Hi Spicey,
Thank you.
In the Philippines, English is taught all throughout the 10 years of basic education, and for another 4-5 years in university. The foundation is therefore obtained in school. Proficiency will come from how often one uses the language in real life. As for me, I already had the natural ability to speak and write English quite well even as a child. I don't know why that is. But I was aware of that strength, and decided to polish it by speaking to everybody in English, even if they responded in the vernacular. I had a lot of practice.
However, the real training is the workplace. I have been a management consultant since I left the university 15 years ago. I work in a multinational environment with a lot of English speaking people-- primarily Americans, Brits, Australians, Canadians, and a good number of Indians (including my previous boss who I admire the most) and Chinese (coming from Singapore & Shanghai mostly). My current boss is an American.
Let me repost something that I wrote a couple of days ago in response to a similar inquiry:
"I am not sure I am qualified to dish out advice on how to improve anybody's English proficiency. The only thing I know will surely work: practice, practice, practice. Talk and write in English whenever wherever you can. I, for example, have become an English speaker even in my dreams! When somebody talks back in the vernacular, I run the English subtitles in my head! Creepy! hahaha
On a serious note, I work as a management consultant for a US business & technology consulting firm. Most of my clients are in the North American IOT, particularly in the Telco and Retail sectors. Bell Canada was a client once. And so was Walmart. I speak English with native English speakers day in and day out. Every interaction is an opportunity to hone my skills and deepen my understanding of the language. On the other hand, I find blogging to be useful in instilling a bit of discipline in my writing. So, I do write on just about any subject matter whenever I can."
alaindotcom
