Vanessa:
Hi. I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. Are you ready to hear a real English conversation?
Let's get started. Vanessa:
Today, I have something super special to share with you. I met an interesting woman whose
family runs a salt business. Yes, salt. You're going to meet Carla and hear how her family
started the salt business three generations ago. You'll also learn some differences and
different types of salt and just some interesting insight into something that every human needs,
but we don't often think about. I'm sure that you also have things that you're passionate
about, so it's a good chance to listen to our conversation and try to imitate the way
that we speak. Vanessa:
Throughout this conversation, you're going to see subtitles down here. That's going to
show some vocabulary, phrasal verbs, and important pronunciation that we're going to talk about
after the conversation lesson, because after the conversation lesson with Carla, you're
going to hear a vocabulary lesson between my husband Dan and I, where we're going to
explain some important vocabulary expressions that you heard in the conversation with Carla.
I hope that you're going to be able to remember these expressions a little bit better, because
we're having a natural conversation about those expressions.
Vanessa: Then, you'll have a grammar lesson, where
we focus on some important phrasal verbs that you heard in the conversation with Carla.
And finally, at the end, we'll have a pronunciation lesson where we'll focus on some important
sentences that you heard in the conversation and how you can accurately pronounce those
yourself to try to speak as naturally as possible. Vanessa:
This is a pretty big lesson. There's a lot going on. We've got the conversation, vocabulary,
grammar, and pronunciation. So, you can always click on CC, which is the subtitles, so that
you can catch every word that we talk about. If you enjoy this lesson, I hope that you
can join me in the Fearless Fluency Club, where you'll get a lesson set like this every
month. Today, you're only going to see a little bit less than half of one lesson set, but
each month, I send you a new lesson set, a full one, where you can learn about new topics,
vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and practice using those conversation skills yourself.
Vanessa: All right, let's go meet Carla. Hi, everyone!
I'm here with Carla, and Carla has a quite interesting family business to share with
us. I've got some visual aids as well, but I'll let you explain. What do you say you
do, or what would you say your family does? How would you describe it?
Carla: Sure. I am third generation in a sea salt
family business. Vanessa:
Okay. Carla:
My grandfather, back in the '70s, was the first to start importing sea salt from out
of the country. He brought it over in suitcases, and he didn't know how much to charge. He
was like, "I don't know, I'll bag it up, and give me $5." And that's kind of set the price
for the next 30 years. We just kept it there. Vanessa:
Really? Carla:
Yeah. Vanessa:
So, he just thought, "Oh, people will buy this." That's cool.
Carla: Yeah.
Vanessa: Was he doing that back home, or...
Carla: No. He is from Belgium, originally, or he
was. He passed away. But yeah, he was best friends with Michio Kushi, who was the person
that brought macrobiotics into the United States.
Vanessa: Oh, okay.
Carla: And Michio told him, "You need to bring sea
salt into this country because there's going to be a shortage of minerals at some point,
and they're going to need this." So my grandfather traveled all over Europe trying to find the
most clean, most high mineral sea salt he could find, which he settled into the coast
of Brittany, France, and this little town called Guérande.
Vanessa: Okay.
Carla: And they do this ancient harvesting technique
that was originated by Celts. Vanessa:
Okay. So that's where this originated, the name.
Carla: Yeah, they think that it was from the Celts
that originally did it, but then studies have shown that it dates back even further with
this harvesting technique in Asia. Vanessa:
Wow. Carla:
Which they're always doing something before the rest of us.
Vanessa: Sure.
Carla: So instead of boiling the water, boiling to
evaporate it and using up all the valuable wood that they needed for other things back
then, they realize that they needed to create these ponds using these clay beds and let
the sun and the wind do the evaporation for them. So this started a very sustainable practice
that has lasted hundreds of years, and it's still there today.
Vanessa: Wow. It's, it's incredible that they had the
thought process to say, "We need to save wood. Let's use what we've got." Nature, the sun.
Carla: Right.
Vanessa: To be able to do that, So at this point are
the origins of the salt still in that area? Carla:
So we import from all over the world, and we have found some really fascinating high-tech
ways that they're still sustainably harvesting and producing all different kinds of salts
with different mineral composition. Vanessa:
So I would love to hear more about that in detail.
Carla: Yeah.
Vanessa: I want to show them the salt that you brought.
Carla: Sure.
Vanessa: Is this available internationally?
Carla: It is.
Vanessa: Okay. So maybe they've seen this. Is it mainly
in Europe or could be anywhere? Carla:
Parts of Europe. We're also in Malaysia, Australia. We were working on China a few years ago,
but they have a lot of laws around it with it having to be iodized. They've lifted that
since, but it's a huge investment to, as you can imagine, to tackle that kind of distribution.
And we're still a family-owned company. We've never had investors. Everything has been grassroots
grown. Vanessa:
Wow, that's really amazing. So if you see this brand, the Celtic Sea Salt, I'll put
links to all the websites. Carla:
Okay. Vanessa:
So you can check it out. But if you see that, that's the company we're talking about, and
this one's the fine ground, regular kind of white, what you kind of recognize as salt.
Carla: Right.
Vanessa: But there's also other ones that you brought.
Carla: Right, so the light gray are these in these
grinders, which this is the same salt, but they just don't grind that for you for convenience.
They didn't really have that available before we kind of started demanding it from our providers,
saying that the Americans really want their shakers. They don't do the European way of
grinding or pinching their salt. Vanessa:
Oh, got you. Carla:
So we're the ones that brought the fine ground here. Yeah.
Vanessa: So that is a cultural thing. I guess it depends
on what your family is used to using. Carla:
Exactly. Vanessa:
But just shaking it, especially at a restaurant, that's really common that this is more a European-type
style. Got you. Carla:
It is. Vanessa:
It probably has some steam in Asheville, though, I imagine.
Carla: Oh, yeah. Some people, they're like, "Oh,
I like to pinch it, and I like to grind it and I like to shake it. So it's a kind of
a funny little question we have at shows and stuff.
Vanessa: How would you like to serve yourself?
Carla: Right.
Vanessa: So can you tell me a little bit about the
different types of salt? And I am quite ignorant about that except for just hearsay that I've
heard. And of course, what you see, different colors and whatnot.
Carla: Yeah, I mean, salt, I mean it can be an endless
topic. There's so many different kinds, everything from mass industrial salt that we use that
you see like in the Morton shaker that has been highly processed and things added and
removed and anti-caking agents. For our table salt, they originally started putting iodine
into the salt to help with a goiter issue a long time ago, which it did help, but the
iodine actually caused a discoloration to the salt so they had to bleach it.
Vanessa: Oh, interesting.
Carla: The bleaching caused it to be bitter, so they
had to sweeten it. So they added dextrose, which caused it to be sticky so it wouldn't
shake out of the jar. So they added anti-caking agent chemicals.
Vanessa: One thing on top of another.
Carla: So what we have kind of come to terms with
is we've realized the salt is actually perfect in its own way, and yes there is an iodine
deficiency which we created a seaweed seasoning to help with that.
