If You Want to Become A Content Writer, Master These 6 Levels of English Learning

If English is not your first language, improving your communication skills and vocabulary can definitely open new doors for you in life.

Chances are you have already asked a lot of people for their advice. If their tips have not worked at all, then this answer is for you.

Just some background: Although I am from India, I was an English medium student in School which means all my school books were in the English language. So while I am not technically a “native speaker”, I became used to speaking in English fluently by the time I was 10 years old. I wrote my first blog in December 2008 (at 18 years old) and began my Writing career from there.

So how do you begin this long, hard journey where the destination is clear but the path is not?

Back in 2017, I wrote an answer on Quora about “How to improve my communication skills and Vocabulary?” that went, what you can call, “viral”. Here’s an almost word-by-word reproduction of the answer here on Medium.

By the end of this post. you will:

• Start getting comfortable with the idea of continually learning a new language
• Create a path of learning English all on your own
• Find new ways to expand your vocabulary naturally

Level 1: Books in English related to your Subjects

This is very easy. If you are studying for or working in a specific field, say, mechanical engineering, you will learn new terms very fast because you already have an interest in that subject. I am not talking about your course textbooks. In fact, the book should have nothing to do with the mechanical engineering syllabus or its concepts. But it should talk about modern mechanical engineering updates, techniques, and visuals to make its point.

For example, a book on the Mega Structures of the World, or How Robots Work.

These are just examples. I am sure if you search any public library (or even on Amazon), you will find several such topic-based non-fiction books. In fact, why just books? Buy print magazines, read up on the internet, blogs. Everything you can find on the subject in print / online.

Move on to the next level only if you are comfortable with every word of these texts.

Level 2: Books in English NOT related to your Subjects

This is where you break your comfort level. By now, your confidence level should have grown a little bit; it would not be completely zero because you know you can read in English and understand it.

Now, you can start exploring and reading different topics and learn a lot more words that were never used in your domain at all. The speed of this learning will be a little slow now that you are not 100% focusing on your topic.

But wait.. what kind of books to read or media to consume? Anything that takes up your interest, ideally. But I think non-fiction sources work the best if you want to learn. Find good non-fiction topics that interest you from whatever you know.

Space travel?

Economics of the World?

Or any specific topic such as a rags-to-riches story?

Fiction books will be basically stories, they might have some tough words. If you want to read them, keep them to a minimum and go slow when reading them. Stop reading any book that is too hard for you and pick them up when you feel ready.

Hopefully, this will help you develop into a habit of reading too. Once you are comfortable, you can move to level 3.

Level 3: English TV Media and Newspapers

At this level, you are exposed to a forever-changing world of unstructured information from the real world. You see, in books, everything is edited and is written to make a point. But on TV, information is very loose.

This is a good place to apply the learning from Levels 1 & 2 and build some confidence. By this time, you should also work on talking to people. Discuss online, participate in forums on Facebook and the Web. If you find a friend who can help you, keep talking with them until you are satisfied.

Once satisfied, it is good to move to level 4.

Level 4: English TV Shows and Movies

Welcome to the world of Storytelling. There’s emotion, there’s drama, there’s comedy. Grab some popular titles on Movies and TV shows and watch a few episodes and see if you like them.

Find a character whom you really like try copying their communication style. It need not be entertainment channels, even news stories are a great way to find a copy-able character.

You can use subtitled shows and movies initially when you are not comfortable with the accent. But after you have trained yourself, stop concentrating on them, read their accents yourself.

I learned most of my communication skills this way — and I loved it!

Find your favorite character — How does he/she say things? Notice their accent. Do they mean exactly what they say or is there a hidden meaning behind their expression? What do they really want to say? Think on these lines and think in English.

Once you understand what they talk about and how they create sentences, try to copy them in front of your friends.

Once comfortable, move to the next level!

Level 5: English Songs and Podcasts

Now here, there is no visual, only sound. So this will be very challenging. Go slow, discover your taste in music. Ask from friends and colleagues.

Podcasts are a perfect way to practice this; they are nothing but “audio lectures”.

SoundCloud and Spotify are great apps to discover podcasts that can be anywhere between 10 minutes to 60 minutes. Always carry your headphones around when traveling from home to work/school and listen to songs and podcasts.

By this time, you should have developed your thought process and should be comfortable enough to express yourself in spoken English.

Level 6: Write something original in English

Hopefully, by this time, you have started to think in English too. If you haven’t, then this step will force you to do so.

But hey, you are not a content writer like me. So WHAT will you write on?

Take an article which you liked and rewrite it in your own words. You can also copy the sentences if you think sometimes are accurate and cannot be rewritten. Can you give it a new title? Can you write with minimum original sentences reused?

This is a very broad and traditional list of improving your communication skills. But doing these will help empower you in English, you will no longer feel bored when all your friends talk in English.

And as you are going through these steps sequentially, your vocabulary is being developed at the same time — as a by-product... Isn’t it cool? :)

This post was originally written as an answer on Quora. Huge thanks to my Habit Coach Dipanshu Rawal for helping me realize the potential on Medium. Thanks to Zulie Rane for being so transparent about sharing knowledge about Medium through her YouTube videos.