Seven Secrets to Learn English

Posted by Nafis

Learning English has been one of the most difficult tasks I have ever done in my life. What makes it so challenging is you have to be persistent, self-motivated and self-disciplined. In my opinion, persistence is the most important and vital factor for learning English because only by practicing, perfection can be acquired. And practicing is nothing than doing one task regularly until got it right. In addition to that, during my English studies, I either had some personal experiences or learned from various teachers how to learn English effectively which I indicate them as follows:

1- Be persistent. If you are exhausted of making mistakes all the time, take a rest. Quitting cannot solve your problem. Just take a rest and refresh your mind. Do whatever you love and then come back to your studies. After all, you should have fun.

2- To have positive attitude. Learning English is a long endless process, and learning is possible only if you have a positive attitude. Reminding yourself of the time you can write or speak very fluently brings back the positive energy to the mind. When I am disappointed, I have some special mantra such as “I am getting closer to my goal every day by doing small steps”, “Never ever give up”, “English is as easy or as difficult as I think”, “I do my best, mother nature will do the rest”, “Enjoy the learning process not thinking of the outcome.” This helps me to get back on the track and be motivated again.

3- To have fun. If you have fun with what you are doing, you will never become disappointed or frustrated. The fun in English helps you to learn more effectively and be hungry to learn more. Then, learning English will be the joy of your life not a boring task to do every day. I like reading spiritual books. This not only helps me to learn vocabularies in the context but also helps me to learn about spirituality. In other words, you kill two birds with one stone. So, have fun with English.

4-Learn everything deeply. I learned this from one of my English teacher and it was so effective for me. Choose one dialogue about the subject you like and listen to it as much as you can for about two weeks. This way you can learn vocabularies deeply without struggling to memorize them. Watch your favourite movies as much as you can. Sing along with your beloved songs. After a while, repeating results in deep learning of English. This enables you to use English words and sentences effortlessly in your daily life. As a result, you can communicate easily with people around you and the better you can communicate, the more you are passionate about learning. So, learn everything deeply.

5-Think in English. Many English teachers say, “Think in English.” However, what does it mean really? It means that if you listen to English materials or read magazines and books, you will be familiarized with English structures and you can use them while speaking or writing. This means “Think in English.”

6- The real secret is only to practice, practice and practice. Practice makes perfect. If you want to be fluent in speaking, speak or write as much as you can. You can apply the same method for reading and listening. The more you read and listen, the better you become.

7-Less is much. Studying English for about 30 minutes every day is more effective than studying for three hours in one day. Listening to one conversation deeply may help you more than listening to many conversations without concentration and attention. So, do not overwhelm yourself with too much works rather studying less English materials but more deeply and effectively.

Lastly, for me, learning English has not been limited only to learning rules and grammars. It changed my life in many different ways, for example, I had to overcome fear of making mistakes, fear of looking foolish, fear of not knowing and fear of exams. I had to work on my self-esteem and confidence. I have relatively acquired the knowledge of self-growth in addition to learning English itself. Now, I understand so well the meaning of this quote of Martin Buber who said, “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.”

Source: http://my.englishclub.com/profiles/blogs/writing-challenge-25-seven