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  • If you're fed up with getting stuck in English, of not being able to fully

  • express yourself or constantly feeling judged and self-conscious when you speak

  • English, this video is for you! Becoming fluent is not something that just

  • happens to you. "Okay, I'll just listen to podcasts and watch movies without

  • subtitles and read lots of books and speak a little bit at work and then I'll

  • be fluent!" No, that doesn't happen that way. It's like planning a project at work

  • or deciding to renovate your house, right? You're not just stumbling upon furniture

  • or people asking them, "Hey, do you mind breaking this wall in my apartment

  • because I need to renovate it." And then you break a wall. Then you're like, "Oh no!

  • That was not a good idea! Maybe I need to put back the wall and then break another

  • wall." Then you go ahead and break that wall and then you go above your budget

  • and the house is a mess right and you have no idea what to do. Well it's

  • sort of the same thing but different. If your goal is to become fluent, you

  • have to make it a project of yours. You have to plan it. You have to see

  • what's working for you and what's not working for you. You have to focus your

  • attention and to do only the things that get you results. You've got to stop

  • wasting time with the wrong teachers. You got to stop wasting times watching all

  • these videos without really doing something about it. You have to stop

  • wasting time doing things that don't advance you, but to do that you have to

  • know what you need and the only person that can help you with that is you. Today,

  • I'm gonna teach you the three steps that will help you develop your fluency

  • strategy to understand what to learn and how to learn it, how to practice

  • effectively and how to boost your confidence by changing your mindset and

  • owning that fluent mindset that will help you kick ass when you speak English.

  • The way I see it, fluency has three pillars. The first pillar is 'knowledge' -

  • knowledge of words, knowledge of grammar, knowledge of pronunciation,

  • right? Knowing how to use certain expressions, and what words to use when,

  • and how to structure the a sentence. So this is knowledge. The second pillar

  • is 'practice', which is taking all the knowledge that you have and turning it

  • into spoken English. This is usually the biggest struggle. Most people are having

  • an easier time reading and writing and listening to English, but when they have

  • to speak, that's the main challenge. Retrieving the right words, knowing how

  • to structure it fast and fluently, and of course, being able to pronounce it and to

  • sound clear when speaking so you actually communicate your message.

  • The last pillar is 'confidence'. It's great to know all those things you know you

  • can learn for hours on end and you can practice with your teachers and with

  • your friends, but if you don't have the confidence to speak up when you're

  • needed, when you're asked a question, when you have something to say in a

  • meeting or in front of people or just in the store. If you avoid conversations

  • like you avoid fire then you need to boost your confidence. Now confidence is

  • one of the pillars but it's also the result of the first two because when you

  • learn more and when you practice more, of course, it improves your confidence and

  • these three elements are essential if you want to become fluent in any

  • language. Now that we know these three elements we need to understand how to

  • improve in each and every element here. When it comes to learning English, I feel

  • very lucky. I think that we all are. We live at a time that there is so much

  • information out there. There are so many learning resources, high-quality top

  • resources. They can just reach your hand and grab them for free. The downside of

  • it is that you don't know what to focus on because if you go and try to learn

  • everything that is out there because you're passionate and motivated. The

  • result is that it can be overwhelming, a waste of time, and sometimes redundant.

  • Let me give you an example. If you still struggle with a past simple tense or

  • present simple, do not go and learn the perfect tenses. Master the basic and most

  • used tenses before you move on to more advanced tenses.

