The art speaking of english

As there is always an art in everything you do or you learn to do, the art of speaking English, as I see it, basically comprises three parts: what to say, how to say, and how to say well.

Art 1) What to say

More often than not, many students complain tha t they don’t know what to say when

their turns come. The reasons behind the problem are that they often don’t have a point to make or that they fail to come up with some opinions or some feelings to express or simply that they have nothing new to say and tired of repeating what has been already said.

The art here is that on an issue or a topic, you prepare your points and gather your material; about a person or an event you share your feelings and tell your opinions.

So the first art of speaking English is to choose a theme and work on it---a matter of Content.

Art 2) How to say

Many English learners have experienced the awkward situation of not knowing how to say, namely, how to express themselves. To solve this problem, you have to pay attention to these factors: words, phrases, sentence patterns.

Without proper words, phrases, sentences patterns, though with a profusion of right opinions and good feelings, you can hardly do anything about putting them into any language form, often feeling rather like a skillful housewife with a pile of provision of grain, meat and vegetable, but without any stove, pot and other kitchenware.

So the second art of speaking English is to gather your ways, means or tools to work---a matter of Form.

Art 3) How to say well

You may have your points to make, and know how to do it, but sometimes you can’t do it well, why?

First, it has much to do with grammar---a matter of being right or wrong; with logic---a matter of being reasonable, meaningful or illogical and meaningless; with figures of

speech---a matter of being beautiful, pleasant or awkward, tedious.

Second, it has something to do with your state of mind---happy or downcast, your partner(s)---interesting, polite, eloquent or tasteless, rude, stammering, or even with an accent you dislike.

Actually, the third art of speaking English is to combine the first with the second plus some other skills and factors---a matter of combination of Content and Form together with something else.

To put it in a figurative way, we may say that a good English speaker is like an artist who prepares in advance a picture in mind and draws it in practice with a great sense of purpose, skill and beauty.