LANGUAGE EXPLORER

Hello everybody,

Today I wanted to talk about my ideas on increasing fluency (which in my opinion is about how easy you can use a language at a high level)

I wanted to tell you about a new idea I have had about building up vocabulary and fluency at the same time. I have a lot of trouble remembering words and I believe that everyone agrees that the secret to learning a language is knowing enough words and enough of the structure of the language (sometimes call rules of grammar)

Some languages have complex grammar (like German) and other languages have simpler grammar (like Mandarin Chinese)

Whichever language we learn, we need a knowledge of enough words and grammar to converse with others who speak the language. Of course other areas of language ability are important - such as pronunciation, but generally speaking, with some words and grammar and a reasonably understandable accent - most people could make themselves understood and understand what was being said to them. In English this is often called “get by”.

Anyway, to explain my idea. If you were wanting to learn some new words, let’s pick three unusual unrelated words:

A noun: condominium
An adjective: straightforward
A verb: perform

To remember these words, explain them with easy language by using a dictionary:

Condominium = apartment (or flat)
straightforward = easy
perform = carry something out, act/sing/dance

Make up a sentence and write it down:

Nothing is straightforward, there is not enough space in my condominium that I cannot perform my dance

change it…

I cannot perform my dance. I need to practice every day in my friend’s condominium. Nothing is straightforward - as it is too small

Say the sentences out loud.. then see if you remember the words and their meaning a little later. If you can’t easily remember them - read the sentences again and see if you can remember them later still.

I’m going to try this idea myself with learning new words in the languages I am learning. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Maybe this way it will not take so long to build up a good amount of words in my head and become more fluent.

Take care and see you next time

Hello everybody,

Today I wanted to talk about practicing phrases to make it easier to remember how to say things and the right words to use

I want to go shopping because my sister is coming and we enjoy going to the shops together.

It is surprising just what language you can practice with only one sentence:

Because my sister is coming, I want to go shopping and we enjoy going to the shops together

We enjoy going to the shops my sister and I and my sister is coming, so I want to go shopping

That is three sentences saying the same thing, more or less - but if you practice the sentence in different ways - then you can become more fluent.

You can then expand it a bit more:

My sister is coming to see me. We always like to go shopping together because we like going to the shops together.

It is always nice when my sister comes, because we like going to the shops together to do some shopping. I want to go shopping anyway - so I will wait until she comes

This way, you can build up the language practice.

Just keep thinking of different ways to say the same thing and If you make a mistake, it isn’t such a problem because people will still understand

So, say for example you said

I want to go to the shopping when my sister comes, because we like shopping together
(saying “shopping” instead of “shops” will still be understood)

You could always simplify it more…

When my sister comes, we like going to the shops together.

We like going shopping together my sister and me

(maybe it should be “my sister and I” but most people in England would say “my sister and me”

Try making up a sentence, writing it in a few different ways and then saying it. Or you could just try making a sentence in your head and then say it - you will become more fluent!

Have you ever tried learning words from a visual dictionary? I like these type of dictionaries because you can see the picture and read the word. I have just found a very good one that shows many pictures and photos with the words in 4 languages. This is called “5 Language visual dictionary by Dorling Kindersley. English, French, German, Spanish & Italian

The ISBN number is ISBN 0-7513-3681-5
You can find it on www.amazon.com

It is quite expensive at around £20/ $27 but I think it would be worth every penny and a very interesting way to learn new words.

Bye for now and see you next time bye!

Hello everybody. This is a continuation of my podcast about difficult sounds in English.

English often uses stress or emphasis on syllables within a word. Stress is sometimes used in spoken English as a language technique to change the meaning of what is being said and emphasise a certain thing or idea. Normally this doesn’t show in written English unless the word is written differently. Here’s an example:

1. He wants me to give her the book
2. HE wants me to give her the book
3. He wants ME to give her the book
4. He wants me to GIVE her the book
5. He wants me to give her the BOOK

Easy sentence - but stressed words make a big difference to meaning.

The first sentence just has a basic meaning. There is no extra stress on the first sentence - so someone listening would just hear it as a statement.

Number 2 is emphasising the person who wants me to give the book

Number 3 is emphasising that the person want me in particular (that is no one else but me) to give her the book

Number 4 is emphasising that the person wants me to give her the book - that is, not do something different with the book

Number 5 means the person wants me to give her a book and not something else instead

So, it’s interesting how English uses this stress on words to change the meaning of the sentence without changing the words in the sentence. You’ll notice that all the words are the same in each sentence.

