Xiao Ken

Talk English: The Secret To Speak English Like A Native In 6 Months For Busy People, Learn Spoken English From The Success

Talk English – Ken Xiao

Talk English

The Secret To Speak English Like A Native In 6 Months For Busy People, Learn Spoken English From The Success

Ken Xiao

THIS is the book every English learner NEEDS to read.

Crystal F. , Canada

After 2 weeks, the change is significant. Most importantly I think like a native speaker starting building a little bit in my subconsciousness.

Dexuan L., China

How I can speak English so fast without accent? With your tips I can do it. I will recommend to my friends with broken English because I think your book is very helpful for me and other people like me to learn speak fluent English. Thank you so much!

Farah A., Iran

The book provides the readers a workable way on how to get to speak fluent English. It's simple, straightforward, and most important of all, its focused and not too way long to cost the readers too much time.

Joanne L., Hong Kong

I like your book especially all of your suggestions how to improve the English and soften the accent. Thanks!

Kasia L., Poland

There are so many books , specifically “help” books, out on the market that one can get so overwhelmed with the selection. This book, catering to the English language fluency, is such a great book that there is no need to even scratch your head over the others.

Leona Y., Czech Republic

Editor's Word

Before having read the book, my expectations of its effectiveness were neutral-- I wasn't sure if the 6-month plan that would be set forth by the author would be a realistic timeline for an individual's learning needs. Regardless, I dove in with a completely open mind and almost immediately came to realize that my doubts were unfounded.

The book's main promise was that it would provide its readers with a plan that would transform their broken English into fluent English. After having read this piece, I can say without a doubt that the book went above and beyond its initial promise to deliver SO much more. Ken outlined a meticulously detailed regimen that not only explained everything one would have to do in order to improve his or her English (including numerous original strategies and helpful tips) but he also took on the role of an encourager, cheering his reader on throughout the whole read. Certainly, this book went above and beyond to deliver much more than its original promise—it delivered a lifestyle change.

The strategies that the author has outlined can be applied universally to any language and I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to improve his or her fluency in a foreign language (most specifically English as this is what the author focuses on). THIS is the book every English learner NEEDS to read. What sets this book apart from the myriad of others is the way in which the author connects with his reader; from his words, you can absolutely feel the suffering he experienced as result of his broken English and the triumph that overwhelmed him when he finally succeeded at communicating fluently. This book is thoughtful and inspiring and its genuine tone will deeply touch its readers.

Crystal Faqiri

Copyright

No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, sold, or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written consent of Ken Xiao.

Foreword

There are so many books , specifically “help” books, out on the market that one can get so overwhelmed with the selection. This book, catering to the English language fluency, is such a great book that there is no need to even scratch your head over the others. Ken does an incredible job at making it easy to read and understand, precise and specific in teaching you what to do to better your English, and most important, he makes it personal. With the personal touch, you can really fall deep into the emotions, the battles and the triumphs of Kens journey. He takes you into a place where you can really relate to him and that makes learning so much easier…and more fun!

I, myself, am not an American Native. I was born in the Czech Republic and came to the USA at the age of 4 with my parents. Now as a young child, I picked up the English language quite fast, however my parents did not. As adults, of course, it’s much more difficult to learn a second language, let alone English, which is not that easy! They took English as a second language courses at a local community college and watched “easy to understand” TV shows, which was all fine and helped them learn the language, but if they had Ken’s book at that time, back in the 1980’s, they really would have scored!

Ken is eager and excited to get this book in your hands. He trusts that his tips and techniques will help you, just as they did him! I believe that you will find this book extremely valuable and helpful and hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Leona Young

About The Author

Ken Xiao

Translator in the United States Department Of Defense

Bachelor of Science in Information Technology

Master of Science in Space Studies

Creator of MyFluentEnglish Formula

English teacher

Principal of Shao Wen School Of Education

Business owner

Newspaper editor

Table of Contents

Editor's Word

Foreword

About The Author

Introduction

1 — A Middle School Dropout Can. Can You? (Must read)

2 — From Broken English to Fluent English

3 — How Fluent? One Word: Native!

4 — The Formula To Make You Speak English Like A Native

5 — The One Word Secret

6 — Get It Right, Baby!

7 — This Is Your Right Hand Man

8 — The Step-By-Step Instructions – Let's Make You Speak Like A Native!

9 — This Is Your Left Hand Man

10 — Your Road To Success

You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Introduction

You have studied English for years, yet you still don't speak English well. You have tried many methods and you still make grammar mistakes, you still can't speak English fluently, and you still can't pronounce English words correctly. You can read, but you feel nervous to speak English or too shy to speak English.

The good news is, this is very normal. You have simply used ineffective methods to learn to speak English.

My name is Ken Xiao. I was in your situation before, but now I can speak English like a native, and I accomplished that in six months without spending a dime. I'm going to teach you how to completely get rid of your accent and develop an American or British accent to speak English just like a native speaker, and I'll teach you how to accomplish that in just six months.

In this book, you'll learn:

* How to speak like a native in six months or less

* How to do that effortlessly on a busy schedule

* How to speak English without translating it first

* How to learn grammar without memorizing grammar rules

* How to build a vocabulary that lasts

* How to make you pronounce English words like native American or native British

* How to speak English fluently, correctly, and naturally just like a native

* And more... to make you speak English like a native speaker.

You have studied English for years, yet you still can't speak English well. The reason is simply: The methods you used were ineffective. Change your way of learning now. Learn from the success who was in your situation before and is getting the result you want now. You can succeed by simply doing what I have done before. Effortlessly follow the step-by-step instructions in the book to achieve the highest level of fluency to make you speak English like a native speaker. Follow the instructions now.

Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of men. We are free agents, and man is more powerful than matter.

Benjamin Disraeli

1 — A Middle School Dropout Can. Can You? (Must read)

In a poor farming village in southern China, a child was born. In his childhood life, he was hungry. SO hungry that even after over 30 years, he still remembers the hunger he'd been through in vivid details. There was no running water, so he had to carry water home from a well that was half of a kilometer away using two buckets. And he was seven years old. The buckets of water were SO heavy that he couldn't walk straight. At age 7, he started to work in the fields to plant, cultivate, and harvest crops. At age 7, he started to collect firewood for cooking. At age 7, he started to cook for the entire family using open fire. There was no electric stove, and he was lucky if he got electricity for lighting once a week. He started elementary school at age 8 and dropped out of middle school at age 13.

He moved to America with his family when he was 17. He spoke no English, went straight to high school, and started to learn English in classes called English As Second Language (ESL) classes. Since he spoke no English, English certainly wasn't his favorite subject. At age 20, he could speak some broken English. Then he used a method which I'm about to share with you to improve his English fluency, and six months later, he turned his broken English into fluent English. In the following effortless practices, he even turned his English into an English that people who didn't know him thought it was his native language.

Amazing, isn't it?

And here is the best part: This country boy, this middle school dropout, started at 20, for six months, who successfully spoke English like a native, has NO special talent! He's just an average person you and I would see in the country sides. He's just an average person you and I would meet on the streets.

This middle school dropout is talking right in front of you. This middle school dropout is me.

And yes, I, Ken Xiao, a country boy, a middle school dropout, an average man, started at 20, for six months, can speak English like a native!

There is one sole purpose I'm putting my humble background here – inspiration! Because with a background like that and I can still make me speak English like a native. Can you?

What I used to make me speak English like a native was Myfluentenglish Formula. It's a formula I created, improved, and perfected. Using the same formula, I also made me speak two other languages like a native.

If a country boy, a middle school dropout, an average man with no special talent, started at age 20, for six months, can make him speak English like a native, my friend, yes, you can. Let's start the six-month journey today to get your results.

To your success,

Ken Xiao

My first family picture taken in 1983. I'm the boy standing in the back.

2 — From Broken English to Fluent English

When I was 20, I could understand some English but not much. My vocabulary was very limited, my accent was very strong, and I first thought in my language, then translated into my own version of English to speak to people. The problem was, people couldn't understand me.

In short, my English was bad.

New York City. I spoke no English when I came to America.

We'll either find a way or make one.

Hannibal

The Desire For Change (The ultimate power)

What kind of jobs could I get if I could only speak translated, broken English with a strong accent. That inspired me to start looking for opportunities to improve my English fluency.

One day, I watched an advertisement on TV and saw an expert called Fluent English Mr. Wang who guaranteed English fluency. He guaranteed that if you were just starting to learn English and took lessons from him for a year, your English would be more fluent than others who'd learned English for ten years. “How amazing is that?” I thought, but there was a problem. Fluent English Mr. Wang only offered to teach one-on-one private lessons but I didn't have the money. By the way, a private lesson at the time was $30 per hour.

I wondered what Fluent English Mr. Wang did to get that kind of result, but I didn't call him because I thought he wouldn't tell me anyways. Then I thought, “If he can find a way to do it, I can find a way to do it, too!”

So I started by reading books from the library on English fluency. All of the books I intentionally picked were written by native speakers because I thought I should learn from the native. There were lots of words I didn't know but I looked them up in the dictionary.

After I read about 10 books, I summarized all of the strategies into a list of 10. The strategies were something like “Listen listen listen,” “Read read read,” “Use what you've learned,” “Build your vocabulary,” and so on.

I started applying these strategies, and I could understand a little more English but the strategies didn't make me speak any better.

So I kept reading books, and again, all were written by native speakers. But they all said pretty much the same things. I kept reading and reading. As far as I can remember, I read a total of about 60 books, and again all of the books I intentionally picked were written by native speakers, and all of the books said almost the same things.

The strategies were ineffective, so I tried a different approach.

A tape I used to practice English with.

Instead of picking books written by native speakers, all the books I picked this time were written by successful non-native English speakers who had made their English fluent. I picked and read about 10 of them. To my surprised, all the books said the same things as the 60 books written by native speakers EXCEPT for one thing – Repeat what you hear again and again.

“Repeat what you hear again and again” wasn't mentioned in any of the 60 books written by native speakers at all.

Out of the list of 60 books written by native speakers, one was very useful. This book wasn't about how to speak fluent English, instead, it was about how to become successful written by Tony Robbins. I came across that book and wondered for three seconds of whether or not to take it. At the last moment, I decided to take it just to take a peek at it in case if there were something useful. To my surprise, it turned out to be a great book on how to set goals and how to become successful. I summarized that book and the ten books written by the successful non-native English speakers and came up with one strategy, a strategy I later named Myfluentenglish Formula.

The Perfect Opportunity

I was 20 at the time, living in the Brooklyn area of New York City. Every day I took the subway trains to and from Manhattan. The trip took 40 minutes each way on the train. The walk to the train station from home took 12 minutes and the walk from the train station to work took five minutes. All added together, a round trip took an hour and 54 minutes each day. That created a perfect opportunity for me.

I brought my Walkman with me while on the way to work and on the way home. I normally listened to English lessons and sometimes songs, but after I read the last 10 books written by non-native speakers and worked out my strategy, I used the Walkman to try my new strategy – Repeat what you hear again and again.

Taking Action

During these round trips, I first tuned in to a news station. It was NPR, National Public Radio, to listen to the news. It worked very well during the 12-minute walk to the train station, but once I entered the train station, the signal was lost. When I got home at night, I recorded the news on a tape for the next day so that I could listen to it on the train. After that, I recorded fresh news every night.

