How to Perfect Your English

There are very many languages in the world and no man can claim to be fluent in all of them, being fluent in more than ten would be a marvel in itself. Some people learn English as a second or third language; this poses a hindrance due to the change in pronounciation of words. For instance, most students in Kenya learn and are tested on their use of English and Kiswahili; furthermore, they also need to know their mother-tongue so as to communicate with their grandparents and sometimes their parents.

To improve your English reading, start by reading the literature that you are comfortable with and gradually start increasing the complexity of the material you read. I remember reading a book called "Billy goat graft" which was the simplest book to read at my level back at the start of my nursery school after that, I read "Little red riding hood". This was a baby step in my flight with the English language. In learning any language, you have to start at the bottom; the only work that you start form the top is digging a hole!

Keep on practicing and practicing your language relentlessly; never give up. Get more material from the library, book shop, friends and newspapers. As you practice, your accuracy will increase. You will be able to read through a passage with fewer mistakes even as the complexity of the words increase. The speed at which you read through a definite amount of words will gradually increase to the point where you have to slow down for others to understand what you are reading.

Improve your reading with a purpose, have an aim. When others listen to your reading, they can comment on it and set a goal or judge your reading skills. Some literature requires a different approach for example poems. They have a mood like sorrow, relief or joy which you will need to express. They also have a climax and an anticlimax which have to be expressed.

When improving your writing skills, start with the words that you are familiar with only use a new word when you know its meaning and use. Choose your words well, different words can have the same meaning but their impact is completely different, for instance good and magnificent can mean the same thing but magnificent has a better effect when complementing people.

Have good hand writing, what you have written is only useful when others can read and comprehend your written material. Do you write something which you can not read comfortably afterwards? If so, keep on working on your hand writing. Also make sure tat you can write at a comfortable pace; this will help you when taking dictations in class or when in a hurry.

Improve your pronounciation of words by listening to others like your teacher, friends and audio-visual media. If you are learning English as a second language, remember that you will have an accent. Even people who learned English as a first language in different places will have a distinct accent as the people in that area; the accent of the British is not the same as of Americans.

Remember that there are no short cuts in the perfection of English or any other language keep on practicing and do not translate words directly from one language to another as this may alter the meaning completely.