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Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / December 2004Improving my English
What must I be reading in order to improve my written english? On occassion, and my temperament willing, I do pick up the dailies. More frequently, I resort to a thorough _study_ of word meanings from the dictionary. This happens when I come accross a word that is new to my vocabulary from a source such as television or random reading. So, I do read some stuff, but I am keen on speeding up my progress. What are you guys reading, never to miss a beat? Also, is it really important to read the newspapers? I find the language in the newspapers a bit modern for my taste, besides finding the news particularly boring and artificial. I've read Shakespeare, Dostoevsky and lots of poetry and seem to chime with the old school english. Regular attendance on online forums has rubbed off some Americanisms too, on my prose. I really want to pick up the best of both the worlds and evolve my own style. Thanks for reading. > What must I be reading in order to improve my written english? > . . . > Also, is it really important to read the newspapers? Few newspapers are good models for style, and almost as few worth reading for sheer pleasure. The fastest route for the ESL student seems to be to find a class of literature he either enjoys or wants to read for professional reasons, whatever the language. If he likes puzzle books, there are many "detective novels" e.g. by Conan Doyle and Ed McBain; if he likes funny books, P.G. Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh are models of style. If he likes history, Simon Schama and Barbara Tuchman are models.  SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) >> What must I be reading in order to improve my written english? >> . . . [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >Waugh are models of style. If he likes history, >Simon Schama and Barbara Tuchman are models. Recommending books for the non-English speaker that wants to improve his English is more difficult than it would seem. Without knowing the reader's taste, genre alone is a tough call. Then there's the jargon and regionalism problem. McBain's books contain police jargon that can be misleading to the English learner. McBain's characters refer to their police station as the "One-six" instead of the sixteenth, for example. The uninformed reader might think we use that style for all numbers. Wodehouse and Waugh use some construction that is now considered archaic or dated. I think I'd go with recommending non-fiction, and possibly in the biography or political areas. Less jargon, less slang, and usually rather vanilla style. Unknown references are usually easy to Google. >>> What must I be reading in order to improve my written english? >>> . . . [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > the "One-six" instead of the sixteenth, for example. The uninformed > reader might think we use that style for all numbers. I thought Carella and Meyer Meyer and those guys were in the eight seven? SignatureJohn Dean Oxford >>>> What must I be reading in order to improve my written english? >>>> . . . [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >I thought Carella and Meyer Meyer and those guys were in the eight >seven? I'm sure you're right. I just made up a number because I didn't remember the actual number. It was just an example. >Recommending books for the non-English speaker that wants to improve >his English is more difficult than it would seem. Sentences such as that one lead me to believe that getting them to read those books may be even harder. SignatureCharles Riggs They are no accented letters in my email address > >> What must I be reading in order to improve my written english? > >> . . . [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > biography or political areas. Less jargon, less slang, and usually > rather vanilla style. Unknown references are usually easy to Google. Since we are talking about mystery-writers, how about Agatha Christie ? But, some would say, rather old-fashioned style..... K [...] > The fastest route for the ESL student seems to be > to find a class of literature he either enjoys or wants > to read for professional reasons, whatever the language. [...] As a non-native English speaker, I found "The British Museum Is Falling Down" by David Lodge rather easy and funny. Bye, FB SignatureDomanda: "Era il figlio di Iside e Osiride". Risposta: "Thor". (quiz televisivo) The BBC has a special section devoted to learners of English. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml I recommend it to all my students. > So, I do read some stuff, but I am keen on speeding up my progress. > What are you guys reading, never to miss a beat? As you study now is best. The news is usually a good example of correctness although it's naturally bland and unadventurous with language. Also, politics dilute meanings of sacred philosophies, so ignore references to "big brother cameras", etc. ~Iain > What must I be reading in order to improve my written english? On > occassion, and my temperament willing, I do pick up the dailies. More [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Thanks for reading. Whatever you have been doing seems to be working quite well. You already write better than most native English speakers. Good work! heron SignatureunDO email address ___ Nature, heron stone to be commanded, mailto:heronstoneDO@comcast.net must be obeyed. http://home.comcast.net/~heronstone/ |
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