The best ways to study English

Cristian Vlas, Access Ungheni

English is the most popular language in the world and it represents the nations with great history and culture: Americans, English, etc. That is why I chose to study English. But, as each foreign language, it is difficult to learn, to speak and to comprehend. So, you have to figure out how to be a good speaker of English. And here is my pro-tip: if you want to speak well English, you must understand English as a particular culture. You do not have to read a lot of books or take English courses, but you must learn the way native speakers think. Speaking of my experience, I took English courses five years, but at the final moment I could barely say a sentence in English in a conversation. I had great vocabulary and writing skills, but my speaking ones were awful due to my shyness and bad pronunciation. Unsatisfied by myself, I left the courses, but I did not leave English. I began to train my skills, using different and interesting methods, explained in the following slides.

Watching movies in EnglishThis method combines the useful thing, as is listening to native speakers, with an interesting thing, as is observing the actors playing. While enjoying your favorite movie, you can listen to amazing English accents and dialects, such as Australian, Jamaican or American accents. Doing this gives you the opportunity to choose the phonetical dialect which is more close to you. An easy way to watch movies is with Romanian or English subtitles or to watch short-footage films. It may not offer you good examples of vocabulary, but it explains the way of thinking and the usual pronunciation of usual native speakers. For example, I am amazed the way British actors speak, but the more I want to imitate them, the more American seems my pronunciation and this develops me somehow. So, it is kinda funny and useful to watch movies in English. Try it out and go further!Must-watch movies: Inception, The Dark Knight(trilogy), The Great Gatsby, Breaking Bad, etc.Must-follow actors: Leo DiCaprio, Liam Nesson, Christian Bale, Bryan Cranston, Hugh Jackman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Craig etc.

Internet sitesOf course, Internet is not the most trustful source of information, but you can find here a plenty of sites for interactive learning(Duolingo) and people to communicate with. Begining from Facebook and Twitter, which are the most popular social networks, and ending with Youtube and 9GAG, which can entertain you and adapt to the way of thinking of English speakers. Maybe the spelling and the grammar are not obeyed always by the internet users, but there you can find a lot of fun and interesting stuff that can help you to learn English easily.

Speaking of me, I have about 20 foreign friends(4 native speakers) on Facebook and I usually talk in English with them, so this experience is prettygood and it develops your writing and discussing skills.

Discussing with English speakers

I find this the most interesting way of learning English language because, except for the fact that you train your English skills in reality, you find new people, you make new friends and you do exchange experience with them. Even more, you find yourself from another point of view, of thinking and you try to develop your English skills. Of course, you cannot find any English speaker at any corner,but you can improvise speaking with your friends, a teacher or find a volunteer from Peace Corps, because they are always sympathetic and friendly.

Thank you for your attention!