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Lesson 40 - Common Mistakes in Learning Methods (Part 2)

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11 views5 pages

Lesson 40 - Common Mistakes in Learning Methods (Part 2)

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maryam.byt95
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Lesson 40: Common Mistakes in

Learning Methods (Part 2)


Today I’ll teach you about four more mistakes that English learners tend to make
when trying to improve their English. These are things that you might think are
good or useful, but they actually cause problems or prevent you from making
progress. Let’s see what they are:

Error #189 – Trying to talk too fast in English

You might think that speaking faster will help your English sound more fluent. But
that’s not necessarily true, and you have to be careful, for two reasons.

One is that if your pronunciation is not clear, then speaking faster is just going to
make things worse – other people won’t understand you. I often listen to English
learners who are trying to speak really quickly, and the fast speed actually makes
it harder to understand them because of their accent. If they had better
pronunciation - or if they just slowed down - then they would be able to
communicate better.

The second reason you shouldn’t focus on speed is that speaking especially fast
can sometimes give the impression that you’re nervous or insecure, that you’re
not confident. This tip applies to native English speakers, too – when someone is
speaking a mile a minute (meaning very fast) it can make them seem like they’re
nervous or uncomfortable, or not really thinking about what they’re saying.

So I don’t think “speaking fast” is a good goal, and it definitely shouldn’t be your
main focus. Instead, focus on getting nice, clear pronunciation and on getting as
much speaking practice as possible - and your speaking rhythm will naturally get
better over time.

© Shayna Oliveira 2019


www.espressoenglish.net
Error #190 – Translating in your head from your native
language to English

You think about what you want to say in your native language, and then you
mentally translate it into English before you speak. It’s natural for those of us who
learn languages as adults to try to do this mental translation.

But there are three major disadvantages of translating in your head:

1. It takes too long! You won’t be able to speak at a natural speed or


participate in the regular flow of conversation, because you’ll always need a
few extra seconds to translate. I know in the previous tip I said NOT to
focus on speaking fast or “rushing” when talking; however, we also want to
avoid excessively long pauses, and if you’re translating in your head, you
will have to pause to think a lot.

2. The second problem is that most phrases do not translate very well. Usually
the sentence structure of English is different from the sentence structure in
your native language. Or maybe your native language would use one verb
tense in a certain situation, but in English a different verb tense is correct.
Maybe your native language doesn’t have certain words, and English does.
And there are a lot of expressions that can’t be translated literally. So direct
translation is not the answer - it often leads to sentences that sound
strange and unnatural.

3. And the third problem is that if you think too much about translating
carefully, it can make you afraid to say anything at all. You might become so
worried about making mistakes that you want everything to be perfect -
and that will stop you from speaking.

© Shayna Oliveira 2019


www.espressoenglish.net
The solution to this problem is to learn to think directly in English. So you form
your thoughts in English, and then you say them in English, without translating.
Although this might seem difficult, it is actually a skill that you can practice. You
can start simple and then, with practice, get better and better at it. I have a lesson
that teaches you how to begin thinking in English step by step. You can click here
to read it.

Error #191 – Trying too hard to understand every word


when practicing listening

But wait, isn’t it our goal to understand everything?

Yes… but here’s what actually happens:

• You start listening.


• You hear a word or expression you don’t understand, and you start
thinking and worrying about that word, or trying to figure it out.
• The speaker has continued while you’ve been thinking about what you
didn’t understand. Now more words and sentences have passed by and
you didn’t hear them at all.
• You worry even more because you're having difficulty following the
speaker, and now it’s even harder to understand because you feel nervous
and insecure.

Obviously, this process is not good!

Here’s what you should do instead:

If you hear a word you don’t recognize, just let it go.

© Shayna Oliveira 2019


www.espressoenglish.net
Accept that you’re not perfect, and continue to pay attention so that you can still
accompany the speaker and understand most of what he/she is saying.

I know it's hard, but try not to be a "perfectionist." Getting upset when you miss a
word or expression will only make it more difficult to concentrate and
understand.

Let's be realistic - when we are learning something or developing our abilities, of


course we won't do everything 100% right all the time. Making mistakes and not
understanding words is completely normal; it's a natural part of the learning
process!

So please don't "beat yourself up" (get frustrated or annoyed at yourself) when
you don't catch every single word while listening. Just relax and keep doing your
best. Be happy about what you CAN understand, and continue practicing - and
over time, you'll find that you understand more and more.

Error #192 – Trying to understand idioms literally

Idioms are expressions that cannot be translated word for word – here are some
examples of idioms in English:

• "that's a piece of cake" meaning something is easy


• "drop me a line" meaning "contact me"
• "we don't see eye to eye" meaning "we don't agree"
• "something smells fishy" meaning something is suspicious, something
seems not quite right about the situation

Your native language probably has a lot of interesting idioms, too! Some of them
might be the same or similar to English idioms, but most of them are probably
different.

© Shayna Oliveira 2019


www.espressoenglish.net
You’ll often hear idioms in TV shows, movies, and informal conversations. But
some students try to interpret or translate each word and understand the phrase
literally, and that’s a mistake.

If we consider the idiom “that’s a piece of cake,” which means “that’s easy,”
there’s no logical relationship between cake and something being easy. Or “drop
me a line” being an informal way to say “contact me” - we are not literally
“dropping” any object, and what exactly is a “line” in this phrase?

Please don’t try to understand idioms literally - it will only confuse you more. You
need to learn them as whole phrases, and learn the meaning of the entire
expression.

If you’d like to learn more idioms, you can take my course on 300+ idioms in 30
days.

In today’s lesson we talked about the errors of trying to talk too fast, translating
in your head, trying too hard to understand every word when listening, and trying
to understand idioms literally. Don’t make these mistakes! Thanks for watching,
and I’ll see you in the next video.

© Shayna Oliveira 2019


www.espressoenglish.net

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