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  • Hello everyone. I'm George. Today let's talk about bad habits in English learning.

  • Here in Taiwan, many people want to learn English very well.

  • And that is also one of the reasons why you're here. Because you want to know if

  • you are learning English in the right way. Basically there is no exactly the

  • right way or exactly the wrong ways, but there are good habits and bad habits.

  • In the previous video we talked about a checklist of how you can learn a language.

  • If you want to watch the video, it's here. So in this video we are going

  • to talk about some bad habits that you might have if you are learning a language.

  • And again, because this is an English Channel I'm going to talk about

  • English language learning. I do have five points in this checklist

  • for you to see if you have these bad habits in your English learning process.

  • If you do, change them. If you don't, you are in the right route. And let's begin.

  • Bad habit number one. Always look for shortcuts. Here in Taiwan, many people are

  • trying to look for shortcuts. They don't believe in the accumulation of your

  • ability. Usually if you want to learn the language, you have to start when you are

  • very young. But if you're not, then Taiwanese people like to look for

  • shortcuts, or maybe not only Taiwanese people. Generally, everyone is looking for

  • a shortcut. I'm not saying having a shortcut is the wrong way.

  • I'm only saying if you don't want to spend that much time learning a language,

  • someday, it's going to backfire. For example, if you want to learn more

  • vocabulary, the best way for you to do it is to read a lot, to listen to a lot of

  • English materials, but what a lot of people do is to try to memorize with

  • their right brain. We've talked about that before. I don't think that is a very

  • good way. And some people want to learn to communicate with people, they would

  • try to memorize a lot of sentences without

  • really talking to a real person. There are many places for you to practice your

  • English, and there are many tips for you to help you with your English learning.

  • But the worst way of learning is to try to find shortcuts, try to get there

  • faster than other people. Think about it, if you can really learn English in a

  • really fast way, doesn't that mean that those who are spending so much time on

  • the language learning are wasting their time actually. So don't always look for

  • shortcuts. Step by step, you'll get there. And

  • let's move on to bad habit number two. Focus too much on accuracy.

  • For the accuracy in this part, I'm not talking about language teachers. I'm

  • talking about language learners. Of course, those teachers have to focus

  • on the accuracy on their pronunciation their intonation and their grammar. If

  • any teacher is telling you that accuracy is not important, that is to tell you as

  • a language learner, that is not the first priority. But for teachers, you have to be

  • really good at this. Or why else are you teaching? As a language learner, if the

  • reason why you're learning that language is because you want to communicate with

  • people. Then why would certain mispronunciation or mistakes in grammar

  • stop you. Here in Taiwan, many people don't want to speak up because they are

  • afraid if they make a mistake, people would laugh at you. But that is not true.

  • If you can accomplish the goal of communication, then why would people laugh

  • at you because of that? That is exactly what you shouldn't care that much about.

  • I'm not saying pronunciation is not important. I'm only saying if your goal

  • is just to express what you want to say, then just say it. You're not a teacher,

  • you are a language user. Use the language however you want, as long as you can

  • communicate. Again, this is not for the language teachers. Teachers should focus

  • more on their pronunciation, intonation, and grammar.

  • And let's move on to bad habit number three. Rely on limited sources.

  • In Taiwan, most students would go to cram schools. Of course they

  • also learn English from school. In school, you have your textbooks, you have your

  • magazines. They're thinking that I'm learning English from so many books and

  • from so many places. I am tired. That's enough. I don't want to look for any more

  • new sources. But you have to know, no one person or one book knows everything.

  • If you want to learn the language well, you have to try to learn all the time. You

  • have to try to learn from everywhere. There is never enough source. Whenever

  • you find a new one. Grab it. Hold on to it. Trust me. You're going to learn more if

  • it is not in your school text books or magazines that's been assigned to you.

  • There are TV shows. There are movies. There are radio programs. There are

  • English songs. There are so many different sources and there is this

  • YouTube channel, and hundreds or thousands of English learning YouTube

  • channels that you can learn English from. Don't limit yourself to one source or

  • even just a handful of sources. You should have unlimited sources. And

  • bad habit number four. Switch on and off all the time. For some reason, here in

  • Taiwan, students can just switch their learning mode on and off. For example

  • after school, if you see anything in English, you would just say. I'm out of

  • school. I don't want to learn anymore. But you have to know, a lot of times, when

  • you're learning. You don't even know that you are. If you can always switch on and

  • off. You're going to miss too much. Even if the material is not in the test, it is

  • still worth learning. Don't tell yourself this is not going to be tested on. This

  • is not taught at school, or I'm going to learn it later, and then you give up your

  • learning chance. You are always learning. You're supposed to, and you are. As a good

  • English learner, you should not switch your learning mode on and off.

  • And bad habit number five. Depend on your mother tongue too much.

  • I think in a lot of Asian countries, people try to learn English

  • through their mother tongue. I'm not saying it's totally wrong, but it will

  • compromise your pronunciation and the cognition of your language learning

  • process. If your mother tongue and your target language are intertwined too

  • much, it will affect the result of your language learning. Asian languages are

  • mostly very very different from English, in the composition of the language

  • itself, in the selling, in the pronunciation and the grammar. So if you

  • are learning English through your own mother tongue, for example in your

  • pronunciation, you will never be able to independently think in the target

  • language. The best way to learn a language is try to think in the target

  • language. Like here, if you're learning English, then try to think in English.

  • It takes some practice. It takes some time. But that is the only way. If you're

  • learning English through Chinese. It's never going to help. No matter what other

  • people are telling you. Trust me. So this is the checklist I provide this time for

  • bad language learning habits. Do you have any of them? The more you have, the

  • more worried you should be. Try to get rid of those bad habits, and enjoy your

  • language learning process. I believe you're going to get a lot of improvement.

  • If you like this video, click the like button down below. Or you can subscribe

  • to this channel. I'll see you next time. Bye.

Hello everyone. I'm George. Today let's talk about bad habits in English learning.

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