Introduction
Who I am, how I studied English wrong for years, and why I wrote these notes.
⏱ About 3 min read
I started learning English in sixth grade. By the time I had a job, I still couldn't get through a single episode of anything without Vietnamese subtitles.
That bothered me for years. I wasn't lazy. I took extra classes, bought the books, installed the apps. The results barely moved.
It took me a long time to see the actual problem: I had been studying English like a subject on an exam, not like a language.
Where I went wrong
Looking back, there were three mistakes. I think a lot of Vietnamese learners make exactly the same three.
One: learning words in isolation. I copied new words into a notebook, one per line, with the Vietnamese meaning next to it. I memorised hundreds of them. But when someone actually said one out loud, I didn't recognise it — I only knew what it looked like on paper, never what it sounded like inside a real sentence.
Two: going too deep on grammar. I could break down the passive voice, third conditionals, reduced relative clauses. But in real speech a sentence is gone in a second. There is no time to analyse anything.
Three: forcing myself to speak too early. I joined an English club while my vocabulary was still very thin. I could talk, but I talked wrong. And because I repeated the mistakes often enough, they became habits. Undoing them later was exhausting.
What actually changed things
I switched to an approach called immersion — spending time inside the language instead of studying it from the outside.
The idea is simple: instead of learning about English, I use English. Every day I listen to and read real material — films, podcasts, stories — the same things native speakers consume.
At first I understood very little. I kept going anyway. And after a few months, sentences started clicking into place that I had never sat down and memorised.
That is how people learn languages. Nobody told me that while I was in school.
What these notes are
This is my own record: what I did, in what order, with which tools, and where I got stuck.
I wrote them for the version of me from ten years ago.
Who this is not for
If you need an IELTS score in two months, don't follow me. Immersion gives results that last, but the first few months feel like nothing is happening. Exams need test technique, which is a different problem.
What to read next
How I taught myself English
The whole route I took. Read this one first.
The first 30 days
Exactly what I did each day during the first month.
Vocabulary & Anki
How I remember words without rote memorisation.
Setting up Ddict
The lookup tool I use every day while reading.
The four pieces
The frame I use to spot which piece my week is missing.
When you know the words but can't hear them
Why a sentence made of familiar words still slips past your ears.