Live: How to become fluent in English | Techniques, Strategies and Hacks

Today we are going to talk about how to become fluent in American English.

You asked for this topic and I think it's related to everything that I teach.

Of course, I usually teach American pronunciation, but I definitely think that,

you know, being fluent increases your confidence,

your performance, and your ability to communicate.

And I think it's definitely related to what we discussed when we talked about

American pronunciation because it, you know,

both of them are essential for, um,

obtaining your goals,

or reaching your goals when it comes to speaking English clearly and

confidently.

Hi everyone. So I'm getting all these highs from New York and Chile and um,

and I have a lot of people here. Hi. Hi. Hi. Good to see you.

So I'm so happy that we finally started cause I had all these tech issues right

before we started. So I'm very excited about today's lesson.

So as you can see,

I prepared and I wrote down everything that I think and know about English

fluency, how to become fluent in American English in any language.

But today we're going to specifically talk about American English.

Now here's a thing.

This video is aimed for those of you who are not immersed in an English speaking

society. So, let's say, you don't live in the US or UK or Australia,

or you do live in those places, but you just,

you live in a community that is speaking your native tongue,

and that therefore you don't have a lot of opportunities to actually practice

English.

Or it's aimed for those of you who do live in an English speaking country,

but they are lacking the confidence to speak and to practice on a daily basis.

So maybe you guys are, would rather not speak,

not talk to anyone. And of course, you know when you do that,

there is no progress, and it's really, really hard to advance. Okay,

so again, this is not a pronunciation class.

This is how to become fluent in American English.

And next week we are going to talk about American intonation.

So, why is it so difficult to become fluent in American English? So,

first of all, it's because maybe,

maybe because you don't have opportunities to speak,

maybe people around you don't speak English. And here's the thing,

you have to understand that there is a huge difference between passive English

and active English. The way we perceive English,

the way we learn English or, you know, a lot of students tell me, "Look,

I read English all the time, I watch movies,

I watch movies with no subtitles." You know what,

all of these things are not going to help you become fluent because it's still

passive English.

What it does, it helps you understand English better.

But I bet that all of you understand English a lot better than you speak.

I bet that when you have to write an email or communicate via text,

it's a lot easier for you than to speak out your thoughts and to do it clearly

and fluently. Right, without pausing or getting stuck.

And then when you get stuck it's like a snowball, because you start speaking,

you get stuck and then you start thinking, "Oh my God, I got stuck.

What am I going to do?"

And then, obviously, from there on, you know,

you go downhill because the words are not available anymore.

It's really hard to concentrate cause you're thinking about, you know,

observing yourself and criticizing yourself.

And when you're busy criticizing yourself,

there is nothing creative happening up here.

So you can't even create a new sentence.

Okay? So it's all connected.

And this is why pronunciation is connected because when you mispronounce

something or you don't, you're not clear.

And then obviously that affects your confidence as well.

And that affects your fluency and flow. So,

understand that in order to improve,

you have to change the way you approach English from consuming it passively to

starting being a lot more active about it.

And I'm going to give you the exact tactics and practices today. Okay?

So understanding that, uh,

what we're going to do is we're going to talk about the tactics,

the actual exercises that you need to do daily. I have, I think,

five different exercises that you can do.

And then we're going to talk about the strategy,

how you approach your English training,

or how you approach your, uh,

achieving your goals and the, you know, what the,

the strategies that I'm going to give you,

I've taken from equivalent high performance methods,

techniques and um, and productivity methods.

Okay.

Cause I think it's pretty much the same cause you want to achieve something so

you have to follow something that actually works and make you better at what you

do. Okay. So, let's begin with tactics,

the actual exercises and practices that you can do on a daily basis to turn your

passive English into active, or your practice,

your passive practice into active practice,

and also help you improve i enhance your vocabulary and definitely your fluency.

Okay. So, uh, first of all,

you have to remember that listening is not enough.

You have to be speaking it all the time.

So if you don't have opportunities to speak, of course,

speaking with native speakers is the best practice there is.

But if you don't have this ability to practice with native speakers,

to practice with non-native speakers, right?

