English as a Second Language: My Journey
Follow my story of mastering English, from overcoming obstacles to celebrating successes, and discover the tips and strategies that worked for me.
Right now I am living in The Netherlands and I am speaking in English almost 24/7! I am also trying to learn Dutch using English as a base language. But English is not my native language! My native language is Bangla (Bengali). The main complication is that everything is different from English! Letters and everything.
💡 my language has 49 letters, and you can combine letters to form new, different sounds! On the other hand, English has 26 letters and no joining of letters.
Yes, I did get a basic English course as part of my regular studies, but it’s not mandatory anywhere in my country! The subject was an additional one; the rest of the courses were in my native language.
Right now my main focus is to master English so that I can also learn Dutch using it. Plus, mastering a global language has its own perks.
This is what I am doing right now or have done before:
Watch lots of English movies, most of the times with subtitles on
Watch Japanese anime with English subtitles
Watch YouTube videos at 2x speed
Listen to podcasts at 1.5x to 2x speed
Listen to audiobooks at 1.2x to 2x speed
Read any English book and write a summary afterward, even if it takes 6 months to finish the book
Write lots of documents in English and spell-check them
Write my blogs in English
In 2024, rewrite all of my writing with ChatGPT and try to mark what’s missing
Recently, I started to read philosophy books and poetry to understand the deeper meanings of words and feelings.