I have to leave this clarification here because the comments under this video are very disturbing. If you didn’t understand some examples, that’s absolutely normal. I even made sure to mention this in the video, explaining why it’s okay and why you might not understand certain things. Even native speakers might not understand everything they hear for various reasons. But if you didn’t understand something, please don’t get mad, leave offensive comments, or call me names. This is really concerning. There’s no need to get personal. I’ll also clarify this, although I explained it in the video, but there seems to have been some kind of mix-up: These examples are not jokes, which is why they aren’t funny. I was discussing jokes in the previous video with the same name. And no, to become fluent in English, you don’t need to ‘watch stupid Hollywood movies’ or be familiar with ‘stupid Hollywood culture.’ This video is not about Hollywood at all. I was talking about cultural references in general, not specifically about movies. The words and phrases that people use in real life are not related to Hollywood and actors. (The first example was, but I explained how someone might not understand what is being talked about if they aren’t familiar with those movies, and that’s okay.) But how are Woodward and Bernstein or the Watergate scandal related to Hollywood? I use scenes from movies as a demonstration, to give an example. However, the way they speak in movies and the words and phrases they use are reflective of how people speak and the words they use in real life. This was intended to be a fun little video to assess yourself and maybe learn something new by listening to the explanations. It’s definitely not a college test, and this video wasn’t made to upset you. That’s why there were explanations included. (I thought I made this clear in the video; I always make sure to encourage people.) If this was a waste of your time and you didn’t find anything useful at all in this video, I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention to waste anyone’s time.
Yo, much love there ❤ You surely do a great job with your Channel teaching people keep the nice work . Just be careful with clickbait titles as they might not bring the people your dedicating your videos to. "If you can... Then you are" are some very challenging words and I think the reason behind these comments (mine included)
Hiii, Im from brazil and I love your videos, they have been helping me a lot as I myself considered my english good enough just to find out with you that its not hahaha. So just ignore the rude messages and keep going please youre amazing hope you know that
Never ever say sorry for the amazing work you clearly spend much time on. A lot of people, especially people online, are miserable and just want to be mean. Keep up the good work!!
wow - I'm a native English speaker who has lived in US, UK, and Canada and I could just barely catch all these the first time. If a person who speaks English as a 2nd language can grasp all of these, congratulations to your amazing language fluency achievement!!!
Im not a native speaker but am a native level speaker with all it's reading listening 'nd stuff. What you said happened to me with ppl where I live "you dont pronunce it well/ur english is unclear" 💀
I'm surprised that I would have go back to watching TV to get fluent. I've thrown that out over a decade ago, because there was nothing worthwhile quality-wise.
If you didn’t understand everything in this video, don’t feel bad. I was born and raised in an English speaking country and am definitely fluent. However, even I didn’t catch a few of these as the people didn’t speak clearly nor enunciate properly. Unfortunately, this happens often. I frequently have to replay part of a video or even turn on subtitles to understand what was said. I know a lot of people who do the same. So, I don’t think this type of test is necessarily an indication of a person’s fluency in English. It is a fun experiment though. Just be sure to take it with a grain of salt. Cheers!
Sometimes I'm watching a dubbed movie and I understand the joke in English... it feels awkward when the joke is actually funny and nobody else around get it 🙄
Specially when it doesn't translate well to the other language but since you know English you get it and then have to explain to the people around you ( I usually explain the jokes to my dad)@@MauroSchnauz
Muchas gracias por esto, me pasa con el español, lo he hablado toda mi vida y aún no entiendo que dicen Rosalia y Bad bunny en la mayoría de sus canciones
Thank you! While I am shocked that there are English native speakers that would keep closed caption on to help understanding speech, as a non-native English speaker I am totally relief on 'hearing' this because such type of video works as a hammer over our self esteem as learners.
I’m American. These examples are (mostly) American English, and I have to say that understanding these clips is difficult without context even for me. If you hear these lines with context they would probably make sense. Out of context a lot of these are hard to understand. Also, the audio mix on a lot of American TV is bad and I turn on subtitles just to understand what the people are saying. The actors also mumble or sometimes don’t enunciate clearly, making it hard to understand what was said. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t understand any of these. Native English speakers struggle to understand American TV shows like the ones in these clips.
I feel more confident after that, thanks to that. In Brazil, we do understand what native people or native actors talks, but we don't understand the slang of other people from other states. 😅
Brazil here. I didn't understand any of the jokes, but I understood everything she said. For me it is already an achievement and it made me feel more confident in learning English on my own. To understand these jokes, I think you not only need to know English, but also be immersed in the culture and history of native English speakers, which is complicated for a foreigner.
I'm brazilian also, I've been here in Australia since 01st april 2024 in my sandwhich doctorate. This point about be a fluent using culture context don't make sene because is very different for american, british, australian, so how can I trully consider myself a fluent? Maybe I'll be able to be fluent in one specific "type" of english? Don't match for me this analogy using references that are very specific for each situation, country, even state. As you know, in portuguese there are words with different meanings depending on the state. So, when we think about brazilian people that leave in São Paulo, Santa Catarina or Bahia for example. So, we are not fluent in our own language? We have different type of fluent people in the same country? I don't think so. As far as I concerned, I understand the proposal of this video and was very good, but definitely this is not related with fluency, at all.
@@fabianomaia3920"Fluency in a language means speaking easily, reasonably quickly and without having to stop and pause a lot." Thats what google says about being fluent i dont think that not understanding cultural jokes and/or references about topics that you dont even know would consider you not fluent, i'm also from Brazil btw, i think that if you can laugh about jokes in english, has no problems in making friends and can express how you feel then you're probably fluent, it doesnt mean that you can understand everything
Just want to point out for anyone who may be struggling with understanding some pronunciations. Im a native English speaker from the US, and even as someone who speaks English as their native language, I too sometimes have to go back and re listen to what they said. This is normal if you ask me. Sometimes in conversation you keep saying “what?” Like 3-4 times until you understand what they said the first time 😂
This happened to me the first time I met my boyfrend's friends. They said 2 or 3 words and everybody understood the joke and they were laughing all the time and I didn't catch anything. And all this happened in my mother tongue. Understanding jokes is not only related with language but with culture, culture level or aspects, urban tribes, generation, age, friendships... this video is a nonsense for me 🤷♀️ One year after that dinner, I laughed with them
I've had a lot of experience in customer service and support for native / non-native speakers and I got what you mean, I'm Spanish speaker and we even have different accents and sometimes we don't understand ourselves depending on the context, as everything as usual, for me it is normal with any language in the world
I think pop culture references are also not a great benchmark to assess fluency because I get much more references from American and British culture than from my own country because the domestically produced stuff is just inferior and I pay zero attention to it. Doesn't mean I'm not perfectly fluent in my mother tongue.
I didn't understand most of the examples, but I did understand everything you've said without subtitles. And since I was able to write this comment too, I consider myself fluent. Change my mind.
@@Rhino1186 Every single famous author ever disagrees with you on that one I'm pretty sure. Shakespeare does for sure. And Kipling. Because it's a format used for emphasis. Or to emulate the flow and rhythm of spoken word. In a more formal text you would likely use different punctuation, but RUclips comments are the digital version of informal chatter
This should be specified for America, since english is spoken everywhere in the world as a source of communication with everyone. Not just in america. You can be fluent in english without knowing whole american culture. This is a great video for people living in america or for people who want to understand american culture, but it should be specified.
Being fluent in a language does not mean to have deep knowledge on slangs and native culture. That is native level of speaking (you don't need to be raised with the language to achieve this level). Being fluent is, by definition, to be able to sustain a fluid conversation in the language. With both parties being able to understand each other quickly rarely needing to repeat or redo sentences.
She doesn't even say that you're NOT Fluent if you don't. The video just suggests you REALLY are fluent. There was NO NEGATION. You have failed this city.
@@MiguelBalaraw No, she doesn't say it outright... But there being 2 options after hearing each sentences/clips implies it. 1. You're fluent, great job. 2. It's OK. There's always next time. _(Not fluent)_ It's a "Protective Mother's" response to a negative outcome.
The most problematic thing about almost all these phrases is a fact that you really need to know some events from UK/US history and mainstream. Without this knowledge, you will still be confused even after seeing the subtitles. Also, pronunciation is a serious problem, even for native speakers. For example, I'm a Polish native speaker, and when I'm watching some Polish films, it may happen that I have difficulties with understanding because of pronunciation. So me and my friends or parents are watching the scene several times trying to understand, and even after that, we may have no idea. Like literally a group of native speakers that are not able to understand their own language. Also, when some people are talking about certain topics like, for example, celebrities, games or they use slang expressions, I often have no idea whats going on. And I'm native hehe. In case of these examples, I had two main problems: I understand all the words but I don't get the meaning because idk something from mainstream or the pronunciation was so weird combined with machine-gun speed of speech. Considering other coments from native speakers I realised that I have almost the same problems as native with Polish language. So that's probably an issue with every language. In general, don't worry if you are not able to understand it. Bad pronunciation combined with slang and cultural references may be challenging for natives too. There's nothing to worry about 😊
I absolutely agree with this idea. I am a native English speaker lived in the US my entire life and don't even speak a second language. A lot of these i understand the words used without even thinking about it but i have zero context around the meaning because i don't follow celebrities at all or even care about that side of things. A lot of these really felt like inside jokes to me that i didn't get because i don't have the context to them regardless of how fluent i am in the language. I cannot speak for other languages but English is a very contextual language. That combined with English having one of the largest vocabularies in the world due to the English language inheriting words and concepts from tons of different language around the world like Latin and Germanic can make it very difficult to learn or understand at times even for the most native of English speakers. I don't necessarily agree that understanding contextual jokes that even native speakers could easily misunderstand or not get is a great benchmark for someone's fluency of the English language. To me a better a benchmark would be if someone could explain the context of a joke to you and you were able to easily grasp the meaning after the context has been provided. This at least means you understand all the worlds and the interplay between how the words are being used.
