2 Hours of English - Fix Your English Speaking Skills

want to speak real english from your first lesson sign up for your free lifetime account at englishclass101.com hi everyone i'm alicia welcome to conversational phrases we've found that the best way to learn a language is to speak it from day one and the best way to start speaking is to learn phrases that you'll use in real conversations today we'll learn conversational phrases about occupations after watching this video you'll be able to talk about your job and ask what somebody does for a living and if you want to learn more vocabulary phrases and example sentences you can use in real life situations click the link in the description to download your occupation pdf cheat sheet for free now let's take a look at some conversational phrases listen to the dialogue what do you do i'm an artist listen to it again what do you do i'm an artist first of all you need to learn how to say what do you do what do you do listen to it again what do you do what do you do now how do you answer this question this is the pattern you'll need i'm a i'm in your occupation i'm a and your occupation for example i'm an artist i'm an artist i'm an artist here are a few more professions you can use with the same pattern police officer police officer police officer teacher teacher teacher doctor doctor doctor engineer engineer engineer now listen to some examples what do you do i'm a teacher what do you do i'm a doctor what do you do i am an engineer okay now it's your turn do you remember how to say what do you do what do you do imagine you're a doctor do you remember how to say doctor doctor doctor say i'm a doctor i'm a doctor now answer the question saying that you are a doctor what do you i'm a do now imagine you're a teacher do you remember how to say teacher teacher teacher say i'm a teacher i'm a teacher now answer the question saying that you are a teacher what do you do i'm a teacher now imagine you're an engineer do you remember how to say engineer engineer engineer say i'm an engineer i am an engineer now answer the question saying that you are an engineer what do you do i am an engineer [Music] hey everyone alicia here welcome to conversational phrases we've found that the best way to learn a language is to speak it from day one and the best way to start speaking is to learn phrases that you'll use in real conversations in this lesson we'll learn conversational phrases to answer the question how's your mother after watching this video you'll be able to talk about well-being and ask how someone is doing and if you want to learn more vocabulary phrases and example sentences you can use in real life situations click the link in the description to download your conversation about family well-being pdf cheat sheet for free now let's take a look at some conversational phrases listen to the dialogue how's your mother she's fine listen to it again how's your mother she's fine first of all you'll need to learn how to say how's your mother how's your mother listen to it again how's your mother how's your mother now how do you answer this question the pattern is she's state of well-being she's state of well-being for example she's fine she's fine she's fine here are a few expressions related to well-being that you can use with this pattern great great great fine fine fine so-so so-so so-so not good not good not good let's look at some examples listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers how's your mother she's great how's your mother she's so so how's your mother she's not good okay now it's your turn do you remember how to say how's your mother how's your mother imagine she's great do you remember how to say great great great say she's great she's great now answer the question saying she's great how's your mother she's great now imagine she's so so do you remember how to say so-so so-so so-so say she's so so she's so so now answer the question saying she's so so how's your mother she's so so now imagine she's not good do you remember how to say not good not good not good say she's not good she's not good now answer the question saying she's not good how's your mother she's not good want to speak real english from your first lesson sign up for your free lifetime account at englishclass101.com most people who learn a foreign language learn it so that they can one day have real life conversations with native speakers when you start out learning and crack open your first textbook or listen to your first podcast having a real conversation can feel like a fantasy when everything about a language feels new it can be overwhelming but this couldn't be further from the truth while it does take a significant amount of time and effort to become fluent having a conversation might not be as far off as you think in this video we'll look at three ways you can boost your conversational skills and start talking to native speakers number one find native speakers and practice with them it's unlikely you live near a big group of native speakers to practice with if you happen to be in a major or international city your chances may be better check and see if your city has a general language exchange chances are there could be a native speaker there who is also trying to learn another language practicing in person with a native speaker is probably the most interesting option for honing your speaking skills but if you can't find anyone where you live the next best option is to look online luckily for language learners the past 10 years or so have seen an explosion in online language exchange sites on these websites you can search for someone who is a native speaker of your target language and is also learning your native language the idea behind a language exchange is that you communicate with them via video or texture and half of the time they help you practice your target language and for the other half you help them practice theirs practicing via an online language exchange is a highly effective way to practice your conversational skills number two work on pronunciation pronunciation is often an overlooked skill when it comes to learning a foreign language most people think of a good foreign accent as a luxury rather than a necessity but what most people don't talk about is how having a good accent boosts your listening and comprehension skills if you can hear a sound from a foreign language and know how to make it yourself then you're more likely to understand native speakers when they talk at normal speed and you're also more likely to remember any new words or phrases you come across having a good accent means that the language no longer sounds foreign instead it sounds familiar maybe even natural so how do you go about perfecting your accent the best way is to break down the language into its individual sounds make note of any sounds that are the same or similar to your native language and of those that are different of the sounds that are different spend your time practicing the ones that you find the hardest to say correctly after you're comfortable with the individual sounds you can start linking together words and phrases this is where accent practice starts to get really fun and interesting get your hands on some native speaker audio from a tv show song or podcast play the audio back and listen closely a few times take note of how words blend together in speech then do your best to imitate what you hear trying to match the speaker's emphasis and intonation our language learning program's playback feature is perfect for this record yourself and compare it to the original recording rinse and repeat until you're comfortable with the audio selection and then move on to something more difficult this is how you can break through the accent barrier and really start to make the language your own number three learn phrases not just individual words learning grammar and individual words is great but it's not the only approach you should take if you want to speak fluently in addition to your regular grammar and vocabulary try learning whole phrases even if you aren't totally sure how they work grammatically learn phrases that are specific to your needs it's a good idea to learn phrases that are grouped around a certain setting or subject such as simple greetings or introductions questions for getting to know someone or traveling comfortably you can even learn filler phrases which you can use so that you have something to say when well you don't know what to say learning phrases like this will help you become conversational faster you may not understand what you're saying literally but as long as you know the general meaning behind the phrase and know when to use it you'll be able to talk like a native eventually your knowledge of grammar and vocabulary should catch up with the phrases you know learning a new language should feel like an adventure there will be plateaus and periods in your learning where it feels like you're hitting a wall but being able to speak with native speakers and have real conversations will help you combat language fatigue after all talking to someone face to face in a foreign language is one of the main reasons we start learning in the first place and for even more ways to gain conversation skills check out our complete language learning program sign up for your free lifetime account by clicking on the link in the description get tons of resources to have you speaking in your target language and if you enjoyed these tips hit the like button share the video with anyone who's trying to learn a new language and subscribe to our channel we release new videos every week i'll see you next time bye [Music] hey everyone alicia here welcome to conversational phrases we've found that the best way to learn a language is to speak it from day one and the best way to start speaking is to learn phrases that you'll use in real conversations in this lesson we'll learn conversational phrases to answer the question what's the matter after watching this video you'll be able to make complaints and ask someone else if they're having any issues and if you want to learn more vocabulary phrases and example sentences you can use in real life situations click the link in the description to download your making complaints pdf cheat sheet for free now let's take a look at some conversational phrases listen to the dialogue what's the matter the office is hot listen to it again what's the matter what's the matter the office is hot the office is hot first of all you'll need to learn how to say what's the matter that's what's the matter listen to it again what's the matter what's the matter now how do you answer this question the pattern is the office is adjective for example the office is hot the office is hot the office is hot here are a few more examples you can use with the same pattern to make complaints hot hot hot cold cold cold noisy noisy noisy dirty dirty dirty let's look at some examples listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers what's the matter the office is cold what's the matter the office is noisy what's the matter the office is dirty okay now it's your turn do you remember how to say what's the matter what's the matter imagine the office is cold do you remember how to say cold cold cold say the office is cold the office is cold now answer the question saying the office is cold what's the matter the office is cold now imagine the office is noisy do you remember how to say noisy noisy noisy say the office is noisy the office is noisy now answer the question saying the office is noisy what's the matter the office is noisy now imagine the office is dirty do you remember how to say dirty dirty dirty say the office is dirty the office is dirty now answer the question saying the office is dirty what's the matter the office is dirty want to speak real english from your first lesson sign up for your free lifetime account at englishclass101.com you've studied for a while and are ready to talk to people and practice what you've learned but where do you start starting a conversation in a new language can seem a bit intimidating how do you just jump into it in this video we'll look at five ways to start conversations number one introduce yourself in your target language this is usually one of the first things you learn when you start studying a new language and sometimes starting a conversation or continuing one is as simple as introducing yourself number two talking about the weather this is a universal talking point people talk about the weather all over the world and just saying it's really nice today is enough to start a conversation a great way to practice your weather conversation skills is to check out our can do lesson pathway this series of lessons teaches you how to talk about the weather in your target language number three give compliments compliments