IELTS is the passport of dreams. Majority of you who are reading this have a dream to move abroad and study or work there right? If you’re reading this, chances are you have a burning desire to study, work, or settle abroad and create a better future. You’re not alone. Thousands of dreamers just like you, many from humble beginnings and Gujarati-speaking households, have taken their first step toward global success through IELTS.
Before we begin, remember this: Your background does not define your limits — your mindset does. Whether English is your first language or not, your determination can bridge any gap. IELTS doesn’t care where you come from; it rewards where you want to go. So, let’s break boundaries, silence self-doubt, and chase those dreams with everything we’ve got.
Many individuals have self-doubt:
Does being from a Gujarati Medium Background Affect my English Skills?
Can I ever become fluent in English?
Will my background hold me back?
You want to know the real answer? It is a big NO. Of course, having a Gujarati background has no huge impact but indeed in some aspects, you might face challenges.
When you are from the Gujarati background, learning English might feel like standing at the bottom of a mountain and looking up. You may hear others speaking English so fluently that you doubt yourself, “Can I really do this?” Curious to know the answer. It is a big “YES”. You can obviously do this. Mark my words, you are not behind; you are about to start from a different place. English is not your first language, but neither was it for many successful people around the world. And believe me learning a second language doesn’t mean starting from zero. It means you are building discipline and intelligence. Later on, once you have started preparing for IELTS, your real test will begin of resilience. IELTS is not just about grammar rules, complex vocabulary and band scores; it is about showing up each and every single day. It’s about taking the English newspaper for the first time and make an effort to read it even you face difficulty and showing up the next day in an attempt to do the same. Many a time, even a person with good English proficiency is unable to get the desired score due to lack of dedication and regularity. Effort is what defines winners. Keep one thing in mind that IELTS is a passport to opportunity. Don’t make a mistake of considering it as just an ordinary exam. It’s the bridge between your present and the life you dream of — whether that’s studying abroad, building an international career, or proving something to yourself and the world. You’re showing the world that background doesn’t decide future. Your discipline does. Your vision does.
What does being from Gujarati Medium really mean?
It normally means that you have done your schooling in Gujarati language. You might not have much exposure in writing, reading, listening and speaking English. You may face issue in understanding English, translating into English or you may have fear of speaking English, thinking you might get it wrong somewhere or someone will mock at you. Listen guys, these are all the temporary issues nothing is permanent. All the fear is in your head. You want to know the reason? The basic reason is you haven’t worked in the right direction. Being from a Gujarati medium is not a genuine barrier due to which you are weak in English language. Absolutely not. If you have the will to learn English and speak the language fluently, these things won’t stop you. And if you are planning to move abroad but your Gujarati background is holding you back, guys you are mistaken. I assure you that you have the potential to learn and speak English. All you need is dedication and give yourself some time. You need to keep one thing in your mind that you cannot learn a language in one-two months, therefore you have to give yourself at least 6 months to adapt yourself with the English language.
To begin with, you must start translating your thoughts in English. Since you are from a Gujarati medium, your thoughts are naturally in Gujarati. You need to learn to translate them into English. You can take help of “Google Translator” and try to make meaningful sentences. Moreover, focus on grammar. You can take the reference of grammar books of primary school. Do you feel Learning English grammar feels boring? Do you open a grammar book and immediately feel sleepy – like after eating a heavy thali on a Sunday afternoon? Don’t worry, bhaai! Whether you’re from a Gujarati medium school or just someone who mixes “have” and “has” like chutney and sambhar, this post is for you. Let’s turn grammar into garba! Just like a Gujarati thali – with dhokla, thepla, khichdi, and jalebi – grammar has many items. And each item has a prominent role. Lets us take a glance on it.
Start with framing the sentence structure. Every sentence goes on like: Subject + Verb + Object. Let’s understand it more clearly via example.
For instance: Raju eats dhokla.
Here, Raju – Subject, Eats – Verb and Dhokla – Object.
It makes sense, right? But if you say Eats Raju dhokla… it will sound terrible alright. That’s the reason framing the correct sentence is really important.
