How I became Fluent in English @The Story We Write

this video is brought to you by Skillshare hey guys welcome back to our channel and if you're new here then welcome I'm Anna how I became fluent in English and how long it took me these questions are among the most frequently asked and recently they started snowballing so I feel like when people start asking the same question over and over again it's time to address the issue so in this video I'm setting out the exact things that I did in steps that I took on my way to fluency because while I'm not hiding anything from you it's not a secret everything that has been done is out there for you to watch because I have talked about all these things in my videos but I can direct you to all those 50-plus videos and say oh just watch all those and you know what I'm done that's why I'm making this video on the question how long did it take me to become fluent I answered and one of my posts on my Instagram page so I invite you to check out my Instagram page and read it and also you can watch this video by clicking the link above my head and you'll find all these links in the description box but in a nutshell it took me somewhere between a year and a half and two years to get to a very good level of English now one important thing that I have to mention I don't live at an english-speaking country and I've never even been to any english-speaking country my husband is not a native speaker I do have some native speaking friends now but I didn't have them in the beginning or in the middle of my journey why am I telling you this because people make all sorts of assumptions about me for instance they say that all my advice is blah and that my experience doesn't matter because I was privileged to grow up or live in an english-speaking country so I just want to make this clear I wish I was that privileged believe me and as I wrote in that Instagram post my journey started when I had my son I wanted to change my life completely and I wanted to show my child that following her passion and dreams is the way to live even if it's hard even when everybody else doubts you and wants to talk you out of it in my case and was starting a YouTube channel in English becoming an American accent coach and spending all my free time learning I figured out that the best way to learn a language for me is the most natural way I just analyzed how people learn their first language in the first place and started applying it to myself when you're just a baby all you do is listen to people around you talk you listen and soak up everything for a couple of years before you start speaking on your own so I started with my listening skills from that very moment when I decided to start working on my listening skills everything that I listened to and watched was in English exclusively was it easy definitely not at first my brain was boiling and it was overwhelming sometimes and I had to look up literally every other word but over time became easier and now it's a total pleasure to be able to say everything that I want in English I can talk to anyone and understand what they're saying without any problems you can start training your listening skills with something simple like educational videos in English you'll learn grammar or vocabulary and people usually speak slowly in those videos and explain things very well or you can watch your favorite TV show or a movie that you've seen before it's gonna be easier to follow something that you've already heard in your native language then start adding something else some programs news etc it's okay if you don't understand every single word you will over sometime and it didn't take me years it took me approximately seven months you just have to be determined and patient and this is key consistency patience and determination no giving up no second-guessing no stopping you have to realize that if you want to be able to use a language freely you have to sustain it all the time meaning using it hearing it and be ready to learn something new especially if you don't live in an english-speaking country second I started following people on social media who posts in English I was guided by my interests of course you can follow a cook a fitness instructor a life coach or a psychologist it's up to you but believe me you learn a lot simply by listening to those people daily and reading their posts I joined a wonderful community of non-native speakers on Facebook we had a challenge back then where we had to record ourselves speaking on different topics daily and post those videos in the community and that was where I started working on my speaking skills it was weird and uncomfortable at first but I really needed this to get out of my comfort zone and challenge myself and this method works wonders you record yourself and then listen to yourself speak catch our mistakes and fix them analyze the way you speak and introduce a topic and organize your thoughts and again over some time you'll become a lot better at this also we get feedback from other members which is very helpful as well and this is for free so why not to try but you can do it in your own believe me it works number four I wrote down new words expressions phrasal verbs idioms grammar rules everything that I wanted to learn I used five thick notebooks it helped me a lot there's something about it when you're write by hand you memorize things better I don't have the need to do it anymore but I still always have a notebook with me just in case also I wrote some stories and came up with sentences using new words or tenses that were difficult to understand and I had some sort of a diary where I wrote down my thoughts in English and that was the moment I started working on my writing skills number five I signed up for an accent makeover course I know that for a lot of people pronunciation and accent doesn't matter but to me they matter a lot I think that if you like language and you learn it and you want to speak that language with other people you have to work in your pronunciation to be clear of course but also out of respect for that language and for the people you talk to and I just love the American accent and love to work on it and work my pronunciation that's why I'm an American accent coach now I had some lessons on cambly every once in a while especially when I had some questions that I couldn't find answers for and for speaking practice as well this is not sponsored I know courses and private teachers are pricey they were and are pricey for me as well I had to save money to take an accent course I had to save money to have some private lessons as well on my birthdays or other holidays all I asked for as a present was money to have some lessons as I was a mom and maternity leave and I didn't work number seven I took part in different online speaking clubs to practice my speaking number eight I spoke and still speak in English with my husband and son which wasn't