https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAFdn7woLXI

Episode transcript below:

Hey guys! How’s it going?

I have gotten a lot of questions recently about how to find someone to practice English with you. So, in this episode, we’re going to answer that question. I’m going to help you to find the perfect English language exchange partner, someone who you can practice with any time you want and it’s free. So, I think you’re going to want to watch this one.

Let me tell you, before I explain exactly how to find your perfect language exchange partner, that if you want to learn more about Go Natural English Method: the Seven Steps to Fluency, you can find a free course. You can sign up for it at gonaturalenglish.com/7steps.

Okay, so back to the question about finding the perfect language exchange partner. I know there’s a lot of problems: like, okay, where do you find someone? So, if you live in an American city, or an English-speaking country, that’s awesome. But maybe a lot of you don’t. I know that the Go Natural English community is all over the world, and that’s really exciting! I see you watching from Brazil, form Japan, from Germany, from all different countries. It’s amazing! So I know some of you are watching from the United States or other English-speaking countries, but some of you are not. So, what if you live in a country where there’s really not as many English speakers around? You’re lucky if you live in a big city, because you can probably find them. But if you live out in the countryside, it might be more difficult to find them. And even if they are around, how do you find them? Well, often I say, “Okay, we can look online, right?” How do you find an exchange partner online? It can be a bit difficult too, right? How do you find someone who can commit to meeting you, who is there and available on your schedule? How do you find someone who’s as interested in speaking to you in English as you want them to be, someone who’s patient, someone who will always practice with you?

Okay. I have a solution. I want you think about: who is the person who you already speak with the most? Is it your friends? Is it your family? Think a little harder. Where’s that voice coming from that you hear all the time? Maybe the voice that, you know, comes to you when you think about things? How about talking to yourself?

Don’t laugh! Don’t laugh! Okay, you talk to yourself in your mind more than anybody else. More than your friends, more than your family, more than anybody else, you’re always talking to yourself. You probably don’t talk out loud to yourself all the time, but your thoughts are always going. And what language do you speak to yourself in? Probably your native language. How about we change that to: talk to yourself in English?

So, I’d like to suggest that the perfect language partner for you to begin with, for free, no hassle, no scheduling issues, no commitment issues, takes no time to set up, super easy – is to begin to think to yourself in English!

So, how do you do that? Start small. You don’t have to think everything in English because there’s going to be a lot of words that you’re not sure about in the moment. So, you can find out; you can look them up; you can make a list of new words that you want to use with yourself. But start an inner dialogue in English. Instead of asking yourself in your native language, “Oh, what should I do today?” ask yourself in English. And then you can answer in English. You can write down your ideas in English. You can even talk out loud to yourself in English.

There’s other things, like singing a song in English, that you can do, you know, just on your own time; you don’t need anyone else to do that. Ask yourself, “What am I going to eat for lunch?” in English. These are all thoughts that everyone – well, I have them, I think everyone has them: “Well, what am I going to eat today?” You have them naturally. So,