Why It’s VERY Important to Speak Out LOUD When Learning New English Vocabulary Words!
I’m sure you know that it’s quite hard to change bad habits, don’t you? Once something has become your second nature, it’s more difficult to change it than making sure you’re getting it right from the get-go! Learning new English vocabulary is no different. Imagine yourself sitting in a classroom and writing down new English vocabulary words into your copybook. I had to do it at school, and I’m sure such practice is pretty much alive even in this day and age. Now, your first encounter with those new words is purely VISUAL. You’re looking at them, re-writing them into your copybook and with every additional exposure those new words get imprinted into your VISUAL MEMORY. No wonder you often visualize English words and sentences in front of your eyes when speaking which results in hesitant and interrupted speech! What’s even worse, while re-writing them into your notes, you may involuntarily read those new English words in your mind with incorrect pronunciation! As a result, wrong mental association is formed linking a particular English word with the corresponding wrong pronunciation. Furthermore, such visual and wrong pronunciation related associations are quite hard to eradicate considering that they’ve been created upon your first encounter with this or that particular new English word. First impressions are lasting impressions, and if you’ve built your English vocabulary the old-school way by writing and memorizing,… … you may have created thousands of visual and wrong associations in your mind which hamper your ability to speak fluent and natural English! Now, considering that traditional English studies are centered around reading and writing, it’s not hard to imagine that this issue of wrong mental imagery floating around your mind as you’re trying to speak is prevalent among foreign English speakers who are trying to achieve English fluency or improve their pronunciation! (more…)
English idiomatic expression: “Come to think of it”
English Idiomatic Expression: “Easier said than done”
English Idiomatic Expression: “In This Day and Age”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfrYCefkn1Q Today we’re going to look at the following English idiomatic expression: “In this day and age”. It’s very relevant when discussing various issues in connection with modern times such as technology or any other aspect of our lives that has seen rapid improvement. To see what exactly I mean by that however, you should definitely watch the video above because I’ve included a lot of examples in it on how to use this English phrase. In this day and age recording videos is easier than ever, and also publishing them on YouTube is very straightforward. It can be literally done with a push of a button, and it would be foolish of me not to take advantage of it! But if you’ve been reading this article, you surely noticed I already provided an example of the phrase “in this day and age” – the previous paragraph actually begins with this idiomatic expression. (more…)
Just a Handful of English Phrases Will Enable You to Speak so Much More Fluently!
This short article is a hard proof that English phrases really help structuring our speech! Here’s the thing guys – when it comes to your ability to speak fluently, you may want to focus on building your phraseology (phrases) instead of vocabulary (individual words)! Don’t get me wrong - it’s not that I’m having something against vocabulary as such, it’s just that phraseology acquisition is way more effective! It mightn’t have crossed your mind before, but at the end of the day we all use pretty much the same English expressions and phrases all the time! It’s only when you analyze English around you that you realize that such and similar phrases make up a large part of people’s daily conversations. Having said this, I don’t deny the importance of specific vocabulary – nothing could be further from the truth! If you don’t know how this or that particular thing or abstract concept is called, it’s kind of hard to get your message across to your chat partner because you simply wouldn’t be able to describe simple concepts in the first place. Sometimes you would even run the risk of sending the wrong message to the other person, and that’s when successful communication gets slightly problematic, to say the least. When your basic vocabulary is decent, however, you can drastically improve your English fluency within a matter of weeks by learning common English phrases in order to get your speech going, you know what I mean? Even if you only learn phrases from this short article by clicking on the links, watching the respective videos, and then doing some self-practice, your spoken English will be much better down the line, there’s no doubt about that! Chat soon, Robby ;-)
English Idiomatic Expression: “Run the Risk of…”
