How to keep learning English

Good afternoon, everyone.

Today, I’d like to share my thoughts on how to keep learning English.

I believe many of you here enjoy learning English, and I do too. But actually, that wasn’t always the case. When I was a child, I disliked English:
- boring grammar,
- difficult sentences,
- uninteresting topics.
Everything about it felt like torture. My first TOEIC score was 320. But now, I am here to make a speech with the timeframe of 6 or 7 minutes in English. It’s is not easy, but I’m enjoying it. There’s an extremely wide gap. What happened? Nothing special. I’ve just kept learning English every day for over ten years. So the real question is, how do you keep going? Today, I’ll share my five secrets for studying English every day.

The first secret is to find your motivation. Why do you want to learn English? For a career? To travel abroad? Knowing your “why” fuels you when your motivation dips. For me, it was simple: being able to communicate in English was a dream from childhood. That simple motivation has stayed with me, even today. Finding your motivation that doesn’t fade with time is essential.

The second secret is to set a milestone. I think a TOEIC score of 800 is a good milestone. Reaching that level requires a lot of efforts. But once you reach that level, English will become enjoyable and much easier. It’s like launching a rocket. A rocket uses most of its energy just to escape the atmosphere. But once it does, it can travel freely in space. I think a TOEIC score of 800 is just like breaking through that atmosphere.

Now, the third secret: make a small start. Start with just ten minutes every day, and then, stick to that for at least three weeks. You’ll gradually build up your “English muscle.” Soon, studying 1 hour or even 2 hours every day won’t feel like a burden. Once you reach this point, you’ve won. You’ll definitely reach your milestone.

The fourth secret is to connect English with your hobby. For example, if you like the baseball player Otani, how about watching the Major League Baseball broadcasts in English? Foreign live games are so exciting that it's fun to listen to them. This will make watching a baseball game more enjoyable and at the same time help you learn English.
Also, how about reading the original edition of your favorite book. I tried reading my favorite book, Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of highly effective people, in English. Reading the book in English allows me to feel the author's warm heart more directly. At this stage, like a spaceship in orbit, you’ll be able to keep learning English without even thinking about learning something.

The fifth and final secret is to find fellows who are also learning English. For me, joining XXX was a great way to do this. Before that, learning was a solitary task. But after joining the club, I met fellow members who were working hard, and that inspired me. Among them is XXX. He and I joined the club around the same time. At first, he wasn’t fluent. But now he can give six-minute speeches quite skillfully. To get there, he delivered speeches or took on roles almost every month. This proactive stance is particularly inspiring for me, that makes me push myself to improve my English skills. I appreciate it.

These are the five secrets that have helped me keep learning English: find your motivation, set a good milestone, make a small start, connect English to your hobby, and find fellows to learn with. Do these things, and then English will become a hobby and you’ll find yourself enjoying it every day.

Thank you very much.