Effective Use of Language

The Importance of Language

As a writer, it is important not only to think about what you say, but how you say it. To communicate effectively, it is not enough to have well organized ideas expressed in complete and coherent sentences and paragraphs. One must also think about the style, tone and clarity of his/her writing, and adapt these elements to the reading audience. Again, analyzing one's audience and purpose is the key to writing effectiveness. In order to choose the most effective language, the writer must consider the objective of the document, the context in which it is being written, and who will be reading it.

Characteristics of Effective Language

There are six main characteristics of effective language. Effective language is: (1) concrete and specific, not vague and abstract; (2) concise, not verbose; (3) familiar, not obscure; (4) precise and clear, not inaccurate or ambiguous; (5) constructive, not destructive; and (6) appropriately formal.

Concrete and Specific Language

Concrete language includes descriptions which create tangible images with details the reader can visualize. Abstract language is vague and obscure, and does not bring to mind specific visual images. Consider the two sets of statements below. The statement at the top is abstract, but the statements become increasingly concrete and specific toward the bottom.
He is a bad roommate
He is lazy and discourteous
He is untidy and unclean
He doesn't clean up his own messes
He leaves his dirty dishes on the kitchen counter

Your relationship with John is unacceptable
You do not get along well with John
You and John have a lot of arguments
You and John insult each other too much
You and John call each other derogatory names

Notice how much more effective the statements become as the language becomes more specific and concrete. The statements at the top, which are more abstract, can be interpreted in many possible ways, and leave many questions answered. The statements at the bottom, which are more concrete, are less open to multiple interpretations.

Concise Language

A hallmark of effective writers is the ability to express the desired message in as few words as possible. Good writers, in other words, use language which is straightforward and to-the-point. Consider the following examples.
(1) It is widely discussed by employees that many of them will be forced to change jobs and take on new responsibilities when the merger takes place between the two companies.
(2) Before making a decision about whether the person on trial is guilty or innocent in this case, the members of the jury should be sure to carefully think about, ponder and reflect on all of the important and relevant testimony in the case.

Notice how long-winded these sentences are, and how easily they could be shortened and simplified. An important part of revising and editing involves re-phrasing sentences to eliminate excessive wordiness. One way to reduce wordiness is to eliminate redundant words or phrases. Consider example one above. The phrases "to change jobs" and "take on new responsibilities" are redundant, and could be combined into one short phrase to be expressed more concisely. Consider example two above. The phrase "...should be sure to carefully think about, ponder and reflect on..." contains three ways of saying the same thing. This sentence could be improved by using only one of the key phrases: "...to reflect on..." A second way to reduce wordiness is to eliminate "filler" words which serve no purpose in the sentence. Consider example one above. Replace the phrase "...when the merger takes place between the two companies" with "...when the two companies merge." Consider example two above. Notice the excessive wordiness in the following phrase: "Before making a decision about whether the person on trial is guilty or innocent in this case ..." This sentence could simply read: "Before determining the defendant's guilt or innocence..."

Familiar Language

Familiar language is that which the readers easily recognize and understand because they use it on a regular basis. One of the most important functions of language is to build "homophily" or a sense of commonality with one's readers. Language which is foreign and unfamiliar to the reader tends to emphasize the differences between writer and reader, and makes the message difficult to understand. By using language that is familiar to the reader, the message is likely to have more impact.
Consider the following examples.
An assignment given to a class of business students by their philosophy professor:
"The presently assigned paper necessitates an eloquently articulated analysis of the Existentialist perspective as it pertains to contemporary living. You should adumbrate the points which represent the sine qua non of your analysis."
A letter sent to high school students warning them of the risks of an unhealthy diet:
"Individuals who maintain a diet of high fat content are exposed to an increased risk of developing atherosclerosis, which is a buildup of fat deposits on the inner walls of the arteries. This condition can reduce or cut off the flow of blood in the arteries serving the major organs of the body. This can lead to poor health."
In both examples above, the language that is used is unfamiliar to the readers. As a result, the message loses its impact.

Precise and Clear Language

The use of appropriate language is a tricky matter because the meaning of words is relative and situational. In other words, words can be interpreted in different ways by different people in different situations. For this reason, it is important to choose language which is as precise and clear as possible. The more precise and clear one's use of language becomes, the fewer the number of possible interpretations for a message. Consider the following words. What numerical value would you assign to each of them? If something is "probable what percentage of the time does it occur? P>
(1) probable
(2) doubtful
(3) certainly
(4) unlikely
(5) perhaps
Would other people assign the same value to these words as you did? In actuality, the range of values varies greatly because these terms are relative: they can mean different things to different people in different situations. How could one be more precise in his/her use of these terms?
Consider the examples below. Notice that these terms can vary widely in the meaning to different people. The best way to use such relative terms, then, is to compare them to something concrete and "known" to the reader. For example: "Is that Acura an expensive car?" is best answered with a comparison: "Compared to that Honda, the Acura is expensive. Compared to that Lexus, it is inexpensive."
expensive
hot
intelligent
good
spicy
Consider the following examples. Note the potential confusion or ambiguity in these phrases.
(1) Why the student body should continue in this state of apathy is not really understandable.
(2) Our student body is dull and slack-minded.
(3) The practice and theory of politics are studied in the classroom but political habits on campus do not seem to benefit from such labor.
(4) He's an interesting individual.
(5) It is difficult to estimate the number of people affected by AIDS.
Each of the following are actual headlines printed in newspapers. Notice their double meaning.
(1) Include your children when Baking Cookies
(2) Safety Experts Say School Buss Passengers should be Belted
(3) Bank Drive-in Window Blocked by Board
(4) Killer Sentenced to Die for Second Time in Ten Years
(5) Eye Drops Off Shelf In short, it is wise to think carefully about your choice of words and their potential interpretations. To communicate effectively, precise and clear language is essential.

