“How to learn English” Sergey Nim. How to teach and (more importantly) learn English yourself. How to learn English
What you have in your hands is not just another English textbook or a collection of dry exercises. This is the first detailed guide that explains to a beginner HOW to learn English in an accessible language. You will learn a universal formula for mastering a foreign language; you will find out what the hard and easy ways to learn a language are, as well as why your English cannot be absolutely “zero”, and much more. The author shares his own unique experience of learning English, which allowed him to master the language in 6 months from scratch to a level that allows the most difficult thing - translating poetic texts. Especially for this book, the author created a website application langformula.ru with reviews of training programs, a dictionary of the most necessary English words and other useful materials.
A series: Internet bestseller
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The given introductory fragment of the book How to learn English (Sergey Nim, 2018) provided by our book partner - the company liters.
Chapter 1. Formula of language
You have decided to start studying English. Congratulations, you will never regret this decision! But what does it mean to “learn a language”? Is this activity limited to memorizing words or working with a textbook? In this chapter we will look at what exactly is included in the concept of “language learning”. You will learn how all approaches and techniques can be expressed in one formula, why knowledge alone is not enough, how important the role of practice is, and also why you cannot have a zero level of English.
Is it possible to learn English without a teacher?
The speed of a fleet is always measured by the speed of the slowest ship. Well, it's the same with school. Teachers must match the students who are behind, but I alone can go faster.
Martin Eden, Jack LondonI am sure that some things are impossible or extremely difficult to learn without the help of a teacher. For example, a teacher (coach) is needed in many sports: a self-taught weightlifter will simply injure himself before achieving any results. It is certainly very difficult to become a self-taught architect (although examples exist), because for this you need, at a minimum, to master a whole range of complex scientific disciplines. I can’t imagine a self-taught surgeon at all.
But I'm also sure that learning a language is not one of those things that you can't do without a teacher.
Yes, not everyone is born into future artists, doctors, engineers, but all people have the inclination to master a language. We have all successfully learned our native language; there are many countries and regions where speaking two or three languages is considered the norm. Language acquisition is a natural human ability.
Of course, the help of a talented and experienced teacher is always beneficial. But the same is true, for example, in relation to the art of cooking. Under the guidance of a professional chef, you can learn how to cook amazing dishes with high quality. But tell me, how often do people take cooking lessons? Very rarely, everyone learns to cook from their own experience, with the help of books, TV shows, advice from parents, friends, because this is such a simple task that there is no point in studying for it somewhere.
In the same way, it is not at all necessary to graduate from a language university if you dream of speaking English fluently. Learning a language is too easy a task for this. It is so simple that there is simply no need for a teacher; you can easily get by with textbooks and various supporting materials. People managed this at a time when magnetic tape with recorded sound seemed like a miracle, but now, in the era of information technology, it’s generally a sin to complain.
Just don’t confuse independent study with studying completely alone, when you don’t communicate with anyone in English. Alone, without the help of live interlocutors, a language can only be learned to a certain point. For example, learning to read and write well without being able to speak or understanding English. If you learn a language only from books, without audio and video materials, without communication, then so be it. In the era of the Iron Curtain, when it was possible to communicate with native speakers at best by correspondence, it was not uncommon to meet “mute” English experts. They were excellent at translating fiction and specialized literature, but did not speak English because they did not have the opportunity to practice speaking.
Fortunately, now there are not only books, but also a lot of audio and video materials, educational programs and, most importantly, the ability to communicate in English using the Internet. Now, using these opportunities, you can learn to speak a foreign language at a decent level without the help of a teacher.
An experienced teacher can guide you, help you navigate the course material, explain difficult moments, keep you relaxed, and monitor your progress in your studies. But no teacher can put knowledge into your head, read literature in the original and watch films in English instead of you, no teacher can learn English for you. Only you can learn a language yourself. Even if you take a course, for the most part you learn on your own.
Let me give you an example. Any teacher will tell you that in addition to classwork, it is very important to read materials in English. And not only “topics” from the textbook, but also fiction, news, articles that would be of interest to you personally. If, in addition to classwork, you read at least a few pages a day, the results will be much better. Reading is rarely done in class, because class time is better spent on tasks that require the participation of the teacher, and reading can be assigned at home. The problem is that few people actually read at home. The extracurricular part of language learning is only in your hands; no one will do it for you, no matter how much money you shell out for your studies. Indeed, the teacher, while studying with you, will provide significant assistance, but he will not be able to learn the language for you. Learning a language is a two-way process that requires the participation of not so much the teacher as the student. A language cannot be taught, it can only be learned.
By studying without a teacher, you can figure out the educational material yourself - many textbooks are designed so that you can study from them without anyone's help. You can monitor your progress using tests, although I don’t see much need for this. Here's why: if you study a language, you move forward anyway. You cannot learn a language and at the same time deteriorate your knowledge. The only way to go in the opposite direction is to stop exercising completely. And even after a long break, you can quickly and easily get back into shape. Passing a test tells you that you have mastered the material well, gives you vigor and inspiration, but I know from my own experience that much more inspiration will appear when you open some interesting article on the Internet, start reading it, and then realize that you read in English and don’t even notice it.