I started by whispering the news, but then I began saying it louder. New York subway trains were as noisy as thunders, and thanks to that! The noise created the perfect opportunity for me to work on my strategy – even the person sitting next to me couldn't hear what I was talking about. So I got to practiced the entire train rides both ways.

In the beginning, there were lots of words I didn't understand, but I repeated them anyway! In the beginning, the news was too fast for me, but I repeated what I heard even if I couldn't catch up. Often when there was a word or a phrase I couldn't say, I would rewind the tape and listen to it again. This time, I only listened to it. If I still couldn't say it, I would rewind the tape again and listen again until I could say it. Then I would repeat the word or phrase once, twice, three times … until I could correctly say the new word or phrase. It helped a lot! The next time I heard that same word or phrase, I could correctly say it.

Following Through

Three months later...

I decided to record my own speaking to see how much I had improved because I had heard some people (at least three that I remembered) saying that I spoke good English. So I wrote down some daily conversational phrases and recorded my voice saying them. To my surprise, I DID speak what I wrote down pretty fluently! I could still hear my accent but the accent was much lighter. Compared to other ESL learners, my English was even better!

I got excited about the results and decided to slightly adjust my approach.

The first thing I changed was recording the news once a week, listening and practicing the same English from native speakers for a whole week. In the beginning of the week, there was almost always something I couldn't say. At the end of the week, I'd mastered speaking everything on the whole tape. I was even almost able to recite everything on the tape including words, sentences, tones, flow...

The next week, I recorded a new tape and did the same things for the rest of the week. I did it for a month and mastered four tapes of English taught by native speakers. On week five, I went back to practice the previous four weeks' English with one tape per day. For the remaining days of the week, I practiced the tapes that I had the hardest time with.

Within a month, I'd mastered speaking four tapes of English taught all by native speakers. Each tape was 60 minutes long. Four tapes were 240 minutes of English taught by native speakers.

The Result

Three months later...

As you may have guessed, I recorded my speaking again and the results were surprising! My accent was gone, my voice was clear, my pronunciation was correct, and my flow was smooth. In other words, my English was fluent!

It was a total of six months that I had spent practicing my English, but the result was overwhelming.

After talking to a friend on the phone for a moment, the friend suddenly asked, “ What did you do?” I said, “Huh? What do you mean?” He said, “Your English! It's GOOD!” I could hear the word “good” was coming from his heart. He said the word “good” with a tone that was so sincere that I could feel the energy of his voice.

Two of my cousins, both native speakers, asked, “How come YOUR English is so good but your brother's and sisters' are not?”

The Continuing Effort

I didn't just stop there. For the months and years that followed, I continued to use my strategy when I found opportunities even though my situation had changed.

Years later I developed yet another strategy I called Open Throat, which I'll talk about in the next chapter. When speaking English with the Open Throat Strategy, my English sounds absolutely, 100% native.

When my son was in first grade, he invited me to read to his class as a guest reader. His teacher was so upset because I looked like I couldn't speak English, which would mean disaster to her class. However, his teacher was absolutely stunned when I spoke. I saw her eyes widen for five seconds followed by a long smile. She watched quietly as I inspired her students to enjoy the book by talking with 100% enthusiasm and speaking in 100% native English. She then suddenly jumped into action by whipping out her camera and started taking pictures. She even interrupted me by asking if she could put a picture in her class newsletter. She later asked if I could participate more to help her in her class activities.

3 — How Fluent? One Word: Native!

This is a strategy which I had later developed that brought my fluency to the next level – native. I called it Open Throat.

When practicing, open your throat, talk with your diaphragm, and bring the energy from your stomach.

The energy flow and the way of speaking make a huge difference. To do this, you must open your throat, let the air flow through, and talk with energy from your stomach. You should feel your stomach tighten when you talk.

So bring your energy up all the way from your stomach, let the air flow from your lungs through your throat, and talk with your throat open.

After my daughter joined her school chorus class, she told me that her chorus teacher taught the class the following:

“Open throat!”

Have you ever seen anyone sing with their throat? In other words, singing like that is called singing with a “Chicken Throat.” It's far from good. How do you like that?

Are you too nervous to speak English? Are you too shy to speak English? Are you using Chicken Throat to speak English because you're nervous or shy, because you're afraid you'll make mistakes so others may laugh at you?

Listen to me: English is a foreign language to you anyway. Making mistakes speaking a foreign language is very normal! Instead, open your throat to speak English. Open your throat and use Myfluentenglish formula to make you speak English like a native! Do that for six months, and then, when you speak like me, when you speak English like a native, and even native speakers are scare of you, who is going to laugh at you?

It is in the moment of decision that your destiny is shaped.

Anthony Robbins

Decide What You Want is like setting a target for you to shoot at.

4 — The Formula To Make You Speak English Like A Native

Here is the formula!

It's called Myfluentenglish Formula. Myfluentenglish Formula has three steps.

Step 1: Set Your Goal

Step 2: Take Action

Step 3: Follow Through

Step 1: Set Your Goal

Setting your goal is deciding what you want. Congratulations! You've already decided what you want. By getting this book, you're very clear that your Step 1 is to speak English like a native (or at least speak English fluently).

The word "decide" originates from Greek and means to cut off from. Once you've decided on what you want, that's it, you cut off from any other possibility and focus only on what you've decided on.

Decide what you want is like setting a target for you to shoot at.

Clarity is power. The more clear you are on what you want, the more precise your brain takes you to your target. You must know exactly what you want so that you know exactly where to go.

