Julian Northbrook sends daily email tips for speaking better English – Click the button on the right, sign up, and you'll get a new email every day packed with ideas and tips for speaking better English.

Filed Under

English Study: How much time do you really need?

July 15, 2020 , by Dr Julian Northbrook
If you're learning English right, you don't need much English study time.
How much time do you need to spend on English study each day? It's more than "none", but far less than you probably think.
How much time do you spend studying English every day? If it's none, you won't improve. And no. Watching TV and stuff in English doesn't count ー that's fun time, not study time. But if you're spending hours and hours a day studying, you also won't get many results. In fact, you're probably wasting the majority of that time. You see, providing you're doing the right things 30 minutes to an hour a day of hard, focused study is enough. And in fact, this is true of most things. Case in point: I've gotten pretty good at cooking over the last couple of months (even if I do say so myself). Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhBGxR1HoHg Honestly, I hated cooking. When you're not good at something and have little motivation to improve, it all seems like a total waste of time. But a few months ago I decided to start learning, cook for myself and eat more healthily. Today I made Hoisin chicken lettuce cups. Not exactly groundbreaking. But two months ago I couldn't even boil spaghetti. And It's not like I've spent loads of time learning to do it - in fact, I've done it all in around 30 minutes a day, often far less.

How?

Simple: I found a method which works for my level (Jamie Oliver's 5 Ingredients Cookbook), combined with high-quality materials (healthy ingredients) and I changed my mindset (from cooking is a waste of my time, to cooking being something I genuinely enjoy doing).

Sound familiar?

It should because this is no different from learning to speak fluently and naturally in English. You need a method which works (what you did as a beginner won't cut it), the right materials and the right mindset. And if you get those things right and just be a bit of time into doing it every day (combined with actually using English in your life) you'll improve quickly.

Get Started with the right English Study Method for free

If you know how you should optimise your English study time in this way, there’s a free training here that will teach you the nuts-and-bolts of how to improve as a higher-level learner. Enjoy, Julian Northbrook

Subscribe to Dr Julian Northbrook's Daily Emails for Speaking Better English & get FREE access to the Doing English App, packed with free lessons:


More Shizzle on the Blog:

High score on English writing tests and CPE?

Someone asked me on Instagram about getting a good score on writing tests, or on the CPE. Here’s my answer: In short, I’m really not the person to ask about tests. It’s not my speciality, and it’s not you thing. In fact, I actively dislike the testing industry and teaching for tests. But, although I

Read More