Pasukan Hoki Terengganu (THT) melakar sejarah 9 tahun penubuhannya apabila muncul juara 'treble' bagi tahun 2023 setelah menang tipis 2-1 ke atas seteru utama, Pasukan Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) dalam perlawanan akhir Piala TNB 2023.

KUALA NERUS, 20 Februari – Islamic awareness and a sense of calm sereneness are among the key factors why Terengganu is much more preferred as a home to live and learn, according to international students of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA). Speaking to a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Economics, Dr Umar Muhammad Dabachi Bida, 38, describes the level of Islamic awareness in Terengganu as principled a strong spirit of Ikhwan (brotherhood) whenever he visits mosques. “When you look around Gong Badak Campus and Kuala Nerus, this is a very peaceful place, the level of crime here is very low compared to Kuala Lumpur and Penang, the security is there. “You rarely see any Muslims dressing anyhow, you can find Masjid anywhere, even within the community people respect integrity and humanity, everything here is moderate, lawful and simple. As a Nigerian Muslim, I am in a safe place. “Economically speaking, the cost of living here is relatively cheap as well, with two ringgit you can buy food outside, anybody especially foreign students can afford to stay here,” said the Nigerian scholar. Umar also advises the local people to continue to strengthen the Islamic way of life with knowledge, learning English, Arabic while recommending the local government and parents to teach Quran and Hadith for the future generation. He added, seeing UniSZA as his destiny, it has been a good institution to master his field relating to developmental, environmental with oil and gas, thanks to complete and world-class facilities that are equal to the task. Another student who shares her positive experience regarding the Islamic surrounding was Fatimah Abdullah (Xu Jing), 38, stating that it is an easier place for her to practise Islam. “Since coming here for the first time back in 2013, Surau and Mosque are common and easy to find, I can wear my scarf and find halal food effortlessly, a totally different experience compared to China. “Besides that, I feel much more comfortable staying here with the beautiful places to visits and the friendly people and friends I make along the way,” said the Mandarin teacher. “One of the best things about Terengganu as said by my son are the mosques,” said a PhD learner in Tourism Marketing from Pakistan, Asif Sanaullah Balti. The 35-year-old father living in Tok Jembal shared his love for the beautiful and plentiful mosques around Kuala Nerus, saying that the daily sermons and Al-Quran recital make him feel very welcome. Talking to the Director of UniSZA’s International Center, Anuar McAfee mentions that the Muslim majority environment plays a large influence in bringing in new foreign students to come and live here. “Compared to the challenges and temptations outside of the east coast, it feels like home here for them, we were worried at first whether or not these foreigners would adapt here, but it seems they blended in very well and are accepted by the community,” he said.

KUALA NERUS, 7 February - Having a career as a Japanese language teacher spanning eight years, Kazuki Iseno, 43 has a lot of unique perspectives about the local culture, cuisine and colourful personalities of Terengganu. Working at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Kuala Nerus since 2012, the father of one daughter said, his first impressions of the ‘City of Kuala Terengganu’ was not as city-like as he imagined compared to Kuala Lumpur. “Terengganu was not as developed compared to today, before this, there was only a handful of stores, no big supermarkets and no fast-food restaurants, although, it does remind me of my hometown in Kobe. “There was no hot shower too which was surprising at first, the norm in Japan and other countries I have been to such as the United States, China and Sweden. However, these are only minor grips of an overall pleasant journey. “Now, this city has many shops and convenient stores. I never imagine Kuala Terengganu to develop so quickly, this is a benefit to the people here as well," said Kazuki who hailed from Kobe, Japan. Sharing more of his experiences with the locals in Terengganu, Kazuki told, the folks are very friendly towards him and his family back during their first years in Gong Badak. “People here are very relaxed and kind, it is a contrast compared to Japanese which are often occupied and busy with their working lives. “The community here reminds me of back when I was a kid, where Japanese used to have a strong bond with family and friends whereas now it is more work-oriented since the 20th century," he added. Besides the colourful food culture, Kazuki also adores the world-famous beaches and islands of Terengganu. “Malaysia has many holidays while Terengganu has the nicest beaches around, I went to Pantai Tok Jembal with my family every weekend when they came here. “The tropical climate here is also nicer than Japan, although a bit hot and damp with only two seasons, it is a serene environment," said Kazuki. With Terengganu known as a treasure trove of local dishes, the language lecturer professes his love for the culinary cuisine of the east coast state such as Laksa, Keropok Lekor and many more. “I think Nasi Dagang is one of the best Terengganu dishes, in general, the food here is very spicy and very sweet compared to foods back at home," he said. When asked about staying in Terengganu or Japan, Kazuki added that some part of him longs for his home country. “I am comfortable living in Terengganu because of the people and place, but my family is more than 4,000 km away and I miss them, I even remembered Japanese foods such as sushi," he said to the reporter. The Japanese lecturer also expressed admiration for the disciplined lifestyle portrayed by the locals. “People here are very religious, every day I observe the mosque being filled creating a harmonious sense of community. “This was very true when I was invited to a Malay wedding and feast, even though I am a foreigner, they treated me with the utmost hospitality, offering me food (even when I was nervous because they cannot speak English)," Kazuki explained.

