:00welcome to the effortless English show
0:02with the world's number one english
0:04teacher AJ Hoge where AJ's more than 40
0:07million students worldwide finally learn
0:11without the boring textbooks classrooms
0:13and grammar drills here's AJ with a
0:15quick piece to help you learn to speak
0:17fluent English effortlessly
0:20hi I'm AJ hope the author of effortless
0:22English learn to speak English like a
0:25native go to effortless English . com
0:29enter your e-mail for a free copy of my
0:33audio book writing writing is important
0:40you're looking for a job a new job you
0:45need to write a cover letter or an email
0:47to the company in that letter you need
0:54the writing needs to be perfect no
0:57mistakes the writing needs to be
1:01powerful in that short letter you must
1:04sell yourself you must convince them to
1:08call you for an interview now once you
1:15get a job if you're working in an
1:17international company if you're working
1:20with international team members you may
1:23need to write in english at the job you
1:26may need to write proposals you may need
1:30to write summaries certainly you'll
1:33write emails you might have to write
1:38large reports and again you're writing
1:43needs to be great if you're writing is
1:44bad you will look back you will not look
1:48professional and of course there are the
1:52tests the TOEFL and the I else and they
1:55have writing sections and you have to
1:58write essays and again you know they're
2:00looking for every little mistake so can
2:05be a bit stressful writing the reason
2:08writing can be stressful is that it
2:09needs to be perfect in some situation
2:13if you don't succeed if you write badly
2:22in those situations the failure can be
2:25quite bad you can fail to get a job that
2:29you really want simply because your
2:31writings bad you'll never get an
2:33interview if your first email your first
2:38they look at it you'll see mistakes and
2:40they immediately throw it away
2:42you never get called for an interview
2:45it's stressful and then you might have
2:49to take a worse job simply because
2:51you're writing is not good it's no fun
2:53to get a low score on the toefl test for
2:55the IELTS because you're writing is bad
2:57and it's no fun to be in a job to write
3:02a report and then have your balls come
3:05back and tell you that the writings
3:06terrible and you need to do it again
3:09it's embarrassing on the other hand the
3:11rewards are big if you're writing is
3:14great then you have a big advantage when
3:17you're job-searching because you can
3:19write those great cover letters you can
3:21write those great emails you can get the
3:24attention of good companies you can get
3:29a lot of calls for interviews because of
3:33your writing ability same thing on the
3:36job when you're writing ability is good
3:38we have great professional writing you
3:41just you look more professional you look
3:44more skilled you look better you get
3:46better respect you get more respect it
3:51helps you get higher scores of course on
3:53tests and things like that
3:55now remember i was teaching in san
3:59francisco and it was one of my first
4:03classes in san francisco and in this
4:07class we're supposed to do some writing
4:08so I gave it a easy assignment to my
4:12class and I said okay please write an
4:15essay just one page 1 page essay really
4:18simple just tell me you know something
4:22about yourself where are you from and
4:25you know why did you come to
4:27America to study English that's all this
4:32was a high intermediate class that's
4:35what they told me I intermediate and so
4:39everybody you know i'll start writing
4:41their sh and i gave them i don't
4:44remember 30 minutes something like that
4:46to write the essays everybody writing
4:49the essays writing essays writing essays
4:51worried faces everybody looks so serious
4:54i was telling just relax relax you know
4:57this is not a serious academic paper
5:01just can't just tell me about yourself
5:04and tell me why you came to America
5:08this should have been a very easy
5:11assignment for their level should have
5:14been very very easy but I was shocked
5:21so they all handed me the SAS I told him
5:25to do some reading while I reviewed the
5:27SAS and I could not believe how fucking
5:33terrible they were they were horrible
5:37and when I say horrible i mean i could
5:41not understand them
5:43I'm not exaggerating i would pick one up
5:47and start reading and I read about four
5:51or five sentences and the sentences were
5:56so confusing that really i just didn't
5:59even know what the main idea was I
6:02didn't understand what they were trying
6:04to say the senses were super long and
6:14they used the the most difficult
6:17vocabulary they could remember I thought
6:20maybe it's just one and put that one to
6:22the side picked up the next one
6:24same exact thing super super super
6:29complicated long-running sentences and
6:36then all these very academic vocabulary
6:41correctly and it was just confusing
6:45confusing that I could not understand
6:51I bitch its it should have been so
6:53simple just tell me why you came to
6:56America it's really simple if i had
6:58asked him if I just if we just chatted
