91. English Diphthongs

By Olga Smith

Students who take elocution lessons often find English diphthongs quite difficult to pronounce. 

A diphthong is a voiced sound consisting of two vowel sounds glided together. There are eight diphthongs in English: 

[ɪə] – hear – [hɪə]  
[eɪ] – pay – [peɪ] 
[eə] – pair – [peə]
[aɪ] – pie – [paɪ]  
[aʊ] – how – [haʊ] 
[əʊ] – boat – [bəʊt]  
[ɔɪ] – boy – [bɔɪ]  
[ʊə] – sewer – [sʊə]  

The most common mistakes that students make pronouncing diphthong are:  

1. They shorten them and we hear only one vowel and the second vowel is dropped, or they make the first vowel longer than the second one so that we can hardly hear it.   

2. Diphthong [ɪə] – hear – [hɪə], [eə] – pair – [peə], and [ʊə] – sewer – [sʊə] have "r" is spelling and in British English, you should not pronounce it.  

3. Diphthong [əʊ] – boat – [bəʊt] does not exist in other languages and most students find it hard to master.   

To address these issues we recommend that you:  

1. Make sure that we hear both vowels of it and they have equal length. The first part of the diphthong is slightly stressed. 

2. You can train yourself to not pronounce "r" in spelling by controlling your tongue and not lifting it.  

3. It might take you a little longer to master diphthong [əʊ] – boat – [bəʊt]. When I started to work on it I thought I will never be able to pronounce it correctly. Then, my tutor, Linda James explained that if I break it into two parts it will be easier. The first vowel is [ə] as in "the" and the second vowel is [ʊ] as in "book", and we glide from the first vowel into the second making one complete sound [] as in "boat". 

We believe that the best way to achieve good results is through practice. You can do it with the help of apps, books, and video courses in the series Get Rid of your Accent which contains 10% of theory and of 90% practice from classic elocution lessons.   

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90. English Vowels

By Olga Smith

There are five long and seven short vowels in English. Below is the list with their phonetic symbols:

Long Pure Vowels
[iː] – feet – [fiːt]
[ɜː] – third – [θɜːd]
[uː] – boot – [buːt]
[ɑː] – bark – [bɑːk]
[ɔː] – fort – [fɔːt]  

Short Pure Vowels
[ɪ] – pit – [pɪt]
[e] – pet – [pet]
[æ] – mad – [mæd]
[ʌ] – hut – [hʌt]
[ɒ] – box – [bɒks]
[ʊ] – book – [bʊk]  

Neutral Vowel (schwa)
[ə] – the – [ðə]  

Each vowel has a particular speech organ position and we start all our elocution lessons, apps and books chapters by explaining it to our students and asking them to check it in the mirror when possible. To get the best results with these apps, download the video courses Get Rid of your Accent Part 1 and Get rid of your Accent Part 2.

Many long vowels exist in some languages, and native representatives of these languages have no difficulty pronouncing them, it comes naturally to them.
Whilst in Russian, for example, there are no long vowels, therefore there is a natural tendency for Russians to shorten long English vowels and diphthongs. Instead of “two sheets of paper” they most likely will pronounce “two shits of paper”. Instead of saying “the room is dark”, they are likely to pronounce “the room is duck”. To overcome this difficulty we recommend Russians to first learn long vowels, then short vowels, and finally practise comparisons of long and short vowels. In fact, sometimes it is even better to start with a comparison in order to see a difference between long [iː] and short [ɪ], for example.

Usually, words with long vowels sound prominent and reflect the rhythm of the language.

Certain short pure English vowels are often rare in other languages and therefore it is more difficult and time-consuming for students to master them.

Schwa is very short and unstressed. Very often vowels in unstressed positions are pronounced as a schwa. Schwa is considered to be the most important sound in English, read our blog about it.

Another thing to be aware of is that long vowels are not always long and short vowels are not always short. There is no specific rule for that, it depends on where you wish to put your stress in a phrase or sentence to convey your meaning. To master your English vowels we recommend practising the sounds with apps and books, and booking a few elocution lessons.

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89. The [w] sound as in "wine"

By Olga Smith

In this blog post, we will share with you great tips for the English/w/ sound as in "wine" and how to avoid mistakes associated with this sound. It is based on 25 years of teaching elocution lessons in drama schools and accent eradication to foreign professionals.

Why the /w/ sound is difficult?
Many people begin to learn English when they are adults. They may not automatically position their speech organs as native English speakers will. Moreover, they often don’t know how to correctly position their speech organs in order to produce clear English sounds, because not all English sounds exist in other languages.

