Have been in YY English group for a couple of days, I've seen so many guys who are keen on studying English . They are so admirable for i can tell how hard they are trying to improve their English. I do feel for them since I know how difficult it is to study English because I used to go through it as well. Here come some tips i would like to share with those who are struggling with English and hopefully it will be kind of help.
1. Have a good understanding of why we study English
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. Never hold too high expectation of English because it's only a tool of communication. As long as we can make ourselves understood in a cross-cultural situation, that's fine. There is nothing u should feel ashamed of if you stumble when speaking English, or nothing to show off if you can speak good English.
2. Try to think positively.
.Try to avoid saying " My English is poor". We are not native speakers . English is a foreign language and it is not an easy task for all of us. Look around to see how many westerners can speak Chinese and how many of us can speak English. Think positively about yourselves. Positive self-implication will help you get out of shyness, self-consciousness as well as lack of confidence which are major emotional obstacles in our English study.
3. Accuracy is more important .
.Some of us sometimes tend to use fancy words to express a simple meaing because they feel it a way to show how good their English is. It's not the case. A real good commander of English is accurate at wording, that is , to use accurate words on appropriate occasions. A good speaker tends to make him/her easily understood by others rather that showing off how many fancy words he or she may know. Watch a movie or episodes and you'll find their wording is not as complicated as we expect, rather, they tend to use short sentence structures as well as simple words. This is the very point we have to pay special attention when practising oral English. After all, making yourselves understoond is the top mission. Few of us speak English for academic purposes and it's not recommended that we use too compliated fancy words. English is not about showing off, but about understanding and communicating.
4. Don't confine yourselves to the language itself but learn something that's behind it.
.Cross-cultural communication is more than languages per se. It involves heaps of things. Understanding of others' cultures ranks the top. It's hard to continue a conversation if you say something that is offensive in other's culture. Here I am not saying we must give up our culture to please others. After all, every culture has its pros and cons and it's meaningless to look down upon one culture while uplifting the other. The emphasis here is the fact that we must respect each other. Respects are reflected by the way you behave , the words you use and the atmosphere u create in a conversation . As I mentioned last night, try to avoid asking about age, marital status,finacial background, religious stuff etc. It's too personal and privacy is a key concern in western culture.
We are here to practise English and understanding the basic cultural difference can help us start and continue a conversation with others . Nowadays even in China, we rarly talk about age, salary etc unless others would like to talk with you. Don't raise any topics that make others feel uncomfortable. It's nothing about nationalities or cultures . It's all about caring about other's feelings.
A decent person is always understanding , caring and loving. No matter how perfect your English is, without those emotional qualities, you would find it hard to continue a conversation with others regardless of cultural backgrounds.
5. Take initiative
With regards to oral English, no one can help your but yourself. Take initiative and speak as much as possble. Don't be afraid of making mistakes because we can never know where our weakness is unless we make mistakes. We all make mistakes as long as we are not native speakers. As a matter of fact, native speakers make mistakes as well. Look back at your daily conversation . Don't you sometimes make mistakes when speaking Chinese ? There is nothing to be ashamed of . We are alll learners .
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