But no one will really force you to study. But on the other hand, if you go to courses like hard labor and do your homework only out of fear of the reproachful look of the teacher, you will only waste your time and money. A positive attitude and motivation are very important factors for success in language learning. Again, a language can only be learned.
The undoubted advantage of independent study is that a self-taught person is his own boss. You can choose the textbook you like, a beautiful educational site, study at a convenient time, study exactly those words and topics that you need, you are fully responsible for your learning successes, as well as for failures. Over time, you will become more familiar with your cognitive abilities and use the learning techniques that work best for you. You can spend more time, for example, reading specialized literature or speaking practice, depending on what you need.
But I think I will not be mistaken if I say that the choice in favor of self-teaching courses is much more often made for another reason: English language courses, as well as the services of an experienced tutor, are not cheap. Moreover, this money needs to be paid out monthly for an indefinitely long time. Education, of course, is a worthwhile investment of money, but when you find out the prices, you can’t help but think, is someone really learning languages on their own, why am I worse?
If you have the opportunity and desire to take courses, this is a clear choice - you trust the professionals. But if there is no such opportunity, or you feel enough strength and confidence to study independently, this does not reduce your chances of success. On the contrary, it probably even increases it, because you can only rely on yourself.
Tongue formula
If you go to any bookstore and ask for some literature about English, you will be led to a large shelf filled with colorful books of different thicknesses, with and without CDs, with titles in English and Russian. You will be offered textbooks for beginners, for advanced ones, as well as special English textbooks for historians or builders, dictionaries of different sizes with and without pictures, grammar reference books, sets of cards with words. You will find out that there are series of textbooks “English Millenium”, “Headway”, textbooks by Bonk and Kachalova, collections of grammar cheat sheets and a million other incomprehensible things. If you search for learning programs and websites, the Internet will return a huge number of results, including “revolutionary” audio/video courses that will teach you English in just 2 months (sometimes even 2 weeks) without any effort on your part, but in fact they will only leave you devastated your wallet.
It is not surprising that the English language will seem like an impregnable fortress after this. There are so many educational materials that you simply don’t know which way to approach them.
In fact, it turns out that all methods and textbooks fit into a simple formula for proficiency in English. Here is the formula:
Language Proficiency = (vocabulary + grammar)× practice in four types of speech activity
And it's all. To master a language, you need to know words, grammar and practice this knowledge in four types of speech activity:
1) reading,
2) auditory perception,
3) written speech,
4) oral speech.
Our speech is made up of words, grammar explains how they are connected to each other and how they change, practice is the application of knowledge when we speak, listen, write and read. Any textbook and any methodology implies that you need to achieve mastery of the language by mastering the elements of this formula. It’s just that in different approaches it is proposed to go through this path in different ways: in some places reading is more important, in others speaking, in others they put grammar at the forefront, and in others they value live communication in the language more.
Some attentive readers may ask a reasonable question: where are the smaller particles of language - sounds and morphemes, where is the pronunciation? Don't worry, pronunciation is a very important aspect, and I relate it to the practice of speaking and listening comprehension, so it has not fallen out of the formula, we will definitely come back to it. I attribute morphemes (parts of words), as well as stable combinations, to knowledge of vocabulary, so I haven’t forgotten about them either.
Let's look at this formula with an example. Just as scientists take a tiny sample of soil to understand the properties of the soil, so we pluck a grain of sand from the English language and figure out what it means to speak a language.
Let's take five words:
1) Pronouns I, you – I, you.
2) Verb need - need.
3) A couple of examples of what you might need: water, help – water, help.
From grammar we take the structure of the phrase: “subject + predicate + object”.
In other words, this is the scheme “someone (subject) does something (predicate) in relation to something (object).” Grammar dictates to us how words are formed in speech and how they change. In this example, the words are not changed in any way (there are no endings), but are added strictly in the order “subject + predicate + object”. Words I, you we will take as subjects, need will be predicate, and water, help additions. Knowing only 5 words and 1 scheme, we can already compose 4 phrases:
I need water (I need water);
I need help (I need help);
You need water (you need water);
You need help (you need help).
It turns out we are already we know language at the level of 5 words and 1 scheme. But it’s one thing to know words, and another thing to put them together into phrases, like in your native language - without hesitation, without thinking. If you have trained yourself to read, write, understand by ear and pronounce these expressions without difficulty, then I congratulate you, you own English at the level of five words and one grammatical scheme!
How are you different from a person who speaks English fluently? Look at the formula again: you differ in the number of words learned, rules worked out and the amount of practice in speech activity.
In essence, learning a language comes down to this: expanding your vocabulary, studying grammar, practicing all this in practice, using the English language for your own purposes and for your own pleasure.
Knowing does not mean being able to
It turns out that learning a language is not only about memorizing words, phrases and grammatical rules. Words and rules themselves are useless - without the ability to use them. Scientifically speaking, learning a language comes down to more than just acquiring knowledge, but also to the formation skills And skills.
