speaking problem . ENGLISH

last SG · 2006-06-12T00:00:23+00:00

honestly, i was from an english orientated school but i am from a chinese speaking family. When i got over in my sec. school, my class were filled with engl...

forfun_cash SG

have been speaking chinese through out my life. Recently, i got to know this
group of friends who speak english and i find it really hard to communicate with them. Whenever i open my mouth and talk, i willl find myself stammering, putting myself into shame.

i've tried overcoming this problem by speaking to the wall and myself everyday, using english but all was to no avail. Being frustrated, i told my father about this and asked if there's anything i could do to rectify this problem. His reply was; my tongue was born like that (Not very good) and all i need to do is to keep practicing and practicing.

Ok.. I agreed with him and heeded his advice, speaking to myself and the wall once again. ONE month had passed and yeah, i still cant speak proper and fluent english. I will start stammering once I open my mouth. Also, I find it hard to talk and communicate even thought i have 101 answers on what my friends' questions are about.

I really dont want to spend the rest of my 2 years in poly like that. I want to paticipate in everything and live my life in poly to the fullest, in any ways possible.

Please Help me. What can i do?

Sincere replies please and thanks.

MosPyramid SG

Practice makes perfect. You should carry on talking with your friends and learn how to talk properly.

As long as they willing to accept your weakness and you are able to put in effort, you will soon able to speak like them. It is time that matters, not intelligence.

Keep it up dude. Very Happy

missqi SG

Watch BBC, or find new friends. Laughing

MosPyramid SG

Making new friends is like a bit.. erm... Shocked

You can see he is working hard so they can clickz, meaning these friends are quite important to him.

Anyway you should follow missqi suggestion, go look for some chinese speaking friends. Razz

forfun_cash SG

Actually they are my friend's friends. I found them very mature in thinking and have aims in life. I know these are the people i need and want to mix with. I had enough of my another group of friends who speak mainly chinese and hokkien. They are those typical ah beng and slackers who have no aims in life and rotting themselves away. I can see their future already and i do not wish to be the same .

I know praticing and praticing is a must but is there other ways other then practicing? It has been a month and still see no improvment .

missqi SG

Yeah! Laughing

missqi SG

Wait.
How are you practising?
Do you listen to Chinese songs?
It is a lifestyle change you know, not just speaking your English will change you immediately.
Change is gradual, and you can start, by listening to English songs, not pop(I HATE POP), articulating your words properly, watching more English shows, and cutting out the "lahs" and "mahs" from your speech and writing.
BY writing, I also mean smsing.
Very Happy

forfun_cash SG

practising as in talking to myself. In chinese, we call it "zi yuan zi yu" . Ya changing lifestyle it is but i'm more then willing to change it so ya.. this shouldnt be a problem. Ok i will try listening to more english songs from now on and see if it works.

ChoCoChips SG

Why not you speak to them in Chinese and they reply in English?

forfun_cash SG

Its not only me starting a conversation. They can also start conversations but of couse using English again.

missqi SG

Ok lah.
I understand, the classmates I hang out with are more or less the smart Bengs, who reply in Chinese when I talk to them in English.
I think they accomodate me pretty well, though I get labelled as "jiak kantang".
Very Happy

ChoCoChips SG

You reply in Chinese then. Haha.

hxm SG

um, try using the language more? hey, í don't think it's that difficult for you; your written english is good. yup, like the others said, listen to more english songs, watch more english television programmes. good luck! Mr. Green

liyan SG

My opinion lah, see if it's helpful or not.... =)

I never had much problems speaking in english but my mandarin/chinese had always been my stronger language.

My level of english had been improving after I started blogging. I started blogging using very simple english, and just to record thoughts. Down the months, I started to think of alternate words to use, and alternate adjectives so that I dont sound too repetitve.

Ok, I get to the point. Mr. Green

After a while of blogging I realised that I am thinking in english, and hence I can reply easier in english too.

You may be finding it a little difficult to speak in english because you are busy translating english conversation in your brain into mandarin, and then think in mandarin, and translate back to english. 2 seconds lost. Conversation direction already digressed. And yo

What you think? Very Happy

Gwangetto SG

maybe u're practising the wrong way.

to learn a language well, u have to read, write and speak it often. no point speaking to the wall. it wun tok back or reply u. Laughing

alexkusu SG

Meet more english speaking frens n speak more

if they are nice, they will listen to what you have to say and correct you on your speaking

KenPlus SG

I am exactly having the same problem with the threadstarter.
Iniitally I went to U,all my coursemates speak english,i really felt weird when speaking to chinese,english.
But now ok liao lah,i managed to influence them from singlish to chinese hahaa,it doesn't matter what languages,it the person that matter.

Just be yourself,don't let others change you,you will never be happy creating another imagine of yourself to satisfy others.

smudgey SG

When you are learning a "new" language, it's important to trial and error... u must not be afraid to make mistakes.

Get your friends who are better in english to correct you constantly whenever u make a mistake.. that way u'll keep learning...

My friend and I made a pact. I'll speak to her in chinese and she to me in english (i was better in english, and she better in chinese)... and to correct each other with no hard feelings....

it didn't work out as it is really difficult to keep up a conversation using differrent languages.... but that is the general idea.

U can also try reading english books/comics, listening to english songs, basically learning to think in english...

Most Importantly as I've mention befor, don't be afraid of making mistakes... learn from them...

jaydunkfull SG

not all who speak chinese with a smattering of hokkien are bengs and slackers

fudgester SG

To have a better command of the English language, all I can say is: immerse yourself in it. Read more English, think more English, and speak more English.

Do small changes in your everyday life to help you work on improving your English. Write proper sentences in your SMSes and your MSN messages, for instance. Instead of writing 'Hey, wan 2 go 4 dinner tonite?' in your SMS, type out a proper 'Hey, do you wish to meet for dinner tonight?' instead.

Otherwise, if writing in SMS lingo becomes second nature to you, then it's hard to write proper English anymore. My tuition student has a very, very bad habit of using SMS lingo in his compositions. I've since warned him to switch to proper sentences in his SMSes, but he resists doing so.

So for now I'm still heavily penalising him for those mistakes in his compositions. Don't fall into the same trap as he has.