Tweet-Speak | Learn Natural English with Twitter

Several weeks ago, I had the pleasure to interview a long time author I've gotten to know over Twitter. Mitsuyo has written 24 books, and her main focus now has been to encourage English learners to practice English with social media. Most of her books are in Japanese, but there are several in Chinese and Korean as well. So if you speak any of those languages, take a look at her books to practice English. In our interview, she focuses on how important it is to learn English by doing what you love, and how social media makes it easier than ever to do this. Go ahead and listen to the interview now for some great tips. Practice and Speak English Fluently without Ever Going Abroad Mitsuyo is a very fun person to talk to, so I hope you enjoyed listening to our conversation. Just to give you a little more background info, she has been living in the US for the last 20+ years after going for graduate school. While she has been living abroad for a long time and this has obviously improved her English, she strongly believes that going abroad is not a necessary step. "There are plenty of people living in the U.S. who cannot speak English," she explains. She herself had already taken the highest level of English in the Japanese English proficiency test, Eiken (1-kyu) and a national guide license before leaving Japan. In our interview, she also gives an example of another interpreter who does simultaneous translating. Apparently, her accent is very native-like, and she's never left Japan. Mitsuyo also has a friend who's an English teacher in Tokyo, but got fluent without studying or living abroad. So, How Do You Get Fluent in English from Home? Just start using English now! With social media, you have no excuses. If you're reading this, I know you're probably already doing a very good job. But encourage other learners you know as well! The English language education system in Japan is always blamed for why students can't speak. Mitsuyo says the education she got in school was fine, and it gave her the foundation she needed to start using English to follow her interests. The only reason she got to the next level when her classmates did not was by doing what she loved in English: listening to music, watching movies, and writing letters to pen pals. Maybe the biggest fault of the education system is focusing too much on tests instead of helping students get started with all the wonderful tools to actually use English. Mitsuyo has Twitter followers who are still in junior high school, but after a few months of tweeting with their favorite artists over seas, they impro1ve dramatically. She has examples of older learners who make big improvements as well. Do These 3 Things: Get on Twitter, Facebook, G+, or Skype and start using English with native speakers. Look for people who like the same things you like. Have fun talking about the things or people you love! Mitsuyo also gave us some great tips on how to get started on Twitter. If you have been studying English for years and still say you can't speak it, what excuses do you tell yourself? Maybe you're shy, maybe you're afraid of making mistakes, or maybe you think that only people who live abroad get fluent. Whatever your excuse is, I hope you'll forget it right now! Listen to what Mitsuyo is saying, and start using English today to communicate with people. Social media is there to help you connect with anyone. Why not start by connecting with Mitsuyo on G+, Facebook, or Twitter?

