How You Can Become a Fluent English Speaker ALONE

Now, I'm sure that you have had moments in your learning where you have felt like

you progressed very quickly.

It comes easily. You're motivated, it's fun.

But at some point you hit a wall and you feel like you'll never speak

fluently, confidently and naturally. You are not alone.

This feeling of being stuck is often called the intermediate plateau

and I've been there. It can be a comfortable place.

You can speak and understand in many situations.

But for most of us, it's not enough.

We want to enjoy the language as freely as we do our mother tongue. As a native

I've never had the experience of learning English as a second language.

So I want to bring you an expert who has successfully navigate

this challenge of breaking out of the intermediate plateau without ever

living in or even traveling to an English speaking country.

So I'm excited to introduce you to Thiago, who works with me here

t Real Life English.

I greatly admire what Thiago has been able to achieve in terms

of an effortless use of the language that is rare to find.

Thiago is going to share with you exactly how he got to where he is today.

My hope is that by hearing his story, you will not only gain motivation

for your own journey, but also advice on how you too can achieve mastery.

Take it away, Thiago.

Thank you, Ethan.

And hey, everybody, I'm super excited to be here today.

Like Ethan said, we work together here, at Real Life English.

And if you listen to our podcast chances are you have already heard me on there.

But today I'm here to tell a little bit of my story and how I went

from speaking zero English to the level of English I have today.

I'm just like you.

I'm an English learner

myself, and I had to learn English from scratch in my country.

Here in Brazil, I've never been abroad, so when I tell you how I did it,

and hopefully

that's going to give us some ideas and inspiration for your English journey.

But before we get started,

make sure you hit that subscribe button and the bell down below because every week

we put out videos to help you speak English with confidence and naturally.

So now let's get started

So my story with English began when I was 15 years old.

And as I told you, I come from Brazil, and at that time

I knew zero English you know, I couldn't speak anything.

I couldn't read, I couldn't write.

But at 15 something magical kind of happened

because I started to have this desire to become bilingual.

I don't know exactly why that was, but the idea of using two languages

to communicate, to express myself was very attractive to me.

And I remember also that I looked around me and I saw my family,

my friends, you know, my social circle, and I realized that no one knew English.

So I started to associate also the idea of knowing English

with having a better life or having more opportunities for my life.

So I started to develop this feeling of wanting to learn the language.

Right.

And at that time, I couldn't articulate it as well as today.

But today with a little more experience, I can tell you that.

I guess that feeling that I felt was me

trying to transcend my reality at that time.

I wanted something different for myself.

I wanted something better.

So I saw English as the vehicle for that

But there was a problem because my parents

couldn't pay for an English course for myself, you know?

So I actually had to learn English on my own.

So I decided to take on the responsibility to learn this language by myself

because there was no other way.

But I had a friend who actually studied at a language school.

He took an English course, and he was really helpful because I talked to him

and he was kind enough to lend me his old course books,

you know, because every semester his school would change the books.

So the books that he wouldn't use anymore, he would lend them to me.

So that's how I started.

I started by studying with old course books from my friend and the grammar book

that he had lend me.

And then I started studying by myself and those old books, you know,

and I remember that I was really fascinated

because English was always interesting to me.

I always loved the language, but I was then actively studying it, right?

I mean, I was reading stuff in English.

I was copying stuff from the book that I saw,

and I was already very excited because I was using another language

to write or to communicate or to express myself.

My speaking was really bad at that time, so I couldn't speak yet,

even though I grew up kind of watching movies with my parents

in English and listening to music in English as well.

I didn't have my speaking skills so developed yet

I remember that I would try to read

stuff aloud from the books that I was studying with,

and it was a disaster because, you know, the words wouldn't flow.

I had no idea how to pronounce certain words, for example, low, loud,

dull, you know, it was really bad and frustrating, but I kept going

because at the end of the day, I was having fun.

You know, I loved the language.

I loved learning about the language.

So I was enjoying myself.

And also I was very curious about the language. Yes.

