Beto, Keep listening/watching/writing. Keep practicing. The important thing is that you enjoy your practice and that you understand what you read/ listen to. The more you understand, the better. The more you enjoy, the better.
Here the link that Ed share to us: http://successfulenglish.com/2010/06/more-pleasure-more-english/ And to remember: "You won't learn anything from the movie if you don't understand it. You probably won't enjoy it, either. :-( " I invite you to read the section "What to do when you don't understand something" in: http://www.antimoon.com/how/movies.htm although I don't agree about this point: "If you are playing the movie from tape or DVD, you can stop it whenever you don't understand a sentence." If you stop the movie whenever you don't understand a sentence, or opt for looking up words in your dictionary, you are lost! you aren't enjoying your movie at all! If you want do that exercise, use movie clips (e.g. http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/eslvideo/ or http://www.englishcentral.com/en/videos). Well, about the subtitles option, I think it's good and bad. Good because you can learn new words/expressions. Bad because you don't focus in your listening. Let's take an example. You watch a movie that you understand, let's say a 70%. You don't turn subtitles on. So, what's next? You have to watch it again with subtitles on, doesn't it? Or, if you are having bad times: to turn subtitles on, just from the beginning, aren't you? Well, for me, an option might be: 1. Watch the movie once with subtitles on. 2. Watch it again without subtitles, or better, listen to the movie- audio, if you have or can extract the sound track of the movie. I think it does help to listen to them repeatedly. In that way we can pay more attention to how the words are used. Because that's how the acquisition of new words/expressions is achieved, I mean, listening to them an enough number of times, doesn't it? Well, it's worth to extract some key phrases from Warren's article: "Look for books, podcasts, or movies that are 100% comprehensible (understandable) so you can focus on the content, not the words." "Pleasure – that feeling of happy satisfaction you get from doing something you really enjoy – is a strong indicator, or sign, that whatever you’re reading or listening to is helping to improve your English." "Focus on narrow reading and listening. Read books and listen to podcasts or movies in a genre (category or kind) that you already find interesting. Read or listen to the same topic or watch many of the same kind of movie so that similar vocabulary will continue to naturally come up until it is acquired." I hope it helps friends! Pablo On 19 jul, 06:04, Beto Camelini <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > > To improve my english, I´m trying these things: > 1. Reading more; > 2. Listening more (even without understand everything, I don´t use > subtitles); > 3. Trying to understand words in context, avoid searching in a portuguese > dictionary; > 4. Watching movies; > 5. Talking with others, by msn, discussion groups or, if possible, in > person. > > I think these are good steps to begin. > > MSN e Google Talk: [email protected] > Web: camelini.blogspot.com > > 2010/7/18 rohan bhargava <[email protected]> > > > Hi, > > I like to tell you that problem you are facing happens to many people.It is > > very common problem to all begginers.Even this happen to me also.I used to > > watch english movies,listen english songs but sometimes i don`t get them.I > > don`t understand that dialog line. > > Whenever,I speak in english a question is always going in my mind-"Is i am > > saying right thing?".Sometimes i want to express my views but i don`t get > > the appropriate words for them.So don`t worry for this.It will be all > > wright.So i suggest you to keep practicing. > > Take care > > Rohan > > > On Sat, Jul 17, 2010 at 7:14 PM, Eduardo Costa <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> Hi Beto, > >> I know how you are felling, sometimes I fell the same when I´m writing, > >> but this felling is decreasing as much I write. > >> So I think as much you practice your writing skill (here in this group per > >> example) will be better and better. > >> Two things I had done to help me in this line: > > >> First: I assumed I´m an english learn, so I had no obligation to write > >> totally correct, the fact is that when I write I know that exists mistakes > >> but I´m not so concerned about that. > > >> Second: I revised my emails (informal) just one time.. no more. Just > >> because every time I revise my own emails I changed what I had wrote. > > >> Any suggestions ? > > >> Take care > > >> Ed. > > >> On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 09:44, Beto Camelini <[email protected]> wrote: > > >>> Hi folks! > > >>> I´ve a big problem: I need think first in my native tongue everything I > >>> try to talk or write in english. I´m trying to change this, but it´s very > >>> hard. I know that if I could find a method to do this, my english will > >>> improve very fast, becausa I can understand most of things I read. Do you > >>> have any suggestion, based on your experiences? > > >>> (Believe me when I say that I´m trying, but, for instance, write this > >>> email is something very complicated and slow) > > >>> Thanks a lot! > > >>> MSN e Google Talk: [email protected] > >>> Web: camelini.blogspot.com > > >> -- > >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > >> "ESL Podcast". > >> To post to this group, send email to: [email protected] or just > >> reply this message > >> For invite your friends, visit: > >>http://groups.google.com/group/eslpodcast/members_invite > >> Know how help us, visit this FAQ at: > >>http://groups.google.com/group/eslpodcast/web/frequently-asked-questions > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "ESL Podcast". > > To post to this group, send email to: [email protected] or just > > reply this message > > For invite your friends, visit: > >http://groups.google.com/group/eslpodcast/members_invite > > Know how help us, visit this FAQ at: > >http://groups.google.com/group/eslpodcast/web/frequently-asked-questions -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ESL Podcast". 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