TEDxOakville - Judy Thompson - Three Secrets You Need to Know About Spoken English

Judy Thompson, B.A., TESL Certification, professor, author and speaker is an expert in spoken English. A student herself of French and German, Judy knows firsthand the frustrations of learning to speak a new language. Judy lived and taught in South Korea and it was there that she had the first of many revelations about spoken English and how it should be taught.
Newcomers are embarrassed about their accents and grammar mistakes and native speakers are unaware that the way they speak makes it extremely difficult for non-native speakers to understand them.
Judy leads language classes for both native and non-native speakers to foster understanding and effective communication in our diverse community.
A long time resident of Caledon, Ontario, Judy has four children and lives with her husband Richard on a beautiful ten-acre hobby farm. She is an environmental activist who enjoys hiking and skiing. In her spare time, she raises champion hunter show ponies.

[@GiseleFreireGF]

She is wonderful as a person and as a teacher. It was just a pleasure to be with her in Brazil. I wish to meet this amazing woman again very soon....

[@Sposchy]

So I noticed a few comments here attacking her grammar... She speaks very, very naturally and clearly - much more clearly than most speakers. Nothing about the way she spoke (minus a couple of times she choked on her words) would cause difficulty in understanding from any native, not would it look unprofessional. If you had difficulty understanding her, then unfortunately that's how natives talk. Listening to more videos like this will be a good help. If you had no difficulty understanding her but believe that your English is better than hers because your grammar is more precise, then only God can help you. Enjoy being understood by few, and liked by even fewer... (Native speaker from Australia)

[@nyelkenci]

she speaks standart American english.

[@louislc1452]

I understood her very well but she makes efforts about her prononciation. I get in troubles with many natives speakers when I'm watching movies, series.. There is a huge difference between the English spoken in those movies and the English spoken by native speakers making efforts on their prononciation on KZbin! :) I can't wait anymore to go to New Zealand next year! I'll see if understanding videos is enough to communicate with native speakers out there

[@infinitafenix3153]

These three points are not exclusive to English and they are crucial points to be aware of any language you want to learn. Moreover, mastering a language involves learning its different aspects; linking and stress are very important parts of the Phonetics or pronounciation , collocations are fundamental when dealing with Semantics (meaning) and Gramma, of course! is also crucial.

[@WA4TKG]

The only part I believe is: " I LOVE My Job"...because she charges some outrageous amount for her classes, no doubt, as they do in Japan.

[@littlestbroccoli]

I found this really interesting and plan to use these concepts as much as I can in teaching abroad. The only thing to take any issue with is the idea that English even has a sell-by date. The very fact of its popularity across the globe speaks to how much its evolution can and will begin to (and has begun to) solve the Babel problem. Maybe it's just a personal view, but the fact that some of our collocations are being remixed by non-native speakers inspires me; it means we are simplifying and unifying, and that capability, which all languages possess, is inescapable but exciting.

[@veronicamarquez1104]

This is so true! I can understand non-native speaking to me in English but been having kind of a hard time since I moved to the States, to understand natives...

[@vynguyenvutuong8163]

I loved this video so much. And thank you Ms. Judy for your sharing.

[@MV-yl8lw]

I am from India born n brought up in remote part of Kerala where none spoke English. But it was a part of school curriculum. I am very passionate about English n learned it by watching Hollywood movies n reading English books. I could perfectly understand each n every word you had spoken dear mam.

[@somepersonalconsiderations]

Yes, you surely got every words but not the meaning of the speech, dear son, then you missed the point: she is telling that for us, non native speakers, is better just what you did correctly (watching movies and reading books, that's great I also try to do it) instead of only studying grammar... Or do you really think that everyone that studied English at school asks a potato using the expression: "Have you finished with that?"

[@MV-yl8lw]

@@somepersonalconsiderations , you did not learn the grammar correctly, it seems. It is 'every word" not "every words". I couldn't understand what you wanted to convey.

[@Algefi]

Interesting talk, although Ms Thompson apparently underestimates non-native speakers in their ability to grasp the concept of verbal context.

