Three fundamental things for English leaners -Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation-

(Updated on 2020/12/04)

Hello, everyone. Kinkajuu here. 🙂

I always wish I could speak English better.

Why is that? Because I can increase the amount and variety of information that I receive.

I think many people think, “Amount of information? Why is that?” That’s a natural attitude, isn’t that?

Of course, the main reasons for starting to learn English are, for example, “I want to be able to talk to people from other countries”, “I want to travel abroad”, “I want to or already use it at work”, “I need TOEIC X00 points or more to get promoted …” I believe that most of people feel so.

But think about it. What is the percentage of Japanese information is used in the world?

There is only one country where Japanese is the mother tongue or official language, but there are more than 80 countries where English is the mother tongue or official language.

Japanese 1 : English 80

Simple calculation: more than 80 times more information is in English than in Japanese.

And, new information takes time to be translated into Japanese.

I think some people might think “What is the problem if it takes a little time? You can understand the information after it is translated into Japanese.”

Yes, that is also correct. But imagine: you will discover some information on your cellphone news app tomorrow morning. It is about a big American company which suddenly had some serious scandal. You have a lot of stock in the company. It was a well-known and growing company, so you kept buying it. It was a precious golden goose for you. But now the value of the company’s stock might plummet. Every month, your stock’s value was growing steadily, but at because of this news it might drop precipitously.

You go bed and mutter “I’m busy tomorrow” and fall asleep.

If you could have read English, you may have noticed the information and escaped the financial difficulty. However, you only check the information in Japanese and go to sleep. Tomorrow morning, after hearing the news in Japanese, you turn pale.

How about it? Is it really so far-fetched?

I think it is a bigger risk not to learn English. There is a lot of information in English that you don’t know, and there are many things that you don’t understand. Isn’t it a disadvantage in both your private life and business?

What do you think?

“…”

What should you start with when you want to learn English?

I believe there are three fundamental topics when learning English. I can also confidently tell you that all of these can be improved on your own.

• Grammar
• Vocabulary
• Pronunciation

Why these three?

It is because these are the fundamental skills of English according to English teachers. I personally have studied English at university and found that these three skills are very important when using English. Also, I had studied in New Zealand for a year and a half, and I was keenly aware of that fact.

If even one of these three pillars is lacking, you will be hard to understand when speaking English.

Even if the vocabulary and pronunciation are perfect, if the grammar is incorrect, others will not be able to understand your sentences and you will be thought of as unable to speak English.

When I was attending a language school, students from South America spoke often in class. However, few people, including teachers, understood the content of their speech. A characteristic of many South American students is that they are not afraid to speak but use grammar incorrectly. It was very difficult to relate the words they were speaking to the story they were trying to tell.

As another example, how about communication by e-mail? Let’s say you are exchanging messages with an English native speaker, If you can’t understand their vocabulary, will you take the time to look up the words one by one? Have you heard the idea that “time is money”? The longer it takes to look up, the more you might have been able to work in that time.

What if you get a call? Even if you can understand the other person’s pronunciation , if you don’t understand the meaning of the vocabulary, it will be hard to have a conversation. Even if it’s a big business opportunity, you can’t negotiate unless you know what to say to the person who is already hanging up on you.

Correct English pronunciation is also a must. Japanese pronunciation of English words is very difficult for native speakers to understand. Only English school teachers will listen to you even if they don’t fully understand what you are saying.

There are many situations where you not understanding English vocabulary or the meaning of the English grammar can be a disadvantage. If you are the victim of a crime in a foreign country, you may not even be able ask for help from the police. That’s a scary thought, isn’t it?

These three skills are the core of English proficiency. If you can’t do any of them, you won’t be able to communicate in English well.

“Then, how good should it be?”

You can use the guidelines below as a standard.

Grammar:
Junior high school graduation level, enough to keep up with high school students’ classes

Vocabulary:
At least 2,000 words, 3,500-10,000 words or more to reach business level

Pronunciation:
Can pronounce vowels correctly (including diphthongs)

As for grammar, if you can understand the grammar that junior high school students are learning, you will be able to speak English that can be understand. This is the content that we completed once when we were in junior high school in Japan. You just have to think back and remember.

If you were not good at English in junior high school, look for easy-to-understand teaching materials. I will also make some suggestions.

Do you feel that there are too many vocabulary words? However, it is said that 1,200 English words are learnt in junior high school, so just 800 remain to reach the target 2000 words. Isn’t it a surprisingly small amount? If you remember 7 words a day, the extra 800 words can be learned in about 100 days. There are 365 days in a year, so even if you aim for 2,000 vocabulary from nothing, if you continue 7 words a day to remember, you can finish by this time next year.

I’m already looking for useful vocab books and apps for remembering vocabulary. But if I share everything suddenly, it will be confusing, so I will share it little by little.

Please do not think that the pronunciation peculiar to Japanese and katakana English can’t be fixed. Certainly, it may not be easy to get native-like pronunciation in practice. However, if you do not give up and work hard, your pronunciation will gradually improve. Practice makes perfect.

“What should I do once I reach the standard proficiency?”

I think that is only the start of learning English.

If you don’t know how to forward, it’s okay. I will accompany you 🙂

I want to be generous with sharing knowledge you need, useful books, opportunities to practice English, and information about apps and sites!

Let’s improve our English together!