Improve Your Communication skills
Today we have many communications problem. So, I surfing
some sites & to collect some data.
Here I published the some surfing’s collections for to
improve your communications skills.
Please give me your true response if you have like or
dislike.
Let’s Begin to Improve Your Communication Skills.
Improve Your Communication Skills
We all have people with whom we have to work to get things
done. Our ability to communicate with
clients, customers, subordinates, peers, and superiors can enhance our
effectiveness or sabotage us. Many
times, our verbal skills make the difference.
Here are 10 ways to increase your verbal efficacy at work:
Develop your voice – A high whiney voice is not perceived to
be one of authority. In fact, a high
soft voice can make you sound like prey to an aggressive co-worker who is out
to make his/her career at the expense of anyone else. Begin doing exercises to lower the pitch of
your voice. Here is one to start: Sing — but do it an octave lower on all your
favorite songs. Practice this and, after
a period of time, your voice will begin to lower.
Slow down – People will perceive you as nervous and unsure
of yourself if you talk fast. However,
be careful not to slow down to the point where people begin to finish your
sentences just to help you finish.
Animate your voice – Avoid a monotone. Use dynamics.
Your pitch should raise and lower.
Your volume should be soft and loud.
Listen to your local TV news anchor; take notes.
Enunciate your words – Speak clearly. Don’t mumble.
If people are always saying, “huh,” to you, you are mumbling.
Use appropriate volume – Use a volume that is appropriate
for the setting. Speak more softly when
you are alone and close. Speak louder
when you are speaking to larger groups or across larger spaces.
Pronounce your words correctly – People will judge your
competency through your vocabulary. If
you aren’t sure how to say a word, don’t use it.
Use the right words – If you’re not sure of the meaning of a
word, don’t use it. Start a program of
learning a new word a day. Use it
sometime in your conversations during the day.
Make eye contact – I know a person who is very competent in
her job. However, when she speaks to
individuals or groups, she does so with her eyes shut. When she opens them periodically, she stares
off in a direction away from the listener.
She is perceived as incompetent by those with whom she consults. One technique to help with this is to
consciously look into one of the listener’s eyes and then move to the
other. Going back and forth between the
two (and I hope they only have two) makes your eyes appear to sparkle. Another trick is to imagine a letter “T” on
the listener’s face with the cross bar being an imaginary line across the eye
brows and the vertical line coming down the center of the nose. Keep your eyes scanning that “T” zone.
Use gestures – Make your whole body talk. Use smaller gestures for individuals and
small groups. The gestures should get
larger as the group that one is addressing increases in size.
Don’t send mixed messages – Make your words, gestures,
facial expressions, tone, and message match.
Disciplining an employee while smiling sends a mixed message and,
therefore, is ineffective. If you have
to deliver a negative message, make your words, facial expressions, and tone
match the message.
Improving your communication skills will improve your
productivity.
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Many deserving candidates lose out on job opportunities
because of their vernacular accent.
Can I ‘neutralise’ my accent?
Yes, you can. All you need to do is train yourself to speak
English as comfortably and perfectly as you speak your mother tongue.
How do you train yourself? By inculcating certain practices
in your daily lifestyle. These will get you closer to sounding like a native
English speaker and equip you with a global accent — and you will speak not
American or British English, but correct English.
This is the first step to learn any other accent, be it
American or British or Australian.
Lisa Mojsin, head trainer, director and founder of the
Accurate English Training Company in Los Angeles, offers these tips to help
‘neutralise’ your accent or rather do away with the local twang, as you speak.
i. Observe the mouth movements of those who speak English
well and try to imitate them.
When you are watching television, observe the mouth
movements of the speakers. Repeat what they are saying, while imitating the
intonation and rhythm of their speech.
ii. Until you learn the correct intonation and rhythm of
English, slow your speech down.
If you speak too quickly, and with the wrong intonation and
rhythm, native speakers will have a hard time understanding you.
Don’t worry about your listener getting impatient with your
slow speech — it is more important that everything you say be understood.
iii. Listen to the ‘music’ of English.
Do not use the ‘music’ of your native language when you
speak English. Each language has its own way of ‘singing’.
iv. Use the dictionary.
Try and familiarise yourself with the phonetic symbols of
your dictionary. Look up the correct pronunciation of words that are hard for
you to say.
v. Make a list of frequently used words that you find
difficult to pronounce and ask someone who speaks the language well to pronounce
them for you.
