Anyone who makes the decision to take classes and learn a foreign language deserves admiration. It is not an easy ambition to undertake.
Learning a new language demands a lot of your time, determination, and humility.
Here is a short discussion of the key areas of English students struggle with the most.
Without a doubt, students never know what these are. One of the more complex and abstract elements of English, phrasal verbs are essential, complicated, frustrating, and really fun all at the same time.
They are also a key component of fluency. Without the knowledge of a good few phrasal verbs under your belt, you will never be fluent.
A phrasal verb is a group of words made up of a verb and a particle. Together, these words hold a highly specific meaning that is completely dependent on the context in which the words are being used.
If you look at the individual words of the phrasal verb itself, you will never be able to understand what the phrasal verb means. Consider the following examples:
1. to look up (to search for information in a dictionary, encyclopaedia or on the internet)
2. to back out (to withdraw your support)
3. to come across (to find or discover something by pure chance)
Could you have guessed what these phrasal verbs meant just by analysing the meanings of the individual words themselves? No, no one could have.
You must learn the meaning of the phrasal verb as a whole. In English we have thousands of phrasal verbs and native speakers use them every hour of every day without even knowing it.
There is nothing that will make you more fluent or feel more advanced in your English than the moment you begin to understand and accurately use phrasal verbs.
No surprises here, right? Tenses are the ever-elusive beast of language – no matter which language you are studying.
English tenses are not the most complicated bunch out there but still complicated enough to drive students crazy!
The real issue with tenses is this: every language is constructed around the culture linked to that language. The way in which different cultures perceive and communicate the concept of time varies drastically across languages.
Due to this, the tenses of two languages are never entirely transferable. This means that each language has its own construction of time with its own set of nuanced differences, and this is reflected in the tense constructions of each language.
For this reason, it is vital that students fight the urge to translate between languages, especially when studying tenses. Yes, switching between languages can be helpful in the beginning but in the end, you will reach a plateau that will force you to stop translating in order to advance in your fluency.
Focus on understanding the nuances of time within the language you are studying, not on how it does or does not match up with the nuances of time in your native language.
Yes, we know. English prepositions are infuriating. And no, there is no set of secret rules to help you remember and use them correctly.
There are around 150 prepositions in English and, although there are some key guidelines that can help you, there are many, many exceptions.
The best strategies for preposition use are passive, auditory and visual learning – podcasts, conversations are reading.
Although these are common challenges faced by English language learners, with the right teacher on your side anything is possible, even understanding these difficult components of the English language.
Foreign Friend offers a safe, enjoyable, and personalised online learning environment for anyone who would like to learn English as a second language.
We take the time to get to know our students, their needs and goals and we create a learning schedule with those needs and goals in mind.
To find out more about learning English online with Foreign Friend, please feel free to contact us.
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