Cùng nhau học tiếng Anh trên WTT

[hnm]

Very helpful & funny topic. Nice to communicate with mothers here by English. And there is anyone can also help me in French (beginner level )

OK, open new topic "Cùng học tiếng Pháp trên WTT" then we can say: Bonjour

[hadungtdh3]

Hi all,
I have been learning English for many years, but I speak English not exactly. I would like to make friend with everybody who like speak English with me by telephone. My phone number is 04 7830636 and my name is Ha. Please leave your phone;I will call for you. Moreover you can contact with me by Yahoo nick Hadungtdh3, I am very plearsure to meet you.
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Best wish,
Ha

[Lullaby]

Hi all,
I have been learning English for many years, but I speak English not exactly. I would like to make friend with everybody who like speak English with me by telephone. My phone number is 04 7830636 and my name is Ha. Please leave your phone;I will call for you. Moreover you can contact with me by Yahoo nick Hadungtdh3, I am very plearsure to meet you.
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Best wish,
Ha

I hope you don't mind if i may want to correct your message

I have been learning English for many years, but I don't speak English well. I would like to make friends with those who would prefer to communicate by phone. My phone number is 04-783 0636 and my name is Ha. Please leave your number, and I'll call you back. In addition, you can contact me by Yahoo messager. My nickname is Hadungtdh3. It is my pleasure to chat with you.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best wishes,

If i have made any mistake, please feel free to correct it. I'll very much appreciate

[mẹ Linh con]

I hope you don't mind if i may want to correct your message

I have been learning English for many years, but I don't speak English well. I would like to make friends with those who would prefer to communicate by phone. My phone number is 04-783 0636 and my name is Ha. Please leave your number, and I'll call you back. In addition, you can contact me by Yahoo messager. My nickname is Hadungtdh3. It is my pleasure to chat with you.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best wishes,

If i have made any mistake, please feel free to correct it. I'll very much appreciate

Here is my version, which is a little bit different from Lullaby's:

Hi all,

I have been learning English for many years, but I do not speak it well. I would like to make friends with people who would like to practise speaking English on the phone with me. My name is Ha and my phone number is 04 7830636. Please leave your phone number and I will call you back. In addition, you may contact me on Yahoo Messenger. My YM ID is Hadungtdh3. I would be pleased to speak to you. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Best wishes,
Ha.

[hadungtdh3]

Dear Lullaby and me Linh Con,
I would like to thank you that you have corrected my paragraph.
I am studing to write Business letter now. I am reading Academic English and The language of Business correspondence...Furthermore I usually listen English on BBC radio. In conclusion I spend many time for English, but I don't know why my English is still not well.
What should I do now?
Thank you very much,
BestRegard,
Ha

[PHƯƠNG ANH]

Dear Lullaby & me Linh con,
When u correct paragraph of anyone, please tell us how it is wrong to we write again, ok? Thank you very much.
To Lullaby : we open web that you introduce but I don't know how to use, you know my English is so bad, please tell me how to use.

[mẹ Linh con]

Dear Lullaby and me Linh Con,
I would like to thank you that you have corrected my paragraph.
I am studing to write Business letter now. I am reading Academic English and The language of Business correspondence...Furthermore I usually listen English on BBC radio. In conclusion I spend many time for English, but I don't know why my English is still not well.
What should I do now?
Thank you very much,
BestRegard,
Ha

Dear Hà,

I suppose that's your name? You are welcome! I could see from the aforesaid paragraph and the one you sent earlier that the problem lies in your sentence structures and the use of verbs, prepositions, adjectives and adverbs.

I would make some amendments to your paragraph as follows:

"Thank you for having corrected my paragraph. I am taking a course on how to write Business letters now (I presume you mean you are attending classes on writing Business letters). I am also reading such books as Academic English and The Language of Business correspondence (do you mean you are reading these books?)... Furthermore, I usually listen to English on BBC radio. In conclusion, I spend a lot of time on English, but I don't know why my English is still not good.

Things to take note:

- Thank you for doing sth/having done sth;
- Single/Plural forms (eg, a business letter vs business letters)
- to listen to sth/sb
- to spend time on sth/doing sth
- a lot of time ('many' is used for countable things, eg, many books; time is uncountable)
- 'well' is an adverb and used with verbs, whilst 'good' is an adjective and used with the verb 'to be'.

"What should I do now?"

You could start by attending English classes. Your teacher of English will help you with grammar, sentence structures, verb uses, etc. More importantly, he/she will help you correct mistakes that you are likely to make. Practise reading and comprehension. If you don't understand something, don't hesitate to ask someone who may know. Brush up your listening skill by listening to English programs and summarizing what you have listened.

Well, those are my suggestions. Some WTT users reading this thread have also contributed some useful methods from their own experience, to which. you may refer. I wish you a pleasant English-learning journey !

