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hi everybody my name is alicia welcome
back to top words today we're going to
talk about 10 ways to stop translating
in your head let's get started
identify objects around you in english
the first way to stop translating in
your head is to identify the objects
around you in your target language so if
you're studying english that means you
look at the objects around the room look
at the things in your life don't think
of them in your native language first
think of them in your target language
first so if i look around the room i see
a computer i shouldn't think my native
language word i should think my target
language word so start with the items
and the situations in your everyday life
if i say computer in english maybe i
should say computa in japanese i should
say not i don't know water in english i
should say omizu in japanese so
start associating the words in your
target language with your everyday life
now so if you're studying english that
means start getting familiar with the
things in your everyday life in english
repeat phrases you hear native speakers
use
tip number two is to repeat the phrases
that you hear native speakers use so if
you're watching this channel for example
or you're watching a tv show or a movie
listen for the way that native speakers
make those phrases if you hear a phrase
you have never heard before or you hear
an interesting combination of words try
to repeat them yourself don't just
listen try to say them yourself if
you're in a public space and it's
difficult for you to do that fine
practice in a place where you feel more
comfortable maybe if you have some
private space to practice just repeat
them get your mouth used to saying the
words the way that the speakers the
native speakers do so if you never
actually say words if you're only taking
in if you're only listening and you're
not actually producing the language it's
it's kind of hard to
to practice and to
to really hone your pronunciation to
improve your pronunciation so when you
listen to native speakers try to repeat
after them so for example if you're
studying english you can try to repeat
after this video you can repeat after
the things i'm saying because maybe i'm
using an expression or i'm using a
certain
series of vocabulary words together the
way a native speaker would and it's
maybe a good idea to try to practice the
ways that native speakers put their
words together so try to repeat after
native speakers especially when you're
looking at media and you can do this
when you're reading books too you can
try to read out
read out loud interesting lines of books
that you find or something that maybe is
difficult for you very nice practice tip
make a situation where you can't escape
into your native language
make a situation where you can't escape
into your native language essentially
means immerse yourself of course going
to that country or going to a place
where you can speak only that language
is very difficult for some of you
totally understand
but if in your life you can create a
situation in your library in your room
in your house somewhere for just an hour
or i don't know maybe a day i don't know
what your schedule is like but if you
can create a situation or create an
environment where you have no choice but
to use that language and you cannot
escape meaning you cannot
go back to using your native language as
a crutch you can't use the native
language at all it forces you to use the
language that you're studying so of
course if you are lucky enough to live
in the country or to live in a place
where people speak the language you're
studying great but you have to go out
and interact with people you have to put
yourself in a place where you have no
choice but to speak it's very hard and
it's very scary and it's very
embarrassing at first but if you take
time to find places and to make
environments that are comfortable for
you where you feel comfortable making
mistakes and asking questions it's very
valuable for your learning process this
is actually something that i did totally
i totally did this my japanese wasn't
very good for
a long time but then i started making
friends who could not speak english
actually i just did this through finding
hobbies there was a hobby that i had i
joined a group i joined actually a
school to where i could learn how to do
that hobby and everything was taught
only in japanese and the people in my
class only spoke japanese mostly and
then maybe we would go off for drinks
and food
late at night or on the weekends and
everybody spoke only japanese and if i
couldn't communicate even simply in
japanese i had no hope of keeping that
friendship together so it forced me to
study it forced me to think about the
words they were using
and to try to learn those words those
patterns as well as how to produce them
naturally myself so i was learning the
vocabulary words the people around me
were using and learning how to apply
them on my own that was only possible
because i had no escape in those
situations so try to do that
even if you can do it yourself in your
house it's super helpful i think
watch tv and movies in your target
language without subtitles
tip number four is to watch tv and
movies in your target language without
subtitles without subtitles so i think
that watching uh
with subtitles can be very beneficial um
so if i'm watching something or if you
want to watch something with subtitles
on great but i sometimes find that i can
in my case i i think too much about
reading the subtitles and i forget to
listen so maybe if you've seen a movie
in your target language a few times
with the subtitles on try turning the
subtitles off and think about the like
characters body language the words
they're using um you can always look
that up later look up the you know the
words you don't know in a dictionary but
try to do it where you're focusing
completely on the way that people are
using their words try not to use the
subtitles so um kind of play around with
it a little bit if there's a word that's
difficult for you to hear you can
actually turn on the subtitles in like
the in the native uh language of the
movie as well that's something that i've
done like if uh like if i wanted to
study japanese it's very useful when the
actual words spoken in japanese appear
on the screen sometimes it's easier for
me to catch a word if i see it visually
and i hear it at the same time so
another way to kind of
explore how you can use tv and movies is
to actually turn on the closed captions
like the the um the words on the screen
in the native language of the movie so
uh so this is sort of two points in one
so one watch movies without subtitles
meaning subtitles in your native
