How To SOUND More CONVERSATIONAL in ENGLISH

did you know that you can sound more conversational in English if you use fer words in your speech yes that is true so in this episode I'm going to give you here I'm going to list some of the most common filler words in English that you can use to sound more conversational hey everybody how's it going Chiago here and welcome to another episode of the podcast in case you're new here I've created this podcast and YouTube channel to help intermediate and advanced Learners of English communicate with more confidence more accuracy more clarity and more awareness if this sounds like something you want for yourself and your English subscribe to the channel here on YouTube and follow the show on Spotify or apple podcasts so you don't miss a single new episode also don't forget to check out my pronunciation course which is available on pre-sale right now this is a course I've designed to help you better understand native speakers because it teaches you the main connected speech patterns they use when they speak in media and in real life and also it's a course to help you with your pronunciation because it also teaches you the main sounds of the English language so you can improve your pronunciation on a more individual level the course right now is available on pre-sale at a very special discounted price so I really recommend you check it out and if it makes sense to you buy it now and secure this special discount on the course the link to find out more about the course is in the description here on YouTube and also as a pin comment down below and if you are on Spotify or apple podcasts go to the show notes of this episode and we can find the link there but do check it out all right so what are filler words filler words or filler phrases are those words and phrases that we usually use well to fill the pause to feel the silence when we are not communicating anything we are not saying anything but in order to avoid that pause or avoid that silence we use a filler word or a filler phrase it's important to point out here that you have to be careful with these filler words because yes they can be helpful but if you overuse them your communication might get too distracting to people and your message might get lost in the middle of all those filler words so use them with taste what I usually say is that filler words are great for lower levels if you are at an A2 level or even B1 level and if if you need to develop your fluency a little bit more you still speak in a kind of a robotic way you feel kind of stuck when you speak adding more fer words to your speech will help you develop more fluency and will help you sound more loose in your communication now if you are more advanced as a speaker maybe if you are at a B2 C1 or higher level level then I would recommend toning it down a little bit so be careful not to use too many fow words instead of using the fow words if you are more advanced look for the specific word or expression to communicate what you want to communicate but don't resort to fow words you see so it's a balance that we have to strike here but for lower levels I think that they can be very useful for those reasons I just listed so let's start with our filler words list here the first one is the most basic one it's the sound um you can go um uh ER you know these are the most common hesitation sounds I think so for example you can go um I'm not sure what to say you see instead of just saying I'm not sure what to say you can add the filler there um I'm not sure what to say okay what about this one like like is really common it's often used to introduce examples or comparisons for example it was like the best concert ever you see like here is a filler it's not adding anything to the meaning of the sentence the sentence is it was the best concert ever but you hear sometimes people going it was like the best concert ever I hear many teenagers actually to be honest many teenagers or younger people using like like this native speakers I mean yeah if you watch maybe uh TV series about teenagers you might hear lots of likes here and there okay the third one you know I'm guilty of this one I use you know a lot so so you can use your Noe to check if the listener understands what you're saying or agrees for example it's a great movie you know instead of just saying it's a great movie I'm saying it's a great movie you know you can use your know at the at the end of the sentence you can use your know at the beginning of the sentence okay I use it a lot yeah I should be mindful of that because remember the idea is for us to use these but not too much okay number four well well is another common filler word you can use it to introduce a response or pause for thought for example well I haven't really thought about that you see it makes you somewh conversational if you use it with taste right this well for example is very nice when you are thinking well right well I haven't really thought about that got it so is another common filler word so you can use it to connect ideas or indicate a conclusion after you have explained something to conclude what you're saying you can use so so what do you think we should do you see what about actually actually is another good one you can use it to correct or clarify a previous statement that you ordered for example actually I think I'll stay home tonight you know maybe uh your friend invites you to go out on the phone and then initially you said yeah yeah sure let's go out but then you correct yourself right away say you know what actually I think I'll stay home tonight I gotta work early tomorrow you see so you can use actually to correct yourself or to clarify something you've just said basically it's another good one basically you can use it to summarize or simplify a complex idea imagine you explain the complex idea first but then you want to uh simplify that you can say basically blah blah blah okay for example basically we need to finish this project by Friday okay I mean another common one I mean you can use it to clarify or elaborate on a previous statement this is a great chunk for you to memorize by the way to elaborate on something when you elaborate on something you explain more about that thing you give more details you elaborate on that okay so for example somebody tells you something and you want to ask the person to explain some more because you didn't understand it at first you can say could you elaborate on that or would you mind elaborating on that in other words could you explain some more because I don't think I got it okay but back to I mean here you could say for example it's a good book I mean it's not perfect but it's enjoyable you see I'm adding I mean right in the middle there and it adds that conversational flavor to my speech another one sort of or kind of notice the conative speech here many times sort of sounds like sort of sort of and kind of sounds like kind of kind of so sort of kind of sort of kind of you can use it to express uncertainty or vagueness when you want to sound a little bit vague not so clear or not so specific you can say um I'm kind of tired today you see again your friend invitees you to go out and maybe you don't want to sound so direct because you know you don't want to hurt your friend's feelings you don't want to say hey I'm tired today I'm not leaving my house today so you can