How can you learn English. How to learn spoken English? Building a program of action

"Every new language expands the consciousness of man and his world. It's like one more eye and one more ear," says Daniel Stein, the hero of Ludmila Ulitskaya's book. Would you like to expand your picture of the world and find a common language with more than a billion people? For those who answered yes, we will tell you how to start learning English. We hope that our guide will help beginners take their first steps and show the right path for those who continue to learn the language.

To get started, we invite you to watch a recording of a two-hour webinar with Victoria Kodak(a teacher and methodologist of our online school), in which she answers the question of how to start learning English in the most detailed way:

1. Introduction: When and how best to start learning English

Some adults believe that only children can start learning English from scratch. Someone thinks that an adult is ashamed to start from the basics and learn elementary rules and words, someone believes that only children can successfully learn foreign languages, because they have an excellent memory and learning abilities. Both the first and second opinions are wrong. There is nothing shameful in the fact that you start learning a language as an adult, on the contrary: the desire for knowledge always commands respect. According to the statistics of our school, people begin to learn the language from the first stage and at 20, and at 50 and even at 80 (!) years old. Moreover, they do not just start, but successfully study and reach high levels of English proficiency. So no matter how old you are, what matters is your desire to learn and your willingness to improve your knowledge.

Many people ask themselves: “What is the best way to start learning English?”. First you need to choose the way of learning that suits you: in Group, individually with a teacher or on one's own. You can read about the pros and cons of each of them in the article "".

The best option for those who are going to learn the language "from scratch" is classes with a teacher. You need a mentor to explain how the language "works" and help you build a solid foundation for your knowledge. The teacher is your interlocutor who:

help you start speaking English;
explain grammar in simple words;
teach to read texts in English;
It will also help you develop your English listening comprehension skills.

For some reason, you do not have the desire or opportunity to study with a teacher? Then check out our step by step guide about independent study in English for beginners.

To begin with, we want to give you some tips on how to better organize your classes so that your efforts are not in vain. We recommend:

Exercise at least 2-3 times a week for 1 hour. Ideally, you need to practice English every day for at least 20-30 minutes. However, if you want to arrange a weekend for yourself, do it every other day, but in double volume - 40-60 minutes.
Work on speaking skills. Write short texts, read simple articles and news, listen to podcasts for beginners, and try to find someone to talk to to train your speaking skills.
Immediately put into practice what you have learned. use orally and writing learned words and grammatical structures. Simple cramming will not give the desired effect: knowledge will fly out of your head if you do not use it. Learned a dozen words - compose short story using all these words, say it out loud. We studied the Past Simple time - write a short text in which all sentences will be in this tense.
Don't "Spray". The main mistake of beginners is trying to take as many materials as possible and work with them all at the same time. As a result, the study turns out to be unsystematic, you get confused in the abundance of information and do not see progress.
repeat the past. Don't forget to review what you've learned. Even if it seems to you that you know the words on the topic “Weather” by heart, return to them in a month and check yourself: do you remember everything, if there were any difficulties. Repetition of the past is never superfluous. In our blog, we already wrote about. Familiarize yourself with the techniques and try to put them into practice.

3. Guide: How to start learning English from scratch on your own

Since English is still terra incognita for you, we tried to choose for you only the most the right materials. It turned out to be a rather voluminous list, from which you will learn where to start learning English and how to do it correctly. Let's just say that the work ahead is not easy, but interesting. Let's get started.

1. Learn the rules of reading English

Theater begins with a hanger, and English begins with reading rules. This is a basic piece of knowledge, thanks to which you can learn to read English and pronounce sounds and words correctly. We recommend that you use a simple table from the Internet and learn the rules by heart, as well as get acquainted with the transcription of the English language. This can be done, for example, on the Translate.ru website.

2. Check how words are pronounced

Even if you know the rules of reading by heart, when learning new words, check how they are pronounced correctly. cunning English words do not want to read the way they are written. And some of them even refuse to obey any rules of reading. Therefore, we advise you to check the pronunciation of each new word in an online dictionary, for example, Lingvo.ru or on a special site Howjsay.com. Listen several times to how the word sounds and try to pronounce it exactly the same way. At the same time, practice the correct pronunciation.

