How to Master English Fluency: Secrets from the Experts

Hello my amazing students.

I am so excited for you because today  

you are going to get the best  advice to become fluent fast.

But this advice isn't coming from me.

This advice is coming from expert  polyglots and successful language learners.

And they're going to share with you  their best language learning secrets.

How to become fluent, faster,  and mistakes to avoid.

Welcome back to JForrest English.

Of course.

I'm Jennifer.

Now let's get started.

First, we'll hear from famous polyglot Steve  Kaufmann, who has learned over 20 languages,  

and he's going to share his best advice with you.

So Steve, you're a polyglot  who speaks 20 languages.

What's your secret to learning languages?

First of all, I have to caution you when I say 20.

I have learned 20 at different  times to varying degrees.

I can't say that I'm totally  fluent in 20 languages.

I could easily switch into, say, a dozen  of them and others I would have to refresh.

Or I'm in the process of learning and the secret  is to enjoy the process, just to simply not worry  

about how well I'm doing, where what mistakes  I make, just expose myself to the language  

every so often When I'm curious, I might look up  something related to grammar, some explanation.

But I don't focus on explanations.

I focus on getting the language into me  through a lot of listening and reading.

Well, 12 languages is still extremely impressive.

Now, do you think that anyone  can become a polyglot, or are  

some people just more naturally gifted  when it comes to learning languages?

I think that potentially  anyone can become a polyglot.

The more languages you learn, the easier  it becomes to learn new languages.

So the most difficult language  is your first foreign language  

because you've never done it before.

You're you don't know how to go about it.

You're not confident.

And I think that as you learn more  languages, those parts of your brain  

that deal with acquiring new languages, they  become more, you know, adept at doing it.

So I think anyone can do it.

They have to be motivated, they have to put in  the time, and they get better and better at it.

But for most people, I think learning  one or two languages is enough.

It just so happens that I,  for a variety of reasons,  

got interested in learning many languages.

And you mentioned motivation.

If you had to boil down the qualities  or personality traits of successful  

language learners, what would you say those are?

Well, obviously motivation is big.

The motivation, I would say attitude is big.

So motivation is one thing.

Confidence, you know, enjoying the  language, enjoying the language,  

learning process, all of those things  are part of that positive attitude.

And I also think it's very important not to  

be a perfectionist, very important to  accept, you know, fuzziness inserted.

Jude, you know you don't quite understand.

You keep forgetting the same words,  

and all of that is fine because you're enjoying  the process of discovering another language.

And you mentioned confidence.

I'm going to ask you a follow up because many of  

my students tell me that they lack  confidence when using their English.

So can you speak a little bit more  about the role that confidence has  

when learning and using a foreign language?

Confidence is huge and and that's why I put a a  great amount of emphasis on listening and reading.

And you sometimes hear people say, well  I can read but I have trouble speaking.

But most of those people don't realize  just how much you need to read and listen.

Like you have to read a book,  203 hundred pages, one book,  

several books and the brain starts to get used  to the language and reading is so easy to do.

And when we read, it's almost as if  we're speaking because we are sort  

of subconsciously as vocalizing  as we read and also listening.

And so if you build up this degree  of confidence with the language,  

the brain is used to the language.

The brain has formed a model of the language.

When you go to speak, of course  you're going to struggle at first,  

but you will gradually improve because  you have all these words inside you.

So I think part of it is being better prepared.

Most people don't put the time and  effort into reading and listening.

They desperately try to  remember some grammar rules,  

and they try to think of grammar rules  while they're speaking, which is hopeless.

And then they have to accept  that when they're speaking,  

they're actually practicing speaking,  and they will gradually get better.

And while they're speaking, if they're speaking to  people that matter to them, they're getting very  

valuable input, which is also all part of training  the brain to be comfortable in the language.

So it's all about input and  understanding that all the  

different things that we're doing when we're  learning a language contribute to that input.

Well, exactly.

Obviously, if you have an opportunity for output,  

for speaking or for writing, you  want to take advantage of it,  

and you want to do it without worrying  about mistakes, just trusting your impulses.

But we don't necessarily, Unless we  live where their language is spoken,  

we don't always have a lot of  opportunity to speak with people.

We should speak whenever we can, but  we don't always have that opportunity.

But it's very easy to organize  listening, very easy to organize reading.

And you know, some people say, well, how can I  read if there's so many words that I don't know?

Well, that's part of, You know,  we have link as an example,  

but if you are reading online,  you have online dictionaries.

It's so easy nowadays to work  on getting your vocabulary up  

to where eventually you can read books on paper,  

which is the ultimate sort of milestone when  you read your first book from cover to cover.

And all of that is, is part of getting you  in a place where you're comfortable speaking.

And coming back to that place of  getting comfortable speaking when  

I'm working with students and I'm sure all my.

Students.

Watching can relate to this question.

When I'm working with students,  

the number one concern that they have is  that they don't feel confident speaking.

They feel like they're being  judged by native speakers.

They're worried about their grammar mistakes.

They're worried that their accents are too thick,  

and all of this prevents them  from speaking confidently.

So what advice would you give to these students?

OK, well there's you mentioned  several things there.

First of all, thick accent.

As long as you are comprehensible,  your accent is fine.

We have to accept that.

Obviously, if we can get closer  to sort of native pronunciation,  

we have to want to in a way, we want  to imitate the way the native speak.

But we have to realize, and I realize that I will  

never be mistaken for a native speaker  in the languages that I have learned.

So accept the fact that you have an accent.

Also accept the fact that you're going to forget.

I mean we know if if we're if  I'm in some place and somebody  

shows up whom I know and but  what's his name or her name.

The more pressure I put on myself to  try to remember that person's name,  

the more likely I am not to remember.

And later on when there's no pressure on  me, Oh yeah, that was George or Sally.

So obviously there is a  certain amount of pressure,  

tension when we speak because it's it's always  more comfortable to speak in your own language.

So you're speaking in another language,  

there's a little more tension and so it's  a little more difficult to remember things.

We just have to accept that all of that is normal.

It's normal not to understand,  it's normal to forget.

And if we simply keep going, we will gradually  improve the more pressure we put on ourselves.

Or if we try to avoid speaking because we're  afraid, then we aren't going to improve.

So I mean, it's easy to say, but I have  experienced it in many languages where  

I struggle, and sometimes we think we  did more poorly than we in fact did,  

and we just have to give ourselves credit.

