Personal Record

I’ve spent around 781 hours on conversational lessons, 200 hours on pronunciation drills, 547.5 hours to listening to and reading English materials across various topics. (updated: 06/22/2025)

English speaking

Looking back, I learned English from a lot of ways using a lot of tools. Now, it's time to record my journey of English learning.

I had been great at English when I was a student. English is the subject that I was good at and was interested in, but it was limited to reading, listening, and how to use some collocation. I knew nothing about speaking, and I didn't feel comfortable when I needed to speak or share my ideas verbally.

Then, on August 31st, 2022, I booked my very first English conversation one-on-one lesson with a foreign tutor, which meant I needed to try my best to express myself in English. There was no chance to switch to Mandarin if I didn't know how to share my ideas in English. So, I needed to try my best to train my brain to think of a way to chat in English.

Fortunately, I was able to use text, because the lesson happened online. So, when I was not sure about the expression, I could Google it, and I could copy-paste the phrases into the chat box. Even if I didn't know how to pronounce it, the other person could still get what I was trying to say.

Afterward, surprisingly, it sparked my interest to drill English speaking more because I had the desire to go deep in the conversation. I wanted to talk about philosophy, society, business in detail, and I wanted to express my observations and exchange thoughts with the other person. So, it ignited my interest to practice English speaking and English listening.

I did encounter a lot of difficulty along the way. From the very beginning, I felt extremely nervous before I entered each lesson, each classroom. And when a conversation proceeded, a lot of times I stuttered because a lot of expressions came to my mind all of a sudden, and I'm not sure which one is proper. Not to mention my pronunciation and the accent are not correct or easily understood; so is my intonation.

And it continued for a few months until I felt comfortable speaking English. So, it brought us to the key, which is monologue. My interest comes from having a deep, inspiring, delightful, and engaging conversation with others. However, talking to myself brings huge benefits to me. It also helps me clarify which expression is proper to use and my thoughts too, to clarify my thoughts.

So, I spend a lot of time on English speaking. Apart from English speaking, I also invest time in English learning.

I listened to podcasts when I was exercising in the gym for one hour on a daily basis. Conversational podcasts were hugely, tremendously helpful to know more English expressions and to know how to push the conversation going on by asking good questions, of course, by listening to the conversation attentively too. I also used some app to take notes about the podcast snippet. Yeah, so it is also my learning tool to acquire new knowledge, not only, not just limited to English learning. And also, I enjoy watching TV series, especially K-dramas, but then I look for K-dramas that provide English dub and English subtitles, so I enjoy the storyline in Korean style, but know the script in English.

3 motivations help me stay consistent with my spoken English

Open doors to working with companies around the world

So, in many reasons, I'm studying English. One is it expands my opportunities to work abroad or at least work in some international corporation. So, it gives me more chances. I don't have to be limited to Taiwanese companies and Taiwanese company culture. It enhances my bargaining choice in career development. When I have more opportunities or choices, which means I could try some more interesting things, which if I don't know how to speak English, then I don't have. It allows me to enter a world if I don't know how to speak English, then I couldn't enter the world.

Connect with people from diverse backgrounds through meaningful conversations

So, the second reason is it allows me to make friends with people from different countries. A lot of people know how to speak English. A lot of countries have English as a subject in school, in the education system. So, if I could communicate in English fluently and clearly and even if the other person I'm talking with doesn't know how to speak English fluently, I might be able to understand their unspoken thoughts. Even so, we could continue the conversation and we could exchange our opinions, our cultures, societies, and countries in detail, which we couldn't find on the internet. Probably we could, but on the internet there are a lot of noises, and you couldn't tell which one is truth, which one is fake news, which could be dangerous. I want to reduce the fake knowledge in my mind as much as possible.

And I tend to be sparked a lot when I talk with strangers online for the first time. Like for example, I met a stranger who has a music background. He is a music producer, and I was amazed and surprised by his occupation and his work, his routine, and his hobby. It is totally a new world, another new world for me, which I, yeah, for people around me, don't have a similar background.

To my surprise, he was astounded by my occupation too. He thought I must be an intelligent person to land my first job as a software engineer when I don't have a relevant diploma or degree. Being self-taught to enter the software engineering world seems amazing for him. And yeah, it was difficult for sure, but because I am so immersed in day-to-day jobs, I forget how struggling I was when I wanted to transition my financial background to software developer.

I was so self-disciplined. I went through the internet to find useful resources, find more useful, helpful, hands-on materials to my advantage, to see how I could learn computer science effectively and efficiently. And I also found some study groups. I found a group of people who share the same vision, same goals with me, so we are able to move together even though we have different material to study.

