Tips to improve Fluency in Speaking English

Tip: Read books / reviews / Articles etc about your subject and obtain a good working vocabulary.

Lesson 1

People = pleural. (top level management people)

But one can use "peoples of the world" meaning nations etc. (that is my private rule).

Why use the word people in any case (unless you are scared they may interpret "top level management" as monkeys.

Communicating here will help, but of course there is a lot of colloquial English spoken.
An English speaker would have phrased your question like this.

My daily communication is with our top level management.
_{('people' is implied...we doubt you are mansged by Cats or Squirrels)}
('But'..._optional) Due to not speaking English fluently, I can't effectively communicate or disuss matters with them.
Please _{(don't use abrev's if you are trying to perfect your lang')} suggest tips to study and practice English so that there will be an improvement in my spoken English.

You see there are just a few subtle changes which to a reader can instantly identify you as English or someone using English.

I would have difficulty in actually explaining the reason behind these changes...
To be honest, may English speakes can't express themselves lucidy, and my English would probably sound strange to your ears.
Hope this helps.

Del

"...and my English would probably sound strange to your ears." A number of years ago, I worked with a British engineer from Liverpool, and every time he went :"home" (back to Liverpool) for more than a few days, when he would come back to the U. S., nobody could understand a bloody word he said!!

You were lucky, if he had come from Newcastle, you would never have understood him ever....

"Going home" is pronounced "Gan jem" (as close as I remember!).......for example.....

I know when my wife is talking to the family in Cologne, her dialect comes back strongly.....

To be honest, maNy English speakes can't express themselves lucidLy ()

GA there.

Good points. I also feel that pronunciation is a key. My wife speaks several languages fluently, and I have key words that I can understand what language she is currently using on the phone or with friends, etc. Her primary language is Ilocano, and English is her 3rd or 4th language. When I read words in another language, if I am not accustome to that language, I tend to pronounce the words in the other language as if it were still as pronounced in English, which destroys their meaning!

I went to the simplified English site Edignan made easy access too.

Frankly I thought it would be a little better.

Typically I do find Aviation Standards for many critical operations, mature and admirable in their systems, and details.

When I had the pleasure of flying around it seemed as if half the job was talking on the radio.

Everybody learns things a little differently, and great teachers are hard to find.

Since English is the International Language of Flight I suggest you take a little airplane ride in the cockpit with an English speaking Pilot, talking to English Speaking Controllers.

I imagine that if you can use Aviation Speak, and Aviation Communications Protocols you ought to do all right with Engineers.

P.S. For communicating with me, a good familiarity with works by William Faulkner helps.

but Americans are very direct and frequently mistake it for uncertainty or unwillingness to commit.

and it occurs to me, this is probably one of the reasons many cutures find us rude.

Watch episodes of The Simpsons.

Perhaps this concept might help. It is targeted at education but I use the concept in writing training manuals for people with limits to their English. GUNNING-FOX INDEX WRITE OUT OR TAKE ANY ARTICLE OR STATEMENT +- 100 WORDS. STRIKE OUT ALL CAPITAL WORDS (e.g. JOHANNESBURG), PLASCON, McDONALD, ETC.). A = NO. OF WORDS B = NO. OF SENTENCES C = NO. OF WORDS WITH 3 OR MORE SYLLABLES INDEX = (A/B + C) x 0.4 THIS EQUALS THE NUMBER OF YEARS OF FORMAL EDUCATION REQUIRED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS WRITTEN.

Hi,

when I was yet in college, back in my home country, we laughed at the fact that engineers were (and still are ) the worst English users. we called the phenomenon Engineering English, back then. <LOL> I guess our best strengths are in analysis and problem-solving, things which our English teachers are handicapped, too.

the things that helped me a lot in writing and speaking this foreign tongue are reading, writing and watching English (American) movies. while watching these movies, pay attention to sentence structure, pronunciation (this can be tricky), and how they frame their thoughts into words (try and anticipate their statements and replies to each other). in short, learn by observation, and put what you learn in practice. start practicing with your peers, and try to obtain as much feedback as you can. as you write mail, run the grammar and spell-checker. use the dictionary and thesaurus to find the most appropriate word.

you can also buy English speech tutorials, or better yet, enroll in English classes. they won't hurt.

HTH!

-- langyaw

Hi, you could do with listening to some of the English language TV and radio broadcasts, also have a look for some of the old time radio websites and download some programs to listen to, the older shows help with speaking in context if you follow a series through. MP3 files handy for your phone or other player, so you can listen anywhere and repeat phrases etc.

regards

English language TV and radio broadcasts,

I travelled many countries, and never faced any problem in understanding the people and talking to them.

