HOW Effortless English HELPED US
ANGELA - Argentina
"AJ is a sincere, noble person with high moral principles who shares all his knowledge and experience"
My name is Angela and I'm from Neuquén the biggest city in Argentinian Patagonia. I'm retired after working 32 years as an English teacher. When I started working I was a student in a private English institute, and taught English "intramural' at home , in those days there weren't English teachers with an university degree in my city. A Salesian priest was starting a new secondary school, he had all the staff less the English teacher. He knew me and when he realized I was studying English he immediately went to my house and told me that I was the person he needed, he didn't even give me the opportunity of thinking about it, I was almost 20 years old .Time passed so fast, I worked in Virgen de Luján school for 32 years.
During that time, I made many courses, I taught Elementary English grammar , following textbooks, I tried my best to be a good teacher and I was well recognized by my students, including many of them considered me as their mentor to become English teachers. But not all was good for me, I felt very insecure while talking, I was afraid of making mistakes, that fear made me avoid speaking.
After I was retired I decided to keep going in contact with English and I took prívate conversation lessons, expensive and useless. One day on April 2019 while I was searching for a native, English teacher on the internet I found AJ Hoge and his movie technique which fascinated me.
He caught my attention so much with his unique energy, I started following him, I became one of his thousands of fans. I bought the Power English Course, I listened to his podcasts, he motivated me to join a social media "Gab" and meet new people to practice my English. He helped me lose my fear of making mistakes, nobody is perfect, we all make mistakes and my listening skills also improved.
On Gab I met the Effortless English Community and started talking to some members, Marjan, Ilana and Carole who invited me to join the super stars Skype group. We built a strong friendship. All this changed my life and it's thanks to AJ who is not only an English teacher but also a life coach. I also want to highlight that AJ is a sincere, noble person with high moral principles who shares all his knowledge and experience in a way nobody does.
As he says " English is a constant and never-ending improvement", that's why I keep going and don't quit. 😃
ANNA MARIA - Italy
"I have learnt first of all to be an independent learner practicing small incremental steps every day"
Hello! Anna Maria here! I'm from Italy.
I've been following AJ's method for more than seven years now and I can say that I have learnt first of all to be an independent learner practicing small incremental steps every day without looking for an immediate outcome but enjoying the process.
A few months ago, after a very inspiring AJ's Live Show, I started my Step By Step podcast. For me Step By Step is a way to practice English as I practice Walking. They're both my passions, something I want to spend my focus, my time, my energy on.
"If you want to start something you only have to do it" -AJ Hoge-
CAROLE - France
"Becoming a VIP member was one of the best decisions in my life."
Hi! My name is Carole and I live in France. I started learning English in 2018 and I've never stopped since then. When I started, I was highly motivated. I didn't want to be just good at English, I wanted to be 100% fluent. My goal was mainly professional, but I soon realized that learning English wasn't just about the language but was also a way to open my mind and to have access to so many more contents.
But let's go back to many, many years ago and start with my school experience of learning English. Like many people, I learnt English for many years at school and college but of course, after so many years, I wasn't able to speak or even understand spoken English.
Soon after my studies, I was recruited by a translation agency, obviously, not as a translator but because of my technical expertise. I was there to help the translators when the technical contents of the documents were getting complicated. Of course, working there I was in constant contact with foreign languages and especially English. Most of the documentation was written in English, so I could improve my vocabulary. I ended up being quite good at reading and writing English. However, I was still terrible at listening and speaking and even worse: because I was working from English into French all the time, it was like my brain was formatted to work only in that way: from English into French.
So, we're back at the end of 2017, when the company I was working for had some financial issues and I was dismissed. So now I'm unemployed, desperate and I've got to find another job. And that's when I found AJ, on the Internet. I can still remember that first video on Youtube where he was talking about his method of teaching and the 7 rules for learning to speak excellent English. He was describing my exact situation towards English but everything he said on how to learn English efficiently was new to me and he suddenly opened new doors where learning a foreign language was actually attracting and fun.
Not only did he caught my attention because I wanted to improve my English, but I was also interested in his teaching methods and as I was listening to AJ, everything made perfect sense. I bought his book which I devoured and which I recommend to any English learner and also to teachers and I soon became a VIP member. I got more and more involved in teaching methods and following AJ's recommendations, I read books from other great mentors like Stephen Krashen and Blaine Ray and watched their videos.