[@mohammedharimi8288]

I'm not an English native speaker, and I would like to say that none of what has been mentioned is specific to English

[@mikhailman4602]

Yes, it is very true. It looks like Mrs Expert never speaks any other language. American)))

[@MarkVanDerVoort]

Thank you. Also non-native speaker.

[@zains2012]

The "stress" portion is true, I've lived in different parts of the world and in my experience most of the languages are sound based (how the letters and words are being said is what matters). But other idiomatic expressions, linking and all are common to many languages.

[@AbhayKant]

Awesome I finished my my English speaking course today and what i was doing for the last one month you summarized that in just one video. that's incredible.

[@thiagoaugusto9262]

There's no doubt that English is a tricky language but It's one of the most beautiful languages in the world.

[@bennee7]

I am a native english speaker. I have been studying german for the past 3 years and I am now currently living and studying in Germany. I thought this was a good speech and I think anyone who has learned/is learning a foreign language can appreciate it. However, I feel that these problems arise when any foreigner learns a language. I have many of the same problems she mentioned in german. Also, I speak with a lot of other non native english speakers and we all seem to understand each other.

[@somepersonalconsiderations]

I agree with you, also for me, German has the same challenge. However, your capability to have a fluent conversation with "us" could be due to your flexibility, because maybe you traveled more or you speak other languages... But I personally feel to be easier to be understood - despite my rapsodian Italienglish - by other foreigners, some times, because my accent, my stress is a mess, and for somebody used to speak with foreigners (like foreigners more often has to deal with) probably it's easier... Once upon a time I was in Uk insisting one day long that there is a place with a wonderful Cathedral nearby called c(a)ntE'rbUry... whe at night suddenly my patient landlady shouted: "ooooooh, you mean: khÃÃÃ' ('t'bri)!!!!!! " . Really, I simply said a word completely meaningless for her!!!!

[@pblanks5]

Thanks I really enjoyed this piece and it help me to understand why so many here have problems with the English language, Not to mention those who have learning disabilities.

[@kikamakinsessang]

For an English learner as a second language and a teacher, I totally agree with you.

[@alonsocobarrubias2706]

Wow Wow Wow......A MasterClass. All My Ackowledgement.

[@DavidClaussen]

This is very helpful for me. I've learned some things about English that I never thought about. Thanks so much!!

[@francoisjohannson1458]

Great Talk. But almost every language uses fixed expressions. They are a kind of complex words.

[@NellieDeutsch]

Oakville is a great town. Didn't know they had a TEDTalk there.

[@sanakhannz786]

Very useful secretes !!! I always realise these facts while having real English conversation. Cuz we not only speak English we speak out our minds which make presents our individual personality. If I have something in my head and I think for the correct expression in English by the time i may end up being silly not replying sensibley cuz there's is so much to remember but atleast this video is giving us the key points to be on right direction. Which I realised long before I watched this video and helping myself breaking old habits.

[@rubendominguez7299]

I think that I can understand the point. Speaking English is to speak like native speakers speak. People change the expressions because that way is easier for them.

[@kaijacobson2567]

This is my favorite ted talk

[@davittskhomelidze3912]

Now I am trying to convert my broken English into native speakers like, because I will get more pleasure for myself after that, but not everyone think about it looks like me. Really I like when it `s going on good relationship between different languages, but all of languages need some changes too. When it exists competition between languages evolution is going on better inside each lan

[@loboferozloboferoz]

Types: 1) British english 2) American english 3) International english (80%.... more 1.5billion speaker) Secrets: 1) Stress 2) Linking 3) Collocations

[@Aritul]

Thank you.

[@T_USERNAME97]

very good

[@zohratriki5249]

That example you gave of your son asking "what are you doing tonight?" because he wants your car, is just an illustration of how humans communicate. I speak Arabic, French, Italian and English. That's not specific to English. Also, collocations and expressions are found in all those languages and not only in English.

[@larrybarnes1794]

But a non-native English speaker​ would not know what was meant.

[@agustinagal9578]

That's pragmatics

[@cesarmotril]

I came to say the same. I dond't know if its truth, but i think like your.

