Tips for learning English easily

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.

Français : Bonjour à tous, j’aimerais savoir si quel qu'un à des conseils pour apprendre l’anglais facilement. Merci à tous ceux qui m'en donnerons.

English : Hello everyone, I’d like to know if anyone has tips for learning English easily. Thanks to everyone who shares some with 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 a boat, or the shuttle, and you’ll be in England before Brexit is final (2023). Stay there in a small town where there are no French people, and boom—total immersion!

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!

My parents were teenagers during the war: my father was in the FTP MOI, spoke Serbo-Croatian fluently by the end of the conflict, and his only trip was finishing the war on an American base listening to jazz with surviving Black GIs... no formal education, then.

My mother fled the war as a refugee to Bern, Switzerland, not understanding a word the family said, then went back to school for her certificate and became a factory worker—so no studies for her either...

When he took early retirement from the steel industry at 56, my father started learning Italian (to visit Rome and Tuscany), Spanish (for Madrid, Seville...), and English for New York City...

Meanwhile, my mother brushed up on the English she’d barely touched and the German she’d learned with my brother and me in secondary school...

In short, a generation with little schooling, from the working class... who took up languages for one single reason: to chat during trips.

They’d cover for each other’s housing mishaps and their ability to make themselves understood with locals—no internet, not much help.

I get that former high school or university students might struggle to get back into it... but as a boss once said, "It’s a tool for measuring motivation."

I only have 63, but yeah, I get it ;) Okay, fine, sorry—we’re getting off topic, but it feels good sometimes :P

Hey there,

These casual chats with friends are nice, you know!

But the person who started this thread is a jerk—they didn’t even bother to log back in and say thanks after signing up on VF and posting such a vague message. What a waste.

Later!

when the answer is so simple:

In the West, they speak BRETON, ma'am😛

😏😏😏😏

Meh... I find it tedious and not very motivating 😕

There are so many more fun resources now for learning a language: the Duolingo app, YouTube channels (not sure if it works since I haven’t tried it, but you can even learn English while sleeping: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlBbsn4kis8). There are also Facebook groups or the website "anglais facile" (Easy English).

Basically, to learn a language, you’ve got to speak it, read it, write it, and listen to it (like following the France24 news channel in English or the BBC, or subscribing to Netflix). Do this every day for at least 10-15 minutes... for example, in the car, on the subway, while cooking, meeting tourists, or even talking to yourself in English. Personally, my kids and I often speak English to each other!

And of course, nothing beats immersion for becoming bilingual... but that’s not always possible, unfortunately!

In short, it’s hard work, but what a pleasure to see the results! :)

Français: Bonjour à tous, j’aimerais savoir si quel qu'un à des conseils pour apprendre l’anglais facilement. Merci à tous ceux qui m'en donnerons.

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

For me, if you can’t do a long immersion stay (which is still the best way to learn!), the next best thing is Skype lessons with a native teacher! I made huge progress in languages thanks to this—I had lessons several times a week (with a teacher who explains everything in the original language) and then did the homework (often watching series/movies without subtitles, reading texts, doing grammar exercises, etc.). Honestly, my level really took off! There are plenty of teachers offering Skype lessons, but personally, I think the most effective platform is Italki because there’s a wide variety of teachers at different rates, available at different times (even at 11 PM if you want!), and it’s perfect for lockdown periods! Anyway, we’re all different, but having private lessons that aren’t necessarily expensive (teachers set their own rates—some around 10 € per hour, others 20 €...) worked way better for me than any other method.

Hello.

Guaranteed results. Jacques Bodoin - La leçon d'anglais - YouTube.

Have a good evening. Jacques.

I remember..from Normandy Number one is a duck Number two is a goose Number three is a ewe Number four is a stork Number five is a knife Number six is a pig Number seven is a hen Number eight is a snake .. .

The simplest way is to avoid overly academic methods and stay consistent, even with little time. It's better to have a clear framework with solid basics and practice rather than a bunch of scattered apps. Personally, a structured platform like clic-campus.fr helped me progress step by step without getting discouraged.

This discussion dates back to February 2020. In my opinion, our friend had the whole lockdown to work on their English!

Hi there, To learn English more easily, the most important thing is to practice a little every day: videos, series in the original version, music, simple sentences. Repeating out loud really helps you improve. I’ve also come across online platforms like clic-campus, but I think the key is consistency and finding a method that keeps you motivated.

Once again, this post dates back to February 2020... And that famous Valentin never came back 😉 He posted once and vanished into the galaxy... Forever.