| Author |
Message |
Sathyaish
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 8:09 am
Post subject: Improving my English |
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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.
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Don Phillipson
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 8:27 pm
Post subject: Re: Improving my English |
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"Sathyaish" <Sathyaish@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1103522508.686251.307450@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: | 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.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada) |
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Tony Cooper
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 8:56 pm
Post subject: Re: Improving my English |
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On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 08:27:18 -0500, "Don Phillipson"
<d.phillipson@ttrryytteell.com> wrote:
| Quote: | "Sathyaish" <Sathyaish@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1103522508.686251.307450@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
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.
|
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.
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FB
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 10:13 pm
Post subject: Re: Improving my English |
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On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 08:27:18 -0500, Don Phillipson wrote:
[...]
| Quote: | 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
--
Domanda: "Era il figlio di Iside e Osiride".
Risposta: "Thor".
(quiz televisivo) |
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John Dean
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 8:22 pm
Post subject: Re: Improving my English |
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Tony Cooper wrote:
| Quote: | On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 08:27:18 -0500, "Don Phillipson"
d.phillipson@ttrryytteell.com> wrote:
"Sathyaish" <Sathyaish@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1103522508.686251.307450@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
What must I be reading in order to improve my written english?
. . .
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.
I thought Carella and Meyer Meyer and those guys were in the eight |
seven?
--
John Dean
Oxford |
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afowles
Guest
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Tony Cooper
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 9:35 pm
Post subject: Re: Improving my English |
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On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 14:22:38 +0100, "John Dean"
<john-dean@frag.lineone.net> wrote:
| Quote: | Tony Cooper wrote:
On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 08:27:18 -0500, "Don Phillipson"
d.phillipson@ttrryytteell.com> wrote:
"Sathyaish" <Sathyaish@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1103522508.686251.307450@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
What must I be reading in order to improve my written english?
. . .
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.
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. |
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Charles Riggs
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 11:12 pm
Post subject: Re: Improving my English |
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On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 13:56:23 GMT, Tony Cooper
<tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote:
| Quote: | 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.
--
Charles Riggs
They are no accented letters in my email address |
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Iain
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 11:31 pm
Post subject: Re: Improving my English |
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Sathyaish wrote:
| Quote: |
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 |
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heron stone
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 8:10 am
Post subject: Re: Improving my English |
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In article <1103522508.686251.307450@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
"Sathyaish" <Sathyaish@Yahoo.com> wrote:
| Quote: | 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.
|
Whatever you have been doing seems to be working quite well.
You already write better than most native English speakers.
Good work!
heron
--
unDO email address
___
Nature, heron stone
to be commanded, mailto:heronstoneDO@comcast.net
must be obeyed. http://home.comcast.net/~heronstone/ |
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Afzal A. Khan
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2004 8:00 am
Post subject: Re: Improving my English |
|
|
Tony Cooper wrote:
| Quote: |
On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 08:27:18 -0500, "Don Phillipson"
d.phillipson@ttrryytteell.com> wrote:
"Sathyaish" <Sathyaish@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1103522508.686251.307450@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
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.
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.
|
Since we are talking about mystery-writers,
how about Agatha Christie ? But, some would say,
rather old-fashioned style.....
K |
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