So I'm the one to seek motivations and material and ways to hand on there. The traditional educational system didn't support me in this case. I was supported by the wonderful internet resources. A lot of people, a lot of amazing people, contribute their work to the internet for free.

So, the fact the other person was astonished by my self-taught background was so encouraging for me. My life consists of incremental progress. Just because I didn't record them doesn't mean I have no progress. And the stranger's reminder or response reminded me that I am so determined, persistent, diligent, and know what I want. Which gives me the sense of accomplishment. So, it's more like people remind me of my bright spot.

When we come from different cultures, it's easier to have sparkly conversations. And yeah, I don't have to limit it to finding a Taiwanese to talk because we share a lot in common. The other person might not be interested in my issues because everyone is so stuck.

Explore alternative viewpoints

The third reason is English is a wonderful language. When I learn how to express my ideas in English, I get to know things from different perspectives. Mandarin and English are wired in different ways, so some terms in Mandarin couldn't be found in an English dictionary, and some English words couldn't find corresponding expressions in Mandarin, which inspires me to know different concepts and different things.

The word that comes to my mind immediately is "unlearn." I don't find a similar word in Mandarin, but "unlearn" means to abandon stale concepts or knowledge, which is so important for me. When I looked back, the educational system taught me a lot of stale knowledge. Teachers said, "You just need to study hard, and you could have a wonderful life afterward," which is not true. Even if I study hard, it couldn't guarantee me to live a fulfilling, carefree life, because it's not how society works.

If I want to get rich, I couldn't just have money by studying hard. I need to contribute to others, I need to resolve others' concerns so they might be willing to pay me the money. That's how I make my living. So studying hard is not a direct course to help others. The things I got from school are so deep, and it really takes me some time and consistent effort to get rid of some of those toxic, unhelpful concepts.

When I got to know the word "unlearn," I was fundamentally, tremendously inspired, and it resonates with me a lot.

Okay, to wrap this up, I just formed a virtuous cycle in English learning. I was encouraged to express myself in a conversation, so I need to know how to say proper terms in English. So, I listened to YouTube videos, podcasts, TV series, and I would find interesting material for me so I could repeatedly listen to them over and over again. And after I know some useful terms, I could adapt them into the one-on-one conversation, so the conversation would go smoothly and we could go deep. I would be inspired by the other person's opinions. And the reward is so strong that when I'm inspired, I want to know how to get deeper and deeper in the conversation. Not to mention, when I watch videos or listen to podcasts, I'm able to absorb some new concepts.

My remote job has also led me to a upward spiral. Being isolated makes me eager to find ways to socialize, and conversations from an English 1-1 class could be very helpful. If I had to go to the office, I might feel drained by trivial discussions with coworkers and lose interest in interacting with others because there are so many details to consider in these conversations. There's a lot at stake; for example, if I say something wrong, a coworker might feel offended or uncomfortable, and we could start drifting apart. This could not only erode our connection but also negatively affect our work collaboration, creating a downward spiral that drains my energy just thinking about it. So, I try to be very careful when I talk to my colleagues, and I don't want to be overly cautious. Even as someone who considers themselves introverted, I still want to engage in deep conversations. Taking all these factors into account makes communication complicated, sometimes too complicated to truly enjoy. Therefore, I'm really grateful for landing my first job that allows me to work from home.

Real world conversation

After two years, 1-hour one-on-one English conversation on a daily basis, I feel more comfortable when I talk in English online. But if I need to talk to foreigners or to talk to people, except for tutors, it still makes me nervous. The anxiety and nervousness vanish when I enter an English interview with foreigners, with native speakers.

When I talk to strangers on Discord randomly, I don't feel like I fear talking with others in person in English anymore because I was there, I was in a serious situation, serious conversation in English. So when people ask me the direction when they get lost, I don't feel nervous when I guide them.

Fastest way to learn things

I also use some pronunciation correction app, which is ELSA. It helps me a lot to set me in the direction of the native speaker's way to pronounce English in vocabulary and sentences separately, and also to correct my intonation to sound more natural and easy to understand. It also shows me that the fastest way to learn this is to slow down, which means to be patient, to focus on things, the target, the small target itself, instead of focusing on your progress.

The learning curve can be steep at first, requiring a lot of time for just a bit of improvement. But with consistent, day-in and day-out effort, you may suddenly find yourself making a breakthrough — speaking fluently without even realizing it. So, don’t rush. Patience is the key to mastering any skill.

Little by little, without being aware, I get to know how to think in English.

I’ve become so obsessed with speaking English that even my dreams unfold entirely in English — storyline, conversations, everything. That’s pretty wild, especially considering I normally don’t remember my dreams at all.

Key takeaways

Find your reason for learning English. Maintain your passion. Ensure you engage intensely in English communication. Discover texts and audio content that resonate with you, and continue absorbing them.