are a great way to start a conversation you can compliment something about your conversation partner city country or something specific to them personally hey your bag is super cute or that ice cream looks delicious these kinds of compliments can lead to further conversation about what you complimented in this case it could be fashion or a local restaurant this is a great way to make quick connections with people number four ask for help for example you can ask for directions ask about prices or request recommendations for restaurants or shopping spots and let the conversation go from there people are usually happy to lend a helping hand to tourists who are visiting their city number five learn phrases for transactions this can include getting a room at a hotel or telling a taxi driver where to go when you're traveling overseas you'll need to talk to other people in your target language and while this might be a bit scary at first you'll find that the people you meet are just happy that you're trying to communicate with them so get started talking in your target language now for even more tips on how to start conversations check out our complete language learning program sign up for your free lifetime account by clicking on the link in the description get tons of resources to have you speaking in your target language and if you enjoyed these tips hit the like button share the video with anyone who's trying to learn a new language and subscribe to our channel we release new videos every week i'll see you next time bye [Music] hi everyone i'm alicia welcome to conversational phrases we've found that the best way to learn a language is to speak it from day one and the best way to start speaking is to learn phrases that you'll use in real conversations in this lesson you'll learn conversational phrases to ask and answer the question how do you say this after watching this video you'll be able to ask someone how a word is pronounced and if you want to learn more vocabulary phrases and example sentences you can use in real life situations click the link in the description to download your how to say something pdf cheat sheet for free now let's take a look at some conversational phrases listen to the dialogue how do you say this it's parking lot listen to it again how do you say this it's parking lot first of all you'll need to learn how to say how do you say this that's how do you say this listen to it again how do you say this how do you say this now how do you answer this question the pattern is it's word for example it's parking lot it's parking lot it's parking lot here are a few useful words you can use with the same pattern parking lot parking lot parking lot giraffe giraffe giraffe travel travel travel invasion invasion invasion let's look at some examples listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers how do you say this it's giraffe how do you say this it's travel how do you say this it's invasion okay now it's your turn do you remember how to say how do you say this how do you say this imagine it's the word giraffe do you remember how to say giraffe giraffe giraffe say it's giraffe it's giraffe now answer the question saying it's giraffe how do you say this it's giraffe now imagine the word is travel do you remember how to say travel travel travel say it's travel it's travel now answer the question saying it's travel how do you say this it's travel now imagine the word is invasion do you remember how to say invasion invasion invasion say its invasion it's invasion now answer the question saying it's invasion how do you say this it's invasion want to speak real english from your first lesson sign up for your free lifetime account at englishclass101.com want to speak your target language with confidence and impress native speakers when learning to speak a new language you have lots of things to think about including grammar vocabulary and pronunciation because you're thinking of all of these things and trying to speak it can be difficult to communicate with confidence especially in the beginning this is why it's helpful to make confidence building exercises part of your language learning process in this video you'll learn seven ways to boost your confidence one read out loud this might seem pretty basic but it's a great way to practice speaking reading aloud lets you practice speaking without having to think about grammar or things to talk about reading out loud lets you focus on your pronunciation and the rhythm of the language it can help you learn to speak more smoothly and quickly without even thinking about it if you're using our lessons read the dialogue out loud as you listen you can read along with the dialogue tool the lesson notes or the transcript two read like a child this might sound strange but think about children learning to read they go slow and sound everything out maybe it takes two or three tries before they read a new word smoothly and a few more tries before they can read it at a natural pace this example applies to language learning too if you find a complex sentence in something you're reading read it slowly at first then speed up with practice you'll be able to say it easily it might feel a bit silly to speak very slowly but this kind of practice can help you identify tough sounds you might miss or say incorrectly when reading quickly three use the dialog breakdown tool if you're using our site this is a great tool to take advantage of it breaks down lesson conversations into individual lines you can listen to the audio for each line learn what each line means and can re-read and review as much as you want four use the voice recorder to record and compare yourself with native speakers just click on the microphone icon next to each line in the dialog section you can use this tool to perfect your pronunciation if you like but this is also something you can use to work on speaking with confidence at native level speed you'll find this tool in the dialog section of all of our lessons five repeat and review old lesson conversations reviewing what you've studied in the past is the best way to make sure you maintain what you've learned go back to older lessons download the lesson dialogue tracks and re-listen to the conversations again and again or you can re-read the dialogue lines from previous lessons until you've mastered them all 6. shadow conversations repeat what you hear out loud this tactic is important but it can be tricky when you're doing a brand new lesson if you're reviewing dialogues from lessons you've done though it's super easy to do just listen to the dialogue and repeat what you hear shadowing means mimicking the speaker as soon as they speak following their intonation and rhythms as closely as possible seven send recordings to your premium plus teacher if you want to speak with confidence there's no better confidence boost than feedback from a native speaker and you get just that with a premium plus teacher you can record yourself reciting a lesson dialogue or any dialogue of your own and your teacher will give you specific tips on how to improve from the tips your teacher gives you choose at least one and practice practice practice being able to react quickly and with confidence in a conversation is typically not something you can do on your first try but if you continue practicing you'll gradually find yourself speaking with ease and for even more ways to build your speaking confidence check out our complete language learning program sign up for your free lifetime account by clicking on the link in the description get tons of resources to have you speaking in your target language and if you enjoyed these tips hit the like button share the video with anyone who's trying to learn a new language and subscribe to our channel we release new videos every week i'll see you next time bye [Music] hi everyone i'm alicia welcome to conversational phrases we've found that the best way to learn a language is to speak it from day one and the best way to start speaking is to learn phrases that you'll use in real conversations in this lesson we'll learn conversational phrases to answer the question what's your favorite number after watching this video you'll be able to say many numbers and ask someone their favorite number and if you want to learn more vocabulary phrases and example sentences you can use in real life situations click the link in the description to download your talking about numbers pdf cheat sheet for free now let's take a look at some conversational phrases listen to the dialogue what's your favorite number it's seven listen to it again what's your favorite number it's seven first of all you'll need to learn how to say what's your favorite number that's what's your favorite number listen to it again what's your favorite number what's your favorite number now how do you answer this question the pattern is it's number for example it's seven it's seven it's seven here are a few more numbers you can use with the same pattern seven seven seven two two two four four 4 9 9 9. let's look at some examples listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers what's your favorite number it's two what's your favorite number it's four what's your favorite number it's nine okay now it's your turn do you remember how to say what's your favorite number what's your favorite number imagine it's two do you remember how to say two two two say it's two it's two now answer the question saying it's two what's your favorite number it's two now imagine it's four do you remember how to say four four four say it's four it's four now answer the question by saying it's four what's your favorite number it's four now imagine it's nine do you remember how to say nine nine nine say it's nine it's nine now answer the question saying it's nine what's your favorite number it's nine want to speak real english from your first lesson sign up for your free lifetime account at englishclass101.com want to speak and understand more of your target language if so of course you'll need to know more words and phrases than you do now in this video we'll cover five ways to master new words and phrases fast number one use our free vocabulary list this is a free library of vocabulary and phrase lessons for all kinds of situations you can learn words and phrases for current events holidays like halloween and thanksgiving and useful topics like the top 10 ways to say hello conversational phrases and more you'll learn phrases that you won't find in textbooks if you want to learn extra fast use the slideshow tool just tap or click on view slideshow then sit back and review the words and phrases find the vocabulary list in the vocabulary drop down menu on the site these vocabulary lists are free for all users number two take the audio and video lessons one of the best ways to learn new words is by hearing and using them in conversations this is because it gives you the opportunity to understand how the words are actually used in every lesson dialogue you'll likely come across some words you don't know but don't worry because our teachers translate everything when you hear the conversation again at the end of the lesson you'll be familiar with the words you didn't know at first number three learn with our 2000 most common words list a quick question how many words do you think you need for conversational fluency three thousand five thousand it's actually not as many as you think language experts say you need about one thousand 500 words to reach conversational fluency with our 2000 most common words list you'll get access to key vocabulary words you need to boost your conversation skills the words are broken down into simple categories such as adjectives nouns verbs food drinks numbers months and so on so you can go category by category and focus on what you're most interested in first with this tip we're not talking about paper flash cards we're talking about the smart flash cards that you can find in our premium study tools this is an automatic system individualized for each member based on their study needs first you'll use the cards to check your knowledge then according to your answers the cards will be sorted according to which words you need more practice with words that you struggle with will be shown to you more and more you'll see words that you know well less often this system helps you study more efficiently it displays the words you need to work on and knows when you should refresh your knowledge this helps make sure you don't forget vocabulary in every study session these cards will help you refresh your memory on the words you learned last time and introduce new words number five use the words after you learn a new word using it right away is crucial to remembering it so when you're done with a lesson or a vocab list here's something you can do leave a comment make up a