3. Start building vocabulary

Take visual dictionaries into service, for example, use the Studyfun.ru website. Bright pictures voiced by native speakers and translation into Russian will make it easier for you to learn and memorize new vocabulary.

What words to start learning English? We recommend beginners to focus on the list of words on the site Englishspeak.com. Start with simple words of a general theme, remember which words you use most often in your speech in Russian. In addition, we advise you to devote more time to studying English verbs. It is the verb that makes speech dynamic and natural.

4. Learn grammar

If you imagine speech as a beautiful necklace, then grammar is a thread on which you place word beads in order to end up with a beautiful decoration. Violation of the "rules of the game" of English grammar is punishable by misunderstanding of the interlocutor. And learning these rules is not so difficult, it is enough to study a good textbook. We recommend that you take the first book in the Grammarway series of manuals translated into Russian. We wrote about this book in detail in our review. In addition, we recommend that you read our article "", from it you will find out what books you will need for initial stage learning English.

Do you find textbooks boring? It doesn't matter, pay attention to our series of articles "". In it, we state the rules in simple words, give many examples and tests to test knowledge. In addition, our teachers have compiled a simple and high-quality online English grammar tutorial for you. We also recommend reading the article "", in it you will find 8 good reasons to take up manuals, and also find out when you can do without textbooks in learning a language.

5. Listen to podcasts at your level

As soon as you started taking the first steps, you immediately need to accustom yourself to the sound of a foreign speech. Start with simple podcasts ranging from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. You can find simple audio recordings with translation into Russian on the Teachpro.ru website. And to get the most out of listening, check out our article "".

After you form the initial lexicon in English, it's time to start watching the news. We recommend the Newsinlevels.com resource. News texts for the first level are simple. There is an audio recording for each news, so be sure to listen to how new words sound for you, try to repeat them after the announcer.

7. Read simple texts

While reading, you activate visual memory: new words and phrases will be easy to remember. And if you want to not only read, but also learn new words, improve pronunciation, listen to texts voiced by native speakers, and then read them. You can find simple short texts in textbooks at your level, such as New English File Elementary, or on the Internet at this site.

8. Install helpful apps

How to start learning English from scratch on your own if you have a smartphone or tablet at hand? English learning apps are mini tutorials that you will always have in your pocket. The well-known Lingualeo app is ideal for learning new words: thanks to the spaced repetition technique, new vocabulary will not disappear from your memory after a month. And to study the structure, the principle of "work" of the language, we recommend installing Duolingo. In addition to learning new words, this application will allow you to practice grammar and learn how to build sentences in English, as well as help you develop good pronunciation. Also, check out ours and choose from there the programs that interest you the most.

9. Study online

If you ask Google how to start learning English on your own, a caring search engine will immediately throw you a couple of hundred sites with various lessons, online exercises, articles about learning the language. An inexperienced student is immediately tempted to bookmark 83 “well, very necessary sites on which I will study every day.” We want to warn you against this: in the abundance of bookmarks, you will quickly get confused, and you need to study systematically, without jumping from one topic to another. Bookmark 2-3 really good resources that you will study on. This is more than enough. We recommend performing online exercises on the Correctenglish.ru website. Also check out our article "", in it you will find even more useful resources. And after you master the basics of English, check out the article "", where you can download a file with a list of useful materials and sites for learning the language.

4. Summing up

The list turned out to be rather big, and we tried to collect for you only the most necessary components of a successful study of the English language. However, we failed to use the most important skill - speaking. It is almost impossible to train him alone with himself. The most you can do is try to find a friend who is learning English. However, a friend with more high level knowledge is unlikely to want to deal with a beginner, and a beginner like you cannot be an assistant. Moreover, when you work with a non-professional, there is a risk of "catching" his mistakes.

Self-study of the language has another fat minus - lack of control: you will not notice your mistakes and correct them. Therefore, we recommend that you think about classes with a teacher at least at the beginning of your journey. The teacher will give you the necessary push, help you choose the right direction of movement - exactly what a beginner needs.

Now you know how to learn English on your own from scratch. We admit that the path ahead is not easy, but if you have already set yourself a goal and are ready to work, positive results will not keep you waiting. We wish you patience and perseverance on the way to the intended goal!