Take care and see you next time

Julian Beever’s Inspired Pavement Drawings

Ken Wilson, UK

Julian Beever is an English chalk artist, who has been creating anamorphic pavement art since the mid-1990s. Anamorphic pictures are designed so that they appear to be three dimensional from certain angles. The drawings must be seen from one particular angle. If the viewer moves from the position, the illusion is lost and the drawing becomes an unrecognizable distortion.

Julian also paints murals and is famous for his replicas of well-known works of art. He has worked in the UK, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Germany, the USA and Australia. He has been called “the Pavement Picasso,” because the importance of three dimensionality in his work is reminiscent of Picasso in his Cubist period.

This material was spotted by Ken Wilson, a teacher trainer and ELT materials writer, with more than 20 titles to his name. He writes both coursebook and supplementary material and his recent course material includes a Senior High course for China. He also wrote a book to accompany Channel 4 TV’s first-ever ELT soap series. He was artistic director of the English Teaching Theatre until 2002

Well, I decided that for all my podcasts, I’ll write a little introduction and then put the transcript for the voice recording for you. So, welcome to “Alan’s Weekend Words January 19th”. Today some advice on pronuciation for all you English learners!

Hello, for my weekend words this week I want to talk about pronunciation difficulties for learners of English. It seems to me that there are some sounds that present more difficulties that others. For example the English “th” sound.

think
thought
thank
thesis
therapy
nothing
tether
teeth

are some words starting with or containing the sound ‘th”. For this sound place the top of your tongue against your top teeth - push some air through without too much pressure and say the word.

think, thought, thank, thesis,therapy,nothing,tether,teeth

The other ‘th” sound is the same tongue position - but with less air movement and more voice. See if you can hear the difference between the two different ‘th” sounds

the,there,those,with,feather

Try practicing these “th” sounds slowly then speed up

Make sure that you keep relaxed when you speak and don’t worry if you find it difficult - just keep practicing when you have a little time.

The other sound I wanted to talk about today is the English “r”
The British version is softer sounding than the American:

run
ready
really
roaring

the american sounds more “strong” - in other words add more sound to your voice as you speak - with a little more energy.

run
ready
really
roaring

I can’t really speak with an american accent very well - but I just wanted to show you an example.

Your tongue needs to be curled back about half-way in your mouth - but not touching any part of your mouth and then curl it back forward again and keep it quite loose as you do.

“a Rumanian runner was running a revolution around a really rocky racetrack”

Tongue twisters like this can be very useful for pronunciation practice

Take care and see you next time

http://www.englishsecret.com/pages/sound.jsp?pid=12

Buenos dias, bom dia,hallo, bonjour, jo napot,ni hao, Guten Tag!
So many languages. But of course, as usual, I am speaking in uhm, English my mother tongue and today, I wanted to speak a little about fluency, but today I’m trying to do this as a “chatcast” - and my way of doing chatcasts now is to just…chat without a text.
So, I will produce a text for the “PODOMATIC” site so that you can read what I’ve said, but I won’t do that until after I’ve finished speaking.

So today, “fluency”. What does it mean? In fact what made me think about it was, I was speaking with a friend at work today and we were discussing..uhm..language learning because he said that he would like to learn French and I was giving him some tips and hints and we were discussing what fluency was. He said he would like to have a conversation with people (in French) and he considered that would be fluency. And my opinion is, that fluency changes the more you learn a language, or your idea, should I say, about fluency.

Because the more you learn about a language, the more you think you need to learn. But my point of view is, that we should be able to be fluent… at any level.

To explain what I mean, if you’re having a very simple conversation - someone says, “how are you?” and you say, “I’m fine thanks and how (are) is your family? how are your children?” You say, “my children are well, my family is well”

You are still speaking a language in a fluent way, because I think fluency means you can speak the language quite easily. But of course as the language level rises and the complexity of the sentences you’re saying in your conversation becomes more difficult, then it affects the level of fluency. So my advice is try to stay in the level that you have and try and enjoy speaking at that level whilst trying to develop more language skills - and that way you develop your fluency.

So, what I’m trying to explain from my point of view is that anyone can have a “level of fluency” that allows them to speak the language and uhm, I think it’s worth thinking about because many many people will say to themselves, ” I’m not very fluent, I’m not as fluent as I’d like to be”. So, take your time, enjoy the conversations that you have in the language you’re learning and if it is English, then practice it and say to yourself, “I’m fluent, I just need MORE fluency as I speak about more complex subjects”.

