How I became fluent in English (my 3 strategies)
Summary
TLDRIn this informative video, Lewis from The Language Scientist shares his personal journey to fluency in English without living in an English-speaking country. Born and raised in Tahiti, a French-speaking region, Lewis struggled with English despite seven years of schooling. He emphasizes the importance of repetitive listening to podcasts and movies, which significantly improved his listening and speaking skills. Lewis also details his strategy of immersing himself in English by switching his digital environment and social interactions to English. Lastly, he recommends using tools like LingQ to ensure that the language input is comprehensible, a tip he wishes he had known earlier. His story is an inspiration for language learners worldwide, proving that fluency is achievable with dedication and the right strategies.
Takeaways
- π Lewis is a native French speaker from Tahiti, French Polynesia, and has achieved fluency in English without living in an English-speaking country.
- πΆ Lewis wears orange glasses in the evening to protect his eyes from blue light, as it's dark outside at 7 p.m. in his location.
- π After seven years of studying English in school, Lewis still struggled with conversation and understanding English media, highlighting the insufficiency of traditional education for fluency.
- π The first strategy Lewis used for learning English was 'repetitive listening', which he believes significantly contributed to his fluency.
- π§ Lewis would listen to English podcasts and watch movies repeatedly, exposing himself to the same words and grammatical structures multiple times.
- π‘ The second strategy was 'making the switch' to living as if in an English-speaking country, which involved using English for all daily activities and interactions.
- π Lewis switched his computer and smartphone languages to English and sought out English content to immerse himself in the language.
- π Lewis emphasizes that achieving fluency requires thousands of hours of dedicated practice, with no shortcuts or hacks available.
- π The third strategy, which Lewis wishes he had used, involves ensuring that the language input is 'comprehensible', using tools like LingQ to assist with understanding.
- π Lewis recommends using LingQ, a language learning tool that helps make content more understandable by providing translations and explanations.
- π Lewis suggests using LingQ to prepare for watching English TV shows or movies by reading subtitles first to understand the vocabulary and context.
Q & A
Why is Willis wearing orange glasses in the video?
-Willis is wearing orange glasses because it's 7 p.m. and dark outside, and he doesn't want to get the blue light.
What is Willis' native language and where was he raised?
-Willis is a native French speaker and was raised in Tahiti, French Polynesia.
Why did Willis feel the need to improve his English skills despite studying it for seven years in school?
-Willis realized that his English level was low after struggling to have a proper conversation with native speakers and not understanding English TV shows and movies.
What is one of the strategies Willis used to improve his English listening and speaking skills?
-One of the strategies Willis used is repetitive listening, which involves listening to the same content multiple times over a long period.
How did Willis change his lifestyle to immerse himself in the English language?
-Willis switched his entire lifestyle to act as if he was living in an English-speaking country by using English for all his online searches, reading, listening, and speaking activities.
What is the third strategy that Willis wishes he had used while learning English?
-The third strategy is using a tool like LingQ to ensure that the input he receives is comprehensible, which would have made his learning process more efficient.
Why is comprehensible input important for language learning according to Willis?
-Comprehensible input is important because it allows learners to understand and benefit from the language content they are exposed to, making the learning process more effective.
How does Willis suggest using LingQ to improve English learning?
-Willis suggests using LingQ's Chrome extension to import subtitles of TV shows or movies, allowing learners to do assisted reading and understand vocabulary and sentences before watching.
What is the main takeaway from Willis' experience in learning English to a fluent level?
-The main takeaway is that becoming fluent in a language requires a significant amount of time and effort, with strategies like repetitive listening and immersing oneself in the language being key to success.
What is the website Willis recommends for more information on language learning strategies?
-Willis recommends the website languagescientist.com for more information on language learning strategies.
Outlines
π Becoming Fluent in English as a Non-Native Speaker
Lewis, a native French speaker from Tahiti, shares his personal journey of achieving fluency in English without living in an English-speaking country. He mentions wearing orange glasses to protect his eyes from blue light at night and introduces his background, having studied English for seven years in the French education system without being able to hold a proper conversation. Lewis highlights that school was insufficient for fluency and that he had to find his own strategies to improve his English skills.
π The Power of Repetitive Listening for Language Acquisition
Lewis discusses the first strategy he used to become fluent in English: repetitive listening. He explains that naturally, he tends to re-engage with content he enjoys multiple times, which led to him re-listening to English podcasts and watching movies and TV shows in English. This method exposed him to the same words, grammatical structures, and pronunciation patterns repeatedly, which he believes significantly contributed to his fluency. Lewis emphasizes the importance of repetition in language learning and suggests that this approach can be easily adopted by anyone.
