Thanks for joining our forum — our statistics show that the forum is the most popular section of our site.
We understand that most of you read the messages in the forum but don’t want to post a reply because you are afraid of «making mistakes».
Our forum is different from a typical class room situation where the teacher might stop you because you said or wrote something that is not 100% «correct». When we communicate in real life situations it’s important «to get the message through«. We know that we «make mistakes» — that’s why we are here.
So, we would like to encourage you to «speak up«. Tell us, why you want to improve your English and what techniques work best for you.
hello Torsten! I think I don’t want to improve my English.
The matter is that I needn’t it at all.
Now I am very busy. If I have time I’ ll tell you my thoughts.
I must confess your site is improving every day. I am really glad to see it.
best wishes
Olga
Hello Torsten,
I want improve my English because I found it is a very important language. But this is not the main reason. It is a personally challenge for me. Besides my dream is to travel and work out of Germany. Say I want emigrate is not correct I want see the world not as a typical tourist. I want look behind. So I found speak English fluent very important and it makes some easier.
And when my dream goes not true it is nevertheless good speak English in the time from globalization.
The most I did learn outside from the school. I take every chance to speak but it isn’t so much so I write and read lot English. I found this is the best technique to learn, learn by doing.
Bye Milka
Hello Torsten!!!
Im sorry for being so silent, but in fact im very busy for my studies have begun & I have to work very hard to become a high-qualified teacher…So, I`ll try to cope with all the things and look through the forum & post something as often as I can)))
So you want to work abroad - do you have any particular country in mind? You say that speaking English fluently is very important. Do you use English in your job? Once you have set yourself the goal to work abroad then you will achieve it.
I agree with you - learning by doing is a very effective method, as a matter of fact, it might be the only way to really learn English. How often do you read texts in English and what are your favourite topics?[YSaerTTEW443543]
Of course we understand that you are busy at university, becoming a language teacher can be a demanding job. So, whenever you have a minute let us know what is going on in Moscow.[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hello Torsten,
I have not really a particular country. I want see some countries.
Important for me is see the different culture, mentality, the way how they live.
Yes, I use English in my job but not very much and every time the same. The same question which people they want visit and other little things. Sometimes when they or I have time I try to speak more just a small talk over the country and actually things.
I read nearly every day a text in English. I have since nearly two years a mail friendship. Beside I try to read the book Bridget Jones’s diary because it is not so difficult and I know it. I think this makes it easier for me. The literatures which I like to read in German I think is to difficult read in English to example I like philosophy.
And when I have time and I am quiet I watched CNN for listen English. But for me understand English in the speaking way is very hard. If I read English I understand much better.
You are right some of us are afraid of making mistakes .
I like posting replies and writing new topics and I like reading what people say about my topics.
I like to improve my English language because I will join university this year and all subjects in English and I love this language and I like to talk to forign people and It’s popular language .
thank you for your nice topic
You are right some of us are afraid of making mistakes.
I like posting replies and writing new topics and I like reading what people say about my topics.
I like to improve my English language because I will join university this year and all subjects in English and I love this language and I like to talk to forign people and It’s popular language.
thank you for your nice topic
Dear Kuwait Fan (I hope it’s OK if I keep on calling you this way),
You are going to enrol(l) in an academic course programme at university this year - have you made a decision as to the subject you are going to study? You mentioned that you are interested in medicine as well as civil engineering and we had a discussion about how to combine both areas. What about medical engineering? There is a great variety of possible directions. What do your friends say about this question?[YSaerTTEW443543]
If you remeber my previous messages sent to you, you will know how I’m interested to improve my language. I have been and still I am serious to seize any chance may helps me to achieve my purpose, but what makes me (sometimes) out of participations is that I couldn’t find till now in this forum what I realy look for. Of course I’ve learnt much from your topics and tests, but I have not yet solved my problem which is (as I told you before) I need someone to amend my messages, to correct my repeated mistakes, to evaluate my level. You receive our message and other discuss its topic but no one inform us how it’s written well or bad, wrong or correct, perfect or imperfect. That’s what I need dear Toresten which I have not found yet.
