On the Other Side of the World, Someone Is Speaking English Right Now

When a class begins at nine in the evening in Malaysia, it is nine in the evening for the teacher in the Philippines too, and eight in the evening in Vietnam. At that same moment it is seven in the morning in Mexico and nine in the morning in Chile.

Plazma English runs classes in Malaysia, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Chile and Mexico. That is a spread covering almost the whole way around the planet. Which means that at any hour of the day, a class is going on somewhere.

Different languages, same sticking points

The interesting thing is how remarkably similar the difficulties are from country to country.

In Japan they say "I can read it, but nothing comes out". In Taiwan they say their test scores and their conversation skills have nothing to do with each other. In Vietnam, in Korea, in Mexico, they say they are afraid of getting things wrong in front of other people.

Different mother tongues, different cultures, so why do they all get stuck in the same place? Because they were all taught in much the same way. In most countries English arrives first as an exam subject. You spend years training to read and choose, and almost none training to speak. Learn the same way and you stop at the same point.

There is nothing uniquely wrong with you. Someone on the other side of the world is standing in front of exactly the same wall right now.

English is not a language you use with native speakers

That fact changes how we relate to English.

Most conversations that happen in English today have no native speaker in them at all. Someone in Malaysia and someone in Vietnam hold a meeting in English. Someone in Japan and someone in Chile send emails back and forth in English. Each with their own accent, each with their own slightly awkward sentences, and it works.

So there is no need to set your goal at sounding like a native speaker. Getting through to someone from another country is the ability that actually gets used, and it is a goal you can reach far sooner.

The strength that comes from knowing this

When you study alone, it starts to feel as though this road is hard only for you. The lack of progress, the sense of having stood still for years, all of it feels like something only you are going through.

It is not. At this very moment, spread out across time zones, thousands of people are stumbling over the same sentence, hesitating at the same point, and opening their mouths again. Some log in before breakfast. Some only start once the children are asleep.

In the sense that each of us is fitting that time into a day of our own, we are all doing the same thing.

Your class today is part of that flow. If you said one more sentence today, that is enough.