I quickly became a VIP member and wanted to be the best possible speaker so I started to immerse myself completely into English. Not only my VIP lessons were the foundation of my learning program but they also were my fuel and engine. Every day I was watching and listening to things I liked and my English skills rocketed.
Naturally, there were some times of doubts or tiredness, those times that we call plateaus when you feel stuck. One thing I did in those moments is that I would go back to a video that seemed difficult to understand a few weeks ago and notice my improvement, it always kept my motivation up.
Moreover, many times, the topic of the new VIP set of lessons would come with a solution to my current problem or situation. AJ's course gave me back my self-confidence, which after being dismissed was completely down, it gave me the courage to try new things, to step out of my comfort zone, it helped me to improve in public speaking and to overcome my fears. Although he certainly doesn't know it, AJ was always of great support in times of doubts and difficulties with his energetic attitude and tone. Each lesson is a gem, giving you the tools to achieve professional and personal life improvement and to become a better person.
After just a few months, I was offered a job as a French and English teacher and I've been teaching English since then.
After weeks and months of texting with other members on the internet, another step had to be taken and it was time to jump into speaking. At that moment, AJ invited us to a speaking challenge. With a group of other members, I created a group on Skype at the end of 2019. We celebrated our second anniversary a few weeks ago, and after two years of conversations and group activities, we have built strong and close bonds and have become an international community of friends.
Being a VIP member in the Effortless English System isn't just about learning English, but it's a life changing experience. Becoming a VIP member was one of the best decisions in my life.
EMMANUEL - France
"AJ has been a life coach for me, indeed he opened my mind and allowed me to see life differently"
I'm Emmanuel from France and I'm 42 years old. I've accepted to give testimonial to share what has been and still is an amazing adventure: English learning with AJ HOGE.
While I was looking for a method to learn English easily about 2 years ago, I came across one of these videos where AJ talked about «Effortless English learning » by listening. I was immediately seduced by this flawless argument having myself young children who couldn't neither read nor write but who already spoke French easily without knowing grammar rules, uses of tenses, only by listening and repeating !!
So I decided to subscribe to his course « Power English Program » and fell in love with funny and incredible mini-stories !! I was learning to enjoy English learning…. I could listen to mini-story several times with always so much pleasure, without being bored.
At the end of this session, I felt more at ease and decided to become a VIP member, and at the same time decided to overcome my fears by posting my first messages on a famous social website recommended by AJ. These two cumulative experiences were an even more powerful step in my English learning process. It allowed me to meet other English learners, other people so different, people more caring, kind, and passionate than each other. ( It's a human adventure as well ).
In addition to learning English, AJ has been a life coach for me, indeed he opened my mind and allowed me to see life differently, to understand that you can choose your life, you choose what you do and what you are going to become, and finally to succeed. I also realized the true value of our code and mission « We do the best we can / We do the right thing / We show people we care ».
Today, I feel more comfortable when speaking English even though I know I make mistakes, even though I know my English speaking is not perfect.
I feel really great, I always enjoy learning ( It's a never-ending process, said AJ ! ), and it's brought me a lot of opportunities in my professional and personal life. Here are the reasons why I can only recommend AJ's method.
Thank you AJ, and you reader, don't forget «Commit, don't quit »!
FERNANDA - Brazil
"I'm really grateful for having met AJ. Meeting AJ has changed my life."
I'm Fernanda from Brazil, and I'm an Effortless English Member since 2017. I found AJ thanks to a recommendation from a community of the Brazilian English Course that I did on line. I started to follow AJ because I fell in love with AJ's videos, the subjects about life, etc. I was low intermediate at that time, and I didn't speak English at all. Then, I became a VIP member.
With VIP I started to think in English and don't translate the words in my head all the time. I think this happened thanks to the mini-stories and POV lessons, because we have to listen to them and answer the questions AJ makes, even mentally. Also, they are very funny stories and we have to listen to them a lot of times (repetition is the key). I know a lot of them by heart. Like the story of Marcy, the monkey, the secret wife of George Clooney (LOL).
