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How to improve your English

                                    by David W. S. Liu

My students suggested me to write an article of "How to improve your English", so they can learn from my experience.  My English typing is much better than my Chinese one.  When I communicate by email, usually I'll type in English, it just like a habit and like a Chinese saying 「習慣成自然」, gradually you'll get used to it.  May be because I work for an American company, in our company, all meetings, emails, letters, memorandum, meeting minutes, contracts, ….all use English, so English becomes very important to my works and my daily life.

Last Friday I was invited and went to NCKU National Cheng Kung University in Tainan to make an English speech to IMBA students.  My understanding is so far only NCKU and NTU National Taiwan University have International MBA graduate program for foreign students.  About 100 foreign students attended the class and they come from around 40 countries. It's a 3 hours speech and after the speech still have around 20 foreign students stayed there and chatted with me.  I promised them I will make a speech at NCKU at least once a year. 

I remember one time National Taiwan University one student association AIESEC invited me for an English speech and the topic is "Entrepreneurship", I questioned them I am not an entrepreneur how come they invite me for such kind of speech, suppose they should invite so called "entrepreneur".  They told me that because there are a lot of entrepreneurs but they cannot find adequate one for an English speech, so they approached me.

In addition to a part-time teaching at National Taipei University, in the last several years, I also went to Hanoi, Vietnam twice in year 2002 to teach Ford Vietnam management team with 10 management courses; to Ford India in year 2004 and 6 times to Ford China for a regional finance training for staffs came from Asia Pacific region 12 countries. In Asia Pacific region, in my perception, the English of Taiwanese in general is slightly better than Korean and Japanese, but worse than the people from Hong Kong, Singapore, India and Philippine. I also found that Ford China Operations their Shanghai office employee's English capability is better than Ford Lio Ho in Taiwan .

One time I tested and tried to teach in English for my students at NTPU.  Despite of I use simple English, they still cannot fully catch me correctly. Some students can understand, some probably only understood partially and some students suggested me to write an article "How to improve your English" which will be useful to them.

I. The English Learning Process should be (1) Listening, (2) Speaking, (3) Reading and (4) Writing

I am not an English teacher, I am not major in English as well. 

Same as majority of the undergraduate students, we learn 3-year English in junior high school and another 3-year English in senior high school, so basically we have learned English for 6 years.  Plus 6 credit-hours common course for "English" for freshman.  Even though majority of the undergraduate students in Taiwan still cannot communicate by English properly, why?  Why after 6, 7 years of English learning still cannot listen or speak English properly? 

The answer is in our high school 6-year English course, teachers only teach us English reading and some writing home works, the English examination only test our vocabulary, grammar and some English writing; We probably can pass the examination but we are still not used to listen English or speak English probably.

If your English ability is similar to what I mentioned above, you probably O.K. on reading, you probably also can write some English.  So, how to improve your English capability from now on?  Let's talk about improving your listening and speaking ability first.

II. Learning Environment is very important

My English is improved a lot during my master degree MBA graduate program in the Unites States.  Instead of staying with Chinese students, I stayed at international dormitory and forced me to talk with foreign students in English.  When you are a little baby, you didn't go to school to learn language, you listen to your parents, your brothers, your sisters, and gradually you talk with your family members.  This is the environment we learn our language in our childhood.  Similarly, if you want to learn English, you also need to create an environment, so you can listen and speak with other people in English.  I saw so many English learning institutes in Taiwan nowadays, what they provide is nothing but an English environment so you can listen and speak English naturally.  You can attend some English classes and participate for class discussion in English. Or you can get acquaintance with some friends or foreigners and talk with them in English.  You need someone you can talk with him in English to improve your English speaking ability.

III. You can learn from ICRT radio, English songs, English movies, or some recommended TV programs

On my way to work or drive back home, in addition to listen to news reports in Chinese, often times I also listen to ICRT English news. The 6 a.m. BBC news is a good one, you can listen from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. for one hour BBC news and followed by 7 a.m. ICRT news report.  The BBC news usually are international news, covers politics, social news, economics, sports, … while the ICRT news usually starts with local news in Taiwan and followed by US or international news.

If you like to sing, you also can learn English by English songs. 

I like English old songs and often times I also like to sing an English song for some occasions.

