What are some good tips for those who want to begin their English language journey?😀
20 answers from our tutors
Best answer
The best way to start new languages for me was to watch series with subtitles or listen to podcasts! Then someone should teach you the basic theory and give you access to vocabulary. When you have those basics and then practice with native speakers, you reached your goal.
- Robert PickacardRobert Pickacard Certified English Teacher / Professional Magician
Obviously your best bet is to book English lessons with me! LOL! No seriously, I think your first steps are isolating key words while you are listening to a movie or podcast. Listen to something that interests you. Next step is pronunciation and phonics because in a language such as English there are many homophones eg: flower and flour or even worse hour and our! I would not put too much stress on grammar at first. As a teacher I explain grammar when the need arises.
Start watching English tv with the subtitles of your native tongue enabled. This will help your subconscious mind to recognise English words more frequently when learning.
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The alphabet is the place to start, next you can learn phonetics, (the sounds that letters make when combined with other letters), and listen to as much English as possible so that you can get familiar with the new sounds and are able to identify them easily. (this is important, even if you do not understand everything, at the start, it will just sound like noise, it will become identifiable over time). Basic sentence structure, grammar, and vocabulary are also important.
- GavinBA Hons IT & Spanish language, TEFL, CELTA
The best way to learn English is to live/ spend time in an English Speaking country. If that’s not possible; watch your favourite 😍 movies & programs in English with your own language subtitles. Buy & read an English newspaper 🗞 ie Daily Mail, Mirror or Times. Listen to English radio, BBC world service for example x
Start by learning the English alphabets , once you know the alphabets it becomes easy to read. Phonics are the best practice, break up the words and sound it out. Having knowledge of the English alphabets makes the journey easier.
- Before you start , you have to set your objectives. Am I am learning English for business purpose, for conversations, for travelling, health purposes,etc - Based on your objectives ,you will know what exactly to focus on. You can start by watching health related videos in English etc. - Read lot of articles and stories - Learn new volcabularies - Daily conversations in English. Make use of the volcabularies you l
The first tip if you want to learn a language, not only English is that,try to understand the meaning of the words used,for example if you love songs, get the favourite songs in English, listen to the lyrics, know what they mean and therefore try to speak them out.Another way is by watching English movies or podcasts. It is always very easy to understand a language by watching the real pictures or the videos. After that you can ask the native speakers some questions and you are good to go.
My favourite activity that is really a journey into the English language is to subscribe to a very serious website where you can exchange languages. You found so many people that wants to learn your language in exchange with English. I don't know if I can tell the name of the best site with this exchanges All is completely free! feel free to message me I will give you more details!
- John Kenmuir(AKA John Connor) Cambridge certified teacher since 1998, former IELTS speaking examiner
Decide where you want to go or who you're going to be speaking to. English can be different from culture to culture (say, England, Australia and Canada). We use different idioms and different colloqualisms, different spelling and different accents. Knowing this will help you to focus.
Create good habits like reading and listening to English every day.
