My Fluent Podcast

Language learners from the USA, Thailand, the Slovak Republic, and Russia discuss their experiences with accent prejudice while speaking English. They share the reactions they have received, the impact on their confidence, and the importance of embracing their accent as part of their identity. The episode encourages listeners to speak up and support introverted or insecure English learners.

In this episode, you will learn about a method which will improve your speaking abilities drastically. Applying this method on a regular basis, will most likely make you speak English fluently (other languages as well). It's just a matter of time. And all of this, for free. Roberto from Italy, the inventor of the game "off the cuff" explaines the details in the interview. In addition, this works especially well if you want to overcome shyness or don't have the possibility to speak in your target language. Roberto started to play the game back in November 2019 and managed to improve his speaking tremendously. Full transcript below or download the PDF. More information about the game: https://www.myfluentpodcast.com/?p=958 Full transcript: You make your brain, your mind work in a way, you are unlikely to remember things better in the long term. Okay? And this is off the cuff. Just make your brain work and try to remember just what you know. So this is the best way for me to remember. Words, grammar paths, and so on. 0:31 In this episode, my fluent podcast interviewed a very passionate English learner called Roberto, from Italy who invented a game, a again called off the cuff. Which means something like without preparation, and to be quite honest with you, I didn't know these expression before, so this was a nice side effect. I could learn vocabulary by producing this podcast and quite honest, I was that fascinated by this game. Well, it's more the way. Roberto played it because basically it's about speaking about a random topic off the cuff without preparation. And I watched these videos and it seemed to me that he is quite an expert in it. I mean, without having any preparation, you just start out the speech and you just go on and, and you know that the people will watch that video then... where were we? Well, yes, I was that fascinated by the way he played off the cuff that I took the courage and contacted him, Roberto and wanted to know more about the game and his intentions, or why did he start out with that? And in this episode, I'm going to show you some excerpts from this interview. So without any further ado. Let's have a listen to Roberto: 2: 13 I think, speaking is the most important thing in the learning process. You know that children at the age of six can't even read, but they, they're able to speak. Okay. That's the same… the same goes for a non native speaker, I think. No?  You can study and read in parallel, but at the same time you need to speak obviously. So you are on the, on the best path from this point of view  (by making my fluent podcast).  2:48 And I was wondering how did you came across this game or this idea of, was it your idea or what was the reason why you started out with this? I came up with this idea roughly seven months ago because you know. Well off the cuff means on the spur of the moment. Okay. Without preparing anything, because I realized that when I study and then repeat what I have to study, it's kind of preparing an exam. So you have a lot of short term memory, but. You aren likely to forget in the long period, in the long term what you had previously started. No, but if you make your brain your mind work in a way, you are likely to remember things better in the long term. Okay. And this is off the cuff. Just make your brain work and try to remember what you just watched, you know, of course, in parallel. Along side, you can keep practicing by studying. Okay, well, vocabulary, grammar and so on, reading or studying, well, there are things okay, but you really have to. So speak to speak and make your brain works from this point of view, if you want to remember straight away at once. Okay. Like people do in their, no more lives. No? I'm not talking about a foreign language in your mother tongue, in your native language, you remember things automatically. You don't need to think over thing. Okay? So this is the best way for me to remember. Words, grammar paths. Okay. And so on.  4:47 So I guess you could improve drastically  after seven months of practicing off the cuff  Of course, because, you know, my wife is American, but she's been living here in Italy for 22 years, so she's almost half, it's early. Now, she speaks wonderful each Italian, so we don't need to use English to communicate between each other. But needless to say, I've been to the United States 22 times and. Every time I'm there over there, I freeze. I freeze. Because somewhat the fact that I have studied so much English because I, I have a certificate in advanced English, you know, but all this stuff prevent me from speaking freely. Okay? So not matter if you make a small mistake with speaking, but you feel embarrassed, too embarrassed, and so I, my playing off the cuff seven months ago, I took the courage to speak, and I think that my fluency had a great advantage from it because I can speak freely, but this is the aim of off the cuff of this game. Okay. And they started with a game called "random topics". Okay. Topics generated randomly and then I added some other games. Okay. And a couple of games who have been provided by our friends from the chat box  (facebook group) . Okay. Another two games. It's a kind of a universe. You just have to make your brain work. Okay. And let's say it, there are 76 topics. In the game, and I have already talked about 38 of them are there are also other games. Okay. There's a random translation. For instance, you read the book written, in my case in Italian, but you need to translate it into English. 