Learn Real Life Vocabulary with YouTube

I’ve found that no matter what country you go to, people love sharing funny videos with each other, and YouTube has made these videos more accessible than ever.

This makes it a great resource for language learners, but if you aren’t an advanced student, it can be really difficult to understand native speakers. They speak fast, they use slang, and they often shorten words.

Most of the videos that have “gone viral” (become very popular) in the United States don’t have subtitles in other languages. And even if they do, you might have difficulty learning new vocabulary from them.

This article will take apart a very popular video from the United States, so by the end you will understand 100% of it! You will have learned new vocabulary and how it is used in real life context. And hopefully you’ll have a couple laughs, too.

Speak More Like a Native with YouTube

The video that we’re going to watch is called “How to Trick People into Thinking You’re Good Looking (handsome/beautiful)” from Jenna Marbles.

First let’s learn a little bit more about Jenna:

Jenna Mourey, also known as Jenna Marbles on YouTube, became famous overnight in 2010 after making her video “How to Trick People into Thinking You’re Good Looking.”

Her video went viral and got over five million views in its first week on YouTube. Since then, that video has had 45 million views and Jenna has had almost 800 million video views on her YouTube channel.

She went from being a normal college graduate and blogger to being a household name (well known) in the United States. She is truly an example of pop culture in the United States as YouTube videos become more and more of a form of entertainment.

Jenna used to work as a go-go dancer (a person who dances in night clubs) and model. She made this video one day while getting ready to go to work.

In it, she is making fun of (joking about) the process that she has to go through to be considered “good looking.” Although she intended this video just to entertain some of her friends, it spread quickly throughout the Internet. It has also inspired dozens of spin-off (copy) videos.

She now makes new videos every Wednesday and currently has more than one hundred of them. She often features her dogs in her videos, and they have quickly become famous as well. Jenna is not afraid to make fun of anyone, not even herself.

Learning English with Jenna Marbles

Now let’s watch the video once before going into the difficult vocabulary. See how much you can understand the first time through.

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Now that you’ve got some sort of idea about the video, let’s try to understand it better. First, the vocabulary that you will need to know.

Terms and Expressions

Albino– a person or animal with an absence of pigmentation. Albinos have white skin and pink eyes.

Blind as a bat– an expression describing someone who can’t see without glasses.

Doushbag– a vulgar insult that can mean jerk, idiot, asshole, etc. Americans use this a lot.

God forbid it– hopefully it won’t happen.

Good for it– healthy

Got it down– it’s understood or it’s accomplished.

Have no fear– don’t worry

Hello there– another way of saying “hello.”

Hoochie– a slut, a woman who sleeps with a lot of men.

Let’s be Serious– the truth is.

Motherfucker– a very offensive insult.

Neat-o/weird-o– you can add “o” to the end of some words to emphasize them or make them cute.

Pull off– to accomplish something, to get away with something

Pump (someone) up– Motivate

Streetwalker– a prostitute who gets customers in public (on the street).

Optical illusion– to see something different than it actually is.

Super duper– a cute way of saying “great”.

The shit out of– a great amount (vulgar).

There is no cure for– something that is without any solution.

Vitiligo– a skin disease.

Whore– prostitute

Now that you should be able to understand a lot more of the vocabulary that Jenna uses. So, let’s watch the video again, but this time, follow along with the transcript and notes below. You’ll learn some new things about American cultures and a lot more about speaking like a native!

Here we go:

How to Trick People Into Thinking You’re Good Looking

 

In Conclusion:

It’s important to find ways to incorporate English learning into your everyday life. Whether you are watching videos on YouTube, listening to podcasts, reading a book, or watching a popular TV show, your ability to understand English and speak like a native will increase substantially.

You have to make learning English fun, because otherwise it will be a slow, difficult process. If you enjoyed this article and it helped you to learn something new please comment below so that we’ll be inspired to keep these kinds of articles coming!

If you haven’t already, join the RLE Community. It’s a great way to incorporate English into something you already do and to meet and communicate with more than 5,000 people from over 50 countries.

It’s time to make it your goal to speak exceptional English!

Wanna learn more English with another YouTube video? Check out my guest post on Transparent English:

• Learn Real Life English and Laugh

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• Lifestyle English Guide
• 4 Things “Caine’s Arcade” Taught Me About Life and Language Learning
• Learn English with TV: How I Met Your Mother

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