In methodological literature skill called an action that has been practiced until it becomes automatic. When tying your shoelaces, you don’t think about each of the many complex movements of your fingers - you have developed a skill. When asking in Russian what time it is, you don’t think about the order of words in the sentence, endings, cases - the words themselves form as needed. Any skills are developed through repeated conscious repetitions, speech is no exception. Musicians, boxers, dancers, carpenters, tailors will confirm that the more you repeat the same action, the better you get at it.
When we speak, we perform many clever actions. Speech is a very complex process, but it can be developed and trained, just as athletes train their bodies through physical exercise. The development of speech is very similar to the development of physical qualities of the body. If you do it, there will be progress. If you stop all practice, over time even your native language can become disgraceful. True, the linguistic form is lost more slowly than the physical form and is more easily restored.
Knowledge and skills must be correctly and appropriately applied in speech, that is, be able to use them. Skill is the ability to correctly apply knowledge and skills in real speech situations. A boxer practices skills while training on a punching bag. But the ability to knock out an opponent comes to him only in sparring. In the same way, you cannot learn to speak without using it “in the ring,” that is, without practicing in the four types of speech activity. That is why in our formula there is a multiplication sign before practice. Knowledge and skills need to be multiplied by the actual use of language in speaking, listening, reading, writing - and then we can already talk about language proficiency, and not just about fixed words and rules.
The French writer Francois Gouin, in his book “The Art of Teaching and Studying Languages,” published in 1892, described his interesting experience of learning the German language. In his youth, he went to study in Germany and there he began to learn German. Full of enthusiasm, the young man completed a grammar book in just 10 days and memorized a dictionary of 30,000 words in 30 days! But, having accomplished this feat, he was surprised to discover that he still did not understand the Germans. He couldn't even read! “The word has always seemed like a lifeless body stretched out on paper,” Guan wrote. “Under my gaze, the meaning immediately disappeared from it. I couldn’t see any meaning or life in it.”
Guan unusually quickly gained a huge amount of knowledge, but simply did not have time to “test” it in language practice. Without trying to develop reading skills in simple texts, he immediately plunged into complex scientific books and did not understand anything in them.
There is no point in immediately taking on extremely difficult, completely incomprehensible material - in practice you need to move from simple to complex. Without allowing his ears to mature enough to understand even simple German phrases, he tried in vain to understand the prohibitively difficult lectures at the university. Guan thought that, having learned words and grammar, he would immediately speak German, but he couldn’t really connect two words: “Sometimes, having carefully thought out the construction in advance, checking with my knowledge of words and grammar, I tried to construct a sentence, but my speech always caused only surprise and laughter.” While knowledge can be mastered fairly quickly, it takes time to develop skills.
Practicing Makes Perfection
An hour of work will teach more than a day of explanation.
Jean-Jacques RousseauPractice is the only way to develop a skill. The action must be repeated many times - consciously, with an understanding of its purpose (that is, practice should be based on knowledge), then each time it will be performed easier and easier, and at the same time more effectively. Our brain is designed in such a way that if we often repeat the same actions, it begins to consider them important and makes the task easier for us, each time thinking less and less about the operation, being less distracted by it. In other words, the more we repeat an action, the easier it becomes to repeat it.
First we think about each stage of the action, then we become aware of it as a whole, without breaking it into parts, and then we stop being aware of it altogether - we just do it! Over the course of your life, you have mastered a countless number of such skills, ranging from walking, native speech, using a fork and knife, to purely professional ones, for example, the ability to type touch-type or fry a rare steak. Perhaps your piggy bank is already full of such skills, compared to which the English language is baby talk. Even purely creative work can be trained. Thus, the poet Nikolai Gumilyov believed that a novice poet needs to regularly practice writing poetry, so that at the moment when the muse visits him, he does not miss the opportunity and is fully armed. Of course, practice must be based on knowledge, otherwise you can trick the brain and develop useless or incorrect skills.
The beauty of learning a language is that when we use it, reading an interesting book, listening to songs, communicating with people, this is practice. The more you use a foreign language, the better your command of it. As the English proverb says, practicing makes perfection - perfection is achieved by practice.
Why your English level cannot be zero
“Where should I start learning a language if my English is zero?”, “I would really like to study English, but, unfortunately, my level is zero”, “Is it possible for an adult to learn English from scratch?” Similar statements and questions can often be heard from those who want to study the language. The catch is that your English level cannot be zero.
There are many anglicisms and international words in the Russian language, such as: metro, program, laboratory, video and many others. The English language has deeply penetrated our daily lives. We watch American films, TV series, advertisements, listen to songs in English, we are surrounded everywhere by signs with English words. Having heard English speech, we will not confuse it with Italian or German. Can you tell Laotian speech from Vietnamese? I doubt. But English speech cannot be confused with anything. You don’t need to get used to the unusual alphabet; all these ABCs are not news to you, just as ABC is news to the English who decide to study Russian. You probably know more than a dozen English words; you can say “mom”, “time”, “house”, “cat” in English. Do you know these words in Laotian? And in Finnish, Greek? In Laotian, Finnish and Greek you really have a zero level - feel the difference.
