Why is it important to learn English?

There are many, many reasons why learning a new language is a good idea. It allows you to
communicate with new people. It helps you to see things from a different perspective, or get a
deeper understanding of another culture. It helps you to become a better listener. It even has health
benefits, as studies have shown that people who speak two or more languages have more active
minds later in life!

Those are all reasons to learn any language, but did you know that there 6.500 languages still spoken
in the world today? With such an enormous number to choose from, why pick English?

Here are five big reasons that learning English can improve your life.

It’s the Official Language of 53 Countries

400 million people around the world speak English as their first language. Not only that, but English
is listed as one of the official languages in more than a quarter of the countries in the world. That’s
a lot of new people you can communicate with just by improving one language!

It’s the Most Widely Spoken Language in the World

What’s more, English is the rest of the world’s ”second language”. While Chinese Mandarin and
Spanish are the mother tongues of more people overall, most people in the world choose to learn
some English after their native language. In fact, one in five people on the planet speak r understand
at least a little bit of English.

This makes English one of the most useful languages you can learn. After all, you can’t learn all 6.500
languages in the world, but at least you will people from all different countries using English.

It Can Help You Get Better Job

Companies are becoming more international, and English is listed as an essential skill for more and
more jobs.

There are some organizations that now conduct all their business in English, no matter where in the
world they are based.

If you want the best paid opportunities, learning English is a great idea.

It Makes It Easier to Travel

As I said before, English is the world’s second language. This means that learning English makes it
much easier to travel anywhere you want. For example, aeroplane announcements, train
timetables, emergency information and street signs are often translated into English, particulary in
countries that use a different type of alphabet. Plus, even if you don’t find other travelers or local
people that speak your mother tongue, you are practically guaranteed to find someone who
understands some English.
It’s the Language of the Media Industry

Most of the content on the internet is written in English. Many of the world’s biggest news outlets,
including TV, newspapers, magazines and radio, are produced in English. Some of your favourite
films, TV shows and pop music are probably English – language. Go to any international film festival
in the world and you will see that all films are ether in English or have English subtitles.

English is the international language of media and starts and so, if you want to access as much as
possible yourself, without relying on translations, it’s the most powerful language you can learn
today!

Tips for Learning English

Every learner wants to learn English as quickly as possible. That is why I’ve put together these
following tips:

Practice, practice, practice

If you’re in a class, you should attend class, do the homework and study as much as you can. Courses
are good because they make you more accountable and push you to learn. But even if you’re not in
a class, it’s still possible to practice when you have free time.

Fortunately, with the possibilities of the internet, it’s easier than ever to practice.

The more you practice, the better and quicker you’ll learn

If you want to work on grammar, start with some solid tips for general grammar learning or do a
quick review of some common mistakes.

If you’re struggling with listening skills, you can start a general overview about listening resources
available online, then move on to podcasts or audiobooks. If you prefer to add in a visual aspect,
look into movies and TV shows that will help you improve your listening comprehension.

Reading skills are also easy to practice, whether you want to find easy books or check out books that
have been made into movies.

Pronunciation and speaking are a bit more difficult to practice if you don’t have a native speaker to
talk with, but they’re not impossible to improve.

Begin with general speaking practice strategies, some of which you can use even without a partner,
then learn more about websites hat give online speaking opportunities. Then read some posts about
improving your pronunciation.

Also, consider increasing your vocabulary related to specific topics, such as colors, sports (specific
sports like soccer/football), health and fitness, food or airports. And really, that’s just the beginning!
Find your motivation

Like any goal, learning a language is always easier and more fun if you have a reason to do so. Be
sure to remain focused on that reason, since it will help get you through the times when learning
seems hard.

For example, do you want to learn English to get a job? To travel? Or do you want to learn it simply
because it isn’t easy, because it’s a challenge? Whatever your motivation is, be sure not to lose sight
of that motivation.

You should also recognize that you may have more than one reason for learning English, and that
motivations may adapt or change with time.

Focus on communication first

English’s vocabulary is enormous, its pronunciation is difficult, and its spelling is a giant mess. To
add do that, you’re not perfect, so you’re going to make mistakes when you’re learning English. The
sooner your accept this, the better.

Now, it will be much easier for you to communicate with others and get your point across.

You can work on perfecting things later in the learning process.

So how can you find language partners to communicate with? Well, you can always use your
classmates

Don’t forget structure

At the beginning of your language learning process, it’s usually best to focus on speaking and not
worry much about mistakes, but when you get to more advanced levels, things like grammar,
spelling and word choice do matter.

Think of language being like a building, and grammar is the structure. If you don’t have a good
structure, eventually your building will collapse.

Don’t translate everything

Avoid this temptation.

The reason is that if you literally translate every single word of a sentence, it will probably sound
terrible to a native speaker.

That’s true for every language. Word – for – word translations generally don’t take things like idioms,
auxiliaries and preposition changes into account, and as result it’s nearly always obvious when
students are translating every single word.

On the other hand, if you’re reading an English text and trying to translate it into your native
language, it might not be as bad.

It will probably waste your time and confuse you a bit, but at least it won’t confuse the person you’re
speaking to.
Be consistent and accountable

This is more of a goal – setting tip, as opposed to a strictly English – learning tip.

The fact is, you’re more likely to successfully stick with a goal and complete it if you do consistently
and if you have some form of accountability.

If you can only 15 minutes a day to studying English – but you do those 15 minutes every day – you’ll
probably have better results than if you try to study for 3 hours in one session on a single day.