How to improve English?

[KobeBryant]

btw ,what is 'xiang jiao ren' ?

topdog , i really respect u for ur positive mind . i salute u for that
i know that u are very proficient in english and good at it.
i just want to know for students who come from chinese school like me, how can we be an eloquent speaker , as we seldom speak english at school , what more in terengganu....all speak bahasa !

i think my written english is ok because i always try to read english materials like newspaper.....problem is spoken english....not proficient....hard to speak off the cuff

[zAiTsEv]

Malaysians always call Singaporeans bananas, but now every Singaporean knows his or her mother tongue... And i believe Malaysia has more bananas than Singapore does.

singapore is no where better than malaysia. their chinese syllabus is of lower standard compared 2 ours. r u sure every singaporean knows his or her mother tongue? i dun think so. or do u define mother tongue as mandarin & dialects i.e. hokkien, cantonese, etc.?
mind u, the mother tongue which i mean here is mandarin.

i admit i am a xiang jiao ren (and proud of it too:))

if u say so, i've nth 2 say. wat a pity... sigh

[wwhong]

hey KobeBryant, dun worry too much about broken speaking english. I am from Chinese school too and honestly, I had had tremendous problems in speaking english when I first went to UITM. People said talking to me was like talking to a wall cos sometimes I couldn't understand them and I had to translate from chinese into english first before I speak. so u konw, by the time i got the english words, the topic had already changed. But, just keep trying and learning, you will suddenly find out it's not hard to speak english. I am not saying I am good in speaking English but at least I can communicate with others without much difficulties now.

yeah, that's one of the bad things in chinese school if you try to speak in english and people start to avoid you but i think the same problem exists in malay and indian school as well? that's the mentality there that's need to be improved.

[zAiTsEv]

Originally Posted by KobeBryant

btw ,what is 'xiang jiao ren' ?

i thought u cum from a chinese school? xiang jiao ren = banana man = outside yellow, inside white. get it?

[zAiTsEv]

Originally Posted by wwhong

yeah, that's one of the bad things in chinese school if you try to speak in english and people start to avoid you but i think the same problem exists in malay and indian school as well? that's the mentality there that's need to be improved.

i second that. those ppl r just envious of u bcoz u dare 2 try.

[aquila]

well, i come from a malay school so diff experience definitely... before form 5 my english was like sebiji biji if you get what i mean... didn't use to speak english anyways, spoke mandarin at home, with chinese friends and malay with malay friends...

wasn't till i went abroad in form 5 did i start to really speak english, then spore then uitm now duke... long process but i can safely say that after my stint in italy my speaking skills improved tremendously...

many ppl think i've spoken english all my life but that's simply not true... i read a lot of english but didn't practice speaking english..

i think once u get into the swing, it's rather easy to start speaking really well...

[gesar]

:? Hmm, well, I have to agree with watever you guys are trying to defend....our mother tongue...yeah, well, I am a chinese who clearly can't speak mandarin and well, I am really disappointed of myself but i'll try my best to learn..well, bit by bit though :wink: ...

hmmm, about english :? ...my family's first priority is speaking good english....well, maybe it'll be of good help when it comes to communicating with international communities :D but well, a disappointment for we do not even know our own culture...our own mother tongue and that is like the worst thing to happen. :( ..

[budakkerek]

personally, i think my english's quite good..although i suck big time at grammar (i mean, the written test etc...dunno how to explain it)

anyway, a recent experience kinda made me rethink of this.

:arrow: In my college, we hv foreigners coming in for short courses, and i had the chance to talk to them etc. ONe thing i realised was, stimes..it's kinda difficult to be in "totally english-speaking" mode..stimes i used malay words, and sprinkled "la" here n there...hehe...one gurl from Uruguay, she even asked me, "why do Msians say La so much?" i was like..heheh...*grin..grin* dunno what to answer..

thing is..no matter where you are, who you're speaking w....you can't help but use malay/mandarin/tamil etc words in ur conversation..coz u are so used to using it, like switching btw both languages..hehe..like when i speak to my friends, if at loss of words, i'll use malay. But when speaking to foreigners, i can't do that..

So mebber..my english's not so good at all...in moments of unconsciousness i guess :P

[yekban81]

Originally Posted by aquila

many ppl think i've spoken english all my life but that's simply not true... i read a lot of english but didn't practice speaking english..

i think once u get into the swing, it's rather easy to start speaking really well...

I agree. I barely speak mandarin even that I attended some basic chinese tuition during primary school and People Own Language class during secondary school. I start to speak mandarin after that in local university and everyone thought that I am from chinese school. Once you get into the swing, it's rather easy to start speaking really well.

[ElansarGelmir]

Originally Posted by zAiTsEv

singapore is no where better than malaysia. their chinese syllabus is of lower standard compared 2 ours. r u sure every singaporean knows his or her mother tongue? i dun think so. or do u define mother tongue as mandarin & dialects i.e. hokkien, cantonese, etc.?
mind u, the mother tongue which i mean here is mandarin.

if u say so, i've nth 2 say. wat a pity... sigh

Yeah, mother tongue is a compulsory there. And at least everyone can speak their mother tongue, albeit the standard is lower than that of Malaysia's. But hey, it's at least better having a high standard of Chinese syllabus but there are still bananas lying around. And don't have to remind me, i know what is mother tongue and what is a dialect. I had to take up a mother tongue subject in Singapore, and sad to say, it's BM... Not mandarin...