Well, hello there. I am Drew Badger, the English Fluency Guide and in this video, it should
actually be a very interesting video, hopefully you enjoy it. I want to talk about my biggest
problem that I have as a teacher. It is actually not teaching. It is just convincing people
that they can learn, especially in the way that I try to teach people. So everybody knows
they can go to traditional lessons and try to remember grammar points or vocabulary.
But what I try to do is actually help people learn like native speakers. But the problem
is that a lot of people believe this is impossible. So even if they're living in a country like
maybe you're from Japan, but you live in the United States, you think it's impossible to
learn like a native. So I want to talk about how natives learn and how actually you can
learn not only like a native, but you can actually learn faster than a native if you
learn in a systematic way. So hopefully, this is exciting for you. This
video just came about, I was talking with my wife actually about our own daughters.
So my younger daughter, she's now one and a half years old, actually a little bit older.
Yeah. About one and a half, but she's already speaking and saying sentences in Japanese
and English. She really likes to say, "Oh my goodness." I don't know why she picked
that up. But I think it was just a kind of funny expression for her when we were using
it around the house. But she likes to say that.
Anyway, I want to talk very quickly about how actually kids learn. And this should make
more sense for you learning native or kind of learning the native way if you'd like to
communicate like a native speaker. And the reason this is so important is because you
can kind of memorize a lot of words and grammar and do that pretty quickly. But the problem
is that when you try to get into a conversation, you forget everything. And so there's basically
what I call the fluency gap. And so you're kind of stuck here because it's
really impossible for you to get across that. You know a lot of English, but you can't speak.
So let me just explain with a few quick stories about how kids learn. I want to make this
very simple so you understand this and so you believe that you actually can learn like
a native. Because once you believe that whether you're learning with me or you're learning
independently, you'll become a fluent speaker much faster.
the first story, I just want to give a very quick example about this, just using the word
daddy. Because this is something that both of my daughters can use. Obviously, my older
daughter is over five-years-old now, and it's amazing if you've been following the channel
for a while and you've seen Aria maybe grow up a little bit in the few videos that I've
released, but just this word daddy. So the first lesson I want to teach you about
how to learn like a native is how actually kids are thinking how the mind is trying to
process information when it hears it and how it's different from what people do in a classroom.
Now a native speaker doesn't have any language to translate from. So a young child is trying
to learn the language. They want to understand what's happening. They want to communicate,
but they have no real lesson that's trying to do what most people would do in a traditional
classroom, which is translate from one language into another language.
Now, what a child or what children are doing, they're actually connecting sounds, S-O-U-N-D-S,
sounds and meaning. So this very simple because that's all they can do. So they're kind of
getting sounds, and this could be sounds even something as simple as hi. And they're connecting
that with meaning basically the situation or when you would use a particular sound.
So again, the difference here, very simply, if I'm, again, just to use the Japanese example,
I'm a Japanese person trying to learn English. I would learn a word in Japanese, might draw
that quickly. And I'm going to translate that into English.
Now I would learn it, but this is different from acquiring a language, which is what a
child is doing. So they're actually making the language their own by integrating the
sounds with meaning into a kind of a larger puzzle about how the language works. Now,
the tricky thing about learning languages as a young child is there are many things
that you have to learn, just kind of how to think, but you're not learning the language
really in a systematic way. Most parents are just kind of using whatever
language. Maybe they're not thinking so much about how to teach in a systematic way. They're
teaching lots of different things and it's really up to a child to begin making these
connections, and the faster they can do that, the faster they can learn to understand and
then communicate and express themselves. So in the case of daddy, you can just look at
like my own younger daughter, Noelle. So Noelle looks at me and she calls me daddy, but she
really doesn't understand what that means. It's again, when I explained in videos, I
think I have a lesson a few videos ago talking about triangulation, because you really need
kind of like three points of meaning to understand something. if I just say, like in this case,
you've got the word daddy and me. So the actual person there, she's connecting these two things,
but that's not really a very strong ... I don't know what's the best way to describe
that, but it's not as strong as having another thing here or another one or another one where
you've got more bits of information that really make this meaning clear.
