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hi everybody welcome back to ask alicia
the weekly series where you ask me
questions and i answer them
maybe okay let’s get to your first
question
first question this week comes from
it’s memart hello it’s me martz it’s
remark says when do we use the
preposition
to in a sentence in these examples why
do we use
two she is now engaged to her longtime
boyfriend
and i gave birth to two healthy boys
okay this is a big question and a big
answer there are lots of reasons that we
use
two in sentences let’s talk about a few
first we used to to describe movement so
for example i went to france or he went
to the office
we use two before the destination the
place that we are traveling
to so we use two to talk about movement
we also use two in time expressions
like she worked from nine to five it
means until in these cases
or she jogged from three to four so we
can use it to express
time in this way we also use to when
we’re using the infinitive form of a
verb in a sentence
so for a reminder the infinitive form of
a verb is the base form like the
dictionary form
the kind that you find in the dictionary
so that’s two plus the verb
there are many cases there are many
different grammar patterns many
different structures
in which we use the infinitive form so a
few examples of this
are we’re going to buy lunch and he
called to say hello
in other cases though the rules kind of
disappear a bit they fade away it’s not
so easy to apply a simple rule
this is because these uses of two like
the ones that you’ve shared in your
example sentences
are actually from idioms or they’re
parts of phrasal verbs
these rules don’t apply however when we
look at two
in phrasal verbs and in idioms so
you have to remember these kind of like
separate vocabulary words you have to
memorize them
the same way that you would vocabulary
words unfortunately there isn’t a
clear-cut rule
for when to use two in cases like these
so
for example in your first example
sentence she got engaged to
her long-time boyfriend the two in that
sense
is part of the get engaged to expression
that’s an idiom to get engaged to
someone that’s a set phrase in the
second example sentence
she gave birth to two healthy boys
two in that sentence is part of the
expression give birth to
so there are lots of set expressions
phrasal verbs and idioms
that use two and you just have to
memorize them
like vocabulary words they’re like kind
of independent expressions independent
phrases that you need to think about so
this is a quick
introduction to a few uses of two and
also just consider that sometimes
there’s not really a specific rule for
the reason why
two is used in an expression it’s just
the vocabulary word or it’s just the
idiom
so a good way perhaps to practice this
is
read i would suggest reading and over
time
naturally you’ll start to kind of get a
feel for the expressions that used to
and the expressions that used by or at
or in or on and so on
similar issues exist with other
prepositions for sure
so i would suggest reading as much as
possible to help you identify
the most natural choice of preposition
you can read novels you can read news
articles you can read social media posts
whatever
make sure you’re reading a lot and then
you’ll kind of
over time as i said get a feel for what
should be
the preposition used so i hope that this
helps you i hope this was a good
introduction to a few cases in which
it is kind of rule-based use of two but
also
just to give you a heads up give you
some information about these expressions
that used to
uh as kind of a set expression so thanks
very much for the question
all right let’s move on to your next
question next question
comes from vinai hi venai when i says
how do we talk about
simultaneous events in present
continuous tense
okay to talk about two or more events
happening right now so two or more
things that are happening
in the present moment you can try a
pattern like one of these
i’m listening to music and working at
the same time
are you cooking and cleaning right now
he’s watching me while operating the
camera
so a reminder these patterns are used
for two actions that are happening
right now at the same time if you want
to talk about actions that happen
regularly like habits you need to use
simple present tense we don’t use that
ing
form for regular actions we can only use
these patterns
for actions that are happening now so
please keep this in mind but i hope that
this helps you describe
simultaneous actions in the present
thanks very much for the question
okay let’s move on to your next question
next question
comes from nelly hi nelly nelly says hi
alicia
what is the meaning of educated guesses
thank you yeah sure great question an
educated guess
is a guess that we make after doing
research or after getting some
information about the topic
so we can compare this to just a guess
so a guess
is just something that we come up with
we have an idea about something we share
it we make a guess about something
an educated guess sounds like something
we actually thought about we tried to
find information
to make our guests more accurate so for
example
if i asked you who do you think will be
the next president of the united states
and you have no idea but you want to
guess you could say a famous person like
beyonce or something
so that’s probably not a good strategy
making a guest like that though
president beyonce does sound pretty
awesome
so making an educated guess on the other
hand
would require you to do some research
who are the candidates what is their
position
on various issues are they popular or
not
so after doing that kind of research and
then
sharing a guess like choosing one of the
candidates that would be an example
of making an educated guess so this is
the difference between
an educated guest and just a guess keep
in mind that
lots of people like to pretend to make
an educated guess when they’re really
just guessing so keep this in mind too
i hope that this helps you thanks for
the question okay let’s move on to your
next question
next question comes from lynn hi lin lin
says hi alicia
i know we use a when it is followed by a
consonant sound and use
an when it is followed by a vowel sound
but i heard we pronounce a as a or
a depending on the consonant or vowel
sound condition as well
i just put these rules together and i’m
confused now what’s the difference
for example he is an or a a
european person or this is a or
a one-way street thank you so much ah
sure okay
first let’s review the uh or a
and and rules we use the
indefinite article a or uh
before a word that begins
with a consonant sound we use
an before a word that begins with a
vowel
sound so a key difference here is
sound be careful this has nothing to do
with spelling
so for example an hour we use and there
because
our begins with a vowel sound it starts
with an h
yes in spelling but the sound is a vowel
sound
our so this is the rule for using a
or a and an to answer your question
however there actually isn’t a rule for
when native speakers use the
a or a pronunciation it’s completely up
to the speaker so don’t worry about what
you’ve studied you don’t have to change
anything there
so just keep in mind that native
speakers will use
a pronunciation for emphasis sometimes
so we do this when we want to emphasize
that like there’s a key
difference in some situation so here’s
an example
let’s imagine you are looking for your
phone
and i find one here and i say hey
i found this phone you might reply and
you might say
you found a phone you didn’t find
my phone so the reason that a native
speaker would choose to use the
a pronunciation there is to emphasize
that i just found this phone in
particular i found
a phone yes it belongs to the category
phone
but it’s not the speaker’s phone so the
speaker is making a contrast
they want to like clearly show the
difference between a
phone and my phone this desired thing
and this thing you found are
different so that’s the reason that they
would use this a
emphasis so that pronunciation as
emphasis in that situation
let’s try one more example imagine we’re
co-workers in this situation
and i’m looking for a file an important
file
and you offer to help me you find a file
that you think is correct
and you show it to me and i go uh yeah
you found
a file but it’s not the file
so in that case i’m contrasting i’m
showing a difference i’m emphasizing a
difference between
this file you found and the file that
i’m looking for
in this case i’m using the file to mean
the file that we both know about
this file that we both are looking for
right now i’m using the a pronunciation
to draw attention to kind of point out
that this thing and this thing are
different so when i say
a pronunciation might be used for
emphasis this is what i mean
so in sum you can use either a or a it
really doesn’t matter it’s up to you
but you might hear native speakers using
that a pronunciation
for the article when they’re trying to
emphasize a key difference between this
thing and
another thing so i hope that this helps
you thanks for the question
okay let’s move on to your next question
next question
comes from godson
ernst pierre luis hello godson ernst
uh godson art says i often hear two
different pronunciations of the word
neither and today i’d like to know which
one is right for me please
thank you aha the answer is both both
neither and neither are both totally
acceptable pronunciations
there’s actually a famous george
gershwin song if you’re familiar with
george gershwin he wrote rhapsody in
blue he had some musicals anyway
he and his brother ira did some like
cool musical stuff but there’s a very
famous example in their work
that references this issue so they have
neither and neither is good examples or
like potato and potato
both acceptable or tomato and tomato so
there are different pronunciations for a
few words and you might know some more
but they’re both fine they’re both
acceptable you can use neither or
