Out of the six mind monsters I wrote about in Developing a Growth Mindset, Environment is an often-heard excuse for us Taiwanese. Not having an all-English environment was a perfect reason for failing English fluency, but it is not anymore thanks to globalization.

Is an all-English environment a must?

Having an all-English environment is definitely a huge help and privilege for getting English fluency, but only in the situation when a learner is willing to put his/her effort to practice. In short, active learning.

Here’s my own experience with my native language.

In Taiwan, Mandarin Chinese is our official language and my native language. A large population also speaks one of our local languages, Taiwanese. I have no problem understanding Taiwanese as I grew up hearing my parents speak Taiwanese every day. In daily life, I get to hear a great deal of Taiwanese, too, either from friends and relatives or from people on TV or on the streets. I can say I live in an all-Taiwanese environment, however, I cannot speak fluent Taiwanese. The reason? I rarely get myself to literally speak up in Taiwanese. I speak only Chinese at home and at school. My parents, on the other hand, communicate with each other in Taiwanese and speak to me in Chinese so that they can speak both languages fluently. 

That is to say, the environment does offer me a great deal of exposure to the language and the natural skill of listening, but I cannot speak fluent Taiwanese because I never intentionally practice speaking it.

Meanwhile, I am greatly inspired by Taiwanese who never studied abroad yet have no problem communicating in fluent English. The most inspiring examples to me are the Taiwanese YouTubers Hey, it’s Dena, and Peggy Fo Show. They both are proof that an all-English environment is never the deciding factor in whether or not we can reach fluency. Creating one that you love and practicing are.  

Environment + Practice

In other words, an all-English environment does not magically offer you the power of English fluency, whereas creating an English learning environment of our own and continuous practice allow us to grow higher familiarity with the language and set our head and mind in English thinking.

Thanks to the prevalence of the Internet and technology today, creating an English-learning environment is no longer a difficult task. Here are some simple tips I’m using to create my own English environment:

• Listen to English books every day
• Listen to English songs every day
• Watch English shows or YouTube videos every day
• Read English news on weekdays
• Write in English every day
• Listen to English podcasts occasionally
• Read English books occasionally
• Take English conversation courses 
• Speak to myself or friends in English

Rule of Thumb 1 – Choose what interests you most

My top rule of thumb is to choose materials to my interest, and to my interest only. For instance, listening to books that I’m interested in so that I can learn the words and phrases of the topic. Some people might question, so what are they for? Once I learned the words and phrases related to the topic I love, I get to do a more in-depth search if I want to dig in more info about it (on top of that, English search results are often way much more than Chinese search results); on the other, I get to share them with others whenever they jump into conversations.

For materials that look boring? I skip it. Nothing will be learned from a boring process. I found learning becomes much more fun and satisfactory merely from the material choices I make.

Rule of Thumb 2 – Keep practicing

Another rule of thumb is don’t stop practicing. I did not realize the importance of output (that is, speaking and writing) until college where students are supposed to give presentations in English every now and then. The importance of output reaches an even higher level after leaving campus. Therefore, while creating my own English-learning environment, I need to remind myself to give time to speaking and writing. For instance, repeat what a speaker says that resonates with me the most in a video I am watching. Opening my mouth and hearing my own voice enhances my memory of it, otherwise, I normally would just forget them all.

Reminder to Myself Again: Environment + Practice

To conclude, surrounding yourself with English materials that interest you most every day, whether it is books, music, podcasts, news, or YouTube and Netflix, will bring a better sense of the language’s vibe and later pick up new stuff more quickly. Nonetheless, never forget that practice of output weighs more in terms of English fluency.