[Lullaby]

Things to take note:

- Thank you for doing sth/having done sth; (1)
- Single/Plural forms (eg, a business letter vs business letters) (2)
- to listen to sth/sb (3)
- to spend time on sth/doing sth (3)
- a lot of time ('many' is used for countable things, eg, many books; time is uncountable) (2)
- 'well' is an adverb and used with verbs, whilst 'good' is an adjective and used with the verb 'to be'. (4)

I agree with mẹ Linh con that we should start by reviewing all the parts of speech and the most basic grammar rules.

As far as I've known, there are 9 parts of speech in English, which are nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, articles, conjunctions, exclamations. Normally, Vietnamese don't think these are so important, but they are. So, practise how to use these first, before you may try other more complicated rules. You may want to visit Daily Grammar for more exercises. When you would master how to use all parts of speech, you may understand what mẹ Linh con has explained at point (4) above.

In addition, I would like to modify some tips that mẹ Linh con has refered which, I think, may help you write English better.

(1) after a preposition, we use noun functions. For your information, noun functions are words that function as nouns, e.g. nouns, pronouns, gerunds (or you may want to call present participle phrases), and the like. So, if you may want to express an action, you should use the gerund form of the verb. You may express your idea in the past tense (having + past participle) or present, or even future (V-ing), depending on when it has occured.

(2) There are two kinds of nouns in English, uncountable and countable. In general, we use an article in front of a noun. And you may know that there are 2 kinds of articles which are definite and indefinite. The indefinite article, including "a" and "an", is used in front of a singular, countable noun. And we use it when we may want to talk about something unspecific, e.g. a chair, a topic. We don't use indefinite articles in front of either plural countable nouns (since "a"/"an" means one) or uncountable nouns. However, when we specify a thing, or repeat things that we've mentioned, we use the definite article (the). Vietnamese have never got used to these rules I couldn't do right sometimes, either

The pronouns used with nouns are, therefore, different. If you are not sure which pronouns you may use, I would suggest that you may use "a lot (of)" (instead of many), "a little (of)" (instead of a few). They work with both countable and uncountable in any circumstances.

(3) These requires you to memorize and get used to. No other suggestions

we open web that you introduce but I don't know how to use, you know my English is so bad, please tell me how to use

In order to listen to articles at VOA Special English, you may need to install Real Player .

To everyone, I will appreciate your taking the time to correct my mistakes, since sometimes, I have written something by... feeling

[Lullaby]

- a lot of time ('many' is used for countable things, eg, many books; time is uncountable)

Another tip

Countable or uncountable nouns are recognized sometimes by their meanings . That is to say, "time" could be uncountable or countable depending on which meaning we are referring to.

If I would say I log in WTT 5 times a day. Then, "time" is a countable noun (which means "lần" in Vietnamese ).

But I would say I have wasted a lot of time everyday, surfing internet. Then, "time" is an uncountable noun.

[Manly]

Long time visit my topic
I feel satisfied b/c It wasn't sunk deep at the bottom.
My boss asked me to get TOEIC test but my English is very bad.
Can you help me?

To Lullaby: Did you receive my message in yahoo? Your pictures are very nice, I like it.

[mẹ Linh con]

Another tip

Countable or uncountable nouns are recognized sometimes by their meanings . That is to say, "time" could be uncountable or countable depending on which meaning we are referring to.

If I would say I log in WTT 5 times a day. Then, "time" is a countable noun (which means "lần" in Vietnamese ).

But I would say I have wasted a lot of time everyday, surfing internet. Then, "time" is an uncountable noun.

I would add that it depends on the context in a sentence as well. Take this sentence as an example: I spend time on learning English. If one wants to convert "time" into plural form, will he/she be able to? He/she could only say "I spend a lot of time on learning English", because "time" here doesn't mean how often he/she spends on learning English.

To Lullaby, I like your explanations on speech parts, sounding very much like a pro teacher of English!

Long time visit my topic
I feel satisfied b/c It wasn't sunk deep at the bottom.
My boss asked me to get TOEIC test but my English is very bad.
Can you help me?

Lixi's future mother-in-law, how would like other participants in this topic to help you? Why did your boss ask you to SIT for TOEIC test? (Yes, that's how you say it in English, to sit for a test/an exam)

[Lullaby]

My boss asked me to get TOEIC test but my English is very bad.
Can you help me?

To Lullaby: Did you receive my message in yahoo? Your pictures are very nice, I like it.

Hi Hương,

You've just come at the right place and the right time . We are discussing tips that may help you improve your English. Hope that you would take advantage of them

No, I haven't received any messages from you. Which pictures are you talking about? I presume that you've mentioned the series of cherry blossoms that I have posted to "tips for travel" at the box for American mommies, haven't you? Oh, I was so lucky to come at the right time when all the cherries were blooming. It was raining the day after, and everything's gone

To Lullaby, I like your explanations on speech parts, sounding very much like a pro teacher of English!

