Learn English: The Key to Success in Modern Life - Essay Sample

English, as a language, plays an important role in everyday life. There is a great utility of English in the modern world, thus the necessity to learn it. English is used not only in reading, writing, and talking but also in business, education, getting jobs, in media and entertainment, and for international relations. English is also the language of science, computers, diplomacy, aviation, and tourism. English may fail to be the most spoken language in the world, but it is the official language of fifty-three countries and is spoken by around four hundred million people in the world. If one wants to speak to someone from another country, chances are, that both the parties will be using English to communicate. As such, every aspect of our lives involves the use of the English language. This is why as a student, it is fundamental to master the English language to connect with people across the globe as it is the language of international communication, the media, and the internet.

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I do a lot of practice with a native speaker. No app, book, or program can give feedback that a native speaker gives. I realized that the best way to work with native speakers was through setting regular sessions, which was once a week. Within the week, I would do written work such as essays and short stories then forward the editing work. Furthermore, I would chat with the native and ask him to critique my skills in real-time. With the native speaking, I directed all my attention to intonation. Intonation is the change in pitch when a person speaks. I listened for the points when the pitch went up or down and tried to figure out what was happening, ‘is the native asking a question or making a statement? What kind of feeling is the native trying to express?’. The reason for putting a lot of attention in intonation is because each language has a unique intonation. For instance, the intonation for Chinese is different from Italian and different from English as well. Therefore, to be a fluent English speaker, I had to learn how to use the correct intonation.

Podcasts and audiobooks are also a great way of learning and using English. I downloaded the podcast app, ‘Castbox’, and streamed individual episodes on many different topics that exposed me to a wide variety of English words. In the process of listening to the podcasts, I paid attention to the accent used and the type of English used. Audiobooks are also great resources for practicing listening. First and foremost, I purchased ‘Audible’ from Amazon which has a wide variety of recorded books. ‘Audible’ had the advantage of allowing one to fast-forward, pause and speed up audios as needed. Listening to audios at different speeds proved to be very helpful in learning English. The extra words that are heard when the file is slowed down were challenging sounds or unstressed sounds. The challenging sounds were identified and some extra time was put to understand and learn them. For the words that were known but unstressed, I listened out to how their meanings changed when they were stressed and when they were unstressed. With that knowledge, I was able to adjust my speech and improve my fluency in English.

Using and learning English during free times played a critical role in enabling me to learn the English language. The best way was having a language tool with me always which meant having a bunch of flashcards that are small enough to be carried around and free apps on my phones such as ‘Duolingo’ and ‘Babbel’. The apps were a great way of capturing wasted time such as when riding the bus or free time at home. In addition to the flashcards and apps, advertisement slogans and posters were also translated. The advertisements and slogans turned into mini exercises and constantly kept my brain busy. Consequently, I started thinking about the language I was learning, (English). Finally, I read product descriptions in the English language. Most product descriptions are in many languages, so the one written in English was identified, understood then read out loud. For a few words that weren’t known, I used Google to help me understand their meanings and pronunciation. Reading product descriptions thus turned out to be a great way of practicing whilst doing everyday tasks like cooking and shopping

Additionally, speaking frequently in the English language has played a big role in its mastery. I realized that as much as I read in the English language, I only got half of the experience. As such, I learned how to associate the written words with the right transactions in my head, but I was not learning how to pronounce them. To counter the problem, I started speaking English words out loud. For instance, I read out loud articles and newspapers I came across and for songs, I sang them along. Besides, I also took moments to reflect on previous conversations. I asked myself questions like ‘how did it go? how much did I understand? How comfortable was I with the subject matter? Did I encounter any unknown words?’. In the end, I realized that the mere act of thinking about the conversation increased my confidence the next time I spoke.

Therefore, mastery of the English language is crucial for students as it is an important means of communication, communication in itself being the backbone of the society. Communication allows us to form connections, influence decisions, and motivate change. Without possessing communication skills, the ability to progress and be successful in the modern working world would be impossible.