To speak or not to speak? How can an IT specialist learn English?

Knowing English in the modern world is not a privilege, not even a necessity. Even thinking about “should I teach him” is somehow embarrassing - it’s like doubting whether you should brush your teeth every day. Therefore, I will not persuade you, but will simply tell you what will help an IT specialist finally learn this notorious English.

To begin with, it is worth deciding on two questions:

1. Why will you study English, for what main purpose? Do you need to read literature in the original language? Or communicate with colleagues and clients? Ultimately, we all want to know the language perfectly, but choosing what to focus on first should be based on your real needs. If only because you can immediately apply everything you learn.

2. What database do you already have? The level of English learning at school is often criticized, but my friend, who knows the language at a very good level, never studied grammar anywhere except in a regular high school. Of course, this will not allow you to write an impeccable literary work in English, but it was enough for reading and communicating with English speakers.

Test yourself - you can find a lot of good tests online (for example, on the websites of schools, preferably not domestic, but international). For example: http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/test-your-english/

Lesson plan

Once you have determined, at least roughly, your base, you can move on to planning your classes. The positive news is that if you overcome laziness, you can learn a language practically (if not completely) for free. Training may consist of the following blocks:

1. Grammar. If your base is really bad, you can’t do without this item. Basic tenses, irregular verbs and much more must be stored in your subcortex, otherwise you will not be able to make significant progress.

   What resources will be helpful at this stage?

   http://lingualeo.com/ru - here you can take a test and “pump up” your knowledge of English grammar (and at the same time increase your vocabulary). According to the creators of the resource, it is enough to devote half an hour a day to classes.

   https://grammar-teacher.com/ - this site contains articles explaining the basic nuances of English grammar, and exercises that will help strengthen acquired knowledge.

   http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/ar/english-grammar - free lessons from the British Council are collected here.

2. Lexicon. Today there are a huge number of applications and sites that allow you to learn new words. Here are just a few of them:

   Duolingo.com – its advantage is that it is Russian-language, which means it is suitable for beginners. Moreover, the words here are not just cards taken out of context. They are immediately used in sentences, which means it will be much easier for you to remember them.

   blairenglish.com – the author of this resource works as an English teacher. The site has a separate section with vocabulary for IT specialists:

   http://www.blairenglish.com/exercises/technology_web/technology_web_selectionpage.html

   http://w2mem.com/ - allows you to create your own dictionary

3. Listening and understanding. There are two main ways to learn: listening to individual phrases and words, memorizing and practicing pronunciation, and watching movies.

   For the first method, the following sites will be useful:

   englishspeak.com – suitable for beginners, here you can find the most common words and phrases and listen to them (including in slow motion).

   Audioenglish.org – here you can find and listen to words grouped by topic. Also useful for beginners.

   Newsinlevels.com – this site will help you learn to listen to news in English. Here they are placed in a simplified form: the speed is slowed down, so it is easier to understand.

   What касается фильмов – то это отличный вариант совместить приятное с полезным. Тем более, что многие знающие люди советуют начинать смотреть не специализированные видео, а развлекательные. Оптимальный вариант – ситкомы, потому что там встречается множество фраз, которые вам наверняка пригодятся. Now есть ситкомы специально для айтишников – скажем, The Big Bang Theory.

   Посмотреть целый фильм за один раз бывает непросто для тех, кто только начинает изучать язык. С этой точки зрения сериалы тоже выигрывают – ведь серия обычно длится около 20 minutes.

   Открытым остается вопрос насчет субтитров. Мое мнение – про русские субтитры нужно забыть вообще. Английские субтитры могут быть полезны поначалу, но здесь требуется определенная концентрация внимания, чтобы в первую очередь слушать, а не читать весь текст подряд.

   Ресурсы, на которых собрано множество сериалов на английском - Ororo.tv и show-english.com. Особенность второго состоит в том, что прямо во время просмотра можно остановить показ – и вместе с английскими субтитрами увидеть русские, то есть учить новые слова, не отрываясь от фильма.