  • Phrasal verbs are very important, but if you still don't know when to use 'on', 'in'

  • and 'at' when you're talking about time and space, do not go and learn all the phrasal verbs out

  • there in the world. Focus first on the things that get you stuck because you

  • use them daily, okay? Understand what are your needs and focus

  • just on that when it comes to pronunciation. Do not go and learn all

  • the different nuances of the American T and all the extra sounds added when

  • you're connecting words, if your R's and L's are still getting confused, okay? I'm

  • not saying it's not important, it's not important right now. You need to focus on

  • the things that will get you the best results and those things are the most

  • apparent things, the things that you probably want to deal with the least

  • because you're so tired of it or and bored with it. But, these are the most

  • important elements that keep getting you stuck. And when it comes to vocabulary,

  • don't waste your time learning words that you don't know. Focus on using words

  • that you know but never use, that you understand when other people speak, that

  • you use in reading and writing but you never use in speaking. That will get you

  • results. Learning new words and memorizing them and never using them

  • along with the other 1,500 words that you already know and never use, will not

  • get you results. When you're planning your learning road map trying to

  • understand what are the topics that you need to focus on, you have to laser focus

  • on the things, the critical pieces, that are missing when you're speaking English.

  • The critical pieces that still hold you back

  • when you speak English. Do not go, although it's tempting, do not go and

  • learn everything that is out there. That's just procrastinating. That's just

  • not dealing with what's important for you and believe me I know. I know it's

  • the most boring stuff. It's the stuff that you know but it's just not a part

  • of you, so you know that you need to do it but it's just, it's not there yet and

  • then you're like pushing it to the corner.

  • No. Open that box and drill down and master it and then

  • you will see how everything is so much, so much easier. When it comes to

  • practicing English. Remember that it's always quality over quantity. You do not

  • need to study every day for two hours. You do not need to move to an

  • English-speaking country in order to immerse yourself and really improve. No,

  • you can do it from a non-English speaking country also and you can become

  • fluent and you can master the language and I know it because I've seen it

  • happen. Swear to God. I've seen my students and my

  • community members take huge leaps in their English and their ability to

  • communicate just by practicing effectively. What is to practice

  • effectively? First of all, to plan it out, to learn only the things that you need

  • to learn. You need to be aware of what you're doing. Maybe you need to record

  • yourself. Maybe you need to videotape yourself listening to it giving yourself

  • feedback, looking in the mirror to make sure that you're opening your mouth or

  • rounding your lips as you're speaking. All of these things turn your practice

  • into a conscious active exercise from which you can learn and improve. Remember

  • that. The small changes make all the difference, and of course speak as much

  • as possible. Speak to yourself in the car. Speak to a friend. You don't have to have

  • native speakers around you to be able to speak and to practice. You don't need

  • that constant feedback. Understand that just speaking, looking for the words

  • trying to understand how to say it, even if it's when speaking to non-native

  • speakers, it's a great way to improve. In fact, I find that non-native speakers

  • have a much easier time to practice with fellow non-native speakers. They feel

  • less judged. They feel a lot more freedom because they know they're both in the

  • same boat and this is why I started our online community and if you're not a

  • member, please click the link below and join us because it's a safe space for

  • people to discuss meaningful things in English, because you don't have to

  • constantly practice English to practice English. You just need to

  • speak. And when you speak about meaningful things and when you really

  • connect with other people from around the world, it makes everything so much

  • better, and to be honest, is the most empowering and safest space I've ever

  • seen online. So click on the link and join us! Lastly, let's talk about

  • confidence. You know that voice in your head that tells you, 'Oh, you made a

  • mistake. Oh, you're not gonna be able to say it. Oh, you're not gonna know how to

  • finish the sentence why even bother starting? You sound funny. They're gonna

  • think you're stupid!' Do you know that? Do you know that voice? You know these

  • voices. It's not just in your head. I just want you to know that it's in everyone's

  • heads and even in my head because, what do you think when I'm speaking to you

  • right now in front of the camera, there isn't this Vicious Hadar sitting up here

  • and they're like, 'You didn't sound good here. You made a grammar mistake.

  • That's the best you can do??' It's here all the time. The question is

  • how much space I'm willing to give this person sitting right here. Usually I tell

  • her to take the back seat because I'm right here making videos for you guys

  • and that's more important than making a pronunciation mistake or grammar mistake.

