How long does it take to improve your English level? Reach the Advanced level? Easily! My experience

18.11.2019

The English language has turned from a useful skill into an essential skill when applying for a job, continuing education, and successful self-realization in various fields. The English-language information space dictates its own rules, literature and media in English generate a huge amount of information, and you simply do not have time to wait for the translation. You either read primary sources in English, or take an outsider position firmly and for a long time. You choose.

If you do not speak English, you should study it in as soon as possible. And here the question arises: what exactly are they, these very “shortest terms”. On the one hand, we understand that we are unlikely to cope with this task in a couple of weeks, on the other hand, a year of study does not seem to us such a “short term”.

How to quickly learn English - we will try to tell. The standard term for studying English in courses is approximately 2 years. And everything will depend on what level you start training at and at what level you are ready to stop. Linguists and people who are especially fond of language issues argue that language should be studied throughout life. But we will talk about mere mortals.

In total there are 6 levels of English proficiency: Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate, Advanced, Proficiency. On average, you can complete one level of English in 3-4 months. Therefore, if you started learning English from scratch, then you can reach the intermediate level (Intermediate) in about six months. This is if you are engaged in a group with an intensity of 2 times a week. If you choose a more intensive program, then it is quite possible to complete the course in 3-4 months.

English is quickly learned by those who need it "for yesterday". If you are planning to enter a foreign university, move abroad, then an intensive program is your option. If you are not ready to attend English courses 4-5 times a week, you can try to quickly learn English at home. For this you need to surround yourself with English.
Study of in English quickly assumes that you make time to study every day. You can read books in English, watch movies with or without subtitles, learn new words with the help of apps on your smartphone. There are many ways to learn English. Let's talk about some of them.

An easy way to learn English - you go to English courses, choose an intensive program, study from 3 days a week, do not forget about doing homework. This method is suitable for those who are ready to devote some time to classes. With such a schedule, in about 2-3 months, you can master the skill of fluent communication in English from scratch. It will not be possible to say that you know English very well, but you can communicate in standard situations, enter into dialogues, communicate at work.

English Learning Plan

For each person, the plan can be individual. It is necessary to take into account the starting level of English, basic knowledge and features of information perception: someone better remembers information from images, someone - by ear. In addition, each person has their own goals. If you need to master spoken English, then it is better to focus on practice oral communication if written - then it is worth using simulators writing and read books in English.

If you want to close the issue of English in three months (and this period can be considered real), it is worth making a clear plan. You are promised to learn English in a month either by courses in which you will have to speak English for at least 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, or by those who do not plan to provide you with such a result in principle.

How long does it take to learn English:

in 2-3 months - to reach the level of Elementary to Pre-Intermediate, with great desire and diligence to Intermediate. Exercising at least 3 times a week for 1-2 hours, performing homework reading books only in English, watching series, films and podcasts in English, repeating the learned words every day.
in 5-6 months - to get from zero to Intermediate is more than realistic. Studying 2 times a week, doing homework, repeating words and visiting a conversation club once a week. If you find a native speaker and communicate with him regularly at least 1-2 times a week, you may complete the course earlier.
9-12 months - standard plan. And even with the implementation of this plan, it is necessary not to miss classes, repeat words, do homework, hone grammar skills, train pronunciation. You can answer the question “how much does it take to learn English from scratch” in this way: 9-12 months or 1-2 years.
in 1-2 years - you can reach Intermediate. It's even too long, but a lot of students get stuck at the Pre-Intermediate - Intermediate level for about that time. If you do not do homework or do not immerse yourself in English anywhere, except for the lessons in the courses, you increase the period of studying the language several times.

Still dreaming of learning English in a month? We will not limit you: this is also possible. But it turns out, as a rule, only when moving abroad and in the absence of any possibility of communication on mother tongue. If a course cannot isolate you from speaking Russian for a month, don't trust their promises to learn English in a month.

How to learn English in 3 months?

This deadline looks the most realistic and one of the most urgent. Let's try to make a plan and convince you that it's possible.

The first month

This is a period of work with an English teacher or tutor. If you want to learn English in a super short time, you should neglect group classes and study individually or in pairs. Why? Just because 90% of the time in the class it will be you who will speak. You won't have to wait for other students to speak (and there can be from 4 to 10).

Every day you should memorize about 30 words. And remember well. So good that they remain at least in the passive stock, and phrasal verbs go immediately into active. With this intensity, after 90% you will have a lexicon of about 3000 words. This is quite enough for fluent communication in standard situations. Although an educated native speaker can have a vocabulary of 8,000 or more words. There is something to strive for.

