“How to learn English?” Is probably the most common question in the comments section
and the most frequent question I get asked. And while it has many layers to it, I’ll
share with you the system that I believe a language should be learned by.
This is what I think is the most effective and natural way. And this is how, in my opinion,
any language should be learned and approached because this way helped me to finally become
fluent in my twenties after years spent in vain in school and courses trying to become
fluent in English.
Even if you’re not a beginner I still suggest that you try this system especially if you’re
stuck because simply changing what you do will help.
This is the approach I took and the one that changed everything for me and also is the
most natural because this is how we learned our first language.
So, I always suggest starting with listening. For complete beginners I’d say you should
start by watching the simplest videos. The ones where they show you an object and name
it. Then the ones where they ask simple questions like “what is your name” and tell you
how to answer. And then you gradually move on to more complicated things.
It will be very much like kids learn a language. They listen a lot. In fact they only listen
for a year, give or take, and only then start to speak. They listen to their parents speak
and explain things to them. And that’s how they pick up the language.
As we’re not kids and there’s no adult to explain things to us we will google up
words and everything else. Yes, self education. But believe me it’s worth it. This knowledge
will stick with you for sure.
One of the best methods to improve your listening is to watch and listen to something in English
that you’ve watched in your native language a lot. Like some TV show. Like “Friends”
for instance. Most people I know have watched it on repeat. Or you know anything you like.
Because you will already know what it is about and you’ll be able to figure out the meaning
of words. First watch it with subtitles then without
them. and again, watch it on repeat because repetition is key to learning.
Then we move on to speaking. Mark my word if you spend enough of hours
working on your listening speaking will come to you a lot easier. It will come to you naturally.
Shadowing, copying and repetition will be your go to things.
And we will start by simply repeating. Repeat after native speakers. Start with some simple
sentences, and then something more complicated, but make sure that you’re repeating the
right thing. Turn on subtitles for starters. Because oftentimes we either drop the words
we can’t quite make out or say something completely different. But if you’ve worked
on your listening thoroughly this shouldn’t be a problem. Next start shadowing. Shadowing
is more about focusing on the accuracy. Repeating everything exactly the way another person
says it, including the stresses on words and the intonation in words and sentences.
This will also give you the opportunity to pick up phrases, idioms, sentences and even
grammar naturally.
I would also add to this step working on your pronunciation. Yep, right away. If you want
to of course. But this would be so beneficial for you.
You can work on it by yourself or with a teacher or coach or you can take a course. There’s
lots of options these days. I had a conversation about this with my American
accent coach and with another language coach. The links will be right be here.
I also have a lot of videos on my channel on how to improve your speaking skills and
pronunciation on your own.
And of course practice your speaking with a speaking partner, in a speaking club or
with a teacher.
When we feel more or less comfortable speaking English we add reading.
I think that reading in general but especially at the beginning should be about quality and
not about quantity. Read slowly but make sure that you understand what you’re reading
about. There’s no need to look up every word as long as you understand the context.It
would be awesome if did look up every word but it might be too tiring. And of course
make sure that you’re reading something according to your interests and something
simple. Again at the beginning and then move forward from there.
The next step would be working on and improving your writing - for those who want or need
to learn to write in English, like if you need English because you want study in an
English-speaking country or prepare for IELTS.
In school they kind of teach us backwards and you end up knowing how to read and write
but not how to speak and you can’t understand anything when you hear native natural English
speech. Now, again I have a video on how to improve
your writing on your own which I think is worth watching for sure. I’ll include all
the links in the description. Because if I stop at each step to explain
everything in all detail this video will take me forever. And I already have this information
on the channel.
However, the easiest thing you can start with is to copy texts. You don’t need to come
up with your own sentences and think of grammar when you don’t even know how to spell words.
Plus such an exercise will help you with grammar. At the very least your brain will pick up
on the word order in a sentence.
I’m sure that there will be people who will be wondering:- “But how about vocabulary?
How will I increase it?” You don’t need to learn words separately
so there’s not a separate step for “increasing your vocabulary”
It’s going to be happening naturally as a byproduct of all those other steps because
it’s impossible not to look up the meanings of new words you come across to understand
the context. Over time you’ll be able to understand the meanings of words based on
the context and what you already know. And this way to expand your vocabulary is a lot
more effective and gives long lasting results compared to just learning 10 random words
every day. And just a a side note - try to look up the
meaning of words in English and not their translation. There are words that you just
need to translate to fully understand them but just try.
Grammar Honestly you’ll be learning and improving
your grammar all along while you’re on those other steps. Because it’s only natural for
people to make associations and analyze. If you are curious about the structure and
all the “whys”, you’ll read about them. You’ll be learning it as you go along.
However, after doing all these things you’ll probably still have questions. Because let’s
be honest even after years and years of learning English some of us still have problems with
grammar. But after you’ve done all the steps. And
mind you it’s not like you’ve done a step and can just stop doing it. Learning a language
or I should say maintaining a language is a lifelong process and we all know that skills
deteriorate when we’re not using them. If you knew how to play an instrument and then
you just ditched it, you’d notice that over time your skills got worse, like you’ve
regressed. Our brain disposes of the things we don’t
use to make storage for the things we do use, thus need.
The way it should go is you start with listening, you listen at least for a month but I’d
suggest two. Then you include, not substitute with but include in this process speaking.
So now you’re working on your listening and speaking. Then you add next steps one
by one. The duration of each step will vary from person
to person because some of us learn more quickly and some more slowly. You know yourself best
so you’ll figure it out. So, as I was saying after you’ve gone through
all the steps but still continue doing them, understanding grammar structures and rules
and using them will become a lot easier as opposed to if you were to start learning a
language by learning grammar rules. If you are a complete beginner and you start reading
rules about using tenses in English or prepositions it will be very hard to remember them not
to mention use them as you won’t have any idea how because you have no context.
If you live in an English speaking country it’s going to be easier to do all of this
and maintain your results because whether you want it or not you are surrounded by English.
If you don’t, after doing all of this you’ll build a strong enough habit to keep going,
and continue learning on your own nonetheless. Nowadays you can surround yourself with English
by yourself. You can create this environment. Yeah, it won’t be perfect but it will be
something. And it’s better than waiting for the perfect situation or opportunity and
wasting your time.
And you don’t have to be doing all of this by yourself. You can always get help- work
with teachers and coaches. And it would be even better if you added to such a learning
process working with a teacher. Or vice versa if you take a course or attend classes add
these steps to your routine.
This is just my recommendation and it’s just scratching the surface to give you a
general idea because there’s so many methods to improve each of these steps.
You can skip a step, writing for instance if it’s not of big importance for you. But
I highly recommend, insist even that you don’t skip listening or speaking. These are the
skills we need the most to communicate. And these are the skills that are either overlooked
at schools or are the hardest to learn. That’s why the sooner you start and the more consistent
you are the better result you’ll get.