Hello everyone. I'm George. Today let's talk about bad habits in English learning.
Here in Taiwan, many people want to learn English very well.
And that is also one of the reasons why you're here. Because you want to know if
you are learning English in the right way. Basically there is no exactly the
right way or exactly the wrong ways, but there are good habits and bad habits.
In the previous video we talked about a checklist of how you can learn a language.
If you want to watch the video, it's here. So in this video we are going
to talk about some bad habits that you might have if you are learning a language.
And again, because this is an English Channel I'm going to talk about
English language learning. I do have five points in this checklist
for you to see if you have these bad habits in your English learning process.
If you do, change them. If you don't, you are in the right route. And let's begin.
Bad habit number one. Always look for shortcuts. Here in Taiwan, many people are
trying to look for shortcuts. They don't believe in the accumulation of your
ability. Usually if you want to learn the language, you have to start when you are
very young. But if you're not, then Taiwanese people like to look for
shortcuts, or maybe not only Taiwanese people. Generally, everyone is looking for
a shortcut. I'm not saying having a shortcut is the wrong way.
I'm only saying if you don't want to spend that much time learning a language,
someday, it's going to backfire. For example, if you want to learn more
vocabulary, the best way for you to do it is to read a lot, to listen to a lot of
English materials, but what a lot of people do is to try to memorize with
their right brain. We've talked about that before. I don't think that is a very
good way. And some people want to learn to communicate with people, they would
try to memorize a lot of sentences without
really talking to a real person. There are many places for you to practice your
English, and there are many tips for you to help you with your English learning.
But the worst way of learning is to try to find shortcuts, try to get there
faster than other people. Think about it, if you can really learn English in a
really fast way, doesn't that mean that those who are spending so much time on
the language learning are wasting their time actually. So don't always look for
shortcuts. Step by step, you'll get there. And
let's move on to bad habit number two. Focus too much on accuracy.
For the accuracy in this part, I'm not talking about language teachers. I'm
talking about language learners. Of course, those teachers have to focus
on the accuracy on their pronunciation their intonation and their grammar. If
any teacher is telling you that accuracy is not important, that is to tell you as
a language learner, that is not the first priority. But for teachers, you have to be
really good at this. Or why else are you teaching? As a language learner, if the
reason why you're learning that language is because you want to communicate with
people. Then why would certain mispronunciation or mistakes in grammar
stop you. Here in Taiwan, many people don't want to speak up because they are
afraid if they make a mistake, people would laugh at you. But that is not true.
If you can accomplish the goal of communication, then why would people laugh
at you because of that? That is exactly what you shouldn't care that much about.
I'm not saying pronunciation is not important. I'm only saying if your goal
is just to express what you want to say, then just say it. You're not a teacher,
you are a language user. Use the language however you want, as long as you can
communicate. Again, this is not for the language teachers. Teachers should focus
more on their pronunciation, intonation, and grammar.
And let's move on to bad habit number three. Rely on limited sources.
In Taiwan, most students would go to cram schools. Of course they
also learn English from school. In school, you have your textbooks, you have your
magazines. They're thinking that I'm learning English from so many books and
from so many places. I am tired. That's enough. I don't want to look for any more
new sources. But you have to know, no one person or one book knows everything.
If you want to learn the language well, you have to try to learn all the time. You
have to try to learn from everywhere. There is never enough source. Whenever
you find a new one. Grab it. Hold on to it. Trust me. You're going to learn more if
it is not in your school text books or magazines that's been assigned to you.
There are TV shows. There are movies. There are radio programs. There are
English songs. There are so many different sources and there is this
YouTube channel, and hundreds or thousands of English learning YouTube
channels that you can learn English from. Don't limit yourself to one source or
even just a handful of sources. You should have unlimited sources. And
bad habit number four. Switch on and off all the time. For some reason, here in
Taiwan, students can just switch their learning mode on and off. For example
after school, if you see anything in English, you would just say. I'm out of
school. I don't want to learn anymore. But you have to know, a lot of times, when
you're learning. You don't even know that you are. If you can always switch on and
off. You're going to miss too much. Even if the material is not in the test, it is
still worth learning. Don't tell yourself this is not going to be tested on. This
is not taught at school, or I'm going to learn it later, and then you give up your
learning chance. You are always learning. You're supposed to, and you are. As a good
English learner, you should not switch your learning mode on and off.
And bad habit number five. Depend on your mother tongue too much.
I think in a lot of Asian countries, people try to learn English
through their mother tongue. I'm not saying it's totally wrong, but it will
compromise your pronunciation and the cognition of your language learning
process. If your mother tongue and your target language are intertwined too
much, it will affect the result of your language learning. Asian languages are
mostly very very different from English, in the composition of the language
itself, in the selling, in the pronunciation and the grammar. So if you
are learning English through your own mother tongue, for example in your
pronunciation, you will never be able to independently think in the target
language. The best way to learn a language is try to think in the target
language. Like here, if you're learning English, then try to think in English.
It takes some practice. It takes some time. But that is the only way. If you're
learning English through Chinese. It's never going to help. No matter what other
people are telling you. Trust me. So this is the checklist I provide this time for
bad language learning habits. Do you have any of them? The more you have, the
more worried you should be. Try to get rid of those bad habits, and enjoy your
language learning process. I believe you're going to get a lot of improvement.
If you like this video, click the like button down below. Or you can subscribe
to this channel. I'll see you next time. Bye.