[@jessew07]

English has much much more collocations and expressions in my opinion

[@Syerras_Way]

Haven't heard anything special. All these things, rules and "secrets" can be easily applied to any language in the world. Every language has tricky stressed words, linked and alternated sounds, collocations which cannot be understood by foreigners and so on.

[@Dibadyare]

very true 100%

[@dogsmumm]

Awesome! Thanks so much for this!!

[@wontaeklim9580]

Very helpful tips. Thanks.

[@thuctinhmucdichsongchannel]

thank you so much, please give more TEDs- all this is really worth sharing!

[@lihuaihua8865]

Very helpful. Thank you!

[@Barbaste]

So Thompson is saying that collocation is evidence against Linguistics. There are no genetic rules for combining words, but cultural conventions on how to join them. That's Wittgenstein, by the way. And the Lexical Approach, sort of.

[@KateWinnit]

Wonderful talk. The secrets are out. Spoiler alert: Stress, Linking and Collocations!

[@kristynachocholacova625]

Good video with many interesting points. Although I would argue about 1,500,000,000 people having comparable vocabulary and language skills, you just can not possibly throw them in one bag.

[@JudyThompson1]

I don't think I said that. I said use English. The number is estimated at closer to 2 billion today.

[@wayfarer1101]

Kristýna Chocholáčová She never said that people have comparable skills in English. The number reflects the amount of people who use English, not necessarily anywhere near perfect.

[@taisrs]

@GreatestOfTheGreats that's impossible as there are 7.5 billion in the world today. I'm inclined to agree with her numbers, as English is NOT the most widely spoken language if you consider the absolute number of speakers. First it would be Chinese/Mandarin, second Spanish and THEN English. Google it and you'll see.

[@georgidominic2643]

I like your speech Mam. Its very clear to understand. Thank you for some tips.

[@mahmoud5461]

Thank you a lot

[@gustavoducuara3908]

Most of the times, our first fear at the moment to speak is the accent, or the way that we use grammar, and after of have listened this it has gave me a new way to see the concepts (for some reason i feel that if i talk to a native speaker they gonna be rude and disrestpectful.) But thanks, that video seems like old but it works anyway. 😁

[@nataljapetrova7682]

Thank You, there is a thing to get about..

[@azadarfayazhussainkamarioa2200]

Natalja Petrova mi

[@DrMuhammadIlyasKhanReflections]

Whatever she's trying to convey, applies to almost any language in the world.

[@mmm-ko9my]

Very interesting information. Great knowledge thank you for sharing.

[@zoianagnostopoulou9089]

English a "stress based" language? Don't think so... I've had many examples while studying in England when people did not understand what I was saying because I didn't use the right sound and definitely used the right stress. e.g. I was trying to find the videotape of the film "Ice Castles" and, at the time, I didn't know that the "t" was silent. The guy in the video club didn't understand what I was looking for when I asked for help until I found the tape myself and showed it to him. Wonder why....

[@snowcountry322]

Intonation

[@justahumanbeing18]

Thank you very much for such a fascinating and informational speech! Thank you very much for your ideas:)

[@lubnaalzaidi5561]

An excellent video thank you

[@heidigfx]

great tips, I shared it in 2 different facebook groups even though I don't agree with the bit about non-English speakers using no expressions or collocations at all.

[@LinkschoolCoUkEnglishCourses]

Great talk, thank you! We will share with our students.

[@shunoka5236]

7. 4:11 8. 6:17 9. 6:27 10. 6:51 1. 7:16 2. 7:42 3. 8:11 4. 8:50 5. 9:14 7. 14:24

[@liezahio]

Almost every thing she said applies to every language. Every language is unique and hard to master. I sensed a veiled arrogance in her speech. I agree with the people thinking that her speech was condescending at times.

[@JudyThompson1]

Not every language is as illogical as English. The alphabet of other languages is designed to represent the sounds of the language so their written word is a reflection of their spoken word. None of this is true in in English and failing to recognize this has been the downfall of English education whether it is for native speakers learning to read (40% functional literacy rates in all English speaking countries) or non-native speakers learning to speak (statistics are much worse than for readers). Some hear me as passionate vs. condescending but I am probably 80/20 lol.

