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Manek, an engineering graduate from Bhopal, said that the following practices helped him when he was learning English:
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The first thing I would do after getting
up every morning was read the newspaper, front to back. It doesn’t
matter which newspaper you subscribe to, as long as it is a major
English-language paper, such as The Hindu, The Times of India, Hindustan
Times, The Indian Express, etc. While different people have different
opinions on the quality of each paper, they are all more or less equally
useful in getting to learn the language. It is also not necessary to
read every page and article; it is time-consuming and sometimes boring.
However, you should most definitely look for articles that interest you.
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Once learned, I also made a conscious
effort to use the words in conversation. This instilled the words in my
head and I was able to draw on them whenever required.
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Another thing my group of friends and I
kept in mind was the importance of talking only in English, whenever
possible. During our weekly meetings, not a word of Hindi (the only
other language any of us poke) was uttered. This sort of commitment is
absolutely necessary if you want to develop fluency.
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A couple of weeks into my learning
experience, a friend broached the issue of language of thought during
one of our meetings. This, too, is an interesting aspect of one’s
linguistic foundations: what language do you think in? I realised that I
thought in Hindi, and thus whenever I spoke in English, I was, in a
way, translating in my head. This made the entire process slower and
more laborious, so I decided to start making a conscious effort to think
in English. When I spoke in Hindi, I was often trying to figure out
beforehand what the phrase would be in English before I said it. This
takes some getting used to, but soon you will find it has become second
nature; the phrases come fast and easy.
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I made it a point to pick up at least
one English book a month. I cannot stress the importance of this enough;
books introduce you to the possibilities of the language, expose you to
the various ways in which words can be manipulated and played around
with. Your vocabulary of words, phrases, colloquialisms, etc will
increase sharply this way. Also, reading develops thinking, i.e. as you
read, you will automatically begin to think more in the language that
your reading material is written in.
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Every night I would watch an English
news channel (NDTV, Headlines Today, CNN-IBN, etc) for at least half an
hour. The news anchors and reporters generally speak very crisp and
proper English. It is also useful to watch English TV shows.
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I developed the habit of paying close
attention whenever I was within listening distance of a conversation in
English. This may seem like eavesdropping, but when someone is speaking
loud enough in public for others to hear him or her, it is unlikely that
anything very personal is being discussed. At least, I defended my
practice with that rationale, because it helped me pick up common
phrases on a daily basis.
abuiyad