Thanks for your newsletter 'The way they say it'

[Rebecca]

Dear Alan,

Thank for reaching me, I was very happy when I received your mail. Am about to write TOEFL exams, which is a basic requirement for the school am going to, please help me improve on my vocabulary. Am not good at writing articles, please help me. Warm regards. R

[Anh Thi Hu]

Dear Alan,

"The way they say it" is really interesting. There are many variations in my Vietnamese. I have a western accent which is quite popular in VietNam. I don't know much about English accents. I am studying how to speak English with a American accent. But I think there are many American accents too. My English (speaking, listening, writing) is medium, not good, not bad. I'll try to improve my English in next two year for a new job opportunity.

I hope I can make a great strides with your help. I think my progress is my great present for you. Many many thanks.
Please non stop sending me email.

P/S:I can't open the test with the link you sent me. I don't know why. Could you please attach the test to your email?

Anh Thi Hu

[Binh.Chung]

Dear Mr Townend,

I would like to say "THANK YOU" for the newsletter you sent me regularly. All that can help me improve my English very fast. This time I have to work so hard so I don't have time to join the forum, to do exercises, etc. that's why I hope to receive more and more articles from you.

Best regards,
Binh.Chung

[Carlos]

Hello Alan,

Many Thanks to you,for helping me make my speech strong enough so that I can interact well with other people, I've just begun with your course and sure hope to improve my pronunciation (I really need to work on this, as I tend to speak a little quic making it hard for other people to understand) and also my accent). Now I really can make it good, my talking and my fluency in speaking will become better with your guidance,

Thanks again
Carlos

[grise]

Hi Mr Alan Townend,

how are you?

thank you very much for your newsletter the way they say it. i liked it. i would like to study the english language everyday, but unfortunately i do not have time to do it, because i have a little baby and have a lot of things to do, for example feeding my baby, cooking, cleaning the house an so on. because of that i don't have time to read study at the moment.

but i am very happy being mother and enjoying to my little daughter, she is my life and i lover her with all my heart.
mr. Alan thanks a lot for sending such beautiful essays and newsletters and for everything you do.

congratulations,
grise

[Jyothi]

Dear Alan Townend.
Thank you for your letter and offer of help. I was an English lecturer, taught for twenty seven years at +2 level and now have taken voluntary retirement. I am now employed in a Spoken English Institute. I am an Indian and am afraid speak English with a South Indian accent. I know how difficult it is to neutralize one's accent, but despite age I would like to try. I am a forever learner. I do this for my own sake and that of my students. I don't think I've any problem with consonants but when it comes to vowels, I'm not sure when to round or elongate my lips. Are there tongue twisters to help one get correct pronunciation in vowels?

I will get a set of head phones and get back to you. I appreciate your offer of help.
I enjoyed reading your essay.
Yours,
Jyothi

[Nathalia C.R.]

Dear Alan,
I appreciate much the newsletters and the web-page, thanks a lot for this, it's very useful for me. By the way you are a great writer.
Regards

Nathalia
C.R.

[Gulnur]

Hello Dear Mr. Townend!

I`m very glad to hear from you. First of all, many thanks for your materials and stories which give us to understand the difference between words. I`d say there are a lot of differences between people and their languages.

When I studied in English course our American teachers sometimes didn`t understand what we said and asked to repeat again. It`s difficult for me some English idioms, slangs and short words. When I watch movie on TV in English I can`t say that I understand all the words what they say. So I`d say I have some common with that professor who wanted to achieve " a flawless accent"
In our country most people are bilingual. They speak on two languages which are used on the same level: Russian and Kazakh. I speak perfect in Russian and Kazakh together. Our Native language is Kazakh. I live in Kazakhstan Republic where people have been speaking in Russian and Kazakh all their life. However, many people don`t know the Kazakh language. I have no difficulties when I speak Kazakh and Russian and I haven`t any accents.

My teachers who came from the USA met a lot of difficulties when they wanted to speak in Russian. Their accent was very strange and made us laugh though our English accent was not better. They said to us that the Russian language is very hard and difficult. One day one of our teachers taught us some Spain words which were an easy to use. For example: Hola! Buenos dias! Como estas? Hasts la vista and ets. When I studied in School I learned German which was very easy than English. Also we studied Latin one cemester in our university. I found out that English much difficultier than German, Latin and Spain.

Many languages, many differences. I quite agree with you Mr. Townend! It`s so interesting and amazing!
I hope to hear from you. Many thanks and respects for your help Mr. Townend! Have a nice day!

P.S. Sorry, if I have mistakes. It happens.

__________
sincerely,
Gulnur

[Vanny]

Dear Alan,

Hi! Nice hearing from you again.
I have been studying again, now that I am settled down in my new home (finally !).

Well, you asked me about accents. I live in a city called S?o Paulo, in Brazil. The only spoken language here is Portuguese. The Portuguese language was originated from the Portuguese spoken in Portugal. It is written at the same way, but the accent is very different, and also many expressions, that here it means something, but in Portugal, it might mean something different.

I arrived here in Brazil when I was almost 5 years old, and have studied here since, so I speak Portuguese without any accent.

English is my mother language. But, when I got here, I didn't speak Portuguese...only English...but then, I started only speaking Portuguese and went to High school, College..so now I speak Portuguese better than English. I had to study English grammar and my parents helped me with English as well. I was in kindergarten in the USA, so I couldn't write yet.

Here in Brazil, there are variations of Portuguese. There are different kind of accents from the South and from the north of Brazil. And there are also variations at the country sides.

I love English and I love all the different accents there is. I like listening to English from USA and England... But my favorite one is American, because It reminds me of home...

Thank you for your e-mails. I love receiving them.
Have a lovely week,

Vanny

[Phuong Lan]

Dear Alan Townend,

Thanks for you letters.

I read them and I'm trying to understand all of their mean. I read "How can I improve my English as fast as possible?". I think your advice is very good. With your advice, I hope I can improve my English in a very short time.

Yours sincerely.
Phuong Lan

[marcelo cabezas]

Hi Alan,
Thanks for the material, I really enjoyed it.
Would be possible you to send me a couple of tests to print based on idioms, phrasal verbs, nowadays reductions and abbreviations?

It?d be absolutely interesting and important me to improve and learn more about your idiom cause I'm an ENGLISH TEACHER OVER HERE BUT I FEEL LIKE I'M VERY FAR FROM THE REAL UNDERSTANDING OF YOUR LANGUAGE.

I meant, the whole material Ive been studying for these last 3 years after I finished my superior studies at the university showed me that the sense of you tongue is the real thing I have to understand.

It doest really matter how many grammatical rules could I know cause every time you talk or write I usually see many more variations based on.........? I DON'T KNOW! I want to improve my English so could you help me? What can I do?

m.a.c

[Gopal]

Hi,

Really nice to all....
Thanks!
Gopal

[SWE SET]

Dear all,
Thank you for all of your suggestion. Please forgive me for going away for a while. I am just busy with my MA (EFL) final exam which will be on the third week of September. But I read all of your suggestions with great thanks. I will follow you all soon. And I have been reading Alan's story and I enjoy it. However I regret to say I couldn't make any comment for this time. But anyway I will try my best.
Best regards
SWE SET