Blog Archives

How Can I Learn English Fast?

Posted on July 20, 2019

By Emily Stallard, owner and trainer at Orchid English

Do you want to improve your English as fast as you can? One of the things we get asked a lot is “How can I learn English fast?” The first thing to say is that all languages take time to learn. However, we can speed up the process a lot when we use good learning techniques. Here are our top 7 tips.

7

Don’t let negative experiences stop you. Everyone has had embarrassing situations where they didn’t understand, or people got frustrated with them. It’s tough but the more you put yourself in immersion situations with native speakers the faster you will learn. Read more about how your comfort zone is limiting your language development. If someone makes an unhelpful comment about your English, focus on what you’ve achieved in learning English so far.

6

Look words up when you don’t understand them. This is a great habit to get into although few people do it regularly! Will you know what the word means if you hear it again? There is a theory that immersion in a language will lead to fluency but if you hear the same word ten times and you don’t know what it means, you aren’t learning.

5

Watch TV or read books in English, if necessary with subtitles in your own language at first. If you struggle to read books in English, try “readers“, which are classic books like Oliver Twist simplified for adults learning English. This way you can optimise your time alone after work to improve your English and you will learn faster.

4

Ask your colleagues and friends to correct your English. British people are usually hesitant to correct English spontaneously for fear that it will seem xenophobic. Have a look at our post about how to get people to correct your English. However, if you don’t get corrected you risk ingraining the same mistake and then it’s hard to un-learn.

3

Supplement your face to face English language learning with an app or online quizzes to consolidate what you learned in class.

2

Integrate with native English speakers as much as you can in London. It may seem easier in a foreign country to stick with people who speak your first language or come from a similar culture. In doing so though, you will learn English at a much slower pace, and culture shock will probably be more severe.

When you have British flatmates, colleagues and friends you can practise your English and also learn how and why British people do things differently. Meetup is a fantastic way to make friends with local people in London who share your interests.

1

How can I learn English fast? The fastest way to learn English is with face to face English language classes tailored to your needs. Your teacher will design English classes to focus on the aspects of English that you want to improve. Our prices are reasonable and we have great reviews. Get in touch for English classes at your London company.

Is English the Hardest Language to Learn?

Posted on July 16, 2019

Is English the hardest language to learn? This is something that a lot of people wonder.

Who thinks English is the hardest language to learn?

By Emily Stallard, owner of Orchid English

When I was at secondary school, I remember a teacher telling us that English was the hardest language to learn for foreigners. Then I lived in France and Japan, where people also told me their own languages were the hardest to learn for foreigners. Wait a second, I thought. Everyone thinks their own language is the hardest!

There is a certain amount of linguistic chauvinism here, which means having a superior attitude to one’s own language. I can see amazing richness and difficulties in English that I can’t see in other languages I speak because English is my native language.

After teaching English for ten years sometimes students would ask me a question about English and I would have to check it. So is English the hardest language to learn? It would be tempting and perhaps flattering for me to believe, but we just can’t always see the intricacies in other languages.

So which is the hardest language to learn?

The most difficult language to learn largely depends on the languages that you already speak. As a native English speaker it’s much easier for me now learning Spanish than when I was learning Japanese. My Japanese former colleague in Tokyo once told me he was going to start learning Korean, because it would be easier than English. I had to laugh because to me Korean seems very difficult! But it’s quite similar to Japanese so it would be easier for him.

There is no agreement among linguists but for native English speakers the hardest language to learn could be Arabic, Chinese or Japanese.

The more similarities English has to your native language, the easier it is to learn. If you’re interested in learning more about the development and history of English, there is a brilliant article on English Club here.

Here is a brief list of what I consider to be the biggest difficulties in English, plus some more straightforward features of English.

Difficulties

• Spelling correspondence to pronunciation: rules and irregularities.
• Volume of phrasal verbs.
• Primary and secondary word stress – unless your language has this too, like Spanish or Chinese.

Easier Features

• The Roman alphabet is shared across several languages, with only 26 letters.
• Conjugation is more straightforward in English than many other languages.
• High volume of films, music and books in English so it’s easy to expose yourself to.

Conclusion: is English the hardest language to learn?

It depends. Probably not, unless your first language is extremely dissimilar to English. If you can read this article you’ve already reached a good standard of English.

