Have you ever been jealous of chameleons?

Well, you understand what we’re talking about – these colorful reptiles that know how to blend into any background.

The chameleon just changes its colors, and oppa! - he is absolutely indistinguishable from the tree he just climbed, or the stone where he sits.

Wouldn't it be nice to become a lingua chameleon?

Life would be much simpler if we could easily change our accent, vocabulary and grammar and speak just like native English speakers.

Well, there's no harm in dreaming...

In fact, if you want to be indistinguishable from native English speakers in conversation, you will have to put in a lot of effort. But it may not be as difficult as you think.

There are specific, practical steps you can take to ensure that your speech flows freely, like a native speaker, both in pronunciation and in the vocabulary you use.

By applying these tips and adding patience and practice, you'll quickly become a lingua chameleon.

4 Tricks to Help You Speak English Like Your Own Language

1. Learn different English accents

There are many accents among native English speakers. A New Yorker speaks very differently than a Texas native.

And, probably, you have heard the royal English language(British English). Let me tell you the truth: not everyone in Britain speaks like the Queen. There are also Scots, Welsh and Irish, all with their own unique accents.

Here's a fun activity for you: look on YouTube for videos of people trying to imitate different accents of English.

2. Imitate natives in pronunciation

Well, now you have general idea about differences in English accents. But in which direction should you go to achieve the desired pronunciation?

A great place to start is to watch authentic videos in English and imitate everything they say. This will reveal to you truly original pronunciation, speech structures and style.

Also, you can watch facial expressions and speech apparatus and copy them.

There are educational videos (such as BBC Pronunciation or ) and programs (such as Tell Me More) that demonstrate the position of the lips and tongue when pronouncing each letter English alphabet and all their combinations.

I know that such activities are tedious, but they will help you pronounce words correctly, especially with those sounds that do not exist in Russian.

Therefore, memorize them and practice in front of the mirror. Rehearse again and again, bringing everything to automaticity. You can even try recording yourself on video so you can measure your progress!

Our site is an excellent source of authentic videos that can be used to learn correct pronunciation. This innovative platform transforms real-life videos like movie trailers, funny YouTube clips, news stories and more into interactive language courses.

3. Use slang in conversation

“Slang” is informal (and sometimes even vulgar) words and expressions. Slang is more common in spoken language than in written language.

Slang tends to be common to different communities, so the slang used in the southern United States is very different from the slang you'll hear among the English. (To understand just how much, watch this funny interview “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” featuring actor Hugh Laurie.)

But there are slang expressions that are used almost everywhere, and you need to know them. For example:

Wanna(Want to – want, want)

Hang out(Spend time together - hang out, hang out)

In a friendly atmosphere, an Englishman or an American would say: “Do you wanna hang out? instead of the formal “Do you want to spend some time together?”

Most The best way remember slang expressions - actively use them in conversation. But be sure to take into account the context, since slang is only appropriate in an informal setting.

4. Learn idioms

The idiom in English is stable expression, the meaning of which is not obvious when translated literally.

The use of idioms is not as common as slang in informal settings. However, there are times when native speakers use idioms that confuse you.

For example, if a colleague tells you: “you can’t see the forest for the trees,” – this may even be a little confusing. After all, your conversation had nothing to do with the forest and trees at all!

And all because of the use of a common idiom. “You can’t see the forest for the trees” means that you go too deep into the details and do not perceive the situation more broadly, as a whole.

Also quite useful keep an idiom diary that you have encountered and (possible) equivalents in your native language. This will help you remember them better.

In the end, don’t be afraid to use such allegories! You may not get to the point right away, but good carrier language will help you use the appropriate idiom, and you will remember it faster.

It is not an easy task to master English at a native level. To tell the truth, it is even extremely complex.

However, you can start today by improving your pronunciation and practicing speaking at ease.

Don't let slang and idioms slow down your progress. Dive in.

And one day, when you least expect it, you will suddenly speak like a native English speaker.

“I listen, I read, and I understand everything.” But then they ask me a question, and I can’t put together two words in response. And there’s nothing special to connect: all the words seemed to have evaporated from memory...

I think the emotions described are familiar to many. There is a so-called "dog problem" or “I understand everything, but I can’t say” due to the fact that the student does not develop active skills - speaking and writing - from the very beginning. It seems to him that first he needs to master the English language perfectly: learn all the rules, frequency words, etc.

This is especially common among ardent perfectionists. They end up getting so stuck in “studying” that they develop their passive skills to above-average levels, but never dare open their mouths themselves.

What to do? Talk often!

