Best way to improve your spoken english.

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Hello,

I've been lately trying hard to improve my spoken English. I've been doing this by watching "Sherlock Holmes" Episodes premiered on Granada Television featuring Jeremy Brett. It is a quite a very old series but still the best to watch. All this videos are with subtitles, so that is an added bonus for non-native speakers.

youtube. com/user/MySam55/videos?query=sherlock

Don't forget to remove the space between the url, I can't post it as I've fewer post count.

These videos are fun to watch and also improve your English. It's my first contribution to this community, hope you guys like it.


Thank you.
 

Natalie1991

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I think the best way to improve your English would be to talk to a native English speaker and have the speaker correct you. I used to help Japanese students over skype several months ago and it helped them a ton.

But, if you are unable to do that, watching Engish programs are probably the next best thing.
 

mathias_r

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I agree to Natalie that talking to natives is probably the best method.

However, I consider watching films less productive than listening to the radio. When watching something you needn't to understand a lot of the dialogues because the visual input is often sufficient in order to grasp the storyline. Therefore my recommendation is to look out for well produced radio programs.
 

Natalie1991

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Mathias_r,

I agree when you say listening to the radio is a good idea, but I do disagree with you about watching television. I think that watching television can be more beneficial than radio because of the visual input. Visual input is important because the learner can make connections with the dialogue and the scenes. This can help by understanding certain slangs and expressions that can be confusing otherwise.
 

Yanling

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It's no doubt that talking to a natvie speaker is one of the most effective ways to improve one's spoken English.
I had language exchange with an American before, who always corrected any mistake I made on the spot. For some people, it may sound embarrassing and even intimidating, but I found it quite helpful if you really want to speak good English.
It's a pity that I have already quit the practice ever since I graduated from college , though. It's just so hard to find a suitable time to do language exchange after I started to work, and it costs a lot to pay for a one-on-one English tutor. Therefore, I simply adopt the same method as jainhimanshu703.
The TV series I'm watching now is "Grey's Anatomy," which is a medical drama premiered on ABC. Its script (from Season1-Season8) can be found online (on a French website, though). With all those lines written down, it allows me to pick up tons of slangs and expressions which I'll hardly find in the textbooks! And it surely make learning English a great fun. :-D
 

jobofmine

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I think it's definitely about using English in everyday life with English learners or even better with native speakers...otherwise your language is passive.
 

New_Applicant

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Here is my 2 cents. I believe, English is not an easy language to be fluent in writing and speaking in a short period, if you are not a resident of an English speaking county. Since it is not easy, you have to work hard to overcome your mistakes. But some people can learn faster. It depends on your previous experience and education. Like writing, you have to speak a lot without hesitation. And in the beginning, don't worry about your mistake, just speak as fluent as you can. In my opinion, slow speakers are doing better. So, learn to speak slowly in the beginning.
 

santimarti

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I fully agree with the second and third posts.
 

I'm With Stupid

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I agree to Natalie that talking to natives is probably the best method.

However, I consider watching films less productive than listening to the radio. When watching something you needn't to understand a lot of the dialogues because the visual input is often sufficient in order to grasp the storyline. Therefore my recommendation is to look out for well produced radio programs.
This is a good recommendation, and unlike BBC TV programmes, BBC radio programmes are available to listen to worldwide online. BBC Radio 4 has lots of drama and comedy programmes as well as documentaries.

I also think it's important to point out that you don't need to speak to a native speaker to improve your English, just anyone who's good enough to help you improve. I've met plenty of Europeans who've learned English to a near fluent level without ever speaking to a native speaker. Similarly, there are a lot of people in my current country (Vietnam) who think that 4 hours a week with a native speaker will improve there English massively, but never do any speaking practice outside of class because they see no value in speaking English to another Vietnamese person. The key is speaking English as much as possible, not saving it all up for the odd occasion you might have access to a native speaker.
 

secondside

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the best way is to listening english movies with english subtitles. in my opinion it's the easiest and the fastest way. and of course enjoyable :)
 
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I've made free TV show lessons (comprehension, grammar and vocabulary exercises with answers) for the Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett. So I agree that it's a wonderful show for learning English! You can find one of them on this squidoo page, but you can find the rest on my website.

English lessons for Sherlock Holmes - The Copper Beeches
 
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