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Here’s how to improve your English listening skills when listening to my video: put the headphones on, playback the video and write it all down while listening to it!

Hi guys, today I’m bringing you yet another English idiomatic expression, and this time around it’s a super handy sentence starter:

I HEARD SOMEWHERE THAT…

Why am I saying it’s a super handy sentence starter?

Well, the reason behind that is simple enough – it’s a perfect way of starting a conversation with someone about something that you’ve heard somewhere, which is what a lot of conversations are all about!

Let’s say, for argument’s sake, you want to tell your work colleague that there’s way more bacteria on the average mobile phone than on a toilet seat.

In theory, nothing could be easier than that, right?

Just open your mouth and tell him about it!

In reality, what a lot of foreign English speakers will struggle with is – HOW TO START THE DAMN SENTENCE!

One way of going about it would be to simply state the fact: “There’s way more bacteria on the average mobile phone than on a toilet seat”, but in this case you’re really running the risk of sounding a bit awkward.

I mean – who just says something like that out of the blue, right?

So I think that anyone would quite instinctively feel that there’s a need for something to PRECEED the actual statement, and that’s exactly where the phrase

I HEARD SOMEWHERE THAT…

steps in!

You just have to admit that if you address your work colleague this way: “Listen Josh, I HEARD SOMEWHERE THAT there’s way more bacteria on the average mobile phone than on a toilet seat, isn’t that mad?” – it will sound way more native-like, and that’s exactly the way you want to sound!

So, what are you waiting for?

Watch the video above to learn more about using this particular English sentence starter, and by the way – you’ll also learn that there’s a very similar expression:

I READ SOMEWHERE THAT…

which can be used to refer to facts that you would have read somewhere instead of just heard somewhere.

Let me know if you’ve any questions!

Cheers,

Robby

Here’s how to improve your English listening skills when listening to my video: put the headphones on, playback the video and write it all down while listening to it!

Video Transcript Below:

Hi guys, it’s Robby here from EnglishHarmony.com and welcome back to my video blog!

In today’s video we’re going to discuss the correctness of the English language.

And the fact of the matter is that there’s so many things that we say in our English conversations that would be considered as incorrect if we went by the textbook English grammar rules. And if you paid particular attention to the last sentence – I said something incorrectly!

I said “there’s so many things” whereas in reality I should have said “there are so many things” because the noun “things” obviously is in plural in this case so the verb “to be” should have been conjugated to reflect that, I should have said “there are so many things”.

And this is just one of those examples where something that’s incorrect, it has been accepted in the general public and everyone speaks like that and there’s nothing wrong with it.

So it begs the question and as a matter of fact this particular phrase “it begs the question – to beg a question” has also been criticized as being incorrect English, right? In reality we should say “it raises a question”. But this phrase “it begs a question” is also used by everyone. And I would say that it actually makes it correct.

Just think about it, if 90% of the entire English speaking population uses a particular phrase or a particular means of expression, doesn’t that make it correct? Because at the end of the day what is the English language?

I would define the English language as means of communication used by a specific group of people, right? And this particular group of people is enormous. It spans the entire world. It’s millions upon millions of people so the English language belongs to the people. It’s the people who use the language!

And if the people decide somehow – well, obviously there’s no single institution that would make that decision. There hasn’t been an election to decide whether the phrase “it begs the question” is correct or not but you get the drift, right? If the people just use it and nobody has any issues with it, why not make it acceptable?

Yes, if we dig deep into the origins of the saying it might not make sense because that’s what it is, right? “To beg the question” doesn’t kind of make any logical sense. And the way we use it we actually mean to say it raises the question. But just because everyone says it that way, uses that way I think that changes it, you know and make it correct because everyone knows what that phrase means.

It’s not as if you’d walk up to someone on the street and tell them “it begs a question” and they’d be like – “why are you saying that? It makes no sense!” Nobody would say that. Everyone would understand what you’re saying therefore I think it’s correct.

And as a matter of fact, there’s a whole array of sayings that I’ve been using my whole life simply because I’ve been mimicking other native English speakers. I heard them used left, right and center and then at some stage down the line I found out that they’re actually incorrect.

For instance the typical saying “near miss”, right? If an accident almost occurred you say “it’s a near miss”. If you think about it – it doesn’t make sense because if the accident didn’t happen then it’s not a near miss, it’s a near hit because the hit would be the accident, right? And then if it didn’t happen by an inch then it’s a near hit. A near miss would be the actual accident happening, right? But people just say the phrase “near miss” to describe a near hit and everyone uses it that way and that’s what makes it proper, right? That’s what makes it correct at least in my book!

And let me give you some more examples. For example “fit as a fiddle”, right? I always knew that people say it and I’ve said it myself, “fit as a fiddle” – to describe a person who is very fit.

And now that I did some research online before recording this video I just looked up some phrases that people have been using wrong, right? That are incorrect going by the standard, rigid English grammar and linguistic rules I would imagine, right? Turns out that “fit as a fiddle” is wrong – “in good health” is what we should be saying, right?

So there you go, there’s so many expressions that I thought were… I didn’t even think about it – I just knew what way people use them and I’ve been using them myself, right? And then turns out they’re wrong!