Just give you some list of my English song, such as

• A Time for us (theme of "Romeo & Juliet")
  
• Memory from musical opera "CATS"
  
• Yesterday Once More from Carpenters
  
• Bobby Vinton – Sealed with a Kiss
  
• Paul Anka – I don't like to sleep alone
  
• Beatles – Let it be
  
• Love Story by Andy William

            Love Story

                   Theme from ‘Love Story’ by Andy William

Where do I begin,

To tell the story of how great a love can be,

The sweet love story that is older than the sea,

The simply truth about the love she brings to me;

Where do I start, With her first hello,

She gave meaning to this empty world of mine,

There‘s never be another love another time,

She came into my life and made the living fine.

She fills my heart,

She fills my heart with very special things,

With angles songs, with wild imaginings,

She fills my soul with so much love,

That anywhere I go I‘m never lonely,

With her along, who could be lonely,

I reach for her hand, It‘s always there.

How long does it last,

Can love be measured by the hours in a day,

I have no answer now but this much I can say,

I know I‘ll need her till the stars all turn away,

And she‘ll be there.

Similarly, if you like to watch movie, you also can learn English from movies as well. You can go for a movie at theater, you can watch movie from TV, you also can watch a movie form DVD. It is very convenient to watch movie and learn English in the meantime.  One time on my way back to Taiwan , I watched the Singapore airline in-flight movie “Pride and Prejudice”.  New York Times commented the movie is a sumptuous screen adaptation of Jane Austen’s 1813 novel.  I was deeply attracted by the conversation of Mr. Darcy (the Pride) and Miss Elizabeth Bennet (the Prejudice).  You see, we can learn English by watching movies, kill two birds by one stone.  Next time when you watch movie please listen carefully and your English listening capability will be improved as well.  You have so many choices to watch English movies on TV program.  Personally I prefer the HBO Saturday night movie.    

If you like to watch TV, you also can select some good TV programs.  You can watch TV for entertainment and you also can improve your English listening ability by watching TV program.  If you English is good enough, you can watch CNN news.  You are recommended to watch TV programs from National Geographic, Discovery, Travel & Living channels.  It is not only (1) entertaining, (2) improve your English; it is also (3) very informative; you can learn a lot of knowledge about the earth, the animal, the plant, different countries, different cultures, different lifestyle, beautiful scenery, magnificent landscape, ancient wisdoms, modern technology, … etc.  You can kill 3 birds with one stone.  What do you think now?

IV. You also need some good English dictionaries, good English books

To improve your English, you definitely need some good English books. If you go to a bookstore you always can find so many books about English learning. First, you need a suitable English dictionary.  I have a Far East English-Chinese Dictionary a very good one with 2,475 pages in my office but I seldom use it (too huge and becomes not convenient); I have another small and handy one, Continental's Concise English-Chinese Dictionary  大陸簡明英漢辭典, 1,514 pages which I use it more frequently.  I also have A New Practical Chinese-English Dictionary 梁實秋主編 最新實用漢英辭典by editor in chief Dr. Liang Shih-Chiu.

 You probably also need a grammar book, the one I have is the one I used in my high school, 柯旗化 新英文法。This is a good grammar book since my junior high school.  For English conversation, the one I used is 「英語900 句型」, total 6 volumes with tapes.  Once you are familiar with these 900 English conversation basic sentences, you can speak English fluently. 

To improve your English, you also need to increase your vocabulary and English idiom.  I memorized a lot of English vocabularies for the examination of TOFEL.  Because of high scores of TOTFL and GMAT, I also got a scholarship for my MBA program in the United States .

You also can buy some English books, English novels which you are interesting.  It is very important to buy book you interested; otherwise, you might end up with buying a lot of books on the shelf but you never read it.  Some books recommended are 1. 井口紀子著「萬用英語會話辭典」2. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint 敦煌書局, 3. Control Your Own Destiny or Someone Else Will, …etc。

V. How to communicate by writing English

When you writing in English for an email or a short article to communicate with others, you should consider what kind of message you want to convey with your counterpart.  Just like you speak with others, you don't want to confuse them, so your English in speaking usually is simple and short. Similarly, you also can make your English in writing short and sweet.

First, you should have a topic, a subject or a theme for the email, the letter you try to write.

Second, try to digest the content of your material in a more organized way; put it this way, you can convey your message by key points, say 1, 2 and 3.  Do not try to cover too many messages in one short article, or making a short speech.  People won't remember what you said or what you wrote if you have too many things to cover. 

Third, respond on a timely basis – it is important to communicate on timely basis especially when there is a due day for reply. 

VI. How to write Professional Business Emails

It is important to have good business English writing skill, because

1. Customers see your writing more than they see you.
   
2. Good writing skills show that you really care.
   
3. Good writing skills contribute more forcefully to arguments/persuasion/selling.
   
4. Good writing skills reduce risk of losing a customer or damaging a customer relationship, and foster good relationships with colleagues.

