Is it possible to independently learn a foreign language. Can I learn English on my own? How to organize effective lessons yourself

Too many people begin to learn a language on their own. But only a few really learn English and can speak it. The rest drop out or fail to achieve results.

In the article I will tell the whole truth about self-study of the English language.

From the article you will learn:

In what cases is it better to learn English on your own;
Difficulties you will encounter;
5 tips on how to make self-study more effective;
3 steps for independent study of grammar.

To begin, let's see when it is better to learn English on your own, and when not worth it.

When is it better to learn English on your own?

All people studying English can be divided into 2 categories:

1. People who do not have a clear goal

For example, a person thinks "everyone needs English." Therefore, he begins to learn the language. However, he does not see how he can improve his life with the help of English.

Or a person likes England, he likes English, he wants to watch TV shows in English, goes abroad to rest. He learns the language for his own pleasure as a hobby. But English is not vital to him.

2. People with a clear goal

Others begin to learn English, as they need it for a specific purpose. Let's look at a few examples.

The programmer wants to find a new job with a higher salary. He knows that he needs to know English at a certain level in order to be interviewed in six months for a good position in an international company.

A student is going to go to study abroad. By the end of the year, he needs to know English in order to pass the entrance exams.

A traveler blogger who travels abroad and describes beautiful and interesting places on his blog. He needs English to communicate with local residents, to find new places, to feel comfortable abroad. He is faced with English all the time. He vitally needs to know him.

When is self-study suitable?

I think you have already noticed the difference between the two categories.

In the second category, people know how English will change their lives. These people usually learn English faster, because they need to achieve results in order to achieve the goal. They have no other choice.

Therefore, they are ready to invest time and money in English. If they want a quick result, then they go to courses.

The first category of people is learning English as a hobby or "in reserve." People think that in the future they may need language, but they don’t see how they could change their lives with the help of English right now.

Therefore, they are not ready to spend time and money studying it. Most often they learn the language on their own.

No matter how you learn English (on your own, in courses, with a teacher), you need to put a clear targetfor which you need a language, and move towards it.

Learning a language yourself is much slower than learning in courses or with a teacher. Here your desire to learn a language and the pursuit of your goal plays a very important role.

If you decide to learn English yourself, you need to know the problems that you will encounter. This will help you immediately think about ways to solve them.

Let's look at the main ones.

What do you have to face with self-study?

I promised to write you the whole truth.

Therefore, I honestly answer the most popular question: “Can I learn English on my own?” Can!

but daily tens of thousands of people begin to learn English on their own, but only a few get results. Why?

Learning a language yourself is a very hard job.

If you want to get results and learn to speak the language, you can’t treat learning English as a hobby. it work, which requires you to self-discipline, investment and time.

Let's see what problems people usually face when learning independently:

1. You will have to change your life

These are not just words. When you start learning English, you should be prepared to devote a lot of time to this. Self-study, as well as classes with a teacher / in courses, requires an investment of time.

To get the result, you will have to study the language every day, at least 1-2 hours (unless, of course, you want to learn English).

Therefore, you will have to reconsider your habits and the usual rhythm of life in order to find time for English classes.

2. Maintain discipline and motivation

Inserting 1-2 hours into your schedule for language learning is one thing, but sticking to this schedule is another. When you study on your own, you easily postpone classes.

For example, guests came to you and you decided that there would be nothing wrong if you did not exercise one day.

So gradually it becomes a habit, and you begin to engage only when it is convenient for you. Time after time, the time for classes is decreasing and decreasing. And the longer your training is stretched, the weaker the motivation for learning a language becomes.

3. You’ll have to understand the material yourself

You'll have to to spend lots of time toto understand all the rules of the English language yourself. And also to find the right material.

There will not be a teacher nearby who will answer your question and explain the misunderstood material. You yourself will look for answers to all your questions.

4. No one will correct your mistakes

Of course, when learning English, everyone makes mistakes: someone does not pronounce the sound correctly, someone forgets to add an ending, someone uses the word incorrectly, etc. Mistakes are OK.

However, it is very important to correct these errors in time and get rid of them. Otherwise, you risk getting used to it and constantly making the same mistake.

With self-study, correcting mistakes is not easy. Since there is no one nearby who will point you to them and tell you how to do it right.