Vanessa: Oh, interesting.
Carla: Because there was a demand people asking for
us to put iodine in our salt. But because of all those complications, we were like,
let's leave our salt alone. Keep it in its whole form that the body knows what to do
with. And then we offered a a seaweed seasoning. But you'll see all different colors and all
those different colors come from different mineral compositions coming from the different
regions. We even have a super white, white salt from Hawaii that is super white cause
it comes from 2,000 feet under the surface of the water at the base of a volcano.
Vanessa: Whoa. How did someone find that?
Carla: People know us in the industry as we kind
of have figured out ways to launch these amazing commodities into the U.S. market, and the
U.S. market's one of the hardest ones to tap into.
Vanessa: Really?
Carla: Yeah, when you're importing from other countries.
Vanessa: Okay.
Carla: So a lot of people write us letters and send
us samples. We get dozens a month. Vanessa:
Wow, saying, "Can you please get us the part of this?"
Carla: Yes. And that was just one that somebody came
to us at a trade show and said, "You've got to check this salt out." And it's an amazing
salt. It's beautiful, and it's clean, and it has a great source of potassium and calcium.
Vanessa: Okay. So I'm curious, when you say that it's
great and it's clean, does that affect the taste of it?
Carla: Yes.
Vanessa: Because this term of, "Oh, it's salty. It
tastes like salt." Carla:
Right. Vanessa:
Is there a difference? Carla:
There is, and you'll start to notice, once you start to taste different salts side by
side, you'll start to go, "Oh, wow, I can taste that this one's a little more bitter.
This one's a little more like has a saline taste." When you taste oysters, some people
go, it's just slimy. But when you become create a palate for it, you go, "Oh, this is more
briny, or this one tastes more fresh." Or you start to kind of compare. Same with wine
or beer or cheeses, you just start to understand different notes. A higher sodium content,
you're going to have more of a bitter taste. With higher minerals such as magnesium, potassium,
and calcium, you're having a little more mild or tastes almost like an ocean flavor.
Vanessa: Okay.
Carla: And it naturally enhances the flavor of your
food as opposed to just making it salty. Vanessa:
Oh, got you. So it's really going to work with the things that you're putting it on
in a different way. I'm really curious now after this, to taste this side by side with
what I've got at home and if I have any different types at home to see.
Carla: And the key with salt tasting is you want
to start off with the highest mineral content salt going to the highest sodium salt because
once your taste buds have been triggered in their bitter and sodium levels, you can't
taste the difference of the other things. So you got to kind of work your way up. I
used to host salt parties in California. Yeah. Vanessa:
Wow! I would love to go to that. Carla:
Yeah, it was so much fun. We made cocktails and...
Vanessa: Yeah, what do you do at a salt party?
Carla: Yeah, it's a lot of drinks.
Vanessa: Okay. You put them on the rim?
Carla: On the rim.
Vanessa: Okay.
Carla: And I did a lot of like things like edamame
with salt on it or fun things where you would need the salt on it. And then we did a salt
tasting where I would show people how to kind of taste the different notes of salt and the
textures. Vanessa:
The education part of it. Carla:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Vanessa:
Because it's not just like you said, it tastes salty, but it could actually bring out other
flavor notes in the food. Carla:
Even the shape of the crystals will cause a different kind of, where is it going to
burst in your mouth? How is it going to break down in your mouth? Like these crystals are
very coarse, so some people are a little bit, you know, they need it to be ground up because
it's strong. Whereas a flake salt, which we offer as well, kind of dissipates in your
mouth and it's not as like potent. Vanessa:
Okay. And that's actually flat flakes of salts. Carla:
Yeah. Vanessa:
Okay. I feel like I've seen that in a picture before, but I've never bought flake salt before.
Do people add that when they're cooking, or is that more for...
Carla: Garnishing.
Vanessa: A garnish to look at the nice shape?
Carla: You can, yeah. I mean, cooking is fine with
it, but I mean some people spend a lot of money on salt , so some salts you only use
for garnishment or finishing the salt. Vanessa:
Okay. Carla:
This is a great cooking salt cause it's got the coarse crystals and it dissolves nicely
into liquids and heat. Vanessa:
Okay. Carla:
And it's cheaper. So you don't want to put a handful in your pasta water of the flakes
that are so expensive, right. Vanessa:
Yeah. So would the flavor of, for example, this is fine ground, if I had this in a coarser
version, would it taste different or what would the experience be like to compare that?
Carla: It's actually really interesting because even
though these are the same salts, it's just this one ground up. This one tastes a little
different. What we have found is part of what makes the minerals higher and in the salts
that we have offered is the moisture. So when you grind it and you lose its little crystal
box encapsulation that holds the brine, the liquid, you lose a little bit of the minerals.
So you have a higher sodium. So this does have a slightly higher sodium than the crystals.
So you have a little more of a bitter taste. Vanessa:
There's something that's moisture inside. Inside the little crystal itself, it seems
quite scientific. Carla:
It is. Yeah. We've worked with lots of scientists and doctors over the years, over 600, actually,
that endorse our salt that have seen the difference firsthand with their patients.
Vanessa: Yeah. Tell me about that health benefits or
the difference in health because there's a lot of problems with too much salt nowadays.
Carla: Definitely. Yeah. Sodium is something that
is 100% needed in the body, no matter what. We lose it constantly through sweat, tears,
and going to the bathroom. So we have to replenish it in a way that the body knows how to get
it back in our body in a way that can be assimilated. The body has... it's kind of like a key where
there's a potassium pump in between the cell walls, and without that potassium key, the
sodium can't go in between the cell walls to replenish itself. So when you have a super
high sodium table salt that you're using, you're going to have swelling. You're going
to have all these issues because the sodium can't get into the cell walls where it needs
to go. Vanessa:
Oh, interesting. Carla:
But if you have a salt that, even if it has similar sodium content but also has potassium,
that potassium pump can actually work, and the sodium can go and hydrate the areas that
need to go. Vanessa:
So having the other minerals with it can help the sodium to actually be more beneficial
for your body. Carla:
Right. Now there are some people with sodium sensitivities that obviously we do have salts
for those people as well. Vanessa:
Really? Carla:
Yeah, because that is a thing, too. Everybody's different just like your body reacts differently
to caffeine or to dairy, you need to listen to your own body.
Vanessa: Yeah. Yeah. So I'm curious, what salt do you
use at home? Carla:
Oh, gosh. Vanessa:
I'm sure you have a plethora. Carla:
I do. My table's covered in salt with all these different jars, and right now because
I am pregnant I am more on the higher potassium because my potassium level was so low.
Vanessa: Oh, interesting, okay. So you're using that
to help supplement your baby. Carla:
Right, right. Yeah. Vanessa:
When you use it, are you just using a little bit, and that's enough to give you potassium?
Because I know when you take a pill, there's a big amount of something in there like a
supplement. Carla:
Yeah. Right. I was still taking a pill because I was so low, but I realized, okay, I'm going
to not go with my magnesium, my high sodium salts. I'm going to go with my potassium ones,
and I'll just pinch it. And your tongue is a great tester. If something tastes good to
you, and it feels like it's satisfying, that's usually your body's saying, "I needed this."