Thanks a lot for your support

Yes, you are right. I've taught English for more than 3 years at a language school in Saigon (but don't ask me which one ). However, it's not my full-time job, so I haven't invested sufficient time to improve my knowledge, although I enjoy teaching Therefore, I do appreciate what you've contributed to this topic, since I've always learnt a lot through conversation. Please keep sharing your tips with us

[mẹ Linh con]

Hi Hương,
Thanks a lot for your support

Yes, you are right. I've taught English for more than 3 years at a language school in Saigon (but don't ask me which one ). However, it's not my full-time job, so I haven't invested sufficient time to improve my knowledge, although I enjoy teaching Therefore, I do appreciate what you've contributed to this topic, since I've always learnt a lot through conversation. Please keep sharing your tips with us

You are welcome! I am happy to share my experience in learning English with all of you, too. I also used to give English tuition years ago. I guess English always fascinates me, although my most preferred language is French. I took up French, but never got around speaking it fluently, which is really a pity.

What do you do, Lullaby? I saw from box America that you are in the US. What are you doing there? Who takes care of your daughter while you are away?

[Lullaby]

You are welcome! I am happy to share my experience in learning English with all of you, too. I also used to give English tuition years ago. I guess English always fascinates me, although my most preferred language is French. I took up French, but never got around speaking it fluently, which is really a pity.

What do you do, Lullaby? I saw from box America that you are in the US. What are you doing there? Who takes care of your daughter while you are away?

You don't need to learn French since your English is super You could survive wherever you've been to Actually, I have also learnt French for 3 years, but haven't got any good outcome I'm so lazy to memorize all its complicated grammar rules and structures English is much better that I don't need to learn by heart, for example, how to conjugate verbs for every single personal pronoun I couldn't do well with Chinese either

I wished I would teach English since I was very young. However, I am never good at literature, so I dared not take the entrance exam to the English faculty of either HCMC University or the Pedagogy University. I attended the part-time course at another university after I'd got into Law School. So I do have both degrees That was how I have been employed by a language school in Saigon.

I am the lecturer of Environmental Law at HCMC University of Law. But I'm now in the US to do some research on legal protection of cultural heritage on Fulbright Grant I will go back late May or early June. My mom and my husband are taking care of my daughter since I left. It's good that they gets along very well and she always thinks that my mom were hers I hope that she would not call me... sister when I'm back

Anyway, thanks for your concern I hope I haven't told you more than what you've expected If I did, please excuse me You may know that I used to be an attorney-at-law

And how about you? could you tell us something about you and your family? I recall you've said that your daughter is named ruby too. How is she now? And I'm also curious on what you do for your living

[mẹ Linh con]

You don't need to learn French since your English is super You could survive wherever you've been to

Thank you for your compliments! Not in China though, where it's not widely spoken because not many people are good at it, nor in France and Germany because of the people's nationalistic pride in their language! hehehe..... Have you heard about President J. Chirac recently walking out of an EU conference when his Finance Minister started addressing the audience in English?!

Actually, I have also learnt French for 3 years, but haven't got any good outcome I'm so lazy to memorize all its complicated grammar rules and structures English is much better that I don't need to learn by heart, for example, how to conjugate verbs for every single personal pronoun I couldn't do well with Chinese either

Yes, I also find French much more difficult than English, but love its sound and rythm, especially when spoken by a true 'Parisien'!

I wished I would teach English since I was very young. However, I am never good at literature, so I dared not take the entrance exam to the English faculty of either HCMC University or the Pedagogy University. I attended the part-time course at another university after I'd got into Law School. So I do have both degrees That was how I have been employed by a language school in Saigon.

As for myself, I went to HN-Amsterdam sec school, majoring in what else but English! Then I read a course in FTU in Hanoi, followed by another one in Business Admins at NUS, one of S'pore's universities.

I am the lecturer of Environmental Law at HCMC University of Law. But I'm now in the US to do some research on legal protection of cultural heritage on Fulbright Grant I will go back late May or early June. My mom and my husband are taking care of my daughter since I left. It's good that they gets along very well and she always thinks that my mom were hers I hope that she would not call me... sister when I'm back

Hihihi... your worry is not unfounded! Has she started speaking? It's amazing to hear your child's first word. I was in awe the 1st day my daughter pulled herself to stand up.

Anyway, thanks for your concern I hope I haven't told you more than what you've expected If I did, please excuse me You may know that I used to be an attorney-at-law

Not at all! It's nice to get to know people from all walks of life! Then why did you switch to lecturing?

And how about you? could you tell us something about you and your family? I recall you've said that your daughter is named ruby too. How is she now?

Thank you for asking! My daughter is almost 1 year old. We will be throwing her a celebration party next week. We are living in Singapore. So next time you have a chance to stop by here, do give me a call! However, our roots are still very much in Vietnam, as my parents live in Hanoi and my husband's in HCMC.

And I'm also curious on what you do for your living

hehehe... on this point, you'll be sorely disappointed! I am holding the most unglamorous but very meaningful job, a fulltime stay-at-home mom! I stopped working when I had Dan Linh. Now that she's almost old enough to enrol in a playgroup, I will re-join the workforce soon. Previously, I worked as Assistant Trader in a Jap co, and then as Contract Admins Exec in a US co.

Sleep tight !