So she's hearing the word daddy, the sound, and she doesn't really understand anything
about vocabulary or grammar. She's not really thinking about it consciously and logically
about that, but she's connecting that. And she looks at me and she's saying daddy. Now,
if you're learning a language as an adult and you try to learn that way, if I just come
into the room and I say, "Oh." I just say the word daddy. You don't know if that's my
name or if that's some kind of title or something else. So again, Noelle and any child when
they learn something like mommy or daddy because she hears Aria or my wife or other people
using that word when they're talking about me.
But again, she doesn't know really what that means. It's not until either she gets old
enough for me to explain that. And for her to understand that this is a relationship
and not my name, or she sees other people if she goes to the park and she sees other
kids also using that same word to talk about their own father. So once that happens, this
is where the triangulation that I talk about comes into play and a child is saying, "Oh,
now I understand that this sound daddy, it's not only for my father, but also for other
men who are parents that look like they have a similar relationship." So she doesn't call
my wife, daddy. She calls her mommy or mom or mama.
And so that's how language is built, just in a very fundamental way. So the difference
between what a native child is doing is they're connecting sounds or vocabulary with meaning.
And this just means they're making a connection between sounds and what the situation is.
So when do you use some kind of a phrase or word or whatever, or some kind of sound? And
this is why you see little kids that copy even a young child when they're straining,
maybe they have to pick something up or move something they will make a certain sound in
a different language. And this is really interesting. So if you look at kids like little Japanese
kids, I'm using Japanese examples just because that's where I live. But in the Japanese example,
a child might say like yosha or like some word that. It's not even a word. It's just
an expression that people use when they're doing something. So when they're straining.
So in English, speaker might say like ... like they just might make that kind of sound. But
again, they're connecting that sound with a situation and that's where the meaning comes
from. So hopefully that makes sense, and you're
understanding a bit more about how this works. But you can see how it's not very systematic
and a child's brain is working actually quite hard to figure out what this is if you don't
explain it in a systematic way. And you don't need to give an explanation, but it's more
about showing examples. And this is how I teach in and Frederick is an example of this,
where you get to compare different things, because that's what builds your understanding
a lot faster than just learning different pieces of the puzzle and hoping to piece that
together. So that's the first part of this. The second part is when you're taking this
to a higher level, because ideally you want to learn everything in English. So the first
step is to learn everything in English, where you're connecting sounds and meaning. And
the second step is where you're beginning to integrate these different things by testing
different, we can call it even a hypothesis or just maybe a theory you have. Probably
a theory is not a good word, but hypothesis just means if, "I learn this grammar, maybe
I can apply it to this thing as well." And so you see kids doing this all the time. And
often, if there is a pattern in the language, they will use it correctly until they find
some example where it doesn't work. here's another example from my daughter Noelle,
this was just yesterday. She was about to go into the shower, but it wasn't ready for
her to go in there yet. So she said in Japanese [foreign language 00:10:05]. So it's just
like please call me. And so she actually used the correct grammar structure for that situation.
And you might look at that and think, "Wow, she understands the grammar." But if you really
look carefully, what's happening it's just the same idea of connecting sounds that she's
heard. She's heard many people use that expression for that situation.
But she's not like ready to apply that understanding to different other situations. So an English
example would be like big, bigger, small, smaller. So you might think, "Okay, if I'm
learning adjectives, maybe I can apply that same ... ending to something like that." So
if I learned big, big becomes bigger, small becomes smaller. And I hear the word tall,
I might guess, "Oh, tall becomes a taller." But then the problem comes once you hear something
that's irregular or it breaks the rules, then you learn a word like wonderful And it's like,
"Oh, it's not wonderful." Or it's like more wonderful or most wonderful. But you learn
those things over time as you begin to connect those sounds.