And for those who want to achieve their goal faster, we offer with a teacher at our school.

The Idea Hunter Method

After school, my English was at the zero level: I only knew "ah like" and "hello". Now the problem is obvious to me: we were punished for mistakes! What's more, the class taunted me when I made a mistake, the more advanced students constantly made satirical jokes about my accent, and the teacher gave me failing grades. All these factors gave rise to a desire to speak a foreign language as little as possible. But this closeness is the main enemy of the student.

From 5th grade high school up to the 3rd year of university my English remained at the same lowest level, but I really wanted to just talk to foreigners on the streets of my native St. Petersburg! Instead, I just smiled at them, and that was the end of our communication.

In my third year, I began to travel first on student programs, then on my own. Now I tell you how to quickly acquire new knowledge in my video course "33 steps to become more successful in life".

I remember the very first experience of communication. I tried to talk about myself and made a lot of mistakes: I didn’t put prepositions, used tenses incorrectly, and all this with a “hard Russian accent” sauce. What happened next? What happened when guys from other countries heard my speech? Instead of generating jokes, they tried to understand me! They just asked: say differently, explain to us what you want to say! Then I realized what I was missing.

In the first year my English improved tenfold! I began to understand! Understand most of what is being said to me. How many same was emotions. This is a new world!

to talk easily and not be embarrassed:

1) Stop taking English classes! They are useless!
2) Teach semantic words, in particular the verbs
3) Stop being ashamed of your mistakes. By a set of words, they will definitely understand you, but with competent sentences, but with a stingy vocabulary, you will feel your defenselessness.
4) Watch your favorite series and movies in English! Try to understand first with subtitles, and then without. Do not try to translate every word - understand the general meaning
5) Practice! Surround yourself with interesting people who do not speak Russian (international organizations, communities on the Internet, for example, online chat with foreigners Verbling).
6) And, of course, travel!

What are the advantages of knowing English?

You can understand not only 300 million people from the CIS, but more than 5 billion interesting people from all over the planet!
+ You will travel and explore world without borders and fear of getting lost
+ You can watch films in the original language (and the original intonation is the main thing in the film)
+ You will be able to drive international Business
+ You will be able to make friends all over the world!

Moreover: learning a language makes the brain work hard, and the brain, like the whole body, needs constant charging.

You will also be interested in the highlights of my life, which I publish in juicy videos on your YouTube channel.

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This article is dedicated to those who want to learn English on their own. Generally without resorting to anyone's help. Let's say you don't have the funds for a tutor or courses. There is only desire, time and access to the Internet. You have already begun to learn the language - at school, university, maybe even on your own. But somehow it didn't work.

The instruction is for those who already know a little English. Newbie article.

So, you are probably having the following difficulties:

– Problems with motivation. More than once you started to learn the language, but you never finished the job.

– By the way, what do you think the end is? Perhaps you don’t even have a clear goal, other than “I want to learn English.” And if there is no goal, then there will be no result. This is exactly what I'm telling you.

– You don't have a program of action. You don’t understand at all: what to take on first, and what to do later. And what is the best way to do it.

– Even if you study English from time to time, you train only passive skills - you read, passively listen to audio (and you can listen actively). Speaking and writing are not involved at all, although they can also be pumped on their own.

– You don't know where to get information. Some grammatical topics are difficult to understand on your own, and an understandable human explanation has yet to be found. There is also nowhere to check speech and writing for errors (in fact, there is).

We decided to help you. So let's build our instruction: let's go from the first problem to the last. This article will not contain "thank you-cap tips" like "start learning grammar and words, listen to podcasts in English." Each tip will be very practical, with a detailed algorithm and a useful link.

1. Set a goal

You started learning English, but abandoned it. Why? There may be different reasons. For example, you don't really need it. He taught because everyone taught. In this case, you do not need to try to force yourself again. It is better to spend time on something really important.

But let's proceed from the idea that you still need English. Then why did you quit? Most likely, you set yourself the wrong goal. Perhaps it was vague, not specific, something like "I want to learn English." You could not achieve such an incomprehensible goal, you did not see your progress, so your hands dropped. “This is an empty case, it’s gone,” you thought. How to set the right goal so as not to go the distance?

