You may not know THIS about learning English...

we all know that for English language Learners  fluency can open the doors of opportunity it's  

a powerful skill to get a better job higher  pay to work abroad and do all of the things  

that you dream of in life well English is what  gets you there in many cases but there are some  

things that you should be aware of that you  might not know about learning English first  

of all learning English is a never ending  goal unless you set a very specific goal  

but the whole language is never ending I mean  there are native speakers that are still learning  

the English language right it takes time effort  consistency to build your English skills and  

you're never going to know everything about all  of English I mean there are so many different  

dialects in English there's Old English there's  Modern English it keeps evolving new words come  

into the dictionary every year there's so much  to know about English unending vocabulary culture  

history and that's why it's fascinating it never  gets boring for me anyway because there's always  

something new to explore but on the other hand  it can be overwhelming unless you set a specific  

goal and it's important to set a specific goal  for example using the common European framework  

of reference for language learning so that you  can have a goal for example of achieving the c  

one level next and then you work specifically  towards that that can help you to focus your  

energy and achieve your goals faster but it's  not always a quick process and you won't achieve  

your goals overnight you have to look at English  fluency as part of your life make it part of your  

everyday routine and a part of your identity some  people may underestimate the amount of time that  

it actually takes to become fluent in English the  intricacy and complexity of English grammar can  

sometimes be difficult even for native speakers to  grasp there's so many rules exceptions and nuances  

you may underestimate the level of grammatical  understanding that you need for efficient  

communication English pronunciation can also be  difficult especially if your learning background  

has been more focused on reading than on listening  because the way that English looks on paper is  

often completely different than how it sounds  when people speak it there are so many conflicting  

rules and just strange pronunciation because  English borrows words from a lot of different  

languages and then we borrow the pronunciation  but then we mess it up we make it more English or  

American you may struggle with specific sounds  clusters or patterns because of your native  

language and how it's not similar to English  but with time and perseverance you can certainly  

improve your pronunciation you might think that  memorizing thousands of vocabulary words will make  

you fluent that is not entirely true it's not  enough to just memorize vocabulary you have to  

know when and how to use it the context the Nuance  of a word when it's appropriate or inappropriate  

to use it idiomatic expressions are so important  too so make sure that you're considering all of  

this when you go to use all of that vocabulary  you've memorized and I highly recommend not just  

memorizing lists of individual vocabulary words  it's way more helpful in the long run for overall  

fluency if you memorize phrases as you would use  them in conversation let's talk about cultural  

context learning English is not just about  memorizing grammar rules or vocabulary as I  

mentioned it's about learning a whole new culture  sometimes more than one culture if you're learning  

English as it's spoken in the United States and  in England and in Australia and other places as  

well is really about cultural understanding when  and how do we use the language to communicate what  

we want to express the language we use can vary  greatly depending on the setting am I at work in  

an office am I making a presentation am I at  a restaurant with my friends or am I at home  

with my family the way I speak is going to change  change here's a big one a lot of English Learners  

think that just by consuming English content they  will become fluent your understanding will improve  

a lot however this is why when you go to speak  the cat gets your tongue and you are just Frozen  

because you're not doing enough active practice  active practice means speaking and writing  

primarily especially thinking on the spot being  spontaneous spontaneous speaking without reading  

out loud without simply rehearsing something that  you've practiced before being able to respond in  

conversations or keep up with conversations  with proficient speakers so active practice  

is extremely important you have to push yourself  challenge yourself to practice actively take what  

you have learned like let's say that you memorize  10 new vocabulary words well active practice is  

not really just memorization active practice is  taking those words creating your own new sentences  

maybe writing them first and then saying them out  loud and then using them in a conversation okay  

what if you don't have someone to actually have  have a conversation with that's okay you can make  

up the conversation on your own but try to do it  without rehearsing it without planning it imagine  

a conversation in your mind between two people  and how that would go fear so I never realize how  

big a role fear plays in language learning until I  worked with English Learners from around the world  

through my fluent communication course many times  the problem is not that you don't know English  

it's that you're afraid to use it it is scary but  we have to push past fear because all your goals  

everything that's good in life lies just outside  our comfort zone so in order to grow we have to  

face our fears fear of making mistakes fear of  looking silly fear of being made fun of or not  

accepted or not understood I mean it's just part  of it to be honest so this is actually a great  

personal growth exercise learning any language  will push you outside your comfort zone you'll  

learn to embrace your mistakes improve on them and  learn and grow as a person not just as an English  

speaker you may have taken an English class in  high school or college and you learned English  

in order to write essays or take standardized  tests but what about your real life communication  

skills have you considered how important those are  now that you're out of school so being fluent in  

English is not just about the skills you need in  academic settings it's about being able to speak  

in any situation and understand what others are  saying as well that includes not just academic  

language not just professional language but also  informal English colloquial Expressions slang  

idioms and even humor you may not yet know your  individual learning style some people learn really  

well in a classroom others learn better outside in  the real world so know yourself and know what does  

and doesn't work for you if you're not sure then  now is a great time to explore that knowing your  

learning style can really optimize your learning  process and save you a lot of time especially do  

you prefer to learn alone and self-study do  you prefer learning in a group do you prefer  

in person or online tell me in the comments which  you prefer I'm assuming since you're watching this  

online you may be a self-starter and you prefer  to learn online from anywhere but correct me if  

I'm wrong and tell me more about you and how  you like to learn and is there anything that  

you would add to this list about things that  people may not know about learning the English  

language I'm Gabby from gonaturalenglish.com  and I'm so happy that you watch this if you're  

here you are on your way to fluency so thanks for  watching and I'll see you again soon bye for now