That is true. Indians are not the only ones with poor communication. People from many other Asian and even European countries are worse. Howerver, it should be noted English is not the primary language of education in those countries, whereas it is more or less in India. The point I am making is that if someone from India in today's day and age cannot speak good English I think it almost follows that that person does not come from the middle or upper middle class.

Chandresh,

I totally agree. Maybe I wasn't clear and I forgot to mention this in my post. We can't blame ourselves for our English because we weren't encouraged to improve it in India. For example: When I was studying in India none of my teachers told me the value of reading or the whole concept of critical thinking. They never pushed me or encouraged me to do more in order to improve my English. For them it was just to make sure you passed a class.

Don't worry, it is not your fault. But it is never too late for change

Oh yes, Indians are not the only ones who have trouble with English but the reason why I put this article here is because this is a forum for Indians

-----------------------------------------------------------------
I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.
-Socrates-

That was a good advise Socratic. I just would like to add one more point. It is also important to improve written english skills. It takes less than a minute to copy the text into a word processing application to check the spelling. One of previous directors used to correct me a lot and always used to tell me to be careful with spelling mistakes when sending communication. I hope this tip will help you as well. At the end of day, spoken english is not the only criteria to get the right career opportunities. It's just one part of the overall communication skills. Thanks
Jay

good tips...

bump!

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Recommended Services- Servicedomino.com
http://www.servicedomino.com

For me, the secret to mastering French was reading OUT LOUD. try reading a foreign language out loud for 30 min to 60 min every day! You will soon discover that certain muscles in your mouth are extremely tired. It is by doing a simple exercise like this that you will build up these muscles and learn better how the words 'link' together in a more natural way.

And yes, Socratic, watching the news and imitating the speaker, even making a caricature of his speaking pattern and rhythm, is an EXCELLENT way to assimilate a new accent or language. It's one of my favorite techniques too.

If you can choose a speaker or an actor to 'model' your accent on, all the better.

Many forum members just ask for /demand answers by writing,"Plz hlp!,
"Urgent", etc...The enthusiasm one shows in coming to Canada should also be shown in improving one's marketable skills. There is no age limit for that. Communication in proper English is very important and also basic computer skills.
Good tips!

-----------------------------------------------------------------
HOPE

Nicely written, SW! (sorry, can't help it - you should have had a shorter name!) I fully agree.

Especially about slowing down in speech. I’m hard of hearing, and so I pay more attention to the lip movements, the facial expressions and the variations in tone when people speak. Some of us Indians tend to speak in a flat, monotonous, expression-less tone. I myself prefer to speak with people who speak clearly, with expressions. Well, it is not just Indians. I have seen quite a few Chinese at work whose English I have found quite difficult and frustrating to follow.

About closed-captioning – couldn’t have said it better myself. One other thing I once used to do was rent a movie, watch a portion of dialogues with closed captioning on, then replay the same things with closed captioning off. Could be a useful exercise for anyone new to this country.