English-5 Speaking Rules you need to know
English-5 Speaking Rules you need to know
English-5 Speaking Rules you need to know
This rule might sound strange to many ESL students, but it is one of the most important
rules. If you want to pass examinations, then study grammar. However, if you want to
become fluent in English, then you should try to learn English without studying the grammar.
Studying grammar will only slow you down and confuse you. You will think about the rules
when creating sentences instead of naturally saying a sentence like a native. Remember that
only a small fraction of English speakers know more than 20% of all the grammar rules.
Many ESL students know more grammar than native speakers. I can confidently say this with
experience. I am a native English speaker, majored in English Literature, and have been
teaching English for more than 10 years. However, many of my students know more details
about English grammar than I do. I can easily look up the definition and apply it, but I don't
know it off the top of my head.
I often ask my native English friends some grammar questions, and only a few of them know
the correct answer. However, they are fluent in English and can read, speak, listen, and
communicate effectively.
Do you want to be able to recite the definition of a causative verb, or do you want to be able
to speak English fluently?
Many students learn vocabulary and try to put many words together to create a proper
sentence. It amazes me how many words some of my students know, but they cannot create a
proper sentence. The reason is because they didn't study phrases. When children learn a
language, they learn both words and phrases together. Likewise, you need to study and learn
phrases.
If you know 1000 words, you might not be able to say one correct sentence. But if you know
1 phrase, you can make hundreds of correct sentences. If you know 100 phrases, you will be
surprised at how many correct sentences you will be able to say. Finally, when you know
only a 1000 phrases, you will be almost a fluent English speaker.
The English Speaking Basics section is a great example of making numerous sentences with
a single phrase. So don't spend hours and hours learning many different words. Use that time
to study phrases instead and you will be closer to English fluency.
Don't translate
When you want to create an English sentence, do not translate the words from your Mother
tongue. The order of words is probably completely different and you will be both slow and
incorrect by doing this. Instead, learn phrases and sentences so you don't have to think about
the words you are saying. It should be automatic.
Another problem with translating is that you will be trying to incorporate grammar rules that
you have learned. Translating and thinking about the grammar to create English sentences is
incorrect and should be avoided.
Reading, listening, and speaking are the most important aspects of any language. The same is
true for English. However, speaking is the only requirement to be fluent. It is normal for
babies and children to learn speaking first, become fluent, then start reading, then writing. So
the natural order is listening, speaking, reading, then writing.
First Problem
Isn't it strange that schools across the world teach reading first, then writing, then listening,
and finally speaking? Although it is different, the main reason is because when you learn a
second language, you need to read material to understand and learn it. So even though the
natural order is listening, speaking, reading, then writing, the order for ESL students is
reading, listening, speaking, then writing.
Second Problem
The reason many people can read and listen is because that's all they practice. But in order to
speak English fluently, you need to practice speaking. Don't stop at the listening portion, and
when you study, don't just listen. Speak out loud the material you are listening to and practice
what you hear. Practice speaking out loud until your mouth and brain can do it without any
effort. By doing so, you will be able to speak English fluently.
4. Submerge yourself
Being able to speak a language is not related to how smart you are. Anyone can learn how to
speak any language. This is a proven fact by everyone in the world. Everyone can speak at
least one language. Whether you are intelligent, or lacking some brain power, you are able to
speak one language.
This was achieved by being around that language at all times. In your country, you hear and
speak your language constantly. You will notice that many people who are good English
speakers are the ones who studied in an English speaking school. They can speak English not
because they went to an English speaking school, but because they had an environment
where they can be around English speaking people constantly.
There are also some people who study abroad and learn very little. That is because they went
to an English speaking school, but found friends from their own country and didn't practice
English.
You don't have to go anywhere to become a fluent English speaker. You only need to
surround yourself with English. You can do this by making rules with your existing friends
that you will only speak English. You can also carry around an iPod and constantly listen to
English sentences. As you can see, you can achieve results by changing what your
surroundings are. Submerge yourself in English and you will learn several times faster.
