Make Progress In Learning English With These 8 Tips

After going to my first English course abroad, I realized that I need to change my language learning routine completely in order to get to an advanced level. During the trip, I understood how much my progress in learning English depends on being immersed in the language environment. To become advanced, I focused on re-creating this immersion in my day-to-day life back at home. Here are my tips and guidelines for those of you who want to start making actual progress in English learning.

Have a clear goal with a deadline

Being inspired is great to start something new, however, to keep doing it and stay on track towards your goal, you need to set yourself a clear time frame to achieve it. Your goal should be tangible: if we are speaking about language learning, it should be either a formal language level that can be measured by tests (check your English level right now with our online language proficiency test) or a new skill you want to acquire, e.g. understanding series in English without subtitles in your own language, reading books in English, or being able to communicate with native speakers confidently.

When you know what your goal is, think of all the steps you need to take to get there. Define the deadline by which you can realistically achieve it. Then, mark your weekly and daily activities in your calendar and regularly check whether you are learning fast enough to meet your deadline.

Getting there before the deadline is great, but if you feel that you may fail to meet the deadline, try to increase the time you dedicate to your studies. Remember: your deadline should be realistic and achievable, otherwise, you risk turning your interest in learning a language into a burden, leading to burnout without achieving your goals (I’ve talked about burnout and ways to deal with it in my previous article).

Make English part of your lifestyle

To get advanced in English, you don’t need to spend all your time with grammar books and exercises. Instead, you should make it a part of your daily routine, watching TV shows and films in English, following bloggers and media in English on social media, trying to communicate in English with others and with yourself, in a blog or diary.

Try to spend at least one hour a day on activities in English and you won’t even notice how easy it suddenly becomes to use the language.

To track your progress and guide you in your studies, use a textbook or two, or check up with a professional tutor. At LinguaTrip.com, we offer individual Skype lessons with professional tutors, and you can decide how often you want to catch up and what days and times suit you better. Check it out and give it a go: you can always start by booking just a single one-to-one lesson.

Fall in love with an English-speaker

You won’t hear this language learning advice often, however, being in love with someone who speaks English is a great motivation to work on your spoken and written language to better understand each other and spend more time together.

If there is no one and only on the horizon, try to fall in love with an influencer or a show. Then, you can follow them actively and feel way more motivated about learning English this way rather than with textbooks. Check out our hosts at English with LinguaTrip! YouTube channel: who knows, maybe your next crush is waiting for you just there!

Don’t worry about understanding every single word

When you read in English or watch a film, there will be words you may not know. However, you should not worry about running to the dictionary and translating every single word as long as you understand the whole phrases. You probably will be able to guess their meaning from context.

If you see the word often, check it out later and ensure that you’ve understood it correctly. With the dictionary aside, you will feel less stressed about understanding particular words and more focused on learning to comprehend language in general. Enjoy the process!

Pronunciation matters

Many students feel lazy about learning phonetics and checking pronunciation rules. However, it becomes very important to pronounce words correctly and understand what native speakers say when you advance in your language studies.

It’s much easier to learn correct pronunciation and phonetic rules at the beginning than to struggle with re-memorizing the words you’ve learned incorrectly after a year or two of studies.

Try talking to yourself or recording your speech and listening to it. It will help you to notice the mistakes in your pronunciation and work on your accent. Also, you can find a native-speaking teacher who will always be able to correct you and provide valuable feedback and advice.

At LinguaTrip.com, we offer one-to-one pronunciation correction Skype lessons with Joe. When you master your pronunciation, why not to work on your accent too? Check out our intensive online-course “Speak English Like an American”.

Follow English accounts in social media

I’m not talking only about language learning related accounts (though, you can always follow @LinguaTrip_com on Instagram). I propose you start following some mass media or themed accounts in English. For instance, if you are interested in fashion, you can follow British and American versions of popular fashion magazines as well as some fashion designers, stylists and bloggers. This way, you will combine your interest in fashion with daily English practice. Soon, it will feel natural.

Furthermore, if you follow accounts related to your professional activities, you will soon learn all the professional vocabulary and expressions you need to talk about work.

Don’t wait for the next level

It’s a common mistake of language students not to do some activities before reaching a certain level. For example, many students believe that they cannot read books, watch TV shows, or try to speak in English before they are at least at Upper-Intermediate level. That’s wrong.

Even when you are at an Elementary level, you can start speaking. Of course, you won’t be able to discuss modern art or global politics, however, you can talk about your family, friends and hobbies. And you should do it in order to develop your listening and speaking skills, work on your pronunciation, accent and confidence. The later you start, the more challenges you will face.

The same is true for reading: at a Pre-Intermediate level, you can easily read and understand children’s books. Check out adapted books for language learners, in case you hate children’s literature. At Intermediate and Upper-Intermediate levels, you can go for best-sellers and popular novels with confidence: usually, they have simple vocabulary and grammar structures so it’s really enjoyable to read them at this level. Reading will boost your vocabulary significantly and help you to easily memorize common expressions and idioms.

For writing, you can always start with diaries and journals, and then progress into running your social media accounts in English. If you are worried about writing with mistakes, check your texts on the fluent.express website.

Don’t be upset if you don’t see any progress straightaway

Firstly, there is no magical recipe which will help you go from 0 to Advanced level in a few weeks. Secondly, remember your goals when measuring your success. Track the progress with your ability to better understand shows or books, see how much your scoring at international language tests, or ask your tutor for the feedback.

As you need to get into the swimming pool to see whether you learned how to swim, so you need to dive into the language environment to see whether you’re making progress in your English studies. Only being in an English-speaking country, you can actually enjoy speaking in English, using the words and phrases you’ve learned, checking up on your listening skills, and comparing your accent with native speakers.

A great way to practice and boost English in a language environment is to go for a language course abroad. At LinguaTrip.com, you can choose from hundreds of schools all over the world and find the course that meets your personal requirements, no matter whether you want to learn academic English, business English, or focus on speaking and culture.

Summary

Learning language can seem to be an endless process if you do not set clear goals for yourself and do not start to measure your progress regularly. Set realistic deadlines to reach the next step, and check along the way whether you are doing enough to get there in time.

Make English a part of your daily routine and focus on practicing it rather than sprending long nights with textbooks and grammar exercises. Watch TV, read books and social media, and try writing and speaking in English. Do not wait too long before starting: begin working on all four language skills from the start and progress in all of them as you master your language command.

Follow my tips from this article and you will notice the progress in your English learning very soon.