But this is the very argument, my friends. I don’t think they’re wrong just because some higher authority – I even don’t know who they are, some academicians sitting in high seats, top universities in America and in England, all of a sudden they decide what’s wrong and what’s not wrong.

Well, I suppose to a certain degree we have to oblige by those rules because if there was no authority determining what’s wrong and what’s right and what type of English be taught in schools then the standard would degrade very rapidly. It would deteriorate in no time and then all of a sudden in a couple of decades down the line maybe each and every single region would start speaking completely differently if people were allowed to speak the way they want and wouldn’t be teaching their young proper English rules, that would probably – what would start happening.

So I suppose we need some unified standards and all that. But what I’m saying is these standards are maybe a little bit too rigid. Especially those academicians are very unwilling to change their attitudes I would imagine because they’re sticking to the rules I would imagine and that’s what makes them say these things that people are saying this or that particular thing incorrectly while at the same time everyone knows that for decades it’s been accepted as normal part of English, right?

So that’s just my 5 cents guys. Tell me what you think about it in the comments below and chat to you soon, my friends. Thanks for watching this video! Don’t forget to like it and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already done so and see you around!

Robby

P.S. Would you like to find out why I’m highlighting some of the text in red? Read this article and you’ll learn why it’s so important to learn idiomatic expressions and how it will help you to improve your spoken English!

P.S.S. Are you serious about your spoken English improvement? Check out my English Harmony System HERE!

Here’s how to improve your English listening skills when listening to my video: put the headphones on, playback the video and write it all down while listening to it!

Hello my friends foreign English speakers!

It’s me – Robby – from English Harmony here and this time around I’m bringing you another English idiomatic expression, namely – “SPEAKING OF…”

As a matter of fact, this expression also happens to be one of the simplest English sentence starters and the only other sentence starter that can rival this one in its simplicity is “Well…”

Long story short, whenever you’re asked a question and you find it a little bit difficult to respond, you can resort to the strategy of saying “SPEAKING OF…” which then is followed by the very subject of the question.

Basically what you’re doing here is – you’re just REPEATING the other person’s question which is super-easy yet at the same time it adds a lot of substance to your speech.

In other words – instead of just responding with a few word sentence, you may as well start your response by saying “SPEAKING OF…”, then repeat the question, and only THEN provide your answer!

Now, do you want to see how this strategy works in real life?

Well, what are you waiting for? Start watching the video above!

Cheers,

Robby

Here’s how to improve your English listening skills when listening to my video: put the headphones on, playback the video and write it all down while listening to it!

Video Transcript Below:

Hi guys, hello boys and girls, hello my dear fellow foreign English speakers and welcome back to Robby’s English Harmony video blog!

Today guys I wanted to share something with you. A revelation that I had when I was driving in the car to college this morning, right? As it always happens I was speaking with myself practicing my spoken English. As you may know by now that’s how I roll, that’s how I maintain a high standard of my English fluency.

And I was thinking about the fact that so many of us foreigners are trying to speak too fast, okay? And it’s a mistake number one that I come across time and time again whenever I start teaching a new batch of Fluency Star students I witness the same thing again and again. People are trying to speak too fast, okay?

And I’ve written about it in the past, obviously years ago I wrote a blog post about not comparing yourself with others. And back then I knew only too well that the desire to speak just like the other person does is the biggest pitfall for you guys, right? That’s when you start comparing yourself with the other person and that’s what brings about all these fluency issues. If you didn’t have the comparison in place and you only focused on your own performance, it would be so much easier, so much better to maintain your fluency and to work on your spoken  English, right?

So that’s why I wrote this article and that’s why I warmly suggest you never compare yourself with other speakers. Obviously we are all human and it will happen at some stage but just bear in mind that you don’t have to be so much focused on the other person, rather focus on yourself.

And then I wrote an article and obviously you can click on the links right here as I mention those articles, you can click on the links as they appear in this video and it will take you to my blog where you’ll be able to read about those things, right?

And this second blog post I want you to read is about the importance of slowing your speech down. Because what happens is when you compare yourself with the other person and the other person, especially if they happen to be a native English speaker, obviously they speak quite fast.

Well, not everyone, right? Bear that in mind, not all native English speakers are very fast speakers. And as a matter of fact, I’ve known a good few native English speakers who speak quite slowly. There’s plenty of people out there that are known to everyone, some celebrities, actors, native English speakers who speak very slowly, you know.

So just because you aim to become just like a native English speaker, doesn’t necessarily mean that automatically you have to aim to speed up your speech, right? But normally when we hear a native English speaker speak, they would be speaking somewhat faster than you and then the comparison kicks in and then you automatically assume that you have to match their type of speech.

You know, match the speed of their speech. And that’s when all those fluency issues happen because you start stumbling upon words, you can’t string a sentence together because your mouth is trying to speak too fast for your brain to catch up.

So that’s a very, very terrible issue and I witness so many foreign English speakers make the same mistake on a daily basis, right? Wherever I go, wherever I get to communicate with some foreigners, a lot of people do that, you know.

