How To Improve Your English?

[bbrdcg 0]

I guess many of us improved our English in many ways, either English for writing, or just for day to day conversations.

Some of you may have received formal trainings,

a few of you may have selftaught yourselves,

there's some who were forced to learn it,

or for some; simply by using...

Any tips, guys and gals? Share with us, I would like to learn too!

[hairulfadly 27]

You can improve your knowledge and ability to use the English language! Some common ways people do this are :

1. Be alert. Keep your ears and eyes open, listening to how people use the language, and reading other people's work critically.

2. Read more. Read from business magazines, international newspapers, other people's annual reports and letters. It is also a good idea to spend some time reading fiction, as this can provide a vital freshness to your language use and increase your vocabulary. Other light reading may include biographies of famous people, especially statesmen, whose business it is to be very correct with language.

3. Listen to the radio on a walkman, in the car, or while relaxing at home. Radio has the advantage over TV in that it relies solely on words, whereas on TV, it is often poorly written and the visuals do most of the talking.

4. Take some time to study an article from a magazine or newspaper. Analyse how the sentences are constructed, the choice of the words that are used and the organisation of the data. Write out sentences or phrases that you find particularly powerful.

5. Buy a workbook on writing and put one hour or so aside each week to do a number of exercises. There are many good books on the market.

6. Take some time to learn how to use a dictionary, a thesaurus, a reference book and a grammar book. I recommend Practical English Usage by Michael Swan (Oxford) as one of the simplest grammar references to use.

7. If you look up a word in a dictionary, you may like to write it out with its meaning to aid memory. Some people keep a notebook of new words : this can be very effective.

[speedfinger 0]

ouh, sorry for the malay post. Didn't see that rules up there..

so like i said, listen to english song, try to make up the lyrics.

start with slow songs then look for a faster one and then go for hip hop or rap.

train your listening skills.

english isn't only about talking but also involves listening.

Edited June 17, 2007 by speedfinger

[kasyfi 0]

In my humble opinion: English is a very difficult language to learn because it is made from words of many different languages. My suggestions: See if you can find an ESL class (English as a second language) /an English class (you will need to give some effort and money in order to register an English class..) .

Then I would suggest that you spend as much time as possible using English. Read the daily English newspaper.., as for this one I suggest you the New Strait Times instead of The Star..

Next, listen to radio/television programs in English. Listening to the radio is a very good idea. To dismiss TV is wrong because of course people speak English on TV. It's often not standard BBC English (now there's a channel available from Astro..)but it contains slang and colloquialisms that you need to know in order to communicate with people.Of course, you have to take some time to learn about it.there's no need to be rush.

Find another person who is trying to learn English-but not one who speaks your native language, could be Spanish, French,or even English and so on, and talk to him/her in English. If you need to write something, have an English speaking person check it for you. Write English as much as possible before using internet shortcuts. Examples:

English is a proper noun and is always capitalized.

Spell out you rather than U.

Advice is the same for plural and single

Spell out because, rather than cos

mostly .....

Read English books and magazines and

Don't use the internet messages or chat in order to improve or learn English. The English used there is often inaccurate.

the most important step to be taken is, you practise,practise,practise and practise..because practise makes perfect...

[highlander 0]

my opinion..read kasyfi thread and abedah posts...hehheheh

[e_X 2]

Just playing games to improve cause many games in English . . . Kekekew . . .

[KaKui 0]

try to speak english instead of malay in your daily life....

[Rads78 0]

errr... marrying an English or American girl/guy??? and more you will get citizenship or at least a "permanent residence" of her/his country. I prefer my idea cause its more practical bwahahahhahahah

[bbrdcg 0]

Thank you for your suggestions.

Rads78, I really like the idea of marrying someone who speaks English, that sounds fun and interesting, heheh. Or kasyfi's suggestions finding another person trying to learn English too. And gamerlife's way of learning by playing games. There seems to be many ways at learning the language but I guess the most important thing is to know first, which way, or ways, that we'd really want to stick to, doesn't it? The main thing is, it catches our interest. So then we'd wouldn't be bored and eventually gave up after a while.

But the hardest thing in English I think is conversing. When you talk, the ideas must be there.

It's spontaneous.

Otherwise, you'd end up as - speechless...

lol

[hairulfadly 27]

mmmm... maryying English woman.. it just good idea..

everyday talks to your wife with English ..

Darling, could you please make some coffe ? ;lol;

[RevolutionWorks 0]

Marrying foreign women from US/UK can improve your english? give me a break.....

How about teenager that want to improve their english? marrying with foreign women/men will solve the problem?

It is not that hard actually.

As you can see on internet, most of the information in English. There is many dictionary online, and we even have Malay to English dictionary online at www.karyanet.com.my

As for speaking and writing, there is no other effective way other than you practicing it in real life.

I polish my english skill with my interest for computer games, games genre like RPG with long text to read and audio in english really challenge me to understand it. And playing online games on international server force you to communicate in english.

Bottom line, its all down to your interest and effort to improve yourself, no one can help you if you didn't help yourself to improve your english.