I feel better now. I'm serious. After long years of studying and practicing English, I thought I was forgetting to speak English after watching these jokes and understanding almost nothing.
Yes, that's right. especially the first one. I'm not into the film game at all and heard the term ‘barbenheimer’ for the first time after googling the term I realised what it could mean. Ryan gosling says something to me i know he's an actor but that's it :D So if you want to understand this gag you shouldn't live under a rock like me. I'm more into the computer and car game I would say that someone who has nothing to do with my interests wouldn't understand this joke either. If it weren't for C, we'd all be programming in BASI and OBOL
No not with all languages. I'm turkish and we mostly speak it as it is written. If you hear a word that you don't know, you can understand the pronunciation perfectly and you can write it down.
Not knowing certain cultural references (especially when it comes to sub-subcultures, as specific and exclusive as references to little-known Hollywood films, apart from a sample of people) is not at all a English level indicator. This is exactly the same situation as when, during a conversation (in your native language) you don't understand a joke, precisely because it was a "private joke". So it has nothing to do with the level of the language in question. That's my view. Also, about "understanding the words", I think it is a biased notion. Why ? Because the understanding of a word, regardless of the language, is always influenced by the "image" that we have of it in our mind. When we hear some kind of new expression, even if we recognize the letters or syllables, we don't necessarily understand it (or feel like we don't understand it), precisely because the word in question appeals to a concept, a reference that we don't have. And it can even happen in our own language.
Agreed. Most jokes in Millennial/Gen-Z circles are not understood outside that age group by Gen-X/Boomers. That doesn’t mean they are not fluent, but they don’t share the same lingo and therefore are unable to pick up on those jokes.
Well said. I agree. also, I would add that there are certain words that not knowing them don't reflect in your fluency either. Like when you hear a doctor, or a mechanic or anyone from a different environment.... yo'll notice that their vocabulary is differnet than yours if you are not familiar with it.
Finally someone explaining this in the right way! If I'm talking with her and tell her "that's such an Anthony's move" is she going to understand it? No does that make her not fluent? No
I think that a 'drop house' (in the context of a detective comedy) is not a porta-potty, but a slang word for a place (like apartment or an abandoned warehouse etc.) that criminals use as a safe place (halfway house) for leaving their 'stuff' like drugs, guns, etc. that are to be picked up by other criminals later. In this particular scene, the detectives are conducting a surveillance operation, trying to catch in the act criminals that are about do do some criminal activity in a drop house across the street.
Yes, your explanation is most likely the definition of a "drop house" and her explanation is the joke that was made... again, she said at the start of the video, this video is to point out how play on words word come to be and to point out that if you understand it, if you get the "joke", the play on words, you truely understand english. That's the point of the video. This is aparently the same problem she had with the previous one.
I got the meaning of drop-house in that context, since you drop something in a toilet :) I just do not know "porta-potty". Maybe i had got "portable pot" in that context. Thus, i do not qualify myself as something near to a native speaker.
The second dude was probably thinking in multiple layers of pun in his uttered joke about the "porta potty company" like an ADHD genius. The meaning of the diaogue exchange doesn't have to be only one.
Watching this video was a humbling experience for me. I believed I was fluent, but I found myself relying on subtitles for most of it, only grasping the last part without them.
I think these examples are especially difficult, and go beyond what I'd call normal fluency. All of them except the last one require an understanding of something that is definitely not universal in the English language. I wouldn't expect native English speakers to get all of those. The last one combines fast speaking, "mushing" words together, and a word that isn't used often, "tic". So, I'd say this one is especially advanced.
I would say if you understand these examples you are definately fluent.. but if you dont you could still be fluent. Cultural references are important but I'm not sure I could read your comment and understand everything you say without issue and still not consider you fluent. I would say understanding barbenhiemer is an insanely overly high standard for fluency. There's plenty of american old people who have no idea what that even means. And they dont speak any other languages so Im pretty sure they are fluent.
For me the first two examples were easy. But the third one was medium difficulty, since I didn't really know the idiom about the broad side of a barn, and the fourth example was really difficult since I didn't immediately realise she was saying names and tried 4 times to hear some actual words before relying on subtitles The last example was easy, though. But again, I've been teaching English for 6 years now, with 16 years of formally studying it prior 😂
For two years in Korea we had a maid who also was learning English. After about a year she would suddenly start laughing as she figured out that we were playing with words. At the end of two years she was participating with us playing with words. She was a straight A student while taking courses at a US college. Got her a job with NW Airlines as a dual language stewardess.
As a native English speaker, I understood the jokes, idioms, and references. But even I had a difficult time understanding some pronunciations of the words when listening. "Dye job" sticks out. I know what that means, but when she said it, It sounded like a single word like "diejub" to me, so I was left confused, wondering what she was saying.
I can relate, I’m from Brazil, and do I need to turn on the subtitles in Portuguese even if the movie is from my country or dubbed. The pronunciation of actores or voice actores is sometimes hard to understand.
That's exactly why she chose examples like this, everyone who watches the video will think: damn, I didn't understand correctly, I need to watch more videos from this channel to improve! Scam
I definitely see where you're coming from! As a native English speaker, what tipped me off to the "dye job" lied in the setup. "Broad side of a beauty parlor," implies that this lady is lacking in her "looks." I hope I explained that okay. Therefore, "dye job" makes sense cuz beauty parlor is where, I guess, you get your hair dyed?
As an individual for whom English is a second language, I sincerely apologize for any shortcomings in my proficiency. I strive diligently each day to enhance my understanding and fluency. Your videos are truly exceptional-please continue the outstanding work!
I'm a native English speaker and 2 of these I didn't get, so don't get discouraged if you struggle with these, she truly selected some tough ones. I struggle with pop culture references a lot, and many people do.
as a spanish native speaker, i get most of these vids with no problem... but spanish, being a more "easy to listen" language(we don't abreviate pronoums) i understand there is people who can't get some phrases anyway, in spanish is the same... we a meme (wich is not a meme.. .is true...but... ) about Chilean Spanish... wich sounds like arabish... or something... too weird to be called spanish, but when write is fully spanis... just... broken, and then i video chat a jamaican... and i get it....
As a French native, I just discovered your channel and immediately subscribed to it. I was looking to go a step further in natural convo, cultural references and puns on words and you're exactly what I was looking for. Thanks !
I’m a 63-year-old non-movie buff from London UK, and I fell at the first hurdle. Cannon kitty leaving all that fodder in the dust, I imagined a macabre battle scene. But I love the idea of understanding jokes as a measure of language fluency, and look forward to watching the rest. 😊
I think it would have been worth mentioning that at least half of these idioms are rooted in American culture. As a native English speaker from the UK or Australia, who has no idea what kind of phrases have emerged from rural America, for instance, you could be forgiven for not understanding the reference "couldn't hit the broad side of a barn (/insert noun)"
been speaking it as a non-native for about 30 years now. I think what this lady is talking about has nothing to do with fluency. It's more of an issue of an accent, diction and jargon. This is like saying if you are not well-versed in Jamaican or Cockney you are not fluent. That is BS, I beg your pardon. I am fluent in English, and I am positive I am more fluent than her but I only immediately got the 3rd one and I got the words in the other ones but did not understand the idiosyncrasies. I can tell you that she is a native russian speaker, which is why she cannot hide her mis-pronunciation of the short "i" sounds. I can tell you from their accents pretty much where the speakers come from no matter how polished their accent is. Unless the English is one's spoken language from early childhood or they have fenomenal abilities to adapt foreign accents and sounds, it is possible to detect the accent. Ata boy to her for a russian-speaker to subdue the American accent of English this much. However, once again, fluency is something else. I speak 4 languages as a native speaker. My mother tongue is Azerbaijani Turkish. And I do speak German and Hungarian on intermediate level.
@@vasileseicaru8740 "couldn't hit the broad side of a barn" is actually a pretty common saying in the UK. A Broadside was originally a ships cannons firing from one side of a ship. A "broadside". Goes way back to the early Royal navy days.
As a Norwegian, this was exceptionally easy, i dont see how fluency in a language has relevance to knowing journalist trivia. I am sure you can find harder examples in media that is more akin to fluency rather than trivia.
An individual not living in the country's culture cannot know a lot of slang and cultural issues. Even native speakers are struggling with a lot of jokes/movies, depending on the environment they grew up or lived in. So using jokes or movies is wrong. You are testing general knowledge or language speaking/listening-understanding? Ask yourself. I bet a lot of native English speakers cannot understand the meaning of these examples/jokes. Despite I know very well my native language, I too cannot understand a lot of what is being said in some jokes or movies in this language. So this test is not about English and is simply annoying.
