Acquiring exceptional language (English) skills

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Jayashree Ravi
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Acquiring exceptional language (English) skills

Post by Jayashree Ravi » Mon Sep 07, 2015 1:34 pm

Some people have exceptional vocabulary and language skills in English. I, for one, never acquired these skills, partly because of schooling and partly because I was never profoundly interested. Nevertheless I noticed convent educated kids/people being very good in English. But that is not the only reason. My grade school kid studying in the US asks many doubts in English and I am surprised how to explain things to her sometimes. As a learner, how did you acquire your exceptional English skills? Did you frequent a dictionary each day, had people to assist you, read many scholarly columns in the Newspaper and read books of scholarly merit? What did you do?
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Re: Acquiring exceptional language (English) skills

Post by Rohiniranjan » Mon Sep 07, 2015 1:52 pm

Jayashree Ravi wrote:Some people have exceptional vocabulary and language skills in English. I, for one, never acquired these skills, partly because of schooling and partly because I was never profoundly interested. Nevertheless I noticed convent educated kids/people being very good in English. But that is not the only reason. My grade school kid studying in the US asks many doubts in English and I am surprised how to explain things to her sometimes. As a learner, how did you acquire your exceptional English skills? Did you frequent a dictionary each day, had people to assist you, read many scholarly columns in the Newspaper and read books of scholarly merit? What did you do?
Pardon my intrusion in the thread, but I think you speak admirably, Jayashree!  :)
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Post by eye_of_tiger » Tue Sep 08, 2015 12:27 am

Pardon my intrusion in the thread, but I think you speak admirably, Jayashree!
To my sister in spirit,

I would like to show my own support for this understatement of the truth.

People who are more self taught than their peers are also often more natural and relaxed in their use of another language, when compared to those persons who have studied it purely in order to obtain academic qualifications.

Also you speak from your heart as well as from your mind and have a large amount of interesting and thought provoking information to share with us, based mainly upon your own personal experiences (which in my opinion makes what you have to say more valuable and inspiring).

These qualities either taken one at a time or when combined together mean much more to me than any certificate, diploma or degree which you may also hold, to prove your formal qualifications in spoken or written English.

I have absolutely no problems understanding what you are trying to tell us (other than perhaps when Rohiniranjan and yourself start using what are foreign words to me), and you treat other members as you yourself would like to be treated, if your roles had been reversed (the same golden rule which I always try my best to follow).

For myself Australian English is my first and only language, and although I am not the one to judge whether I have exceptional vocabulary and language skills in English, the fact that for many years I read one library book every day (mostly fiction) and am a retired high school teacher must give me an advantage in comparison to the average Australian, in the practical use of my native language.

I also hold academic qualifications obtained from both a university and a teacher's college, but these are not related to the study of either English or any other foreign language(s).

People who claim to never have any doubts and who think that they know everything are unteachable, and they actually believe that they are better or smarter than everybody else and are generally not very nice people.  

You are definitely NOT one of the above!

Love and Light from one of your not so secret admirers,

EoT    :smt041

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Post by Jayashree Ravi » Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:12 am

EOT ji and RR ji,

I sincerely thank you for the warm thoughts and compliments... I will tell you one thing (a secret), it has not always been that way (of receiving compliments for my forum interaction) for me! :) (I keep getting hate messages after hate messages in another forum from an elderly woman for me registering my thoughts just as I do here, and she still continues even after me stopping posts in that forum for the past 3 months!).

I find both your posts of scholarly nature, of a standard I find quite hard to understand at times... no, no, I don't mean to say you make it hard, what I mean to say is, my knowledge pool being limited to grasp the full content owing to my vocabulary being very simplistic.

Owing to the above reason, I am unable to read many scholarly books, unless I make it a commitment to run to the dictionary about 10 times a day! I hate this, and am also given to wonder how on earth did people master English language to such an extent they are able to make profound and beautiful statements in it with so many different words to express the same thing (that I have not heard of!).

Since English is here to rule, and often times, exceptional English skills are equated with an equal degree of intelligence, I always value proficiency and scholarship in it!

My sister is an English teacher at a school and wants to pursue her M.Phil (Master of Philosophy) degree and then a Ph.D if possible, also in the English language and she would really benefit from an info on how to improve her English, though her English is good standard with all that hard studies in the language.

