Today’s English
June 15th, 2017
To speak in English is a matter of pleasure and respect in a country where English is the second language (Not mother tongue). “I want to improve my English” and “how to develop my communication skills" are the echoes of the longing souls in colonized countries where people are free from the White Masters but has, of course, madly fallen in love with their language and aspire to master it. Today’s English is for non-native speakers of English who have the burning impulse to improve their English.
1.Change to change
Change the word, phrase, sentence or structure that you are habituated to. Don’t have one string to your conversational violin and make the same monotonous tune. Find the other way of expressing the same with new equivalents.
A.Why are you late?
B.Why are you running behind time?
C.What makes you late today?
D.Tell me the reason for your delay?
E.Why can’t you come early?
F.Don’t you know to come on time?
G.Is 'time is gold' only in theory / only for marks?
H. Be an early bird to catch the worm!
I.What has made you a late-comer today?
2.'Repeat' is the mantra!
What we speak now and our active vocabulary has its root in mere repetition and frequency. You may find a beautiful phrase, idiom or structure in the book you read or from a person you listen to but without repetition on your part to make it your own, you will be a loser. For example, if I find the expression “he always walked the talk" in the novel “the Alchemist”, I should try to use it in my situation, “Don’t forget to walk the talk and submit your record note on Friday as you promised.” Whether you watch an English movie, read an English newspaper or give your ear to English news on TV, don’t forget to pick up what interests you, and make it your treasure. Repeat is the mantra!
3.Speak English to speak English
If a child wants to walk, the only way is to walk. If you want to swim or drive, just start swimming and driving. No book can help you, but practice, and just “doing”. You can do circus with a bicycle but only by moving. Upgrading your English to a newer version is not possible without launching it on your part. A state runner today must have learnt walking only by stumbling and falling. Speak English that is the only way to speak English!
4.A thousand miles journey begins with a single step!
Don’t forget that such a journey comes to an end only by continuous or periodical move. Don't be in a hurry for overnight feat. Find where you are weak in the four skills – LSRW (Listening, speaking, reading and writing) and spend at least 15 minutes a day to enrich that zone. A plant that stops growing from time to time bears no fruits. Your effort to improve your English once in a blue moon will make your English the new moon, not full moon. After 15 days of your regular practice, it will become your habit and lead to frequent delightful lift-time harvest.
Don't forget "dictionary is your bible and practice is your prayer"!
5.Change your character to change your English?!
You speak through your knowledge, speak through your experience and speak through your character. When the materials change, the products change. Do you speak polite English, pure English, poetic English, stylistic English, butler English, standard English or broken English? It all depends on the source and the process. Be gentle to speak Gentleman’s English.
“Language is the key to the heart of people.”
-Ahmed Deedat, a South African Writer
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