First you need to answer yourself the question: why do you need a language in life? Where are you planning to use it? Based on this, you can understand what level of English is required. For example, for communication while traveling, it is enough Intermediate level. It turns out that we set ourselves the goal of reaching this level.

First step: decide what you need English for in life. Depending on this, understand what level of English proficiency you plan to achieve. This is your long term goal.

2. Determine the current state of affairs

Now you need to find out where you are now. What level of language do you have, what do you know and what do you not. To do this, you need to pass a language level test, and also examine each individual skill: reading, speaking, writing, listening. All the tools for this are at the link:.

Second step: determine what level you are now. What skills are weak: listening, speaking, grammar? Or all together?

3. Calculate the time

Let's assume that you have an elementary level. You need English to communicate while traveling. So, quite confident Intermediate. Now you know the final goal and the point where you are now.

It seems that the route is clear, but this movement can stretch for years if a clear deadline is not indicated. But how to calculate it? How to understand how long it takes for this route? Here we add the average time it takes to reach each level to the equation.

On average, it takes ≈ 400 hours to reach the Intermediate level. But this time - from scratch. Our level is Elementary. So we can subtract ≈ 100 hours (that's how long it took to reach Elementary). So you will need approximately 300 hours of continuous practice.

Now you need to decide for yourself how much time per day you are ready to devote to English. If it is an hour, then you will reach Intermediate in approximately 10 months. Then the deadline you can designate is October 2018 if you start practicing (as you probably promised) from the new year.

Third step: look at the image below and calculate how long it will take for the level you need. Then decide how much time per day you are willing to spend on English classes. According to the formula number of hours ÷ for the number of times per day = number of days. The end result is your deadline.

4. Building a program of action

What to do now? How to get to the coveted Intermediate? Fortunately, the British Council, together with Eaquals, has described everything that a holder of each level needs to know. And we . Take and learn!

Explanations for the table:

⠀
First look in the column with your own Elementary level and see if you know everything. If not, then fill in the gaps. Then you can safely move to the next column and learn words, grammar, etc. from there.

Do not forget about your weaknesses. For example, if the tests showed that you have problems with listening, then you should intensively pump it with exercises. Algorithms for each skill will be below.

Fourth step: study the level table and see if you already know all the topics for your level. If not, fix it. And then go to the next level.

5. Learning short-term planning

Now these “knowledge gaps” need to be formalized into specific mini-goals and planned for clear periods of time.

Every week you should set yourself these small goals:

learn how to build sentences
learn,
read the first one.

And then at the end of each week you will be a winner. Oh, how it will affect motivation! Otherwise, with the distant “reach Intermediate”, you won’t get enough motivation.

We already wrote about such short-term planning in the article: About the same problem in the video:

Fifth step: Wrap each topic in the table into a clear short-term goal. Define a specific time period for it (for example, a week). So, you will see your progress. This is the most important thing in order not to give up in the end.

6. Don't get stuck in theory

Another important thing to understand: any new information, whether it's a grammar rule or a pack of new words - you have to pump from four sides. These are speaking, writing, listening and reading. English proficiency conditionally looks like this:

Vocabulary and grammar are included in each of these skills.

So, if you have learned 10 new words, then you can use them in speech and writing (active skills) and recognize them in someone else's speech or text (passive skills).

If you have learned how sentences are built in, then you know how to say and write a sentence in this tense and understand the meaning of this construction in someone else's speech or text.

All four skills (including speaking and writing) can and should be developed independently. We have written algorithms for each. In addition to exercises, the articles have links to all the materials that you will need for training:

Sixth step: I would say that this is not even a step, but general provisions about how to study foreign language. Take the time to explore our articles on each skill. From them you will learn what words are worth learning and how to do it effectively. How to learn grammar rules correctly so that you don’t just solve tests, but speak. What independent exercises can you pump your language skills.

