Reading is the best way to learn

[Simon]

Actually I don't know what you (Narayanan Krishnaswamy) mean above. Maybe I should have summarized my post. In one sentence I can say that we should read a lot, because it's very helpful. Look at some kids, they read fairy tales, they have lots of books for school and this is the best way to extend their skills. If adult people do the same things when they learn English, they will develop and gain new skills in a very short time, I guess.
If I can help you and other lerners, look at this, please:
http://www.familymanagement.com/literacy/grimms/grimms-toc.html
It's simply, if you don't understand, read a story in your native language.

When I was child I didn't read all these stories because I hadn't much time (my friends were more important than some Grimm's fairy tales), so I will do it now but in English . Hope this helps.

Have a nice day & best wishes,
Simon

[Guest]

Hi!
I don't know what is wrong in saying 'getting a hold on something.'
People want to learn this language and attain a level of proficiency.
When to give a helping hand is the basis for this web site why not say 'getting a hold on'?( should the apostrophie be in or out?)

[Alan]

I think you may well have used the wrong phrasal verb. Hold on means hold something in a firm or tight way as on a bus when it turns sharply. If you like you can have a look at the index for ESL LESSONS and you can see what I have written explaining and using phrasal verbs with hold.
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Adverbs

[C?sar]

Maybe the "Guest" meant getting a hold of something? I don't know; depends on what was in his/her mind.

OK! I believe that reading, at least in English, is not the best method for learning the language. I say that because written English and spoken English are just two worlds apart.

In this language, you cannot learn a set of pronunciation rules that will let you read properly. Pronunciation is simply... a mess, hehehe. Please, don't misunderstand me, I do like English.

I feel that the best thing an English learner can do is listen and listen and listen first. When reading, it's way better if the person has the audio of the conversation in order to make his pronunciation as best he/she can.

Hope this helps a bit.

Regards,
C?sar

[moonman]

Hi all,

I'm beginner of learn English Thank you for your advice.. READING READING READING... But I don't understand most anything..

Please support me

Thanks
moonman

[JeremyinFrance]

Moonman, your English is not bad. You can read graded readers for sure. Start with easy levels - where only 2-3 words per page are new for you. The more you read, the more you will understand.
Good luck
Jeremy
_________________
When you're sitting in your car, complaining about the traffic, don't forget - you ARE the traffic.

[Conchita]

[Deivis]

Hy everybody! my name is Deivis and It's the first time I'm participating on this forum. Well, think that the more we read the faster we learn. Whe just have to choose some subjects that better suits us and make the experience of reading as pleasant as possible. As for myself, I think that, although I read a lot, I can't remenber the words when I'm writing. Futhermore, I've never taken a regular English course, what make my writing very poor, since I haven't learned the rules of grammar and stuff. I wonder if you guys could give some tips on how to get my writing ken. Thanks in advance for all the possible comments.

Deivis.

[Ceicil]

[Jamie (K)]

I also think reading is an excellent way to learn a language, but with English you first need a very good handle on how words are pronounced.

There can be horrible results when someone who hasn't learned to pronounce learns English from years of reading. They can end up with a very fossilized accent based on their own idea of how English words should be pronounced. You may hear them pronounce "write", "wreck" and "wrong" as [vrait], [vrek] and [vronk], and some of their pronunciations can be so bad, in total, that native speakers cannot understand them.

However, if you pay a lot of attention to pronunciation before your heavy reading starts, you can end up with fluent, beautiful English.

As for the problem of having to look up too many words, that's easily taken care of by splitting up the difficulty of your reading. You can do what is called extensive reading by reading a lot of things that are slightly too easy for you. This improves your reading fluency. At other times, you can do intensive reading by slowly reading a few shorter things that are a little too difficult for you. This will improve your reading and spoken English a lot.

[Jamie (K)]

[Jan]

Hi Jeremy,
everybody has his own path, reading is amazing but reading english without simultaneous studing pronunciation is simply danger , you learn wrong and to
relearn it in correct way lasts much more longer.
Will last few times longer that make it togeather with the rest of studing.
don't mention
shame , confusion and depression if you try to use your language outside in life ,a lot work done even fun,
=but wrong results.??

Private Experience

People my use audio books and after listen to a speaker
just read it on paper.
Otherwise they develop just a piece of cake what i call here language ,means
understand written words / picking up sense of text
disability to say and understand conversation
Reading if I may say so does a miracle with pupil second year of intensiv course.
Sometimes it depends on your mother language if it has
common way of pronunciation.
best regards
sexy picture
Jan