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Hi, everybody.

Welcome back to ask Alicia the Weekly Siri's where you ask me questions and I answer them.

Maybe first question this week comes from Sun Ju Hagen.

Sanju Sanju says, Hey, Alicia, how can I think fully in my target language?

Whenever I see you speaking fluently, I feel like I want to become like you.

So how can I make my communication like yours?

Ah, this is a very common question, and it requires practice.

It requires regular practice, so this means you need to practice a little bit every day where you can immerse yourself in the language you're studying.

If you're studying English, try to use English as much as possible in your day.

So if you can try to make a time in your weak or in your day when you on Lee speak English or you only read English, so try to read English books.

Watch English TV or movies.

Listen to music in English, talk to people in English where you can you need to get used to using it in your everyday life so that your brain gets used to using it when you're just thinking about things, So this takes time.

Absolutely.

You need to practice, and you need to give yourself time every day and every week to get used to doing this.

So practice everyday practice regularly.

Of course, if you really want to practice speaking like me, you can mimic me.

You can shadow me if you want, but please keep in mind.

As I've said on this channel before, I'm speaking in a way that's helpful for learners.

So I'm trying to use very clear pronunciation.

I'm trying to use kind of simple grammar or grammar that's not super complex on, and I'm also not speaking in exactly the same way that native speakers do in everyday conversation.

So please remember that the way I speak on this channel is not necessarily the way that native speakers talk in everyday life.

That being said, if you want to use me for your shadowing practice, please feel free.

You won't have any communication problems if you practice speaking like me.

So I hope that this helps you if you're interested.

There are some other videos on the channel that have lots of tips about how to think in your target language and how to get used to applying English in your everyday life.

So definitely check those out.

Two.

Okay, I hope that this helps you.

Thanks very much for the question.

All right, let's move on to your next question.

Next question comes from Eric Pash.

Cough.

Hi, Eric.

Eric says, What's the difference between present perfect and past?

Perfect.

Okay, present Perfect is used one for general life experience in the past, at a non specific point in time.

This could be an experience you had or inexperience you did not have.

So when the point in time is not important, we can use present.

Perfect to talk about that.

For example, I have been to France.

I have never written a book.

We also use present perfect tense to talk about actions that started in the past and continue to the present or the effects of that action continued to the present.

You'll see verbs used with progressive tents in this case, too.

So, for example, have been plus the i n g form of a verb.

We also commonly used four and since to talk about the entire length of time in action has happened or has been happening.

Rather so.

For example.

Ah, I have been speaking for about four minutes or he has been listening to me since I started this video.

So this is a common way that we use present perfect, tense past.

Perfect, on the other hand, refers to things that happened in the past.

So we're not talking about the relationship between the past and the present.

We're talking about the relationship between a past action and some other past point.

So, for example, I had been studying for three hours when I fell asleep.

So in that example sentence, we see that there was one past continuing action and a second action that happened closer to the present.

That interrupted the action when I fell asleep so we can use past perfect tense to show like sequences.

If you're telling a story and there are two points in your story that were in the past, you can use past perfect tense to explain the thing that came first, then use simple past to explain the thing that happened nearer to the present, as I did in this story, as I also mentioned in this example sentence.

If you want to describe a past action that was continuing and that was then interrupted, you can use this pattern this past perfect, too simple, past tense pattern.

So we use it for that.

We also use it to talk about life experience again.

So general life experience or no life experience, but at a past point in time.

So, for example, by my 10th birthday, I had saved $100 for example, So by my 10th birthday is a point in the past.

I'm obviously not 10 years old now, So by my 10th birthday, I had saved that means up until that point in time, I had saved $100.

So when we want to talk about past experiences in relation to other past points, you can use the past perfect tense so you can find some other videos about present perfect, tense and soon about past perfect tense on the channel soon.

So I hope that you checked those out for some more information.

I hope that this helps you to thanks very much for the question.

All right, Let's move on to your next question.

Next question comes from Ha Na's Bayou.

Hi, hon.

Us, Hana says.

What's the difference between follow and subscribe?

Because they have the same meaning.

Okay, Um, for online media hubs like Twitter and Facebook and YouTube, they have the same feeling to have the same meaning like you.

Click the button and you receive updates from that person or from that company or whatever.

Um, in terms of kind of a more historical meaning, though the word subscribe was and is used for regular publications.

So, for example, we subscribe to a magazine or we subscribe to a newspaper.

