33 WAYS TO SPEAK BETTER ENGLISH WITHOUT TAKING CLASSES

http://britishenglishcoach.com/33-ways-to-speak-better-english-without-taking-
classes/
If youre reading this, I imagine you want to communicate with confidence and
competence in English.
hen we communicate effecti!ely we are able to e"press our ideas and
opinions, share e"periences, and build relationships with others. hen we
struggle to e"press oursel!es, we feel un!alued and insecure. #s human
beings, we want to participate in group discussions and ha!e an impact on the
society around us.
In the modern world, we communicate across borders. English is the closest
thing we ha!e to an international language.
By speaking bee! Eng"is#$ pe%p"e a"" %&e! #e '%!"( )an #ea! %*! &%i)e+
B*$ % speak bee! Eng"is#$ y%* nee( a ea)#e!$ (%n, y%*- Y%* nee( %
ake Eng"is# )"asses$ !ig#-
ell, English teachers and English classes definitely help. $ut, studying English
for a few hours a week may not impro!e your spoken English !ery much.
W#a y%* nee( is % be)%.e a se"/0(i!e)e( "ea!ne!$ s%.eb%(y '#% akes
!esp%nsibi"iy /%! #ei! %'n "ea!ning an( )!eaes #ei! %'n "ea!ning
p!%g!a..e % (e&e"%p #ei! Eng"is#+
%ow, its certainly true that speaking is a social acti!ity and is best done with
other people. &owe!er, you could say the same about many acti!ities. 'eo
(essi became a wonderful football player because he spent hours e!ery day for
many years practising by himself.
Y%* )an (% #e sa.e 'i# y%*! Eng"is#+ He!e a!e 33 'ays % speak bee!
Eng"is#$ 'i#%* g%ing % )"asses+
1+ Re)%!( y%*!se"/ speaking Eng"is#. 'istening to yourself can be strange at
first but you get used to it. 'isten to a recording of a fluent English speaker )a
short audio file* and then record yourself repeating what they said. +ompare the
difference and try again. &umans are natural mimics so you will find yourself
getting better and better. ,oundcloud is an e"cellent tool for !oice recording as
you or your teacher can make notes about your errors.
2+ Rea( a"%*($ espe)ia""y (ia"%g*e. -eading aloud is not the same as
speaking naturally. &owe!er, it is !ery useful for e"ercising the !ocal muscles.
.ractice for / or 01 minutes a day and you will begin to notice which sounds are
difficult for you to produce. 2ind transcripts of natural dialogues, such as these
here, and practise acting them with a friend, you will also learn common
phrases which we use when speaking.
3+ Sing a"%ng % Eng"is# s%ngs '#i"e y%*,!e (!i&ing %! in #e s#%'e!. 3he
lyrics to pop songs are often con!ersational so you can learn lots of common
e"pressions by listening to them. &umans are also able to remember words
when used together with music which is why it is difficult to remember poems
but easy to remember the words to songs. &ere are some songs to get started
with.
3+ Wa)# s#%! &i(e% )"ips an( pa*se an( !epea '#a y%* #ea!. 4ou3ube is
an ama5ing resource for language learners and you probably already ha!e your
fa!ourite clips. (y ad!ice is to watch short clips and really study them. ith
longer !ideos, you may find your attention wanders. 3he key to impro!ing by
watching !ideos is to really listen carefully and use the pause button to focus on
sounds and words. (any 4ou3ube !ideos now ha!e captions.
4+ Lea!n &%'e" an( )%ns%nan s%*n(s in Eng"is#+ 3he .honemic chart is a
list of the different !owel and consonant sounds in English. 'earning how to
make these sounds and then using them to pronounce words correctly will
really help you speak English clearly. 3his is a great resource from the $ritish
+ouncil.
5+ Lea!n an( i(eni/y s)#'a. hat is schwa you might be asking6 ell, its the
most common sound in English: +lick here. e use it all the time in words like
7teacher and 7around.
6+ Lea!n ab%* 'eak an( s!%ng /%!.s %/ )%..%n '%!(s+hen you know
about the 7schwa sound, you will listen to nati!e speakers in a different way.
English is a stress-timed language which means that we use a combination of
strong and weak forms of some words. 2or e"ample, which words do we stress
in the following sentence6
I want to go for a drink tonight.
&ow do nati!e speakers pronounce to / for / a in the sentence6 e use the
schwa sound so it sounds like:
I wanna go ferra drink tenigh.
