819. What does it really mean to be good at English?
How do we know when someone's English is good? Is it just about having the right accent, or speaking with no errors? In fact, there is a lot more to it than that. IELTS can show us how someone's level of English is properly assessed by looking at a wide range of skills and sub-skills and there is a lot more to it than making no errors while speaking with a "British accent". This episode should help you consider your own level of English level, get some perspective on what language competence really means, and hopefully cause people to think twice when making snap judgements about other people's English.
👉 Episode page wp.me/p4IuUx-sNi
👉 Get the PDF transcript teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/...
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I hope you enjoy the episode and it helps you think about your own level of English and what to focus on when studying. The link for the PDF is in the description (no need for your email address or anything). 🫖
Do you run payable online lessons ?🙂 I would be interested in it.
Bom dia, sou brasileiro e estou na luta pra aprender inglês e caí no seu canal. 🇧🇷
@@leonilsonsilva5937 Bom dia🙂
Bom dia 😀
But your introduction is so long . I think it'll be better to make it shorter.
I listened with interest to your podcast with Santy.I came to England at the age of 43 and did not know the language at all. Then I started my journey in this country and at 47 I became a qualified teacher in a primary school and now a lecturer in a college. Of course, I have my Ukrainian accent and I get asked all the time, but it's getting softer. I was so worried about this before, but now I just do my job with love. Most importantly, love what you do. Thank you for that podcast ❤🎉🙏
Wow, from zero to hero in 4 years? Amazing! Cheers from 🇺🇦
@@elenaklimenko422 Thank you . Слава Україні ! 🇺🇦
Hello friend, I am your peer) that's interesting because your comment inspired me, thanks. Now I passe through some plateau, I mean I don't feel some progress in language acquisition and think that it's processing slowly. So your story was precious for me😊
And yes, I'm from Ukraine as well! Слава Україні, Донецьк це Україна!
@@navininox Hi! Thank you for your comment. I wish you all the best for us. Everyone knows what wants to achieve, you need to work on yourself and this work will be paid
How did I end up spending one and a half hours of my Saturday morning listening to this? Amazing Luke, thanks for this video. Your delivery is totally absorbing (as is your humour) and I found the topic and opinions fascinating. I actually skipped breakfast and now have to go straight to lunch!
Hello Keith! How nice to get a comment from you. Enjoy your lunch mate, unless you skip that and listen to episode 820 instead 😃
I love you both of you so much. I love your accent, pronunciation and admire your hard work sir. Lovely, continue good work.
I also respect both of you Mr. Luke and Mr. Kieth.
Natural speech is full of errors, false starts, inaccuracies... so learners should not be deterred by the requirement of "perfect speech", which should not be the goal
Exactly. Hopefully I show this in my podcasts in which I sometimes make mistakes, start sentences again and struggle to find the right words.
I admit it and admire your comment.
@@LukesEnglishPodcast😅y 2:17 2:20 2:24 2:25 oyogwiee
@@LukesEnglishPodcast7
That was just absolutely cool comment thank you
Don't worry about the critics I'm an English learner watching your show is my daily routine when I take the bus and do other things it's your show that keeps me company your updates and your voice is important to me
Hi Luke! In fact English is not the only lessons you teach people, but you give us life lessons too. Your sincerity, empathy, patience, sense of humour and sarcasm make your podsact a unic and curative place. Your remarks about accents reminded me a case from my tour guiding past. Once I was guiding a big group from UK,and their tour leader tried to make a joke on my accent, addressing to the group: " Well, miss Certain provided us with quite comprehensive and interesting information, all was perfect except her accent". Immediately an old gentlman from the group asked her for a microphone and turned to me: " Excuse me miss Certain, I was wondering how many laguages do you speak? ". I replied " 2 mother tounges and 2 foreign languages with accent". Then he asked her: " Dear Dorothy , what languages do you speak?". She answered: " As you know English is my mother tounge which is enough to feel comfortable everywhere". Then he turned to the group: " Oh,bravissimo! Ladies and gents,let' s applaud our British tour leader for speaking her mother tounge and only language with no accent!"😅
Very good! (P.s. it’s spelled “accent”)
Thank you, Luke, for helping me ascent up to unreachable peaks of English❤.
@@gulbakhorkalandarova *ascend 😉
Very encouraging comment ❤hopefully the story ended up with a funny and warm joke!😂😂😂
You are perfect tutor! I am an English teacher in Turkey and every day I improve both my grammer and pronunciation, thanks for all your help!
