Dec 5, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc5s2jK2JfU
Episode transcript below:
Hello, how are you doing? In this episode we're going to take a
look at some interesting, surprising myths about learning English.
The top ten myths in fact. I'm really excited to share them with
you, I think you're going to like them. They might make you think
about your English fluency in a new way. Let's challenge some of
those thoughts that you have about English fluency. I've heard from
a lot of learners that they say, "Oh you know I really need to
learn in a Native speaking country. I can't learn English until I
can move to the United States."
Seriously? It's not true. If you're planning on moving to the
United States for example, you should probably start learning
English before you move there. You don't need to live or even to
travel to a native speaking country to become fluent in English.
There's so many resources, especially online with so many
interesting websites, news sources, video clips that you can watch,
movies that you can stream, music sites that you can listen to
music on, there's so many ways that you can get immersed in English
in your living room, or wherever is convenient for you. You don't
have to be in an English speaking country, you just need to bring
English to you wherever you are.
In fact I know a lot of people who live in the U.S. and they've
lived there for years, maybe ten years, and they still don't speak
English. Why? They spend their whole day everyday with people from
their own country speaking their native language. Simply living in
the United States is not the secret to fluency. It's a great place
to be don't get me wrong, but fluency has to come from you and your
effort, and knowing how to become fluent. That's why I'm here to
help you. Stop making excuses, this excuse is not valid, you do not
need to live in an English speaking country to become fluent.
The next myth that I'd like to bust is that you have to major in
English in University in order to be fluent. Now this is wrong on
so many different levels, of course majoring in English can help
you with your English but in a University you're typically going to
study literature, and writing, and maybe how to become an English
teacher. Sure, maybe it's a good idea if you want to be working
with those fields but, in fact if you want to be able to speak
English fluently I would suggest that you don't focus on it at your
University. I would suggest, if you're taking English classes at
University or a private language school that's great, but you have
to do so much more outside of the class to develop your fluency,
and make sure that you're not relying on your textbook, your
teacher, or your course work to make you fluent. You really have to
use English outside of the classroom to become fluent.
Okay, next number three is really fun. I get a lot of requests from
Go Natural English viewers, if they could become fluent by marrying
an English speaker. Well, you do not need to marry an English
speaker in fact to become fluent in English. It's great if you can
have connection, or friendship, or even more with an English
speaker, but you do not have to marry an English speaker to become
fluent in English. I would suggest to reach out to people with
similar interests and discuss those interests with them in English.
Maybe you're really into sports, you could find a sports community
using social media, or maybe a forum online. That's a great way to
connect with people. I would suggest you put your effort into
finding people with similar interest who also speak English.
Number four, English is the most difficult language to learn. This
is simply not true for most English language learners. English can
be more difficult for some people and easier for some people
depending on your native language, and depending upon your
experience learning languages. If you've already learned another
language it can become easier an...