So, you know, that's what kept me going in those days.

And at that time, that was when I had my first realization

that English, especially the pronunciation of English,

was very different from my own language, my Portuguese native language.

So I told myself that I was going to have

to be open and flexible to learn this language.

Because everything would be different, the sounds of the words,

the pronunciation, how the words were used.

So I had to tell myself that it was important

to keep an open mind and flexible attitude when learning English.

And that was all I did for pretty much three years, you know, from 15 to 18.

Most of the time I would study with books and that was the first mistake I made.

And I'm here to tell you this because I took way too much time,

too long to start speaking.

You don't want to do that.

And at that time, 20 years ago,

it was much more difficult to find people to practice my speaking with.

So I just studied with books at that time, but nowadays

we have so many more cool resources, you know, like apps and thinking of apps

I can tell you about the Real Life English app, as you probably know.

But then something magical happened in my life.

When I turned 18, I started working and I have to say that my work experience,

you know, the jobs that I've had in my life,

they were crucial in my English development,

especially the speaking and the listening skills.

Let me explain my first job was at a drugstore

and I worked as a cashier there.

But there was something interesting about that drugstore

because that drugstore was located in a rich neighborhood in Sao Paulo.

You know, the city where I'm from and because it was a very well developed

neighborhood, there were many hotels around that drugstore,

which means that it was common for us to receive customers

who are foreigners, you know, people who are traveling or visiting

and who are staying in the hotels nearby.

That was when a started to put my English to use,

you know, all those years that I spent studying now was the moment that I started

to actually speak with people, you know, and it was funny

because I would still take my grammar book and my books to the drugstore

and my colleagues and all my peers, they would see me at lunch time.

Kind of eating and studying at the same time.

So pretty quickly I became the English guy at the drugstore.

So every time a foreign customer came in I was the one to be called, Hey, Thiago,

there's a there's a foreign person there, a foreign customer, go help that person.

And then I would go there and then speak in English

with those people and trying to help them out. Right.

I remember one time it was kind of funny, you know, I was at the cash register

and I was talking to this American customer, which was a lady and then,

you know, I was trying to talk to her in English and explain to her that

I had never been abroad and everything, but I was still learning the language.

And then I said, Oh, yeah, I've never been abroad.

And then she

kind of stopped me and she said, Oh, I think you mean abroad.

And I was like, All abroad.

Oh, thank you very much for the correction. I appreciate that.

So that was one example

of how having these little interactions with these customers

helped me because sometimes I would say something wrong, like abroad

and then the person would help me by correcting me.

And I had many of these small interactions at that time that were really useful.

And this is another tip that I can give you.

Be open to correction, because if somebody corrects for English

or your pronunciation or the way you use a word,

this is actually great for you because the person is taking time to correct you

and to help you.

So be thankful for those corrections because that's how you improve.

And then I got my second job.

I got my second job at 19 years old, and that was a very interesting job.

It was a job as a bilingual customer service representative.

I know it's a gigantic name, but basically the idea was this there was this

American company that provided cable TV services in the U.S.

Imagine an American customer who had a problem with the cable TV there.

They would call us in Sao Paulo in Brazil for help,

you know, because the company outsourced or hired us to provide this service.

So that was a very nice experience for me because it meant speaking

to Americans on the phone 6 hours a day, six days a week.

For a year.

So that in a way, it was my version

of living abroad.

You know, it was my version of having an exchange program

because I was really speaking to natives for a year.

Yeah.

And that really helped me with my speaking skills and my listening skills.

But it's important to mention that I only got that job

because I already knew English enough to get that job.

So all those years that I spent before, you know, working and studying

and learning paid off because those years allowed me to get this job.

And then I proved even more.

So here's what I have to say to you.

Keep learning keep developing yourself and start looking for job opportunities

that allow you to use your English on a daily basis

because then you're going to improve even more

and between those jobs.

That was actually the moment when I really started to create my own

immersion in English, you know, because I was

already kind of using English on my daily routine there at work.

