There'snoshortcuttolanguagelearning．Tomasteralanguageonehastomemorizethousandsandthousandsofwords，aswellasread，listenandspeak．
That'salsothewayIdoit．SincethedayIbeganlearningEnglish，Istartedtomemorizewords．First，theonesinthetextbooks，thenwhatIhappenedtomeetinthenewspapers，novelsandevenontheInternet．Istillrememberaclassmateofminegossiped：“RenChangisrecitingthedictionary）That'sneverthecase．Iwouldeasilygettiredmemorizingwordsforsomedefinitepurposes，suchasforexams．Tobefrank，IneverfinishedthedictionaryforCET-4．IjustmemorizethewordsI'dliketo．Interestplaysaveryimportantrole．Ifyoudon'tlikealanguage，youwon'twanttolearnit，andevenifyoudo，you'reobjectingitsubconsciously，whichisahin-drancetodeepinvolvementandinspiration．Butifyou'refondofit，everythingseemsquitenatural．Wordsgetintoyourmemoryandstay，justlikemagic．
Readingisalsoanimportantpartinlanguagelearning．We'vegotanoldChinesesaying“Ifyoureadthepoemsagainandagain，youwillsurelybeabletosingeventhoughyoucan'twrite．”Tobefamiliarwiththearticleswrittenbynatives，youcangetahinthowtheyhandlethelanguage，andmaybeabletomakeuseofwhatyoureadinyourownwriting．Youmayaskwhattoread．Firstyourtextbooks，they'rechosenbecausethey'retypicalandusuallyformal．Thensomeinterestingnovels，betterchoosetheoneswrittentodaythanthoseofthe18thcentury，ifyou'renotgoingtobealinguist．Newspapersandmagazinesaregoodchoicestoo，especiallyifyouareconcernedwiththenewsathomeandabroad．
Whenitcomestothematteroflistening，IhighlyrecommendthatyouwatchEnglishvideos，ofcoursewiththeChinesesubtitles．Yes，herecomesoneproblem，youmaygraduallyshiftyourattentionfromthedialoguestothesubtitles．Buteverycoinhastwosides，right？Filmsprovideacircumstanceforthedialoguesandsubtitleshelpunderstandthedialogues．What'smore，itisinterestingtowatchfilms．Andonemorething，listentoEnglishsongsandtrytosingthem．ItwillnotonlyimproveyourEnglishbutalsoenrichyourlife．
Speakingisoftenconsideredagreatproblem．Onewaytosolveitistalkingtoyourself．Don'tcarewhatothersthinkofyou．ItalktomyselfwhenI'mhappyandsharemysorrowwithmyself．Youwillneverlaughatyourself．Thenyoucangostraightoutandtalktonativespeakers．Trustme，they'rebetteratunderstandingyourwrongusagesthanthoseChinesewhocanspeakEnglish．Ifyou'restilltooshy，trythevoicechatonthenet，butdon'teverexpectgoodvoicequality．
Ifyoudoallthesewell，I'msureyouwilldowellintheexams，ifwithalittlebitluck．
