<p>I'm really struggling with English (second language)... How did you guys improve it? What should I do during summer vacation to improve it?</p>
<p>Do you wish to improve your spoken English or your written?</p>
<p>If written, the answer is read, read, read. Read a bunch of 19th century British novels: Dickens, Thackeray, Austen, Hardy, etc. Keep a dictionary at hand and look up every word you encounter that you don't know. After a couple dozen of those novels you will be writing like Winston Churchill.</p>
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After a couple dozen of those novels you will be writing like Winston Churchill.
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I would suggest the following mantra before undertaking such a demanding task:
"I shall read on the beaches, I shall read on the landing grounds, I shall read in the fields and in the streets, I shall read in the hills; I shall never surrender [to boredom]"</p>
<p>If you can do what coureur sugested, go ahead, it is a great experience!</p>
<p>Another sugestion, which worked for me quite fine, is reading newspapers - of course, not tabloids, but intellectually stimulating newspapers and magazines (in my case, I read the Guardian Weekly and the Economist almost every week). I personally prefer the British press because it uses a more sophisticated language. Of course, the dictionary should be your friend here as well, but I would also sugest also trying to understand the style of the article - you might also want to look in a style manual once in a while.</p>
<p>Another thing, I think there is a book written by Bill Bryson on common errors native speakers make - "Mother Tongue: The English Language". It is very fun to read and provides lots of hints.</p>
<p>As for spoken English, I would sugest debating or public speaking. You have no idea how much progress you can make after a day of giving speeches in English! There is always the possibility of immersion but you should find an academic medium for it, in order to learn more sophisticated English (I assume you already have a fine knowledge of everyday English).</p>
<p>thanks for the replies! I have problems in writing (especially grammer)... I guess reading all kinds of papers helps me to improve English!! What types of novels do you suggest read other than 19th centuries British novels??</p>
<p>are you asian? i read a lot of asian-american novel in my literature class. Maxiam Hong Kingston, Gish Jen (she rocks!), David Gutterson, they are all my favorites. 19th centuries brit novels are horribly boring, i must admit. it takes a whole chapter for the author to say sth that could be said in a paragraph. efficient to train your patience though lol</p>
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<blockquote> <p>What types of novels do you suggest read other than 19th centuries British novels??<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>Try 19th century American novels --> Melville, James, Hawthorne, Alcott, etc.</p>
<p>i also suggest you to watch english movies or tv shows, i think that it would help a lot to improve ur spoken english!</p>
<p>Loony tunes all the way!</p>
<p>read, read, read and read again! u don't have to be reading 19th century novels IMO!! just read WHATEVER you like. if you like teenage fiction, suit urself. but be sure to squeeze in some classics at times. movies n tv shows are great too.
read periodicals to polish on ur written eng.
...just my 2 cents. :D</p>
<p>I learned a lot from reading Harry Potter, actually. I spent the whole fourth book trying to guess what the word "indeed" meant since I didn't have a dictionary with me. That was the summer after fifth grade--a year later I moved to the US, was put in an American school, and learned because I didn't have a choice. ;)</p>
<p>Another tip is to watch American movies without subtitles. It helps a lot with understanding everyday speech, at the speed that it usually takes place (maddeningly fast, sometimes).</p>
<p>Finally--READ. What doesn't matter that much; just find something that interests you. Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is extremely funny and actually very literary. If you're interested in nonfiction, read that. As for periodicals, I second the recommendation of the Economist. It's probably a good idea to read some classics, but it's certainly not the only way to improve your English.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I suggest 19th century novels because the quality of the English is quite high. You won't be confused by modern error-ridden nonsense like "u", "ur", and "lol".</p>
<p>I don't recommend Mark Twain, even though he is an excellent 19th century writer, because he writes much of his dialog in heavy dialect rather than proper standard English. You can worry about accents, dialects, and modern slang after you have mastered standard English.</p>
<p>i would recommend loads of games! games such as starcraft, grand theft auto 3,vice, san andreas(all good) and also warcraft III. these games have lots of things that are useful
and also do somewhat reading from harry potter(loved it)
and listen to english music from linkin park(god they are great with words)</p>
<p>Newbyreborn, with all due respect, but I don't think the games you recommended would bring nearly the same contribution to one's language as reading (any) book or any of the other suggestions brought up here would. If you could produce some evidence of the language you learned through these games and show the gain to be significant, my doubts would be gone.</p>
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I suggest 19th century novels because the quality of the English is quite high. You won't be confused by modern error-ridden nonsense like "u", "ur", and "lol".
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You seem to have little faith in the modern publishing industry... You won't find that in modern novels either.</p>
<p>Harlequins Romance is what I first started with(lol). Read what you love or easy and talk to just about everybody. Practice with the opposite sex, I hope you're cute(lol), you get more response.
Forget Shakespeare, it confused the heck out of me.
I have very little accent compare to people who came here the same as I did.</p>
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<p>Read what you love or easy and talk to just about everybody. Practice with the opposite sex</p>
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<p>I never thought about that(lol)</p>
<p>tokudas, on a serious note, if you need help with grammar, check out the local public library, there are tons of book on grammar. I checked out 20-30 on grammar for my daughter in 6-7th grade, because I don't know grammar that well. I had to check out a lot of books on how to write English, etc.. because English is not my native language and I had to help my daughter and in the process it did help me too.</p>
<p>YES!! Harry Potter!!</p>
<p>I'm a fluent speaker of english and I still learn some new words here and there from that awesome series. The grammer is not too confusing and the sentences are nice and simple with a few interesting words and a great plot.</p>
<p>19th century novels???? Read them if your interested in the plot. but doesnt work for me.. it's too.. old fashioned. i mean people don't talk like:
"Mother! I shall not! How dare you defy me! I must not go to the labyrinth"
And looking up every single word you don't know, will kill you. Your fingers will kill you from flipping through. You'll never end up finishing your work!</p>
<p>TV. TVTVTVTVTVTVTVTVTV: shows such as Friends, i dunno.. gilmore girls (except they talk really fast so you might not grab all the words), etc.. because that's how 'normal' people talk</p>
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because that's how 'normal' people talk
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i'm sure u mean 'normal' as in 'native english speakers'!</p>
<p>and yea you don't need to look up every single word. the context will provide the clues. and learning words in context is the best way to broaden your vocabulary.
tv is of great help too. but since tokudas seems more concerned about writing and grammar, reading is best IMO.</p>
<p>Read!</p>
<p>here are some great titles:</p>
<p>Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
Deception Point - Dan Brown
Paycheck and other Short Stories by Philip K. Dick
War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells
A Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas, Adam (lota ppl like this one..not one of my favorites but is not too bad)</p>
<p>Brown is my favorite author by far</p>