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Australia, Great Britain, and America all speak the same language, but you simply have to visit each country to realize that, while they all speak English, it is far from a universal language. The English spoken in Great Britain, America, and Australia has many similarities, but a surprising number of differences as well. The main reason for this is the vast distance between each country. Here are some of the common differences you will find between these three versions of English.

Pronunciation Differences

Pronunciation between the three types of English is very dissimilar. In American English the “r” at the end of the word almost always affects its pronunciation, whereas in Australian and British English the “r” is often silent. Also, the emphasis placed on the syllables of the word varies from British, Australian, and American English. In Britain, the world adult has the emphasis on the first syllable, whereas in America it is placed on the second half of the word. Australian English is unique in the fact that many words have sounds that are eliminated. Instead of saying good day, the Australian speaker says g’day. The main pronunciation difference between the three, however, is the pronunciation of the vowel sounds.

Differences in Spelling

Not only do the three types of Learning English sound different, but they are also spelled differently. In some ways, the spelling reflects the difference in pronunciation. For instance, Americans use the world airplane to refer to a flying mode of transportation. In Great Britain, the word is aeroplane, and it is pronounced with an audible “o” sound. Another common difference in spelling is aluminium, which is the UK spelling, and aluminum, the US spelling. Again, the difference shows the difference in pronunciation of the two words. In this instance the Australian spelling is the same as the UK spelling.

Another common spelling difference between UK English and American English is the use of -our verses -or at the end of the word. For instance, in the UK, colour, flavour, honour, and similar words all end in -our, whereas in America they are spelled with the -or ending (color, flavor, honor). In Australia, the -our spelling is almost universal.

Similarly, the endings -re and -re are different between the different English dialects. In America you will go to the theater or fitness center, whereas in Britain you will visit the theatre or fitness centre. Again, Australian English follows the British pattern.

There are other common spelling differences as well. For instance, in American English, words that sound as though they end with an -ize will always end in an -ize. However, in UK English, they typically end in ise (i.e. realize, realise). Also, British English often doubles consonants when adding a suffix when American English does not, such as in the world traveller.

Interestingly, the three languages also have distinct vocabularies. For instance, the “hood” of a car is called the “bonnet” in Australia and Britain. Australia has several terms that are not used in either of the other countries, such as “bloke” (man) and “arvo” (afternoon). Also, Australians use some phrases that are combinations of British and American terms, such as “rubbish truck.” Rubbish is commonly used in the UK, and truck is commonly used in America.

Grammar Distinctions

Besides spelling and pronunciation differences, British, American, and Australian English all have some subtle grammar differences as well. For instance, in Great Britain, it is perfectly acceptable to use a collective noun (such as army) as a plural word (”the army are coming”), whereas in America collective nouns are almost always singular (”the army is coming”). British English also uses the irregular form of the past participle of several verbs (learnt rather than learned). Also, British English tends to drop the definite article in some situations. For instance, British English speakers may refer to being “in hospital” instead of “in the hospital.” Australian English grammar tends to follow British rules.

Finally you have gotten some courage and put some dollars together, you are planning on taking the TOEFL iBT Exam. Using these questions and answers will help you to design an effective study plan that will assist you to increase your score.

“How do I prepare for the reading section?” If you want to score high on the TOEFL, you need to elevate your abilities in order to understand university-level texts and reading passages. Therefore, you should be frequently reading academic texts in natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and business. These readings provide excellent preparation. The Internet is another fantastic source for these materials. In college libraries, you can check out books, magazines, and journals that are more academic in general. Ideally, the more academic the reading material is, the better it will help to prepare you for the exam.

“How do I prepare for the listening section?” In order for you to score high on the exam, you should work to improve your overall listening comprehension proficiency. Just like the reading section, you should practice listening in a variety of academic subjects from natural sciences to business. Using the Internet or CD’s as resources, focus on taking notes as you listen intently for the main ideas and critical supporting points.

“How do I prepare for the speaking section?” To score high on the speaking section on familiar topics, create a list of topics and practice speaking about them: “Describe your favorite vacation destination” and “Describe an important person who has influenced you” are representative of familiar speaking topics. Practice giving 1 minute voice-recorded responses to these types of speaking tasks.

To score high on the speaking section on topics based on reading passages and lectures, find a college textbook that includes discussion questions at the end of the chapter. Read the chapter, take notes, and practice orally answering the discussion questions. Also, read short 100-200 word articles. You can find such articles on the Internet, in the library, or in a TOEFL E-book. After reading the article, make a brief outline which includes its major points Then use the outline to orally summarize the information, after which you can add detail to the outline and orally summarize again. With a focus on listening, use the Internet, the library, or a TOEFL E-book to find listening and reading materials on similar topics. The material can provide similar or opposing points of view. After taking notes on the listening and the reading materials, you should do oral summaries and synthesize the information. Practice giving 1 minute voice-recorded responses.

