Success Story: How Did I Learn to Speak English?

Almost every language learner at least once asked themselves, “Is it even real to learn to speak a foreign language fluently?” The answer is YES. But how much time you need to achieve it depends on your desire, patience, consistency, and dedication.

So, my name is Monika. I’m from Poland. I speak Polish, English, and a little bit of Spanish. But about two years ago, I could barely understand English. Now, as you can see, I can use English fluently (at least in writing). “How did you succeed?” you may ask me. Well, 50% is my dedication, and the other 50% is the right resources.

Why English is important to learn for me?

When I started traveling, I understood that I was helpless in almost every country. Almost nobody speaks Polish. English is the language spoken everywhere, and I couldn’t use it. So, I decided that it was time to learn English and put an end to my “sufferings” in other countries.

Traveling easily was my primary goal. But I also received a bunch of pleasant advantages from knowing English.

Learn English step-by-step: my own efforts

I decided to start learning English on my own to expand my vocabulary at least. I used some free YouTube courses and different apps to learn new words, and I tried to read everything I could, etc.

I tried to develop skill by skill. I downloaded a grammar book with worksheets and covered basic topics on my own. I also watched a lot of videos on YouTube with some topics’ explanations to understand them better.

I read a lot. Actually, I like reading books and different articles, so I just tried to do it in English. It was pretty tough, as I could understand about 20% of the text without looking at the dictionary. In the ideal world, you would write down every unknown word with its translation and learn these words. But in reality, when you need to write down almost every second word, and then you see this unending list of words to learn, you understand you will never memorize anything from it.

So, my lovely hobby—reading—became a torture in English😩.

I used different apps for learning new words. Some offered flashcards, and some offered to learn words in context + idioms. They were useful indeed.

To sum up, I spent an enormous amount of time trying to master every English skill on my own. You can really do it if you dedicate all your free time to it. But still, there is the maximum you can achieve on your own. To proceed further, you need help.

I couldn’t understand many grammatical aspects and practice speaking. Yes, I expanded my vocabulary, but I couldn’t use it. So, the next step was to find a good English teacher.

Effective way to learn English

You can find dozens of information about methods to learn speaking English. Some of them will be helpful, some useless. The key is not just a native speaker but a person who can teach and with whom you feel comfortable.

So, I decided to find a good English tutor. I didn’t want to study offline. So, I searched for the solution on Google. I saw an ad from LiveXP and 1-on-1 English learning. I visited the website and started to explore it. It took me about 5-7 minutes to find a couple of English tutors who interested me. The platform was not complicated. It is user-friendly, and I could book two trial lessons on the same day. The first tutor was from Poland, and the other one was from the USA (I will avoid names). It was important for me to have a teacher speaking my native language to explain grammar, complicated things about English, etc. I would have never learned such language aspects if I had had lessons with a native English teacher only. I really liked both tutors and decided to continue studying on LiveXP. I bought a quarterly subscription and started to approach my goal.

My learning experience with LiveXP

What I like the most about the LiveXP subscription is that you can learn a language with as many teachers as you want. I have speaking lessons with a native English speaker to practice conversation topics. And I learn grammar with a professional English teacher from Poland.

The coolest thing about conversation lessons is that you can find a tutor who shares your interests. So, you can discuss the most exciting and important thing for you in the language you learn, expanding vocabulary and learning to use it in real life. As for me, I wouldn’t have felt any interest in a tutor with whom there is nothing to talk about. How could I practice speaking English if we had nothing to talk about? 🤔

Recently, a new feature appeared in the app—The Word Trainer. Every language learner will definitely benefit from it. How it works for me: during the lessons, when I meet unknown words, I add them to My Vocabulary on LiveXP. And I can do it any time, outside the lesson as well. This way, you have the list of words you need to learn. Frankly speaking, without this feature, I would never really learn them. The app reminds you to practice memorizing new vocabulary. It uses a spaced repetition method (it is one of the most effective ways to learn words if you have never heard about it before). There is no need to worry about writing down words in the dictionary or textbook to learn them later. Everything is on my smartphone.

How I feel about languages now

Apart from lessons on LiveXP, I spent all my free time on English. I listened to music, watched all the movies in English, read a lot, etc. Yes, it was hard work, but I was passionate about English because I could see the result. I can speak English fluently in a year (maybe a little more). I succeeded in my goal of communicating everywhere in the world. In addition, I found a cool job where English was one of the requirements. Of course, I continue taking lessons in English on LiveXP. But I opened a new language for myself—Spanish. And the subscription to LiveXP doesn’t limit me to a specific language. I have access to everything on the platform. So, with one subscription, I study two languages. I started to learn Spanish two months ago.

I can tell you with confidence that it is an achievable goal to master English (or any other language) from scratch! The main “engine” of the process is you and nobody else.