Business English Tip of the Week

Don't Be Afraid of Errors, Guess Meaning, Speak Often

• Accept your mistakes. Everyone learns language by making errors -- lots of errors. We try out new sounds, new words, new phrases, and new grammar; we see how the language feels and how others react.
• Guess at meaning when you listen. You'll probably guess correctly most of the time!
• Speak English as often as possible. Listen to other people; listen to television, the radio, and films.

• Speak with everyone who will talk with you. Your listening comprehension and vocabulary will improve a lot, as will your ability to speak comfortably and quickly.
• Continual study is necessary, too. Your accurate English grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation help you make English-speaking friends.
• Study and practice saying useful phrases until you can say them well and say them confidently. Carry around a little notebook and study while you're in a queue, on public transport or just walking around. Rather than focus on isolated words, write down and practice phrases, expressions, common idioms, and parts of useful dialogues that you need in formal and informal situations.
• Practice pronunciation -- not just individual sounds, but putting sounds and words together.
• Keep studying grammar. Grammar isn't separate from listening and speaking -- language is grammar.

• Be brave. Talk to your native-speaker colleagues or customers at work. Talk to your friends in English. Talk to your children in English.
• Talk to yourself in your room. Create situations in your mind. For example, pretend you're at the library and need help.
• Read a newspaper article and then, without looking, summarize the article aloud to yourself.
• Keep a talking diary. Record your thoughts in English each night before you go to sleep.