Second month

You can already communicate in English. Ideally, a native speaker or even several speakers can be involved in the communication process. Make it a rule: 3 times a week you should speak with native speakers in English for about 1-2 hours + study with a teacher + repeat the material on your own. In parallel, you need to continue to learn new words and introduce them into your speech. Also read books in English for beginners. This not only replenishes your vocabulary, but also helps you remember standard phrases, sentence structure.

third month

Actively read books in English. Give this lesson at least an hour a day, write out and memorize unfamiliar words. If you are lucky enough to find a native speaker friend who will be ready to communicate with you in English from 3 hours a day, consider that you have drawn a lucky ticket. Every day, keep learning 30 new words a day.

Yes, it is possible to learn English in 3 months. If you give it 4 hours a day.

We have compiled for you a selection of English courses in and. After studying from 1 to 3 months, you will feel a significant difference in the level of English proficiency.

Useful Resources

It is only in Remarque's books that emigrant heroes learn English from the reports of those killed during World War II in the newspapers. And, by the way, they study quite successfully - the motivation is too strong. You can use a huge number of useful resources to study:

To memorize words: is an application for those who prefer Apple devices. You can learn new words using the interval building method. An alternative is if you are not a fan of apples.
For speaking practice: The Mixxer - a resource for communicating via Skype with native speakers
About movie resources in English -
Read books in English- you can on the resource
Check and practice pronunciation- you can on the channel
Audiobooks (and their text versions) in English can be found on the resource. All books are divided into levels from Elementary to Advanced.

We wish you success!

How to raise your level of English above average? The main reasons for the lack of progress in learning a language at the Intermediate level.

School Manager foreign languages IQ Consultancy

In order to understand how to overcome the Intermediate level and increase the level of English to Upper Intermediate, it is important to honestly ask yourself: “Do I attend classes regularly?”, “Do I do my homework in in full? “Do I use alternative resources to build my vocabulary?” Often, having felt a little confidence in the knowledge of the language that comes by the time of studying at Intermediate, we allow ourselves to relax a little, but at the moment, on the contrary, we should make every effort - because we need to know how to raise the level of English to Upper-Intermediate.

Each level in the study of the English language involves the possession of a certain set of words, expressions and grammatical structures. At the Intermediate level, they should be phrasal verbs, idiomatic expressions, proverbs, subjunctive mood, passive voice.

When studying a foreign language in an artificially created environment - in the classroom, and not in a natural environment, not living in an English-speaking country, a person should, with full responsibility, strive to use all the material covered in his speech, even if sometimes making a fair effort on himself.

It is important not only to evaluate your skills on your own, but also to seek expert opinion at a foreign language school - take a test live or. Also, for training, you must carefully choose a specialist teacher who successfully works with Intermediate and higher levels.

We are proud of the achievements of our students and today we will share with you the story of Irida Isakova, who in just 3 years has overcome the path from Elementary to Advanced, and her next goal is Proficiency. This is an amazing story of a girl who was once afraid to even speak to foreigners, and now she teaches English herself. Let's find out how to improve your English to Advanced in such a short time!

What are your goals for learning English - for work, exams or something else?

My father has always been for me to learn many languages, plus it was easy and interesting for me to learn them. At school, I chose German at one time, and later it turned out that there were always sources of information around me in English, from labels on clothes to instructions for household appliances. I was curious to know what it all means. And yet, no matter how trite it may sound, I wanted to understand what is being sung in the songs of my favorite English-speaking band Interpol. Therefore, curiosity, craving for new knowledge prompted me to study English.

How did you get the idea to learn English?

I will tell you one case that may be useful for beginners and not only. In the fall of 2015, I went to St. Petersburg for a week and stayed in a hostel near the city center. It turned out that this hostel was a favorite place for backpackers (tourists who plan their own budget trips) from all over the world. As soon as I entered there, I heard a variety of accents, laughter and casual conversations in English. At that time, I studied the language for only 4.5 months, and my level was still Elementary. However, I was pierced by a burning desire to talk to all these guys, I wanted to be in the know, get to know each other, communicate, etc. For many days I could not cope with fear, embarrassment and stiffness in order to say at least someone “Hi!” or “Good morning!” And this despite the fact that 4 foreigners lived in the same room with me.

Once I passed by a neighbor who was packing his backpack. I remember then I thought - "now or never" and asked something like if he was going to leave now. Fortunately for me, the neighbor turned out to be an extremely talkative Italian, with whom we talked for three hours. As it turned out, he traveled around Russia, and later planned to go to Moscow, where, in fact, we met in a couple of days. Subsequently, we became good friends and continue to communicate for the past 2.5 years.

Remarkably, my level of language proficiency then left much to be desired, and many things I simply could not express. We raised absolutely different topics from family upbringing to politics. My Italian friend always teased me in a good way, waited for several minutes until I collected my thoughts, told me: “Try to explain, find synonyms, use images. If it doesn't work, try again." I believe his patience and out-of-the-ordinary approach played a big role in making me stop being afraid to speak English.