Even if you have never studied English, you simply cannot be unfamiliar with it. If you had English lessons at school, technical school or university, then you already have some kind of foundation, even if the grade fluctuated between a two and a three. Once you start learning English, you will find that your memory retains more useful knowledge than you might think.
1. It’s quite possible to learn a language without a teacher; you don’t need any superpowers for this.
2. Even if you take courses or study with a tutor, your success largely depends on independent work.
3. Language cannot be taught, it can only be learned.
4. When studying on your own, you are fully responsible for your learning successes, as well as for your failures.
5. All approaches to language learning fit into a simple formula.
6. Knowledge is power! But mastering a language requires developed speech skills and the ability to use them, which means practice is needed.
7. When you read an interesting book, watch a movie in English, correspond or talk with foreigners - this is practice. The more you use English, the better you become at it.
8. If you sincerely consider your level of English to be zero, you greatly underestimate your knowledge.
How to learn English Sergey Nim
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Title: How to learn English
About the book “How to Learn English” Sergey Nim
This book is not just another English language textbook, but a detailed guide that explains to a beginner how to learn English in an accessible language. You will learn how all approaches to learning a language can be expressed in one formula, what the hard and easy ways to learn a language are, why your English cannot be “zero” and much more.
On our website about books, you can download the site for free without registration or read online the book “How to Learn English” by Sergei Nim in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and real pleasure from reading. You can buy the full version from our partner. Also, here you will find the latest news from the literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors. For beginning writers, there is a separate section with useful tips and tricks, interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary crafts.
Quotes from the book “How to Learn English” by Sergei Nim
An hour of work will teach more than a day of explanation.
Learning words from P. Litvinov’s book “3000 English words. Memorization technique."
How to learn English
Sergey Nim
© Sergey Nim, 2015
© logomachine.ru, cover design, 2015
Created in the intellectual publishing system Ridero.ru
Introduction
How did this book come about?
Since childhood, people who easily switch from their native language to a foreign language have seemed to me a bit like magicians. I admired their talent for speaking other languages with ease, I was envious, but I believed that I myself would never learn to do so. It is not surprising, because I have met very few such wizards, but I have seen many examples of how my friends, having spent many years studying the language, could only hesitantly ask how to get to Trafalgar Square.
Several times I clenched my will into a fist and sat down to my textbooks with the firm intention of learning English. Patience ran out very quickly - usually after the first attempt. The English language seemed like an impregnable fortress that could not be taken either by a swift assault or by a protracted siege.
My attempts ended in failure so easily that I began to reject the very idea that English could be mastered altogether as fantastic. Why think about this? After all, it is so difficult that it is almost impossible. There are hundreds of thousands of words in the English language, the grammar barely fits into a thick volume, and the people who mastered all this must have been born with an extra wrinkle in their brain.
Coming to terms with this idea is as easy as shelling pears. To ease my conscience, I made a promise to myself that someday in the bright future I would definitely study English again. However, I was in no hurry to bring this day closer. Like many who have had to abandon their dreams, I put it off for endless Mondays and soon learned to deceive myself so easily that I could no longer seriously believe that I would ever learn English.
Later it dawned on me: I had been fooling myself into thinking that I was taking on an impossible task. Somewhere in the depths of my mind the thought still lingered that the world is full of people who somehow know English. At first I thought that they had some special conditions in childhood - maybe they went to a school with an English bias, or they went to study abroad, or maybe they were just lucky with their brains. But after talking with these lucky people, I became convinced that they were ordinary people.
This thought haunted me. It began to seem to me that because of my inaction, some great opportunities were passing me by. At some point I decided to make another attempt, but this time I approached the matter completely differently. The main difference was that I was determined to achieve a specific goal. I used to sit down to books just to “learn English,” because “I can’t live without it.” Now I have decided that it will give me good opportunities in my job search, and I will learn it at least to the level needed to pass an interview in English. In addition, I was not just going to “try to learn” the language, but was determined to fight until victory.
And things went surprisingly easily - much easier than I expected. I tried to exercise regularly, without skipping time, setting aside some time every day after work. Very soon these lessons became a habit, literally every week I made new progress, they encouraged me and did not let me give up. Six months later, I laughed at my failed attempts to learn the language and was glad that I was not afraid to try again. As I already said, English has always seemed to me an impregnable fortress that cannot be taken either by storm or by siege. Now I felt like an idiot. It turns out that I hit my head against a stone wall when all I had to do was knock on the gate! Knock on the gate and it will be opened for you, that’s all!
In just six months of self-study, without any help, I completely completed the school grammar course, learned more than 3,000 words, learned to read and write simple texts and speak a little. Despite the fact that six months before I didn’t know what a verb was to be, I was just dizzy with success. Of course, I didn't give up on classes. Moreover, gradually I completely reconsidered the reasons why I studied English. Taking my first steps in learning the language, I thought first of all about work and career. Later, I realized that I had a very limited understanding of the opportunities that knowledge of a foreign language gives - it opens up a whole world, free for communication and knowledge. Now I can read a book or document in English without any problems, watch a movie without translation, the number of people with whom I can speak the same language has grown by hundreds of millions. In other words, my world has become one language larger. I became one of these wizards I admired as a child.
