"Every new language expands a person’s consciousness and his world. It’s like another eye and another ear,” says the hero of Lyudmila Ulitskaya’s book, Daniel Stein. Would you like to expand your picture of the world and find mutual language with more than a billion people? For those who answered yes, we will tell you where to start learning English. We hope our guide will help beginners take their first steps and show the right path for those who continue to learn the language.

To get started, we invite you to watch the recording of a two-hour webinar with Victoria Kodak(teacher and methodologist of our online school), in which she answers the question in as much detail as possible about how to properly start learning English:

1. Introduction: When and how best to start learning English

Some adults believe that only children can start learning English from scratch. Some people think that it is a shame for an adult to start with the basics and learn basic rules and words, others believe that only children can successfully learn foreign languages, because they have excellent memory and learning abilities. Both the first and second opinions are wrong. There is nothing shameful in the fact that you start learning a language as an adult, quite the contrary: the thirst for knowledge always inspires respect. According to statistics from our school, people begin to learn a language from the first stage at 20, 50 and even 80(!) years. Moreover, they not only start, but successfully study and achieve high levels of knowledge of English. So it doesn’t matter how old you are, what matters is your desire to learn and your willingness to improve your knowledge.

Many people ask the question: “What is the best way to start learning English?” First, you should choose a learning method that is convenient for you: in Group, individually with a teacher or on one's own. You can read about the pros and cons of each of them in the article “”.

The best option for those who are going to learn a language “from scratch” is lessons with a teacher. You need a mentor who will explain how the language “works” and help you build a strong foundation of your knowledge. The teacher is your interlocutor who:

  • will help you start speaking English;
  • will explain the grammar in simple words;
  • will teach you to read texts in English;
  • and will also help you develop the skill of understanding English speech aurally.

For some reason you don’t have the desire or opportunity to study with a teacher? Then check out our step by step guide about self-study in English for beginners.

To begin with, we want to give you some tips on how to better organize your studies so that your efforts do not go to waste. We recommend:

  • Exercise at least 2-3 times a week for 1 hour. Ideally, you need to study English every day for at least 20-30 minutes. However, if you want to give yourself a weekend, exercise every other day, but in double volume - 40-60 minutes.
  • Work on speech skills. Write short texts, read simple articles and news, listen to podcasts for beginners, and try to find someone to talk to to practice your speaking skills.
  • Immediately apply the acquired knowledge in practice. Use orally and writing learned words and grammatical structures. Simple cramming will not give the desired effect: knowledge will fly out of your head if you do not use it. If you have learned a dozen words, make up a short story using all these words and say it out loud. We have studied the Past Simple tense - write a short text in which all the sentences will be in this tense.
  • Don't "spray". The main mistake beginners make is trying to take as many materials as possible and work with them all at the same time. As a result, the study turns out to be unsystematic, you get confused in the abundance of information and do not see progress.
  • Repeat what has been covered. Don't forget to review the material you've covered. Even if it seems to you that you know the words on the topic “Weather” by heart, return to them in a month and check yourself: do you remember everything, do you have any difficulties. Repeating what has been covered is never superfluous. In our blog we have already written about. Familiarize yourself with the techniques and try to put them into practice.

3. Guide: How to start learning English from scratch on your own

Since the English language is still terra incognita for you, we tried to choose for you only the most necessary materials. The result is a fairly comprehensive list from which you will learn where to start learning English and how to do it correctly. Let’s say right away that the work ahead will not be easy, but interesting. Let's get started.

1. Learn the rules of reading English

Theater begins with a hanger, and the English language begins with reading rules. This is a basic piece of knowledge that will help you learn to read English and pronounce sounds and words correctly. We recommend using a simple table from the Internet and learning the rules by heart, as well as becoming familiar with the transcription of the English language. This can be done, for example, on the website Translate.ru.

2. Check how words are pronounced

Even if you know the rules of reading by heart, when learning new words, check how they are pronounced correctly. Tricky English words they don’t want to be read the way they are written. And some of them completely refuse to obey any reading rules. Therefore, we advise you to clarify the pronunciation of each new word in an online dictionary, for example, Lingvo.ru or on a special website Howjsay.com. Listen to how the word sounds several times and try to pronounce it exactly the same. At the same time, you will practice correct pronunciation.

3. Start building your vocabulary

Take advantage of visual dictionaries, for example, use the website Studyfun.ru. Bright pictures, voiced by native speakers and translation into Russian will make it easier for you to learn and memorize new vocabulary.

