Lalisa Manobal, better known as Lisa from K-pop group Blackpink, is incredibly admirable.
She was the first ever artist signed to a K-pop group by YG that is not ethnically Korean.
And she totally deserved it.
Not only is Lisa an incredible singer and dancer, but also a polyglot.
And language learners like you and me can learn a lot from her.
What about Lisa?
I'm Thai.
I've been learning Korean for about 6 years.
Lisa, how many languages do you speak?
Three.
What?
Three languages.
Four.
Four?
What?
English.
Thai, Korean, English.
So if you watch this lesson until the end, you will learn Lisa's six rules for speaking languages fluently and how you can apply them yourself.
So let's jump right in to number one.
Number one, connect to a clear burning purpose.
I was born in Thailand.
My aunt's house is like a music band.
She likes to have a mic stand.
So I like to take the mic stand and put the car down so that it's as small as me.
And I dance and sing alone.
And my mom saw that I liked to dance.
So she let me go to dance class in the 3rd grade.
It started from that moment.
After that, I participated in dance competitions.
Have you been practicing for a long time?
Do you know how to dance B-boy?
Yes.
It was one of the competitions when I was 12 or 13 years old.
My cat looked at me and said, why don't you try singing?
Do you want to be a singer?
I felt like I liked both singing and dancing.
It was the time when YG had an audition in Thailand.
So I said, okay, I should try for sure.
I wanted to start us off with a quote.
So Napoleon Hill, who studied and spoke to the most successful people of his time, said There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants and a burning desire to possess it.
So the first lesson we can take from Lisa is to cultivate a clear burning purpose that will propel you, or push you, through the most difficult moments of learning the language.
That's why connecting to your purpose is a core part of our Real Life Way methodology, which we recommend to every one of our students.
By the way, all the words that you're seeing highlighted in blue are being saved as flashcards on the Real Life app.
That way, you can study these words, never forget them and confidently use them in conversations, just like Lisa.
You can get free access to the flashcards with the link down in the description.
So back to Lisa.
At just 14 years old, YG gave her the opportunity of a lifetime.
I was 14.
Such a kid.
At that time, I couldn't speak Korean at all.
All I knew was, hello.
So it was a completely new start.
However, Lisa either had to learn Korean or be kicked out of K-pop school and never achieve her dream.
And it wasn't easy.
YG told all the girls at the academy no English with Lalisa only Korean, so she would learn faster.
And Lisa has shared that the first years at YG she lived in a basement dorm that was infested by cockroaches and rats yuck, and she called her mom homesick every night, crying for hours.
Now given all this, it would have been easy for her to go back and study in Thailand.
But her dream, her definiteness of purpose was so strong that it gave her a tremendous resilience.
She refused to give up despite no guarantee of success.
Five years later, Lisa debuted with Blackpink, and they were a global success.
Since achieving that initial dream, learning languages has still been very connected to Lisa's purpose.
For example English Japanese, Mandarin and other languages have helped Lisa connect with her fans.
There were a lot of cute and stylish people, so I was a little nervous, but now I'm having a lot of fun.
Hello, everyone.
I'm Lisa.
This time, I'm going to be your mentor for the second season of Youth With You.
I'm ready to say a few words.
I'm ready to say a few words.
Let's go.
It's also been my own experience that there's no better purpose than friendship.
Amongst others, English was essential for Lisa to connect with Australian bandmate, Rosé.
As she says, they clicked, which means that they felt an instant connection or chemistry.
So you can ask yourself, how can I make learning English do or die?
In other words, connect to a purpose so strong that, just like Lisa, you will not give up when it is difficult.
Number two, immerse yourself in the language.
When I first came to Korea and my son said she don't want me to keep speaking in English, so she's trying to.
You know, keep me speaking Korean.
From the beginning to the end.
She kept speaking Korean for an hour.
I didn't know anything in Korean, but she kept speaking to me in Korean, so it was really hard.
But because I did that, my Korean improved quickly.