sample sentence and post it in the comment section write it down in a notebook or shadow the word with a lessons dialogue our language learning program is full of tools that can help you speak more just pick one and get started if you want to unlock all of these study tools check out our complete language learning program sign up for your free lifetime account by clicking on the link in the description get tons of resources to have you speaking in your target language and if you enjoyed these tips hit the like button share the video with anyone who's trying to learn a new language and subscribe to our channel we release new videos every week i'll see you next time bye [Music] hi everyone i'm alicia welcome to conversational phrases we've found that the best way to learn a language is to speak it from day one and the best way to start speaking is to learn phrases that you'll use in real conversations in this lesson we'll learn conversational phrases to answer the question what kind of movies do you like after watching this video you'll be able to talk about movies and ask other people about their favorite kinds of movies and if you want to learn more vocabulary phrases and example sentences you can use in real life situations click the link in the description to download your talking about movies and tv pdf cheat sheet for free now let's take a look at some conversational phrases to the dialogue what kind of movies do you like i like horror movies listen to it again what kind of movies do you like i like horror movies first of all you'll need to learn how to say what kind of movies do you like that's what kind of movies do you like listen to it again what kind of movies do you like what kind of movies do you like now how do you answer this question the pattern is i like type of movie movies for example i like horror movies i like horror movies i like horror movies here are a few more kinds of movies you can use with the same pattern to talk about movies horror horror horror comedy comedy comedy fantasy fantasy fantasy romance romance romance let's look at some examples listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers what kind of movies do you like i like comedy movies what kind of movies do you like i like fantasy movies what kind of movies do you like i like romance movies okay now it's your turn do you remember how to say what kind of movies do you like what kind of movies do you like imagine you like comedies do you remember how to say comedy comedy comedy say i like comedies i like comedy movies now answer the questions saying that you like comedies what kind of movies do you like i like comedy movies now imagine that you like fantasy movies do you remember how to say fantasy fantasy fantasy say i like fantasy movies i like fantasy movies now answer the questions saying you like fantasy movies what kind of movies do you like i like fantasy movies now imagine you like romance movies do you remember how to say romance romance romance say i like romance movies i like romance movies now answer the questions saying you like romance movies what kind of movies do you like i like romance movies hi everyone i'm alicia welcome to conversational phrases we've found that the best way to learn a language is to speak it from day one and the best way to start speaking is to learn phrases that you'll use in real conversations in this lesson you'll learn conversational phrases to answer the question what are you doing during the holiday after watching this video you'll be able to talk about your holiday plans and if you want to learn more vocabulary phrases and example sentences you can use in real life situations click the link in the description to download your national holidays pdf cheat sheet for free now let's take a look at some conversational phrases listen to the dialogue what are you doing for fourth of july i'm planning to go to the beach listen to it again what are you doing for 4th of july i'm planning to go to the beach first of all you'll need to learn how to say what are you doing for the 4th of july that's what are you doing for 4th of july independence day also known as 4th of july celebrates the american declaration of independence from the kingdom of great britain in 1776. listen to it again what are you doing for 4th of july what are you doing for 4th of july now how do you answer this question the pattern is i'm planning to plan i'm planning to plan for example i'm planning to go to the beach i'm planning to go to the beach i'm planning to go to the beach here are a few more phrases you can use with the same pattern to talk about your plans go to the beach go to the beach go to the beach travel travel travel stay home stay home stay home go to the movies go to the movies go to the movies let's look at some examples listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers what are you doing for 4th of july i'm planning to travel what are you doing for 4th of july i'm planning to stay home what are you doing for 4th of july i'm planning to go to the movies okay now it's your turn do you remember how to say what are you doing for the 4th of july what are you doing for fourth of july imagine you're planning to travel do you remember how to say travel travel travel say i'm planning to travel i'm planning to travel now answer the question saying you're planning to travel what are you doing for 4th of july i'm planning to travel now imagine you're planning to stay home do you remember how to say stay home stay home stay home say i'm planning to stay home i'm planning to stay home now answer the questions saying you're planning to stay home what are you doing for 4th of july i'm planning to stay home now imagine you're planning to go to the movies do you remember how to say go to the movies go to the movies go to the movies say i'm planning to go to the movies i'm planning to go to the movies now answer the question saying you're planning to go to the movies what are you doing for 4th of july i'm planning to go to the movies want to speak real english from your first lesson sign up for your free lifetime account at englishclass101.com when learning a new language everyone should have an ultimate goal to work towards whether you want to be able to connect with a relative easily order food while traveling or go somewhere new having an end goal for your learning can be very motivating a popular but challenging goal is being able to speak like a native speaker it's difficult to measure exactly when you reach this goal and it's not something you can pick up using textbooks alone so how do you work on making your speech more natural that's what we're going to look at today here are three tips to help you practice talking like a native speaker number one focus on vocabulary if your goal is to speak like a native you might be really focused on speaking quickly or using as many complex grammar patterns as possible but in our native languages we're not always trying to speak as fast as possible and we use complex grammar patterns when necessary not to show off vocabulary however is extremely important to expressing ourselves naturally your choice of words can reveal a lot about you and your understanding of the language most learners have had the experience of using a phrasebook or a dictionary to find a word they want to use trying the word in conversation and getting a look of confusion from the native speaker in some cases although your word choice may be grammatically correct the word may be inappropriate for the situation or totally unnatural this is especially important in business and other formal situations where the right level of formality and professionalism is key being able to understand nuances and vocabulary words can also help you understand relationships between people just by listening to the conversation try to listen to many different types of conversations listen to how people talk to their friends their superiors and in customer service situations this will give you a better idea of how to talk to others naturally in some languages you can omit words from sentences or use more direct communication styles it's important to be aware of these things so you can apply them yourself colloquialisms and slang are also commonly used in most languages as this sort of vocabulary is always evolving it can be difficult to keep up with the latest words talk with native speakers and consume media in your target language to make sure you pick up these kinds of expressions media is a great resource for your learning ultimately knowing the appropriate vocabulary to use for each situation will really help you sound more knowledgeable number two perfect your accent with every language there are unique pronunciation and intonation challenges some languages are tonal languages and a change in pitch can completely change the meaning of a word then there's the fact that most countries have multiple dialects and so people from one area of the country may sound different from those in another so what is the best way to listen to a wide range of accents and different pronunciations video and audio resources are a great way to do this youtube is a perfect place to start because people from all kinds of different backgrounds upload videos to the platform you can watch educational videos daily life vlogs cooking shows a travel series whatever interests you pay attention to the different ways people speak everyone is unique and then practice speaking like them this kind of practice can help you sound more natural one note please be aware of the type of resources you're using for example if you find a video where a speaker uses a rare dialect it might not be a good idea to use that for your pronunciation practice unless you have a special reason for studying a specific accent as a general rule it's best to try to search for practice resources that use a standard form of the language you're studying number three copy what you hear do you remember how you learned to speak as a child we rarely learned new words just listening to them or reading after we learned how when we were little kids we imitated the sounds we heard by repeating the sounds out loud while you're talking to a friend watching videos or listening to audio in your target language you can do this to try and replicate the way they speak doing this will help you work on mastering the flow of the language your accent intonation and pronunciation of course you might also pick up some new vocabulary this way make sure to repeat new words often it's a great way to make sure you remember them try doing this using a number of different mediums and sources that way you'll be exposed to the diversity that the language offers and master the fundamentals of pronunciation for example you can watch and imitate several different youtube videos and audio cds but try a few different sources like different creators or different audio types to make sure you experience a wide range of communication in your target language if you're using our language learning program you can even get your own teacher with premium plus your teacher can answer questions give assignments and even listen to your recordings and give you advice on pronunciation completing these kinds of lessons with a native teacher can really boost your confidence in your speaking skills becoming able to speak like a native is a popular goal for many people learning a new language it feels great to be able to communicate smoothly especially when the people you're talking to expect basic level sentences or broken communication try using the tips we've shared in this video to work on improving your speaking skills of course it'll take time and persistence but the reward will be more natural communication and for even more tips on speaking check out our complete language learning program sign up for your free lifetime account by clicking on the link in the description get tons of resources to have you speaking in your target language and if you enjoyed these tips hit the like button share the video with anyone who's trying to learn a new language and subscribe to our channel we release new videos every week i'll see you next time bye hi everyone i'm alicia welcome to conversational phrases we've found that the best way to learn a language is to speak it from day one and the best way to start speaking is to learn phrases that you'll use in real conversations in this lesson you'll learn conversational phrases to use when talking on the phone after watching this video you'll be able to ask for someone on the phone and to put someone on hold and if you want to learn more vocabulary phrases and example sentences you can use in real life situations click the link in the description to download your making a phone call pdf cheat sheet for free now let's take a look at some conversational phrases listen to