How to Instantly Sound More Fluent In English

hey what's up Stefanie the English coach here  from englishfulltime.com in this video I'm gonna  

give you five ways to instantly sound more fluent  these tips are going to come in really handy for  

everyday speaking like if you feel like you're  just not as fluent as you want to be but also  

if you have some important event like a test in  English where people are going to be measuring  

and Grading your fluency or an interview where  people are going to be listening to you and  

thinking about how fluent is this person and do  we want to hire them okay so listen to these tips  

if you want to know how to instantly sound and  feel more fluent in English Okay the first tip  

is when you hit a wall in your communication like  you're trying to share your idea but suddenly you  

can't remember the grammar structure you're  supposed to use you can't remember the word  

you're supposed to use don't let people see that  you are frustrated with your communication instead  

pretend like you're thinking about your idea  you know like sometimes we do this even native  

speakers do this we're trying to share an idea  and it's like um I can't find the perfect word  

to describe it because I'm trying to describe  something that is so intricate or so technical  

or so specific that I really want to find the  most perfect word to describe what I'm saying  

okay this is actually a normal thing that happens  in communication so you actually don't have to let  

people on to the fact that you don't remember  what grammar tense you're supposed to use or  

you forgot a really basic word you can just sit  there and think a little bit about what you're  

saying and people will understand like okay  they just need a minute to put their thoughts  

together again this is normal it happens to me  all the time especially now that I'm a mom now  

that I'm a mom communication has just I don't even  know anymore you guys it has gone to a whole new  

level where basic communication is difficult for  me okay because I am sleep deprived I'm constantly  

thinking about a million things so when I talk  with people I'm constantly pausing and just like  

what am I trying to say okay so you also don't  have to tell people like oh I don't remember the  

grammar tense or oh I don't remember the word I  know sometimes we tend to out ourselves like that  

just because we want people to understand what's  going on in our mind but you don't have to do that  

you can just you know allow yourself that time  to pause and likely the person will wait and also  

when these things happen to us it feels like it  takes such a long time but usually your pause  

is like two to three seconds it's not like a  whole minute even though it might feel like  

it okay so just relax and pretend like you're  thinking about what you're trying to say and  

not like oh my goodness I don't remember how to uh  construct the grammar of my sentence my next tip  

to instantly sound more fluent is when you can't  think of the right word and it becomes apparent  

to you immediately that you probably won't be able  to remember it in the next one to two seconds then  

just start describing the word so if you can't  remember the word depressed for example you can  

say I was just feeling really sad and tired and  you know like you can make it simple you don't  

have to remember every single word all the time  you can describe what you're talking about and  

sometimes that will be even easier for people  to understand and the benefit of doing this is  

you don't lose your train of thought it's not like  you have to stop and then think for a whole minute  

about a word that you're missing your brain just  goes oh can't think of that word can't remember it  

okay so we're going to describe what we're talking  about instead and you don't lose the fluency you  

don't lose the fluid speech your speech just  keeps going on and it continues you don't lose  

any of like I said the fluency because you're  just instead of using a specific word you're  

now describing what you're talking about my next  tip to instantly sound more fluent is to add extra  

words and phrases and sentences to your speech  that are not really necessary but will help fill  

time and space so for example if somebody asks  you a question and all of a sudden you don't  

know what you think about it you don't know what  words to use you're trying to think about maybe  

the grammar and all these things right instead of  feeling like oh my gosh I'm stuck what do I do now  

just start talking out loud right just hmm that's  an interesting question you know I haven't thought  

of that before so here's what I think I think  that okay and that sounds completely natural  

native speakers do it all the time you even do it  in your own language but I think sometimes when  

we're speaking foreign languages we have this  expectation of ourselves that our communication  

has to be instant we have to instantly know what  we think and what we want to say and how to say  

it and that's just not how language works we have  to process ideas but in your native language okay  

you often process ideas out loud well you can do  the same thing in English and it will help with  

the fluency because you can begin speaking before  you're actually really ready if that makes sense  

but you do have to be thinking as you're speaking  so you know where you're going my next tip there's  

actually two tips in this one when you're saying  something and suddenly you realize oh my goodness  

