4 Tips to Help You Learn English - How to Learn English

hi I'm Molly welcome to Oxford online English in this video I'm going to tell you a little about my language learning experiences and I'm going to share with you some things I wish I'd known before I started studying languages I really hope you'll find these ideas interesting and useful and you can use them to help you learn English or even maybe another language first let me tell you a little about myself and why I do what I do and why I'm making this video I was always fascinated by foreign languages I remember the first time I went to a foreign country I was nine and I went to Holland the thing that I liked best was hearing all of these foreign sounds I've never really heard people speaking other languages before even then I thought that speaking another language would be a really cool thing to be able to do being able to open your mouth and produce all of these foreign words and actually be understood I've seemed almost like magic to me as a child my mom bought me a how to learn Dutch book it didn't work I didn't learn any Dutch but I did study French and German at school for many years they were always my favorite subjects when I was around 20 I set myself a goal I would travel the world and by the time I was 30 I would speak for foreign languages fluently I don't know why there wasn't much logic to it it doesn't seem like the most coherent life plan even now but that's what I decided to do so that's what I did I lived in Russia and I studied Russian took quite a high level then I moved to China I studied Chinese including written Chinese by the time I was 30 had I reached my goal kind of I could speak Russian French and Chinese well and I can still speak some German though not so well close enough I don't have any regrets anyway I made so many mistakes along the way I so many things wrong I wasted lots of time and energy on things that didn't work there are so many lessons I had to learn the hard way so what were they I remember my first few Russian lessons they were bad I couldn't do anything I didn't really learn anything why because I had just graduated from university and in my head I was still at school when the teacher asked me a question and I got it right I thought great I achieved something I thought this even if I just guessed the answer if I got a question wrong I thought I feel bad I felt embarrassed if we did an exercise or a test I thought if I get a high score I've succeeded I felt good just seeing that high score on the paper worst of all I thought that just turning up to class was enough after all I wasn't responsible for my learning the teacher was responsible right that's the teachers job I hope I really hope that you realize that I'm saying these things because they're totally wrong not because they're how you should think getting a question right or wrong in class means nothing by itself getting a high score in a test means nothing by itself going to five classes 10 classes or 500 classes means nothing by itself there's only one thing that matters what have you learned what can you do that you couldn't do before teachers can make a big difference sure one of the best teachers I've had I Lola helped me to change how I think instead of feeling embarrassed about making a mistake I realized that mistakes don't matter that much and in fact they're a chance to understand something new instead of worrying about getting things wrong I started to experiment and play with language instead of seeing tests and exercises as targets for someone else I saw them as opportunities to express myself and explore my own strengths and weaknesses I put this at number one because it's the most important thing to learn it's the biggest mistake I see English learners making I see adults many of older than me very professionally successful acting like they're still at school just because they're in a lesson with a teacher I've seen people copying their homework from the answer key and see people full growing successful adults really caring about whether they get a question right or wrong in class none of this matters by itself all of this stuff questions in class exercises in your textbook tests and exams English courses certificates they just steps they're tools what's your goal to get a piece of paper that says you speak English or to actually speak English if you start at lesson one and finish lesson 100 is that enough have you finished do you want to get a high score in an English exam or do you want to speak such good English that you never need to take an English exam so get these old ideas from school out of your head classes exercises tests and certificates all of these things can help you these things can give you structure and motivation and that can be important but they aren't the end goal these things aren't important in themselves they're important because of what they can help you achieve focus on what you can actually do because that's all that matters when I first moved to Russia I was planning to stay for six months after six months I thought my Russian was okay but it certainly wasn't good enough I decided to stay longer I thought that with six months more study my Russian would be where I wanted it to be after six months I thought my Russian is alright but if I just study for another six months it would be good I studied for another six months I thought yeah my Russian is not bad you know what I need six months more study six months more it'll be really good with another six months there were a few more like this but you can see where this is going I think even when I left Russia and I could speak to a high level I didn't feel completely satisfied it's not just me you never feel like you finished you always feel like there's more to do and more to learn I promise you this will be the same for you with English you'll never feel like I'm done now I'm finished often students ask me things like how long will it take to get fluent how long will it take to learn English no one wants to hear forever it's not a popular answer but it's true why is this I think there are two reasons the first is that there is always more to learn I'm still learning things about English by teaching writing and editing other people's work I haven't finished learning English just like you haven't finished learning English because you never finish what about the second reason partly it's just human nature we focus on what we can't do just like we focus on what we don't have what you don't have is much more interesting than what you already have right