with the highest mineral content salt going to the highest sodium salt. You

want to start off with the highest mineral content salt. You want to start off with the

highest mineral content salt. Vanessa:

Were any of those phrasal verbs new to you? I hope that our explanations help you to remember

them and learn how to use them in real conversations. Next, it's time for a pronunciation lesson.

We're going to take an in depth look at a couple sentences that you heard in the original

conversation. I'm going to break those down step by step so that you can imitate our pronunciation.

So what I want you to do is I want you to try to repeat with me, speak out loud, use

your pronunciation muscles. It's great to hear me, but it's even better if you speak

out loud yourself. So I challenge you to be active, and let's get started.

Vanessa: Hi. Welcome to this month's pronunciation

lesson. Today we're going to be focusing on five sentences that you heard in the conversation

with Carla. And each of those sentences features a vocabulary expression or a phrasal verb

that we talked about in the previous lessons, so I hope that this will help you to remember

those words and pronounce them correctly. What we're going to do is we're going to take

a look at the clip, and then I'm going to help you break down the sentence so that you

can say it exactly the way that we did, and then we're going to watch it again. I hope

that your understanding will improve, but also your pronunciation skills. All right,

let's start with the first sentence. Carla:

So this started a very sustainable practice that has lasted hundreds of years, and it's

still there today. This started a very sustainable practice that has lasted hundreds of years.

This started a very sustainable practice that has lasted hundreds of years.

Vanessa: In this sentence, you heard Carla say, "This

started a very sustainable practice that has lasted hundreds of years." She's talking about

the method of creating salt. Instead of burning wood, they're using the sun to evaporate the

water, and this is a sustainable process. The sun is always going to be hot, so it's

easy to evaporate with the sun, and it's sustainable for the earth as well. So let's break down

this sentence starting at the beginning. Vanessa:

In the beginning of the sentence, she says, "This started." "Started." This e-d word "started"

ends in an "id" sound. "Started." What's another sound that you hear? The word "start" ends

in a T, but this T is changing to a D. This is super typical in American English that

T's changed to D sounds. So I want you to say this with me. "This started." It kind

of sounds like "star" plus "did." "Started." "This started." "This started." I want you

to be as active as possible during this lesson. So whenever I'm saying something, and I'm

repeating something a couple of times, I hope that you can say it out loud, too. It's great

to listen to my voice, but it's even better if you can say it out loud yourself.

Vanessa: All right, let's go to the next part of the

sentence. "A very sustainable practice. A very sustainable practice." Let's break down

that big word here. Sustain-able. That final part sounds like "uh." "Sustainable." There's

two "uh" sounds here at the beginning. Sus-tain-a-ble. So I want you to say that part with me. "A

very sustainable practice. A very sustainable practice."

Vanessa: In the next two words, she says, "That has.

That has." First, let's listen for the vowel sound. "Th-a-a." It's a short E. Even though

the word "that" has an A, "that" often in fast English, it becomes "theh," "eh," "eh."

"That has. That has. That has." But what's happening to the final T in that word? "That."

Do you hear it all? "That has." This is called a stopped T. So instead of making that T sound

with a puff of air, your tongue is going to stop at the top of your mouth. "That has."

That has." You're making a T sound. You're just not letting that puff of air escape.

"That has." "That has." And then she says, "lasted hundreds of years." "Lasted."

Vanessa: Ooh, does that sound familiar? It's similar

to "started." "We have lasted." So just think l-a-s, "las," plus "did", d-i-d. "Lasted."

"Lasted hundreds of years. Lasted hundreds of years." So both past tense verbs, "started,"

"lasted," have the same type of pronunciation. The T is changing to a D, and that final e-d

ending is going to sound like "id." "Started." "Lasted." Do you think we can put this all

together? Let's go back and take a look at this full sentence? Try to remember all those

things we talked about and we're going to see which words are emphasized so that you

can have the right cadence and rhythm in this sentence.

Vanessa: "This started a very sustainable practice

that has lasted hundreds of years." She's emphasizing "started." "This started a very

sustainable practice," emphasizing both of those words, "that has lasted hundreds of

years." She also emphasizes the word "hundreds" because that's the unimportant part of the

sentence. How many years? Hundreds of years. Let's go back and try to say this sentence

by emphasizing those important words. "This started a very sustainable practice that has

lasted hundreds of years." You want to say it with me? "This started a very sustainable

practice that has lasted hundreds of years." All right. It's your turn. I'm going to pause.