Today's podcast is a little bit different because I get to be the student.My friend, Tom, came over to give me some tips on how to speak English like a Londoner. I do some very bad London accents, so hopefully you'll get some laughs out of it as well as learn a few things.In our conversation, we discovered several unique characteristics of two main accents in London. We also talk about terrible American attempts of sounding like a Londoner in movies. So if you actually study English in London after following these tips, you might be able to pursue a career in the movies (dream big, right?!).Go ahead and take a listen below.*By the way, if you remember the infographic I shared about benefits of speaking a foreign language, the British accent was mentioned as one of the sexiest :)How to Speak English Like a Londoner With any conversation about accents of a specific place, you're always going to have to limit it to what you think is 'standard'.So for our conversation on how to speak English like a Londoner, Tom and I focused on what's called Cockney English and another that we just refer to as 'Posh' English. You will hear forms of these accents a lot when you go to London, so it will help you if you have an idea of what they sound like.While it's fun to learn different accents, it is probably best not to try to sound like you're imitating someone. They might get the wrong idea. However, this podcast should be great in showing you the difference of two main accents in London, hopefully helping you understand people better when you go. To pick up right where Tom breaks down a lot of the differences in the Cockney accent, listen to the ten seconds around 7:42.Resources while you listen We mention several things in the podcast, so here are some things that should help you.The conversations we have where Tom tries to transform me into a real Londoner. I'm having breakfast at a cafe near my hotel and ask a local for suggestions of things to do while in London.Nate:  Hi, my name's Nate.Tom:  Hello, Nate. I'm Tom. Nice to meet you.Nate:  Sorry to bother you, but do you mind if I ask you a few questions?Tom:  Not at all. How can I help?Nate:  I'm gonna be in London for about about three weeks. There's so much to do, I was wondering if you'd give me some suggestions.  Next, I go shopping in the Camden markets, I negotiate a price on a dress. Tom: Hello mate. I've got a lovely thing for your misses here. It's a lovely dress for twenty pound fifty.Nate: Do me a favor. That's a bit steep isn't it?Tom: What's your offer?Nate: Fifteen pound.Tom: Fifteen pound? Fifteen pound?! For this, for this? I've worked my life to bring you this dress, and you're telling me you want, you are robbing me. You're thieving from me. Ok, this is my last offer. Eighteen pound for you.Nate: Eighteen pound? Alright.Tom: Alright? The job's a good one. We also talk about a few underground station names that are a little difficult to pronounce. They were: Gloucester, Leicester, Marylebone, and Euston. Tom also gives us a few examples of bad British accents in movies:Kevin Costner in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins Don Cheadle in Ocean's ElevenFor a bigger list of terrible British accents in movies, take a look here.I had a good time making this podcast, and I hope you understand more about how to speak English like a Londoner. If you enjoyed it, please share with your friends or leave a comment down below!

Wouldn't it be great if English was spoken just like how it's written?I think that woud make both teachers and students very happy.Unfortunately, it's not. Being able to read and write English is very different than being able to understand and use the spoken language. In fact, when most people say they want better English skills, they're usually referring to speaking.In today's interview, I talk with Misako Yoke about her first experience abroad when she discovered real English for the first time. She gives her own very entertaining solution to the problem, and what she thinks is most important about improving spoken English.Listen to the full interview below. Misako is an English teacher and author with numerous projects–take a look here. Better English Can Be Found in Your 'Sock Drawer' Imagination. The secret ingredient to finding low tech solutions for better English speaking. Tweet This Many English learners struggle with speaking English because they spend too much time in study mode, and not enough time in practice mode.Misako tells us a lot of great tips in this conversation, but one of the most important is how she found a practice mode that helped her speak English more. All I will say is, she found her practice mode in a sock drawer!It wasn't until she found a practice mode that worked for her that she got over her fear of speaking and communicating with real English that native speakers were using.While Misako's practice mode was found in a sock drawer, yours might be somewhere else. The point is, without taking a break from study mode and using a little imagination, it's very hard for people to get in the mindset to practice English.English practice doesn't need to be high-tech or expensive. It might be right in front of you.Start looking for your 'sock drawer' today, and discover a creative practice mode that works for you!If you enjoyed today's interview from the How to Improve Spoken English series, please take a second to share it below.