Record these words, listen to them and practice saying them.
Listen and read at the same time.
vi. Buy books on tape.
Record yourself reading some sections of the book. Compare
the sound of your English with that of the person reading the book on the tape.
vii. Pronounce the ending of each word.
Pay special attention to ‘S’ and ‘ED’ endings. This will
help you strengthen the mouth muscles that you use when you speak English.
viii. Read aloud in English for 15-20 minutes every day.
Research has shown it takes about three months of daily
practice to develop strong mouth muscles for speaking a new language.
ix. Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation
mistakes.
Many people hate to hear the sound of their voice and avoid
listening to themselves speak. However, this is a very important exercise
because doing it will help you become conscious of the mistakes you are making.
x. Be patient.
You can change the way you speak but it won’t happen
overnight. People often expect instant results and give up too soon. You can
change the way you sound if you are willing to put some effort into it.
Quick tips
Various versions of the English language exist. Begin by
identifying the category you fall into and start by improving the clarity of
your speech.
~ Focus on removing the mother tongue influence and the
‘Indianisms’ that creep into your English conversations.
~ Watch the English news on television channels like Star
World, CNN, BBC and English movies on Star Movies and HBO.
~ Listen to and sing English songs. We’d recommend Westlife,
Robbie Williams, Abba, Skeeter Davis and Connie Francis among others.
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Better Communication with Employees and Peers
If the thought of speaking in front of an audience sends you
into a cold sweat, then this Inc.com guide is for you. Communication experts
and CEOs share their strategies for smooth communications with employees,
making winning presentations to investors, writing and delivering speeches that
get standing ovations, and much more.
A Crash Course in Communication
Need a quick refresher on effective interpersonal
interaction? Two communication experts offer 12 steps to smoother
conversations.
Lost in Translation
Thanks to e-mail, BlackBerrys, and text messaging, the
face-to-face encounter is becoming a dying art. Here’s why you should revive
it.
The Power of Listening
How does an old-line manufacturer in a stagnant industry
manage to grow 25% a year for 10 years? By taking its employees seriously.
Do as I Say: Quick Tips for Masterful Communication
Tired of doing all the talking and not having your message
get through to your staff? Try these suggestions to improve your leadership
communication skills.
Just Listen to Yourself
Tape yourself to better understand your communications
style.
Powerful Questions Can Have a Powerful Effect
Questions can be one of the most effective communication
tools available to us. Do you use questions enough in your day-to-day
interactions?
When Do You Lie? Strategies For More Authentic, Respectful
Communication
Lies come in all shapes, sizes and colors. (Ever heard of
flat-out, teensy or white lies?) This article focuses on when it’s appropriate,
if at all, to lie.
10 Tips for Communicating Change
Transition is inevitable, but exactly what you say and how
you say it can make a major impact on how change is handled in your company.
How to Motivate Employees
Kevin Plank, founder of Under Armour, says it is vital to
maintain regular face-to-face communication with employees even as a company expands.
The 4-1-1 On Constructive Criticism
Being critical is easy, and offering criticism seems easier
still. Yet constructive criticism – - the more refined and effective brand of
critical feedback – - is like an art.
Lost in the Translation
Tips on communicating with employees who don’t speak
English.
How to Say You’re Sorry
Apologizing is part of doing business. But do it wrong, and
you’ll really be sorry.
Tips on Becoming a Good Conversationalist
In this excerpt from How to Work a Room: The Ultimate Guide
to Savvy Socializing in Person and Online learn tips for becoming a talk target
— someone with whom it is easy to make conversation.
10 Tips for Successful Networking
Keith Ferrazzi needs two PalmPilots to keep track of all his
contacts, people like Bill Clinton and Michael Milken. But there’s far more to
cracking the inner circle of the power elite than just taking names.
Presentations and Pitches
Powerful Presentations
Small-business columnist Rhonda Abrams shares nine strategies
for giving powerful presentations.
Reinventing the PowerPoint
New tech tools to liven your tired old PowerPoint
presentations–and give your online marketing efforts a boost.
Perfecting Your Pitch
Check out these tips from entrepreneurs and business experts
on creating pitches that can help you raise capital.
More Power Than Point
PowerPoint (or “presentation software”) has become the
lingua franca of American business. It’s also become the problem with American
business.
Best of the Net: Power Brokers
When it comes to presentation software, most users agree
there’s one clear standard. We’ve found some Web-based resources to help you
make your point.