Amazing how some always put up a wall, try to be arrogant 🙄 so not receptive and have an open-mind about what others are expressing! 😅 Great video! Not only that you're showing you went out of your way (being a Ukranian) going deep learning a different language, it also shows you're embracing the cultural and language differences in this world, kudos 👏
@@henryhkchiu, sorry, but seems your comment is in a wrong place. I mean it is a reaction to some non related comment. Place it in the main chat. Nice words. Not everyone can see it here.
I can perfectly communicate business/work related conversation, but I've always found difficult to understand casual conversation. I noticed that all the times I went to the US.
It’s perfectly normal. When you learn another language, you first develop the skills to suit your specific needs. In your case, it was being able to communicate in the official environments of the business world. Scientists, for example, might be very proficient with scientific terms and able to communicate with other scientists without any problems at all, but not be able to go to the bank and express their needs there in English, and vice versa. There are people whose casual English is excellent but who can’t talk about politics or science because they lack vocabulary. All you need to do is start practicing the skills you’re lacking 😉 You got this 💪🏻
Don’t be surprised people in the USA 🇺🇸 lack proper vocabulary and grammar.mostly street slang due to the obsolete education system.Im a Mexican immigrant always doing my best to convey the message.
I don't find it hard to understand but to participate mostly because in casual conversations there's a speed requirement and they relax their attention so it becomes harder for them to understand someone with an accent
You just use the "a" before "fun" if is a term like "a lot of" for example. The "a" is an article. (Um/Uma/Uns/Umas). So the right sentence would be: "i'm having a lot of fun with your videos" or "I'm having fun with your videos" or "i'm having so much fun with your videos" I'm Brazillian too. Go ahead! you're doing a nice job!
@@victorfreitas6785 Thank you very much for the correction, living and learning, that is my motto. I'm even more excited about the language and about following more of your work here on RUclips.
As a french millenial, I've spent almost 20years reading, listening and breathing english. I got everything instantly ! Didn't get the Woodward/Bernstein reference but still understood the meaning of her phrase😄 I'm still a bit hesitant when speaking due to the lack of regular practice. That said, I'm very proud of myself.
The name references are too old and obscure for those who did not live in that period in time. I guess that with newer names or better represented protagonists, it would make more sense. For example: “I would love to be the Watson to your Holmes”.
Thank goodness I understood them all. I was born in the US and am a native English speaker but thought for a second the algorithm somehow knew I wasn’t fluent in English. Phew.
I have a good vocabulary, but I'm not very good at speaking and building sentences. I want to thank you for your English so clear that I understand every word you say. Clear, legible
0:00 intro 3:20 test actually starts 6:20 second example 7:45 FRUSTRATINGLY LONG ad intermission (elsa AI) 10:05 3rd example 12:10 4th example 13:30 5th example
Yep. Not only is fluency about knowing how and when to apply all those intricate grammatical structures, but also how familiarized one is with all the nuances and general culture that is embedded in that specific English-speaking country.
Yess but the examples are crap, If you are not an Internet guy and not into films how can you know barbienhimer??? My girlfriend is from Manchester and she don't know a sh about those films does that makes her less fluent?
@@MiguelBalaraw the whole video is based on the fact that if you don't get the jokes you are less fluent but the jokes are based on some random Knowledge that is not even representative of any culture
@@C-sco Less fluent is different from not fluent. And its fine if you didn't get it. I agree they are random, but they are more on the American side. It is representative of American pop culture. And not getting the specifics due to meaning is being less fluent.
@@MiguelBalaraw no its not, my English teacher is American and she didn't get them either, she told me that mixing pop culture with knowledge is simply wrong unless you are talking about general knowledge like talking about a worldwide famous politician. She made a pretty good example making a joke about a baseball player that no one understood because no one watches baseball and told us that if we do the same with a soccer player an American would not get it but that does not makes him less fluent at all!
Try to understand others a bit if you want to be understood. I guess it's one of the basic rules... And I understand why everyone is mad at each other... since most ppl just ignore the above "rule" and only seem interested in looking down on others to feel better. On top of not making sense (and not trying to), that is. No wonder so much is wrong, so many don't even try to break the vicious cycles and self-inflicted prophecies, and see detrimental behaviors/oversimplifications/generalizations (and so on) as "natural" 😢 In this case she exhibited how a decent person should react to ppl missing the point of something. Maybe most should focus on learning that before minding their English skills. I know I do and I'm fine with not being 100% fluent, lol. Priorities... As I've been saying to certain ppl under some songs' videos, simple language often is more effective in conveying the message you want to share. Whether some will treat you as if you're a simpleton or not, it's not exactly your fault and in reality maybe they are the ones who gotta go back to school, if they underestimate and dismiss others so easily. I mean, most ppl will understand just fine even if your English isn't perfect, and like she mentioned here, you'll find yourself using English better than many native speakers :s
Now, seeing ppl be so pedantic and obsessed with certain grammatical rules (in other threads below), makes me more mad than this could ever make me. There's a word called balance... At least they're helping others correct certain rookie mistakes (that I could be guilty of, myself, as I never cared about studying, lolz). Oh and no, I don't want a medal for the things I said here, hopefully it's clear what I tried to say and why. Let me rot, but focus on what's truly important each time. Now, I can sigh at the way society is, again.
She's talking to students: People learning the language! I've learned 3 languages so far. For each one a world of possibilities opens, but also a world of frustrations and misunderstandings, culture shocks and so one. Try to learn a foreign language and you'll find out what I'm talking about
@@subarashiikylox as far as I know, she's Ukrainian. I'm an accent nerd, and I noticed her vowels straight away so I had to google and voilà. The info is on her website. She's a great speaker with this slight warmth of a slavic accent. I love it.
Download ELSA for free: bit.ly/ELSAxENGLISHFLUENCYJOURNEY Get unlimited ELSA AI with an amazing discount on ELSA premium membership: www.elsaspeak.com/inf/englishfluencyjourney1/
I agree with almost the entire introduction, the problem is that humor is objective, it was invented to clear up the doubt of whether you are like me or if you are a threat, if you are from my social class or not, that is why we analyze in milliseconds all the variables that come into play using analysis, in fact you can learn humor and books have been written with rules that work, right? Having said that, you will not be able to make a communist understand humor, for example, as we all know, left-wing people do not have sense of humor. If we enter into the intellectual plane, if you are Spanish you will not be able to make yourself understood by an average Peruvian or Ecuadorian. In the context of gender, you will have observed that there are not many female comedians, that is because humor is developed more among men to avoid conflicts and not be seen as threats. Between man and woman, the communion of tastes or ideas works better, or at least warlike non-interventionism.
the only one that I understood without subtitles or explanations was the last one. But I don't have the background information for most of the cases in this video. Thank you for the content
Italian speaker here, learning English, I only understood the last one, and just because I understood the word "tic", so I fundamentally imagined the rest of the sentence from their facial expressions. I always have a hard time understanding films' dialogue, because they speak too quickly and the words overlap each other. The first one on the contrary I understood almost perfectly Ryan Gosling (and I knew perfectly what "Barbenheimer" was, since I follow cinema and entertainment news), but very little of what Emily Blunt said, one: because I didn't understand "Ken and Kitty" but something like "cannon kitty", and though I watched "Oppenheimer" I didn't remember that Blunt's character was named Kitty; two: because I didn't know (and so I didn't understand) the idiom "let the fodder behind".
I am a Mexican who learnt English in the USA. The sense of humor aré very different from US to Mexicans. One can understand the words un every joke. The problem is the culture. I am a good translator from English to Spanish because I know both cultures. When learning a language Is good to interact with the foreign culture, then you will be complete. By the way, you do have a great English 😂😅😊
in the Brooklyn 99 clip, "drop house" is used in 2 contexts. the 1st sentence uses it in reference to a house where an item may be left, usually illicitly (definitely illicitly in this scene), either money or goods. the second sentence on use the 2nd context, as explained.
Wow, nice ad here. I've downloaded the app, and it's quite good! I'm from Russia, and I can mostly understand content in English, write some comments, but speaking in actual conversation is still... well, difficult. Thanks for the video!
brazilian here, 4/5. missed the watergate reference. glad that i made it! i’ve been taking english classes for 10y now. really enjoyed the lesson. thks!
Even as a native English, the Woodward and Bernstein reference was very very obscure, I didn't get it. Even if I did know the history there, I wouldn't use that phrase personally because no one else will get it. A more effective phrase would be "fun being Watson to your Sherlock"; a detective duo that most English speakers will use as their first example of detective duos and are most likely to understand.
The first one was also a joke about a cat litter box. He said, "leave all this behind us." She answered with a play on her character's name, which is "Kitty". Kitty is a cutesy name for a cat. Fodder also refers to poop. So when she says, "Ken and Kitty leaving all that fodder in the dust," I imagine a cat leaving behind poop in a cat litter box.
@@martoon989 It does, but I've also known it to refer to manure - animal droppings that are used to feed plants. That might be entirely regional though.
i actually had the feeling kitty and fodder referred to what you said and that dust is all that remains after an atomic explosion (a reference to oppenheimer), but i might be reading too much into that
Crazy that i never even though about doing an English class and i was able to almost get all the examples with one ear (I'm using just one side of my phones) I'm a 22 Brazilian guy and i grew up learning English on my own to help me beating some games, as the texts was all in English back in the days. I started writing them and using google translate and as the years passed, i slowly improved, watching videos with subtitles, going back 4 times trying to understand the words and now i just watch everything like it's as natural as breathing. And I'm talking about games, animes, news or just any youtuber i like, I never had "Learning English" as the main objective and somehow, it happened as a consequence.
