Video summary
The speaker addresses the frequent jokes and memes regarding his imperfect English, clarifying that while he acknowledges these criticisms, he chooses not to edit out his mistakes from his videos. He explains that his background includes a poor formal education system in Australia, which left him largely self-taught in English despite it being his native language. Unlike many other YouTubers who meticulously script and rehearse their content to avoid errors, the speaker prefers an improvisational style where he speaks naturally without planning. He believes that hiding mistakes creates a sanitized version of reality that lacks authenticity, whereas allowing errors to surface demonstrates that making mistakes is an inherent and unavoidable part of the language learning process for everyone, even native speakers.
A significant reason for his approach is his desire to foster confidence in his audience regarding their own language abilities. The speaker argues that perfectionism often holds people back from speaking or practicing a language because they fear ridicule over accents or grammatical errors. By openly displaying his own struggles, such as stumbling over words or needing to look up unfamiliar terms while reading, he aims to show viewers that communication is more important than flawless grammar. He emphasizes that the goal of language acquisition is to convey ideas simply and effectively rather than to sound overly educated with complex vocabulary that might alienate listeners. This philosophy aligns with his belief that being understood by a wider audience is superior to sounding advanced but obscure.
Furthermore, the speaker discusses the cultural aspect of self-deprecation, noting that it is a massive part of Australian culture where laughing at oneself and participating in memes about one's flaws is common. He mentions that he even considered taking an IELTS test to prove his proficiency and stop the jokes, but decided against it due to the high cost and the fact that failing would simply be funnier. Ultimately, he views his channel not as a platform for justifying his errors but as a space for genuine communication where he shares his thoughts freely. He encourages viewers to embrace their imperfections, trust in their ability to communicate, and understand that even successful individuals can have weaknesses in specific areas like language without it diminishing their overall worth or capability.
Read the full video transcript
What's up, grinders? Welcome back to the
channel. Today, we're going to be
talking about English and specifically
my own English and why I continue to
make mistakes in this dustily evil
language that it is. Now, I've obviously
seen all the jokes. I participated in
the memes about my [ __ ] level of
English. And in fact, on this last
video, he read 1.5 million words in
Spanish. One of the top comments is, I
thought B2 English was supposedly a
meme. Can barely read. Now, obviously, I
had a good giggle at that and then I
wrote his name down in my deaf book and
I moved on with my life and we will
never see him hear from him again. But I
do want to address this because there's
a number of reasons why I do what I do,
okay? And it also comes down to making
mistakes. I want you to all take a look
at this video. I tell you my entire life
story. Now, when I say take a look at
it, I I mean just like literally this
unless you're a member because this is a
member own video. And I go into details
about my upbringing and education. And
when it comes to education, specifically
around reading and writing in English,
that basically did not exist. I had a
[ __ ] [ __ ] ass education when it came
to that. I'm pretty much self-taught in
English language, even though it's like
my own [ __ ] native language, just due
to the fact I went through a bunch of
really [ __ ] [ __ ] ass education
systems here in Australia, okay? Public
schools in Australia, they can be
[ __ ] bad. So, I went through some
really, really bad public schools.
[ __ ] English therefore obviously took
a hit and I just never really had a need
to improve it until later in life when I
decided myself I wanted to improve it
and that actually happened after I
started learning esbranto I know funny I
actually learned the difference between
there there and there you know those
three words like in written form after
I'd already reached probably a upper
beginner intermediate level in Esbranto
so I actually started getting better at
a foreign language before I actually
realized that I needed to improve my own
English. Yes, that's right, boys and
girls. The English you hear on this
channel is an improvement from the
original Evil Deer. You do not want to
hear the original Evil Deer. His English
is [ __ ] atrocious. Okay, now why
therefore do I not just, you know, clip
out all my mistakes that I make because
obviously I'm a language channel. Seems
kind of counter productive to be [ __ ]
up my own native language in a video for
all of you guys to laugh at, right? Like
that seems stupid. That's not how I see
it. Okay. I know most YouTubers um
they're kind of scared of the public
ridicle that they get, you know, like
they'll sit there, they'll write a
script. Uh maybe they'll go over that
script a few times, they'll practice
speaking it out, and then they'll sit
down in front of a camera, and then
they'll kind of like do the whole
talking to the camera thing. But you
guys got to remember, I have a
background as a [ __ ] improv actor,
okay? So, when it comes to me, I like to
just sit down and talk. That's where
it's actually at for me. That's what I
enjoy. just get out my thoughts in front
of you guys. And realistically, every
time I've ever tried to script anything
anyway, it's just [ __ ] turned out
[ __ ] And it's way worse than, you know,
my improv jokes that I just randomly
throw out during these videos. So, I
don't do that. Now, that is one reason,
but that doesn't explain why I don't
clip those mistakes because a bunch of
you guys are probably thinking, "Evil
dear, you could just clip all that
stuff." Well, that would involve me
editing. And I don't want to edit. And I
do have an editor now. I almost lost my
train of thought. So, I could ask him to
clip it out, but I don't. And the reason
being is twofold. Well, actually, it's
probably like three-fold. Maybe there's
four folds. There's a lot of folds
involved. Okay? So, the first one being
is I want you guys to understand that
learning a language is not something
that you're ever going to perfectly do
on the spot. I'm a native speaker. I sit
here. I speak this language. My thoughts
are coming out naturally. You know, no
planning, no I was going to say no
thinking then, but that probably doesn't
sound right. But like, as it naturally
comes out, mistakes come out. So
naturally, when you're learning a
language, you will make mistakes. Yes,
you'll make the mistakes of learning the
language, but you'll also make mistakes
of speaking the language. And this
actually holds back a lot of people.
