What is necessary to learn English well?

Why learn English

Learning to speak English well may be the best thing you can do to improve your life.

That's right. Do you think it would be fun to have access to information that other people can't get? Talk and write letters to interesting people that others can't communicate with? Impress people around you whenever you opened your mouth? Make big jumps in your career, leaving others miles behind?

You can get all this if you speak English well. 

Get access to knowledge

What are you interested in? Is it science? Music? Computers? Health? Business? Sports? Today's media — such as the Internet, television, and the press — give you almost unlimited access to knowledge about your favorite subjects. After all, we live in the information age, don't we?

There's only one problem. Most of this knowledge is in English.

Here are some examples of knowledge you can use if you know English:

·         Most pages on the Web. That's over a billion (1,000,000,000) pages of information! It's amazing that learning just one language gives you access to almost all knowledge on the Internet.

·         Books — on any subject, from all over the world. Read books by British or American authors, and books translated from other languages. Whatever you're interested in, you can read about it in English!

·         The press. Only English-language magazines and newspapers can be bought in every part of the world. You don't have to search for Time, Newsweek, or the International Herald Tribune!

·         Science. English is the key to the world of science. In 1997, 95% of the articles in the Science Citation Index were written in English. Only about 50% of them were from English-speaking countries like the USA or Britain. 

·         News reports. Watch international television networks, such as CNN International and NBC. They broadcast news much faster, and more professionally, than smaller, national networks. And you can watch them everywhere in the world. 

Communicate with people

We like to call English "the language of communication". Why? Because it seems all the people in the world have agreed to use English to talk to each other.

·         About 1,500,000,000 people in the world speak English. Another 1,000,000,000 are learning it. 

·         75% of the world's letters and postcards are written in English. 

·         Almost all international conferences and competitions are conducted in English. For example, the Olympics and the Miss World contest.

·         Diplomats and politicians from different countries use English to communicate with each other. English is the main language of organizations like the United Nations, NATO, and the European Free Trade Association.

If you can communicate in English, you can:

·         Contact people from all over the world. Talk about your ideas and opinions on Internet discussion groups. Send e-mail to interesting people. Learn about their life and culture.

·         Travel more easily. Communicate with people wherever you go — English is spoken in more than 100 countries . Ask directions, have a conversation, or... ask for help. Who knows, maybe English will save your life someday! 

Push your career forward

If you want a good job in business, technology, or science, get out of that armchair and start learning English now! (If you already have a good job, start learning before you lose it!)

Knowing English will let you:

·         Put "excellent knowledge of English" on your CV. Get your dream job, and earn more money.

·         Gain technical knowledge. English is the language of technology, especially high technology like computer science, genetics, and medicine. If you're going to read about technology, you'll probably have to do it in English.

·         Learn computer science. Read technical articles without difficulty. Or write your own articles!

·         Be a world-class businessman (or -woman). It's simple. International business is done in English. And all business today is international. So if you want to play, you have to know English — to contact other businesspeople, go to conferences, read international business newspapers and magazines, etc.

·         Become a better scientist. Contact scientists from other countries, go to international conferences, visit academic centers abroad. Learn about new scientific discoveries by reading papers, books, and magazines.

·         Use your computer more effectively. Most computer applications are in English, so you will understand them better — and become a better employee.

·         Learn new skills for your job. The section "Get access to knowledge" explains how English helps you learn. 

Enjoy art like never before

English lets you feel the culture of the world like no other language. With a good knowledge of the English language, you can do wonderful things:

·         Watch American and British films in the original. Once you try it, you'll never go back to dubbed versions!

·         Read great books. Every famous book was written in English or it was translated into English. There is an amazing number of titles — from classic plays like Hamlet to modern thrillers like Jurassic Park.

·         Enjoy English-language music more. Believe us: music is much better if you can understand the words. 

