5 Secrets to Understanding FAST English

Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa  

from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. Huh?  What did you say? Let's talk about it. 

Have you ever been watching your favorite movie  or TV show and decided to turn it to English and  

then, "Oh my goodness, it's so fast. How in the  world are they talking so fast? I can't understand  

this." Well, don't worry. You are not alone. Many  English learners have had that same sensation  

of, "Oh, it's so fast. I will never understand  this." Well, I have some good news. In today's  

lesson, you are going to learn five  secrets to understanding fast English,  

improving your listening skills, and  understanding movies and TV shows. 

To help you master today's lesson, I have  created a free PDF worksheet just for you,  

my beloved students, so that you can download  this worksheet, study these five secrets, check  

out all of the tips and ideas that are mentioned  in today's lesson. And at the end of the PDF,  

make sure to answer Vanessa's Challenge Question,  so that you can use what you have learned in this  

lesson. Don't forget to click on the link below  this video to download the free PDF worksheet. 

Let's get started with the first  secret. Problem number one,  

don't watch a movie or TV show that you are  unfamiliar with, or you only understand 10%.  

That's so frustrating. Instead, apply secret  number one. Watch a movie or a TV show that you  

already know in your native language. You are  already familiar with the story, the characters,  

possibly even some of the words. If you  need to use English subtitles, go ahead.  

But this is a great way to let go of fear, to  let go of the frustration, "I can't understand.  

I only understand every couple words and  it's just too much." No, watch something  

that you already know in your native language. Have you seen Disney's Frozen in your native  

language? Great, watch it in English. Have  you seen Forrest Gump in your native language?  

Excellent, watch it in English. This is a great  way to feel more confident and to improve your  

listening skills to understand fast English. Problem number two, don't study how individual  

words are pronounced. Instead, follow secret  number two, which will help you to overcome  

this problem and that is study some common  linking expressions in English. For example,  

if you ask me, "Vanessa, where are you going?"  And I say, "I'm 'onna go to the mountains."  

Okay, maybe you understood a couple parts of this,  but do you really understand the linking that is  

happening so that when other people say this,  who are not your English teacher, you can get it? 

Let's break down this sentence, "I'm 'onna  to go to the mountains." I'm onna...Well,  

I'm really saying I am going to. First, I'm  using a contraction. I am becomes I'm. And then,  

I'm pushing together, or linking together  'going to' which often becomes gonna. "I'm gonna  

take a nap. I'm gonna study English." But we  can reduce it even further and cut off the G,  

and say, "I'm 'onna," which is what I said  earlier. I'm onna, I'm onna. If you're  

listening for, "I am going to," you will not  get this. But if you understand some common  

linking principles in English, contractions,  "Going to" becomes "Gonna," or becomes,  

"'Onna," your ears will be more aware of it. Let's go to the last part of that sentence.  

"I'm 'onna go to the mountains, go  duh the mountains. Go duh. The word to  

becomes duh. This is very common after the  verb go. "Go duh the mountains. I'm gonna go  

duh school tomorrow." Go duh school. "I got duh  go to duh office." Go duh the office. Excellent. 

What's happening with that last word, mountains?  Mountains. Well, often, if there is a T plus  

N sound at the end of a word, we drop  the T and kind of swallow that sound.  

Listen to these other words that  are very similar. Button becomes  

but-n. But-n. Threaten becomes threat-n.  Threat-n. And Mountain becomes mount-n. Mount-n. 

Now you can say this word clearly and say, I'm  onna go to the mountains, mountains. It's okay.  

But you're going to hear people say, you're gonna,  I just used that reduction, you're going to hear  

people say mountains, and you need to be able to  understand it. We are all focusing on improving  

your listening skills for comprehension so that  you can understand how people are speaking in  

daily conversations. So with this one very  simple sentence, you learn some key phrases. 

I'm 'onna go duh the mountains Can you say that with me? Let's  

have a little pronunciation practice.  Also when you improve your pronunciation,  

you're also improving your listening, so they  are linked together. Let's say it together. 

I'm gonna go to the mountains. I'm gonna to  the mountains. I'm gonna go to the mountains.  

I'm gonna to go to the mountains. Lovely. Problem number three is don't get discouraged.  

