English Fluency vs Automatic Fluent

What is English fluency? What does it mean to speak English easily and automatically?

The definition is simple-- you speak English automatically when your speech is effortless. You speak fluent English when the words come out of your mouth—without translation and without hesitation. Sometimes this is called “thinking in English”, but truly automatic speech is even faster than that-- there is no thinking. You don’t think about the language at all- you just speak as easily and effortlessly as you do with your native language.

Why is automatic fluent speech important? 

It’s important because automatic English speaking is the key to getting results with English. Automatic speaking makes it easy to connect with native speakers. As an automatic English speaker, it’s easy for you to make friends, participate in business meetings, talk to customers, understand movies, and get better jobs.

Source: www.EffortlessEnglishClub.com

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The 10 Secrets to Speaking English

1. Self-Esteem

The most important aspect of speaking is having good self-esteem. Self-esteem is how a person feels about himself. This includes “self-talk”, how a person thinks or what a person says to himself. What a person feels determines what he thinks, and what he thinks determines what he says and how he says it. A person who feels good about himself will say good things and speak well. A person who feels bad about himself will think negative thoughts and not have self-confidence. Then fear will cause a person to not speak. When most Chinese people are asked how their English is, or if they are told their English is very good, they immediately respond by saying, “Oh, my English is very poor. I have no chance to practice.” A student of English should not say this to himself or to others. A person who says it often enough will begin to believe it and soon will be paralyzed and unable to speak. Students will begin to forget what they know since the right brain cannot speak or use the knowledge stored in the left brain. A person learning to speak English must put the Chinese custom of modesty (saving face) aside. When complimented, the correct response is “Thank you.” When asked, “How is your English?” or criticized, a good answer is “I love to speak English,” or “My English is improving,” or “I am working very hard to improve my English.” These positive statements will reinforce positive thoughts and good feelings. With increased confidence a person will overcome fear and speak more freely. The mind is the most fantastic computer in the universe. Saying or thinking negative thoughts will short circuit the mind or give it deadly viruses.

2. Teaching Others

It is a known fact that the teacher learns more than the student. One receives more when one gives. When a person only receives, he becomes crippled and soon dies. First of all, a person who teaches someone else to speak English forgets his inhibitions and concentrates on helping. This is a key process in learning. The teacher actually receives more than he gives. The teacher becomes better at speaking when he gives others instructions and encouragement. Secondly, the person who speaks is forced to utilize all the skills of speaking well. The brain is forced to remember what is stored in the left brain, transfer it to the right side, translate it from Chinese into English, and then verbalize it. A teacher must speak to teach. The teacher hears himself speak and recognizes needs and self corrects while teaching, correcting and encouraging the student(s). It’s a great method and a self-motivating process. For thousands of years, this method has been a powerful secret to learning. Remember that teaching others stimulates improvement.

3. Singing Songs

Singing songs has magic that no other exercise can duplicate. A person who sings English songs over and over again will automatically memorize words and phrases. When someone says, “Let’s sing ‘Jingle Bells’ or ‘Happy Birthday’, immediately a person begins to sing the song exactly right without even thinking about it. There is no hesitation, no translation, no confusion. Also, singing allows for the practice of saying words and, at the same time, practices pronunciation because singers verbalize each word more slowly and exactly with the music. That’s what music does for a person who wants to speak English. Good songs with good words are a great aid to speaking fluently. It is amazing how quickly singing helps a person to speak. Finally, the Chinese language has many tones and in a way the language is sung. When songs are sung in English, the brain can quickly connect the thoughts and meaning with sound.

4. Talking to the TV & Radio

There are English speaking television and radio channels. Watching and listening to them is important, but talking to them is even more important. This may seem strange to family and friends, but it is almost as effective as having a native speaker present. Listening is a great way to learn, but speaking back and asking questions benefits the mind and speaking mechanism as if a real person were there. True, the TV and radio will not answer questions nor pause for comments. Nevertheless, a person’s listening skills will improve and his ability to ask good questions and give good answers will also improve. This is a good method. This method will require concentration since people habitually just “listen” to the radio and TV. Listening is good, but speaking is better. It makes all the difference.

