How I Went From Zero English to C2 (My Real Story)

In this video I want to tell you about the story of my English learning journey. I went from understanding nothing in English to getting my C2 level certificate, IELTS band score 9, Cambridge CELTA grade A. But how did it happen? I am pretty sure my story has a lot to teach you. Because I am a non-native English speaker. English is not my first language. In fact, it's my third. So how did I learn English? It all started when I was 8 years old. Back then, I remember clearly, one day a friend of mine, a classmate, came, sat next to me and said, did you know that this creature is called a fish in English? That word was very, very strange. The whole concept of a new language was very weird to me. And I'm telling you this because I want you to know where I started from. I did not know the alphabet of English. I did not know anything about the language. And so one day my parents told me that we want you to learn English because it's useful for your future. I did not have a very specific goal. I was 8 years old. I wanted to go out and play with my friends. But my parents said, it's something useful. And actually, right now, I'm very grateful for what they did. So they said, you need to learn English. And back then, there was only one option. Go to a language school and sign up. And so I did. From the age of 8 to the age of 12, for four years, I went to a language school, following traditional books. There's a teacher, there are classmates, there are students, you sit down, and you do as the teacher instructs. That was when I didn't learn English. What do I mean? Four years, but did I really study? I was just there to have fun. I was just there to play with my new friends. Back then, there was a game center right across from the language school. And I remember clearly, my parents would drop me off in front of the school. And I would go inside. But then I would wait and check and see if they've left or not. And when I saw that they had left, I would walk back and go across the street and go to the game center and sit there with my friends. And instead of being at school, we would play games together. That's what happened for the major part of the four years. Only one time, the principal of the school called my parents and said, hey, after 20 sessions, your son has only attended eight. And I was like, wow, yeah, we had a fight. Back then, it was a summer. And so I stopped going to school. So far, four years at school, trying to learn English. And by school, I don't mean my school traditionally speaking. I mean a language school. Four years. But for the major part of it, I was just playing with my friends. But during the summer that I took a break from going to school, what happened? This is probably the turning point. Very important. I want you to pay attention. I started liking two people, Nicholas Cage, American actor, and Eminem, American rapper. And I started watching Nicholas Cage movies and listening to Eminem's songs. Why? Because I wanted to learn English? No. Because that was my hobby. I was doing it because I enjoyed doing it. I remember back then, Nicholas Cage, 2009, had a movie called Knowing. It was a sci-fi movie about aliens, about the end of the world. And I was always fascinated by that topic. So I started watching that movie. And I really enjoyed watching it the first time. But then I had another idea. Because Nicholas Cage was my role model. And I wanted to act like him. And I wanted to be like him. And I wanted to sound like him. I started watching the video without the subtitle, playing the video, listening to one line, pausing the video, and writing down what I understood. Some sentences were difficult. So I would go back and listen several times. And even then, I may have not understood something. By the end of that movie, do you know how many pages of transcript I had? This much paper. Very thick. A4 paper, front and back. And it took me about two months, two months and a half to finish the movie. But I did it not because I wanted to learn English, but because I was having fun. And that's what I want you to pay attention to. So I'm not telling you to go and do that if you want to learn English. There is a different lesson here. I was enjoying it. It was my hobby. Or let's talk about Eminem. Back then I was really into Eminem's rap. Not generally rap, but Eminem's rap. And I would listen to his music. And try to memorize the lines. I wasn't transcribing. This time I was memorizing and reading out loud, trying to follow him. And you know, when you were singing hip hop, when you're singing rap, your tongue has to move a lot. Your jaw has to move a lot. And your brain has to keep up. So listening to Eminem's songs trained my ear. Repeating after him trained my jaw and my tongue and my speaking muscles and my brain. But I was doing all of that not because I wanted to learn English, but because I wanted to have fun. And so after that summer I went back to the language school. But this time something was different. This time I was the best student in that class. This time I could easily talk to other people. This time I got the highest grades. This time people would ask me questions, even though I was the youngest in that class. This time I knew how to speak English. So did I learn English from the school or from what I did? I would say mainly from what I did with Nicolas Cage movies and Eminem's songs. But the lesson here is I did that not because I wanted to learn. I did it because I wanted to enjoy and have fun. I was pursuing my hobbies in English. And that's what I'm encouraging you all to do. What's your hobby? Think about it. What do you do in your free time? What do you like doing in your free time? If you like playing tennis or watching tennis, do it in English. If you have a favorite soccer team or football team, follow the news of that football club in English. If you are interested in a field, let's say nutrition or baking or cooking or making drinks, follow content creators who are doing that in English. Pursue your hobby in English. But that's not the entire story. There's more to it. Another reason why my fluency improved a lot was because I was very shy. I still am. But how does being shy help you? If you are shy, if you are an introverted person, you would understand this the most. When you are shy, you spend most of your time alone. Not with friends, not with people, alone. Because going out with people would drain your energy. So you spend your time alone. And when you spend time alone, you talk to who? To yourself. That self-talk is usually in your mother tongue. But I did one thing. I would imagine that I am talking to my imaginary friends, Eminem and Nicolas Gage. And I would talk to them in my room alone. I would talk to them in English because they speak English. And so for them to be my friends, I would need to speak in English. So that changed my self-talk and my inner voice from my mother tongue to English. And when you start talking to yourself in English and thinking out loud in English, it changes something in your mind. Do you know what it changes? It kills one of the biggest fluency blockers. It kills translation. When you think and talk to yourself in English, you train your mind to switch to your second or third language, in this case English, from the beginning. So instead of thinking in