Posts
1. Why could/did not you learn English till now?
Most of us
cite a lot of excuses to justify our failure to learn good English over the
years. Some of these excuses are given below:
1. I was educated
in such government/private schools and colleges, where my teachers and
lecturers never taught me good English!
2. My parents were poor, ignorant and uneducated. So, they did not
encourage me towards learning good English.
3.
I did not know about the importance of English
language when I was a student or as a professional/employee later.
4.
My friends and relatives did not motivate me
towards improving my English because I had such circle of members in my
pathetic life.
5.
I bought a few English dictionaries and grammar
books but I could not learn much English from them.
6.
I was so busy in my life that I did not get time
to focus on English language adequately.
7.
I always got low marks in English subject and so
slowly I developed inevitable fear about it.
8.
It is difficult to learn English in villages and
towns where nobody uses English for their communication or otherwise.
Facts
In fact, you
did/could not learn good English so far, for the following reasons:
1. You liked
watching films, playing cricket, spending time with your friends and doing so
many such other things but never had interest to learn English.
2. You misused a lot of time in
your life till now because you did not know the value of time and the
importance of English in particular.
2. Why should anybody learn English at all?
English is
being widely used in most of the countries in this world during the last 200
years. The British ruled many places (colonies) in this world and in course of
time they accorded independence to all of them. We call them third world or
developing countries. In all these countries, because once the British ruled
them for years, English became highly used language of communication.
The Development of the USA as a Super Power
The United
States of America has a history of about 400 years but it became the most
dominant economic power during this short period of time. Students, job seekers
and businessmen started migrating into this country rapidly to benefit from the
opportunities and facilities available there. Since English is widely used in
the U.S.A., many started according more and more value to this language during
the last 50 years. We cannot be happy and successful in the U.S.A. if our
English language skills are poor. So, people in other countries also started
considering ‘English’ as a great language for all.
The Power of Western World
English is
widely being used in many European countries like England, France, Italy,
Germany, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia. Just as we imitate the
habits and culture of rich and influential people in our society, we also feel
like learning and using that language, which is mostly used and respected in
developed countries. So, for us, English means a language related to rich,
successful, influential and happy people across the world. Therefore, we love
English. If we have to be successful, happy and comfortable in our personal and
professional lives, we must learn and use good English, wherever and whenever
possible. This is our common view.
The Context of India
During the
last 100 years, English acquired such great status in India also that using
English widely became a status symbol for anybody. Be it in your home, society,
school, college, university, firm or any other place or setting, where
interaction and communication is taking place widely, if you use English
effectively, you would be respected by most of them. So, English became a very
influential language in India also due to the impact of many factors like westernisation, great employment opportunities for those who are good at
English, education abroad, foreign jobs, etc.
Wide Usage of English
There are
extraordinary books written in English on various subjects by different authors
and writers from various regions and countries. There is an ocean of information
on the Internet. To take competitive examinations, face job interviews, to give
presentations, to understand foreign speakers better, to express our feelings
and views in an internationally influential language, we need to be good at
English. These are just a few examples. To put it simply, one can say that we
cannot imagine this world today without ‘English’. Now English occupied such
status in our minds and lives across the world.
No Choice
So, the fact
is that whether you like or do not like English language for any reasons,
nobody is bothered about your views on it. If you do not use English widely,
you shall be considered as an ordinary person in most of the contexts you come
across in your life or profession. English is a dominant language in India. So,
you must learn and use it to get a good image in your life or workplace. You
must live in the present. If you want to be influential and attractive in the
present society, one choice is to be good at English.
