Are You Completely Flummoxed? – English for Foreigners

Money making ideas includes learning English. Yes, you can probably make money in other markets, but the English is by far the largest, and everything on the Internet is in English.

I have tried to find article directories in Danish – I actually had to create the first myself. I’ve tried to find French versions of Ezine Articles – never found any. So there’s no way around it: Learn English, if you want to make money online.

But how?

I’m far from perfect, I know, but I’ve learned a bit about writing in English, and my proof-reader says I’m improving (right, Pete?), so I’ll pass on a few of my tips for learning better English.

Read, of course

Well, it goes without saying that you have to read a lot in English.

<whisper>I live in France. Have you ever heard the French speak English? It’s AWFUL! But don’t tell them. They are pretty proud about their knowledge, when they’ve learned a few words. But the French rarely reads English. They rarely ever listen to English. Most music in the radio is in French, and all the movies are synchronised into French. You should hear Clint Eastwood speak French in a movie here. He does it perfectly 😉 </whisper>

Not a word to anybody about that 😉 Whistle, whistle…

So read as much as you can – preferably good English writings.

Surround yourself with English

Often, when I received the corrected texts back from my proof-reader, I would compare them to my originals, and learn from my mistakes.

But I have another secret that made learning better English really fun 😉

I play World of Warcraft. Yes, every night, I step out of the real world, and into Azeroth, where I jump around, being a night elf, performing quests, killing dragons, picking virtual flowers, and crafting jewels.

This is fun, and relaxing, and since WoW is a MMORPG (erm… Multi something, there it is: Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game), where you interact with real people that meant lots and lots of writing in English. I even dream in English, now 😉

My little notebook

My final secret to learning better English is my little notebook. Actually, it’s a little phonebook with tabbed pages, each with a letter on, you know, for making it easy to find the phone number to Uncle Arthur or Auntie Maggie.

Only, I don’t use it as a phone book, but as my nice-little-words-book.

Whenever I hear or read a word, I didn’t know before, but which I liked, I jot it down, preferably with the context.

That’s how I remembered “flummoxed”. My Australian friend wrote it to me the other, after having struggled with a home page for a couple of hours, and nothing worked. I just loved the sound of the word, and put it in my little book. I can also find expressions as a “brolly” (umbrella), “Billy no mates”, “dabble” (to dip toes in water – “I had a dabble into…”), “drivel” (foolish talk), “diligence” (steady and careful applic.), “shoot” (I gotta shoot = leave), and many other expressions.

Are you a foreigner?

If you are, and if you’re writing articles or blog posts in English, what is your best tip to learn better English?