Just to practice speaking English. Remember that if you have partners,

spouses, kids, parents, friends that want to practice their English as well,

speak to them in English. It's not about their uh,

feedback or it's not about someone correcting you.

It's about the act of speaking out loud, of searching for the words. So,

let's say, you're having conversation with a friend and you get stuck,

and you search for the word, you're looking for it.

Maybe you can't find it in a given moment, but then later on you remember it.

The next time you'll have to use it,

whether it's a job interview or a conversation with someone more important,

or even a conversation with yourself, the word is going to be available. So,

don't underestimate the importance of practicing even with non-native speakers.

So of course, speaking as much as possible. All right?

Even with non-native speakers. When you don't have this ability, and again,

we are talking here about consistent daily practice,

then what you could do is first of all, read out loud.

Okay? So take a paragraph. It doesn't have to be a long paragraph.

You don't need to read now the entire book or article.

But take a paragraph from a book that you read, a news article, um,

a bio of someone that you really like, you know.

Uh, you know,

you read something about something that interests you on Wikipedia. Okay.

And just read for five minutes out loud. Why out loud?

Because in order to, to get ownership over English,

you have to see it, hear it, okay,

and feel it. Feel it in your mouth. Okay.

So just reading it is not enough. So read out loud. That's one thing.

Another thing. How do you improve your day-to-day, um,

ability to think in English?

So you have to practice consciously thinking in English.

What does that mean?

It means that if you're in your car or at home waiting for a bus or train,

and you have time to spend,

then just force yourself to,

to trans... not translate,

but just think about what you're seeing around you,

about what you need to do in English.

"Now I need to wait for the bus." This is,

this is me speaking out your thoughts, right? So, first of all, just think it,

if that's too complicated, just, you know,

look at whatever's around you and then, you know,

think about it in English. It's going to, it's not going to be as elaborate as,

as expansive in terms of like, you know, it's not going to be very uh,

um, complex. All right? It's not going to be a complex thought and that's okay.

But think in English.

Force yourself to reduce your thought and just speak in the words that you're

familiar with. If your English is better and you can, you know, uh,

comprise long sentences than do it. If you're alone, and that's the second step,

speak your thoughts out loud. So speak, speak as much as you can,

even if it's just speaking to yourself. So, for example,

speak out your, um, stream of consciousness.

"Now I have to go buy some milk. Then I'm going to go to my, um,

my friend's house and pick up the dog because I need to walk him,

I promised I would walk him." Okay, so just speak out your thoughts,

even if it's not perfect. You're alone, you can make a mistake.

The interesting parts are the places where you get stuck. Okay?

Cause then you know what's missing. And then because you're not in conversation,

you don't owe anyone anything, especially not their time.

So you can just allow yourself to take the time, think about it and just,

you know, repeat it. Again,

repetition is extremely important when practicing something because you train

your muscles, you train your brain,

and you start to get more comfortable with it. Okay?

When you try out a new word, it may feel uncomfortable,

but if you say it 50 times and you use it in 50 different sentences,

then you make it your own. And that's what we're here for, right?

To make it your own. So, you know,

you get stuck - be happy about it because this is an opportunity to learn

something new. Now, that's another tactic, okay.

So read out loud, think in English, and speak in,

speak out your thoughts. Okay? So, thinking in English is okay.

Like I think it's not as effective as speaking out your thoughts.

If you have an important conversation to make,

then you can also simulate the conversation. Okay?

So you can just pretend as if you're speaking to that person and say everything

that you have to say in English,

even though maybe the conversation is going to be in your native tongue,

it doesn't matter. It's a good opportunity to practice,

practice a dialogue or conversation. So by the way, I see all of you commenting.

I promise to look at all your comments in just a little bit ,once I'm done with

all the tactics, okay? So I don't lose track of what I want to say.

Okay? So after all of that,

you can also practice echoing. Some people call it shadowing.

I like calling it echoing.

It's like when you listen to someone and you just echo whatever you hear. Okay?

So for example,

you can listen to a podcast or a TED talk or an NPR news item,

play it and just repeat.

So maybe you won't understand everything because you're also concentrated,

concentrating on speaking whatever you're hearing.