Constructive Language

Constructive language phrases a potentially negative message in a positive way, whereas destructive language directs blame and criticism toward the reader, creating defensiveness. Readers are likely to become defensive when the writer's language expresses any or all of the following:

• Superiority over the reader
• Indifference or apathy about an issue of importance to the reader
• Negative evaluation or judgment of the reader (as opposed to neutral descriptions or observations)
• Command or control over the reader
• Skepticism or doubt about the reader's credibility or the legitimacy of their claims Consider the following examples.
  (1) Boss to employee: "Your job performance recently has been unacceptable and there are no excuses for it. You have claimed that you are having some serious personal problems, but even if this is true, you cannot allow it to affect the quality of your work. If your work doesn't improve, I'll have to replace you with someone else."
  (2) Student to instructor: "You have confused me so badly with your lectures that I don't know what to do. I am considering dropping out and taking the class next quarter from Dr. Johnstone, who can explain the information much more clearly. I don't want to drop out, but I have never been so frustrated with an instructor in my whole life."
  (3) Instructor to student: "I have never had a student who was so confused with this material. Perhaps you should take an easier course from an easier professor. It makes no difference to me."
  Why would these examples create defensiveness in the reader? How could you change the use of language to make these examples more constructive?
  

  Formality of Language

  The formality of the language one uses should match the formality of the situation and the relationship between the writer and reader. Consider the following examples. Very Formal: Exceedingly large segments of the population are expressing their discontent with medical practitioners who appear to more engrossed in amassing financial assets than in providing efficacious care to people with health disorders.
  Formal: A large number of consumers are complaining about medical doctors who are apparently more interested in making money than in provide effective health care. Informal: A lot of people are unhappy with their doctors who only seem to care about how much money they make, and not about giving their patients good care. Notice that any of the three examples could be effective, depending upon the reader, the writer's relationship with the reader, and the situation. Under what conditions might you want to use these different levels of formality?
  Notice the difference in formality between the two words shown in pairs below. Either word might be equally appropriate, depending upon the reader and situation.

Here are 101 things you can do to improve your English

Here are 101 things (in no particular order) you can do to improve your English:

