This is why your English is NOT improving

Hi, everyone! Welcome to  English Lessons with Kate. 

Today we're going to talk about  the things you should STOP doing 

If you want to reach fluency in English. 

So if you have been learning English  for a while and you wanna make progress, 

this is the best video for you. Please don’t forget to like  

and subscribe to my YouTube channel. I’ll be overjoyed to see you come back.

You probably know a lot of things that you NEED  to do in order to improve your language skills. 

But what about all those things that  DERAIL your progress in English? 

Things that you should STOP doing 

if you want to be fluent  and express yourself freely?

The first thing you need to STOP  doing is stop studying the language

Let me explain. Studying is the wrong thing to do 

if you want to make progress in English  and speak fluently. I'm totally serious. 

You can never speak a language by just  studying it, no matter how much you study. 

Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t  tell you to stop studying at all. 

When we study, we learn vocabulary, we improve our  grammar skills and of course, our level improves.  

Through watching videos and TV shows we  develop our understanding more and more. 

But when it comes to a conversation it turns  out that we can’t remember words and phrases  

or can't use the words properly, so we can’t  express our opinions and share our thoughts. 

Learning a language without putting it into  practice does NOT help you to make progress. 

The more you know without  application of that knowledge,  

the more you feel unskilled and helpless. 

Learning to speak a language is  like learning to ride a bike. 

You can't master it by studying parts of a bike. And you don't learn to ride a bike by watching  

videos of other bikers. You learn by doing! 

Watching a lot of content on YouTube  doesn’t help you to make progress. 

Reading books and listening to podcasts are  good for comprehension, but it’s not enough  

for being fluent in English. These ways of studying are  

passive and they do NOT advance you. They're NOT going to help you speak better. 

Doing these things only is  not the way to reach fluency. 

Start using what you’ve already known  instead of just watching English content. 

You need to PUSH yourself forward. You need to focus on active ways of  

learning – SPEAKING, reading out loud,  shadowing, and talking to yourself. 

I'll tell you about the most effective ways  of learning English in my upcoming video.

And the next thing that you need to stop doing  is STOP wanting to speak like a native speaker. 

You need to get rid of the desire  to sound like a native speaker. 

A lot of time I see these headlines “Speak like a  native speaker” or 'Sound like a native speaker". 

In fact, native speakers learned to speak a  language as a part of their childhood development.  

They were born and raised in an English-speaking  environment, and they learned to speak by  

listening and imitating what they heard. And you have been learning English for a  

particular period of time. So what makes you think 

that you have to speak and  sound like a native speaker ? 

As a result, native speakers and you  are at completely different levels. 

English pronunciation can be difficult to master. And it requires a lot of hard work, and 

When you compare yourself to native speakers, You’re kind of feeling you are not good enough. 

You shouldn’t expect to speak  perfect and sound like a native! 

You should make your accent clear enough that  other people can understand you when you speak. 

I’m not a native speaker and you may  notice that I have a slight accent. 

And I work on improving my  pronunciation every day. 

But the only thing I want is to  sound clear and to speak like myself. 

Being a non-native speaker is  not a trouble, it's an advantage. 

Speak confidently, it doesn't  matter if it's with an accent.  

What really matters is how you feel about  yourself and deliver your messge to people.

The next thing you should STOP doing 

if you want to be fluent in English is STOP being afraid of making mistakes. 

There is one important thing that you need to keep reminding yourself. 

Everyone makes mistakes – even native speakers do. Haven’t you ever said something silly in  

your mother language, for example, a word that  doesn’t exist? Of course you have. We all have. 

Just think about it! The point is fear of making  

mistakes's holding back your progress My friend tells me that she hates  

speaking up in the group because she feels that her groupmates  

will laugh at her and probably judge  her for her pronunciation mistakes.

By the way, her spoken  English is actually very good,  

but her fears and insecurities  are holding back her progress. 

So where does this fear of  making mistakes come from ? 

Maybe the reason goes back to your school days  when you studied English sitting behind a desk. 

That was a fear of being judged by  a teacher or getting a bad grade… 

And now you have to completely  change your mindset. 

You don’t need to worry about  saying something incorrect. 

The most important thing we should  keep in mind all the time is 

that making mistakes is a  natural part of learning English. 

So eliminate your fears. Stay  positive and learn from your mistakes. 

Michael Jordan said “I’ve failed over and over and over  

again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” So don’t be afraid to fail and speak as much  

as you can. And you will succeed. The next thing you should STOP doing 

is STOP missing any opportunity  to express yourself. 

A lot of people think that they  haven’t practiced enough and their  

level of English is not good enough. When the opportunity comes they feel like 

“I’m not gonna speak now because  I’m not ready yet for speaking!" 

"I’m afraid I’m not prepared yet!" "My English is so bad!” 

If you run from every possible  chance to practice speaking English 

you will never improve. Let’s say you are in Video Game Voice Chat, 

and somebody asks you a question and you’re like: “Oh I don’t know  

what to say, I’m not gonna speak.” And this is the biggest mistake! 

Stop waiting for a good enough  level to start speaking. 

You have to start before you are ready.  Don’t be afraid to join in the conversations. 

If you get an opportunity to  speak English, just take it. 

Don’t worry about failure. Just do it! 

As a matter of fact, those  people who challenge your English 

help you improve yourself  and become a better speaker 

Just throw yourself in conversation and DO it. Take any opportunity to speak and communicate. 

I know it may be scary, because you get out of your comfort zone. 

But it’s the only way to grow  and make progress in English. 

And the last thing you should STOP doing  is stop negative thinking about yourself. 

Every time you speak English and  think that you sound funny and stupid 

you hold yourself back. 

These negative thoughts don’t help you improve. They just derail your progress. 

You have to remember that fluency in  English is not about being perfect. 

It’s about interacting with the world. It’s  about expressing yourself and being yourself. 

Stay focused on what you want. Language is about connecting with people. 

Turn negative thoughts into positive. The only thing you need  

to do is reprogram your mind. Think positive when you start speaking in English. 

When you join in the conversation,  your mind is doing like this: 

What if I say something wrong?  What if I use the wrong word? 

What if I mispronounce words? What if, what if, what if...? 

Just replace those negative  thoughts with positive ones 

“I can speak confidently. I can speak clearly. My mind is focused on what I say.  

I pronounce English words correctly”. I know it seems strange, but it really works. 

Tell yourself that you become  a better speaker day by day. 

Notice your progress. It’s  so incredibly important. 

Appreciate yourself. Feel good  about yourself and your English.

Ok we’ve talked about the things  that DERAIL your progress in English 

If you found this lesson useful, I’d love to know. You can tell me in two simple ways. 

Number 1 – give this lesson a thumbs up and subscribe to this channel 

so you don’t miss any of my lessons. Number two – if you have a friend 

who is also working to improve their English, share this video with them. 

Thank you guys for watching. Have a wonderful week! Bye!