How to improve English listening and speaking!

I’m asking for the same help; my English has always been poor, and I hope someone with more knowledge can give me some advice. Hehe

Watch English movies! In particular, it should have Chinese and English subtitles. This is a bit more interesting. Watch it several times: at first, watch with subtitles, and later you can just listen without them. If you have the patience, you can go to Putu.net to practice listening specifically.

Reply to 3# Moving Towards Happiness: Well, this method is quite good – it keeps one interested and also helps improve listening skills. Hehe, thanks!

First, the technique of simply defining something in English. 80% of the time, Americans talk to other Americans in order to tell them what a book is. In China, from elementary school to university, although the vocabulary complexity in textbooks keeps increasing, the logical structure of thinking remains at the same level. Chinese people often say “Where is the book?”; few of them ask “What is a book?” Meanwhile, American elementary school students start by asking “What is the book?” That kind of “Where is the book?” question is only at the descriptive stage – even a mute person could answer it. But I think even college students would find it difficult to answer \"What is a book?\" because China’s traditional English teaching approach does not teach **students the skills to express their thoughts. Second, if one has learned how to define things but still has misunderstandings, then it is necessary to train oneself in how to explain things in different ways. If one way of expressing something is not understood by the other party, Americans will look for another way of expression until the other party understands. Because there is only one thing, but there can be many linguistic symbols to express it. For example, water – there is only one such thing in the world – yet it has many symbols used to represent it. If a person knows 8 languages, they have a much greater chance of being understood by others in the world. If you say “water” in Chinese, others won’t understand; if you say it in German, they still won’t understand, but if you say “water” in English, people might get it. This requires doing more substitution exercises*. Traditional teaching methods also involve substitution exercises*, but this substitution is not a true replacement; it is only a substitution at the linguistic level, rather than at the cognitive level. For example, in the phrase “I love you,” using the replacement method common in China means swapping “you” for words like “her”, “my mother”, “them”, etc. This kind of substitution is no different from the practice of tracing characters that elementary school students do. This kind of substitution posed no challenge to intelligence and did not stimulate thinking. By the end, it’s unclear who exactly is being loved; in real life, one can’t just fall in love casually like that (laughter). The basic structure of these replaced sentences remains unchanged; if I can’t understand “I love you,” then I certainly can’t understand “I love her” either. If it’s replaced with phrases like “I want to kiss you,” “I want to hug you,” “I have a crush on you,” “I will show you my heart,” or if you tell the other person about the movie Titanic and say that’s what love is, then they might understand. That’s what true replacement is. In other words, express the same meaning in a different way, or if the other person doesn’t understand, use a simple and easy-to-understand example until they get it. Yes, for example, when Einstein talked about relativity, he used scientific terminology, and no one other than scientists could understand it; so Einstein used a simple example to explain relativity. He asked, what is relativity? When two lovers are together, one hour is equivalent to one minute; whereas when two enemies are together, one minute is equivalent to one hour. This is relativity. With him explaining it this way, I think no one will fail to understand relativity. Third, we must learn how Americans describe things. Based on the description, significant differences arise due to the cultural differences between China and the United States. When we describe things, we do so by placing them within the coordinates of time and space. But Americans describe space always from me to the outside, from the inside to the surface. The Chinese are just the opposite. When an American says, “I am going towards the snow-capped mountains,” a Chinese person will say, “I am coming from the snow-capped mountains.” In terms of time, the Chinese describe things in accordance with natural chronological order. When we describe something stopping suddenly, the place mentioned last is usually the most important. When listening to storytelling, we often hear that to find out how things turn out, one should wait for the next episode. Chinese people really appreciate this approach of leaving something unresolved at the end. But Americans might throw their radios against the wall upon hearing this: I’m listening to find out what happened, and yet I don’t know what happened; I’m supposed to wait until the next episode to find out (laughter). That’s absurd! Because Americans, when describing things in terms of time, first mention the most important things and then those that are less important. Only when tragic events occur do Americans add a prelude to them. This is the huge difference between Chinese and Americans in describing time. Fourth, learn to use important American *languages. Because apart from the standardized elements, anything in a language that is difficult to learn and prone to causing confusion in understanding is the “*language”. For example, when people in Beijing say “It’s covered with a cap,” foreigners will never understand it – this is *language. So when communicating with Americans, using American *language appropriately will make them feel very comfortable right away, and they’ll enjoy talking to you even more. So what is a *phrase? I think it’s when you know every individual word, but when those words are put together, you don’t understand what it means. Fifth, acquire the translation skills for two languages. This is one of the most important criteria for measuring oral proficiency. Since English is not our mother tongue, we are born with our own mother tongue. It is wrong to think that many people need to give up their native language in order to learn a foreign language well. Because I am an example: not only has my Chinese not gotten worse, but my English hasn’t gotten worse either. Sixth, one must have the ability to guess. Why is there little ambiguity in communication between Americans and other Americans, or between Chinese people and other Chinese people? It’s because they can “guess” at each other. Our teaching does not advocate \"guessing\". But I think guessing is important for learning American spoken language well. During communication, if there is a word you don’t understand, you can’t immediately look it up in a dictionary; at such times, guessing is needed to create a bridge that fills this gap, otherwise the communication will be interrupted. When Chinese people learn spoken language, they focus on memorization – memorizing sentence patterns and intonations. As a result, many of them start looking upward while speaking (laughter); in reality, they are trying to recall what they have memorized. If he could guess, I think this phenomenon wouldn’t occur. These are the six skills I mentioned for learning to think like an American. If Chinese students can follow these six points and then practice more on specialized English websites such as ESL Bay http://www.ESLbay.com, I believe they will be able to improve their spoken English skills in a very short time. Let’s talk about the issue of English pronunciation. We Chinese don’t need to overcomplicate things; we just need to strive to pronounce words in a way that sounds like that of a native speaker. As long as our pronunciation doesn’t cause misunderstandings on the part of the listener, that’s sufficient. In everyday life, we don’t need to be superstitious about any scientific methods; we just need to remember one thing: imitation. But it must imitate standard English or American English. Based on imitation, we spend 1 hour every day practicing speaking aloud by ourselves; this practice requires imagining a situation of two-way communication, as if someone is talking to you. Finally, let’s talk about breath control in English. When pronouncing, try to use the energy from your dantian rather than relying on your lungs for pronunciation; this will result in a loud and smooth pronunciation of English

