Real English Conversations Episode 14
[Music]
welcome to speak English with Tiffany I
am teacher Tiffany let’s jump right in
hey Mel how you doing I’m doing good -
how about you how you doing all right
this expression is used when you are
greeting someone or asking them about
their condition now what you’ll notice
is it’s actually the same thing as how
are you doing how are you today and how
are you but the main difference is
instead of the G that normally goes at
the end of this word we’ve erased it and
replaced it with this short apostrophe
so instead of how are you doing again
right here it would have been a our e
we’ve also taken that out and instead of
how are you doing it’s how you doing
it’s kind of a slang way or a more
comfortable way of saying how are you
when you are speaking to friends or
someone you are familiar with I’m doing
good just kind of relaxing a little bit
taking it easy huh how about you taking
it easy now this means to be relaxed and
not doing very much at all okay so again
relaxed and not doing very much at all
to refrain or to stop from hard work and
simply rest we say taking it easy
so for this one examples are you say
this after taking a major exam normally
when you have an exam in school you have
to study for a long time for many hours
so when you’re finished taking the test
and you really want to relax you can say
I’m taking it easy okay
or you can use it when you are finished
working so you’ve worked all day and you
actually are tired you can say I want to
take it easy and another example is
after finishing a project it can be
project at work or project at school or
even a personal project you really want
to take a rest so you say taking it easy
work is good
I am currently doing a temporary work as
a caregiver seeking care of our grandpa
Ted and Delaware oh yeah not too far
from Maryland that’s pretty good yeah
yeah that’s good he’s very easy to get
along with very nice guy okay
now you heard me say that’s nice
Delaware’s not too far from Maryland
that’s pretty good what I did was I gave
my opinion of what my friend said when I
said that’s nice then I gave my reason
for thinking that what he said was nice
because Delaware is not too far from
Maryland and then I went back and I
restated my opinion again when I said
that’s pretty good so this is another
thing that we use in conversation in
English conversation opinion plus reason
plus opinion again so you can use this
formula sometimes when you speak in
English and the next thing was easy to
get along with now this expression just
means someone who is approachable
friendly or pleasant in manner it means
that person really talks to people well
and people feel comfortable around them
so you can say I am easy to get along
with or he or she is easy to get along
with
that’s good so you said you’re doing
working as a caretaker I thought you
were coming back from Korea you were
gonna continue with your business like
you’re I think you were doing a video
business what are you doing that
oh yeah media production is whether
that’s the business I had before I went
to Korea all right what you’ll notice
throughout our conversation is a lot of
these type of words these are called
English filler words English filler
words now you’ve probably heard lots of
filler words being used in conversations
or in movies and TV shows now while it
is important not to use them during a
speech and in other important situations
they are actually a pretty important or
useful part of English conversation if
you use them correctly okay so as you’re
listening to our conversation listen to
the points in time where we say like or
um or you know yeah my original plan was
actually I was doing that before I went
to Korea I was doing it full-time after
I just graduated from University and my
original plan was go to Korea one year
and then come back and do my business
but uh one year became eleven and a half
years and so now I’m back in the mentor
and trying to get my business back up
and running back up and running this is
something that you heard him say when he
was explaining his business and its
plans to me now the meaning of this
expression it means functioning properly
either after a malfunction where
something breaks or for the first time
and it can also mean newly launched as
of a business or a product so here are
some examples I need to get the machine
back up and running okay functioning
properly second example the printer is
up and running now it means the printer
is worth
and the third example after years of
preparation our design company is
officially up and running okay that’s
talking about business okay this is how
you use the expression back up and
running I understand I was there for
almost 10 years it just creates a great
country to live in it is so what made
you like you know we say entrepreneur
life
what made you even before going to
create what made you decide to live the
entrepreneurial life and you know start
your own media business absolutely
wasn’t my original plan entrepreneurial
life now the meaning is the life of an
individual who organizes and operates a
personal business or businesses we say
entrepreneurial life here are some
examples of people who have lived or are
living the entrepreneurial life so we
have right here Oprah Winfrey she’s an
American media executive talk show host
and more then we have Walt Disney now
Walt Disney is dead but his company his
business is still flourishing and doing
well he was a pioneer of the American
animation industry and finally we have
Steve Jobs he was the co-founder of
Apple incorporated so these three
individuals led an entrepreneurial life
they started their own business okay
before I graduated from university my
plan was to get a job working in media
production at some company and as I’ve
been there getting experience saving
money and then starting my own business
eventually what kind of the opposite
happened I ended up starting my business
before I graduated
so then after I graduated I was kind of
working for myself doing weddings and
special event videos here and there here
and there this means in various places
or in one place and another so
also you can say from time to time or
occasionally so here are some examples
using this expression you can say she
spoke so softly that I only caught a
word here and there meaning I only
caught a word occasionally okay
next our second example there were small
bushes scattered here and there okay so
that means in various places okay and
our third example there were houses
scattered here and there across the