There are some cases where it's extreme. If you're going to eat a whole chocolate cake
over there, your body probably doesn't need all that chocolate cake.
Vanessa: You can overindulge, but when you eat something
that's got just enough of the seasoning on it, then that could be really helpful.
Carla: Yeah, and a lot of the doctors, what they
saw was people have this unquenchable salty tooth where they can't seem to get enough,
but when they switch them to a high mineral sodium sea salt ratio, their salty tooth becomes
a little more quenched because their body's finally getting the sodium where it needs
to go in their body. It's really fascinating. I wish there were more studies.
Vanessa: So maybe they were lessening the amount of
salt that they were intaking, but they're intaking the right type?
Carla: Right. Yeah. They finally felt that satisfaction.
Yeah, and this is just in people's practices where they contacted us and shared these stories,
even in children, they were saying. Vanessa:
Oh, wow. I'm really curious to test that on myself, too, and try and with different things,
and I think people around the world, My students can do that as well, especially if there's
something that, like with the U.S., Morton salt. It's just the typical salt that you're
probably going to find in a lot of typical places.
Carla: The American salt, right?
Vanessa: Yeah, I'm sure a lot of other countries have
that kind of typical thing, too, but to try something that's actually been maybe more
studied and has a lot of thought gone into it. It'd be interesting to feel that difference
yourself. Carla:
Yeah, definitely. Vanessa:
So I'm curious when, because this is your family's business, is everyone in your family
involved in Celtic salt? Sea salt? Carla:
We have a huge family, so no. Vanessa:
Okay. Carla:
There's only a handful of us that are still involved.
Vanessa: So you chose, "I'm going to do this."
Carla: Yeah.
Vanessa: Okay.
Carla: I went to culinary school, and then it just
kind of seemed to be a nice fit, and yeah, it's just been a passion that we've all kind
of shared for years. Vanessa:
Nice. Carla:
My sister is a Pilates instructor in New York, so she kind of went on her own thing, which
is cool. Vanessa:
Yeah. Carla:
I stayed here and just continued the legacy. Vanessa:
And that's awesome. So when you were growing up, I'm sure that was something that was big
in your family. Carla:
Yeah. Vanessa:
Did they also have a table of salt? Carla:
Yeah, oh, our whole family is... They're all about the salt.
Vanessa: Sure.
Carla: They send us pictures. "I'm at this grocery
store. Here it is," or "I'm in this country here. Here it is." So that's fun.
Vanessa: Oh, that's so cool.
Vanessa: How did you enjoy that conversation with Carla?
Was it a little fast, a little tricky? Did you understand everything? I hope that it
made you think about something, salt, that we don't often think about. Next is a vocabulary
lesson. You're going to see my husband Dan and I explaining some key expressions that
you heard in that conversation with Carla. After our explanations, you're going to see
a clip from the original conversation with Carla so that you can just remember the original
context and use them yourself. All right, let's get started with the vocabulary lesson.
Vanessa: The first expression that we're going to talk
about today is the word "sustainable." Dan:
Ooh, "sustainable." Vanessa:
The typical way that we usually use this is to talk about the environment, and that's
how Carly used it. She was talking about how different salt practices are sustainable for
the environment or unsustainable for the environment, but there are some other ways we can use this
as well. How would you use the word "sustainable"? Dan:
Sustainable. Yeah. So I think today, primarily I do think environmentally, and some people
even just say "sustainability." Like, "We have great sustainability in this country,"
or "We're very unsustainable." I think most environmentalists say that we're unsustainable
right now. But yeah, there's other ways you can use this. You can use it in certain situations
that you don't think can continue. So maybe, for example, you're in a relationship with
somebody, and you argue all the time. Somebody might be talking with you and saying, "Yeah,
I don't think your relationship is sustainable. I don't think it can keep on going."
Vanessa: Yeah, you can't continue at that in that same
way for a long time, at least while still being happy. It's not possible. And you could
even use this to talk about your English practice. If you say, "Okay, I'm going to make an English
plan for myself. I'm going to study for five hours every day." Do you think that that's
sustainable? Dan:
No. Vanessa:
No, because you have to have a life, too. You have to eat and sleep and go to work and
hopefully see some family and friends. It's not possible to continue doing that. So you
might say to yourself, "Okay, I need to create a sustainable English practice."
Dan: Ooh.
Vanessa: "What is something that I can continue on
doing into the future?" Maybe it's something simple like, "Okay, I'm going to listen to
a couple minutes of this vocabulary lesson every day while I drive to work." Cool. Okay.
I think that's pretty sustainable. You can continue doing that without too much stress
to your personal environment. So what we're going to do for each of these vocabulary words,
is we're going to also show you a clip from the conversation with Carla so that you can
see how it was originally used, which is what we're going to do now. Let's watch the clip.
Carla: This started a very sustainable practice that
has lasted hundreds of years, and it's still there today. This started a very sustainable
practice that has lasted hundreds of years. This started a very sustainable practice that
has lasted hundreds of years. Dan:
The next expression is "thought process," and this just means a way of thinking or thinking
deeply about something. And I think we usually say this when you want to maybe question somebody,
either if they did something wrong or if they're just doing something well and you want more
details. For example, maybe somebody is like a science student, and they solved a problem
that was really difficult. You could ask them, "What was your thought process when you went
into this problem? How did you think about it?" And so "process" means that you're going
step by step how you did something. So it's something in detail.
Vanessa: Yeah, maybe you want to imitate what they
did. What was your thought process so that I can imitate that in future experiments?
Dan: Right. But on the other hand, if somebody
did something wrong, most people would probably say, "What were you thinking?" But you could
also say, "What was your thought process here? Why did you do that?"
Vanessa: Yeah. It's just another way to say, "Huh?
Why in the world did you make this terrible decision?" But it's a little more indirect
than "What were you thinking" or "What was your thought process? Why did you think that
driving the car down the street when it was icy was a good idea? What was your thought
process?" And maybe you didn't have a thought process. Maybe you just did it. You didn't
think about it, but it's maybe someone questioning your judgment.
Vanessa: You can also use this to explain or defend
yourself. So a common way to use this is to say, "My thought process was..." So let's
see, if I decide to save money, and I want to save a lot of money. And in the end, maybe
I don't really save that much. But someone might ask you, "Why are you trying to save
money?" If I say, "Oh, I can't go out to eat, I'm doing other stuff," and I might say, "My
thought process was if I save enough money, then I can replace my car because our car
is getting old or it's breaking down a lot." So I'm just kind of explaining why I'm doing
something. Why am I saving money? My thought process was I'm doing this because I want
to hopefully buy a different car in the future. So you can use it to defend yourself. "Why
are you doing this?" "Oh, my thought process was this. Please understand." So you can use
it in both ways as a question or as a defense. All right, let's watch this so you can see
how it was used. Vanessa:
It's incredible that they had the thought process to say, "We need to save wood. Let's
use what we've got." Nature, the sun. It's incredible that they had the thought process
to say, "We need to save wood. Let's use what we've got." It's incredible that they had
the thought process to say, "We need to save wood. Let's use what we've got."
