Learning English? 5 Things to Avoid

Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking and welcome to this video on five things to

avoid if you are learning English. So, in this video, I will give you five things that

people do when they start learning English that are counterproductive. Now, if something

is counterproductive, it means it doesn't help you to reach the goals that you want

to reach. So, the first mistake that people make, and the first thing you should avoid

if you are learning English, is that people think learning a language will be fast and

easy. Maybe this conception, this idea, comes from people promoting on the internet, "Learn

English in three months. Become fluent in 30 days." No. If you see something like this

online, ignore it because it's not true. Learning a language is a lifelong commitment. You need

to be ready to be able to discover language over a long period of time, to practice it,

to enjoy the journey of words, phrases, sentences, questions, just learning, basically. So, this

is the first mistake that people make. They really think it's going to be fast, it's going

to be easy, no problem, I can learn it. The second mistake that people make when they

start learning English is they only study grammar. So, they will get a grammar book,

and they will complete fill-in-the-blanks exercises to practice present perfect,

to practice second conditional, to practice the use of causative verbs, and that's it. They think

they will learn English from a book only by studying theory. Now, theory is important.

Grammar is the framework of a language. You need it. It's essential for structuring sentences.

However, if all you do is look in a book and answer questions, fill in the blanks,

but you never speak, you never listen, you never try to produce the language or expose yourself to

the language, you won't be able to produce. You won't be able to communicate because you will

just have the theory of the language. So, there's a difference between theory and usage, a difference

between theory and practice. And if you want to know how much grammar you should study,

I recommend the 80/20 rule. So, 80% practice, 20% grammar. It's important,

but there are more important things. This brings me to the third mistake. Some people

don't listen enough. They don't do enough listening practice. So, you need regular input,

regular exposure to the language that you are learning when you are learning a language.

You are learning English, so it's important that you listen to English videos, watch English movies,

listen to English music, that you learn how this language sounds, how things are pronounced,

how it flows. All of these things you get from listening to the language. How can you know

how the language is supposed to work, how it's supposed to sound if you never listen to it?

So, again, get a lot of listening practice. Make sure you get regular exposure to English.

On a regular basis, listen to English. I said that in two different ways because

I want to stress the importance of listening and getting regular input from English.

The fourth mistake that people make when they start studying English is they stay with easy

materials for too long. So, it's comfortable to work on things we know how to do. It's comfortable

to conjugate the verb "to be" because you know how to conjugate the verb "to be." But, if you have

been working on conjugating the verb "to be" for six months, eight months, there is a problem.

You need to move on and be comfortable with challenging yourself. Your brain needs two

things to learn. So, research shows your brain needs novelty and it needs repetition. So,

repetition. Yes, it's good to repeat. It's good to review things that you know how to do to build

your confidence because you know how to do them well. I like doing things that I know how to do

well because I feel good. It builds my confidence. But, you also need new things. And, in the case of

language learning, when you are learning English, you need to expose yourself to different materials,

different articles, something that pushes you. So, don't be afraid to push yourself. Don't just stay

with the same materials, the same types of activities again and again. The final thing

that, you know, some English learners make when they start learning the language is they never

speak. How do you speak if you have no one to speak with? There are ways, okay? So, you can

shadow or mimic people. For example, you can watch a video on YouTube. You can pause it,

slow it down, rewind it, copy what people are saying. This goes back to listening, right?

You can also visualize conversations. And yes, you've heard this in many, many language learning,

English learning videos, speaking out loud by yourself. It feels funny, but you get used to it.

Imagine a situation where you are buying a bus ticket or where you are at a restaurant.

What would you say in those situations? So, there are things you can do to help yourself speak

because the whole purpose of you learning a language, I'm assuming, is because you want to

use it. You want to write in it. You want to speak and communicate with other people and connect

with them, just like I am connecting with you. So, you right now are practicing your listening.

You are already doing something that is great for improving your English, and you are already

avoiding one of the most common mistakes that I have mentioned in this video. So, to review the

five things that I mentioned in this video, number one, people think that learning a language will be

fast and easy. This is not the case. Learning a language is a long process, but it's an enjoyable

process where you are discovering new words, discovering new things, meeting new people,

coming across new interesting cultural books and videos and people. The second mistake that people

make is that they only study grammar. Grammar is important, but there are more important things

like regular practice. What kind of practice? Number three, some people avoid listening. They don't

listen enough. Make sure that you listen enough. Number four, they stick with materials that are too

easy for too long. Challenge yourself. Push yourself. Don't just repeat the same activities

again and again and again, and never try anything new just because it's comfortable. Push yourself

out of your comfort zone. And finally, the biggest mistake, I won't say the biggest, I'll say one of

the biggest, is people don't speak enough. So, make sure you are getting your speaking practice even

if you are by yourself. That's it. So, thank you for watching this video. I hope you enjoyed it,

and if you have any questions for me about anything I've mentioned, leave them in the

comments, and go to YouTube, like the video, share it, subscribe to my channel, and I hope you like

this, and I'll see you around. Until next time, thanks for clicking. Good luck with all of your

English studies.