I Don’t Regret Learning English, But Here’s What I’d Do Differently

Hi there,

Today I’m so excited to talk about a subject that is important to every learner: to assess the progress and what to do, change or keep to get the most of our efforts.

I’ve been learning English since July 2015, and I’ve caught myself wondering about my journey so far, then I had an idea to list what I would do differently and what I would keep.

So, let’s dive into it!

What would I do differently?

1.Doing my Anki more interactive

I’m a big fan of Anki, and I’m used to adding all my cards on my own. When I come across unknown words and expressions, or rather expressions that I want to use in my daily life I add them to my Anki. Over time, I could notice that my Anki was monotonous, it was just a sentence with the unknown word/expression in bold in the front, and the meaning, phonetic transcription, and my voice audio recorded in the back. So, after reading articles about how to get the most of Anki, and seeing Alejandra and Dan’s quizzes (my RealLifer friends) I realized I should do something like that on my Anki to let it more dynamic. So, I started adding pictures, gifs, and asking questions for quizzing myself through fill-in-the-blank cards.

I could notice that I catch words faster, and it sticks to my mind easier.

2. Being more focus on what I’m listening, reading, and watching.

Better focus better learning.

When I’m about to reading, watching, and listening to something, I make a kind of mental “pre-workout” saying: Awww yeahhh, now, it’s time to improve your English. Pay attention to all expressions, pronunciation, and content that people are saying.

Throughout the video or audio, during some minutes (as much as I’m concentrated), I subvocalize what the speaker is saying. It’s a sort of shadowing technique. This experience is tiring but pays off because when we subvocalize words and expressions, our brain somehow recognizes them later on.

I could notice that words pop in my head faster.

3. Don’t translate at all

It’s kind of old-fashioned advice or cliche, but if you want to make your progress boost, you should avoid it. Of course, in the beginning, is hard don’t translate, as adults, we tend to associate the unknown word with something that we already know, however it slows down the process of learning. You’ll spend more time to recall and produce what you want to say.

After a while, we already have a basic vocabulary but the laziness catch with us and holds us back, making us rely on bilingual dictionary or google translate.

So, what I would do differently is to learn to say thing the way native speakers are used to say. I mean using structures, accurate verbs, phrasal verbs, and so.

4. Focus on verbs rather than adjectives

I started following this advice after reading the Lemon Grad Blog. Before I used to focus on adjectives, I thought that saying things in different ways could be better although using appropriate verbs sounds much better.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Who never used “do” and “make” for many occasions. Sure, people will understand you, but you don’t want to sound rubbish, don’t you?

5. Practicing (the more the merrier)

Shadowing Shadowing Shadowing

Mimic mimic mimic

Speaking Speaking Speaking

Practice Practice Practice

“Practice makes perfect” is a famous and true saying.

I’m still fighting with this activity. It takes time, effort, and to get it worse, sometimes it’s boring, yet it’s worth it. I say it for myself. I could notice my improvement, nevertheless, I don’t put my heart into it.

6. Teaching role play

Teaching any subject to ourselves is good for both to enhance the English speaking skill and to stick the subject to our mind. It’s easier to recall it later on when it’s required. So, we’ll kill two birds with one stone: unleash the language power and keep the content in mind.

What would I keep?

1. Doing my Anki every day

Anki is a flashcard program that helps to recall and retain information in the brain. It helps to learn new words, expressions, vocabulary, phrasal verbs, pronunciation, and whatever you are interested in.

It affects directly all English skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

How To Use Anki Cards to Learn English Effectively

Do’s and Don’ts about ANKI to Spark your English

2. Having private lessons with a native a teacher

Justin from RealLife Podcast once said that we can learn English by ourselves e communicate with others, however at some point, in order to polish our English we’re going to need a native teacher. I totally agree with him.

I’ve been having classes on Italki since July 2018. I could learn a lot, not just grammar, but especially the natural way of saying things. I mean how to sound cool and all. Most of the time, we’ll be able to be understood, even not using the appropriate verbs or words. But when you have classes with a native, the teacher points out how they say it naturally, rather than the way we are used to say.

3. Immersion

This is the core of any language learning. Do you want to learn fast? So, let your laziness aside and prepare for the hard work. How can you learn something fast, if you keep in touch with that just once and a while?

Immersion is the key to the success. So, you should surround yourself with English: on your phone, computer, agenda, car, TV, radio station. Exposure yourself as much as you can.

From now, you can’t understand your native language, so you only understand English (haha). Whatever you do, do it in English. On writing: to-do lists, journals, supermarket list, reminders. On speaking: talk to yourself how was your day; what catches your attention; what you liked or disliked; repeat what you learned from books, blogs, shows, podcasts, and so; record audio journals on your phone, send a voice message to your friends (who are also learning the language); rehearse a song. On listening: watch/listen to TV shows, videos, podcasts, lectures, songs just in English. On reading: the same, English English English

4. Find your tribe

Find people how are also interested in learning English, one helps the other. It’s easier to keep on track when you find people who are in the same boat. You share your learning process, warts and all. then you motivate each other.

I hope you liked the post.

If it was helpful, please share with your friends.

I’d love to hear from you. Let me a comment saying what would you do differently if you’d start learning English today.