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Advanced English online - resources?
Thread poster: Terry Gilman
Terry Gilman
Terry Gilman  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 03:33
Member (2003)
German to English
+ ...
Mar 31, 2003

A Russian colleague inquired about ways to improve her English; she\'s quite fluent, but aiming very high - wants to do creative writing in English, and says she needs to polish her skills and find her voice before joining a creative writing group per se.



Suggestions from others so far have included:



The BBC has a number of ELT programmes that might be of... See more
A Russian colleague inquired about ways to improve her English; she\'s quite fluent, but aiming very high - wants to do creative writing in English, and says she needs to polish her skills and find her voice before joining a creative writing group per se.



Suggestions from others so far have included:



The BBC has a number of ELT programmes that might be of help.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/



and



...reference books:



Collins COBUILD English Dictionary for Advanced Learners, and English Grammar (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0003751155/ref=sr_aps_books_1_1/202-4642871-5916602)



and



the LTP Dictionary of Selected Collocations (words which live with each other - we \"light\" a cigarette, rather than \"fire\" it, etc) (http://www.ltpwebsite.com/selectedcollocations.htm)



and



Contact the British Council



and



take a leave of absence and work in an ENS country for a couple of months (and keep a journal).



a further suggestion...



In addition to the excellent resources others have identified, I\'d like to offer a possibly counter-intuitive suggestion: write in Russian and work with a translator. Voice is exceedingly difficult to master, even in one\'s native tongue. Working from her comfort zone and engaging directly in the translation process would seem to help expose her quickly and directly to the central question -- how are the native locutions of her thought, which comprise her essential voice, transformed into English.





Any further ideas welcome.

Thank you.



[ This Message was edited by: Terry Gilman on 2003-03-31 15:51] ▲ Collapse
 
smorales30
smorales30  Identity Verified
Local time: 03:33
English to Spanish
+ ...
Another idea... Mar 31, 2003

Just read and read and read... specially contemporary fiction / newspapers / magazines in a certain variation (British, American, Australian...) and learn as much as possible about that variation.
 
Daina Jauntirans
Daina Jauntirans  Identity Verified
Local time: 20:33
German to English
+ ...
Edit Yourself Apr 1, 2003

I recommend a book called Edit Yourself - it goes beyond the basic level of typical style guides.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393313263/qid=1049202014/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-0350794-6512768?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
 


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