English Fluency Formula Did you know there's a step-by-step method to become fluent in English? It works with every student, every time. I call it the "English Fluency Formula." The formula is so simple, it fits on a napkin.
The formula looks complicated, but there are only six steps you need to follow. Follow the steps when you study, and you can become a fluent English speaker very quickly. Here's the formula. The first step is the bridge method.
The Bridge Method Did you know it is not good for your pronunciation to suddenly try to speak like a native speaker? If you do, you will damage your pronunciation. You have to slowly and carefully change the basic pronunciation you learned in school to Fluent pronunciation. I call this basic pronunciation "Learner's English Pronunciation". Let's try the Bridge Method now. We'll use this phrase: You had your chance! Native speakers say it like this: "Ya had-jyer chance!" Learner's English pronunciation: You had your chance! Step 1: "you" becomes "ya" Ya had your chance. (Audio examples are in the folder that came with this document) Fluency-Formula-Example-1.mp3
You should practice saying this sentence at least five times, before continuing. Step 2: "your" becomes "yer" Ya had yer chance. Fluency-Formula-Example-2.mp3
You must master saying this sentence out-loud. Say it many times before you continue. Step 3: "had yer" becomes "had-jyer" Fluency-Formula-Example-3.mp3
This phrase has a J morph.
A morph is when the end of one word and the start of the next word blend together, or morph, into a new sound. In English there are a lot of morphs. For now, let's just practice Had-jyer.....hadjyer Practice saying only "hadjyer" until it becomes easy. Step 4: Practice saying: Ya hadjyer until you master it. Take as much time as you need. Fluency-Formula-Example-4.mp3
Step 5: Finally, we put it all together: Fluent Pronunciation: Ya had-jyer chance! Fluency-Formula-Example-5.mp3
WARNING: If you do it wrong, nobody will understand you. But if you do it right, you can have Fluent English pronunciation.
The next part of the Fluency Formula is to practice with constructions.
Constructions Using constructions will help you communicate fluently, without having to think about grammar. Let's try one. The phrase "Did you" in Fluent English, is pronounced "Did-jya."
Fluency-Formula-Example-6.mp3
Do you hear that "j" sound? Listen again: Did-jya A construction is a fill-in-theblank phrase. Let's use a construction to master "did-jya".
Did-jya ________? Remember: This is the fluent pronunciation for "did you" Repeat after me:
Did-jya ________?
(eat,
find it,
go,
call her,
win,
buy it)
You should practice these until you can say them all very fast without looking. Fluency-Formula-Example-7.mp3
Construction Branching Step 3 of the formula is Construction Branching. I teach all of my students Construction Branching because it lets you speak fluently, and express yourself, without having to stop and think about grammar. Here's how it works... Let's keep working with "did-jya" (did you) We'll start by adding a word to create a new branch. For example, let's add "call"
Did-jya call _____? (Mom, Dad, your boss, your wife, the airline) Fluency-Formula-Example-8.mp3
Let's try adding "buy"...
Did-jya buy ______? (the car, some wine, a book, the tickets) Fluency-Formula-Example-9.mp3
You can continue to add more and more to the sentence. It's a great way to master long sentence patterns, so you don't have to think about grammar.
Reduction Grouping
The fourth step of the Fluency Formula is Reduction Grouping. With reduction grouping, you can say long sentences, using Fluent English pronunciation. You probably know what a contraction is. This is when two words like "I am" become "I'm", or "can not" becomes "can't." To be fluent, you need to understand reductions. Reductions are like contractions, but you won't learn them in school, or textbooks. For example: The phrase "want to" in Fluent English sounds like, "wanna." This is the normal pronunciation: "wanna" "Wanna" is a reduction of "want to." Here are some example sentences: I'm hungry. I wanna eat! (I want to eat.) I'm going to McDonalds. Do you w anna come with me? (w an t to come with me) Fluency-Formula-Example-10.mp3
If you want to understand native speakers, and talk like a native speaker you must master reductions. If you've been studying Learner's English, you probably pronounce this phrase
like this: "Did you want to?" Fluency-Formula-Example-11.mp3
But that's not natural. Native speakers say it like this, "Did-jya wanna?" Fluency-Formula-Example-12.mp3
Now, let's put two reductions together. This is a reduction group. Did-jya wanna ______? (come over, have lunch, see me, go out tonight, talk to her) Fluency-Formula-Example-13.mp3
Remember, this is not slang! Everyone talks this way. Next in the fluency formula is: "Vowel and Consonant Separation."
Vowel & Consonant Separation Vowel and Consonant Separation will give you the ability to speak fast, with great pronunciation. First, you separate a sentence into two parts, just the vowels, and just the consonants. Then, practice each part. Look at the phrase "want....to....go....to..." In Fluent English it sounds like: "wanna go da" Fluency-Formula-Example-14.mp3
LEARNER'S ENGLISH: I want to go to Rome. FLUENT ENGLISH: I wanna goda Rome.
Now, here are just the consonants: Consonants: wah - nah - gah - dah Try to say it faster and faster, like this: wah - nah - gah - dah Fluency-Formula-Example-15.mp3
Try it on your own, a few times more. Now try the vowels. The vowels in "wanna goda" are... Vowels ah - uh - oh - uh Fluency-Formula-Example-16.mp3
Again, try to say it faster and faster, on your own. Now we put wah - nah - gah - dah and ah - uh - oh - uh together: "wanna goda" Fluency-Formula-Example-17.mp3
This is what piano players do when they want to master a difficult piece of music. They practice the left and right hand parts separately. Then, they play both parts together. This makes something difficult, easier to do, and it will help you with your fluency. Finally, the last step of the formula:
Rhythmic Acceleration This will help you talk with the speed of native speakers. First, you have to find the rhythm of a phrase. After that, you use a metronome to guide your rhythm when you speak. You gradually increase the tempo on the metronome, and try speaking along with it. It's difficult to show you the entire exercise in this text document, so I made a video that is all about Rhythmic Acceleration. I'll send that to you in a couple days. Rhythmic Acceleration is the key to reaching the speed of native speakers. Ok, that was the final step. Use the Fluency Formula because, as you know, English is the language of business and entertainment all over the world. Becoming fluent in English is one of the most important changes you can make in your life, so I'm glad I am able to help you! I'll soon be sending you more information on these techniques, so please look out for my emails! Thanks for watching, and remember my motto: Study Fluent English. Practice Fluent English. Speak Fluent English.
Mark Thomson Creator, "Master Fluent English"