Please tell us in what ways did you try to learn English before classes at Inglex? Which ones were more effective and which were less?

Before taking classes at Inglex, I tried to learn English using the LinguaLeo platform, as well as the Duolingo mobile application. From time to time I tried to learn from different materials, manuals and videos. All resources were approximately at the same level of efficiency - around zero.

For productive learning, I need a teacher - a living person who will answer questions, explain why it is right this way and not otherwise, and tell me what it is connected with. It is quite logical that a mobile application or a book cannot give such a thing.

How did you understand that Olga is your teacher? And it is with her that you will be able to learn English?

Are you able to apply the acquired knowledge in practice?

I love traveling and always try to make the most of my vacation time to practice my English and get to know people from other cultures. At the moment I am starting to teach English to children, which, of course, also involves constant practice.

Are you planning to take CAE exam or any other to confirm your Advanced level?

If we understood how to significantly improve the level of English in a week, we would solve many problems in life. Since the need to know English is almost every one of us. But no one wants to spend a lot of time and effort on knowing the language. Learning English via Skype is surely becoming the most popular and affordable way, both in terms of time and material costs. Many people understand that learning a language is a long and laborious process. But understanding is half the battle. Therefore, only a few are able to organize their lives in such a way,

that English is becoming an integral part of their every day, every week and month. And the result is not long in coming. An English teacher tells readers of the English Voyage blog how to significantly improve their English in a week, how to step up their efforts in learning English, reorganize their working day for the benefit of their language skills and experience real progress in learning English. Of course, you cannot learn English in a week, however, like any other language. But it is necessary to rationally organize your training, correctly distributing resources and opportunities.

“We all face barriers in language learning. Sometimes you want to take everything and leave. And this is true for any field. But tell me, has it never crossed your mind to stop speaking Russian, to listen to it? Of course not. This is all because the Russian language is just a tool for us. So English is also a tool. Forget about sitting at the dictionary. Start imagining and thinking. You won't break anything. But you will know the whole world. Remove barriers, remove fear. Just take it and plunge into it with your head. From now on and forever, you study the language only for pleasure, only when you want. Only at the moment when natural curiosity wakes up in you. The rest of the time, language is a tool for doing something really worthwhile. Something that you like. I really like to say this to my student Alexei: “Get high, Lech, just get high!”

And now it's time for real action. It is always very interesting to read other stories, but often it is not clear where to start on your own. Below I will describe the actions that I want you to take on the way to your cherished dream of mastering English. Direct now! Get ready for the one week challenge!

In order to significantly improve the level of English in a week, do the following:

And now it's time to try. Forward! Dare! Just for one week, immerse yourself in new world- Internet, podcasts, TV, stand-up comedy that you listen to on the way to work, etc. Try it in English. Just relax and enjoy. Let your mind do the work for you. At the same time, constantly monitor:

- your thoughts, your internal dialogue. Try to think in English. But without violence. When you understand what you think in Russian, then just translate the above phrase into English and continue to live)))

— what are you googling. At first, I don’t want to do this in English at all, but believe me, you are intermediate. You will understand 80% of the existing information. Some of us in life will not look into the remaining 20. And is it necessary? So no excuses, but action, action. Not "How to use a toothbrush?" but "How to use a toothbrush?", not "How to find a handsome guy in Berlin?" but "How to find a handsome guy in Berlin?" That's all. Very simple.

At the end of the week, just look back and look back. You spent a whole week in absolute immersion in the language. Fifteen years ago, someone could only dream of such a thing. There were simply no such opportunities. We have it with you. It helps me. During this time, I have overcome the Upper-Intermediate barrier and calmly move forward. I teach words, improve grammar when I'm in the mood. How long do I plan to learn the language? Hah, I mastered it, having reached the Intermediate level. For me, language has become what it should be - a tool to achieve other goals, to communicate. At this rate, God willing, in 20 years, maybe earlier, I will be indistinguishable from a native speaker. I'm more than satisfied with it. Now the choice is yours. Join now!

That's probably all. In conclusion, I want to say that all of the above is not intended to entertain and not even to make you think about something. No. The purpose of this article is a specific call to specific action. A call to get up and change your approach, to understand in practice - how it is - to learn something in English in a week. You can read hundreds of posts, you can learn something from them, or you can take and do it once and for all. Stop discussing, stop looking for the perfect method - it doesn't exist and never will. Benny Lewis said: "There are 7 days in a week and "someday" is not one of them." And now it's you, yes you, who mastered 1500+ words of this fascinating material, tell me what will you do to move everything off the ground? Which of your hobbies can you turn into English today? What do you think might be difficult? How do you think - how to significantly improve the level of English in a week? Write your answers in the comments. Let's continue the discussion there.

