WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:00.399 --> 00:00:01.399 Hi. 2 00:00:01.399 --> 00:00:05.330 I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. 3 00:00:05.330 --> 00:00:09.190 How fast will you become fluent in English? 4 00:00:09.190 --> 00:00:12.320 Let's talk about it. 5 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:20.640 I get emails and questions from students a lot that say the same question, "Vanessa, 6 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:23.268 how soon can I become fluent? 7 00:00:23.268 --> 00:00:26.659 How fast will I become fluent in English?" 8 00:00:26.660 --> 00:00:31.600 Today I thought I'd help those students who ask me that question and also help you in 9 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:37.130 case you have ever wondered how fast can I become fluent? 10 00:00:37.130 --> 00:00:40.150 How long will it take? 11 00:00:40.150 --> 00:00:44.709 To talk about this topic, I want to ask you a couple questions because for each person 12 00:00:44.710 --> 00:00:46.510 it's going to be a little bit different. 13 00:00:46.510 --> 00:00:55.270 My first question is how much time do you spend with English everyday? 14 00:00:55.270 --> 00:00:58.000 Do you spend five minutes? 15 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:02.019 Do you listen to a podcast for an hour? 16 00:01:02.020 --> 00:01:06.380 Once a week or twice a week, do you talk with someone on Skype? 17 00:01:06.380 --> 00:01:12.800 How long do you spend with English everyday or ever week? 18 00:01:12.800 --> 00:01:14.540 Let's start with this idea. 19 00:01:14.540 --> 00:01:21.530 Do you think that students who spend 15 minutes with English everyday are going to learn faster 20 00:01:21.530 --> 00:01:28.930 than students who use the same material and study two hours a day? 21 00:01:28.930 --> 00:01:29.930 Probably not. 22 00:01:29.930 --> 00:01:35.979 It's going to take them a little bit longer because they're not devoting as much time 23 00:01:35.979 --> 00:01:36.979 to English. 24 00:01:36.979 --> 00:01:40.450 I know that time in our lives is really limited. 25 00:01:40.450 --> 00:01:41.690 We have busy lives. 26 00:01:41.690 --> 00:01:45.999 You probably have a job and family and friends and you want to relax. 27 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:47.000 Maybe sleep. 28 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:48.790 Maybe eat. 29 00:01:48.790 --> 00:01:55.470 How can you find enough time everyday to be able to become fluent? 30 00:01:55.470 --> 00:02:00.360 Well, my main recommendation is to try to make your world English. 31 00:02:00.360 --> 00:02:02.729 I've talked about this a lot before. 32 00:02:02.729 --> 00:02:06.659 Making your devices, your computer and your phone in English. 33 00:02:06.659 --> 00:02:09.950 Trying to read books in English instead of your native language. 34 00:02:09.950 --> 00:02:14.519 Go to websites that are in English instead of your native language. 35 00:02:14.519 --> 00:02:21.100 Try to make everything English so that you can keep doing your normal daily habits, but 36 00:02:21.100 --> 00:02:23.669 it's in English. 37 00:02:23.669 --> 00:02:29.729 This is going to help you save time, but also just naturally integrate English into your 38 00:02:29.730 --> 00:02:31.319 daily life. 39 00:02:31.319 --> 00:02:36.280 My second question, of course, is what are you using to learn English? 40 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:39.079 Are you reading your high school textbook? 41 00:02:39.079 --> 00:02:43.989 Oh, it's probably going to take a quite awhile to become fluent. 42 00:02:43.989 --> 00:02:47.750 Maybe impossible if you're only using your high school textbook. 43 00:02:47.750 --> 00:02:56.569 But if you're using real material, if you're watching YouTube videos, TV shows, you're 44 00:02:56.569 --> 00:03:02.200 reading real articles, you're talking with other people, even other English learners, 45 00:03:02.200 --> 00:03:10.079 you're just using English in a real way, this is going to help you to become fluent faster. 46 00:03:10.079 --> 00:03:17.159 First of all, spend enough time, spend as much time as you possibly can with English, 47 00:03:17.159 --> 00:03:20.409 and two, use natural materials. 