7:01no writing right if I just just sitting
7:03at the table and I kind of said
7:05one-by-one hey tell me speaking just
7:08tell me you know why did you come to
7:10America where are you from everyone in
7:13that class easily could have done it
7:16they would have spoken in a nice clear
7:19short sentences their ideas would have
7:23yes maybe they would have made some
7:26mistakes maybe a few grammar mistakes if
7:29you know cabinetry mistakes something
7:31like that but their meaning would have
7:33been clear no problem they could speak
7:36they could communicate very very clearly
7:38with speaking but something happened in
7:43their brain as soon as they picked up
7:45the pen to write it's like their whole
7:48brain just stopped working
7:51we're actually it's quite the opposite
7:52is like their brain started working too
7:55much and that's what really happened
7:57they started over thinking everything
8:01trying to make everything so complicated
8:05so advanced like they were trying to
8:10write the phd thesis or something and it
8:16was in comprehensible in comprehensible
8:20there's a new work for you
8:21comprehensible means understandable can
8:27be understood easy to understand its
8:30comprehensible now the opposite of that
8:34word is in comprehensible at the end of
8:37the beginning it makes it negative and
8:39comprehensible not understandable cannot
8:42be understood that was their writing
8:45weird really weird strange
8:49so what happened why I just you know it
8:52took me awhile they they went they
8:54left and you know class ended and I went
8:56home and I just kept thinking about it
8:58really bothered me outside why what
9:00happened
9:01you know I couldn't figure out for a
9:06how can they speak so well but they're
9:09writing is so terrible of me will
9:11why don't they just write the same way
9:13they talk and then it would have been
9:15fine would have been tier perfectly fine
9:21well the problem is the school system
9:24our old friend our old enemy i should
9:27say the school system right because
9:29here's what I found out and start
9:31talking to them start asking them
9:32questions because the next day I said
9:34guys you know I'm nice i I know yell at
9:37people for mistakes or anything like
9:39that mistakes are fine in life that's
9:41how we learn but I just told us it guys
9:43you know what youre your essays really
9:45suck
9:45I'm sorry but they're horrible
9:48I can't even understand what you're
9:51trying to say i can't even understand
9:53the main ideas they're so horrible and I
9:57told him I I just told them my problem
9:59is it's what i don't understand because
10:00when I talk to you you easily
10:03communicate and you communicate clearly
10:05but then when you start writing what
10:08happens
10:09why why there's why are they so
10:11different they actually should be quite
10:13close and then I started to listen to
10:16them and they they all told me basically
10:18the same thing and that is in school in
10:21the school systems right there taught a
10:23style of writing that is super super
10:27super complex the opposite of simple
10:31complex complex or complicated similar
10:36meanings not simple they had this idea
10:40the teachers do that you know
10:43good writing must be difficult in
10:46advance
10:48meaning lots and lots of big words and
10:53really long sentences and complicated
10:59sentences
11:00that's good writing that's what they
11:03were taught all my students in their
11:05schools they were from many different
11:07countries they were from Asia South
11:09America and Europe and get all of them
11:12wrote the same style that same
11:15overcomplicated style so bad and I have
11:24since found out this is a common problem
11:26all over the world
11:27this is why most English learners even
11:31if they speak very very well are just
11:34terrible writers quite honestly horrible
11:36writers but it's because they all have
11:38this academic idea academic means
11:42related to school right so they all
11:44learning this very academic style of
11:47writing trying to write like a PhD you
11:52know someone with a PhD someone with a
11:55well I've said this before I'll say it
11:57again say it many times in the future
12:02academics most professors are terrible
12:07writers a suck suck means to be really
12:11bad at something they suck they're
12:14terrible terrible terrible writers you
12:18do not want to write like a professor to
12:25don't listen to their advice they're
12:27horrible writers who are good writers
12:32well I mean we all have our different
12:36opinions about who the best riders are
12:38but a basic level good riders are people
12:43who get paid for their writing people
12:45who write books for example and sell
12:48books they're generally pretty good
12:51writers right JK Rowling's wrote the
12:55Harry Potter books she's a good writer
12:57now you may like Harry Potter you may
12:59hate it but in general her writing is
13:01quite good it's good enough to make
13:03millions of dollars so that's a pretty
13:06good example I someone like Ernest
13:09Hemingway who who's writing has been
13:11popular for decades and decades and
13:13decades even after he had died still
13:16people talk about how great is writing
