In this video, Alfredo interviews Matthew Weathers, an English teacher in Asia, about having the courage to communicate with a speaker of another language.

Video transcript

Alfredo: I’ve tried studying French or Spanish before. And you were talking about the importance of finding a native English speaker to practice speaking with. And I know that that’s important for me as I seek to improve, for example, my Spanish skills. But sometimes it’s kind of intimidating, knowing that I’m not fluent in Spanish, but the other person is.

And I’m recognizing this other person’s going to have to be patient with me, and so I may feel hesitation. I do feel hesitation when I approach someone who is fluent in Spanish, but I want to speak Spanish with that person. So I imagine that there are also English speakers–or English learners–who feel hesitation, who feel fear. They get nervous when they’re around native English speakers but they still want to practice English with that person. What do you you recommend for that person to overcome that nervousness?

Matthew: I would hope that their love for English and learning English–their love for that is greater than their fear of a foreigner or a native English speaker. Often in China I’ll need help with a Chinese word or phrase, and I’ll ask my students for help and they’re happy to help me. I will ask them [Chinese], which, I think it means in Chinese, “Can you help me?”

Alfredo: I have no idea if it means that.

Matthew: Well, they usually say, “Yes, teacher. We can help you.” [Chinese] “What do you want?” And so I’ll tell them in English and they’ll help me in Chinese. And they’re happy to help me. The same thing for most native English speakers in a foreign country: We are happy to help students learn English.

Alfredo: Okay.

Matthew: We know it’s difficult to learn English because we are having difficulty learning that language. And so when they come to us for help, we’re happy to help them learn English.

Alfredo: So when they come to you and they try to speak English, it’s like, you understand their frustration, or you understand their hesitation because you are surrounded by people who know a language that you were not quite fluent in. And you’re nervous about it, but they’re nervous about speaking in English, and so you can both overcome that hesitation.

Matthew: And many times in Chinese, I will know the right words, but I won’t know how to say them in the exact way that they should be said because pronunciation in Chinese is very difficult for me at a Westerner. But the students are very patient, and they’re very helpful, trying to help me learn their language. And likewise I as an English teacher want to help my students and any Chinese student wanting to learn English to speak better, to listen better, to help find resources that they can utilize for their English learning process.

Video transcript

Here is another frequent comment that visitors to OnTargetEnglish.com make:

I can understand some of the English in the videos but not all of it. How can I understand more?

Here are three things that you can do to understand more of the English spoken in our videos:

1. Watch the video again. Or watch the part of the video that you did not understand. The great thing about online video is that you can go back and watch it again.

2. Read the text while you listen. Use the closed captions for YouTube videos. Do you see the letters CC at the bottom of this video? If you click those letters, the words that I speak in the video will appear near the bottom. Videos that you purchase from OnTargetEnglish.com do not have closed captions, but you can read the script of the video while you listen to the video. When you listen to the words and see them at the same time, you can understand more, and you might also improve your vocabulary.

3. Avoid distractions. Tell yourself that learning English is really important. There are some practical things you can do to help you concentrate. What is something that you do to help you concentrate while you read or study? Add a comment below this video.

Again, follow these three tips. Watch the video again, read the text while you listen, and avoid distractions. If you follow these tips, you will be able to understand the speaking in our videos better.

Do you have a question about learning English? Post it at bit.ly/askmyquestion.

Links from the video:

• Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
• About.com phonetic symbols

Video transcript

After watching our video on Improving Your English Vocabulary, a visitor with the nickname “justreal” asked, “thank u 4 giving me the ways to improve my words. And my question is; what the best dictionary should I use?”

I recommend the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. It’s online, it’s free, and it’s a great dictionary.

Visit ldoceonline.com. Type the word or phrase that you want to look up. Click search, and you will get your result instantly. We will include a link to the Longman Dictionary below this video.

Before I finish, I want to answer another question.

A visitor named “sally” asked, “how can i learn the symbols of pronunciation in the dictionary?”

About.com has a helpful guide to phonetic symbols. Do a Google search for “about.com phonetic symbols”; the first search result will lead you to a really helpful resource for understanding pronunciation symbols in the dictionary.

Thank you, “justreal” and Sally for your questions. If anybody else has a question for us, please post it at bit.ly/askmyquestion.

Now, I have a question for you. Do you have a dictionary that translates words from your language? What dictionary do you use? Add a comment below this video.

Links from the Video:

• More tips on learning vocabulary: Improving Your English Vocabulary
• The 2,000 most frequently used words in English: General Service List
• Download flashcards for your app: Quizlet.com
• Learn English vocabulary with pictures: English Success
• Post your question: bit.ly/askmyquestion

Video Transcript

One of the videos in our series on Improving Your English Skills focuses on improving your vocabulary.