When I used Myfluentenglish Formula to learn to speak English, I decided that I wanted to speak fluent English. With the target set in place, I started working to reach the target. I worked only on my spare times, but with a target set in sight, I aimed at the target and knew exactly where to go.

If you decide to speak fluent English, go for it. If you decide to speak English like a native, go for it! These are very clear targets.

Once you've decided on exactly what you want, it's critical that you continue focusing on your target. That's "focusing" on your target. The key word is “focusing.” You haven't shot any arrows at your target yet. Step 1 is just setting your target in place.

In review, your target is what you want; what you want is your target. With that in mind, you're now ready to take Step 2.

Step 2: Take Action

Once you have set your target in place, you'll need to take out your bow and arrows and shoot at your target. Once you have decided on what you want, you'll need to get what you want. To get what you want, you'll have to take action.

It does NOT matter what we CAN do; it does matter what we WILL do. After you set your target, in order to get any result, you'll have to shoot at your target.

Look at me in these two situations:

1. If I can speak English like a native speaker, I have a college degree in information technology, I have a graduate degree in space studies, I live in the United States of America, a free society where everything is possible.

Shoot at your target. In order to hit your target, you'll need to shoot at your target.

With all of these potential powers, I CAN do a lot of things, but if I DO NOT do anything, nothing will happen.

2. If I speak broken English, I don't have money for private lessons, I don't have much time to learn English.

With all of these restrictions, I CAN'T do a lot of things to speak fluent English, but if I WILL do something to speak fluent English, I will still achieve some fluency. In fact, with all these restrictions, I did something and made me speak English like a native.

It's not what we are capable of that makes things happen; it's what we WILL do that makes things happen.

When I was 20, I knew I wanted to speak fluent English, and I took action to improve my English. And I DID get excellent results. My action got me exactly what I wanted.

So take action to get what you want. Literally get going to get what you want. I'll show you step-by-step instructions of what action to take.

Step 3: Follow Through

Once you've decided on what you want, and you're taking action to do what you want, keep working on it. Follow through until you succeed!

Making you speak English like a native is a job takes more than a day to do. Keep taking action day-by-day to get there. Start small and keep building your fluency little-by-little, day-by-day.

Let's look at this example. If you want to lift 300 pounds, can you lift 300 pounds? How about 3 pounds? Can you lift 3 pounds? Yes! You can start by lifting 3 pounds day, day-by-day, every day. You keep increasing the amount of weight little-by-little, day-by-day. Before you know it, what seemed impossible before is already possible. You've already built enough muscle to effortlessly lift 300 pounds.

When I started to improve my English, I started by taking one single action. The next day, I took one more action. I kept taking the same action day-by-day. After three months, I had already built enough fluency that people started telling me that my English was good!

I followed through by building my fluency little-by-little, day-by-day. After another three months, I started to speak what seemed impossible before – fluent English!

If you'd build your fluency by just 1% a day and keep building on it, imagine what your fluency will be like six months later . You could have built enough fluency to speak English that seemed impossible before!

Let's review the Myfluentenglish Formula. The Myfluentenglish Formula has three steps:

Step 1: Set Your Goal

Step 2: Take Action

Step 3: Follow Through

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

Helen Keller

Practicing Kung Fu. Practice was key to my success.

5 — The One Word Secret

Now that you know the formula, it's time to learn what to do to speak English like a native.

Let's take a look at this:

You want to learn Kung Fu so that you can beat 10 people. You've watched Kung Fu movies and instructional videos. You've also watched how Kung Fu masters beat 10 people. You know the skills you need to know to beat 10 people. Now you're facing 10 people. Can you beat them?

The answer is obvious. If you want to beat 10 people, just knowing how will not let you beat them. In order to beat them, you'll have to practice your Kung Fu. You'll need to build up your muscles, harden your fists, stretch your legs, aims your kicks...

You need to get your mind mentally ready and your bodily mechanisms physically ready to beat 10 people. In order to do that, what you need to do is one word: practice.

The same thing applies to speaking English. If you want to speak English like a native, just knowing how to speak will not get you there; you'll have to practice speaking English. I mean literally practice speaking English, over and over again. You need to open your throat, relax your tongue, loosen your muscles, control your flow...

You need to get your mind mentally ready and your bodily mechanisms physically ready to speak English like a native. In order to do that, what you need to do is one word: practice.

There are many places where you can practice. I highly recommend you use all of them whenever possible.

On The Train

If you take the train to work, congratulations! I hope your train is loud so you can follow my exact footsteps – because if your train is too quiet, people will look at you. When I practiced on the train, I found a corner seat to sit down. You can do the same. Find a corner seat and practice your English.

You should speak out loud! You should NOT whisper, because whispering will get you a different result, and that's NOT the result you want. In this digital age, you are lucky! You can take out your cellphone, put on your headphones, and practice just like you would on a phone. The person sitting next to you will think you're talking on the phone.

On The Bus

If you take the bus to work, congratulations! Your bus won't be too loud so it won't damage your hearing. Still try to speak like you normally would because whispering will get you a different result. Whispering will train your tongue and lips but will not train your throat, your diaphragm, stomach, tone, volume, and airflow. Remember though – in order to be fluent, you'll have to practice in other places where you can speak out loud.

In The Car

This is, by far, my favorite place to practice my English. There is a lot of freedom in the car, and you can go full throttle when practicing.

When I later got the chance to practice in the car, I practiced everything I heard. Since the car was much quieter than the train and no one was sitting next to me, I turned up the volume and followed what I heard with the exact same tones, exact same volumes, exact same flow, exact same speed, exact same expressions... exact same everything. In addition, I got to use my hands to help me express my feelings.

I always closed the windows so that people on the street wouldn't be able to hear me. Occasionally I saw people on the street looking at me puzzled. Today, you're lucky. When people on the street look at you, they will just think you're just talking on the phone.