13:20so your professional authors are good
13:27writers and you can find some very good
13:32professional writers that write in a
13:34very very simple way and i always use
13:36the Hemingway example those of you who
13:38watch my show know that he's one of my
13:40favorite examples because in general
13:42he's famous for having a very simple
13:44style compared to other writers tends to
13:50attended because he's dead now when he
13:53tended to use short sentences simple
13:57direct sentences whenever possible even
14:02better example for you because you
14:04probably you're not trying to write a
14:07great artistic novel in English right
14:11I'm guessing you need more just
14:12practical writing like for business for
14:17general communication and 44 that is you
14:20know non-fiction books non-fiction books
14:23business books you know like to meet in
14:26my book right this is just this this
14:28book is written in a very simple style
14:33right i tried to use short direct
14:37sentences simple common vocabulary and a
14:43lot of great writers who write books
14:45about business even books about history
14:48or science good nonfiction writers tend
14:52to use a very simple direct style
14:56why because it's the most clear it's the
15:00best for communicating information in a
15:03clear and powerful way that's what you
15:06want to do that's what good writing is
15:08it's not using a bunch of huge
15:12vocabulary words it's not necessary in
15:15fact usually it's a bad idea usually the
15:19simplest word is the best so I'm gonna
15:23do a few shows about writing because a
15:25lot of you have asked me about writing
15:27and it's a big topic that you want me to
15:30talk about so in this
15:33show going to give you just one little
15:35bit of advice for your writing how to
15:37improve your writing and then some
15:39future shows i'll give you other tips
15:41today show is just simplify simplify
15:46simplify simplify as another great
15:49writer said American writer named henry
15:52david thoreau simplify simplify simplify
15:55use the shortest possible sentence
16:00instead of writing a paragraph this
16:05local right on this long tried to put
16:07your ideas in the shortest possible
16:10sentence sentences and the shortest
16:12possible paragraphs short short short if
16:17you have a long sentence break it into
16:21I mean the most basic basic basic
16:25sentence in English subject-verb-object
16:28I hit him right three word sentence it's
16:35super-clear it's very clear i hit him
16:39there's no confusion that's a great
16:41sentence that's a good example of clear
16:44writing I hit him not i reared back my
16:49arm and then I swallow and connected
16:53with his face in a forceful way now that
16:57might be more artistic that second one
17:00and if you're trying to win the nobel
17:03prize for literature if you're trying to
17:06write a big artistic novel you can try
17:12that second style but for business
17:15communication foremost written
17:17communication in life I hit him is a
17:22much more powerful direct clear sentence
17:26it's much better writing that's the
17:30first thing I want you to do
17:32you're already riding first of all
17:33practice every day you can practice on
17:35Twitter one of the good things about
17:36Twitter its forces you to be short you
17:39cannot be long on twitter you have a
17:41hundred and forty characters on gab you
17:46gap g a b . AI 300 characters that
17:52limits what you can write it forces you
17:54to be short and direct so every day
17:57right on Twitter send me some messages
18:00on Twitter send other effortless English
18:02members messages on Twitter write your
18:07doesn't matter short direct sentences
18:10Twitter can actually train you to write
18:13good sentences now a lot of people on
18:17Twitter they don't write full sentences
18:18because you know they're trying to
18:21communicate quickly and they use it
18:24texting style that's ok but if you're
18:27trying to improve your writing i
18:28recommend use full sentences on Twitter
18:31use full sentences but make them short
18:34this is a good way to train and improve
18:38your writing just doing tweets every day
18:40in fact I would say this is the first
18:42thing to do so short short short every
18:49time you write something go back and
18:51look at it and think how can I make this
18:55short
18:56how can I say the same thing but shorter
18:59how many words can I cut your job is to
19:02always try to cut more words cut more
19:07don't add words cut words a great writer
19:12can say something in one or two
19:14sentences a bad writer needs 20
19:18sentences to say the same thing that's
19:21what professors usually are bad writers
19:23they'll write 45 pages to say something
19:26that usually could be said directly with
19:30one sentence so short direct short
19:37direct practice on Twitter's practice
19:39with me you can send me tweets every day
19:41but use a full sentence if you're
19:43improving your writing you need to use a
19:44full sentence very very very short
19:48simplify simplify simplify
19:56for free texts every one of my shows
19:59go to my blog at effortless English
20:02club.com free text guides at effortless
20:07English club . com see you next time bye
20:10for now