Captivate Audiences with Powerful Presentations
Do you want your speeches to pack a punch? Professional
speaker and speech consultant Patricia Fripp offers ideas on humor, movement,
and vocal techniques.
Short and Sweet: Mastering Quick Presentations
Called on to make a brief speech? Professional speaker and
speech coach Patricia Fripp offers tips for saying what you want, short and
sweet.
Present Before You Propose
Improve your presentation by saving handouts until the end.
Finding the Perfect Pitch
Watch three rookies gear up for the investor presentation of
a lifetime.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Presenters
Entrepreneurs learn pretty quickly that making a verbal
pitch to investors is very different from submitting a written business plan.
Here are seven good practices gleaned from a venture-capital boot camp.
Elements of a Winning Pitch
A presentation to potential investors in your business — to
family, friends, or angels — should include most of these elements.
Meetings
Escape From Meeting Hell
It’s time for another soul-sapping, oxygen-depriving,
time-wasting, mind-numbing company meeting. Or is it? We offer 15 clever
solutions to the problems with most meetings.
Meetings Go Virtual
Web conferencing and other collaboration technologies —
tools that help people work with one another through their computers — have
become more available and affordable. This is a boon for smaller companies
whose only previous collaboration option was to gather workers in a room with
coffee, donuts and a whiteboard.
Meetings 101: Was That a Good Meeting, or a Bad One?
Five simple factors that help ensure every meeting is a good
meeting.
Tools for Boosting Communication Effectiveness
Tips on how to boost the effectiveness of communication in
meetings, during change initiatives, and in interviews.
Advice on Getting the Most Out of Meetings
Keith Lamb shares some advice on getting the most out of
your meetings.
Cure the Sick-Meeting Ills
Ineffective meetings may be wasting time and lowering
morale. Two communication experts offer seven strategies for dramatically
improving your meetings.
How to Manage Meetings More Effectively
A look at companies that hold unique meetings for developing
products, building camaraderie, generating ideas, and reviewing employees’
needs and achievements.
Speech Writing and Delivery
Writing and Organizing a Winning Speech
Public speaker and speech consultant Patricia Fripp suggests
following one of two basic outlines for your speech. She also offers
speechwriting tips.
Polishing and Rehearsing for a Perfect Presentation
You’ve written a speech, but there’s still work to do before
delivering it. Patricia Fripp gives six suggestions for making sure your speech
hits home along with several ideas on effective rehearsing.
Deliver a Stellar Speech
Powerful presentations happen when you check out the room in
advance and work to connect with the audience when talking. Patricia Fripp
offers ideas for ensuring that what you say is a smashing success.
No More Pre-Speech Jitters
From virtual reality therapy to positive visualization,
we’ve got relaxation techniques to help offset your fears of public speaking.
Free Speech
Preparing for a big speech? Resources on the Web can help.
The Written Word
Work through Writer’s Block
Need help working through some written projects? Two
communication experts offer eight tips for clear and effective writing.
Writing Well on the Web
Content is king. Here are easy ways to make your website
more reader-friendly.
Polish Your Prose
Poor grammar and punctuation in proposals and reports could
cost you business.
How to Blog
The trick, say experts and longtime bloggers, is restraint.
“For marketers, it’s about being more authentic, which is so ironic,” says one
analyst.
How to Drive Traffic to Your Company’s Blog
Driving traffic to your small business’ corporate blog takes
equal parts old-fashioned marketing and contemporary Web tools.
Troubleshooting
Are You Assertive or Aggressive?
Assertiveness is the skill that tops the list for success or
failure in any workplace situation. Learn how to be more assertive — not
aggressive — and apply it to your interactions.
Get Your Point Across without Being Rude
Is your communication style a little rough around the edges?
Here are five techniques for saying what you mean without making enemies in the
process.
Communicating When People Leave You Speechless
Improved communication is a nice idea, but can it work in
the real world? Take a look at these real-life business issues and suggestions
for better communication that may lead to better business.
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· Start your own English language blog. Even for people who
don’t have to write in English, writing can be a great way of properly learning
the kind of vocabulary you need to describe your own life and interests, and of
thinking about how to stop making grammar mistakes. The problem most people
have is that they don’t know what to write about. One traditional way to make
sure you write every day in English is to write an English diary (journal), and
a more up to date way of doing this is to write a blog. Popular topics include
your language learning experience, your experience studying abroad, your local
area, your language, or translations of your local news into English.
