This has worked for me and everyday i get better and better.
Hanging around with people who speaks English.
This helps me a lot on listening and speaking skills. At home nobody speaks English. We are Swahili people. I surround my self with English speakers at school and German cultural center that is located just near our school. The results are amazing so far.
Reading
The cheapest way there is. You can read anywhere and anything with your smartphone. Reading fiction and non-fiction books has improved a lot my vocabulary. If you read, you will be inspired to start writing at some point. Thatâs how i started practicing my writing skills.
Movies.
I used to mimic how people talks in English movies a lot. That has improved the way i pronounce words greatly. Just watching for a short period and repeating exactly what they are saying. Not only it has improved my English but also my German skills too.
Writing.
They say writing is an extension of talking. To write well in English you have to read and write, write, write, write no other way. Fortunately internet has brought many forums where you can join for free and share your experiences on things you love.
Watch podcasts, enjoyable movies. Write freely, no matter what is your grammar is. Get used to the language first. At programming world we only need to learn to communicate well. People will not look into your grammar. But after getting used to, you can read some books on grammar or some English books on topics you like.
And also talk with people or hang out with English learners.
Many have suggested before but I will stress it again: find books or magazines or TV shows on the topic that you like.
As a kid I read Lord of the Rings translated to my language and I was mesmerized (one of the fancy English words) with the world of dwarfs, elves, orcs, magic⌠Soon I was looking for more but there was nothing in my language so I decided to look for books in English. I enjoyed reading, it was hard to look in dictionary for every sentence had a few strange words but I loved reading and that kept my motivation very high.
Big problem for me was the fact that English as a language has separate speaking and writing. In my language there is a rather simple rule âread as you write and write as you speakâ (one letter - one sound/voice) so it was extra hard to learn to talk and read/write in English, still feels like I am learning 2 languages, one a speaking language and the other writing language.
The âread your favorite childhood bookâ is a super good suggestion! I am reading Harry Potter currently in English (I found all of the books for 15 EUR in a second hand store hehe ), which I never did before. It is a stunning experience, I can hardly put the book out of my hands! One week=one book done
I sent you a message via the blog you linked to your page - donât know if the Email form works on there? Iâm an english teacher and do lessons via Skype (also give some advice via Skype for free ) so if youâre interested you can contact me I didnât figure out how to send a PM via freecodecampâŚ
While speaking skills require a lot of conversation with native speakers, you can improve your vocabulary and grammar by writing. This will force you to look up words you donât know and grammar rules you are not familiar with. Ideally, you can join a writers group to get feedback on your writing. You can write blog articles, fiction, personal anecdotes. It doesnât matter what you write, just that it gives you a great platform for learning the language.
Google translate always helps! But it is hard to study alone⌠And my answer is an English tutor! They will help with conversational skills and grammar! I found mine here http://englishtutorgoldcoast.com/.
And I think itâs very important also that we all are unique and individual methods of teaching really helps! Highly recommend and good luck to everyone!
English is difficult. The main thing I see non-native speakers struggle with is verb tenses and when to use plural and singular words. Secondly is phrasing. What groups of words sound correct to you is not always the way it is said or written. Someone else mentioned cadence and enunciation as well, which is something to keep an ear out for. The easiest way to work on these is to watch A LOT of movies and TV.
If youâre willing to learn quickly, but be really brutal on yourself, tell your native English speaking friends to correct you when you mis-speak. That is one of the quickest ways to correct your small gaps.
actually, you seem to be doing pretty well - i think chatting and talking to native speakers automatically start improving your english then any other strategy. practice is the best teacher.
Speaking from experience, I learned basic grammar and language structure from school in ESL class, but I became fluent by watching TV. TV is probably the reason I speak English without an accent despite learning it at an older than ideal age.
Childrenâs shows tend to use simple vocabulary and sentence structure. You encounter idioms and colloquialism in talk shows and live events like sports. Scripted series can have more complex language structures and vocabulary.
Sesame Street, Batman the animation series, Smallville, and a lot of basketball and baseball broadcasts were my tools back in the day. I think the key is I watched them with captions on at first, so I was both reinforcing my reading comprehension and my listening skills at the same time, and Iâd mimic the way people talk.
Find something that engages you and youâll be surprised how quickly you can pick it up by necessity.
Maybe my experience as a language teacher could be of help. English is my second language as well. However learning english is not really different from learning any other language. Bear in mind your mother tongue plays a part, meaning the further your mother tongue is from your target language, the longer it will take.
If you are french (like me), it will be faster to learn english than japanese for example. But it will be different for a chinese fellow.
One can see learning language as follow:
Input (reading, listening) -> Output (speaking, writing).
So keep in mind that your level will always be Input > Output, so the more inputs you have, the more outputs you will be able to produce. If I want to learn a new language, I proceed as follow:
Learn as many words as possible starting with the cognates (similar words between two languages, (âinformationâ is similar in both french and english) or coming from similar roots (haus in german and house in english).
Use flashcards software like Anki and study them during your commute.
Use a textbook or a conversation guide and go through it.
Read a grammar book to brush up your grammar
Read as much as you can (according to research, there is a strong correlation between your amount of reading and your fluency)
Listen to podcast (about computer science since it is your area of interest, FreeCodeCamp just started one)
Exchange language for free in your area or online if not possible (check Italki website)
Write a short article regularly and get it checked by natives (check lang-8.com)
Donât expect it to be âperfectâ, it will never be, the same way that you do not know every single words in your mother tongue. Whatâs important is to be able to communicate smoothly and to be able to convey your ideas with ease.
You seem pretty good. I had a friend move here to america from South Korea. I noticed at first he mumbled and it was hard to understand him, but the more he spoke it, the more he got better.
), which I never did before. It is a stunning experience, I can hardly put the book out of my hands! One week=one book done
) so if youâre interested you can contact me 
I didnât figure out how to send a PM via freecodecampâŚ