Help for my english

[massamuusi]

So, I am at college now, and I will write my english next spring, and since I have been having over 90 points out of 99 all the time, but never 10/10 grade, that is, I have had 15 courses in a row with 9/10 grade, but mostly because of lack of discipline, rather than for the actual test results. So, I think I have the chances to go after the Laudatur, which is a grade that 5% of the best get each year. So, I already know about writing good essays, but I have an awful lot of problems with punctuation and the placing of 'the' article. I have sometimes some rare spelling problems aswell, since I remember the words as they are spelled, rather than how they're written. So I was wondering if you could have any tips upon how I should practice for it? I have spent a lot of time on internet forums, and watching BBC news, and these have helped me so much, also I find school books deppressingly boring, and not a whole much helpful.
So, where can I learn to master english english? Do Oxford or Cambridge for example have some free internet courses or something like that? I'd really appreciate any help.

[KukriKhan]

This place:

http://dmoz.org/Reference/Education/Distance_Learning/Online_Courses/

is M.I.T., a quite respected uni here in the US. Their courses are free.

[munrock]

If you're after English English, you might want to look here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/library/english.shtml

More important, read english books. There's a massive reading list in this forum, have a look at the novels listed there, as the writing will be richer. There's the added bonus of the books covering a subject matter youre interested in. Practice is everything.

[Papewaio]

I'm teaching ESL at the moment so here are a few questions and answers:

Where are you based?

In an english speaking country or not?

Generally speaking with grammar it is understanding the rules and then practice, practice, practice.

Get a good book on grammer for 'the'.

As for spelling do you mean you write them phonetically?

[massamuusi]

That first link seems just scary, they had "archaeology"

I am based in capital in Finland, the Helsinki area.
Not an english speaking country, but we do have foreigners, not too many english ones, but we do have them.

I don't know grammar rules, I know what is substantive, adjective, verb, but I don't understand anything finer, not in finnish, not in english. I trust my language "ear" and I always listen to what I write. In my head, of course.
Yes, exactly, I remember most words phonetically. Not very common, I think. But that's how it goes for me. I get the letters right by my instincts, just as with the grammar. Then again, I have first encountered most of the words in written form, so I remember their pronounciation in my mind is not always correct. I used to pronounce character as tzharakter, instead of kharakter. ~:)

Oh, I forgot to mention all my teachers are always pissed at me for the fact that I don't know anything about grammar rules. Still, I manage to get 8 or 9 out of 10 grades in finnish, and always 9 out of 10 grade in english. My swedish is often influenced by english, being so similar language. They don't mind, the swedes, but my teachers are, again, pissed. ~:)

[eadeater]

I'm not English either and I would suggest that the best way to learn to speak and understand English, as English speakers do, is to speak it and listen to people speaking it all the time. That's how I learned French too (well, to a certain extent), by going to France and forcing myself not to rely on everyone understanding English, but actually make an effort to speak French. So I suggest that if it's at all possible, go to England or America for a holiday and you'll be surprised how much your understanding of the language improves, as well as your pronounciation. This might not help you with your spelling directly, but it will indirectly.

[Al Khalifah]

If you want to speak good English, whatever you do, don't come to England. No one speaks proper English in England except the Queen and she doesn't seem to understand the difference between first person singular and plural.


Oh and especially don't go to America. I'm English and I can't understand New Yorkish.

joking............. maybe

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

If you want to learn American English, go either to Ohio or New Jersey (my home state ~D ). I heard that those two states have the most un-accented (American) English. In NJ, though, avoid certain areas (like my home). There are tons of New Yorkers there. And while I don't mind New Yorkers, their accent can be... interesting. Nothing against them as people, of course.

But I don't know if I can be of any real help. I ain't two gud at Englilsh. ~;)

[munrock]

I think it depends on which part of England massamuusi would go to, though somehow I think a trip to New Jersey or Ohio is out of the budget!

There are groups that organise work experience in the UK for students of English on the continent. There is a guy from Paris working with me from one such place. Originally he was going to spend 2 months here, but he enjoyed it so much he decided to work here again for his summer holidays. His English improved by leaps and bounds over the first few weeks.

It's just a matter of practice, really. Travelling to England might not be an option for you, but hang out with foreigners or find another way to practice, and not study, the language.

[massamuusi]

When my sis lived there I went and lived at her place and worked at warrington.
I have to admit I didn't learn [anything], except that I still remember exactly where each medicine is at certain warehouse. I was amazed by how bad some of my co-workers were in english ~:) especially certain person who would always say the same thing- "hgmmmmhmhpphhmmhmh", luckily his friend steve was always kind enough to translate it into english.

The BBC english is something I need to learn, the pronounciation would also be very good to learn, but my first priority would be to increase my college level test scores from around 92% to around 96%. It doesn't seem like a big step, but since the tests are long, your skills have to be stable, uneven skills don't get you many points, even if you excelled one field.

[Papewaio]

If you know your weakpoints and it sounds like some areas of grammar then there are really only two ways.

Read, read, read english literature, until good grammar becomes second nature to you.

Get a good grammar book and read the rules where you are failing the most.

[Ranges]

So, where can I learn to master english english? Do Oxford or Cambridge for example have some free internet courses or something like that? I'd really appreciate any help.
i learnt to do that in exactly two ways:
1) reading absolutely horrid amounts of english books, although i'm convinced that reading two or three should definately help your grammar as well
2) speaking english or at least listen to it.

Well, books can be bought in english in pretty much any country in the world, and since your teacher won't be looking over your shoulders, you're free to pick a book because you like it instead of it's literary value..

As for speaking, well, run into foreigners *grins* Get a part time job helping tourists or selling tickets, or just listen to BBC radio / watch BBC or CNN.

Those things helped me more than any amount of study has.