How much can you learn English from scratch? English courses for beginners

Many are wondering about how much you can learn English from scratch. To give an unambiguous answer with a specific indication of a certain period of time is almost impossible. After all, it depends on many factors: the level of human abilities, the strength of motivation, the intensity of teaching methods, goals and preferences, surroundings, and so on.

What affects the speed of training?

There are many factors that will determine the speed and quality of training. Here are some of them:

• The ability of the student: memory, ability to concentrate on a certain task, creative thinking, cognitive abilities and the like.
• Knowledge of other languages. As a rule, if a person has already studied a foreign language, learning the second or third will be easier.
• Work ability, as well as the intensity and regularity of classes. The more time will be devoted to one or another direction, the faster you can achieve tangible results.
  
• The environment is also important, regardless of whether you have to learn English from scratch at home or have the opportunity to consolidate the material in practice, communicating with representatives of England, America or another country whose official language is English.
• Motivation. The stronger it is, the easier it will be to learn. Presence of a specific goal will help keep interest in the learning process.
• Interest. There are people who do not ask about how much you can learn English from scratch. The process of cognition is important for them.

How to increase motivation?

Motivation is one of the most important components of success. In the role of the best motivator when learning a foreign language, as a rule, one of the following is advocated:

• Moving to another country.
• Climbing the career ladder and bright prospects, which will be opened through the acquisition of new knowledge.
• Sincere interest in the culture of the country, the language of which is expected to be studied.

However, regardless of the goals, the learning process should be interesting. The well-known translator Cato Lomb, who spoke 16 languages, advised periodically to change the type of activity. For example, if you are tired of studying a grammar book, you can put it aside for a while and pay attention to reading fiction or watching a movie in the original language.

Achieving a specific goal

Clearly formulated goal greatly increases the probability of its achievement. The desire to learn English can turn into an endless pursuit of unattainable perfection. If there are no definite guidelines for assessing the scope of the work done, it may seem that all efforts are in vain. The saying "I want to learn English" sounds very blurry and does not bear the specifics. It will be much easier to evaluate your result in the future if you have a specific task: to read the book in the original, to understand most of the lyrics, or to speak freely with native speakers on everyday topics, etc. Therefore, asking yourself the question of how much you can learn English from scratch, everyone must decide for themselves, what he puts into this concept and for what purposes such knowledge will be needed in the future.

Regularity of lessons

Regardless of the methods of teaching, classes should be regular. It is best if time is evenly distributed: 30 minutes of daily exercise in reading, listening comprehension, writing or speaking are much more effective than 3 hours a week.

Another good way to learn is to listen to English audiobooks or podcasts. Podcasts are short audio releases aimed at learning the language and explaining the various cultural and everyday features of English-speaking countries. Similar entries are devoted to different levels: from elementary to advanced.

How many words do you need to know for everyday communication?

The data of the various studies differ slightly, however, according to the average indicators, the following can be said:

• The base stage requires knowledge of at least 400-500 words.
• For communication and understanding at a simple level, you need to master about 800-1000 words.
• 1500-2000 words will help actively communicate on everyday topics.
• About 3000-4000 words already allow reading the English press.
• 8000 words is a good vocabulary.
• More than 10 thousand - the level of an educated European.

Special frequency dictionaries have been created for these purposes, where lexical units are not arranged in alphabetical order, but according to the frequency of use. There are also thematic dictionaries, where the words are divided by subject.

How to learn words?

To master language means to make it your own. Getting to learn English, it is important first of all to pay attention to those words and phrases whose Russian equivalents are most often used in everyday speech. Many people make the mistake of memorizing lists of lexical units, which they do not have to use later. Words that will not be practiced will be quickly forgotten. Therefore, in the first place, you need to pay attention to the lexical set that will allow a person to talk about themselves and discuss the most important topics.

Another mistake, because of which many people do not begin to speak in English, is memorizing a list of words without practical application. As a result, because of the inability to combine words and build sentences, problems may arise. Many polyglots are advised to learn words in context. For each new lexical unit, you can select several phrases in which it occurs. This will help develop the fluency of speech and greatly increase the chance to learn a foreign language.

