Arkadiusz writes (and I translate):

I’ve started learning English with the Antimoon Method. After a very short time (just two months), I can already see considerable progress, which motivates me to keep working. I have a question about input. I use various sources: some of them American (mostly cartoons and TV series), some of them British (podcasts, radio). Can mixing two different kinds of English be harmful? Should I concentrate on just one dialect of English?

The only risk I can see is that you could pick up a “mid Atlantic” accent (a mixture of British and American pronunciation). This shouldn’t be a problem in any serious sense of the word, but if you’re interested in having a pure RP or GenAm accent, you should learn about the differences between British and American pronunciation (individual sounds and word pronunciations) and pay attention to those differences as you listen to content. This should help your brain keep the two pronunciation models separate.

Raphey Holmes, a Master’s student at Boise State University, is doing research on the use of technology by independent English learners. If you are teaching yourself English and would like to help, the survey is here.

In order to participate in the survey, you have to meet the following requirements:

• You are at least 18 years old.
• You are a non-native English speaker.
• You are currently working to improve some aspect of your English.
• You are not currently enrolled in a formal English class and you are not taking private lessons.
• You believe your overall English abilities are at a high intermediate or advanced level.
• You use English on a regular basis.

I’ve made a few small changes to the input section:

• A short article on the importance of spoken English. Previously, the focus was on reading. This should make the advice more balanced.
• Updated and renamed “A few tips on choosing sources of input”
• In case you haven’t had the chance to check it out, my list of high-quality sources of regular audio/video input for English learners is growing bigger. I plan to keep adding great shows to it as I discover them.

The old SuperMemo section of “How to learn English” is now called the “SRS” section. The pages were previously SuperMemo-centric; they now cover the two most popular spaced-repetition systems: SuperMemo and Anki. I’ve rewritten the introduction to SRS (I’ve even drawn a nice graph to demonstrate the idea of spaced repetition), edited “Making SRS items (cards) for learning English” and added some notes on which SRS you should get.

Also added a short page on the advantages of listening over reading.

Brandon writes:

I have been reading about 40 pages a day and watching TV for about 2 hours a day. I have been coming across the new words and the new idioms that I learn over and over again, just like you said in one of your articles. It feels really good to know that I am making progress and to be able to use those new words and idioms in my conversations with native French speakers.

I have one more quick question, if you don’t mind. I know Polish is your dominant language, but it appears your English is as good (or nearly as good) as your native language. Do you think your German will ever be as good as your English?

It seems like there are so many people in this world who have mastered English. I have met Germans that could speak English as well as they could speak their native language, but all of the Germans learning French that I have met so far could not speak French very well (even though they learned it for many years). I know people from Japan that have learned English very well, but those learning French or German could not speak those languages very well.

Why do so many people master English, but not their 2nd or 3rd foreign language? Even those who can speak multiple languages, such as the polyglots on YouTube, tend to speak only their native language and English "fluently" and they are only at the advanced or intermediate level in the other languages they claim they speak.

That’s a very interesting question. I don’t have any scientific data on this, but I think my personal experience may be part of the answer.

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