Why is Learning English so Important today?
Although learning English can be challenging and time-consuming, it is also very valuable to learn and can create many opportunities!
English is the language of science, of aviation, computers, diplomacy, and tourism. Knowing English increases your chances of getting a good job in a multinational company within your home country or especially abroad. It’s also the language of international communication, the media and the internet, so learning English is important for socialising and entertainment as well as for work and education!
An estimated 600 million people use the internet every day, and an estimated 52% of the world’s most visited websites are displayed in the English language. This an amazing figure when you consider that there are roughly 6500 spoken languages in the world today.
Learning English is important as it gives you access to over half the content on the internet. Knowing how to read English will allow you access to billions of pages of information that may not be otherwise available!
But how do we make the learning of English easier, how can we make the time spent studying more productive, and make the overall process quicker and more fruitful? Below are some suggestions about how to approach the study of English, and whilst they may not all be suitable for everyone, I know that these suggestions will help all learners in one form or another.
Make Studying English A Daily Habit
Our best results come from good habits. When you learn a language, you make progress in small steps. You can “speed up” this progress by studying or learning at regular times.
1. Study when your brain is at its best
If you’re a “morning person”, try to fit in English during the morning by getting up 30-40 minutes earlier. If you’re a “night person” then you process information better during the late evening, and could maybe study before going to bed.
The important thing is to schedule regular times for when your brain feels at its best.
2. Study for short periods of time
10-15 minutes of concentration is good, while 20-30 minutes is even better. You can even set an alarm on your smartphone to ring after a pre-determined time. The important thing is to keep this time focussed so you make the best use of every minute.
3. Reward yourself
Hopefully, you enjoy studying because you can see your progress, but don’t forget to reward yourself with something you like to celebrate specific achievements.
When you give yourself a reward, you associate studying and achieving with success and happiness. It’s a little “mind” trick that is very effective for long-term goals, as it keeps you moving and motivated!
Your reward can be anything… a piece of chocolate, a glass of wine, a walk in the sunshine… You know what works best for you.
Study with others
Most challenges in life are easier when you have someone else with you – and learning English is no different. Here are three reasons why…
1. You have someone familiar to practise with
When you practise speaking with a friend, you feel less embarrassed than if you speak to people you don’t know. You’re also practising listening – another important language skill.
Speaking and listening like this help you anticipate and process English in different situations, which will make it easier for you when you speak with people you don’t know.
2. Accountability and motivation
When you study with other people who share similar goals to you, then they all want you to do well and to improve, and you all watch and support each other! This means you are “accountable” to them – as well as to yourself, and this provides great motivation.
When you have accountability, it can also help you become more motivated. It’s more difficult for you to find excuses for not studying your English. You don’t want to disappoint your friends so you do the work.
3. Get feedback
It’s very difficult to do something again and again if you never get feedback on how you’re doing. When you study or learn with a friend, you can ask questions, or ask them for comments. Maybe there’s something that you always pronounce wrong or a word that you always misuse.
Feedback helps you improve and stops you from feeling isolated.
Be Mindful And Active
When you schedule time for yourself to study English, make sure you’re making the most of this time, especially if you’re a busy person and you want to see results quickly. Here are four ways you can use your time in the best ways…
1. Be active when you study
You might love games and English songs, but only doing these sorts of activities won’t help you. Choose activities that push you, and test you and allow you to learn new things.
Related to this is to listen actively. Don’t watch or listen to English while you’re doing something else. Concentrate on the "English" with ALL your senses and you’ll learn much more.
2. Be intelligent
If you do a grammar or vocabulary exercise and only get 6 / 10, go back and look at the question again. Do you know why you made the mistake? If you do the exercise again, will you get 10 / 10?
Mistakes are a really important part of learning a language, as they help us test what we know. When we get something wrong, it’s a good idea to analyse why so that we don’t make the same mistake again.
3. Apply what you have learned
When you learn a new word or phrase, try to use it as soon as you can. You might make a mistake, that's ok, it's part of learning, but if you don’t use it, you’ll probably forget it.
For new grammar or vocabulary, it’s a good idea to write down an example sentence of your own with the new word, then try to use it as soon as possible. If you can’t do this, at least “review” the new word and sentence the next day, the next week, the next month, and so on.
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4. Set small goals
Some goals, like learning English, are quite big goals – and they often don’t have clear results, so to stay motivated, break up this larger goal into smaller, easier goals. For example:
Goal 1
Be able to order a meal in English
Goal 2
Write an email of enquiry without making mistakes
Goal 3
Talk to a colleague about their weekend without a lot of hesitation
Have a Clear Mindset
You and the way you think are the reason that you either succeed or fail. We all know that some people have a more difficult life, with fewer resources, but very often, it isn’t a lack of money to buy courses or textbooks that stops people from learning English. On the other hand, when people want to succeed, they do because they find a way – whether they have resources or not.
Here are some mindset tips that will help you succeed – whatever your personal circumstances:
1. English is a journey
Don’t give up before you even start. Every step you make will help. Even small “baby steps” are better than no step at all. Remember to be consistent, and you will make progress.
2. Understand your “why”
When you know why you want to learn English, everything becomes easier. It’s easier to keep going when there’s a reason – whether that reason is for studying, career progression, or just making new friends.
3. Believe in yourself
You can do this! You can speak your first language, so you can speak another one. When things get tough, take a moment to look back at where you started, and how far you have already come. You’ll be amazed at the progress you’ve already made!
Taking Shortcuts
Languages are systems for communication, and like all systems, there are easier and shorter ways to do some things.
When you can find shortcuts, you take less time to do or understand something. Here are a few examples of what I mean:
1. Learn fluency phrases rather than individual words
Fluency phrases (like collocations, idioms, or phrasal verbs) are easier to learn and remember because the words go together naturally. All you need to do is add the details to build sentences. It’s much easier and quicker to learn a phrase or collocations than learning each word separately.
2. Understand “aspect” for tense choice
Here’s a quick example. We use the “continuous” aspect to talk about temporary things. So in the present continuous tense, these are temporary things happening now. In the past continuous, these are temporary things that were happening around a time in the past.
There are similar rules for the perfect and simple aspects. Learn how to use these, and the tense choices become much simpler.
3. Look for, and identify patterns in the rules
Here’s an example. The modal auxiliary “can” is followed by the infinitive without “to”. Because “will”,” must” and “may” are also modal auxiliaries, they’re also followed by the infinitive without “to”. You don’t need to learn the rules each time you learn the meaning of a modal auxiliary!
4. “Good enough” is better than “perfect”
For many situations, you won’t need to be perfect. Being good enough is fine. Don’t let an obsession with perfection stop you from finishing an email or making a phone call!
Well, I hope that you enjoyed this article and that it has offered you some ideas about how to make learning English easier.
Good luck, and good studying.
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