Why do we all learn the language over the years, but can not learn

Probably, sometimes I wanted to close the English textbook and never open it again. Understandably, learning a new language is not easy, especially in the first couple. Let's discuss the most popular mistakes that most beginners make in learning English.

Pronunciation and phonetics problems

The first thing we encounter is the differences in the phonetic structure of the English language, unusual sounds and difficulties in their pronunciation. Basically, we strive to find analogies in our native language, although this is not always to our advantage.

Let's start with the most complex consonants, which have only incomplete analogs or no similar sounds in Russian at all.

• [r] - the very sound that we often pronounce as native [p]. To make it sound right, try moving your tongue back without touching the upper sky.
• [v] and [w] as Russian [in]. To pronounce [v], you need to bite your lower lip with your teeth (just don’t really bite, just try to make this movement and utter the desired sound). But [w] will make it easier to pronounce as soon as you try to become a Georgian (no offense) for a while and round your lips during pronunciation.
• [θ] instead of which we say [f] or [c]. The nuance is that the sound seems unnatural and lisping to us (although it should be so). Just place the tip of the tongue between your teeth and say what we are used to [s] and it will sound right!
• [ð] , which we pronounce as [i]. This is also a lisping sound, so again we place the tip of the tongue between the teeth, but we already pronounce [s] more loudly.
• [ŋ] - sound like an elephant, and for good reason! Remember the elephant from the cartoon “38 parrots”! Remember how he spoke in the nose? This is the way to say it - the back of the tongue rises as high as possible towards the sky, but the front remains at the bottom to form a certain nasal analogue of ours [n].
• [h] as Russian [x]. We have it clear and understandable, and in English it is just an easy exhale.
• [p], [b], [k], [g], [t], [d], [tʃ], [dʒ] , which are pronounced without an “explosion”. In fact, this “explosion” is a bigger exhalation when uttering sounds. That is, in the word pioneer, for example, instead of the usual to us [payonie], we should say [phyonie].
• [i] , which sounds like a Russian [and]. In general, this sound should be more like [s], just sound softer.

Just a couple of common phonetic problems:

• Diphthongs , which consist of two elements (and both need to be voiced), but we often pronounce only one. A vivid example is [əʊ], which we often confuse with [ɔ], or Russian [o]. Such sounds just need to learn.
• Voiced sounds that we pronounce as deaf. To understand this problem more clearly, let's say [bæd mæn] and get a bad person. And if we say [bætmæn] - and before us is the dark knight Gotham (batman).
• Long sounds that sound short. Be sure to look at the [:] sign after the sound so that there are no serious problems with understanding: [liv in ðis wɜːld] - live in this world, or leave this world - [li: v ðis wɜːld].
• Unspeakable letters that we diligently pronounce. Here you just need to look at the transcription first, so that the English word is beautiful - beautiful, it sounds beautiful too - [ˈbjuːtɪfl], and not “beautifull”.

Problems with grammar

Usually, the next problem after pronunciation, chorus beginners call grammar. Let's describe the most common problems that confuse them.

• The word order in the sentence . Remember that in affirmation and negation, the subject is first, then the predicate, and in questions it is the predicate, and then the subject. That is, we say I am (not) a student - where I is the subject, and am is the predicate in the statement. In the question we get Am I a student (first the predicate).
• Verb be in a sentence . More precisely, whether he is needed or not is unclear. Just remember that there are no English sentences without a verb. And the most typical situations where the verb be appears are to say who or what is in front of us, to describe these “who or what”, to say where someone or something is located.
• Graduation in Present Simple . Remember that we add the ending - (e) s only for the third person form (he, she or she or my boyfriend, girlfriend or girlfriend).
• Auxiliary verbs . We are used to the fact that in the native language only intonation needs to be changed in order to ask a question, and here you also need to change the word order, and also add some verbs to help. And this should be done only when we have not a verb of being in a sentence, but any other. Simple example - I am - I am not - Am I? In the case of the verb work, the help of the verb do - I work - I do not work - Do I work is already needed. In the negation of do (not) we put before work, and in the question - before I (that is, before the subject). Work in this question is put after I.
• Demonstrative pronouns . Everything is simple, in fact. When we want to point to an object or objects that are close by - say this or these (so as not to be confused, smile a little when pronouncing the word these). That and those we need for distant objects, or who are not at hand.
• Articles . This is generally universal evil, but without it in any way. Because the article is the determinant of the noun in the sentence. To at least somehow understand the system of working with them, remember that a / an is the same as one in English and use such an article when you need to describe one of many things or any one at all. And if any concrete is needed, the will already be. For example, Give me a book (any one). - here. - Oh, the book (the one that you gave) is wet.
• Some / any . Everything is simple - some are needed to denote an indefinite amount of something, which means that you need to use it with uncountable nouns or with multiple countable ones. But only in statements. In denials and questions, some change to any.
• Prepositions . Here, in theory, there should be some simple advice, but no. In fact, the rules for the use of prepositions must be simply taught. Because in is and in, and through, and on, and in.

