Real People, Real Progress: Our clients share their English journeys

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, and welcome to the 3 English Experts. I'm Birgit. I'm Dave. And I'm Rebecca. And welcome to this episode. 3 English Experts is your English podcast to help you speak better English and create a positive and happy mindset for your English learning journey. OK, guys, welcome to another episode. And today it's slightly different. We're having a different format. Today we thought we'd ask some of our learners along to talk to us, tell us a little bit about their journeys, and then, of course, decide, talk about what we got from what they said and what we can take away from it, and also, of course, what you can take away from it as well as listeners. Without further ado, we're going to kick off with Rebecca's students. Hello, everyone. My name is Sabrina, and I'm very happy and also a little bit nervous to be a today's guest on this podcast. I'm currently working for an executive search company that specializes in the financial services industry, and I'm employed as a consultant in the asset and wealth management sector. I've been working in this field for over 10 years now and have been working with Rebecca for almost as long. Before I met Rebecca, I was generally very uncomfortable with my English. I knew I had a strong German accent, and I was also aware of the fact that my grammar is not perfect. This made me feel not confident enough to speak in a free way. On top of that, English plays an extremely important role in my job. Writing English texts at a high level is an essential part of my job. My clients often speak at a native level. Their English is basically flawless. This made it even more difficult for me. I started to compare myself to them, and that only increased my insecurity. Instead of making progress, I felt paralyzed. I couldn't really move forward, and above all, I couldn't be myself. That's when I decided to work with Rebecca. She not only helped me improve my grammar and writing style, but also coached me beyond that. She helped me gain more self-confidence, and that changed everything. Working with Rebecca has actually changed my whole mindset. My confidence regarding my English skills has grown, and the combination of both the new mindset and the increased confidence makes me feel really good today. I realized that it doesn't matter if I have a strong accent or not. What is much more important is that I can express myself clearly and understand the person I am speaking to. This has completely changed my perspective. At least I try not to compare myself to others anymore and see my own progress instead. I know that perfection doesn't have to be the goal. It's much more crucial to communicate in a way that is understandable and confident. And that's exactly what made all the difference. Suddenly, I'm enjoying it, and when something is fun, it automatically becomes easier. Now I feel like I have all my ducks in a row, nothing is holding me back anymore, and I've gotten rid of all those negative feelings. And I know I shouldn't sing your praises, Rebecca, but you have simply been my greatest help and support on this journey, and for that, I'm deeply grateful. Thank you. Yeah, so that was Sabrina. And like she said, I've been working with her for a long time, and her journey really has been such a success. One of my success stories, really, I love how she has progressed. And it's really funny because when I first met her, so generally, Sabrina is a person, she's so outgoing, everybody wants to hang out with Sabrina because she's fun, and she's nice, and she's just great to spend time with. She's good at her job, and she's good with inter-people skills. But when I first met her in English, she wasn't like that at all. She was really small in a way. She was really shy and unsure, and I was like, oh no, this is just, it doesn't fit. The two Sabrinas were different, and that's just been this really nice transformation that now she's, her English is not perfect, but now, really, there's an English Sabrina, and she's really entertaining, and really fun, and professional. She's doing really well in her job, and that's, for me, has been a highlight to see that progression. Any thoughts, guys? Yes, I think that was wonderful to listen to, and I highlighted the word fun when she says that towards the end, and you can really see a smile on her face, or worse, I don't see her. And that's so important, I think, for everybody who wants to feel better when they talk English, to go through that mind shift, and that was so good for her to feel now, and so important. And maybe that's the difference between people who don't need a coach, or people who need somebody to help them through that, to not compare themselves. People who don't care about what other people might say, they might not have the same feelings as comparing themselves, making mistakes, fearing that, and not feeling they are themselves. And, of course, as Sabrina, that was also very interesting, what she said, she acts on a high level, obviously, she's got a responsible job, wherever she goes, and she