If you’re learning English, don’t waste too much time learning idioms
As someone who has been working in English language teaching for over 15 years, I’ve noticed that people who are learning English seem obsessed with learning idioms. I believe that learning idioms is not the best use of time for an English learner and I’ll explain why.
I’ll also explain what to spend time learning, instead of idioms.
But first, why are learners so interested in learning idioms? I think there are two main reasons:
1. They’re told that idioms will help them score points in exams. This is partly true. If you’re studying for an exam like IELTS or TOEFL, idioms can help you get a higher score but, as I’ll explain, it’s not always worth the effort.
2. They’re fun and interesting to discover. Many idioms use weird examples that are funny to think about. It can be a fun moment when you discover a new idiom and it might make you smile. For example “We should get our ducks in a row”, which means “we should get organised” (usually used in a business context).
So, those are reasons to learn idioms but I think there are more significant reasons not to spend too much time learning them.
1. Idioms are really hard to remember perfectly. You have to get all the words right, even those annoying little prepositions. Even native speakers often get them slightly wrong. To use an idiom well, you have to say it perfectly or it doesn’t have the effect you were hoping for.
2. Idioms are usually very specific to certain situations or contexts. If you use an idiom in the wrong situation, it’s confusing and not useful for you or your listener.
3. Because idioms are so specific to certain situations, you rarely get a chance to use them. You might learn an idiom and then wait a year until the exact situation for it appears, by which point you’ve probably forgotten it.
All this means you would need to put a lot of time and effort into remembering lots of idioms perfectly, with very little return on the time you invested.
Tired old idioms
I correct learners’ English every day with my service Go Correct and I see certain idioms being used again and again. Two of the most popular are ‘not my cup of tea’ and ‘raining cats and dogs’.
I can see why these are popular. They’re short and the situations where you can use them are clear.
But, if you’re using these in an exam, the examiner will probably be tired of hearing them. They’ll know you learnt them just so you can score points, rather than because you have a high level of English.
What should you learn instead of idioms to earn points in exams and speak English more naturally?
I think phrasal verbs are a lot more useful and important than idioms. Native speakers use phrasal verbs all the time and they rarely use idioms.
It’s true that phrasal verbs are also difficult to learn and they also apply to very specific situations but knowing them and understanding them will improve your English much more than knowing obscure idioms.
Here are some of my favourite commonly used phrasal verbs:
give up — stop doing something
put off — postpone
pop in — visit a particular building (eg. shop, bar or friend’s home) for a short time
end up — eventually reach a place or conclusion after a lot of time or effort
check out — look at, investigate
Colloquial adjectives, nouns and verbs are also worth learning. Here are some examples:
dodgy (adj) — untrustworthy
banter (noun) — fun light-hearted conversation
to waffle (verb) — to talk a lot without making any clear points
If you want to practise writing English every day, with corrections and feedback from me, check out gocorrect.me. I send Go Correct subscribers a daily writing prompt and check their text. It’s a great way to try using natural English and see if you get it right.