Stop and think.How much money have you spent on English coursebooks?I talked with Matt Purland about how you should be learning to improve spoken English, and the good news is you'll never need to buy another coursebook again.Matt is an amazing teacher working in Poland, and is the creator of EnglishBanana.com and author of the free coursebook series, Talk a Lot. You can listen to our interview here.If you don't have time to listen to everything now, I've highlighted some of the interview below. The Last Coursebook You Will Ever Need "Save the money you'd spend on a new English coursebook and use it for something nice, like flowers for your wife." - Tweet This I love this quote from Matt.When the temptation is strong to buy a new coursebook because you feel stuck in English, remember this quote. When you finish a book and the school tells you to buy a new one, remember this quote.Matt's new free book, You Are the Coursebook, reveals his new method that uses real, natural English that is around us every day.With this method, you will learn everything from spelling and grammar, to pronunciation and speaking. Three Tips to Improve Spoken English In the interview, Matt speaks a lot about what is important to improve spoken English. All of these tips are in the interview and explained fully in his book, Talk a Lot Foundation Course. Tip 1 - Learn how English is really spelled English spelling is terrible. You know this.It no longer reflects how English is spoken. Start by learning the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) and the NEA (New English Alphabet). Tip 2 - Learn the secrets of English pronunciation To understand native speakers and be understood, pronunciation is very important.Focus on the differences between spoken English and written English. This includes things like connected speech, stressed and unstressed sounds, glottal stops, and a lot of other strange things English speakers do that doesn't appear in our writing. The example Matt gives in the interview to show typical English speaking written in the NEA is:  Application form becomes → a pl Kei shn formTip 3 - Practice with a lot of real, natural English samples By real, natural English, I mean samples that are out in the wild, away from your ESL textbook.Take samples from news articles in the paper or online, movies, podcasts, TV series, novels; whatever you enjoy!Then, take the principles you learn in Matt's books to practice with these samples. You'll learn a lot of new vocabulary on topics you like, and you'll learn about how to write and speak in a natural way.Speaking English is all about using what you put in. Put in unnatural sounding conversations and phrases from coursebooks, and you'll speak unnaturally.Put in natural English along with intense pronunciation studies, and you will be able to speak more naturally in a fraction of the time spent at most schools out there.Good luck with these tips! As always, if you have any questions, ask in the comments.If you love this interview series on How to Improve Spoken English, please share it and subscribe for updates!

Life is like a piano, what you get out of it depends on how you play it............ Via @TamaraLynne_— Brian Lorde (@musikkidd) July 3, 2012Explanation Last week, I introduced a tweet that had two phrasal verbs in it. I talked about 'become of' last week, but this week I'd like to talk about 'depend on'.Some common ways you'll see the phrase used are: "It depends on whether or not you like (something)" "It varies depending on (something)" (something) depends on (something) To 'depend on' something is to 'rely' on it. The two things are connected. For example, children depend on their parents for everything they need.Because 'depends on' shows need or some kind of relationship, there are many ways you can use it. You can easily make conditional statements using 'whether or not' with 'depends on'. A: Should I order the curry? B: It depends on whether or not you like Indian food. You can also say something changes, or varies, 'depending on' some condition. My mood varies depending on ho much sleep I got the night before. A lot of times, you will also hear people say something as simple as, "That / It depends." They will then explain what it 'depends on'.f you ask someone on a date, and they reply, "That depends. Are you buying?" you might want to find a new date… Situations & Examples Read the situations, but write down your own sentence using today's target. When you finish, click 'Show Example'. Share your own sentences in the comments! Situation #1 You and a friend are talking about good movies you have watched recently. He tells you about one horror movie that he thinks is the best movie of the year. He also knows you're not a fan of horror movies. He tells you that he thought it was great, but isn't sure if you would like it because you don't like horror movies. He says,"I thought it was great, but I guess it depends on whether or not you like horror movies."Show Example Situation #2 You are talking to a friend about how high your property taxes have become. You both wished they would be lowered. You then remember some countries who did lower them recently. They lowered them to get entrepreneurs back after they had escaped the high taxes before. They believed it was necessary for economic recovery. You explain this by saying,"Some countries lowered property tax because they believed economic recovery depended on entrepreneurs to move back home."Show Example Situation #3 You are trying to make plans for a lunch date. You haven't been seeing this person for long, so you're still trying to get to know her. You ask her where she wants to eat. She tells you she will text message you on the day because she wants to eat changes, or varies. The weather makes her want to eat different stuff. She tells you,"What I eat for lunch varies depending on the weather."Show Example Situation #4 Your company usually has a small summer bonus. The day before you usually get the bonus, your boss calls everyone into a meeting. She explains that it's been a hard year financially, and they will not be able to give a bonus this year. This is really bad news for you since you already bought a new TV, planning to use the bonus to pay off your credit card. You tell your co-worker,"Oh no! I was depending on the usual summer bonus to pay off a new TV I just bought yesterday!"Show Example