Trust the brain.

The brain will gradually learn given enough  experience, and you just have to keep going.

And of course, you're very  active in the polyglot community.

Now I'm curious, what would a  polyglot think about making a  

mistake when a polyglot is learning  or using one of their languages?

What do they think when they make a mistake?

I I think the the one common  trait to the polyglots that  

I've made met is that they aren't concerned.

They are not.

They accept uncertainty.

They accept uncertainty.

That's it.

It it, if you want to be  totally safe and comfortable,  

you don't learn another foreign language.

Once you are learning another foreign language,  

you are now into this territory where there  are going to be mistakes and there's going  

to be things you don't understand and  things that you don't pronounce properly.

And people say, I beg your  pardon, what did you say?

And that's all part of the territory.

And polyglots accept this.

Yeah.

I've been to a number of polyglot conferences.

And by the way, the overwhelming majority  of polyglots grew up in unilingual families.

So the idea that somehow polyglots  are people who grew up with a Spanish  

speaking mother and a French speaking  father or whatever, that's not true.

The polyglots are people who got interested,  

who are confident that they can learn,  and who accept the fact that fuzziness  

and not understanding and forgetting is  all part of learning another language.

And we've.

Already talked about the mistakes that  students make when they're learning a language.

But what would you say are?

The biggest mistakes that language learners make.

Well, the biggest.

So not specifically with reference to English,  but I I think this this desire to be perfect.

You know, I got to sound like a native.

I've got to, you know, get you  know, just the right tense.

It doesn't matter.

Like tense is, a is a big item  for people learning English.

And honestly, whether you say in many situations  it's optional, you can go I go or I am going,  

I went, you know, I was going  very often, it doesn't matter.

It may matter on a grammar test,  

but in reality there are a lot of tenses in  English, probably more tenses than we need.

And so if you just go with a simple whatever,  

the simple present, the simple past,  in many cases that's going to work.

Don't try to be perfect.

Don't, when speaking, try to  think through your grammar rules.

That's not going to work.

You have to sort of have an  attitude that you're going to  

develop certain habits in the language  and you're going to trust those habits.

And when you speak, it's going to come out and  you will pick up on what other people are saying.

And if there are sort of rough  edges, if you have an open mind,  

gradually those rough edges will  become, you know, less frequent.

So I think a big mistake is to expect that  right now I'm as good as I'm ever going to be.

No, right now you're in the process of improving.

So keep going and you'll get better.

Sounds like exactly what you  said about attitude being one  

of the most important personality traits.

Absolutely yo attitude two.

There are two things in language  learning, attitude and time.

So the attitude portion of it is  you know you like the language,  

you want to learn, you enjoy the learning process.

That's difficult to do.

You can't force yourself to like something.

However, you can force yourself to get active.

So if your attitude is not that keen on  say English, if it's English and I've  

looked around for you know, TV programs  or things that I might get interested in  

or cooking shows or thing is try to find  something that interests you and vary it.

So you're on to something that relates  to business, something that relates to  

history, that relates to cooking shows,  gardening, whatever, a variety of content.

Try to get interested and  and then put in the time.

It takes time, it takes time.

So I see immigrants to Canada, for example,  

who go home at night and they only watch  television programs in their own language.

OK, that's relaxing maybe, but  that's not going to help you.

You have to be willing to put in a lot of  time, not only, let's say classroom time,  

but also if you're, you know, in the evening,  especially if you live in Canada or the United  

States, watch local television, put the  time in with the, engage with the language.

So attitude and time.

And speaking about putting in the  time when you're learning a language,  

is there ever an end point when you say,  Yep, learn that language and you move on?

Or do you feel like learning is more of a process  and you'll always be learning a new language?

Yeah, I mean, we're always more  comfortable in our own language.

Although there are people who, let's  say say again, immigrants who spends,  

who, who genuinely learn the  language, who work in English,  

who have friends with whom they speak  English, who always have a bit of an accent.

And they've kind of reached the point  where it it's it's more than good enough.

And in many cases even say immigrants  who speak with an accent may in fact  

use the language better than many native speakers.

So they're out of stage where  they're as good as it's going to get.

But but by and large it's it's  always an unfinished process.

If I say that I speak 20 languages, even  the languages that I speak very well,  

like French or Japanese, or I can always get  better, you know, I can always get better.

So we're never, you know, it's never completed.

It's an ongoing process.

Now, previously you said that  it's normal to forget your words.

For example, in our native language, we might  be having a conversation and we forget the name  

of a restaurant, even though we went to that  restaurant last week, and that's just normal.

But this is a concern that my students have  because they tell me that every time they go  

to speak, they forget all their words, even  simple words that they know really well.

When they're speaking, their mind goes  blank and they forget their words.

Do you have a strategy for overcoming  this when you're learning languages?

You have to remember first of all,  very often you hear people talk about,  

you know, I'm going to master the basics.

We forget even the most basic words.

We forget the most basic structures.

We forget things that we used to be able  to do and now we can't do all of a sudden.

We may be able to do it the next time.

So the first thing is to accept that that is  

absolutely normal and it's part  of the process of communicating.

But gradually, even the process of  forgetting and relearning is solidifying  

the that capability in your brain that  the, you know, research into the brain.

We need to see something, notice  something, forget it for a while,  

go back to it, forget it again, go back to it.

And slowly.

That is how we accumulate words  that we can comfortably use.

So forgetting is part of the process and  shouldn't make us feel uncomfortable.

We good.

I forgot.

Good.

And I relearn it, and maybe I forget it again.

Good.

And then I relearn it and gradually we improve.

That's an amazing attitude to have.

By forgetting you are in fact learning.

Not only is it normal to forget  things, but it's beneficial.

So changing your attitude around it.

I hope all my students remember that lesson.

What a powerful lesson.

Now, Steve, you've shared so many lessons so  far, but if my students were to only do one  

thing this week to help them improve their  fluency in English, what should they do?

Well, you know it.

It's not one thing I I would say put in the time,  

which in most cases is going to mean input  activities, because that's easy to organize.

You know, I carry my iPhone with me.

I I use Link, I've got my lessons there.

I can listen to them.

I have a playlist.

If I'm sitting in the doctor's office,  I can look up words and read something.

So I'm I'm engaging with  the language in in that way.

So wherever you have an opportunity input.

