episode #024

English Learning for Curious Minds | Episode #024 Part 2: The most common mistakes people make when learning English (and how to avoid them)

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Episode #024

Part 2: The most common mistakes people make when learning English (and how to avoid them)

February 7, 2020

[00:00:02] Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the English Learning for Curious Minds

podcast by Leonardo English.

[00:00:10] I'm Alastair Budge and today it is the second part, the second half, of the

most common mistakes people make when learning English and how to avoid them.

[00:00:22] In part one, we learned about why you should choose normal content over

content in traditional language learning textbooks, why you shouldn't judge yourself

against others, why you shouldn't pay attention to hacks or shortcuts, how you should 1

rid yourself of your fear of making mistakes and why trying to speak too fast is a 2

terrible idea.

[00:00:49] So if you haven't listened to part one yet and that sounds right up your street

, then go and give that a listen. 3

1 shortcuts or quick solutions

2 to remove or throw away something unwanted

3 to be the type of thing that you are interested in or that you enjoy doing

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[00:00:58] And just in case you haven't got it right in front of you, you can grab a copy of

the transcript and key vocabulary and become a member of Leonardo English over on

the website, which is Leonardoenglish.com.

[00:01:12] All right then, let's get back into it and talk about the final five most common

mistakes that people make when learning English and how to fix them of course.

[00:01:23] Okay, mistake number six is a very common mistake that millions, tens, even

hundreds of millions of English learners make, and that is to focus on grammar as a

standalone discipline . 4 5

[00:01:38] Grammar in English has its easy parts, but like anything, it has its tricky bits 6

too, and once you've covered the basics, the foundation of English grammar, the more

complicated the grammar gets, the harder and more never-ending it can seem.

[00:01:59] Yes, it's obviously a bonus that nouns don't have genders in English, and 7 8

most of our verb conjugations are relatively easy compared to some other languages, 9

but phrasal verbs are obviously a nightmare, and English has a load of weird, and I'd

still say wonderful grammar rules that take time to master.

[00:02:23] As I'm sure you've probably realised by now, even native speakers still make

grammar mistakes, so you shouldn't feel too bad about making grammar mistakes

yourself.

4 single, complete by itself

5 a particular area of study, especially a subject studied at a college or university

6 if a piece of work or problem is tricky, it is difficult to deal with and needs careful attention or skill

7 extra

8 masculine, feminine, or neutral (with respect to language)

9 the complete set of grammatical forms of a verb




[00:02:35] But if you decide that the way to master English grammar is just by sitting

down with a grammar book and working your way through, then you're really not

going to progress very fast at all.

[00:02:50] You'll probably also get pretty discouraged and it's easy to lose motivation 10

if you are just heads down in a grammar book. 11 12

[00:03:01] You'll remember from part one that our first mistake was to not focus on

interesting content, and you would have to be a bit of a masochist , slightly strange 13

person if you were to classify grammar books as interesting content. 14

[00:03:19] Yes, of course, it's useful to have a base understanding of English grammar, 15

how various words are conjugated , and so on, but once you have reached the kind of 16

level that I imagine you are now if you can understand this podcast, then time spent on

standalone grammar exercises is normally time, well, not quite wasted, but certainly

not particularly well spent.

[00:03:49] So what is the fix for this? What should you be doing?

[00:03:53] Well, instead of focusing on grammar-specific exercises, you should try to

acquire grammar through contact with real materials - books, articles, podcasts like

10 having lost your confidence or enthusiasm for something

11 enthusiasm for doing something

12 concentrating, usually so heavily and for so long that everything outside the focus area is missed

13 a person who gets (sexual) pleasure from being hurt or controlled by another person

14 to divide things or people into groups according to their type, or to say which group or type something

or someone belongs to

15 the main part of something

16 If a verb conjugates, it has different forms that show different tenses, the number of people it refers to,

etc., and if you conjugate a verb, you list its different forms




this one, so that you understand and acquire grammar rules through real world

practice rather than just focusing on the rules themselves.