8:21 There are other game's called the "random rewording" or rephrasing. There's a slight subtle difference between rewording and phrasing because by rephrasing I mean you, you mean to make it better? Okay. But rewording means that you just use different words and grammar, grammar, patterns not to, to interpret the page that you're reading in this case in English. That there is "random pictures" you need to describe pictures and so it's very good for your visual vocabulary. No, because you can get out a lot of words. Okay. That usually usually don't belong to the academic environment. Yeah. Kind of practical English, you know? But also, since these pictures are really weird, you can use your humor to describe this picture. You can make up a story. Okay. Then it's a, it's very good to. for your personalities. If you are shy, for instance, it's a good way to get over your shyness from these points of view. And if there are other games as well, and this is important for me to get over my shyness because these videos are probably seen by native speakers and a lot of people, and now I'm not embarrassed of my mistakes. Now I make very few mistakes. I, I'm honest, very few at the beginning. At the beginning I made many mistakes.  8:47 I, I saw that you, you have corrected yourself sometimes. You wrote the mistakes that you have. Exactly. And I guess that way you could improve as well after you have recorded yourself. Maybe you, your date, some researchers, consulting dictionaries, and then you, you could remember it better. Yes, yes. Yeah. I obviously, I played back the video, especially because I also keep. Track of the words I use. Okay. Because I want to, I want to get the gist of all the words I use in by playing these games and by playing the videos back, I realize my mistakes. Okay. Because as I was telling you before, I studied English, so I have a certificate in advanced English, so I can. Easily spot my mistakes afterwards. No to real time, obviously. Yeah.  10:01 That's a really a great approach. A great game here and  you have all my respect because it takes courage in a way. To record yourself and then to publish it because yeah, there are a lot of people who are watching, in my opinion, but the Facebook group, the chat box. It's really a good group because you get a lot of positive feedback and brings you also positive thinking in a way. Because I myself, for example, I am shy and I don't like to publish something because I am always afraid of the negative feedback. I don't know where that comes from, but I guess it's from, from the school time. Yeah. Yeah. I understand. I understand what you mean. And, and I'm going to tell you that many times I have experienced that in the United States because I need to feel at home. 11.09 I need to feel comfortable. So when there are people kind of taunting me, I mean, that's kind of the, they. They make fun of me, of my mistakes or my accent. So I found these people in the United States sometimes, and so I'm too shy, and so I freeze and I no longer speak. But in the chat box, I found a group of friends. More than anything else. So I feel comfortable, and I'm not embarrassed if every once in a while I make a mistakes, but I'm going to tell you that most of the time there are not relevant mistakes. You get the preposition wrong. You, you pronounce mispronounce a word, sometimes these kinds of errors that. From my point of view are perfectly normal because we are not native speaker and we need to improve a lot, but we are showing that we can communicate easily. And so I think by using a good spoken grammar as well, so you don't be shy and you just have to. Realize that in the chat box there's a group of friends and the feedbacks are, most of the times are positive and there are a lot of people encouraging, you know, to make progress. 12:42 Okay, so you just have to feel at home. This is what I found. Okay. The ideal environment. A group of friends. Okay, friends, but they're friends. I think even an absolute beginner can play these games because you improve little by little, so you need to have a starting point. No. You just thought by using what you know, because I myself use what I know. No, it's off the cuff. Nothing is prepared and little by little step by step, you make progress, but it's important to start. Okay. 13:23 Thank you very much. Thank you Daniel. Thank you. You were listening to Roberto from Italy and you're listening to my fluent podcast. Learn from and with a language learner. So for me, the most important things here that in order to learn to improve your speaking, you need to be in your comfort zone. Let me rephrase this. You need to feel comfortable. If you are in an environment which makes you freeze, then you are not going to improve as well. Berta mentioned you already took the certificate advanced certificate. For some people, including me, Well I don't have a, not long certificate, but the first certificate, but it's just not enough for us because we don't have enough practice. So you could basically start out today by thinking of different topics. 14:41 That could be any topic, but you could choose topics which are related to you in some ways, let's say if you like listening to podcasts, one topic, could be podcasts or it could be football or music whatsoever. The thing is that you just start out, you roll a dice, and then you talk about that topic, and then you can send the file to, to your own language buddies, and by doing this on a regular basis, chances are that you are going to improve and of course you're going to gain more confidence. Anyways. I can't thank Roberto enough for this because it's not self-evident that people share their knowledge. I'm really thankful for that. And I will say, I'm going to write a blog post as well about the game of the cuff in which I will show you different pictures so that you can envision the idea even better. For that, you may go to myfluentpodcast.com. Thank you for listening to my fluent podcast and off the cuff is not finished yet. I must say that I played the game and I will play it again and I will share my experience with you on one of the next episode. Until then, bye. 16:48 Thank you very much, thanks to you. What was that? This was a thunder. Because it's raining hard. Everything was trembling. Thank you for tuning in.  www.myfluentpodcast.com