π Immersing in English by Switching Lifestyle and Tools
The second strategy Lewis employed was to immerse himself in English as if he were living in an English-speaking country. While in Switzerland, he decided to conduct all his online searches, read, listen to, and watch content exclusively in English. He also interacted with English-speaking exchange students and changed the language settings on his devices to English, which helped him think in English more naturally. Lewis explains that this approach, combined with the time and effort required for language learning, can lead to fluency.
π Utilizing Tools for Comprehensible Input in Language Learning
Lewis introduces a third strategy that he wishes he had used earlier: ensuring that the input he received was comprehensible. He acknowledges that much of the content he initially consumed was too difficult for his level, which limited its effectiveness. To address this, he recommends using tools like Link, a website with a Chrome extension that helps learners understand subtitles or transcripts by providing translations and explanations. This strategy aims to make the input more comprehensible, thus enhancing the learning process. Lewis provides a link to the website for viewers to try out the tool and encourages them to visit his website for more language learning strategies.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘fluency
π‘repetitive listening
π‘comprehensible input
π‘strategies
π‘English-speaking country
π‘Tahiti
π‘language learning
π‘French Polynesia
π‘Switzerland
π‘immersion
π‘Link
Highlights
Willis shares his personal journey of becoming fluent in English without living in an English-speaking country.
He emphasizes the importance of avoiding blue light after 7 p.m. by wearing orange glasses.
Willis is a native French speaker from Tahiti, where English is not commonly spoken.
Despite studying English for seven years in school, Willis still struggled with conversation and comprehension.
His experience in Switzerland exposed the limitations of his English skills among native speakers.
Willis discovered the need for more practice after failing to understand a movie without subtitles.
He stumbled upon effective strategies for learning English rather than intentionally seeking them out.
Repetitive listening is Willis's most valuable method, accounting for much of his English fluency.
He naturally re-listens to podcasts and re-watches movies, exposing himself to the same language patterns repeatedly.
Switching his entire lifestyle to English, including digital interfaces and social interactions, was a key strategy.
Willis recommends surrounding oneself with English as much as possible to simulate living in an English-speaking environment.
He suggests that to achieve fluency, one must invest significant time and effort, with no shortcuts.
Willis regrets not using tools like LingQ to ensure the input he received was comprehensible.
He explains the concept of 'i+1' or 'n+1', where input should be slightly above one's current level for optimal learning.
LingQ is recommended for making English input more comprehensible through its Chrome extension and translation features.
Willis offers a free account link to LingQ in the video description and clarifies his affiliation for transparency.
He invites viewers to visit his website, thelanguagescientist.com, for more language learning strategies.
Transcripts
hi guys Willis here from the language
scientist.com and in today's video I
want to talk about how I became fluent
in English on my own so first of all as
you can see I'm wearing those orange
glasses is because now it's 7 p.m and
you know it's dark outside I don't want
to get that blue light so I'm wearing
those orange glasses I hope that you'll
forgive me for that but so in today's
video I'm going to talk about exactly
what I did to get to my current English
level which is you know I hope you'll
agree it's pretty decent and it took me
a long time to get there and I think I
haven't shared the strategies that I
have used to get to that point because
if you're new to this channel you know
my name is Lewis again and I'm a native
French speaker I was born and raised
here in Tahiti in French Polynesia
so a lot of you guys may not know what
Tahiti is it's a small island in the
middle of the Pacific Ocean and so you
know no one speaks English here everyone
speaks French or Tahitian I could only
speak French and uh so I've never lived
in an english-speak entry in you know in
the U.S or in England never been there
I've actually been to the us a few times
for a very short periods of time just
you know holidays and stuff like that
but I've never spent any kind of you
know more than like two weeks certainly
in an English-speaking speaking country
so I had to actually learn uh English on
my own so there are mainly three things
I want to call them three uh strategies
that I use to get to uh to my current
level
and two of them are things that I
actually did to um get to that point and
then the last strategy is something that
I wish I did something that if I had
done it I would have got to where I am a
lot faster and the journey would have
been a lot smoother so first of all I
just want to give you a little bit of
background about me so as I said I'm
from Tahiti in French Polynesia you know
when I got out of school just like you
know everyone basically who goes the who
goes through the uh French uh education
system I studied English for seven years
and at the end of the seven years I
could not have a proper conversation in
English with a with a native speaker I
could not you know watch a TV show and
actually understand uh most of it
so I'm not saying that you know school
doesn't work as as far as like English
classes but all I'm saying is that it's
it's nowhere near enough it's not
sufficient and school doesn't expose you
to sort of the quantity of uh English
that you actually need in order to be
fluent I'll get into that in a moment
so I got out of school and I thought I
was pretty good but I still could not
have conversations in English I still
could not understand uh you know TV
shows and movies in English certainly
and so one example is that of that is
when I went to college I was in
Switzerland and uh you know there were a
lot of exchange students in in my
University and so one of those guys a
British guy he was talking with uh um an
Irish guy and we were in a train and so