English Idiomatic Expression: “Having Said This”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WHAltDu058 Hi guys, and welcome to another one of my English idiomatic expression videos/blog posts! If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know that my approach towards English fluency improvement is phraseology and contextual learning oriented – hence my video series where I’m focusing on a specific expression at a time. Today’s expression is “Having said this…”, and please watch the video above to hear how I’m using this particular phrase in my speech so that you can mimic me and apply the same speech pattern in your daily English conversations! And please bear in mind that only English IDIOMS are phrases which can’t be modified; any other idiomatic expressions are quite flexible in that respect. So, even if you’re saying: (more…)
English Idiomatic Expression: “To Cross One’s Mind”
Others Don’t Judge Your English as Much as You Do!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVJvLUi2Cpg In this video episode I’m looking at how differently you perceive your own bad English fluency days from others – your conversation partners and just about anybody coming in contact with you! You see – the thing is that we’re experiencing constant feedback between our mouth and our brain and that’s why we’re so acutely aware of our speech imperfections. A passive observer, on the other hand, might skip most or even all of your grammar mistakes or any other shortcomings of your spoken English performance. You can rest assured that people have their own problems to worry about, so most of your mistakes might actually pass unnoticed. So if you’re often freaking out over your spoken English performance, please watch the video above and you may just realize that you can find great comfort in the fact that most of your confidence related issues are obvious only to yourself! ;-) Chat soon, Robby
English Idiomatic Expression & Phrasal Verb: “To Get Across”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf8eOS9jYPw Did you know that English phrasal verbs are also idiomatic expressions? It’s not commonly accepted knowledge, yet in reality any phrasal verb – ‘to bring about’, ‘to carry over’, ‘to calm down’ and thousands of others – possess the main characteristic of idiomatic expressions: You can’t replace a word within the phrasal verb without losing its meaning! Let’s take today’s phrasal verb – ‘to get across’. It means ‘to communicate successfully’ and it’s a very short and handy way to describe a successfully communicated message (or lack of thereof): “Sometimes even native speakers struggle to get the message across if they speak with different accents.” Remember I told you that you can’t replace a word within the phrasal verb without losing its meaning? Now, imagine that you’ve forgotten what words this particular phrasal verb consists of, and you only have a vague recollection of it. You remember the ‘across’ part, but you’re not sure of the first word. You’re trying to get it right, however, so you’re saying – “I don’t think Sarah made the message across during the meeting, everyone was looking just as confused as I was!” Don’t get me wrong (‘to get wrong’ is also a phrasal verb, by the way!), I’m not saying you shouldn’t be trying to say things you’re not 100% sure of. (more…)
Do You Get Intimidated by Eloquent English Speakers? You Shouldn’t!
One evening while on my way home from work I was listening to an evening chat show where some Irish-American was analyzing the aftermath of the last American presidential election and its effect on the Republican Party. And here’s the funny thing: Even though I understood EVERY SINGLE WORD he was saying, I couldn’t really figure out what exactly he’s trying to say! Every sentence he uttered was very vague; it was as if he was saying EVERYTHING AND NOTHING at the same time… After his interview, I realized that he was basically trying to convey the following: the Republican Party are still slow to embrace the fast-changing ethnic composition of the American population, and in his view it was one of the decisive factors as to why Mitt Romney lost the presidential election to Barack Obama. It took him 5 minutes or more to explain something so simple, and I can’t think of a more fitting English idiom to describe what he was doing than the following: he was beating around the bush! :grin: He was using super-sophisticated industry lingo. He was rephrasing a single concept many times over and he was repeating the same things all over and over again. I was starting to feel lost while trying to make sense of the tangled mess that his speech was! :mad: Some time ago such an experience would have made me feel very bad as a foreign English speaker because I would have started doubting my own English skills: “My English isn’t good enough because I can’t make out what he’s saying…” “He speaks so fluently and he’s using all these means of expression so professionally… I’ll never be able to speak like him!” Such and