4 Tips for Learning Advanced English

If you attended a university in the United States, you probably already have a good grasp of English. However, you could successfully obtain a degree and still feel like you have some improvements to make in fluency. Perhaps your reading and writing is better than your listening and speaking skills, or maybe you'd like to work on your accent. Unlike the early days of learning a language, when everything is new, language learning at an advanced level is less straightforward, and it can be tough to figure out how to improve. The tips below can help you.

Identify Your Goals

It's important to first identify what your goals are, whether they are one of the improvements in the introduction above or something else. This will help you figure out the approach to take. If you want to widen your professional vocabulary, you will approach this very differently than if you'd like to improve your understanding of colloquial English. Maybe you feel you've hit a comprehension plateau when you spend time with your English-speaking friends and you can't seem to get beyond a certain level. Be as specific as possible about what you hope to achieve.

Consider a Tutor

At an advanced level, a trained tutor might be your best option. There are professionals who specialize in things like accent reduction, for example, and who can help you understand how to position your mouth if you are struggling with certain sounds. The drawback is that this can be a costly option, especially if you're just out of school, working your first job and juggling a lot of expenses. You may want to look at ways to cut back on those expenses. You could make a budget and look at places where you are spending too much. You might want to see whether you can refinance student loans with a private lender, which could result in lower monthly payments.

The Right Media Sources

As an English learner, one of the resources you probably used to improve your understanding of the language was movies and TV shows. You might be surprised to learn that these are not necessarily the best resources, especially at the advanced level. While this is a great way to get exposure to any language that you're trying to learn, what's even better is unscripted material. If you watch talk shows, interviews or reality shows or listen to podcasts, you get to hear how people really talk. Think of it this way in that if the material in TV shows and films is less artificial than audio lessons created especially for language learners, then unscripted broadcasts are even more authentic.

Write it Down

It's also worth preserving old strategies that helped you get to this level, and one of those may have been making a note of any new words or other information about English that you learn. If it's not already a regular habit, you should make it one. You can make a note on your phone or another device, but the act of physically writing something down can often be more helpful in remembering it. And in more formal settings this habit can help with things like how to correctly use examples in essays, resumes, and other professional documents.