ways to imrpove my english

Friendshipz wrote:

hi all, i am from singapore, currently studying in polytechnic, in other terms if i am not wrong, it is called a college. i came from a chinese speaking family,where i speak chinese all the time at home which makes this one of the main reason why i am not fluent in english, back in high school, my result for english langauge is always at the bottom of the class. just about 1 years ago, i tired to shove up my foundation in english language by reading through some online source and  forum. eventhough people had advised me that the best solution to improve this language is by reading newspaper and story book, however, i felt very reluctant to do so. i visited forum like animesuki that allows me to actively participate in  some dicussion and at the same time, i will pick up some words that i did not understand the meaning. i am very new to this forum since this is my first post, from now on, i will be glad that you guys here can help me in the journey of learning english language. if possible do give me some suggestion and advice on what should i do to improve this language, something which is very entertaining at the same time. i am not looking to write queen language,just want to write and speak well in english. side note: i have been learning japanese for the past 1 year, i am currently learning both of them at the same time.

From the same background as your, I also had the same experience.  I had said it many times, here and other forum, English is particularly hard for Asian learners for the simple fact that our own language is not made up of alphabets and spoken very differently in terms of tongue and jaw muscle movement and pronunciation.  Additionally, English grammar works nearly entirely opposite from ours.  That said, it’s not completely impossible to learn and master written and spoken English.  There are several critical elements learners must have in order to achieve the goal.  It’s a long commitment and one must have perseverance, determination, patience, and the what-ever-it-take attitude.  You can’t have a thin face or fear of people laughing at your accent or grammar because if you do, chances are you will be discouraged to practice or use what you’ve learned.  If we have these requirements established, we already won half the battle. The other half is to maintain constant English exposure to our ears and eyes, meaning listening to good radio programs, watching TV programs like Discovery or The History Channel etc, and reading good English materials. The more we are exposed to English, the more our senses get accustomed to the sound and sentence structure and thus our subconsciousness is reprogrammed to function in English.  The most difficult part to non-native Asians is spoken English and speech patterns. I used to spent 30 minutes a day practicing my speech by repeating after TV program narrators or commentators. This allowed my tongue and jaw muscle to develop and adapt to the correct pronunciation and intonation.  That’s my own experience and how I developed my English skills. It may not be an orthodox approach for others. But it sure worked for me.  I hope this helps you as well.