And up until today I hadn’t actually realized what other factor there is at play, okay? I only thought that there’s this comparison and then you want to speak just as fast as the other one because we don’t want to sound stupid. We are all human beings and as such we’re quite what’s the word for it? Arrogant.

When we see someone perform at a certain level we kind of deep down inside we don’t want to perform worse. We have this fear of looking stupid if we don’t perform on par with that person or whatever.

But I hadn’t realized that there’s another factor. And probably deep down inside what happens is when you speak slower than the other person, you may not be aware of it but you may be kind of thinking at a subconscious level that the other person won’t be able to understand you.

They won’t be able to follow your speech if you don’t reciprocate with the same kind of speech, if you don’t respond at the same speed, quite subconsciously you may have the impression that they won’t be able to follow you. And that’s maybe one of the reasons why so many people are trying to match the speed of speech of that of their conversation partners.

And it may sound like no big deal but it is very important for the following reason, right? In case you’re struggling with it, in case you are trying to speak somewhat slower but you still kind of can’t manage it. You may be feeling that you are trying to speaking too fast against your will or whatever. Maybe this is the factor that this is going to serve as an eye-opener for you and you will realize, wow, seriously, there’s no need for me to speak too fast because the other person will still understand me!

And it may sound very simplistic, some of you may think “hold on Robby, surely it’s not going to be like that. Surely, just by you telling yourself the other person will understand you even if you speak slower, surely, that will not be the make or break factor in your English fluency improvement routine, right?”

Well, it might not be but for some of you guys this could turn out to be the thing that actually helps you to slow down your speech and helps you to keep your fluency in check.

So to recap today’s video, the revelation that I had was that I realized that for some us it is probably very difficult to speak somewhat slower just because we may feel at a subconscious level as if we have to match the speed of the conversation partner because they won’t be able to understand us.

And from the evolutionary point of view – I actually like drawing these parallels between everything that happens these days and what happened back in the caveman era because I’m a strong believer in all things evolutionary. It makes an awful lot of sense.

So from the evolutionary standpoint it makes an awful lot of sense that we would try and reciprocate the other person’s speech.

Because for instance if you meet a person from another tribe and they don’t speak your language or your dialect or whatever, they won’t be able to understand you.

Therefore you would have to find a compromise and kind of speak the same way like both of you. And the speed is also a factor that comes into the equation. You’d have to adjust the speed of speech, so basically both parties of the conversation would have to try and speak equally, right? Equally as fast or as slow as the other person.

And that’s why I strongly believe that speed of speech is something that we subconsciously almost try to emulate because it makes sense from the evolutionary standpoint.

And also I’d like to point out that there are certain nationalities such as for instance Spanish people or Italians who are speaking very fast in their native languages. And that might be another factor that only now crossed my mind!

I hadn’t even thought about it even though I knew about that, I didn’t kind of put the two and two together. It’s funny how sometimes all these facts are available for us but we just don’t make the connection, the simple connection which also makes an awful lot of sense.

If your native language demands that you to speak very fast and it’s a natural thing to you, then obviously when you speak in English you also try to emulate the same speed of speech. And that’s another factor why it might be very difficult for you to slow down a bit and you have to make that extra effort to make your speech somewhat slower.

But it definitely will help if you slow down because just like I said in the beginning of this video, it’s still the #1 mistake that so many foreigners make, right?

So if you have any questions my friends, please feel free to publish them in the comment section below. And chat to you soon. Bye bye!

Robby

P.S. Would you like to find out why I’m highlighting some of the text in red? Read this article and you’ll learn why it’s so important to learn idiomatic expressions and how it will help you to improve your spoken English!

P.S.S. Are you serious about your spoken English improvement? Check out my English Harmony System HERE!

Here’s how to improve your English listening skills when listening to my video: put the headphones on, playback the video and write it all down while listening to it!

If you were to find out I live in Ireland, which is an English speaking country, would you automatically assume all the credit for my fluency goes to me living among native English speakers?

Well, guess what?

Nothing could be further from the truth!

I’d say that 90% or my success as an English speaker can be directly attributed to constant spoken English self-practice and if you doubt that – just check out this link HERE where my blog visitors and customers are providing hard proof that spoken English self-practice works indeed!

You see, the way I see it, the major problem that we, foreigners, have is that most of us live in foreign countries where English isn’t spoken on the street.

As a result you may be under the wrong impression that it’s next to impossible to become a fluent English speaker when living abroad.

I say – it’s just an excuse!

In reality there’s NOTHING to stop you from doing spoken English self-practice anywhere on our planet, and I would even go so far as to say you could do it on the Moon as well – provided you were really determined to improve your English fluency.

Going back to the original subject which is all about believing that it’s only when you move to an English speaking country that you can develop your fluency to a native-like standard – what about people who’ve lived in countries such as the US or the UK for decades but still can’t speak fluently?

You see – at the end of the day, it all boils down to the fact that a lot of people don’t even get the chance to speak with native English speakers (me included – sometimes I’d go for months without much interaction with locals!), so it’s all about how much EFFORT you’re going to put into your practice!

If you just keep complaining that you can’t develop your fluency because of this, that and the other – well, guess what? It WON’T happen!

