Transcription
Hello everyone, and welcome to my new video. Today, I'm going to talk about why you can't speak English sometimes, and why I can't speak English sometimes either, because I'm a non-native speaker too. I know, I hear you, and I understand. Sometimes it's just so frustrating when you can't speak English. You've been learning English for so long, and when the time comes, you're like, "Yes, my name is Veronica," and that's it. That's all I can say. "Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Good night."
So, yeah, let's dive in and explore all the reasons behind this difficulty. Okay, first, English is a very complex language. We have to agree with that. My native language is Russian, which is completely different from English. Russian is a Slavic language, and English is a Latin language, from what I remember. So that creates a lot of problems. We have a big problem here. And even if your native language, which is Spanish, for example, something that is closer to English than Russian, it is still hard because the grammar in English is complicated. There are so many words in English that you don't really know how to translate into your native language. And also, homophones. There are a lot of words that sound the same but mean different things. A couple of days ago, I saw the sentence in English: "I ate eight eggs for breakfast in the morning." And I was like, "I ate eight eggs. Eight? Eight? I don't even know what that means." We all understand, guys, from the context that it means "I ate eight eggs for breakfast in the morning" because the words "ate" and "eight" sound exactly the same, but they mean really different things. So these are homophones in English.
Also, English grammar is so complicated. If you feel like you know everything, usually you don't. Because sometimes even native speakers, yeah, guys, I was talking to a native speaking friend of mine. He is from the United States, you know, a native speaker, and he said, "I would have ate." And I was like, "You would have eaten, you mean?" And he was like, "Yeah, I would have ate." And I was like, "Dude, this is wrong according to English grammar. You have to say 'you would have eaten' and not 'you would have ate'." But guys, can you imagine? I decided to go to Euglish, a website that I recommend to use if you want to check, you know, something in English pronunciation, for example, or whether or not people use a certain phrase in English. And there are so many native speakers who say, "I would have ate." I was like, "Okay, pretty good. Interesting." You know, "if you would have just ate the the chocolate brownie and like appreciated it and savored it." And look, obviously, guys, the fact that a lot of people say "I would have ate" doesn't make it right. Still, according to English grammar, it's correct to say "I would have eaten." And if you're preparing for exams or tests, you have to know about that because it is a mistake. After all, that monster defeating me alive.
But the reason why I decided to mention here is that when you will be interacting with native speakers, and if you notice that they make a mistake, it's fine. Don't worry about it because they make mistakes, you make mistakes. The most important thing is connection. You want to be able to talk to this person and kind of share your ideas, your thoughts, and your emotions. And honestly, a lot of people don't really care if you make mistakes in English or if you don't. So basically, I want you guys to feel okay about it. To feel okay about making mistakes. It's fine. Don't stress about it too much.
And here is where we reach the second reason why so many people can't speak English: fear. First of all, a lot of English learners feel judged. Judged? They feel that everyone is judging them the moment they start speaking English. They think everyone is just sitting there and, you know, inside their heads, writing down their mistakes, which is not really how it works. Obviously, that can lead to anxiety and the feeling of self-consciousness. And I don't want you guys to feel this way. I know that you're super excited to hear me talk about another mistake that a lot of people make. So this mistake is connected to comparative adjectives. For example, when you're saying, "Living in this city is safer than living in that city." So you're comparing these two cities, and you have to say "safer." But a lot of native speakers would say "more safer." And this is wrong again. I can't say "much safer." It is correct. You can say "a bit safer," but you cannot say "more safer." But again, if we go to Euglish and if we check, there are going to be a lot of people who say "more safer." "Communities are going to be more safer in the future." So they're "a lot more safer than your car," you might say.
So, guys, my message here is, don't be afraid if you do make a mistake in English. Don't feel scared. It should not stop you from doing what you want. If you want to get a job in English, don't feel ashamed that you make mistakes. It's totally fine. I can tell you another story. A couple of days ago, I was talking to TikTok representatives, and a lot of people who work for TikTok are not native speakers, and they live in the United States. And they were making mistakes while talking to me. Even if they did make them, if they didn't make them, honestly, I don't care because for me, the most important thing was connecting with them. I wanted to discuss TikTok things. I wanted to talk about short videos and creator economy and monetization. And the topic of, "Oh, I think this is wrong. I think you should probably not say it this way," was not even on my mind.
Okay, now let's talk about one thing that people hate about English pronunciation. I know, guys, pronunciation is crazy in English because there are rules, but sometimes, you know, certain words, they don't really follow the rules, or their words with silent letters. And you're thinking, "Why is this letter even there?" For example, I have a very important question to ask you guys: Why do we say "bread," but "steal," but "steak"? All of these words have these two vowels, EA. Why is it that in every single word, this combination of letters is pronounced differently? Also, of course, our favorite silent letters, right? Like, why do we have to say "island" and not "Iceland" or "Eastland," for example? And also, why do we have to say "castle" and not "cast-le," like what's wrong with that, right? So, I, I hear you. Pronunciation in English can be quite complex, and the only way you can really learn the correct pronunciation is to check how native speakers pronounce certain words. But again, it all depends on their accent, for example, or where they're from, like which part of the United States, for example, they're from, because maybe they're gonna pronounce certain words a little bit differently.
Now let's move on to cultural differences. We're all different, and when we speak English, we don't want to offend anyone, obviously. And that's why sometimes people can't speak English, or they feel, you know, insecure, shy, afraid to speak English, just because they're afraid to offend people because of the cultural differences. And it's normal, and I understand. When I moved to Mexico, I didn't really speak Spanish like at all. Zero. My Spanish was, "Estas," like, I couldn't even say that. But I fell in love with the culture, and that's exactly why I wanted to stay in Mexico and improve my Spanish here. So we'll go back to talking about English. A very good example of like cultural things is jokes and cultural references in English. So I found this joke online, and I really want to read it: "Why did the tomato turn red? Because it saw the salad dressing." Foreign. If you think this joke is corny, I am sorry, but I think it's hilarious, just because it helps us learn English. "The tomato turned red because it saw the salad dressing." I feel like it's time for me to stop filming this video, otherwise you're just gonna stop watching it because of all my corny jokes. Sorry about that. I'm not sorry.
But here are basically all the reasons why you can't speak English. And again, I wanted to make this video to make you feel better. I am a non-native speaker too, and I'm sharing my English journey with you on YouTube. Like all the things that helped me. Maybe some of the things are not gonna help you. Maybe you will find other ways to improve your English, which is fine. We're all different, and different study methods or different strategies work for different people. However, usually, we all struggle with the same things, and that's why I decided to make this video. Thank you so much for watching this video. As usual, if you like this video, make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel, and I'll see you guys in my next video.