Advice From An English Teacher - November 2016

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.