I Didn’t Start This Challenge Because I Love English
If I’m being honest, I didn’t wake up one morning thinking,
“I want to become fluent in English.”
There was a much simpler reason.
I wanted to earn an OPIc AL score.
At first, English felt like a goal.
A score.
A certificate.
Something I needed for future opportunities.
But somewhere along the way, that motivation began to change.
Today marks Day 1 of a personal challenge.
For the next 30 days, I’m going to practice speaking English with ChatGPT every single day.
Not reading.
Not memorizing vocabulary.
Not solving grammar questions.
Speaking.
Every day.
My Current Level
Right now, I consider myself around the IM1 level.
I can understand a fair amount of English.
I know basic grammar.
I know more vocabulary than I can actually use.
And that’s exactly the problem.
Knowing English isn’t the same as speaking English.
Whenever I try to answer a question, something strange happens.
My brain starts translating.
Korean first.
English second.
By the time I organize my thoughts, I’ve already lost confidence.
Sometimes I even forget what I wanted to say.
My First Conversation With ChatGPT
Today I opened ChatGPT’s voice mode and started talking.
The first few minutes felt awkward.
I wasn’t nervous because ChatGPT would judge me.
I was nervous because I could hear my own hesitation.
Simple questions suddenly became difficult.
“Why are you learning English?”
“Tell me about your hometown.”
“What do you usually do after work?”
I knew the answers.
But I couldn’t say them naturally.
Every sentence felt like I was building it one word at a time.
The Biggest Surprise
After about twenty minutes, I noticed something.
Grammar wasn’t slowing me down.
Vocabulary wasn’t slowing me down.
Fear was.
Every time I wanted to answer, I paused.
Not because I didn’t know the words.
Because I wanted the sentence to sound perfect.
That habit made every answer slower.
And probably worse.
Today I realized that my biggest obstacle isn’t English.
It’s perfectionism.
Why ChatGPT Feels Different
I’ve studied English in many different ways.
Apps.
Books.
Videos.
Online lessons.
Most of them focused on input.
ChatGPT feels different.
It keeps asking questions.
It waits for answers.
It responds naturally.
Most importantly, it forces me to speak instead of simply recognizing English.
That’s uncomfortable.
Which probably means it’s exactly what I need.
My Goal
I’m not expecting miracles in thirty days.
I don’t think I’ll suddenly sound like a native speaker.
That’s not the goal.
The goal is much smaller.
I want speaking English to feel normal.
I want to stop translating.
I want to answer without freezing.
And if I can gradually move from IM1 toward AL, even better.
One Lesson From Day 1
Today’s biggest lesson wasn’t about English.
It was about mindset.
For years, I believed I needed more vocabulary before speaking.
Today I realized I probably need more speaking before worrying about vocabulary.
That single thought changed the way I see language learning.
We’ll see if I’m still saying the same thing on Day 30.