Today I'll be sharing the story of how I learned English~

This is Ray’s English Corner, for those of you who don’t know

this is like my vlog-style videos

where I talk about things in my life in English

Today I’m going to walk you through the stories of how I learned English

Right now my whole career is built around English

My YouTube channel, my social media websites

my speeches all around Taiwan, it’s basically all about English

Of course I still have room for improvement

I do not think that I have perfected English

sometimes even I still make mistakes in my videos, sorry about that

But I’d say I’m in pretty good shape

I've passed the advanced level in GEPT

and I’ve aced the TOEIC examinations in all fields

but more importantly I’m passionate about sharing the language

and I’m constantly learning new things about the language

So, the big question is, how did I learn English?

How did Ray Du English learn English?

The short answer: just like the rest of you

I studied hard, I memorized my vocab, I prepared for my exams

But let’s get into the details

When I was in second grade I was sent to Singapore with my sister

to move in with my aunt’s family and to learn English

When I first got there

my English level is exactly what you’d expect from an eight-year-old

Practically zero

I can spell the word apple I guess, but maybe with like just one p

I explicitly remember that I failed

my primary school entrance examination

and there was this one question where it asked me

to pick out the piano from four musical instruments

There was of course, the piano, a violin, a drum, and a trumpet

Yeah, I picked the trumpet

So I had to cram for it

I was nowhere as capable as needed be in order to enter a school

where every single subject is taught in English

First I went to a language school that was

all the way across the other side of the island, it was really far away

And, that didn’t work out, so after that my aunt got me a private tutor

and that didn’t work out

And then I got another tutor, which didn’t work out

and I got another one and so on and so forth

At this point, I was honestly just sick of everything

I mean, why did I have to leave all my friends in Taiwan

and come to this place to learn this impossible language?

It just wasn’t working out for me

But then, I got assigned this new tutor

What she did with me was a little different

Uh, no, she didn’t molest me

Before throwing me heaps of assignment

she first asked me a very interesting question

“What’s something that you want to do but can’t do because of English?"

I thought about this question for a bit, like really really deeply

And then, I came up with my answer:

“I can’t buy Yu-Gi-Oh cards.”

Serious answer

But she didn’t laugh at me

what she did next was she taught me the phrase

"I want to buy a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards"

and after I’ve gotten it, she gave me 2 Singaporean dollars

and told me to go buy a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards

Guess what, I used fluent English and

bought a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards from a Malaysian shop keeper that day

So that was really the eye-opening experience for me

to see that English is not just a subject that I had to cram for

but a language that I can use to communicate with people

And more importantly buy Yu-Gi-Oh cards

Now after this “enlightenment”

I was more willing to put my effort into learning

Now, don’t get me wrong English was still hard

I still had tons of homework and tests

But, I had a feeling that I was getting somewhere

I had a purpose

Of course, I could tell you how many words were on my weekly vocab list

I could tell you all about the essays that I memorized

the newspaper articles that I recited, the grammar textbooks that I used

But that’s not really the point

The point is, instead of asking how you should learn English

it’s better to start off with asking

why you’re learning English in the first place

Starting with why gives you a sense of purpose

Are you learning just to pass an exam?

Are you learning to meet your parents’ expectations?

Or are you really learning for yourself?

It’s a pity how English is just seen by most people

as a subject that you have to study

It’s more of a language that allows you to

see a bigger world and connect with more people

I love this quote by Natalie Portman, an actress, she said

“I hate studying but I like learning. Learning is beautiful.”

So are you studying English? Or are you learning English?

There’s actually a difference

So that’s basically how I learned English so well

I started at a young age and I had the advantage

of being in an English environment, but above all

it’s because I like learning English and I put a lot of effort into it

I didn’t stop learning and I don’t plan on stopping

So at the end of the day

what should you do if you wanna learn English?

My advice to you:

subscribe to my YouTube channel

and learn English every week with me

Yup, I’m shameless

If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up!

If you wanna see more videos, click to subscribe! Our YouTube channel!

We have new videos up every Monday and Thursday at 9!

Announcement here, there won’t be a video this Thursday

Normally Crown would host the Thursday vid, but she’s feeling very sick

She has gastroenteritis, sore throat, bronchitis, running nose...etc.

So, this Thursday, she can’t really talk, so...

Did anyone notice, that although Ray is really funny in today’s video

but, you weren’t able to hear Crown laughing, yep, that’s cuz she’s sick

So, no new vid on Thursday, giving you a head’s up

Our Facebook page and Instagram will give you our latest updates

So if you wanna see them first...

Well, cuz there’s only 2 YouTube videos per week, you know

So, you can follow our FB and IG for more immediate updates on us

You’ll be able to find us by using Ray Du English or 阿滴英文

And that’s a wrap, thank you guys for watching as always

and I’ll catch you guys next time! See ya!

Hello sir, I want to buy a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards.