How to stop postponing English for later and start learning
On the eve of the New Year, they wrote an article about popular misconceptions about the English language, which make it difficult to just pick up and start learning it. We deconstruct popular myths in it, so that from January 1 you will have no doubts and fears.
About the myths about pronunciation, read one of our previous articles . And at the end of the post catch a New Year's gift from our site.
It is impossible to definitely say that this is a bad idea. If the surrounding level is slightly higher than yours, it may work. You will see what to strive for, and groupmates will be able to help. For example, with confident Pre-Intermediate, you can catch up with the Intermediate group - of course, if you work hard.
')
However, beginners are often asked to join strong groups. It seems to them that a strong group will replace their linguistic environment - they say, if they speak English confidently, you, too, will begin to understand something. But this is already a delusion. There is literally no way out of the real language environment. It consists of conversations at home, on the street and at work, on television, newspapers, signs, ads - everything that surrounds us. Such a dive is not simulated for two or three lessons a week, even if in your free time you read English curses on the fences. From time to time, to spend a couple of hours in the company of people who speak English confidently and at the same time do not understand or say anything - you simply cannot think of a demotivator. And the most annoying thing is that with such a huge difference your courageous attempts to understand and say something are annoying to others rather than a desire to help.
In this idea, as in the first, there is a reasonable grain. Practice with the interlocutor, who, as it seems to us, certainly knows how to say this or that - it sounds very tempting!
The trouble is that not everyone takes into account the difference between "a native speaker" and "a native speaker who has a pedagogical education." Roughly speaking, every carrier speaks his own language, but not everyone can teach him well. Here, for example, you. Most likely, you are a native speaker of Russian, but will you take to teach him a foreigner? Yes, and you can speak your native language in very different ways. Many of our compatriots say "call" instead of "call" and "send" instead of "let's go." In turn, not all Britons speak cleanly and competently. You can practice with a good Russian teacher much more effectively and learn more than from an average Englishman or an American who has no idea how to explain the rules of his own language.
But to talk with the carrier, if possible, of course, it is worth it. It is always useful to listen to exactly how real people speak, not teachers or announcers of the BBC. And it is just interesting to expand the horizons and get acquainted with a representative of another culture.
Do not rush to draw conclusions. The first lesson in any textbook (and sometimes the whole section) is introductory. It is built on the repetition of what you already know. If you were tested before the start of classes to determine your level, the choice of benefits is not accidental. Wait a week or two, and there will begin the desired difficulties.
Speaking of difficulties. Bogatyrs are not translated in Russia, they are ready to sit for as long as they wish with the most complicated texts, signing every word! Two, three, four hours - they do not care. When a page or chapter ends, they feel pleasantly tired and feel that they have spent a good time.
Alas, to consider the measure of work fatigue is a very harmful principle. Such a vigil is just the same as sorting out hieroglyphs with a dictionary. Four hours can be spent much more useful. Read a page of text adapted to your level of English. Learn ten new words. Watch the training video, do the exercises for it. Repeat one grammatical rule ... or learn a new one, but also one. Believe me, there will be more sense.
It is now accepted to praise the Soviet education and say that before the approach was more solid, and taught better. We will not speak about exact sciences, but in the case of the English language, the desire to shake olden times will go to training only to the detriment.
Firstly, in the USSR, education had completely different goals and objectives. The Soviet man had to be able to use the achievements of capitalist science and technology — that is, to read and translate. To understand someone else's speech by ear, and especially to be able to talk to suspicious foreigners was considered unnecessary and even harmful. Since then, much has changed. Now most of the textbooks focus on conversation. And the ability to understand texts and knowledge of grammatical rules became not an end in itself, but simply useful tools in a student’s arsenal.
Secondly, any language is changing. For example, in the sixties of the twentieth century, our parents were taught to build a question with the verb have like “Have you a pen?”. And now in any textbook is offered “Do you have a pen?” / “Have you got a pen?”.
