first and number one English Fluency

Guide and it is a pleasure to welcome

you to a new video here on YouTube and

in this video this is something that I

really get asked about a lot and this is

I don't have anyone to practice speaking

with so how can I find people to

practice speaking with especially native

English speakers alright now if you look

at most of my videos and you scroll down

in the comments there are people asking

each other hey we should make a Skype

group or meet me in whatsapp or get on

Facebook and let's do this like do not

do any of that stuff I'm going to tell

you right now it might be helpful but

there are much better ways to practice

and that's what I'd like to talk about

in this video so if I see those comments

down below I'm going to be very

disappointed so you should be not

following that advice you should be

following the advice I'm giving you in

this video because this is how I learn

to speak and this is how a lot of

learners that want to improve quickly

are improving their pronunciation their

use of vocabulary their automatic speech

or their grammar use all of these things

come from practicing speaking and if you

understand how to meet native speakers

the right way and it becomes much easier

to do that so let's get into that in

this video all right the first thing you

have to understand about practicing with

native speakers or just practicing in

general is if you practice with people

that are at your level you're going to

stay at this level so this is why I

don't recommend people using forums for

other English learners we do have this

when people join like the the fluency

course or master English conversation

people are invited to learn and to

connect with other people and many

people do but I always recommend and

this is why we actually teach in the

program lots of different ways to help

people connect with actual native

speakers because if you practice with

people at a higher level than you that's

going to pull your language up they

might not necessarily be able to correct

all of your language because if you're

not really a teacher of the language you

might not know why we do things in

English but at least it gives you a

correct model for you to follow and this

is the same way that native speakers

learn so young children are following

their parents and very few people are

actually native teachers of the language

even when they're just practicing with

their kids they're just speaking in an

everyday condo

stationed away and children are getting

to understand the basic rules just by

copying what their parents are doing so

you should be doing the same thing again

if you spend time trying to meet other

people like if you're in the comments

right now saying hey we should meet and

connect with each other why waste your

time doing that when you can connect

with actual native speakers now the

second part of this is if you want to

connect with native English speakers

then you have to actually offer them

something of value in return now if you

go to a person say hey can you please

practice speaking with me I really want

to improve my speaking all you're doing

is just requesting that person to take

their time and their energy and even if

they don't know how to teach the

language you're basically putting a

burden on that person and that's what

makes it really frustrating for a lot of

people when they're trying to learn

because they're going to people and

they're saying hey can you help me with

this can you help me can you help me

instead of how can I help you so the

most important thing about this is when

you're trying to connect with other

people the same way I was trying to

connect with Japanese speakers when I

was learning Japanese or at least at the

beginning I've got plenty of people know

plenty of Japanese speaker Japanese

speaking friends now that I can

communicate with both online and in

person but to get to that level I had to

think how can I offer these people

something they want and it doesn't mean

you have to pay them or anything like

that but typically this is just the same

way you would meet an actual friend

where you live you know like a person

that speaks your native language so when

you're communicating with people and you

say hey if I just walk up to someone say

hey please be my friend they're going to

look at me and think well that's kind of

a weird question like I don't know if we

really connect with each other why do I

want to be your friend why is it why is

it important for me to do something like

that in the same way that you are

looking for something of value to you

other people are looking for something

of value to them so you have to respect

that and you have to understand that

thing so the more you give the more

you're going to get from other people

that are trying to help you practice now

the next thing you have to do is stop

wasting time in comments like these like

videos just like this you scroll down

below this video people looking for

people to comment or people to practice

with and I'm sure they will like you

will absolutely see comments like that

below the video it might even be from

people that have not

watch the video and learned an even

better way to do it right in this video

unfortunately but that's how life is you

can lead a horse to water but you can't

make him drink this is a great English

expression or a proverb you probably

have something similar in your own

language so you can you can present

information you can make it available

that you can't make people consume that

information or that knowledge anyway so

once you understand the first step that

you should not be practicing with people

at your level if you want to improve you

need to practice with people just like a

sport you have to practice with people

that are better than you you have to

play against people that are better than

you if you want to improve and the

second part of that is that you have to

give in order to get so you have to give

a reason why people are trying to have a

relationship with you and because of

that what I really recommend you do is

actually go to where the fish are if you

want to catch the fish now this is

another idea of like like native

speakers are not going to be watching

this video or if they are they're

probably teaching the language or

somebody that's just trying to get some

information or for like YouTube was like

hey watch this video and then they're

going to comment below this video like

I'm a native speaker why am i watching

this video and so that's why you're not

going to get many people down below this

video or in this video watching this

video that are native speakers so this

is not if you want to go fishing for

native speakers this is not a place to

do that you have to go where native

speakers are now if you live in an

english-speaking country like the United

States the United Kingdom Canada

Australia wherever or even just an area

where you live that has a lot of native

speakers that's great then you can just

start connecting with people personally

but when you walk up to them just treat

them like a regular person you don't

have to begin by saying help me improve

my my English just start speaking with

them and even if you make a mistake it's

okay native speakers will probably be

happy to to connect with you but again

you have to do it where you're just

trying to meet the person the same way

you would meet someone that speaks your

native language you don't walk up to

them and just say hey help me with my

whatever you try to offer them something

it's like hey like those are some nice

shoes you have there you know you may be

giving them a compliment or connecting

with them in some way like I see we both

like the same

sports team or whatever you're making a

connection with that person and that's

where the communication develops but in

the case of you know maybe somebody

that's online you don't live in a place

where they're native English speakers

you have to connect with people online

the truth is that native English

speakers are in every country on the

planet if you mean if you have access to

the Internet and you're learning English

and you probably can maybe find

somewhere somewhere close by in your

country or in the next town or something

some large city where you live it you

could probably travel to and meet native

speakers there but the best way to do

that first is through online forums

where you're actually connecting with

native speakers as opposed to non-native

speakers so when I was giving some

advice to a learner not that long ago I

was in Vietnam and so I was talking with

learner there about like okay here's how

we can connect with people and like if I

just wanted to meet somebody online

because she was saying oh I have

problems may be meeting native speakers

even though native speakers are

everywhere so you could be even in the

same room but people don't end up

connecting with each other so if you

help these people this is just one way

to do it if you're online so let's say I

live in Japan so I do live in Japan I

can do this exact same thing and I want

to learn maybe Japanese or something

actually now let's see let's use the

example of like Vietnam like I just did

so we're in Vietnam and this student is

Vietnamese but lots of foreigners

english-speaking foreigners are coming

to Vietnam and in Vietnam

you have a lot of people that maybe

they're coming there some foreigners

that don't really understand maybe

things about Vietnam or what are the

best places to travel because people

read guide books online but really

foreigners want to connect with locals

as much as possible this is why air B&B

is such a popular thing and this is a