similar thoughts would be crossing my mind, but now I know better than start beating myself over not being able to replicate such a seemingly eloquent speech. In fact, now I wouldn’t even want to be able to speak like that, because not only would I be confusing people who are listening to me but also myself! I’d rather say a lot with fewer words than use a never-ending cascade of verbal content which is going to overwhelm my conversation partner or listener and make them acutely aware of their inability to match up to my train of thoughts. How about you? Are you often feeling inferior to some very eloquent English speaker? Are you admiring their ability to use sophisticated language? Is it making your English skills pale in comparison? Then keep reading this article and you may just change your mind! ;-) (more…)
English Idiomatic Expression: “Down the line”
English Teacher Destroys Student Confidence by Scolding Them? It’s Unacceptable!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4dXcUqnjKc This video is a response to one of my blog readers’ e-mails, and he’s painting a pretty dire picture of his English class! Their English teacher makes them read a paragraph out of their textbooks and then the students are required to retell the story using their own words. It’s all nice and well up to the point where she starts scolding those students who are struggling with verbalizing their thoughts :!: IT IS JUST UNACCEPTABLE! What she’s doing is the following: she’s taking a brilliant English fluency improving tool – retelling stories (read more about it in this blog post) – and then she turns it into a confidence destroying machine! It’s mad. As a teaching professional, she’s actually supposed to do the VERY OPPOSITE: (more…)
English Idiomatic Expression: “Within a matter of…”
English Idiomatic Expression: “I would have thought…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt0luGKPcP4 Are you often analyzing spoken English phrases and expressions and asking questions such as: “Why do they say it like that?” If you are, then you’ll definitely ask the very same question upon finding out what today’s English idiomatic expression is! So, here you go – “I would have thought”. Now, are you wondering why it’s “I would have thought” instead of “I would think” or simply “I thought”? STOP DOING IT! Just the very fact that native English speakers use such a phrase is sufficient enough to justify its very existence. As far as we’re concerned, that’s how they say it, and that’s all there is to it! So, if you want to sound like a native English speaker, use the idiomatic expression “I would have thought” whenever you find out that something is quite the opposite to what you believed. As for more sample sentences involving this phrase – please watch the video above and let me know what you think about it! ;-) Chat soon, Robby
English Idiomatic Expression: It’s not that… it’s just that…
English Idiomatic Expression: “You may want to…”
“What Are the Most Commonly Used English Words?” is the Wrong Question!
Many of my fellow foreigners arrive to my blog while searching for the most commonly used English words, and there’s a good chance that you may be one of them! ‘The top 100 most commonly used English words’, ‘top 500 English words’, ‘English word frequency lists’ – such and similar keywords are used by thousands of foreign English speakers eager to improve their English fluency. But are these English word lists any good? Do they offer good value in terms of improving one’s ability to speak fluently? Frankly speaking, such frequency lists don’t provide a lot of practical value – if any! Why? Fair enough – give me a few moments and I’ll show you exactly why! ;-) (more…)
English Idiomatic Expression: “When it comes to…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J55UL0JgECQ When it comes to speaking fluent English, there’s no better way of getting your speech going that learning idiomatic expressions and using them in your real life conversations! Today is no exception, and what I want to draw your attention to is the very first sentence of this article. “When it comes to…” is a very handy English expression, and I decided to make a video about it to tell you guys how to use it best. This expression – “When it comes to…” – has many equivalent English phrases and expressions. “As for…” “In relation to…” “Speaking of…” … and many more phrases can be used the same way you’d use the one I’m looking at in today’s video. Still, I believe that “When it comes to…” is the most informal and friendliest of them all, and that’s why it’s my personal favorite. But what about you? Have you heard other English speakers use it a lot? Or maybe this is the first time you actually hear this particular expression? Let me know about it in the comments below! Talk to you soon, Robby ;-)
English Idiomatic Expression: “This or that particular thing”