Pranam.
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Post by Rohiniranjan » Tue Sep 08, 2015 1:04 pm

The relatively thin booklets Elements of style, ...of grammar, ...of editing etc would be a good start. Beginning with style.
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Post by eye_of_tiger » Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:52 am

I keep getting hate messages after hate messages in another forum from an elderly woman.
To Jayashree,

That type of abusive behaviour would not be allowed to continue, if it was happening on the MB forums. Clearly I have no similar control over what happens on other sites and forums, but I would respectfully advise you to give the other site a miss in the future, if their moderators will not do their job after three months.
My sister is an English teacher at a school and wants to pursue her M.Phil (Master of Philosophy) degree and then a Ph.D if possible, also in the English language and she would really benefit from an info on how to improve her English, though her English is good standard with all that hard studies in the language.
I would advise your sister to read as many English books and the contents of websites which interest her as possible, and listen more than speak when English is being spoken in a natural, everyday setting by everyday people, who are not necessarily themselves highly educated.

Unfortunately people learning another language using this method (when added to their formal studies) often tend to pick up on all the swear words and bad language habits which we all have, before learning any of the other more acceptable and polite words.

I am not sure what any of us can do to stop this from happening. It seems to be a part of human nature for many people to do this. No offence is intended to your sister by my general observation of human behaviour.

To all members

If any of you feel harassed or abused on the Mystic Board forums for any reason, then please immediately notify either myself or one of the other moderators by left clicking on the inappropriate post button and reporting it to us, or alternately by sending me a private message containing a link to the offending item.

I will then take whatever action which I feel is required to ensure that this is the last time that you will ever need to put up with this totally unacceptable behaviour from that particular individual. Potentially this constitutes a banning offence, if our final warning is ignored or challenged.

Love & Light to everyone who has read this,

EoT  :smt066

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Jayashree Ravi
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Post by Jayashree Ravi » Wed Sep 09, 2015 11:13 am

Thank you, EOT ji! A very helpful and friendly message, appreciate it!
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Post by Talia » Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:33 pm

Jayashree Ravi wrote:EOT ji and RR ji,

Owing to the above reason, I am unable to read many scholarly books, unless I make it a commitment to run to the dictionary about 10 times a day!.
May I suggest getting a Kindle, (an English/UK e-reader) If you then press on any of the words the OED (Oxford English Dictionary)  meaning pops up, so no need to consult a dictionary, it is all there and no-one knows you had to look :)

p.s. the elderly are well know for their devout racism, sadly. Ignore the old bat!  And have you told the forum admins?

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Post by Jayashree Ravi » Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:45 pm

Oh, thanks Talia, the Kindle is a good suggestion.

But is it only me I don't know, even if I know a word from the dictionary, I don't feel confident on using it....

That other forum moderation is very poor. The moderator does not take any step towards correcting the offending individuals. He hardly bans anyone, however abusive they are. This old woman has been there for 6 or 7 yrs, posting away about 20 messages each day and she is almost like a boss! Her thread gets lot of views and is constantly there in 'Hot threads' links. Since she is popular, the moderator does not and will not take any action against her.

That is not the only reason I stopped posting there. There is also a lot of inter-religious clash going on, with members denigrating other peoples' deities and so forth. I couldn't sustain in such an environment. Also I am not learning or benefiting in any way. Keeping quiet and quitting was a much better option. :)

Pity so many people getting hooked on to cyber forums such as the other one (abusive one) and tolerating all offenses, battling strangers each day!
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Post by Rohiniranjan » Wed Sep 09, 2015 2:59 pm

Jayashree Ravi wrote:Oh, thanks Talia, the Kindle is a good suggestion.

But is it only me I don't know, even if I know a word from the dictionary, I don't feel confident on using it....

That other forum moderation is very poor. The moderator does not take any step towards correcting the offending individuals. He hardly bans anyone, however abusive they are. This old woman has been there for 6 or 7 yrs, posting away about 20 messages each day and she is almost like a boss! Her thread gets lot of views and is constantly there in 'Hot threads' links. Since she is popular, the moderator does not and will not take any action against her.

That is not the only reason I stopped posting there. There is also a lot of inter-religious clash going on, with members denigrating other peoples' deities and so forth. I couldn't sustain in such an environment. Also I am not learning or benefiting in any way. Keeping quiet and quitting was a much better option. :)

Pity so many people getting hooked on to cyber forums such as the other one (abusive one) and tolerating all offenses, battling strangers each day!
It is called becoming a "glutton for punishment!"

Sometimes I wonder ...  :smt017

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