I think it is really encouraging to listen to non-native speak successfully using English. In an actual work environment, you listen a wide of accent anyway.
Sometimes I've been stressed out thinking of my English level.. But not anymore. English has become a daily routine. Reading, listening and even sometimes dreaming in English. Now I know I won't ever be a "total bilingual person" (I began studying English when I was an adult) and knowing that put me in the right place to keeping me on learning everyday a little more. Thanks so much for uploading this Video. It was very helpful.. As usual🙏
One of my former teacher said once l will make sure you learned English and until you fart English and you blood will turn into English
@@NayraVlogs.297 Your English Teacher was "a little dramatic in his opinion"..Shall we say, but it is also truth you never finish learning.. And I have to confess that I never thought it would be... So long 🎗️
The same !
@@josebenito15 yes he encouraged me to improve my English and I'm grateful for that
You need to say "totally" bilingual, not "total" bilingual.
The type of content that I've been looking for on the whole internet
Non-native English speaker always get blaming about the correct accent from native English speaker, but at least we can speak two languages even though it isn't well enough.
Totally agree with you ;)
I’m from Japan and it is very common for people to be judgmental, which leads people unwilling to speak English in Japan. Everyone has different perspectives on language learning, but no one has the right to blame or judge others’ English. For me, even though I am trying to use correct English, I am not that fussed about being perfect as long as I can transmit what I mean.
I definitely agree with you ! What it is good - as it is told in psychology ; just enjoy your journey and rid off thinking about the finishing line - be passionale about what you're learning and enjoy it. Then you willl be more involved to make progress and your brain will come up ideas to ameliorate yout English. Good luck !
I absuletly agree with you
Dear Abnormal Normal: The more languages you can speak effectively, the less bothersome some petty criticism would be as you blow them out of the water with your skills and success in the sapiens' sphere.
Agree
Teacher Luke ,I am so addicted to your podcast ,I am thinking of taking ielt course,I like the way you teach British English.
That is a perfect interview. Especially for me as a migration first generation, I am what I am, not native speaking. Gain confidence to present in English and no hiding, accent is part of my identity. Your sample of different favors of crisps is very beautiful,❤❤❤ very encouraging interview. Thank you very much for both of you.
Despite the fact that I have an IELTS level 7 certificate, listening to your videos (especially short stories) can help me further develop my English skills. That is why I have bought LEP premium. Thank you for your help , Luke! ☺👌
Luke, You are so fantastic as usual.Thank you for your slogan that "learning English is a game".So no stress,no effort and burning brain but loving heart.❤👍
I loved all your passionate discussion while listening to this episode, first on podcast and then on KZhead. I think I caught your mood: you were like a knight with a great banner of justice to defend a just cause. You didn't talk about real English and related direct ways to achieve the language learning goal (not only); your words were prompted by a strong inner desire to stand up for something you believe in. Thanks for this passion Thank you for all your always very lucid, rational and effective advice, not just for learning English. Thank you
I enjoyed that episode with Stanti as a guest. And the word quixotic still stays in my mind. Language is just a tool for learning other things and communicating with others. Heart to heart connection is way more important than just being aethestic and fancy.
This is my first time listening to your podcast and I would like to thank you because this includes lots of useful information that I wanted to know. I'll also listen to the episode with Santi to improve my perseverance and positivity in learning English.
We shouldn't focus on perfection, because no one is perfect. However we should pay attention to clearness in speech and fluency
Absolutely love this episode! I'm an English communications coach here in Taiwan and everything you've said here is what I tell my clients as well, especially those who are new. Most of them come to me after years of learning (not including the 9 years in schools) and still couldn't communicate effectively in English. Most of the common issues are as you've mentioned e.g., they have very high scores in TOEIC (Listening & Reading) but couldn't speak and write coherently. They typically use rare or inappropriate words and confusing sentence structures. Some are too tied up with having "perfect" pronunciation or grammar that they're afraid to speak. Many also have issues understanding non-American accents; Taiwan education promotes American English as "good" English, so much so that many professionals couldn't deal with clients and partners who speak other Englishes. Accents, overall, is the least important; Fluency & Coherency is the primary key in communications - if the content is not logically structured or the ideas aren't linked, no amount of "high level" vocabulary, "perfect" grammar, pronunciation or accent could make the communications effective. Of course, as you've said, that's not to say vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation aren't important, but they don't need to be perfect to achieve effectiveness.