language and hint two is to watch movies
um with closed captioning on but the
closed captioning is in your target
language not in your native language so
you can try those two things with tv and
with movies don't bring a dictionary to
your lesson
tip number five is don't bring a
dictionary to your lesson okay so
give me a second here so i understand
the dictionaries especially electronic
dictionaries we have them on our phones
now are very very convenient
of course it's important to use them and
it's a they're a great resource to have
however one thing that really bothers me
and
that i think is detrimental it's not
helpful for students is when uh students
are in a lesson and they're practicing
conversation and they reach a point in
the conversation where they don't know
the word they want to use they know it
in their native language and they don't
know how to say it in their target
language they pull out their dictionary
they say to this the person listening to
them their practice partner in their
lesson where they have a limited period
of time just a moment and then they look
it up on their phone it takes a few
seconds the flow of the conversation
stops and then they say a word and it's
like whoa
no that's not you don't have that
ability you don't have the ability to do
that in a conversation with a native
speaker most people like if you go to a
bank and try to open a bank account are
you really going to pull out your
dictionary and sit there and try to
communicate you know just a moment just
a moment as you look up each word you
don't know no or if you do that's not a
real conversation so instead try using a
different strategy by that i mean if you
find a word you don't know in
conversation explain the word to your
conversation partner maybe they know the
word if you're speaking with a native
speaker this is a chance for them to
teach you a word i find that when people
take the time to teach me a word i
remember the word much better than just
looking it up on my dictionary so try to
resist maybe you can bring a dictionary
to your lesson but don't use it or try
not to use it in your conversation
practice it's just it destroys the flow
of a conversation so instead practice
the skill of describing the vocabulary
word you want to use and learn how to
ask the meaning of a word or learn how
to ask for a vocabulary word from your
partner so you can use an expression
like ah what's the word that means blah
blah blah or um you know it's this thing
that does this and this and this so this
is an opportunity for you to describe
characteristics of something or find a
different way you can use your body
language you can use whatever you have a
lot of tools but try not to use a
dictionary in a conversation because
it's not realistic
train responses to common questions
number six is a quick one i think number
six hint number six i have is just to
train responses to common questions
train responses to common questions so
for example a very common question in
english is hey how are you
you should know how to answer this
question just have a default response
hey how are you i'm good
if it takes you
a long time to answer the question hey
how are you
you need to practice i think that's a
pretty good uh
a pretty good indicator so for example
sometimes i ask students a question like
that they they haven't quite
gotten the idea of how to respond just
yet they they're not so quick at
responding i say
hey how are you and they say yes
and then they think and they go i'm
i'm good
that's a very common question so think
about just a default response that you
can spit out that you can quickly say if
it's how was your weekend or hey what's
up or what do you want to do for dinner
tonight think about like just a handful
meaning just a few responses to those
questions and train them quickly just
how are you i'm good how are you i'm
okay how are you not bad there's three
so
it's just training responses to those
questions there's no reason to be
surprised by a question like how are you
like that's a very common question so
for those common questions train
responses to that we've got a bunch of
videos especially beginner level videos
for some example responses you can do so
don't get stuck with these little
questions just train a few responses
practice a few responses till they feel
natural to you it'll save you time and
it'll help the person asking the
question too to move forward in the
conversation yay
study with materials that don't provide
a translation
the next tip is to study with materials
that don't provide a translation so by
this i mean if you're using worksheets
and or some kind of textbook or whatever
and it has
your target language the language you're
studying and it has your native language
next to it while this can be useful i
feel that if you can studying your
materials only in your target language
and then simplified explanations for
more detailed points
also in your target language can be a
little bit better so i don't want to say
like you should only study things in
your target language and nothing from
your native language because of course
like it can be helpful sometimes to look
up a word or to understand a grammar
point in your native language but where
possible if you can find something that
provides simplified explanations in your
target language it can be really really
helpful because again you're thinking
you're learning to think on like a
simpler on a more basic level about the
language you're studying in the language
that you're studying so this can be
really really good so finding some
materials to use where there's no
translation maybe you can practice
of course with with books and with
written materials but also with like
video materials as well so there are a
variety of different ways that you can
um
find materials in your target language
um like in video and tv so some things
to think about there are the level of
vocabulary words people are using in the
media content you're watching
who the media content is intended for
children young adults adults
the speed at which the speaker is
talking so like i have the ability to
change the level of difficulty
of
videos based on the rate of speech the
vocabulary words that i use and how many
like idioms and things i use so i could
make a video very difficult we could
make a very like a very difficult video
series by leveling up our vocabulary use
or by speaking very quickly or as you
might see in like our english and three
minutes series
we can also use very simple vocabulary
and speak at a low rate of speech so
maybe right now this is a very
intermediate level video so please think
about that so not just for written
materials but also for your audio and
visual materials think about
