Author name: Ian

Your Personal Style – It's Your English Over the years I have spent tutoring in English to Asian Students, I have discovered that one of the most common issues they have is emulating or copying Native speakers. This ends up with a confusion of accents, strained pronunciation and a very uncomfortable experience for the student. My instruction to all students is – Don’n’t. Don’t try to copy, emulate or imitate native speakers. Each native speaker has their own way of using their English and this is the key. It is hard enough learning the language without the added stress of trying to sound native. Just be natural and comfortable. Not easy I know. The key here is to develop your own style and your own English. Language is funny that way. In order to think in a second language You really have to understand that it is yours. You own it. You use it and You control how You use it. This allows You the freedom to express yourself the way You want to. If it comes out funny to other people, that’s OK. funny is good. Mistakes are good. In fact, deliberately making mistakes is even better as it indicates You own your language. I am quite sure a lot of teachers, academics and tutors will all review this with absolute horror. Fine, ask me how much I care. They focus on the language. I focus on You. After more than 60 years of using the language and 40 years of report writing, public speaking, TV and Radio broadcasts, press conferences and endless meetings, one thing I have found is that we all use our own version of the same language in order to communicate with others and express our ideas. And here’s the deal. If You tell me something in your personal style and I understand, grammar and vocabulary, form and precision are all irrelevant. If You have some funny quirks or eccentricities, in pronunciation or the use of words, that is just You and it defines You. It means others who know You can identify You from the way you speak to them. I have all sorts of eccentricities. I misuse words and mispronounce them over and over and over again. It is a personal habit and You know what – nobody cares. Some find it irritating and try to correct me. I ignore them. Some find it funny and endearing. Others totally ignore it or give me a funny look and occasionally friends will make fun of it. However, it is only very occasionally that anyone stops me and tells me they do not understand. I adjust my English to suit the people I am talking to. I adapt my English for the audience in public speaking. I vary my English depending on the type of report I am writing and I have a particularly form of using my English to writing this nonsense. The one thing that come through all of that is that it is my English the way I want to use it. And this is what I am hoping your will understand and have a lightbulb moment which will allow you to focus your learning to use the language in a different light – so to speak. Find a way to be comfortable and natural. Stop worrying about form and grammar. Don’t try to sound sophisticated or intellectual. Be natural and be yourself. Use the language the way You want to. Exactly the same way You use your own. If You think about it, You have your own style of speaking your own language and it identifies you when You use it. people know how you use your language and how you speak and the same it true when You use English. So there it is. Work on developing a personal style of using your English the way You want to and free yourself from all the bits and pieces You really don’t need and focus on expressing yourself the way You want to. Being understood is much more important than being academically precise and correct. If You understand what You are trying to say yourself, then others will understand why You say it to them. Whether it is grammatically correct of the vocabulary is precise is irrelevant. being understood is the whole point of language so develop your own personal style of your own personal English.