Today is the first interview of the new interview series, How to Improve Spoken English. I talk with Robby Kukurs, the creator of the English Harmony system, about his path to English fluency and everything it has taught him about what is really important if you want to speak English better.Robby grew up in Latvia and, like many people around the world, started learning English as a child. Robby explains how he was a bit fanatical about translating everything he could. He did this for years, and filled countless notebooks with vocabulary, spending a lot of time memorizing everything.One day, he realized he was studying completely wrong. Yes, he had a lot of knowledge and vocabulary, but he couldn't use most if it in his speaking. What did he discover to be much more beneficial?Basically, instead of spending time translating, Robby believes English learners need to:start thinking in English as soon as possible, start speaking whatever English you know, even if it is with yourself, and have a system to make these practices routine in your daily life.Robby explains this much better in the interview, and he talks about how his personal discoveries have helped him create English Harmony to help others learn English speaking in this same way.I hope you enjoy the interview! I think there are a lot of really great insights, and you can follow Robby on his blog to get more great advice. If you find a favorite part, please share the time in the comments!Also, if you like this series so far, please share it with other people with the social media buttons on this page.

Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. #Buddha— Steven L Hairfield (@AnAmericanMonk) June 24, 2012Explanation There are two phrasal verbs in today's example, but I'd like to just focus on 'become of'. You can learn about 'depend on' here.Here are the most common ways you'll see the phrase used: "What will become of (someone or something)" "What (or Whatever) became of (someone or something)." What has become of (someone or something) Using 'become of' in these ways is not very difficult. Basically, if you use 'become of' to ask about something or someone, you are wondering: "What has happened to someone or something", or "What will happen to someone or something" One thing that might be difficult is when you hear 'becoming of (someone)'. This can mean something is very suiting to you. For example, if I said, "That coat is very becoming of you," this means that you look great in the coat. This is kind of a fashionable sounding way to tell someone they look nice.'Become of' can sometimes sounds a little formal, so pay attention to the different situations you find it. This should help you understand when it is best to say it. Situations & Examples Read the situations, but write down your own sentence using today's target. When you finish, click 'Show Example'. Share your own sentences in the comments! Situation #1 You and a friend are watching the Euro Cup at a sports bar. You start talking about how you think your favorite teams will do in the tournament. After talking about a couple of teams, you want to ask your friend how he thinks Germany will do. You ask,"What do you think will become of Germany in the Euro Cup this year?"Show Example Situation #2 Your ten year high school reunion was a few weeks ago. You weren't able to go, but you were talking to a friend who could. He tells you it wasn't all that interesting, but it was nice to catch up with a few people. He mentioned a guy named Bobby. In school, Bobby was really smart and everyone thought he would do big things. When your friend mentions Bobby, you ask about what he became and wonder if he has a Nobel Prize yet. You ask,"Oh really? What became of Bobby? I thought he would have won a Nobel Prize in Medicine by now."Show Example Situation #3 You've been really busy at work with a design project for a client. When you get home, your husband says you look tired. He then asks you about how the project is going. He says,"What's becoming of that new design project you've been working so hard on?"Show Example Situation #4 You are talking to your friend about school. The classes this semester have been really hard, and you haven't been able to get the grades you want. You explain this to your friend by asking what is wrong. You say,"What's become of this semester? No matter how hard I study, I can't seem to get a good grade."Show Example

Mobile apps seem to be killing the "one inbox" idea. We're getting used to dipping into buckets of content, like changing TV channels.— Elliot Loh (@Loh) June 9, 2012Explanation Today's focus is on the phrasal verb, 'dip into'.So...

