Practice Makes Perfect English

I never fail to be awed by speakers for whom English is their second language and how they can improve before my very eyes. I meet them primarily through Toastmasters, and that organization's prescribed method of learning to speak seems ideal for people who want to learn English. In fact, this year Vikas Jhingran became Toastmaster's first world champion for whom English is a second language.

I have seen fellow Toastmasters from outside the U.S. progress through each step of the program - the introductory speech (aka Icebreaker), exercises in choosing the right words, varying the voice, and more - and speak better English with each speech. Since it takes 10 speeches to earn the first designation of "Competent Communicator," you can imagine the improvements. Such success depends on certain factors:

1. MENTORING - These members need someone to review their speeches and help them with their English, including such details as pronunciation, grammar, pronunciation, and figures of speech.
   
   
2. KIND AND GENTLE EVALUATION - In traveling to other countries, I am generally treated kindly, but every so often I meet a person who takes pleasure in deriding my mangling of their language, however unintentional it is. I would never want to treat a foreign national that way here. My philosophy is that they are speaking English better than I can speak their language. It's best not only to be instructional at those moments, but treat it as an occasion for well-intentioned humor. Just today, I evaluated a Mexican woman who gave a delightful speech on her first time traveling to America. The only mistake she made was that she said, "I had nothing to eat but tuna cans." I pointed out that she may have had nothing to eat but tuna, or she may have had nothing to eat but cans of tuna. But unless she were a goat, there was no way she was eating tuna cans! She laughed, everybody laughed, and then I pointed out that this was the only mistake I could find in her English. She was justifiably proud of that, and encouraged.
   
   
3. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE - There is no substitute for getting up and speaking. The constant practice of wrapping the tongue around foreign vowels will lead only to progress.
   

The great entertainer Victor Borge claimed to learn English by going to the movies, and his plays on words made him a much-loved, international star. I don't know how easy that is, but I can plainly see that the constant repetition, correction and sponsorship is clearly a proven method for perfecting English in America. I encourage you who have friends who need to speak better English to try toastmasters or any method that will get them in front of an audience.