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/

Today I would like to talk to you about the importance of the aesthetics in our lives. We don’t realize it, but almost all of our choices are influenced by asthetic considerations. Let me explain: when you buy a new car, what would be the most important thing you should pay attention to? Safety should be the most important factor or at least the second one. But it doesn’t happen; you choose a new car for its color and design. Thus, in that case, the aesthetics won in importance over the safety. Most people pay more for a more beautiful car, but not for a safer car. Why?Man likes beautiful things, we always did and still make choices along these lines, all the time, for instance, when we choose: a partner, software, a house and so on. However, there are those people that don’t pay attention for to that concept and human instinct, but assuredly aesthetics matter.

Take a look at the biggest companies in the world: Microsoft, Fiat, Apple. Their products have an incredible market share and already achieved an extremely high level of technology, now they are increasing the value of its their products by including an astonishing design. When the technology doesn’t make a difference the design becomes more important.

Why is the iPod so successful? Think about it.

That’s all folks,

PS.: Thank you Mary Ziller for all corrections

I don’t particularly believe in ghosts, although I do fear them. My father says this too. ;-) In fact, the man fears everything that he doesn’t know completely or control. For instance, thousands of years ago the caveman feared thunders, because he didn’t know what it was. He thought: “The God of Thunder was angry, we need calm him down, kill the sheep and offer it to the God.”The man attributes to God what he doesn’t know. Have you heard about the Poltergeist Phenomenon?

A poltergeist (German for rumbling ghost) is widely believed to be an invisible ghost that interacts with others by moving and influencing inanimate objects. Stories featuring poltergeists typically focus heavily on raps, thumps, knocks, footsteps, and bed-shaking, all without a discernable point of origin.

When I was a child, my neighbor had this problem, stones flew from nowhere to a oldman’s head. My father told me that everything happens like in movie “The Exorcist”. I remember that night, I didn’t see anything, but my dad lit a candle, something that he had never done before. Nobody explained it to me, and it remains a mystery.

I already said it, I don’t believe it, but I fear…

Best wishes.