· Write a news diary. Another daily writing task that can
work for people who would be bored by writing about their own routines in a
diary is to write about the news that you read and listen to everyday. If you
include your predictions for how you think the story will develop (e.g. “I
think Hillary will become president”), this can give you a good reason to read
old entries another time, at which time you can also correct and mistakes you
have made and generally improve what you have written.
Sign up for a regular English tip. Some websites offer a
weekly or even daily short English lesson sent to your email account. If your
mobile phone has an e-mail address, it is also possible to have the tips sent
to your phone to read on the way to work or school. Please note, however, that
such services are not usually graded very well to the levels of different
students, and they should be used as a little added extra or revision in your
English studies rather than as a replacement for something you or your teacher
have chosen more carefully as what you need to learn.
Listen to MP3s. Although buying music on the internet is
becoming more popular in many countries, not so many people know that you can
download speech radio such as audio books (an actor reading out a novel) and
speech radio. Not only is this better practice for your English than listening
to English music, from sources like Scientific American, BBC and Australia’s
ABC Radio it is also free.
Listen to English music. Even listening to music while doing
something else can help a little for things like getting used to the natural
rhythm and tone of English speech, although the more time and attention you
give to a song the more you will learn from listening to it again in the
future.
Read the lyrics to a song. Although just listening to a song
in English can be a good way of really learning the words of the chorus in an
easily memorable way, if you want to really get something out of listening to
English music you will need to take some time to read the lyrics of the song
with a dictionary. If the lyrics are not given in the CD booklet, you may be
able to find them on the internet, but please note that some lyrics sites
deliberately put a few errors into their lyrics for copyright reasons. Once you
have read and understood the lyrics, if
you then listen and read at the same time, this can be a good way of
understanding how sounds change in fast, natural, informal speech.
Sing karaoke in English. The next stage after understanding
and memorising a song is obviously to sing it. Although some words have their
pronunciation changed completely to fit in with a song, most of the words have
the same sounds and stressed syllables as in normal speech. Remembering which
words rhyme at the end of each line can also be a good way of starting to learn
English pronunciation.
Write a film, music, hotel or book review. Another
motivating and easy way to make yourself write in English is to write a review
for a site such as Amazon or Internet Movie Database. Many non-native speakers
write reviews on sites like this, and if you have some special understanding of
the book, music or film due to your first language or knowing the artist
personally, that would be very interesting for the English speakers who read
and write reviews on the site.
Only search in English. Switching your search engine to the
English language version of msn, yahoo, Google etc. can not only be a good way
of practising fast reading for specific information in English, but could also
give you a wider choice of sites to choose from and give you an idea of what
foreigners are writing about your country and area.
Read a book you’ve already read or seen the movie of in your
own language. Although most language learners under Advanced level would
probably learn more from reading a graded reader or something from the internet
than they would from reading an original book written for English speakers, for
some people reading something like Harry Potter in the original can be a great
motivator to improve their English. To make this easier for you and make sure
that it motivates you rather than just making your tired, try reading a book
that you already know the story of. This not only makes it easier to understand
and guess vocabulary, but you are also more likely to remember the language in
it. If you have not read the book before, reading a plot summary from the
internet can also help in the same way.
Read a translation into English. Another way of making sure
books are easier to understand is to choose a book that was originally
translated into English, preferably from your own language. Even if you haven’t
read the book in your own language, you will find the English is written in a
slightly simplified way that is more similar to how your own language is
written than a book originally written in English would be.
Skip the first ten pages. If you have given up with a book
in English or are reading it very slowly, try skimming through the first ten
pages or skipping them completely. The start of most books tend to be mainly
description and are therefore full of difficult vocabulary and don’t have a
clear story line yet to help you understand what is happening and to motivate
you to turn the next page. If the book is still too difficult even after the
introductionary part is finished, it is probably time to give that book up for
now and try it again after you have read some easier things.
Read a book with lots of dialogue. Opening up books before
you buy one and flicking through them to find one with lots of direct dialogue
in it has several advantages. If there is less text on the page due to all the
speech marks etc, this can make it easier to read and easier to write
translations on. Dialogue is also much easier to understand than descriptive
parts of a book, and is much more like the language you will want to learn in
order to be able to speak English.
Read English language comics. Even more than books with lots
of dialogue, comics can be easy to understand and full of idiomatic language as
it is actually spoken. There can be difficulties with slang, difficult to
understand jokes and/ or dialogue written how people speak rather than with
normal spellings, so try to choose which comic carefully. Usually, serious or
adventure comics are easier to understand than funny ones.
