Shadowing Practice: My CHEAT CODE for writing like a GENIUS | Hey Tablo Ep. 36 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Oh hey, welcome to Hey Tableau.
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As promised, today I'm going to talk about how to become or how to be a good writer.
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Hey Tableau.
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First of all, why does it matter?
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Why do I have to be a good writer?
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Why do I have to be a good speaker?
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Well, even if you're not like planning on being a novelist, even
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if you're not planning on being a lyricist I think writing
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is just you know part of everyday life right like even texts in workplace environments it's just much better
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if you can communicate your thoughts in a sentence
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or two well let me just say in my day-to-day work well 90% of the texts I get it's It's just,
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it's like hieroglyphics.
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They're speaking Korean to me or English to me, but I have no fucking clue what they're saying.
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It's just like, it's like a puzzle, right?
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But it's like the most simple thing that they're trying to communicate, but like they write it in a way where it only makes sense to them.
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But the whole purpose of communication is for your point to get across, right?
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Like if your thoughts are only making sense to you,
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that's literally just, that's just thinking.
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That's not even, that's not communication.
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Like it has to land.
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So I think becoming a good writer, I think the reason why our community, I think the reason why our fans are
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so interested in becoming better writers and better speakers is because it affects even those parts of their lives.
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And I believe just in general, being a good writer and speaker helps you get ahead in any situation, to be honest.
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We're not gonna debate about, do you have to be born a good writer?
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Like, is this something you're born with?
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Or like, is this something that can be developed?
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I don't know.
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I am not God.
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I don't know that.
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I guess it helps if you're just born that way.
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But I don't think that's something to even think about, right?
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Because you can't change whatever you have or don't have.
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So I'm going to try to be as practical as possible and give you actionable advice.
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Hopefully it helps.
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I don't have the answers, though.
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I just became a good writer through sheer hard work.
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I just wrote a lot.
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But I think some of this might help.
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Before I go into this, let me begin with these two phrases.
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You're so good at speaking.
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You're so good at writing.
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These compliments are great to hear, right?
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I bet you just saw these two lines and you're like, oh, shit.
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That's like something I would love to hear.
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Stop wanting to hear these sentences.
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And let me explain why.
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Let's say you wrote something and they see it.
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And you wrote about, like, I don't know, you wrote about your thoughts on recent,
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you know, technology or, like, social media, right?
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Like, about how social media, like, your thoughts on social media.
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And then they're like, dude, you're a great writer.
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I would prefer hey you have some great thoughts do you know what I mean?
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let's say I'm having a conversation with somebody and I say something
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that like really you know that they identify with
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or they relate to or you know something that just like really pinches their soul right And they say,
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dude, you speak so well.
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I know it's a compliment, but I would prefer, hey, I agree with your thoughts.
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Or hey, I really like what you just said there.
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I like your thoughts.
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You have good thoughts.
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And the reason why I say this, you might be thinking like, dude, just take the compliment.
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Fuck.
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If they say you're a good writer, if they say you're a good speaker, Just be like, thank you.
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I do appreciate it.
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But I say this because in order to become a good writer,
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I believe that you need to stop wanting to hear, hey, you're a good writer.
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Hey, you're good at writing.
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Hey, you're good at speaking.
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Because these compliments will not help you.
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You should want to hear that you have good thoughts, right?
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because that is what will impel you to actually have them.
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Instead of just thinking of writing and speaking as some craft or skill,
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you will prioritize having substance first.
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If there's two people, one person has really deep thoughts,
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like you can tell that they have been thinking about this topic for a while.
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But let's say, you know, their choice of words, like their diction isn't that good.
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Let's just say that, you know, they're not as descriptive as they need to be.
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Or let's say they just don't know that much vocab, right?
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And then there's this one person that is like fucking just dropping, you know, word salad, right?
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Like just serving word salad.