you know they were talking pretty fast
and there was a lot of background noise
because it was a train and so whenever
they tried to talk to me I didn't really
understand and I realized that even
after you know seven years of studying
English in school My Level was really
low so I really needed needed to do
something about it uh same story is you
know a similar story is I was watching a
movie I think it was The Hunger Game I
don't know if it was the first one or
the second one I really don't know
because I watched the movie and I I
didn't understand much because there
were no subtitles I didn't understand
what they were saying so
that's when I realized that I need a lot
more practice and so I started using
strategies I can't say it was really
intentional I know that on my channel I
now I put I upload a lot of Channel a
lot of videos showing strategies that
um I have experimented with and that I
think are are extremely effective but
the truth is uh most of the strategies
that I use to learn English where
um not really intentional that there's
stuff that I stumbled upon or stuff that
I just naturally gravitated towards and
they ended up making me fluent so I
can't say it was intentional but my hope
is that by telling you about this then
it's going to inspire you and show you
that you can learn English in any other
language that you may be learning up to
a very fluent level
so these are the three strategies that I
would use if I were you trying to learn
English or any other language
the first one is repetitive listening I
think by far this is the most
um
the method that really made me that
really got me perhaps I would say 80
percent of the weight there so I'm
perhaps exaggerating but I think this is
the most valuable method and the reason
why it's so valuable is because it's
very easy so let me explain
I think naturally I'm the kind of person
who uh you know when I watch a movie
when I watch when I listen to a podcast
episode when I read something and I
really like it I tend to go back and
actually re-listen or re-watch or reread
that thing multiple times over the
course of you know multiple days
multiple weeks multiple months I go back
to what I like even year after year and
so
you know as I was learning English I was
actually listening to a lot of podcasts
uh watching a lot of movies and TV shows
in English reading a lot of stuff in
English and you know I would say
especially with podcasts uh podcasts and
videos that really helped me because I
would listen to podcasts things like you
know Joe Rogan and Tim Ferriss and you
know Joe Rogan it's really not easy for
non-native speakers because you know
they use a lot of slang it goes very
fast and a lot of times they don't
explain sort of the underlying context
it's like you're jumping right into the
conversation sometimes so it's very
complicated but I don't know I was kind
of just fascinated with this uh this uh
podcast and I saw that it was extremely
successful even in even like five ten
years ago
and so I continued just listening to the
same episodes I also listened to uh
London reel you know back in the days
and
I just listened to the same episodes
again and again and again and again and
I don't think it was you know I'm pretty
sure it was not uh sort of uh for me a
really an intentional sort of uh will to
to actually learn English I was just
fascinated with it and so the result of
that was that I was exposed to the same
words the same grammatical constructions
the same pronunciation patterns over and
over and over again and now I realize
that repetition really is the name of
the game when you know when it comes to
language learning when it comes to
learning English or learning any
language repetition is the name of the
game it's extremely important I've
talked about that in many many videos
and I can't emphasize that enough and
repetitive listening that is the act of
listening to the same stuff over and
over again over the course of multiple
days weeks months and potentially years
has had a huge benefit on my English you
know speaking and listening ability
certainly so that's the first thing you
know repetitive listening and the way
that you can do this it's pretty easy
just you know listen to the same stuff
over and over again
now second strategy I want to talk about
uh I I would say it's like just you know
making the switch so what I'm trying to
say here is that I switched my way of
living as if I was living in an
English-speaking country so I'm talking
specifically about the period when I was
in Switzerland I was in Switzerland I
lived in Switzerland in the
french-speaking part of Switzerland
and uh I don't know from one day to the
next I just decided you know what I'm
just going to do everything everything
in English so I just you know every
every time I looked up something on the
Internet I would just you know look for
it using English keywords on Google I
would only go on uh you know English
websites written in English I would only
read stuff in English and I would only
listen to stuff and watch stuff in
English that's basically it and I tended
to uh gravitate around like exchange
students for example you know that gave
me the opportunity to speak English at
all times although that was not exactly
easy there you know there were plenty of
opportunities to to speak French so it's
not like I was
completely you know living 100 in
English but I did everything that I
could to really be surrounded really be
in this English uh environment I
switched my computer's language to
English I switched my smartphones
language to English as well
and that's basically it I just did
everything in English I even started
thinking in English and it just becomes
like it's something that's automatic and
just by doing that like I don't know if
people really realize how beneficial
that can be because if you want to learn
a language you know English or whatever
like some any other language you need to
really put in the hours especially if
you want to get to a fluent level it's
going to take thousands of hours I know
that you know in some of my other videos
I I try to sound a lot more
um optimistic a lot more enthusiastic
saying that you know after a few hundred
hours you can reach a very good level
which is true you can get to a
conversational level
but if you want to really break through
that barrier of you know being like near
native or a native level in a language
