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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