Who taught: Terry

Worries related with English (source:interface.edu.pk)

Living abroad is not an easy thing! The main reason why it is hard is because, as you would guess, of the language barrier. Then the answer is simple. Learn the language as fast as possible! The question that follows is “HOW?” Let’s talk about learning English, the main theme of this blog, a little today! Here are the things I did, have done and am still doing to improve my English. (I am not a linguist but I have my own thoughts about what it takes to be able to learn a language. You might disagree. Please feel free to add your thoughts!)

1. Listen as much as I can

I personally think this is the first step that is required to be able to speak a new language. Let’s take an example of a baby. How does he/she get to understand his/her mother tongue? Listen, right? As parents keep saying the language, their children become to understand words and expressions and eventually say them. Ever since I got into U.S., I have never watched any Korean TV shows and movies. There are so many places I can get those things if I want. But, I intentionally decided not to rent and watch them. Why? It is hard to get away from watching them once I get into those shows. Then, consequently, I am losing my time to listen to English. As I have mentioned in a few posts here, Jessy and I watch a few TV shows again and again until we understand all of what they are saying. Let me give you a few examples! They are Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Private Practice, OC, Mad Men, etc. So, try to watch some of the ones I chose or you can choose something else to watch. Again, watch them repetitively until you get to understand majority of the conversations. And, try to speak along some of the expressions while you are watching!

2. Speak as much as I can

One question I would like to ask is “What is the major community are you in?” There are people who are trying to get along with the people who is from the same country. There are people who are trying to mingle with American people. “Who would have more chances to speak English?” Of course, the people who is trying to mingle into communities of American people would have a lot more chances to speak English. Every year, the number of times I get to meet Korean people is a few. I can actually count using my fingers. The only time I speak Korean is when I talk with my wife, Jessy. Even with her, I try to speak English as much as I can. We also go to American church not Korean church. There, we met so many nice friends. I remember Jessy asked me to go to Korean church instead of the American church for the first few weeks. But, I persuaded her to stay, saying “If we decide to go to Korean church, I guarantee you will spend most of your time with Korean people and, thus, lose your chance to speak English. And, I do not think that is a good idea.” To be honest, that was one of the main reasons why we stayed in the American church. (Don’t get me wrong! This is not the only reason, though. The people are amazing and there is the faith and brotherhood I can share with other members in the church.)

3. Write as much as I can

Even with lots of listening and speaking, there is still a part that is not easy to be good at. It is writing. Writing is such a hard part and I think it is the last piece to conquer. Working in America, I need to write a lot of emails and documents in English. Email is one of the main communication methods in business here in America. If you write something incorrectly in emails, it could cause a big problem. So, I had to practice writing too. One of the ways I took is reading good articles in magazines and try to use the expressions I found from them in my emails. And the other thing I do is writing this blog in English. I would have written this blog in Korean but decided not to do it so that I can practice my writing. I know there are still many mistakes. Please feel free to add any comments if you have any suggestions or corrections! I am totally fine with it because that is the best chance for me to learn how to write better.

Of course, these three aspects are all interconnected. If you write more and more, you get to use many of different sentences and expressions, then it helps your speaking. (This is so true for me. Trust me! Try to write in English, it will really help your speaking.) And, if you speak more, then you get to listen what you are saying, and this also helps your listening. The most important thing is that you really need to speak out loud and enunciate what you are saying. Sometimes, speaking English while you are watching you in the mirror really helps.  And, as you listen to what American people are saying in conversations, you get to learn new expressions you can use in your writings. In my case, I have learned a lot of expressions by just participating in a lot of conference calls.

My last question to you is “How much time do you invest to improve your English?” “One hour per day? Two hours per day?” I have heard a lot of non-native English speakers complain about their poor English and, at the same time, do not change their life to get them to have more chances to listen, speak and write English. Well….. what can I say? YOU GOTTA PRACTICE!