English Lessons

There’s an idiom for this, too: “Don’t put the cart before the horse.” This means that sometimes you have to do things in the right order. In this case, it means getting as much input as you can first, and not stressing out about your output (which is speaking and writing)—at least not at the beginning. Focus on communication first English’s vocabulary is enormous, its pronunciation is difficult, and its spelling is a giant mess. To add to that, you’re not perfect, so you’re going to make mistakes when you’re learning English. The sooner your accept this, the better. Have you accepted this? Good! Now it will be much easier for you to communicate with others and get your point across. You can work on perfecting things later in the learning process. So how can you find language partners to communicate with? Well, you can always use your classmates—if you have any—or try to find them using the resources in tips 1 and 2. You can also find fellow English learners on social sites, use the Internet to find other speakers and learners, or even sign up for a site like, which can give you opportunities to meet new people in person while traveling! Don’t forget structure Despite everything I just said in tip 6, don’t forget that there are accepted “correct” ways to speak English. At the beginning of your language learning process, it’s usually best to focus on speaking and not worry much about mistakes, but when you get to more advanced levels, things like grammar, spelling and word choice do matter. Think of language being like a building, and grammar is the structure.