Reply: 5# zhenq has covered everything very comprehensively; thanks!

Have you read \"The 10,000-Hour Rule\"? The book states that world-class masters such as Beethoven and Ronaldo achieved their elite status after spending 10,000 hours of intense practice in their respective fields. The same is true when practicing spoken English: it takes 1,000 hours of practice to reach a level sufficient for everyday conversations, while 10,000 hours are needed to achieve the skill level required for free debates and presidential campaigns. To put it simply, English is just a skill; without practicing by speaking, it’s impossible to master oral communication. Practicing for *3 hours a day amounts to 1,000 hours in a year. Looking for a shortcut? Then practice for *10 hours a day, and in 3 months you will be able to communicate normally with foreigners. So far, I have only practiced for around 2,000 hours, but I am already able to pass full-English interviews at foreign companies.

My experience is to learn spoken language first before learning grammar

First, figure out the phonetic symbols, and then practice dictation and memorization. For dictation practice, slow-paced VOA material can be used, while for memorization, Books 2 and 3 of New Concept English can be employed. This method is simple, but what matters is consistency; if you can stick with it for a month, you will notice progress. Persisting for a year will lead to significant breakthroughs. I’m learning too, but it’s hard to stay consistent.

Reply: 9# Ryan430 has explained everything in great detail; I’ve learned a lot from it. Thank you for your advice. Let’s communicate more when we have time!

I’m confused; it’s only now, after interacting with foreigners more often, that I realize how important English is. It’s frustrating, but I’m working hard on it. Thank you to all the experienced folks for sharing their insights – I’ve learned a lot from you