3. How to Improve your English?
I conceived a
formula to make one simply understand the format and process required to
improve one’s English in course of time. It is PMPA. In this formula:
P stands for Passion
M for Material
P for Practice
A for Application
Passion
Passion is a strong
desire for something. We think and work hard to somehow acquire or achieve them
over a period of time. Most of us have, generally, passion for some or all of
the following:
1. Money
2. Company of persons
of opposite gender
3. Foods and
beverages
4. Sports and games
5. Comforts
6. Luxuries
7. Valuable items of
property
8. Entertainment
9. Gadgets
10. Unique items and
things of mystery and suspense
Passion for English
If we have passion
for learning and using English, we concentrate more and more of our energy and
time on the point of acquiring those skills but unfortunately very few of us
have this strong desire and commitment towards English. We neglect English as
much as we can do. This is why we often fail to learn and use English
effectively in our life or profession. So, avoid such careless attitude and
develop passion for English. Better late than never. If you want English, you
should work hard to achieve it. If you have the will, there are many ways to
improve your English language skills.
Difference between your Mother Tongue and a Foreign
Language
All of us learn and
use our mother tongue naturally in our lives because we get focused to it
regularly from our birth to death. So, you can learn it easily. Foreign
language is one, which you don’t listen to, speak, write and read like your
mother tongue. So, to learn and use any foreign language, you must make
constant efforts towards acquiring and retaining those skills. The more you try
for it, the more you learn. It takes a lot of time to achieve considerable
command of a foreign language. English is a foreign language for us. So, you
cannot learn it unless you work hard in that direction.
Material
We need necessary
material to improve our English language skills. Some of this material is:
1. Books
2. Audio-visual
resources
3. Internet
4. Social and
professional environment
Books
There are different
kinds of books reading which, regularly; we can improve our English language
skills. Some of these books are:
1. Standard English
grammar books
2. Standard English dictionaries
3. Storybooks,
novels, dramas, scriptures
4. Weeklies,
monthlies, yearbooks
5. Journals, encyclopaedias
Audiovisual Resources
We can learn English
listening to and watching such programs, in which English is the medium of
communication. Consider the following audiovisual resources available now to
all of us:
1. Listening to
English programs on radio
2. Watching English
feature films, serials, speeches and programs on television channels
3. Watching various
programs and presentations on sources like YouTube
4. Buying and using
CDs and DVDs on English language
Internet
Internet made our
lives simple and comfortable because we can access any kind of information
within seconds, sitting in our comfortable and affordable places, anywhere in
the world. It costs very little but provides us with limitless extent of
information on any topic we like to know about. So, if you want to improve your
English fast, perhaps Internet is the greatest resource for it. Whatever you
want to learn, it’s all there on the Internet. Just check it! If you want to
learn English as a modern man or woman, with speed and intelligence, Internet
is the short-cut. There are a multitude of Apps on English language. Search for
them attentively, download them and read and watch them quite often to march
ahead.
Social and Professional Environment
Check if there is any
direct or indirect provision in your society or professional environment to
learn English. Consider the following points:
1. Somebody in your neighbourhood, who knows good English
2. Regular meetings
and conferences in your workplace wherein English is used widely
3. Religious programs
where English is used
4. Libraries in your
place
5. Cultural
activities in your firm or institution
Practice
We all know that
‘practice makes a man perfect’ but how many of us did it in our real lives. We
always stop at theory but never get into the aspect of practising it. Theory means
knowing about something and practice means doing it actually. We can learn
English language substantially practising four aspects of learning process.
These are:
1. Listening
2. Speaking
3. Reading
4. Writing
Listening
What we listen
reaches our brain and we can get it stored there only if we memorize it until
it gets recorded there. We can learn English listening to the following:
1. Radio
2. Speeches of
eminent English speakers
3. Education related
programs on television
4. Parliament
sessions
5. Listening to your
peers and superiors when they are talking in English in any context
6. Prerecorded CDs
and DVDs on English language
Speaking
Most of us do not
speak English with others thinking that there may be mistakes in it. We should
speak English regularly without thinking on whether it is right or wrong. We
can speak English in the following contexts:
1. With our family
members at home
2. With our
classmates or colleagues
3. With direct
viewers on a stage
4. With our friends
or others over phone
5. With those who
don’t know our language at all
6. Participating in
group discussions
7. Participating in
competitions like elocution
8. Speaking in
ourselves creating different characters and contexts creatively
Reading
We can improve our
English, reading a wide variety of reading material, such as:
1. Books written by
noted authors and writers from various countries in the world
2. Dailies like The
Hindu and The Times of India
3. English textbooks
of school level learners from standard 1 to 10 and afterwards
4. Periodicals like Outlook,
Week, India Today and
Reader’s Digest
5. Yearbooks
like Manorama Yearbook
6. Industry and
profession related books and journals
7. Books on general
knowledge and current affairs
8. Government
publications like Employment News
Writing
After the entry of
cellphones into our personal and professional lives, we almost stopped writing
except for tests and examinations with a clear purpose. Earlier there was the
habit of letter writing among us but we almost stopped writing letters now.
