3 ENGLISH FLUENCY

Development and Maintenance of Language Skills Specially for Native Speakers of Portuguese
Introduction
Can I have good English skills as a native Portuguese speaker? What should I do in order to always speak English fluently? The awareness of language structure difference is the basis for fluency development. Portuguese native speakers can master English efficiently very close to the native speaker skills when some important details for the second language acquisition are absorbed. This goal is attained with high confidence, as a conscious requirement of language difference is comprehended. Most people are not totally aware that learning a second language is a strong personal challenge. This involves an intense dedication and cares in order to acquire skills enough to communicate fluently enjoying such features on several applications like professional, traveling, reading, writing, and global communication. The process is very similar to the opening of a new world inhabited by a different culture and offering a new life! where the perception for the world may vary substantially from our sweetie tropical "ra#il. $earning a second language is time consuming, but keeping the second language is even more difficult to attain regarding the constant dedication to keep a fresh fluency. %nalogically this human activity is very similar to the problem of keeping a perfect balanced body weight. &iets solve temporary problem of losing weight. 'hat will happen after the diet is over( &oes anyone want to be on diets forever( 'hat is going to be our weight five years down the line when the last diet is over( The unique solution is to learn to eat appropriately according to the daily energy requirements in order to prevent breaking the law balance of input vs. output. The same fundamentals can be applied to the process of learning and keeping a second language. )uman brains are biological machines highly comple* and self+maintained. ,t seems not to approve keeping words that were learned and have not been used after some period of spanned time, even in the native language. Then, the process of learning a second language should consider mechanisms for maintenance also that will be discussed later. Then, some principles to aim can be outlined as following according to their importance and priorities.. /omparative $anguage 0tructure- Portuguese is different than English and should be understood clearly in order to remove barriers associated to perception in all required communication skills. 2ocabulary $oading- 3luency is highly dependent on e*tensive vocabulary to offer options for e*pression of outgoing, and incoming information for interpretation. /ontinuous $inguistic Training- &edication is a critical factor in order to assimilate and e*ercise interactive comple* information in the way native communicates. 1. Comparative Language Structure

Portuguese is a language characteri#ed by a highly specific structure very different from English. Portuguese speakers should be conscious that their mind runs with a pattern of words having a specific combination of consonants and vowels which imposes a good correlation between the sound and the wording. 3or e*ample, the Portuguese word 5ba+ta+ta6 is a good e*ample that , have been using since , started to develop this new approach of interactive English learning. , was used to compare to the English word 5wor7l7d76. Portuguese is so well correlated between sounds and writing patterns that it is not common to spell Portuguese words routinely, even when some sort of precision is required for names. Portuguese names can be spoken and written without further concern letting a clear understanding with a precise spelling interpretation to the listener. Portuguese speakers are not trained in their native language to speak pure consonants, e*cept l, r, and n ending sound. Then, purity in the consonant pronunciation of English words by Portuguese speaker is one important goal to pursue in the language skills development. They are critical to provide a sound fluency. English language does require a perfect sounding of pure consonantal sounds. Then, performing the pronunciation at a very slow speed of specific words, like 5worrrrrrllllllddddddd6, 5girrrrrrrlllllllsssssssss8#########96 can result to a perfect pronunciation of pure consonants. 0o, increasing the speed more and more helps the trainee to bring his or her pronunciation closer to normal without spoiling the sound pattern and making it more similar to native speaking. This process gives more time to the recipient to dominate all muscles! movements of articulating sounds in order to be able to emit such sound pattern, which are not so peculiar to Portuguese speaking characteristics. This approach can be employed also to small and larger sentences. More recently the analogical process has been based in the word 5chocolate6 which is attainable for both languages English and Portuguese with a very abrupt change in the pronunciation pattern. 3or e*ample as some other patterns belowAnalogy of Language Structure between Portuguese and English /ho+co+la+te : /hocolate ;Ch k_- !-lt_; 2a+mos : 2amoose ;v-"m s; < $et!s go= > &e+do : 3inger ;!f -gr; % Me+sa : Table ;te-#_l_; > "ra+?o : %rm ;r_m_;

1. 4.

