Fluent in English: The TRUTH about Fluency

If you’ve been learning English for years watching a lot of video lessons, 

reading books and magazines in English, 

taking online courses and having  classes with private teachers 

and you are still NOT fluent this video is definitely for you.

Hi, English learners! I’m super exited that you are  

watching this video now. My name is Kate and 

I’m here to help you improve your English fluency 

In this video I will tell you how to become fluent in English step by step

Fluency is the ability to speak a  foreign language quickly and easily 

To be fluent means to feel  comfortable with the language 

to speak smoothly and reply  without pauses and hesitation 

If you’ve been studying English for  years and you are still not fluent 

I have great news for you: 

You CAN improve your English. You CAN be a fluent English speaker. 

I’ve made a Pyramid of Fluency to show you 

what are the main component parts  of the way to reaching fluency

So the Pyramid of fluency is a triangle divided into 7 parts 

The first part is Awareness When we are aware of something 

that means that we know it very well 

Awareness in learning English  is a deep understanding 

WHY you learn the language. It’s highly important to know your main reasons 

Why you need to study English. May be you want to travel around the world,  

meet people from other countries or you want to live and work  

in an English speaking country No matter what reason you have 

you should set your learning goal Some people study English without  

having any obvious reasons for it just because they love the language 

But it’s essential to identify your  personal goals and be aware of them 

When you have a certain purpose you put  more effort to the learning process. 

Set a big goal and create small daily goals As for me, I always write my daily  

learning goals every day and track them during the day 

So awareness of your learning goals is vital and you should write down your  

plan for reaching a big goal and identify that small steps towards this goal

The second part is the right mindset Have you ever been disappointed by your  

progress in learning English? Have you ever felt frustrated  

by struggles when speaking? I’ve been there 

when I talked to a native speaker of English,  for the first time I didn’t understand anything  

and I didn’t know what to reply to him. I felt embarrassed and I couldn’t  

remember key words when I needed them, so it was a really awkward situation. 

And the only thing I could say,  was: “Excuse me for my English” 

And I was really frustrated and after that asked myself 

“I’ve spent so much time studying English but I still can’t speak, what am doing wrong?” 

There were a lot of frustrating negative  thoughts about myself and my speaking 

but one day I realized that those  thoughts didn’t help me improve 

When we tell people “My English is  bad” or “Sorry for my English” 

we start believing it! And  this is the biggest mistake. 

And the answer is – We need  to have the right mindset 

Positive thinking is the  key to the learning process 

Mindset is all about the way you think. The way you think about yourself and your English 

The right mindset is a deep belief that we are able to improve our skills, 

we are able to grow and become  better speakers than we were before. 

Try to change the negative  thought with a positive one, 

for example, instead of  thinking: “My English is bad” 

tell yourself “My English is not perfect, but  it’s getting better and better, day by day” 

Do you feel the difference? Be positive about yourself 

and enjoy the process of learning Don’t think about mistakes and fails 

Stop those negative thoughts in your head You can do it! 

The next step is hardwork A lot of students ask me 

What is the best English course  to take to become fluent ? 

Can you tell me what to do to  become a confident English speaker? 

Can you tell me how to understand English  movies and TV shows without subtitles? 

And when I suggest taking a native speaker’s  

course – they respond that it’s too expensive. When I suggest recording themselves - they  

respond that it feels funny and stupid. When I suggest preparing reports for  

speaking – they respond that it takes too  much time and they have NO time for doing this !

So they have so MANY reasons why  they CAN’T WORK ON their ENGLISH.

I think it’s obvious that no one would  help you to become fluent but YOU.

You CAN improve every single  day by doing hard work 

Learning a language is always a hard work. Fluency is not something that happens overnight, 

it’s not something that happens fast and easily. It takes time and it takes a lot of efforts. 

When we’re working hard we are growing. We are making progress only if we are working hard.

When we overcome struggles in learning English , we definitely improve our language skills. 

The struggles with listening and understanding, the struggles with conversation in English, 

the struggles with grammar points that  you don’t have in your native language. 

And now I have a question for you: What are YOUR MAIN struggles in learning English? 

Please share your story in the comments. So the important part of moving towards fluency 

is Hard work 

You have to invest your time and  your energy in the learning process. 

Your efforts and regular practice will  certainly help make you fluent over time.

The next part is Consistency. Consistency is very important  

if you wish to get great results  and become fluent in English. 

Consistency creates discipline. So after setting your study goals,  

and creating the right mindset, you should make a schedule for studying. 

Making a schedule is an  extremely helpful thing because 

when you start following it you  are more efficient with your time. 

Practice on a daily basis! For example, on Monday you listen to podcasts and  

read the transcripts, working on your vocabulary, on Tuesday you read a book in English and  

try to retell the story from the book, on Wednesday you watch video lessons and 

repeat words and phrases to work on your pronunciation. 

And so on… One hour, two hours,  

three hours per week is NOT enough. If you really want to be fluent in English 

you should practice every single  day, no matter where you are. 

Also, consistency helps you stay highly motivated and be focused on your goals all the time.

The next part is confidence. 

Being confident is a powerful state of mind. That means we feel worthy and value ourselves, 

we trust in our abilities and qualities. When we believe that something’s possible 

we can achieve great results in any  field and, of course, in learning English. 

And it’s essential for an English learner  to speak with confidence and sound confident. 

I’m telling you this because Over the past few  

years I have developed my own confidence. I remember the time when I was literally shaking  

with fear when I started speaking in English and I had a strong fear of public speaking, 

because I was too afraid to make  mistakes and when I made them 

I thought “It’s probably something wrong with me” It’s really difficult to remember all the  

vocabulary and verb tenses when  speaking and sometimes we can make mistakes. 

Mistakes are part of our  life. Everyone makes them. 

Making mistakes is the best way to learn. If you’ve made a mistake just correct  

yourself and move on. Don’t worry about it. 

Another important thing is that the more we get experienced  

in something, the more our confidence grows, especially when it comes to learning a language.

But there is always someone  more advanced than we are !

So don’t compare yourself with others.  Comparison is just a waste of time! 

Focus on your goals, do your best and  believe in yourself. Be kind to yourself. 

The next part is interaction. Interacting with other people is 

the most effective way to start speaking fluently, because when we communicate to each other,

we have the opportunity to  use English successfully, 

and we can share our thoughts  and express our ideas. 

So to speak fluently, we should practice that particular set of skills, 

I mean social skills –  effective verbal communication. 

The important social skills we need  to interact with each other are: 

Active Listening Turn-Taking 

Correct Reacting Polite disagreements 

Through the process of interaction, you learn to  share your ideas and being able to solve problems. 

Use any opportunity to talk to people. You don’t have to practice your English  

with native speakers only. You should also have  

face-to-face interaction and communication  with other students who are non-native speakers, 

because it will be more comfortable  and you can use simpler vocabulary, 

speak more slowly, use simpler  grammatical structures. 

In this way, the interaction process makes  possible both understanding as well as learning. 

There are so many online English classes and you can interact with your  

teacher and other students using your phone or laptop. 

So, find the classes which are appropriate for you  

and interact to students from all over the world. 

And the top of our Pyramid is Fluency – the result of  

awareness, the right mindset, hard work,  consistency, confidence and interaction. 

So you see that fluency requires a lot of practice. So believe in yourself and don’t give up! 

That’s it for today. Please leave a comment below. 

I’m so curious to find out about you and your experience of learning English! 

Thank you for watching ! If you found my video useful, 

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