Improving my English for university.

I'm not foreign, I'm Dutch, but will probabaly attend the University of Utrecht the first trimester of 2016. For college, my English skills have always been sufficient to pass tests with flying colours. I have hardly done a thing to improve my English skills since I've graduated highschool.

The master degree programme will be in fully English, and frankly I'm shitting my pants. I am currently working on my very first application essay, reading a scientifically written book and it's hard. I think I have somewhat overestimated my English skills and might lack the (what I think is C1) skill level.

Is there any way I can improve my English at home, without just reading articles and English literature? Do you have any tips on interactive English ways to improve my level?

quote:

Op zondag 3 april 2016 01:45 schreef Seven. het volgende:
Watch English telly without subtitles (lots of it), this would be a very good first step towards using English in a more intuitive manner.

As long as you keep 'translating' your English skills from Dutch, it will always be steenkolen Engels, you might end up in a position where you're not making any grammatical errors, but you'll always struggle with vocabulary and choice of words.

I started with Star Trek which is fucking hard work during the first 3-4 episodes but after that, Dutch subtitles will only annoy you as too much is lost in translation.

I already watch a lot of English series without any subtitles or English subtitles. The problem isn't common tongue, it's more the professional terms used in English. I think my vocabulary is the weakest part of my English.

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Op zondag 3 april 2016 16:13 schreef vaduz het volgende:
I think you really should repeat "I" at least 5 times in every sentence. Since you are studying in Utrecht everything will be fine, they are already accumulated to dunglish overthere.

dunglish?

The article/book I am reading for UU doesn't seem like dunglish. It seems a lot more like a text a native speaker would struggle with.

quote:

Op maandag 4 april 2016 17:21 schreef LelijKnap het volgende:
Oh, trouwens, probeer voor een tijdje Reddit.com (ipv FOK!)... vooral de 'intellectuele' (/r/philosophy, /r/science, /r/politics, etc) zullen erg helpen...vooral wanneer je zelf mee gaat doen met discussies.

Thanks! Goede tip! I zit al actief op Reddit, maar heb er nooit aan gedacht om dat soort subreddits te volgen.