What do you find difficult about English? Our English teachers can teach you online or come to your company for tailored classes that focus on your needs. This may be speaking, grammar, writing or something else. Get in touch today for a free demo class.

Learn English online with Skype today!

Posted on June 26, 2019

We adapted our business in March 2020 and now you can learn English online with Skype. You get the same fantastic teachers, in the top 2% of their field.

Excellent English teachers 

Our original business model is where our top 2% English teachers go out to teach face to face group and private classes all over London. Now we can offer you the same quality English classes from your computer.

Classes tailored to your needs 

Are you wondering, “How can I improve my English online?” Just like in our face to face classes, you will learn the type of English suited to what’s interesting to you. We focus on your interests whether that’s business English tailored to your job, general English, or something else.

Learn English online cheaply

Skype classes should be cheaper than face to face classes because the teachers don’t spend any time travelling to you. This means we can offer Skype classes at great value for you, only £25 per one-hour class.  Pay in advance by bank transfer or PayPal and we will introduce you to your great teacher!

Improved mental health 

It’s important to speak to people while we’re living a more solitary life than usual. When you learn English online you will not only improve your English language skills but also get face to face contact with someone outside your usual social circle.

Safety first

Don’t put yourself or your employees at risk. When you learn English online, everyone is safe because they can log on individually from a computer at home or a quiet place at work.

How can l learn English online and offline?

Your teacher will help learn English offline too by giving you homework between classes. Often this is sent as a PDF or link to an online quiz like this one for countable and uncountable nouns. This means offline study will be a consolidation of what you’ve covered. Of course, it depends on how much time you have for homework.  We’re not super strict so it won’t be like homework at school!

How can I learn English online quickly?

If improving your English is a big goal for you, you can take several classes per week and improve fast. Our teachers will focus on your exact goals, so you won’t need to learn anything outside of this.

Get in touch today

Are you ready to meet your excellent English teacher? Send us a quick email and tell us what time of day suits you. You can get Skype classes between 09:00 – 20:00.

12 Identical Words in English and Spanish

Posted on May 23, 2019

By Emily Stallard, Owner at Orchid English

As some of you know, I’m learning Spanish at the moment. Some years ago, I learned Japanese and normally if you don’t know the word, you have to guess it from context or look it up.

Happily, in Spanish, often the word I want is similar to a word I know in English anyway. Recently, ready to learn a new word, I’ve had the lazy pleasure of discovering words which are identical in Spanish and English.

Sometimes I can’t believe the words are identical because they don’t seem like words that would be similar. When I say identical, this is in spelling only.

Anyway, if you are a native Spanish speaker or if you have a good command of the Spanish language, these 12 English/Spanish words are “buy one get one free”!

Collar

Cruel

Editorial

Inspector

Nostalgia

Panorama

Propaganda

Retina

Serial

Tractor

Tropical

Vulnerable

That was a list of my favourite words that are the same in Spanish and English, the ones I found the most surprising. Tractor? Could you believe it? There are even more than this – which ones do you know?

Does Age Matter When Learning Languages?

Posted on January 11, 2019

 

It’s said that it’s essential to start learning languages as young as possible, but is this really the case? Does age matter when learning languages? Here are some of my experiences learning languages with age, from a teenager until now.

 

French as a teenager

 

I first studied French at secondary school and we did a lot of grammar and verb conjugations. Does anyone enjoy verb endings? Like lots of British people, what I remember most clearly is learning how to ask for various items of stationery from our partners. I remember wondering why French people were so interested in stationery and assumed their conversations must be very boring!

 

At our school we had a lovely native French teacher and our accents really improved when we tried to copy a real French person.

 

A teen magazine article gave me the idea to learn vocab with mnemonics which I enjoyed a lot. After five years of studying French I got grade “A” but was unable to hold a conversation or understand a simple dialogue between French people in real life. I do sympathise with the school system trying to measure accuracy in language, which is, I think, more of an art.

 

Japanese in my early twenties

 

Before I was qualified to teach English I regret to say that I didn’t know how to study languages effectively. I had a great private tutor in Tokyo and spent a lot of time studying alone from books and notes. What I should have done was spoken more and made more mistakes and got through it, in addition to our private language classes.