The main difficulty with the /w/ sound is that it does not exist in some other languages and students substitute it with the /v/ sound as in "vodka".

Another common mistake is that students lip muscles are not strong enough and they pronounce a wobbly /w/ which lacks clarity and energy.

When I was taking elocution lessons it took me about six months to train my lips so that I can pronounce the /w/ sound. Training our speech organ muscles is similar to training other body muscles, it takes time and regular repetition.

Speech organs position for the English /w/ sound:
Start with the lips forward, as in [u] “boot”,  then immediately pull the lips back sharply to the neutral [ə] schwa position. Make sure to vocalise the sound.

 We recommend the following muscular exercises to master the /w/ sound:

Instructions: All exercises to be repeated 4 times.

1. With teeth closed, spread lips back to a broad smile, and then bring forward to a tight [uː] position as in “June”.

2. Repeat exercise 1, but with jaw open about 2.5 cm.

 Follow up with rhythmic exercises:

Repeat once from left to right:

w                           w                           w                           w

ww                        ww                        ww                        w

www                    www                    www                    w

wwww                 wwww                 wwww                 w

We recommend that you start using the /w/ sound with a few words, for example:
weather, one, when, will want, world, worm, which.
Then you can practise the sound with sentences and verses.
 You can find these exercises in our apps and books Get Rid of your Accent, Elocution lessons and Business English Speech. To get the best results with these apps, download the video courses Get Rid of your Accent Part 1.

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88. Voice modulation

Some people do not like the sound of their own voices. Many students on hearing their recorded voices in their individual speech analysis confess that they do not like what they hear. They often ask us the same question: 

"How can I change my voice?" 

Many business people, who do not know how to modulate their own voice often sound rather monotonous and as a consequence deliver boring presentations that no one wants to listen to.  

The sound of each individual's voice is unique. It depends on genes, physical parameters and habits. However, there are certain techniques that actors use to modulate their voices to show different emotions. 

What is voice modulation? It is simply changing the pitch, power, pace of the voice and use of the pause. You can master these techniques with the app 4Ps, Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause.  

When we speak naturally, we do not have to think about it too much. Voice modulation is useful when delivering a formal presentation.  When you prepare a formal presentation, the question arises when is it appropriate to change the pitch, power and pace of the voice? How can we decide? The answer is very simple. In a formal speech, we express a number of thoughts. When we change a thought, we pause and then we change the voice. For example, to express an exciting thought the pitch might go up, and when expressing something sad or serious it goes down. When we talk about plain facts the pace might be a bit faster. When we want to stress very important messages, we might use dramatic pauses and increase the power of the voice.  

If we want to have a better understanding and pleasant communication, we should listen, pause, think and reply. This will allow us to create a better response and to modulate our voice accordingly. 

A few elocution lessons combined with the app will help you to master this valuable technique. 

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87. Learn to relax

By Olga Smith

Learn to relax.jpg

By Olga Smith
25 January 2021

Actors on stage have to learn how to physically relax, so that tension doesn't interfere with their performance or the voice. In fact, relaxation exercises are a very important part of their training

When one is tense the pitch of the voice goes up and gets high; people often are not in control of their bodies. If you feel tense lower your pitch down. You can practise the pitch of your voice with the app 4Ps, Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause.

Tension comes from anxiety. Our feelings of anxiety resemble a galloping horse. When a horse goes faster and faster it can be very scary for the rider, it feels as though you are against a force that is more powerful than you. Inexperienced riders when scared lean forward and thus speed up the horse. In order to slow down the horse, the rider should slow down his rising, deepen his seat and put his shoulders back. Similarly, when we are overcome with anxiety, we take control back by lowering the pitch, perhaps making longer pauses and allowing ourselves to breathe. In other words, we do the opposite to what our instinct is trying to do.

People who take elocution lessons learn how to become confident when presenting. Confidence comes only with practice. Practising your speech, its delivery and relaxation exercises on a regular basis will help, the more you practise the less you have to think about it when you need it.

You might have practised writing for many years and feel confident writing an essay, but if you have little experience in public speaking then you might not be as confident as you wish. Our blog about the spoken word might be a benefit to you.

To feel confident when presenting we recommend that you:

  • Think through what you are going to say. Prepare your speech in advance and rehearse its delivery several times using the 4Ps. When you are prepared you feel confident and more relaxed.

  • Practise articulation exercises on a regular basis and do an articulation warm up just before your presentation. This will ensure that your speech is clear and crisp. The best app and book for this is called Get Rid of your Accent and the video course Get Rid of your Accent Part One.

