Its summer and you have a little spare time — so what are some of the best ways to improve your English?
Be patient and go slowly
Learning a language is hard and the more impatient you are the harder it will be. So take a deep breath and tell yourself that you are not going to complete this within the next week, or month, no matter how hard you try. Read Everything Reading is the quickest way to improving your English. If a reading a book is too hard, pickup an English magazine and read bits and pieces , and try to read more. If you have a hobby — buy an English book related to your hobby. You will probably know quite a bit the book tells you already which makes reading it much easier. If you are on a budget — the Internet is a great place to start, here you can find anything about everything. Watch lots of movies No, I am not saying you should turn off the subtitles — but you should pay attention to what is being said on the screen. Most American movies have very simple dialogs and the plot is usually predictable but its all conversational English. Even better: On a DVD switch to English subtitles only. A long time ago I was good friends with the local video store owner, and at weekends we ended up watching more movies than was really healthy. It did however make me learn to understand everything that was being said. Try to speak English The best way to practice is by using your language, try and try to speak as much as possible. Don’t worry about sounding stupid, that is just unnecessary fear. Constant practice is how you can improve your pronunciation and sentence structure. Think in English The hardest part about learning a new language is that you have to constantly translate in your head. Try to practice making sentences in your head. This allows you to speed up the process, and maybe start thinking in English. Imagine that your earlier conversation with a friend would have been in English — how would it have sounded? Enroll for an English language course overseas Going abroad is a great way to have fun and learn English at the same time. Its being used around you everywhere — forcing you to pay attention. However, its going to be expensive, so its not for those on a budget. Have fun! Nothing is more difficult than doing something you hate — so if you are going to spend time learning English enjoying it is the first step to making sure you master it!Some more posts:
July 27th, 2008 at 6:51 am
I really liked your article, specifically when you tell people to think in English. People don’t realize how much we can learn just by trying to think in a different language. We are with our minds all the time, so why not think in a different language to improve! Love it!
September 17th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Also…if you would like some help learning English…visit my website at http://www.helping-you-learn-english.com
Happy learning
Diana Tower