A visitor named Suman wrote this: “thanks for the video…….but there are so may new words to learn.” He continued by asking how to start improving his vocabulary. And he wanted to know where he should start.

Well, I do recommend watching the video on improving your vocabulary. It’s only three and a half minutes long, and it is full of great tips on improving your vocabulary. We will include a link to that video in the text below this video.

But what else can you do? I recommend using a picture dictionary. On one page, you can see pictures of many different things with labels. Some picture dictionaries use only English.

Now I have good news for English learners, and I have bad news. The bad news is that there are 1 million words in the English language. The good news is that if you know just 2,000 words and their word families, you can understand 90 to 95 percent of everyday English usage. The 2,000 most frequently used words make up a list called the General Service List.

We’re going to include a link to that list below this video. I recommend that you know the words in that list.

Flash cards can be really helpful, too. Put the English word on one side, and put the same word in your language on the other side. You can make your own flash cards, or you can use a flash card app for your phone that downloads flashcards from Quizlet.com. It may be that Quizlet.com already has flash cards in your language for learning English. I use an app for learning French vocabulary, and it’s really helpful.

Flash cards are great, but you also need to learn a word in its context. That’s why our video on improving your vocabulary recommends seeing and hearing the word in sentences and conversations. Watch that video for more tips. Of course, our series of videos in English Success also includes several videos on vocabulary that allow you to hear the word, see the word, and see a picture that represents the word. To learn more, visit ontargetenglish.com/success.

Suman, thank you for your question about improving your vocabulary. If anybody else has a question about learning English, you can post it at bit.ly/askmyquestion.

Did you know that English Success teaches more than grammar? Get English Success, and improve your vocabulary, pronunciation, listening, speaking, grammar, and more.

http://bit.ly/practicemyenglish

http://bit.ly/askmyquestion

Video transcript

In the series on Improving Your English Skills, one of my videos was on improving your grammar. In that video, I talked about hearing examples, learning the grammar rule, and using the grammar in your own communication.

One of our visitors named Manish viewed my video and responded with a comment. Manish wrote this: “Speaking english and learning grammer are different things.” Manish continued by saying that you need to know more than just grammar in order to speak English. Maybe you have learned English grammar, but people still don’t understand you when you speak English. How can we help Manish?

It’s true that you need to know more than grammar to speak English. You need to learn vocabulary. It’s helpful to learn some idioms, especially if you are trying to understand a native English speaker. And you need to use English. You need to practice it.

Now, there are some people who say that studying grammar actually hurts your English speaking. I disagree. To learn any language, you need to learn its grammar. So, yes, I recommend studying grammar. But you need to learn vocabulary, too. And you need to use English. Practice speaking. Practice writing it. Get on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ and practice chatting in English. By the way, you can find someone to help you practice your English by visiting bit.ly/practicemyenglish. We will include a link to that address below this video.

You do need to learn grammar. But you also need to learn vocabulary, and you need to keep using English.

Manish had a great comment that I discussed in this video. Do you have a question about learning English? Post it at bit.ly/askmyquestion.

I also want to know what area of study or practice helps you learn English the most. Is it grammar, vocabulary, listening, practicing with a friend, or something else? Add your comment below this video.

Video transcript

A visitor to OnTargetEnglish.com recently asked about hesitation while speaking English. Pari said this: “please help us to speak in english. we hesitate to speak in english how we can get over it???”

I understand completely. I don’t hesitate to speak in English because it’s my first language. But I often hesitate to speak in French or Spanish because, for me, they are second languages that I am trying to improve.

The first thing to do is to prepare. In other words, study English. Learn vocabulary, grammar, and so forth.

But you also need to use the language while you are learning it. And I think that this is what Pari is asking about.

Even if we are prepared, a common reason that we hesitate to speak a second language is that we’re afraid of making mistakes. But we shouldn’t be afraid of mistakes. They will happen.

Children aren’t afraid of mistakes when they’re learning to talk. And they learn very quickly. Do they make mistakes? Yes, all the time! But the mistakes don’t stop their progress. And it’s amazing how fast they learn to speak their first language. Don’t let mistakes stop YOUR progress in speaking English.

The key is to enjoy speaking in English. Laugh at your mistakes, but also celebrate any small improvements. Have fun as you learn.

I know that these tips help because I use them when I try to have a conversation in French or Spanish. Any language learner feels hesitation to speak. Just remember to take risks. Yes, you’ll make mistakes, but enjoy speaking and improving in the language.

Pari, I’m glad that you asked that question. It’s a great question because a lot of people experience the same frustration.

