Rating the BEST & WORST Ways to Learn English in 2026

0:00Let's talk about the best and the worst

0:02ways to learn a language. In today's

0:04video, I'm going to take nine of the

0:07most common ways to learn a language,

0:10and I'm going to rank them from 1 to 10.

0:14There are many great ways to learn a

0:16language out there, but there are also

0:18several bad ways. So, make sure you

0:21watch until the end of today's video so

0:24you know how to learn English the right

0:26way. My name is Michael Anton. I'm the

0:28founder of English at the ready and it's

0:30my goal to make you fluent in English.

0:33Now, let's talk about the first way to

0:36learn English that is super common and

0:39in fact, you're doing it right now.

0:42Watching YouTube. Lots of people like to

0:44turn on YouTube. Maybe you watch my

0:46videos. Maybe you watch videos from

0:48other YouTubers on how to improve your

0:50English. And I'm going to give this a 7

0:53out of 10. Watching YouTube is great,

0:57but it's not the best way. So, I'm going

0:58to give it a seven out of 10. Some of

1:00the pros of watching YouTube is that you

1:02can listen to real and natural

1:05pronunciation from different native

1:07speakers around the world. It's great

1:09for listening and pronunciation and it's

1:12easy to access and it's free. That's the

1:15best part. There's so much knowledge

1:17available on YouTube for free. The

1:19problem with using YouTube to learn

1:21English is that it's mostly passive.

1:24You're just listening and you're not

1:25speaking. It's easy to get distracted

1:28and there is a lot of information out

1:32there which can be incredibly

1:33overwhelming. It can be difficult to

1:36create a structure and to create a plan.

1:38When there's so much information out

1:40there, you get distracted and you don't

1:42know what to do next. So, YouTube is

1:45great, but it's not structured. It's the

1:48same with watching movies. That's the

1:50second way to learn English that lots of

1:52people use. I'm going to give this one a

1:54seven out of 10 as well. Watching movies

1:57is great. I always recommend it if

2:00you're learning a language because it's

2:02a great way of listening to real life

2:04English in real life situations. It'll

2:06improve your listening and your

2:08vocabulary. And it can be fun and

2:10motivating. If you watch a movie you

2:12really enjoy, obviously it's going to be

2:15easy to stay motivated because you're

2:17into the movie, you're enjoying it, it's

2:20entertaining. The problem with using

2:22movies to learn English is a lot like

2:25using YouTube to learn English. You have

2:27little speaking practice. It's easy to

2:30get distracted because you don't have a

2:31structure. You have a lot of different

2:34movies to choose from. And native

2:36speakers often speak incredibly quickly.

2:39They don't speak clearly, which can be a

2:42challenge if you're at the beginner

2:44level. And native speakers also use

2:46slang. Believe it or not, native

2:48speakers don't always use correct

2:50grammar or standard vocabulary when they

2:53speak. This can be confusing, especially

2:55you're just starting out because you can

2:58form bad habits if you hear somebody

3:01using incorrect grammar. But all in all,

3:04watching movies is a great way to

3:06improve your English and I strongly

3:08recommend it. All right, the worst way

3:09to learn a language is to use a

3:12textbook. I'm gonna give this one two

3:14out of 10. Using a textbook is something

3:17I don't recommend. It's something you

3:20probably did in school, but it's not a

3:22strategy that is particularly effective.

3:25The language you learn in a textbook is

3:28often unnatural. I remember when I

3:31learned German in school, I studied a

3:34bit of German in school for about a

3:36year. We used a textbook from the '9s

3:39and the textbook that we used was out

3:42ofdate. The language, the slang, the

3:44words they used in the textbook were not

3:46used in modern German. They were about

3:5020, 30 years out of date. So language is

3:53constantly changing and if you use an

3:55old textbook, the language you read in

3:57the textbook might not be up to date.