communicates with people who may be native speakers, or who spend time abroad, and that's not fair to compare yourself to these. Only today I had this conversation, and it's not fair of the people who have better skills to look down on people who struggle. That's a problem, maybe, out there. So, yeah, my respect to the journey, and congratulations to where she's got now, with the help of Rebecca. Yeah, very good. Yeah, absolutely. I completely agree that when you're starting to enjoy something, that's when you can say you've got over all your hurdles, in whatever they were, and I can totally understand the idea of the German accent, or when I speak a foreign language, my English accent in the foreign language, because it does have this effect on you that you hear everybody else, and you maybe say, why can't I have an accent like him? How long is it going to take that I get this accent like him? Or am I never going to get an accent, and is that really then a problem? And I think at the end of the day, so long as she also said she can express herself clearly and she does, she did very well, and she also understands people, I think that at the end of the day, that's the main thing. You will have these people that don't have the accents, and you will have these people that do still keep their accents. I think that's not a problem. And also within the native situation, if you move within in America, from one area of America to the other, you often keep your original accent, or in Britain or in Ireland or wherever, but there are those ones that sort of melt into the surroundings, there are those that don't, and I think there's no problem with that whatsoever. Absolutely. Yeah. One other thing I realized when I'm just listening there, where she says at the end, now I feel I've got all my ducks in a row. Super. I like that. She so wanted to say that, because that's her personality in Germany. She likes these kind of Sprüche, these phrases. And this is the point, because now she's having fun. She's so curious about learning new things. Oh, I love that phrase, teach me a new phrase or learn a new vocabulary. And she's using them now. She's learning how to use them and put them into her English. Again, it's expressing her kind of style in a way, this sort of how she would maybe speak in German, which I think is really good. That's fun. And yeah, she's having a good time. Yeah, and that's showing the shift in progress, step forward, shifting from worries to curiosity. Oh, what's more? What can I learn maybe from the others? What they say? And that's super. Yeah, that's the next step. Wonderful. Yeah. Great. Yeah. And seeing their own progress. I think that is also when they feel it, they see it, they hear it. It's the biggest motivator, I think, or the biggest drug, if you like. As you said, you want more than you want to be able to say, oh, I can say I have all my ducks in a row because, of course, that sounds very native. And even, I guess, a lot of native speakers don't necessarily know the phrase. Absolutely wonderful. I think the positive effect of seeing your own progress, and that's maybe another reason why I think staying the course is important. People often give up too soon, right? It's great that companies invest the money in the people and say, go and do the language courses. But I think sometimes people, whatever reason, possibly even drop out of the courses. They say, oh, what am I getting from this, maybe? And it's taking an hour out. I've got so many emails to take care of and all this and that. And it's actually the ones that stayed the course are the ones that benefit the most because then, with time, they start to see their own progress or feel their own progress. And that has a knock-on effect, doesn't it? Absolutely. And it's just not this overnight thing. You said before, Dave, isn't it? It's a marathon. It's not a sprint. And you have to keep going to finally get that click. I think it's like some people get that click where it's suddenly it's fun and I'm enjoying myself. Yeah. I've just picked up the new phrase. I wouldn't have used that myself. So I've picked it up. All my ducks in a row. Yeah. We have to. The ducks in a row is very nice. But we have to make sure that they feel it's the biggest drug. They want more of it. They want more of it. Yeah. That's wonderful. To make them feel, oh, that's the drug here. Wonderful. Okay. This follows on nicely into the next testimonial, which is from two of Birgit's learners. So we'll just listen to them and Birgit, you can tell us a bit about their language learning journey. Hi. I'm Benjamin. I'm a digital marketing manager. Hi. I'm Fabian. I'm a digital marketing manager, too. Yeah. We run our own consulting business and we have been working with Birgit for three years now. Fabian, why did we contact Birgit? Yeah, because formerly we had inquiries from international teams. We always have inquiries from international teams, but we both didn't feel comfortable to host a whole English workshops for two hours. And on top of that, we wanted to open ourselves to an international community. Yeah. The international community in our