However, when you have an opportunity  the output to speak absolutely take  

advantage of it and don't worry about  how you do and trust your instincts.

Come out with whatever you got.

That's what you have.

Let it come out, interact with people.

You'll get some feedback and you just keep going.

So input activities wherever you  have the opportunity and output  

activities wherever you have the opportunity.

Amazing advice.

Thank you so much for sharing that, Steve.

I'm sure all my students have  learned a lot already and you  

share a lot of resources on your YouTube channel.

You have an amazing app that  you've developed called Lync.

So can you quickly tell my  students how they can find you?

How they can learn more about Lync as well?

Well, my YouTube channel is called Lingo Steve,  

All One Word and I put a video out once a week  on different aspects of language learning.

I even speak in different languages, Japanese,  French, Chinese, you name it and link.

lingq.com is a website that my son and I  developed, which is where I learn languages  

and it basically enables people to  use the resources of the Internet.

You can import YouTube  videos, you can import ebooks,  

There's stuff in our library with a lot  of repetition for people getting started,  

and there's a bunch of functionality  there to help you learn words and phrases.

So certainly that's what I like to use, but  it doesn't matter, you know, people can do  

whatever they want to do as long as they put  in the time and they have a positive attitude.

Well, you heard that everyone put in  the time have a positive attitude.

Thank you so much, Steve.

It's truly been a pleasure.

Thank you very much.

I enjoyed it.

Such amazing advice.

Let's show our appreciation and  put thanks Steve in the comments.

Put thanks Steve in the comments.

Now let's move on and hear  from polyglot Luca Lamparello,  

who has learned 15 languages and he's  going to reveal his best secrets to you.

Hello.

Luca, thank you so much for  being here on my channel.

Hi, Jennifer.

Thank you for inviting me.

Absolutely.

So you're a polyglot.

Why don't you tell everyone?

How many languages do you speak?

So when people ask me how many  languages I speak, I always reply  

that I've been learning 15 languages  and I am functional in 10 or 11.

Meaning that if you ask me at the drop of a  hat to have a conversation with you right now,  

I would be able to hold a conversation  and more in 10 to 11 languages.

But I've been learning 15 in my  language learning career, so to speak.

Well, I know a lot of people on  my channel struggle with learning  

one language, so that's an amazing accomplishment.

Now, just so everyone knows,  English is not your native language.

Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct.

My native language is Italian.

I was born and raised in Italy.

OK, can you quickly summarize your experience  with learning English as a second language?

Sure.

So first doom and gloom and desperation at school.

I started learning English when  I was 10, in middle school.

And then at the ripe age of 12,  

my teachers decided to hire a an  American tutor, Susan, from Chicago.

And that changed everything, because until then  I could not even pronounce the word enough.

I used to say inalg, because Italians are  notoriously like we we tend to read in Italian.

You read, you speak as you as you as you write so,  

but in English, which is a non,  it's not a phonetic language.

It's completely different.

And then she changed everything because I moved  from having to do homework for school and with a  

relatively, let's say, unpleasant English teacher,  to watching movies, having interesting and  

meaningful conversations with Susan, who used to  record, you know, movies for me back in the day.

We didn't have the Internet  And I started having fun.

I started realizing that I could learn English by  myself and all those limiting beliefs that I had,  

both self-imposed and imposed by  society then just melted like snow.

And that's the moment where  everything changed at at 12.

And then, you know, I started learning more  and more by myself, starting reading books,  

starting watching more and more, you know, movies.

And then I went abroad to  Ireland for the first time.

And I remember that people call me  the American in the neighborhood.

And I was very proud of that  because just three years prior,  

I could not even string a sentence together.

And then in the course of last, I would say,  

or the last 20-30 years, I've been  using English a lot with my friends.

And you know, I've been living  with the English language.

I've been, I've been, I've been learning  English and using English a lot,  

so now I think I speak it decently.

Oh, absolutely.

I'm sure all my students would agree.

And so for you, it seems like the moment  that things change is when you went from  

a language learning approach that you  didn't enjoy to one that you did enjoy.

Is that how you apply the same approach  to learning your your other languages?

Yeah, let's put it this way, that the the  shift was both a in terms of techniques but  

mostly in terms of mindset, because I suddenly  realized that I could actually learn English.

Now, one thing that really happens with  most students who've never learned another  

foreign language successfully is that they  don't actually believe that they can do it.

And this reminds me of the time when  at the ripe age of seven, I tried to.

I was a seat of a bike and I tried  to ride the bike for the first time.

And I remember the frustration.

I ended up in tears that day  and my father telling me,  

just be patient and you will  learn how to ride the bike.

Then when that magically happened, after  a few days of trying, I started believing  

that I could actually ride a bike  and then I started riding a bike.

Same thing happens when we acquire  a skill like learning a language.

Until you've reached fluency in a language,  

there's always this nagging thought that maybe  you're not good enough, that maybe you don't.

You're you were not bitten by the polyglot bug or  

blessed by the gods or the language  gods that you don't have talent.

So the reality is that every single person  on this planet can learn a foreign language,  

any foreign language for that matter, if they  already speak their own native language fluently.

The problem is that unfortunately,  within the education system,  

the education system is kind of, we  have it backwards, unfortunately.

So people tend to learn in a very  inefficient way, and they tend to  

conclude they come to the conclusion that it's  their fault, that they're not good enough.

How many times do we have these limiting beliefs?

So I think that what really changed for  me was the fact that I started believing,  

like Susan brought about this  revolution in terms of techniques.

Yes, that was important also to  discover, you know, the joy of learning.

But I think the real shift was psychological  more than technical, so to speak.

And then but but then you know the  combination of the psychological  

change and the adopting techniques and  strategies and activities that I really like,  

you know, this combination  was work wonders for me.

That's the real difference, you know.

Game changer, as they say.

I'm happy you mentioned that because  I do receive a lot of comments,  

emails from students and they're just frustrated.

They say, Jennifer, I've been learning  English for 10 years, 15 years.

I've been living in North America for 25 years  and I'm still struggling with my English.

And I can tell there's a lot of  frustration in those messages I get.

So how can these students change that belief if  they've had it for 1015 years or even longer?

Do you have any advice for them?

So first of all, I believe that we all have  

limiting beliefs about what  we can do and we cannot do.