“How do I prepare for the writing section?” In order for you to score higher on the writing section on familiar topics, it is important to create a sample list of familiar topics and begin writing about them: “Describe one of your favorite vacations” and “Describe an important person in your life who has had a positive influence on you” are two examples of familiar Independent Writing topics for the TOEFL iBT Exam. Another way you could practice is by stating your opinion or a preference and then presenting arguments clearly and in detail. “Which do you think is better: living on campus in dorms or off campus in apartments?” is an example of an opinion-preference writing topic. You should practice planning, writing, and revising every essay during the 30 minute time allotment.

To score high on the writing section on topics based for reading passages and lectures; find a college textbook that includes discussion questions at the end of the chapter. Read the chapter, take notes, and practice writing answers to these questions. Additionally, read a 300 to 400 word article and then create an outline of the major points and important details. Using the outline, write a summary of the information and ideas of the article. Finally, be able to distinguish among the following methods of citation: quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. Practice planning, writing, and revising each response within the 20 minute time limit.

The best way to learn Spanish is to choose a way that fits with all the elements of your lifestyle. Your Spanish language program should fit in with your existing schedule. It should match your lifestyle. Most important, you should choose a learning style that suits you. For some people, learning in the classroom is the only way. For others it the best way to learn Spanish is at home.

If you are the type of person that needs instant feedback while you are learning something, you might find that the classroom will work the best for you to learn Spanish. In a classroom you will be able to ask for extra help when you are having a hard time and you will also get some good feedback from the instructor. This can be very helpful when you are learning a language. It can be difficult to know if you are pronouncing things with no one to listen to you.

You should bear in mind that a classroom schedule will demand specific blocks of time. There is always a class schedule to follow. It will be necessary for you to adjust your schedule accordingly if you want to learn to speak Spanish.

The best way to learn Spanish for many people is home study. People who prefer home study are usually very busy. Another reason for choosing home study is an unpredictable schedule. These two factors can make it very difficult to block out specific classroom time. Home study is also an option for folks who dont really have any time for language learning. Because home study often employs media like CDs, it is possible to multi-task to learn a new language. Learning while commuting is often the best way to learn Spanish for many people.

You might find that learning Spanish at home is a great way to take advantage of all of those precious moments when you are available for learning. When you take a class you wont be able to get the class together at four in the morning when you have a couple of hours to spare.

Keeping in mind that the best way for you to learn to speak Spanish is the way that works for you, look at the different options and make a choice. Be sure to choose a course that will give you a thorough and correct understanding of the language. Know that your decision to learn to speak Spanish is a very positive move to better yourself.

Decide which way that you want to go with your language learning project and work on improving yourself. You have made a very wise decision in learning Spanish and deciding the best way to learn Spanish is only a matter of experimenting with the different programs that are available.

Learning French as an adult isn’t the same as learning it as a child, or even taking high school French classes. That’s because, over time, the way we learn tends to change a little. Most adults learn a language by comparing it to the language they already speak. This is in contrast to the “sponge” method that children use - they just soak up a language.

Older learners who are taking French for the first time want to know why things are said the way they are, and may be frustrated by the experience in many conventional language programs. After all, we all want to learn quickly and easily. Our language abilities slow down a little as we age, so you might find it harder to pick up a language now than you did when you were in school.

But this does not mean that as an adult you can’t learn the French language. The French language is fluid and exciting and you can pick it up easily, no matter how old you are. You just need to find a course which suits your specific needs and can be worked into your daily schedule. In recent years great and significant developments have been made in the area of language education.

All you need to do is to keep certain things in mind, which can make your French learning experience enjoyable and fun.

Practice Makes Perfect

Practice as much as you can: If you want to learn to speak French fluently, you need to practice it as often as possible. One thing you can do is put up notices in your work place or in your locality to find people who would be interested in practicing French with you. Or you can join Alliance Fran?oise. You can join classes with a friend, and you can practice both inside and outside class.

Passive listening:

You can absorb French by listening to it, even if you don’t understand everything that’s said. During your commute, listen to French music or even books on tape. You can also do this while you’re doing chores or getting your exercise. Soon, you’ll start to understand and recognize words.

Vary Your Practice

If you do the same thing every day, you’ll get bored quickly. Instead, try different things on different days. That can help you learn French more quickly and easily.

Don’t Skip a day:

If you are seeking to become fluent in French language you have to practice it everyday. You might or might not have the best method but you will learn quickly if you practice the daily.