5. No one to practice speaking skills

The most common problem with self-study is lack of conversational practice. In most cases, this is due to the fact that people simply have no one to train their speech with.

Therefore, usually with independent study, people read, watch movies, listen to audio, understand the rules, but do not speak in the classroom. But without conversational practice, you cannot speak the language.

How to be?

As you can see, learning English yourself is not easy. Therefore, so many people starting a study very quickly drop it, not reaching the finish line. If you are determined to learn English on your own, I want to give some tips on how to make independent language learning more effective.

5 tips for learning English yourself

These tips will help you do it much more efficiently and easily than those people who do not know them.

To make your learning effective you need:

1. Create a training program

This is one of the most important steps that you will have to face at the very beginning of learning a language. Because you will move on this programduring his training.

You can’t learn topics the way you want: today past simple, tomorrow present perfect, and the day after tomorrow future continuous. If you do this, you will get confused very quickly and stop understanding anything.

It is especially important to have the right training program if you start learning the language from scratch.

How to make a program?

In the right training program, material should be given gradually: from simple to complex. In this article, we have given you the correct structure for studying times. It should be at the core of your program.

2. Schedule

After you have compiled or taken the finished program, you need to distribute it in your schedule. It’s best to break all the topics into lessons for each day.

Do not overload the lesson with grammar. It is much more useful to parse 2 rules per lesson and learn to use them in your speech (to make sentences) than to learn 10 rules and not be able to apply them.

Do not forget that the lesson should include not only grammar rules, but also lists of new words.

Be sure to adhere to the schedule and do not miss / do not postpone classes. Otherwise, it will become a habit for you.

3. Include days in your schedule for repeat material

Many do not do this, so they quickly forget the material.

New material will be gradually forgotten. Therefore, it is very important to repeat it. Select individual days to repeat the material. Repeat the material you complete every 4-6 lessons.

4. Evaluate your learning outcomes

Remember: the result of each lesson should be visible immediately. No need to wait six months, a year to get it.

Passing the tests will not only show your progress, but will help you understand what topic you have gaps in. This will help you immediately correct your mistakes and get rid of them.

I must say right away that I do not mean tests for choosing the right answer, they are useless. Since they do not show a person’s real knowledge of any topic.

In the correct tests, you will need to write yourself, translate yourself, etc. We talked about the correct tests in detail.

5. Train all 4 skills

Usually, when studying English independently, people read a lot, write, watch, listen, etc., but don’t speak.

No conversational practice. it the main mistake in learning a language. After all, with such training, a person will not be able to speak. We talked in detail about this error.

Be sure to include your conversational skill training in your classes. Even if you don’t have anyone to talk to, then speak to yourself.

Below I will give you 3 steps that will allow you to immediately train your conversational skill in learning the rules.

3 steps to learn English grammar

Most people learn the rules incorrectly, so they are quickly forgotten. As a result, they quit training.

Below I will give you step-by-step instructions that will allow you to learn how to use the rule that you are learning right away. Let's look at the diagram:

Please note: this scheme is used every lesson. When learning a rule, the steps should follow each other.

So, let's take a look at each of the steps in the study. the verb to be.

Step 1: Understand when to apply and how to build a proposal

For example, you learn the verb to be in the present tense. At this point, you parse the rule itself.

Step result: You need to understand by ear the sentences with the studied grammar.

Important: Each lesson you have to be built on this principle. Learn the rule by following these steps and your training will be much more effective.

Output

You can learn English on your own. The main thing is that you have a clear goal. In any case, it will require perseverance, discipline, motivation, strength, energy and time. However, if you have the time and desire, you can do it.

If you want to learn English English faster and with less effort, then I advise you to go for it.

TheQuestion Partner Response

Learning any foreign language on your own is not an easy task. First of all, it is important to understand why you need a language.

Maybe you need English for travel?
Or do you need business English to get your dream job?
Or just raise the level for assessment at the university?

That is, first you need to determine the goal, and then the tools that are suitable for achieving it.

The first one.
If you are new to English, it would be nice to imagine how words are read. That is, item number 1 - the rules for reading words. Read and repeat the words out loud, including drawing on examples from movies, TV shows, or songs. Excerpts from them can be found, for example, in the section. By repeating all this regularly, you will train both pronunciation and listening.

