How to Improve English Writing Skills and Accent?

Hi there,

I want to know that how to improve the English Writing Skills and accent.

Any best software or techniques ?

Secondly, where to take English Test/Exercises?

Regards
bushib

 

@Bushib: Improving your accent is a different ball game alltogether. As far as writing skills are concerned, just try to read articles on reputed sites. There is a vast difference between ordinary writing and content writing and you hone your skills as you keep on writing and learning from your past mistakes. Just write one article and scan it later on, you might come up with an idea to improve it by juggling with some words or phrases.

As far as software is concerned, I have tried `whitesmoke' and was not satisfied. It could not catch simple errors that `MS Word' has no problems trapping. There is one site on the net where you can take different English tests, I do not recall the same offhand though.

 

I agree. Make sure you read, read, and read a ton. Also, study, study and study a ton. Its so obvious when a non-native English speaker does not know English grammar "that good."

 

I forget where I read this, but it is worth framing in golden letters.

"He who knows not and knows that he knows not, he is a student... teach him!
He who knows and knows that he knows, he is a wise man... follow him!
He who knows not and knows not that he knows not, he is a fool... shun him"

 

I'll add "he who knows not and tells you he knows, he is a scammer!"

 

Buy some books, practice and/or take a course either online or offline.

Like this one [Free]
http://www.english-online.org.uk/course.htm

 

I would suggest reading and writing. That is really the only way to improve your writing. You also want to develop your own style.

 

@gbartlet: lol, I'll surely add that one to my repository.

@lightless: thanks for the valuable tip

 

Join an active forum and keep communicating, not just posting at the top. You can also get to a chatbox, that allows you to communicate live with other people in the forum. This will allow you to quickly see what they are writing and how they are conveying their points (in English) and you can immulate and adopt what you see quickly.

 

I feel sad to observe that many posters in forums apart from ones dedicated to `writing', like this one, are full of posts that are written in gibberish English. "I lov 2 mit u but b4 dat cud u pls chk out my sw33t pic?" The same is true for countless chat-boxes and IRC channels

 

Improving your accent is something that can only be achieved through listening and practicing, but you need a coach who is able to hear your voice and correct you when needed. I teach English in Europe so I fully understand your desire to improve your accent.

 

Reading news websites like CNN BBC and stuff can improve your English skills as well.
They have reputed news editors and professional writers, so it will be really great to read and learn from there.

 

Hubpages.com would be a great way to start writing. Shoutboxes can be bad, but they keep you thinking fast, you have to keep up with the english language. Just my opinion, but I would look at the 10 foot long landing pages and start to re-write them to make sense, piece at a time. Take the time to understand their methodologies and re-write them into your own words. Have friends look them over. I blog extensively and I have people all over them before I post, checking for flaws and getting their opinions. Hubpages gives you a rating before you get out into the public, and is easy to use. This is how I do things, there are other ways, but I have had some good success this way.

 

While I do disagree with the use of programs like WhiteSmoke, which I personally use to catch all minor glitches with the support and backup of Word's own grammar checking system; I would suggest that you also take some time learning and writing for other places... Even for fun; places like Helium and eHow offer you shared revenues that will make your fun writing make some money.

They are also good places to enhance your writing skills. On top of that, do take the time to exlore and participate in chat rooms and 3D chats like red light center, they are great places where you can spend time, make nice acquaintances and enhance your writing and speaking habilities.

Finally, take the time to participate in word games, there are many places like games ville that offer you the opportunity to play word games in the form of bingo for free that will allow you to grow your vocabulary skills.

 

I can't believe it! You've been a member since Feb 2007, already with 958
posts, and yet you appear you got some deficiency in the English language?
This herein thread of yours, for instance, does show a bit of flaw, but it
certainly is very negligible, you still made your point clearly. I think when you
started with DP in Feb 2007, you could have been worse. I mean, the way you are doing now, more and more interactions will do a lot more improvements on your writing qualifications.

Nevertheless, there's a lot more room for improvement, and will do you much
good to read, read, read more and write, write, write more and more. After
all, everyone of us needs continuing study and training to improve our skills.

 

If you will, sometimes there are "movements" within the US, and foreign accents can be excentuated and actually capitilized upon at these times. You could try to make what you have (if it's the dialect that's a problem) work. If you are just seeking to be "English", then possibly write under a psuedo-name, many do Try to use things to your advantage. I will admit to my own ignorance...while hiring people from Pakistan and India I realized that as many or more people were good at coding than we have here. They are really good. The name can have a lot to do with the writing, even though you have a good name.

 

....my wife is Indonesian, and as much as I'd like to take full credit for her improvement over the six years we've been together (OK, OK, just a joke, but I'm American), a lot of her familiarity with (US) colloquialisms has come from watching programs like 'Friends' etc. etc. Not saying they're good, but she has picked up all sorts of things.
Readily available as bootlegs here in Indo.; shouldn't be too hard to find them in India/Pak, etc, on cable too....

Reading is the best though. I certainly didn't learn my English in crappy US schools!! Reading well-written English, even quality newspapers online, opens all doors! Trust me.

 

When I was doing a lot of theater (community theater, where cheese rules) and I had to don a Brit or Aussie accent, I would immerse myself in British/ Australian podcasts, movies, news, TV, etc. I would walk around for days speaking only with an accent (and smoking clove cigarettes....almost got into a car accident trying to make my smoking look natural). In doing so, not only was I able to improve my impersonation of these accents, but I was also better able to understand their manner of speech, their slang, etc. I think if you immerse yourself in listening to and speaking English, you'll begin to understand the flow better.

As for the accent...that'll involve some acting, and I'm not sure you'd really need to do that

As for tests, I just Googled that and got this link: http://www.edufind.com/english/englishtests/cesc_test_login.cfm. Hope it helps!

 

Try reading content on big and mainly UK and US blogs and websites, they are natives so they always have a better knowledge. One can't change his style of writing or his accent, it's with him and remains with him forever though there might be slight changes and additions. Lots of reading and writing will definitely improve your situation too. If you REALLY want to change the way you write, you've got to listen to what Prinzel says ^^ ''Immerse yourself''

 

Eat lots of english food, especially alphagetti. You can push around the noodles to make letters in your soup before eating them up.