
English is a beautiful language both to speak and learn. Besides, acquiring a new language is always a fun thing to do. But this does not mean that some lessons or topics may seem a bit heavy -hello, irregular verbs! -. Fortunately, there are multiple ways of making them less difficult and improving your skills, and you will find out all about them in this article!
Watching films and listening to music is a good way of improving pronunciation skills when learning English as a second language. Reading is great for acquiring new vocabulary, while writing is the best method to put that vocabulary into practice.
As interesting as learning English can seem, there will surely be some topics that will come across as tough to understand. If you are currently taking English lessons and you are looking for ways to improve your performance, this article is exactly what you need! Learn about different ways of complementing your lessons, and mastering the English language!
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Before jumping into different tips and tricks to improve your language skills, there are a couple of things you must always keep in mind. The first one is simple: the more methods you apply, the better. However, this does not mean that you have to do things you do not enjoy. And that is the second rule: enjoy them! They are adjustable, and you can personalize them to match your likings. That is actually the best thing about them!
Pronunciation in English differs from other languages at a great scale. It may even seem quite difficult to understand how to say some words you encounter. The best way to tackle this problem is to listen. But listening to recordings of people repeating a single word may be boring. Thus, we recur to films and music.
Watching films is a great method to acquire good pronunciation. Besides, it can also help you learn new vocabulary as you do it. If you consider yourself a movie or series fan, this can be of great help to you. As an additional thing, you can switch subtitles to be in English too. This way, you can match what they are saying with the words you read. It will help you understand different accents or expressions.
Listening to music is another great way of improving both vocabulary and pronunciation. To make this work at its best, look for the lyrics and follow the rhythm. After listening to the same song a couple of times, you can even try to sing it yourself while playing it! Try to understand what the song is about, and use a good online dictionary to look up words you do not know.
We nowadays live in a digital era where books, unfortunately, seem to be losing ground. Still, reading has never stopped to be the best way to acquire new vocabulary, grammar, and syntax skills. Reading a book is a fun and entertaining way of improving your English performance. However, if you do not consider yourself cut off for books, or you just do not like doing so, that is not a problem at all.
Taking advantage of this digital era, we now have access to infinite online content. Find a topic you are interested in and look for articles, blogs, forums, whatever written -and good quality- material you can find on that subject, and exploit it. By reading, you will find new words, constructions, and ways of expressing one’s opinion or experience. You can even choose an online newspaper section, and find out updates on your favorite hobby!
As a plus, if you are into writing, you can put those skills into practice. Ask your English teacher or any other English-speaking person to guide you, and learn from your own mistakes. This way, you will constantly be in touch with the English language, and learning and becoming an expert will be just a matter of time! What to write about? That is completely up to you!
This may sound a bit confusing, but it is by far the best way to master the English language. Being able to switch your mind to English is something that may take time to develop. However, once you do so, you will see that you will stop thinking of a word in your native language, translate it inside your mind, and then express it in English. You just skip all those steps and directly speak out your mind in English.
In order to think in English, you must submerge yourself into the language. Sounds like a tough thing to do? Well, actually, it is not. Think of all the English influences you co-exist with every day. Films, series, music, books, games, sports, and the list goes on and on! Try switching all of the things you consume to be in English, and start training your brain! If you feel you need help, ask for it. Your teacher or any other English-speaking person you may know will be glad to assist you.
These are different methods you can apply to improve your English performance. However, they are not the only ones. Have you ever tried any of them or even a different one? How did it go? Share your thoughts, and remember to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest tips and tricks to master the English language!