Filed Under: English fluency, Speaking English

How do I speak classy English?

July 23, 2021 , by Dr Julian Northbrook

How do you sound classy when you speak English?

Good question.

Let’s look at the dictionary definition:

Classy: adjective
Stylish and sophisticated.

Speaking English well requires far more than just English. You’ve also got to have intelligent and interesting things to talk about.

Knowledge.

Stories to tell.

Ultimately, no matter how fluent your English is… boring is boring.

So it’s not about learning big, complicated words or rare grammar constructions. Instead, the first step is developing a stylish and classy personality (whatever that means to you, in your personal situation). Once you’ve got that, it’s all about communicating with other people in a natural, clear way.

Hope that helps.

I send free daily email tips to help you speak better English — you can get them by going here.

Best,
Julian Northbrook

Filed Under: English fluency, Improve in English, Speaking English

How can I improve my English when I speak fast?

July 22, 2021 , by Dr Julian Northbrook

Well, the brutally honest and probably not what you want to hear, answer to this is: SLOW THE FUCK DOWN.




You see, there’s this myth that native speakers of English speak very, very fast. And because you believe this myth, you imitate what they do, so you speak English like a teenager driving a car down country lanes at a maniac’s speed.

But this myth isn’t true at all. Most native speakers don’t actually speak really fast.

Sometimes, to non-natives, they only sound like they’re speaking fast. But what they’re actually doing is chunking and articulating their speech well.

And, you know, speaking fast doesn’t mean you’re actually fluent at all.

There are a couple of reasons why people may speak too fast in English:

  1. Their natural rate of speech (some do speak fast, some don’t).
  2. Their first language has a high average rate of speech compared to English. (e.g. Italian)
  3. Their fear of making mistakes (therefore they speak fast to cover it up).
  4. They want to impress people (they won’t).

When you talk about covering your mistakes and impressing people to sound fluent, what you’re actually doing is the complete opposite of that. People won’t understand you when you speak English fast and incoherently.

So instead of speaking fast, speak CLEARLY.

Focus on the clarity of your speech and of your speaking.

Work on the naturalness of your speech (native-like selection), which is speaking in high-frequency, native-like chunks of English. That way, you’ll sound better when you speak English.

If you want to learn more about how to speak better English, have a look at the free training I made. It goes into detail about how native speakers speak, and what learning (and speaking) in chunks means.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Dr Julian Northbrook

Filed Under: English learning, Pronunciation, Speaking English

The best way to know if your English is correct without asking

July 21, 2021 , by Dr Julian Northbrook

There are a few ways on how you can check if your English pronunciation is correct (or not) without asking.




One of the best ways to know if your pronunciation is correct or not is actually quite easy. If the person you’re talking to looks confused, your pronunciation is probably incorrect. But if the person doesn’t look confused, then you nailed it.

And you know, a person’s reaction is still the best feedback you’re going to get.

But for example, you ask them, “Is my pronunciation correct?”, you’ve now implanted an idea in that person’s head that your English is not very good. Because you’ve then shifted the focus from your conversation to the fact that you’re insecure about your pronunciation. In reality, however, they probably never even thought so much about your English at all.

So be confident with your English. If you want to check if your English is correct or not without asking, use their reaction as a reference.

Hope that helps.

I help high-level non-native English speakers use English better at work and in day to day life. If that’s you, you might like to sign up for the free daily email tips I send.

Best,
Dr Julian Northbrook

Filed Under: Communication Skills, English Conversation, Speaking English

How can I know if what I say is offensive or not?

July 19, 2021 , by Dr Julian Northbrook

Potentially, anything can be offensive or rude.

At the same time, even the rudest of things that you say can be perfectly acceptable and not rude… if the context is right.




A good example of this is a question one of my coaching clients asked recently in a call:

“Is it rude to sigh in a meeting?”

She said someone sighed at something halfway through, and she thought it was rude and improper. And well, yes, it is rude to sigh in a meeting, but it depends on how it’s done. If you sound irritated when you do it because of something someone said… that’s rude. But if it’s lighthearted (for example you struggled to explain something, now you’re done and you’re like, “phew!”), then that’s not rude.

Context is everything.

Finding something offensive is more to do with a sensitivity to culture and social dynamics.

There’s just no easy way to manoeuvre around it other than really learning to understand whatever it is you’re saying.

For example, in very casual British culture, it’s common to swear and call each other the most horrifically disgusting names. But it’s a part of Britain’s social bonding culture; totally in good humour.

