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Do You Speak English Clearly? Or Are People Nodding to Make You Happy?
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Why ask the question? Little do you as English learners pay attention to how you speak English. It’s not your fault. Your teachers have talked you into ignoring the way you sound. “We can understand you” they say. What they mean is that we can understand you when you speak about something we already…
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English Speak Like Native is Back!
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Did you guys miss me? I bet you did. Thank you so much for all your loyalty. It’s incredible how many emails I got from loyal followers just asking me when the website is going to be back up. Well, there it is. The website has been re-designed and now looks completely different. Parts…
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Improving English: None for you without review
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The title of this article says it all. So why is review such an important part of the learning process and improving English? Well, just look at the first two letters of the word “review”, what have you got? That’s right. “Re”. “Re” also happens to be the first two letters of the word…
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The stubborn pronunciation problems of Japanese learners
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Japanese are stubborn, so are their pronunciation problems Japanese students of English struggle with their pronunciation problems. No matter how advanced the speakers are, no matter how long the learners have been learning or speaking English for, some (phonetic) mistakes are real stubborn aren’t they? They keep happening over and over and Japanese students…
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Why speaking English with a good accent matters!
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It’s a confidence game that’s why. You can’t afford to sound weak, timid, confused, incoherent, nervous, anxious or funny (as in weird). You sound funny when you speak fluent yet not fully intelligible English. Some Indians are a good example of that. They speak fluently and confidently but boy do they sound hilarious or…
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Phonological awareness and phonics: Phon what?
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I have been getting many kindergarten teachers asking me about the difference between phonological awareness and phonics or between phonemic awareness and phonics. You’ve got to see how frustrated they look when asking “what the hell is the difference between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness?”. I know, I know. It’s confusing isn’t it? No…
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Why You Can’t Understand Native English!
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“Because I’m not a native speaker of English! Duhhh” many of you might think. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had advanced students coming up to me completely baffled. They have been learning English for years, yet they are still unable to understand native English speakers, especially on TV. Why especially on…
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How not to sound like a robot in English!
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This article will be helpful for those of you who believe you have a good command of the English language. You can speak fluently, you know the words, you know the grammar, you’re clear enough for most native speakers, however, you might get the feeling that you don’t sound interesting when you speak English.…
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Being great at English: How bad do you want it?
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Not only English, being great at anything pretty much all comes down to how bad you want it. You’ve got to want it! You’ve got to want it so bad that you wouldn’t want to exist in this world without it. It’s the food you eat, the water you drink and the air your…