say I'm kind of tired maybe next weekend you see so guys there is a place for fow words again if you use them with taste number 10 write or okay you can use it to confirm understanding or agreement okay I understand what you're saying or right I understand what you're saying I tend to use those also at the end of my sentences sometimes more like you know like to to check or to confirm the other person understands what I'm saying so here on the podcast Sometimes You See Me Maybe many times you see me going okay or right again guys don't overuse them okay and I include myself in this I am guilty of overusing some of these filler words sometimes so this is something that I've been working on myself nowadays using less and less of these fillers okay but yeah sometimes we just use them right you see I just did that right that's great the next one let me see or let me think you can use these phrases to buy some time to think or remember something you can go let me see I think it was last Tuesday or you can go let me think I think it was last Tuesday got it you can also use UC I use this one a lot as well you can use UC see to introduce an explanation or justification for example you see I didn't have time to finish the report I'm explaining something to you so here on the podcast since I tend to explain stuff all the time you hear me saying you see aot to you see blah blah blah you see we use this word you see we don't use that word okay in other words that's a good one too in other words you can use it to rephrase or clarify a previous statement imagine you say something and then you want to rephrase what you just said or clarify what you just said you can say in other words blah blah blah for example in other words we need to start over yeah it's a similar use to basically you know remember basically when you want to simplify something or clarify something basically or in other words and then you say the idea again but maybe a a simpler way okay to be honest another great one to be honest you can use it to introduce your candid or honest opinion about something to be honest I didn't like the movie imagine your friends loved the movie oh my God it's such a great movie we loved it and then you can say well to be honest I didn't like it you see and I'm using well here too yeah well to be honest I didn't like it right I guess another one used to express uncertainty or hesitant agreement I guess we could try that you see you're not sure yeah because you could say well we could try that you see more certain or you can go uh I guess we could try that all right or something or something used to express vagueness or lack of specificity I think I left my keys on the table or something you see vague because I don't know exactly where I left my keys I think I left them on the table or something or you can also add like that or something like that it's really vague yeah I don't know I think I left my keys on the table or something like that all right you see again if you are at a lower level phrases like that can be very useful for you because it can give more spontaneity to your speech it helps you sound less robotic but for a more advanced speaker it's not a very good idea for you to use these a lot for example or something or or something like that because as a more advanced speaker you should try to be more precise with your vocabulary use I don't know I think I left my keys on the table or maybe on the chair I have to check you see be more specific instead of I think I left it on the table or something like that yeah because or something like that can be like the easy way out or the easy route and then you don't have to uh be precise or accurate in a word choice okay so for more advanced Learners be careful with overusing these we also have here just you can use just to downplay or soften a statement when you downplay something you make it look or sound less serious than it is okay for example I'm just calling to see how you're doing you see I'm just calling to see how you're doing instead of I'm calling to see how you're doing you're just you know softening the statement a little bit okay I'm just calling to see how you're doing this reminds me of a great song man I think it's I think it's from Stevia wonder I think correct me if I'm wrong but I think it's from Stevia wonder you know that one I just called you know to say I love you you know it's a good one so I just called to say I love you you see you are softening yeah the statement it's great what about anyway used to change the topic or return to a previous Point anyway as I was saying you see that a lot of movies guys in series imagine you're having a conversation with your friends and then uh one of your friends takes the conversation on a tangent he starts talking about something different from the original topic he says whatever he wants to say and then now you want to bring everybody back to the topic you were discussing before you can say okay okay well anyway as as I was saying and then you come back to the main topic all right you can also use seriously you can use seriously to emphasize the truth or importance of a statement seriously you have to try this cake you see because it's so good come on try it and then your friend goes oh no I'm not hungry thank you and then you want to be more emphatic you can say seriously you need to try it just a tiny piece but you need to try it seriously you see and finally you can use literally as a filler literally you can use literally to emphasize the literal meaning of a word or phrase I was literally laughing out loud like literally that's what was happening got it you see guys so using filler words like that can help you somewhere natur more conversational especially if you are at a lower level but again if you are at a more advanced level don't overuse these because they can be distracting okay be mindful of your speech patterns and practice speaking with fewer fillers for clearer communication so just to conclude let me just quickly go through all of them in sequence so listen um uh like you know well so actually basically I mean sort of kind of right okay in other words to be honest I guess or something or or something like that just anyway seriously literally okay so make good use of these I hope that these help you sound more conversational but again be mindful of how much you use them guys thank you very much I hope you enjoyed this episode today which was based more on vocabulary and speech don't forget to check out my pronunciation course available on pre-sale Link in the description here on YouTube as a pin comment below and also in the show notes on Spotify and apple podcasts and of course subscribe to the channel if you're not subscribed yet and leave me a five star review on Spotify and apple podcasts I'm CH I'm signing off and I'll be talking to you very soon in the upcoming episode bye-bye

Channel: English with Thiago

Views: 10,623

Keywords: english, english learning, speak english, how to speak english, english fluency, how to learn english, advanced english, intermediate english, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, connected speech, esl, listening, writing, reading, english conversation, filler words, how to sound more conversational, speak naturally english

Id: NQzJjcaWDS8

Length: 19min 16sec (1156 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 01 2024