   Еще один интересный сайт — Film-english.com, где предлагают изучать английский язык с помощью короткометражных фильмов.

4. Чтение. «Ну да, конечно!» - скажете вы скептически. Мало кто сегодня читает книги даже на родном языке, что говорить об иностранном. Тем не менее, чтение чрезвычайно полезно для расширения словарного запаса, и в том числе – в вашей профессиональной сфере. Скажу больше – если прочитать десяток-другой книг, то это даст вам неизмеримо больше, чем попытки вызубрить слова по карточкам.

   Но если начинать с толстой книги вы не хотите, можно воспользоваться такими сайтами:

   english-easy-ebooks.com – здесь есть адаптированные для начинающих художественные произведения.

   Совсем простые тексты можно найти здесь: https://www.rong-chang.com/nse/

   Если вы настроены на системную работу, то стоит пройти бесплатный курс English: skills for learning

   Сайт Babeleo.com позволяет читать многие книги в оригинале, а при необходимости – обращаться к переводу. Единственный минус – полные версии книг доступны, если купить подписку.

5. Разговорные навыки. Если бы я была капитаном Очевидность, то сейчас написала бы о том, что без этих навыков вы не можете считать себя знающим английский язык человеком. Но я промолчу, instead of этого перечислив некоторые ресурсы, которые могут быть полезны для практики разговорной речи.

   Например, вот этот бесплатный курс: Conversational English Skills

   Или вот этот: Tricky American English Pronunciation – он поможет научиться правильно произносить сложные буквосочетания и корректно ставить ударения.

   The best way to practice speaking skills is to communicate with native speakers (another hello from the cap). Here are a few sites where you can find an interlocutor: italki.com , es.coeffee.com , polyglotclub.com .

6. Writing skills. This may not be the first thing you think about when you start learning a language, but these skills are very important in the workplace. So give them at least a little time.

   For example, using the course A Beginner's Guide to Writing in English for University Study . It focuses on learning grammar and practicing writing skills.

   And the English: skills for learning course mentioned above will help you learn how to write an essay.

   You can practice writing correctly on the MySpelling website - here they will dictate words to you, and you will need to type them.

Lifehacks

And finally, a few life hacks that will help you learn a language faster, from those who have already walked this path:

• Listen carefully to English speech and try to reproduce what you hear. The problem for many Russian speakers is a terrible accent that stubbornly does not disappear, no matter how much you learn the language. I have repeatedly seen people with a large vocabulary and good knowledge of grammar, but never got rid of their accent. And, the worst thing is, the further you go, the more difficult it is to do this.

  Therefore, train yourself to immediately speak as correctly as possible. Practice all these letter combinations that are alien to the Russian language. If it turns out poorly, start your English lessons with a couple of diction exercises (for example, with your mouth closed, draw large circles with your tongue or try to reach your nose with your lips folded in a “bow”).

• Talk more often. Teachers and all those who learned the language on their own never tire of repeating this. If you are embarrassed to talk to someone, talk to yourself first. Retell to yourself the events of the day, try to describe your feelings and thoughts.

  As soon as you get the hang of it, move on to communicating with others. Of course, it is best to talk with “native speakers” - in order to listen to correct speech more often, but you can also choose one of your friends to communicate with. For example, my friend and I played an oral game in English: one thought of a character, the other tried to guess it by asking yes/no questions.

• Sing in English. If you like music and like to sing along, then find the lyrics and go ahead and sing, learning new words along the way and paying attention to pronunciation.

  By the way, there is even a special website for those who want to learn the language this way - TuneintoEnglish.com . Here you can sing karaoke, give yourself a dictation from the lyrics of a song, and go through musical exercises.

• Вести дневник на английском. Здесь и практика письменных навыков, и тренировка употребления свежевыученных слов и конструкций, и психотерапевтический эффект – три в одном! Поэтому если вам близок такой формат, то начните ежедневно вести дневник. Дополнительный профит – ваши потомки, найдя такие мемуары, проникнутся к вам уважением.