DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

To learn to speak a foreign language well, a student must not be afraid of making mistakes. Language is for communication, the mistakes are a secondary consideration. While you are communicating, you will realize your mistakes. You can use these mistakes to improve your communicative skills. The way you say something may be different from what a native speaker says. Here is an example, a Spanish student may say "I do it" to mean he is going to do something in the near future. While communicating with a native speaker, the student will hear "I'll do it", and so correct his mistake. The student who doesn't speak will probably not notice the difference, this student will never speak good English.

Correct grammar isn't as important as communication. Remember, you must be brave to make mistakes first. Because your mistakes will be a tool for learning. By knowing your mistakes, you will get correction and your English will be better. Someday, you will know that you get betterment. So, now, if you ask your friend "What are you doing?" then he / she answers "I cook" to mean he / she is cooking ("I'm cooking"), would you understand with what he / she means? If so, means that the communication is running successfully. The same case also happen in the articles on this weblog. If you notice well, the articles on this weblog, grammatically are not perfect yet. But, as far as you understand, this weblog has successfully "influence" you. So, once again, please remember:
1. It doesn't matter for you to say "I do it" to mean "I will do it".
2. It doesn't matter for you to say "I cook" to mean "I'm cooking".
3. It doesn't matter for you to say "I visit my grandfather last week" to mean "I visited my grandfather last week".
4. It doesn't matter for you to say "I finish my homework" to mean "I have finished my homework".
5. etc.
(adapted freely from 1st edition of ENGLISH IS FUN by David L. Larcom).