Understand FAST English Conversations [Advanced Listening Lesson]

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

Are you ready to understand fast English  speaker conversations? Great. Let's go. 

Speaking English naturally and fluently is a  great skill, but if you can't understand what  

other people are saying, you're going to have a  problem. So today, I would like to share with you  

my top tip for understanding fast English  conversations. You're going to learn how  

to understand fast English, we're going  to practice using this method together,  

and then I'm going to show you how  you can continue to use this method.  

So how can you understand fast English speakers?  Can you learn like a child and just watch  

the Star Wars Trilogy 500 times and then  eventually, you'll understand it all?  

Not really. Instead, we need to use an advanced  method. You need to study and analyze English  

conversations. Then, you need to understand  each word. And finally, you can use that  

sentence structure and those words yourself. And that's what we're going to do today,  

you're going to analyze a short  real English conversation clip,  

so get your pen and paper ready. Number one, we  are going to listen to a fast English conversation  

clip. This is the original conversation that I  had with a guy named Jonathan, who is a soccer,  

or you might say, football referee, and in this  clip, he's going to be talking about one of  

the worst games that he was ever a referee for.  Second, we're going to listen to a slow version  

of the same clip. So you're going to hear all  of the words that Jonathan said, but they're  

going to be slow so that you can understand  each and every word. Next, I want you to write  

everything that you hear. You're going to write  from the fast clip, write from the slow clip,  

try to write every single word that you hear. And lastly, you're going to check your work with  

the original transcript. This way you can see,  oh, I missed that word. It was reduced or it was  

linked or it was too fast, or maybe it was just  a new word that you'd never heard before, or, oh,  

I did get that word. I didn't even know that, that  was exactly what he said but I wrote it correctly.  

That's amazing. So I want you to be active. Listen  to the clips, the fast version, the slow version,  

I want you to write, and finally, we're going  to be checking with the original transcript.  

This lesson is a sample from my course, the 30  Day English Listening Challenge, where I will send  

one of these listening clips to you every single  day during one month, the month of January 2021. 

So if you enjoyed this lesson, feel free to  join me. This will be open until December  

31st. To join, you can click on the link in  the description. Past students of my listening  

challenges have said that some days were really  tough and some days were a little bit easier,  

but over time, they realized, I can understand  more and more what English speakers are saying.  

And I want the same thing for you. I want  you to be able to understand as much as  

possible. So let's practice with that right now. Here is the conversation outline. First, you will  

hear Jonathan's voice, then my voice, then his  voice again. If you have a piece of paper, I  

recommend writing J, V, J so that you can prepare  yourself for what you're going to hear and you can  

write it in the correct place. This lesson is from  day 21, but today, it is a free sample lesson,  

open now from December 22nd to December 31st  for only $30. This means that on January 21st,  

you're going to study this lesson, but today,  it's a free sample. Now let's listen to this  

fast original clip. We're going to listen to it  three times. It is very fast. This is a natural  

quick conversation. So if it seems too fast, don't  worry, we're going to listen to the slow version  

in just a moment. All right, let's go and listen  to that original conversation three times.  

Let's listen and try to write at the same time. Jonathan: So, men's game went great,  

and I'm sure I aced that one. And the women's  game's coming up, and it's going to be easy.  

So I went out there, and it wasn't. It was the  worst game I've ever had up until that point. 

Vanessa: No way. Jonathan: I had, I think, five red cards,  

three yellow cards, police were called, and so  I had to terminate the game. I've probably done,  

you know, eight, nine, 10,000 games, and  I've only terminated maybe five of them. 

So, men's game went great, and I'm sure I aced  that one. And the women's game's coming up, and  

it's going to be easy. So I went out there,  

and it wasn't. It was the worst game  I've ever had up until that point. 

Vanessa: No way. Jonathan: I had, I think, five red cards,  

three yellow cards, police were called, and so  I had to terminate the game. I've probably done,  

you know, eight, nine, 10,000 games, and  I've only terminated maybe five of them. 

So, men's game went great, and I'm sure I aced  that one. And the women's game's coming up, and  

it's going to be easy. So I went out there, and  it wasn't. It was the worst game I've ever had  

up until that point. Vanessa: No way. 

Jonathan: I had, I think, five red cards,  three yellow cards, police were called,  

and so I had to terminate the game. I've probably  done, you know, eight, nine, 10,000 games,  

and I've only terminated maybe five of them. Vanessa: Did you feel like that was definitely  

too fast? Well, native English speakers and  advanced English learners can understand him.  

You're going to hear this type of English when  you're traveling to the U.S., when you're having  

business meetings, having conversations  with other people, so I want to help you  

take this in and understand it. Let's take a deep breath  

and we're going to listen to the slow version.  You'll hear me and my husband, Dan, saying the  

exact same words that you heard me and Jonathan  say, but slowed down a lot. I hope you'll be able  

to understand each word more clearly. And this is  a great opportunity, if you couldn't write down  

all of the words before, now, you can do that. Of  course, feel free to pause this video as you need  

to so that you can write everything and really  take advantage of this material. All right,  

let's listen to the slow version three times. Dan: So, men's game went great,  

and I'm sure I aced that one. And the women's  game's coming up, and it's going to be easy.  