If, on the other hand, you work really hard just like me – speaking with yourself and recording your speech on a camcorder whenever you get a chance – your speech is going to improve big time and there’s no reason why you can’t achieve a really high standard of fluency in a few years’ time!

Bottom line:

Unless you’re LIVING with other English speakers and speaking with them 24/7, living in an English speaking country will never be enough to become fully fluent in the language. You have to WORK really hard on your speech by way of spoken English practice to achieve native-like fluency!

Robby

P.S. Would you like to find out why I’m highlighting some of the text in red? Read this article and you’ll learn why it’s so important to learn idiomatic expressions and how it will help you to improve your spoken English!

P.S.S. Are you serious about your spoken English improvement? Check out my English Harmony System HERE!

Here’s how to improve your English listening skills when listening to my video: put the headphones on, playback the video and write it all down while listening to it!

Video Transcript Below:

Hi guys, hello boys and girls and welcome back to Robby’s English Harmony video blog!

Listen guys, I’ve had a crazy week and that’s the reason why I haven’t responded to your blog comments in case you’re wondering where has Robby gone, why he isn’t responding to the blog comments that I’ve made, right? Rest assured, I’m going to do it right now.

I just came home from college today and to be honest with you, college ends a bit sooner on Friday so that’s a good thing. I can catch up on the things that I haven’t done during the week. And to be honest with you, I’m very busy with my Fluency Star students so that takes up pretty much my entire time and I have very little time left for dealing with the comments and your emails and so on and so forth.

So I’m really, really sorry for not being able to get back to you sooner but now I’m going to rectify that mistake and I’m going to respond to one person’s comment, Indrajeet’s comment. And he commented on my blog post a couple days ago there. And his comment definitely merits a video response. So I’m going to read it out so you can clearly see what the whole thing is about, right?

Now, he is from India and his age is 18 and he says that as far as his English is concerned he thinks that he is completely fluent. And he’s been following my advice, he’s been hardwiring his brain to think in English, he talks to himself all the time. So it’s all nice and well, he’s following the right advice so he’s going down the right road.

Now, he said that he still has some serious issues. He knows that I’ve been addressing these issues in my articles on the blog but still he would appreciate some personal advice, right? And he says that actually he analyzes his speech too much. Every time he says something, whether it’s right or wrong, he would analyze it, right?

And I’ve got to tell you guys that this is typical of so many foreigners, right? I see it every day of the week. The foreigners speak and they constantly analyze their speech. They second-guess themselves thus making the issue even worse. And as a matter of fact I have actually addressed that issue.

You might want to click on this link right here and you’re going to get to read about the whole thing, why analysis is detrimental to your fluency and how to get rid of it, right?

Next up he says that even if he makes a small mistake all hell breaks loose within him and he tries all he can to amend it and then he stresses out over that and that basically makes his fluency disappear for a while and he feels very down and upset about it, right?

The second problem is that he’s very conscious of his English speech and whenever he has to speak among very fluent speakers, he immediately feels intimidated and then he would become nervous and anxious about it and he wouldn’t feel comfortable speaking, right? As a result, his fluency goes down again, right?

And yeah, that’s again something that I have addressed on my blog. You may want to read this article with the title “Don’t be Conscious of Your Own English Conversations”, right?

And in case you Indrajeet haven’t read these articles but I’m pretty sure that you have because you referred to that in your comments and you know that I have created the articles about it explaining this phenomenon but you – I keep talking to you Indrajeet and to the rest of the audience referring to you as he.

That’s why the confusion, right? Basically I’m pretty sure that you have read this article but please don’t ignore these links. Click on them, read them again, again and again. Maybe that’ll help you!

And then the last problem is that “Whenever I’m speaking and just because I am fluent in English and I have enhanced my vocabulary after all this long practice, sometimes I have to speak enough to realize that I really perform well and I would have doubts that maybe I won’t be able to perform as good in the future. And that makes me feel downcast and kind of anxious and nervous.”

So this is the issue that I want to particularly look at in this video response basically. What Indrajeet is saying and that’s very, very relevant to us foreigners, right? He’s saying that on some days he speaks very well, right? And then all of a sudden the fear kicks in, what if I’m not going to be able to speak like that again in the future, right?

And I’ve got to tell you guys I used to feel that way up until recently. And it’s not to say that I don’t struggle with my English fluency at all. I still do. And that’s another point that I want to make but I’ll go back to it later on in this video response!

So first of all, let me tell you that up until recently I would always be fearful. I would be having my normal English fluency period but there would be all ways to fear at the back of my mind, what if all of a sudden the fluency goes down tomorrow? And sometimes it would happen. And it would be as if some sort of a prophecy has materialized. I knew that it was going to happen, right?

And I have actually addressed this issue before you may want to click on this link where it’s all about the English improvement general trend.

So basically it’s all about your fluency going up and down, up and down and up and down. But for as long as you keep working on it, you have to realize that it’s constantly actually going up so your new trough which is the very low fluency that you’re experiencing is the same as your peak fluency 2 years ago. You know what I mean?

