Hello everyone and welcome to English cozy chat a slow English podcast which helps you to learn English in a fun and natural way. I am Maria and today I have some questions for you.

Do you ever feel frustrated learning English? Do you ever think uh I will never be fluent?

Do you ever think, "I want to learn, but I don't have enough time." If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this episode is for you. I guarantee that by the end of the episode, you will have learned some ways to make learning more productive and enjoyable, and you will just be feeling better about your English learning journey.

I'm going to start off by giving a personal experience of how I have learned other languages and then lean into some tips for learning English. I am fluent in both Spanish and Catalan.

Catalan is the local language in the region of Spain where I live. I learned both of these languages as an adult. I know how hard it is to learn a language.

I know how it feels to be frustrated and to want to be fluent so badly. I also know the feeling of being ashamed and embarrassed while speaking. But through trial and error, I did end up learning ways to learn a language which made it much more enjoyable and productive for me. When I was learning Spanish, I started learning Spanish a long long time ago. It took me a very long time to become fluent. And my main way of studying was by doing grammar exercises.

At the time, this is what I thought was most productive. But the problem was I truly had a hard time with speaking.

Took me a long time to be able to communicate well. And my whole learning journey was just a bit frustrating.

I did eventually become fluent after several years of living in Spain and now I am very fluent in Spanish. But my journey to get to fluency was not very straightforward. Learning Spanish was very hard for me.

Then I decided that I wanted to learn Catalan. So I started taking some Catalan classes. I was in class 4 hours per week and we were mainly doing book work exercises and grammar and things like that. But we were not doing much speaking at all. And while I was spending a lot of my time going to class and sitting at class and doing my homework, I did not feel any more comfortable speaking in public. So I decided to not continue with my Cadalan classes. I then found a Catalan podcast which was designed for people who were learning Catalan and it was basically a girl talking about all different kinds of topics in slow and easy to understand Catalan. So, I started to listen to her podcast every morning when I went to work. And the girl that did the podcast is actually a polyglot. She speaks eight languages and said that her method for learning languages, is more relaxed, she likes to listen to podcast, watch TV shows, read, and do things that she really enjoyed. So once I started listening to her podcast, I decided to give this method a try. So I started listening to this podcast every day when I went to work. I truly enjoyed listening to this podcast. It was something that I looked forward to and thought about a lot during the day. I then felt like I was really missing speaking practice. So I found a language partner who wanted to learn English and we did a language exchange. We would first speak in English and then switch to Catalan so that we could both learn each other's language. We started meeting together a lot. I really enjoyed it and we actually ended up becoming friends.

This is what really helped me to gain confidence when speaking and helped me to let go of any fear that I had while speaking Catalan. I became fluent in Catalan much faster than I became fluent in Spanish and the method that I used was just more enjoyable and productive.

Okay, so what are my recommendations?

I have a few and I want you to listen to all of them carefully.

My first recommendation is more about mindset. It is very easy to only focus on the end result which is fluency rather than the process of learning English. I know exactly how it feels to want to be fluent in another language. I know how it feels to be frustrated when you can't communicate like you want to.

But if you only focus on how badly you want to be fluent, it's harder to enjoy the learning process. And enjoying the process is so important because the more that you enjoy learning, the more that you will learn.

Let me repeat.

The more that you enjoy learning, the more that you will learn. So my recommendation is to not only wish to be fluent and want so badly to be fluent.

Focus on your progress, even if it's small. Be proud of every step that you take.

Be happy when you can understand a little bit better than you used to. And be proud when you notice that your speaking is a little bit better than it was before. Learning English is not a race. Take your time, enjoy the process, and celebrate your improvements.

That being said, here are the steps that I recommend that you take to learn English in a fun and productive way. My first recommendation is to find a way to learn English that you really enjoy.

Don't study one certain way because you think you should, even if you don't like it. There are many ways to learn English.

And you are more likely to retain knowledge when your brain is having fun.

So maybe this is listening to a podcast, watching a movie or series, reading a book in English, practicing speaking, or maybe it is practicing the grammar. The important thing is that you choose a way that you genuinely like learning and that makes you feel good. Learning English should be something that makes you feel good and relaxed, not stressed.

And once you have found that method that you really enjoy, try to incorporate it into your life every single day. even if it's just for five or 10 minutes. That's right, consistency.

We have all heard it a million times, but it really is so important when learning anything.

studying or practicing English a little bit every day is going to be much more effective than one long study session at the end of the week. Being consistent is important and I know that it can also be hard, but don't worry because I have some tips on how to stay consistent.

Being consistent does not mean that you have to spend lots of time practicing English each day. Start off by doing something that you enjoy for only five or 10 minutes each day. And that doesn't mean that you have to sit down and only study or practice English.

The beauty of podcast, for example, is that you can listen to them while doing other things. While driving in your car, while riding on the metro, while cleaning your house, or going on a walk.

These are all perfect opportunities to incorporate an English podcast into your life.

It's important to find a way to make practicing English a habit and to do that habit every single day. For example, I made listening to my Catalan podcast a habit every day when I drove to work. I never missed it because when I was driving, I was always listening to that podcast. Then after you have been practicing for five or 10 minutes each day for a while and feel like you could do more, you can start practicing English in some other ways. Maybe you want to add in some speaking practice or reading or watching a series.

For me, when I would listen to my Cadalan podcast, it made me more motivated to try to speak Catalan during the day and maybe even to watch a series at night. My next recommendation is to use your spare time wisely. And I wanted to start this one with a quote. You don't need more time. You need to use the time that you already have.

Let me repeat. You don't need more time.

You need to use the time that you already have. I think we are all guilty of spending too much time on our phone scrolling or looking at your messages for the thousandth time of the day or looking at random things on the internet. And truthfully, your phone can be such an amazing resource for you to use to learn English. So the next time you pick up your phone and you're about to start scrolling, think about how you could use that time in a productive way.

And since you are all trying to learn English, think about how you could use that time to learn English. So what could you do?

You could watch a YouTube video in English for five minutes. You could listen to a podcast.

You could record yourself on a voice note talking about what you did that day or how you're feeling or maybe just some new words that you have heard recently.

Maybe you could do a short lesson on Dolingo or another language learning app or even use the notes app on your phone to write a little bit in English.

This not only will help with your progress, it will make you feel better about using your time. I truly believe in trying to live your life with intention. And if you have the intention to learn another language and try to think about that many times during the day, for example, when you pick up your phone, you will feel better about your progress in English and just be proud of yourself for making the effort to learn English during your spare time. Now, in this video, I have wanted to focus on methods that are free, that don't take up much of your time, and that can really be enjoyable.

But I did want to mention that of course, many people may find classes and courses very beneficial. These could be great things that you could pair with listening and speaking practice to help you to better understand the language.

The key is finding a class that you truly like and enjoy.

Lastly, and most importantly, believe in yourself.

You can do this. You can learn English.

I know that you can because I learned two languages as an adult.

Yes, it's not easy. It requires hard work and dedication and time, but you are capable of doing it. And don't ever doubt yourself. You have to know deep down inside that you can do it and just go for it. I know that you can do it.

And remember, focus on the English learning process, not just becoming fluent. Because learning can be really fun. It can be very rewarding to make small steps and small improvements. Be thankful for the time that you have to learn another language. If you look at it in this way, the whole English learning journey will be much more enjoyable. I wish you all the very best on your English learning journey and don't forget. Have fun with it. Thank you all so much for watching.

I hope you have a wonderful day and I cannot wait to see you in the next episode. Bye.