The second is the formation of a personal dictionary.
There is no need to memorize all the words from the vocabulary from A to Z. As a rule, it all starts with common topics and simple words. Remember what words you most often use in everyday life, determine the circle of topics that interest you. It is convenient to use an electronic dictionary, especially one that works offline. That is, if you are learning English for travel, start learning the vocabulary you will need on your trip.

To successfully apply your vocabulary, you need to understand how words are combined with each other, how to express this or that thought correctly. Of course, we are talking about grammar.
A bunch of rules and more exceptions. But without her, nowhere. There are many tutorials to help you learn the rules. If you don’t like textbooks, you can always choose a convenient online resource for yourself. We advise you to choose a course with the possibility of feedback. This will give you the opportunity to quickly receive answers to questions arising in the learning process. And there will definitely be a lot of them.

So, a certain base is available. What's next?
And then, so that the language does not remain just a passive baggage, you need to speak it. And to talk, you need an interlocutor. And for communication to succeed, you need to understand the interlocutor. Two other important components in language learning are speaking and listening, which, as a rule, cause the greatest difficulty.

You need to get used to the sound of foreign speech. Do not rush to immediately watch movies in the original, focus on your level. The ideal way out is to find a resource that will offer you video of different levels, it’s very good if it is a video with subtitles. Sing the songs. It is proved that this is a very effective way to train speech and hearing right away.
And finally, speaking. Who to talk to? You can train with others, you can talk to yourself. But what to do with inevitable mistakes and a bunch of questions. To develop language skills, you will most likely need not just an interlocutor, but a competent interlocutor who will correct your speech.

So, the goal is set, the means are selected. It remains to understand how to motivate yourself and not leave everything halfway.

First, make sure your goal is real and tailored to your needs. Start with the basics, do not try to grasp the immensity and learn everything at once. Go from easy to hard. But do not set yourself very easy tasks, otherwise you will stagnate. Learning should be a little hard, but still possible to succeed. So you will receive joy from your achievements, and not disappointment that you again failed or did not understand.

Choose the appropriate teaching method for you.

Do not part with the phone? Install the appropriate application, since the choice is rich now.
Do you like to read? Read books. Of course, Shakespeare in the original is not immediately defeated. But it is quite possible to choose adapted literature in accordance with your level.
Listen to music, watch movies.
Learning a language is not boring cramming, but a process from which you can enjoy.

Yes, and quite easily. Especially with modern progress. Already managed to teach many of his friends, with the help of only three things:

1. Watch the TV show “Polyglot” with Dmitry Petrov. 16 issues of 40 minutes each, aired on the Kultura TV channel. As a language base - more than enough.
2. Register in the LinguaLeo service and install the extension for your browser, which will facilitate reading web pages in English. With a double click on an unfamiliar word, you can immediately see its translation.
3. Register with DuoLingo. Simple exercises will help to pump your skills at any level of language proficiency. There is both a web version and a mobile application.

Well, go ahead! The more you devote all this time (reading, exercises and a little cramming) - the higher you raise your level. Of course, you won’t master professionally (just as you do not speak Russian now, at the level of a philologist) - this requires specialized education. But you can freely master the language at a conversational level sufficient to read articles, watch movies and communicate - you can easily! And if you want to own a professional, then you will go to courses later. Even in order to work as a translator, certificates are required, for which you need to undergo special training courses. So, this is another plus in favor of self-study. All this is just a myth that you can be made a professional and a translator at the institute, and even less so at school :)

Hmmm. In general, the question is good. Personally, when I watched this TV show, I already knew English. Perhaps, of course, therefore, but just to me it seemed as clear and concise as possible. Then I will advise you to immediately go to the exercises in DuoLingo. There I studied languages \u200b\u200bin which I did not have any knowledge of grammar. Only through perseverance and regular practice, she later came with experience. Try it and you.

Of course, if you need language at a basic level (for travel, for example), then yes, 16 hours of "Polyglot" may be enough. But certainly not in order to study the language professionally, because in this case you can’t leave the basic vocabulary. There are a lot of grammatical aspects, even in the same English, not to mention more complicated languages, without knowing which you can’t master Shakespeare, and you won’t even read the usual article on the site.

As for the language learning on its own, then everything depends on your willpower. But still, I would recommend using outside help. The main thing is that the assistant is competent, so that you should not waste time wasting the same thing as at school

Starting to learn a language is the main problem of many. Everyone wants to know the language, constantly postponing learning, coming up with excuses or just not doing anything for it.