I love VIP lessons and I didn't have any difficulties to make them. In the beginning, I listened to the lessons reading the PDF at the same time, and after a while, I just listened to them and take a look at some words... and finaly I started just listening to them. My real difficulty was speaking, more specifically, with pronunciation. Then, I bought the Pronunciation Course, which I highly highly recommend. I became more and more confident after knowing how to pronounce the words correctly. All of that with an American accent, because my model is AJ.
I've always been super motivated to learn English, because I loved English and I had a real strong desire to speak and understand English. I didn't have an external reason to learn, like career or study. I wanted to learn English just for myself, for my personal realization. Even though, following AJ and also with VIP, I found a lot of motivation to continue and improve more and more. One of them was walking. I started to walk for listening and with time I started doing listening for walking. It's funny. It was an upward spiral in a good way.
There were a lot of things that I want to say about AJ and Effortless English, but I can remark some. One of them is cutting limiting beliefs. For exemple, I used to think that adults can't learn English effectively, and it's not true. It was a limiting belief that I don't have anymore. We all can learn anything at any time in life. AJ talks about it in his book, which I recommend as well.
Another thing is confidence. I became really confident after meeting AJ, after becoming a VIP member. I learned a lot about it. About to believe in myself. I can also remark not to focus on grammar rules and do not care about mistakes.
Today, I achieved my purpose in English.
- I can read books that are only found in English.
- I met great people from all over the world and I've created real friendships with them.
- I'm more confident in my life.
- I'm more confident to speak, even in my own language.
- I'm better at public speaking.
But I know I have to improve, because in language, like in life, we are always learning, improving. I'm really grateful for having met AJ. Meeting AJ has changed my life.
HADI - Iran
"I couldn't leave his lessons because they were full of energy"
I'm Hadi, 33 years old from Iran. Since I was a teenager I always liked to be able to connect with people all around the world. I remember a day when I was in elementary school, when we went to a museum and there were some tourists there. It was a dream for me to talk to them. When I got older and my English classes started in school, it was one of my favorite subjects. I was really enthusiastic about English and always tried to get the best scores and I did.
I tried many years to learn English and tried different methods and a variety of textbooks, grammar books, different kinds of vocabulary books and so on. Because of my enthusiasm, I tried my best, and although those textbooks had lots of colorful pictures, I couldn't keep going, because they actually were boring. So I repeatedly changed my tactics and bought different books with audio CDs and sometimes videos on them. None of them had a great effect on me. The most effective system I used was reading English web pages of my favorite topics and reading some short stories written for English learners. By reading them I improved my reading but my speaking was not good at all.
After many years and trying many different things, one day I found a video clip by a man named A. J. Hoge. The video was about movie technique. The man's speaking was understandable and I found his speech really reasonable.
Anyway, although the movie technique seemed nice, I didn't find a good movie to persist in. After a while as I searched the web, I came to AJ's Youtube channel and found the 7 rules of speaking English! Those rules had a great effect on me and I found them in total agreement with my previous experiences. After that I was encouraged to get one of his courses named Power English Course. His teachings in that program were really different than any other ones I had experienced before. He didn't teach English directly and his focus was mentality and psychological matters. I couldn't leave his lessons because they were full of energy and information. Now it's about two and a half year that I'm still using his method. I have enthusiastic international friends and I make conversations with them easily, effortlessly and without fear.
ILANA - Israel
"After only 3 years of studying with AJ I feel much more confident and relaxed speaking English!"
My name is Ilana. This is my English journey.
One of my child's dreams was to be fluent in English. I imagined myself traveling around the world, meeting new friends, learning about new cultures. And all these in exceptionally good English. My dream was crushed by 16 years of formal education. Nether private teachers, nor attempts to find more effective courses didn't help.
I'll never forget that day when I was searching again on internet for some useful information about English learning. I was frustrated, disappointed and thought that it's me who has a problem. At this lucky day the 7 rules EE email course by AJ Hoge just popped on.. It was a game changer for me. After accomplishing this course I was overwhelmed, thrilled and energetic about English - finally I found my path and my journey began..
I finished EE Power English and Pronunciation programs. I love AJ's system and approach to the English acquisition. Finally I enjoy a lot the process of learning - its natural, easy and fill me with energy and inspiration!
After only 3 years of studying with AJ I feel much more confident and relaxed speaking English! My dream come true- I can communicate in English easily. Now I have friends all over the world- we share interesting topics, projects,books and ideas. We chat for hours...