Finding something offensive also depends on how you say things in different ways. If it’s confrontational or aggressive, it may sound offensive. Again, context is important.

However, there would be instances where anything that you say can always be rude to somebody. It’s not necessarily that you’re rude, but some will just see you as is.

I have a fantastic example of this:

Some time ago, I sent an email about the topic of the meaning of life. I talked about the concept of cosmic meaning i.e., is there a God, a creator of the world, that kind of stuff. And one person obviously did not like that email. She sent me a reply saying “oh well in that case, you should just have a pint of Guinness, sit down, and die because life is meaningless.” So I thought I’d reply to them by saying “I don’t believe there has to be a point to life for us to be able to live a meaningful life”. But I really shouldn’t have replied at all because she sent back a reply with the most horrendous insults. The point is, for me, it was an interesting discussion, but to that person, it was incredibly offensive.

So, yes, anything can be offensive. Some things are obviously going to be offensive if you use words out of context and in the wrong way. There’s really no easy way to learn what is offensive and what is not aside from understanding people, psychology, and social values in different cultures.

Hope this helps.

I help high-level English as second-language speakers live freer in their work and day to day life without English becoming a barrier. If that’s you, you might like to sign up for my daily English tips to speak better English.

Best,
Dr Julian Northbrook

Filed Under: English confidence, Presentation, Public Speaking, Speaking English

How can I become more confident when I present ideas in English?

July 15, 2021 , by Dr Julian Northbrook

Presenting ideas in English can be intimidating.

This is why you feel less confident about presenting your ideas in English in front of people.




It happens to the best of us, hell even me.

But what you need to do, first and foremost, is to focus on what you do well rather than what you don’t do well. And you know, this is similar to the conversations I’ve had with my coaching clients. They tell me that they feel devastated because they completely messed up their 3-hour presentation in English.

And when I ask them “how many things did you mess up within those three hours?” and they reply with: “well, just one”… and of course you’re going to feel like you messed it up if you’re only going to focus on that one mistake!

Again, it’s human nature to focus on that tiny percentage that we can’t do. But it’s important to recognise the things that you’re doing well. Because chances are, 98% of what you’re doing is already spectacularly good. It’s just that 2% that’s still not quite as good yet.

Simultaneously, you also want to learn from those things that you couldn’t do.

A good method to learn how to deal with this is something called “retrodictive learning”. It’s where you interpret your past actions and then you figure out an alternate solution to it. And it can be as simple as writing it down and then spotting things you could have said instead.

But next time you present in English, perhaps you can try this:

When you feel like you forgot a word or two and you’re not confident in saying it… DO IT ANYWAY.

You might even surprise yourself by explaining it better than you expected. Or not.

But, the point is, treat it as a learning experience either way.

So that’s what I would suggest you do, alongside being kind to yourself. Give yourself the credit you deserve and notice the good things. Don’t just focus on the bad things.

If you need some help in doing this, you can start with the one-hour free training that I created. You’ll learn the 5 key changes my best clients make to improve their English as higher-level English learners. You can go to this link if this interests you.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Dr Julian Northbrook

Filed Under: Speaking English

Why do I lose my words when speaking English in stressful situations?

July 9, 2021 , by Dr Julian Northbrook

Yes, in a high-pressure, stressful situation, it will be harder to find your words when speaking in English.

In a way, you should think of how you perform in English when speaking in these stressful situations as your base level.

Watch the full video here:




What you need to overcome is your fear of actually speaking English. The more you get into high-pressure situations, the more you’re going to learn to deal with them. The less you’re going to get stressed, the less you will panic.

One of the big mistakes that people make when learning English is learning in comfortable situations. Things like, for example, language exchange conversations or talking with a trained teacher. You become very comfortable in that situation and there’s no stress involved.

Then when you go out in the real world, doing real things, stress is applied because it’s not comfortable anymore and your performance ability drops to almost nothing. You suddenly think “oh my god I’m no good” but actually it’s that you learned in a situation that’s kind of like a game on cheat mode when you’re practising.

So what you need to do is stop learning in comfortable situations and learn in high-pressure, stressful situations instead.

If you need some help in doing this, you can start with the one-hour free training that I created. You’ll learn the 5 key changes my best clients make to improve their English as higher-level English learners. You can go to this link if this interests you.

Hope that helps.

Best,
Dr Julian Northbrook