Learning English? Take Their Advice! (Bonus Episode)

A podcast for English learners!  Improve your listening skills, practice your pronunciation, learn new vocabulary!      

As most people have either just gone back to school or are preparing to go back, or are now thinking about starting new courses, this bonus episode brings together all the advice on learning English given by my guests so far!      

Presenter = Sam  @_emaileng (Twitter, IG),  @emaileng (TikTok)      

Music = "Baby Bloodheart" by Mara Carlyle   @MaraCarlyle    www.maracarlyle.bandcamp.com      

Artwork = Penny Rossano  @pennyrossanomusicart (IG)   www.pennyrossanoillustrations.com 

Transcript

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EPISODE 24 = LEARNING ENGLISH?    TAKE THEIR ADVICE!   (BONUS EPISODE)

Hello! And welcome to Chat ENG, a podcast where people chat about how they learn and use English. My name is Sam, I’m a CELTA teacher and a performer, and I have a particular interest in pronunciation and expression.   

In each episode, non-native and native speakers will chat about their experiences with English, share their advice and, at the end, I’ll give some pronunciation tips for you to take away and practice.  

So – ready?  Let’s get Chat ENG!

Hello!  It’s just me again!  I’m currently taking a short break before recording more Chat ENG episodes, so I thought it would be fun to put together the advice given by all of my guests so far!  We all have our thoughts on the best ways to learn English, and many of them are similar … but each of the 22 perspectives comes from personal experience, which I think is very valuable! 

So – here we go!  We begin with advice about being brave…

Ann (Ep.1 – Mouth, Meet Tongue!)

I would say, first and foremost, that never to be embarrassed about trying.  I have so much admiration for language learners - when I’ve talked to people who are really at the beginning stages of their English learning, I am so impressed about their courage to give them a give it a try -  so I would say keep on trying, never have any fear.. keep on making those mistakes because, from an English speaker’s ear, I don’t mind hearing those mistakes!

Jochen (Ep.6 – I Didn’t Say Now!)

Well it depends, I mean - if you want to learn English for social purposes, just use it, right?  We always make mistakes, but that should never stop us from actually learning it and again there are so many opportunities nowadays, whether it’s YouTube, Netflix, HBO - stop watching TV Shows or series in your own language but use the original English language, read books in English, but again just use it.  
 

Ling (Ep.18 – Ship or Sheep?)

To me, basically, just speak it. I... if you have any chance to use it, just use it because I think in the end language is just a means to interact, to communicate, to express your thoughts. I personally don't really care how fancy or fluffy words you use... it's more about the main core message that you are conveying, so... But I know that I have observed, as well, so many language learners, they are very conscious...they don't want to make any mistakes, and so they kind of hinder themselves, (Hmm.) which I think is not so healthy. I mean, of course, we can try to perfect as much as possible, but what is perfect in the end?

Risto & Carolina (Ep.22 – Reduce Your Rolled ‘R’s!)

Risto

Not to be ashamed of their skills – like, just… it’s okay – like, even if I was horrible horrible at English, I could say “give me drink” like, you would understand that the guy needs a drink!  Maybe it’s also that you are not comfortable talking in public or you’re not comfortable talking in general, but if you’re going to… if you want to learn your English and get more familiar with the talking part, you kind of have to talk!

Carolina

Just like for whoever needs to practice English - just do it, you know! You don’t have to be perfect - if people can just like… if people can understand you, you’re making your point and people “okay this is it” it’s fine, you will refine it with time but it will better if you don’t try it, you know?

Tina (Ep.8 – I Ain’t Got None, You Know!)

I would say the more you use the language, the easier it is to learn the language… and be brave, because I notice a lot of times people are quite scared to speak a language that they’re only just starting to learn, or even if they’re very very good at the language but they don’t assess themselves to be, and I think our self-assessment is lower than our actual abilities a lot of the time, so I would say just be brave - what’s the worst that’s going to happen? I mean, what’s the worst?

My thanks to Ann, Jochen, Ling, Risto & Carolina, and Tina!

Next – what about immersing yourself in the language?

Ulla (Ep.15 – Quite, Quite or Quite?)

I would say that find your way of learning. Immerse yourself in the language, I mean - I went to Stockholm when I was studying and … I wanted to learn Swedish. I had a good basis in grammar and vocabulary but I was afraid of reacting, didn’t really know what to say - it took me years to construct a sentence.. if somebody asked me “so, what time is it?” and I was all ‘Oh!’ panic… panic at that point, but I went to work with elderly people, because I thought that they wouldn’t speak much English to me, and it did help, it was fantastic.

Anna (Ep.4 – How Many Beats?)

I guess the best advice that I can give is to just try to find your way to get into this English speaking environment – so, for me, that was really the best thing, you know, or the thing that worked the best for me, so when I actually got into this environment, where everybody was using English, where I had to read in English, listen to people speaking English and actively speak in English myself, then I really felt the progress…like, you don’t necessarily have to go to America or to the UK to do it – if you just, I don’t know, go to, like, an immersive language course or go to a summer camp or something like that or you know… 

Stefan (Ep.17 – Try Not To Say “Er…”)

There are a couple of things, and they've probably already been said in your podcasts already, but like finding a buddy is really, really important - finding someone that will, like, speak to you in that language and force you to speak that language. If you live with someone that speaks that language, even better, I think that's the quickest way to learn a language. (Yeah).  

Claire (Ep.7 – That Thing There…)

To have any kind of opportunity to speak English and don’t be ashamed to speak - it’s better to make some mistakes than don’t speak at all. Watching movies, watching TV in English I think it’s very useful as well - even radio sometimes even though you don’t catch every word but, you know, it’s like a ‘sound bath’ for me, it’s very important… yeah, really! 