So we can't deny that Lisa had great opportunities like Korean classes from YG and living in Seoul and having a stepfather from Switzerland with whom she spoke English when she was younger.
But even if you don't have these opportunities, we can still learn from Lisa's survival mindset.
What does this mean?
It means don't translate, stick to the target language.
When you're used to always translating in your head, it leads to you speaking really slowly or freezing up in conversation, because you have to first think in your native language and then you have to think how would I say that in English?
So as you can see, it just makes it not a very fluid process.
You're never going to speak fluently that way.
So you should get in the habit of not using translators, but using actual English dictionaries.
Or even better nowadays is many AI tools.
So usually for myself.
For example, if I want to look up a word or an expression that I've seen in Portuguese, I have my very own chat where I will ask in Portuguese what exactly that word or expression means.
And it's really great because I can give the context that I saw it in and I'll make sure that I get the exact definition that I'm looking for.
And it even gives me other examples.
I can continue practicing with it.
And a little bit later we're going to talk about how you can surround yourself with the language, even if you're not living in a country where it's spoken.
But let me give you some quick tips.
So you could make your home or maybe just a specific room in your home your English speaking environment, meaning that anytime you're in that room, you try to only think in English and even speak to yourself or other people in English.
And you can make English speaking friends.
They don't need to even be natives.
You can meet people online or if you're in a big city, you can probably find English speakers there.
You just have to do a little bit of research and be creative.
Or even if you have other friends who you know also have a similar level to you in English or speak better than you, you can make some plan to practice together.
Like say, every Wednesday let's go have pizza and during that time we're only going to speak English to each other.
And if you reflect a bit and you're a bit creative, you can come up with all sorts of ideas like this
But for now, let's move on to Lisa's next rule.
Number three, speak at every opportunity.
Do you have any foundational advice for someone who's trying to pick up a new language?
How do you do it?
I don't know.
You just have to keep talking to people in that language.
I think I feel more confidence in English more than two years ago.
So one of the most impressive things about Lisa is that she speaks the language that she knows at every opportunity.
As we saw earlier, when she first met Rosé, English was essential for them to connect.
Rosé even mentions that Lisa started picking up her accent.
She started getting an Australian accent.
In fact one of the most essential mindsets that I recommend you cultivate is curiosity.
Those of us who speak multiple languages I include myself because I've learned six tend to be motivated to connect with others because of curiosity.
I'm sure that Lisa would agree with Mandela's quote.
And English is this incredible tool that lets us connect with people from any country.
So are you using your English as a tool for connection yet?
How can you use your English as an excuse to cultivate more curiosity and get to know others?
This also goes back to that clear burning purpose.
With every language I've learned, connecting with others has always been my biggest motivator.
I want to improve my skills so that I can better understand and be understood by the people I care about.
So if you want to use your English to connect with others, something I can recommend is our Global Speak on the RealLife app.
All you have to do is press a button and you'll instantly be connected to another english speaker in another part of the world for a short conversation, and doing this, you're going to discover all sorts of different cultures.
It's really a mind-blowing experience.
It's like traveling without having to get on a plane.
So if you need to get a little bit more motivation, that might be just the ticket for you.
In watching dozens of interviews, i noticed that lisa doesn't panic when she can't think of the right word.
She's patient, taking her time to find the word that she's looking for, or she rephrases herself so that she can be understood.
Her focus is on connection, not perfection.
Pay attention to this with how she finds the right word, timing and shoot.
In these two interviews.
If you have good timing, you do something at the right time.
We'll often collocate this with perfect timing.
For example, if your friend arrives to meet you a few minutes after you have finished work, you might say perfect timing, I just finished.
I think after I debuted with Blackpink, and then we all went to Thailand for like a trip or something to shoot or something.
We had like a fan waiting for us at the airport.
I was like, oh wow.
A shoot here is short for photoshoot, which is a session where people have their photos taken.
Since Lisa is active in fashion, she often participates in shoots.
