Don’t Analyze the English Language Too Much – It’s Not Good for Your Fluency!

English phrases for daily use – Small Talk Phrases

MY NAME IS ROBBY, and I'm the author of the English Harmony System - Read About My 5 Year Long Journey to English Fluency HERE! Hi my foreign English speaking friends! Here I’ve created a list of the most important English small talk phrases so that you never have situations when you get stuck when bumping into someone on the street or greeting your colleagues in the morning! Here you’ll also find a good number of English phrases you can use to respond to typical greetings. And even more – some of the phrases below will help you add more substance to what you’re saying to your chat partner and also help you take time and think over the question. At the end of the list you’ll find typical good-bye phrases and you’ll definitely find them handy when finishing off a conversation or even if you want to get rid of the person you’re chatting with! :-) There's also industry small talk phrases - and they're definitely going to come in handy in work-related situations. Whenever you want to ask your work colleague to cover you for a couple of hours and tell them you're going to keep a low profile because you went out the night before - all this is covered in the industry small talk section! So, click on the links below and they'll take you to the respective section of English small talk phrases! ;-) (more…)

Forget the English Grammar Tense Table Forever!

Here’s a very comprehensive English Grammar Tenses table with thorough explanations as to when each tense is used as well as sample sentences. All is nice and well, and you may print it out, carry with you, and learn it off by heart if you’re really passionate about your English tenses (by the way, it’s exactly what I did at the start of my 5 year long journey to English fluency!) As I said – all would be nice and well if not for a human being’s natural tendency to over-analyze and try to structure the knowledge when speaking which inevitably leads to English fluency problems. The moment you open your mouth, you’ll start wondering if the action you’re about to talk about is going to happen for sure or just MIGHT happen… Or maybe it’s going to happen over a certain period of time in which case you should be using Future II Progressive tense – “I will have been…” Basically the more you know about English tenses, the more confusing it may become, and in the end you’ll be constantly questioning and second-guessing yourself when trying to speak which is definitely something you DON’T want to happen because what good is your super-advanced English grammar knowledge if you can’t say a single sentence without hesitation and stopping to think about what tense to use? Moreover, there isn’t consensus even among English grammar professionals as to how many English tenses actually are out there! The more you read into it, the more confusing it will get. Just read this forum thread and you’ll realize that opinions differ so wildly that a normal human being can’t even wrap his or her head around it all! Some think there are only 2 tenses (which I personally thing is a total nonsense), and some extend the figure to 16, 24 or even 32 (which takes into account the existence of Passive Voice). So what do you do? Get totally bogged down on 32 tenses, learn all the conditions as to when exactly each of them is used, learn the respective sample sentences and then LOSE YOUR MIND when trying to speak with someone because of all the analysis happening in your brain while you’re speaking? NO! Instead, just FORGET the English Grammar tense table and approach the whole tense thing from a different angle!!! Forget the little used grammar constructs such as “I will have been speaking…” that aren’t used in real life English conversations. Forget the various Conditionals. And stop thinking about the merits of Past Perfect Progressive vs Past Perfect Simple. What I suggest you to do is this: (more…)

9 Friday Expressions You Can Use… Guess When? On Fridays!

There are plenty of phrase-lists published on this blog – starting from phrases using the word “thing” and ending with small talk phrases which has actually turned out to be the most popular article on this blog! This time around let’s look at something that would come in handy for every single foreign English speaker out there. Well, it’s not that those other phrases wouldn’t be useful for everybody, it’s just that I’m trying to point out the fact that the phrases we’re going to look at today can be definitely used by all of us at least once a week! Why once a week? Well, guess what – Friday happens once a week, and for as long as you’ve got some work colleagues to talk to, you can always make sure to use this Friday phraseology to the best of your ability! So, without further ado, let’s start looking at the different Friday expressions you’ll be able to use at work – and not only! (more…)

Don’t Waste Your Time Arguing About Subtleties Of The English Language!

What I’ve observed over the years while being around other foreign English speakers is – oftentimes people would become really emotional about certain aspects of the English language and have heated debates over things that don’t really matter that much when it comes to being able to speak fluent English. Picture this – you’re sitting at the table during the lunch break with your friends, and the conversation is developing something along these lines: “Mmmm... I think this is the best chicken curry I’ve ever had, don’t you think so?” “Did you just say “I fink”? Why are you pronouncing it like that?” “Well, I guess it’s because I’ve lived in Bristol for a long time, and I started pronouncing the ‘TH’ sound as ‘F …” “Oh really? Is that how they speak in England? Well, but now you’re living in the States, so I think you should start pronouncing the ‘TH’ sound properly!” “Well, I haven’t really thought about it… I haven’t really had any problems because of that, people understand me just fine…” “But it’s plain wrong dude! It’s not proper English, and considering you’re dealing with customers all day long, I really think this is something you should work on!” “Hey Max, do you really think it’s that important? I think David’s English is really good, and anyone can understand him just fine!” “Man, you just don’t get it… There are certain rules of the English language that you just can’t ignore, you know?” And so this argument goes on and on because one of the friends has a very strong opinion on certain aspects of the language, and instead of having a nice chat about the tasty chicken, the time gets wasted on arguing over something that is, as a matter of fact, of no importance at all. Do you see where I’m coming from? Life is too short to be spent on talking about stuff that doesn’t matter, however, I’ve noticed this type of thing happen time and time again among foreign English speakers – and not only! (more…)

Is It Possible To Sound Too Fluent in English?

