This is Mr. Wang's typical writing style-concise but exquisite English vernacular. This scholar, writer and linguist who studies Chinese and Western cultures has published 36 books in English alone.

From 65438 to 0938, his second English book, The Art of Living, which introduced China culture, topped the American bestseller list for 52 consecutive weeks.

It can be said that his English level is not inferior to those writers whose mother tongue is English. He has never forgotten to help China people improve their English. Lin Yutang's Contemporary Chinese-English Dictionary, which took five years to compile, meets the needs of modern times. Enlightened English Grammar is regarded as the most suitable English grammar book for China people to read so far.

He advocated: "The goal of learning English is only clear and natural." Anyone who is not based on spoken English can't write plain, natural, skilled and authentic English. "It is not difficult to see from Lin Yutang's English works that he himself is a firm practitioner of this.

He gave several examples to illustrate: for example, when we say that we admire someone very much, we may say that I admire him deeply as soon as we open our mouths. However, if such a profound word is greatly replaced, it will be natural English. If you want to go further, you should take my hat off to him. Therefore, he advised the Chinese people to "get rid of the ancient concept of" making a fuss "and return to the truth, so as to learn English well, write English well and use English well.

Starting from the practical problems of Chinese learning English, he put forward a series of English teaching and learning methods, which are still worth learning. There is a lot of related content, and it is written in the style of the Republic of China, which is a bit difficult to read. With simple and popular language and my own understanding, the main learning methods are summarized as follows for your reference. If you are in a hurry, just look at the bold part of the subtitle.

Learning life English

We should devote ourselves to learning modern and flexible English. If the goal is right, the method will not be wrong. Avoid focusing on pedantic vocabulary, rigid grammar and rigid pronunciation.

2) Pay equal attention to listening, speaking, reading and writing.

For example, people who are not close friends in Chinese always avoid using the words "you" or "Mr. XX", while in English, you are generally used. Another example is English wife, which is often translated as wife, but it is equivalent to China's wife, wife, wife and even woman.

These examples show that language does not exist independently. Without listening, speaking, reading and writing, there is no language. If you only focus on any one aspect, then you will learn English with "hemiplegic face and detached heart". When you encounter new words, you must combine listening, speaking, reading and writing to improve your learning efficiency and make it easier to remember.

3) Oral English is very important

Oral English is particularly important in listening, speaking, reading and writing, especially in the primary stage. Being able to read and speak can only be described as hemiplegic English. Even if the purpose is not speaking, the influence of speaking on other aspects of English learning can not be ignored. The reason for this is the following：

First of all, this is the easiest way to learn in order to gain more practice and exercise.

Second, speaking English enables people to learn English grammar unconsciously. After a long time, if you blurt out a sentence, you will unconsciously master the grammar, so you don't have to calculate what nominative case to use when writing.

Third, speaking naturally, there are few disadvantages of piling up unfamiliar words and affectation. The English words written in this way can be read by people. English writing must be based on speaking.

Fourth, the tone and cadence of English words need to be read aloud to understand. People with poor reading ability can't fully appreciate it. Therefore, practicing speaking English more is also conducive to pondering the beauty of English literature in the future.

4) Pay attention to imitation and recitation.

Because of constant imitation and repeated practice, children learn languages quickly. The road to English learning is also here.

Imitate the whole sentence, not the words. Reciting is to review repeatedly after imitation. You must read fluently and blurt it out.

For example, the indefinite article A and the definite article The, many people are not completely sure about the usage and ellipsis of these two articles, which shows that the grammar they heard in class is completely different. When learning English, you must swallow the whole sentence and then spit it out. After fluency, the written words must be fluent, with correct pronunciation and fluent grammar.

Recommended method:

Choose two or three sentences every day (the pronunciation must be correct) and recite them repeatedly. After half a year's practice, my English ability will definitely be greatly improved.

5) There must be writing exercises.

The progress of English writing is inseparable from listening, speaking and reading.

6) Rich vocabulary and natural use.

The so-called clever woman can't cook without rice, and vocabulary is the content and foundation of language itself. If the English vocabulary is insufficient, the speaker will not be able to express himself, but on the other hand, although the vocabulary is sufficient, this is what Lin Yutang never advocates. China likes to use abstract long words when learning English, but really good English is simple and smooth, with a touch of gossip or pleasantries, which is called earthy in English. Only people who really understand diet know that "it is better to taste a vegetable root than to taste all the delicious food in the world".

Recommended method:

English learners must pay attention to simple and common vocabulary usage. These words are the truest and most primitive English.

7) Learn common idioms from reading.