Read English language entertainment guides. Nowadays most
big cities in the world have an English language magazine and/ or online guide
to the movies, plays, exhibitions that are on in the city that week. Reading
this in English is not only good value, but it could also guide you to places
that English speakers are interested in and where you might hear some English
spoken around you.
Read English language magazines. Like books, if you can read
two versions of the same magazine (Newsweek in your language and in English,
for example), that could make understanding it much easier.
Take a one week intensive course. Although you cannot expect
to come out of a very short course speaking much better English than when you
started it, if you continue studying a little over the following weeks and
months, the knowledge you gained then will gradually come out and mean that
your level of speaking, listening etc. are better than they would have been if
you hadn’t taken that course. This positive effect can still be true up to a
year later.
Follow your intensive course up with an extensive course.
The more time you can spend studying English the better, but studying periodic
intensive courses with a few hours of study a week in between is probably
better value for money than any other system as it gives your brain time to
subconsciously learn and start using the new language you have learnt before
you introduce the next new “chunk” of language.
Supplement your group class with a one to one class. Another
good way to combine two different kinds of classes is to study both in a group
class and one to one. Having a one to one teacher, even if just a couple of
times a month, will mean that you can be taught exactly the language that you
need, that you will have more time to speak, and that you can have as much
error correction as you like.
Supplement your one to one class with a group class. The
benefits of having a group class are often less clear to students, but they
include the fact that you will learn to deal with several people speaking at
once, have a chance to practice skills such as interrupting people, and will
hear a range of different viewpoints and topics.
Teach your children or friends some English. Recent research
has shown that elder children tend to be a couple of IQ points above their
younger siblings, and the most likely reason is that explaining things to their
little brothers and sisters gives them an intellectual boost. In the same way,
teaching someone lower level than you the English you already know is a great
way of permanently fixing that knowledge in your own brain.
Ask your company to start English lessons. Even if you don’t
need to speak English at work, English lessons can be a fun and reasonably
priced way for your company to spend their training budget in a popular way.
Have English radio on in the background while you are doing
your housework. Even if you are not listening carefully, it will help you get a
feel for natural English rhythm and intonation.
Play English language learning games on your Nintendo DS.
Although such games can have quite random language and are unlikely to improve
your ability to speak English on their own, the next time you hear or read the
same language elsewhere it will be really fixed in your brain by the fact you
have played a game with it in already. It is also a nice way of taking a break
from your other English studies while also doing some English. To make sure it
really is a break and to avoid wasting time learning language from the game
that is not much used in daily life, don’t bother writing down any new language
you see in the game, but just try to learn it from playing the game again.
Say or think what you are doing in English as you do your
daily tasks. As you are doing your chores, try creating sentences describing
what you are doing, e.g. ‘I am unscrewing the ketchup bottle cap’. This gets
you used to thinking in English without translating, and can be a good way of
seeing what simple vocabulary that is around you everyday you don’t know. yet
Watch English language films with English subtitles. For
people who can’t understand a film without subtitles but find themselves not
listening at all when reading subtitles in their own language, this should be
the way of watching a film that you should aim for. If it is too difficult to
watch the whole film this way, try watching the (usually important) first 10 or
15 minutes of the film with subtitles in your own language, switch to English
subtitles after that, and only switch back to subtitles in your own language if
you get totally lost following the story of the film.
Watch films in your language with English subtitles. If you
are finding English films with English subtitles too difficult or you can’t
find English films with English subtitles in your local video shop, this is a
good second best option. Looking for local films with English subtitles can also
sometimes be a good sign of quality, as it means the producers of the film are
expecting it to be popular internationally as well.
Watch English films with subtitles in your language. Again,
this is not as good practice as English language films with English subtitles,
but is more relaxing, can be easier to find suitable DVDs for, and is also
possible with VHS.
Watch the same film or TV episode over and over again. This
can not only save you money on DVDs, but will mean that you can really learn
the language without having to study it. Some comedies can also get funnier the
more you watch them, especially if you watch them with no subtitles and so
understand a little more each time you watch it.
Be realistic about your level. One thing that holds many language
learners back is actually trying too hard and tackling something that their
brain is not ready for yet. Checking your level with a level check test on the
internet, by taking an English language test (FCE, CAE, IELTS, TOEIC, TOEFL
etc.), or by taking a free trial level check and/ or lesson in a language
school will help you find out what your level is and so choose suitable
self-study materials.
