Am I FLUENT in ENGLISH? | Some Thoughts on Reaching Fluency

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Hey there, I'm Pete Smissen, the host of the Aussie English Podcast, and today, I talk about reaching fluency in a foreign language, fluency in your L2, whether that's reaching fluency in English or any other foreign language.
I often get asked questions about being fluent in English such as:
- How do you know when you're fluent in English?
- Am I fluent in English after X amount of time?
- What does it feel like to be fluent in English?
- How can I become fluent in English?
In this video, I want to share some of my thoughts and experiences on reaching basic fluency in both French and Portuguese, my L2 and L3.
Let me know what you think in a comment below :) Do you agree or disagree with my ideas?
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[@campossanti]

I thought I was totally fluent until I moved to outback Queensland. The Aussie accent was a challenge in the first place since I arrived to Aus. But these Queenslanders are taking it to the next level . Day by day I’m improving my listening skills and I think I’m getting myself the QLD accent as well 😂

[@DavidAlvarez-jq2nk]

Yes, I agree. I have a hard time understanding people from this region of Australia. In my job, there are some people from this region and a little by little I am understanding them more a more.

[@mariahelenaroncato5744]

I've just "met" you on a video with Stefanie and subscribed to your channel. I'm an English teacher in Brazil and loved to hear your views on how to master fluency in a language. Way to go! 😊😊😊

[@rvasconcelossilva]

Hi Pete! Great video, I guess you’ve spoken about the majority of English Students fears. One thing that I put in my mind is “Learn a language it is a journey, it won’t happen over the night”. I’m one of thousands of students whose had started and stoped studying English any times. The last two years I really got it and start being more patient (not all time 😂)! At that moment I had realised I needed to ready books in English, watch series in English (at least with subtitles), follow KZbin channel. When I started doing these stuff I realised how much my English improved and even that when I got in Australia I sow how many things I even need to learn the accent, the idioms, expressions, etc. but since Aussie experience I’ve been telling that my tip to learn English is surround yourself with English, change the language of your computer, mobile, books, series, watch movies and try to speak in English, look for groups in your cities and environment where you can talk more relaxed, because when you’re in a work environment or more formal environment it’s really hard to express yourself, the pressure is bigger and you’ll push yourself much more!

[@jschmid26]

Wow, that's an amazing video! You're explaining the subject using such great metaphors, It's exactly like you're saying! I think I've built up a pretty good core by backpacking through Australia for 8 month now, but my english is far from being perfect.You're gonna come to a point where listening won't improve your own speaking very much, so you HAVE to get into speaking it yourself! I think the most important part about learning, was getting completely confident with talking in english and even accepting the errors I made and still make while speaking (or writing). It might be easier for me, as a native german speaker, to talk about "new" subjects like physics or other science stuff because our languages are both using latin vocabulary, but all together I'm still kind of struggeling with for example some tenses we don't have in german. But you can't learn another language by just using your "comfort core" you already accomplished and grew confident with by using it all the time; instead of that you have to explore new parts of the "racing track", to quote your analogy, and even your "core" will start to get easier to use because you're getting behind the whole concept of the particular language and maybe even language itself :D I'm going to leave Australia next month but I REALLY loved and still love being here: One of the nicest people I've ever met, some of the greatest cities I've ever seen and maybe the most interesting parts of nature I WILL ever see. I also have to thank you for all the effort you put into your videos, I really enjoy watching them! Keep up the good work, you really seem to enjoy it : )

[@atenacheraghi3997]

many thanks mate, i totally agree with you, I've been learning English since Feb 2020 and with yours KZbin channel and your podcast, literally i watched and listened most of your video and my level is improved so fast, me and my husband decided to speak English day to day conversation and forgot our language. i can tell i'm on the right track but basically I've been working my ass off and gave myself hard time to be more and more fluent, for somebody like me who cannot afford the money for your classes (i lost my job during covid but no worries it's gonna be okay at the end of this ) here is the best place, you are such a good man, and i like the session you like with your old man and teach expressions, God blessed you

[@borentiy]

At educational institutions students are taught English as an academic subject. Not only as an instrument of everyday speaking. The wrong about it is the fact that the language must be studied through the practical application first, and all the academic staff should be learnt so to speak on top of it. Only as a reference. It's like you study how to drive from a book, but being put at the steering wheel - you hardly know how to drive on practice.