Something else that Lisa does masterfully.
That helps her to sound more natural when speaking English is using lots of fillers.
I think, you know, like, pay attention to that here.
I just got into Pop Mart like early this year.
And I learned about this from one of my close friends in Thailand.
And when I went to Thailand, she was like, oh, let's go to Pop Mart.
And I was like, what is Pop Mart?
Like what it's just like?
Oh, it's like you know it's a sell toys and stuff, like we should go and check.
And then i went with them and i was like, to be honest, i was like i was not into it at all.
I was like no, i'm not gonna spend my money on this.
And then they came out and they were like, oh my god, like the one that i want, like it's sold out, it's so hard to get.
I was like Hmm, is that that hard to get?
And then they, you know, showed me a bunch of stuff.
And as soon as I got them, I go crazy.
It's like I spent all of my money.
Notice that we sometimes use be like instead of said.
This is really common when natives are telling a story, like Lisa is here.
She also used two common related expressions.
She says at first she was not into Pop Mart, but then she got into it.
This means that you like something.
If you're watching this lesson, I imagine you're into K-pop.
Or if you're not so into it, maybe by watching this lesson you'll be so impressed by Lisa that you'll decide to get into her music.
And obviously Lisa has done a great job at mastering native speaking, like how we cut, reduce and link our words together when speaking fluently.
We call this connected speech, like what we saw in the song at the beginning.
So when a word ending in T is followed by another word beginning with T, TH or D, we usually only pronounce the second consonant.
Instead of want this, she said want this, want this.
And just like a native, Lisa didn't say give me, she said gimme.
Why didn't you try?
Listen again and sing those lines just like Lisa.
Moving on, number four, repurpose your English.
Moving on, number four, repurpose your English.
So Korean and English were essential for Lisa's job as a K-pop artist.
And you might not have these opportunities given to you like Lisa was, but you can still create them for yourself.
So the rule here is to repurpose your English.
Don't just have English be something you study, actually use it as a tool.
So for example, you could put all of your devices like your computer and your phone in English.
When you need to look something up, either for work or for your studies, you can look it up in English.
And if you use AI for research, like I do, I would recommend you try your best to only speak to it in English.
In fact, AI works off of context, so you could give it the context to always correct your English if you make a mistake.
And study other things that you're interested in in English, like if there's a book that you want to read to learn something, read it in English.
Or if you're watching a tutorial on how to fix something in your house.
Try to see if you can find a tutorial in English.
And if you live in a city, find groups that are about your interests that meet in English.
For example, here in Barcelona, there are groups that meet to talk about tech in English.
And Lisa's next rule is similar, but it's even more fun.
Number five, don't just learn English, live it.
Okay, now I need to know what you're watching on Netflix.
It's a Korean drama, Love Next Door.
So Lisa famously has watched American movies to learn English and K-dramas to learn Korean.
And for myself, this has been really crucial as well.
Like I've talked often about learning Catalan with Bola de Drac, which is a Dragon Ball in English, of course.
Bola de Drac Zeta.
And recently I've been exercising my Portuguese by watching novellas, for example, Beleza Fatal.
And it's obvious that living languages with media has helped Lisa to learn slang and to use it really naturally.
I'm such a nerd.
I can see you guys faces like, what are you talking about?
Do you like to drive fast?
I used to.
I used to be a reckless driver, but not anymore.
Safety first, guys.
But when you're singing karaoke, are there people who are not involved with the production there?
Like, do people lose their minds when they see you there singing karaoke?
They don't care.
They don't care?
Yeah.
Why?
I'm just, like, sitting in the corner of the room.
I'm just, like, cheering them, hyping them up.
Oh, you don't sing?
I don't.
Oh, never.
I'm more like a dance.
I love to dance.
Next is sunglasses.
Oh my god.
So dirty.
My face is small.
It's really hard for me to find the right shape.
I'm trying to find something, like, not too rounded.
This is the one that suits me best.
And if you want to live your English, there's no better place than here on.