And now I can already see rotten tomatoes flying at us. 🙂 Tell the person "speak more often", when faced with a reinforced concrete language barrier, it’s like saying to a crying person: “Well, this is... don’t cry”.

I think you already know what to say without us: communicate with foreigners on special sites; conduct in English (foreigners can also check them); go to courses where they talk a lot, etc.

BUT! You can and should do special “exercises” on your own.

First: convert the passive dictionary into an active one

Yes, the main difficulty is precisely that words and grammatical units are in the passive. We recognize the word, but we cannot say it ourselves.

But what if you already have an impressive passive vocabulary? We have 3 ways to activate it:

1. Read texts your level and retell the content out loud. This way you will first remind yourself of the words (during reading), and then activate them in speech (during retelling).

You already have a vocabulary, just activate it!

2. Before your upcoming communication - with a foreigner, in a language club, etc. - make for yourself a list of words that you want to activate, and purposefully use them in your speech.

3. Practice back translation training often - when you translate Russian word into English, and not vice versa. This is training.

WE RECOMMEND: set yourself a goal to upgrade and activate the vocabulary that you already have. That is, level up the levels of proficiency in passive skills (listening and reading) and active ones (speaking and writing). Most effective way for this - retelling texts read at YOUR level, where you know ≈ 85% of the vocabulary.

Second: getting rid of language barriers

Another one common reason"silence" is fear of speaking in a foreign language. How will I sound? What's wrong with my pronunciation? How is it even possible to speak a foreign language?!

Calm down. You have the opportunity to rehearse. You will overcome your fear and improve your other skills at the same time:

1. Speak along with the announcer. Work in this sequence: first you just listen to the recording, then you listen and repeat AFTER the speaker - pause after some passage and pronounce his phrase after him, the third step - speak simultaneously with him.

This way you will accustom yourself to rhythm, intonation and, in general, to speaking English.

2. Read English texts aloud. Then you will get used to the sound of your voice in English + this will help you at the level of “mechanical memory”: at this moment you will speak! Maybe not your thoughts, but still – talk!

Relax and rehearse by yourself. The image is a still from the movie The King's Speech.

3. Talk to yourself. You're constantly thinking about something. So think in English. Happened? Now – think out loud! In general, try to speak out loud in the language you are learning as often as possible.

WE RECOMMEND: accustom your brain, speech apparatus, hearing to your own English speech. Speak audio recordings - monologues, songs, etc. - after the announcer, read aloud, talk to yourself. Then it won’t be so scary to “open your mouth” and speak English with a real person.

The main thing is not to be afraid of mistakes. Don't even call them "mistakes." These are temporary errors that will be corrected in the future. To do this, you just need to continue practicing the language. In any case, your sometimes incorrect speech will be better than correct silence.

To summarize: how to start speaking English

1. If you are just starting to learn a language, then learn from the mistakes of others: immediately, from the first day of studying, develop not only passive skills, but also active ones.
2. For speech practice, use not only the obvious means - special sites for communicating with foreigners, language courses, etc. – but also independent exercises.
3. First of all, set yourself a goal to upgrade and activate your existing vocabulary.
4. Also work on the language barrier: get used to the sound of your voice in English.
5. Do not be afraid of anything. Be prepared to be corrected, ask for it yourself and rejoice in the opportunity to correct your small mistakes.

Are you already on Lingualeo?

We'll finish for today. to improve all other skills: reading, listening, writing. 🙂

Life hack or how to start speaking English

It's no secret that even those who know grammar very well feel awkward when they need to switch to English and speak. For everyone else, a fair amount of alcohol is generally required, equivalent to three whiskeys.

1) First, a little theory
(this is a little tedious, but necessary)

Speaking (or Speaking) is a separate skill in using language, which is characterized by two main parameters: Fluency and Accuracy.

Fluency is how quickly, clearly, consistently you can arrange words into sentences, and sentences into text, how long your statements are and how short the pauses between them are (i.e. the absence of “uh”, “be”, “meh” etc).

Accuracy is how grammatically correct your statements are, whether they contain all the necessary articles, endings, suffixes, prefixes, and how justified the use of tenses, actives, passives and auxiliary verbs is.

And here is the most interesting thing: while speaking, it is IMPOSSIBLE (!!!) to concentrate attention on two parameters at the same time. That is, you either strive to speak fluently (Fluency) and make a lot of mistakes, or watch for correctness (Accuracy) and speak very slowly. Both are completely normal.

Fluency and accuracy are trained separately (!!!), and with constant training, the result will be fast and correct speech.

