The Crazy Professors Library.com

There are 1000 and more ways to learn English, or so it would seem. The question is, "How can some person who really wants to learn decide which ones are the best ones?"

Here are some tips you can try.

The most important is to read out loud every day for 30 minutes. Read anything like the newspaper, or books, or any reasonable story.

Do not stop.

This is the key. Read so that you can hear yourself well.

Do not whisper.

If you are preparing for a test you should program your brain to focus for the time of the test. Especially for short timed tests in TOEIC or TOEFL.

Never study for more than one hour before a break. Your brain cannot hold too much at one time so shorter and more often is better.

What should you study is another problem.

There are so many books and ideas it is hard to choose.If you are a beginner you should try to choose a book that teaches the passive voice.

For Koreans it is the closest to the language you already know. It will also make your grammar stronger.If you are higher than beginner buy all english books. Reading will help you more than you think. The faster you think in English the faster you will be able to use your conversation skills.

Bad habits you already have also need to be considered.

Stopping for words you do not know. This takes away from the whole idea and enjoyment of reading. Stopping for words you do not know should be done after the second reading and you will start understanding better, and faster.

Remember it is the WHOLE idea that is important not the word.

Breath when you read to the punctuation.

Koreans just read and stop. Learning to read with pauses and expression will help you communicate and listening will become better.

Memorize the little words.

They communicate the time, place, and movement of the object or subject.Listen to movies for more than fun. They are a good source of information to help you improve your communication. This would be ideas about your introductions and apologies, ending a conversation, etc.

Do not use idioms too much.

If you use them improperly you look like a fool. The same goes with swear words. Learn about them so you understand them but use them with care.People who swear show how little they know of how to express themselves in the language.

Learn the rythm of English.

Often the stress is opposite of what you may know. For some words this can change your communication. "Appropriate" is just one of them. Stress the end and it is a verb or action. Stress the middle and it becomes an adjective.

Writing is also a problem. In my experience Koreans need to learn how to write paragraphs. This is because they are always practicing with books that use short conversations not writing paragraphs.

Practice this every day.

Write one or two paragraphs daily and read it to yourself. Ask if it makes sense.

Never use a translator program.
They are the most useless things and will take away anything you may have learned before. You will not learn anything using them.

Think of English like you do math.

This will help you in your writing. It will also help in understanding the use of prepositions. These are small words but very important.The word "to" is important. By itself it is nothing. It gives direction in the sentence."And" is also important. It is like a plus sign. I was always told not to use this word at the begining, but we do find it sometimes in today's English.When you are writing look for the same word used too many times This makes your writing boring and not interesting. Changing them will also help you discover words that you can use later.