After the launch of my very first podcast, Fluent English Now! I have finally set up a PayPal account for the financial support and development of both my blog and my podcast. Hopefully, with the support of an international community and the global brand of PayPal, as well as Transferwise, I’ll be able not only to maintain both forums for you to develop your English speaking skills but also to upgrade my gear for said process.

I’m thinking of buying a microphone for a better audio experience for you, dear reader (and listener) as a first major investment. But then again, I might consider buying a Grammarly premium account to provide you with more quality and spell-checked written content.

These were just a few of my ideas of a possible future investment to kick up the level of quality and content of my channels a notch.

If you wish to support my project of bringing the non-English speakers of the world closer to one another, as well as their English speaking counterparts, by teaching communication strategies, you can do so by using the QR code of my PayPal account.

So, do you have any recommendations for me to build both a better blog and podcast at the same time FOR YOU? Please, share your thoughts with me here in the comment section.

And until next time, keep speaking English!

Dear Reader!

I believe it’s high time I introduced my fledgeling podcast to the wider audience. The title of the podcast is Fluent English Now! and as the title suggests, my goal as an ex-teacher of English, is to give a hand to those non-native speakers of English who are strugling with fluent speech in English. The concept of the podcast is, that by introducing communication strategies along with an ever-growing vocabulary, one can achieve a greater level speech fluency in English as well as other languages.

I’ll release a new episode every two weeks, for now. In the future, I might make an episode per week, if the reception is positive and there’s an actual demand for my content. To indicate such need, please leave me a constructive remark or opinion after the questions of each episode left on Spotify. Also don’t forget to leave me a rating after each episode for me to see if the direction the show’s heading towards is acceptable or not.

I’m going to leave a few links below, where you can listen to my podcast on a number of podcast players. The podcast is currently available on the following podcast players: anchor.fm, who made it possible for my podcast to start its journey (https://anchor.fm/lesliekarpati)

spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/2nDAx76kNm2ieK873acWcM)

Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fluent-english-now/id1593030156)

Google Podcasts (https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8yZTUxYmNkYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==)

Breaker (https://www.breaker.audio/fluent-english-now)

Castbox (https://castbox.fm/ch/4650200)

Pocket Casts (https://pca.st/bm62smrt)

RadioPublic (https://radiopublic.com/https%3A%2F%2Fanchor.fm%2Fs%2F2e51bcdc%2Fpodcast%2Frss)

With that being said, I announce to you, that the first episode of Fluent English Now! has been officially released as of 12th November 2021!

So, until next time, dear reader, keep speaking English! 🙂

Dear Reader!

Have you ever thought about what does the term fluency or verbal fluency mean? How does that translate to our everyday lives and YOUR LIFE as a language learner in particular? In this short blog entry I’m going to put down a few notions that we need to consider when talking about language fluency and how to teach it.

In layman’s terms, verbal fluency is most often understood as the ease and smoothness of one’s speech or verbal delivery. This means, that the more speedier your verbal reply to any sort of verbal action is delivered, the quicker you’ll be seen by outsiders and are more likely to be labeled a fluent speaker of the language. However, we also need to bear in mind that it’s not only the speed of our reply that matters, but also the number, position and length of hesitations, weather filled or unfilled.

If your speech is filled to the brim with hesitations, like uhm, ahm, hmm and so on and this occurs frequently, then your oratorship is most possibly flushed down the toilet in a matter of seconds. But hey, heads up! None of us are born to be Cicero or Churchill. It is the struggle of climbing the hill to Mount Fluent Speech that makes us great speakers!

Now, in order to become an apt speaker of any language, you need to understand that fluency is a tricky and elusive term. If your goal is to achieve a native-like rapidity at “delivering your verbal bullets”, you need to familiarise yourself with the following terms and notions: cognitive fluency, utterance fluency, perceived fluency, speed fluency, breakdown fluency and repair fluency. Sounds like a lot to take in? Don’t worry. Let me walk you through the garden maze of all fluencies.

• Cognitive fluency: the speed and ease/smoothness of how quickly one can build up their process of thinking and the likely utterance before actually saying a single word.
• Utterance fluency: the speed at which one delivers their message. Usually measured in syllables or words uttered per minute.
• Perceived fluency: the subjective assessment of the orator’s speaking skills and speech fluency, determined by the estimation and opinion of the observer.
• Speed fluency: the number of words and/or syllables one delivers within a specific time frame and the speed at which said words/syllables are uttered.
• Breakdown fluency: the number, length and position of filled and/or unfilled pauses in one’s speech. Here I need to notice that intermediate language learners often pause in the middle of an utterance and not at the end of a sentence or a trail of thought, like advanced or native speakers of the language are more likely to do.
• Repair fluency: the number of false starts or re-starts, partial or complete repetitions one applies during a given section of their speech.

I hope this short explanation cleared the dust for you, dear reader, regarding verbal fluency and all other fluencies. Next time, I’m going to describe a few techniques and methods you can use to improve your spoken fluency, using fluency-oriented tasks. Until then, keep speaking!

