It seems so hard sometimes.

You spend a lot of time taking grammar tests, reading a lot of books about it and you still can't become fluent in English.

And sometimes, you even feel like this is not for you and you think about quitting.

Well, don't. Seriously, don't give up.

Because in this video I'm going to tell you five practical tips that have helped me become fluent in english and I believe they can be useful for you as well.

Also at the end, I will share a bonus step on how to improve your pronunciation and get rid of your accent.

But first let me tell you a little about my background.

When I was about 15 years old, I became interested in English.

I just liked the way it sounds and I knew that by knowing this language I would create new opportunities for myself.

So I started learning it on my own.

In high school, I studied some basic english, but I wasn't really interested in the school program because it was boring for me.

So, I learned it mostly from watching Youtube and movies.

And because I liked english that much, I even went to college and chose the major foreign languages where I studied english.

But after a year I quit because I didn't like the way they were teaching there.

And I realized that I can learn English faster and easier on my own.

And now I'm at a level where I can speak, read, understand and write in english pretty well.

I can even have a YouTube channel and create content in english.

So, here are those five practical tips that have helped me the most to become fluent in English.

Number one, create an english environment.

You need to get used to English, you have to train your brain to perceive it as your native language, and that requires hearing and using it every day.

So I took my phone and laptop and changed the language to english and absolutely every app I used.

I stopped watching dubbed movies and started to watch them in the original version.

I even unsubscribe from some channels on YouTube that were in Romanian, my native language,

but you don't have to do that that is optional.

Also I stopped translating when I didn't know the meaning of the word instead of translating it, I googled it and read its definition.

So, by doing all these things, I added more english to my life.

I surrounded myself with english.

Number two, practice your speaking.

When it comes to a new language, we're good at understanding, but not good at speaking, and that takes a lot of practice.

And I know not everyone has the opportunity to travel to different countries, talk with native speakers, so the internet will help.

You can get into online chats and talk with people.

If you have a friend who is also studying English, you can set a day of the week when you speak and text each other in English only.

What I did to practice was I started to talk with myself.

Yeah, maybe that's weird, but I don't care because it worked.

I was just thinking out loud, like describing my day, talking about what I had to do.

Then, I started to create content on instagram.

I was filming videos and communicating with my audience.

and later I bought an online course where we were talking with native speakers on different topics, which also helped me a lot to improve.

So, as you see, there are many ways to practice, just don't be afraid to speak.

Yes, you will make a lot of mistakes, especially in the beginning.

I still make mistakes a lot when I write, when I speak, but that is okay.

That's exactly how you learn and get better.

So, next time when a tourist comes to your city and ask for directions, don't be afraid to speak.

Don't say, "No English" and walk away but try to help them, try to answer the question because that is a great way to practice your speaking skills.

Number three, listen to more English.

Listening to something in English every day not only helps to understand better but also it's a great way to improve your pronunciation.

The more English you hear, the more you memorize, you improve your vocabulary.

And when you get to speak you kind of formulate your thoughts faster and you speak more correctly.

I listen to a lot of music, watched a lot of YouTube, and because of that I started to understand a lot more and my pronunciation got better.

So watch and listen to whatever you want, but it has to be in English.

Number four, learn the grammar.

Yeah, you have to do it.

I know it's hard. I've been through it, too.

But you have to know at least a little bit of grammar in order to speak correctly.

I remember my strategy was to learn one grammar rule a week.

I just focused only on one instead of trying to learn them all at the same time.

And then, I took that rule that I learned and used it when I was speaking.

I made sentences with it.

I practiced it every day in order to not forget it.

So, by following this strategy, grammar got easier and easier for me.

Actually, the key to learning English grammar is not memorizing the definition of the rule, as I was taught in school,

but trying to understand how that freaking future perfect works and when and where you can use it.

Number five, enjoy the process.

Have fun learning. You don't have to worry about it and be stressed.

It's not like in school where you have to take all those tests, get grades, and stuff like that.

Just have fun. Live in English.

Watch your favorite shows, play video games, do whatever you like, but just switch it to English.

Let's say your hobby is playing guitar and singing, then just learn some songs in English and just sing them.

By actually living in English and combining pleasant with useful, you will learn and get fluent much faster.

Of course. It's super hard and not interesting when all you do is study from boring grammar books and focus only on the theoretical part.

Go out there and practice!

Use English in your day to day life because that will be more fun and the learning process will be much easier.

And number six, bonus tip, read out loud.

This is a good learning hack.

It's the thing that helped me so much to get rid of my accent and take my pronunciation to a new level.

Just figure out what kind of accent you like more, whether it's American, British, or Australian, it doesn't really matter, and try to imitate it.

Read out loud with that accent.

This is exactly what I did.

I always liked American accent, so I just took any book that I was interested in and I was reading out loud, imitating the American accent.

Yeah, the first try might be terrible, but it's okay.

Just keep practicing, and you'll notice that your English skills improve.

You will start to articulate better, to pronounce words more correctly and more naturally.

All these steps combined will get you to a good English level.

I still use them to improve my english because it's definite not perfect.

And actually you can use them to learn any language that you are interested in.

And remember that often progress doesn't come very fast, but you will progress if you put in a lot of effort, time, and if you're patient and you're severe enough.