Learn the language at least 30 minutes a day - this is only 2% of your day, but even these 2% will greatly increase your level of knowledge in a year. I came up with a rule for myself: learn 5 new words a day. 5 words per day is 150 words per month and 1800 words per year. For daily communication on everyday topics, a person needs approximately 2,000 words, i.e. you need to follow this rule a little over a year. Of course, you still need to know the minimum grammar and the rules for constructing sentences. For this I can advise a good site: everything is detailed and clear, very nice design, I often work on it myself. In addition, use the language in everyday life. For example, walking along the street, try to mentally call in English, objects that you meet. If you don’t know something, then add to the list of words that you need to learn. Of course, to learn the language you need conversational practice. Communicate constantly in English on trips, practice the language with friends, relatives or make a friend by correspondence, communication with a native speaker is unrealistically effective. There is also a good way to increase the level of pronunciation and understanding: to revise in English the series / films that you have already seen. At first it is possible with Russian subtitles, then with English or without them at all.

Incredible facts

1. How to start speaking the right language today;

2. How to master fluent speech and succeed in this matter in just a few months;

3. How easy it is to impersonate a native speaker of the language being studied;

In this case, more than ever, the use of pareto principle which states that 20 percent of the effort put into developing a new dictionary will help you understand 80 percent of what you hear.

For example, in English, as in many others, 65 percent of any text consists on average of 300 repeating words. Such a set of words exists in almost any language, and often native speakers use it.

Language Learning Cards

It costs you nothing to find pre-prepared cards with this set of the most frequently used words (or with words on topics that you plan to communicate).

For example, an application can help you with this. Anki , which can be easily downloaded both to a smartphone and to a computer.

This application is convenient work with cards, the functioning mechanism of which is combined with the repetition system after a certain period of time.

That is, instead of trying to remember words using the dictionary, and repeating them in the same order, the user can view them at predetermined time intervals, specially selected so as not to forget the learned words.

Many people like to make cards on their own.

How to quickly learn a language

2) Your friends in a new language are related words

Believe it or not, but even now, when you are just planning to start learning a new language, you already have a huge database of words at your disposal.

You know a few words from each language even before you start learning it.

In other words, a person does not start learning a language from scratch because he already knows enough related words.

Related words - this is what you need at the initial stage, because they are - best friends wordssimilar in sound to words from your own language and meaning the same in a foreign language.

For example, the languages \u200b\u200bof the Romance group have a lot in common. That is why many words from the English language are so similar to French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, etc.

During the conquest of England, which lasted several hundred years, the English borrowed many words from the Normans.

Number of borrowed words in languages

For example, " action "," nation "," precipitation "," solution "," frustration "," tradition "," communication "," extinction ", as well as a huge number of other words that end in –tion are also written in French, but you get used to a slightly different pronunciation.

It is only necessary to change –tion to –cion, and it is already Spanish, to –zione - Italian, to –ção - Portuguese.

Many languages \u200b\u200bshare common Greek, Latin, or other roots. They may be written different from each other, but you will have to try very hard not to recognize, for example, "exemple", "hélicoptère" (French), "porto", "capitano" (Italian), "astronomía", " Saturno "(Spanish).

The German language has gone a bit ahead, it shares a fairly large number of words with Old English.

To find common words in the studied foreign language, you just need to set the search conditions - "related words (or borrowing) x (x is the name of the language)." So you will find those words that have been borrowed.

Of course, look for more "x (x is the name of the language) words in the native language." So you know that took your language from a foreign.

This system works very well when learning European languages, but what about things when it comes to more distant language families?

It turns out that even so distant languages \u200b\u200blike Japanese have a lot of words that are familiar to a native speaker of English.

To prove this, just watch the video below, the song in which is “sung” in Japanese, but a person who knows English will still understand much of what is sung in it.

And all because a fairly large number of languages borrowed words from the English, adding them to their own, only changing the stress or pronunciation.

Therefore, in order to greatly facilitate the process of learning a new language, it should begin with an analysis of borrowed or related words in a foreign language. In almost any language pair, there are quite a lot of them.

How to learn a language yourself

3. You need to communicate every day in a foreign language, and for this you do not have to travel at all

This is another reason (or reason) voiced by people, explaining their reluctance to learn languages. Allegedly, they have neither money nor time to travel to the country of the language they are learning.

