How to improve English skills

[Mount Everest]

Although this forum is full of English native speakers as well as language enthusiasts at C2 (CEFR) level, I am not ashamed to post here.

So, a question to those who have successfully reached a high level in English: how did you guys manage to reach such high level?

How can I improve my English skills without travelling and getting exposure to foreign people?

I will try to summarize what I have been doing. If any of you have any advice on what else I can do, please, feel free to comment.


Listening

I believe language learning should be fun activity. Therefore, I have incorporated TV series in English, with English subtitles, to improve my listening comprehension. I don't have any doubts how much it has helped me to improve my listening comprehension. I also have learned lot of new vocabulary, especially idioms and slangs used by native speakers.

Let's say there is one specific TV series with 2 seasons, at least. I try to watch the first season with subtitles and the second one without any. I still think I can catch most of words, something above 90%.

Listening to music is obviously a different listening activity, but it has also helped me to increase my passive vocabulary in English.

Reading

Regarding reading, I have been reading articles related to my interests, newspapers, blogs and magazines. Now, a question regarding books. How much fiction and non-fiction books will help me to improve my English skills? How can I get the most benefits from reading books, especially fiction books? How do you guys read fiction books?

Let's say there are about 2-5 words per page I don't know and I can't even guess from the context. Should I keep looking at the dictionary all the time or just ignore them? What are your strategies when learning L2?

To what degree reading books could help me to improve my writing skills? What are some modern authors would you recommend me?

Writing

How can I improve my writing skills?

Are there any alternatives to Lang-8, a community which seems to be dying little by little? Since they no longer accepts new sign ups, I thought about writing in English on Italki. Although I'm not sure if native speakers really provide good feedback, I think I should start writing there. However, I think there is one technical problem over there. Perhaps, it isn't a technical problem per se, but I believe one should not write too much there. Length might be a problem for those users using Italki from smartphones, for example. Since the screen are really small (if compared to laptop, for instance), I suppose it will not attract many people.

So, what are alternatives to both Lang-8 and Italki, with active users and relatively big community out there?

One of my strategies have been writing for myself, then, after a week or a while, I try to read. Of course, proofreading is a must to avoid as many errors as possible. Spelling mistakes can be avoidable by checking any word in a decent dictionary.

Paying for a tutor is another possibility, but this is out of my choices for now. Financially it will be a burden for my current budget, though at long term, I really wish, I could pay for lessons to improve my speaking and writing skills.

Finding pen-pals could be a choice, but it is sometimes difficult to arrange some time due to time zone differences. I have tried local meet ups, but unfortunately I haven't found any interesting groups. Those language exchange meet up groups have been the worse for me. I felt that I have lost time (both on commuting and also spending on those events per se) and also money from the event itself.

Even if I find pen-pals, it is painful sometimes because one of the sides might not be willing to correct other people's essays etc, but simply have speaking exchange. Not complaining about exchanging through speaking interactions, but what are your thoughts?

Speaking

How much shadowing technique help a learner? Will an individual get more benefits of shadowing technique if it is used at early stages (A1, A2), over intermediate levels (B1, B2)? How about at individuals at C1 level? Is shadowing aimed to any specific group (A, B or C)?

Any advice on any of the skills (reading, writing, listening or speaking) are welcome.

[rdearman]

It might be useful if you could tell us what your native language is in your profile.

[SGP]

Although this forum is full of English native speakers as well as language enthusiasts at C2 (CEFR) level, I am not ashamed to post here.

I really do like English, and it is included in my list of favorite languages. But I don't support a certain idea of many people outside of this forum. Their idea is about mocking those who didn't fully advance with English or anything else yet. BTW, @whoever has that point of view that just has been mentioned: I'd say that as humans, we all have our limitations, also when it is about our knowledge. And because you, too, are humans, no doubt, you have your limitations as well, so maybe you could think some more before saying something like that once again.

(Also, even if my favorite languages are rather close to, well, ten, as I already have been posting in my log, I'd prefer if nobody told me that because they are quite many, I cannot love anyone of them very much. Because I, nevertheless, do it. They all are very unique.)

