Learning English from scratch starts with mastering the roughly one thousand most frequent words, then building up input you can understand through daily listening and reading. Speaking grows once your ears are tuned and your core vocabulary is in place. An absolute beginner of any age can reach simple conversation within 3 to 6 months with consistent daily practice.
- Build core vocabulary first: the first 1,000 words cover most daily conversation
- Build up comprehensible input before demanding fluent speech of yourself
- Daily practice of 20 to 30 minutes beats long sessions once a week
- A vocabulary notebook or flashcard app
- A list of the 1,000 most frequent English words