No hablo nada de ingles, pero empecé a ver algunos videos en ingles y ahora entiendo bastante del video, siempre y cuando se pronuncie claramente, supongo que haber aprendido vocabulario previo ayudo bastante.
Being in the US for many years, I barely understood the last example. I do enjoy this video a lot, though, because it's a nice blend of both speaking English and the cultural context.
@@N40AX How are the words and phrases that people use in real life related to Hollywood and actors? (The first example was, but I explained how someone might not understand what is being talked about if they aren’t familiar with those movies, and that’s okay.) But how are Woodward and Bernstein or the Watergate scandal related to Hollywood? I use scenes from movies as a demonstration, to give an example. However, the way they speak in movies and the words and phrases they use are reflective of how people speak and the words they use in real life
@@EnglishFluencyJourney understanding obscure references is not listening skill. even Watergate scandal is very obscure for everyday conversation for native speakers
It depends if you missed the jokes cause you don't know nothing about the context it does not count. She makes it feel like most of fluent people knows what barbienhimer means and what it is.....
I'm not a native....so I only understood the second and the last one...the last one being too easy in my opinion. So grateful you have posted this video :)
0 of 3, learning a language it is an endless process but i learn everyday it is about consume the culture and practice the listening, writing and speaking
Bro said 0/3 yet committed so many grammatical errors🤣🤡. Before you critique someone who is more advanced in the language than you are, make sure you yourself aren’t in the wrong 7:3,4.
This was amazing, just subscribed. Love this kind of content, since I'm a Brazilian and live in Brazil, my English is severely limited, cuz I don't understand the context of stuff like some very localized jokes or commentaries. I thought my English was good, but watching this I would say, I still have lengths to learn
It takes tons of exposure to really take in the culture, I've been learning english for 2 years now, my listening has become outstandingly good compared to when I began, but I still have lots and lots of listening to do to get it right 😂❤
@@EnglishFluencyJourney ruclips.net/video/vuFjn3V5ZV8/видео.htmlfeature=shared This is the video made by Kevin about a lot of mistakes commited by you! Sorry Anna,. it's not my intention to disturb you about that!
@@EnglishFluencyJourneywhy did you take it as slander? If you believe you're right and what you teach in your videos is correct, you should make a new video explaining your points... kevin, being human, might have made mistakes when reviewing your content... on the other hand, if you really made those mistakes, why dont you just admit it, thank kevin for pointing them out, and apologize to your subscribers for providing incorrect information.... don't you think your students deserve to know the truth?
Of course all of us in this world are human and we can all make mistakes in English if we are not native speakers, the problem is when we teach our mistakes to others and thousands of people learn our mistakes!
I`m Brazilian. English isn`t my first language, but simply understanding this whole video alone isn`t enough to prove oneself as "fluent" ? It's a honest question. Thank you!
Well, certainly undestood most of what they say, but context missing plus some very specific unitedstatian references makes it hard to find a reasonable meaning to what I heard. Ken and kitty, bimbo, drophouse and poop-whatever, and I that old tv show are all culture within culture.
Wow! You explain so good that I believe if I worked by your side during 1 month I would master English! Well, I'm still not fluent... there's a lot of work to be done :)
It's almost impossible to get it for a non-native as they make references to cultural American things. Bernstein and stuff.. what the ... And we just have one sentence every time, we don't even have the context :) I'm really fluent though I swear!!
Problem, in my opinion, apart of that I am not native, it is the fact that these are bits of conversation without a context. Most of us need to be focus on what people are saying, that doesn't mean we are translating into our mother language. In fact we do not do that, otherwise it would be literally impossible to follow any English conversation. Being Spanish my mother tongue, I have a hard time trying to understand the lyrics of certain songs, not to mention conversations with people with different peculiar accents or people who speak really fast. I think the trick it is getting used to that person. A Japanese friend told me. "Do not worry, it is normal you didn't get anything. When I speak with my older sister we use kind of a proprietary Japanese, we do not need to end the sentences, we understand each other just for the context, body movement, intonation... almost a mind reading thing.
As a non-native, this was an amazing test for me. I'm even more confident in my fluency now. It took me a second to remember who Woodward and Bernstein were, I almost Googled. 😅
I’m a native French speaker from Quebec, Canada. I got the Brooklyn99 one and the last one right the first time. I got half of the Charmed one with the subtitles (I didn’t know the idiom). The others, I had no clue.
I highly agree that understanding cultural context indicates higher level. I started watching how I met your mother and the fact that I am getting the jokes makes me feel great!!!
not really, having references does not mean fluency. Ask a 70 year-old to talk to a teen and see how he does not get the slang he uses even if he is a native. Understanding the context is not hard but the deep meaning is just an inside joke that you had to be present .
I was so confident because of your articulation. I was so happy to understand easily everthing until the examples hahaha I barely understood the first one, and the last one. The others were impossible to get for me ^^
Well, I'm not fluent hahaha but I loved your content, please keep bringing it to us, it was fun to watch. English is my 2nd language, and I've been searching for ways to improve it so I can communicate better with other people, and use it as a tool to find a bilingual job, so your channel will be a lot of help, thank you very much!
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
I have to leave this clarification here because the comments under this video are very disturbing.
If you didn’t understand some examples, that’s absolutely normal. I even made sure to mention this in the video, explaining why it’s okay and why you might not understand certain things. Even native speakers might not understand everything they hear for various reasons.
But if you didn’t understand something, please don’t get mad, leave offensive comments, or call me names. This is really concerning. There’s no need to get personal.
I’ll also clarify this, although I explained it in the video, but there seems to have been some kind of mix-up: These examples are not jokes, which is why they aren’t funny. I was discussing jokes in the previous video with the same name.
And no, to become fluent in English, you don’t need to ‘watch stupid Hollywood movies’ or be familiar with ‘stupid Hollywood culture.’ This video is not about Hollywood at all.
I was talking about cultural references in general, not specifically about movies.
The words and phrases that people use in real life are not related to Hollywood and actors. (The first example was, but I explained how someone might not understand what is being talked about if they aren’t familiar with those movies, and that’s okay.) But how are Woodward and Bernstein or the Watergate scandal related to Hollywood? I use scenes from movies as a demonstration, to give an example. However, the way they speak in movies and the words and phrases they use are reflective of how people speak and the words they use in real life.
This was intended to be a fun little video to assess yourself and maybe learn something new by listening to the explanations.
It’s definitely not a college test, and this video wasn’t made to upset you. That’s why there were explanations included. (I thought I made this clear in the video; I always make sure to encourage people.)
If this was a waste of your time and you didn’t find anything useful at all in this video, I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention to waste anyone’s time.
Yo, much love there ❤ You surely do a great job with your Channel teaching people keep the nice work
.
Just be careful with clickbait titles as they might not bring the people your dedicating your videos to. "If you can... Then you are" are some very challenging words and I think the reason behind these comments (mine included)
You are a genius keep the good work ^^
Hiii, Im from brazil and I love your videos, they have been helping me a lot as I myself considered my english good enough just to find out with you that its not hahaha. So just ignore the rude messages and keep going please youre amazing hope you know that
I have to leave this clarification here because... You're doing so great! Amazing work and effort in your content ^^
Never ever say sorry for the amazing work you clearly spend much time on. A lot of people, especially people online, are miserable and just want to be mean. Keep up the good work!!
wow - I'm a native English speaker who has lived in US, UK, and Canada and I could just barely catch all these the first time. If a person who speaks English as a 2nd language can grasp all of these, congratulations to your amazing language fluency achievement!!!
Thank you for saying that.. as an English learner, your comment cheered me up
I got the irony
you are a non native English now
Im not a native speaker but am a native level speaker with all it's reading listening 'nd stuff.
What you said happened to me with ppl where I live "you dont pronunce it well/ur english is unclear" 💀
I'm surprised that I would have go back to watching TV to get fluent. I've thrown that out over a decade ago, because there was nothing worthwhile quality-wise.
As a person, which is chronically online, I now consider myself a native.
same
You mean: As a person WHO
As a person, "who" is chronically online...
@@JohanSmallsyou cooked them 😂
@@JohanSmalls using “which” is also grammatical, though less common. The comma preceding it isn’t, though.
If you didn’t understand everything in this video, don’t feel bad. I was born and raised in an English speaking country and am definitely fluent. However, even I didn’t catch a few of these as the people didn’t speak clearly nor enunciate properly. Unfortunately, this happens often. I frequently have to replay part of a video or even turn on subtitles to understand what was said. I know a lot of people who do the same. So, I don’t think this type of test is necessarily an indication of a person’s fluency in English. It is a fun experiment though. Just be sure to take it with a grain of salt. Cheers!
Sometimes I'm watching a dubbed movie and I understand the joke in English... it feels awkward when the joke is actually funny and nobody else around get it 🙄
Specially when it doesn't translate well to the other language but since you know English you get it and then have to explain to the people around you ( I usually explain the jokes to my dad)@@MauroSchnauz
Muchas gracias por esto, me pasa con el español, lo he hablado toda mi vida y aún no entiendo que dicen Rosalia y Bad bunny en la mayoría de sus canciones
@@rominahernandez5330 Jajaja , Rosalía no habla español, eso es catalán creo.
Thank you! While I am shocked that there are English native speakers that would keep closed caption on to help understanding speech, as a non-native English speaker I am totally relief on 'hearing' this because such type of video works as a hammer over our self esteem as learners.
