At some point in your life, you decided to learn English. Was your decision like dipping your toe in the ocean to see if you liked it, or did you commit to a method to effectively learn English?
A casual approach is to subscribe to a phone app where you spend 10 minutes a day learning a few words and phrases from animated characters. You might remember some English but you never really become fluent. In fact, you feel a little disappointed every time you listen to long conversations in English because you only understand a few phrases and the English speakers seem to speak too fast.
There is another way. Begin by focusing on the sounds, mouth movements, facial expressions, and gestures of real people rather than on reading the words and translating. If your initial focus is to read a new language, you are in danger of applying the pronunciation rules of your first language to your new language. This develops a habit that takes time and energy to eliminate later on. If you practice mispronouncing words, they become fossilized errors and it truly is like breaking bones to change these habits. Bad habits increase the time it takes to learn a new language.
In the early days of learning a language, a private tutor who speaks the language like a native is a valuable investment. Also, look for youtube videos that feature a real person speaking slowly. Use the “gear” to slow the speed, and use the pause button to give yourself time to repeat what you hear. Repeat, repeat, repeat, and then take a break from intense focus, but don’t revert to speaking your first language. Instead, look for a simple story with pictures on Youtube
Slow the story with the gear and look at the pictures while the story is being told. Do not turn on the captions. Listen several times and then go back to the beginning. Play only two sentences of the story, pause the recording, and then try to repeat what you heard. Only play as much as you can remember and then take a break.
Seek opportunities to observe people speaking English on television and in public.
After two weeks of only watching, listening, and copying people speaking English, look at the words but always speak what you hear and don’t get into the habit of reading words with your first language pronunciation.
Keep a notebook where you write the sentences you speak. Gradually write the words of the story you are learning. Only write a few sentences a day. Read the sentences aloud to yourself, record yourself on your phone, and compare your speech to the speech you hear in the story.
Finally, use the following phrases to help you communicate with native speakers when you are trying to learn English:
Please slow down,
Please repeat.
I don’t understand.
Start your language-learning journey with effective habits and you will save time learning English.
—
Barb De Wit