So if you can compare certain periods in time going back a few years ago, you will definitely realize that your fluency has grown big time but it’s just that you are constantly kind of increasing your own standards, you are setting the bar higher and higher and higher, you constantly keep comparing your new standards against the bad fluency days.

And that’s when you think that your fluency constantly goes down and you don’t really realize that it’s a big improvement, that the worst fluency that you’re experiencing now is a major improvement on the way you spoke like 2 or 3 years ago.

So that’s a fact in itself that’s worth keeping in mind and you can find comfort in it, right? But here’s the deal. Your fluency or my fluency will never be perfect. The job is never going to get done. There won’t be such a moment in time when I’ll be able to just sit back and say this is it, I’ve accomplished this goal. I’m fully fluent and this is it. Like I don’t have to worry about it anymore. There will be no such moment in time and you have to accept it Indrajeet!

And I think that’s the key in order to resolve your issue. It’s all in your head. It’s not about actually fixing the issue as such. It’s not about not having those bad fluency days. It’s not about being perfect at all times. It’s about how you handle it. It’s about your attitude, your approach. It’s about how you go about it, right?

So I would say that that’s what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to step back, look at yourself, see the bigger picture, look at it from a perspective and tell yourself “Listen Indrajeet, you know for a fact that your fluency is going up. You have ups and downs and fluctuations and all of that but that’s part of the game, right? We are foreign English speakers, we’re experiencing these issues and we just have to accept it, right?”

But the fact is, the fact of the matter is that the fluency is improving. And that’s the only variable to bear in mind, right? The constantly improving trend. Never mind those bad fluency days, never mind. In fact, you’ll be embarrassed when speaking with strangers that you will feel a bit down and anxious when among more fluent English speakers. It still happens to me. It happens to everyone. But it’s all about how you deal with it. It’s all about how you approach it, you know. And acceptance is the key word here, right?

There is probably no article on my blog about acceptance. Basically accepting all those things, all those bad things and just ignoring them. Well, there is an article about ignorance as a matter of fact. And I don’t have the link in front of me but I’m a 100% sure that I did publish such an article in the past so I’m going to look it up now after the video and then I will put the link right here. You can click on it here. It’s basically about ignoring – ignoring other people’s bad opinions of you.

Ignoring any bad emotions that might be happening as a result of these fluency issues. Just ignore it. I know it sounds easier said than done but it can be mastered. You know what I mean? It takes time and practice but it can be achieved. So ignorance is bliss as they say and in this case this old adage holds true. Ignorance is bliss. You ignore… I’m not saying you have to ignore the fact that for instance somebody’s English is bad and they don’t have to be working on it.

That’s not at all what I’m trying to say. What I’m trying to say is, what I’m getting at is, ignore any bad emotions or try to suppress them by telling yourself that in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter. All that matters is the fact that your fluency is growing over the years and you’re fine with that. Accept it, right?

So I hope that Indrajeet this is going to help you. And another thing that might help you is the fact that even I’m experiencing all these issues to this day. But I’ve learned to accept it, just accept it as part of the game. Even this morning, I got up in the morning and I couldn’t speak to myself. If you’ve been following my blog you know that I’m constantly speaking with myself and not to say that I was totally unable to speak obviously that wouldn’t be the case but I was struggling a tad you know?

But did I freak out? Did I start beating myself over the fact that I couldn’t speak? No, I just kept going, I just accepted it. And I accept the fact that I might even walk in the class in the college and struggle to speak with my college mates. I didn’t tell myself “No, it’s not going to happen.” I knew that it would probably happen but I was okay with it. I was grand with that!

But I walked into the classroom and for some reason or another my fluency went back to normal and I was enjoying a great day in college. But even if that weren’t the case, even if my fluency would be really bad, I would be fine with that because I know for a fact that at some stage in the future it would go back to normal and it would be even better than before, right? So just like I said you will never achieve the ideal state. But the key is how you approach it. And that makes all the difference in the world Indrajeet. All the difference in the world. Believe me, been there, done that!

So thanks for watching this video. I hope that I addressed your issue and I hope that you’ll find it helpful and I hope that everyone finds this video helpful, right? So thanks for watching and chat to you soon. Bye-bye!

Robby

P.S. Would you like to find out why I’m highlighting some of the text in red? Read this article and you’ll learn why it’s so important to learn idiomatic expressions and how it will help you to improve your spoken English!

P.S.S. Are you serious about your spoken English improvement? Check out my English Harmony System HERE!

Here’s how to improve your English listening skills when listening to my video: put the headphones on, playback the video and write it all down while listening to it!

Hello boys and girls!

In today’s video you’ll learn how to use the following English idiomatic expression: THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT…

And the fact of the matter is that a week ago I published a video about quite a similar English idiomatic expression “as a matter of fact” – but please don’t confuse the two!

While AS A MATTER OF FACT can be used as a replacement phrase for the word “actually”, THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT is used in a different way.

You could say that it means pretty much the same thing as the phrase “Here’s the thing”, but if you want to learn more about using it – please watch the video above!

Cheers,

Robby

Hi guys. Hello boys and girls and hello my dear fellow foreign English speaker and also any native English speaker that might happen to be watching this video on my blog at EnglishHarmony.com or on my YouTube channel!

