Things Native Speakers Actually Say (And Why You Don’t)
English with Dane

Things Native Speakers Actually Say (And Why You Don’t)

B1IntermediateApril 22, 202617 min
  • Language lesson
  • Language learning

Let's talk about the things that make your English sound natural without you having to think about grammar every two seconds. The phrases that carry tone, attitude, and meaning way beyond the literal words. We're going to cover "chunking", "discourse markers", and the hidden layer of communication that controls tone, intention, and flow. Try Spoken for FREE

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they don't really use many words that you wouldn't know. You know, gonna say yes, that you wouldn't know. Of course, they know more words than you, a lot more actually,

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A1 23%A2 36%B1 26%B2 12%C1 3%
  • 85% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 150 words a minute: a natural pace.
  • 58 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

Let's talk about things native speakers say. I've noticed when I speak to my friends who speak English as a first language, they don't really use many words that you wouldn't know. You know, gonna say yes, that you wouldn't know. Of course, they know more words than you, a lot more actually, but when it comes to the amount of words they use on a daily basis, that gap becomes smaller. So this got me thinking, me so Benzad, this got me thinking.

0:28

Our aim shouldn't be to learn every word that comes up and try to remember it and add it to an interminable list of words in English. Our aim should be to identify the patterns that keep coming up over time and to concentrate on adding those patterns to our day-to-day speech.

0:50

So on this episode we are going to do exactly that. I've been making a list of things I've heard my English speaking friends say, and we're going to make sure you can start using them for yourself. So let's do this.

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