So in short, when practicing in the car, just follow with the exact same tones, exact same volumes, exact same flow, exact same speed, exact same expressions, exact same everything at full speed. I do want to stress though, it's speaking you should go full speed on, not driving. So drive safe.

At Home

Do you cook at home? I know I do. I started cooking for the family since I was 7, so I'm very good at it. I even taught my wife how to cook since she'd never cooked before she married me. For me, cooking normally takes 10 minutes for breakfast and 40 minutes for dinner. That's 50 minutes a day. When doing cooking, your brain is free and it's a perfect time to practice. This is a real good time to put on your headphones and practice.

Outdoor

Outdoor activities such as running, jogging, walking, hiking, and shopping can also be great opportunities for practicing.

At Work

I worked at the Boeing Company for two years where I often worked at the aircraft-building factory. The factory was very noisy, and everyone must wear earplugs in the assembly areas. I used this as an excellent opportunity to practice – I put on my noise-canceling headphones and practiced as loud as I wanted and no one could hear me.

Is your workplace a good place to practice? How many hours do you work a day? If you can put your work hours to good use, you can skyrocket your results.

The successful warrior is the average man with laser-like focus.

Bruce Lee

6 — Get It Right, Baby!

Carefully choosing the correct materials is the key to your success. The materials you choose determine whether you will speak good English, bad English, right English, or wrong English.

I would like you to see this very clearly:

The pronunciations of British English and American English are different. If you want to speak like a native, you want to speak like a native of what? A native of what? You can't mix the the two accents if you want to speak like a native! You must pick only ONE to learn. Either one is fine, but you must pick ONE. Pick one, stick with it, and leave the other one alone. You can go back to other one AFTER you speak one like a native. Before you speak like a native, focus on one.

In other words, if you want to learn to speak British English like a native, pick ALL materials in British English. Likewise, if you want to learn to speak American English like a native, pick ALL materials in American English. Pick one language, British or American, and stick with it!

There are two boats you can catch. Each boat will get you to a different destination, but you can only sit on one boat at a time. So pick a boat and get on it.

You want to speak English like a native, right? Listen to the expert! Pick one. You can understand the other one perfectly well, but to speak like a native, you must pick one and only one.

Remember what Bruce Lee said? Focus!

If unfocused, your laser beam is not strong enough to melt snow, but if focused, your laser beam is strong enough to cut steel!

Take three seconds to think of which accent to learn and then continue reading.

Now that you have chosen your language, it's time to choose the right materials. Think of it this way:

If you choose materials in which someone is speaking native English, you'll learn to speak native English.

If you choose materials in which someone is speaking incorrect English, you'll learn to speak incorrect English.

If you choose materials in which native speakers are speaking English in real life situations, you'll learn to speak real life English.

If you choose materials in which native speakers are speaking English in unrealistic situations, you'll learn to speak unrealistic English.

…

I remember listening to a tape which a friend was introducing a friend to another friend. The conversation was like this:

“Mr. Wong, this is Mr. Chen, Bill Chen. Mr. Chen, this is Mr. Wong, Dan Wong.”

“How do you do?”

“It's my pleasure to meet you.”

“Me, too!”

This conversation from an old recorded lesson was perfectly correct in English grammar, and the people participating in the conversation were native English speakers. However, this is wrong! Very wrong! Native English speakers don't speak this way. This makes people feel awkward and uncomfortable, and the atmosphere is filled with restrictions. Essentially, the conversation would be unnatural.

In the real world, the conversation would be like this:

“Dan, meet Bill!”

“How's going, Bill?”

“How's going, Dan?”

Notice the “How's going” but not “How's it going?” This is the actual conversation native speakers use when meeting new people. This is a casual, informal conversation that native speakers feel comfortable to take part in.

So if you have lessons from English instructional textbooks or recordings that are not performed by native speakers or are not about real life situations, put them away. Choose something that people actually do use.

Choose these materials:

All materials performed only by native speakers.

All English must be naturally spoken in real life situations.

Pick all materials in ONE accent: British English OR American English.

Again, learn ONE language and only one language. Either one is fine.

Here are some right materials to use:

News! Yes, news! Two good examples are BBC News and NPR News. These are real life situations reported to you in direct, clear, and easy to understand English.

Learning sites: For British English, BBC Learning is excellent choice. Here is a shortened URL http://tinyurl.com/qqq3333. For American English, Voice of America Learning is an excellent one. Here is a shortened URL http://tinyurl.com/qqq3334.

Audio story books! This is, by far, my favorite source. Listen to stories with lots of action. There, you can pickup English vocabulary words quickly. Pick ALL audio story books written by native writers and read by native speakers. You can get a free copy of audio book on Amazon. Go to http://tinyurl.com/qqq3335.

Movies. With pictures, movies are easy to understand.

Your choice of your favorite materials performed by native speakers in real life situations.

7 — This Is Your Right Hand Man

When I practiced my English, I didn't spend a dime. I used the Walkman and the pair of cheap headphones that I already had .

Today, you're lucky. You can use your cell phone and a pair of cheap headphones. If you drive a car, link up your cellphone with your car via Bluetooth and use the speakers of the car. If you don't have a cellphone, that's fine. You can use an MP3 player or other playing devices.

When I practiced my English on subway trains, the subway trains were so loud that I had to turn up the volume. I remember so clearly that I turned the volume up to 10 and the highest volume on that Walkman was 10. In noisy areas, a pair of noise-canceling headphones is a good choice since turning the volume up too high can damage your hearing.

There are two new technologies available today. One is over-the-ear noise-canceling headphones, and the other is in-ear isolation headphones.

