2 Dec 2025
The Best Way to Improve Your Intermediate English: Solo, AI, or Tutor?
Are you stuck at the intermediate level and wondering if AI or a human tutor is the key to finally achieving business fluency?
We discuss Lindsay Dow's three modes of self-review (solo, tech assisted, human assisted) and how to combine them effectively. Learn to choose the right strategy—using tools like ChatGPT or a tutor—based on your professional goals and personality to refine your work English. (59 words)
Meet Our Guest:
Lindsay Dow is an expert language teacher who guides global citizens on learning languages. Tip: You can combine study methods—solo, AI, or tutor—using each one depending on what your specific need is to keep growing your career English. (39 words)
Helpful Links & Tools:
Lindsay Dow's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@LindsayDowLanguages (https://www.youtube.com/@LindsayDowLanguages)
CTA for the FEP Membership site:
Participate in weekly sessions to practice your English! Become a Member now! This is the place for you to boost your English skills and career growth with a supportive community — without the limitations of a packed schedule. Join our membership community here and start your free 7-day trial: https://fluentenglishpro.com/members/
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Episode transcript:
David
Let's talk about one of the most important and sometimes confusing parts of learning English: how to keep improving once you have already reached an intermediate level. At this stage, you already know the basics. You can communicate, understand most conversations, and maybe even use English at work or in your studies. But the big question is, how can you continue improving?.
David
Should you, for example, use artificial intelligence tools or work with a teacher?. Now, let's hear what an expert English teacher, Lindsay Daw, has to say about using AI or working with a teacher for learning. There is a word you'll need to learn first: Solo. Solo means alone. Doing something solo means doing something alone by yourself. It's a word that comes from Italian and it's commonly used in English.
Lindsay
So, you're going to know for yourself what feels better when you want to get that human feedback and interaction versus when you're happy to fly solo. I consider there to be three modes of self-review, right?. And I call them all self-review because you are involved in all of them. For example, we have solo self-review, tech assisted, and human assisted.
Lindsay
Now, even human assisted—when I'm talking about maybe part of that is like you said, a community conversation club, for example—but it might be a teacher. So why is it still self-review? Because you're there with your teacher going through it. Maybe you're listening to your recording together. Maybe you're reading your written text together that you've done. You're not just handing it over and saying, 'There you go, teacher'.
Lindsay
So, if we're doing the solo, quite simply, we are assessing ourselves. I often like the idea of mistake goals. Rather than trying to avoid mistakes—a lot of learners have this fear of getting things wrong, right?—if you're at the intermediate plateau, this probably isn't too big of an issue for you. But you can be saying to yourself, 'Okay, I want to hit record and I want to speak until I notice five mistakes'.
Lindsay
Then we've got tech assisted. So, this would be when you are using Google Translate, maybe ChatGPT. I love—I noticed recently, I think it's only for maybe French, Spanish, and English right now—the conversation or the practice button on Google Translate. They've got a new button in beta mode at the minute, where you can speak and it will correct you. I'm intrigued, I'm intrigued, yeah!.
Lindsay
So things like that, right? With this, what's really important if you're using tech assisted review, is that you teach yourself how to check the accuracy of that. Because what we don't want to be doing is just following it as gospel and saying, 'Yep, cool. Great. Thank you, Google Translate. Thank you, ChatGPT'. We want to be able to know how to read between the lines of when it gets it right and when it gets it wrong.
David
So, which approach is the best for you? Honestly, it depends on your personality, your goals, and your lifestyle. If you're independent and love organizing your own time, self-study might be your best fit. If you want quick corrections, detailed explanations, and personal guidance, working with a tutor is a great option. And if you enjoy flexibility and creativity, technology can be your perfect daily companion.
David
But here is the real secret: You don't have to pick just one. You can combine them. Studying by yourself and studying with a tutor for a more complete learning experience. Use each one depending on what you need. That's how you'll keep learning, growing, and staying motivated. Our guest in this episode was Lindsay Daw. She's an expert language teacher, and she helps global citizens learn how to learn languages.
David
If you want to learn more about her and see her YouTube channel, please check all the links in the description of this episode.
