English, English, English..

[smellie]

The post below about English proficiency at grad level reminded me of my own problems with the language:

I'll be starting as an MA student in humanities this fall. My problem is that my language skill, while sufficient enough to communicate in English on daily basis (I've been in Canada as an international student for about 6-7 years), doesn't seem to be at paar with other students in the field. I need to be able to articulate in both spoken and written language some complicated ideas in philosophy, semiotics etc.

So while watching TVs or "talking-to-people-as-much-as-you-can" does help improving one's English on some level, I'm at that point where I need to speak English better than the average Americans. An elegant writer is what I'm hoping to be one day.

Any suggestions?

... help??

[Minnesotan]

Read, read, read.

Reading out of your discipline, and reading (valuable) 20th Century literature should do a lot to expand your vocabulary and expose you to clever stylistic devices in English, if you read carefully and have a dictionary at hand. I would consider some of the more linguistically playful and creative authors -- Vonnegut, Bukowski, and Pratchett leap to mind, but there are hundreds of examples.

[Sejla]

I taught English abroad, and only a very few of my students had completed any schooling in English - the ones who had were so much more advanced than those who hadn't, so this makes me think that you probably don't want to get in some kind of ESL class.

I have also heard that to write better, you should read more, so I'd agree with Minnesotan on that.

I might add - read the type of thing you need to write. You mention philosophy - I was a philosophy minor as an undergrad and I think that greatly helped my own more academic writing. And while I think I'm good at writing in communicating my ideas clearly and in an organized way, I don't think I'm talented at creative writing.

Also, it depends on what you need to write again, but I think a big part of writing can be organizational or strategy things, rather than grammar or vocabulary. Maybe you took the TOEFL or IELTS the first time around, before your schooling in Canada, but I know in the last few years the TOEFL has changed to be less grammar-oriented. Don't take the test again! But I wonder if it could be useful to get an exam prep book to have topics to practice on and sample writing. If you can find a grad student who has worked on the side in test prep, they also might be able to tutor you briefly or on the side (rather than paying a ton to Kaplan or something).

Good luck to you. I think very few in my country - the US - speak a second language well enough to attend school in it, so you should definitely be proud of what you've done so far.

[canuck]

linguistically playful and creative authors -- Vonnegut, Bukowski, and Pratchett leap to mind, but there are hundreds of examples.

I love Bukowski, particularly Ham on Rye, but I would have to say he'd be the last author I'd point to in order to expand your command of the English language. He writes about as bare and as terse as is possible.

[Minnesotan]

Give another read through Ham. I think he is, as you say, stylistically similar to a Hemingway or a Caesar in his economy, but he is also playful in his double entendre and the way he will dice up a commonly used word or phrase in an effort to stand it on its head or present it in a new way.

[umniah2013]

I know it's an old post ,but I'm in the same situation so I'd like to hear different approaches , in particular, from international students who improved their English to the point of fluency. 

I'm having trouble with that. I mean I can get high tofel score ,but still I'm not satisfied with the level of my English.

[MPPgal]

Total immersion helps a lot but also ask your professors to grade your grammar and spelling and correct you! I studied in the US and was a pretty bad writer until I had a very anal thesis advisor who correctedvme everything, that made me a better writer in English than in my native language!

Edited March 6, 2013 by MPPgal