Any non-native English speaker here?

[turtles]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi everyone,

First of all, I would like to say that this forum is totally awesome. I am very impressed with all your sincere responses.

Being a non-native English speaker, I have always felt that English is my biggest weakness. As an incoming college freshman of the fall quarter 2003, I have years to prepare myself for medical school application. My major concerns are MCAT verbal section, medical school application essays, and oral communication skills during interviews.

In the past four years, I have tried to improve my English skills mainly by reading books and having conversation with my friends. I would really appreciate it if you could give me some advices on effective ways of studying English. Thanks!

turtles

 

[CH3CH2OH]

hi turtles,
first of all, welcome to sdn
i don't know if i can be much help...but i'm a not native english speaker. i've been in the states for almost two years now and i'm going to be a junior in college next year. i feel like my english has improved tons since i came here, i didn't do anything special, so i'm not sure what advice to give you, but what seems to help is talking to people, listening to other people talk- you can catch lots of new phrases this way, watching TV is actually really helpful. i'm sure yours will get better in college, you'll b around english speaking ppl all day and will be forced to use the language even more than u probably do now... so, don't worry, at your age languages come easy to most people, and remember that lots of med school applicants are non-native speakers, and i'm sure that accent and such will not have an adverse effect on your acceptance chances

 

[UrSexyLatinDr21]

Hey Turtles~

I totally agree with CH3CH2OH. I came from Mexico four and a half years ago and didnt know a single word in English. Now I am an English Lit/Creative writing major. What helped me was watching TV in English, reading a lot, listening to the radio and of course, using what you know. The more you practice, the better you'll get. Dont get discouraged if people make fun of you or if they correct you; It's all a process. For Verbal Section, I am sure the more you read critical thinking/logic material, the better you'll be. You got to strength your reading comprehension, so the most you read, the better off you'll be. Take care and good luck. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Eduardo

 

[ispic]

Hi turtles,

Same here, English is not my native language and believe it or not, I learned it by watching "Plaza Sesamo" when I was a kid 🙂

I totaly agree with the other posters on the interview as a non-native speaker. It actually makes you a more well-rounded person, the fact that you know a couple of languages, makes you relate better to other non-english speakers, in my opinion. The TV helps out a lot with the colloquial jargon as the other posters have noted.

Anyway, if you have a chance during your undergrad, take some history/humanities courses that teach you some critical thinking skills in English. The teach the same skills to native English-spakers as well 🙂 I'm sure that you won't have to go too much out of your way to take such courses since they are most likely part of your general education requirements for your undergrad. You could even minor in English or some other non-science field that interests you. Even a science like psychology can help you with the critical thinking as well as the reading of weird topics that tend to pop uo in the verbal section. Some trends show that non-science majors tend to do better in the MCAT because the have the critical thinking down to a science (no pun intended 🙂 ), whereas us science majors had to "re-learn" how to do so for the test.

Good luck in your undergard, have fun and post here as much as you want, everyone here is so very helpful, except for the very small minority that are out there to flame others and to give them a hard time, you'll learn who they are as you look at the threads.

Take care 🙂