Over-the-ear Noise-canceling headphones filter out what you don't want to hear and let you hear what you do want to hear at low volume. The headphones detect outside noise and generate sound waves in the opposite frequency, flattening the outside noise, making it inaudible to you.

I own a pair of Audio-technica headphones I bought on Amazon. These headphones can block off about 70% of background noise, making my audio clear enough to keep the volume low even in noisy areas. The headphones can be found on Amazon at this shortened URL http://tinyurl.com/qqq3336. I've also checked out a pair of high-end Bose headphones that were described as much better in performance. According to the report, the headphones can block off about 90% of background noise. However, these headphones cost three times as much as the Audio-technica headphones. The Bose headphones can be found also on Amazon at this shortened URL http://tinyurl.com/qqq3337. I've also tried a pair of low-end headphones that a coworker had at Boeing. The price was $30 cheaper than my Audio-technica headphones, but the quality was bad. It only blocked off about 40-50% of background noise.

In-ear isolation headphones are small, light, and easy to take with you. They're good for outdoor activities. These headphones are, by far, cheaper than over-the-ear noise-canceling headphones. Here is a pair of decent ones on Amazon for a fraction of the price of the over-the-ear noise-canceling headphones: http://tinyurl.com/qqq3338.

Make sure you hear me: use these noise-canceling headphones or noise-isolation headphones ONLY if you absolutely need them. You can practice much better with no headphones or with a pair of regular headphones. You can speak much better if you can hear what you say.

Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do.

Jeremy Bentham

8 — The Step-By-Step Instructions – Let's Make You Speak Like A Native!

Let's review! Myfluentenglish Formula has three steps.

Step 1: Set Your Goal

Step 2: Take Action

Step 3: Follow Through

Concerning all acts of initiative and creation there is one elementary truth — that the moment one definitely commits oneself then divine providence moves too.

William Hutchinson Murray

Let's do Step 1: Set your goal!

If there is only one thing that you want to take from this book, this is it.

Yes. This is the single most important thing in this entire book.

Let's continue.

Step one is set your goal.

Set a solid goal, a stone goal, an iron goal, a strong goal..., a goal that WILL get you going, a goal that WILL push you forward, a goal that WILL burn your desire to make you speak English like a native.

There are two effective way to set your goal: inspiration and desperation.

For me it was easy. “What kind of jobs could I get if I could only speak translated, broken English with a strong accent.” That was it! I didn't want to work in a restaurant doing labor work for life. My uncle already found me a job working as an assistant chef in the restaurant he worked. For me, it was desperation: If I don't do anything about my broken English, I'd be doing labor work for life. BUT if I improve my English and speak English fluently, I'd be doing office work and live a much more comfortable life.

That was a small reason, but it was a strong enough reason to push me forward. What is yours?

Here are some examples of inspiration:

“I have a much better background than Ken. If he can make him speak English like a native, I can make me speak English like a native. I WILL make me speak English like a native. Let me take action now!”

“If Ken, a country boy, a middle school dropout, started at age 20, for six months, can speak English like a native, I can definitely speak English like a native! I WILL make me speak English like a native in six months period!”

Here are some examples of desperation:

“If I keep speaking English like this, I'm going to be doing labor work for life. BUT if I speak English like a native, I'm going to live a comfortable life.”

“If I don't speak English like a native, I'm never going to get that dream job. BUT if I speak English like a native, not only will I get that dream job, I'll have enough money to move out of this apartment and buy that house on top of the hill.”

For desperation, you need to have two parts to make it work. Part one: the pain you have if you don't speak English well. AND part two: the pleasure you'll get if you speak English well. When you have these two parts, your goal works extremely well.

Use whatever you can think of that will inspire you...

Use whatever you can think of that you desperately need...

…...

Write down your goal! Yes, write it down. Write down your goal and put it somewhere you can see it VERY OFTEN!

Write down your goal and look at it as often as you can.

I wrote down my goals and placed them on the ceiling in my bedroom right above my bed. I also put a copy on the wall beside my bed. I also put a copy on my desk. I also put a copy in my wallet.

Put your goal in places where you can see them as often as possible. The point here is for you to look at your goal as often as possible to remind you that you have a goal to work on!

80/20

This is the golden rule for success: 80% of your success depends on your goal, and 20% on your work.

Once again, if there is only one thing that you want to take from this book, this is it. This is the single most important thing for your success. If you have your 80%, there are lots of different ways for you to get there. Without your 80%, what are you going to do your other 20% for?

…...

A man got fired from his company. He got SO mad that he opened a company to compete with the company that fired him.

The man set a goal, then he worked toward the goal, and in just a few short years he beat the company that fired him. His company today is worth $112 billion.

The man's name is Thomas Watson. The company is IBM.

…...

A man got fired from his company. He set a goal to open his own business. He sent an application and a business plan to a bank for a £100,000 loan. The bank asked him to send 16 copies of his plan. He got excited and sent 16 copies of his plan. He never heard from the bank again, so he called the bank. This is the answer he got from the bank:

“We never wanted to lend you the money. We asked for 16 copies your plan to show our employees what a dumb plan is.”

The man tried eight other banks and all refused to lend him money. With a goal set in mind, he tried the ninth bank, and he got the loan. The bank told him that his plan was a very bad plan, but the loan was approved because the loan officer was going to retire in two weeks so whether or not he could pay back the loan didn't matter him.

The man then set up his business, and with a goal in mind, he was incredibly successful. He paid back the loan in full and sold his business for £47 million. The company that bought his business was WH Smith, the company that fired him.

The man's name is Tim Waterstone. The business he opened is the British book store empire, Waterstones.

…...

Let me say this again.

If there is only one thing that you want to take from this book, this is it.

