Try doing? Try to do? I have tips to improve your speaking! (part two)

Hi there. Are you relaxed? Take a deep breath, and let go of the tension in your body. Relax your shoulders and your jaw. We are just going to have a chat, and it will be easy, I promise.

Welcome to another episode of English Airs, the podcast that gives you effortless accuracy. My name is Parya, talking to you from Tokyo, and I am making this troubleshooting podcast for you with over two decades of experience in teaching, and learning, languages. I am trying to learn as many languages as I can. It’s so much fun if you just think about enjoying it, and there are so many different ways to improve. If one way does not work, you can always try doing something else, see if that works. And on the way, you learn about different cultures, different ways of life, and you get so many opportunities. But let’s get to our episode. If I start talking about languages, we will be here for a few hours!

So, did you notice how I used “try”? I will repeat for you:

I am trying to learn as many languages as I can.
and
You can always try doing something else.

I’m sure you can guess that both of them are correct, but can you tell me the difference, too? If not, come along! If yes, still come along, because I will be sharing a few tips for improving your English!

I have a question: can you stay up all night and work? Or study? In other words, can you pull an all-nighter? Me? The last time I pulled an all-nighter was at university. Near the end of the semester, there was so much work! I tried to manage my time, but it was impossible. So, a few times I had to stay up all night to finish a project. I remember that I tried really hard to keep my eyes open, especially around 5 in the morning! I always finished the work, but it took a lot of effort!

Did you catch it? Yes! You say “try to do something” when you are talking about effort. When you think about something, and choose to do it, and put energy into it. So tell me, what things are you trying to do in your life right now? Well, for one, you are trying to improve your English! Maybe you are also trying to get a promotion? Or perhaps you are trying to have a healthier lifestyle? What things do you try to do in general? Do you try to remember people’s names? Do you try to understand the words of a song? I’ll give you some time, so think, and tell me.

Well done! That was great! And I hope you can do all that you are trying to do, especially speaking better. There are many ways to learn a language: you can take group lessons, you can work with a personal instructor, you can listen to songs. There are hundreds of ways. What have you tried? Have you tried taking lessons? Maybe it didn’t work for you because you are busy. Have you tried learning the words of a song and then singing with it? Did you like it? Or was it too difficult? I am going to give you some tips, but before that, can you see how you use “try doing something”? That’s right, you say “try doing something” when you want to understand if it’s good for you or not. Just like when you buy a shirt: you try it to see if it’s suitable for you. You try it on, that is, you try putting it on to check the size, the cut, the color. And maybe it works for you, maybe not. So, for learning English, what have you tried? I’m giving you some time to think and tell me. I’m listening.

Ok, that was great! You have tried quite a few things. But I still have a few tips for you:

First of all, try to choose something that matches your learning style. We talked about learning styles in the last episode “Remembering what you learn.” For example, my style is mainly visual, followed by auditory. So, I really hate writing down new words. I never do that, because if you hate doing something, you won’t learn as well, will you?

And that is point number two: try to choose something that you enjoy doing, or at least something that you don’t hate. If you don’t like it, your mind will not let you do it easily, right? It will give you lots of excuses: “Tonight I’m sleepy”, “I should make that call first”, “I’ll check my Instagram first”.

So, with these two points in mind, let’s talk about what you can try next.

One of the best ways to remember language is to learn it from movies, but how you do it is the key. For starters, try choosing a scene from a movie that you like. It shouldn’t have more than 5 or 6 sentences. And it should be a little difficult for you, just a little. Make sure you know the words correctly, then try recording just the audio of that scene and listening to it many times for one week. At least once a day. Try to imagine the scene when you listen to it. Then the next week, try saying the lines at the same time. Imagine you are the actor and try to say it with feeling. Then repeat for another scene. It will take less than five minutes of your time, but it’s extremely effective.

If you don’t like that idea, don’t worry; there are other ways. You can try leaving yourself audio notes on your phone. It doesn’t matter if you make mistakes. It’s still speaking practice. Follow some accounts for learning English on Instagram, and try reading their posts out loud. Try summarizing your day at night before you go to bed, or try telling yourself what you want to do in the morning. Do you. have children? Here’s a great thing to do for both of you: Try reading simple storybooks in English for them. They will learn English from a very young age, you get speaking practice, You spend some quality time together, and this activity combines all the different learning styles so you will definitely benefit from it.

Ok, I think 6 suggestions are enough for now. Try them, and let me know what was good and what didn’t work for you. If you give me feedback, I can recommend something more suitable to you. You can reach me on my website, englishairs.com, and on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Remember that you can watch the script on the Youtube channel, just turn on the CC. And please keep introducing this podcast to anyone who might need it or enjoy it. As you know, I wish to help anyone I can, with your help.

Parya out!