who your audience is the level of the
material and so on it can be really fun
and it can be helpful to think about
your your target language in your target
language all right we're almost done
study phrases in addition to single
vocabulary
the next tip is study phrases in
addition to single vocabulary words so
yes of course vocabulary is important
but i find it personally very very
useful to look at how a vocabulary word
is used in a phrase because sometimes
using it in a phrase helps you
understand the nuance of that vocabulary
word really really well so if i like a
word like crazy for example in english
depending on the situation where the
word crazy is used it could mean
something different it could mean like a
person who is mentally confused or mixed
up it could also mean something really
good it could mean something really bad
so if we look only at the word crazy
it's quite difficult to understand
really the meaning of the word but if
you look at the way the word is used in
a phrase you can get a lot more
information so take a look at the way
people use words in phrases not just as
single vocabulary words you can learn a
lot more that way i think
do your daily activities in english
where possible
the next tip is to do your daily
activities in your target language so if
you're studying english that means try
to do some daily activities in english
if possible so this can be very very
boring stuff but just think about it
when you're doing the activity so like
right now i'm filming a video for
englishclass101.com or i'm going to work
i'm cooking breakfast i'm doing the
laundry what do i have to do tomorrow so
try thinking about your everyday life in
english if you're studying english try
thinking about your everyday activities
the people that you meet what are you
doing so this is a way to help you
practice your verbs so if you don't know
if you're i don't know you're doing
something at work and you're like oh my
gosh how do i explain the what's the
verb for you know
a picture like i want to blah blah a
picture what's the word you can check a
dictionary at that point and go ah it's
draw i i need to use the verb draw for
draw a picture so you can find these
little gaps in your everyday life these
little gaps in your knowledge if you
think about
your everyday activities in your target
language if you don't think about it in
your target language you might not
realize you have vocabulary gaps or
phrase gaps here and there so this is a
really good and kind of funny actually
way to study
use a learner's dictionary for new words
the last tip is to use a learner's
dictionary for new words so in english
there are learners dictionaries
available in english so my favorite my
personal favorite is merriam-webster
merriam-webster is a fantastic
dictionary resource they're so
interesting and they have tons of like
historical information i really do just
sit and like read things on the
dictionary page lately it's true but um
of course there's a definition there's a
meaning for words there are example
sentences for words but merriam-webster
also has what's called a learner's
dictionary if you find a word that you
don't recognize you can check it
in a dictionary in a learner's
dictionary and it gives you a simplified
a simple explanation in simple english
of that word so instead of checking it
in your native language you can check it
in your target language so again this
helps you to understand the word um that
you are that you're focused on but you
understand it from
the language you're studying not from
your native language so using a
learner's dictionary can be really
really useful as well
all right so those are 10 tips those are
10 tips to help you stop translating in
your head i know it's very difficult but
it's it takes time and it takes practice
and i hope that these are a few
strategies that can help you as you
study
any language of course this is an
english language channel an english
language learning channel but i think
these tips are pretty good for learning
just about any language really so i hope
those are useful for you if you have
tried these strategies or if you have
any other comments or other tips please
let us know in the comment section below
this video if you liked this video
please make sure to hit the thumbs up
share this video and subscribe to our
channel too check us out at
englishclass101.com for more good stuff
as well thanks very much for watching
this episode of top words and i will see
you again soon bye
hi everyone i'm bridget and welcome to
today's lesson
today's topic is 10 ways to say hello in
english
good morning
good morning is the first thing you say
to someone when you see them in the
morning good morning sir would you like
a cup of coffee good morning could i
please get some orange juice good
morning i'm still tired from the night
before
hello
hello is the most common greeting you'll
hear that and hi
hello is a polite nice way to greet
someone when you see them hello
everyone says it you cannot go wrong
saying hello hello can be used at any
time of the day no matter whether it's
morning or at night
or at 4am
when you see someone you can say hello
and it will still be appropriate
long time no c
it's not necessarily grammatically
correct but it's a saying that we have
hey long time no c
what it means is that you haven't seen
that person in a long time so it
literally means long time no see
long time no see is something you say to
someone when you haven't seen them in a
while
hey john long time no see how are the
wife and kids
how have you been
hey how have you been i haven't seen you
in a long time
how have you been is asking someone how
they're doing and how they've been for
the past
however long if you haven't seen them in
a while
you might say
hey long time no see how have you been
how have you been
that's past tense it implies that you
haven't seen them in a while and you
want to hear about how they are and how
they've been for all of that time that
you haven't seen them hey long time no
see how have you been how are you
how are you
means how are you doing how are you
feeling how is everything
it's a standard thing that you might say
to anyone even if you've seen them the
day before you might see them today and
say hey how are you
how's it going
hey how's it going
how is it going is a more informal way
to say how are you
so how are you and how's it going they
mean the same thing
it's asking
how you are doing how you are feeling is
everything okay with you
what's up
what's up is another way of saying
hey how's it going but this one is even
more informal so you might say this to
friends hey what's up
and they'll say nothing just
living my life you know day in and day
out
hey what's up
good afternoon