KUALA TERENGGANU, 17 October – The Terengganu-born student, Amelya Shamira Kamarudin, 20, once again made a mark in the Korean public speaking scene by receiving the highest award in the 25th K-Speech World Contest, earlier this month. The self-taught Korean speaker from Paka, represented Malaysia to compete and gab with the best of them emerging as the first-place contestant against 15 foreign speakers from countries such as India, the United Kingdom, Singapore, China and many more. “Before this, during the 2020 Korean Speech Contest where I got the first spot in the advance category. “Through that victory, I qualified myself in this international stage to go on winning which is more unexpected compared to the first time,” said Amelya who learned Korean since she was 10 years old. The 20-year-old also went head-to-head in a verbal sparring match against 25 native speakers from South Korea and six overseas reps in Japan, Thailand and others, which was no easy feat. “This time it was more challenging (compared to last year) because I had to compete with Korean as their mother tongue, plus the scoring was much stricter. “Speaking competition in Korean and Malay are vastly different in terms of format and to write a formal speech, that too prove quite a challenge. “The scriptwriting process for my speech was tough due to Korean not being a first and second language, added with little to no formal language training,” said the student from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam. Against all odds, she still emerged victorious after presenting the theme “Until Spring Comes” for a peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula and received the highest award, the National Assembly Award, alongside a trophy and certificate. “In the future, I plan to join more of these competitions if the opportunity surfaces. “I'm also aiming to take a Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) soon to increase my chances of job hunting after my graduation,” she added. The competition was co-hosted by Yongsan-gu Office and Korea Speech Oratory Association and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Seoul Metropolitan Government. According to the Korean Society in Malaysia (KSM), representative speakers presented their Korean language skills they developed over the years on various topics such as combating COVID- 19, peace on the Korean Peninsula, and promotion of Hallyu culture and friendship.

Author: Nurul Syuhada Rozeli from TrenglishxCommunity, Yayasan Terengganu This title is not clickbait. Terengganuans genuinely already know a number of words in English even if we have never studied the language.  English words and language patterns are everywhere in the Terengganu dialect; identifying them enlightens us to a knowledge base of it that we didn’t even know we had. In this article, we are going to discover the similarities between the Terengganu dialect and the English language. To help you along your language learning journey, let’s get a foot up and get yourself into believing it can be done. For the purpose of illustration, we will use accented letters to denote some sounds in Terengganu words. The letters are: é - the sound of the letter E as in the English word ‘end’ ö - the sound of the letter O as in the English word ‘cot’ 1.   English Vocab in Ganu Dialect? English loanwords exist in the Terengganu dialect and they are here to make our life learning it easier than we thought possible. But first, what are loanwords? Loanwords refer to words borrowed from another language. We usually borrow words when they are not readily translated into our mother tongue. This is not an exception for the Terengganu dialect. It may have been years since the British colonizers left but our dialect still has words borrowed from their language. Believe it or not, we bleed English too. Here is one example: “Muke ye lék lék pe Angelina Jolie.” – “She looks like Angelina Jolie.” English has the word “like” which is believed to be the origin of our dialect word lék lék that is meant to refer to things that are similar. We also adopted a word for a state of drowning or speaking with a lot of water in one’s mouth that is closely related to the English word bubble. Imagine drowning and speaking with water inside our mouth, it sounds bubbly. Eureka! There goes our dialect version, böbök! It is fascinating how we make it easier for our tongue to pronounce that. And these ones speak for themselves! Stak – Start Blébér – Blabber Peréh – Press Segerét – Cigarette Loyar – Lawyer Gohék – Go ahead Also, remember our signature phoneme ‘NG’ /ŋ/ mentioned in the article Terengganuans Can Sound Good in English Too? We have /ŋ/ in almost every word that ends with /n/ such as these: Gostang – Go astern Kareng – Current Poméng – Foreman Döktong – Downtown And this one deserves some extra attention: mat salleh. Mat and Salleh are typical Malay names. A Mat Salleh