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How to Turn Your Thoughts Into Fluent English | Audiobook — Transcript

by The Speaking Reset · 27,976 words · 3,875 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Think about the last time you had
0:01something to say in English and you did
0:03not say it. Maybe you were in a meeting.
0:06Maybe you were at a dinner table with
0:07friends. Maybe someone asked you a
0:09simple question and your mind went
0:11completely white. The answer was right
0:13there. You knew it. You could feel it.
0:16But when you opened your mouth, nothing
0:18came out or something small and weak
0:21came out. Something that was not even
0:23close to what you really wanted to say.
0:25And then 3 minutes later, the perfect
0:28sentence arrived in your head. Smooth,
0:31clear, confident. Too late. If that
0:35story is familiar to you, then I want
0:37you to hear this first. You are not
0:39broken. You are not slow. You are not
0:41bad at languages. Your English is not
0:44the problem. I will say that again
0:46because it may be the most important
0:48sentence in this entire audio book. Your
0:50English is not the problem.
0:52>> [music]
0:52>> Your problem is the road between your
0:54thought and your mouth. Right now, that
0:56road is long. It has many gates. It has
1:00traffic. It has a guard at every corner
1:02who says, "Wait, is the grammar right?
1:05Is that the right word? How will they
1:07judge you? Are you sure?" By the time
1:09your thought gets through all of those
1:11gates, the moment is gone, the
1:13conversation has moved on, and you are
1:16left standing there with a sentence that
1:17arrived too late. Now, imagine a
1:20different road. Imagine a road that is
1:22short, open and clear. A thought appears
1:26in your mind and a few seconds later it
1:28comes out of your mouth in natural
1:30simple English. Not perfect English, not
1:33fancy English, real English. The kind of
1:36English a person uses when they are
1:37relaxed, honest, and in the flow. That
1:40road can be built. I have seen it happen
1:42again and again. And in this audio book,
1:45I am going to show you exactly how to
1:47build it. My name is Ryan and welcome to
1:50the speaking reset. Before we start, if
1:52this audio book helps you even a little,
1:54please subscribe to the channel and stay
1:56with me until the very last chapter
1:58because the best part is waiting at the
2:00end. Here is a promise. By the time we
2:04finish together, you will understand why
2:05your thoughts get stuck. You will know
2:07how to stop translating in your head.
2:09You will have a simple daily practice
2:11that takes only a few minutes. and you
2:13will have a new way of seeing yourself.
2:15Not as a student who is always trying to
2:17catch up, but as a speaker who is
2:19already on the move. This is not a book
2:22about grammar rules. You have done
2:24enough of those. This is not a book
2:26about memorizing long lists of words.
2:29You have done enough of that, too. This
2:31is a book about one thing only, training
2:33your brain to turn everyday thoughts
2:34into spoken English quickly and
2:36naturally without fear. Let me tell you
2:39how I know this works. Many years ago, I
2:42taught a student I will call Daniel.
2:44Daniel was smart. He was an engineer. He
2:47could read English technical papers
2:48without any trouble. He could write long
2:51emails. He had studied English for more
2:53than 10 years. But when we sat together
2:56for our first lesson, and I asked him a
2:58simple question, "What did you do
3:00yesterday?" He went quiet. His eyes
3:03moved up and to the left, his lips moved
3:05a little, but no sound came out. Then
3:08after a long pause, he said, "Yesterday,
3:11I I go, "No, I went to work." That was
3:15it. Five words. And it took him almost
3:1815 seconds. I asked him what happened
3:21inside his head during that pause. He
3:23laughed a little sadly and he said,
3:25"Ryan, in my head, there is a whole
3:28factory. First, I think in my language,
3:31then I look for the English words. Then
3:33I check the grammar. Then I check the
3:35grammar again. Then I imagine how it
3:38sounds. Then I get afraid. And then
3:40finally I speak a whole factory for one
3:44tiny sentence. 3 months later, Daniel
3:47sat in the same chair and I asked him
3:49the same question. What did you do
3:51yesterday? He looked at me, smiled, and
3:54said, "Honestly, nothing special. I had
3:57a long meeting in the morning. Then I
3:58tried a new coffee shop near my office,
4:00and the coffee was terrible. I will not
4:03go back." 4 seconds, no pause, no
4:07factory. Do you know what changed? His
4:10vocabulary did not grow very much in 3
4:12months. His grammar book stayed on the
4:14shelf. What changed was the road. We
4:17shortened it. We removed the gates. We
4:20taught his brain a new habit. The habit
4:22of going straight from thought to
4:24speech. And here is the beautiful part.
4:26The habit that helped Daniel is not
4:28magic. And it is not only for special
4:30people. It is a skill like riding a
4:33bicycle or typing on a keyboard. At the
4:36beginning, it feels strange. You think
4:38about every movement. Then one day,
4:41without any warning, your body just does
4:43it. Your brain learns the pattern and it
4:45takes over and you stop thinking about
4:47the how and start enjoying the wear.
4:50That is what is waiting for you. Over
4:52the next nine chapters, we will go step
4:55by step.
4:56>> [music]
4:56>> In the first chapter, we will look
4:57closely at what actually happens inside
5:00your mind when a thought tries to become
5:02a sentence and why it so often gets
5:04stuck. In the second, we will deal with
5:06the biggest enemy of fluent speech, the
5:09habit of translating, and I will show
5:11you how to defeat it. In the third, we
5:13will learn to think in small speakable
5:16pieces instead of big, heavy sentences.
5:18In the fourth, we will build an inner
5:20English voice, a quiet companion that
5:23helps you every single day. In the
5:25fifth, we will turn your ordinary daily
5:27life into a free training gym. In the
5:30sixth, we will discover the surprising
5:32power of simple sentences. In the
5:34seventh, we will learn what to do when
5:36you forget a word because it will happen
5:38and it is not a disaster. In the eighth,
5:41we will work on speed, rhythm, and
5:43staying calm under pressure. And in the
5:45ninth, we will put it all together into
5:47a system you can follow for the rest of
5:49your life. One small request before we
5:52begin. Do not just listen. Listen and
5:55try. When I ask you to say something out
5:58loud, say it out loud. Even if you are
6:00on a bus, even if you are in a kitchen,
6:03even if you feel a little silly. Your
6:05mouth needs to learn this, not only your
6:07ears. A swimmer cannot learn to swim by
6:10watching videos about water. You have to
6:12get in. Are you ready to get in? Good.
6:16Take a slow, deep breath. Let go of the
6:18pressure to be perfect. Let go of the
6:20old stories about how bad you are at
6:22speaking. Those stories were never true
6:25and tonight we begin to replace them
6:27with something better. Let us turn your
6:29thoughts into fluent English. Starting
6:31right now. Chapter 1. Why your thoughts
6:34get stuck before they reach your mouth.
6:36Let us start with a simple experiment. I
6:39want you to think about your breakfast
6:40this morning. Do not say anything. Just
6:43think about it. What did you see in your
6:45mind? Maybe a cup of tea. Maybe a plate
6:48of eggs. Maybe you skipped breakfast and
6:50felt a little hungry. Whatever it was,
6:52the picture appeared in your mind almost
6:55instantly. You did not need words for
6:57it. You did not need grammar. The
6:59thought was just there, fast and
7:01complete. Now say it out loud in
7:04English. Tell me about your breakfast.
7:06Did you notice what happened? Something
7:08slowed down. The picture was fast, but
7:11the sentence was slow. You had to build
7:13it. You had to choose a starting word.
7:16You had to decide on a verb. You had to
7:18think about the past tense. Maybe you
7:20had to look for a word like porridge or
7:22toast or omelette. The thought was
7:25already finished but the sentence was
7:26not. This is the gap. This is the place
7:29where thoughts get stuck between the
7:31quick complete world of your ideas and
7:34the slow careful world of your English
7:36sentences. There is a gap. And
7:38everything we do in this audio book is
7:40about making that gap smaller one day at
7:42a time. Let me explain why the gap
7:45exists. Because when you understand the
7:47problem, it stops feeling like a
7:49personal failure and starts feeling like
7:51something you can fix. First, think
7:53about how you learned your first
7:55language. You did not learn it from a
7:57grammar book. You learned it by
7:58listening, copying, and speaking
8:01thousands and thousands of times long
8:03before you went to school. By the time
8:05you were 5 years old, you could say
8:07almost anything you needed. Nobody
8:09explained the rules to you. Your brain
8:12simply collected patterns again and
8:14again until those patterns became
8:16automatic. Now think about how most
8:18people learn English as a second
8:20language. They learn it in a classroom.
8:22They learn rules first. [music] They
8:24learn lists of words. They take tests.
8:27They read. They write. They fill in
8:29blanks. And all of that is useful truly.
8:32But there is one thing it does not do
8:33well. It does not train the speed of
8:36speaking. Speaking is a different skill
8:38from reading. Speaking is a different
8:40skill from writing. When you read, you
8:42have time. The words sit still on the
8:45page and you can look at them as long as
8:46you like. When you write, you have time
8:49too. You can stop, think, change a word,
8:52start again. But when you speak, the
8:55words fly out of your mouth in real time
8:57and the other person is waiting and the
8:59clock is moving. Speaking is a live
9:02performance and nobody learns a live
9:04performance only by studying the script.
9:06So here is the first big idea of this
9:09audio book. Knowing English and speaking
9:11English are two different things. You
9:13can know a great deal and still speak
9:15slowly. You can know the rule and still
9:18freeze. This is normal. It does not mean
9:20you are weak. It means you have trained
9:22one skill a lot and the other skill very
9:25little. Let me give you a picture to
9:27hold in your mind. Imagine your English
9:29is a big library. Inside the library
9:32there are thousands of books. Those
9:34books are all the words, all the
9:36grammar, all the sentence patterns you
9:38have learned over the years. It is a
9:40beautiful library. But now imagine that
9:42when someone asks you a question, you
9:44have to run into the library, find the
9:47right book, open it, find the right
9:49page, read the sentence, run back out
9:51and say it. That is exhausting and slow.
9:55And of course, the other person gets
9:56tired of waiting. Fluent speakers do not
9:59work like that. Fluent speakers do not
10:01run into the library. Fluent speakers
10:04carry a small bag of ready phrases in
10:06their pocket. The ones they use every
10:08day. And when they need something, they
10:10just reach in and take it. No running,
10:12no searching. The phrase is already in
10:15their hand. Our job is to move useful
10:17English from the library into your
10:19pocket. From slow knowledge to quick
10:22habit, from something you know to
10:24something you do. Now, let me describe
10:26what actually happens in the brain in
10:28very simple words. When you have a
10:30thought, several things need to happen
10:32before you can say it. [music] First,
10:35you have the idea. Second, you choose
10:37the words. Third, you arrange the words
10:40into a sentence. Fourth, you check the
10:42sentence. Fifth, you say it. In your
10:45first language, all five of these steps
10:48happen so fast that they feel like one
10:50step. In English, they feel like five
10:53separate steps, and each one takes time.
10:56Here is what makes it worse. Each step
10:58has its own little fear attached to it.
11:01When you choose the words, you worry, is
11:03this the right word? When you arrange
11:05the sentence, you worry, is my grammar
11:08correct? When you check, you worry, will
11:10they understand me? When you say it, you
11:13worry, will they laugh? Five steps, five
11:16worries. It is no wonder the road feels
11:19so long. Some teachers will tell you to
11:21simply practice more grammar, but more
11:23grammar will not remove the fear. Some
11:26teachers will tell you to simply learn
11:27more words. But more words will not
11:30shorten the road. What shortens the road
11:32is practice of a different kind.
11:34Practice that trains the connection
11:36itself. Practice that says to the brain,
11:39"This is not a test. This is just a
11:41thought on its way out." Let me tell you
11:43about a woman named Maria. Maria worked
11:46in a hospital and she spoke English with
11:48her colleagues every day. She had a good
11:50vocabulary. Her grammar was strong, but
11:53in meetings she almost never spoke. When
11:55I asked her why, she said something I
11:57will never forget. She said, "Ryan, by
12:00the time I am ready to speak, the topic
12:02has changed." So, I stay quiet and nod.
12:06By the time I am ready to speak, the
12:08topic has changed. Do you feel that? Do
12:10you know that feeling? You prepare the
12:12sentence. You wait for the right moment.
12:14You polish it in your head. And then
12:16someone else says something and the
12:18whole conversation turns another way.
12:20Your sentence is now useless. So you sit
12:23and you nod and you smile and you go
12:26home feeling small. Maria's problem was
12:28not English. Maria's problem was
12:30preparation. She was trying to build a
12:33perfect sentence before she opened her
12:34mouth. And a perfect sentence takes too
12:37long. Real conversation does not wait
12:39for perfect. So we gave Maria a new
12:42rule. The rule was simple. In meetings,
12:45speak the first small piece of the
12:47thought. not the whole thought, just the
12:50first piece and let the rest follow. For
12:53example, instead of waiting to build a
12:55full elegant sentence like, "I believe
12:57that the schedule should be changed so
12:59that the night shift has more support
13:00during busy weekends," she would start
13:02with something small like, "I think the
13:05night shift needs more support, short,
13:07clear, done." And then, if the meeting
13:10continued in that direction, she could
13:12add, especially on weekends, two small
13:15pieces instead of one giant piece.
13:17Within two weeks, Maria was speaking in
13:20meetings. Not perfectly, sometimes a
13:23little roughly, but she was in the
13:24conversation. And do you know what
13:27happened? Her colleagues began to turn
13:29toward her when she spoke. Because a
13:31person who speaks, even simply, is more
13:34interesting than a person who stays
13:35silent and perfect. Let me say that
13:38again because it is a truth that changes
13:40lives. A simple sentence spoken on time
13:43is worth more than a perfect sentence
13:45spoken too late. Now let us look at the
13:47three main reasons why thoughts get
13:49stuck so that you can recognize them in
13:51yourself. The first reason is
13:53overbuilding. This is what Maria did.
13:56You try to build a sentence that is too
13:58big, too complete, too polished. The
14:01more you add, the longer it takes and
14:03the more places there are to make a
14:05mistake. Overbuilding feels responsible,
14:08but it actually makes you slower and
14:10more nervous. The second reason is
14:12overchecking. This is when you build a
14:15sentence and then inspect it again and
14:17again before you say it. Is the verb
14:19right? Is the preposition right? Should
14:21I say in or on or at? You check and
14:25check and check. A little checking is
14:27natural but a lot of checking turns
14:29speech into an exam. The third reason is
14:33overfearing. This is the quiet one and
14:36it is the strongest. It is the fear of
14:38being judged. It is the picture in your
14:41head of the other person frowning or
14:43smiling in a strange way or thinking
14:46your English is not good. This picture
14:48is almost always much worse than
14:50reality. Most people are not judging you
14:53at all. Most people are busy thinking
14:55about what they will say next or what
14:57they will eat for dinner. And the ones
14:59who do notice your English usually feel
15:01respect because they know how hard it is
15:03to speak a second language.
15:06overbuilding, overchecking, overfearing.
15:09These are the three gates that block the
15:11road. And the wonderful news is that all
15:14three gates can be opened with training.
15:16Here is your first small exercise. I
15:19call it the 10-second rule. It is easy
15:22and I want you to try it today. Choose
15:24any small thought from your day. For
15:26example, I am tired or I am hungry or
15:30the weather is nice or I need to call my
15:33sister. Now say it out loud in English
15:36within 10 seconds of thinking it. Do not
15:38prepare. Do not polish. Just say it. If
15:42it comes out rough, that is fine. If you
15:44make a small mistake, that is fine. The
15:47goal is not accuracy. The goal is speed
15:50from thought to mouth. Do this five
15:52times today. Five thoughts, five spoken
15:55sentences, each one under 10 seconds.
15:58That is all. It will take you less than
16:00two minutes in total, but you will be
16:01training the exact road we are trying to
16:03shorten. Now, I know what some of you
16:06are thinking. You are thinking, Ryan,
16:08what if I say it wrong? What if I
16:10practice a mistake and it becomes a
16:12habit? This is a fair question and I
16:14want to answer it honestly. Yes,
16:16sometimes you will make mistakes. But
16:19here is something most people do not
16:20know. Mistakes in speaking are not
16:23permanent damage. They are information.
16:25Each time you say something a little
16:27wrong and later notice it, your brain
16:29quietly makes a note. Over time, the
16:32mistakes fade. Not because you punished
16:34yourself, but because you kept speaking
16:36and kept learning. Silence teaches
16:39nothing. Speaking, even imperfect
16:41speaking, teaches a great deal. Think of
16:44a child learning to walk. Does the child
16:46wait until the steps are perfect? No.
16:49The child stands up, wobbles, falls,
16:52laughs, and stands up again. Nobody
16:55calls the child a failure. We call it
16:57learning. And you too are a learner who
17:00is allowed to wobble. Let me give you a
17:02few more ideas to help you with this
17:04first step because I want you to leave
17:06this chapter fully equipped. The first
17:08idea is to notice your own thinking
17:10speed tonight. When you have a quiet
17:13moment, try to catch a thought just as
17:15it appears. Maybe it is, I am hungry, or
17:19I should call my mother. Notice how fast
17:21it came. It arrived whole without effort
17:24in a fraction of a second. Now remind
17:26yourself this is the speed my mind is
17:28capable of. English does not need to be
17:31slower. [music] It only needs more
17:33training. Your mind is already fast. We
17:35are simply teaching English to keep up.
17:38The second idea is to stop treating
17:40speaking as a test. Many learners enter
17:43every English conversation as if it were
17:45an exam with a teacher waiting to give
17:47them a bad grade. But a conversation is
17:50not an exam. It is a shared moment
17:52between two human beings. Nobody is
17:54writing a score. The other person only
17:57wants to understand you and to be
17:59understood. When you change the question
18:01from am I correct to am I connecting,
18:04your whole body softens and your words
18:07begin to flow. The third idea is to
18:09build a small habit of saying yes to
18:11speaking. Whenever a chance appears,
18:14however small, say yes. Someone asks you
18:16for the time, say yes and answer in
18:19English. A colleague asks how your
18:21weekend was. Say yes and tell them in
18:23English. A video asks a question in the
18:26comments. Say yes and reply. Every yes
18:29is a small vote for the speaker you want
18:31to become. And the more you vote, the
18:34easier it gets. The fourth idea is to be
18:37patient with the first week. Many people
18:39feel awkward when they start speaking
18:41more. [music] They think, "Why do I
18:43sound so strange? I thought I was
18:44getting better." This is a normal stage.
18:47When you start doing something new, you
18:49become more aware of every detail. It is
18:52like when you start learning to drive
18:54and suddenly you notice every mirror,
18:56every pedal, every sign. That awareness
18:59feels heavy at first, but soon it
19:01becomes light and you drive without
19:03thinking. Your speaking will go the same
19:05way. I once knew a student who recorded
19:07his voice on the first day of his
19:09training and then hated it so much that
19:11he deleted the file. Months later, he
19:14told me, "I wish I had kept it. I would
19:16love to hear how far I have come. So I
19:18give you a small piece of advice. Keep
19:21your first recording. Say a few
19:23sentences today about anything and save
19:26them. In a few weeks, you will listen
19:28again and you will smile. Proof of
19:30progress is one of the sweetest rewards
19:32of learning. Now let me say one more
19:34thing about the three gates.
19:36Overbuilding, overchecking, and
19:38overfearing. You do not need to defeat
19:40all of them at once. Choose the one that
19:42feels strongest in you and focus on it
19:44for one week. If you overbuild, practice
19:47saying only the first small piece. If
19:50you overcheck, practice speaking without
19:52stopping to correct yourself, even if a
19:54mistake slips out. If you overfear,
19:57practice speaking to someone safe, like
19:59a friend, a pet, or even a mirror, until
20:02the fear loses its voice, one gate at a
20:05time. That is how you open all three.
20:08Let me share one more thought before we
20:10finish this chapter. The gap between
20:12thought and speech is not a wall. It is
20:15a bridge that has not been built yet.