What words should you start learning English with? We recommend that beginners refer to the list of words on Englishspeak.com. Start with simple words of a general topic, remember which words you use most often in your speech in Russian. In addition, we advise you to spend more time studying English verbs. It is the verb that makes speech dynamic and natural.

4. Learn grammar

If you imagine speech as a beautiful necklace, then grammar is the thread on which you place word beads to ultimately get beautiful decoration. Violation of the “rules of the game” of English grammar is punishable by misunderstanding of the interlocutor. But learning these rules is not so difficult; all you need to do is study using a good textbook. We recommend taking the first book in the Grammarway series of manuals translated into Russian. We wrote in detail about this book in our review. In addition, we recommend that you read our article “”, from it you will learn what books you will need at the initial stage of learning English.

Do you find textbooks boring? No problem, pay attention to our series of articles “”. In it we lay out the rules in simple terms, provide many examples and tests to test knowledge. In addition, our teachers have compiled for you a simple and high-quality online English grammar tutorial. We also recommend reading the article “”, in it you will find 8 good reasons to take up textbooks, and also find out when you can do without textbooks in learning a language.

5. Listen to podcasts at your level

As soon as you start taking your first steps, you immediately need to accustom yourself to the sound of foreign speech. Start with simple podcasts ranging from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. You can find simple audio recordings with translation into Russian on the website Teachpro.ru. And to get the most out of your listening experience, check out our article “”.

After you have formed the initial lexicon in English, it's time to start watching the news. We recommend the resource Newsinlevels.com. News texts for the first level are simple. There is an audio recording for each news, so be sure to listen to how words that are new to you sound and try to repeat them after the announcer.

7. Read simple texts

While reading, you activate your visual memory: new words and phrases will be easy to remember. And if you want not just to read, but also to learn new words, improve pronunciation, listen to texts voiced by native speakers, and then read them. You can find simple short texts in textbooks at your level, such as New English File Elementary, or online at this site.

8. Install useful apps

How to start learning English from scratch on your own if you have a smartphone or tablet at hand? Applications for learning English are mini-tutorials that will always be in your pocket. The well-known application Lingualeo is ideal for learning new words: thanks to the spaced repetition technique, new vocabulary will not fade from your memory in a month. And to study the structure and how the language “works,” we recommend installing Duolingo. In addition to learning new words, this application will allow you to practice grammar and learn how to construct sentences in English, and will also help you develop good pronunciation. Also, check out ours and select the programs that interest you most from there.

9. Study online

If you ask Google where to start learning English on your own, caring search system It will immediately give you a couple of hundred sites with various lessons, online exercises, and articles on language learning. An inexperienced student is immediately tempted to make 83 bookmarks of “well, very necessary sites on which I will study every day.” We want to warn you against this: with the abundance of bookmarks, you will quickly get confused, but you need to study systematically, without jumping from one topic to another. Bookmark 2-3 really good resources that will help you study. This is more than enough. We recommend doing online exercises on the website Correctenglish.ru. Also check out our article “”, where you will find even more useful resources. And after you master the basics of English, read the article “”, where you can download a file with a list of useful materials and sites for learning the language.

4. Let's summarize

The list is quite large, and we tried to collect for you only the most necessary components of successful learning of the English language. However, we failed to use the most important skill - speaking. It is almost impossible to train him alone. The best you can do is try to find a friend who is learning English. However, a friend with more high level knowledge is unlikely to want to be taught by a beginner, and a beginner like you cannot be an assistant. Moreover, when you work with a non-professional, there is a risk of “catching” his mistakes.

Self-learning a language has another big disadvantage - lack of control: You will not notice your mistakes and correct them. Therefore, we recommend that you consider taking classes with a teacher at least at the beginning of your journey. The teacher will give you the necessary push and help you choose right direction movements are exactly what a beginner needs.

Now you know how to learn English on your own from scratch. We admit that the path ahead will not be easy, but if you have already set a goal for yourself and are ready to work, positive results will not keep you waiting. We wish you patience and perseverance on the path to your goal!

And for those who want to quickly achieve their goal, we offer a teacher at our school.

If you have never learned English or you once learned at school, but completely forgot everything, even the alphabet, and now you have decided to start learning English from scratch, then our advice on where to start and how to move may be useful to you. The first and most important thing is to understand how much you need the language, why you need it, and whether you have enough resources to learn the language.

