One of the biggest reasons some students don’t gain the fluency they long for is their fear of making mistakes. Many students say when they’re with native English speakers they tend to become quiet and even a bit shy. Other students even struggle in the classroom and pray their instructor won’t ask them to talk in English. The truth of the matter is that unless you use the language – and making mistakes when speaking is a huge part of practicing the language – you’ll never gain the fluency you want.
If you want to achieve fluency in English, there’s no way around it. You’ll have to own up to making mistakes. It’s the only way to improve.
Along a similar vein, many students fail to immerse themselves fully in the culture. Even when given ample opportunity, they don’t take advantage of meeting with and speaking with native-speaking friends. Quite frankly, if you’ve ever declined an invitation to hang with friends because you’re self-conscious about the level of your English, you’ve only done yourself a disservice. Imagine having a great night out with friends and getting the opportunity to practice your English at the same time.
When you get the chance to jump onto the internet, watch television or flip on Netflix, what type of programs do you automatically watch? Why not watch shows in which English is spoken? This will expose you to real conversations in a non-threatening environment. No one is expecting you to talk back to the characters on the screen. Watching programs in English is a marvelously passive method of soaking in the language.
Those students who prefer to watch movies or programs in their native language are missing an amazing learning experience. You can gain a knowledge of English sentence structure as well as English slang. When you start watching television from this perspective you’ll find you gain a quick and lasting fluency in the language.
Then again, sometimes, as the English idiom goes, you just can’t see the forest for the trees. What does this mean and what does it have to do with English fluency. Everything.
If you can’t see the forest as a whole because you’re gazing at each individual tree, you may be doing something similar in your study of English. There are many students who are so busy memorizing vocabulary and learning proper English that they neglect the real reason they’re learning it. To be able to speak it fluently.
There’s nothing wrong with mastering grammar and expanding your vocabulary, but if you’re hiding behind these actions and not using what you’re learning, fluency in English may be something you’ll never obtain. Keep in mind that English, just like your native language, is a vibrant and living language. It’s perfectly fine – and even recommended to speak it as much as you can – even if you haven’t learned all of the grammar. It hasn’t held a single native speaker from talking
If you’re not using the proper methods of learning the language, you may be struggling needlessly in attaining fluency. If you feel as if this may be your problem, you may want to review the methods you’re currently using. Some of the best and easiest ways to speak English like a native include watching yourself speak in a mirror, think in the language, even immerse yourself in the language. If you think this may be part of your problem, you may want to research some of the most recommended methods of learning to gain mastery in the language.
These are just a few of the reasons why students fail to break through to the next level of fluency in the English language. Do any of these reasons sound familiar? The only true way you’ll gain the ability to speak English like a native, is to analyze what you’re doing – and quite frankly what you’re not – doing and begin to implement new learning habits and methods.
Speaking English like a native is well within your reach. All you have to do is to take the steps that are best for you.