[@chatlicha5748]

liezahio 8(6

[@chatlicha5748]

Judy Thompson 7

[@joelip4396]

Ya I was thinking that... Is English really worse than other languages? And by how much? Are you telling me no other languages have slang or phrases whose meaning depends on context?

[@jessew07]

@@joelip4396 no, as an ESL learner I can tell you...it's not "worse", but the words and phrases in English are ten times more than other languages

[@learningenglishwithtom]

I really hope no one takes this talk too seriously. It had potential but is so full of exaggerations and falsehoods it is frankly absurd. I came across this video due to an ESL learner who was using this information to learn English. 100% of the ESL teachers in the community we were part of made it clear to this learner how false the claims in this video are. “No one says ‘wash the dishes’” is false. “Stress is more important than sounds” is false. “We always start with consonants”, is an awkward exaggeration of a phenomena that exists in several languages despite the speakers false claim that English is somehow special.

[@punchtheball5748]

BRB Traveler agree with you, I understood every words the lady said but I didn’t get her point at all she didn’t provide the solution to fix those problem no logical thinking at all.

[@jasonkelly7951]

Also, collocation isn't quite as overt, i wouldn't have intuited that the kid wanted the car in that sentence at all. Although my family are quite direct so when i was a teen (if i could have afforded to be insured on my mothers car) i would have said "Can i take the car tonight or do you need it?". Is this an americanism? I noticed a lot of people in England do talk using implicit meaning and hints but for every person doing it there are five (usually male) people not cottoning onto the meaning right away and having to ask why someone is asking us what we are doing tonight. Also who even uses "merry" anymore? I recognize it when people say it around Christmas but more often i hear "happy".

[@mariegreen8763]

I agree with you!!I am very happy to see likeminded people!!

[@hinotojr1]

Amazing!!! Thanks!

[@yuewong1210]

Thank you。

[@stig]

I know a lot of Brits that say "Happy Christmas". They are bringing it back, I'm told.

[@joscelingutierrez1563]

David Stig Hansen I was thinking about "happy Christmas" and British people too. Anyway, for all those words meaning "happy", both "merry" and "happy" still narrow down the possibilities for a correct collocation.

[@surya716]

After 50 years, there will be nothing called Native Speakers. Language is not for any group to own. It's the sheer ability of the language and the people to adapt and make use of it as a communication medium that makes both the language and the users wonderful. If the TED talk was directed towards a bunch of people who are struggling to comprehend the collocations or idioms and phrases or the pronunciation then it makes perfect sense. But for a wide audience on KZbin, it belittles the effort put in!

[@waynebrehaut7183]

At 10:31, I suspect she doesn't know that in The Queen's English (the U.K.) one still often says "Happy Christmas" rather than "Merry Christmas" (as we do exclusively in "English-speaking North America")?

[@NandanKella]

If these are the secrets to communicate successfully in English, why don't the examination organisations like British council and few change their exam pattern in order to make progress?

[@JudyThompson1]

After generations of reign the British language teaching dynasty is finally crumbling. Although it's a big organization with a lot of money behind it has never been successful teaching English effectively. The internet is outing the epic fails of the system and shining new light on systems that actually work. Check out Rita Baker - The Global Approach, Benny Lewis - Learn to Speak and Language in 30 Hours, Denise Eide - The Logic of English. Real solutions are popping up all over the world and getting traction through the internet. The British will be the last to change, they have made so much money for so long doing it wrong.

[@mohammedshehab1734]

well done

[@annnee6409]

If many tended to use so many idiomatic expression, it would place Americans as high contextual speakers to have to read between many lines. According to my intro to communications text Communication Mosaics by Julia T. Wood, western or at least American speakers tend to be low contextual however: much is expressed about the subject matter at hand to get to the point. So not sure what's going on here exactly. Ironically, I understand though what she means because I also feel logic tends to be missing in terms of the american english language. How things tend to skip around instead. But it still flows or you at least get it, I'm assuming mostly from context (or expressions, etc). So yeah maybe she is SO right.