how are you would you like some lunch
good afternoon is a polite way to greet
someone in the afternoon
so if you run into your boss
you might say good afternoon it's very
nice it's polite not a lot of people say
it to their friends
but it's it's a polite way to greet
someone
good evening
good evening is a nice way to greet
someone in the evening time you can only
use this phrase in the evening because
it's wishing someone a good evening it's
saying hello at a certain time of day
good evening
would you like some dinner
good evening have you eaten yet
all of my examples involve food it seems
it's nice to meet you
this is something that's very common to
say the first time that you meet someone
you might shake their hand and say hi
it's nice to meet you my name is bridget
my name is
it's telling that person that you are
happy to be meeting them it's a pleasure
to meet them
hi it's nice to meet you
that brings us to the end of this lesson
10 ways to say hello if you guys liked
the video please don't forget to give us
a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel
if you have any questions or comments
leave them below and don't forget to go
to englishclass101.com
for more english
okay everybody shift information has
been posted for the month it looks like
we'll visit 25 cities in 30 days
do we normally visit 25 different cities
in one month
yes sometimes we visit even more
where's our first stop
charlotte
hey i have friends in charlotte it would
be nice to see them
good evening in room dining this is alex
how may i be of service
hello i would like to order some food
of course ma'am just to confirm this is
mrs rossen in room 417
yes it is
excellent may i take your order
yes i would like a turkey sandwich on a
parmesan bagel
and what to drink
a diet coke
will there be anything else
yes i would also like a wake-up call for
seven
my major is education how about you
i'm an english major
cool
i like english
oh and what's oksana's major
she's also an english major
that's nice
you can help each other study
yep in fact i need to meet her now so we
can study together
okay it was nice talking with you
you too see you later
see ya
good evening ma'am may i have your first
and last names
melissa west
thank you ma'am i have found your
reservation here's the registration
information does everything look correct
to you
yes it seems to be correct
excellent now i will just need a photo
id for legal purposes
will my passport do that would be just
fine ma'am checkout is between noon and
two o'clock you may request an extension
of up to five hours free of charge
what if i need more time
then a late charge of five percent will
be added to your bill
hey vicky did you forget our study date
at 10 this morning
i'm sorry naomi at 10 i was talking with
my professor and couldn't get away i'm
sorry i should have called
that's okay so how did the meeting go
with the professor
it went fine he gave me an extension on
my paper and i can still take the
midterm how was your study group
yesterday
well we were studying together during
lunch when i noticed an old friend of
mine from high school in the same cafe
my concentration quickly switched from
class to catching up with my friend so i
didn't get much done
you've taken that class before right
yeah last semester
i was always asking questions in that
class because it was so difficult
well
i was hoping that you could rent me a
hand with my paper i can't think of
anything else to write
sure no problem
that is if you can help me study for our
history test
sounds like a deal
want to speak real english from your
first lesson sign up for your free
lifetime account at englishclass101.com
hi everyone i'm christine from
englishclass101.com
in this video we'll be talking about how
to curse like an english native speaker
piss a slang term for urine for example
don't piss your pants
you can say this when
you're really scared or anxious
for example if you're about to go on
stage to make a speech or perform
someone can say
don't piss your pants you can do it
pissed off
to be really angry
when i'm angry i can say hey i'm really
pissed off at you right now why did you
do that for
loser used to describe an uncool person
in high school my friends and i would
use this a lot
and we would say
hey loser how's it going
idiot used to insult people by saying
they're not intelligent
of all the mean things that you can say
this is on the lighter side but people
still use it
shoot
this is used to show disappointment or
frustration without using a stronger
curse word
shoot i spilled my coffee
shut up
you can use this when you want them to
be quiet or there's something surprising
that you just heard you can say
shut up no way
ticked off to be really angry you can
say this
with pissed off
so this is actually an older term not
many people use this as much anymore
because most people actually just use
pissed off
fool this is similar to saying someone
is like a clown you can say
you're acting like a fool right now
jerk this is a light insult used to
describe someone who is mean
for example
if there's someone bullying another
person that person is being a jerk
wimp this means someone who isn't strong
there is a movie out right now
called diary of a wimpy kid have you
seen it have you not i haven't yet
so how was it if you have any more
questions please leave a comment below
see you next time
hey everyone i'm paris from
englishclass101.com
in this video we're talking about how to
ask and give directions
let's start to the left to the left
the first phrase is where is the
where is the for example you can ask
where is the bank this can be used to
ask for a general location or detailed
directions
don't be surprised if you only receive
basic information for example next to
the grocery store
the next phrase is
i need to go to the
for example you can say i need to go to
the police station
the word need is used but this is used
for non-emergencies as well
how do i get to the
for example you can say how do i get to
the museum this question can be used to
ask for step-by-step directions instead
of a general location
is the
near here
is the
near here for example you can say is the
library near here if you're unfamiliar
with an area you can ask to get this
information about a specific place where
you want to go
is the bathroom near here
excuse me do you know where the is
excuse me do you know where the
is
for example you can say excuse me do you
know where the park is only youth excuse
me when you're starting a conversation
with a stranger another common phrase is
is the far from here
is the
far from here for example you can say is
the post office from here
this is an indirect way to ask for
directions people will tell you how far
the place is and probably tell you the
