How to Learn English:
The Ultimate Guide

You’re reading this because you want to learn English.

More specifically, you want to know how to learn English. How you can make fast progress to English fluency.

Most learners are frustrated. They don’t feel like they are achieving their English fluency goals. This is not a nice feeling.

Therefore, I want to show you the best way to learn English. And I want to make it specific to you because everyone is different. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. We all need to learn English for our own reasons.

Keep on reading and find out how to learn English so that you can speak with confidence.

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Before I Teach You How to Learn English, Let’s Talk about You and Your Goals

Knowing why you want to learn English is important for two reasons.

It helps you focus on what you need to do specifically
It gives you the motivation to stay consistent

Meet Pablo and Sara. They are both from Spain. They both want to learn English.

Sara works in the stock market. She has a job offer from a big company in New York. If she takes the job, she will have to speak solely in English.

Pablo works for his family restaurant in a tourist area. Soon, he will be working as a waiter. Taking orders from English speakers and serving food. He isn’t interested in using his English in other ways.

Both have strong motivation to learn English. But both need English for very different reasons.

Sara needs to learn business English and she also needs conversational English so that she can make friends in New York.

Pablo needs to learn very specific English for his restaurant.

My first question for you is: why are YOU learning English?

Is it for a specific purpose? Is it because you love the language? How would it change your life if you reached your goals?

Taking the time to think about this will help you stay motivated. And it ensures that you focus on the right things.

Set a Goal

“Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.” Fitzhugh Dodson

Setting your English learning goal is important. Here is why:

A goal gives you clarity on what you want to achieve and when.
If you include a deadline, you’ll make your goal a priority
It keeps you motivated
It helps you make the right decisions on a daily basis

If you’re unsure what goal you want to set, watch my video on how you can evaluate your own level of English. And then choose what level you want and when you want to have this level.

Write down your goal. Remind yourself of it. And commit to it.

How to Learn English: The Fluency Equation

To keep this simple, let’s say that your goal is to reach a C1-C2 level of English. This is where you can speak freely and understand almost everything you hear.

Here is something that is important to understand.

How quickly you reach English fluency depends on the methods you use and how much time you spend using these methods.

Both are important.

If you spend 40 hours a week studying verb tables, you won’t make fast progress. If you spend 1 hour a week using the best methods, you won’t make fast progress.

With that in mind, let’s start with the best tips for learning English and which methods you should use.

Methods and Tips for Learning English

As you have just learned, the methods that you use to learn English are important.

What’s also important to know is this:

You need to be an independent English learner. You need to take responsibility for your learning. You need to do things that work.

And one last thing before I talk about the methods. Know that there are four skills. These are:

Reading
Listening
Writing
Speaking

Again, know why you need to learn English and what you’re going to use it for. This will help you become more effective with your time.

Now, here are the best ways to learn English:

Get Lots of Input

This is what I call immersion. This is where you read, watch, and listen to things in English.

The majority of language learning is subconscious. This means that you don’t study a language, instead, you immerse yourself in it.

Getting input allows you to subconsciously learn English. You see words and grammar repeated over and over again. These patterns get stored in your brain. And then, you can write and speak without thinking about rules.

Most learners don’t get enough input.

The good news is that it’s easy to get more. And the easiest way to get more input is by listening more. You can get English listening practice even when you’re doing other things.

Where you live isn’t important. Thanks to the digital revolution, anyone with internet access can get all the English input that they need.

Learn English in Context and through Sentences

Do NOT memorize single words. Do NOT memorize “50 Idioms about Sport/Business etc.” Do NOT memorize language you don’t know how to use.

Instead, learn English in context. This means:

Learning through sentences
Getting sentences from strong context

Doing this helps you learn how and when to use English words and phrases. And because you are learning words through sentences, you are learning grammar too.

Learning from a strong context means learning something from a book, a TV show, or a conversation. This context tells you in which situations this English is used.

To learn more about learning English in context through sentences, click here.

Work on Your Pronunciation

http://soundsofspeech.uiowa.edu/

The majority of English learners I meet never had pronunciation training at school.

A big reason for this is because grammar is easier to teach in large classes.

But, like I said before, you need to become an independent learner. Luckily, you can improve your pronunciation through self-study.

Here is how:

Know what you need to do to make the different sounds of English (click here for a great resource)
Practice the sounds and record yourself making them
Compare your recording to the original
Practice, practice, practice.

If you practice enough, then your mouth will be able to form these sounds naturally when speaking. This will help you improve your speaking and your listening skills.