Now, in today’s video we’re going to look at the following English idiomatic expression “as a matter of fact,” right? And the fact of the matter is that I thought that I had made a video about this particular idiomatic expression. And if you were listening attentively, you definitely realized that I used a very similar expression there a few seconds ago. I said the fact of the matter is, right?

And it’s funny because these two phrases “as a matter of fact” and “the fact of the matter is” they almost sound the same, but not quite.

They’re not the same because “as a matter of fact” is used in different situations. But let’s not get confused guys because if you’re trying to learn these two expressions at the same time, you will end up having created a very wrong vocabulary association in your brain. Because those two phrases will kind of go together so whenever you want to use one or the other, the other phrase will just come barging in and then your speech will get very hesitant and interrupted and you will say the wrong thing at the wrong time.

So that’s how typically you would be experiencing these fluency issues when you’re trying to say something and then some other thing just pops up in your brain and comes out of your mouth without actually you wanting to say that particular thing.

So this would be a typical example. If I were to give you both of those phrases “as a matter of fact” and “the fact of the matter is”, then we would end up with even bigger fluency issues. So we will look at the other phrase, “the fact of the matter is” some other time but today we will be a 100% focused on the first one, “as a matter of fact”.

Yeah. And just like I said I thought that I had made a video about it and it turns out that it’s not the case, right? And I was a bit surprised, I was taken aback because I thought that definitely I would have made a video about this one because it’s a very simple idiomatic expression.

It’s one of the basic ones, as a matter of fact, right? It’s something that you would probably learn on the second page of an English phrase book or something. But anyway, if you are interested in how exactly this phrase is to be used, when to use it, how to use it, please bear with me for a few more minutes and I will explain everything to you in every detail my friends!

So welcome back! And as a matter of fact, today I didn’t even want to make any videos, you know.

But then I knew better than that because I knew for a fact that if I didn’t make any videos today, then I would be probably not doing it tomorrow and then it would go on and on and on.

And then if I don’t do it for a few days in a row, my fluency just goes down. So this what I’m doing for you guys, for the YouTube channel and for my blog is actually very beneficial for my own fluency. That’s how I maintain a very high level of English fluency, right?

So if you noticed the way I used the expression “as a matter of fact”, it’s actually used pretty much the same way you’d use the word “actually.”

So I said as a matter of fact, I didn’t even want to make any videos and then I could have just as well said, actually I didn’t even want to make a video today, right? Actually, as a matter of fact – it’s pretty much the same thing. The only difference is that when you use the phrase “as a matter of fact,” I would imagine that you’ll probably sound a bit more native-like, if you know what I mean.

Whereas if you say actually the whole time, it would probably send the message to the other person that that’s the only expression that you know.

But anyway, it’s not to say that you can’t use the word “actually”, it’s just that it’s probably a bit overused sometimes, especially among foreign English speakers. So you may definitely want to start using the phrase “as a matter of fact” whenever you want to say actually or use them interchangeably, depending on the situation.

So let’s come up with some other example. Let’s imagine that the two partners who live together in a household, whether it’s the wife or the husband assumes that their partner hasn’t done something. Say, the wife thinks that her husband hasn’t put the bins out.

And she tells him “Charlie, you haven’t put the bins out because you always forget it.” And then the husband can talk to his wife and tell her “As a matter of fact I have done it.” It’s like as if to say in your face “I have done it as a matter of fact.”

So it’s used in a little bit sarcastic way if you know what I mean. So that’s how you can use this phrase when someone accuses you of something, someone assumes that you have or haven’t done something, you can tell them “No. As a matter of fact I have done it this time ’round.”

But just like I said you could have used the word “actually” just as well. So “Actually I have done it.” But “as a matter of fact” is the phrase we’re focusing on today. So that’s the one you want to use.

And speaking of the third example, all I can say is that as a matter of fact when I did the last video I couldn’t come up with a third example sentence. And normally I come up with 3 sample sentences for each and every single one of these idiomatic expressions, right?

So as a matter of fact, I was struggling with it the last time when I did it and this time around I’m getting away with using the fact that I forgot to do it as a sample sentence.

And I just started it with the phrase “as a matter of fact”. I could have said “Actually I forgot”– not forgot but I couldn’t come up with the third sample sentence in my last video and I substituted that word with “as a matter of fact” and I created a third and successful sample sentence for this video. So I got away with it guys!

Okay, so I hope that this clarifies everything about the phrase “as a matter of fact”. And what you want to do now is do some spoken English self-practice whereby you put yourself in a situation and then you come up with some sample sentences.

You imagine that you’re speaking with someone or you just say something starting with the phrase “as a matter of fact” and make sure that you wire this particular speech pattern into your brain, as a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, as a matter of fact – so that it becomes your second nature and you can use it freely whenever the right situation presents itself, okay?

So thanks for watching guys and I’ll chat to you soon again!

Bye-bye!

Robby

P.S. Would you like to find out why I’m highlighting some of the text in red? Read this article and you’ll learn why it’s so important to learn idiomatic expressions and how it will help you to improve your spoken English!

P.S.S. Are you serious about your spoken English improvement? Check out my English Harmony System HERE!

