345. Interview with my student Fred Silva

Welcome to the Influency podcast. I'm Hadar and today we will be speaking to my student, Fred Silva. Today I'm interviewing Fred Silva, a student of mine, in my program New Sound. Fred immediately stood out to me as a new student in my program. He was someone that was ready to accept challenge, especially when it came to English. Fred is an entrepreneur and he has his own English podcast where he interviews all kinds of awesome teachers and English speakers about their journey. In this interview, I'm excited for you to get to know Fred even better as he talks about overcoming challenges, getting out of your comfort zone, and what it truly means to show up in in English. Fred also interviewed me on his channel, so if you want to check out that interview, I'm going to add the link in the description below. All right, let's dive into the conversation with Fred. Hello. Hello. Hello, Fred. How are you doing?

Hello, Hadar. I'm doing great. How about you?

I'm doing fantastic. Very excited to have you here and to talk to you about your English journey.

Thank you so much for having me. I am so happy and excited about it too.

Cool. Why don't you quickly. I did introduce you, but I would love for you to tell us a little bit about who you are, what you do, and how you started with your English work.

Oh, good, good. Well, I'm Fred Silva. I'm from Brazil and I'm entrepreneur and in the digital marketing field. And I'm passionate about English since I started to learn it. So I, I got passionate about it and right now I am helping other people to gain confidence in speaking English better. So I'm not an English teacher, but I am a person that encourage other people to speak better English. I have a YouTube channel, a podcast on YouTube and I have been helping people to, you know, to improve their confidence, their. A few aspects of their English. And I am studying English since 2018. I decided to, because of work. I was, I want to. To get clients outside of Brazil. And then I, I decided to start to study Spanish and English, but I fell in love with English and I, I noticed that, yeah, English is kind of a passion. I need to do something in this field too, because for me it's a. I love to, you know, to talk to people and, you know, to use English on a daily basis. So this is a little bit about my, my journey. And since 2018, I, I'm learning English, I'm speaking and trying to improve, and it's a, A long journey. So I'm in the middle of this Journey. And I am so happy to be here with you in this podcast, in this interview, because I love to challenge myself. And for me to be here is a good challenge. It's a big challenge.

So you like challenges, right? Because, for example, you have a YouTube channel where you interview teachers and colleagues and content creators about English. What made you decide to start to put yourself out there and become a content creator?

Yeah, the first thing was helping people. I noticed that when I help somebody else, I learn more and when I do something for another person, that good things come back to me. So. And my English was improving because I'm like encouraging people. I was like helping people to improve. And I know I decided to start the YouTube channel because I want to give others the perception that everybody can speak English because I'm a shy person. I am that guy that when I was a kid that sit in the front row and didn't talk with anybody because I was so shy. And when I started to develop my communication skills, I noticed that, oh, speaking is good, communication is important. So I start to improve my communication and my life start to improve it too. So when I noticed that I can help other people to improve their English and I will be improving my own English, I will be improving my own life. So I decided to start the channel because I noticed that I could help people and I could help myself too. And I want to, as you mentioned, I love challenges and I challenged myself to interview the greatest teachers on the Internet. So this is the reason I interview you in my podcast. I interview tutor Tiffany. That's a great teacher also, Veronica, and I'm in the middle of this challenge. So this year I want to interview a lot of the best English teachers on the Internet. So this is my big challenge and I love challenging myself because every time that I challenge myself, I. I start to improve my English and my personal life, my professional life too.

I've seen that this concept of challenge is like a repeating element in your experience as a student and also as a content creator. Why is that? And if you also want to share what you think about not being challenged, being in your comfort zone and why.

Yeah, I love a quote. I don't know who said that, but I get for myself that said, the comfort zone is a dry land where nothing's grow. So I believe that. I believe in the comfort zone, nothing good happens because, you know, you're just living your life, you're not doing something interesting.

So what would it look like for like traditional English learner to be in their comfort zone in Their English learning journey. What would that look like?