So you're probably losing a lot of information while doing it.

But it's a great opportunity to improve your flow, okay.

To trust that you can, you know,

say full sentence without stopping. Also,

it improves your intonation patterns and improves your pronunciation patterns.

Okay, so this is all in your general field.

So this is another great, great exercise.

Imitation exercises are even better - where you play, you know,

a line of a video of someone that you like. For example,

you can even do it here as I'm speaking. Pause the video.

Well not if you're watching it live, you guys watching it right now,

but if you're watching it afterwards, you can listen to a sentence,

pause and repeat whatever I'm saying. You can do that.

The best way to do it is like with scripted videos like TED talks.

This is why it's so, so effective because you have the transcript.

So you can listen to one line pause, repeat while reading it.

Okay? Again, you get used to the sounds, you understand where you get stuck.

And when those moments of understanding of,

of understanding and detecting what your issues are are the places where you can

improve and prevent yourself from getting stuck.

The next time you speak. Okay?

So it's all about the small pieces that will enable you to see to be in the

bigger picture. Okay? So, uh,

that's about speaking and practicing. Speaking.

What about vocabulary? Right?

We all struggle with our poor,

mediocre or not insufficient vocabulary, right?

We all want to expend our vocabularies need to, I feel that I have, you know,

I have a nice vocabulary.

But it's always nice to expand it,

to be able to use fancier words when I'm trying to express something,

especially since there are so many different words to express.

Almost the same thing with subtle nuances and it's great to have that strong

grasp. Again, ownership, I want to own what I'm saying.

I want it to be as precise and as um,

articulated as possible.

So, to improve vocabulary,

the best way to go about it is to make a list, all right, on your phone.

That would be the easiest and the most, it has to be simple, right? Don't carry,

you can carry a notebook, but only if you really use notebooks.

If you don't use notebooks usually, and use your phone,

then use an app or use notes on your phone,

and then just write down the words. But it's not about writing the words. Okay?

So, it's not about just understanding what words you want to learn.

Whenever youl have a new word that you want to add,

let's say you just read a transcript, read an article.

And you came across this word and you're,

not every word that you don't understand you have to add to the list. No,

there are so many of them,

and then it's going to be overwhelming and you won't do it eventually. Okay? So,

the idea here is to really take words that you know that you'll be using,

that you need to use, that you're missing. Okay?

So be particular about the words that you choose to put on your list.

Only words that are easy for you to pronounce at first stage that are,

um, that are important for you to use. Right?

And that you know that they're not these weird,

rare words that no one uses anyway. Cause that happens,

especially when you read some newspapers. Like the New York times,

for example. Some of the words there are not used on, like,

it's amazing to read and it's amazing to know these words,

but if you listen to people speak, no one uses these words on a daily basis.

So that's just a side note. Okay, so,

take the word and write it down,

but write it down the way it's spelled,

but also write it down phonetically. For that,

you can just listen to it on Google translate or go to dictionary.com.

And then there's also always the transcription.

The way it's written phonetically, the way I write it in my videos.

So it's really, really effective.

So write it down the way it's supposed to sound. Okay.

So it's not just about learning to read the word,

it's about learning how to say it.

It's more important to know how to say it than to know how to write it to become

fluent, to be fluent. Okay. Remember that. So,

once you write it and then you use it, you write it phonetically.

You want to say it a few hundred times. No, I'm kidding. But um,

just say it like 10-15 times to develop muscle memory so your mouth remembers

it. But then you always, in order to remember it,

you have to use it in context. Okay?

You have to say it in a few sentences that you create,

not sentences that you read in the dictionary.

You take the word and you invent a sentence using the specific word.

Not one sentence, at least three.

Okay. And that's very important. That's how it sticks. That's how it stays.

So you read it a few times just to get the muscles working here and to remind

your mouth how to say it. So you make sure you don't get stuck pronouncing it.

Once you know how to pronounce it, you need to brand it in your brain.

And the only way to do it is to use it in context,

in new content that you are creating. Okay?

So that's my way of learning new vocabulary. Also,

don't try to memorize a hundred words a week. I mean, you'll be able to do it,

but, you know, I don't know what's going to happen three months later.

