Hi there, I'm Drew Badger, the world's number
one English Fluency Guide, and in this
video we're going to be talking about
the hidden superpower that all fluent
English speakers have I've been excited
about making this video for quite awhile
but I've waited because it's a little
bit more advanced it is a challenging
idea but I will do my best to explain
and keep it very simple for you
I don't want to keep you in suspense so
i will tell you this superpower right
now and then we will explain what it
means so again don't be nervous if you
think maybe you don't quite understand
it because I will go into exactly what
it is and how to develop it
so this superpower and its really a
quite simple thing actually is the
ability to understand things by their
meaning and to adapt your understanding
of words as you learn more
now I know this is kind of a weird idea
and maybe I haven't even explained it
very well it's kind of a new thing that
I'm trying to help people learn but it's
really very important it's one of those
things that native speakers don't even
realize that they're doing so it's quite
difficult to teach and I've never heard
anyone teach it before
anyway let's explain what it means so if
you're thinking about maybe learning a
verb and I've covered this or I covered
this quite recently when I was making a
video talking about the different uses
of get and this is the most powerful
verb that you can learn the English
language because it's so common and so
useful but in that video what I talked
about is number one the most important
thing you should be doing for building a
huge vocabulary quickly is instead of
trying to learn English word through
your language you need to be
understanding everything through english
so when you're watching people maybe
people are like there are lots of
English teachers actually from all over
the world that are teaching but they're
using their native language to help you
learn now I think there is value in this
because there may be are a few things
that are maybe specific to a person's
language or maybe some difficult
pronunciation things that are required
by having someone do that but you must
also be learning with the native speaker
and someone that understands things in a
way like i do that can pronounce them
perfectly as well as present them in a
visual weight because you want to be
focusing as much as possible on learning
things the same way native speakers do
so you don't want to put any steps
between the language you speak your
native
language and the language you're trying
to learn you don't want to learn things
and get explanations and definitions and
do all these other things where you
translate in order to understand
something because that's why you would
translate when you speak so if you have
a problem with maybe translating in your
head before you speak so you're in a
conversation someone says something to
you and you want to respond but wait a
minute you have to think okay is this
grammar rule how do i translate this and
then you start speaking after that so if
you don't want to do that if you have a
problem with that
it's because you're learning things
through your native language so the most
important thing you should be doing
really for anything any aspect of
developing fluency whether its
vocabulary building or listening or
pronunciation practice you want to get
that connection to the language directly
so this is just the foundation of this
idea but let's say I see somebody buying
something and then I hear the word get
ok so now I've made an association in my
mind a connection between the word get
and the like the situation of someone
buying something so i make that
connection I ok to get means to buy
something but maybe like the next day I
hear somebody else like like they find
something on the street and they pick it
up and maybe they like oh I got I got
twenty dollars off the street and I say
wait a minute like yesterday I heard get
and it means to buy something doesn't it
but wait a minute i guess it also means
something else and this is the this is
the part where like your mind opens up a
little bit more and you've probably
noticed this if you've learned anything
like a word like get like we covered in
that video and i gave you a whole bunch
of different uses of that word so again
do go back and watch that video the most
powerful verb in the English language if
you've not seen it already but this idea
of taking something and then expanding
your understanding of it through the
language itself
you're not trying to get a whole bunch
of translations of something what you're
doing is making a connection with a
language okay so I see somebody buy
something so i'm looking at a situation
and then i connect that with the word so
to buy something to purchase something
I'm giving someone money and I get
something so i'm buying something from a
person now if I think about that and
that's the only meaning that i
understand like I will continue to go
through life thinking that by means get
so it's the same thing but as soon as I
hear
something else now my mind has to change
my mind has to open up a bit more to
start receiving other definitions of
what what something like that means oh
ok get does not just mean by something
it could also mean to find something on
the ground and then I start thinking
okay if get means like buy something and
find something what else might that mean
now this is really important because
this idea this is the superpower that
people have that native speakers have
the people who speak fluently have it's
the ability to understand things in the
native language by studying it directly
again you're focusing on the meaning of
something not translations so if you can
develop this superpower then it's really
going to help you build your confidence
because you'll be able to adapt to new
language or new meanings of words when
you hear them and then it expands your
meaning for your understanding of the
meaning of that word
I hope your understand what I'm saying
because this is such an important idea
to click that like button if you are
understanding what I'm saying right now