 

French again in my mid twenties

 

After not speaking French for about eight years I moved to Paris to teach English. One reason I chose France was because I had studied French at school and was looking forward to refreshing my language skills.

 

On the ferry I realised that I needed to get my phasebook out to look up how to order a coffee. My French was dormant, and needed a trigger to get it back to the front of my mind. Fortunately this wasn’t such hard work as learning it the first time. I took group language classes to improve the accuracy of my French.

 

Happily, French people don’t ask each other about stationery much, as I had been led to believe at secondary school. Speaking French in real life as opposed to in school taught me that you have to make mistakes as part of your journey to learning a language. People will be impatient with you but you just have to carry on.

 

Spanish in my mid-thirties

 

Everyone says languages are easier when you’re younger. But my experience learning languages with age has been the opposite. My Spanish is much less precise than my school French but I’m able to communicate better and I learned it much faster because of previous experience learning languages.

 

One thing I find harder about Spanish is that it has taken me longer to get a sense of the “music” of the language. Recently in our group language class a young classmate told me that I spoke Spanish with a strong English accent, and I had to agree!

 

Then, to my surprise, my Spanish teacher said that he didn’t start learning English until he was in his mid-thirties too, and he speaks English with a very accurate British accent.

 

Retirees

 

I have met several retirees who say they will only ever be able to speak a couple of words and phrases in the language they are learning. Well, in the words of Henry Ford: “If you think you can do a thing, or you think you can’t do a thing, you’re right”. I honestly think it’s more about attitude, and self-identifying as “bad at languages” than age.

 

I have been impressed by classmates in their eighties in my group language classes who are profient in Spanish and Japanese. We can often surprise ourselves.

 

Conclusion

 

In conclusion, learning languages with age may take longer but it’s not a race anyway. People who learn second languages as children can often fool native speakers into believing that they are also natives.

 

As adults we are unlikely to be able to do this, but we are still capable of getting to an advanced level in a foreign language. With age, hopefully we become more patient with ourselves too, which is key when learning something time consuming.

 

Can You Learn English Without English Classes?

Posted on January 9, 2019

 

I first went to Japan in 2005 and taught English in addition to absorbing the culture and seeing the country. Before I left, a British friend told me that I was sure to learn Japanese quickly from talking to people in shops, and just from being in Japan. Exciting to think that I could be a linguistic sponge and pick up so much language naturally.

 

Months later, still without a teacher, I could use and understand some everyday words but certainly not hold a conversation, or make friends with Japanese people who didn’t speak English, as I had been hoping.

 

You will not learn a language to above a very basic level just by living in the country and talking to people in shops. Think of the vocab you need to go to a shop. Probably something like “Hi”, “Would you like a bag?” “Thanks”, “No thanks”, “Bye” plus some numbers. The same goes for using the train.

 

By the way, using the train in London and listening to the announcements is an excellent way to learn the pronunciations of local places. Even native English speakers don’t always know how to pronounce British place names because our spelling can be full of surprises.

 

But you’re reading this blog post because you want to improve your English beyond learning names of tube stops, right? You want to improve fluency and accuracy. So can you learn English without English classes in London?

 

If you work here and just speak English for your job you run the risk of only being able to speak about your own job. If you have British friends and talk to them socially you may only learn to have social conversations. English classes cover a wide range of subjects.

 

In this wonderfully multicultural city I meet several non-native English speakers who have have lived here for many years. Some have learned English without English classes and they speak what I call “street English”. This is uncorrected English which enables them to communicate in day to day situations.

 

Adults can’t learn grammar effectively by absorbsion, like children can, so “Street English” can be hard for other people to understand. Is this action finished? Is it hypothetical? Also the pronunciation of people who have learned English as adults without English classes tends to be inaccurate. In Britain we are normally hesitant to correct the English of foreigners, unless we are English teachers.

 

Find out how to get people to correct your English here.

 

So in conclusion, it’s true that you can widen your vocabulary if you want to learn English without English classes. But you will sacrifice accuracy, being understood by other people, and the fast progression that you can see from applying yourself in English classes.

 

How to Improve Your English For Free

Posted on January 3, 2019

By Emily Stallard, owner of Orchid English

We often get asked how students can supplement their English classes at their companies and improve their English for free. If you live in London you are already at a huge advantage having English all around you. But how do you absorb all that English effectively? Here are some ideas to improve your English for free.