% /a+ne+ca : Mug ;mg_; > /as+te+lo : /astle ;!k s-l; % PA+ro+la : Perl ;pr_l_; % Me+ni+na : Birl ;gr_l_; > Mun+do : 'orld ;$r_l_d_; > /ir+co : /ircus ;!sr-ks; % 3er+ti+li+da+de : 3etility ;fr-"tl-t_-i; 1.1. Speed of Delivery and Natural Language Compressing.

1.2. Wording Gender Portuguese is characteri#ed for having a flag in the word ending providing gender definition for most words. Fsually masculine words end with 5o6 and feminine words end with 5a6, like in 5dedo6 and 5mesa6. This propriety makes Portuguese very rich with vowels in the end of the words and also brings some conception about dividing the whole vocabulary in the language half for male and half for female. ,t is logically awkward that in Portuguese inanimate objects have gender orientations. %t least it solves some cultural gender arguments regarding the division of the Portuguese world in two halves for males and females. )owever, when dealing with inanimate objects the gender definition provides some worthless information in the etymological conception. , have observed culturally that "ra#ilians have much less concern about social gender dispute than English speakers. 'ords gender pattern in Portuguese remediate gender differences in society, at least regarding the e*pression of our perceptional world. 0ince English is a rich consonantal language, then the words do not bear any cue in their end about its gender e*pression, which generally is provided by vowels in Portuguese. /onsequently, this fact e*plains why English becomes a language that most words will finish with consonants. 2owels are not needed in English to e*press gender option. ,n addition e letter in the end of English words become silent. 1.3. Consonantalization and Clustering

$inguists have analy#ed the speed dynamics of speaking and concluded that a fast native speaker can easily deliver up to five syllables per second in a fast talking, which can reach up to 4CC words per minute, near a full page of common novel books. ,t does require a strong brain processing to capture, analy#e and understand the content of such communication pace. There are around 4C muscles in the articulatory system involved in the emission of speaking sounds. Then, in a fast speaking the brain has around one+fifty of a second to position the appropriate muscles in order to achieve the goal of making a common delivery of sounds at five syllables per second. 0ome continuous training is required until the process is learned effectively and become a natural instinctive functioning in the process of speaking in a different pattern from the Portuguese language as the first maternal language. %ll these physiological comple*ity requires a deep comprehension that mastering a second language requires years of training in order to acquire several skills associated to the speaking, listening, reading, and writing. %lso, it should be included a long list of vocabulary acquisition added to spelling, pronunciation and some variety of definitions applied to each word besides its comple* grammar ruling. ,t seems that English can become even more difficult to Portuguese speakers because of some natural compression associated to the sounding composition. 3or e*ample, the word 5chocolate6 have the same spelling in Portuguese and English. ,n Portuguese it is spoken as a four syllables pronouncing clearly all consonants and vowels. ,n English this work is pronounced as two syllables only omitting the last vowel and optionally the second vowel 5o6. Then the sound of 5chocolate6 in English is pronounced as two syllables having two consonants each. Then, considering that each syllable in Portuguese and English takes the same energy and effort, English would have an edge of near DCE of compression rate. This pattern of clustering consonants around a vowel as a syllable makes English a highly compressible language compared to English speaking patterns. ,t should be observed also that English would cluster consonants toward a nucleus of a vowel allowing an e*plosive fast talking taking advantage of the plosive consonants. Plosive vowels like p, t, k, b, d, and g produced without vowels in a syllable cluster is an important factor for increasing language compression and high speed of delivery. 0tudies have shown that it is easier to the brain to listen than to speak at high speed. $istening capabilities do not require a full listening of a complete word or sentence. /onte*t and logical interaction helps to bring a fast and efficient listening in an ultra+fast speaking approach. Then, in conclusion it is naturally much more difficult to speak fast than to listen to a fast speaking.

