How to improve my second language?

Practice, practice, practice!

Make friends with native English speakers in your area and ask that they speak to you only in English so that you are forced to use English.

Watch movies and TV shows in English so you are exposed to different accents.

Be open to correction by native speakers but remember that not every English speaker is the same and there is a lot of variation between dialects and even between speakers.

-Manuel

Practice, practice, practice.

The more you are able to practice reading, writing, listening, speaking, the faster and easier you will be able to learn a second language. I have taught English as a Second Language for many years and I have had students of all levels of English. The most successful students are the ones that practice and are not afraid to make mistakes or errors. You do not have to always be talking to practice, though. Reading, writing and listening are extremely important skills that you can do on your own. I would suggest the following:

• Speaking - practice with others as much as possible. You can even speak with others online - https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/english-speaking-online/ . Don't be afraid to practice and try using new vocabulary and grammar to improve even faster.
• Listening - TV shows, movies (with English subtitles at first), radio, audio books are all excellent ways to improve your listening skills. You can also listen to CNN for kids, which shows a lot of pictures and videos and is great for listening practice - https://www.cnn.com/cnn10
• Reading - Online, books, magazines, and articles are all good practice. You don't need to understand every word to improve your reading. Also, I recommend keeping your own dictionary for new vocabulary words.
• Writing - I suggest writing at least one paragraph each day. Write what you did that day, what you are doing right now and what you will do tomorrow. This will help with writing in different tenses and with different vocabulary. This website is also great for English writing and grammar - https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

Finally, set goals for yourself. For example, each week you will use 20 new vocabulary words in writing and speaking; in one month, you will be able to have a 10 minute conversation with someone, etc.

Remember, the more you are active in learning a second language, the faster and easier it will come to you. Good luck and enjoy the ride!

Hello Ena,

There are plenty of resources available on the Internet to improve your Language skills! Here are some useful readings for you:
- 22 tips for learning a foreign language
- Learning a language – 10 things you need to know

Also, some of the things that worked well for me are:
- Using Duolingo or Memrise (good mobile apps to practice a bit every day)
- Listening to podcasts about the topics I am passionate about (photography, social media)
- Reading books in the language I'm studying to improve my vocabulary

But to be honest, the best way to learn a language is to practice it with other people! It can be scary at the beginning but the more you speak the easier it gets and people usually enjoy speaking their language with foreigners ;)

Hope you'll find this useful.

Julien