How can I get better at English?
Sorry, I don’t know.
Siri doesn't know.
Hey guys. So, Japanese people have been asking me to make videos about learning English for years.
Sorry for the wait.
I’ll be making a series about it now,
and I'll put them into a playlist if you want to watch.
Before I start giving advice,
I’d like to talk about my experience learning English since I got lots of questions about it.
Recently they start teaching English in elementary schools,
but my English classes started from junior high school.
I was using NEW HORIZON.
Which textbook did you use?
By the way, I found this textbook the other day.
NEW HORIZON for adults.
It's published by the same company, but the contents seem very different from when I was in school.
I’ll show you guys this textbook some other time.
Back to the main topic.
So English class started when I was 13,
and I followed along until they started teaching present (past) perfect tense.
I hated how verbs change their form randomly.
And some don't change at all.
Why's that, Rachel sensei?
I don't know.
Even a native English speaker doesn’t know.
Anyway, my brain shut down when the English teacher drew a time line on the blackboard to explain.
There were many colorful lines all across the backboard and I was like
“Why are we studying Sci-Fi?”
From then on, I kept time traveling during English class.
The class was always over before I noticed. (Basically I just fell asleep.)
And later on, I got aoten (blue ink) on my English test.
I think some of you are familiar with akaten (red ink),
which means you got less than half of the average class score.
And aoten is half of the akaten.
So for example, if the average class score is 100 points, less than 50 is akaten, and less than 25 is aoten.
Red akaten ink is like you're-so-embarrassed-you're-blushing level,
but blue aoten ink is like you're-so-horrified-the-color-drains-from-your-face level.
My English teacher said he only saw aoten twice in his life.
Anyway I didn’t like English tests or classes so much but I didn’t dislike the English language.
So I went to university and majored English to relearn it.
Now I use English for work and to talk to my wife every day.
Looking back at the time I got aoten, I wouldn’t have been able to imagine my life now.
In short, this is my experience learning English.
And I get messages from a lot of people like students who have trouble following their class just like I did,
or office workers who need to learn English for their jobs.
And the first thing they ask me is “How can I make my English better?"
But this question is very broad.
I don’t know your purpose for learning English, or what you mean by “better.”
So I can’t answer this question
nor can Siri.
Everyone has a different reason for learning English.
So I asked them their reasons.
Quite a few couldn't answer,
and some didn't have any purpose.
But that's not very good.
If you're learning a foreign language, you should know why you're doing that.
Your reason doesn't need to be something important.
My reason was because I didn't want to get akaten (well I got aoten, though).
Some wanted to learn English to get a high score on their TOEIC test so they can use it for job hunting.
There was a 67 year old lady who messaged me and said
"I want to learn English. I want to travel to foreign countries for the first time in my life."
Your reason can be anything, so think about why you want to learn English.
The difference between someone with purpose and someone without purpose can be very large.
People with purpose have goals to reach and can make use of their efforts,
but if you don't know your purpose you might just be wasting your time.
So if you don't know your reason for learning, think about it.
Your reason can even be "I want to date someone from different country."
Will you be my girlfriend, Siri?
Wow, this is awkward...
The question I get the second most often is
there're so many rumors about learning English.
I don't know what to trust.
Some examples of rumors are like:
"Getting a high score on the TOEIC test isn't so great. It's not useful."
"The English that we learn in school is useless."
"Just listening to these CD materials, you'll be able to speak."
There are dozens of rumors like these.
So people get confused and ask someone like me.
I think people get confused and end up unable to do anything
because they mix different purposes for and ways of learning English.
Here's a quote from my English teacher.
Actually my professor in university said the same thing so maybe this is something used often.
"It's easy to understand what kinds of English Japanese people learn if you compare it to martial arts."
There are many kinds but we have 4 big types.
1. Exam-oriented English
2. TOEIC/proficiency test English
3. Business English
4. English for studying abroad or traveling
There are more but these are the four big types of English we learn.
With exam-oriented English you want to reach the weight level (prestige level)
of the school you want to enroll in.
It's like boxing. I'm sure you guys have gone through this,
repeating your basic training and following a strict regimen of studying.
TOEIC/proficiency test English is like karate.
Depending on your score and level, you can achieve different color belts.
Business English is pro-wrestling.
English is just a tool for negotiation.
You also fight outside of the ring, like negotiating business over casual drinks.
English for studying abroad or traveling is like street fighting.
As long as you make yourself understood, you win.
For example: Person A gets 700 on the TOEIC test,
which is considered good enough to go abroad for business.
He's a TOEIC karate brown-belt.
(Brown is right under black.)
And now he challenges a business English pro-wrestler, Person B.
And while TOEIC karate Person A is ready to fight,
Person C, Person B's tag-team partner, suddenly grabs Person A and throws him out of the ring.
And then Person C beats karate brown-belt Person A with a folding chair.
And now the audience says, "Ha, (TOEIC) karate is worthless."
But pro-wrestling, karate, boxing, and street fighting all have different rules.
If you know the rules well, it'll affect your results.
And the things you train for won't go to waste.
Additionally, the basics are all the same.
So if you know your purpose for learning English, you won't be troubled by those rumors.
By the way, I've never used (Speed Learning)
so I asked one of my friends who has used it,
and he said it's for intermediate or advanced learners.
It might be a little too difficult for beginners.
I'm the kind of person who doesn't want to spend money on materials, so I probably won't use it.
But I respect Ryo-kun. *Famous speed-learning character
This video got kind of long, but I'll keep making videos like this.
And I'd like to introduce at least one tool that I think is useful or I've used in each video.
By the way,
my English teacher who said my aoten was only the second he'd seen in his life,
saw it the first time when he himself got it as a student.
But I won't say "If you study hard you'll become fluent in English!"
Actually, I'm where I am because I didn't study hard.
That might sound confusing, but I'll talk about it in my next video.
Thank you for watching.
Just kidding. Actually, I'm already married.
Ha ha ha, very funny.