英語學習：三條微小的建議

The Great Wall is not built in one day. If you want to be good at English, it takes time and efforts. I majored in English language literature when I was in college. Since my graduation in 2014, English has become an integral part of my life. Still, I dare not say that I am well versed in it. But as a wise man said, 「the important thing is that I dare to say.」 Therefore, based upon my limited experience, I』d like to provide you with three small suggestions. You may disagree with me, but the important thing is that I 「dare to」 suggest.

First: form the habit of learning English.

As William James argues, a man』s destiny is not determined by his economic or educational background, but by his habit. Your achievement, in the end, is simply the accumulation of your daily work. Therefore, my first suggestion is to form the habit of learning English. If you want to know more about habit, you can buy a popular book titled The Power of Habit, which elaborates on the mechanism of it.

You may ask, however, 「how can I form the habit? I have started my learning of English since my old days in primary school, but still, I CANT form the habit. Why?」 The main reason is that in China, most of my peers learn English as a subject. Their sole purpose is to get a high score in Gaokao, CET4 or CET6. They sort of feel that they are forced to learn English, and it is only natural that they accept it passively. (I hope I am exaggerating here, but we all know that I am telling the truth.)

Thus, to form the habit, the trick is that you must abandon the old passive way and embrace English willingly. Maybe you can say to yourself that 「for me, English is not only a subject, but also a way to live a radiant life.」 A willing heart, however, is far from enough. To form a habit is a long journey, and you can never reach the end without the company of grit and perseverance. Angela Lee Duckworth, in her Ted Talk 「Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance」, emphasizes the value of grit. Her speech can provide you with more information on grit.

Second: make English an integral part of your life.

Once you have formed the habit, I encourage you to go one step further— make English an integral part of your life. English learning, for most people, consists of memorizing weird words, listening to dry materials and comprehending impossible grammar. The mere listing of these terms sounds boring, but as soon as you can transform English learning into an essential part of your life, everything changes. There are many ways to do it: you can read New York Times to get informed, watch HBO to enjoy your weekends (without subtitles, of course), go abroad to experience exotic cultures, etc.. When you are doing these, English learning becomes secondary as your main goal is to enrich your life.

Third: English learning is not a game.

Lastly, I want to mention a forgotten fact: English learning can never be an amusement. Some people are so greedy that they believe they can entertain themselves and improve their English at the same time. Granted, sometimes, you can be delighted in the course of learning English, but I am certain that it is different from the pleasure of watching Modern Family or playing The Legend of Sword and Fairy.

Currently, if you find it difficult to understand Friends without subtitles, then the interval background laughter must sound humiliating to you. Conversely, if you can understand the sitcom perfectly, then you cannot expect to improve your English through it, just like you cannot improve your Chinese through watching Zhenhuanzhuan. Learning itself suggests the desire to be better than your old self, and lying in your comfort zone can never help you to get rid of the old folk .

For instance, I know about twenty thousand words. I read journals like The Economist and books like The Scarlet Letter every day, but I cannot expect to increase my vocabulary in this way, as I am already familiar with the majority of words in them. To make a difference, I need to buy a vocabulary book or a dictionary, and memorize them deliberately. Also, as you can see, I type the answer in English because I want to enhance my writing skills. Typing it in Chinese will be easier and less time consuming, but it wont help me.

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