I didn't speak a word of English the first time I went to Disney.
At most he knew the basics.”my name is Alyssa”, but I couldn’t bring myself to use that phrase in conversation. Until you ask fast food It was difficult, and more than once a friend of mine had to help me to tell me that my lunch was without salad.
Almost six years passed between this trip and my first work experience interview, and my knowledge of the language improved a lot.
And the coolest thing? I learned by “studying” myself.
I even took a year's course at Yázigi to practice speaking and feel more confident, but I've almost reached the last level.
What really helped me was the internet. Not only because of the enormous amount of material available for free to answer my questions, but because I spent hours reading about my favorite subjects, looking for tutorials and watching videos.
Since that time I have been on exchange to study the language in Australia, where I also took a more advanced class, and I even managed to work in the United States.
English also helps me a lot when traveling internationally, even in countries where it is not the official language. In Thailand, for example, all tours were accompanied by guides who spoke the language.
With that in mind, I decided to write this post with my best tips on where and how to study on your own. If you also want to learn English for travel (or for any other purpose) without following traditional methods, keep reading!
How to learn English for travel
Blogs and Websites
There are two ways to benefit from websites or blogs to learn English.
The first is search for websites that teach the language. In my opinion, they are more advantageous than videos in the grammar section, as they can explain more completely and with more examples.
The ones I've used over the years are:
- English Experts – A guide for those who study English online. There are several articles, a complete explanation of grammar and a forum where students can ask questions.
- Good english – With good vocabulary and grammar content, the site also offers a free course for beginners lasting an estimated ten weeks, which can be done at any time and on your own time.
- English on the Tip of the Tongue – With countless lessons reading (reading) and exercises listening (listen), most of the content can be read for free.
The three sites are written in Portuguese, so regardless of your level, you can take advantage of them. If you already have a greater command of the language, the BBC English is also a great feature.
The other way is look for websites with content in English to practice reading. One suggestion is to read the main news from around the world in Portuguese, and then look for articles on the same topic in English. You will already have a sense of what the text means, which makes it easier to deduce the meaning of the words through context.
It's worth remembering that this post is focused on English, but you can learn any language on your own. In addition to the tips I've already written (which can be applied to Spanish, French and so on...), I also suggest reading the post Malas para que te Quero with tips on how to learn languages alone.
YouTube
"In my time” (in quotation marks because, right, I'm only 23 years old) YouTube wasn't yet a big phenomenon, so it never crossed my mind to look for videos teaching English.
Fortunately, today there are many channels for this purpose. I think it's the best place to start, because in addition to learning grammar, you also train your ear, even without realizing it. Some of the coolest channels I've discovered in recent years are:
- Carina Fragozo – Amazing teacher, with super fun and useful videos. Great for learning English for travel, idiomatic expressions, slang and useful vocabulary for everyday life.
- English Aunt – With a playlist dedicated just to travel, Tia do Inglés has funny videos that teach grammar and pronunciation, as well as covering topics such as fear of speaking English in public.
- English 200 Hours – With the aim of teaching quickly, Sara Scarcelli's channel is full of pronunciation and grammar tips.
Other legal channels: Small Advantages, Ask Jackie, and Tim Explains.
I took advantage of this post to make a playlist with videos from these and other channels that talk about travel situations: immigration, restaurants, asking for information, etc. It is worth taking a look.
Another cool way to use YouTube in your studies is to watch videos on subjects you like.. I, for example, who love makeup, am subscribed to several channels beauty gurus Americans, and I always learn a new word or expression when I watch one of them.
Learn about specific destinations
Another cool idea, especially if you are planning a trip, is search for information about this specific destination in English. Regardless of where you are, you can believe that there is a blog out there completely dedicated to the subject.
Some places, like Disney, are full of characteristic expressions that can be easily understood with a basic understanding of English. Fila-jumper, as it is known here in Brazil, is called fast pass (fast = fast, pass = pass). Other examples are restaurants quick-service (quick = fast, service = service), which are like Fast-foods and the cast members (cast = cast, members = members), name given to the company's employees.