the dialogue hello i'd like to speak with the person in charge okay just a moment listen to it again hello i'd like to speak with the person in charge okay just a moment first of all you'll need to learn how to say hello on the phone that's hello hello then you'll need to learn how to say i'd like to speak with person the pattern is i'd like to speak with person for example hello i'd like to speak with the person in charge hello i'd like to speak with the person in charge hello i'd like to speak with the person in charge now how do you answer this question okay just a moment listen to it again okay just a moment okay just a moment here are a few more phrases you can use with the same pattern to talk on the phone the person in charge the person in charge the person in charge a sales representative a sales representative a sales representative the manager the manager the manager customer service customer service customer service let's look at some examples listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers i'd like to speak with a sales representative okay just a moment i'd like to speak with the manager okay just a moment i'd like to speak with customer service okay just a moment okay now it's your turn do you remember how to say i'd like to speak with person i'd like to speak with person and how do you answer it okay just a moment imagine you want to talk to a sales representative do you remember how to say a sales representative a sales representative a sales representative say i'd like to speak with a sales representative i'd like to speak with a sales representative now say you want to talk to a sales representative and answer it i'd like to speak with a sales representative okay just a moment now imagine you want to talk to the manager do you remember how to say the manager the manager the manager say i'd like to speak with the manager i'd like to speak with the manager now say you want to talk to the manager and answer it i'd like to speak with the manager okay just a moment now imagine you want to talk to customer service do you remember how to say customer service customer service customer service say i'd like to speak with customer service i'd like to speak with customer service now say you want to talk to customer service and answer it i'd like to speak with customer service okay just a moment want to speak real english from your first lesson sign up for your free lifetime account at englishclass101.com want to finally start speaking in your target language in this guide you'll discover the top 7 ways to practice speaking on your own with our lessons let's begin number one shadowing shadowing is a proven learning technique where all you do is repeat what you hear in order to practice speaking so access any audio or video lesson on the site and press the play button to start then as you listen or watch just repeat the conversations or even easier read along out loud with the dialogue section the script is right there in front of you with our lessons you can master entire conversations just like that number two read out loud i just mentioned it but reading out loud is another powerful tactic and deserves its own mention with every lesson you get written transcripts and translations so as you play the lesson read the dialogue out loud as you hear it why by reading out loud you're also practicing your speaking skills you can do this with the lesson notes the lesson transcript or the dialog tool with the dialog tool you can listen to each line again and again and repeat out loud until you master them all number three speed up your reading to speed up your speaking being able to speak without thinking is a sign of language mastery if you're talking to a native and can respond quickly they'll assume that you're fairly fluent how can you do this when you read out loud try increasing your speed a little bit every time so start by reading with a dialog tool if you're like most learners you'll read the first line slowly that's because you're still getting used to the words which is okay re-read it on your second try you know most of the words and you'll read a little faster re-read it again on your third try you'll be even faster at a native speaker's speed and being able to read these phrases out loud and fast will help you speak fast number four record and compare yourself with native speakers in order to sound like a native speaker you must imitate native speakers so here's how access the voice recorder which is in the dialog study tool in every lesson click on the microphone icon listen to the native speaker's audio and then record yourself you can then compare the two recordings side by side and practice and try again and again until you perfect your pronunciation number five get feedback from our premium plus teacher if you're learning by yourself and don't have access to real teachers then you can always get feedback from our premium plus teachers with the my teacher tool you can record yourself speaking and send the audio file to the teacher they'll review it and tell you what to improve and how that's it number six level up your speaking with premium plus assignments with premium plus you can also get assignments that cover reading writing listening and even speaking from your teacher these assignments can be tailored to your goals and needs you get a new one every week or anytime you're ready for a new one number seven get even more lessons in the lesson library if you want even more lessons on speaking and conversations visit our lesson library and under category choose conversation you'll get all of the pathways and lessons that are focused on speaking if you enjoyed these tips hit the like button share it with anyone who's trying to learn a language and subscribe to our channel we release new videos every week and if you're ready to finally learn language the fast fun and easy way and start speaking from your very first lesson get our complete learning program sign up for your free lifetime account right now click the link in the description i'll see you next time bye [Music] welcome to our first ever evening edition of this series because the sound in the original video is destroyed hi everybody welcome back to ask alicia the weekly series where you ask me questions and i answer them maybe first question this week first question this week comes from patrick hi patrick patrick says i know the basic english words and i understand if someone speaks in english for example i understand your videos perfectly but i have problems building correct english sentences like when i speak with another person do you have any tips for how to build correct sentences i think that this just comes with practice honestly it's difficult to do but i know that there's not always a person that you can ask for help i will tell you a secret when i don't have confidence with something when i don't know how to answer something this is what i do i google it seriously just google it i put quotation marks around like the phrase that i'm trying to make and then i search google for it and if it's there great then that means i can use it maybe like thousands of people have used that phrase i know it's probably a common phrase if there are no results then that probably means i've made a mistake somehow so that's maybe one good way to help you as you try to build phrases by yourself so try that out next question next question comes from huang se na i love your name alicia is alisha a common name in the u.s i happen to have a friend named alyssa also what's your personal favorite name um a common name in the u.s alicia i don't i don't think alicia is so common in the u.s and when i was growing up i didn't have any other friends named alicia also the spelling of my name is a little strange usually it's spelled a-l-i-c-i-a maybe you know the artist alicia keys that's how she spells her name so my name was commonly confused as alicia a lot so i've heard like alison and alyssa and ally and so on those are fairly common i think but alicia especially my spelling is not so common actually so uh what's my favorite name uh my favorite name is obi-wan kenobi next question uh next question comes from long is the h sound not always pronounced when followed by another consonant for example wall hanger or come back home yes the h sound is often pronounced very uh softly it's quite difficult to pronounce all of these syllables clearly like in the example come back home it's quite difficult to say the h sound clearly so in those cases it's quite common to make the h sound quite soft like come back home next question romeo from vietnam hi again romeo romeo says hello alicia do native speakers say you aren't gonna blah blah blah or you're not gonna blah blah which contracted form is used more i think they're used equally like you can choose which you prefer me i think i usually say you're not gonna i probably use you are i can track the you are you're not gonna you're not gonna or you're not gonna do something i probably use you're not more often than you aren't gonna next question is from wagner wagner wagner wagner have you written any operas why do american people pronounce english class 101 instead of 101 or 101. oh this relates to uh like university and college level courses actually so um there are four levels to uh universities or to colleges in the us first year second year third year and fourth year so the classes for each of those are numbered so first your classes begin with one second year classes with two third year classes with three fourth year classes with four so first year classes like it tends to be like the basic classes uh begin with a one and like the most basic uh of those classes is usually 101 so like english class 101 that's kind of making like a friendly introduction to english in other words so we say 101. we always use that sort of um pattern when speaking we don't say 101 we always use 101 or like one two four or like three six seven i don't know what those classes are but we always say each individual number nice question though interesting next question is from danny would you tell us about here you are here you go there you are there you go and here there we you if they be go oh gosh okay i'll talk about the the ones that you introduce what do they mean and how do you use them naturally so let's talk first about here you are and here you go so we use these when we present someone with something so you give someone something here you are here you go like you are at a restaurant maybe your order arrives here you are uh here you go something like in a service situation you might hear this kind of from like a friendly staffish like staff related person i suppose here you are here you go or maybe from a teacher to a school child maybe here you go we use it to like present something to present an object that maybe they're expecting to receive let's talk then about there you go and there you are so we use there you go when someone is able to do a thing they've been practicing for a while so for example if a child is learning how to ride a bicycle and they've been struggling with it for some time but then gradually they get better at it and they can do it a parent might say oh there you go you got it you got it it's like a it's like a support word an encouragement word there you go the last one on your list though there you are in american english we use there you are in a situation where we're looking for someone we've been looking for someone we're expecting to meet and it's been difficult to find them maybe you visit a few different spots but then at last you find this person maybe like in a break room or some place you might not expect them but when you do find them and you say oh there you are we say it with that sort of intonation oh there you are it sounds immediately to the listener like oh this person has been looking for me next question next question is from l o j l o j lodge lodge l o j l o l o j says my question is about phrasal verbs what is the meaning of knocked out like here example sentence one knocked me out of my possession or two knocked the wind out of me i had a problem with the word possession knocked me out of my possession i'm not quite sure this could refer though to in a very rare situation we have this word possession which refers to like this thing called demonic possession where there's this idea that a bad spirit gets into the body and controls a person's behavior we call that possession so we could say like a priest knocked me out of my possession to go back to your original question though the word knock out as a phrasal verb to knock out means like it means forcefully or forcibly remove something because of some impact an object is removed from its original location so for example a jogger could be coming at me and they run into me and they knock my phone out of my hands so in