your mother tongue first and then translating, your mind would directly go to English. And that's what happened with me. That's one of the things that really helped me. Even now when we travel, when I go to the sea and I'm swimming and having some quality time, I talk to myself out loud. Not because I want to improve my fluency, but because I'm an introverted person. And I imagine scenarios, introverted people know, I imagine scenarios and in those scenarios, I talk. I imagine a room full of people and I explain something to them as an expert. I imagine Eminem with me there in the sea and we talk. So imagination helps you a lot. Imagine yourself in different scenarios and talk to yourself. In many of my videos, I have told you that self-talk in English would make your brain switch from your mother tongue to English. And that would help you think in English and stop translating. Because translation is number one reason why non-native speakers cannot speak fluently. You cannot translate that fast. And in many languages, words or structures do not directly translate to English. Sentence structures are different. Comparing Italian to English, I would say, sentence structures are very different. So you can't directly translate word for word and hope that it means the same thing or it has the correct structure. Translation is very bad and the way to kill it is to speak to yourself. That's what I did naturally because I was shy. If you are not shy, you are extroverted. You can either find and meet different speaking partners or you can train yourself or force yourself to talk to yourself in English. Very helpful technique. Okay, let's see what else I have to tell you. Oh yeah, very important thing. At the age of 19, I was quite confident in my English. I was fluent. I could speak. I could get my message across. And I knew a lot about English grammar. At the age of 19, I went to university and I needed to become financially independent. And I was like, I need a job. But what can I do? Why not teach English to kids? So I was 19 years old when I first became a teacher. And then when you start teaching something to other people, something strange happens. You know, if you study something very well, you may be able to use it. If you teach it to someone, you will be able to use it 100%. And do you know how I learned this? Back in high school, when I was preparing for exams, for example, physics or math, I would study at home very well. I would go to school ready for the exam. And then my classmates, my friends, would ask me questions like, oh, I did not understand this part. Can you explain it to me if you know it? And I would say, yeah, yeah, I know it. I can explain it to you. So I would explain it to them. And then in the exam, I would do very well. And after that, I would never forget that. And I realized, even when I started teaching English to kids and young learners, that when you teach something very simple to someone else, that thing in your head becomes internalized, meaning you will never, ever forget it again. Learning it is one thing. Teaching it will do something different in your head. I cannot exactly explain. You have to experience it yourself. I cannot explain what or how, but it does. So at the age of 19, I became a teacher. And for 10 years, I taught English up until the age of 29. And the more you teach English, the more you internalize that knowledge, the easier it is for you to use it. It becomes like a toolbox ready to use. And you become like an expert at using that toolbox. So here's something for you guys to try. I want you to do this from now on. When you learn something new in English, and you practice, you do some exercises, activities, you write down a text or sentences, I want you to do one thing. Find someone around you who does not know that and teach them. For example, let's say you learn zero conditional sentences, if present present, or something that is always true. If you heat water, it boils. Go ahead and teach this new thing that you've learned to your friends, or to your parents, or to your siblings, brothers and sisters, to someone who doesn't know it. Teach it to someone and see what happens to you. You learn five new words today. Good. Go ahead and explain those words to someone else. And see what happens next. It's gonna blow your mind. So a very good technique, learn something and teach it to someone. Try it. Okay, okay. Fast forward to 2018. I wanted to study abroad. So I had to take the IELTS test. I prefer to the test, my general English knowledge was good. So I just studied the techniques of the test. And after two weeks of preparation, I took my first IELTS test. And my score was not what I wanted. My first effort was IELTS band score eight. Now to those of you who don't know what this is, the IELTS test is the International English Language Testing System. It's a test by Cambridge and IDP Australia, which assesses your language over four elements, reading, writing, listening, and speaking. And you take this test if you want to study abroad, or to live abroad. I wanted to study abroad, I took the test, my first effort was IELTS band score eight. In the academic module, I wasn't happy. I got 7.5 in reading and 7.5 in writing. I got 8.5 in listening and 8.5 in speaking. Overall band score eight, CEFR level C1. I wasn't happy at all. And I blame myself because I lost my concentration while I was doing the reading part. After that, I had another dream. I wanted to get a C2 certificate. I wanted to ace the IELTS test. I wanted to get the band score nine of the IELTS test, which is the highest. That became my goal. And in two years of preparation, I managed to do that. In 2023, I got my IELTS band score nine. And that's my story. That's how I went from not knowing anything in English, not understanding the word fish, not knowing the alphabet, to getting my C2 certificate, getting my IELTS band score nine, maxing out my English level. The reason why I'm sharing this story with you is because I'm a non-native English speaker. If I could do it, you can do it. I shared a couple of techniques I used. I don't want you to do the exact same thing, but I want you to learn from them. I pursued my hobbies in English. It doesn't matter what hobby you have, do it in English. I talked to myself in English because I was an introverted person. Do it. Talk to yourself in English. Train your mind to think directly in English. I taught English to kids. Do it. I want you to learn something new and teach it to someone who doesn't know it. I'm not telling you to be an English teacher and know everything. No. If you learn one new word, go ahead and teach it to someone else and see how that changes the way you learn. Now, I hope you've enjoyed this video. This was the first time I decided not to do a lot of crazy editing, not to add a lot of text, and not to do a lot of cuts, and to talk to you directly, not as a teacher, but as someone who was in your shoes and who knows exactly what you're going through. In the comments, I want you to tell me what else you want to know about. In the next videos, in the next Slow English Podcasts, I'm going to talk to you about those topics. Also, if this video was okay, give it a thumbs up, and in the chat, let me know. If it was too fast, let me know, so in the next videos, I would speak slowly. Okay? I hope you've enjoyed this. See ya. Bye.