Aren't you tired of feeling like you're losing your time going to English class or meeting your tutor on live lessons for hours?
Have you ever wondered:
"Am I going anywhere really?"
"Will I ever speak like a "gringo"? (Spanish speakers call Americans gringos)
In this article, I'll tell you exactly what the most important thing to learn English is, so you don't lose your time, doing things that won't take you anywhere.
But first things first, let's define...
The least important thing to learn English
When I was a kid, I went to private English classes since I was in the 4th grade.
In school, we had English as a subject (I'm a Spanish native speaker by the way).
If you think of someone learning a skill from childhood, an expert doing something skillfully comes to mind.
After all, great soccer players, famous musicians, and the most astonishing people in this world are people training some skill from childhood.
So, was I able to speak English when I grew up?
Not at all...
In fact, when I got to the 9th grade, my English teacher was super frustrated because no one in my class was doing good in his subject.
I remember him, saying: "This is the last time I explain the simple present, either you learn it, and pass the test, or you fail English".
Everyone in my class learned the simple present, and passed the English test, yet, no one was able to have a conversation in English.
What's even worse, is that the next year everyone had forgotten the simple present.
The lesson?
Grammar doesn't matter if you want to speak English
In fact, grammar is one of the things that will slow down your learning process, because when you learn grammar, you assume that English is the result of knowing a bunch of formulas, like:
- "Pronoun + verb + complement" = Present tense.
- "I + verb + ED + Complement" = Simple past.
- "I + verb to be + verb + ING + complement". = Present progressive.
You know all of that....
The truth is, nobody think of these formulas when people speak English.
Actually, if you know how to read or write English, that's great, but that won't matter either.
Also, music in English might seem like a fun way to learn, and yes... it might be fun, and you might learn some words from that, but they won't help you speak or understand native speakers.
Doing good in your English test, or getting a certificate might even make you seem like someone who knows a lot of English, but if you don't know how to hold a conversation with a native speaker that only means that you have a lot of information in your mind that you can't use!
So, what is it?
What's the most important thing to learn English?
What's the key to finally learn to have conversations in this language?
The secret to unlocking your success
Who are the best English learners?
Who are those who get the best results when they learn languages?
Is it people who go to expensive and recognized English schools?
No... because in those places, they have people who fail too.
Think about it...
Are those who go to live in an English-speaking country the experts when it comes to learning English?
No... there are lots of people living in the states who can't even say "Hello" in English.
So, who are they?... who are the experts who never fail?...
In a short and simple word: Kids!
The most important thing to learn English
If you want to stop losing time with English lessons, tests, songs, grammar, vocabulary lists, then you have to learn like a child.
And what does that mean?
Well, it means that you have to imitate what they do to learn languages, which basically is:
- Listen to a LOT of English.
- Have a playful attitude and big energy.
That's it.
Children don't take lessons or learn grammar rules, they just listen to everyone around them.
What's more, they want to have fun all the time and in the end, they end up speaking English with a native accent.
They're super excited to play and talk with their parents and friends.
- They get anxious to watch the next episode of their favorite TV show.
- They're not afraid of talking and making mistakes.
- In fact, it's all the opposite, they make a lot of mistakes when they're learning how to speak.
Just take a kid to live in England or the USA, and he'll end up talking just like a native speaker.
Listening is like a shot of English to your brain
Now, I said that if you want to learn to speak English, you need to listen to lots of English.
So, does that mean that if you hear an English movie many times you will eventually understand everything they say, and that'll make you speak?
Nope...
There's a famous linguist called Stephen Krashen who says that human beings acquire languages when listening to comprehensible input.
That means that you need to listen to messages that are easy to understand, and it makes sense....
For example, if someone who knows 0 English hears the phrase "how are you?", and nobody tells him what that means, he won't understand the phrase even though he hears it 100 times.
Needless to say, he couldn't use the phrase either.
But if you take the same person and you explain what "how are you?" means, and he hears it many times until he can't forget it, eventually, he will understand it, and use it.
So if you listen to English that's easy to understand for you, you'll be injecting the language into your brain.
Just like children...
They spend a long time listening to the language and eventually producing it fluently, spontaneously, and naturally.
What should you do now?
So, now that I told you what the most important thing to learn English is, what can you do?...
Imitate what children do to learn languages.
Stop studying English or trying to learn the grammar rules.
Instead of that listen to lots of English, and change your attitude towards the language.
- Do interesting and fun activities in English.
- Be playful with English.
- Fill yourself with lots of energy when you learn English.
That's exactly what I did when I was learning to speak English. It worked for me, and I'm sure it'll work for you.
But, hey... I know that many people disagree with my opinion, and that's why I'd like to hear from you...
In your opinion... what's the most important thing to learn English?
Let me know in the comments below.