Moreover AJ's programs and courses have a great contents which impact my life tremendously. English now is a part of my everyday routine and a tool for better and meaningful life. Yes, as a “byproduct”of this system you can be more active, joyful, healthy,happy and energetic! I am!
Commit, don't quit!
IMAN - Iran
"His method and his super useful Podcasts have changed my life A-Z"
My Name is Iman. I am 27 years old and I live in the south Iran.
I can remember that when I was studying English for the first time in school, it was super interesting to me. I was thinking wow I am going to learn English so I can have many International friends and read a lot of books in English. English is supposed to open a new door to me. But year after year studying English there had showed me that man you can't learn real English here. I can remember I had been disappointed and even couldn't pass my English courses easily there. So When I went to university I told to myself, man you should learn English in a better way.
I had started searching for a better method on YouTube and accidentally I found AJ there. After reading his rules for learning English I got excited and said, man this is what I have always wanted. You know, personally I am super patient so this method is created for me.
After that day I started to learn English with AJ and Enjoyed it. Because of English and AJ I could find many International friends all around the world. I have learned many things from AJ. With AJ I could have my own business( growing mushrooms). He, his method and his super useful Podcasts have changed my life A-Z. It has been a month that I am learning German. So Now with that great experience about learning English now I know how should I learn German.
AJ has many useful Courses which can make you speak in English Effortlessly with a clear accent. You should only listen to his courses with zero Grammar. This is the key you should do it constantly for few months and don't quit. After few months you compare yourself with your old version, I can bet you will be surprised. Beside his courses, watch his shows on YouTube they are Icing on the cake.
Commit, Don't quit and believe in AJ and His method.
JULIA - Brazil
"AJ's Effortless English is a perfect paradigm shift in my life"
Tell me how not to admire and love you, AJ
- > Long-bearded
- > Short-bearded
- > Without beard
- > In hat and scarf
- > Shaved hair
- > With and without glasses
- > Anyway ....
How not to love your voice, your perfect pronunciation, your competence and didactics, your knowledge and culture, all your excellent courses like VIP, Power English and others of high quality ones. How not to learn English well while having a lot of fun with your hilarious mini stories...
AJ's Effortless English is a perfect paradigm shift in my life, the Before and After meeting him on YouTube in April 2019.
Dear AJ Hoge, I'm so grateful for all the good things you inspire me.
Thank you so much.
Cheers
Julia Takita
MARJAN - Serbia
"He's a person you want to dedicate a website to."
There I was on the fifteenth floor of a luxurious building covered in glass. The lady escorting me to the elevator shrugged and calmly said, "You know if you want these kinds of jobs nowadays you have to know English." That was the infamous end of my interview for a job I wanted so badly. At that very moment, I decided I'm going to learn the damn thing.
Hi! I'm Marjan, a front-end developer to be. I hope you're having a pleasant time browsing the web pages I've made. I'd like to hear your comments and criticisms. Feel free to send me an email. My address is at the bottom of the page. Now, let's continue with my story.
Previously to that event, I'd had four years of English in high-school so I knew the basics. With lots of enthusiasm, I got a 500-page grammar book and started learning thousands of rules. After a couple of months, with significantly less enthusiasm, I finished learning grammar. Then I focused on vocabulary. I would make lists of words, and flash cards, repeating them again and again. Then I decided it was time to show what I had learned. The result: nothing! I couldn't speak, my reading and listening were poor, I was lost trying to understand movies in English, and the long lists of vocab were completely forgotten.
Desperate is a mild word to describe how I felt at that time. Then one night just before going to bed, I ran into a short video on YouTube. It was the video by AJ, Kristin, and Joe promoting Learn Real English course. Then I watched another one, then another. I was presented with the Effortless English method and I was blown away. What they were saying about learning a language had so much sense. I spent a sleepless night thinking about it again and again. It was probably the first red pill I've ever taken.
Sure enough, I enrolled in the LRE course. Enthusiasm was back again. The experience was amazing! I just laid back, put on my earphones, and listened to real conversations and fun mini-stories. I repeated relentlessly, I would listen for hours every day.