Business writing is different, because (a) business writing is goal-oriented; (b) business writing takes place in real time; (c) the writer is responsible for successful communication and (d) a business message should present the writer, his company, and his department, in a favorable light.

Guidelines for Request Emails

A request email is a message asking the receiver to do something.  Write a request email when you think the receiver may already be willing to do as you ask without having to be persuaded. 

1. Focus immediately or very soon on the information you need.  Make your call for action at or near the opening of the email. Be specific about what you need, including dates, amounts, names, approvals, or appropriate format of the information.
   
2. Tell why you need the information if the reason is not obvious.
   
3. Emphasize due dates.  Phrases such as "at your earliest convenience" or "as soon as possible" seem polite, but they make it easy for the reader to delay answering; if you have a due date in mind, say so.  For special emphasis you can put the due date in a paragraph by itself.  Avoid a demeaning tone if the reader's response is optional.
   
4. Supply any further forms, information, contact names and numbers, or attachments so the reader can respond quickly and easily.

Guidelines for Reply Emails

A reply email provides the information that has been requested.

1. Thank the reader for the inquiry.
   
2. Mention immediately or near the beginning the information you are providing.
   
3. Mention anything you can't send and explain why.
   
4. Offer to help the requester in some other way.  What information can you provide?  Can you refer the requester to someone else who may be able to help?
   
5. Express appreciation and invite further inquires if that is appropriate.

Email Do's and Don'ts

• Email often seems to be closer to a telephone conversation than to a formal letter.  Nevertheless, too much informality in terms of the language you use is not a good idea in business situations -- especially when you're writing to people inside your company at higher levels than you, and when you're writing to people outside your company, such as customer or vendors.
  
• How many times have you sent out an email, and then realized that, once again, you forgot to add the attachment?  When you first open a new email window, add your attachments before you start writing the email.  Make this a habit, and you'll never forget the attachment again.
  
• Your Subject Heading is very important.  Try to make it specific so that your reader can find it easily.  Subject Headings such as "need your help" or "a special request" don't help.  If you are not sure what to write, then write a longer, more specific Subject Heading, rather than a shorter one.  Your reader will appreciate it if they need to search for your message three months later.
  
• Be careful about using bold, underlining, or italics.  Even if your system can read them, there's no guarantee that your recipient's system can.
  
• Use the Urgent / Priority marks (!) in Outlook sparingly.  If you use them too much, people will begin to ignore them – and your emails.
  
• AVOID TYPING YOUR MESSAGES IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, LIKE THIS.  It's rude – like shouting constantly.  And, like constant shouting, it makes people stop listening.   All caps may be used, IN MODERATION, for emphasis.
  
• Don't click "send" too fast.  Take a good look at the whole email again.  Spell check won't catch "four" when you mean "for", or "your" when you mean "you're".  Careless emails give the reader the impression that you – and maybe your company – are also careless.

VII. Make English part of your daily life

English is very important.  Just think it this way, English is the universal language.  If you want to deal with majority of foreigners, English is fundamental and essential.  You need to talk with foreigners basically by English. If you cannot speak English, you will limit yourself to a local environment only.  If you only familiar with your mother language, the data you can assess will be limited to only one language.  With English you can assess to the global data base and you can learn the knowledge from the whole world.

Nowadays, English capability is also required if you want to be promoted to a senior management position in your company.  Even work for a local company, you still need some English to deal with foreign customers.  When you travel overseas, you also need to read, write, listen and speak English.  English becomes a very powerful tool to explore your life, to expand your business and to enhance the variety of your interests.

Practice makes perfect. 

To polish your English, all you need to do is study continuously and follow the methods I suggested previously by

1. The English Learning Process should be listening, speaking, reading and writing;

2. Learning Environment is very important;

3. You can learn from ICRT radio, English songs, English movies, or English TV programs;

4. You also need some good English dictionaries, good English books;

5. How to communicate by writing English

6. How to write Professional Business Emails

7. And eventually make English part of your daily life.

It is never too late to learn.  My English is still very much in the process of improvement.  I am still listen to BBC, ICRT news, watching CNN, National Geographic, Discovery, Travel & Living channels, singing English songs, watching English movies, reading English books, speaking English language. Hope my personal experience will be of some use to you as well.

David W. S. Liu November 26, 2006 in Taipei

(作者為中華民國十大傑出經理，國立台北大學法商學院兼任講師)