70 Ways to improve your English

#1. Never be afraid to commit mistakes. You can correct your mistakes only if you know you make them.

#2. Try to put yourself in an English speaking environment. Surround yourself with English dialogues, music etc.

#3. English can be improved if one practices 4 skills – reading, writing, listening and speaking, altogether. They need to be worked upon simultaneously, in order to improve the language.

#4. Try to chart out a study plan and divide your time among all the four habits to learn English. It’s also important to stick to the plan drafted.

#5. Try to surround yourself with people who encourage you to move on the path to improvement.

#6. Try to learn new English words daily and make use of them in your sentences while speaking.

#7. Make it a habit to study a newspaper or a book daily for at least 15-20 minutes.

#8. Try to set up the time for your English study when your mind is at peak energy during the day.

#9. Try to use the vocabulary learnt in your daily conversation so that it gets memorized by heart.

#10. Evaluation is very important part of any study agenda. Regular evaluation helps a person to analyze where is he heading.

#11. Prepare long term language learning goals and then segregate them into shorter goals- weekly, daily goals etc.

#12. Reward yourself as and when you achieve the short term learning goals as they are the motivator for you to move towards long term goals.

#13. Create a study and English learning atmosphere because a positive atmosphere has a far better impact on learning and retention pace.

#14. Try to test and implement what works best for you, as what is good for one may not be that good for the other. So try, test and implement the best technique suitable to your requirement of study.

#15. Try to get help from your English trainer, classmates or friends on topics you don’t understand.

#16. Reviewing is the best practice to get perfection. Every lesson or chapter should be reviewed to gain perfection in the concept.

#17. One should take short breaks after a continuous study of 30 minutes. Fresh air and a short walk re-energize the body.

#18. One should not hurry up to move to next level of study. Try to concentrate on the present level and gain perfection in that.

#19. One should try to watch English news and English movies.

#20. Try to read English novels of your interest and analyze your understanding of the novel after that.

#21. For the beginners it is advisable to start with the children book as these are easy to understand, analyze & apprehend.

#22. Newspaper is the best way to build up English vocabulary. One can find new words with reading of every new article.

#23. One should try to understand the concept of English article instead of worrying about the meaning of each and every word.

#24. For a new English word that you can’t understand, try to capture its meaning from around the nearby words or phrases. Try to guess the meaning from the context.

#25. One should try to learn English root words that will help in guessing the nearby meaning.

#26. When one is trying to learn new words, try to understand all its forms.

#27. Try to learn suffixes and prefixes to build upon a strong English vocabulary.

#28. Try to use maximum of English words in your daily conversation.

#29. Try to think in English for every possible situation to improve fluency in the language.

#30. We can’t learn English from any text book. It is an art that can be learnt by practicing.

#31. The most productive way to learn English is by talking. The more you talk, the more fluent your language becomes.

#32. English Writing can be improved by practicing some sentences daily. One can maintain a daily journal to practice the writing context.

#33. One can improve English writing by starting an online blog.

#34. To improve English writing skills, we can engage in brainstorm sessions as we can get many ideas and thoughts which we can write in a structured way on paper without worrying about the grammar and spelling. In the second stage, we can review the grammar and spellings. Finally, we can get it checked from someone to understand the shortcomings.

#35. We should understand the use and importance of the punctuation marks, as a slight change in their position can change the meaning of the entire English sentence.

#36. If you have a sweet voice, you can try learning the lyrics of English songs as it would help to improve your pronunciation, style and fluency in the language.

#37. Try to engage with social networking sites, as casual chatting in English would also go a long way in improving the language.

#38. Try to listen to any English radio channel, as it would make your ears habitual of hearing English words.

#39. Try to play a CD at home and sing along to improve the intonation, pronunciation and the rhythm. How to start speaking English at Home?

#40. Try to engage yourself in dictations by writing down what you hear in a CD.

#41. Record your voice when you speak on any topic and hear it again to check the areas where you lack.

#42. One can review the lessons by recording the lessons you take with your teachers. This way you can review your rate of speech, pace, diction and intonation.

#43. Keep English dictionary handy as it would help to clarify the meaning of the words you can’t understand.

#44. Don’t make dictionary as your main teacher. Instead of trying to rely on it for each and every word, try to guess its nearby meaning rather than turning straight to the dictionary.

#45. Stay positive and don’t give up if you feel you aren’t learning that quickly. Remember, slow and steady wins the race.

#46. Try to have fun while learning, as it will improve the pace of learning.

#47. Try to be a bit relaxed while speaking. Take two deep breaths as it would relax your mind.

#48. Keep yourself motivated by looking up the old books and novels that you have studied so far.

#49. Age is not a factor if you want to learn English. You are never too young or too old to learn any language.

#50. If you are not getting the desired results it may be because you are not applying the desired or most effective ways to learn things.

#51. Use study material that is in tune with your level of study. Referring to a very high level of material may not give desired results.

#52. Never worry about acquiring perfect English accent. It’s an important part of your cultural identity to keep your original accent. At best, work on neutralizing your accent.

#53. One should be aware of the difference in the American and British vocabulary, and should use words accordingly.

#54. Try using cue cards for writing new English words whenever you come across them. These can be referred whenever you require.

#55. Try to make small notes of important points and stick them up in your study room, so that you can glance at them whenever you are free.

#56. Try to learn and understand phrasal words, as they would go a long way in learning new words.

#57. Try to gather the points in your mind, structure them, and then speak them keeping in mind the rules of grammar. This would go a long way in improving your English speaking skills.

#58. Try to socialize more. Meet new people and make a conversation with them. This way, hesitation can be reduced to a large extent.

#59. Be the first to begin the conversation and get it moving. Try to motivate others to speak. As you need not be a mere speaker but a motivator too.

#60. Engage in more debates. Take up a topic and discuss it within a group. Try to share your view points with the group and listen to their points attentively. Both speaking and listening are required to gain perfection in the language.

#61. Learning English words does not imply that you can speak English perfectly. You need to have an understanding of grammar to speak perfectly.

#62. Verbs and tenses are an important part of grammar concept, as they signify the timing of any action. It’s important to understand usage and rules of all the tenses.

#63. You should try to study many irregular English verbs used in the language.

#64. If you take a break from speaking and working on the language, you may lose interest in it.

#65. Don’t use a test score to judge one’s ability to speak English. It’s not necessary that a person with good score has good speaking skills.

#66. Try to look for a company while learning the language. You’ll have someone to practice with and motivate you.

#67. It is important that we understand that the English pronunciation is not the same as we write.

#68. It is important to understand that it takes more time to improve when our level is high. Improvement is higher in case of beginners.

#69. It is important that the usage matches the occasion. It’s ok to use slangs with friends but a professional dialect is required in case of business communications and public speaking.

#70. Usage of idioms makes English language more colorful and a great fun to use.