Why Learn English
I often tell people around me: instead of learning 10 computer languages, it is better to truly master one human language, such as English or Japanese.
Today, programming languages seem to have become the new skill everyone chases. But if you look further ahead, you will find that mastering a human language is often more valuable than knowing a programming language.
If you are a programmer, you should understand that what truly matters is not how many programming languages you know, but whether you have solid programming thinking. Similarly, for people living in a non-English environment, the benefits of learning English well go far beyond “knowing one more language.” It affects access to knowledge, education for the next generation, your view of the future, and even your judgment and decisions in major events.
As technology develops rapidly, programming languages iterate very quickly. Some languages that were once popular, such as Pascal, Perl, PHP, and Objective-C, now have a much smaller scope of use in industry, and some have gradually been replaced by newer languages. Even the still important C language is seeing its market share change in certain fields.
If someone invests a large amount of time in one specific programming language, and that language gradually fades from the mainstream in the future, the time and energy already invested may depreciate significantly.
By contrast, English is a language that will not easily become obsolete. As a global bridge language, English occupies an extremely important position in international communication, scientific research, technical documentation, business cooperation, and education. Mastering English is an ability that will not quickly disappear with changes in technical trends.
As long as you keep using and improving your English, its value will keep accumulating, and one could even say it grows with compound interest.
Instead of spending a large amount of time learning a programming language that may be eliminated, it is better to use part of that time to improve English. After mastering English, you can access frontier information and high-quality resources more freely. In today’s age of information explosion, this is especially important.
Of course, mastering certain programming languages can indeed help you enter specific fields and find specific jobs. But the role of English is not limited to one industry. It is a key to many top companies. Whether you want to do software development, product management, marketing, data analysis, or any work that requires collaboration with international teams, fluent English may become a key advantage.
Especially in today’s globalized world, many companies want to hire employees who can communicate in English. This means you can deal with international clients, participate in global projects, and even open overseas markets. English ability not only makes career choices more diverse, but also significantly raises your salary ceiling.
More importantly, English ability is cumulative. Over time, the more you use it, the stronger it becomes; the stronger it becomes, the more information, opportunities, and worlds it opens to you.
Learning a new programming language, whether Python, Java, Rust, or Go, may help you find a job in the short term or solve certain technical problems. But it is more like a stage-specific transaction: once the technical trend changes, the original technical reserve may lose value.
English learning is different. It is more like a long-term appreciating investment. Whether in school, work, or daily life, English can continue to bring you immeasurable returns.
How to Learn English
My understanding is simple: listen, and keep listening.
More precisely, keep doing comprehensible input.
A language expert once expressed a similar view: as long as a person receives a large amount of comprehensible listening input, they will gradually learn the language, including listening, speaking, reading, and other abilities.
I agree with this view because I have already felt it personally.
In a place without an English environment, it is certainly difficult for a person to master English. But after a large amount of listening input accumulates, the person slowly builds familiarity with English. When that familiarity accumulates to a certain point, a qualitative change happens.
I usually do not speak English much. I mainly listen and read. But some time ago, I tried to express my views in English, and the result exceeded my expectations. Although my word choice was not accurate enough, I was already able to express meaningful ideas. This shocked me, because before that I had always thought it would be very difficult for me to express complex thoughts in English.
So the summary is one sentence: listen, listen a lot; but do not listen blindly. Do comprehensible input.