Yeah, I. I would just say that when you are in your comfort zone is something like you are swimming in. In a swimming pool, very. You don't have waves, you don't have anything that danger. And then you are just, for example, in English, you are just learning vocabulary, you're just learning expressions, but you don't open your mouth. You're not speaking with. With anybody. You are not, you know, using the language. So I usually compare this with. To swimming in a. In a pool. It's comfortable, it's okay. I don't have any trouble there. So I have, you know, if I have a problem, I can just hold in the border. So it's easy. And to be out of your comfort zone, I usually compare with swimming the ocean. Like, in the ocean, you have sharks, you have big fish. It's so deep, so it's dangerous. But when you are there in that dangerous situation, you will learn and you grow so much. And then when you need to go back and swimming in a swimming pool, it's so amazing because you already are able to swim in the ocean. So I like to compare this type of things because I believe in that. And for me, you know, to have a podcast and to help people is to swim in the ocean. So to swim in the ocean, for me, it's like that. And I try to challenge myself on a daily basis because I think right now, if you put myself in, you know, to speak with investors or to speak with in front of people, I'm ready because I'm doing things that are difficult also. So I am preparing myself in a different way. So every challenge that you, you give myself, I'll accept it because I never refuse a good challenge.

I think this is something that definitely a lot of people. I hope a lot of people get inspired by it because I agree it's so incredibly important. Would you say that being where you are today is a result of showing up for your English practice consistently? Were you a good English diligent English learner?

It is. It is. If you don't practice, if you don't prove your English, it's impossible to improve. Because, you know, how can I. I'm learning pronunciation. You know, I decided to learn pronunciation this year with you in Eosound because I was doing the podcast and I was like, sometimes my. I noticed that my pronunciation is not the best, so I decided to focus on that. If I. If I don't use, you know, if I don't be in interviews like this, if I Don't speak with people, if I don't show up in the meetings, if I don't use English with my clients, how can I prove my new knowledge? How can I use it? How can I know that it's working or not? So I totally believe that you need to put yourself out there to prove that you are learning. And if you are struggling with something, no problem, just step back and do it again, try again until you get comfortable, until you get like, oh, I, I'm doing a great job, I'm improving. Because sometimes not easy to notice that we are improving. Sometimes we got like, I am like hitting the ceiling, I'm not improving anymore. So it's normal. But as much you improve your English, as much you try to use, you notice that it's going to be better and better until you achieve the level that you want.

Yeah, that's good. And let's say someone wants to do that, but there is something preventing them from doing it. What would someone who wants to put themselves out there or to practice consistently, what does someone need to believe in or to feel in order to be able to make that their reality?

Great question, great question. First thing I think you need to believe in yourself that you are capable to do. If you don't believe in yourself, nobody else will. So first thing you need to believe in yourself. And second, I think it's important you don't care about others opinion like criticism or like people that are not, you know, gentle with you. Because in my own journey I try to surround myself with positive people, people that will help me, not people that will judge me or things like that. Because to be judged sometimes could, you know, make us to get like stuck because we are thinking about other, other people thoughts. So you are like try to prove somebody else that you are good. So no, you need to prove yourself that you, you can do it. And yeah, when I, the first time that I put myself in the ocean, you know, to challenge myself was when I was learning Spanish. I decided to record a video just to, you know, to see how it looks like. And I did and I received a positive feedback and I got like, wow, it's good. So let me do it another video, another video. And then I start to do the same with English too. And I noticed that I start to improve. So because of my positive feedback that I received, I noticed that yeah, I can do that. So I can do more and more and more and then things start to improve because I was surround of people that are there to help me not to criticize me not to judge me. So don't allow anybody else to judge yourself. Just think that nobody will judge you. You are speaking another language. You are amazing. You are intelligent because you, you know, I don't know the percentage of. The percentage of people that don't speak a second language. You are doing it. So you are good.

Much higher than those who speak two languages and more.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Sometimes people are so afraid to speak with natives in the US for example, but they just speak English. And you speak sometimes English, Spanish and sometimes Portuguese. Sometimes I know people that speak five languages. Yeah. So you're great.

