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  • (lighthearted electronic music)

  • - Hello everyone and welcome back to English With Lucy.

  • Today I am going to talk to you about the four things

  • that you need to study every single day if you want

  • to improve your english quickly, in a short period of time.

  • Now I have made quite a few videos about how you can

  • incorporate and integrate english into your daily life.

  • But this video is going to take it a step further.

  • Throughout this video, I'm going to answer loads of the most

  • popular questions that you put underneath all of my videos.

  • Questions like, how do I know which vocabulary

  • I should learn?

  • Or how can I know where to start with grammar?

  • What order do I go in?

  • There are so many YouTube videos out there,

  • but I don't know which order to follow.

  • Or questions like, how often should I schedule

  • classes with teachers?

  • Or another really important question, what's more important,

  • grammar or pronunciation?

  • Should I learn grammar first and then perfect

  • my pronunciation?

  • Or should I speak english with perfect pronunciation

  • and bad grammar?

  • Which should I do first?

  • I'm going to be discussing all of that with you today,

  • so let's get started.

  • The first thing that you should study every single day

  • if you want to become fluent quickly, it's pronunciation.

  • With pronunciation, practise makes perfect which is why

  • I'm asking you to do it every single day.

  • And my honest, professional opinion is that pronunciation

  • should be studied from the very, very beginning.

  • I'm not sure about your experience with english teachers.

  • Please comment down below if you've had a good

  • or a bad experience.

  • But I've seen many teachers put too little emphasis

  • on pronunciation and too much emphasis on grammar.

  • I taught in Spain and I saw students leave school with great

  • grammar, sometimes better than my own, but I couldn't

  • understand what they were saying because their pronunciation

  • was so bad.

  • And by then, they had spent so long speaking with bad

  • pronunciation that it was really hard for them

  • to make a change.

  • So what I'm saying to you is don't learn grammar first

  • and then introduce pronunciation at a later date,

  • start with pronunciation.

  • The best thing to do is just to study them both at the same

  • time, but really, really make an emphasis on pronunciation

  • because grammar is a strict set of rules,

  • but pronunciation is a lot harder, there's an art to it.

  • Correct pronunciation helps with so much more

  • than just sounding like you know how to speak english.

  • Knowing correct pronunciation will transform

  • how you understand other people.

  • Once you know how a word is pronounced,

  • you will understand it when somebody says it to you.

  • Students always ask me why their listening skills

  • are so bad, and I tell them it's probably

  • because your pronunciation skills are lacking.

  • You don't know how to say the word, so how will you

  • understand when someone else says it to you?

  • So how can we improve our pronunciation?

  • Will obviously this lesson is far too short to teach you

  • absolutely everything, but I would say that the best place

  • to start is the IPA, the international phonetic alphabet.

  • Please let me know down below in the comments if you would

  • like me to do a series on the IPA because I have been

  • considering it for some time.

  • Now in complicated terms, the IPA is an alphabetic system

  • of phonetic notion based on the Latin language.

  • But in simple terms, it's a tool that will help you

  • understand phonetic transcriptions.

  • Those little squiggly, weird words that I often put

  • in my pronunciation videos.

  • Once you understand how to read and comprehend

  • transcriptions, you'll be able to understand any word

  • you read in a dictionary.

  • I have put a link in the description box to my absolute

  • favourite interactive IPA chart.

  • You click on each element and somebody says it for you.

  • It's brilliant.

  • If you dedicate yourself to learning one phoneme

  • or one diphthong each day, within two months you will

  • know the whole thing.

  • So practise everyday.

  • Other ways that you can improve your pronunciation,

  • listen to how natives speak, that's a given.

  • And also, do some research on the differences

  • between english accents.

  • For example, British english, RP receive pronunciation

  • and general American.

  • Once you understand the differences, you'll be more in tune

  • to the general pronunciation of english.

  • Alright, point number two, lessons with teachers.

  • This part of the video is sponsored by Lingoda,

  • but I'm going to give you highly, highly relevant

  • information on how to improve your language skills

  • on a daily basis.

