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Advice to "improve" your English

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Advice to "improve" your English Empty Advice to "improve" your English

Message  gerardM Sam 12 Jan - 21:18

Hi everyone,

I would like to open this topic to discuss about improving English... I don't mean learning (another topic) but make people think you're good at English, your English is fluent or say better than you think it is Wink

I don't mean to "show off" but give some advice to speak correct English, better English than usual.

Hm, difficult to explain. I'm going to start and you'll understand Smile

~~

I will give two and a half pieces of advice ("advice" is uncountable i.e. there's no plural that's why I'm obliged to use "piece of advice" and not advices which doesn't exist):

-1- KISS principle
As you can see, there's an entry in En Wikipedia (Fr Wikipedia), that means it's a very important rule in English and especially American English: Keep it simple, stupid.
The French like beautiful sentences, beautiful language and the more sophisticated, the better. It's not the same in English: please make simple sentences and you will better manage, you will make less mistakes.

-2- periphrasis
Don't start a complicated pattern.
If you're speaking with a friend (and not translating a sentence), you can choose your words: when you don't know a specific word or the preposition to use after a verb, change your sentence to go to something you know better.
Don't try to "translate" from French, especially when there's a subjunctive (or the pluperfect of the subjunctive): try to use what you're sure of; don't hesitate to use a periphrasis, it's far better than to stop speaking when you don't know the specific word you've in mind.
If you're taking a important oral exam e.g. to apply for a job, speak slowly (to better control your sentence and anticipate) but don't stop: you have to show a fluent language.

-2.5 bis- periphrasis
In French, we've got an important principle: we must not use the same word in our texts. It's not the same in English.
In French, we usually use an homonym or a periphrasis, in English, don't get mad about this: you can use the same word... don't exaggerate though!

HTH


Dernière édition par gerardM le Dim 13 Jan - 0:28, édité 1 fois (Raison : mistake: En subjunctive and not subjonctive as I wrote it!)

_________________
Please feel free to point out big mistakes in my messages in a foreign language. Thanks to your remarks, I'll be able to improve my level.
PS: Pls note that I chose American English for my vocabulary, grammar, spelling, culture, etc.  :-)
gerardM
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Advice to "improve" your English Empty Re: Advice to "improve" your English

Message  gerardM Sam 12 Jan - 21:25

Please, could members who are fluent in English (persons who usually experienced traps) suggest "their" personal advice?

Learners are invited to suggest theirs and ask questions...

_________________
Please feel free to point out big mistakes in my messages in a foreign language. Thanks to your remarks, I'll be able to improve my level.
PS: Pls note that I chose American English for my vocabulary, grammar, spelling, culture, etc.  :-)
gerardM
gerardM

Messages : 31183
Lieu : Ermont & Eaubonne café-langues (Val d'Oise)
Langues : Français (Langue maternelle), US-En, De, It, Ru

http://volangues.blogspot.com/

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Advice to "improve" your English Empty Re: Advice to "improve" your English

Message  MurielB Mar 15 Jan - 13:59

Hi Gerard, Hi everyone
Here is a tip I use for the languages I am trying to improve. I log onto "google", I write the sentence I want to check and then I find my sentence in different contexts.
When I am home, ironing or tidying up the house I listen to CDs in different languages. When I have enough of English I start German or whatever other language. When I am fed up with listening I go upstairs and check the new posts in "café polyglotte sur le net" Very Happy Very Happy because I need my friends to correct all my mistakes. Furthermore, they write very interesting things.

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Advice to "improve" your English Image_10
La langue c'est Le Lien, 
Language is The Link,
La Lengua es el Nexo de unión,
Sprache ist die Verbindung, 
Il Linguaggio è Il Legame,
La Lingvo estas La Ligilo etc.
MurielB
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Advice to "improve" your English Empty Re: Advice to "improve" your English

Message  gerardM Mar 15 Jan - 14:27

Thanks for your tip Muriel! :-)

_________________
Please feel free to point out big mistakes in my messages in a foreign language. Thanks to your remarks, I'll be able to improve my level.
PS: Pls note that I chose American English for my vocabulary, grammar, spelling, culture, etc.  :-)
gerardM
gerardM

Messages : 31183
Lieu : Ermont & Eaubonne café-langues (Val d'Oise)
Langues : Français (Langue maternelle), US-En, De, It, Ru

http://volangues.blogspot.com/

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