Understand

Native English
Speakers
How to understand the fast speech, accents
and casual vocabulary of spoken English in
conversations, TV shows, music and movies

by DREW BADGER
The World’s #1 English Fluency Guide
& Co-Founder of EnglishAnyone.com
© 2015 EnglishAnyone.com. All Rights Reserved.
Understand Native English Speakers
The Key to the Globe
Hi there. I’m Drew Badger, a language learner just
like you, the co-founder of EnglishAnyone.com,
and the world’s #1 English Fluency Guide.

One of the biggest problems I had as a Japanese

learner was not being able to either understand or
sound like the natives I wanted to communicate
with. It was incredibly embarrassing often
pretending to understand what I heard, and being
misunderstood because my pronunciation was so
bad.

What helped me finally go from not understanding

native speakers – and being misunderstood – to
having the ears and pronunciation of a native
Japanese speaker was realizing that I needed to
learn like a native Japanese speaker if I wanted to
communicate like one.

Once I understood that I needed to learn and practice like native speakers, I developed a simple, easy system
that quickly and dramatically improved both my listening ability and my pronunciation, and I’ve been
enjoying conversations ever since.

If you want to understand what you hear in conversations, movies and your favorite TV shows, the 3 steps I
share in Understanding Native English Speakers will show you how.

The ability to understand all spoken English won’t come overnight, but with time and practice, you’ll
recognize more words and phrases, develop a sense for where native speakers are from by their accent, and
enjoy conversations much more.

Let’s get started! :)

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Understand Native English Speakers
The Key to the Globe
Developing the Right Habits
The most important advice I can give you about improving both your listening ability and pronunciation – as
these two are very closely linked – is that each relies on the development of proper habits. Right now, you
can probably understand most of the English in online English language learning videos. But, you struggle
to understand content like movies and TV shows created for native English speakers because the speech is
too fast, the accents are too unfamiliar and/or the conversational words and phrases are unknown to you.
The reason for this is because of how you learned.

You spent most of your time in English lessons listening to either non-native teachers with poor
pronunciation, or to native English speakers who spoke in a slow, clear and unnatural way that didn’t train
you to understand the fast speed – and various accents of – spoken English.

You also learned mostly the formal English of reading and writing for tests, rather than the slang, idioms and
casual language native speakers use in real conversations.

Finally, because you didn’t spend much time speaking in lessons, you also didn’t develop the smooth
pronunciation that actually makes native, spoken English much easier to understand.

So, your task now is to replace the bad habits you developed in English lessons with the proper ones of a
native English speaker by focusing on the three keys of listening comprehension: speed, conversational
vocabulary and accents. The more bad habits you replace – and this means everything from how you study
to how you practice – the faster you’ll develop the ears of a native English speaker.

1. Learn Like Natives

The most fundamental thing you can do develop the ears of a native English speaker so you can understand
even English at very fast speeds is to learn everything in English. All language learners, natives included,
begin the journey to fluency by listening. What separates those who develop great listening comprehension
from those who don’t is the kind of content they listen to. Native speakers listen to native content with
blended speech at fast speeds to develop great ears, so you should, too.

The key is to listen to content that’s appropriate for your level. If you don’t have much experience listening to
native content at normal speed, begin with content for English speaking children. This will give you short
pieces of blended speech you can listen to and then practice repeating. The TV program Sesame Street is
perfect for beginners. It’s slower and more basic than English movies and TV programs for native adults, but
it features a lot of conversational vocabulary at a good speed for most non-native, intermediate learners.

To find the right level of content to listen to – whether it’s for native English kids, teens or adults – look for
things you understand at least 80-90% of. You should be able to understand the remaining 10-20% from
context. If you have to check your dictionary more than once or twice, you should look for something easier
because a large part of developing good ears is staying with the flow of the content without needing to ask

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Understand Native English Speakers
The Key to the Globe
questions or seek definitions.

2. Learn Native Vocabulary

The biggest part of listening is knowing what to listen for. Do you ever notice that when you learn a new
word, you tend to hear it more in movies, TV shows and everyday conversations? This is because your brain
has now added that word to the things it can “hear.”