It is important to note that in the air of a foreign language country there is absolutely nothing that will make you speak magically in a new language.

There are many examples to demonstrate this. For example, the author of this article, the famous polyglot Benny Lewis, whose native language is English, during life in Brazil, learned the Arabic language.

But there are people who live for many years abroad and do not even try to master the local language. Life abroad and immersion in the language - these are not equivalent concepts.

If a person needs to hear and use the language in order to become saturated with them, will communication over the Internet not be as effective?

The answer is unequivocal - it will be. Today's technologies allow you to easily immerse yourself in a foreign language without spending money on buying a ticket.

How to learn a language easily

For, to develop audio practice, it’s worth looking, for example, withYoutube that is now in trend in a native speaker.

On Amazon or Ebay You can purchase your favorite TV shows or movies with dubbing in the right language.

Various news sources offer on their Internet resources many videos translated into various languages. You can refer to, for example, France24, Deutsche Welle, CNN Español and to others.

To practice reading, you should read not only news sites, but also interesting blogs and other popular sites of the country you are learning the language.

In order to achieve complete immersion in the language, you can, using the Chrome browser, download special pluginsto help you translate any page into the desired language.

Language Learning Methods

4. Start talking on Skype today to learn your daily practice.

You are already watching, listening, reading, and perhaps even writing in the language you are learning. You do all this without leaving the walls of your home. It's time to take a new step - speak live with a person - a native speaker of the desired language.

This advice is, according to the author, the most controversial, but, nevertheless, it always gives it to beginners. It is necessary to start speaking the language from the very first day of study, if your goal is to be able to speak, and not exclusively understand.

Language Learning Communication

A lot of different language programs and courses do not work on such a system, and this is their biggest mistake. There are only seven days in a week, and among them there is not one that would be called "one fine day."

Use the tips above to work out the basic vocabulary and understand what words you already remembered. This should be done within a few hours.

After that, you should be ready to talk with a person who speaks the language you are learning all his life. You need to learn the words just for the first conversation.

If you start using them right away, then you can immediately understand what you are missing and start gradually adding what you need. You cannot and should not learn the language in isolation, trying to "prepare" for communication.

For the first conversation, it’s better to learn words like "hello," "thank you," "I don't understand," "could you please repeat," etc. You can find many of them with a special list.

This begs the question, where exactly can you find a native speaker if you are not in the right country?

Today it’s not a problem because thousands of native speakers are already waiting for a conversation with you.You can take private lessons from such people who leave their contact details on special resources.

For example, one of such multifaceted resources is italki.com. Here everyone will find something in their pocket.

If you feel that you are not yet ready for Skype conversations, then think about this: the faster you start talking, the easier it will be to go to your goal. You can always keep a window open during a conversation where the necessary words are already loaded.

First you will peek into this window until you finally remember the vocabulary. You can even use the dictionary to talk during a conversation new words as you need them.

It may seem to some that this is a hoax. But in fact, this is not so, because you have a goal - to learn the language, and not to imitate the obsolete teaching methods.

How to learn a language for free

5. Remember that the best resources are not worth the money. Save your money

There is no point throwing hundreds of dollars to learn a foreign language. It is only relevant to pay for your communication with a native speaker of the desired language.

The Internet is full of various sources, which, in addition to being wonderful, are also free. Moreover, they are constantly improving.

Foreign language learning sites

A great example is Duolingo . The resource provides an excellent selection of European languages, the list of which is constantly updated.

Here is a lot of information that will help you begin to learn the language without spending a dime. Here are some other very interesting alternatives:

If you search, in fact, you will see that there are a lot of options for free resources, so it’s best to test a few and choose the one that suits you.

For example, the aforementioned Italki is excellent database of language exchange and lessons, however, no less interesting will be My language exchange , and Interpals .

You can also work offline, find or create language meetings in your city, or head to a meeting Couchsurfing, Meetup.com, Internations.

Such meetings are a great opportunity to get acquainted with native speakers and international enthusiasts.

But that is not all. You can improve your language skills absolutely free with the help of a huge database. Here you will hear any word or expression in different languages, and everything is recorded by native speakers. This is a resource - Forvo .

Moreover, you can check your written text for errors with the help of Lang 8 . In other words, for free practice, opportunities know no bounds.