Learn English with TV Series.
So be sure to hit that subscribe button and the bell down below to not miss a single new lesson like this one.
And Lisa's final rule is a mindset that she expertly embodies.
Number six, play and stay humble.
Why is it so important to take vacations?
Because if you don't, then you can lose your brain.
Lose your brain?
Go cook it.
I think I'm going cuckoo right now.
Why do you think it's important to take a vacation, Lisa?
You know, your body needs a rest sometimes and you need to refresh.
Like what you said, otherwise you're going to go cuckoo, right?
Take a vacation when you need it, please.
So one of the things that I admire most about Lisa is her ability to play and have fun and to laugh at herself.
In this clip.
She just learned this expression to go cuckoo, which means to become crazy, and she started playfully using it right away.
And, as we see in this next clip, when it comes to language learning, Lisa's always open to experiment.
Whenever you're ready.
Oh, okay.
Interesting.
You look gorgeous.
Thank you very much.
Are you ready?
I'm ready.
You said that with some determination.
I'm ready.
Okay.
Whenever you're ready.
Okay.
Whenever you're ready.
I'll use this.
Whenever you're ready.
With that smile.
So another lesson we can take from Lisa is to approach every situation with playfulness and a willingness to try.
Like how she learned some phrases in French and Tagalog to connect with her fans and promote her music.
Let's go.
Finally, making mistakes is a fundamental part of the journey.
And Lisa shows us that we don't need to fear them.
We can use our mistakes as markers on the path to fluency.
Trust me, I watched a lot of interviews with her and Lisa makes mistakes all the time.
But she doesn't sweat them.
She doesn't get stressed about them.
I think we had like a hard time at first, like because we didn't know.
We didn't know, like the culture Yeah, the culture.
Yeah, like the culture difference.
Yeah, so like different have a big gap Yeah, big like you came from Australia.
Yeah from Thailand.
So it's like yeah, in Thai, in Thailand too, They still have, they don't.
They have like like, tune then my like.
But like they don't really like, it doesn't matter.
Yeah, I
So I was just like, oh, like you said, like we would just, just friends, you know?
Because we just don't know.
Because we don't know.
So let's recap Lisa's six rules for confident fluency in any language.
Connect to a clear, burning purpose.
Immerse yourself in the language.
Speak at every opportunity.
Repurpose your English.
Don't just learn English, live it.
And play and stay humble.
And there's one final idea I wanted to share with you before we wrap up today's lesson.
Be a global citizen.
So the pinnacle or highest point of our Real Life Way methodology is something that we like to call be beyond borders.
This means that you're using your English not only as a communication tool, but as a vehicle to grow as a human being.
Make your unique impact and connect authentically with the world.
Without a doubt, Lisa is leveraging English and other languages to be beyond borders.
So, as you go about your journey to speak English confidently and fluently, like Lisa, I want to invite you to embrace being beyond borders.
The idea that, no matter what divides us race gender religion, politics or sexual orientation what unites us as human beings here on planet Earth is far greater.
And this really is our mission here at RealLife English.
So, if you feel inspired by it, we really want the RealLife app to be a community for global citizens like you.
So download it for free and be a part of this mission.
Aww yeah!
I hope that you enjoyed today's lesson.
I had a lot of fun making it and getting to know Lisa's story better.
If you want more lessons like this, please let us know by liking this video, subscribing, and you can even comment below letting us know who else you would like me to analyze the English of or the English learning journey of.
And remember that all of those advanced expressions that we covered in today's lesson are waiting for you as flashcards on the RealLife English app, so that you can never forget them and be able to confidently use them the next time you speak English.
And if you're sticking here on YouTube, here's another fun lesson with Lisa.
I think for me the big difference is language because English is not my first language.
So it's challenging for me to answer or doing interview in English.
Yeah, but you know what's amazing about you is you speak English, you speak Thai, you speak Korean.
You're conversational in Japanese, conversational in Chinese.
I've heard you rattle off French before.