But, I never understand TV or movie conversations fully!

There are many "English Speaking" classes being run in many cities in India (I assume you are from India). Also there are many courses available on CDs which you can buy them.

Change your friends to English speaking ones. Get an English girlfriend if possible. Immersion is the fastest way to learn.

IMMERSION of what????

During the past couple of years, I have helped 2 friends, one from Shanghai who could speak and write a little Simple Americanized English. We PMed (both written and PC to PC calls) and sent simple documents for translation back and forth. Of course at times mis-translation occured in the beginning and I got this little firebrand riled up a couple of times, but we perservered and she is doing excellent today in written and spoken Business English.

The other, from Indonesia, has become fair in written English, but has a complex that I cannot help overcome and won't go beyond the basics.

Your determination and a network of English speakers with different dialects will help you overtime. Do not give up and try the methods we used in the first example.

Surround yourself with native English speaking people and ask that they correct you as you converse.

Dear RSDeshmukh

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." -- Mark Twain

Just make your ambition to learn english

Just make everything around you english, english and english.

Do you have satelite TV? Access to it at the local wwtering hole? We have Spanish channels on our local cable and my daughter watches it to help with her Spanish in school.

The best thing you can do is watch movies and TV shows. Your main weakness in writing seems to be grammar, but you also probably mispronounce. Network news anchors (CBS, NBC, ABC) are the best examples of good speech. Avoid the cable news! They often have these 'discussion panels' that are setting a bad example for everybody in terms of conversation.

Rosetta Stone is a good 2nd language program.

And you can check out my website, http://www.nooalf.com, to get a superior grasp of the sounds of English.

Deshmukh Saheb.

Best way is to stay in English speaking country for a year or so. Bon Voyage

Hi...

One of my secretaries had a similar problem. He was suggested to watch & listen only to BBC TV. The Queens English did wonders to him. This chap quickly picked up the right way to pronounce and built up a good vocabulary in no time. Try it . It's free and does not cost anything. But, But my boy had a solid determination to improve. He did it and is today a Project Manager with a French Power Company.

Anil Tiwari / New Delhi

Radio can be a big help when it comes to learning a language.

The original poster's country is not stated.

The BBC broadcasts to many countries around the world via its World Service programmes. Its use was originally intended for ex-patriots living overseas. The pace of speech is slower than one might find on the streets of many UK towns (with the possible exception of Inverness, where people have the time to speak English clearly) for the benefit of those whose native language is not English.

BBC World is a television station where English-speaking programmes may be found, and again, the pace of the language used is somewhat slower than normal.

There are many other examples.

I deliberately write my posts slowly for those who's native language isn't English.
Del

"I deliberately write my posts slowly for those whose native language isn't English"

Yes I noticed when I re-loaded MS Windows Office last week, with the option of English English and American English and choosing the latter, the PC ran a lot slower.

"English English" vs "British English"

Guest, keep in mind that according to Murphy, whenever someone tries to make a point about spelling or grammar errors, one (or more) of those will inevitably slip into the correction (and this post is not the esenption).

Alas, 'twas not in error. But with due respect to Murphy, I passed over the Irish-English and Welsh-English options.

And just a bit louder too please, Del

Gotta go, hear my village calling

The cat runs fastest when it has a mouse in front of it's noze and a dog behind it's....Damn sure the noize then is the loudest

thankx for righting slo. It helps mi to read isily, as I m non-english. Bat, if yu add some spases betwin every letter of the word,it wil help mi to rid mor isily.

,DESHMUKH,

As regard to spoken part of any language for that matter, the best practicable things one can do to improve fluency are,

1]Practice is the best solution-Start speaking continuously with whatever you know. Even if an error the receiver will correct you. Keep hearing from your colleague, whom you feel is good at spoken English. Make it a point to converse only in English. If you want to make a presentation to you boss, write the gist in your known language, translate, read well, go and produce.Keep informed your boss that you are improving your English.

2]Another important source is your friendship circle, who can groom you better. If you have children studying in English medium, they are best teachers, but see that you don't damage their language.

3]Attending professional spoken English courses or individuals doing coaching. For self learning- radios, T.V English channels, movies are also preferable.Understand the accent first..

4]When I had the complex of poor spoken English, I stood before the mirror and spoke to myself and it worked.

The best attitude you must hold is, never feel inferior, keep chanting you can speak better and keep doing it without hesitation and shame. Days won't be farther to reach your goal.