So I went out there, and it wasn't. It was the  worst game I've ever had up until that point. 

Vanessa: No way. Dan: I had, I think, five red cards,  

three yellow cards, police were called, and so  I had to terminate the game. I've probably done,  

you know, eight, nine, 10,000 games, and  I've only terminated maybe five of them. 

So, men's game went great, and I'm sure I aced  that one. And the women's game's coming up,  

and it's going to be easy. So I went out there,  and it wasn't. It was the worst game I've ever  

had up until that point. Vanessa: No way. 

Dan: I had, I think, five red cards,  three yellow cards, police were called,  

and so I had to terminate the  game. I've probably done, you know,  

eight, nine, 10,000 games, and I've  only terminated maybe five of them. 

So, men's game went great, and I'm sure I aced  that one. And the women's game's coming up,  

and it's going to be easy. So I went out there,  and it wasn't. It was the worst game I've ever  

had up until that point. Vanessa: No way. 

Dan: I had, I think, five red cards, three  yellow cards, police were called, and so  

I had to terminate the game. I've probably  done, you know, eight, nine, 10,000 games,  

and I've only terminated maybe five of them. Vanessa: Did you write everything you heard? Well,  

if you join the 30 Day English Listening  Challenge, you'll be able to download each of  

the lessons each day and go back and review it as  many times as you want. But for this lesson, you  

can just pause the video if you need to go back.  So how was this? Was it too fast? Did the slow  

version help you? We're going to go on to the next  step, which is taking a look at the transcript  

and trying to learn some new words with  this. There are three new words that you're  

going to learn in each lesson every day, but  we're also going to be taking a look at some  

trouble sections that might have been difficult  for you. Let's take a look at the transcript. 

So here, you have the transcript of our  conversation. I'm going to read it slowly,  

and then go through different things  that you can learn from this short clip. 

First, Jonathan says, "So, men's game went  great, and I'm sure I aced that one." You  

can see at the bottom, there are three vocabulary  words that I want you to learn with each lesson,  

and this is one of them, to ace something. That  means that you did a great job. You might say I  

aced my test, or I aced my first day on the job  because I did really well. So you're talking  

about doing well. So he did a great job being a  referee for the men's game. But then something  

bad is going to happen. Let's go on to his next  sentence, "And the women's game's coming up,  

and it's going to be easy." He uses another great  expression, to come up. This is talking about  

something that's happening soon. My birthday  is coming up, or Christmas is coming up. The  

new year is coming up. It's going to be happening  soon. It's coming up, and it's going to be easy. 

Let's take a moment to look at the grammar  of this sentence. He says the women's game is  

coming up. It is going to be easy. Is he being a  referee right then as I'm having that conversation  

with him? You can imagine, probably not. This is  talking about something that happened in the past,  

but why does he use the present tense? The game is  coming up. It is going to be easy. Well, this is a  

storytelling technique in English that sometimes,  we use the present tense to talk about something  

that happened in the past to make the listener  feel like they're right there in the action as  

it's happening. So we go back and forth between  the present and the past tense when telling  

a story, and that's what he does in his next  sentence. He uses the past tense. Let's move on. 

"So I went out there, and it wasn't." He went  out to the soccer or football field and it  

wasn't easy. "It was the worst game I've ever had  up until that point." So he's contrasting the men  

and the women's game. The men's game went great,  but the women's game was the worst game he had  

ever had. I put a little star here beside the word  I've because this is actually incorrect grammar.  

He should have said it was the worst game  I had ever had up until that point. But I  

wanted to highlight this because native speakers  sometimes make mistakes when they're speaking,  

but they're still understandable, especially when  you're speaking quickly or using a complex verb  

tense, like have ever had, or had ever had. That  can be a little complex, and when you're speaking  

quickly, sometimes, you're not thinking about it.  So I hope this gives you some peace of mind that  

sometimes, we make mistakes as well. All right, let's go on to the short phrase  

that I say. In response to his explanation  about the worst game, I said, "No way."  

Am I disagreeing with him? No. I wasn't there  for that game. I'm not disagreeing with him.  

I'm just expressing shock. So we often use this  expression to just say, I'm shocked. For example,  

if you are walking down the street, like down here  in the vocabulary section, and you find $20 on the  

sidewalk, you might tell your friend, "I found  $20 on the sidewalk." And your friend would say,  

"No way." They're not disagreeing  with you, they're just saying,  

that's shocking, that's amazing. So  they're being shocked at what you said. 

All right, let's go on to the last part of the  conversation. Jonathan says, "I had, I think, five  

red cards, three yellow cards, police were called,  and so I had to terminate the game. I've probably  

done, you know, eight, nine, 10,000 games,  and I've only terminated maybe five of them."  

