Why you should not learn academic English
English is a terribly diverse language. Only some dialects exist around 300, and already some professional and regional slangs are even more.
The main language options is British, which is also called Received Pronunciation. It is spoken by the British Queen and BBC announcers, the whole grammar is laid out on shelves and packaged in boxes. So to say polished academic English. But if you think about it, studying only an academic version of the language can be harmful. And now we will explain why.
Wow, how much the majority of students suffer in all sorts of perfect continuities and passives. Academic English makes all students wade through absolutely all the thorny jungle of the language. This requires tremendous effort and time consuming.
The theory is built into an absolute, so you have to memorize hundreds of nuances of the rules, which are often poorly supported by practice. It turns out something incomprehensible and the student often confuses even elementary knowledge.
Learning a language in practice is different. You memorize the phrases and grammatical structures and context in which they are used. And then you derive a logical chain that unites these grammatical blocks. Learning turns from learning formal rules into a constant learning of new knowledge. After all, if you do not know something, you can remember it and use the correct version, even without knowing which rules are applied in the construction of a specific phrase or sentence.
English academic speech from the mouth of a foreigner sounds very simulated. And the accent plays a huge role in this. And if a foreigner is also trying to build complex grammatical structures, then it looks frankly absurd.
Just imagine that you were met on the street by a man of African appearance and with a wild accent says:
“My dear, would you like to tell me how my companion and I can go to the Weeping Willow restaurant?”
Knowledge of complex phrases and complex expressions is excellent. But academic English very often does not provide knowledge when it is appropriate to use such phrases. It turns out that a simple passer-by on the street can be turned in the way that only lords and queen need to say.
The ability to use the language in the right context is extremely important. Especially you need to feel the nuances of the language in the use of informal phrases. The course of academic English does not provide for their study, so students often complement their knowledge with the help of films, TV shows and live communication. But without knowing all the meanings of the phrase, you can even offend the interlocutor.
For example, take a simple dialogue:
- Nick, where are your pen?
- Get lost.
Apparently, Nick wanted to answer that the pen was lost, but eventually told the interlocutor "Fuck off."
Knowledge of academic English is good, but when you have to communicate with native speakers in an informal environment, this knowledge is often confusing.
Informal vocabulary is sometimes very different from the "royal".
Compare:
I am going to eat something.
I gotta wolf something.
The meaning is exactly the same: "I'm going to eat something." But the second option is completely informal and is closer in meaning to the sentence “I’m gonna chew something”. So they say, and quite often.
But if you don’t know what gotta means and to wolf , then you just don’t understand what the interlocutor is saying. And he will have to translate the sentence into "human" language.
There is a nuance here. A person who uses abbreviations and slang expressions can switch to generally understandable speech without any problems. But the tone of the conversation will change a lot.
Just 10 years ago, almost all language schools taught only "royal" English. It was a basic course that everyone recommended.
But over time, the general global and cumbersome English course turned into a number of separate specialized courses, within the framework of which they study the peculiarities of that area of language that is necessary for communication and work.
Today, most students study English for a reason. Traveling, working or moving to permanent residence - learning English for each of these goals will be different. Sometimes very much.
Match only the basics to the Intermediate level. Further, there are nuances that are important or not important in specific situations. After all, if you learn English for traveling , then you hardly need the ability to build a sentence in a perfect passive, but knowing how to ask for directions and understand the interlocutor, even with his strong accent - must have.
Learning English has ceased to be a pipeline, under which drove absolutely everyone. Now this process is becoming more individual. Pupils get rid of a huge array of information that they definitely do not need, and they learn English with precision, and only what they really need.
Of course, this approach has its own nuances, but it allows you to greatly reduce the time of learning English. Years of study turn into months. And that's cool. So think about whether you need to learn “academic” English, or will you choose something more applied and useful here and now?
English for IT, interview in English, business course, conversational and other areas - individually with the teacher on Skype or in the format of an online course.
Choose a course to suit your goals and study 2 months online absolutely free.
To get the bonus, register by the link with the promo code.
And the promo code goodhabr2 - 2 lessons on Skype as a gift when you first pay.
The main language options is British, which is also called Received Pronunciation. It is spoken by the British Queen and BBC announcers, the whole grammar is laid out on shelves and packaged in boxes. So to say polished academic English. But if you think about it, studying only an academic version of the language can be harmful. And now we will explain why.
Reason 1. Academic English turns grammar into an enemy.
Wow, how much the majority of students suffer in all sorts of perfect continuities and passives. Academic English makes all students wade through absolutely all the thorny jungle of the language. This requires tremendous effort and time consuming.
The theory is built into an absolute, so you have to memorize hundreds of nuances of the rules, which are often poorly supported by practice. It turns out something incomprehensible and the student often confuses even elementary knowledge.
"I would be very thankful if I could help me with my packages."Academic English requires perfect knowledge of ALL the rules and nuances of grammar. If you do not know at least one - you will surely make a mistake in it.
I will be very grateful if you help me with my packages.
Quite a usual offer with a polite request for help. But a student who studies grammar closely may have a discord.
