Ko sam ja da ti pričam o učenju engleskog, delim savete koji se razlikuju od školskih i tvrdim da je moj način jedini ispravan, saznaćeš u današnoj priči.

Those of you who have been following me for a while may remember the story of my grandfather.

He's now almost 100 now and I'm only now beginning to realize the influence he had on me and the shaping of my personality.

I lost my father in a car accident when I was almost 4 and the only solid male figure in my life was my grandfather.

He is my first encounter with the English language.

He was self-taught. He learned German and English all by himself, with no teachers, courses, or school, and with no Internet!

And he taught me, back then, only I didn't know that at the time, that you learn languages on your own.

He was born in 1925. He tried to evade the army but Četnici found him hiding and took him with them. Luckily, he survived. He got married and had two kids and two granddaughters.

None of the tragedies of war managed to kill his inquisitive spirit.

Thanks to a back injury he sustained when he was about 40 he was able to retire very early and spend his life reading and learning about various things that interested him, such as languages, mathematics, and medicine.

And he was also able to spend a lot of time with us after we were born (my sister and I).

That's where I started to form my beliefs about learning.

I spent my childhood observing him with his books, no computer, no phone, just an English textbook, and a dictionary, always learning and always because he wanted to not because he had to.

Just him, his textbook (by Serbian authors), and a dictionary.

That's how I know.

My grandfather did it 30 years ago.

And he didn't have a private teacher.

He didn't have internet.

But he had something that was more important than any technological tool you might think you need today and that was his curiosity.

He wanted to learn.

And that's why it all goes back to the famous quote - ‘A man who wants to do something will find a way; a man who doesn't will find an excuse’.

If you want to learn, just look at how much more help you have than my grandfather had back then.

You're reading a lesson right now, in English, that's being served to you with no effort from your side, none whatsoever.

But we have become experts at listing excuses.

But excuses are not the truth.

Excuses are the symptom of the truth, and the real truth is - if you're not learning it's because you don't want to!

And if you really want to - you'll find a way, even if you only have a dictionary to hand.

My grandfather proved that 30 years ago.

Do sutra,

xoxo