English is easy to learn

English is not only the most useful language in the world. It is also one of the easiest languages to learn and to use:

·         Simple alphabet — no special symbols such as é or ä. Type in sweet, part, film on your computer. Now try süß (German), (Polish), (Russian). Which is easier?

·         Easy plurals — simply add s to a word. One car, five cars; one telephone, two telephones... There are very few exceptions.

·         Words are easy to learn. In French, it's la fille and le chien. In German, it's das Mädchen and der Hund. In English, they're just a girl and a dog. And that's all you need to know.

·         Short words. Most of the basic words are short: run, work, big, go, man. Long words are often shortened: sitcom = situational comedy, fridge = refrigerator, OS = operating system. Speaking English saves you time. :-)

·         Words don't change. But in many languages, one word has many forms:

English: The man is blind.
German: Der Mann ist blind.

English: This is a blind man.
German: Das ist ein blinder Mann.

English: I see a blind man.
German: Ich sehe einen blinden Mann.

·         Call everybody "you". You can say "Do you speak English?" to your friend or to your teacher. In other languages, you have to use the right word for the right person. In English, everybody is equal. :-)

·         English is everywhere. You can easily access English-language television, music, websites, magazines, etc. You don't have to learn from boring textbooks. You can learn and use your English at the same time. Using your English is especially important because it increases your desire to learn.

Get satisfaction

English is not only useful — it gives you a lot of satisfaction:

·         Making progress feels great. We'll never forget the moment we discovered we could speak with Americans or watch TV in English.

·         You will enjoy learning English, if you remember that every hour you spend gets you closer to perfection.

·         Using English is fun, too, because every sentence you speak or write reminds you of your success.

English makes you a more powerful, happier person. It is not difficult to imagine some situations where knowing English gives you a great feeling.

We hope that, with our help, your progress in English will soon give you a lot of satisfaction, too. Many people have followed our methods and watched their "English power" grow very quickly. You can read about these people in the Successful English learners section of Antimoon.com.

English makes you feel good

If you have read our article "Why learn English", you already know that English can improve your life. It can let you get smarter, meet people, earn more money, etc. But have you ever wondered how it would feel to know English well?

Imagine...

You're at an English class. Everybody is doing an exercise. People are all talking about the exercise; there is a lot of noise. You finished two minutes ago, and now there are people around you asking questions. "What does extemporaneous mean?", "What's the answer in point 2?". You know the correct answers and you help them. You know why they asked your help — because they know you are good. You feel respected and admired. The teacher has noticed your skills, too. He looks at you with admiration.

You're flying on a plane, coming back from your vacation. You see the person next to you reading an American newspaper. Since the flight is going to take a long time, you decide to have a conversation. "The engines are awfully loud, aren't they?", you say. "Yeah. It looks like the airplane may break into pieces at any moment", he laughs. The conversation goes on. You speak easily and you enjoy it. A moment before touchdown, your neighbor says: "You speak just like an American. Your pronunciation, your grammar — it's amazing!" You get off the plane smiling. What a great day!

You're on a bus to school, just like every day. You decide to spend the time reading a few pages out of a book. You take it out. The book is in English. As you start reading, the person sitting next to you looks at the book's cover and notices the English title. The person gives you a long look of admiration and envy. A moment later, some other people in the bus start staring at you. They would like to be able to read an English book, but they can't. You feel satisfaction. You're glad you've spent time on learning English.

You're at an international airport. You walk quickly, and you look confident. You understand all the signs around you, you understand the announcements. You know that if there were any problems you could easily communicate with the airport's staff in their own language. You walk to your gate, thinking how much more difficult it would be if you didn't know English.

You're having a great moment with your girlfriend. You're sitting close to each other, your hand is around her back. The radio is playing a beautiful song. You can understand every word of it. Your girlfriend asks: "What's the song about?". "It's about love, honey", you reply. "You're so smart. I wish I knew English like you do", she says. You feel loved and admired.

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