I studied English in different ways. I didn’t have a mentor, so I walked most of the path myself. I was interested not only in language, but also in how it is learned. It turned out that there are many approaches and techniques, and some are very different from each other. But the experience I have accumulated over the years of friendship with English nevertheless suggested that whatever the methods, they can all be reduced into one simple formula, which I will talk about in the next chapter.
While studying English, I studied a lot of manuals and communicated with different people who shared my interests. Having already reached a good level, when I could read, write and speak without problems, I took some courses to communicate more with like-minded people. I also had the opportunity to act as a teacher myself - teaching the language in individual and group lessons. Communicating with teachers, as well as teaching myself, I became convinced that success in learning a language largely depends on the student’s independent work. I was involved in translations of journalistic and artistic texts, including poems. I managed to go to America and live there for several months to completely immerse myself in the language environment. The English language has become as integral a part of life as sight or hearing.
What is this book about?
In writing this book, I sought to write the guidance that I myself lacked when I began studying English. There is now no shortage of textbooks and dictionaries, many manuals are designed for self-learning a language without the help of a teacher, but I really needed a book that would explain HOW to learn a language.
In this book, I outlined the experience and knowledge acquired in the process of studying not only the language itself, but also issues of psychology, psycholinguistics, linguistics, teaching methods and the theory of language acquisition.
Purpose of this book– tell and explain what needs to be done to learn a language, arouse interest in it, talk about various techniques that will facilitate and speed up learning, warn against mistakes, in other words, teach how to learn a language.
Self-taught people constantly reinvent bicycles, step on the same rake, and then, looking back, think: “If only I knew in advance WHAT and HOW I needed to do...” After reading this book, you will no longer invent all those bicycles that you had to invent for me.
This book is not an English textbook; there are no exercises and English words are rare. You don't need to study with this book, you just need to read it.
After reading the book, you will learn:
1. How all approaches to language learning can be expressed in one formula;
2. What does it mean to “learn a language”;
3. Why you can't have zero knowledge of English;
4. How to organize your lessons;
5. How many English words do you need to know;
6. How to learn words effectively so that you can really use them;
7. Is English grammar really that scary and how many tenses does an English verb actually have?
8. How reading helps in learning a language;
9. How to learn not only to listen to English speech, but also to hear it;
11. Why written work helps develop language skills;
12. What gives correct pronunciation and how to develop it;
13. How to learn to speak English;
14. What opportunities does the Internet provide for language learners;
15. Why has English never been as accessible as it is today?
Who is this book for?
This book is written for everyone who is learning English. It doesn't matter whether you do it on your own or under the guidance of a teacher. Any teacher will tell you that success in learning a language largely depends on extracurricular independent work, so even if you study with a teacher, you will largely be learning the language yourself. Also, this book is for you if you have not yet started studying English, but are just thinking about it, but don’t know where to start. In addition, the book will be of interest to students of other foreign languages, because many of the principles discussed are applicable to the study of languages in general.
Current page: 1 (book has 15 pages total) [available reading passage: 10 pages]
How to learn English
Sergey Nim
© Sergey Nim, 2015
© logomachine.ru, cover design, 2015
Created in the intellectual publishing system Ridero.ru
Introduction
How did this book come about?
Since childhood, people who easily switch from their native language to a foreign language have seemed to me a bit like magicians. I admired their talent for speaking other languages with ease, I was envious, but I believed that I myself would never learn to do so. It is not surprising, because I have met very few such wizards, but I have seen many examples of how my friends, having spent many years studying the language, could only hesitantly ask how to get to Trafalgar Square.
Several times I clenched my will into a fist and sat down to my textbooks with the firm intention of learning English. Patience ran out very quickly - usually after the first attempt. The English language seemed like an impregnable fortress that could not be taken either by a swift assault or by a protracted siege.
My attempts ended in failure so easily that I began to reject the very idea that English could be mastered altogether as fantastic. Why think about this? After all, it is so difficult that it is almost impossible. There are hundreds of thousands of words in the English language, the grammar barely fits into a thick volume, and the people who mastered all this must have been born with an extra wrinkle in their brain.
Coming to terms with this idea is as easy as shelling pears. To ease my conscience, I made a promise to myself that someday in the bright future I would definitely study English again. However, I was in no hurry to bring this day closer. Like many who have had to abandon their dreams, I put it off for endless Mondays and soon learned to deceive myself so easily that I could no longer seriously believe that I would ever learn English.
Later it dawned on me: I had been fooling myself into thinking that I was taking on an impossible task. Somewhere in the depths of my mind the thought still lingered that the world is full of people who somehow know English. At first I thought that they had some special conditions in childhood - maybe they went to a school with an English bias, or they went to study abroad, or maybe they were just lucky with their brains. But after talking with these lucky people, I became convinced that they were ordinary people.
