The problems of studying english
Recently in my study of legal English I have come across many problems.
Firstly there is the vocabulary. If you are familiar about your area of study you can understand and remember these related-terms quicker; but notice that I said, “understand and remember”; it doesn’t mean that you can express it quickly. To my mind, one reason for this may be related to the nerves in our brain that are related to the function of expressing. Another reason could be the structure of the sentences, and how nouns and verbs are linked within them.
Secondly, I have been training my ears and eyes. I can read quickly and have a very good listening ability. This means I can listen to two audios simultaneously. Sounds good? Maybe. The problem I am having is that I always listen to the lesser and more boring words and forms of structure. I do not want to be like this. Would you give some suggestions?
Ok, I analysed my problems privately and got some answers. The reason I can’t use better and cool words is because I do not practice them, and the reason I can't structure a complex sentence is because I do not really remember them. I guess I should review and review, practice and practice, then I will do it.
Hey, cool guys! I would appreciate your help very much. What do you think of my problems in learning English? Please kindly let me know your thoughts and if you have such familiar experiences in your language learning.
I think you are doing fine. “review and review, practice and practice”. You don’t need to do anything more because it seems like you are already doing as much as you can. I will also add that you have a healthy sense of awareness of what is causing the difficulties you are discovering. I especially connect with the idea of how our brains are wired from a young age, and believe furthermore that they can be re-wired, which is what you appear to be doing. The only kind of advice I can think of is that “legal English” might be more difficult to learn than standard or conversational English, so you might want to keep this in mind as you cross the hurdles you encounter in learning. Something that I have just thought about as I am typing – especially if you are looking for more interesting words – is to read English that has been translated from another language. I often find translated English more enjoyable to read than that of native English authors. Perhaps it is because translations somehow capture the essence and flavour of their original language which therefore gives them a unique style of written English. If you are interested in this I will leave a link to one of my favourite translations below.
Pablo Neruda’s Nobel Lecture, 1971;
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1971/neruda-lecture.html
Oh yeah, one last piece of advice; find patience wherever you can. A mountain is climbed one step at a time, and you have already asceneded to a high level.