How can I improve my Oral English in a few weeks?
By bjcyrix
@bjcyrix (6901)
Philippines
June 13, 2008 9:27am CST
Heya! Please help me in my Oral Communications class. We need to report, debate, submit a recording, pretty much everything in the class for the whole term. Its fine and good. I could do that any day but the huge catch is that we have to have an authentic American or British accent. Like thats gonna happen?!? Good thing that our prof told us that he understands it would be very difficult to be as authentic as possible because we are not Americans or British in the first place but he wants us to at least approximate the accent.
Our Midterm exam is next month and we have to report in front of the class accents and all. I dont know any Americans or British people in my area to converse with so I can practice and I think the term would be pretty much over if I do a hasty migration to America or Britain.
If there are any sites or any audio or recording or any other way that you can help me with this huge problem. It would be much appreciated. Please help! Thanks!
1 person likes this
4 responses
@ratyz5 (7808)
• Philippines
22 Jun 08
Try to listen for the lines given by some actors in the film, "Sliding Doors" directed by Peter Howitt 
perhaps there's viewable scenes at youtube 
Well, I guess that's close to english accents, would that be close to American or British?
perhaps there's viewable scenes at youtube
Well, I guess that's close to english accents, would that be close to American or British?
@bjcyrix (6901)
• Philippines
23 Jun 08
Thanks for the tip. Ill definitely check that out. You actually gave me good practice material since we will have an exercise in the near future where we will watch a movie but the prof will Pause it sometime then ask someone in the class to repeat the exact dialogue to see if we did understand what was said rather than interpreting the actions just to understand.^_^ As for the question I think it will be closer to or somehow a part of British accent because from what I know the term 'British accent' is a collective noun for all the accents spoken by native people in Britain. Thanks for the movie tip and the response.^_^
1 person likes this
@izzuyasha (348)
• Malaysia
13 Jun 08
For me,I listen to English songs and movies.Sometimes I copy dialogs from those movies and make fun of it with my friends.The most important is to have someone to speak with you i English.
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@bjcyrix (6901)
• Philippines
13 Jun 08
Hi! I grew up watching English movies and Ive actually tried to mimic their speech. The most recent one would be Professor McGonagalls' "Mr. Potter" line.LOL As for having someone to speak with me in English. Thats the problem. All the tourists here have gone home because the summer here is over and the foreign exchange students here are from Korea or China. Thanks for the advice. Guess Ill try to scout out those foreigners here.^_^
@izzuyasha (348)
• Malaysia
13 Jun 08
In oral tests,grammar is not really important because the examiner doesn't have time to decide whether your English is grammatically correct or not.What's more important is the content of your speech.Just be confident.Find a few friends that take the same subject and have a session where all of you have conversation in English.It doesn't matter if he/she is good at English or not,having someone to talk to in English is good enough.Good luck!
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@lokesh222nuthi (10)
• India
13 Jun 08
When you start speaking to others are shouting the lang to learn to others you will be learning easily.
Ok now you got it .
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@Anne19 (300)
• Philippines
25 Jul 08
I think what you should do is talk to a lot of native speakers of that language. If you have like relatives abroad and you have earphone and mic in your cp then you can ask them to talk to you everyday (that is, if they've already acquired the way native speakers do). If not, then maybe you can try chat rooms and look for some British or Americans, ask them if they can talk to you over the mic. In that way, you can be able to imitate their accents and the way they pronounced words. Hope I've given you some helpful ideas.
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