I Was Bad at English Once — This Is What Helped

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash

There was a time when I used to scroll endlessly on YouTube, searching for things like “How to get fluent in English” or “How to have smooth, flawless conversations in English.”

I watched a lot of videos. It might sound funny, but I used to think that I would become a great communicator and master English just by watching those videos. How silly I was back then.

Okay friends, now let’s get to the point. I will tell you what I actually do to improve my English.

I’ll keep it as a story — no textbook kind of vibe. I know, nobody likes it.

Let me start with the verbal part. Just knowing fancy or advanced vocabulary isn’t enough. You should know how to use them in sentences while having a conversation.

For that, I talk to myself — either standing in front of the mirror or by speaking to my phone camera.

Trust me, when I first started it, I felt weird but then I got used to it.

Even today, I do the same. And I have no shame in accepting that I still fumble a lot…. but that’s fine. You should try it too. It really works like magic.

And to have a smooth conversation, you don’t really have to know the fancy words at first. Start with the basic words.

Once you get comfortable, you can always move to intermediate and then advanced words.

There’s a beautiful way I discovered to practice vocabulary along with idioms, slang, conversational phrases, and sometimes even complex translations.

Okay, I am not gonna keep it a secret. I actually use ChatGPT for this. And trust me it is giving me wonderful results. It has really helped me enhance my vocabulary.

Sometimes, when I am in a jolly mood, I ask ChatGPT to give me some sarcastic comebacks. And then I use them when someone gives me attitude.

My sister always asks me, “How are you this sarcastic?” So hey sister you better know now from where I get them.

And here’s a very important tip. Whenever you practice talking in English or even reading anything in English — you should speak a bit loudly. That way, you can work on your pronunciation as well.

Also my habit of reading really helped me a lot. Books contain a lot of different vocabulary, and it really helps.

Now it’s also important to work on your listening skills so that you could understand people speaking in English. For that, I watch videos, movies and even Instagram reels in English.

For movies, I personally prefer watching Hallmark movies. Sometimes I watch some episodes of the “Friends” show as well.

Okay, now let’s move to the written part. I would be honest but there was a time when I was terrible at it. But now things have changed. I have gotten much better at it.

To improve my written skills, I do a few things. First, I journal a lot. It simply means writing down my thoughts.

And there is one more thing I do, it’s a bit cute and nice. I text everyone in English. Like if it’s my mom, my sister, my brother or anyone — I always text them or talk to them in English. Whether they reply in English or not doesn’t matter to me.

Here comes the thing which helped me the most. It’s my blogs. Even this one, I am writing it in English. So, yeah it really helps.

For you all, you can improve your writing skills by writing notes to yourself or you could start journaling.

Here, I am done sharing all the magic formulas of mine. I hope it will help you all.

There is one last thing I am going to say — Try every single day and compare yourself with who you were yesterday.

Believe me, slowly and gradually, you will become much better — just like I did.

Bye Bye…🤍