Also watch this video about the comprehensive development of English

7. Where to get information?

One of the reasons why you gave up studying English at one time was that it was difficult for you. Different language, different thinking. Try to figure it out with only grammar, especially if you study on your own. The tutor could probably give a clear explanation: compare with the Russian language, come up with a cool analogy. And when you do everything yourself - grammatical difficulties cover with your head., And look for articles on topics that are incomprehensible. If you personally need an explanation on some topic, but we haven’t done it yet, “order” in the comments. We'll fix it!

Summing up

So, your memo is ready:

1. At the very beginning of the path, clearly formulate why you are learning English. From this follows what level you must reach. This is a long term goal.

2. Now determine the current state of affairs: pass the level test and tests for individual skills.

4. Now, according to our table, you can build your own training program: fill in the gaps, learn the words and grammatical topics that are named in the table.

5. The main thing is that you also draw up these “gaps”, words and topics for yourself in clear goals with a strict deadline. These will be your short term goals.

6. Improve each new vocabulary and grammar from four sides: listening, reading, speaking, writing.

And remember: The important thing is to take responsibility for learning. No one will teach you English. More in the video:

Good luck!

I hope that now you will reach your (clearly formulated!) goal. We, the Lingualeo team, will support you in every possible way.

In our telegram channel, we want to conduct an experiment: how difficult it is to learn English on your own, based on our instructions. Wait in January. Be sure to subscribe to our channel. And next year will definitely be productive for your English!

Learning English has become more popular than ever. At the same time, this task is not an easy one. Many spend whole years doing what other students take at most a few months. Why, then, for one, the task of mastering English turns out to be feasible and quite achievable, while for another, this process is associated with some difficulties? And what is the most effective method of learning this really necessary language in our time?

Define goals

One of the best ways to learn English is to decide on the goals for which its knowledge will be required in life. After all, not knowing the final destination of their studies, the student is moving almost nowhere. Many schoolchildren learn English along with other subjects. However, for them, boring lessons in textbooks do not add motivation at all. It cannot be said that the exercises from the school course are unequivocal "evil". Despite the fact that at the moment a large number of the most different methods learning English, the grammar-translation method used in schools cannot be called ineffective. After all, with its use were trained the best translators Soviet era.

Examples of the correct setting of tasks

However, with regard to motivation, in this respect it can be stated unambiguously: a school curriculum alone is not The best way learn English. After all, the student does not understand in what circumstances all these grammatical difficulties will be useful to him. If he has a goal, then the exercise turns from a boring routine into a tool to achieve it. A few more examples that will allow you to approach the study of English more specifically:

If a person is an employee of a company in which a foreign language is used for written communication with partners, the best way to learn English is to systematically work on creating an essay. Writing skills training will be the tool with which you can get a promotion, and therefore get a bigger salary. With such motivation, learning a language will be much easier.
If English is planned to be used while traveling, the best way would be to master special courses, training the basic skills of reading street signs. It is also good to take a conversational course, to overcome the language barrier.
In the event that a foreign language is required for meetings or conferences at work, the best way to learn English is to work on understanding spoken language, as well as practicing conversational skills.

Create an environment

To do this, you do not need to pack your things and leave for London. Everyone can "surround" themselves with a foreign language - for this you only need a desire. It is believed that creating a language environment is one of the best ways to learn English. Let's look at a few options for how this can be done.

When you need to find some information on the Web, do it not on mother tongue, and in English. Of course, out of habit, each user fills in queries in their native language into the search engine. Switching to English can seem tedious, but this practice will help you quickly improve your reading skills. To make the task easier, you can install a special online translator on your PC.

Watch news and movies in English. At first, students may not understand even half of what is being said on the screen. However, the human brain has the ability to learn to recognize unfamiliar speech over time. To do this, he needs to be given the opportunity. Even if you watch videos in English for 10 minutes a day, in a year it will only be possible to be surprised at how much the skills of understanding foreign speech have improved.

Regular classes

No matter how many newfangled methods have been invented by which you can learn a foreign language, the best way to learn English is through regular classes. Perhaps this is the most difficult part in the process of learning a foreign language. After all, when a person goes to work, he knows that he must reckon with the established daily routine. Otherwise, claims from management will follow. He can be deprived of bonuses, and sometimes even salaries and positions. If you skip, systematically violate discipline, do not fulfill your duties, you can seriously get in trouble.

