Monday, August 20, 2012

How to Improve English

 The importance of the English language cannot be overemphasized. Comfort with English is almost a prerequisite for success in the world today. Regardless of the industry, proficiency in English is an important factor in both hiring and promotion decisions.
A lot of us have studied English in school and are fairly comfortable with reading and writing. However, we hesitate while speaking because we feel that we lack the fluency and may make grammatical mistakes. We are afraid of speaking English in formal situations and we are quick to switch to our native language once we are in the company of our family and friends.
There is no quick fix when it comes to improving your command over a particular language. It always requires a lot of time and effort.
Here are EnglishLeap’s top ten tips for success in achieving proficiency and fluency in English:

  1. Do not hesitate. Talk to whoever you can. Decide among your circle of friends that you will only talk in English with each other. This way you can get rid of hesitation and also have your friends correct you when you are wrong.
     
  2. Start a conversation with strangers in English. Since you do not know them personally, you will feel less conscious about what they would feel about you.
     
  3. Maintaining a diary to record the events of your day is a great way to practice your 3.writing skills. Take your time to use new words and phrases when you write in your diary.
     
  4. Read the newspaper. Read it aloud when you can. Concentrate on each word. Note down the words you don’t understand and learn their meanings. Try to use these words in your own sentences.
     
  5. Watch English movies and English shows on television. Initially, you can read the sub-titles to follow the conversation. As you practice more, you will realize that you are able to follow the conversation without needing to read the sub-titles.
     
  6. Set aside an hour every day to watch English news channels. This is one of the most effective ways of improving your comprehension.
     
  7. Podcasts are available on the internet. These are audio and video files and many of these can be downloaded for free. These are a great way to practice listening skills and develop an understanding of different accents.
     
  8. It is usually quite difficult for a beginner to understand the words of an English song as there is background music and the accent of the artist may be unfamiliar to the listener. Read the lyrics while you listen to the song and you will comprehend better. Once you start following the voice of a particular singer, you will find it much easier to understand the singer’s other songs too.
     
  9. Another effective way is to record your own voice and listen to it. You will notice hesitations and pauses. You may also notice that you make some grammatical mistakes while speaking that you do not make while writing. You must aim to improve and rectify these mistakes in subsequent recordings.
     
  10. Ask people who speak better for advice. There is no shame in seeking help especially if you are trying to improve yourself. Talk to them in English and ask them to correct you whenever you are wrong.

Important Abbreviations and their Full Form - A to Z

3G
Third Generation
AAA
Asian Athletics Association
AAFI
The Amateur Athletics Federation of India
AC
Ante Christum (Before Christ), Ashok Chakra, Air Conditioner
ADB
Asian Development Bank
AFI
Athletics Federation of India
AFMC
Armed Forces Medical College
AI
Artifical Intelligence, Air India
AICTE
All India Council for Technical Education
AIFF
All India Football Federation
AIIMS
All India Institute of Medical Science
AITUC
All India Trade Union Congress
ALGOL
Algebric Oriented Language
AM
Ante Meridiem (before Noon), Amplitude Modulation
APEC
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
ARPANET
Advanced Research Project Agency Network
ASCII
American Standard Code for Informa­tion Interchange
ASEAN
Association of South East Asian Na­tions
ASLV
Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle
AT&T
American Telegraphic and Telephone Co. Ltd.
ATC
Air Traffic Control
ATM
Automated Teller Machine
AVSM
Ati Vishisht Seva Medal
B2B
Busines to Business
B2C
Business to Consumer
BARC
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
BBC
British Broadcasting Corporation
BBS
Bulletin Board Service
BC
Before Christ
BHEL
Bharat Heavy Electri-cals Ltd
BIOS
Basic Input Output System
BIT
Binary Digit
BPL
Below Poverty Line
BPO
Business Process Outsourcing
BPR
Business Process Re-engineering
bps
bytes per second
BSE
Bombay Stock Exchange
BSF
Border Security Force
BSNL
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
C2C
Consumer to Consumer
CA
Chartered Accountant
CAD
Com­puter Aided Design
CAT
Common Admis­sion Test
CBI
Central Bureau of Investigation
CBSE
Central Board of Secondary Education
CDAC
Centre for the Development of Ad­vanced Computing
CDMA
Code Division Multiple Access
CEO
Chief Executive Officer
CFSL
Central Forensic Science Laboratory
CGI
Common Gateway Interface
CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
CID
Criminal Investigation Department
CISC
Complex instruction-set computing
CITU
Centre of Indian Trade Unions
CNN
Cable News Network
COMSAT
Communications Satellite Corporation
COPRA
Consumer Protection Act
CORBA
Common Object Request Broker Architecture
CPI(M)
Communist Party of India / Marxist
CPWD
Central Public Works Department
CRIS
Centre for Railway Information System
CSIR
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
CTBT
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
CYMK
Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, Kinda
D.Litt.
Doctor of Literature
D.Phil.
Doctor of Philosophy
D.Sc
Doctor of Science
DC
Direct Current
DIG
Deputy Inspector General
DMA
Direct Memory Access
DMK
Dravida Munetra Kazhagam
DNA
Deoxyribo-nucleic Acid
DTP
Desktop Publishing
DVC
Damodar Valley Corporation
DVD
Digital Versatile/Video Disc