Most of you guys visiting this blog have certain English fluency related issues, the most typical of which is the tendency of getting “stuck” while speaking. It’s the terrible feeling of “I know exactly what I want to say, yet for some reason or another I can’t seem to be able to say it out loud!” So I guess if you were to hear another foreign English speaker who can speak for hours on end in a way that it would seem you just can’t shut them up, you’d be thinking to yourself – “I wish I could speak like that…” Well, as the old saying goes – be careful what you wish for! (more…)

Becoming Fluent in English While Living in Your Home Country is Impossible… Or Is It?

If you spend about half an hour browsing articles and videos on this blog, you’ll learn pretty quickly that I’m all about doing loads of self-practice in order to improve the level of spoken English – this is the single biggest contributor to my own fluency improvement and that of my students as well. For most people, when coming across this approach for the first time, this may sound really weird, and it takes some time to get used to the concept of speaking in English without a conversation partner. Once they realize though, that this type of practice is in fact no different to speaking with others, they embrace it and their spoken English experiences a rapid improvement. (more…)

3 Big Reasons Why the English Language is More Relevant Than Ever!

Whether we like it or not, I think at this stage we have to admit that there’s no denying the importance of the English language. It started spreading around the world with the onset of the British Empire, and as it currently stands, it’s the lingua franca of the world. (more…)

Start Using English Contractions If You Haven’t Already Done So!

From time to time I encounter some sort of a written piece in English that’s hard to read for the simple reason that the author of that piece isn’t using contractions. The moment I start reading the letter, e-mail or an article – whichever is the case – the full verb in its entirety, where it should just read its contraction after an apostrophe, is just standing out like a sore thumb. Just compare the following two sentences which are just two versions of the same e-mail sent by Jimmy: “Hello Jane, I’m writing to let you know that I’ve managed to squeeze in the items that hadn’t been delivered so they’ll be arriving tomorrow.” “Hello Jane, I AM writing to let you know that I HAVE managed to squeeze in the items that had NOT been delivered so they WILL be arriving tomorrow.” (more…)

Best Tricks to Practice Your English Language with Native Speakers For Free

Hello English language learners! As you probably discovered during your studies, native speakers are the best way to build fluency, learn pronunciation, gestures, and receive more benefits compared to studying with other learners. Whether you’ve started learning a couple of months ago or you already can show off your language skills to native speakers, choosing this option is the best way to advance quickly. But what if you’re struggling to find native speakers in your city? How can one find them and ask for practice? Don’t worry, there are plenty of great opportunities you can take advantage of to get in touch with English native speakers. They are presented below (all of them are free!). (more…)

Useful Sophisticated English Words & Phrases

When I arrived in Ireland 15 years ago, I went onto a mission of learning English vocabulary because I thought it was going to help me overcome my fluency issues. As a result, I acquired hundreds upon hundreds long English vocabulary lists also containing plenty of words that even native English speakers don’t use and they simply didn’t have a clue what they meant when I tried using them in real life! I like to call such English vocabulary “sophisticated”, and I’ve also written extensively on this topic on my blog, here’s a couple of articles: Don’t Learn Some Obscure English Words that Even Native Speakers DON’T KNOW! Simple vs Sophisticated Vocabulary? It’s All Just Semantics (Interpretation)! Now I know better than to learn English words that nobody uses in day-to-day communication; I’d rather use to learn the vocabulary I already know in DIFFERENT WAYS thus enabling me to speak about virtually any topic. Sometimes, however, knowing how to use certain sophisticated English words comes in handy and as it was pointed out by one of my YouTube commentators, some English tests and exams may include such vocabulary. So, without further ado, let’s learn some useful English expressions containing words that you may not have heard before – or maybe you’ve heard them a few times and wondered what they actually mean. Needless to say, it’s strongly advised you acquire this sophisticated vocabulary by learning the entire word combination thus ensuring you’ll be able to USE the word in question! (Read this article to understand what exactly I’m talking about here) (more…)

How to Break Through the English Fluency Plateau?

