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Improving English is lifelong

English teachers have been lamenting the rapid decline in the quality of spoken and written English among adults. Social media, text messaging, messaging software or applications do not help the process. In an effort to squeeze everything into 140 characters or less and do it quickly, we end up typing some sort of understandable gibberish that masquerades as English.

That spills over into formal writing e.g. business letters and formal email communication. Microsoft Word provides an auto spell checker and some grammar checks. These are useful to ensure that we have at least got the basics correct, but a computer cannot check clarity, style and content. You still need a human being to help you, preferably one who is as good as or better than you are at English.

Then there are many who say, "I'm done with school." In other words, I do not need to learn anything anymore. I know it all. If a young person said this, we'd all frown at the arrogance of youth. If an older person said this, we would be more accepting of the statement. Both of them need help, regardless of age and education.

The Speak Good English Movement in Singapore works very hard to get the population improving their standard of English, whatever age you may be. For 2013, they will be launching a lifelong learning drive to make working adults improve their command of English. Tough as this may be, it is worth a try.

I have to admit that I don't always get it right. I type fairly quickly, but often I don't read my sentence again. I'm in a hurry, so I click "send" without a second thought. Wrong move. I end up realising that I could have said it better. Do my friends care? Not really. Social media doesn't bother if you write in gibberish or proper grammar. Getting the message out is the goal, not proper language use.

We are never too old to learn anything. I'm still trying to be more fluent in the languages I already know. It isn't easy when I lack practice with native speakers. It doesn't help that native speakers tend to use slang, colloquialism or slur the pronunciation of words. I have trouble enough learning the proper words, let alone the vernacular of the area. I am making progress. I make myself make progress. That's part of the fun in the learning process.

If you already speak and write English, good for you. Don't stop there. Take a tip from the Speak Good English Movement. Make it your daily goal to get better at it. One new thing a day is a step forward in the right direction.

Here's to lifelong improvement!

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