ESL Blogs

Hey, don't get me wrong or try to put words into my mouth - I didn't mean that you don't need to study English hard. I mean that you don't need to speak or write a perfect or too polished or flawless English. I know you have reason to be fluent in English, but it really takes a lot of time and effort to be so. You should be proud of your English if you can understand what I just said or what I mean by saying that. 

Be proud of your English

I can tell you have already learned English so hard and for so many years because you can write a blog post and you can understand what you just read and can even leave a comment on it. I know a little French and Japanese, but I can't make even a very simple sentence with French or Japanese, let alone write a French or Japanese blog post. I wish I could but I know it's not a piece of cake to learn any foreign language. So, forget it. Let's talk about English learning.

Try to learn from the mistakes

"Don't be afraid of learning other learners' mistakes." Some learners here may argue what if they can't spot the mistakes and learn them.  But you should know mistakes are everywhere - I doubt there is no mistake in English textbooks. In fact, we all make mistakes - even native English teachers. So, I'm not so sure if it's so reasonable for you to read only what native speakers write.  You should know you make mistakes even though you are writing something in your first language or mother tongue. Our advanced learners here, such as noaslpls, Anele, Mickey, nida, etc, always try to read as more blog posts as possible. Sure, they may have been reading the mistakes but their English has imroved so much. That's the way they find suitable for them to learn English. And, it may not be so fun to keep correcting each other. So, enjoy the learning and learn from the mistakes you/they may make.

Don't set your goal too high

Some learners may try to sound like a native speaker. Chances are you'll never be that fluent, no matter how hard you've tried to learn it - people can tell you aren't a native speaker just from what you write or say. I know a Canadian who can speak Chinese so well and is so popular in China. You can't help but wonder how could he speak it so well  - even better than average Chinese. But I know there must be some subtlest differences or tricks in the words that he may fail to fully understand. So, why try to pursue something you can't achieve - you should know how much we envy you what you already grasped in English learning.

What really matters is practice

I tend to say MyEC is just like a swimming pool. In the pool, you can see a lot of swimmers. Some can swim so well or so nicely while some are just beginners or newbies. However awkward you may be as a beginner, you deserve a compliment or praise because you can be called a real swimmer. Anyway you are now in the pool practicing. Hopefully, the experienced swimmers will help or teach you how to master the swimming skills. With more practice, one day you may be surprised to find you can swim so well, while some of the people may still hesitate and sit on the pool side - they may fear that other people may make fun of them if they can't swim that well. They should know they'll never be able to swim if they just keep watching. Unfortunately, most of our learners here may be just like what I just said - they never write a blog post or leave a comment; they just keep watching. They may succeed in saving face but they'll never succeed in learning English.

So, you don't need to be that fluent in English. Admit that you're just a learner and don't be afraid of making mistakes. What an enviable achievement - now you can read and unsterdand such an English blog post and you even can write in English. You earned it yourself and you should be proud of you. Keep it up and good luck in your English learning.