How to Improve Your Spoken English and Lose Your NonNative English Speaker Accent
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hi everybody welcome back to ask Alicia
the weekly series where you ask me
questions and I answer them maybe first
question this week comes from Satish
Gunnison hi Satish Satish says hi Alicia
how are you what is the difference
between I have got two and I got two it
depends on the situation and it depends
on the type of English the speaker is
using by that I mean American English or
British English I have got two is more
commonly used in British English than in
American English it’s used to explain
our responsibilities like I have got to
go to work or I have got to go to the
bank he has got to finish his reports
today when we reduce I have got 2 or
just have got 2 it sounds like I’ve got
to I’ve got to American English speakers
tend to reduce the sound even more in
fast speech so it sounds like I gotta I
gotta as in I gotta go to work or I
gotta do some laundry so this does sound
a lot like I got to but it actually does
not mean I got to it still refers to
that I have got to do something we use I
got to when we’re talking about
something special or we’re talking about
a privilege or an exciting opportunity
we were able to participate in so we use
I got to before a verb to show our
appreciation to show our gratitude for
the opportunity for example I got to
ride in a helicopter today I got to stay
at a fancy hotel last night
so I got to can sound a lot like I gotta
but the to actually have different
meanings we don’t use I gotta to talk
about something we feel appreciative for
we use I gotta to express a
responsibility in a casual way so try to
keep this in mind
I gotta and I got to have different
functions I hope this helps you
understand the differences between have
got two and got two thanks very much for
the question
okay let’s move on to your next question
next question comes from a fifi hi fifi
a fifi says what do these phrases mean
take for granted and grant a wish okay
to take something for granted means to
expect something but that thing is
something that’s special or it’s like a
privilege it’s something that we should
not expect so to take something or to
take someone for granted is a negative
thing
some examples my boss took me for
granted when I quit my job nobody could
do all my work
don’t let your boyfriend take you for
granted you’re a great person and very
supportive so to grant a wish means to
make a wish come true
to fulfill someone’s wish to fulfill
something that someone wants so an
example would be like the genie granted
wishes for Aladdin in the popular
adventure story or my company granted my
wish and bought me a new computer so to
take for granted refers to expecting
something that you should not expect
something special or a special privilege
to grant a wish refers to having a wish
fulfilled something that you wanted like
a special dream or desire came true so I
hope that this helps you understand the
differences and the meanings of these
expressions thanks very much for the
question ok let’s move on to your next
question next question this week comes
from IU high/low Ayub oh you’ve says hi
Alicia
my name is Ayub I’m from Algeria and I’m
learning English but my problem is
translation what do I do to learn and
speak correctly
I don’t translate so sometimes they make
mistakes in my reading and writing okay
first I think it’s a good thing that you
don’t translate because if you try to
translate from your language your native
language directly in
to English it can cause you to create
some unnatural sentence patterns so I
think that’s great it’s fine not to try
to translate everything directly second
it’s okay to make mistakes making
mistakes is part of the learning process
but for a few tips maybe to help you as
you try to move forward and to help you
as you don’t use translation techniques
I would suggest focusing in on like one
point at a time like one small topic or
one small grammar point so for example
if you use our videos you might start
with like a grammar video for example
like the simple past tense video you
watch the simple past tense video and
you learn some patterns that use the
simple past tense then you write those
by hand you say those sentences out loud
so you can get comfortable with the
sample sentences that are in that video
then after you’re comfortable you take
the same verb from the video and try
making a new sentence with some
different details so for example in that
video my example sentence my first
example sentence was he brought a towel
and sunglasses to the beach so we can
focus in on the verb brought there the
past tense of bring and make new
sentences with new details that keep the
verb so for example we brought food and
drinks to the park or she brought coffee
to the office so you can focus on the
sentence pattern you know and just
change the details so that’s one way to
kind of expand more personally to on the
things you’re learning I think you could
do the same thing with some vocabulary
videos like our top words videos for
example if you choose the video that’s
about like American foods you could try
using the vocabulary from that to create
new sentences you could even combine it
with your past tense video studies so
for example the word chocolate-chip
cookies is one of the vocabulary words
in the American foods top words video
you could say we
chocolate-chip cookies to the park for
example so in that way you’re using a
grammar pattern that you already know
from one video and you’re combining it
with vocabulary that you’re learning
from another video so in this way you
can kind of begin putting together key
words and key phrases as you learn them
but again I think it might be a good
idea to try to focus in on just one
point at a time to learn it comfortably
