One of my Extraordinary English Speakers asked a great question:

“Is it necessary to have been living in a certain place for a long time in order to get good at the accent?”

Simply put, no.

It’s neither sufficient, necessary, nor in some cases preferable.

Okay, so what do I mean?

You can learn any accent you want even if you’ve never been there. Accent expert Amy Walker–whose EEC Interview about her methods goes live on Extraordinary English Speakers tomorrow–says that she learned the British Accent long before ever going to the UK. And indeed, she says that it’s often EASIER to learn an accent if you’re NOT there.

The reason why is, if people you know are used to you speaking a certain way, it can be psychologically very difficult to switch to a different accent.

But if you nail the accent first…

… then there’s no switch to be made.

The other thing is, just living in an English speaking country isn’t enough to pick up the accent. Regardless of WHERE you are, it’s gonna take work. Using Amy’s methods it’s pretty simple and you’ll get there wicked fast. But it’s still gonna take work.

Wanna know how to nail any accent (or accents) you like?

Well, you’re in luck.

Because last week I interviewed actress, singer and accent genius Amy Walker. She’s known for her ability to slip in and out of almost any accent you can imagine. And she was good enough to totally lay bare her entire system for getting really good at any accent. Like, indistinguishable from someone who grew up speaking that accent. Even if you’ve struggled with sounding “correct” before. Or speak a language that doesn’t have the same sounds as English. Or don’t live in an English speaking country.

Now, if you’re an EES member you’ll be able to access this interview.

But I’m also writing a new book.

It’s called “Nail Your English Accent”. It’s a compilation of all the things I’ve learned from interviewing accent experts over the years.

It’s out on September 1st, and you can (and should) pre-order your copy here.

Best,
Julian

P.S. Nail Your English Accent will almost definitely go up in price after it’s out, so pre-order it now to get the discount — Click Here.

Interesting question ー

“Which English accent is hardest to understand for you?”

I’ll give you my answer in a moment.

But first, have a think about this. That there IS an accent which is HARD for a native English speaker to understand is very, very important for you. People learning English often complain about understanding all the different accents.

But it ain’t just you.

Accents can be just as hard to understand for native speakers, too.

Well, if we’re not used to them.

For example, I’ve been to Cork in Ireland several times, and find the accent really easy to understand.

But up in Dublin?

Now that’s a different kettle of fish.

Twice I took a taxi, and twice I had NO IDEA what the taxi driver was rambling on about. They had strong accents (meaning different to what I’m used to) and they seemed to speak really, really fast. Of course, they didn’t. It just felt like that because I couldn’t catch the sounds quick enough.

Also high on my list are parts of Scotland the Highlands or Glasgow, for example.

People from Edinburgh?

No problem whatsoever. In fact the Edinburgh accent is very precise and refined. But a stone’s throw away in Glasgow?

Not. A. Chance.

Then there’s the farmers out down in Devon and Cornwall where I grew up?

Don’t. Even. Bother.

Nobody ain’t knowin’ wot he be saying.

That said, it turns out accents are actually pretty easy to learn. IF you know how to do it (not automatic to be sure, but not complicated).

Wanna know how to nail any accent (or accents) you like?

Well, you’re in luck.

Because last week I interviewed actress, singer and accent genius Amy Walker. She’s known for her ability to slip in and out of almost any accent you can imagine. And she was good enough to totally lay bare her entire system for getting really good at any accent. Like, indistinguishable from someone who grew up speaking that accent. Even if you’ve struggled with sounding “correct” before. Or speak a language that doesn’t have the same sounds as English. Or don’t live in an English speaking country.

Now, if you’re an EES member you’ll be able to access this interview.

But I’m also writing a new book.

It’s called “Nail Your English Accent”. It’s a compilation of all the things I’ve learned from interviewing accent experts over the years.

It’s out on September 1st, and you can (and should) pre-order your copy here.

Best,
Julian

P.S. I must admit, listening to Amy talk changed my mind about accents a lot.

I always thought of them as fairly uninteresting and even unimportant.

But Amy changed my mind.

Pre-order your copy of NYEA here.

Recently someone asked me:

“Why is it difficult to understand films in English?”

Good question.

Of course, there could be many reasons.

But the most common are —

(1) The method you use makes you think too much. If you’re thinking in your first language or about your words and grammar as you speak or listen to English, you’re doing something very, very wrong. A lot of people think because they don’t, say, speak well, they need to learn more grammar and vocabulary. But doing more of the same is actually making your problem worse. Keep doing the same thing, keep getting the same result, right?

Right.

Well, this’ll translate into not understanding things like films well too.

Because…

(2) You’ve not learned the language used in films.

Plain and simple.

You’ve learned the WRONG English.

This is by far the most common (and it’s true of any English you don’t understand or can’t speak well). I’ve done a lot of research on English learning materials such as textbooks, and the sad reality is that most of the language you learn in them isn’t actually that useful in the real world. In fact, Japanese secondary school textbooks are so different to real conversational English that it’s almost a different language altogether. Pretty sure this is true of other countries too.

But it isn’t just textbooks.

Other common mistakes people make is doing things like studying newspapers.

Now, that’s not a bad thing in and of itself…

… IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND NEWSPAPERS!

But clearly it’s a waste of time if you want to understand films — which are mainly conversational, spoken language.

The question then is…

What’s the best way to learn? And WHAT should you learn?

All is revealed in my book, Master English FAST, where I take you by the sweaty hand and lead you step-by-simple-step through the English-improvement process.

