#211: 7 Reasons Why People Fail to Get Fluent in English

By Ethan | December 9, 2020

“I’m just bad at languages,” “I’m too embarrassed to speak,” “I’m too old to learn.” These are some of the things people learning English tell themselves. In this episode, Ethan, Andrea and Justin discuss these and a few other common excuses and attitudes that prevent people from learning English. Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate or advanced learner, this is a great opportunity to check in with yourself to make sure you’re not disempowering yourself with these common excuses.

Watch us on Youtube

Topics:

  • What is keeping you from becoming fluent?: excuses and real reasons.

Words You’ll Learn:

  • Gifted
  • Have a knack for something
  • To be knackered
  • I’m beat
  • The vein of something
  • Knock-on effect
  • Inoculate yourself against something
  • Roll with the punches
  • Take off the blindfold
  • Get by

Links:

Quick Definitions:

  • “Justin, do you want to let people in on what we’re going to talk about today”: If you let someone in on something that is a secret from most people, you allow them to know about it. In this case, Ethan says this to mean introducing the topic to the audience.
  • “Work that is really mind-blowing and out-of-this world“: overwhelmingly impressive.
  • “That was a hell of a recommendation” = great, amazing.
  • “If you’re gifted at something you pick things up easier”: learn something intuitively, without much focused effort.
  • Stumbling block: a circumstance that causes difficulty or hesitation.
  • “flawed way of thinking”: imperfect, being fundamentally wrong.
  • Get out of your shell: stop being shy and starting to feel like yourself. If you come out of your shell, you become more interested in other people and more willing to talk and take part in social activities.
  • Silver bullet: something that acts as a magical weapon especially : one that instantly solves a long-standing problem.
  • “I was learning Spanish, I was just taking it all in“: absorb something. To understand completely the meaning or importance of something.
  • Brainstorm: to suggest a lot of ideas for a future activity very quickly before considering some of them more carefully.

Help us Spread the Movement

If you’ve found the podcast at all helpful or entertaining, we’d love if you could visit our iTunes page and give us a positive review (this makes it easier to find us)

This will help us to get more listeners and invest more in the podcast! If you know some ways we can make it better, please send us an email: [email protected]

How to Leave a Review

This will help our ranking and more people will see the podcast. Aww Yeah!

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , , , ,
  • Yury says:
    at

    How can I find the others programs?

    Reply
  • Kinan haikal says:
    at

    I can’t thank u guys enough for what u doing to put us on the right path !! I’m honored by u ..my English fluency is way too good now and not only that ! Now i find myself speaking to people around the world .. frankly I can’t pass my day without listening to ur podcasts or ur videos on YouTube and I’m doing my best to pay that forward 🙏 nothing is better to fill any void than listening to u guys talking to one another !! My regards from Syria 🙋
    “Life doesn’t happen to u ,it happens for u ”
    Tony_robbins (my idol)

    Reply
    • Justin says:
      at

      Hey Kinan, thanks so much for your wonderful words. They mean so much to us. I’ll share them with the team, and keep up the great work with your English. Keep on living it!

      Reply
  • Gisella says:
    at

    Hi guys, first of all I want to thank you for the work you’re doing for us, your podcasts and videos are fantastic, every day I can learn new things.

    Since I enrolled in the “Fluent with Friends” course and started watching your videos, I’ve noticed a big change for the better, when it comes to my English learning process.

    I’m studying Intermedy B2.1 at the Official Language School in Palma de Mallorca, but we don’t practice real English and you have helped me to get out of my shell and now I feel on top of the world because I LOVE this language and I won’t stop until I can speak English fluently and without fears.

    Where there’s a will there’s a way!

    Reply
    • Justin says:
      at

      Aww yeah, Gisella, thanks for your awesome comments and support! You deserve all of your success. I’m on top of read your amazing testimonial too! You rock!

      Reply