hi there I'm Drew Badger the world's
first and number one English Fluency
Guide and it is a pleasure to welcome
you to a new video here on YouTube and
in this video this is something that I
really get asked about a lot and this is
I don't have anyone to practice speaking
with so how can I find people to
practice speaking with especially native
English speakers alright now if you look
at most of my videos and you scroll down
in the comments there are people asking
each other hey we should make a Skype
group or meet me in whatsapp or get on
Facebook and let's do this like do not
do any of that stuff I'm going to tell
you right now it might be helpful but
there are much better ways to practice
and that's what I'd like to talk about
in this video so if I see those comments
down below I'm going to be very
disappointed so you should be not
following that advice you should be
following the advice I'm giving you in
this video because this is how I learn
to speak and this is how a lot of
learners that want to improve quickly
are improving their pronunciation their
use of vocabulary their automatic speech
or their grammar use all of these things
come from practicing speaking and if you
understand how to meet native speakers
the right way and it becomes much easier
to do that so let's get into that in
this video all right the first thing you
have to understand about practicing with
native speakers or just practicing in
general is if you practice with people
that are at your level you're going to
stay at this level so this is why I
don't recommend people using forums for
other English learners we do have this
when people join like the the fluency
course or master English conversation
people are invited to learn and to
connect with other people and many
people do but I always recommend and
this is why we actually teach in the
program lots of different ways to help
people connect with actual native
speakers because if you practice with
people at a higher level than you that's
going to pull your language up they
might not necessarily be able to correct
all of your language because if you're
not really a teacher of the language you
might not know why we do things in
English but at least it gives you a
correct model for you to follow and this
is the same way that native speakers
learn so young children are following
their parents and very few people are
actually native teachers of the language
even when they're just practicing with
their kids they're just speaking in an
everyday condo
stationed away and children are getting
to understand the basic rules just by
copying what their parents are doing so
you should be doing the same thing again
if you spend time trying to meet other
people like if you're in the comments
right now saying hey we should meet and
connect with each other why waste your
time doing that when you can connect
with actual native speakers now the
second part of this is if you want to
connect with native English speakers
then you have to actually offer them
something of value in return now if you
go to a person say hey can you please
practice speaking with me I really want
to improve my speaking all you're doing
is just requesting that person to take
their time and their energy and even if
they don't know how to teach the
language you're basically putting a
burden on that person and that's what
makes it really frustrating for a lot of
people when they're trying to learn
because they're going to people and
they're saying hey can you help me with
this can you help me can you help me
instead of how can I help you so the
most important thing about this is when
you're trying to connect with other
people the same way I was trying to
connect with Japanese speakers when I
was learning Japanese or at least at the
beginning I've got plenty of people know
plenty of Japanese speaker Japanese
speaking friends now that I can
communicate with both online and in
person but to get to that level I had to
think how can I offer these people
something they want and it doesn't mean
you have to pay them or anything like
that but typically this is just the same
way you would meet an actual friend
where you live you know like a person
that speaks your native language so when
you're communicating with people and you
say hey if I just walk up to someone say
hey please be my friend they're going to
look at me and think well that's kind of
a weird question like I don't know if we
really connect with each other why do I
want to be your friend why is it why is
it important for me to do something like
that in the same way that you are
looking for something of value to you
other people are looking for something
of value to them so you have to respect
that and you have to understand that
thing so the more you give the more
you're going to get from other people
that are trying to help you practice now
the next thing you have to do is stop
wasting time in comments like these like
videos just like this you scroll down
below this video people looking for
people to comment or people to practice
with and I'm sure they will like you
will absolutely see comments like that
below the video it might even be from
people that have not
watch the video and learned an even
better way to do it right in this video
unfortunately but that's how life is you
can lead a horse to water but you can't
make him drink this is a great English
expression or a proverb you probably
have something similar in your own
language so you can you can present
information you can make it available
that you can't make people consume that
information or that knowledge anyway so
once you understand the first step that
you should not be practicing with people
at your level if you want to improve you
need to practice with people just like a
sport you have to practice with people
that are better than you you have to
play against people that are better than
you if you want to improve and the
second part of that is that you have to
give in order to get so you have to give
a reason why people are trying to have a
relationship with you and because of
that what I really recommend you do is
actually go to where the fish are if you
want to catch the fish now this is
another idea of like like native
speakers are not going to be watching
this video or if they are they're
probably teaching the language or
somebody that's just trying to get some
information or for like YouTube was like
hey watch this video and then they're
going to comment below this video like
I'm a native speaker why am i watching
this video and so that's why you're not
going to get many people down below this
video or in this video watching this
video that are native speakers so this
is not if you want to go fishing for
native speakers this is not a place to
do that you have to go where native
speakers are now if you live in an
english-speaking country like the United
States the United Kingdom Canada
Australia wherever or even just an area
where you live that has a lot of native
speakers that's great then you can just
start connecting with people personally
but when you walk up to them just treat
them like a regular person you don't
have to begin by saying help me improve
my my English just start speaking with
them and even if you make a mistake it's
okay native speakers will probably be
happy to to connect with you but again
you have to do it where you're just
trying to meet the person the same way
you would meet someone that speaks your
native language you don't walk up to
them and just say hey help me with my
whatever you try to offer them something
it's like hey like those are some nice
shoes you have there you know you may be
giving them a compliment or connecting