But the past does not have to define  our future in the sense that yes,  

it did, it did happen, like you've maybe you  still finding it difficult to speak English  

even if you live in the United States or  England or any English speaking country.

I do believe though that first of all, it doesn't  matter where you live, it matters how you live.

If you take for example two students,  

one who lives in the United States and  let's say a Spanish speaking student,  

One lives in the United States but always hangs  around with other Spanish speaking people.

Or when they try to learn English, they  get into the same old paradigm of I'm not  

sure I can actually learn, they stumble  upon their words, et cetera, et cetera.

And then you take another student who does not  

live in the United States or any  other English speaking country.

But then they spend time listening to podcasts  or like talk, having interesting conversations,  

maybe on Skype or even meeting English speaking,  

you know, natives in a bar around  the corner in a language exchange.

So first of all, it's how you live, not  where and if, if, then how you live.

You know what you do in your everyday life,  and on top of that you also live in country.

So you live in the UK or the US.

That's a great combination.

But first of all, you have to learn  how to use your time properly.

That's the very first thing.

The second thing I would say is that, again,  the fact that you learned poorly before or  

inefficiently before does not mean that you  have to learn poorly for the rest of your life.

There's always like, what?

When is the best time to learn  better, more efficiently?

It's now.

Doesn't matter how old you are.

Some people say I'm all 40, I'm 50.

You have to learn a language, a foreign language,  

when you're in your teens if  you want to speak well, it does.

It's not true.

I recently heard a story of someone  who's learned a foreign language in  

their 60s and learned a foreign  language well within three years.

So recently at my language running Academy, an  80 year old girl sent me a message, said Luca.

Until I was 80 I could not speak Spanish and now I  

speak Spanish fluently in a matter  of months, so it's never too old.

The third thing is I believe that the main reason  why a lot of people, including people who live in  

the US or live in in the UK or whatever, they do  not speak well comes from a number of factors.

The 1st is the the belief that they're not good at  

language learning or they're  not good at learning English.

That's the first thing.

The second thing is that maybe they don't listen  or they don't speak enough, they tend to use  

the same techniques or they tend to stick to the  same paradigms of of what they used to do before.

Meaning, maybe they speak a little  bit, but they're a little bit timid,  

they're a little bit shy and  maybe they don't listen enough,  

they don't watch movies, they  don't get immersed in the language.

We can talk about this a little bit  more in detail, but there's capital,  

a very important things that people can have  to change if they want to learn a language.

Well, the good news is that nowadays with  the Internet, you can do anything you want.

If you learn how to use the Internet correctly.

Instead of getting in, like getting sucked  in the rabbit hole of, you know, spending  

time scrolling the whole day, you can do, you can  engage in meaningful activities learning English.

So these are the three important things that  you have to take into account that explain why  

a lot of people do not speak English well, even  if they live in the in, you know, in the US.

Well, it's very inspiring that you mentioned that  woman who's 80 years old and got amazing results.

Because I know that of course is one of the  

limiting beliefs students  have is, oh, I'm too old.

I don't have enough time.

You hear these beliefs again and again.

Now Speaking of mindset, one of the mindset  factors I hear from students a lot is just fear.

This fear of making mistakes, this fear  of being judged, and it prevents them  

from actually going out there and  using their English in the real world.

So they spend all their time  studying, acquiring vocabulary,  

but then they don't have the  confidence to actually use it.

Have you experienced that with  yourself or your students?

And what advice would you share?

So let me first tell you that  this is a very human being,  

a human thing, to be scared of, you  know, getting out of your comfort zone.

When we, when we get out of our  comfort zone, we're always scared.

That's the first thing.

So it's completely, completely normal  to be scared or slightly anxious about  

the mere fact of having to have a  conversation with a native speaker.

So that's that's the first  thing to take into account.

The second thing to take into account is  that I, I foresee like these three zones,  

you have the comfort zone at  the at the beginning, right?

So that's where you stand where you're like  sitting in the corner, you're learning vocabulary,  

but you don't want to venture out there  and have you know talk to talk to people.

Then you have out like there's another  layer or zone around that zone,  

which I call like it's called the Goldilocks zone.

So it's slightly challenging,  but it's not too challenging.

I'll give you a concrete example in a second.

And then you have the panic zone.

The panic zone is where you're completely  out of your comfort zone so far that it's  

you panic because it's too difficult an example.

So your comfort zone is, let's say, whoever is  listening, if you're, you know, you're you've  

been learning a language for a little bit and  or for a long time for that matter, English.

And you still find it difficult, you know, You  still tremble at the idea of speaking to someone,  

or you're interacting with someone, but you,  you, you get you, you know, you don't express  

yourself smoothly because your mind goes blank  and you think, Oh my God, they're judging me.

I'm making mistakes.

You think about Rammer, all those  things that make it difficult.

Then think about this.

Your comfort zone is sitting in front  of a computer and making maybe lists of  

words or maybe watching something passively right.

So that is an excuse of, oh, I'm engaging with the  language, but I'm not actually talking to people.

Then you have the goal, what  I call the Goldilocks zone.

It's a good zone.

It's a good zone to be in.

And you tell yourself, OK,  I'm scared, fine, normal.

But I could have, maybe I could hire a tutor,  

a very nice and friendly person with  whom I could have a conversation.

It's a protected environment because  you're paying whether you're paying  

someone or you find someone, someone  you can have a conversation with.

Maybe on Skype, there is no background noise.

That person knows that you're a learner,  and then you can have a conversation.

You can prepare beforehand about  a topic you're interested in,  

and you can have a meaningful conversation.

That's a Gray zone that you can get in a  Gray zone, but a good zone to be in so that  

you can actually step out of your comfort  zone progressively have a conversation.

You realize that was not a big deal.

The person was nice.

I stumbled and I grumbled a little bit,  but at the end of the day I made it.

And then you have the panic zone.

The panic zone is where you get out  and say you go and buy something.

Let's say, I don't know, maybe a train ticket.

You go to the station and unfortunately  you come across a very grumpy old lady  

or a guy we're not very happy  because of their own reasons.

And then they blurt out  something you do not understand.

And you find yourself in that situation  where, oh Oh my gosh, what do I do?

Do I reply that I do not understand and like,  look like a fool, or do I nod and I pretend that  

I understand These are not easy situations because  we think, oh, you just have to buy a ticket.

But in real life conversations and interactions,  native speakers are not your teachers.

