How Can I Learn English? (5 Dos and 5 Don'ts)

"어떻게 해야지 영어 잘 할 수 있을까?" he asked.

He went to an academy every morning before work. He was tired. His English wasn't improving. I told him to quit the academy. He didn't like my answer. He preferred sitting in the academy every morning, drinking coffee and eating stress.

I've answered that same question hundreds of times. I'll probably answer it hundreds more, but my answers are always the same.  Here are the do's and dont's of learning to speak English.

Don't

1. Don't learn English at all. Ask yourself some questions:

• Will I need to speak English well in two years?  Five years?  Ten years?
• Will I make 50% more income if I speak English well?
• Will speaking English well help me accomplish a critical goal?
• Do I need to speak English publicly?
• Will I practice speaking or listening for at least an hour per day?
• Am I willing to study on my own with no books and no teacher?

If you answered, "no," then STOP! Use your time for something else. Start a business. Get a certification. Raise your kids. Learn Chinese. Get more sleep. Don't waste any more time on English. Be free!

However, if you answered, "yes," then keep reading.

2. Don't use books. If you want to speak English, stop reading. Use books as resources, not as a program. Reading will not make you speak better.

3. Don't practice long sentences. Keep them short. Very short. People will understand. Long sentences confuse people. (They confuse you, too.) They hurt your pronunciation. Don't use them. Use a subject, a verb, and an object. Keep it short.

4. Don't practice sentences like these. They are not part of everyday conversation.

• Hello, my name is _____.
• Where are you from?
• Do you like Korean food?
• How long have you been in Korea?
• (anything else that sounds like a greeting)

5. Don't practice stuff that you won't use. If you are a lawyer, focus on things that lawyers say everyday. Don't practice discussing the Olympics, seafood, or the US elections.

Do

1. Speak. Talk to foreign co-workers. Talk to yourself. Talk to anyone who will have a normal conversation with you. Try to talk to the same people regularly, and become familiar with their speech patterns.

2. Listen. Listen to Western music. Watch American movies. Play the same movies and songs many times. Rewind often. Before I came back to Korea, I listed to 유희열's "Thank You" album about 100 times. I watched "그저바라 보다가" three times. I filled my brain with Korean. I'm watching "최고의 사랑" for the fourth time now. (Yes I'm a 차승원 fan.)

3. Think. When you hear something useful, figure it out. When you aren't sure how to say something useful, figure it out. Write it down. Review it.

4. Use what you learn. If you learn something useful from a conversation or a movie, use it right away. If you use it five times within a few days, it will be yours.

5. Focus on pronunciation. If your grammar is perfect but your pronunciation is bad, nobody will understand you. I'll be posting about pronunciation in the future. Don't try to improve your speaking without improving your pronunciation. It won't work.

I hope that's a helpful start. If you still want to go to the academy, English might not be a good idea for you. Perhaps you should review the questions in #1 under "Don't." I know that sounds hard, but you'll thank me later.