neither i would say personally that
probably in today’s american english we
use
neither and for the other words that i
mentioned tomato and potato
those are the more common pronunciations
but you can still use the other
pronunciations if you like
so that would be my personal
recommendation but you can use
both they’re both fine so i hope that
this helps you thanks for the question
hi everybody my name is alicia in this
lesson i’m going to talk about
could have should have and would have
what they mean how to use them in the
negative and the differences between
them
so let’s get started first i want to
begin
with could have let’s look at the
positive and the negative
meanings of could have first positive
we use could have positive for something
that was
possible in the past so to give kind of
an image of this
if our conversation is happening now
when we use could have we’re talking
about something
that had possibility in the past
something we were able to do for example
an example sentence ah if i had known
you were throwing a surprise party i
could have helped i could have
helped so here could have shows us that
this action
helping was possible in the past
in this case the speaker did not know
some information
and as a result this action did not
happen
but it was possible at a point in the
past
the speaker could have helped helping
was a possibility in the past
so we use could have to express that
possibility
the negative form however expresses the
opposite
so in the negative could not
have expresses something that was
impossible impossible so not possible in
the past
so here if we want to give an image it’s
something that
was not possible something we were not
able to do let’s look at an example of
this
no that couldn’t have been
sarah in the cafe just now she’s
at the office so here i’m using
couldn’t have could not have contracted
reduced becomes
couldn’t so that couldn’t have been
sarah in the cafe just now in other
words
it’s impossible that just now we saw
sarah in the cafe
why she’s at the office so in this case
maybe sarah is the speaker’s colleague
co-worker
so we know sarah is at the office so we
saw someone maybe who
looks like sarah at the cafe just now
but
it’s not possible it was sarah because
sarah’s at the office
so we can say that couldn’t have been
so it’s impossible that that was sarah
so couldn’t have been sounds much more
natural than
it’s impossible that that was sarah so
we use couldn’t have been
or could not have been so positive form
something that was possible in the past
so be careful in maybe contrast a key
difference here
is this is only about possibility
we’re not talking about like a plan to
do something or regret necessarily
we’re only talking about possibility
when we use
could or could not here so
with this let’s move along to the next
part
the next part i want to focus on should
have
so let’s look at the positive form
should have in the positive
expresses regret for something we did
not do in the past so an image of this
here
if our conversation is happening now we
want to talk about
something we did not do
in the past and that now maybe we think
oh it’s a good idea like i
should have done this thing i did not
do this thing in the past that’s why i
marked it with an x here so i did not do
this thing
but i feel bad now i feel regret like i
should have done that thing in the past
so an example sentence of this i should
have studied more
when i was in school here is the should
have
i should have and this action studied
more so in other words the speaker
did not study enough in the past the
speaker feels he or she did not study
enough in the past
regrets that and wants to express
the change like i wish i had done
this thing i should have studied more
when i was in school so here we have
more this is a common pattern with
should have
or should not have when we use more it
means i should have studied more
than i did when i was in school
so here the speaker is regret expressing
regret
sadness about something they did not do
therefore when we use the negative form
the speaker again
expresses regret yes but they’re
expressing regret for something that
happened in the past something they did
in the past so i’ve marked it here with
a check
this action did happen and we feel
regret about that action we feel bad
about something we did
in the past an example i shouldn’t have
spent
so much time playing video games when i
was a kid
so here i’ve used shouldn’t have
so should not have is how we make the
negative form
i’ve reduced it shouldn’t have shouldn’t
have in rapid speech shouldn’t have
i shouldn’t have spent so much time
playing video games
so what’s the action here the speaker
played video games
when he or she was a child the speaker
now regrets
that the speaker says i shouldn’t have
spent so
much time i should have spent less time
playing video games
so i could use positive should have i
should have spent
less time playing video games when i was
a kid
here i shouldn’t have spent so much time
so
here a key point with should have is
that we’re expressing
regret remember with could have we’re
talking just about
possibility with should have we’re
expressing a regret for something that
did
or did not happen in the past so with
this in mind let’s go on to the last
point for this lesson
the last point uh the last point rather
is would have
would have so when we say would have we
often say
would’ve would have i mentioned it here
with should have we say
should’ve or shouldn’t have same thing
with could have like
could’ve or couldn’t have is the correct
pronunciation in fast
speech so when we talk about would have
or when we look at would have
and we look at the positive form
we use it to express a plan for
something that did not
happen so we’re talking about something
in the past
so from a point in the past something
in the future at that time we had a plan
for that thing or we thought something
was going to happen
but in the positive form it did not
happen
this is kind of tricky let’s look at an
example situation
here i would have arrived on
time today but there was terrible
traffic
so i did not arrive on time so first
here’s my
action i would have arrived on time
so i had a plan or i had a desire
i was thinking i was going to arrive
on time so at this point in time i would
have arrived on time today maybe we’re
thinking when i left the house maybe
this is where the action starts
my plan was to arrive on time so again
this is all happening
in the past my conversation is here i
was planning to arrive
on time but there was terrible traffic
terrible traffic means lots and lots of
cars it was difficult to drive or
difficult to get to work
so i did not arrive on time
i would have arrived on time but i
didn’t
because of terrible traffic so this
shows us this
would have shows us all of this
information
everything here happened in the past on
like a timeline
so i thought i was going to arrive on
time
something happened and i didn’t so we
can use would have
to show like our thinking in this point
would have in the past
about a future action that is also
in the past so a couple of past points
there at the same time
okay so let’s compare this then
to the negative form the negative form
then expresses the opposite
so we have a lack of plan or a lack of a
desire so
lack of something means no plan or no
desire
so lack of plan for something that
happened in the past
it did happen yes so
we commonly use both of these to talk
about
other people’s choices like when we’re
giving advice
this example sentence is a very common
way that we use
would not have or wouldn’t have let’s
look
if i were you i wouldn’t have quit my
job
before i found a new position
so here is my would not have i’ve
reduced it to
wouldn’t have i would not have quit my
job before i found a new
position so that means if i were you
this is how we’re beginning this this is
a very common way
that this would have or would not have
is used
so if i were you i’m not you but if i
were
at this point in time in the past my
decision
would not have been to quit my job
however your decision was to quit your
job this
did happen you quit your job in my case
i would not have done that so here
in opposite to the positive form i’m
talking about a point in the past like
if i were you just in general
and i’m talking about a future decision
i might make
in this case the person listening did
choose to quit his or her job i’m saying
i would not have quit my job that would
not have been my decision
for the future so again
there’s kind of this idea of two points
in the past like a kind of a general
i guess a starting point in the past if
i were you
in this case and some decision some plan
some like desire or lack of desire in
this case
in the negative form so we use these
like i said to talk about like other
people’s choices when we’re giving
advice like oh if i were you i would
have done this in the past so
we use would have to talk about uh past
decisions and maybe to talk about things
um like if you if you were the speaker
like things you might change what would
you do
differently so we use this to talk about
these sorts of
past past decisions and give advice
and talk about um how we might make
different decisions in the future
so this kind of expresses a desire
or lack of desire this one should have
expresses regret in the past could have
expresses possibility so this is just a
quick
introduction to the differences between
these three
expressions and their negative forms i
didn’t write them not here
so would not have uh but if you have any
other questions about this please let us
know in the comments
they are very similar i know they sound
very similar and it can be hard to
understand how to use them but try to
keep these three kind of
themes in mind possibility and
regret and then kind of desire or advice
here so i hope that this helps you
understand the differences between these
three
if you have questions or comments or if
you want to practice making an example
sentence
