Speaking a language in 3 months?

START ENGLISH. Watch, listen, speak. Tips and tricks about English.

(www.engleza-de-afaceri.ro)

This post is not necessarily English related but about the ability of quickly acquiring a new language.

As I mentioned before, in my professional life I always get asked questions like these: “How soon will I be able to speak English?”, “When can I sustain a fluent conversation?”


I have found an interesting article here about the blog of a multilingual bloke who claims he can speak a new language in three months, provided he spends this time in that particular country.


I guess he is right, but spending the time and trying to socialize and to use the language as much as one can are the necessary conditions. I might add a new condition: not having a language of communication can improve the process. Using the new language in all real-life situations and associating concepts and situations with the new vocabulary would be very helpful in the long run.

That is why I appeal to my students not to use another language of communication in class (except for English, of course).


Nevertheless, I cannot compare the two situations; if somebody lives or works in a foreign country for 3 months, he is in constant contact with the language. But if one studies a language 3 or 4 hours a week (+ the additional time spent for homework), his contact with the language is obviously limited.


The questions which remains is: “What happens after you leave that country?” or “How much can you preserve from the knowledge acquired if you stop using that language?


Speak English for 300 lei a month!


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Tel: 0722.841.053
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News

Due to that fact that I have received a lot of requests from my Romanian students and readers to also write my articles in Romanian, I will consequently do so.

But, mind you, the article in Romanian will be a summary of the article in English. I will not translate my article in English into Romanian because I do not want to free the monster of trying to learn a language through another one; in our case to learn English through Romanian.

Of course, there are many methodology approaches that can confirm this method. But after careful observation during my seventeen years of practice, I have decided that this approach is not the best one from the point of view of long term results.

I base my courses on communication, which can become very difficult when the students allocate time first to translate the sentences they have heard into Romanian, after that to think about a possible answer in Romanian and then to translate it into English. It is a very long and complicated process which makes conversation awkward or nonexistent.

In order that my method would be clearer, I am going to present in future articles the activities that I develop during all my courses.

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Tel: 0722.841.053
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Tips for translating

As I promised, I would like to add a few more tips and this time for students who need to do some translations from time to time.

Through my article, I do not advice professionals but students, people who lack experience, vocabulary or other points concerning the English grammar. Many students of mine have told me about the various tasks that they have to perform and they sometimes include translating documents from Romanian into English or the other way around.

The first tip would be to try and hide all your shortcomings concerning the use of English. But this is easier said than done.

Everybody complains about the difficulties of translating a text from our mother tongue into English. And I do not refer only to Romanian speakers, but to all. For these kinds of translations, the focus is not on our mother tongue but on the English language.

When taking into account these kinds of translations, you should bear in mind that you must not translate the text word for word. Instead of this, try to analyze the text and try to rephrase it in a simpler one. Of course, you can use The Google Translate, but it also translates the texts word for word and if you do not know  the language, you can miss some grammar mistakes and you also have to rearrange the text according to the rules of word order in English. It is better to try and translate an idea, a simple one, than to translate the words in a sentence. All the time when you phrase a sentence, use the word order in English and never forget the subject of the sentence. This is a point that generates a lot of mistakes for many speakers all over the world due to the fact that in many languages, the presence of a subject in a sentence is not all the time compulsory. So, do not forget to have a subject in all the sentences that you make and then use a tense, but think carefully about it and pay attention to the concord between the subject and the verb. Use the tenses according to the rules of the English language and not according to the tenses that we have in our languages.  When you have a long compound sentences try to split it into more simple sentences and never forget the subject.

I admit, I am a little bit obsessed with the use of the subject in a sentence, due to the fact that in many cases and classes, I some kind of missed its presence, which, for sure, did not make my day.

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Tel: 0722.841.053
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Improve your English (5)

Every day in class I hear many mistakes. I correct them on the spot, but I sometimes hear them again and again..

