Improving English: None for you without review

The title of this article says it all. So why is review such an important part of the learning process and improving English? Well, just look at the first two letters of the word “review”, what have you got? That’s right. “Re”. “Re” also happens to be the first two letters of the word “repetition”. […]

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Who can master native English?

Out of a hundred thousand people reading this article, there could only be one who, 1/has the mind power to master the spoken English, and 2/has the talent and skills to master it without the help of a good teacher or coach. I am aware that the notion of mastering the spoken English is debatable […]

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Learning English or learning about English?

Learning English, learning about English, “tomEYto” “tomAHto” you might think. Unfortunately, most English learners spend 70% of their time learning about English. They learn about grammar rules, vocabulary, how to write an essay or pass an exam etc. but hardly learning English as in fully immersing themselves in the language. Look, needless to say, learning […]

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The stubborn pronunciation problems of Japanese learners

Japanese are stubborn, so are their pronunciation problems Japanese students of English struggle with their pronunciation problems. No matter how advanced the speakers are, no matter how long the learners have been learning or speaking English for, some (phonetic) mistakes are real stubborn aren’t they? They keep happening over and over and Japanese students can’t […]

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How to understand native English speakers!

They’re not speaking fast, your ears are hearing slow! Why can’t I understand native English speakers? Why do they speak so fast? How do they speak so fast? What on earth do I do to get to the point when I can turn off my subtitles and just enjoy watching a movie without them? Yeah […]

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What grammar book is good to learn English?

None! It does not exist. You never learn a language by studying grammar. Grammar books should only be used as a reference, just like a dictionary. You use a dictionary to look up the meaning of a word, that is to improve your vocabulary, and you should use a grammar book to help you to […]

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What is “another” good movie to watch for English learning?

In a previous post, I recommended Bill Murray’s “Groundhog day” as a good movie to watch to improve the learners’ English. There’s another movie that’s just as good for learning English especially for improving grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. Did I make you curious? I certainly hope so. Do you wanna (want to) take a guess? […]

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3rd Largest Economy: behind North Korea in English Profiency

Something’s wrong there. According to a 2005/2006 TOEFL test of English as a foreign language, Japan has the worst score in Asia, even worse than North Korea. Although Japan scores much better in the EF English Proficiency Index, which attempts to rank countries by the average level of English skills amongst adults, Japan still falls […]

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