with them in some way like I see we both
like the same
sports team or whatever you're making a
connection with that person and that's
where the communication develops but in
the case of you know maybe somebody
that's online you don't live in a place
where they're native English speakers
you have to connect with people online
the truth is that native English
speakers are in every country on the
planet if you mean if you have access to
the Internet and you're learning English
and you probably can maybe find
somewhere somewhere close by in your
country or in the next town or something
some large city where you live it you
could probably travel to and meet native
speakers there but the best way to do
that first is through online forums
where you're actually connecting with
native speakers as opposed to non-native
speakers so when I was giving some
advice to a learner not that long ago I
was in Vietnam and so I was talking with
learner there about like okay here's how
we can connect with people and like if I
just wanted to meet somebody online
because she was saying oh I have
problems may be meeting native speakers
even though native speakers are
everywhere so you could be even in the
same room but people don't end up
connecting with each other so if you
help these people this is just one way
to do it if you're online so let's say I
live in Japan so I do live in Japan I
can do this exact same thing and I want
to learn maybe Japanese or something
actually now let's see let's use the
example of like Vietnam like I just did
so we're in Vietnam and this student is
Vietnamese but lots of foreigners
english-speaking foreigners are coming
to Vietnam and in Vietnam
you have a lot of people that maybe
they're coming there some foreigners
that don't really understand maybe
things about Vietnam or what are the
best places to travel because people
read guide books online but really
foreigners want to connect with locals
as much as possible this is why air B&B
is such a popular thing and this is a
way of traveling and staying at people's
homes as opposed to staying with you
know a hotel something like that so it
could be a little bit cheaper in some
places but also people get to connect
with actual local people so it makes it
makes for a really great arrangement for
people and that's how you can also
improve your your language ability as
well but in these situations you have a
lot of foreigners that come there and
there are forums for foreigners either
we're living in your country so in the
case of Vietnam we would just look up
foreigners we go to Google or whatever
search engine you want to use and you
type in foreigner or or like forum for
visitors or people living foreigners
living in whatever country you're in and
so we find that we go to the first
couple of forums and we see wow there
are a lot of people chatting they're
talking each other and these are all
native speakers and this is your chance
to give to these people all you say you
create an account with one of these
things and to say hey like you just you
start answering questions that people
have because that's what people do these
foreigners they come to your country
like Americans and they don't know what
to do they don't know where the best
restaurants are they I don't know like
what places they should go or should not
go to so if you can give to these people
before you try to get from them any kind
of language help this is what's going to
help you connect with lots of people and
you can spend an afternoon like just an
hour going in maybe answer ten different
questions people have and develop a
relationship with those people and if
they're traveling like let's say you
live in like Ho Chi Minh City or you
live in Tokyo or wherever any place
where they're going to be foreigners
then you can connect with them and say
hey like if you want to meet we can I
can like show you some of these places
around you know where we live and
especially foreigners like people coming
from the United States or the United
Kingdom they're happy to connect with
locals because it's a great way for them
to have a better vacation to get some
great stories for people back home and
you can be a part of this so if you
think about giving to these people first
and thinking also about fishing where
the fish are so don't look for native
English speakers in the comments below
this video look for them where they are
so especially whether you're in the
United States or United Kingdom if you
have an opportunity like that you can
just think about your interest and then
go to those places you know actually try
to associate with native English
speakers it's really easy because
they're everywhere whether you were in
an english-speaking country or not so
again think about giving think about
fishing where the fish are and then
actually trying to connect with these
people by helping them in some way
so the forums online are a really great
way to do that just think about some
places where you can connect with people
and then offer them help and say
if you need like whatever like people
are saying like what's the best place to
do is how do I do this how do I do this
how do I do this it's the exact same
thing I'm doing right with these videos
people have all of these questions about
how do they learn how do I meet people
to practice with how do i improve my use
of grammar so I can say it automatically
how to improve improve my pronunciation
in my accent all I'm doing is answering
all these questions it's not a mystery
here and by giving I receive a lot from
all the great learners that are helping
me do what I want to do so it's a
fantastic arrangement and you can do the
exact same thing but it just begins with
going to where people are the actual
people that should be helping you if you
want their help and this is again why
you should connect with native English
speakers because they're going to
increase your level they're going to
pull you up to a higher level as opposed
to working with other learners that are
going to maybe help you a little bit but
again you're going to get much more
support and help from people that are
native speakers if you give to them
first and treat them in a good way well
that's it for this video these are the
things that we do in mastering this
conversation and the fluency course
where we go through lots of different
techniques just like this ways that you
can get out and practice with people how
do you meet people whether it's online
or in the real world and this is how we
can help you improve as well so you
could like to learn more about those
programs you can at English anyone comm
and if you like this video do click that
like button and become a subscriber to
the YouTube channel do tell a bunch of
other people about this videos to other
people who are also struggling thinking
how can i meet native speakers of
practice with this is one simple
technique that I've given you in this
video that you can share with them as
well and if you'd like to learn more
about improving not only your way of
meeting native speakers but about how
you practice how you learn how you you
know review grammar all of these things
that you can use to finally become a
confident successful English speaker
click on the link in this video to take
our free English fluency quiz it will
tell you exactly what you need to do for
your particular situation so we can help
you become a great speaker I look
forward to seeing you in English anyone
calm so click on the link here or in the
video description below this video and
click on the link there to take our free
English fluency quiz I look forward to
seeing you in the next video and until
then bye bye