[@Akirapoet]

+Jonoboyle I can't criticize Judy, because there is a similar case in my region (Latin America on counterpart with Spain). Spanish people think they have the last sentence about their language they don't even realize that every aspect from it evolves in a constant and frantic way. Getting sticked with the concept of a "pure language" is to utter that our forms of communicating are wrong and static. Regarding Judy's "dull" lexis, I think this conference was aimed for intermediate ESL learners so... Instead of dishing everything out, could you enlighten us about a correct way of learning proper English? Of course , the question above was merely rethorical. Some people like American English , some other British -pure- English , and there are other ones who like Australian English. Are some of those inaccurate? Well, I think the answer is more than obvious.

[@JudyThompson1]

The British Council was the world's leader in teaching English because their global empire was so extensive not because they were good at teaching English lol. The British are so bad at teaching English even their enormous political and geographical edge was not enough to hold their lead. The internet and its global village impact spelled the end for dysfunctional, profit driven shams like British language teaching.

[@lucatellicoffee]

An Irishman bragging about Britain working for China insulting North America. Identity crisis much?

[@carolinaleonreyes5904]

She would probably be surprised if she knew how difficult spanish language is. Native expressions in spanish are way to abstract than the english ones. In english at least you can try to guess the meaning by your common sense, in spanish that is not an alternative, most of times.

[@JudyThompson1]

Spanish letters represent sounds though. Spanish is more logical than English is this respect I think.

[@MelodySorrow]

I think every language has its own difficulty. I think she wanted to emphasize some of the features why english is difficult to non-native speakers. I'm pretty sure most languages have their own complicated idioms, expressions and rules. But I agree that those features are not exclusive to English only.

[@EdTerr]

The Spanish league is way more precisely and beautiful than the English language. Indeed, every Spanish speaking country have different dialects and the language has been mixed with many other words as well

[@パニコン-k6d]

0:00~0:16 0:59-1:04 1:04-2:11 2:19-3:15 3:23-3:34 4:07-4:15 6:26-6:33 6:46-7:01 7:01-7:57 8:04-8:41 8:50-9:00 9:12-9:43 14:24-14:45

[@miragevorgian8700]

There is no such thing as "a merry wall or floor" in any other languages in this world, not only in English. What was the purpose of giving that example?

[@azadarfayazhussainkamarioa2200]

Mira Gevorgian

[@roselandthaller7378]

Her examples of collocations really were quite poor.

[@lucasquinnlife]

I have a question. If stress is important, British and American are almost two languages, even they share the same spelling? since many words are pronounced different.

[@coffeeinbrazil]

Very Good!

[@ssppeellll]

Wow, this is not starting out well: "The letters and the sounds don't go together." Um, ... really? Let's test that assertion out. Try reading this word out loud: shoyfig. That's right, you got it! But how did you know that? You've never seen that word in your life. (I know because I just made it up.) If the letters and sounds "don't go together," how did you have any idea whatsoever how to pronounce it? So let's say, "The letters and sounds don't always go together predictably." There, I've fixed it.

[@Wilkesmann]

I talked to native english speakers a few times. Maybe 3 hours total. My native language is German. But I have no problem at all understanding phrases like "this is sick". Maybe i have to think a second about the context if i dont know the expression, but in general i think that all or even most of the non native cant understand the native speakers it's just wrong. Its just takes some getting used to if you only know your school english, wich really isn't hard with so much english media.

[@sheilasb06]

Hi, how can I get in touch with her or any other English teacher that uses this methodology. Tks.

[@GiseleFreireGF]

Judy, Fantastic!!!

[@talashk615]

madam i am trying to improve my spoken English, so that i could debate on a range of topics. What advice do you have?

[@valentinofebriono9579]

My suggestion is finding a circle or environment where you can share your ideas about anything while improving your English at the same time.

