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How are you? I hope you're well!

Funny title, huh? What do I mean by English is two languages? 

Well, actually, I think you already know. For sure, you have come across this already!

Let's test ;)

Have you heard any of the following phrases or something similar:

• Don't know (NOT I don't know)
• It's hot today, isn't it?
• I'm gonna see it later.
• Whatcah doin'? (NOT What are you doing?)

See what I mean? (that's another example)
What I am talking about here is the difference between spoken English and written English. And why English really is like two difference languages. But why is this important?

It is important because usually when people learn English, they learn to how to speak written English. This is not bad but also not totally helpful.

Generally, what people find when they speak with an English native is that the native uses language and phrases that they don't know. And that's where this email will help.

I will show you some key differences between spoken and written English:

• We often drop words at the beginning of sentences. For example: "I don't know" becomes "Don't know".
• We ask questions differently. For example, "Do you agree it's hot today?" becomes "It's hot today, isn't it?"
• We eat some sounds. For example, "I am going to see it" becomes "I'm gonna see it" or "What are you doing?" becomes "Whacha doin'?". 

Word of warning: Never use spoken English when you write something. It is considered totally too informal. Also, you should never contract words when you write. Contractions are only for spoken English.
 
These are not all the examples of spoken English but they are the most common. If you would like an even more examples and explanations, simply respond to this email :)

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This month's newsletter is a simple one. A lot of people have been asking me lately how to sound more native in English. And that's exactly what this email will try to do.

Of course, pronunciation is important to sound like a native but it is also important to use native sounding phrases. I won't cover pronunciation in this email but we will look at some very cool phrases. I have picked phrases for every day conversation. Hopefully, some of them will be useful for you.

I have written the meanings and given an example for context as well. Let's see them: 

• Ring a bell: is familiar to you but you can’t remember where you heard it. For example: A: Do you know April O’Neil? B: Hmm. Maybe. That name rings a bell.

• On the tip of my tongue: used to say you are almost able to remember something, but you can’t. For example: His name was on the tip of my tongue… but I couldn’t remember it.

• -ish: More or less. For example: Let’s meet around 4ish.

• Give it a shot: give it a try. For example: If you think you can make the team, then give it a shot.

• The more, the merrier:  used to say that the more people there are, the better it will be. For example: A: Can I invite my brother? B: Sure. The more the merrier.

• Time flies: time passes quickly. For example: Time flies when you’re having fun.

• From scratch: from nothing (without any already-prepared materials).For example: My aunt made the cake from scratch.

• Bear in mind: not forget; remember. For example:The professor told his students to bear in mind that they only have 50 minutes to complete the test.

• A piece of cake:  very easy. For example: The exam was a piece of cake.

• Cost an arm and leg: very expensive. For example: Diamond rings cost an arm and a leg.

• Let off steam: to release anger and frustration. For example: He plays tennis when he wants to let off steam. 

• Set your heart on something: to be firmly resolved to do something.For example: Eric has his heart set on participating in the Olympics.

• A breath of fresh air: somebody or something new that adds life and energy to a situation. For example: The new employee, Gail, is a breath of fresh air in the office.

• On the dot: to be punctual. For example: We arrived to the party on the dot.

• Out Of The Blue: unscheduled; without previous warning.  For example: One day, out of the blue, I received a letter from my former schoolmate.

 
Now, your job is to start using them when you speak ;) If there is any other topic you would like covered in these emails, please tell me. 

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This is from my free monthly email. Join here: http://www.learn-englishonline.net/newsletter.html

Firstly, happy new year to you and your family! I hope you had a lovely break over December and are looking forward to the new year!

It is around this time of the year that everybody decides that this year will not be like last year. They create their new year's resolutions but often stop doing them by February. I must admit that this happens to me as well.

But this year, I decided to do something different. I think you will find it useful too! Here's what I mean:

This year, I am creating a list of new year's language resolutions and I am sharing them with you so you can do the same. 