Your brain actually receives lots of “noise” in the form of sounds, words and other messages every day, but
you only consciously notice what you’re prepared to hear. You’d go crazy if you had to focus on every sound
that went into your ears. :)

This phenomenon also explains why non-native English learners are often misunderstood by native
speakers. If a native English speaker doesn’t think you know a word, they won’t “hear” it even if you
pronounce it properly.

So, knowing how your brain works, it becomes extra important to “introduce” conversational vocabulary
to your brain so it recognizes these words and phrases when they appear in movies, TV shows and
conversations.

There are actually LOTS of words native speakers use that you’ll have to “introduce” your brain to, but
the most important ones to focus on are slang, idioms and phrasal verbs. Other things like expressions
and English Fluency Bits are also important, but since these usually have clear meanings that are easy to
understand without much explanation, spend more time learning slang, idioms and phrasal verbs.

Slang and Idioms

Slang is the term for informal, spoken English, often common words and phrases with meanings vastly
different from what you’d see in a dictionary.

Here are a few examples:

ride – a vehicle – Your new ride looks great! When did you get it?

damage – financial loss – I heard your car was hit while it was parked? What was the damage?

dirt – reputation damaging news – Politicians try to dig up dirt on each other during election season.

Idioms are part of this group as well because they also have meanings that aren’t obvious from the words
forming them.

Here are a few examples:

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Understand Native English Speakers
The Key to the Globe
back to the drawing board – When something doesn’t work, you have to try something new. – I guess we’ll
need to go back to the drawing board since the first design didn’t sell.

the last straw – the final problem in a series that precedes action – I’m tired of hearing motorcycles at night!
The next one I hear will be the last straw, and I’ll call the police!

on the ball – to be skillful, or understand something well – The new employee is really on the ball. He’s
organized and getting lots of work done.

Slang and idioms are like a code. Because their meanings aren’t obvious, knowing them identifies you as a
member of the group in which they’re used. And that’s why they’re so important to learn.

If you don’t know the code words and expressions native speakers use, you’ll always be on the outside of
conversations, wondering what people are talking about.

How to Learn and Remember Slang and Idioms

The secret to understanding – and remembering – slang and idioms is to create associations between their
words and their meanings. Slang and idioms usually have some practical origin that can be discovered – or
created – with a bit of imagination. Let’s start building your native vocabulary right now with a few examples
and their associations:

green – new – There are a lot of green employees at the factory.

Think of new, green grass sprouting in spring.

meathead – someone with big muscles, but not much brain power – Most of the guys who exercise at my
local gym are meatheads.

Just think of a head made of meat that has no room for a brain.

chicken – a scared person – I wanted to ask the girl out on a date, but I was too chicken.

Visualize a scared chicken running from a fox.

Try mastering at least one new slang word or idiomatic expression every day using associations. Just
remember that it’s better to learn one slang word or idiom to the point where you can use it automatically
than to study five briefly and forget them all.

Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs are a huge part of conversational English. They’re groups of two or more words, usually a verb
and a preposition, that express a more complicated verb in a simple way.

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Understand Native English Speakers
The Key to the Globe
They can be quite difficult for learners because they can have meanings that aren’t obvious – like idioms and
slang – and each phrasal verb can have multiple meanings.

Here are a few examples you can begin using in your conversations today:

to take over – to assume control – Can you take over driving so I can have a break?

to make up – to reconcile after a problem – The couple made up after their fight.

to branch out – to explore and expand – I’d like to branch out and try a new career.

There are thousands of phrasal verbs, but they can all be mastered quickly if you use three simple steps…

How to Learn and Remember Phrasal Verbs

First, you must learn them visually, ideally through videos or physical demonstrations like we use in our
Visual Guide to Phrasal Verbs course.

All verbs should be learned visually, but this is especially important with phrasal verbs because you’re
combining verbs with other words to form specific visual ideas.

When you see phrasal verbs happening, you understand them automatically in English (no translation
needed!), and remember them easily.

Second, you need to master the many meanings of the “core” verbs.

As an example, the core verb in the phrasal verb “run off” is “run.”

In English lessons, you learned about the kind of running you do with your legs. If you don’t “go deeper” to
learn the other meanings of run – which can be easily checked with an online English dictionary – you won’t
know that run can also describe flowing water, the movement of time, the operation of a business and much
more.

