How can I improve my English?

Dear Friends,
I have personally come across the situations several times where I found my friends stating
the problem of English speaking and writing. The reason is that English is not our mother
language. The language English is spoken throughout the world…in another word, you can
say ‘English is an International Language’ but it does not mean that you can’t learn this
language. Many times, I have met very good and knowledgeable people in their domain but
weak in presentation of their knowledge.
First of all, I just want to suggest that don’t consider English requires lot of knowledge to
speak or write. I shall mention here that English Speaking is an art and all you need to know
is English Grammar and strong vocabulary with their proper use.
In order to improve English, I suggest the following to do regularly and I strongly believe
that you can improve your English in one or maximum two months.
1. Learn the Basic Grammar
In order to learn proper English, first you require a good English Grammar Book
which can help you in learning the rules of basic English grammar. There are many
good books on English Grammar which you can buy or even can get through Internet
in PDF format. Read the Grammar and memorize them for proper sentence framing.
English Grammar is very essential for correct speaking or writing.

You can download or access the page from the following links:
a. http://kisi.deu.edu.tr/binnur.kavlak/ingilizce/belgeler/FreeEnglishGrammar.pd
f
b. https://www.englishgrammar.org/lessons/
c. http://ugcportal.com/raman-files/app/EnglishGrammarNotes.pdf
d. https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-and-vocabulary
Apart from above links, there are many other good books also in market which
you can buy or get from other sources.

2. Read the News Paper / Story

Once you are comfortable with English Grammar, the next is you need the paragraphs
which can enable or bring a situation to understand the grammar used in paragraph
writing. The best method is to read any English News Paper daily at least for half an
hour. In the beginning, you may find this very boring because you may not understand
the lines written in paragraphs. But best advice is not to leave the habit of reading
newspaper daily. To find the reading more interesting, you may replace the News
Paper with Story Books which creates interest while reading.
While reading, observe the grammar used in paragraphs in News Papers/ Story book.
3. Note Down the Vocabulary from News Paper / Story Books
While reading the News Paper / Story Book, you will come across many words which
you may not know. Just note down in any note book and keep noting down regularly
the difficult words in your copy. After that refer any good English dictionary and note
down their meaning with examples against the words you have noted down from
newspaper. But the most important part is the revision every day and see the example
of words how they can be used.

4. Speak loudly in front of mirror

After one month of time, you will find that you will have enough vocabulary to start
with speaking. So far, you have learned the Basic English Grammar and collected the
words from News Paper / Story Books. The next is to use them while speaking or
writing. The best method to learn speaking is to stand in front of mirror and speak
loudly starting with small sentences like I am going, you are coming etc. Many people
know English but while speaking they find difficult to speak because they might not
have got enough environment to speak with perfect pronunciation. While speaking
English, one thing is very important and that is speaking correctly with correct
pronunciation which may be developed with regular practice in front of mirror.

5. Write your own created story

In order to learn English, you also need to learn writing good communication skill in
English which only can be developed with lot of writing practice. The best method I
suggest is to create your own story and try to give them a proper shape in paragraph
with proper use of Grammar and Vocabulary with their uses at appropriate places.
You will find after sometime that your writing skill gradually get improved.

6. Apply with your friends, family members etc. to kill hesitation

Generally, you may find difficult to speak English directly with anyone as English is
not our mother tongue and many of us are also not habitual to it while speaking or
writing and because of this many of us have the problem of hesitation. We get fear in
mind of making mistakes which brings hesitation. The best method to kill hesitation
is to find your friends, family members etc. for half an hour and try to communicate
with them in English. If you continuously do this, you will find that you start getting
correct pronunciation within few days and also the speed with accuracy. Slowly, you
get confidence of not making mistakes and kill your hesitation of speaking.

7. Learn from mistakes

It is natural that when you start learning English, you will commit lot of mistakes but
it does not mean you should give up learning. The best suggestion is observing the
mistakes and learn from it and don’t repeat the same mistakes in next conversation.
For ex. I have come across many people who make mistake in gender in the beginning.
8. Have conversation with people who know English
Once you are little comfortable with speaking and writing, try to find someone who
speaks good English. Find some time with the person to communicate on regular
basis. Perhaps, this may not be possible. So in this case, watch regular English News
Channel where you will get appropriate English Speaking Friend i.e. News Reporter.
Observe thoroughly the way reporter speaks and try to speak in the same way. You
will find soon that you start speaking better English.

Please remember, English Speaking or Writing is not impossible. Only you need
regular practice of the above mentioned suggestions. Definitely, it will help you to
learn English.

Hope the lines will help you all.

Thanks
DP Tripathi