best way to get there
walking taking a bus driving uber
now let's take a look at expressions to
give directions
turn left
turn left for example you can say turn
left after two blocks this gives you
information about how far you should go
before you make any changes in this case
you should go left to the left to the
left
turn right
turn right for example
you can say turn right at the third
traffic light this also gives you
information about how far you should go
before taking another action
in this case you should go right
go straight
go straight this simply tells you to go
in one direction it also implies that if
you keep going straight that you will
eventually find what you're looking for
go past
go past for example you can say go past
the church
a landmark is just an easily noticeable
place for example a movie theater
restaurant
at the corner of
for example you can say it's at the
corner of
this means that a place is located at
the corner where two streets meet
in front of
for example you can say the bus station
is in front of the supermarket
we use front to refer to the main
entrance of a building it can also mean
visible from the front and doesn't
necessarily mean it's directly in front
of something
behind
behind for example
you can say the parking lot is behind
the movie theater we use behind to say
that something is at the rear of a
building
the front of a building is its main
entrance so which side it's facing the
street is really not important
next two
next two for example you can say the
restaurant is next to the park this is
an example of using a non-specific
location to give general directions
next two can be anywhere beside in front
of or around a place
mcdonald's is next to my house
between
for example you can say the store is
between the coffee shop and the pet
store between is used with two other
places when using between the main place
will always be in the middle of the two
other places
okay that's all for this lesson which
phrase do you like the most leave us a
comment and let us know
and i'll see you next time guys
bye
hey guys i'm paris from
englishclass101.com in this video we'll
be talking about making complaints in
english so let's get started
the first complaint is i'm starving
i'm starving
this is an exaggeration you can use when
you're hungry i am always starving even
right now
the next complaint is it's noisy it's
noisy
this kind of complaint is one that you
would make to a friend telling the staff
of a restaurant won't help since they
can't tell people to be quiet i hate
when it's noisy in restaurants save that
for another time
then we have it's hot
it's hot this can be used to talk about
the weather or the temperature of a room
you can add a request like can you turn
on the air conditioner i am never hot so
i like that
the next complaint is it's cold
it's cold this can be used to talk about
the weather or the temperature of a room
you can add a request like can you turn
on the heater
i always make this request because it's
always too cold everywhere everywhere
it's too expensive
even if you have enough money to buy
something it may be more money than you
want to spend it would probably be
considered rude to say this to someone
who works at a store but i always think
okay i'm in gucci it's way too expensive
another common complaint is i'm tired
i'm tired
use this complaint to imply that you
want to sit down relax go home take a
break when i babysit my five-year-old
cousin i leave thinking i'm tired
the next complaint is
i gained weight i gained weight
this is a self-criticism that implies
that you want to lose weight many people
say i got so fat
i'm always broke
i'm always broke use this to complain
about never having enough money i am
always broke because i always want more
money
the next complaint is my job is boring
my job is boring this is a really common
complaint used by people who don't think
their jobs are very exciting usually it
means that you want to find a different
more fun job it's all right teachers
your job isn't boring
that person stinks
that person stinks you can use stings to
talk about a literal physical smell or a
general insult meaning that you don't
like how someone smells i hate when
people smell on the bus
not good not okay
the next complaint is there's too much
traffic
there's too much traffic
this is a common complaint among people
who commute to work by car
certain roads are especially bad during
rush hour which is the time in the
morning or night most people are going
home or to work if i left at it was 7 pm
i would be here in 10 minutes but
because it's daytime in la it took me 30
minutes to get here and i drive really
really fast
and it still took me 30 minutes the next
complaint is the wi-fi here is too slow
the wi-fi here is too slow
this is just a general complaint you may
have about the internet speed if you're
at a cafe or somewhere with wi-fi you
can request that they reset their wi-fi
to improve the speed if you're having a
party and you're having friends over and
your wi-fi is too slow
you might as well end that party now
no wi-fi no party
my boss is annoying
annoying can be used to mean that
someone does things that you don't like
or they ask you to do things that you
don't like
either way an annoying boss is a bad
experience i am very familiar with this
hey paris grab me coffee hey paris check
my emails my boss is annoying but don't
tell him i said that
the pay is too low
the pay is too
low
you can use this to complain about how
much you make or to reject a job offer
because it doesn't pay enough i'm a
surgeon the pay is too low
i don't like it
i don't like it this is a very general
complaint that can be used for almost
anything what do i like
[Laughter]
posting a thousand selfies on instagram
i don't like it
um okay that's it for this lesson which
complaint do you like more leave us a
comment and let me know and we'll see
you next time
bye
you just got a text message from your
hotel's pickup service
what does the first number refer to
um
what does the first number refer to
the number in the text message refers to
the customer code
you are at a train station where you've
just bought an express ticket
which train car row and seat number are
you in
which train car row and seat number are
you in
the ticket says that you're in train car
number one in the eighth row in seat c
you are at a train station where you're
attempting to buy an express ticket from
a ticket machine
which option should you choose to buy an
express ticket
which option should you choose to buy an
express ticket
the option on the bottom left is for an
express ticket
you are on a platform at a train station
where you're waiting for your train
suddenly a message appears on the
