Road Podcast

“ HOW I BECAME ”
FLUENT IN ENGLISH
 HOW I BECAME FLUENT
IN ENGLISH
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 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 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 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 Bye

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