Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Are you ready to understand fast English conversations? Yes? Let's talk about it.
Speaking naturally and fluently is a great skill to have, but if you can't understand
what the other person is saying, you're going to have a big problem. Today, I want to give
you my top tip for understanding fast English conversations. You're going to learn, number one,
how to understand fast English conversations. Number two, we will practice this method together,
get ready. And number three, I will show you how to continue using this method to level up
your skills. And like always, I have created a free PDF worksheet that includes all of today's
listening tips, pronunciation, and vocabulary, so that you never forget what you are about to learn.
You can click on the link in the description to download this free PDF worksheet today.
So how can you understand fast English conversations? Can you learn just like a
child? If you just watch English TV 24/7, will you eventually understand? Well,
you might, but it also might take 10 years. You probably don't want to wait 10 years. You want
to understand fast English conversations now. So what's the trick? You need to study and analyze
fast English conversations. Try to understand each word, and then you can use that same structure and
vocabulary yourself in your own conversations. And that is exactly what we're going to do
today. We're going to analyze a short English conversation and you will learn some new idioms,
phrasal verbs, expressions, grammatical points so that you can use them yourself and you'll
understand them in fast conversations. So get a pen, pencil, or piece of paper ready. Let's study.
We will be using my four-step listening method. Step number one is to listen to a fast,
real English conversation. This is exactly the speed that native or advanced English
speakers use. You will hear Margie, who is my mother-in-law, speaking to me about a unique way
that she educated her children when they were younger. Then step two is we will listen to a
slow version of this conversation. My husband, Dan and I are going to say the exact same words that
you heard in the fast conversation, but we'll slow it down and I wonder if it will be easier for you
to understand. Step three is to write everything that you hear. Write from the fast conversation,
use the slow conversation. I want you to test your listening skills and write down what you
hear. Step number four is to check your writing. As you look at the transcript and your writing,
you might realize, "Oh, I didn't understand that word because in fast conversation, it's linked,
it's reduced, and maybe it's just cut off and I didn't understand that that's really
how people speak, and now I see the light. You will also catch new vocabulary words that
maybe you've never heard before, so we'll also review three keywords from this conversation.
This lesson is a sample of my course, the 30 Day English Listening Challenge, where you will use
the four-step listening method each day. Each day you will receive a new lesson, and this will help
you to level up your listening skills and finally understand fast English conversations. Thousands
of English learners around the world have joined the Listening Challenge, and some of them have
told me that at the beginning it was really tough, but as time went on, it got easier and easier. So
if today's lesson seems tricky for you, don't worry. It's your first lesson. I hope that you
can join us. There's a link in the description and it will get easier and easier for you over time.
Let's take a look at the worksheet so that you can see exactly what you need to do.
Here's the conversation outline. First, you will hear Margie's voice, then my voice,
then hers, and so on. If you have a piece of paper, I recommend writing M, V, M, V, and so
on so that you can prepare yourself to write what you're going to hear. This lesson is day 16 of the
Listening Challenge, but today it's a free sample for you. Are you ready? It's time for the fast
English conversation clip with Margie. We're going to listen to it three times and I challenge you to
write down exactly what you hear. If you need to repeat this section again and again and listen to
it 10 times, that's no problem, but I want you to be active. Are you ready? Let's listen and I want
you to write. Let's go. Margie:
I homeschooled my children, and that was a big thing way back when.
Vanessa: Not the norm?
Margie: Not the norm.
Vanessa: Yeah. That's kind of typical of the U.S. though,
that people do do things differently. Margie:
Yeah. Vanessa:
Not everyone follows the same pattern. Margie:
I homeschooled my children, and that was a big thing way back when.
Vanessa: Not the norm?
Margie: Not the norm.
Vanessa: Yeah. That's kind of typical of the U.S. though,
that people do do things differently. Margie:
Yeah. Vanessa:
Not everyone follows the same pattern. Margie:
I homeschooled my children, and that was a big thing way back when.
Vanessa: Not the norm?
Margie: Not the norm.
Vanessa: Yeah. That's kind of typical of the U.S. though,
that people do do things differently. Margie:
Yeah. Vanessa:
Not everyone follows the same pattern. Did you feel like that was too fast? Well, native
and advanced English speakers can understand every word of this conversation, and I want you to be
able to do that too, because when you visit the U.S. or you have a business meeting in English
or you talk with friends in English, people will speak this fast with this type of English.
Let's go to step two of my four-step listening method, where you will listen to the slow version.
My husband, Dan and I are going to say each exact word that you heard in the conversation
with Margie, but we are going to slow it down. This is not how people speak in real life,
but I want you to see if you can hear each word and then we're going to go back to the fast
version afterwards because I think you'll be able to understand a lot more at the end. All right,
let's listen to the slow version three times. Dan:
I homeschooled my children, and that was a big thing way back when.
Vanessa: Not the norm.
Dan: Not the norm.
Vanessa: Yeah. That's kind of typical of the
U.S. though, that people do do things differently. Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
Not everyone follows the same pattern. Dan:
I homeschooled my children, and that was a big thing
way back when. Vanessa:
Not the norm. Dan:
Not the norm. Vanessa:
Yeah. That's kind of typical of the U.S. though, that people do do things differently.
Dan: Yeah.
