Why is the Mastery of English Important?
Being the most commonly used language around the world, English is an essential skill for everyone – from students to professionals. This is particularly important in the workplace where you need to talk to clients, present your work to higher-ups, and communicate well with your colleagues.
If you want to be commended for your efforts and ensure that your point will be delivered across, you must have good communication skills and an excellent command of English. It will definitely boost your confidence if you are able to express yourself in a clear manner.
5 Tips on How to Reduce Your Accent to Sound Like a Native Speaker
Having an accent is not a bad thing; one should not be ashamed of it. A person’s accent represents his or her background and culture. Lots of people take pride in their accent as it reveals their cultural heritage. Even English native speakers have their own accents such as American-English, British-English or Australian-English. However, this sometimes causes difficulty in understanding so some people are embarrassed by their own accent in English Speaking. It turns out that having a residual accent might affect self-confidence in communication and interaction.
There are some techniques that non-native English speakers can use to reduce their accent in speaking.
- Slow down and clearly pronounce words
People tend to speak fast when they are excited or nervous. If you have an accent, try to speak slowly and clearly pronounce words so that everyone can understand what you want to say.
- Feel the rhythm while speaking English
English is considered “stressed language” as every single word have its own stress, differently on verbs, words and adjectives. Same to sentence. People said that sentence stress gives English a rhythm or beat.
- Listen and Talk to native speakers
Listen and repeat to sentences spoken by native speakers until you can naturally speak those sentences. Try to speak to the native speakers as many as possible. You need to overcome your in-confidence and speak to the native speakers. It might make you feel embarrassed at first but failure creates success. People also tend to imitate others whom they frequently interact with. Therefore, the more you talk to the native speakers, the more you could improve.
- Record yourself
Don’t learn from others only, learn from yourself. Take your time to record your speaking and listen again to identify your weaknesses. Recording will also make you proud of yourself in how clarity in your pronunciation has progressed.
- Take a class or tutor
Consider working with an experienced tutor or teacher to help you with pronunciation, intonation and even vocabulary. An ESL teacher will have his/her strategy to quickly help you with your accent. Joining a class might also motivate you as you have partners in your accent reduction journey.
English Pronunciation: Compound Adjectives
A compound adjective is a fixed expression which is made up of more than one word and which has the function of an adjective. Most compound adjectives are written with a hyphen, but a few are written as one word:
skin-deep long-term threadbare
The following types of compound adjective usually have main stress on the first part:
- compound adjectives usually written as one word
- ‘ airtight ‘ carefree ‘ praise , worthy
- Exceptions: , nation ‘ wide, , hand ‘ made
- noun + -ing form
- ‘ hair- , raising ‘ fee- , paying ‘ time-con,suming
- noun + past participle
- ‘ poverty- , stricken ‘ pear-shaped ‘ health-re,lated
- Exceptions: , eagle- ‘ eyed, , home- ‘ grown
The following types of compound adjective usually have main stress on the second part:
- noun + adjective
- , fat- ‘ free , sky- ‘ high , snow- ‘ white
- Exception: ‘ camera-shy
- adjective + noun
- , long – ‘ term , full – ‘ length , high – ‘ profile
- adverb or adjective + past participle
- , fully- ‘ grown , long- ‘ sighted , well – ‘ dressed
- adverb or adjective + -ing form
- , easy- ‘ going , hard – ‘ working , well – ‘ meaning
- Exceptions: ‘ backward – , look ing, ‘ forward- , looking
- self- as the first part
- , self- ‘ confident , self-in ‘ flicted , self- ‘ governing
Most compound adjectives with main stress on the second part can have stress shift. Compare:
- The tiger was fully-GROWN. but: It was a FULly-grown TIger.
- The prices were sky-HIGH. but: They were SKY-high PRIces.
5 Reasons Why Good English is Essential in Business!
English is the language of communication: English is the most widely spoken language in the world with over 1 billion people using it as a foreign language.
English spoken in business is different from English spoken in daily lives, as certain industries have certain vocabulary or jargon. For example, English vocabulary is different in business administration, finance, law or retail.
Mastery of English is beneficial even though you are working in your home country. Many businesses are international in scope and English is official language in the company.
Better job opportunities: if you work in English-speaking countries, English is a must. In non-English-speaking countries, it would be another skill that you can add to your resume and would boost your chances of job promotion.
More confidence in working: Business English with Sydney Language Solutions will improve your confidence in presentation, negotiation, conversation, better comprehension and pronunciation in Business context. All of these will boost your confidence in conducting Business in English.
The Importance of English Pronunciation
Pronunciation is a vital skill because people must understand what you are saying when you talk to them. You may talk to work colleagues, friends, university students, or maybe people you only need to speak to quickly.
You want people to understand what you say. Without an understanding, people will look at you strangely, ask what you meant, and you will have to explain yourself or they may think you mean something else. If you want to say “turn right” but your “R” sounds like an “L”, you’ll say “turn light”. Does that mean turn at the light? Does it mean turn lightly? If you talk about your favourite “hobby” and you say “hubby” instead, people will look at you strangely and you’ll have to explain what you meant. Hubby is slang for husband. If you try to describe something and want to say “very”, that’s no problem. However if your “V” sounds like a “B”, then that is a problem. If you want to talk about the world and your “O” sounds like an “A” then people may think you are talking about a “war.”
Don’t just worry about what people hear. You should also worry about whether people can hear it or not. The “H” in “hour”, as you know is silent. Pronounce it and the word sounds like “Hower”. “What’s a hower?”, people will think. If you pronounce the “T” in “often, you’re making a mistake there.
Why do these things matter? The answers are-
- IELTS markers are subjective. If they believe pronunciation is very important, they will take away marks if they think you are mispronouncing words.
- Employers may want people who are well spoken. A large number of jobs require interaction; bank tellers, financial advisors, receptionists, assistants, negotiators, mechanics, foremen/forewomen, lawyers. Communication’s important and the job may go to the person who has the knowledge and the speaking skills.
- Tutors, lecturers, and fellow university students want to understand you. If you have to give a presentation, people must understand you. Mispronounced words get strange looks, and lower marks. You’ve got the knowledge but you want it to come out the right way. Knowledge must be understood to be appreciated.
- Clients and customers need to know what you mean. If you want to win a contract, sell a service, win a tender, convince a customer, or seal and deal, the bargaining process will run much smoother if both sides are coherent.
- It will make socialising much more pleasant as well. When you talk to friends or wok mates, you want to laugh, gossip, get your information or opinion across. This will be possible if you don’t have to repeat yourself. You want a conversation to be casual and enjoyable. No stopping or starting.
These are experiences you’re most likely to have in your day to day dealings. You want them to be easy experiences. There shouldn’t be a need for stopping and starting or explaining what you mean with each word. Clear pronunciation will be a big help in these situations.
What is the benefit of having good English pronunciation?
• The first impression is extremely important when you speak with new people.
• People will know straight away your professional level by listening to the way you pronounce English words
• You can hide your limited vocab and grammar weakness, but not bad pronunciation.
• Good pronunciation simply opens you to huge opportunities to meet potential employers.
• Being able to communicate well with people from diverse countries is also a big achievement.
• Networking is extremely important. Consider if people will avoid talking to you if they have difficulty understanding what you want to say.
• If you have skilled pronunciation, people will very much enjoy make friends with you
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