Hello! How are you doing? I'm so excited to talk to you about why you
should become fluent in English. Maybe you've thought about why you want to
become fluent in English language. Maybe you haven't thought much about it.
Maybe you've just been studying, because it's something you are required to do or you think
you should do, but maybe you haven't thought much about it.
Well, if you have or haven't, either way, this episode of Go Natural English is going
to present some ideas that are probably new, you probably haven't thought about.
And so, I'm going to share with you my reasons why I think English fluency is the best thing
that you can do for yourself. So, I've made a lot of notes, so I'll be looking
over at them while I talk to you. So, a lot of people talk about why you should
become fluent, and I think there are some basic reasons that you probably already know.
I'm going to say these, and you're going to think, "Duh. Yeah, I know that."
So, for example, freedom of communication. English is the language of the Internet, the
language of science, medicine, technology, travel.
You can find out a lot of information in English. As opposed to, perhaps, if your native language
is not as widely used as English. So also, English can give you a lot of opportunities
to travel abroad, to study abroad. When you travel, you might want to use English
to communicate with people who speak other languages.
Maybe English is their native language, maybe it's not.
Did you know that there's more people in the world that speak English as a second language
(or third, or fourth, or fifth) than people who speak it as their native language.
I just think it's a fascinating fact. So, English is really the language that we
use to connect with each other internationally. So, if you want to travel the world and work
abroad, or study abroad, or meet people from different countries, English is the best way
to be able to do that. I was lucky that I was born into an English-speaking
family in an English-speaking country, so I have English, but I've worked really hard
to become fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, I can speak some French and Japanese, so I know
what it's like to learn another language. Also, English, of course, is really helpful
for your career. Most careers will benefit from speaking English.
If you work with international colleagues, if you have to travel for work, if you have
to do research for work, if you're selling things to people in different countries or
doing marketing (I mean I could go on and on, and on), if you work in tourism of any
kind, if you work in a hotel, restaurant, giving tours or anything like that, really,
your career is going to benefit from English. Think about if you want to go to a conference
overseas, you're going to benefit from knowing English.
So, all of these things so far, you're probably thinking, "Okay, Gabby. I've already thought
of that. Really, what's new?" Well, I'm going to share my not-so-obvious
reasons for becoming fluent in English. And before I do that, I want to talk to you
about levels of fluency in English. Because I think that fluency in English means
that you can do what you want to do in English. So, if you want to order coffee, for example
(I just got a coffee myself, so that was the first thing I thought of).
I ordered my coffee in English, because I'm here in Bangkok actually, and I don't speak
enough Thai to order my coffee in Thai. But I did learn how to say "Hello" and "Thank
you". But anyway, I said, "Could I please have a
coffee?" So, "Could I please have a coffee?"
Was that five, six words? Well, for that moment, I was fluent in English.
I did exactly what I wanted to do. But I wouldn't say that I was speaking advanced
English. I wouldn't say that I mastered English with
six words. So, I want to encourage you to master English
fluency, because mastery leads to true freedom. Mastery leads to true freedom.
When you master the English language and you're able to communicate more complex ideas and
express yourself and your opinions in most or any situation, that will give you freedom.
Low fluency, for example, only knowing six words necessary to order a coffee, will mean
that you miss out on a lot in life. If you're around other English speakers, and
they're having a conversation, you're going to miss out on what they're talking about,
you're going to miss out on the meanings. It happened to me.
Ten years ago, I was traveling in Brazil for the first time, and I knew a lot of Spanish,
I was pretty fluent in Spanish, but my Portuguese was very, very basic.
And I pretended that I understood a lot of conversation, but honestly, I didn't.
I barely understood what people were talking about.
So, I knew that I was missing out, and actually, that motivated me to become more fluent in
Portuguese. So, if you feel like you're missing out on
a lot of the English happening around, maybe on conversations, maybe on TV or in movies,
or on the news, that should motivate you to keep going and to master English fluency.
