Speaking English for 20 seconds a day?

English as a Second Language Listening, speaking, pronunciation and accent
#1

Hello everyone,

Most of our users have difficulty speaking English. Your reading comprehension skills might be quite good and you can also express yourself in writing. What you do have a problem with is speaking English.

As for me, I’m one of those who constantly need to practice their speaking skills and that’s why I’m calling on you to start speaking English for at least 20 seconds a day.

How to do that? Very simple. Record a voice message here on the forum talking about anything. For example, you can tell us what you did that day, whom you met, what problems you encountered with and what you what your goals are for tomorrow.

If everyone of us records one short voice message every day we’ll soon have a dynamic and interesting collection of recordings. I also hope that the native speakers on our forum actively support us in this new endeavor.

Many thanks,
Torsten

TOEIC listening, photographs: Viewing the city skyline

3 Likes
#2

I’ll be the first to explain my day.
First of all i woke up and visited the toilet.Today my father has birthday and for the occasion I bought him a parfum.
In the mourning I miss the bus.So I had to go on foot.I thought this day would be warm and I forgot my coat at home … It was very bad idea !
Now I’m wondering what medicine to buy tomorrow if I am sick with flu :lol: Even I went earlier from the university because of the chill.

1 Like
#3

Hi Borislav,

Thanks a lot for your response. I actually was talking about speaking English for at least 20 seconds a day. What you did was write a forum post which is perfectly fine but it’s not exactly recording a voice message, is it?

Regards,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: A speed-boat race[YSaerTTEW443543]

#4

Hi Torsten,

Let me kick off with a quickie. As usual this morning I made a cup of tea and staggered down to what I laughingly call my study to switch on my computer, which has been misbehaving recently. This morning it was a model PC. It worked first time. I then lingered over the best cup of tea of the day and scrolled through the forum trying to find something useful to say. By the way my study is laughingly small, if you follow me.

Alan

2 Likes
#5

Please listen to my recording and respond with a voice message too. Many thanks.

1 Like
#6

Good morning Borislav and Alan. Thank you very much for participating in this new project. Borislav, I’d like to apologize for my previous post since you actually did record your message so you are perfectly on schedule so to speak. As for your pronunciation, I can understand everything you are saying and if you continue recording voice messages here on the forum and you will improve your speaking skills even further.

Alan, what is on your agenda for today? Slava and I are working on sending out your latest essay on Christmas. I’ve read it and I must admit it is absolutely marvelous with so much factual information written up in your unique entertaining style. Thank you very much for that!

Speak to you soon,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: A man reading the paper[YSaerTTEW443543]

#7

Hi Torsten,

Thank you for your kind words. I don’t want to hog this space but since you ask, I have to tell you that the day looks pretty gloomy from where I’m sitting. I had intended to pick up some more leaves but it’s very wet out there. On Tuesday morning we’re usually wakened by the dustman at the crack of dawn - crash! bang! wallop! but where would we be without them? Tomorrow is the day they collect garden rubbish. My oh my, it’s an exciting life. Let’s hear from some others.

Alan

1 Like
#8

Please listen to my recording and respond with a voice message too. Many thanks.

1 Like
#9

Alan,

You’re great at what you do. They way you use words and different phrases amazes me.

Jay

1 Like
#10

Hi Jay,

When are you going to join in on our project? As you know, this thread is called ‘speaking English for 20 seconds a day’ so it would be great if you could post voice messages rather than just writing texts.

Many thanks,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: A boat on the water[YSaerTTEW443543]

#11

Hi everone,

it’s me, Claudia.

It’s cold and rainy outside and the leaves are whirling through the air and I’m sitting in here, in my living room, in front of my computer, doing research on Viking longships and how they burn and things like that and I found a few videos on YouTube, but I don’t know how realistic they are, because I think they’re mainly show.

Well, I just picked out a poem by Christine de Pisan and posted that on the other thread and now I’m going to go and have some brunch.

See you later!

1 Like
#12

Please listen to my recording and respond with a voice message too. Many thanks.

1 Like
#13

Opss
Yesterday i forgot to write what happened so now I’m going to do that.
Maybe in whole Europe the rain was pouring because here in my country the situation was the same. Actually the rains doesn’t bother me until I’m going to the university by bus.My day passed away in lectures and exercises.In the afrernoon when I went back home I was exhausted and I found in the bed at 9p.m.Thant to the rain, I fell asleep easily and now I’m ready for work again.

1 Like
#14

Hello, good morning.

Claudia here.

I’m sipping my coffee and waiting for the caffeine to kick in. Today I’m going to go downtown Würzburg because the health insurance is bugging me. I hope the weather won’t be as bad as yesterday, although, every once in a while the sun did come out. So, let’s hope today the sun comes out and stays out.

I’m glad to hear that Borislav didn’t get sick, considering that he forgot his coat yesterday, and I hope he won’t.

And Bill, it is my pleasure to speak here and to babble my nonsense. I think it will be a lot of fun. I hope a lot of people will join us. Maybe we will get a whole conversation going. I think that would be great.

You all have a nice day and see ya later!

1 Like
#15

Hello 20 Seconders,

For me, Claudia it’s tea that sets me up first thing out of the biggest mug I can find. Today is a special day in the UK calendar because it celebrates the attempt by a group of Catholic plotters who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament on November 5th 1605. The most famous of the plotters was called Guy Fawkes and it is he whose name is given to this day. As darkness falls, thousands of bonfires will be lit and thousands of fireworks will be let off. And there will be a right old deafening din. If you want a little bit of local colour, I could put the microphone out cautiously to give you a snatch of the rumpus going on. As for me, I’m staying in the warm.

Alan

#16

Please listen to my recording and respond with a voice message too. Many thanks.

#17

Can’t hear you, Bill.

Alan

#18

Please listen to my recording and respond with a voice message too. Many thanks.

#19

Hello everyone,

Alan, you’re posts are going to be tough to beat! They’re wonderful. I find myself waking up and thinking, “I wonder what Alan is going to write today? Tune in and find out.”

As for me, a good cup of coffee is what I need in the morning. Tea is usually held off until mid-day in the Kane household. After I post this message, I’m heading out to the office supply store to buy more ink and paper for my printer, and then back to the office. I know what you’re all thinking…“Man, that Tom really lives on the edge!”

That’s it for now!

Tom

#20

Hi everyone,

Claudia here.

Well, I survived the visit downtown. It only rained once, otherwise it was nice and sunny, but I took a raincoat with me so I didn’t get drenched. It was quite busy downtown and everybody was coughing and sneezing, so there is a real bad cold going around and I was glad when I went back home and got out of there. Hehe.

Oki, take it easy.

P.S. Welcome Tom Kane! I hope to hear from you more. Bye.