FGC Goal #1: American Phrase #25: I JUST…, IS ALL!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ztvsgZl1L8 Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Hello my friends! Yesterday I published the second video where I’m using multiple phrases in a single spoken English self-practice session, and this time around I did phrases 13 through to 24 which forms the second set of dozen phrases out of my 50 American Phrase Acquisition Mission. Now I’m ready to move on, and let me introduce you to the phrase number 25 which is somewhat unusual: I JUST…, IS ALL! So, in what situations can you possibly use this colloquial expression? (more…)
FGC Goal #1: Using American Phrases 13 – 24 in a Self-Practice Session
FGC Goal #1: American Slang Phrase #23: BUSTING ON SOMEONE
FGC Goal #1: American Idiom #21: FOR MY MONEY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mUyXFfs26g Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! FOR MY MONEY, learning various English idiomatic expressions is the best way to do all the following: grow your English vocabulary; learn English Grammar naturally; develop your ability to speak fluently! Why? It’s simple enough – when you acquire speech patterns instead of individual words, you don’t have to construct English sentences in your head every time you speak. You don’t have to apply grammar rules as you go along. You simply say out loud ready-to-go phrases, and today’s phrase FOR MY MONEY is no different in that it’s a speech pattern used by native English speakers in America. If you learn it and use it, your speech is going to sound so much more native-like, and you’ll also acquire that “sixth sense” which is necessary in order to use English vocabulary in more than just one way. Let’s take the word “money”. (more…)
FGC Goal #1: American Phrase #19: TELLTALE SIGN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spJ-dEwMMHM Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Hi guys! This morning I’m bringing you a new American English phrase – TELLTALE SIGN. Have you not heard this one before? Well, I hadn’t come across it either until one fine day I encountered it while reading one of the GONE series books and decided to add it onto the fifty American phrases I’m learning as part of this Fluency Gym Coach Program goal! So, what is a TELLTALE SIGN? Well, this time around I’m not going to reveal a single bit of information to you in writing; you’ll have to watch the video above to find out what a TELLTALE SIGN is! Am I being mean? :-( Well, maybe, but then again, why couldn’t this blog post be different in that you simply HAVE to watch the video to find out the meaning of the phrase? Robby :grin:
FGC Goal #1: American Phrasal Verb #18: See What We Can ROUND UP
FGC Goal #1: American Phrase #16: I’VE HAD A RUN-IN WITH…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bv2PozTfTA Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Good morning boys and girls! When was the last time you’ve HAD A RUN-IN WITH someone? Do you like HAVING RUN-INS WITH people? Personally I prefer to resolve all differences in a peaceful and diplomatic manner, but it’s simply our human nature to HAVE RUN-INS WITH other people from time to time. Now, I’m pretty sure that you got the meaning of today’s American English expression, but in case you still have some doubts – please watch the video above where I’m discussing my sixteenth American phrase I’VE HAD A RUN-IN WITH and how it’s used in real-life English conversations! Chat soon, Robby ;-)
FGC Goal #1: American Idiomatic Expression #14: IT STANDS TO REASON
FGC Goal #1: Using American Phrases 1 – 12 in a Self-Practice Session
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FYYtI5X1pY Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Hello my dear friends foreign English speakers! I’ve spent the last 6 days learning new American phraseology taken from English fiction I’m currently reading - GONE series – to be more specific! I’ve been also recording videos all of my spoken English self-practice sessions so that you can see EXACTLY how such spoken English practicing is done in real life! Here are the 12 phrases I’ve learned so far: TELL YOU WHAT IT SPELLS TROUBLE ZONED OUT HAVE YOU A BEEF WITH ME? IT HAS WRONG WRITTEN ALL OVER IT IT WAS A LONG SHOT RINGED WITH CHAIN LINK, TOPPED WITH RAZOR WIRE IN THE RIGHT ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE TO CALL SOMEONE OUT ON SOMETHING GOT A THING FOR SAY WHAT? They’re all quite American (although most of them would still be used worldwide anyway!) , and I’m choosing these phrases depending on how relevant they might be in my personal life. (more…)
FGC Goal #1: American Phrase #11: GOT A THING FOR
FGC Goal #1: American Collocation #9: ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE
FGC Goal #1: American Collocation #7 – RINGED WITH CHAIN LINK, TOPPED WITH RAZOR WIRE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4WIr20KD0o Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! You definitely must have noticed the typical military facility settings in American TV programs and shows: Guard towers and massive light beams probing the area; Helicopters flying all over the place; And most importantly – the facility is always RINGED WITH CHAIN LINK AND TOPPED WITH RAZOR WIRE! That’s today’s American English phrase, and if you’re interested in my take on the whole thing, please watch the video above! As always, I’m touching upon other subjects in the video as well, so you’re guaranteed to have an even deeper insight into intricacies of the English language and you’ll most likely learn more idiomatic expressions on top of the one I’m focusing on today - RINGED WITH CHAIN LINK AND TOPPED WITH RAZOR WIRE. (more…)
