Top Ten Ways To Polish Up Your English

Now, most of you reading this can probably speak a decent amount of English. Say, if you are kidnapped and trafficked to an English-speaking country (which is highly unlikely), you would know enough survival level English to contact the Indian Embassy. 

But say in a totally different scenario, you might have to speak to your friends or you might even have to do an on-spot presentation (which is pretty likely) but you don’t seem to find the confidence to express your ideas clearly and thoroughly, to find appropriate vocabulary, flow and pronunciation, all the things which would have actually helped you to create a positive impression on people.

Now, if you seem to find yourself stuck in these kinds of situations, then it is right about time you take a step forward to become better at English. But do not worry, since you already know some beginner level English, things are going to go uphill from here. Below are the top ten ways you can polish up your English, at the same time enjoy it!

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➤WATCHING ENGLISH SHOWS AND MOVIES :

I cannot begin to emphasize the importance this method will play in your English-speaking journey. Seriously, if I could put this on a pedestal, I would.

If you are a person who is pretty good when it comes to written English, but hesitates when it comes to speaking and isn’t confident enough, this method will be your one-step journey to master English.

Trust me, because this was one thing that definitely worked for me. When I was young, I wasn’t confident enough to speak English even to my friends. But that was around the time, I became genuinely interested in English TV series and movies. And after just a couple of shows I could see this confidence boost within myself.

Visual media creates powerful impressions. Even without my knowledge, the shows that I was watching actually made an impression on me and many scenes and dialogues used to play on a loop in my head. And so, it happened that the next time, I was put in a situation similar to what the characters were in, I found myself repeating those dialogues. Over time I developed the confidence to alter and modify the dialogues and bring about my own style of speaking.

And it isn’t just English. Any language for that matter, can be learned this way. There is only so much that schools and YouTube channels can teach you about a language. If you really want to speak a language fluently, you must first be accustomed to the way the language is spoken like  the way the pauses are brought in etc.,

Take for example, for a while I got into Korean dramas and within just a month or so, I ended up learning so many words and phrases and even the way the language is spoken. Now, this is coming from a person who, a month ago, had absolutely no clue about Korean.

So, choose a movie or a show in English that you find interesting and start watching it right now! Watch it with subtitles and you might even end up learning to spell difficult words.

If you find news channels interesting, then it’s literally the best option because you not only up your vocabulary and speaking game but also end up being socially aware.

I hope you must have understood my strong emphasis on this method. Trust me on this one, this is one default method you cannot skip.

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➤READING AND READING AND…READING :

I’m pretty sure that how many ever lists you have come across to up your English-game you probably would have found this one in every one of them. But the thing is, it deserves to be.

By putting this in the second place in this list, you probably can guess why I’m stressing on it.

Read… just read. Now there might be a lot of bookworms out there who might prefer a good book over a movie any day but this goes out to all my friends who are allergic to books.

There are so many genres to choose from and I’m absolutely sure that there will be at least one genre out there that you would find interesting.

Personally, I was always interested in mysteries and suspense-thrillers and I would suggest you to start with them, because once you're hooked onto a good suspense-thriller there’s absolutely no way you’ll put it down.

Some good mystery authors for absolute beginners would be Enid Blyton. Once you feel like you want to move forward, try Agatha Christie and later move on to Jeffrey Archer and John Grisham.

Slowly and surely, you will start loving to read. By reading books you will learn how to spell words and frame sentences. 

If you can’t invest time into books then start reading newspapers.

And if your someone who absolutely detests the thoughts of books and believes they can never ever read something, then what exactly are you doing right now!

Now before you come up with excuses saying, ‘But this is different!’ I can assure you, if you can read through internet everyday without detesting it, then you can pretty much read any book that you find interesting.

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➤SPEAKING TO YOURSELF :

Now hold up, before you all book a room for me in a mental asylum, hear me out.

You would have already heard people say that to master spoken English you need to speak to your family and friends in English.

But frankly speaking, if you are not confident about your spoken English skills, it’s always embarrassing to go and speak to real-live humans who are capable of noticing your mistakes and judging you for them. 

And that’s why I’m giving you this pro-tip which is one step ahead of speaking to real people.

Make up scenarios in your head. It may be even inspired from a movie scene, that doesn't matter. But the point is that you play out the scenario and you speak English accordingly. Your mind will be in a much more relaxed state because you know nobody is there to judge you.

Initially, you might do this at your own pace but over time you’ll learn to react and speak appropriately in English.

