Hey everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Understandable English Podcast.
My name is Oliver and today we are going to be talking about something very important, and that is the most common mistakes people make when learning English.
And I'm not talking about specific mistakes, like for example words or grammar.
I'm talking generally the most common mistakes.
So our choices, mistakes we make with our choices when learning English.
Because, of course, each person with their native language will find certain parts of English harder than others.
For some the grammar, for others pronunciation, if their language is, for example, not a Latin-based language.
But let's look at some of these mistakes.
So one of the first is choosing or not choosing things that are interesting to you.
So often i will see, and particularly in the past when i used to teach um, i would see students doing textbooks or materials for school or university and not really choosing interesting topics or things that they actually care about.
And this can be fine for starting.
So when you're a beginner, it's important to get a good foundation, a good start or beginning um, and often to do that we have to learn some basic words, some basic grammar and maybe use some boring examples that are not so interesting, for example, like jack went to the park, he played with his dog simple examples.
But once you get to really at least intermediate level or lower intermediate level, it's okay to still do these things, so to use textbooks or courses, but it's really important to start focusing your language learning with areas that you're interested in, Because so many of these textbooks and courses are designed for language schools or simply to be used in the classroom.
And they can be quite hard to use to motivate yourself, particularly if you're self-studying.
To overcome this is very simple.
Pick, read, listen or watch things which are interesting to you.
If you'd like, for example, science fiction, then watch something like Star Wars or a series which is interesting to you.
If you like reading literature, then read some English literature.
It's all about enjoying the process, and that is what is going to keep you motivated to continue to learn.
Okay, so that in my eyes is one of the most important mistakes that people make.
And the reason why I say it is the most important is if you lose your passion or your motivation or your routine with English learning, then you'll probably stop learning or your progress will become quite slow.
OK, so another key mistake, which is one that I have suffered from when I've learned other languages, and that is being afraid of making mistakes or being afraid to make a mistake, and this is most common with speaking.
I would say most of my students, or a lot of them in the past, have been afraid or scared of making mistakes when they speak, but it can apply to anything, whether that's writing as well or maybe doing grammar exercises.
And it's completely natural or normal to feel scared to speak.
We always feel like we aren't ready or maybe our English is not good enough to speak.
But in reality, learning is a continuous process.
And if you keep learning and learning, you will never feel ready to speak without practicing.
We have to speak to improve and to become confident speaking.
But the most important thing that I can say to you is that people really don't care when you make mistakes or if you don't sound like a native speaker, if you have a strong accent.
Local people or native English speakers really don't care.
And that sounds maybe quite strange or quite obvious, but it's important to know.
There are so many different cultures, different countries that use and speak English or learn it as a second language.
Out of any language you could choose, English is probably the one where people don't care if you don't speak it perfectly or entirely correct.
Just think of how widespread English is, of how many people use it and practice it and try.
For me as a native speaker, even before I got into English teaching or English education.
I never cared.
And I know all of my family and friends don't care when people make mistakes.
To be honest, we don't really even notice most of the time.
You're more focused on the conversation.
So when you speak English, don't think of it like an exam or a test.
Just try to speak.
And I know that's easier to say than to do.
But the more you practice, the better you will get.
So don't worry and don't be scared.
Okay, so another mistake that I see, quite often related to speaking, is trying to speak too quickly or too fast.
So often people might confuse or try to speak very fast because they think that it will make them sound more native or more fluent.
But the reality is, when you start speaking faster, you will end up making more mistakes that you wouldn't make if you just pause and speak a little bit more slowly.
So particularly some countries are a little bit more guilty of this, in countries where people speak a little bit faster.
But when you speak English, do try to just take your time, speak as slow as you need and just focus on communicating in a way that's comfortable for you.
Don't feel pressure to speak as fast as other people around you.
The most important thing is that you speak.
Okay, and another point.
Another mistake I think that people make, which I also did, is focusing too much on grammar.
Of course, this depends on your goals, so what you need English for.
Grammar is very important for a base or a foundation in English to allow you to make sentences properly and to communicate effectively.
But for some people, of course, grammar is very important if you're needing it for an academic or professional level.
But in general for communication, don't focus too much on grammar.
And of course, I'm not saying to not learn grammar.
I'm just saying that when you speak and you communicate, try not to think too much about grammar.
When I started to learn Russian, I wasn't so much scared of speaking, but every time I spoke I was trying so hard to think about what the correct grammar was.
It felt so difficult and it stressed me out and I started to make mistakes and be very slow and I realized I need to not think about grammar whenever I speak.
Of course you can practice making sentences with correct grammar, but in conversation, the more you think about grammar.
If it's not the easiest thing for you, it's better to start speaking and then correct yourself.
So make the mistakes and that's how you will learn.
Don't try to speak like you're writing an academic essay.
And I think that will help a lot of people if you change this point.
Okay, and finally, the biggest mistake, or one of the biggest mistakes I think that people make with learning English is not setting goals.
And I don't mean any kind of goal, I mean achievable goals.
So points or progress points that you want to reach.
And this can be simple but very important for continuing to learn.
It might be to be able to read a book in English, maybe to watch a TV show or a movie without subtitles.
These can be simple or as complicated as you want it's up to you, but it's important to set goals so that we can see and like, visibly feel or see our progress.
Okay, so that is my top mistakes that English learners make, in my opinion.
So thank you very much for listening.
And, as always, if you're listening on the podcast, be sure to check out the YouTube channel in the description below.
At the moment I post these podcasts there with subtitles, but in the future I am planning to start doing some easy English vlogs.
So some videos from my day-to-day life, traveling in English, but simple English for you to understand, with subtitles.
So thank you very much for listening, and I hope you have an amazing day.
