How long does it take to learn to speak English Fluently? | Go Natural English

421,562 views ・ 2018-09-10

Go Natural English


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Hey naturals, what's up? It's Gabby Wallace from gonaturalenglish.com
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Here to help you with your English fluency and today
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I'm finally answering one of the most popular questions that I've ever gotten
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This is a very frequent question that I get all the time, which is how long does it take to become?
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fluent in English
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And most teachers will tell you it depends which is a true answer
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It does depend on a lot of things. But today we're going to go even deeper into that answer to understand why it depends and
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what it depends on so that you can make an informed decision and
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Know what you're getting into on the road to English fluency
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So if you're interested in that then keep watching just before we jump into
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The answer to this question if you are ready to work on your English fluency
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I highly recommend that you get the English fluency formula audio ebook that I wrote for you putting together all of our best tips
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Here at go natural English in one easy to download audio ebook. You can click right up there to get it or both to gonaturalenglish.com
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slash ebook
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Awesome. So it depends this is probably the most frustrating answer ever. Am I right? No one likes to hear
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It depends it leaves you waiting wanting to know more like well, it depends on what just tell me
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So first of all, okay, I'm gonna talk about three points today. We're gonna talk about what this question really means
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we're gonna talk about how long it takes to become fluent in English and
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how to
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Actually use that time better so that you can learn
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Faster because I was reading online
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About the maximum number of languages like the world record of languages that one
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Person can speak fluently and I learned this guy
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odd fahza from Lebanon
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Apparently speaks 59 languages fluently. Yeah five
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959 languages and I'm like, where did you get the time to learn all those languages because
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supposedly now, this is a
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spoiler but supposedly it takes
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1,200 to learn a language fluently
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So I want to know how Ziad has all this time to learn 59 languages and we're gonna talk about that
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okay, but going back to
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The first point what this question really means because I think when you ask this question, you're not really asking
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How much time it takes to learn a language fluently what you're really asking is
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Is it worth it?
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is it worth it is the time I put into learning the language actually worth what I'm going to get out of it or
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Maybe you're really just asking because you want to know how much time it's gonna take and you want to know if you have time
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but
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this could change your thinking if
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you actually
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understand how to use your time better and
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You become fluent in English faster using the tips that we're going to talk about today
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So if you want to think about is English worth it to learn
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well
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Let's think about it. English is a global
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Language that you can use when you travel when you're researching or learning about new things when you meet people from other countries
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it's a language that you can use in your
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career in most people's jobs
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it's gonna help you to know English or to get a new and better job and
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Three learning English is just really good for your brain. It's like a workout for your brain
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It keeps your brain young and beautiful. Look at your beautiful brain. Yes, your brain speaks English, okay
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so also becoming fluent in English is a
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Process so it's not like something that just happens overnight
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It's not like, you know getting a Christmas present where it's like ooh now I have it where before I didn't have it
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It's not like that
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I think a lot of us are trained to think of English fluency as something we get when we pass a test and
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Passing that test has a specific date after I passed the test. Whoa, I'm fluent in English, but it's actually not that
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Simple it's actually
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Better in a way because it's an ongoing process and each day that you study is
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Like putting money into a savings account
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Into your bank account so that when you need to use English you can take that
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Savings or that English study time out and use it. Okay, and you might get to a point where you feel like
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well
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I used all of my English savings and you need to study more or you need to
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Save more English in your bank accounts. I
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Think you get the comparison I'm making right?
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That's when you need to keep pushing yourself to become more fluent in English
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When you notice there's some discrepancy between the amount of English that you want to use and the amount that you have in your English
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Savings account. Okay, very good. So now let's talk about this number 1200 hours
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I told you I let the cat out of the bag how many hours it takes to become fluent in English?
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This number comes from research online from the common European framework
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for learning languages
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Which has six levels from beginner a one to mastery or fluency C two and each of these six levels
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supposedly takes 200 hours of study to complete
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so
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This is an average guys. This doesn't mean that for you. It's gonna take
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1200 hours it might take more it might take less and this depends on a few things
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I'm gonna talk about three main points that this number depends on
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Okay, first are you familiar with how to learn a language? Have you ever learned another language? Do you speak another language?
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Have you studied in another language? Have you taught another language?
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I know for myself that with each language that I study and also the more that I teach language
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I've taught English now for over 17 years. Oh my gosh
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So with each language that I learn and teach it becomes easier and easier because I understand
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How to do it so it's kind of like cooking
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I think when you learn your first recipe ever and you're like, oh my gosh, I can make spaghetti
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This was so hard, but I did it, you know
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It becomes easier each meal becomes easier and you can get creative and make own recipes
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Anyway, I always end up talking about food because I'm always hungry but back to how long it takes to become fluent in English
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So it depends on first of all, if you know how to learn a language
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So what I try to help you guys out with is understanding how to learn the language. I'm
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Not the kind of teacher who only uses you grammar rules or vocabulary or direct information. I do that too
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but I also love to teach you about how to learn the language because that's gonna help you speed up and
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Minimize the number of hours that it takes to learn English fluently. So and also help you learn any language right second
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Let's talk about how you use these hours
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there's a huge difference between a focused hour of study where you're just immersed in learning English and
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An hour of study where you're not really sure
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What you're doing or what you should be
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Looking at or what materials to use or maybe you're looking at some good English materials