Just my 2 cents...

[WhiteShark 0]

The hardest language to master in this world is arabic and french... and the easiest is Malay... being said in some research...

To improve your level of english isn't a simple task... you need to be alert and cautious... your pronunciation and grammar is crucial... because english is about understanding... if people cant understand what you are trying to say or deliver... being the person listening have a good mastery of english, thats mean you didn't meet the level of satisfactory yet...

1. Read more

2. Speak more

3. Understand more

[antu 0]

1.dun shy.

2.must have confident.

[sonic_real 0]

It is easy to learn english buddy......

Read smthing in english like magazines,newspaper.......it will help you a lot

[Micro P 0]

my opinion..

write in english..

1-message

2-diary

3-note

4-short story or novelle if you are the writer

5-ect

(oh..i also weak in english..huhu)

[P Untuk Pendeta 0]

effective ways:

INPUT:

read: scanlated manga, comics, magazines, newspapers.

listen: english music, watch english TV shows [discovery channels, national geographic...better if u turn off the subtitles, so u would use the dictionary instead], stand up comedy, tv3 nightline [or anyother english news.]

OUTPUT:

write: post on the internet, emails, forums, letter to yourself [read after 5 years...very funny], essays, diaries. or poem if you're the emo type lulz.

speak: don't mind broken, just make sure you put effort to fix it. speak while making orders at restaurants [McD, KFC, etc], small talk with cute waitresses, with your friend, play vocab games, public speaking.

Edited June 28, 2007 by Sinful

[LordApes 0]

want the fast way to converse in english? watch a movie, listen to songs and whatnot, and say it again. If songs, obtain the lyrics (because you may make mistakes if writing it on your own, and end up with gibberish), and if from a movie, use only english subtitles. DO NOT use malay subtitiles.

Say those dialogues/lyrics out loud. That's he way to hone your conversation skill... at least for me it worked.

To write in english gracefully, speak fluently. To speak fluently, talk. Me? I was bad in english. Then I joined my school's debate team. Improved a lot. hehe.

[LanoV 22]

The best way to improve your English is go to England, US or Australia and live/work/study there for a couple of years.

[mangisza 0]

The best way to improve your English is go to England, US or Australia and live/work/study there for a couple of years.

the easiest way is...try to speak in english "everyday"..........no need to go to west side...high cost ooo!!!

[kasyfi 0]

the easiest way is...try to speak in english "everyday"..........no need to go to west side...high cost ooo!!!

exactly... as long as there is someone to comunicate to ...then, there will be no problem to improve your language skills..

[kasyfi 0]

effective ways:

INPUT:

read: scanlated manga, comics, magazines, newspapers.

listen: english music, watch english TV shows [discovery channels, national geographic...better if u turn off the subtitles, so u would use the dictionary instead], stand up comedy, tv3 nightline [or anyother english news.]

OUTPUT:

write: post on the internet, emails, forums, letter to yourself [read after 5 years...very funny], essays, diaries. or poem if you're the emo type lulz.

speak: don't mind broken, just make sure you put effort to fix it. speak while making orders at restaurants [McD, KFC, etc], small talk with cute waitresses, with your friend, play vocab games, public speaking.

broken??? I think that's definitely not a good idea.. Language is going to be far more beautiful if you use it correctly and speak using correct pronounciation and grammar.. Broken is not suggested..

[rie_sj 0]

for me...nowadays almost everybody KNOW/UNDERTSAND english but the MAIN PROBLEM is to TALK in english, many our graduate have a problem in SPEAKING in english while on the interview, so if u just know english but cannot talk in english, it's no point..so don't be shy, start from now try speaking in english when possible, let it be broken, the most important thing is, so that you can speak in english without constructing the words first hehe, let it flow like a river.....hu.........hu............

[hairulfadly 27]

do you agree the student have to be train to speak English in 6 years old ?

[P Untuk Pendeta 0]

i don't see anything bad training children to speak english from young age. some parents did it even before the child is born. so, yes. i agree.

kasyfi,

i said, do not mind if you're english is broken, but make sure you make an effort to improve it, fix it. this is to first familiarize yourself with the language. If we are too busy saying it beautifully before learning to say it properly, we will end up not speaking at all. so, speak it even if it's broken, but don't make it a habit. speak broken english to train. and later on touch it up.

[imaizuki 0]

i don't see anything bad training children to speak english from young age. some parents did it even before the child is born. so, yes. i agree.

before the child is born? how is that possible? i do know of some research that says the child is highly affected by the mother's behavior during pregnancy but i'm not sure if it's possible, is it?

i live in a 'kampung' environment and there's not much to talk/converse in english..which in my case the best way to improve my english is :

1. reading..but i get tired when i have to flip over the dictionary over and over again

2. having a pen pal...the best part is that when you have a pen pal from france, italy or even korea, these guys are just about us. they are not really good in english..so they don't mind about broken english and will do no harm to your self esteem..wakakakkaka

3. chatting..hehehe

but really..my english isn't improving much..hehehe