http://www.englishforums.com/search/pro.htm?q=tag%3aBritish+English+tag%3aLearning+English+tag%3aLiteratureSearch results for 'tag:British English tag:Learning English tag:Literature' matching tags 'British English', 'Learning English', and 'Literature'en-USCSMOD (Build: 3273.32735)http://www.englishforums.com/English/WrittenEnglishSpokenEnglish/drgxv/post.htm#252539Sat, 05 Aug 2006 01:14:14 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:252539nef Patricklui wrote Hello I am new to here My mother tongue is Cantonese and I like to polish my English It s known that English has two different versions spoken and written I have been learning English since I was a child and my written English is not too bad because this is what I have to master in order to pass most exams However when it comes to speaking in English I often don t know what to say and struggle for words Though I am in a city where many Englishes live and work in I hardly make any native friends what means I lack an language environment My problem is How can I learn more about the spoken version of English the way that natives speak Can you suggest some free online material focusing on spoken English Looking forward to your reply Hello Patricklui I work in an ESL program and I know that your situation is very common Some students speak better than they write or read Some read and often write better than they speak Some are more or less at the same level in everything but these seem to be rare I d suggest listening to English on the radio and watching some English television if possible Be careful which programs you choose For one thing given your location it may make more sense for you to listen to British English than to listen to North American English For another thing some shows aren t much like real conversation Also when you can listen to people speaking English around you possibly on a bus or while you are having something to drink or reading a newspaper someplace Do you think these speakers sound like you sound Do they abbreviate things you might not abbreviate example Want to go or even Wanta go versus Do you want to go Do they use different inflection raising and lowering the pitch of their voices than you usually do Would you understand a lot of what they said if they slowed down My strongest suggestion is to take a class in conversational English if you can Look for a class that focuses on practical communication An intensive conversational class one that meets frequently and for fairly long amounts of time would be good if you could manage it Again try to find a class that focuses on conversation not on writing not on reading not on reciting long passages not on learning about literature not on a combination of these things Talking listening understanding using asking questions learning more Another possibility perhaps hard to find and not cheap would be a class that focuses on pronunciation This is more specific than a class that focuses on conversation Still more specific would be working with a speech coach or therapist who focuses on accent reduction You might not need either of these two Try other things first Spend some more time on this forum particularly in the areas where you think you need help I think Www eslcafe com is another good forum See what other people are doing to improve their speech If possible ask a few proficient English speaking acquaintances for feedback and suggestions Practice saying common phrases the way you have heard proficient English speakers say those phrases Good luck http://www.englishforums.com/English/IntroUsefulSitesParticipants/hdgjd/post.htmFri, 18 Jul 2003 11:13:55 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:601276usenet I am posting these Intros while Donna Richoux is away Maria Last Revised 2003 05 23 23 May 2003 Contents of Intro B Useful Web Sites for AUE Participants Where to find previous postings Where to learn about ASCII IPA Learning English as a Foreign Language Audio Archives Word lists On line dictionaries general On line dictionaries Historical and Special Purpose Acronyms and abbreviations Sites on words and language Writing and Grammar Guides On Line Encyclopedias amp Search Engines British English Black English African American Vernacular English Ebonics Historical English and English Literature Where to find previous postings If you suspect your topic has already been discussed even though it is not in the FAQ please check for articles following the appropriate search guidelines at the Google Usenet archive which holds articles since 1995 http groups google com advanced_group_search Where to learn about ASCII IPA ASCII IPA is a way of expressing pronunciation on Usenet It is a version of the International Phonetic Alphabet using only the ASCII symbols basic keyboard characters There s a guide to ASCII IPA including illustrative sound files at http www alt usage english org ascii_ipa_choice htmlA detailed specification of the ASCII IPA transcriptions scheme including tables showing the mapping to and from IPA characters can be found at http www kirshenbaum net IPA ascii ipa pdf Learning English as a Foreign Language Good entry points to the many resources on the Web are English as a Second Language http www rong chang com Dave s ESL Cafe http www eslcafe com The Taiwan Teacher http www geocities com Athens Delphi 1979 links htmlEnglish as 2nd Language http esl about com once true amp ELTWEB http www eltweb com ESL Resources at Purdue University covers common grammar issues http owl english purdue edu handouts esl 1 language com The Comprehensive ESL Site http www 1 language comSee also Writing and Grammar Guides On Line below Audio Archives The a u e Audio Archive Listen to sound files of speakers from England Canada Ireland and the US saying Bother Father caught hot coffee in the car park and other examples of differing accents Reach via IDEA the International Dialects of English Archive Large collection of MP3 speech files from around the world http www ukans edu idea Fonetiks sound clips of 6 kinds of English