Mapleleaf Man

If I say to you 'bit by bit', will you know what I mean? It's the same as 'step by step'. Want to learn English? Want to lose weight? Want to learn computer programming? Do it bit by bit, step by step. There is no other way. 

I'm trying to lose weight. I exercise every day, eat a bit less every day (I hope) and try to keep active. It's frustrating sometimes because it doesn't look as if I'm losing anything at all. But I am...very slowly. I could spend all day exercising but that wouldn't last too long. I could eat a lot less but that wouldn't work either. As a matter of fact, that would be the worst thing I could do. (Don't ever diet to lose weight. It just makes it harder the next time you want to lose weight. Your body changes, it stores fat because it thinks you're starving. Don't diet....ever!)

Same thing with English. Don't get frustrated. If you learn a word a day, you'll have 365 new words at the end of a year. Ten words a week? That's 520 new words by the end of a year. Do the math. It's not impossible to fully understand 1,000 new words by the end of a year. Don't have time? Sure you do. Keep an English dictionary in the washroom and learn five new words every time you are sitting down...get my point? 

The average educated English speaking person knows about 20,000 words. That person would use about 2,000 words in a week. (I probably know more and use more because I'm a writer. Don't use me as an example.) Knowing that, you would only have to learn 2,000 words to be able to carry on a conversation with an English speaking person. How long would that take to do? Maybe a year, maybe less, maybe more. But, above all, it is 'doable'. That's a new word. If you can do something, it is 'doable' or able to be done. 

Lastly, I say this all the time but it bears repeating, if you can't think of how to say something, try to think of how to say it differently. When I am writing this log, I often start to say something backwards or in a way that only an English reader would understand. That isn't good for you guys so I try to say things another way. There are millions of English words. Anything that can be said can be said in many different ways. Don't get hung up over one or two words. Change the words around and use something else. Go ahead. Ask me anything and I will tell you another way to say it. 

Thanks for reading!