6. Adults are actually much better at learning languages \u200b\u200bthan children.

Now that you have a ton of sources and resources at your disposal, you can begin to tackle one of the most important issues. This does not apply to grammar, nor the lack of literature, nor the volume of vocabulary.

It's about your negative attitude to your own potential.

There is a very common misconception in our society that often forces us to give up: " i’m too many years old to learn a new language and speak it fluently. "

However, a recent study confirmed that, compared with children, adults can be much more effective and more productive in language learning.

The study was conducted by scientists from the University of Haifa. Experts were able to demonstrate that under certain circumstances an adult understood intuitively the grammar of a foreign language much better than a child.

In addition, studies have never been conducted that have analyzed the relationship between increasing age and a decrease in language learning abilities.

There is only a general trend regarding adult learning of foreign languages, which is more dependent on external factors (for example, limited time due to work activities).

And creating an immersion environment is very easy, without spending money on travel and without the need to return to childhood.

Free language learning online

7. Do not forget to replenish your mnemonic vocabulary

It is important to remember that cramming is not enough at all. Of course, with endless repetitions, the word sometimes just eats into memory, and remains there forever.

But sometimes it happens that a word or phrase repeated more than a dozen times just flies out of memory.

Try using a technique such as mnemonics. It will help vocabulary stick to your memory much faster and be remembered for a long time.

You must tell yourself aloud some short, funny, and most importantly, memorable story that you associate with a certain word.

Someone might think that this will only greatly increase the time to learn the language, however, if you try once, you will understandhow effective it is. Moreover, you will need to recall only a few times the association, and then the word will become an integral part of your dictionary.

Learning a language: where to start?

8. Accept your mistakes

More than half of all the inhabitants of our planet speak several languages. This suggests that monolingualism is a cultural consequence, not a biological one.

Therefore, when an adult cannot learn a language, the point is not that he does not have the necessary genes. All due to the fact that broken his language acquisition system.

Standard language learning methods are basically based on an approach that has not changed since Charles Dickenson studied Latin.

Differences between your native language and the target language are presented. vocabulary and grammar for memorization.The traditional approach: learn everything and you will know the language. Logic is traceable, right?

However, the whole problem is that you can never really “learn” a language, because it is not something that you can know or not know. This is a means of communication between people.

Language cannot be learned with cramming, it must be used.

At the very beginning of the way of learning a language, the emphasis should be on communication, and not on honing details. This is what key difference.

Of course, you have the right to learn the language until you can say in one breath: "I apologize dear sir, will you be so kind as to point me to the location of the nearest restroom?", But the usual "Where is the toilet?" carries the same semantic load, but without unnecessary words.

You will probably be forgiven for such immediacy, because they will see that you are learning. Do not worry about the fact that you can offend native speakers because your “audacity” allowed you to speak with them in their native language.

The best thing you can do when you just start learning a language is to admit that mistakes need to be madeand try to make everything perfect - no.

Set yourself some norm, for example, no more than 200 mistakes per day, but most importantly remember that you practice and use the language!

Self study language

9. The goals before you must be smart

Another important drawback that is present in most approaches to learning languages \u200b\u200bis a poor or incorrect setting of final goals.

As a rule, we tell ourselves: "You need to learn Spanish by the new year." However, as you know, have you learned it or not? And if you set such a goal, then by what criteria will you understand whether you have achieved it or not?

Such vague goals can be infinitely unattainable, and a smart goal is a specific, achievable, measurable, relevant and necessarily time-bound.

To learn how to set smart language goals, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the system. European common framework, which will be invaluable in determining the level of the language.

With this system you will set a specific goal and will be able to measure your progress.

Briefly summarized, then A is a beginner, B is a conversational level, C is advanced. Each level is divided into two categories: 1 - lower, 2 - upper.

Thus, the beginning student who has learned the basis is A2, and the advanced beginner is C1. Each level can be measured, so official institutions can test you and even issue a diploma (of course, without enrolling in a course) for knowledge of any European language.

You can also be tested for knowledge of Chinese and Japanese.

So, now what is your goal? What level of practice corresponds to your declared "skill" or "fluency"?

Long-term practice shows that understanding fluent speech corresponds to level B2. In fact, this is social equivalence in a person’s native language.

In other words, you can easily understand ordinary situations that occur in a foreign language. For example, talking friends in a bar, asking people about plans for the weekend, discussing news, etc.