I’m American. These examples are (mostly) American English, and I have to say that understanding these clips is difficult without context even for me. If you hear these lines with context they would probably make sense. Out of context a lot of these are hard to understand. Also, the audio mix on a lot of American TV is bad and I turn on subtitles just to understand what the people are saying. The actors also mumble or sometimes don’t enunciate clearly, making it hard to understand what was said. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t understand any of these. Native English speakers struggle to understand American TV shows like the ones in these clips.
Thanks mate! Now I have hope
İt just hyped my self confidence
TY!
What???? Hahahah
Don't you understand your own language ? 😂😂😂😂
I feel more confident after that, thanks to that. In Brazil, we do understand what native people or native actors talks, but we don't understand the slang of other people from other states. 😅
Brazil here. I didn't understand any of the jokes, but I understood everything she said. For me it is already an achievement and it made me feel more confident in learning English on my own.
To understand these jokes, I think you not only need to know English, but also be immersed in the culture and history of native English speakers, which is complicated for a foreigner.
yeah dude, most of jokes i feel like : ?? i only get the " barbeheimer " and is not funny for us foreigners..
That Barbenheimer example was stupid as fuck, you'd have to watch the movies to understand that.
I'm brazilian also, I've been here in Australia since 01st april 2024 in my sandwhich doctorate. This point about be a fluent using culture context don't make sene because is very different for american, british, australian, so how can I trully consider myself a fluent? Maybe I'll be able to be fluent in one specific "type" of english? Don't match for me this analogy using references that are very specific for each situation, country, even state. As you know, in portuguese there are words with different meanings depending on the state. So, when we think about brazilian people that leave in São Paulo, Santa Catarina or Bahia for example. So, we are not fluent in our own language? We have different type of fluent people in the same country? I don't think so. As far as I concerned, I understand the proposal of this video and was very good, but definitely this is not related with fluency, at all.
@@fabianomaia3920"Fluency in a language means speaking easily, reasonably quickly and without having to stop and pause a lot." Thats what google says about being fluent i dont think that not understanding cultural jokes and/or references about topics that you dont even know would consider you not fluent, i'm also from Brazil btw, i think that if you can laugh about jokes in english, has no problems in making friends and can express how you feel then you're probably fluent, it doesnt mean that you can understand everything
Hi Brazil, this is Patrick
Definitely I'm not fluent at all
You probably would not watch videos on this channel if you were. That said, I'm here and I'm fairly fluent so what do I know?
What's your native language?
@@DaniHL Spanish
@@DaniHL German and Slovak. Grew up bilingual.
Same here ☹️
Just want to point out for anyone who may be struggling with understanding some pronunciations. Im a native English speaker from the US, and even as someone who speaks English as their native language, I too sometimes have to go back and re listen to what they said. This is normal if you ask me. Sometimes in conversation you keep saying “what?” Like 3-4 times until you understand what they said the first time 😂
Yeah I think it's normal in all languages. Sometimes it's how the person said it, and it wasn't as clear.
Plus sometimes Americans comes to be lazy to try understand the English with accent from foreigns…
This happened to me the first time I met my boyfrend's friends. They said 2 or 3 words and everybody understood the joke and they were laughing all the time and I didn't catch anything. And all this happened in my mother tongue. Understanding jokes is not only related with language but with culture, culture level or aspects, urban tribes, generation, age, friendships... this video is a nonsense for me 🤷♀️
One year after that dinner, I laughed with them
I've had a lot of experience in customer service and support for native / non-native speakers and I got what you mean, I'm Spanish speaker and we even have different accents and sometimes we don't understand ourselves depending on the context, as everything as usual, for me it is normal with any language in the world
I think pop culture references are also not a great benchmark to assess fluency because I get much more references from American and British culture than from my own country because the domestically produced stuff is just inferior and I pay zero attention to it. Doesn't mean I'm not perfectly fluent in my mother tongue.
I didn't understand most of the examples, but I did understand everything you've said without subtitles. And since I was able to write this comment too, I consider myself fluent. Change my mind.
Yes, but... Not at all, she is clearly speaking slow to make all the viewers capable to understand being at any level
@@Rhino1186 Google it
@@Rhino1186 It may, actually. Search on Google
@@Rhino1186 Every single famous author ever disagrees with you on that one I'm pretty sure. Shakespeare does for sure. And Kipling. Because it's a format used for emphasis. Or to emulate the flow and rhythm of spoken word. In a more formal text you would likely use different punctuation, but RUclips comments are the digital version of informal chatter
@@Rhino1186 Aww, but it first the conversational style so well :(
This should be specified for America, since english is spoken everywhere in the world as a source of communication with everyone. Not just in america. You can be fluent in english without knowing whole american culture.
This is a great video for people living in america or for people who want to understand american culture, but it should be specified.
Being fluent in a language does not mean to have deep knowledge on slangs and native culture. That is native level of speaking (you don't need to be raised with the language to achieve this level).
Being fluent is, by definition, to be able to sustain a fluid conversation in the language. With both parties being able to understand each other quickly rarely needing to repeat or redo sentences.
Exactly
She doesn't even say that you're NOT Fluent if you don't. The video just suggests you REALLY are fluent. There was NO NEGATION.
You have failed this city.
@@MiguelBalaraw No, she doesn't say it outright... But there being 2 options after hearing each sentences/clips implies it.
1. You're fluent, great job.
2. It's OK. There's always next time. _(Not fluent)_
It's a "Protective Mother's" response to a negative outcome.
@@JackiedudeQQ Options? It's just definitely fluent and fluent.
there's levels to this shit, people using highly sophisticated or academic vocabulary wouldn't be understood by most native speakers anyway
The most problematic thing about almost all these phrases is a fact that you really need to know some events from UK/US history and mainstream. Without this knowledge, you will still be confused even after seeing the subtitles. Also, pronunciation is a serious problem, even for native speakers. For example, I'm a Polish native speaker, and when I'm watching some Polish films, it may happen that I have difficulties with understanding because of pronunciation. So me and my friends or parents are watching the scene several times trying to understand, and even after that, we may have no idea. Like literally a group of native speakers that are not able to understand their own language. Also, when some people are talking about certain topics like, for example, celebrities, games or they use slang expressions, I often have no idea whats going on. And I'm native hehe.
In case of these examples, I had two main problems: I understand all the words but I don't get the meaning because idk something from mainstream or the pronunciation was so weird combined with machine-gun speed of speech.
Considering other coments from native speakers I realised that I have almost the same problems as native with Polish language. So that's probably an issue with every language. In general, don't worry if you are not able to understand it. Bad pronunciation combined with slang and cultural references may be challenging for natives too. There's nothing to worry about 😊
Exactly 🤝 thank you for this message!
I absolutely agree with this idea. I am a native English speaker lived in the US my entire life and don't even speak a second language. A lot of these i understand the words used without even thinking about it but i have zero context around the meaning because i don't follow celebrities at all or even care about that side of things. A lot of these really felt like inside jokes to me that i didn't get because i don't have the context to them regardless of how fluent i am in the language.
I cannot speak for other languages but English is a very contextual language. That combined with English having one of the largest vocabularies in the world due to the English language inheriting words and concepts from tons of different language around the world like Latin and Germanic can make it very difficult to learn or understand at times even for the most native of English speakers.
I don't necessarily agree that understanding contextual jokes that even native speakers could easily misunderstand or not get is a great benchmark for someone's fluency of the English language. To me a better a benchmark would be if someone could explain the context of a joke to you and you were able to easily grasp the meaning after the context has been provided. This at least means you understand all the worlds and the interplay between how the words are being used.
I feel better now. I'm serious. After long years of studying and practicing English, I thought I was forgetting to speak English after watching these jokes and understanding almost nothing.
Yes, that's right. especially the first one. I'm not into the film game at all and heard the term ‘barbenheimer’ for the first time after googling the term I realised what it could mean. Ryan gosling says something to me i know he's an actor but that's it :D
So if you want to understand this gag you shouldn't live under a rock like me.
I'm more into the computer and car game I would say that someone who has nothing to do with my interests wouldn't understand this joke either.
If it weren't for C, we'd all be programming in BASI and OBOL
No not with all languages. I'm turkish and we mostly speak it as it is written. If you hear a word that you don't know, you can understand the pronunciation perfectly and you can write it down.
Not knowing certain cultural references (especially when it comes to sub-subcultures, as specific and exclusive as references to little-known Hollywood films, apart from a sample of people) is not at all a English level indicator. This is exactly the same situation as when, during a conversation (in your native language) you don't understand a joke, precisely because it was a "private joke". So it has nothing to do with the level of the language in question. That's my view.
Also, about "understanding the words", I think it is a biased notion. Why ? Because the understanding of a word, regardless of the language, is always influenced by the "image" that we have of it in our mind. When we hear some kind of new expression, even if we recognize the letters or syllables, we don't necessarily understand it (or feel like we don't understand it), precisely because the word in question appeals to a concept, a reference that we don't have. And it can even happen in our own language.
Agreed. Most jokes in Millennial/Gen-Z circles are not understood outside that age group by Gen-X/Boomers. That doesn’t mean they are not fluent, but they don’t share the same lingo and therefore are unable to pick up on those jokes.
