How fast will you become fluent in English?

Let's talk about it.

I get emails and questions from students a lot that say the same question, "Vanessa, how soon can I become fluent? How fast will I become fluent in English?"

So today I thought I'd help those students who ask me that question and also help you in case you have ever wondered how fast can I become fluent?

How long will it take?

To talk about this topic, I want to ask you a couple questions because for each person it's going to be a little bit different.

My first question is how much time do you spend with English everyday?

Do you spend five minutes?

Do you listen to a podcast for an hour?

Once a week or twice a week, do you talk with someone on Skype?

How long do you spend with English everyday or every week?

Let's start with this idea.

Do you think that students who spend 15 minutes with English everyday are going to learn faster than students who use the same material and study two hours a day?

Probably not.

It's going to take them a little bit longer because they're not devoting as much time to English.

I know that time in our lives is really limited.

We have busy lives.

You probably have a job and family and friends and you want to relax.

Maybe sleep.

Maybe eat.

How can you find enough time everyday to be able to become fluent?

Well, my main recommendation is to try to make your world English.

I've talked about this a lot before.

Making your devices, your computer and your phone in English.

Trying to read books in English instead of your native language.

Go to websites that are in English instead of your native language.

Try to make everything English so that you can keep doing your normal daily habits, but it's in English.

This is going to help you save time, but also just naturally integrate English into your daily life.

My second question, of course, is what are you using to learn English?

Are you reading your high school textbook?

Oh, it's probably going to take a quite awhile to become fluent.

Maybe impossible if you're only using your high school textbook.

But if you're using real material, if you're watching YouTube videos, TV shows, you're reading real articles, you're talking with other people, even other English learners, you're just using English in a real way, this is going to help you to become fluent faster.

So first of all, spend enough time, spend as much time as you possibly can with English, and two, use natural materials.

Use material that's interesting and real because you want to imitate native speakers.

You want to become as close to that as possible.

If you're not watching and interacting with native speakers, it's going to take a lot longer.

I recommend surrounding yourself with English so that you can combine these two ideas.

Natural material as much as possible.

Unfortunately, there's no magic number.

Three hours a day.

Four months you will become fluent.

There's no magic number, but I recommend combining these two ideas: realize that time is valuable, time is really important, and the material you're using is also important.

Make sure that it's something that native speakers actually use and something that's interesting to you.

My final question, the third question, is what is fluent to you?

We've talked about this in a previous video, how do you define fluency?

Each person might have a different definition of this word.

Because if you're reaching for a goal, you need to define that goal first.

If your definition of fluency is I want to be able to speak with native speakers comfortably and without much hesitation, then you know what you need to focus on.

You need to focus on confidence and speaking.

Make sure that the time you spend is spent on speaking.

It's spent on gaining confidence.

I have a lot of videos on this channel to help you gain confidence and to help you be able to speak and use English even if you're not living in an English-speaking country.

If you'd like any tips for those things, make sure you check out the other videos.

You'll get a lot of valuable advice.

Even though there's no magic number, no magic time for becoming fluent, if you follow these three steps, if you answer these three questions, you will be able to define for yourself how long it will take.

Number one, how much time are you spending?

Number two, what materials are you using?

Number three, what is fluency to you?

When will you reach your goal?

This will help you to be able to understand and enjoy learning English.

Before we go, let me know in the comments below how much time do you spend learning English?

What kind of materials do you use to study English?

What is your definition of fluency?

Let us know in the comments below.

These are big questions, so if you need some time to think about it, no problem, but let's learn from each other.

I can't wait to see what you have to say and I'll talk to you later.

Bye.

The next step is to download my free eBook "Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English Speaker."

I want to help you master English and speak fluently.

Feel free to subscribe so that you don't miss new English lessons.

Thanks so much for learning with me.

Bye.