Here, he uses some interesting filler words. He  says I think, five red cards, and then later on,  

he says, I've probably done, you know, eight,  nine, 10,000 games. This is quite common for  

conversation that we add into our speech these  kinds of filler expressions. It's very casual.  

It's very comfortable, and it's quite normal. So if you didn't understand everything that  

Jonathan said during the fast version,  or even during the slow version,  

it's possible that it's because he used some  new vocabulary for you. So I hope that today,  

you're able to learn that new vocabulary. What we're going to do now is we're going  

to go back, listen to that original fast  version, but this time, we're going to be  

looking at the transcript that we just studied.  I want you to listen for his words and also read  

them at the same time. I think you'll be pretty  amazed that you're actually understanding more  

than the first time, because you've studied  the fast version, the slow version, you've  

analyzed that clip with me so you know some of the  different things that are happening, and now, you  

can finally listen to it and your ears are opened.  So, let's listen to that fast clip a couple times,  

and I want you to be amazed. Let's watch. Jonathan: So, men's game went great, and I'm sure  

I aced that one. And the women's game's coming up,  and it's going to be easy. So I went out there,  

and it wasn't. It was the worst game  I've ever had up until that point. 

Vanessa: No way. Jonathan: I had, I think, five red cards,  

three yellow cards, police were called, and so  I had to terminate a game. I've probably done,  

you know, eight, nine, 10,000 games, and  I've only terminated maybe five of them. 

So, men's game went great,  and I'm sure I aced that one.  

And the women's game's coming  up, and it's going to be easy.  

So I went out there, and it wasn't. It was the  worst game I've ever had up until that point. 

Vanessa: No way. Jonathan: I had, I think, five red cards,  

three yellow cards, police were called, and so  I had to terminate a game. I've probably done,  

you know, eight, nine, 10,000 games, and  I've only terminated maybe five of them. 

So, men's game went great, and I'm sure I aced  that one. And the women's game's coming up,  

and it's going to be easy. So I went out there,  and it wasn't. It was the worst game I've ever  

had up until that point. Vanessa: No way. 

Jonathan: I had, I think, five red cards,  three yellow cards, police were called,  

and so I had to terminate a game. I've probably  done, you know, eight, nine, 10,000 games,  

and I've only terminated maybe five of them. Vanessa: How did you do? Did you understand  

more? I hope so. Now imagine if you could study  a clip like this every single day for 30 days,  

how much would your listening improve over that  month? A lot. Thousands of English learners have  

joined me for the 30-Day Listening Challenge, pack  one, pack two, pack three, pack four, and now,  

we are on to pack five. Students in this  course have said that some of the speakers,  

some of the days, some of the clips were more  challenging, others were a little bit easier,  

but by analyzing one of these clips every single  day, they were amazed that their listening skills  

and vocabulary were improving each day. If you  decide to join this course, you're going to hear  

11 different English speakers, and this way,  you'll be exposed different ways of speaking,  

different styles of speech and vocabulary,  and grammar and pronunciation as well. 

The most important thing is that these  clips are from real conversations,  

so you will of course improve your listening  skills, but more importantly than that,  

you'll be able to use this in the real world,  which is the purpose for learning English, right? 

Until December 31st, 2020, the 30-Day English  Listening Challenge pack five will be open  

for enrollment for only $30. If you haven't  joined pack one, two, three, or four,  

that's okay. Each pack is its own individual  course. They are the same style of lessons,  

but they feature totally different speakers and  different topics. And of course, if you would  

like to join all of them together, there will be  a discount for joining all five packs at one time.  

Each lesson should only take five to 15 minutes  to study every day. You're going to receive  

four of these lesson materials. The original  fast clip, the slow clip, the worksheet, and  

also the transcript each day. Because you'll be  learning three new expressions with each lesson,  

you're going to learn 90 new expressions by the  end of the month, increasing your vocabulary. 

Let's take a quick sneak peek into the course  website. When you join the 30-Day Listening  

Challenge pack five, you'll get access to  this page. Today is day zero. Any day before  

January 1st is day zero. Let's see what you  can access today. You'll find a course guide  

with my recommended study plan for each day and  a calendar so that you can check off each day  

when you finish. On day one, January 1st,  you'll have access to the day one lesson,  

which you can download or stream on the  website. Then on January 2nd, you'll  

have access to the day two lesson, etc, etc. If you enjoyed today's lesson and you would like  

more information about the course, no problem.  You can click on the link in the description  

and check out some more information  about this course. I hope you can join me  

and thousands of other English learners around  the world in improving your English skills,  

starting the year 2021 on the right  foot by improving your English skills. 

And now, I have a question for you, let me know  in the comments, was this lesson helpful for  

you? I hope so. And I hope you can join me for  five to 15 minutes each day during the month  

of January in the 30 Day Listening Challenge.  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. 

The next step is to join the 30 Day English  Listening Challenge. You'll be on the right  

path to increasing your listening skills and  understanding fast English speakers. Don't  

forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel  for more free lessons. Thanks so much. Bye.