When you subscribe to something, there's an expectation that you will receive that thing on a regular basis on a regular schedule.

So, for example, if you subscribe to a monthly magazine, you expect to receive the magazine once a month.

That's a subscription, so the same word carries over into YouTube.

When we subscribe to someone's channel, we expect to see their content.

We expect that when that person creates something, we are going to receive it.

So in YouTube's case, this means we have, like, you know, channels.

You follow list or we see like something in our email that says, Oh, this channel has posted a new video, so subscribe in this way means like you have some kind of expectation of receiving something somewhat regularly.

Of course, not everyone on YouTube posts regularly, but this is the idea to follow, however, like with Twitter or with Facebook or Instagram is like you're just waiting for updates from that person.

Maybe you're not expecting to receive something on a regular basis.

But if that person or that company, your brand or whatever chooses to share something you're saying you want toe, have the ability to quickly and easily check that.

So this is why we don't really use, like, subscribe for Twitter or subscribe on Facebook or on Instagram.

It sounds more like a service for YouTube, though it makes sense because it's like we're getting something regularly.

Many people on YouTube create content regularly, so subscribe is a better fit in this case.

Okay, so I hope that this helps answer your question.

Thanks very much for sending it along.

All right, let's move on to your next question.

Next question comes from Abrar.

Hi, Obra, Obra says, are like and sees the same word.

If not, what's the difference?

And how do we use them?

Thanks.

Okay.

It depends on how the words air used.

We can use both of these words to share our opinion of someone or something.

Like in these example Sentences.

She seems nice.

She seems like a nice person.

Notice how, in the first example sentence here we follow Seems with an adjective.

She seems nice in the second example sentence she seems like a nice person were using like and we need to follow this with a noun phrase.

So a nice person is a noun phrase when you're using, like in this way, you need to follow, like with a known phrase.

You can't use an adjective there as we did with seams.

So we followed the same rule.

When we're using, like to make comparisons, for example, he eats like a pig.

You look like my brother.

So when we're making comparisons like this, we need to use a noun phrase after the word like also we can use seems with verbs.

For example this seems to be the right answer.

He seems to like hiking So another quick point about the word seems is that we use Seymour seems when we want to make a guess or share an opinion about something.

But maybe we can't quickly confirm so like she seems nice is like our opinion are quick opinion of that person, but maybe we don't know yet.

She might not be a nice person, we don't know.

But when you want to make a quick guess about something that you can't actually check, you can't really confirm you can use Seems to do that In the second original example sentence I introduced, she seems like a nice person were combining seem with like they're so she seems like that means it's like you're comparing this person.

She to a nice person.

That's kind of the idea here.

So she has the appearance, or I guess she seems as though she is a nice person.

So this is an overcomplicated explanation.

But think about using like when you want to compare things, think about using seem when you want to maybe just share a simple adjective, or maybe when you want to make a quick guess about someone, so I hope that this helps you thanks very much for the question.

All right, let's move on to your next question.

Next question comes from junior high, Junior Junior says, Highly shot.

Someone once said to me, Your neat and I was kind of confused.

What does it mean?

Okay, uh, neat is kind of like a cute word or a nice word that means cool or interesting.

It sounds very casual, very friendly, maybe a little bit childish.

We would use neat in the same way as we use.

Cool, but cool is a little bit rough, neat sounds kind of precious and nice and childish.

A little bit.

So you can say that someone's drawing is neat or that someone is neat.

However, there's a second meaning of neat, which means tidy or organized.

So if someone like came to your house and said, Wow, you're neat, like to talk about the way that your house is organized or like to comment about how clean your space is, it could have this meaning, so it depends.

How did the person use the word when they were speaking to you?

What was the situation so it can mean cool, great, awesome, nice or it can mean tiny and organized some other examples.

I saw that movie.

It was neat.

My new computer is neat.

Your parents are really neat, aren't they?

Okay, so I hope that this helps answer your question.

Thanks very much.

Oh, right.

That is everything that I have for this week.

Thank you.

As always for sending your questions, remember, you can send them to me at English Class 101 dot com slash ask hyphen.

Alicia, Of course, if you like this video, please don't forget to give it a thumb's up.

Subscribe to our channel if you have not already And check us out in English.

Class 101 dot com For some other things that can help you with your English studies Thanks very much for watching this week's episode of Ask Alicia and I will see you again next week.

My bomb.

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