1. The first rule - forget about how long and painfully you learned English at school and college. This, as a rule, negative experience can permanently discourage the desire to learn foreign languages, and also convince that you, as it were, have no predisposition.

2. Motivation. Maybe you want to sing songs in French, watch TV shows in Spanish, or read Paolo Coelho in the original. First of all, the language should not just like you, it should inspire.

3. Get started. No need to prepare for a long time, just start taking a small step every day - to learn five new words, see a tutorial. Do not push yourself into the framework and do not set clear deadlines, because you do not have to take tests and exams.

4. Start by learning words, do not load yourself with grammar at first. Remember how the children begin to talk: first they listen, then they begin to understand, that is, associate the word with the subject or action, then the first words begin to speak, and only after that build the sentence. Do the same - first watch the video, listen to the speech in the recording, perform simple exercises for memorizing words. When you acquire a significant vocabulary - then you can begin to build sentences and study the times.

5. Translate texts that interest you. Best of all are famous songs, so you can memorize many words very quickly.

6. Many effective free training programs can be found on the Internet.

7. While you still cannot speak - correspond with native speakers. So you can always use a translator or dictionary to express your thoughts.

8. When you have already learned to read and speak a little, look for opportunities to practice conversation. Even if there are no speaking clubs in your city, look for native speakers who live here and who need to learn Russian, post an ad on social networks that you are ready to conduct a free city tour for visiting foreigners. In extreme cases, you can chat on Skype.

9. Do not be afraid to speak with mistakes. Take with who speak English. They speak very simply, sometimes with errors, but very confidently, and everyone understands them. Language is a means of communication, so the main thing is to be understood. Do not use complex grammatical constructions, simplify everything as much as possible. What you say in Spanish, Portuguese or Japanese will be enthusiastically received by residents of other countries.

10. Remember that there are no people who are completely incapable of learning languages, there are those who do not even try to learn them.

Every student today knows that the language of international communication is English. However, although this subject is included in the list of compulsory ones from elementary grades, few are able to speak, write, understand what has been said on it.

Time passes, and many people have a desire to learn English on their own at home from scratch. Is it possible? How difficult and time consuming? And, most importantly: will it be possible to remember such an amount of information in adulthood and successfully use it?

It is believed that it is possible to effectively learn a particular foreign language only in childhood, when memory is malleable, the brain is not clogged with unnecessary information, cognitive abilities are active. This is far from the case.

A person studying a particular dialect constantly trains his brain in the same way that many train the muscles of the body. Accordingly, his mind is much less prone to dementia, destruction with age, just as the athlete’s body is mobile and full of strength even in old age. This can be compared to trying to sit on the splits: it is easier for a child to do this than an adult, but with consistent training everyone can achieve a result. Therefore, learning English on your own from scratch is not only possible, but also very useful at any age.

Goal setting

The first step is setting goals. Why do you need a foreign language? This will not only give a clearer motivation, but also determine the priority way of studying.

You want to learn English from scratch in order to enter the desired position in a good company, improve your business status, move to another level in your career. For example, you were offered a job abroad, but for this, of course, you need to know the international language.
It is important for you to learn English in order to make friends or find a soul mate in another country.
You are a businessman, and to expand your business, increase its effectiveness and enter the international market, it is important for you to own a foreign one.
You want to get an education abroad, for example, in England or in America.
Your goal is to communicate with interesting people on the network, and then, perhaps, “live”.
You love to travel and want to boldly navigate in a foreign country, be able to ask for directions or learn something.
You just like to learn new things, and you need “for general development” to learn how to speak English.

Foreign language learning mechanisms

All the information that we have ever received is divided into important, useless and that which can ever come in handy. And the most important criterion for mastering new knowledge is its value for us personally. For example, a person does not need to repeat his native language: those expressions that he constantly uses, he simply cannot forget.

The verbal stock of each of us is divided into active and passive. The words “speak”, “window”, “road”, “fast” are an active vocabulary, but we forget some special terms learned at school or university, but when we remind ourselves of them, we quickly recall them .

So with English. A modern person who regularly goes online, watches TV or listens to the radio, a considerable number of words are automatically remembered. Therefore, for many people, study is the streamlining, systematization of existing knowledge and the practice of their application.

How long will it take?