Exactly bruh
Well said. I agree. also, I would add that there are certain words that not knowing them don't reflect in your fluency either. Like when you hear a doctor, or a mechanic or anyone from a different environment.... yo'll notice that their vocabulary is differnet than yours if you are not familiar with it.
Finally someone explaining this in the right way!
If I'm talking with her and tell her "that's such an Anthony's move" is she going to understand it? No does that make her not fluent? No
I think that a 'drop house' (in the context of a detective comedy) is not a porta-potty, but a slang word for a place (like apartment or an abandoned warehouse etc.) that criminals use as a safe place (halfway house) for leaving their 'stuff' like drugs, guns, etc. that are to be picked up by other criminals later. In this particular scene, the detectives are conducting a surveillance operation, trying to catch in the act criminals that are about do do some criminal activity in a drop house across the street.
Yes, her explanation left me very confused.
Yes, your explanation is most likely the definition of a "drop house" and her explanation is the joke that was made... again, she said at the start of the video, this video is to point out how play on words word come to be and to point out that if you understand it, if you get the "joke", the play on words, you truely understand english. That's the point of the video. This is aparently the same problem she had with the previous one.
I got the meaning of drop-house in that context, since you drop something in a toilet :)
I just do not know "porta-potty". Maybe i had got "portable pot" in that context. Thus, i do not qualify myself as something near to a native speaker.
The second dude was probably thinking in multiple layers of pun in his uttered joke about the "porta potty company" like an ADHD genius. The meaning of the diaogue exchange doesn't have to be only one.
@@MollyHJohns the meaning you mean: the interpretation of the channel owner is not the only one possible?
It's nice to see that Starlight beated Homelander and now is teaching english on YT. Loved it.
Watching this video was a humbling experience for me.
I believed I was fluent, but I found myself relying on subtitles for most of it, only grasping the last part without them.
I think these examples are especially difficult, and go beyond what I'd call normal fluency. All of them except the last one require an understanding of something that is definitely not universal in the English language. I wouldn't expect native English speakers to get all of those. The last one combines fast speaking, "mushing" words together, and a word that isn't used often, "tic". So, I'd say this one is especially advanced.
I would say if you understand these examples you are definately fluent.. but if you dont you could still be fluent. Cultural references are important but I'm not sure I could read your comment and understand everything you say without issue and still not consider you fluent. I would say understanding barbenhiemer is an insanely overly high standard for fluency. There's plenty of american old people who have no idea what that even means. And they dont speak any other languages so Im pretty sure they are fluent.
For me the first two examples were easy. But the third one was medium difficulty, since I didn't really know the idiom about the broad side of a barn, and the fourth example was really difficult since I didn't immediately realise she was saying names and tried 4 times to hear some actual words before relying on subtitles
The last example was easy, though. But again, I've been teaching English for 6 years now, with 16 years of formally studying it prior 😂
@@paulfrank8738 That was the only one I actually got it, because it didn't envolve weird words/specific names
I also believed I was fluent, but now I'm questioning. I've been told I'm level C2
For two years in Korea we had a maid who also was learning English. After about a year she would suddenly start laughing as she figured out that we were playing with words. At the end of two years she was participating with us playing with words. She was a straight A student while taking courses at a US college. Got her a job with NW Airlines as a dual language stewardess.
As a native English speaker, I understood the jokes, idioms, and references. But even I had a difficult time understanding some pronunciations of the words when listening. "Dye job" sticks out. I know what that means, but when she said it, It sounded like a single word like "diejub" to me, so I was left confused, wondering what she was saying.
I can relate, I’m from Brazil, and do I need to turn on the subtitles in Portuguese even if the movie is from my country or dubbed. The pronunciation of actores or voice actores is sometimes hard to understand.
That's exactly why she chose examples like this, everyone who watches the video will think: damn, I didn't understand correctly, I need to watch more videos from this channel to improve! Scam
Yes I had the same reaction to the way Emily Blunt used ‘fodder’. Clearly I am behind the times with my slang.
@@tirzaoliveira3045Not to mention the different accents that Portuguese has
I definitely see where you're coming from! As a native English speaker, what tipped me off to the "dye job" lied in the setup. "Broad side of a beauty parlor," implies that this lady is lacking in her "looks." I hope I explained that okay. Therefore, "dye job" makes sense cuz beauty parlor is where, I guess, you get your hair dyed?
I'm from Ukraine and the things what I got were your speech and that was amazing. Thank you!
As an individual for whom English is a second language, I sincerely apologize for any shortcomings in my proficiency. I strive diligently each day to enhance my understanding and fluency. Your videos are truly exceptional-please continue the outstanding work!
Now let's analyze XQC 💀
That guy speaks in Windings it doesn't count
His pronunciation isn't even that bad. He just stutters and has some speech condition or whatever but pronunciation is fine IMO.
hahah good one
Jesus Christ he really speaks that bad?
@@KulaGGinhe also never learnt the names for the animals
I'm a native English speaker and 2 of these I didn't get, so don't get discouraged if you struggle with these, she truly selected some tough ones. I struggle with pop culture references a lot, and many people do.
as a spanish native speaker, i get most of these vids with no problem... but spanish, being a more "easy to listen" language(we don't abreviate pronoums) i understand there is people who can't get some phrases anyway, in spanish is the same... we a meme (wich is not a meme.. .is true...but... ) about Chilean Spanish... wich sounds like arabish... or something... too weird to be called spanish, but when write is fully spanis... just... broken, and then i video chat a jamaican... and i get it....
For a non-native I really enjoy that you're talking clearly and not too fast, too 😊 Great to listen to and improve 👍🏼
skip intro 3:13
legend
insane at yappology
Lmao, i was gonna comment that she got 3 f’ing minutes long intro
You're awesome! For a long time I had been seeking for someone to speak so fluent and so understandable! Thank you for your video!
My perception of my fluency just did a 180.
As a French native, I just discovered your channel and immediately subscribed to it. I was looking to go a step further in natural convo, cultural references and puns on words and you're exactly what I was looking for. Thanks !
Same there buddy. Salut
Shes also what i look for, but not exactly because of those reasons hehehehheehehhehihihih
I’m a 63-year-old non-movie buff from London UK, and I fell at the first hurdle. Cannon kitty leaving all that fodder in the dust, I imagined a macabre battle scene. But I love the idea of understanding jokes as a measure of language fluency, and look forward to watching the rest. 😊
I stumbled at that one too. Even though I knew both actors and their characters I somehow heard Kitty as Hello Kitty, another toy like Ken was.
I think it would have been worth mentioning that at least half of these idioms are rooted in American culture. As a native English speaker from the UK or Australia, who has no idea what kind of phrases have emerged from rural America, for instance, you could be forgiven for not understanding the reference "couldn't hit the broad side of a barn (/insert noun)"
been speaking it as a non-native for about 30 years now. I think what this lady is talking about has nothing to do with fluency. It's more of an issue of an accent, diction and jargon. This is like saying if you are not well-versed in Jamaican or Cockney you are not fluent. That is BS, I beg your pardon. I am fluent in English, and I am positive I am more fluent than her but I only immediately got the 3rd one and I got the words in the other ones but did not understand the idiosyncrasies. I can tell you that she is a native russian speaker, which is why she cannot hide her mis-pronunciation of the short "i" sounds. I can tell you from their accents pretty much where the speakers come from no matter how polished their accent is. Unless the English is one's spoken language from early childhood or they have fenomenal abilities to adapt foreign accents and sounds, it is possible to detect the accent. Ata boy to her for a russian-speaker to subdue the American accent of English this much. However, once again, fluency is something else. I speak 4 languages as a native speaker. My mother tongue is Azerbaijani Turkish. And I do speak German and Hungarian on intermediate level.
american fluency
@@vasileseicaru8740 "couldn't hit the broad side of a barn" is actually a pretty common saying in the UK. A Broadside was originally a ships cannons firing from one side of a ship. A "broadside". Goes way back to the early Royal navy days.
I love the way you explain yourself and talk, you're awesome omg
As a Norwegian, this was exceptionally easy, i dont see how fluency in a language has relevance to knowing journalist trivia. I am sure you can find harder examples in media that is more akin to fluency rather than trivia.
This is pop culture trivia, not an English fluency test.
This.
exactly, i get it... she's stretching for material
I think the probelm was people trying to prove themselves to be fluent and then got mad when they didn't "pass the test" 😆
I didn't get it, so Barbie and Ken won against Openhaimer I don't wanna be native speaker if it means loosing brain cells.
An individual not living in the country's culture cannot know a lot of slang and cultural issues. Even native speakers are struggling with a lot of jokes/movies, depending on the environment they grew up or lived in. So using jokes or movies is wrong. You are testing general knowledge or language speaking/listening-understanding? Ask yourself. I bet a lot of native English speakers cannot understand the meaning of these examples/jokes. Despite I know very well my native language, I too cannot understand a lot of what is being said in some jokes or movies in this language. So this test is not about English and is simply annoying.
getting mad
Amazing how some always put up a wall, try to be arrogant 🙄 so not receptive and have an open-mind about what others are expressing! 😅
Great video! Not only that you're showing you went out of your way (being a Ukranian) going deep learning a different language, it also shows you're embracing the cultural and language differences in this world, kudos 👏
@@henryhkchiu, sorry, but seems your comment is in a wrong place. I mean it is a reaction to some non related comment. Place it in the main chat. Nice words. Not everyone can see it here.
I can perfectly communicate business/work related conversation, but I've always found difficult to understand casual conversation. I noticed that all the times I went to the US.