Upon finishing the course I decided to do another one. It was the Power English course. This course was much easier regarding the level of English, but I was mesmerized by the ideas AJ introduced in the lessons. Tips and tweaks for improving your life and pieces of advice from some great books out there. If you're at the intermediate level, this course is the best investment you can acquire.
The result after completing two AJ's courses: My listening ability was very good, I could understand movies, I could read in English and my speaking was quite decent. I decided to continue my English journey mostly by listening to and reading the things I enjoy and am interested in, and I do that even today.
More importantly, learning with AJ had a huge effect on the quality of my life. Over almost ten years, he'd been training me to live simply, to have confidence, to not fear, to never quit, to take action, to be bold, to be strong, to enjoy learning, to find purpose. He's a great educator and a good man, who inspires people worldwide to make breakthroughs in their lives. He's a person to follow, a person to trust, a person to admire. He's a person you want to dedicate a website to.
Join AJ's courses and discover the pure pleasure of learning! It'll skyrocket your English ability, your career, and your life.
MEENA - India
"His POV stories are really best to teach grammar intuitively and successfully."
Hi! My name is Meena. I live in India. I love English language and trying to reach my goal, no matter how much hindrances come & how much time it takes I will never quit.This is A.J's teaching. If I can write easily in English and also speak little then he and his courses are only responsible.
At the time when I retired from the school in 2008 I needed to go to Uk again & again. While seeing people speaking English so fluently made me feel shy and depressed of not understand them well.
Fortunately in my English learning mission I came across the path with A.J.'s website E.E.Club in almost 2011. I just pushed the button and saw a handsome guy on screen with his powerful speech and the lesson set “Original Course” I didn't really remember how much I paid for that but it was worth of getting those lessons.All lessons were full of good content, amazing, interesting and full of teaching material essential for English learners. To tell you the truth they were full of new vocabulary and idioms. His most of lessons at that time were based on dear Abbi's letters( American advice columnist ) .They were very easy and mostly related to today's family matters women usually faced at that time with their partners.
From the very beginning A.J. hated grammar rules and he wanted his students follow the same method. he believed that sense of being right and wrong comes automatically when we repeat them again and again. I felt weird without grammar but finally got his idea and started learning English with E.E.Club. His POV stories are really best to teach grammar intuitively and successfully.
After that his Power English course came in existence which is totally based on new concept of psychology and physiology. It is a wonderful course. Truly devoted person can easily learn English by following rules and obey his commands. Change of physiology can change the mood of the person and make the learning fast. It is so powerful and beautiful thing. Every Effortless English member must have realised this in life.
Now his learners got used to A.J. so much that after finishing Original and Power English Course they insisted him to do something new and difficult. He didn't only sit on his butt and started to think again for next step very enthusiastically and then VIP Course came in light. He took new turn and made VIP COURSE for more challenging students. We all are his VIP members and will always support him to make the ways broaden for him.
A.J. is very bold in speaking as well as he has very cool and controlled mind, he does what he chooses to do. He never influences by rich people. Never ever. He speaks his own life journey very openly. he explains his difficult time in life very elaborately without hesitation. When he was in short of money 💰, once he lived in his car with his cute doggy that never made him feel poor instead he felt adventurous that feeling and it was his positive attitude also without any shame or fear. He keeps open his cards, never tried to hide his own problems when he was in his twenties.
🌷Once he took decision of his own life very thoughtfully when he was in relationship with girl named Jessica. They were head over heel in love with each other. She insisted him to get married and live in countryside with all all big farms and domestic animals. He loved her a lot, it was almost difficult to leave her but at that time also he didn't move by his emotions but he thought rationally and took decision to be let her go. If he hadn't taken that step of leaving her he wouldn't have reached the place where he is now.
SLAVICA - Serbia
"Thanks AJ for the fantastic idea to build your tribe. You did it! "
I'm Slavica from Serbia. Three years ago I started following the AJ and his EE system. I found AJ on YT. For me the magic sentence was: "Don't study grammar rules". At the beginning of every EE live show AJ always says, "Join my VIP program." I tried 10 days for $ 1. The first lesson has arrived. OMG I was shocked. There were parts of an interview with Tony Robbins. As you all know Tony Robbins speaks very quickly. I understood very little, maybe about fifty percent. AJ explained what Tony was saying.