The best thing to kill fear and complex is to indulge and practice.

BEST WISHES

HI there.

I immigrated to the US not long ago, and my English was pretty bad. I used to spend hours listening to National Public Radio (and you can do it onlite at npr.org) and that helped me a lot. There is a show that is really cool and they often talk about science, you can download their podcast at http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/

I learned that if you listen to NPR you may be called a "liberal". I still take it as a comlpiment. Once your speaking improves you can work on your writing and, beleve me, that is much harder!

Peace.

Reading and writing may improve your grammar skills and your vocabulary, but are somewhat misleading when it's time to talk. I don't deny their usefulness, but with regard to the spoken language they should be taken just as a complement.

I never took a formal course on English. When I arrived in U.S.A. one year ago, I had already read a lot, but had never spoken a word in English. Now I face how different written and spoken English are, and I find really hard catching up. I feel very uncomfortable when I can't understand something (especially over the phone).

On the other hand, I learned street Portuguese naturally, by talking, and after that began to read and write it. Now I feel quite comfortable talking in Portuguese. I think it is not because Portuguese and Spanish (my mother language) are alike: They are just mutually understandable in a 50%, the other 50% being absolutely misleading if you proceed by guessing, and the pronunciation is quite different.

I subscribe the idea of engaging in as many conversations as you can, as well as watching TV. Committing to "think in English" also helps. BBC and NPR are really good reference frames for what is deemed "correct". They are useful for developing "educated" speech, but street American English is not usually that "correct". For instance, you should better get used to say "for free", "for real" or "a couple days" instead of "free", "real" and "a couple of days", and to forget about using "whom".

I voted GA for all of the answers that emphasized listening to radio, TV, and movies. These are great ways to hear the natural rhythms of speech.

The Defense Language Institute is a premier language schools. One of their requirements used to be to memorize a passage every day as part of the homework assignment. Students didn't have to understand or translate, just memorize and try to pronounce correctly. The idea is to ingrain the rhythms of the language.

So, I would recommend that you look through all of these excellent suggestions about how to listen the language and how to practice it. Pick as many as you are able and put them in to practice -- and memorize a short passage daily. You could use something from the BBC or NPR as they have written transcripts of news broadcasts or shows on line. (By reading and memorizing and listening, you'll engage several parts of the brain, which greatly helps learning.) Don't worry about understanding or translating. Just memorize. Then you can record yourself and compare to the broadcast.

Good luck, rdeshmukh7414!

Discussing technical and professional matters in a second language can be daunting. I have a set of tips that may help you develop you skills. Send me an email address and I can send it to you. My address is edlangston2@yahoo.com.

In addition to the tips on the list, it would be advisable for you to seek out a partner or several partners who want to improve their oral English skills. Then practice conversation with them. Play ESL games with them. Have discussions and mock interviews with them. The point is to improve interaction skills, and make your communications with managers easier and more effective.

There are some interactive software packages available with voice recognition software (for pronunciation purposes) that are really useful for basic to intermediate learners. ABC Live is one such product. Upper intermediate and advanced learners quickly "outgrow" the software, and use more of their time in real-time interactive practice to hone their conversational skills. You will want to find a set of methods and practices that are most effective for your level and circumstances.

All the best, and

Happy Trails !

I am an Australian (English speaking) student and am currently living with international students ranging from all over Europe and into Asia. I have found that the best and possibly most fun way to learn another language is from movies/videos!

It provides an opportunity to listen and learn for practically nothing and there is at the same time the entertainment prospect, and if your English is holding you back, you can listen in English and change the subtitles to your native language (if it moves too quickly for you to understand you can always pause it). I would suggest to have a dictionary at hand to check the meaning of any words you don't understand.

You will need to be rather selective when it comes to movies, that they are in English and not "English"! I would stay away from Silvester Stallone movies and some of the earlier Shwartzenager (appologies for the wrong spelling) movies, on the grounds that most English speaking people find it difficult to understand them. Unfortunately action movies tend to be lacking in Script alot of the time and all you will learn from them are all the new and exciting curse words.

Hope that this helps (now you have an excuse to sit down for a few hours and enjoy some quality time with the noise box!)

(if it moves too quickly for you to understand you can always pause it). I would suggest to have a dictionary at hand to check the meaning of any words you don't understand.

You are great my brother (guest). You can use dictionary while watching the movies, still keep the entertainment prospects of the movie.

all you will learn from them are all the new and exciting curse words.

Oh! that's the soul of the language. If you learn all the curse words of the language, you are fit for survival.