however is not at all a Malay person. There are some stories behind why Terengganuans call every English, American, or European person mat salleh. Who is Salleh though? One story is that there were many drunk English sailors loitering around on Terengganu shores. It was a bother to the locals so some British officers apologized to Terengganuans while referring to those drunkards as mad sailors. Predictably, Terengganuans made the pronunciation more convenient for their tongue and used mat salleh which has almost indistinguishable sounds from mad sailors. However, some words retain their original pronunciation but have totally different meanings. For instance, térer which we use to mean the quality of being extremely good comes from the English word terror that means extreme fear. You may want to note this. There are more examples out there and it'll be good to discover them to avoid misunderstanding when we are trying to use them in English. Do drop us a comment with any other examples that you found! Guys, are you a ‘The Key What Attack’ clansman? Pronounced in Terengganuan as “Deki wat éték”, it's literally translated as “If you’re jealous you should do it too”. Guess which word in the sentence is actually used in the same sense as its English word? Good, it’s “attack”! The éték used by Terengganuans is also from the English word “attack”, ya know that? “Attack means ‘serang’ laa.” Okay peeps, take it easy. Let’s add some extra knowledge on this. English too has developed itself by borrowing words from other languages such as German, Italian, and French throughout history. It blew my mind too when I found out the primary definition of attack is ‘to join battle’, with etymology in Germanic attaccare. This has nearly the same meaning as the Terengganuan éték – to join in doing something. Take a look at this: “Mung nok gi makang éték dok?” – Do you want to go eat too? See what éték did there? That Terengganuan word is used to ask whether one is going to JOIN the meal. I bet we should count that as one English loanword too, shall we? 2.   The Truly Expressive Expression Yup! That was refreshing but now we are moving on to the delights of expressions between both languages. Terengganuans prefer describing something very powerfully together with elaboration so they use phrases like these: Putih leput Itang legang / bletung Sejuk ketor Kemah keming Ceröh nerang DO YOU KNOW? English also has a remarkably similar pattern to our dialect phrases - it is called compound adjectives; it has two or more attributive words and its function is to describe the qualities of something just like adjectives do. These are the closest translations found that match those of the Terengganu dialect above: Snow-white Pitch-black Ice-cold Tight-fitting Brightly-lit See! There are more similarities between the Terengganu dialect and English. Knowing this will entertain us in our English expedition. Are you excited to learn English now? Please hold your horses because there is one more  3.   The Joy of Rhyming Words The English language has what they call a rhyming compound where the last sound of the initial word is repeated for the purpose of rhyming. Look at these and try pronouncing them: Harum-scarum (reckless) Easy-peasy (not at all difficult) Hocus-pocus (nonsense) Helter-skelter (haphazard) Lovey-dovey (affectionate) Razzle-dazzle (a state of confusion) Super-duper (great) Teenie-weenie (tiny) So if you say it out loud, you can hear that all words above rhyme in their last syllables. Don’t you feel like we have the same thing too in our dialect? YES! We have it too, sepmung!  Terengganuans love playing with words and rhymes too, making it a bright dialect and very amusing to hear. Though we don’t have rhyming compounds that mean exactly like those in English, we have that feature too and rhyme a lot of words such as: Bahang rambang (reckless) Golék arék (rolling) Ketak glemak (very tight) Hanyar banyar (messy) Calör balör (scratchy) Bölök wök (tangled/smeared/confusing) Besör jalör (big – as in a kid has become an adult or mature/enormous) Kecék tuék (tiny) Cool, isn’t it? We never actually realize our dialect has a lot of similarities with English including this very unique feature. With so many Terengganuan words having English origins and features, it won't be that hard to learn English anymore. We already know the meanings, patterns, and how to pronounce them. Add more English knowledge, and you’ll be closer to mastering this difficult but fascinating language! Keep exploring loanwords as well as other connections between our dialect with English. You won’t regret it. Better yet, not get involved in TrenglishxCommunity and share the knowledge for the benefit of other Terengganuans too? Let’s become part of this amazing community as you advance with your new but familiar English language. Follow and subscribe to our social media on FB, IG and YouTube. See you there!  