This article is dedicated to some of my most diligent and dearest students for whom especially I write this piece.

As I mentioned in my articles about my conversation courses, I always encourage my students to try and express their ideas using their own words, for the beginning. They usually manage with difficulty at first and consequently better, as time passes.

While speaking to one another, my students use some phrases in a wrong way due to some false similarities with the Romanian language.

It is not correct to say:  “You have right”, but “You are right”. This happens due to the fact that we say in Romanian: “(Tu) ai dreptate”.

Also it is not correct to say: “I am agree with you”, but ”I agree with you”. This is the result of the way we express this sentence in Romanian: “ (Eu) sunt de acord cu tine”.

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Invata engleza/About the tenses (3)

I have mentioned in my article here that students understand the affirmative form of the tenses in general, but they are at pains ( it is very difficult for them ) when they try to use the interrogative form. The tense focus of this article will be the present tense simple, in order to enlarge upon the topics introduced in my previous articles.

Students find it difficult to use an auxiliary verb in questions because we do not use auxiliaries in questions in our language or in the French language. But when they do use an auxiliary, some mistakes are likely to appear.

They sometimes say: “Do he speaks English?” or “Does he speaks English?”. The correct question is “Does he speak English?“, because we make the concord between the subject and the first verb in a sentence. Also we do not make the concord twice as in “Does he speaks English?”. Once is enough. Again, the correct sentence is: " Does he speak English?"

I will develop this topic in my classes especially in conversation, as “practice makes perfect”.

Web: www.cursinengleza.ro I www.engleza-de-afaceri.ro
Tel: 0722.841.053
E-mail: contact@engleza-de-afaceri.ro.

 

Questions(2)

I must repeat myself and write another piece about asking questions because many students, irrespective of their level, seem not to grasp the rule(s) for questions.

The most important thing is that in English we need an auxiliary for asking a simple question. The problem is that in Romanian we make do (manage) without an auxiliary, hence the source of mistakes.  

So always say: ”Do you speak English?” and not as some of my most diligent students say: ”You speak English?”, because in Romanian we say: ”Vorbești/ Știi engleză?”.

Always say: ”Did you know him?” and never say: ”You knew/know him?” and use some kind of intonation to show that this is a question.

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Tel: 0722.841.053
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Introducing yourself

In many situations people have to introduce themselves. When doing so, do not forget that the age is expressed in English with the verb “to be”.

So, always say: “I am 35 years old”.

Never say: “I have 35 years old”, the same we say in Romanian: “Am 35 de ani”.

Many beginners mistake these verbs, sometimes other students, too, because they have fluency and do not mind the details.

Web: www.cursinengleza.ro I www.engleza-de-afaceri.ro
Tel: 0722.841.053
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Questions(1)

Questions are a bother for many students, no matter their level of English. While speaking, if you do not understand something, a sentence, for example, ask for help like this:” Would you repeat, please?”. Never ask like this:” What did you say?”, because you seem rather rude and your interlocutor might not understand what, in fact, is the problem.

If you do not understand a word in a sentence and you cannot get its meaning from context ask like this:” What do you mean by…?”

You can join our communicative English language courses HERE.

Web: www.cursinengleza.ro I www.engleza-de-afaceri.ro
Tel: 0722.841.053
E-mail: contact@engleza-de-afaceri.ro.

 

Invata engleza/Improve your English (10)

I have not yet written anything about nouns, even though they are one of the most used categories of words in English. As compared with the Romanian language, the French language or other Latin languages, the plural of nouns in English is easy to use as there are some rules to follow. There are also some exceptions to the rules, but nothing to worry, though.  

When discussing about nouns, one has to consider the countable and the uncountable nouns. There are not such categories in Romanian, so be careful when you use them in sentences or in conversation.

One of the most frequent mistakes concerns the use of the uncountable word bread. Because we can count bread in Romanian (o pâine-două pâini), or in French (un pain-deux pains), most beginner students apply this rule in English, too.