TalkEnglish Offline Version is now ready for download. In this package, you can utilize
over 8000 audio files to completely surround yourself in English. There are over 13.5 hours
of audio files that are not available in the web form. All conversations and all sentences are
included, so even if you don't have many English speaking friends, you can constantly
surround yourself in English using your MP3 player. This package is available at the English
Download page. Take advantage of this opportunity and start learning English faster. Click
on the link or go to http://www.talkenglish.com/english-download.aspx.
A common phrase that is incorrect is, "Practice makes perfect." This is far from the truth.
Practice only makes what you are practicing permanent. If you practice the incorrect
sentence, you will have perfected saying the sentence incorrectly. Therefore, it is important
that you study material that is commonly used by most people.
Another problem I see is that many students study the news. However, the language they
speak is more formal and the content they use is more political and not used in regular life. It
is important to understand what they are saying, but this is more of an advanced lesson that
should be studied after learning the fundamental basics of English.
Studying English with a friend who is not a native English speaker is both good and bad.
You should be aware of the pros and cons of speaking with a non native speaking friend.
Practicing with a non native person will give you practice. You can also motivate each other
and point out basic mistakes. But you might pick up bad habits from one another if you are
not sure about what are correct and incorrect sentences. So use these practice times as a time
period to practice the correct material you studied. Not to learn how to say a sentence.
In short, study English material that you can trust, that is commonly used, and that is correct.
Summary
These are the rules that will help you achieve your goal of speaking English fluently. All the
teachings and lessons on TalkEnglish.com follow this method so you have the tools you need
to achieve your goal right here on TalkEnglish.com.
https://www.talkenglish.com/extralessons/speakingrules.aspx
You will find that almost all of these people have being exposed to the
English language at a high frequency, either at home, school or at work.
Here are 3 English speaking rules that you should never ignore.
2. Grammar is overrated!
Think of how you spoke your first language? Did you learn grammar first or
did you just speak? The same rule applies to speaking any language.
When you put too much emphasis on grammar, you naturally over-think and
over complicate English in your head, instead of naturally talking like a
native.
Remember, only a small fraction of English speakers know more than 20% of
all the grammar rules. Many non-native know more grammar than native
speakers.
Also, you need to only know about 5 main grammar concepts to be able to
speak English fluently.
For example you should have a basic understanding for sentence structures.
Examples:
Remember, even if you make a small grammatical mistake, most people will
still understand you. The most important thing is to speak clearly and
confidently.
I will give you one more example in grammar that will make you realize how
easy it is to learn English an use correct grammar.
Think of how tenses are used in English. Don’t think of these as English
speaking rules but rather as patterns of the English language.
Start learning the present tense which describes actions happening now.
Examples: I walk
He runs
She swims
It moves
We dance
You see
They sail
Learn the future tense which refers to actions that will take place later
today, tomorrow, next week, next month or next year.
Learn the past tense which took place yesterday, last week, last month or
last year.
When using the past tenses of regular verbs, we add an ‘-ed’ at the end.
Examples:
I walk I walked
He visits He visited
It snows It snowed
We smile We smiled
There are irregular past participles of certain verbs in the past tense.
Examples:
I swim I swam
He comes He came
It becomes It became
We eat We ate
I am I was
We are We were
They are They were
Remember, grammar should not be something that holds you back from
speaking English. You should think of grammar as a framework that helps
you speak English, not something that will scare you away. Never let
grammar make you lose confidence in speaking in English.
Practicing with a non-native person will certainly give you practice. It might
also give you confidence, that you are better than most.
However, you might pick up bad habits from one another if you are not sure
about what are correct and incorrect sentences. This could be contagious,
and could be something difficult to course correct over time.
