Unfortunately, there is not just one strategy for learning English that is both effective and efficient. Why not? Quite simply because everyone ticks differently, and everyone has to find their own method that suits them best. For example, some people learn best by reading. For some people, just listening is enough, and for others, it is even necessary to write down what they have learned in order to understand and remember it.
We have therefore put together various options that can help you to improve your English. You alone decide which method is the right one for you.
The best tips for learning English:
Find out your level
Try to find out your language level right at the beginning, because then you will know best where to start learning. It would be a waste of time to start from scratch if, for example, your grammar is perfect and your vocabulary and pronunciation are lacking.
Integrate English into your everyday life
Try to surround yourself with the English language for most of your day. Read English books, watch films and series in English, listen to music, podcasts, and audiobooks in English.
Learning with an app
The practical thing about learning English with an app is that you have it with you everywhere and can learn anytime with your mobile phone. Learning with an app is much more fun than with a textbook.
Regular practice
When learning any language, the basic rule is – practice, practice, practice! Learning regular vocabulary and grammar, but also practicing writing and listening, and improving pronunciation is simply part of it.
Language course
There are many tutors that would be pleased to assist you in learning English. Whether as a face-to-face or online course, group or individual lessons.
Learn English the simple way with these helpful hints
Begin to speak as soon as you can
Regular talks with English-speaking people are fairly much the only method to learn English rapidly if you’re serious about it. You’ll be able to speak with confidence sooner if you can conquer the psychological issue of employing your language abilities out loud.
A University of Michigan study published in 2016 showed that students who learn a language by engaging in conversations over a webcam achieve results much faster than those who use traditional methods. The scientists followed two groups of learners as they began to learn a new language:
The first group learned through grammar and vocabulary activities; The second group learned through speech and video technology.
At 12 weeks, it was discovered that Group A had made no meaningful progress, whereas Group B had made tremendous progress. Participants had a larger vocabulary, performed better on listening comprehension, could use grammar better and were able to speak more confidently.
Luckily, even if you’re learning English from home, finding someone to practice speaking with has never been easier. There are thousands of expert via webcam. You can easily narrow your search to teachers that fit your budget.
Start reading
Finding English reading material and quickly looking up unfamiliar words in Google Translate or an online dictionary has never been easier. You can try the following:
- Read easy-to-digest celebrity gossip on blogs
- Read an English translation of literature you already love and know in your home tongue
- Switch your browser to English to get search results in English by default
- Follow more American/British/Australian public figures on Twitter or Instagram
Stick to your resolutions
Regular practice has to become a routine if you would like to learn English easily and effectively. However, anticipating that you will devote additional time to language education is pointless. You must find a plan to make sure that you continue to practice even when life interferes.
If you find it easy to stick to a routine, setting a reminder or an alarm on your phone can be enough to study at the same time every day. But for most of us, it’s much easier to stay motivated into a new habit when someone else is counting on us.
If you want to seek an instructor, the wisest choice is to watch videos from various people before signing up for a class. Find someone you think you might get along with. For example, someone with similar interests or life experiences as you. When you have a wonderful teacher cheering you on, it’s easy to stick to your language learning goals.
Alternatively, you can try to find a study partner.
Set more specific goals
There is so much emphasis in the language learning community on “being fluent,” but if you’re just taking your first steps in a new language, that probably isn’t the best goal.
The emphasis on fluency implies that English learning has a limit, a threshold that is never reached. In actuality, everyone who speaks a language is always learning something new. According to studies, most adults learn an extra word in their mother tongue every day, even as they approach middle age.
When you develop goals that are specific to your situation, you will make the most progress. The most effective goals enable you to monitor your development in connection to your own life. They are specific, quantifiable, reachable, timely, and relevant. Here are a few excellent examples:
- I want to be able to communicate with my business colleagues in English and send them brief emails without the use of a dictionary within six months.
- In three months, I’d like to be able to strike up a conversation with fluent English speakers about popular themes (tourism, weather, sports, etc.).
- After studying English online for nine months, I want to get 100 points on the TOEFL exam so I can apply and be accepted at Columbia University.
Keep in mind your specific objective
There is no easy fix: learning English rapidly necessitates a significant amount of effort. To keep going, you need to have a real motivation that keeps you going.
Once you have identified a goal, you can ensure that all your efforts bring you closer to that goal. People learning English in order to obtain a degree from an English-speaking institution may concentrate on certain words and phrases that are pertinent to their studies. You should concentrate on terms and phrases that are important to the workplace when learning English for work. Many people also want to learn a language for someone important in their life and focus on informal language.
Setting specific goals saves you from the mistake of following a textbook that encourages you to learn the content you won’t be needing for the foreseeable future. Don’t spend hours memorizing vocabulary for all animal species if it won’t help you present at the board meeting.
Working with a tutor has another advantage. You can talk about your particular goals for learning English and come up with a study plan that is unique to you. This way, you will learn the required vocabulary much faster.
Recognize complete sentences
This method is referred to as “sentence mining” by linguists. If you search the internet for “sentence mining,” you’ll find an enthusiastic online community that swears it’s the fastest way to learn English at home.
Certainly, memorizing full sentences can assist in learning words in context and demonstrating how their meaning changes slightly in different situations.
This technique works especially well if you study with a nice teacher. Request that your teacher assists you in forming phrases that are applicable to your specific learning objectives.
Conclusion
As you may have guessed, the best way to learn English quickly is with practice. Remember, all people who are good at something have spent a lot of time not being able to do the same thing at all. We’re big fans of learning to love mistakes and embracing them as part of the learning process.
How do you make learning a breeze? Integrate the English language into your daily life and find ways to enjoy the process. Switching your smartphone to English subscribing to a fun ESL YouTuber all don’t feel as difficult as working through a language textbook, but they are all ways to master everyday English skills.