They go about their own business.

That's the reason why that's a panic zone.

So my simple advice is try  to build your comfort zone.

If you're scared of speaking, the one  thing that you have to think about  

is to find a situation where you find  some comfort a person who's friendly.

Not necessarily competent, but friendly.

Let me say this again, because  this is very important.

People tend to think that when they have to  prepare, prepare or just interact with someone,  

they have to find a very competent person  who explains the English grammar in detail.

That's not true.

You need someone to talk to.

That's the main point.

That person will listen to you, will possibly  give you feedback for the mistakes you make,  

but they don't have to explain  grammar to you in detail.

Nowadays we have.

You can do that if you want to, but the main goal  is to actually speak, to have a conversation.

Fluency is not just a matter  of how many words you know,  

how many grammar rules you know, or if whether  your pronunciation is good or accurate or not.

It's a degree of confidence that you build  with experiences that you have and the first  

experience you can have nowadays we  can, because we have the Internet,  

is to have a conversation with someone that  you find friendly in a protected environment.

That's the first thing that I would do.

The second thing that I would do,  and that's maybe even more important,  

is this the reason why we tend to stumble, We  tend to think about grammar, Our mind goes blank,  

is due to something that, unfortunately,  we were all subjected to think about.

You're from the United States, I'm from Italy.

But all across the world, the  pattern is always the same.

At school, we tend to think in terms of  performance, not in terms of communication.

Children have a great time using foreign  languages because you learning their own  

native language, because they  communicate, they have fun.

They just don't think, oh, I'll be judged.

But adults or adults, what  happens is that they go to school,  

they constantly think I'm getting a  mark, am I going to get good mark?

Am I going to get bad mark.

So someone I don't know,  the teacher addresses you.

You're not thinking about AI mean.

I want to talk about this because I'm so excited.

You're thinking, let me try to survive, you  know, let me try to say whatever I can say.

But thinking I have to  conjugate the verb correctly,  

I have to say this the, you  know, that's the problem.

And if you start focusing on communication  instead of performance, it changes everything.

So here's my piece of advice.

Whenever you have a conversation,  make sure that you prepare something,  

a topic that you really like,  and just talk about that.

Get excited.

It doesn't matter if you make mistakes or not.

The most important thing is  you get your point across.

If I told you for example in English I  tomorrow school you will understand perfectly.

I tomorrow to go to school  you will understand perfectly,  

even if it's not grammatically accurate.

But it's better to say something and make  a mistake rather than not saying anything.

But this again you have to you have to understand  and be aware of the fact that the outcome police.

It's like, oh, you made a mistake, is there.

If you change this, if you have experienced  this mind shift, not performance,  

but communication, it changes everything.

One last thing.

I know I'm rambling a little bit,  but I love this, I love this topic.

There is a beautiful Ted talk which is called  Teaching English without teaching English.

I think I I wrote it here somewhere.

It's called by Roberto Guzman.

He's a he's a Mexican guy who's teaching  Mexican kids to learn to to speak English.

Beautiful.

It talks about all the stuff  in his own his own way.

You know and and I think some these are universal  principles focus on communication and not outcome.

You raised so many points.

I hope everyone is paying attention because  Luca has given you all such amazing advice  

and this is something I've seen with my students.

They well, they think that when they're  communicating with a native speaker,  

it's the same as communicating with their teacher.

They expect to be assessed, judged, corrected.

They think it's an appropriate time to think about  grammar, correct their mistakes, ask for feedback.

When really you're just having a conversation,  it's not the appropriate time to do that.

So I'm so glad that you  raised all their those points.

And everyone watch that Ted talk as well.

I will watch it myself.

I don't believe I have and you to talk  specifically about when students forget their  

words or their mind goes blank, it's because  they're entering out of that comfort zone.

So it's just more of a natural thing.

But I wanted to know if you could  expand on that at all or give any  

more specific advice because this is one  thing that my students ask a lot about.

I I know the words, I studied this, I know it.

But then when I'm in the situation,  I open my mouth and it it just goes.

Do you have any practical strategies to help  them remember their words when they need them?

Absolutely.

So this happens to me as well.

And to to go back to your previous question, when  you will ask me, does this happen to you as well?

Did you get scared of speaking?

Yes, every single time and learn a new language.

I am terrified when the moment comes of  speaking, even after all so many years,  

because in my subconscious mind, unfortunately the  the, the, you know, the the influence that school  

had on me when I was a little kid is still  there in the subconscious part of my mind.

So now to answer your question, we're not  going to talk delve into neuroscience,  

although I'm really passionate  about how the brain works.

And if you understand how the brain works, it  gives you an incredible insight into why we have  

these problems when speaking a foreign language or  our even our own native language for that matter.

But to make it simple, this is the reason  why all this works, all this happens.

Sorry, in our mind we process language learning  when we still do not speak a language well.

So we're not talking about our native  language, we're talking about foreign language.

We use what is called what this part of the  brain which is called prefrontal cortex.

This is our like, this is how we  think consciously, how we plan things,  

when we try to retrieve words, when we try  to think about grammar, etcetera, etcetera.

Then we have another part of the  brain which is called the limbic  

system that has to do with, let's say emotions.

This is an an oversimplification of how  this works, but just to to show you a  

metaphor of how, like there you have two  competing, let's say parts of the brain.

One is trying to process to think  about words, to arrange them together,  

to think about grammar, and the other part, which  is the emotional part, fights against this part.

So if you're tense.

And subconsciously we walk into a conversation,  whether it's with a tutor or with people outside.

There's a level of tension that unfortunately,  

where the amygdala is involved in not only the  amygdala that keeps this part of the brain,  

let's say, keeps it from communicating  well with other parts of the brain.

So imagine that this part of the  brain wants to grab a word somewhere,  

fetch a word with a mechanical arm, but the  other part just keeps it from doing that.

If you're stressed, if you're anxious,  if you walk into any conversation with  

the idea that you're going to be  judged and everything you know,  

all the negative things that you think concerning  a conversation, this is bound to happen.

This has happened to me a number of times.

Recently.

Just to give you a very concrete example,  I've been learning Serbian for two years.

I had a conversation with my colleague  who's American, Serbian, American,  

and I've been learning the language for two years.

I understand it pretty well.

We recorded a conversation for YouTube.

I could not say the simplest things  like he asked me, Are you ready?