Full transcript below or directly on the website: https://www.myfluentpodcast.com/?p=878 Something to realize is that you don't have to speak. Perfectly. Now some people, you know your, your speech, maybe it's so bad that you can't be understood very well. So when you're talking, everyone has something like this and you know, people are just trying to hear what you're saying is, it's really hard to say. If it's something like that, then yes, it's very hard to understand it, but, but as long as you can understand them, that's what matters. This episode of my fluent podcast, again, is part of the Quora series. If you want to know in detail what the quarter series are. You can just head back to episode 48 and learn about all the details. In short, in the Quora series, I go about some texts, which I didn't write myself, but I'm going to read them out loud and give some feedback. The topics I choose are always language learning related so that we can improve in our target language. How do I speak clearly? Record yourself speaking. Then listen, you'll hear everything you need to know. Then adjust, rerecord and relisten. Repeat until satisfied. "Yes"*. Guess what? Yes. That's how you sound and yes, that's how people hear you. You hear yourself through your throat, not your ears. That is why you sound different on recordings. Warning: it's going to be painful. Listening to yourself, step into the fire, you will emerge far better than before. That's the answer from Sean Kernan, son of Quora, and I will say, to be honest, it was not that hard when I really listened to myself for the first time. I'd say that it is quite hard though to go back to episode one or just go back to one of my very first episodes and to relisten to my voice because it changed in a way, I think, while I guess that's a good thing. What about you guys? Do you like listening to your own voice? You think it's strange? Share your experience with us. Given that I have mentored many world champions, speakers and professional presenters, here is one solution to the problem. This is a technique I have followed for many years, especially when I had any VIP presentation. Or when I would compete for a national level championship. And this is also the technique I taught my students and clients during their important presentations. I make this mandatory for my clients taking part in the world championship events. Place a pencil in between your teeth, right to the end of your mouth and tighten your jaw grip on it. And then for the next 15 minutes, speak loudly. Clearly and enunciate your words for the best of your ability or read from a book really loudly and clearly. Keep doing this for 15 minutes nonstop. As you do this, your lips, your jaw, your tongue, and your cheeks will be sore, really sore. However, once you take it out, you will be shocked to see how well you articulate every single word. Try this every day for 15 minutes and you will never be the same speaker ever again. Great One* this was the answer from Lloyd Machado,  conference speakers, professional presenters here, that solution to the problem. Don't worry guys, I will spare you with that. I am not quite sure if this method really works, but according to all the boats, this answer received, which are about 19,000 I guess it's a good approach. Letting me know if you have experimented with this method and send me an email to myfluentpodcast@gmail.com. Thanks a lot, guys, for tuning in to this episode 65 of my fluently podcast. I know I did not reveal any magic bullet here, but in my opinion, we should start slowly and it is crucial to just focus on something and then stay with it on a regular basis. Have a good one. Quora.com links: Sean Quora - Son of Quora https://qr.ae/pNyehd Sounds: CassetteRewind.flac sounds alarm https://freesound.org/people/sonidor/sounds/174021/ https://freesound.org/people/Glaneur%20de%20sons/sounds/104956/ 104956__glaneur-de-sons__petit-feu-little-fire-3 https://freesound.org/people/acclivity/sounds/23393/ CassetteRewind.flac This work is licensed under the Attribution License. mumbling https://freesound.org/s/264770/ YES This work is licensed under the Attribution License. https://freesound.org/s/243361/ whoosh https://freesound.org/s/62260/  

Learn about language learning podcasts from around the world. Discussing experiences with Ted Radio Hour and 'The English We Speak' from BBC Learning English. Sharing personal language learning experiences and inviting listeners to share their favorites.