And when a person sets himself the goal of learning a foreign language, then there is no “Cerberus” here that would stand over his soul and force him to study. It's always easy to feel sorry for yourself. And therefore, on the difficult path of enlightenment, the student is guarded by a seductive thought at first glance: “Today I am too tired to study. I'd rather surf the social network or watch TV. Tomorrow I'll do twice as much." The result of such self-pity is known: the process of learning a foreign language is delayed. During breaks, what was mastered before is forgotten. You have to re-engage in the work, repeat the material covered and only after that proceed to the new one.

Is it possible to master a foreign language in a short time?

For that matter, there are no quick ways to learn English. The speed of mastering a language always depends on the student himself, on the amount of time and effort that he is willing to invest in this matter. Therefore, do not believe false advertising that promises to master English in two weeks or so. In the study of foreign languages, there is the concept of "magic thousand". It is believed that it takes 1,000 hours to successfully master a new language. Everyone can calculate how many years it will take him to learn English, given the number of hours spent on classes per week.

Ways to make classes regular

What can be done to make the study of English systematic, and therefore effective?

Learning a foreign language on our own

For many students, it is quite possible to start learning a foreign language. After all, the logic of the English language is quite accessible to the domestic layman. It is not recommended to start studying on your own such complex languages like Arabic or Chinese. But as for English, here for adults, most likely, there will be no particular difficulties. The best way to learn English on your own is to find a good manual. In this case, it will be especially important to have additional materials- audio and video recordings. This will initially train the perception of foreign speech.

The need for exercise

IN study guide there should also be enough exercise. If there are few of them, it is unlikely that it will be possible to fully master the material. After all, one of the main ways to learn English is to do exercises. In the process of mastering a language, grammar can be metaphorically compared to a fishing line on which beads are strung - other knowledge. Without understanding the basic rules of the language, progress will be difficult. And after performing a large number of exercises on the topic, the material will become part of active knowledge. Also in the manual should be the keys to the exercises. This will allow you to track the use of erroneous designs in time.

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Today it’s time to ask yourself not the question “Why do I need to learn English?”, but “Where to start learning English?” If you don’t know it yet. In this article, we have tried to collect helpful tips to give a clear answer. The information is aimed at those who are interested independent study, but will be useful for all students in general.

Let's immediately agree that we will proceed from the fact that you already have a minimum level of English. So, no advice like "Learn the ABCs" or "First of all, understand the difference between a and the." So here are the most important tips, which you should listen to if your level of English proficiency leaves much to be desired.

Learn the Basics

It would seem obvious, but the rule is rarely followed. Mainly because it seems humiliating. Get your ego out of the way and learn what is needed so you don't have to go back to the basics all the time.

Basic grammar

And in English there are eight main parts of speech, with which you can form complete sentences: noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, interjection and conjunction.

There are much more temporary forms than in Russian, but the main ones are enough for a confident start. And over time, you will see that the carriers themselves do not use all of them.

There are also basic points that you simply must know. For example, when should you use any and when should you use some? What is the difference between in, to, on and at?

Basic spelling

Even many native English speakers have spelling problems, what can we say about us? Very often words are not spelled the way they are pronounced. And there is no easier way to make progress here than by reading and writing.

Correct pronunciation

This is a task that many people like to put off until the last minute, focusing more on reading and writing exercises. But the problem is that it may be too late to relearn later. Start at least by pronouncing 100-200 words correctly.

Learn commonly used words

There are different opinions about how many words a beginner in English needs to learn: 200, 250, 300, 1000, 2000, 2500 or 5000. Here, rather, it's up to the time you have. But we recommend that you find several resources on the Internet with the most popular English words.

Many people think that this limits their ability, but this is not true. The main thing in the English language is by no means words, but constructions that can be built from them. Therefore, study what is necessary, bring their pronunciation and spelling to perfection, and then focus on grammar.

Memorize Irregular Verbs

This is the very bitter pill that must be swallowed and preferably as soon as possible so as not to waste your valuable mental energy and stop reproaching yourself.

It is believed that more than half of the mistakes that people make when using the English language are associated with the incorrect use of irregular verbs.