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and clearly they you know they went to like some some writing camps
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or whatever and they can write really flamboyantly and just they sound awesome
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but there's like if you dig through
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that salad of words there's really no substance there I would you know 100% say that the first person
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the former uh is is the better writer like it doesn't matter
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if they have you know broken sentences it doesn't matter
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if they're not using like fucking sat vocab i mean come on right
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if they have substance in their writing if they have good thoughts
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and they can communicate it to me and
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if i get it then they're clearly the better writer than
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this person who you know put me through like a like a whirlwind of vocabulary
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but they don't really say anything so back to the compliments like you're
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so good at writing you're so good at speaking like i'm sure you've you've all heard
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that before right uh stop liking it i i think that's that's my first tip like
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when somebody says hey you're such a good like speaker you're such a good talk like yo you talk so well
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think to yourself hey i appreciate it but why am i not hearing
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that i have a i have good thoughts like
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that my thoughts are good and
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that will make you want to have you know to focus on
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that part not the skill not the actual like practical writing part i've actually said to people like it's not
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that i'm a good writer it's that i actually thought about this
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and my thoughts are connecting to you like they're connecting with you like
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that i have uh like substantial thoughts like i have i these thoughts are actually valuable
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but when you say that i'm good at writing
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it kind of feels like you're discounting the amount of you know value that my thoughts actually have You know,
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it makes it sound like I'm just able to sell it well.
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And they were like, dude, just take the compliment.
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You know what I mean?
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But you know what I mean, right?
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Did it make sense to you?
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You're a good speaker.
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What did you just say?
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I'll take the compliment.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
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May I briefly interrupt Hey Tableau for breaking news?
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Have you ever dreamed of being a guest here on Hey Tableau?
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If you live in the US or Canada, this is your chance.
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Epic High is embarking on a North America tour starting September 30th.
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All through October, we're going to be in the US and Canada.
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I want to do an episode of Hey Tableau where I
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have a convo with a fan in each of these cities that we visit.
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Here's how it's going to work.
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If you have a VIP 1 or VIP 2 package, you'll get entry into a VIP soundcheck.
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We'll choose one lucky fan at each of these sound checks
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and you and I will have a short combo You can ask me for life advice Relationship advice
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and all of that will be compiled into an episode of Hey Tableau
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if you already have a VIP 1 or VIP 2 You're automatically entered, but if you don't have one go get one now at epic high.com
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And you can have a chance to have a cameo on Hey Tableau back to the podcast
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now in order to have these uh good thoughts, these profound thoughts, or these, you know, true thoughts, like genuine,
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authentic thoughts, you got to live first.
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You really got to live.
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Like, so I've been in certain situations where I've had to speak to students,
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either at like, you know, schools
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or even sometimes I once spoke at this place where uh
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people wanted to be like lyricists it was like a academy
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for I guess like lyricist hopefuls right um I didn't even know these academies existed
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but I was once asked to speak there and um I don't think I spoke much about
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how to actually how to actually write i spoke more about how to actually like how to live
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like i was like you know uh
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if you came here into a building into a room with like a ceiling over you uh
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and you're under the impression that you can walk out of here after a couple months
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a better lyricist or a better writer, I'm really, you know, I'm sorry to break it to you, but that's not going to happen.
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Like what makes you a great lyricist or a writer is that you have things to say,
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that you understand emotions, that you have experiences that are unique that somebody might be interested in,
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or you experience common emotions that will help you relate to other people
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that you've never met and will allow them to feel uh you know solace and
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and sometimes just feel excitement sometimes feel feel fear uh
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but you need you need to understand these emotions
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and the only way is to to go out there and
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and live more so that you have more to talk about
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and none of that will happen at a desk none of
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that will happen in a room or Or if you can't go out there, that's why we read.
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Like someone else went out there,
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risked it all, and got on a boat and tried to catch a whale.
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Right?
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Because you can't do that right now.
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You can't afford to get on a boat right now and go catch a whale.
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So someone else did that and wrote Moby Dick.
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So you read Moby Dick, right?
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And we, we experienced these things like vicariously.
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We experienced like climbing mountains.
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We experienced like life and death.
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We experienced loss, you know, all, all via reading.
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Same thing can be done watching movies, you know, watching TV shows.
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But what I'm trying to say is in order to,
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you know, have the thoughts to write about or to want to communicate,
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you have to live more.
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You have to experience a lot of different things.