They're scared to speak or to practice
speaking. Maybe because, you know,
they're scared of [ __ ] up accents and
[ __ ] like that, but essentially, they're
scared of making mistakes. And as a
native speaker of this language, I will
make [ __ ] mistakes. I'm not scared of
speaking English. It's my native
language. I'll still make mistakes. I
will jumble words. I will misuse words.
Like I must have misused like five words
in that last video. And then when it
comes to reading, boy oh boy, I'm not a
practiced reader. So obviously first
time I read through something, any word
that I don't, you know, encounter in a
familiar context, it might take me a
second to jump over it. Okay? And
there's even words that I literally
encounter for the first time in these
readroughs. And I like to do a quick
look up before you guys because, well,
as a native speaker, if I haven't
encountered these, you guys probably
haven't. It saves you the effort of
going and look it up. If I look it up on
the spot, we all learn together, right?
It's kind of like helping each other.
But I do want you guys to understand
that making mistakes is just part of the
process. And even once you get to a high
level in a language, you will still make
mistakes. Don't let perfectionism hold
you back. This is in some aspects my job
as a YouTuber to talk to you guys, to
communicate ideas with you, to present
my thoughts, and yet I I should be the
one who's perfect at this language, and
yet I am the one to [ __ ] it up. So yes,
I could cut it all out and hide that and
make myself sound way better than I
actually am. It's the same with any
language. And that's kind of how I see
it. So like when I see YouTubers who
script out everything and then present
it, there's probably many different
reasons for why they do it, but I feel
it's kind of almost fraudulent. You're
not giving me your actual thoughts in
the moment on this. You're giving me a
sanitized, prethought about version of
it. Now, obviously that can be good in
some ways. It can help you structure it
if you're not a good communicator, and I
understand that. But I'm a little less
trustful of someone who scripts out
everything and then says it as opposed
to someone who just sits down and talks,
okay, and just presents their ideas. So
to me, there's more authenticity in
that. And hiding the mistakes, there's
no point. Also, it leads to that other
aspect I like to talk about here, which
is just about being confident in who you
are. I'm confident in the fact that it
doesn't bother me. Thousands of you guys
will see my mistakes, laugh at me, make
memes about me because I enjoy it. I
take part in it. I'm I'm I'm all on
board on jumping on the memes and stuff.
Okay. Now, I've actually had my editor
tell me on numerous occasions, "Evil
dear, you got to go do an IELTS test."
Okay, you got to go do an IELTS test and
make a video about that because if you
pass, well, then the memes will stop.
But if you fail, bro, that'd be the
funniest [ __ ] in the world. How [ __ ]
funny would that be? And I actually
thought about that, but then I looked up
the cost. You guys are getting [ __ ]
ripped off as non-natives, man. Isles
tests are [ __ ] expensive. [ __ ] that
[ __ ] I'd need to start a Kickstarter
for that [ __ ] bro. I lucked out
learning this language natively. But
yeah, that's why also I I don't hide
that type of stuff. So, in a lot of
ways, it just comes down to the fact
that I want you guys to be confident,
you know, in just speaking your
language. Don't worry about mistakes and
stuff like that. Obviously, I want you
to trust in me in a lot of ways. And
also, it adds to the humor of things
overall. Like, I probably didn't need to
make this video at all. Like, this is
not me justifying myself. This is more
just me explaining to you guys
how I think and why I do the things that
I do. Now, when it comes to reading
challenges, because we were speaking
about a reading challenge in that video,
a lot of you guys were joking about the
fact I should do an English reading
challenge. And it is funny that you
mentioned that. It's funny because if we
look at me as a person overall, you
could say by societal standards, the
general standards of society, I'm a
successful person. Okay? I have multiple
investments. I've reached the top of my
career path. I'm married. What? You
know, all these things people deem
someone to be successful. I've already
gotten there with a [ __ ] ship
version of the English language. Okay, I
swear to God, probably every one of my
peers and half of them are not native
are probably better at English in its
written form than I am. Okay? And yet
somehow
they are no longer my peers. I have
moved above them because language is
important.
Yes, obviously. But it is the meta
skills such as the ability to
communicate your ideas in simple ways.
When you have a simple version of the
language in your brain, this becomes
very easy. Okay. But it's important that
you're able to communicate your ideas in
simple ways. And I think that's also in
some ways a credit to my channel because
a lot of the the YouTube channels that
talk about languages, they like to use a
lot of those big, you know, second
language acquisition words. I know the
words. I've seen the words. I've read
the words. I don't use them. I just use
simple terms. And it's not because I'm a
simple man, which I am, okay? But it's
also because I don't remember which
author it was, but there was a famous
author that said, you know, to write a
good story, you should write it using
the most basic words of a language. If
you can communicate your ideas in the
most basic of words, then anyone can
understand it. If you just go straight
out to, you know, those really specific
words and they have their time and place
obviously, okay? But if you go to them,
yeah, you're going to sound more
educated. You're going to sound like
more people like more people are going
to look up to you because you're you're
got a very, I guess, advanced level of
speaking, but less people are going to
understand you. And to me, un
understanding is more important at the
end of the day. Anyway, again, this is
not a justification. This is just me
rambling to the camera. I hope you guys
have enjoyed this video. I'll see you
all next video. FEEL FREE TO KEEP
[ __ ] ON ME DOWN IN THE COMMENTS
SECTION. I [ __ ] actually enjoy it.
Um, it's actually part of Australian
culture. You know, self-deprecation,
massive part of our culture. I also
heard it's part of the Argentinian
culture. Is it part of your culture? Let
me know down in the comments section as
well. I'll see you all next video.