A lot of English learners try to watch something  in fast English, or they have a business meeting  

where people are speaking so comfortably  in English. And they're just sitting there,  

fearful. "Please don't ask me a question,  please don't call on me to speak",  

because they can't understand the conversation  that's happening. And this can be really  

discouraging. You feel like you'll never be able  to actually understand what people are saying.  

So we need to just take it slow. I know we're  talking about fast English here, but don't  

expect yourself to be able to understand English  overnight. This is a journey. This is a process.  

So a problem that a lot of English learners have  is that they get discouraged too quickly and  

they're not realistic about it. So, let's see how  secret number three can help you with this secret. 

Number three is to take some notes. Whenever  you hear something fast, take a note about it,  

write it down in a notebook, write it down on your  phone. And when you learn one new quick phrase,  

every day, this will build and build and build  over time. So let me help you do this today.  

Take a look at this sentence. I got to go well,  if you're in a hurry and you're at a friend's  

house and you look at the time, I got to go, I'm  going to be late. This is a great phrase to use,  

but what's happening here. There are a lot of  reductions, a lot of things that are cut out.  

We could say, I have got to go. This means I  need to leave, right now. I have got to go.  

But when we reduce that, we cut  out 'have' and 'got to' becomes  

gotta, gotta, but we don't pronounce the T. So we're going to reduce it one more time. And  

in American English, the Ts change to a D sound.  Listen, when I say it, I gotta go. I gotta go. I  

gotta go. Oh, sorry. I gotta go, I'm going to  be late. I gotta go. Can you say that with me?  

Sorry, I gotta go. Sorry, I gotta go. Great. You  just learned one normal and casual and natural  

reduced English phrase. You did it, great. So  now I hope you feel a little bit less discouraged  

because you conquered that mountain, mountain. Problem number four, that I see a lot of my  

English students making is don't just speak with  yourself or your pet. This is a good starting  

point, but really to overcome that, secret number  four is you need to speak with someone else.  

There is nothing like having a  real-time conversation with someone. 

Do you know what real-time means? It means it's  happening at that second. You can't pause and  

rewind and go back. No, if you don't understand  at that second there's real world consequences,  

because you're going to need them to repeat.  You're going to have to ask them, "Sorry,  

I didn't catch that. Can you repeat it?". Or  you're just going to stand there and smile. So  

speaking with someone else in a real-time  conversation is going to test listening  

skills and also help you to find the holes  in what's difficult for you. Maybe you can  

understand some topics, but other topics it's too  much. I know that when I was living in France,  

as my French listening skills grew, I could  understand a lot of people, but for some reason,  

there was the father of my host family,  I could not understand him at all. 

There was ways that he was linking or reducing  French expressions, the way that he was  

mumbling. It was so challenging. And finally, when  I could understand him, I felt so proud of myself.  

So it is essential to be able to have real time  conversations with someone else. If you feel  

like that might be a little too scary for you  right now, or maybe you're not in a situation  

where you can find someone else to speak with,  a good starting point is to check out my series,  

speak with me. You can click on the link up  here. In these videos I will give you some key  

vocabulary, some key questions, and we will have  a little mini conversation practice together. The  

good thing about this type of practice is that  it's kind of real time, but you can also pause  

the video and go back and practice it again. So  I hope this will be a good tool to help you with  

this secret number four, speak with somebody else. Problem number five that I see a lot of English  

learners make is they just watch English lessons  on YouTube, like this one. And while that's great,  

you can't only do that. You also need to be able  to practice real conversation, listening skills,  

because that's what happens in the real  world. Whether you're watching a TV show,  

whether you're talking with someone at a hotel,  whether you're talking with a client on the phone,  

it's not exactly an English teacher who speaks  clearly and understandably and understands that  

you're an English learner. Nope, it's important to  step that up. So if you can already understand me  

pretty well, maybe you're using subtitles, maybe  not, that's okay, what if we added one more person  

to my conversation? What if we added someone who  speaks a little bit clearly too? Like my husband,  

Dan, check out this clip. See how you feel. Can  you understand generally what we're talking about? 

Dan: Can I say my second worst job? 

Vanessa: Yeah, sure. 

Dan: Can you guess what it is? 

