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Formal British English study plan | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| tristano Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4037 days ago 905 posts - 1262 votes  Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English Studies: Dutch | Message 1 of 13 28 July 2014 at 4:27pm | IP Logged |
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Hi guys,
I write here to ask you to help me building a study plan to improve my English up to an advanced professional level. I have full consciousness about my limits: - Incorrect pronunciation, not any clue about English phonology - Improvised grammar: I learnt English mostly by watching tv series and reading technical manuals. So my constructions are pretty basic and confused, often mutuated from Italian. - Short on active vocabulary While I have a plan for the third point (context-based reading, flashcards and so on), I don't know how to structure the rest of my studying plan. - for the first point I had some insight about using BBC podcasts and watching some British TV serie trying to imitate the way the characters speak. Though this seems to be not much structured. Do you know if it exists some English phonology course like for example happens for French with the very good FSI French Phonology? The other languages I'm able to speak are Italian and French. I guess that if the resource is in Spanish it is just fine since I can read it. - for the second point, I guess the best thing I can do is to study with a grammar book and doing lot of drills. Since one of my goals is to take Cambridge certifications, I'm wondering if there are specialized books for that of good quality. Also, I have to study the grammar from the very basic to the very advanced. I have holes everywhere grammar wise. Do you have resources to advice me? Thank you very much in advance! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| pesahson Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5718 days ago 448 posts - 840 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 2 of 13 28 July 2014 at 4:43pm | IP Logged |
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For pronunciation there are books from Cambridge University Press titled English Pronunciation in Use with audio. I haven't used them but I had a similar book for French and concentrating on singular sounds did help me. It's a very renowned publishing house and their books are good quality so I recommend you check it out.
Cambridge They also have a series of English Grammar In use which I think is excellent if you want to sit down and polish your grammar. And they do indeed have books dedicated to the CAE, Proficiency exams. And the usual advice really: listening and reading. I can't imagine being able to speak fluently with good pronunciation without having listened to not some, but A LOT of real English. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Henkkles Triglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4243 days ago 544 posts - 1141 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, Swedish Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 13 28 July 2014 at 6:26pm | IP Logged |
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I learn pronunciation by imitating. It sounds and feels completely silly and weird and that's how you know it's working. I find most people to be quite shy when it comes to imitating pronunciation, as if it weren't something proper to do.
Some major points; 1. English stress isn't fixed, as Italian is, so pay mind to correctly stress words 2. English is a stress-time language, as opposed to syllable timing in Italian. This means that unlike in Italian, English syllables are not of equal value; unstressed syllables are sort of shunned and they're pushed into smaller spaces than stressed syllables You could watch videos like this. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5006 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 4 of 13 28 July 2014 at 9:36pm | IP Logged |
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I second what pesahson and Henkkles have said.
For pronunciation, you'll have to choose a model first. If you choose Received Pronunciation, you could try a three volume series published by Cambridge University Press called "English Pronunciation in Use." ( It's the one pehahson reccomends, though, you can skip the first volume, if you want.) Now, I've done FSI French French Phonology. It is a lot more advanced and it takes you a lot farther. FSI teaches you both how to recognise a sound and how to reproduce it, while "English Pronunciation in Use" focuses more on listening and understanding. I'm preparing for the Cambridge Proficiency exam myself and I've started a log here. Do let me know if you start one as well. :) Wish you the best for your preparations! Edited by napoleon on 28 July 2014 at 10:07pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6587 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 5 of 13 29 July 2014 at 12:22pm | IP Logged |
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Don't worry about the basics, advanced level textbooks cover them too, in order to make sure you don't have any gaps.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tristano Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4037 days ago 905 posts - 1262 votes Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English Studies: Dutch | Message 6 of 13 29 July 2014 at 10:01pm | IP Logged |
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Thank you guys!
@pesahson, thank you for the link! It seems to be indeed what I'm looking for. @Henkkles: I'm one of those. Well, a good reason to go through. What you said about stress it is completely unknown for me. Seems I have a lot to learn :) Just a little note: in Italian the stress on words is not fixed, and indeed Italians and foreigners sometimes pick them wrongly. With a major difference: foreigners stress words always with the penultimate syllable since it's the most common; Italians' major fault is to stress them to the third- ultimate when it's not required :) @napoleon: thanks. My model is indeed Received Pronunciation. You told me I can skip the first volume. For which reason? You also told me that this course focuses in listening and understanding. My listening and understanding are quite good (though of American English, where I find much more difficult to understand British), I guess this is the reason I can skip the first one when the other two cover also what is covered in the first volume? Good luck with your exam! By the way, which resources are you using and from which level are you starting? I start for something that is between B1 and B2 (mostly active B1 and passive between B2 and C1 I would say). @Serpent: ok, thank you for your advice, that will make me avoid wasting time! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5006 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 7 of 13 29 July 2014 at 11:19pm | IP Logged |
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Yes, the first "Pronunciation in Use" book is extremely basic. Most of what it teaches is covered in the other two books. At least, that is what I read in a review on Amazon.
I am using several books, out of which I am focussing on the following: 1) CPE Practice Tests 2) Grammar in Use 3) Advanced Grammar in Use It's difficult for me to assess my level. Having said that, I'd say I'm somewhere between C1 and C2 on some (bad)days. On other days, I'm at C2+. So, it depends. I'll give you an example. When I do too many FSI French drills, my English suffers and I start making mistakes. Like using wrong syntax. And unnatural sentences. Small mistakes. But mistakes, nonetheless. Best of luck with your studies. Edited by napoleon on 29 July 2014 at 11:23pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| pesahson Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5718 days ago 448 posts - 840 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 8 of 13 30 July 2014 at 6:56am | IP Logged |
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I would also recommend this:
Practical English Usage It's more a reference book, it will last you forever. I would just dip in and out of it and correct small mistakes I had been making for years. It's a great book to have. 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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