that case my phone is being removed because of the impact of the jogger so to knock something out means like to remove from its original location from force in your second example then uh knocked the wind out of me this is an expression we use which means like to lose our breath because of an impact so um if you get like punched or kicked maybe in maybe this area uh you might feel the air in your lungs come out of your body so we call that the wind in this situation so um like he knocked the wind out of me means he caused me to lose the air in my lungs the impact was so strong in my body that the air came out of my out of my lungs so i like he knocked the wind so the wind in this case the air in my lungs in its original location was removed from me because of this impact you might also hear this expression in boxing to knock out uh or to to to ko someone means to cause them to lose consciousness in this case so consciousness is the thing that's uh that's going away in this case so to knock someone out in like a boxing match means they they lose consciousness in other words a ko we sometimes say the first example sentence is not actually so clear to me so it could it's also possible there's an error in the original text i don't know all right so those are all the questions that i want to answer this week thank you very much for sending your questions to me remember you can send them to me at englishclass101.com ask hyphen alicia thank you very much for watching this episode of ask alicia and i will see you again next week bye bye now i'm totally paranoid about my sound worker sound sound it's still working hi everybody my name is alicia and today i am joined again in the studio by michael hello and today we're going to be talking about things that were cool in the 90s or things that were interesting or things that maybe we were interested in in the 90s i'm guessing that we're going to have some very different opinions uh based on our experiences of the 90s so let's get right into it michael your first item please um okay boy bands so i remember boy bands were very very popular uh when i was a kid in the 90s i had three older brothers who would punch me and tell me boy bands are for girls don't like boy bands um so that was my experience with them and they became kind of uncool i feel like after the 90s and then they never were uncool in like korea and like a lot of asian countries they still had like a strong boy band kind of uh scene or whatever bands now is that really what they're called no i don't know i just mean i think i feel like boy there are boy bands that are now becoming boys to men maybe this so i mean now they came now it came back like what is the what's the british one now it's kind of cool again oh one direction one direction yeah so i think it's come back it's full circle didn't they just break up i'm gonna go with something that i loved in the 90s this is probably way too specific uh probably but it's this show called doug that was on nickelodeon and there weren't a whole lot of episodes of doug it was i don't know like 20 or 30 i feel like not even that many did you ever see this show yeah that's very nostalgic for me i don't 20 30 episodes i feel i feel like i had i'd seen them all so i i i know that i saw them all because it would come back it would come on one day after school and i'd be like i've seen this episode but the whole the whole idea with doug is doug was like this just this plain kid and he had an older sister he went to school he had a dog get a best friend and he would just encounter these everyday life scenarios that would be kind of troubling or he wouldn't know how to deal with them but like he was kind of a role model i feel like he was kind of being like a good kid um or sometimes he would get into trouble but then you know eventually he would solve the problem or he'd find a way out of it so but i really loved that show i really loved nickelodeon in general um during the 90s and yeah did you watch that channel yeah of course i loved nickelodeon um i think it was more like fox stuff like that but i guess i'll segue into another one of mine you're talking about wholesome so something that's my childhood i was raised on tv was sitcoms yeah so i think this has kind of died down again like the boy bands where it people think it's cheesy now it's all reality tv shows that kind of stuff but that's that is my childhood right there is you know full house and these kinds of shows step by step where there's a moral at the end of the story and so everyone there's always kind of like the the protagonist is always like maybe he's unsure but by the end they know the right thing to do and they play like the violin kind of sad not quite sad but like heartwarming music and then they're like well and then they give a speech and as a kid you know you don't really like think about it but that gets into your like i oh man deep because of full house if you lie i've learned this it's deep in my subconscious if you lie and then you keep lying it snowballs and it gets worse and worse and worse so it's best to just right away tell the truth that was a really common theme in most sitcoms i think that like they're just trying to teach kids don't lie it's bad you're right you're right sitcoms are huge and by the way sitcoms um is um is a portmanteau portmanteau meaning two words put together of situation and comedy so situation and comedy equals sitcom in this case okay nice nice um i'm gonna go to my next one um let's see i think probably every little girl in the 90s in america anyway knew what this was i don't know if you knew um it's this brand called lisa frank um lisa frank are you aware of lisa frank are you aware of lisa frank no okay she knows she knows that lisa frank is so lisa frank is um just bright it was always like brightly colored school supplies uh like pinks and purples and blues and it would always have unicorns and dolphins and mystical creatures it was just bright and everybody all the girls loved it i loved it i had lisa frank just whatever i could get my hands on it'd be pencils or erasers or just pinks and rainbows and hearts and stuff like that so i think every every girl who grew up in the 90s knows what lisa frank is ah okay so talking about style and whatnot grunge grunge is something that i that hits close to home for me and i think that came out of the 90s is um i mean everybody knows around the world i think most people know nirvana kurt cobain and this is something that i guess was brought to the world from seattle and it was a music genre and it was kind of it's like rock but sometimes slower almost emo kind of like sad usually undertones but anyways the style that came with it was the opposite of like the 80s and early 90s of really bright colors you know it was the opposite you just wear holy jeans you don't really shower that much you don't shave and like plaid and just really like dreary colors so that was really popular i at least i remember in like the early 90s like mid 90s yeah and it's as soon as i saw that card grunge i was like oh nirvana that's the first thing that comes to mind when i hear about when i hear a grunge i didn't get into the grunge scene though i was i was busy with boy bands but like grunge for me was never really i was aware i was aware of nirvana but i did not i was not of the nirvana mod okay i'm gonna go to a style point then too because you've read up a style point i'll put up bring up maybe um a female style point scrunchies uh still popular perhaps among some people what is a scrunchie a scrunchie let's see i don't have um so there's regular rubber bands that you can use to tie back long hair he's making an o shape with his hands yes this is a very descriptive very descriptive michael thank you so no i'm the prop and then you go like this there's like the i bet i bet there's an awesome video team somewhere in the somewhere that can put like a scrunchie like right here anyway um yeah a scrunchie it's just it's just a a piece of elastic with some kind of colorful cloth wrapped around it and it but when not in use you would go and it would scrunch i think i think this is why we call it a scrunchie but then when you pulled on it you could expand it a bit and wrap your hair up in it and then when you're finished doing that it would kind of close around it um i had a couple nintendo um anything any game related stuff i remember game boys anything handheld except when i was a kid it it wasn't like this fancy 3d high you know highly like vibrant colors it was like black and white and like you'd play it in the car and you had to squint and it hurts your head you know if you're playing too much you're getting like carsick and you're like you can barely see mario are you talking about game boy game boy or any like there was handheld too there was like atari and stuff like that and like sega sega was pretty good that would light up i was thinking about nes when you said nintendo i imagined my nes the one that like when it wasn't working correctly you could just pull the cassette out and put it back in so you put the cartridge in here right and sometimes if it was really stubborn and it didn't work you would blow into this part and you try it really doesn't make a difference but you would take turns like me and my brothers would be like no you want to be the one to get it to work so you take turns like no no let me let me let me and just by luck it would work you're like cc yeah no this is super nostalgic i love nintendo i have a game too pogs do you have pogs okay pogs are either are simultaneously the most brilliant game and the stupidest game ever invented they're just discs of cardboard about this size uh and on one side there's a picture and on the other side there's just nothing and then you had a thing called a slammer which was essentially just a heavy pog uh that you would use and you had to flip you had to use the slammer to flip the plain cardboard ones what i don't even know it was that stupid and forgettable of a game but it was like crazy when i was about i don't know like second or third grade or something everybody had pogs like we had pog gym days at my school i remember that excuse me america we're really obese let's go into the gym and sit there and smash cardboard pogs and like i was telling i was telling her before we started this like one day like my mom wanted me to get a haircut and i was just being stubborn and i wasn't having it i was in the mall i was like i want to get a haircut she's like i'll buy you pogs and she did it was like this giant tube of pogs and i was just so thrilled and i agreed to get my hair cut well that was a lot of things that was that were exciting and or popular and or we were into in the 90s what were you into in the 90s what was popular in your country i really have no idea what was popular around the world at that time maybe some of these things are similar please let us know in the comments i'm very interested to find out we read these by the way um any thoughts any other any closing thoughts about the 90s you're not going to sing a song for us oh that's copyright we can't do that just like blur that all out no that was that was very accurate so i'm sure we can use that very accurate i mean totally wrong clearly we're very good at talking about the 90s okay but uh we hope that you are too we hope that you learned something exciting about the 90s um that's all for us today thanks very much for watching and we will see you again soon bye welcome back to the internet hi everybody welcome back to ask alicia the weekly series where you ask me questions and i answer them maybe first question first question comes from ferris gazali faris gazali how do i stop translating the meaning of english words in my head i can tell you about the things that have helped me and maybe they'll help you i put myself in situations where i could not escape into my native language in my case i could not escape into english i would go out like for food and drinks with friends who could not speak english i had no choice but to use a different language with them two something that i've noticed some of my students do that actually kind of bothers me they bring a dictionary to their lesson and they'll stop conversations in lessons to check words in their dictionary and say a single word at a time instead of just trying to find a different way to explain that one it totally stops the flow of conversation two you don't have really the option to do that in a conversation most of the time you're not going to be carrying around your dictionary with you i hope unless it's in your phone i suppose third i think that this is a chance to develop a better skill instead of trying to translate into english or to translate into a different language you should think about finding a different way to explain the word you want to