English sound pattern does not like to keep vowels even inside the words. 0ee the e*amples below3amily ;fm-li; $eave ;liv_; Braduate ;gr - !-$t7; /hocolate ;Chk_- !-lt7; ,n the same way that Portuguese is a language prone to e*press itself strongly using vowel sounds, English would have preference to consonants. This is my common remark using to emphasi#e such conceptions. , used to say that dogs would bark in Portuguese or in English perfectly according to their language rules. % "ra#ilian dog would bark in Portuguese a sound very rich in vowels making the sounds like 5au-au-au6 while %merican dogs would bark in their local English language rich in consonants making the sounds 5ruff-ruff-ruff6. This shows clearly the tendency of Portuguese language pattern to use preferentially vowel sound while English employs more consonants. To e*press words rich in vowels in Portuguese like 5goia#a% Cuia#a6 represents the same level of difficulty to English speakers as it happens to Portuguese speakers pronouncing English words rich in consonants like 5$orlds% isnt% girls6. Poor listening skills occurring to Portuguese speakers are associated to the low perception awareness toward language structure differences. ,t does require some time and training to develop such skills in order to offer a more precise understand of the functioning of a new language clearly different from the native one. %ll the brain processing needs to adjust itself to a new pattern of language structure in order to have an effective communication. Then , comment to my pupils that their language skills will improve after their remove their 5 #atata6

from their brain, which is true regarding the language structure behind this word. 1. . Wording !lural 1.#. /linton Jewton Medicine $atin $istening 0peaking Keading 'riting 2ocabulary %pplied /omparative Phonetics 0hort Memory Perception /hocolate /atalog Madison, Medicine Fltimate, /olumbus, circus, surface, Portuguese speakers take some time to bear in their mind that a plural in English most of the time is made with 5#6 sound instead of 5s6. This is simple to check asking students to read words like 5is, was, knows6 and then later asking them to read their similar voiced sounds 5isn!t, wasn!t, and nose6. 0tudents need to develop awareness that the sound in 5is6 should be the same as in 5isn!t6. 0ome continuous alternate repetitions may bring some adjustment to such sounding patterns. Then, analogical procedure is very efficient in order to attain fine+ tuning of English sounds as well as repetition in increasing speed of delivery. 1.". Wording !ast 2. Grammar Conceptions and Language Comple%ity Some !atterns of Word $nding Sounds

"asically, Portuguese plurals are made of adding 5s6 to the end of the words while English also follow this same basic rule in the writing conception. )owever, there is no acknowledgement to the problem that Portuguese speaking is not affected by some inertial patterns in the language structure regarding the continuous sequence of voicing the sounds. Plurals as well as past in the end of the words is variable to the counterpart voiced or unvoiced sounds in the pairs of the cognate. 'hat happens is very simple in terms of inertial velocity. ,f the preceding sound is unvoiced, then the plural of the word is made with unvoiced sound by 5s6. ,f the vocal cord preceding the plural 5s6 is not vibrating, then the plural is made with a perfect long continuous frictional 5s6 sound, like in 5cats6. >n the other hand, if the preceding sound is voiced, having the effect of the vibrating vocal cords, then the plural change to 5#6 which is the cognate voiced sound of 5s6. Then the plural of 5dogs6 is made with 5#6 sound in the end. ,t is notorious to mention that most of words in English end with voiced sound mainly because of the vowels, nasal, and lateral sounds are all done requiring vibration in the vocal cords.

Portuguese is a $atin language where past is attained by a comple* combination of radicals to e*press verbal tenses and persons. %lso Portuguese can have radicals ending in ar GamarH, er GsaberH, ir GpartirH and or GporH for regular verbs. 3or e*ample, the ,ndicative Present Tense of the verb 5amar6 is Eu amo, tu amas, ele ama, nIs amamos, vois amais, eles amam. ,n English the past tense of regular verbs is attained by adding a unique radical &ed to the infinitive form and it applies to all singular and plural persons. Even the grammar English verbs looks easier than Portuguese, the sounding has a variation following some inertia in the voicing sounds. The &ed is added to all regular forms of past tenses, but the sounding can be :t if the precedent sound is voiceless, can be &d if the precedent sound is voiced, or car be &id if the verb sounds end in d or t. 3rom the logical point of view it can be e*plained by a simple reason of fast delivery of sounds. Then, the pronunciation of the past of regular verbs is voiced if the previous sound also is voiced, or voiceless if the previous sound is also voiceless. "ecause t and d is already used to make the past, then if the last sound is also t or d, then another vowel is added in conjunction with d.

