Weekend words May 4th

What this episode covers

Hello everyone, good evening. Alan here from England, and this time I’m speaking without a text again. It’s always interesting for me to just speak without a text, because this is how we speak normally when we speak with friends or with, mm, people we know or work with, and sometimes with my podcast I like to do this because it makes it more natural. When you’re speaking with a text, it’s not quite the same as when you’re speaking just from your head, if you like, speaking aloud, as you would when you’re speaking with friends and family. And of course it means that you can hear when I pause, when I think about things a little more, and then when I decide to say something. And for those of you who are learning English, I think this makes it more interesting - maybe more difficult to understand, but also mmm, you can hear when I stop a bit, then start again. And that is how conversations go. When someone reads from a text we just follow the words on the paper, or on the computer screen of course. But when you’re speaking normally, you’re thinking of the words in your head and then you say them. And of course this cannot be continuous, it has to have some small stops and starts, and this I think demonstrates that it’s useful when, mmm, people are learning English and they can hear that a native speaker would also sometimes stop and think about what they are saying before they say something more. And I have people asking me quite often, how can they understand native speakers better? For instance, they may watch the news to TV or listen to the radio and the speakers are very fast when they speak and they don’t always things, …, the words are sometimes complicated. And I say to myself, well, you know, when we watch TV, watch the news, all the words are prepared before, They need to get as much information in as short a time possible and so they choose the words carefully and they say them rather fast. And I think this isn’t a very good way for people learning English to improve their English. Of course the can hear new words and things, but it may be a little off-putting to hear someone speaking very fast on TV. Other people has said to me that I don’t speak as fast (here) as I do normally because they are used to hearing teachers, maybe, speaking very fast. But I say, not all English speakers, native speakers, speak quickly. Some people speak a little slower. And I don’t think that my “normal” speed is very slow but do not think it is very fast either. So my advice to those of you who are listening to me speaking and wanting to improve your comprehension, your understanding, I say listen to this podcast a few times and listen to when I make my small pauses and when I start speaking again . And you can see very easily when I think about what I am saying and when I decide to say something that I’ve thought about. So I hope this podcast has been interesting for you – it’s just me speaking, talking, chatting without a text. See you next time, excuse-me, bye for now

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