Vanessa: The next expression is "to tackle."
Dan: Ahh!
Vanessa: Yeah. Have you ever watched rugby or American
football? The players will just slam into each other and kind of like wrestling, push
each other down. Dan:
It literally means to grab and throw somebody down, but you go down with them.
Vanessa: Yeah. So you are tackling someone. This is
the literal definition of "to tackle," but is that how Carla used it?
Dan: No. So yeah, there's a figurative way that
we use this that is probably more common and it's just-
Vanessa: Yeah, we use this all the time.
Dan: Yeah. It just means to do something that's
really difficult and big, maybe too big, even. For example, if you say, "I'm going to learn
1,000 words tonight"... Vanessa:
Whoa. Dan:
...you're probably tackling too much. Vanessa:
Yeah. If you say, "I'm going to tackle these verbs" or I'm going to tackle some big problem,"
just like the American football example with you're physically taking down a big person,
that's a big task. It's not impossible, but it's just a big task. So maybe this year,
at the beginning of the year, you decided you had a couple goals for yourself. "I'm
going to tackle my fear of public speaking." Ooh. So maybe you're going to join a public
speaking organization and just practice public speaking each month, or you're going to do
something actively to try to overcome some difficulty. "Oh, that's a lot to tackle, but
you can do it." Dan:
Yeah. It's kind of used as like a confidence boost. And some people just say, "It's a lot
to tackle, but I think I can do it." Right? So you just put it in this one catchphrase.
"It's a lot to tackle." Vanessa:
Yeah. "So learning all of these verbs is a lot to tackle, but I think I can do it." So
I hope for you that all of the vocabulary from this lesson, even though it's a lot to
tackle over the whole month, you can do it. Study little by little. Keep practicing. You
can tackle it. You can do it. All right, let's watch the clip.
Carla: They've lifted that sense, but it's a huge
investment, as you can imagine, to tackle that kind of distribution, and we're still
a family owned company. We've never had investors. Everything has been grassroots grown. But
it's a huge investment, as you can imagine, to tackle that kind of distribution. But it's
a huge investment, as you can imagine to tackle that kind of distribution.
Dan: The next expression is "on top of," and this
can mean as it literally sounds, you're on the top of something or at the greatest point.
For example, "I'm on top of the world!" People say that figurative, actually. It means that
you're the best person ever if you say, "I'm on top of the world" or-
Vanessa: You might be on top of Mount Everest, though.
In this case you are literally on top of the world.
Dan: Ooh, that's true. But you may also say to
your child, "Don't stand on top of the table. Right. Don't stand on the top of it. So this
is literal, but we also use this to mean "in addition to." So "I have a lot of homework
and on top of that, I also..." Vanessa:
Have a part-time job. Dan:
Yeah. "I also have to work tonight." Right? So this plus this. And we would say that if
it's we're already kind of overwhelmed or we already have something big, then you're
going to say, "I have this on top of this other thing."
Vanessa: Yeah. It's usually adding responsibility.
So it can be used in a positive way, like, "Oh, he's such a great guy. And on top of
that, he's really handsome." You can use it in that positive way, but I feel like it's
used negatively more often. What do you think? Dan:
Yeah, I mean that sounded all right, what you said.
Vanessa: Yeah. It's natural. But I feel like we tend
to use this in a more negative way. Dan:
Certainly, if you have a lot going on, that's usually the situation. You have a lot going
on, and on top of that you have other things. Vanessa:
Yes. A lot of stuff going on. What if I said, "I was really on top of my game last night"?
Dan: Yeah. Yeah. You're really on top of your game.
That means that you're playing the best or doing the best that you possibly can. You're
on top of your game. You can also just say, "I'm on top of it."
Vanessa: Yes.
Dan: Meaning that you're on it. You're doing it.
You're doing the best you can. Vanessa:
You're staying current. So maybe if your boss says, "How's the project going? Is it going
to be done by 4:00 PM today?" You could say, "Yep, I'm on top of it."
Dan: Yeah, and you can kind of picture like literally
standing or sitting on this thing, right. Vanessa:
You are conquering it. Dan:
You are conquering it. You're on top of it. Vanessa:
Yeah. I think that's a common expression to say, "Don't worry, I got it. I'm not falling
behind. I'm not procrastinating. I'm on top of it." And that could even be a personality
trait, too, like "she is always on top of it. She always knows what's going on and she
doesn't forget little things." This is kind of an A-type personality. She's always on
top of it, and "it" means life. Dan:
Yeah, or on top of things. Vanessa:
On top of things. Yes, that could be different things that are going on in her life. Because
we talked about a couple of different ways to use this like standing on top of...
Dan: The world.
Vanessa: ...a mountain, to be on top of something or
one thing on top of another, kind of building this responsibility, I recommend checking
out the lesson guide so that you can just visually see each of those sentences. It's
going to help you to remember them, but also hopefully be able to use them yourself. That's
the goal. I hope so. All right. Let's watch the clips that you can see how I use this
wonderful expression to talk about salt. Let's watch.
Carla: The bleaching caused it to be bitter, so they
had to sweeten it. So they added dextrous, which causes it to be sticky so it wouldn't
shake out of the jar. So they added anti-caking agent chemicals.
Vanessa: One thing top of another. One thing on top
of another. One thing on top of another. Vanessa:
The next expression is "to come to terms with something." There's lot of words in this expression,
but "to come to terms with something" means you're accepting something that is maybe emotionally
difficult. And I feel like we have to do this a lot in life. In order to live somewhat satisfied,
you have to come to terms with difficult things in your life and then move on. So what is
something for you that you've come to terms with and you've lived?
Dan: Yes, I have a personal example.
Vanessa: Okay.
Dan: So some of you might have struggles with body
image. I will say that it wasn't a huge struggle for me, but in puberty I realized that I'm
a really skinny guy. Right? So that used to bother me. I kind of wanted to be bigger and
stronger, but I had to come to terms with the fact that I will never be a buff guy.
I will never be very big or strong. I'm just a skinny guy, and I've come to terms with
that. I came to terms with it a long time ago. It doesn't bother me anymore. I've embraced
it, one may say. I wear skinny jeans or a skinny shirt, and I just say, "Look at me.
I'm a skinny guy and I like it." Vanessa:
So you have really come to terms with it, but this is something that may be for you
and puberty as you're kind of learning about yourself and your body's changing, you feel-
Dan: I used to hate it.
Vanessa: Yeah, it's a difficult thing. And then you
realized, "Okay, this is just who I am," especially I think this might have been a difficult thing
for you because your brother is twice- Dan:
He's huge. Vanessa:
He's like twice as big as you are. He's like a big football player kind of guy. So it's
kind of the opposite of your body type. So maybe growing up you had to really come to
terms with the fact that you're different from your brother and just different kind
of guy. Dan:
Yeah, it was mostly, probably just thinking about with the ladies, honestly, like, will
they think I'm just too scrawny? "Scrawny" is like the really bad word for "skinny."