Are you really going to remember those 300 words or 100 words? I'm not sure.

But, if you decide to study a word a day,

then you have seven new words a week, about 30 words a month.

And that's quite a lot. But I'm not, it's not a lot if you think about it.

But if it's actually 30 words that you,

you're using and you're feeling confident to say, then it's a lot. It's a lot.

Take small steps. A year from today, you know,

you'll thank yourself for taking those small steps cause then it's sustainable.

Also, and that's the last, uh, practice technique. Uh,

you can always record yourself. Viewing your work, okay,

think of athletes on the field, right?

A football player or soccer player playing. How they,

the way they learn is by observing their performance and then knowing what they

need to improve, and then trying it next time.

Correcting the mistakes that they did,

or improving whatever they were doing great, okay.

So know your strength and your weakness,

your strengths and your weaknesses. Okay.

And the only way to do it is by recording yourself. Cause sometimes,

not sometimes,

we never sound to ourselves in our brain the way we actually sound in real life.

And the closest thing, uh,

for that would be to just listen to yourself after speaking.

So for example, after, you know,

you think in English and then you speak to yourself, you can record yourself.

And then when you record yourself,

you can listen to it and then notice where you get stuck.

And then ask yourself, "Why did I get stuck here?

Was I looking for a word here?" And if you were,

google and search for that word and put it on your list, okay.

If you got stuck because you couldn't pronounce something,

learn how to pronounce that word or that specific sound,

that is giving you a hard time. Okay. And as I said,

sometimes the only way to do it is by listening to yourself.

And recording yourself is a great way to do that. Or making a video. Okay.

So these were my tactics.

And before we move on to strategies, let me see. Ooh,

we have a lot of comments here. Let me see what questions we have.

Now, guys, since, um, I don't have all, like,

I can't, okay. "This is the first time I watch you live." Okay, good. Um,

"how to incorporate quality words in speech." Okay. Maybe, um,

uh, higher words,

words that are a little more that are not common words.

So I think I just gave you that, um, the way to do it is, for example,

if you have a word that you're using all the time,

go to the dictionary or a thesaurus and look for synonyms.

Look for were equivalent words. Okay.

And then if you find a word that you like and see that it's,

it actually means the same thing or similar thing,

then you can put it on your list and use it in the, uh,

the way I explained when you're practicing your vocabulary.

"How can I join your fluency course?" I don't have one.

I have a pronunciation... I have an American accent training course,

and it opens in April, but you'll hear about it when,

okay. Um, "there is no one to practice with". Okay.

So I was talking about that you have to create situations to practice.

Either speak... Again, like,

so if you don't have anyone and not even your friends or your non-native

friends, then just, you know,

pretend like you have people around you and practice English.

Read out loud and um, and speak out your thoughts.

"I went to school and then"...

Okay, so I have some more complex questions.

I'll try to answer them in the comments later on.

Okay. Cause I really want to get into, sorry, count.

"Is this possible to speak English in a native tone with no accent for 20 year

old Chinese student?" Yes, Charles. Charles is asking,

"is it possible to speak without an accent?" Uh, it takes work.

So I was 20 when I moved to New York and I had an accent.

Um, and my English was definitely not fluent. So, "yes" to your question,

it is possible, but it takes work and you need to know what to do.

Um, and um, so I have, you know, I can say more about that,

but the, the answer is "yes".

I do have something to say about

this need to sound American. Okay.

So I think a lot of things are changing nowadays,

and also American's perception and acceptance of foreign speech of a foreign

accent.

Now I'm going to make a video about it because I've been thinking a lot about

it, how people perceive it and what are the goals of American accent training.

So I worked on my accent because I wanted to reduce my American accent.

I wanted to eliminate it actually.

But I find that nowadays it's not about speaking American English with no

accent. It's really about mastering the,

the, the,

the essential features of American speech, the performance of English,

right? And, and it's not about speaking without a foreign accent,

but understanding a few elements that will help you be clear and confident,

and to communicate in a way that won't pose any barriers when you speak.

I know it's a little vague, what I'm saying.

So I'm trying to clarify my thoughts around that,

and I'm going to make a video and talk about it soon.