3:59Again, you get no speaking practice with

4:02a textbook and textbooks can honestly be

4:04pretty boring. Textbooks are good,

4:07however, because they give you

4:09structure. They give you a plan. They

4:11give you a clear way of improving your

4:15English. They're good for grammar

4:17reference if you need to check something

4:19about grammar. And they're also useful

4:21if you're preparing for an exam like the

4:23IELTS, the TOEFL, the CellPIP, or any

4:26other standardized test. So, I don't

4:28want to say textbooks are all bad, but

4:31they're certainly not my preferred way

4:34of learning a language. So, that's why

4:36I'm going to give this one two out of

4:3710. The next one is something you've

4:40probably tried. Using apps to learn a

4:44language. Now, this depends on the app.

4:46Some apps are better than others, but on

4:48the whole, I'm going to give this one

4:50five out of 10. You see, apps are great

4:53because you can use them every day.

4:55you're on your phone anyway, so you can

4:57easily open up an app and practice a

4:59language. They're good for basic

5:01vocabulary. There are a lot of good apps

5:04out there that will help you build

5:06vocabulary. And some apps are even what

5:09we call gified. So, it's like playing a

5:12game. It keeps you motivated. It keeps

5:14you engaged and sometimes even addicted

5:17to the app. The problem with apps is

5:19that they're often disconnected from

5:21real English. Sometimes they suffer the

5:23same problem as a textbook might where

5:26they don't use natural English. Again,

5:28this depends entirely on the app. Some

5:31are certainly better than others, but

5:33there is a tendency for apps to use

5:35somewhat formal or rigid English, which

5:38doesn't necessarily reflect the English

5:41we use every day. Most apps don't offer

5:44much speaking practice. Some people like

5:46to speak to AI, which we'll talk about

5:48in a moment, but this is actually not

5:50something I recommend. And lastly, apps

5:53can actually create false confidence. If

5:56you've used an app to learn English, you

5:58might think you're fluent, but then you

6:00go into the real world and you have a

6:01conversation with real people and you

6:04realize you're actually not that good.

6:07So, apps can definitely give you a false

6:09sense of confidence and make you think

6:12you're better than you actually are.

6:14Again, depends on the app, but on the

6:16whole, I don't recommend using apps as

6:18your primary strategy to learn a

6:21language. So, I'm going to give this one

6:23five out of 10. Next up is Chat GBT. I'm

6:26sure you've used Chat GPT, not

6:28necessarily for English, but for other

6:30things, maybe at work or at school. I

6:33don't actually like ChatGpt for learning

6:36a language. And when I say chat GPT, I

6:38mean any of the standard AI tools like

6:41Grock, Gemini, or Claude. These are

6:46great because they give you instant

6:48feedback. You just have to talk to the

6:50AI and you'll get feedback immediately.

6:53They can actually explain grammar

6:55clearly. Chat GPT is pretty good for

6:57grammar. You can ask it follow-up

6:59questions and it's available at any

7:02time. You just have to open up your

7:04computer or your phone and you can pull

7:06up chat GPT. The problem is talking to

7:08an AI is totally different than talking

7:12to a real human. AI won't prepare you

7:15for real conversations. The only way to

7:18prepare yourself for real conversations

7:19is through speaking practice with real

7:23people. Another issue with Chat GBT and

7:25other AI tools is that it makes it

7:28dangerously easy to overthink grammar.

7:32If you're constantly talking to an AI,

7:34you're constantly asking it to evaluate

7:36your grammar, you might find you place

7:39too much emphasis on grammar. When in

7:42reality, your main focus should always

7:44be speaking. Remember, the purpose of

7:46language is not necessarily perfect

7:48grammar, which is important, but the

7:50purpose of language is communication.

