How I would learn English (if I could start over)

hello guys and welcome back to my YouTube channel  today I want to talk about how I would learn   English if I could start over if I was a beginner  right now what would I do so this is what this   video is going to be about the first thing I  would do is I would start with more specific   vocabulary that is more relevant to my life I  feel like nowadays because of this traditional   education people usually start with very general  vocabulary for example you're probably trying to   memorize 20 different colors in English or you're  trying to learn different animals in English for   example 50 different animals in English but then  when you really think about it when are you going   to be using all of this new vocabulary your  answer is probably I don't know who knows and   that's why I want you guys to start with more  specific vocabulary and when I say specific   vocabulary what I mean is it should be extremely  relevant to your life for example talking about   the animals if you really love animals and you for  example often read books about different animals   different species then okay go for it you will  probably use all of these new words you have just   learned but for example talking about myself  I know that it's not that important to learn   all the different animals in English because it's  just not a part of my life so if I was a beginner   this is what I would do I would try to analyze  my life for example what do I usually do every   day who do I usually spend my time with and I will  start creating simple sentences about my life and   this way you will see all of the vocabulary you  might be lacking for example right now I have a   little fracture in my right foot and that's why  I think it's very important for me to be able   to talk about it in English and in Spanish as  well because I I'm learning Spanish right now   so even though maybe some teachers will say oh my  God this vocabulary is way too advanced for you   there is not such a thing as too advanced or not  too advanced because if this is something I need   and I need this vocabulary right now then I should  learn it I should learn how to say a fracture in   English and in Spanish I should learn how to  describe what I'm feeling and how I'm feeling   and this is very much connected to what I'm about  to say next you should focus on the speaking from   the very beginning from the get-go usually if you  are a beginner you might feel a little bit scared   to speak English or Spanish or any other language  because you lack vocabulary essential vocabulary   and also you feel scared right it's a completely  new language for you and you don't really know   how to structure sentences correctly however  that's exactly why you should start from the   very beginning start with simple sentences a few  weeks ago I watched this video on YouTube and a   girl gave a very good tip you should try grabbing  your phone and setting a timer for like a minute   and start speaking just set a timer for a minute  and speak for a minute guys I can assure you at   the very beginning it's going to be very hard for  you to speak the language for a minute and then   you can increase the time you can set a two minute  timer a three minute timer a five minute timer   Etc and this way it's like a game you will always  be leveling up and that's exactly something that I   am doing right now to learn Spanish and I think it  is the best thing I'm doing for my Spanish right   now in the moment I feel a little bit shy and  I feel like I don't know anything I feel like I   forgot all the words but that's exactly why you  should be doing during this exercise at home by   yourself when you feel comfortable usually what  I do is I open up my computer for example while   simultaneously holding my phone and then I open  Google Translate and then for example okay right   now I want to talk about my foot right how my  right foot is feeling what happened how did   I break a bone there so then I'm realizing that  I don't know how to say break a bone in Spanish   and that's why I go to Google Translate and  I translate this phrase so that I could have   some bullet points to use later when I am speaking  Spanish with my phone once you're past the stage   of speaking the language to yourself with your  phone you can try taking classes online classes   with teachers for example on italki that's an  extremely famous website and this is where I'm   taking my Spanish classes or if you feel like a  traditional classroom kind of stylist mode for you   or if you feel like you're not ready to talk to  a teacher yet you can try speaking clubs because   speaking clubs are a lot more informal and their  main goal is for you guys to meet new people and   become less afraid to speak the language and good  news right now you can register for my speaking   Club I only open registrations once a month so  right now is the time for you guys to register   if you join my speaking Club you will have eight  meetings in one month so two meetings a week if   you can attend a meeting because of work or  family or maybe you got sick it's absolutely   okay because you will have a recording to  watch later I believe that the best part   about my speaking Club is definitely the sense  of community we have people from all over the   world there and all the students are extremely  motivated to improve their speaking skills plus   you also get feedback from me because I'm in the  main group chat I'm always there to help you so if   you want to join my speaking Club all you need  to do is click the link in the description the   registrations will be open for just one week so  make sure to do it right now now let's talk about   grammar and I think a lot of people might hate  me for what I'm about to say but you know that's   life and that's something that I would do if I  was a beginner in English right now I would not   spend a lot of money on grammar books and I would  not even spend that much time at the beginning on   grammar yes grammar is important and grammar is  how we create sentences in English right because   when you understand grammar you can create correct  sentences in English and obviously I hope you guys   want to speak correct English you don't want to  be making a lot of grammar mistakes and I hear you   however usually at the very beginning grammar is  quite taunting grammar is something very difficult   adult and a very complicated something you even  need help with so that's why for example taking   a class with a teacher or joining a speaking club  might be a good option I just remember how at the   very beginning of my English learning journey I  was spending so much time on just grammar drills   you know guys this traditional grammar book with  all the exercises and again I'm not hating on   grammar books they are amazing I just don't like  when all the learning happens there and that's   something that I did and now in hindsight I know  that it wasn't really helping me what I would do   instead is I would only focus on grammar if I  needed grammar for example let's go back to my   foot example right my right foot is now broken so  obviously to describe the situation I will have   to talk about the past right I will have to talk  about how I broke my foot what happened and where   I was so as you can see this is all connected  to simple past in English so that's a great way   for you guys to improve your grammar and use it  immediately right for example you're like oh I'm   not sure how to use simple past in English maybe I  should just Google and fortunately guys there are   so many websites that explain the grammar rules  extremely well and also on YouTube you can just   go on YouTube and watch an explanation video and  then once you have learned the grammar rule try to   use it for example what I would do is I would talk  about