Absolutely. And you know, I liked what you said. I have a lot of students and you know, who, who want to be content creators or business owners that, who understand that showing up in English is critical for their business and success. You know, both you and I are into digital marketing and content is so incredibly important and especially video because people really connect with you over video and they're afraid to show up on video because they're afraid of the criticism. But in fact, what you are saying that once you became content creat. Not only that you didn't receive that negative feedback, which again might happen to some and that is okay. It's part of the world though. It's part of the work. But you say that actually it was the opposite and because of that, that actually gave you more confidence instead of. So it's, it's counterintuitive because people would be afraid, but you're saying no, actually it would build up your confidence.

It was my fault to, you know, to do what I'm doing right now, you know, to show up on the camera and start to speak with, you know, other students, English teachers, entrepreneurs, people that natives also it gives me more energy and more, you know, power, more, you know, self confidence and everything. So sometimes what scares you is the fool that you need to improve your English. So yes, if you take this as a good thing, you will do amazing things. And I noticed that your students, they, they have this feeling too. I need to show up on camera, I need to speak, I need to, to record videos. I saw people on, on new sound that record 90. 90 videos.

90 videos. That's a daily video challenge. Yes.

Yeah. Amazing. And this is amazing. I saw people that never spoke English before speaking like. Yeah, it's incredible.

Yeah. Because you prove to yourself when you do these things that are challenging, you just prove to yourself that it's possible. You build confidence in the person you want to become. Let me ask you this. What are the most Interesting things that you've learned from interviewing all these great people and teachers.

I learned new things every day. Every interview, I am learning something new. But I think the most valuable thing that I learned was you need to care about other people when you're giving, just giving, good things come back to you. So I noticed that when I start to record, you know, interviews and speak on YouTube because I received a lot of feedback like this, Fred, I was stuck. I just gave up to study English because your video, because your podcast. I decided to go back again and study because I noticed that, I noticed that's possible. I noticed that this, I can do it. So because of that, people start to study again. So I have learned that if you give, good things come back to you. So I think I became a more generous person because of that. I think so it's not just related to English, you know, it's changed our life in, in general. So anything like is that I, I became a better person because of that. Right now I, you know, I'm passionate about, to help people. And I think this is greatest in me, you know, it's. It became my, how can I say, my main goal, my purpose in life to help people and the way I can. So I think that that's it. I became a more generous person.

This is so profound because it really is about. Because when you're generous, not only that, it's. It makes everything worthwhile a lot more. You put the focus on the other person and when you focus on the other person, then you stop caring so much about your own performance all the time. Right? You don't pick on every single mistake or mispronunciation because you're all geared towards the other person. And what do they need from me right now? How can I show up for them so that they feel listened to and understood and that they can understand exactly what I'm trying to say. And when that is the focus, it takes away all the negative self talk and all the, you know, being self indulgent in your own thinking and you're focusing on the other person. So beyond the act of giving and providing help to others, I think also having that intention changes your entire English experience. Which leads me to talking about mindset because I know that inside of new sound, you know, one of the things that you were working on in addition to pronunciation was mindset. What is a healthy mindset for an English learner?