Don't let it stop you, but use it as a fire to keep learning.
So, when you have low fluency level in English, you're going to misunderstand, you're night
think people are talking about one topic, but they're actually talking about another,
or you might think their opinion is one thing, but it's actually something completely different,
so you might miss the point. Now, this is really dangerous in work situations
and social situations too. For example, if someone's giving you orders
that you need to complete or asking you for a favor, asking you to do something, or if
they're sharing their opinion with you, well, you want to understand their point of view.
And if you misunderstand or you pretend to understand, like I did, you can really get
yourself in trouble. So, you want to work on your fluency so that
doesn't happen. Some people won't be patient with you when
you have low fluency level, especially if they speak your native language, they'll probably
just try to switch to your native language instead of waiting for slow English.
This might sound harsh. I'm a very patient person, I think, but even
I would get a little bit impatient if I have to wait a long time or if I have to ask several
times, "I'm sorry, I didn't understand." So, I just wanted you to know that with low
fluency, you're going to lose friends. I'm sorry it sounds a little bit harsh, but
you're going to lose opportunities to talk to people who may not have the patience.
Now, maybe you don't want to talk to those people anyway, because maybe they're mean
or they don't have enough patience, and you want someone who's nice with a lot of patience.
But even nice people, very patient people, may feel like it's difficult to talk with
you if you have a low fluency level, because it takes more time and effort to understand
and to hold a conversation with you. So, really work on your fluency so that your
friends or your future friends will be able to speak with you with confidence and with
good energy going back and forth at a good pace.
Now it's okay if you start out slow, we all start out slow in a second language, but this
should be motivation to keep building your English skills and to speak at not a fast
pace necessarily, but a normal pace, not so slow that people lose patience.
I'm just being honest. I don't want to be mean, but it's the truth.
I don't want to lie to you, I want to be completely honest and motivate you to get really fluent
in English. Also, if your English is low, if it's a low
fluency level, you have a low level of English, you might feel bad about it.
It might lead to a lack of confidence, and you might feel like you have a lack of options
and less independence than if you have a mastery of English language.
So, here at Go Natural English, I primarily help intermediate English learners reach advanced
fluency. And that's why I think you should really work
on advanced fluency, because I see the difference that it makes for my learners in Go Natural
English premium courses. So, really work on our advanced fluency, because
if you're having a low level of fluency, you're going to be depending on other people to give
you information, depending on other people to be patient with you, depending on other
people to break down their message or information so that there's no misunderstandings.
So, when you have a high level of English fluency, it's going to give you more freedom
and more independence, meaning you don't have to wait for other people or hope that other
people will help you. So, if you want to be an independent person
and if you want to help other people, maybe you have friends who are learning English
and their fluency level isn't as high as yours, well then, your mastery will help other people.
And isn't that what we want to do? We want to help each other.
Now, knowledge comes from English. It comes from being able to research in English,
talk to people in English, connect with new people, network, find out information.
English is an excellent tool to do that. So, of course, you need many things.
You need people to talk to you, you need Internet, you need materials, like books, documentaries,
but English is a really big tool to be able to grow your knowledge and educate yourself.
And knowledge equals power. When you have information, you have the power
to make informed decisions. And that will change your life.
So, English is life changing. Having a high level of fluent English will
give you knowledge, power, freedom, independence. In my book, these are all good things, these
are things that I highly value. Now, when you speak English fluently, you'll
be able to speak with anyone else who speaks English confidently.
Now, I know how hard it is in a social situation to speak a second language.
But when you have that fluency level, then you don't have to worry about "Oh, is my English
going off or not?" You just go out there and start talking to
people. Also, it allows you to be more independent
and more helpful to other people who may or may not speak English as well as you.
So, think of English as a tool for independence, freedom, knowledge and power.
English is a tool for unlimited growth. I've mentioned a few different ways that you
can use English to grow and develop your life, develop personally, professionally.