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And for some reason, from my experience, anytime I've had to speak to students about writing,
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they are almost solely focused on the craft part like they don't
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when i was telling them this like you could tell like they weren't they weren't
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that interested they were like yo i get it but like just give me the cheat code
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like like what how many words in a line like you
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know how do you like find rhymes hey like what what words should i use here
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that that makes the hook sound good and i'm like but that's not
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then you got to go to someone else because that's not what I do.
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I'm not a good writer because I know some tricks.
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I just felt a lot of different things, right?
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And I had my heart broken.
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I got my ass bruised and bitten by a St. Bernard.
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so i know that pain i know what it feels like to get your ass bitten
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and i'm like without these experiences how are you how are
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you possibly going to communicate emotion to someone else like and
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but they're like no just just okay okay i get that okay i'll do that but also give me the cheat code.
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There is no cheat code is what I'm trying to say.
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There really isn't.
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You gotta, you gotta live more or read more,
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preferably writing by people who,
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who think the way I just said I do,
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who decided to go out and live more to write whatever they wrote.
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But also it's great to read really terrible writing.
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There's a like this famous essay by Stephen King.
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It's about like how to write well basically.
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And he talks about like he's like, his first rule is like, just read a lot.
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But the reason why, he says you have to read bad writing too because it tells you like how not to write.
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Right?
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or it gives you a little bit of confidence right a little boost in your confidence
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and you have to read good writing even though it sometimes crushes you
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and makes you feel like you will never reach that level
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and it must be something that they're born with
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or it must be something divine like the muses right it must be something unattainable but um
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but you must read it to to know what is possible for you as well right what possibility there is
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so um yeah read bad writing too and hence live bad experiences too is what i'm saying
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I'm not saying go to Switzerland and you know look at beautiful like mountains
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and like I don't know I've been to Switzerland like I
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went there recently I don't remember much other than mountains
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but like you know what I mean like don't by living I don't mean like going out there
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and just like experiencing awesome things I mean like going out there
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and like falling and like you know making mistakes like getting misunderstood
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and getting yelled at for something you didn't do um getting
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yelled at for something you did do like just i'm not telling you to go out there
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and break the law to become you know a good writer or to write good instagram captions but i'm saying like
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within uh the bounds of safety i would advise you know experiencing things Where do you find bad writing?
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Where do I find bad writing?
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It's just my iMessage history.
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Would you like to see?
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My emails?
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90% of my emails is me.
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Like half my morning is me trying to figure out
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if I'm insane Or the person sending me the email just simply does not know how to craft a sentence.
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But I'm really wondering if I'm insane.
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I'm like, am I insane?
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Am I just not understanding what this is saying?
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And quite often when I reply and I say, I'm really sorry, but I don't fully understand what you mean.
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can you explain you know what's crazy they don't either they don't know what they're saying
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but they just had to send something so they like just wrote it out
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but they're not sure of what they're they're not sure of what they want to communicate
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which you know takes me back to
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that point stop trying to be a good writer that
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that see that kind of email is what happens
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when you try to be a good communicator or like a good emailer
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or good writer as opposed to actually you know
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sending a good thought you know what i mean
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if they were more focused on that they would have not sent the email
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and been like what is what is it i want to
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say let me first think about what i'm trying to accomplish here
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and then i'll write the email but they were like computer first keyboard And they were like,
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OK, how do I sound like I don't totally not know what the fuck I'm trying to say?
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Yeah, how do I?
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And then they use AI or something and they're like, yo, make me sound like I know what the fuck I'm talking about.
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Right.
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But don't do that because it just makes the work like 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x.
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Right.
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Because you have to go back and forth with me because I'm trying to understand.
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Like, I want to understand what you're saying so I can make your life better, too.
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But if I don't know what you're talking about, how can I do that?
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You know, another tangent here, but this is a message to haters, to people who hate me,
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okay, and who want to leave hate comments in my comment section so that I get hurt,
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so that my work gets damaged, so that I have a bad day because you don't want me happy.
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Right?
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Become better writers.
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I want you to become better writers too.
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Okay.
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I'm sharing this for you as well.
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Even if you hate me and you want to leave hate comments, do you know why?
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Most of the hate comments are so poorly fucking written that I can't get hurt.
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Like, bro, it is not landing.
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Like, your joke is not landing.
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It's not making me laugh.
