Verynicepracticetomake a situationwhereyoucan't escapeintoyournativelanguage, make a situationwhereyoucan't escapeintoyournativelanguageEssentiallymeansimmerseyourself.
Ofcourse, goingtothatcountryaregoingto a placewhereyoucanspeakonLee.
Butifinyourlifeyoucancreate a situationinyourlibrary, inyourroom, inyourhouse, somewhereforjust a houror, I don't know, maybe a day.
I don't knowwhatyourscheduleislike, butifyoucancreate a situationorcreateanenvironmentwhereyouhavenochoicebuttousethatlanguageandyoucannotescape, meaningyoucannotgobacktousingyournativelanguageas a crutch, youcan't usethenativelanguageatall.
Itforcesyoutousethelanguagethatyou'restudying.
So, ofcourse, ifyouareluckyenoughtoliveinthecountryortolivein a placewherepeoplespeakthelanguage, you'restudyinggreat.
Butyouhavetogooutandinteractwithpeople.
Youhavetoputyourselfin a placewhereyouhavenewchoicebuttospeak.
MyJapanesewasn't verygoodfor a longtime, butthen I startedmakingfriendswhocouldnotspeakEnglish.
Uh, actually, I justdidthisthroughfindinghobbies.
Therewas a hobbythat I had.
I joined a group I joined, actually a schooltowhere I couldlearnhowtodothathobbyandeverythingwastaughtonLeeinJapanese, andthepeopleinmyclassonLeespokeJapanesemostly.
Inmycase, I I thinktoomuchaboutreadingthesubtitlesand I forgettolisten.
Somaybeifyou'veseen a movieinyourtargetlanguage a fewtimes, Um, withthesubtitleson, Tryturningthesubtitlesoffandthinkaboutthecharacters, bodylanguage, thewordsthey'reusing.
Youcanalwayslookthatuplater.
LookuptheYouknowthewordsyoudon't knowin a dictionary, buttrytodoitwhereyou'refocusingcompletelyonthewaythatpeopleareusingtheirwords.
Trynottousethesubtitle.
So, um, kindofplayaroundwithit a littlebit?
Ifthere's a wordthat's difficultforyoutohear, youcanactuallyturnonthesubtitlesin, liketheinthenativelanguageofthemovieaswell.
That's somethingthat I'vedonelikeif, uh, lookif I wantedtostudyJapanese.
So, uh, sothisissortoftwopointsinone, soonewatchmovieswithoutsubtitles, meaningsubtitlesinyournativelanguageinHinttoistowatchmovieswithclosedcaptioningon.
TipnumberfiveisDon't bring a dictionarytoyourlesson.
Okay, sogiveme a secondhere, so I understandthedictionaries, alwaysespeciallyElektronikdictionarieswehavethemonourphonesnowarevery, veryconvenient.
Um, ofcourse, it's importanttousethem, andit's, um, they're a greatresourcetohaveHowever, onethingthatreallybothersmeandthat I thinkisdetrimentalit's nothelpfulforstudentsiswhenstudentsarein a lessonandthey'repracticingconversationandtheyreach a pointintheconversationwheretheydon't knowthewordtheywanttouse.
Theysaytothis, thepersonlisteningtothem, theirpracticepartnerintheirlessonwheretheyhave a limitedperiodoftime, just a momentandthentheylookituponthephoneandittakes a fewseconds.
Theflowoftheconversationstops, andthentheysay a word.
It's like, Wow, no, that's notYoudon't havethatability.
Youdon't havetheabilitytodothatin a conversationwith a nativespeaker.
Mostpeoplelikeifyougoto a bankandtrytoopen a bankaccount, areyoureallygonnapulloutyourdictionaryandsitthereandtrytocommunicate?
Youknow, just a moment.
Just a moment.
Asyoulookupeachword, youdon't knownoorIfyoudo, that's not a realconversation.
Soinstead, tryusing a differentstrategy.
Bythat, I mean, ifyoufind a wordyoudon't knowinconversation, explainthewordtoyourconversationpartner.
Maybetheyknowtheword.
Ifyou'respeakingwith a nativespeaker, thisis a chanceforthemtoteachyou a word.
I findthatwhenpeopletakethetimetoteachme a word, I rememberthewordmuchbetterthanjustlookingituponmydictionary.
Sotrytoresist.
Maybeyoucouldbring a dictionarytoyourlesson, butdon't useitortrynottouseitinyourconversationpractice.
It's justitdestroystheflowof a conversation.
Soinsteadpracticetheskillofdescribingthevocabularywordyouwanttouseandlearnhowtoaskthemeaningof a wordorlearnhowtoaskforah, vocabularywordfromyourpartnersoyoucanuseanexpressionlike, Ah, what's thewordthatmeansBob a blockOr, um, youknow, it's thisthingthatdoesthisinthisinthis, Sothisisanopportunityforyoutodescribecharacteristicsofsomethingorfind a differentway.