Yes. This is the single most important thing in this entire book.

If you haven't read my background yet, read it now. Because with a humble background like that and I can still set a goal and successfully made me speak English like a native, tell yourself this: yes, I can!

There was one simple reason for me to set a goal that pushed me forward to learn to speak like a native. The more reasons you can find the better. If all you can find is just one reason, that is enough. Find a reason why you must speak English like a native. Not you want, not you need, not you should, but you MUST. A reason so strong that you must do it . Find that reason now. Then set your goal.

Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action.

Orison Swett Marden

Let's do Step 2: Take Action!

To speak English like a native, you'll need to learn from the native, but how to learn from the native is the key. In this step, I'm going to show you how.

Remember the Kung Fu example I mentioned earlier? If you want to be good at Kung Fu, you're going to have to practice Kung Fu. If you want to be good at English, you're going to have to practice English.

So how are you going to learn from the native? Practice.

I'm going to show you nine action to completely get rid of your accent and make you speak English just like a native. So have your MP3 player or your cellphone ready. Put on your headphones if you need. Go to one of the following links to download a native study material.

For American English, download this one: http://tinyurl.com/qqq4444.

For British English, download this one: http://tinyurl.com/qqq4445.

Just type either one of the above links on your web browser, and the native study material will be automatically downloaded to your computer. Remember, download only one and leave the other one alone.

Now let's take Action 1.

Action 1: Listen And Repeat At The Same Time

Listen to the native study material and repeat what you hear immediately. I mean immediately. Right at the moment you hear it.

I would like to stress the importance of this. When you hear the beginning of a sentence, you repeat the beginning of the sentence. When you hear the middle of a sentence, you repeat the middle of the sentence. When you hear the end of a sentence, you repeat the end of the sentence. Whenever you hear something, repeat that immediately.

In other words, repeat what you hear as quickly as you can. Say it back without trying to understand it or trying memorize it.

Yes. I typed it right, and you read it right. Say it back without trying to understand it or trying memorize it. Just repeat what you hear immediately as quickly as you can. And relax! What you're doing here is naturally building your fluency. You're doing this to train your brain, your mouth, your tongue, your lips, your throat, your lungs, your stomach ... and everything you need to NATURALLY speak English without first translating it! So just say what you hear immediately without trying to understand it or memorize it. Let the meaning, the grammar, the vocabulary ... and everything else build subconsciously.

In the beginning of your practice, if you hear words you don't know how to say or words that are hard to say, that's perfectly fine. Just try to say the words or just make some noise and move on.

Action 2: Finish Repeating The Whole Material

Listen to and repeat the whole material from the beginning straight to the end. If you have to pause it, pause it. When you come back, keep going from where you've left off. What you're doing here is building your flow, making you speak whole sentences instead of just words, so repeat whole sentences and the whole material from the beginning to the end.

Again, if you come across something you can't say correctly or can't say at all, that's fine – just make some noise and move on. Remember, even if there are words you can't say, keep on going forward. Continue all the way to the end.

Action 3: Record Your Voice

Yes, record your voice practicing this piece of native study material. This is crucial. Do NOT skip this.

Now you know how to practice the repeating strategy and you have already repeated this material once. At this point, you'll need to record your own voice repeating this same piece of material. So find a recording device such as your computer, another cell phone, or other recording device and record your voice.

By the way, you'll need to put on a pair of headphones to listen to the native study material this time so that you can record your voice clearly. So listen to the native study material through your headphones this time. Find a recording device such as your computer, another cell phone, or other recording device and record your voice do the following:

Record your voice repeating the whole material from the beginning to the end.

Repeat everything you know how to say and make some noise on everything you don't know how to say. Just do your best and keep on going forward.

Remember to keep going straight forward until you get to the end. Save your voice file and leave it alone. You will listen to it later.

Action 4: Finish Repeating The Whole Material All At Once Yet Another Time

For the third time, listen to and repeat the same material from the beginning right to the end. You want to keep your flow going – repeat the full sentences and the whole material. Repeat everything you know how to say and make some noise on everything you don't know how to say. Just do your best and keep going forward until you reach the end.

Action 5: Rewind And Repeat The Words You Can't Say As Many Times As You Need

Now that you have listened to and repeated the whole thing three times and you know the sentence flow. It's time to listen to and repeat the same thing again. Yet this time, immediately go back to the words you can't say or have hard time to say. Listen to them again and try to say them again. Try to say them again and listen to them again. Try once, twice, three times.... Try as many times you need UNTIL you can finally say them.

Action 6: Ignore The Meaning And Focus On Speaking

When you hear and repeat some words you don't know the meaning of, just ignore the meaning and keep practicing speaking. Yes, you read it right. Do ignore the meaning and focus only on speaking.

Avoid translating the words! You want to understand these words in English, not in other languages! To speak English like a native, you'll need to speak English NATURALLY. Let the meaning of the words come to you naturally in English, and you can accomplish that by learning more. When you master speaking, you'll understand the words automatically, in English. So ignore the meaning and focus on speaking and only on speaking.

Action 7: Finish Repeating The Whole Material For Three Times

Now that you know how to say every word in this piece of native study material. It's time to practice the whole thing again. From the beginning to the end, practice saying what you hear for three times. Be sure to mimic the flow, the tones, the volumes, the expressions, the speed... Try to mimic everything.

Practice this piece of native study material three times and then move on.

Action 8: Record Your English

Congratulations for getting this far! Now it's time to record your voice again repeating the same piece of native study material. Take out your recording device and record yourself repeating the very same piece of material you've been practicing. Save your voice file.

Now it's time to compare your recordings. Listen to the first recording first and then listen to the second recording. How do you like your English in the beginning? How do you like your English now? Do you hear any improvement?