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It's just making me confused.
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I'm like, wait, does this person hate me or not?
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Like, is this even a hate comment?
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Right?
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You literally sound like this.
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That's what you sound like.
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I am also, I'm not just, you know, giving this advice to people who are fans of Hey Tableau.
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I'm giving it to, like, people who hate us, too.
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Like, you know, communicate better.
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Okay?
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You suck at writing.
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You suck at speaking.
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i really don't get bothered because it's
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so terrible like i don't know what the fuck they're saying
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it's like the email in the morning like what are you trying to say okay i get
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that you're not happy about something
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but what are you trying to say like you know how to know
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if a quote-unquote good writer or quote-unquote like good speaker is actually a good writer is
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if you observe them speaking to a child you know how schools sometimes invite writers to speak to kids
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or like kids go to like you know some academy
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or something to learn writing um you'll you'll see like uh these semi renowned people like speaking to kids as
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if they're the kids are like PhD students like using words
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that these kids can't know right and
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and immediately I'm like this guy's a fucking this guy's a
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hack I don't care how many awards he has he's the
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worst he is the worst storyteller he He is the worst human.
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I'm like, what are you doing here?
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Like, you are supposed to give something to these kids.
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Like, you're taking their time.
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Give them something.
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But why are you flexing on them?
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It's my turn to speak.
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I'm like, hey, kids.
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Ooh. And they love it.
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And the kids like love it.
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Did you know that speak is also great for kids' English practice?
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The expressions in the beginner course are the same as the courses that are taught for kindergarten and elementary school.
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So kids, even kids can pick it up easy.
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For a lot of kids, the biggest hurdle is that there aren't that many opportunities to speak the English once you're outside of class,
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hagwon, or you know what I mean, right?
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Like once you're outside of those environments, it's really hard to find somebody to speak English with.
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And with English, if you don't use it, you lose it.
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But with Speak, you can keep it.
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With Speak, you're doing parenting and they're getting playtime all in one.
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And they can even pick up grammar and learn culture along the way.
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Speak has a special promo going on.
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Look in the details, check the benefits, and start your subscription today.
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Make sure to use the Hey Tableau link.
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There's a PDF that will help you your travel English and your business English.
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This is a very important point.
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Meet more people that disagree with you.
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In order to have the good thoughts necessary for good writing or for good speaking or for just better communication,
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you must live more.
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And And in that living,
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it's great if you run into situations or people that you don't find completely pleasant.
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The reason you need to have people that disagree with you is
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because thoughts can't become good thoughts unless they are challenged and tested.
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They, you must be, your thoughts must be forced against the wall and you must, you must, you must really,
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really sit and assess whether you really know what you're talking about.
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You have to assess if these thoughts that you have are thoughts that you will fight for,
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that you're willing to fight for, right?
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And that won't happen if you surround yourself with people or situations or ideas that,
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you know, simply just agree with you.
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Or you don't want yes men is what I'm trying to say.
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Like, you have to get into argument.
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You know, the whole concept of, like, the salons.
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like you know um back in the day they had you know they had places where people would gather
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and like and um and writers and poets and artists would would gather
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and you know what they did they disagreed with each other
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that's all they did like they got together at a cafe
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or like at a i don't know like a live music place or something and they just fucking argued Like seriously,
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you don't know what you're talking about.
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Yo, I don't agree with you.
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And then they just argued.
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You know like Bob Dylan and John Lennon, you know when they got together, you think they were like, dude, your song is awesome.
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Dude, Beatles, yo, you're awesome.
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No, you're awesome, Bob.
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No, you're awesome.
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No, your lyrics are fucking awesome.
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I agree with every single word.
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I agree.
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Let it be.
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Let it be.
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All of it.
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I agree with all of it.
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Let's let it be together.
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I agree with all of it.
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They didn't do that.
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Bob Dylan and, you know, any, any, you know, poet back in the day,
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just name anyone like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, all of them like they, they argued.
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They were like, no, you're wrong.