Now there are infinitely many programs and techniques, the authors of some of them claim that they know how to quickly learn English. Most often this is just a commercial move: it is impossible to achieve a high level of language proficiency in either a week or a month. However, there are effective methods that allow you to remove barriers, start talking, even with a small vocabulary, and successfully build it.

There is one important principle, the law of study: the more lively communication, the better with native speakers, the faster the immersion in the language. That is, if you speak English in a real life situation, and not in a lesson, then it’s easier to master what you want.

Answering the question of how much you can learn English from scratch, you need to understand that the timing is individual for each. There is the concept of language giftedness: if information is easily given to one person, it turns out to master it most quickly, then many learn it costs a lot of work and considerable time. In any case, there is no magic pill, and you still have to work.

Exercise regularly. Information must constantly be received, repeated, processed. Ideally, you need to go deep into the material every day, at least for half an hour. A very common option is to study 2-3 times a week, but by the hour. Do not take long breaks: you forget the words and grammar rules, and you have to start all over again.
It is necessary to train speech skills. It’s best to find someone you can talk to. A good option is reading articles, listening to podcasts, watching films in English.
Mechanical memorization of words will not give anything, all this will soon be forgotten. It is important to use the learned material in oral and written speech both independently and with the interlocutor. If you have just passed this or that time in grammar - write or write an orally short story with its use.
Stick to one system or course and do not try to learn everything at once. The main mistakes and reasons why beginners of independent study of the language abandon this business are unsystematic, the desire to embrace the immensity, which lead to loss of motivation and termination of classes.
Do not forget the old adage: “Repetition is the mother of learning.” Return to each topic regularly, from time to time, refresh in your memory what has been mastered for a long time.

Important nuances of language learning

Is it possible to learn English without knowing the rules of pronunciation? Of course not. This is the base that it is important to learn, since it will have to be applied constantly. English is one of those where spelling and pronunciation, especially for a Russian person, varies quite a lot.

Do not forget to check how to pronounce this or that word correctly. This is important so as not to fix the mistake. You can check one of the many online dictionaries, at the same time improving your own pronunciation.

The basis of language learning is the formation of vocabulary. Every day you need to memorize a certain number of words. Modern capabilities allow us to optimize this process by combining visualization (viewing a thematic picture) and listening to a word performed by a native speaker.

Without grammar, so complicated and boring for many, it is impossible to speak the language so that you are understood. English has strict rules for the formation of sentences, so if you don’t feel what time to use the verb and in what order to build the words in the phrase, communication will be unproductive. Although grammar requires memorization, without application it will quickly be forgotten, so the ideal option is to combine both theory and practice.

Today, the network will be able to find a considerable number of blogs of teachers of English, in which you can find a lot of accessible and interesting information on how to use the rules. There are also answers to questions typical of most students.

Listening to podcasts should occupy an important place in the system of your classes. The more speakers you hear from the speakers in your impromptu lessons, the more productive your learning will become. It’s good to watch movies in English with or without subtitles. There are several special educational series that are adapted for those who only understand the basics of English.

Make it a rule to learn at least one poem per week. Before you begin, listen to the work performed by a native speaker.

Find sites that broadcast news in English. Even if you don’t understand parts of what you’ve heard, daily training will benefit both your pronunciation and vocabulary.

Reading texts aloud is an indispensable rule of practice. Find adapted options, check the dictionary if you do not understand the meaning of the word. This practice is one of the fundamental in learning English.

Install useful applications on your smartphone or tablet. They will allow you to usefully spend your free time in transport, in traffic jams, in lines at various institutions.

Of course, it is necessary to study online, but many beginners enthusiastically bookmark a large number of sites, thinking that they will have time to learn all the resources. This is a priori impossible, and the lack of a system will cause you to quickly burn out and lose interest in the language. Choose one cycle of classes, be guided by it, and in your free time just read or listen to English.

Self-study of English is difficult, first of all, the lack of control. You can not see your mistakes and not guess about them. If you don’t have the opportunity to at least occasionally engage with a teacher, try to find the opportunity for oral communication with a native speaker or a person who is well versed in the topic. Only speaking is the guarantee that you will not abandon the study, but will come to the result that you wanted from the very beginning.

Regular classes, consistency, perseverance and genuine interest - this is the main recipe for mastering any foreign speech. We hope you now know how to learn English, and easily cope with this interesting task.