This post is an entry to participate in an online contest held by Kaplan International Colleges that poses, in any case, an interesting question: which is the best way to learn English? I am quite certain about what the most effective method is, but let’s take a look at this interesting infographic they have prepared:
Looking at it, the answer stands out bluntly and is one I fully agree with and probably you do too: the best way to learn English, or any other language, is to travel to a country where that language is spoken and absorb everything you can. Why? I think it is quite simple:
- You are forced to use that language for communication. Period.
- You will pick up local accents and slang that will take you one step ahead.
- Want something? Whether it’s food, accommodation, directions or anything basic, using English (assuming it’s an English speaking country) will be the way to go. In fact even if it’s not an English speaking country English will come in very handy to get you anywhere, and anything.
- Many sources of entertainment are also in English, be it music, video, games or movies. This will shorten your learning curve even more.
- Practice makes perfection, and in an English speaking country you’ll be READING, WRITING, LISTENING AND SPEAKING in English 24 hours a day. How and where else can you put all these requirements into practice without feeling like an outsider? Only in an English speaking country, of course.
Who doesn’t like to travel, to explore the world? Learning a new language is a great excuse to pack your suitcase and hit the road. There are several fascinating countries that are the most commonly visited when English is the language to learn, namely USA, Ireland, the UK and Australia. Each has many other sources of entertainment, and depending on your budget, personal interests and location you will probably choose one of these four. My pick would be Australia because of all the other travel opportunities it would allow and because of the fine weather you can enjoy most of the year ( I know the South is cold- I’ve lived there). But I can understand why you might choose a place closer to home.
And now it’s your turn:
Which is, in your opinion, the best way to learn English? Why? Do you also think traveling is the most effective? Did you travel overseas to learn or improve your English skills? Where? Please share your opinion with us in the comments section below, and this post too if you liked it!
[photo credit @ Flickr: JLS Media]
The best way I would prefer to learn english is through Online Lessons.Where I would first read the sentence, click on the sentence to listen to the sentence, and then I practice speaking by repeating after the audio file provided by a native English speaker . This proven method strengthens my reading, speaking, and listening all at the same time and makes learning English easy.
Plus you can save good money AND learn it anywhere. Still, I think traveling is better 🙂
As English is an business language, it is very important to learn it, I agree that traveling is a good way in learning English because you met different kinds of people anywhere, yes there are several free online courses but not that effective. Thanks for sharing this blog
Learning English is very important to learn because it is an international language. I agree that Traveling is a good way in learning English because you met different kinds of people anywhere.
If you are not fluent or not that familiar with English language, well there are a lot of things you can have in order to learn.. Online training and practice speaking it can be a help..
Good point. There are several free online courses as well, though they are not nearly as effective as visiting the English speaking country…
Learning how to speak in english is a very versatile skills that you can communicate with everyone. after all english is the universal language.
This is a pretty neat infographic. I’ve done a fair bit of traveling in my time and I always find it interesting how North American slang finds its way into the speech patterns of people who really don’t speak much English at all. Now I can see where it’s coming from! Thanks for sharing this infographic.
And good luck with the contest!
Thanks Sam! Glad you liked the infographic, I think it’s quite neat too.
Traveling can definitely make you learn to speak a lot of languages.. You go to other place, learn their language by the time you were there.. It helps..