Spoken English – Mind Learning Association

Different Accents

George — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 06:10:00 +0000

Here you are, a summary of the differences:

British (Nottingham)	American (Los Angeles)
biscuit	cookie
plaster	band aid
crisps	chips
chips	French Fries
football	soccer
trainers	sneakers
jumper	sweater
trousers	pants
pants	underpants
mobile phone	cell phone

So ‘chips’ means long, thin piece of potato (French Fries) in England but a small, flat piece of fried food in the USA.

Office English (Question 1)

George — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 10:38:00 +0000

Want to speak better office (business) English? Then there is one thing you can’t afford to miss. What is it? Asking questions. Well, if you think asking questions in English is easy, think again. You don’t believe it. Try this one. Do you know the question below is not really a question?

Didn’t I tell you about it yesterday?

If it is not a question, what is it? Well, you will get it very soon. But for now, let’s move on to two common types of questions you ask in your office.

Type 1. Questions to ask when you are not sure…

When you are not sure if your coworker will give you the information you want (or if you want to be polite), you may say:

Do you think you could send me the information (before the end of this month)?

Here, you use ‘do you think’ not to ask for opinions, but to ask your coworker to do something for you.

Well, what about if you are not sure if the coworker has the information you want? Use ‘do you happen to know’:

Do you happen to know which banks offer a better interest rate?

Type 2. Questions that are not questions

Feeling confused? Why are there questions that are not questions? Read the coming one and you will get what it means:

Is that a reason for being late?

Well, if you are late, and your boss says this to you, don’t answer by saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Why? It is not a question. It only shows that your boss is pretty (very) angry with you.

Okay, you are not always late. But you want to stand out from others at a meeting, or challenge others, the following question is for you:

What difference does it make?

Type 3. Negative questions

Yes, here you are, the most difficult but funny one. Sometimes your boss asks a question, but it is said in a negative way. What does ‘negative’ mean? Read the example (below):

Didn’t I tell you about it yesterday?

Once again, it doesn’t matter if you answer the question or not. Why? (It is) because your boss already has the answer. Sounds weird (strange)?

So what does this question mean? It means your boss did tell you about it but you forget about it. The seven words (that make up the question) mean only one thing: he or she is angry with you.

Yet, sometimes you can do the same trick to you junior (remember your junior only). If Mr. Not-So-Smart gives you a piece of ‘inside’ information, you may ‘ask’:

Who doesn’t know that?

So what does it mean? It means everybody does know about it. In a word, the ‘doesn’t’ in the question doesn’t mean ‘doesn’t’.

4 tips for speaking better English

George — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 03:31:00 +0000

Are you afraid of grammar? There are lots of people like you who are ‘blocked’ by grammar when they want to speak English, and then they say nothing, or as little as possible. This post helps you to speak better English by giving you tips to wipe out your wrong concepts about learning English.

No 1: Native Speakers Make Mistakes Too

Who (on earth) is Native Speakers? People whose first language (mother tongue) is English. Yes, when they speak, they make mistakes too. You don’t believe it.

Read the following dialogue:

A: How many people are there in the meeting room?

B: There’S only 5.

‘There’S’ is wrong. It should be ‘there are’.

(Watch video 2 at the end to get more examples).

No 2: Don’t Try to Speak in Perfect Grammar

So what is my point? You don’t have to care about grammar?

You have to care about it, but just don’t let grammar ‘block’ you from speaking.

In other words, if you do not speak your own language in perfect grammar, why would you expect yourself to speak English with perfect grammar.

No 3: Grammar is Everywhere in English

Some inexperienced teachers are afraid of grammar too. So when they teach you, they tell you to avoid it. But read the following sentence:

Where is my file?

Say if you want to show you are angry about being unable to find your file, you have two choices to add to your sentence:

on earth

the hell

But where are you going to add them into the sentence? Again you have choices:

On earth / The hell	where is my file?
Where is my file	on earth / the hell?
Where	on earth / the hell	is my file?

If you choose the last one ‘Where on earth / the hell is my file’, you are right.

So why do you put ‘on earth / the hell’ in the middle? Grammar.

No 4: How to Learn English (Grammar)

So if grammar is so important, the big question becomes: how to learn it. Well, there are lots of ways, but one of my favorites is watching TV or movies.