Author: Nurul Atiqah Roshali from TrenglishxCommunity, Yayasan Terengganu Let me get this straight: English is a looney language. Try pronouncing these without confusing yourselves: ‘discount’ and ‘viscount’. Only with a slight change of the initial letter, and suddenly the ‘s’ is silent. You get what I mean.  Back in my school days, writing was a breeze. However, when it comes to speaking English, I too stammered like the jammed printer in my office; not only did it sound bad, the words were indecipherable too.  A while ago, a certain local celebrity made a quite heated Twitter post that triggered Terengganuans. It implied that action is needed on the state’s education system to improve English learning and performance. However, the fact that Terengganu always topped all states in National Public Exams refuted the implied statement. Acing interviews, conferences, and academic presentations in English during studies have been a challenge to some Terengganuans. We read a plethora of new words and memorized them but the real culprit is our strong dialect.  Trying to master the English pronunciation overnight would be a hefty task to any second language learner. Therefore, let’s break it down into little parts so we will be aware of the do’s and don’ts as a Terengganuan when speaking English :   1.The infamous Terengganuan nasal ‘NG’ [ŋ]. Yes, this is the ultimate giveaway to us Terengganuans and our signature phoneme. Yes, we Terengganuans are proud of it; however, it could hinder good English pronunciation. The [ŋ] sound usually comes up at the end of words in the Terengganuan dialect i.e: makang (makan) - ‘eat’, badang (badan) - ‘body’, pinggang (pinggan) - ‘plate’.  We have to be extra careful in pronouncing English words with the letter ‘N’ at the end of it such as broken, collagen, champion, cinnamon, etc.  Of course, if the English words have the suffix -ing, do what you do best, Terengganuan tongues!  Knowing this phoneme could help us be more careful in English pronunciation whenever we have the ticks to do so.   2. Stresses aren’t all bad, ‘ya know. In the Terengganuan dialect, each syllable receives equal importance (there is stress, but each syllable has its length), and different stresses in a word on a certain syllable convey different meanings. Surprisingly, this characteristic also exists in English. Curious? Read on. Our dialect generally uses syllabic stresses, one of the functions is to differentiate meanings. We can hear them in: nyapu (penyapu) - ‘broom’ or nnyapuh (menyapu) - ‘sweeping’ , kije (kerja) - ‘work’ and kkije (bekerja) - ‘working’ and etc. What does this have to do with English you might ask? We can apply syllabic stress in learning English pronunciation too. There are some English words that also use syllabic stresses for different meanings.  For example, the word ‘suspect’. When the first syllable is stressed, ‘SUS-pect’ means someone who might have committed a crime. Meanwhile, when the second syllable is stressed, ‘sus-PECT’ means to have a feeling or thoughts on something.  Now that we know about this property, soon we should be able to listen and pronounce more cautiously when speaking English. Thanks to Terengganuan dialect syllabic stress, we can now start improving on English pronunciation!   3. Mind your substitutions. If you are not a Terengganuan and thinking just adding the [ŋ] sound at the end of every word makes the whole Terengganuan dialect, please hold back.  Terengganuans also tend to substitute [p] with [k], i.e: cakak (cakap) - ‘speak’, kejak (kejap) - ‘a while’, cukuk (cukup) - ‘enough’. Also substituting [r] with [x] or as linguists termed the voiceless uvular fricative sound, which sounds like /kh/.  Just like that baby penguin meme trying to pronounce the Arabic ﺥ, Terengganuan words sound like these: khepok (keropok) - ‘fish cakes/crackers’, khete (kereta) - ‘car’, khande (keranda) - ‘coffin’. However, because of the substitution's influence in the Terengganuan dialect, it meddles with the English [r] pronunciation. Imagine pronouncing ‘crack’ in Terengganuan dialect’s sound [x] , /kh-rek/.  I know you are not the only one cracking up in laughter now. Even the /r/ sound in English is also not a true [r]. Hold up! What? Then, how would a pure-blood Terengganuan ever succeed to pronounce the English [r]? Keep reading.  Since the English [r] is not as rhotic as the Spanish word rabiaré, most of the English [r] sounds are silent or have pseudo-vowel sounds. In British English, ‘remember’ is pronounced as /re-mem-buh/.  Ta-dah! The /r/ disappeared. Getting to the point, Terengganuans can pronounce the English [r] just like our casual standard Malay [r], i.e: Rabu - ‘Wednesday’ and by all means, please drop the /kh/ sound. By acknowledging these substitutions in the dialect, Terengganuans should be more aware of our tongue placements in English pronunciation.    