How To Become A Three Times Better English

Speaker Than You Are Now

Speaking superlative English is like driving a car or cookingpeas pulao at home. Remember
the first time you tried doing those? The car acted like a teenager (The gear- the clutch mis
co-ordinated while the car almost bounced making a funny noise and maybe stopped). The
pulao probably became a khichdi!
But now these things come naturally to you, right? Now you drive your car in that cool, chic
way with songs of Honey Singh blasting from your stereo and your GF/ BF on your left side.
And the sounds are of anything but the clutch
Your peas pulao has only gotten better with time. Now you garnish it too sometimes & you
dont even need to approximate the glasses of water to cook it!Same goes for speaking
English. You need to hang onto practising doing a few smart things for good amount of
time before your English & spoken skills get you that elusive, seductive appeal. There are no
short cuts to becoming a better English speaker.
This quite lengthy post is EVERYTHING you will need to know to improve your Spoken

English. Read slowly & savor carefully my friend

I cannot emphasise enough on how important it is to speak well. While you may not want to
be a public speaker, there is no one, I can guarantee, who never had to make a speech or an
impression out of his / her words at least a couple of times. If nothing, you will face your
prospective in laws who will be waiting to hear you create magic with your words.
Irrespective of how dumb your prospective life partner is, you will be expected to be the
Martin Luther king of speaking. Most importantly- fluency & confidence as a better
English speaker can make you all the more employable & maybe also zip fast your career
progress.
It surely makes a lasting impression and most importantly, it makes you feel good about
yourself like having crossed a huge hurdle. And it will make people take you more
seriously. It is not just about English. Speak any language but speak flawlessly and with
confidence and you can easily win people over.
As a Motivational speaker & Corporate Trainer in India; I got to do some 1100+ Events for
Corporates & Youth across Asia and this is what I learnt about How to become a three
times better English speaker than you do now. These are really simple things you can
do daily because, lets face it. English is no rocket science.
1. Read more books
What did you expect me to write? This had to come up! Whether you find it boring or
whether you find no time for it English language doesnt care. So, suck it up & read more.
If you dont like serious literature or even more serious non fiction, read Chetan Bhagat or
any you like to begin with. But read. Because if you say that you dont like reading, all I am
going to say is you havent found the right book yet. Do check out my Recommended LIST
OF READING BOOKS
I have been both a complete non-reader and an avid reader. Trust me, the latter helps. It
generates content & confidence for you to meaningfully & flawlessly contribute to and
participate in a conversation. It gives you a notorious command over grammar & vocabulary
that even you wont be able to explain. You will be able to spot incorrect usage of grammar
just by the fact that it wont sound right to you. Isnt that what you aim for with improved
spoken English?

You need not worry about Grammar rules anyway! Heres an exhaustive list of most of your
English grammar related notes (click on link). I promise you; youll love all these posts on
Grammar; as they have been cooked in the sauce of fun.

2. Speak More
It is like a never ending cycle. To speak, you have to practice and to practice you have to
speak. Heres the catch. Speak to yourself. Stand in front of the mirror & speak your heart
out. Voice your thoughts in English & see for yourself what you look like? For starters, do
short summaries. Read an article. Grasp its gist and then summarize it while doing the
mirror exercise.
Do you appear confident? This could be a very good method of keeping track of your
improvement over the time. Do this exercise daily. Initially alone, and then with small
audiences. Start with your mom. She wont make fun of you, no matter how bad you are
initially. And she will applaud you once she believes you have improved.

A saint is a sinner who never gave up goes a very famous saying by Paramhansa
Yogananda ji. Invest a lot of time sharpening your speaking ability daily. Speak crap but
keep speaking daily in English. Soon, the shine will come. Be obstinate that you will spend
30-40 mins on this agenda. Get dogged.
3. Keep good company
Surround yourself with people who speak awesome English. And I am not talking about the
gonna wanna You know Ya types. Talk to people who know what they are talking
about & also have a good hang of that thing called Grammar. When you consistently find
yourself among people who know how to articulate their thoughts and ideas in good
English, a sense of competition seeks in. Trust me, thats the best that can happen to the
latent faadu awesome English speaker in you. Mindsets are like viral infections. Surround
yourself with people who are better than you or who are as hungry as you to become better
in English.