And now about how to train speaking skills.

FLUENCY (smoothness, fluency)

1) Speak (speak)
In order to speak, you need to speak, so try to “put in your two cents” in a foreign language as often as possible. Do not remain silent on the sidelines, next to a more experienced friend, but on the contrary, join the dialogue and express your point of view.

Do you think you look like an idiot? Congratulations, this is an illusion. A person who tries to express a thought in a foreign language, even if clumsily, is like a figure skater who gets up again and again after falling. Believe me, there’s not even a hint of ridicule here.

2) Watch & Repeat (watch and repeat)
At school we were all forced to learn incredibly boring texts a la ‘Let me introduce myself...’ and ‘London is the capital of Great Britain’, and although the main thing that a generation of schoolchildren took away from endless cramming was a hatred of English, that was not the goal at all. The purpose of the texts was to give the student as much as possible useful words and phrases in related text.

Obviously, now there is no point in opening old textbooks and memorizing texts, but you can go the other way. Watch films, TV series or cartoons in the original (necessarily those where there are dialogues between the characters), and repeat individual phrases of the characters. This incredibly develops both vocabulary and self-confidence.

3) Do mistakes (make mistakes)
Tune yourself that mistakes are not “shame and disgrace,” but “little fairies.” If you say something and are corrected, you are much more likely to say it correctly next time. Learn from your mistakes, write them down and work on them. Everyone makes mistakes, sometimes even native speakers, so what's the point of worrying about them?

Do exercises (do exercises)
In order for this or that rule to be remembered and become the norm, it is necessary to do (a lot!) a lot of the same type of exercises. The principle is as follows: understand - practice - use. This requires some time and patience.

2) Speak - Record - Listen (speak - record - listen)
The moment when you speak a foreign language can be compared to a flight into space: all systems are working at the limit, a siren is howling in your head, your brain is frantically searching for necessary words, and at the same time you put on a stone face and try not to show how scared you are. It is almost impossible to hear yourself in such a panic. Therefore, at the very beginning, speaking a foreign language resembles the principle “what I see is what I sing.”

Solution? - Record yourself! It doesn’t matter where: phone, voice recorder or video camera. Record and listen back later. I'm sure that you can hear half of your mistakes on your own. And then think about what could have been said better and when, where to use which synonym, and what not to say at all. Over time, speech will become clearer, more structured and understandable.

3) Observe others mistakes (notice the mistakes of others)
This does not mean that you should correct them or make comments. The skill of paying attention to the mistakes of your colleagues will make you more attentive not only to how others speak, but also to how you speak yourself.

CONCLUSION
There is no need to think that one of the characteristics is more important: both fluency and accuracy are equally important for the correct and beautiful speech, but the trick is that you need to train them separately, concentrating on one thing each time, then it will give results without unnecessary fuss and panic.

Good practice everyone!))))

Speaking skill is the most important skill in learning any foreign language. Some students admit that they easily master grammar and enjoy reading foreign literature and calmly listen to audio recordings. But when it comes to speaking English, they fall into the state of “I understand everything, but I can’t answer anything.” And this often happens not from a lack of knowledge or limited vocabulary, but due to a lack of speaking practice and a psychological barrier.

The Englex edition looked into not the psychological, but the linguistic reasons that may stand between you and fruitful communication in English, and also talked about ways to solve them.

Insufficient level of language knowledge

The vocabulary of native speakers is 10,000 - 20,000 words. For anyone learning English, 2,000 words are enough for comfortable communication on everyday topics, which corresponds to the level Pre-Intermediate. To start speaking, you must master a minimum grammatical vocabulary: present tense - Present (Simple, Continuous, Perfect); past tense - Past Simple; Future tense: Future Simple e and design be going to; modal verbs: have to, must, can, may, might, should; indirect speech; passive voice. If your knowledge of English is at the level Elementary or Beginner, you need to tighten them up Pre-Intermediate. If you have already overcome this bar, then you are ready to communicate in English. Yes, such conversations will not be ideal and easy, but expressing your thoughts accessible ways you definitely can.

Nothing to say on the topic

If you feel like you don’t know what to talk about, start by developing your Russian speech. Take any object or phenomenon. Think about what thoughts and emotions you feel towards him. Try to find several subtopics within this broad topic. Then talk about this subject or phenomenon for at least one or two minutes. Exhale. Try the same thing, but in English.

Structure of answering oral questions

Let's imagine that you are asked a common question. For example: What is your favorite kind of food?-What is your favorite food? If panic arises in your head and the gastronomic variety creates complete chaos, take your time. The fate of humanity does not depend on your answer now. Think calmly and only then speak approximate diagram: Introductory sentence - Answer - Reason/Example - Conclusion.