4. Do you even listen to yourselves? In learning another language, we have to listen to ourselves. One of the methods is to record our speech and from there we improve our pronunciations so that we don’t offend native speakers when we communicate with them. On another note, I think I offended Mr Whiskers when I meowed back at him because he hissed at me.  Keep in mind that there is no perfect pronunciation but we do have RP  (Received Pronunciation). Let’s not start another long rant on that. Anyhoo, we all have accents. Born Terengganuan built our tongue with the language properties mentioned above, but that doesn’t mean we can never improve. Sure we can. Even English native speakers have their own English accents.  We only need to work a bit harder to sound as close to their native sounds as possible and to make it decipherable. Again, we are not like my jammed office printer.  As mentioned previously, mastering the whole pronunciation needs a hefty amount of work for us as second language speakers. Try pronouncing syllables one by one at once and slow down until we get it right, and repeat. Trust the process and soon we could see improvements.  Here’s a pronunciation poem by Dr. Gerard Nolst Trenité to get our gear grinding for practice, have fun!   “Now I surely will not plague you With such words as vague and ague, But be careful how you speak, Say break, steak, but bleak and streak. Previous, precious, fuchsia, via; Pipe, snipe, recipe and choir, Cloven, oven; how and low; Script, receipt; shoe, poem, toe.”   5. Do Follow Us at TrenglishxCommunity Online Did you know that you can also learn English online with TrenglishxCommunity (TxC)? While the concept of online learning is nothing new and there are tons out there to choose from, TxC is special because it is a program by Terengganuans for Terengganuans. TxC has social media pages that you can visit to get daily English learning tips and fun language content including pronunciation content. These will come in handy as you practice your English. TxC is on Facebook, Instagram, and also YouTube. You can follow these pages so that you will receive updates. Stay tuned because TxC also offers online classes from time to time. Every practice is a learning process, and mistakes are opportunities to learn. All these tips above would help you become the English speaker you want to be. We are from Terengganu and we can speak English well!

Authors: Nurul Aishah Awang & Soleha Soleh from TrenglishxCommunity, Yayasan Terengganu There are many kinds of errors language learners make that it has become a study of their own. That should tell you just how common and useful making mistakes is in language learning.  “Smart people learn from their mistakes. But the real sharp ones learn from the mistakes of others," said a famous author, Brandon Mull. For our dear readers, we have attempted our best to shortlist the most common mistakes categorized into four types: Grammar, Speaking, Writing, and Speaking and Writing. Grammar Grammar has its own category because both spoken and written English follow the same grammar rules. Here are three common English grammar mistakes in speaking and writing. Subject-Verb Agreement The subject-verb agreement is the simplest and most crucial grammar in written and spoken language. Most non-native learners tend to make this mistake because they are still learning the language rules. Below are some examples. For example 1, the plural verb-to-be “are” used here refers to the subject “list” which is in the singular and not “items” which is in the plural. Hence, the correct verb-to-be should be “is”. For example 2, the singular verb-to-be “is” refers to the subject “reasons” which is in the plural. Therefore, we should use “are” instead of “is”. Ambiguous Pronouns A pronoun is used to replace a noun in a sentence. Pronouns must always have clear antecedents, which is the noun that the pronoun replaces. An ambiguous pronoun occurs when more than one possible antecedent exists in the sentence. For example 1, “this” is the ambiguous pronoun of this sentence because the writer did not replace the pronoun with its antecedent. Instead of using “this”, we can replace it with a clearer phrase such as “this work” or “this internship program”   For example 2, the pronoun “they” should be replaced with a clear antecedent as we do not know who is “they”.  Overuse of Adverbs An adverb is part of speech that is used to modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb and also provides different kinds of meaning or description.  Adverbs can be beneficial, but you must avoid overusing the adverbs in your sentence. The most commonly overused adverbs are the adverbs of manner which modify the verb. There are too many adverbs ending with -ly in the sentences. A stronger verb could be used on its own to create a more vivid image of the actions. Speaking This section will discuss three common mistakes that happen in speaking. Casual or Formal Language When speaking, try to recognize the context of the situation. If you use language inappropriate to the context, the meaning or what you want to convey, or even your character can be misunderstood by others. Know your audience. Do not use slang in a formal setting, and similarly do not use overly formal language in a casual setting. Double Negatives Using two or more negatives in the English language is inadvisable due to the communicative ambiguity they evoke. Of course, you might notice there is some double negative usage especially in movies - such language variation exists in certain parts of the world.  