Learning methods are very important. If you make mistakes in your study methods, no amount of efforts will be in vain in the future.
Generally speaking, English is divided into four parts: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Most people train these four parts separately, which is wrong. We should combine these four parts to study together and form a complete system.
The most important thing in learning English is to have a rich vocabulary. I don't think it is effective to simply remember words, because if you don't use words, you will forget them. Learn by using and remember it.
First, read.
To increase your vocabulary, you can start with reading. At the beginning, you can choose simple English texts to read. When reading for the first time, don't look up the dictionary, guess the meaning of the new words according to the context. Reading for the first time does not require understanding the meaning of every word, but it is necessary to find out the key words according to the conjunctions between English and understand the logical framework and writing ideas of the whole article.
The second time you read, you should look up unfamiliar words in the dictionary, but don't look at the English-Chinese dictionary, look at the English-Chinese dictionary. If you look at the Chinese explanations of English words, in the future reading and understanding of English, you actually translate English into Chinese and then understand the meaning of the article. This kind of Chinese-English conversion actually depends on Chinese thinking in understanding, which is not good for your thinking in learning English. So, don't look at the vocabulary explanation of Chinese translation, look at the English dictionary. You can choose Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, all in English.
Read for the third time and learn sentence grammar. Analyze the collocation and connection rules of different sentence patterns, understand unfamiliar syntax, accumulate advanced grammar, and master authentic English expressions in the process of learning. In short, after disassembling and studying this English article, you will eventually accumulate vocabulary and grammar, understand its logic, express the original complicated article in English with simple logic and sentences, and ensure that everyone who listens can understand it, so that you can be regarded as reading an article.
What you read at first is a simple article. Don't keep it for too long. Choose a complicated article to read as soon as possible. You can choose to find such an article in The Economist and read some original English documents if you have time.
In this reading process, you will have vocabulary and grammar input, which is helpful for your writing and speaking. Besides reading training, we should also practice listening.
Second, listen.
There are many ways to improve listening. However, since you are learning English on a zero basis, you'd better learn English pronunciation again before English listening training. First of all, we should learn phonetic symbols, pay attention to distinguish between American phonetic symbols and British phonetic symbols, and practice pronunciation with air rather than voice.
Then you can listen to English news, BBC news if you want to practice English pronunciation, and VOA news if you want to practice American pronunciation. The process of listening to news is the same as reading. First of all, listen widely and understand the general meaning of a news. Then listen carefully, imitate the pronunciation and intonation of each sentence, and deal with the details of each word, such as stress, weak reading, linking and so on. You must pay attention in the process of listening training.
You can also improve your energy by watching various English TV dramas and movies, but be careful not to be taken away by the plot. You should imitate while watching, and learn oral English while improving your listening.
Only if you can understand English can you understand it. Many people have poor hearing, not because they can't hear, but because they don't know what many words they hear mean. Therefore, we must ensure the input of vocabulary in order to ensure the output of listening and speaking.
Third, choose courses.
In addition to daily reading and listening training, English interpretation or writing courses can also be selected in university courses. If possible, change all the software in your computer into English, so that your after-school life is all related to English.
For people with weak foundation, the effect of proper English training in the early stage is very significant, and they may encounter a bottleneck in the later stage. At this time, the main purpose of changing learning methods is to increase vocabulary. Because I studied vocabulary in reading before, I didn't remember words systematically and completely. When you encounter bottlenecks in the middle and late stages, you can find a complete vocabulary book to remember words. When the vocabulary goes up, the English level will be further improved!
The most important thing is persistence. Without persistence, any method is useless. So don't give up learning English. If you don't learn well, you will learn English all your life!