Vanessa: It's not a bad word as in a curse word, but
it just feels really negative. Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
Did it work out for you with the ladies? Dan:
It worked out in the end. Vanessa:
Good. I'm curious, what is something that for you, you have needed to come to terms
with? You might have noticed that in Dan's sentence, in his example, he said, "Come to
terms with the fact that." So here he is stating that "It's a fact. I'm a skinny guy."
Dan: I can't change it.
Vanessa: "This is something I can't change." Or you
might say, "I just need to come to terms with the fact that my native language of Japanese
is completely different than English. I can't change that, but I'm still going to try my
best to learn English." So it is a fact that Japanese and English are way different. We
don't really share any grammar or any vocabulary, but your native language is Japanese. You
can't change that. So you could say, "I need to come to terms with the fact that English
is a little bit more challenging for me because of my native language. But I'm not going to
let it stop me. I'm not going to let it hold me back. I'm going to push on." This is something
that's maybe a little difficult, but you are going to embrace it and continue on in life.
Dan: Yes.
Vanessa: All right, let's watch the clips. You can
see how this wonderful expression was used. Carla:
What we have kind of come to terms with is we've realized the salt is actually perfect
in its own way. What have kind of come to terms with is we've realized the salt is actually
perfect in its own way. What we have kind of come to terms with as we've realized the
salt is actually perfect in its own way. Dan:
The next expression is "side by side." Hey, we're sitting side by side right now.
Vanessa: We are.
Dan: Yeah. So this just means "next to each other."
And so you could use this in a kind of comparative way, like Carla said in the conversation.
"So when you try the salts side by side," meaning right next to each other, one after
another, then you'll be able to tell a difference. So this is a little more complex way to use
"side by side." Vanessa:
I feel like whenever someone asked me specifically about a small difference in something, I often
use this expression. "I need to hear them side by side" or "I need to taste them side
by side." So for example, we watch some Miyazaki movies. This is a Japanese animator who makes
some great movies for kids, but also for adults. And there are some different English translations
of those movies. Dan:
Yeah, it's a couple of versions. There's some debate about what's better.
Vanessa: There's some debate about which one is best.
So we thought, "Oh, maybe we should buy the DVD of those movies so that we can continue
to watch them instead of trying to find them online every single time we want to watch
them." And then we thought, "Which version should we get? There's different versions
in English. Which one should we get?" And then I said, "I don't really hear a difference
unless I listen to them side by side. I think both are great. Both versions and English
are great, but I can't hear the difference unless I hear them side by side." So this
means directly one after another, the same sentence, then the same sentence. Otherwise
it sounds the same. Dan:
Yeah, and you may even say, "I need a side by side comparison," so use it as an adjective
like that. But we also use the "side by side" maybe as a camaraderie expression. So if you're
together in something, right? "We walked side by side into the difficult situation." I don't
feel like it's super common anymore. Vanessa:
You might hear that, though. It kind of means that you are together. "We are struggling
with this together." Dan:
Right. "We're doing this side by side. We're together in this."
Vanessa: Yeah. Yeah. You could use it like that, and
it could also just mean as simple as what Dan said at the very beginning, "We are sitting
side by side on the couch." Okay. Yeah. It's something very literal and...
Dan: That's a fact.
Vanessa: ...very simple. All right, let's watch the
clips that you can see how we used "side by side" to talk about tasting different salts.
Carla: Once you start to taste different salts side
by side, you'll start to go, "Oh, wow, I can taste that. This one's a little more bitter."
Once you start to taste different salts side by side, you'll start to go, "Oh, wow, I can
taste that. This one's a little more bitter." Once you start to taste different salts side
by side, you'll start to go, "Oh, wow, I can taste that this one's a little more bitter."
Vanessa: The next expression is "to be all about something."
Dan: "All about."
Vanessa: Yeah, so in the conversation, Carla was saying
that her family is all about salt. Dan:
Makes sense. Vanessa:
Yeah. That means that they like, very intensely, salt.
Dan: Yes.
Vanessa: Her family's been involved in the salt business
for a long time, so she can say, "We're all about salt."
Dan: And they know all about salt. They know almost
everything about it. Vanessa:
Yeah. Yeah. So they are deeply involved in that. They like it a lot. "We're all about
salt." If you like something a lot, maybe if you like English a lot, you can say, "Yeah,
I'm all about English. Every moment of every day, that's what I think about. I'm all about
English." But it could also be to talk about a main reason for something. So how would
you use this if you were going to use it to talk about a main reason?
Dan: The main reason?
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: What comes to mind for me, obviously, is hockey.
Vanessa: Okay.
Dan: Because I love hockey. So "hockey is all about
skating" or "being good at hockey is all about skating. Can you skate well?" So this is the
primary factor. The thing you need to know more than anything else or the thing you need
to be able to do more than anything else. So you could say, "Yeah, being good at hockey
is all about skating." Vanessa:
I would say the same thing about starting a business. Starting a business-
Dan: It's all about skating?
Vanessa: It's not all about skating. That would be
pretty fun, though. Maybe a hockey business. But starting a business is all about dedication.
If you are willing to dedicate your time and your energy, then you're probably going to
succeed. Dan:
It's all about diligence. Vanessa:
Yeah, it's a really important factor, is diligence and dedication. So starting a business is
all about dedication. Yes, you need good ideas. You need to be probably good at what you're
doing, but if you're not dedicated, it's not going to work.
Dan: Yeah, and this is an exaggeration, so it's
not literally all about this. You need to know other things, too. But if you really
want to emphasize the most important thing, then you'll say "all about."
Vanessa: Yes, "it is all about dedication. It is all
about skating." Or you could just say, "I'm all about English," and it means that you
like English a lot. Dan:
Yeah. You always... You love it. You want to study all the time. Yeah, that's probably
you, right? Vanessa:
Yeah. I hope so. All right. Let's watch the clip so that you could see how this was used.
Carla: Our whole family is... They're all about the
salt. Vanessa:
Sure. Carla:
They send us pictures. "I'm at this grocery store. Here it is," or "I'm in this country.
Here it is," so it's fun. Vanessa:
Oh, that's so cool. Carla:
Our whole family is... They're all about the salt. Our whole family is... They're all about
the salt. Vanessa:
How did you enjoy that vocabulary lesson? I hope it was useful and enjoyable for you.
Next, it's time for a grammar lesson, where we're going to focus on some important phrasal
verbs that you heard in the original conversation with Carla. Phrasal verbs are an essential
key to English sentences to help you sound natural. So I hope that the phrasal verbs
we talk about in this lesson will help you to expand what you can say and also to understand
native speakers better. All right, let's get started.