5. Reading Aloud and Reading A Lot

 Good teachers always emphasize the value of extensive reading. It’s through reading many stories and books that one absorbs the culture, meaning, and beauty of a language. So the student must Read! Read! Read! But in addition to just reading, students should read out loud. Little children learn to speak by listening to their mothers read to them. Mothers learn to read and speak better by reading and speaking to their children. Together, both the reader and listener learn to tell stories, adding drama and emphasis to words and expressions. It’s important to read to others whenever possible. If there is no one to read to, students can read to themselves. It’s important to read aloud a lot!

6. Calling Others on the Telephone

This is one of the most common and most helpful methods of improving spoken English. First, language students must identify others who are willing to speak to them in English on the telephone. These can be friends, classmates, workmates or family members. Students can either make surprise calls or make appointments to speak with a number of people every day. At first, conversations may only last a few minutes, but with practice, time spent speaking will increase. The value comes in developing the ability to hear and understand the other unseen person. Repeating parts of the conversation and asking the other person to repeat parts of the conversation might prove useful. Soon the ear will become accustomed and the speech will also improve allowing both parties to better understand each other. This can be a fun and very useful practice that exercises the brain, ears and tongue.

7. Group Participation

A student in a formal English class at a school, university, or training company must participate. It is vital to ask questions, offer opinions and actively contribute to the class’s speaking activities. It’s only the active participant whose mind and mouth work together to speak and improve speaking. The left brain of a passive spectator will record what is seen and heard while the right brain weakens and speaking difficulty increases. Also, a person cannot participate unless he attends. Active, dedicated members of a class practice many of the skills necessary to increase verbal speech.

8. Interpreting for Others

 Interpreting is one of the strongest methods of exercising the whole brain to improve speaking ability. Interpreters must draw on their left brain reserves while exercising their right brain skills. It is similar to teaching others, but even more powerful because the person interpreting must hear in Chinese, mentally understand and translate information in the mind, then almost instantly verbalizes these ideas correctly in English. The more advanced the English speaking ability, the better the interpretation. It is important to begin very early to interpret, not waiting for proficiency in speaking. Interpreting is not translating written documents which are mostly a left-brain skill.

9. Memorizing New Words and Phrases

 In order to progress in learning to speak English, new words must be added to the vocabulary. Always having a small list of words and using them in every day conversation is vital to mastery. Speaking new words in sentences will bring ownership. Doing this faithfully over a period of a few years will build a vocabulary as large as most native English speakers. More effective than just adding new words is adding entire sentences. Great progress comes when quotes and phrases are not just memorized but used in daily speech. The key is to Speak! Speak! Speak!

10. Read, Write, and Memorize Poetry

“Words do not convey meaning, they call it forth.” David O McKay. Like music, poetry enlightens the soul while it exercises the mind in rhythm and vivid imagery. By reading, writing and memorizing poetry, a person is exercising one of the highest forms of spoken English. It energizes both the left and right brain while it conditions thinking and trains the tongue.

Source: ebookee.org

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Speaking versus Writing

THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE Spoken WORD. OR IS IT?

Josef Essberger
The purpose of all language is to communicate - that is, to move thoughts or information from one person to another person.
There are always at least two people in any communication. To communicate, one person must put something "out" and another person must take something "in". We call this "output" (>>>) and "input" (<<<).

• I speak to you (OUTPUT: my thoughts go OUT of my head).
• You listen to me (INPUT: my thoughts go INto your head).
• You write to me (OUTPUT: your thoughts go OUT of your head).
• I read your words (INPUT: your thoughts go INto my head).

So language consists of four "skills": two for output (speaking and writing); and two for input (listening and reading. We can say this another way - two of the skills are for "spoken" communication and two of the skills are for "written" communication:
Spoken:
>>> Speaking - mouth
<<< Listening - ear
Written:
>>> Writing - hand
<<< Reading - eye
What are the differences between Spoken and Written English? Are there advantages and disadvantages for each form of communication?

Status

When we learn our own (native) language, learning to speak comes before learning to write. In fact, we learn to speak almost automatically. It is natural. But somebody must teach us to write. It is not natural. In one sense, speaking is the "real" language and writing is only a representation of speaking. However, for centuries, people have regarded writing as superior to speaking. It has a higher "status". This is perhaps because in the past almost everybody could speak but only a few people could write. But as we shall see, modern influences are changing the relative status of speaking and writing.