'earn how and when to use weak forms and your speaking will impro!e
o!ernight. 4ou will also learn to focus on stressed words when listening to fast,
nati!e-speaker English and you will finally be able to understand us8
7+ Lea!n ab%* '%!( s!ess+ hen words ha!e more than one syllable, we
stress one or more of them. 2or e"ample, the wordintelligent has four syllables
but which syllable do we stress6+lick here to find out. -emember that the small
!ertical mark abo!e the word identifies the stressed syllable: / n tel. .d 9nt/
8+ Lea!n ab%* senen)e s!ess. ,entence stress refers to the word or words
we stress in a phrase of a sentence. hen we stress a word, we help the
listener understand what is important. If we stress the wrong word or dont
stress the key word, the listener may get confused or not realise what is
important in the sentence. # few years ago, I enrolled in a gym. I was asked to
attend an introductory class at 7five to six7. 3he &ungarian receptionist stressed
the word 7six7 so I arri!ed at /.//. ,he looked at me and told me that I was late
and the class had nearly finished. ,he should ha!e stressed 7five7 and 7six7 so
would ha!e understood that the class lasted for one hour and began at /pm8
2or more on sentence stress, read here.
19+ I(eni/y /i:e( an( se.i0/i:e( p#!ases an( p!a)i)e #e.. 2i"ed phrases
usually contain between 3 and : words and include items like:
to be honest
in a moment
on the other hand
# con!ersation is made of grammatical structures, !ocabulary and fi"ed or
semi-fi"ed phrases. In fact, to tell the truth , on the whole, most of the time, my
friends and I , communicate with each other in a series of fi"ed and semi-fi"ed
e"pressions.
'earn the communicati!e function of these phrases and practice how to
pronounce them )remember weak forms, which words are stressed* and use
them in your e!eryday con!ersation. +lick here for a list of 0111 common
phrases.
11+ Lea!n ab%* )%""%)ai%ns+ ords dont like being alone. 3hey prefer to
hang out with their friends and, ;ust like people, some words form close
friendships and other ne!er speak to each other.
Yellow doesnt get on well with hair. Maybe yellow is jealous of blond because
blond and hair are frequently seen out together having a great time. Yellow
doesnt understand why hair prefers blond because yellow and blond are so
similar.
'isten carefully for common combinations of words. hort and small ha!e
similar meanings but people ha!e short hair not small hair. !igh and tall are
often not so different but people ha!e high hopes but not tall hopes. 2o"es
are sly not devious. !ours can be happy but are
ne!er cheerful. Idiots are stupid but rarely silly.
12+ Rep"a)e !eg*"a! &e!bs 'i# p#!asa" &e!bs+ (any learners of English dont
understand why nati!e speakers us so many phrasal !erbs where there are
normal !erbs )usually with 'atin roots* which ha!e the same meaning. English
was originally a <ermanic language which imported lots of 'atin !ocabulary
after the %orman con=uest in the 00th century. -egardless of the historical
factors, the fact is that nati!e English speakers use lots and lots of phrasal
!erbs. If you want to understand us, then try to include them in your
con!ersation. If you make a mistake, youll probably make us laugh but you are
unlikely to confuse us as we can usually guess what you want to say from the
conte"t. .hrasal !erbs are spatial and originally referred to mo!ement so when
you learn a new one, make physical mo!ements while saying them to help you
remember.
13+ Lea!n s#%! a*%.ai) !esp%nses+ (any of our responses are automatic
)-ight, >?, no problem, alright, fine thanks, ;ust a minute, youre welcome, fine
by me, lets do it8, yup, no way8 youre ;oking, right6, @o I ha!e to6 etc.* +ollect
these short automatic responses and start using them.
13+ P!a)ise e""ing s%!ies an( *sing na!!ai&e enses. &umans are
designed to tell stories. e use the past simple, past continuous and past
perfect for telling stories but when the listener is hooked )!ery interested*, they
feel like they are actually e"periencing the story right now. ,o, we often use
present tenses to make our stories more dramatic8
14+ Lea!n '#en % pa*se /%! e//e). ,peaking =uickly in English does not
make you an effecti!e English speaker. ?nowing when to pause to gi!e the
listener time to think about what you ha!e said, respond appropriately, and
predict what you are going to say does. Imagine you an actor on a stage,
pausing keeps people interested. <reat strategy if you need to speak English in
public.
15+ Lea!n ab%* )#*nking+ +hunking means ;oining words together to make
meaningful units. 4ou dont need to analyse e!ery word to use a phrase. 'ook
at the phrase: "ice to meet you. It is an e"ample of ellipsis because the word 7It
is missing at the beginning of the phrase. &owe!er, we dont need to include it.
'earn more here.
