Understand FAST English: Advanced Conversation & Vocabulary Lesson

Vanessa: Well, the year is almost over. Have  

you accomplished the English goals that you set  at the beginning of the year? Don't worry. If you  

haven't, today I'm going to help you understand a  fast, real-life English conversation so that you  

can speak better English. Hi, I'm Vanessa from  SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. And like always,  

I have created a free PDF worksheet for you. But  this one is a little bit different. In this free  

PDF worksheet, you will get the full transcript  of the real-life conversation you're about to see,  

plus all of the vocabulary and sample  sentences, plus a quiz plus Vanessa's  

challenge question so that you never forget  what you've learned. You can click on the  

link in the description to download this free  PDF worksheet today. It is my gift to you.

Well, you are in for a treat. You're about to meet  Jenny. Jenny is a lovely American woman who went  

to the country of Hungary to learn more about her  grandmother's Hungarian heritage. But something  

happened while she was there. Have you ever  watched those cheesy romantic movies where the  

man and woman are walking along on the sidewalk  and then boom, they bump into each other, look  

into each other's eyes, and ah, it's love at first  sight. Well, this really happened to Jenny while  

she was traveling abroad. In this conversation,  you'll hear fast English, you'll hear long  

sentences, you'll hear incomplete sentences.  This is real-life conversational English. Some  

parts will be difficult to understand. Some  parts will be easy to understand. This is a  

good test and I've added full subtitles so that  you can follow along during the conversation.

If you enjoy today's lesson, I want to let you  know that this is a sample of my course, the  

Fearless Fluency Club. You're welcome to join me  and thousands of other motivated English learners.  

Plus you'll meet 47 native English speakers,  have weekly live-streamed lessons with me,  

and have weekly Zoom calls with other wonderful  English learners. Right now, you can get a $550  

off coupon for this course. But, I'll tell you  more about that at the end of this lesson. All  

right, let's jump into the conversation with  Jenny. She was just telling me how she went  

to Hungary for two weeks and she was about to go  back home to the US when something happened. Well,  

put on your fast English-speaking helmets and  let's watch this clip from the conversation.

Jenny: It was an incredible  

two and a half weeks. And so we were leaving on a  Sunday and on a Friday night, my cousin was like,  

"Jenny, I want to have a farewell party for  you at the bar. Let's go." And I was like,  

"No, I'm just going to stay home. I  don't want to go." My aunt was like,  

"Jenny," in Hungarian. She's like, "You  need to be with the young people. Go, go."

Vanessa: Go.

Jenny: And I was like,  

"Okay. All right." So I went and  that's how I met Adam, my husband.

Vanessa: That's amazing. So  

what was that? What happened when you  walked into the bar and you saw him?

Jenny: Yes. So the last  

place I was expecting was that. I was a little,  I turned up my nose a little bit. Looking back.

Vanessa: Young.

Jenny: And I was like,  

"I don't know anybody." So Adam walks in and I'm  like, "Hold up. Who is this guy? This guy's cute."  

So I go up to him because it's cool to be  from America. Some people find it cool.

Vanessa: Certainly, I've experienced that too as a I  

travel. Like, "Whoa. I met someone from America."  I'm like, "I'm just a normal person, but okay."

Jenny: So I go up to him,  

I'm like, "Hey, I'm Jenny from  America. Nice to meet you."

Vanessa: You should be my friend because I'm from America.

Jenny: Yeah, I was just like super sly, smooth.

Vanessa: That's funny.

Jenny: 

He didn't speak the best of English. So Adam  grew up learning German and so he's trilingual,  

but his English was good, but it wasn't great. So  I probably only understood 50% of what he said.

Vanessa: That's all you needed.

Jenny: Yeah. So we  

talked the night away until 4:00 A.M. and then  we literally spent that day and a half together  

before I left. And I was like, "I'm in love, but  with this guy who lives in Hungary across..."

Vanessa: And we're leaving tomorrow.

Jenny: Yeah,  

I was so sad. It was really sad. So we  left and then I get this message from him  

saying that he was booking tickets  to come see me three weeks later.

Vanessa: That's so beautiful. He just saw you for a day  

and a half and was like, "I'm going to pay money  to travel halfway across the world to see you."

Jenny: And it's  

expensive. For Hungarians, I think it was $1000.

Vanessa: Whoa.