Improvements in spoken English (or any language) for that matter comes
over time. Be persistent, but be logical as well. Remembering these English
speaking rules will allow you to focus your energy on what is important.
https://www.spokenenglishpractice.com/3-english-speaking-rules-every-non-native-speaker-should-
know/
1
Change your wrong impression of grammar. If you're a non-native speaker, chances are
your grammar isn't that bad. In fact, you studied a lot of English grammar in your elementary,
middle school, and high school. Now the first thing you need to do is to unlearn the bad
impression of grammar that you got. Grammar isn't dry, useless, dead, only paper-based,
strict, and boring. Quite the contrary! Grammar is fun, practical, dynamic, situation-based,
free, and exciting. That is, if your teacher had known how to teach it right. Grammar isn't
something you can run away from in English. And grammar isn't some scary, dictatorial
monster anyway. You should start seeing grammar as a friend who only gives you guidelines
- not rules. In short, real grammar says: "Do," not "Don't."
2.
2
Forget the myth of listening. The myth of listening says that listening is a zero-sum game:
either you get it 100% or 0%. This is simply not true. If you're having a hard time making
sense of what the other person (maybe a native speaker) is saying, don't be discouraged.
More importantly, don't stop listening and thinking! In home economics, there's a saying that
goes: "There won't be a dollar without a cent."
This is true in listening as well. Just because you can't make sense of what someone is
saying in English, you don't have to drop everything and throw away the few things that you
do hear. Instead, concentrate on them and gather as much as you can.
Think about the context (the situation around the speaker) and try to connect the separate
words that you can catch. Try to fill the gaps that you don't hear. Why? Because, believe it or
not, that's what everybody's doing - even the native speakers.
3.
3
Speak. Speak and speak. Practice! This step is connected to No 1. Because of your wrong
way of learning grammar, you have unconsciously developed an aversion to practice and
real application. Somehow, you believe that English is a skill that's best used only inside the
four corners of your classroom - or quietly by yourself. And because you've undergone years
and years of this sort of training, it's a tough habit to break. This step goes deep down to
your inner confidence. You've got to learn to surmount the shyness and the voice inside your
head that keeps telling you: "You'll just make a fool of yourself!". If you can't overcome this,
then you won't be able to learn English. Remember: English is a language, a form of
communication meant to be practiced together with other people.
4.
4
Learn vocabulary by heart. Learning Vocabulary by heart means you should stop
cramming your head with the translation of English words in your native language. No matter
how many words you memorize everyday - 50, 100, 200! - they're all useless if you don't
know what type of word you're learning, how to use it in a sentence etc. Non-native speakers
of English are known for mechanically memorizing a lot of information. But in terms of the
long-term goals of language-learning, it isn't so much the quantity that counts, only the
quality.
5.
5
Accept what can't understand. Eventually, you'll have to admit that some expressions and
parts of English don't have the perfect grammar explanation that you are looking for. For
instance, idioms, infinitives vs. gerunds etc. You'll just waste a lot of time trying to force a
logical, iron-clad rule. Of course you should try your best to learn grammar, but keep in mind
that grammar doesn't have the answer to everything. In those cases when Grammar doesn't
work, start repeating the sentence and expression. Pretty soon you'll realize you're getting
comfortable with it and you don't really need a grammar explanation to use it.
6. 6
Read in English. Reading is one of the best ways to learn grammar and vocabulary, and
you'll learn more about English culture along the way.
You don't have to read a book. Any text, whether it be a newspaper or an online article, will
work.
Community Q&A
Question
Non-native speakers of English need to learn only informal English, is this statement
true or false?
Community Answer
False. Non-native and Native speakers alike should learn Formal English in order to be
respectful to superiors, authority figures, or elders.
Ask a Question
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Tips
STOP looking for a "silver bullet" technique that will let you learn English overnight. There is
no such thing. Every learner is different. What works for you won't work for another and vice
- versa. There are too many English-learning techniques out there that promise the best
results. But what it all boils down to is: You as an individual learner. Do you have what it
takes - the dedication and the patience - to get to the finish line?
https://www.wikihow.com/Learn-English-if-You%27re-a-Non-Native-Speaker
Sometimes the difficult thing about English speaking isn’t the language
itself, but how you think about it.
