My English Learning Experience

(This writing is also posted in my other blog.)

The journey of a thousand miles begins in a single step.

Lao Tzu

I was super-bad at English productive skills (i.e., speaking and writing), to the point of receiving super-duper-bad grades on my English exams in my junior high school years.

Ever since, however, I have tried honing my English skills by doing activities as follows:

• Reading, listening, and trying to understand the lyrics of songs in English;
• Reading and trying to understand YouTube captions of videos (found by clicking the CC icon on the bottom of the video screen) narrated and/or spoken in English;
• Reading, listening, and trying to understand English texts and voiced dialogues in video games;
• Visiting online English-language (and especially news aggregator) sites (e.g., manga and web-comic forums; TV Tropes, Cracked, YCombinator’s HN, Redef, Arts and Letters Daily, etc.), reading and writing posts in English (even if, at first, I wrote a lot of posts in broken [read: bad] English, I just tried to develop a thick skin and carry on nonetheless — I’m anonymous anyway there, so, nobody would recognize me, at least initially.)

“Docendo discimus (by teaching, we learn).”

Seneca, derived from passage in Letters to Lucillus

There are also some tried-and-tested tips I have used (and am still using) to boost my English proficiency:

• Be confident in speaking and writing English, especially in informal settings (e.g., WhatsApp groups, casual online forums, gathering with friends and close relatives, etc.); control fear of making mistakes by thinking that we are all learning together, anyway, so, mistakes are common, and even encouraged, so that we all can learn from them;
• Don’t think too much about proper English grammar, especially when conversing in the aforementioned informal settings (except when writing legal, business and academic/scientific texts — which requires strict observance of certain formal grammatical dos and don’ts; and upon becoming a speaker in formal settings);
• Always be willing to learn about new things when you are a newbie, and always be willing to learn still about new things when you are deemed as a pro (all so-called pros were once newbies), AND share the knowledge you have learned to fellow learners, newbies and pros alike, so that you can learn as you teach;
• Admit our own mistakes when learning English, and point out mistakes made by others in a civil manner, for we can only grow and learn through our mistakes;
• Read random entries and also peruse (if any) the etymological sections of authoritative monolingual English dictionaries (printed or online), such as Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (printed); Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (printed); Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary (online); and Online Etymology Dictionary (online);
• Write every day, it can be only several lines or many paragraphs, it can be in form of random free-writing scribbles or well-organized essays, just keep writing — which ties up quite nicely with the last three tips below;
• Practice;
• Practice;
• Practice (trite but true.)

“Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent, and original manner possible.”

Richard Feynman

In conclusion, learning is a lifelong process, and this is especially true when learning English.

As long as we are willing to listen and read, with enough time and practice, we surely can speak and write better each day — at least that’s how I roll.

Find some “sparring partner(s)” who are also eagerly willing to learn and actively engage with them to practice your English skills effectively.

Last but not least, have fun!

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.

Benjamin Franklin

Dedication:

My deepest and most sincere gratitude to my wonderful wife Carissa (AKA Icha AKA Pippo AKA Orca), my sparring partner + muse, who provides daily challenges for me to overcome to improve my English learning experience; my mom Selma (who had gifted me Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary on my 15th birthday); my kid sister Bonita “Ndutz”, my first English pupil (when she was in kindergarten); Syam “Dabz” Wayan, for his unbounding zeal in keeping the translation startup dream alive; my seniors as well as mentors of English and translation practice at GAIN (in alphabetical order): Ms. Asti and Mr. Hendra, who have imparted their invaluable wisdom and experience in the fields of audiovisual translation and translation project management; my classmates and instructors at LBI FIB-UI Salemba legal translation course, to whom I am indebted for such lively classroom experience, especially (in alphabetical order): Ms. Astrid, Dimas “Dimsum”, Mr. Gatot, Mr. Indra Listyo, Nami, Nunik, Rizal, Tiar; and my fellow students at Indonesia Open University who are/were active in the 2018.1 Sasing (English Translation Major) WhatsApp groups (in alphabetical order): Ari “Vrix”, Arief “Reeves”, Bardi “Masbro”, Dhika “MIA”, Dijah “Dee”, Hernie, Nixon, Rierien, Renny, Rose, Silmi, Oki, Yulli, and other UT students I can’t simply name one by one (there are hundreds, and counting!).

Without those whose names are listed above, I wouldn’t have been able to learn English the way I do now. Thanks a bunch, y’all!