TDML: Learning English and How to Improve A Language

In case you don’t want to read about my trip down another memory lane, here is the essence of the post. In my struggles to improve my English, I discovered that doing the following are great ways to improve a language:

1. Read materials written in that language – be it books, magazines, newspaper or labels on a shampoo.
2. Listen to the language as much as you can. Watch movies, TV series, YouTube videos, listen to radio shows, podcasts, YouTube videos.
3. Keep a journal in that language. Or a blog. Keep writing.
4. Speak in that language. I’m sure speaking to someone else would be more effective, but speaking to yourself helps too. It helps you to learn to verbalize your thoughts in the target language and pronounce the words.
5. If you can, think in that language.

If you’re struggling with a second language, do give these methods a try! It worked for me, but you’ll have to be consistent and persistent. Have patience, you will get there!

Now for my little trip down a memory lane…

I don’t know if it shows, my English used to be horrendous. Even though English is the language all schools are conducted in in Singapore, I had no concept of grammar until I was 10 or 11 years old, even then my grasp of the language was weak.

My parents didn’t study English during their time, so we only spoke mandarin and dialect at home. Though I had English lessons in school, they weren’t helpful to me – I just didn’t understand the basic rules of the language when the teachers were teaching them. As a result, I have a weak foundation for English. It affected all my other subjects except for Chinese, since it was taught in Mandarin. Naturally, Chinese was my strongest subject.

So I was using English blindly for the first 6 years of school. Maybe that’s just how kids learn languages? It didn’t help that most people around me didn’t use it properly too. Not even the teachers. No offense intended!

However, I was lucky. Even with my shitty English, I started reading when I was 5 years old with the help of my sister – because I love stories so much. My parents knew that I was drawn to books so they always bought me books, among other things. I know, I’m spoiled.

Book sales were my favorite event in school. The way it worked was, the bookseller would provide the school with a list for the books available for a sale, then set up the “shop” in the school canteen a week or two later.

Receiving the book list was always a brief reprieve from the tension of being at school. Armed with a pencil, I’d go through the list and underline interesting titles, then ask for permission to buy a couple of them.

On the days of the sale, I’d go to school and see the rows of books set up on the tables in the canteen – so new and sweet-smelling! The books listed weren’t always available, but I always have back up books to buy.

Hey, my English didn’t improve! I read but still couldn’t use the language.

When I was 10 years old or so, my obsession with American music began – the radio became my nightly companion. I went from not being able to understand the DJs to being able to laugh at their jokes.

A couple of years later, I got increasingly dark and broody (puberty maybe?), so I started a journal. Very gradually, I got a better idea of how to construct my own sentences.

Eventually, I fell in love with the language and made improving my English a goal. So I immersed myself in different media in which English is properly used – novels, movies, TV shows, radio shows, newspapers, magazines and etc. I continued to write in my journal.

Instead of singing in the shower, I talked to myself in English, listening to how I use the words and learning from it. That was also how I lose most of my Singaporean accent.

Almost two decades later, I still have a lot of room for improvement, but I’m way better at it, and at understanding the American accents too. I used to worry about not being able to understand Anth. Haha! We communicate really well.

Come to think of it, improving my English has never felt like a chore to me beyond those childhood years. I guess I really do love it.

It has crossed my mind to learn a third language (in fact, I tried learning Japanese and Spanish), but knowing how long it took me to get one language up to speed, I think I’m better off honing my current language pairs.

I hope you’ve found this post useful! Have you ever struggled with a language? Do you want to improve a language? Tell me about your experience!

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