I was in an online Toastmasters International meeting on Zoom, talking about learning the English Language.
My project was a question and answer session.
One of the audience asked me
1 How do I improve my English?
For American English, watch Friends with subtitles, several times, until you know the lines by heart (meaning you can remember the lines and repeat them or guess them after hearing the start of each sentence).
For British English watch traditional British films such as
The Ladykillers, a black comedy, starring Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers.
My Fair Lady, starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.
a) Listen to the BBC.
b) Listen to recordings of speeches such as the Christmas message, by the British royals. In time order, Queen Elizabeth II, the late (i.e deceased) mother of King Charles III, and speeches by King Charles III.
c) Listen to the news on the BBC.
b) Read English newspapers such as The Times and The Sunday Times. Read technical and scientific journals on subjects which interest you.
2 Where can I find out about alliteration, similes and metaphors?
I have written a book on alliteration. It is humorous, and alphabetical. From book titles such as Famous Five, and film stars such as Marilyn Monroe, from awesome angels, to zany zebras.
For similes and metaphors, see Rhetoric in Wikipedia.
3 Where can I find idioms?
Books. Numerous books on Amazon, in big bookshops such as Foyles where you can pick one the right price, and with large enough print for you to read easily without getting tired.
Online.
4 Why is my 10-year-old son at school having to learn words which he finds difficult and abstract, words like noun and adjective, when I picked up the language without knowing any of this?
Firstly, these are labels which help the teacher to quickly explain grammar. You can tell children that walking is a doing word, and a walk is the name of the activity, but it's quicker to write and say that walking is a verb and walk is the noun.
Secondly, to find out whether a child has understood, you can ask, which is the noun?
Think of it like symbols in mathematics. Firstly, it's quicker to write a plus sign and an euqal sign for '2+2=4', than to write out, 'add two to two together and you get four'. Also, in a mathematics exam, a pupil is asked to show the the addition signs in the working, not just give the answer, which could have been copied from the anwer page at the back of the book or copied from somebody else's homework.
Finally, many parents think they speak perfect English when they are making errors all the time.
Errors can cause confusion. I was too polite to tell my Chinese friend that she is confusing the words lend and borrow. One day she phoned and asked if she could lend me an English-Chinese dictionary. I said yes.
She was surprised when I didn't bring it to lunch. I was expecting her to lend me a book. I didn't realise she wanted me to lend her one of my books.
In Chinese they have one ambiguous word which means both lend and borrow. (Ambiguous means having two meanings.)
'Having two meanings' is three words. The label 'ambiguous' is one word.
1 Can you recomment a grammar book? The classic book is Fowler's.
2 Can you recommend a dictionary, English and American?
British English = The Concise Oxford Dictionary. Or any etymoloiicla dicitonary. An Etymological dictionary give you the language origin and meaning of the root of the word. This makes it eassssier to understand and remember words and spellings. For example, ager is Latin for field. The word agriculture is to do with farming. Hortus is Latin for garden. So horticulture is to do with gardening.
American spelling
Webster's Dictionary. Noah Webster was a publisher who produced dictionaries and school books. He simplified spelling to make it easier to read and write, for immigrants, as well as children born in the USA.
3 How can I learn spelling? (I get confused between English and American.)
If you are academic and scientific and like to know the origins of words, learn British English. However if you simply want to learn to read and write English fast, learn and use American spelling. It was simplified to help learners like you.
4 Which is more useful, British or American English? If you are in America or selling to Americans, stick to American English. If you are liing in the UK or your job involves UK citizens, use British English. Simply looking at statistics, there are more Americans than British people.
If you want to know how many poeple speak English as a first or second language in individual countries, and the whole world, and how long it takes to learn a language, check Wikipedia.
5 Which is easiest to learn, British or American English? American English.
However, if you simply want to communicate with lots of people around the world, consider learning Spanish, Swedish, or the made up language Esperanto.
What language was spoken before the Romans invaded Britain? Celtic.
How do I learn so many English words? Just keep on leaarning, every day. That's what everybody has to do. New technical terms and brand names come along all the time.
Words have been changing since Shakespeare's time, and before.
If you like musical languages, learn Welsh or Italian. Italian is the language of opera. If you want to write songs and rhyming poetry, Italian is a good language with so many words ending in o and a.
However, if you want lots of words giving you a choice of long or short words from many languges, learn and use English.
The French have tried to protect and preserve their language, through the Aliance Francaise. They fought against the introduction of the phrase le weekend. I think they lost that battle, and have finally conceded.
English took from William the Conqueror and his Norman buddies (friends) words such as beef from boeuf, which is French for cow. It bit mispronounced and changed over time.
Banquette, bouquet, chauffeur and cul-de-sec, another 500 words. See Wikipedia for loan words from other languages, borrowed by the British.
English has adopted words from Greek, Latin, French and around the world. The word sputnik is Russian. Yacht is Dutch, Kindergarten is German. Safari is Swahili.
From the bible we adopted many words and names. Cherubim and seraphim use the Hebrew im for plurals. An annotated bible given you the origin of some of words and names. El and Jo or Ya are names for God. El as in Elizabeth. Joel combines both. Ben means son of. Benjamin, son of my right hand. Reu-ben, see a son.
America is increasingly influenced by Spanish. New York has many Yiddish words, which are German, written in Hebrew. Keep shtum means keep quiet.
Looking up words in a dicitonary, and compiling lists of words in English from your favourite foreign languages, is an endless education and entertainment.
Of course, the best way to lear a language is by immersion. You can find language courses, and TEFL courses for learning to teach English, attached to colleges and universities in many foreign cities. Then you can travel overseas and teach English.
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