Learning English

English is in vogue now. Lots of discussions and opinions on English standard and best ways to impart English lessons in Straits Times and New Paper. When I was in school, I was proud not to learn English properly. I speaks dialects with my classmates. All my school mates knows languages is not the strength of our school. We were strong in Maths and Science and were very good academically. After all, only the cream of Singapore goes to Raffles Institution. After "O" level, I proceeds to Singapore Poly for Diploma in Electronic Engineering. My English language skills deteriorated as the subjects speaks the language of Mathematics. And the student mix does not help either. Chinese medium students were at a higher percentage. In fact, my Mandarin improved.

I always enjoy reading and one day, my eldest sister brought back at least 100 copies of old Reader's Digest. Her boss was moving house and decided to get ride of them. There is an article I read that I could not forget. This article describes survey that was done on people occupying the top echelon of all professions including chefs, musicians, accountings and those we always know like doctors, lawyers and bankers. The common thread was the vocabulary. A strong vocabulary. The author says he do not know why but speculates that communication may be the key to rising to the top. With a large vocabulary, it is easier to express yourself and communicate well to the other parties. Since then, I become more religious in using the dictionary whereas before dictionary was too troublesome and a waste of time. If there is an unfamiliar word, I thought I would know by the context of the paragraph. This was my misconception.

Today, I always get feedback on my strong vocabulary and I am now working on my grammar. The joy of life is, it's an ongoing learning process.