Hello everybody. Do you want to become fluent in English? Are you frustrated because you've
been studying English for years, but don't feel like you're improving? Or have you
recently started learning English and want to make fast progress? If you answered yes
to any of these questions, keep watching this video. I'm going to try to keep this video short and
sweet, because although there are lots of different things you can do to improve your language skills,
this video is about one general concept that can be applied in several different ways. If you're
new to my channel, don't forget to hit "subscribe" so you don't miss any new videos. I mean, it's free so
why not? Another thing that's free are my email lessons, which I send out every two weeks.
These are not for beginners. They're for people who already have an intermediate to advanced
level and want to get to a very advanced level. If you'd like to receive those, you'll find the
link in the description. And now to the topic of the video: getting fluent. Firstly, what is fluency?
Well, people have different definitions of fluency. In my opinion, being fluent means being able to
listen, speak, read and write in most situations without it feeling like a big effort. It also
means being able to express yourself quite accurately without too much hesitation.
For me that means having a good B2 level or a C1 level. One thing I should say is that
fluency does not mean perfection. It also doesn't necessarily mean proficiency. Being proficient in
a language means being able to do most things that a native speaker can do. Including writing
essays and reading novels without having to rely too much on a dictionary. Most people would say
it's reaching a C2 level. Being fluent is a step down from that, but it's still pretty good. Okay,
and now I'm going to reveal the big secret to getting fluent fast. Are you ready for it?
You sure?
Okay, the key to getting fluent fast, in my experience, is to use the language as a tool.
No, not one of those tools, Frank.
Was that an anti-climax? Well, I'm sorry to say that when it comes to
language learning, you're never going to find a miracle solution like a magic pill or something.
But let me explain what I mean by using the language as a tool. This essentially means
using the language to understand things and/or express yourself, and not just seeing the
language as a theoretical subject that needs to be studied. When the language becomes something that
is allowing you to do something else - when it becomes secondary, so to speak - that's when lots
of people see the most progress. I could give you many examples, but I'm just going to give you a
couple that have stuck in my mind over the years. When I was in Indonesia several years ago, I met an
Indonesian girl who spoke amazing English. When I asked her how she learnt her English, she just said:
video games. I also remember meeting a guy when I was in Germany who was Croatian, but almost sounded
like an American native speaker. When I asked him why his English was so good, his answer was:
movies. In fact, he was in Berlin for a film festival. He was just crazy about movies. Some
people might say that watching movies is very passive and that it's not going to help your
speaking, but in my experience, people who listen to English a lot over a long period of time
usually don't need a lot of practice to improve their speaking. So yeah, don't underestimate the
power of regular listening practice. One example from my own life is when I went from high school
to university and all of a sudden my French and German classes were taught in French and German.
I also had to write assignments in those languages, and not just short passages on my pets or
what I did on the weekend. My language skills started to improve quite quickly.
What are some other examples? Well, one obvious example is putting yourself in a situation
where you're going to speak to people in English. That might be by spending time
in an English-speaking country, or perhaps working in an English-speaking environment.
But yes, I know not everybody is able to do that. However, we now have this wonderful thing
called the internet. Here are just a few things that you can do on the world wide web.
Join online communities and participate in discussions. By doing that, you might
also make friends with people and then have spoken conversations with them.
Take an online course in English on a subject that interests you. And in case you're thinking
"that's expensive", well, lots of online courses are actually very cheap.
For example, courses on Udemy or Skillshare. And some online courses are even free,
for example, on the website Coursera. I'll put the link in the description.
And as I mentioned before, there's also the option of playing video games. I don't really play video
games, so I can't recommend any specific ones, but I know that the ones where you wear a headset and
need to talk to real people tend to be the best. I gave the example before of the girl in Indonesia,
but I've actually heard lots of other people say that they improved their English by playing video
games. There are other things you can do it really depends on what your interests are, but the most
important thing is to find a way to incorporate English into your life so that it's a tool
for doing something else. I hope you found this useful. If you did, don't forget to hit
the thumbs up. And if you have any other ideas on how people can use English or any language
as a tool, please leave a comment in the comments section. See you next time!
... by using the language...
... using the language...
And as I mentioned...
Now I'm going to relea...
Most people would say it's having a T...
Did I just spit?