please feel free to do so in the comment
section of this video of course if you
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for some other things that can help you
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thanks very much for watching this
lesson and i will see you again soon
bye-bye hi everybody welcome back to top
words my name is alicia and today we’re
going to talk about
10 modal verb patterns let’s go
can could you
can could you okay so this first one
is can you or could you blah blah so a
lot of people
ask what’s the difference between can
you and could you which one should i use
if you’re making a request basically you
can use either one
if you want to sound a little bit more
polite i would recommend you use could
you
so if you’re talking to your friend or
your family member you can say like
can you help me with this or can you
help me make dinner or can you buy some
milk at the store
or can you please fix your hair it looks
weird if you want to be a little bit
more polite
like when you’re talking to someone at
work or talking to someone you don’t
know so well
you can use could you blah blah so could
you please send me that file or could
you please
tell me where the restroom is you can
use those for more polite situations
both of them are totally correct both of
them are fine to use in most everyday
situations so it’s up to you
to decide how polite you want to sound
okay example sentence
can you help me move this sofa
i may might i may
might okay may and might
this presents another very very common
question when you want to talk about
your own plans as in this example
sentence with i may
be or i might we
have the same feeling yes they both
express something we’re not
sure about an upcoming plan that we’re
not sure about
but in american english today might
tends to be
more commonly used in everyday
conversation
may tends to sound a little bit more
polite a little bit more formal
when we’re talking with our friends we
say i might go to the beach this weekend
or i might go to a party
to make it negative we say i might not
do that or i might not go to dinner
after all i feel kind of sick
so might tends to be used more in
everyday conversation
again just as with can and could may and
might are both completely correct
they’re both fine to use it’s just up to
you to choose how polite you want to
sound
okay examples i might take a day off
next week
what should i what should i
okay this one focuses on the word should
we use should to ask for advice and
to give advice generally so we tend to
use this word
in kind of close situations you’re
asking somebody for help maybe
you’re asking for someone’s opinion so
you can say what should i do
if you are having trouble in an everyday
life situation
or you can use this to make a more
complex sentence
like what should i get for dinner
tonight like to ask for someone’s
opinion
or maybe you can change as well the eye
to
something else to another person what
should he do or what should she do or
what should they do
you can change that i in the sentence to
ask about someone’s opinion
regarding a third person regarding
another party
so this is a very basic sentence yes
what should i
this pattern but you can change it with
these very very simple small things
to ask about others outside yourself
another example
what should i make for dinner i think
you should
i think you should okay so here again
we’re seeing
should used in this case we’re seeing i
think you should
so that means we are seeing an advice
pattern being presented here
this is something you can use to kind of
softly and maybe a little politely
express your opinion about something in
this case
i think you should is followed by a verb
i think you should verb i think you
should go i think you should quit
i think you should stop eating so much
junk food you’re giving some kind of
advice to the listener
you can make this less polite by
dropping i think
so you make the sentence you should you
should do this you should do that
that will make the sentence less polite
including i think at the beginning of it
makes it sound a little bit softer so it
sounds a bit nicer a little bit kinder
examples i think you should start
exercising
shall we shall we
okay shall we this is another very
common question
lots of people like to ask about the
difference between shall we and
will we they are very different you
cannot use them interchangeably
shall we is a polite way to suggest you
do something
maybe you’ve seen this in a romantic
movie like shall we dance
or shall we go for a drink something
like that
it sounds kind of polite a little bit
nice to say
shall we instead of do you want to they
have the same meaning though but shall
we sounds a little bit more formal
so shall we and will we are sometimes
confused by learners
will we is quite different will we is
asking a question
about a future plan like will we
have to pay for this later or will we be
in time for the movie
shall we is like suggesting you do
something with another person
will we is saying something like oh my
gosh
i’m not sure about this future plan that
we have together
is it true is it going to happen that’s
the difference between the two
oh another point about this shall we
tense we tend to use
shall we or shall i we don’t really use
shall he or shall she so often
we tend to use it for our own activities
that’s why you’ll see
shall we or shall i used more
uh this is also true for an expression
like shall you you don’t see that
shall is used together with some other
person
example shall we visit your parents for
christmas
if i i would
if i i would this is a very common
pattern
if i something i would a lot of people
like to use this an expression like if i
were you i would so they like to ask
should i use were
should i use was in a pattern like if i
were you or
if i was you the correct answer is if i
were you
i would we use was in a pattern like if
i was something something something to
talk about a possible past
situation when you want to talk about
something that is not true
now so an unreal situation now like
being you which is not true
not possible use were if i were you
it’s not possible so please use were in
that case
you can of course use this in other
situations if
i something i would for example if i
lost my job i would find a new one or if
i won the lottery
i would buy a house so you can use verbs
in this pattern
as well just keep in mind the verb form
that you use
if i won the lottery or if i
ate a big dinner we’re using simple past
tense in this verb form so please make
sure not to use like
simple present tense or don’t use an ing
verb form here if i
simple past tense i would blah blah for
example
if i had a bigger house i would have
dinner parties so
final point here remember when you use
this pattern to
express something that is not true not
real like in my example sentence
if i won the lottery i would buy a house
make sure you’re using the correct
verb form after would too if i
won the lottery past tense verb i would
buy
a house the verb in the main clause is
in the infinitive form so make sure that
your verbs match this is a good one to
study
grammar with okay onward you must
not you must not
okay here we see a rule must
is commonly used to express rules we
don’t use
must so much in everyday conversation
because it tends to sound quite strong
you will however see must used in
official rules like if you’re traveling
you’re going to like the airport
maybe you are seeing some rules on a
sign
somewhere or you’re seeing i don’t know
maybe you’re reading a contract
something official that’s where you tend
to see must used
we use must in everyday conversation for
super super strong
things like you must do this or you must
not do that maybe your doctor gives you
some advice for example
so in general you don’t see this in
everyday conversation so much
but you should know when it means that
you should take something seriously like
in an official rule like you must not
smoke in this area
or you must stop eating junk food or
you’re going to get
very very unhealthy or you must not
forget your mother’s birthday that’s
actually very true
that’s very strong situation you must
not forget your mother’s birthday
you must not disappoint your mother
exactly exactly so
these are all very very important and
strong things that we need to
communicate we do that with
must you can also of course change your
subject to he
or she or they as well so that you’re
not just talking to
you the listener or the reader but you
can use it to express something
another person must or must not do
example
passengers must show their passports to
immigration officers
this must not be this must not be
okay this use of must sometimes is a bit
challenging the key with this use of
must
is the use of must with b
so when we use must and b together
we’re talking about a possible condition
or a possible state
in this example we see it in the
negative this must not be
something something something so we use
this in a situation
like for example you’re looking for a
place you’re using the gps on your phone
and you come to this place and you think
this seems
correct but my the restaurant i’m
looking for
is not here we might say this must not
be the right place that means
this is probably not the right place or
this expression describes a very
high chance that something is not true
in the negative
when we use it in the positive for
example oh this must be the right place
i found the restaurant it means there’s
a high possibility
i am correct so this use of must
is when we use it with b to make the
negative must not be
to make the positive this must be so you
can use it to talk about places
you can also use it to talk about
conditions so for example like when you
look at answers on a test
you might think to yourself this must be
the correct answer
or this must be correct you can use both
a noun
and an adjective after this to express
that high or
low condition of something being true
example
this must not be the right place it’s
