Ask yourself a question. How much time do you spend studying English everyday? I’m not talking about the studying you must do for school, I’m talking about the time that you spend on your own. If you are like most people, you study a lot one day, or for a few days, and then do nothing at all for several days. Then you start to feel guilty for not studying, so you decide that you are going to change that pattern again. You study very hard for a while and then eventually quit again.

Studying for 20 minutes every day is much better than studying for 2 hours and 20 minutes once a week. Your brain can only take in a certain amount of information at one time. If you study for longer than that at one time then you will forget much of what you have learned. Also, if you study for a short time each day, your brain has a chance to think about what you just learned, and then practice it before you study again the next day. Make studying a habit. Don’t have an all or nothing attitude. 10 minutes is still better than nothing. Always remember that.

Listen to a podcast, write a comment, read a blog. Just make sure you do something every day. If you can spend more time that is great, but make sure you can do something every single day. I challenge you to study English for 20 min every day for the next 30 days. You can’t do nothing one day and then 40 minutes the next. That doesn’t count. The challenge is that you must do it every single day for 30 days. Do you think you can do it? I know you can.

Here on the discussion forum, please tell us about what your English study habits have been like over the past 3 months. Then tell me how you plan to change them. Be clear about how you are going to use the 20 minutes. ie. how much time listening to podcasts, how much time reading, how much writing. If you want to do more that is ok too. Just write down how exactly you plan to spend your 20 minutes a day. At the end of the 30 days, I hope you write back and tell us your results. Was it easy? Did you learn and remember more than you usually do?

Good luck

Andrew

This post is inspired by Anas’ comments on one of my last posts. Thanks for the comments Anas, and thanks for sharing the website with your classmates. We really appreciate it.

Your writing was quite good in the comment, but there are a few words I’d like to advise you on. The words “Fond”, “Keen”, and “Ought to” are words that I personally never use. They aren’t wrong but they sound very old to me. They are words that I often hear my grandparents using but no one younger. Maybe some people in other English speaking countries still use them, I’m not sure, but my personal opinion is to avoid using them.

You could say, “I’ve always been a fan of your posts”, “I’ve always really liked your posts”, or “I’ve always enjoyed reading your posts”. Those sentences sound less old fashioned than, “I’ve always been keen on your posts”.

The phrase “ought to” can always be replaced with “should”. It may sound boring to use “should” all the time, but that’s what we do.

The word “fond” can be replaced with, “like” or “enjoy”. “I really like your podcasts”, or “I enjoy listening to your podcasts” sound more natural than “I am fond of your podcasts”.

Thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughtful comments. I hope to read more soon.

Also, make sure you are practicing your writing on our discussion forum. There’s only one way to improve your writing and that is to practice. No excuses!

Andy

For most people, when you think of learning English as “learning English”, it becomes a thing you should do or a thing you have to do. It’s like work. It’s annoying, and it’s not fun. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be this way. Think of your native language. You use it all the time and it is excellent. It’s true that if you are just starting out learning a new language, then there are some boring phases you must go through, but if you can understand this blog it means that your English is already pretty good. You certainly aren’t a beginner! With that said, you can and should start to incorporate English into more aspects of your life. The more you use English, the better it will become and the less it will feel like studying. You will need the dictionary less often, and you’ll have an easier time following conversations. Then you’ll really be able to use your language in fun ways, for example being able to watch and totally understand popular English movies.

Add and I try to make these podcasts fun and interesting for you for this reason. Our goal is that you don’t really feel like you are studying, even though you are. We want you to understand our sense of humor and just have fun listening. The more you listen, the better your English will be. You might not even notice your English is improving but it certainly is. When you are a kid you don’t notice you are getting taller every day, but when you look back you realize that you must have grown. It’s the same thing.

Practice reading the newspaper in English as well as practicing writing. Feel free to share any and all of your thoughts, feelings and questions with us on our free discussion forum. Remember not to worry about your writing mistakes. Just keep trying. The only mistake would be to not write anything. Hope to hear from all of you!

Andrew

I was asked how to use “get” in the sense of “get nervous” or “get drunk”. Thanks for your question IOIO. You said in your question that Chinese people say, “when I nervous” or “when I drunk”. That is incorrect. You can say “I am nervous right now”, or “I get nervous when I see snakes”, but you can’t say “I nervous”.

Here, “get” means “become”. We almost never say “become” in this way but that’s what it means. It is used with states or feelings that change. We can use it with “nervous”, “drunk”, “tired”, or “excited” because these are states that change. We aren’t always drunk for example, but we “get drunk” when certain things happen. ie. drink alcohol. We aren’t always tired but we “get tired” when we don’t sleep enough.

You could say, “I get really drunk if I drink too quickly”. Another is, “My friend gets nervous around beautiful women”.

You use “got” for the past tense. “I got really tired the last time I went running”. Or, “Sarah got really excited when she met that famous movie star”.

Please help support this blog by recommending this website on a forum or bbs in your country.

I look forward to reading your comments.

Thanks!

Andrew

This is a short blog entry about the overuse of the word “delicious” in China. I always hear, “Do you think this is delicious?” “What foods do you think are delicious?” Native speakers almost never use “delicious” in a question. For example, I might say, “Wow, this pizza is really delicious” but I would never ask, “Do you think this pizza is delicious?” Instead I would ask, “Do you like this pizza?” or “What do you think of this pizza?” or “Do you think this pizza is any good?” In fact, I almost never use the word “delicious” at all. I rarely say “this pizza is really delicious” I usually say, “This pizza is really good” or “this pizza is amazing”.

If I were asking someone if they like pizza in general, not a particular pizza, I would just ask “Do you like pizza?”

Most of the time you can just use the sentences, “Do you like …..?” or “I like ……” if you are talking about food in general.

Do you like ice cream?

I like hamburgers.

If you are talking about a particular something you could say “This …. is really good”

This salad is really good. This hamburger is really good.

I hope it helps and I hope to read your comments.

Andrew