easy at the beginning as well however I really wanted to teach my son English and that was a huge motivation and I'm so happy that I did this I needed to talk to my son with a good accent good pronunciation correct grammar use proper words and the ability to explain things to him and that made me study even more and let's say that was my insidious plan to raise my own conversation partner I've really gotten into writing and I did a video and this link will be in the description or you can just click the link above my head to watch it and I started writing even more after reading this book everything's figure out a bowl by marie forleo and it'll make a review on it for sure i started my youtube channel in english that was super helpful and super hard at the same time I needed to get ready for filming do my research figure out what to talk about and how to talk about it number eleven I started posting on my Instagram in English I mean posts and speaking stories now whenever I go somewhere when I'm on my way I listen to some podcasts in English and I read a lot I mean a lot and I did a video on this the link will be down in the description but I listen to podcasts and read mostly about psychology and self-development but not only my interests are diverse I took some courses in English but not English courses because you know there comes a time when you realize that you don't need another English course you need to level up your game to be able to grow again when you're at that point when it's already boring and just consuming your time without giving you any noticeable results you can take a course in English according to your interests so those courses were and are on something that I'm interested in and want to learn and this also helps you to immerse yourself in the language even more I know it sounds scary because you're not sure if you know enough and if you're actually ready to use your English in the real world outside your classroom your apartment or your mind but believe me you're never gonna feel that you're ready so just go for it and learn as you go it's gonna be an exciting i opening and maybe even mind-blowing experience and let's go back to Skillshare the sponsor of today's video that i'm sure a lot of you have heard of Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of inspiring classes from experts in different areas including writing that i mentioned earlier and i really love a lot of those classes also video making if you're thinking of starting your YouTube channel but don't know anything about making videos you'll find these classes on video making and video editing very useful also it's a great way to improve your English since these classes are in English just choose a class according to your interests it's a win-win situation and Skillshare gives our subscribers you guys an opportunity to try out their classes for free so the first thousand of my subscribers to click the link in the description and join this learning community will get a two-month free trial of Premium Membership that gives you unlimited access to all the classes if you are a curious person and you've been thinking of learning something new or looking to expand your knowledge and some area I think it's a great way since it's very affordable compared to some courses or private classes it's less than ten dollars a month with an annual subscription and it's very convenient because you can learn any time now let's get back to my narrative I had pronunciation and accent lessons with a private accent coach and finally I started teaching I'm an American accent coach there's really not only one thing that I can point to and say oh I did only this one thing and became fluent in no time it's really a basket full of things that I've done and still do a lot of them even now every single day this is my way to keep my English and good shape that's what works personally for me it all depends on your goals in terms of time consumption I also get frequently asked how much time I study and practice my pronunciation each day and how much time I spend studying English I can't give you the exact number of hours because I practiced and learned as much as I could and I spoke and speak English literally every single day that's why I always say do as much as it is possible for you like even test your limits was that easy no it wasn't it's never easy at the beginning it's a process that you have to adjust to and it takes time and if you feel like your brain is boiling melting and leaking out through your ears it's totally normal it'll pass in my case I didn't have and I don't have any days off any excuses I do these things everyday English is part of my life and I am very strict with myself and I'm not saying that you have to be strict with yourself or do the exact things you know this is just my experience everyone's different we all have different goals but at the same time I do know what it takes and I can give you some tips and tell you what steps to take on your way to fluency why I did this and why I do this where in English the answer for me is very simple just because I want it because I feel like doing this and because I enjoy doing this I'm doing this for myself and not to impress anybody else or make anyone else happy I don't know I'm having a hard time explaining this but whenever I hear English speak English use English it feels so right and natural for me and I'm sharing my experience and knowledge sincerely and I hope that it's useful for someone you know up until like three years ago speaking English seemed absolutely impossible for me but now here we are although I do not consider myself completely fluent in English I still learn something new every day and I'm totally fine with this I like this because I think it's a lifelong journey thank you for asking these questions at first I felt like who cares about me my journey but as I said after these questions started snowballing I decided that it's time hope my little journey helps you with your learning journey and gives you some ideas on how to learn English basically on your own well that's it for today if you enjoyed this video and you like our content subscribe if you aren't yet turn on the notification bell and hit the like button and I'll see you in the next one bye and it works Stevie Wonder's [Music]

Channel: English Fluency Journey

Views: 1,139,020

Keywords: english fluency journey, how i became fluent in english, how to become fluent in english, how to become fluent in english very quickly, how to become fluent in english speaking, how to speak fluent english, the story we write, how to improve english, how to improve english speaking skills quickly at home, how to improve english speaking skills at home, how to improve english speaking fluency, how to improve english by yourself, how to learn english alone

Id: BwCm-pxq8PQ

Length: 14min 30sec (870 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 05 2020