closed
that can’t be that can’t be
okay that can’t be this is the reduced
form of that
cannot be this means it’s impossible
so some condition or some state is
impossible
this is different from must not be
because must not be
expresses that there’s a very very low
chance that something is true
that can’t be expresses that something
is completely impossible there is zero
percent chance that something is true
so for example if i think i see my
co-worker at the coffee shop but i know
my co-worker is at the office
i might think to myself that can’t be
resa
she’s at the office today maybe she
looks just like my co-worker
but i know it’s not possible i expressed
that with
can’t be this is quite different from
that must not be
because must not be expresses there’s
still a little bit of a chance that that
is true
can’t be expresses that it is completely
impossible
interestingly we don’t really use this
in the positive form much we don’t say
this can be correct
we tend to say this could be correct we
don’t really use this this can be
pattern so if you want to express
something as impossible
completely impossible use this can’t be
also couldn’t be is acceptable here but
when you want to express that something
is just
possible use could be not can’t be
interesting point
okay example that can’t be the right
file
the data is totally different
we shouldn’t we shouldn’t
okay so here we’re using should again
this time in the negative
shouldn’t is the reduced form should not
becomes shouldn’t
in this case we’re using it with the
subject we meaning something you and i
together
should not do so again this is an advice
pattern
we should not do something of course you
can make this positive by simply
removing
not after should we should blah blah
blah so we shouldn’t
steal we shouldn’t disrespect our
mothers we shouldn’t forget our mother’s
birthdays right
this is the important point from today’s
lesson i think not
uh we shouldn’t so when you want to
express something that’s not a good idea
something that you don’t think you as a
group should do
you can express that with we shouldn’t
verb
in this case also please remember you
follow the verb with the infinitive form
we shouldn’t do something we shouldn’t
eat we shouldn’t talk we shouldn’t
forget
so don’t use like an ing form don’t use
the past tense form here
please follow should this use of should
the advice form
with the simple infinitive form example
we shouldn’t think too much about this
all right that is everything for this
episode that was
10 modal verb patterns that you can use
what did you think you could let us know
in the comments
alright that is everything for this
episode thanks very much for watching
and i will see you again
next time bye bye hi everybody welcome
back to know your verbs my name is
alicia and in this lesson we’re going to
talk about the verb
deliver let’s get started
let’s begin with the basic definition of
the verb deliver
the basic definition is to take
something from one person
and give it to another person some
examples
fedex delivered my package today he
delivers pizzas three nights a week
now let’s look at the conjugations for
this verb present
deliver delivers passed
delivered past participle delivered
progressive delivering
now let’s talk about some additional
meanings for this verb
the first additional meaning is to give
birth
or to help someone give birth
let’s start with some examples our
doctor has safely delivered
many babies the mother delivered twins
so this use of the verb deliver refers
specifically to childbirth sometimes the
verb is used to talk about someone like
a doctor
or a nurse or a midwife or other helper
aiding a mother in giving birth to
children
in that case we see sentences like the
first example sentence our doctor has
safely delivered
many babies that means the doctor has
assisted in the birth of many different
uh babies has assisted in
safely it’s probably a key word here but
safely delivered safely helped many
babies into the world
the second example sentence however is
focused on
the mother so the mother delivered twins
means the mother
gave birth to twins so deliver
refers to giving birth in that sentence
so depending on the subject of the
sentence it can mean either
helping someone give birth or actually
giving birth
when we’re talking about the mother
usually so
deliver can refer to both of these
things but they’re both related to
childbirth child care let’s go on to the
second additional meaning for this
lesson
the second additional meaning for
deliver is to speak
or to sing especially when directed at
somebody
let’s look at some examples martin
luther king jr delivered a moving speech
in washington dc
the judge is delivering the verdict
later today
so both of these example sentences show
kind of a
formal event the first example sentence
refers to a very famous
speech the second example sentence
refers to a formal situation like a
courtroom where a judge
is delivering as in the example sentence
a verdict a verdict means a choice a
legal choice or a legal decision
really um so in the first example
sentence
martin luther king jr delivered a speech
it means
spoke yes but there’s usually some kind
of like big
intention there’s a specific aim behind
the words
we could also use it to talk about
singing
like delivered an amazing performance
for example
if you’re talking about maybe opera just
to give an example
but there’s kind of some large aim some
purpose
some big like intention for the
performance uh
in the case of singing or for the words
in the case of speaking
so in the first example sentence we see
that it’s a speech it’s an important
speech
we’re talking about so martin luther
king jr delivered
an important speech we could say gave an
important speech
yes but using deliver kind of upgrades
the formality upgrades the seriousness
of the situation
the second example sentence about the
judge delivering a verdict
we see that choice of deliver there
because it’s a formal situation again
we could say the judge gave the verdict
or the judge
provided the verdict as well but deliver
is like
the judge is sort of passing the
information in a formal manner this is
kind of the nuance of the word choice
deliver here so you can see deliver used
to
talk about communication in formal and
kind of
important situations in this way let’s
go on to the next additional meaning for
this verb
the next additional meaning is to
produce results
as promised let’s start with some
examples
i’m not sure they’re going to deliver on
time
they delivered on their promises so this
use of the verb deliver means to provide
something that’s expected like there’s
some order or there’s some request
that has been made and that needs to be
fulfilled so someone needs to
keep their promise that’s the feeling of
this use of
deliver so in the first example sentence
we see
i’m not sure they’re going to deliver on
time
means i’m not sure they’re going to keep
their promise
on time like maybe the schedule has
changed some
problem has arisen we don’t know but i’m
not sure they’re going to deliver it
means i’m not sure they’re going to
complete the thing they said they would
complete
in the time frame we agreed upon so i’m
not sure they’re going to finish i’m not
sure they’re going to be able to do the
thing
they said they would do on time the
second example sentence is more positive
though they delivered
on their promises here past tense
delivered so they were
able to do the things that they promised
to
so there was a promise made in the past
there was some agreement reached in the
past
and the agreement or the promise was
fulfilled they delivered on their
promises they were able to do the things
they said they would do
let’s continue to the next additional
meaning for the verb deliver
the next additional meaning is to save
someone from
something let’s start with some examples
deliver us from evil
the rescue team delivered people from
danger a key point about this
meaning of the verb deliver is that it’s
rather
formal and perhaps even biblical
biblical means it relates to the bible
so if you have read
the bible or if you’re familiar with
some of the prayers
or some of the ways of speaking from the
bible you might be familiar with this
use
that we see in the first example
sentence deliver
us from evil so deliver us from evil
means
save us from evil save us from evil
things
so deliver in this way is not so
commonly used in everyday speech
if you attend church or if you attend
another kind of religious or
maybe religiously related organization
you might hear this use of deliver there
in your community
in general however in the news we don’t
use the verb deliver to talk about
saving
or maybe even rescuing people
in those cases like i said save and
rescue are more common
deliver tends to be used more like in
biblical
contexts the second example sentence
like the rescue team
delivered the people from danger that’s
kind of i’m kind of stretching the
meaning of that one a little bit that
might
not be such a typical example but it’s
sort of
um the kind of situation that you could
imagine deliver being used in
so if i were writing a report or if i
were making
the news for the day i probably would
not use
deliver in that way but um the meaning
is still communicated there so deliver
tends to be
used in like serious situations uh like
deliver us from evil evil is quite
serious
or to deliver someone from danger or
from a very stressful situation
so it tends to be something more serious
in nature but like i said deliver is not
used so commonly in this way in everyday
speech you might hear it more
in like specific religious organizations
let’s continue on to some variations for
the verb deliver
the first variation is to deliver a blow
to deliver a blow
this means to have a damaging effect on
something
some examples she delivered a blow to
the company when she announced her
decision
the team scored another goal delivering
a blow to their opponents
okay so to deliver a blow means like to