Basically, you probably already know, I live in Germany but really struggle with the German language. I can speak German but it really should be much better. I always find excuses not to learn German but then I always have the same problems...even after 3 years! This year, I thought enough is enough. 

So I made a list of ten goals to complete by January 1 2018. They are: 

1. Pass a A1 test (beginner exam) by April 1 2017
2. Pass a A2 test by July 1 2017
3. Pass a B1 test (intermediate exam) by October 1 2017
4. Pass a B2 test by January January 1 2018
5. Know German pronunciation by April 1 2017
6. Hear and pronounce German umlauts clearly by April 1 2017
7. Learn German cases by July 1 2017
8. Learn German word order by July 1 2017
9. Learn business vocabulary in German by October 1 2017
10. Read a B1 level book in German by January 1 2017 

To make sure that I stay motivated, I will donate 50€ to charity for every goal that I do not complete on time. 

I will update you with news as I complete my goals so you can track my progress and I can stay motivated! Feel free to ask me for updates too. 

If you have ever felt like this in English, why don't you do the same? It will keep you motivated and give you a concrete path to improvement in English. But how do I start, I hear you ask. Well, here's what I did: 

I figured out what my biggest problems are in German. They are pronunciation, German cases and word order. Then I created a plan to overcome these problems. I also need more grammar and vocabulary so that is why I decided to do the exams. I will learn more grammar and vocabulary by preparing for the exams. Also, they will show me OBJECTIVELY my progress!

Here's another crucial part to this: I know exactly why I am learning what I am learning. It is very important to ask yourself this question. 

There are no right or wrong goals - only what is useful for you to improve. Keep your goals simple, measurable and with a finish date.  

To keep you motivated when times are tough, set a penalty if you do not complete a goal. It can be anything that will make you complete your goals on time :) 

I hope you found this useful. Please tell me about your new year's language resolutions! I can't wait to hear them. 

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Hi there,

How are you? Are you enjoying the festive period? There's nothing like a little bit of snow to remind us that Christmas is near!

I hope this month's newsletter will be really useful for you! Allow me to explain...

Have you ever sat down to learn some vocabulary, learn it and then forget it? I know I have! It's really frustrating, isn't it? It's like one step forward, two steps backwards.

You are not alone in this problem. As language learners, this happens to all of us. But today, I would like to show you one simple (scientifically proven) way to remember twice as much vocabulary from every session - easily!

When I say "easily", I mean "easily". Here's what to do:

From now on, when you learn new vocabulary, grab a pen and pencil and test yourself immediately! Rewrite the vocabulary and see how much you remember. Then relearn what you forgot!

For maximum effectiveness: repeat the following day and relearn again what you do not remember. Then, repeat in a week, in two weeks, in a month and finally every three months. Look at the graph at the bottom of this post to see what I mean.

Doing this simple exercise will help to remember twice as much as vocabulary!

See, usually when we want to learn, we simply read the information again and again. We're actually practising the wrong skill here. If we only read, then of course, we are improving our reading skills - not our retention skills. So, in order to improve how well we remember, we must practise remembering!

Now, where did I put that pen and paper? :D

If you have any questions about this, don't hesitate to respond to this email.
​
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Hi there,

Do you think you make some mistakes when you speak? Have you ever noticed that you make the same mistake again and again? Well, here are a few tips to stop that from happening again:

1. Work on the most important mistakes first

What do you find most difficult? Choose the biggest mistakes you make and pay special attention to it when you speak. For example, if you always say "I must to do it" when you mean "I must do it", be aware when you're do not need "to" after modal verbs. Stop yourself if necessary and make sure you're using the correct form.

2. Listen to native English speakers

Everyone makes mistakes (including native speakers!) but you can reduce your mistakes by listening to English. How do English speakers use modal verbs, or prepositions, for example? As well as watching TV in English, watch YouTube videos on subjects you're interested in. Or another option is listening to podcasts or maybe, even watching videos on www.ted.com if your level of English is a little more advanced.