  • Practise relaxation exercises regularly and for a few minutes before presenting.
    Below are a few basic tips for relaxation:
    1. Check your neck, make sure it is not tight by rotating it to the right then to the left and up and down.
    2. Check your posture. In our blogs about posture, we explain how you can develop a balanced and graceful posture.
    3. Just think: I am letting go of all that tension, I feel grounded and in charge of myself. Stretching your body, free body moves and shakes will help a lot

It would be beneficial to take a few elocution lessons to practise speech skills and relaxation exercises which are so important not only when presenting, but also in any form of professional and social communication. Because when we are prepared and relaxed we perform at our best.

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86. Prevention is better than cure 

By Olga Smith

Many people who take our elocution lessons often tell us the same: I wish I had come to you five, ten, twenty years ago. When they started speaking English no one taught them English RP (Received Pronunciation) and they spoke with poor pronunciation for a long time thus developing bad habits. 

As you know, it is harder to get rid of a habit than to learn something new because old bad habits become second nature and we repeat them on auto-pilot almost unconsciously. 

A very important part of elocution lessons is working on breathing and good posture. In my previous blog, I talked about the main features of bad posture. I have been taking notes of the bad posture habits which people develop. For example, the following everyday actions create tension in the neck area: 

  1. When people feel cold, they often lift their shoulders

  2. When people use iPhone or iPad they tend to bend their head down thus creating neck pain

  3. When they sit with uneven shoulders height

All the above-mentioned habits may lead to: 

  1. Change in shape in their upper back and a tendency for slouching

  2. Blocking the energy flow

  3. Incorrect breathing

  4. Imbalance in their entire body

  5. Feeling tension in their face and jaw

  6. Tension when presenting in public

People might feel that it is easier to speak with poor pronunciation and slouch instead of keeping a straight back. But if you think about the unfortunate consequences of letting things drift uncontrollably, you might regret it in future.

It is very easy to fall into bad habits. It takes time and effort to fix them. Therefore, I recommend that you pay attention to the way you speak and to your posture all the time. By that, I mean regular daily posture and speech exercises.  Elocution apps will be very helpful for it. The more you practise, the sooner good posture and good speech become second nature.

Good posture will help you to look professional, feel relaxed and confident which is particularly important when presenting in public.

Good speech will help you in job interviews, in fact in any form of communication be it professional or social.

85. Posture speaks louder than words

By Olga Smith

Prince-William-Playing-Polo-Audi-Polo-Tournament-Pictures.jpg

22 December 2020
By Olga Smith

One of my friends went to a polo match where Prince William and Hurry were playing. She said that they were the only ones who played with a straight back, the rest of the players were slouching on a horse in the attempt to hit the ball. Indeed, good posture and straight back are associated with Royal bearing.

Below are the advantages of having good posture:

  1. People with good posture look powerful and graceful.

  2. Good posture is a sign of balance in your body which ensures good blood circulation and high energy.

  3. Good posture helps you to own the room you walk into and create an impression of a confident person.

  4. People with good posture can look straight and create good eye contact.

Bad posture is a sign of imbalance in your body and mind.  Bad posture can lead to tension in your body and health problems in future.  No wonder that bad posture is associated with lack of confidence, bad health, unhappy life and low spirit. The main characteristics of bad posture are:

  1. Slouching

  2. Body tilted backwards or forwards

  3. Lifted shoulders

  4. Looking down

  5. Toes pointing left and right, looking like a penguin

  6. Both toes pointing inside and heels pointing outside

  7. One shoulder is higher than the other

  8. Hunched back

  9. Humping on one leg


    In our book Get Rid of your Accent Part Two and in the app Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause we talk about posture preparation as part of working on your voice power. The basis for all speech is breath and before starting breathing exercises we recommend that you always check your posture. Below is a checklist for having good posture:

    1. Your back is straight

    2. Your shoulders are relaxed and look even height

    3. Your chin is parallel to the floor

    4. Your toes are pointing forward, not outwards or inwards

    5. You put your weight mostly on the balls of your feet.

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84. Think and speak with power and persuasion

By Olga Smith

Our speech is the reflection of our thinking. It tells a lot about us. To be successful we must learn how to form our thoughts and speak with clarity, power and persuasion.

This article is particularly useful for public speakers who present in a court of law, Parliament, or Senate, on TV, Radio and YouTube. The material for this article comes from years of experience of our elocution tutors who worked with actors, diplomats, politicians and top-level professionals on their speech mastery.

