Understand FAST English Conversations Advanced Listening Lesson
Vanessa: Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Are you ready to understand fast English conversations?
Let’s talk about it.
Speaking naturally and fluently in English
is a great skill, but when you’re having a
conversation, if you can’t understand what
the other person is saying, you’re going to
have a big problem.
So today, I want to share with you my top
tip that will help you to understand fast
English conversations.
Today you’re going to learn how to understand
fast English conversations, we’re going to
practice this method together right now today,
and then I’m going to help you know how to
continue practicing this method so that it
doesn’t just stop today so that you can continue
and build your listening skills.
So how can you understand fast conversations?
Can you learn like a child, just taking in
a lot of information for two, three, four,
five years, 24/7?
Or maybe you just think, “Oh, I can watch
English TV shows 500 times and eventually
I’ll just understand what they’re saying”?
Well, if you listen to these conversations
and you only understand 10%, 20%, we need
to take it back a little bit.
The best way to understand fast English speakers
is to study and analyze native real conversations.
Make sure that you understand each word and
then you can also imitate that same sentence
structure yourself when you speak.
Today, we’re going to be doing this together.
We’re going to be analyzing a short English
conversation, including some idioms, expressions,
phrasal verbs that are included in that conversation.
So what I want you to do is I want you to
get a pen and pencil ready because I want
you to be active during today’s lesson.
We’re going to be following four steps.
The first step is to listen to a fast, original
conversation clip.
We’re going to be listening to a clip from
a guy named Nathan, who is a native English
speaker, and he’s going to be talking a little
bit about his experience with an international
public speaking organization called Toastmasters.
Then number two, we’re going to listen to
a slow version of this clip.
This means that hopefully in the slow version,
you’re going to catch each word, you’re going
to hear words that you didn’t hear the first
time because with Nathan it was pretty fast,
but in the slowed down version it’s going
to be a little bit clearer for you to hear
each word.
Step number three is to write everything that
you hear.
Whatever you hear Nathan say, whatever you
hear me say, try to write exactly what you
hear.
And in the fourth step, we’re going to check
your writing with the original transcript.
You’ll probably see, “Oh, I got that word
correct.
I didn’t know that that’s what they said,
but I wrote it correctly.”
And you’ll probably also see, “Oh wow, I didn’t
hear that at all,” maybe there are some linkings
and reductions that you didn’t know before.
So this is a good way to test what you know
and also test what’s difficult for you so
that you can improve that.
Maybe you don’t write the correct word because
you simply don’t know it, maybe it’s a new
vocabulary word for you.
This is a good way to expand your vocabulary.
Today, we’re going to be talking about three
words that you’re going to hear in the conversation
with Nathan, so hopefully those will just
add to your vocabulary.
Today’s YouTube lesson is a free sample of
my course, the 30 Day Listening Challenge,
which opens today, December 20th.
In the course, you’ll study one lesson exactly
like what we’re going to do today.
You’re going to build your listening skills
day by day.
Students who have joined past Listening Challenges
have said that the first few days in the course
are generally pretty tough.
This is a difficult technique because you’re
trying to listen for every single word, but
after a few days it gets easier and easier,
and you really are building your listening
skills.
So if it’s challenging for you, push on.
You can do it.
Remember that I said you’ll need a pen and
a piece of paper?
Well, today is an active lesson, you need
to participate.
Let’s take a look at the worksheet so that
you can see exactly what I want you to be
writing down on your paper.
Here’s the conversation outline, first you’ll
hear Nathan’s voice, then you’ll hear my voice,
then his, then mine.
And if you have a piece of paper, I recommend
writing at least N, V, N, V, N, V so that
you can prepare yourself for what you’re going
to hear.
This is actually day 25 of the 30-day Listening
Challenge, but it’s a free sample today.
The course is open now December 20th to December
31st for only $30.
This means that on January 25th, you will
study this lesson, but today it’s a free sample.
Now let’s listen to the fast original version
of this conversation.
