Attachment link: https://xzddf.com/en/article/26
Introduction#
Originally, I intended to use "How to Learn English in Six Months" as the title, but the essence of English is not a test, but a skill, a tool for communication. Therefore, "How to Master English in Six Months" or "How to Use English in Six Months" would be more accurate.
Personal experience: The blogger once had a strong bias in subjects, relying on guessing for English exams, and had almost forgotten the alphabet. In 2015, I started self-learning English through online courses, using "New Concept English" as the textbook, and diligently completed the first book (as shown in the picture), mastering some basic grammar and preschool-level vocabulary.
One day, I saw someone sharing their learning experience, roughly meaning that when the vocabulary is large enough, one can master English. So I abandoned the New Concept textbook and crazily memorized words for a thousand days. However, because I did not apply the words in practice (for example, doing exercises or communicating), I memorized and forgot, forgot and memorized, resulting in no gains, and I didn't know how to string these words together, lacking any basic sentence-making ability.
By 2018, I felt deeply frustrated with my English learning and had the thought of giving up. This lasted for five years until I picked up English again in 2023. At that time, my vocabulary had regressed to a preschool level, and after testing, I recognized only about 800 words.
Since I started learning English again last year, now more than half a year has passed, and I can understand about 80% of videos with English subtitles, guessing the meanings of the remaining 20% of unfamiliar words in the video content. I can also communicate with foreigners while traveling, although there are still many grammatical errors, the other party can fully understand and does not mind.
No Memorizing Words#
Not memorizing words means learning a language like a native speaker, treating language as a tool. We should view English learning like learning to drive or cook—starting from practice and using English. The key to mastering any skill is "practice makes perfect." Only through repeated use can muscle memory be formed, allowing one to truly master it. Conversely, if a skill is not used for a long time, it will gradually become unfamiliar and forgotten.
Muscle memory: Refers to subconscious reactions that occur without thinking or needing to understand, mainly reflected in the four aspects of listening, speaking, reading, and writing in language learning. For example:
- Listening: When you hear the tone of "好阿油 (How are you?)", you immediately understand that the other person is greeting you 🙋.
- Speaking: When you want to greet someone, you naturally blurt out "How are you?".
- Reading: When you see the characters "How are you?", you immediately realize that this is a greeting.
- Writing: When sending a text message to greet someone, you will also casually type "How are you?".
The entire process does not require deliberate thinking, nor does it require translating English into Chinese and then back into English. This is the manifestation of muscle memory.
Learning Philosophy#
Taking Chinese native speakers as an example, children aged 6-8 typically have a vocabulary of about 1200 to 1600 Chinese characters. Even with a limited vocabulary, they can still express content clearly and fluently. The same principle applies when learning any language; as long as you master the basic vocabulary, you can effectively convey information. The key to speaking is simplifying complex content (making things clear), while writing enriches simple content (embellishing things).
As shown in the picture, the colloquial expression of this image is: "The morning sun shines on the table." Although the language is simple and straightforward, it is completely understandable. The literary expression is: "The golden threads of dawn gently pass through the window, like a dream, falling on the desk, outlining a serene poetry, as if time quietly pauses at this moment." The literary expression is beautiful, but for beginner non-native speakers, such expressions may bring a burden and discourage learning motivation.
Therefore, if our language learning goal is only for communication, without the need for exams or writing, there is no need to deliberately memorize those fancy but rarely used low-frequency vocabulary for the time being. Instead, we should accumulate high-frequency vocabulary through reading or communication, as these words are more practical in real life.
Natural Learning#
Continuing with the example of Chinese native speakers, typically, students in grades one to three (ages 6-8) mainly learn individual Chinese characters. By the fourth grade, students have mastered about 1500 to 1800 basic characters. At this point, the focus of learning shifts from individual characters to more idioms, phrases, and passively expanding vocabulary through reading or reciting texts. The difficulty of the texts also gradually increases, usually just slightly more difficult than the characters the students have already mastered, which aligns with the famous linguist Stephen Krashen's "i+1" reading method, also known as the "Comprehensible Input Hypothesis." This is one of the secrets to how native speakers learn languages painlessly.
Stephen Krashen: Dr. Krashen is a renowned linguist known for his research in the field of second language acquisition.
i+1 reading method: "i" represents the learner's current language level, while "i+1" refers to a difficulty slightly beyond the current level. In other words, the reading materials or language input for learners should build upon what they have already mastered, adding some new, not fully mastered language knowledge. This way, it is neither too difficult nor too easy, promoting gradual improvement in language proficiency.
Philosophy: If the reading material is too simple, learners will not progress; if it is too difficult, they will feel frustrated. Therefore, finding that "just right" difficulty (i+1) is key to the gradual development of language learning.
Basic Vocabulary#
In English, mastering the first 1000 most commonly used words can cover about 70% of written and spoken English; mastering 3000 words can understand over 90% of most everyday English texts and conversations; mastering 5000 commonly used words allows a person to express complex ideas more flexibly and understand more complex articles and non-daily topics. This vocabulary is sufficient to handle moderately difficult reading materials, such as news articles and books.