Dear Reader!

We all have a multitude of different potentials hidden within us. Some of us are apt at doing creative things with stationery, others are masters of the culinary arts and some are just great at number crunching or work miracles with their language skills. However, it’s always exciting to learn new things, hone your skills or master new arts and crafts. For this purpose, I’ve collected a number of websites that offer their huge collection of courses either free or at a modest price. With the insane number of things and goodies out there to master, let’s just jump into the thick of it!

Feel free to explore as many of them as you wish and browse through their online catalogue.

1. Canvas Network: Canvas offers an insane variety of courses on a multitude of topics for FREE. The plus point: all these courses are made by well-known universities and colleges for the public. https://www.canvas.net/
2. Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/
3. Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/
4. Udacity: https://eu.udacity.com/
5. Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/
6. Skillshare: Now this is the odd-one-out, for Skillshare is totally free…for a limited time. https://www.skillshare.com/

If you found any of these sites to your liking, your feedback is much appreciated!

🙂

Dear Reader! We all love reading. Whether we’re talking about traditional printed books or quick and easy to deliver e-books, we all love to gaze upon and digest written content. In this post, I’d like to share a website with you where you can find numerous e-books free to download quickly and easily.

A recent finding of mine is a website that gives the exact answer to the question “What should I read next?” Here’ a link to the site: https://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/index.php This site offers you tons of book recommendations based on the title or author you have read. Just type the title or the author’s name into the search bar and press enter to start your journey into the realm of incredible titles.

However, if you are more of a traditionalist who prefers the tactile approach to books, – while also not caring about murdering another tree or ent family – then you have plenty of websites that satiate your lust, hunger or thirst for printed titles. Some of the best known names are https://www.amazon.com/ or http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/.

But if you are still lost for what to read next, how about giving https://www.goodreads.com/ a try. The site will list all the books its ever-growing community has read and reviewed so far, thus allowing you to catch a glimpse at some of the more reputed, as well as the less appreciated jewels of the printing industry.

I hope this short text could help you finding your next awesome adventure into the magical world of reading, fellow bookworm.

Good reading!

     🙂

Dear Reader,

in this short entry I wish to share some insight about my PhD dissertation, along with the topic that currently fascinates me in relation to language teaching and studying.

For a starter, I’m a teacher of English and as such, have experienced quite a few obstacles of reaching proficiency in teaching English to different levels of students. The most crucial aspect of this was – in my personal point of view – the difficulty arising from speaking a foreign language fluently – or with just a minimal level of hesitation – despite all the years spent with practising English. And to our shame, the current Hungarian scene is no better either: despite teaching English as a foreign language since the 1980’s the current level of knowledge regarding foreign languages is pretty pathetic for us Hungarians, with only 6% of students learning two or more languages at our local schools.

And only a fraction of our teenager and adult population speaking at least one language actively (besides their mother tongue, of course).

To make matters worse, the current Hungarian government has just officially announced that all those who wish to enter higher education in Hungary, must be ready to have at least a B2/intermediate level of knowledge of a foreign language by the time they enroll on their very first course. All this should come to pass in 2020. To be fair, they have also announced that all those, who couldn’t acquire a language certificate up to the present moment, shall not fear, for their diplomas will be released to liven up the current labour market.

With bearing all that in mind I came to the conclusion that I need to focus my English teaching on speech fluency, as well as not neglecting the other skills required. However, last year my life came to a change: I withdraw from the teaching profession for a number of reasons and found myself in the social sphere instead, working as a legal guardian. Despite this shift in my professional life, I’m still deeply concerned with the issue of speaking a foreign language properly and effectively and as such, choose an adequate topic for my PhD dissertation: the role and usage of communication strategies in teaching English. To my thinking, these techniques are a possible boon for any language learner regardless of the language they must study in school or are studying for their own purposes and have a hard time holding their own in a conversation.

But what are communication strategies? To put it simply, they are methods and techniques that enable one to become a more fluent speaker of the language by helping them avoid the phenomenon called, “communication breakdown”. A perfect example of such methods is the use of synonyms and antonyms when the proper word simply doesn’t pop up in our head.

If you are further interested in the topic of communication strategies, feel free to like this post or leave a comment pushing me for further information and I shall describe these techniques and methods in detail in future entries.

Let me hear what YOU think about the issue of speaking a language fluently. How do YOU resolve situations where the cat got your tongue and YOU have to say something but YOU can’t? Do YOU feel that YOU are prepared for such occasions? Leave YOUR feedback in the comment section below.

Dear Reader! We have all been there: trying to memorize a whole bunch of words and phrases just to be able to speak in front of the class or to try to give our best during a language test, maybe a presentation. When such occasions arise we either try to cram in as much as we could inside our heads, or just to give up at all.