cause some damage or to cause some
harm but this doesn’t usually mean
physically it’s more like mental or
emotional
damage in the first example sentence she
delivered a blow to the company with her
decision
that means she made a decision and that
somehow
damaged her company so maybe she was
like the
ceo or a top management person at her
company she decides to quit
and she’s a very valuable worker so it’s
damaging to the company physically not
damaging
but the company loses something
important so
we can say she delivered a blow to the
company she caused damage or she had
like a damaging effect
on the company as a result of her
decision
so she delivered a blow we could say
in the second example sentence we see it
in a sports situation
so team a scored another goal so we see
another goal meaning there was a
previous goal or goals already
but the team scored another goal
and delivered a blow to their opponent
so team b
so that means team a their score
went up and team b’s maybe motivation
or morale was damaged so deliver
a blow again doesn’t mean physically
attacking
someone it means that there’s some kind
of damage usually like kind of a mental
or emotional damage
in this case perhaps motivation related
damage occurs
so to deliver a blow can mean to cause
damage to someone
or something like an organization or a
company let’s go on to the second
variation for this verb which is to
deliver
the goods to deliver the goods this is a
very informal and very casual
expression that means to give the things
that have been promised
examples i’m not sure they’re going to
be able to deliver the goods on time
you have to be prepared to deliver the
goods if you want to work here
so both of these refer to some kind of
service or some kind of
goods some kind of like there’s items of
some kind
being provided so you will hear this
perhaps in movies and in tv shows
this is a very very very casual
expression
um that sometimes has the nuance of
maybe activities that aren’t
legal uh so it could refer to like
like drugs or medication
that’s illegally obtained or to some
other
kind of substance or some other kind of
like stolen goods for example there’s
something
that you don’t want to say specifically
like what it is
so we say deliver the goods so the goods
can mean
any number of things deliver the goods
means like
give the things that are promised like
we talked about in one of the additional
meanings
but it’s like you have to promise to
provide the things you say you’re going
to provide
so it has a little bit of kind of a a
dark feeling about it i think
sometimes we may casually use this
expression among
friends now and then with various like
small situations like
deliver the goods like the party
supplies for example
um but in more serious situations it can
refer to maybe
not completely legal activities to
deliver the goods
okay so those are a few hopefully new
ways to use the verb deliver
if you have any questions or comments or
if you know a different way of using the
verb deliver
please feel free to let us know in the
comment section of this video
hi everybody welcome back to know your
verbs my name is alicia and in this
episode we’re going to talk about the
verb
post let’s get started
the basic definition of the verb post is
to publish or
announce something on a sign or
something similar to a sign
examples he posted an advertisement on
the community bulletin board
let’s post signs around town
now let’s look at the conjugations for
this verb present
post posts passed
posted past participle posted
progressive posting
now let’s talk about some additional
meanings for this verb
the first additional meaning is to share
something on
social media examples i saw that photo
you posted on instagram yesterday
did you see that message she posted on
facebook so when we upload information
like photos or
messages tweets whatever we can use the
verb
post to talk about that for twitter i
suppose we can use
tweet as a verb too you can say i posted
on twitter or i tweeted
as well um but post is the kind of the
general verb we can use for
all social media when we share anything
on social media we can say
i posted something on facebook or on
instagram or on twitter or on snapchat
or on
what else is there youtube posted on
youtube i uploaded it to youtube i
supposed to
but post is the general verb used for
social media sharing
so i think actually that this use of
post
comes from the original like definition
which is like to put something in a
community sign
or like to put something in a community
place where many people can see it
because that’s the purpose of social
media is to share something so many
people will see it
so i think that use of post comes from
that basic definition of the verb
post like sharing something in a
community space because we want other
people to see it and respond
to it the second additional meaning is
to send something
by mail this is more commonly used in
british english actually
in american english we tend to use the
verb mail more often but in british
english you might hear
post used examples can you post me the
documents
i posted a few letters today so here
post
refers to mailing something like can you
post me the documents means can you send
me the documents
by mail like physically by male the
second sentence i posted some letters
refers to
mailing some letters sending some
letters via mail
so this is kind of more commonly used in
british english
post is more commonly used to mean male
in british english in american english
we tend to use the verb
male more commonly so depending on the
type of english you are studying or you
prefer to use
you might make a decision here with this
verb so post or
mail post british male american the
third additional meaning
is to send someone somewhere for work
examples he’s been posted outside the
white house
there’s security posted around the
building so you can see in these example
sentences it’s kind of
work relating to security or to military
to
guarding of some kind we don’t really
use it
for like a regular office job like i
wouldn’t say like i’ve been posted to my
company’s
like branch in beijing
it sounds a little bit weird we would
say maybe transfer or i’ve been
like i’ve been transferred or i’ve been
moved to my company’s office
when we’re talking about like a specific
place like a job where we need to stand
and wait somewhere and it tends to be
for like security military purposes that
kind of thing we can use the
verb post to talk about that it might
sound a little out of place if you use
post for a different job so these are a
couple examples
of ways that you can use post to refer
to being sent somewhere to do this kind
of work
now let’s move on to some variations for
this verb the first variation is to keep
someone posted to keep someone posted
this means to provide
regular updates to someone examples
keep me posted about your project i’ll
try to keep you posted about my schedule
so to keep someone posted means to give
them regular updates like you can think
back to the original definition of the
verb like post like sharing information
in a community way
to keep someone posted is sort of like
to continue to share information so as
you’re working on a project or as you’re
making progress with something
you share your updates you share your
information you keep
someone posted so we see that in these
sentences
so in the first one keep me posted about
your project it means please send me
updates about your project i want to
know
the second example sentence i’ll try to
keep you posted about my schedule
means i will try to keep you updated i
will try to send you regular updates
about my schedule
let’s go on to another variation for
this verb the second variation
is to post bail to post bail this means
to offer money in exchange for freedom
from prison examples he posted bail and
got out of jail
immediately many people aren’t able to
post bail
even for minor crimes this is a very
specific variation
in the u.s criminal system there’s this
thing called bail
so if someone is convicted if someone is
arrested and has to go to prison because
of a crime they committed
there’s this thing called bail if the
person
can pay this amount of money they can be
released from prison they don’t have to
stay in prison
we refer to paying that money so that
the name of that money is bail but we
use the verb
post here so we say post bail to post
bail means to pay the required amount of
money
to get out of jail so this is a specific
phrase that we use
only for this type of money to post bail
we don’t use this
in another like financial transaction at
all
to post bail refers only to paying this
amount of money to get out of jail so
this is a very specific one
i don’t know if you have bail in your
country but this is something that uh
exists
in the u.s so those are a few new ways i
hope that you can use the verb
post of course if you have questions or
comments or want to practice making
sentences
please feel free to do so in the comment
section of this video
hey everyone welcome to the monthly
review the monthly show on language
learning
where you discover new learning
strategies motivational tips
study tools and resources by the way
all the lessons and bonuses you’re about
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okay today’s topic is how to adjust your
routine and learn language from home
many of us are spending more and more
time at home
so how do you make the best of this time
and learn your target language
learning at home can be tough with all
the distractions and in this episode
you’re going to discover the pros and
cons of learning at home
and how to successfully learn from home
without getting distracted
[Music]
how to adjust your routine and learn
language from home
recently many people have started to
work and take classes from home
with language learning since it’s
something people do in their own time
a lot of it is done at home anyway but
that doesn’t mean that all of this
hasn’t affected how people learn
