How to improve your English skills?
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As you already know the main goal of the Zee Community is to help people improve their English and discover different cultures.
I think the two most important things in learning a foreign language are to practice regularly at your own pace and to have fun. Don't be in too much of a hurry. You're setting off on a long journey and there will be delays and frustrations along the way. Take your time to really enjoy the experience. I would recommend a session of 10 minutes a day whenever you have a bit of spare time.
It is also very important to vary your learning routine. It is best to do different things each day. Concentrating your efforts on grammar lessons can have a negative impact on you progression. It can kill the fun and diminish you motivation. You can alternate your lessons between reading, listening, writing and talking.
Before you start learning English you must also set yourself achievable goals and reward you every time you reached them. A little bit of planning will help you move forward.
General Tips
A little bit every day. It is more efficient to spend a short time each day practicing your English than a full day on the weekend and then nothing for two weeks.
As often as possible. The best way to improve your writing is to practice writing as much as you can. The more you write the more you know how to use what you've learned from reading and listening.
You don't need to spend a fortune. You don’t necessary need to buy expensive software to improve your English skills. You can search the Internet for free English materials and resources. Sign up to websites which offer a weekly or even daily short English lesson sent to your email account.
Do not hesitate to speak with native-English speakers. This is the most difficult task because of the difference in culture, but you haven’t really mastered English unless you can communicate with a native English speaker fluently. This is the most efficient way to learn a language and English speakers are very accepting of new learners of the English language. You will learn quickly this way. You have to know enough things and have good listening skills if you want to have a good conversation with an American or Briton. Remember to ask a lot of questions to keep the conversation going. When someone asks you a question, give more than just the basic information. For example, if someone asks you "Do you like living here?" don't just answer "Yes" or "No," but tell them why too. Try to talk about the cultures of English-speaking countries.
Switching your Internet search engine to the English language version will help you build your vocabulary.
If you like playing video games, try to set up the language in English. You will then learn while playing.
Think in English. Getting used to using English all the time will make it easier to listen and react with it.
Try to keep an English-English dictionary nearby. If you find some words that you don't know, look them up in your dictionary immediately.
Try to do some online tests and quizzes to evaluate your progression.
Writing
It is essential that you communicate with other people. It is now very easy to find friends (Pen pals) to study and speak with. Learning English together can be very encouraging. Don’t be shy and join an online chat. It is a very fast way to share your views in English with other people about an unlimited number of topics. It will also help you to write at a better speed.
It is often very difficult to write not just in a foreign language but even in your mother tongue. It’s because we don’t always know what to write about. One traditional way to make sure you write every day in English is to keep a blog or keep a diary up to date. You should never worry about making grammatical mistakes; it is far more important you learn by doing.
Write about the topics that interest you the most, it will make the experience more enjoyable and thus more efficient. You could write about your language learning experience, your experience of studying abroad, your local area, your hobbies, or comment on English news from around the world.
Use your newly-learned idioms or vocabulary. Once you use the words which you memorized, you will never forget them again.
Listening
Watching TV can play a very important part in learning a language. TV is the best and most inexpensive teacher to help you learn real English. Not only you can learn formal English from news or debate TV programs, but you can also learn everyday English from soap operas, films and sitcoms. Be careful because too much jargon or too many idioms make your speech ambiguous.
Don’t watch very long programs, they are often hard to follow until the end. Don’t hesitate to turn on the subtitles at first and to slowly use them less and less as your comprehension improves. Don't hesitate to watch children’s programs; they are very good at teaching you the basics of the English pronunciation and English grammar.
I also recommend you listen to English radio broadcasts or podcasts on the internet. Some of the downloadable MP3 files have accompanied with transcripts. Choose listening materials that relate to what you are interested in. Audio books are also good learning materials; I would recommend listening and reading the book at the same time.