E & OE
Errors and Omissions Excepted
EDI
Electronic Data Interchange
EIS
Executive Information System
E-MAIL
Electronic Mailing
EMI
Equated Monthly Installments
ENIAC
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator
ENT
Ear, Nose and Throat
EOF
end of file
EOT
Eastern Daylight Time
EPABX
Electronic Private Automatic Branch Exchange
ERNET
Educational and Research Network
FAQ
Frequently Asked Question
FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
FBT
Fringe Benefit Tax
FBTR
Fast Breeder Test Reactor
FBW
Fly-By-Wire
FCI
Food Corporation of India; Fertilizer Corporation of India
FDI
Foreign Direct Investment
FEMA
Foreign Exchange Management Act
FICCI
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
FIFA
International Football Federation (Fed­eration Internationale de Football Associa­tion)
FIR
First Information Report
FM
Frequency modulation
FRCP
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians
FRCS
Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons
FRCS
Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
FRS
Fellow of the Royal Society
G7
Group of Seven (US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, japan and Canada) G8 includes G7 plus Russia
GATE
Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineer­ing
GATS
General Agreement on Trade and Ser­vices
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
GMAT
Graduate Management Admission Test
GMT
Greenwich Mean Time
GSLV
Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Ve­hicle
GSM
Global System for Mobile Communica­tions
GSP
Generalised System Preference
GUI
Graphical User Interface
HAL
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
HIV
Human Immunodeficiency Virus
HMI
Himalayan Mountaineering Institute
HTML
Hyper Text Markup Language
HUDCO
Housing and Urban Development Corp.
HVAC
Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning
i.e.
id est (that is)
IAAI
International Airport Authority of India
IAEA
International Atomic Energy Agency
IARI
Indian Agricultural Research Institute
IAS
Indian Administrative Service
IATA
International Air Transport Association
IBM
International Business Machines
ICSE
Indian Certificate of Secondary Educa­tion
ICU
Intensive Care Unit
ICWA
Indian Council of World Affairs
IDA
International Development Agency
IDBI
Industrial Development Bank of India
IEEE
Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers
IELTS
International English Language Testing System
IFC
Industrial Finance Corporation, International Finance Corporation
IFS
Indian Foreign Service; Indian Forest Service
IGNOU
Indira Gandhi National Open Uni­versity
IIPA
Indian Institute of Public Administration
IISCO
Indian Iron and Steel Company
IISS
International Institute of Strategic Stud­ies
IIT
Indian Institute of Technology
ILA
Indian Library Association
ILO
International Labour Organisation
IMAP
Internet Mail Access Protocol
IMF
International Monetary Fund
INA
Indian National Army
INTUC
Indian National Trade Union Con­gress
IOC
Indian Oil Corporation
IP
Internet Protocol
IPC
Indian Penal Code
IPCL
Indian Petro-Chemicals Corporation Ltd
IPI
International Press Institute