Use The Media to Your Advantage

Free online resources

The British Council has a great podcast and video section for different levels of English, with subtitles.

Try some fun online classes with Esol.com which include videos and skills like reading and listening.

Reading

Reading is a great way to build your vocabulary and isn’t as stressful as speaking can be. If you know more about current affairs it will enable you to chat with native speakers more easily, as well as understanding more about British culture.

These days we have more time for reading. I don’t have a Kindle and now we can’t get out to the library. Did you know there is a way to read Kindle books on your computer? It’s called Kindle Cloud Reader. There are lots of free Kindle books and you can read them straight away on your computer.

TV and Films

Watch TV and films in English. Like reading, this is a stress-free way to study. Because English spelling often doesn’t accurately reflect a word’s pronunciation (or is entirely treacherous), listening is a great way to improve your pronunciation.

Use subtitles if the accent is unfamiliar, or if the subject is very complicated. Some people say it helps to watch films they have already seen in their own language. Dramas, reality TV or soaps tend to have simpler language.

YouTube

I always used to love watching makeover videos on YouTube where the presenter tries and reviews different cosmetics and different looks. Recently it occured to me that I could practise my Spanish by searching for makeover videos in Spanish. It’s great! I’m so engaged in the topic that I can watch several without losing my concentration on the language. What YouTube videos do you watch in your own language, that you could try in English?

English with Lucy is a very popular YouTube channel for learning English online. There are tons of interesting videos made by Lucy who is very engaging and knows her stuff. Lucy has a lovely clear accent for learning British English.

Radio

Listen to radio programmes in English such as the BBC World Service, which offers free podcasts such as their excellent 30 minute world news podcast twice a day.

Two Top Techniques to Learn English for Free

Noting Down

When you come across a new word in English, write it down. Even if you can’t quite remember it, do your best. If you understand the word you can even write it in your own language and then look the word up in the dictionary later. Keep a little notebook with you to look over on the tube, at breaks at work or at other free times.

Ask for Corrections

Ask your British friends and colleagues to correct your English when you speak in private. British people are usually very hesitant to correct the English of a non-native speaker for fear of seeming xenophobic, so explain that you would really like to improve your English. You may need to insist! Discover how to get people to correct your English here.

Good luck, and let us know your thoughts on how to improve your English for free, too.

What’s the difference between earn and win?

Posted on December 21, 2018

What’s the difference between earn and win? We hear these words used in place of each other a lot, especially by the professionals learning English who have a Latin language background.

The difference between earn and win: Win

How often do you win money? At the end of every month? If so, you must have been born under a lucky star, that is, you must be an extremely lucky person. I think the last time I won any money was four years ago on a scratchcard, and then I only won my own money back. Not much to write home about…

Winning is usually by chance as in the example of the lottery, or you can win a game or competition. What is your favourite game? I love playing tennis and the climate in London means you can usually play tennis all year round – it doesn’t get too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter. When I play with friends we never play to win, we don’t keep score.

This holiday season is a good one to play board games with family. My favourite board game is Scrabble, where you compete to make high-scoring words from randomly picked letters. In our family we are constantly bemused that our grandmother can still win despite her advancing years.

The difference between earn and win: Earn

Earning money is getting money from your job. If you work hard at the right company you can of course also earn a promotion or pay rise. Earning is not by chance, it’s something you deserve through work. At Christmas, lots of us feel that after a long stretch of hard work we have earned a relaxing break.

Note the overlap here: did you see Usain Bolt win gold in the Olympics? He trained so much that he really earned it.

Another similar word: The difference between earn, win and gain

We use the word gain about currency or shares, so “The shares gained 49p” or “the pound gained against the euro”.

Bonus English tip about money

While we’re on the subject of earning money, there is another mistake that people learning English make. Describing a salary as “interesting”. Remember that in British culture we often use understatement and euphemisms, so something negative can be “interesting”.

• How is your new colleague?
• Umm, interesting.

Depending on the tone, we could understand that this new colleague is perhaps a bit weird, the speaker has mixed feelings, they dislike the colleague or really find them to have a lot of interesting things to say.

So interesting doesn’t necessarily mean “good”. And just having more money isn’t “interesting” because there’s nothing intriguing about an amount of money in itself. You could buy lots of interesting things but that’s another matter. Instead of “an interesting salary” you should say “a good salary”, or “a higher salary”.