​

1. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Be confident. People can only correct your mistakes when they hear you make them.
2. Surround yourself in English. Put yourself in an all English speaking environment where you can learn passively. The best way to learn is through speaking.
3. Practise every day. Make yourself a study plan. Decide how much time a week you are going to spend studying and stick to it. Establish a routine.
4. Tell your family and friends about your study plan. Get them to push you to study and also don’t let them interrupt you.
5. Practise the 4 core skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. They all need to be worked on for you to improve.
6. Keep a notebook of new words you learn. Use them in sentences and try to say them at least 3 times when you speak.
7. Visit EC’s free learn English website at least once a day and complete a lesson.
8. Memorisation of lists is one of the most common ways of learning vocabulary for a test. It's only a good exercise for short term studying because you often do not retain the information that you have learned for a test.
9. Use your body clock. If you’re not a morning person, study in the afternoon.
10. You will find words easier to remember if you try to remember an example sentence using that word rather the word on its own.
11. Plan to take a test. You’ll find that you work harder when you need to study for something.
12. Saying that, it’s better not to study just to take a test. Think of the bigger picture. What can you do when you have a good command of English? How will the quality of your life improve?
13. Give yourself a long term goal. Focus on working towards it.
14. Give yourself short term goals too and reward yourself when you achieve each one.
15. Create an atmosphere in which you want to learn, not because you have to. You’ll learn more when you’re learning because you want to.
16. Know what works best for you. Think about what methods have been successful for you in the past and stick with them.
17. Figure out how you learn. It can be by memorising, reading, speaking, summarising or other methods. Find out how you study best. It can be in a quiet place by yourself or with a group.
18. Get help! If you don’t understand something you’ve got to ask someone. Ask your teacher, classmates or friends for help.
19. Review! Review! Review! Make sure that you take the time to review things you have studied in the past.
20. It’s not a good idea to study on your own for more than 30 minutes at a time. Take regular breaks, get some fresh air and stretch your legs.
21. Don’t be in such a hurry to move up a level. Concentrate on the level you are at now.
22. Watch DVDs rather than TV. It’s better to use something that you can watch over again to catch information you might have missed the first time.
23. Watching TV only gives you the chance to hear something correctly first time. This is better for high level students. It can be great practice for speaking to native English speakers so you don’t have to ask them to repeat themselves!
24. Read graded readers. These books are especially written for your level. Read a whole novel. You can do it! You’ll feel great afterwards.
25. Children’s books have easier words and are a good alternative to graded readers.
26. Newspapers are a good place to find passive constructs. Read through an article and see if you can find the passive sentences.
27. Read for the general meaning first. Don’t worry about understanding every word, then go back and look up new words.
28. For a word you don’t understand in a sentence, look at the other words around it. They will give you a hint. Try to guess the meaning from the context.
29. Learn root words. They’ll help you guess the meaning of words. For example: scrib = write, min = small
30. When you learn a new word, think of all its other forms: Beautiful (adjective), beauty (noun), beautifully (adverb).
31. Learn prefixes (dis-, un-, re-) and suffixes (-ly, -ment, -ful), these will help you to figure out the meaning of words and build your vocabulary.
32. English, unlike Japanese or French, uses word stress. For new words, count the syllables and find where the stress is. Only one stress per word and always on a vowel. Two syllable verbs have a stress on the second syllable (beGIN). 2 syllable nouns (TEAcher) and adjectives (HAPpy) stress the first.
33. Use English whenever you can. It’s as simple as that!
34. Don’t translate into English from your own language. Think in English to improve your fluency. Talk to yourself…but not on the bus otherwise people will think you have gone crazy!
35. You can’t learn English from a book. Like driving a car, you can only learn through doing it.
36. The most natural way to learn grammar is through talking.
37. Keep an English diary or journal. Start by writing a few sentences a day and then get into the habit of writing more.
38. Why not start an online blog and share your writings with the world?
39. To become a better writer brainstorm as many ideas and thoughts onto paper without worrying about grammar or spelling. Then think about the structure. After that, write your piece using good grammar and spelling. Finally, read it through or give it to someone else to check for mistakes.
40. Keep an eye on your punctuation as it can totally change what you’re trying to say. Check out the difference in meaning between these two sentences: “A woman without her man is nothing” and “A woman: without her, man is nothing”.
41. Sing your heart out! Show the world your beautiful voice! Learn English songs and sing along with them to improve fluency and intonation… anyone for Karaoke?
42. Get a penfriend or use chat-rooms, forums and community sites. If you can’t speak to someone in English, this is the next best thing.
43. Shadow English CDs. Listen to a few sentences then repeat what you heard. Focus on the rhythm and intonation.
44. Have English radio on in your house. Even if you are not actively listening to it, you will still be training your ears.
45. Mirror CDs. Read out loud along with a CD. Again, this is great for intonation, pronunciation and rhythm.
46. Dictation. Listen to a CD or friend and write down what you hear.
47. Nobody likes to hear their own voice, but be brave and try it! Record your voice and listen to your pronunciation and intonation. It will help you to identify your problem areas.
48. Ask your helpful teacher if you can record his lesson. This is a great way to review. You can also listen to your teachers speaking speed and intonation.
49. Use an English/English dictionary as it will help you to keep thinking in English and not translating.
50. If an English/English dictionary seems scary, there are learner’s dictionaries for English students of your level.
51. Don’t become too reliant on your dictionary. Your dictionary should be an aid, not your main teacher. Try to guess the meaning of words rather than going straight for your dictionary.
52. Don’t give up! Stay positive! Sometimes you will feel that you aren’t learning quickly enough. Everyone feels like this, don’t worry about it. You’ll get there in the end.
53. Enjoy it! We learn more when we are having fun!
54. If you get nervous when speaking, take two deep breaths before you say something. You’ll speak better when you feel relaxed.
55. Keep yourself motivated by looking back at the textbooks and CDs you used in the past. You’ll be surprised at how easy they seem to you now! Congratulations, your level is improving!
56. You are never too young or too old to start learning English. Don’t make excuses not to learn. What are you waiting for?
57. Procrastination can stop you from being successful. To stop procrastinating, it's important you understand if your procrastinating is to avoid studying, or if it is your bad habit.
58. If you haven’t gotten the results you wanted yet, it’s not because you’re bad at languages, it’s because you haven’t found your own special way of learning yet.
59. Use resources which match your level. Don’t use texts/listening exercises which are too difficult or too easy. Use materials which challenge you but don’t frustrate you.
60. Don’t worry about making your accent perfect. It’s an important part of your cultural identity to keep your accent. Native English speakers enjoy hearing English spoken with an accent.
61. There are many types of English: British, American, South African and so on. None of these are wrong or not as important. English is English.
62. Instead, be aware of the differences in American and British English and use your words accordingly. For example: Elevator (US) / Lift (British).
63. Carry cue cards with you. These are small cards which you can write new words on. You can pull them out and look at them whenever you a free minute.
64. Use post-it notes and stick them around your home. You can use them to label things. Stick one on your pet dog!
65. You can’t ignore phrasal verbs (two words verbs), there are hundreds of them in English and they’re widely used. The more you focus on their meaning, the more you’ll be able to guess the meaning of new ones. You’ll start to recognise their patterns.
66. Use your intuition. Go with your gut feeling, you’ll be surprised how often your first guess is the right guess. Like we said before, be confident.
67. Gather your thoughts. Take a second to think about what you’re going to say. You know the grammar, but maybe you don’t use it correctly when you speak.
68. Meet new people. Make the effort to mix with English speakers in your town. You could join a club or go to bars where foreigners hang out. Buy one a drink, they love that!
69. Be the person to start conversations in English. Try to keep the conversations moving and use listening words (‘really?’ / ‘go on…’/ ‘what happened then?’) Don’t wait for others to speak to you. Get in there!
70. Debate. Discuss topics in a group. Each person should choose a viewpoint (even if you don’t agree with it) and debate it within the group. Make sure you get your point across. Learn to listen actively. Active listening will help in the classroom and it will help you get more out of, and contribute more to, group study sessions. Focus on the person who is talking. Don’t fidget or become distracted by other people or events. Concentrate on the speaker with your ears and eyes. Follow the movements the speaker makes in an effort to hear more. It may help to repeat what you hear others say in an effort to understand their thoughts.
71. It’s not enough to only learn English words. You can teach a parrot English words but that doesn’t mean it can speak English! You still need to have an understanding of grammar.
72. Verb tenses are used by English speakers to talk about the timing of actions. You might not have the same expressions in your own language. It’s important that you know these tenses and when to use them.
73. English has many irregular verbs. You should drill yourself on them.
74. Keep it up! If you take a break from speaking English, you will find that your level decreases and all your hard work has been wasted.
75. Don’t be put off by a bad test score. Sometimes students have the ability to pass an English test, but can’t communicate well with English speakers. If you can speak freely in English, you should be proud of yourself.
76. Remember that as long as you have tried your hardest, you have succeeded!
77. Learn English with a friend. You’ll have someone you can practise with and you can motivate each other to study.
78. Remember, the way we write English is not the same as how it’s pronounced. For example ‘Ough’ has over 6 pronunciations. Familiarise yourself the Phonetic Alphabet. It will help you correctly pronounce words in the dictionary.
79. Get used to the ‘schwa’ sound [ə] - an unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound. ‘Schwa’ is the most common vowel sound in English. For example, the 'a' in about and the 'u' in supply.
80. Keep in mind that it takes longer to improve when our level is high. Usually the fastest progress is made when we are beginners. Don’t think that you’re suddenly not learning anymore, it’s just a less noticeable progress.
81. Make sure that your English matches the occasion. It’s OK to use slang with friends but not in a business meeting. Decide in which situation it’s appropriate to use the words and phrases you have learned.
82. Textbook English is often different from the way we casually speak. To learn casual ‘slang’ watch movies.
83. Idioms can be difficult to memorise, but they are great fun to use and they’ll make your English more colourful.
84. When talking we usually link words together so that two words can sound like one. Simply put, we link words ending with a consonant sound to words beginning with a vowel sound (consonant > vowel). We link words ending with a vowel sound to words beginning with a vowel sound (vowel > vowel). Practise these to improve your listening and pronunciation.
85. Make use of the internet. It’s full of resources to help you learn: BBC Learning English ; learnenglish.ecenglish.com
86. Think about your strong and weak points. Write down which areas you want to improve on and work on improving them. Of course, don’t ignore your strong points. Congratulate yourself on how well you’ve done!
87. Unlearn your mistakes. You probably make the same grammar mistakes over and over again. Use English tests results as a study tool. Go over your mistakes and choose one or two that you want to focus on. Use your favourite grammar book to check rules.
88. Use the correct article (a/an, the). Be aware that there is more to this rule than a/an= non specific, the=specific. For example: A university (not an university because it begins with a consonant sound). An hour (not a hour because the ‘h’ is often silent).
89. For fluency, try image training. Before you go to that restaurant think through what the waiter is likely to say to you. Think of what phrases you are going to use.
90. Much communication comes through body language and gesture. These can be different between cultures and countries. For example, the two-fingered "V" for victory symbol is fine palms-out. If you make it with you palm facing toward you, you'll offend a British person. It means…well, you ask a British person and find out for yourself!
91. The easiest one - Sleep! You’ll learn more after a good night’s sleep. You’ll be able to concentrate more.
92. Take an English course in an English speaking country.
93. If you studying abroad, mix with people from other countries not only people from your own country. It’s not a good idea for you to live in a shared house with people from your own country. Enjoy a more cultural experience by spending time with other nationalities.
94. Have you thought about getting a job or doing an internship abroad?
95. Get yourself a qualified teacher. Who wants to learn wrong things?
96. Nobody can learn all of the English language. No need to worry about trying. A useful shortcut to learning is that in English we have lots of words that have the same pronunciation, but a different spelling and meaning. For example, ‘come here’ has the same pronunciation as, ‘I can hear the birds’. You might find it easier to build vocabulary by knowing the different meanings.
97. Once you have a basic level of English explore the different ways you can say the same thing. This makes your English more interesting to the listener and it shouldn’t be too difficult for you because you already know the basics. For example, how many ways can we say, ‘Goodbye' in English?
98. When you are on your English course, be prepared for your class. Do your homework as soon as possible and hand it in on time. Review your notes and your last lesson a few minutes before the class. Doing this will refresh your memory and you'll be warmed up for lesson.
99. Don't get distracted in class. Focus on the lesson, don't stare out of the window. Don't be late, arrive a few minutes before the start of the lesson. Don't sit next to people who won't speak to you in English. Switch off your phone. Be organised, remember to take your textbook, notebook and pen.
100. Find a comfortable, peaceful place for quiet study. You need somewhere where you can focus 100%.
101. Last but not least, learn English with EC!