I was like, I couldn't even say  yes, I am in Serbian and I realized.

How is that?

Possible and because the knowledge  is there but it's blocked.

So it's something that happens all the time.

Our mind goes blank because we are anxious and  we are in this mode, in this very negative mode.

My suggestion is once again what  I said before is that to establish  

if you're anxious about having a  conversation with a native speaker,  

find one person, a friendly person, not  necessarily competent, a friendly person.

You are really excited.

You know, you you think, oh,  

I'm going to talk to Jennifer or Luca  or Mark about whatever excites you.

And when that happens, when you focus more on the  communication than the performance, your level of  

stress is going to go down and and then your mind  will go blank because it's this is inevitable.

It's a background noise that you're not  going to eliminate, but it's going to,  

it's going to happen less and less  when you're talking with that person.

If that happens, there's another  simple thing you can do is like,  

you can just say I I'm trying to say this word.

If the other person speaks your Spanish, for  example, you can, you know, either say I don't  

remember how to say this word and be very honest  or smile or look it on on on you know, on the fly.

But just be honest, first with yourself  and then with the other person.

Once you establish with one person, again a  friendly communication like a collaboration,  

then your stress levels will go down and you will  be able to manage this conversation much better.

And that is going to give you confidence.

With that confidence, you're going to walk into  

another conversation and  then another conversation.

Remember, every time you have another experience  in a foreign language, so every time that you walk  

into a grocery store to ask something or you  buy a train ticket, that's a new experience.

It's old because you lived it  in your own native language,  

but it's new because you've never  done it in your foreign language.

So a little bit of a level like the the  level of stress is going to be there.

You're going to think, Oh my God,  I'm just going to mess this up.

It's going to be a disaster.

Once you do it, you realize no big deal.

And then your confidence is  going to grow step by step.

Well, you shared a lot there.

But I think for my students, just  understanding that it's it's how  

their brain works, it's normal, it's  natural and thank you for sharing that.

You still have that experience even today.

I'm sure that made all my students  feel more confident and it's  

just building up those successes,  getting those successes in a in an A  

comfortable environment that will allow them  to build their confidence slowly over time.

Great advice.

Thank you.

And I feel like we could talk  for so long about these topics,  

especially diving into how our brain works.

That's so interesting.

And I know you have more videos  on your YouTube channel, so why  

don't you just share with my students  where they can find you on YouTube?

What's your YouTube channel?

Sure thing.

My YouTube channel is just Luca  Lampariella which is just by name.

So if you write Luca Lamparello or Luca  languages on YouTube you will find my channel.

It's all about learning how to learn.

I do have some videos where I speak multiple  languages or other languages in just one video,  

but it mainly it's about how to learn  how to use your brain to learn more  

efficiently and to show you that that  is possible and then everyone can do it.

I'll put the YouTube channel in the  description as well so everyone can follow you.

Get those language learning tips and advice.

Final question for you before we wrap up.

If my students were to do only one thing  this week to improve their English,  

what would you recommend that they do?

I would say to focus on the joy of  actually, whatever they're doing,  

whether they're speaking, whether  we're writing, whether we're reading,  

whether they're listening, whether they're  watching a YouTube video like this one.

To have joy to, to think about  the joy of learning instead of  

I have to do this because I have to learn.

It's more like I want to do this.

I think that once again, yes,  techniques and strategies,  

they're important, but this mindset  shift that you need to have in order  

to take things for further is the one of  the most powerful things and factors when  

it comes to success in learning English  or any other language for that matter.

What an amazing way to end our conversation.

Focus on joy.

You heard it everyone.

Focus on joy.

Thank you so much for being here, Luca,  and sharing these amazing tips and advice.

My pleasure.

Bye, bye.

More amazing advice for you.

Let's put thanks Luca, show our support.

Let's put thanks Luca in the comments.

And now I'm excited because you're going  to hear from a fellow English learner.

You're going to hear from Mustafa,  

who started learning English as  an adult and he went from zero,  

no knowledge of English to fluent communicating  his ideas confidently in a short period of time.

And he he's going to share the exact study  routine that helped him achieve success.

Let's hear from Mustafa now.

Welcome Mustafa.

It's so wonderful having you here.

Hey, Jennifer, how are you?

Thank you for inviting me.

I'm doing great, absolutely.

So why don't you tell everyone when  did you start studying English?

OK, it was back in the day in 2020  when the COVID-19 hit The World.

I Started, you know, learning  English from scratch from zero.

And at the beginning I had a teacher.

But after two months I started  studying independently.

So, yeah, it was in 2020.

OK, 2020 from 0.

And at that time, what motivated  you to Start learning English?

Well, first of all, English  is a dominant language.

Yeah.

Once we started speaking fluently,  

we will have an opportunity to connect with  the world and have a wide connection network.

That's what really motivated me, talking to  people from culturally diverse backgrounds.

So yeah.

And in the short period of time 2020,  

when you started from zero today, what  would you say your English level is?

Or how would you describe your fluency in English?

In terms of the eyeless exam, which is  quite popular in many, many countries,  

I got a bad aid at the beginning of  last year and speaking it was like 8.

But I would say I have made  a lot of progress since then.

So I would say it's it's pretty high.

You could even say like I've reached  the proficiency level but it's still,  

hey there is there is still  a room for improvement.

It's it's a lifelong learning.

I cannot say I'm professional, it will never  be and it's all about learning continuously.

That's what I think.

That's so true.

And I say that to all my students and  I let them know that even I'm still  

improving my communication skills  and it is truly a lifelong process.

So why don't you tell my students how you achieved  

such a high level of fluency  in a short period of time?

Did you have a secret process you  followed or what was your approach?

What was your methodology to get these results?

Well, first of all, before embarking  on this beautiful journey, I started  

eliminating all unnecessary distractions  I had, first of all, social media.

I've only started using social  media for educational purposes.

You know, like TikTok.

Not going to happen.

YouTube.

OK, let's use that for educational purposes,  

like watching Youtubers, like you're  watching professional teachers and so forth.

That's what I did.

And also I started eliminating  like my toxic environment.

At that time.

I used to have a toxic environment.

I start, I told myself, if  I wanted to improve myself,  

why not eliminate and eradicate  all unnecessary distractions?

So that's what I did.

After that, I also created a study area which  was, like putting over, like like vibrant sticky  

notes on my walls and jotting down beautiful  expressions idiomatically in couch phrasal verbs.