Vanessa: The first phrasal verb that we're going to
talk about is "to use up." And when we use something, you're just making use of it. But
what is "use up"? Is it putting it up high? Dan:
No. That means you have finished something. Vanessa:
Completely. Dan:
Or used something completely, and we often use this for things in the kitchen. For example,
we eat a lot of oatmeal. Therefore we have used up the oatmeal. Or if somebody is looking
for something in the kitchen, they might say, "Where's the oatmeal? Where's the flour? Where's
the milk?" And you can say, "Oh, I'm sorry I used up all the milk."
Vanessa: Or we could split this phrasal verb and say,
"I used it up" because we already know that we're talking about milk, so we can just replace
the word "milk" with "it." "Oh, sorry. I used it up when I was making some hot chocolate
last night, or when I was doing something else." "I used it up" or "I used up the milk."
It's completely gone, but we can also use this a little bit more figuratively.
Dan: Yeah. People do use it figuratively sometimes.
Maybe they say, "I've used up my energy." If you're awake, you probably still have energy,
but if you're just really tired, you could say, "I've used up my energy."
Vanessa: Yep. I'm completely ready to rest.
Dan: Yeah. And perhaps somebody will say, "I've
used up my patience." Vanessa:
Oh! Okay. Dan:
That means that you're not going to wait for somebody anymore. Or sometimes if you have
a child, they may be... Oh, our kid does this all the time, just trying to distract you
and do one more thing and just keep on doing what he's doing and not listening. You could
say, "All right, I've used up all my patience" or "I've used up my patience."
Vanessa: Let's do this. Let's go.
Dan: "It's time to go to bed now."
Vanessa: Yeah, you might use this. If you're a teacher,
you might say, "Ugh, today was such a hard day. I used up all my patience, and I'm ready
to go home." So you can use up something that's a little bit more figurative, like patience,
energy, or you can also use up money, like if you are saving to buy maybe a new car.
And then you buy the car, you can say, "I used up all my savings to buy the car." So
your savings is completely gone. Your savings account is at zero, or figuratively, maybe
close to zero, and you've used up that money. Carla:
Instead of boiling the water, boiling to evaporate it, using up all the valuable wood that they
needed for other things back then, they realized that they needed to create these ponds using
these clay beds. And using up all the valuable wood that they needed for other things back
then and using up all the valuable wood that they needed for other things back then.
Vanessa: The next phrasal verb is "to come from," and
here we're talking about originating at some destination, but I want to let you know that
we do not use this to talk about your country. If someone says, "Oh, where are you from?"
If you said, "I come from Brazil," it feels really weird. It's kind of like you're a package
that's being mailed from Brazil. Dan:
Yeah, it sounds too impersonal or like a real origin, like "I was born in Brazil," right?
"Brazil made me." Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
It's kind of got a weird feel to it. Vanessa:
You might hear this in really, really formal situations, but I just want to let you know
upfront that we don't talk about this specifically for your home country, but there's a lot of
other ways that we can talk about "come from" for people or for items. So what do you think
is a main way that we use "to come from"? Dan:
So I think somebody might use this in a question a lot if they don't know where something came
from. So if there's something in your house that you don't know where it's from, you might
ask, "Where did this come from?" Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
And then Vanessa might say, "Oh, it came from Target," for example.
Vanessa: It came from Amazon.
Dan: Yeah, it came from Amazon.
Vanessa: The most likely situation.
Dan: Yes.
Vanessa: So if you are a walking in someone's house
that you haven't been in before, and they have a really cool statue, a really cool painting,
you could say, "Oh, that's really cool. Where did that come from?" And you can use it in
that questioning situation, "Where did it come from?" But we can also use this for maybe
for defending yourself as well. Like, "I don't know where it came from." This is kind of
the classic teenage situation that if your mom goes into your bedroom and she smells
weed, for example, which is marijuana. So if she smells that and she's like, "What is
that smell?" You're like, "Oh, mom, I don't know where that smell came from." You're kind
of defending yourself. "It wasn't me!" Dan:
Sure! Vanessa:
So you might say, "I don't know where it came from," and this is a vague sense. We're not
talking specifically about the destination. Dan:
Or you might say, "Where'd that come from?" Vanessa:
"Oh, where'd that come from? My friend must have put that in my bag. I didn't even know.
Where did that come from?" So we often use it in those kind of vague situations. "Where
did that come from? I don't know where it came from."
Dan: And actually, people use that question if
they're really surprised about something somebody said, if you say something really rude or
mean, you might ask, "Where'd that come from?" Vanessa:
Oh, so this is kind of the figurative sense of using it.
Dan: Yeah, a little more figurative.
Vanessa: If someone is pretty positive, and you're
having a good conversation, then all of a sudden they say, "Oh, it's so terrible, blah,
blah, blah." And they feel really frustrated, right, instantly, you might say, "Whoa, where
did that frustration come from?" So it's like, where did your frustration originate from?
Because all of a sudden, you just kind of felt frustrated. It seemed kind of weird that
that just happened. Dan:
But you would always ask, "Where did that come from?"
Vanessa: Yeah. "Whoa. Where'd that come from?" That
means that statement or that feeling that you're expressing. But there is another figurative
way that we can use this that is often used, quite interesting.
Dan: Yes, "You need to see where I'm coming from."
Vanessa: Oh, yes.
Dan: Or "Can't you see where I'm coming from?"
Vanessa: What does this mean? "Can't you see where
I'm coming from?" Does it mean my home? I'm coming from my home?
Dan: No. It means your point of view, from your
perspective or your opinion. So if you say this to somebody, you're basically telling
them that they're only thinking about themselves, only thinking about their feelings. So if
you say, "You need to see where I'm coming from," that kind of reminds them that you
have an opinion or a feeling in this situation. Vanessa:
I know I've used that in discussions or arguments with Dan before.
Dan: Oh, yes.
Vanessa: Where I've said, "Oh, can't you see where
I'm coming from?" Just to put in perspective that-
Dan: It's probably a common female refrain.
Vanessa: Maybe just "Please see it from my perspective."
And it's not necessarily rude. It's just saying, "Okay, please look at it from my perspective.
Can't you see where I'm coming from?" Or "Don't you see where I'm coming from?" You're asking
them to say, "Okay, I understand why you have that point of view. Maybe I don't agree with
it, but I understand." So this could be if, for example, maybe if you don't agree with
something that your parents say and you feel like, "Oh, their generation is so different,"
you might think to yourself, "I understand where they're coming from. I understand their
point of view because of the way they grew up, because of their parents, because the
world was very different back then. So I understand where they're coming from. I understand their
point of view. That's kind of the origin of their thoughts." This is a lovely phrasal
verb with many different meanings. Carla:
But you'll see all different colors, and all those different colors come from different
mineral compositions coming from the different regions. And all those different colors come
from different mineral compositions coming from the different regions. And all those
different colors come from different mineral compositions coming from the different regions.
Vanessa: The next phrasal verb is "to start off" or
"to start off with something," and you can imagine the verb "to start" is the beginning.
But when we use "to start off with," we usually are talking about the beginning of some kind
of series of events. So multiple things are happening afterwards. For example, if I said,
"Oh, man, I really, I want to make bread, but I don't know how to make bread." If Dan
is a bread expert, he might say, "To start off with, you need to have a good recipe."