Vocabulary and its expansion

What is the main problem? Words are quickly forgotten and many of them cannot be learned at once. What is the best way to learn? Well, at least by traditional methods:

• dictionary crafting (least efficient);
• cards with words (you can manually, or you can with the help of applications and it is already better to memorize);
• learning words in context (in a sentence, based on examples and situations);
• associations (one of the best ways);
• mnemonics (augmented associations).

At the last stop a little more detail and explain what mnemotehnika. This is a way to memorize words, which includes the following:

• consonant with the English word in their native language;
• the sound with which the word is associated;
• the picture that occurs in the head at the word.

That is, in order, for example, to learn the word fist - fist, we must imagine how we squeeze pistachio in our fist and it produces a crunch, similar to the sound of a word in English.



And to improve the efficiency of memorization, regularly repeat the words learned. You can follow the rule of interval repetitions - first repeat the word after 5 minutes, then after half an hour, after 2 hours, every other day, week, month, etc. That is, it is also worth planning to learn new words in order to assimilate them and reliably fix them in memory.

Reading and listening

Here you read the text and you meet an unfamiliar word. What do we usually do in this situation? Right, we are looking for a translation. How to do better:

• read to the end, simultaneously highlighting unfamiliar words;
• try to understand them on your own (often at the end of the text it is already clear what is being said);
• if the word remains unclear, first try to find his explanation in English and clarify what part of the speech is;
• if this did not help, then you can already search for a translation.

Such a sequence greatly facilitates the understanding of the word and its individual meaning. And the same word would be better to remember, because a lot of time will be spent on its study.



The same algorithm can be applied to audio and video materials:

• First, we listen to the recording to the end, we highlight incomprehensible moments (you can record a minute or a second, where there were inaccuracies);
• then we turn on the recording again and listen to the problem areas already;
• if you did not hear anything, we find the subtitles in English and we are already trying to figure it out (first an English-English dictionary, and, if it does not help, then a translation into the native language).

Another important point - start with shorter clips. They are easier to understand and work without losing meaning. Then gradually increase the load.

Speaking and language barrier

One of the biggest problems not only beginners. Even those who already have a good understanding of Future Perfect Continuous may experience problems and discomfort when they have to communicate in English. There are several reasons:

• fear of making a mistake;
• lack of practice;
• not used to your voice in English.

How to overcome this? Only practice:

• Start talking from the first lessons.
• If you are embarrassed to communicate with other people, speak out loud with yourself, so that the brain will not get used to your speech, every time you speak.
• After that, begin to communicate more actively with the teacher.
• Remember that it is better to make 100 mistakes, but to speak faster and more correctly than to be silent, not knowing whether your thought was correctly formed or not.

Of course, this is far from an exhaustive list of problems when learning a language, but even this simple instruction will help you to make significant progress. Do not forget about the issue of motivation. If you do yourselves, be sure to set clear goals for yourself and encourage yourself to achieve them with some pleasant emotions so that learning does not turn into hard labor. Also try to set aside 5–10 minutes a day outside of English classes in order to listen to your favorite English-language song, watch a short video or read an educational post on social networks. So you will be constantly in the English-speaking environment and will quickly rebuild, if necessary, communicate in English. We wish that there would be more such cases, so that you would have more chances to pump your English!

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