And then I was really serious about it, like, you know, everything

I made sure that I did in English.

So watching movies

in English series, listening to music, I love rock and roll, for example.

So I always listen to my favorite bands in English.

And with my very first paychecks

actually, that's what I did.

We didn't have Netflix at that time or streaming service.

And so I actually would go to video stores and buy DVDs

and those box sets of DVDs from my favorites

series like Friends or, you know, Two and a Half Men, for example.

And that was really cool

because the DVD allows you to change the language, right?

I mean, you could change the subtitles to English.

You could take out the subtitles

because before that we had the VHS tapes and you know, that wasn't possible.

But nowadays with the streaming services, we have, it's so much easier for you

to access thousands of movies and series and watch them in English, right?

So we really have so many more resources nowadays

so movies and TV series, they were really important to me.

I really leverage the power of using the media to learn English.

By the way, if you want to learn or to know my exact step by step process

that I used to improve my English with movies and TV series,

let us know in the comments.

Maybe I can make another video in the future for you

explaining how I did it. All right.

Finally, there is one more

thing that happened in my life that really helped me

take my English to the next level, and that was becoming an English teacher.

You know, I started teaching English

at 21 years old, so it's been 14 or 15 years now already.

And I have to say that teaching English and helping people with their English

was actually an experience that really helped me master

the English language to a whole nother level.

Because, you know, when you teach, it's like you are learning again, you know,

because if I have to teach a class or help someone, I have to prepare, right?

I have to study the topic myself, I have to be familiar with the topic.

I have to think of different ways to explain things, to give examples,

and that mental process really helps me better understand the topic.

So then I can explain that to my students.

So it's a win win.

If you teach somebody, you win because you are kind of revising information

and studying it again.

And the other person is also benefiting because the person is learning new stuff

with you.

And I've had the pleasure of working with wonderful, more experienced teachers,

you know, over the years,

you know, people who were like ten, 20, 30 years more experienced than me

and who were amazing speakers back in the day much better than I was.

And that helped me.

For example, once I remember that I was, you know, in this teachers meeting, right?

We were having this teacher meeting at the school and after the meeting,

one of my fellow teachers,

she was, I think, 20 years older and more experienced than me.

She had been teacher for many years.

She came to me and she said, Hey, Thiago, do you mind if I correct you on something?

And then I said, No, not at all. What is it?

And then she said, You know, I noticed that during the meeting you said basic,

but actually the S sound here sounds like a S.

Not like Z.

We don't say bay-sic we say bay-zic.

And then I was like, Oh, really?

That kind of it was mind blowing to me.

And then she went on to explain to me how usually nouns and adjectives

with S you pronounce the S as a S right,

as a sound, and verbs with S usually are pronounced with a Z.

So just to give an example. Yeah.

We have the adjective close.

For example, I live close to work. Right.

And we have the verb close with a Z sound.

So you close the door.

And then I remember listening to that.

And first, of course, I thanked her.

Yeah. For the feedback and the correction.

And then I think I spent, I don't know, one or two months

after that, just thinking about that sound,

thinking about the letter S and when does it sound like a Z?

When does it sound like a S?

So I made sure I spend time after that correction to really incorporate that.

Because remember, at that time I already spoke English.

You know, I had been speaking English for years, but still

I was making this mistake and she really helped me with that.

So I spent the next couple months trying to break the habit

of pronouncing basic, for example, and saying basic. And Here I am.

I've been teaching English now for 15 years already, and after 15 years

nowadays I have the pleasure of working with Real Life English and being here,

you know, shooting this video for you and creating these lessons for you.

So I'm very thankful for my journey.

I think it was an amazing journey,

and I hope that my story inspired you a little bit in your journey.

And I hope also that you got some ideas and tips of things

you can apply in your own English development.

And if you're looking to get even more inspired, check out this video

that is and did explaining the number one reason why you should learn English.

I'm sure you are gonna like it.

Thank you so much for watching me and for listening to my story.

And I'll talk to you soon.