Most beneficia; languages

As a person with English as my first language, what would be the most useful foreign language that I could learn? appeared as a question on Quora. Below we are republishing an answer from Sanda Golcea.
Choosing which language to learn is a very subjective thing.
These three lists make it clear which languages you should consider.
1. The 10 most spoken languages in the world (excluding English ofc)

Mandarin
Spanish
Hindi
Arabic
Portuguese
Bengali
Russian
Japanese
Punjabi
German

2. The list of 10 most spoken languages by number of countries
French
Arabic
Spanish
Portuguese
German
Italian
Mandarin
Malay
Kiswahili
Russian

3. The six official languages of the United Nations
Arabic
Chinese
English
French
Russian
Spanish

Why these three lists?
Of course, when you learn a new language, your point is to reach to the biggest amount of people that language can offer for you. You probably want the language to be the most useful language when you trave. And languages used by mega international worldwide organizations are good ones to take into consideration.
If you only speak English and this is going to be your first foreign language, then you want an relatively easy language to learn.
You don't want to take years and years learning how to read all over again. You want a language that will empower you and a language that will be easy to learn and master to fluency.
Because if you're not fluent in the language after years and years of study, it's not going to be very useful.
Therefore I'd suggest you do not start with any language that has a different alphabet or no alphabet, such as: Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, Russian, Japanese, Bengali, Punjabi, Kiswahili.
That would leave you with Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, and French. (And Malay, but I've personally never met anyone that speaks Malay. From what I've seen this language would be useful in the Asian continent.)
In the case of learning any language, you need to consider: Do I have resources for learning this language readily available?
And by resources I mean...
Schools: language centers or tutors
Internet resources: movies, shows, music, internet sites or software, internet TV
Other resources: newspaper, magazines, libraries or médiathèques, TV stations
And last but not least: people
If you live in the US, I'd go for Spanish.
There is a huge Spanish community in the US. You'll probably travel to Latin America as it is one of the closest travel destinations. There are a lot of shows and movies/series in Spanish and a lot of internet resources and software to teach you.
In the UK, I'd say a good bet would be French.
From London you have a 1-hour train to Lille in France, and 2-hours to Paris. French is a very well represented language. There are a lot of language centers around the world and a lot of movies and French artists. You have so many options here.
I've chosen romance languages because learning one will enable you to understand some of what's spoken in the other romance languages; there a lot of common roots for the words and similarities in grammar.
At any rate, choose a language and stick with it.
And make sure you have a lot of motivation, you're going to need it.

Read more: http://www.quora.com/As-a-person-with-English-as-my-first-language-what-would-be-the-most-useful-foreign-language-that-I-could-learn#ixzz3cNV0q83k

101 ways to learn grammar

Here are 101 things (in no particular order) you can do to improve your English:

