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  • Hello everyone and welcome to my new video.

  • Today I'm gonna 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, sir.

  • And even if your native language is Spanish, for example, something that is closer to English than Russian, it is still hard because the grammar in English is complicated.

  • There's so many words in English that you don't really know how to translate to 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, ate, ate, I don't even know what that means.

  • We all understand guys from the context that it means I ate, ate eggs for breakfast in the morning because the words ate and ate 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, native speakers make mistakes in English too.

  • 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 Youglish, a website that I recommend to use if you want to check something in English pronunciation, for example, or whether or not people use a certain phrase in English.

  • And there's so many native speakers who say I would have ate.

  • I was like, okay, pretty good.

  • Interesting.

  • The, you know, when, if you would have just ate 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, it would have eaten me alive.

  • But the reason why I decided to mention here is that when you will be interacting with 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.

  • The universe has judged you.

  • 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 are 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 are saying, living in this city is safer than living in that city.

  • So you are 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.

  • You 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 Youglish and if we check, there are going to be a lot of people who say more safer.

  • That the 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 from 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's 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 there are 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, steel, but, steak?

  • All of these words have these two vowels, E-A.

  • 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 castle?

  • Like, what's wrong with that, right?

  • So, I hear you.

  • Pronunciation in English can be quite complex.

  • And the only way you can really learn the correct pronunciation is 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 going to 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, 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, when we 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.

  • If you think this joke is corny, I'm 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.

  • 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'm 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.

  • Bye.

Hello everyone and welcome to my new video.

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