Do you consider yourself fluent in English, and if not, why do you think some other people are perceived to be more fluent even if they don’t know more than you?
The question is: What does it mean to be fluent in English or any other foreign language? In this post I’ll talk about that and will also give you some tips about how you can become more fluent. Everything I share with you comes from my personal experience combined with some research.
What does it mean to be fluent?
So, what does it mean to be fluent? If you Google “fluency,” you will see it defined as “the ability to speak or write in a foreign language easily and accurately.”
While the term “accurately” feels less ambiguous because we can judge if a word or a phrase is used correctly, the term “easily” is more challenging to measure. We all have a different pain tolerance and words like easy, hard, frustrating, awkward, etc., are vague.
I personally think of fluency as a combination of vocabulary knowledge, correct grammar, pronunciation, body language, and confidence. Fluency is a spectrum and reaching it is a gradual process. When you start to express your ideas in English clearly, you could call yourself fluent.
Even if you still make some grammar mistakes or sometimes can’t find the word you want to use at the moment, if you are able to communicate your thoughts, you are fluent. Speaking English may never feel as natural to you as speaking your native language, and that’s ok. Don’t let limiting beliefs hinder your progress. Be proud that you speak another language.
Ok, but why do some people know more, and they still feel incompetent while others might not know as much, but they appear to be more fluent? To give you an idea, let me tell you a personal story.
My personal story
When I started college in the US, I didn’t have many friends. I had just transferred from the ESL school I’d attended for a couple of years and regular college intimidated me. Needless to say, I found writing papers and passing exams in English a bit scary in the beginning.
And because foreign students often flock together – I don’t know why, but it kind of happens naturally – I started hanging out with a girl from Iran I met in my math class. She then introduced me to her other friends who were from Jordan, Somalia, and some other countries. All of my new friends spoke Arabic.
When I was alone with one of my new friends, we would speak English. But during breaks between classes, when we all got together, the rest of the girls would switch to Arabic. Of course, I didn’t understand anything. But I liked hanging out with them so much that, at some point, I just started nodding as though I was a part of the conversation. Sometimes I would even throw in a word that I’d heard them use when they were surprised about something. They were amused because, apparently, I had learned to say it at the right moment and with the right intonation 😂.
Sometime after that, another classmate of mine who was also an Arabic speaker, was very surprised to hear that I was from Bulgaria because as he said he “didn’t know they speak Arabic there.” I told him that we don’t speak Arabic. He was even more confused. He asked me: “So, where did you learn it?” I told him over and over again that I didn’t speak the language, but he refused to believe me because he insisted that he’d seen me speaking to my friends. Mind you, I was just smiling and nodding, but because I was doing it so naturally, he was convinced that I was fluent in Arabic.
Of course, you can’t fake fluency for a long time if you don’t speak a word, but my point is that to be perceived as fluent takes more than just remembering words and using correct grammar. It takes the right body language and some cultural knowledge. It also means that when people speak to you, they feel comfortable. So, you don’t need to apologize for mistakes and look for approval.
Tips on what to do and what not to do on your road to fluency
That being said, here are my tips on what to do and what not to do on your road to fluency.
Listen to natural English speech
The first tip is to listen to natural speech. Getting acquainted with the sound system of the language you are learning is crucial for your intelligibility and comprehension. If you don’t live in an English-speaking country, you can listen to podcasts or watch YouTube videos in English. Try to imitate everything you hear: the sounds, the intonation, even the body language. You’d be surprised how much more fluent you’ll appear to be by using the right gestures.
Remember, the reason my classmate thought that I spoke Arabic was because I blended in with my Arabic-speaking friends by nodding, smiling, and pretending to be a part of the conversation. This is not to say that you should fake it and only appear to be fluent, but the way others perceive you as a speaker is tightly connected to the way you behave. Fluency is not just a bunch of words put together in grammatically correct sentences. Fluency is your entire way of being while speaking in that other language.
Read and write in English
My next tip is to read and write in English. If you don’t know what to write about, you can journal about your day. I personally don’t have much experience with journaling, but I’ve heard that it’s very helpful. I had to read and write many papers for college, especially for my Bachelor’s degree when I was majoring in Journalism. But if you are not taking classes at an English speaking school or you don’t have to use the language for work, you can read anything that is interesting to you and write about things that come to your mind.
Another way for you to practice writing in English is to start a blog. For example, as you might know if you’ve been following me, a while ago I started this blog about my journey with learning English and life in the US.
I must admit that before I went to school, I used to buy celebrity gossip magazines. I know that they may not be the best for intellectual development, but they are packed with idioms, phrasal verbs, and colloquial expressions. So, just choose whatever you like.
Limit drilling grammar and memorizing words out of context
My next advice is to limit drilling grammar and memorizing words out of context. Unfortunately, many traditional language classes still focus on that. They give you tests and punish you for making mistakes by giving you lower scores. On the other hand, these classes give you a false sense of fluency by praising you for extensive knowledge of grammatical rules and the ability to translate single words back and forth between your language and the one you are learning.
While you can’t change the entire school system, you can still take matters into your own hands. Expose yourself to the language as much as possible outside of school.
Do not compare yourself to others
Another practice that may prevent you from becoming fluent faster is comparing yourself to others. So, my next tip is to focus on YOU and to remember that we are all different. Do the work and the rest will follow.
Thinking in English is overrated
Ok, my next tip has something to do with thinking in English. Actually, I have another post about that, so you can check it out. But let me tell you this. Many people are eager to start thinking in English a little too soon. You can’t think in English if you don’t know enough vocabulary. And thinking is such an abstract process that you can’t really measure the number of words you think in a particular language.
Also, there is a difference between a thought and an internal monologue. An internal monologue is an inner speech, where you can “hear” words, phrases, and conversation in your mind. It doesn’t always happen, and some people experience it more than others. In order to be able to “go over” your own internal speech, you need to have learned enough words and grammar so you can put them together in coherent phrases and sentences. This comes with time. So don’t beat yourself up for not being able to do this if you don’t use English on a regular basis.
Do not be afraid of code switching
My next tip is not to be afraid to mix languages during a conversation if you know that the other person will understand you. This is called code switching. Sometimes you can say one sentence in your native language and the next one in English. But code switching can also happen within a sentence where you start it in one language and throw in words in another language.
Some people mistakenly think that this hinders fluency, and they only need to use one language at a time. But code switching is actually a sign of a certain level of fluency and linguistic competence. According to a study, being able to codeswitch back and forth between two languages is a sign of creativity and flexibility of a bilingual mind and an alternative way to convey information. So don’t feel bad if you switch between your native language and English when you talk to someone who understands both. My husband and I do this all the time – usually with two but sometimes even three languages!
Be brave
Lastly, in order to become fluent, you need to have a certain level of boldness. Confident speakers appear to be more fluent even if their speech isn’t flawless. That doesn’t mean that you have to be fearless, but to speak up despite fear. The truth is that native speakers are not even bothered by a grammar mistake here and there if you are able to communicate your idea in a clear and confident way.
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Share in the comments if you feel fluent in English. If you don’t, what do you have to work on to feel fluent?
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