IPO
Initial Public Offering
IPS
Indian Police Service; Inter Press Service
IQ
Intelligence Quotient
IRC
International Red Cross
IRDP
Integrated Rural Development Programme
IRS
Indian Revenue Service
ISBN
International Standard Book Number
ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network
ISI
Indian Standards Institution; Inter Services Intelligence
ISKCON
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
ISO
International Standards Organisation
ISRO
Indian Space Research Organisation
IST
Indian Standard Time
ITBP
Indo-Tibetan Border Police
ITES
Information Technology enabled services
ITI
Indian Telephone Industries<br> Industrial Training Institute
ITU
International Telecommunication Union
IVF
In-Vitro Fertilisation
IVM
In-vitro Maturation
JCO
Junior Commissioned Officer
JEE
Joint Entrance Examination
JPEG
Joint Photographic Expert Group
LASER
Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
LCA
Light Combat Aircraft
LCD
Liquid Crystal Display<br>Least Common Denominator
LCM
Lowest Common Multiple
LIC
Life Insurance Corporation (of India)
LLB
Bachelor of Laws
LMC
Large Megallanic Cloud
LTTE
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam
M.A.
Magisiter Artium (Master of Arts)
M.D
Doctor of Medicine
MBA
Master of Business Administration
MBBS
Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery
MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
MCI
Medical Council of India
MICR
Magnetic ink character recognition
MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIPS
Million Instructions per Second
MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Master Instruction Tape
MLA
Member of Legislative Assembly
MNC
Multi-National Corporation
MODEM
modulator demodulator
MP
Member of Parliament; Madhya Pradesh
MPEG
Motion Picture Experts Group
MRCP
Member of the Royal College of Physicians
MTCR
Missile Technology Control Regime
MVC
Maha Vir Chakra
NAAC
National Assessment and Accreditation Council
NABARD
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development
NAFED
National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation
NALCO
National Aluminium Company Ltd.
NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Ad­ministration
NASDAQ
National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation
NASSCOM
National Association of Software and Service Companies
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
NAV
Net Asset Value
NCERT
National Council of Educational Research and Training
NCSA
National Centre for Supercomputing Applications; National Computer Security Association
NDA
National Defence Academy
NOC
No Objection Certificate
NPA
Non-performing Assets
NPT
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
NRF
National Renewal Fund
NSUI
National Students Union of India
NTPC
National Thermal Power Corporation
OBC
Other Backward Classes
OCR
Optical Character Recognition
ONGC
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
OOP
Object Oriented Programme
OPEC
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries
OSCAR
Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio
PAN
Permanent Account Number
Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy (Philosophiae Doctor)
PIL
Public Interest Litigation

PIN
Postal Index Number
PSLV
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
PWD
Public Works Department;
R&D
Research and Development
RADAR
Radio Detecting and Ranging
RAM
Random Access Memory
RAW
Research & Analysis Wing
RBI
Reserve Bank of India
RDX
Research Department Explosive (Cyclotrim-ethylin Trinitrate)
RISC
Reduced instruction-set computing
RNA
Ribonucleic acid
ROM
Read Only Memory
RPM
Revolutions Per Minute
RTI
Right to Information
SAIL
Steel Authority of India Limited
SARS
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
SCSI
Small Computer Systems Interface
SEBI
Securities and Exchange Board of India
SENSEX
Sensitivity Index (of Share Price)
SEZ
Special Economic Zone
SGPC
Siromani Gurudwara Prabandak Committee
SIM
Subscriber Information Module
SLV
Satellite Launch Vehicle
SMS
Short Message Service
SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
STD
Subscriber Trunk Dialling; Sexually Transmitted Diseases
TADA
Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act
TCP
Transfer Call Protocol<br> Transmission Control Protocol
TELCO
Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company
TFT
Thin-Film Transistor
TIFR
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
TISCO
Tata Iron and Steel Company
TOEFL
Test of English as a Foreign Language
UAV
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
UGC
University Grants Commission
ULFA
United Liberation Front of Asom
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organi-sation
UNI
United News of India
UNICEF
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (now, 'United Nations Children's Fund')
UNU
United Nations University
UPA
United Progressive Alliance
UPSC
Union Public Service Commission
URL
Uniform Resource Locator
VAT
Value Added Tax
VCR
Video Cassette Recorder
VIP
Very Important Person
VIRUS
Vital Information Resources Under Siege
VRML
Virtual Reality Modelling Language
VRS
Voluntary Retirement Scheme
VSSC
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
WHO
World Health Organisation
WMO
World Meteorological Organisation
WTO
World Trade Orga-nisation
WWF
World Wildlife Fund
WWW
World Wide Web
WYSIWYG
What you see is what you get
XML
Extensible Mark-up Language
YMCA
Young Men's Christian Association
ZIP
Zone Improvement Plan

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