Mimic English Speakers

The following method is really powerful:

Find relevant audio of people speaking
Listen to the audio and repeat what is said
Record yourself
Compare it to the original

Copying is good. In fact, the better you copy someone, the faster you will improve.

Copy the speaker’s intonation, rhythm, and stress. Copy the sounds that they make. This will improve your pronunciation and you will learn new words and internalize grammar.

Get audio that is specific to you and your goals.

For example, if you want to learn British English, then get audio from British speakers.

Get Feedback on Your English

As an English learner, you are going to make mistakes. But you will progress faster if you learn from them.

The best way to do this is to get feedback from others, preferably an English teacher. When you write something, get someone to check it for you. Talk to people who will correct your mistakes.

Have Fun

Textbooks are boring.

The good news is that you don’t have to use them. There is no reason to do boring things when learning English. In fact, you will learn English faster if you have fun.

Listen to things you find interesting. Talk to people you like. Read books that you enjoy.

Enjoy the journey.

Get Lots of Repetition

Earlier, you learned that it’s important to learn English through sentences. This is how:

Copy sentences that are relevant to you into spaced repetition software (Anki)
Spend 5-10 minutes every day reviewing them

If you do this on a consistent basis, you will internalize vocabulary and grammar in the most efficient way. You would be able to form sentences flexibly without thinking about the rules.

(Note: this is what I call the Sentence Method. You can learn about this here.)

In addition to repeating sentences, you can get smart repetition through narrow reading and listening.

This is where you read / watch / listen to similar things. For example, you could read a news story, listen to a podcast on this story, and then watch videos on this story.

The vocabulary and grammar will be repeated in a natural way (in strong context).

Make English-Speaking Friends

I get so many messages from learners asking me to speak with them. The reality is that I’m too busy to speak to everyone. Additionally, I need something in return.

This is how friendships work. You both offer something to each other.

Instead of asking people to practice with you, offer something valuable to English speakers. This might be a mutual friendship, advice, or even money.

Here is a video that talks about how you can get more English speaking practice by making friends.

As you already know, getting into a relationship with someone who speaks English will make a huge difference. But again, most people aren’t in a position to do this.

Change the Way You Learn English

If you need to make changes to the way you learn English, then do it. Use the methods that work. You don’t want to waste your time doing things that don’t help you.

Finding the Time to Learn English and Staying Consistent

Find time to learn English

Find the Time

I know it’s hard to find time to learn English. But as I said before, if reaching your fluency goal is important to you, make it a priority.

And because we all have limited time, it’s important that we spend out time doing things that work. That is why both parts of the fluency equation are important.

How to Learn English: FAQs

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions I receive about learning English.

How do I learn English grammar?

By getting lots of input and repetition.

Explanations help, but to be able to use correct grammar without thinking about the rules, you need to see patterns repeated over and over again (that is what makes the Sentence Method powerful).

Here is my full explanation on how to learn English grammar.

Do I need to move to an English speaking country to learn English?

If it’s something you want to do, then do it. You’ll be in a place where you can practice your English all the time.

But many people move to English speaking countries and don’t learn English. And many people live in non-English speaking countries and become fluent.

The most important thing is the environment you create. You can learn English from anywhere in the world if you use English on a daily basis.

How long will it take me to become fluent in English?

This depends on the methods you use and how much time you spend using English (fluency equation).

It also depends on what level you have now.

If you have a B1 level, then you can reach a C1 level in 12 months. This is reasonable.

It’s possible to go from a low level to a C1 level in 3 months (see here). But this takes a lot of commitment. Most people have jobs, family, and other things that take up their time.

How can I improve my speaking?

I made a full lesson on this here. But in summary:

Get lots of input
Improve your listening skills
Improve your pronunciation
Learn new words and phrases that are specific to you
Get lots of speaking practice

Again, focus on making lots of small changes and enjoy the journey!

Any other tips?

Yes. Here are three more:

Learn high-frequency words and phrases

You don’t need to learn every new word or phrase you see. Instead, focus on learning words and phrases that are frequently used.

This is applying the 80/20 rule to language learning.

Make it easy to learn English

Make it easy to do something in English. For example, change the language of your devices into English. Only have English podcasts on your smartphone. Keep English books by your bed. Make Google.com your homepage. Only follow English-speaking companies on social media.

Doing this makes you constantly use your English.

Do something in English in the morning

I made a video where I recommended getting up early to do something in English.

Doing something in the morning helps you do something every day. And if you learn English in the morning, you are more likely to do something else in English later too.

What should I avoid?

Great question!

Don’t learn single words out of context (if you read the article, you will understand why!). Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. Don’t spend too much time learning grammar rules. Don’t give up.