Vanessa: Not everyone follows the same pattern.
Dan: I homeschooled my children,
and that was a big thing way back when. Vanessa:
Not the norm. Dan:
Not the norm. Vanessa:
Yeah. That's kind of typical of the U.S. though, that people do do things differently.
Dan: Yeah.
Vanessa: Not everyone follows the same pattern.
Did you write everything that you heard in that slow version? If you join the 30-day English
Listening Challenge course, you can download all of these audio files and PDF files so that you can
study them at any time, anywhere, they're yours to have. This here on YouTube is just a sample.
Now, it's time to go to step four, which is check the transcript to see how you did.
We're going to take a look at the transcript and also go over three key vocabulary words
that were used in this quick conversation. "I homeschooled my children and that was a big
thing way back when." This expression, "way back when" is beautiful to use when we're talking about
something that feels like a long time ago, maybe 20 or 30 years ago is not really a long time ago,
but it feels like a long time ago. You could say, "There was no internet way back when." Really,
it wasn't even a lifetime ago, but it feels like that was a long time ago.
Let's continue. "Not the norm, not the norm." This expression, "the norm," as you might imagine,
is a shortened version of normal, but we use the norm to talk about something that feels
common. For example, in the U.S., it's the norm to drive a car wherever you need to go.
Let's continue. "Yeah, that's kind of typical of the U.S. though, that people do do things
differently." Oh my goodness, what in the world is happening with do do? Let's take a look. Let's
look at the second do first. Here is the phrase, "to do things differently." That do goes with
the word things. They do things differently in Japan, they do things differently in Argentina,
and that first do is used as emphasis. People do do things differently. In the U.S.,
we use this word do to emphasize. I do like sushi. I do want to study English. And here,
the second verb just happens to be do, so it sounds a little strange, but it's correct.
Let's continue. "Yeah, not everyone follows the same pattern." You might not have noticed
Margie saying yeah, but she said that in the middle of when I was speaking and this type of
speech is very common. We often interject while someone's speaking to show that we're listening.
If you didn't understand those three words when Margie and I used them,
it's probably because their new vocabulary for you, so this course is an excellent chance for
you to level up your listening skills and level up your vocabulary at the same time. Now, that
we've used the four-step listening method, we've listened to the fast version, the slow version,
you've written down what you've heard, and we've checked it with the transcript. Now,
it's time for the final exam. We're going to listen to the fast version again,
and I want you to listen for each of the points that you might have missed before, some of that
new vocabulary, and each word that we say so that you can speak like that too. All right,
are you ready to listen to the fast version? You'll be amazed at how much you understand
now. Let's listen. Margie:
I homeschooled my children, and that was a big thing way back when.
Vanessa: Not the norm?
Margie: Not the norm.
Vanessa: Yeah, that's kind of typical of the U.S. though,
that people do do things differently. Margie:
Yeah. Vanessa:
Not everyone follows the same pattern. Margie:
I homeschooled my children, and that was a big thing way back when.
Vanessa: Not the norm?
Margie: Not the norm.
Vanessa: Yeah, that's kind of typical of the U.S. though,
that people do do things differently. Margie:
Yeah. Vanessa:
Not everyone follows the same pattern. Margie:
I homeschooled my children, and that was a big thing way back when.
Vanessa: Not the norm?
Margie: Not the norm.
Vanessa: Yeah, that's kind of typical of the U.S. though,
that people do do things differently. Margie:
Yeah. Vanessa:
Not everyone follows the same pattern. So how did you do? Which part was the most
difficult for you? Let me know in the comments. I'm curious to know what you have to say. Now,
imagine if you continued to improve your listening skills day by day using this four-step listening
method for 30 days. Would your listening skills improve a lot? Absolutely. Thousands of English
learners around the world have joined the 30 Day English Listening Challenge, and if you join too,
by the end of the month, you will have analyzed 30 different conversations with
11 native English speakers and learned over 90 new vocabulary expressions in just 5 to
10 minutes per day. By the end of the course, your listening skills will have improved a lot,
and most importantly, you will be able to use this information and these expressions and
this pronunciation yourself when you speak in English. It's great to understand the lessons,
but it's most important to be able to take it into the real world and use it. That's the key.
The 30 Day English Listening Challenge is open for enrollment right now. You can click on the link in
the description to join me and thousands of other motivated English learners today. Let's take a
quick sneak peek inside the course website. When you join the 30 Day English Listening Challenge,
you will see day 0 through 30. On day 0, you can find a course guide with my recommended
study plan for each day and a calendar so that you can check off each day when you
finish. You'll feel so proud of yourself when that whole page is filled up with check marks.
Let's take a look at day one. Here, you can see the four-step listening method. The fast
conversation, the slow conversation, the worksheet that you can use to fill in what you hear,
and number four is the transcript with three new vocabulary words each day,
a total of 90 new vocabulary words over 30 days. If you can easily understand my English lessons
here on YouTube, but you cannot understand fast movies and TV shows in English,
this is the perfect course for you. There is a link in the description to join me in the
30 Day English Listening Challenge today. Well, thank you so much for learning English with me,
and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.
The next step is to join the 30 Day English Listening Challenge. You'll be on the right
path to increasing your listening skills and understanding fast English speakers. Don't
forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lessons. Thanks so much. Bye.