Speaking

　　说

　　How can I improve my oral English?

　　Sometimes it seems like we work very hard to improve, but we can't observe any progress. We hit a "learning plateau" and seem to stay the same.

　　If you are feeling frustrated about the pace of your improvement, there are two things you can do:

　　1) First, consider keeping an English diary. This can be a written diary, in a book or on a computer. Or this can be an oral diary, where you record your thoughts on tape. Your diary entries can be brief or long, but you should always try to communicate your thoughts and feelings as well as you can. As time passes, you can look pack at what you have written, and see the progress you have made.

　　2) Second, give yourself assignments in a new "domain." For example, if you usually read general English texts, set yourself reading assignments in a specific topic, for example French movies, Japanese kendo, the history of the telephone--- read two or three articles on the same topic. When you first read these, you will discover many new ideas and vocabulary words, but don't spend too much time looking up the meaning in the dictionary. Not at first. Try to guess the meaning based on the context. Later, you can look up words in a dictionary, and try to understand their usage.

　　By "exploring" these new domains you will find that you are highly motivated. You will feel "traction," like tires gripping the road when a car is building speed. And you will find that your oral English will also improve-- as your "English world" expands.

　　Reading

　　读

　　I do not know which kind of papers or journals I should select. Some of my friends told me not to read the articles written by Chinese because the articles are China style and not English style. What do you think?

　　Read widely, embrace all sorts of language: signs and posters, newspaper ads, official newspapers, foreign magazines. Soak up as much as you can. Do extensive reading and intensive reading. Don't worry about who wrote the English. Don't worry too much right now about accuracy. Just read and absorb.

　　Writing

　　写

　　I believe that good writing skill can benefit my oral English. I have passed CET-6. Would you mind giving me some suggestions about how to improve my English writing?

　　I would be very happy to suggest some methods for improving your writing, but first I'd like to ask you a little more about your proficiency level and your goals.

　　You mentioned you had passed CET 6, and that tells me you probably have a solid foundation in grammar and vocabulary.

　　But let me ask now: what type of writing are you most interested in improving? Basic essay-writing? Business writing? (such as reports and proposals) Academic writing (such as articles in scientific or technical journals, academic papers)? Some other type of writing? Or maybe a combination?

　　The higher the level of discourse we are trying to achieve in our writing, the more we need to think about who our readers are, what our purpose is writing is-- because things like that will influence how we write: The rhetorical style, the register or level of formality, the types of words we choose-- and on and on.

　　Of course, at every level of proficiency we always can improve our basic language schools. Refine our command of seldom used structures, become more polished in our mode of expression. This is true in our first language as well in our second language. I know, I work daily to improve my Chinese writing and my English writing.