or if i need to go back and make a new
version of this video to make it even
easier but really it is a very advanced
idea and most people don't even realize
they're doing it when they are doing it
so I'm trying to make it very clear here
so you understand that there's more than
one meaning typically for a word and
then as you learn that you expand your
understanding of that idea or that word
to really push this deep into your brain
let's look at the word take now in the
same way let's say I'm a young child and
I see my father maybe take a piece of
bread off of the table and he said I'm
taking a piece of bread say okay like
take I get it like I understand what
he's saying to remove something from one
thing and put it in something else but
maybe I go to school later that day and
my friends are talking about taking a
test i say wait a minute like I thought
take this meant physically moving
something from one place to another I
don't understand quite how that works
all of these will have larger meanings
and then kind of under under that
umbrella so I call this an umbrella
where we have kind of smaller more
specific examples of something so under
the umbrella of get you have maybe to
buy something or to receive something
but really you're transferring something
you're taking possession of that thing
finally we'll look at the verb to say
something to say like I'm sitting down
in my parents are talking I'm like a
couple of years old and my dad says oh
like my mom said how are you today so my
mom said how are you today so I think
okay say say means to have words coming
out of your mouth so that's my
understanding of that word but maybe I
here later my dad and I are looking at a
picture book and there's a picture of a
cow and he says oh the cow says Moo the
cows is moved so I'm thinking wait a
minute like a cow's and actually
speaking like a cow doesn't have words
that it's maybe trying to communicate
well maybe it doesn't mean we don't
really understand it but in that case
like okay my understanding of say is not
just words but it's expanded to having
like some kind of sound coming out of
like a mouth or something like that so
I'm expanding my understanding and this
is how I developed a superpower of doing
this so when i'm working with Aria my
daughter when I'm trying to explain
things to where I have to make it very
clear what I'm talking about so I can
help her understand her our expand her
understanding of particular things
because you can notice like if you're
maybe specifically your you're doing
something or if I'm teaching a class i
will look at students and if I say
something I can tell if they understood
it or if they didn't and usually it's
because they haven't expanded their
their understanding of something so the
more you can develop this being able
this ability to expand your
understanding of phrases or verbs or
vocabulary in general the faster we'll
be that you get fluent because the more
it will lead you to want to think like
what else could i use this for or what
other meanings like especially the
literal vs figurative meanings of
something so I cover a lot about this in
our visual guide to phrasal verbs the
difference between a physical thing and
a literal or i guess a figurative thing
so one example I given that program is
to go under now to go under if you think
about physically moving under something
else this is a literal understanding of
the phrasal verb to go
under but the kind of more figurative
understanding about is like a company
going under when it goes bankrupt so to
go bankrupt means to lose all of your
money and in that way we're taking an
idea we're expanding our idea we're
expanding our understanding of what to
go under means and so you can find this
everywhere and the more you can do this
the more you don't like lock yourself
into a particular understanding of a
word the more you can keep open and
always be learning kind of knew it new
things like one trick i'll give you
right now
like if you take even a basic verb like
get just search the verb get on google
and you can look at a huge list of all
these things read through them you see
like you know five ten different
meanings of the word get but they all
have an umbrella and if you find that
umbrella then that's what's going to
give you a great understanding so again
that's exactly what i do in the most
powerful verb in the English language
video that's a few videos before that
one so do go back and watch that video
after you've seen this one even if you
have seen that video already you will
look at it in a new way if you go back
and watch it now anyway I don't want to
give you too much information but this
superpower this is such an important
thing and hopefully i have explained it
quite well if I have do click that like
button and then again go out and try to
do a little bit of research on your own
just pick a verb like take or grow or
give or anything just a simple verb for
an example and notice all the different
meanings that you might not have heard
before but again if you can do this you
will expand your understanding and
become more fluent and more native like
really
anyway it's a great superpower that
anyone can develop and you can start
doing that right now if you have enjoyed
this video do click that like button
become a subscriber to the YouTube
channel and if you have problems you
know you want to be able to think more
like a native speaker this idea of
understanding how to expand your way of
thinking how to expand your
understanding of vocabulary is one of
the habits of a fluent English speaker
and if you want to develop all of these
you can click on our button right here
in this video or on the link in the
description below this video to take our
free english fluency quiz and it will
help you understand exactly what you're
struggling with and give you specific
advice you need to help develop that
habit so all these things are required
becoming a fluent speaker does not mean
learning more words it just means
developing the habit that native
speakers have and we can help you do
that
have a fantastic day and i'll see you in
the next video bye bye