[00:04:16] When you come across a strange piece of grammar in English, by all means , 17

you should try to figure out the rule behind it, and make sure you put it in your little

black book so you remember it, but don't focus on grammar alone.

[00:04:34] Remember too from part one of the podcast that you should try to lose your

fear of making mistakes.

[00:04:41] How is this relevant to grammar? Well, you shouldn't worry about making

grammar mistakes in English, and as I said, even native speakers make mistakes as

well.

[00:04:52] If you can embrace the quirkiness , the weirdness, the strangeness of 18 19

English grammar, and stop worrying about learning it as a standalone discipline, then

you'll be amazed at how quickly you actually learn grammar.

[00:05:08] You pick up the grammar rules without spending any time actively working

on it.

[00:05:14] Our next mistake is a real pet peeve of mine, something that's really close 20

to my heart, especially given that I started this podcast partly as a way to combat the 21

problem.

17 used to give permission

18 to accept something enthusiastically

19 strangeness, strange quality

20 something that especially annoys you

21 fight




[00:05:29] And this mistake is of not really listening to native speakers of not really

paying full attention to the sentence structures, the choice of words that they use or

the way that they pronounce a particular word.

[00:05:45] When listening to native speakers, whether it's this podcast, any other

podcast, or speaking to a native speaker in real life, so many people just put their entire

focus on trying to understand the gist of what is being said, the meaning of what is 22

being said, without focusing on the content, the actual words that are being used.

[00:06:11] Now I should say that there are those that have a completely different view

to this saying that you should just focus on comprehension, saying that you should

train your ears to listen out for a few core words to get the meaning of a sentence. 23

[00:06:28] But this only really works if you're just starting out , if you're just at the 24

beginning of your journey and you're not trying to get to advanced level, the sort of

level that I imagine you would like to achieve in English.

[00:06:42] For anyone who is, let's say, intermediate level or above and thinking about

listening as an opportunity to improve their own English abilities, not just as a survival

thing, then you really need to stop listening passively, purely from a survival point of 25

view and to start focusing on every single word. If you didn't understand a particular

word or turn of phrase or idiom, ask someone what it means or look it up. 26

[00:07:15] Find out why they chose to use that particular word when you might've

thought there might've been another.

22 the most important pieces of information about something, or general information without details

23 the basic and most important part of something

24 to begin doing something

25 only

26 a way of saying something




[00:07:23] If it's something like a podcast, radio, or film, then make a note of it in your

own little black book.

[00:07:31] Go back to it and treat every time you listen to a native speaker as a time to

learn from them, not just to go into survival mode, to just understand the gist, the

overall meaning, of what they're saying.

[00:07:47] The sooner you switch to doing this, the sooner you will start actually 27

learning from every single interaction as opposed to just understanding, and you 28

should view every single time you hear native speakers as an opportunity to learn.

[00:08:06] Our next mistake is another one that's quite close to my heart for two 29

reasons.

[00:08:13] Firstly, as this podcast now has listeners from all over the world, I think when

I last checked it was 115 countries, and secondly, because I'm recording this podcast

from the little island of Malta, which is famous for people coming here specifically to

learn English.

[00:08:34] So if you've guessed the mistake I'm referring to, hats off to you . Perhaps 30

the clues were not particularly clear.

[00:08:41] What I'm talking about is the mistake of assuming that you need to be, 31

physically be, in an English speaking country to really get better at English, and that

27 change

28 a situation where two or more people or things communicate with each other or react to each other

29 important to me

30 said to praise and thank someone for doing something helpful

31 believing without thinking or understanding




these opportunities to listen to and speak English only exist within a physically

immersive environment, meaning that you have to actually go there. 32

[00:09:05] A load of English language schools will continue to push this message to

people as it's obviously in their interest that people get on a plane and enroll in a 33

school halfway across the world in order to improve their own English.