No matter where you live around the world, I'll be listening, so make sure that you say

this out loud with all of the correct pronunciation that we talked about. If you need a reminder,

you could always check out the lesson guide. Each month I send a monthly lesson guide.

This is like a mini textbook, and you can see all of the words that we've talked about

and see how they're pronounced, and that will kind of give you a a good reminder as you're

practicing this lesson. All right, it's your turn. Say the sentence all by yourself.

Vanessa: (silence)

Vanessa: Great work. Let's listen to how Carla said

it in the original conversation. Carla:

This started a very sustainable practice that has lasted hundreds of years. This started

a very sustainable practice that has lasted hundreds of years. This started a very sustainable

practice that has lasted hundreds of years. Vanessa:

Did you hear those e-d words, "started," "lasted"? I hope so. Let's go on to the second sentence

where you're going to hear the phrasal verb "to come from." Let's listen.

Carla: But you'll see all different colors, and all

those different colors come from different mineral compositions coming from the different

regions. We even have a super white, white salt from Hawaii. All those different colors

come from different mineral compositions coming from the different regions and all those different

colors come from different mineral compositions coming from the different regions.

Vanessa: In this sentence, Carla said, "All those different

colors come from different mineral compositions coming from different regions." Do you hear

a word that she repeats three times? She says "come from" twice, but she also says "different"

three times. So today this is your chance to master pronouncing this word. Let's go

back to the beginning and try to say this a little bit by a little bit together. "All

those different colors." This is the first time that we've encountered the word "different"

in the sentence. So let's say it slowly and together. Dif-rent. "Diff" with a clear F

sound. Your top teeth are on your bottom lip. "Diff." And then we have "rent, rent." It

kind of sounds like r-i-n, but we need to have a stopped T at the end. Diff-rent. That

means that your tongue is stopped at the top of your mouth. You're going to say "different,"

but you don't let that little final puff of air come out.

Vanessa: So we need to say "diff-rent." Your tongue

is stopped at the top of your mouth. "Different, different." "All those different colors."

Can you say that with me? "All those different colors. All those different colors. All of

those different colors come from diff-rent mineral compositions." Let's say that word

again. "Come from diff-rent mineral compositions. Come from diff-rent mineral compositions.

Coming from diff-rent regions." This word hasn't changed at all. All three times that

we say it, it's going to be the same pronunciation. Helpful. Great. So let's say that final part

again. "Coming from diff-rent regions. Coming from diff-rent regions." Great work. Let's

go back and say this full sentence together and try to emphasize the important words.

Vanessa: A good thing to remember is that the word

directly after "different" is going to be emphasized in this whole sentence. So we can

say, "All those different colors come from different mineral compositions coming from

different regions." So we have "colors," "mineral compositions" and "regions." Let's try to

say it together. "All those different colors come from different mineral compositions coming

from different regions." Let's speed it up. "All those different colors come from different

compositions coming from different regions." This is a great way to practice the word "different"

a lot and also the word "come from." I think this phrasal verb is repeated enough that

hopefully you'll remember it after this lesson. All right, I'm going to pause and I want you

to say this all together. Make sure that you say "diff-rent" and also that you emphasize

those correct words. Go ahead. Vanessa:

(silence) Vanessa:

Great work. Let's listen to her repeat the word "different" a lot.

Carla: All those different colors come from different

mineral compositions coming from the different regions. And all those different colors come

from different mineral compositions coming from the different regions. And all those

different colors come from different mineral compositions coming from the different regions.

Vanessa: Did you hear "different, different, different"?

I hope so. Let's go on to the third sentence where you're going to hear the expression

to be all about." Let's listen. Carla:

Our whole family is... They're all about the salt.

Vanessa: Sure.

Carla: They send us pictures. "I'm at this grocery

store. Here it is," or "I'm in this country here," so it's fun.

Vanessa: Oh, that's so cool.

Carla: Our whole family is... They're all about the

salt. Our whole family is... They're all about the salt.

Vanessa: This is actually two sentences, and I just

decided to add them together. She said, "Our whole family is... they're all about the salt."

Let's break this down. It's seems like a short sentence, but there's a lot going on. At the

beginning of this sentence. She says, "Our whole family is... Our whole family is...