  • When you're communicating with other people, you give others the opportunity

  • to get to know you, to learn from you, to understand something about themselves or

  • about you or about the world, even if it's simple things. When you're holding

  • yourself back because of mean voices, you are denying yourself the opportunity to

  • be you, even if it's in the second language. You have to remember that and

  • there are a few things that you need to keep reminding yourself that will

  • completely change your mindset and those things are: being perfect is overrated.

  • I hate nothing more than hearing the term 'speak like a native speaker'

  • because when you set the bar so high, the gap is so wide that you'll feel that

  • you'll never be able to reach there. If this is your goal then this becomes

  • impossible. You don't need to sound like a native speaker, sound like

  • yourself, but your most fluent, expressive and confident self. That's your goal.

  • Don't try to achieve something that will hold you back, try to achieve something

  • that will empower you. Really trust me on that. I know. I know that it's hard to

  • change that mindset because you've been told for years that the only way to

  • become fluent is to sound like a native speaker, but understand that being a

  • native speaker is something that happens if you're born into the language

  • and if you're not born into the language, you can become very fluent in the

  • language and you can master it and you can master the accent. I know that and

  • again I've done it myself but I know the the journey is long and it takes a lot

  • of hard work and sometimes the goals should be expressing yourself, being

  • fluent, finding the words, sounding clear even if it's not like a native speaker,

  • even if people still ask you where you're from, okay? The thing is that you

  • need to be okay with that. You need to understand that what you bring to the

  • table as a non-native speaker is your gift, is your advantage, okay? Don't try to

  • hide it. Don't try to wash out your identity.

  • Become clear, have a powerful voice, say what you have to say. Doesn't matter if

  • it's with an accent and it doesn't matter if it's with mistakes. Which leads

  • me to the second thing and that is - mistakes are okay. Mistakes are the only

  • way to learn. Don't beat yourself up every time you make a mistake. Don't be

  • afraid of making mistakes because that will only result in not speaking. Don't

  • wait till it's perfect to speak - your pronunciation, your knowledge of English,

  • your thought, okay? Don't wait for you to know exactly what you need to say before

  • you speak. Start speaking, get stuck, make a mistake, ask for help, but speak. Once

  • you're okay with making mistakes, and again I'm telling you this because I

  • have come terms with my mistakes, with my grammar

  • mistakes, with my pronunciation mistakes, with my stupid typos in my videos that I

  • don't see because I've been writing words phonetically for years now that

  • I've forgotten how to spell correctly, okay, but I have to become okay with it

  • to be able to make those videos for you. And if you feel that you're benefiting

  • from my videos, then I know that I've done my work. Then I know that I did my

  • job in this world because at the end of the day it's not about being perfect but

  • it's about communicating with the world and expressing yourself, and it doesn't

  • matter in what language you do that. The most important thing is that you show up.

  • Now you know that in order for you to make things happen you have to take

  • action and this is why I want you to take a few minutes right now and share

  • with us in the comments below two things. One - where do you struggle the most? Is it

  • with knowing what to learn and how to pursue your knowledge? Is it sitting down

  • and actually doing the work practicing, or is it confidence? What are the voices

  • that you hear in your head? And then the second thing I want you to do is to

  • write down your game plan. What are you planning to focus on? What are the things

  • that you are going to learn in order to improve? Be as specific as possible.

  • Really, the most specific you could be and then I want you to let us know how

  • much time out of your day you're willing to invest practicing effectively in

  • order to become the most fluent you've ever been and if you haven't yet I

  • highly encourage you to join our amazing online community. So I'll post a link to

  • it right here below. I know I'm not objective but I'm not the only one

  • saying it it's really the most safest, most empowering place where you

  • can share and learn from and create activities. So really, I'm

  • telling you don't waste your time. Click that link and get your butt in there.

  • Thank you for letting me share this with you and I truly believe that if you put

  • your mind into it and you do the work, English will come to you. Thank you so

  • much for watching and I'll see you next time. Bye.

If you're fed up with getting stuck in English, of not being able to fully

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