The more “core” meanings of a verb you know, the more you’ll be able to understand the phrasal verbs they
appear in.

Finally, you must learn phrasal verbs in order of simple to complex.

Only after you master the simple phrasal verbs built from a core verb should you try to learn the more
complex ones.

These steps are all used to help you master hundreds of phrasal verbs in our Visual Guide to Phrasal Verbs
video course, but I’ll give you a brief example of how they work right here:

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Understand Native English Speakers
The Key to the Globe
We’ll begin by examining a group of related phrasal verbs. Notice how they all share the same core verb:
switch.

switch on – to activate

switch off – to deactivate

switch to – to change from one thing to another

The basic meaning of switch is to move between two options, like a physical light switch does, but it can also
mean to change to something completely new or different.

A train might switch tracks, but you can also switch to a new kind of diet or clothing brand if you find one
that’s better than what you use currently.

Like slang and idioms, phrasal verbs all have some practical origin, even if it’s a bit hard to see at first. Study
the meanings of core verbs, then learn phrasal verbs visually, and in simple steps, and you’ll create an
enormous vocabulary of them very quickly!

3. Develop Native Ears

Now that you’re learning everything in English, and building a vocabulary of conversational words and
expressions, the final step to understanding spoken English like a native speaker is to train your ears with
different accents. This step also takes time, but you’ll agree that it’s worth the effort when you’re enjoying
movies and TV shows without subtitles. :)

I mentioned earlier in this guide that you need to understand how the brain works in order for it to help you
become a better listener. Well, in addition to needing to “introduce” the vocabulary to your brain that you
want it to recognize, you also have to introduce the accents of different English to it in a specific way that it
can understand.

The slow, difficult way to develop an understanding of different accents is to watch different movies
featuring different speakers. This is hard for your brain because it can’t compare the same sounds spoken in
different accents. So, you must give your brain examples of the same English spoken by different speakers. Train
your brain to do this and you’ll have a much easier time understanding new content you only hear in one
different accent.

The simplest way to do this is by comparing your own voice with the voice of a native English speaker so you
can hear how the two pronunciations are different. Yours might not be native, but as your brain contrasts
what you say with the same thing said by a native speaker, you’ll develop better ears. Movie transcripts and
song lyrics give you something to say out loud before hearing the same words spoken or sung by native
speakers.

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Understand Native English Speakers
The Key to the Globe
Taking this idea a step further, you can listen to different versions of the same content all spoken by native
speakers. An easy way to do this is to write something down and give it to different native speakers to read
aloud. This might not always be possible, so the next best thing is to listen to things like covers of the same
song.

When a band or artist plays a song written by other artists, this is known as a “cover.” The song 99 Red
Balloons, and many songs by the Beatles have lots of covers you can find on online video sites like YouTube.

Because comparing the voices, accents and pronunciations of different speakers is so important to
developing the ears of a native speaker, this kind of training is an important part of our Master English
Conversation fluency training video course. To demonstrate how great this practice technique is, I’d like you
to listen to the same story read by three different native English speakers.

The first version is read by a man from Australia. The second, by a woman from America, and the third by a
man from Canada. They are all native speakers, but each has a unique sound and pronunciation:

John and Julie were hoping to enjoy the rest of the day, but, instead, felt exhausted at the end of the
birthday party for their three-year-old daughter. Even though only eight children were invited to attend, the
house looked like the aftermath of a wild frat party.

Recently, most of their friends decided to throw birthday parties for their kids at expensive venues. John and
Julie, however, had the bright idea to save money by having their daughter’s party at home. And now they
were paying the price.

The first step to putting the house back together was to pick up all of the toys. Finding all the tiny little Lego
pieces hidden throughout the house was the most tedious part of this process.

Next, they agreed to move on to the kitchen. Apparently, when John and Julie weren’t watching, the
children had spilled juice all over the floor. It was hard to imagine a dirtier or stickier kitchen floor.