English is not just a tool for your career or your social life (I mean, those are huge
things), but English itself is actually a work-out for your brain.
I don't know if you know, but there's several articles.
I've just read one (I think it was in the New York Times) that talked about how knowing
a second language, learning a second language actually keeps your brain strong.
And so, as you age, you are more likely to keep your brain healthy if you know a second
language. And, of course, I think you know ...
One of my worst nightmares would be not to have my brain powers, because that really
drowns your life. You want to have your brain power.
So, English is a great work-out for your brain. I believe in working out your body and your
brain. So, as you learn English, it stimulates your
brain. So just that on its own if you never speak
English, just learning English, playing with it, practicing it, will help your brain.
But of course, I want you to speak to, because speaking English will develop your confidence.
Being able to express yourself and have other people understand and like what you're saying,
agree with what you're saying will maybe challenge you and offer some food for thought.
This is ... I think that can develop your confidence,
being able to interact with people, communicate, connect.
You can learn from a lot of resources that are only available in English.
I remember one of my students who speaks Arabic told me that when he was looking for information
on-line, for example, in Wikipedia or other sites, the Arabic information was very small.
But the information in English was very big. So, if you want information, learn English.
Not saying it's fair, not saying it's right, but it's the truth.
Now, you can connect with your kind of people anywhere in the world.
So, not only you can use English as a tool to get information, but you can also use English
as a tool to connect with the right people, people who have similar values as you, people
who do the same job or have the same profession as you.
Maybe if you want to learn about a new career, you can reach out to those people.
You can find people who enjoy the same hobbies as you.
I've met a lot of people on-line who enjoy travel like I do, and we communicate in English.
So, I think community is one of the most important parts of life.
Nurturing a community of people that you respect, admire and love makes your life wonderful
and beautiful no matter where you are in the world.
But you need tools to do that, you need to communicate to do that.
And English can help you to find your kind of people.
Especially if you're from a small town or a small city where you feel like you don't
belong, if you feel a little out of place, use English as a tool to find people like
you who understand you. And trust me, it's a good feeling to be understood.
Not only in English, but your personality, your values, everything.
So, one last thing about English that I love is that my learners have told me time and
time again, "Gabby, when I speak English, I feel like a new person.
I can create the personality that I want. It's like I'm reinventing myself. I can become
a new person. I can turn over a new leaf. I can start from
scratch, a blank slate. And when I speak English, I'm speaking to
new people, I'm using new words, new phrases, different body language."
And so, you can choose how to express yourself in English and what kind of person you want
to be in English. So, if you've ever felt like you want to start
over or you want to change something in your life, English is a great opportunity to do
that. And English, just like it's a tool to find
out more information about the world around us, around you, it's also an excellent tool
to share your voice with the world. I believe that you are unique and awesome,
and you have an important story to share with the world.
And I want you to use English to do that. I don't want you to keep your story inside
just for people who speak your language. I mean, please, use your language to share
your story too. Don't get me wrong, that's great.
But English is a great tool, i's a very useful tool to get your opinion, your voice, your
story out into the world. So please, use is as a tool for that, for
your freedom, your independence, for your knowledge, for your power, to connect with
your community, to be confident and to share your voice with the world.
So, those are some reasons why I think that you should learn English to a very high fluent
level. Not just basic English, not just intermediate
English, but advanced English. If you agree, than please, like, comment,
share. If you disagree, let me know what you think.
Subscribe to Go Natural English on YouTube and the podcast to learn more about English
language learning. Thanks so much for joining me.
I'm really honored to be able to speak with you.
And I'm looking forward to talking to you again soon.
And ... Oh, one last thing I almost forgot.
You can come to GoNaturalEnglish.com/7steps to learn the Go Natural English method for
English fluency which is very important for this episode.
And it's a free course of seven videos that share seven steps to fluency with me at Go
Natural English. Alright, I'll see you there
Bye for now.