Here’s how to improve your English listening skills when listening to my video: put the headphones on, playback the video and write it all down while listening to it!

Video Transcript Below:

Hi guys! Hello boys and girls and hello my dear fellow foreign English speakers!

It’s Robby here from EnglishHarmony.com and welcome back to my video blog!

Now, I just wanted to let you know guys that today was my first day in college after a 2 month break. And I’ve just got to tell you guys that my fluency was out of this world. It was amazing!

So basically what’s important here is the fact that for two months straight I wasn’t actually having many conversations with native English speakers. I was mostly doing self-practice, right? That’s the kind of thing that I keep going on about in my video blog in pretty much every video, right?

So at this stage you will definitely know that I’m constantly advocating for you and for everyone who aspires to become a fluent English speaker to engage in daily English practice sessions, basically spoken English practice sessions whereby you speak with yourself just like I do when I’m recording these videos.

And the thing that I want to emphasize is that some people may think that it is necessary to speak with other English speakers, that you just can’t be speaking with yourself and improving, okay? And I’ve tried using different arguments over the course of the last few years to prove you guys that you can actually do just with the spoken English practice sessions and that your spoken English fluency will improve, that you don’t necessarily have to be speaking with others, right?

And today I’m going to bring you the best proof possible, right? Well, you’re not going to be able to witness it yourself. You’re just going to have to take my word for it. But believe me guys, there is no need for me to lie about it, right? Basically my whole blog, if you’ve been following me throughout the years, you’ll know that I say it the way it is.

I sometimes admit when I’ve been wrong. Sometimes I’ve done something and then I realize that my previous claims weren’t really true so I come clean on it. I post a video and I tell you guys I thought that it was that way but it turns out that it’s differently. And I always admit it when I’m wrong. I wouldn’t be that kind of a person who would be embarrassed to admit that they had been wrong. I don’t believe in that. You’ve got to be honest, right?

And the fact of the matter is that basically today when I was speaking with natives, with the native English speakers in the class after the 2 month break, I could speak as if I were a native English speaker.

I felt no different than speaking with someone in Latvian!

My fluency was just brilliant. I don’t want to sound like bragging and that’s not the purpose of recording this video. I don’t want to brag about it. But the fact of the matter is that over the course of the last two months I’ve been speaking with myself non-stop.

I’ve been recording these videos which is also a type of spoken English practice and I actually warmly suggest that you start doing that. Start recording your own videos because it focuses your speech so much better than just speaking with yourself!

And on top of that I’ve been constantly speaking with myself whenever an opportunity arose during my daily life, right? And thanks to that, over the course of the last two months my fluency has actually grown. And today was the moment when my fluency was put to test and when I was engaging in lengthy conversations with native English speakers, I was speaking so much better than I was two months ago when I finished the previous course. Okay?

It just goes to show you guys that this strategy works, it’s effective and on those few occasions when you get to speak with other English speakers, you will notice a huge difference provided that you’ve been speaking with yourself on a regular basis.

And yes, I have to admit that I have been speaking with other people during these two months, it’s not as if I’ve been speaking with myself only. Okay? I’ve taken on a few students as part of the Fluency Star coaching program and I’m working with them and there were actually a few more students left from the previous round.

So I’ve been constantly speaking with people on Skype and teaching my students and all that. But the fact of the matter is that you can’t really give your fluency free rein unless you speak with a native English speaker.

I’m not saying that that would be somewhat a limiting factor that would determine your success as an English learner. It’s not like that. But all I’m saying is that when you speak with a native English speaker, you can say all you want, whatever you want, you can actually improvise to your heart’s content.

I was going to say at your heart’s content but then I realized that it was wrong. It’s actually to your heart’s content. Because the native English speaker will understand you from half word and you can speak as fast as you want and basically at this stage I’ve achieved the level of a near native-like fluency and I could speak completely freely and rest assured in the knowledge that the other person understands me the whole time, okay?

And yeah, that’s basically the reason I’m recording this video just to let you know that even if you don’t get to speak with someone for a long period of time, it’s fine.

There’s nothing for you to be worried about because you can rest assured provided that you speak with yourself on a regular basis that your fluency is going to be improving. And then on those rare occasions, even if it happens once a year, you will be able to enjoy conversations with other people because you’ve been – you would have been working with yourself anyway, okay? And that’s totally enough. It’s more than enough to maintain your fluency at a high level. All right?

So that was today’s message guys. And yeah, that’s about it. If you have any questions obviously, you are welcome to publish them in the comment section below. And don’t forget to like the video, don’t forget to subscribe to my channel if you haven’t.

And tell your friends and anyone else you may know that there is this English Harmony channel out there and this guy, Robby is giving people advice on how to improve their spoken English. All right?

Thanks for watching this video guys and chat to you soon. Bye-bye!

Robby

P.S. Would you like to find out why I’m highlighting some of the text in red? Read this article and you’ll learn why it’s so important to learn idiomatic expressions and how it will help you to improve your spoken English!

P.S.S. Are you serious about your spoken English improvement? Check out my English Harmony System HERE!