FGC Goal #1: American Slang Phrase #5 – IT HAS WRONG WRITTEN ALL OVER IT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEXh59NTBnY Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Good Morning on this wonderful Thursday morning! I got up at 5:30 AM, had my breakfast and my morning coffee while reading a few pages out of my current book (which is the source of all these American phrases I’m learning at the moment), and then I recorded another video for you, my friends! This time around the American phrase in question is IT HAS WRONG WRITTEN ALL OVER IT, and it’s a handy way to describe a situation when you have a premonition about something and you feel at an instinct level that the situation it going to spell trouble if you don’t stay away from it! Here’s the last time I had such a feeling about something. It happened early this year – mid-January, to be more specific. I was having slight problems with my website loading time; my English Harmony blog just wouldn’t load quickly enough. It would take good two minutes for the site to load fully, so I started considering moving the entire website to a different server. (more…)
FGC Goal #1: American Slang Phrase #3 – ZONED OUT
FGC Goal #1: American Phrase #1: TELL YOU WHAT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNRyDDDikUQ Hi boys and girls :!: I’m going to learn some American English phrases within the next 25 days, and I’m going to shoot for 50 phrases in total. Here’s the video I published yesterday on my English Harmony blog where I announced this mission, and it’s all done as part of my Fluency Gym Coach Program (FGC – hence the title on the video “FGC Goal #1”) where people can set their own English confidence and fluency improvement related goals and achieve them using my program as an effective framework. My goal is basically to add 50 new American phrases onto my active vocab, and the first phrase I’m doing today is TELL YOU WHAT. It’s a very handy way to make your point when speaking with another person, and it could be put into other words simply as HERE’S THE THING. (more…)
FGC Goal #1: Learning 50 American English Phrases in 25 Days!
David Gemmell’s Heroic Fantasy Fiction: How It Helped Me Define My Moral Code
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I-d8_4b8zQ Hi guys on this beautiful Sunday morning! ;-) Currently I’m still reading GONE series by Michael Grant, but this morning I decided to tell you a little bit about English fiction that has had a deep and profound impact on my personal development and my moral values. David Gemmell. He’s the man. He’s the author of over thirty fantasy fiction books, and most notably – Druss the Legend novels. Druss is the character who struck a chord with me, and ever since I got to know him through David Gemmell’s heroic fantasy fiction, my life has never been the same. It might sound like a far-fetched claim, but it’s true nonetheless. Whenever I face a tough situation in life, I imagine what Druss would have done had he been in my shoes. (more…)
Video for YearOfEnglish.com subscribers: Learn English Vocabulary That’s Relevant for YOUR Life!
Rapid English Vocab Building in 3 Easy Steps!
English Idiomatic Expression: “For Some Reason Or Another”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPwJVHMo5V8 Hello my friends foreign English speakers! (in case you’re wondering why I’m not referring to us – foreigners – by the name “non-native speakers”, please read this article HERE!) For some reason or another I just haven’t been feeling like creating a lot of content lately, so I’ve been taking it easy for a couple days. I’ve gone to bed early. I’ve done a bit more English reading in the bed before falling asleep. Basically I’ve been replenishing my energy stores so that I can start writing articles and producing videos for my English Harmony blog with a renewed vigor! Now, did you notice how I used the idiomatic expression “for some reason or another”? Even though I knew the reason behind my actions – lack of energy – I still used this English phrase for the simple reason that it simply sounds cool and I like using such and similar English phrases A LOT! Normally, however, you’d use the phrase “for some reason or another” in situations when you’re not sure of the true reasons behind the activity you’re discussing OR if you simply don’t want to elaborate on that. (more…)
What Typing Has in Common With Spoken English Performance
Yes, in this article I’m going to draw parallels between using the keyboard to input text into your PC or laptop AND speaking in English as your second language. Do you think I’m mad? Do you think I’m trying to make all different sorts of connections between things that don’t really go together just so that I could publish more content on my blog? Well, you’re right – I have been finding commonalities between seemingly unrelated concepts. I published an article called 12 Reasons Why Spoken English is Just Like Playing a Guitar. I created the Fluency Gym Coach Program where hundreds of parallels are drawn between our fitness performance and spoken English practice. If you think about it a bit deeper, however, you’ll realize I’m not such a nutcase as you might have thought when seeing this blog post’s headline. You see, all the previously mentioned activities – playing an instrument, using our body and also using a keyboard for text input purposes are PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES. Spoken English is also a VERY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY because you use your mouth to produce sounds and your brain constantly works in unison with your sound producing organs so that you can verbalize your thoughts. So read the rest of this article to find out exactly what the two types of physical activities – TYPING and SPEAKING in English have in common. (more…)
English Phrasal Verb “To Pull Off”
You Don’t Have to Spend a Lot of Time on Reading English Fiction in Order to Read LOADS!