So that’s my chatcast for Friday evening and I’ll hopefully make a new “Weekend words” over the weekend. But, we have my son’s girlfriend with us today so, (we) we’ve got a visitor here. Maybe I will have time but hopefully you’ll have a nice weekend. Take care and we’ll speak again soon…BYE.

I hope you like my latest guitar tune recorded today…

hello everybody. Alan here. Buenos dias, ¿Cómo estás? hablo poco espagnol a hora!

Today I wanted to talk a little about learning Spanish. I’m starting to learn some Spanish. I wanted to start seriously to learn a few months ago, but for some reason or another I couldn’t get started properly. It’s always difficult starting a new language I think. Anyway, recently I started to visit Alba’s podomatic spanish learning site here in Podomatic and also I borrowed a course “Michel Thomas” introductory course (2 CD’s) from my local library. I think now I can get started correctly.

I think that the best way to start learning is to start with some good materials - and this is what Alba’s site and the Michel Thomas course do. They allow you to learn without stress. I think too many people learning languages put themselves under a great deal of stress and strain in pushing themselves too hard. Trying to learn vocabulary lists, memorise phrases and expressions and remember as much as they can. Perhaps the easiest and best way is to try to learn in a relaxed way. I know this isn’t easy if you are learning in a classroom situation and you have exams looming.. Well, in any case, I think things are a bit easier if you are easy on yourself - don’t become your most strict teacher!

So, I’m going to see how my Spanish improves over the next few months. I might even try a small podcast in Spanish if I can.

It’s always interesting to feel a new language developing in one’s head. It reminds me of trying to complete a very big jigsaw puzzle, or crossword in some ways. As you find the answer to a clue or find a jigsaw piece that fits so to speak - so you can tell yourself - I’m learning well!

Some people are natural learners and can pick things up quickly. I wish I were one of these people, but unfortunately I’m not. Even so, it’s best to keep interested and that is why my motto is “enjoy what you know and the rest can only grow” in other words enjoy what level you are and then you’ll always find that you will learn more. Let’s keep the language learning effort going! With podcasts, it’s even easier than before because you can transport the recordings around on your MP3 player. I love downloading some language podcasts and playing them later when I have time to listen to them carefully - such as when I’m driving or my lunch break at work.

Take care and bye for now

Text here: http://www.hltmag.co.uk/mar07/joke.htm

Julian Beever’s Inspired Pavement Drawings
Ken Wilson, UK

Julian Beever is an English chalk artist, who has been creating anamorphic pavement art since the mid-1990s. Anamorphic pictures are designed so that they appear to be three dimensional from certain angles. The drawings must be seen from one particular angle. If the viewer moves from the position, the illusion is lost and the drawing becomes an unrecognizable distortion.

Julian also paints murals and is famous for his replicas of well-known works of art. He has worked in the UK, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Germany, the USA and Australia. He has been called “the Pavement Picasso,” because the importance of three dimensionality in his work is reminiscent of Picasso in his Cubist period.

This material was spotted by Ken Wilson, a teacher trainer and ELT materials writer, with more than 20 titles to his name. He writes both coursebook and supplementary material and his recent course material includes a Senior High course for China. He also wrote a book to accompany Channel 4 TV’s first-ever ELT soap series. He was artistic director of the English Teaching Theatre until 2002.

Punctuation has been defined in many ways. Some grammarians use the analogy of stitching: punctuation as the basting that holds the fabric of the language in shape. Another writer tells us that punctuation marks are the traffic signals of language:they tell us to slow down, notice this, take a detour, and stop.

But the best of all, I think, is the simple advice given by the style book of a national newspaper:that punctuation is “a courtesy designed to help readers to understand a story without stumbling.”.

Examples:

“What would you do with the king?”
“What? Would you? With the king?”

“A woman, without her man, is nothing.”
“A woman:without her, man is nothing.”

“Why English is crap”

Have you ever asked yourself…

Why when the stars are out, that can be seen, but when the lights are out, they cannot be seen?

Why when one gets fit one is healthy, but when one has a fit one is ill?

Why a fast horse runs and fast colours don’t

Why one can ship by truck and send a truck by ship?

Why a seeded loaf of bread has seeds in it, but seeded raisins have them taken out?

Why one’s house goes up in flames at the same time as it is burning down?

Also, examples of the “double-negative” which is regarded as sub-standard English where there is no intention of having the two negatives cancel each other out. In other words it does nothing for language. However some people who pride themselves on speaking standard English are sometimes caught out by a no no.

“He can’t make friend with no one”

“She doesn’t never eat since she’s been on that diet”

” I never saw nobody”

“They didn’t know nothing”