The clip is only 30 seconds, so it’s going
to go pretty fast, but try to write what you
hear.
Test your listening skills.
Let’s listen.
Nathan: You will receive a topic or a prompt-
Vanessa: Okay.
Nathan: And you have to get up in front of
the group and do a one to two minute speech
off the cuff.
Vanessa: Wow.
Nathan: With an introduction, you know, just
like any normal speech.
Vanessa: That’s bound to terrify anybody.
Nathan: Right.
And that’s really the most uncomfortable part
of the meeting, but it’s where you grow the
most.
You will receive a topic or a prompt-
Vanessa: Okay.
Nathan: And you have to get up in front of
the group and do a one to two minute speech
off the cuff.
Vanessa: Wow.
Nathan: With an introduction, you know, just
like any normal speech.
Vanessa: That’s bound to terrify anybody.
Nathan: Right.
And that’s really the most uncomfortable part
of the meeting, but it’s where you grow the
most.
You will receive a topic or a prompt-
Vanessa: Okay.
Nathan: And you have to get up in front of
the group and do a one two minute speech off
the cuff.
Vanessa: Wow.
Nathan: With an introduction, you know, just
like any normal speech.
Vanessa: That’s bound to terrify anybody.
Nathan: Right.
And that’s really the most uncomfortable part
of the meeting, but it’s where you grow the
most.
Vanessa: Did you feel like that was definitely
too fast?
Well, Nathan was speaking pretty naturally,
and I was too.
Native English speakers can definitely understand
this conversation, so I want you to be able
to do that too.
You’ll hear this style of speaking when you
travel to the US, when you have a business
meeting, when you meet some international
friends so this is a good way to test your
listening skills.
Now let’s go to the slow version.
Remember, this is step two.
You’re going to hear my husband, Dan, and
I say the exact same words that you just heard
from the conversation with Nathan, but when
my husband Dan and I say these words, it’s
going to be reduced significantly.
It’s going to be slower.
It’s going to be clearer.
Hopefully, you’ll pick up on other words that
you didn’t hear in the conversation with Nathan.
All right, let’s listen.
Dan: You will receive a topic or a prompt-
Vanessa: Okay.
Dan: And you have to get up in front of the
group and do a one to two minute speech off
the cuff.
Vanessa: Wow.
Dan: With an introduction, you know, just
like any normal speech.
Vanessa: That’s bound to terrify anybody.
Dan: Right.
And that’s really the most uncomfortable part
of the meeting, but it’s where you grow the
most.
You will receive a topic or a prompt-
Vanessa: Okay.
Dan: And you have to get up in front of the
group and do a one to two minute speech off
the cuff.
Vanessa: Wow.
Dan: With an introduction, you know, just
like any normal speech.
Vanessa: That’s bound to terrify anybody.
Dan: Right.
And that’s really the most uncomfortable part
of the meeting, but it’s where you grow the
most.
You will receive a topic or a prompt-
Vanessa: Okay.
Dan: And you have to get up in front of the
group and do a one to two minute speech off
the cuff.
Vanessa: Wow.
Dan: With an introduction, you know, just
like any normal speech.
Vanessa: That’s bound to terrify anybody.
Dan: Right.
And that’s really the most uncomfortable part
of the meeting, but it’s where you grow the
most.
Vanessa: Did you write down everything that
you heard?
In the 30 Day Listening Challenge, you’re
going to be able to download or stream those
audio files so you can listen to them as many
times as you want.
This is just a sample, this is just a practice,
but you’re welcome to pause the video and
go back and listen to them again.
How was it?
Was it too slow?
Was it too fast?
Did you pick on some words that you didn’t
hear the first time?
I hope so.
Now we’re going to take a look at the transcript.
This is step number four.
And you’re going to be able to compare what
you wrote and what you heard to actually what
was said in the conversation.
In the transcript as well, we’re going to
focus on three new vocabulary words that will
help to build your vocabulary and increase
your understanding.
You just heard Nathan say, “You will receive
a topic or a prompt.”
“Okay.”
