Tell me some good ways to improve my English

March 26, 2009 10:35pm CST
I am an undergradute who has learned English almost nine years,but I am long in finding any real efficient ways.I want to improve my oral English as well as listenning skill so that I will have no difficulty in studying and living abroad.Could U give me some advice on it?
12 responses
@Mithoo (255)
• Pakistan
27 Mar 09
Well, for listening you should try to listen the news channels. they are a great source. BBC is nice channel. Try to listen carfully. Try to understand what they say. just try try try and try. One day you will see your picking power has increased. Also for speaking, try to speak with your own self. Well, dont think that i am kidding. My friend, allot of people do this. I also did when i was at my School. I my mind, it is the best solution. Always remeber a sentance. GOD HELPS THOSE, WHO HELP THEMSELVES. God Bless You.......
@Mithoo (255)
• Pakistan
28 Mar 09
hy, the thing that you have mentioned that your friends will fell it strange. Dont care about anyone. Do have a firm believe on yourself. Try to speak in front of mirror. Face yourself. Face yourself while speaking. That will definately help you. Fear lies in ourselves and we fears of ourselves. Try to put out this fear from yourself. You will be successful. I am sure you will be successful.
28 Mar 09
Hey,guy.I am so interested in your novel way that try to speak with your own self.In fact,neither of my parents has learned English,and my friends are't accustomed to communicate in English after class,so I think your way will suit me.But how can I make others not feel strange when I speak with my own self?It will embarrass me a lot.
• India
27 Mar 09
From whatever you have said you are not completely new to English.So the first thing you need is confidence. You know English but the fear of speaking wrongly is reducing your confidence.So don't fear to speak.Speak with what ever words you know and then start learning new words say one word per day.Try to speak in English only where ever you can.Read your local news paper which is in simple English.Start listening to English news channel and watch more English movies. All the best
• India
27 Mar 09
ya u r right...very nice....
28 Mar 09
Actually I guess I don't lack confidence.I just always doubt how to say something in English as native as foreigners,which makes me have few desire for speaking English.
• China
28 Mar 09
Hi,icicle,honestly,i also want to know how can i hone my english skill,my friends and teacher commend me listen more english songs and watch english movies,but i have no much time,so now i try to browse english web when i surf web.I think maybe it can help me hone my skill.lol
@tipay26 (867)
• Philippines
27 Mar 09
Hi Icicle113, I hope my replies would benefit you. As for your request on some guidelines on how to improve your skill in speaking and in writing in english, I would suggest that you can as a starter you can always listen to english speaking tv shows yes, it can help too try watching more english tv shows and try to understand and mimic how they pronounce each word or better yet you can also watch english movies or even english news reports and english songs too.This way, you will get familiarized on how they speak and pronounce the words.English in general is the most sweet language you can ever speak.And if you want for you to get familiarized by the proper grammar, sentence constructions and subject-verb agreements if it's not out of your way, you can enroll at english enhancement programs available at your country or at your place it involves modules and there are mentors which will guide you along the way..I hope this can help you..=)
@HansonFan (1653)
• United States
27 Mar 09
Other than trying to work on websites, I would read. Reading will help improve a lot. Most of my english professors say that the more you read the better your grammar, including my grammar teacher. I have to agree with her as I read all the time and I have what seems to be a better grasp of grammar than some of my classmates. Just work on it as much as you can and you will improve the more you do! Good luck!
28 Mar 09
Hi, Icicle113, from what you have written, your English seem not to bad even tough there are some minor grammatical error, but is still understandable. To improve your speaking English, try to speak as much as you can, try to speak whenever you can. Don't afraid of grammar mistake or mispronunciation of words in conversation, because no people really care if it is just a minor one, because the most important function of conversation is to convey the message to the other person, as long as both of you can understand each other. To boost your confident, try to speak in your most natural way, don't try to imitate others' accent. By doing so, you can actually reduce grammatical error and misuse of words. To improve your grammar, try to read more. News, magazines are some tools to learn from. To improve your glossary, read more journals or novels. Hope my advice will help in some way or another.
• Sri Lanka
9 Sep 09
TO IMPROVE YOUR SPOKEN ENGLISH YOU NEED TO TALK WITH EVERYONE WITHOUT ANY SHYNESS.Practicing will give you the benefits
• Philippines
27 Mar 09
usually some websites offer free online tutorial on grammar and sentence construction. try websites like livemocha.com and testyourenglish.net for some tutorials and grammatically correct sentences. but for oral and listening skills, it's best to talk to a native speaker so that you may learn the way they speak and its accent. you can try chatting since you can hear the way they talk on headset. or you can also try some software that teaches accent.
• United States
27 Mar 09
I would think that the best way for you to improve is to find a native speaker to talk to. If you cannot find one where you live, there may be a way to find an internet site that does a web cam set up. This should help you practice both your oral and listening skills. You might also try to find a pen pal who speaks language. Improving your writing skills will also improve the way that you use the language.One other thing that you could try is to watch movies in english. This will improve the style with which you speak. I hope this was helpful.
@ag_sekar (112)
• India
27 Mar 09
Read English newspapers and listen to English news daily without fail. Then start your conversation in English whenever an opportunity arise. Nowadays you have a lot of opportunities to have English conversation. Almost all service providers have call centers with toll free numbers. For example if you have any issues with your Mobile phone service provider (even if it is minor one ) call the service center and begin with your prepared English conversation (keep a few lines written in a note if you must). If you get stuck up after your opening sentences don't worry switch to your native tongue. Practice this and soon you will realize that you can stretch the conversation in English beyond the opening sentences. Then you are ready to face the world.
@dakiss (181)
• India
27 Mar 09
Join spoken english classes,and more over keep reading laud the scrolling bard i mean scrolling news in tv channels,and one more thing go in fornt of mirror take english news paper and read it lauder and one more thing dont lack in confident.
@wolfen13 (33)
• United States
27 Mar 09
Movies are a great way to pick up on language but oftentimes the inflection in the voice is off or not fully there. Actors aren't always perfect, their human. To pick up or better your listening skills I've personally always found that listening to music in another language is best. The words don't exactly sound like they would in normal conversation so you really have to focus on them to catch them. I think its helpful because it better prepares you for diverse groups of people. I mean people from the east coast don't sound like those of the west coast after all. As for speaking it and getting rid of an accent, I don't have alot of suggestions there. I know that when I was learning french I would focus in front of a mirror and observe the differences in my mouth when attempting to speak different words and do the same with english. I was comparing the shape of things like my tongue and lips etc. Its rather hard to explain, but after awhile I was able to see which movements were more English specific and adjust my speach from that. I don't know that I was able to explain that rather well. Its actually rather hard to explain.
• India
27 Mar 09
hi frnd i have many ways to improve ur english.....first and foremost thing u have to do here is plz just try to speak in english only even though u commit some mistakes....just go on talking like dhat .....just talk in english only with ur frnd and r family members....even though they respond to u in there language u just answer in english....next read lots of english and try to underline the words which u did not under stand and find there meanings immediately....plz go to some institutes who teaches english....thats all u can speak good english with in short time...i am sure about it....thank u for giving me dis opportunity...bye.....