Learning english

Michael   Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:45 pm GMT
I was learning english when I was 6-8 (something like that). After that was a big brake in english lessons. When I was 13-16 - my english was very poor, my vocabulary was not rich and the same was with my pronunciation. ANd now... I am 17 years old and I learn english very hard for one year... I read books, hear TV in eng. etc. And I have just one question: Have I big chanses to learn it perfectly? ( I'm the best eng student in my high school now.)
Guest   Fri Apr 06, 2007 10:34 pm GMT
Why not. There is a will then there is a way. The effect of an age factor is an exaggerated myth in learning a language. Take an example of Tom who is the author of this site. His English level skyrocketed when he had started reading books and watching English programmes in earnest and that was after the age of 13-14 years old. He did not learn much in the ESL classes before that age. You see, if you have love for the language, and have ample patience on your part then you'll be perfect in the language in good time. Keep working in the language daily, and you'll learn the language. There are no short cuts, only pure persistence and passion on your part. Don't frustrate, it is a long journey, keep traveling and have fun!
Joseph   Sat Apr 07, 2007 3:54 pm GMT
I have found an information about Michal or his friend (I don't remember about which one) which tells that he run to open his own english school... When I read text about learning english I found information it's not good to learn in english school, but only using input method. It is consequently? Please point eventually mistakes in my message :)
Liz   Sat Apr 07, 2007 3:58 pm GMT
It is impossible to learn / speak a language perfectly, even if it is your mother tongue.
Guest   Sat Apr 07, 2007 4:10 pm GMT
perfect means here to hold day to day conversations fluently, without too many ums...urs....language is like sea and no one can claim to absorb it completely. We will always be lifelong learners.
Liz   Sat Apr 07, 2007 4:19 pm GMT
Okay. Sorry. That's possible.
myself   Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:26 am GMT
Liz told :

"It is impossible to learn / speak a language perfectly, even if it is your mother tongue"

That's right. But what is important is to love the language, to feel all right when speaking it.

Same for a woman, you do not need to know her perfectly to love her.

Am I right ? Please tell me. I will love your kind answers.

Cheers. myself
Truth-Awaker   Sun Apr 08, 2007 10:14 am GMT
The word "love" is used too loosely. For me it has lost its true meaning.

myself: Here I throw a question to you. Be honest with your answer.
if you see a girl, fall in love with her, dont know her perfectly on personal level, such as her background, but likes her at first sight and then get married with her. Few months go smoothly with all lovey-dovey and intimate talks. After that, her mental eccentricities start appearing on you, and you come to know that she is a phyciatrist person, she takes pills in order to function as a normal person but one she leaves taking such pills, she reverts back to her old self, whnning, trouble-making nature.

Will you like to stick with such a girl all your life? I bet you will not. Then tell me where your love goes. My dear, I have seen such cases in my real life, and yes, guys use the word "love" like if there is no tomorrow -- I wish if they could know the true intensity of the word as well. Again i am barking on the side of the tree.
Truth-Awaker   Sun Apr 08, 2007 10:16 am GMT
* Again I am barking on the wrong side of the tree...
Humble   Sun Apr 08, 2007 1:28 pm GMT
How true, guest...
And how sad it may seem unless one (who has no chance of staying for quite a while among native speakers) puts up with it.
Guest   Sun Apr 08, 2007 1:33 pm GMT
Personally,i believe we can acquire english like a native speaker though to master it perfectly always a final tagert to every english learner as well as native speaker
myself   Sun Apr 08, 2007 2:52 pm GMT
Truth-Awaker

I had in my mind a wife worthy of a real love, of course.

Cheers.

myself
Guest   Sun Apr 08, 2007 3:23 pm GMT
myself: whatever. I have seen love and arrange marriages being broken after sometime. All this history of dying for love and living by love is a thing that looks good only in history books. It has got nothing to do with real life. Lust is what we call love today. Once we tired with one's body then we want to move on with others. No one loves with one's soul really. Anyways, I have my own set of beliefs about love and you have yours and I don't have a sole right to deride them. Happy posting!!!
myself   Mon Apr 09, 2007 12:23 pm GMT
Guest

Next time I will take an example with an animal instead of a human, in order not to bring confusion and distress in your mind. Why no a cat, if you love them ?

Cheers. myself
Vytenis   Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:29 pm GMT
Michael,
For me personally, input is the number one factor in learning another language. I learned German in this way - just thanks to huge amounts of input. I did not have much motivation to learn, because I was not planning to go to live in Germany and I did not have German friends with whom I could speak often. Also I did not attend almost any German classes nor did I study any German textbooks from cover to cover. All I did was A LOT OF listening.

So I could recommend you to find the English audioversions of books you have read in your own language (e.g. Harry Potter, Da Vinchi Code or whatever books you have read recently and found interesting) and listen a lot. Not once or twice but many times until you start to understand everything. Then you can proceed to listening to unfamiliar audiobooks, the ones which you have never read before. It would be much more difficult to understand them, but you will definitely notice how greatly listening to familiar material has helped you. Then you can proceed to practice your speaking - listening is just learning a language passively, in order to activate this knowledge you have to do speaking - the more you do, the better. Of course, nobody can know the language "perfectly", but if you understand everything the others tell you (apart from some specialized language like slang, obsolete, dialectal and extremely rare words/expressions or some deeply specific terms) and you can freely express in English all you want to say (expect maybe some areas you encounter extremely rarely - like talking about the names of the flowers that grow in your garden) then one can safely say your English if not "perfect", then at least good enough :)