All right, how'd you do? Well, you just heard the  beginning of Jenny's incredible cross-cultural  

love story with her Hungarian husband. There's so  much more that happens in this conversation and  

if you want to find out, well, you have to join  the Fearless Fluency Club. In that conversation,  

we highlighted three key vocabulary phrases that  I want you to be able to use yourself. Let's jump  

into the vocabulary lesson where my husband  Dan and I will explain those three phrases.

Now, usually in the Fearless Fluency  Club we learn about 15 to 17 phrases  

per conversation, but this is just a sample.  

So let's dive in to those three key phrases  so that you can use them yourself. Let's go.

The last something. We are not talking  about a final in a series. Here we're  

talking about something that is unexpected  or an unlikely occurrence. So for example,  

in the conversation with Jenny, she said  that when she went to the bar, it was the  

last place that she expected to meet her future  husband. It was the last place. We could replace  

the word place and say he is the last person I  expected to what? What could we say with that?

Dan: Marry?

Vanessa: Oh, when I met Dan,  

he was the last person I expected  to marry, but we did. It's not true.

Dan: That would mean I  

made a really bad first impression.

Vanessa: Yeah,  

I don't think you were the last  person I expected to marry.

Dan: I wasn't that far down the list.

Vanessa: Yeah,  

so we could use this for really anything. Maybe  for Dan, if he told me one day I'm going to go  

get my PhD in astrophysics, I would be a little  shocked and I might say, "Oh, astrophysics is the  

last subject that I thought you would want  to study." So this is so far from reality,  

it is unexpected. And it's the last subject, the  last person, the last place, the last subject.

Dan: Something very surprising.

Vanessa: Yes, very surprising.

Dan: And I know  

for myself personally, I would've said  the last place I thought I would live  

would be South Carolina. You thought I  was going to say South Korea. Didn't you?

Vanessa: Oh, so when you were growing up.

Dan: I was younger,  

I didn't even know where  South Carolina was on a map.

Vanessa: Maybe you don't either.

Dan: Maybe you don't.  

But anyway. So I could have said the last place  I expected to go to college was South Carolina,  

but that's where I ended up going because I  just visited and I liked the campus and I said,  

"Okay, this place is nice."  And that's where I went.

Vanessa: Yeah. So it's an expectation that's  

surprising. Something unexpected. Oh, Dan actually  went to college in a really unusual place,  

at least for him, in South Carolina. It was  the last place he thought he'd go to college.

Dan: And again,  

this is usually never literal.  Speaking of literally.

Vanessa: It's not the last.

Dan: Yeah, it's not really the last on...

Vanessa: A list.

Dan: ... because sometimes  

that's not even possible to know the last of what.

Vanessa: Yeah, Jenny didn't have a list of places where  

she thought she'd meet her future husband. In the  bar was the last one. Now this is just figurative.

Dan: Yeah, it's a very casual expression.

Vanessa: All right,  

let's watch the clip from the conversation.

Jenny: The last place I  

was expecting was that, I turned up my nose  a little bit. I was a little, looking back.

Vanessa: Young.

Jenny: The last  

place I was expecting was that. The  last place I was expecting was that.

Dan: The next expression  

is to turn up one's nose at something. And this  means snobby. Maybe another expression we use  

is high and mighty. As somebody who thinks they  are better than other people, they turn up their  

nose at them. So somebody might say this, we  usually say this about other people. So I knew  

I didn't like him when he turned up his nose to  the idea of playing board games at our house.

Vanessa: He just wanted  

to go to a fancy restaurant. He  didn't want to come over to the  

house and play games. He turned up  his nose at the idea of board games.

Dan: And this  

implies that this person would rather do  something, like you said, expensive. Although  

it doesn't necessarily have to be expensive,  it just has to be either expensive or cool.

Vanessa: Yeah,  

I just think your idea is lesser, is not as good.

Dan: Little people do that.

Vanessa: Yeah. So it's quite interesting because  

in the conversation with Jenny, she said that she  turned up her nose. She was talking about herself.

Dan: Yeah, she was talking about herself.

Vanessa: I turned up my nose,  

but then she said, "A little bit." So she's  making it a little less strong. She said, "I  

turned up my nose a little bit about meeting  someone at a bar." So she thought that people  

who aren't serious about relationships don't  meet people at bars. And that's kind of true.