plus 9 other languages http www fonetiks org Pronunciation Voice of America 3000 soundfiles of placenames amp people http ibb7 ibb gov pronunciations University of Lausanne Phonetics Course pronouncing sounds http www unil ch ling english phonetique api eng html Word lists Brian Kelk maintains a Web page with pointers to numerous wordlists on the net for UK English US English and a number of other languages Many are bare lists of words but some have other info There is also information on word and letter frequency and on phonetic alphabets Alpha Bravo The page has recently moved to http www bckelk uklinux net menu htmlThe Moby Project has large downloadable lists of words Hyphenator 5 Language Parts of Speech Pronunciator American Shakespeare Thesaurus and American Words http www dcs shef ac uk research ilash Moby The National Puzzlers League provides a search engine for words listed in a number of dictionaries including W2 and SOED http www puzzlers org secure wordlists grepdict html On line dictionaries General Please look up simple questions of meaning and origin in a dictionary before posting to the group There are now several large recent dictionaries on line to choose from Merriam Webster Collegiate 10th Edition 1994 With US pronunciations http www m w com netdict htmOnelook which searches over 500 dictionaries at a single stroke http www onelook com Dictionary com based on the American Heritage Dictionary http www dictionary com Cambridge International Dictionary also Idioms amp Phrasal Verbs http dictionary cambridge org American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms select topic language http xrefer com search jsp Encarta World English Dictionary http dictionary msn com Macquarie Dictionary Australian http www macquariedictionary com au Random House Webster s College Dictionary no etymology http www infoplease com encyclopdict htmlThe Web of On line Dictionaries with links to many bilingual slang hobby science etc dictionaries http www yourdictionary com Xrefer com with over 30 specialty dictionaries including slang idioms placenames and quotations Many are Oxford publications http www xrefer com search jsp Word Net includes X is a kind of and X consists of http www cogsci princeton edu wn On line dictionaries Historical and Special Purpose Webster s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language http www christiantech com Webster s 1913 Revised Unabridged Dictionary http humanities uchicago edu forms_unrest webster form htmlThe Century Dictionary 1914 12 volumes scanned http www global language com century The Oxford English Dictionary is available for a subscription fee http oed comHobson Jobson Anglo Indian Glossary 1903 http dsal uchicago edu dictionaries hobsonjobson The Jargon Lexicon the Jargon File or New Hacker s Dictionary computer and hi tech terms Various copies on line including http jargon watson net com lexicon asp L 0 Acronyms and abbreviations Onelook above finds many initialisms Two other searchable databases are http www ucc ie info net acronyms acro htmlhttp www AcronymFinder com Sites on words and language The a u e webmaster has arranged to link the indexes of many of these sites Enter your search word once at the AUE Website and get links to each place the term is discussed http www alt usage english org The Maven s Word of the Day formerly Jesse s A dictionary editor answers word questions Large archive http www randomhouse com wotd Common Errors in English Tips on hundreds of confusing words and pairs such as affect effect adapt adopt advice advise etc http www wsu edu brians errors errors htmlMichael Quinion World Wide Words Discusses new words and the reappearance of old ones Q amp A section http www worldwidewords org Evan Morris The Word Detective Answers questions on origins of colorful words and phrases Large archive http www word detective comJohn Lawler A linguistics professor gives masterful explanations of how language really works http www personal umich edu jlawler aue htmlsci lang FAQ language and linguistics questions commonly asked http www zompist com langfaq htmlTake Our Word the Weekly Word origin Webzine http takeourword com Dave Wilton s Etymology Page http www wordorigins org Etymology Online http www geocities com etymonline Sharp Points by Bill Walsh real life copy editing dilemmas http www theslot com sharp htmlAtlas of North American English Maps and articles on regional dialects in the US Knowledge of basic linguistics advised http www ling upenn edu phono_atlas Dialect Survey Maps and Results Over 100 US regionalisms http hcs harvard edu golder dialect maps phpWord2Word links to dictionaries translators language sites etc http www word2word com dictionary htmlFun with Words unusual words lists of oddities etc http rinkworks com words Word Ways The Journal of Recreational Linguistics http www wordways com Writing and Grammar Guides On Line Grammar and Style Notes by Jack Lynch http andromeda rutgers edu jlynch Writing Handbook of Style by Merriam Webster Inc http www mae ucsd edu mw hanstyle htmlGuide to Grammar and Writing by Charles Darling http ccc commnet edu grammar index2 htmTenses in English learn progressive continuous etc http ccc commnet edu grammar tenses tense_frames htmThe Online English Grammar by Anthony Hughes http www edufind com english grammar toc cfmVerbix conjugate any English verb other languages too http www verbix com languages english shtmlTwo style guides for British publications http www guardianunlimited co uk styleguide http www economist com library styleGuide Basics of diagramming sentences http www utexas edu courses langling e360k handouts diagrams The New Fowler s Modern English Usage select topic language http www xrefer com search jsp Bartleby two US style guides American Heritage Book of English Usage and Strunk s Elements of Style 1916 edition http www bartleby com The Internet Grammar of English modern grammar word classes etc http www ucl ac uk internet grammar The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University