20:17Every time you speak a small thought out
20:19loud in English, you lay one more plank
20:22on that bridge. At first, the bridge is
20:24narrow and shaky. You walk across
20:27slowly, holding your breath. But with
20:29each crossing, the planks get stronger.
20:31The bridge gets wider. And one day you
20:34notice that you are running across it
20:36without even looking down. That day is
20:39coming. I promise you. So let us
20:41summarize what we learned in this
20:43chapter. First, knowing English and
20:45speaking English are different skills
20:47and speaking needs its own training.
20:50Second, the gap between thought and
20:52speech is caused by overbuilding,
20:54overchecking, and overfearing. Third, a
20:57simple sentence spoken on time is better
20:59than a perfect sentence spoken too late.
21:02And fourth, you can begin shortening the
21:04road today with the 10-second rule. In
21:07the next chapter, we are going to face
21:09the biggest enemy of fluency, the one
21:11that lives quietly inside almost every
21:14English learner's head. It is a clever
21:16little habit that feels helpful but
21:18slows you down every time you speak. I
21:21am talking about translation and I am
21:23going to show you how to leave it
21:25behind. Keep your bag of phrases close.
21:27We are just getting started. Chapter 2,
21:30the translation trap. Let me ask you a
21:33question and I want you to answer it
21:34honestly. When you speak English, in
21:37what language do you think first? If you
21:39are like most learners, the answer is
21:41your own language. A thought appears and
21:43it appears in the words you grew up
21:45with. Then quietly your brain starts the
21:48translation machine. It takes the
21:50sentence from your first language word
21:52by word and tries to turn each word into
21:55English. Then it puts the English words
21:57together. Then at last you speak. This
22:02habit is so common that most people do
22:04not even notice it. It feels natural. It
22:06feels smart. After all, you already know
22:09what you want to say. So why not just
22:11carry it across into English? It seems
22:14like a very sensible plan. But here is
22:16the problem. Translation is slow. It is
22:19slow because you are doing two jobs
22:21instead of one. First, you create the
22:24sentence in your language. Second, you
22:26convert it into English. two jobs,
22:29double the time, double the chance of a
22:31mistake. And worst of all, translation
22:33does not even work very well because
22:35languages do not match each other one
22:37word to one word. Let me show you what I
22:40mean with a small example. In many
22:42languages, people say something like, I
22:45have 20 years. They mean, I am 20 years
22:48old. If you translate it word by word,
22:50you get a sentence that sounds very
22:52strange in English. Or think of the
22:54question, how do you call this? In some
22:56languages, that is a perfectly normal
22:58way to ask for a name. In English, we
23:01say, "What do you call this?" Same idea,
23:03different shape. The word by word road
23:06leads you to the wrong place. Every
23:08language has its own shape, its own
23:10rhythm, its own way of packing ideas.
23:13When you translate, you are trying to
23:15pour the water of one language into the
23:17bottle of another, and some of it always
23:19spills. So, what is the solution? Many
23:22people say, "You must think in English."
23:24And that is true. But when you hear that
23:26advice, it sounds like a magic trick.
23:29How do I just start thinking in English?
23:31I do not know how to switch my brain.
23:33Here is the secret. You do not switch
23:35your brain. You build a small English
23:37space inside your brain and you make it
23:39bigger day by day. You do not need to
23:42think in English all the time. You do
23:44not even need to think in English most
23:46of the time. You only need to think in
23:48English in small moments again and again
23:50until those moments join together. Let
23:53me explain with a story. A student named
23:55Kareem told me, "Ryan, I can never think
23:58in English. It is impossible for me." I
24:01asked him, "Do you ever say to yourself,
24:03oh no, in English?" He thought for a
24:06moment and said, "Well, yes, sometimes."
24:09When I am surprised, I say, "Oh my god,"
24:12or "Oh no," without thinking. I smiled
24:15and said, "Kareem, you just thought in
24:18English." He laughed, but it was true.
24:21Those tiny moments, those small
24:24automatic phrases are the seeds. A seed
24:27does not look like a tree, but it
24:29contains the whole tree inside it. When
24:31you think, "Oh no, in English, you are
24:35already doing the thing. Now we just
24:37need to plant more seeds." Let me show
24:39you how. The first step to escaping the
24:42translation trap is to start small. Do
24:45not try to think whole paragraphs in
24:46English. Start with single words and
24:49short phrases connected to things you
24:50can see. Look around you right now.
24:53Wherever you are, find five objects. A
24:56chair, a window, a phone, a cup, a door.
25:00Now name each one in English, but do not
25:03translate. Look at the chair and think
25:05chair. Not the word in your language
25:07first and then chair. Just the object
25:10and the English word together. Picture
25:12and word. Nothing in between. This is
25:15called direct connection and it is the
25:17heart of thinking in English. Instead of
25:20building a bridge from your language to
25:22English, you build a direct line from
25:24the thing itself to the English word.
25:26When you see a window, you do not think
25:28window equals the word in my language
25:30equals window. You think window done.
25:34Children learn this way. A child does
25:36not translate. A child sees a dog and
25:39hears the word dog many times and the
25:42word becomes attached to the animal. In
25:44the same way, you can attach English
25:46words to real things, real actions, and
25:48real feelings without sending them
25:50through your first language. I want you
25:52to try an exercise now. Pause this audio
25:55book if you like, or just do it while
25:57listening. Look around and name 10
25:59things in English out loud quickly. Do
26:02not think. Just point your eyes and say
26:04the word. Table, lamp, shoes, bag, wall,
26:08light, book, hand, floor, water. Good.
26:13That took maybe 15 seconds and in those
26:1515 seconds you train direct connection
26:1710 times. Now let us go a step higher.
26:21Words are good but life is made of
26:23actions and feelings too. So the next
26:25level is to describe what you are doing
26:28as you do it in simple English. When you
26:31are making tea say I am making tea. When
26:34you are walking say I am walking to the
26:37station. When you are tired say I feel
26:40tired. short, simple, present. [music]
26:44You are not translating. You are
26:46describing what is happening right now
26:48in English. The thought and the English
26:51arrive together. This is a powerful
26:53habit and it is much easier than people
26:56expect. You do not need big words. You
26:58do not need correct grammar every time.
27:01You only need the English version of the
27:03moment you are living. After a week or
27:05two of doing this, you will start to
27:07notice something strange. English will
27:09begin to appear in your mind on its own.
27:11You will be washing dishes and suddenly
27:13a sentence will pop up. This plate is
27:16still dirty. You did not decide to think
27:18it. It just came. That is your inner
27:20English voice waking up. We will talk
27:22much more about that voice in a later
27:24chapter. Now, I want to give you three
27:27tools for fighting the translation habit
27:29when it appears because it will appear.
27:31It is a strong habit and it will try to
27:34come back many times. Do not be angry
27:36with it. Just use these tools. The first
27:39tool is the simple swap. When you notice
27:42that you are about to translate a
27:43complicated sentence, stop and swap it
27:46for a simpler one. Ask yourself, what is
27:48the easy way to say this? For example,
27:51suppose you want to say something like
27:53the situation is deteriorating at an
27:55alarming rate. Your brain begins to
27:57search for difficult words. Stop. Swap.
28:01Say things are getting worse very fast.
28:04Same meaning much easier road. Native
28:07speakers use simple sentences all the
28:09time. You do not lose power by being
28:11simple. You gain speed. The second tool
28:14is the picture first method. Before you
28:16speak, see the thing in your mind as a
28:18picture or a short movie, not as a
28:20sentence. If you want to tell someone
28:22about your trip, do not start by
28:24thinking of words. Start by seeing the
28:26trip, the beach, the hot sun, the cold
28:29drink, the long walk. Then describe what
28:31you see. The picture carries you toward
28:33the words in a natural way without
28:35needing the first language as a
28:37middleman. It is like looking at a
28:39photograph and describing it to a
28:40friend. You do not translate a
28:42photograph, you just describe it. The
28:45third tool is the English anchor. An
28:47anchor is a small phrase that you always
28:49say in English no matter what in a
28:52certain situation. [music] For example,
28:54every time you open your front door, you
28:56say, "I am home." Every time you sit
28:59down to eat, you say, "This looks good."
29:02Every time you feel stress, you say,
29:04"Okay, let me think." These anchor
29:08phrases become little islands of English
29:10in your day. They happen so often that
29:12they become fully automatic. And
29:15automatic English is exactly what we are
29:17building. Let me tell you about an
29:18anchor that changed the life of a
29:20student named Elena. Elena was very shy
29:23about speaking. She would never speak
29:25English at work because she was afraid
29:27of making mistakes. So I asked her to
29:29start with one anchor only. Every
29:31morning when she arrived at the office,
29:34she would say good morning to the first
29:35colleague she saw in English with a
29:38small smile. That was all. One phrase,
29:41one moment. Within two weeks, she added
29:44another. How was your weekend? A week
29:46later, another. Did you see the game?
29:49One small anchor at a time, her English
29:51space grew larger. After 3 months, Elena
29:55was leading short conversations at the
29:57coffee machine. She told me, "Ryan, I
30:00never decided to become confident. It
30:02just happened. One little sentence at a
30:04time. That is how the trap is escaped.
30:07Not with one giant leap, but with many
30:09tiny steps. Now, I want to talk about
30:12something that scares many learners. The
30:15silence. Sometimes when you stop
30:17translating, there is a moment of empty
30:19space in your head. You have no first
30:22language words and the English has not
30:24arrived yet. It can feel uncomfortable,
30:26even frightening. You might think, "I am
30:29lost. I have nothing to say." But that
30:31empty space is not a problem. It is
30:34actually a sign of progress. It means
30:36you have stopped relying on the old
30:38crutch and your brain is learning to
30:40walk by itself. If you stay calm and
30:43wait a moment, the English will come. It
30:45might be a simple word. It might be a
30:47half sentence. Take it and keep going. A
30:51simple word in the moment is better than
30:52a perfect translation that never
30:54arrives. Think of it like learning to
30:56ride a bicycle without training wheels.
30:59At first, you wobble and want to put
31:01your foot down. But if you keep
31:02pedaling, the balance comes. Do not put
31:05your foot down. Keep pedaling even if it
31:08is shaky. Let me also give you some good
31:10news about vocabulary. Many learners
31:12believe that they cannot stop
31:14translating because they do not know
31:15enough English words. They think, "I
31:18need to learn 5,000 more words first."
31:21But this is not true. Research on
31:23everyday conversation shows that a
31:25surprisingly small number of words
31:27covers most of what people say in daily
31:29life. With a few thousand common words,
31:31you can talk about almost everything
31:33that matters in normal life. The problem
31:35is not the number of words you know. The
31:38problem is how fast you can reach the
31:39ones you already know. So instead of
31:42adding more and more new words, it is
31:44much more powerful to activate the words
31:46you already have. Make them quick. Make
31:49them ready. Use them again and again
31:51until they jump out of your mouth
31:52without a search. Here is a practice I
31:55love. I call it the familiar words game.
31:58Take a topic, any topic, and talk about
32:00it for one minute using only simple
32:03common words. For example, talk about
32:05your home. My home is small, but I like
32:08it. There is a kitchen, a bedroom, and a
32:11small balcony. In the morning, the sun
32:13comes in through the window. I drink my
32:15coffee there. It is my favorite place.
32:18Notice that every word in that little
32:19speech is easy, yet it sounds real and
32:22it sounds like a human being. That is
32:24the goal. Do not chase beautiful words.
32:27Chase flowing words. Do this game once a
32:30day for a different topic each time.
32:33your food, your work, your family, your
32:36city, your weekend. 1 minute each. After
32:40a few weeks, you will have a small solid
32:42collection of ready speech about the
32:44main areas of your life. And those will
32:46be the exact topics people ask you about
32:48in real conversations.
32:51Now, let me address a fear that I hear
32:52very often. Some of you are thinking,
32:55"But if I stop translating, I will make
32:57more mistakes because I will not be able
32:59to check my sentence against my own
33:01language." This is true a little.
33:04Without the safety net of translation,
33:06you may say things that are not perfect.
33:08But here is the trade. You give up some
33:11perfection and you gain a lot of flow.
33:13And flow is what makes conversation
33:15alive. Also, translation does not
33:18actually protect you from mistakes as
33:20much as you think. In fact, many of the
33:22most common mistakes in English come
33:24directly from translation. The wrong
33:27preposition, the strange word order, the
33:29missing article. These mistakes usually
33:32appear because the learner carried a
33:34pattern from their first language into
33:36English. So when you stop translating
33:38and start building English directly from
33:40English patterns, many mistakes quietly
33:43disappear. The right shape starts to
33:45feel natural because it has been learned
33:47as a shape, not as a puzzle. Let me give
33:50you another image. Imagine two people
33:53crossing a river. The first person uses
33:55a long curved bridge. It is safe but it
33:58takes a long time. The second person
34:01walks across a short line of stones, one
34:03step at a time. It takes some courage,
34:05but it is fast. Over time, the second
34:08person learns exactly where each stone
34:10is. Soon, they do not even look at their
34:13feet. Translation is the long curved
34:16bridge. Direct English is the line of
34:18stones. Choose the stones. Let me also
34:22share a few extra tips because the
34:24translation habit is stubborn and it
34:26likes to return in disguise. The first
34:28disguise is the silent rehearsal. This
34:31is when you prepare a sentence in your
34:33first language and then translate it in
34:36your mind just before speaking. It looks
34:38like a fast shortcut, but it is the same
34:41old road. To break it, try speaking
34:44before you finish the thought. Start
34:46with a small English piece and let the
34:48rest develop as you speak. It feels
34:50risky, but it trains your brain to find
34:52the English directly in the moment. The
34:55second disguise is the dictionary
34:57reflex. This is when you do not know a
35:00word and you instantly reach for a
35:02translation app. Using a dictionary is
35:04not wrong, but if you do it every time,
35:06your brain learns to depend on it. Try
35:08this small rule. When you meet a new
35:10word, first guess its meaning from the
35:12situation. Then check an English to
35:14English dictionary which explains the
35:16word using other English words. This
35:19way, the new word connects to English
35:21ideas, not to a word in your first
35:23language. Over time, your mind builds a
35:25web of English meanings and the web
35:27becomes strong. The third disguise is
35:30the perfect match hunt. This is when you
35:32believe that every word in your language
35:34must have one perfect partner in
35:36English. But many words do not. Some
35:38feelings, some customs, some small ideas
35:42live only in one language. When you
35:44cannot find a perfect match, do not
35:46panic. Describe the idea in simple
35:48English or use the closest word and move
35:51on. Fluency is not about finding perfect
35:54matches. It is about building
35:56understanding.
35:57Now, let me give you a small game that
35:59you can play while walking or waiting. I
36:02call it the silent name game. Choose a
36:04place like a street, a supermarket, or a
36:07park. Look around and in your mind, give
36:10every object an English name as fast as
36:12you can without any translation. Then
36:15look at a person and describe them in a
36:17few English words. Tall man, blue
36:20jacket, big smile. Then look at an
36:22action and name it. Running, waiting,
36:26laughing. Do this for two minutes. It is
36:29quick, quiet, and effective. And nobody
36:32even knows you are practicing. One more
36:34thing, please do not feel guilty when
36:36your first language appears in your
36:38mind. It is a natural and beautiful part
36:40of who you are. We are not trying to
36:42remove it. We are only adding English
36:45next to it. Like adding a second window
36:47to a house so that more light can come
36:49in. Two languages are not a burden. They
36:52are a gift. They give you two ways to
36:54see the world, two ways to joke, two
36:57ways to love. So let your first language
36:59stay and let English grow beside it
37:01strong and free. I remember a student
37:04named Sophia who told me, "I feel like I
37:06am betraying my language when I think in
37:08English." I answered, "You are not
37:10betraying it. You are inviting a guest
37:13into your home and your language is the
37:15generous host. She smiled and said, "I
37:18like that." From that day, her fear of
37:20English softened and her progress
37:22accelerated. She had needed permission
37:25to love both. Before we end this
37:27chapter, let me give you your practice
37:29for this week. It has three parts and
37:32each one takes only a few minutes. Part
37:35one, every day, name 10 objects around
37:38you in English quickly with no
37:40translation. Change the room each day so
37:43you meet new objects. Part two, choose
37:46two anchor phrases for your day, one for
37:48the morning and one for the evening. Say
37:51them out loud every day in the same
37:53moment until they feel like part of you.
37:56Part three. Play the familiar words game
37:59once a day for 1 minute on one topic.
38:02Total time about 10 minutes a day. But
38:05the effect is deep because you are
38:07teaching your brain a new way to work.
38:10Let me close with a thought. Translation
38:12is not your enemy. It helped you get
38:14here. It was a good bridge when you
38:16needed one. But now it is time to cross
38:19to the other side and build a new home
38:21there. A home where English is not a
38:23visitor in your mind, but a resident. In
38:26the next chapter, we will learn how to
38:27keep speech light and fast by thinking
38:30in small pieces. The secret behind how
38:32fluent speakers seem to talk without
38:34ever running out of breath or ideas. It
38:37is one of the most useful skills in this
38:39whole audio book and it is easier than
38:41you think. Stay with me. Chapter 3.
38:45Think in small pieces. Have you ever
38:48listened to a fluent speaker and
38:49wondered how do they do that? They talk
38:51and talk smoothly without long stops and
38:54they never seem to run out of words. It
38:57almost feels like they have a hidden
38:58machine inside their head that produces
39:00perfect sentences on command. But here
39:03is a secret. They do not. Fluent
39:06speakers do not build long perfect
39:08sentences in advance. If you listen very
39:10carefully to real natural speech, you
39:13will find something surprising. People
39:15speak in small pieces. A few words, a
39:18short pause, a few more words, another
39:21small pause. Piece by piece, the thought
39:23comes out like water dropping from a
39:25tap. drop after drop until the glass is
39:28full. Let me show you what I mean.
39:31Imagine a friend telling you about her
39:32weekend. If she were reading from a
39:34book, she might say, "On Saturday
39:36morning, I went to the market where I
39:38bought fresh vegetables and then I met
39:40my cousin for lunch at a small
39:42restaurant near the river." That is a
39:44nice sentence, but real people almost
39:46never talk like that. A real person
39:48would say something like this. So, on
39:50Saturday, I went to the market just for
39:52vegetables, you know, and then I met my
39:54cousin. We had lunch. There is this
39:57little restaurant by the river. Really
39:59nice. Do you see the difference? The
40:02real version is broken into small
40:03pieces. Each piece is short, easy, and
40:06complete. Each piece takes only a second
40:09or two to say, and the whole thing
40:11sounds warm and alive, much more than
40:13the book sentence. This is the idea of
40:16chunks. A chunk is a small group of
40:19words that belong together and come out
40:21together like a single word. Chunks are
40:24the building blocks of fluent speech.
40:26Instead of building every sentence word
40:28by word, fluent speakers pick up
40:30ready-made chunks and place them one
40:32after another. Think about the phrase by
40:35the way. You do not build it from three
40:38separate words. It is one little block
40:40or I mean or to be honest or the thing
40:45is or as far as I know or it depends on.
