I have been writing a lot about this question. So I would like to share my ideas for those who are interested in learning English especially for around 30. Assuming you are just 30, you want to be fluent in speaking English. These are suggestion from me. As you know, learning foreign language, the older you are the harder. But if you are older, you will explain logically how we could learn foreign language.
-Preface –
Japanese have been believed not to be able to be good at speaking English. This is true or not? You have your own answer, don’t you? For me, it looks every Japanese are struggling to learning English, especially speaking. Someone claims the education system, others claim language structure, others claim because of character of Japanese. (We are shy!!) But, we have to learn English anyway. This is not because you want talk to beautiful blond girls, to impress the other people, but to contribute to the world. I am always keeping in my mind these The Dalai Lama’s words,
“In order to contribute to the world, Japanese must learn English…; It doesn’t have to be perfect English. My English is broken, but I can still communicate.”
Why should we make Dalai Lama say so? Conversely, it means we have a lot of thing we can contribute to the world if you can speak English. I believe so too. When I talk about English in front of Japanese, I joke always ‘The Japanese race is strongest race in the world, if you could speak English.’
I have been thinking about the blog written by Mr. Mukarakami-san who is FED (Finance, Education, and Design.) in Japan. He had been in London for month. He trained his English well. He wrote 8000 Japanese words of his memoir on his blog. Because he strongly realized that learning Language, the older you get, the harder you master. But you need to know this.
Anticipating future rewards can actually light up the pleasure centers in your brain much as the actual reward will.
Achor, Shawn (2010-09-14). The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work (Kindle Location 746). Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
So, I will give you suggestion and strategy for learning English, it doesn’t matter what level you are. Please try some if you are interested. Many people have been working for how can we learn foreign language and here we are 21th century, you have technologies to help you. I will summarize here my strategies. I believe learning English starts from learning pronunciation, Listening, Reading, reading aloud, and end in reading. The ultimate goal in English is reading deeply and fast as much as you possible.
- Suggestions
- Which skill do you need to get anyway?
- Pronunciation
- Vocabulary
- Listening
- Reading aloud and Shadowing
- Reading
- About writing.
Firstly, I am going to write these topics. And then I would add if I or you needed. If you have questions, please feel free to leave comments. I would be happy to answer questions. I will be able to learn more from questions by answering.