“And you have to get up in front of the group
and do a one to two minute speech off the
cuff.”
“Wow.”
“With an introduction, you know, just like
any normal speech.”
“That’s bound to terrify anybody.”
“Right.
And that’s really the most uncomfortable part
of the meeting, but it’s where you grow the
most.”
In this quick conversation, Nathan is explaining
different parts of the Toastmasters meeting
that they have to improve public speaking
each week.
One of the parts is giving a spontaneous speech
in front of the group and that’s what he’s
talking about in the beginning up here, let’s
talk about these specific expressions, and
he says, yeah, this is really uncomfortable,
but you grow the most, you learn the most
because you are feeling uncomfortable.
I think this is a great idea for learning
English because when you get outside your
comfort zone, it’s tough, it’s uncomfortable,
but you can grow a lot when you get outside
your comfort zone.
So let’s talk about these three specific vocabulary
words that we’re going to focus on in this
conversation.
The first one is one to two.
You probably know what one and two means,
but when we put the preposition to between
there, one to two, we’re talking about a range.
He says you need to do a one to two minute
speech.
The speech could be one minute, it could be
one and a half minutes, it could be two minutes,
but it cannot be two and a half minutes.
The range is one to two.
And our sample sentence here is plane tickets
to Asia are usually one to $2,000.
The range is $1,000 to $2,000.
At the end of that sentence, he explains that
this isn’t an ordinary speech that you prepare
for.
It’s a speech that you do off the cuff.
Off the cuff.
What is this expression?
Well, a cuff is a part of a dress shirt, it
goes around your wrist.
We say that’s your cuff around your wrist,
but this is an idiom, so it’s not really related
to dress shirts.
It just means that you’re doing something
without planning, so you have to give a spontaneous
speech or you have to give a speech off the
cuff.
Our sample sentence here is, he told me off
the cuff that he is moving to Mexico.
He didn’t plan to tell me, we weren’t talking
about his future plans, he just said, “Hey,
I’m moving to Mexico week.”
Whoa, this is really spontaneous and off the
cuff.
The final expression that we’re going to talk
about is one that I used, and it’s to be bound
to do something.
The word bound has several different meanings,
but specifically in this conversation I’m
talking about something that’s definite.
It’s certain.
So I said that’s bound to terrify anybody.
We can substitute some words here and say,
that is definitely going to terrify anybody.
Giving a spontaneous speech for one to two
minutes, I think anybody would be terrified,
fearful about doing that, so I use the wonderful
verb that’s bound to terrify anybody.
Our sample sentence here is if you win the
lottery, old friends from high school are
bound to contact you and ask for money.
This is kind of the stereotypical situation
that when you suddenly get a lot of money
and it’s a publicly known fact, people from
your past start to call you and say, “Oh,
I’ve missed you.
How have you been?”
Because they just want some money.
So this is a definite, a certain situation.
Old friends from high school are definitely
going to contact you and ask for money.
Or we could say, they are bound to contact
you and ask for money.
If you didn’t understand those three vocabulary
words when Nathan and I said them, it’s probably
because you don’t know them and hopefully
now they feel a little bit more comfortable
to you.
So what we’re going to do is we’re going to
listen to the original fast conversation again
and I hope that this time you’ll be able to
hear some of those new expressions because
you know the general meaning of the conversation,
you’ll feel a little bit more comfortable,
and you’ll see that just in the last couple
minutes, your listening skills group.
Are you ready to listen?
Let’s listen to the original conversation
a couple times while looking at the transcript
so that you can listen and see at the same
time.
Let’s listen.
Nathan: You will receive a topic or a prompt-
Vanessa: Okay.
Nathan: And you have to get up in front of
the group and do a one to two minute speech
off the cuff.
Vanessa: Wow.
Nathan: With an introduction, you know, just
like any normal speech.
Vanessa: That’s bound to terrify anybody.
Nathan: Right.
And that’s really the most uncomfortable part
of the meeting, but it’s where you grow the
most.