If you think in your native language and then try to speak English, you’ll
always have to translate between languages. Translating isn’t an easy
thing to do! Even people fluent in two or more languages have trouble
switching between languages.
The solution is to think in English.
You can do this anywhere, anytime. Try to use English when you’re
thinking about your day, or when you’re trying to decide what food to
order. Even try to use an English-to-English dictionary to look up words.
That way you never have to use your native language and translate
words. You’ll notice that when you think in English, it’s easier for you to
speak in English.
2. Talk to Yourself
Whenever you’re at home (or alone somewhere else) you can improve
English speaking with your favorite person: yourself.
Whenever you can, take a few minutes out of your day to stand in front of
the mirror and speak. Choose a topic, set a timer for two or three minutes
and just talk.
The point of this exercise is to watch your mouth, face and body language
as you speak. It also makes you feel like you’re talking to someone, so
you can pretend you’re having a discussion with a study buddy.
Talk for the full two or three minutes. Don’t stop! If you get stuck on a
word you don’t know, try expressing your idea in a different way. You can
always look up how to say that word after the two to three minutes
end. This will definitely help you find out what kinds of words or sentences
you have trouble with.
The more you stop, the less confident you sound and the less comfortable
you become. Try the mirror exercise above, but challenge yourself to
speak without stopping or stammering (taking pauses between your
words) the entire time.
This might mean that your sentences won’t be grammatically perfect, and
that’s okay! If you focus on speaking fluently instead of correctly, you’ll
still be understood and you’ll sound better. You can fill in the correct
grammar and word rules as you learn them better.
5. Try English Tongue Twisters
Tongue twisters are series of words that are difficult to say quickly.
One example is: “The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the
throne throughout Thursday.” Try saying this a few times! It’s not easy.
Word games like this will help you find the right placement for your mouth
and tongue, and can even help your pronunciation. You can find a list
of great tongue twisters here.
6. Listen and Repeat
Do you watch TV shows or YouTube videos in English? Use them to
improve your fluency. Choose a short part of a show and repeat it line by
line. Try to match the tone, speed and even the accent (if you can). It
doesn’t matter if you miss a few words, the important thing is to keep
talking. Try to sound just like the native speakers on the show.
FluentU is a great way to practice listening and repeating.
FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news
and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning
lessons.
Whenever you watch a video here, you’ll see all of the spoken words right
there on your screen.
This makes listening and repeating even easier. Just turn off the subtitles
when you want a challenge!
If you see a word you don’t know, tap on the word to see an image,
definition, examples, and other videos in which the word is used.
For example, if you tap on the word “brought”, then you see this:
FluentU lets you tap to look up any word.
You can learn any video’s vocabulary with FluentU. Swipe left or right to
see more examples for the word you’re learning.
FluentU helps you learn fast with useful questions and multiple examples. Learn more.
At FluentU, you can decide how you learn. You’ll have the freedom to
choose which videos are most interesting to your personal learning
experience.
The more you listen to this authentic English, the better you will
understand how to speak English naturally.
This won’t only help you speak English well, it might even reduce
misunderstandings. Sometimes the placing the stress on the wrong
syllable completely changes the word. The word ADdress, for instance,
isn’t the same as the word adDRESS. ADdress refers to a physical location
where someone lives, and adDRESS means to formally speak to a group of
people.
Rap is a great way to practice English because often the words are spoken
like regular sentences. However, the rapper uses a stronger rhythm and
faster speed. Some of the words might not make sense, but if you can
keep up with the rapper then you’re on your way to becoming fluent!
You might be using correct grammar and vocabulary, but it’s still not how
a native speaker would say it.
For example, you can say “how do you feel today?” but a native speaker
might say “how’re you doing?” or “what’s up?” instead. Phrases and
expressions can be helpful for sounding more natural when you speak.
Take some time to really notice how you speak in your native language.
Learn how to say your most commonly used phrases and words in
English. Knowing them in English will help you speak as well in English as
you do in your native language.