Be realistic about your reading level. Most researchers
agree that people learn most when reading something they understand almost all
of. If there are one or two words per page that you have never seen before,
that is about the right level. If there are three or more on every page, you
should switch to something easier and come back later.
Read graded readers (= easy readers). These are books that
are especially written for language learners like you, e.g. Penguin Readers.
Although it can be difficult to find something as interesting as things written
in newspapers or on the internet, in terms of learning the language only people
who need to read for their work or an exam usually gain more from reading
things written for graded readers. Graded readers of classic books like Charles
Dickens also have the benefit of giving you a lot of knowledge about the literature,
and culture more generally, of English speaking countries in a short time.
Read the whole thing with no help. Although using a
dictionary has been shown to help with both short term and long term learning
of vocabulary, the fact that using it slows reading down can stop some people
reading in English at all. Reading a whole book quickly through just for
pleasure from time to time will help you remember how fun reading in another
language can be.
Read and learn everything. At the opposite extreme, it can
be hard work but very satisfying to get to the end of a book knowing that you
have learnt every word in it. See other tips on this page to make sure it is a
book that is easy enough to do this with and to ensure that the vocabulary you
learn is useful.
Watching English children’s films or TV programmes. Although
some of the vocabulary you can learn from things made for children can be a bit
strange (lots of animal names and maybe animal noises, including baby names for
things), the fact that not only the language but the structure of the story is
simplified can make it an easy and motivating thing to watch. Like good
language learning materials, the same language is also often repeated to make
it memorable, and the use of catchy songs etc. can increase this positive
effect on your memory.
Read English children’s books. This is very similar to
watching English children’s movies, but with the added advantage of there being
more illustrations than adult books, which both helps you to understand the
story and makes the page brighter and more motivating to read.
Keep a list of language to learn, e.g. a vocab list. Even if
you don’t often find time to go though your vocab list and it keeps on building
up, just the act of choosing which words you need to learn and writing them
down on a special list can help you learn them.
Go through your vocab list several times every day. If
ticking off words on a vocabulary list on the train to work is inconvenient or
embarrassing for you, you can keep your list of words to learn as an entry in
your electronic dictionary, as a mobile phone to do list or as a text file in
your MP3 player (e.g. iPod). Although the time spent transferring the
information between different formats like these may seem wasted, in fact any
time you spend using the vocabulary like this will help you learn it.
Convert your vocab list to English only. One way to stop
yourself translating and therefore increase your speed of comprehension and
production is to learn all your vocabulary without the use of your own first
language. Ways you can write a vocab list in only English include with synonyms
(words with the same meaning, e.g. “tall” and “high”); with opposites (“high”
and “low”); with pronunciation factors such as number of syllables (the number
of beats, e.g. three for “de- ci- sion”) and the word stress (the syllable that
is pronounced louder and longer, e.g. the second syllable in “baNAna”); and
gapped sentences (e.g. “I am not _________________ in science fiction” for the
word “interested”).
Cross out and delete. Crossing out or deleting words,
sentences or whole pages that you have learnt can be a great motivator, and
save your list of things to learn becoming too big to handle.
Throw everything away and start again. One of the things
that can put most people off learning is a stack of half finished books or a
huge list vocabulary waiting to be learnt. Simply getting rid of all that and
starting again with something new from zero can be a great motivator and get
your studies underway again.
Label things in your house or office with post-its. The
easiest vocabulary to learn is the vocabulary of things you see and use
everyday. If you can write the names of things around you on slips of paper and
stick them on the real thing, this is a great way of learning useful
vocabulary. If you can leave them there over the following days and weeks, this
is a very easy way of revising the vocabulary until it is properly learnt.
Label a drawing. For people who can’t put labels on real
things, the next best option is to take a photo of a real place in your life
like your office, print it out, and then draw lines to all of the things you
can see in the picture and label them in English with the help of a dictionary.
You can do the same thing with places you pass through everyday like the
station. Because you will see the same thing again and again, it should be easy
to really learn the words for those things.
Keep a diary in English. This is a popular method of making
sure you use English everyday for people who don’t often speak English and
can’t think of things to write about. The fact that you are writing about real
things that have happened to you means that any words you look up in the
dictionary will be vocabulary that is useful for you and easy to learn.
