Consider the following phrases: Do you know what I mean? Whether you like it or not. Bizarre though it may seem. They all have the same thing in common: you don't have to construct them. You just say them.
These are sometimes called stock phrases or lexical chunks and the reason why they are so popular amongst advanced foreign language learners has to do with the fact that (as I explained in my previous post) they allow us to speak without thinking because, in a certain way, your brain can't tell the difference between a chunk and a very long word. If you think about it, it makes sense, doesn't it? After all, how are you is a three-syllable sequence just like Hawaii. Pronouncing the first sentence is every bit as difficult as articulating the place name and those who don't speak English might not see the difference between a phrase and a word. I still remember the time a student asked me what festival I kept going on about in a class. lt took me a while to realize that she had misheard the expression first of all.
The great thing about lexical chunks is surely that they allow a learner to sound natural, but there's also a less talked about advantage: chunks also help you speak faster and, therefore, more efficiently. I know what you're probably thinking. Saying a simple sequence like how are you is far easier than uttering a really long sentence such as I wouldn't go so far as to call them sleazy. Still, the key to saying those two sequences lies in the same skill: your ability to master transitions. In the video below I explain just how you can do that.