I asked my friends online How would they want to improve English and some beautiful
answers came up. One of them was by Maninder Rao. He suggestedVocab Antakshari.
And it is exactly what it sounds like. You think of a word and then sing a song that explains
its meaning! How cool it that? For more on this technique, keep reading. But most of all,
you will need to surround yourself with people who have that hunger for becoming a better
English speaker / learn Vocabulary!

Heres one more blogpost for you to know how to sharpen your English:Angreziwaale
Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.
4. Think in English
I truly believe in this practice & my friend & renowned Dr. Mani also agrees. Sounds silly
because thinking is an involuntary process (to some extent). But this has always worked for
me. A lot of practicing has happened inside my head, where there is no rush to do it right. I
can think, be slow & give myself a chance to think whether I am right or not.
For e.g. You remember how you create complete conversations in your head? Imagine
talking to your crush you try to go through everything in your head first. She will say this
then I will say that kind of stuff? Just do that in English. Or, think about the person you
hate most. And then discuss it with your head in English Why do I hate him so much? Am
I a bad person or he is? Or when you are busy shopping Should I buy this? But I already
have 500 new clothes in my wardrobe. But a girl never has enough clothes right? But it is
high time I start saving. Why do I always get confused? Am I becoming a shopaholic? Oh
Wait! I already am. I will buy it anyway! these kind of conversations. In your
head. Simple, daily, thought processing but in English.

Besides, talking to yourself in your head in English, will help you be able to articulate &
present your thoughts spontaneously in a much better way. If you can think it, you can
speak it (almost). Thinking in the language you want to improve in will also help you
articulate faster. A lot of people I know struggle with formulating their thoughts in English
before speaking & thats where they lose confidence. Just try this out. It will work. And it
will come with practice. You will need to force your mind to process the thoughts in English
initially. But once you are used to it, it should do wonders for you.
Have these conversations with yourself in English. They will take you a long way!
5. Watch English news
Switch on a good English news channel and just keep it running in the background. You
dont need to sit in front of the screen and dedicatedly watch it. Listening should also do the
trick. Your favourite anchors will subliminally grow on you.
Select good content when you decide to project yourself to hours of listening to English. In
my school days Prannoy Roy used to present The world this week on TV. Used to watch
him religiously, tried to copy him (His style, grace, his way of emphasizing things).
Gradually, my own confidence grew manifold. But yes- I owe it so much to News Channels.
Let them just keep on playing at your home/ hostels / wherever.
6. Voice modulation & Energy
Nothing kills spoken English like a monotone does. You are a living breathing person. Your
communication should not seem like its coming from a zombie. Depending on what you are
talking about, you will need to modulate your voice & energy levels. Changing the pitch tells

the listeners that something is going to happen. It builds curiosity, adds weight to your
speech and subtlety to the meaning of the words you choose.
For e.g. if you have to say something with authority and finality, do not scream. Go on a
little higher pitch beforehand and just when you are approaching your point which is
authoritative, go for a downward pitch. It gives an unquestioning acceptance feel to the
spoken word. Say for instance, you want to talk about the importance of goals. In a higher
pitch you talk about the mistakes people do & then when you are giving them a final mantra
for achieving, you lower your pitch just a little. Reason your listeners have your attention
from the high pitch. The lower one will bring seriousness, sincerity & subtlety. It will give
the feeling that you are confident about what you are saying and has a higher chance of
getting accepted. Thats how I do during my Events.

Dont talk like you have not eaten in 4 days. That really puts people off. Haveenergy and
assertiveness in your voice. Often, people dont realize that they are being too loud or
are shrieking. The reaction of your audiences will help you understand whether you are
voicing it correctly or you are torturing them.
Avoid fake accents. They take away all attention. All people will remember after you leave
is your fake accent and it will take away all the genuineness from your communication. How
to do that? Ans Do not get influenced by all the American sitcoms you keep watching
Although, these are not really a bad idea. Dont pick up the accent but pick up the way