Sometimes it feels as if I’m literally devouring my books instead of reading them – currently I’m already on my fourth GONE series book called PLAGUE but it only seems like yesterday when I was reading LIES which is the third book in the series. And please note that you wouldn’t normally see me lounging on a couch in my living room and reading; I’m not using public transport to commute to work every day either which would be a perfect time for reading (I use car instead). Also please bear in mind that I spend pretty much my entire free time on writing articles, recording videos and providing customer support to my English Harmony and Fluency Gym customers, so quite naturally it all begs the simple question: Where do I find enough time to read all those English fiction books if I’m so busy? This year, for example, I’ve already read the MAZE RUNNER series followed by a couple individual books and now I’m more than halfway through the GONE series. Now, do you want to be privy to the information on how to manage to read a lot of English fiction while actually spending very little extra time on it? Then keep reading this article and you’ll find out EXACTLY how I manage to pull it off! (more…)
Don’t Learn Some Obscure English Words that Even Native Speakers DON’T KNOW!
Don’t Even TRY Watching Common English Mistakes Videos on YouTube!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FJKUd0m-D0 I was browsing YouTube the other day, and I came across some video where an English teacher talks about common English errors made by foreign English speakers. It wasn’t that teacher’s only video – not by a long shot. As a matter of fact, there were LOADS of videos of this nature on that particular YouTube channel – let alone other channels where different teachers are talking about pretty much the same things: Most commonly made English mistakes; Things not to say when speaking in English; English mistakes made by Spanish people; English mistakes made by Russians… … and so on and so forth. And you know what? I think this illustrates a terrible trend in the English teaching community! :mad: Everyone is focused on the aspect of making mistakes. Mistakes this, mistakes that, you can’t say this, you can’t say that… The only thing that these videos achieve is the following: THEY FREAK ENGLISH STUDENTS OUT! (more…)
A Quote From “Lies” That Made Me Realize Something…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP15k--P9jo Currently I’m reading the third book in “GONE” series called “LIES” – it’s a cool ultra-blue book (each book in the “GONE” series has the sides covered with color which I’d never seen before!) and it focuses on further developments within FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone). What’s FAYZ? Here’s a short synopsis: Adults are gone. They’ve just disappeared. Perdido Beach has been sealed off the rest of the world by a gigantic dome and kids are forced to fend for themselves. Some kids have developed mutant powers – fire-shooting, anti-gravity – you name it! This might sound like a far-stretched scenario, and I have to admit that we’re little likely to encounter mutant kids in real life. Some things, however, are almost universal, and it’s the way we, humans, behave in emergency situations and unusual circumstances. Whether it’s FAYZ or simply how you react in a situation when your own safety is threatened on the street, for example – that’s when the TRUE “YOU” is being revealed. Such situations shape our personalities, and that’s exactly what I’m talking about in this video! You’re welcome to tune in and you’re also welcome to post comments below! Happy reading, Robby ;-)
How I Made a Nonsensical English Mistake 3 Times in a Row!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPgouuqziNI Today I got talking with one of our secretaries about reading for the simple reason that I had Michael Grant’s book “LIES” sitting on the table. After a short chat about reading in general she asked me if I own a Kindle reader to which I simply wanted to reply with “Well, my daughter owns a Kindle reader!” Guess what? I made a completely stupid mistake in that simple sentence, and not only that! I tried to say the sentence once more, and the very same thing happened again! Then I started pronouncing those words for the last time, and to my dismay I made the same stupid mistake for the THIRD TIME! :mad: Now, the only explanation to this is a glitch in my brain. I can’t see any other reason as to why it should have happened especially considering the fact that the mistake was 100% illogical! (more…)
English Idiomatic Expression: “For the simple reason that…”
Don’t Force Your English When You Speak!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnVmR-ZSDRw Hello my friends foreign English speakers! Are you familiar with the following feeling: The more English I learn, the less I know… It can also be described the following way: I know so many fancy English vocabulary words, but when I’m speaking, I forget them all!... This feeling is more common than you may think, and you’re definitely not alone in this misery. Personally I was feeling the same way for years, and even now when I’ve discovered the “SECRET” (it’s not really that big of a secret!) for dealing with the aforementioned problem, I sometimes feel this way. But guess what makes me feel that way? It’s the fact that I start FORCING myself to recall specific vocabulary, specific phrases :!: The moment you do that – your fluency’s gone out the window! Want to found out more about the said phenomenon? Then watch the video above! Thanks for tuning in, Robby ;-)