How To Speak English Fluently Like A Native Speaker

How To Speak English Fluently Like A Native Speaker

Sam Ghannad

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The topic for today is “How to speak English fluently like a native speaker“.

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Today we learned about How to speak English fluently like a native speaker.

Let Sam Ghannad shares with you his top learning tips about how to speak English fluently like a native speaker.

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How To Speak English Fluently Like A Native Speaker | Sam Ghannad

How To Speak English Fluently Like A Native Speaker

Sam Ghannad

How can I become fluent in English?

How To Speak American English Like a Native Speaker

Thank you, “Youtube – Pronunciation Pro“.

Answer by Sam Ghannad ( In love with creativity, Dancing with innovation, Searching for meaning ). All credit goes to Sam Ghannad, Thank you!

How To Speak English Fluently Like A Native Speaker

7/10

Talking like a native has a few aspects that I’m going to discuss, but before delving into that, I want to clarify something first.

This part is targeted at all those people who have immigrated to another country.

I’m getting lots of questions like this one, and it’s a good one to ask, but there’s a problem with its root cause that brings up the question in someones mind.

The root cause is that they think deep inside that they sound “ridiculous”, or they look “dumb” etc. They think that they are just not “good enough to be considered equal”.

This is plain WRONG.

Foreign Accent is a sign of bravery, nothing else.

If you’re reading through, for any kind of reason like those mentioned above, stop right now. You’re not going to feel better even if you sound like a native, the next thing that you’re going to be upset about will be your skin color, or ethnicity.

This is an infinite cycle of “not being good enough” and you need to stop it right now, you must help yourself by seeing all the people who are first-generation immigrants and are already successful. Stop self sabotaging your soul.

Now you may read on.

Lets continue with what we need to sound more “native”.

Accent and Pronunciation

One of the first things that pops up when talking to a non-native speaker is her accent and pronunciation.

There’s little hack I used myself that instantly helped me to be better at pronouncing words and sentences, and here it is, Ready?

Move Your Face Muscles More.

Yep. That’s it. That may sound a little unclear at first, to clear things up, watch this video:

Thank you, “Youtube – VOA Learning English“.

Take a VERY close look at face & lips movements of both candidates.

When they pronounce “THE”, look a their tongue coming out, gets between their teeth and goes in, in a fraction of a second; The word “Hard” is another example, listen to the “H” sound they’re making from deep of their throat instead of making it inside their mouth. It’s all about what muscles to use to make each sounds.

They are using A LOT of muscles that are mostly unused in our native tongues.

Solution:

Move Your Face Muscles More.

You may also watch this video to help you with this one:

(Also keep a close watch on the movements of her mouth and face.)

Thank you, “Youtube – Georgie Harding“.

P.S : You don’t need to learn and memorize all mouth movements and positions, the first step is to teach your face that there are other options to make a specific sound. Just try to be more aware of other speakers movements and try to mimic them, It sounds awkward at first, but trust me, no one will ever notice your facial movements but you’ll be amazed at the rate of improvement you achieve. As Nike says: Just do it 😉

Sounding “Natural”

I attended to English classes for 2 semesters only, then I quit and never looked back.

All you see here, like writing this response, or if you could hear me talking in person, is achieved without attending any formal class. but how?

Before I answer the “How” part, let me tell you why I quit attending English classes.

The problem with English classes is that they’re too impractical because most emphasize too often on grammar and even have their books sectioned by grammatical structures (First you learn simple present, then simple past etc) , and to make the matter worse, they also make everyone look the same! I can almost instantly spot someone who have learned English by going through a systematic learning experience a.k.a English Classes.

They all look the same, They all start with same greetings and respond with the same canned response templates!

A-Hi

B-Hello

A- How are you?

B- I’m fine. Thank you. And you?

I’m sure you remember more than one of these, You never hear them say “The best that I’ve been so far in my whole life” (with a big smile) in response to “How are you?”, You never hear them say things like “I hope, nope, not that, that’s too uncertain, I AM sure that we’ll see each other soon, I’d love to make that happen” when they’re saying goodbye, they tend to say “See you soon.” or “See ya!” at most.

They may be excited to death for something, but when they are asked if they are excited:

-Are you excited about X?

All they say is that

– I’m really excited.
Or
-I’m super excited to be here

R.I.P conversation.

Compare that to this:

-Are you excited about X?

-I’m so excited that I’m barely stopping myself from running around screaming!

