Improving your English language skills......
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Originally posted by dimple2001
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Originally posted by elmer fudd
Thanks. I wish to get "blog-worthy" over a period of time.
Blog-worthiness is a case of the chicken or egg. You have to plunge in and write blogs in order to shed the inhibition and sub-consciously improve the quality of writing, but it's always intimidating to begin the first blog due to the "what will others think of my writing" paranoia.
My suggestion, plunge in and write.
Completely agree. I think this applies to all learning in one way or the other. Take the plunge!
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Are you there?
Location: Western Hemisphere
Posted on: 29-06-15 16:41:50
Switching gears a little bit....
If you have young children, here is one way you can try to get their English written skills to go up a notch. If you visit sites for vacation, have your child write a trip report. Depending on how young your child is, guide them on the substance by providing leading questions. These questions will guide them to answer using multiple sentences.
This helps them overcome the writer's block and lets them focus on constructing proper sentences with punctuations, margins, and letter cases.
For example, we recently visited a historic lighthouse. I am having my nine year old prepare a report based off a number of questions. Of course, take a lot of pictures, so they can derive information from those pictures.
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Dimple2001
E_F
This is especially for you - lrarning a language has phrases - basic , intermediate and advanced .... I would consider intermediate as a stage where you are fluent with words and English , written or spoken .
Advanced again would have different level , speaking idiomatic English as the most desired ....
There's no end to learning and improving onself - but beyond a certain point we should stop being over pressed or obsessed with it .... I have come that way and now what I have realized is - that no doubt I can not stop being impressed and picking up / learning here and there , I am no longer concious about me and I do not have any confidence blues to say the least even when I am speaking with a VP or higher ..... as long I know what I am speaking is usage wise correct , I can do without the additonal fancy bells and whistles ... and keep on communicating w/o a problem.
Be confident of yourself - you use English well and your confidence can make the difference to the effectiveness..
For eg on the board there are a number of members who are so good in English that I always pick things from them ...But that does not bother me or make me concious of my own language as one good thing about English is - you can put alternative words / phrases to express yourself...
And most of the times , it is the substance and logic of the communication wich is more important than the extra fancy language bells and whistles ... I prefer keeping it simple as long as the usage is correct.
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Fido.
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Originally posted by san-hugo ....................................................................My view point is improving on English speaking is more useful than English writing.
I am learning spoken English ( and the Canadian accent ) from my 7 years old. I know people say you should teach your native language to you kids whereas for me it is a two way traffic. This way I purposefully spend time with my Son.
Spoken English is for getting your foot through the door and also for interacting on a daily basis(small-talk, grapevine, presentations, business etc), besides its use in one's personal life. Writing skills have a somewhat different purpose and is mainly useful for professional and personal development. Both have their uses.
I cannot speak like a local and I do not attempt to roll my R's, as I can never pull it off convincingly. I try to maintain neutral accent.
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Originally posted by Fido ...............................................................................Advanced again would have different level , speaking idiomatic English as the most desired ....
Agreed, regarding spoken English. I usually never get the right words at the right moment. It is only after I have already uttered the words that I remember better words that I could have used. This can sometimes be frustrating.
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Originally posted by BlueLobster .............................................................................One thing I am certain of is that the time investment to grow your vocabulary and fluency in both spoken and written English pays off huge dividends in North America when it comes to your career. It is a critical success factor here, especially if you are an immigrant because your proficiency despite not being a native speaker strikes people as very impressive and opens many doors.
Absolutely agree.
On a side note, has anybody attended any "Toastmasters International" in Canada? There are so many in Toronto. I wonder which are the better ones.
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Originally posted by Full House
Yes Fido and I thank you too for reading my posts.
Some times my posts might go over their heads and might call for a second reading to understand the entirety of the materials posted there in. That is because, I am unable to find suitable words and progressions to explain to others at a level they can grasp at the very first reading. To give you one such example is the fine prints that you see in some disclaimers as a foot note on the web. There they use TEN dollar words and will need a dictionary to get the meaning from it.
You also know that you have to be in their comfort zone and also at a level that want to start and move about, plus the faith that they have in that individual to just to get started. Once they express their desire to enhance their vocabulary and grammar and get in, then, they will look up to you for help. So, I am not questioning his personal desires but his request for help through the ones that seeks to improve his grammar and formation of sentences to go with it.
Some times I not only read, I get into their brains to see what frame of mind they were in when they expressed their thoughts. That is a skill by itself that I have acquired after posting to innumerable questions. At that juncture, the words there in parse themselves and bring out such beautiful answers and also references out of me and I myself wonder what else is there that is held in those areas that I bring it out of.
That is a subject matter by itself for another day.
Thanks again.
FH.
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As a reader on this forum, we go through the postings of each individual and try and understand what it is s/he is trying to say here in writing. Do remember that they have to click on the box (button) that says submit before it leaves his/her computer and then gets posted. Then it appears to all of us here on this website to see what it is s/he trying to say.
Prior to submitting they have a choice to read once over, before submission, to make their corrections and also change the style or add an additional word or two, to it to make more sense in it. It then gets posted to the web.
Also, just in case they want to return back and make additional amendments, then can log in and access their posting and either correct it or rephrase it and see if it is what they wanted to say, but for some reason did not get there in their posting to the web.
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You also know that you have to be in their comfort zone and also at a level that *THEY want to start and move about, plus the faith that they have in that individual to just to get started. Once they express their desire to enhance their vocabulary and grammar and get in, then, they will look up to you for help. So, I am not questioning his personal desires but his request for help through the ones that seeks to improve his grammar and formation of sentences to go with it.
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FH.
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In my own posting here, I did miss out a word which I should have added to it and made a correction to it, to make more sense out of it.
But some times my ability in typing is not as fast as my mind moves about and it gets omitted and I find that I can return back and resubmit it to make more sense.
One such word is *THEY., and I should have noted, that I omitted in my posting. I could have returned and edited it. But I intentionally left it to return back to show you all that we do have many choices that are provided here to all of us to do it.
I am just pointing it to you.
FH.
In our normal run we call it EDITING. But there are PROFESSIONALS who do it for a living. Those professionals are called PROOF READERS. It takes such skills and many more years of hard work in attaining those. Please note.
I will return back and continue here where it is left off. fh.