industry is very interesting. But to be honest, I was always bad at English in school. I had really no positive English experience. How bad is that? But that's the reality. Yeah. And because we don't speak English in our daily business, we have little practice. That's the reality, too. Yeah. But this has changed quickly. With Birgit's help, we practice our English skills in regular meetings and we repeat all aspects of the language. And with her help, we feel more confident and are now enjoying our international workshops. For example, we had an international workshop for two hours with 15 people. And of course, not everything was perfect, but I enjoyed the two hours. And that's great. I love that. So thank you, Birgit. Thank you very much for that. Thank you, Birgit. Bye. Yes, that's Benjamin and Fabian, two of my learners. As they said, they've been with me for a long time. That's the only ones I have in a group that works so well together. Actually, they are also podcasters. And that's where I got the idea from to also maybe introduce the podcast. So thank you to them. Yeah, well, that's very interesting. When they first contacted me, they said, oh, can we have maybe an on-site meeting for some intensive English training? And actually, we never met in person. We have never met and we only do it online. And as I said, they enjoyed that much. And it's about also keeping up the English. So they want to practice, go on. And as Benjamin said, it's a very international community to their work, what they do. And they have opened up finally. I think there will maybe be some English recording of podcast. That's what I'm hoping for eventually. Yeah, wonderful. And as I said, it's about confidence. And I'm so happy to see them now speak English at ease, just join our conversation. We talk about many things about their work, what they do on a regular basis. So yeah, that's very nice to see when people really make progress and can enjoy. Yeah, I just had to look at the one thing this, I think it was Benjamin that said it about the no positive experience in school. And that always really angers me because so many people, it seems, have had bad experiences at school and it carries on all the way into their adult life. And that is a big hurdle for them. But I think also for us as coaches, trainers to help them to get over this and to say, look, it's OK. Maybe in the school, you weren't able to write everything correctly so that the teacher could give you fantastic grades in your written English. But at the end of the day, most of the time nowadays, it's about what you're saying and how you speak. And if you want to write something, OK, fine. There are all various things you can use to help you to write things nowadays, I think. But it's all about the speaking, the conversation. Can you get your message across? And most of the time, everybody can pretty much get their message across. And that's the aim of the game. And yet people are still thinking back, affecting their current situation because of the bad experiences they have at school. And I think this is, again, where the mindset thing is very important. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I cannot tell you how many learners I've met in the last 25 years who say exactly the same thing, had an awful experience at school. And sometimes it's not really awful. They just didn't have a particularly positive experience at school. And they carry this baggage. And you meet guys, they're in their 50s even, and they go, oh, I was told at school I wasn't talented or anything. It's so awful the way this follows people. And it's easy to say, well, just forget about it. But it's not that simple. We all know it is just not that simple when you've been through something like that. So, yeah, this change in mindset, this shift is so important. The other thing that stood out for me in this recording was the fact that they're now doing these international workshops. That's such a game changer. They're self-employed, running a business, and it's opening up. Like you said, Birgit, it's an international kind of community. Totally game changer. This is not just about improving your English. It's not just about feeling better. It's also about you can change your life as far as business is concerned. You can get a better job, perhaps. You can open new doors. You can grow your business. There are so many benefits. It's not just, well, I don't have to feel ashamed of my English anymore. It's also this change everything. So that was really nice. That's really positive. So great that they've been able to do that. And they're having fun. They said, oh, it wasn't all perfect. Yeah, the word enjoy, again, very important. Yeah, absolutely. And they said, one of them said, it wasn't perfect, but we had fun. So I think perfection doesn't mean fun. People think perfection will make things perfect. Perfection will make things fun. And it doesn't have to be perfect for it to be positive and effective. Again, what is the definition of perfection, guys? Where is perfection? Where does it start? Where does it end? Does anyone ever get perfect? Even the native speakers? Who