40:49These are all chunks. When a fluent
40:52speaker wants to say them, there is no
40:54building. The whole block flies out in
40:56one breath. And here is why this matters
40:59so much for you. When you think in
41:01chunks, the work in your brain becomes
41:03much smaller. Instead of managing 12
41:05separate words, you are managing three
41:07or four blocks. The gap between thought
41:10and speech shrinks. The road becomes
41:12shorter [music] and your confidence
41:14grows because each small piece feels
41:16doable. Let me tell you about a student
41:19named Tomas. Tomas was a salesman. He
41:22was clever and funny in his own
41:23language, but in English, he sounded
41:26stiff because he tried to build long,
41:28formal sentences all the time. His
41:30customers politely waited while he
41:32searched for his words. One day, I said
41:34to him, "Tomas, tomorrow, I want you to
41:37try something strange. I want you to
41:39speak only in short pieces. No sentence
41:42longer than seven words." He looked at
41:44me as if I had asked him to jump off a
41:46roof, but he tried. And after the first
41:49day, he called me. He said, "Ryan, it
41:52was unbelievable. People started to
41:55answer faster. They smiled more." One
41:58customer even said, "You speak very
42:00clearly. I was shocked. I thought long
42:03sentences made me sound professional,
42:05but short sentences made me sound
42:07confident." That is one of the great
42:10lessons of spoken English. Short does
42:12not mean weak. Short means clear. And
42:15clear is powerful. Now, let me teach you
42:18how to actually think in small pieces. I
42:21have a simple method. I call it the
42:22three-piece thought. Every thought you
42:25want to say can be broken into three
42:26little pieces. The first piece is the
42:28start. This is where you begin. It
42:30usually tells us who or when or what the
42:33topic is. The second piece is the
42:35middle. This is the main action or the
42:38main idea. The third piece is the extra.
42:41This is a detail, a feeling or a reason.
42:45For example, suppose you want to say
42:47that you were late to work because of
42:48the traffic and you felt very stressed.
42:51You could try to build one big sentence.
42:54Or you could use the three-piece
42:56thought. Piece one, the start. This
42:59morning I was late. Piece two, the
43:02middle. The traffic was terrible. Piece
43:04three, the extra. I felt so stressed.
43:08Three small pieces, easy to say, easy to
43:11understand, and together they tell the
43:14whole story. Let me give you another
43:16one. You want to say that you started
43:18learning guitar. It is difficult, but
43:20you enjoy it. Piece one, I started
43:22learning guitar. Piece two, it is really
43:25hard. Piece three, but I love it.
43:28Perfect. You do not need fancy words.
43:30You do not need connecting phrases that
43:32are too complicated. Three small pieces
43:35and the idea is delivered. I want you to
43:38try this now. Think of something that
43:40happened to you today, anything at all,
43:42and say it out loud in three small
43:44pieces. Start, middle, extra. Do not
43:48worry about being beautiful. Just break
43:50it down. Go ahead. How did that feel?
43:53Maybe a little strange at first because
43:55many learners believe that short pieces
43:57sound childish, but I promise you they
44:00do not. Listen to any interview, any
44:03podcast, any casual talk between
44:05friends. You will hear small pieces
44:07everywhere. It is the natural music of
44:10speech. Now once you can say small
44:12pieces, the next step is to connect them
44:15smoothly. This is where simple linking
44:17words become your best friends. And here
44:19is the good news. You only need a
44:21handful of them. And so, but because
44:26then also these six little words can
44:29connect almost any two pieces in daily
44:32speech. I was tired so I went home
44:34early. I wanted to call you, but I
44:36forgot. We left late because the road
44:39was closed. I finished work and then I
44:41went for a walk. Notice how simple these
44:44are. No heavy grammar, no long
44:46structures, just two small pieces joined
44:49by one small word. And yet it sounds
44:51natural and it sounds fluent. Many
44:54learners try to use difficult connectors
44:56like nevertheless, consequently, or
44:59furthermore in everyday talk. Those
45:01words are fine for essays, but in real
45:04conversation, they sound a little
45:05strange, like wearing a formal suit to a
45:08picnic. In everyday speech, the small
45:10linking words do the job beautifully.
45:12Keep those six close. They will carry
45:14you far. Now, let me introduce a second
45:17tool for thinking in pieces. It is
45:19called the starter phrase. A starter
45:21phrase is a small group of words that
45:23you use to begin a sentence while your
45:25brain finishes the rest. It gives you a
45:28few precious seconds and it makes you
45:29sound natural at the same time. Here are
45:32some of my favorite starter phrases.
45:35The thing is to be honest actually I
45:39think well it depends. You know what for
45:42me I would say what I mean is let me
45:46think. Each one is a tiny launching pad.
45:49You say it smoothly and while you are
45:51saying it your brain is already
45:53preparing the next piece. Fluent
45:55speakers use starter phrases all the
45:57time. They are not weakness, they are
45:59strategy. Imagine someone asks you,
46:02"What do you think about working from
46:04home?" You might feel a flash of panic.
46:07But if you say, "Well, it depends." You
46:10have already begun. You are in motion.
46:12And in the next 2 seconds, you can add
46:15for me it is great because I save a lot
46:18of time. Starter phrase, then two small
46:21pieces. A complete natural answer. Let
46:24me tell you a short story to show how
46:26powerful this is. There was a young
46:28woman named Aiko who had a job interview
46:30in English. She was very nervous. Before
46:33the interview, we practiced starter
46:35phrases together. During the interview,
46:37the interviewer asked her a hard
46:39question which she had not prepared for.
46:41Aiko smiled, said, "That is a good
46:44question. Let me think." And then she
46:46took one breath and answered in three
46:48small pieces. Afterward, the interviewer
46:50told her, "You handled that very well.
46:52Aiko got the job. Do you see what
46:55happened? Iiko did not suddenly become a
46:57perfect speaker. She simply used a
46:59starter phrase to buy time and small
47:01pieces to deliver her answer. That is a
47:04method and anyone can learn it. Now, let
47:06me show you how to train this skill in a
47:08way that fits into your real life. I
47:10call it the piece by piece practice and
47:12it has three small steps. Step one is to
47:15collect. Every day when you listen to
47:17English, whether in videos, songs,
47:20shows, or conversations, listen for
47:22small chunks that sound useful, a phrase
47:25you could use tomorrow. For example, I
47:27am about to or I have no idea or that
47:30makes sense or I could use some help.
47:33Write them down or save them in your
47:35phone. Do not collect long sentences.
47:38Collect small blocks. Step two is to
47:41repeat. Say each chunk out loud five
47:44times with the same rhythm and music as
47:46the speaker. Do not just read the words,
47:49copy the tune. Because chunks are not
47:51only words, they are also sounds and
47:53your mouth needs to learn the melody.
47:56Step three is to use within the same
47:58day. Try to use each new chunk in a real
48:01sentence spoken out loud about your own
48:04life. I have no idea where my keys are.
48:07That makes sense. I will try again
48:08tomorrow. I could use some help with
48:10this lesson. A chunk that you have used
48:12once about your own life is much more
48:14likely to stay in your pocket than a
48:16chunk that you only read. Collect,
48:18repeat, use. Three steps, 5 minutes. Do
48:22this with just three chunks a day. And
48:24in one month, you will have about 90 new
48:27ready-made blocks. In 3 months, around
48:30270. That is a serious toolbox. And
48:33every one of those chunks will make your
48:35speech faster and smoother. Let me add a
48:38few more tools for working with pieces
48:40because this skill is so useful that I
48:43want you to have it in many forms. The
48:45first tool is the echo pieces method.
48:48When someone speaks to you in English,
48:50listen for the last small piece of what
48:52they said and use it in your answer. If
48:55someone says, "I am planning a trip to
48:57Italy next month," you can say, "A trip
48:59to Italy. That sounds great. When did
49:02you decide?" You have used their piece
49:04as a bridge. and it gives you a second
49:06to think. Echoing is natural. It shows
49:08that you are listening and it makes your
49:10speech easier. The second tool is the
49:13fill and say pattern. Take a few simple
49:16frames and fill them with different
49:17words. I am thinking about blank. I am
49:20looking forward to blank. I am not sure
49:23if blank. I am trying to blank. I am
49:26going to blank. Each frame is a
49:28readymade starting piece and you only
49:30need to complete it. For example, I am
49:32thinking about changing my job. I am
49:35looking forward to the weekend. I am not
49:37sure if it is a good idea. I am trying
49:39to learn the guitar. I am going to call
49:41him tonight. Five frames, five endless
49:44possibilities. If you learn 10 good
49:46frames, you can speak about almost
49:48anything. The third tool is the question
49:51chunk. Questions are among the most
49:53useful pieces in conversation and they
49:56have common frames, too. What do you
49:58think about blank? How did you blank?
50:00[music] Have you ever blank? What is it
50:02like to blank? Why do you want to blank?
50:05When you have a bank of good question
50:06chunks, you never run out of things to
50:08say because you can always ask
50:10something. And asking is one of the best
50:12ways to keep a conversation alive while
50:14you rest your own voice. Let me tell you
50:16how one student, Nadia, used these tools
50:19at a party full of strangers. She was
50:22terrified of silence. So, she prepared
50:24five question chunks and five fill and
50:26say frames. When she met someone, she
50:29said, "Hi, I am Nadia. What do you do?"
50:32Then she echoed the answer. A nurse.
50:35That must be interesting. What is it
50:37like to work at night? The person talked
50:39happily for several minutes. Nadia only
50:42needed small pieces to keep the
50:44conversation going. At the end, the
50:46person said, "I really enjoyed talking
50:48to you." Nadia had spoken very little
50:51and yet she was the most popular person
50:53at that table because she listened and
50:55asked good questions. This teaches us
50:58something wonderful. Fluency in
51:00conversation is not only about speaking.
51:02It is also about listening, responding
51:05and connecting. When you think in small
51:07pieces, you have space to listen because
51:10your brain is not overloaded. And
51:12listening makes you a better speaker
51:14because you pick up natural phrases and
51:16rhythm from the people around you. So
51:18practice small pieces in both
51:20directions. Speak in short blocks and
51:22listen for short blocks. Notice how
51:25native speakers chop their sentences,
51:27how they pause, how they use starter
51:29phrases. You will begin to hear a hidden
51:32pattern like seeing the bones inside a
51:34body. And once you see it, you cannot
51:36unsee it and your own speech will start
51:39to follow it. Now I want to talk about
51:41one more important part of thinking in
51:43pieces and that is the pause. Many
51:45learners are afraid of silence. They
51:47believe that any pause in speaking is a
51:49failure. But natural speakers pause all
51:52the time. A short pause between pieces
51:55is not a mistake. It is part of the
51:57rhythm. It gives your listener a moment
51:59to follow you and it gives you a moment
52:01to prepare the next piece. Think of a
52:03good storyteller. They do not speak in a
52:06constant rushing line. They speak,
52:08pause, speak, pause. And that is exactly
52:12what makes their story gripping. In the
52:14same way, you can let pauses be your
52:16friend. A calm short pause says, "I am
52:19thinking and I am confident." A nervous
52:22filled pause like many ums and a's in a
52:24row says, "I am afraid." So when you
52:27need time, take a calm pause or use a
52:29starter phrase and let your pieces
52:31arrive in their own time. Let me share a
52:34gentle challenge with you. For the next
52:363 days, I want you to speak with a
52:38limit. In any conversation, you can only
52:41use pieces of about 5 to eight words.
52:44Short, clean, then pause, then another
52:47piece. See how it feels. You may be
52:49surprised to find that people understand
52:51you better and that you feel lighter as
52:53if a heavy bag has been taken off your
52:55shoulders. Why does this feel so light?
52:58Because you are no longer trying to hold
53:00the whole sentence in your head at once.
53:02You are only holding the next small
53:04piece. And the next small piece is
53:06always easy. Think about walking up a
53:09tall staircase. If you stare at the
53:11whole staircase, it looks exhausting.
53:14But if you only look at the next step,
53:16it is simple. One step, then another,
53:19then another, and before you know it,
53:21you are at the top. Speaking is the
53:23same. Do not look at the whole
53:25staircase. Look at the next step, the
53:27next small piece. Say it, then look at
53:29the following one. Let us review what we
53:32learned in this chapter. Fluent speakers
53:34do not build long sentences in advance.
53:37They speak in small pieces called
53:39chunks. The three-piece thought helps
53:41you break any idea into a start, a
53:44middle, and an extra. Six small linking
53:47words and, so, but, because, then, and
53:51also connect your pieces. Starter
53:54phrases buy you time and sound natural.
53:57And calm pauses are a normal, healthy
53:59part of speech. In the next chapter, we
54:02are going to do something that may sound
54:04a little unusual, but it is one of the
54:06most powerful things you will ever do
54:08for your English. We are going to build
54:10your inner English voice. The quiet
54:12speaker inside your head who practices
54:14with you all day long, even when nobody
54:17is listening.
54:18Get ready. This is where things start to
54:21feel really different. Chapter 4. Build
54:24your inner English voice. There is a
54:26voice inside your head right now. It has
54:29been there all your life. When you read
54:31silently, you can hear it. When you
54:33worry about tomorrow, it talks. When you
54:36remember a conversation, it replays the
54:38words. This voice is called your inner
54:41voice, and it is one of the most
54:42powerful tools you own. For most English
54:45learners, this inner voice speaks only
54:48in their first language. It plans the
54:50day in that language. It argues, jokes,
54:54complains, and dreams in that language.
54:56And that is natural. But it also means
54:59that English has no home in your inner
55:01world. English lives outside in classes
55:04and books and videos and it only comes
55:07inside when you invite it with effort.
55:09What if we change that? What if little
55:12by little your inner voice began to
55:14speak English too? Not all the time, not
55:17forced, just a few sentences here and
55:19there like a friend who visits more and
55:21more often until one day you realize
55:24that they have moved in. This is what we
55:26are going to do in this chapter and I
55:28believe it is the single biggest
55:29shortcut to fluent speech that exists.
55:32Let me explain why it works so well.
55:35When you speak out loud, you are
55:36performing. Other people are listening
55:39and there is pressure. But when you
55:41speak silently to yourself, there is no
55:43audience, no judgment, no clock. You can
55:47try sentences, make mistakes, fix them,
55:50and try again. Completely free. It is
55:53the safest practice room in the world
55:55and it is always open 24 hours a day for
55:58free. More than that, inner speech uses
56:01nearly the same brain pathways as spoken
56:04speech. When you say a sentence silently
56:06in your mind, many of the same areas of
56:09the brain wake up as when you say it out
56:11loud. That means silent practice is real
56:14practice. Your brain does not treat it
56:16as a game. It treats it as training. So,
56:19how do we build the inner English voice?
56:21I have a method with four stages. We
56:24will go through them one by one and you
56:26can start the first stage today. Stage
56:28one is called narration. This is the
56:31simplest stage. All you do is describe
56:33your actions in your mind in English in
56:36the simplest words. You are walking to
56:38the kitchen. You are opening the fridge.
56:41There is no milk. You are annoyed. That
56:43is it. Like a quiet commentator in a
56:46sports match, but the sport is your
56:48life. Do not worry about grammar. Do not
56:51worry about perfect words. If you do not
56:53know a word, skip it or use a simple one
56:56and move on. The goal is not
56:58correctness. The goal is to make English
57:01appear in your mind on its own again and
57:03again as part of your normal day. At
57:06first, you might manage only a few
57:08sentences before your brain returns to
57:10your first language. That is perfectly
57:12fine. Do not fight it. Just come back to
57:15English the next time you remember. It
57:17is like training a puppy. You do not
57:19shout when it runs away. You gently call
57:21it back again and again and it learns.
57:24Stage two is called reaction. Here you
57:27add your feelings and opinions. It is
57:29not only what you are doing. It is how
57:31you feel about it. This coffee is so
57:33good. That was a stupid mistake. I
57:36really need a holiday. I do not feel
57:38like cooking tonight. Reactions are very
57:40powerful because they are connected to
57:42emotion and emotion makes memory
57:44stronger. When you say I am so tired in
57:47English and you truly feel tired, your
57:50brain ties the sentence to the feeling,
57:52that connection is much deeper than a
57:54sentence from a textbook. So give your
57:56inner voice a personality. Let it
57:58complain, laugh, wonder, and joke in
58:01English. Many learners tell me this is
58:04the part they enjoy the most. It feels
58:06like having a secret friend who always
58:08speaks English with you. Stage three is
58:11called conversation. Now your inner
58:13voice stops talking about things and
58:15starts talking to someone. This could be
58:17an imaginary person or a real person you
58:20often meet. You prepare small
58:22conversations in your mind or you replay
58:24conversations that already happened and
58:26say them again in better English. For
58:29example, imagine you have a meeting
58:31tomorrow. Tonight while you are brushing
58:33your teeth, you can practice in your
58:35mind. Hi, thanks for joining. I would
58:37like to start with a quick update. Then
58:40you imagine the other person asking a
58:41question and you answer it. Not perfect
58:44scripts, just small rehearsals. This is
58:47exactly what athletes do before a big
58:49game. They see the moment in their mind
58:51first and when the real moment comes, it
58:54feels familiar, like something they have
58:56already done. You can also replay
58:58yesterday. Think of a conversation where
59:01you wish you had said something better.
59:03Say it again now in your mind in the
59:06English you wish you had used. This is a
59:08wonderful trick. It turns regret into
59:10practice. Instead of thinking I should
59:12have said something, you think next time
59:15I will say this and the next time you
59:18actually do. Stage four is called
59:21debate. This is the advanced stage and
59:24it is very fun. Here your inner voice
59:26thinks about bigger questions in
59:28English. Should people work 4 days a
59:31week? Is it better to live in a city or
59:33a village? What makes a good friend? You
59:36argue both sides quietly in your mind
59:39using the simplest English you can. This
59:42trains your brain to build ideas not
59:44just sentences. And that is the skill
59:47you need for long deep conversations.
59:50Now I must give you some very important
59:52advice. Do not wait until you feel ready
59:55for the next stage. You can mix them
59:57all. On the same day, you might narrate
1:00:00your walk, react to the weather,
1:00:02rehearse a conversation, and debate an
1:00:04idea while washing the dishes. There are
1:00:06no strict borders. The only rule is that
1:00:09English keeps appearing in your mind
1:00:11little by little, as often as you can.
1:00:14Let me tell you a story about a man
1:00:16named Victor. Victor was a taxi driver
1:00:18who wanted to become a tour guide for
1:00:20English speakers. He spent many hours
1:00:22alone in his car waiting for passengers.
1:00:25At first, he listened to the radio in
1:00:27his first language. Then I suggested a
1:00:29small change. During the waiting time,
1:00:32he would describe the street in English.
1:00:34In his head, the old church on the
1:00:36corner, the woman with a red umbrella,
1:00:38the traffic light is green. A small boy
1:00:40is eating ice cream. At first, he felt
1:00:43silly. He said it was like talking to a
1:00:45wall. But after 2 weeks, something
1:00:47amazing happened. A tourist got into his
1:00:50taxi and he found himself chatting in
1:00:52English without fear. The words came
1:00:54quickly because his mind had been
1:00:56practicing in secret for hours every
1:00:57day. Within 6 months, he had his tour
1:01:00guide license. And he told me, "Ryan,
1:01:03all those lonely hours in the car were
1:01:05my classroom. You have lonely hours,
1:01:07too. Walking, cooking, waiting in line,
1:01:11traveling on a train, cleaning the
1:01:13house, brushing your teeth. These
1:01:16moments are usually empty. They are
1:01:18small pockets of time, and most people
1:01:20fill them with worry or scrolling. But
1:01:22if you use them for inner English, they
1:01:25become a powerful gym. 30 minutes a day
1:01:27of silent practice spread across your
1:01:30day is more than most classroom students
1:01:32ever get. Let me give you a few simple
1:01:35tools to make this easier. The first
1:01:37tool is the word bank. Each day, choose
1:01:40five simple words or phrases that you
1:01:42want to use in your inner speech. For
1:01:44example, annoying. On my way, I can't be
1:01:47bothered. It's worth it kind of. Then
1:01:50during the day, try to bring them into
1:01:52your narration. Put them in your inner
1:01:54sentences like colorful beads on a
1:01:56string. This way, your inner voice
1:01:58slowly grows richer and the new words
1:02:01arrive in real context, not in a list.
1:02:04The second tool is the gap note.
1:02:06Whenever your inner voice wants to say
1:02:08something and you do not know the
1:02:09English words, do not ignore the gap.
1:02:12Make a quick note on your phone. Write
1:02:14the thought or the missing word. Later,
1:02:17look it up, then use it in a sentence.