If you need to buy bread always say: ”Can I have a loaf of bread, please?“ or ”Can I have two loaves of bread?”

Never say: ”Can I have a bread, please?” the same as we say in Romanian: ”Aș dori o pâine, vă rog”.

Web: www.cursinengleza.ro I www.engleza-de-afaceri.ro
Tel: 0722.841.053
E-mail: contact@engleza-de-afaceri.ro.

 

Speaking a language in 3 months?

This post is not necessarily English related but about the ability of quickly acquiring a new language.

As I mentioned before, in my professional life I always get asked questions like these:  “How soon will I be able to speak English?”, “When can I sustain a fluent conversation?”.

I have found an interesting article here about the blog of a multilingual bloke who claims he can speak a new language in three months, provided he spends this time in that particular country.

I guess he is right, but spending the time and trying to socialize and to use the language as much as one can are the necessary conditions. I might add a new condition: not having a language of communication can improve the process. Using the new language in all real-life situations and associating concepts and situations with the new vocabulary would be very helpful in the long run.

That is why I appeal to my students not to use another language of communication in class (except for English, of course). It is not helpful at all.

Even thought, I cannot compare the two situations; if somebody lives or works in a foreign country for 3 months, he is in constant contact with the language. But if one studies a language 3 or 4 hours a week (+ the additional time spent for homework), his contact with the language is obviously limited.

The questions which remains is: “What happens after you leave that country?” or “How much can you preserve from the knowledge acquired if you stop using that language?”


Web: www.cursinengleza.ro I www.engleza-de-afaceri.ro
Tel: 0722.841.053
E-mail: contact@engleza-de-afaceri.ro.

About the use of tenses (5)

In my previous article here I have introduced some aspects about the use of the Present Perfect Tense.

This is a very common tense, both in dialogues and in written English, so do not be afraid to use it as much as you can. On the on the other hand, remember that this tense has a present connotation. So if you slightly suspect that the time frame of your sentence may be the present, you should use the Present Perfect Tense and not the Past Tense.

The trickiest issue about the Present Perfect Tense is that because we assimilate this tense with a past tense in Romanian, we tend to use the past instead of the present perfect. Do remember, use a past tense in English because you have a reason, meaning usually a time adverb, not because you have a past tense in Romanian.
  

Instead of saying:’’ This world was made for us.”, it is better to say:’’ This world has been made for us.”

The sentence was taken from a text, whose time frame is not the past, so it is not advisable to use a past tense. Also because we do not have in the sentence an adverb of time showing that the action took place in the past, we should not use a past tense.

• Web: www.cursinengleza.ro I  www.engleza-de-afaceri.ro
• Tel: 0722.841.053
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About the use of tenses (4)

I have written some articles about tenses, one of which you can find here.

I do not think that too many articles about the tenses “will kill us” because I do not believe in “enough is enough”, so I will resume today with the tips about the tenses, with a view to the Past Tense simple.

First and foremost, questions are a source of mistakes as students use also the verb of the sentence in the Past tense, which is not necessary because the auxiliary (did) is already in the Past tense. The idea is not to use the Past tense twice in the same sentence.

So do not say: “Did you went to work yesterday?”

Always say:” Did you go to work yesterday?”

Another issue refers to expressing habits in the past, for which we can use the Past Tense simple or the phrase “use to”.

So do not say: “I used to go to the beach last Saturday.”

Always say: “I went to the beach last Saturday.”, if you want to express an action that happened in the past.

Always say: “I used to work as a nurse.”, if you want to express a past habit.

• Web: www.cursinengleza.ro I  www.engleza-de-afaceri.ro
• Tel: 0722.841.053
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Learn English/Sustaining a conversation

While doing conversation tasks with my beginner students, I have experienced some awkward moments when the person supposed to speak pauses abruptly and a deafening silence falls down.
I think everybody has experienced this and many times my students have told me: “I cannot find my words.”