When the kitchen had been cleaned, John and Julie ventured into the den to behold a horrifying scene!
Birthday cake had been ground into the carpet, chocolate ice cream had melted into a puddle on the sofa,
and some of the children had used their sticky fingers to push the buttons on the TV’s remote control. The
overwhelmed parents felt like they wanted to cry as they realized that they’d need the help of a professional
cleaning service.

Despite their attempt to be frugal, John and Julie ended up spending much more money on this party than
most of their friends had for similar events. Next year’s party, they vowed, would happen at the zoo.

John and Julie were hoping to enjoy the rest of the day, but, instead, felt exhausted at the end of the
birthday party for their three-year-old daughter. Even though only eight children were invited to attend, the
house looked like the aftermath of a wild frat party.

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© 2015 EnglishAnyone.com - www.EnglishAnyone.com
Understand Native English Speakers
The Key to the Globe
Recently, most of their friends decided to throw birthday parties for their kids at expensive venues. John and
Julie, however, had the bright idea to save money by having their daughter’s party at home. And now they
were paying the price.

The first step to putting the house back together again was to pick up all of the toys. Finding all the tiny little
Lego pieces hidden throughout the house was the most tedious part of this process.

Next, they agreed to move on to the kitchen. Apparently, when John and Julie weren’t watching, the
children had spilled juice all over the floor. It was hard to imagine a dirtier or stickier kitchen floor.

When the kitchen had been cleaned, John and Julie ventured into the den to behold a horrifying scene!
Birthday cake had been ground into the carpet, chocolate ice cream had melted into a puddle on the sofa,
and some of the children had used their sticky fingers to push the buttons on the TV’s remote control. The
overwhelmed parents felt like they wanted to cry as they realized that they’d need the help of a professional
cleaning service.

Despite their attempt to be frugal, John and Julie ended up spending much more money on this party than
most of their friends had for similar events. Next year’s party, they vowed, would happen at the zoo.

John and Julie were hoping to enjoy the rest of the day, but, instead, felt exhausted at the end of the
birthday party for their three-year-old daughter. Even though only eight children were invited to attend, the
house looked like the aftermath of a wild frat party.

Recently, most of their friends decided to throw birthday parties for their kids at expensive venues. John and
Julie, however, had the bright idea to save money by having their daughter’s party at home. And now they
were paying the price.

The first step to putting the house back together again was to pick up all of the toys. Finding all the tiny little
Lego pieces hidden throughout the house was the most tedious part of this process.

Next, they agreed to move on to the kitchen. Apparently, when John and Julie weren’t watching, the
children had spilled juice all over the floor. It was hard to imagine a dirtier or stickier kitchen floor.

When the kitchen had been cleaned, John and Julie ventured into the den to behold a horrifying scene!
Birthday cake had been ground into the carpet, chocolate ice cream had melted into a puddle on the sofa,
and some of the children had used their sticky fingers to push the buttons on the TV’s remote control. The
overwhelmed parents felt like they wanted to cry as they realized that they’d need the help of a professional
cleaning service.

Despite their attempt to be frugal, John and Julie ended up spending much more money on this party than
most of their friends had for similar events. Next year’s party, they vowed, would happen at the zoo.

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Understand Native English Speakers
The Key to the Globe
When you learn and practice the way the brain wants you to, learning becomes easy, you develop the right
habits and you become a much more confident English speaker. Continue to train with the techniques
you’ve learned in this guide and I guarantee you’ll enjoy movies, TV shows, music and conversations a lot
more!

Your Next Step...

What you’ve learned in this valuable guide is just one piece of the complete fluency puzzle. Besides being
able to understand the accents, fast speech and vocabulary of native English speakers, you also need to be
understood, learn to use grammar without thinking and develop the habit of speaking English fluently. To
help you master all of those things so you can finally speak fluent English successfully, I’ve created a unique
English fluency training and speaking confidence program called Master English Conversation 2.0.

Master English Conversation 2.0 is a complete video course that guides you step-by-step from your current
level of English all the way to fluency so you can enjoy English movies, TV shows, music and conversations,
and express yourself confidently in English the way you can in your native language – no matter where you
live, or how old you are.

If you’d like to learn more about how Master English Conversation 2.0 can help you quickly achieve your
English fluency goals, click on the link below…

CLICK HERE to Start Speaking English Fluently, Confidently and Automatically

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