10 Tips for English Learning
1. How do you memorize new words?
New words should be mastered in several ways. First, pronunciation, if you want to pronounce the word correctly, you'd better listen to it first and practice it again and again by imitation. Second, spelling, if you want to memorize the word how to spell, you'd better learn some knowledge for word building and pronunciation rules. Third, meaning and use, if you want to know the exact meaning and use of the word, you'd better learn it through context and reading. Finally, you should work hard on it.
2. How do you improve your reading?
First, look at the title of the passage if there is. You can get the general idea of it. Then you pay attention to the first and last sentence of very paragraph of the passage. You can get the main idea of the paragraph. Third, through the context(上下文), you guess the new words that you come across. Finally, note the style and tone in order to the writer's implication in meaning.
3. How do you improve your speaking?
You can improve your speaking only through practice. Firstly, don't think of too much grammar, when you speak. You try to speak the key words, if you cannot speak the whole sentence, but you must speak the key words clearly and correctly. Secondly, pay attention to the different rhythms (节奏)between English and Chinese. We Chinese tend to stress the words equally, while the English words in the sentence tend to be stressed quite differently. The words with important information are normally stressed. Lastly, try to use your gestures and your facial expressions to go with your verbal communication.
4. How do you learn English grammar?
The purpose of learning grammar is to help learners to have a better understanding of the language. It is no use remembering grammar rules by rote because there are no rules without exceptions. It is sensible to use English grammar as a tool to help you to understand and master English. You learn grammar only through language phenomena (现象)because it comes from it. So you learn those rules and do some exercises to practise them.
5. How do you improve your listening?
You can improve your listening only through listening a great deal and there is no shortcut. First, you should have the right pronunciation of the words in your mind so learn to pronounce them correctly. Then, you try to catch the meaning of the sentence but not the separate meanings of the words, that is, do not concentrate on words too much but on the meaning as a whole. Third, pay attention to the liaison, (连读) loss of explosion and assimilation(同化) of the words. Lastly, pay attention to the stressed words and guess the meaning through the intonation.
6. How do you start to learn English?
First, you must have your purpose of learning English in your mind. Do you want to improve your oral English or written English or for the purpose of tests? Second, what level are you at? Are your English intermediate? Lower or upper? Third, choose the way to learn English according to your time and finance. Do you want to learn English by self-study, English class, English courses on the radio, English learning software or even online courses on the Internet? Finally, you must study hard and insist on learning continuously for a year or two.
7. How do you improve your translation?
First, learn some basic rules for translation. Then you must have a good master of both English and Chinese. Finally, you must practise, practise and once more practise. You can refer to some bilingual magazines English world for example. You practise translation from Chinese to English and vice versa(反过来). Then you have some comparison with their translation. After some period of practice, you will make great progress. Practise makes perfect.
8. How do you tell the differences of English synonyms?
There are no synonyms which are exactly the same. You should think of the synonyms in these ways. The style is different. Formal or informal?. The meaning is different. General or specific? It is different in grammar. Different collocations and different sentence patterns.
9. How do you learn English verb tense?
First, pay attention to the adverbial of time, if there is one, in the sentence. Different adverbials of time indicate the use of different tense. Second, the meaning of predicate verb, Some verbs tend to be used a certain tense. For example, I like music The word like tends to be used in simple present tense. Third, note the context, it will give you hints to use a certain tense. Finally, you'd better do some exercises in order that you have some consciousness(意识) of using English tense.
10. How do you buy English dictionary?
Nowadays, there are so many different kinds of dictionaries. Find the kind of dictionary that you are looking for. Then you 'd better find out who is the publisher? Is it a well-known publisher? How many copies has it been published? The more, the better. What do you think of the printing quality of the dictionary