FREE eBook – Truth about Traditional English Studies – Download Below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBQg-c_Gswo #af-form-1846604925 .af-body .af-textWrap{width:98%;display:block;float:none;} #af-form-1846604925 .af-body a{color:#094C80;text-decoration:underline;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;} #af-form-1846604925 .af-body input.text, #af-form-1846604925 .af-body textarea{background-color:#FFFFFF;border-color:#919191;border-width:1px;border-style:solid;color:#000000;text-decoration:none;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;} #af-form-1846604925 .af-body input.text:focus, #af-form-1846604925 .af-body textarea:focus{background-color:#FFFAD6;border-color:#030303;border-width:1px;border-style:solid;} #af-form-1846604925 .af-body label.previewLabel{display:block;float:none;text-align:left;width:auto;color:#000000;text-decoration:none;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;} #af-form-1846604925 .af-body{padding-bottom:15px;padding-top:15px;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:top;background-image:none;color:#000000;font-size:11px;font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;} #af-form-1846604925 .af-footer{padding-right:15px;padding-left:15px;background-color:#transparent;border-width:1px;border-bottom-style:none;border-left-style:none;border-right-style:none;border-top-style:none;color:#000000;font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;} #af-form-1846604925 .af-header{padding-bottom:140px;padding-top:140px;background-color:#0479C2;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-image:url("https://englishharmony.com/images/TruthAboutTraditionalEnglishStudies-form.jpg");border-width:1px;border-bottom-style:none;border-left-style:none;border-right-style:none;border-top-style:none;color:#FFFFFF;font-size:16px;font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;} #af-form-1846604925 .af-quirksMode .bodyText{padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:2px;} #af-form-1846604925 .af-quirksMode{padding-right:15px;padding-left:15px;} #af-form-1846604925 .af-standards .af-element{padding-right:15px;padding-left:15px;} #af-form-1846604925 .bodyText p{margin:1em 0;} #af-form-1846604925 .buttonContainer input.submit{background-image:url("https://forms.aweber.com/images/auto/gradient/button/07c.png");background-position:top left;background-repeat:repeat-x;background-color:#0057ac;border:1px solid #0057ac;color:#FFFFFF;text-decoration:none;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:14px;font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;} #af-form-1846604925 .buttonContainer input.submit{width:auto;} #af-form-1846604925 .buttonContainer{text-align:right;} #af-form-1846604925 body,#af-form-1846604925 dl,#af-form-1846604925 dt,#af-form-1846604925 dd,#af-form-1846604925 h1,#af-form-1846604925 h2,#af-form-1846604925 h3,#af-form-1846604925 h4,#af-form-1846604925 h5,#af-form-1846604925 h6,#af-form-1846604925 pre,#af-form-1846604925 code,#af-form-1846604925 fieldset,#af-form-1846604925 legend,#af-form-1846604925 blockquote,#af-form-1846604925 th,#af-form-1846604925 td{float:none;color:inherit;position:static;margin:0;padding:0;} #af-form-1846604925 button,#af-form-1846604925 input,#af-form-1846604925 submit,#af-form-1846604925 textarea,#af-form-1846604925 select,#af-form-1846604925 label,#af-form-1846604925 optgroup,#af-form-1846604925 option{float:none;position:static;margin:0;} #af-form-1846604925 div{margin:0;} #af-form-1846604925 fieldset{border:0;} #af-form-1846604925 form,#af-form-1846604925 textarea,.af-form-wrapper,.af-form-close-button,#af-form-1846604925 img{float:none;color:inherit;position:static;background-color:none;border:none;margin:0;padding:0;} #af-form-1846604925 input,#af-form-1846604925 button,#af-form-1846604925 textarea,#af-form-1846604925 select{font-size:100%;} #af-form-1846604925 p{color:inherit;} #af-form-1846604925 select,#af-form-1846604925 label,#af-form-1846604925 optgroup,#af-form-1846604925 option{padding:0;} #af-form-1846604925 table{border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:0;} #af-form-1846604925 ul,#af-form-1846604925 ol{list-style-image:none;list-style-position:outside;list-style-type:disc;padding-left:40px;} #af-form-1846604925,#af-form-1846604925 .quirksMode{width:457px;} #af-form-1846604925.af-quirksMode{overflow-x:hidden;} #af-form-1846604925{background-color:#F0F0F0;border-color:#CFCFCF;border-width:1px;border-style:solid;} #af-form-1846604925{display:block;} #af-form-1846604925{overflow:hidden;} .af-body .af-textWrap{text-align:left;} .af-body input.image{border:none!important;} .af-body input.submit,.af-body input.image,.af-form .af-element input.button{float:none!important;} .af-body input.text{width:100%;float:none;padding:2px!important;} .af-body.af-standards input.submit{padding:4px 12px;} .af-clear{clear:both;} .af-element label{text-align:left;display:block;float:left;} .af-element{padding:5px 