But even if your parents already studied under the new program, their textbooks, most likely, had time to become obsolete. They contained texts about a marvelous thing called the Internet, about button phones, fax machines and tape recorders ...
But a reissue of a British textbook written ten or twenty years ago may turn out to be very good. British methodologists know how to preserve good practices and supplement them with new, relevant materials. Especially a lot of reprints can withstand specialized manuals on the economy, such as the Market Leader.
It's not like that at all. An electronic translator is indispensable if you need to understand the general meaning of a text in a language that you do not know at all. In all other cases there is more harm from him than good.
There are especially sad consequences if you translate the Russian text into a translator and try to translate it into English. We name only one reason: even the smartest car does not distinguish between cases and, as a result, confuses words. Sometimes disastrous. For example, “wormwood” and “wormwood”. Or "turtles" in the phrases "Galapagos turtles" and "human turtles."
Any electronic translation must be carefully read and edited, and if you are not confident in English, you will not be able to catch all the errors. This is painstaking and long work, for which professional translators and editors are paid almost as much as for ordinary translation.
Translating new words with the help of a translator is also not worth it. It is much more useful to look for them in the dictionary, where a lot of valuable information is given: transcription, part of speech, examples of use. Here is an electronic dictionary - a really good friend, much better than a paper one.
The most common misconception of students, especially relevant in the run-up to the session. Remember - it is impossible to instantly learn a foreign language! Details about calculating the time to learn the language to the desired level, we wrote in this article .
Remember: you did not study your native language for a year or two. And to learn the second or third is simply impossible in a short period of time.
Readers of the blog give a coupon for 500 rubles for the purchase of a subscription, which includes 8 types of training and weekly mailings about English grammar and vocabulary - "Vitaminki" and "Buns".
And for unlimited and perpetual access to all features of the site there is an “All Inclusive” tariff (the discount does not apply).
About the myths about pronunciation, read one of our previous articles . And at the end of the post catch a New Year's gift from our site.
Misconception 1: "We must always ask for a strong group!"
It is impossible to definitely say that this is a bad idea. If the surrounding level is slightly higher than yours, it may work. You will see what to strive for, and groupmates will be able to help. For example, with confident Pre-Intermediate, you can catch up with the Intermediate group - of course, if you work hard.
')
However, beginners are often asked to join strong groups. It seems to them that a strong group will replace their linguistic environment - they say, if they speak English confidently, you, too, will begin to understand something. But this is already a delusion. There is literally no way out of the real language environment. It consists of conversations at home, on the street and at work, on television, newspapers, signs, ads - everything that surrounds us. Such a dive is not simulated for two or three lessons a week, even if in your free time you read English curses on the fences. From time to time, to spend a couple of hours in the company of people who speak English confidently and at the same time do not understand or say anything - you simply cannot think of a demotivator. And the most annoying thing is that with such a huge difference your courageous attempts to understand and say something are annoying to others rather than a desire to help.
Misconception 2: “Require classes with native speakers!”
In this idea, as in the first, there is a reasonable grain. Practice with the interlocutor, who, as it seems to us, certainly knows how to say this or that - it sounds very tempting!
The trouble is that not everyone takes into account the difference between "a native speaker" and "a native speaker who has a pedagogical education." Roughly speaking, every carrier speaks his own language, but not everyone can teach him well. Here, for example, you. Most likely, you are a native speaker of Russian, but will you take to teach him a foreigner? Yes, and you can speak your native language in very different ways. Many of our compatriots say "call" instead of "call" and "send" instead of "let's go." In turn, not all Britons speak cleanly and competently. You can practice with a good Russian teacher much more effectively and learn more than from an average Englishman or an American who has no idea how to explain the rules of his own language.
But to talk with the carrier, if possible, of course, it is worth it. It is always useful to listen to exactly how real people speak, not teachers or announcers of the BBC. And it is just interesting to expand the horizons and get acquainted with a representative of another culture.