  • Yes, that's right.

  • How often should you schedule in a lesson with a teacher?

  • If you want the absolute best you can get,

  • you need to do it every single day.

  • Now normally, this isn't really an option for people,

  • but listen to what I have to say 'cause I think

  • it might surprise you.

  • This video is about what you can study everyday to improve

  • your language skills.

  • Five minutes on a language vocabulary app each day will

  • help, but it won't be enough on its own.

  • Weekly lessons at a walk-in language school will help,

  • but again, progress will be very slow.

  • The Lingoda Language Marathon is the perfect way to study

  • every single day and make a massive, massive impact

  • on your fluency.

  • Over 10 thousand students have participated in the previous

  • four Language Marathons over the past few years

  • and for many, it's transformed their lives.

  • It's helped some get a new job, it's helped some make new

  • friends, and it's helped others study

  • and work in other countries.

  • Many of them have shared their experiences with all of us

  • and there's a link down below to where you can read about it

  • on the Lingoda website.

  • You can also have a look at Lingoda's Instagram page

  • to see more inspiring stories.

  • So what is the Lingoda Language Marathon?

  • Well it's basically a really motivating study challenge.

  • You study everyday, unless you take the half marathon

  • where you study slightly less.

  • And if you complete the marathon successfully,

  • you get a 100% refund or a 50% refund if you do

  • the half marathon.

  • That is such a great incentive that will really stop

  • you from procrastinating.

  • The marathon starts on the 27th of May, 2019 and goes on

  • until the 24th of August 2019.

  • You can take one class per day, everyday.

  • That's 30 classes for the full marathon and 15 classes

  • for the half marathon per month.

  • You can join the marathon in english, french, spanish,

  • german, and business english.

  • And it's suitable for every level, beginner to advanced.

  • So how do you participate?

  • Well you need to sign up to the marathon

  • before the 13th of May.

  • After paying the five euro entry fee,

  • which secures your spot in the marathon,

  • you'll automatically be enrolled

  • into a three month subscription.

  • Now I have special discount code for you and that means

  • that you don't have to pay the entry fee.

  • Just click on the link in the description box and sign up

  • with my code speak1 and it will be discounted for you.

  • Now as if studying very single day for three months

  • wasn't good enough, don't forget that Lingoda will refund

  • your marathon fee in full when you attend that agreed number

  • of classes each month.

  • You'll need to show up on time and you will need to actively

  • participate in the classes.

  • If you book a class and miss it or fail to book a class

  • at all, you can still continue on with the marathon,

  • but you won't qualify for the refund.

  • Places in the marathon are limited,

  • so sign up now to avoid disappointment.

  • Also, make sure you familiarise yourself

  • with the terms and conditions.

  • Previous marathon graduates have said that this is the key

  • to achieving the refund.

  • The marathon is an incredible opportunity to take

  • your english to the next level quickly and effectively.

  • So many students would jump at the chance to take an English

  • lesson with a native, qualified teacher every single day

  • for three months.

  • And the fact that you can get your money back is an extra

  • motivational incentive, it's the icing on the cake.

  • Alternatively, if you don't think that the Language Marathon

  • is for you, you can check out Lingoda's flexible

  • subscription packages and book a free trial class.

  • If you do decide to go ahead with the marathon,

  • please let me know how it goes.

  • I wish you the absolute best of luck.

  • Point number three, grammar.

  • I receive so many questions about grammar, people seem to be

  • so confused about where to start.

  • People want me to number my videos and put them in order,

  • but I have to tell you, sometimes following a strict order

  • isn't the best way to learn a language.

  • Now you know that my saying is don't wait for someone

  • else to educate you, educate yourself.

  • Well, I'm goin to say the same thing again.

  • You need to test yourself.

  • You need to find out where you're lacking in grammar skills

  • and then you need to fill in the blanks.

  • The order in which you need to study grammar will be very

  • different to the order in which your friend needs

  • to study grammar.

  • I've linked a really good website down below.

  • If I were you, I would go through every single english level

  • from A2 onwards, or maybe even A1.