Here’s how to improve your English listening skills when listening to my video: put the headphones on, playback the video and write it all down while listening to it!

Video Transcript Below:

Hi guys. Here’s the funny thing. I’ve been meaning to record this particular video for a while now but finally, when I got around to it yesterday, all sorts of weird thing started happening. I tried to record it two times in a row but every time when I connected the camcorder to the laptop, there was nothing there. There were no files to be found and it was very weird to say the least!

And as you noticed guys, I actually used today’s phrases in this sentence. So this was the first sample sentence actually.

“I’ve been meaning to do something” and the second one is “to get around to doing something”.

And depending on whether you refer to a past event or things in general, you will say either “got ‘round to doing something” or “get ‘round to doing something”. And you will also notice that I don’t say “get around,” I said conversationally. I shortened the word “around” to just ’round basically. I omit the “A” letter, just stick an apostrophe there and it becomes ’round. That’s what native English speakers say conversationally and that’s what I’m sticking with.

So do you want to find out more about these two idiomatic expressions “I’ve been meaning to do something” and “to get ’round to doing something”? Well, bear with me for a few more moments and everything is going to become crystal clear to you my friends!

Welcome back. So, I’ve been meaning to do something. Please guys, don’t start analyzing this sentence from the grammar standpoint. Don’t start thinking, “hold on, what kind of a tense is it? What voice is represented there?” I’ve been meaning to do something. Don’t analyze it at all! Just take it for what it is. It’s a phrase that simply means that you wanted to do something for a long time and just repeat it. “I’ve been meaning to do something. I’ve been meaning to. I’ve been meaning to.” And then it becomes your second nature. You can just produce it yourself when speaking obviously, whether you speak with someone else or do some spoken English self-practice. And you don’t need to analyze it at all. You don’t need to figure out what it represents. Okay? It’s immaterial.

And to tell you the truth guys prior to recording this video I was kind of thinking, hold on, maybe I should let my audience know what tense and voice it is but then I caught myself doing that and I realized, hold on a second Robby, if you were to do that, you would actually go against everything you stand for because the English Harmony philosophy is to get rid of the grammar concepts altogether. Okay? And that’s what I’ve been doing for the last number of years. And to tell you the truth, my grammar knowledge has actually all but disappeared. If you were to ask me a very simple grammar related question, maybe I wouldn’t even know that unless I did some deeper research into it. Okay?

So yeah, without further ado, let me get down to business and give you the second example of the sentence. And as a matter of fact I’ve been meaning to get in touch with an old friend of mine but we never get ’round to doing it because either I’m very busy or he hasn’t got much time for it.

So we keep putting it off. And as a matter of fact we wanted to get in touch in early January and now it’s late February. Okay? So it’s been almost two months. So despite the fact that both of us have been meaning to get in touch with each other, we never get ’round to doing it, you know?

So I hope you get the drift, you start developing that feeling for how these phrases are to be used and just to solidify that knowledge just give me – let me give you the third example which is going to be; let me see, let me brainstorm something. I’m quite good at these things, aren’t I? I can brainstorm things on the spot.

So I’ve been meaning to change my website design for a few years and considering that I’m very busy teaching my students, running the blog and all that, I really never got ’round to doing it. Okay? And then one fine day I realized, “hold on a second, my current design is not bad at all. Even though it’s old, it’s like 7 or 8 years old or 6 years old or thereabouts, there’s nothing wrong with it!”

So I’d much rather focus on the content creation, writing good quality articles for you guys to enjoy and cranking out my daily videos – well, not daily really but you get the drift, right? – than spending thousands of dollars on completely redesigning the whole thing. Because good quality design costs an arm and a leg which is an English idiom meaning that it’s very, very expensive. So despite the fact that I had been meaning to change the website design and I never got ’round to it, finally I realized that there’s no need for it. Okay? So this was the third example.

So I hope that now everything is clear to you my friends. So you basically use these phrases to express the simple fact that you wanted to do something for a while but then you never got a chance to do it, okay? And bear in mind, you don’t necessarily have to use these phrases in combination. You can use one or the other depending on the situation. It’s just that I kind of stuck them together and they supplement each other, you know? It’s a very fitting situation of using these two phrases together because they express the concept of you wanting to do something and not being able to do it.

But you may as well use one or the other. For instance someone gets in touch with you and then you tell that person “I’m sorry that I never called you. I’ve been meaning to do it for a long time and I’m really sorry, I totally forgot about it. It slipped my mind.” Or you can just say things like “I’ve been meaning to do my homework or my essay or something for a couple of weeks now and now finally today is the last day. I can do it tomorrow after hand it in so there’s no excuse for me not do to do it tonight, you know.”

So I hope you get the drift, right? Use these phrases in your spoken English self-practice sessions. Use them when speaking with others by all means guys. So if you have any questions obviously, please post them in the comment section below. And thanks for watching this video and chat to you soon. Bye-bye!

Robby

P.S. Would you like to find out why I’m highlighting some of the text in red? Read this article and you’ll learn why it’s so important to learn idiomatic expressions and how it will help you to improve your spoken English!

P.S.S. Are you serious about your spoken English improvement? Check out my English Harmony System HERE!