But even when you're thinking of, um,

even when you're thinking of working on your accent and improving your accent,

remind yourself that it's okay to have a foreign accent when you're working.

It's not about having a perfect American accent.

It's about being super clear and obtaining all of these elements that are

essential for clarity and clear and direct communication.

Okay? Just keep that in mind. Um, okay.

Let's talk about strategies. Uh,

so when you are practicing your English,

remember that it has to be consistent. Okay?

It has to be consistent, and it has to be sustainable.

Consistent meaning every day, 10 minutes a day, 15 minutes a day,

and sustainable. If it's 10 minutes a day, it will be sustainable.

If you're saying, "Okay, now I'm going to take whatever Hadar is saying,

or whatever all my other teachers are saying,

and I'm going to practice an hour and a half every day". It's amazing.

But I, I'm asking you,

are you going to be able to keep it for, you know,

a period of three months, six months?

If that's the case - amazing.

But I work with people who are very busy. Everyone's busy.

Okay. We have a lot of things on our plate: life, family, work,

other ambitious ambitions and uh, and hobbies.

So sometimes English is not at our top priority. Um,

and in order to really make a change,

you have to make it sustainable. Okay?

So I would recommend 15 minutes a day,

and making it daily. Okay?

You can do it six times a week and take one day off. That's okay. Now,

when you're doing that, I want you to think before practicing,

I want you to set yourself goals for that practice. All right?

For that daily practice. Meaning, like,

just like in productivity methods, think of the big three,

the three main points or the three main goals that you want to reach from

today's practice. So for example,

learn new word or use a new word in sentences. Um,

be able to express,

tell a story freely and confidently.

And maybe the last thing would be, I don't know, uh,

to pronounce well words with R. Okay?

So that's your goal from today's practice. So for example,

let's say that you read out loud for seven minutes and then you come across a

word. Okay?

So you take the word and put it on your list and then you do everything that we

talked about.

You write it phonetically and you say it out loud in certain phrases.

So that would help you check off goal number one.

Goal number two, introduce your...

or be able to speak something,

speak about something without getting stuck. Okay? So then I would probably say,

"okay, let me try and introduce myself for a minute and a half".

And I would do it over and over and over again,

like three or four times until I'll be able to do it fluently without getting

stuck. Because, you know, I get stuck a few times, but then I overcame it.

So I just checked off a number two.

And then "pronounce the R properly".

Then I would go to a YouTube video,

or read a text again and make sure that I'm pronouncing every single R,

or just learn how to pronounce it.

The next day look at your goals from the day before.

Were you able to accomplish all those goals? If not, then add it as...

add those who those that you didn't accomplish in your new list and add new

ones. Okay? So you can carry the same goal every single day until you check it off.

But make sure that you are very focused and you know what you're trying to

achieve, okay? That way you'll see results, you'll see immediate results.

And immediate results help you to gain confidence, okay?

And when you gain confidence, everything's a lot more available and free,

and you become more fluent.

Because fluency is a result of confidence,

practice and knowledge. Knowledge is easy, okay? You can just learn it. You,

you know, you go to a book and you learn it,

you go to a YouTube video and you learn it.

Practice a little more complicated because it takes more of self-discipline,

and time, and motivation, and self-talk, right?

So that's something, but you can accomplish it.

Confidence is a result of the first two,

And also understanding that it's okay to be self-conscious.

It's OK to be afraid. It's okay to, um,

to be concerned about how you come across. But when you practice,

and when you repeat things, and when you do it,

you don't just open a book and learn it. But you just, you know, you are very,

you're goal -oriented, and uh, you have the right tactics.

That's how you develop your confidence. And of course,

that affects your fluency. Okay?

So it's not, there's nothing wrong about you.

There's nothing wrong about how you're learning and, well, wait.

There's nothing wrong about you and your ability to understand English or just

speak English. It's just,

I think the problem is in your learning techniques,

in motivation. You have to find the right motivation. Why you're doing this,

right? You have to get motivated. You have to motivate yourself,

and remind yourself that this will help you reach your goals. And every time,

cause it's boring. It can be boring to read, you know,

a paragraph out loud, right? But every time you lose track,

every time you or you know, you don't feel like it,

remind yourself what your goals are: get a better job; move, you know,

relocate to a different country; um, I don't know,

communicate in English better, Communicate with your spouses better,

communicate with your kids better. Okay. Remind yourself your goals.

