Posts Tagged ‘words’
Use Words Carefully While Learning English
All of us get excited at the prospect of learning new words. In the process of learning a language we are asked to improve our vocabulary. The more words we know, the more our command over a language will increase. While learning new words can be fun, we also need to be cautious about their usage since many words have multiple meanings and connotations.
If you look closely at your mother tongue, you will identify several words which are used in various situations and which carry various meanings. Change of context often alters the meaning of words and depending upon culture, humour and other factors, words get associated with various things. Apart from its common meaning, the word “egg”, for example, is used to describe encouragement and support. Also a lot of words and expressions that we use in our respective languages have no English equivalent and vice-versa.
When you come across a new word, make sure you find out more about it before beginning to use it on a regular basis. Usage of certain words can hurt the sentiments of certain people and land you in trouble. It is also important to know whether a particular word has any special meaning in a cultural or religious context. Keep a good dictionary handy and look up references.
Fast and Accurate:The Keywords of Typing
In this post, I would like to focus on a skill which i feel is somewhat neglected by trainers and trainees alike. When you talk of job training or improving employability, the first few things that come to your mind are communication, organization, writing etc. However, several positions in the industry require you to possess efficient and fast typing skills in addition to the obvious ones. It will definitely add to your credentials if you work on your typing speed and accuracy.
Practicing typing is largely similar to practicing writing, with the difference being you can choose not to be imaginative and just copy text from a book or article. While typing, keep a watch handy so that you can calculate how many words you are typing in a minute. Most companies which are keen on your typing speed would want to know your WPM (Words Per Minute) count. As you go along, pay attention to accuracy as well. It won’t do to have your fingers flying all over the keyboard at lightning speed only to create content which is full of typos. Try to stay away from the “delete” and “backspace” buttons as much as possible and hit each key only once to form words.
Start slow and with practice, you will surely pick up pace.
Figuring The Nuances of Jobs
This post is a continuation of an earlier post in which i had mentioned that professional life requires you to be an altogether different creative writer by and large. I thought of sharing some of my experiences of writing in the professional sphere. I plan to put up several posts on general as well as specific requirements.
I always wrote long sentences while writing answers or essays for my courses and in examinations. I had to ditch this habit and concentrate on making my sentences short and crisp. Long sentences often tend to get confusing where you are required to put things across as clearly as possible. This applies to lengthy business proposals as well. Though it will unavoidably be lengthier than blog posts or web content, you need to keep your language simple, your sentences short and make every effort to give maximum information using less words. In other words, you will need to get straight to the point.
It is a good idea to include pictures or sketches while trying to write about a place or a product instead of trying to describe everything elaborately in writing. A picture, as it goes, is worth a thousand words.
Keeping your English correct and keeping an eye out for errors will help you in copy editing, proofreading etc. I will put up a separate post to discuss the nuances of editing for a publishing house or other concerns.
It is important that your writings have some visual appeal as well. Split your article into several short paragraphs. Using numbers or bullets to highlight points will make your article eye catching and your readers will be able to easily spot the important points.
Think in English
Many of us are in the habit of talking to ourselves. When we are alone and don’t have anything important to do, various random thoughts drift in and out of our minds. Now if we are asked in which language we think or talk to ourselves, most of us will say that we think in our mother tongues. Even in response to a question in English, we think about the reply in our mother tongues and try to translate it into English. However, sometimes we find that we do not have/ know English equivalents for all the words in our regional languages which constitute our reply.
In professional lives, this might lead to the serious problem of being unable to express ourselves. You cannot always rehearse your speech while making presentations or explaining the nuances of a project to your clients or colleagues. You have no way of knowing what questions might be thrown at you or what new ideas you might get out of interactions. In order to be proficient in a language it is extremely important that you think in that language. So if you are learning English, make sure you also think in it. You will figure alternate ways of expressing certain concepts or words in your language for which there are no exact English equivalents. In addition to gaining confidence while communicating, this will add a lot of flexibility to your thinking.
Are You Listening?
Listening to conversations and commentaries can help you a lot in learning English. Not only do you learn a lot of new words and expressions, you also come to know how to respond appropriately under different circumstances. When you are asked a question, you usually have a choice of various replies but depending upon the situation and the people you are speaking to, you have to choose a reply that is apt.A lot of things are to be considered here- the choice of words, the tone, the body-language etc. Listening to conversations will help you to get an idea about the possible retorts or answers to a statement.
Many of us watch cricket and listen to commentators and just like cricketers, we have our favourite commentators too. What makes certain commentators more popular than others? Apart from a good knowledge of the game, it’s also the way they speak that decides their popularity. Someone speaking in a flat monotone and going on and on about drab technicalities will not impress many listeners, but someone bringing in the excitement of the game in his/her voice, choosing different words to describe similar happenings, cracking an occassional joke and so on will undoubtedly be keenly listened to. I am sure cricket wouldn’t be as much fun without good commentary.Listen carefully to the way such people speak, pay careful attention to their selection of words and changes in tone and you will learn a thing or two about attracting listeners to hear you speak.
It’s Not Just Words
A common misconception about communication skills is that it is all about using impressive words and expressions. Many of us have the notion that our job is done if we can make our language ornamental. This again is a problem with our school education where most of us are taught to improve our English by learning up a lot of words and illustrations and using them in speech and writing. What we tend to forget is that the tone of voice and body gestures play an equally important role in getting our messages across effectively. In fact the tone becomes all the more important while speaking over phone. It is very important that the tone is engaging and lively. Very often telecallers sound bored or disinterested which does nothing to impress the people they are calling.
Besides using words and expressions, it is essential to remember the importance of patience, voice, gestures and eye-contact while communicating. It should be kept in mind that the listener(s) are not there to learn English from us but to get some useful information. Communication is about providing information clearly and comprehensibly. So all that needs to go into making a message simple and understandable should be used. A string of high-flown words and expressions might not get us anywhere close to achieving our purpose.