Easy ways to improve your English speaking

Take a deep breath, then speak slowly.

Easy ways to improve your English speaking

Three simple strategies can quickly boost your English speaking fluency. Most people don’t know them because they are not usually taught in English classes. English classes focus on your message, what you are trying to say: the meaning of your words. What classes don’t teach is how to make your speech into pleasing English sounds. When you think about it, speaking and singing are similar (as rap and hip hop music also demonstrate.) Though singing is more poetic, our regular speech also contains rhythms and patterns which help listeners understand the overall meaning.

The first strategy is based on the fact that both speaking and singing rely on breath. If we have insufficient breath, then our vocal production will suffer. So before you start speaking (or singing), exhale all your old air and take in a deep breath of fresh air. When your inhalation is complete, then begin your first words. You will have a reservoir of breath to use for a whole sentence. Just like filling up your gas tank before a trip, fill up your lungs before speaking. Breathing also calms our minds and gives a few moments to select our first words. When it’s your turn to speak, try exhaling and inhaling before you begin. Try this for a few days and see if it works for you, like it does for most of my students.

The second strategy is selecting the correct speed. Most of my students initially believe they need to speak fast. Humans talk faster when excited or stressed, but very rapid speech is hard to understand and remember. Since we live in an exciting and stressful world, people are excited and stressed all the time but that does not make them more fluent. Newscasters and sportscasters on television have to speak fast, but that does not make them easier to understand. When the President gives an important speech, he speaks slowly and clearly. Even native English speakers cannot speak correctly while speaking too rapidly. Even if they could, listeners would have trouble keeping up with them.

Non-native speakers face an additional challenge. Their brains are already wired for their native language. Our very thoughts and concepts are shaped by our first language. Additional languages can never be processed as efficiently as the original language that shaped our minds after infancy. Some people learn to overcome this, but most of us need to slow down while speaking in a foreign language. We have to work harder and be more careful than we need to in our first language. Usually I am able to convince students that slower is better. After all, once you speak perfectly you can always work on increasing your speed. See if speaking more slowly feels more comfortable and sounds better to others. Try recording yourself speaking fast, and then repeating it slowly. Which sounds better?

The boxes on the bottom contain a sentence. The other boxes identify the various phrases used to construct the sentence.

The third strategy is to speak in phrases. A phrase is a group of words that are related, such as several adjectives and a noun: a big, black, hairy dog. All types of words can appear as a part of a phrase. English classes stress words and sentences, but spoken English sounds more like a series of phrases with a longer pause at the end of each sentence. A sentence is a group of words that express one complete thought, while phrases only express certain aspects of that one complete thought, such as subject, verb, object, etc. Related words in a phrase need to be spoken together, with a brief pause at the end of each phrase. In written English, sometimes this brief pause is marked by a comma (,). But even if there is no comma, pausing at the end of a phrase helps the listener digest the words before you go on to the next phrase.

Students tell me that in Asian languages, all words have equal space between them. Therefore they never considered varying the spaces between the words in the manner I suggest. Though difficult to demonstrate in writing, try this exercise. Try recording yourself saying the words separately, like a list:

The

Big

Black

Dog

Ran

Quickly

Down

The

Street.

Ask yourself, what is the subject? What qualities does it have?

What did the subject do? How did he do it?

When, where, why did the subject do the action?

Now speak the sentence as three phrases. When you read this sentence, pause briefly at the end of the first two phrases and a little longer after the final one (the end of the sentence.)

The big black dog…ran quickly…down the street……….

Speaking in phrases also allows you to regulate your breath better, helping you stay calm and focused.

If you listen to audio books, the readers always speak in this manner. Try imitating a passage from your favorite audio book. Even if your grammar is not perfect or if your vocabulary is not great, you can still sound better speaking English by changing your behavior. Sounding better will give you more confidence, even if you need to keep learning new words. Try learning 10-20 words each week. In one year you can learn 500-1000 words. Since most people, even native speakers, only use around 1000-2000 words in every day conversation, you can double or triple your vocabulary over time. Let me know if you find any of these three strategies helpful. Also please send any suggestions or recommendations you can offer. Oh yes, practice, practice, practice!

Thank you to everyone who has read and commented on my postings. So far, over ten thousand page views from around the world. Please use the link below for your Amazon purchases to support the blog.

Learn American Idioms with the VOA

Logo for the U.S. government news agency, Voice of America.

Learn American Idioms with VOA
The U.S. has long had a public news agency aimed at foreign audiences. During the Cold War (1945-1993), the federal government beamed radio and television programs behind the Iron Curtain (Communist USSR & Eastern Europe.) Not only was this a channel for American propaganda, these broadcasts also spread U.S. culture and language. To people living outside the U.S., these broadcasts were the “Voice of America,” which is the program’s name. These days, we use just the letters VOA. VOA is the closest America has to U.K.’s BBC, which also reaches all parts of the globe.