and then expand finally then the last
and arguably most important point here
is to remember to practice speaking out
loud so don’t just write sentences down
or type sentences on your computer make
sure to practice speaking the sentences
and make sure to ask questions to
practice saying questions as well so I
hope that this helps you thanks very
much for this question and good luck
with your continued studies okay let’s
move on to your next question next
question comes from an Abdul Rahman
hello Abdul
I’m doula says hi Alicia here are my
questions how can I eliminate my native
accent when I speak English people guess
my country after I say a few sentences
and - I have two kids aged nine and four
is it advisable to start them with your
class for speaking practice Thanks
regarding your first question one
getting rid of an accent takes practice
for sure and keep in mind that probably
most non-native speakers of English do
speak with a bit of an accent and it’s
not a communication problem in most
cases also if it is a communication
problem you just ask for confirmation
actually even native speakers don’t
speak clearly sometimes - so I wouldn’t
worry so much about completely removing
your accent but if you do want to
practice pronunciation a bit I would say
if you’re studying alone - try listening
to yourself first and compare in your
voice to a native speakers voice so that
you can identify the parts in your
speech that are different from that of a
native speakers so one thing that I
think could be helpful if you’re
studying alone
as I said and you don’t have a teacher
to correct you is to record your own
voice and listen to yourself saying
something that you can replay in media
so for example if you choose like an
English topics video from this channel
and you listen to me or Michael or Davie
you can hear us saying something listen
to that just one sentence or two
sentences is okay then record yourself
and try to say it exactly the way you
heard it then listen to your recording
and compare it to the original recording
and see what’s different is there a
vowel sound that you’re not pronouncing
the same way as the native speaker is
there a consonant sound that’s difficult
to hear is it the connection of words so
when you can find the places that are
different in your speech that are like
different from the way the native
speaker says them then you can focus in
on those sounds and work on improving
those sounds first over time you’ll
gradually gained more and more practice
with making these specific sounds and to
work on those specific sounds you can
try searching for some videos we have a
few pronunciation related videos on our
channel but you can look for some
information about how to more clearly
pronounce vowel and consonant sounds
online so I hope that that helps you
regarding your second question about
using our lessons for your kids I would
say that it might be a little bit
challenging for very young kids because
the content the lessons that we make on
this channel are kind of intended for
people who have studied some English
before in their home countries or
they’re at a bit of an intermediate
level so I think lessons like maybe the
whiteboard videos or these videos would
be very difficult for young kids to
understand but I think because they have
a parent who is learning English as well
you could choose some of the phrase
based top words videos so when I say
phrase based I mean the kids have the
opportunity to learn like a full
question or a full pattern and you can
help them to fill in the blank so I
would say you can choose phrase videos
and practice together with your kids or
you can choose videos that have like a
lot of
information like maybe food-related
vocabulary videos those might be good as
well too so I think that if you can
practice with your kids and use videos
like those it could be a fun way to
begin using English around your house
so thanks very much for the questions I
really hope that that helps you okay
let’s move on to your next question next
question comes from Reuben hello Reuben
Reuben says what is the usage and
meaning of I am supposed to do something
and I am NOT supposed to do something
please explain okay so I am supposed to
do something refers to an expected
behavior so that means it’s something
that like your friend your family member
your coworker your boss expects you to
do it’s an expected behavior so examples
I’m supposed to call my parents every
Sunday we’re supposed to finish work at
8:00 so the idea was supposed to is that
if that behavior does not happen someone
might be upset someone might be angry so
supposed to reflects an expectation some
we’re not supposed to is used to refer
to a behavior someone expects us not to
do we should not do that behavior
someone expects I will not do that
behavior if I do that behavior I will be
in trouble
so again this is from someone outside me
my family member my co-worker my boss
they expect me not to do something for
example I’m not supposed to stay out
late he’s not supposed to eat junk food
so in situations like the second example
there it’s kind of because like that
activity or that behavior could be
harmful somehow so in some supposed to
is for behaviors we expect not supposed
to is for behaviors that we do not
expect and are probably not good ideas
to do so I hope that this helps you
thanks very much for the question okay
that is everything that I have for you
guys for this week thank you as always
for sending your questions remember you
can send them to me at English class
101.com slash ask - Alicia of course
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thanks very much for watching this
week’s episode of ask Alisha and I will
see you again next week bye bye want to
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