If you’re learning English, YouTube videos are one of the best resources for boosting your listening and speaking skills. But since English is so widely used, different people around the world speak it differently, making it tough to choose where to focus.
As a language learner, it's often best to stick to one accent, and I personally prefer American English. If you feel the same way, stick around! I'm sharing the YouTube channels focusing on American English that I found to be super helpful for my own language journey.
1. Learn English with Bob the Canadian: Everyday Vocabulary
I really love the videos from Bob the Canadian.
He usually posts 2-3 videos a week, and what makes his content stand out is how carefully he chooses the vocabulary and phrases for each video. He arranges the content and expresses it in a nice, clear way, which allows viewers to learn many different ways to express their ideas.
For example, ordering food is a vital survival skill if you live in an English-speaking country. Bob had a fantastic video on that, How to Order Food at a Restaurant in English. I learned several native expressions from it, so next time I travel abroad, I won't feel nervous or even embarrassed when placing an order.
2. Rachel's English: American Pronunciation Deep Dive
Rachel's English does an excellent job of analyzing how Americans actually pronounce and speak in daily life. She covers the stress and pitch of sentences, dropped sounds, and much more.
I benefited a lot from these specific videos. In her Study English | American English Pronunciation video, she gives a super detailed analysis of a scene from the TV show Friends. I learned, for instance, how the 'H' sound in the word "she" can be dropped, or how "excuse me" can be pronounced as "scuse me" —the list goes on and on!
If you plan to master American English pronunciation, you absolutely need to check out Rachel's videos.
3. English At The Ready: Building Fluency and Confidence
English At The Ready focuses less on grammar rules and more on helping viewers become truly fluent when they speak English.
While they do post videos on vocabulary and phrases, I found they were most helpful when it came to encouraging me to just open my mouth and start speaking. Their video, Why you can understand English but can't speak, explained that even native speakers are constantly making mistakes and that most native speakers won't judge us. This encouraged me a lot to start speaking English more often.
4. Speak English With Vanessa: Learning by Context
Speak English With Vanessa is another great resource for learning new vocabulary and natural phrases within specific topics and contexts.
For instance, describing different things in a grocery store is effortless in our mother tongues, but do you know how to do it naturally in English? Vanessa has you covered with her Grocery Store Vocabulary: shop in English video.
Side note: We probably learned the word "supermarket" when we started learning English, but it seems like native speakers (at least in North America) tend to refer to them as grocery stores.
5. Learn English with Jessica: Animated Conversations
Learn English with Jessica has created a variety of engaging animation videos about everyday conversations. These videos are aimed at improving your general English knowledge and skills.
You can learn everyday vocabulary and conversations while practicing and improving your listening and speaking skills along the way.
A Quick Recap: From Watching to Speaking
These five YouTube channels helped me tremendously, and I watched a lot of their content.
However, I soon realized that merely watching videos wasn't very effective on its own. When I tried to speak myself, I often couldn't recall the right, native vocabulary to use.
That's why I developed LanguagePuppy. It’s a Chrome extension and web app that lets you easily take notes on new words and phrases as you watch these videos. More importantly, you can quickly review them later while you're commuting or have a few spare minutes.
Install the ExtensionAlso, I'd love to hear your recommendations! What are your favorite English YouTube channels? Feel free to share and comment below!