地道英语表达｜How to sound like a nativ

This episode will be helpful for people who are having conversations in English but want to sound more natural. And you can do that by utilizing filler words. So, I’ll start by defining filler words. Filler words are words, phrases, or sounds that fill the gap in speech. So, the most common ones, which you probably have heard, are ‘Er’, ‘Hmm’, ‘Ah’. Thing like these are considered filler words. I know you probably have these in your native language as well. 

Native speakers of any language use filler words all the time even without knowing it, which means they are subconscious. These filler words are used subconsciously. This means the speak is not aware of what they are doing when they use these words. Therefore, using filler words can make you sound like a native, because you are doing what the native speakers doing. So, if you want to sound more natural, you can start practicing using filler words and building new habits. Another good thing to use filler words is that they can help you to buy time. ‘to buy time’ means to give extra time to think about the next thing you are going to say. 

For example, ‘Oh, what was that word? Ah…hm…’. Instead of being silent and looking confused, you can say something like ‘Er..hm…’ and this will show the other person that you are still thinking that they need to wait for you. So let’s talk about a few filler words that you can use. 

‘Er’ or ‘Erm’  额，呃

‘Er’ or ‘Erm’ are useful when you are trying to remember something. For example, if someone asks ‘What’s the capital of Peru?’, and you can’t remember right away, you can say ‘Er….’ and this will signal them that they need to wait for you. 

‘Hmm’  嗯

This filler words indicate that you are thinking about something. So if someone asks me ‘Hey, what do you want for your birthday?” I might say ‘Hmm, one million dollars’. Just kidding. 

‘Ah’ or ‘ok’ 

These two filler words usually indicate that you understand. For example, if someone tells me some new information, I can say ‘Ah, ah, ok’. These two words are often used interchangeably to indicate that you understand what the other person said.

‘You know’

This filler word is used when you are asking for agreement. This filler word can have two meanings depending on your intonation. 

When you say it in a downward intonation, you are asking for agreement. For example, if I say ‘You know, it’s raining today, so we should probably bring an umbrella’. When I say this filler words ‘You know’, I am calling upon another person and asking for agreement. 

When this filler word is used in an upward intonation, it is used to check for understanding. So, if you are not sure if the other person understood you, you can say ‘you know’ and sometimes this gets extended to ‘You know what I mean?’. And this phrase is often used at the end. You can use this one for checking understanding. 

These words are not used in writing and should be avoided in formal speaking. If you are giving a speech, usually people say that try not to use these words.