Earn and win: Conclusion

So those are the differences between earn and win. We hope it was useful, and that you will remember this post next time you use either word! Do you want to learn more about subtle differences in English vocabulary? Check out our blog post on how to use “good” and “nice“

British Pub Culture and Vocabulary

Posted on December 7, 2018

Time for a cultural post about the UK – British pub culture and vocabulary was a request from Vlad who is a learner of English on Google Plus. Thanks Vlad!

Did you know that the word “pub” is short for “public house”? In the winter, you can’t beat going to a London pub that has a log fire and sitting in front of it. My favourite winter pub drinks are mulled wine and mulled cider.  A “mulled” drink is something hot with sugar and spices such as cinamon, cloves and nutmeg.

 

What is the minimum age that you can visit a pub?

How to Make the Most of Your Notes

Posted on December 4, 2018

By Emily Stallard, Owner at Orchid English

 

Do you make notes in your English classes? I’m always amazed by the number of adults who don’t make notes on corrections or new information given by the teacher. If you don’t make notes, the teacher’s advice may be very difficult to recall. After the class, you need to make the most of your notes by reviewing them.

 

Making notes enables you to review what you have done after class and you are less likely to make the same mistake over and over again. The following tips detail how you can improve your English fast by making the most of your notes:

 

Write Notes by Hand

 

There is a lot of evidence that taking notes on a device won’t help you remember the information. In addition to being ineffective, using devices in your class almost always creates some typing noise, and popups on the device are distracting.

 

OK so the first step is to make handwritten notes during the class, but then how do you make the most of your notes between classes?

 

Read Notes Both Silently and Aloud

 

At home, read your notes aloud as well as silently. Often the word feels different to pronounce to how you had expected, especially a long word or a word with a tricky sequence of sounds. And if your objective is to improve your speaking, it will help to familiarise yourself with the feel of the word.

 

Note Down the Pronunciation

 

English doesn’t have as high a correlation between spelling and pronunciation as we may hope when learning it. It’s no good if you know the spelling but not the pronunciation, which makes noting down irregular pronunciation really essential. Otherwise when you return to your notes you will fall into traps with the pronunciation. Learn more about spellings and pronunciation in English here.

 

Are you familiar with the International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA? Lots of advanced speakers of English know the IPA, so they can note down the pronunciation of a new word. To be honest, if you feel that learning the whole IPA is too much, you can get a very long way just learning the vowels, and the two “th” sounds.

 

Do More Research Online

 

When you are presented with a new concept in English, do some more research on it online. When your teacher intruduces the past perfect tense, for example, search for different sources for past perfect quizzes and explanations to really ingrain your understanding.

 

Controlled Practice Writing

 

There are structures that you really want to commit to memory. Say you always hear the phrasal verb “get up to“.

 

• What did you get up to this weekend?
• Up? I wasn’t up! What do you mean?

 

You ask your teacher who explains that “get up to” a casual way to say “do”, especially for something interesting or mischievous. Now you realise why people ask you about it all the time, and it’s a useful phrasal verb to be able to use too.

 

Much better than reading about it, make some sentences of your own with this phrasal verb, transforming the tense. Writing lines seems unfashionable these days but I think it can be a good way to ingrain knowledge and use the language actively.

 

1. What did you get up to on the bank holiday?
2. It’s so busy at work I haven’t been getting up to much in the evenings recently
3. Those children look like they’re getting up to no good!
4. When we were unsupervised, my brothers and I used to get up to a lot of mischief

 

Make your Own Charts and Posters

 

I really enjoy making my own wall charts from my class notes to help me learn Spanish! You can add mnemonics and colours according to your learning style. It doesn’t really matter whether you’re a great artist, what’s important to make the most of your notes is to ingrain the new words or grammar points in your mind.

 

If you have a list of gerunds and infinitives for example, you could design a poster with all the words that trigger the gerund on the left and words that trigger infinitives on the right. If you combine them into a scene you will be more likely to remember them.

 

So in summary we have: reading your handwritten notes silently and aloud; making a note of pronunciations; doing more online research; writing your own practice sentences and making your own charts and posters. Do you have any more tips? How do you make the most of your notes from your English classes? We’d be interested to hear them.