ABOUT irregular verbs many students speak with fear or hatred for years. But why suffer when you can memorize them in a few days and just use them when you need them?

translate books

Of course, you should not take on Galsworthy or Joyce. Take what is simpler, you can even adapted.

Here are some other benefits of reading and translating literature:

Improves spelling: the spelling of some words in English does not lend itself to any logic. It's best to just remember them. And if the book is also interesting, then this process turns into an exciting game.
Increases vocabulary: this will inevitably happen. Yes, a small part will be forgotten after some time, but many of them will be engraved in memory and will remain there forever.
Helps to study collocations - grammatically and lexically correct phrases. For example, English speakers say "high temperature" rather than "tall temperature". The exercises are good and useful, but if you also translate the book and see specific live examples, learning happens much faster.

Where to start? To get started, you need to take into account a few parameters:

Year the book was written. It is probably not worth reading 16th century literature if you are just starting to learn English. Start with something more modern.
Text complexity. Take the book you want to read and translate. How many unfamiliar words are on one page? If more than 30%, then, perhaps, it is not yet time for her.
Your age and level of knowledge. It is important to honestly tell yourself what level of English you are at, because many people take care when they take a book that is too difficult.
Format. It could be eBook or paper. Moreover, in the first case, it is desirable that there be a PDF format - with illustrations. Decide in advance how you will keep notes and notes.

Here is a list of fiction books that can be translated with a basic knowledge of grammar and a small vocabulary:

"Theater" Somerset Maugham("Theater" Somerset Maugham).
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway ("For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway).
"Harry Potter" Joanne Rowling ("Harry Potter" Joanne Rowling).
"The Catcher in the Rye" by Jerome Salinger ("The Catcher in the Rye" by Jerome Salinger).

What is the meaning of book translations? In the context. These are not isolated phrases from textbooks (although they are of great use). You can translate the book, then put it aside for a month, and then re-read it. It turns out that most of the words are already familiar, because they were repeated many times in the text in various situations.

Translation of a book is a complex and lengthy process. So be patient and get started. Experiment with genres to build up your vocabulary from different sources.

We also recommend that you translate movie scripts that you can download on the Internet without any problems. A huge amount of colloquial speech will help you learn idioms, slang and simply show which word is appropriate in which situation.

Make a study plan

Why is this advice given only now? Because in order to draw up a plan, you need to at least have a small idea of \u200b\u200bwhere to go. After all, you want to start learning English on your own, which means you need to collect all the necessary information.

A syllabus is usually a table where you determine what and when you will study. For example, on Monday it is grammar, on Tuesday it is pronunciation, on Wednesday it is vocabulary replenishment.

It is important to stick to the plan, no matter what happens. The main problem with most English learners is that they take "temporary breaks" that stretch out over several months. As a result, you have to repeat everything that you managed to forget. Therefore, you need perseverance, patience, discipline and motivation. They are included in the curriculum.

The following tips are not as voluminous as the previous ones, but can take a fresh look at learning English.

Practice the four basic skills: reading, writing, speaking, listening. Many experts in the teaching of English (as well as other languages) agree that these are four around the world. You can learn to translate written text and even speak, but without understanding speech by ear, it will be very difficult.
Keep a notebook for new words you are learning. Use them in sentences and try saying them three times before writing them down.
Practice every day. Even if today there is a lot of work and other things, plan at least 15-20 minutes. For example, repeat words or rules.
Take our course on and. The first one will help you memorize words better using mnemonics, while the second one will give you a lot of valuable advice, especially for those who have just started learning.
Constantly test yourself. This is the best way to consolidate knowledge.
Create an environment where you want to learn, not forced to.
Review what you have learned in the past regularly. Once a week, flip through all the grammar and words that you have learned so far.
Do not rush to quickly move to the next level. This the main problem all beginners: without learning the basics, they choose Intermediate textbooks, and then make ridiculous mistakes.
Newspapers and news sites are a great chance to look for passive designs.
When working with text, read it first to get the general meaning. And only when you repeat write out words and phrases.
If you find it difficult to remember a word, memorize the whole sentence at once. The advantage is also that it will be in context.
When learning a new word, think about all its language forms: beautiful (beautiful), beauty (beauty), beautifully (beautiful).
Use English wherever you can.
Use stickers - it's a great way to memorize new words.
Remember that if it is difficult for you, then you are on the right track. At this stage, you need to stop and spend as much time as necessary, and not jump to the next topic. Otherwise it will backfire in the future.

