What do you love and hate most about learning English? What is the best way to learn?

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dStutt

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Hi guys,

My name is David and I am a native English speaker. I study linguistics at university and my dream is to create a world where anybody who wants to learn English has efficient and practical learning resources readily available to them.

I was wondering to myself lately about how a potential learner of English might be better engaged in their study of the language and hence two very important questions arose:

  • What did you hate most about learning English at school/self-study thereafter?
  • What did you love about learning English and, more specifically, what would you say was the most efficient way you were able to learn?

I studied German at school. Now, I love languages and of course German too, but sometimes it felt so mundane and uninteresting; particularly talking about cassettes and stuff like that in the 2000s. :/

Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts. Help me make an enlightened tomorrow!
 
dStutt said:
Hi guys,

My name is David and I am a native English speaker. I study linguistics at university and my dream is to create a world where anybody who wants to learn English has efficient and practical learning resources readily available to them.

I was wondering to myself lately about how a potential learner of English might be better engaged in their study of the language and hence two very important questions arose:

  • What did you hate most about learning English at school/self-study thereafter?
  • What did you love about learning English and, more specifically, what would you say was the most efficient way you were able to learn?

I studied German at school. Now, I love languages and of course German too, but sometimes it felt so mundane and uninteresting; particularly talking about cassettes and stuff like that in the 2000s. :/

Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts. Help me make an enlightened tomorrow!
Click to expand...


Hate-Spelling...I have a good memory so it wasn't that bad, but coming from the vantage point of a totally phonetic language, it was harder to learn to write.

Love-English movies, tv, and song lyrics...

The best way to learn another language is total immersion, which is the way I learned.

After that, watch movies, listen to music, and correspond with or talk to a native speaker, and ask them to be brutally honest. The first is passive, but you also have to be "active" in using it, if that makes sense.
 
Thanks for replying, guys.

How about learning strategies? Did you use books or other resources to help you learn? If so, what were the best and most efficient materials you encountered?

I also realised this thread should probably be in the linguistics section.
 
Perhaps Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary was the best English learning tool I have come across. I now mainly rely on Oxford Dictionary of English (OUP 2010) to expand my vocabulary, which is really helpful in completing my knowledge on the English language. My spoken English improved significantly after listening to sports broadcasts such as Wimbledon and imitating broadcasters with a small voice as they speak. It's called "shadowing", by which you practice repeating the speaker as accurate as possible. Usually beginners start with selecting a short audio text to work with.

In terms of learning vocabulary, was that a case of flipping through the dictionary to a random page and seeing what there was to find? Did you use any specific methods to help you remember vocabulary?
Click to expand...

I used to pick 20 pages of the dictionary every day randomly and remember every word and phrase on these pages. Many English words are derived from Greek or Latin words and tracing the origins of words makes it easier to remember vocabulary.
 
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ThirdTerm, that's also another superb answer--there has been a lot of recent research that language shadowing can improve your language skill phenomenally, to which you have also attested.

In terms of learning vocabulary, was that a case of flipping through the dictionary to a random page and seeing what there was to find? Did you use any specific methods to help you remember vocabulary?
 
What I love about English is its flexibility in creating compound words (such as brexit)
What I hate is not to be able to consistently figuring out the proununcition of vowels and diphtongues (i sometimes sounds ''ay'' and sometimes ''ee'')
 
spoon said:
What I love about English is its flexibility in creating compound words (such as brexit)
What I hate is not to be able to consistently figuring out the proununcition of vowels and diphtongues (i sometimes sounds ''ay'' and sometimes ''ee'')
Click to expand...

epravo
bih-pravo
Watch more tv and you English would improve for sure..offcourse, in English :D
 
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What I hated most about learning English were the teachers at school. English language itself is very pleasant. It doesn't have the annoyingly complicated grammar of German or French, little conjugation, no declensions, no gender, no accents or umlauts... I like the sound of RP English. Very refined, but takes time to acquire. I also love the flexibility of English. If you invent new words you are seen as witty and imaginative and that's a big improvement from being seen as an oddball for doing the same in German.
 
I've tried learning French couple of times, taking courses and I found it very difficult to learn grammar..that was the main reason why I quit..pronounciation is very difficult as well..
 
Pop songs are the way to go.

The 1970s band, Slade, has an excellent catalogue:

Gudbuy gudbuy
Mama weer all crazee now
Look at last nite
Gudbuy t'Jane
Cum on feel the noize
 
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