they talk. What the show is about will influence the way the dialogues are written. For e.g.
you will find absolutely correct English dialogues in sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory,
Sherlock (although the British accent is a little difficult to grasp), Castle etc. (This is just
not an exhaustive list. There are many good shows out there. Just dont fall for the bad
ones
) .. Same goes with Hollywood movies.
A lot of people have either a habit or a medical condition of speaking very fast. Such speech
modulations are difficult to understand. If you are aware of this shortcoming, practice to
improve. Read out things slowly. Make sure you pronounce each word right and with
adequate emphasis.
If you are too embarrassed to practice in front of anyone, do it alone. You belong to the
smartphone generation. Your device will have an audio recorder. Record your speech and
then listen to it. Note down the mistakes and go again. This can be done for all the points.
Club this with in front of the mirror and your initial ground work can be done very easily.
Effort to lagega boss !
7. Body Language
It makes up for 50% of your communication. Imagine telling your would be that you adore
them and your body slouching & closed while doing that. Our bodies do a lot of talking &
they dont inherently lie. Body language gives away your actual mood while you are talking
or listening & if it is not in congruence with what you are speaking trust me, it will show.
And the irony is while we very often do not realize what kind of body language we are
showing, we almost always are able to understand when someone talking to us shows wrong
body language. So, the chances of you getting caught are very high.
Now, whats the solution to this? Same old mirror. Dont talk in attention position &
definitely do not talk as if you are having a conversation with God (looking up & far beyond
while talking). Use hand movements to drive your point home. But not so much that your
hands are all that your listeners can focus on. Have welcoming & high power open postures.
Dont slouch, close yourself down with drooping shoulders and avoid the scared look on
your face. There is nothing to be scared of. You are not alone in this agony of not speaking
well. But you can definitely move on from this with consistent efforts.

Broad shoulders, wider stance, a smile on your face & eye contacts will always
help you fare better. And if you are speaking to an audience, you can always follow the 4F
rule i.e. Find Four Friendly Faces. Make eye contact with them, speak while looking at
them. Those friendly faces will be reassuring & help you feel more confident.
If you feel nervous, dont let this show on your face. Simply turn around from your listeners
and walk towards the podium or your seat. And take that time to calm down. If you forget
what you wanted to say, say something else. If you cannot recall at all, ask the audience
what they think about the last point. And then pick up from there. Maintain a relaxed
position (not slouching, not drooping & smiling).
Also, try to be conscious of where you keep your hands while you talk. Keeping it on your
hips like a pregnant woman or as if to cover your private parts are all hilarious & take away
the beauty of what you are talking about. Constant, mild but open hand movements will
help you overcome this problem. Besides, hand movements make you look more confident
of your content so go ahead with it.
Bodies do a lot of talking for you. Train them to talk better.
Doing these 7 things is not easy. And I know a lot of you wont be able to get into this habit.
You may start with a lot of zing but for majority, that excitement will fizzle out. Only a few
will actually stick to it.

Let me tell you what happens to those who do stick to these methods and zabardasti try to
improve. They wont see results either for the initial 2-3 months. And then suddenly they
will see a spike in their growth graph.

Dont believe me? Try it out for your own

People often ask me How can I become more spontaneous in my communication
Spontaneity for me Fearlessness. When I started my career as a Motivational Speaker & a
Trainer; my jokes were poor. They still are. But I used to tell my audiences that I am a poet
and a comedian both. If my jokes do not resonate call me a poet. But I did not feel hurt at
any instances when I could not bring out my spontaneity in a way I would have really liked
to. I just hung on to my decision to being fearless.

Addressing a 2500+ audience @ an International Conference in Kolkata

Joining a coaching class of English speaking or reading a book on the same
subject would not make much difference. Do not waste money on these quick shops
which promise you instant gratification. 99% of them are quacks & are there to earn money.
Thats it. Such classes will make you do ALL OF THE ABOVE only. Why dont you do it
yourself? One doesnt need a manual to know How to father a child in your age. Do it damn
yourself.
The most important point that remains is your INTENT to speak well.Giving up is not
an option. And frankly, it is not that uphill a task that you should give up. People have gone
to the Moon &come back. And you worry about speaking English? Not done!! It is shameless
too; if you do not decide to change your bankruptcy situation about your speaking skills
NOW only.
Become rich in the next few months & enjoy that slow sexiness. All you need to do is to keep
on doing all of the above for good amount of time (6-8 months minimum). Majority junta
does not change because they give up after 2 or 3 months or even earlier. Just hang on doing
it. Thats it.
I have started a series of presentations called Vocabulary Premier League VPL 20 20. Do
have a look. Have shared ways to memorize English vocabulary such that you wont ever
forget!
Have tried to answer a lot of questions people have about English speaking & writing here.
But, feel free to shoot more questions if you have them!
I have zeroed down on these ideas after years of practice. Do SHARE this with your friends
and folks who harbour this deep deep desire of becoming better at speaking English.
P.S for complete list of suggestions that I got online, you may visit thislink. Dont go
before you share this though!