Eat Sleep Dreamers welcome back to another lesson with me Tom. Today I'm going to be
answering language learners questions. I'm quite excited about that. I'd like to take
a minute to thank HiNative for sponsoring this video. HiNative is a global question
and answer platform where language learners ask questions and native speakers answer them.
They have over 110 languages and you can download the app on IOS or android. All you've got
to do is sign up with your email, with Twitter or Facebook and the core app is free. There
is also a premium paid version as well. I've added a link in the description below so that
you can check it out. So what I wanted to do today was to have with it. So I'm going
to go into the app as a native English speaker, that's me. And I'm going to go and answer
a bunch of questions that language learners have asked. I can't wait because there's stuff
about language, there's stuff about culture, there's pronunciation. Let's get into it guys.
Alright the first thing to do is to download the app. i have done that and so I'm going
to sign up with my Facebook account. Once you've signed up you can jump right into the
platform and start asking your questions. So obviously I've chosen English as my native
language so that I can help anyone trying to learn English. Alright let's jump into
the first question.
Oh already a good one. So the question is about whether a job fits this person or suits
this person. Now fit and suit, what are the different meanings? Well, suit is a verb and
the meaning is that it's correct for you or right for you. So if I might be living by
the sea and 'Living by the sea really suits me.' It's right for me, it's where I should
be. So I think for this example the job suits this person, it's the right job for them.
It's the kind of job that they feel comfortable in. I think that's probably the correct answer
here. Also with suit we talk about clothes a lot. So 'those jeans really suit you.' They
look good on you, they are right for you. Or 'That hat really suits you.' That hat looks
good, it works for you. So yeah that's the verb that I would use in this case. With fit
we are talking about the size, aren't we? So if the jeans don't fit you they are not
the right size. Or 'This t-shirt fits me perfectly' it's the correct size for me. So in this example
I think a job would suit you, this job suits me. Being an English teacher suits me, I love
it. It's correct for me. Alright question number one answered and hopefully a happy
language learner. Now what is super cool about HiNative is that you can also do audio recordings.
So here's one someone has made recording his sentence. So I'm going to have a listen to
it and then I'm going to give my feedback. 'Last week I've been to Edinburgh. It's not
the first time I've visited the UK because I've been to London quite a few times but
I really liked it.' Alright, his pronunciation is pretty good, I loved that that was great.
But there is a little correction I need to make with the grammar. So with 'last week'
it's a past time phrase, it's complete, it's finished so we can't use the present perfect.
The present perfect doesn't have time phrases that are complete. So we're going to need
to use the past simple. So i would say 'Last week I went to Edinburgh.' Last week completed,
finished, done so we need a past simple verb. 'Last week I went to Edinburgh.' Alright so
I'm going to reply and I'd like to say how good I thought his accent was and then I'm
going to give him the correction that I would make in terms of his grammar. I think we have
another happy language learner, yeah good stuff. Alright number three. Oh it's another
bit of pronunciation. Now this word has two different ways to be pronounced. One could
be schedule. I think that's the British pronunciation. In American English they would say schedule.
I say both, it depends on how I feel. I don't really know, one time I'll say schedule the
next time I'll say schedule. I don't think it matters that much, choose whichever one
you want. Schedule or schedule. Oh now this is a good one. And this is why having a native
speaker to help you understand not just the language but also the culture is really important.
Now this person has asked how do you say fat in a polite way. And frankly in British culture
saying that someone is fat is not polite, there is no real way to say it in a polite
way. However we do use phrases that are more careful, they are slightly softer, less direct
shall we say. Alright now there is someone who has already put in a really nice answer
with a couple of good suggestions. I'm going to suggest this phrase 'he or she is carrying
a few extra pounds.' But as I say this is why an app like this is great, is because
you are going to get what a native speaker would really say and frankly we don't really
call anyone fat. There's no polite way to do that. What's also cool about this app is
that you can upload photos so I found this one. I'm going to give them the pronunciation
as well because that's always really useful. Not just to write it but to explain, it's
a traffic light. Oh more pronunciation. This one is quite cool because it's the pronunciation
of football players' names. Now clearly I know that in their own countries and their
own languages they are said differently but I'm only going to give the way that we would
say it here in Britain. Alright here we go 'Eden Hazard, Mesut Ozil, Petr Cech, N'golo
Kante.' Yeah, so I hope that helps. At least if this person wants to talk about football
in English they'll be able to say the names correctly, so yeah I like that one that's
quite helpful. If you scroll along the top then you can go to the culture section. Now
I've gone to the United Kingdom culture section and I'm going to have a look at a few questions
there. Alright there's a great question there 'do people from Great Britain actually like
tea?' I mean yeah! Of course we do. It's out fuel, it's our petrol, it's what keeps us
going. It's what keeps us happy. If we are cold, have a cup of tea. If you are sad, have
a cup of tea. If you are happy, have a cup of tea. If it's half time in a football match,
have a cup of tea. All the time. Now again how cool is this, so Shun from Japan has asked
what are the most popular bands in Britain at the moment. And again you know, as a native
speaker and someone that lives in Britain I can give my perspective. So I recommend
Ed Sheeran obviously, Ed Sheeran massive. Harry Styles is really popular. Dua Lipa is
really popular at the moment and Stormzy. A guy called Stormzy, someone to check out
for sure. So yeah, I'm able to give someone in Japan a little insight into British culture
this way. I love that, that's really cool. I want to know what's big in Japan. If you
are watching in Japan and you love music, tell me who is super popular in Japan right
now. Now this app is really quite addictive I'm getting points for each question that
I answer. If I do it really quickly then I get extra points and if somebody likes my
answer then I get points as well and I'm starting to to go up the leader board and yeah this
is quite addictive. I might be here for some while answering questions. So guys if you
want to dig deeper into English language download this app, it's absolutely free and start asking
questions, ok? And then you can answer other people's question for your language. How cool
is that? So you are not only learning but you are also teaching as well. I've put the
link in the description below so hit that link, download it and play around and see
what you can learn. Thank you so much for hanging out with me guys i hope you enjoyed
that lesson. Remember I'm back every Tuesday and every Friday with fresh modern British
English. This is Tom, the Chief Dreamer, saying goodbye.