​

1. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Be confident. People can only correct your mistakes when they hear you make them.
2. Surround yourself in English. Put yourself in an all English speaking environment where you can learn passively. The best way to learn is through speaking.
3. Practise every day. Make yourself a study plan. Decide how much time a week you are going to spend studying and stick to it. Establish a routine.
4. Tell your family and friends about your study plan. Get them to push you to study and also don’t let them interrupt you.
5. Practise the 4 core skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. They all need to be worked on for you to improve.
6. Keep a notebook of new words you learn. Use them in sentences and try to say them at least 3 times when you speak.
7. Visit EC’s free learn English website at least once a day and complete a lesson.
8. Memorisation of lists is one of the most common ways of learning vocabulary for a test. It's only a good exercise for short term studying because you often do not retain the information that you have learned for a test.
9. Use your body clock. If you’re not a morning person, study in the afternoon.
10. You will find words easier to remember if you try to remember an example sentence using that word rather the word on its own.
11. Plan to take a test. You’ll find that you work harder when you need to study for something.
12. Saying that, it’s better not to study just to take a test. Think of the bigger picture. What can you do when you have a good command of English? How will the quality of your life improve?
13. Give yourself a long term goal. Focus on working towards it.
14. Give yourself short term goals too and reward yourself when you achieve each one.
15. Create an atmosphere in which you want to learn, not because you have to. You’ll learn more when you’re learning because you want to.
16. Know what works best for you. Think about what methods have been successful for you in the past and stick with them.
17. Figure out how you learn. It can be by memorising, reading, speaking, summarising or other methods. Find out how you study best. It can be in a quiet place by yourself or with a group.
18. Get help! If you don’t understand something you’ve got to ask someone. Ask your teacher, classmates or friends for help.
19. Review! Review! Review! Make sure that you take the time to review things you have studied in the past.
20. It’s not a good idea to study on your own for more than 30 minutes at a time. Take regular breaks, get some fresh air and stretch your legs.
21. Don’t be in such a hurry to move up a level. Concentrate on the level you are at now.
22. Watch DVDs rather than TV. It’s better to use something that you can watch over again to catch information you might have missed the first time.
23. Watching TV only gives you the chance to hear something correctly first time. This is better for high level students. It can be great practice for speaking to native English speakers so you don’t have to ask them to repeat themselves!
24. Read graded readers. These books are especially written for your level. Read a whole novel. You can do it! You’ll feel great afterwards.
25. Children’s books have easier words and are a good alternative to graded readers.
26. Newspapers are a good place to find passive constructs. Read through an article and see if you can find the passive sentences.
27. Read for the general meaning first. Don’t worry about understanding every word, then go back and look up new words.
28. For a word you don’t understand in a sentence, look at the other words around it. They will give you a hint. Try to guess the meaning from the context.
29. Learn root words. They’ll help you guess the meaning of words. For example: scrib = write, min = small
30. When you learn a new word, think of all its other forms: Beautiful (adjective), beauty (noun), beautifully (adverb).
31. Learn prefixes (dis-, un-, re-) and suffixes (-ly, -ment, -ful), these will help you to figure out the meaning of words and build your vocabulary.
32. English, unlike Japanese or French, uses word stress. For new words, count the syllables and find where the stress is. Only one stress per word and always on a vowel. Two syllable verbs have a stress on the second syllable (beGIN). 2 syllable nouns (TEAcher) and adjectives (HAPpy) stress the first.
33. Use English whenever you can. It’s as simple as that!
34. Don’t translate into English from your own language. Think in English to improve your fluency. Talk to yourself…but not on the bus otherwise people will think you have gone crazy!
35. You can’t learn English from a book. Like driving a car, you can only learn through doing it.
36. The most natural way to learn grammar is through talking.
37. Keep an English diary or journal. Start by writing a few sentences a day and then get into the habit of writing more.
38. Why not start an online blog and share your writings with the world?
39. To become a better writer brainstorm as many ideas and thoughts onto paper without worrying about grammar or spelling. Then think about the structure. After that, write your piece using good grammar and spelling. Finally, read it through or give it to someone else to check for mistakes.
40. Keep an eye on your punctuation as it can totally change what you’re trying to say. Check out the difference in meaning between these two sentences: “A woman without her man is nothing” and “A woman: without her, man is nothing”.
41. Sing your heart out! Show the world your beautiful voice! Learn English songs and sing along with them to improve fluency and intonation… anyone for Karaoke?
42. Get a penfriend or use chat-rooms, forums and community sites. If you can’t speak to someone in English, this is the next best thing.
43. Shadow English CDs. Listen to a few sentences then repeat what you heard. Focus on the rhythm and intonation.
44. Have English radio on in your house. Even if you are not actively listening to it, you will still be training your ears.
45. Mirror CDs. Read out loud along with a CD. Again, this is great for intonation, pronunciation and rhythm.
46. Dictation. Listen to a CD or friend and write down what you hear.
47. Nobody likes to hear their own voice, but be brave and try it! Record your voice and listen to your pronunciation and intonation. It will help you to identify your problem areas.
48. Ask your helpful teacher if you can record his lesson. This is a great way to review. You can also listen to your teachers speaking speed and intonation.
49. Use an English/English dictionary as it will help you to keep thinking in English and not translating.
50. If an English/English dictionary seems scary, there are learner’s dictionaries for English students of your level.
51. Don’t become too reliant on your dictionary. Your dictionary should be an aid, not your main teacher. Try to guess the meaning of words rather than going straight for your dictionary.
52. Don’t give up! Stay positive! Sometimes you will feel that you aren’t learning quickly enough. Everyone feels like this, don’t worry about it. You’ll get there in the end.
53. Enjoy it! We learn more when we are having fun!
54. If you get nervous when speaking, take two deep breaths before you say something. You’ll speak better when you feel relaxed.
55. Keep yourself motivated by looking back at the textbooks and CDs you used in the past. You’ll be surprised at how easy they seem to you now! Congratulations, your level is improving!
56. You are never too young or too old to start learning English. Don’t make excuses not to learn. What are you waiting for?
57. Procrastination can stop you from being successful. To stop procrastinating, it's important you understand if your procrastinating is to avoid studying, or if it is your bad habit.
58. If you haven’t gotten the results you wanted yet, it’s not because you’re bad at languages, it’s because you haven’t found your own special way of learning yet.
59. Use resources which match your level. Don’t use texts/listening exercises which are too difficult or too easy. Use materials which challenge you but don’t frustrate you.