This thought haunted me. It began to seem to me that because of my inaction, some great opportunities were passing me by. At some point I decided to make another attempt, but this time I approached the matter completely differently. The main difference was that I was determined to achieve a specific goal. I used to sit down to books just to “learn English,” because “I can’t live without it.” Now I have decided that it will give me good opportunities in my job search, and I will learn it at least to the level needed to pass an interview in English. In addition, I was not just going to “try to learn” the language, but was determined to fight until victory.
And things went surprisingly easily - much easier than I expected. I tried to exercise regularly, without skipping time, setting aside some time every day after work. Very soon these lessons became a habit, literally every week I made new progress, they encouraged me and did not let me give up. Six months later, I laughed at my failed attempts to learn the language and was glad that I was not afraid to try again. As I already said, English has always seemed to me an impregnable fortress that cannot be taken either by storm or by siege. Now I felt like an idiot. It turns out that I hit my head against a stone wall when all I had to do was knock on the gate! Knock on the gate and it will be opened for you, that’s all!
In just six months of self-study, without any help, I completely completed the school grammar course, learned more than 3,000 words, learned to read and write simple texts and speak a little. Despite the fact that six months before I didn’t know what a verb was to be, I was just dizzy with success. Of course, I didn't give up on classes. Moreover, gradually I completely reconsidered the reasons why I studied English. Taking my first steps in learning the language, I thought first of all about work and career. Later, I realized that I had a very limited understanding of the opportunities that knowledge of a foreign language gives - it opens up a whole world, free for communication and knowledge. Now I can read a book or document in English without any problems, watch a movie without translation, the number of people with whom I can speak the same language has grown by hundreds of millions. In other words, my world has become one language larger. I became one of these wizards I admired as a child.
I studied English in different ways. I didn’t have a mentor, so I walked most of the path myself. I was interested not only in language, but also in how it is learned. It turned out that there are many approaches and techniques, and some are very different from each other. But the experience I have accumulated over the years of friendship with English nevertheless suggested that whatever the methods, they can all be reduced into one simple formula, which I will talk about in the next chapter.
While studying English, I studied a lot of manuals and communicated with different people who shared my interests. Having already reached a good level, when I could read, write and speak without problems, I took some courses to communicate more with like-minded people. I also had the opportunity to act as a teacher myself - teaching the language in individual and group lessons. Communicating with teachers, as well as teaching myself, I became convinced that success in learning a language largely depends on the student’s independent work. I was involved in translations of journalistic and artistic texts, including poems. I managed to go to America and live there for several months to completely immerse myself in the language environment. The English language has become as integral a part of life as sight or hearing.
What is this book about?
In writing this book, I sought to write the guidance that I myself lacked when I began studying English. There is now no shortage of textbooks and dictionaries, many manuals are designed for self-learning a language without the help of a teacher, but I really needed a book that would explain HOW to learn a language.
In this book, I outlined the experience and knowledge acquired in the process of studying not only the language itself, but also issues of psychology, psycholinguistics, linguistics, teaching methods and the theory of language acquisition.
Purpose of this book– tell and explain what needs to be done to learn a language, arouse interest in it, talk about various techniques that will facilitate and speed up learning, warn against mistakes, in other words, teach how to learn a language.
Self-taught people constantly reinvent bicycles, step on the same rake, and then, looking back, think: “If only I knew in advance WHAT and HOW I needed to do...” After reading this book, you will no longer invent all those bicycles that you had to invent for me.
This book is not an English textbook; there are no exercises and English words are rare. You don't need to study with this book, you just need to read it.
After reading the book, you will learn:
1. How all approaches to language learning can be expressed in one formula;
2. What does it mean to “learn a language”;
3. Why you can't have zero knowledge of English;
4. How to organize your lessons;
5. How many English words do you need to know;
6. How to learn words effectively so that you can really use them;
7. Is English grammar really that scary and how many tenses does an English verb actually have?
8. How reading helps in learning a language;
9. How to learn not only to listen to English speech, but also to hear it;
11. Why written work helps develop language skills;
12. What gives correct pronunciation and how to develop it;
13. How to learn to speak English;
14. What opportunities does the Internet provide for language learners;
15. Why has English never been as accessible as it is today?
Who is this book for?
This book is written for everyone who is learning English. It doesn't matter whether you do it on your own or under the guidance of a teacher. Any teacher will tell you that success in learning a language largely depends on extracurricular independent work, so even if you study with a teacher, you will largely be learning the language yourself. Also, this book is for you if you have not yet started studying English, but are just thinking about it, but don’t know where to start. In addition, the book will be of interest to students of other foreign languages, because many of the principles discussed are applicable to the study of languages in general.
You do not need this book if you speak English without thinking about constructing phrases, read fiction in the original, can write a business or friendly letter without any problems, watch movies in English in your spare time and generally live in England, the USA, Canada or another English-speaking country. Then you can read it only out of curiosity.
