Tips for learning English easily (page 1 of 2)

Hi everyone, I’d love to know if anyone has tips for learning English easily. Thanks in advance to anyone who shares theirs!

English: Hello everyone, I’d like to know if anyone has tips for learning English easily. Thanks to all who share them with me.

Listen to English songs while reading the lyrics on YouTube. Same goes for movies in English. Good luck!

PS: No need to translate your message into English—don’t worry, we understand French.

Staying in an English-speaking country and speaking with native English speakers is pretty much the only effective method, with results that are almost 100% guaranteed.

Listening to songs doesn’t help you progress much (many French people listen to English and American songs all day long without speaking a word of it). Watching movies in the original version helps, but without subtitles—otherwise, the results are almost zero.

French: Hi everyone, I’d like to know if anyone has tips for learning English easily. Thanks to all who’ll share some with me.

English: Hello everyone, I would like to know if anyone has tips for learning English easily. Thank you to all who give it to me.

???

Seriously? No one around you can give you advice... no need to sign up on VF for that.

Just travel 100 km west, swim, take the boat, or the shuttle, and you’ll be in England before Brexit is final (2023). Stay there, immerse yourself in some backwater where there are no French people, and off you go!

See ya!

A bit of school-level English and immersion—that’s all it takes, as many here have said!

😏😄😄 !!! You're tough, Pierre,,, 😂😂😂😂😂

But it's a good solution 😌 I speak very little and bad English! I manage to understand and get by once I'm out west 😊,,, without being out of it 😄

Lil' hug, Pierre

Watching films in the original version is good, but without subtitles, otherwise the result is almost zero.

You need to watch films in the original version but WITH English subtitles. And pause the scene if you didn’t understand something—it helps you connect the written word with the pronunciation. You also need to put in some work on the side: jot down all the new words, then look up related expressions and idioms on Reverso, for example, along with their different meanings

Hi there,

Of course, the best way to learn a language is to live in the country—it’s obvious and everyone can appreciate that.

But beyond that... ...

Past generations, unable to travel to the country, used whatever they could. As a student, I recorded the BBC on shortwave with a tape recorder or went to see a movie in the original version with my tape recorder to replay the dialogues until I was sick of them! 😅

Nowadays, there are paid online courses via webcam, Skype, etc...

But at the same time, networks are developing thanks to apps that allow exchanges—usually free (win-win) between two people, each wanting to improve in the other’s language. And that’s probably the best thing besides going there in person...

For example:

Chatting with pen pals to learn a language (no computer needed)

Conversation Exchange - Language learning with native speakers

Tandem Language Exchange App | Find Conversation

Chatting Online to Practice Foreign Languages – MosaLingua

How to Use Skype to Learn Another Language - Fluent in 3 Months

Got an 8 in English at school...

1 phrase to know: "Hello, I'm a French tourist" "Speak slowly, please"

Personally, I speak the same English as Yasser Arafat: I understood everything he said with his rapid speech and neutral accent.

And right away, smiles appear.

Otherwise, nothing beats stays abroad—UK, USA, or even other countries—to chat with other travelers.

After a few days, you pick up the accent and intonation.

We prepare with Google Translate.

On the other hand, it’s not always easy to understand them, but we manage...

You’ve got to live among the locals—spending just a few days in an English-speaking country isn’t enough.

hey Lyon locals!

"hello I'm a french tourist

Hmm! Is it really necessary to point that out 😛?

Since the mood’s lighthearted, I dug up two classics on the topic:

first one:

Misunderstandings caused by bad pronunciation – YouTube

…

second one: Funny and awkward situations caused by wrong pronunciation

Works both ways, of course…

Here’s a story that’s been going around… is it true?

you decide…

an American couple on their honeymoon flies to PARIS on American Airlines. The young woman took a few intensive conversation classes before the trip and she’s practicing as much as she can. At one point, she heads to the lavatory and just before going in, she turns around and tells her sweetheart, ‘‘ je t’adore’’—he replies, ‘‘ WHAT?’’—clearly, he didn’t understand or hear her. So she shouts twice, ‘‘ je t’adore… je t’adore’’’’

At that moment, passengers start panicking, some rush toward the doors… after thinking they heard ‘‘shut the door… shut the door’’

What do you think, Aquilegia?

Hi Cochize,

I heard the story of an American who wanted to ask someone in France "Where is the train station?" but with their pronunciation, the question in French ended up more like "Where is the war?".

For the original question, the only truly easy way to learn a foreign language is to live like a child in a country where the foreign language is spoken, or to grow up in a family that speaks a different language at home than the one spoken in the country.

I used a website to find a partner for a Spanish-English language exchange. We’ve been talking on Skype almost every week for 5 years. I’m much more comfortable in Spanish now. I just got back from Mexico, and I was in Colombia last year.

hi Aquilegia,

as Mark Twain said about his trip to Paris:

“In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.”

I used a website to find a partner for a Spanish-English language exchange. We’ve been talking on Skype almost every week for 5 years. I’m much more comfortable with Spanish now. I just got back from Mexico, and I was in Colombia last year.

that’s the alternative I mentioned earlier—the modern version of the ‘pen pal’ 🙂

For me, nothing beats immersion—that’s how I made progress in English, Spanish, and Italian

For employees: right to training For retirees: often language classes at community centers (MJC) or other organizations...

or for retirees on vacation doing immersion with families. I did it all when I was still working.

As a student, I used to record the BBC

Today, the BBC offers free online courses with "BBC Learning English".

And it’s way less harsh on the ears than listening to foreign radio on shortwave back in our day 😉 😛

You're all replying to a guy who signed up on VF on February 12th just to ask his question, and whose last login was on... the 12th too 😏😏!! Thanks anyway, this could be useful for others, starting with me.

... in any case, it might help others ...

That’s exactly the spirit in which I posted my reply!

hi,

And it’s less harsh on the ears than listening to foreign radio on shortwave back in our day ;) :P

and it’s easier for tuning... though my radio had a high-performance shortwave vernier knob.

A shortwave vernier knob😮! What on earth is that, some might ask...

... I’m guessing those under 70!