[00:09:21] I'm not here to hate on language schools, some of them are really, really 34

good, and for some people it is a great choice.

[00:09:29] But it is a big mistake to think that you can only really make progress in an

English speaking country and that you have to go to an English school to do so.

[00:09:41] It's completely possible to become fluent, in the traditional sense of the

word, while never setting foot in an English speaking country. 35

[00:09:52] How?

[00:09:52] Well, through all sorts of fantastic materials that exist all over the internet

that will allow you to create your own immersive English experience.

[00:10:05] From listening to podcasts like this, to finding an English conversation

partner through things like italki or Cambly, or just Facebook groups to switching your

phone to English, watching English films and TV series, you can create your own

immersive English experience while not only saving yourself a huge amount of money,

but also allowing you to fit in your learning around your schedule.

32 surrounded by something, e.g. a language

33 to put yourself or someone else on an official list for an activity or for membership in a group, or to

accept someone in such a list

34 to criticize someone or say bad things about them, in an unpleasant and public way

35 go to




[00:10:34] If you're currently at university or if you're working, it's not very easy to

decide to take three or six months off to go to another country to learn English.

[00:10:45] Perhaps you are already doing this, and if so, kudos to you, hats off to you. 36

[00:10:52] If you're not and you're thinking that you should absolutely need to get on a

plane and spend time in an English speaking country, just remember, you really don't.

[00:11:02] Okay, mistake number nine is to not make time for it and to assume that you

can just fit in the learning around the rest of your schedule.

[00:11:14] Unless you actually make time every day, or every couple of days or whatever

it is, you are so much less likely to actually do it.

[00:11:25] If you're the kind of person that puts everything in your calendar, just put in

that little 15 minute English practice session every morning at 7:30 AM or whatever time

suits your schedule.

[00:11:38] Or if you're not a calendar type of person, just make sure that you mentally

set aside time, you reserve time, every day or every few days to dedicate to your 37

learning.

[00:11:51] You might be a super organised person and just be able to fit in things at odd

times of the day, but for most people, setting aside the time every day or every couple

of days is the best solution as it means it's a lot harder to postpone it, to move it to 38

another time or just forget or skip it. 39

36 the public admiration that a person receives as a result of a particular achievement or position in

society

37 to give all of your energy, time, etc.

38 to delay an event and plan or decide that it should happen at a later date or time

39 to not do or not have something that you usually do or that you should do; to avoid




[00:12:17] There is a terribly overused quote in English, which is "failing to prepare is 40

preparing to fail", but in this case, it really is true.

[00:12:29] What will happen if you don't schedule that time in every single day is you'll

end up skipping it, you'll end up just not doing it because you know, life happens and

there's always something shinier and more attractive than sitting down and doing 41

English practice.

[00:12:48] And once you start skipping it, you lose your rhythm and it'll become a chore

, it'll become something you don't enjoy doing, and you'll lose your motivation , and 42 43

it really is a vicious circle . 44

[00:13:02] So if you make time for it every day, look, it doesn't have to be an hour a day,

even just a 10 minute slot is fine, then it'll just become part of your routine , it'll 45 46

become part of what you do.

[00:13:17] And again, little and often is better than setting yourself huge, ambitious 47

goals that you'll never managed to achieve, so saying that you're going to do it for 10 or

15 minutes every day and actually doing it, is much better than saying I'm going to

study for two hours every day and never doing it.

40 used too frequently

41 brighter and more exciting

42 a job or piece of work that is often boring or unpleasant but needs to be done regularly

43 enthusiasm for doing something

44 a continuing unpleasant situation, created when one problem causes another problem that then

makes the first problem worse

45 an amount of time that is officially allowed for a single event in a planned order of activities or events

46 a usual or fixed way of doing things

47 having a strong wish to be successful, powerful, or rich




[00:13:39] And this brings us on to our penultimate mistake, our second to last 48

mistake, which is actually kind of two mistakes wrapped into one.

