How to start…
Once you’ve decided that you want to learn English and you’ve figured out why, you have you start!
How to start learning English depends on your existing level, the other languages you speak, your interests and learning style – but here are my general recommendations for complete beginners or those who haven’t studied English for a long time.
1) Use Duolingo! Duolingo is a language learning app that has been constructed by expert teachers and linguists. It’s fun, easy to use, motivating…and it works!
I particularly recommend this app for people who don’t know any English or have a level lower than B2 (upper-intermediate). You won’t become fluent in English just by using an app – but it will help you with the alphabet, phonetics, vocabulary and grammar and it’s taught in an intuitive way. Its free version is great and the paid version is reasonably priced and worth the money in my opinion.
2) Once you know some basics (the pronouns, common nouns, ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’, ‘nice to meet you’, ‘please’ and ‘thank you’) you should proactively learn the most important verbs and common words so you can start speaking as quickly as possible.
You’ll find many lists of the most common verbs in English online – I like this list: https://www.ef.com/wwen/english-resources/english-vocabulary/top-50-verbs/ . You should only try to learn between 5-10 new words per week - so be patient! I suggest starting with: want, learn, like, need, speak, have, go, be, eat, drink, understand, know, see, hear & can.
English conjugation is quite easy – the verb only changes for he/she/it (apart from the verb ‘be’) and you can easily find conjugation online. I like this website: https://www.the-conjugation.com/. Focus on the present simple tense if you’re a beginner – you can learn the other tenses later.
Here is my list of other basic words that you should learn:
Question words – what, where, when, how, why, who, whose, how much & how many.
Other words – because, so, but, before, after, always, sometimes, never, with, without, here, there, there is, there are.
People memorise vocabulary in different ways – I like using flashcard apps and my favourite is Duocards but others love Anki, for example.
3) Get help with grammar on YouTube or Tick Tock.
If you’re using Duolingo, you’ll notice that the grammar units name the type of grammar – you can use this to search for videos that clarify the rules if you want to learn grammar in a more structured way. I also find these types of videos helpful even if you have a teacher – it helps you to assimilate the information and see examples in your own time.
4) If you like textbooks – get one! I’m personally not a big fan of them as I usually find them boring, however, they can also provide some useful structure to your learning – especially if you don’t have a teacher. I like this range of books.
5) Start speaking as soon as possible! If you’re living in a country where English is spoken you’ll have a lot of opportunities to practice – I recommend sitting at the bar in a pub or café where you can listen to lots of people speaking and you’ll have opportunities to practice basic things with staff and locals. You’ll also get to practice if you go shopping or join activity groups. Don’t wait until you feel ready – you learn by interacting, so be brave!
If you don’t live in the country, you could search online for a language exchange partner or conversation groups. However, my best recommendation for speaking when you have a low level is to find a qualified teacher (like me!) who has experience of teaching beginners.
6) Find content you enjoy! To improve quickly you need to read, listen to, and watch things in English - but it must be something you like! You can read short news articles, listen to songs and translate the lyrics, watch YouTube videos about whatever interests you, watch your favourite series in English or listen to podcasts.
For beginners, videos are helpful because you can understand what’s happening without knowing much vocabulary and you can usually find subtitles.
Don’t aim to understand everything, aim to identify words you know and write down a few words you don’t know if you notice that they’re frequently used or you think it will be particularly useful to you. By watching things consistently, you will naturally start to pick up common words as they’re repeated a lot.
7) Practice for at least 10 minutes every day. Repetition is key to learning a language so you need to practice every day, and this is where apps, short YouTube videos and reading the news can be really helpful. Practicing a little every day is better than practicing for hours once a week.