hi there I'm Drew Badger and I help
guide english learners all over the
world to english-speaking confidence and
fluency in this video I just wanted to
talk about how to speak continuously and
fluently and now this is a topic that we
regularly discuss on the channel so i
often get more and more questions about
this so it's a topic we like to return
to so something we like to cover again
and again so let's just talk about this
I don't want to spend too much time
talking about it because there really
are just some very simple things you
need to know about how to speak fluently
and how to especially develop the
ability to speak continuously now
continuously I'll just contrast this
because people will often use
continually and continuously and so
these are related words but their
meanings are actually different so this
is another video about that but I
thought I would just cover both of these
since we're here so continuously means
you actually have something that's
continuing non-stop but continually
means something happens and then maybe
stops and then something happens again
and then that same thing happens and
stops and stops and stopped so you have
something that again continually like
the lights are flashing continually so
like say maybe the light would come on
and then light would go off and then the
light would go on again but continuously
means I'm doing something and it's not
stopping ever so continuously so maybe
like the alarm was playing continuously
for I don't know two hours like a car
alarm was continuously for two hours
anyway just to get that out of the way
so continuously versus continually and
these are the kinds of things like you
can elevate your English to a much
higher level if you study these more
kind of intricate and difficult things
about the language and if you can use it
properly it's really noticeable to
especially more educated native speakers
or people higher up in maybe companies
and various academic circles anyway so
let's talk about fluency and being able
to speak continuously now if you watch
these videos and you're wondering how
I'm able to just speak like this am I
thinking in my head before I speak and
it's kind of a tricky thing really I
don't really have
a particular idea in my mind about
exactly what I want to say I mean I know
okay right now I want to speak about how
to speak continuously but I don't have a
specific thing in my mind about what I
want to say so I'm not really thinking
about exact words or how exactly I would
express it it's almost like I'm kind of
leading myself forward with a specific
idea and then the language comes from
that so I try not to do the thing where
i'm like pushing the language out of me
by thinking of a particular thing I'm
thinking about where I want to go and
having the language kind of being pulled
out of me I know that sounds kind of
weird but if you think about it in your
native language when you're expressing
yourself especially if you're not really
thinking about what you want to say it
becomes a bit more clear how you can do
that but the ability to do that comes
from developing habits and this is why I
talked about the seven English fluency
habits a lot and why it's such an
important thing to not think about
English learning and fluency in general
as a thing or a series of ideas that you
have to learn like a whole bunch of
grammar points or how to pronounce
certain words or even vocabulary of
course all of these things are important
but the most important thing is to take
some bit of information and you really
work with that thing so like we do in
master English conversation we approach
things from many different angles so we
might have a phrase where people would
practice saying it they would write it
down they would listen to it they would
try using it in conversations and they
would try teaching it to someone else so
all of these give you an opportunity to
take one thing and really develop a
strong sense of how it works and then
actually become able to use it
automatically so when you're thinking
about how do you express yourself in the
same way I'm doing now or in the same
way you do with your native language you
have to develop the habit of just
speaking like this and letting letting
like the idea the place you want to go
the thing you want to express you let
that lead you and then the language
comes out of you in this way and again
it's not something you can really
consciously do about thinking what do
you want to say because the whole point
of fluency is that you're doing it
automatically so right now I'm speaking
automatically I'm not saying
about what i want to say first the words
are just naturally coming out of my
mouth but the only way I can develop
that and the same way I develop it in
Japanese is just by thinking about okay
I'm going to learn this particular
phrase and I'm going to use it with a
bunch of different people so there's
this joke that I use often when I'm
speaking Japanese I won't say the
Japanese well I guess I could like well
it doesn't really matter but I mean the
point is that you're you're talking
about an example of like all right here
I'll give you a better example so I was
at a grocery store near my house and I
saw one of the staffs women that was
there and she was talking with the
customer but she was holding something
in her hand and I said oh are you buying
something like Jack I'm honest cops are
you buying something today like are you
shopping today and she was like oh no no
I'm working here I was just getting
something for the customer but so she is
standing there and I was like a bit
confused then I said oh I bet you get an
employee discount so I shiny wat ABT
morality show so like you I bet you get
like an employee discount and and like
she laughed and the other woman laughed
also and that woman was like wow like
your Japanese is really good and like I
was just like oh well you know I didn't
really think much of it but it's because
I practice that joke a lot and that joke
works with I mean every Japanese person
I've used it on even like American
speakers i use that on like if i go to
the movie theater or whatever and like I
see somebody there you know they're
selling popcorn I'm like oh I bet you
get like all the free popcorn you can
eat or whatever or some situation like
that but anyways typically where people
like usually don't get some kind of
employee discount and it's kind of the
opposite of what's expected but the
point is that i've used this joke with
people and i try not to use it with the
same person again and again so only like
i have to remember who did I use that
with and it's kind of an interesting
game for me but I'm thinking about that
thing and how to express it but because
I practiced it so many times it comes
out automatically when I speak so no
matter where I am I know like it's made
like the last ten people laugh and it's
probably going to make the next person
