Hi! English is my second language and I would like to improve it. I am pretty good (I have been writing in English for the last 5 years and I have been told on numerous occasions that I was better at writing in English than a lot of people born and raised in the language). No idea if this is true or if people are just nice, but I do know that when I get my work proofread it is usually not too bad. I also know that I am too advanced for all English second language courses offered at the local community college. I considered taking English courses (the one for native speakers), but I am not sure they will meet my needs. I mean those courses won't explain what each English speaker knows, but is not familiar to me because it is my second language. Idea anyone?
My suggestion would be, like you're doing now, make it known that you want to improve your English, practice by posting written work here and we can focus on correcting your grammar and syntax and stuff like that.
Also, get as much exposure as possible to films, TV, and books. That will give you more exposure to idiomatic and dialects, and the audio-visual media will help with fine points of pronunciation (importamt for poetry, especially).
you don't seem to have any trouble with grammar, so i suspect it's only general english idiom and regional usage that still holds you back... in which case, what cog advises is the best course to take... but also try to be around native english speakers as much as possible, so you can hear how real people talk first hand instead of depending entirely on the fictional ones in movies, and/or the poor speakers we find on live tv nowadays... news people, for instance, misuse common expressions and mispronounce words so often it's pitiful... fyi, i mentor aspiring writers all over the world, working with many whose birth tongue is other than english and will be happy to take a look at your work, if you want to know if it's lacking in any area/s... love and hugs, maia
Do what Cog said. I've found that reading books is the best way to do improve your English (when there are no native English speakers around) and learn some localized expressions, which always help while watching a movie. I remember that about 3 years ago I was like, "Why do they talk so fast!?" And for some time I had to watch movies with an English dub just to see how they pronounce certain things : /, but you get over this kind of things really fast.
I agree with all the comments above but just wanted to give you kudos, based on the clarity and quality of your post, for the good job you are doing with English. Keep up the good work!
Thanks mammamaia for the offer! I'll probably take you up on it! I am working on a short story that I would like to try and publish and before sending it, I would like to make sure that it is perfect (grammatically speaking, anyway)
