What if You Can't Learn English Firsthand?

... trying to learn English. And all the above activities were not done in English.

What If you Can't Learn English Firsthand?

It would be nice to learn English firsthand. Learn direct from native speakers. Hear them talking English on TV. Read the news in native English. Things like that. You can't do that, right? Wrong.

You Can

There are many things you can do to learn English, even if you cannot hear the English firsthand. In fact, you might even say that it is better to avoid learrning English firsthand when you study by yourself. The reason is learning English firsthand has a few problems that you can avoid if you know them.

Problems with Firsthand English

The main problem with firsthand English is that it is simply too much. For good learning, you need to review and review. Native English speakers will constantly use different words and expressions. This can be extremely difficult. And your motivation might go down. You could feel that you try and you try but you still can't understand.

Can You Repeat That?

The next problem is almost the same. You need to review and hear the same things again and again. If you ask a native speaker to repeat himself or herself, they will almost certainly not be able to. They are not being difficult. They are not being dumb. They simply don't remember the exact words they said an instant ago. Most people don't.

In fact, it was this very problem that inspired me to make the English Listening World website in the first place. That problem plus the speed at which people speak.

It's too Fast

When you listen to English firsthand, you will probably feel the same as I did when I first came to Japan. It's too fast. Native speakers do not have training to speak to English learners. If you ask them to repeat themselves, they cannot. Similarly, if you ask them to slow down, they often do not. They often speak more loudly (and just as fast). In fact, they are not even aware they are speaking fast.

So What Can You Do?

I mentioned that there are many things you can do to learn English even if you cannot study English firsthand. Take, for instance, the man in the movie at the beginning of this article. What can he do even if he cannot learn English firsthand?

Listening

He can start with putting more English into his environment. He could easily watch TV in English. If He cannot get an English channel, then he could use the computer and one of the video sharing sites on the Internet. He could listen to English on his Walkman. One woman that I heard of listened to English everywhere she could for one year. She took the TOEIC test of English before she started studying and then again after the year of studying. Her score went up 300 points in one year (that is remarkable on that test). But there is more than listening.

Reading

There is a lot of evidence that reading can be an excellent companion to listening to extend vocabulary. Vocabulary is the biggest challenge to getting high levels in English proficiency. Our man in the movie could be reading English newspapers. Of course, English books would also be great. Try to think of other things you can read in English.

But English Firsthand Has to be the Best!

Well, I have to agree that if you can learn English from a native speaker, you have a big advantage. Just be careful. Some students think that learning from a native speaker is enough. It's not. You still have to do lots of practise. Practise on your own is very effective if you match it with lessons from a native speaker.

Plus, recorded English still has some advantages over a native speaker. You can play it again and again and it does not change. This is a big advantage. It helps you to practise and it is very economical. Don't over-estimate the advantages of a native speaker.

Summary

If you can't learn English firsthand, don't give up. You can still learn well, and in fact there are sometimes problems with firsthand English. Speakers often can't repeat what they say because they can't remember it. They usually speak too fast for a learner, and do not slow down. Even without a native speaker, you can learn by listening to recordings with English. TV, radio and special listening materials can be very useful. Reading can be a great supplement to learn a lot of vocabulary. Of course, newspapers and books are great in addition to English language textbooks.

You can find lots of special listening materials on this site. Each recording has a special listening target for you to practise. Plus you can subscribe to my ezine and get a monthly script of a conversation and a link to the page where you can listen to it. Sign up now!  

Please feel free (after all, it's free!) to listen as often as you would like to these stories as you study phrasal verbs. Come back often!