But the ideal way again, first step is you're learning everything all in English. You're
connecting the sounds or the words with situations and not trying to use translations. And then
you're beginning to kind of practice applying different things. And this is another example
or another reason why when I'm teaching students, I tell them even if it's a new word or something,
maybe you're not so comfortable with for using. Just try to make different words or try to
use different expressions that you learn in different situations. And see if maybe that
pattern will work. Sometimes you'll be wrong, but most of the
time you'll be right because that's how patterns work in languages. So hopefully this makes
sense. I know my videos are always kind of a little bit deeper going into the language.
But if you understand these really basic things about learning, it makes a lot more sense
and you'll be able to get fluent a lot faster. So we go to the third step of this. And again,
this is all kids are doing. It's really the three things that I'm explained to you here.
So again and again, I'm repeating myself because this is also what kids are doing. They repeat
themselves, they watch the same movies or songs or TV shows or whatever again and again.
And that's how they develop fluency. So you're learning, but then it's the repetition that
builds the fluency. So first step learning sounds connecting that with meaning. Second
step is applying patterns and seeing what works and what doesn't. And then learning
the exceptions for things like that. So my older daughter, Aria, she used to say, "I
[goed 00:12:55] to the park." So she would try saying that. And I would
say, "Oh no, no, no. It's you went to the park" or like something else she might make
a mistake with was like, "I found something." So she might say like I find, or I [finded
00:13:09]." Something like that. I say, "Oh no, no, no, you found it." So I ask her again,
sometimes when she's asking me something or saying something to me and she uses it incorrectly,
I'll say, "What was that? What was that?" And then she'll she'll think like, Ah, okay."
She'll try to correct it. And then she'll just say it herself. And again, it takes a
little bit of practice with some things because you're learning the exceptions to the rule.
So that's one, two and the third thing is where you really take it to the highest level
because many students actually ask me, they say, "Okay, "Drew, your system is great for
beginners, but how is it going to help me?" All you're doing again is you're taking the
language that you learn. So this is giving you the vocabulary, the pronunciation, the
grammar, all of these things as you're building that together, you're building this web of
all these different connections. And that's what gives you fluency, which is really just
another way of saying you're getting to speak continuously.
Because if you can't maybe remember this word, you can remember something related to that,
or you can explain it in a different way. And again, the same way I'm speaking right
now, I'm fluent because I'm able to talk. Maybe if I forget a word I want to say or
something, I can switch it to something else and explain that. But you take the vocabulary
that you're learning like a native and you begin applying that in more interesting ways.
I'll just give you one example. Because I could go into lots of them and you can watch
my other videos. There are over 500 free videos right on this channel that I've spent the
past 10 years making for you. So enjoy those videos.
But the last thing here is where you're taking things and one example is like moving from
a physical idea to something more figurative. And I explain more about this in my Visual
Guide to Phrasal Verbs where I'm teaching you how to think like a native. I'm really
just following these same steps. I really do that for all the programs that I teach.
But in this example, let's say I'm playing a game of poker. So this is a card game. I'm
playing a game of poker. There's a group of people sitting around a table and we're all
holding our cards like this. And in this particular game, instead of keeping
my cards on the table and just looking at them like that, I'm really holding them very
close. So no one can see what I'm doing. So sometimes you'll play cards and you'll see
people holding their cards very close to their chest like that. So this is just a physical
idea. And if I'm explaining this same thing to my daughter, I would explain it to her
in the same way. I'm sitting here with my cards very close to my chest like this so
no one can see what I'm doing. So other people are sitting close to me. I want to make sure
no one can see. Now from this physical idea, again, we're
using like cards close to chest. These are all basic words that you learn like a native
by just understanding them the same way native kids do. Because again, they all have to go
through the same phases, these same steps. But you take this like holding my cards close
to my chest and it comes a regular idiom with a more figurative meaning. And figurative
just means you can talk about something that's not physical like an idea or we're going to
describe something else that maybe is different from playing cards and to hold something close
to your chest or to keep something close to your chest in the same way that we're using
this idea of you can talk about anything where you're not trying to reveal much.
So you're keeping secrets from people. I'm building a business. Maybe friends of mine
are asking me, "Oh, what are you doing? What's the new thing that you're building?" I say,"
Oh, I'm keeping my cards close to my chest or I'm playing it close, close to my chest.