When people like you who learn to speak English, they usually drop the article (e.g. a, an, the), and say something like ‘son of bitch’. (It should be: Son of a bitch).

So how to remember it? Watch TV programs that are funny!

Which one to watch? There is a clip from the program, Friends with Better Lives. Watch and listen. When it comes to 0.28 minute, ‘a bitch’ appears twice:

The man: Our marriage is a bitch.

The woman: (I said) you married a bitch.

(Some background information: A man wants to save his marriage, but his friends do not support him. And when her wife arrives ….)

____________________________________

(The video about mistakes made by native speakers of English)

American English (1)

George — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 08:44:00 +0000

A. Summary: What (on earth) is American English?

You want to enhance your English, right? But do you know what American English is?

Believe it or not! Americans (and their English) like actions very much, so much that you can call them ‘Just-Do-it’ people. Don’t get it? Look at the verbs below:

Grab me a sandwich.

Get me a sandwich.

Which one do you think is more American? Or which one comes with more action?

The verb ‘grab’

But what does this have to do with your office life? Read on.

B. Running (a business)

A common example of American Business English is the verb ‘run’. I am sure you know what ‘run a company’ means. But think about it. The idea is a bit crazy, so crazy that it seems impossible for anyone to run a company on two legs.

But as you already know, you can:

run a company

run a fast food shop

Or, when talking about a company, you can use ‘run’ too:

Company BB is well-run / professionally-run / poorly-run.

C. Running an idea by me (again)

However, you can use ‘run’ to ask your coworker to repeat what he or she has just said:

Can you run the idea by me again?

What does that mean? Well, when you want your coworker to explain something to you again, you can choose to use ‘run’ rather than ‘explain’.

Which verb comes with more actions? ‘Run something by me again’ is an American way of speaking.

D. Discussing at a Meeting

Want more examples on American English? When they discuss things at a meeting, they do it the American way.

When you think someone’s idea is not mature enough, you can use the word ‘bake’, yes, something to do with the action of making bread. So you may say:

Your idea is half-baked.

(If you want more about American Business English, click this to have a preview of a book written by me and Dustin Hunchak .)

What you SAY is what you GET

yurycat — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 14:18:00 +0000

Do you know what is wrong with the following four ‘don’t’:

At your office	1. I don’t want to be late.
At your restaurant	2. I don’t want the restaurant to give away my table.
At your tennis court	3. I don’t want a double fault.
At your home	4. I don’t want to argue.

What is Wrong with ‘Don’t’

There is, of course, nothing wrong with the grammar. Yet, the more you say to yourself using ‘don’t’, the worse the situation will be. Why?

Before you know why, go back to the last time you told yourself, ‘Don’t be nervous.’ Did it work? I mean, did it really work? (If it did, you may stop reading this post.)

But if you pay close attention to your mind, or your self-talk, do you notice anything special, or any pattern?

Our mind (to be exact, the part we call unconscious) is something weirdand strange. What does that mean? It means our mind does not understand things in negative. When you say ‘I don’t want to be late’, your mind will read it as ‘I ~~don’t~~ want to be late’. That is, the more you use ‘don’t’ to encourage yourself, the bigger trouble you will get into.

What Should You Say

As your mind cannot understand the negative, you have to talk to it, actually yourself, in the positive. So ‘I don’t want to be late’ becomes I am punctual and the other three are:

(At your restaurant) The restaurant will ‘reserve’ the table for me.

(At your tennis court) My serve is beautiful.

(At your home) We live in harmony.

Business Small Talk (1): Are VS Come

George — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 08:49:00 +0000

When you have a small talk with your customer, when you want to know where he or she is from, will you say something like:

Where are you come from?

You may still get an answer from your customer, yet he or she will think that you speak strange English.

How strange is it? You speak something that is not to be found in English.

Why?

What’s wrong with ‘Where are you come from?’

There is one problem with it. What is it? Read the sentence again and pay attention to the two words bold.

Where are you come from?

Do you know there is a hidden rule in English? What is it? You can’t put the two verbs ‘are’ and ‘come’ together in a simple sentence. That is, try to think about the two verbs as the two big names in smart phones, Apple & Samsung.

If ‘are’ belongs to Apple, then ‘come’ belongs to Samsung. The two verbs are simply incompatible.

Are VS Come

If you still don’t get it. Read the following answer from a non-westerner:

I am come from New York.