60. Don’t worry about making your accent perfect. It’s an important part of your cultural identity to keep your accent. Native English speakers enjoy hearing English spoken with an accent.
61. There are many types of English: British, American, South African and so on. None of these are wrong or not as important. English is English.
62. Instead, be aware of the differences in American and British English and use your words accordingly. For example: Elevator (US) / Lift (British).
63. Carry cue cards with you. These are small cards which you can write new words on. You can pull them out and look at them whenever you a free minute.
64. Use post-it notes and stick them around your home. You can use them to label things. Stick one on your pet dog!
65. You can’t ignore phrasal verbs (two words verbs), there are hundreds of them in English and they’re widely used. The more you focus on their meaning, the more you’ll be able to guess the meaning of new ones. You’ll start to recognise their patterns.
66. Use your intuition. Go with your gut feeling, you’ll be surprised how often your first guess is the right guess. Like we said before, be confident.
67. Gather your thoughts. Take a second to think about what you’re going to say. You know the grammar, but maybe you don’t use it correctly when you speak.
68. Meet new people. Make the effort to mix with English speakers in your town. You could join a club or go to bars where foreigners hang out. Buy one a drink, they love that!
69. Be the person to start conversations in English. Try to keep the conversations moving and use listening words (‘really?’ / ‘go on…’/ ‘what happened then?’) Don’t wait for others to speak to you. Get in there!
70. Debate. Discuss topics in a group. Each person should choose a viewpoint (even if you don’t agree with it) and debate it within the group. Make sure you get your point across. Learn to listen actively. Active listening will help in the classroom and it will help you get more out of, and contribute more to, group study sessions. Focus on the person who is talking. Don’t fidget or become distracted by other people or events. Concentrate on the speaker with your ears and eyes. Follow the movements the speaker makes in an effort to hear more. It may help to repeat what you hear others say in an effort to understand their thoughts.
71. It’s not enough to only learn English words. You can teach a parrot English words but that doesn’t mean it can speak English! You still need to have an understanding of grammar.
72. Verb tenses are used by English speakers to talk about the timing of actions. You might not have the same expressions in your own language. It’s important that you know these tenses and when to use them.
73. English has many irregular verbs. You should drill yourself on them.
74. Keep it up! If you take a break from speaking English, you will find that your level decreases and all your hard work has been wasted.
75. Don’t be put off by a bad test score. Sometimes students have the ability to pass an English test, but can’t communicate well with English speakers. If you can speak freely in English, you should be proud of yourself.
76. Remember that as long as you have tried your hardest, you have succeeded!
77. Learn English with a friend. You’ll have someone you can practise with and you can motivate each other to study.
78. Remember, the way we write English is not the same as how it’s pronounced. For example ‘Ough’ has over 6 pronunciations. Familiarise yourself the Phonetic Alphabet. It will help you correctly pronounce words in the dictionary.
79. Get used to the ‘schwa’ sound [ə] - an unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound. ‘Schwa’ is the most common vowel sound in English. For example, the 'a' in about and the 'u' in supply.
80. Keep in mind that it takes longer to improve when our level is high. Usually the fastest progress is made when we are beginners. Don’t think that you’re suddenly not learning anymore, it’s just a less noticeable progress.
81. Make sure that your English matches the occasion. It’s OK to use slang with friends but not in a business meeting. Decide in which situation it’s appropriate to use the words and phrases you have learned.
82. Textbook English is often different from the way we casually speak. To learn casual ‘slang’ watch movies.
83. Idioms can be difficult to memorise, but they are great fun to use and they’ll make your English more colourful.
84. When talking we usually link words together so that two words can sound like one. Simply put, we link words ending with a consonant sound to words beginning with a vowel sound (consonant > vowel). We link words ending with a vowel sound to words beginning with a vowel sound (vowel > vowel). Practise these to improve your listening and pronunciation.
85. Make use of the internet. It’s full of resources to help you learn: BBC Learning English ; learnenglish.ecenglish.com
86. Think about your strong and weak points. Write down which areas you want to improve on and work on improving them. Of course, don’t ignore your strong points. Congratulate yourself on how well you’ve done!
87. Unlearn your mistakes. You probably make the same grammar mistakes over and over again. Use English tests results as a study tool. Go over your mistakes and choose one or two that you want to focus on. Use your favourite grammar book to check rules.
88. Use the correct article (a/an, the). Be aware that there is more to this rule than a/an= non specific, the=specific. For example: A university (not an university because it begins with a consonant sound). An hour (not a hour because the ‘h’ is often silent).
89. For fluency, try image training. Before you go to that restaurant think through what the waiter is likely to say to you. Think of what phrases you are going to use.
90. Much communication comes through body language and gesture. These can be different between cultures and countries. For example, the two-fingered "V" for victory symbol is fine palms-out. If you make it with you palm facing toward you, you'll offend a British person. It means…well, you ask a British person and find out for yourself!
91. The easiest one - Sleep! You’ll learn more after a good night’s sleep. You’ll be able to concentrate more.
92. Take an English course in an English speaking country.
93. If you studying abroad, mix with people from other countries not only people from your own country. It’s not a good idea for you to live in a shared house with people from your own country. Enjoy a more cultural experience by spending time with other nationalities.
94. Have you thought about getting a job or doing an internship abroad?
95. Get yourself a qualified teacher. Who wants to learn wrong things?
96. Nobody can learn all of the English language. No need to worry about trying. A useful shortcut to learning is that in English we have lots of words that have the same pronunciation, but a different spelling and meaning. For example, ‘come here’ has the same pronunciation as, ‘I can hear the birds’. You might find it easier to build vocabulary by knowing the different meanings.
97. Once you have a basic level of English explore the different ways you can say the same thing. This makes your English more interesting to the listener and it shouldn’t be too difficult for you because you already know the basics. For example, how many ways can we say, ‘Goodbye' in English?
98. When you are on your English course, be prepared for your class. Do your homework as soon as possible and hand it in on time. Review your notes and your last lesson a few minutes before the class. Doing this will refresh your memory and you'll be warmed up for lesson.
99. Don't get distracted in class. Focus on the lesson, don't stare out of the window. Don't be late, arrive a few minutes before the start of the lesson. Don't sit next to people who won't speak to you in English. Switch off your phone. Be organised, remember to take your textbook, notebook and pen.
100. Find a comfortable, peaceful place for quiet study. You need somewhere where you can focus 100%.
101. Last but not least, learn English with EC!

