Did you know that the letters ‘T’ and ‘D’ don’t always sound like /t/ or /d/ in native English speech? The way we pronounce them depends on the sounds that come before or after them. If you learn and apply the five pronunciation rules below, your spoken English will sound much more fluent and natural—especially […]
Why ask the question? Little do you as English learners pay attention to how you speak English. It’s not your fault. Your teachers have talked you into ignoring the way you sound. “We can understand you” they say. What they mean is that we can understand you when you speak about something we already know […]
Yes Accent Matters! If you speak English, your accent matters. Do not listen to them English teachers and professors because they are full of bull. If you speak English and live in an English speaking country like the US, Canada, Australia or Britain, your accent does matter. No question about it. That’s natural. And oh […]
You Know ABOUT English, You Don’t SPEAK English! Knowing English is not speaking English. Sure, you know English. You know ABOUT English. You know verb BE right? You studied that verb BE is “I am”, “You are” “He/she/it is” etc. You may even be able to read and write English, but you kind of struggle […]
Having taught hundreds of adult learners of English, many of whom were desperately looking for work in Sydney, one of the most expensive cities in the world, I have come to notice a number of factors that lead the students to bomb a job interview. To apply for jobs looking for “bubbly” personalities Be realistic. […]
I wrote the title so just to make it short, so do not think that I’m taking the piss out of Japanese people or anything like that. Japanese people are quite embarrassed about the fact that they cannot speak English and they (well, many of them I guess) have begun to realize that they’re a […]
Is that fair? Who cares? Life’s not fair in many ways, is it? You might have the most remarkable vocabulary and the most accurate grammar and still be wondering why you can’t get people to like hanging out with you or just have a conversation with you. No one likes robots. No one likes a […]
Did you guys miss me? I bet you did. Thank you so much for all your loyalty. It’s incredible how many emails I got from loyal followers just asking me when the website is going to be back up. Well, there it is. The website has been re-designed and now looks completely different. Parts of […]
I realize that may sound arrogant as it assumes that the land of opportunity has to be where English happens to be the first language but no one can argue that countries like the United States, Canada and Australia (and certainly some European countries) have been a common destination for the world’s immigrants over the […]
How to practice speaking English is a question that I have heard probably over a million times throughout my career. Now, I have 3 great tips for you but as just in case you don’t know, I’m not really a “sane” English teacher and my interest in teaching the language, specifically speaking, listening and pronunciation […]