That's what I want to talk about in this video, and I think this is a really important topic because when we talk about language learning, when I talk about language learning in my videos, in my podcast, or when you hear other people talk about language learning, none of us usually makes the distinction between learning English and learning other languages, but there are some major differences, and I think that because of these differences, it's almost like a separate category, like English learning versus learning other languages.

Of course, English is a language, so learning English is learning a language, obviously.

But as I go through my points in this video, I think you'll kind of get what I'm talking about here.

How learning English is not exactly comparable to learning Spanish, learning French, learning Greek, whatever.

So I think you're going to enjoy this one.

I think that you will be able to sympathize with or identify with the points that I'm going to give here today.

Before we continue, remember to hit that little notification bell so you get notified when I release new videos, and please go down and check out those links that I have down below for my membership for my U.S.

Conversations podcast, in which I talk to different native speakers from around the country at normal speed, and I provide the transcript with definitions of key words and phrases.

It's great practice for your listening, so go down and check that out after the video, and I'll remind you about it at the end.

So let's talk about this topic.

English is not like other languages when we talk about it in the context of language learning.

So first of all, let me talk about the obligation that many people have to learn English.

Many people around the world are supposed to learn English.

You don't have a choice.

This is the language that is assigned to you in school.

It's important for you to learn it for different reasons.

Maybe you need a certain level of English in order to graduate or get into a university or whatever it may be.

Of course, getting a job or whatever.

But there is this sense of obligation, like English is just something that you have to learn.

I'm sure many of you can identify with that feeling.

Maybe you don't even like learning English, and I'm sorry if that's you, because really you're just doing it because you have to do it.

Maybe if it were up to you, you would choose a different language, but you can't because you need English.

So English has this element of obligation packaged into it, and this is something that many people around the world can identify with.

Not everyone, but many people feel this obligation, and that's very different from learning a language because it's your choice to learn a language.

So that's something that I can't identify with because I'm a native English speaker, and here in the U.S., we have to take foreign language classes, obviously.

When I was in school, I took Spanish classes, but I don't think any of us really have that feeling when we take these classes that this language is going to be really useful for us.

Like, we're really going to need this language that we're learning.

I would say, at least in my experience, the majority of people in their Spanish class, or their French class, or whatever, they don't really think that this is going to be a super useful language for them in the future.

Some people do think like that, but they're probably in the minority.

So yes, we have to learn a foreign language in high school, or I don't know how it is nowadays, but for me, when I was in high school, I had to do this.

So yes, you were forced to learn English, probably.

I was forced to do another language, but the difference is the obligation I had was just, okay, I just got to pass these classes, and then I'm done.

I don't ever have to think about that again.

In your case, it's probably not like that.

You probably didn't just think, okay, as soon as I pass my English class, I'm done.

I don't need to do any more English study or whatever.

That's probably not what you had in mind, because the obligation in other countries for speakers of other languages is much greater in terms of their English learning.

So that's a big difference.

Everyone around the world learns English.

They feel like they have to learn English.

We, on the other hand, in the US or in other English-speaking countries, we don't really have to learn other languages, and that kind of sounds arrogant, and I'm not trying to say it like that.

You know me.

I'm a language guy, so I don't have that mindset that, oh, I'm good with English.

Everyone else is learning my language.

I'm okay.

No, I'm a language learner.

I want to learn other people's languages.

I want to talk to people in their language.

I love that, but for many English speakers, native speakers, the feeling is, well, everyone else learns English.

Everyone can help me out in English.

Not everyone, but many people can help me out in English when I'm traveling, when I'm abroad.

There are many English speakers, so they don't really feel this need to learn another language since everyone else is learning English.

So that's a big, big difference, and learning something when you're forced to do it because you need it, you have to do it, that's different from learning something because you have a desire to do it, and you might be less motivated to learn English than I am to learn French or whatever even though you have a greater need for English than I have for French simply because you're forced to do it, and it's not something you would choose to do.

Maybe because of that, you have trouble concentrating on it, you're not excited to do your English learning.

I hope my channel and my podcast make you a little more excited.

Leave a comment down below, and let me know if my content is more interesting for you than your typical English study materials.

I hope it is.

But yeah, for someone that's not really, or someone who didn't choose to learn English and they just have to do it, that can be something that hinders their progress.

It doesn't let them progress the same way that someone else might progress if they're learning because they're really interested in English.

They really want to learn English, right?

So for some people, it's just a chore.

They just have to do it, and that's unfortunate, but that's the world that we live in, right?

So let me talk about the status of English now.

So obviously, this is not even debatable.

English is the most important language for business, for the internet, right?

Just using the internet and finding information, different resources.

Obviously, English is the most important language for that.

For technology, the tech industry, right?

For travel, I'm sure some of you have traveled to other countries where you don't speak that language, but you speak some English, and so you use English to communicate in that other country, even though they don't speak English in that country.

It's not their official language.

So even for traveling in other countries that aren't English-speaking countries, English is really important, right?

Obviously, just the communication that people have between different countries, among different countries, between governments, individuals, whoever, right?

And just communication in general with the world.

