Tips to improve communication skills

Effective spoken English skills are essential if you want to impress the interviewer during your interview. Even in academics, most courses in Indian institutes and universities are offered in English, therefore even for students, it becomes extremely essential to have a command over the English language. Here are a few tips:

No fear policy: The main problem with most students who find it difficult to speak English well is that they lack confidence and they have a fear that they might go wrong and will be laughed at. But if you do not start practicing English communication how would you know where you are going wrong and where you need to improve. We all make mistakes and the only way to learn is to practice and have others correct us.

Start thinking in English..the rest will follow: When communicating in English, many students tend to think in their mother tongue and speak in English. If you wish to improve your communication in English then first you need to start thinking in English, i.e., change your language of thought from your mother tongue to English as this reduces the effort of translating your thoughts from your mother tongue to English.

Vocabulary: Improve your vocabulary to improve your communication. Keep a dictionary handy and use it to learn the meaning of a new words that you hear. Make a list of such new words as and when possible and try to use them when you are communicating in English, this helps you make your language richer.

Use the media to your advantage: Read English books, newspapers and magazines. Watch English news, TV shows, movies, preferably with subtitles. The more you hear the more exposure you get to new words to add on to your vocabulary and you get more familiar to the pronunciation and intonation of different words. Record your own voice and listen to it. This will help you gain confidence and work on your mistakes.

Phone a friend Also try and find a friend who is also interested in improving English so that you can practice together, correct each other and learn together.