It will give you the 'why'. And when you have the 'why',

it's a lot easier to do everything else. Okay.

Especially if it's very specific. So,

If you remember that there is nothing wrong about you,

then you will know that you can do anything.

And then just approach it in a way in, in, in, in,

in a way that is organized, and it's precise, and it's specific,

and it's focused, and you will see results.

And I mean results within, I don't know,

two weeks. All right? If you do it daily, I guarantee. So,

here's what I want you to do. Um, I'm,

I'm going to have to end it soon cause it started a little late. Okay.

I have to read all those comments.

You guys are writing such beautiful things here. Um, okay.

Okay. So I'll read it afterwards and I'll comment, uh,

later on on your comments. I'll comment on your comments,

but I have to wrap it up because I do have a lesson coming up in just a few

minutes. So, a real lesson here, back here in my studio.

I have some students coming in.

Um, by the way, if you want to watch more of what I do and, um,

see my students and my, uh, videos in, um,

in real life, you can follow me on Instagram @hadar.accentsway.

I would love to see you there.

And you can also ask me there all the questions that you have.

If you haven't received a question here,

then you can definitely jump over to Instagram and ask me anything you want.

I'm super available. So, uh, to wrap it up,

uh, I just wanted to say that, um,

you remember that when you don't have the...

that passive English is not efficient, not effective,

you have to turn everything to active English.

You have to understand that fluency is a result of confidence, practice,

and knowledge. Okay.

And these are three things that you can accomplish easily knowing the right

tactics, and, actually, blocking out times to do it. Okay?

That strategies - reading out loud, speaking out loud,

recording yourself, uh, echoing and imitation exercises,

and the strategies of practicing every day for 15 minutes,

10-15 minutes a day. Make it sustainable, make it consistent,

and it will be effective.

And always think of your three goals that you want to achieve for every single

practice. And remember that observing your work and, and,

and learning from it, and changing something small...

It's about the small things, the small changes really matter.

Okay? So you don't say to yourself, "Oh, I only learned one word today",

but you learned one word, okay? And tomorrow you'll learn something else.

That means that three months from today you'll have 90 new things that you're

actually using, right. You're actually using.

And that's pretty amazing because it's not about the, tomorrow,

it's not about what happens tomorrow. Not when it comes to speaking fluently,

and not when it comes to improving your accent.

It's about what happens a year from today. Remember that?

And always remember your 'why'. Okay. So in the comments below,

please tell me what your techniques, what your practice techniques are.

Uh, how you will, how you improve your English.

If you have any other ideas that can help our community to improve their,

uh, people's English.

And if you feel that you have questions, that something's not clear,

or if you are using these tactics and strategies and you're feeling the change,

please share it with us here below. Okay.

Below this video and online workshop, you'll see above there.

So it's the theaccentsway.com, and then you'll see online workshops.

And then you can just, um,

you'll find a form there where you can write in your email.

And you'll be the first to be notified when I launch my,

the new round of the Accent Makeover course. Um, so you can do that.

And then, uh, and if you're subscribed to my list,

whether if you've gotten my Mispronunciation, uh, uh,

page. So I have like the 50 most mispronounced words in English,

so you can get an audio and the list. And I have an Accent Crash course.

I recommend you to go, um, take it. Okay, so go to my website.

It's right there. You'll see it.

You can subscribe and you'll get like a series of emails where I discussed

different topics of the American accent. Um,

and if you're subscribed to my list,

you'll know when I'm launching my new course. Um, okay.

So I think that's it. Thank you so much for watching.

Thank you so much for participating, and I will see you next week. Well,

tomorrow I'm, um,

I'm going to upload a video about how to say 'bourgeois'.

So, um, make sure that your bell is on,

so you get the notifications when I publish the video.

And next week in the live lesson, we're going to talk about American intonation.

That's it. Someone stop me. I can't stop this video. Bye.