Think about a simple sentence as a simple relationship. So if ‘I’ is a man (probably a handsome one), then ‘am’ and ‘come’ are two women. In the sentence (relationship) there are two women (are VS come) in love with one man (I). The relationship may probably end up in a disaster:

What are you going to do with the situation?

I am not an expert of love, but what I know is you may just separate the two verbs (two women) and put them into two types of sentences:

Women (1)	Where are you from?	I am from London.
Women (2)	Where do you come from?	I come from London.

So a peaceful world with good English!

Talk & Say

George — Thu, 24 Oct 2013 03:23:00 +0000

Verbs of Mouths (1)

How long have you been speaking English? And how good is your spoken English? If I tell you that there is a secret about spoken English that is not known to learners of English? Will you be surprised? Well don’t be.

Well, what does the secret have to do with you? If you get it, you can speak better English:



           at a meeting

in negotiation

upon presenting your proposal

The verbs of mouth talked about here are the four of the busiestverbs in spoken English. They are:

say, talk, tell, and speak

The four verbs of mouth seem easy. Well, think again! There are differences, sometimes huge ones, between them. What are they? You’re going to do an easier pair first, namely, talk and say:

Pair One: Talk and Say

Now read the following two sentences:

The MD said thatthings will be all right.

The MD talked thatthings will be all right.

I don’t know if things will be all right, but what I know is there is something wrong with:

The MD talkedthat things will be all right.

Why is it wrong? What is the difference between ‘talk’ and ‘say’? Before you get the answer, think about the question:

Which one will you take when you have a view to express at a meeting, talk or say?

If you look up the meaning of ‘talk’ from the Oxford online dictionary (talk), ‘talk’ is causal as it means saying something aloud, or speaking to someone, as shown in the two examples below:

Talk

Something

We talked about

the new division (at the meeting).

Talk

Somebody

The CEO talked to

his friend (about the new project).

Simply put, you don’t use ‘talk’ to express an idea, that a few words follow ‘talk’, and talk ‘talk’ does not come with other verbs:

Talk about a new project

talk to the CEO

What about ‘say’

Yet, the verb ‘say’ is different. It is used to express a thought, something that is longer than a few words, something that has a verb in it, for example:

The financial secretary said that the fund stood at 1 million.

↓

↓

↓

that + the fund stood at 1 million ——–> (an idea, a thought)

In a word, it is all about what follows ‘talk’ and ‘say’:

‘talk’ comes with a few words, but

‘say’ comes with a ‘sentence’

(The next post is about Pair Two: Tell & Speak.)

5 Tips to Improving Your Spoken Business English

George — Sat, 05 Oct 2013 08:49:00 +0000

1. Use the present perfect for unclear past.

The present perfect is a mixture, blending the past and the present.
You can use it to announce news of your organisations:

Sample sentence:

Our company has changed the world.

(pic source)

What is unclear past? It means you have no idea when your company did it.

2. Use ‘could’ to indicate disapproval.

When something is not done, when you are angry with your co-workers, you can use ‘could’. How? Read the sample sentence:

Mr. No-So-Hard-Working could have made more of an effort.

What does that mean? It means Mr. No-So-Hard-Working could work harder, but he did not.

3. Use ‘will’ to make an offer.

It is a mistake to use ‘will’ whenever you want to talk about the future. So how to use it? One of the functions of will is: to make an offer.

Sample sentence:

(pic source)

Where are you two big guys going?

I’ll give you a lift to the station.

4. Use 3 I(s) to warn your juniors.

Which three? It is important …

How to use it? Do you have any juniors who are always late for work? So the sentence sample goes like:

It is important to be punctual.

5. Use ‘verb + up’ to mean something positive:

There are more sample sentences for this one:

a. More and more

The global economy is beginning to pick up.

d. Making something new

Our marketing team is trying to think up a new slogan.

c. Finishing something

There are something we need to clear up before we can move on.

However, in business English, there are (usually) three exceptions to this rule:

mix up,
slip up,
or hold up

With ‘up’, they don’t mean anything positive. But on the contrary, they are all negative.

Sample sentences:

Don’t mix things up!

Ms. Careless has slipped up on the order. (slip up = make a mistake)

Workshop Not-So-Good has threatened to hold up the production.