[00:13:51] These mistakes are related to setting yourself goals. So the first mistake is

not setting yourself any goals, and the second mistake is setting yourself goals that are

too hard to achieve.

[00:14:07] Why is not setting yourself a goal a mistake?

[00:14:10] Because if you don't have anything to aim for, if you don't have a target of

something you want to achieve, it's not only harder to measure your progress, but it's

harder to motivate yourself, to get yourself up in the morning to do it. 49

[00:14:26] These goals don't have to be huge, you don't have to say that you want to

become a professor of English or write a bestselling novel in English, they can be

something as simple as this week I want to have five conversations with native

speakers, or I want to listen to five podcasts and annotate the transcriptions. 50

[00:14:50] Then you can have your bigger goal, which is your overall target, the thing

you're aiming for, the thing you want to achieve.

[00:14:58] Perhaps that's being able to get a certain score in IELTS or it's to be able to

have a natural flowing conversation with a neighbour or relative, or to be able to 51

watch an entire film in English without subtitles and for it to not feel like a chore.

48 second from the last

49 to make someone want to do something well

50 to add notes or remarks on a piece of writing

51 produced in a smooth, continuous, or relaxed style


https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/want



[00:15:17] And to elaborate on our second goal-related mistake, it's setting yourself 52

goals that are too ambitious and too hard to achieve either because you just don't have

enough time to dedicate to them or because they require results that are just so

difficult to achieve that you are setting yourself up for failure .

[00:15:40] So it could be something like, I want to be fluent in English in 60 days, or I

want to spend three hours every morning before work reading Jane Austen.

[00:15:52] Yes, it obviously would be great if you could achieve these, but it's far better

to set yourself goals that you have a chance of hitting rather than just setting yourself

up for failure.

[00:16:04] Our final mistake, a bonus 11th one actually, if you're counting, is one that is

far easier to say than to avoid making, and that is to get disheartened , to get 53

depressed and sad with your progress.

[00:16:22] Learning English, like learning any language can be a roller coaster ride. 54

[00:16:28] There will be days when you think you can't do anything right, and that it's

such an uphill struggle that you may as well give up, just pack everything in . 55 56

[00:16:38] And I've been there with language learning, it's very easy to get

disheartened, but if you remember your goals, remember what you're aiming for, this

should hopefully give you the motivation to stay on track.

52 to add more information to or explain something that you have said

53 having lost confidence, hope, and energy

54 a situation which changes from one extreme to another, or in which a person's feelings change from

one extreme to another

55 needing a large amount of effort

56 stop doing




[00:16:53] By listening to podcasts like this, you certainly are on the right track and

learning English is a journey that never really finishes, even for native speakers.

[00:17:05] So stay motivated, stay curious, stay hungry. You can do it and you just have

to believe in yourself.

[00:17:14] Alright, then, with this uplifting message of being disheartened learning 57

English comes the end of today's podcast and of our list of the most common mistakes

people make when learning English and how to avoid them.

[00:17:28] I'm really curious, are there any mistakes that you think we missed, or is

there anything in this podcast that you didn't agree with?

[00:17:37] I'd love to know.

[00:17:38] You can email us at hi - 'h i' @leonardoenglish.com or find us on Instagram or

Facebook.

[00:17:46] The next episode we will be back onto weird and wonderful things after this

little linguistic interlude , so our next episodes will be on explaining why Great Britain 58

isn't really a country, and talking about the difference between Great Britain and the

United Kingdom, if you weren't aware, there was a difference , and then we'll also ask

ourselves why so many jobs seem so pointless . 59

[00:18:14] And as a final reminder, if you haven't yet hit that subscribe button then

make sure you do so in order to get the podcasts are flying into your podcast app of

choice every Tuesday and Friday.

