Chinese and English are very different in nature. The origin, development, historical and cultural background, use environment and communication methods of the two languages are completely different. This will inevitably affect "thinking in English". Therefore, when using this method, we must not be impatient. We should overcome the influence of history, culture and environment on "thinking in English", persist in using this method for a long time, form the habit of "thinking in English", and make "thinking in English" really play an effective role in oral English practice.
Second, oral practice should not rely too much on translation.
Many English learners often go through a psychological translation process in oral practice. In English conversation, it is customary to write a draft in Chinese first, then translate it into English and then express it. This complicated process makes it difficult for English learners to keep up with the speed of dialogue, which leads to unsmooth English dialogue and affects the expression effect. In English conversation, if you draft directly in English and then express it, you can make English conversation smooth, fast and effective, thus improving your spoken English.
Third, when using "think in English", don't be too bound by English grammar.
Grammar is of course necessary in spoken English, but grammar is not the iron law of language, but the induction of some linguistic phenomena. Language is conventional, so grammatical rules are often not immutable. The ultimate goal of language is to let the other party get information. In spoken English, "understanding" is the main purpose. When using "thinking in English" to improve oral English, don't think too much about English grammar, don't pursue "perfection" of words and structures, and don't be afraid of making mistakes. Only in this way can we boldly "think in English" and express the results of thinking.
Fourth, we should improve our listening comprehension in oral practice.
Many English learners have poor listening comprehension. Some simple English can't be understood by ears, but once written, it feels very simple. This is caused by over-reliance on the visual sense of words, rather than the "sound" of words. Oral English is an important means of language communication. Language communication includes two aspects: information transmission and information reception. If a person who is good at self-expression can't understand what others say, he can't achieve the purpose of communication and can't even think in English. In English VI language practice, only when you understand what the other party is saying can you think and achieve the purpose of communication.
Fifth, we should fully understand some characteristics of spoken English.
The characteristics of spoken English are manifested in English "rhythm", breathing frequency, sentence segmentation, emphasis and weakening of sound, shortening and ellipsis of words, sound connection and so on. Our thinking should also be rhythmic, focused and coherent. Only by combining the characteristics of oral English with "thinking in English" can our thinking keep up with oral practice and really improve oral English with "thinking in English".
In oral English practice. Simply think in English.
An obvious feature of spoken English is simplicity. Therefore, when thinking in English in oral English practice, try to think in simple and clear language first. Thinking about problems should also go from shallow to deep, from easy to difficult. Even when thinking about some complex problems, try to be simple. Only in this way can we ensure the coherence of our spoken English.
Seven, we should constantly enrich our common sense and imagination.
When using this method, if you have rich common sense and imagination, you can adapt to different themes and topics, and then you can open the space of thinking and let the language of thinking emerge in your mind. Our conversation will be lively and interesting.
To sum up, "thinking" depends on language, and "thinking" is also reflected in language. Correctly understanding and mastering this method is of great significance to improve our oral English, especially our oral English expression ability, so that we can speak English fluently.
Notes on spoken English 2 1. Oral English practice is seriously out of touch with other exercises.
Many students think that since oral English, listening, reading and writing are separated in the course, they should concentrate all their attention on a certain subject when studying. In fact, this is not correct.
First, as a communication tool, English should be used in combination with listening, speaking, reading and writing at all times. I remember a magazine once reported the story of an international student in America. The student's reading and writing ability can be said to be outstanding, but his listening and speaking level is not as good as an American 10-year-old child. As a result, his life in the local area could not be carried out normally at all. Of course, this example is extreme, but it also illustrates the importance of the combination of listening, speaking, reading and writing from a perspective.
Secondly, oral English and other subjects should complement each other. Some materials in listening, reading and even writing can be used as contact materials for oral English. On the one hand, it is convenient, on the other hand, you can check your level in time by comparing with each other. I would like to ask, what kind of embarrassing scene would it be if even the conversations repeatedly heard on the listening tape could not be completely and smoothly spoken from my mouth, and I had to conceive the content and organize the language myself?
Thirdly, oral English learning can promote listening, reading and writing. Children in New Zealand will start to write some simple compositions in the second grade. Content is nothing more than a description of yourself or a simple expression of things. The writing is not beautiful, and the description is not very vivid. But the content is very smooth. Why? Because most of them read silently while writing, and then write it down. If you don't speak fluently, you will naturally make grammatical mistakes, and of course you won't write them down. Moreover, if you speak more, you will be familiar with English pronunciation, and it will be of great benefit when you listen. Of course, they make a lot of spelling mistakes, but they are still children, so it won't be too much problem for everyone to say.
2. Pay attention to the objective progress of oral practice, not the mastery of the language.
I believe many students have had this experience, setting goals for themselves every day, remembering a few words today, remembering a few words tomorrow, reading a few common sentences today and remembering a few more tomorrow. I'm busy remembering the past. After a few months, I found that I just couldn't remember the sentences I knew when it came to practical use. In fact, the key lies in mastering the language, that is, understanding the language. Yes, there are only a few commonly used sentences in English. As I mentioned in my previous article, you can cope with 500 words in daily communication, but if you just do mechanical memory and ignore the understanding of the essence of language, the effect is not good. I have always advocated that everyone should pay more attention to language learning and raise it to the height of art, but unfortunately, in the eyes of most people, its value is only a brick.
3, quick success, blind obedience
(1) follow blindly, thinking that other people's good learning methods must also be useful to themselves. If you don't get the result, you just don't work hard enough. This idea misled many people, and many good seeds were delayed. In fact, the learning process is an extremely personal process, and the learning method, time arrangement and progress evaluation all need a set of standards suitable for you. Blindly following and imitating will only bring inconvenience to yourself.
