Questions that I receive a lot from my colleagues🤨

First of all, I couldn't speak English well when I joined the current company. I could just read and write English. However, I jumped into the special workplace because there were only 2 Japanese people, including me, in my function; I had never heard of this condition when I received the offer, though. I love English, so it was not a problem, but I couldn't speak English. At that time, my realistic English journey had finally started; I listened to the chime to start. I have been working at the same company for over a decade, and there were so many things that we had to change. Such as I grew up and became an English speaker who can communicate with native and non-native speakers in meetings, training sessions, organizing speech events, etc. And now, I am working in a team where there are no Japanese people internationally. However, I am still feeling I have a wall or valley that I have to pass to become an advanced English speaker.

However, many colleagues who are working in the local organization ask me why I became a good English speaker, why I can facilitate the internal meeting with confidence, and why my English level has drastically up suddenly. Actually, I don't know, and it was not suddenly. Also, I am still feeling not fluent; in particular, I feel it's not easy to understand the conversation between over 3 native speakers. But, everyone who cannot speak English confidently such as those under the intermediate level or beginners identify that I am fluent. I realized this point. In addition, they asked me how did you improve my English level. I don't know about it, too. I just follow my boss's recommendation; watch your curious movies or series without any subtitles, focus on the American accent conversion because our company is American, and do not pay extra money for learning. That 3 pieces of advice were helpful for me. At that time, he said, you stop to lean about writing once, you have already enough, and your current priority is verbal communication with native-speaker leadership members in English. I think I am lucky to meet a suitable boss, and I am working with him now; he is not my current boss, though. Definitely, thanks to his right advice to me, I could improve my English conversation skill. So, I want to share some tips with my colleagues, but the correct way depends on each one of them. Thus, I always share my experience above instead of tips.

So, as I mentioned above, I am still learning... no... enjoying improving my English skill. I am an IT guy, so I understand many IT words and communicate with IT people very well. But, I feel the daily small talk is super difficult for me. My mouse cannot push out easy words like "microwave oven." Umm, it's my frustration. Anyway, I am excited to enjoy the process at the next level. And I don't think that is a wall between intermediate and advanced, it's a valley. Because the valley is a more beautiful scenery than just a wall.

Do you have a unique technique to go to the next level in your language journey? To me, my tips are fun and curious about the language that you want to use.

Mimi