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January 13, 2010

Using Chatrooms To Practice Your English Skills

Need to practice your English communication skills?  Try online chatrooms.  They’re always available, they’re free and you’ve got all sorts of personalities to wax those skills on.  What more could you ask for?

One of the biggest complaints I hear from language learners of all sorts is the lack of avenue for practice.  They’re doing their due diligence getting daily language software lessons, taking notes and even using supplementary material, but finding opportunities to practice what they learn has proven to be a challenge.  After all, unless you live in the actual country where the language is spoken, you aren’t likely going to be able to easily find individuals with whom you can drill those newfound skills on.

Chatrooms, on the other hand, are available 24/7, wherever you are in the world.  Whether you want to practice written or spoken English, you can always find people to use them on.

Be wary, though, that chatrooms are usually very informal environments.  If you’re looking to practice formal writing skills, you probably won’t get much mileage out of there.  For picking up conversational abilities, though, especially ones you will use during travel, it’s an excellent resource you should definitely take advantage of.

Filed under: English Learning, Language Learning — Tags: , , — @ 12:15 pm
September 25, 2009

Improving Your English Writing: Where To Find Help

Looking to improve your ability to write in English?  You’re not alone.  Many native speakers, not to mention second-language users, continue to struggle with the writing aspect of English, even though they’ve been using it for a long time (perhaps, even all their lives).

The good news is, there are plenty of resources available to help you improve your English writing capabilities.  Here are a few of them.

Desktop-based language software. Want the best way to bring your written English to the next level?  An all-in-one language tool should help.  Even better, you can learn by application, as you watch it point out mistakes, fix them and improve on your own writing.

Books. There are probably a million and one books about writing.  I’m not exaggerating either.  Being one of the longest-standing art forms and one of the most enduring communication methods, writing has seen a wide and varied share of guides.

Writing Classes and Workshops. If you live in an English-speaking country, you can literally walk into any college and find one of these scheduled.  If you live elsewhere, you will likely find them too, as English has entrenched itself as an international language for many fields of endeavor.

Online. There’s a literal flood of online resources on writing.  If you seek them out, you’ll probably end up overwhelmed, more than anything else.  The real problem is not finding, it’s figuring out the good ones from the bad.

Others. There are many more avenues you can pursue when you’re trying to improve your writing faculties.  Regardless of which one you choose, the important thing is to apply yourself in acquiring the skill.  It’s not easy (nothing ever really is), but if you put your heart into it, you should be seeing some improvements within a short time.

Filed under: English Learning, English Learning Software — Tags: , — @ 11:08 pm
July 28, 2009

How To Use A Thesaurus To Improve Your English Skills

A thesaurus is a great tool for improving both your English speaking and writing skills. If you’ve been looking for an easy way to take your mastery of the English language to the next level, it’s one of the simplest, most effective tools to employ.

At its core, a thesaurus is a collection of synonyms.  Basically, it’s a book of words that are grouped according to their similar (synonyms) and opposite (antonyms) meanings.  If there’s a word that you come across with that you don’t understand, a thesaurus can take the place of a dictionary, implying the definition by way of association with words that may be more familiar to you.

When Writing

When you’re writing, a thesaurus is downright indispensable.  It’s the easiest way to find the “right” word for almost every writing situation.  Not only does it group words according to meaning, but the best ones usually arrange them, depending on their implications as well, allowing the writer to express ideas with the proper emotions.

For Foreign Language Learners

Despite its usefulness, a thesaurus isn’t readily available for many foreign languages.  However, some language learning software do come with with its own thesaurus, allowing it to be a very useful when the time comes that you’re composing papers in the new vernacular.

Filed under: Dictionary Software, English Learning, Language Learning — Tags: , — @ 10:47 pm
May 21, 2009

The Secret To Improving Your English Writing Skills

“If writing had secrets, then writers’ sons would all be writers.” – Lu Xun

Are there really “secrets” to writing, as all those books and articles continually promise?  Or is developing English writing skills just a function of experience?

While there are particular skills and techniques that can help you turn out better copy, they’re not secret.  In fact, they’re freely available from here and other sites that frequently discuss language training.

To become a better English writer, there are three things you need to do:

1. Read widely
2. Write often
3. Improve on one area at a time

That’s it and none of those things are secret.  If you become a wide reader, you can see further and deeper into topics.  You gain familiarity with a greater amount of vocabulary, along with specific writing styles and ways of expression.  Most of the time, you end inheriting many of the traits of the materials you peruse, developing both the quality of your thoughts and your artistic temperament.

When you write often, you train your mind to work through the craft, the same way runners train their bodies by putting themselves through the pace.  Just as you developing singing talent partaking in the activity, you train your writing instincts by engaging in it.

If you write enough times, it’s not unusual to improve naturally.  However, making the conscious decision to see gains in a particular area usually serves to speed up the process. As such, be open to criticism, learn from them and always strive to improve a facet of your overall ability.  Similarly, don’t shy away from using tools, such as language software, to help you on your path.

Filed under: All-In-One Software, English Learning, Language Software — Tags: , , — @ 10:26 pm

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