BROADCASTS.com

Published: Oct. 23, 2015, 3:44 p.m.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYM92pioYyQ

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Episode transcript below:

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Hey! How\\u2019s it going?

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\\u2018Why is it that I can understand some native English speakers and not others?\\u2019

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This is a really common question that I\\u2019ve been getting over and over from you, members of the Go Natural English community.

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And I think it\\u2019s a really good question to discuss in this episode.

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Don\\u2019t you think so?

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So, why is it that you can understand some native English speakers, like me.

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I know that a lot of you while I\\u2019ve received many, many, many emails saying, \\u2018Oh my Gosh, this is so exciting!

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Gabby, I can understand every single word you\\u2019re saying.\\u2019

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Or \\u2018Wow, I can\\u2019t believe I understand 70% of what you\\u2019re saying.

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This is amazing. I\\u2019ve never felt this way before.

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I feel so good when I listen to your English, Gabby.

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But why when I listen to other native English speakers, can\\u2019t I understand them?\\u2019

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So, let\\u2019s talk about that.

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Today, we\\u2019re going to solve this problem, and I\\u2019m going to share resources, suggestions with you on how to fix this problem.

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This is some big deal, because you don\\u2019t want to feel left out of native English conversatione.

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It feels horrible.

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It feels really horrible when you cannot understand some native speakers, but you can understand others, because it makes you wonder is this your problem, is that the native speakers\\u2019 problem, is there something wrong with them or is there something wrong with you.

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It\\u2019s embarrassing when you\\u2019re in a group of native speakers, and maybe you can understand some of them, but not others.

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Or maybe in the morning, you\\u2019re watching a Go Natural English video or listening to the podcast, and then in the afternoon, you go to talk with your native English speaker friend or your colleges, and you can\\u2019t understand some of them.

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So, in this episode, we\\u2019re going to solve that.

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So first of all, natives talk funny.

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Native English speakers have different ways of talking.

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I\\u2019m a native English speaker.

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I was born and raised in United States of America, and I speak a very standard kind of American English.

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I was born in Minneapolis, so some people who are really, really good at English know that sometimes, there\\u2019s a tiny, tiny, incy-wincy hint of that kind of regional accent in my English.

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But not so much.

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I tend to speak standard English, because as I was growing up, I actually moved to different states.

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I lived in Minnesota until I was ten, and then Hawaii until I was thirteen, and then Indiana, until I was fifteen, and then Maine until I was twenty, Massachusetts until recently.

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So anyway, I\\u2019m a very good kind of even English.

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So anyway, my English is really clear, because I also have over ten years of experience teaching English as a second language, travelling the world and working with English-as-the-second language speakers.

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Other native English speakers don\\u2019t have the same experience, they\\u2019re not English teachers.

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So, in order to communicate with people, they just speak like they would speak with other native English speakers.

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I\\u2019m speaking to you right now like I would speak to my native English-speaking friends.

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What I mean is I think I\\u2019m more aware of speaking clearly, I annunciate my words.

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People that work on the radio or in broadcasting, or on TV also speak very clearly whether they\\u2019re English speakers or not.

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Other people that are used to working all day every day with other Americans speak pretty quickly, and they might combine their words more.

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So, for example, I might say, \\u2018Don\\u2019t you know how to understand native English?\\u2019, and they might say, \\u2018Don\\u2019t you know how to understand native English?\\u2019

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\\u2018Don\\u2019t you know?\\u2019

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Which is also vert Minnesotan of me to say.

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