Hello everyone! Lily. Now, the English study series has finally come to an end. The final theme is “How to improve your overall English skills”. In order to acquire strong English skills that will not break down a little bit, you will need basic comprehensive skills in addition to the four basic skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing. This time, as a summary of the series, I would like to introduce this comprehensive strength.
Correct your attitude toward “English”
We sometimes lose sight of important things because we study English very hard. A member of society who has started attending an English conversation school feels sorry for his lack of English and repeats with Sorry, and forgets the importance of communication. In fact, I also had such a distorted view of English at the elementary, intermediate and advanced levels.
<Beginner>
It was a time when I could hardly hear anything and could not say what I wanted to say in English. Even if I had a chance to talk with native speakers, I always repeated “Sorry, my English is bad”.
At that time, I was repeating this line like an excuse, but I think that it was just a matter of concern to the other party that it would be better to say “No.”
In fact, this is one of the most important words you shouldn’t say. Because “Sorry, my English is bad” is a negative word that blocks communication that “so I don’t talk to you”.
<Intermediate>
It is a level where you can say what you want to say if you do it to some extent. If you don’t do it, it means that you will be completely different when you speak English.
For example, I really like a quiet library-like place, and if you want to say karaoke etc. if you can speak to a friend but usually you do n’t have enough English to express it, “Do you like “To go karaoke?” when asked by a native speaker, “For course! I love karaoke!” I was just trying to follow the local English and couldn’t express myself properly.
<Advanced>
You can express yourself in English fairly freely. At this time, there is a tendency to use English that purposefully uses difficult expressions and geeky slang, and to converse with English. Because English is a language used by people all over the world, it is preferable to have a simple and clean English expression that is easy to communicate to anyone rather than a difficult English expression. But at that time I couldn’t notice it.
In this video, you can also see the wrong view of English that English learners often have. https://youtu.be/iSQnXM8FvsU
Rephrasing is important
If you have an English conversation, you will come across a situation where you want to say but you can’t say it. That ’s where paraphrasing power comes into play. If you add paraphrasing power, you will have more freedom in English conversation. I will write a tip, so please refer to it.
Paraphrasing more and more
For example, when you want to say “Isn’t there an answer?”
I don’t think answers are not on there. This is a natural expression, but it doesn’t come out in an instant. In such a case, simply say I think you do n’t find answers there.
If this is difficult, You don’t find answers there. If this is difficult, No answers there. Like the top sentence, the expression of the inanimate subject does not appear in Japanese because it is not in Japanese. It will be easier to express in English if you change it to subject → verb → detail. If it is still difficult, arrange what you want to tell. Rather, the bottom may be closest to the form of conversation natively uses.
Try to be closer to native speakers’ English
Being able to understand TV and videos in English means that you have vocabulary and English understanding similar to native speakers. It’s also good to work hard with reference books and watch TV in English as a culmination, but I dared to learn English in the reverse order. In other words, I cultivated my English skills, driven by the desire to understand TV and videos in English. Here are some videos that I have seen and worked on.
Recommended videos
Eigo with Luke https://youtu.be/m4trnahurS8
An English course by Luke from England and Japan. You can study with videos, but the website introduces English expressions that can be quite useful. A book summarizing it is also on sale.
What would you do? Https://youtu.be/Ko2EOhH8qYI
An American social program that conveys human psychology as it is. “What to do if whites discriminate against blacks in the store?” “What to do if a child comes to buy a lighter in the store?” “What to do if a babysitter abuses a child in front of you?” “?” The attached video is “What would you do if your father was cheating with your helper?”
Monique show https://youtu.be/h18TTy4GLeU
American talk show program. This is a program where you can learn about black English and black culture. The bright character of moderator Monique is wonderful.
I think it’s very important to come into contact with the culture of native English speakers. For people in Japan, it is this TV and video that gives you access to live English. Please watch it once.
Conclusion
So this is the summary.
1. Correct your posture and start learning English
2. Paraphrasing is important!
3. Watch TV and videos in English!
Rome was not built in a day!!
Your overall English skills are like your inner muscles. Once this is trained, any pinch can be overcome with extreme power!
First of all, try to rephrase anything in English without fear of failure. And is there a different way of saying it? I will expand and examine it. If you continue studying in this way, you may come across a scene where you can use it in conversations with foreigners. You may want to discuss topics according to the English you want to use.
Whatever the case, I think the most important thing in learning English is to continue to have fun!
Thank you for reading my 5 English Series!
Rome was not built in a day!
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