Learning English doesn’t have to be hard. It’s a lot of practice and repetition. You can ask any native speaker, they all did it! The best way to learn english is simply by doing it. That may sound simple, but I’ll get into more detail below.
How you want to learn english will decide how much effort you put into the process. If you are taking a class then that’s already making the decision for you, so congratulations! If not then it is your choice of how much effort to put in when learning english on your own. Personally, I think self-study is great if you’ve got time and patience, and if done right can be very effective in learning english quickly without spending too much money (if any). However sometimes classes are needed or preferred by students because they give instruction in a fun environment and with friends while also giving them structure which some people need compared to self study methods that could show up as more laidback depending on who teaches them (such as myself haha). But please don’t take this as criticism at all – I’m simply stating my opinion about how others like myself prefer to study. The learning tips below will be directed towards self-study, but if you’re enrolled in a class feel free to follow along!
How do you want to learn english? Start by deciding what your goals are. If you want to be able to watch movies without subtitles then your plan will need to be different than someone who wants full fluency. It’s always best if you can set a goal for yourself and stick with it, otherwise learning english is just random practice which won’t help anyone unless they’re very dedicated and know exactly what they’re doing. It’s usually best if you have a specific goal in mind – something that makes sense for the amount of time & effort that you can put into studying english on your own. I’ll share some tips below about how to start learning english with each possible goal in mind.
Let’s get started!
Decide how much time you want to spend on learning english. Pick out a chunk of time in your day and make it “English Time”. Be sure to set a timer and use that time only for learning english. Depending on how serious you are, this could be anywhere from 10 minutes up to several hours per day. If you don’t have the luxury of dedicated study times then at least try to pick out some times throughout the day where you can self-study in small chunks of 20-30 minutes. This is better than nothing, but not ideal for someone who really wants to learn english fast and efficiently. If possible, I would suggest spending at least an hour per day if possible – but it really depends on what your schedule looks like, so I won’t judge anyone who can’t do that (I have a busy schedule too!). My best advice is just try your best if you can fit it into your schedule!
Find lessons or classes that will teach you exactly what you need: This depends entirely on what kind of goal(s) you set for yourself above, but there are lots of resources online that are great places to start looking. If you are enrolled in a class then you’ve already got your answer! If not, then it’s up to you to decide what kind of environment works best for you. Try searching for some language learning sites online and see if any of them look like they’d fit your needs. I personally really enjoy the website rutracker.org because it has a lot of music lessons, which is my personal favorite way to enjoy learning english! But don’t feel like that’s the only way or that it doesn’t matter how you decide to study, because everyone learns differently – this is just what worked best for me personally.
Practice speaking english with someone: It can be another student who takes classes or even just one person – as long as they’re willing to help out by practicing with you! You may find lots of other people who want an english partner, so be sure to try different things until something works well and feels comfortable while also challenging yourself at times (but never making yourself uncomfortable!). The key here is that it should be fun and natural; otherwise there will be no point in doing it.
When learning english, you want to practice speaking it as well as reading & writing it. I can’t say this enough – you’ll never get anywhere with your english language skills unless you do all three! It’s a lot of hard work, but if you have the patience to stick with it then anyone can learn english.
I’d love to hear from you – please comment below and tell me about your experiences learning english!