Spend at least10 minutes every day listening to news or discussion programs such as NPR (National Public Radio) news or the BBC news (British Broadcasting Corporation; the World Service or Radio Four are best). It's hard to understand what they are saying when you first begin to listen to them, but gradually you'll get used to the speed and tone. Then you can get a brief idea of what they are talking about, although you can't get the detail. You don't need to listen to the radio for a whole hour at once. It's best to listen for twenty or thirty minutes at a time.
Try to read the lyrics before or whilst listening to a song. Some English radio stations also provide transcripts.
It is good practice to watch a TV soap you already know in your own language in English. You will know the story more or less which will make it easier. This is something you will be able to do in the long term. The characters will become your teaching friends.
Reading
Reading builds up your vocabulary, idioms, phrases, and the concepts of English gramatical structures. If you do enough reading, it will save you a lot of time since you will not need to spend any more time on building your vocabulary or grammar. Read out loud to yourself so that you can improve your pronunciation at the same time. Go as slowly as possible, in order to understand the meaning of what you are reading, including the nuances. Whilst the structure of English is fairly simple in comparison to many other languages, its idioms make it a more difficult language to adequately master.
It is also highly recommended to always have a book to read. It is important that you spend your time on things that interest you, be very careful when you buy books in English. Do try to find an author or a topic you really like; it will make the experience more enjoyable.
I would strongly recommend subscribing to a weekly or monthly English magazine, again pick up a topic that interests you such as National Geographic, Time magazine, etc. This is the best way to practice your English whenever you have 5 minutes to spare.
Be realistic with your reading ability don’t try to read too difficult a book. It will have a negative impact on your long term motivation. There is no shame in starting out by reading English comics books or children’s books. Just find out what your level is and move up the ladder slowly.
Find some children's books. Those containing many parables, fables, short stories and legends, they are good because they are easy to read and carry interesting messages as well. Reading such stories will give you a better understanding of the words and you will improve your vocabulary. Children's books with illustrations, such as illustrated dictionaries, are an excellent resource for those learning English as a second language.
They are many other ways to help you build a solid vocabulary. You can use post-its, or put labels on real things so you read their names in English every time you see them or use them. You can also create your very own picture dictionary; it makes it easy to memorize new words. Construct your own sentences using the words you have noted in your dictionary. Use those words in your daily conversation with your friends and in your written communications. This will sensitize you to the new words.
I would also recommend learning while playing puzzles quizzes, crosswords and similar games.
Talking
IIt is very important to reproduce the sound you hear when practicing your pronunciation. It means you must move your mouth and your tongue to produce the sounds. Practice speaking what you are learning aloud. It may seem strange, but it is the most effective way to improve your English accent. Far too often people repeat the words they hear without making an audible sound! It is almost like doing press-ups in the air!
Dictation is an excellent way to improve your listening and spelling skills. Have a friend read a few paragraphs from a book or a newspaper. Write down what you think you hear. Compare what you have written with the actual text.
Learn the phonetic alphabet (pronunciation symbols). This can help you pronounce correctly, and it's necessary to speak with the correct tone if you want to make some friends with native English speakers. This is a big deal for non-native English speakers.
You should consider travelling to an English speaking country. It is by far the best way to learn the language and to discover another culture; you miss out on discovering the English way of life when learning from a book or software. You could also invite a native English speaker to spend some time with you.
Following a collective course can be beneficial because it recreates an environment in which you will be able to interact with other people. It is supposed to be interactive so you get a chance to practice your new speaking skills and will hear a range of different viewpoints and topics.
If you can dream in English, this means that you have succeeded in becoming a fluent English speaker, but not that your English is perfect.
Don’t stop looking for new information in English and keep practicing your writing and speaking.
Reading will increase your understanding of English and add to your vocabulary, but it's talking that will increase fluency.
Mind the gap! I mean mind your language, be careful to select your teaching materials wisely. Some English programs are not suitable for learning good English (too many swear words, inaudible speech and sometimes ambiguous accents and dialects).
Make sure that the articles you are reading were written by native speakers of English. If not, be skeptical about the idioms/collocations that they use, as they may be trying to use idioms, that don't exist in English. Use a dictionary for confirmation.