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no this writing is
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that this is not true writing like this is not true these thoughts are not true like that's not genuine
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and then they just they argued and argued until you know they uh
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they had their ideas tested and their their writing tested and
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and what what ultimately resulted from that is that they all became better writers they all become became better thinkers
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even if you're wrong ultimately even if uh it forces you to admit
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that you're wrong and to and that doesn't feel good
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but like you know it will help you next time when when
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when you're trying to be right i guess is what i'm
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trying to say however i am not saying spend your whole day on X.
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Okay?
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I don't want any of you to be like, Tableau told me that to become a good thinker,
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I must go where people will disagree with me.
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And I don't want you to be like, so I'm going to go to X.
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Those people aren't disagreeing with you.
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They, first of all, most of them aren't even people.
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a lot of them are bots right and um
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when i say meet people you disagree with i mean disagreeing
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with you in a civil way in a in a constructive productive way and
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and they're out there they're out there i mean i'm surrounded
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by them mithra two cuts i am still able to be in a team with them because we literally disagree about everything,
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like what to eat.
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They don't like any of my thoughts or beliefs.
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I don't like any of Tukas' beliefs or thoughts or anything to do with him.
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But we still work together fine, and we still like we still like love each other you
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know we still think of each other as like you know
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our like best friends right even though we don't agree with seriously like i seriously do not agree with anything
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to cut stinks or says except the things he thinks and says about Mithra
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no but like it's very healthy it's very healthy x is not the answer
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but like um you know don't don't break off your friendships with people like just because you know, you know, you, you know, they say something that you disagree with.
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I know some of you are probably listening right now and you're like, okay, I get it.
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You're making some good points.
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Like, okay, you have good thoughts.
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Okay.
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Good, good thoughts.
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Substantial.
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Yeah.
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Great.
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Great.
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Give me the fucking cheat codes.
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Um, I really don't have cheat codes.
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That's the thing.
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I really don't.
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It's, um, but I do have one rule and I've, I've talked about this before and some people,
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you know, some people have left hate comments even there, but again, didn't really affect me because they're terrible fucking writers.
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But, um, my one rule is, there's only one rule actually.
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It's not my number one rule it's one rule the other
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person has to know what you're talking about that's it that's it that's it right
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and it actually forces you to know more vocab okay i'm
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gonna make a point here it might not make sense at first
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but listen in order for you to use less vocab in your writing
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you actually have to know more vocab does
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that make sense it's the people that have that
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that have word salads or
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that have like a ton of you know vocab in in
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unnecessary vocab in their in their writing they probably actually let know less vocab the reason why um concise writing like
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you know writing that has brevity like that gets to the point that anyone can understand
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people who communicate that way are making decisions with each word right they are making decisions
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and in order for you to make decisions you actually have to have more like more knowledge
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more words in your arsenal
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and you're choosing not to use them you know what i mean like you can drop the big word here
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that will make people go oh wow i don't know what
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that means but sounds cool you can
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and you know it you know the word
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but you don't use them you don't use
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that word instead you choose the the simpler word
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because you are prioritizing
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that person understanding above whatever you want with like you shouldn't matter is my rule like
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and that's the same thing when I'm writing songs like
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when I'm writing lyrics I do get tempted sometimes to write
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for me right like oh yo nice I I want to sound cool and I want to sound confused.
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I want to confuse people.
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Like I want them to like not know what the fuck I'm talking about to look cool.
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Yes, I get tempted sometimes, but I make decisions and I'm like,
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why would it like, why would this song even matter if no one gets it?
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Right?
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Like I felt this pain that I want to describe, but if no one identifies with it
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if no one understands what i'm saying why like why does
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this song exist i'm like doing a disservice to the song to me by by you know being confusing that that's
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but that's my only rule like am i making sense though like it'd be funny okay it'd be really funny
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if I'm trying to get this point across my one rule is for the person listening to understand
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but it'd be hilarious if me explaining this right now like you're finding it hard to understand
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okay because I'd be my point is like completely destroyed No,
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but like always prioritize the person on the receiving end.
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And trust me, it sounds simple, but it must be really fucking hard to do because people won't do it.
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And I am constantly, because of my profession and because of who I am,
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I'm often surrounded by other writers or sometimes like columnists or critics,
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you know, like people who are generally like considered great thinkers or writers, right?
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And the thing with these people is that they want to make it known, so they talk a lot, right?
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Like me.