Here’s how to improve your English listening skills when listening to my video: put the headphones on, playback the video and write it all down while listening to it! Last night I received an e-mail from one of my blog subscribers asking me how to break through the fluency plateau. Basically the nature of the problem that the person in question has encountered is that they feel that the English fluency improvement has all but stopped and they’re just not progressing. Time is passing by, but it just feels that you’re spinning your wheels getting nowhere in terms of how well you can speak in English… Sounds familiar? Well, to be honest with you guys, this is nothing new to us – being the English fluency improvement blog that English Harmony is, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that I’ve discussed all such and similar issues before: How to deal with English fluency fluctuations; Why such sudden drops in fluency occur; How to manage your fluency and speak fairly fluently at all times; I have to admit though, that I haven’t touched upon this issue from this particular angle so far – namely, how to break through such a PLATEAU-LIKE STATE. So, I just recorded a video addressing this question, hope you’re going to enjoy it! ;-) Robby P.S. Would you like to find out why I'm highlighting some of the text in red? Read this article and you'll learn why it's so important to learn idiomatic expressions and how it will help you to improve your spoken English! P.S.S. Are you serious about your spoken English improvement? Check out my English Harmony System HERE!

Am I Forcing Myself To Speak With a Native-like English Accent?

Here’s how to improve your English listening skills when listening to my video: put the headphones on, playback the video and write it all down while listening to it! Hello my fellow foreign English speakers! The other day one of my YouTube followers asked me a question about my pronunciation and accent, here it is: Hi Robby, once again I've watched one of your first videos and compared to this one. The progress is amazing! But I want to ask you something - in your first videos you speak in a kind of casual, relaxed way but yes, your accent was much more significant. Though it didn't affect the clarity of your speech. Now you have moderated you speech and some people may take you for a native speaker. But I bet this current way of speaking requires more energy and self-control so you don't slip back into your native accent. Please, let me know if that is the case! Now, it's a very good question, so I guessed it definitely deserved a video response from me. Watch it above and enjoy my friends! Chat soon, Robby ;-)

5 Memory Improvement Tips for Language Learners

As technology advanced and civilizations were allowed to record and externalize information, the art of memory lost its power. Many people complain that they have bad memory, forgetting that this amazing feature of the human brain can be trained. And the training is critical for language learners who need to memorize plenty of information regarding the grammar, syntax, or vocabulary of the language they're learning. Here are 5 smart memory improvement tips to help you in learning a new language! Take advantage of mnemonics The word “mnemonics” derives from Mnemosyne, the Greek goddess of memory. A mnemonic is basically any device that helps to memorize a piece of information – for example, a verse or a formula. Memory isn't about repeating a fact until it's rammed into your brain. It relies on imagination. Learning and memory are both creative processes. When memorizing new pieces of information, you form connections between disparate acts to create something new. Make sure that the image you create stands out, that's how you'll remember it for the years to come. (more…)

English Fluency Q & A – Ask Robby – Face-to-face Communication – Improving Overall Fluency

Here’s how to improve your English listening skills when listening to my video: put the headphones on, playback the video and write it all down while listening to it! Video Transcript Below: Hi guys, hello boys and girls and hello my dear fellow foreign English speakers. That's me, Robby from EnglishHarmony.com and welcome back to my video blog. And this is going to be one of those question and answer sessions whereby I'm answering to emails that my blog visitors have emailed me obviously. Reader’s Question: I’m Fluent, but Not Fluent Enough! What to Do? So the first email is about a particular problem faced by this person and he described the problem the following way. So he can have conversations with anyone and he can understand and reply but he is not as fluent as he would like to be. And in his own words “I'm not able to use a lot of vocabulary because it's very difficult for me to memorize words, therefore my written skill is also very bad. I commit a lot of mistakes in spelling when I write something.” So he basically requests me to give some advice. So first things first, it's of the utmost importance not to perceive all aspects of the English improvement at a same time. So you're saying that you are not as fluent, meaning you can't speak as fluently as you would like to and then you kind of make the connection between that and your written skill, right? So you're saying that therefore my written skill is also very bad, right? So I've got to let you know that there is no direct correlation between your overall fluency and your written fluency. Obviously, obviously, if you can't speak at all for instance chances are that your written fluency is also going to be very bad and vice versa. But what I'm trying to say is that there's a lot of people who can speak no problem while at the same time they struggle with writing and quite the opposite which is actually the most typical case scenario. (more…)

What’s the Best Way to Go About Shadowing English Videos?

Here’s how to improve your English listening skills when listening to my video: put the headphones on, playback the video and write it all down while listening to it! Have you tried the shadowing technique whereby you try and mimic English speakers from TV shows and YouTube videos? Are you finding it hard and you don’t really know how to go about it? Then watch this video where I’m addressing English shadowing related concerns raised by one of my blog followers! And obviously - if you've got any comments or questions about this thing called SHADOWING - please publish them in the comments section below my friends! Chat soon, Robby ;-)