Differences in Structure and Style

We usually write with correct grammar and in a structured way. We organize what we write into sentences and paragraphs. We do not usually use contractions in writing (though if we want to appear very friendly, then we do sometimes use contractions in writing because this is more like speaking.) We use more formal vocabulary in writing (for example, we might write "the car exploded" but say "the car blew up") and we do not usually use slang. In writing, we must use punctuation marks like commas and question marks (as a symbolic way of representing things like pauses or tone of voice in speaking).
We usually speak in a much less formal, less structured way. We do not always use full sentences and correct grammar. The vocabulary that we use is more familiar and may include slang. We usually speak in a spontaneous way, without preparation, so we have to make up what we say as we go. This means that we often repeat ourselves or go off the subject. However, when we speak, other aspects are present that are not present in writing, such as facial expression or tone of voice. This means that we can communicate at several levels, not only with words.

Durability

One important difference between speaking and writing is that writing is usually more durable or permanent. When we speak, our words live for a few moments. When we write, our words may live for years or even centuries. This is why writing is usually used to provide a record of events, for example a business agreement or transaction.

Speaker & Listener / Writer & Reader

When we speak, we usually need to be in the same place and time as the other person. Despite this restriction, speaking does have the advantage that the speaker receives instant feedback from the listener. The speaker can probably see immediately if the listener is bored or does not understand something, and can then modify what he or she is saying.
When we write, our words are usually read by another person in a different place and at a different time. Indeed, they can be read by many other people, anywhere and at any time. And the people reading our words, can do so at their leisure, slowly or fast. They can re-read what we write, too. But the writer cannot receive immediate feedback and cannot (easily) change what has been written.

How Speaking and Writing Influence Each Other

In the past, only a small number of people could write, but almost everybody could speak. Because their words were not widely recorded, there were many variations in the way they spoke, with different vocabulary and dialects in different regions. Today, almost everybody can speak and write. Because writing is recorded and more permanent, this has influenced the way that people speak, so that many regional dialects and words have disappeared. (It may seem that there are already too many differences that have to be learned, but without writing there would be far more differences, even between, for example, British and American English.) So writing has had an important influence on speaking. But speaking can also influence writing. For example, most new words enter a language through speaking. Some of them do not live long. If you begin to see these words in writing it usually means that they have become "real words" within the language and have a certain amount of permanence.

Influence of New Technology

Modern inventions such as sound recording, telephone, radio, television, fax or email have made or are making an important impact on both speaking and writing. To some extent, the divisions between speaking and writing are becoming blurred. Emails are often written in a much less formal way than is usual in writing. With voice recording, for example, it has for a long time been possible to speak to somebody who is not in the same place or time as you (even though this is a one-way communication: we can speak or listen, but not interact). With the telephone and radiotelephone, however, it became possible for two people to carry on a conversation while not being in the same place. Today, the distinctions are increasingly vague, so that we may have, for example, a live television broadcast with a mixture of recordings, telephone calls, incoming faxes and emails and so on. One effect of this new technology and the modern universality of writing has been to raise the status of speaking. Politicians who cannot organize their thoughts and speak well on television win very few votes.

English Checker

• aspect: a particular part or feature of something
• dialect: a form of a language used in a specific region
• formal: following a set of rules; structured; official
• status: level or rank in a society
• spontaneous: not planned; unprepared
• structured: organized; systematic

Note: instead of "spoken", some people say "oral" (relating to the mouth) or "aural" (relating to the ear).
© 2001 Josef Essberger

source: englishclub.com

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What is Speaking ?

"Speaking" is the delivery of language through the mouth. To speak, we create sounds using many parts of our body, including the lungs, vocal tract, vocal chords, tongue, teeth and lips.

Speaking can be formal or informal:

• Informal speaking is typically used with family and friends, or people you know well.
• Formal speaking occurs in business or academic situations, or when meeting people for the first time.

Speaking is probably the language skill that most language learners wish to perfect as soon as possible.

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