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No, but you know what I mean, right?
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So I'm there with them.
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And most of the time, they are so busy, focus on how they sound.
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Like, you can tell that they are not talking to me.
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They're talking and listening to themselves talk.
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And they're like, yeah, I sound awesome.
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Or, you know, like, how do I have these incredible thoughts? like right
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and i'm like immediately i know like as soon as the
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convo starts i'm like okay this person is not not talking to me like this person doesn't care
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if i understand this or not right
452
but sometimes i met this one guy who was a like
453
a he was like a nobel uh physicist yeah i don't
454
ask asked me why I was I drank whiskey with him
455
and I don't know shit about quantum physics like I don't know anything about physics okay I'm a writer
456
but from the first word to like we spoke for hours
457
and the whole time he deliberately spoke in my language you
458
know what i mean he didn't use any of those those physics terms
459
that i will click like clearly i won't understand
460
and he uh i hate this phrase
461
but you know how certain people say like dumb down
462
but like that that's that's a disservice to what he was doing
463
but he he was sort of like me he he knew
464
immediately uh how to communicate to me like he put me
465
at the center of what he was trying to do
466
and then he talked about physics uh quantum physics and like concepts
467
that i you know i can't i i would have a hard time grasping
468
but he he did it in a way where i understood you know
469
and um even once like during the convo he even said to me he said you know, you keep saying that you don't like,
470
you know, you don't understand physics and stuff.
471
But like, I understand the physics of what's like going on out there.
472
But you, you, Tableau, as a musician,
473
as an artist, you understand what's the universe in here way better than I do.
474
Right.
475
So, you know, he was able to connect with me like that.
476
Right?
477
And also, if I'm speaking to him about my my work
478
i'm not gonna tell him like i'm not gonna use words like like musical like words
479
that he might not understand like he may but he might not right
480
so i'm not gonna like be like also the mpc i'll
481
just be like you know the the drum machine there's this there's a device
482
that makes drums like i'll simplify to get the point across right
483
and and and i i thought
484
that was remarkable how he was able to take these complex um topics
485
and and he allowed me to understand by prioritizing me in the convo right
486
and that's such a respectful thing to do it's just a beautiful thing to do right
487
and i i try to do that like even
488
when i do hey tableau like i am very uh mindful of you know how you know the thing
489
that i always say to you the most i say does this make sense i was like am i being confusing
490
it's like a habit of mine to check
491
because it's what i'm saying today is worthless if it
492
if it doesn't land with you right there's one more point i want to make
493
and uh this one might be actually like this one actually
494
might be the most important like truly the most underrated um
495
tip or cheat code finally a cheat code humor does not make your writing frivolous
496
i am surprised by how many people believe
497
that injecting humor into their um you know their speech
498
or their uh or their writing um makes it unserious like they there's people
499
that really believe that
500
and uh even though they are normally they are like very funny people uh
501
and just they'll make you laugh for some reason when they sit down and do their serious writing
502
it's just completely devoid of any humor like at all like
503
it it's it's like oh my god it's just like a
504
hard they'll write an essay it's just hard to get through
505
right they won't give you moments where they're like opening the window a bit right
506
and that's what humor does like it allows you to breathe
507
it allows you to connect with the person that's writing this
508
and um and i'm like yo uh it's it's great
509
but um i think i think it's it's okay to be a little you know add a little humor like
510
so i connect better right and they're like dude this is a serious topic and i'm like yeah i know
511
it's totally possible to do that and and i think some people really think
512
that it like humor kind of like devalues the seriousness of what you're trying to what you're trying to say
513
and um clearly I don't subscribe to that idea right
514
because look at what I do I think you know I
515
do epic cause a I do hate tableau like you know
516
most of the time we don't we don't even look like we have thoughts right
517
and you might not notice it but some of the humor
518
that we like to throw at people like the the humor
519
that we you it's non-stop right but somewhere in there um there's points getting across
520
that like you might not even know it's just like under the radar and you know entering your heart
521
and it's possible because it's through humor like you don't even notice it right and sometimes
522
serious thoughts
523
that need to be communicated like serious writing the reason why I say serious writing requires humor more is
524
because if you try to communicate serious thoughts to me my human instinct is to kind of pull away right
525
because it's like I got this was a bit heavy for
526
me like hey I'm trying not to like I'm trying to distract myself that's why I'm watching your
527
stupid fucking podcast like i'm not trying to have some serious thoughts here right
528
but you know humor um humor allows you to do it under the radar humor disarms the person listening
529
and uh that's why like i i always advise people to
530
like to add humor to um whatever they're doing Even if it's like, you know, even if it's like just a caption,
531
even if it's marketing, if it's marketing, most of all, you need humor, right?