My thanks to Ulla, Anna, Stefan and Claire!

Then – how reading is a great way to improve your English…

Jeff (Ep.3 – Confident Endings!)

Read high quality fiction, I would always say – if you really want to learn English, you need to read great literature, I always think – your Dickens, your George Eliot or whatever.  If you really want to be good at English or… I mean, Modernist fiction not so much… something like Mervyn Peake or something … dense, difficult English… Tolkein … you know, read long stories and narratives.

Marlene (Ep.21 – In or On the Internet?)

Mostly just expose yourself to English in any way, like everything you do – do it in that language, so watch videos and movies, or read books – I think books are really good resource for that as well, and one thing that helped me there was reading e-books on an e-reader, because you can then directly translate the words - usually they have translators inbuilt - so it’s not extra effort to translate it on a phone or something, but directly in the e-book. 

Heather (Ep.5 – Tomato or Tomato?)

I would say just read. Something that I found really helpful in my own language studies of non-English languages is reading children’s books. The first book I read in French was Harry Potter, and I was an adult but, like, the sentence structures were more simple, the vocabulary less complex, but that was, like, something that was helpful for me.

Niina (Ep.19 – Put On or Put Off?)

At least for me, like, expanding my vocabulary has been easier when I read English books. So, like, English literature really helps in, like, you don't have to check every word from the dictionary but it really, sort of, gives you words that you never use in your everyday language, so I find that really helpful.

My thanks to Jeff, Marlene, Heather and Niina there!

So, following on - there was some very helpful advice about speaking and listening from English Language teachers Jane, Paddy, Fabi and Lars, and great writing advice from copy editor Laurence:

Jane (Ep.12 – Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezy!)

Well, I think… the top piece of advice I think would be passion and discipline because… learning a language – it’s a lot of hard work and it doesn’t happen by chance, you really have to.. and it’s basically, well I think what my dad passed on to us … it’s, you know, that kind of obsession with the right word or how could you say this to express what you want to say – and it doesn’t just apply to English, it applies to all languages…

Paddy (Ep.14 – Now or No?)

So, get as much practice in real context as you can - you know, if you need to go and get something done, try not to just rely on your, kind of, pointing and your body language and things like that, you know, learn what you need to say to ask the question that you need, because the feeling of achievement afterwards is great, and it really helps you remember that sort of stuff…

Fabi (Ep.10 – I’m Gonna Sing Along!)

Okay - top piece of advice is try and do something every day - five minutes, it doesn’t have to be a full hour, so … and try and have fun with it, try and find things that you’re passionate about and just enjoy doing, yeah, and last thing - try and find someone to speak English to - it can be a teacher, ideally, or even your mum or your best friend - even if they’re not native speakers, try and have a English conversation every day to just keep it up and improve your fluency.

Lars (Ep.11 – Ssh! Silence!) 

One advice that I can give, or I give to all of my clients, is watch television no subtitles - not even English subtitles, because if you’ve even got English subtitles on, you’re practising your reading skills, not your listening skills, or comprehension related to speaking… speaking is a very specific niche on its own of language learning - it’s very different from reading, writing… going to, you know, one of the things that I would advise greatly for students, especially of a senior level - actually all levels – is just turn off those damn subtitles…that’s there!

Laurence (Ep.20 – Though – Through – Thorough)

(When learners are writing English - any top tips?).  I think keep it simple. I think that's the best advice I'd give, you know - don't necessarily use a thesaurus or whatever to find a different word, because it's probably going to be the slightly wrong word, I mean not utterly incorrect but a slightly wrong word. So keep things simple, use those simple words... gradually, when you're learning English, you'll build up vocabulary anyway, and you'll have more words at your disposal.  Keep sentences short, actually - don't be afraid to, you know, delete an 'and' and put a full stop in its place to start a new sentence. So, I think initially simple vocabulary, simple-ish short sentences, and then build from there, and just enjoy the process of learning! 
 

And finally, some advice to have fun and some fun advice from Maria, Trevor and Cynthia:

Maria (Ep.2 – Spell That Again?)

Have fun!  Find whatever you enjoy and find topics or things related with that topic which are in the language you are learning – in this case, try finding as much as you can in English, something that you enjoy that don’t make a task or something that will drain you… 

Trevor (Ep.16 – Really?! Whatever!)

I think if you're learning English, one of the things to watch out for and to really pick up on and enjoy is irony and sarcasm, because I think it's used in English in a way that doesn't really come up in other languages! Even in, you know, North American English - it doesn't exist in the same way that exists in Britain. And that's where the fun of the language is, and that's where you'll start to really enjoy the more you know, I think.

Cynthia (Ep.13 – Make Your Plosives EXPLOSIVE!)

Enjoy! Just enjoy. Relax. And practice, you know, practice makes perfect! And just do that and enjoy! That's all!  I don't know - I cannot think of anything else!

S: I don't think you need anything else - I think that's okay!

So, in a nutshell: Be brave, just try, immerse yourself, read books, know that it takes passion and discipline, learn the vocabulary for the task in hand, do something every day, turn off TV subtitles, write with simple vocabulary and in simple-ish sentences, try your hand at irony and sarcasm, and have fun!  Phew!  That’s a lot… but all brilliant!

And my advice?   My advice is to take their advice!  That’s it!    

So there we are!  The transcript of this episode is available to read on the podcast’s webpage, so take a look!    

Join me again soon for more pronunciation and grammar tips, more advice and, most importantly, more chatting!   

My thanks again to everyone and, for her music, a special thanks to the wonderful Mara Carlyle.   Bye for now!