Dan: Toss the flour into the air.
Vanessa: Oh, wow. You're really an expert.
Dan: That's from the magic of practice.
Vanessa: Throw flour in the air, and it just comes
down like a loaf of bread. Amazing. So we're saying, "to start off with, you need to do
this." We're using that phrasal verb kind of as an introduction to the series. "To start
off with, you need to do this and here's kind of the things that you need to do."
Dan: Yeah, I think you use this usually when you're
introducing something or if you're giving instructions. So if you're giving instructions,
you might tell the other person, "We need to start off with this" or if you're-
Vanessa: You need to start off with a good recipe,
then get the ingredients, then have a lot of time.
Dan: Right. Or if you are maybe making a presentation,
you might say, "We're going to start off today with a little bit of a story," for example.
Vanessa: Yeah, so you could use it to begin something
that's going to have several other events or activities that happen afterwards. So in
Dan's sentence, he said, "I'm starting the meeting by saying, 'Oh, we're going to start
off today with something.'" I want to let you know that you're also going to hear the
word "by." "We're going to start off today by telling a joke. We're going to start off
today with telling a joke." You could use either. You're going to hear both of those,
but the main part, "start off with" or "start off," it's going to be the same for all of
these. Carla:
And the key with salt tasting is you want to start off with the highest mineral content
salt going to the highest sodium salt. You want to start off with the highest mineral
content salt. You want to start off with the highest mineral content salt.
Vanessa: Were any of those phrasal verbs new to you?
I hope that our explanations help you to remember them and learn how to use them in real conversations.
Next, it's time for a pronunciation lesson. We're going to take an in depth look at a
couple sentences that you heard in the original conversation. I'm going to break those down
step by step so that you can imitate our pronunciation. So what I want you to do is I want you to
try to repeat with me, speak out loud, use your pronunciation muscles. It's great to
hear me, but it's even better if you speak out loud yourself. So I challenge you to be
active, and let's get started. Vanessa:
Hi. Welcome to this month's pronunciation lesson. Today we're going to be focusing on
five sentences that you heard in the conversation with Carla. And each of those sentences features
a vocabulary expression or a phrasal verb that we talked about in the previous lessons,
so I hope that this will help you to remember those words and pronounce them correctly.
What we're going to do is we're going to take a look at the clip, and then I'm going to
help you break down the sentence so that you can say it exactly the way that we did, and
then we're going to watch it again. I hope that your understanding will improve, but
also your pronunciation skills. All right, let's start with the first sentence.
Carla: So this started a very sustainable practice
that has lasted hundreds of years, and it's still there today. This started a very sustainable
practice that has lasted hundreds of years. This started a very sustainable practice that
has lasted hundreds of years. Vanessa:
In this sentence, you heard Carla say, "This started a very sustainable practice that has
lasted hundreds of years." She's talking about the method of creating salt. Instead of burning
wood, they're using the sun to evaporate the water, and this is a sustainable process.
The sun is always going to be hot, so it's easy to evaporate with the sun, and it's sustainable
for the earth as well. So let's break down this sentence starting at the beginning.
Vanessa: In the beginning of the sentence, she says,
"This started." "Started." This e-d word "started" ends in an "id" sound. "Started." What's another
sound that you hear? The word "start" ends in a T, but this T is changing to a D. This
is super typical in American English that T's changed to D sounds. So I want you to
say this with me. "This started." It kind of sounds like "star" plus "did." "Started."
"This started." "This started." I want you to be as active as possible during this lesson.
So whenever I'm saying something, and I'm repeating something a couple of times, I hope
that you can say it out loud, too. It's great to listen to my voice, but it's even better
if you can say it out loud yourself. Vanessa:
All right, let's go to the next part of the sentence. "A very sustainable practice. A
very sustainable practice." Let's break down that big word here. Sustain-able. That final
part sounds like "uh." "Sustainable." There's two "uh" sounds here at the beginning. Sus-tain-a-ble.
So I want you to say that part with me. "A very sustainable practice. A very sustainable
practice." Vanessa:
In the next two words, she says, "That has. That has." First, let's listen for the vowel
sound. "Th-a-a." It's a short E. Even though the word "that" has an A, "that" often in
fast English, it becomes "theh," "eh," "eh." "That has. That has. That has." But what's
happening to the final T in that word? "That." Do you hear it all? "That has." This is called
a stopped T. So instead of making that T sound with a puff of air, your tongue is going to
stop at the top of your mouth. "That has." That has." You're making a T sound. You're
just not letting that puff of air escape. "That has." "That has." And then she says,
"lasted hundreds of years." "Lasted." Vanessa:
Ooh, does that sound familiar? It's similar to "started." "We have lasted." So just think
l-a-s, "las," plus "did", d-i-d. "Lasted." "Lasted hundreds of years. Lasted hundreds
of years." So both past tense verbs, "started," "lasted," have the same type of pronunciation.
The T is changing to a D, and that final e-d ending is going to sound like "id." "Started."
"Lasted." Do you think we can put this all together? Let's go back and take a look at
this full sentence? Try to remember all those things we talked about and we're going to
see which words are emphasized so that you can have the right cadence and rhythm in this
sentence. Vanessa:
"This started a very sustainable practice that has lasted hundreds of years." She's
emphasizing "started." "This started a very sustainable practice," emphasizing both of
those words, "that has lasted hundreds of years." She also emphasizes the word "hundreds"
because that's the unimportant part of the sentence. How many years? Hundreds of years.
Let's go back and try to say this sentence by emphasizing those important words. "This
started a very sustainable practice that has lasted hundreds of years." You want to say
it with me? "This started a very sustainable practice that has lasted hundreds of years."
All right. It's your turn. I'm going to pause. No matter where you live around the world,
I'll be listening, so make sure that you say this out loud with all of the correct pronunciation
that we talked about. If you need a reminder, you could always check out the lesson guide.
Each month I send a monthly lesson guide. This is like a mini textbook, and you can
see all of the words that we've talked about and see how they're pronounced, and that will
kind of give you a a good reminder as you're practicing this lesson. All right, it's your
turn. Say the sentence all by yourself. Vanessa:
(silence) Vanessa:
Great work. Let's listen to how Carla said it in the original conversation.
Carla: This started a very sustainable practice that
has lasted hundreds of years. This started a very sustainable practice that has lasted
hundreds of years. This started a very sustainable practice that has lasted hundreds of years.
Vanessa: Did you hear those e-d words, "started," "lasted"?
I hope so. Let's go on to the second sentence where you're going to hear the phrasal verb
"to come from." Let's listen. Carla:
But you'll see all different colors, and all those different colors come from different
mineral compositions coming from the different regions. We even have a super white, white
salt from Hawaii. All those different colors come from different mineral compositions coming
from the different regions and all those different colors come from different mineral compositions
coming from the different regions. Vanessa:
In this sentence, Carla said, "All those different colors come from different mineral compositions
coming from different regions." Do you hear a word that she repeats three times? She says
"come from" twice, but she also says "different" three times. So today this is your chance
to master pronouncing this word. Let's go back to the beginning and try to say this
a little bit by a little bit together. "All those different colors." This is the first
time that we've encountered the word "different" in the sentence. So let's say it slowly and
together. Dif-rent. "Diff" with a clear F sound. Your top teeth are on your bottom lip.