This is probably 99% of the reason why many Scandanavians speak such good English, as their films are shown in the original language on their TV stations (too expensive to dub the films for such a small population!), usually with subtitles in their language (that can be turned off).

By the time they are 13 or 14, they turn the subtitles off, never to be used agin!!!

It has the added advantage as noted by others is that their pronounciation/accent is also excellent.......

Hi..Mr Deshmukh,

English has always been very well spoken & written in India. This country has the largest concentration of people who can write, read & speak English correctly. When Mr Krishna Menon in 1948 was corrected by the British envoy to the UN to check his word he retorted " Gentleman, i am not wrong as i learnt this language whereas you only picked it up from your mother".

English is so easy that any preparatory school would be able to coach you, or simply buy a RAPIDEX English speaking course on CD from your corner store.

Come on man....You've already created a long enough forum thread. I think it is now time to retire this topic.

Anil Tiwari / New Delhi

Sometimes the best answers are given to those questions which are not understood !!!

You are right Mr. Anil.

But it is paradox that rsdeshmukh, who is struggling to be fluent in speaking english is from the same country of Mr. Krishna Menon.(and you and me).

So you need the environment around to speak the language fluently, which you need to grab.

Krishna Menon must have got it, and rsdeshmukh needs to find and get it.

I've already told him to try RAPIDEX English speaking course. He should grab it as it is found useful by all those who are only able to smatter in this language.

English is peculiar, in that it is so tolerant of errors: one can make a number of errors in an English sentence, and the correct meaning will still come through.

Most natural English speakers are very tolerant of those whose native tongue is not English, and will make allowances.

Never be worried about practice.

English speakers in the UK have a problem, in that other nationals speak English so well that the native speaker has little incentive to speak the other language. However, the other nationals really appreciate it when the English speaker tries to use that language, and will earn the other's respect.

Also, when two nationals from different European countries meet, they will often both switch to English as a common language.

Yes, we could understand what you want to say.... english is telerant of errors

Weeeelll, yes and no. Consider this classic example of a sentence with the same words but different punctuation.

"The panda eats shoots and leaves." This sentence describes the diet of the panda.

"The panda eats, shoots, and leaves." This sentence describes the after-dinner activities of the panda and gives reason to not arm them! (You could also slip in a pun here that is typically American -- we defend our right to bear arms, but not to arm bears!)

Likewise, studies have shown that as long as the first and last letters of a word are correct, the order of the words in the middle doesn't matter so much; the sentence can still be understood. It raelly deso'nt tkae too mcuh to porve or dsipvore the steatemnt. Or not.

Hi...

English has been used in India since the 1500's when traders from London first landed in the Great Moguls court. At that time nearly 49% of world trade originated in India. The English were quick to absorb many local terms in their language thus making it richer by the day. As the years rolled by the Indian population learned to love the English Language more than the English men who ruled this country after the fall of the Mogul empire. We've had so many good English writers and poets (me too wanted to become one).

I've worked with several British Engineers & other English professionals. They've mostly complimented me and my fellow Indians for their knowledge of English literature. Maybe, we lean more about Keats, Thomas Hardy's & Alexander Pope than they do in the mother country itself. The Bengali writer Nirad C Choudhary was more English than an English man. All I can say is long live this language and may it grow richer by the years to come !

Anil Tiwari / New Delhi

I am an American and there are many dialects spoken in my country. Although I was born and raised in New York City among many different languages and dialects, I subscribed to one particular dialect (or lack of dialect) and that is what is known as the "Kings English". Way back then, Kings English was still being used, but not any more. I sometimes use other dialects when writing or speaking (to suit my audience). It's just through constant use of the language can you learn the language. Practice, practice, practice. As a teacher, find a person that really speaks the language well. Many actors in the U.K. are good examples of public figures who speak the language well. Listening to broadcasts over the BBC could help you. Broadcasters are chosen for their speaking skills.

As others have said, the key is to read as much as you can in English. I recommend magazines like Time or Life. These are generally well written but also will use common phrases and slang.

I recommend the same to people looking to improve their vocabulary. There simply is no substitute for reading when it comes to developing your language skills.

rsdeshmukh7414 73 Comments are already posted in reply to your question. But I haven't seen any word from your side. My sincere advice is keep on writing on CR4, This will help you a lot in improving your English, In my observations CR4 is the most sensitive forum to language on internet.and that helps a lot to the people who are sincere in learning.