Book structure
This book consists of 9 chapters, not counting the introduction and conclusion.
– Chapters 1-3 are devoted to general language learning issues. They talk about what the educational process is, how to build it, and what determines success in achieving your goals.
– Chapters 4-5 talk about the most pressing issues for beginners learning English: vocabulary and grammar.
– Chapters 6-9 are devoted to the reason why they actually study language - the use of language in practice in all types of speech activity: reading, writing, oral communication and listening comprehension.
– In conclusion, we will once again recall the main provisions of this book and summarize.
Langformula.ru – online supplement for the book
Especially for this book, I made a website application, a kind of online chapter. In the Internet era, learning websites, programs for computers and mobile phones greatly help to learn a language.
In the book I will talk about them in general terms, because such information quickly becomes outdated - a year will pass and training sites can change a lot. Therefore, I provide more detailed reviews and guides in the online appendix to this book. I also posted a special dictionary of the 3000 most common words in the English language on my website. And, of course, you can contact me through this site!
Chapter 1: Formula of Language
You have decided to start learning English. Congratulations, you will never regret this decision! But what does it mean to “learn a language”? Is this activity limited to memorizing words or working with a textbook? In this chapter we will look at what exactly is included in the concept of “language learning”. You will learn how all approaches and techniques can be expressed in one formula, why knowledge alone is not enough, how important the role of practice is, and also why you cannot have a zero level of English.
Is it possible to learn English without a teacher?
The speed of a fleet is always measured by the speed of the slowest ship. Well, it's the same with school. Teachers must match the students who are behind, but I alone can go faster.
Martin Eden, Jack London
I am sure that some things are impossible or extremely difficult to learn without the help of a teacher. For example, a teacher (coach) is needed in many sports: a self-taught weightlifter will simply injure himself before achieving any results. It is certainly very difficult to become a self-taught architect (although examples exist), because for this you need, at a minimum, to master a whole range of complex scientific disciplines. I can’t imagine a self-taught surgeon at all.
But I'm also sure that learning a language is not one of those things that you can't do without a teacher.
Yes, not everyone is born into future artists, doctors, engineers, but all people have the inclination to master a language. We have all successfully learned our native language; there are many countries and regions where speaking two or three languages is considered the norm. Language acquisition is a natural human ability.
Of course, the help of a talented and experienced teacher is always beneficial. But the same is true, for example, in relation to the art of cooking. Under the guidance of a professional chef, you can learn how to cook amazing dishes with high quality. But tell me, how often do people take cooking lessons? Very rarely, everyone learns to cook from their own experience, with the help of books, TV shows, advice from parents, friends, because this is such a simple task that there is no point in studying for it somewhere.
In the same way, it is not at all necessary to graduate from a language university if you dream of speaking English fluently. Learning a language is too easy a task for this. It is so simple that there is simply no need for a teacher; you can easily get by with textbooks and various supporting materials. People managed this at a time when magnetic tape with recorded sound seemed like a miracle, but now, in the era of information technology, it’s generally a sin to complain.
Just don’t confuse independent study with studying completely alone, when you don’t communicate with anyone in English. Alone, without the help of live interlocutors, a language can only be learned to a certain point. For example, learning to read and write well without being able to speak or understanding English. If you learn a language only from books, without audio and video materials, without communication, then so be it. In the era of the Iron Curtain, when it was possible to communicate with native speakers at best by correspondence, it was not uncommon to meet “mute” English experts. They were excellent at translating fiction and specialized literature, but did not speak English because they did not have the opportunity to practice speaking.
Fortunately, now there are not only books, but also a lot of audio and video materials, training programs and, most importantly, there is the opportunity to communicate in English using the Internet. Now, using these opportunities, you can learn to speak a foreign language at a decent level without the help of a teacher.
An experienced teacher can guide you, help you navigate the course material, explain difficult moments, keep you relaxed, and monitor your progress in your studies. But no teacher can put knowledge into your head, read literature in the original and watch films in English instead of you, no teacher can learn English for you. Only you can learn a language yourself. Even if you take a course, for the most part you learn on your own.
Let me give you an example. Any teacher will tell you that in addition to classwork, it is very important to read materials in English. And not only “topics” from the textbook, but also fiction, news, articles that would be of interest to you personally. If, in addition to classwork, you read at least a few pages a day, the results will be much better. Reading is rarely done in class, because class time is better spent on tasks that require the participation of the teacher, and reading can be assigned at home. The problem is that few people actually read at home. The extracurricular part of language learning is only in your hands; no one will do it for you, no matter how much money you shell out for your studies. Indeed, the teacher, while studying with you, will provide significant assistance, but he will not be able to learn the language for you. Learning a language is a two-way process that requires the participation of not so much the teacher as the student. A language cannot be taught, it can only be learned.