I love Mr Pink in Reservoir Dogs. Just stay calm, keep your head low and make off with the diamonds.— Heppe (@SirHeppe) March 11, 2012Explanation Today's lesson focuses on the verbal phrase, 'make off with'.Here are the most common ways you'll see 'make off with' being used: Make off with a/the (something) Make off with my/our/his, her, its/their (something) Make off with ($ amount) First of all, to understand today's example, you should know about the movie Reservoir Dogs. This is a movie from 1992 about a group of thieves who want to rob a jewelry store. They want to steal, or make off with, the diamonds at the store. Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) is one of the character's names, and he is the favorite character of a lot of people. The second sentence, "Just stay calm...", is one of Mr. Pink's lines.It's a really great movie so I recommend watching it sometime when you get a chance. 'Make off with' is just another way to say steal. There are not any rules about when to use 'make off with'. Basically, you can use it any time you need to say the word 'steal'. If you say a phrase like 'make off with' it might sound more natural in certain situations.Also in today's example, there is the phrase 'keep your head low'. This can mean to actually keep your head down, but it is a phrase that means: To go unnoticed; To do something without standing out (being different in some way).Situations & Examples Read the situations, but write down your own sentence using today's target. When you finish, click 'Show Example'. Share your own sentences in the comments! Situation #1 You're talking to a friend at work. You start talking about things you imagined making off with when you were young. For you, when you were a high school student, you wanted to steal a flag that was on top of the fast food restaurant, Taco Bell. You used to day dream about ways to do it without getting caught. You tell your friend,"In high school, I used to think of ways I could make off with the cool flag on top of Taco Bell."Show Example Situation #2 You're reading the morning newspaper after breakfast one morning and start laughing from one of the articles. Your wife asks you what's so funny. You tell her that a ten ton bridge was stolen last week by a group of metal thieves. You say,"Apparently, a group of metal thieves made off with a 10-ton bridge last week."Show Example Situation #3 Your friend has come over to watch a football game on TV. During the commercials, he asks you if you heard about the guy who was caught stealing $100,000 last week. You say, "No." and your friend goes on to tell you he was disguised in a wig, but they found him stuck in an air duct. Your friend tells you,"A man disguised in a wig was found stuck in an air-duct hours after making off with $100,000."Show Example Situation #4 You and a group of friends are talking about movies. You bring up the movie The Hangover. Many of your friends have seen it and they like it. You're comparing favorite parts of the movie. Your favorite scene is when Mike Tyson finds out the guys had stolen his tiger. You say,"My favorite part is when Mike Tyson finds out they had made off with his tiger."Show Example

It never fails, every time I go to take a nap, my phone instantly becomes a hotline.— Fat Pat (@FridayNightHigh) May 23, 2012Explanation Today's focus is on the phrase, 'it never fails'.Here is a list of some common ways this phrase is used: It never fails, (something that always happens to you) (something that always happens to you). It never fails. It never fails to (amaze, surprise) me (that/how something happens) It is a never failing (noun). If something fails, it has not succeeded. If something never fails, it always succeeds, 100% of the time. Normally, you think this is a good thing. But in English, we use the phrase "it never fails" as a form of sarcasm. While it doesn't always have to be sarcastic, it is common to hear it used like this in daily conversations.Think about it. Everyone wants a car that takes them from point A to B without any problems. Let's say you have a car that is a little older, and it usually doesn't have any problems. The only time it does have problems, is when you are in a hurry to get somewhere important. In this situation, you would say something like, "It never fails, my car always breaks down when I'm in a hurry." You should also remember that when people use this phrase, they usually just add it to the front or end of a sentence.Another common way to use "it never fails" is to talk about things you have observed to be consistent in the world or your life. We do this by using the phrase "It never fails to surprise/amaze me that/how...".For example, people who go to big Christmas sales can be very rude, pushy, selfish and in a bad mood. You could comment on this situation by saying, "It never fails to surprise me how selfish so many people are when shopping for Christmas presents." Finally, when using "it never fails", you can say something is a "never failing (noun)" to say that it is very consistent, reliable, or dependable.For example, you get a chance to meet your favorite artists. You tell them, "You are a never failing source of inspiration for me."One last thing to explain about today's example tweet is the phrase, "my phone instantly becomes a hotline." If you don't know what a hotline is, it is a phone number set up for emergencies. To say your phone, a normal house phone or cell phone, becomes a hotline, you are saying that it begins to ring nonstop. This is a very common way to talk about a busy phone. Situations & Examples Read the situations, but write down your own sentence using today's target. When you finish, click 'Show Example'. Share your own sentences in the comments! Situation #1 You and your wife are out to dinner celebrating your twentieth wedding anniversary. You're at a very nice restaurant that has live music, and the band will play any song you request if you arrange it in advance. You asked them to play the song that was playing when you asked your wife to marry you. When she heard the song, she looked up at you to tell you how it really takes her back, and how music is always like this. She says,"It never fails to amaze me how a song can take you back to exactly what you were feeling the moment you first heard it."Show Example Situation #2 You are at a very strange museum with a friend. It is a museum about early 20th century circus sideshow acts. As you turn a corner, you see a stage with a very strange headless woman. Everyone in your group is a little shocked, and the tour guide tells you all how this sideshow act always attracted attention from circus goers. She says,"As you can imagine, this was very surprising to see. It never failed to attract the attention of circus goers. "Show Example Situation #3 Your town library has lost a lot of its funding from the local government. It will have to decrease the number of hours it is open every week, and some of the staff will lose their jobs. You're talking to a friend about this unfortunate situation, and you remember a quote.

