You're FLUENT in English if... [English Fluency Test]

Vanessa: Are you fluent in English? Well,  

you know you're fluent in English when  you can understand nuance to jokes and  

memes. What's a meme, Vanessa? A meme is  often a joke within an image. And that's  

what we're going to take a look at today  to test if you are fluent in English. Hi,  

I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com, and  today I have created a very fun lesson for you,  

including a free PDF worksheet that  includes all five of today's jokes,  

memes, ideas about why they're funny. This often  includes cultural references, plays on words,  

advanced vocabulary. So make sure that you  download the free PDF worksheet so that you  

can level up your fluency and laugh when everyone  else is laughing. It's such a great feeling. You  

can click on the link in the description to  download that free PDF worksheet today. If  

sitting around the table with all English speakers  makes you feel uncomfortable, what should I say? 

Will they understand me? What if I don't  understand what they're saying? Well, I'd like  

to invite you to join me and thousands of other  motivated English learners in the Fearless Fluency  

Club. Ildiko from Hungary said, "This course  is fantastic, I like the most that you teach  

us real English". The only way to achieve fluency  in English is to learn real English, not classroom  

English. If you become a student in the Fearless  Fluency Club, you will catch important vocabulary,  

phrasal verbs, and pronunciation in daily  conversations. You'll learn how to understand  

fast English conversations and you'll be able to  use that English yourself as well. The vocabulary,  

phrasal verbs, clear pronunciation whenever you  speak. Gely from Mexico said, "This is the best  

course I've ever had". Would you like to feel  confident when you speak in English too? Well,  

you can join the Fearless Fluency Club and  get a $200 off discount this week only. 

This limited time discount is only available  this week, and you can click on the link below  

this video to join me and thousands of other  motivated English learners level up your English,  

speak real English together. All right, are you  ready to test your English fluency skills with  

these jokes and memes? Let's do it. Our first  English joke, or we can call it an English meme  

because it includes a picture, is this silly one.  What's the difference between a cat and a comma?  

One has claws at the end of its paws and the  other has a pause at the end of its clause.  

All right, let me break this down.  If you did not think this was funny,  

that's okay. That's why I'm here. A cat, the animal, has four paws. This is what we  

call a cat's hands and feet. Notice the spelling.  A cat has four paws, and each of those paws have  

claws. Notice the spelling here. So we're talking  about a kind of play on words or a tongue twister.  

A cat has claws at the end of its paw, but a  comma, you use a comma when you're pausing,  

you take a breath in the sentence, or there's a  slight pause at the end of a clause. Notice the  

spelling here. So a clause is a grammatical term,  but you can really just think of it as a thought.  

So when you say chocolate cake, which is my  favorite kind of cake, is going to be at my  

birthday party, we have a comma around this  clause because there's a little pause here. 

Well, we are just making a play on words. There  are commas around this clause or there are pauses  

around the clause. Ha, ha, ha. All right,  let's go on to our next English joke or meme.  

Are you from Tennessee? Because  you're the only 10 I see.  

All right. This is what we would call a very  cheesy pickup line. A pickup line is when someone  

is trying to get someone else to be romantically  interested in them so they'll say something silly,  

maybe something clever, maybe something loving or  romantic to get that other person to be interested  

in them. So maybe he would say something  like this, are you from Tennessee? This is  

a state in the US, because you're the only 10  I seek. So here we're dealing with a cultural  

reference. First of all, the state in the US,  Tennessee. But also, 10 is sometimes a term we  

would use for someone who's extremely beautiful. He's a 10. She's a 10. That means they are the  

height of beauty. They are a 10. So when you are  trying to get someone to be interested in you,  

you want to say a compliment, you want to say  something very nice and exciting. So you might  

say, you are the only beautiful person I see.  Well, it's not quite as exciting unless you say,  

are you from Tennessee? Because you are the only  10 I see. No one else here is as beautiful as you.  

You're the only 10 I see. Our third joke is quite  a literary one, but I don't know. I'm a nerd,  

so I thought it was funny. When it rains, it poes.  Well, do you know who this guy is? This guy is a  

famous English author. His name is Edgar Allen  Poe, and he is famous for writing stuff that's  

pretty dark and gloomy, not much positivity  and joyfulness and sunshine in his writings. 

Nope. It is pretty dark and gloomy.  Well, in order for this to be funny,  

you need to know the original English  expression. When it rains, it pours.  

