What is the most important English skill? What skill must you have to communicate well?
最重要的英语技能是什么？达到有效沟通所必须的技能是什么？
Obviously, number 1 is Fluency. What is fluency? Fluency is the ability to speak (and understand) English quickly and easily... WITHOUT translation. Fluency means you can talk easily with native speakers-- they easily understand you, and you easily understand them. In fact, you speak and understand instantly。
The research is clear-- there is only ONE way to get fluency. You do not get fluency by reading textbooks. You do not get fluency by going to English schools. You do not get fluency by studying grammar rules。
To get English fluency, you must have a lot of understandable repetitive listening. That is the ONLY way. To be a FANTASTIC English speaker, you must learn English with your ears, not with your eyes. In other words, you must listen. Your ears are the key to excellent speaking。
What kind of listening is best? Well, it must be understandable and must be repetitive. Both of those words are important-- Understandable and Repetitive。
If you don't understand, you learn nothing. You will not improve. That's why listening to English TV does not help you. You don't understand most of it. It is too difficult. It is too fast。
It's obvious right? If you do not understand, you will not improve. So, the best listening material is EASY. That's right, you should listen mostly to easy English. Most students listen to English that is much too difficult. They don't understand enough, and so they learn slowly. Listen to easier English, and your speaking will improve faster!
Understanding is not enough. You must also have a lot of repetition. If you hear a new word only once, you will soon forget it. If you hear it 5 times, you will still probably forget it!
You must hear new words and new grammar many times before you will understand them instantly。
在你能够自如的理解新单词和语法规则之前，你必须要反复听上很多次。
How many times is necessary? Most people must hear a new word 30 times to remember it forever. To know a word and instantly understand it, you probably need to hear it 50-100 times!