By studying without a teacher, you can figure out the educational material yourself - many textbooks are designed so that you can study from them without anyone's help. You can monitor your progress using tests, although I don’t see much need for this. Here's why: if you study a language, you move forward anyway. You cannot learn a language and at the same time deteriorate your knowledge. The only way to go in the opposite direction is to stop exercising completely. And even after a long break, you can quickly and easily get back into shape. A successfully passed test tells you that you have mastered the material well, gives you vigor and inspiration, but I know from my own experience that much more inspiration will appear when you open some interesting article on the Internet, start reading it, and then realize that you read in English and don’t even notice it.
But no one will really force you to study. But on the other hand, if you go to courses like hard labor and do your homework only out of fear of the reproachful look of the teacher, you will only waste your time and money. A positive attitude and motivation are very important factors for success in language learning. Again, a language can only be learned.
The undoubted advantage of independent study is that a self-taught person is his own boss. You can choose the textbook you like, a beautiful educational site, study at a convenient time, study exactly those words and topics that you need, you are fully responsible for your learning successes, as well as for failures. Over time, you will become more familiar with your cognitive abilities and use the learning techniques that work best for you. You can spend more time, for example, reading specialized literature or speaking practice, depending on what you need.
But I think I will not be mistaken if I say that the choice in favor of self-teaching courses is much more often made for another reason: English language courses, as well as the services of an experienced tutor, are not cheap. Moreover, this money needs to be paid out monthly for an indefinitely long time. Education, of course, is a worthwhile investment of money, but when you find out the prices, you can’t help but think, is someone really learning languages on their own, why am I worse?
If you have the opportunity and desire to take courses, this is a clear choice - you trust the professionals. But if there is no such opportunity, or you feel enough strength and confidence to study independently, this does not reduce your chances of success. On the contrary, it probably even increases it, because you can only rely on yourself.
Tongue formula
If you go to any bookstore and ask for some literature about English, you will be led to a large shelf filled with colorful books of different thicknesses, with and without CDs, with titles in English and Russian. You will be offered textbooks for beginners, for advanced ones, as well as special English textbooks for historians or builders, dictionaries of different sizes with and without pictures, grammar reference books, sets of cards with words. You will find out that there are series of textbooks “English Millenium”, “Headway”, textbooks by Bonk and Kachalova, collections of grammar cheat sheets and a million other incomprehensible things. If you search for educational programs and websites, the Internet will return a huge number of results, including “revolutionary” audio/video courses that will teach you English in just 2 months (sometimes even 2 weeks) without any effort on your part, but in fact they will only leave you devastated your wallet.
It is not surprising that the English language will seem like an impregnable fortress after this. There are so many educational materials that you simply don’t know which way to approach them.
In fact, it turns out that all methods and textbooks fit into a simple formula for proficiency in English. Here is the formula:
Language proficiency = (vocabulary + grammar) × practice in four types of speech activity.
And it's all. To master a language, you need to know words, grammar and practice this knowledge in four types of speech activity:
1) reading,
2) auditory perception,
3) written speech,
4) oral speech.
Our speech is made up of words, grammar explains how they are connected to each other and how they change, practice is the application of knowledge when we speak, listen, write and read. Any textbook and any methodology implies that you need to achieve mastery of the language by mastering the elements of this formula. It’s just that in different approaches it is proposed to go through this path in different ways: in some places reading is more important, in others speaking, in others they put grammar at the forefront, and in others they value live communication in the language more.
Some attentive readers may ask a reasonable question: where are the smaller particles of language - sounds and morphemes, where is the pronunciation? Don't worry, pronunciation is a very important aspect, and I relate it to the practice of speaking and listening comprehension, so it has not fallen out of the formula, we will definitely come back to it. I attribute morphemes (parts of words), as well as stable combinations, to knowledge of vocabulary, so I haven’t forgotten about them either.
Let's look at this formula with an example. Just as scientists take a tiny sample of soil to understand the properties of the soil, so we pluck a grain of sand from the English language and figure out what it means to speak a language.
Let's take five words:
1) Pronouns I, you– I, you.
2) Verb need – need.
3) A couple of examples of what you might need: water, help – water, help.
From grammar we take the structure of the phrase: “subject + predicate + object”.
In other words, this is the scheme “someone (subject) does something (predicate) in relation to something (object).” Grammar dictates to us how words are formed in speech and how they change. In this example, the words are not changed in any way (there are no endings), but are added strictly in the order “subject + predicate + object”. Words I, you we will take as subjects, need will be predicate, and water, help– additions. Knowing only 5 words and 1 scheme, we can already compose 4 phrases:
I need water (I need water);
I need help (I need help);
You need water (you need water);
You need help (you need help).
It turns out we are already we know language at the level of 5 words and 1 scheme. But it’s one thing to know words, and another thing to put them together into phrases, like in your native language - without hesitation, without thinking. If you have trained yourself to read, write, understand by ear and pronounce these expressions without difficulty, then I congratulate you, you own English at the level of five words and one grammatical scheme!
How are you different from a person who speaks English fluently? Look at the formula again: you differ in the number of words learned, rules worked out and the amount of practice in speech activity.
In essence, learning a language comes down to this: expanding your vocabulary, studying grammar, practicing all this in practice, using the English language for your own purposes and for your own pleasure.