I appreciate highly your exerted efforts in this forum hopping to achieve more and more success in your hard mission.
When you learn English as you do by watching and listening to CNN and reading books on a regular basis you probably will go through the following mental process: In the first phase you will often think that mastering the English language is hard - especially when you hear anchors and reporters on CNN or SkyNews because it seems to you speak way too fast and use too many unknown words. However, if you stick to your decision of watching an English language news channel instead of a German one sooner or later you will realize that learning a language doesn’t require special skills or talents. You possess everything you need to learn English. Think about it: What exactly is the difference between you and a native English speaker of English? The answer: Time. If you grew up in an English language environment you simply have a time advantage over others who start being exposed to the English language later on in their lives. However, there are also some advantages of learning English as a second language as opposed to learning it as your mother tongue. We can discuss them here on the forum with other learners of English if you like.
As for Helen Fielding — I think her books provides English language learners with an excellent opportunity to learn English as well as British humour. When you read books like «The Edge of Reason» or «Bridget Jones’s Diary» you get an insight into modern British society and you start to see the subtle differences between British people and Americans for example. Nick Hornby is another author who writes brilliantly hilarious dialogues with typical British expressions. Reading those books you can learn English very fast because you have a real desire to actually understand what is going on. This is never the case with conventional course books — the vast majority is rather dull and artificial. Yet, most people stick to such materials for several reasons we can discuss later on.[YSaerTTEW443543]
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts on with us. The question you have brought up is a very important one: How do I know if my messages are written in «proper English»? Learning a second language can be a bit like walking in a dark room: You know that you are moving in a certain direction but you are not 100% sure where exactly you are. Why does a native speaker of English know what is correct English? Because they have stored thousands of «lexical items» in their head, that means, whenever they read a sentence in English their subconscious mind runs this sentence through their memory to see if it matches with other sentences that have been stored there before. This process happens in a split second and it’s a reflex. Now, if you want to write and speak like them you have first have to record as many lexical items of the English language in your memory as possible. There is a website called Antimoon.com where you will find a lot of interesting information about how to learn English in a way that allows you to reproduce correct English sentences. Some of the methods suggested by Antimooon.com are very radical because they say you must produce an English sentence only if you are 100% that the sentence is correct. I would say you should keep a balance between accuracy and fluency. For example, any person who speaks English as their mother tongue or as a second language would understand your message above. There might some minor things that could be straightened out so that your English is even more authentic. This is a process that involves a number steps. It’s important for you to find ways how you can check and evaluate your English yourself rather than having a tutor correcting your sentences. Sooner or later you will have to write your own emails, business memos, articles and essays in English and there won’t be anybody to amend your texts. So, when you write a message in English you can try to use only those phrases you have read somewhere before. In addition there is a very effective method to find out whether a phrase or word combination is good English or not: Put the phrase you want to check into “Quotation Marks” and search for it in Google. Also, you can run your message through a spell checker to make sure there are no spelling errors or typos.
Just a hint: Please, check the different meanings of «hopping» and «hoping&aquo; — you can turn to Google to get the answer and come back here to discuss the results.[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hi Torsten,
Yes you are correct sometimes I think the English language is difficult just when I watch CNN and I think I will never manage to speak or understand it like I wish me this. I think I have no talent. :oops:
But of the other side I know I can be proud of myself because I speak English still it is not perfect and not much. Also I know it is stupid to think in this way but it can’t be helped. So it is good when another person tell you exact this. I know that I need time and lot practice. :lol:
Of course I like to discuss advantages learning English as a second language and as mother tongue. Still just now I don’t know really a advantage for learning English as a second language. However, I look forward of the discussion.
Thanks for the tip I will look for a good book from this people.
When I have on book and I did read it I will let you know how I find it.
Yeah you are Right.
whenever I am writing English I feel that if it is correct on grammar.
But I believe your kindness.
please help me to improve English.
