The first step is...
Hi guys, welcome back to English with Max. In this video I'm going to show you
three steps to help you stop making mistakes in English. Or at least
significantly reduce the number of mistakes you make.
If you get annoyed with yourself, because you keep making the same mistakes, this
will probably help you. I'll warn you, though. This isn't a magic formula.
It isn't something like: just say this sentence every night before you go to
bed and you will never make mistakes again. No, it does require a little bit of
work, but not a lot of work, okay? The steps I'm going to show you are also
very concrete. I'm not just going to say, "Change your mindset." Because I know
that's very complex. And these are actually things that I did when I was
learning languages. I've tried these things.
I also want to say that mistakes are not a bad thing.
Mistakes help us learn, and the fear of making mistakes should not stop you from
writing or speaking. And at the end of the day the most important thing is
communication. However, if you sit an English exam, normally it's better if you
don't make lots of mistakes. And if you're in an academic or professional
environment, normally people take you a bit more seriously if you don't make too
many mistakes. I know that sounds superficial, but usually it's true.
From my own experience learning languages, I also know how frustrating it can be
when you keep making the same mistakes.
Okay, so let's get to it.
The first step is to pay attention. What do I mean by that? Firstly, if someone
like your English teacher corrects you, pay attention to it.
Don't just say, "Ah yep, okay," and keep on talking. Think about it a bit. Or if it's
a written correction, think about why it's correct, or why you made that mistake.
I know that might sound very simple, but lots of students don't do it.
If you don't have somebody to correct you, then you can simply pay attention to
English constructions when you listen to English and read English. Obviously you
shouldn't do this all the time, because you'll just drive yourself crazy.
But sometimes it's a good idea to, for example, pay attention to the differences
between your native language and English. For example, and this is a very simple
example, in English we don't say, "I have cold," like you do, for example, in French
and Spanish. (J'ai froid. Tengo frío.) In English we say, "I am cold."
And pay attention to little things like prepositions. In English we say,
"It depends on the weather." We don't say: "It depends of the weather."
It's always "on" after "depend". It might be the equivalent of "of" in your language,
but in English, it's always "depend on". I know some people say that you shouldn't
translate too much, or make comparisons with your own language when you learn a
foreign language, but lots of people use translation. I sometimes watch videos by
polyglots on YouTube, and some of these people speak more than 10 languages.
Admittedly, some of them are better than others, but in any case, several of them
use some form of translation in their learning. It can be very effective if you
do it right, and it also depends on the person. So please don't think that
translation is always bad.
Okay, step number two: write it down.
If someone corrects you, or if you realise that something is different in English and it
might cause you to make a mistake, maybe it's a false friend or a specific construction,
write it down. Again, I know that sounds really simple, but lots of
people don't do it. If you don't write something down, it's just very easy to
forget. You could have a separate note book specifically for mistakes and
difficult constructions, or you could write them in your vocabulary journal,
or you could keep a list on your phone. I've actually prepared an example for you.
Here I'm pretending that I'm a Spanish speaker and this is just my
vocabulary journal. So I have some vocabulary here, and here I have the
correct sentence. Here's the translation and that's the incorrect sentence.
Or you could just write the correct sentence without the translation,
but here I've written what is incorrect.
So the correct sentence is: "I arrived in Sydney last year." It is not: "I arrived to Sydney."
Step number three is: revise.
Now what do I mean by revise? I don't mean: just have a look at it occasionally.
When you revise, you should actually read the words - read the sentences - out loud
(the correct sentences and phrases). Say them, as well as read them. If you say them
out loud, you hear them and that just reinforces it. And don't whisper, okay?
Actually say them. For example: I'm cold. I'm cold.
I arrived in Sydney last year. I arrived in Sydney last year.
You don't need to do this every day, but try to do it a few times a week.
So a few times a week, have a look at your book or your phone
and say some of these sentences out loud.
If you follow all these steps, or even just one or two of them, I can guarantee you
that you will start to reduce the number of mistakes you make. I hope you found
this video useful. If you did, please hit the thumbs up to let me know, share it
with your friends, and feel free to leave a comment down below.
Oh and hit the red subscribe button and the little bell if you want to be
updated on new videos. Bye, guys.
Bird...
And free... frefrefree.
There are always birds making noise when I film.
How dare they?
(phone rings)