Tips for speaking English with neutral accent and correct pronunciations

The Americans, the British and the Aussies all speak the same language, English. If you listen carefully, you will find a drastic difference in their pronunciations. This difference in pronunciation is what brings about so many different accents.
Accent Neutralisation
English accents change a lot within India. Every region has its own way of pronouncing the letters and words. Sometimes it becomes difficult for a native speaker to perceive all these differences, thus making the colloquial form of Indian English bit hard to understand.
This is where neutralizing the accent comes into play. You learn to speak not the American or the British English, but the right way to speak the English language. You shed all your typical Indian pronunciations and learn to speak English that is neutral and easily understandable.
Neutralisation tips
Drop the tune of your native tongue. English has its own tune and voice modulation. Do not drag the English words to the tune of your vernacular language. If your native tongue has a musical touch to it, lose that while speaking English. This would be the first step to neutralising.
Listen to newsreaders. Watch how their mouths move while pronouncing each word. Listening and observing are the best way to learn. Practice the mouth movements slowly. Practice this for words used in day-to-day conversation.
Use a dictionary to learn phonetics. Phonetics is the pronunciation of letters in a word. A letter has a certain pronunciation. But when it comes in a word it might have a different sound. To learn this, dictionary is the best. The phonetic symbols will help you learn the correct way to pronounce the word.
Stress is an important part of speech. Every word has a certain stress given to it either at the beginning, end or somewhere in the middle. Shifting the stress can even change the meaning. Learning the correct stress points of the words is important to communicate clearly.
For example, pro’nounce has a stress on the ‘n’ and pro’nunci’ation has stresses on ‘n’ and ‘a’. The syllable before the stress mark is pronounced for a short time.
Next thing to concentrate is diction. Diction is articulating the words. Articulation is pronouncing the words in the right manner. Clarity in diction will result in clear pronunciation of words. The pace of speech, modulation of words and sentence construction while speaking, mark diction.
Few tips on pronunciation

• Many words in English are just half pronounced while speaking. For example, ‘better’ is pronounced as ‘bet-uh’. The ‘r’ in the end is not pronounced fully.
• ‘R’ is merely ‘aar’ and not ‘aarrr’. The tongue vibrates just once, unlike the vernacular ‘rra’ sound.
• The ‘o’ sound of No, know, so, source, etc is not just o, but ‘ou’. The o is dragged a little bit.
• The words starting with ‘w’ should NOT be pronounced as the vernacular ‘va’. The teeth do not touch the lower lips as they would do in ‘v’. For a ‘w’, the lips should make a small o while pronouncing the ‘w’. Try pronouncing ‘went’ and ‘vent’; ‘wow’ and ‘vow’; ‘wine’ and ‘vine’. You will understand the difference.

Read more tips on how to improve English pronunciation >>.
With a neutral accent, you can communicate well any native English speaker. Neutralise your accent first and then go on to master other native English accents. Practice is the key to success.
Read more articles on how to improve English speaking

1. Improve your English vocabulary – Tips and Tricks
2. Improve English Pronunciation – Tips and Tricks
3. How to Speak English Fluently – Few Tips
4. 10 Quick Tips to Improve your Spoken English

- See more at: https://www.urbanpro.com/a/tips-speaking-english-neutral-accent-correct-pronunciations#sthash.04znzBdL.dpuf

International Dialects of English Archive

Welcome to IDEA

The International Dialects of English Archive was created in 1997 as the first online archive of primary-source recordings of English dialects and accents as heard around the world.

Paul Meier is IDEA’s founder, director, and principal contributor. He established the archive to provide actors the real-life models they need for their characters’ accents and dialects; many actors use Meier’s best-selling Accents & Dialects for Stage and Screen in conjunction with IDEA. But IDEA has since proved invaluable in many other fields too. For example, it has become a favorite tool of international business, helping customer-service personnel become familiar with their customers’ accents and dialects.

Dylan Paul is an associate editor-at-large, the Website’s principal architect, Webmaster, and special consultant.

Cameron Meier is the executive editor and chief copy editor for IDEA, and vice president of Paul Meier Dialect Services.

HOW IDEA WORKS

To find an example of an accent or dialect, use the Global Map, or the Dialects and Accents tab on the menu bar. The site is also fully searchable, not just by country, state, and province, but also by characteristics of each speaker, such as ethnicity, age, and occupation; even single phrases from transcriptions and phonetics can be searched online. You may conveniently listen to the streaming audio while reading the accompanying transcription and commentary. All samples have one-line descriptions (gender, age, year of birth, ethnicity, location). Submission of new samples by the editors and other contributors is done entirely online.

At the heart of IDEA are the Senior Editors and the  Associate Editors, forming a global network of contributors. They record the subjects, transcribe the recordings, and, in many cases, write scholarly commentary. Many editors are professors at major universities, or are members of The Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA).

All IDEA’s recordings are in English, are of native speakers, and include both English-language dialects and English spoken in the accents of other languages. (Many include brief demonstrations of the speaker’s native language, too.) The archive also includes extensive Special Collections.

New recordings and their accompanying transcriptions and scholarly commentary are added frequently (see What’s New), and the archive currently houses more than 1,000 recordings by natives of nearly 100 different countries. Each recording includes of both a reading (Comma Gets a Cure, or, on our earliest recordings, The Rainbow Passage) and some unscripted speech – about four minutes in all.

The Global Map quickly reveals which countries/states/provinces have a representative sample, and those that still lack one. As you see, IDEA continues to grow, aspiring to provide a recording from every corner of the world. Please join us in this ambitious project by becoming an associate editor, or contributing your own voice to the archive.

accents of british english :)

British Accents

Wikimedia

The United Kingdom is probably the most dialect-obsessed nation in the world. With countless accents shaped by thousands of years of history, there are few English-speaking nations with as many varieties of language in such a small space.
(NOTE: This page uses the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For information about this notation, please visit my page of IPA Resources.)
Here is a list of the most important types of British English. While this is not a complete list by any means, it will give you an overview of the accents and dialects most often discussed on this site and elsewhere.

Received Pronunciation

Received Pronunciation is the closest to a “standard accent” that has ever existed in the UK.  Although it originally derives from London English, it is non-regional.  You’ve probably heard this accent countless times in Jane Austen adaptations, Merchant Ivory films, and Oscar Wilde plays. It emerged from the 18th- and 19th-Century aristocracy, and has remained the “gold standard” ever since.
Features:

• Non-rhoticity, meaning the r at the ends of words isn’t prounounced (mother sounds like “muhthuh”).
• Trap-bath split, meaning that certain a words, like bath, can’t, and dance are pronounced with the broad-a in father. (This differs from most American accents, in which these words are pronounced with the short-a in cat.
• The vowels tend to be a bit more conservative than other accents in Southern England, which have undergone significant vowel shifting over the past century.