laughs as well so all of these things
like when you're just thinking about it
and like right now if I want to if I if
I try to stay in my own head
and think about what i want to say next
it stops me from from actually getting
into the float and this is a big problem
for a lot of work of learners of English
so they are thinking they're kind of
spending more time in their head than
just trying to like let the language
naturally come out so kind of spend your
time not thinking about the words you
want to say but the idea you want to
express oh don't worry about the exact
words that you'll use for that even what
I'm saying right now there could be many
different ways of expressing this in
different ways and maybe much better
ways if I took some time and thought
about it so that's why the way I speak
is often different from the way I write
because i can write something down and
then take time to edit it and i go back
and change a few things but right now
this is called stream of consciousness
so i'm just letting the words come out
of my mouth and this is the same thing
that you can do if instead of staying
inside your head and kind of project
like to think about an idea that you
want to express yourself or express and
then let the words kind of be pulled out
of you this is the same way that I just
live my life in general I try not to
think about things too much just like I
had a live lesson here on YouTube not
that long ago the first one ever and I
just began without knowing anything
about how the system works so if you go
back and watch that video you'll see me
sitting there just like okay I'm like
talking to people but I felt confident
about it anyway but I knew I didn't
really know what I was doing and I
thought it was an interesting kind of
weird interface because the comments
weren't right where I could see myself
so I actually had to go to the page on
YouTube where people would be normally
watching the video and then pause that
video and then look at the comment
scrolling over there but the point is
that I'm stepping forward into the place
I want to be and then pulling myself
that way so instead of what native
speakers or I guess learners when you're
trying to learn another language people
kind of stay in their head and they're
trying to make sure they collect
everything perfectly before they take
the next step but you should be doing
the opposite so this is how you develop
that ability to speak continuously so
number one you have to kind of get
outside of your head and just think
about the general idea you want to say
and then just start maybe working
towards that like it
I see there's a red fire truck over
there so I say oh there's a truck over
there like I'm just I'm just beginning
to say and I talked with someone else
and usually the conversation when you're
speaking with the native speaker or
you're even just listening to someone
else speak you can get a sense for
what's correct by are they able to
understand what you're talking about so
do they are they able to follow your
instructions are they able to connect
with you in the conversation but these
things happen over time as the words
begin to come out so what you say
initially might not be perfect but it's
a start and that's really the best thing
you need to do to get flung so the
number one thing is kind of to stay out
of your own head and don't worry about
trying to express yourself perfectly
because just by again doing this stream
of consciousness you develop the habit
of being able to speak without thinking
about it I remember back maybe when i
was in maybe elementary school and we
had to give some kind of one minute long
speech and i couldn't do it so I got up
and it was even like a thing I had
selected to talk about which was plants
or something like that but I got this
topic and I had to walk up to the front
of the room and stand there in front of
all my classmates and talk for just one
minute and I found like looking at the
counter and I'm like speaking for 10
minutes right in this video and I'm not
even thinking about it i'm just going on
and on and trying to explain trying to
not only explain how a stream of
consciousness works but also just to
give you an actual example of that so
again all the things that I'm saying
right now like I'm not thinking about
them first they're kind of coming out of
my head and I'm almost thinking about
them as I say them but i just don't
really worry about whether it's the
exact right thing i should be trying to
save so again try to stay out of your
own head don't try to create the
language perfectly yourself try to
project where you want to go and then we
just begin speaking just begin trying to
express yourself and then over time you
develop the habit so the second part of
this is that developing the habit comes
from actually doing it you can't get the
opposite and this is why you can't like
magically go from learning the textbook
way to being able to speak confidently
you have to go through the process of
crossing what i call the english fluency
gap and this is the current level of
English that you have
now where you can understand what I'm
saying but you can't speak fluently so
the only way to do it is really to
develop the habits of a native fluent
English speaker and you can do that by
just taking these two steps think about
what you want to say but just project
the idea and let it pull you let it pull
the language out of you and then over
time you will learn how to direct that
naturally and without thinking about it
well if you have enjoyed this video and
you maybe agree with this idea maybe you
disagree with the idea you can click
that like button or even click the
dislike button if you didn't like it but
let me know down in the comments if this
has been helpful for you or not also
become a subscriber to the YouTube
channel if you haven't already and if
you'd like to become a more confident
fluent English speaker and want to learn
the specific habits you need to focus on
in order to get fluent whether this is
maybe remembering vocabulary or
improving your pronunciation or even
learning more vocabulary we can help you
do that absolutely free at English
anyone com so take our free quit a free
quiz and again when you speak like this
like you might not speak fluently and
perfectly all the time but you develop
the habit of doing it pretty well over
time but again even this habit is
something we can help you with
absolutely free by clicking on the link
in this video to take our free quiz well
that's it and I look forward to seeing
you in the next video get out plan what
it is you want to talk about without
trying to think about the exact words
you notice I have no script for these
videos i just have an idea and i start
speaking and you can do the exact same
thing if you just try doing it as well
so don't worry don't try to express
yourself perfectly just speak have a
fantastic day and i'll see you next time
bye bye