Secondly, Articles – A, An and The
- A: Use before consonant sounds → a thepla
- An: Use before vowel sounds → an apple
- The: Use for something specific → the only samosa left on the plate.
Let us take a look on an example:
I saw a lion. It sounds perfect right?
How about:
I saw an lion. Dude it is wrong! Why? Because even lions don’t like wrong grammar. You need to learn where to put the articles appropriately.
Third is Prepositions – Location spotting devices
These are like your phone’s GPS but for sentences. To exemplify,
The cup is on the table.
Here, on shows the location of cup. If you say “Cup is in the table” – your guests may think you’re a magician!
Another important thing is Tense.
Tenses are time travel for the sentences. Let us take an example for clear idea.
I ate fafda. It shows Past activity. Hence, it is the past tense. I hope you know fafda being Gujarati!
If I would say,
I am eating fafda. It shows the activity in present tense.
And, I will eat fafda means the activity will take place in future. Henceforth, it is a future tense.
If you eat fafda all the time, use Present continuous tense.
Tenses tells you when something happened.
Practicing this will surely brings clarity. And once you excel here, nothing can stop you from being fluent in English and trust me you will be able to crack IELTS easily- Mark my words!
You must be wondering- Is that all am I supposed to do? No dear! It is just a single step. There are many more to go! You guys must be wondering- What’s next? In the next step, surround yourself with an English environment. How to do that? Answer is very simple. Start watching English movies and shows with the subtitles. You can begin with watching movies in your mother tongue with English subtitles and then you can switch completely into English language. What else you can do is listen to podcast in English or read English newspapers, magazines or blogs. For magazines, you can begin with India Today, Forbes India, Outlook and Vouge India as well as for podcast, you can listen On Purpose with Jay Shetty or the Indian Start up Show. Moreover, build a habit of writing a journal every day.
Let’s be honest—learning English the traditional way (grammar rules, long textbooks, and confusing tenses) sometimes feels like trying to eat plain khichdi without achar. Boring. Bland. Sleep-inducing. But what if I told you that you could turn English learning into a game? Yep. You can level up your English just like you level up in PUBG or Candy Crush (minus the screaming and rage-quitting). Here’s how to turn English learning into something your brain actually looks forward to:
Wordscapes – You feel like Sherlock Holmes finding hidden words!
Scrabble GO – Challenge your friends to a word war (Winner gets bragging rights AND better English).
Another thing you can do is use English learning apps such as Duolingo wherein green owl won’t let you sleep until you finish your daily lesson. Seriously.
Now I guess after doing all these and after being consistent and patient, you will gradually see the improvement in your English language. Now, you deserve a little reward don’t you think? Remember, set goals and reward yourself!
Now that you’ve crushed all these steps, do you still think gujarati background will make any more difference? No right? Indeed, now that you have already familiarized yourself with English language, all you have to do is start preparing for your IELTS exam without any further delay.
Go through the structure of IELTS and try to understand it. And for confined result I suggest you to join classes and take coaching for few months. Once, you are confident enough that you will be able to achieve your desired score, book your exam. Now how will you get that confidence?
Answer is pretty simple, being regular and consistent while attending lectures and mock tests. And if you are able to get the desired score in the mock tests, without any further due book the exam.
So, if you’re feeling tired, or doubtful, or slow — take a breath and remind yourself why you started. You are not alone. Many students just like you have walked this path from basic English to Band 7+ not because they were lucky, but because they were relentless. So, yes you are going to be confined and dedicated towards your goal and you are going to appear for the IELTS. Not only that, by working in a right direction, you are going to score your desired bands in IELTS.
All you need to do is Keep going. Even if the world doubts you, don’t doubt yourself. One day, when you look back at this phase of your life, you’ll realize that the late nights, the repeated mock tests, the endless corrections — they all added up. They built you into someone who didn’t just pass an exam, but rose above expectations. You’re not just learning English. You’re becoming unstoppable. You know what “You have got this!”