532
But you will be surprised by how many people are in marketing or heads of marketing firms that have zero humor.
533
Like they will not laugh at your jokes.
534
They will not allow jokes like in the meeting room.
535
Like they are, they are, they are so serious about what they're doing.
536
It's not
537
that serious you're you're fucking you're selling you're selling squishies okay
538
like come on you can you can afford to be humorous
539
and and and i i i think i think humor is
540
so underrated you you have to like you have to watch things
541
that are funny okay like if you're only watching like serious movies right I don't fucking watch anything but Christopher Nolan.
542
Anything other than Christopher Nolan is below me.
543
I'm not a comedy, a fucking comedy.
544
Get out of here.
545
Get this humor out of here.
546
Somebody get this humor out of here.
547
There are people like that, though.
548
And I'm like, OK, well, I'm not going to read anything you write.
549
Don't even text me.
550
Like, don't, don't, please don't create content.
551
Don't give me your Instagram, like, handle.
552
I'm not going to go look at it.
553
Like, I already know what it's going to be like, okay?
554
Because if you're not, if you're not allowing people to make you laugh, if that's not a daily thing, like, if you're not, like, looking for fun things, like comedy,
555
like, like memes, like, if you're not goofing around and laughing, how are you going to possibly know what what will make
556
someone else smile like how are you ever going to know
557
that and this is just like the point i was making you got to live more
558
and you got to you got to go through heartbreak the
559
reason why you got to go through heartbreak is you will never be able to speak to somebody
560
and console somebody that's dealing with heartbreak
561
if you've never experienced it you don't know what they're feeling like you truly don't know
562
and through through like a myriad of experiences, you will gain like an amazing,
563
like an entire encyclopedia of emotions.
564
Like you will know it because you felt it
565
and you can you can pull those out at any time to speak to this person.
566
You're talking to this, you're having a conversation with this person at brunch and and they're talking about like,
567
they're talking about dealing with like a kidney stone.
568
Luckily you've experienced it you've been through hell, right?
569
So you know what they're feeling and you know what they need to hear right now You know, you know the story they want to hear you know the song
570
that they want to hear but you know what I mean, right and humor I believe is the one thing that
571
Everyone appreciates whether or not they let themselves right like they want to laugh everybody wants to laugh so that
572
if you have this humorous skill down I guarantee you're like 90% done like with becoming a good writer
573
and becoming a good speaker
574
if you can start your speech let's say like you you
575
know you're running for student council let's say uh you're you
576
want to start a podcast let's say you're trying to sell
577
a product let's say you're you're trying to get this person to do this favor for you
578
if you can make them smile and laugh you're like 99% there.
579
Okay, it doesn't require any hard words, doesn't require like fucking any cheat codes.
580
If you can make them laugh, you're there.
581
I mean, if you're not planning on becoming a good writer or a speaker, like you can just ignore everything I said today.
582
Like none of this will matter.
583
But I'm just telling you, like from my experience, Um, these things are, I believe what,
584
what made me, what made me a good writer.
585
Um, mind you, I wasn't taught these things.
586
Like people think that if you, if you have like a lit major or like, if you're a lit major and you have a lit degree or English degree or creative writing, whatever, people think that, that you,
587
you go to like these schools and, and they teach you like actionable skills.
