I learned English through magic.

The title might sound like bullshit, but you’ll soon find it true.

So little backstory, Nobody in my family when I was born could speak English or any language other than Native Hindi or Gujarati.

I was studying in a Hindi medium school, so the pressure of learning English was high; Irrfan Khan said it best in the Hindi Medium movie: “Is Desh Mein Angrezi Zabaan Nahi Hai … Class Hai.”

so my parents also wanted me to be a part of that “class.”

Now let me take you magic helped me in learning English; when I was in 7th class, I had just gotten into the morning school.

I used to get home at 12, and the first thing like any other kid, I used to start watching TV; my favorite shows were “Pokémon” and “Beyblade” I can still watch them, to be honest.

Now while going to these cartoon channels, there were two English channels in between, AXN & Zee Cafe.

One day, I was skimming through these channels, but my hand stopped on AXN. I saw a dude in full black leather clothes levitating above a building. As a kid, I was mesmerized and, more than that, shocked. How is this happening ???

When I checked the program name, It was Criss Angel: Mindfreak, A magic show where Criss used to do this kind of illusion.

I was hooked on this show. There was Magic, Las Vegas. Who won’t??

Now, this show was in English, and like any other show, it had subtitles. While watching, I noticed one thing that when the magician Spoke, he used to speak very slowly and in a heavy voice so his accent was clear and I could understand what words he was saying ( Magicians do this to sound mysterious)

This helped me understand English better, I started watching the show for hours every day, and this helped me get a grasp of American English. I was not converting sentences as I was thinking of them in English only.

There were more shows like this, The one where the magician reveals his tricks from these. Then I went to another series, and I still watch English series in English.

So this is How I learned English by magic. Things that might seem small at the moment can make a bigger impact. Curiosity was the key here. My curiosity for magic, my curiosity for understanding a new culture.

BTW I also know a few card tricks myself, so If you ever meet me and have a deck in your pocket. I’ll show you one.

Be curious.

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