hillside so just like point number two
various places okay here and there it’s
kind of in doing that did that full-time
for a year before what once a career so
like were you getting clients because a
word-of-mouth or were you actually
soliciting and doing marketing to get
clients I was mostly word-of-mouth
because I had a lot of um
classmates um we’re getting married and
so a word-of-mouth
the oldest guy does videos word-of-mouth
okay this is an expression we use very
often in English okay it means given or
done by people talking about something
or telling people about something an
example of how you can use this is
students discovered the class by word of
mouth it means there were some students
who knew about the class and they told
other students which means word of mouth
okay and the other word was soliciting
this means to ask for or try to obtain
something from someone or in other words
to ask someone for something and an
example of this is he called a meeting
to solicit their views on the situation
he wanted to obtain or get their views
so we say soliciting okay
okay and then that’s all I have some
work and it’s led one thing to another
and yeah that was keeping me busy for a
year full-time that’s really nice that’s
really nice
were there any pros and cons like what
were the pros and cons of doing that
work before I would have to say one of
the pros is what you get to be your own
boss and so you can say your own hours
and things like that which can be nice
but then also I you do want to keep
working and try to you know set yourself
have a goal and so yeah if you don’t
reach that goal it can be kind of
stressful because um and if you’re
working at a company then you know you
have to study Perry so when you’re
working for yourself you have to keep it
you know keep it going all right cause
or coz now this is just a shortened form
of the word because so many native
speakers say cuz when they are speaking
to each other during a conversation
basically it is a quick way to say the
word because so you can also use cuz
instead of because when you’re having a
natural conversation okay and the second
one was steady pay now this refers to
income from a job that lasts or
continues for a period of time so a
regular amount of money that comes in on
a regular basis okay so an example of
this is when I was in university I
earned my first steady paycheck as a
waitress it means I was getting income
from being a waitress and it continued
for a period of time a steady paycheck
okay yeah I got you I understand I also
was doing my own thing before I went to
Korea I started doing art full-time and
the pros well do your own thing okay
this means to live act or behave in the
way you want to you don’t pay attention
to convention or the norms or depend on
other people’s opinions it’s what you
want to do okay so here are some
examples of how to use this expression
I’m doing my own thing and that’s
alright okay I’m okay with being
different from other people okay then
Samantha decided to do her own thing
instead of just following the crowd so
the crowd is doing one thing but
Samantha decided to do her own thing and
then finally the third example is he is
doing his own thing overseas okay he’s
doing what he wants to do overseas yeah
it was good I was paintings and artwork
and again the pros were one for myself
but the cons were you weren’t sure when
the paycheck was coming in so but yeah
it was a good experience it was an
experience and now work for myself now -
so is that why when you got back from
Korea decided even though you’re doing
the caretaker right now you decided that
you wanted to go back to it as opposed
to going to nine-to-five uh yeah I just
I miss doing it full-time and whenever I
had a chance I would try to do it even
though I was in Korea I was able to do
some video projects here and there okay
as opposed to this means rather than
instead of or distinguished from or in
contrast with okay so an example of how
to use this is they use fresh fish as
opposed to fish that has been frozen so
I’m comparing two types of fish so we
have the frozen fish that comes maybe in
a box from the store versus fresh fish
that I get from the ocean okay fresh
fish that I’ve got from the ocean
directly and I’m using it in my meals
okay so fresh fish versus frozen fish we
would use as opposed to and the second
one was nine to five see this is used in
reference to typical hours of work in an
office so in America we say 9:00 a.m. to
5:00 p.m. are normal
work hours often to express an idea of
routine or predictability so an example
of this is he decided to quit his
nine-to-five job and become an
entrepreneur this is how you can use
nine-to-five but you know it wasn’t
enough and I enjoyed teaching I still do
I enjoy teaching who miss it a little
bit I do also enjoy doing the video as I
was in Korea over the years I have
always had media in the back of my mind
so whenever I had some extra money I was
always you know investing in equipment
equipment back of my mind okay this
means to be in one’s thoughts but with
little or no conscious or active
consideration or reflection so you’re
still thinking about it but not
consciously okay so here’s an example
even though I am successful there’s
always this worry in the back of my mind
that I’m doing something wrong so this
person is very successful but they still
have a small thought in the back of
their mind that maybe they’re doing
something wrong we say back of my mind
and so you know that I think that’s one
one good thing that I did is able to
invest so that I knew when I came back
eventually I was be starting you know
from Ground Zero you know I didn’t have
equipment before going to Korea and I
even brought some of it with me but you
know everything in media production
technology is always changing so you
have to kind of keep up know what’s
going on well honestly I think your
business is gonna flourish because I
know your work ethic is really good so I
do hope everything works out really well
for you too
being back home oh thank you pretty odd
about that and praying about that yeah
I’m praying about it for you do if you
enjoyed this real English conversation
please hit that like button remember if
you want to receive free weekly English
printable lessons sign up for my weekly
newsletter by clicking the link
in the description below ww speak
English with Tiffany dot-com / weekly
and also watch another of my English
video lessons just for you by clicking
the video on the left or the right of
your screen and as always remember to
speak English