If you’ve been trying to improve for years but aren’t seeing progress…

You’d do very well to grab yourself a copy.

And if you don’t think it’s the best book you’ve ever read for transforming your English?

Just send me an email to a full refund any time before (or after) you die.

Click here to claim your copy.

Best,
Julian

P.S. Printed copies of MEF are running low.

Because I’m planning to move to Ireland in less than two months from now, I won’t be getting them re-printed.

So you might want to claim your copy while we still have them.

Luis Henrique asks:

“Hi Julian! In your personal opinion what’s the most important skill in English?”

Good question.

Here’s my answer:

When you’re speaking or explaining something, people who are REALLY good at English are able to do it concisely, using language appropriate to their audience — even if that means very simple words and expressions.

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

Apparently my good mate Albert Einstein said that.

Well, it’s true.

But it also means the way you sound.

Research has shown time and time again that people have a strong aversion to difficult to understand accents and pronunciation.

When asked to judge an English learners proficiency, native speakers always judge people who clear accents to be the highest level (even if they’re actually not). Other research shows that we naturally distrust people with strong accents.

Now, this doesn’t mean you have to sound like a Brit or like an American. It means you need to be clear and easy to understand.

Clarity also comes into the actual things you say.

When I was first in Japan I’d often try to use very British humour in Japanese. But it didn’t work — people were just confused and didn’t understand why I was saying things like, “lovely weather today!” when in fact it was raining.

Now, hopefully you’ve noticed a common thread through this whole email…

Being able to use clear, simple English, far from being “basic” and “beginner”, is actually very, very advanced.

It’s EASY to sound like shit, say the wrong things and confuse the hell out of people with words that make little sense. But it takes skill to laser focus your English in the most effective, slick way possible.

If you’re not able to do that?

All is revealed in my book, Master English FAST, where I take you by the sweaty hand and lead you step-by-simple-step through the English-improvement process.

If you’ve been trying to improve for years but aren’t seeing progress…

You’d do very well to grab yourself a copy.

And if you don’t think it’s the best book you’ve ever read for transforming your English?

Just send me an email to a full refund any time before (or after) you die.

Click here to claim your copy.

Best,
Julian

P.S. Oh, the term “laser focused” …

Interesting collocation.

It means something that is very, very focused… but contrary to popular belief lasers are made up of parallel light waves and so technically can’t be focused.

Just saying.

Grab yourself a copy of Master English FAST.

Occasionally I review academic papers.

Now, this is about the only thing I do on a volunteer basis.

But why?

Well, mainly because I enjoy it. But hey, a bit of goodwill towards journals can only make getting my own research published easier, right?

Right.

Don’t know if you know how scientific publishing works, but an author submits a research paper then it goes it to be reviewed by two or three people. It’s all anonymous (well, it’s supposed to be… some people give themselves away though) and ensures top quality, blah blah blah.

But anyway, the paper I reviewed today was a good one.

The author did a study of function word mistakes in Korean English learners. Things like, “a”, “the”, “of”.

You get the idea.

Well, the twist was that the author looked specifically at CHUNKS and mistakes made as a part of them (and almost all function words are actually a part of a chunk… ‘cos that’s how they work).

The overall conclusion was that we can (and should) be teaching chunks as a way of helping people stop making mistakes with these words. Because by looking at the whole chunk—not the mistaken word—it’s really, really easy to fix.

This is something I’ve been saying for ages.

But hey, the academic world is slow to catch up with greatness like me, apparently.

The point is, some researchers (one in particular who I won’t name but he’s a twat) claim that those tricky little words like, “a” and “the” are unlearnable and impossible to master. But that’s bullshit — simply means the teaching methods don’t work.

Doesn’t mean other approaches don’t.

So there we have it.

Wanna stop making mistakes with those pesky little words?

Learn in chunks.

If you’re not sure how to do that check out my book Master English FAST, which goes into detail about how to learn fluent, natural (and mistake free) English from the start.

Best,
Julian

P.S. If you’re struggling to improve your English MEF walks you through he process step-by-simple-step — claim your copy here.

What is the closest language to English?

Well, that depends.

If you consider Scots (as in that stuff spoken in Scotland that’s not English or Scottish Gaelic) to be a language then it’d be Scots.

That said, there’s no real consensus among language exerts as to what really constitutes a dialect or a separate language… and Scots is particularly tricky. While some people think it’s a language, many others say no, it’s a dialect. Now, since Scotland also has Scottish Gaelic (which is very much a separate language) I’m inclined to say Scots is a dialect…

Which makes the answer…

… Frisian.

Or rather I should say, the Frisian languages.

Because actually Frisian isn’t one language… it’s three. West Frisian, spoken by around 450,000 people in the Netherlands, North Frisian spoken by about 8000 people in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany and Sater Frisian… spoken by about 2000 people in the German state of Lower Saxony.

Great.

So how similar are English and Frisian?

Not very.

Both English and Frisian come from West Germanic, but they started going their own separate ways all the way back in the 6th Century when West Germanic became Anglo-Frisian and then split into Old English and Old Frisian. The later became Frisian, and Old English became Middle English after the battle of Hastings, then eventually turned into Modern English.

If you listen really carefully… you can catch a few things.

And there are a lot of words that both English and Frisian share like “Dei” and “Day”.

But really it just sounds like Dutch to me.

Though apparently Dutch people can’t really understand it either.

Anyway…

I can’t say Frisian is high on my list of languages to learn.

But if I WERE to learn it…

I’d start by learning the words which DO overlap with English first, following the principals laid out in my book Master English FAST.

[Julian]