But I was born a persistent person and decided to listen for at least 2 h per day. In that first lesson in MS, the main character is Tony the Turtle Tony the Turtle is preparing for the Olympics and wants to win the competition with very fast cats like Charlie the Chita. Find the rest of the MS when you become a VIP member 😀
After five days, I understood Tony Robbins and continued to listen to VIP lessons every day, for at least two h per day. In each VIP lesson you have a Main Lesson, MS, POV and a commentary. Each lesson is much more than listening to English, because each has its own topic with deep meaning. For example, the lesson Figh good fight, The Deep and many others.
But, for now that is enough about VIP program. 🌸I also listened and still listen to AJ's live show.🍀 At the time I became a VIP member (March 2019), the EE group was on Twitter and we wrote comments there. The current book for the Book Club was BNW. A very difficult book for many reasons. The topic itself is difficult and style of writing is old fashion. But we need to step out our comfort zone.
In 2019 we had a listening and reading challenge on Gab. The Challenge lasted 4 months. Every night we shared on Gab the content we listened to that day. In December 2019, the speaking challenge began. We formed the Skype group Effortless Friends and started a daily conversation. The group is international. We learned a lot together, became friends. We speak English without fear of making mistakes, we have a lot of fun together.
Last year, 2021, I had my own challenge to sing in 10 different languages. Mostly for the birthday of one of the members of Effortless Friends. 🍀New birthday - New song. I sang in: Arabic, Kurdish, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, French, Russian, Italian, Portuguese and Hungarian. I am very happy about that.
All this wouldn't be possible without AJ and his Effortless English system. I highly recommend AJ's Effortless English system. I became confident, I met wonderful people around the world. My life is more interesting and better with Effortless English, with our Skype group Effortless English friends. 🍀Thanks AJ for the fantastic idea to build your tribe. You did it! We all made it together with you. Let's move on to the future.
As always: Comit don't quit.
SODY - Iran
"I feel that AJ cares about us and humanity in general."
It was one of those gray days, I couldn't pass the test for a better position at my work. I was sitting in our living room and didn't want to talk to anyone. I decided to watch a few music videos to keep my mind off of what happened. All of a sudden one of AJ's videos popped up. He was talking about his trip to El Camino de Santiago. At the end of the video he talked about his podcasts and his programs. Every day for about 6 months I would listen to his podcasts. And in the second month I finally decided to buy his VIP program.
My life totally changed. He is my life coach without his awareness! I worked on my self esteem, which in turn allowed me to get a better job. I even used his technique for my financial issues and now I'm in a better situation. I'm a storyteller in Farsi now I have started to write stories in English. This was my dream and now my dreams are coming true.
I'm a member of the super star group in the Effortless English Club. I've got very nice friends with whom we read books together and discuss different subjects with each other. The Effortless English Club is a good community to grow and learn English. It's one of the best social media sites that doesn't harm you.
I feel that AJ cares about us and humanity in general. For that reason I have so much respect and love for him.
TATA - Russia
"AJ has expanded my world and inspired to explore its opportunities."
Hello. I'm Tata from Russia and I'm that lucky person who has never learned English in school. The interest in English came spontaneously thanks to a song on the radio. I had fun singing in English and chatting with foreigners. Now I understand that in the beginning I intuitively chose the right way of learning languages - natural one. However, my intuition was silenced when I decided to level up and focused too much on grammar.
More grammar rules I've studied, less my enthusiasm has become. Luckily pretty soon, one person suggested me to trash textbooks and learn with my ears, not with my eyes. “That's the way kids learn a native language” - he explained. Hard to disagree. That's how AJ Hoge has appeared in my life about 10 years ago and stays a big part of it till now.
AJ's YouTube channel was my daily “must have”. I went through the path from translating almost every word of his videos to effortless listening and understanding everything. My English learning knew ups and downs, plateau, silent period, self-doubts, exciting breakthroughs and so on. Shortly, it was and still is a life of adventure. I'm grateful to AJ for guiding it.
With his meaningful shows, I've been learning English and life lessons. Thanks to AJ, I had an exciting experience of English teaching, opening a small business, living in a foreign country and many others. AJ also became a bridge that connected me with fantastic people living far, but having a mindset so close to mine. AJ has expanded my world and inspired to explore its opportunities. He is definitely a person of the world and indeed, a person of my life story.