in the same way what you can't do seems more important than what you can do when you learn something new it's satisfying for a very short time then you forget about it you focus on what you don't know you focus on what you can't do this is natural we all do it all the time I was studying Russian I was getting better I was learning lots of new things but it didn't feel that way I'm sure many of you who have been learning English for a long time can relate to this you study and study you learn new things but it always feels like there's something you can't do this is how it is that feeling never totally goes away so what can you do about it accept it it's not going to change also remember that how you feel isn't always the best guide to how things really are just because you feel you aren't getting better it doesn't mean that you're not getting better it doesn't mean you aren't learning anything new it's just how you feel and how you will feel it's not a reason to stop or get discouraged keep studying keep working and you will improve even if it doesn't always feel that way I don't know exactly when I first got the idea of moving to China but I know when I made up my mind I read a book called River town it's about an American guy who spent two years living in su chuan in southern China he went there to teach English and study Chinese he lived in a small town where there were two non Chinese people including him I loved the book and at that moment I knew I was going to China but I wasn't as brave as him I couldn't imagine living in a small town with no other English speakers it sounded lonely I moved to Shanghai where there are about half a million foreigners I could meet people from many different countries and mostly my social life was english-speaking I wasn't lazy though I studied hard I really wanted to get better after three years my Chinese was quite good but it wasn't perfect there was a loss I couldn't do there was a lot I didn't know why am I telling you this it's because my trainees was a reflection of my life I chose to move to a big international city and I chose to hang out in mixed groups where the common language was English so of course my trainees wasn't as good as it could have been I had a couple of friends who did things differently one guy in particular did almost everything in Chinese he had Chinese roommates most of his friends were Chinese and he worked for a Chinese company his Chinese was perfect not just good perfect it wasn't because he studied harder than me although maybe he did it was because he lived his life in Chinese and I didn't I see this a lot with English learners particularly in english-speaking countries many of the students I meet live in the UK but don't speak much English they have a community of people who speak their language and they don't go outside that much I also see this a lot with people saying I want to learn English but I don't have chances to speak to be clear I know the big life changes like moving to another country aren't realistic for everyone I get that but here's the thing you can't separate language learning from the rest of your life if you go to class twice a week and don't use English or think about English the rest of the time your progress will always be limited do you want to speak perfect English do you want to master the English language yes then you need to live your whole life in English that might not be practical but even so improving your English or any language means changing your life it might mean moving to another country working in another company changing your social circle or other large changes and yes that can be very difficult it can involve making big sacrifices I understand that but that's how it is language is a part of your life the way you live influences what you can learn how dare you Olli I am special I'm not saying you're not special I'm not special no one special when it comes to learning a language learning English or any language is very democratic everyone's in the same position it doesn't matter how smart you are how rich you are how professionally successful you are none of that really matters let me tell you the last part of my story now I live in Greece I've been here for around 3 years if people ask me if I speak Greek my answer is not really I can communicate in a basic way and I understand a lot but I don't claim to speak it after three years in Russia I could speak good Russian after three years in China I could speak good Chinese so what went wrong I should speak good Greek by now right remember I'm not special none of us are special I don't speak good Greek because I haven't done enough work partly that's because I'm busier if I'm honest I've also been a little bit lazy sometimes okay at this point I want to say thanks for listening to me this is a more personal video and I appreciate that you're still watching so let me finish by giving you the secret to learning a language that's right I'll give you the secret to learning English or any language don't get too excited it's really boring YouTube and the internet are full of people saying they have the secret to learning through an English or a way to learn English in 10 days normally the secret is buy my book $99 I don't have a book because I'm too busy to write one so I'll just tell you the secret and you can have it for free it's consistency I've taught thousands of students at this point in my career and the picture is very clear people who study and work consistently over time get the best results it's not necessarily the smartest students who do best it's not necessarily the natural language learners who do best it's not necessarily the most enthusiastic learners who do best because enthusiasm tends to burn out it's the people who just keep going you don't give up who work and work and don't stop who keep going even when it's hard and boring and they're not enjoying it they do best they get what they want boring I know but it's true so thanks again for watching and listening to me don't forget to check out our website for more help with your English Oxford online English comm see you next time

Channel: Oxford Online English

Views: 296,396

Rating: 4.9035659 out of 5

Keywords: how to learn english, 4 things about language learning, oxford online english, 4 things to learn English, 4 tips to learn English, learn english tips, learn english tips and tricks, how to learn english tips to become advanced, tips to learn english, oxford online english study advice

Id: uaHJXnSdnOw

Length: 16min 41sec (1001 seconds)

Published: Mon May 22 2017