Thinking process:

  1. Always start with a powerful and engaging beginning. You have 5 seconds to impress and engage your audience.

  2. Get to the point. Avoid beating about the bush.

  3. Create messages that are of benefit and interest to your audience. The human brain has a tendency to listen to something that is entertaining, vital, or helpful for their life. Make sure that your audience is engaged throughout your entire speech.

  4. Avoid parasite words, swear words, and fillers like “so, you know, basically, like, em, ah”. People use these words when they are thinking and speaking at the same time. Simply substitute these unnecessary words with pauses.

  5. Think before you speak, formulate your thoughts first in your head, and use pauses before phrases and sentences which allow you to create a really good phrase or sentence and prepare a beautiful delivery.

  6. Do not jump from one topic to another, use logic and finish one thought at a time.

  7. Avoid repetitions, use synonyms and antonyms.

  8. Speak directly and categorically, and avoid words like “might, maybe, perhaps, it seems, would”, etc.

  9. Speak about profound things using simple language. Avoid speaking about shallow /primitive things using sophisticated words; it is useless and a waste of time for your listeners.

  10. Delete unnecessary words and sentences, and deliver the quintessence of your thoughts with clarity, emotion and high energy.

Speech delivery:

  1. Make sure that you have good articulation and clear speech.

  2. Stress key messages and “throwaway” unimportant words saying them with lass power, quicker and liaising words.

  3. Use pauses.

  4. Pay attention to your intonation/inflection.

  5. Use your own emotions to connect to your audience’s emotions.

  6. Do not copy TV newsreaders who read prepared scripts and just present the facts in an emotional way. It is boring and sounds almost subhuman.

  7. Make sure that your hand gestures, posture and eye contact add to your message and empower it.

  8. Use 4Ps, power, pitch, pace and pause and avoid monotonous speech.

  9. Project your voice, avoid speaking too quietly.

  10. Avoid shouting, use intensity of your voice instead

  11. Avoid high pitched voice; it sounds childish and can be perceived as a weakness.

  12. Make sure your voice is strong and comes free from the stomach. Straight posture and correct breathing help with it.

  13. Avoid speaking too slowly or too quickly. Develop a good natural pace.

    You can master your speech delivery and voice modulation with apps and books in the series get rid of your accent and by taking elocution lessons based on RP.

    More on https://www.batcsglobal.com/elocution-lessons

83. How can one become a happier person

By Olga Smith

HAY.jpg

Who we are?

We are what we think and feel.
I feel happy when I think beautiful thoughts. I love to surround myself with beautiful people. I am constantly falling in love with men and women. Love thoughts about them make me feel happy and alive. I am also in love with myself, some people even laugh at me when I start praising myself. Some people tell me that I am arrogant. But I do not really care about what others think or say about me. I love to admire myself the most. My grandfather, his name is Semen was admiring me from morning till night and that became my habit since I remember myself. In fact, my grandfather had never said a bad thing about anyone and was admiring people around him for whatever he could. My grandfather was captured by nazy Germans and taken to Germany to work for 3 years. When he returned back he told his family in Ukraine that the Germans didn’t want to let him go back to Ukraine, they offered him a house and a good job, in other words, they fall in love with him.

I feel happy when I smell good scents around me. My favourite smells are freshly cut grass, pine trees after rain, Autumn forest, and some nice French, English and Italian perfumes. I only buy things that smell beautiful: only scented soaps, oils, shampoos and creams. I love water, long showers, long baths and swimming in the sea. makes me feel fresh and crisp.

We are what we eat and drink.
We eat food, we eat with eyes, ears and nose.
I feel happy when I eat fresh organic food with nice herbs and spices. My favourite drink is water and tea. I am a huge tea lover. I feel happy when I eat using silver cutlery and beautiful crockery.

I feel happy when I surround myself with art, beautiful things, wear beautiful things made of high-quality cashmere, silk and cotton which are so light that I almost feel I do not have any clothes on.
I feel happy when I see and wear beautiful colours. Colours connect me to my emotions. One day felt miserable. By instinct, I went to the shop and bought a pair of Miu Miu shoes, they were orange with a flower on top. As soon as I put them on I immediately felt amazing! Every morning I make an important decision: what colour of my dress will make me feel happy today.

We are where we live and stay.
I feel happy to live in a period building on an elegant street close to nice parks and gardens, shops and restaurants, theatres and museums; or in a nice period house with a beautiful garden big enough for my horse (to say that I love horses is to say nothing, I am crazy about them), a conservatory, an open-air pool and sauna nearby, and a tennis court. I love to say at places by the sea with long sandy beaches around, or a lake near the forest.