Why this method helps? Once you have practised this long enough, when you are put into a practical situation involving real people, one, you won’t be embarrassed to speak in English and two, your mind actually feels like it has encountered this situation before and it would relax which helps you to think more clearly and also more importantly, speak what you actually think.

So, if you don’t find this weird enough, you should definitely give this method a try.

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➤SPEAKING WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY :

So, once you have mastered the first three methods in this list, this is your testing method to check whether they are really helping you to learn English.

Also, I always found it much comfortable to speak in English with my friends than my family but then again, it depends on you.

If you make friends whose mother-tongue isn’t the same as yours, then you will be forced to speak in English and that helps a lot. You get to learn to and respect their culture as well. So have an all-inclusive friend group.

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➤LISTENING TO ENGLISH MUSIC :

Now I know, this might seem pretty weird to be on this list but is it actually?

If you are a music-lover, then you might as well use this method to learn English.

Listening to English songs and singing them out actually helped me to pronounce words with a more polished accent.

Moreover, if you are obsessed with an artist or an actor, then follow them regularly. You might end up motivated to learn their language.

The key to learning any language is to surround yourself with the language as much as possible.

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➤USE EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK IN PUBLIC :

Now, if you have reached a state where you can converse English fluently on a day-to-day basis but you still lack the confidence when it comes to speaking in front of a large group, then this method is the next step you should take.

Sometimes, when we see people speak English so fluently in public, we actually wish we were them. Maybe that’s even the reason you might be reading this blog right now.

My best advice in public speaking is that it’s something you can master over time, only and only by doing it over and over again.

Every time you get a chance to speak publicly, grab it. Don’t shy away from it because of your diffidence or anxiousness. The more you do it, the better it gets.

Practise and prepare as much as you can before the speech, and rock it once you go there.

Once you have spoken in front of an average number of people for at least 5-6 times, you actually develop this confidence that you can handle it.

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➤WRITING IN ENGLISH :

Once you have followed all the above tricks and you feel like you have reached a stage, where you have enough confidence to whip up a speech on-spot, it’s time that we start talking about your writing skills, because just talking isn’t going to get you anywhere. Writing and speaking are both equally important when it comes to job opportunities.

(Also, I personally believe writing actually helps you to become a better speaker too.)

When you start writing down something in a language, you actually start paying more attention to the grammar, the vocabulary and how to frame sentences, which in turn improves your speaking skills.

Now you don’t have to be a professional writer. Start writing about literally anything on online platforms or you could even start writing a diary.

Nobody is perfect. I, myself sometimes just stare blankly at the screen wondering how come I don't know something so obvious. Yes, it's embarrassing. But the good thing is, when you don’t know something, your mind registers it in its brain and the next time you across something similar, it actually tries to seek out the answer for you. This way you’ll never forget what you learned.

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➤LEARNING ENGLISH THROUGH YOUTUBE CHANNELS :

This obviously comes down in my list for two obvious reasons. One, I never learned a language in my life through classes. Maybe it’s some kind of defect I was born with, but my point is that learning subjects through classes is okay, but learning languages through classes is not always the best method. Languages are best learnt naturally.

Two, you can’t expect a couple of classes to cover something as vast as English.

Now, that being said, if you feel like you still want to check it out, you could. If you have doubts in grammar or confusions over the usage of certain words, then YouTube is the best help out there.

But I also suggest you to use platforms like YouTube etc., to check out interviews and stuff. I suggest this because I think that watching interviews will teach you how to use English professionally which might help you out in your career path.

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➤LOOKOUT FOR NEW WORDS :

You cannot ever learn languages completely. You have to consistently update yourself with new words, day-by-day.

You can note down interesting words if you like and use in them in your sentences. Now, this is a place where you could use some help from YouTube. There are plenty of channels out there that focus on vocabulary.

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➤MOTIVATION :

Yes, the final addition to this list is motivation. I have shared with you some of the easiest ways you could learn English but I obviously cannot hide the fact that it is, after all, a time-consuming process. 

You cannot learn the language in just a week or 30 days. No, that’s not possible. You must stick with it as long as you can, consistently practise. But don’t take it up as burden, of course. Well that was the whole point of this list, wasn’t it?

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So with the help of this list, I hope you enjoy the learning and enjoy the language! You will surely see the results in about 4-5 months and the next time you speak English, you will be able to express yourself in a much more clear and confident tone.