if you used a language learning app or
listen to lessons during your commute
but you don’t commute anymore the
pandemic has probably ruined your flow
with many of us spending more time at
home being able to learn from home
efficiently is a good skill to have
because while learning or working from
home sounds good
it’s not exactly easy to do part one
the pros and cons of learning at home
first the pros
there’s convenience you can learn
whatever you want
you also have more time in the day since
you’re not commuting or walking from the
train station into work
it’s also easier to practice speaking
many people might find it hard to
practice on the train or at a lunch
break or in the office during work
it might sound a little strange but at
home you can dedicate
more time to practicing speaking what’s
your favorite pro of learning at home
leave us a comment now what about the
cons
distractions there are a lot more
distractions at home
there’s the tv there’s the couch and the
food and family members coming in and
out
next there’s no physical or mental
separation between rest and work which
is crucial for focus
it’s the same reason why people prefer
going to the gym instead of working out
from the comfort of their own home
if you’re in a place where there’s only
one goal like working out
and you’re surrounded by people working
out you’ll have no problem doing it
but if you’re in a place you associate
with rest eating and watching tv
you might have trouble focusing but if
you’re spending more time at home
then you should at least make the best
of it and learn your language at home
part two how to successfully learn from
home
without getting distracted so here’s how
you do it
first pick a dedicated place for
learning and preferably not your bed
just like an office is associated with
working time and your bedroom is
associated
with rest you need a place associated
with language learning
it could be your desk in the corner of
the room it could be your basement
as long as it’s far from distractions
and places of rest
second pick a time that way for example
when it’s 9 pm you know it’s time to put
in 10 minutes of language learning
three time box your study sessions
what’s time boxing
time boxing is simply setting a fixed
amount of time for an activity
for example you’re going to dedicate the
next 10 minutes to language and nothing
else
if you usually have trouble
concentrating time boxing is a good way
to set boundaries and get things done
four start small just like with setting
small
measurable goals and realistic routines
don’t set aside two hours for study time
instead try to time box 5 10 or 15
minutes and stick with that for a week
or two
you can always increase your time later
once you get more comfortable with your
routine
five do multiple sessions in one day
instead of trying to master a lesson in
the lesson dialogue in one
shot space out your learning throughout
the day
in the morning afternoon and at night so
take an
audio or video lesson and read along
with the lesson notes in the morning
you’ll get acquainted with the
conversation all the words and grammar
rules
don’t rush to memorize it all you’ll
come back to it later in the day
and do this for around 5 to 15 minutes
during the day practice shadowing the
dialogue
practice recalling the words do this for
around 10 minutes
you can also write out the lesson
dialogue practice using the grammar
rules or drill the words with flashcards
and at night come back and review for
about 10 minutes
you can re-listen to the lesson or just
the dialogue track
by doing multiple sessions in one day
you’ll be a lot more comfortable with
the language
simply because you spaced out your
learning and came back to review
and while it may feel repetitive it’s
the repetition that helps you master the
language over the long term
- use at-home time to practice speaking
more
it would be hard to practice if you were
commuting or out on a walk
but if you’re at home you can easily
speak out loud without drawing attention
or feeling embarrassed
so to recap one pick a specific place
for learning
that’s far from distractions like your
bed two
pick a specific time for studying three
time box your study sessions four start
small
five do multiple sessions in one day and
six
use at home time to practice speaking
more
so thank you for watching this episode
of monthly review
next time we’ll talk about the power of
learning a language with someone else
if you enjoyed these tips hit the like
button share the video with anyone who’s
trying to learn a language and subscribe
to our channel
we release new videos every week and if
you’re ready to finally learn language
the fast
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now
click the link in the description see
you next time bye
there are a lot of people working to
learn another language
but there are also a lot of people who
grew up speaking two or more languages
without even thinking about it
if you’re able to speak two languages
you’re bilingual if you can speak more
you’re multilingual
in many countries being bilingual or
multilingual is normal or even expected
but in some countries people grow up
speaking and learning one language
if you speak one language you’re
monolingual so
what can monolinguals learn from
bilinguals or multilinguals
this video will look at what it’s like
to be comfortable in two or more
languages
here are six pieces of information
relating to bilingualism and
multilingualism that you can use in your
language learning
first bilingualism and the brain
how does being bilingual or multilingual
affect the brain
do you dream in both languages do you
see subtitles in your head for the other
language as somebody’s talking
the answers to questions like these are
different for everyone
some people may dream mostly in the
language they’re most comfortable with
and occasionally in another language
some people may be able to effortlessly
move between the languages they know
while others may get stuck from time to
time these are all
normal parts of knowing more than one
language people who were exposed to
another language since birth
may have certain advantages in language
acquisition over monolinguals
they may already be familiar with
certain sounds and sound combinations
that monolinguals are not familiar with
as a language learner you’re probably
quite familiar with this
if you’ve already mastered a language
and have decided to start learning a new
one
you’re probably going to unconsciously
make connections to words in different
languages
you’ll think to yourself this word has
the same vowel sound as another word i
know
so it should sound pretty similar when
it comes to studying things like new
vocabulary words and grammar however
monolinguals bilinguals and
multilinguals all need to spend time
learning
and memorizing so in your own learning
don’t be discouraged by people who speak
your native language and your target
language
they may have had a totally different
learning experience than you
consider your language studies not
language abilities
second language mistakes and confusion
you may be wondering if bilinguals ever
confuse languages in their heads
people who are fluent in multiple
languages can separate the languages
mentally
however there are situations where
people momentarily forget words
even in our native languages or we think
of a word in one language but not in
another
in some cases we might even want to use
a word that exists in one language but
not in the other
an interesting concept from academic
literature on this topic
is perfect bilingualism it’s the idea
that someone can speak two languages
perfectly at an equally high level many
people assume that someone who grew up
speaking two languages would be able to
use both of them perfectly
and sound flawless but this is generally
not true
bilingual people are often more
comfortable talking about certain topics
in specific languages
there are also situations where
bilingual people may pronounce words
with a slightly different accent than
monolingual people
interestingly enough there’s also a
similar pattern among bilingual couples
bilingual couples usually have a single
dominant language
even if they can speak another language
with fluency and ease
people will usually use the language
that’s most efficient and comfortable
third bilingual societies you imagine a
place where you talk to your family in
one language
your neighbors and another your boss in
a third and write letters and a fourth
this might sound like a dream for many
language enthusiasts but in some
societies it’s normal
this type of multilingual society occurs
on border regions all throughout the
world
in northern iraq for instance people
usually speak kurdish
turkish and iraqi arabic and many of
them use
modern standard arabic and english at
school in some parts of china
people might learn english at school
speak their city’s dialect of mandarin
when out shopping
speak standard mandarin at work and
perhaps even speak another language when
at home with their families
some of these people might even say
they’re bad at languages
when people say this it’s often because
they grew up using these languages
not learning them in school when they
were using a language at a friend’s
house and got their pronunciation
corrected there was no anxiety involved
this kind of learning is different than
learning in a school setting where tests
and classrooms can cause
pressure and discomfort media exposure
plays a huge role too
many people around the world are
functionally bilingual in english thanks
to tv and youtube
sometimes parents even in societies
where people speak several languages
will put on educational english videos
for kids to watch
but what’s even more fun is something
that’s enjoyable for the kids that’s
already in english
you can do this too as an adult language
learner there’s a time and a place for
coursework
but if you’re able to shut off the
learning part of your brain and simply
absorb content you’re interested in