1:02:19These gaps are gold. They show you
1:02:22exactly what you need to learn because
1:02:24they are connected to your real life. It
1:02:26is much better to learn the word for the
1:02:28thing you really wanted to say than to
1:02:30learn a random list of words from a
1:02:32book. The third tool is the sound check.
1:02:35Sometimes say your inner sentences
1:02:37quietly with your lips moving or even
1:02:40whisper them. This adds the physical
1:02:42side of speaking. Your tongue, lips, and
1:02:45breath get used to the shapes of
1:02:46English. It connects the mind and the
1:02:49mouth which is exactly the road we are
1:02:51building. Now let us talk about
1:02:53something that gets in the way of the
1:02:55inner voice and that is the inner
1:02:57critic. You know this voice. It says
1:02:59things like your English is terrible.
1:03:02You will never be fluent. Why are you
1:03:04even trying? Everyone else is better
1:03:06than you. This voice is loud for many
1:03:09learners and it can destroy motivation.
1:03:12I want to say something very clearly.
1:03:14The inner critic is not telling you the
1:03:16truth. It is telling you a fear and you
1:03:18do not have to obey it. Here is a
1:03:21technique that helps. When the critic
1:03:23speaks, answer it in English. Use calm,
1:03:26kind, simple words. For example, if the
1:03:30critic says you made a mistake, answer
1:03:33yes and that is okay. I am learning. If
1:03:36it says you are too slow, answer I am
1:03:39getting faster every day. If it says you
1:03:42will never be fluent, answer I am
1:03:44already better than last month. You are
1:03:47not lying to yourself. You are choosing
1:03:49a more useful, more honest story. And
1:03:52notice the bonus. You are practicing
1:03:54English while you are being kind to
1:03:55yourself. Two good things at once. A
1:03:58person who speaks to themselves with
1:04:00encouragement will usually keep going. A
1:04:02person who speaks to themselves with
1:04:04harshness will usually quit. So make
1:04:06your inner voice a coach, not a judge.
1:04:09Let it say, "Good try." Let it say,
1:04:12"Nice. That was clear." Let it say,
1:04:14"Next time you can do even better." This
1:04:17is not silly self-help. It is a real
1:04:20tool and it has real power over how long
1:04:22you keep learning. Another wonderful
1:04:25part of the inner English voice is that
1:04:27it helps with listening. When you are
1:04:28used to forming English sentences in
1:04:30your mind, you begin to predict what
1:04:32other people will say. Your brain gets
1:04:34ready for the next word because it has
1:04:36built similar sentences itself. This
1:04:39makes real conversations much easier to
1:04:41follow. It is a hidden gift and many
1:04:43learners are surprised by it. They say,
1:04:46"Suddenly, I understand people faster."
1:04:48That is not magic. It is the result of a
1:04:51brain that has been practicing both
1:04:53sides of the conversation. Let me
1:04:55describe what a good day of inner
1:04:57English might look like to make it feel
1:04:59real. In the morning, you wake up and
1:05:01think, "Okay, I am awake. I do not want
1:05:04to get up." You laugh at yourself a
1:05:06little in English. While making tea, you
1:05:09think, "I need to buy more tea. We are
1:05:11almost out." On the way to work, you
1:05:13notice a person with a big dog and
1:05:15think, "Wow, that dog is huge." At work,
1:05:19before an important call, you rehearse,
1:05:21"Hello, thanks for your time. Let me
1:05:23share a quick update." At lunch, you
1:05:26think, "I am so hungry, I could eat a
1:05:28horse." In the evening, you replay a
1:05:30small moment from the day and say it
1:05:32better. And before sleeping, you think,
1:05:35"Today was a good day. I did my best."
1:05:38None of this required a book. None of it
1:05:40required a teacher. None of it required
1:05:42extra time. And yet, in one day, you
1:05:45created dozens of English thoughts.
1:05:47Dozens. Multiply that by 30 days and you
1:05:51have more than a thousand. [music]
1:05:52Multiply it by a year and the number
1:05:54becomes so big that English must become
1:05:57part of your mind. it has no choice. Let
1:06:00me give you a few more ways to deepen
1:06:01your inner English voice because the
1:06:04more you use it, the faster it grows.
1:06:06The first way is to give your inner
1:06:08voice a daily theme. On Monday, the
1:06:11theme is food. All day whenever you see
1:06:13or think about food, describe it in
1:06:15English. On Tuesday, the theme is
1:06:17people. Describe the people you see,
1:06:20what they wear, how they seem to feel.
1:06:22On Wednesday, the theme is work. On
1:06:24Thursday, the theme is feelings. On
1:06:27Friday, the theme is plans. On the
1:06:30weekend, the theme is free choice. A
1:06:33theme gives your inner voice a direction
1:06:35and it makes sure that you meet fresh
1:06:36vocabulary each day without feeling lost
1:06:39in too many possibilities. The second
1:06:42way is to let your inner voice ask
1:06:44questions. Ask yourself in English, why
1:06:47did I do that? What do I want for
1:06:49dinner? What is the best thing that
1:06:51happened today? What would I like to
1:06:53learn next? Asking and answering inside
1:06:55your own mind trains both sides of a
1:06:58conversation and it also builds clear
1:07:00thinking because questions make your
1:07:02ideas sharper. The third way is to use
1:07:05storytelling in your mind. While you are
1:07:07waiting or traveling, imagine a short
1:07:10story and tell it to yourself in
1:07:11English. It can be about your day or
1:07:14something invented. A man missed his
1:07:16train. He ran to the next station but he
1:07:18was too late again. Then a stranger
1:07:21offered him a ride. Stories train the
1:07:23sequence of speech, the way we move from
1:07:25one event to the next, and they are very
1:07:27natural for the brain, because humans
1:07:29have told stories for thousands of
1:07:31years. The fourth way is to let your
1:07:33inner voice sing. Yes, sing. Choose an
1:07:37English song you love and sing it
1:07:39quietly or hum along and say the words
1:07:41in your mind. Songs carry rhythm,
1:07:44stress, and emotion, and they stay in
1:07:46memory for years. Many learners remember
1:07:48phrases from songs more strongly than
1:07:50anything from a book. Just be careful to
1:07:53choose songs with clear simple words and
1:07:55enjoy them without worry. Let me tell
1:07:57you about a student named Yuki who was
1:08:00very shy and found speaking aloud very
1:08:02hard. She started with only the inner
1:08:04voice and she never spoke English out
1:08:06loud for the first month. Every day she
1:08:09narrated, reacted, rehearsed and debated
1:08:12in her mind. After a month, I asked her
1:08:14to speak a few sentences to me. I
1:08:17expected a long silence, but she began
1:08:19to talk smoothly, naturally, as if she
1:08:22had been speaking for years. I asked
1:08:24her, "How is this possible?" She smiled
1:08:27and said, "I have been talking all
1:08:29month, only quietly." This is the magic
1:08:31of the inner voice. It is a private
1:08:34rehearsal room, and when you finally
1:08:36step onto the stage, you are already
1:08:38prepared. So, be generous with your
1:08:40inner English. Give it time every day,
1:08:42even in small amounts. It is the quiet
1:08:45engine under all your fluency and it
1:08:47never gets tired. I should also mention
1:08:49an important caution. Do not use your
1:08:52inner voice to repeat the same mistakes
1:08:54over and over. If you notice that you
1:08:56always say a certain phrase incorrectly,
1:08:58take a moment to check it and fix it in
1:09:00your mind with a correct version. The
1:09:02inner voice is powerful and what it
1:09:05repeats becomes strong. So let it repeat
1:09:07what you want to keep. A quick check now
1:09:09and then, a short note, a correct model
1:09:12is enough to keep your practice healthy.
1:09:14Here is your practice for this week.
1:09:16First, choose three daily moments that
1:09:18will always be your English moments. For
1:09:21example, making tea, walking to the bus,
1:09:24and brushing your teeth. During these
1:09:26three moments, your inner voice only
1:09:28speaks English at least for one or two
1:09:30minutes. Second, start your word bank
1:09:33with five words and bring them into your
1:09:36inner speech. Third, when your inner
1:09:39critic appears, answer it kindly in
1:09:41English at least once a day. That is
1:09:44all. It is gentle. It is not heavy, but
1:09:47it is powerful because it moves English
1:09:50from the outside of your life to the
1:09:51inside. In the next chapter, we are
1:09:54going to go even further. We are going
1:09:56to look at your real daily life hour by
1:09:59hour and discover how every ordinary
1:10:02moment can become fuel for fluent
1:10:04speech. You do not need more time. You
1:10:07need to see the time you already have in
1:10:08a new way. Let us go and find it.
1:10:11Chapter 5. The daily thought stream. Let
1:10:14me ask you something that may sound
1:10:16strange. How many thoughts do you think
1:10:18you have in one day? 10, 100, a
1:10:22thousand? Scientists who study the mind
1:10:25believe that a person has tens of
1:10:27thousands of thoughts every single day.
1:10:29Most of them are small and quiet. What
1:10:31shall I eat? Where are my keys? I need
1:10:34to answer that message. Oh, it is
1:10:36raining. I forgot to call him. Thought
1:10:39after thought after thought, like a
1:10:41river that never stops flowing. I call
1:10:44this river your daily thought stream.
1:10:46And here is the exciting part. This
1:10:48stream is the best English teacher you
1:10:50will ever find. Why? Because it is made
1:10:53of exactly the things you really want to
1:10:55say. Not the madeup examples from a
1:10:58textbook, not the dialogue between two
1:11:00strangers in a cartoon restaurant, but
1:11:02your own real everyday life. Your own
1:11:05world, your own needs, your own words.
1:11:08Most English learners study English in
1:11:10one place at one time with one book and
1:11:12then they close the book and live their
1:11:14real life in their first language. Two
1:11:17separate worlds. English belongs to the
1:11:19desk. Life belongs to the other
1:11:21language. And this separation is one of
1:11:23the biggest reasons why progress feels
1:11:25so slow. What we are going to do in this
1:11:28chapter is break that wall. We are going
1:11:30to bring English into the middle of your
1:11:32real day. And you will see that you do
1:11:34not need extra hours. You need only a
1:11:36new way of looking at the hours you
1:11:38already have. Let us walk through a
1:11:40normal day together and find the hidden
1:11:42English opportunities in it. Start with
1:11:45the morning. When you wake up, you have
1:11:47a few quiet minutes before the day
1:11:49begins. Use them. Think, what is my plan
1:11:53for today? What do I need to do first?
1:11:55What am I looking forward to? Say it in
1:11:58your mind or say it quietly out loud.
1:12:00Today I have to finish the report and
1:12:02then I want to go for a walk. Simple,
1:12:05clear, and just like that, you have
1:12:07trained your first thought stream of the
1:12:09day. When you get dressed, name what you
1:12:12are wearing and what the weather is
1:12:13like. It is cold today, so I need a
1:12:16jacket. When you make breakfast, talk
1:12:18through it. I am going to make some
1:12:20eggs. Where is the pan? Oh, there it is.
1:12:24This is not silly. This is exactly the
1:12:27kind of natural, practical English that
1:12:29you will need in real conversations.
1:12:31Pans, jackets, weather, plans. It is the
1:12:35language of life. On your way to work or
1:12:38school, the world gives you endless
1:12:40material. People, buildings, sounds,
1:12:43moods. Describe them silently in
1:12:46English. That man looks tired. The bus
1:12:49is late again. I wonder if there is a
1:12:51faster way. Do not translate. Just let
1:12:54the English flow with what you see. At
1:12:56work or study, pay attention to the
1:12:58phrases people use around you. If you
1:13:01work with English speakers, listen like
1:13:03a detective. What do they say when they
1:13:05agree? What do they say when they are
1:13:07not sure? How do they start a meeting?
1:13:10How do they end an email? Each one is a
1:13:12free lesson. And the best part is that
1:13:14you do not have to study it. You only
1:13:17have to notice it. Over time, you will
1:13:19start to copy the best phrases and use
1:13:21them in your own speech. Even if you do
1:13:24not work with English speakers, you can
1:13:26still use your work. Think of your tasks
1:13:28in English. I need to send this file. I
1:13:31have a meeting at 3. I forgot to check
1:13:33that number. You are building a special
1:13:35collection of English that matches your
1:13:37real job. The exact words that you will
1:13:40one day need in an interview, a call, or
1:13:42a presentation. At lunch, you can
1:13:45describe your food or make a plan for
1:13:47the evening or tell yourself a small
1:13:49story about your morning. This morning
1:13:51was so busy. First, I had a meeting,
1:13:54then I had to fix an error, and then I
1:13:56was starving. Look at that. Three small
1:13:59pieces, a complete story, and you made
1:14:01it while eating a sandwich. In the
1:14:04afternoon, when your energy goes down,
1:14:06you can use a small break to talk to
1:14:08yourself about how you feel or what you
1:14:10need. I am a bit tired. I need some
1:14:13fresh air. I will take a short walk.
1:14:15Self-t talk is simple and it is one of
1:14:17the most natural kinds of speech. In the
1:14:20evening, you have more time to practice.
1:14:22Cooking, cleaning, relaxing. You can
1:14:25describe your day to an imaginary friend
1:14:27or you can speak out loud for 2 or 3
1:14:29minutes to an empty room. This is called
1:14:31a daily recap and it is one of my
1:14:33favorite exercises. Let me tell you how
1:14:36it works. At the end of the day, sit
1:14:38down for a few minutes and talk about
1:14:40your day in English out loud. Start with
1:14:43the sentence, "Today was Today was busy.
1:14:46Today was boring. Today was surprisingly
1:14:50good." Then explain why in small pieces.
1:14:53What happened first? What happened next?
1:14:56What was the best moment? What was the
1:14:58worst moment? What did you learn? How do
1:15:01you feel now? Speak for 2 minutes if you
1:15:04can. Do not stop to correct yourself. If
1:15:07you do not know a word, use a simple one
1:15:10or describe it in other words. This
1:15:12simple habit has helped many of my
1:15:14students. The reason is that you are
1:15:16telling a real story with real feelings
1:15:19and your brain is deeply connected to
1:15:21the story. You are not memorizing, you
1:15:23are remembering and expressing and the
1:15:26more you do it, the faster it gets. A
1:15:28student named Priya told me she was
1:15:30doing the daily recap for just 2 minutes
1:15:33every night. At first, she could only
1:15:35say a few sentences and she felt nervous
1:15:37even when alone. But after 4 weeks, she
1:15:40was speaking for 5 minutes without
1:15:42stopping. After 8 weeks, she told me
1:15:44that she had begun to dream in English.
1:15:46I laughed and said, "What did you dream
1:15:48about?" She said, "I do not remember,
1:15:51but I know it was English." I could feel
1:15:53the words. It sounds like a small thing,
1:15:56but it is a very big signal. When
1:15:59English starts to enter your dreams, it
1:16:01means it has entered the deep part of
1:16:03your mind. Now, I want to give you a
1:16:05very practical tool for the daily
1:16:07thought stream. I call it the three
1:16:09question habit. Every time you have a
1:16:11thought during the day, you can ask
1:16:13yourself three quick questions. Question
1:16:16one, can I say this in English? Just ask
1:16:18it. Not in a heavy way, just a gentle
1:16:21check. When you think I am hungry, ask
1:16:23yourself, how would I say that? Oh, I am
1:16:26hungry. Easy. When you think something
1:16:29more complex like I am worried that my
1:16:31boss does not like my idea, ask again.
1:16:34How would I say that? I am worried that
1:16:37my boss does not like my idea. If you
1:16:39can say it, great. You just practiced.
1:16:42Question two. If I cannot say it, what
1:16:45is the simple way? Do not stop. Find the
1:16:48easy version. I am worried my boss does
1:16:50not like my idea. Or even simpler, I
1:16:53think my boss does not like my idea. Do
1:16:56not search for the fancy word. Search
1:16:58for the simple road. Question three. If
1:17:00I still cannot say it, what is missing?
1:17:03Here you notice the gap and you put it
1:17:05in your gap note. Maybe the missing
1:17:07piece is a verb or an expression or a
1:17:10word for a feeling. You [music] note it
1:17:12and later you learn it. In a week you
1:17:14will have collected dozens of useful
1:17:16personal words that no textbook could
1:17:18have predicted. Three questions. Can I
1:17:22say it? What is the simple way? What is
1:17:24missing? This habit takes only a few
1:17:26seconds each time, but over a whole day,
1:17:29it can give you 20 or 30 small training
1:17:31moments. Let me tell you about something
1:17:33called micro practice. Many people
1:17:36believe that to improve, they need a big
1:17:38block of time, like one or two hours of
1:17:41study. But the brain loves small,
1:17:43frequent practice much more than rare
1:17:45long practice. A one minute practice
1:17:48done 10 times a day is much better than
1:17:50one 10-minute practice done once. Why?
1:17:54Because memory grows with repetition
1:17:56spread across time. Each time you come
1:17:58back to a phrase, your brain says, "Oh,
1:18:02this again. It must be important." And
1:18:04it makes the connection stronger. So,
1:18:07think of your day as a set of tiny
1:18:08training windows. While the kettle
1:18:10boils, you have 1 minute. While you wait
1:18:13for the elevator, you have 30 seconds.
1:18:15While you walk to the shop, you have 5
1:18:17minutes. While you wait for a video to
1:18:19load, you [music] have 10 seconds. Fill
1:18:22those windows with English thoughts. By
1:18:24the end of the day, those little windows
1:18:26will add up to a surprising amount of
1:18:28real practice. There is another
1:18:30important part of the daily thought
1:18:32stream, and that is speaking to real
1:18:34people, even in tiny ways. You may not
1:18:37have a lot of English speakers around
1:18:39you, but you may have some chances. A
1:18:41short chat with a shop assistant, a
1:18:44greeting to a neighbor, a comment on an
1:18:46online video, a voice message to a
1:18:48friend, a short call with a language
1:18:50partner. Each of these chances is a
1:18:52small test of your road from thought to
1:18:54mouth. Take as many as you can. If you
1:18:57really have no one to talk to, you can
1:18:59talk to your phone. Record a voice
1:19:01message to yourself. Speak for one
1:19:03minute about anything, then listen to
1:19:05it. This may feel uncomfortable at first
1:19:08because nobody enjoys hearing their own
1:19:10voice, but it is incredibly useful. You
1:19:12will hear where you pause, which words
1:19:14you stress, and what sounds natural or
1:19:16not. After a few weeks, you can compare
1:19:19your first recording and your latest
1:19:21one. The difference can be so large that
1:19:23it makes you proud. I once asked a
1:19:25student to record himself every Sunday
1:19:28speaking for 2 minutes about his week.
1:19:30After 3 months, I asked him to listen to
1:19:32the first and last recordings. He
1:19:35listened to the first one and he winced.
1:19:37He said, "Wow, I sounded so nervous."
1:19:41Then he listened to the last one and he
1:19:43was quiet for a moment. Then he said,
1:19:45"Ryan, that person sounds like someone
1:19:47who knows what he is doing." I said, "He
1:19:50does." Seeing your own progress is a
1:19:53very strong motivation. It reminds you
1:19:55that you are moving even on the days
1:19:57when you feel stuck. Now, a word about
1:20:00perfection because it matters here too.
1:20:03When you practice with your daily
1:20:04thought stream, you will often feel that
1:20:06your sentences are not good enough. You
1:20:08may use the wrong tense. You may choose
1:20:10a weak word. You may say something that
1:20:12sounds odd. And you may feel the urge to
1:20:15stop and fix everything. Resist that
1:20:17urge. In this kind of practice, speed
1:20:19and flow are more important than
1:20:21accuracy. Accuracy will grow by itself
1:20:24as you meet more and more English in the
1:20:25real world. A good rule is the 70% rule.
