Name: Why you don't understand native English speakers
Uploaded: 2019-06-03T03:55:13.000Z
Duration: 14 min 44 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

hey what's up Stefanie the English
coach here from EnglishFullTime.com

To-infinitive

in this video I want to talk to you guys
about why you don't understand native

Adverbs of frequency

English speakers sometimes now a lot of
you say you understand me

I speak very clearly I'm presenting I'm
trying to make myself understood

but at the same time this is how I speak
I speak very clearly even when I speak

quickly with that said I already made a
video about why you don't understand

movies and TV shows a native English
speakers but today I want to focus on a

few different things that I didn't
mention in that video and if you're

interested in that video and you haven't
seen it yet I'll go ahead and link it up

here okay but what I really want to say
is we all know that when you're first

studying a language you're not going to
understand everything that's obvious but

most of you here are at a pretty high
level in your English language I mean

I'm speaking 100% in English I speak
quickly so if you're here and you're

understanding your English is that a
really great level ok and it's

frustrating right when you understand me
but then you don't understand other

people and you're like what's wrong with
me something must be wrong with me no

nothing is wrong with you I am here to
tell you that it's probably not even

your fault okay and I'm gonna explain
why it's not your fault

and that a lot of times native English
speakers are to blame when you don't

understand them or no one's to blame but
it's definitely not your fault okay so

reason number one why you might not
understand a native English speaker

maybe they have really really bad
speaking habits they mumble they speak

too quickly they don't enunciate
that's not your fault for not

understanding them if I hear a person
speak like that I might be like whoa

what are they saying and I'm a native
English speaker now granted I might be

able to understand a little bit better
than you because I have more experience

with this language but in general when
people don't enunciate okay when when

they are mumbling when they're speaking
too quietly I have to be like what

excuse me can you speak up please I
don't understand you

so it's not your fault when people do
this it's their fault okay for having

bad speaking
it's now a quick story about this

because I could totally relate to you
guys on this I was in Argentina for

those of you who don't know I lived
there for six years my husband is from

Argentina we were over there we were at
an asado which is a barbecue with his

friends and he had a friend there who
was speaking so fast and I was like

listening intently trying to understand
what he was saying and my brain was

hurting because I was like working so
hard just to understand this guy and I

started feeling really bad I was like
man you know I've been living in

Argentina for six years I speak Spanish
apparently I don't speak it well or I

don't understand well something must be
wrong with me because I don't understand

this guy and I just started beating
myself up for not understanding him and

then the next day I told Ren about it
and I was like you know what I've been

feeling really bad ever since the
barbecue with your friend I was like I

just didn't understand like almost
anything he said I had to work really

hard to understand him and he speaks so
fast and you know what Ren said he was

like that's fine nobody understands him
I was like what are you kidding me he's

like no nobody understands him we don't
know what he said is half the time that

he's talking he speaks way too fast he
has really bad speaking habits and I was

like you've got to be kidding me right
now so I was beating myself up like

something was wrong with me and nothing
was wrong with me

or my Spanish or anything it's that guy
that has bad speaking habits so it's

it's really unfortunate because language
is a way to communicate and if we're not

communicating well nobody's gonna
understand us and that kind of defeats

the purpose of language which is for
communication so anyways you need to be

able to recognize bad speaking habits in
your native language and in other

languages so that you can realize when
you don't understand somebody what it's

because of are you unfamiliar with their
accent is it because they simply have

bad speaking habits what is it because
of because if you can identify what it's

because of then you'll realize that
you're not to blame

99.9% of the time and that's good because

if not you're gonna be way too hard on
yourself and that's not necessary you

don't need that kind of pressure
oh and quick story about the different

accents thing I was in a grocery store
one time in Bariloche in Argentina and

I hear these people speaking this
foreign language and I was like wow that

sounds so cool and I was like Ren what
language do you think they're speaking

and he's like are you kidding me that's
Chilean Spanish I was like what so it

was Spanish and I speak Spanish I am a
fluent Spanish speaker and people from

Chile which is like across the border
right it's just

Argentina's here and Chile is right next
to it they're Spanish apparently is so

different I didn't even recognize it I
didn't even know it was Spanish okay so

that's not my fault
it's not my fault that I didn't

understand them they speak a dialect
that I like never heard in my life and

I'm completely unfamiliar with and they
were probably speaking very quickly you

know there were people my age so maybe
they were using a lot of slang I don't

know so I think I made my point there
let's move on okay

sometimes when native speakers are
speaking you will understand all the

words that they say but you won't
understand the meaning that's probably

not your fault for example my friend
Pete from Aussie English we were on the

phone a few months ago and he was just
like yeah mate I was taking the piss out

of myself lately and I was like you why
it's taking the piss out of yourself I

didn't even know what that meant and you
know what I don't remember what it means

so I'm gonna have to go look it up now
but it means something apparently an

Australian English it's an idiom right
and this is y idiomatic expressions are

so difficult because if you're not
familiar with that idiomatic expression

you'll have no idea it's like the person
is speaking another language they're

saying it all in English but you're like
I have no idea what you just said okay

so again that phrase taking the piss out
of myself lately or whatever I did not

know what that meant and I still don't
know what it means I forgot he told me

but I forgot so I will look that up and
if you want to know I guess you can look

it up too or I will
you know what I'll put it in the

description that way we all have it so
again sometimes your

understand all the words that you hear
but you're not gonna understand the

meaning because it might be an idiomatic
expression that you're unfamiliar with

ok the next reason why you might not
understand native English speakers

sometimes is because you have zero
interest in a conversation this happens

to me all the time in Spanish actually
more frequently than I want to admit and

it's involuntary it's not my fault my
brain does this and I wish it wouldn't

but for example if I'm at the dinner
table and everyone's talking about

something that is really technical and I
just don't feel like thinking about what

they're saying and you know making sense
of it and I just I get lost or something

Subtitles ListPlay Video

Why you don't understand native English speakers

anxiety

struggle

apparently

recognize