1. Speaking with other English speakers as much as you can.

This is an obvious one and you probably think why I even put this one up here on the list.

The reason behind it is the following – many of us are quite shy and would go great lengths to avoid interpersonal contact. We would rather avoid speaking with others because it makes us feel insecure and makes us aware of how many mistakes we make while speaking. We take up reading or other passive language input driven activities instead to prove we’re good enough… But for how long do you keep lying to yourself?

Reading and listening can never replace speaking. Yes, there are those who’ll tell you to devote 90% of your time to reading and listening to English – it’s only when you speak that you truly develop your English fluency.

But if you haven’t got plenty of opportunities to speak with other English speakers, you can always get the balance right by…

2. Speaking English with yourself!

Basically it involves speaking with yourself – or whispering to yourself – about anything that crosses your mind; it’s more like verbalizing your thoughts and commenting on your activities. It’s a great way of ingraining the English language into your brain and getting yourself used to switching off your native language completely.

Obviously, you need to have a decent level of English before you can start such self-practice.

3. Counting in English.

Some might say that counting in English is the same as speaking English with yourself so why should I separate it into a new category?

Well, personally I think it deserves to be mentioned on its own because most of mundane tasks we do at work would involve a great deal of counting and I think it’s an opportunity too big to be missed.

Personally I took up the habit of counting in English. I read out product codes and get up orders all day long, and soon enough I realized I could use all that time to get used to pronouncing numbers in English because I read them out anyway!

To put it simply – it’s a very efficient and simple way of switching over to the English language and on top of that no-one would give you weird looks if hearing you counting in a slight whisper, for instance.

So if you have to count stock on a daily basis, or if you work in any type of data entry job (which is even better because you get to pronounce whole words as you enter them!) – start counting in English and you’ll definitely start noticing changes taking place. Why, it’s the first step to…

4. Thinking in English.

Obviously in situations when you’re in public you wouldn’t speak with yourself or else you’ll be receiving weird looks and people will avoid you thinking you’re a bit nuts!

The solution is to think in English instead, which can be described as an inner chat with yourself. You basically have to switch off your native language and force yourself to use English words for any abstract concept that appears in your mind. I know it’s easier said than done, but I also know it can be achieved.

The rewards of having achieved the state of mind when you can think about anything what’s on your mind in English definitely outweigh all the hard work you’ll put into the process.

At times you’ll get very frustrated because your native language will keep mixing with English words. You see – your mother’s tongue has been hard-wired into you since you were a toddler, and thinking in their native language is the most natural thing for any person in the world.

Yet, as I said, it’s a very powerful technique to get your native language out of your system and replace it with English thus achieving a complete English immersion regardless of any other circumstances!