I search for beauty in museums, nature and places I travel to. I love the art, culture and nature of Italy, Greece and France.

We are what we do.
I feel happy when I do what I like and follow my instincts. I love to sleep till 11 am. I love playing tennis, riding horses and running. I love English pronunciation and I made it my business. My own dancing and performing, in general, make me happy. Whenever I hear music I want to dance.

We are what we say.
I feel happy when I discuss nice things in a nice way. Often people try to involve me in negative discussions. I try to escape such conversations by not responding much.

I feel happy when I learn languages, particularly pronunciation (I find grammar very boring). When I speak in a beautiful way I feel happy and even a little excited. I mastered my speech by taking elocution lessons.

We are what we hear and what information we absorb
I feel happy when I sing and listen to good music. I feel happy when I hear a beautiful voice
For example, I feel unhappy when I hear BBC news constantly trying to put fear in peoples’ heads, so do not listen to them.

I feel happy when I hear a good clear speech.

Part of my work is helping others master their speech. My team has developed nine iOS and nine Android apps to help people master beautiful English speech.

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82. My first public speech

13 November 2020
By Olga Smith

I joined the oldest public speaking club in London in 2004. People in my club were seasoned public speakers with very sophisticated English. I, on the other hand, had a very quiet voice, a strong Russian accent and monotonous speech. People always asked me to repeat what I said as they didn’t always understand what I was saying. On top of that, I didn’t have a job and had very limited resources which were depleting very rapidly in London. The level of my confidence was not the highest at that time. But I knew that I had to deliver my speech.

I prepared it and booked a timeslot for its delivery in the club. Everyone’s first speech in the club they called An Icebreaker. It is a speech where I presented myself to my club members. I vividly remember the night when I was presenting this first speech. I called it “Born behind the iron curtain”.

As I walked to the podium my legs were shaking. I had humming in my head, and when I finally faced the audience I could not see their faces. All the people looked to me like a big white mass. I had a short blackout. I was constantly thinking: I need to speak louder than usual so that people can hear what I say.

I started my speech. My voice was so loud that people in the front seats almost jumped. They were so surprised and looked quite shocked. I continued my speech and even started to smile towards the end of it. When I finished my speech I received a big round of applause. People in my club were so supportive and helpful, so positive and kind. Even now I can still feel enormous gratitude towards them.

I can compare this experience to jumping from a high cliff and being scared of the unknown, that was my fear - the unknown. On reflection, I can say that when I was overcoming my fear I felt so much alive and energised. The aftermath effect was that my confidence jumped to a much higher level. The 3 minutes speech was more effective for my confidence than anything else I had ever done. I continued to deliver my speeches and with each delivery, my confidence grew and grew.

I felt I would definitely benefit if I improve my pronunciation and someone in the club recommended that I take elocution lessons. The elements of elocution are voice control, articulation, and good pronunciation. Exactly what I needed to become a good public speaker.

I started my elocution lessons with a top speech and drama tutor Linda James in 2004. We started with mastering my RP ( Received Pronunciation). Then moved to intonation, stress, liaising - all that we teach in our books. In parallel, I had been delivering my speeches on a regular basis which was a great practice of all elocution techniques I had been learning with Linda.

In 2006, together with Linda, we co-authored our first elocution book. Later we produced four more books and converted them into apps. We have based our apps and books on years of practical experience and made sure to include all elocution techniques in them.

In conclusion, I can say that my first speech was the beginning of my success.

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81. 6 Benefits of reciting poetry for your speech

By Olga Smith

Poetry is an art form that exists since ancient times. Aristotle's Poetics describes the three genres of poetry: epic, comic and tragic. Aesthetics, colourful language, compactness of expression and the use of metaphor make poetry a source of enormous pleasures for us. It helps us to become more human, it enriches our soul, develops our creativity and so much more.

Reciting poetry is crucial in mastering speech, that is why speech tutors often use poetry in their elocution lessons. It is poetry that has undoubtedly contributed to the enormous popularity of our apps, books and elocution lessons.

I will outline six main benefits of reciting poetry for speech mastery.

N1: Reciting poetry helps to make your speech more fluent. You will learn very quickly how to liaise the words in each line, glide from one word to another without pausing. You see poetry is closely related to musical traditions. Each line in a poem is bound by a meter and it has a certain rhythm. The words in each line should be linked like in a song.