In many countries with heavy censorship and controlled media, VOA & BBC have been the only alternate sources of information. After the Cold War, VOA shifted its emphasis away from political propaganda towards more educational and cultural content. Because all VOA content is designed and intended for audiences outside the U.S., the program is not publicized or promoted Stateside (i.e., within the U.S.) Therefore, many people living here are not aware of this great, free educational resource.

Following its tradition of presenting news stories and current events in American English, VOA now offers a huge number of videos, many with subscripts to help people who did not learn English as their first language. The vast range of subjects insures that everyone can find something interesting.

One special focus of VOA is helping people learn and practice American English. Instead of calling it “English as a Second Language,” VOA calls their program “Special English,” because it is especially for non-native speakers. Besides the documentary videos and activities, VOA adopts the latest media innovations to engage learners. Recently I tried out VOA’s explanation of some common idioms (slang, expressions). The brief lessons were interesting, informative, and well-produced in my opinion. You can directly view the following idioms by clicking their links”

• Up in the Air
• Out to Lunch
• Rain Check
• Veg Out
• Piece of Cake
• Old Wives' Tale
• Hit The Roof!
• Chill Out
• Cats and Dogs
• Bells and Whistles
• Break a Leg
• Play it by Ear
• Eye to Eye

You can view an entire dictionaryof American idioms compiled by VOA, as well as “brush up on” (practice, improve) your grammar, spelling, pronunciation, and vocabulary. Let me know what you think of this resource and if you have any suggestions!

More on how to improve pronunciation of English consonants: B & P

Happy Thanksgiving! Painting by Norman Rockwell.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how to improve pronunciation for B and P in English. This has been one of the most viewed topics so far. In addition to writing my opinion on the subject, luckily I received some great feedback from readers all over the world. I also found excellent pronunciation tips from BBC. The video has a U.K. accent but the message is the same: learn the 40+ sounds of English. Watch the short video! Also check out the BBC’s General & Business English site. Of course the BBC is an English organization, so the accent is slightly different than American English.

Kimmo Kosunen, Director at Tellus Group LTD, kindly suggested some additional comments that I will incorporate in my own teaching. Kimmo is an expert and has allowed me to share his thoughts, which clarify and amplify my own words. He writes, “When you explain how to pronounce the /b/ sound, worth mentioning [is] that – although there is no actual sound produced in the throat – the student should be able to feel his/her vocal cords constrict AND VIBRATE slightly. “

Kimmo also points out that, “When you tell the student to produce the bbbbuuuuh sound, might this possibly encourage him/her produce a vowel sound after the /b/ - especially confusing with /b/ in final positions (students producing ‘bibbuh’ instead of ‘bib’)?

Finally he offers “a practice we have found useful to demonstrate the difference between /b/ and /p/: students can practice this with a sheet of paper, the top of which they hold a couple of centimeters/an inch or so from their mouth, HANDS HOLDING THE PAPER HALFWAY DOWN THE SHEET; when they RELEASE the pressurized air /p/, the top of the paper should move noticeably and there should also be a noise produced by the air hitting the paper – in case of /b/, the top of the sheet should not move at all, nor should there be any sound of air hitting it.

Finally, it might be a good idea to illustrate the different positions of the tongue when these sounds are produced – the back of the tongue [should be] raised to direct some of the air through the nose in case of /b/ but not so with /p/… To demonstrate this to the students, they COULD BE asked to pinch their noses shut and then produce the sounds – there should be a noticeable difference in the airflow through the nose.”

Thanks to Kimmo for the additional explanation! As written in the previous article, mastering spoken English requires mastery of all the vowel and consonant sounds. However, once you achieve basic mastery of each sound, your English will sound much more fluent. Later you can work on further improvement of each sound.

Please email me with your questions or suggestions! Also, just clicking on even one of the ads here helps support me, so please take ten seconds to help. 

Food remaining after a meal that is stored to eat later is called leftover food. I am having leftovers for dinner tonight. What about you?

Pronounce English fluently with these exercises

Vowels

Since language starts with vocal sounds, learning these sounds properly is fundamental. This approach to language learning is called phonics, and it stresses the physical production of individual letters and syllables instead of grammar and vocabulary. You may be able to really boost your fluency and reduce your accent with some simple practice. Start with the ABCs, the alphabet. Almost everybody knows that some of the 26 letters are vowels, while the rest are consonants. To simplify, just start with the vowels because there are only 5 or 6, compared to 20 or 21 consonants. For a helpful review on pronouncing vowels, watch this video.

We know the English vowels are a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y. Each of these letters can have a different sound, though the actual possibilities are quite limited. A is first, and can represent around three different sounds. In the word "game," we call the first vowel "long" and the second vowel "silent" (silent e is often added in writing to signal that the previous vowel is long, as in game or fame.) The long form of each vowel sounds exactly like each vowel's name. If vowels can have a long form, they can also have a short form. Hat uses the vowel in its short form, as does cat, fat, bat, rat, mat, bath, lab, cab, etc. The short form does not sound like the name of the vowel, but is more open sounding.