What's happened average level for you? And I'll tell you, if you are the same student as I was, and what, by the way, are 90% of the population of our country, then for you this is a big thorn in *******. You go to courses, you try to do everything, but you can’t move further. As if the brain was pounding to capacity and does not want to perceive the additional form of the past perfect continuous tense. Honestly, 10 years ago, it was because of this that I quit English. But life played a funny trick on me, now I'm obsessed with languages. The most important thing is that I seem to have understood how to properly approach the study. Below you will see how I solved the problem of stagnation and shifted my English from intermediate to advanced, opening the textbook no more than once a month. Let's go!

First, always keep in mind that English is the most important and in-demand language on planet Earth. So, you need to learn how to speak it the same way as Russian, or better.

Secondly, stop learning the language, start using it. Don't limit yourself to English films or Game of Thrones-style series, take it wider. Here is an example of how I and my students do it:

- Morning, woke up, stretched, I think: "Oh, I should brush my teeth." And then this: “No, no. It is time to brush my teeth.” All internal dialogues are in English. Any conversations with yourself, counting little things in your wallet.

- Viewing the morning news is as follows: turn off the "1st channel", turn on http://www.euronews.com/live, watch in English, every morning (if you, of course, watch the news in the morning).

– Walking to/from the metro, listening to English podcasts about _______ (insert your hobby here).

– At work, they were given the task to deal with the calculation of a hinged beam for bending in the plane of least rigidity. Well, google.com will help me (not yandex). I find the necessary material in English, I complete the task.

– With my son, since birth, I speak only English. He is now 1.5 years old. He understands English in the same way as Russian and is already starting to speak slowly. Well, this is a daily practice for me.

“I never stop learning. https://www.edx.org/ and https://www.coursera.org/ are very helpful in helping me grow in the profession (I'm an engineer). I get Remote education at Harvard, MIT and other top world schools (mostly free). I don't learn the language, I study the language.

- I read, of course, also only in English. Whether fiction, or a textbook on the calculation of plates and shells. Do not sit and pore over the dictionary, translating every word, but read with pleasure.

- I started learning to play the piano. I open YouTube: "Piano lessons". I immediately master the terminology and for any foreign musician I will be a very interesting conversationalist.

This is what my day has been like for a few years now. I receive any information from the outside world only in the language. I am a patriot, I love my country, but, unfortunately, all the books, all the podcasts, all the educational courses that I came across in English are of much higher quality and completeness of information.

Now I want to dispel possible demotivators that may be sitting in your head on this topic. I started doing this kind of diving from the Intermediate level. I did not understand everything, but I treated it like a child - the more I am in this environment, the faster understanding will come. And so it happened. I read the book and understand only 20%, but after 5 pages I can absolutely clearly convey the general idea of the story (this is normal for an intermediate). In the news / movies / TV shows, the video sequence helps a lot, because. many of the phrases said there are confirmed by the image (e.g.: “John, look, it’s a giant warthog”). When I look for something on engineering topics, then in special terminology, familiar formulas help me figure it out. Suddenly you begin to understand that pressure is pressure, and buckling is loss of stability, everything is simple. Any practical advice from podcasts (for example: “how to reduce the ass and increase breasts at home”), I can immediately check in practice. If the check fails, then something in my guess is false. Lies_are_forgotten! But if confirmed, then I learned something new. I received this knowledge from another world. And it was confirmed. God, for most of the inhabitants of my country this is not available, which is a pity (((

If you are a Russian speaker, then you always do this with Russian-language materials. Even if the topic is completely unfamiliar to you. You just don't have options. But in the second language we do not dare to do this. We have forgotten the times when we spoke Russian at the level at which we now speak English. Then nothing scared us, then we had no choice. So, imagine that there is no choice even now, and you can deal with this or that topic only in English. You can’t even imagine, in a year, you will look back and just be stunned by the path you have traveled and the knowledge you have gained. I won’t be surprised if at the same time you never open an English textbook;)

I see that you are interested, because read up to here. Let's get down to business and bring these ideas to life.

- To begin with, choose one activity / hobby / hobby (then increase) that you do regularly. Examples: 1) reading, 2) watching videos on YouTube about cars, 3) watching Stand-up, etc.

– Find an English-language alternative to your hobby. Again examples: 1) translate your favorite MMORPG into English and start playing on an English server, 2) are you going to read Shantaram? Well, find Shantaram on the Internet or order from Amazon in the original, 3) Do you plan to take up dancing? Google: Tango(/Hustle/Salsa/etc.) for beginners 4) Instead of AcademeG's YouTube channel, start watching English car bloggers.

– Immerse yourself in this topic for a month and write me about your observations on [email protected]

Language is a choice for life. If you want to master it, get ready for the fact that you will have to use it every day, for the rest of your life. Above, I described one of the very pleasant and effective options for implementing this idea in practice. Dare ;-)

P.S. DON'T LEARN THE LANGUAGE, LEARN THE LANGUAGE.