Ultimate Guide To English Fluency - Link
Ultimate Guide To English Fluency - Link
com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
5 About me
Why?
I've included audio files and worksheets that go along with this guide
so that you can practice anytime on your own.
Download the audio files and print out the worksheets so that you can
listen and read at the same time. It's most helpful for you to record
yourself and compare your voice to the recordings. Practice 20
minutes per day and you will get amazing results!
ENJOY!!
HEY THERE!
My name's Loretta. I'm originally from California and have been helping
people speak better English and gain confidence for over 20 years. My
specialty is the American accent. I’ve worked with countless non-native
English-speaking professionals who have a good command of grammar,
vocabulary, reading, and writing skills but still struggle with speaking
confidently. It's my passion to show them techniques in a fun way that help
them to speak more dynamically and to sound more natural. It's a joy to see
how their eyes light up when they understand and can use the rhythm and
music of English and feel good about their "English voice".
www.englishcoachloretta.com
Sound Natural?
First, let me say that sounding natural does not mean being free of your accent.
Accents are a part of your identity and culture and show that you know more
than one language!
Even though the correct pronunciation of individual sounds is crucial for good
communication, there are other aspects of English speech that you should be
aware of, learn, and practice if you want to sound natural and be understood
easily by your listener. The goal is not to sound like a native speaker but rather
to train your ears and your voice to speak with the flow of the melody and
rhythm of English.
In this guide, I will show you 5 key elements of spoken English that, if you
practice, will make you sound much more natural, dynamic, and confident!
Clear Pronunciation
As long as your accent does not get in the way of communication and people
understand you easily, it isn't a problem. However, if you need to constantly
repeat yourself, you may be losing out on opportunities to succeed in your
career and life. The goal should be to improve your natural speaking ability so
that communication isn’t a barrier.
Clear Pronunciation
For one thing, it's a mix of many different languages such as Spanish, French,
German, Dutch, Latin, and Greek.
The English language has also gone through many changes in history; Old
English, Middle English, and Modern English. And then there was the "Great
Vowel Shift" that happened between 1400-1700. The vowel sounds changed.
English now has 26 letters but 44 different sounds.
For example, a lot of English words are spelled the same, but they are
pronounced differently or spelled differently but sound the same. And, to
make it even crazier, some letters are not pronounced at all!
Clear Pronunciation
EXAMPLES:
Let's start with "Homophones". These are words that are spelled
differently and have different meanings but are pronounced the
same. Here are some examples:
Homophones
beet beat
flour flower
Words that are spelled the same but have different meanings
and pronunciation are called "Heteronymes". Here are some
examples:
Heteronyms
bass bass
(as in "fast") (as in "face")
wind wind
(as in "win") (as in "wine")
Clear Pronunciation
EXAMPLES:
Some words are spelled the same but depending on which part
of the word is stressed, it is either a noun or a verb. These are
called "Homographs". Here are some examples:
Homographs
OBject obJECT
PREsent preSENT
Many words have letters that are not pronounced at all. These are
what we call, "Silent letters". Here are some examples
Silent Letters
climb
Silent "B" comb
3 -RHYTHM
4 - INTONATION
It's not just what you say, it's how you say
it!
When you speak English, your voice has
to go up and down in the right places or
else you will sound unfriendly or boring!
5 - PACING
Pausing at the right points when you're
speaking and changing the tempo will
keep your listeners engaged.
A-E-I-O-U
Short Long
-A- at / ate
-E- bet / beat
-I- bit / bite
-O- got / goat
-U- tub / tube
Diphthongs
15
HOW TO SOUND MORE NATURAL SPEAKING ENGLISH
STRESS PATTERNS
PRIMARY secondary
STRONGER weaker
X Wrong! ✔️Right!
BA-na-na
ba-NA-na
ba-na-NA
STRESS PATTERNS
You must be very careful to use the correct syllable stress patterns. Using a
different stress pattern could change the meaning of some words!
As you can see, changing the stress placement can change the meaning of
a word! So how do you know which part of a word (syllable) you should
stress? The bad news is that there are no set rules that tell you which
syllable to stress. There are some rules that you can learn, but there are also
a lot of exceptions to these rules. That's why it can be difficult to know
where exactly to put the stress in a word. Especially for long words that
have multi-syllables. For example, the word:
Incomprehensible
Stress pattern
The good news is, that there are some basic guidelines that will help you to
remember which syllable to stress.
Let's have a look at some of these guidelines for syllable stress patterns.
Examples:
(nouns) TA-ble BIRTH-day LAP-top
2-SYLLABLE VERBS
Most 2 syllable verbs (action words) are stressed on the second syllable.
Examples:
for-GET de-CIDE re-LAX
COMPOUND NOUNS
LONGER WORDS
-er -ly
Words with these endings are generally stressed on the first syllable.
Examples:
AN-gri-ly PER-fect-ly SUd-den-ly HAp-pi-ly MAN-a-ger
LONGER WORDS
-cy -ty -phy -gy
LONGER WORDS
-ic -sion -tion
Words with these endings are stressed on the second-from-last syllable.
Examples:
dip-lo-MAT-ic com-pre-HEN-sion ded-i-CA-tion
LONGER WORDS
-ate -ize
Words with these endings are stressed on the third-from-last syllable.
Examples:
CON-cen-trate STIM-u-late REC-og-nize pri-OR-i-tize
Now that we know all about syllable stress in individual words, we're going
to have a look at how words are stressed in sentences.