For general communication purposes, you should learn to speak standard English first. If you frequently use double negatives in your speaking, people might misunderstand you. For example 1, the “not” in “cannot” and the “but” both express negative ideas. For example 2, there are “not” in “don’t” and “no” in “nothing”. Use only one “no” in one sentence. Direct Translation Do not translate directly from your first language to the English language. Translation cannot convey the actual message that you want to deliver because languages are different.  Not all the grammar structures, slang, idioms, words used, etc. have an equivalent in our Bahasa Melayu. The example mistakes happened due to direct translation from Bahasa Melayu to English. “Safe day happen” is directly translated from “Selamat hari jadi” while “give know” is from “beritahu”. Writing This section will focus on three common mistakes that happen in writing. Format The format includes writing style and language style. The format in writing can make or break your communication with your intended audience. The style of text in Example 1 is inappropriate because a newspaper article usually does not address the audience as familiars with the use of “you” and “I” pronouns.  Additionally, slang words such as “IDK” (“I don’t know”, “u” (“you”), “m8” (“mate”), etc. are usually used in informal settings like text messages, as you can see in Example 2. Run-on Sentences If you can’t read the sentence in one breath, you probably shouldn’t write the sentence that way. A run-on sentence is a sentence in which two or more clauses (sentences) are joined without appropriate punctuation or conjunction. Be careful when writing long sentences, make sure the clauses are joined properly. Punctuation, Capitalization, and Apostrophe Punctuation, capitalization, and apostrophe are aspects of language that are apparent in writing but are not apparent in speaking.  If you read the sentences out loud your audience will not hear the mistakes, but if your audience read the sentences they will definitely notice the mistakes. Example of capitalization mistake:  In the example above, when you address Mrs. Lim you should put a comma(,) instead of colons(;). Colons (:) are used when you want to make a list of something, and usually not when you’re addressing someone.  The exclamation point (!) may be viewed as unprofessional and is usually reserved for informal letters.   Example of capitalization mistake: In this example, “Rankine” is the only item that has been capitalized. There are more words that need capitalization: The first letter in a sentence. Pronoun “I” Proper noun - specific name of person, place, thing Examples of apostrophe mistake: Apostrophes indicate possession, that a noun owns something.  Singular nouns will always add ‘s when you’re indicating possession, even if the noun ends with “s.” Plural nouns that do not end in “s” also take an ‘s. However, plural nouns that end with “s” have an apostrophe added after the “s.”   Speaking and Writing Certain mistakes in English speaking and writing happen due to speaking and writing influencing one another. Comma Splice  Did you ever find yourself wanting to write that extra comma because the sentence “reads better” with a comma? This extraneous comma happens because you are “writing speech”. In speaking, the comma in this sentence is not grammatically functional - it only represents a pause that you make to draw your audience’s attention or to take in your breath.  However, in writing this comma is inappropriate because the first and the second halves of the sentence form just one sentence.  Homophones Sometimes, mistakes happen because of similar-sounding words or phrases. Read these sentences out loud: A quick check with a grammar checker would reveal the word mistakes to you. Word Choice Synonyms are words that have similar meanings. If you replace a word with its synonym, your grammar checker likely would not notice the error because the sentence is grammatically correct.  However, you should pay attention to your word choice because it changes the sentence's meaning completely.   Reading and listening to a variety of English materials will help you learn how to use different words in their correct context. Conclusion Knowledge of mistakes is essential for learning and becoming more fluent in English. As a determined learner, you would want to give your best effort in improving your English. With more practice with and guide from us at TrenglishxCommunity, you can master English. For more guides and tips, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and also YouTube.  