I think mindset is one of the most important things because if you don't develop this skill, you know, to actively develop yeah, you need to actively develop because if you don't have confidence in yourself, you don't have a, you know, a good mindset to learn and to know that this is a journey. It's a long journey, it's not just a short one. So when you notice that mindset is important and you start to work on that, and I have heard people saying that one of the best models of new sound is the mindset. Because of that, because people are afraid to speak, they don't have confidence. And when they notice that everything's related on me, I just need to change my. The way I think. I just need to think differently and then things will start to improve. I can come back to my. To myself. In 2018, I was shy. I was a person that was not a good communicator. I'm still thinking that I'm not so good at it, but I'm working on it. So when I start to notice that mindset is important and I start to develop this skill to think in, you know, in a good way, to believe in myself first and then start to try to help others in the same way. I noticed that this is the key. If you, you can know a lot about English, you can know grammar, you can know pronunciation, you can know everything. But if you don't have confidence to speak, you won't speak. I see a lot of people like this. I see people that if you ask something about grammar, they know everything. They know all the rules, they know everything. But you say, hello, how are you? And then they just get stuck. You know, they don't open their mouth. And they are great. They know a lot of things, they are smart, but they have like a thing that is the mind just getting there in the same place. And then as I mentioned, if you don't have a good mindset, you can't move, you can do anything. So I think mindset is one of the most important things. And when I noticed that and I start to develop my English, I start to encourage people to do the same. Working in the mind before, and then your English is going to be better. And then there is something interesting. I, I had helped a lady from Spain. She is over the 60s years old, she's retired, she didn't have any reason to speak English. And she was like, I can't do it. I'm too old to do that. I'm so, you know, and I start to help her like, no, you can do it. No, you are good, you are smart. Record a video and you see. And then she Start to record one video, two videos in a few weeks. She was speaking very well because English was there. She was just afraid, you know.

Yes. So I've seen that so much. Like, you know, I've had a student who studied for 12 years English and she wasn't able to speak. Her people around her would make fun of her. And then inside of New Sound in two months, she was like making long videos, you know, and talking about it. The English is there for the most part. Part for a lot of people. They just need to have that confidence.

Even if you, if you, if you think, okay, my English is not good, try it. You will see that it's like freedom when you. Yeah, I'm a person that I tell everybody record videos. This will help you to go outside of the comfort zone. Videos are amazing. And now you have, you know, other thing that I totally believe that everybody needs to have English learners. You need to record videos and you need to have a YouTube channel or Instagram account just to share your journey. You don't need to be a YouTuber or things like that. But if you show up on camera, expose yourself, you see that it's not a big of a deal.

Yeah, absolutely. I always say like if you're you, you're an English learner, you become a content creator. My students are content creators, ultimately. Let's talk about pronunciation for a sec. How has pronunciation work helped you build your fluency?

As I mentioned before, at the beginning when I start my, my channel, I noticed that I need pronunciation because I never work on, on this. I. I was speaking but you know, the way I can. But I noticed that sometimes I'm not clear enough. I need to, you know, improve this aspect and I start to study with you. I start new sound and then I noticed that pronunciation is habit. It's a habit. You need to build this habit and then you will start to put this little things in your communication and then you start to improve. So I noticed that after to just to focus on pronunciation, my English start to get more clear, you know, because sometimes I was speaking with people and I noticed that they got like this and trying to understand what I love. Yeah what I was saying. And I noticed that because, you know, if I just change a few things in a word, it could become another word. Like we have words that are really similar in English and we learned this with you in the new sound like the minimal pairs and we need to hear and distinguish the difference because when we are talking sometimes for example with me, I have a problem to d In the end of words. Sometimes I didn't say this, and then the word became another word. And could be challenging. Could be challenging to understand. And my clarity is not. It will be affected. So when I focus on my pronunciation, I start to notice that this is a habit. I need to build this habit. And then now I'm aware about the sounds. So even when I make a mistake, I know that I made a mistake. So I start to. Okay, let's correct this, because I know.

How do you practice. How do you practice a pronunciation? So let's say a sound that you feel like you need to change or incorporate, how do you practice it?

I usually. I love videos. So I usually go to youglish to see how the words pronounce it, and then I try to repeat as much I can like the word again and again and again until it becomes more natural to me in my mind. Because, for example, I have problem to pronounce words that are long in English. Like, for example, responsibility, Things like that. Sometimes I notice that I make mistakes. For example, I was speaking with somebody a few days ago. No, it wasn't beyond. I was speaking with Christina. I think, yeah, Christina. And I need to say a word. And then I said responsibility. And all of a sudden I got like, okay, responsibility. So I. I remember this sound. Of course, responsibility is not wrong, but I am working in my. In my accent, so in my American accent. So I noticed that. Okay, say it again. And then I said the right. The right way that I want because I am aware about the sound now. So I think studying pronunciation helped me to be aware about the sound and build new habits. And then I think I'm conscious about the sounds now, and I still need to improve it. But, for example, the T8, that was a big challenge for me as a Brazilian. We don't have this sound. It's really challenging. Sometimes I start to develop it, and I noticed that it's getting better. So I noticed that the sounds are coming.