If you want to talk to a lot of people, people from different countries, probably the most efficient way to do that is to learn English because you'll have access to all those other people that are learning English or have learned English or who speak English natively.

So English is really, really important for all of those different things.

But not only that.

I'm not only referring to just English's status in the world and its importance.

I want to also focus on just the fact that speaking English in these other countries, like if you live in Mexico, if you live in Brazil or wherever, and you speak English, that can be a status symbol for you, right?

Like if you speak English and you speak it pretty well, society might view that as a status symbol.

Like maybe it means that your family put you in a private school where they had an English program there.

It was a bilingual school with native-speaking English teachers or whatever.

I've known people in Mexico that went to English schools and so they spoke English pretty well and it's kind of like a status symbol.

Like you know, oh, okay, they studied at a private school.

That's an indicator of status in many places, right?

Or maybe it means you studied with a private tutor or you had an opportunity to do an exchange program or whatever.

And all of that kind of raises your status a little bit in these different countries.

And people just look at you as being more educated, more cultured.

I'm not saying that I think that, right?

If you don't speak English, I don't think that you're less educated.

I don't agree with that at all, right?

I think that probably most of the most brilliant people I know only speak one language, right?

Whether that's English or whether that's Spanish or whatever.

So speaking more than one language is not an indicator of education.

But people have that idea like, oh, wow, he speaks English.

She speaks English.

Wow, he has a pretty good English or accent in English.

Whoa, you know, people view that in other countries as a status symbol.

But for me, that's not the case.

Like if I go out and speak Spanish in the streets, nobody is looking at me like, oh, wow, this guy is, you know, of high status, right?

No one thinks that way when it's the opposite.

In the U.S., people don't really think about languages.

It's not something that even crosses their mind for the most part, okay?

But in other countries, having that English high level or even just an intermediate level of English, to someone who doesn't speak English, your intermediate English sounds good.

So that can give you a sort of status in that country, right?

So you might feel that pressure to want to be one of the people that speaks English, right?

If you see a tourist, you know, that comes into your coffee shop and you're the barista or whatever, you might feel that pressure like, oh, I want to speak English to this person.

And if you do that, your coworkers might look at you like, whoa, you speak English.

Okay, you get my point.

It's kind of like a status thing in other places.

People want to show off that they speak English.

I'm not saying you are like this, but many, many people are like this.

Trust me, I've lived abroad for many years.

And when people see me, they often want to show off and speak English to me, even when it's completely unnecessary, uncalled for.

I don't remember if I've told this story before.

I think I might have once.

I was at the doctor's office or a hospital in Mexico for my son, for an issue that he had.

And I was talking to this doctor who just came in and telling him the story of everything that happened.

And he interrupts me in the middle of me talking about what happened to say, oh, you can speak English to me if you want.

And that honestly really frustrated me.

Like, I was in the middle of telling him this really important piece of information about my son, like trying to explain to him the details of what was happening.

And the only thing going through his brain, this doctor that we're paying is, oh, let me show him that I'm educated and I speak English.

And he literally interrupts me as I'm talking.

You know, I'm speaking fluent Spanish.

It's not like I'm stumbling over my sentences.

I'm just explaining to him what happened.

And he thinks that it's a good time to stop me and to show off that he speaks English.

And at that point, I don't remember if I just turned to my wife and I'm like, you talk to this guy.

Like, I was in a really bad mood because of what was happening with my son already.

He was having issues.

And that just really ticked me off.

And I just couldn't believe it.

But that is how many people feel like they want to show off that they speak English.

And for a native English speaker, let me just tell you, it's not something that we get really impressed by.

I'm not saying that in a negative way, in a mean way.

Don't take this personally.

We just don't tend to really care that much when someone can speak English well or not well.

As long as we can understand each other, right?

And that's honestly like a positive thing for you.

Like, I always talk about this.

If you can speak English in a way that allows the native speaker to understand you, that's amazing.

They're not going to care about the mistakes you make and other things that you say that are a little bit off.

As long as it doesn't affect the meaning.

They just want to know what you're saying and communicate with you in a meaningful way.

So, it's actually a good thing for you that native speakers don't really care this much.

They don't really care that much about, you know, what level you have.

But I think in English learners' minds, they think that native speakers place a lot of importance on this.

And they really want to show off and show their skills.

That's not really the case for English.

It is for other languages like, you know, an English speaker learning Chinese or learning Spanish.

That does tend to spark a reaction like, Whoa, you speak Spanish really well.

Oh, you speak Chinese really well.

But that's because the people who speak those languages aren't as accustomed to people learning their language.

But let me tell you, English speakers are really, really accustomed to foreigners learning English.

It's not some strange thing.

It's something we deal with all the time, especially if we live in big cities.

We see this all the time.

So, that's not a huge thing for us.

You know, I'm not saying that to downplay the effort that you've made to learn English.

I want that to encourage you so that you don't feel scared to talk to native speakers, right?

They don't really care about what level you have as long as they can understand you and you can understand them.

Okay, that's what's most important in terms of your day-to-day interactions with native speakers.

So, I got a little off track there, but I was kind of talking about this point, how people in other countries, when they speak English, they want to show off that they speak English because they feel that it gives them a higher status.

And I get that.