1:20:29If your sentence is about 70% right, say
1:20:32it and move on. Do not wait for 100%. A
1:20:3670% sentence spoken at the right moment
1:20:39can build a conversation. A 100%
1:20:42sentence delayed too long builds
1:20:44nothing. And here is something else to
1:20:46remember. The more you speak, the more
1:20:49chances you give yourself to hear
1:20:50corrections from people, from videos,
1:20:53from lessons, from your own ear. Fluency
1:20:56makes accuracy easier, not harder.
1:20:58Because when you speak a lot, you have
1:21:00something real to correct. If you never
1:21:02speak, there is nothing to improve. Let
1:21:05me share a few simple daily habits that
1:21:07can help you build your thought stream.
1:21:09Think of them as small seeds and you can
1:21:11plant them one by one. The first seed is
1:21:14the morning plan. Say your plan for the
1:21:16day in English for 30 seconds. The
1:21:19second seed is the walking narration.
1:21:22Describe what you see on your way for 3
1:21:24or 5 minutes. The third seed is the
1:21:26lunch story. Tell yourself one small
1:21:29story from the morning in three small
1:21:31pieces. The fourth seed is the question
1:21:33of the day. Ask yourself one interesting
1:21:36question and answer it in English. For
1:21:38example, what is one thing I am grateful
1:21:41for today? Or what would I change about
1:21:44my city or what makes me laugh? The
1:21:47fifth seed is the evening recap. Speak
1:21:50for 2 minutes about your day out loud.
1:21:53Five seeds about 10 minutes in total
1:21:56spread across the whole day and they fit
1:21:58into any life no matter how busy you
1:22:00are. If you are thinking Ryan I cannot
1:22:04do all of that I understand. So start
1:22:06with one seed only. Choose the one that
1:22:09feels easiest. After a week add a
1:22:12second. After a month you will have a
1:22:14garden. Remember the goal is not to
1:22:16become a perfect student of English. The
1:22:19goal is to become a person who lives a
1:22:21little bit of life in English every day.
1:22:23And the more of your life you live in
1:22:24English, the less English will feel like
1:22:26a foreign object and the more it will
1:22:29feel like your own. Let me add some
1:22:31practical help for the days when your
1:22:32energy is low because those are the days
1:22:35that decide whether a habit survives. On
1:22:38a low energy day, do not skip English.
1:22:41Simply make it smaller. Instead of a
1:22:435-minut recap, do one minute. Instead of
1:22:46a long walk narration, name three things
1:22:48you see. Instead of a full conversation,
1:22:51send one voice message of 15 seconds.
1:22:55The point is to keep the line alive. A
1:22:57tiny practice on a tired day is worth
1:22:59more than a perfect practice that never
1:23:01happens. On a busy day, use what I call
1:23:05sandwich practice. Put your English
1:23:07between other tasks. Before you open
1:23:09your laptop, say one sentence in English
1:23:12about your plan. After you close it, say
1:23:14one sentence about what you finished.
1:23:17Those two sentences take 10 seconds and
1:23:19they turn your whole work session into a
1:23:21small English sandwich. On a lonely day,
1:23:24find a voice, listen to a podcast, a
1:23:27video, or a show and talk back to it.
1:23:30Agree, disagree, laugh, ask questions
1:23:33out loud in English. This turns passive
1:23:36listening into active speaking, and it
1:23:38makes you feel less alone. You become
1:23:40part of the conversation even if only
1:23:42one side is real. On a day when you have
1:23:45almost no time, use the three sentence
1:23:48day. Before you sleep, say exactly three
1:23:51sentences in English about your day.
1:23:53Today I was busy. I did not have much
1:23:55time, but I am happy I finished my main
1:23:58task. That is all. Three sentences, 30
1:24:01seconds. And your chain remains
1:24:03unbroken. Let me also say something
1:24:05about the people around you. Sometimes
1:24:08friends or family members do not
1:24:10understand why you are working so hard
1:24:11on your English. They may laugh or say,
1:24:14"Why do you bother? Your English is
1:24:17already fine." Or they may correct you
1:24:19too much and you feel small. Please do
1:24:21not let those voices decide your path.
1:24:24Share your goal with people who support
1:24:26you and keep your private practice
1:24:28private if that makes you feel safer.
1:24:30And if you can find even one person who
1:24:32encourages you, a friend, a partner, a
1:24:35teacher, or an online community, hold on
1:24:37to that person. Encouragement is like
1:24:40fuel. It helps the engine run longer. I
1:24:43have seen students who learned alone.
1:24:45And I have seen students who learned
1:24:47with a friend. Those who learned with a
1:24:49friend often went further, not because
1:24:52they were smarter, but because they
1:24:53spoke more often. Two learners meeting
1:24:56for 10 minutes a day to speak in English
1:24:59about anything can make remarkable
1:25:01progress. If you can find a partner,
1:25:03even someone at the same level, do it.
1:25:06You will correct each other gently,
1:25:08laugh together, and keep each other
1:25:09going. If you cannot find a partner, do
1:25:12not worry. The daily thought stream is
1:25:14enough to move you forward. Many
1:25:16students have reached fluency using only
1:25:18their own voice, their own life, and
1:25:20their own courage. And so can you. Let
1:25:23me tell you one last story for this
1:25:25chapter. There was an old man named
1:25:27Joseph who started learning English at
1:25:29the age of 63. He was a retired farmer
1:25:32and he told me, "I am too old." I
1:25:34answered, "You are the right age because
1:25:37you have time and stories." Joseph
1:25:39started telling his stories to his empty
1:25:41farmhouse every evening in English, the
1:25:44cow that escaped, the year of the big
1:25:46flood, the day his grandson was born. At
1:25:49first, his sentences were short and full
1:25:51of mistakes, but he never stopped. Two
1:25:54years later, he traveled to visit his
1:25:56grandson abroad, and he spoke with the
1:25:58whole family at dinner for the first
1:25:59time in English. He told me with tears
1:26:02in his eyes, I told them the story of
1:26:04the cow. Joseph did not have a perfect
1:26:07method. He had a real story and the
1:26:10courage to tell it, and that was enough.
1:26:13Your life is full of stories, too. Your
1:26:15breakfast, your commute, your jokes,
1:26:17your worries, your dreams. All of this
1:26:20is material. All of this is English
1:26:23waiting to be spoken. In the next
1:26:25chapter, we will explore something that
1:26:27surprises many learners. We will see why
1:26:30simple sentences are not a weakness but
1:26:32a superpower and how the best speakers
1:26:34in the world use them to sound clear,
1:26:36strong, and unforgettable.
1:26:39Simple is about to become your favorite
1:26:40word. Chapter 6. Say it simple. Here is
1:26:44a question that I ask every new student.
1:26:47Which sounds more intelligent? Sentence
1:26:49number one, I am of the opinion that the
1:26:52proposed course of action may not be the
1:26:54most advantageous one at this particular
1:26:56point in time. Or sentence number two, I
1:26:59do not think this is a good idea right
1:27:01now. Most learners say the first one, it
1:27:04sounds smarter, it sounds more serious,
1:27:07it uses bigger words. But then I ask a
1:27:10second question. Which one would you
1:27:12rather hear from a friend across the
1:27:13table? And everyone smiles and says,
1:27:16"The second one." This is one of the
1:27:18biggest secrets of spoken English.
1:27:20Simple does not mean less intelligent.
1:27:22Simple means clear. And in conversation,
1:27:25clear wins every single time. Think
1:27:28about the greatest speakers you know.
1:27:30The ones who touch people's hearts, the
1:27:32ones who make a room go quiet. If you
1:27:34listen to their words, you will notice
1:27:36something interesting. They do not use
1:27:38long, heavy sentences. They use short,
1:27:41strong, simple ones. I have a dream. We
1:27:44shall never surrender. Yes, we can. Just
1:27:47do it. The most powerful sentences in
1:27:49history are often the simplest. Why is
1:27:52that? Because simple language travels
1:27:54fast. The listener does not have to
1:27:56decode it. It goes straight into the
1:27:58mind and the heart. And that is exactly
1:28:00what you want when you speak. You want
1:28:02your thought to arrive in the other
1:28:04person's mind quickly, clearly, and with
1:28:06energy. Yet many English learners do the
1:28:09opposite. They believe that to sound
1:28:11good, they must sound complicated. They
1:28:13collect big words and long structures
1:28:16and they try to use them in
1:28:17conversation. And what happens? They
1:28:19slow down. They hesitate. They search
1:28:22for the fancy word and the moment
1:28:24passes. Or they say the fancy word
1:28:26incorrectly and the listener becomes
1:28:28confused. The effort to sound impressive
1:28:30actually makes them sound less fluent.
1:28:32Let me tell you a story. A student named
1:28:35Hassan wanted to impress his new
1:28:36manager. In his first meeting, he
1:28:39decided to use advanced vocabulary. He
1:28:41said, "I would like to elucidate the
1:28:43ramifications of the aforementioned
1:28:45strategy." His manager blinked, smiled
1:28:48politely, and said, "Sorry, could you
1:28:51say that again in simpler words?" Hassan
1:28:53felt his face turn red. He said, "I
1:28:56mean, I want to explain what could
1:28:58happen if we use this plan." And the
1:29:00manager said, "Great. Now I understand.
1:29:04Later, Hassan told me that was the worst
1:29:06moment of my week. But I told him it was
1:29:09actually a gift because it taught you
1:29:11something important. Your manager did
1:29:13not want big words. He wanted a clear
1:29:16idea and you gave it to him as soon as
1:29:18you stopped trying to impress. Simple
1:29:20English is not a lower level. It is a
1:29:23professional tool. Native speakers use
1:29:25simple English in almost every important
1:29:27conversation from business meetings to
1:29:29family dinners. They use it because it
1:29:32works. So let us build the skill of
1:29:34saying it simple. I will give you four
1:29:36rules and they are easy to remember.
1:29:39Rule one, use short words when they are
1:29:41available. Instead of purchase, say buy.
1:29:45Instead of commence, say start. Instead
1:29:47of assist, say help. Instead of utilize,
1:29:50say use. Instead of approximately, say
1:29:53about. Notice how each short word is
1:29:56warm, quick, and friendly. You are not
1:29:58losing meaning. you are gaining speed.
1:30:00When you have a choice between a long
1:30:02word and a short word in speaking,
1:30:04choose the short one. Rule two, use
1:30:07short sentences when you can. A sentence
1:30:10with one idea is easy to say and easy to
1:30:12understand. A sentence with four ideas
1:30:15is hard for you to build and hard for
1:30:18your listener to follow. If you notice
1:30:20that your sentence is getting long, stop
1:30:22and cut it in two. I went to the shop
1:30:24and I wanted to buy bread but it was
1:30:27closed. So I went to another shop which
1:30:29was far away. That is a long train of
1:30:31words. Cut it. I went to the shop. I
1:30:34wanted to buy bread but it was closed.
1:30:37So I went to another shop. It was far
1:30:39away. Much easier. Much clearer. Rule
1:30:42three. Use the active voice when you
1:30:45can. Say who did what. Instead of the
1:30:47report was finished by the team. Say the
1:30:50team finished the report. Instead of a
1:30:53mistake was made, say I made a mistake.
1:30:56Active sentences are direct and strong
1:30:58and they are usually easier to form. The
1:31:01doer comes first then the action. Simple
1:31:04order, simple road. Rule four, say what
1:31:07you mean directly. Many learners wrap
1:31:10their ideas in a lot of soft extra words
1:31:13because they are afraid to sound rude.
1:31:15They say, "I was just wondering if maybe
1:31:17it might be possible that you could
1:31:19possibly help me if it is not too much
1:31:22trouble." In English, a little
1:31:24politeness is good, but too much can
1:31:26sound confusing or even nervous. A
1:31:28simple polite request is enough. Could
1:31:30you help me please? Or, "Can you give me
1:31:33a hand?" Direct, kind, and clear. These
1:31:36four rules can change the way you speak.
1:31:39But I want to go one step deeper. I want
1:31:41to give you a practical tool for
1:31:42building simple sentences quickly. I
1:31:45call it the core pattern in English.
1:31:47Most simple sentences follow a very
1:31:49common shape. Who does what or who is
1:31:54how. Look at these. I like coffee. She
1:31:58works in a bank. We are tired. They live
1:32:00nearby. My brother plays football. The
1:32:03shape is always the same. A person or
1:32:05thing. Then an action or a state. Then a
1:32:08detail. Subject. Verb. extra. If you
1:32:11master this basic shape, you can say
1:32:13almost anything. The key is that you do
1:32:16not need to build a new structure each
1:32:17time. You use the same road again and
1:32:21again, and you only change the stops.
1:32:23Today I met an old friend. Yesterday I
1:32:26lost my phone. Tomorrow we are visiting
1:32:28my aunt. Same road, different stops.
1:32:31Practice this by choosing a verb and
1:32:33saying it with many different people and
1:32:35places. [music] Take the verb want. I
1:32:38want a coffee. She wants a new job. We
1:32:40want to travel. They want to know the
1:32:43price. You want too much. Take the verb
1:32:46need. I need some rest. He needs help.
1:32:49We need a plan. Say it again and again
1:32:52until the pattern feels like a path in
1:32:54your feet. Now, you might be wondering,
1:32:57"But Ryan, will I sound boring if I only
1:32:59use simple sentences?" That is a very
1:33:02good question. And the answer is no. If
1:33:05you add one special ingredient, that
1:33:07ingredient is color. Color means details
1:33:10that make your sentence alive. Not
1:33:13complicated grammar, but vivid specific
1:33:15words. Compare these two sentences. The
1:33:18food was good and the food was hot,
1:33:21fresh, and full of flavor. Both are
1:33:24simple, but the second one makes us
1:33:26taste the meal. Or compare I was happy
1:33:29with, I was so happy that I could not
1:33:32stop smiling. Still simple, still easy,
1:33:35but now we feel the emotion. You can add
1:33:38color in three easy ways. First, use
1:33:41feeling words. Excited, nervous, proud,
1:33:44annoyed, relieved, surprised. These tiny
1:33:47words open a window into your heart.
1:33:50Second, use sense words. What did you
1:33:52see, hear, smell, taste, or touch? The
1:33:56room was cold and quiet. The soup
1:33:58smelled amazing. The music was so loud
1:34:01that my ears hurt. Third, use small
1:34:04comparisons. It was as quiet as a
1:34:06library. He runs like the wind. She was
1:34:08as nervous as a cat in a bath. Short
1:34:11comparisons are fun and they make your
1:34:13English memorable. With simple structure
1:34:16and bright color, you can be both clear
1:34:18and interesting. That is the secret of
1:34:20great storytellers. They do not use
1:34:22difficult words. They use simple words
1:34:25in a vivid way. Let me give you an
1:34:27example of how this looks in practice.
1:34:30Suppose you want to tell someone about a
1:34:32trip to the mountains. A plain version
1:34:34might be, "I went to the mountains. It
1:34:36was nice." A colorful but simple version
1:34:39might be, "Last weekend, I went to the
1:34:42mountains. The air was cold and fresh.
1:34:44The sky was full of stars. I felt so
1:34:47calm. I did not want to go home." Do you
1:34:50see how those short sentences paint a
1:34:52picture? Five tiny sentences, not one
1:34:56difficult word, and yet it is beautiful.
1:34:59I want you to try this now. Think of a
1:35:02place you like. Say five short sentences
1:35:04about it. Use at least one feeling word
1:35:07and one sense word. Take a moment and do
1:35:09it out loud if you can. Well done. That
1:35:13is real English. The kind of English
1:35:15people love to listen to. Let me now
1:35:17share a trick for turning complicated
1:35:19thoughts into simple ones. Because this
1:35:21is a skill that you will use every day.
1:35:24I call it the explain to a child method.
1:35:26When you have a complicated idea in your
1:35:28mind and you do not know how to say it,
1:35:31imagine that you must explain it to a
1:35:3310-year-old child. What would you say?
1:35:35You would use easy words. You would use
1:35:38a short sentence. You would give a
1:35:40simple example. For instance, suppose
1:35:42you want to explain what inflation is.
1:35:45The complicated version has many
1:35:46abstract words. The child version is
1:35:49inflation means that things cost more
1:35:51money over time. Last year, a loaf of
1:35:54bread cost $2. This year it costs three.
1:35:58That is inflation. Clear, easy, and
1:36:01honestly it is better than the
1:36:02complicated version even for adults.
1:36:05This trick works for any subject. Your
1:36:08job, your hobby, a problem you have, a
1:36:11news story. If you can explain it to a
1:36:13child, you can say it in English. And if
1:36:16you can say it simply, you truly
1:36:17understand it. Another useful habit is
1:36:20to reduce your sentence to its core.
1:36:22Before you speak, ask what is the main
1:36:25point I want to say. Then say that
1:36:27first. The details can follow later if
1:36:30the other person is interested. Many
1:36:32learners start with the details and get
1:36:34lost before they reach the point. Do the
1:36:36opposite. Point first, details after. I
1:36:40am going to be late. The traffic is bad.
1:36:43Or I need a day off. My sister is
1:36:46getting married. The main point leads
1:36:48the reason follows. This is also very
1:36:51useful in professional situations. When
1:36:53your boss asks, "How is the project
1:36:55going?" Do not start with a long
1:36:57history. Start with the answer. It is
1:37:00going well. We finished the first stage.
1:37:02We are starting the second stage next
1:37:04week. Short, clean, confident. Your boss
1:37:08will think, "This person is clear and I
1:37:10trust them." Now, let me say a few words
1:37:13about the fear of sounding childish. I
1:37:15know that this fear is real. Some of you
1:37:17worry that if you speak in simple
1:37:19English, people will think you do not
1:37:21know much. I understand that worry. But
1:37:23let me tell you what really happens.
1:37:25When you speak simply and clearly,
1:37:27people feel comfortable. They understand
1:37:30you. They relax. They want to talk more.
1:37:33People who speak in a complicated way
1:37:35often make others feel tense and tired.
1:37:37But a person who speaks simply makes
1:37:39others feel safe. Also remember that
1:37:42most people in the world who speak
1:37:44English are not native speakers.
1:37:46International English, the English used
1:37:48between people from different countries,
1:37:50is full of simple, clear sentences
1:37:52because everyone is trying to understand
1:37:54each other. In that world, a person who
1:37:56speaks simply is a master, not a
1:37:58beginner. A student named Lucia worked
1:38:01in an international company with people
1:38:03from 12 different countries. She told me
1:38:05that the best speaker on her team was a
1:38:08quiet man who used only simple words.
1:38:10Everyone understood him. Everyone
1:38:12listened to him. And when he spoke, the
1:38:14meeting became calmer and smarter. She
1:38:17said he never used one big word, but he
1:38:19was the most respected person in the
1:38:21room. That is the power of simple. Let
1:38:24me give you a few extra examples of
1:38:26simple English because seeing the
1:38:28difference is the best teacher. Here is
1:38:30a complicated way of speaking followed
1:38:32by the simple way. Complicated. I am
1:38:36currently experiencing difficulties in
1:38:38locating my documents. Simple. I cannot
1:38:41find my papers. Complicated. It would be
1:38:44greatly appreciated if you could provide
1:38:46me with further information. Simple.
1:38:49Could you tell me more? Complicated. I
1:38:52regret to inform you that I will be
1:38:53unable to attend the meeting. Simple.
1:38:56Sorry, I cannot come to the meeting.
1:38:59Complicated. The individual in question
1:39:01demonstrated considerable enthusiasm.
1:39:04Simple. He was really excited.
1:39:07Complicated. Subsequent to the
1:39:09conclusion of the lecture, we proceeded
1:39:11to the cafeteria. Simple. After the
1:39:13lecture, we went to the cafeteria. Say
1:39:16them out loud and feel the difference in
1:39:18your mouth. The simple versions are
1:39:20lighter. They fly. And they sound like a
1:39:22real person talking, not like a letter
1:39:24from a government office. Now, let me
1:39:27teach you a small tool called the
1:39:28three-step cut. When you notice that
1:39:31your sentence is too heavy, do three
1:39:33things. Step one, cut the extra words.