16+ Lea!n ab%* ypi)a" p!%n*n)iai%n p!%b"e.s in y%*! /i!s
"ang*age+ Aapanese learners find it difficult to identify and produce 7 r7 and 7l7
soundsB ,panish dont distinguish between 7b7 and 7v7B <ermans often use a 7v7
sound when they should use a 7w7. 2ind out about the problems people who
speak your first language ha!e when speaking English and you will know what
you need to focus on.
17+ C#%%se an a))en y%* "ike an( i.iae i. e often ha!e an emotional
connection with certain nationalities. @o you ha!e more of an interest in $ritish
culture or #merican culture6 @o you support (anchester Cnited or
#rsenal6 @eciding what !ariety of English you want to learn is your first step.
18+ ;in( an a)%!<a)!ess y%* "ike an( i(eni/y '#a .akes #e. p%'e!/*"
speake!s+ @o you want to sound like $arack >bama, $enedict +umberbatch
),herlock &omes* $eyonce or ,te!e Aobs6 If you want to sound like @a!id
$eckham, I ad!ise you to reconsider, unless you want to sound like a young girl8
29+ Use a .i!!%! an( < %! a s#ee %/ pape! /%! i(eni/ying aspi!ae( an(
n%n0aspi!ae( s%*n(s. #spirated sounds are those with a short burst of here,
such as 7p7 in 7pen, and unaspirated sounds ha!e no or little air, such as the 7 b7
in 7#en7.atch this !ideo to learn more.
21+ P!a)ise %ng*e 'ise!s+ 3ongue twisters are phrases designed to
impro!e your pronunciation of particular sounds.&ere is a list for kids but its
great fun. &a!e a go now.3ry saying this phrase =uickly:
$hat a terrible tongue twister. $hat a terrible tongue twister. $hat a terrible
tongue twister.
22+ P!a)ise spe""ing na.es$ n*.be!s an( (aes a"%*(+ 3his may seem !ery
basic to some of you but if you dont practise, you forget how to say them.&a!e
a go here at numbers here and at place names here.
23+ Lea!n ab%* )%..%n in%nai%n pae!ns+ Intonation )when the pitch of
the !oice goes up and down* is comple" in English but it is !ery important as it
e"presses the feeling or emotion of the speaker. &ere is an amusing
introduction to intonation.
23+ Lea!n ab%* p"a)es %/ a!i)*"ai%n+ 3he articulators are the parts of the
mouth we use to turn sound into speech. 3hey can be fi"ed parts )the teeth,
behind the teeth and the roof of the mouth* and mobile parts )the tongue, the
lips, the soft palate, and the ;aw*. +lick here for more information.
24+ A/e! "%%king a p"a)es %/ a!i)*"ai%n$ p!a)ise .aking #e .%&e.ens
#a nai&e speake!s *se '#en #ey speak+&eres a !ideo and remember to
open the ;aws, mo!e the lips and get your tongue mo!ing8
25+ Lea!n '#y Eng"is# is a s!ess0i.e( "ang*age+ 3he rhythm of the
language is based on stressed syllables so we shorten the unstressed syllables
to fit the rhythm. ,yllable-timed languages )such as ,panish* take the same
time to pronounce each syllable. &eres an e"planation which might e"plain why
you speak English like a robot or watch this funny clip here.
26+ Lea!n #%' % ine!!*p an( ine!=e) p%"ie"y an( s*))ess/*""y. +lick
here for a list of interrupting phrases.
27+ Lea!n ab%* e""ipsis$ assi.i"ai%n an( "inking s%*n(s+
28+ Speak "%'e! n% #ig#e!+ ,tudies show that you command attention and
demonstrate authority with a deeper !ocal tone, especially men. 3his is
particularly important if you ha!e to speak in public. &ere is a =uick guide.
39+ Lisen an( !ea( a"%ng % p%e!y >%! !ap s%ngs? % p!a)ise #e !#y#.
%/ Eng"is#. 'imericks )short, funny, rhyming poems*are really useful and
demonstrate how English is stress-timed and how we use weak forms.
31+ Lea!n e:)"a.ai%n '%!(s an( /i""e!s+ atch this !ideo or study this list
of 011 common e"clamations here.
32+ Lea!n #%' % pa!ap#!ase. .araphrasing is when we repeat what we ha!e
;ust said to make it clear to the listener or when we repeat what the other
person has said by using different words. &ere are a few to get started.
33+ Use )%n!a)i%ns .%!e+ +ontractions make your speech more efficient
because they sa!e time and energy. ,ay 7should not and then say 7shouldntD:
which is easier to say6 Eery common in fluent speech.
N%'$ #e!e,s y%*! CALL TO ACTION+
In #e ne: 33 (ays$ spen( 14 .in*es e&e!y (ay %n %ne %/ #e ips+ I,.
s*!e y%*,"" n%i)e a #*ge i.p!%&e.en+