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But you're also looking at your cell phone your text messages your Facebook your whatsapp
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Instagram blah blah blah if you're not focused those hours are not
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counting so you can't just open an English textbook and
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Like go eat a hamburger and watch an hour pass and you're like, oh well
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That's an hour of studying English because my book was open, but you weren't really actually
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Applying yourself or focusing so your focus. Your attention is super important and it's a challenge
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I'll admit it, you know
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It's a challenge to say focus and in the last several years the average person's attention span has
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decreased significantly
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Because we're so used to fast paced media on social media on
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YouTube it's true. Everything is getting faster
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So we have to work harder to really focus and apply ourselves to learning new skills
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Just know that you have to make that decision to focus and do the work in order to reap the benefits
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Of English fluency and number three those 1,200 hours are going to go by a lot
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Faster if you get help
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Feedback. So if you get help to know what you should be studying in what order and a guide and actually get the right materials
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That will help you because you won't be spending that time looking for materials or trying to plan your own
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Study plan or your own syllabus if you can get help with that by taking a class
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Maybe the go natural English course that will help you a lot and feedback is super important because you don't always know
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What you don't know you just don't know what you don't know, right?
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So if you're learning English and you keep making the same mistake
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Or you have the same doubts each time you make a certain sentence. You're not progressing
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You're not getting feedback. You're not getting corrections, and you're not improving
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So it's totally okay to make a mistake
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But you don't want to make the same mistake over and over and over just because you didn't know that you were doing it
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So get help and get feedback. It's going to really speed up your learning process a lot
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Also, the good thing is if you're watching this video
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You are not a complete beginner
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If you're watching this on understanding most of what I'm saying?
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You're not a complete beginner you're already at the intermediate level in English
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So that means that that cuts the hours that you need for
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fluent speaking in English to probably about half about 600 hours now if
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You are super focused and you have lots of free time
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You can probably reach fluency in English in about mmm six months if you're studying about five hours a day
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So we're doing some rough math here. But if you're a
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normal person who has a job and has family they'd like to see and
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Friends, they'd like to see and other hobbies and taking care of yourself and etc
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Doing other things in life besides just studying English full time
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It'll probably take you a little longer maybe a year if you're studying a couple hours a day. So the reality is it takes
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time but
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one thing that we do a go natural English is try to make English a part of your daily life because we need
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Focus study time but we all Sony time where we're using
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English on a
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Day-to-day basis where we're making it part of your life
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Because even if you study five hours a day
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You need time to process English to live with English to make it a habit
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To feel comfortable with using English as part of your life
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I don't know if you've ever studied really hard for a test
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then you take the test and you pass and then you forget everything because you just
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Crammed so hard and you didn't actually internalize
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What you learned? That's what can happen if you try to cram English into a very short time
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So we try to develop good habits to make English a part of your life
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That's part of the go natural English method is that you're not only learning English?
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You're learning to make it a part of your life
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so
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learning English in small bursts throughout the day in five to fifteen minute bursts are it's really good for people who are
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Busy and also who need to stay engaged with English if you lose your attention easily learning in small
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Bursts will be best for you. So tell me in the comments how much time each day
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Do you?
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Focus on English how do you know how long it's gonna take you to become fluent in English?
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Well first you have to know what level you want to be in English
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So, where do you want to be ask yourself that question first? What is fluency to you? And
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Second. Why do you want to become fluent in English?
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So you have to know the reason why in order to stay motivated?
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Because it takes time and there are times when it will be challenging and you might feel like giving up but knowing your reason why
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Will help you to keep going so you know where you want to be now
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you need to know where you are today and then measure the
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space between where you want to be and where you are today and
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How many hours of study will that take?
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so with the common European framework
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It takes 200 hours to get from one less to another so if you want to advance
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your English to the next level think
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200 hours as an average
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Amount of time that it will take to improve your fluency
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So then think about how many hours per day or if it's less than an hour per day?
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I think about how many hours per week. Are you able to?
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Study then divide the number 200 by the number of hours
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you can study per week and there you will have the number of weeks or the amount of time that
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It will take you to reach the next level in English
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So do the math to plan backwards from your goal and here's the thing
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Those people who focus on the amount of time that it takes are
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Usually not going to be as successful
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Because you're not focusing on enjoying the journey. You're just focusing on the goal
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The thing about English is that it is a journey and we have to use English as we go
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It's not just a matter of
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passing a test or
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Waiting for 200 hours to pass
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It's an active process of achieving fluency as you go. So the most
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Important part of becoming fluent English is not counting
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How many hours it will take or asking how much time will it take to become fluent? The most important time is?
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devising a good strategy understanding
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Techniques in order to become fluent in English and making English a habit and an everyday part of your life
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So that your living English and not just counting the hours that you are studying. Okay
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I hope this was helpful for you
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If you enjoyed this then please make sure that you are subscribed to make sure you're part of the go natural
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English group of subscribers here on YouTube and if you want to learn more of our strategies techniques and ideas for
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Practicing English to get fluent faster get the English fluency formula ebook click right up there
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Go to go to actual English comm slash ebook. Thank you so much for watching and I will you and another lesson soon. Mwah
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Bye for now
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