1:39:37Remove anything that does not add
1:39:39meaning. Step two, replace the long
1:39:41words with short ones. Step three, split
1:39:44the sentence if it has more than one
1:39:46idea. Let us try it together. Start with
1:39:50in the event that you happen to have any
1:39:52additional questions, please do not
1:39:54hesitate to contact me. Cut the extra
1:39:56words and we have if you have more
1:39:58questions, please contact me. Replace
1:40:01long words and we have if you have more
1:40:04questions, just ask me. Split it and we
1:40:07have, "You may have more questions. Just
1:40:10ask me." Perfect. Clear, friendly, and
1:40:13easy to say. Practice the three-step cut
1:40:16on a few sentences from your own life. A
1:40:18message you wrote, a sentence from an
1:40:20old email, a line from a book. Cut it,
1:40:24replace it, split it. After 10 or 20
1:40:26tries, your brain will do it
1:40:28automatically, even in the middle of a
1:40:30live conversation. One more point,
1:40:33simple English is especially important
1:40:35when you are explaining something
1:40:36difficult. People often think that
1:40:38complex subjects need complex words. The
1:40:41opposite is true. The more complex the
1:40:44subject, the more important it is to use
1:40:46simple language so that the listener
1:40:48does not have to fight with both the
1:40:49idea and the words at the same time. The
1:40:52best teachers in the world are masters
1:40:53of simple explanation. They take a
1:40:56mountain and show it as a small friendly
1:40:58hill. Let me share a final thought about
1:41:00simple speech. When you speak simply,
1:41:02you show respect for your listener. You
1:41:05say, "I want you to understand me and I
1:41:07will make it easy for you." That is a
1:41:09kind of generosity. And people feel it.
1:41:11They lean in. They trust you. They
1:41:14remember what you said. Being simple is
1:41:16not being small. It is being kind and it
1:41:19is being strong at the same time. Let me
1:41:22summarize the practice for this chapter.
1:41:24Every day take one complicated thought
1:41:26and turn it into a simple one. Say it
1:41:29first in a complex way if you want and
1:41:31then say it again in the simplest way
1:41:33you can. Do this three times a day. It
1:41:36will train your brain to look for the
1:41:38easy road automatically. A second
1:41:40exercise is to retell a short story in
1:41:43simple words. Take a news story, a movie
1:41:45scene or something you read. Tell it to
1:41:48yourself or to a friend in five or six
1:41:50short sentences. This will train you to
1:41:53extract the core and express it clearly.
1:41:56A third exercise is to add color to a
1:41:58plain sentence. Take a plain sentence
1:42:00like the day was bad and make it come
1:42:03alive. The day was terrible. My phone
1:42:06broke. I missed the bus and it started
1:42:08raining. I was so annoyed. See how
1:42:11simple pieces create a strong picture.
1:42:13These exercises take only a few minutes
1:42:15each and they will build a habit of
1:42:17clarity. Before we end, I want to leave
1:42:20you with a thought. Fluency is not about
1:42:22saying difficult things. Fluency is
1:42:25about saying anything easily. If you can
1:42:27say simple things quickly and naturally,
1:42:29you are already fluent in the way that
1:42:31matters most. And from that strong,
1:42:33simple base, you can grow into more
1:42:35advanced language whenever you want
1:42:37without losing your ease. Think of a
1:42:39tree. The trunk is simple, strong, and
1:42:42steady. The branches and leaves are
1:42:44many, but they all grow from the trunk.
1:42:46Simple English is your trunk. build it
1:42:48strong and everything else will grow
1:42:50naturally. In the next chapter, we are
1:42:53going to deal with a moment that every
1:42:55English speaker meets even native
1:42:57speakers. That moment is when the word
1:42:59will not come. Your mind goes blank. You
1:43:02cannot find the right word and I will
1:43:04teach you what to do so that this moment
1:43:06never stops you again because it will
1:43:08happen and when it does, you will be
1:43:10ready. Chapter 7. When the word will not
1:43:13come. It happens to everyone. You are in
1:43:16the middle of a good sentence. The words
1:43:18are flowing. You feel strong and
1:43:20confident. And then suddenly you reach
1:43:23for a word and it is not there. Your
1:43:25mind goes blank. You know the word
1:43:27exists. You may even know what it looks
1:43:30like. But right now, in this very
1:43:32second, it is gone. What do you do? Many
1:43:35learners do the same thing. They stop.
1:43:37They go silent. They look up at the
1:43:39ceiling or down at the floor. They say,
1:43:42"Um um um." Their face becomes tense.
1:43:46Their heart begins to beat faster. And
1:43:48the conversation, which was so lively a
1:43:50moment ago, falls into an awkward quiet.
1:43:53If this is you, I want you to know that
1:43:55this is one of the most common
1:43:57experiences in the world. Even native
1:43:59speakers forget words all the time. You
1:44:02have probably heard an English speaker
1:44:03say, "What is that thing called the you
1:44:06know the thing?" Or, "Oh, it is on the
1:44:10tip of my tongue." They are not ashamed.
1:44:12They simply handle it and they keep
1:44:14talking. And that is the key idea of
1:44:17this chapter. A missing word is not a
1:44:19crisis. It is a small bump on the road.
1:44:22And with the right tools, you can drive
1:44:24right over it without even slowing down.
1:44:27Let me share with you a story that
1:44:29changed the way I teach. Early in my
1:44:31career, I had a student named Omar. Omar
1:44:34was one of the hardest working learners
1:44:36I ever met. He studied every day and he
1:44:39knew hundreds of advanced words. But in
1:44:41conversation, he froze every time he
1:44:43forgot a single word. If he could not
1:44:46remember the exact word, he would stop
1:44:48completely and say, "Sorry, sorry one
1:44:51moment," and then search for it,
1:44:53sometimes for half a minute. By the time
1:44:55he found it, the other person had lost
1:44:57interest. And Omar had lost confidence.
1:45:00One day, I asked him a question. I said,
1:45:03"Omar, imagine that you are lost in a
1:45:05foreign city and you want to ask for a
1:45:07pharmacy, but you forgot the word
1:45:09pharmacy. What?" He thought and said, "I
1:45:12would try to remember it." I said, "And
1:45:14if you cannot," he said, "I do not know.
1:45:17Maybe I would give up." I laughed and
1:45:19said, "No, Omar, you would say, where
1:45:22can I buy medicine or I need a place for
1:45:25headaches?" And someone would say, "Oh,
1:45:27you need a pharmacy. It is over there."
1:45:30You would get exactly what you needed.
1:45:32Omar was quiet for a moment. Then his
1:45:34eyes lit up. He said, "I never thought
1:45:37of that. I thought I had to find the
1:45:39exact word. I told him the exact word is
1:45:42a bonus. The message is the goal. That
1:45:45was the beginning of a big change for
1:45:46him. And now I want to give you the same
1:45:48tools so that you never freeze again.
1:45:51Tool number one is the describe it
1:45:53method. When you forget a word, describe
1:45:56the thing in simple words. What is it
1:45:58used for? What does it look like? Where
1:46:00do you find it? Who uses it? Use any
1:46:03easy words you have. For example, you
1:46:06forgot the word umbrella. You can say
1:46:09the thing you hold over your head when
1:46:10it rains. You forgot the word
1:46:12screwdriver. You can say the tool you
1:46:15use to turn small metal screws. You
1:46:17forgot the word nostalgic. You can say
1:46:20when you feel sad and happy at the same
1:46:22time because you remember the past.
1:46:25Describing is not a failure. It is a
1:46:28skill. In fact, it is a very advanced
1:46:31skill because it shows creativity and
1:46:33control. Many fluent speakers use this
1:46:35method all the time. And the listener
1:46:38usually helps by supplying the missing
1:46:39word. Then you smile and say, "Yes, that
1:46:42is it. Thank you." And you keep going.
1:46:45Even better, you have just learned the
1:46:47word for free in a real moment with a
1:46:49real memory attached. Tool number two is
1:46:52the simple substitute. When a word will
1:46:54not come, swap it for an easier word
1:46:57that is close in meaning. You forgot the
1:46:59word enormous. Say very big. You forgot
1:47:03exhausted. Say very tired. You forgot
1:47:07hilarious. Say really funny. Simple
1:47:10words are always available and they do
1:47:12the job. The listener understands and
1:47:14the conversation continues. You can
1:47:17always upgrade your vocabulary later.
1:47:19Tool number three is the bridge phrase.
1:47:22This is a small phrase that holds the
1:47:24conversation open while your brain
1:47:26searches. It tells your listener, "I am
1:47:29still here. I am still thinking. Please
1:47:31wait a moment." And it sounds completely
1:47:34natural. Here are some good ones. How
1:47:37can I say this? What is the word? It is
1:47:40a kind of It is like a Sorry, one
1:47:43second. I will find a better way to say
1:47:45it. Let me put it another way. What I am
1:47:47trying to say is it is hard to explain
1:47:50but say any of these with a calm relaxed
1:47:54face and you look like a thoughtful
1:47:55speaker, not a nervous one. The pause
1:47:58becomes a natural part of the
1:48:00conversation and very often in the
1:48:02middle of the bridge phrase, the missing
1:48:04word returns on its own. Tool number
1:48:07four is the ask for help trick. In a
1:48:10friendly conversation, you can simply
1:48:12ask how do you say this in English or
1:48:15what is the word for the thing that you
1:48:17use to cut paper? Many people feel
1:48:19embarrassed to ask, but native speakers
1:48:21usually love to help. It makes them feel
1:48:24useful and it makes the conversation
1:48:26warm. Asking for a word is a sign of
1:48:28interest, not weakness. And the new word
1:48:31will stay in your memory much longer
1:48:32than a word from a list. Tool number
1:48:35five is the gesture help. Use your
1:48:37hands, draw in the air, point to
1:48:39something, act it out. Human beings are
1:48:42very good at understanding gestures and
1:48:44combining words with movement can make
1:48:46your message very clear. Do not be shy
1:48:48about it. Many of the best communicators
1:48:51in the world use their hands as part of
1:48:53their speech. Tool number six is the
1:48:55move on trick. Sometimes the word is not
1:48:58that important. If you cannot find it
1:49:00and the sentence still makes sense
1:49:02without it, just skip it and continue.
1:49:04For example, you wanted to say, "I
1:49:06bought a beautiful ceramic vase." You
1:49:09forgot ceramic. Say, "I bought a
1:49:11beautiful vase." The message is almost
1:49:13the same. Do not let one small word hold
1:49:16your whole sentence hostage. With these
1:49:19six tools, you have a complete emergency
1:49:21kit for forgotten words. Describe it,
1:49:24substitute it, bridge it, ask for help,
1:49:27use your hands, move on. I want you to
1:49:30say these six out loud now as a short
1:49:32list so that your brain stores them.
1:49:34Describe it, substitute it, bridge it,
1:49:37ask for help, use your hands, move on.
1:49:41Excellent. Now, whenever the word will
1:49:43not come, you will not freeze. You will
1:49:46have six doors to choose from. But there
1:49:48is something even deeper here, and I
1:49:50want to talk about it. The real problem
1:49:52is often not the missing word. The real
1:49:54problem is the fear around the missing
1:49:56word. It is the thought, "Oh no, this is
1:49:59a disaster." They will think I am
1:50:01stupid. That fear is what makes the face
1:50:04tense, the heart race, and the mind go
1:50:07even blanker. Fear closes memory. When
1:50:10you are afraid, your brain protects you
1:50:12by shutting down many functions,
1:50:14including the one that finds words. That
1:50:16is why you often remember the word
1:50:18perfectly an hour later when you are
1:50:21calm. So the best way to find a
1:50:23forgotten word is to relax. Take a slow
1:50:26breath. Let your shoulders drop. Smile a
1:50:29little. Tell yourself it is fine. I have
1:50:32tools. This is not a magic trick. It is
1:50:35simple biology. A calm mind recalls
1:50:38better than a frightened mind. A tiny
1:50:40pause with a relaxed breath can bring
1:50:42back the word faster than a 100 seconds
1:50:44of tense searching. Let me tell you
1:50:46about a practice that I use with my
1:50:48students called the blank game. It is a
1:50:51game of controlled blanks. I ask a
1:50:54question and the student has to answer
1:50:56but there is one rule. They are not
1:50:58allowed to use certain words. For
1:51:00example, I ask tell me about your
1:51:02kitchen. But you cannot say the words
1:51:04table, chair or stove. So the student
1:51:07must describe. It is the place where I
1:51:10cook food. There is a big metal thing
1:51:12with fire where I heat my pots. There is
1:51:15a flat piece of wood where I eat. At
1:51:17first they laugh. They feel challenged.
1:51:20But soon they realize that they can talk
1:51:22about anything without those words and
1:51:25their fear of blanks shrinks. You can
1:51:28play this game alone. Choose a topic.
1:51:30Pick three words that you cannot use.
1:51:32Then talk for one minute. This trains
1:51:35your brain to find another route
1:51:36whenever the first route is blocked. It
1:51:38is like having a map with many roads so
1:51:40that a closed road is never the end of
1:51:42your trip. Another practice is to learn
1:51:45words in groups of meaning, not in
1:51:47alphabetical lists. When you learn a
1:51:49word, learn two or three neighbors at
1:51:51the same time. If you learn tired, also
1:51:54learn exhausted, sleepy, and worn out.
1:51:58If you learn happy, also learn glad,
1:52:01delighted, and thrilled. This way, if
1:52:04one word escapes, a neighbor is waiting
1:52:07nearby. Your vocabulary becomes a web,
1:52:10not a line. And webs are much harder to
1:52:12fall through. Now, I want to talk about
1:52:14a particular kind of blank. The blank in
1:52:17the middle of a sentence structure, not
1:52:19only a word. Sometimes you start a
1:52:21sentence and you realize that you do not
1:52:24know how to finish it. You are in the
1:52:26middle of the road and the road
1:52:27disappears. What do you do? The answer
1:52:30is the restart. Take a small breath and
1:52:33begin again with a simpler structure.
1:52:35Say, "Sorry, let me say that again." And
1:52:38then give the simple version. For
1:52:40example, you started if I would have
1:52:43known that he was coming and suddenly
1:52:45you are not sure about the grammar.
1:52:47Stop, smile, say, "Let me say that
1:52:50again. I did not know he was coming."
1:52:53Then continue. The listener does not
1:52:55care. They only care that the message is
1:52:57clear. Restarting is a sign of control,
1:53:00not weakness. Great speakers restart all
1:53:03the time and no one notices. There is
1:53:06also something called the graceful
1:53:07recovery. It is a way to handle a small
1:53:10mistake without any drama. Suppose you
1:53:12say a wrong word or a wrong tense. You
1:53:15notice you can simply correct it in a
1:53:18relaxed way with a short phrase. I mean
1:53:21or sorry or let me fix that. Yesterday I
1:53:24go I mean I went to the market. No heavy
1:53:28apology, no shame, just a quick fix and
1:53:31then you carry on. People will not
1:53:33remember the error. They will remember
1:53:35that you stayed calm. Let me give you a
1:53:38story that I find very touching. A woman
1:53:40named Fatima was invited to speak at her
1:53:42daughter's school in English about her
1:53:44job. She was terrified. She prepared her
1:53:47talk, but in the middle she forgot a key
1:53:50word, the word for her profession in
1:53:52English, nurse practitioner. Her mind
1:53:55went completely blank and a silence
1:53:57filled the room. Fatima took a breath
1:53:59and said, "I am a kind of nurse, but I
1:54:02can also help people with medicine and
1:54:04tests." A child in the front said, "Oh,
1:54:07a nurse practitioner." Fatima smiled and
1:54:10said, "Yes, exactly. Thank you." The
1:54:13whole room laughed warmly. Later, three
1:54:16parents came to thank her and one said,
1:54:18"You were so natural." Fatima told me,
1:54:21"I thought that moment would be my worst
1:54:23nightmare, but it became the best part
1:54:25of the talk." That is the beautiful
1:54:28truth about forgotten words. They are
1:54:30often the moments where human connection
1:54:32happens. When you show your real,
1:54:34relaxed self, people open their hearts
1:54:37to you. Perfection creates distance.
1:54:40Honest, calm effort creates warmth. Let
1:54:42me give you some readyto-use phrases for
1:54:44the moments when you need time or need
1:54:46to recover because having them in your
1:54:48pocket makes you feel safe. When you
1:54:51need a moment to think, you can say that
1:54:54is a good question. Give me a second. Or
1:54:57let me think about that. Or hm, how
1:55:00should I put this? Or one moment, I want
1:55:03to say it properly. When you did not
1:55:06understand something, you can say,
1:55:08sorry, could you say that again? or I
1:55:11did not catch the last part or could you
1:55:14speak a little slower please or what do
1:55:16you mean by that word? These are very
1:55:18normal questions. Native speakers ask
1:55:21them all the time even to each other.
1:55:23When you want to check that you
1:55:24understood, you can say so you mean that
1:55:27and then repeat the idea in your own
1:55:29words or let me make sure I understand
1:55:33or just to be clear this is a sign of a
1:55:36strong communicator not a weak one. It
1:55:38prevents mistakes and shows that you
1:55:40care. When you want to change what you
1:55:42said, you can say let me rephrase that
1:55:45or what I really mean is or sorry, I
1:55:49said it wrong or let me try again. Each
1:55:53one is calm and confident. When you want
1:55:55to end a conversation politely, you can
1:55:57say it was nice talking to you or I have
1:56:00to go now, but let us talk again soon.
1:56:03Or thanks for your time. These closing
1:56:06phrases are useful because many learners
1:56:08do not know how to finish a conversation
1:56:10smoothly and they either leave suddenly
1:56:12or stay awkwardly silent. Learn these
1:56:15phrases the same way you learn chunks.
1:56:17Say them aloud five times each and use
1:56:20them within the day. Soon they will
1:56:22appear in your speech without any effort
1:56:24like old friends arriving at the door. I
1:56:27want to tell you something else about
1:56:28mistakes because it is so important for
1:56:31this chapter. A mistake is not a sign
1:56:33that you are failing. It is a sign that
1:56:35you are trying. If you never make
1:56:37mistakes, you are not speaking enough.
1:56:40Even native speakers make mistakes all
1:56:42the time. They say the wrong word. They
1:56:44mix up names. They start a sentence and
1:56:47abandon it. And yet, nobody calls them
1:56:49bad speakers. Why? Because they do not
1:56:52treat their mistakes as tragedies. They
1:56:54laugh, correct, and continue. Learn from
1:56:57them. Copy their calm. There is a famous
1:57:00idea in learning which says that the
1:57:02people who improve fastest are not the
1:57:04ones who avoid mistakes but the ones who
1:57:07make many mistakes quickly and learn
1:57:09from each one. If you speak a 100
1:57:12sentences and make 10 mistakes, you have
1:57:1590 correct sentences and 10 lessons. If
1:57:18you speak 10 sentences and make no
1:57:20mistakes, you have only 10 sentences.
1:57:23Which is better? The first without any
1:57:25doubt. So the next time a word escapes
1:57:28you or a sentence falls apart, smile
1:57:30inside. You have just found a place
1:57:32where your English can grow. Take a
1:57:34small note, find the answer later, and
1:57:36use it tomorrow. That is how champions
1:57:39are made, one forgotten word at a time.
1:57:42Let me give you your practice for this
1:57:43chapter. First, choose three objects in
1:57:46your room and describe each one in
1:57:48simple words without saying its name. Do
1:57:51this once a day with different objects.
1:57:54Second, learn your six tools and say
1:57:56them aloud each morning for a week.
1:57:58Describe [music] it, substitute it,
1:58:00bridge it, ask for help, use your hands,
1:58:03move on. Third, the next time you forget
1:58:05a word in real life, notice what you do.
1:58:08Then try one of the tools on purpose.
