I am not trying to sound critical here, but from your reply, you seem to felt that "copying is cheating". I would like to say that i would go along with you that there is no shortcut in the learning process.

But what that fella suggesting is that a noobie in english conversation should copy the dialogue of other people who are more fluent in that language. It's merely imitating the way other people express themselves. Noobies are able to learn faster as the language used in those scenario are informal (in fact that's the normal conversation languages which are used in our daily lives). Learning in an informal setting is far more fun and effective than in a formal occasion as a lot of people have difficulties applying what they've learnt to a real-life application. * In this context, they are learning directly from conversations in a realistic environment.

Imatating some words, phrases, and pickup lines is a good head-start for them. Not to deny that, some of friends (that experienced similar problem) also tried to imitate my language, for which at times kind of pisses me off. But by utilizing such practice, i've notice there are some significant improvements in their language usage.


And well, as for the topic starter: you must first got to know that learning/improving english in written and verbally is totally different. Now that you are able to distinguish them and set your priorities, below are arrays of stuffs i am recommending:

Verbal Communication

1. Watch series, dramas, movies, etc - with the subtitle being disabled. Just try to make sure you are able to hear every single words those casts have spoken.
2. Download and listen to those audiobooks which are meant to improve your english. Japanese audiobooks flooded the p2p network but you can hardly find any english language ones. [Will be more effective if you listen to it using your mp3 player -can practice 24/7 wherever you are]
3. You got to speak out ! To anyone, or just to yourself. But i seriously think that speaking right in front of the mirror is not a good idea - kind of lame and crazy. Even talking to yourself is way better, but at least don't let others caught you doing it. Bottomline, it's to practice pronunciation and confidence in voicing out.
4. Be tough and not get blushed/shamed easily. You must dare to talk even though, you are speaking broken english. People will laugh at you, giving you an unpleasant look on their face - just ignore them. Initially, you'll have the last smile. As the saying goes, "tidak malu bertanya bila tersesat jalan". Conclusion, never ever let anything to shake your confidence !

Written
I don't think i can help much with this one because i don't seem to have any constraint in this medium of communication. The thing that i wanted to emphasize it to distinguish whether the writing is for formal/informal purpose.

1. Read. Read. And read more. Try to pick some stuff that really interests you and where the level of language suits you. You can then move on at your own pace. No point reading articles where you don't understand 70% of it.
2. Write. Write. And write more. From there, you will develop your own style of writing. You will get the "rythm", and once you got there you'll definetely can write some stuffs. All you need to do is to fine tune your skill. Having your own blog is a good practice.
2. Improve your vocabulary knowledge. To make your writing/speech more interesting and flowerish. Try checking out thesaurus or dictionaries for synonyms.
Eg: Increases = Leaps upwards = Sprinted upwards.

At the end of the day, still up to your determination and devotion to improve. Thus, good luck my dear.

P/S: I am also trying to hone my soft skill, it getting far worst now then it was when i were in high school as most of my peers in the college are mostly ah beng and ah lians (guest you guys should know where it is). I've got no choice but to blend in with them, orelse i can barely survive there. As a result, my english now sux. Moral of the story: poor command in communication is "contagious". But anyway, i will be leaving soon, much to the delight that my english would'nt be worst.