my foot where I broke it for example when I   was on a trip to Tasco which is a small town in  Mexico how I broke it I jumped off a rock and   I kicked the rock really hard and unfortunately  that's how I broke my right foot I mean I didn't   break the whole foot just a bone the fifth in my  right foot which was a pretty painful fracture   however it's quite common so that's it that's  basically all I have to learn and know about this   whole situation and as you can see guys I have  been talking for a minute wow describing my food   situation but for example if you were to take an  italki class or you would be talking to students   in the speaking Club obviously they would be  asking your more questions so then they probably   would be asking you oh why should you go to Tesco  what did you do there so again more vocabulary   for you to learn the next thing I would do is I  would choose the accent from the very beginning   basically what happened to me is I didn't really  know that it was important or I didn't know   which accent I wanted to learn so I was just  learning everything and as you guys probably   know the problem with English is that in American  English there are certain words that are complete   completely different in British English or for  example that people don't even use in British   English so that's why I think for me again what I  would do is I would focus on the American English   from the very beginning on the pronunciation on  the accent because it's completely different and   that would save me so much time and I wouldn't  be speaking with this kind of mix of accents I   think it's especially important for a person who  already knows that they kind of maybe want to move   to the United States or they want to move to the  Great Britain so that's why for them this type   of English is more important of course it's  important to understand different accents in   English however you don't have to master all of  them I can only speak with the American accent and   I'm still improving it day by day I don't want to  be spending my time right now on learning all the   rules of the British accent just because I don't  need it I under understand British English when   people from the Great Britain speak to me I can  talk to them but it doesn't mean that I have to   have the same accent and something that is very  connected to learning the accent of a specific   country is the slaying of this country and that's  why I want you guys to focus on a specific accent   so then later on focus on the slaying of this  country slaying is so important to learn because   that's usually how the majority of people in  that country speak for example when it comes   to the United States so many people use slang and  informal Expressions all the time and you might be   wondering okay Veronica I don't live in the states  how can I learn all of these informal expressions   of slang like what should I do and the answer is  pretty simple you should just watch YouTubers who   live in those countries and especially if you  could find YouTubers who are native speakers   that would be even better because usually what  happens is you turn on a video it's even better   if it's like a lifestyle video something that is  extremely informal and guys believe me you will   hear and you will learn so many slang Expressions  because the truth is slang Expressions come and   go especially right now because of tick tock and  social media we have so many Expressions that are   not permanent right maybe people use them right  now but maybe in five years everyone will forget   about these expressions and it's completely  normal however there are obviously certain   Expressions that are informal and the native  speakers still use all the time consistently   so basically YouTube will be your best friend  here okay so now I have my YouTubers and I have   my YouTube videos so what would I do next I would  sometimes practice this technique called shadowing   and I know for some people it's a little bit  overwhelming to Shadow everything after the   YouTuber for example to repeat every single phrase  that's the idea behind shadowing so that's why I   wouldn't really do that if you feel a little bit  shy or kind of weird to be repeating every single   sentence then don't just repeat certain words to  give you guys a more concrete example I follow   this girl on YouTube her name is Alicia Marie  and she posts a lot of Lifestyle videos which   are perfect for learning informal expressions  for learning slang so what I'm gonna do right   now is I'm going to click on her most recent  video and just take a look let's do it together like at least that I don't like  my password I don't look like this okay see even at the very beginning we have  only watched like the first 14 seconds of   it and she said because I don't look like my  passport and it's a great kind of phrase or   sentence in English and it's pretty informal  because obviously what she wanted to say was   I don't look like the picture in my passport but  you don't need to say this whole phrase because   you're speaking informally so all she said was  because I don't look like my passport so they   wouldn't let me on the plane again when it comes  to repeating after the YouTuber I would definitely   save this sentence out loud because it's a pretty  useful one and again her videos are just so fun   so informal a lot of slang and you get to see how  Americans speak English in real life and of course   I wouldn't be Veronica without talking about books  at least a little bit because I absolutely love   reading and of course I love reading in English  too so I think one thing that I would do if I   were to start learning English from the  very beginning is I would definitely read   out loud a lot more the reason why I say that  is when you read out loud you actually remember   a lot more information and plus you improve  your pronunciation however guys when you are   reading don't try to stop at every single word  you don't know right because I don't want you   to have like a whole page highlighted like oh my  god there are so many words I don't know if this   is the case then maybe this book is a little bit  hard for you so you should try picking something   else but when you do pick something that is  a little bit easier to understand still it   has to be enjoyable so I'll just grab my book  and I would just read out loud pretending that   I'm reading to someone else or pretending that  I can read beautifully in English and usually   it works the best when you're by yourself when  you know no one is listening to you know no one   is watching you because then you can be just  completely relaxed so I think that's going to   be pretty much it for this video these are all  the things I would do if today I had to learn   English from scratch from the very beginning and  guys to be completely honest these are all the   things that I am using right now to learn Spanish  because a few months ago I think around like six   months ago I had to start learning Spanish from  scratch because when I was a kid I never learned   Spanish so only once I moved to Mexico I was  like okay it's time for me to learn Spanish if   you like this video don't forget to give it a  thumbs up and subscribe to my channel you can   also click on this playlist to continue watching  interesting videos from me also don't forget to   join my speaking club by clicking the link in the  description and I'll see you guys in my next video

Channel: Veronika's Language Diaries

Views: 574,873

Keywords: veronika mark, how i would learn english if i could start over, language learning, polyglot, english speaking, how to learn english, here's how i learn english, english learning routine, veronikas language diaries

Id: reMnRjhDv68

Length: 17min 1sec (1021 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 18 2023