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  • - Okay, here's the deal.

  • In this video, I'm gonna teach you

  • the three things that you need to speak amazing English.

  • (powerful tune)

  • (powerful crackling) (logo swooshes)

  • Hello, I'm Julian Northbrook from DoingEnglish.com.

  • In this video, I'm gonna teach you the three things

  • that you need to speak amazing, extraordinary English.

  • You can get so far

  • without all three of these things.

  • You can get to the intermediate stage

  • just by learning English,

  • just by focusing on the language itself.

  • But if you wanna go beyond that,

  • start to speak English that is wow, amazing, extraordinary,

  • you are gonna need to go beyond

  • the mere words and phrases and patterns of English.

  • Yes, you need three things,

  • and these three things I call the LKC Triangle.

  • The first part of the LKC Triangle is indeed Language.

  • In order to speak a language,

  • you need knowledge of the language.

  • I mean, that much is obvious.

  • If you don't have the words and the phrases

  • that you need to express the things

  • that you want to express and talk about,

  • well, obviously, you're not gonna be able

  • to talk about those things, are you?

  • But just knowing English,

  • the language itself is not enough.

  • That will only take you so far,

  • as I said, up to about the intermediate stage at best.

  • But if you wanna go beyond that, you need to start

  • expanding your communicative ability

  • as it were.

  • This is where the second point

  • of the LKC Triangle comes in, the K.

  • The K stands for Knowledge.

  • Knowledge means the content, the stuff

  • that you have in your head,

  • the things that you have got that you can talk about.

  • It also means your communicative ability,

  • your knowledge of how to use the language that you've got,

  • although this comes in to the C to an extent as well.

  • More on that in a moment.

  • But simply put, if you don't have interesting things

  • to talk about, then you're not gonna be able

  • to speak amazingly well in conversation.

  • People who are fun to talk to, great to talk to,

  • are people who have stories to tell,

  • interesting insights on issues that affect us all.

  • They are interesting people

  • because they've got interesting stuff in here,

  • and that feeds into the way that they speak

  • and the way that they use their language.

  • Finally, you need one more thing to really reach

  • the highest levels of achievement

  • when it comes to speaking English,

  • and that is the C of the LKC Triangle, Culture.

  • Now, culture is a little tricky to define

  • because culture exists on many, many levels,

  • but simply put, culture can be defined

  • as the way that people behave.

  • And therefore, in this context,

  • we are talking about knowledge

  • of how people act, how people behave.

  • Now, of course when we talk about culture,

  • we're often talking about a country's culture,

  • Japanese culture versus, say, British culture

  • versus, say, Irish culture versus, say, Italian,

  • German, Spanish, Chinese, or whatever culture.

  • But what you've got to understand

  • is that these countries are simply groups of people.

  • And even within countries,

  • we have different parts of a country

  • which will have slightly different cultures.

  • For example, if you go to Japan,

  • if you go to Tokyo, the culture there is quite different

  • to the culture in Osaka, which is still a Japanese city,

  • but very, very different one.

  • Likewise, in the UK, Manchester is very different to London,

  • which is very different to, say, Plymouth.

  • You get the idea.

  • Culture can also mean groups of people.

  • It can also mean organisations of people.

  • And it can also mean people on an individual level.

  • But when it comes to speaking, what you need to understand

  • is that the way that we see and understand

  • and interact with the world is all filtered

  • through our knowledge of culture.

  • This is why I might say something meaning one thing

  • but you may misunderstand me

  • or interpret it in a different way

  • and we end up with these cultural mishaps,

  • miscommunications,

  • because I say one thing believing it meant to me one thing.

  • You understand it as something different.

  • We all understand and use language

  • through our own cultural filters.

  • When I speak, I'm speaking through my cultural filter.

  • When you listen, you're listening through yours.

  • So, if our understanding

  • of the way that people should behave, the social norms

  • of our conversation are completely different,

  • then of course we will have different styles

  • of communication.

  • We will speak in different ways.

  • A very obvious example being something

  • like the very dry, sarcastic sense of humour

  • that we're very fond of in the UK,

  • but which often does not translate

  • into other languages and into other cultures.

  • Japanese people have a hard time with it, for example,

  • because it isn't a part of their culture.

  • And whenever I've tried to use the typical British sense

  • of humour in Japanese, it's falling flat on its face.

  • It's never ever worked.

  • That, in a nutshell, is the LKC Triangle.

  • You need the language.

  • Of course, that much is obvious.

  • But you also need knowledge.

  • That is, interesting things to say,

  • interesting stories to tell.

  • And you also need knowledge of culture,

  • the way that we behave and understand

  • and interact with the world.

  • Until you've got all three of these things nailed,

  • you are not gonna be amazing when it comes to speaking.

  • So, ask yourself, are you struggling

  • to break past the intermediate barrier

  • because you're focusing too much

  • on simply memorising new words or learning more phrases

  • when what you should actually be doing

  • is trying to build an understanding of the culture

  • of the people that you are using English with?

  • Or is it that you simply have jack shit to talk about

  • and that you're a boring person

  • because you never do anything?

  • These things are all important

  • when it comes to having conversations.

  • And incidentally, when I design lessons

  • in Extraordinary English Speakers,

  • my English learning group,

  • which among other things includes a weekly lesson to study,

  • I design all the lessons with these three things in mine

  • so that we're not just focusing on the language

  • but we're also going deep into the culture,

  • understanding the way that people behave,

  • the dynamics, the social norms of conversation,

  • as well as trying to build up your bank

  • of interesting things to talk about, et cetera, et cetera.

  • Anyway, that, again, in a nutshell, is the LKC Triangle.

  • I think I've said enough in this video.

  • This is me, your beloved host,

  • Julian Northbrook, signing out from another video.

  • If you found this useful, give it a nice, big old thumbs-up.

  • If you hated this video, give it a thumbs-up anyway.

  • Check out Extraordinary English Speakers

  • if you're not already a member,

  • DoingEnglish.com/EES to apply.

  • It is by application only.

  • And regardless,

  • I will see you, my friend, in the next video.

  • Thank you and goodbye.

  • (upbeat music)

- Okay, here's the deal.

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