Learning English should start with common idioms. After learning them well, it is not difficult to insert abstract words. To absorb common English idioms as much as possible, we should read novels by Stevenson, Dickens and Bennett, essays by chesterton, Shaw, Heywood Brown and Hilaire Bayloc, and other plays, travel notes and letters.

8) Read more modern English.

A good dictionary, such as The Concise Oxford Dictionary, is drawn from contemporary newspapers or written by the author himself, rather than quoted from classic works, including Shakespeare and Milton.

Recommended method:

If you can't understand English such as daily newspapers and magazines, there are many simple articles such as modern travel notes, dialogues, interviews, notes and letters that can be used as reading materials, such as daily application conversations.

9) Don't ignore familiar words, and review more new words.

Linguists usually divide vocabulary into four categories: listening vocabulary, speaking vocabulary, listening vocabulary and writing vocabulary. It can also be divided into active vocabulary and passive vocabulary.

What you can understand may not be said, and what you can say may not be used. For example, if you can read Shakespeare, you may not be able to use the words in Shakespeare's articles. Generally speaking, you can recognize more words than you can use. But strictly speaking, only when you can use it can you really master it.

The misunderstanding of vocabulary learning lies in being satisfied with memorizing new negative words, while ignoring the usage practice of familiar words. This has caused a large number of words to be "familiar" all the time, but there is no exact cognition, which is half the effort. China's translators often joke about it, follow, please, as and other common words.

The strangeness of vocabulary is reflected in reading and writing.

Recommended method:

Listening and speaking vocabulary is mainly acquired through listening and speaking practice, while reading and writing are more complicated. Literacy is a long-term and continuous process. Don't recite new words all at once, otherwise they won't last long. If you see it a few times more, you will naturally remember it and use it. No matter how stupid a student is, he will never forget what he has seen seven or eight times.

Combination of intensive reading and extensive reading.

Modern language teachers think that intensive reading is as important as extensive reading. At the same time, there are differences between "reciting" and "silent reading" (also called "fast reading"). Although intensive reading is important, the text you read is limited, and no matter how detailed it is, you will not get good grades. It is best to combine several methods. The primary stage is suitable for intensive reading, and then you must read more and more. Not only should you read well, but you should also read fast and read a lot.

Recommended method:

In intensive reading, you must thoroughly understand the usage and essence of the word encounter before you give up. Hard work, but great gains, and easy to remember, flexible use. In fact, the learning of any language is interlinked at this point.

In extensive reading, good words and sentences can also be read silently at any time. Also, don't give up new words easily. If you can work hard in the next two years, your reading ability can be developed almost, and English writing is enough.

1 1) syntax is necessary.

It is not good to be superstitious about grammar, and it is also wrong not to learn grammar. Because grammar is not just some empty laws and regulations. Memorizing forms and rules can't make people write good English, but proper study is absolutely beneficial and harmless. Grammar can improve students' ability to use English. "Natural and accurate observation is better than ignorance without observation, and systematic practice is better than no system."

Recommended method:

1. Observe carefully: the rules are universal, but the usage of words is individual and needs to be paid attention to everywhere.

2. Systematic research: observation must be systematic, so we should study grammar books specially. To learn English, we must first understand the image system of English. A good grammar book can point out the difference between these images and Chinese.

3. Get into the habit: People who study grammar thoroughly may not be able to write good English. After students passively understand grammar, they will still make many sentences with correct grammar. Therefore, we should focus on common sentences and practice them repeatedly until we can use them freely.

You must work hard to write English well.

The basis of writing an article is based on all English learning work. Learning a foreign language requires determination, hard work and reading day and night, so that what you write can be the same as that of foreigners. Even if he can't do this, his writing level still depends on his usual reading dialogues and other efforts.

Everyday conversation is not difficult to learn.

We thought that Russian was difficult to learn, but an illiterate China who worked as a tailor for foreigners in Harbin spoke it fluently, which proved that foreign language conversation is not difficult to learn, as long as there are enough practice opportunities. Because the words used in daily conversation are extremely limited, they are still those.

Generally speaking, we can't speak English because of the lack of context, that is, on-site practice. I have already mentioned the problem of how to create context. You can refer to my first article, "Do you still insist on learning English by yourself?"? 》)

14) Listen, say and speak

The ears hear it directly, and the mouth tries to imitate it. The so-called look and talk method. After correcting pronunciation mistakes, you must practice repeatedly until you get used to it. Scientific and technological progress makes this much easier. When we imitate pronunciation, we can not only hear it, but also see it directly with our eyes. )