display what does the message on the
display mean
what does the message on the display
mean
the display reads the next train will
not stop
you are at a train station where you're
reading the train schedule for an
express ticket that you've just bought
on which days are there no express
trains running
on which days are there no express
trains running
there are no express trains running on
public holidays and the third sunday of
every month
want to speak real english from your
first lesson sign up for your free
lifetime account at englishclass101.com
you are on a platform at a train station
where you're waiting for your train
suddenly a message appears on the
display what does the message on the
display mean
what does the message on the display
mean
the display reads the next train will
not stop
you are at a train station where you're
looking for the best exit to catch a
taxi
which exit should you take to get to the
taxi stop
which exit should you take to get to the
taxi stop
you should take the east exit in order
to get to the taxi stop
hi everybody my name is alicia and today
i am joined again in the studio by
michael hello and today we're going to
be talking about things that were cool
in the 90s so things that were
interesting or things that maybe we were
interested in in the 90s i'm guessing
that we're going to have some very
different opinions
based on our experiences of the 90s so
let's get right into it michael your
first item please um
okay
boy bands
so i remember boy bands were very very
popular when i was a kid in the 90s
i had three older brothers who would
punch me and tell me boy bands are for
girls don't like boy bands
so that was my experience with them and
they became kind of uncool i feel like
after the 90s and then they never were
uncool in like korea
and like a lot of asian countries they
still had like a strong boy band kind of
uh
scene or whatever
bands now
is that really what they're called no i
don't know i just mean i think i feel
like boy there are boy bands that are
now becoming boys to men maybe this
so i mean now they came
now it came back like what is the
what's the british one now it's kind of
cool again oh one direction one
direction yeah so i think it's come back
it's full circle didn't they just break
up
i'm gonna go with something that i loved
in the 90s this is probably way too
specific
uh
probably but it's this show called doug
that was on nickelodeon and there
weren't a whole lot of episodes of doug
it was i don't know like 20 or 30 i feel
like not even that many did you ever see
this show yeah that's very nostalgic for
me i
don't 20 30 episodes i feel i feel like
i had i'd seen them all so i i i know
that i saw them all because it would
come back it would come on one day after
school and i'd be like i've seen this
episode but the whole the whole idea
with doug is doug was like this just
this
plain
kid and he had an older sister he went
to school he had a dog get a best friend
and he would just encounter these
everyday life scenarios that would be
kind of troubling or he wouldn't know
how to deal with them but like he was
kind of a role model i feel like he was
kind of being like a good kid um or
sometimes he would get into trouble but
then you know
eventually he would solve the problem or
he'd find a way out of it so but i
really loved that show i really loved
nickelodeon in general um during the 90s
and yeah did you watch that channel yeah
of course i loved nickelodeon um i think
it was more like fox stuff like that but
i guess i'll segue into another one of
mine you're talking about wholesome so
something that's my childhood i was
raised on tv was sitcoms yeah so i think
this has kind of died down again like
the boy bands where it people think it's
cheesy now it's all reality tv shows
that kind of stuff but that's that is my
childhood right there is you know full
house and these kinds of shows step by
step
where there's a moral at the end of the
story and so everyone there's always
kind of like the the protagonist is
always like maybe he's unsure but by the
end they know the right thing to do and
they play like the violin kind of sad
not quite sad but like
heartwarming music and then they're like
well and then they give a speech and as
a kid you know you don't really like
think about it but that gets into your
like
man deep because of full house if you
lie
i've learned this it's deep in my
subconscious if you lie
and then you keep lying it snowballs and
it gets worse and worse and worse so
it's best to just right away tell the
truth that was a
really common theme in most sitcoms i
think that like they're just trying to
teach kids don't lie it's bad you're
right you're right sitcoms are huge and
by the way sitcoms um is um
is a
portmanteau portmanteau meaning two
words put together of situation and
comedy so situation and comedy equals
sitcom in this case okay nice nice um
i'm gonna go to my next one
um let's see i think probably every
little girl in the 90s in america anyway
knew what this was i don't know if you
knew um it's this brand called lisa
frank um lisa frank are you aware of
lisa frank are you aware of lisa frank
no okay she knows she knows that lisa
frank is
so lisa frank is um just bright it was
always like brightly colored school
supplies uh like pinks and purples and
blues and it would always have unicorns
and dolphins and
mystical creatures it was just bright
and
everybody all the girls loved it i loved
it i had lisa frank
just
whatever i could get my hands on it'd be
pencils or erasers or just pinks and
rainbows and hearts and stuff like that
so i think every every girl who grew up
in the 90s knows what lisa frank is ah
okay so talking about style and whatnot
grunge grunge is something that i
that hits close to home for me and i
think that came out of the 90s
is
i mean everybody knows around the world
i think most people know nirvana yeah
kurt cobain yeah and this is something
that i guess was
brought to the world from seattle and it
was a music genre and it was kind of
it's like rock but sometimes slower
almost emo kind of like sad usually
undertones but anyways the style that
came with it was the opposite of like
the 80s and early 90s of really bright
colors you know it was the opposite you
just wear holy jeans you don't really
shower that much you don't shave and
like plaid and just really like
dreary colors so that was really popular
i
at least i remember in like the early
90s like mid-90s yeah
and it's as soon as i saw that card
grunge i was like oh nirvana that was
that's the first thing that comes to
mind when i hear about when i hear a
grunge
i didn't get into the grunge scene
though i was i was busy with boy bands
but like
grunge for me was never really i was
