can anybody give some advice?

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eric

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Hello, I am a new immigrant who want to improve his spoken english and hearing, would anybody give me some advice? or any website?
I know the most useful way is talk more and hear more, but i cannot find a person like that. I can speak mandarin so if you want learn some, i can teach you.

Thanks in advance.
 

RonBee

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eric said:
Hello, I am a new immigrant who want to improve his spoken english and hearing, would anybody give me some advice? or any website?

I have a couple of questions for you, but not too many, I hope. :)

What country are you a new immigrant to? (I have recommended listening to VOA (Voice of America), but I won't know how well that works until somebody tells me. You could also listen to BBC.)

(Rather than hearing, the term you are looking for is listening skills.

eric said:
I know the most useful way is talk more and hear more, but i cannot find a person like that. I can speak mandarin so if you want learn some, i can teach you.

Some of our favorite posters speak Mandarin. :)

(Rather than hear, you need to say listen. Also, capitalize all your Is.)

Welcome to our forum! Make yourself at home.

:hi:
 

RonBee

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Re: thank you very much! tdol.

eric said:
your reply is so quickly.

May I make a suggestion?

Say: "Your reply was very quick." (So was yours. :wink: _)

:)
 

Tdol

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Eric, welcome to UsingEnglish. We do try to reply as quickly as possible, but you were lucky tonight as I was in the forum. ;-)
 
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eric

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:D Thanks RonBee and tdol very much! Thanks your guys.

I am living at canada now, and working as a sales. it is really a challenge for me to do such a work,you know,so i need to improve my english ASAP.

I love the forum very much.
 

RonBee

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eric said:
:D Thanks RonBee and tdol very much! Thanks your guys.

I am living at canada now, and working as a sales. it is really a challenge for me to do such a work,you know,so i need to improve my english ASAP.

I love the forum very much.

If your first language is Mandarin, then learning English must be quite a challenge. We are here to help. In that spirit, I will offer some corrections. (Sometimes I call them suggestions.)

  • I am living at canada now, and working as a sales.

I am living in canada now and working in sales.

Or:

I am living in Canada now and working as a sales rep.

(The term sales rep is one that you have probably heard, and it is informal for sales representative.)

  • it is really a challenge for me to do such a work,you know,so i need to improve my english ASAP.

It is really a challenge for me to do such work, so I need to improve my English ASAP.

My first impression is that you are not doing badly, but, of course, the devil is in the details. (It's those "little things" that cause the most trouble.)

I suggest that you practice speaking the new phrases. Speak them many times. Also, I would appreciate any feedback on the usefulness of my advice. (Please tell me how useful you think it is.)

So, what part of Canada do you live in? Do you live in British Columbia?

:)
 
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eric

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thanks RonBee, your suggestion is very useful for me! Most of the time,i don't know where the mistakes are and I don't know how to express myself accurately. I will try the method that you taught me and i will give you my feedback whether it is useful or not.

I am living in Tornoto now,do you know much about this city?
 

RonBee

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eric said:
thanks RonBee, your suggestion is very useful for me! Most of the time,i don't know where the mistakes are and I don't know how to express myself accurately. I will try the method that you taught me and i will give you my feedback whether it is useful or not.

Well, I hope my advice is helpful to you. :)

eric said:
I am living in Tornoto now,do you know much about this city?

I know that it is the largest city in Canada and that it is in the province of Ontario. I know that I wouldn't want to stay there during the winter. Other than that, I don't know much about it. Do you like living in Toronto?

:)
 
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eric

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The summer of Toronto is beautiful, you can go out for a camp or fishing. I came to Toronto on may this year and I donot know much about the winter,but I was told that the winter is cold and very long,people can do nothing just stay at home,I cannot image.

How about the climate in your city? What did you do during your vacation?
 

whl626

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What country are you a new immigrant to? (I have recommended listening to VOA (Voice of America), but I won't know how well that works until somebody tells me. You could also listen to BBC.)

VOA is good. Most of the articles with audio are written by the journalists themselves. And they read it at a moderate pace that English learners can easily catch up with the context shown on the screen. The only shortcoming is all are political issues that might not be appealing to females I guess :p
 

Lib

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whl626 said:
The only shortcoming is all are political issues that might not be appealing to females I guess :p

Pardon me!?????????????????
 

whl626

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Well, I just meant to tell that VOA news are in the main about political issues that might not be interesting to females.
 

Lib

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whl626 said:
Well, I just meant to tell that VOA news are in the main about political issues that might not be interesting to females.
That's what I thought you meant .... Your comment sounds somewhat medieval to me.
 

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eric said:
The summer of Toronto is beautiful, you can go out for a camp or fishing. I came to Toronto on may this year and I donot know much about the winter,but I was told that the winter is cold and very long,people can do nothing just stay at home,I cannot image.

  • Say: "You can go camping or fishing." ("For a camp" is not used.)
    Say: "I came to Toronto during May." (We generally use "on" only for a specific date. (You might want to check with a Canadian on that one just to be sure. They don't talk American there. :wink: )
    Say: "I cannot imagine."

That's Canadian winters for you--cold and long. I understand that some people go ice fishing during the winter, but that is, of course, for hardy souls who don't mind the cold weather.

eric said:
How about the climate in your city? What did you do during your vacation?

In St. Louis the best seasons are spring and fall. The summers are too hot and the winters are too cold. :wink: (Actually, the winters here have been pretty mild for the past several years.)

Canada frequently sends us some of their cold winds during the winter.

:)
 

RonBee

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whl626 said:
VOA is good. Most of the articles with audio are written by the journalists themselves. And they read it at a moderate pace that English learners can easily catch up with the context shown on the screen. The only shortcoming is all are political issues that might not be appealing to females I guess :p

Thank you for your comments on the VOA. That is welcome feedback.

If you wish to quote somebody all you have to do is click on Reply or quote. The other poster is then quoted automatically. (You should type your reply after the comments by the other poster.)

We don't use females here (USA) very often for women. There are times when females is appropriate, but for the most part I suggest that you use women. (It's safer.)

:wink:
 

Tdol

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Lib said:
whl626 said:
Well, I just meant to tell that VOA news are in the main about political issues that might not be interesting to females.
That's what I thought you meant .... Your comment sounds somewhat medieval to me.

There were women politicans in the medieval times. ;-))
 

whl626

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I was not aware of the difference between ' women ' and ' females ' after all. Females is a sensitive word :? ? Since I am new to forum kind of thing, I am confused over some button functions :p
 

Lib

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tdol said:
Lib said:
whl626 said:
Well, I just meant to tell that VOA news are in the main about political issues that might not be interesting to females.
That's what I thought you meant .... Your comment sounds somewhat medieval to me.

There were women politicans in the medieval times. ;-))

I actually wanted to use the term "male chauvinist" but thought it was a bit strong....but there, I've said it.
I'm surprised that none of you 'men' have made any comment. Does that mean that you agree with WHL?
 
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