use let's say for example that you want to use the word beautiful but you can't remember the word how would you explain that so think about other ways to communicate an idea even if you don't have the vocabulary word so going to your dictionary shouldn't necessarily be the first course of action it shouldn't necessarily be your first step think about a different way to communicate the idea you're trying to communicate think of examples to explain the word you're looking for and then the other person can teach you like if you're working with somebody or you're talking with somebody who understands you're not a native speaker chances are if you can explain the word you're looking for they will tell you they will be your teacher i just explain like with body language sometimes too if i don't know a word so another thing that really helped me was not just studying vocabulary words but actually approaching things as phrases so not saying okay this word equals this word in my language but rather here's a phrase that communicates a meaning that is interesting to me or that i hear my friends use a lot i'm going to use that phrase so don't just input input input start outputting too so i hope that's helpful for you next question next question is from wang jiang ik hi hwangjang says i'm curious what do you do and your days off you want to know how to do my days off my days i'm pretty normal my days off i cook i go jogging i sleep i i go listen to my favorite djs i see my friends i eat and drink and watch tv that's about it i'm a pretty normal person next question next question is from muhammad sohail what is the difference between famous and popular great question famous is something that is well known many people know about that thing or that person beyonce is famous the statue of liberty is famous the eiffel tower is famous popular however means many people know about it and it is liked it has a positive image so like beyonce is popular or like a famous candy is popular like chocolate cake is popular it's a famous food and many people like it so popular is famous plus like a positive image sometimes we can use those two words for the same thing so beyonce is famous beyonce is popular but famous doesn't always mean they are popular so someone can be famous for a bad thing in that case though it's typically better to use the word infamous infamous infamous means famous for a bad reason so famous for something negative next question next question comes from oh you wrote the pronunciation of your name very nice itan iton i think okay hey alicia i hope you're well uh my level is intermediate they feel that they're stuck at the intermediate level and want to reach the advanced level they're watching lots of videos on youtube reading academic articles on the web but still feel that progress has somehow stopped could you give me some advice okay you say in your message that you feel your progress somehow has stopped i have been here too the intermediate plateau like you begin learning a language and it's like yeah i'm learning all these things and then you kind of like plateau you get to a level where things don't continue and you feel like progress goes much more slowly i would say in this case first identify how you feel your progress has stopped by that i mean like do you feel like uh your vocabulary is lacking or do you find that it's hard to listen to people and to understand what they're saying do you find it's hard to write um is it hard to to like to read things so first identify what is that thing that you feel like you're not good at and then start to approach your further studies with that as the focus i think that if you can think about your different skill sets your different levels in reading writing speaking and listening you can identify which of those four things is weakest for you and start there so when you feel your progress has stopped think like okay what am i not good at doing and then focus your time there so maybe that's a helpful first step for you hope that helps next question next question comes from kiara chiara kiara kiara dr asks uh i'll help you studying and i'll help you to study what is the correct one thanks i'll help you something i'll help you do this so just the regular plain form of the verb i would suggest is probably the most natural choice thanks for the question though next quest john next question comes from sheriff sheriff ahmed sheriff ahmed okay should i use the singular or plural verb after colloquial names for example my team have won the match or has won the match ah okay in this case my team has won the match my team has won the match so use the singular form of the verb like same as like he has or she has my team has is the correct answer here next question next question comes from jeffrey hi jeffrey jeffrey asks sometimes i watch movies and some characters say you wish with a very angry attitude or i wish in other situations what do these two sentences mean and how do i use it aha interesting question okay when someone responds with you wish to a negative suggestion it's like they're mutually together they're recognizing that they don't like each other so usually the first character will say something like make a negative suggestion like you should uh you should leave town and get a different job like leave us alone something like that and then the other character will say yeah you wish like yes this this character recognizes you want me to do that yes but i'm not going to do that in other words so it's sort of like a challenge so this person says like this negative suggestion the other person recognizes this suggestion says no i'm not going to do that but i know you want me to do that so you wish in this way means it's like a negative challenge they're kind of fighting recognizing they dislike each other so that's one the other one what was the other one so i wish we talked about i wish in the previous the previous episode of ask alicia so please check that out but essentially i wish refers to something that we cannot do now or something that is different from the present situation but we want we want to happen or we want to be able to do so please check the last episode of ask alicia for more about i wish like the positive meaning next question next question is from romeo lou from vietnam hello romeo could you please explain what the expression try as i may means ah this is usually used in an expression that's sort of negative like even though i'm trying my best it's difficult for me to do this thing so try as i may i just can't get a new job or try as i may i just can't earn that much money or try as i may i just can't seem to cook this dish for example so even though i'm giving my best effort even though i'm really working hard this other thing just isn't happening for me so it's sort of like it's sort of like a sad or like a disappointed or um unhappy expression actually thanks for the question romeo okay so those are all the questions for this week's episode of ask alicia i hope that they were useful for you if you would like to submit a question remember you can send them to me at englishclass101.com ask hyphen alicia thanks very much for watching this episode of ask alicia and i will see you again next week bye bye i talk too much i'm late for work want to speak real english from your first lesson sign up for your free lifetime account at englishclass101.com i have purchased a microphone what can you do with a new mic hi everybody my name is alicia welcome back to ask alicia the weekly series on our youtube channel where you ask me questions and i answer them maybe so please remember you can submit your questions to me at englishclass101.com ask alicia first question a lot of you have asked about what to do to get a voice that sounds like mine when i'm making these videos i'm specifically trying to speak clearly so i'm clearly separating my words the way that i talk with my friends and the way that i talk regularly is a bit different in the way that i talk on this channel but if you want to try to get this kind of pronunciation the best advice i have is just to repeat this kind of pronunciation it depends on your goal if you want to learn to speak like me or to speak like somebody else that you really admire you should try to mimic them that's what i do and that's actually a strategy that i use when i study other languages as well so if i hear something interesting that a a vocabulary word that a friend has used like in japanese for example or they have a really good intonation or just the way they deliver the way they say something is really uh interesting to me or i want to i want to be able to use that too i put that in my head i think about that and then i try to replicate that i try to copy that essentially to make this explanation shorter mimic mimic if you want to learn to speak like me mimic me if you want to learn to speak like somebody else try to mimic someone else but just keep in mind that the way that i talk in these videos is different from the way that i talk in real life next question what does the word lit mean what does the word lit mean lit is actually a slang word it's common slang among young people especially in the us right now maybe many of you know that the verb to light has the past tense uh lit lit is used to talk about for example a party or some kind of social gathering usually that's really exciting or that's really really fun or that's kind of crazy so lit using the past tense there you can kind of imagine that like a fire when you light a fire it maybe it gets bigger and it gets kind of wild a little bit crazy like there's a spark and then it starts so if you see the word lit like this party was lit it means it was really crazy it was really good it was really fun uh you can use it if you want but just keep in mind that really young people use that word i don't use that word for reference but again i'm not cool next question what is correct i thought you were gone or i thought you are gone i thought you are gone we need to use i thought you were gone here i thought you were gone so i thought past tense and you were is also past tense it's a past tense thought past tense situation um so please use past tense next question also maybe about were and was why do we use if i were and not if i was uh this is a great question and actually a lot of native speakers make mistakes with this it's a small point to be fair but if you want to be correct you should always use if i were this is a grammar point uh it refers to the subjunctive mood the subjunctive mood an explanation of subjunctive is a bit beyond the scope it's a bit much for this video um but we will always use if i were when the subject there is i in the conditional if i were we always use work you will hear native speakers say if i was if i was if you want to be extremely strict and extremely nitpicky were is actually the correct one but if you use was if you make a mistake and you use was you will still be understood so um but yes this is related to the subjunctive mood in english next question okay next one isn't really a question but something i have noticed that many of you do you like to put the article uh or an before your adjective before an adjective but you forget to use a noun do you know how like mario introduces himself and he says it's a me when you forget to use some kind of noun after after your adjective or whatever but you sound a bit like mario's it's a nice it's a nice it's a nice what it's funny to me like it's an eye so it's a me you need to include the noun that you're referring to it's a nice video or it's a nice explanation it's nice or it's bad or it's good or this was a nice explanation but don't forget to use your noun after you use the adjective it's a nice something it's a good something it's a bad something so please no article without a noun make sure to use your noun and it should be in the singular form if you're using a or m you need to use the singular form of the noun don't sound like mario next question what does it mean they can't take that away from me who are they and what does takeaway mean we use the word they to mean generally just other people outside of us this is used a lot to talk about like news or to talk about general opinions they say that this pizza is the best pizza in the city right now they say that your english will only improve if you study every day they say that the most difficult thing you can do in your life is move to another country they is just anyone second point what does take away mean take away means to some object that belongs in one location is removed from that location like take away food in american english we use take out actually but take away food is a similar idea especially like in british english takeaway so you take away your food from the restaurant so you're taking something else you're removing