Writing is very important to improve our English. We can do it in the following
contexts:
1. Taking down notes
when somebody is speaking in a meeting
2. Writing articles
with personal interest
3. Typing emails with
grammatically correct English
4. Chatting with
friends online using correct English
5. Writing speeches
and stories creatively
6. Participating in
writing related competitions regularly
7. Preparing summary
of a material we have read
8. Preparing PPTs on
topics of our interest without checking online
9. Writing letters to
the editors of newspapers and other publications
10. Writing
complaint/suggestion/appreciation letters to persons and organizations
Application
We know about
subjects like applied physics and applied mathematics. It means studying a
subject relating it to what is happening now around us in a given period of
time, a context or a professional arena. Similarly, we should apply/use the
English language, which we learned through different ways investing our
deliberate and committed efforts for a long time. There is no use of knowledge
and skills, which we acquired, unless we apply it in our real lives. It’s like
having plenty of money in our possession but dying, burying it all in a pit
without telling anybody. Disused knowledge and energy is like misused potential
provided to us by God and nature abundantly.
Listening
Listen to any story,
speech, news on radio or television or in a public meeting and explain it in
your own words to somebody that did not attend that program. This way, you can
feel that you have the ability of understanding something spoken, just by
listening to it carefully. It means you can understand English pronounced by
others correctly and speak it well when explaining it to others. Similarly, see
a feature film on television or in a cinema and tell the story to your friends
in English. Thus you can enhance your potential of learning English through the
skill of careful listening. If you learn a lot through listening, you can
express a lot through speaking. Listening is a very important aspect of
learning. You can improve your accent, listening and talking about it later, to
show your power of listening comprehension.
Speaking
Make it a habit of
speaking English, wherever and whenever possible. You might have practised a
lot reading grammar books and other material on functional/communicative
English but what is use of it if you don’t speak English and make others
believe that you know how to communicate in English in different contexts.
English spoken out is a symbol of our measurable strength and that hidden
within us forever is a matter of knowledge and information. Stored and concealed
knowledge is like decomposed material whereas expressed and shared skills are
like fresh water and air. If you don’t speak, nobody understands you. If you
speak fluently and confidently, everybody recognizes and appreciates you one
day or the other. So, speaking out is very important.
Reading
Reading may be silent
or audible. We can read fast silently but we cannot identify the errors in our
pronunciation/accent this way. So, often, read out English stories and other
material in such a way that you and others can also listen to it. Thus, you can
identify your pronunciation and accent errors and correct them. Also, others,
who are better than you at English, can correct your spoken English. Therefore,
reading out English, as frequently as possible, is one way to improve your
English. Paper presentations, reading out annual reports, conducting seminars
as per the written order of schedule, reading and explaining study material in
different contexts, reading out newspapers are some ways of application of our
reading skills, acquired earlier. If you read out alone, it’s practice. If you
do it publicly, it’s application. Both are necessary aspects of learning.
Writing
Spoken words are like
letters written on a wet beach passionately. A tide may erase it at any point
of time. So, it’s an unreliable record of your communication and thoughts.