By practicing answering questions this way, you can get rid of the “I have nothing to say” problem.

1. Learn new words

The more words you know, the more conversational topics are available to you and the more accurately you can express your thoughts. Therefore, if you are carried away by speaking practice, do not forget about replenishing your vocabulary.

2. Making your speech lively and natural

To make your speech beautiful and natural, when learning a new word, look in the dictionary, which lists its synonyms and antonyms, as well as related phrasal verbs and idioms. This way you will diversify your speech and increase your vocabulary.

3. Learn phrases

If you ask modern polyglots how to learn to speak English quickly, many of them will answer the same way: “Learn cliché phrases and speech structures.” Expressions like Let's talk briefly about... (Let's talk briefly about ...), I am inclined to believe that... (I am inclined to think that ...), I've got an impression that... (I have the impression that ...) will help you start a conversation competently and beautifully. But what if you didn’t understand well what was said to you? You need to learn to catch keywords in a statement. Please contact Special attention on nouns and verbs, because they are the main words in any sentence. The rest will become clear from the general context of the statement, intonation, emotions, facial expressions and gestures of the speaker. Practice listening more often and get used to the sound of someone else's speech. In the meantime, you can ask the other person to repeat:

Screenshot from Englex

4. Activate vocabulary

Active vocabulary - those words that you use in speech or writing, passive - you recognize in someone else's speech or when reading, but do not use it yourself. The larger your active vocabulary, the more ways you have to express yourself and the easier it is for you to express yourself in English. Work on expanding it: learn new words and introduce them into your speech.

5. Learning to paraphrase

If you are afraid that during a conversation you may forget a word, then do not worry, because you can learn periphrasis - an indirect, descriptive designation of an object. And in order for you to be able to paraphrase, we will give some tips. If you forgot compound word, use the simpler one: a department store - a supermarket(Department store). Use that, which, who to describe a thing or object: I t’s a very large shop that sells food and other products for the home.- This big store, which sells food and other household products. Use antonyms and comparisons: It is opposite to a neighborhood shop. = It's not a neighborhood shop. - It is the opposite in meaning to a convenience store. Use examples: “S ainsbury's" and "Tesco" are examples of best supermarkets. - Sainsbury's and Tesco- examples of the best supermarkets.

6. Learn to ask questions

The strategy for any successful conversation is to talk less about yourself and be more interested in the opinions of other people. To do this, you need to master the scheme for constructing the main types of questions. For example, a person tells you that he likes to decorate his apartment. I like decorating my flat. - I like to decorate my apartment. Think about what questions you could ask this person? What materials do you like the most?- What materials do you like best? Did you learn something about decor?-Have you studied anything in decor? Could you please show me your best work?- Don't show yours better job? Would you like to take part in some decorators contest?- Would you like to take part in a decorating competition?

7. We use a special textbook

Development benefits oral speech - good help for every English learner. They give you things to talk about interesting ideas and expressions, as well as new phrases that can be successfully used in any conversation.

8. Improving pronunciation

Work on your pronunciation: if you mix up sounds or pronounce them unclearly, you are much less likely to be understood. Do you want to speak correctly? Imitate the speech of people who speak clearly and distinctly. You can imitate your English teacher, BBC announcer, favorite actor or English-speaking friend, if you have one. When you learn to pronounce sounds clearly, your fear of being misunderstood will go away, and you will not feel embarrassed by your accent.

9. We are engaged in modern listening

English listening doesn't have to be monotonous or intimidating. You can train your listening comprehension of English speech using modern podcasts, audio series and radio shows. Some of them are adapted for learning, others contain useful colloquial phrases from real, live speech from native speakers. Even if you have little free time to study, you can install apps on your smartphone with podcasts, radio shows and audio dramas. Listen to them on your way to work, during your lunch break, while traveling, while shopping, etc. We recommend listening to the same recording several times. If possible, you can repeat after the announcer. This simple trick will improve your listening skills.

10. Watching videos

How to quickly learn to speak English using videos? — Watch videos on topics that interest you, listen to how and what native speakers say, and repeat after them. This way you will not only master colloquial phrases, but you can also learn correct articulation by imitating the characters in the video. Many videos for people with different levels of language proficiency can be viewed on the following resources: engvid.com, newsinlevels.com, englishcentral.com. One of best resources, which you probably know, is a portal of educational videos from the world's best TED lecturers.