I'm keeping it close to my chest." It's just means I'm not revealing what things are or
I'm trying to keep other people from seeing what that thing is. But you can see how once
you understand these words and you understand what they mean.
So even a group of words like play it close to my chest. It's just a group of sounds that
you use in a particular situation. And when you play something close to your chest, now
that you understand that these sounds have the meaning of being secretive about something,
you can then apply that in many different situations. So I can be playing it close to
my chest. Maybe I'm dating some new girl or something like that. And my friends are saying,
"Oh, tell me about her." I say, "Ah, I don't really want to mention so much about that.
I'm like I'm kind of playing it close to my chest. I'm playing this one or I'm keeping
it close to my chest." And they will understand that I don't physically
mean that. I'm not physically keeping anything near my chest, but the idea becomes figurative
and I can use that for many different situations. So you see how easy this is? Now remember
that young kids, they are not learning systematically. Some of them are and it really depends on
the parents that you have. So if your parents are very good at explaining things, they understand
all these ideas about how to teach they can help a child speak much faster, because what
they're really doing is making it easier for the mind to just understand how the language
works and then actually helping them make these connections, understand when things
are regularly following a pattern or breaking a rule. And then showing how those same things
can be applied in different ways. That's all language is. It's really just those
three things. So hopefully you're starting to feel a bit more excited, especially if
you haven't maybe learned much with me before. People who have been following me for a while
will understand all of this, but I thought it was a good idea to just put all of it in
one video to make sure you understand how this works. If you don't have any kids yourself,
watch little kids and see what they do. And you'll notice that if you actually try
to teach them in a more systematic way, that they actually become good speakers faster
than you can take students that are a little bit slower and speed up their process, speed
up their fluency, their confidence, their ability to communicate just by making it more
systematic. And again, systematic means you're taking time to explain, to make these connections
so it becomes easy for them to understand what things are.
Another example recently. So my, again, just about Noelle, we were watching some TV show
and she saw a gorilla on the screen. So there's a picture of a gorilla or a video of a gorilla.
And she said, "Monkey." And I said, "Oh no, that's a gorilla." But to a child that logic
doesn't make any sense to them. So I knew as a systematic teacher teaching my own child,
I have to think, "Let me show her some pictures." So I actually took her to my computer and
I showed her some different pictures of things. I said, "Okay, we're going to look at this
picture, this picture, this picture, this picture, this picture." And then it's like
a very simple game that you may be even a show like Sesame Street will have something
like this. So Sesame Street will give you four pictures and they'll sing this song.
I don't know if they do this now, but when I was a kid and watched, they would say, "Which
one of these things is not like the other?" So they would have maybe an Apple, an orange,
a banana, and I don't know, some skis. So you would look at that and think, "Okay,
what's similar with these three, but different from that?" Now, interestingly, you could
probably find a way to make a connection between all of those things. But it's kind of an obvious
thing they're looking for. These three are different kinds of fruit and this is not a
food or fruit at all. So kids are thinking about things in this way. Actually, we all
are. We are doing this all the time, but we make it more difficult when we try to use
translations and try to force your mind to remember something. And this is a really big
principle that most teachers and schools are just not teaching because I don't know why
people forget this, but most people hate being told what to do or what to think.
And so if you tell your child, especially if you have children, you say, "Don't do that."
They're thinking, "Okay, I want to do that now." Even if you just for some reason make
them stop doing something, they'll just want to continue doing it because you told them
not to do it. It's really weird, but this is how people think. So if you understand
these ideas, it becomes a lot easier to teach. So when I showed Aria or when I showed Noelle
different pictures of animals, it was easier for her to understand what I mean by that.