N2: Speaking in a connected way will also help you to learn how to “throw away” unimportant words, such as articles and prepositions and use dramatic stress. Learn more about “throwing away”, a term used by actors in our blog about fluency.

N3: Particular poems are wonderful for articulation, such as Major General from W. S. Gilbert for example. You can find Major General in lesson 32 in the app Get Rid of your Accent. Good articulation is crucial for your speech clarity. It makes your speech more energised.

N4: Poetry is fantastic for practising power, pitch, pace and pause of your voice to make your speech interesting to listen to. Many students who take our elocution lessons complain that their speech is boring and monotonous. We created a wonderful app entitled Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause to help you make your speech interesting to listen to.

N5: Speech is a very technical subject. It requires a tremendous effort from both sides of the teachers and the student in order to make good progress. Using poetry makes this process more light-hearted and entertaining. When students have fun they are more likely to enjoy working on their speech.

N6: Reciting poetry will immensely enrich your English vocabulary. We recommend that you memorise new words, phrases and metaphors in the context, then try to use them in your speech.

In our apps and books, we start each elocution lesson with a bit of theory. Then we follow up with practical exercises such as words, phrases, sentences and prose passages. As a rule, we end each lesson with a poem or two as a reward for our hardworking students. In our apps you first listen to an actor reading a poem, then you can read it yourself and record it. Then you can compare your reading with the professional actor’s reading. We recommend that you copy the actor’s pronunciation and intonation.

We also offer one to one sessions on Skype. Read the feedback from our students.

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80. Sources of strength

By Olga Smith

What makes us strong? Obvious things like good sleep, good food, sun, vitamins, etc. Yet, there are people who seem to have a great lifestyle but nevertheless look empty. What makes people look empty? There can be a number of reasons: lack of purpose in life, lack of self-confidence and low self-esteem. But what can be the cause of all these problems?

Let’s think about what we consist of. We are children of our parents. Our parents are only humans, they have their strengths and weaknesses. As their children, we inherit both, their strengths and their weaknesses.

As we grow up once we have recognized our parents’ weaknesses, we often criticize and reject them. So-called experts in psychology tell us that we should honour our feelings and respect our boundaries and if we do not love or respect our parents we have the right to do so.

Indeed, our parents might have hurt us, and we can feel pain as a result. But does the rejection of our parents and focusing on their weaknesses benefit our life today?

I came to the conclusion, that it is more productive to see our parents as humans and focus on their strengths. If we focus on their strengths it can become a tremendous source of strength for us.

79. The difference between the spoken word and the written word

By Olga Smith

The difference between the spoken word and the written word

Many tech people make a common mistake: they write their speeches as if it is a technical article. As a result, when they start to deliver their speech, their audience could find it convoluted and boring.

What is the difference between a technical article and a speech? Below are a few essential tips to prepare a good speech:

  1. The focus is not simply on words and phrases but more importantly on how you say it and how effectively you deliver the speech to engage the audience with the use of pauses, changes in the power, pitch, and pace of your voice.

  2. When delivering your speech you need to use short sentences and short punchy words as opposed to long sentences and long words which we use when writing an article. This technique will help your audience to understand your speech and enjoy listening to it, otherwise, they might not get your point and lose interest quickly.

  3. When we write an article, our language contains much more details, whereas speeches tend to have the main ideas presented in a powerful way.

  4. It is useful to get rid of unimportant words in your speech because the main idea might be drowned in a sea of unnecessary words.

  5. Download the app Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause and have a few elocution lessons to master the 4Ps of public speaking.

  6. Download the app Fluent English Speech to master sentence stress and intonation.

  7. If you use abbreviations and technical vocabulary, make sure you explain them first so that your listeners can follow what you are saying.

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78. Why is language considered crucial to human development?

By Olga Smith

Language is a mystery to me.

Some writers believe that language is given to humans by God, scientists suggest that language is a part of human evolution. I agree with both viewpoints. I will explain why. When I read masterpieces of literature I feel the magic and beauty that cannot be connected just to the brain. At the same time, I see how our brain development is mirrored in the language we speak.

We communicate our thoughts and feelings through language. From our childhood, we learn by means of language. Later we understand the abstract concept by means of language.

When I was a secondary school pupil my Dad would not let me go out to have fun unless I read 50 pages a day. I was a hyperactive child and that felt so boring for me. However, today I am grateful to my Dad as I understood that reading was crucial for the development of my soul, my character, my personality. Reading helped to expand my imagination, my consciousness and to become creative.

Since I was a child, I started to learn foreign languages. To date, I speak five languages and I have co-authored five books on English speech. Due to their enormous success, the books were converted into nine iOS and nine Android apps.