I've just finished watching this episoden and all this Santi's case reminds me of Raúl, the former Real Madrid's footballer. A lot of people used to say that he was a mediocre player with very few skills and that he was so popular just because he played for Madrid. But thing was that Raúl kept scoring a great amount of goals year by year. What's more, he spent a couple of years of his career in Shalke and there he got the recognition he deserved for being an extremely commited professional and helped that club to achieve awesome results. I'm sure that was the key of his success: hard work, attitude, continuous improvement... And so must be Santi's professional achievements' secret as well.
Although he has a strong Spanish accent, this does not mean he speaks English poorly. He communicates quite accurately and coherently. Furthermore, he could take an accent reduction course to improve his pronunciation. Moreover, he possesses the skills necessary to work at such a renowned institution. In fact, his bilingualism could be an asset to the institution, as he can communicate effectively with Spanish-speaking colleagues and clients. Additionally, his diverse background and perspective may bring a unique contribution to the team and enhance the organization's inclusivity efforts.
The Spanish speaking market is massive after all...
Why does he need an accent reduction course??? What's the point if he communicates effectively and it's 100% intelligible? Accent reduction is a BS concept. It's negative, unimportant, and simply wrong. Would you say that Luke's wife needs an accent reduction course, too?
@@Sportingalagrieska That's true. It's a 500+ million people market.
A renowned place employee, recently accepted into affluent class, is quite likely to afford and order an online or a 101 mentor, trickling down to EFL business.
Agree
Greeting from Morocco. Hi, dear Teacher Luke. Hi, dear LEP listeners. First of all, many thanks for this amazing podcast that encourages us to keep moving forward and never lose motivation. Yes, I struggle with pronunciation, but I am aware of my weakness and I will work on it. Practice, practice, and practice is the golden rule. Practice makes perfect. The ultimate goal is to communicate with people, not just to master the language as a skill
I started listening to your podcast recently, maybe with you, the path to achieving the goal will not be too long.❤🇧🇩🇧🇩
You're awesome, thank you so much for what you're doing 🙌
I listened to the podcast in which Santi was invited and it was a great story. Getting that position at Oxford as a non native English speaker is stunning indeed. I'm sure he has lots of key skills that helped him to get that job. I'm also a Spanish native speaker and I was like..wow! he works in a company as impotant as it's Oxford. Good for him!
Hi Luke! How’s it going?. I want to thank you for the amazing videos/podcast . You do help me a lot. You rock and blessing for the new family’s member.🎉❤
Thank you Luke. After 8 years of interruption, you've just given me a push to regain my English. How not and i am starting soon to be a teacher again. I lost much of my fleuency but after listening to you, i think It won't be hard to make a success. Have a nice day Okba
Спасибо вам за вашу работу. Я очень надеюсь что однажды я буду легко понимать разговорную речь. Пока мне сложно. Но я продолжаю слушать ваши видео. Чтобы мой мозг привыкал. Ваши видео бесценны. И спасибо вам за это
Thank you! Your are reinforcing my motivation! Very pleasant listening!
I really enjoy listening to your podcast! Thank you very much!
Thank you Luke! I passed the academic ielts in 2021 obtained the grade of C1 which is quite good. However I’m still making mistakes and my accent is still there… as you said it does not stop my career and it does not really matter as long as the communication is going through! It’s frustrating for me i feel like I don’t make any more progress. Socialising is important in the learning process, the pandemic did not help. I’m not giving up, your podcast is a great help! I discovered many things from the British culture thanks to you. I appreciate it, thanks again for your consideration.
Wow 😮am so happy to night because I saw teacher Luke's face. Normally I have been listening to his audio podcast. Oh!am I now seeing teacher Luke's face it's unbelievable to me. Anyway am so happy🎉
Just go with the flow. Don't be afraid of making mistakes.
I wasn't study because I was unmotivated but this podcast helped me. Thank you very much!❤
Hi Luke, nice to meet you! I'm a new subscriber at your channel. My english is still so basic because I've been learning it for only a month. I can't understand much of what you say. However I like your channel because it helps me to learn English ("learn English with short stories" is awesome!) Thanks for sharing your job. Greetings from Switzerland 🇨🇭👍
That's great to hear!!! Thanks for your effort.
You've just made my day, since you gave me a charm view of the level assessement and how crucial to keep work on your weaknesses
Love this man’s ”rambling”. Always entertaining and funny. Thank you Luke 🙋🏼♀️
You are a paramount teacher Luke, I am rooting for you !
