EPTRain's English scratch pad - Page 2
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Leyra
United States1222 Posts
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Dapper_Cad
United Kingdom964 Posts
Trying to just communicate ideas and be fast is also good. | ||
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Rain
120 Posts
Although I'm a retired player, thanks for helping me! I'm watching Breaking Bad with English subtitle. If there are words that I don't know, I search for them. I hung out with a lot of American and European people recently. Actually there were't big problems having conversation with them, but when American people talking to another American people sometimes it's really hard to understand because they talk too fast and speak so many slang words :p I'll keep it up studying English, and thanks for the recommendations about books! I wish I can have perfect English someday  | ||
Liquid`Drone
Norway28584 Posts
What you should continue doing and what is absolutely the best way of learning English is to simply use it and reflect around what you are seeing and doing. Insofar as it is possible, immerse yourself in the language, write grocery lists in English, start having your inner monologues in English, write blogs in English at an English-speaking website. Your improvement since the first blog you posted has been very impressive, and evidence of the fact that there's no need for you to change up on anything. In terms of developing your written English you are right on track. In terms of pronunciation however, you have a harder time succeeding while still living in Korea. And seeing as how you want to move to the US, you want to develop this as well. Watching TV shows is good, but you also need to find a way for you to speak English. Playing computer games while talking English on skype is actually pretty good! (edit: just read your previous post. good! )One humbling exercise, which you might want to do later, is to record yourself speaking English. It normally sounds much worse than you think it does, but it also lets you identify what aspects of your pronunciation you need to work on. For now though, just use English as much as possible and you will keep progressing. | ||
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Schmieds
United States312 Posts
On November 19 2013 10:41 Liquid`Drone wrote: honestly I don't think you should focus your energy towards reading books on English grammar. I mean, it's good and helpful, and these books are good tools if you need one particular grammatical rule explained or if you observe that rules aren't consistent (very common in English due to all the exceptions) and you need to examine whether what you are observing are actual rules or not. What you should continue doing and what is absolutely the best way of learning English is to simply use it and reflect around what you are seeing and doing. Insofar as it is possible, immerse yourself in the language, write grocery lists in English, start having your inner monologues in English, write blogs in English at an English-speaking website. Your improvement since the first blog you posted has been very impressive, and evidence of the fact that there's no need for you to change up on anything. In terms of developing your written English you are right on track. In terms of pronunciation however, you have a harder time succeeding while still living in Korea. And seeing as how you want to move to the US, you want to develop this as well. Watching TV shows is good, but you also need to find a way for you to speak English. Playing computer games while talking English on skype is actually pretty good! (edit: just read your previous post. good! )One humbling exercise, which you might want to do later, is to record yourself speaking English. It normally sounds much worse than you think it does, but it also lets you identify what aspects of your pronunciation you need to work on. For now though, just use English as much as possible and you will keep progressing. This so much. Written English and Grammar will probably be most useful in school (which I know you are going to do eventually), but the most important part of language is the spoken part. Absolutely make every attempt to watch American television and media with subtitles, and you will learn much faster than if you read a grammar book. Beyond school assignments, everyday communication is what will help you integrate into the culture and really learn the language. | ||
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rkshox
Taiwan536 Posts
Anyways, I heard Breaking Bad is awesome, and I think that watching English TV shows or movies helps a lot. I would like to suggest Friends as another show to watch with English subtitles. The English that they use throughout the show is not very complicated and the jokes and sarcasm is not too hard to follow. A plus is, there's 10 seasons. Good luck Rain!!! Fighting! | ||
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Rollin
Australia1552 Posts
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Ktk
Korea (South)753 Posts
Definition of success removed THE I strongly believe that successful people have something in common with their mentalities such as desire, passion, tenacity and willingness. I have met a lot of successful people during my gaming career. The most discernible thing about them was that they were always diligent. Although there were many temptations out there, they did what they had to do. (Removed comma after although, tense matching with my edits) In retrospect, my weakness was laziness. I didn't have a specific daily routine: I slept, played, and went out whenever I wanted because I had no fixed plans. Getting into college is tough for non-native English speakers, but I see some pretty solid improvement. One thing I noticed about Asians (especially Koreans) using English is the misuse of "the" vs "a". I don't know exactly how to go about preventing that, but you do a fairly good job of not messing the two up. Good job on this regard, really. With your post, there were a few tense things, some style things, and a few things that happen for any learner: not being able to put in words what you're thinking (Applies to me too... Can't speak Korean as well as I'd like to... Shame). The only way around that is by practice, and you seem to be on the ball on this. Now that you're getting into style, you want to learn some common sayings (or 속담) and idioms. Have fun with these, because people don't use them often these days (but everyone knows about them). GL | ||
