How can I improve my english?

It’s hard to give specific advice without knowing more about you. So I’m going to give you some general advice. Which may be of interest to other listeners and readers.

Point one
Be clear about why you want to learn english. Do you want it for your job? To help you get a job. To talk to english speakers. To help you study.Point two
Be clear about, how good you want your english to be. How good do you want to be at speaking english? Listening… Reading… Writing…

Point Three
Have a clear image of yourself when you have achieved the proficiency that you want. What will you see? What will you hear? How will you feel?

Point four
If possible enroll on a language course, if you can’t put yourself in situations where you can use english which leads on to point five.

Point five
Look for opportunities to learn and use english. Speak english whenever you can, listen to the radio and CDs in english, read and write in english. If you look for opportunities you will find them.

Point six
Write down new words and phrases in a notebook, keep the notebook with you. So you can look at it when you have a spare moment.

Point seven
Practice practice practice… There is an expression in english “If you don’t want to lose it use it”. This is very true when it comes to learning foreign languages.

Point eight
Find the learning buddy or colleague. Find someone you can learn english with. Speak with each other, send each other messages in english.

Point nine
Learn little and often. Make it a habit to learn english for 10 minutes each day, this is much better than learning for longer once a week.

Point ten
And a final point at the beginning of a learning period, ask yourself. What do I want to learn today?. At the end of a learning period, ask yourself. What have I learned today?

There is a story about a teacher who told his students “you know you’re making progress in english when you speak in english, think in english and dream in english”. One day a student came into the class very excited and said teacher… teacher. “Last night I dreamed in english”. The teacher said “That’s wonderful, what did you dream about?”. And the student said. “I don’t know it was in english”. hehehe

Transcribed by: Alessandro and Mary
Source: BBC Learning English
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/