So, a question to those who have successfully reached a high level in English: how did you guys manage to reach such high level?

"First off" , I'd like to point out that whenever I would be answering a question like that, I prefer thinking more in terms of what has been done for me [not clarifying it any further on this forum], rather than what I (SGP) did. Basically, I simply am grateful for what has been possible and what still is possible. That said, my non-superhuman efforts were mostly based on immersion and exposure (i.e. similar to learning a language like both of toddlers and Big Kids do it, but certainly not the same).

In the beginning, yes, there was a lot of what is called rote memorization. I.e. trying to "force" oneself to memorize something by repeating it over and over. And we all (i.e. I and those who went to the same class/same school) tended to forget many words. Because that way of learning is something that could be described as even artificial/semi-artificial by some. Anyway, it is not as Real World as it could be.

But later, I continued learning English by simply using it again and again in some Real World settings. I.e. not in some settings of Scripted Conversation Practice. Using it isn't limited at all to the active abilities, on the contrary. It also includes reading and listening.

But in the end, I'd like to emphasize that this "reaching C2 and maybe making a few additional steps beyond that, too" was a matter of "it is ready when it is ready" only. #NotClaimingToSpeakEnglishLikeANative #NotWritingLikeThatEither. This means that I was required to make these continuous efforts, no doubt, but I of course couldn't force myself to reach C2 at any particular date or when any specific deadline is reached. I plainly reject the idea of "do or do not, there is no try" (--> Yoda), because not everything is in my own hands, far from it. C2 isn't like the levels below it either, it does require a lot more of fleshing things out than, for example, B1.

[StringerBell]

Regarding reading, I have been reading articles related to my interests, newspapers, blogs and magazines. Now, a question regarding books. How much fiction and non-fiction books will help me to improve my English skills? How can I get the most benefits from reading books, especially fiction books? How do you guys read fiction books?

Let's say there are about 2-5 words per page I don't know and I can't even guess from the context. Should I keep looking at the dictionary all the time or just ignore them? What are your strategies when learning L2?

To what degree reading books could help me to improve my writing skills? What are some modern authors would you recommend me?

I'm having a little trouble with recommendations, because if your writing is any indication of your level of English, then I think you are MUCH higher than A2, so I don't want to give advice that would be better suited for someone with a much lower level.

If you've not already been doing much reading, then I'd suggest reading a lot of articles before starting on books. The main reason is that the language used in most articles tends to be more similar to how people speak than the narration in books. It's difficult to suggest a specific source of articles without knowing what your interests are, but one easy source of articles that I've used for a variety of topics (and also to increase my vocabulary on specific topics) is WikiHow. I've searched for articles on topics like "How to get rid of wasps" or "How to train a puppy" or "How to survive in the forest".

I always look up (look in the dictionary) any words that I don't know when I read, especially if I can't easily figure out the definition from context. If I don't look up the word in the dictionary, I am guaranteed to not remember the word later. If I spend the time to read the definition of the word, there is at least a chance I might remember it in the future.

If the word seems like it is useful and I really want to remember it, I write it in a notebook with the definition and I might also put it into Anki as a reminder later on. The way I deal with new words usually depends on my mood at the time and how much I am bothered by stopping the flow of my reading to investigate the meaning of unknown words.

[Mount Everest]

I'm having a little trouble with recommendations, because if your writing is any indication of your level of English, then I think you are MUCH higher than A2, so I don't want to give advice that would be better suited for someone with a much lower level.

Well, actually A2 is what I have been assessed by centers that organizes English proficiency tests such as IELTS, the Cambridge's FCE, CAE and CPE, for instance.

I am a late bloomer due to the fact I have not had normal development. I have been locked for years, not interacting with humans. It has probably affected me in some ways, though I'm still trying to adapt to the society. Therefore, I naturally speak slower and it takes more time to write. It takes more time for me to read as well, though I can understand much more than most people think. I'm judged because of my speed during interactions. I think a lot before speaking, writing etc.

Thanks for your tips. I also check on the dictionary words and expressions I don't know.