Catalan Boy  +  266600 Wed, 13 Sep 06 10:20 PM One of the most useful ways I've used is to download hits' lyrics, sing and memorize them . This way, if there's a difficult word that you always forget you only have to play the song in your mind and it will come effortlessly. sorry for my horrible English, I'm only a learner Catalan Boy Joined on Sat, Sep 9 2006 Barcelona, Catalunya New Member 07 Sorry for my English, I'm only a learner

	Lingual Bee  +  269018 Mon, 18 Sep 06 10:39 PM Based on my experience, I think you might be better off by talking to other non-native speakers whose skill level are about as same as yours. A linguist professor Stephen Krashen thinks the best way to acquire a new language is through "input comprehesion", which means you should read and listen to the materials that you can understand, and gradually build up your skill as you go along. It will also build up your self-confidence too. Therefore, it's not necessary that you will benefit the most from talking to native speakers, unless you are in a fairly advance level, or they are very skillful to handle non-native speaker's not-yet-fluent English. Good luck to your learning Lingual Bee Joined on Mon, Aug 21 2006 USA New Member 14 Lingual Bee

	Englishuser  +  269320 Tue, 19 Sep 06 01:50 PM Hi Lingual Bee, Therefore, it's not necessary that you will benefit the most from talking to native speakers, unless you are in a fairly advance level, I agree. I would definitely refer any advanced learners to native speakers. As long as they don't know more than the native speaker, of course. For very advanced people who seek to soften (and perhaps eradicate) their accent I'd recommend a language speech pathologist. Also native speakers may find accent softening nice, too. Englishuser Joined on Thu, Mar 30 2006 Regular Member 717 Accents

	Lingual Bee  +  269650 Wed, 20 Sep 06 03:47 AM Hi Englishuser, Thanks for the suggestion. I agree that working with a peech pathologist to reduce one's accent should be a logic step for the advance learner. What needs to be cautious, however, is to find the right one that matches your style. I once sat in an accent reduction workshop, which was taught by a great teacher.  But the problem was that she's very critical. As the result, I became so self-conscious about my accent that I couldn't present my idea clearly. Lingual Bee Accents

	Englishuser  +  271360 Sat, 23 Sep 06 05:37 PM Hi Lingual Bee, You said: What needs to be cautious, however, is to find the right one that matches your style. That's true. A good thing to do would be to give many different companies that offer accent softening services a ring, and to compare their offers. Talking to the speech pathologist directly before signing up might also be a good idea. Englishuser Englishuser Accents