Shadowing Practice: SAYING HELLO IN BLACK ENGLISH | Black English Vocabulary #18 - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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What's up y'all how you doing?
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That's your boy Dog from EBF Academy by English Black Friday.
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Guess what?
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We know sometimes we hear people saying hello, hi, how are you?
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How are you doing?
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How's it going?
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But how do people actually speak in the streets?
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Let's check it out.
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All right, so you already know the expression what's up, but I mean in the streets,
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I mean people don't usually speak everything like this.
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We tend to put the words together and we cut,
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you know, you trim the vocabulary and you trim the words and instead of saying what's up, you want to say what up with you what up with
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you what up with you means what's up with you
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so that's the number one what up with you what up with you
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so for this number two here i have one expression that's very commonly used in new york city
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if you want to hang around people in brooklyn new york they might say
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that to you and you're going to be ready to respond so the expression is Was good my G.
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Was good my G. Was good.
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Was good means what is good my G.
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My G is my guy my brother.
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What's good with you my brother say was good my G.
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Hey was good was good my G.
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Repeat that one was good My G.
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What's good, my G?
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What up with you?
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What's good, my G?
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That's how it goes.
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Number three.
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The expression number three was an expression that I learned when I was living in Houston, Texas.
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In Houston, Texas, they used to say that.
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They used to call each other fool.
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You know, fool sounds like an idiot, but actually fool is just like my brother, my guy, my G.
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So instead of saying what's happening, they would say what's happening?
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What's happening, fool?
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Hey, what's happening, fool?
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What's happening, fool?
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And as you can see, the L is not really pronounced at the end, so they don't say, what's happening fool?
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They say, was happening fool?
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Was happening fool?
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Okay, so that's how we say it.
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And the pronunciation is happening, happening.
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There is a pause, there's a gloss, a pause.
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So you're going to say, was happening fool?
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Was happening fool?
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That's how it goes.
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You ready for the number four?
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Still talking about the dirty, dirty, you know, the dirty South, you're talking about D-Town, we talk about Dallas, Texas.
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When I was living in Dallas, Texas, people would talk to each other and they would say something like, what do you do?
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What do you do?
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Exactly.
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What it do.
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And that means exactly the same thing.
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What up with you? Was good?
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Was hat me?
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What do you do?
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What it do.
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What it do.
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That's another way.
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For the number five, you're going to see that more commonly used in Missouri.
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So if you go to St. Louis, for example, you see a lot of people in there, you know, gang banging and all that.
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So they greet each other differently.
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And I heard this when I was at a gas station in Missouri.
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And the guy just looked at the other and he said, was cracking could, was cracking could, was cracking could.
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And then I thought, man, what does that really mean?
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But of course, out of the context, I knew that he meant, what up?
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What's cracking cuz?
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Cuz is short for cousin.
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It's like another way for you to say brother homie homeboy to say what's up cuz
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or what's cracking cuz and sometimes they just say cuz
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and then say what's cracking cuz was cracking cuz that's a different way this next one here happened
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when I was in New York City
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when I was in New York City I met a lot of people from different kinds of places
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and And people from Jamaica would say something like that.
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Instead of using what's up, what up, what's good, what do you do or what's happening, they would look at each other and say,
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wagwan, wagwan, wagwan bad man, wagwan, what-guan.
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Which is short for what is going on, wagwan, wagwan.
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Why one?
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So those are different ways for you to greet each other on the streets, usually spoken by black people in the United States.
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You know that's my favorite variety, that's why I pay a lot of attention to it.
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I was thinking about something here.
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Like, what am I gonna do if somebody walks up to me and say something like that?
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Like, was good.
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How do I answer that?
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How do I respond to that?
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So check these different ways for you to respond to these questions.
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Let's go.
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So let's say that you're walking down the street
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and you come across a friend of yours and this guy just looks at you and says, hey, what's up, man?
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What's good?
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And then you want to say that everything is pretty much okay.
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Nothing is going on, no problem, nothing so important happening, but it's all good.
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So all you gotta say is, it's all good in the hood.
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It's all good in the hood.
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It's all good in the hood.
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It's all good in the hood.
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Yo, what's good, bruh?
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It's all good in the hood it's all good in the
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hood it's all good in the hood yo what's good brah
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it's all good in the hood huh that's how it goes
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you ready for the second one well sometimes you don't actually
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want to talk about what's going on in your life right
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so people just might ask you the question like hey man
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what's happening in your life man tell me about it and you just say same same old, same old, same old.
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When you say same old, same old, that means same old shit going on.
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Nothing new.
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Same old, same old.
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This here is one of the most common ways for you to say that nothing is happening in your life.
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If somebody walks up to you and say one of those sentences, all you have to do is to say, nothing much, man.
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Nothing much, man it's like hey what's good not in much man wagwan
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not much man what's happening not much man what he do not much man
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so that's how he goes okay but the most common one is
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when people walk up to you
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and say yo what's up that's how you go you don't
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have to say anything all you have to do is to do?
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That's it.
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Simple as that.
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All right.
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So this here is greetings in black English.
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You've got questions, you've got responses.
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And if you liked it, you know what to do.
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You know what to do.
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You know what you should be doing right now.
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Just like the video, share, hit the bell.
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So then you can get the notifications, share that with your friends, tag your friends in here
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and let me know what kind of greetings were new for you and what kind of greetings would you like to learn?
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And I didn't even talk about it here.
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I'll see you then in the next video.
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This is your boy Dog from English Black Friday.
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Holla at your boy.
Why Practice Speaking with This Video?
Engaging with the content in this video provides a unique opportunity to understand and practice Black English, a dialect rich with its own vocabulary and expressions. By learning how people naturally greet each other in various communities, you can enhance your conversational skills and boost your confidence when speaking with native speakers. This practice emphasizes the importance of cultural context in language learning, showing you how informal conversation flows in real-life situations. Incorporating these phrases into your daily practice will help you improve English pronunciation and comprehension, making you a more versatile communicator.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
The speaker in this video uses several informal expressions that showcase the relaxed and fluid nature of spoken English in different regions. Here are a few key structures to note:
- “What up with you?” - This is a contraction of “What is up with you?” and is a common greeting that encourages an informal response. Using shadow speech, try repeating this phrase to internalize its rhythm.
- “Was good, my G.” - This greeting can be broken down into two parts: “Was good” (meaning "What is good?") and “my G” (a term of endearment for a friend or buddy). Practicing this phrase with shadowing techniques can help reinforce your understanding of conversational dynamics.
- “What’s happening, fool?” - Although “fool” may sound insulting, in this context, it is simply a friendly way to refer to someone. Pay attention to how the speaker drops the "g" in “happening,” showcasing a common speech pattern. Use shadow speech to master this particular style of delivery.
Common Pronunciation Traps
As you practice these phrases, be mindful of specific pronunciation nuances that can enhance your speaking naturally:
- The dropping of the "g" in words like “happening” demonstrates a common aspect of informal speech; it’s pronounced as “happening.” To practice, emphasize the flow of the words more than individual sounds.
- The phrase “what’s good” can easily blend into “was good,” changing the expected grammatical structure. Use shadow speaking to mimic the intonation and rhythm, which will help you speak more fluidly.
- Regional accents also play a role. For example, the way “you” is often transformed into “ya” or “u” in casual speech reflects a linguistic trend in various communities. Shadowing these phrases will help you adjust your pronunciation toward a more native sound.
By recognizing these patterns and practicing them through learn English with YouTube techniques, you will develop a nuanced understanding of the language as it is spoken, improving both your pronunciation and overall communication skills.
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.