I often hear that if your pronunciation in English is clear, your foreign accent doesn’t matter. Then why do I meet so many people whose English is intelligible and fluent, but they still cringe when someone asks where their accent is from? In this post, I’m gonna talk about having a foreign accent in the […]
Speaking fast doesn’t make you sound fluent
In this post I will discuss one of the biggest mistakes English learners make when they want to sound fluent. This is something that many people do but don’t realize that it makes them sound less clear. When we first start listening to native English speakers, we can’t even understand where one word ends and […]
Paralinguistics and how to sound like a native
Every now and then some of my Polish and American friends would tell me that they sometimes forget I’m not a native Polish or English speaker. As a side note, these are two languages I’ve learned as an adult. But it’s not because I never make mistakes. I’m not perfect and I’m definitely not sharing […]
Do you need feedback when you learn English?
Let’s talk about the power of feedback when we learn English. Do you actually need feedback? And why are some people so annoyed when they get corrected? Through my experience as an English learner and now a teacher, I’ve come to realize that there are two groups of learners – those who don’t want immediate […]
Fear of speaking English and how to deal with it
The sound of your voice
Back in the days when I worked in Journalism and had to interview people, I would record the interviews and then listen to them again before writing an article. This was easier for me than taking notes because it allowed me to just listen and be fully present while the interviewee was speaking. But when […]
The power of feedback and how it can help you
A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from Luca Lampariello, a polyglot I follow on social media, about receiving feedback when learning a foreign language. He argues that it is indeed very beneficial for learners to receive feedback, but it depends on the student’s level and the way the feedback is given. In other […]
