How to effectively present in English in the 21st Century

Here’s a quick one for you.

I have spent many years trying to figure out why some people appear to be naturally good at English, while others always seem to struggle. And while I do not pretend to have a secret formula (one does not exist anyway) I do know that the way you treat English in your life does determine how well you speak and hear English.

The one common denominator of all good English speakers that I have met is they use English as a tool, and not as an academic subject. They make English a part of their life, rather than just another subject to study. When you take English away from being something you study to something you use in your everyday life, then English begins to open up a whole new world of possibilities to you.

Here in South Korea, the main search engine is Naver.com . Naver is a great website for all things related to Korea, and for some things not related to Korea, yet it is a Korean language website. Naver’s strength lies in it’s Korean content and not its English content. Sadly, most Korean students of English only use Naver, and not allow the skills and resources they have learnt in English to make good use of English websites like Google or Yahoo

What really amazes me is that candidates preparing for an English interview, or even an English presentation use only Naver or another Korean website. Surely, the logical thing to do is to use Korean websites for Korean related things and English websites for English related things.

Once your English ability reaches such a level that you are able to present in English, it really should be a logical step to use the English resources you have around you to make your presentation, interview or whatever else you are preparing in English.

Making English a part of your life does not mean abandoning your favourite native websites, what it does mean though is making use of all the tools you now have, that all the hard work and money you have spent on your English work for you. This can only enrich your life and help you both in your personal and professional life.