you’ll be surprised at what you can pick
up after a couple of months
fourth heritage languages
you might know someone from an immigrant
family who speaks a different language
at home than they do with everybody else
that language is referred to
academically as a heritage language
basically a language that someone
learned at home without using it very
much anywhere else
you can imagine that such an arrangement
would produce huge variation in language
ability
some people have heritage languages that
they learn from visiting their
grandparents once a week
others learn through rigorous
homeschooling routines enforced by their
parents
heritage learners often have some marked
differences in their speech
compared to speakers who grew up in a
monolingual environment
they might have an accent that’s
affected by the dominant language they
grew up with
or they might feel uncomfortable using
some grammar or vocabulary
that they’re not as familiar with but on
the other hand they might be able to
smoothly use things like tone
grammatical gender and other aspects of
language that are extremely difficult
for learners to master
their listening comprehension is also
likely good
another big difference is in reading and
writing you probably don’t remember
but reading and writing took time to
learn it may be difficult to motivate
yourself or a child
to learn to read or write in a new
language especially if that language has
a different and complicated script
we may be tempted to rely on the reading
and writing skills we already have
instead of learning something new if you
have a heritage
language and you’re working on
reactivating it be kind to yourself
maybe you feel like you should know how
to read or write in your heritage
language but you don’t
and that’s okay you can work on building
those skills as any other language
learner would a great way to build
literacy is to read text with audio that
you can listen to at the same time
you can use the lesson notes from our
language learning program or watch
videos with subtitles
this is easy to do from the comfort of
your home
fifth gaining fluency in a second
language
there’s a lot of divided discussion
about whether it’s possible to learn a
language to a native level
it’s important to consider what native
level means
maybe a native speaker of your target
language can talk about their work
flawlessly
but they can’t speak in depth about a
topic beyond their field
you don’t expect yourself to be able to
talk about absolutely
everything with 100 perfection in your
native language
so don’t expect that you’ll magically be
able to communicate perfectly in the
language you’re learning either
moreover it’s important to remember that
nobody speaks flawlessly all the time
we all make mistakes and we know how to
correct ourselves and clarify
information
the best speakers in the world make
mistakes even on stage
everybody stumbled over their words
before does that mean they’re not fluent
in their own language
of course not you can do some amazing
things to get a native-like accent in a
foreign language
but they all take a great deal of work
lots of people convince others that
they’re native speakers for the first
few minutes of conversation
does it really matter if you end up
making mistakes after 40 seconds
40 minutes remember the perfect speech
is not required to speak like a native
as we’ve talked about in this video lots
of bilingual and multilingual people
have strengths and weaknesses too
six can a bilingual person forget a
language
language skills can deteriorate over
time if they’re not used
if you’re very busy with one language
and rarely use the other
you might see a drop in your abilities
in a language you don’t use as often
completely forgetting a language takes a
very long time though
while you might forget a word here and
there in one language you likely won’t
lose a language completely unless you
don’t use it for decades
this is something to think about for
anyone who is considering spending their
life in another country
make sure to keep your language skills
up otherwise as time goes on
things may be harder and harder to
remember being bilingual or multilingual
is pretty interesting
a lot of language learners compare
themselves to bilinguals or
multilinguals
remember that bilingual and multilingual
people put in work too
when they were kids so don’t feel
discouraged if it seems like your own
learning is slow
it simply takes time and that’s true for
everyone
for even more tips and information
related to language learning
check out our complete language learning
program sign up for your free lifetime
account by clicking on the link in the
description
get tons of resources to have you
speaking in your target language
and if you enjoyed these tips hit the
like button share the video with anyone
who’s trying to learn a new language
and subscribe to our channel we release
new videos every week
i’ll see you next time bye if a native
speaker of your target language spoke to
you
how much of their speech do you think
you could understand your answer of
course depends a lot on your vocabulary
skills
in this video we’re going to cover five
tips for memorizing vocabulary quickly
when you learn new vocabulary words you
increase your skills in reading
writing listening and speaking as you
learn a language you gain the ability to
recognize vocabulary words and learn
when to use them
it’s important to have a vocabulary that
covers a range of topics so that you can
understand important announcements
safety information conversations between
friends and posts on social media
in this video we’re going to talk about
why vocabulary is important
some features and the tools we offer
that help you focus on memorizing
and some tips for memorizing words
faster throughout this video remember
that consistency is a key component to
memorization
if you haven’t done this already
consider adding a number of vocabulary
words you’d like to master to your
monthly language goals
okay let’s get to our tips first
master our core word lists we offer 11
core word lists
these lists are made up of the most
common words in your target language
the 100 core word list is the best list
for absolute beginners
after you master that list you can move
on to the other lists in the series
the 2000 core word list is a combination
of all of the lists plus an additional
1000 words
having knowledge of about 2 000
vocabulary words in your target language
will set you up for success
knowing a variety of words in your
target language is important
because it allows you to speak about and
understand many different topics
while grammar is certainly important
having the vocabulary you need to go
about daily life
study or make plans is essential so
how do you use the core word lists with
our flashcard feature
our flashcard tool can display the
vocabulary word
show a picture and translation and play
an audio recording of the vocabulary
you’ll work on improving your
recognition production and listening
comprehension skills
using a tool like this helps you
associate new words with images
you also get to hear pronunciation and
pitch accents from native speakers
you have the ability to choose how many
new cards you’d like to learn daily
by the way using the 2000 core word list
isn’t the only way to review
all key vocabulary words you can also
merge your preferred lists
if you lack confidence in speaking
studying vocabulary can help you
if you master the most common words in
your target language speaking will
become a bit easier
among our core word lists are popular
topics relating to hobbies
nature food and recreation if you need
some help making sentences with your new
vocabulary
you can take a look at the core word
list example sentences for ideas
these are all steps you can take to
improve your speaking confidence
second create your own sentences
creating your own sentences is a great
way to work on memorizing new vocabulary
you can create sentences related to your
daily life so that you can easily
remember the sentences
and use them you can also try creating
sentences you think you’re likely to
need before a conversation with a native
speaker
in addition to our core word lists we
also have a dictionary feature
if you need help finding a certain
vocabulary word you can search for it in
our dictionary
the dictionary includes audio from
native speakers so you can hear how the
word is pronounced naturally and at a
slower speed
with a premium membership you’ll have
access to your own personal word bank
you’ll be able to add words from the
dictionary and our lessons to this word
bank and study them using flashcards
another thing that can help you with
memorization is reading along with
lesson dialogues and listening to the
host’s explanations
when you find a sentence that stands out
or when you make a sentence you think
will be useful
make sure to actually use the sentence
your memory will go stronger and
stronger
as you review sentences and practice
saying them from memory
third read every day how often do you
read in your target language
reading is a fun activity that can
motivate you to spend some time studying
new vocabulary
when you read you encounter words you’ve
seen in lessons but you also find new
words
apart from reading for fun our language
learning program offers reading
comprehension pathways for all levels
these pathways feature video lessons
with vocabulary you’re likely to see in
real life
for example an advanced pathway might
include lessons for understanding
promotional information
medical instructions and directions
these pathways are designed to test your
ability to recognize words
another way to memorize words fast is by
learning songs in your target language
if you’re studying a language with
sounds that are very different from your
first language
this can be a really helpful tactic you
can make a monthly goal to memorize one
to three songs you like in your target
language
you can find the lyrics to the song with
a search online and you can search for a
