English is no doubt one of the few languages that connect people living continents apart. No matter what part of the world you are from, improving your English is something that will help you a lot. It will open up tons of new pathways and opportunities for you and help you look at the world with a whole new lens.
If you are someone who wants to improve their English and sharpen their speaking, reading, and writing skills, you have come to the right place. Mentioned below are some of the most effective ways to build your English language skills and get to a level where you are as fluent as your mother tongue with English:
Start Watching English Movies
If you want to improve your English, you need to start watching English movies. One of the best things about English movies is that they are very entertaining and great for learning at the same time. However, make sure that you turn on the subtitles so you can follow what the actors are saying more easily.
Regularly watching English movies is very good for improving your speaking skills. Listening to native speakers helps you take note of small details that you wouldn’t get from a book. Plus, you start picking up on different expressions and slang that will take your speaking skills to the next level. You also start noticing different accents and colloquialisms that help you understand the language at a much deeper level.
Develop the Habit of Reading
You can’t become fluent in English without developing a habit of reading. Most people nowadays prefer watching online videos rather than picking up a book and reading it. However, a movie or a youtube video can never compare to a book. Reading will help you understand different writing rules, punctuation, and vocabulary.
Movies aren’t the best way to learn new vocabulary because things are moving so fast that you don’t have the time to find out the meaning of a new word when you see one. However, when you are reading a book you can easily search for the meaning whenever you see a new word. This way you can build your vocabulary over time.
Moreover, reading is necessary if you want to sharpen your writing skills because the only way to quickly pick up on different grammatical patterns is to read as much as you can.
Make English Speaking Friends
Practice is the key when it comes to improving your speaking skills. You could read all the books you want, watch all the movies you want, and learn all the vocabulary you can, but without practice, none of it is going to help you. So, start practicing your English with people who are fluent themselves.
Ideally, you should try to become friends with a native speaker, but that can be a bit tough if you are living in a country where English isn’t the primary language. However, if you have a good internet connection you can easily find a learning partner on the internet who can teach you English and in exchange, you will teach them your native language.
There are many language exchange platforms and apps that you can find on the internet that make it easier than ever before to connect to native speakers and learn directly from them.
Start Writing a Journal
Writing is one of the most important parts of learning any language. If you truly want to become a master of English you need to get good at English writing. This is why you need a journal. You can write about what goes on in your day, the interesting things that happen every day, and your life in general.
One of the reasons why writing plays such an important role when it comes to learning a new language is that writing makes you more articulate. It gives you the ability to express yourself in a much clearer and more effective way.
You can’t write without thinking and thinking is what helps you understand yourself and others in a much deeper and more profound way. So, keep working on your writing skills because they lay the groundwork for everything else.
Use Online Learning Resources
There are tons of online apps and websites that will help you take your English skills to the next level. Some of the most popular English learning apps include Rosetta stone, fluentU, Hello English, Duo Lingo, and HelloTalk that help you to improve your english.
Most of these apps take a slow approach to getting you started and get more and more advanced over time. They help you get familiar with the basics and slowly warm you up to learning some of the more complex and confusing grammar rules.
They also help you build your vocabulary by teaching you a new word every day and then asking you to use that word through that day to make it a permanent part of your arsenal. Moreover, some of these apps also give you the option of changing the complexity level based on how good you are with English.
There are also tons of other learning resources on the internet like free printable English worksheets, online workbooks, and online tests that might prove to be useful for you.
Take an English Proficiency Test
There are many English proficiency tests on the internet that will help you evaluate where you are with your English and how much more hard work you require. Duolingo offers an English proficiency test with different difficulty levels.
However, these tests aren’t very easy, so you should not take them early on in your learning process because that way you might get demotivated if you don’t get a good score. Some other English proficiency tests include IELTS, TOFEL, and PTE.
Conclusion
So there you have it, these are some of the most effective ways to improve your English and get to the point where you have no problem understanding others or articulating yourself in English. Remember that mastering your English is going to take some time and effort, you won’t become fluent overnight. So, don’t lose hope if you have a hard time in the beginning and keep working at it.