Typically for beginners, the difficulty is that their words in a speech usually come in their native languages. For my Romanian students this is a disaster because the way we, Romanians, speak is almost all the time in contradiction with the English word order.
Another thing that compelled me to write this piece is that students find themselves very often in the situation in which they have to express opinions and answer to questions and I am not there to help them.

A few tips: in case of a conversation with a native speaker, always listen carefully to what he says. If he asks you a question, follow the tense he uses and respond with a sentence in which you use the same tense. Use very simple sentences. Do not imagine a complicated sentence in Romanian and then try to translate it in English. It is time consuming and while doing so you may end up talking to yourself.

More tips will be found in a future article.
I will start a conversation module for the beginner-elementary level students at the end of March.

• Web: www.cursinengleza.ro I  www.engleza-de-afaceri.ro
• Tel: 0722.841.053
• E-mail: contact@engleza-de-afaceri.ro

Learn English/ About the Cambridge examinations (4)

START ENGLISH. Watch, listen, speak. Tips and tricks about English.

As I promised in my previous articles, in this piece I will offer some tips about the First Certificate in English, or the FCE exam.

The tasks for the Cambridge exam FCE are structured as following:

Paper 1 Reading

Paper 2 Writing

Paper 3 Use of English

Paper 4 Listening

Paper 5 Speaking.


Today I will enlarge upon the Speaking paper. As I mentioned in a previous article here, the speaking task is one of the trickiest. The Speaking paper has four parts and you have to manage it with a partner.

In Speaking Part 1 you will ask and be asked questions about yourself, your life, your work or studies, your plans for the future, your family and your interests.

A few tips: even this task sounds simple and pleasant do not rely only on your imagination for it. What I mean by this is to prepare some “short stories” about yourselves and some vivid descriptions of your interests, family and so on. Also do not forget about preparing some questions for your pair, I mean the other candidate. You should also be aware of the fact that, during interacting with your pair, there can be awkward moments of silence that you can counteract by asking extra questions or developing facts about yourself.

Start FCE for 300 lei a month.

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Learn English/ About the use of tenses (3)

In some of my articles here, here, and here I have developed some aspects concerning the use of tenses based also on the difficulties that, from time to time, my students experience.
The Present Perfect Simple is perceived by Romanian students as a difficult tense mainly because we do not have a tense in Romanian with such a description. Also it is difficult to use it in English mainly because its translation in Romanian is similar with the translation of the Past Tense Simple.
A few tips: whenever you need to express a sentence, think at the right tense to use in context. Keep in mind that the Present Perfect Tense is a present tense, so use it in a present meaning. If in a sentence there are adverbs of time indicating a moment in the past, you certainly use the Past Tense and not the Present Perfect tense, which is, I repeat, a present tense.
Do not say: “I have visited Japan two years ago”. In this sentence the clue is “ago”, which tells you that you need the Past Tense and not the Present Perfect.

So say: “I have visited Japan” or “I visited Japan two years ago”.
I can prolong analyzing this tense for a long, long time, but I can see the first lights of dawn, so on Friday I will post the promised article about the Cambridge FCE.

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• Tel: 0722.841.053
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Learn English/ About the Cambridge examinations (3)

I have included useful information about these exams in my previous articles, some of them you can find here and here.

In this piece I will have a few tips about the Reading Paper for the CAE.
You will have one hour and 15 minutes to complete this task. This paper consists of four parts, each containing one text or several shorter pieces. There are 34 questions in total, including multiple choice, gapped texts and multiple matching.
 
The first part of the reading paper usually deals with multiple choice questions. It is basically an easier task as compared with the listening, writing and speaking papers. It involves reading comprehension and I couldn’t help noticing some of my students’ shortcomings concerning this task. Being generally considered easy, students do not focus too much on it. That is why they tend to sometimes choose the wrong answer.

So always read the texts carefully, paying attention to details, because the task is based upon details from the texts and not general ideas. Consequently it is not a good idea to summarize the text but to mind the important details.
More information about my courses for the CAE, the textbooks and rates you can find here.