Online chat. The closest thing to speaking for people who
don’t have the chance to speak English is online chat, as you have to think and
respond quickly, and the language is short and informal just like speech.
Listen to the radio news in English. You can make this easier
by reading the news in English first, or even just by reading or listening to
the news in your own language.
Read an English language newspaper. Freebie newspapers like
“Metro” in London are usually the easiest to understand, followed by mid-brow
titles like “The Daily Express” or “The Daily Mail” in English. Popular
newspapers like “The Sun” are more difficult because of the idiomatic, slangy
use of language and the number of jokes in the headlines and articles.
Write fiction in English, e.g. short stories. For people who
find writing a diary about things that happen to them everyday boring, the best
thing is to let your imagination go and write about whatever comes into your
head. The advantage of this is that if you can’t think of how to say something
in English, you can just change the story to something that is easier to
explain. Perhaps the easiest way to start writing fiction in English is with a
diary, changing any details you like to make it more interesting and adding
more and more fantasy as the weeks go on.
English language exercise videos. This is quite similar to
how babies learn, by listening, watching and copying. It is also good for your
health!
Learn a famous speech or poem in English by heart. Although
you may never hear or get the chance to say exactly that line, having one
memorable example of an English grammatical form in your head can make it much
easier to learn other examples of the same grammar as you hear them. It is also
something you can practice over and over without being as boring as grammatical
drills.
Get tipsy (= a little drunk) before speaking English. This
can not only improve your fluency while you are drinking, but can also improve
your confidence in future days and weeks by showing you that you can
communicate what you want to say.
Use a dictionary while you are watching a movie. Films often
have the same words many times, so if you look up important words the first or
second time you hear them, you should have learnt them by the end of the film.
It is easier to use a dictionary if you watch with English subtitles.
Learn and use the phonemic script. Although there are many
sounds in English, there are even more spellings. By learning the phonemic
script and writing vocabulary down with it, you can both add another stage to
your vocabulary learning that should help you learn it more thoroughly, and
improve your pronunciation. It can also make things easier for you by stopping
you trying to pronounce different spellings of the same pronunciation different
ways.
Learn some spelling rules. Many people think that English
spelling is random, but in fact most words follow some kind of rule, e.g. the
“magic E” that changes the pronunciation of “mad” and “made”.
Record your own voice. For people who don’t have much or any
correction of pronunciation from a teacher, recording yourself and listening
back makes it easier to hear whether you are really making the English sounds
that you are trying to or not.
Use computer pronunciation analysis. Although most
programmes that claim to tell you when you are pronouncing correctly or not
don’t actually do that, listening many times and seeing how your voice changes
as you try to match the sounds and waveform given by a pronunciation CD ROM can
be good practice and more motivating than just recording your own voice.
Learn as many words as you can of one category, e.g. animal
words. Learning similar words together can both expand your overall vocabulary
and make them easier to learn by forming links between the words in your brain.
Take holidays abroad. This is not only a good opportunity to
speak English in situations where you really have to make yourself understood
in order to live, but it is also a good motivator to study English seriously in
the weeks and months before your trip. If possible, also try to use English
even when you could use your own language, e.g. when you pick a guided tour of
a museum or historic place or when you book a flight on the internet, and try
to avoid package tours.
Draw pictures of the words you want to learn. Especially if
you are artistic, this can be a better way of learning vocabulary than writing
translations or example sentences.
Find a foreign boyfriend or girlfriend. No tips on how to do
this here, but everyone agrees that getting or even just looking for a date in
English can be a great motivator to improve your language skills.
Arrange a conversation exchange. Swapping lessons and
conversation with someone who wants to learn your language can be a good
alternative for those who aren’t looking for romance, or can sometimes lead
onto dating for those who are!
Sign up for an English language exam. Even if you don’t need
to take an exam and don’t want to or can’t take a special course to study for
it, paying to take an exam like TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS or FCE can really motivate
you take your English studies seriously.
Model your accent on one particular actor. e.g. try to speak
like Robert De Niro. Students who say they want to sound more like a native
speaker have the problem that native speakers don’t sound all that much like
each other. Choosing one model can make the task of improving your
pronunciation more clear, and is quite fun. Doing an impression of that person
also makes a good party trick.
Use an English-English dictionary. Trying to use a bilingual
dictionary less and switching to a monolingual one can help you to stop
translating in you head when you are speaking or listening, and other useful
English vocabulary can come up while you are using the dictionary.