  • And if you get a question wrong, or if you get multiple

  • questions wrong, you need to review that grammar topic.

  • If you don't feel completely confident with the grammar,

  • you need to revise it.

  • You shouldn't think ugh, well the present simple

  • was the first lesson we ever had when I was 10 years old,

  • so I don't need to do that again, I need to learn

  • the conditionals and the subjunctive.

  • Like a house, you need to have strong foundations.

  • This is all about identifying your weak spots

  • and making them strong spots.

  • How can you study effectively if you don't know

  • where you're lacking?

  • It just doesn't make sense, but it always surprises me

  • how few students take this approach to learning grammar.

  • So, you know what you need to do now.

  • Click on the link in the description box, test yourself at

  • every single level, and then write down all the topics

  • that you need to do.

  • And then study them in order of level and that is the order

  • in which you need to study grammar.

  • Simple.

  • Alright, on to the last topic,

  • and possibly the biggest topic.

  • It is vocabulary.

  • Lots of students ask me what vocabulary they should learn.

  • Well it all depends on what your goal is

  • with learning english.

  • If you're learning english simply to pass an exam,

  • if that's your priority, then your priority should be

  • learning the exam vocabulary.

  • Most exam boards will have a full list of all

  • of the vocabulary that you need to know

  • up to a certain level.

  • Make sure you have that list, cross out every single word

  • that you immediately recognise, and the condense the list

  • of unrecognised words, and study from that.

  • Now words that are not on your curriculum are likely

  • to pop up and appear in exams.

  • This is why you need to read around the subject.

  • Exams usually have set topics.

  • You might have to talk about holidays, you might have

  • to talk about weather, you might have to talk about business

  • growth, who knows?

  • Every single day you need to choose a topic and you need

  • to read an article around it.

  • That will really help you build

  • your topic specific vocabulary.

  • Now what if you were learning english because you want

  • to become fluent, not because you want to take an exam?

  • In that case, the most sensible option for you is to learn

  • vocabulary that you come across in your daily life.

  • Now I've spoken so many times about the word diary.

  • I'll mention it quickly again now.

  • Always have a notepad or a phone list handy on you

  • every time you see something and you don't know how to say

  • it english, note it down and the at then end of the day,

  • research what they are in English and have that list

  • to study from.

  • You should make a habit of contemplating the conversations

  • that you might have that you're likely to have with

  • your peers, your colleagues, your friends, your family,

  • and consider the vocabulary that you might need to have

  • successful conversations in those situations.

  • At work, you might be talking about what's for lunch,

  • you might be talking about time keeping, you might be

  • talking about meetings, you need to talk about what

  • you're having for lunch, go on YouTube and search

  • for What I Eat In a Day videos.

  • That will be a pretty good way of taking

  • in some more vocabulary.

  • If you've got a friend that likes dog training

  • or something like that, watch some dog training videos

  • with subtitles and try and take in some more vocabulary.

  • You've got to be so proactive in the way that you approach

  • learning vocabulary because there is so much to learn.

  • Start with what you really need and what you think you'll be

  • able to practise frequently, and then slowly expand

  • to things that you are less interested in

  • or less likely to use.

  • Aright, that is it for today's lesson.

  • I hope you enjoyed it and I really hope

  • you learned something.

  • Don't forget to check out the Lingoda Language Marathon.

  • The signup link is in the description box and you can use

  • my code speak1 to get a 100% discount on your entry fee.

  • And you can check out my social media.

  • I've got my Instagram,

  • I've got my Facebook, and I've got my Twitter.

  • And I shall see you soon for another lesson.

  • (blows kiss)

  • How to improve your speaking (grunts).

  • Why can't I get it?

  • In the previous for mangrage larathons.

  • So how can we pronoot, pronoove.

  • (laughs)

  • It's a pronunciation lesson.

  • Pronoove.

  • And incorporate and integrate english into your day.

  • Bah.

  • Will?

  • I'm just--

  • (lighthearted electronic music)

(lighthearted electronic music)

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