Speech Samples:

• Actress Dame Judi Dench
• Former prime minister Margaret Thatcher
• Author Christopher Hitchens

Cockney

Cockney is probably the second most famous British accent. It originated in the East End of London, but shares many features with and influences other dialects in that region.
Features:

• Raised vowel in words like trap and cat so these sounds like “trep” and “cet.”
• Non-rhoticity: see explanation above under Received Pronunciation, above.
• Trap-bath split: see explanation above under Received Pronunciation.
• London vowel shift: The vowel sounds are shifted around so that Cockney “day” sounds is pronounced IPA dæɪ (close to American “die”) and Cockney buy verges near IPA bɒɪ (close to American “boy”).
• Glottal Stopping: the letter t is pronounced with the back of the throat (glottis) in between vowels; hence better becomes IPA be?ə (sounds to outsiders like “be’uh”).
• L-vocalization: The l at the end of words often becomes a vowel sound Hence pal can seem to sound like “pow.” (I’ve seen this rendered in IPA as /w/, /o,/ and /ɰ/.)
• Th-Fronting: The th in words like think or this is pronounced with a more forward consonant depending on the word: thing becomes “fing,” this becomes “dis,” and mother becomes “muhvah.”

Speech Samples:

• Actor Ray Winstone
• Heavy metal rocker Steve Harri

Estuary English (Southeast British)

Estuary is an accent derived from London English which has achieved a status slightly similar to “General American”  in the US. Features of the accent can be heard around Southeast England, East Anglia, and perhaps further afield.  It is arguably creeping into the Midlands and North.
Features:

• Similar to Cockney, but in general Estuary speakers do not front th words or raise the vowel in trap. There are few hard-and-fast rules, however.
• Glottal stoppingof ‘t’ and l-vocalization (see above) are markers of this accent, but there is some debate about their frequency.

Speech Samples:

• Comedian Russell Brand
• Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay
• Comedian Ricky Gervais

West Country (Southwest British)

West Country refers to a large swath of accents heard in the South of England, starting about fifty miles West of London and extending to the Welsh border.
Features:

• Rhoticity, meaning that the letter r is pronounced after vowels. So, for example, whereas somebody from London would pronounce mother as “muthah,” somebody from Bristol would say “mutherrr“. (i.e. the way people pronounce the word in America or Ireland).
• Otherwise, this is a huge dialect area, so there’s tons of variation.

Speech Samples:

• Comedian Stephen Merchant
• Archaeologist Phil Harding (from Wiltshire)
• Comedian Justin Lee Collins (Another Bristol Accent) (also from Bristol)

Midlands English

Midlands English is one of the more stigmatized of Englishes. Technically, this can be divided into East Midlands and West Midlands, but I won’t get into the differences between the two just now.  The most famous of these dialects is Brummie (Birmingham English).
Features:

• The foot-strut merger, meaning that the syllable in foot and could is pronounced with the same syllable as strut and fudge. (IPA ʊ).
• A system of vowels otherwise vaguely reminiscent of Australian accents, with short i in kit sometimes verging toward IPA kit (“keet”) and extremely open “loose” dipthongs.
• A variety of unusual vocabulary: some East Midlands dialects still feature a variant of the word “thou!”

Speech samples:

• Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath

Northern England English

These are the accents and dialect spoken north of the midlands, in cities like Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool. Related accents also found in rural Yorkshire, although there are some unique dialect features there that I won’t get into now.
Features:

• The foot-stut merger: (see the Midlands description above).
• Non-rhoticity, except in some rural areas.
• The dipthong in words like kite and ride is lengthened so that kite can become something like IPA ka:ɪt (i.e. it sounds a bit like “kaaaait”)
• Unique vocab includes use of the word mam to mean mother, similar to Irish English.

Speech Samples:

• Bernard Sumner, of New Order
• Actor/comedian Craig Charles
• Singer Joe Cocker

Geordie

Geordie usually refers to both the people and dialect of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, in Northeast England. The word may also refer to accents and dialects in Northeast England in general. I would classify this as a separate region from the rest of Northern England because it’s so radically different from the language spoken in nearby cities.
Features

• The foot-stut merger(see the Midlands description above).
• Non-rhoticity (in the cities at least)
• The /ai/ dipthong in kite is raised to IPA ɛɪ, so it sounds a bit more like American or Standard British “kate.”
• The /au/ dipthong in “about” is pronounced IPA u: (that is, “oo”) in strong dialects. Hence bout can sound like “boot.”

Speech Samples:

• Singer Cheryl Cole
• This video gives a good idea of the “classic” Geordie accent”

Welsh English

This refers to the accents and dialects spoken in the country of Wales. The speech of this region is heavily influenced by the Welsh language, which remained more widely spoken in modern times than the other Celtic languages.
Features:

• Usually non-rhotic.
• English is generally modelled after Received Pronunciation or related accents, but with many holdovers from the Welsh language.
• Syllables tend to be very evenly stressed, and the prosody of the accent is often very “musical”.
• The letter r is often trilled or tapped.
• Some dialect words imported from the Welsh language.

Speech Samples:

• Singer Tom Jones
• Actor Rhys Ifans
• Rocker Gruff Rhy (Cardiff Accent)

Scottish English

This is the broad definition used to describe English as it is spoken in the country of Scotland. Note that Scottish English is different than Scots, a language derived from Northumbrian Old English that is spoken in Scotland as well. That being said, Scots has a strong influence on how English in Scotland is spoken.
Features:

• Rhotic, with trilled or tapped r’s.
• Glottal stopping of the letter t when in between vowels (similar to Cockney and related accents).
• Monopthongal pronounciations of the /ei/ and /ou/ dipthongs, so that that face becomes IPA fe:s and goat becomes IPA go:t.

Speech Samples:

• Actor Peter Mullan (Glasgow)
• Actor Ewen Bremner (Edinburgh)

Conclusion

This list is woefully incomplete. I can’t count the smaller dialect areas that aren’t covered here (East Anglia, Urban Cardiff, Cornish English, Northumberland, etc.) However, I’ve attempted to list the accents and dialects you’ll see referenced the most on this blog and elsewhere