What is the best way to polish your English language by extensive reading, grammar or simply talking?

Answer 1

Actually, all of these! You'll learn faster if you speak it, but your vocabulary may be limited, and you'll probably end up making a lot of grammar mistakes. Therefore, you need to study grammar (do exercises), and read books and newspapers to improve your vocabulary, spelling, and to put the grammar rules you've learnt into practise. No need to sudy A LOT of grammar. Just do one rule a day, and it will come fast. Maybe write down some words you iften hear, and check the spelling and meaning in the dictionary.

As for films, well... I'm French, and I don't think I've ever learnt anything by watching films. The reason is probably because I can't stand rewinding a film to understand everything they say. And can't be bothered writing dowm expressions and sentences I've just heard. I love films, so it would be too much of a pain in the ***. However, it's good for understanding people's accents (and god knows there are plenty of different English and American accents, not to mention Australian and South African ones!). The best is to NOT put the subtitles on, otherwise you'll end up reading what's written. However, it's good to have the option so that you can always watch it again and check what you didn't understand (or at least, watch the parts you didn't understand). Anyway, it doesn't matter if you didn't understand everything (Hollywood films are good for learning because the vocabulary is usually limited, and you more or less understand what's going on). It's actually good because you have to make the effort of figuring out what they are saying when you only understaood 3 words out of 15!

Another good thing to do is to watch the news, as they often talk about one subject several days in a row. So that you'll easily get used to a certain type of vocabulary without having to learn a list of words by heart.

But one of the best things is to write things down. Make sentences. Try to write about any subject. I know you're supposed to think in English, but if you're English is already good, a good thing to do is to think in your native language, and then translate it (with the help of a dictionary and a grammar book). Try to use the same grammar constructions. Try to write about one subject several times. You'll improve fast that way.

Answer 2

I think every aspect is important, but I guess the grammar is just a little bit more important. Talking is a great way to practice the grammar you've learned in real life situations. Reading books in English becomes useful when you've already reached a higher level of knowledge, otherwise it's just torturing yourself.

What do you think of my English? I'm not a native speaker, but have learned it for about 15 years.

PS: A great way of practicing is also writing e-mails or answering questions right here at Yahoo Answers site!!

Answer 3

You need to practice all forms of language use. That means, speaking, reading & writing. Here's some tips:

You need to talk with native English speakers, not foreigners who speak English. Ask this person if you could read out loud to them regularly. (If not, get a tape recorder & tape yourself reading out loud & play it back to yourself)

Get an English pen or email pal to write to.

Watch English television.

Read English books / newspapers / magazines.

Best by far, is to spend some time in an English-speaking country, then you would be surrounded with the language 24 hours a day.

Hope these tips help - it's what I did when I was learning German.

Answer 4

I would say reading the newspaper, or texts, studying the grammar too, and listening to the news on TV. Talking helps you, but a lot of English speakers don't speak their own language correctly, so you could repeat their mistakes; you would need to know English better than them to notice those mistakes.

Answer 5

Two ways:

One watch movies and TV with spoken English or listen to songs in English. Singing along with the songs can help with pronunciation.

The second, practice conversations in English with people that you know or even don't know that speak English. Visit an English speaking country (if you are not already in one:o) ).

My husband is Multi-lingual and his third language is English, didn't start to improve until after we started dating. Now one will have a hard time to realize that he is not a native speaker. Unfortunately the only language that I speak fluently is English.

Answer 6

For a start, it's always easier to learn the language by speaking. At the same time, you need to learn the basic rules for written English e.g the tenses, grammar, etc... As you progress, you need to learn to expand your vocab by speaking more and also learning more new words through reading books, mags or newspapers. Good luck!

Answer 7

hi there,
the best way to polish your English Language is to watch English movies.WHY????
Because you can pause it, repeat the dialog which is being said etc i.e. you have total control of what you are learning in your own hands.Another point to be noted that please only watch the movies which have subtitles in them such that you can what a person is saying.
This way is not only informative but is sheer entertainment in itself.You can not only polish your English but also know about the various types of accents by this method.
All the best
Murali

Answer 8

I have found that reading greatly improves your command of the english language.

Answer 9

All mentioned on listed answers are really helpful.
I recommend also reading short stories as much as you can, and daily news papers better concentrate on the sport news pages because it contains a lot of words and verbs that express actions and activities. good luck

Answer 10

Talking and reading