It’s perfectly normal. When you learn another language, you first develop the skills to suit your specific needs. In your case, it was being able to communicate in the official environments of the business world. Scientists, for example, might be very proficient with scientific terms and able to communicate with other scientists without any problems at all, but not be able to go to the bank and express their needs there in English, and vice versa. There are people whose casual English is excellent but who can’t talk about politics or science because they lack vocabulary. All you need to do is start practicing the skills you’re lacking 😉 You got this 💪🏻
Truly love the way you explain everything 🙏🏽
Don’t be surprised people in the USA 🇺🇸 lack proper vocabulary and grammar.mostly street slang due to the obsolete education system.Im a Mexican immigrant always doing my best to convey the message.
@@wellnesscoach73 Incorrect usage of periods, abbreviations and spacing in your comment. Your opinion is invalid.
I don't find it hard to understand but to participate mostly because in casual conversations there's a speed requirement and they relax their attention so it becomes harder for them to understand someone with an accent
I'm brazilian english studant and I'm having a fun with your videos. I learn very much with you, thanks a lot.
You just use the "a" before "fun" if is a term like "a lot of" for example.
The "a" is an article. (Um/Uma/Uns/Umas).
So the right sentence would be:
"i'm having a lot of fun with your videos"
or
"I'm having fun with your videos"
or
"i'm having so much fun with your videos"
I'm Brazillian too.
Go ahead! you're doing a nice job!
@@victorfreitas6785 Thank you very much for the correction, living and learning, that is my motto. I'm even more excited about the language and about following more of your work here on RUclips.
Sameee
Thank you! I am Brazilian, want to say that your English is so fluid that I can understand your speech easily.
As a french millenial, I've spent almost 20years reading, listening and breathing english. I got everything instantly ! Didn't get the Woodward/Bernstein reference but still understood the meaning of her phrase😄
I'm still a bit hesitant when speaking due to the lack of regular practice. That said, I'm very proud of myself.
The name references are too old and obscure for those who did not live in that period in time. I guess that with newer names or better represented protagonists, it would make more sense. For example: “I would love to be the Watson to your Holmes”.
Thank goodness I understood them all. I was born in the US and am a native English speaker but thought for a second the algorithm somehow knew I wasn’t fluent in English. Phew.
lol
lol
of course you understand, this video is basically American english culture
As a teacher You're trying to take best for learners, most of the listener try to understand what's the topic, specially I'm. Thanks
I have a good vocabulary, but I'm not very good at speaking and building sentences. I want to thank you for your English so clear that I understand every word you say. Clear, legible
0:00 intro
3:20 test actually starts
6:20 second example
7:45 FRUSTRATINGLY LONG ad intermission (elsa AI)
10:05 3rd example
12:10 4th example
13:30 5th example
Yep. Not only is fluency about knowing how and when to apply all those intricate grammatical structures, but also how familiarized one is with all the nuances and general culture that is embedded in that specific English-speaking country.
Yess but the examples are crap,
If you are not an Internet guy and not into films how can you know barbienhimer??? My girlfriend is from Manchester and she don't know a sh about those films does that makes her less fluent?
@@C-scoSo did she say that if you didn't get Barbienheimer, it means you're less fluent? Or was that something you invented?
@@MiguelBalaraw the whole video is based on the fact that if you don't get the jokes you are less fluent but the jokes are based on some random Knowledge that is not even representative of any culture
@@C-sco Less fluent is different from not fluent. And its fine if you didn't get it. I agree they are random, but they are more on the American side. It is representative of American pop culture. And not getting the specifics due to meaning is being less fluent.
@@MiguelBalaraw no its not, my English teacher is American and she didn't get them either, she told me that mixing pop culture with knowledge is simply wrong unless you are talking about general knowledge like talking about a worldwide famous politician.
She made a pretty good example making a joke about a baseball player that no one understood because no one watches baseball and told us that if we do the same with a soccer player an American would not get it but that does not makes him less fluent at all!
The fact that you have to intro and explain yourself for 5min before getting to the actual video, makes me mad at society
Some people are too easily offended.
she is talking to english students. keep calm bro
Try to understand others a bit if you want to be understood.
I guess it's one of the basic rules...
And I understand why everyone is mad at each other... since most ppl just ignore the above "rule" and only seem interested in looking down on others to feel better.
On top of not making sense (and not trying to), that is.
No wonder so much is wrong, so many don't even try to break the vicious cycles and self-inflicted prophecies, and see detrimental behaviors/oversimplifications/generalizations (and so on) as "natural" 😢
In this case she exhibited how a decent person should react to ppl missing the point of something. Maybe most should focus on learning that before minding their English skills.
I know I do and I'm fine with not being 100% fluent, lol. Priorities... As I've been saying to certain ppl under some songs' videos, simple language often is more effective in conveying the message you want to share. Whether some will treat you as if you're a simpleton or not, it's not exactly your fault and in reality maybe they are the ones who gotta go back to school, if they underestimate and dismiss others so easily. I mean, most ppl will understand just fine even if your English isn't perfect, and like she mentioned here, you'll find yourself using English better than many native speakers :s
Now, seeing ppl be so pedantic and obsessed with certain grammatical rules (in other threads below), makes me more mad than this could ever make me.
There's a word called balance...
At least they're helping others correct certain rookie mistakes (that I could be guilty of, myself, as I never cared about studying, lolz).
Oh and no, I don't want a medal for the things I said here, hopefully it's clear what I tried to say and why. Let me rot, but focus on what's truly important each time. Now, I can sigh at the way society is, again.
She's talking to students: People learning the language!
I've learned 3 languages so far. For each one a world of possibilities opens, but also a world of frustrations and misunderstandings, culture shocks and so one.
Try to learn a foreign language and you'll find out what I'm talking about
Your voice is great and your English pronunciation is soooo good
I hate American rotary accent.
Concordo.
Yea cuz she's a native speaker bruh
@@subarashiikylox as far as I know, she's Ukrainian. I'm an accent nerd, and I noticed her vowels straight away so I had to google and voilà. The info is on her website. She's a great speaker with this slight warmth of a slavic accent. I love it.
@@blueheadmargaret bro why tf would u be an accent nerd lmao
Tks for this video! I didn't understood every word, but with the subtitles and your explanation I did. Tks! 😊
As a German, this made me realize how much better my English is than I had previously thought.
Wohnst du in Der Nahe der fransozig granze ?
Download ELSA for free: bit.ly/ELSAxENGLISHFLUENCYJOURNEY
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ruclips.net/video/vuFjn3V5ZV8/видео.htmlfeature=shared
Very good
Beautiful and pleasant woman is better to understand also if she speaks at this speed and no slangs.
youtube.com/@Khanvlogs21?si=OyfaKtbH8isBZymL
I agree with almost the entire introduction, the problem is that humor is objective, it was invented to clear up the doubt of whether you are like me or if you are a threat, if you are from my social class or not, that is why we analyze in milliseconds all the variables that come into play using analysis, in fact you can learn humor and books have been written with rules that work, right?
Having said that, you will not be able to make a communist understand humor, for example, as we all know, left-wing people do not have sense of humor.
If we enter into the intellectual plane, if you are Spanish you will not be able to make yourself understood by an average Peruvian or Ecuadorian.
In the context of gender, you will have observed that there are not many female comedians, that is because humor is developed more among men to avoid conflicts and not be seen as threats. Between man and woman, the communion of tastes or ideas works better, or at least warlike non-interventionism.
the only one that I understood without subtitles or explanations was the last one. But I don't have the background information for most of the cases in this video. Thank you for the content
Italian speaker here, learning English, I only understood the last one, and just because I understood the word "tic", so I fundamentally imagined the rest of the sentence from their facial expressions. I always have a hard time understanding films' dialogue, because they speak too quickly and the words overlap each other. The first one on the contrary I understood almost perfectly Ryan Gosling (and I knew perfectly what "Barbenheimer" was, since I follow cinema and entertainment news), but very little of what Emily Blunt said, one: because I didn't understand "Ken and Kitty" but something like "cannon kitty", and though I watched "Oppenheimer" I didn't remember that Blunt's character was named Kitty; two: because I didn't know (and so I didn't understand) the idiom "let the fodder behind".
This video is very helpful and useful for me as an English learner, especially improving my listening and speaking skills.
I learned so much with this video... I've learned more and better here in 14 minutes than all my 6 years in high school.
I am a Mexican who learnt English in the USA. The sense of humor aré very different from US to Mexicans. One can understand the words un every joke. The problem is the culture. I am a good translator from English to Spanish because I know both cultures.
When learning a language Is good to interact with the foreign culture, then you will be complete.
By the way, you do have a great English 😂😅😊
Could not understand all of them ! Great examples and I like how you explained them.
Sometimes, it's more about not knowing the references or wordplay.
It was so difficult at first, but after your clear and detailed explanation anyone can get it. Thank you! I enjoyed it! You must be a great teacher.
in the Brooklyn 99 clip, "drop house" is used in 2 contexts. the 1st sentence uses it in reference to a house where an item may be left, usually illicitly (definitely illicitly in this scene), either money or goods. the second sentence on use the 2nd context, as explained.
Wow, nice ad here. I've downloaded the app, and it's quite good!
I'm from Russia, and I can mostly understand content in English, write some comments, but speaking in actual conversation is still... well, difficult.