aware i was aware of nirvana but i did
not
i was not of the nirvana
mod okay i'm gonna go to a style point
then too because you've read up a style
point i'll put up bring up maybe um a
female style point scrunchies uh still
popular perhaps among some people what
is a scrunchie a scrunchie let's see i
don't have um so there's regular rubber
bands that you can use to tie back long
hair
he's making an o shape with his hands
yes this is very descriptive very
descriptive michael thank you so no
you're into that i'm the prop and then
you go like this
there's like the but i bet i bet there's
an awesome video team somewhere in the
somewhere that can put like a scrunchie
like right here
anyway
um
yeah a scrunchie is just it's just a a
piece of elastic with some kind of
colorful cloth wrapped around it and it
but when not in use it would go
and it would scrunch i think i think
this is why we call it a scrunchie
but then when you pull that you can
expand it a bit and wrap your hair up in
it and then when you're finished doing
that it would kind of close around it
i had a couple
nintendo
anything any game related stuff i
remember game boys anything handheld um
except when i was a kid it it wasn't
like this fancy 3d
high you know
highly like vibrant colors it was like
black and white and like you'd play it
in the car and you had to squint and it
hurts your head you know if you're
playing too much you're getting like
carsick and you're like you can barely
see mario are you talking about game boy
game boy or any like there was handheld
too there was like atari and stuff like
that and like sega sega was pretty good
that would light up i was thinking about
nes when you said nintendo i imagined my
nes the one that like when it wasn't
working correctly you could just pull
the cassette on
put it back in
so you put the cartridge in here right
and sometimes if it was really stubborn
and it didn't work you would blow into
this part
and you try and it really doesn't make a
difference but you would take turns like
me and my brothers would be like no you
want to be the one to get it to work so
you take turns no no let me let me let
me and just by luck it would work and
you're like cece yeah
no this is super nostalgic i love
nintendo i have a game too
pogs
do you have pogs
okay pogs are either are simultaneously
the most brilliant game and the
stupidest game ever invented they're
just
discs of cardboard about this size uh
and on one side there's
a picture
and on the other side there's just
nothing and then you had a thing called
a slammer which was essentially just a
heavy pog
that you would use and you had to flip
you had to use the slammer to flip
those
plain cardboard ones what i don't even
know it was that stupid and forgettable
of a game but it was like crazy when i
was about i don't know like second or
third grade or something everybody had
pogs like we had pog gym days at my
school i remember that excuse me america
we're really obese let's go into the gym
and sit there and smash cardboard
pogs and like i was telling i was
telling her before we started this like
one day like my mom wanted me to get a
haircut and i was just being stubborn
and i wasn't having it i was in the mall
i was like i want to get a haircut she's
like i'll buy you pogs
and she did
it was like this giant tube of pogs and
i was just so thrilled and i agreed to
get my hair cut
well
that was a lot of things that was that
were
exciting and or popular and or we were
into in the 90s what were you into in
the 90s what was popular in your country
i really have no idea what was popular
around the world at that time maybe some
of these things are similar please let
us know in the comments i'm very
interested to find out we read these by
the way um any thoughts any other any
closing thoughts about the 90s
you're not going to sing a song for us
oh that's copyright we can't do that
just like blur that all out no that was
that was very accurate so i'm sure we
can use that
and i'm very accurate i mean totally
wrong clearly we're very good at talking
about the 90s okay but uh we hope that
you are too we hope that you learned
something exciting about the 90s um
that's all for us today thanks very much
for watching and we will see you again
soon bye
hi everybody my name is alicia and i'm
joined again in the studio by michael
hello and today we're going to be
talking about english conversation
strategies so let's get right into it
let's start with michael what is your
first strategy for keeping an english
conversation going this is very
important
don't say i'm fine thank you and you
you hear this all the time from second
language english learners or non-native
speakers you learn this it's one of the
first things you learn in an english
class it's easy it's good it's basic
it's foundation okay that's fine but as
soon as you can switch it up because to
me when i meet a foreigner and they come
up and if they say hey how are you
say oh i'm fine you know i'm good
whatever how about you and they say i'm
fine thank you and you and it's just
it's almost robotic because i've said it
so many times and when i hear that i
think ah their english isn't that good
and inside i'm just gonna be really
polite and say hello and talk slowly and
try to get out of there as quick as i
can so really impress the foreigner in
my opinion i think the best way to do it
is say something you know
use a big word or just like a slang word
something like that when i hear that i
go wow man i want to know what this
person thinks i want to get their point
of view and i'm really excited and then
i've had great conversations because of
that um yeah that's a really really good
one and actually i think on this youtube
channel actually from a couple years ago
there's a video
all about
better answers to the question how are
you then i'm fine thank you and you or
if someone says hey how are you i'm good
you
are fine you
never i'm fine thank you and you never
but try to actually use you know
a phrase that a native speaker would use
and then that's a clue to the native
speaker that oh maybe this person is
ready for a conversation beyond you know
basic english so that's a really good
point i like that i didn't think of
things not to do i only thought of
things to do so okay cool
um let's see let's go to my first one um
oh
so um this strategy in general is just
ask the other person a question
i think and i'm guilty of this too when
i'm learning another language i tend to
only get input like somebody else is
always asking me the questions and then
i forget myself to ask the other person
a question so one question that i like
to ask or you know a variation any kind
of wh question is good like a who
question what where
something like this if you've been