After all, if you shouldn’t use if, right? It seems to be a conditional sentence of the second type, but it does not describe an unreal situation. And if it is of the first type, then instead of I would need I will. In general, it is easy to get confused.
But in essence, in this sentence, the second would be modal in nature and only emphasizes the politeness of the request. And the sentence itself refers to a mixed type of conditional sentences.
Learning a language in practice is different. You memorize the phrases and grammatical structures and context in which they are used. And then you derive a logical chain that unites these grammatical blocks. Learning turns from learning formal rules into a constant learning of new knowledge. After all, if you do not know something, you can remember it and use the correct version, even without knowing which rules are applied in the construction of a specific phrase or sentence.
Reason 2. Inability to use language in context.
English academic speech from the mouth of a foreigner sounds very simulated. And the accent plays a huge role in this. And if a foreigner is also trying to build complex grammatical structures, then it looks frankly absurd.
Just imagine that you were met on the street by a man of African appearance and with a wild accent says:
“My dear, would you like to tell me how my companion and I can go to the Weeping Willow restaurant?”
Knowledge of complex phrases and complex expressions is excellent. But academic English very often does not provide knowledge when it is appropriate to use such phrases. It turns out that a simple passer-by on the street can be turned in the way that only lords and queen need to say.
The ability to use the language in the right context is extremely important. Especially you need to feel the nuances of the language in the use of informal phrases. The course of academic English does not provide for their study, so students often complement their knowledge with the help of films, TV shows and live communication. But without knowing all the meanings of the phrase, you can even offend the interlocutor.
For example, take a simple dialogue:
- Nick, where are your pen?
- Get lost.
Apparently, Nick wanted to answer that the pen was lost, but eventually told the interlocutor "Fuck off."
Reason 3. Inability to work with abbreviations and slang.
Knowledge of academic English is good, but when you have to communicate with native speakers in an informal environment, this knowledge is often confusing.
Informal vocabulary is sometimes very different from the "royal".
Compare:
I am going to eat something.
I gotta wolf something.
The meaning is exactly the same: "I'm going to eat something." But the second option is completely informal and is closer in meaning to the sentence “I’m gonna chew something”. So they say, and quite often.
But if you don’t know what gotta means and to wolf , then you just don’t understand what the interlocutor is saying. And he will have to translate the sentence into "human" language.
There is a nuance here. A person who uses abbreviations and slang expressions can switch to generally understandable speech without any problems. But the tone of the conversation will change a lot.
You can give a simple example. In Russian, to feel the emotional mood to the full.As a result, the academic language makes it possible to perceive only a small part of them from the whole wealth of forms and emotional nuances. The rest - which do not fit into the concept of academic speech - you just do not understand.
A man sits in the kitchen with a friend and says:
"You count, this mare told me that my work on the x * th spit and fuck I gave her such a busy one."
All clear. A woman was abandoned by a man because he spends too much time at work. But what if “combing” the conversation?
“Imagine, this scoundrel told me that she was tired of the fact that I was spending too much time at work and was leaving me.”
It seems the meaning is the same, but the emotional message is irretrievably lost.
Reason 4. RP goes out of fashion - specialization taxis.
Just 10 years ago, almost all language schools taught only "royal" English. It was a basic course that everyone recommended.
But over time, the general global and cumbersome English course turned into a number of separate specialized courses, within the framework of which they study the peculiarities of that area of language that is necessary for communication and work.
For example, in the course of English for programmers, a lot of attention is paid to specialized vocabulary and slang. After all, it is important that the programmer was able to explain the specifics of the work to his foreign colleague, to tell the team leader about the tasks he had completed and to understand that he was demanding from himself.
But English for lawyers will be completely different. It will be just a huge amount of grammar and complex sentences. Indeed, in jurisprudence, even one comma can drastically change the essence of the proposal, about which a million contract may depend. So lawyers are hard at work learning English clerical.
Today, most students study English for a reason. Traveling, working or moving to permanent residence - learning English for each of these goals will be different. Sometimes very much.
Match only the basics to the Intermediate level. Further, there are nuances that are important or not important in specific situations. After all, if you learn English for traveling , then you hardly need the ability to build a sentence in a perfect passive, but knowing how to ask for directions and understand the interlocutor, even with his strong accent - must have.
Learning English has ceased to be a pipeline, under which drove absolutely everyone. Now this process is becoming more individual. Pupils get rid of a huge array of information that they definitely do not need, and they learn English with precision, and only what they really need.
Of course, this approach has its own nuances, but it allows you to greatly reduce the time of learning English. Years of study turn into months. And that's cool. So think about whether you need to learn “academic” English, or will you choose something more applied and useful here and now?
EnglishDom.com is an online English learning platform.
English for IT, interview in English, business course, conversational and other areas - individually with the teacher on Skype or in the format of an online course.
Choose a course to suit your goals and study 2 months online absolutely free.
To get the bonus, register by the link with the promo code.
And the promo code goodhabr2 - 2 lessons on Skype as a gift when you first pay.