How do you improve your second language???

The best way to improve a language is to use it.

I spent a summer in Guatamala to improve my Spanish, and after speaking Spanish 24 hours a day (including shopping and going to the bank) for 6 weeks, my Spanish was very much improved.

If you are in an English speaking country, go out and speak as much as possible. Do all your business in English. Strike up conversations on the bus-- whatever.

Participating in this forum is a good way to practice your vocabulary and grammar. You can put a little message asking people to correct your grammar (maybe in your signature) and I am sure that many of us would be happy to help.

I also found index cards very good for vocabulary and also always had magazines and books in Spanish to read. These are great ways to learn expressions and idioms.

Good Luck.

As said, use it definately the best way. Get help when needed.

Another good way, I think, is to try to help others with their "secondary language", which in your case is english.

If you help others by correcting them, you'll eventually get the hang of all the rules your self, if not already.

Thank you for your advice.

Now I have a new English question for you.

In the reply of ebrown_p, there is a phrase "to strike up a conversation"

What does it mean to to strike up a conversation? Does it simply mean to start a conversation? Or is there more than that??

Your help is appreciated.

Thak you,
Rin

Yea, I think that's what he meant. To take the initiative to start a english conversation

This's definitely right!
English is my second language too.

I've been learning it for 11 years,
in the past 10 years, i learned hard but improved slowly...
last November I met an American guy, he's smart and did help me A LOT, we always talked in English.... now i have more confidence and planning to take TOFEL/GMAT in the coming 2 years.

I'm learning german and french for my school, and the best way of studying it for me is to put all the words in an excel spreadsheet and hide some cells to practice them.

Nice idea! :wink:

rin, try to read as much as possible, watch english TV (if you have the ability to) and talk as much as possible in English.

Learning the vocabulary and grammar alone doesn't do the
trick, you need to talk with native speakers, hear how they
pronounce words, how they use English on a daily basis,
and you'll succeed in no time.

Good luck!

When I started learning English, I read a lot, had a dictionary with me all the time and had another note book.

The note book is for me to write what I read after finding the meaning and then use it when speaking to others.

The first few books that I read early on were Of Human Bondage, The Robe, Wuthering Heights and some others. It was tough.

Learn, read and speak and do all over again each day.

Where I live, many people speak 3 languages, the minimum is two. Our own mother tongue, English and the national language. (Bahasa Melayu)

I speak two languages and picking up slowly the third one which is Cantonese (Chinese).