how to improve English?

潘多拉外传 · 发表于 23-8-2004 14:58:15|来自：新加坡

<DIV class=quote>以下是引用hello_babe在2004-8-23 12:33:20的发言：
only singlish is involve isn't it[em05]</DIV>

ai....
it seems that i am becoming more and more professional about it.......

猫猫抱抱我 · 发表于 23-8-2004 17:24:05|来自：新加坡

<DIV class=quote>以下是引用潘多拉外传在2004-8-23 8:41:44的发言：


haa haa....actually 85% of the time i find it damned hard to use english in food courts and hawker centres...... imagine the conversation goes:
"auntie ah, i want rice with cabbage, chicken wing and tofu.... how much?"
"1 meat 1 dollar, 1 vegetable 50 cents"
"tofu?"
"tofu vege lah!"
"oops... i forget to bring enough cash...can i loan 50cents from you? next time i surely will return."
"ah lah mak, u think i rich ah? no money no talk! no money no talk!"
[em06][em06]
</DIV>

haha!!! yes..it likes that...but it is the real culture of sg...haha...to experience and exercise the conversation with general sgporeans is very interesting..but to improve english..you can also train yourself to think somethings in english but not think in chinese and translate to english and then say...using english to think is a higher progress.

红色企鹅 · 发表于 24-8-2004 19:14:38|来自：新加坡

There is no shortcut in making a noticable progress. Since you vioce out, it is time to take actions now. Start read, talk and write!There are plenty of books available in national library, if you are already has got your membership, why not make good use of it? At the very beginning, you may find it hard to read fiction, do not touch them yet. Try those kids' story books, magazines with a lot of pictures, easier to catch our interests.. That is what i did before. And now, i started reading fictions... Talk? most of my friends keep complaining that it is not the right environment to learn english in singapore. Yes, i cant agree with them more. Walk down to town, we can get our stuff done easily in our mother tougue-Chinese, why bother engage a bloody conversation in Singlish?! That accent makes some people uncomfortable i know, because i am one of them. Well, people change. Now instead of complaining with friends and worrying about my lousy english, i started talking. Talking to strangers is the best.................! haha.. use english from now and then willl gradually work... Do not mind whether it is singapore accent, not proper english, as long as i can talk freely, should not be any problem when going to europe. As lauguages are easily shaped by the surroundings... Write? How to write? Our host-kitty has set up a very very good example to us, keep a diary. If you have the habit of writing something, your mood, emotions, just do it in english... In fact, i ever scored A for my essay, that is the period i kept english diary too. See, there is always good results after the effort is put into.Good luck to ur friend, sorry, i cant write more, too tired. Gonna zzz............................