Native-like fluency in English

Reading out loud is one of my favorite exercises. It is also one of the most powerful ones that non-native speakers can use to learn to feel the rhythm of English, improve their presentation skills, and achieve native-like fluency.

Here is the passage I am reading. Try reading it as well.

First there was nothing. Then there was everything.

Then, in a park above a western city after dusk, the air is raining messages. A woman sits on the ground, leaning against a pine. Its bark presses hard against her back, as hard as life. Its needles scent the air and a force hums in the heart of the wood. Her ears tune down to the lowest frequencies. The tree is saying things, in words before words.

It says: Sun and water are questions endlessly worth answering.

It says: A good answer must be reinvented many times, from scratch.

It says: Every piece of earth needs a new way to grip it. There are more ways to branch than any cedar pencil will ever find. A thing can travel everywhere, just by holding still.

The woman does exactly that. Signals rain down around her like seeds.

Talk runs far afield tonight. The bends in the alders speak of long-ago disasters. Spikes of pale chinquapin flowers shake down their pollen; soon they will turn into spiny fruits. Poplars repeat the wind's gossip. Persimmons and walnuts set out their bribes and rowans their blood-red clusters. Ancient oaks wave prophecies of future weather. The several hundred kinds of hawthorn laugh at the single name they're forced to share. Laurels insist that even death is nothing to lose sleep over.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Many learners of English want to listen to a song in English and immediately understand. They expect themselves to immediately understand everything that their English-speaking colleagues or people on the movie screen say too.

It's not how listening works.

First, we need to learn to hear what we're listening to. Then, when we hear it, we want to learn to identify what's new and what's familiar information.

Then, we need to be aware of the following elements and how they work:

Stress, Rhythm, Emphasis, Pitch, Melody, Diction, Thought Chunking, Intonation, and Tone.

And then comes understanding.

*****

Here is a passage I was reading at the end of the episode. You're welcome to use it to practice with me.

It is difficult to arrive at a precise definition of the term intonation. However, in simple words, it refers to the melody that every language manifests in speech. During speech, the voice goes up and down (known as the pitch) and these different notes of the voice make up the tone patterns or intonation of a language. In some languages, if you pronounce the same sequence of syllables, i.e. the same word, in different tones, it changes the meaning of the word. For instance, in Mandarin Chinese the word maː said in different tones changes the meaning of the word: if said with a level tone -maː means mother; with a rising tone ̗maː it means horse; and with a falling tone ̀maː it means scold. Such languages are called tone languages. However, in many languages, the tone does not belong to an individual word but to a word group. Such languages are called intonation languages and English is one of them. If we say yes in any tone in English, it will still mean “yes”. Tones, nonetheless, play an important role in English. They give the listener an idea about the speaker's emotions and/or intentions. Intonation can reveal the speaker's interest, anger, anxiety, surprise, etc. When we add such elements to our speech, we are using intonation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I love reading out loud. That's a fantastic exercise to practice better pronunciation, intonation, though chunking, rhythm, an melody of the language.

This time I picked a new memoir by Will Smith (written together with Mark Manson).

Listen to this piece and see if you want to read the book.

You can read the same excerpt here and practice with me

www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/606827…781984877925

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The question that students ask is "How long exactly will this take?"

How long will it take to achieve native-like fluency?

How many exercises a day precisely do I need to do to get there?

How much time will it take per day?

Yes, mastering a skill is an infinite process. But how do we fit this infinite learning process into a very finite day that we all have?

In the second part of this podcast, I'm sharing personal stories about building new routines. I see 3 stages of building a new routine (you need a routine to master a skill): Optimizing, Adapting, Innovating.

This part is devoted to my cooking and English practice routines. I share examples from everyday life that so many people can relate to.

Once you accept that this is a lifetime journey, it makes sense to include very tangible and concrete activities/exercises in every one of your days. That's what both episodes are about.

Enjoy and share your stories and questions in the comments.

Let's chat on Instagram - @nataliatokarr

My website - courses.nataliatokar.me/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just listen to how profound human communication can be... and how much time we waste seeking advice in places that have no advice for us.