Our books help people to master English pronunciation, fluency and vocabulary. Our books also help with the use of 4Ps, Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause; techniques for voice modulation and public speaking. 4Ps help us to connect with our feelings and our unique way of expressing ourselves. 4Ps help to communicate in a beautiful and artistic way.

I regularly receive feedback from the students who study with our apps and books and see, how with their help, they grow as humans, professionals and leaders.

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77. The most effective method of teaching English pronunciation

By Olga Smith

There are a number of different strategies for teaching English pronunciation. I would like to offer the method that we use in our apps and books. It was developed by Linda James, LRAM, R.A.M. Dip. Ed. Linda has been teaching speech (Received Pronunciation), which in the past was called the Queen’s English, Oxford English or BBC English) in leading London drama schools for more than 20 years and elocution lessons to foreign professionals for more than 30 years.

In our elocution apps and books, each lesson begins with an illustrated description of the speech organ position, followed by practical exercises. The exercises consist of words, phrases, sentences, tongue twisters, verses and passages.

Here are some essential tips for teachers of English pronunciation:

  1. Start slowly with the list of words and concentrate on the target sound, then move to phrases and sentences without losing the sound

  2. Use the rhythmical exercises to develop fluency

Students who took elocution lessons based on our apps and books told us that they really enjoyed them due to the following reasons:

  • Its' an amazing language from classical literature and poetry as well as everyday English which students find extremely effective and interesting.

  • Each chapter has a substantial volume of exercises to master one English sound or a particular speech pattern such as consonant elision, for example.

  • The way this book is written is fun, easy and effective. Many English textbooks are written in a dull and boring way. We use non-predictable sentences and lots of rhymes which are wonderful for teaching English pronunciation.

In conclusion, I would like to say that when students have fun when they find the material interesting and amusing they are more likely to enjoy the learning process and to achieve better results.

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76. What are my 12 rules for life?

By Olga Smith

  1. I always have goals and tasks to achieve these goals. Small steps or tasks to achieve my goals should be performed on a regular basis until the goal is reached.

  2. I value my time and ask myself a question: does what I do now lead me towards my goal or away from it? Time is the most valuable resource, or as they say: time is money. I would add to that time is also an opportunity in a certain period of time.

  3. I focus my attention and energy on my goals and get rid of people and actions who take you away from your goals. In the time of the internet, social media and access to millions of people there is a danger that I can be strayed away from my goals and end up wasting my time on other people goals.

  4. Honour my feelings. All I have is a present moment. What do I feel right now? Am I comfortable? What can I do to feel even better? Am I relaxed or tense? Feeling good in the present moment improves the quality of my life.

  5. I do sport for 1–3 hours a day. It is an investment in my health and beauty, looking and feeling great.

  6. I immediately defeat the fearful thought. Fearful thoughts are the most dangerous foe a person can have.

  7. I make decisions quickly and act confidently. I might make mistakes along the way which I can correct. When I feel that my thinking process becomes too long and leads me to inaction and paralysis I decide and act. This way I avoid being just a dreamer and become an achiever.

  8. If I have nothing nice to say I say nothing. I avoid discussing negative things and do not allow other people to drag me into negative discussions. The thing is that I want to stay in high energy and do not want negativity to lower it.

  9. Business first, pleasure second. I prefer to complete my business tasks first and use pleasure as a reward for my work.

  10. I sleep a lot. Fo me, my sleep is the source of good mood, good health and beauty.

  11. I follow the sun. I make sure to spend time in the sun, it is the source of my happiness.

  12. I am honest with myself and sincere with others.

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75. The way to enhance our self-esteem and social standing

By Olga Smith

What is the best way to feel good about ourselves and stand out in a social or professional environment? 

How can we upgrade ourselves? There are several tools people often use: they buy a house in a smart area, or a fancy car, a new suit or shoes. They go to Cambridge or Oxford. I can continue this list. But, when they open their mouth and start speaking their image and social standing can be destroyed if their speech is uneducated or dull and boring. On the contrary, if you possess the art of rhetoric and have beautiful speech, people will inadvertently respect you almost on a subconscious level. In England, speech stamps a person’s identity like a brand. It reveals our social and emotional intelligence, education, social class and economic position. That is why people have elocution lessons.

What are the aspects of speech we need to think about to enhance our social image and increase our self-esteem. I would like to online two main aspects of speech: 

  1. What do we say?

  2. How do we say it?

The number one skill to develop is to think before we speak. 

