It’s been almost a decade since I decided to become an English teacher and not a single day goes by that I don’t get this question “What is the best way to learn English?”. Most adult learners seem in a hurry too, so they don’t just want to know what the “best way” is, they also want to know what the “fastest way” is to learn English. It goes without saying that for many, the “best way” IS the “fastest way” or the other way around, depending on how you look at it. So they jump on the internet, “google” it up (or “yahoo” it up) and perhaps find an array of clips, websites and articles all speaking about different methods and giving away THE secret, THE answer that NO ONE has EVER told you. The funny thing is that oftentimes those are do-it-yourself online courses that can tell you everything about why the method is SO great but nothing at all about how to do it by yourself. The truth though is that I don’t blame THEM, I blame YOU, the learner, because you always seem to be looking for SHORTCUTS.
How to learn English fast?!
See? If you were looking for the “FASTEST” way to learn English, I would totally understand, but usually, by “fastest”, you mean “fast”. “Fast” for most learners is anywhere between 1 month and 6 months! Okay. I’m sorry to be the one breaking it to you pal, but it “ain’t gonna happen” (slang for “is not going to happen). The ultimate joke though is that for some learners, “fast” also means “lazy”. So here’s what those learners would be asking teachers to answer in a way “What is the best way to learn English in 1~6 months without having to study more than 1 hour a day?”. When I get someone asking those sort of questions, I usually answer “do you have any superhuman powers?”, they say “no”, I say “then forget about it”. Now, when I get some learners asking me “What is the best way to learn English in 1~6 months if I’m ready to put the long hours in?”, I ask “you mean the best way to learn speaking and writing (for me speaking includes listening and writing includes reading) in 1~6 months”?, they say “yes”, and then I ask another question “and by learning English, you mean want to be able to speak and write English in any situation or you just want to be able to make an order at a restaurant and write a short email to someone you know?”. Now, depending on how they answer that, my answer can either be “you’re dreaming” or “I think I can help you out there”.
The truth about learning English “fast”!
The best thing for any adult English learner to do first is have some realistic learning expectations, work out what you want to be able to do after say 6 months. Don’t let people take advantage of you just because you haven’t done enough research or because you’re just looking for shortcuts. Not all teachers are ethical, so don’t expect them to be honest with you and tell you, “hey, that won’t work, you need to study more, otherwise, you won’t get anywhere”, because most of them won’t. I’m personally known for being blunt and ridiculously honest, so when I (or the teachers working for me) do the SKYPE trial lessons, I simply say “no it won’t work, sorry”. What I usually say to my students (again, depending on what they want to achieve), if you’re not willing to at least spend 2 to 3 hours practicing, then please don’t waste my time and yours.
And the “fastest” way to learn English is…
Okay, now that I made it clear that there’s no “fast” way to “learn English” or “master English”, I can talk a little bit about what the “fastest” way to learn English is! There ain’t no magic. There ain’t no shortcuts. It’s hard work. You’ve got to immerse yourself into a completely new environment where you’re continuously surrounded by people speaking English. You’ve got to make the dictionary your “bible”, Koran or any other holy book you know (if you’re not religious, then it would be something like a “playboy” magazine, a comic book etc, you got the gist) and read, read and read until your eyes fall out of your skull (okay, that’s a bit too extreme). You’ve got to speak, repeat and record yourself so that you can listen to yourself, correct yourself and then repeat some more. You’ve got to start writing your diary and correcting yourself after doing your grammar homework online. Use “google” search bar as your teacher. Are you prepared to do all that? Well that is the “fastest”. But hey, it doesn’t have to be the “fastest”, it just has to work, so the important thing for you is to work out how much time you can dedicate for your English learning, and then spend that time using the activities I mentioned above.
That’s it. I said my piece. Like, Share or Comment. Start your writing practice here. I’m more than happy to correct. 🙂
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