Little did we know that 2019 was the last year that we get to experience the normal life we used to have and almost two years have passed since we adapted to the new normal. Here we are in 2021 going through the third round of Movement Control Order. The Malaysian government announced the first nationwide lockdown on 18th Mac 2020 due to virus Covid-19 that sent us all to stay at home to break the chain of infections that has cost 3.34 millions deaths worldwide at the time of writing. Most of us have to work from home and students have to attend online learning at home. Needless to say we still have a lot of spare time left staying at home after work and online studies. According to statistics released by Duolingo, there are 30 millions new learners learning a new language on their platform right after WHO announced Covid-19 as a global pandemic that sent most of the governments worldwide to announce lockdown. Some of us make an effort  to improve the language that we already know to become fluent at it. Just like chefs trying to hone their culinary skills or artists attempting to refine their painting skills.




Watching movies or YouTube videos can improve one’s language. It helps us to improve our listening and speaking skills by watching shows of our own interest. When a certain word is pronounced, we are able to hear and immediately register in our brain. At first, watch with subtitles and then practice to listen and read the subtitles. Later on, remove the subtitles and practice to listen. You will be able to listen to the native speakers of the language in the movies at ease in no time. Just make sure you choose the movies that interest you because it plays a crucial role in ensuring the success of improving the very language you wish to learn. Apart from that, improving language is always better with images or videos so that we can judge the situation better and use the language correctly because it depicts the real situation accurately.


 

Audiobooks also play an important role as listeners rely on the intonation and pronunciation to improve on the language fluency. It is another form of reading aloud of a text in a form of audio. Listening to audiobooks is able to pique interest from listeners as audio is immersive with powerful emotions and intonation by the narrator.




Webinars and online classes help too. Most webinars online are free that makes it low cost for anyone to attend. Online webinars are mostly interactive and may have international attendees that can easily allow us to reap the benefits to improve language fast. We can attend to webinars from different fields to broaden our knowledge as well as learning different vocabulary and terms. For example when you attend webinars specifically designed for digital marketing, you will come across terms like paid and organic ads, engagement, pay-per-click(PPC), just to name a few. Then, you will understand and know the usage of each term when others speak to you.

 

People always say practice makes perfect. Practice speaking to your family members or friends. Find a niche on something that interests you and talk with people. Take initiative to speak to native speakers. Industrial Revolution 4.0 has made it possible to use digital platforms such as Zoom, Teams, Webex, just to name a few to interact with others and stay connected with people from around the world. Do not be afraid or shy to talk to native speakers even if we might make a few mistakes but as time goes by, we will be able to speak much fluently and confidently. Have you heard of the saying kill two birds with one stone? By interacting with native speakers, we can learn some of their culture and be knowledgeable.




Read anything whether it is a book, e-book, articles or a newspaper. Read! Just be curious on a topic and read extensively. You can even read out loud. Record it and double check your pronunciation online or send it to others to check.

 

Start writing journals or diaries. The length does not matter as long as you practice to write. You can even write down your daily thoughts or the new recipe you invented with your family. That is how little things add up. For example, if you want to improve on Mandarin post it on Weibo because the Mandarin native speakers are using the platform so there is real interaction between the users publicly. To add on to this, try uploading a video introducing yourself and your interest on YouTube or other social media platforms.

 

Using language eloquently will also help to land your dream job and impress people from all walks of life. Of course, we cannot expect something to happen miraculously without putting effort on it. To master a language, it will not happen overnight. A lot of effort and time are required to make it happen. Here, we wish you luck with the suggested strategies to master a language of your desire. Happy learning!

Citation:

 Albiladi, Waheeb & Abdeen, Fahad & Lincoln, Felicia. (2018). Learning English through Movies: Adult English Language Learners’ Perceptions. Theory and Practice in Language Studies.

Dr. María Alcantud-Díaz & Dr. Carmen Gregori-Signes (2014). Audiobooks: improving fluency and instilling literary skills and education for development https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/25589361.pdf

Luis von Ahn. (2020, December 15). 2020 Duolingo Language Report: Global Overview. https://blog.duolingo.com/global-language-report-2020/#30millionnewpeopletakeuplanguagelearningintheweeksafterlockdown

The benefits of listening to audiobooks are extensive… Retrieved from https://www.westerndownslibraries.com/the-benefits-of-listening-to-audiobooks-are-extensive/#:~:text=Audiobooks%20are%20immersive%2C%20educational%2C%20instructional,English%20is%20a%20second%20language.

This article is written by:

Ang Lee Eng & Tan Hong Lynn