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Learning strategy after C2 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| starst Triglot Senior Member China Joined 5513 days ago 113 posts - 133 votes  Speaks: Mandarin*, Japanese, EnglishC2 Studies: FrenchC1, German, Norwegian | Message 1 of 18 25 June 2010 at 6:32am | IP Logged | ||
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I've reached C2-equivalent level (630+/677 toefl) with English 10 years ago, however, I have made little progress further. I look forward to getting some practical suggestion regarding learning method from forum members :)
- reading: I subscribe to the weekly magazine Time, and read technical papers fairly often at work. - writing: I guess this is my weakest point. I only write two or three technical reports each year, and do no serious writing except that. - listening: BBC business daily podcast. I come across a certain amount of unfamiliar words in this program, but it's usually because of an unfamiliar topic. - speaking: no native speaker friend, so almost not at all. The plan is to read aloud something, e.g. Time articles, everyday, but I wonder how much that can help. My accent is not particularly bad, but not good either. I can spare about 30 minutes everyday for English. Magazine reading and podcast listening are done during commuting, so they are not count into the 30 minutes. The premier goal is to obtain some "native" flavor. I want to master the exact usage of words and phrases. Thank you very much! Edited by starst on 25 June 2010 at 6:34am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fielle Diglot Groupie Japan maliora.com Joined 5269 days ago 53 posts - 69 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German | Message 2 of 18 25 June 2010 at 6:59am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, your English is already quite good, in my opinion.
I think your best method for improving your English writing is to do it a lot. lang-8.com is a pretty good site for this. You type journal entries or whatever you'd like, and native speakers will correct your writings and provide suggestions on making things more natural. I think Japanese and English are the two languages with the most users, so you should be able to find a reasonable number of people to correct your English. I would also suggest watching some TV in English. The US NBC News has a video podcast of the daily news, and although the news coverage in the US is not always the best, it will give you exposure to different English accents through interviews and such. I would suggest trying to repeat things people say as close to how they say it as you can, as a way to improve your accent. I also think that the television game show Jeopardy! is a great show for American English, because the announcer reads every clue while the text is on the screen to follow along, and you learn a bunch of trivia while you're at it! There are some clips available on youtube, I believe. Without being able to converse in English, you are probably at somewhat of a disadvantage there. Have you tried finding native speakers in your area? It can be harder or easier depending on your area, but there are American and British expats everywhere nowadays, it seems. At a local university in my area, for example, there are group language exchanges multiple times a week, for all sorts of different languages, and they're open to anyone who wants to show up. Edited by fielle on 25 June 2010 at 7:01am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| johntm93 Senior Member United States Joined 5326 days ago 587 posts - 746 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 3 of 18 25 June 2010 at 8:30am | IP Logged | ||
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Your English is very good.
I'd stick with what you're doing, read, write, listen to, and speak it as much as you possibly can. Surround yourself with the language. Read and watch higher-brow stuff, if you want to sound...higher-brow. Is that what you're going for? Do you want to sound extremely educated (like college professor level) or are you going for a more colloquial thing? Edited by johntm93 on 25 June 2010 at 8:31am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| starst Triglot Senior Member China Joined 5513 days ago 113 posts - 133 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, Japanese, EnglishC2 Studies: FrenchC1, German, Norwegian | Message 4 of 18 25 June 2010 at 1:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you, fielle and johntm93 :) It's very nice of you to say so. However, I must admit that I turned to online dictionary some 4 or 5 times when writing that post, because I often misspell some "advanced" words :(
-> fielle: lang-8.com is a wonderful site! How come I didn't notice it before! I'm trying the repeating-with-announcer method, but find it a bit too difficult for me. I can hardly do well with a 5-minute news in 30 minutes. Anyway, I'll keep trying it for a while to see if I can catch up fast. Finding language exchange partner is kind of difficult for me: I'm native speaker of mandarin, but currently living in Tokyo. You can imagine most English native speakers here prefer to exchange with a Japanese. The solution I got is that I've contacted a Netherlander, and he would teach me Dutch using English. I hope that can be somewhat helpful... By the way, Skype is a nice channel, but I find it not very efficient. -> johntm93: You really got me! Being able to sound like a professor would be really nice. I'm not very much into slang. Highbrow, from the positive point of view, is exactly what I need. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luhmann Senior Member Brazil Joined 5332 days ago 156 posts - 271 votes Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: Mandarin, French, English, Italian, Spanish, Persian, Arabic (classical) | Message 5 of 18 25 June 2010 at 2:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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You should listen to podcasts that have conversation in it. This will help you to achieve more natural speech.
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| starst Triglot Senior Member China Joined 5513 days ago 113 posts - 133 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, Japanese, EnglishC2 Studies: FrenchC1, German, Norwegian | Message 6 of 18 25 June 2010 at 2:35pm | IP Logged | ||
Indeed... Any recommendation? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5566 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian | Message 7 of 18 25 June 2010 at 7:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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Two of my favorite podcasts are the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe (a podcast about science and critical thinking) and Astronomy Cast (a podcast about astronomy, of course). If you enjoy science, I would highly recommend those two. Both shows do deal with "high-brow" intellectual topics (so lots of good vocabulary to be learned), but they do it in the context of a free, casual conversation.
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| johntm93 Senior Member United States Joined 5326 days ago 587 posts - 746 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 8 of 18 25 June 2010 at 10:00pm | IP Logged | ||
If you want to sound like a professor, then I'd say listen to Levi. Listen to and read things from science and English professors and read classic English literature. What subjects are you interested in? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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