Dear forum folks,
I have not been here for such a long time, and am surprised to see that there have been so many responses to my original post. I am sorry I was not here frequent enough to give my reply.
Let me try to put myself in your shoes and figure out what I would do to improve
my English, if I were to live in China like all of you.
I would listen to Voice of America. Listening to the news is a very effective way to enhance your comprehension ability in English. When I was still a youngster
, I used to listen to radio programs from Taiwan and Beijing to improve my Mandarin. And I found it helped a great deal. I know it is hard to speak English like
a native American because you can’t remove your Chinese accent, but as long as
your pronunciation is approximately right and not too far off, you’re doing very well. There is no need to be too harsh on yourself.
I would try to read English text as much as possible. In the Internet age English reading material can be easily found on the Net. Reading makes all the difference in one’s learning. In my experience, English mastery comes mostly from diligent reading, more so than verbal communication. Well, this is only a personal viewpoint, and it may be biased and may not apply to everyone.
I would try to write in English, such as writing diary or writing articles on English forums like this one. The more you write, the better you can express your
ideas and the more fluent your writing will be.
I am sure what I said above is nothing new, your elementary school teacher could
have told you the same thing years ago. I live in an Anglo Saxon society so I have the right ambience to know English. But you can be good in English too if you try your best to learn, and seize every opportunity to learn, measurable progress is in your hand.
Remember if there is a will, there is a way.
Best of luck to you all, my dear friends.
NeilAlberta, Canada
