How Living in a Tiny Village Made My English Better

Before I moved to a village of 3 people in the hills of Bosnia, I thought I knew English.
I’d lived in London for over two decades. I worked in advertising. I could write taglines, pitch decks, emails full of nuance and fluff.

But it wasn’t until I stepped into a place where no one spoke much English — and everyone spoke plainly — that I realised how bloated my English had become.

And how much I still had to learn.

🐌 1. The Speed of Life Changed the Speed of Speech

City life trains you to think fast, speak fast, respond fast. You’re always reaching for clever phrasing, or the next thing to say.

Village life slowed me down. It gave space between thoughts. Between words.

And that space? It taught me to listen better. To choose words with more care. And to realise that saying less often says more.

🧱 2. Complexity Doesn’t Equal Intelligence

In London, I sometimes wrote to impress. Long sentences. Layered metaphors. Strategic ambiguity.

Here, I started simplifying my English — partly for teaching, partly to be understood.
And I discovered something surprising:

Simple English isn’t dumbed down. It’s just honest.

It’s harder to hide behind short sentences. Harder to waffle. Easier to be human.

🗺️ 3. Explaining English Made Me Understand It

Teaching English here — especially to beginners — forced me to actually think about why we say things the way we do.

Why “I’ve been” isn’t quite the same as “I was.”
Why we use “get” for almost everything.
Why “I would have gone” is so much harder than “I went.”

Living in a tiny village turned English from something I used into something I explored. And I became a better communicator — not just a better speaker.

💬 4. Speaking to Be Understood (Not to Impress)

There’s no point using big words if they miss the mark. Village life reminded me that language is about connection, not performance.

When people say “I understand you,” that means more to me now than “You’re eloquent.”
And in many ways, my English has never felt clearer.

🧭 Final Thought

Living here hasn’t made me less English — it’s made me more intentional. About words. About tone. About what I really want to say.

Sometimes, to improve how you speak, you have to go somewhere quiet enough to hear yourself think.