In addition to long and short forms, the first vowel "a" stands for other sounds as well. It can sound like "ah" as in father or like "o" in warm. Though warm is spelled with an a, the vowel sounds exactly the same as the "o" in storm: "It was a warm storm." Maybe you can think of other examples. But focus on mastering the long and short forms of each vowel first.

Repeat out loud to yourself long a: "date, fate, gate, hate, late, mate, date, fate, gate, hate, late, mate, date, fate, gate, hate, late, mate, date, fate, gate, hate, late, mate, date, fate, gate, hate, late, mate."

Repeat out loud to yourself short a: "bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, vat, at, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, vat, at, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, vat, at, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, vat, at, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, vat."

Now, alternate the long and short forms: "a (as in fate), a (as in fat), a (as in fate), a (as in fat), a (as in fate), a (as in fat), a (as in fate), a (as in fat), a (as in fate), a (as in fat), a (as in fate), a (as in fat)." After alternating short and long sounds for a while, your jaw should feel the workout. After some practice, you can continue developing the muscle memory in your jaw by alternating the long and short vowel: "ay, ah, ay, ah, ay, ah, ay, ah, ay, ah, ay, ah,ay, ah, ay, ah, ay, ah,ay, ah, ay, ah, ay, ah,ay, ah, ay, ah, ay, ah,ay, ah, ay, ah, ay, ah"

Use the same principle with each of the vowels. Long "e" sounds like the name of the letter, and is usually highlighted by special spelling, such as meet, feet, seat, greet, beat, beet (the vegetable), beef, reef, bead. Notice the "e" is always partnered with another letter, either a duplicate or another vowel. The short form sounds like "eh" as in bed, fed, led, bet, let, met, jet,net, etc. As with the first vowel "a", the second vowel "e" has a long sound and a short sound: "eee" as in meet and "ehhh" as in met. The second vowel also represents other sounds besides the basic two, and there are exceptions. For example, "dead" has a partner vowel but is nevertheless pronounced using short e. sounding like bed: "He was dead in bed." Head is another example. Why these oddities? Because completely different words use the long form of "e." When you pay off your house, you get the deed, which sounds like feed and seed. So we must pronounce head like bed and ignore the spelling completely. E can sound like A: You can weigh your vegetables, or you can lose your way, perhaps on the highway. But focus on the basic long and short forms. You can learn exceptions later.

Substitute E for A in the exercises above. Finally you will master "eee. eh, eee. eh, eee. eh, eee. eh, eee. eh, eee. eh, eee. eh, eee. eh, eee. eh, eee. eh, eee. eh, eee. eh, eee. eh, eee. eh, eee. eh, eee. eh. Follow the same pattern for the other three vowels. At that point you will be able to accurately recite the long and short forms of each of the five main vowels. Y usually sounds like I or E so the sound is not really different.

The word examples are for reference only-- just practice the vowel sounds, no consonants:

• Ay - A (fate, fat) 
• Ee - Eh (meet, met) 
• I -ih (kite, kit) 
• Oh - ah (hope, hop) 
• Yu - uh (cute, cut) 

Let me know if this helps you! After the basic vowel forms, you can learn the consonant sounds the advanced vowel forms. Once you know these, you have mastered all the sounds used in the English language. Phonics is the study of spoken language that focuses mostly on the sounds themselves. After all, that is how we all learn to talk. Watch this video again, and watch a small mirror while you pronounce the vowels. Is your mouth moving the same way?

Fluent pronunciation with a digital recorder

All students of English want to improve how they sound, how they pronounce each syllable and word. Everyone understands and respects people who speak clearly and precisely, without sounding like a robot. In other words, everybody wants to sound natural even if they can never sound fully native. No one doubts that face to face live conversation with a native speaker is the best way to improve but many learners don't get much opportunity.

Overcome this obstacle in this simple way. These days, digital recording is available through smart phones (like iPhone or Android), laptop and desktop computers, and dedicated digital voice recorders. Use any voice recording method you can. Ask various native English speakers to help you out for a minute. Ask each to slowly read the same article, from a website, newspaper, book, magazine, etc. Ask them to read for one-two minutes and record them while they do so. Before you finish, check spot check to make sure your recorder worked properly.

On your own, simply play back the readings and try to copy their sound exactly. Read from the same article. Don't pay much attention to the meaning, just listen to the sounds. Try to imitate them exactly. Experiment with your mouth, lips, tongue, and teeth to see what shape is needed for each sound. Listen closely to vowels and consonants. With a recording you can privately repeat as many times as you need. After all, your voice is ultimate musical instrument. To get their best sound, musicians have to practice a lot. So get going now!