1:58:10Notice how it feels. You may be
1:58:13surprised by how easy it is. Fourth,
1:58:16keep a short list of bridge phrases on
1:58:18your phone and use at least one each
1:58:20day, even when you do not need it. This
1:58:23makes them automatic so that they appear
1:58:25on their own in the moment of need. I
1:58:28want you to leave this chapter with a
1:58:29feeling of freedom. You no longer need
1:58:31to be afraid of the blank. You have
1:58:33tools, you have a plan, and you have the
1:58:35right attitude. The blank is not the end
1:58:38of your sentence. It is only a small
1:58:40stop on the way to the next one. In the
1:58:43next chapter, we are going to work on
1:58:44speed and rhythm. We are going to learn
1:58:46how to speak smoothly, how to keep calm
1:58:49under pressure, and how to find the
1:58:51natural music of English so that your
1:58:53words not only come out but come out
1:58:55with confidence and flow. If this audio
1:58:58book is helping you, please take a
1:58:59second now to subscribe to the speaking
1:59:01reset so you never miss a lesson. And
1:59:04now let us go on chapter 8. Speed,
1:59:07rhythm, [music] and calm under pressure.
1:59:10Let me begin this chapter with a
1:59:11surprising fact. Fluency is not about
1:59:14speed. I know that may sound strange
1:59:17because the word fluent is often
1:59:18connected to fast speech. But if you
1:59:21listen to truly skilled speakers, you
1:59:23will find that many of them speak at a
1:59:24calm, steady pace. What makes them
1:59:26fluent is not how fast they talk. It is
1:59:29how smoothly they talk. Smooth speech
1:59:32has a flow, a rhythm, a kind of music.
1:59:35And that music is what we are going to
1:59:37build in this chapter. Think of a river.
1:59:40A fast broken river with many rocks
1:59:42makes a lot of noise and the water
1:59:44splashes everywhere. But a smooth river,
1:59:47even a slow one, moves with grace and it
1:59:50carries everything forward. Fluent
1:59:53speech is like the smooth river. It does
1:59:55not rush. It does not stop in the wrong
1:59:57places. It moves. [music]
1:59:59Many learners make a big mistake here.
2:00:01They believe that to sound fluent, they
2:00:03must speak fast. So, they speed up. And
2:00:06what happens? They make more mistakes.
2:00:08They lose their breath. They swallow
2:00:10their words and their listener gets
2:00:12lost. Speed without control is not
2:00:14fluency. It is panic wearing a costume.
2:00:17Instead, we aim for a steady rhythm. Not
2:00:20too fast, not too slow. A pace where
2:00:23every word is clear, every piece has its
2:00:25place, and the listener can follow
2:00:27without effort. And then, as your
2:00:30confidence grows, your speed will rise
2:00:32naturally like a car gently picking up
2:00:34speed on an open road. So, let us learn
2:00:37the music of English. English has a very
2:00:40special rhythm and if you understand it,
2:00:42your speech will sound far more natural
2:00:44even when your vocabulary is simple. The
2:00:47first part of the rhythm is stress. In
2:00:50English, not every word is spoken with
2:00:52the same strength. Some words are strong
2:00:54and clear. Others are weak and quick.
2:00:56The strong words are usually the ones
2:00:58that carry the main meaning like nouns,
2:01:01main verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The
2:01:03weak words are small helper words like
2:01:06the, a, of, to, and,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
2:01:09can,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
2:01:10and. Listen to this sentence. I want to
2:01:13go to the store. If you say every word
2:01:15with equal force, it sounds robotic. I
2:01:18want to go to the store. But a natural
2:01:23speaker says it with a gentle rise and
2:01:25fall. I want to go to the store. The big
2:01:28words stand out and the small words
2:01:30almost disappear. They become soft and
2:01:33quick. Say it with me. I want to go to
2:01:36the store. Feel the beat. Strong, weak,
2:01:39strong, weak, weak, strong. That beat is
2:01:42the heartbeat of English. When you learn
2:01:45to follow it, your speech becomes
2:01:47smoother and it becomes much easier to
2:01:49understand. In fact, getting the stress
2:01:51right is often more important than
2:01:53pronouncing every sound perfectly. The
2:01:56second part of the rhythm is linking. In
2:01:58natural speech, words are not separated
2:02:00by tiny gaps. They connect like cars on
2:02:03a train. When a word ends with a
2:02:06consonant sound and the next word starts
2:02:08with a vowel sound, they join together.
2:02:10Take the phrase turn it off. It is not
2:02:13three separate words. It sounds like
2:02:16turn it off almost like one word or pick
2:02:19it up, pick it up or what are you doing?
2:02:22It often sounds like what you doing.
2:02:25These linked sounds are not lazy speech.
2:02:28They are the natural flow of English.
2:02:30You do not need to copy every link
2:02:32perfectly. But if you begin to notice
2:02:34linking and to practice it, you will
2:02:37feel your speech becoming lighter
2:02:38because your mouth does less stopping
2:02:40and starting. It glides. The third part
2:02:43of the rhythm is the melody, which is
2:02:45the rise and fall of your voice. In
2:02:47English, we use melody to show meaning
2:02:50and emotion. When we ask a yes or no
2:02:52question, our voice often goes up at the
2:02:54end. Are you coming? When we make a
2:02:56statement, the voice goes down. I am
2:02:59coming. When we are excited, our voice
2:03:01jumps higher. When we are calm or
2:03:03serious, it moves lower. A voice with no
2:03:06melody sounds flat and tired. A voice
2:03:08with melody sounds alive. An easy way to
2:03:11train melody is to imitate. Choose a
2:03:14short clip from a show, a podcast, or an
2:03:16interview. Listen to one sentence, then
2:03:19repeat it, copying not only the words,
2:03:21but the music, the pauses, the ups, the
2:03:24downs, the speed. This technique is
2:03:27sometimes called shadowing, and it is
2:03:29one of the most powerful practices for
2:03:30fluency. Try it for 5 minutes a day.
2:03:33Pick a speaker you enjoy because you
2:03:35will spend time with their voice and it
2:03:37helps if you like it. When you shadow,
2:03:40do not worry about understanding every
2:03:42word. Focus on the sound. Speak along
2:03:44with the person or just after them like
2:03:47an echo. At first, you will feel clumsy.
2:03:50Your mouth will not keep up. That is
2:03:52normal. Repeat the same sentence five or
2:03:54six times until it feels easier. Then
2:03:57move to the next. After a few weeks, you
2:04:00will notice that your own natural speech
2:04:02has more rhythm, more flow, and more
2:04:04confidence. Now, let me talk about the
2:04:06second big topic of this chapter, which
2:04:08is pressure. We all know the feeling. a
2:04:11meeting, an interview, a presentation, a
2:04:14phone call with a stranger. Your heart
2:04:16beats fast, your hands feel cold, your
2:04:19mouth becomes dry, and your English,
2:04:22which was fine a minute ago, seems to
2:04:24shrink to nothing. First, I want to say
2:04:27that this reaction is completely normal.
2:04:29It does not mean you are weak or
2:04:31unprepared. It means that your body is
2:04:34preparing for something it considers
2:04:36important. The problem is not the
2:04:38pressure itself. The problem is how we
2:04:40interpret it. If you say to yourself, I
2:04:42am afraid, this is dangerous, your body
2:04:45gets even more nervous. But if you say,
2:04:48"I am excited. My body is getting
2:04:50ready." The same energy turns into
2:04:53power. Scientists have found that people
2:04:55who reframe nervous energy as excitement
2:04:58often perform better. So the next time
2:05:00your heart beats fast before speaking,
2:05:02try saying in English in your mind, "I
2:05:06am excited. Let us do this. Second, use
2:05:09your breath. Breathing is the quickest
2:05:12way to calm your body. Before you speak
2:05:14in a stressful situation, take one slow
2:05:16breath in through your nose, count to
2:05:18four, and let it out slowly through your
2:05:20mouth, counting to six. Do this two or
2:05:23three times. It tells your nervous
2:05:25system that everything is safe. A longer
2:05:27breath out is like pressing a gentle
2:05:28brake pedal on your body. You will feel
2:05:31your shoulders drop and your mind become
2:05:33clearer. During speaking, remember to
2:05:35breathe at the end of your pieces. Many
2:05:38nervous speakers forget to breathe and
2:05:40they speak on one breath until their
2:05:41voice becomes thin and shaky. If you
2:05:44speak in small pieces, as we learned in
2:05:46chapter 3, you have a natural place to
2:05:48breathe after each one. Peace, breath,
2:05:51peace, breath. It gives your voice
2:05:54strength and your mind a rest. Third,
2:05:57slow down on purpose. When people are
2:05:59nervous, they speed up. It is almost
2:06:02automatic. So, do the opposite. Speak a
2:06:05little slower than you think you need
2:06:06to. A slower pace gives you time to
2:06:08think, gives your listener time to
2:06:10understand, and makes you sound more
2:06:12confident. Nobody has ever complained
2:06:15that a speaker was too calm. Fourth, use
2:06:18the power of the first sentence. The
2:06:20first sentence is often the hardest.
2:06:23After that, you gain momentum. So,
2:06:25prepare your first sentence and only
2:06:27your first sentence for important
2:06:29situations. Not the whole speech, just
2:06:32the opening. For a meeting, you might
2:06:34prepare, "Thanks everyone for coming. I
2:06:37would like to share a short update." For
2:06:39an interview, you might prepare, "Thank
2:06:41you for having me. I am happy to be
2:06:43here." For a phone call, you might
2:06:45prepare, "Hello, this is your name. I am
2:06:48calling about the order." Once the first
2:06:50sentence is out, the rest tends to
2:06:52follow more easily, like a door that has
2:06:54been opened. Fifth, remember that the
2:06:56listener is on your side. This is so
2:06:59important, and many of us forget it.
2:07:01When you speak, the people listening
2:07:03usually want you to succeed. They are
2:07:05not waiting to catch your mistakes. They
2:07:07are waiting to understand your message.
2:07:09If you stumble, they are patient. If you
2:07:12pause, they wait. If you smile, they
2:07:15smile back. Think of your listeners as
2:07:17friends, even when they are strangers,
2:07:20and your whole body will relax. Let me
2:07:22tell you a story about a man named
2:07:24Daniel. Yes, the same Daniel who spent
2:07:2715 seconds on a five-word sentence in
2:07:30our first lesson. Do you remember him? A
2:07:33few months later, he had to give his
2:07:35first presentation in English to a room
2:07:37of 30 colleagues. He was extremely
2:07:39nervous even though he had practiced a
2:07:42lot. Before he went on stage, we talked
2:07:44for a few minutes. I told him, "Remember
2:07:47your first sentence and remember your
2:07:49breath." He walked to the front, took
2:07:51one slow breath, and began. Good
2:07:54morning, everyone. Thank you for being
2:07:56here. Today, I want to show you three
2:07:58things that can save us time. His voice
2:08:00was calm, his rhythm was steady. When he
2:08:03made a small mistake in the middle, he
2:08:05said, "Sorry, let me say that again and
2:08:08carried on. At the end, the whole room
2:08:10applauded." A colleague told him
2:08:12afterward, "I did not even notice that
2:08:14English was not your first language."
2:08:16Daniel called me that night and for a
2:08:18few seconds he could not speak. He was
2:08:20laughing too hard. Then he said, "Ryan,
2:08:23I did it. I really did it." That moment
2:08:27was not an accident. It was the result
2:08:29of weeks of small training, small
2:08:31pieces, inner voice, daily thought
2:08:34stream, simple sentences, [music] tools
2:08:37for forgotten words, breath, calm.
2:08:40Everything we have learned in this audio
2:08:41book work together at the same time.
2:08:44Now, I want to give you a few practical
2:08:46exercises to train speed, rhythm, and
2:08:49calm. The first is the timed talk.
2:08:52Choose a topic, set a timer for 60
2:08:55seconds, and talk without stopping. If
2:08:57you run out of things to say, repeat or
2:08:59describe something simple, but do not
2:09:01stop until the timer ends. This trains
2:09:04your brain to keep going even when it
2:09:06feels hard. Over time, increase it to 2
2:09:09minutes. Then three. Many learners are
2:09:12amazed to find that they can talk for
2:09:14much longer than they expected. The
2:09:17second is the same story three times.
2:09:20Choose a short story from your life and
2:09:22tell it three times. each time in a
2:09:25shorter time. First in three minutes,
2:09:27then in two, then in one. Each round
2:09:30forces you to focus on the core and to
2:09:32speak more smoothly. It is a famous
2:09:34technique in language teaching because
2:09:36by the third time the words flow out
2:09:38almost by themselves. Your brain has
2:09:41found the easy road. The third is the
2:09:43mirror practice. Stand in front of a
2:09:46mirror and speak English for a minute.
2:09:48Look at your face and your body. Are
2:09:50your shoulders tense? Is your jaw tight?
2:09:53Are you frowning? Then relax them on
2:09:55purpose. Smile a little. Stand tall.
2:09:58This connects confidence in the body
2:10:00with confidence in the voice. A relaxed
2:10:03face makes a relaxed voice. The fourth
2:10:06is the pressure rehearsal. Before an
2:10:08important situation, practice it out
2:10:10loud three times in the same clothes,
2:10:13the same posture, and ideally the same
2:10:16place as the real event. The more
2:10:18familiar the situation feels, the less
2:10:20your brain will treat it as a threat.
2:10:22Athletes do this all the time. They
2:10:25train the way they will play. The fifth
2:10:27is the recovery drill. Practice making a
2:10:30small mistake on purpose and then
2:10:32recovering gracefully. Say a sentence,
2:10:34make a small error, and say, "Sorry, let
2:10:37me say that again," and then repeat it
2:10:39correctly. This may sound funny, but it
2:10:42works. When you have rehearsed recovery,
2:10:44a real mistake no longer feels like a
2:10:46disaster. It feels like a step you have
2:10:48already practiced. Let me also say
2:10:51something about energy because fluency
2:10:53is not only about the mind. It is about
2:10:55the body too. When you are tired, hungry
2:10:59or stressed, your speech will suffer. So
2:11:02take care of yourself. Sleep well, drink
2:11:05water, eat something before an important
2:11:07talk. A well-ared for body gives a
2:11:10well-ared for voice. This might sound
2:11:12simple, but it makes a surprising
2:11:14difference. I also encourage you to warm
2:11:16up your mouth before you speak,
2:11:18especially in the morning or before a
2:11:20big moment. Read a few lines of English
2:11:23aloud or say a tongue twister. She sells
2:11:26seashells by the seashore. Red Lori,
2:11:28yellow lori. These small exercises wake
2:11:31up your lips, tongue, and jaw so that
2:11:33your speech starts smooth, not stiff.
2:11:36Even 30 seconds of warm-up can help. And
2:11:39finally, remember to enjoy the sound of
2:11:41your own voice. Many learners dislike
2:11:44how they sound in English. They say, "My
2:11:46accent is ugly. My voice is strange."
2:11:49Please hear me now. Your accent is not a
2:11:52problem. Your accent is part of your
2:11:54story. It tells the world that you speak
2:11:56more than one language, which is an
2:11:58amazing thing. The goal is not to sound
2:12:00like someone else. The goal is to be
2:12:02clear, calm, and yourself. Clear is more
2:12:05important than perfect. And a clear
2:12:07voice with a warm accent is a beautiful
2:12:09thing. Let me add one more important
2:12:11idea about rhythm and flow because it
2:12:14can transform the way you sound. It is
2:12:16the idea of thought groups. In natural
2:12:19speech, we do not say a sentence as one
2:12:21long block. We say it in small thought
2:12:24groups and between the groups, there is
2:12:26a tiny pause or a change in the melody.
2:12:29A thought group is usually three to
2:12:31seven words, a small piece of meaning.
2:12:33For example, take the sentence, "When I
2:12:36got home last night, I was so tired that
2:12:38I fell asleep on the sofa." A natural
2:12:40speaker would say, "When I got home last
2:12:43night, pause." "I was so tired, pause,
2:12:46that I fell asleep, pause, on the sofa."
2:12:48[music]
2:12:49Four thought groups, four small breaths,
2:12:52four easy pieces. If you speak without
2:12:55thought groups, your speech sounds like
2:12:56a long, tiring line, and the listener
2:12:59gets lost. But when you use them, your
2:13:01meaning becomes clear and your voice has
2:13:04room to breathe. This is closely
2:13:06connected to the small pieces we learned
2:13:08earlier. Small pieces for thinking and
2:13:11thought groups for speaking. They are
2:13:13two sides of the same coin. You can
2:13:15practice thought groups by reading
2:13:17aloud. Take a short paragraph and mark
2:13:20with a small line where you would pause.
2:13:22Then read it aloud, pausing at each
2:13:24line. Try again and listen to how
2:13:27natural it sounds. After a while, your
2:13:30mouth will begin to find the groups on
2:13:31its own, even when you speak without a
2:13:34text. Let me also talk about emphasis.
2:13:37In English, you can change the meaning
2:13:38of a sentence just by choosing which
2:13:40word to stress. Listen, I did not say he
2:13:44stole the money. Now stress the first
2:13:46word. I did not say he stole the money.
2:13:48Maybe someone else said it. Now stress
2:13:50the third word. I did not say he stole
2:13:52the money. I only suggested it. Same
2:13:55words, different meaning. This shows how
2:13:57powerful stress is. It is like a small
2:14:00spotlight that shows the listener where
2:14:01to look. When you speak, decide which
2:14:04word carries the main idea and give it a
2:14:06little extra strength, a little more
2:14:08length, a slightly higher pitch. This
2:14:11simple habit makes you sound clearer and
2:14:13also more expressive. Here is a final
2:14:16practical drill. Choose a sentence, any
2:14:19sentence, and say it five times. Each
2:14:22time stressing a different word. See how
2:14:24the meaning changes. This drill is
2:14:26playful and it trains your ear and your
2:14:29mouth to work together. It may even I
2:14:31also suggest that you listen to speakers
2:14:33with different styles. A calm teacher,
2:14:36an energetic comedian, a thoughtful
2:14:38interviewer, a friendly storyteller.
2:14:40Notice how each one uses rhythm, pause,
2:14:43and emphasis in a different way. You do
2:14:45not have to copy anyone completely, but
2:14:47you can borrow small things that you
2:14:49like. A pause here, a lift there. Over
2:14:53time, your own voice grows, rich and
2:14:55unique, built from everything you have
2:14:58loved listening to. One more thing
2:15:00before we leave this topic. Be kind to
2:15:02your voice. Do not push it when it is
2:15:05tired. Drink water, rest when you need
2:15:07to, and speak at a comfortable volume. A
2:15:10calm voice carries farther than a forced
2:15:12one. And the more relaxed you are, the
2:15:15more natural your rhythm will be. Let us
2:15:18take a moment to review. Fluency is
2:15:20smooth, not fast. English has a natural
2:15:23rhythm of strong and weak words, linked
2:15:26sounds, and rising and falling melody.
2:15:28Shadowing is a great way to learn that
2:15:30music. Pressure is normal, and you can
2:15:32calm it with breath, slow pace, a
2:15:35prepared first sentence, and the
2:15:37knowledge that your listeners are on
2:15:38your side. And with simple training
2:15:40exercises, you can build the strength to
2:15:42speak calmly in any situation. You are
2:15:45almost at the end of our journey. You
2:15:47have learned how to shorten the road
2:15:49from thought to mouth. You have learned
2:15:51how to leave translation behind, think
2:15:53in pieces, build your inner voice, use
2:15:55your daily life as a gym, speak simply,
2:15:58handle blanks, and stay calm and smooth.
2:16:01There is only one thing left. We must
2:16:03put it all together into a system that
2:16:05lasts so that you do not just finish
2:16:07this audio book with inspiration, but
2:16:09you keep growing for months and years.
2:16:12That is exactly what we will do in the
2:16:14final chapter. And I have saved some of
2:16:17my most important words for the end.