I agree entirely with your comments, but we on CR4 are not as good as we should be as many are too lazy to use the built in spell checker, so that at least the words are correctly spelled (Grammatical errors are not fixed!)......some "English" speakers from CR4 have really awful spelling.....its bad enough when people use the wrong (but still correctly spelled) word, pail for pale for example..... or "to" for "too" or "Two"......

This makes it difficult to understand for non-English first language people....if they cannot even find the word in their dictionary.....

I even get stick from some of the bad spellers as they feel I am attacking them in some way.......!!! DUUUUHHHHHH!!!!

One of the foundations of humour among the Engish-speaking peoples is the "play on words". English contains many words that sound almost the same, yet have very different meanings. Often, the difference in meaning of two similar words can give rise to an opportunity for light-hearted humour.

• A recent television advertising campaign for car insurance in the UK, playing on the similarity between the sounds of comparing meerkats and comparing markets, has resulted in the company receiving the highest number of hits among insurance websites, clearly underlining the principle. People found the campaign amusing, so they went to compare the meerkats markets for car insurance.

The tendency for those in the British Isles to share something amusing between themselves underpins the character of the communities there and bonds people strongly in difficult times.

It isn't a conspiracy. It's just something they do.

Engish-speaking English-speaking.

See?

Never forget that the main purpose of a language is to communicate - not to get involved in semantics and flowery verbosity. That is a separate use of the language and all the great poets and writers contribute here.

Having served in India in the Army from Bombay to Chittagong I appreciate the use of Indian English it is a dialect in its own right maybe a bit flowery for some and the, what we called Bombay-welsh, pronunciation is quite pleasant although Peter Sellers used it in jovial way I do not think any one complained. Attempts to establish Urdu by the British army got nowhere as the people were very happy to use English - Possibly because it was easier for the people of the south to learn. Urdu bore a close resemblance to the Northern Languages (San-script) so the Tamils and others were happier with English.

Try reading Keating's Inspector Ghote books I find they are very pleasant.

I also worked in Peru and I understand that the indigenous peoples also found English easier to learn than Spanish as there were no complex grammar rules and it was almost a word for word translation. While there I also found that I could assist others with their English by writing it down using the Spanish spelling. Written English is a big stumbling block due to the odd-ball spelling. If it used the Spanish rules it would do much better. I am surprised that in the USA with the high proportion of Latins this has not been the case. Perhaps some pioneering paper could try taking this up and see how it would help. Anybody like to try their hand at a "Spanglish" dictionary? I am sure it would prove to be easy to read by all english speakers.

Of course the scientific world does not always help and writing sentences (?on purpose?) like " The basic problem lay in the fact that one of the basic chemicals used was basic and so basic rules could not be applied" does not help. Perhaps we should get back to basics.

Spanglish iz a dun deal. There's even at least one paper in the southwest that uses it. But, rather than being English with Spanish spelling conventions, It's just a hybrid of vocabulary and grammar that has evolved on its own.

One of my fellow spelling reformers did make a kind of system like your proposing. The main problem iz that Spanish only has 24 sounds; 10 short of what you need for English.

Plus, Spanish iz no shining example of perfection itself. It has about as many contradictions, exceptions and other flaws as it has letters.

I don't see that as a problem we are only dealing in phonetics after all - I spent many years in Latin America and I don't think there is a problem. More the other way around. For example the Spanish for watchmen in Peru is "huatchiman" and a plumber is called a "gafittero" (gas-fitter). Other English words were also peruvianised. Biggest problem there was there was confusing the "B" and the "V" which was usually sorted out by the "bve" de burro or the "bve" de vacca. But the Cordovas never worried about being called Cordoba or vice versa. Of course you can wonder at the Mejico vs Mexico - who cares how you spell it as long as you know where you are - only the Gringos had a problem!..

There is probably a greater problem here in South Africa where clicks are used I believe that the bushmen use over 4 bit the Zulus only use 5.

I am beginning too wonder if the SMS language that the kids use is not a solution even if it is odd to us old dodderers it seems to work. And if you can communicate then you are winning - is that not the purpose of language? I often wonder why the Americans (USA) only mucked about with a few words. I still prefer Aluminium but I believe that Aluminum is more scientifically correct. I once remember in the states seeing an advert offering aluminum made by the Aluminium Company of Canada.

I bet the spell checker will have fun here. (it did!)

Read children's books and watch learning shows on TV created for children.

lol, it is a good way, sometime I learnt from these.

I had an Indian friend that struggled too because lack of listening and speaking skills. He tried several approaches; read a lot, watched TV shows, bought some native dialogue audiotapes, listened to them and repeated after speakers aloud. At six months, I could say he was way better and could speak more fluently.