12. Prepare for Specific Situations
Are you learning English speaking for a specific reason? For example, are
you learning English so you can get a job in an English-speaking
company? In that case, practice English that will help you in an
interview. Are you learning English so you can make friends in America?
Then you would need a different kind of English.
Before you go to a place where you have to speak English, you can
practice what you might have to say. If you’re preparing to go to a
restaurant, what might conversations in a restaurant sound like? Answer
the questions a waiter might ask you. Try talking about food and menus.
13. Relax!
You can be your best helper or your worst enemy when learning to speak
fluently! We know it’s hard, but you should try not to worry about how you
sound when you speak. Just relax!
If you get stuck or confused, just take a big breath and start over. Speak
slower if you have to. Take time to pause and think about your next
sentence.
Here’s a fun way to test how well your spoken English has developed:
choose a story that you know really well and tell it in English.
Even if you have nobody to talk to in English, you can still build confidence
and master fluency on your own time.
In some ways, practicing speaking is even easier by yourself! Now you
know exactly how to improve spoken English by yourself and should feel
confident doing so!
By Robby
Personally I’ve been living in an English speaking country for ten years
now, and during this time I’ve gone from a struggling to a fluent English
speaker.
Has living in an English speaking country helped me to achieve
spoken English fluency?
Has being part of an English speaking society been the crucial element in
the process of my fluency acquisition? Would I never have achieved
my current level of English fluency if not speaking with native
English speakers for hours day in, day out?
Well… I’m not so sure of that. You see, I haven’t always worked
among English speakers, and I’ve also spent quite some time out of work.
But did I stop improving my English skills during those times? No way!
There’s plenty of ways you can improve your spoken English skills
without living in an English speaking country, so let’s analyze the
importance of being part of an English speaking society and its impact on
your fluency.
Personally I know a Latvian girl who arrived to Ireland a few months ago,
and despite having never lived in an English speaking country before,
she landed a job in a cell phone shop. The next thing I heard, she was
promoted to a shop manager’s position, and I guess I don’t have to be
telling you that her spoken English skills played a significant role in the
recruitment and career growth process.
I’m also quite sure that on every such foreigner there are ten other
foreigners who find themselves struggling with English fluency just
because they’ve been following the traditional education guidelines. Too
much focus on the written word and writing – and the end result is
an individual who’s unable to maintain a fluent English
conversation just because he or she keeps preparing speech in
their head before actually speaking it out.
I could tell you of at least a half a dozen job interviews I’ve blown over
the years while I struggled with my English fluency, and it all happened
despite having lived in Ireland for years.
If you’re willing enough, if you possess lots of willpower and you persist
with your spoken English practice, you can achieve English fluency
having never actually spoken to a native English speaker face-to-face.
No matter WHERE you are and WHO you speak with, it’s going to
contribute into your English fluency improvement. To heck, you
can even spend your evenings shadowing DVD sets of popular TV dramas
and then following it up with some spoken English self-practicing – and I
bet it’s going to make you into a quite a capable foreign English speaker!
However, the reason why I’m writing this article isn’t to discourage you
from improving your English while living in a foreign country.
You can find a hundred reasons why NOT to improve your English, but
all it takes is a little bit of determination and consistency to see
significant improvement to your English fluency over a longer
period of time.
Read this blog post I wrote about passive ways of achieving English
immersion.
By the way, those articles just scratch the surface of the activities a
foreign English speaker can engage into, and it just goes to show how
much you can do to improve your spoken English even if you don’t live in
an English speaking country and you’re not part of an English speaking
society.
Yes, living among other English speakers you’ll have a definite advantage
over those who have to go the extra mile to immerse themselves in
English.
Yes, speaking with other English speakers all day long for months and
years will take your English to the next level and make you really
comfortable when communicating with others.
… and this list is not exhaustive by a long shot, my dear foreign English
speaking friends!
Robby
P.S. Would you like to find out why I’m highlighting some of the
text in red? Read this article and you’ll learn why it’s so important to
learn idiomatic expressions and how it will help you to improve your
spoken English!