48 00:03:20.409 --> 00:03:26.709 Use material that's interesting and real because you want to imitate native speakers. 49 00:03:26.709 --> 00:03:30.989 You want to become as close to that as possible. 50 00:03:30.989 --> 00:03:37.709 If you're not watching and interacting with native speakers, it's going to take a lot 51 00:03:37.709 --> 00:03:38.790 longer. 52 00:03:38.790 --> 00:03:45.329 I recommend surrounding yourself with English so that you can combine these two ideas. 53 00:03:45.329 --> 00:03:48.519 Natural material as much as possible. 54 00:03:48.519 --> 00:03:51.489 Unfortunately, there's no magic number. 55 00:03:51.489 --> 00:03:52.900 Three hours a day. 56 00:03:52.900 --> 00:03:55.379 Four months you will become fluent. 57 00:03:55.379 --> 00:04:01.969 There's no magic number, but I recommend combining these two ideas: realize that time is valuable, 58 00:04:01.969 --> 00:04:07.939 time is really important, and the material you're using is also important. 59 00:04:07.939 --> 00:04:12.748 Make sure that it's something that native speakers actually use and something that's 60 00:04:12.749 --> 00:04:14.110 interesting to you. 61 00:04:14.110 --> 00:04:20.699 My final question, the third question, is what is fluent to you? 62 00:04:20.699 --> 00:04:26.210 We've talked about this in a previous video, how do you define fluency? 63 00:04:26.210 --> 00:04:30.070 Each person might have a different definition of this word. 64 00:04:30.070 --> 00:04:35.900 Because if you're reaching for a goal, you need to define that goal first. 65 00:04:35.900 --> 00:04:43.009 If your definition of fluency is I want to be able to speak with native speakers comfortably 66 00:04:43.009 --> 00:04:47.810 and without much hesitation, then you know what you need to focus on. 67 00:04:47.810 --> 00:04:52.069 You need to focus on confidence and speaking. 68 00:04:52.069 --> 00:04:57.690 Make sure that the time you spend is spent on speaking. 69 00:04:57.690 --> 00:04:59.879 It's spent on gaining confidence. 70 00:04:59.879 --> 00:05:05.729 I have a lot of videos on this channel to help you gain confidence and to help you be 71 00:05:05.729 --> 00:05:11.400 able to speak and use English even if you're not living in an English-speaking country. 72 00:05:11.400 --> 00:05:15.930 If you'd like any tips for those things, make sure you check out the other videos. 73 00:05:15.930 --> 00:05:18.589 You'll get a lot of valuable advice. 74 00:05:18.589 --> 00:05:25.119 Even though there's no magic number, no magic time for becoming fluent, if you follow these 75 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:31.150 three steps, if you answer these three questions, you will be able to define for yourself how 76 00:05:31.150 --> 00:05:33.000 long it will take. 77 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:35.919 Number one, how much time are you spending? 78 00:05:35.919 --> 00:05:39.300 Number two, what materials are you using? 79 00:05:39.300 --> 00:05:42.599 Number three, what is fluency to you? 80 00:05:42.599 --> 00:05:45.409 When will you reach your goal? 81 00:05:45.409 --> 00:05:50.660 This will help you to be able to understand and enjoy learning English. 82 00:05:50.660 --> 00:05:57.909 Before we go, let me know in the comments below how much time do you spend learning 83 00:05:57.909 --> 00:05:58.909 English? 84 00:05:58.909 --> 00:06:03.218 What kind of materials do you use to study English? 85 00:06:03.219 --> 00:06:06.990 What is your definition of fluency? 86 00:06:06.990 --> 00:06:08.490 Let us know in the comments below. 87 00:06:08.490 --> 00:06:13.689 These are big questions, so if you need some time to think about it, no problem, but let's 88 00:06:13.689 --> 00:06:14.900 learn from each other. 89 00:06:14.900 --> 00:06:18.479 I can't wait to see what you have to say and I'll talk to you later. 90 00:06:18.479 --> 00:06:19.479 Bye. 91 00:06:19.479 --> 00:06:25.290 The next step is to download my free eBook "Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English 92 00:06:25.290 --> 00:06:26.290 Speaker." 93 00:06:26.290 --> 00:06:29.510 I want to help you master English and speak fluently. 94 00:06:29.510 --> 00:06:33.129 Feel free to subscribe so that you don't miss new English lessons. 95 00:06:33.129 --> 00:06:34.129 Thanks so much for learning with me. 96 00:06:34.129 --> 00:06:34.130 Bye.