English with Dane Podcast: https://podtail.com/podcast/english-with-dane/ https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/english-with-dane/id1457954055?ign-mpt=uo%3D4&mt=2 contact Dane on Instagram: englishwithdane  Breaking bad :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h-iAZBtNrs Music: Scott_Holmes_-_Heavy_Rock

In this podcast, the hosts discuss their favorite language improvement podcasts and the benefits of listening to them. They also talk about the integration of Spanish vocabulary in the show and invite listeners to participate. One recommended podcast is 'English with Dane', which offers an accent challenge to enhance English skills.

Bonus episode explains coronavirus vocabulary and expressions. Speaker discusses mistakes, setbacks, and positive mindset in personal and political contexts.

The podcast discusses the speaker's setback in language learning due to the pandemic, the challenges of setting an unrealistic goal, and the importance of flexibility and enjoying the language learning journey. The host also shares personal updates and encourages listener engagement.

The complete transcript is on my website or directly on my show notes below. It's all for free but Please subcribe and share! https://www.myfluentpodcast.com/e60-slow-down Full Transcript: 0 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:05.360 Hello friends this episode is all about slowing down 1 00:00:06.340 --> 00:00:10.740 So please relax and enjoy the ride on our language story. 2 00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:13.860 I'm Daniel Goodson, the Language learner. 3 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:16.060 This is my fluent podcast. (Itunes, Stitcher, spotify) 4 00:00:18.140 --> 00:00:22.140 I thought I'd do something a little different this weekend and record. 5 00:00:22.300 --> 00:00:27.900 an episode on the go about a topic which is not directly something to do with learning languages. 6 00:00:28.340 --> 00:00:30.340 Well, at least not 100% 7 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:34.000 What I will still intecrate some language learning elements, of course. 8 00:00:35.300 --> 00:00:37.600 It's more of a self-awareness thing. 9 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:38.600 nist time 10 00:00:39.180 --> 00:00:41.480 Don't forget those who are not into this. 11 00:00:42.140 --> 00:00:45.840 There will be normal episodes in the future. Don't worry about that. 12 00:00:46.500 --> 00:00:53.300 Well, actually I went for a walk in the forest. Fortunately, I live about four minutes on foot. 13 00:00:53.860 --> 00:00:54.860 by the forest 14 00:00:55.020 --> 00:00:57.220 And several thoughts came to mind... 15 00:00:57.700 --> 00:00:58.700 ...while I was walking... 16 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:03.480 The audio quality was not very good. So I recorded afterwards. 17 00:01:04.060 --> 00:01:07.160 Although I must say the ambience noise... 18 00:01:07.580 --> 00:01:08.180 ..in the background.. 19 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:10.480 ...are from my recordings. 20 00:01:11.140 --> 00:01:11.940 This is incredible! 21 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:14.940 The sound of the birds 22 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:16.380 the chirping (frogs and toads, grasshoppers and many more animals and insects) 23 00:01:17.060 --> 00:01:19.460 And just the sound of of my foot. 24 00:01:20.860 --> 00:01:24.560 Walking on on the Leafs. They look just great. 25 00:01:25.460 --> 00:01:32.660 time is of the coronavirus in general I notice how quiet it got without the airplane noises and so on 26 00:01:33.580 --> 00:01:40.380 so often times when I go for a walk I put my noise canceling headphones on and it's a Pity it. Really 27 00:01:41.100 --> 00:01:44.200 Why don't you just listen to your surroundings? 28 00:01:44.680 --> 00:01:45.380 ...of the nature... 29 00:01:45.940 --> 00:01:46.840 Go to the forest. 30 00:01:47.460 --> 00:01:50.760 Recharge your batteries to regain your energy. 31 00:01:51.820 --> 00:01:54.820 And it's even more important in the age of the internet. 32 00:01:55.560 --> 00:01:59.360 I mean I find myself watching all these YouTube videos. 33 00:02:00.580 --> 00:02:03.980 And when I finished I don't even remember. 