Learning how to speak better english...

India
October 8, 2009 6:28am CST
Hi everyone... I am form India and want to be a good English speaker. I am not that bad in it right now as you might see in this post itself (please let me know if I am wrong in saying so) but that is not good enough. I am working hard on it though. I am writing a lot, letters, stanzas, paragraphs etc and reading dictionary(referencing to it) more often then ever before, but still there are things that books can't teach, at least when it comes to spoken English. I am having a troubled time in picking up the pronunciation of the words correctly. There are situation when you have to already know a word to pronunciation it correctly, but still there must be some way of knowing that how to 'speak' a word when you come across it for the first time. Please tell me if you know the way or where can I learn it. Also in English, C is spoken in three different ways as in chair, care and champagne (here in India we have three different sounds at the starting of these words) and I guess there are other such characters as well. If someone can through some light on it, that will be great. One last thing, what is syllable breakup, can it help in improving spoken English and how to learn it? Any advice regarding all this and hidden frontiers of learning English will be greatly appreciated.
1 person likes this
6 responses
@urbandekay (18278)
3 May 11
Etc. is an abbreviation and needs a full stop after it. And reading A dictionary. No comma needed before 'but' but is a conjunction used to join two clauses and therefore needs no comma before it Actually, 'C' may also have the sound of 'S' as in the first 'c' in cicada. If it is English pronunciation you wish to acquire, as opposed to American, you could do well to listen to the World Service from the BBC. all the best urban
@ritzz07 (788)
• India
4 May 11
i believe "c" sounds like "s" only when there are vowel like "e","i"and consonant"y"
@ritzz07 (788)
• India
1 May 11
i think your english is not bad and if you want to learn pronounciation then watch some tv channels. i would like to recommond you to watch cnn,hbo and special for american accent you must watch channel "god"even i have learned from these channels and pls read books by good authers like sydeney sheldon, agatha cristie jeffery archer,and indian authers like r.k. narayan,robin sharma,also can read chetan bhagat's books. For grammer u can use essential english grammer by ronald murphy,wren and martin by s.chand publication.
@ritzz07 (788)
• India
1 May 11
p.s.-use oxford dictionry only
@AidanKay (265)
• Australia
5 Nov 09
Hello there raj_gupta, First of all, I must welcome you here on MyLot. I hope that you are enjoying this site and making some good friends here. Also, yes, your English seems very good and well done for your progress so very and again, well done for you wanting to learn more. I am so sorry that I do not know many books or sites but I am sure that there will most definitely be some stuff around for you to learn even more English. Check out in your nearest library for books on how to speak and learn and write good proper English. If I ever find out anything other things to help you I will be sure to come back and let you know. Hope that you are having an awesome week and best wishes to you. Happy MyLotting. -AidanKay.
• India
5 Nov 09
Thanks for your supportive words. Yes I am enjoying my time here on mylot and interacting with friendly people is always good. I am working on my English and think it is getting better.
• India
8 Oct 09
Just check out a good softskill institute in ur area , u can get more information on it on "justdial.com " these institutes not only help u to improve English but also help u in providing a good personality , it will help u a lot in long run and in career go for it buddy happy myLotting bye
• India
8 Oct 09
Hi. I have been to two such institutes located in the nearby locality but none have provided me with substantial info regarding anything. This is probably because of the fact that this is a very small town and people don't pay that much attention to all these things.
@srjac0902 (1170)
• Italy
10 Mar 10
In my simple opinion, ideal would be to use iTunes and listen to the radio and T.V news constantly. When you are in front of your computer just have an audio set and listen. A few words- pay attention to and repeat them often. After listening to the radio then just repeat something as though you are broadcasting the news. By self effort or "Do it by yourself" you will gain a lot
@rinzgca (316)
• Philippines
18 Mar 10
Actually, C is spoken in only two ways, as in celluar phone (pronounced as an s) and cat (pronounced as k). Chair and champagne are already combinations of Ch and are pronounced differently. I think it would help you to learn about american phonims. This is taught to young readers in my country, Philippines. It helps to learn the different sounds. Now, for you to know the pronunciation for homonyms (words that spell alike but pronounced differently and have the same meaning), i think, you'd have to hear it often. I also suggest watching american shows. It would help you pickup words and how they're pronounced.