So how should I start?

[Sameer Telkar]

My mother tongue is Marathi and my official language is Hindi.But I had a great passion for English since childhood.So I am commencing my quest for short stories,play and poetry.But I still stumble in grammar and don't seem to understand the inversion of poetry.Should I stop speaking in my mother tongue?But it would seem really weird to start communicating with my friends and family in English as I am talking to them in my mother tongue since childhood.What should I do?I need your advice.Thanks.

[Emil Miller]

My mother tongue is Marathi and my official language is Hindi.But I had a great passion for English since childhood.So I am commencing my quest for short stories,play and poetry.But I still stumble in grammar and don't seem to understand the inversion of poetry.Should I stop speaking in my mother tongue?But it would seem really weird to start communicating with my friends and family in English as I am talking to them in my mother tongue since childhood.What should I do?I need your advice.Thanks.

My advice would be to ignore poetry and concentrate on short stories until you have a better grasp of English. Poetry can be difficult because of its often abstract nature but straightforward prose writing presents fewer problems.
There are plenty of short story volumes to read and you might start with those of W. Somerset Maugham, many of which are set against a colonial background.

[mal4mac]

For play & poetry why not start with Shakespeare? There are editions that have very helpful notes - just read a few in library or bookshop to see which helps you the most. (If you want another hint, try looking at Oxford School Shakespeare and RSC versions for starters.)

Are you interested in only colonial literature? I can't see why Emil made that assumption.

Does anyone in your family speak English as well as an English person? If not then your grammar is unlikely to improve - just get worse! Look out for English classes run by British teachers. Listen to the BBC World Service.

[Sameer Telkar]

Thank You Emil.I was actually thinking of studying poetry before starting to write and the same thing goes for short stories.
Thank you Mac.Actually there are many Indians who have mastered English as well.

[mal4mac]

Thank you Mac.Actually there are many Indians who have mastered English as well.

For sure! But can you be certain your friends & family have mastered English?

You might be able to tell that they are "pretty good" at English, like you, but you will not have enough knowledge to detect mastery.

If you speak to a British person you know he has mastered English, even if he speaks with a Geordie accent :)

[Sameer Telkar]

Actually I meant to say that there are many Indians who despite speaking often in their mother tongue have done Ph.D. from the British universities.For example the Wren and Martin that I use here in India has been revised by an Indian named Prasada Rao who has been granted Ph.D. in English literature.
So it may be possible to continue speaking in your mother tongue,provided that you practice English regularly and still master it.

[kiki1982]

I gather your level of English in India is largely down to which environment you live and work in. Is English the lingua franca for all India or not? Some people really do speak nice English, maybe down to their education in a British type school... Sometimes due to careers in the military or civil service.

I personally don't think Shakespeare is a good place to start, because even native English speakers have problems with it. You can improve your English dramatically by reading though. Maybe not your pronunciation, but definitely your vocab and grammar. Do beware of old constructions, though, if you are reading old lit, because not all of them are still in use, though most are, as incredible as it may sound. As a foreigner you sound kind of funny if you use them, I am told.

Although, 'I must needs go to the shop' is not really a thing to say anymore ;). Although it still crops up in legal texts and things (straight from the 18th century). I am aspiring to Samuel Richardson with every legal English job I get :D. I am still trying to squeeze in 'wherewith', but my husband won't let me. :( I have used 'whichsoever' and I should still do some 'heretofore'. I like that. :D

OK, enough of that.

About speaking other languages to people:

As a Dutch/Flemish speaker with an English speaking hubby (UK) and living in Germany, I do have to say there are very few people we have changed languages with. It depends on the person. There is one friend I address in Dutch as she is a Dutch speaker, my hubby addresses her in English (although he speaks Dutch too because we spent 8 years in Belgium) because he met her in English and when we speak together I tend to mix. I find it weird talking to her in English and she finds it weird talking to him in Dutch. So we have to make do.
The two of us (hubby and me) sometimes mix if we are in other countries so we can have a private conversation.

With most friends, we tend to stay with the language we met each other in, unless we discover later that someone speaks another better. But it takes some getting used to.

Being exposed continuously to a language also helps a lot in improving it. You might find it weird, but my English has dramatically improved since I've moved to Germany. Because I get not fed with Dutch through the media anymore. We cancelled our Flemish TV subscription because there was nothing to watch and we now only watch English satellite TV. The only Dutch I get fed is once a week calling my parents and some newspaper I read from time to time. The rest is English all the way. Helps a lot.

My recommendation is, find some friends/a group or whatever you can speak to in English for extensive periods of time. So you don't have to mix and you don't get tempted to switch languages because you can't explain what you want to say at that particular moment.
Go on holiday to Australia or New Zealand. Maybe get a holiday job or something. Write in English. Come on here and do it to start with. A blog?
Get a satellite and watch BBC. I'm sure you'll be able to find something that you like. I believe they even have an Asian channel for the poor expats stuck over there ;).
Surely there must be people in your area who are good English speakers, apart from your own family. Wouldn't it be weird the change languages? Althoug you could maybe make one day a week 'English day' or something.

If you want to do some targetted studying, buy some Cambridge English Grammar in Use books. They come in basic, intermediate and advanced versions and there are vocab, academic vocab, conversation etc. books from the same series too. My English traininer hubby and his colleagues all swear by them. They mostly come with a CD (I don't know what's one that) and exercises too.

[Sydneysider]

I recommend buying a book and its book on disc equivalent. Then listen and read together. This way you hear the words pronounced as you read it.

[Scheherazade]

As an ESOL speaker, I wouldn't recommend turning your back to your first language. Why sacrifice one language for sake of another? And those who have a good grasp of grammar in their first language always do better in second and third languages.

My recommendation is to read, especially plays and short stories in English without being lazy about it. Ie, look up words and expressions, read Sparknotes etc because they help with comprehension very much.

From a personal point of view, reading authors like Oscar Wilde helped me a lot because their works pushed me to explore what is beneath the surface.

[peterr77]

the best is buying a book and its book on disc equivalent.
http://www.centplay.com/affiliate/id_139/

[mal4mac]

Why not read biographies of Indian writers who ended up writing in English? Then not only will you practice your English but, perhaps, learn how the "the experts" did it. Examples - Rushdie, Naipul.

[tonywalt]

My mother tongue is Marathi and my official language is Hindi.But I had a great passion for English since childhood.So I am commencing my quest for short stories,play and poetry.But I still stumble in grammar and don't seem to understand the inversion of poetry.Should I stop speaking in my mother tongue?But it would seem really weird to start communicating with my friends and family in English as I am talking to them in my mother tongue since childhood.What should I do?I need your advice.Thanks.

Aliengirl would probablly be a good person to talk to as she is from the same geographic area as yourself-although further to the north. She is an excellent writer and I believe (without looking back at her writing) she speaks Hindi.

Tony