Improve your English Quickly

The only way to improve your English is to use it. Introduce more English into your daily life!

Quick-start your English by changing the language of your Facebook, MSN and email accounts to English. Change or re-install programs on your computer in English.
Google in English. Skype in English. Set English menus on your smart phone, camera and all your other gadgets. Play computer games in English. Use the ATM in English next time you get some cash. Start watching films with original soundtrack and subtitles, and listen to English radio channels. These small changes can make a big difference, and you can start RIGHT NOW.

Improve your English Listening Online

After many years of studying English, many of you can still not have a conversation in English.

Your first problem is usually that you can't speak clearly and fluently, so you should try to improve your speaking. Your second problem is usually a listening problem.
You either (a) know the vocabulary but you can't recognise it or (b) you don't know the vocabulary.

(a) To practice recognising the words, you should

• Select an English audio or video clip with script or subtitles.
• Listen to the clip and write down what you hear. Listen a few times, and if it's too fast, slow it down (most media players can).
• Check your writing with the script or subtitles.
• Listen again and learn the pronunciation of the words that you couldn't hear at first.

(b) For the new vocabulary you should then

• Try to guess the meaning from the story ("context clue") first. It helps if you know what the story is about.
• Use a dictionary.
• Write down or mark the new words with an example sentence for later review.

Start with easy listening at for example ESL Cyber Listening Lab. When you're better, you can practice your listening with e.g. songs, films and news.

Improve your English Listening with Films

Watching films is a good way to improve your English listening and your vocabulary.

Get a film. The film should have English soundtrack, and subtitles in English (most films have English subtitles for people hard of hearing) AND in your language.
Illegal copies of films often don't have correct subtitles, so be careful.

Get the subtitles. If your film doesn't have the right subtitles, find them at subtitlesource.org. First search for the title of your film, then select the correct version (check on the VCD/DVD cover) and language (the British flag for English). Click on the green arrow and download the text.

You can use the downloaded text automatically with the free KM Player and VLC Player (as explained in the site's subtitle guides), or you can just open the file with Notepad and read along while you play the film.

Watch a scene in English without subtitles. Try to get the main idea of the story and catch the keywords. If you don't understand the meaning, try to guess from the context ("context clue"). You are watching a film, so much of the meaning should be clear from what you see. It also helps to read a description of the story at e.g. Flixster before you watch.

If they are speaking too fast, the free KM Player and VLC Player can play the film at lower speed.

It's best to do only one or a few scenes, as watching the whole film three times is tiring and boring. Keep it fun!

Watch the scene in English with English subtitles. Check if you got the main idea and keywords right. You can check keywords in the dictionary now that you see how they are spelled. Listen carefully to the pronunciation and repeat what you hear.

Watch the scene in English with subtitles in your language. If there are too many words you don't know, switch on the subtitles in your language. Pay attention to the meaning of new English vocabulary.

NEVER watch a film with soundtrack in your language if you want to improve your English.