Here we use this when you are trying to emphasize  that when something bad happens, not just one bad  

thing happens, it seems like all the bad stuff  happens. So you might say, well, this morning I  

was late for work, and then I realized I had on my  pants inside out, and then I got stuck in traffic,  

and then someone bumped into my car. Ugh. When it  rains, it pours. Not just a little bit of rain,  

a lot of rain. Well, we're taking this expression,  twisting it a bit, making it a little bit of  

a nerdy joke. When it rains, it poes. And  there's a nice picture of Edgar Allen Poe. 

So you might see this on the internet if someone  is trying to have a little bit of visual fun and  

someone is laughing, well, now you can laugh too.  English joke number four is one that I thought you  

would appreciate as you struggle on your journey  to learn English. Well, you might think this is  

funny. English is difficult, it can be understood  through tough, thorough thought, though.  

Okay, when you first see this picture, did  all of these words look the same to you?  

Because they did to me. I think that's kind  of one of the points is that you look at this  

and they all seem like they're a very similar  word, but they're all pronounced differently.  

Oh, boy. So English is difficult, but what  does that last part even mean? English is  

a difficult language, but with hard work and  critical thinking, you can understand English.  

So here we're just kind of putting all of  these tricky TH words together in a sentence  

that makes sense to emphasize the point  that, oh yeah, English is really tricky. 

I want to challenge you to try to say this with  me. You want to try a little tongue twister just  

for fun? Let's try to say it together. English  is difficult, it can be understood through tough,  

thorough thought, though. Let's say that final  part again, it can be understood through tough,  

thorough thought, though. Great work. The fifth  and final joke today is another English related  

joke, but I thought that you might get a kick  out of it. That's an expression that means I  

think it's funny once you understand it. Here's  the joke. There are three voices in writing.  

The active voice, "You ate all the bacon". The  passive voice, "All the bacon was eaten by you".  

And number three, the passive-aggressive  voice, "You ate all the bacon and no one  

else got one. But don't worry, it's  fine. Clearly, you needed that bacon".  

Can you tell by the tone of my voice and the  rolling of my eyes, clearly you needed that bacon,  

that I'm trying to say something  that I'm not exactly saying? 

Am I excited that you ate all the bacon?  Absolutely not. Instead, I am being what we  

call passive-aggressive. So let's start at the  beginning of this little joke, meme. The first  

one, an active voice. This is a real voice in  English. The subject is doing the action. You ate  

all the bacon. You're the one who ate the bacon.  The second one, the passive voice is what we use  

when the subject is not doing the action. Usually  it's very indirect. All of the bacon was eaten.  

We don't know who did it. But here we have a  little parenthesis (by you), but I'm not trying  

to directly say you ate all the bacon. That's  very active. Instead, I'm going to be indirect.  

All of the bacon was eaten. Oh,  no. What am I going to eat today?  

Well, then we get onto the third voice, which is  not a real voice in English, but that's part of  

the joke here, the passive-aggressive voice. I'm going to say something without really  

saying it, but I'm going to show my anger and my  contempt that you ate all the bacon, especially  

with my tone of voice. Don't worry, it's fine.  Clearly, you needed to eat all that bacon.  

That tone of voice shows I really care. It is not  fine. But this is just a funny way to say there's  

a third voice in English. So did you get these  five jokes, memes in English? I'm curious if you  

understood them before or after my explanation,  and if you understood them after my explanation,  

congratulations, you have leveled up your  English skills. That's wonderful. And now I  

have a little challenge for you. I want to know in  the comments, do you know any English jokes? Can  

you share them with us in the comments? Read each  other's comments and try to understand the jokes? 

You can level up your English skills a little  bit more and more. And don't forget to download  

the free PDF worksheet for today's joke  lesson where you can review these jokes,  

review why they're funny, and try to level up  your English skills so that you can be fluent,  

understand jokes, understand humor, and don't  feel left out when other people are laughing.  

You can click on the link in the description  to download that free PDF worksheet today. 

If you enjoyed today's lesson, but you realized  that you're not quite fluent in English,  

there's a lot still that you need to learn. Well,  I invite you to join me in the Fearless Fluency  

Club this week so that you can get a $200 off  discount. Join me and thousands of other motivated  

English learners who are learning real English  vocabulary, phrasal verbs, clear pronunciation,  

and speaking together on a weekly basis. You can  click on the link in the description to join us  

and save $200 this week only. Well, thank  you 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. But wait,  

do you want more? I recommend watching this video  next. This is my English fluency test. Number  

nine is can you understand jokes and humor in  English? But what about all of the others? Well,  

I want you to take the test and find out if you're  really fluent in English. I'll see you there.