I actually don't know how to say this correctly  with the grammar for example you have two options  

you can just keep going and risk possibly saying  something totally incorrectly but whatever you're  

communicating it's fine just get your idea out  there but if you are concerned about grammar and  

speaking correctly and you are aware of that as  you're speaking like for me when I speak Spanish  

I'm often aware of when I'm making a mistake as  it's happening or right before it happens and I  

can sort of auto correct before it happens  or right after it happens anyways so if you  

are concerned about that what you can do is when  you're about to run into that wall change course  

and just cut yourself off as if you suddenly had  a different idea I do this all the time when I  

speak Spanish and I'm saying something and I  realize oh my goodness I actually don't know  

how to say this in a grammatically correct way so  I'm actually just going to go over here instead  

and say something else that I know means the same  thing and is grammatically correct right so it's  

almost like I'm saying one thing and then I  pretend like I suddenly had a new idea or a  

different idea or suddenly want to say something  else and then I cut myself self off and I go in a  

new direction for example you could be talking  about something and then you say so I had been  

um I thought right I don't know if that's a good  example but see how I just cut myself off right  

there so I have been thinking that the it's like I  thought right okay so you cut yourself off that's  

totally natural because even native speakers do  it sometimes we're so excited about what we want  

to say that we don't even finish our sentences we  just stop mid-sentence and go right into something  

else so you can use that same strategy to avoid  mistakes before they happen if you are aware that  

you're about to make the mistake my next tip is  to use intonation Rhythm and interjections to  

your advantage communicate the way native speakers  communicate try to use our Rhythm try to use our  

intonation slow down make your intonation make  that Melody go up and down because that makes it  

more interesting when you speak if you're more  monotone it's not as interesting and it's just  

not going to make you sound as fluent but the more  you use Melody and the more you have a an English  

Rhythm to the way you speak like you reduce words  and you lengthen words and that in a sentence and  

you do that and you use interjections like you  know so it was Lie week um you know okay doing  

those kinds of things will help you sound  more fluent and natural however I do want  

to caution you don't overdo the interjections  it's actually a really bad habit some people  

say you know you know you know um um um all the  time and then it can go from a point of being  

natural and helping you sound fluent to being  distracting and uh just not pleasant to listen  

to okay my final tip for you is to use lots of  body language and facial expressions why because  

a lot of the communication that we do is actually  not verbal communication it's done through our  

facial expressions through our body language  and if you can use your body to communicate  

for you you actually won't have to do as much of  the talking right you can let your hands do the  

talking you can let your face do the talking for  example if you want to say that you felt a certain  

way but you don't remember the word you can  just be like and and I I was sitting there like

how is this possible Right see I didn't actually  say I was sitting there feeling shocked and  

outraged or what like I didn't say exactly how I  was feeling I just I showed it right so the more  

you show with your body the more you communicate  and it kind of makes you look and seem more fluent  

and if you don't do this if you're very still if  you don't use your hands if you don't use your  

face to communicate then you are relying 100 on  your words 100 on your voice and that's putting a  

big burden on your voice and your words and I know  I for example tend to be a very expressive person  

with my body with my gestures with my facial  expressions with my tone you can even communicate  

with tone right and that helps me communicate  so many different ideas and I can make nuanced  

ideas too and it's really fun to communicate like  that also and it makes communication a lot easier  

so anyhow that's why I recommend it okay those are  my tips to instantly sound more fluent now if you  

feel like you understand English a lot better than  you can speak it I want to invite you to join our  

fluency breakthrough challenge this is a challenge  we do every year once to twice a year and it is  

amazing hundreds of students join this challenge  we all do it together it's so much fun it's a 30  

day challenge and it unlocks your fluency and  your confidence like nothing else I guarantee  

it you just have to try it to see what I mean  and we have some really fun extra bonus things  

for all the students who join us for this round of  the challenge okay so that's all I'm gonna say I  

will leave the link in the description but again  if you want to improve your fluency in 30 days  

unlock your fluency get to a whole new level and  I have to say if you do this Challenge and if you  

do it correctly you will likely speak more English  in our 30-day fluency breakthrough challenge than  

you have ever spoken in your life you will feel  more fluent than ever before you will feel more  

confident than ever before and you will finally  really get in touch with that English speaking  

version of yourself that I'm sure you have always  truly wanted to be so I cannot wait to help you  

make this breakthrough that's it I will leave the  link below and I will see you in another video bye