I've sent you some photos.

You could show them like to students.

You believe it or not.

It helped me to study for 6 to 12 hours a day.

I was like I became obsessed with the process.

I had a study table, I had a study bedroom and I  would like study continuously every single day.

I spiced it up.

I did not.

I I was not in a hurry to improve my language  skills, but instead I enjoyed the process.

I would visualize and picture my future.

I would think about how many opportunities  I would have if I reach this level.

OK, so let's study.

So this is what really helped me to  study not only for many many hours,  

but also to increase the quality  of my language acquisition.

I would even say.

It sounds like you had a very interesting  

approach and obviously it kept you  motivated for all those years now.

You said you had to address  your toxic environment.

Can you explain what do you mean by that?

What did you consider toxic in your environment?

Yeah, I can elaborate on that.

Like imagine friends like, I I it  would take me to say no to vacations.

It would take me say no to like Hangouts.

It would It would take me to say no, my friends.

So I'm, I did have a toxic environment.

Like, OK, let's go to parties.

OK, let's go to this And that's And I would have  to say no to all of my friends because I really  

wanted to have a transformative,  transformative change in my life.

And then it took me to change my environment.

And then you know what happens?

I started surrounding me with educated  and very high knowledgeable people,  

like the people who would continuously  improve their characters, the people who  

would continuously read books, the people who  would continuously take their health seriously.

And then I I started feeling  better involved myself.

All the elevated complete emotions,  positive emotions started coming to my life.

I started feeling better,  but before that I was not.

So it turns out I was being  in a toxic environment.

I mean, going to parties, doing this and that.

But right now you have no ideas.

You have no idea about my environment.

It's so clean.

So for four years I'd be surrounded  by very highly knowledgeable people.

And I'm proud of myself, proud of  my decision I made back in 2020.

Yeah.

It's not an easy decision to make for sure  when you want to make those positive changes  

in your life and you realize that you  have to look at all areas of your life.

So yes, you want to improve your English,  but you had to look at your social life,  

your other habits in in your daily  life and how that impacted your study.

So it's it's great that you were able to do that.

And you also mentioned that you visualized  your future, you visualize the result.

So when you saw yourself  in the future as a fluent,  

confident English speaker, do you  mind sharing what were you doing?

What were you doing with your English  language skills in this visualization?

Process.

Yes, we all go through ups  and downs, but mostly downs.

Life is not an easy path, especially studying for  

6 to 12 hour study continuously without  stopping, like without taking days off.

At that time I would picture myself in the future  because I want to be somebody who could like.

I wouldn't say it's motivation, but I  would love to say it like encouragement.

I would love to encourage thousands  of thousands of young people like  

me because at that time I was isolated and I  did not have somebody to like, encourage me.

You know what it was all about Internal  encouragement, internal motivation.

So I want to be somebody that would share  my knowledge with the world and who will be  

able to encourage thousands of thousands of,  if not millions of millions of young people.

Because nowadays many, many of young  people are you losing themselves in  

mindless activities like spending  hours and hours on social media.

So I would visualize my future and I  would feel a lot of positive emotion  

and I would study for hours and  hours talking about speaking.

I would sit in front of the mirror  and talk to myself, like for 24/7,  

which is an exaggeration, but that's what I did.

Drinking a cup of coffee and  talking to myself is something  

that really helped me to increase  the quality of my speaking, yeah.

That's amazing that you did that.

And I I say that to my students  all the time when they say, oh,  

Jennifer, I don't have anyone to speak with.

I always say you, you don't need another  person, you can open your mouth and just speak.

So would you say that was a large part  of improving your speaking skills?

And what else did you do to  improve your speaking skills?

Because this is an area that my students  struggle with the most, their speaking skills.

Yeah, for sure.

Well, I want to say something.

People judge our language skills  based on our our speaking skills.

Nobody's going to come to  you and check your grammar.

Nobody's going to come to you.

Listening, reading, writing.

They are extremely important,  

but the most important part is speaking  the pronunciation, Talking beautifully,  

having communication skills, being able to  talk with people in a respectful manner.

That's the case and it really motivated me.

Yes, agree on.

I used to talk myself.

I did not have a partner because as I had  mentioned, I isolated myself from social media,  

how I was supposed to have a partner without  being able to active user of like social media.

So I would sit in my bedroom and I used to talk to  myself like a lot because I enjoyed the process.

I created a study area and I I really liked it.

Language should not be complicated.

It should be interesting.

It should be something that  people enjoy learning, yes.

And Mustafa, you've achieved  such a high level of fluency,  

but I do want to ask you about this 6 to 12 hours  a day, because that's a very long time, and I'm  

going to assume that my students watching this  don't have 6 to 12 hours a day to study English.

So how would you recommend that students who  

only have one hour or less a day can  get real results with their English?

Well, we all think that we don't have time,  but we have on the way when doing some irony.

When washing clothes, when washing the dishes,  

when when we are eating  something, we all have time.

We could passively listen to something.

That's what I used to do while doing irony.

While you know, committing to somewhere.

I would listen to podcasts.

Well, not specifically podcasts,  but I would watch filaments.

I would watch movies on the way.

So by doing this, I would at least spend 2 hours  passively listening to something in English.

So we have time.

So if somebody has like one hour, I think  that person has to do some analysis.

Do I have some time on the way?

Do I have some time while eating?

Because to some extent you have  to be like you have to be a bit  

selfish when educating yourself  instead of like you know what?

Instead of eating your instead of having  lunch with your friends and gossiping,  

be a little bit selfish.

Listen to something in English and have  your dinner or lunch like like studying.

Because look, once we become educated,  

once we become highly knowledgeable and  then we will start educating others.

So it's OK to be selfish to some extent, yeah.

That's a very good point.

And for myself personally, it takes me about half  an hour to do my hair and makeup in the morning,  

and it takes me about half an hour to prepare  my lunch, eat and clean up after my lunch.

And I always make sure I do something educational,  listening to a podcast or training on a specific  

topic during that time, so I'm able to learn  and develop for one hour every single day.

Say, that would have just been wasted time because  I'm just doing my hair and makeup or eating.

So it's a really smart strategy to find  wasted time and turn it into productive time.

And why don't you share a little  bit about your your sleep schedule?

Did you have to wake up  earlier or go to bed later?