is perfect? Exactly. Absolutely not, no. Yeah, to me, it weighs, is it perfection on the one scale? And or is there something as a restriction? I can't communicate for this part of the world. For me, it always weighted heavier to be able to get into that other direction to open up to people. Yeah, so I have to. That was the priority that was. Yeah, much more priority than to think of what other people might think of me. But one question that comes up to my mind now is this because you said that I know people remember bad experience, people commenting badly on their skills. Is this typical for Germany or is that just not? Can you remember things like that back in England, too? Sure. Just I think it's just a general negative education. OK, there is something called positive education. It was a real thing. And it's about not making people feel marginalized, not making people feel that there's any wrong questions that is and that mistakes is shows that you're learning mistakes doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. I don't think it's particularly a German thing. I think it's just a general education thing. And hopefully it is changing now. I think education has moved forward. But we're dealing with this generation often there. But even saying that I've had a Zubi's trainees in there who were like 17, 18. So actually not that old. And they've had these experiences, too. So maybe it isn't changing. I don't know. But it's disturbing. It's very disturbing. Disturbing. And that shouldn't be happening. But it does. It's reality. In my experience, I think it's often when teachers have done that. It's because they themselves were frustrated that this person wasn't learning in the way that they thought they should be learning. Their method, their approach wasn't working with this child. So therefore, oh, there's something wrong with the child. No, maybe there's something wrong with your approach. Well, maybe this child is a different approach. So it's easy. It's such an easy excuse to say, oh, you're just not talented. You're not suitable for this. It's such a poor excuse. It should never happen like that. But it does. What is it, though? I think it's a mixture maybe of everything. Is it the teacher or is it the system? You can talk about that till the cows come home, Dave. Oh, well, that's going to be a whole episode. A whole episode about the school system. Who knows? Yeah, some teachers would maybe say it's the curriculum, that it's not their fault, and they have their push to follow a curriculum. So any teachers out there, would they not? All teachers are terrible. I think it's the system, systematic. OK, we're not going to discuss this today. Shall we move on to the third one, guys? We shall. We'll move on to Dave's, guys. Let's do it. Let's do it. My name is Cem, and I'm 44 years old. And I'm working for the banking industry in the IT branch as a consultant. And I'm now working for about three years with Dave. And I'm very happy to work with Dave because Dave makes me feel more comfortable talking English. When it's not 100% correct, but I'm feeling more comfortable speaking English with other people. Because the big change was, for me, changing the job from the normal retail banking with nearby only German-speaking people into the projects in the consulting company. And there were, in my first project, a lot of English-speaking people. And I have to talk with these people in English, also to the management and to the bosses. So that was a very big change for me from beginning on. But the working with Dave was very helpful. Another challenge is to write out my vocab list in my head. Using different vocabs, understanding different English-speaking people from all over the world. For example, from Australia, from America, from Great Britain. There were also different possibilities to speak English. And not everybody's easy to understand. For me, talking to the guys from India, I had worked with people from India in my first project. And that it was not so easy to understand them. Also, I think for them, it was not so easy to understand me. So it was on both sides. But it went better over the time. Yes, this was the other thing to understand the different pronunciations from other people. Yes. Okay, yeah. So that was Cem, as you heard. And we started working together, as you heard, three years ago. And I remember at the time when he first started, that his English was actually very good. No reason to not be confident in his English, in actual fact. But as you heard, it was a big step up for him from nothing to all the time, of course. And so he needed, I think, a little bit of helping to calm down, to get used to the situation. And I suppose, in a way, by talking on a regular basis, it helped this transition period from nothing to everything. And made that life a little bit easier for him. We were also able to prepare things that he needed when he wants to present things to the management and whatever else. I think this is also a common thing about learners. There are some that certainly underestimate their capabilities. And I would say Cem was one of those people. And they