0;} .af-form-wrapper{text-indent:0;} .af-form{text-align:left;margin:auto;} .af-header,.af-footer{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding:10px;} .af-quirksMode .af-element{padding-left:0!important;padding-right:0!important;} .lbl-right .af-element label{text-align:right;} body { } Your Name: Your e-mail: Your e-mail will never be sold or rented to a third party. I hate spam as much as you do and I’ll contact you only to send news about improving English fluency! Right after the request you’ll receive an e-mail with a confirmation link which will bring you straight to the download page. And here’s the good news – you can read this eBook on your computer or laptop as a PDF file, you’ll get a MOBI version in case you have a Kindle eBook reader, but if you have an iPad – you can make use of the EPUB file! In the eBook “Truth About Traditional English Studies” I’m going to introduce you to a concept you’ve probably never heard before - ‘WRITING MODE’ OF A FOREIGNER’S MIND. This ‘writing mode’ explains why you’re having all these problems with oral English fluency, and it’s all got to do with the way you’ve been learning English so far. The chances are, if you’ve been learning English the traditional way, you’ve been mostly doing grammar tests and writing. After long years dedicated to writing English sentences and filling blanks in English textbooks your mind has gone into a permanent ‘WRITING MODE’! Don’t get me wrong - there’s nothing wrong with writing as such. I’m not saying literacy isn’t important. What I’m having a problem with is the following: our teachers and the whole English teaching industry have led us to believe that a lot of reading, writing and grammar studies will somehow magically result in oral fluency. Nothing could be further from the truth, my friends! When you write, you have enough time to plan everything in advance; you can choose the best fitting words, arrange them carefully according to grammar rules and create almost perfect English sentences. When you have to speak, on the others hand, all of a sudden there are no rules! You’re in an unchartered territory, and you’re afraid of making mistakes because you don’t have a textbook in front of you anymore! I know how it feels because I used to have the same sort of English fluency issues, and I tried to improve my spoken English for years to no avail because I kept resorting to the same old methods – vocabulary building, grammar studies, and reading. Now, do you want to find out how to make a smooth transition from the ‘writing mode’ of your mind into a ‘speaking mode’ when you can speak automatically, fluently and without much thinking about what you’re going to say? Then make sure to request the eBook using the form above, and you’ll find out how you should change your English improving routine in order to improve your ability to speak fluent English! Robby ;-)
English Idiomatic Expression: “You know what I mean?”
English Idiomatic Expression: “It’s only when you… that…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gefTzIuA4B0 Here’s another daily English expression video, and this time around I’m looking at the following sentence: “It’s only when you… that…” Please note that this is not your typical English idiomatic expression, and I strongly doubt you’ll find it in any English phrase lists. Nonetheless, it’s important to learn such and similar sentences because they will help you greatly to make your point :!: Once you've memorized this sentence structure – “It’s only when you… that…”, you can apply it on countless different conversations! Whenever you have to emphasize something and further describe the fact you’re talking about – this sentence is perfect for that purpose. And of course – if you want to hear some examples of this phrase in use, please watch the video above! See you soon again, Robby ;-)
English Idiomatic Expression: “Send the Wrong Message”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MySxtx-A5c Today's idiomatic expression is "Send the wrong message", and if you want to find out more about its usage - make sure to watch the video above! I'll keep making these daily English idiom videos for as long as I can, and it's all done with one thing in mind - to show you guys, that natural English fluency is all about phrases and expressions! You can take this phrase - "send the wrong message", combine it with a dozen of other expressions and - presto! - all of a sudden you can say things you mightn't be able to say after months long traditional grammar studies. And if you think I'm exaggerating - believe me, I'm not! It's proven time and time again that if you try to apply grammar rules as you stick words together, the resulting speech is unnatural, broken and hesitant. If you learn phrases just like the one I published in today's video, you get all the benefits of learning grammar naturally and none of the drawbacks - simply because there's NONE! :-) Chat soon, Robby ;-)
Improve Your English Fluency Naturally & Speak Like a Native Speaker!