(pic source)

How to talk to your coworker in English (2)

George — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 13:57:00 +0000

Do you want to speak better English at your office? Yes, of course. But do you think it is possible for you to make it? Yes or no. Why? It all depends how much you know about English. What does that mean? It means how English functions, or how you use it to say what you want to say.

(pic source)

So, how does this relate to your office English? There is an example for you.

TALKING TO YOUR (careless) JUNIORS

Do you have juniors who are careless? How do you make an instruction to them? What follows is a sample sentence to Mr. Careless, your junior.

You have to be careful.

What if you are really angry with Mr Careless? But at the same time you don’t want to make things personal by scolding him. You may add something before ‘have’ (the verb of the sentence). Add what? A ly-word (people usually call it adverb as it is usually added near a verb.) So what is the ly-word to add?

You definitely have to be careful.

What if you are really angry with him? You may add another ly-word:

I really want to see some improvement (from you).

(pic source)

Well, but before you tell Mr. Careless the bad news, or before you want to give him a lesson, do you think you need to give him a signal, ‘preparing’ him to hear something bad? Once again, you need a ly-word to do it. What ly-word is it?

Frankly, I have seen very little improvement.

So, ‘frankly’ means you want to be frank at one level, but at another, it also means you want to be direct and Mr. Careless, get prepared.

To put all things together, it is something like:

Well, frankly, Mr Careless, I have seen little change since last time we talked. And I think you definitely have to be more careful as I really want to see some improvement.

(pic source)

However, what if you want to talk to your boss? Or you want to be more friendly and polite? We will talk about it at the next post.

Interview English (1)

George — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 05:22:00 +0000

Does this happen to you? You prepare well before an interview. Yet, when the real thing comes, you can’t speak a word. You wonder why it happens to you. ‘Why me?’ So what are you going to do to save yourself?

(pic source)

Well, you don’t have to be sad. If you have a higher level of language proficiency, will it make much difference to your career? But of course, the question is how, how to enhance your levels of English.

There are lots of ways, one of which is to have a better understanding of how English tenses work. So how do English tenses work?

An Interview Question for You

Well, before you get the answer, you have to answer a question, a question that you have to answer (all the time) in an interview. What is it?

(pic source)

Well, (there are) usually 2 answers for this tough question:

a. I left my job	because	I wasn’t enjoying it
b. I left my job	because	I did not enjoy it.

So which one is correct? Well, wrong question to ask. They are both correct, but the point is: What is the difference between ‘was+enjoy+ing‘ and ‘enjoy in the simple past‘?

Past Tenses in your Interview

You may think that ‘was+enjoy+ing‘ happens with a time shorter than ‘enjoy in the simple past‘. Well, you may be right, but not in this context, the context of an interview.

So what is the difference in the context of an interview? To know the difference, check out the picture below, what do you see?

(pic source)

Well, you see a beautiful woman, right? But sorry this is not the point. The point is the two in the background, which is the key to the answer. What do I mean? I mean can you see clearly the two persons in the background? No.

In other words, the foreground is clear but the background is not. Yes. So what is my point? How does that relate to interview English, and to the two past tenses?

The answer is: a similar shooting technique is used in English.

In English, and more importantly in your interview, when you want to give background information about your past, you use ‘was+verb+ing‘. Need extra examples? There are two more for your interview:

What are the most difficult decisions to Make?

Can you describe a difficult work situation?

(pic source)

So you may say: I was working on a project when one of our competitors stole our new concept.

In a word, you can sum up the technique of foreground and background in the following table:

In the Foreground	the simple past	(e.g. enjoyed)
In the Background	was+verb+ing	(e.g. was enjoying)

Moving beyond Interviews to your Daily Life

You can, of course, apply the same technique to your daily life:

a. We reached the store and they were just closing the doors.

b. I was having lunch with the CEO of Orange & Apple yesterday, and suddenly I saw my friend.

———————————-
References:

1. Biber, D., et al. (1999). Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, Pearson Education Limited.

2. Downing and Locke (2006). English Grammar : A University Course, Routledge.

3. Halliday, M. A. K. (2004). An Introduction to Functional Grammar, Arnold. (Revised by Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen).

4. Parrot, M. (2010). Grammar for English Language Teachers, Cambridge University Press.

Talk	Something
We talked about	the new division (at the meeting).
Talk	Somebody
The CEO talked to	his friend (about the new project).