Vanessa: I know you worked at a lot of coffee shops,  

but those weren't that bad. Dan: 

Working at a coffee shop is good. Vanessa: 

Okay, what was it? Dan: 

It's Sharpshooter. Vanessa: 

Can you explain about that job? Dan: 

Yeah. So I don't know if you've ever seen this  in your country, but have you ever been to a  

place where somebody takes your picture and  then later they try to sell you that picture?  

I was that guy. So we took the same  pictures. It was going onto a boat,  

on one of the rivers in Pittsburgh, Vanessa: 

Kind of like a cruise boat, but river cruise. Dan: 

It was very kitschy though. Not high class at  all. So people, before they got on the boat,  

we forced them to stop and go through the  line and we'd take their picture. And it  

was like required, but people were like,  "I don't want to get my picture taken". 

Vanessa: Everyone had their own cameras  

and phones, they didn't need that. Dan: 

Yeah. Mind you this in like 2010 where people  already had phones on their cameras and stuff.  

That's at least getting more popular. Vanessa: 

They didn't need your picture. Dan: 

And so I had to take everybody's picture. And  then when they got off the boat, I stood at  

the side and said, "Hey, come over here, buy this  picture". And they were like $20 for one picture,  

terrible rip off. Even I knew it was a terrible  rip off, just not a worthwhile business, at least  

in 2010 when I was doing that job. Vanessa: 

Maybe 10 years before that,  it would have been cool. 

Dan: It was a viable business like  

30 years ago. Vanessa: 

Okay, maybe that went all right for you.  But what if we added a different speaker  

who speaks a little bit faster and maybe  the topic isn't so comfortable for you?  

Check out this clip and watch what we're saying. Brandi: 

So there's a lot of different factors that go into  play and it takes, that's why like, especially in  

this market, it's great to work with a realtor. Vanessa: 

We would have had no clue what to do. I pretty  much guarantee we would never have gotten this  

house without you. Brandi: 

I'm so glad it worked out. It's so cool to  see. I've always feel like people land in  

the right places, even if it's a little  tricky. They lose out on a few houses,  

it's always a bummer, but people always land in  the place that they're meant to be. And I always  

keep that heart, like when somebody loses, it's  just knowing that that wasn't the right thing. 

Vanessa: Yeah, that wasn't the destiny that  

was meant to happen. Another place would come up. Was it a little bit more challenging? What about  

the next step? What if we took out the video  completely and you only listened to our voices?  

Check out this quick clip where  you're going to only listen to the  

audio of me speaking with my friend, who's  here in that past video, Brandi. Listen. 

Brandi: If it's possible, pay off a car,  

it's a big chunk of change, but sometimes lenders  will say it's more important to pay off your car  

than it is to put this towards a down payment.  So sometimes a lender, a good lender again,  

is an important thing, because they can help guide  you as to what makes the most sense to help you  

get the house that you really want. Vanessa: 

It's a little bit tougher in that situation. What  if you had a teacher to guide you someone nice,  

someone helpful, maybe someone like me, someone  who could guide you through all of those  

challenging conversations who could introduce you  and explain new vocabulary and who could help you  

to not feel so overwhelmed when you're listening  to fast English. You would be able to understand  

fast English like never before, and maybe  you would even have fun. I'd like to  

invite you to join me in the 30 Day English  Listening Challenge. Every day for 30 days,  

you will grow your listening skills so that you  can comfortably understand your coworkers, friends  

across the world when you travel, people on the  phone and your favorite movies and TV shows.  

Click on the link in the description to get a  special 25% off offer only available to you here  

only on this YouTube video. So make sure you  click on that link and join me and thousands  

of other English learners who have felt more  confidence, have felt their English listening  

skills grow so that they can go into the real  world and understand what other people are saying. 

Now it's time for you to use what you've  learned in this lesson. Tell me in the comments,  

what is something that you got ta do today?  Use that phrase. I gotta go to the store.  

I gotta do some work. I gotta pick up my kids  from school. Use that phrase and say it out loud,  

when you're using this and practicing it yourself,  you will remember it. And that is the goal. Well,  

thank you so much for learning English with me.  I hope to see you again next Friday for a new  

lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. The next step is to download the free  

PDF worksheet for this lesson. With this  free PDF, you will master today's lesson  

and never forget what you have learned.  You can be a confident English speaker.  

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel  for a free English lesson every Friday. Bye.