So remember these two things. First, be prepared. How? Keep studying English. Second, enjoy using the language instead of worrying about making mistakes. If you keep following these two things, I think that you can overcome your fear of speaking in English.

Pari had a great question that I answered in this video. Do you have a question about learning English? Post it at bit.ly/askmyquestion.

I also want to know what helps you to enjoy speaking in English. Add a comment below this video to share your ideas. Maybe your idea will help other English students to enjoy speaking in English more.

Video transcript

In another tutorial, I showed that you display the You Approach when you talk to your audience about your audience. Another mark of the You Approach is that it sets a positive tone.

Let me show you how signs at three businesses successfully display a positive tone.

When you state an audience benefit prior to asking a favor from your audience, you communicate a positive tone.

“To receive your order quickly, please have your payment ready at the first window.” Perhaps a restaurant manager has seen that he is losing impatient customers who give up on the backed-up line of traffic in the drive-through lane. But he can’t say, “Please have your payment ready so that we don’t lose impatient customers.” Instead, the You Approach communicates an audience benefit: “To receive your order quickly, please have your payment ready at the first window.” By placing the benefit at the beginning of the sentence, you set a positive tone for your request.

You also display a positive tone when you emphasize what your readers can do instead of what they can’t do.

Imagine that a pet store that also offers pet health services has a sign that says, “No unleashed or unvaccinated pets.” The pet store can instead focus on what customers can do: “Leashed and vaccinated pets welcome.” Of course, get whatever legal advice you need to find out what language gives you appropriate liability protection. But emphasizing freedom rather than limits certainly contributes to a positive tone.

A simple way to communicate a positive tone is to use positive words.

Have you ever been in a craft store or gift shop that displayed this sign? “You break it, you buy it.” When I see that sign, I get the impression that customers are not even welcome there. This notorious sign might as well say, “Get your clumsy self away from our stuff!”

An arts and crafts store that I recently visited replaces the traditional threat, “You break it, you buy it” with positive wording: “All of our pieces are new and are treasured. If you break one, we will gladly wrap it for you.” This refreshing expression keeps readers alert but also respects their presence and prompts them to smile at the lighthearted satire of the threat, “You break it, you buy it.”

When you communicate benefits, freedom, and positive wording, you prepare yourself to reap the benefits of the You Approach.

Video transcript

Do you write content that your audience is truly eager to read? One quality that makes a communication style compelling is strategic use of emphasis.

Experienced communicators know that they can create emphasis in their documents through mechanical methods: using headers, placing items in bulleted or numbered lists, inserting graphics, and manipulating the typeface for italics, bold, underlining, all caps, and even changes to the font. This tutorial, however, focuses on strategies for creating emphasis in your documents through word choice and syntax.

1. Change the normal word order.

We almost always place subjects before verbs. Since placing the subject after the verb is unusual and since the end of the sentence is especially emphatic, you create emphasis with this inversion.

The original sentence says, “Clarity is foundational to all other writing virtues.”  To place even more emphasis on clarity, place that subject after the verb. “Foundational to all other writing virtues is clarity.”

2. Tell the reader what’s important.

Again, the result may be a longer sentence, but the additional words increase your chances to create the right emphasis.

You might have a sentence that says, “Develop a sound marketing plan, and create gripping content.” Notice how new words in this revision place an emphasis on content. “Develop a sound marketing plan, but be especially sure to create gripping content.

Another sentence says, “Have your draft checked for grammar by a computer or a colleague.”

The revision for emphasis says, “Have your draft checked for grammar by a computer, or, even better, a colleague.”

3. Employ rule-breaking brevity.

You might break the rule against sentence fragments.

Because it is generally best for sentences to have subjects and verbs, we have rules that tell us to avoid sentence fragments. But because fragments are rare, a well-placed fragment can create compelling emphasis.

“You might think that you need a long sentence to emphasize an important point. Not so.”

You might break the rule against one-sentence paragraphs. Standard paragraphs contain multiple sentences, so a one-sentence paragraph can really stand out. Use it strategically to communicate a point of emphasis.

4. Channel the power of punctuation.

Some writers use punctuation as though it were meant to be ignored. But consider the emphasis, for example, of a dash.

“This year’s income will–at best–equal last year’s.” Without the dashes, you don’t have the same emphasis on the fact that this estimate is optimistic.

Even more powerful is the colon, which some writers call the drum roll of punctuation. A colon at the end of a clause says, “Here it is!”

“All of your stylistic improvements follow the overarching style virtue: [Here it is!] clarity.” The end of a sentence is already a position of emphasis, but the colon emphasizes what follows it all the more.

These four tips give you just a few ways to create emphasis for a compelling style.