it's gonna take thousands of hours and
there's no
there's no hack there's no shortcut you
need to put in the hours and switching
your entire life to that language plus
doing the repetitive repetitive uh
listening
dot just you know you're just putting in
the hours it's extremely effective and I
think this is the only way to go to be
honest
now I want to move on to the third
strategy and this is not something that
that I did and this is something that I
wish I had done because now I you know
I've done a lot more research I have
more experience as far as language
learning I've learned Italian and I've
learned Japanese to a pretty high level
and uh especially you know learning
Japanese
it has improved the way in which I think
about language learning in general
because
Japanese is just orders of magnitude uh
more difficult and more time consuming
than than learning English because it's
so much more different
so I've thought about this a lot and you
know as as I was saying I switched my
life to English I did some repetitive
listening as well in order to get as
much input as possible so this was my my
entire strategy although I can't really
call it a strategy because it was not
really intentional I just did it because
I thought it was cool because I wanted
to do it
and so my entire strategy revolved
around uh doing a lot of input so
listening a lot and reading a lot I
would say listening was uh probably
constituted the the bulk of my strategy
and it still is it is the case right now
for you know English and Japanese
and so
what I understand now is that the input
that you receive so the stuff that
you've listened to and the stuff that
you read and you know the TV shows that
you watch you're going to benefit from
them you're going to become fluent from
them only if that input is actually
comprehensible to you so what this means
is that if you're watching stuff if
you're listening to stuff that is just
you know way above your level which is
the case for you know most people
watching a TV show in English are not
going to understand most of it you know
if you're at a beginner level in English
or even intermediate level it's totally
normal because all of that stuff is
aimed at you know native speakers if you
listen to The Joe Rogan Experience or
Tim Ferriss you're not going to
understand most of it as you know a
standard English learner
and that's a problem because in order to
really benefit from all of this input it
needs to be at what Dr Stephen crashing
I think he said it was n plus one or I
plus one meaning that ideally in every
sentence you want to have a maximum of
like one word that you don't know that
gives you an an idea of sort of the
level that you should be uh looking for
my point here is that
a lot of English Learners are going to
and you know a lot of language Learners
in general are going to get a lot of
input through listening and reading but
it's not going to be at the right level
it's going to be too difficult so then
what do you do what is the solution well
the on the other hand on the other hand
of the spectrum what you can do is get
actually you know like much easier
material material that is made for
language learning like for example you
know textbooks and that kind of stuff
but that kind of stuff is pretty boring
and so there's no way that you're going
to be able to put in hundreds or you
know thousands of hours just consuming
that kind of stuff
so my advice and what I would have done
is use a tool like link for example and
I'm going to put a link in the
description of this video to create a
free account to the website called link
which can help you greatly in learning
so I'm going to explain what it is
I just want to tell you first I'm 100
honest if you create a free account with
the link in the description and you end
up purchasing a subscription I am an
affiliate for link because I believe
it's uh it's a great tool so I will get
a small percentage of uh that sale but
it's really up to you I want you to just
try it out and if it helps you then you
know go ahead so as I was as I was
saying so if you're listening and
reading stuff in English or any language
in order to learn that language it needs
to become comprehensible first
so my suggestion would be for example
let's say that you're watching something
on Netflix and you're learning English
you're watching this TV show in English
so what you can do is go on Netflix and
you can use Link Link actually has a
Chrome extension and so you can just
click on a button in your browser and
what it's going to do is that it's going
to import all of the subtitles of that
TV show or that movie in the link
website and it's going to help you
you're going to do assisted uh reading
and you can click on certain words and
it's going to give you the translation
for them you can select entire phrases
you know sentences and it's going to
give you the translation of those
sentences
so before actually watching the TV show
or movie you can start reading and
really start to understand the the
vocabulary words and prepare yourself
before you actually watch uh the the TV
or the TV show or or the movie and you
can do the same thing with podcasts if
you can find you know transcripts you
can do the same thing with uh with
YouTube videos for example and so what
I'm trying to convey here is that using
link or you can use another tool if you
want but I find that link is actually
very very practical and it's very cheap
you can start preparing this uh this
listening phase and this this whole you
know input you can get a lot more
comprehensible input which means that
the input that you're going to get is
going to benefit you a lot more than it
did for me because most of the stuff I
was listening to especially in the
beginning I did not understand you know
much of it so this is just an extra tip
this is something I wish I knew this is
something I'm currently doing for
Japanese but I didn't do it for English
but so yeah so an extra tip just uh just
to help you here so once again I have
put a link in the description you can
click on it and you will be able to use
Link for free uh you you have you'll
have a free account and if you want to
learn more about some of my language
learning strategies you can go to the
language
scientist.com and that's pretty much it
I hope you like this video and I'll see
you in the next one
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