To most of non - native english speaker, speaking
naturally, fluently and smoothly is very, very and very big problem; to
me, I'm also in this situation. Besides I've had problems with good
writing skills. however, my listening english ability is growing day by
day after a long period of "tam tieng anh", I listen english every day.
So my favorite channels is BBC, CNN, HBO, ... (except Vietnamese
channels; because of they are my nation's culture, I always love them).
When anyone appears in this world, He/she must have a long time study
this new world, and he lives with his family, his relatives, his
society, around him there are a great number of language teachers.
At the beginning, they taught him how to call: mummy, daddy,... but he
did not understood what he was trying to say. And He had been in this
situation for four or five years. He then started to be aware of things
around him. However, He could speak at the age of two. He can
communicated with his parents, his friends,... But after coming into
the world, he couldn't speak, so do you know how he can tell his mother
and father to have what he want, you'll not be surprised at the way he
get what he want. He owns a very, very effective way that is crying,
that may be an instinct.
It takes about 2 years for him to speak
some simple phrases, and longer time to understand what he said. all
though, he did not understand, he still converses with his relatives
very effectively.
In brief, the first step of better communication is listening.
So do you know the second step of this process. that is speaking
as I said at the beginning of this post, speaking english effectively
is very difficult for you and of course for me - non native english
speaker.
I have read a number of books that talk about how to speak
english effectively. Most of them told me that I had better speak
english every day. But as many other english learns I only did that for
a couple of days, and then, I did not. We have accepted that is general
state of english learns. In my opinion, We do not live in a speaking
english environment, so we have a little opportunities to practice
english.
You can give yourself a couple of moments to think what
I am going to talk about. when you talk with someone in you mother
language, you do not have any problems, you communicate without
thinking the words you plan to say. And you head is often very fresh.
So why couldn't you do with speaking english. The problem here is you
do not follow the natural process of communication. To most of non -
native english speaker try to imagine the word you have just heard, and
you will not satisfy if you can spell that word and understand it. That
is your problem. And in the past, I also tried to listen english in
that way. It seemed to be a path in my mind. And it takes a long time
for me to turn it into the right path. I think, when you listen
news-letters or watch films you try to distract you attention to the
single word by drawing your attention to the movements in the news and
films.
I've followed that method for 2 months and I feel my
listening skill is getting better. You can see it through the following
example: you speak loudly the sentence: what's your name? you say it
without thinking, and when other people ask you this question you can
understand it very, very quickly; and you of course can answer their
question immediately.