Listen to how beautiful and meaningful human communication can be, how much wisdom we possess as humans... and think how many words are wasted today to convince people to buy life advice or printed words of wisdom.

*****

The inimitable Hunter S. Thompson was just 20 years of age and still in the U.S. Air Force when, in April of 1958, he wrote this profoundly wise letter to his friend Hume Logan in response to a request for life advice. It would be another ten years until Thompson’s own career gathered pace, due in no small part to a brave exposé of the Hell’s Angels that he wrote after a year in their company. Arguably his most famous book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, soon followed, as did much of the Gonzo journalism for which he is now known. In 2005, with his health in decline, Thompson took his own life.

From Letters of Note

https://books.lettersofnote.com/products/letters-of-note-paperback

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The question that students ask is "How long exactly will this take?"

How long will it take to achieve native-like fluency?

How many exercises a day precisely do I need to do to get there?

How much time will it take per day?

Yes, mastering a skill is an infinite process. But how do we fit this infinite learning process into a very finite day that we all have?

When people say they're ready to commit, but they're not sure what this journey will look like... they're not really ready, and that's why they do not commit. Some do not begin because they're afraid they won't be able to commit.

In the first part of this podcast, I'm sharing personal stories that lie behind acquiring new skills and building new routines.

How I build my fitness routine. How I run and why I do it. How I learn a language... All these activities have been in my life for at least a decade. Once I started, they seemed overwhelming. I wanted to achieve a lot but had a limited resource - time.

The same applies to language learning. Once you're already fluent, you want to keep going. You feel that the more you know the more there's to learn for you. Once you accept that this is a lifetime journey, it makes sense to include very tangible and concrete activities/exercises in every one of your days. That's what this episode is about.

Enjoy and share your stories and questions in the comments.

Let's chat on Instagram - @nataliatokarr

My website - courses.nataliatokar.me/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Even some advanced students can't ditch the habit of translating every single word.

In this episode, we talk about:

1. The reasons why people translate every word (and keep that habit)

2. Why you should not translate the word order. Examples of miscommunication

3. The exercises you can do instead to improve your vocabulary and your listening comprehension skills

4. Things you can try in case you read a book and you do not understand some words. A step-by-step scenario of what you can do instead of rushing to Google translate

5. Examples! Lots of examples from real situations that demonstrate what can go wrong and how to fix it.

This is a conversation between Natalia Tokar and Jason Farrell.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

They say you need to speak more if you want to speak better English...

If you don't have a speaking partner, the general advice is - "talk to yourself".

Many people embrace this idea with enthusiasm, but they quickly give up on the exercise... In this episode, I'm sharing the most common reasons people quit practicing (no feedback, no fresh ideas, no sense of progress...)as well as many ways to make this exercise work.

I'm analyzing feedback from people I've been teaching over the last 15 years. People usually quit if they haven't seen immediate astonishing results. Nothing is immediate when we speak about mastering a skill.

Hopefully, the examples in this podcast will help language learners enjoy the exercises and improve the quality of their spoken and written communication in English.

The podcast is recommended for intermediate, upper-intermediate, advanced + levels.

Music credit - Gavin Luke - Paradigm Shift

Instagram - www.instagram.com/nataliatokarr/

My website - courses.nataliatokar.me/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is a practical exercise that you can do together with me in real time.

I am using a movie in English and a video tutorial in German (if you don't speak German, that will not be a problem:)

The link to the video on Intensive Listening Practice & Short-term memory is here youtu.be/PZzdzWM2Jqc

To view my courses, visit courses.nataliatokar.me/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"What avail is it to win prescribed amounts of information about geography and history, to win ability to read and write, if in the process the individual loses his own soul; loses his appreciation of things worth while, of the values to which these are relative; if he loses his desire to apply what he has learned, and, above all loses the ability to extract meaning from his future experiences as they occur?".

John Dewey

Big thanks to www.learning-knowledge.com/ for sharing wisdom.

courses.nataliatokar.me/

My YouTube – https://youtube.com/c/NataliaTokar

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.