Services for learning English

We bring to your attention the most popular services for learning English. It should be said right away that you should not get hung up on one of them: combine several at once. After all, each service has both its advantages and disadvantages.

Busuu. Developers have challenged the traditional way of learning that they have always found boring, difficult and costly.
LinguaLeo. The service is built according to all the rules of gamification. It is considered one of the most voluminous resources in terms of the amount of information: video, audio and text. Basic functionality is free, but for a fee, you can expand the capabilities.
Duolingo. The developers guarantee that the service will always be free. Each lesson has an element of play. For example, there are hearts: you lose them when you answer incorrectly. If they run out, you'll have to start over. The resource is ideal for beginners.
learn english. This site is available in English, so it immediately raises the barrier to entry. Here are collected materials for learning English in different formats: games, lessons, chatting, etc.
BBC English. A very popular and high-quality resource that allows you to learn living and modern English. Mass of materials, including video, audio and texts.
Quora. On the site you can learn about the grammar of the English language, as well as about individual cases of using certain vocabulary. There is a large community ready to answer any, even the most stupid questions.
Situational English. Despite the discreet design, the site provides very interesting information about what words and phrases are appropriate to use in different situations. For example, you can learn the slang used in business. Or find out what exclamations to use in a particular position.
engvid. An excellent resource for those who already know how to at least basic level understand English by ear. You can watch a wide variety of videos in which teachers explain various grammar topics.

Books

If you are a big fan of books, even if you can't do without them, here are some works that may be useful:

"You can't be taught English" Nikolay Zamyatkin. This book is a must for anyone who wants to succeed in learning English. The author is trying to destroy all the misconceptions that interfere with mastering a foreign language.
Building your vocabulary Marvin Terban. Great textbook for learning new words. You can replenish your supply by playing a variety of games.
«English vocabulary in Use». Level: Elementary. "Oxford Word Skills". Level: Basic. If you are taking your first steps in English, then you cannot do without these books. They will help to replenish the vocabulary with frequently used words through games and exercises.
"Tree or Three?" Ann Baker. The sooner you start working on your pronunciation, the more success you will achieve. In this manual you will find diagrams showing the correct position of the organs of speech, as well as hundreds of exercises to practice the pronunciation of similar sounds.
New English File. Level: Beginner. "New Total English". Level: Starter. « upstream". Level: Beginner. This list of three books is good because it allows you to work on all the skills at the same time. All textbooks are in English, but beginners should not be afraid of this, because the vocabulary in them is chosen as simple as possible, and the pictures help to understand the meaning of the task.
English Grammar in Use(red, blue and green books) Raymond Murphy. The three books are respectively divided into Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced. This is a cult textbook that will suit both schoolchildren and students, as well as adults. According to the form of presentation of the material - a thematic reference book with exercises.
Oxford Practice Grammar. There are three levels: Basic (Norman Coe, Mark Harrison and Ken Patterson), Intermediate (John Eastwood) and Advanced (George Yule). The guide is suitable for students of all ages. Each textbook has more than 100 lessons, each of which is aimed at studying one of the aspects of grammar. The theory is explained in great detail, there are many illustrations.
"Grammarway". There are four levels: Basic Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate (all textbooks written by Virginia Evans and Jenny Dooley). Each manual contains from 12 to 20 lessons. The advantage is that there is a Russian-language version, and the manuals themselves have bright graphic content.
"Round Up". There are six levels: Beginner Elementary, Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Intermediate Upper-Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate. Textbooks boast a convenient structure of presentation of the material, the presence of a Russian version, simple explanations and vivid illustrations.
"Collection of English Grammar Exercises" Krylova I. P., Gordon E. M. In it you will find various exercises on the course of modern English grammar. The material for the assignments are individual sentences and coherent passages from the works of Anglo-American authors of the 19th and 20th centuries.

And finally, one video in which the teacher tells how to start learning English. Humor and meaning are included.

We wish you good luck!