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Tips for Non-Native English Speakers to Improve Spoken and Written English

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English is the world’s lingua franca. It’s the language you can use to communicate with people from across the globe, so it’s essential to learn how to speak and write well in English. There are many ways you can go about this for native speakers of other languages who want to improve their spoken or written English skills. Here are some tips for non-native English speakers who wish to improve their spoken/written English:

Learn English With Movies

Watching English movies is a great way to learn English. You can look at the subtitles in the film and match them with verbal communication to learn new words and their meanings. It can also help you with better pronunciation. Hence, it does not come as a surprise that one in five Americans regularly uses subtitles to learn a new language. You can learn English the same way. There are several ways you can use movies to improve your spoken and written English skills:

  • Watch English movies with subtitles. This will help you pronounce words but won’t help you understand the grammar or vocabulary very well. You’ll know what word is being said but not what it means in context. Watching movies with subtitles is especially popular among young individuals. According to an article from BBC, four out of five Americans aged 18-25 use subtitles at some point while watching a movie.
  • Watch English movies without subtitles. This will help you practice listening for information like time and location, understanding accents and intonation patterns, noticing how different people speak differently, etc., all while improving your listening comprehension skills at the same time as learning more about cultural differences between the two countries’ cultures (such as music preferences).
  • Watch an entire movie dubbed into another language, then watch it again after watching its original version (English). This technique may seem strange at first glance because some things won’t make sense anymore since they were changed when changing them into another language–but this method gives learners direct exposure to native speakers speaking naturally in their own native language; thus allowing learners more opportunities than usual when learning from transcripts alone!

Record Yourself Speaking in English

Recording yourself speaking English is a great way to practice and improve your pronunciation because you can listen back and hear where you need to improve. If it helps, use a tape recorder or camera to replay the recording until it’s easier for you to understand what you said.

You may not like how your voice sounds when it comes out of the recorder; don’t worry! You can always lower the pitch of your voice or use an accent that comes more naturally to you so that others can understand what they hear more easily.

Study Applied Humanities

As a non-native English speaker, you might want to consider studying the humanities. What are the humanities? They’re everything that isn’t science or mathematics (i.e., any kind of study that uses words). The humanities include human language, history, literature, law, religion, philosophy, and music.

Studying applied humanities can help with language learning because it will give you a greater understanding of the world around you. This can be extremely useful when learning English, as it will help you understand the cultural context in which words are used and how they relate to each other in sentences. Studying humanities can also improve your writing skills, as these studies often involve analyzing literature and other written works that have been around for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Besides helping you learn English, studying applied humanities also gives you satisfaction in your job life. A Gallup poll cited in a recent report shows that 90% of graduates from the humanities stream are relatively happy with their lives compared to others.

Thanks to eLearning, you can easily learn applied humanities from the comfort of your home. You can also find note banks for several universities and answers to homework tasks that can help you with your courses. When selecting an applied humanities course, ensure that the provider has the right expertise. Also, explore the study material you get from different sites and enroll accordingly.

A teacher can also play a vital role here. According to data, 64% of American teachers have at least one student who is learning English in their classroom. Hence, selecting the course with the best teachers is also crucial.

Listen to the News or Podcasts in English

Listening to the news or podcasts in English is a great way to improve your English. In 2022, 62% of Americans over 12 listened to a podcast at least once. There are millions of English podcasts hosted across different platforms. You can listen to podcasts on any topic that interests you, from history to science and technology.

If you’re interested in current events, many free podcasts provide news coverage of international issues. These include BBC World News and Radio France Internationale (RFI). You can also use an app like the TuneIn Radio app or Radio Box app to listen to radio stations with content in English worldwide, including radio stations from the United States, such as SiriusXM’s The Beatles Channel and 102.7 KISS FM in New York City.

Keep a Journal in English

Writing in English is one of the best ways to improve your English. It’s a very practical and effective way to practice writing in English.

It can be helpful if you have a personal journal where you write about your day, what you did, what you learned and how it felt, etc., or even just something as simple as: “Today I ate breakfast.” This will help find the correct vocabulary and grammar structures when writing in this manner. You could also try describing people’s faces or personalities using adjectives while keeping them honest!

Final Thoughts

English is the most spoken language in the world, and learning it can be challenging. The key to learning any language is practice. And while there are no shortcuts, there are ways that you can make the process more efficient. If you follow these tips and keep practicing, you will soon find yourself speaking and writing in English easily!

 

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Kossi Adzo

Kossi Adzo is a technology enthusiast and digital strategist with a fervent passion for Apple products and the innovative technologies that orbit them. With a background in computer science and a decade of experience in app development and digital marketing, Kossi brings a wealth of knowledge and a unique perspective to the Apple Gazette team.

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