Before we start a sentence, let’s answers a few questions first: 

1. What outcome do we want to achieve as a result of what we say? 

2. Will our words be appropriate in the current situation and for people in this situation? 

Sometimes it is best to not say anything and just remain a pleasant listener. Often it is better to answer a question with “I don’t know”, instead of saying something in a rush.

The second thing to consider is our vocabulary. Do we use vivid language, metaphor and specific descriptive words or do we just use a minimalistic vocabulary? A minimalistic vocabulary will be understood by most. However, if we want to sound specific and articulate, express a certain range of feelings and emotions we need more words.

Tried and tested method to enrich our vocabulary is reading books, writing down new words and expressions and using them in our daily speech. Having elocution lessons is another way to master your speech. I have recently purchased a dictionary of metaphors because I realised that using a metaphor and symbolic language is a perfect way to sound interesting, be understood and influence others on a deeper level.

How you say it can be more important than what you say. Let’s consider a few questions. 

  1. Is our speech clear and easy to understand?

  2. Are we often being asked to repeat ourselves because people cannot understand what we said? 

  3. Do we speak too fast or too slowly? 

  4. Is our voice too loud or too quiet? 

  5. Do we use pauses or speak in paragraphs?

  6. Do we know how to stress key points in a phrase or sentence or do we drone on in a monotone and don’t stress anything or stress everything?

  7. Is our speech interesting and engaging or dull and boring?

  8. Is our tone of voice pleasant or there is something offputting about it?

How can we answer these questions? Very simply: choose a topic to talk about and records your speech. Then playback your recording and answer the questions above.

Speech mastery is a skill and it takes time and effort. To help you with this skill we have developed 9 iOS and 9 Android apps based on our bestsellers in the series Get Rid of your Accent. We can help you on this journey with your individual speech analysis and elocution lessons.

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74. Speech fluency in English

By Olga Smith

By Olga Smith

In this blog post, I will outline a very important area of elocution lessons: techniques for developing fluent and connected English speech. There are three main skills you need to master in order to speak fluent English:

  1. Contractions

  2. "Throwing away" skill, an expression used by actors.

  3. Connected speech patterns or liaisons

1) In good fluent speech the particle “not”, verbs “to be” (“am, is, are”), “to have” (“has, had”), “will” and “would” are shortened. The shortened version of a word is called a contraction. It’s important to use contractions if you would like to sound fluent, natural and more like a native speaker of English. Contractions are not usually used in written English except in dialogues and in informal writing.
There are several types of contractions. Here is an of examples from our book Get Rid of your Accent for Business and our app Business English Speech, a contraction of the verb “will” becomes a contraction ”ll” :

“You’ll need to find a better way to deal with your boss.”

If you do not use contractions in your speech, you will not sound like an advanced English speaker.

2) In natural speech, it’s important not to emphasize or stress too many words in a phrase or sentence. As a general rule, English tend to pick out the words which convey the meaning and lean on them, giving them a little more vocal energy. The rest of the words, English “throwaway”, an expression used by actors. This often means neutralising vowels, increasing the pace and diminishing the volume. In other words, “throwing away” means these unimportant words are not given the same length and vocal energy. “Throwing away” is a skill and it takes time and effort to master it. We deal extensively with this skill in our book Get rid of your Accent Part Two, Advanced Level and in our app Fluent English Speech. Here is an example of “throwaway words” which are underlined:
”At the end of the day, Linda was right about that.”

As you can see from this example, unimportant words are often articles, prepositions and verbs “to be", etc. To sound fluent connect prepositions and articles to the main word and pronounce them as one word.

3)The English tend to speak in phrases, often linking the words together. To sound fluent in English, liaise words that belong together in a phrase gliding from one word to another, almost pronouncing them as one word. How to liaise? It is very simple, connect the last sound of the first word with the first sound of the next word. In our book Get rid of your Accent Part Two, Advanced Level and in our app Fluent English Speech we outline several types of liaisons that you need to master to sound fluent.
Below is an example of one:
Liaise preposition to the following word: ”in addition, from London, in town, from home, in context

In our elocution lessons, we teach students all these skills:

  • contractions

  • which words they need to “throw away”

  • how to connect words in a phrase or sentence

  • what to stress in a phrase or sentence

We have also published a video course with elocution lessons to master fluency. In conclusion, I want to stress the importance of connecting words in English speech. Quite a few of our students were under the impression that separating words in a phrase or sentence makes their speech more clear which is wrong. In order to develop clear and crisp English speech, you need to work on phrase and sentence stress and articulation and at the same time linking words.

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