It is also very important to create a good base so that you do not have to retrain later on. Work on pronunciation should be conducted already at the initial stage. The beginner has to figure out how to read English letters, and also learn to read transcription and learn how to apply it in practice.

Levels of English

Conventionally, any language is divided into several levels. Before answering the question of how much you can learn English from scratch, you need to understand in more detail what each stage represents.

• Elementary. At this stage, a person knows a small number of simple words and phrases, and also has some idea of the grammatical structure of the language. To reach the elementary level, an average of 100 to 200 academic hours is required .
• Beginner. The initial level involves the ability to build simple sentences to keep the conversation on simple topics. However, the number of such topics is very limited.
• Pre-Intermediate. This level is below average. Grammar knowledge at this stage is not bad. Despite a small vocabulary, you can express yourself on familiar topics. But understanding the speech of the native English speaker will be difficult.
• Intermediate. On the average level of English, many are already communicating well on everyday topics, as well as reading the press and uncomplicated fiction.
• Upper-Intermediate. The level above the average will allow to communicate freely with foreigners, read more complex literature, and also try to enter Western educational institutions or look for work abroad.
• Advanced. Advanced level will allow to enter almost any university or find a suitable job abroad.
• Proficiency - professional. At this level, English educated residents of England or the United States know. It is this final stage that is called the knowledge of the language in perfection.

According to statistics, at the stage of mastering the first few steps, the transition time from the previous level to the next one is from 3 to 6 months. To rise from the elementary level to the primary level, you need to work out at least 3 months. Starting from the intermediate stage (Intermediate), the transition to each subsequent stage will already take about 6-9 months. But it should be borne in mind that these figures are very approximate.

How effective is independent language learning?

With a great desire and properly selected material, it is quite possible to master the language without the help of a teacher. However, with such training, gaps in knowledge may arise. Some skills can be significantly inferior to others. For example, a person who studies at home in books can freely read the literature in the original, but will have difficulty in trying to communicate with a representative of an English-speaking country. The reason is the lack of practice in oral speech. Therefore, those who choose such a method should try to apply all available options: reading books, studying textbooks, communicating with native speakers in social networks, and so on.

Another drawback, which conceals in itself the independent study of English from scratch, is the pronunciation with which the beginner may have difficulties. At the initial stage it is advisable to study with the teacher. Take at least a few lessons to learn how to read English letters and their combinations.

Method of immersion

Immersion in the medium of foreign language speakers is a kind of stressful situation that allows you to mobilize the hidden potentialities of the brain. This method helps to overcome the barrier of fear of failure and doubts about one's own abilities. Learning English becomes a primary task that will leave all other experiences behind. However, it should be remembered that this method of training requires great effort, repeated repetition and careful approach to mastering a new system of thinking and communication. It would be a mistake to believe that the language, when fully immersed in the appropriate environment, will learn itself.

What do English courses provide?

Most people who want to learn a foreign language, give priority to group lessons on courses.

This method of training has many advantages:

• Work in the team is very motivating. There is an opportunity to compare own results with achievements of other people and to aspire to raise the skills. This helps to cope with laziness and procrastination, which often overwhelm those who have difficulties in self-organization.
• In the group it is much easier to improve oral communication skills, understanding foreign speech by ear and expressing one's opinion in the language of study.
• In comparison with self-study, the courses do not have to think about choosing the right educational literature and audio recordings. The teacher develops a clear structure of classes. For many people, learning a foreign language in a particular system is much more effective than independent attempts to learn the material. With the teacher, the question of how to learn the language will be much easier to solve. He will select the right program and help you to master it.
• Another advantage that English courses give is the opportunity to get an objective assessment of one's own abilities. A qualified specialist will be able to point out mistakes and direct the training in the right direction, suggesting what it is better to pay attention to at a certain stage of training. Understanding their strengths and weaknesses greatly speeds up the process of cognition.

It should be remembered that fast English at a high level without much effort is a utopia. In order to freely express yourself in a particular language, you need to learn to think on it. And this will require practice. However, with the right motivation and regular lessons, you can achieve good results.