EMBARRASSING MOMENT!

TIP

1.      You are at a party and everyone is speaking in English. What can you do?

Join in social interaction and small talk whenever you can. Listen to your peers and mimmick their intonation, stress and rate of speech

2.      You are going for an interview which will be conducted in English. You are worried that your English is not clear and precise. What can you do to improve your pronunciation and clarity of speech?

Ask a native speaker to record key aspects of the language you need in your area of work or study. Then listen to the tape at home.

3. You are socializing with some friends after work and you don’t understand certain expressions or slang that is used. What can you say to make sure you learn the colloquial terms that are used by your friends?

Do not just smile and pretend to understand. This way you will never learn! Ask the people in your group and give a reason like, “Can you repeat that please” or “Can you repeat what you have just said” or “I didn’t quite catch what you said, can you repeat that please”. 

4. You are in an English class and your teacher is explaining a new language structure. You do not understand. What do you say to the teacher?

If you do not understand something feel free to admit it and say, “Excuse me, I don’t understand” or “I didn’t follow what you were saying, can you explain that again” or “Can you repeat that, I didn’t understand”.

5. You always worry about what people are thinking about your English. You constantly have your dictionary and phrase book with you and stop mid sentence to check your grammar or use of vocabulary. Is this beneficial to you?

NO! Do not worry about making mistakes when you are speaking. People are more worried about communicating with you than how accurately you speak English!

6. In your country eye contact is not so important when you are speaking to someone. Is this the same in English speaking countries?

NO! Eye contact is a form of politeness when having a conversation with someone. Remember to smile and not be too intense. Interaction is more important.

7. You are telephoning a real estate agent about a rental apartment. You are speaking so quickly that the real estate agent does not understand what you are saying. How should you speak on the telephone?

You must try not to speak English so quickly until you have learnt the correct pronunciation, intonation and rhythm of the language. English speakers may find it difficult to understand you particularly on the telephone.

8. You are giving a long speech in English at an international conference. The audience is sometimes looking bored. What can you do?

You must try not to use the intonation of your own language. English has a musical sound of its own. Listen to it and try and mimic the intonation. Using a varied tone makes a person sound more interesting and is easier on the ear!

9. You work for an international English speaking company. You constantly translate literally from your own language into English. What can you do to solve this problem?

Try to remove literal translation from your daily speaking. It has become a habit. Common mistakes are:

Take a rest. (Have a rest.)

I’m going to the house now. (I’m going home now)

Quite often you know the correct way of saying something so why do you do it?

10. You are not sure how to pronounce a word and your English- speaking colleagues or friends are not around to help you. What can you do?

You must familiarize yourself with the phonetic symbols used in a dictionary. This will help you pronounce words correctly.

11. You do not have the time to go to English lessons after work but you know your English pronunciation is not very good. What can you do to help improve your fluency?

You can buy books on tapes or CDs and listen to them in the car on the way to work. Repeat sentences and practice pronunciation of certain words. Listen to the radio in English or watch the television, particularly the news.

12. You are speaking to someone and they sometimes ask you to repeat what you have said because they have not understood you. You are surprised because you have been speaking English for a long time. What can you do?

You must record your own voice and listen for pronunciation mistakes. If you are not certain as to what the mistakes are, ask an English native speaker to help you. Then practice certain sounds that you may have difficulty with.

13. You have been told that you are constantly not using endings at the end of your words. This sometimes leads to miscommunication. You are not sure what this means?

You must be careful to use ‘s’ at the end of your plural words . This can lead to a misunderstanding such as “I want two hamburger, please” You are saying you want two but you only indicate one hamburger by missing the ‘s’ at the end of hamburger. Also another common mistake is to leave ‘ed’ off the end of a past tense verb such as “I look at a new car yesterday.” Sometimes a speaker does not omit the ‘s’ or the ‘ed’ but does not accentuate the sound.

14. You love music and like to sing with certain songs when you are dancing at a disco. However, you do not know the words and have difficulty hearing the individual words when you are in a loud environment. You want to be the same as your English-speaking friends who sing the songs fluently. What do you do?

You must do a search on the internet and find the lyrics .  They can assist you with learning English and develop an ear for rhyming sounds that can ultimately help with pronunci ation.

15. You are asked to read something and you are not a very fluent reader. You stop and start because there are certain words you do not know and certain structures that sound unfamiliar. How can you improve your reading skills?

 READ more books! Remember how your own language improved when you were learning your first language? It is exactly the same with learning a second language. The more you read, the better your English will become!

Learn the phonetic alphabet. This will help you pronounce new words.

You don’t have to understand every word on the page. Try to understand the overall meaning.

Remember to choose a book that is not too difficult so that you can enjoy the content of the text.