Thanks for the video!
brazilian here, 4/5. missed the watergate reference. glad that i made it! i’ve been taking english classes for 10y now. really enjoyed the lesson. thks!
Brazilian here too! Lets Go, the books on the table, caramel dog and samba 🇧🇷 kkkk
4/5 for me too, i fell that my writing is horrendous but my listening always being very good :)
Even as a native English, the Woodward and Bernstein reference was very very obscure, I didn't get it. Even if I did know the history there, I wouldn't use that phrase personally because no one else will get it.
A more effective phrase would be "fun being Watson to your Sherlock"; a detective duo that most English speakers will use as their first example of detective duos and are most likely to understand.
It's a really hard lesson. I couldn't not understand either of them. However, I have learned something new and I really enjoyed the lesson.
The first one was also a joke about a cat litter box. He said, "leave all this behind us." She answered with a play on her character's name, which is "Kitty". Kitty is a cutesy name for a cat. Fodder also refers to poop. So when she says, "Ken and Kitty leaving all that fodder in the dust," I imagine a cat leaving behind poop in a cat litter box.
This is incorrect but I like it
In my English fodder means food for cows and horses.
@@martoon989 It does, but I've also known it to refer to manure - animal droppings that are used to feed plants. That might be entirely regional though.
Your example was too much of a stretch.
i actually had the feeling kitty and fodder referred to what you said and that dust is all that remains after an atomic explosion (a reference to oppenheimer), but i might be reading too much into that
Forget the english... I'm in love with her!! Hugs from Brazil!
Crazy that i never even though about doing an English class and i was able to almost get all the examples with one ear (I'm using just one side of my phones)
I'm a 22 Brazilian guy and i grew up learning English on my own to help me beating some games, as the texts was all in English back in the days. I started writing them and using google translate and as the years passed, i slowly improved, watching videos with subtitles, going back 4 times trying to understand the words and now i just watch everything like it's as natural as breathing.
And I'm talking about games, animes, news or just any youtuber i like, I never had "Learning English" as the main objective and somehow, it happened as a consequence.
She’s right guys, if you get this, you are good to go.
Great. There's no way I ever get fluent. Woodward to your Bernstein my ass.
@@Al.2 😂😂😂
😏
Ryan Gosling speaks with a Canadian accent because he is from Ontario, Canada.
Hmm, I thought ppl from Ontario speaks with Indian accent..
No hablo nada de ingles, pero empecé a ver algunos videos en ingles y ahora entiendo bastante del video, siempre y cuando se pronuncie claramente, supongo que haber aprendido vocabulario previo ayudo bastante.
Yo hablo y ahora estoy a entrenar castellano. Me encanta.
buenas suertes con el english.
This a pretty good exercise to improve english skills. Keep doing this videos please!
Being in the US for many years, I barely understood the last example. I do enjoy this video a lot, though, because it's a nice blend of both speaking English and the cultural context.
OMG what camera are using?
the quality is so perfect
It's not a cam, it's a girl look perfect🥰
4:51 Listening comprehension skills ≠ cultural trivia about hollywood and actors
@@N40AX How are the words and phrases that people use in real life related to Hollywood and actors? (The first example was, but I explained how someone might not understand what is being talked about if they aren’t familiar with those movies, and that’s okay.) But how are Woodward and Bernstein or the Watergate scandal related to Hollywood? I use scenes from movies as a demonstration, to give an example. However, the way they speak in movies and the words and phrases they use are reflective of how people speak and the words they use in real life
@@EnglishFluencyJourney understanding obscure references is not listening skill. even Watergate scandal is very obscure for everyday conversation for native speakers
I watched this at 1.5 speed and understood everything you said, but not the jokes. I'm confused about whether I am fluent or not
It depends if you missed the jokes cause you don't know nothing about the context it does not count.
She makes it feel like most of fluent people knows what barbienhimer means and what it is.....
I'm not a native....so I only understood the second and the last one...the last one being too easy in my opinion. So grateful you have posted this video :)
Great video. I had difficulty on the number 3 and 4. 1, 2 and 5, I understood correctly.
Test starts at 3:17
0 of 3, learning a language it is an endless process but i learn everyday it is about consume the culture and practice the listening, writing and speaking
No doubt in that!
Me too bro😢😢
Bro said 0/3 yet committed so many grammatical errors🤣🤡. Before you critique someone who is more advanced in the language than you are, make sure you yourself aren’t in the wrong 7:3,4.
This was amazing, just subscribed. Love this kind of content, since I'm a Brazilian and live in Brazil, my English is severely limited, cuz I don't understand the context of stuff like some very localized jokes or commentaries.
I thought my English was good, but watching this I would say, I still have lengths to learn
Seu inglês tá ótimo, é realmente mais a questão de referências.
It takes tons of exposure to really take in the culture, I've been learning english for 2 years now, my listening has become outstandingly good compared to when I began, but I still have lots and lots of listening to do to get it right 😂❤
The first time I successfully landed a joke in English to a bunch of native speakers was when I finally felt like I could speak the language
I understood everything. English is my second language. Thank you for this video!
Hello Anna!
Lisa and Kevin have done a video about your mistakes in English!
@@EnglishFluencyJourney
ruclips.net/video/vuFjn3V5ZV8/видео.htmlfeature=shared
This is the video made by Kevin about a lot of mistakes commited by you!
Sorry Anna,. it's not my intention to disturb you about that!
@@EnglishFluencyJourneywhy did you take it as slander? If you believe you're right and what you teach in your videos is correct, you should make a new video explaining your points... kevin, being human, might have made mistakes when reviewing your content... on the other hand, if you really made those mistakes, why dont you just admit it, thank kevin for pointing them out, and apologize to your subscribers for providing incorrect information....
don't you think your students deserve to know the truth?
@@Sarash7406AGREED!
Of course all of us in this world are human and we can all make mistakes in English if we are not native speakers, the problem is when we teach our mistakes to others and thousands of people learn our mistakes!
@@vogditis
Professor Kevin and Lisa speak Spanish and Russian too!
Hello I am Samandar and from Uzbekistan. I love ur videos and i love u too 😅. Ur videos are so great and understandable. Pls don't give up
You got a beautiful name. It actually means "Sea" in Hindi
Ryan Gosling is Canadian and he sounds like it.
Most of the examples that you put in this video i didn't understand. But everything that you said i do understood.
I`m Brazilian. English isn`t my first language, but simply understanding this whole video alone isn`t enough to prove oneself as "fluent" ? It's a honest question. Thank you!
This is very useful for me. Thank you so much..
Well, certainly undestood most of what they say, but context missing plus some very specific unitedstatian references makes it hard to find a reasonable meaning to what I heard. Ken and kitty, bimbo, drophouse and poop-whatever, and I that old tv show are all culture within culture.
I thought I was fluent, but I could understand none of that😂
You're so amazing.... you're able to understand English very well...even though it's your mother tongue.
Wow! You explain so good that I believe if I worked by your side during 1 month I would master English! Well, I'm still not fluent... there's a lot of work to be done :)
It's almost impossible to get it for a non-native as they make references to cultural American things. Bernstein and stuff.. what the ... And we just have one sentence every time, we don't even have the context :) I'm really fluent though I swear!!
It’s true 😁, and that was the whole point of this video. I even said, in the Bernstein example, that even native speakers might not get it 😊
Well, I am not fluent then
Problem, in my opinion, apart of that I am not native, it is the fact that these are bits of conversation without a context. Most of us need to be focus on what people are saying, that doesn't mean we are translating into our mother language. In fact we do not do that, otherwise it would be literally impossible to follow any English conversation. Being Spanish my mother tongue, I have a hard time trying to understand the lyrics of certain songs, not to mention conversations with people with different peculiar accents or people who speak really fast. I think the trick it is getting used to that person. A Japanese friend told me. "Do not worry, it is normal you didn't get anything. When I speak with my older sister we use kind of a proprietary Japanese, we do not need to end the sentences, we understand each other just for the context, body movement, intonation... almost a mind reading thing.
As a non-native, this was an amazing test for me. I'm even more confident in my fluency now. It took me a second to remember who Woodward and Bernstein were, I almost Googled. 😅
I understood when she explained the whole context, great channel
I found it extremely difficult to understand
Brother when I listen to stuff in other languages it's alien to me, you're good.
Thanks so much for share this video.
Just watch The Office without subs
What a great exercice for english learners ! Thanks
Thanks for the video as French Native it was really useful
Excellent explanation and very clear pronunciation, congratulations
I’m a native French speaker from Quebec, Canada. I got the Brooklyn99 one and the last one right the first time. I got half of the Charmed one with the subtitles (I didn’t know the idiom). The others, I had no clue.
I highly agree that understanding cultural context indicates higher level.
I started watching how I met your mother and the fact that I am getting the jokes makes me feel great!!!
not really, having references does not mean fluency.
Ask a 70 year-old to talk to a teen and see how he does not get the slang he uses even if he is a native.
Understanding the context is not hard but the deep meaning is just an inside joke that you had to be present .
I was so confident because of your articulation. I was so happy to understand easily everthing until the examples hahaha I barely understood the first one, and the last one. The others were impossible to get for me ^^
Well, I'm not fluent hahaha but I loved your content, please keep bringing it to us, it was fun to watch. English is my 2nd language, and I've been searching for ways to improve it so I can communicate better with other people, and use it as a tool to find a bilingual job, so your channel will be a lot of help, thank you very much!