Top 5 Mistakes English Learners Make

Top 5 Mistakes English Learners Make

What are the most common mistakes that English learners make? Which mistakes do most English learners need to correct, in order to learn English much faster?
Here are the top 5 English Learning Mistakes:

1. Focusing On Grammar

This is the biggest, most common, and worst mistake. Research shows that grammar study, in fact, actually hurts English speaking ability. Why? Because English grammar is simply too complex to memorize and use logically.... and real conversation is much too fast.

You don't have enough time to think, remember hundreds or thousands of grammar rules, choose the correct one, then use it.

Your logical left-brain cannot do it. You must learn grammar intuitively and unconsciously, like a child. You do this by hearing a lot of correct English grammar- and your brain gradually and automatically learns to use English grammar correctly.

2. Forcing Speech

Both English students and teachers try to force speech before the learner is ready. The result is that most students speak English very slowly- with no confidence and no fluency. Forcing speech is a huge mistake. Don't force speech. Focus on listening and be patient. Speak only when you are ready to speak- when it happens easily and naturally. Until then, never force it.

3. Learning Only Formal Textbook English

Unfortunately, most English students learn only the formal English found in textbooks and schools. The problem is- native speakers don't use that kind of English in most situations.

When speaking to friends, family, or co-workers, native speakers use casual English that is full of idioms, phrasal verbs, and slang. To communicate with native speakers, you must not rely only on textbooks.. you must learn casual English.

4. Trying To Be Perfect

Students and teachers often focus on mistakes. They worry about mistakes. They correct mistakes. They feel nervous about mistakes. They try to speak perfectly. No one, however, is perfect. Native speakers make mistakes all the time. You will too. Instead of focusing on the negative- focus on communication.

Your goal is not to speak "perfectly", your goal is to communicate ideas, information, and feelings in a clear and understandable way. Focus on communication,focus on the positive. You will automatically improve your mistakes in time :P

5. Relying On English Schools

Most English learners rely totally on schools. They think the teacher and the school are responsible for their success. This is never true. You, the English learner, are always responsible. A good teacher can help, but ultimately you must be responsible for your own learning.

You must find lessons and material that are effective. You must listen and read every day. You must manage your emotions and remain motivated and energetic. You must be positive and optimistic. No teacher can make you learn. Only you can do it!

While these mistakes are very common, the good news is that you can correct them. When you stop making these mistakes, you change the way you learn English. You learn faster. Your speaking improves. You enjoy learning English.

Good luck... you can do it

?"FARSI" or "PERSIAN"? What Is the English Name of Our Language

A very interesting article on Persian:

"By Pejman Akbarzadeh
Member of ARTISTS WITHOUT FRONTIERS (Tehran Chapter)
http://artistswithoutfrontiers.com/pakbarzadeh/

Some days ago an article was published in payvand.com (in English) where the writer used the word "Farsi" instead of "Persian" for the official language of our country. I sent an e-mail to the writer and asked him to kindly change "Farsi" into its proper and historical equivalent; "Persian". He did not do that and wrote another article which was published on December 8 in Payvand:
http://www.payvand.com/news/03/dec/1050.html

I would like to bring all Payvand's readers' attention to this very important subject.

FARSI (Arabic form of PARSI) is the native name of our language and PERSIAN is its English equivalent; as the native name of German language is 'Deutsch', but we never use 'Deutsch' in place of 'German' in English; or native term of Greek Language is "Ellinika" and always in English we say 'Greek' language, not 'Ellinika' language.

If you notice the title of dictionaries that have been written by several great Persian scholars (eg. Prof. Moein, Prof. Aryanpour, Prof. Baateni, etc.) The title of all of them is "English-Persian Dictionary" not "English-Farsi Dictionary". Meanwhile the official institution "Farhangestan" (the Academy of Persian language and literature, in Tehran) in an announcement has rejected the use of the word 'Farsi' instead of 'Persian' in English. (I have attached it).

According to Dr. Hossein Sameie (visiting linguistics professor of Emory University in Atlanta), "PERSIAN, alongside the name of a language, may be used, as an adjective, for the other aspects of our history and culture. For example, we can speak about 'Persian Literature', 'Persian Gulf', 'Persian Carpet', 'Persian Food'; this way, 'Persian' may be a common concept and function as a link between all aspects of Iranian [Persian] life, including language. 'Farsi' does not have such a characteristic€¦"

And finally, of course you are aware that all international brocasting centres (eg. BBC, VOA, DW, etc.) have "Persian Service" not "Farsi Service" ;
BBC: www.bbcpersian.com
VOA: http://www.voanews.com/persian/index.cfm
DW: http://www.dwelle.de/persian/
Radio Free Europe: http://www.rferl.org/bd/ir/
etc.

More information on this matter can be found in my bilingual (English/Persian) article which was published last year in "Persian Heritage Quarterly" in New Jersey (USA);
http://www.iran-heritage.org/interestgroups/iranorpersia.htm


I hope all countrymen pay more attention to this very important issue and to protect our national interests use the proper English name for our language; PERSIAN (or its variants in other Western languages; Persane, Persisch, Persiska, etc.) not FARSI.


Pejman Akbarzadeh
Member of ARTISTS WITHOUT FRONTIERS (Tehran Chapter)
http://artistswithoutfrontiers.com/pakbarzadeh/

P.S.--- The Announcement of the Persian Academy:
The Language of the nation of Iran [Persia] in English is called "Persian" [or in other European languages: Persane, Persisch, Persa, Persiska, etc.] and is known worldwide as PERSIAN. Recently some Iranians [Persians] have been trying to use "Farsi" instead of Persian, the trend which has also been followed by some non-Iranians. This has occurred to the extent that it has raised the question "Which is the correct word, in English, for the language of Iran's people, Persian or Farsi?!..."
This question was put to the official institution FARHANGESTAN (Persian Language and Literature Academy in Tehran) by the Commerce Department for Australia, at Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In their 34th meeting on 7th of December 1992, the Persian Academy unanimously passed the resolution that this language must be called PERSIAN and the reasons given were:

1- PERSIAN has been used in a variety of publications including cultural, scientific and diplomatic documents for centuries and, therefore, it connotes a very significant historical and cultural meaning. Hence, changing PERSIAN to FARSI is to negate this established important precedence.

2- Changing PERSIAN to FARSI may give the impression that it is a new language, and this may well be the intention of some Farsi users.

3- It may also give the impression that FARSI is a dialect of some parts of Iran and not the predominant (official) language of this country.

4- Fortunately, FARSI has never been used in any research paper or university document in any Western language and the proposal of its usage will create doubt and ambiguity about the name of the official language of our country."

from
http://www.payvand.com/news/03/dec/1083.html