Hello and welcome to LetThemTalk the channel that goes deeper into everything about the
English language One of the the most common questions I get
as an English teacher is "How long will it take me to speak English fluently?" and although I don't
really like this question because people shouldn't be thinking about some abstract point in the
future rather than focusing on learning something today I do have an answer.
And the answer is that if you start learning from scratch, from nothing it will take you 10,000 hours.
Now obviously, some people learn a little quicker than others, some people have good strategies
for learning. Such as watching LetThemTalkTV which is an excellent choice by the way. But on average
it will take 10,000 hours which is approximately 10 years.
Depending on the number of hours you spend learning each day.
Now this figure is not something
I made up myself it comes from an excellent book by Malcolm Gladwell called Outliers.
I do recommend it. And of course he wasn't talking specifically about learning English
but what he does say that any complex task and when I say a complex task I mean things
such as learning a musical instrument, becoming a successful tennis player, learning your job, learning
a language consistently take about 10,000 hours before you become really good
He believes that talent is overrated and really it's mostly about hard work.
Take Bill Gates for example. Computing genius? Well probably not
But what he did do was spend thousands of hours learning how to program
as a kid while most of the of his kids of his age were watching TV and hanging
around on street corners.
Now you can look at this in two ways. Firstly you can say. Oh no! 10,000 hours. That's a long time I can't
possibly dedicate so much time to learning English (or whatever it is you're doing).
You can give up. Which is what most people do most of the time. Perhaps like me you've
started learning a musical instrument and you get discouraged because you're not making
progress as easily as expected and you give up. I started learning the guitar many years
ago and because I couldn't play like Jimi Hendrix after a few weeks I packed it in.
Most people who begin learning a language fail.
Have you ever started learning a language other than English and given up? I know I have
most people who begin learning the piano
don't get very far. Most people who start doing a sport don't become very good. But
some people will push on.
The other way to look at it is as something quite liberating. Talent plays just a small
part. Most of success is hard work. Whatever you age, your background or situation anybody
can learn a language. We know that's true because you've already done it once. If you
are constantly learning constantly acquiring knowledge adding new words adding new grammar.
You will succeed whoever you are. Or you can be like the other 90% that give up. It's your choice.
You can do anything just don't expect to be good in a short time
The whole language learning industry is predicated on failure
Most people won't succeed.
I see books, and online courses that say. "Learn English in no time
and without effort".
"Learn English is 10 minutes a day while you're in the bathroom."
Well I'm sorry to say that that is nonsense. It will take time,
it will take effort but you'll enjoy it and in the end (well there is no end really because
you always carry on learning) you'll see it is worth it and will enhance your life
and even help you in your professional career as well.
And then you can call yourself a fluent English speaker. And remember
that this rule is not just for learning a language so whatever you want to do
you need to get inspired be committed and focus and do the necessary work
and that's it so
thanks to Malcolm Gladwell I'll put a link in the description to his book if you
want the read more. (by the way it's not an affiliate link it's just a good book).
And what do you think? Do you agree with the 10,000 hour rule?
Does it inspire you or does it depressive you?
Let us know in the comments.
And thank you for watching stay mellow and I'll see you in the next video