have no reason to underestimate themselves. They are good enough. They can get the message across. And I think it's a shame that often people feel this way. But that's our job as coaches, just to say, look, yeah, you're fine. Come on, let's go. Try to feel a bit more confident. And speaking, not worrying too much about their mistakes. But of course, correcting them as well, I think is important. But it's also clear that mistakes will be made and will always be made. But is it such a big deal? Absolutely. I think what stands out for me was that he said he's in his 40s. And then suddenly this shift happened. Oh, now I've got to speak English every day. And he's had German clients in the past. And he's probably really good at his job in German. Now, suddenly, I've got to do my job in English. And then I'm going to feel less confident and not able to do my job at the same level. And of course, that's horrible. It's a horrible feeling. I can imagine. Suddenly, you're thrown into this situation. And it's really common. I have a lot of clients who their whole life avoided English, let's say, either on purpose. Some of them do it on purpose. And some of them, it's just, yeah, they try to avoid it. Try to get away from it. And others, it just happens because of the places they work. And then it's suddenly, oh, what am I going to do? Another common problem. But I think, like you say, this coaching. And it's not like you say, obviously, he feels comfortable with you. And you've given him this confidence to talk. But also, like you said, preparing things. So having a coach, it's not just about the confidence thing. I get people all the time who call me and go, oh, I've got a presentation on Friday. Can we just meet to do that? It's a different type of English teaching. It's not this, we work through a book and we go through these topics. It's you work on what you have to do, what's coming up. You've got a meeting, got a presentation. So let's work on that. And let's prepare like you would in any situation for anything. You would always prepare. You would never just go in cold and go, oh, hello. And it's just another part of the preparation. So I think that's why, yeah, it makes our job interesting. It makes my job interesting because I get to know about all these different companies and what they're talking about. And it's great. What stuck out for me was when he said it makes me feel better. Again, it's about the feeling. And people then actually use the wording makes me feel better. And that feels better. And again, he mentioned, as learners before, present something to the bosses. So obviously, that's got part of the income and the people feel uncomfortable when they need to present in front of other people or bosses. And as you said, Rebecca, as part of our job, absolutely to give our tips, how to prepare, how to find material out there, what to learn. You don't have to learn everything yet. And that's very helpful, I think, for people. And you get to where you want to be much quicker. That's a shortcut, maybe. Absolutely. And it's not this traditional style of what people sometimes think of English lessons, either they've had in the past or what they just think it is. It's a learning by doing. Let's look at what we really have to do with my English and then use that as a starting point and not this sort of going through some sort of curriculum like you do at school. Yeah, no, exactly. Yeah, not everything has the same priority in my eyes. Yeah, exactly. The Golden Nugget. So we've heard a lot today about our students and the journeys that they've been on and how they've come through their various, let's say, difficulties, come through the other side and all seem to be enjoying it, which is, I think, a very important word. And this leads us to our thoughts about what we would like to offer people is our workshop. Which will take place in September in Cologne on the 25th and 26th. And this is all about three things. Firstly, as everyone can imagine with a sort of English topic is the grammar, which will be presented to us with our grammar queen, Birgit. There will also be a bit about communications from myself. But today was also about the idea of mindset and how you work positively with maybe your history, where you come from with your language learning, maybe the negativity from your teachers, whatever it might be. You don't want to compare to other people. All these things are an important thing, as we saw today. And that's why this is also, I think, we think an important part of training. So that's why we decided to put this workshop together with the three of us doing what we think are doing our best. And therefore, Rebecca will be looking after the mindset section. So please, if this kind of thing interests you, it's something new, it's something different. I think on the market, we think on the market, there's three for the price of one, if you like. We look forward to welcoming you. Please drop to our website, which is 3EnglishExpertsWorkshop.com. And we hope to see you there in September. Thank you so much for pressing play today. 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