Written words are like those engraved on a solid rock which last for a long
time. Written words form part of human history whereas spoken words facilitate
timely and contextual sharing of information. Write English in as many forms
and contexts as possible. Write blogs online, write your personal diary, write
stories, write speeches, write notes on anything heard, write letters, write
poetry, write on anything that you like. Writing substantially contributes to
know what we are and what we can do for others now or later. Hundreds of
creative and intellectual personalities created history writing on a wide
variety of themes they liked. Literature is the knowledge base of a society,
religion or country. So, have passion to write whenever and wherever you feel
like doing it.
The End
The preceding
guidelines and order of learning process must help you learn English slowly.
However, we cannot include all points in a linear order, when we intend to
discuss a given idea or subject comprehensively. We feel that there is still
something to be shared with our target audience/viewers/readers/customers. We
can call it ‘miscellaneous points’, which are equally important. I would present
them below. You must focus on them attentively and strive to learn English
based on the knowledge and insights provided therein. Don’t take it as
‘negligible’.
4. Miscellaneous Points
Remember that you are
learning good English to improve your image, your chances of satisfaction and
success in personal and professional lives and your character as a whole. You
are not learning English for the sake of your employer, teacher or anybody
else. What you learn and use is your asset but not that of your teacher or
employer. English is like a jewel. If you wear it, you may look more
attractive!
Check Yourself
Never think that you
know a word or a grammar point very well. Always have the question ‘Am I using
this word correctly?’ A standard English dictionary and a standard English
grammar book are your reliable teachers. Don’t depend on a subject expert or
your teacher always. He may clarify your doubt carelessly or wrongly. You will
continue using it that way later. Thus you are further spoiling your standards
of English. Printed words are more reliable than the undependable knowledge
base and memory power of your colleagues or instructors. Crosscheck always when
you want to confirm something. Know that you commit mistakes. Try to correct
them continuously. Nobody is a living dictionary. So, avoid such impressions
about yourself or others. Depend on great books to improve your English and
knowledge but not on moody humans!
Plenty of Material
Never feel and say
that there is no good material to read. Go to any noted bookstore in your town,
city, district, state or country. There are hundreds of great books and audio-visual
material on many subjects. Knowledge is widely available now in the modern
world. Check different bookstores and buy standard material. You must take the
initiative to buy good books. Never expect others to think and work for you. If
you have no passion to improve yourself, why do others bother about you? You
are responsible for your destiny. You are made of your thoughts and actions.
Update yourself continuously.
Native Speakers or
other Speakers
We often doubt on
whether we should depend on a native speaker to improve our spoken English or
read a book of a foreign author. Someone living in England, Canada, the USA or
Ireland generally knows better English than one living in Bangladesh, India,
China or Japan. So, when possible, depend on spoken and written works of native
users of English rather than on those spoken or written by others. For example,
George Bernard Shaw wrote better English than R K Narayan. If you want
extraordinary English skills, read books of that order only, not ordinary books
written by somebody. You can read any book for pleasure but for learning great
English, you must depend on great books only. Watch television channels like
BBC, National Geographic and History for standard English. There are some good
Indian television channels also like NDTV.
English is everywhere
Never think
that you can learn good English only through reading grammar books and dictionaries.
They guide you properly when you get doubts and questions. To get doubts and
questions, you must read, listen to and speak a lot of English being encouraged
and inspired by what is happening around you regularly. Concentrate on all
places, contexts, products and services where English is being used widely. You
can learn a lot of English with this broad outlook towards observing the usage
of English in various ways everywhere. You must love English words, wherever
they are.
Accent/Pronunciation
If there are about
196 countries in the world now, there may be 200 varieties of spoken English as
well because various geographical and cultural influences impact the accents of
different people in different places. British English, American English,
Australian English, Indian English…there are many varieties. Speak such English
which you can understand easily if someone else speaks it to you. Let not the
accent of your mother tongue tarnish the beauty of your English. You cannot
follow International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) based pronunciation or Received
Pronunciation (RP) either. So, never try to imitate a native speaker of English
(someone in England or the USA). Speak in such a way that your colleagues and
friends can easily understand it. Language is for reliable communication but
not a medium to showcase our superiority in using an accent everywhere.