Our." How is she pronouncing o-u-r? "Our. Our." Does that sound like the letter R? Yep.

It is the same pronunciation. When we say "our, our" with this slower, clearer pronunciation,

"Our whole family is... Our," it's going to be for more... slower conversations, a little

bit more intentional, but in fast conversations we just say "our." "Our whole family is..."

"Our. Our." So I want you to say that with me. "Our whole family is... Our whole family

is..." And that final word, i-s, "is" going to have a Z sound at the end. So try to say

that with me. "Our whole family is... Our whole family is... Our whole family is...

Our whole family is... Our whole family is..." Vanessa:

Let's go on to the next part. "They're all about the salt. They're all about the salt."

Let's start with the first word, "They're. They're." This is a contraction of "they"

plus "are," but she doesn't say "they're. They're." This is the clear pronunciation

for this contraction. In fast conversations, native speakers are just going to say "they're.

They're." It kind of sounds like, "Look over there. He's over there." T-h-e-r-e. So you

can kind of imagine that the Y is just gone. You can say, "They're. They're. They're all

about the salt. They're. They're." Vanessa:

And the next part she uses the key expression here, "all about the salt." Listen for the

final T on those two words that end in T. "They're all about the salt. They're all about

the salt." Do you hear the T? "They're all about the salt. No. Instead, this is going

to be that stopped T sound, so I want your tongue on the roof of your mouth, stopping

at the end of that word. "They're all about the salt. Salt, salt." If you just say "Sal,"

it's a different sound than "salt" with a stopped T. If you just say s-o-l compared

to s-o-l, "Sol, Sol" with a stopped T, or it's pronounced or it's spelled s-a-l-t, but

the pronunciation is kind of like an O. That's why I said that, but you can say "Sol" with

a stopped T, and it's going to sound much more natural.

Vanessa: Do you think we can put that final sentence

together? "They're all about the salt." Say it with me. "They're all about the salt. They're

all about the salt." Okay, let's go back and try to say all of this together, including

the first part. Let's say it and emphasize the right words. "Our whole family is... They're

all about the salt. Our whole family is... They're all about the salt." Can you guess

what we're emphasizing here? "Our whole family is... They're all about the salt." So we have

"whole family." "all" and "salt." Let's say this all together. Remember all of the reductions

that we talked about and also these emphasized words. Say it with me. "Our whole family is...

They're all about the salt. Our whole family is... They're all about the salt. Our whole

family is... They're all about the salt. Now it's your turn. Say it all by yourself. Go

ahead. Vanessa:

(silence) Vanessa:

Great work. All right, let's listen to this sentence, and I want you to listen for all

of those things that we talked about, those reductions, the stopped T's. Let's listen.

Carla: Our whole family is... They're all about the

salt. Our whole family is... They're all about the salt. Our whole family is. They're all

about the salt." Vanessa:

Are your pronunciation muscles warmed up? I hope so. Along with the conversation, vocabulary,

grammar, and pronunciation lessons, you'll also get access to the MP3 versions of all

of these lessons so that you can download them, listen to them while you're driving,

while you're running, while you're cooking breakfast, and also the full transcript so

that you can follow along and try to catch every single word. There's one more element

to the Fearless Fluency Club that you get every month and that is The Story. Let's take

a look at it. Vanessa:

The Story is a fun one-page combination of everything you studied this month, vocabulary,

grammar, pronunciation, the topic, everything is combined in The Story. You can listen to

it, repeat it, and even memorize it. I also host weekly live lessons in our private Facebook

group so that you can ask me questions and practice what you've been learning each week.

A lot of members also choose to speak together each week or even daily, sometimes on Skype,

Google Hangouts, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger. This is a great way to make friends around

the world and also to use English actively. If you'd like to join me and other members

around the world in the Fearless Fluency Club, you can check out the link up here or in the

description. Vanessa:

And now I have a question for you because we talked about salt today, and this is added

to your food, I want to know what kind of food do you like to eat? Let me know in the

comments. I hope, if you're reading the comments, you're not too hungry because I'm sure there

will be amazing dishes that you mentioned. Thanks so much for learning English with me,

and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.

Vanessa: The next step is to download my free e-book,

Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English Speaker. You'll learn what you need to do

to speak confidently and fluently. Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more

free lessons. Thanks so much. Bye.