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

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