3. Balance accuracy with fluency

It's important to speak English as correctly as you can so that you can avoid misunderstandings, particularly if you are using English for business. In some occasions, you don't need to worry as much about being accurate. When you're with friends or when you're socialising at work, concentrate on fluency and keeping a conversation going.

Remember mistakes are a natural part of learning any language so don't become annoyed when you make one. Simply learn from it ;)
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This is from my free monthly email.
Hi there,
How is everything? I hope the crazy weather this week didn't disrupt you too much! We had -2 and snow. Unbelievable, right?
In this month's newsletter, I want to talk about fluency.
Of course, everybody wants to be fluent. But what is fluency? See, that's the problem. "Fluency" is totally subjective - it means different things to different people. For some, it could be handling customers in English and for others, it could be understanding movies in English. It depends on the person.
The first step to solving this problem is figuring out what fluency means to you! However, I don't really suggest this solution because I think there is a better way.
"Really?", you say, "What can be better than fluency?" Well...
How about being highly functional and comfortable in every situation? Now, that is something we can aim for!
This is something you can measure and it is a concrete goal that you can hit. On top of that, you already have a good idea in which areas you need to be highly functional and comfortable.
A good idea would be pick the three most important and common situations for you and understand what do you need to have to be highly functional and comfortable. Once, you have achieved this, pick another three situations and continue.
What you will probably find is at you become "fluent" much faster learning this way :)
If you want to travel, learn the three most important situations for travelling. For example, accommodation, restaurants and transportation.
If you need English for work, learn about meetings, giving your opinion and phrases for telephone and email communication.
If you are taking an exam, learn key phrases for speaking, writing and vocabulary for reading.
Fun Fact: Researchers say that in order to be fluent, you need about 2000 words and to be functional in a language, you need 1200 words. Which means if you learn ten words a day, you can be functional in English in less than 6 months and more than fluent in one year!
Not bad at all!
I hope this helps. If you have any questions, please ask :)
By the way, I'd love to know what you think of this article! Leave your opinions in the comments below

Summer is almost over and autumn will soon be here. As we say goodbye to the nice weather, we can also say hello to a usual period of good learning because of the longer evenings! To get you started, here are some very useful online tools for helping you with English:
​

• http://www.wordreference.com: This is a personal favourite of mine. I recommend it because it is very reliable and the forums are great. 
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/: A great resource for improving all aspects of your English while becoming more familiar with British English.
• http://www.humansofnewyork.com: This is something a little different. I am sure you have already heard of it. It is an excellent resource for seeing modern English and improving your vocabulary. Also, the stories are normally quite engaging.
• http://www.voanews.com: Interested in the news? If yes, this website will help you greatly because you can both read and listen to graded news stories. There is also an integrated dictionary.
• http://www.thelocal.de: This is another news based resource but the difference here is that you can read news about your country in English. Some of the countries covered are France, Germany, Italy and Spain.  
• http://www.ozdic.com: This is an online collocation dictionary so you can discover what words and phrases go together which will make you sound more natural! 
• http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/listen-and-watch: Another great resource for listening and watching English. They are a little more difficult than BBC 6 Minute English, if you have ever used that website. 
• http://context.reverso.net/translation: Not sure if you have the right word? That is where this website can help. It is translation in context! This is really really useful.  This one I have started to use more because of Matteo. 
• http://www.podclub.ch/: This is another podcast website but you can learn English through French, German and Italian. It also focuses a little more on grammar than the other podcast websites.  
• http://www.vocabulix.com/online/Learn/Languages: Your one-stop website for all your vocabulary needs. A truly great resource for building vocabulary!

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I left YouTube off the list because I think nearly everybody is already familiar with YouTube but please use it if you find it useful. I have tried to include something for everyone so hopefully I haven't missed too many good resources.

But if you know of any more, please tell me and I will add them in next month's newsletter.

All the best,
Jay

*Please note that these tools are not placed in order of importance.