You asked why you want to improve English.
actually I didn’t realize that English is funny to learn .
but suddenly I could feel that learning English is funny and adventage to me.
a couple of months ago I had a chance to go China,I live in korea,when I arrived in Hong Kong international airport.
I could feel that Speaking English is bring me many chances .
as I can speak English I can meet many people and share with team our thought.
So at now what I so want is Speaking English.
as I learning English grammar I may be a good English Speaker. That’s why I desire to learn and improve English.
hope that help me. Thank you
thank you Torsten for your reply
of course it is ok if you call me Kuwait fan .
until now Iam hesitating between engineering and medical .
unfortunately medical engineering is not available in Kuwait so I will study this year in Kuwait but If I find that studying in Kuwait university is hard maybe I will travel for studying the second year .
some of my friends say that engineering is better and the other say that medical is better.
thank you for asking about this subject because it is the most important thing for me .
First of all, I’d like to ‘thank you’ for giving us a good opportunity to talk about our purposes to improve English.
(Especially to Torsten!!)
I’ve been reading this thread, and I’m impressed with the posts from all of you.
Some of your words and opinions really encouraged me to spend much time and energy trying to improve my English.
Why do I want to improve my English?
I have several reasons.
I have a job which is related to English, so it’s one of the reasons, of course.
Besides, I really love communicating in English! English is the most useful language in the world, and it’s widely used in many countries. I love talking with people from different countries, to exchange opinions, to share the idea, to share the feelings, to develope myself, and to extend my point of view more.
We have different view of things and concepts because of our backgrounds, but it’s fantastic we are able to know each other using one language(and more languages). Don’t you think so?
(There are some other languages that I’d like to learn in the future, but at the moment I need to improve English first.)
BTW, I read «Bridget Jones’s Diary» both in English and Japanese(my mother tongue). It’s really funny… at first I read it in Japanese, but it wasn’t interesting at all… !! Then I read it in English, and I found it very intereting. This experience has shown me how different the concepts between English and Japanese are. I laughed a lot while I was reading it in English, and I really enjoyed it.
Well I can see that you have a lot of reason to improve you English , but neither of them is like mine.
I want it to get a good job, find a better sites on Internet (the most sites are in English) and if some day I could leave my country to make a huge travel, I can find the bathroom if i need it. Jajaja 8) and get good food and clothes on sale.
Hello everyone!
I’m very ambitious, and I want to succeed in my career. In order to succeed in my career, and able to complete in a new, challenging informative economy, I think I must have good knowledge of English to help me easy in communicate, change information. I have made a two-year untiring effort in learning English, and it help me a lot to improve my research skill, solved problem skill.
helo Tpreston,
well if u dont recognized me iam Hosham and what i really wanted to say is full thanking u for ur useful helping that u providing to me to help me to improving my englsih capability.
u see my first gool of reading english that iam planning to have my Master degree in Economic and as u and all knowing that the good quyality university and coledge were in countreis speaking english langudge as amother tonge and to be good in english is arequierd to have any admissions to study on one of any those good quality college they usually asking any student came from an english speaking country to provide aprovn of english such as ILST or TOFEL , and when ilooked on samples of those examinations irealized that icouldnt get the requeird scoure specially on Speaking and writting topics, and iam working ihave big familly ineed my time to work to feed them ihave no time to study on classes and also ihave no budget available to pay for those classes which is very high here on my country SUDAN so when iam looking on the net isaw ur website and idecided to get this free chance to improving my English.
So Torison i thank u again for Ur efort and ur time and ur welling to help me.
what ineed from u know Torsten is ur coment on what iwrote to u and to tell me what mestaks imade on it iknow that istill have many mistaks on spelling, and grammers.
WHY I WANT TO IMPROVE MY ENGLISH
I want to understand more people and have more friends. And of course I need english to understand my work. I’m computer designer. Now I’m studing for this profession at university. I worked at IKEA company as a graphic designer. But I worked there a little time, because my english isn’t perfect and I can’t create orders for foreign clients correctly!
That’s why I need to improve my english…