Or how did you incorporate your your sleep  schedule with your learning schedule?

Oh, I had a very healthy, sleepy schedule.

I would go to bed at 8:30 PM around that time  and wake up at 4:00 or 4:00 AM or 4:30 AM.

So I had a very healthy sleeping schedule.

And then after waking up, I would  immediately take a cold shower  

or go for running because that really  helped me to feel fresh before studying.

And I would absolutely drink a cup of coffee.

That's what I would do because it was quiet.

I would study in silence.

Everybody was sleeping, but  I was developing myself.

This was also one element.

Which helped me, you know, get  motivated and study continuously,  

waking up earlier than everybody else and  drinking coffee and starting my studies.

Yep.

Well, it sounds like you found many different ways  

to add learning English to your  daily routine, so that's great.

Now, one thing I hear from my students a lot is  that they've been learning for years and years,  

and they feel like they've gained a lot  of vocabulary, gained a lot of grammar.

But when they go to use it in a conversation,  

like we're having a conversation  right now, their mind goes blank.

They forget all their words, they're shy, they're  nervous and they're not able to communicate.

Whereas right now you are  communicating very successfully.

So did you struggle with that?

How did you overcome that?

And how would you recommend that my students who  

are experiencing that issue  can overcome that as well?

Well, there there are two ways.

Like there's a passive vocabulary  and there's an active vocabulary.

Well, in terms of active vocabulary, I learned  vocab, as I had mentioned, by jotting down a  

lot of beautiful expressions and putting on  my wall and deliberately practicing them.

What I mean by that, I would sit in front  of the mirror and I would take expression.

Let's say people have  different likes and dislikes.

That's one.

The the expression.

Yeah, I would flexibly use it like people  

have different likes and dislikes  when it comes to reading books.

Yeah, some people like different types of genres  while others like different types of genres.

So by using great language chunks  and deliberately practicing them  

in front of the mirror, I was  able to actively use my vocab.

And it's OK.

It's OK to forget vocab.

It's OK.

It's all about the process.

And it also comes down to confidence.

Look, people should not be like people,  should not be very shy in front of people,  

because everybody's going through something,  everybody's learning this language.

How can you be shy when learning language?

It it's very bad.

So you have to first of all tell yourself,  hey, everybody's going through it's OK.

It's OK to make mistakes.

It's OK to make, it's OK to forget vodka, and  it's OK to feel embarrassed from time to time.

And in this way you build confidence.

That's what I used to do.

I went through a lot.

It's not OK.

It's it's not easy to wake up at the  same time, go to bed at the same time.

It was not easy to study for 6 to 12 hours.

It was not easy to feel embarrassed.

When I was giving lectures, it was not  easy but by learning from my mistakes,  

I learned and that and I am still learning.

I sometimes cannot use vodka, but that's OK.

It's as I had mentioned it's a lifelong learning.

So again.

So you embrace the fact that mistakes  are normal, you expect mistakes,  

and you actively practice, and through that  practice you're able to gain confidence.

Now imagine if a student watching this could  

only do one thing this week to  improve their English fluency.

If they could only do one thing,  what would you recommend they do?

Listening and speaking are connected.

They are both connected.

The more you listen to something,  the better you get at speaking.

But it doesn't mean the fact  that you shouldn't speak.

You have to speak, and I'm 100% sure  that student has time on the way.

You could talk to yourself.

If you are feeling embarrassed, just  put on your earphones and start talking  

so that people know you're talking with somebody.

Yes, before going to bed, talk to yourself.

But what I mostly recommend  is listening to something  

that you actually you are actually interested in.

As I had mentioned, listening,  speaking are connected.

I used to watch movies.

I used to watch TV series like friends.

Yeah, like 10 seasons.

I used to watch friends like for hours and hours.

And I, I, I, I was even like, I even  forgot the time was flying, you know,  

So I watched things based on my curiosity.

So once again, listening and speaking  are connected with each other.

They are not so academic.

You don't have to study a lot of grammar.

You don't have to sit down and do a lot of tests.

The the more you listen to something,  the better you get that speaking.

But also talk to yourself.

Very great advice.

Thank you so much for sharing  your story with everyone.

And why don't we end by you can tell everyone  what are you doing now with your English fluency.

So now that you have achieved  these results, what are you doing?

How are you using your English  skills on a regular basis?

And also please share how my  students can connect with you.

All right, so right now I'm  doing a lot of teaching online.

I'm about to start my own YouTube channel,  which is going to happen this year,  

but right now I'm doing a lot  of teaching online on Telegram.

If you search islands with Mustafa,  Double F in Mustafa, you can find me.

Apart from that we have started very gigantic  project teaching over 500 students in Uzbekistan.

It's both offline and online.

That's what we are doing and  recently I made a visit to  

to to Arabic countries like Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Believe it or not, my language  skills, Oh my God, helped massively.

I was able to have a wide connection, network  talking to local lot ups, talking to millionaires.

I'm going to tell one story.

There.

There was a guy, there was  a man sitting in a hospital.

So I stroke up a conversation with him.

Hey, how are you?

Can I have a can I have a talk?

I'm from Uzbekistan, so by showing my emotions,  

my intonation, I was able to  talk with him and get his number.

It turned out he was the CEO of the company  which manufacturers robots and motorcycles.

What I mean by that, the better you  speak, the more connections you will have.

So right now I am working on  myself in every possible way,  

doing a lot of teaching,  preparing for my uni and so yeah.

Well, that's so inspiring.

And I love to hear how you're not just an  English learner, you're an English speaker.

You're out there, you're talking to strangers.

You approached me to have  this interview on my channel.

You're using your English.

You're using it to gain connections,  to interact with people, to learn.

So thank you so much for sharing your story.

I know it will motivate and inspire  all my students to keep going,  

keep pushing to improve their English skills.

So thank you again Mustafa.

Jennifer, thank you for having me.

And I am 100% sure that it's going to pay off.

If students work on themselves,  it's going to pay off.

It's really going to be successful.

After 50-60 years, they are  going to look back and smile.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

So much advice for you to  put into practice, let's say.

Thanks Mustafa, thanks Mustafa  in the comments below and make  

sure you put all of this advice into practice.

And if you like this video, please hit the  Like button, share it with your friends,  

and subscribe so you're notified  every time I post a new lesson.

And I have.

Another interview with more advice for you.

You can watch it right here.