Misconception 3: “I understand everything in the first lesson. This tutorial is too simple for me. ”
Do not rush to draw conclusions. The first lesson in any textbook (and sometimes the whole section) is introductory. It is built on the repetition of what you already know. If you were tested before the start of classes to determine your level, the choice of benefits is not accidental. Wait a week or two, and there will begin the desired difficulties.
Fallacy 4: “I can translate any complex text. It would be time "
Speaking of difficulties. Bogatyrs are not translated in Russia, they are ready to sit for as long as they wish with the most complicated texts, signing every word! Two, three, four hours - they do not care. When a page or chapter ends, they feel pleasantly tired and feel that they have spent a good time.
Alas, to consider the measure of work fatigue is a very harmful principle. Such a vigil is just the same as sorting out hieroglyphs with a dictionary. Four hours can be spent much more useful. Read a page of text adapted to your level of English. Learn ten new words. Watch the training video, do the exercises for it. Repeat one grammatical rule ... or learn a new one, but also one. Believe me, there will be more sense.
Misconception 5: “The textbook of parents is still as good as new. I will work on it "
It is now accepted to praise the Soviet education and say that before the approach was more solid, and taught better. We will not speak about exact sciences, but in the case of the English language, the desire to shake olden times will go to training only to the detriment.
Firstly, in the USSR, education had completely different goals and objectives. The Soviet man had to be able to use the achievements of capitalist science and technology — that is, to read and translate. To understand someone else's speech by ear, and especially to be able to talk to suspicious foreigners was considered unnecessary and even harmful. Since then, much has changed. Now most of the textbooks focus on conversation. And the ability to understand texts and knowledge of grammatical rules became not an end in itself, but simply useful tools in a student’s arsenal.
Secondly, any language is changing. For example, in the sixties of the twentieth century, our parents were taught to build a question with the verb have like “Have you a pen?”. And now in any textbook is offered “Do you have a pen?” / “Have you got a pen?”.
But even if your parents already studied under the new program, their textbooks, most likely, had time to become obsolete. They contained texts about a marvelous thing called the Internet, about button phones, fax machines and tape recorders ...
But a reissue of a British textbook written ten or twenty years ago may turn out to be very good. British methodologists know how to preserve good practices and supplement them with new, relevant materials. Especially a lot of reprints can withstand specialized manuals on the economy, such as the Market Leader.
Misconception 6: “My best friend is an electronic translator”
It's not like that at all. An electronic translator is indispensable if you need to understand the general meaning of a text in a language that you do not know at all. In all other cases there is more harm from him than good.
There are especially sad consequences if you translate the Russian text into a translator and try to translate it into English. We name only one reason: even the smartest car does not distinguish between cases and, as a result, confuses words. Sometimes disastrous. For example, “wormwood” and “wormwood”. Or "turtles" in the phrases "Galapagos turtles" and "human turtles."
Any electronic translation must be carefully read and edited, and if you are not confident in English, you will not be able to catch all the errors. This is painstaking and long work, for which professional translators and editors are paid almost as much as for ordinary translation.
Translating new words with the help of a translator is also not worth it. It is much more useful to look for them in the dictionary, where a lot of valuable information is given: transcription, part of speech, examples of use. Here is an electronic dictionary - a really good friend, much better than a paper one.
Misconception 7: "I will learn everything in three days"
The most common misconception of students, especially relevant in the run-up to the session. Remember - it is impossible to instantly learn a foreign language! Details about calculating the time to learn the language to the desired level, we wrote in this article .
Remember: you did not study your native language for a year or two. And to learn the second or third is simply impossible in a short period of time.
For those who want to pump English in the new year
Readers of the blog give a coupon for 500 rubles for the purchase of a subscription, which includes 8 types of training and weekly mailings about English grammar and vocabulary - "Vitaminki" and "Buns".
And for unlimited and perpetual access to all features of the site there is an “All Inclusive” tariff (the discount does not apply).
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/371137/
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