Why Idioms Aren't NEARLY As Important As You Think They Are

Hey guys what's up Stefanie the English coach here from Englishfulltime.com

and in this video we are going to talk about why idioms aren't nearly as

important as you think they are okay so first I just want to say that one of the

most frequently asked questions that people ask me is Stefanie how can I

learn more idioms how can I improve my vocabulary by learning more idioms or

I'm struggling to remember all the different idioms that there are in

English it's so hard and I'm over here kind of like why are you guys freaking

out about idioms and so I decided you know I just need to make a video for

once and for all to kind of just put this whole thing to rest so you guys no

longer have to stress out about idioms okay but first I just want to say that

several years ago when I was teaching English online I had this one student

who I think was obsessed with learning idioms and every day she would come to

class with literally like 20 new idioms in her vocabulary and so when she would

speak it just sounded so unnatural she would just be like today I feel like a

sack of potatoes because I woke up at the crack of dawn but that's because the

apple doesn't fall far from the tree and I would just be like holy cow what what

are you saying why don't you just use normal words to say what you're trying

to say and I think that the reason why people are so obsessed with this idea of

using idioms is because they know that native speakers use idioms and they want

to sound like a native speaker but I already made a video on how to sound

like a native speaker and that was not one of the tips that I gave okay so

first of all stop focusing so much on idioms because there's about like a

hundred or you know maybe two hundred I don't know that are very common those

are the idioms that you want to know the rest of the idioms are regional okay

regional idioms that they use in specific places specific areas and

unless you're in those areas you honestly don't need to use to use those

idioms there are idioms that they use in Australia and an Ireland

in the UK that I don't even know exist and I don't care about those idioms I

feel like you know the space and my brain is precious and I do not want to

occupy unnecessary or space I do not want to occupy space with unnecessary

information that really really doesn't matter so learn the most common idioms

and then stop worrying about it okay and then if you go travel to a place pick up

some idioms while you're there sure okay but be careful when you use idioms

because if you're using an idiom that's extremely regional and specific to a

certain location you know the people you're speaking to

might not understand what you're saying and the goal of speaking English should

be to have clear communication okay so just a quick example though or another

quick example of why idioms aren't as important as you think they are um one

of my good friends I don't know where she learned her vocabulary because we're

from the same town but or the same you know region but she uses all kinds of

idioms that either I have never heard before or I just don't use and I

sometimes when she talks I'm just kind of like I laugh in my head because I'm

like I can't believe she said that it's not bad that's just how she talks that's

natural to her but I'm not gonna start using all the idioms she uses just

because she uses them okay so just because you hear a native speaker use a

certain idiom doesn't mean that you have to use that idiom okay you want to make

sure that people understand you when you speak so don't go stringing a whole

bunch of idioms together in one sentence nobody will understand you you won't

sound like a native speaker and you'll just sound ridiculous okay and let me

think if there's anything else I can tell you guys about idioms okay one last

thing just don't whatever you do just don't waste your time studying these

things okay there are there's a lot more important stuff you could be studying

and I have seen students write long lists of vocabulary long lists of idioms

and I'm just like who is teaching these antiquated methods of learning like stop

stop with the list stop with all of that okay pick up things as you

pick up words pick up phrases pick up vocabulary pick up idioms as you learn

them so if you see an idiom in a TV show and you don't know what it means go look

it up in the dictionary if you really like it then incorporate it into your

vocabulary or and practice it but what I tend to do when I learn Spanish or when

I learn the new phrase in Spanish is I don't incorporate it right away into my

vocabulary I wait till I've heard something about 20 times in context

sometimes I wait till I've heard something a hundred times in context

before I actually start using it because then you learn how to use it as native

speakers use it okay because if not you just might throw in idioms where they

don't belong and that it's not gonna make you sound more like a native

speaker it's actually gonna make you sound like you don't know what you're

talking about okay so I hope you guys find this video

helpful feel free to let me know in the comments what you think about this idea

I hope you guys don't waste all your time you know studying idioms when

there's a lot of other important things you could be studying in English okay

take care and we'll talk soon bye hey guys thanks so much for watching

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you guys in another video bye