[@SuperRand13]

I love the fact that when listing people that speak English she didn't mention The English xD

[@2sridhark]

I remember a funny incident. This was when i still lived in USA (I have moved to India for past several months now). My dad was visiting. I was relocating to another apartment. My dad was at the counter in US post office explaining this for change of address. He went: we are shifting. The postal guy said: Sir, what are you doing? My dad goes: We are shifting our residence to another place. And the guy says: you mean you are moving! I thought the postal guy was dumb. There are precise words for precise things in American English. American minds are like robots fed with precise messages to respond to. You use a different expression and you are in trouble!

[@UrbanSipfly]

So what does shifting mean in your understanding of English? Like a mechanical device located inside a car is a stick shift that requires manipulation of the object usually by hand...is my understanding of the English language. Why not just say: I need a change of address, or something similar to that effect.

[@johnsperry772]

"American minds are like robots..." Really? That statement identifies you as a language bigot. Wow, I guess I have to tell my co-workers, who come from the UK, Canada and NZ, that they are using the wrong English word.... because some language bigot in India says so... What really happened was that the postal worker identified a mistake in English usage by an L2 (or L3) speaker, internally negotiated the proper meaning in approximately 0.5 seconds, checked the accuracy of the negotiated meaning, thereby maintaining communication and understanding. But some guy watching thinks the postal guy is dumb.... yeah right.

[@JudyThompson1]

I think he just means in English there are fixed words or groups of words that express ideas. Robots was the wrong word. English is an idiomatic language rife with collocations is what he meant.

[@annnee6409]

lol Russell Peters made a joke about this saying that Indians say they "sift" (or shift?) because there's so many people in India (whereas for example others like Americans say they move!) Not always sure if his jokes are based on reality but I see this one was!

[@JudyThompson1]

Perfect. English is really tricky this way I don't think traditional education programs teach this well. You can learn more about how English actually works in this download. bit.ly/2bTAN8O

[@showmustgoon4167]

phenomenon - big, original show, spectacle, mechanism, appearance, fenomen, zjawisko

[@thuthaoangthi3254]

in Vietnam hasn't got that same this show

[@showmustgoon4167]

Linking - łączenie, alternating - ustawianie na przemian, independently of - niezależnie od, reconcile - pojednać, pogodzić, vague - mglisty, collocations - kolokacje, najczęściej występujące związki wyrazowe, fall in love - zakochać się, carve - rzeźbić, drążyć, pretty much - dość bardzo, dozen - tuzin, kilkanaście, vast majority - ogromna większość, exclusive - tu: wyłączny, incensed - rozsierdzony, wkurzony, embarassed - zażenowany, zawstydzony, phenomenon - fenomen, zjawisko

[@CliffsDad]

Ms Thompson, you wouldn't have been able to deliver this talk without having used correct grammar. Stress, linking and collocations are extremely important, but let's not throw the baby out with the bath water.

[@JudyThompson1]

Not really. TED talks are daily delivered with poor grammar and thick accents yet no meaning is lost. Native speakers make grammar mistakes constantly. If you were dropped in Siberia or the jungles of Guyana you would communicate your needs to natives with no grammar and no vocabulary.

[@richarddaniel7088]

Steven Walter Thomas lol. You we're trying to impress someone by using idiom you recently learned. How pathetic it looks. Facepalm

[@bernardconcannon6439]

Ms Thompson was able to and delivered the speech well because she knows how to express herself in the evolved and socialised phrases and expressions used as English accepted as 'correct'. In doing that she has by definition automatically produced what is called 'correct grammar'. She did this, and millions of others fluent speakers whether native or non-native do too, whether or not she had any explicit knowledge of how grammar describes what she did. Let's not confuse the fact that an explicit knowledge and use of grammar can be helpful in understanding the patterns of use where they exist, with the fact that relying on it alone is limiting and robs the language of, or is blind to, much of its evolved natural richness, especially in produciton. The 'baby and bath water' you write of is just one more example of why the ONE solution to both understanding and producing rich and authentic English is to realise that grammar is the bath water.

[@lunarcentauri]

Did she seriously miss out Britain when she listed the countries that are native English speakers!?