Youcanuseyourbodylanguage.
Youcanusewhateveryouhave a lotoftools, buttrynottouse a dictionaryin a conversationbecauseit's notrealistic.
TrainresponsestocommonquestionsNumbersixis a quickone.
I thinknumber 6/10 numbersix I haveisjusttotrainresponsestocommonquestions.
Trainresponsestocommonquestions.
So, forexampleAh, verycommonquestioninEnglishisHey, howareyou?
Youshouldknowhowtoanswerthisquestion.
Justhave a defaultresponse.
Hey, howareyou?
I'm goodIfittakesyou.
Ah, longtimetoanswerthequestion.
Hey, howareyou?
Youneedtopractice.
I thinkthat's a prettygoodah, prettygoodindicator.
So, forexample, sometimes I askstudents a questionlikethat.
Andthentheythinkandtheygo, I'm Ah, I'm a goodthink.
That's a verycommonquestion.
Sothinkaboutjust a defaultresponsethatyoucanspitoutthatyoucanquicklysay, Ifit's howwasyourweekendorHey, what's up?
Orwhatdoyouwanttodofordinnertonight?
Thinkaboutlikejust a handful, meaningjust a fewresponsestothosequestionsandtrainedthemquickly.
Justhowareyou?
I'm good.
Howareyou?
I'm okay.
Howareyou?
Notbad.
There's three.
Soit's justtrainingresponsestothosequestions.
There's noreasontobesurprisedby a questionlike, Howareyou?
Like?
That's a verycommonquestion.
Soforthosecommonquestions, trainresponsessothatwe'vegot a bunchofvideos, especiallybeginnerlevelvideosforsomeexampleresponsesyoucandosodon't getstuckwiththelittlequestions.
Justtrain a fewresponses, practice a fewresponsestilltheyfeelnaturaltoyou.
It'llsaveyoutime, andit'llhelpthepersonaskingthequestiontotomoveforwardintheconversationstudywithmaterialsthatdon't provide a translation.
Thenextstepistostudywithmaterialsthatdon't provide a translation.
Sobythis I mean, ifyou'reusingworksheetsandorsomekindoftextbookorwhatever, andithasyourtargetlanguagethelanguageyou'restudying, andithasyournativelanguagenexttoit.
Whilethiscanbeuseful, I feelthatifyoucan, studyingyourmaterialsonLeeinyourtargetlanguageandthensimplifiedexplanationsformoredetailedpointsalsoinyourtargetlanguagecanbe a littlebitbetter.
So I don't wanttosaylikeyoushouldOnleystudythingsinyourtargetlanguageandnothingfromyournativelanguage.
Because, ofcourse, it's Itcanbehelpfulsometimestolookup a wordortwo, understand a grammarpointinyournativelanguage.
Butwherepossible.
Ifyoucanfindsomethingthatprovidessimplifiedexplanationsinyourtargetlanguage, itcanbereally, reallyhelpful, causeagain, you'rethinkingyou'relearningtothinkonlike a simpleron a morebasiclevelaboutthelanguageyou'restudyinginthelanguagethatyou'restudying.
Solike I havetheabilitytochangethelevelofdifficultyofvideosbasedontherateofspeech, thevocabularywordsthat I useandhowmanylikeidiomsandthings I useSo I couldmake a videoverydifficult.
Wecouldmake a like a verydifficultvideo.
Siri's bylevelingupourvocabulary.
You, sir, byspeakingveryquickly, OrasyoumightseeinlikeourEnglishandthreeminutesSiri's, um, wecanalsouseverysimplevocabularyandspeakin a lowrateofspeech.
Somayberightnowthisis a veryintermediatelevelvideo, sopleasethinkaboutthat.
But I finditpersonallyvery, veryusefultolookathow a vocabularywordisusedin a phrase, becausesometimesusingitin a phrase, helpsyouunderstandthenuanceofthatvocabulary.
Wordreally, reallywell.
Soif I like a wordlikecrazy, forexampleinEnglish, dependingonthesituationwherethewordcrazyisused, itcouldmeansomethingdifferent.
I reallydojustsitinlikerehabthingsonthedictionarypagelately.
It's true.
Butofcoursethere's a definition.
There's a meaningforwords.
Theirexamplesentencesforwords.
ButMerriamWebsteralsohaswhat's called a learner's dictionary.
Ifyoufind a wordthatyoudon't recognize, youcancheckitin a dictionaryin a learner's dictionary, anditgivesyou a simplified, a simpleexplanationinsimpleEnglish.