Hello Luke! Thanks for this lovely episode! You really touched upon the points which are important in language learning. I would say seeking perfection is OK but, it shouldn't stop a learner from using this beautiful language.
Thanks for your working from South Korea. We, Including East asians, were learning English as Foreign language perfectly which doesn't related verbally and culturally with our language and your works help improve natural English skills of ourselves.
発音や細かいミスではなく、コミュニケーションこそが大事なのだと改めて気付かされた素晴らしいテーマでした。 It was a great theme that reminded us that communication is what matters, not pronunciation or minor errors.
👍❤️❤️
Good job and good luck
since I found this channel,I’have been hooked for British English language learning,I love your culture,you are awesome teacher Luke and I like ,Michael from Level up English.
Thank you so much, Luke. This episode is so encouraging and inspiring for me a passionate learner of English. :)
Teacher Luke has helped lots of leaarners improve in learning. English. God bless you! 🙌
Hello Luke,my name is Marianna Ho. I am from Hong Kong. I have migrated to Belgium for 3 years. I love to listen to your Podcast. It is very lively and you use different elements to teach us English. To be your audience, apart from improving my English, it also enrich my knowledge about the world. Thank you!
We all love you Never stop🔥🔥🔥🔥
I'm a middle aged Korean woman who came to the UK in 2006 and I took an IELTS exam for my course. Got overall 7.0 in academic module. My speaking was 6.0 and my reading 8.0 and listening and writing 7.0. I have not been confident in speaking English and I have always tried not to make mistakes. It is almost impossible for a person who only started learning to speak English at the age of 39. I still feel nervous when speaking to some British people thinking I'd be judged as a dumb person. When I express this feeling to native speakers, they tell me not to worry as they understand everything I say. They tell me to watch a lot of British native speakers on TV making mistakes and talking in an inarticulate way. Your podcast has given me the ideas about where and how I can improve my English. Thanks ❤
This Podcast is absolutely amazing!!! Thanks so much.
You are the best Teacher! Thank you very much!
Hey Luke! It is a big effort from you. It takes long time to prepare and write the transcripts. Thank you so much 😊
Just few minutes into the recording and loving it already. Will surely recommend this to many. Thank you.
I listened with great pleasure and interest to the podcast, I especially liked the authentic, convincing and clear manner of presentation. I heard a few more stories that you analyzed in other videos and I was so interested because of the content, the way of presentation, the examples that I just kept listening and learning. Hope to improve in conversation and writing through this way of learning
Your podcast has become a drug for me. Thank you for the inspiration you give to learning the language. Part of the Beatles, lol😂😂😂
I love to learn English from your podcast sir,so clear true.
Thank you Luke!!!!!!!!❤❤❤❤❤
This is the type of video I've been looking for. I love it
Thank you so much Luka , your podcast became in my daily routine
Thank you very much Luke for another one of you great podcast.
Thank you so much Luke for another one of your great podcast.
I listened with great interest to your podcasts. You are a wonderful tutor!!🙌
This episode has shed some light on my teaching job. THANKS
Thank you for this great episode! It's informative and useful! And thank you for your wise pieces of advice!
You are the best teacher on the world! So much information for free😮. Thank you so much, your postcards are always wonderful 😊
Many thanks. I always enjoy listening to your podcasts
Спасибо!
Hi Luke, I'm practicing for the C1, it's very tough but your suggestions are very useful, I'll take them into account when I have the exam! Cross fingers!!! 😊😊😊
What a lesson! Wow! Well done. Thanks Luke 😊
When I was listening to the episode with Santy I also thought his English was less proficient than you might expect for his position and experience. But it's good to know that it's possible to pass a job interview with that level of English, ha-ha! Speaking of assessment criteria, they seems quite objective but general problem with language exams is that it's possible to under-perform by a grade or two if you're not comfortable with some particular topics.
❤thanks for your sharing. You are great.
Thank you so much for your lovely and beautiful videos. I really appreciate it. ❤
You are great English teacher,thank you teacher Luke.
You are a good person, I really enjoyed to listen this podcast, and I will listen again one more time, God bless you and Thank you so much❤
I’m literally enjoying to listen to your podcast, I love British accent ❤
Cold Play is one of my favorite English speaking band. In this episode, I laughed loudly for the first time during learning English. I think Luke is really a comedian who makes people laugh even poor at English, And he is a really good teacher who makes student smile.