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hellsan631
United States695 Posts
On November 19 2013 09:29 Rain wrote: Thanks for advice everyone! Although I'm a retired player, thanks for helping me! I'm watching Breaking Bad with English subtitle. If there are words that I don't know, I search for them. I hung out with a lot of American and European people recently. Actually there were't big problems having conversation with them, but when American people talking to another American people sometimes it's really hard to understand because they talk too fast and speak so many slang words :p I'll keep it up studying English, and thanks for the recommendations about books! I wish I can have perfect English someday As a big fan of Breaking Bad, I commend you for this strategy. It might also be helpful, to watch some Korean movies and/or dramas with English subtitles. I'm all for the "learn by entertainment" route to language. Although it won't be the fastest, and most likely won't be the most grammatically correct way, it can help with motivation. | ||
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strongandbig
United States4858 Posts
In "the definition of success" you would not use "the" before "success" because you're referring to the general concept of "success". In "I cannot explain the success of my English training" you do use "the" before "success" because you're talking about a specific instance of success. Here is a reference about count nouns and non-count nouns. On November 19 2013 01:03 mishimaBeef wrote: + Show Spoiler + ![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51q3tYpGjnL.jpg) Please read it. Cover to cover about 100 pages. I have read parts of it many times. It will teach you clear, simple, effective writing. You can't just read something like this, especially not cover to cover. Memorizing a book of rules like that isn't an efficient or effective way to learn something. That said, The Elements of Style is a great reference to look at whenever you are unsure about something or to have open while you edit a longer piece of writing. I agree with the people who said that everyday useage is a much better way to learn. Whoever said to try reading the New York Times and the Economist. I think that learning to imitate fluid prose is both more important and more effective than trying to go for grammatical perfection right away, and between the New York Times and the Economist you will get a really good exposure to fluid prose. | ||
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CutTheEnemy
Canada373 Posts
You can make a list of the main ideas in each sentence, and then rewrite the paragraphs in your own words and see how it compares to the original. Some authors with excellent style: Neil Strauss George Orwell Hunter S Thompson | ||
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ThunderGod
New Zealand897 Posts
On November 18 2013 17:06 Rain wrote: immobilized(I don't think it's proper word to put in here) plans. "fixed schedule" is want you meant to convey. | ||
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[UoN]Sentinel
United States11320 Posts
Like others said, you can't really go wrong with the New York Times or a similar magazine. Or even browse the general section on TL to learn it! The tone is more conversational than you'd find in the Times and it's more realistic for everyday conversation | ||
banjoetheredskin
United States744 Posts
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shin ken
Germany612 Posts
Pros: You'll get a better feeling of proper grammar, because you're drawn into the videogame world: a little bit like a trip to another country. It's almost like reading a book but more exciting. It's easier to follow than watching movies, because you can take all the time you want. Con: You won't necessarily get better at writing or speaking english, because for this you have actually to write or speak it  .Old RPGs are the games with most english text e.g.: - Morrowind - Planescape Torment (!!!) - Baldur's Gate 2 Modern RPGs have a lot of dialogue as well but it's mostly spoken language with subtitles (like movies): - Mass Effect - Dragon Age - Skyrim - Fallout 3 Of course, you can try other genres as well. I recommend: - Grand Theft Auto series - Deus Ex Human Revolution - BioShock | ||
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Nebuchad
Switzerland11978 Posts
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hoby2000
United States918 Posts
I don't suggest reading english books because I think you'll pick up the phrases, but you won't understand their exact implications or why they're formed the way they are which may lead to using them in a context you don't understand. | ||
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Rain
120 Posts
I'm currently in China. I will update my blog with photos! Have a nice day. | ||
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Jackie_Bop
Thailand29 Posts
On November 18 2013 18:05 mishimaBeef wrote: Best book I can recommend for writing is The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. +1 | ||
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Jealous
10106 Posts
On November 18 2013 17:06 Rain wrote: Main topic is definition of the success(rofl) Your use of "the" in this location is awkward. It would probably be more accurate syntactically to write: The main topic of this blog is the definition of the word "success." Most of the other issues have been addressed in previous posts. I am an English tutor and I do a lot of editing for Korean students. If you would like more personal help, feel free to contact me via PM. As an aside, I would like to thank you for the fantastic games you've played. I have been a fan of yours since Brood War. Rain fighting!~ | ||
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