7:52And that means speaking with real

7:53people, getting your ideas across, and

7:55communicating with them. On a similar

7:57note, when you speak to ChachiBT, I know

7:59some people use the voice feature on the

8:02app. I've used this for other languages

8:04when I'm learning other languages, but I

8:07don't feel the same level of pressure

8:10when I speak to Chat DPT than when I

8:13speak with a real person. And sometimes

8:15pressure is a good thing because it

8:17pushes you. It motivates you. If things

8:19are too easy, you're probably doing

8:21something wrong. You always want to

8:23challenge yourself a little bit. You

8:25want to get out of your comfort zone

8:27because that's where real progress

8:29happens. So, I'm going to give Chai

8:31Gibbt and other AI tools a four out of

8:3510. They can help, but they shouldn't be

8:37used on their own. If you are looking

8:39for a strategy to improve your English,

8:42and to speak with real people, native

8:44speakers and non-native speakers alike,

8:46we offer several online programs with

8:48the goal of helping you speak English

8:50more confidently. If you want to apply,

8:52just click the link in the description

8:54below to learn more to submit an

8:56application and if we can help you,

8:58we'll be in touch. Now, earlier we

9:00talked about movies and YouTube. I also

9:04want to talk about music. Music is a

9:06great way to improve your English, but

9:08I'm going to give it a five out of 10

9:10because it's not enough. Same problem as

9:13YouTube, same problem as watching

9:16movies. Music can help you improve, but

9:19the issue is that the lyrics are

9:21sometimes hard to understand.

9:23Songwriters don't always use standard

9:26English. They might use slang. They

9:28might use non-standard forms of the

9:30language, which can be useful to know,

9:32but I always encourage starting with the

9:35most standard form of the language and

9:37then expanding out into slang, into

9:40idioms, into more regional forms of

9:43English. Once you get more advanced,

9:45again, you have no speaking practice if

9:48you're just listening to music. And some

9:51songs can be difficult to understand,

9:53especially if you're a beginner because

9:55you're not just listening to the

9:56language, you're listening to the

9:58rhythm, you're listening to the pitch,

10:00the melody, the harmony. There's a lot

10:02going on. So, it can be hard to focus

10:05specifically on the words. That being

10:07said, listening to music is great

10:10because it can actually improve your

10:12pronunciation and it can help you

10:14understand the rhythm of the language.

10:16Every language has a rhythm. English

10:19does. All other languages do as well and

10:22they're often slightly different. So, if

10:24you can understand the rhythm of the

10:26English language, you can improve your

10:28accent. You can improve your

10:29pronunciation. It will also help you

10:32understand native English speakers.

10:34Listening to music is great because it

10:36can help you remember words and phrases.

10:39When a song is stuck in your head, the

10:41lyrics will also be stuck in your head.

10:43So, naturally, this is a great way of

10:46memorizing vocabulary and memorizing

10:49idioms, slang, and other terms of

10:52phrase. Listening to music is also

10:54motivating because music is enjoyable

10:57and entertaining. If you enjoy listening

10:59to music, you'll be more likely to

11:02listen to it. And if you're more likely

11:04to listen to it, you're more likely to

11:06improve your English. That being said,

11:08for the reasons I described earlier,

11:10listening to music is helpful, but it's

11:13not enough. So, I'm still going to give

11:16it a five out of 10. Now, for the next

11:19method, I want you to think back to how

11:21you learned English in school. A lot of

11:24you probably learned English in

11:26elementary school, secondary school,

11:29middle school, maybe even university.

11:31But the way you learned English was

11:34probably not the best. You see, most

11:36schools around the world use something

11:39called the grammar translation method.

11:42This is a very oldfashioned way of

11:44learning a language, and it's changing a

11:47bit. Schools are starting to move away

11:49from this approach, but it's still very

11:52common, and it's probably how you

11:53learned English. You see, the grammar

11:55translation method involves taking a

11:58text in English or in another language

12:01and translating it word for word. If you

12:04use the grammar translation method,

12:06you're learning English in your language

12:09instead of directly in English. The

12:11teacher probably speaks your language

12:14and the class is probably conducted

12:18mostly in your language. Now, this is

12:20good if you're a beginner, but if you're

12:22at the intermediate or the advanced

12:24level, I don't recommend learning

12:26English in your language. I recommend

12:29learning English entirely in English

12:31because the grammar translation method

12:34encourages you to translate directly in

12:36your head and doesn't encourage you to

12:39think directly in English. It also

12:42doesn't encourage you to speak. It

12:45encourages you to translate. It's great

12:48for reading and writing, but it's not

12:50that good for speaking. It's also decent

12:53for grammar because it can help teach

12:56you very abstract grammatical concepts,

12:59and it's probably familiar to you. It's

13:01probably a method you have used in the

13:03past. That being said, it has a lot of

13:06problems. It's not a very natural way to

13:09learn English. So, I'm going to give the

13:11grammar translation method a four out of

13:1410. Not very good. The grammar

13:16translation method is the old way of

13:18learning English and it was commonly

13:20used in the 18th and 19th centuries.