34 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:05.840 the first video so 35 00:02:06.780 --> 00:02:09.480 The question is, how can I learn from? 36 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:10.540 all... 37 00:02:11.140 --> 00:02:12.640 from all of this information 38 00:02:13.720 --> 00:02:16.020 It's no good for me. I can see that. (It's not good for my health.) 39 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:18.620 I'm not focused anymore. So.. 40 00:02:19.220 --> 00:02:21.720 ...I want you to make aware of the importance of being... 41 00:02:22.200 --> 00:02:28.000 ...balanced and (not to be) rushing into things especially when it comes to learning languages. 42 00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:31.820 I mean all these promises out there in the internet. 43 00:02:32.140 --> 00:02:35.740 learning English in 3 months or in 1 month or 44 00:02:36.420 --> 00:02:37.020 in a year 45 00:02:38.320 --> 00:02:41.020 Why do we need to learn in such a short period of time? (Better: in such a rush) 46 00:02:41.720 --> 00:02:42.520 cured of time 47 00:02:42.720 --> 00:02:44.920 normally it is not necessary so (under normal circumstances) 48 00:02:45.460 --> 00:02:47.160 I try to not. 49 00:02:47.640 --> 00:02:51.140 Get overwhelmed by charging too much pressure... 50 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:51.920 on myself. (Sorry, this sentence is probably useless - I'm stilly learning) 51 00:02:52.640 --> 00:02:54.740 If you are balanced you will also be able to.. 52 00:02:55.280 --> 00:03:02.674 ...learn better. I'm not saying I'm the most balanced person, but I'm working on getting closer to that goal. I have set 53 00:03:02.737 --> 00:03:03.180 myself. 54 00:03:03.700 --> 00:03:05.700 All right. Let's go back to the forest. 55 00:03:06.260 --> 00:03:15.060 Why don't you go to the forest or another place which is quiet and maybe bring your sticky notes or flashcards with you. 56 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:19.000 And then just sit on the bench or on the stone. 57 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:22.480 and learn the English vocabulary 58 00:03:23.480 --> 00:03:25.480 and just take a breath and 59 00:03:26.120 --> 00:03:27.020 Take your time. 60 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:28.500 because 61 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:32.600 Life has become too too fast too quick. So 62 00:03:33.220 --> 00:03:34.820 time to time we should just 63 00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:36.200 slow down 64 00:03:37.340 --> 00:03:38.140 relax 65 00:03:38.540 --> 00:03:39.340 just 66 00:03:39.760 --> 00:03:40.560 Focus 67 00:03:40.980 --> 00:03:43.980 Trying to do to become a more focused person. 68 00:03:44.780 --> 00:03:49.180 the thing is I strongly believe if you are balanced if you 69 00:03:49.860 --> 00:03:56.560 If you're balanced, you'll be able to be more focused and subsequently you will reach your goal earlier. 70 00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:58.800 So this just a tip. (in the sense: this is meant to be an advice) 71 00:03:59.500 --> 00:04:00.700 Self-awareness tip... 72 00:04:01.700 --> 00:04:02.600 from me and 73 00:04:05.720 --> 00:04:07.820 you will think about this and 74 00:04:08.880 --> 00:04:09.780 Thanks for tuning in. 75 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:12.500 This was my fluent podcast. Bye, your Daniel Goodson (by WEBVTT) music: https://www.freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott_Holmes/Colossal_Stillness/Breathe_New_Life Breathe New Life by Scott Holmes is licensed under a Attribution License. If you have any suggestions for the podcast, contact me: myfluentpodcast@gmail.com

In this episode, I have a look at an inspirational e-mail from polyglot and podcaster Kris Broholm, in which he gave away crucial insights in his experience. He explained in his e-mail 5 essential areas - mindset changes - that he has come across on his journey towards growth, building an online business in the language learning world, and even learning languages. 1. Anything is possible 2. Perfectionism 3. Imposter Syndrome 4. Content creator vs Content Consumer (Abundance) https://actualfluency.com/