How to sharpen your English Skills – Some Tips

I have received this query several times about my English skills; people have been praising me and asking how I do it. Well, first of all, I am nowhere near as good; I just have basic understanding of grammar and structuring along with median grip on vocabulary. I am still in learning process; but I will share with you the tips I followed to enhance my language skills.

First of all, motivation is the key. We either learn by force or by will; and things learned by will are easier to retain effectively. I had two motivations behind learning this language. First, as a high school dropout, I had to acquire effectual skills that would determine my worth in the absence of a degree. Alhamdulillah, I was always a sharp kid engaged in extracurricular activities and technology; however, my circumstances didn’t allow me to pursue my activities further. I also realized that the first impression is based on how well I am able to communicate; how effective my conversation is; and English is considered vital in business environment. At job interviews, I have no credentials to present; all I have are my words that can make a significant difference to differentiate the person reflected by a hollow resume vs the actual me.

Second motivation was Hollywood Movies. I am a big fan of thrillers, spy thrillers, hardcore action; a genre that is widely available only in Hollywood. When I started watching English Movies in my early 20s, I used to watch them in Hindi Dubbing and I could feel it that no matter how much I enjoyed the movie, there is still something missing; a dubbing butchers the essence of dialogues. So I wanted to watch those movies in English. I had basic understanding of English but not to the extent where I could understand the whole conversation. And then I found out a way to enhance my English while getting entertained.

I watch English Movies or Shows with English subtitles; it helped me a lot in learning basic sentence structures, grammar and pronunciation. While watching a movie, my focus is on language too; I keep a close eye on what is being said, how is it being said and why is it being said. For example, here is how I learned the difference between DO and DID.

There was a scene; a man is in hospital and someone comes to visit him, a complete stranger. They are having a conversation in a light mood. The visitor asked the man, ‘What do you do?’ the man replied, ‘I am retired’. The visitor again asked, ‘What did you do?’ this time the answer was different; the man told his about his past job. I didn’t notice the difference of DO and DID in the questions; I was like why the man gave a different answer to the same question? It wasn’t like the man was being held captive or under pressure; it was a normal conversation, so why different answer to the same question? I rewind to look closely and find out that the question were not the same; and that was the day I clearly understood that DO is present and DID is past.

I know the above example is childish; one must have learned such small details in school; maybe I missed; the truth is, I am not a bookworm, I don’t like reading, even for learning purpose; I am more of a practical person; no matter how well you have explained in writing, I won’t get it until I see a practical example.

So, this is how you can sharpen your skills. Everyone loves to watch movies or tv shows. You can multi task at the same time; you would be enjoying your movie while learning the language. Don’t pressurize your mind into thinking that now watching a movie is a burden; watch it as you normal do, it’s a movie, not a classroom; all you need is to give just 10-20% of your focus towards the language. Like I said, it’s all about how determined you are in learning the language. If someone will force you to follow this method, it won’t help; it’s not the effectiveness of the method, it’s your will.

Watching English content with English subtitles will help with structure, grammar and pronunciation; watching Urdu content with English subtitles will help you extensively with the vocabulary. English content can also help with vocabulary; keep a notebook beside you while watching the movie and write down the words you don’t understand; upon finishing the movie, you will have a list of at least a dozen new words which you can translate and learn. Some dialogues are so intriguing that the words learned through them stick in the memory forever. For example, I am watching ‘The Blacklist’ nowadays and the performance of the antagonist of the show is so mesmerizing; RAYMOND REDDINGTON, played by James Spader; his dialogue delivery is flawless and enthralling. His dialogues include very premium vocabulary as his conversations are mostly formal; listening to that man alone can master your language. ‘Fathom’ and ‘Quibble’; these are the two words out of many others that I learnt through his character and I might never forget these words because it’s not the words but the entire scene plastered in my memory.

I hope this will help you; it isn’t limited to movies only, if you love reading books, you can apply the same method with reading too. It all depends on how comfortable are you with the method. Basic rule is same; motive. Also, we all use social media and we read or watch hundreds of posts which contain words we don’t know about; immediately go on Google to search the meaning of that word. You don’t have to necessarily memorize the word by repeating it, just look for the meaning; it’s ok even if you forget the meaning, at least the original word will stick in your mind and when next time the same word pops up, you will recognize it, search the meaning again, and no worries if you forget again; keep searching the meaning every time and eventually you will memorize both the word and the meaning automatically.

I Alhamdulillah scored 6.5 in IELTS without coaching and that was around three to four years back. I followed the above mentioned methods. My speaking skills are not as strong as writing skills because speaking requires bluntness which I lack; writing is different, one can take all the time necessary to think and research. If you are a writer, here is a tip; find compelling vocabulary through Google, no need for a dictionary; for example, you want to use the word ‘BEAUTIFUL’ in your sentence but you wish to replace it with a more compelling word, just go on Google and write ‘BEAUTIFUL MEAN’ and it will show you all the related words; pick the best word that fits in your sentence.

And don’t be flattered by my English; I am just an ordinary; sometimes it takes a lot of time for me to articulate; sometimes I have to dig deep to find the appropriate words to make my articles compelling and professional but I know, still my work is far away from professionalism. This article alone took me around one and a half hour to write. The reason why I write is because I want to be heard, I want to express my views for the betterment of others; and to have something to show my skills and intellect due to the lack of formal education.