Which English Dictionary?
Many have this doubt.
I consider Oxford, Cambridge, Merriam Webster, Longman, Collins, Macmillan
English dictionaries reliable to a great extent. There may be some other
varieties of standard English dictionaries also, about which I don’t know. So,
check different dictionaries in various bookstores and online, and decide about
it on your own. You know the best about what you want. Let not others impose their
choices on you when you have an active brain. Enquiry is a good habit. It means
we have curiosity and intelligence of our own to some extent. Apply them often!
Buy large and heavy dictionaries if you want to learn more. Buy small and light
dictionaries if you wish to remain as an innocent child forever! Prefer to buy
those English dictionaries, which come with a DVD containing all that is given
in hard copy. You can upload the soft copy version of these dictionaries into
your computer system and learn English extraordinarily. Soft copies are
provided with many unbelievable features of learning these days. You can learn
pronunciation of each word also better this way. There are many exercises and
lessons, apart from main dictionary, in these versions.
Which English Grammar Book?
You must assess to
what extent you know and can use English grammar perfectly in your personal or
professional life. Buy a grammar book accordingly. If you cannot learn English
reading English to English grammar books, buy such grammar books, which explain
each point of English grammar in your mother tongue. When you are learning a
foreign language, learn it reading such books, which you can understand easily.
Don’t complicate this learning process, reading difficult books initially.
Remember that learning happens slowly.
How should we learn a Foreign Language?
We should learn any
foreign language through our mother tongue. If your mother tongue is Telugu,
you should learn English through Telugu. Unfortunately, many English medium
schools and colleges in India started promoting the medium of English only in
their institutions, neglecting the mother tongues of formative learners
altogether. Consequently, they cannot learn English or their mother tongues
well. Mother tongue is like our mother. We should know about other mothers
through our mother only because our mother is greater than all others from our
perspective. If you are not good at your mother tongue, you cannot learn any
language perfectly. Every language is beautiful and powerful. We should learn any
language systematically, studying and observing its realistic usage in
different contexts, and its standard grammatical and cultural contexts.
Who can make me a great English Speaker within a year?
Never believe if
somebody says that he or she can make you a fluent English speaker within a few
weeks or months. English or any language is not something which can be
artificially injected into you like a vaccine. You are not a robot to scan,
remember and use everything just like that. You have to constantly learn and
use English through different ways to be a fluent English speaker. You can
achieve that standard of English usage through regular practice only. Language
is also like a living organism. It keeps evolving continuously. So, regularly
you must update your knowledge and skills of English. No spoken English
institute can change you forever. Most of them are professional liars and
hypocrites.
English is a Difficult Language!
It is true. There are
many complications in the nature, development and usage of English because it
took various words from different cultures over the decades. We cannot remember
those spellings, pronunciation, meanings and usage unless we learn them
carefully and practice them passionately. If anybody is using good English, it
means he or she is making a great effort continuously to acquire and retain
those skills. Similarly, you must also keep doing it to be good at English.
There are no shortcuts to learn great English. You should be a great learner
and user of it to achieve it.
Aim at Perfection
Most of us use
English depending on the status of the other person to whom we are
communicating, written or oral. We use one kind of English if we are sending a
casual email to a friend and one kind of English if we are sending a
professional email to somebody who is very authoritative, powerful and superior
to us. In fact, it is a bad habit. Always try to use the best English you know,
not minding the context of the communication or the status of the other person.
You must use grammatically correct English every time. Then only you can
improve your English. Have respect for the perfection of the language you are
using but not about the context or person you are dealing with. Everybody feels
happy if you use good English. However, you can use simple English when you
know that the other person cannot understand if you use the highest standard of
English you know. There must be perfection even in simple language you use.
Which Word or
Phrase?