[@roselandthaller7378]

I too thought that came across as a bit odd.

[@lukagoshi]

I didn't realise that the only native speakers of English were in Australia, Canada and the USA. I forgot that they don't speak English in England, or the rest of the UK.

[@elfelice1634]

Does this lady know that there is a language called (Brazilian) Portuguese that everything that she said applies to that language too? Duh

[@denisebranquinho2377]

Eneias Feliciano it is tottally true. lol.

[@LolindirElros]

Eneias Feliciano This applies to every language that a lot of people outside of where it's originally spoken want to speak.

[@JudyThompson1]

I lived and taught in Brazil! (fabulous country) There is word stress in Portuguese so Brazilians are intelligible to native English speakers in spite of charming accents. Portuguese also has linking - which is a human thing we do with our mouths not really language driven. But my understanding is Portuguese has a much stronger letter-sound relationship than English. When you read Portuguese you can say what is printed. The big problem in English is letters don't represent sounds and spelling is random.

[@zenir2725]

Eneias Feliciano expression wise every language has vast variety of expressions..... I am not a native English speaker and I know 3 or 4 languages other than English. I found more intersting and amazing facts about languages than she she told...

[@carmenmartinez8445]

The same applies for French, in fact I find more difficult they way French link their words when they speak and the huge gap between written french and spoken french that it is in English...I think from my perspective -I am a spanish speaking native- that French is far more difficult than English, that is my experience.

[@gabrieltripode7281]

Everything I heard is normal in all languages.

[@somepersonalconsiderations]

In all languages except in Italian because in Italian you can't miss a sound never, and in Spanish because in Spanish you can be a lot more creative in collocations because the roots are culturally different adn widely spoken but more mixed all together, but I don't know any other language so about the other 6500 languages I trust on you.

[@0angeplume0]

Hey, I find a Mickey at 11:39

[@kenvk100]

These information is really helpful for non-native English speakers like me. I'm struggling to remember collocations and pronoun words correctly >> However, I think that native speakers will judge or discriminate non-native speakers when they say incorrectly or make some silly mistakes.

[@bournejason66]

Interestingly that she mentioned native speakers don’t say “eat dinner”, they say “ have dinner “, but she said eat potatoes Why?

[@kazakhboy6761]

Can someone give me text of this speach please?

[@christopherhorn5274]

"Happy Christmas" is not that uncommon.

[@poopashkhoopash8030]

زیر نویس فارسی داشته باشه

[@kdcruz75]

english is based on stress

[@theb.a.r.strategy7254]

Literally no source says that there are a million words in English. Not even 500,000. What is she talking about?

[@atjzero]

07:20

[@libaax_fx3399]

Can I get someone native speaker linking with me

[@erickmacias7972]

Ayuda mucho

[@stephenbrown6069]

Does anyone have an email address for Judy Thomson?

[@infinitafenix3153]

Funny! 'we use many expressions and THEY don't use any at all', Mrs Thompson seems to know only the English language and has not cared much about how the others work.

[@heidigfx]

I found that odd to hear from a language teacher, but giving her the benefit of the doubt, I think she meant that the expressions used in English are not universal, that's to say they can't be translated literally.

[@thompsonlanguagecenter7497]

Infinita, not really. My company Thompson Language Center specializes in identifying what is the same about English and any other language and teaches only the small part that is different. There probably isn't another company in the world that knows as much about how other languages work than Thompson Language Center. I'm afraid you have taken offense where none is intended. For that I am sorry.

[@heidigfx]

The talk was great and you seem like a nice person so there's nothing that could upset us on a personal level. However, the languages I do know and speak have expressions and collocations too, just not necessarily the same ones found in the English language. so I have to disagree with you on the bit where you say "they don't use any at all". Your company might be the best in its field but we're not planning on going to your center to study our own languages. It's impossible for 1 person to be fluent in hundreds of languages. We don't expect you to know everything or have all the answers.