paying attention you can use any way to
transition in your conversation this was
in a previous video you can ask
something like anyway up to anything fun
this weekend this is a pretty casual
conversational question that you can ask
just about anybody
whether you've just met them or whether
you've known them for a while but just
just get in the habit of asking other
people the question don't wait for
someone else to ask you the question
um so that that's one strategy that i
try to use to keep things going yeah me
too i agree and i'm gonna say same zs
because actually two of my questions
were exactly what you said agree 100
this is kind of cheating these should be
one but
so always ask questions
so you know again you forget it's really
easy i'm really guilty of this
english non-english whatever i'm i'm
guilty of this um and the other thing is
ask deep open-ended questions so if you
ask a yes or no question so again like
alicia was saying
it just dead ends you can't just say you
know do you like cheese yes or no right
so you want to say what do you think
about cheese what is your favorite kind
and kind of open it up to something else
and let it let it just kind of snowball
right
right yeah i think i think that that's
that's really a key like i have another
variation on it which i guess i'll just
continue on to because it kind of
relates to what you're talking about
like he's saying always ask questions
always ask deep open-ended questions so
like you may you just said don't ask a
yes or no question because yes or no
ends with the yes or the no so one of
the things that i'll do is use a pattern
similar to this like hey did you see or
hey did you hear about blah blah blah so
you can use this little blah blah blah
as your uh you can ask about the news
you can ask about something funny you
saw on the internet you can ask about um
you know some something that you heard
from another friend of yours whatever uh
it's just a way to check in with the
other person and say oh did you also
experience this thing that i experienced
let's talk about that so that might be
another question that you can use with
people i like that one i really like
that one because
you got to stay within people's comfort
zone so maybe you ask and maybe they
don't want to right so a good thing is
did you hear about it that's up to them
maybe they don't want to talk about it
they can say oh yeah i heard about that
and you can kind of feel uh the the
atmosphere and and realize maybe i
shouldn't talk about this change the
subject or they get passionate and they
start talking about it and there you go
and just let it go um
yeah absolutely one thing again i'm
guilty of is is you do gotta keep keep
returning it right don't let it don't
just say oh yeah and what i think about
that
bring it back ask them what about you um
that's a common thing i forget about
yeah yeah yeah okay
um good i have one more this one um use
when you see fit don't i guess
just
okay i'll just introduce it complement
the other person or compliment the other
person this can be a nice strategy just
to show that you're enjoying the other
person's company
it can be as simple as oh i like your
shirt today or oh that's a nice dress
you're wearing today or oh did you get a
new haircut that looks good on you
something like that so this is a nice a
nice way to make the other person maybe
want to spend more time with you i think
yeah i agree 100 um two things
one i think it's a good conversation
starter sometimes um if you've got to be
careful with the stranger it can be
creepy it can be a little uncomfortable
what you're complimenting right but if
it's something like if they have a
t-shirt and it's a band that you both
like that's a great conversation starter
and you feel wow we're connected you
know um
number two
the second thing i was thinking about is
that keep it honest i love i love a
sincere compliment it really means a lot
more and it really does butter them up
kind of get them open to having more
conversations deeper that kind of thing
um but one of the things people do which
which i don't like is let's say they say
hey nice shirt and then the person out
of habit will say oh you too i like your
shirt
too just my opinion i don't think this
feels really natural doesn't really feel
sincere so i would i would save it make
a mental note and go hmm
i need to return the favor i need to
give them a compliment but wait until
you notice something you really do like
and say hey actually i love blah blah
yeah i think that's a great point like
when you you can sense whether someone
is being sincere or not what is your
next strategy for continuing english
conversation well
don't be afraid to open up
i like this one i think this is good a
lot of people will be kind of shy they
won't open up too much again within
within your comfort zone but i like this
one
because people will return the favor
because if you're just having small talk
and you say you know the weather's nice
today blah blah
you can only go so far so don't be
afraid to say something personal again
trust your judgment don't be a creeper
don't go we don't want to hear certain
things about your life so don't don't be
a creep don't be a creep don't be weird
don't be strange and like what you're
saying about opening up open up is just
a phrase that means share something
about yourself um so it can be as simple
as what you did last weekend or what
you're going to do this weekend or a
project that you have coming up it
doesn't mean that you have to spill all
of your life secrets to the other person
but just showing that you're willing to
share something more personal about
yourself can help ingratiate yourself or
can help
you know
make the other person help the other
person understand you a little bit
better
that's a good tip i like that tip that's
hard to do though it's hard it's a
little bit scary i think to share parts
of yourself but it's good it's a good
way to meet people and make friends
all right i think that's all is that all
that you have yeah that's all i got okay
all right well those are some
interesting uh strategies to keep an
english conversation going so give them
a try if you're ever at a loss for words
and don't know what to say you can try
one of these strategies and hopefully it
will help you out
please let us know if you have any other
strategies or anything else that you
would like to use or you tried to use
when you are having trouble keeping a
conversation going uh leave us a comment
and let us know what it is we will see
you again next time do you have anything
else you'd like to add that's about it
all right so thanks very much for
joining us and take care bye bye
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