But some sought out alternative solutions to studying just words and fixed expressions. Let’s see one of these alternative solutions: introducing Clozemaster!

www.clozemaster.com

Clozemaster is a pretty neat way of studying a language right from the start. Whether you are a newbie or a veteran, the game-like features, the UI, the 8-bit dashboard will definitely grab your attention, especially if you are into retro gaming style. What’s more, you will level up after each time you successfully reach the end of a level (see my first pic on my current level).

The free users can only practise their vocabulary, while premium users have access to both listening and speaking activities as well. In addition, you can choose between multiple choice like tests and text inputs, the latter one rewarding you with double the points than the previous one, every time you score points.

So, instead of just rote learning one word after another, you can see the words working together to form complex and natural sentences. Some are easier and you can quickly anchor them down in your head while others require a bit more patience and practice, depending on the level you’re studying, your mother tongue and your language skills. But fear not! For Clozemaster always showes you the correct result and takes you back to the sentence that needs more practice right before the end of the round. And if you need more, feel free to review all the sentences you have mustered so far! Or go for a ride on the wave of grammar challenges where the task is the same, but you will be required to do a bit of an accuracy tests instead. 😉

The sheer number of learnable languages on the site is rather staggering. As an English speaker you can learn from Afrikaans and Arabic through Greek and Hungarian to Welsh and Yiddish!

Finally, here are a few screenshots of my dashboard and my score. I’m studying German at the moment with the help of the site and I enjoy it greatly! 🙂

Kedves Olvasóm! Korábban már írtam arról, hogy mi a blogom célja és rendeltetése. Ha ez esetleg elkerülte volna a figyelmedet, kérlek olvasd el itt: https://wordpress.com/page/fluentspeechblog.com/1

Arra azonban nem tértem ki, hogy pontosan HOGYAN is tervezem ezt a fajta tájékoztatást és tanítást, népoktatást. Nos, most erre szeretnék röviden kitérni.

A blog célja elsősorban az idegennyelvi beszédfolyékonyság (fluencia) növelése. Ez természetesen nem jelenti azt, hogy a többi készség (olvasás, írás, hallott szövegértés; esetleg fordítás, tolmácsolás) nem lenne fontos, vagy nem kellene fejleszteni, de tapasztalatom szerint a nyelvtanulóknak, illetve nyelvet használóknak sokszor a folyékony beszéd okozza a legnagyobb kihívást. (Ez természetesen a elsődlegesen a nem-anyanyelvűekre vonatkozik.)

A blogot bilingviálisra (kétnyelvűre) terveztem. Ennek oka abban keresendő, hogy bár főleg magyar nyelvtanulóknak szánom az itt található tartalmakat, mégis, a mai globális világban nem árt, ha az embert a nemzetközi porondon is jegyzik. Éppen ezért az itt olvasható bejegyzések egyaránt elérhetőek lesznek magyarul és angolul egyaránt.

Emellett nem árt, ha tudod, hogy azért én is emberből vagyok és néha előfordul, hogy kicsit érzékenyebb, személyesebb tartalmakat is feltöltök erre az oldalra. Természetesen ezeket a szövegeket nem kell elolvasnod, ha nem akarod. Véleményezésre mindig van lehetőség az egyes írások kapcsán, de EZT CSAK KULTURÁLT FORMÁBAN, ÉSZÉRVEKKEL ALÁTÁMASZTVA FOGADOM EL! Természetesen minden esetben fenntartom magamnak a jogot és a lehetőséget, hogy bármely durva, sértő, nem odaillő megjegyzést eltávolítsak az oldal zavartalansága érdekében. Kérlek, erre légy tekintettel!

A fentiek tükrében szeretnék különféle offline és online forrásokat felkínálni, amelyek remélhetőleg hozzájárulnak az idegennyelvtudásod elmélyítéséhez és kiszélesítéséhez. Ezek között a tartalmak között szerepelnek tanulást segítő weboldalak, blogok, könyvek, film, zene vagy éppen sorozatajánló. Ezen források esetében két fontos szabályt kell mindig szem előtt tartanod:

1. CSAK ÉS KIZÁRÓLAG KIPRÓBÁLT DOLGOKAT AJÁNLOK NEKTEK! Semmi olyat sem szeretnék bárkinek felkínálni, amit előzetesen legalább egy rövid ideig nem teszteltem, hiszen így nem lehet hiteles a bemutatás!
2. BÁRMI, AMI NEKEM BEVÁLLT, VAGY TETSZETT NEM BIZTOS, HOGY NEKED IS MŰKÖDNI FOG! Ez bármivel így van, nem kell meglepődnöd. Vannak olyan módszerek, weboldalak, szolgáltatások, amelyek bizonyos embereknek kedveznek, míg mások kevesebb vagy éppen alig érzékelhető sikerrel fogják használni. Ennek ellenére mindenkit arra biztatok, hogy bátran tegyen egy próbát az itt felkínált lehetőségekkel!

Akkor hát, kalandra fel!

🙂