13:23Around the beginning of the 20th

13:24century, a new method of language

13:27learning began to be developed. This was

13:29called the direct method or the natural

13:34method. The natural method is when you

13:37learn a language entirely in that

13:40language. It's called the natural method

13:42because this is how children learn

13:44language. They learn by seeing, by

13:47hearing, by looking around, and by

13:49interacting with the world in that

13:52language. Now, I really like the direct

13:55method. I think it's a great method,

13:57especially if you're at the intermediate

13:59level or the advanced level. I recommend

14:02learning English in English. It's very

14:04natural. It focuses strongly on speaking

14:07and pronunciation. And you learn grammar

14:09by actually using it and by seeing it

14:12used, not by memorization. That being

14:16said, it can be confusing at first. And

14:18it requires a very skilled teacher

14:21because it's difficult to explain an

14:23English concept in English. It's also

14:26slower for abstract grammatical concepts

14:30because it's harder to connect certain

14:32grammatical concepts with the real

14:34world. Now, the direct method is

14:36something you can't really do on your

14:38own. It's something that happens in the

14:41classroom. So, maybe you've taken a

14:42course or a program in the past which

14:45used this method. It's common for

14:47teachers to make gestures, to teach

14:51vocabulary. It's common to show images.

14:53It's common to show videos and other

14:57media. And the whole point of the direct

15:00method is to make learning English as

15:02natural as possible and to avoid using

15:06the students native language. I would

15:08rate this method an 8 out of 10. It's

15:11not perfect, but it's a great way of

15:14learning a language because it's

15:16natural. It imitates the way you learned

15:18your first language as a child. And if

15:20you're looking for an English course, I

15:22would strongly recommend you look for

15:24one that uses the natural method. Now,

15:28that being said, I'm only going to give

15:29the natural method an 8 out of 10

15:32because it's not the best way to learn

15:34English. The best way to learn English

15:36is not by using one single method, but

15:39by combining all the methods we talked

15:41about today. Use an app, watch movies,

15:45read books, listen to music, attend

15:48class, speak with real people. By

15:51combining all these methods, you will be

15:53able to benefit from all of them. You'll

15:56be able to balance your speaking, your

15:58grammar, your vocabulary, and your

16:00listening skills. If you learn better

16:02using one method, you'll be able to

16:04focus a bit more on that. If you learn

16:06better using another method, you can

16:08focus more on that. It's very flexible

16:11and it's closest to real life English

16:13use. The problem with this and with

16:16learning English generally on your own

16:18is it requires a very good structure.

16:20There's so much information out there.

16:21There are so many different ways of

16:23learning English. You have to find

16:24what's best for you and you need to come

16:27up with a structure. Without guidance

16:29and without support, it can feel

16:31overwhelming. And just like any skill,

16:34it requires discipline and consistency.

16:37That's why if you are looking to improve

16:39your English this year, we have several

16:41online programs which are designed to

16:44help you improve your speaking, your

16:45listening, your grammar, your

16:47vocabulary, your pronunciation, your

16:49accent, and so much more. If you would

16:51like to apply for our online programs,

16:53just click the link in the description

16:55below. You can submit an application,

16:57tell us a bit about your situation and

16:59why you want to improve your English,

17:01and if we can help you, we'll be in

17:03touch. If you enjoyed today's video, let

17:06me know in the comments. Let me know

17:08what strategies you're using to improve

17:10your English and what strategies you

17:12prefer. Make sure to leave a like,

17:14subscribe to English at the Ready here

17:15on YouTube, and I'll see you in the next

17:18video. Remember, some strategies are

17:20better than others, but there isn't only

17:22one way to learn a language. I recommend

17:25you combine as many strategies as

17:27possible, and you double down on what

17:29works and you remove what doesn't work.

17:32Everybody's different. Everybody learns

17:34differently.