If you don't hear any improvement, that's fine. This piece of native study material may not be a good fit for you or you may be too good for this piece of native study material. Let's move on. Take Action 9.

If you do hear improvement, congratulations, you ARE speaking better than before. Let's do even better than that! Move on.

Is your English as good as the speaker? If your English is as good as the speaker, good job! You are beginning to speak like a native! Keep up the good work! Let's take Action 9.

Action 9: Find A Different Piece Of Material And Do Action 1 To 8

First, let's rate this native study material. Choose one of the following. To me, this native study material is:

Too slow.

Just right.

Too fast.

Choice 3: Too fast. If you chose 3, congratulations! That's very normal! Go to one of the following links, pick a different native study material at a slower speed, use the new native study material and do action 1 to 8 again.

Slower speed for American English: http://tinyurl.com/qqq4446

Slower speed for British English: http://tinyurl.com/qqq5551

Choice 2: Just right. If you chose 2, congratulations! You're almost there! You'll be speaking like a native very soon. Go to one of the following, pick a different native study material at the same speed, use the new native study material and do action 1 to 8 again.

Average speed for American English: http://tinyurl.com/qqq4447

Average speed for British English: http://tinyurl.com/qqq5552

Choice 1: Too slow. If you chose 1, congratulations! Your English speed is too good. Unless you really want to speak faster than an average native English speaker, go back to Choice 2, pick a different native study material, use the new native study material and do action 1 to 8 again. If you still want to speak faster than an average native English speaker, go to one of the following links, pick a different native study material at ultra fast speed, use the new native study material and do action 1 to 8 again.

Ultra fast speed for American English: http://tinyurl.com/qqq4448

Ultra fast speed for British English: http://tinyurl.com/qqq5553

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall singlehandedly move the world.

Archimedes

Let's do Step 3: Follow Through!

Keep doing Step 2! This is Step 3! Keep taking action 1 to 9. This is how you follow through to get the results you've been waiting for.

Once a month, go back to the previous pieces of native study materials you've practiced before and try to practice them again. This is for your retention. Go back to them and practice them again. This will help your brain naturally memorize them and your bodily mechanisms naturally speak them!

Here is something to get excited about: By taking action 1 to 9, your brain will NATURALLY process the pronunciation, grammar, sentence flow, speed, tone, vocabulary … and everything you need to speak like a native on whatever you practice. As a result, you'll know exactly how to correctly pronounce English words, you'll know exactly when to start, when to pause and when to stop, you'll know exactly what to say louder and what to say softer, you'll know exactly when to speak faster and when to speak slower … just like native speakers would.

This step will bring you the results you've been waiting for! If there is one word to describe this step, the word is “persistence.” Keep building on top of what you've been building to achieve what you want.

By the way, here is a reminder: Open Throat!

That's it! Follow through and you WILL get there!

9 — This Is Your Left-Hand Man

I'm your teacher and also your left hand man. Please feel free to send me an email at ken@myfluentenglish.com if you have questions or simply send me an email to tell me about your success story. You never know how many people you can inspire by simply sharing your story.

Reason guides but a small part of man, and the rest obeys feeling, true or false, and passion, good or bad.

Joseph Roux

10 — Your Road To Success

Fun fact:

One percent (Yes, 1% ) of people who buy instructional books follow the instructions in the books and succeed. The other 99% will put the books away and search for other books or do nothing else and never succeed on what they wanted. That's the reason why for every 100 people who want to learn to speak English like a native, one person will succeed.

Are you going to be the 99% who will put this book away and buy other books or the 1% who'll stop searching, follow the instructions in this book, keep working on it, and finally speak English like a native?

How much you'll succeed is up to you. Following the step-by-step instructions in this book will get you off a good start, AND persistence will give you success. Give yourself a chance to succeed by taking action and giving yourself time to succeed. Now, follow my proven Myfluentenglish Formula and take action to produce your results!

What you need to do is to take action today. The key word is today. Copy my formula today and follow the exact same process I did before. Start from today – I mean today, right now. Do exactly what I did before. Take one action to start building your fluency today.

You only need to start from small and keep building.

Can you lift 100 kg? It's too heavy for most of us. Can you lift 2 kg? Yes, you can. Let's start by lifting 2 kg today, 3 kg tomorrow, and keep adding. By doing this, your muscles will continue to build, and before you know it, you've already built enough muscles to effortless lift a weight that seemed impossible before!

Started at age 20 for six months, if I, a country boy, a middle school dropout with no special talent, can learn to speak English like a native, my friend, yes, you can!

Take action now and keep building!

I can lead a horse to water, but it's up to the horse to drink. I can show you the door to speak English like a native, but it's up to you to go in there and exit the other way.

Go in! Go in there and exit the other way speaking English like a native!

If you have any questions, please send me an email at ken@myfluentenglish.com to let me address them. Otherwise, I'd really appreciate it if you would go to http://tinyurl.com/qqq6666 and leave an Amazon customer review.

Congratulations!

You made it and are officially better than 99% people out there who want to speak English like a native but didn't do anything!

A few times a month, I'll offer to send out something for free. Sometimes they'll be free tips, and sometimes they can be a free book.

I only accept 30 people at a time and I already have 12 awesome people at the moment.

If you're interested in joining the Fluent English Team, simply send me an email at Ken@myfluentenglish.com and use the subject line “Join the Fluent English Team.”

Thank you so much, and I look forward to you being part of this exclusive and group of passionate English learners.

©2015 Ken Xiao. All Rights Reserved.

Content

Xiao Ken Talk English: The Secret To Speak English Like A Native In 6 Months For Busy People, Learn Spoken English From The Success