How I Taught Myself English as a Chinese Speaker — Tips on Learning English

Growing up in China I was ‘taught’ English since 3rd grade in primary school. Initially, I liked it very much. This was an entirely new way of expressing myself. Everything seemed novel and fun. My sister had been instrumental for kindling my interest in English, for she had been teaching me simple phrases long before I started learning English in school.

This novelty, however, did not last long. I remember in the third grade, I would usually get number one in the class (Chinese schools openly rank students by their scores). By the 4th grade, however, my English had dropped to top 10 or so and I had completely lost interest. There was no more singing and storytelling since the new teacher preferred grammar drills. Hours and hours we thus spent filling the blanks ad infinitum, memorising vocabulary by rote, and chanting mundane textbook dialogues. I distinctly recall hearing one of my classmates chant: “N-I-C-E, N-I-C-E, nice, nice, 美好的…” This was the only way how we acquired English vocabulary back then. The erstwhile exotic language has now turned into a boring chore, a source of frustration, and a burden to my GPA.

By the time I got to middle school, English had become my worst subject. I would get around 30 to 40 out of 120, merely by guessing the multiple-choice questions. Once my class adviser dragged me aside angrily and asked: “Your other subjects are good, but why don’t you study English!?” “I don’t like English.” I said bluntly. I probably got beaten up by that. Not sure. Just remember him telling me: “nobody only does what he likes.” High school was the same, except that I seriously began to think I “didn’t have language cells”.

Things changed for the better when I arrived in Seoul, South Korea after graduating high school in China in June 2012. I first enrolled myself in a Korean language school / university preparatory programme, where I encountered many English-speaking foreign classmates. It is here that my calcified interest in English began to slowly revive. I saw, for the first time, how English can actually be used in real life to communicate with these real people, as opposed to something merely to memorise for taking tests. Since my knowledge of Korean was non-existent, I found myself unable to communicate with other people except Chinese speakers. As such, I decided that I wanted to become fluent in English and started reviewing vocabulary flash cards every day.

Study like there was no tomorrow

In early summer 2013, however, my English studies suddenly became much more serious when I registered a TOEFL iBT test for August. Since I had to attend Korean classes every morning from 9am to 2pm, I would go to a coffee shop to study English in the afternoons. I researched extensively about the best methods of learning English, and languages in general, and experimented with many of them such as total physical response, spaced repetition, extensive reading, comprehensible input, speaking from day one, hiring a tutor, attending a cram school, watching YouTube videos and films, listening to podcasts and radio, doing language exchange, receiving Skype lessons, Rosetta Stone and various other software, and grammar exercise books… In addition to the mandatory Korean lessons in the mornings, I was putting 8 to 10 hours into studying English and drinking 2 to 3 cups of coffee every afternoon that my health was at risk. Occasionally I would skip the Korean lessons in the morning and study English instead. More than once my nose would bleed in the coffee shop restroom. When I had insomnia, I would go to these 24/7 coffee shops and study all night. My tutor told me to buy a book called Grammar in Use Basic and that this was the book we would use for the next a few months. When we met the following week, I had already finished the whole book and bought Grammar in Use Intermediate, Grammar in Use Advanced, Vocabulary in Use Intermediate, and Vocabulary in Use Advanced… In short, I was studying English like there was no tomorrow and the whole universe could not have stopped me from getting there, fast.

TOEFL iBT

After about 4 months of ultra-intensive study, I took the TOEFL iBT exam in August 2013 and got a score of 78 (B2). It was a fairly high score given the short period of study, but I wasn’t happy with it. I continued to study English thereafter, though with much less intensity. The Korean school threatened to kick me out for excessive absenteeism (We were allowed to miss up to 20% of the lectures, and I was aiming for 19–20% every semester), so I had to focus on studying Korean and getting into an undergrad programme in Seoul. In May 2014, a few months before my undergrad life began, I had another shot at TOEFL iBT and received a score of 96 (C1). Still not satisfied, in November 2015, before applying for an exchange programme to Europe, I took TOEFL iBT the third time and got 105. You’ve guessed it, I was still not satisfied. During the exam I was so nervous that I messed up a few very simple questions. For a while, I kept on whining that I could get above 110 or maybe even above115 if not for those careless mistakes. Just a few days ago, I registered for IELTS General exam for 29th September 2018. This will be my first time taking IELTS, we’ll see how it goes.

My TOEFL iBT Scores in 2014

My TOEFL iBT Scores in 2015

What I learnt:

• Traditional language courses are a waste of time and money, especially when they are bilingual. Teachers generally don’t know how to teach languages. I have never met a particularly effective language teacher. Many of my language teachers in the past were very diligent and patient, but still, attending their lectures was not as effective as self-study activities.
• If you absolutely want structured lessons, watch EngVid videos on YouTube or get Skype sessions on iTalki.
• Graded readers are gold. For English I would recommend Oxford Bookworm series. Buy the mobile apps, not physical books, so that you can listen to the audio narration while reading the text and quickly look up new words.
• I’m a huge advocate of extensive reading. I think once you reach a lower-intermediate level, you can start reading news articles, short stories, blog posts, Quora answers, sports updates, or anything that genuinely interests you. This way, you can accumulate vocabulary and absorb grammar very rapidly and without you noticing it.
• Buy a decent Monolingual Learner’s Dictionary mobile app. I would recommend Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, which contains both British and American English and uses the most frequent 3,000 words to explain over 185,000 entries.
• One stress-free and free-of-charge way of measuring your progress is to test your vocabulary here periodically.
• iTalki Skype sessions and local meetups are very helpful for improving speaking skills.
• Utilise podcasts that provide you with transcripts to practise your listening.
• Watching films with or without subtitles is more of a recreational activity than serious learning. You would make much more rapid progress doing something more intensive.
• I have mixed feelings about spaced repetition apps. I think they can be useful in the early stages.
• Don’t go into grammar too early. Wait until you are at an intermediate level and then do a grammar exercise book or two.
• Get used to ignoring things you don’t understand. Being comfortable with ambiguity and vagueness is extremely important. The key is to keep moving. Make sure you understand 80% of what you hear and read, and just move on. You’ll eventually pick up the remaining 20%.
• Learn some common expressions (such as “Great!”, “I’m going to [do something]”, “Up to you.”) at the beginning to get you start speaking. When you are at an intermediate level later, pay attention to what expressions you are overusing and deliberately replace them with more sophisticated ones.
• Never apologise for your bad English. Don’t repeatedly ask native speakers to correct you either. It’s awkward. Just try your best expressing yourself. Nobody is going to be offended by your bad English. And people will correct you when they see fit.
• Whenever you think of something or encounter something, look up how to say that in English.
• Talk to yourself in English when you are alone.
• The most useful advice I was ever given on learning English (or any language for that matter) was from a YouTube video, in which the YouTuber said something to the effect of:

If you want to become fluent in English, you have to pretend that you already are. Live your life as you would if you were an English native speaker. Whatever activities you do daily, do them in English.

To make language learning much faster and more enjoyable. I created this incredible tool called LingoDream. While reading any text, LingoDream allows you to click or select any word or expression for multiple dictionary definitions, images, Wikipedia entries, translations, and audio pronunciations. To learn more about LingoDream, you can visit our official website or check out this other blog post I wrote. Subscribe to our free newsletter to get more free and valuable tips on learning foreign languages.