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Ruslan
My experience and tips: How I turned from beginner into..well, into someone who thinks that he can give advice Spoiler alert: I'm going to mention some apps and resources that I use. Sadly, nobody is going to pay me for that but anyway. First of all, spend all your free time learning English. It's simple, isn't it? Don't waste all the time hanging around with your friends. Stop going to the cinema and doing another useless stuff. You can't give up some activities, like running, working out et cetera - in that case combine it with learning English, use headphones, listen to podcasts. I'm going to describe my normal day, just as an example, how you can use it for yourself.  When I wake up I turn on English podcast (BTW my favourite is LEP - Luke's English podcast), and while I'm brushing my teeth, preparing and eating breakfast, I've already got 40 minutes of Listening. I go to work with my headphones on (of course I'm listening to English podcasts or radio). At the boring meeting I do my written exercises, I write whatever comes in my mind.  At the work (if I have time) I use a variety of apps on my phone to improve my skills, such as: 1) Reading: English reader (I use this app mainly for reading books by Agatha Cristie, they are great, but of course you can read whatever you want); Books of jokes (understanding English humour is very important); Guardian - online newspaper (is there any need to explain that? You have to know what's going on in the world and have to get relevant vocabulary, reading that); 2) Listening: LEP (Luke's English podcast - it's the core of my learning English), radio LBS and radio CNN, TED - great resources, youtube - there are a damn lot of English channels; 3) Writing: just write down every day whatever you want in your notebook, it is important; 4) Grammar: there are plenty of grammar apps in Play Market or Appstore, use any of them, which available in your country; 5) Speaking: Andy - English chat box, I haven't found anything better - use it wisely - it asks you different questions, answer them aloud, pretend you speak to real person; Holla: as for me is the best video chat on your phone, where you can speak to natives in all around the world - but be patient, it takes time to find them; Italki: I use it primarily for taking lessons once in week with tutors (they are cheaper than professional teachers and they handle with main aim - just to TALK to you, it's difficult to overestimate the importance of Speaking). And natives on the Italki seem not to be interested to talk to you for free (and I understand that - why they should waste their time doing that?). Also, I use a lot of other apps but it pointless to name all of them. Furthermore, everywhere I go, I listen to podcasts. When I'm back home I read aloud or watch different English videos and tv-series. If I'm not alone, I think in English, what happened to me during the week, what was in the tv-series which I'd watched before. And if we do the math, we'll find out that you can learn English for six-seven hours a day! It's not difficult, don't believe in my word, just try yourself. If you get bored reading something then change activities, watch a comedy show or something, I think you've got the idea. Ok, I'm done, I don't pretend to be an expert, I'm just a learner of English, but I hope, that my experience could help someone and remember to keep putting one foot in front of the other!

ความคิดเห็น · 31

5

I want to say two things:

1- Obsession breeds achievements

You have mentions some  useful and informative points a learner should follow in an organised way to achieve proficiency or a good score in IELTS. I really thank you for sharing your experience as it would be helpful for English learners:)

2- Obsession breeds boredom

If someone is really interested in something(like a language enthusiast) then getting obsessed may bring productive result. But one who is not really interested in learning a language but force themselves to follow an English-only schedule from waking up to going to bed, then it would be boring or irksome. I agree with Seraph here!  One need not have to propel themselves only in one way as there is life to live and it would be beautiful if we give time to all those people and things we love and cherish. 

5
Seraph, thank for your critical review! The thing is, if you really want to be good at anything at all, you Have to be obsessed, you have to sacrifice, even be a nerd, in terms of learning a language. Really, nobody wants to speak like a low-educated immigrant, don't they? 
4
I think it is so easy to absorb yourself in a foreign language (at least all the mainstream languages) in the way that you describe. With so much content  you could easily have enough input to to fill every minute of your day for the rest of your life. I am old enough to remember life without the internet. The internet is just the most wonderful gift to language learning.
4

@Ruslan

It's impressive how much work you put into learning English and I think other learners might find inspiration and motivation from your post. You wrote: "The thing is, if you really want to be good at anything at all, you Have to be obsessed, you have to sacrifice, even be a nerd, in terms of learning a language." Well, I disagree. Of course, the obsessed nerd might reach the goal faster but a lazy hedonist like me can also eventually reach a goal. I never sacrificed anything for studying languages.

"Don't waste all the time hanging around with your friends. Stop going to the cinema and doing another useless stuff." If your friends happen to be speakers of your target language and you watch movies in your target language, those activities aren't useless at all. Actually, how can be hanging out with friends be seen as usless? I've never been obsessed with English and also never in my life did English language exchange  but just made English a part of my life in a natural way.  

3

 Ruslan, 

What actually triggered me to make that unserious comment is the fact, that you study at work. 

A college of mine would also study English at work and others looked at him like he was a jerk. He took his learning to the extreme, not doing properly his job. In the end he made numerous mistakes and winded up kicked out of his work. 

I think, he got what he deserved to. He was obsessed with English, talking about it all the time, like there is nothing else to talk about. 

I think, taking things out of proportion is no good. 


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