The last one is not only the most damaging, but also the most misunderstood.

Hello everyone, my name's Carrie.

I spent 13 years as a conference interpreter working with leaders like Warren Buffett and Ray Dalio and for organizations like the UN and Goldman Sachs.

Now I coach busy professionals like you to improve their English communication skills and build more confidence at work.

Mistake number one, setting very vague goals.

Everyone claims they have a goal and they know what it is.

But when I ask my potential students about their English goals, here's what I almost always hear.

I want to improve my English.

That's it, no specifics, no direction.

I don't think some of them even actually given any thought to their own goals.

They're just repeating whatever other people are saying online.

Having a goal like I want to improve my English is almost as bad as having no goal at all because it's so vague that you can't do anything about it.

It's like saying I want to travel to a place, what place?

Are we heading north or heading south?

Are we going to a beach or the mountains?

Are we going to Europe or South Asia?

Without knowing the specific of your destination, you don't know where to go, you don't know how to pack your bags and you don't even know what transportation you need to choose.

And it is the same with your professional English communication.

You need a very specific goal.

For example, one of my students had been studying, practicing and improving English for years.

She watched a lot of YouTube videos, used all those popular language apps.

She was very busy, but she didn't make any progress.

Why?

Because she had no specific target.

When we sat down and looked at what actually bothered her at work, everything started to change.

Her very vague goal of improving my English became I want to speak confidently in my weekly team meetings.

The difference was immediate and huge.

With this very clear and very specific goal, first, she stopped wasting time on random videos that had nothing to do with her meetings.

Two, she knew exactly how to measure her progress.

And most importantly, she understood why she had been stuck despite studying or practicing, improving for so long.

This is why having a vague goal like improving my English is so dangerous.

You can't filter what's useful from what's a waste of time.

You can't tell if you need a general English teacher or you need a communication coach.

And the most frustrating thing of all, you have no way to measure your progress because what exactly are you measuring against?

Mistake number two, I call this mistake the social proof trap.

It means you follow the crowd instead of your own needs.

Let me share something very fascinating from psychology.

There's this principle in influence or persuasion called the social proof.

It means that when we are uncertain about something, for example, we're uncertain about how to practice, we will look whatever others are doing and then follow the crowd.

This explains why everyone ends up watching the same show and using the same apps for English practice.

If everyone is doing it, it must work, right?

Wrong, let me show you why.

Before coming to me, one of my students was doing everything that was popular online.

She was reading The Economist religiously because influencers told her that is the best way to practice English.

She finished entire seasons of The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family with English subtitles and was using all the trending language apps.

After a year of doing all those things, what were her results?

During team events, the only thing that she could talk about were TV episodes, literally nothing else.

In meetings, she was completely lost because she couldn't understand what is being said.

Everybody was going back and forth discussing complex issues, but she couldn't catch up.

For her annual presentation, she spent days preparing, but her boss was still very unsatisfied with her performance.

Her situation is actually very common.

If you are not seeing progress despite all the efforts that you're making, this is very likely why.

Because when you follow the crowd, you forget one crucial thing, your actual needs.

Think about it logically.

What situations do you actually need English for?

Can those TV shows, magazines, and apps really help you in those situations?

Can watching Modern Family or Big Bang Theory help you handle tough questions in your next client pitch?

Can The Economist teach you how to give clear and persuasive presentations to other departments in your company?

Can memorizing those words from trendy apps prepare you for in-depth technical discussion with your global team?

If the answers are all yes, by all means, keep doing those things because clearly it's working for you and if you're like most people, the answers are going to be all no.

That's why you need to make some changes.

For example, if you want to improve your listening for work, find podcasts or panel discussions in your industry.

Those conversations will match the kind of English you actually need.

This is far more valuable than watching another episode of Modern Family.

Remember, just because something is popular doesn't mean it's right for you.

The best practice material is the one that matches your real world needs.

It's not the one with the most likes.

This last mistake is very damaging and very misunderstood.

If you don't address this problem, your English communication will always be stuck because it's kind of like having a gigantic hole in the middle of your boat.

No matter how hard you row, you are not going to get very far and your boat is probably going to sink.

So the third mistake is this, relying too much on Chinese translation for learning and practicing English.

Let me ask you some questions.

Does the following sound familiar to you?

In English meetings, you rely on translated subtitles.

While practicing, you need Chinese translation under every English sentence.

You prefer reading Chinese versions of English books.

When learning new words, you immediately look up the Chinese meaning without checking the English definition or the English examples.

Here is what happens when you do the above mentioned things.

And I see this all the time.

When you actually need to speak English, you think in Chinese first, and then you clumsily try to translate that in Chinese into English.

When you hear or read English, you will need to translate back into Chinese in your head first, trying to understand that.

Basically, you are doing interpreting all day long, except you are not a trained interpreter and you cannot do it.

A lot of people ask me, Kerry, how do I stop thinking in Chinese when speaking English?

The answer is very simple.

You need to learn English with English.

If you're watching this video, chances are you can already do this.

You just haven't developed that habit.

I know this transition actually take a little bit of time because I've done it myself.

If you're used to seeing Chinese translation everywhere when you practice or learn, it might take you a few months to learn how to practice without them.

But this is the only way to speed up your language processing, to reach that point when you can speak English without thinking in Chinese and understand English without translating back into Chinese.

Okay, I'm gonna rant for a little bit, so bear with me.

Speaking of translating things back from English to Chinese to help you understand stuff, I know a lot of people do this.

And my question for you is, why are you doing it?

It makes zero sense.

Because think about it, what comes before translation?

Comprehension and understanding comes before translation.

You need to understand what's being said or written in English first, and then you translate.

Not the other way around.

Let's use some logic to think things through.

If you already understand that English, why translate it back into Chinese?

Are you an interpreter?

Why adding more steps to slow yourself down?

If you don't understand that English to begin with, how is your wrong translation or non-translation going to help you?

How?

I get very frustrated when I hear influencers telling people to use Chinese to learn English.

My god.

That's exactly the opposite of what you should do.

If you want to stop thinking in Chinese, you need to learn in English.

Now, I know many of you are thinking, but Carrie, what if I don't understand something?

I need that Chinese translation to help me.

No, you don't.

Let me share with you a very smart approach.

Instead of reaching for the Chinese translation, use tools like ChatGPT to explain things in simpler English.

For example, if you don't understand something, you can ask ChatGPT to do the following.

One, you can ask it to paraphrase it in simpler words.

Two, you can ask it to give you examples using that phrase, or you can ask it to explain it to you like you are a 10-year-old child.

This way, you are using English to understand English, exactly what you need to break free from the translation trap.

So if you are really serious about making real and fast progress, you have to watch out for these three mistakes because they will definitely kill your progress.

If you want to learn more about how to practice effectively, I made this video called the three most powerful English practice that actually work.

These practices have helped me and my students make real and fast progress, and I believe they can help you too.

I will see you in the next video.