[@FRN_89]

diabéisso cara, u r always right on the money about everything Pete! Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts about fluency, you rock as always!

[@gursifatkaur3533]

OMG u are soo amazing...idk why but I love hearing u...keep going...lots of love❤️

[@gabrielmoreirabr]

Why Aussie English is the best accent? I love this accent!

[@micheleramoskihara]

Hi Pete! Now that I'm in Japan, I'm trying to learn some Japanese, and keep studying English to apply for the test. It has been a challenge! 😅 Valeu, até mais!

[@carlanascimento2214]

I completely agree with you! I don’t know who came up with that ridiculous story that one day you will have a “click” and will start to speak and understand everything like magic. I’m still waiting for that magic moment, but what happened to me was a long and hard way (I’m still in it). I loved that video because it talk about expectations and priorities which are very important during our studies. Thanks Pete

[@susanrahimi8591]

Thanks for your best advice

[@susanrahimi8591]

Aussie English I'm from Iran 🇮🇷 The best country in the world😉

[@Heldan]

What I understand watching your videos is that we should get married with an English native speaker lol

[@mraffa1722]

Heldan lol 😂

[@rameshkaria2124]

Heldan that's a brilliant idea mate

[@nKLsblahvlahblah]

Eu quero ouvir você falando português

[@mariahelenaroncato5744]

Sim, eu também! :)

[@LuaSanchezz]

ele é brasileiro? ou está aprendendo português?

[@thomasbrunkle8389]

You learnt French? Interesting, I would like to see some of it.

[@moisesrsh76]

Muito bom. Concordo contigo, também acho que devemos nos concentrar nos aspectos centrais da língua a ser aprendida e a partir disso expandir. Depois que se aprende a primeira língua estrangeira as demais ficam mais fáceis. Por isso lá na Europa é comum falarem vários idiomas.

[@noone-vv9ex]

@@AussieEnglishPodcast are you brazilian?

[@moisesrsh76]

@@noone-vv9ex His wife is brazilian.

[@SanFranciscoRiderr]

nice very helpfull

[@carolinec8804]

Awesome!

[@gabrielmoreirabr]

What you say about the eyes and be blind is so truth!

[@Jackson-ky9og]

Please add the captions for me thank you for your videos these are so helpful to me

[@rodrigos.6117]

I’m Brazilian and I'm looking forward to seeing you speak Portuguese. Make a video speaking in Portuguese, please🙏🏻🙏🏻😄😄

[@MrAsevin]

Nice video :) You make me feel lazy when you say you practise everyday. I find it so hard to keep the motivation for a long time when there's nothing forcing me 😖

[@noone-vv9ex]

Practicing everyday actually works :) i'm brazilian and i learned english by myself doing this. Maybe you can do this with the language you're learning, i guarantee you, it's worth it.

[@legiabao7035]

Your eyes are so gorgeous

[@tonyluan1391]

If you travel to Viet Nam, ho chi minh city. Willing feel free stay at my house have your own room no charge. Just speak english to me and have a good time possible. I’m vietnamese. Show you everywhere in my city.

[@mahdimoradi9678]

Hi Pete, actually I'm trying to get fluent in english , and I'm looking for a OZ teacher that can help me through this. Could you please give me some advice.

[@Sama-sf4sy]

There are 2 main ways, without them you will never learn English: 1 - we always say it : reading, reading and reading. 2 - look up for any new words and hear them in Google translate. That's it! Practice is not enough what so ever.

[@Sama-sf4sy]

@@AussieEnglishPodcast I meant Google translate. Lool

[@campossanti]

I thought I was totally fluent until I moved to outback Queensland. The Aussie accent was a challenge in the first place since I arrived to Aus. But these Queenslanders are taking it to the next level . Day by day I’m improving my listening skills and I think I’m getting myself the QLD accent as well 😂