[Talk] Read newspapers, lots of newspapers

[lifegetter (白浪)]

I wonder how much time you guys and gals spend on reading English newspapers?
If you are serious about learning English, spending 30 minutes to one hour
everyday shouldn't be too much to ask.  I mean, read the sentences outloud and
don't worry about whether you understand every darn word. The understanding
will be gradual, but seeing English words will eventually become second
nature to you. (you're becoming second nature to me now...)

When you walk down the streets, do you first see English or Chinese on those
signs? Perhaps play a little treasure hunt and catch those funny things some
experts were paid big bucks to translate...and for us to get good laughs? If
you catch one, let the store know, and perhaps our English can all improve as
a result.

My advice is to read a lot, but don't try to understand all of them; listen to
(or watch) lots of TV news off the internet (Nightly Business Report would be
a great one for business majors), but don't try to understand them all. I was
able to understand David Letterman only about 10% when I first started, but
that was more of a culture thing than language per se. It does take time, but
without seeing and hearing a lot, you will remain at saying "my English is
poor."

Try "my English is lousy," "my English is horrible," "my English kills cats,"
"my English is worse than your Chinese," "my English is hard to understand,"
"my English is like you-know-who,"...

There are more than one way to skin a cat, but first you must have a chance
to see 'em cats skinned. So, go out and expose yourself to lots of English
words, phrases, usages...but for Pete's sake, don't hold the scary thought
that you must understand them all to be worthy of using English.

That said, live long and prosper...

--
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◆ From: 210.240.249.200
※ 編輯: lifegetter      來自: 210.240.249.200
※ 編輯: lifegetter      來自: 210.240.249.200      (10/20 23:45)
推 Excelate:that's very well said.
推 tanson:that's very useful for me. Thanks.
推 skiptomylou3:Amazing,it gives me the courage to read Eng
→ skiptomylou3:newspaper!
推 hohotest:how nice advice http://0rz.tw/534Tb newspaper address
→ hohotest:It may useful for all
→ lifegetter:also http://foxnews.com and click on video
推 JAKETSAI:thx a lot  ^_^
※ 編輯: lifegetter      來自: 210.240.238.219      (10/21 17:11)
→ outofdejavu:I prefer literary works~
推 pinxi:but I still don't get it why I can understand a word
→ pinxi:simply by just meeting with often?? feeling?
→ lifegetter:haha, after you become used to them, then you are
→ lifegetter:free to use translators to find out what they mean.
→ lifegetter:and you can internalize those words/phrases better
推 firstknt:'sides fox news, which claims to be "fair & balanced"
→ firstknt:there's npr. if you want news/entertainment all at
→ firstknt:you can watch The Daily Show/The Colbert Report
→ lifegetter:right, http://cnn.com can give you a view from the
→ lifegetter:left. Nightly Business Report is an NPR program
推 tsaimatt:good advice,question:how can I watch David Letterman
→ tsaimatt:in Taiwan, I know you can watch online for free in US
→ lifegetter:try youtube; there are bits and pieces there.
→ Rattlesnake:hm....good point
推 phreniax:row number two  spend  not spending
→ lifegetter:spending...everyday is a phrase
→ outofdejavu:He/she does not know gerund phrase could serve as
→ outofdejavu:a subject...
→ outofdejavu:And he/she misused "row." "Row" is used to mean
→ outofdejavu:"hang2" in a column...
→ lifegetter:that's ok...we would call it the second line in the
→ lifegetter:first (or 2nd, 3rd, etc.) paragraph to indicate the
→ lifegetter:the location of citation.
→ lifegetter:little things like these take exposures, but it it
→ lifegetter:pretty easy to follow once you know it.
推 CryForYou:thank you for nice sharings