The Modest Proposal for Learning English

Hi guys,

I’m gonna talk to you about the self-directed English learning and give you some proposals.

 

    When you try to speak English, you are so afraid to say more than 3 words and then you go back to your comfort zone – to your own language. At the moment you cannot say anything longer than “my name is …” You are such a shy person that you can't have enough confidence in your English skills. You don’t trust your English competence, even yourself. You can ignore this if you live in a world where English is not essential. But without English you will miss the chance to communicate with lots of exciting people. You will also lose job opportunities, professional development, promotion etc.

 

    I’m sure you know the reasons why you should learn English and I know well how you feel, because of my own experiences with my learning and teaching English. I also know I can't change your mind. I hate it when people go on at me and put pressure on me to change my mind, my ideas, and myself. How can I persuade you to change your mind? No one can change you – except yourself. However, I will do one of the best or the worst things in my life, which I hate most – only time will tell. I will make some proposals for learning a new language. This is about what you should do to improve your English competence.

 

Hello Guys, again!

If you’re reading - What do you think I need to do to make me do more English?

 

Here are some ideas

 

    I am reading a lot. I am listening a lot. I start to write and speak. I want to talk to you, I want to communicate with you in English like native people. So I try to listen and speak as much as possible. It’s a lot of fun. The more I do it the better it is. I can do it in my own way. It is totally my responsibility. Anything and everything I do with English. English is good and funny and I just enjoy learning and practicing it. I don’t worry anymore about the best way of my own learning English. I don’t plan to make a great research on the self-directed language learning. I just start even if it is not perfect. I read, listen, and speak. I decide not to be afraid of making mistakes. It’s just fun. I believe I will make progress.

 

    Please do anything. Just start and do a little bit per day. At first, it may not be enough, but don’t try to do too many things in a day. Just 10 minutes of reading or listening to a podcast, or a YouTube video per day. If you don’t like it, just stop after 10 minutes. If it’s not too bad, keep going for a bit more. Just try to understand what’s being said. That’s it – no pressure, and you have got so many choices to do for your English.

 

    Don’t be shy and don’t be afraid of making mistakes. Breath and relax and give it a try. The worst thing you can do is to say nothing and do nothing because of worrying about it. If you don’t try to do something, it will be one of the worst mistakes that you have done in your life. Do it now. Don’t delay it until tomorrow because tomorrow doesn’t exist in language learning, there is only now. Even if you’re on your own, speak some English to yourself. Just do it. Just do speak something anytime you want.

 

    You, sometimes, need to stretch out with your feelings and then you can feel English. Let English flow through your mouth. Don’t worry about making mistakes, looking stupid, even when speaking to yourself and smiling at your own mistakes. No one really cares about it much. No one is judging you as much as you judge yourself. Every day, millions of people are experiencing exactly the same feeling like you, in exactly the same situation. Don’t be harsh on yourself. You are not so different from other people. You just need a break and you just need a bit more years to practice.

 

    Anyone can learn English, so you can learn English, too. The only thing that can stop you is yourself. You feel like an idiot when you try to speak another language. When we start to learn a new language, we only can’t express ourselves clearly, but also can’t make the right sounds. However, any native speaker will not think we are idiots. Instead, they will appreciate our efforts to learn the language. If someone judges you, criticizes you because of your mistakes, or your mispronunciation, it’s not your fault, but their fault. It means they are a loser, who’s not worth worrying about.

 

    When you speak English it feels like you get out of control, so you feel like coming back to your comfort zone – to your own language. Don’t do that. Sometimes we need to be out of our comfort zone and get out of control. Getting out of control is one of the most fun things. People love getting out of control sometimes, so they are drinking, singing, dancing, and going crazy to something they like, etc.

 

    Likewise, you can enjoy the feeling of danger and excitement in making mispronunciation, making grammatical errors, and often misunderstanding with English. You don’t have to be brilliant at the start. Be an idiot at the start, it's incredibly fun! Anyway, you’re not that idiot. You are fine. So you need to get out of your comfort zone and take a risk with your English. Open your mouth and say anything, and then you’ll be immediately upgraded from ‘nothing’ to ‘something’. It feels great. Immediate level up!

 

    I think that my English is not good enough and I often feel awful about it especially when I speak it – I know how you feel! But I can tell you clearly, when I do open my mouth and say a few things I feel much better than before. And when I don’t do anything because of the possibility of making mistakes and looking stupid, I regret it. I know that there would be no improvement without giving it a try. The only cure for this situation is to just practice, practice, and practice again.

 

   So this is my ideas, or my  proposals for learning English every day. Thanks for reading and I promise to write to you again soon. Bye…

 

May the god of English language be with you!

 

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