For the past 2 years, I’ve been “learning” English. Well, in my case, learning English is not something I planned to do at first. I don’t even know I was “learning”. I just watched a bunch of youtube videos, and the next thing I know I can speak a little English. But now that I have a little bit knowledge of the English language, I want to actually learn it. Not just by watching random YouTube videos. I have watched and tried different ways to learn like for example flashcards, watch movies, read books, speaking to myself, etc. But I feel like I am not improving. When I speak to other people in English, I feel like I’m not as good as I think I would. So, now I’m frustrated, thinking about how to learn and ACTUALLY improve.
What are your thoughts about this?
if you are getting bored you may be using materials that are the wrong level. you should be consuming material where you understand most of it but there are some words you don’t know. what are you interested in? not english-wise but in general? if you like for example literature you could read some classics. or if you like murder mysteries you could watch tv shows about it.
your written english is quite good which makes me suspect that perhaps you are too much in your head about it. i know that when not speaking my native language the hardest thing for me is organic sentence formation. when i am speaking a different language i have trouble forming sentences without thinking about what i am going to say and making sure the grammar is right before hand, etc. it may help to think about it this way: when we speak our native language we make mistakes sometimes, right? everyone does. sometimes you say the wrong word or don’t have the right grammar. so it’s okay to make mistakes.
do you play any games? if you do, there are a lot of one-player games in english. also you could try playing an online game but that can be a mixed bag
Hmm, it can be a factor. Maybe I’ve been using materials for the wrong level. But still, I don’t know why I can’t make learning to be fun. And no, I don’t play video games.
What @kimjong_ill@lemmy.ml says is spot on, regarding how you should be consuming (reading, hearing, ‘watching’) stuff that is comprehensible for the most part. The bits that you don’t know will gradually settle or you might find compelled to search it (e.g. “What does “indoctrination” mean? I’ve been seeing this word again and again in this series but I still don’t get it”).
That covers the part of internalizing the language. At least in an intuitive sense. Studying grammar will make it sturdier [edit: only after having internalized the language intuitively!]. I don’t really have resources for this though… I think I remember Oxford University Press having some grammar lesson books? I’d generally trust that…
But there’s still the part of speaking. The finding and stringing of words shouldn’t be the issue, if you’ve internalized the language enough by consuming it. Rather, pronunciation becomes the bottleneck. Here you can grab a small fragment of a video of an actor you like or a character you like and copy the mouth movements as well as the mouth sounds. Be aware of accent differences. Choose an accent you’re interested in learning to speak in.
I will cite this tomorrow, when I’m back in my desk.
Edit: @dessalines@lemmy.ml’s reference is exactly it :)
Spot on. I forget which lemmer showed me this, but this video by stephen krashen really changed the way I think about language learning, and made me alter my study plan going forward with mandarin.
The main points are that ppl only learn languages one way, through comprehensible input ( and there are now lots of different methods geared toward this, even on youtube ), and progress most rapidly through consuming lots of easy, interesting content for them in that language, whether its books, movies, TV shows, news, etc. Also that listening is far more important than speaking or practice, esp in the early stages. You don’t learn languages through grammer and study content, but through easy messages you can understand, on topics interesting to you.
Great video. It sounds like a lot more work for teachers though. There’s nothing easier for a lazy teacher than going through a standardised textbook, giving standardised questions, handing out standardised tests. It’s so easy that much of the process can be automated.
It’s easy to see why schooling systems would converge on that technique - it suits themselves, not their students.
The idea sounds like a parallel to Montessori’s methods. Teaching via free undirected play, and the rest. Maybe there’s a combination of the two ideas that could be ideal.
Got it. So I just have to find the right resources then. Resources that fit my level. Not too easy, not too hard. Oh no, that’s another problem. Finding the right resources is not easy 😅.
For learning how to speak, there is no other way than to speak with other people in English (or any language that you are learning). Just be patient and over time you’ll improve. Don’t be too hard on yourself over this. Nothing wrong in not being a proficient speaker. But I don’t know how you can find people to talk to in English (if you live in a non-English speaking country).
Another thing you can look into is learning the grammar. I don’t know any resources for this, because I learnt this early on in school, but there are books for English grammar so you can try finding one for yourself. Knowing the basic components of the language will help you form sentences on the fly so you’ll speak better too.
Last thing is improving vocabulary for which reading English books is helpful.
(I am also ESL.)
Yes, I know that. But the problem is I can’t find a way to learn those skills. I mean like, I know there’s a lot of methods. Maybe I just can’t find the right one. Most of them make me bored, or just, not engaging. Do you have any tips for finding the right method?
No sorry. I don’t find learning language enjoyable at all. Had to learn English because of spending time in an English speaking country…
Okay. I was afraid you’re gonna say that but I get it.