2:16:19Stay with me. Chapter nine. Make it
2:16:22automatic. We have arrived at the final
2:16:25chapter. Take a moment to notice how far
2:16:27you have come. When we started, I asked
2:16:30you to remember a time when you had
2:16:31something to say in English and you did
2:16:33not say it. We looked at the gap between
2:16:36thought and speech. We learned why it
2:16:38exists and we learned how to make it
2:16:40smaller step by step. Now it is time to
2:16:43make all of this last because here is
2:16:45the truth. Inspiration is wonderful but
2:16:48inspiration fades. You may feel fired up
2:16:51today and in 2 weeks life will get busy
2:16:53and the excitement will cool down. That
2:16:56is human. So what we need now is not
2:16:58more motivation. What we need is a
2:17:00system, a simple, steady, friendly
2:17:03system that carries you forward even on
2:17:06the days when you do not feel like it.
2:17:08The word for this is automatic. Our goal
2:17:11is to make fluent speech automatic and
2:17:13to make the habits that build it
2:17:14automatic too. When something is
2:17:16automatic, it does not need willpower.
2:17:19You do not have to decide, argue with
2:17:21yourself or push. It just happens like
2:17:24brushing your teeth. And that is how
2:17:26real lasting fluency is built. Let me
2:17:29start by explaining how habits work
2:17:31because understanding this will make
2:17:33everything easier. Every habit has three
2:17:35parts. A Q, an action, and a reward. The
2:17:39Q is the signal that starts the habit.
2:17:42The action is the habit itself. The
2:17:45reward is the good feeling that makes
2:17:46your brain want to repeat it. For
2:17:48example, the Q might be, I sit down with
2:17:52my morning tea. The action might be, I
2:17:54say my plan for the day in English for
2:17:5630 seconds. And the reward might be, I
2:18:00feel a little proud and I enjoy the
2:18:02first sip of tea. When you repeat this
2:18:04pattern again and again, the cue starts
2:18:07to trigger the action automatically. You
2:18:09sit down with your tea and your mouth
2:18:11starts to speak English without any
2:18:13effort. The path in your brain becomes
2:18:15deep like a path in the grass that
2:18:17becomes clear after many walks. So the
2:18:21first rule of making it automatic is to
2:18:23attach your English practice to
2:18:24something you already do every day. We
2:18:26call this habit stacking. After I do
2:18:29this, I will do that. After I pour my
2:18:31coffee, I will say three sentences about
2:18:33my day. After I get on the bus, I will
2:18:36narrate what I see for 2 minutes. After
2:18:38I brush my teeth at night, I will do my
2:18:40daily recap. Choose existing habits as
2:18:43anchors and hang your English practice
2:18:45on them like clothes on a hook. The
2:18:48second rule is to start tiny. Many
2:18:50people fail because they begin with a
2:18:52huge plan. One hour of study every day,
2:18:5510 new phrases a day, two long
2:18:57recordings a week. In the first week,
2:18:59they feel strong. In the second week,
2:19:01they feel tired. In the third week, they
2:19:03quit. A much better way is to begin with
2:19:05a ridiculously small habit. 2 minutes a
2:19:08day. Yes, only 2 minutes. That is so
2:19:11small that it is almost impossible to
2:19:13say no. And once you begin, you will
2:19:15often continue longer without trying.
2:19:18But even if you only do 2 minutes, you
2:19:20have kept the chain alive. And the chain
2:19:22is what matters. I want you to think of
2:19:24your practice like a chain. Every day
2:19:26you practice, you add one link. After 10
2:19:29days, you have 10 links. After 30 days,
2:19:3230. Your job is not to make perfect
2:19:35links. Your job is to not break the
2:19:37chain. If you miss one day, no drama.
2:19:40Just do not miss two. One missed day is
2:19:42an accident. Two missed days are the
2:19:44start of a new habit and not the one we
2:19:47want. The third rule is to measure your
2:19:49progress in a friendly way. Not with
2:19:52exams, but with evidence. Keep a small
2:19:55record. A note on your phone, a page in
2:19:57a notebook, a mark on a calendar. Each
2:20:00day write one line. Today I did my recap
2:20:03for 3 minutes. Today I used a bridge
2:20:06phrase in a real conversation. Today I
2:20:08thought in English while cooking. These
2:20:10small notes become a mountain of proof
2:20:12and on hard days they remind you that
2:20:14you are not standing still. Now let me
2:20:17give you a complete simple system to
2:20:19follow. I call it the 30-day reset and
2:20:22it uses everything we have learned in
2:20:24this audio book. You can follow it
2:20:26exactly or you can adjust it to your
2:20:28life. It is built in four weeks. In week
2:20:31one, we focus on the foundation. The
2:20:33goal is to start the habit of thinking
2:20:35in English in small ways. Every day, do
2:20:38three things. First, the 10-second rule.
2:20:41Five times a day. Take any small thought
2:20:44and say it in English within 10 seconds.
2:20:46Second, name 10 objects around you with
2:20:49no translation. Third, choose one anchor
2:20:52phrase and say it at the same moment
2:20:54every day. This week is gentle. It is
2:20:57about waking up the connection between
2:20:58thought and English. In week [music]
2:21:00two, we focus on pieces and simplicity.
2:21:04Every day, add two more things. First,
2:21:07the three-piece thought. Take one idea
2:21:09from your day and say it in three small
2:21:11pieces. Second, say one complicated
2:21:14thought in a simple way using the
2:21:17explain to a child method. Keep the
2:21:19habits from week one, but allow them to
2:21:21become lighter as they become more
2:21:23natural. This week trains your brain to
2:21:26build speech in small, clear, easy
2:21:28blocks. In week three, we focus on the
2:21:31inner voice and daily stream. Every day,
2:21:34add the narration of your walk or
2:21:36commute for 3 minutes and the evening
2:21:38recap for 2 minutes. Also, begin your
2:21:41word bank with five words and your gap
2:21:44note for missing words. This week fills
2:21:46your day with English thoughts. so that
2:21:48English begins to feel like part of your
2:21:50inner life. In week four, we focus on
2:21:53speed, calm, and real use. Every day,
2:21:56add one time talk of 60 seconds. Add one
2:22:00session of shadowing, 5 minutes. And
2:22:02once this week, speak English with a
2:22:04real person, even for 5 minutes in a
2:22:07conversation, a call, a message, or a
2:22:10language exchange. Also, record yourself
2:22:12once and listen to it carefully to see
2:22:14your progress. By the end of this week,
2:22:17you will have a full set of habits that
2:22:19work together. At the end of the 30
2:22:21days, do not stop. Keep the habits you
2:22:24enjoy the most and let the others become
2:22:26occasional tools. The system is not a
2:22:28prison. It is a toolkit. You can always
2:22:31return to it when you feel stuck or when
2:22:33you want to grow. I want to be honest
2:22:36with you now about the road ahead
2:22:37because I believe in telling the truth.
2:22:40There will be good days and bad days. On
2:22:42good days, you will feel like English is
2:22:44flowing through you and you will feel
2:22:46wonderful. On bad days, you will stumble
2:22:49over simple words and you will think, "I
2:22:51have not improved at all." Please
2:22:53remember this. Bad days do not erase
2:22:56progress. They are part of the process.
2:22:58Every learner in every skill has days
2:23:01when it feels like going backward. It is
2:23:03like a graph with small ups and downs,
2:23:05but the overall line goes up. Trust the
2:23:08line. There is another important thing
2:23:10that happens called the plateau. This is
2:23:13a time often after the first few weeks
2:23:15or months when you feel that you have
2:23:17stopped improving. You are practicing
2:23:19but nothing seems to change. It is one
2:23:22of the most common reasons why people
2:23:23quit. But here is the secret. During a
2:23:26plateau, your brain is often organizing
2:23:28and strengthening what it has learned.
2:23:30Like a field resting before a new
2:23:32harvest, progress is happening under the
2:23:35surface. Even if you cannot see it yet,
2:23:37if you keep going, you will break
2:23:39through. And often the jump after a
2:23:41plateau is bigger than any before. So
2:23:43when you feel stuck, do not stop. Change
2:23:46something small, add a new type of
2:23:48practice, talk to a new person, learn a
2:23:51new topic, and keep moving. Now I want
2:23:54to talk about the most important part of
2:23:56the system, which is not a method at
2:23:58all. It is identity. Identity means how
2:24:01you see yourself, the story you tell
2:24:03about who you are. and it is the deepest
2:24:06force behind lasting change. Most
2:24:08learners carry an old identity. I am a
2:24:11person who is bad at speaking. I am a
2:24:13student who is always behind. I am
2:24:15someone who freezes. This identity
2:24:18quietly controls their behavior. When
2:24:20they have a chance to speak, they avoid
2:24:22it because the old story says this is
2:24:25not for you. And each time they avoid
2:24:28the story becomes stronger. But you can
2:24:31write a new story, not a fake story, a
2:24:34true one that begins today. I am a
2:24:37person who speaks English every day. I
2:24:39am a person who is getting more fluent.
2:24:41I am someone who tries even when it is
2:24:44hard. Each time you do a small action
2:24:46that matches this new identity, you cast
2:24:48a vote for it. One vote, 10 votes, 100
2:24:52votes. Eventually, the new identity wins
2:24:55and your behavior follows it without any
2:24:57struggle. A student named May told me
2:25:00this directly. She said, "Ryan, the
2:25:03change did not happen when I learned a
2:25:05technique. It happened when I stopped
2:25:06saying I am not good at English and
2:25:09began saying I am training my English.
2:25:12It sounds like a small difference." But
2:25:13everything changed. She became a person
2:25:16who trains. And a person who trains does
2:25:18not feel shame about being a beginner.
2:25:21She feels pride about being on the way.
2:25:23I want you to try this right now. Say
2:25:26out loud in English a sentence that
2:25:28describes the new you. I am a person who
2:25:31speaks English. I am getting better
2:25:33every day. I am not afraid to make
2:25:35mistakes. Say it once slowly. Feel it.
2:25:39This is not magic, but it is a powerful
2:25:41seed. Let me give you a few last
2:25:43practical tools for the long road
2:25:45because I want you to feel supported for
2:25:47many months, not only the next few
2:25:49weeks. The first tool is the monthly
2:25:52check. On the same day each month, spend
2:25:5510 minutes looking at your progress.
2:25:57Record yourself speaking for two minutes
2:25:59and compare it with last month. Read
2:26:01your notes. Count your chain. Ask
2:26:03yourself three questions. What is easier
2:26:06than before? What is still hard? What
2:26:08will I try next month? This small review
2:26:11turns vague feelings into clear
2:26:13information, and it keeps your learning
2:26:15pointed in the right direction. The
2:26:17second tool is the challenge ladder.
2:26:19Every month, set a small challenge that
2:26:21is one step above your comfort zone. In
2:26:24month one, speak English for two minutes
2:26:26without stopping. In month two, have a
2:26:29short conversation with a stranger. In
2:26:31month three, tell a story to a group. In
2:26:34month four, give a short talk or
2:26:36presentation. In month five, join an
2:26:39online discussion or a meeting and speak
2:26:41at least three times. In month six, lead
2:26:44a conversation. Each step is slightly
2:26:46higher and each one makes the previous
2:26:48one feel easy. Soon you will look back
2:26:51and be amazed at the ladder you have
2:26:52climbed. The third tool is the joy rule.
2:26:56If your practice becomes boring, change
2:26:58it. Learning should have a spark of
2:27:00pleasure. Use topics you love, songs you
2:27:03enjoy, shows that make you laugh, people
2:27:05who inspire you. If you love cooking,
2:27:08talk about recipes. If you love
2:27:10football, discuss matches. If you love
2:27:12travel, plan imaginary trips in English.
2:27:15Joy is not a luxury. It is the engine of
2:27:18long-term learning. People keep doing
2:27:20what they enjoy and what they keep doing
2:27:23they master. The fourth tool is the
2:27:25reward. When you complete a week or a
2:27:28month, give yourself a small reward. A
2:27:30nice meal, a walk, a new notebook, a
2:27:33movie night. Rewards teach your brain
2:27:35that this effort leads to good things
2:27:37and they strengthen the habit. And do
2:27:40not forget to celebrate the invisible
2:27:41victories too. The day you understood a
2:27:44joke, the day you spoke without
2:27:46translating, the day someone said your
2:27:48English is getting better. These are not
2:27:50small. They are the milestones of your
2:27:52journey. Finally, remember that English
2:27:55is not a mountain with one peak. It is a
2:27:57wide country with many roads and many
2:28:00beautiful places. You will never finish
2:28:02learning it. And that is a good thing
2:28:04because it means you will never stop
2:28:06discovering. Even people who speak
2:28:08English from birth keep learning new
2:28:10words, new expressions, new ways to tell
2:28:13the truth. So do not wait for the day
2:28:15when you will be perfect. That day does
2:28:17not exist. Enjoy being on the road
2:28:20because the road is where life happens.
2:28:23I hope you will remember this. You are
2:28:25not behind. You are not late. You are
2:28:28exactly where you need to be with a mind
2:28:30that can learn, a voice that can grow,
2:28:32and a heart that wants to connect. Those
2:28:34three things are all you need.
2:28:36Everything else can be learned. Let me
2:28:38take a moment to tell you something
2:28:39about why we really learn languages. We
2:28:42do not learn them just for tests or for
2:28:44jobs or for travel. Although those are
2:28:47important, we learn them to connect with
2:28:49people, to share a joke, to tell a
2:28:52story, to comfort a friend, to ask for
2:28:55help, to say thank you in a way that
2:28:57touches the heart. Language is a bridge
2:28:59between one human being and another. And
2:29:02when you speak English, you are not only
2:29:04using a skill, you are opening doors to
2:29:06millions of people you could never reach
2:29:08before. Think about it. Someone is
2:29:10waiting out there to hear your story.
2:29:13Someone you have not met yet who will
2:29:15become your friend, your partner, your
2:29:17coworker, your teacher, and the only way
2:29:19to reach them is to speak. Not perfectly
2:29:22but sincerely. So let me tell you the
2:29:25last story of this audio book. It is a
2:29:27story about a woman who came to me many
2:29:29years ago. She was in her late 40s. She
2:29:32had moved to a new country to be with
2:29:34her family and she could not speak with
2:29:36her own grandchildren who spoke only
2:29:38English. She told me, "I look at their
2:29:40faces and I want to tell them so much,
2:29:42but I only have a few words. It breaks
2:29:45my heart. We worked together for almost
2:29:47a year. We used every method that you
2:29:49have learned in this audio book. small
2:29:51pieces, inner voice, daily recap, simple
2:29:55sentences, tools for forgotten words,
2:29:58calm breathing, and slowly she began to
2:30:00talk. At first, simple things. Do you
2:30:03want some food? Come sit here. Did you
2:30:06sleep well? Then small stories. When I
2:30:09was young, I lived near the sea. Then
2:30:12bigger ones. One evening, she sent me a
2:30:15short message. It said, "Today, my
2:30:18granddaughter asked me to tell her a
2:30:19story before bed. I told her a story
2:30:22from my childhood in English. She
2:30:24listened to every word. When I finished,
2:30:26she said, "Grandma, that was the best
2:30:29story ever." I cried in the kitchen
2:30:31after she fell asleep. I read that
2:30:33message three times because that is what
2:30:35fluency really means. It is not a test
2:30:38score. It is not a perfect accent. It is
2:30:41a grandmother telling a story to a child
2:30:43in a language that is not her first.
2:30:45With love in every word. That is the
2:30:48power of what you are learning. Not to
2:30:50impress anyone, to connect. And now it
2:30:54is your turn. You have the tools. You
2:30:57have the system. You have the stories of
2:30:59Daniel, Maria, Kareem, Elena, Tomas,
2:31:02Aayeko, Victor, Priya, Joseph, Hassan,
2:31:06Omar, Fatima, and May. People just like
2:31:09you who started where you are now,
2:31:11afraid, uncertain, and full of doubts.
2:31:14And who walked the path one small step
2:31:16at a time. Let me remind you of the key
2:31:18ideas we have built together. The gap
2:31:20between thought and speech is a bridge
2:31:22that can be built. Translation is a slow
2:31:25road and direct English is a faster one.
2:31:28Small pieces make speech light and easy.
2:31:31An inner English voice turns every quiet
2:31:33moment into practice. Your daily life is
2:31:36a free gym. Simple sentences are strong
2:31:39sentences. A forgotten word is only a
2:31:41small bump and you have six tools to
2:31:44handle it. Smooth rhythm and calm
2:31:46breathing create confidence. And a
2:31:48simple steady system turns all of this
2:31:50into a lifelong habit. Before we say
2:31:53goodbye, I want you to do one last thing
2:31:55right now. Think of one small thing you
2:31:58will do today. Just today to begin.
2:32:01Maybe it is the 10-second rule. Maybe it
2:32:03is naming 10 objects. Maybe it is saying
2:32:05your plan for tomorrow in English
2:32:07tonight. Choose one thing, a small
2:32:09thing, and say it out loud. Tonight I
2:32:12will. And then your sentence. Say it
2:32:14now. Wonderful. That is your first link
2:32:17in the chain. Remember, you do not need
2:32:20to be perfect. You do not need to be
2:32:22fast. You do not need to be fearless.
2:32:24You only need to speak a little often
2:32:27and kindly. The rest will come. Before I
2:32:30let you go, let me give you a short list
2:32:32to keep in your pocket. Write it on a
2:32:34card or save it on your phone and read
2:32:36it whenever you feel lost. Speak small.
2:32:40Speak simple. Speak often. Do not
2:32:42translate when you can picture. Do not
2:32:45wait when you can start. Do not freeze
2:32:47when you can describe. Do not hide when
2:32:50you can try. Do not compare yourself
2:32:52with others because you are walking your
2:32:54own road. And do not forget to breathe.
2:32:57If you follow only these few lines, you
2:32:59will already be ahead of most learners.
2:33:02Because most learners wait for the
2:33:03perfect moment, the perfect book or the
2:33:06perfect teacher. You are not waiting.
2:33:09You are beginning. That choice alone
2:33:11puts you in a different group of people,
2:33:13the group that grows. I also want you to
2:33:15know that you can return to this audio
2:33:17book any time. Some chapters will mean
2:33:19more to you now and others will mean
2:33:21more in a few months when you are ready
2:33:23for them. Listen again and you will hear
2:33:26new things because you will be a new
2:33:28listener. And if you ever feel that
2:33:30progress is slow, remember the story of
2:33:32the bamboo. For the first years, a
2:33:35bamboo plant seems to do nothing. You
2:33:37water it, you care for it, and nothing
2:33:39appears above the ground. But under the
2:33:41soil, the roots are spreading wide and
2:33:43deep. Then in [music] one season, the
2:33:46bamboo shoots up many meters in only a
2:33:48few weeks. It did not grow suddenly. It
2:33:51grew quietly for a long time until it
2:33:54was ready. Your English is like that
2:33:56bamboo. Every small sentence you speak,
2:33:59every thought you turn into words, is a
2:34:01root growing in the dark. One day you
2:34:04will look up and see how tall you have
2:34:05become. Keep watering. Keep believing.
2:34:08[music]
2:34:08The growth is already happening. So be
2:34:10patient with yourself and be proud of
2:34:12every small step. A quiet voice that
2:34:15keeps speaking is stronger than a loud
2:34:17voice that stops. Each day you practice,
2:34:19you are telling your mind that English
2:34:21belongs to you. And your mind is
2:34:23listening. It remembers. It learns. One
2:34:26day soon it will answer you without any
2:34:29effort. Thank you for listening to this
2:34:31audiobook all the way to the end. It
2:34:34means so much to me. If these words
2:34:36helped you, please subscribe to the
2:34:38Speaking Reset. Share this audiobook
2:34:40with a friend who is learning English
2:34:42and tell me in the comments what your
2:34:43first small step will be. I read the
2:34:46comments and I love to hear your
2:34:47stories. I am Ryan and this has been the
2:34:50speaking reset. Your thoughts are ready,
2:34:52your voice is ready, your English is
2:34:54ready. Now go and let them

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