Fluency in a foreign language is a challenging goal for many learners.
While most of us are able to understand and read simple phrases or sentences after learning a new language for about six months, fluency requires you to be able to not just understand but also respond quickly, accurately and with ease.
These five tips will help you become fluent in English in the next 365 days.
But first – let’s start with some basics.
Let’s be honest: it can be tough to keep up with all the new words we encounter on a daily basis!
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you hear so many new words from different people in different contexts every day.
Keeping track of all these new words can also be challenging if your memory isn’t that great.
1. Think in English
The most effective way to build fluency in another language is to “think in” the language.
In other words, you must make it a habit to “translate” your thoughts from one language to another.
Think about it: if you can’t rely on your understanding of a language, then how will you be able to speak it or write in it?
You can’t just expect that you’ll “know” what to say when the time comes.
To be fluent in English, you need to turn your English “on” whenever you’re thinking or reading in your language.
When you’re trying to think in English, it helps to simplify the language and cut down on any “extra words” you may be used to saying in your mother tongue because they “sound better” in your language.
This leads us to our next tip.
2. Have a schedule
If you’re serious about improving your English and becoming fluent in a year, you need to make sure that it gets the attention it deserves.
You must decide how much time you will spend on improving your English every day, and then stick to it.
If you want to become fluent in English in a year, you need to be consistent with your daily English-learning activities.
It’s also important to set aside enough time for your other daily activities.
Your life won’t become English-only if you’re inconsistent with your daily English exercises.
Being consistent with your English-learning activities will help you to focus on becoming fluent in English in a year.
And consistency is something that you can control; you can’t control when something unexpected will come up and disrupt your schedule.
3. Watch and listen to English media
It’s not just about reading a lot; you also must “hear” the language.
You must expose yourself to lots of English in different contexts and genres, including podcasts and videos as well as books.
You also have to be able to understand the language as well as “listen” to it.
You can’t just let the words “wash over” you; you have to be focused and try to understand what you’re hearing.
This is another way that you can familiarize yourself with English: you can use SRS (spaced repetition software) flashcards to help you remember new words and grammar.
4. Practice speaking with others
You can’t just keep reading, writing, and listening to English and expect to become fluent in a year.
You also need to “speak” English as much as possible. You can practice speaking with friends, family members, colleagues at work, and even online with people from different countries.
You can even create a language exchange partner where you and your partner take turns speaking each other’s language for a set period each week.
You should also attend language exchange meetups in your area where you can practice speaking with other language learners in your city.
5. Take a language workshop or class
You should definitely attend a language workshop or a class where you can practice speaking and listening to English with others.
Even if you’ve been studying English for a long time, this will help you to improve your English skills in a short amount of time.
Attending workshops and classes is a wonderful way to do this, especially if you don’t have a lot of time to practice speaking English on your own.
Another benefit of taking workshops and classes is that you will be around other people who are learning English and you can help each other out by correcting each other’s mistakes.
Conclusion
When learning a new language, the most important thing is to enjoy the process.
If you focus only on becoming fluent in a year, you’re more likely to feel frustrated and overwhelmed.
Instead, try to enjoy the process and be in the moment.
Remember that fluency doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a lot of time and effort to master a new language.
If you follow these tips, there’s no reason why you can’t become fluent in English in the next year.