The learning process of the second language is highly comple* and the intellectual effort should be guided toward the most critical requirements in the learning process. ,t can be estimated that near DCE of the time spend learning a language could have been saved if there had been developed some concern about simplicity and functionality. $anguages bear some impurities associated to the inner characteristics of human nature in the processing of creating sounds, associating written symbols, and fostering simplicity toward accessibility. 0ociety developed high praise toward a comple* language accessible mainly to the upper class status in order to protect or limit some cultural values of wealthy domination. People in the past were considered supreme when they belonged to a rich class capable of using a comple* language not accessible to the commoners. 'ealthy classes control the thinking of the day and what humans consider as the social values. 0implicity of knowledge in the past allowed such human frivolity. The present educational system could be simplified and reduced to less than half of time required for learning if the language were simplified. $ots of energy, time consuming, and intellectual efforts are wasted learning what could be much simpler. 3or e*ample, if silent letters were transformed to invisible letters GremovedH, lots of time learning and memori#ing them would have been saved. Then a simple question can be produced- 'hy do , have to learn about silent letters if they are not pronounced( 'ell, silent letters are not used in the speaking mode, so why to bother to keep them in the writing mode of symbolic representation of word( 0aving time in the learning process could be guided toward other necessities like e*panding vocabulary in order to increase e*pression potential and capacity to provide a more structured chain of reasoning in the language fluency. %nother point to consider is that human intellectual power may be reaching its limits of tolerance being the cause of stress and frustration.

0ome sort of entertaining and spare time for leisure and resting may be the missing component toward a healthy and happy survival for modern humans. ,t can be assumed that human quality of life is degrading because of high consuming time in the learning process, which could have been simpler. The educational process is becoming a burden to the young generation due to its increased comple*ity and time required for adopting something that certainly have lots of room to be easier and better. Then, being a highly educated human is not a challenge but a question of standing a high load of unhappy e*perience learning things that are not necessarily important. ,ntelligent people think they are, and , would question if they really are intelligent to evaluate what really is important to a successful life. , would like to see a logical argumentation e*plaining to me that , spend around four years of my life learning something that was a waste of time because the human society has no insights to make a life easier and more joyful for all of us. 3orcing humans to learn what is not necessary cannot

be considered fair to human e*istence. )umans are certainly becoming infidels to nature laws. Brammar can be divided in two important distinct categories like functional and stylistic. 3unctional grammar can be assumed as highly critical to the complete understanding of the information transmitted. Then, mistakes of functional grammar are prone to compromise the comprehension of the information delivered. 3or e*ample, a mistake like 5she have6 only hurts grammar standard, but not the comprehension of the information delivered while 5she had6 instead of 5she has6 deeply violates the time frame of the e*pression of the verb not allowing an indication of past action. ,n summary, the precision of the verb e*pression should be concentrate toward a more realistic e*pression of time frame of the verb action or state. ,t is possible to quantify and e*press some sort of range in the levels of effect in the precision of communication that mistakes bear in their variability. 0o, some grammar features are more important than the others.

&dvanced Sc'ool of $nglis' (luency

!rofessional Career )riented *ig' !erformance Level for +ntellectual Development Dynamic Small Group +nteraction 'igh (se of Computer )echnology for Listening% *riting% and +luency )raining

+nstructor, Elson 0ilva, Ph. &. GPennsylvania 0tate Fniversity, F0%H

Phone 41DL+M1LD %v. &r. NOlio 0oares de %rruda, P4P, Parque 0Qo Ruirino Email elson.silvaSuol.com.br Technical Keference- http-TTwww.tubarc.com

-ain GuidelinesTakes into account Portuguese effect on English language acquision. 3le*ible schedule to allow preferential and optional continuous attendance. 0tandard small groups of professionals with high intellectual profile. 3luency of English language goals toward continuous improvement and maintenance. 'orldwide 0poken English available through the ,nternet by computer multimedia technology

Classroom !lanning &pproac'- two+hour classes divided into four half+hour sections
& . 3ree conversation and opportunities for techniques of public speech training / . %pplied comparative phonetic training and grammar reviewing C . Keading e*ercise for pronunciation training and vocabulary acquisition. 0urveyed reading D . $istening activities for development of language perception and fluency flow

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5,33411,33 3lUvia Maria Tere#a

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