your food from the restaurant so in the expression they can't take that away from me they meaning other people outside you can't take something away from you next one what does the phrase don't be a creep don't be a creep me i think michael talked about this on an old english topics video so i talked in a live stream about the word creepy adjective creepy so something that causes like nervous suspense is something that's creepy the word creep is used as a noun don't be a creep a person who is creepy a guy can be a creep a girl can be a creep so a creep is someone who causes creepy feelings like oh something bad might happen i feel nervous like that person's a little strange a little weird that person is a creep he's a creep she's a creep so don't be a creep means you should not behave like a creep don't create nervous feelings in the other person don't be a creepy person don't be a creep everybody that's good advice don't be a creep don't be agree try to be a nice and understanding um and respectful person always next question oh that was my last one for this week all right so those are my favorite questions or the questions that i wanted to talk to you about this week i hope that those are some useful points for you and if you have any questions please feel free to let me know at englishclass101.com ask alicia that's where you can submit your questions to me it makes it very easy for me to check and see all the questions in one place so definitely check that out i think you can sign in with your regular english class 101.com account and submit as many questions as you want and then i'll choose what i like and what i want to talk about and of course if a lot of you ask the same question i'll i'll definitely try to answer that too so please check that out englishclass101.com ask alicia thanks very much for watching this episode of ask alicia and i'll see you again next week bye one of the things i can do with my microphone i wonder i feel like i had some ideas for this when i was laying in bed last night and now i've forgotten them all oh now i can take my videos on the road making like a golf reporter uh yes the ball the ball is rolling why am i russian i'm a russian golf reporter now oh maybe i'll be a beatboxer how do you do that hi everyone i'm bridget and welcome to today's lesson today's topic is 10 ways to say hello in english good morning good morning is the first thing you say to someone when you see them in the morning good morning sir would you like a cup of coffee good morning could i please get some orange juice good morning i'm still tired from the night before hello hello is the most common greeting you'll hear that and hi hello is a polite nice way to greet someone when you see them hello everyone says it you cannot go wrong saying hello hello can be used at any time of the day no matter whether it's morning or at night or at 4 am when you see someone you can say hello and it will still be appropriate long time no see long time no see it's not necessarily grammatically correct but it's a saying that we have hey long time no see what it means is that you haven't seen that person in a long time so it literally means long time no c long time no c is something you say to someone when you haven't seen them in a while hey john long time no see how are the wife and kids how have you been hey how have you been i haven't seen you in a long time how have you been is asking someone how they're doing and how they've been for the past however long if you haven't seen them in a while you might say hey long time no see how have you been how have you been that's past tense it implies that you haven't seen them in a while and you want to hear about how they are and how they've been for all of that time that you haven't seen them hey long time no see how have you been how are you how are you means how are you doing how are you feeling how is everything it's a standard thing that you might say to anyone even if you've seen them the day before you might see them today and say hey how are you how's it going hey how's it going how is it going is a more informal way to say how are you so how are you and how's it going they mean the same thing it's asking how you're doing how you are feeling is everything okay with you what's up what's up is another way of saying hey how is it going but this one is even more informal so you might say this to friends hey what's up and they'll say nothing just living my life you know day in and day out hey what's up hey what's up good afternoon good afternoon how are you would you like some lunch good afternoon is a polite way to greet someone in the afternoon so if you run into your boss you might say good afternoon it's very nice it's polite not a lot of people say it to their friends but it's it's a polite way to greet someone good evening good evening is a nice way to greet someone in the evening time you can only use this phrase in the evening because it's wishing someone a good evening it's saying hello at a certain time of day good evening would you like some dinner good evening have you eaten yet all of my examples involve food it seems it's nice to meet you it's nice to meet you this is something that's very common to say the first time that you meet someone you might shake their hand and say hi it's nice to meet you my name is bridget my name is it's telling that person that you are happy to be meeting them it's a pleasure to meet them hi it's nice to meet you that brings us to the end of this lesson 10 ways to say hello if you guys like the video please don't forget to give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel if you have any questions or comments leave them below and don't forget to go to englishclass101.com for more english hey everyone i'm paris from englishclass101.com in this video we're talking about how to ask and give directions let's start to the left to the left the first phrase is where is the where is the for example you can ask where is the bank this can be used to ask for a general location or detailed directions don't be surprised if you only receive basic information for example next to the grocery store the next phrase is i need to go to the i need to go to the for example you can say i need to go to the police station the word need is used but this is used for non-emergencies as well how do i get to the how do i get to the for example you can say how do i get to the museum this question can be used to ask for step-by-step directions instead of a general location is the near here is the near here for example you can say is the library near here if you're unfamiliar with an area you can ask to get this information about a specific place where you want to go is the bathroom near here excuse me do you know where the is excuse me do you know where the is for example you can say excuse me do you know where the park is only use excuse me when you're starting a conversation with a stranger another common phrase is is the far from here is the far from here for example you can say is the post office fraud from here this is an indirect way to ask for directions people will tell you how far the place is and probably tell you the best way to get there walking taking a bus driving uber now let's take a look at expressions to give directions turn left turn left for example you can say turn left after two blocks this gives you information about how far you should go before you make any changes in this case you should go left to the left to the left turn right turn right for example you can say turn right at the third traffic light this also gives you information about how far you should go before taking another action in this case you should go right go straight go straight this simply tells you to go in one direction it also implies that if you keep going straight that you will eventually find what you're looking for go past go past for example you can say go past the church a landmark is just an easily noticeable place for example a movie theater restaurant at the corner of at the corner of for example you can say it's at the corner of this means that a place is located at the corner where two streets meet in front of in front of for example you can say the bus station is in front of the supermarket we use front to refer to the main entrance of a building it can also mean visible from the front and doesn't necessarily mean it's directly in front of something behind behind for example you can say the parking lot is behind the movie theater we use behind to say that something is at the rear of a building the front of a building is its main entrance so which side it's facing the street is really not important next two next two for example you can say the restaurant is next to the park this is an example of using a non-specific location to give general directions next two can be anywhere beside in front of or around a place mcdonald's is next to my house between between for example you can say the store is between the coffee shop and the pet store between is used with two other places when using between the main place will always be in the middle of the two other places okay that's all for this lesson which phrase do you like the most leave us a comment and let us know and i'll see you next time guys bye hey guys i'm paris from english class 101 in this video we'll be talking about making complaints in english so let's get started the first complaint is i'm starving i'm starving this is an exaggeration you can use when you're hungry i am always starving even right now the next complaint is it's noisy it's noisy this kind of complaint is one that you would make to a friend telling the staff of a restaurant won't help since they can't tell people to be quiet i hate when it's noisy in restaurants save that for another time then we have it's hot it's hot this can be used to talk about the weather or the temperature of a room you can add a request like can you turn on the air conditioner i am never hot so i like that the next complaint is it's cold it's cold this can be used to talk about the weather or the temperature of a room you can add a request like can you turn on the heater i always make this request because it's always too cold everywhere everywhere it's too expensive it's too expensive even if you have enough money to buy something it may be more money than you want to spend it would probably be considered rude to say this to someone who works at a store but i always think okay i'm in gucci it's way too expensive another common complaint is i'm tired i'm tired use this complaint to imply that you want to sit down relax go home take a break when i babysit my five-year-old cousin i leave thinking i'm tired the next complaint is i gained weight i gained weight this is a self-criticism that implies that you want to lose weight many people say i got so fat i'm always broke i'm always broke use this to complain about never having enough money i am always broke because i always want more money the next complaint is my job is boring my job is boring this is a really common complaint used by people who don't think their jobs are very exciting usually it means that you want to find a different more fun job it's all right teachers your job isn't boring that person stinks that person stinks you can use stings to talk about a literal physical smell or a general insult meaning that you don't like how someone smells i hate when people smell on the bus not good not okay the next complaint is there's too much traffic there's too much traffic this is a common complaint among people who commute to work by car certain roads are especially bad during rush hour which is the time in the morning or night most people are going home or to work if i left at it was 7 p.m i would be here in 10 minutes but because it's daytime in la it took me 30 minutes to get here and i drive really really fast and it still took me 30 minutes the next complaint is the wi-fi here is too slow the wi-fi here is too slow this is just a general complaint you may have about the internet speed if you're at a cafe or somewhere with wi-fi you can request that they reset the wi-fi to improve the speed if you're having a party and you're having friends over and your wi-fi is too slow you might as well end that party now no wi-fi no party my boss is annoying my boss is annoying annoying can be used to mean that someone does things that you don't like or they ask you to do things that you don't like either way an annoying boss is a bad experience i am very familiar with this hey paris grab me coffee hey paris check my emails my boss is annoying but don't tell him i said that the pay is too low the pay is too low you can use this to complain about how much you make or to reject a job offer because it doesn't pay enough i'm a surgeon the pay is too low i don't like it i don't like it this is a very