Occasionally talk to or e-mail your friends in English. Many
people find this a bit false or embarrassing, but if you think of it as a study
club and set a particular time and/ or place, it is no different from studying
maths together.
Go to an English or Irish pub. As well as having a menu in
English and being a good way of finding out something about the culture of
English speaking countries, you might also find there are free English language
listings magazines, English language sports on the TV and/ or foreign people
you can speak to.
Buy a speaking electronic dictionary. Although most
electronic dictionaries are not as good as paper ones for the amount of
information they give you about each word, some of them have the very useful
function of saying the word with the correct pronunciation.
Learn your electronic dictionary vocabulary list. Most
electronic dictionaries also have a button which you can push to see the last
30 or more words you looked up. By deleting words you decide are useless or you
have already learnt from this list, you can use it as a “to do list” of words
to learn that you can look at several times a day in the train etc.
Switch operating system to English. Changing the operating
language of your mobile phone, video recorder etc. to English can be an easy
way of making sure you use the language everyday.
Set goals. Deciding how many hours you want to study, how
many words you want to learn or what score you want to get in a test are all
good ways of making sure you do extra study.
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Many deserving candidates often lose out on jobs because
they might be a bit difficult to understand. The better you communicate with
those your work with, the more effective and successful you will be at your job
and in your daily life interacting with people!
But how do you train yourself to do so?
Through practice, you can soon learn to speak English as
comfortably and easily as your native tongue. Incorporate these tips into your
daily life. As with anything in life, the more you practice something the
proper way, the better you will become at it. Here are several tips to improve
your English speaking skills.
1. Observe the mouth movements of those who speak English
well and try to imitate them.
When you are watching television or watching people in real
life converse, observe the mouth movements of the speakers. Repeat what they
are saying, while imitating the intonation and rhythm of their speech. Great
television shows which reflect everyday English conversation are Friends,
Seinfeld and The Simpsons.
2. Listen to English music, television and movies to get
familiar with the language sounds.
This is an extremely helpful and fun way to improve your
English. Also listen to the volume of their voices depending on the situation.
Remember that loud volume can sometimes indicate aggressiveness or anger in
certain situations. Watch the English news on television channels like CNN (for
American English) or the BBC (If you wish to study British English). The news
is very helpful because their speech must be clear, concise and objective – however,
keep in mind they do not hold a great amount of emotion in their voices because
of this.
3. Use the dictionary.
Try and familiarise yourself with the phonetic symbols of
your dictionary. Look up the correct pronunciation of words that are hard for
you to say. Write down words and their definitions in a notebook for future
reference – it may come in handy!
4. Make a list of frequently used words that you find
difficult to pronounce and ask someone who speaks the language well to
pronounce them for you.
Record these words, listen to them and practice saying them.
Listen and read at the same time.
5. Buy books on tape.
Record yourself reading some sections of the book. Compare
the sound of your English with that of the person reading the book on the tape.
6. Pronounce the ending of each word.
Pay special attention to ‘-s’ and ‘-ed’ endings. This will
help you strengthen the mouth muscles that you use when you speak English.
7. Read aloud in English for at least 15 minutes every day.
Research has shown it takes about three months of daily
practice to develop strong mouth muscles for speaking a new language. Find
something you enjoy reading – especially if it has a lot of dialogue, and read
it aloud. Even if you don’t speak aloud, reading as many English books as
possible will increase your vocabulary and knowledge of sentence structure.
Make sure when you read these books that you understand what the author is
trying to say.
8. Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation
mistakes.
Many people hate to hear the sound of their voice and avoid
listening to themselves speak. However, this is a very important exercise
because doing it will help you become conscious of the mistakes you are making.
9. Be patient.
You can change the way you speak but it won’t happen
overnight. People often expect instant results and give up too soon. You can
change the way you sound if you are willing to put some effort into it.
10. Know which version of English you intend to speak.
Various versions of the English language exist. Begin by
identifying the category you fall into and start by improving the clarity of
your speech.
What else?
As an overall and final note, I would recommend for you to
simply practice and repeat. Having conversations with others in English is
quite helpful because you refresh your memory on what you know, and you learn
new things as well. When my mother didn’t know what a word meant or how it was
pronounced, she would ask me the meaning and to pronounce it. Then she would
whisper it to herself repeatedly after this. This helps to strengthen your
memory.
Immersing yourself in English-speaking culture is a good way
to appreciate the understand the English language without losing a sense of
your own identity and culture. Don’t forget that you can embrace both!