-(Laughs and continues) So You did good job holding back so far.

– So far.

(Laughter)

Why is that? Because they don’t have their own style, or better to say, they didn’t develop their own style in the second language. They can’t express their emotions like they used to in their mother tongue.

In order to sound more natural you need to develop your own style. There’s good news, and bad news.

Good news is that it is much easier than it sounds.

How? I developed my own style by reading books and articles written by my favorite authors, and also watching stand up comedies on YouTube, whenever I came across a sentence, a word, or anything that I thought it to be fit for my style I wrote it down, and later used it in a conversation in real life, or in a post, or just talking to my self.

The bad news is that I wanted to go out picnicking today but it’s raining like hell. 🙁

Develop Your Own Style to Express Your Real Self.

P.S: Not all English classes are the same, there some high quality English classes that help anyone develop their own style and also try to make real life conversation and engagements. Even the traditional ones are a good head start and better than sitting idly around waiting for a super-easy-language-learning-pill to be invented.

Clarity In Communication

I see lots of unclear communications these days in all possible forms, Emails, Text Messages, verbal or written.

The main cause here is one word: Assumptions

This may not be directly related to someones ability to “speak” English, but it’s directly related to communicating in English. Most non native English speakers make so many assumptions about their audience and skip the details which, to them, seem unnecessary yet makes it confusing for the other person to understand them.

Don’t make assumptions about what other party knows, or Should Know. Explain it well, just make sure to ask once in a while if you should skip the details for this part or go on. This one helped me to level up quite a bit in communicating clearly.

Reference: Sam Ghannad. “How can I become fluent in English?”  originally appeared on Quora, the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

Other Ways To Speak English Fluently Like A Native Speaker

Get jobs requiring native-level English

More doors are open to you if you can speak English like a native speaker. Jobs that require a native level of English will be available to you and the few people who reach the same level as you. The competition is less fierce and highly skilled jobs often pay more.

Thank you, FluentU – FluentU brings language learning to life through language immersion with real-world videos.

Fluency is not the same as speaking like a native

We can try to get as close as possible to the ideal, to speak with as few mistakes as possible, to continuously improve. But if we fall short, we can still be satisfied. The thousands of people of all nationalities whom I have met, who had effective and practical control of English or other languages, achieved their language goals without sounding like a native.

Thank you, The Linguist – Steve Kaufmann: Helping You Learn Languages!

Acquire the interest and accent

Motivation, Repetition and Exposure — all three play a major role. Remember the native speakers’ phrases and expressions by repeating them and using them in your day to day communication. Try to keep in touch with foreigners. Talking more to them will break the jinx and make you accustomed to their diction, modulation, intonation, and most importantly the culture and tradition.

Thank you, India Today – a fortnightly Indian English-language news magazine.

Get to grips with slang

Like idioms, slang is regularly used by native speakers, almost unconsciously. You’ll find that English slang has regional differences, so using distinctive words like the locals is key sounding more like a native. For instance, a Brit may say that they’re “knackered” while an American from the south use “tuckered out”. They both mean that they’re very tired.

Tip: Remember, slang is generally considered informal. Be aware when using it in professional situations.

Thank you, EF English Live – Founded in 1996, EF English Live has been at the cutting edge of language learning for nearly two decades, having been the first to pioneer a 24-hour teacher-led online English course. Backed by a world-class team of academic and technical experts, plus two thousand certified online English teachers, our mission is to use technology to create a fundamentally better way to learn English.

Focus on Phonetics from the Very Beginning

What you need to do is focus on the phonetics of the language, I recommend that you start practicing to improve your pronunciation as soon as you can—from the very beginning of your learning, if possible.

Whatever your case may be, make sure that proper pronunciation and intonation are a priority for you. If you start early, you can avoid ever having to worry about having a bad accent.

Thank you, Lucalam Pariello – My name is Luca Lampariello, and I ​can help you learn any foreign language.

To do an English course

To be more confident in your English can take some time but every time you try you improve. Be encouraged if people correct you for your mistakes rather than embarrassed – they are helping you improve your English. One good way to get past this is to start an English class, where you speak with students of the same English level as you, and learn and practise new words, grammar, intonation and conversation together to boost your confidence.

Thank you, OISE Oxford – The Oxford Intensive School of English (OISE) offers language courses and exam preparation in small groups throughout the UK, Europe and in the US.

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