11. Sing songs

Favorite songs in English can help you improve your speaking skills. Find the lyrics to a song you like and play it in the recordings. Listen to the performer and repeat the lyrics after him. Try to keep up with the pace of the soloist’s speech and at the same time pronounce the words as clearly as possible.

12. Read aloud and retell what we read

Reading aloud works similarly to listening to video and audio, only here you read the text yourself and retell what you read. As a result, new words and phrases are remembered.

Choose a general conversation topic, for example, a story about your favorite book. Turn on the voice recorder on your smartphone or laptop and record your voice. After that, turn on the recording and listen to it carefully. Pay attention to when you hesitate, where you pause, how fast your speech is, good pronunciation and correct intonation. Usually, the first recordings for English learners are not a test for the faint of heart: firstly, we are not used to hearing ourselves from the outside, and secondly, English-language speech at the first stages of learning sounds strange and incomprehensible. We recommend that you do not despair. Imagine that this is not your voice, but some outside student who really wants to learn English. What would you advise him to work on? After a month or two, compare the first and last entries: the difference will be noticeable, and this will inspire you to further exploits in learning English.

14. We talk as often as possible

Do you dream in free time speak English, but your friends are not interested? Try participating in conversation clubs with other English language learners. Such meetings are held both live and online. This is a great opportunity to start speaking and get used to other people's speech. IN relaxed atmosphere you can chat on different topics, on occasion, introduce interesting words and phrases that you heard somewhere, and just have a good time.

15. Finding a partner

Have you bought a membership to a fitness club but quit after a couple of months? Have you decided to learn the guitar, but your enthusiasm has faded and you have switched to something new? Perhaps you simply lack motivation and support. You need someone who will support your desire to learn English. Try to find a friend who will go to courses and conversation clubs with you, chat on different topics and motivate you in every possible way to continue learning.

16. We don’t theorize

Practice, practice and only practice of speaking will bring the desired results. Theory alone will not be enough: no matter how much you read useful tips on how to start speaking English, the language will not be given to you until you begin to put all the tips into practice. Yes, you know that yourself. Whatever you undertake, be it driving, cooking or yoga in hammocks, without practice, theoretical manuals will become waste paper.

You can learn English on your own. But it will, firstly, take much longer. Secondly, you risk learning the grammar and pronunciation incorrectly. And it’s very difficult to relearn. An experienced English tutor will correct mistakes in a timely manner and point out weak spots and in general, will teach new material according to a certain curriculum, adapted for a beginner. It is quite difficult to compose it yourself.

From the first day of study, listen to English phrases that are being said around you. Don't treat them as background that doesn't apply to you - you have to actually hear every word to begin to understand the language. This will help you expand your vocabulary, understand the peculiarities of sentence construction and use specific words. You will learn to catch intonation, which plays a very important role in the English language. To listen, you need to immerse yourself in the environment. When you find yourself in an English-speaking country, you just need to ride the subway or walk through a supermarket to hear English speech. If you are not planning to move to New York yet, radio, television and music will help you out.

To speak at a native level, you need to know about 3,000 words. 1000 words will allow you to express your thoughts and understand others. And when you just start learning, you don’t have a vocabulary. Learn verbs, nouns, adjectives and other parts of speech every day. If you know 20 nouns, 20 verbs and 20 adjectives, you can make up a couple hundred phrases with different meanings. Of course you will talk like a child. But this is exactly how a child learns a language!

When learning a foreign language, the main emphasis is always on speech practice. At the same time, communication is effective tool further improvement of English. A language parent is your friend who knows English well. This is a native speaker who really likes you as a person and is interested in helping you. You will become for him the child we started talking about in the previous paragraph.

Parent Rules:

• try to understand what you say;
• not to correct you;
• pretend that he understands everything you said;
• use unfamiliar words.

This gives an amazing effect. After all Small child learns to speak from adults. They use new words and behave loyally with the child, feigning complete understanding of even the most unintelligible baby babble. Result: the child begins to talk, doing it better and better every day.

We use the muscles in our face to pronounce certain sounds correctly. The sounds in English are different from Russian, so you need to learn to pronounce them correctly. To do this, copy the facial expressions of native speakers - look into the faces of TV series characters and talk show hosts. Repeat the phrases after them, trying to copy facial expressions and intonation as much as possible. Do you know what awaits you after such training? Facial muscle pain! This means you are doing everything right!

You say: “What simple tips! Will they really help? Why complicate something simple? Especially if these recommendations work effectively with millions of people around the world who are learning English.

Try it and after 3 months you will say: “Unbelievable! It worked! And it will be true.