Yeah, I love that all of them. The sounds are coming. This is really how it is, right? Like, you practice and you practice and you practice, and then, you know, you don't feel it. You don't necessarily use it. And then all of a sudden they're coming, or all of a sudden what comes out of your mouth was. Is like. Yeah, it actually is how it sounds in my head. And I hear it like that for the first time, which is the beauty of this type of work. And of course, it helps you build confidence.

And I also try to get difficult words. You Know to. Because I have like a difficulty to learn. I don't know why, but sometimes I learn something I forgot very, very easily. So I try to get difficult words that I really struggle with and then I try to repeat as much I can, I try to use in my speech as much I can. And if I have a chance to use that word, I will do it. And then I can, I can see the, the, the feedback in, in someone else face, you know, Okay, I, I did it wrong or I did it good. So, yeah, let's work on it.

You're so attentive and sensitive to what's going on around you.

Yeah, I need to be. I need to be. Because as I mentioned, I, I forgot things very quickly. So I try to put things in the more visual way that I can as I. So, and this is the thing that I think is really important. You need to know what is your best way to learn. Because I know that I'm, I'm a vision person. If you put graphics for me, I will understand and retain everything. But if I just see, for example, if I try to read something, a book or something, it's not the same for me. I have. Yeah, it's more difficult for me to learn.

All right, Fred, thank you so much for everything that you shared. It's all so incredibly valuable and really shows the very interesting, courageous journey that you took in this English learning experience. I'm going to ask you the same question that you asked me when you interviewed me for your channel, which, by the way, we're going to link to my interview on Fred's channel so you can definitely watch it. What would you recommend someone who feels stuck or in a plateau in their English learning journey?

Great question. I think to challenge yourself, challenge yourself as much you can put yourself in danger, dangerous situations and you will start to improve your English because, no, as I mentioned, the comfort zone is a dry land where nothing grows. So don't be there. Step out of the comfort zone. Start to do things that really scares you and you will see, you can message me later. Fred, it doesn't work. If it doesn't work for you, because I'm approved of it, I start to do this type of things. I start to challenge myself on a daily basis and things start to happen to me. In business, in English, in every aspect of my life. If you challenge yourself, your English is going to improve, you see? So I think this is the main, main thing. Time yourself, working your mindset. Surround yourself by good people, positive people, like Hadar. So you see that your English is going to improve because you have people to support you have people to help you, and you will grow because people will help you to grow. So I think that's it.

I love that. Thank you so, so much, Fred. And where can people find you and follow you?

Thank you so much, Hodar, for having me and I. My YouTube channel is called Silvacast. You can search on YouTube and on Instagram, it's the same. Silvercast is my. My. Is my brand. So you can find me on YouTube and on Instagram too. So.

And we're definitely going to link to your channel, your Instagram account, and also to the interview we had on your channel. And I wish you many, many years of prolific content creation, all possible boundaries, challenge yourself. And I have no doubt that you will continue seeing success and feeling accomplished as you already feel and even more.

Thank you so much, Hadar, from the bottom of my heart. And I think I will because I am, like, following your. I look at your content and I. I got like, this is a good thing. I can. I want to do something similar. You are a great inspiration for me. So. And this, it's helping me a lot to, you know, to improve my quality of my content and the desire to help other people. So, yeah, thank you so much for being this inspiration and for help me in, you know, to improve my English and to get more confident to do what I'm doing. So thank you so much for being this inspiration.

Thank you so much, Fred. Thank you. Take care and I wish you all the best.

Thank you. See you soon.

I hope you enjoyed this conversation. Fred, thank you so much for your time. Remember that we also have an interview on Fred's channel, so go check it out. Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day. Let us know in the comments what you think and I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.