Tips on Learning English (good bye textbook)

Speaking of learning English, I have always enjoyed it. As an English Literature student, I am more used to using English and I learn so many new things here. As all of my friends now entering college, some of them frequently ask me "How to mastering English?' or maybe "Can you tell me some tips to achieve high proficiency in English?" Yeah, as we know, English now is very important skill, it is more to a basic skill to "survive" in college, if I can say haha. All the materials, journal articles, books, all of that mostly are in English, which is why an English good skill is required. To be honest, I was not really doing "hard" or "good job" in English. The thing that always makes me want to learn more is just simply I like it and yeah, just my daily dose to be exposed and using English as an Eng lit student. Soo, here I am going to share my tips on achieving good skill in English, even though I am not an expert (yet) but I hope this can help.

1. Find your interest.

Honest speaking, the very first what makes me really into English is just I love listening to music, and my favorite singer is Justin Bieber and One Direction. I just simply like to listen to their songs all the times, then I got curious on the lyrics, I am starting to translate it to Indonesian and yeay we learn some new vocabularies. Your interest hasn't to be always everything about English. For example, if you enjoy to watching Korean or Chinese drama, you can start to use an English subtitle. I know it would be hard at first, but I believe you will just get used to it and gradually your English will improve too! By watching or listening we can also learn how the word pronounce and when is the right time or context to use the word. Just apply English little by little to something that you really like, don't just do the English textbook all the time. Me, also can't resist to learn grammar and all of that by book...ugh.

2. Just talk! 

Of course, me, myself, have watched a lot of tips videos on YouTube on how to develop a good English skill...and yeah..most of them will always be something like “find a friend who speaks English” even Rich Brian I think he also suggested that too. Well, I agree, just use your English, like, every day. The key to mastering a language is just that you need to get used to it, so, you need to always use it regularly, or you just gonna forget it. But, one tip from me, it is not always that you have to talk to a native, you can simply start talking to yourself, in the mirror maybe, or just some random things you want to say, just try to use English. I promise, it is one of my ways to improve my speaking skill. You can also communicate with the google assistant on your phone haha. It really helps me a lot.

3. What about my grammar?

Yes, this is the most crucial thing ever in learning English. Even now, I am still struggling in dealing with this form. Grammar is definitely essential, but don’t be into grammar too much. It doesn’t matter to speak in the wrong order, just embrace it. Remember that what's important in communicating is we can transfer what our message and the recipient gets what we intend to say. It is always not fun when it comes to learning English we always are served with 16 English tenses. We are focusing too much on the rules and it is all just a waste if we don’t know when is the right time to use it. Therefore, I am suggesting that you learn English first by every show you like. You will gain the right context to use each tense in a sentence. Then later, you can just reflect it back to the 16 tenses and yeay a new tense rule unlocked!

I would say that is all for the tips. Maybe these three ways will not be suitable for everyone since we have our own way of learning. But still, the thing that I want to highlight is don’t focus on textbooks too much, start from the simplest things, insert English bit by bit to your everyday life, and you will get used to it, and then of course, become an English master!