From: Robby Kukurs, Author of the English Harmony System My Fellow Foreign English Speaker! Millions of us - foreign English speakers - can read, write and understand English very well, yet when it comes to spoken English fluency, things are not looking that good. Traditional English education focuses on teaching English though our native language thus facilitating translation process as we speak; however, have you ever been told that natural English fluency is impossible unless you eliminate translation? The English language has loads of unique collocations, idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs and if you want to sound like a native English speaker you simply need to learn to speak using these means of expression! Same goes with studying English grammar. Many of us, foreigners, are led to believe that we’ll achieve English fluency if we study English grammar hard. It’s nonsense! Wake up from the English grammar Matrix! If you learn English grammar rules separately out of context, you’ll never achieve natural English fluency because you’ll be overwhelmed with analyzing your own speech and making sure that it corresponds with the respective grammar rules. Fluent English speech is supposed to be spontaneous, you have to speak automatically and it can be best achieved by spending an awful lot of time among other English speakers and mimicking what they say. Sure, you have to speak correctly, I’m not saying you have to disregard English grammar. What I’m saying is – you have to understand that English grammar is present in every correct phrase and sentence, and you don’t need to dissect the English language like a scientist to be able to speak fluently. (more…)
English Idiomatic Expression: “Nothing could be further from the truth”
English idiomatic expression: “Pretty much the same”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phx30Q6P-Uw Hi guys, in the video above you can find out how to use the following English idiomatic expression: “Pretty much the same”. Why such and similar expressions are very important for us, foreigners? First of all – they enable us to speak instinctively and spontaneously. Once you’ve memorized a phrase, you can produce it at an instant when the right situation presents itself! Secondly – they drastically reduce the amount of mistakes you might potentially make when speaking because you learn a correct phrase AS IT IS and you’ll only ever use it without changing it! So watch the video above, make sure to repeat the phrase a few times in order to memorize it, and also make sure to come up with a few sample sentences on your own to imprint the idiomatic expression “Pretty much the same” into your mind. Chat soon, Robby ;-)
Robby’s 5 Favorite Blog Posts of All Time on EnglishHarmony.com
Is It Possible to Become TOTALLY Fluent In English After 24 Years?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLWqdebqOzI I received an e-mail (or a comment – can’t really remember what it was because it got deleted by mistake!) the other day by one of my blog readers where he asked if it’s possible to master total fluency of the English language while living in an English speaking country for 24 years. As an example he provided the following video of two foreign English speakers involved in a debate in a TV studio – please check out the video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6tfkPwIpL0 I have to admit that the two professional journalists in the studio are completely fluent indeed, and it’s also a fact that 99% of other foreigners would look up to them because of their ability to speak fluently. (more…)
Developing Your Ability to Use All Those Phrases & Idioms in Real Conversations
Check Out My NEW Blog AccentAdventure.com!
Delivering a DVD set of English Harmony System 2.0 & Discussing my Job, Unemployment and Happiness!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ1suWBnQgU Here’s another broadcast from my car, and this time I’m driving to the local Post Office to deliver a DVD set of my English improving software – English Harmony System 2.0! I’m planning to discontinue the DVD sets at some stage in the near future anyway, so this is the last drive of this kind. You see – at the moment I’m working on the System’s update, and with a lot of new lessons added onto the software the DVD version becomes rather too expensive to manufacture and deliver. Also, considering we’re living in a digital era, it would make an awful lot of sense indeed to encourage my potential customers to contribute to the environment and go for a digital product instead. As we all know, all physical goods have a related carbon footprint, so the less goods we buy and get delivered, the less damage we do to our planet! Of course, I’m not going to turn the whole world’s environmental problems on their head, but then again – every little counts! (more…)