You can also learn English for travel by naming attractions, such as Top of the Rock, Central Park e Museum of Natural History in New York.
You might also like: 9 Tips to Save on Your Trip to Disney
Books
If you like reading, a great way to practice reading is reading your favorite titles! I even recommend reading the Portuguese version and then switching to English. This way the plot is still fresh in your memory and you may even remember some specific sentences or paragraphs, which makes understanding easier.
I used this method when Twilight It was a fever: I read the entire translated saga and then switched to the original text. At first it was complicated, as I didn't know many words, and I needed to rely on constant help from the Google translator. Fortunately, the author used the same expressions throughout the four books, so I was able to read the last volumes without so much help.
Before that I tried to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the week of launch, but without a copy in Portuguese to base myself on and without knowing terms like wall (wand) I couldn't get past the second page.
If you liked this suggestion, here on the blog there is a post with several tips for learning another language using books.
To avoid having to buy titles in English, you can start with those that are available for free in the eBook version on Amazon. As I have mentioned several times, I like using the Kindle to read these types of files, both at home and when traveling.
Movies and TV shows
With the internet I learned a lot about reading, but it was the series that helped me with the listening e até speaking (to speak).
Watching several episodes in English made me come into daily contact with the language. I listened to my favorite characters speaking and, with the vocabulary I had already acquired, I was able to understand one sentence or another. The subtitles helped me a lot, because with the translation I could infer which words were said.
If you have a lot of difficulty understanding what others are saying, I suggest starting with your favorite films, the ones you probably saw dubbed. Watch the English version with Portuguese subtitles and try to understand the simplest phrases and words. Since you already know the story, it will be easier.
To train even more, watch it again with English subtitles.
And don't just stop at the listening. Many words that I read with the wrong pronunciation, I learned to say correctly by watching television.
Additionally, common phrases like “The guess" (I think), "I don't think so” (I don’t think so) or expressions like “the cat is out of the bag” (the cat is out of the bag, in a literal translation) do not usually appear in texts, but they are said all the time. It was by watching series that they were incorporated into my vocabulary, and I use them a lot when talking.
If you want something that doesn't take up hours of your day, I suggest comedy series that last around 20 minutes. How I Met Your Mother e Modern Family They are my favorites, and the English is very clean and easy to understand.
Apps
I didn't use apps because smartphones barely existed at the time, but I saw friends of mine use them to learn other languages and I thought it was a great idea.
If you usually have some “useless” time in your day, like waiting in line at the bank or minutes left over from lunch, you can use your cell phone to do a quick grammar lesson and learn new words.
My recommendation is to use the Duolingo , a free platform that has a Portuguese version for those who want to learn English for travel or just in general. Classes are interactive, and you need to put together sentences, repeat words into the microphone (optional) and translate some expressions.
Other options are Busuu e Babbel, which work by subscription, 50 Languages e Lingualeo.
You might also like: How to use Google Maps to create your travel itinerary
Social Networks and other technologies
Lastly, I advise using all social networks and computer programs in English.
On Facebook it's easy to learn the days of the week, words related to account setup and phrases used in notifications. Who hasn’t learned from the website that “like” is the famous like? The same goes for Tumblr, Pinterest and even Instagram.
If you use the Adobe suite, it's also a good idea to change the programs' language to English. Most tutorials on the internet, even those made by Brazilians, use this configuration, and you will even learn some new words. If you get lost, there is a table that translates all terms into their Portuguese equivalents.
You can also take the opportunity to follow pages and profiles that focus on learning the language. On Facebook I like I speak English e English is Fun.
And these are my best tips for learning English for travel or other purposes. The trick is to surround yourself with the language, whether with videos, films, books and even social media, and you will learn without even realizing it!
If your trip is in the next few days and you don't have time to follow the suggestions, no problem! Andrea from Top 5 Tour already showed in this post How to travel without knowing English!
Anyway, I hope this post helps you! Don’t forget to share with that friend of yours who also wants to study before their next adventure 🙂