general complaint that can be used for almost anything what do i like posting a thousand selfies on instagram i don't like it okay that's it for this lesson which complaint do you like more leave us a comment and let me know and we'll see you next time bye oh no all right welcome back to weekly words my name is alicia and this week we are going to talk about commonly used onomatopoeia this is going to be a fun one we talked briefly about an onomatopoeia zoom in a previous episode of weekly words we're going to talk some more about some more talk some more about some more we're going to talk about more today the first word is beep oh beep beep is any kind of electronic sound or a car sound and was also in a popular american cartoon wiley coyote and the roadrunner the roadrunner would commonly say neat meat car sound will usually make a beep or a honk sound for electronics however the beep becomes a little bit more robotic we'll often see like beep beep beep beep so in a sentence let's say you have a computer problem you tell your friend the computer won't stop beeping at me what do i do next is the sound jingle jingle is any kind of light ringing sound this word gets used a lot in holiday seasons particularly christmas thanksgiving new year's any jingling sound is very commonly assigned to bells like the song jingle bells for example is a perfect example of this jingle is just the sound that a bell makes in a sentence let's see you might say she has a small bell attached to her phone so she jingles everywhere she walks it's really irritating okay the next word is thump a thump is for something to hit heavily to give an example the people who live in the apartment above me often thump on the floor it sounds like maybe they're dropping something heavy or they're stepping very heavily all right next is splash anything that falls into liquid lands in liquid makes a splash it's that sort of sound that comes from water or any other liquid really we refer to that as a splash sound there is also a popular tom hanks mermaid movie called splash this has nothing to do with that about him falling in love with a mermaid i made a big splash when i jumped into the swimming pool this summer that has kind of a double meaning oh mysterious next is blurt it means to say something quickly i blurted out the news as soon as i heard it like i blurted out the secret i couldn't hold it any longer it means you just say something without thinking to blurt the first part of the word what that blur sound it sounds like something is just kind of sort of slips out on accident and then the harsh blurt the t at the end is like a kind of a final like oh my gosh i've just said something i've slipped and then i've said something oh no i didn't think about that all right that's the end of that one so i hope you learned a few new onomatopias that you can try out next time thanks for joining us for weekly words and i will see you again next time bye bye hi everybody my name is alicia and i'm joined again in the studio by michael hello and today we're going to be talking about english conversation strategies so let's get right into it let's start with michael what is your first strategy for keeping an english conversation going this is very important don't say i'm fine thank you and you you hear this all the time from second language english learners or non-native speakers you learn this it's one of the first things you learn in an english class it's easy it's good it's basic it's foundation okay that's fine but as soon as you can switch it up because to me when i meet a foreigner and they come up and if they say hey how are you say oh i'm fine you know i'm good whatever how about you and they say i'm fine thank you and you and it's just it's almost robotic because i've said it so many times and when i hear that i think ah their english isn't that good and inside i'm just gonna be really polite and say hello and talk slowly and try to get out of there as quick as i can so really impress the foreigner in my opinion i think the best way to do it is say something you know use a big word or just like a slang word something like that when i hear that i go wow man i want to know what this person thinks i want to get their point of view and i'm really excited and then i've had great conversations because of that um yeah that's a really really good one and actually i think on this youtube channel actually from a couple years ago there's a video all about better answers to the question how are you then i'm fine thank you and you or if someone says hey how are you i'm good you are fine you never i'm fine thank you andy never but try to actually use you know a phrase that a native speaker would use and then that's a clue to the native speaker that oh maybe this person is ready for a conversation beyond you know basic english so that's a really good point i like that i didn't think of things not to do i only thought of things to do so okay cool um let's see let's go to my first one um so um this strategy in general is just ask the other person a question i think and i'm guilty of this too when i'm learning another language i tend to only get input like somebody else is always asking me the questions and then i forget myself to ask the other person a question so one question that i like to ask or you know a variation any kind of wh question is good like a who question what where um something like this if you've been paying attention you can use any way to transition in your conversation this was in a previous video you can ask something like anyway up to anything fun this weekend this is a pretty casual conversational question that you can ask just about anybody whether you've just met them or whether you've known them for a while but just just get in the habit of asking other people the question don't wait for someone else to ask you the question um so that that's one strategy that i try to use to keep things going yeah me too i agree and i'm going to say same-sies because actually two of my questions were exactly what you said agree 100 this is kind of cheating these should be one but so always ask questions so you know again you forget it's really easy i'm really guilty of this english non-english whatever i'm i'm guilty of this and the other thing is ask deep open-ended questions so if you ask a yes or no question so again like alicia was saying it just dead ends you can't just say you know do you like cheese yes or no right so you want to say what do you think about cheese what is your favorite kind and kind of open it up to something else and let it let it just kind of snowball right right yeah i think i think that that's that's really a key like i have another variation on it which i guess i'll just continue on to because it kind of relates to what you're talking about like he's saying always ask questions always ask deep open-ended questions so like you may you just said don't ask a yes or no question because yes or no ends with the yes or the no so one of the things that i'll do is use a pattern similar to this like hey did you see or hey did you hear about blah blah blah so you can use this little blah blah blah as your uh you can ask about the news uh you can ask about something funny you saw on the internet you can ask about um you know some something that you heard from another friend of yours whatever it's just a way to check in with the other person and say oh did you also experience this thing that i experienced let's talk about that so that might be another question that you can use with people i like that one i really like that one because you got to stay within people's comfort zone so maybe you ask and maybe they don't want to right so a good thing is did you hear about it that's up to them maybe they don't want to talk about it they can say oh yeah i heard about that and you can kind of feel the the atmosphere and and realize maybe i shouldn't talk about this change the subject or they get passionate and they start talking about it and there you go and just let it go um yeah absolutely one thing again i'm guilty of is is you do gotta keep keep returning it right don't let it don't just say oh yeah and what i think about that bring it back ask them what about you um that's a common thing i forget about yeah yeah yeah okay um good i have one more this one um use when you see fit don't i guess just okay i'll just introduce it compliment the other person or compliment the other person this can be a nice strategy just to show that you're enjoying the other person's company um it can be as simple as oh i like your shirt today or oh that's a nice dress you're wearing today or oh did you get a new haircut that looks good on you something like that so this is a nice a nice way to make the other person maybe want to spend more time with you i think yeah i agree 100 um two things one i think it's a good conversation starter sometimes um if you've got to be careful with a stranger it can be creepy it can be a little uncomfortable what you're complimenting right but if it's something like if they have a t-shirt and it's a band that you both like that's a great conversation starter and you feel wow we're connected you know um number two the second thing i was thinking about is that keep it honest i love i love a sincere compliment it really means a lot more and and it really does butter them up kind of get them open to having more conversations deeper that kind of thing um but one of the things people do which which i don't like is let's say they say hey nice shirt and then the person out of habit will say oh you too i like your shirt too just my opinion i don't think this feels really natural doesn't really feel sincere so i would i would save it make a mental note and go hmm i need to return the favor i need to give them a compliment but wait until you notice something you really do like and say hey actually i love blah blah yeah i think that's a great point like when you you can sense whether someone is being sincere or not what is your next strategy for continuing english conversation well don't be afraid to open up i like this one i think this is good a lot of people will be kind of shy they won't open up too much again within within your comfort zone but i like this one because people will return the favor because if you're just having small talk and you say you know the weather is nice today blah blah you can only go so far so don't be afraid to say something personal again trust your judgment don't be a creeper don't go we don't want to hear certain things about your life don't don't be a creep don't be a creep don't be weird don't be strange and like what you're saying about opening up open up is just a phrase that means share something about yourself so it can be as simple as what you did last weekend or what you're going to do this weekend or a project that you have coming up it doesn't mean that you have to spill all of your life secrets to the other person but just showing that you're willing to share something more personal about yourself can help ingratiate yourself or can help you know make the other person help the other person understand you a little bit better that's a good tip i like that tip that's hard to do though it's hard it's a little bit scary i think to share parts of yourself but it's good it's a good way to meet people and make friends all right i think that's all is that all that you have yeah that's all i got okay all right well those are some interesting uh strategies to keep an english conversation going so give them a try if you're ever at a loss for words and don't know what to say you can try one of these strategies and hopefully it will help you out um please let us know if you have any other strategies or anything else that you would like to use or you try to use when you are having trouble keeping a conversation going uh leave us a comment and let us know what it is we will see you again next time do you have anything else you'd like to add that's about it all right so thanks very much for joining us and take care bye bye want to speed up your language learning take your very first lesson with us you'll start speaking in minutes and master real 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Channel: Learn English with EnglishClass101.com

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Keywords: EnglishClass101, Tutorial, english, how to, learn, English culture, English Language (Interest), learn english, vocabulary, survival phrases, important, Word (Literature Subject), words, top, compilation, ask, teacher, made easy, beginner, english lesson, best of, write, read, speak, english basics, basics, continuous play, long play, auto play, autoplay, speak english, native speaker, english native

Id: eJqyB_dCqI8

Length: 131min 5sec (7865 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 07 2021