You will receive a topic or a prompt-
Vanessa: Okay.
Nathan: And you have to get up in front of
the group and do a one to two minute speech
off the cuff.
Vanessa: Wow.
Nathan: With an introduction, you know, just
like any normal speech.
Vanessa: That’s bound to terrify anybody.
Nathan: Right.
And that’s really the most uncomfortable part
of the meeting, but it’s where you grow the
most.
You will receive a topic or a prompt-
Vanessa: Okay.
Nathan: And you have to get up in front of
the group and do a one to two minute speech
off the cuff.
Vanessa: Wow.
Nathan: With an introduction, you know, just
like any normal speech.
Vanessa: That’s bound to terrify anybody.
Nathan: Right.
And that’s really the most uncomfortable part
of the meeting, but it’s where you grow the
most.
Vanessa: How did you do?
Could you understand a little bit better than
before?
Imagine if you studied like this for five
to 10 minutes every day for 30 days.
If you did this and studied consistently,
your listening skills are bound to increase.
Thousands of English learners around the world
have already joined the 30 Day Listening Challenge
pack one, pack two, and pack three, and now
the pack four is open.
So I encourage you to check it out and to
study like this every day for 30 days.
Students in the course said that some days
were more challenging for them and some days
were easier for them, but by the end of the
month they had dedicated themselves to studying
and analyzing real conversation clips with
over 11 different native English speakers
for five to 10 minutes every day.
And in the end, their listening fluency improved,
but most importantly they could take those
skills that they learned in the course and
use them in the real world.
It’s great to improve with the course material,
but it’s essential to be able to use that
when you travel to another country, when you
have a business meeting, when you have a conversation
with someone, when you’re watching a TV show.
You want to be able to transfer those skills
to the real world and that’s something that’s
excellent about the Listening Challenge because
this is real material, this is real conversations
from native speakers.
So you’ll be able to use it in the real world.
Starting from today, December 20th to December
31st the 30-day English Listening Challenge
pack four is open for $30.
If you haven’t joined pack one, two or three,
don’t worry.
It’s okay.
Each pack is an individual course.
They all are the same level because they all
feature real English conversations with real
native speakers, but you can study each course,
each pack individually.
The challenge will start on January 1st.
This means that I will send you the day one
material on January 1st.
It includes all four things that we looked
at today, the fast original clip, a slow version
of the clip, a worksheet so that you can write
down exactly what you hear, and also a transcript
with three new vocabulary expressions so that
you can expand your vocabulary out as well
as your listening skills.
Let’s go on and take a quick sneak peak inside
the course website so that you can see exactly
what you’d be studying.
When you join the 30-day Listening Challenge
pack four, you’ll get access to this page
immediately.
Today is day zero.
Any day before January 1st is day zero.
Let’s see what you can access today.
You’ll find a course guide with my recommended
study plan for each day, as well as a calendar
that you can use to check off each day when
you finish.
I recommend printing these two documents and
looking them over before January 1st so that
you’re comfortable with how you’re going to
study the different material that you’re going
to study before the course actually begins
on January 1st.
On day one, January 1st, you’ll have access
to the day one lesson, which you can download
or stream on the website.
Then on January 2nd, you’ll have access to
the day to lesson, and on January 3rd you’ll
have access to the day three lesson, etc.
throughout the rest of the month.
If you enjoyed today’s lesson but you’d like
some more information, no problem, you can
click on the link up here or in the description
to learn more about the 30-day Listening Challenge
pack four, which is open starting today.
And now I have a question for you, was today’s
lesson helpful for you?
I hope so.
Thank you so much for learning English with
me, and I hope to see you for five to 10 minutes
every day in the month of January for the
30-day Listening Challenge.
Thanks so much.
I’ll see you next Friday for a new lesson
here on my YouTube channel.
Bye.
The next step is to join the 30 Day English
Listening Challenge.
You’ll be on the right path to increasing
your listening skills and understanding fast
English speakers.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel
for more free lessons.
Thanks so much.
Bye.