The link in today's example takes you to game from this TV show. It is a good chance to practice your listening and speaking! Pronunciation Guide Listen to 'in the "Interrogation room"' very carefully. Because 'in the interro' is not stressed, it is important to practice listening to this several times so that you can hear how to repeat it with the same rhythm and flow. Other than that, just listen for the usual connected words and stress. It should be a fairly easy example. If you have any other questions about pronunciation, please let me know in the comments. Listen to the audio, try to shadow, and write your own notes. Then click 'Compare'. Practice shadowing the audio with your notes. "THInk you-can be-a-deTECtive? / give-it-a-SHOt-in-the-interroGAtion room." *Hyphens (-) show what words should be blended together, bold big letters show accents, and (/) show long pauses. Compare Explanation Today's focus is on the idiom, 'give it a shot'. If you give something a shot, you try to do it or you make some effort to do it. Some of the most common ways to use this idiom are: (I, You, He, She, We, They) should give it a shot. (I, You, He, She, We, They) will give it a shot. Let's give it a shot I want to give (something) a shot. When used with "should', you are telling someone you think it would be a good idea for them to try something. When used with "will", someone has already decided to try something. Also, when you say "Let's give it a shot," you're saying you want to try something together with someone. One thing to remember is that if the thing you will try has not been said yet, you will need to say that thing instead of "it." For example: "I want to give dancing a shot." If you were already talking about dancing, you wouldn't need to say dancing again. Also, it is common to say, "I'll give it my best shot!" Remember though, using 'best' is the most common and natural adverb to include in this idiom. For some reason, it feels unnatural to use others. Just remember this with the song, "Hit Me with Your Best Shot". Finally, a phrase you can also use that means the same as 'give it a shot' is 'give it a go'. In the first sentence, we see a common habit in spoken English to leave off the "Do" at the beginning of the question. This is very casual. Situations & Examples Read the situations, but write down your own sentence using today's target. When you finish, click 'Show Example'. Share your own sentences in the comments! Situation #1 You're at a coffee shop with your friend. You are talking about things that you have wanted to try, but never have. She tells you it has always been her dream to sing on a popular TV show. She has never sent in her audition tape before because she is scared. You encourage her to send it in and try to get on the show. You say, "Why don't you give it a shot and see what happens?" Show Example Situation #2 You and your family just got back from vacationing at Hawaii. Your new tan is the envy of your coworkers who have all been stuck in the office while you were gone. Your friend welcomes you back and asks about your trip. He asks you what your favorite part about the trip was. You tell him it was your surf lessons. He is surprised to hear that you surf. You say it was your first time to try by saying, "I had never surfed before, but I gave it a shot and it was a lot of fun!" Show Example Situation #3 You are taking summer classes at college this year. You have a short break in the middle of the term, so you go back home. You run into one of your old teachers at the super market. After some small talk, he asks you about how your summer term is going. You explain that it is difficult, but you are trying hard. You say, "This summer term is really tough, but I'm giving it my best shot." Show Example Situation #4 You're on a date with a woman you met at your new job. After dinner, you are talking about what to do. She really wants to go dancing,