[@thompsonlanguagecenter7497]

heidigfx your English is amazing and you seem nice too. That said, I don't feel like we understand one another well. No one mentioned 'fluent in hundreds of languages' what I said was 'knows as much about how other languages work. For example, major languages each use about 40 sounds and any two languages share almost exactly the same set of sounds. Languages are either stress-based - like English and European languages or their meaning is derived another way, usually sound-based - like Arabic, Hindi, Mandarin... languages. The bones or the structure of each language and how it compares to English is what we do in order to identify and only teach the parts of English that are different from a learner's first language. Harvesting what is the same about first language and English is an effective way of learning. I don't know everything but I am really, really good at this. Please don't come to Thompson Language Center to learn any other language except English, but if you do come be prepared to enjoy an efficient learning processed based on what you already know and use in your first language. Yes all languages have expressions rooted in their particular culture.

[@heidigfx]

thank you for the compliment! by the way, I already shared your video in a couple of facebook groups :D "Yes all languages have expressions rooted in their particular culture." xD you shoulda led with that :P

[@edclark-steel9546]

....calling yourself an expert doesn't make it so.When I first heard of Tedtalks I thought it was a good idea, but after watching a few I have come to realise that they are encouraging misunderstanding. Judy Thompson is a great example of somebody who thinks they know what they are talking about, and backs it up with figures on the big screen...check out the data given, think about the remarks she makes, it's not all wrong, but it ain't all right... In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king....

[@rubendominguez7299]

I don´t agree with you. The speech is not a kind of interpretation, but a presentation of real facts.

[@Healer411]

All glory goes to God

[@FrederickNoronha1]

Struck me -- one of the 'pink' guys -- as a bit condescending at times :-)

[@ton1]

Don't worry we can understand you! We just cannablized your language.

[@Tommoandlucysdad]

The video explains that Americans do not speak English very well. I am English so I already knew that.

[@ELFELICIANO]

So what? Do you think they have to speak like you?

[@jonoboyleenglishteacherand1689]

Wonderful comment, succinctly put.

[@jonoboyleenglishteacherand1689]

+ELFELICIANO It depends on whether you want you're listeners to judge you as intelligent or lazy. American English is very inaccurate, and they struggle to pronounce it correctly. Intonation suffers the most. Do you not have a similar trend in your language?

[@Markle2k]

+Tommoandlucysdad +Jonoboyle I hope you enjoyed getting that out of your system. But if I were to inform your idiotic prejudiced minds that you were criticizing an Ontarian Canadian, not an American, would you acknowledge your error?

[@user-td3mf9zy2k]

This is in Canada

[@eugenecbell]

Don't let the camel get his nose under the tent.

[@nobodynothing7984]

In the future Russian and Chinese will be popular as English. The world is changing.

[@ssppeellll]

I'm sorry, I can't keep listening to this. She has some valid points to make, but she makes so many absolute statements and so many grossly inaccurate statements that she ends up sounding as though she is out of touch with reality. According to her, sound has NO meaning or value in English. The language is all stress-based. Mexico and Germany are two of her examples of consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel patterns. (X itself has two successive consonant sounds. Germany has two successive consonant sounds, R and M.) And that's just in the 60 seconds or so of what I have heard skipping around a bit.

[@nabard1720]

Anyone from India?

[@amemabastet9055]

I hear lots of definitive statements that are not true in this talk, like non-natives using English every day "perfectly". She is selling English, not only talking about how to use it in a smarter way. She says English is the most common language in use between people with different languages, and that might be true to some extent, but English is still not the most common language. Neither is there one English, common for all users of English. I studied English in school for 10 years, then I have used it quite extensively almost every day of my life, and have heard that I write it as a native. It's my third language. But I still feel uncomfortable using it. Especially if I have to speak. English is a hard language, and any non-native speaker in an argument with a native speaker will almost always have the lower hand. She makes it sound as if English is no big deal, but if one who has used it for almost 40 years still don't feel comfortable using it in person-to-person situations, it's my conviction that there must be better solutions. The use of any native language as a lingua franca will always give unfair advantages to the native speakers.

[@geremilsonsouza6535]

Naum intendi nada