Mastering sentence stress is the Secret Sauce to sounding clearer, more
fluent and natural. If you use it correctly, your speech will improve
drastically.
"Would-you-like-a-cup-of-coffee?"
We don't need to stress all the words to understand the question.We can
leave out some words and still get the meaning.
Of course, you don't want to sound like Tarzan either. We need all the
words to give the sentence both meaning and structure without sounding
like Tarzan or a robot.
The words that are not important for understanding the meaning we say
weaker and faster so that the important words stand out. This combination
of stressed and unstressed words makes up the flow of the sentence.
So, which words in a sentence are stressed, and which ones are unstressed?
There are two types of words:
Content words, which convey the meaning of the sentence, and structure
words that give structure to the sentence. You can just think of structure
words as small, grammar words.
Here's a breakdown of some of these word types.
So the next time you're listening to native speakers, don't worry about
trying to understand every single word. It's enough to concentrate on the
words that are stressed to understand the context.
GET IN THE
GROOVE
Connecting Words
Now that you know about how we combine stressed and unstressed words
in a sentence, we are going to learn how words are connected together in
spoken English to flow smoothly from one word to the next. You may think
that native speakers mumble and speak too fast and that's why you have so
much trouble understanding them. Of course, some people speak fast and
mumble, but that's not really the reason you don't always understand
everything they are saying. It's the way we put words together to keep the
flow.
To keep this rhythm in the flow, words in English are squished together,
shortened, and even dropped out. Because the ears of native speakers are
tuned to this rhythm, it's crucial that you are aware of this and practice
connecting your words in spoken English.
Yunowadaimean?
( Do you know what I mean?)
We're going to look at ways that words in sentences are connected to keep
in the flow of spoken English.
Connecting Words
Reducing
want to wanna
got to gotta
have to hafta
going to gonna
should have shoulda
could have coulda
Linking
I need it. Ineedit
What are you doing? Whadaryadoin?
Where do you live? Wherdayaliv?
What have you done? Whadavyadone?
What is her name? Whatsername?
Contracting
EXPRESS EMOTION
It's not just what you say, it's how you say it!
Like stress patterns of words, native speakers listen to the fall and rise of your
voice to understand your message. The pitch of your voice lets your listeners
know when you've finished talking, if you're asking a question, or if you're
excited, angry, surprised, confused, etc.
English speakers who are not native speakers often end their sentences with
rising intonation rather than falling. In doing so, you will appear unsure or
sound as if you are asking a question.
In other words, if your voice doesn't rise and fall in the way native speakers
do, they will be confused and may not understand what you say. Also, your
voice may sound unfriendly, boring, or robotic.
So, you have to "sing" if you want to sound natural when speaking English
even when it seems strange to you. Using the correct rise and fall of your
voice is the secret sauce to making you a more dynamic and interesting
English speaker.
We're going to have a look at three types of intonation that you should be
aware of that will help your speech to be clearer and more dynamic.
Rising ( )
Rising intonation is when the pitch of your voice goes up at the end of a
sentence. Used when asking yes/no questions, expressing uncertainty, or
surprise.
"Have you signed up for the webinar yet?" (yes/no)
Falling ( )
The pitch of your voice goes down at the end of a sentence, for a
statement or with a question that uses who, what, when, where, why,
or how. ("WH" questions)
Rising / Falling ( )
The pitch of your voice goes up and then down in the same sentence.
Used for pauses, introductory words, lists, and choices.
Expressing Emotion
We can give this sentence seven different meanings just by putting the
stress on different words within the sentence.
1. "I never said she took my money." ( Someone else said it. Maybe John.)
2. "I never said she took my money." ( No way! Not true!)
3. "I never said she took my money." ( Not in words. Maybe only thought it.)
4. "I never said she took my money." ( She was not the one. Someone else )
5. "I never said she took my money." ( I said she lost my money.)
6. "I never said she took my money." ( She took Steven's money.)
7. "I never said she took my money." ( I said she took my phone.)
Practice saying each of these sentences out loud to get a good feel of
stressing different words.
In the next section, we're going to continue with some more elements of
English that will help you to have a smoother flow in your speech.
CAPTURE YOUR
AUDIENCE
Pacing refers to how fast or slow you speak. Talking too fast is normal when
you're nervous and all eyes and ears are on you. That’s why it’s important to
learn how to pace your speech.
To control your speech, you need to practice. You want your speech to be
engaging and hold your audience's attention by using the right pace.
Pacing also helps to emphasize important points and make them stand out.
Finally, pacing helps to create a good atmosphere and makes your talk more
enjoyable.
Speak and pause often! Pausing allows the audience to digest the
information and create suspense. This can also help to emphasize certain
points or ideas.
You should change the rate of speed. Speak slowly and deliberately at times,
and then increase the speed to emphasize certain points or ideas. When a
speaker slows down or speeds up the pace of their speech, it can signal to
the audience that something important is being said. This will keep the
audience interested and engaged.
3. Practice
Use a timer to practice. Set it for a certain time, such as five minutes, and
practice talking in that time frame. This will help you develop a sense of
timing and internal pacing.
Speaking in front of a mirror is also helpful. Make sure you make eye contact
with yourself while speaking.
4. Bonus Tip
Vary the pitch of your voice. Speak in a deeper tone at times and a higher
tone at others. Make sure that you don’t get too quiet at the end of
sentences.
And don't forget to keep eye contact and smile!
What Next?
If you found this guide helpful and are ready to take the next step, let's get on
a call so that we can get to know each other better and can talk about how I
can help you get results even faster!
With love,
Your English coach
Loretta