(2) Being eager for quick success and instant benefit, being skeptical about one's own progress, constantly putting too much pressure on oneself in comparison with others' progress, and as a result, setting up many psychological obstacles for oneself, thus hindering one's study. In fact, no matter what you learn, learning is a slow process. The so-called thick hair is thin, which is the truth.
4. Learn more and use less.
Many students always complain that there are few opportunities to use English in China, and what they have learned will soon be forgotten. But as I said above, English learning is an extremely personal process, and because of this, the way of practice can be very free. For example, talking to yourself and speaking in public are all good ways. Of course, these are just a few examples. You still have to find your own way. In fact, there are many opportunities to use English, so you have to look for it with your heart. Don't flinch from good opportunities because you are embarrassed to show your shortcomings. The only use of shortcomings is to expose them, so don't avoid them, but face them bravely.
Notes on spoken English 3 1. Don't pay too much attention to grammar and coping with situations.
As the saying goes, "Practice makes perfect", as long as you listen more, speak more and practice more, you will naturally be able to speak fluently. I am most afraid that I want to be as complete and correct as Chinese from the beginning, and I dare not speak or think for a long time before answering. Remember, learning English conversation is the most shy. English is not our mother tongue, so don't be embarrassed if you make a mistake. As long as you can let the other person know what you want to say and answer the guest's questions, it's good.
At first, don't have the idea of speaking fluently. As long as you seize every opportunity to speak, it is the secret of progress.
2. Listen to the guest carefully, and ask when you don't understand.
When you learn English for the first time, you should practice listening and train your ears to keep up with the guests' speaking speed.
When receiving a guest, after confirming the meaning or requirements of the guest, you should confirm it again. If you don't understand anything, ask again immediately. Pretend to understand, it is easy to mistake others for yourself, absolutely not. If you still don't understand, you can say "please wait a moment" and give it to the guest and ask the superior to handle it.
Don't talk to your friends in English.
Hotel English conversation, based on business English, must be formal, polite and stylish, and informal English is not allowed when talking with friends. Guests are paramount, and hotels mostly entertain people with high social status or rich economy. Of course, you can't be rude at all. The hotel conversation is in formal English, so it will not change because of the age and gender of the interviewee. In addition, pay attention to avoid using the same way of speaking as the guests, so that the other party will mistakenly think that you are imitating. Here are some examples of the differences between formal English and informal English.
Points for attention in spoken English. Matters needing attention in spoken English
(1) Intonation-Learning spoken English requires attention to pronunciation and accent, sense of rhythm in word spelling, light and heavy sounds and so on. First of all, when learning spoken English, we need to make clear the difference between pronunciation and accent. English has only one pronunciation, but it can have many accents, mainly related to countries and regions. The main English-speaking country in the world is Britain, commonly known as British accent; The United States and Canada have North American accents; The accents of Australia and New Zealand are very similar. An excellent English interpreter will not be influenced by accent unless his pronunciation is accurate.
(2) The main classification aspects and occasions of spoken language.
Oral English is first used to communicate with the outside world. Mainly manifested in: staying in a hotel; At school; Sick; At the bank; About work; Dinner; At the airport; Transportation; Shopping; Phone call, etc. Interview English is mainly about entering a foreign company, job-hopping and interviewing English-related companies. Try to avoid Chinglish and learn more about the national culture and corporate culture of the foreign company you are applying for. Business cooperation: tourism, fashion, advertising, catering, media, animation and other business activities. English corner, English debate, English speech, English communication in daily life. Classroom, extracurricular activities and other aspects of campus life.
(3) Fixed collocations and sentence patterns in spoken English, as well as some typical sentence patterns in spoken slang. Please don't recite many words every day. You can't remember them when you speak English. Please remember: words do not rely on "thinking", but on "blurting out". Please don't recite words in the way that Chinese meaning corresponds to English meaning. Because you will find that your oral English is "speaking Chinese in English", you can recite a certain number of words every day as planned, and practice the recited words intensively, and finally apply them to actual situations.
(4) It is very important to imitate the speed and rhythm of oral English by listening and speaking, and to imitate reading with audio. For example, the content to be read is exactly the same as the audio. This requires you to consciously improve your pronunciation and then play.
You may find it difficult, right? Nothing you can do can stop it. The improvement of pronunciation is actually a depressing process, and only those who really love it will find the practice interesting.
Second, how to cultivate oral English?
1, oral training also needs to organize notes according to the situation, record special usage sentences, read intensively and take notes. When reading, we should pay attention to these aspects: preposition collocation, verb and noun collocation, whether adjectives are in place, lively expression or sentence pattern, etc. So that we can use English more and more accurately. Where you need to take notes is where you feel bright or comfortable and smooth.
2. Take part in English activities with strong atmosphere, which can be expressed directly in spoken English. But this premise is to choose the materials and methods that suit you according to your own foundation and level. Reading more books is of course beneficial, but if you don't even lay a good foundation, you will only get worse and worse, and the more you read, the more difficult it will be to understand. I can't express myself.
3. Appropriately increase the scope of English topics. Simply put, it is to absorb more foreign cultures and pay more attention to hot topics, including politics, economy, history and culture. Knowing more about the customs and habits of western countries is helpful to the output of spoken English. Because the overall composition of language is taken for granted, rather than being said casually at the beginning. Spoken English is usually spread by sound, just as English literary works often describe spoken English in written form.
Summary: In China, which is still developing, the practicality of English is more important. Among them, the immersion learning method advocated by English is also a practical oral English learning method, which is gradually recognized by the masses. In fact, if you want to improve your spoken English, the most important step is to say. Because daring to speak is the first step to success.