57 making someone feel better

58 a short period when a situation or activity is different from what comes before and after it

59 something that is pointless has no purpose, and it is a waste of time doing it




[00:18:27] And if you also want the transcripts and key vocabulary coming into your

inbox every Tuesday and Friday, and they can be super useful if you haven't tested

them out already, then head to leonardoenglish.com forward slash subscribe to join

language learners from all over the world and not miss a single word, plus you also get

access to our special members-only bonus podcasts.

[00:18:52] Okay, you have been listening to the English Learning for Curious Minds

podcast by Leonardo English.

[00:18:58] I'm Alastair Budge and I will catch you in the next episode.

[END OF PODCAST]




Key vocabulary Word Definition

Hacks shortcuts or quick solutions

Rid to remove or throw away something unwanted

Right up your street to be the type of thing that you are interested in or that you enjoy doing

Standalone single, complete by itself

Discipline a particular area of study, especially a subject studied at a college or

university

Tricky if a piece of work or problem is tricky, it is difficult to deal with and needs

careful attention or skill

Bonus extra

Genders masculine, feminine, or neutral (with respect to language)

Conjugations the complete set of grammatical forms of a verb

Discouraged having lost your confidence or enthusiasm for something

Motivation enthusiasm for doing something

Heads down concentrating, usually so heavily and for so long that everything outside the

focus area is missed

Masochist a person who gets (sexual) pleasure from being hurt or controlled by

another person

Classify to divide things or people into groups according to their type, or to say




which group or type something or someone belongs to

Base the main part of something

Conjugated

If a verb conjugates, it has different forms that show different tenses, the

number of people it refers to, etc., and if you conjugate a verb, you list its

different forms

By all means used to give permission

Embrace to accept something enthusiastically

Quirkiness strangeness, strange quality

Pet peeve something that especially annoys you

Combat fight

Gist the most important pieces of information about something, or general

information without details

Core the basic and most important part of something

Starting out to begin doing something

Purely only

Turn of phrase a way of saying something

Switch change

Interaction a situation where two or more people or things communicate with each

other or react to each other

Close to my heart important to me




Hats off to you said to praise and thank someone for doing something helpful

Assuming believing without thinking or understanding

Immersive surrounded by something, e.g. a language

Enroll to put yourself or someone else on an official list for an activity or for

membership in a group, or to accept someone in such a list

Hate on to criticize someone or say bad things about them, in an unpleasant and

public way

Setting foot go to

Kudos the public admiration that a person receives as a result of a particular

achievement or position in society

Dedicate to give all of your energy, time, etc.

Postpone to delay an event and plan or decide that it should happen at a later date or

time

Skip to not do or not have something that you usually do or that you should do;

to avoid

Overused used too frequently

Shinier brighter and more exciting

Chore a job or piece of work that is often boring or unpleasant but needs to be

done regularly

Motivation enthusiasm for doing something

Vicious circle a continuing unpleasant situation, created when one problem causes




another problem that then makes the first problem worse

Slot an amount of time that is officially allowed for a single event in a planned

order of activities or events

Routine a usual or fixed way of doing things

Ambitious having a strong wish to be successful, powerful, or rich

Penultimate second from the last

Motivate to make someone want to do something well

Annotate to add notes or remarks on a piece of writing

Flowing produced in a smooth, continuous, or relaxed style

Elaborate to add more information to or explain something that you have said

Disheartened having lost confidence, hope, and energy

Roller coaster a situation which changes from one extreme to another, or in which a

person's feelings change from one extreme to another

Uphill needing a large amount of effort

Pack everything in stop doing

Uplifting making someone feel better

Interlude a short period when a situation or activity is different from what comes

before and after it

Pointless something that is pointless has no purpose, and it is a waste of time doing it




We’d love to get your feedback on this podcast.

What did you like? What could we do better?

What did you struggle to understand?

You can email us at [email protected] .


mailto:[email protected]


episode #024

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