We often have an idea
but fail to remember the exact word or phrase related to it. It is a universal
issue as far as usage of any language is concerned. We ask somebody about it,
explaining our idea. This is the only way out because we cannot identify the
exact word in a dictionary just knowing what it means. At least we must know
the first letter of that word. So, keep learning about every word and phrase,
which you have to use in your regular life and profession. To that extent, you
can be a good user of English. Once you are good in your familiar field, you
can work on other words and contexts also slowly. The more you practice
language, the more you learn.
Vocabulary Building
How many words, their
spellings and meanings, and their right usage do you know in English? It is
your vocabulary. To improve your vocabulary, you must constantly learn about
new words and their correct usage. You must have curiosity about different
words. Then only you can love all those words and try to learn and use them in
your life or profession. Referring to a standard English dictionary, whenever
we come across new words, is one way to improve our vocabulary. There are
thousands of words in English language. How much you learn depends on how much
you love the language and how constantly and passionately you are working to
improve your vocabulary.
Memorization
Memorization means
practicing something in your mind repeatedly until you can store it permanently
there. Ancient Indian learning system was based on memorization. We call it
‘Gurukula’. If teacher taught something, his disciples repeated it many times orally.
This oral practice was to remember those words forever. We should do so to
improve our English language skills also. Practice a new word and its usage
rigorously in your mind. You must be able to recollect that word and use it
properly even after 100 days or a year. It happens only when the details of
that word are stored in your conscious and subconscious mind. It requires
constant memorization of new words and their usage. Do it on and on and on.
Distractions
Distraction is
anything which attracts you towards it when you don’t like it for some reasons.
You often feel that there is no enough time to learn English. In fact, you are
cheating yourself thinking like this. Get attracted only towards those things,
which help you learn English directly or indirectly. You should know and
practice how to control and train your mind according to your needs and
circumstances. Nothing can distract you if you have willpower to learn English.
You would get a lot of time to learn English if you honestly try to avoid
unnecessary habits and things from your life. Think how much of your precious
time you are using every day to improve your knowledge and language skills. You
can certainly identify your drawbacks and demerits. Identify, plan, correct and
transform yourself. Tune yourself to utilize your time and energy for only such
things, which improve you as an intelligent, disciplined and creative one.
Avoid passing time just like that. Save it and use it.
A Reliable Guide
We always want to
have a reliable person to depend on in our process of learning English. Our
friends, colleagues, relatives or well-wishers may not be good at English, and
even if they are, they may not be interested to help us every time we have a
doubt or question related to English. Check if somebody can help you. There may
be one or two in your access. Otherwise, keep reading, listening, speaking and
writing as much English as possible. You would master English one day. Practice
is our best teacher. You could learn your mother tongue without any teacher or
helper because you got continuously focused to it. Similarly, concentrate on
English only wherever and whenever possible. Depend on standard English
dictionaries, standard English grammar books and Internet to learn English if
you don’t have anybody to help you in this direction. Many learn a lot on their
own!
What if I can never Learn English?
Human beings have
many phobias. It’s logical or intuitive fear of something. They are all living
happily removing their fears slowly or not doing what they cannot do. You can
live happily even if you cannot learn or use good English. Do such things in
your life where English need not be used at all. Millions of people are living
without knowing and using English. Honesty and hard-working nature are good
qualities. They are more powerful than English. So, try to attract others
practicing these qualities in your life and profession. English is just a
jewel. You can live happily without wearing it also. There are many other
jewels in and around us. Identify and use them. You can be happy and
victorious.
Author Statement
I prepared this
‘advice material’ based on my knowledge about and experience in usage of
English during the last 10 years. It is mostly prepared without referring to
other material. This small guide is intended for enthusiastic learners of
English. No part of this content can be copied or used anywhere in a
commercially profitable or legally objectionable manner. I am solely
responsible for everything written in this material. If you have any doubts and
questions, reach me the following way:
Email id: rajayogi@live.com
Cellphone: 91-9573169823
My blog sites: virahini.blogspot.in
dcraju.blogspot.in
© 2015 Datla Chiranjeevi
Raju