If you meet your husband or wife at a bar,  you're pretty lucky. So she was saying,  

I thought that that's not for me. I want to  meet my husband in a better place. But in  

the end it worked out for her. So she was  using that about herself, but she used it  

in a lesser way by saying, "I turned up my  nose a little bit." A little bit at that.

Dan: And I would say,  

that's interesting she said that. I  think it's a little unusual to use  

it from a first-person perspective, to  say, "I turned up my nose at something."

Vanessa: Yeah, usually  

we talk about that with someone else like,  "Oh, I knew that our friendship wouldn't  

last because she just turned up her nose at  every idea that I had. I just wanted to go  

for a walk in the park or drink some tea at  a coffee shop. And she thought that all my  

ideas weren't good enough. She just turned up  her nose at all my ideas." And in that case,  

it's negative. You might be complaining about  someone you met. They turn up their nose. I'm  

better than that. All right, let's watch the  clips that you can see how Jenny used this.

Jenny: The last place I was  

expecting was that I was a little, I turned up my  nose a little bit. I was a little, looking back...

Vanessa: Young.

Jenny: I turned up my  

nose a little bit. I was little... I turned  up my nose a little bit. I was a little...

Vanessa: Next expression  

is to talk the night away. And that means  simply that you are talking all night and  

usually you forgot about time because you're  lost in conversation. We talked the night away.

Dan: It usually implies a good conversation.

Vanessa: Yeah. You could also use this to say we danced the  

night away. Maybe you were at a friend's wedding  and you and your husband just danced the night  

away at the wedding. In the US, we always dance  at weddings or usually, so maybe you had such a  

good time that you're just dancing the night  away and then you realize, oh, it's 2:00 A.M.  

So you were just lost in that moment. Has there  ever been a time when you talked the night away?

Dan: Yes, for sure. With you.

Vanessa: Yeah, all the time.

Dan: Many a time. Especially,  

when we were dating and we were long distance  for a while, so we would often call each other  

and we would talk the night away on the phone.  So yeah, we would spend a very long time and  

not look at the time at all. You would get lost is  something you might say. Get lost in conversation.

Vanessa: Yeah, we were lost in  

conversation. We talked the night away because we  were having a good conversation together. So you  

just forget about time. And that's the way that  Jenny talked about it with her future husband,  

that when they first met each other, they talked  the night away. They had such a good bond and such  

a good connection that they just lost track of  time. They talked the night away. I want to know  

for you, have you ever talked the night  away with anyone. You just got lost.

Dan: And it could be a  

group as well. It doesn't  have to just be two people.

Vanessa: Yeah.

Dan: We all talked the night away.

Vanessa: Yeah,  

we talked the night away and then our  families went home. It's a great way  

to use it. All right, let's watch the  clip so you can see how it was used.

Jenny: So when we talked the night  

away until 4:00 A.M. We literally spent that day  and a half together before I left. And I was like,  

"I'm in love." But we talked the night away until  4:00 A.M. We talked the night away until 4:00 A.M.

Vanessa: So have you ever talked  

the night away with someone? I know that I have,  but it's been a long time. Now that I'm a parent,  

I get tired fast. Too tired, too fast. Well, if  you enjoyed today's real-life English lesson,  

I would like to invite you to join me and  thousands of other motivated English learners in  

the Fearless Fluency Club. You will get access to  over 235 English lessons. This is over five years  

of lessons. It's huge. Also, 180 quizzes, weekly  live-stream lessons with me, and weekly Zoom calls  

with other lovely members of the course. Plus,  as a bonus, you'll receive daily mini-lessons  

via email so that you can stay motivated and  continue to improve your English skills. And if  

you join the Fearless Fluency Club this week, for  a limited time, you can get a $550 off discount.

Yes, that's right. Plus, I have something  else that I've never offered before. Usually  

I have a 10-day money-back guarantee  for all of my courses. But right now  

we are offering a 90-day, that's  three-month, money-back guarantee,  

no questions asked. That means you simply send me  an email within three months of your purchase and,  

just like that, I will refund your money.  But I'm so confident that you will love  

the Fearless Fluency Club. You will speak real  English and you will finally achieve your goals.

My student Ildiko said, "What I like the most  is that you teach us real English." And that's  

my goal. If you've been studying English with me  here on YouTube for a while, you know that my goal  

is to help you with real English. Not classroom  English, not textbook English, real-life English,  

just like you learned today. You can click on  the link in the description to get your limited  

time $550 off discount to join me in the Fearless  Fluency Club. 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.