Author : Soleha Soleh from TrenglishxCommunity, Yayasan Terengganu Writing in English may seem like a big task for learners of the language. Stringing words into sentences seems difficult, mastering the vocabulary is a hurdle, getting the grammar right is a pain. However, with enough practice and the use of strategies, writing better in English is not a dream. Without further ado, let’s check out these six tips for you to help improve your English writing skill. 1. Outline it To let people understand your writing easily, it’s important to organise your writing. If you are writing something more lengthy or complex you must get the points and your ideas sorted before you sit down to write. Outlining helps you see that all the points that you need are covered. Typically you would have several points when explaining a topic.  Each paragraph is dedicated to one point only. It should have one topic sentence that states your point, explanation, and examples to illustrate your point more clearly to your readers.   2. Use writing prompts Writing prompts are short statements, brief messages, or pictures followed by prompt questions that you can use to create your writing. If you’re experiencing writer’s block, this can help you develop new points to start writing again. It will trigger your imagination and make you think about particular topics or ideas when you are having a blackout. These are some examples of writing prompts to help you get into thinking and writing: “What would you do with a million ringgit?” This prompt will help you practice the conditional i.e. sentences that talk about imaginary situations and usually start with the word “if”. “One stormy night, there was a knocking sound at the door…” This prompt can help you practice using the past tense, as well as casual written English.  Still having trouble? Worry not because there are online writing prompts as well as writing prompt apps that you can use for free. 3. Develop vocabulary To write, you need to know words. Knowing more words opens up the door for you to express yourself better. Fret not, the following are a few examples of how you can develop your vocabulary: a. Read regularly When you hear the word “reading”, the first thing that comes to your mind is books, right? However, books are not the only thing you can read for vocabulary.  Choose reading materials with topics that interest you to make your learning fun. You can read articles, magazines, the subtitles of your favorite movies or documentaries, etc.  Reading diverse materials in English is very useful for building up your writing skill because it helps you to “see” how the words are spelled and used in various contexts. b. Make notes on new words Knowing a word is not merely being able to recognise the word, it also means being able to use it correctly. You should learn new words in context instead of in word lists.  As you encounter new words, quickly make notes of it with example sentences. Include the original sentence that you encountered the new word in.  Additionally, try to learn all the forms of the word and words that usually occur together with it. For example, the word “depend” also has these forms: to depend on, independence, dependant, etc. c. Stick with simple words Nobody likes to read something that they cannot understand. Like John Grisham, a famous novelist once said, “There are three types of word: (1) words we know; (2) words we should know; (3) words nobody knows. Forget those in the third category and use restraint with those in the second.” There is a difference between having a rich vocabulary and using fancy words in your writing to show off.  It is advisable to keep your language simple and direct so that your readers can understand you. Sometimes, less is more. 4. Proofread and polish your writing Nobody is perfect. Even your favourite books or the script of your favourite movies were edited and rewritten many times before they were published. The good news is you can learn from your mistakes and your writing can become better. a. Spelling In writing, spelling is very important because writing is meant to be read. Mistakes in spelling will interrupt the reading, and sometimes can even change the meaning completely.  For example, ‘bare’ and ‘bear’ sound the same in speech but ‘bare’ means unclothed or unprotected while ‘bear’ is an animal. You can practice spelling using flashcards and test yourself whenever you have time, and check your spelling using the dictionary. If you are typing using word processing programs you can use the in-built spell checker or online spell checker. b. Grammar and punctuation If vocabulary is the flowers and leaves of a language, grammar is the twigs and branches on which the flowers and leaves hang from. Appropriate tense and punctuation help make your writing clear. Check that all verbs (“action words”) and subjects (“doers”) agree. For example, “The cat pounces” is singular subject-verb agreement while “The cats pounce” is plural subject-verb agreement. Checking your writing two times makes a lot of difference. c. Sentence length Short, simple sentences are easier to write and to read. Of course, if you are feeling adventurous, you may challenge yourself to write long, complex sentences depending on your skill as you develop.  A piece of writing with varying sentence lengths flows nicely for readers as it is not monotonous. You can detect sentence fragments by looking closely at sentences that seem too short or too long.   5. Just do it The best way to enhance your writing skill is to write, find your weakness in writing, and fix it. The more you write, edit, and proofread, the better you get at it. There is no doubt that writing can be difficult, but as a saying goes: when there is a will, there is a way. Just go get a pen and paper, laptop or computer, and write.  Pick any topic that catches your eyes. Then, make sure to paraphrase each text into several versions, as the first draft of writing is never perfect. Remember, practice makes perfect.   6. Join TrenglishxCommunity You can also learn English writing online with TrenglishxCommunity (TxC). While the concept of online learning is nothing new and there are tons out there to choose from, TxC is special because it is a program by Terengganuans for Terengganuans. TxC has social media pages that you can visit to get daily English writing tips and fun language content. These will come in handy as you practice your English writing. TxC is on Facebook, Instagram, and also YouTube. You can follow these pages so that you will receive updates. Stay tuned because TxC also offers online classes from time to time. “There is no one giant step that does it, it’s a lot of little steps” – Peter A. Cohen As with all skills, the skill of writing in English can be achieved with consistent effort and practice.  Using these tips above will help you organise your effort so that you will excel in English writing. Hopefully one day you will get to where you want to be with your English writing.