Motivation

Motivation should be your driving force; without it, you will not be able to practice the language daily for a long time. Without daily practice it is impossible to master this huge layer of knowledge. If there is no obvious motivation, but there is a burning desire to learn the language, then you should think about what knowledge of the language will give you - maybe it’s a new prestigious job or the opportunity to read specialized literature on topics that interest you, or maybe you travel a lot and want to fully communicate with people around the world or correspond with foreign friends.
Your motivation may still be in the subconscious. Try to extract it from there, it will play a decisive role in your successful progress in mastering the English language.

Choosing a teaching method

Your next step should be to choose teaching methods or teachers. Now students have access to very good language materials and a large number of teachers who are ready to study via Skype with students from all over the world. Ideal, of course, to find good teacher- native speaker. But not everyone can afford such opportunities, and some simply want to study independently and for free, at a convenient time, without any stress, according to their own schedule. Then you need to choose a system that you will follow.

Learning English from scratch takes time

Plan time for studying, you need to study every day, at least 15 - 20 minutes, but it’s better to set aside an hour for studying. In our selection of articles “English from scratch” you will find materials for beginners, audio recordings and videos, exercises, a large number of examples, explanations, as well as links to resources that will help you progress faster.

When choosing your study resources, make sure you like the materials. This is important, all polyglots talk about it. Interest plays a major role in language acquisition. It allows you to achieve more with less effort. Just imagine that you need to learn or translate a text on some boring topic for you, but you will fall asleep after the first phrase! On the contrary, if you come across an interesting book, you will definitely find time to read it. Go ahead, friends, devote your time and attention to the language, and you will raise your English from scratch to fluency. Good luck to all!

There is no secret method to learn a language in a month. If someone promises you a miracle, don't believe it. But the process can be accelerated in order to overcome the barrier in six months and finally speak English. Life hacker and experts from the online English school Skyeng share simple tips.

1. Study online

Online classes help you learn quickly. You can be too lazy to drive to the other end of the city in bad weather, but the Internet is always at hand. Adapting your schedule to the course schedule, making agreements with teachers, wasting time on the road - all this gets boring and slows down the process. Choose online courses. What makes life easier increases motivation.

Many, choosing between a cozy evening at home and a long trip to courses, decide that they can live without English.

Rid yourself of reasons to miss classes - create a convenient personal schedule. At Skyeng, teachers work in all time zones, so you can study whenever you want, even in the middle of the night.

Online classes are also good because all materials, texts, videos, dictionaries are collected in one place: in the application or on the website. And homework is checked automatically as you complete it.

2. Study at your leisure

Don't be limited by lesson time. Learning a language is not just about doing exercises. You can improve your skill by listening to songs and podcasts or reading English-speaking bloggers.

Everyone knows how important it is to watch movies and TV series with English subtitles, but not everyone knows that there are special educational applications for this. Skyeng online translators are linked to the app of the same name on your phone, so you can repeat new words at any time.

For example, if you install a special extension in the Google Chrome browser, you can read any text in English, and when you hover over a word or phrase, you can immediately see its translation. The same goes for subtitles for online cinemas. Each word individually can be translated directly as you watch. These words are added to your personal dictionary and sent to mobile app, where in free time they can be repeated and memorized.

1. Learn with interest

Any teacher will confirm: abstract learning of a language is more difficult than mastering a language for a specific purpose. Therefore, at first, learn things that will be useful to you in your work. Another option is to read the resources at foreign language concerning yours.

2. Remember only the words you need

There are more than a million words in the English language, but at best a few thousand are used in everyday speech. Therefore, even a modest vocabulary will be enough for you to talk with a foreigner, read online publications, watch news and TV series.

3. Post stickers at home

This is an effective way to expand your vocabulary. Look around the room and see which objects you don't know the names of. Translate the name of each subject into English, French, German - whatever language you want to learn. And put these stickers around the room. New words will gradually be stored in memory, and this will not require any additional effort.

4. Repeat

The technique of spaced repetition allows you to better remember new words and concepts. To do this, review the studied material at certain intervals: first, repeat the learned words often, then return to them after a few days, and after a month, reinforce the material again.

5. Use new technologies

6. Set realistic goals

Be careful with the load and don't overwork yourself. Especially at the beginning, so as not to lose interest. Teachers advise starting small: first learn 50 new words, try to apply them in life, and only then take on the grammar rules.