Studying means getting knowledge about something by reading examining it in detail or researching we usually perceive studying to be hard and boring and Something that you can usually complete and leave behind like a course or when you study in school You can't wait to finish it and forget about it when people think that they need to study English They usually think that they need to take a course or work with a teacher one-on-one for some time And that'll be enough when they finish it.

They will know English and they won't need to go back to learning again Boy, are they wrong?

Well to be fair to each his own if your goal is just to pass a test like IELTS Then yeah, you pass a test and you forget about it.

That's why it's important to determine your goal Do you need English to pass an exam or test?

Do you learn it for fun?

Are you actually serious about it and you want to truly become fluent in English?

Do you need it for work or do you have an intention to move to an English-speaking country?

A lot of people do need to just pass the IELTS exam So they study for that they get their band And they just relax and stop because that was their goal You can reach a certain level in English and maybe even a very good level But then what if you just quit practicing and using English your skills will worsen Of course, you can take breaks from learning if you go a month without saying a word in English and not listening to anything In English, you'll be fine.

But if this period expands to a year You most likely are going to have to work on some skills once again Especially speaking and you might forget some vocabulary That's why I prefer living English.

What do I mean by living English?

You need to surround yourself by the English language so that you have no choice but to use it You need to incorporate it into your life so much so that it doesn't feel like learning anymore But it's just a part of your everyday life Part of your routine this way you will not forget English.

You will not lose your skills on the contrary You will be only improving every day little by little You probably won't even notice your progress because it's going to be a constant thing But mark my words one of these days you'll be told that your English is great and you'll be amazed by your English and you'll Think to yourself, but wait, how did this happen?

That wasn't hard at all.

And that's the beauty of living the language you improve while not even realizing it Although it might not be easy at the beginning because it takes a bit of an effort and discipline But it'll be so worth it because you can't just stop learning and using a language and expect it to stay the same level Have you heard the saying if you don't use it you lose it?

Skills need to be maintained when people go to college They can't wait to finish their studying and they do But when they do they usually proceed to applying everything they learned at their jobs This helps them maintain and enhance their skills You need to maintain a language so as not to lose it It's just like with any other skill be it playing an instrument or driving a car after a big break You need to work on your skills.

Once again, you don't forget them completely, but they get worse That's why people always find themselves in this vicious cycle of learning English, but never becoming truly fluent in it Becoming fluent in English is a goal for a lot of people but the road they choose to get there Oftentimes isn't the one that's going to get them there by the road I mean the mindset with which people approach learning a language and the approach itself Let's just take my family as an example We live in Ukraine and you will very rarely see a tourist here In our city that speaks English and finding someone to speak English with is also incredibly hard You can take courses here, of course and participate in speaking clubs But I think that these options are available pretty much everywhere and they are not free My family kind of lives in its own little world where we watch and listen to everything in English I use English for my Instagram.

I write posts and post stories in English Our two channels are in English.

I read everything in English I speak English with my husband and son because we're raising our son to be bilingual.

However Way back when I had lessons on Cambly.

I worked with an accent coach.

I took an accent course I participated in English studying group and speaking clubs.

I made a lot of friends who I could speak English with including native speakers You know, I talk about this in more detail in my video called how I became fluent in English So even if you live in a country where nobody speaks English and you have no one to practice with you can still live English believe me over time you get used to this so much that you don't even Understand how you had lived before and why the heck you waited for so long to do that my husband for instance Never even had a goal to learn or become fluent in English But he didn't mind when I asked him to create two channels in English and watch everything in English and occasionally speak English He never checked any words or practiced deliberately He just asked me about the things he was interested in and now his English is at a fairly good level for a person who acquired it passively I'll link my videos in the description where I talk about how you can work on your speaking skills on your own and where you Can find speaking partners and also where you can learn English online And lastly I wanted to say that one very important thing you need to learn to do Is to enjoy English learning it speaking it and find your ways to have fun with it Because if you think that doing all of this is too much and it feels like a burden to you You're not gonna last.

Okay guys, that's it for this video And I really hope that it was useful for you if that was the case give this video a like Share it with your friends watch it again and again and again and again 10 times in a row And i'll see you in the next one.

Bye And improve yourself You