Written by : Nurul Aishah Awang  You might think that spoken English is not important and so decide to not improve your skill. However, do you know how easy it is to improve your speaking and how far you can go in life if you speak better English?  Now let’s look at some great tips on how you can advance your spoken English even in the comfort of your home during MCO. 1. Listen Before you can speak, you have to know what you want to talk about, right? You gain knowledge on what to talk about by listening. This goes without saying that listening and speaking go together.  Having a conversation is not just about speaking. Listen closely to the person you are talking with and pay attention to what they are saying. By mimicking the phrases used by the people who are conversing with you, the conversation will become smoother. The more you listen, the more you learn! You can listen to songs, news, poetry recitations, movies, the radio, etc., anything that you enjoy! Apart from picking up new words and common expressions, you can also hear how words are pronounced.    2. Watch films and imitate Who says you cannot have fun while learning? Watching movies is one such fun activity while also giving you an opportunity for learning. You can increase your fluency by watching English movies with subtitles on. As you listen to the actors speaking, the subtitles help you find out the exact words they are saying. From there, you can learn new words as well as strengthen your knowledge on words that you have already known. While textbooks are great for learning grammar, movies are great for speaking. You can get the idea of and experience real English in the most natural way. The context in the movie scenes will help you understand how certain words and phrases are used. Besides, you can imitate or act out the exact same way phrases in dialogues are spoken by the actors. Pay attention to the pronunciation and intonation while watching. Then, as you progress, imitate the actor by using your own words but in longer speech.   3. Learn phrases rather than single words Another tip to increase your speaking fluency is to pick up phrases rather than individual words. Vocabulary is incredibly important, however, phrases will help you remember what to say in specific situations.  Comic strips, song lyrics, podcasts, English-translated manga, and magazines are just a few examples of resources you can use to learn phrases. You may practice imitation of cool phrases to use in your everyday English conversation. You can use other phrases like “What’s up, dude?” or “How is it going, mate?” which all means the same thing as the standard greeting “Hello, how are you today?” Now, how cool is that? Be reminded though that some expressions are not ideal for certain situations, so learn more!   4. Speak, speak, speak “Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.” (Anton Chekhov) Skill is something that you must build with practice. The only way you can speak English better is to use it, there is no other way around this.  Make sure that every day you make time to practice your speech. There are free language learning apps to help you commit to practicing daily. Use any opportunity in your daily life to speak even if you speak a little English. You can speak to your friends, family members, classmates, coworkers, and employees at coffee shops, supermarkets, and anywhere you go.  Or, if you feel that you need someone dedicated to practicing speaking with you, you can find a language exchange partner.    5. Use a Mirror Sometimes, the best practice buddy is your very own self in the mirror. You have the advantage of being available any time you want, and nobody else is present to judge you.  While dressing yourself in the mornings you can spend a little bit of time in front of the mirror to practice speaking. Choose a topic, set a timer for two or three minutes, then speak away. If you get stuck on a word you do not know, try expressing your idea in a different way. You can always look up how to say that word after the two to three minutes end. Do not worry about the grammar structure just yet. The most important thing here is that you are confident enough to verbally utter the words. Practicing in front of the mirror allows you to experiment with your gestures and articulation in speaking. You can watch your mouth, face, and body language as you speak, then modify them as you think fit.    6. Follow TrenglishxCommunity Online Did you know that you can also learn English online with TrenglishxCommunity (TxC)? While the concept of online learning is nothing new and there are tons out there to choose from, TxC is special because it is a program by Terengganuans for Terengganuans. TxC has social media pages that you can visit to get daily English learning tips and fun language content. These will come in handy as you practice your English. TxC is on Facebook, Instagram, and also YouTube. You can follow these pages so that you will receive updates. Stay tuned because TxC also offers online classes from time to time. Every practice is a learning process, and mistakes are opportunities to learn. All these tips above would help you become the English speaker you want to be.  Remember that unless you practice speaking you will never build the skill. It will make it easier for you to be fluent in your speaking skill and be more confident when you are talking to others. Dream big and practice the skill.   References: https://englishlive.ef.com/blog/language-lab/10-top-tips-improving-spoken-english/ https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/language/how-to-improve-your-spoken-english/ https://tofluency.com/speaking-english-fluently/ https://www.englishexpress.com.sg/articles/5-simple-ways-to-learn-english-effectively/