What do I mean by gorilla? What do I mean by a monkey? So then we can show something
else or show it at a different time. If a child doesn't understand something, you
might show a picture of a gorilla and they say gorilla, and then you show a monkey and
then they say gorilla again. So you think, :Okay, they don't know the difference between
a monkey and a gorilla," which that's actually a pretty complex idea for a child to understand,
but you can tell their level of understanding by showing them something else. So she saw
a little bit later a bear and she said, "Oh, that looks like a monkey." So she saw a bear
and she said, "Monkey." So I'm thinking, "Oh, she's actually has like a kind of a broader
understanding of the word monkey as like animal" or something that looks like this, rather
than something else. So part of it is just the brain developing,
but also just understanding language learning from the perspective of the learner, not from
you as a teacher trying to teach something. It's this understanding that helps you teach
a child much faster. So if you understand all of these ideas, if you apply this to your
language learning, this is how you become a fluent speaker much faster. So you learn
the native way, but systematically and you practice, obviously if you practice in the
right way, it becomes a lot easier. So hopefully that makes sense. If it has please
click that like button and let me know in a comment down below if you have any questions
about that. And if there's anything maybe you don't understand, because I really want
this idea to be very clear for, wow, I guess 10 years, I've been trying to make this idea
very simple for people. Because there are a few different pieces that connect to it.
But really the idea is just learn like a native and you will speak like one. It's only if
you believe that idea or you don't believe that idea that really determines if you're
going to become fluent. But at the very least, people who are learning
like a student don't become fluent generally. So at first like okay, the traditional way
of learning through translations and studying grammar rules like that if that that doesn't
work, then you should be open to something different. And that thing that you should
try, even if you don't believe me, even if this maybe you think, "Okay, that maybe works.
I don't know how I could do that something." Give it a try because that's how you get fluent.
You have to learn like a native because you're making these connections and that's what lets
you speak fluently. So if you'd like to learn more about that,
you can click on the link in the upper right of this video or on the link in the description
below this video. So that will show you some of my programs, which explain in detail more
about the different ways you can learn like a native, so that you can become a great speaker.
So you can learn more about the Fluency Welcome Package or Visual Guide to Phrasal Verbs or
Fluent for Life. So that's where I really go into detail about lots of different topics.
I'll just leave one more final point about Fluent for Life in this video. But once you
understand this idea, you can become fluent in 30 days or less about a particular topic.
Now, this idea is only for people who understand a lot of English already, but can't speak.
So this is again, people who are struggling trying to cross the fluency gap. They know
a lot of English, but they can't communicate fluently. So they struggle with that.
But also if you learn the same kinds of ideas, you learn like a native in a structured way,
then it really becomes easy to communicate fluently about a particular topic. I want
to make that very clear. So that's how you can become a fluent speaker in 30 days or
less about a particular topic. Because what you're really doing when you develop fluency
is using these principles to build habits. And that just means the skill of communicating
automatically. So just like you brush your teeth maybe the same way every day, you have
a habit of doing that. And it takes roughly 21 to 30 days to do that. So if you can build
fluency in a particular topic, which is useful because most people don't talk about every
topic anyway. You talk about particular things and maybe talk about for your job or about
your family life or something like that. But most people are not talking about everything
and that's okay, why you don't need to know everything or every word or every phrase to
be a fluent speaker. And this is again why children, my daughter Aria five-years-old
doesn't know a lot of words, but she communicates fluently for the topics that she speaks about.
So if you remember that idea, you can become a fluent speaker in 30 days or less about
a particular topic. And then you just apply the same system again and again for different
topics. And that's how you become a great speaker.
Anyway, if you'd like to learn more about that, that's in Fluent for Life specifically,
but you can learn again the same way that I'm teaching and learning, helping people
learn like a native, but faster that because it's a systematic approach. Actually helping
people understand, make connections and then become fluent much faster because you're not
just teaching them random things and hoping they understand it.
If that makes sense, again, click that like button, post a comment down below and click
on the link in the upper right of this video or on in the link in the description below
this video. And I'll see you in the next video. Bye bye.
1. Click on this link to subscribe to my YouTube channel for over 500 free videos.
2. Click on this link to download my #1 eBook guide to fast fluency, FREE! And…
3. Click here to watch the most popular video on English fluency here on YouTube!