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• Tel: 0722.841.053
• E-mail: contact@engleza-de-afaceri.ro

 

Learn English/ About adjectives (1)

Lately I have taught the adjectives in the English language with a view to the degrees of comparison and I couldn’t help noticing some of my students’ difficulties.
The thing that you have to keep in mind is to follow the rules for the comparative and superlative degrees. As I keep repeating myself during classes, the study of English is all about the rules. Use them and remember them and you will improve your use of the language.

I have noticed one of my students’ common mistakes when they say: “This dress is much beautiful than that one”. The correct sentence is: “This dress is much more beautiful than that one”. The source of this mistake is that students do not really differentiate much from more, which is appropriately used for the comparative, while much is optional.
Another thing you should remember is to always use much with the comparative degree.
So always say: “much more beautiful” and “much nicer”.
Next time I will have an article about the IELTS examination.

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• Tel: 0722.841.053
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Learn English/ About the Cambridge examinations (2)

I have introduced facts about these examinations in my previous articles and I will expand this topic with some information about the Use of English paper for the CAE.
This paper consists of five parts and it tests the control of the English grammar and vocabulary. There are 50 questions in total and the time frame is one hour.
One of the tasks includes choosing between two different phrases to fill in the gaps in some texts. The task is not difficult but it requires a lot of attention. Sometimes the phrases to fill in can be confusing because they are not very common in everyday language.
A few tips: read the sentences carefully and attentively. Also read them using the two phrases alternatively. Use your sense of the language that you are supposed to have at this level of knowledge to choose the right phrase, when you are not sure whichever is appropriate in that particular sentence.
More about the Use of English paper for the CAE, you can find in the article here.
If you wish to apply for a course, all the information is here.
Next week I will have an article about the Cambridge FCE.

• Web: www.cursinengleza.ro I  www.engleza-de-afaceri.ro
• Tel: 0722.841.053
• E-mail: contact@engleza-de-afaceri.ro

 

Learn English/ The English sentence

The pattern of the English sentence is, as I mentioned in previous articles, simple. We have to use a subject, a verb at a certain tense and other words, if necessary. The tenses are to be acquired and understood in time and in practice but there still remains a problem, the presence of a subject in the English sentence, which is, unlike in the Romanian sentence, mandatory.

A few tips: when writing or speaking use a subject in your sentences. After you write a text, check if all the verbs (used at a certain tense) have a subject. A sentence without a subject is not correct or complete. Pay attention especially to sentences which do not have a subject in the Romanian language. I have noticed mistakes in sentences like these: “There is a car in the street” or “There are some cars in the street”. Students sometimes forget to use a subject in these sentences because there isn’t one in the Romanian sentences. In Romanian we say: “Este o mașină pe stradă”  and  “Sunt niște mașini pe stradă”, so no subject! Also when you use “there’’ as the subject of a sentence do not forget that it is all the time the subject of the verb “to be”.

More about the same topic you can find here.

• Web: www.cursinengleza.ro I  www.engleza-de-afaceri.ro
• Tel: 0722.841.053
• E-mail: contact@engleza-de-afaceri.ro

 

Learn English/ Improve your English (8)

The topic of this piece would be the use of some prepositions in phrases that do not require them.

I have made up my mind about writing this article because I keep hearing these mistakes while interacting with my students, due to the somewhat resemblance with the Romanian language.  

So do not say: “I go to shopping”, but “I go shopping”. The same goes for “to go skating”, “to go fishing” etc. In Romanian we say: “Mă duc la cumpărături”, so students cannot resist the urge to also translate the preposition into English.

Also do not say: “I go to home”, but “I go home”. Another article on the same topic is to be found here.

More about the use of prepositions you can find in future articles or in class.

Pentru mai multe informatii va rugam sa ne accesati paginile web: www.StartEnglish.ro.
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