রাধে রাধে 🌼 হরে কৃষ্ণ হরে কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ হরে হরে হরে রাম হরে রাম রাম রাম হরে হরে 🙏🌼❤️😊 Radhe Radhe 🌼 Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare 🌼🌼🙏😊❤ রাধে রাধে 🌼🌼🙏🌼❤️
Hello sir luke its mustafa from Pakistan i have been listening to you for last couple of years and much thanks to you for improving my English listening and speaking aswell.
Welcome Luke 🙂. Great to see you and hear you again. To have a good English means to be at proficiency level as far as I'm concerned. Proficiency means we really know English quite well,but of course a person who isn't a native speaker will never be so good as a native speaker when we take British accent into consideration but sometimes can outperform when it comes general gramma knowledge etc but accent is very difficult to obtain like a native. We should raise the bar and never rest on laures😊 Proficiency 👍 Best of luck and I'm looking forward to your next presentation 🙂
Native speakers aren't necessarily "proficient" - they may merely be more familiar with how the language is spoken.
It was indeed a very interesting and extremely useful episode. Thank you so much, Luke! I just want to add something about accents. I don't really think that we (learners) should worry about our accents too much. We should worry about our pronunciation instead. And these two things - accent and pronunciation are two very different things as it seems to me. You definitely must have good pronunciation in order to have a comprehensible conversation and to be understood by others. But accent for me it's more like a smell or flavor. A flavor of words. For example, if you see some beautiful flowers in the wase it doesn't really matter what the fragrance of these flowers is. The flower remains the flower. It could have a rose scent or a tulip scent. But it's still the flower, right? The same with words. English is English whether the accent it's pronounced with - Niggerian, Welsh, or zoomer. Maybe it's not that bad to have some flavor in your English.
Agree! English would be very boring if everyone follows the same accent. 😄
Thank you ❤❤❤
Yes you are right people has different behaviour or attitude they will judge and criticize you sometimes they will laugh you when you commit mistakes specially when your pronunciation and grammar are bad so sometimes its better to be silent than to speak
It was a very helpful Podcast. As an English learner, this just encouraged me to still improving and enhancing mi skills. I practice English every single day, and I don't see that as a task, but as a part of my daily routine, without pressure, and I'm sure and learning faster. Thank you.
Thank you ❤
Thanks so much my dear teacher about everything &it's very important to me for getting the good and love the English language...my dear readers...Madman...from Iraq
Thank you, Luke Great content Great English, clear pronunciation and presentation perfectly fitting with our needings in learning
Hi,am Ahmed from moroco,especially from north Tétouan,you are a great help to me,thank you so much.
Very cheerful video for a person who is struggling with ielts test. Thanks Luke😊
A very funny and interesting episode. I go on learning English almost 5 months and I proud of my results. Thanks to your podcast I improve my listening skills every day and it's a great feeling. I'm grateful to you for your huge hard work. I wish you all the best. P. S. Hi from Ukraine 🇺🇦
Thank so much teacher
Hi Luke! I would like to thank you for your tremendous job. I am absolutely keen on listening your podcast and find it extremely educational. I would be very pleased to listen an episode with your father regarding some political news. Thanks a lot😊
Super ,że jest z tekstem. Good job
Just keep going! Don't need to hesitate!
hello Mr luke i really loved this Podcast it was full of positive things and you are truly a good english teacher
That’s nice. Thank you 😊
Excellent podcast, thanks
Nice new episode dear Luke. I really enjoy it. Many thanks for all.
Dear Luke Hello, My Name is Akrom Ibrokhimov, I am from Central Asian country- Uzbekistan and I am learning English “again” but this time with your amazing Podcast. I have my thinking about Haters who wrote Negative comments about Santi from Spain. Despite Santi’s English not a “Pure” but one Fact is that he was involved to your Podcast. Not haters but Santi is working in Oxford. I got big Motivation from his little history which you told Us! Thank you!!!! Never give Up - Teacher Luke!!!
hi, dear Luke! thank you for your job! good trick with scripts next to video - helping a lot! you have highlighted another themes for next episode - pronunciation practice! please make long video for each sound and also for each letters! I can suggest to you to use some chart or graphical scheme/images to explain it. better to make 'mind map' for that. thank you in advance! best regards!
You’ll have to sign up to LEP Premium for that kind of thing!
You are a great teacher and also motivator .