translation as well
as you listen to the song read the
lyrics this can help you connect the
sounds you’re hearing with the
characters or the letters you’re reading
and remember the songs can be from
anywhere it could be a kids song
a new pop song or a tv show theme you
can choose
the key is to find a fun way to read
every day this will help you improve
your vocabulary
fourth test your listening skills
test your listening skills with our
listening comprehension pathways
each of the pathways presents a
conversation asks a question
and then gives a breakdown in our audio
lessons
the hosts break down the dialogue by
talking about the usage of key
vocabulary and phrases
they also explain the grammar after you
listen to the breakdown the dialogue is
easier to understand
make sure to re-listen to the lesson
dialogues to review these important
concepts
another way to use our site for
listening comprehension is by changing
the flashcard settings
with our flashcards you have the option
to focus on building listening
comprehension
if you choose this setting the front of
your flashcard will play an audio clip
and the back will show the answer
additionally if you’re a premium plus
member you can practice listening with
your native speaker teacher
you can request audio responses from
your teacher instead of text
if you understand their message you can
respond with an audio file of your own
or with text if you don’t fully
understand you can ask your teacher for
help
one more thing you can do is use tv
shows to practice listening
you can choose a segment of a show to
practice watch it once with subtitles
then once without subtitles
determine how much you can comprehend
then look up the words you don’t know
fifth take vocabulary quizzes
there are many ways to test yourself
with vocabulary quizzes
each of our lessons includes a
vocabulary slideshow and quizzes that
you can use for review
we also have video vocab pathways which
introduce new vocabulary based on
certain themes
and they include pictures you can also
try making your own written tests with
our flashcard feature
change the flashcard settings according
to your preferences
you can choose between recognition
production and listening comprehension
card types
based on the card type you chose write
down either the vocabulary word or its
translation when the card appears
check your answers and give yourself a
score for your study session
writing vocabulary by hand is another
great way to work on memorizing words
earlier we talked about learning
vocabulary with songs
a fun and effective way to test your
vocabulary and writing skills is to fill
in the blanks
copy and paste the lyrics of a song into
a document and replace some of the words
with blanks
test your knowledge of the lyrics by
filling in the blanks with the correct
words
you can make it a little easier by
including a word box a list of
vocabulary to use somewhere in the song
you can also do this with dialogues you
want to practice from tv shows
to make sure you get all of the tools
mentioned in this video subscribe to our
premium plan
you’ll get access to all of our
resources including the core word lists
and the flash card tool
so to recap in this video we talked
about five tips for memorizing new words
they were master our core word lists
create your own sentences read every day
test your listening skills and take
vocabulary quizzes
these tips are fun and effective ways to
help you reach your vocabulary goals a
bit faster
if you want to go the extra mile
subscribe to premium plus to get access
to your own native teacher
what are your vocabulary goals how will
you achieve them
share your answers in the comment
section below and for even more tips on
how to remember vocabulary fast
check out our complete language learning
program sign up for your free lifetime
account by clicking on the link in the
description
get tons of resources to have you
speaking in your target language
and if you enjoyed these tips hit the
like button
share the video with anyone who’s trying
to learn a new language and subscribe to
our channel
we release new videos every week i’ll
see you next time bye
consistent hard work is one of the
biggest factors that determines
someone’s success
and it’s true for language learning too
while it’s important to choose a course
and study method that’s right for you
at the end of the day the results you
see are a product of the effort you put
in
however the quantity of time spent
studying a new language doesn’t
necessarily determine the quality of
your study
spending three hours a day watching
movies doesn’t help you learn much if
you’re not actively engaging with the
language
in this video we’ll talk about how to
actively engage your mind while studying
number one think of your brain as a
muscle
you might be familiar with the phrase
feel the burn or maybe
no pain no gain if you’ve been to your
local gym recently there’s a chance you
might have heard one of these phrases or
seen something similar on a poster on a
wall
in the world of sports and workouts
there’s a common idea that the
discomfort you feel when running
lifting weights or doing some other
physical activity
is what brings results the discomfort
you feel is your muscles being pushed to
their limit
it’s the limit pushing that strengthens
your muscles so that over time your
performance increases
in the context of language learning it’s
helpful to think of your brain
as a muscle being trained just as we
need to push against our physical limits
when exercising
we also need to push our mental ones
when learning a foreign language
have you ever studied or practiced your
target language in a way that left you
tired or even exhausted
if so you’ve experienced what it’s like
to push your brain out of its linguistic
comfort zone
number two practice active listening
one of the easiest ways to push your
language skills is to practice
active listening active listening is
when you listen to spoken language and
do your best to understand what you hear
the best way to accomplish this is by
using audio that you can’t completely
understand on the first listen
preferably you want to use audio that
has subtitles or transcripts in your
target language
for you to double check your
understanding after you listen to it
you can use movies youtube clips or our
lessons
during this exercise you might feel like
you’re able to pick out
only a few words here and there during
this practice session
you should listen to the audio several
times the first time around it’s okay if
no words or just a few words stick out
to you
simply make a mental note of any words
or sounds you recognize
the second time you listen you’re likely
to recognize a little more than you did
the previous time
expect similar results with your third
or even fourth time listening
when you reach a point where you can’t
understand any more words
go ahead and look at the subtitles or
transcripts listen to the audio again
and read along with the text odds are
that you’ll see words in the text you
know but didn’t hear correctly
you’re also likely to encounter words
that are new to you completely
as you play back the audio and read
along try to guess what these words mean
from the context of the words around
them
after you’ve read along a couple times
look up the unfamiliar words in a
dictionary or translator app
this active listening exercise routine
is a great way to
increase your listening and
comprehension skills while picking up
some new vocabulary along the way
it also allows you to learn new words in
context which itself is a powerful way
to help you retain what you study
number three practicing with native
speakers
practicing with native speakers is the
best way to push your language skills
using what you’ve studied to communicate
in real time is how you’ll really
challenge yourself
try to connect with a native speaker on
a weekly basis remember
consistency is important when you’re
learning a foreign language
if you live in a large metropolitan area
then there’s a chance that there are
some local native speakers nearby
try visiting a local language exchange
or meetup group to make the necessary
connections
if you’re unable to find a practice
partner locally then you can take your
search online
there are a number of sites that help
you find and connect with other language
learners from around the world
for example if you’re a native english
speaker learning a new language
you can find a native speaker of your
target language who is learning english
there are tons of language learners
around the world who have learned or are
learning a second language
you’re likely to find someone who knows
your target language and is looking to
improve his or her english learning a
new language isn’t always
easy but it’s the discomfort that comes
with pushing your ability in the
language that produces results in your
studies
don’t be afraid to step outside of your
comfort zone it’s okay to move far
outside of your native language
you’ll expand your mind and your skills
also remember that language learning is
in every way a lot like an adventure
there will be fun times and times when
it feels like you’re swimming upstream
it’s by keeping your head up through
these ups and downs that you will
experience the satisfaction that comes
with learning a foreign language
keep moving ahead and for even more tips
on how to engage better in your language
learning
check out our complete language learning
program sign up for your free lifetime
account by clicking on the link in the
description
get tons of resources to have you
speaking in your target language
and if you enjoyed these tips hit the
like button share the video with anyone
who’s trying to learn a new language and
subscribe to our channel
we release new videos every week i’ll
see you next time bye
great work here’s a reward speed up your
language learning with our pdf lessons
get all of our best pdf cheat sheets and
ebooks for free
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