1. Read
Read always. I would dare to say the key to expanding our vocabulary is to read. Keep a book with you anywhere you go! I find myself often forgetting bringing a book in my purse, and loosing valuable reading moments, for example at the local coffee shop, or in any 'waiting situation'. Anyone who have taken the tube/metro in London or Berlin, would have noticed how many are reading while commuting. Excellent way of killing time!Nowadays with E-readers, all has also become much easier. We can read any book we want, anytime, anywhere.
If you are not a book-lover, reading online is of course a good option. My husband has an excellent English almost without reading books. But he do read an excessive amount online, for example blogs, forums, including what is work-related. Follow your interests, and read, read, read!
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| This is my to-go book at the moment |
2. Listen
I am somehow divided in my view on how much TV, tv-series, and movies improve our English. On the one hand, they obviously do. If you're streaming an American tv-serie, without subtitles, of course we improve our listening skills. I just want to point out, that at the moment there is subtitles in your first language, what we
listen is drastically diminished. Even trying not to, we will automatically get drawn to the subtitles. Try to watch with no subtitles, or with subtitles in English. (I'm focused on English here, but this applies for any language.)
The real challenge, and the best way to improve our listening skills is to listen to the radio, or to pod-casts. With these medias we don't get carried away with pictures/the movie, and neither are there subtitles. I can not say clear enough how much I recommend listening to programs on the radio, or podcast over specific themes.Try the App 'Umano'. It offers you short speeches over various themes, from renown newpapers as 'New York Times' and from 'Forbes', but also over more coloquial themes as 'Health and Diet'.
Have I mentioned music? Once again I'll be a bore, because I also don't think music is the best way of learning a new language. On the one hand, it does get you interested in a language. And it is a fun way to learn, to searching for the meaning behind the lyrics. But even though I love music, my point is that is not the most effective way to improve our listening skills! Because in very many cases lyrics either are poetic, full of slang, and might even be incomprehensible for someone who has this language as their first language! Continue to watch TV, and listen to music, anything that gets us motivated and emerged into a language is always welcome. But remember, focused listening, as it is listening to podcasts or some radio programs, will for sure improve your listening skills the most.
3. Talk
'Be not afraid'. Please, my dear readers and students, just talk! I find there are few people who don't appreciate our effort to try to learn their language. Even though it can be a test of patience for our listener(s), while we struggle to be understood, people usually feel happy knowing that someone is trying to speak their language.
On the other hand, I tend to find people that don't try to speak a language, especially when I know they have some skills, uninterested in what is happening, or worse, uninterested in me. I might even find them arrogant. There is a fine line between arrogance, or to be shy/proud. But often unwillingness appears as arrogance, as if the person is not bothered to have a conversation.
And another thing, if embarrassment keep you from speaking up in business meeting, let's say with your American bosses, picture the opposite: What it is probable that these Americans would think about a group of mute employees? My guess is that they will assume that no one is understanding what they are saying, and hence are not responding and participating in the conversation. So then we must calculate the risk, is it worse that your bosses hears a few grammatical mistakes, or a foreign accent? Or is it worse that they think you didn't understand anything of what happened?
4. Structure your grammar training.
Find a routine that works for you, and stick with it. If every Tuesday, after dinner, is a fine time for you to do a 30 minute grammar training, keep on with it. If there is something that motivates you, a grammar book you like, a web page with exercises, or an application used on tablets/smart phones, be sure to open / enter it as often as possible. But do not let your grammar studies fall into chance, or wait for the moment to be inspired. Grammar is like going to the gym, if there is no routine, there most likely is no gain.
Good luck with learning new languages!