588
totally not what happens uh the creative writing program at stanford was like you go
589
day one like minute one they're like okay um write a story and submit it
590
that's it right and you write a story
591
and uh sometimes like the the and also the uh the the instructors
592
or profs are all writers they're all like actual writers right
593
so sometimes they'll just be like you go in
594
and they'll be like talking about like something they wrote right
595
and they're like you know so or like hey there's this book
596
that i really like and they'll they'll talk about it
597
and they're like write a story and uh bring it next week right and you go next week and then like
598
you get a copy of everyone's writing and you read it
599
and then sometimes you'll people like hey anybody want to talk about Frank's story I'm like yeah I really like
600
that one part where you know you were writing about like skydiving but I'm
601
but I'm confused like what why do I like why does
602
this need to exist why does this story need to exist
603
or something like that right or something will say
604
that about my writing and then they'll be like
605
and the props like okay good you know good points
606
if you want to edit your story or do
607
so whatever this seriously what it's like and
608
and then some this one time my instructor was the class started
609
and he started crying he was like I kid you not he was like my life's a complete fucking mess
610
so I just I just I did something wrong he's like my life's a complete fucking mess right
611
and he starts talking about it I'm like I'm like how's how's this gonna help me right
612
but then it it did because I'm like oh I'm sure he's not intending this but
613
but this is fascinating like this is fascinating like a person
614
like this person is melting down in front of me right
615
and uh and
616
and what he said was crazy like it was absolutely fucking
617
crazy like I legit thought like like the authorities were going to come and take him away right away.
618
I was like, what the fuck?
619
Right?
620
But what I'm saying is, this guy was clearly living.
621
And he was clearly someone I disagree with.
622
But here's two things he did really well.
623
He made me understand what he was trying to say.
624
And he was also humorous.
625
Great fucking writer.
626
I'll see you next week on Hey Tableau.
627
Hey Tableau.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 627 sentences and 7076 words to shadow. The speech runs for 50:24. The speaker talks at a steady 140 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| humour noun | /ˈhjuːmɚ/ | The quality of being amusing, comical, funny. |
| communicate verb | /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/ | To impart or transmit (information or knowledge) to someone; to make known, to tell. |
| disagree verb | /dɪsəˈɡɹi/ | To fail to agree; to have a different opinion or belief. |
| cheat verb | /ˈt͡ʃiːt/ | To violate rules in order to gain, or attempt to gain, advantage from a situation. |
| physics noun | /ˈfɪz.ɪks/ | The branch of science concerned with the study of the properties and interactions of space, time, matter and energy. |
| compliment noun | /ˈkɑmpləmənt/ | An expression of praise, congratulation, or respect. |
| argue verb | /ˈɑɹ.ɡju/ | To show grounds for concluding (that); to indicate, imply. |
| connect verb | /kəˈnɛkt/ | To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object. |
| emotion noun | /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/ | A person's internal state of being and involuntary physiological response to an object or a situation, based on or tied to physical state and sensory data. |
| topic noun | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest. |
| confused adjective | /kənˈfjuːzd/ | unable to think clearly or understand |
| skill noun | /skɪl/ | A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate. |
| insane adjective | /ɪnˈseɪn/ | Exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; utterly mad. |
| epic noun | /ˈɛp.ɪk/ | An extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a deity, demigod (heroic epic), other legend or traditional hero. |
| craft noun | /ˈkɹæft/ | Ability, skillfulness, especially skill in making plans and carrying them into execution; dexterity in managing affairs, adroitness, practical cunning… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. | |
| get across verb | To cross; to move from one side (of something) to the other, literally or figuratively. | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| break off verb | To remove a piece from a whole by breaking or snapping. | |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. | |
| get through verb | /ɡɛt ˈθɹu/ | To overcome; to endure. |
| get together verb | To meet, to gather together, to congregate. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | i've actually said · Have you ever dreamed · I've been |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be born · can be developed · will be compiled |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | person who you · people who hate · people who are |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 314 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, bother /ˈbɑðɚ/, breathe /bɹiːð/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/, worthless /ˈwɜːθ.ləs/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, substantial /səbˈstænʃəl/, caption /ˈkæp.ʃən/, friendship /ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/, impression /ɪmˈpɹɛʃn̩/
- Long words — get the stress right: communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/, underrated /ʌn.dɚˈɹeɪ.təd/, elementary /ˌɛləˈmɛntəɹi/, hilarious /hɪˈlɛə.ɹi.əs/, unnecessary /ʌnˈnɛs.əˌsɛɹ.i/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like humour, communicate, disagree.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.