"Diff." And then we have "rent, rent." It kind of sounds like r-i-n, but we need to
have a stopped T at the end. Diff-rent. That means that your tongue is stopped at the top
of your mouth. You're going to say "different," but you don't let that little final puff of
air come out. Vanessa:
So we need to say "diff-rent." Your tongue is stopped at the top of your mouth. "Different,
different." "All those different colors." Can you say that with me? "All those different
colors. All those different colors. All of those different colors come from diff-rent
mineral compositions." Let's say that word again. "Come from diff-rent mineral compositions.
Come from diff-rent mineral compositions. Coming from diff-rent regions." This word
hasn't changed at all. All three times that we say it, it's going to be the same pronunciation.
Helpful. Great. So let's say that final part again. "Coming from diff-rent regions. Coming
from diff-rent regions." Great work. Let's go back and say this full sentence together
and try to emphasize the important words. Vanessa:
A good thing to remember is that the word directly after "different" is going to be
emphasized in this whole sentence. So we can say, "All those different colors come from
different mineral compositions coming from different regions." So we have "colors," "mineral
compositions" and "regions." Let's try to say it together. "All those different colors
come from different mineral compositions coming from different regions." Let's speed it up.
"All those different colors come from different compositions coming from different regions."
This is a great way to practice the word "different" a lot and also the word "come from." I think
this phrasal verb is repeated enough that hopefully you'll remember it after this lesson.
All right, I'm going to pause and I want you to say this all together. Make sure that you
say "diff-rent" and also that you emphasize those correct words. Go ahead.
Vanessa: (silence)
Vanessa: Great work. Let's listen to her repeat the
word "different" a lot. Carla:
All those different colors come from different mineral compositions coming from the different
regions. And all those different colors come from different mineral compositions coming
from the different regions. And all those different colors come from different mineral
compositions coming from the different regions. Vanessa:
Did you hear "different, different, different"? I hope so. Let's go on to the third sentence
where you're going to hear the expression to be all about." Let's listen.
Carla: Our whole family is... They're all about the
salt. Vanessa:
Sure. Carla:
They send us pictures. "I'm at this grocery store. Here it is," or "I'm in this country
here," so it's fun. Vanessa:
Oh, that's so cool. Carla:
Our whole family is... They're all about the salt. Our whole family is... They're all about
the salt. Vanessa:
This is actually two sentences, and I just decided to add them together. She said, "Our
whole family is... they're all about the salt." Let's break this down. It's seems like a short
sentence, but there's a lot going on. At the beginning of this sentence. She says, "Our
whole family is... Our whole family is... Our." How is she pronouncing o-u-r? "Our.
Our." Does that sound like the letter R? Yep. It is the same pronunciation. When we say
"our, our" with this slower, clearer pronunciation, "Our whole family is... Our," it's going to
be for more... slower conversations, a little bit more intentional, but in fast conversations
we just say "our." "Our whole family is..." "Our. Our." So I want you to say that with
me. "Our whole family is... Our whole family is..." And that final word, i-s, "is" going
to have a Z sound at the end. So try to say that with me. "Our whole family is... Our
whole family is... Our whole family is... Our whole family is... Our whole family is..."
Vanessa: Let's go on to the next part. "They're all
about the salt. They're all about the salt." Let's start with the first word, "They're.
They're." This is a contraction of "they" plus "are," but she doesn't say "they're.
They're." This is the clear pronunciation for this contraction. In fast conversations,
native speakers are just going to say "they're. They're." It kind of sounds like, "Look over
there. He's over there." T-h-e-r-e. So you can kind of imagine that the Y is just gone.
You can say, "They're. They're. They're all about the salt. They're. They're."
Vanessa: And the next part she uses the key expression
here, "all about the salt." Listen for the final T on those two words that end in T.
"They're all about the salt. They're all about the salt." Do you hear the T? "They're all
about the salt. No. Instead, this is going to be that stopped T sound, so I want your
tongue on the roof of your mouth, stopping at the end of that word. "They're all about
the salt. Salt, salt." If you just say "Sal," it's a different sound than "salt" with a
stopped T. If you just say s-o-l compared to s-o-l, "Sol, Sol" with a stopped T, or
it's pronounced or it's spelled s-a-l-t, but the pronunciation is kind of like an O. That's
why I said that, but you can say "Sol" with a stopped T, and it's going to sound much
more natural. Vanessa:
Do you think we can put that final sentence together? "They're all about the salt." Say
it with me. "They're all about the salt. They're all about the salt." Okay, let's go back and
try to say all of this together, including the first part. Let's say it and emphasize
the right words. "Our whole family is... They're all about the salt. Our whole family is...
They're all about the salt." Can you guess what we're emphasizing here? "Our whole family
is... They're all about the salt." So we have "whole family." "all" and "salt." Let's say
this all together. Remember all of the reductions that we talked about and also these emphasized
words. Say it with me. "Our whole family is... They're all about the salt. Our whole family
is... They're all about the salt. Our whole family is... They're all about the salt. Now
it's your turn. Say it all by yourself. Go ahead.
Vanessa: (silence)
Vanessa: Great work. All right, let's listen to this
sentence, and I want you to listen for all of those things that we talked about, those
reductions, the stopped T's. Let's listen. Carla:
Our whole family is... They're all about the salt. Our whole family is... They're all about
the salt. Our whole family is. They're all about the salt."
Vanessa: Are your pronunciation muscles warmed up?
I hope so. Along with the conversation, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation lessons, you'll
also get access to the MP3 versions of all of these lessons so that you can download
them, listen to them while you're driving, while you're running, while you're cooking
breakfast, and also the full transcript so that you can follow along and try to catch
every single word. There's one more element to the Fearless Fluency Club that you get
every month and that is The Story. Let's take a look at it.
Vanessa: The Story is a fun one-page combination of
everything you studied this month, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, the topic, everything
is combined in The Story. You can listen to it, repeat it, and even memorize it. I also
host weekly live lessons in our private Facebook group so that you can ask me questions and
practice what you've been learning each week. A lot of members also choose to speak together
each week or even daily, sometimes on Skype, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger.
This is a great way to make friends around the world and also to use English actively.
If you'd like to join me and other members around the world in the Fearless Fluency Club,
you can check out the link up here or in the description.
Vanessa: And now I have a question for you because
we talked about salt today, and this is added to your food, I want to know what kind of
food do you like to eat? Let me know in the comments. I hope, if you're reading the comments,
you're not too hungry because I'm sure there will be amazing dishes that you mentioned.
Thanks so much for learning English with me, and I'll see you again next Friday for a new
lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. Vanessa:
The next step is to download my free e-book, Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English
Speaker. You'll learn what you need to do to speak confidently and fluently. Don't forget
to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lessons. Thanks so much. Bye.
