Listen to English to speak it. Read English to write it. You need to
listen carefully and extensively. You need to read a lot and observe how
people use words to convey meaning, apart from retaining those words
and phrases in your mind. Imitate the sounds that you heard. Reproduce
the words and phrases you retained in mind, in your own writing. To be a
competent user of English, you need to speak and write well. Crucial to
your proficiency is your ability to listen accurately to others and
read observantly what others have written.
You
say you want to learn English. I would like to know why you want to
learn English. Do you want to learn English to improve your life? Do you
believe that English will help you advance in life? Or do you want to
speak English because you like the language very much? Are you in love
with English? It is my belief that those who want to learn English in
order to advance in life, will not progress much
in their learning of English. It is only those who love English, who
will go as far as possible in achieving proficiency in English. It is
sheer love of the English language that took me from a Tamil-speaking
boy in South India to a person who some native speakers of English have
described as having a native-like competency in writing and speaking
English. I say this not to exalt myself, but to highlight the importance
of love for English. As a boy, I fell in love with English. I pursued
English with all my heart. I gave my all to learn this language, which
was markedly different from my own. This is the passion it takes to
achieve great language learning goals. Fortunately, I had this passion,
and so I have come this far. But my heart continues to desire even more.
I want to achieve more. I want to be more comfortable with English. And
I want my English to have a greater impact on my audience. Love
conquers all, and as long as I love English, I will conquer the
impediments in my way. So this is what I recommend to the learner of
English. Love English, and devote all your time to knowing English. And
you will go as far as you can. You will overcome the obstacles in your
way, as long as your love is still warm. But if you cannot love or if
your love grows cold, you cannot go far.
If
you want to speak English, you should first listen to English. I
suggest you listen to English, as spoken by native speakers of English.
You should watch television news channels, such as BBC and CNN. Pay
careful attention to the way the newsreaders speak English. And as you
observe, imitate what you hear. Imitate bravely without fear. Your
imitation will most probably be awkward, at first. But
keep persisting, and it will improve. Good speech is not just good
imitation, but is also semantically and socio-linguistically appropriate
language. Your words should be well-chosen and sensitive to the
interlocutor. But before you reach this stage you should start from
scratch. You should crawl before you learn to walk. Let your crawling
begin today.
There
is no excuse for the one who wants to learn English but does not know
how. English is everywhere these days. Television networks in India
offer a plethora of English channels. When I grew up in this country,
there was only one television channel, and English programmes were shown
only sometimes. Thankfully, BBC World Service was available on radio.
And this was my main source of English, in my
early days of learning. But I approached English with a bottomless
hunger and a yawning desire. I romanced English, and pursued my love
relentlessly. English finally obliged. You, who desire to speak English
well, should first fall in love with English, and when you do that, you
will pursue the object of your love, and your passion will keep you
going as long as it takes. Love conquers all barriers. You will discover
this for sure.
English
is all around you. Open you ears and hear it. But before you do that,
let that anxiety go. You can't learn much when you are anxious. But be
eager to learn. Enjoy every little thing that you learn today. Learning
is a journey. What happens today may be little, but it will take you to
the next stage in your voyage to knowledge. Determine what type of
English you wish to speak. And listen to
it. Listen to those who speak this variety. A good source is
television. Listen to newsreaders and anchors who speak the variety of
English you like. And let their speech permeate your system. Hear and
then listen. Pay attention to what makes their English different and
distinct. Observe and imitate what you hear. Keep doing that, no matter
how long it takes. You will make many mistakes, and the going will be
very tough. But you will move ahead, if you are driven to succeed. So be
driven today and every day.
Don't try to translate your native language utterances into English. To
speak English as a native speaker would, you need to think in English.
And you won't be able to do it until you get thoroughly familiar with
it. Speak English as you hear it when spoken by educated native speakers
of English, or by educated non-native speakers of English. You should
learn the patterns of native English speech, and you should be able to
understand the idiomatic use of words and phrases, which are typically
the way native speakers express ideas in English. Otherwise, your spoken
English will be distinctively unidiomatic and divergent from
native-like patterns of speech.
Speaking
English as a second language poses a common problem, irrespective of
the linguistic background of the learner. The interference of the native
language is the main reason for difficulties in learning to speak
English. Past a certain age, it is difficult to acquire or unconsciously
absorb a language. Thus, it becomes a requirement to learn a language
beyond that stage. Probably when a person
is past the age of thirteen, he may be unable to know a language
completely, and to speak it as native speakers do. This is the reason
why many people need to learn English. They engage in this learning
after acquiring their native tongues. By the time they start learning
English, their native language patterns are well established in their
minds. Thus, they will not able to perceive the sounds of English
without filtering them through their own linguistic system, and for the
same reason often their sound production may also betray the influence
of native language patterns. This results in distorted imitation of
native English patterns, and brings about a distinctively divergent
derivative, which is labelled non-native English.
The
first thing you should do to be able to speak English well is to
believe that you can speak it well. You should believe this no matter
what people think of you. Your present language performance may not
match the required standard, but you should not give up on this score.
You should not stop believing in yourself, and in what you can be if you
keep persisting. You should observe the way others
speak English. To speak English well, you should listen to others who
speak it well. You should listen well and imitate well. Good speech is
good imitation of the speech others produce. Proficiency is what happens
as you keep on improving your ability to speak. It takes time, probably
much time, but if you are willing to stick to it, and not fall away on
account of negative criticism, you will certainly progress well.