For learners with no foundation in English, the blogger recommends using the Duolingo App to accumulate basic vocabulary, spending an hour learning each morning and evening. All example sentence types in Duolingo are closely related to the basic words the user has already learned, forcing users to apply the words in practice. These example sentences are trendy and practical, and are typical i+1 materials, so the blogger recommends repeatedly reading or memorizing all example sentences to form muscle memory.
Duolingo is an educational and entertaining app that helps users learn words and sentence patterns through example sentences, automatically collects mistakes and weak sentence patterns, and intelligently arranges reviews to reinforce learning effects.
Regarding whether Duolingo is useful, this is the most debated question. The answer is simple: if you only check in to complete a unit daily, learning in a "pretending to work hard" manner, then no app will be useful; secondly, for users with a good English level at the college entrance examination level or high school level, the effect is also very limited.
The blogger's personal understanding is that relying solely on the app for study makes it difficult to raise English to C1 or C2 level. Duolingo and other similar apps are more like a driving school, just helping you get started; no one can expect to stay in driving school for a lifetime and become an experienced driver. As the saying goes, "A master leads you to the door, but the practice is up to you." If you want to reach a native level, you must use English as a tool and accumulate practical experience.
Accumulating basic vocabulary through studying "New Concept English" is also feasible. Similar to Duolingo, the "New Concept" textbook teaches words and sentence patterns through articles and sentences, and aligns with the i+1 theory, so it is also recommended to read or memorize articles. However, the content of "New Concept" is somewhat outdated, and when users convert the example sentences in the articles into spoken or written output, it may seem a bit clichéd. Additionally, the exercises in the textbook are insufficient, so it is recommended to pair it with the "New Concept" workbook to consolidate the learned knowledge.
How to Use English#
When the Duolingo learning score reaches sixty or seventy points (approximately equivalent to B1 level), users have generally mastered over 3000 basic words, reaching the entry-level of English. The next step is to truly use English and learn it like a native speaker.
The blogger recently communicated with many students who just finished their college entrance exams. For students with English scores around 130 in the college entrance examination, their average vocabulary exceeds 3000. In terms of reading and writing, they can understand 90% of foreign publications, and written communication is basically barrier-free; however, in listening and speaking, they find it difficult to understand English videos without subtitles, and speaking is quite challenging, often only able to blurt out common phrases. Therefore, users with a Duolingo score of sixty or seventy points are roughly equivalent to the level of college entrance examination students; their vocabulary and handling of long, complex sentences in reading and writing may not be as good as college entrance examination students, but they have a slight advantage in listening and speaking.
Input#
Reading#
Read English books for half an hour every day, and it is recommended to use the Xiao A Reading App to import "Magic Tree House." Xiao A Reading can mark unfamiliar words and automatically translate them, and it is completely free. After finishing this book, try using the Language Reactor plugin to watch interesting English subtitle YouTube videos, continuing to learn through marking unfamiliar words and using the automatic translation feature.
Other similar reading tools include LingQ and Youdao Dictionary. LingQ is a subscription-based paid app with a high price, while Youdao Dictionary's marking unfamiliar words feature requires a paid membership.
Listening#
When you start watching all-English videos, you are actually training your listening skills unconsciously. To systematically improve your listening level, you can use the Voscreen website for targeted practice. This website breaks English videos into sentence fragments, allowing you to focus on the sentences themselves rather than the overall video content.
Additionally, you can listen to the audio of “8000 English Sentences” during your commute to accumulate short sentence reserves. These short sentences are close to daily life, and after becoming familiar with them, they will naturally improve your listening response speed.
Output#
The more you accumulate in reading and listening, the smoother your writing and speaking expressions will be. When expressing, you can directly use the articles or example sentences in your mind, replacing key words to avoid getting stuck on words or stuttering.
Writing#
To increase interest, you can register on some foreign social platforms (like TikTok, Instagram), often hang out in the English comment sections, and interact using the Grammarly Keyboard App. This keyboard will automatically correct grammatical errors while you type, or you can practice conversation with AI through PI.AI, which will provide you with topics and use natural, everyday language.
Speaking#
If you want to practice speaking for free, you can use language exchange apps or video matching websites to voice or video chat with foreigners. However, the quality of these apps varies, and some users may have impure motives or lack patience. The blogger recommends considering paid foreign teacher classes, searching for Filipino foreign teacher classes on Taobao, which cost about 30 yuan per class (40 minutes). Foreign teachers are serious and patient in class, providing targeted guidance.
Additionally, when outputting spoken language, there is no need to overly worry about grammatical correctness; the focus should be on conveying content. Even if there is confusion between he, she, him, and her, foreigners can still understand your meaning.
Grammar#
In Duolingo, you have already been subtly exposed to quite a bit of grammar knowledge, but in practical use, you may only know how to use it correctly without necessarily understanding the underlying principles (knowing it works but not why it works).
It is recommended to repeatedly review the grammar points in each unit of Duolingo, combining it with AI tools (like ChatGPT) to ask questions and understand grammar that you do not comprehend. Compared to traditional grammar books or videos, AI can interact, helping you delve into details and deepen your understanding of grammar rather than just scratching the surface.