Try Online Programs

There is a possibility that you might not be able to find regular classes that can be fitted into your work schedule or something similar. But if you are still determined about learning the language you can use help of the Internet. There are a lot of good courses online that you can make use of. Look around, find something that suits your purpose and practice daily. You will see that you start speaking French, fluently, soon.

Do not spend a lot of of money at an ETS testing center to take the TOEFL iBT, until you consider what level of reading proficiency is needed to get a high score.

“What is required during the reading section of the TOEFL iBT?”

1. I really understand English vocabulary and grammar when reading. 2. While reading academic texts in English, I do understand the most important points. 3. I really understand the relative importance of ideas while reading academic texts. 4. I really do organize or outline the important ideas and concepts in academic texts. 5. While reading academic texts in English, I do remember major ideas. 6. I really understand how different ideas in an English text relate to each other. 7. While reading English, I do understand charts and graphs in academic texts. 8. I quickly find information that I am looking for in academic texts in English. 9. While reading academic texts in English, I do understand them well enough to answer questions later. 10. While reading a text in English, I can figure out the meaning of words I do not know by using the context and my background knowledge.

Don’t panic if you feel less than competent in one, some, or all of these reading competencies. Here are some suggestions to help you demonstrate a strong command of reading proficiency.

“What can I do to improve my TOEFL iBT reading skills?”

The key to scoring higher on the TOEFL iBT Reading section is to improve your capability to understand university-level texts and reading passages for the three main purposes: to find specific information, for basic comprehension memory, and to retain what you learn.

First, you should be reading academic texts in natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and business frequently to prepare for TOEFL iBT Reading. The Internet is also a very good resource for these materials; in libraries, you can check out books, magazines, and journals that are academic in style. Education Testing Services suggests that the more academic the reading material is, the more it will prepare you.

Second, to improve your reading-for-basic comprehension TOEFL iBT Reading skills, Education Testing Service suggests the following:

1. Using an extensive system of using flash-cards will increase your vocabulary abilities. 2. Do not carefully read each word and sentence, practice skimming-the process of looking over a passage quickly to get a general feeling of the main ideas. 3. Work on your ability to skim quickly and to identify the major points of a passage. 4. When you have skimmed a passage, read it slower and then write down the main ideas, major points, and important facts. 5. Choose some words that are unfamiliar in the passage and identify the meanings by using the context. 6. Look for the pronouns used (he, him, they, them, it, etc.) and select which nouns they refer to. 7. Work on making inferences or drawing conclusions based on what is implied in the passage.

Third, to improve your reading-to-find information TOEFL iBT Reading skills, Education Testing Service suggests the following:

1. Scan the passage to find and highlight important facts (dates, numbers, terms) and information. 2. Practice scanning frequently so that you can increase your reading rate and fluency.

Fourth, to improve your reading-to-learn TOEFL iBT Reading skills, Education Testing Service suggests the following:

1. Identify the passage as fitting into a writing genre: classification, cause- effect, compare-contrast, problem-solution, description, narration, etc.

2. Practice organizing a reading passage by doing the following-Distinguish between the major and minor points by creating an outline of a passage. If the passage describes the order of a process or is a narration, create an outline of the steps in the process or narration. If the passage categorizes information, create a chart and place the information into the correct category.

When taking the TOEFL iBT Exam, you will be given a chart with various answer choices, and you will be required to fill in the chart with the correct answers.

When you have followed these recommendations for an extended period of time, you will be very happy with how much stronger your reading skills have become.

“When should I take the TOEFL iBT?” asked one of my TOEFL iBT preparation students. The answer to this question lies in the following thoughts:

Can you listen comfortably to academic conversations and lectures?

Can you catch the main idea and critical supporting points of these passages?

Are you practicing note-taking regularly while listening to the academic conversations and lectures?

Do you use advanced grammar structures with a high degree of accuracy?

Do you regularly read for enjoyment (about 45 minutes a day)?

Can you catch the main idea and critical supporting points of academic reading passages?

Are you able to comfortably read at a speed of 200 + words per minute with a 60-80% comprehension?

Can you concentrate on a reading passage with few distractions?

Can you accurately summarize an academic reading passage without plagiarizing it?

Do you comfortably use the context of the sentence when encountering unfamiliar vocabulary words in reading passages?

Can you write organized essays based on personal experience, readings, and lectures?

Are you able to regularly talk with native English speakers or fluent non-native English speakers?

Can you accurately and coherently summarize a reading or listening passage without plagiarizing it?

Do you speak 100-150 words a minute or more with clear pronunciation, especially in regards to word stress, intonation, and thought groups and blending?

If you can answer yes to a majority of these questions, then you are ready to take the TOEFL iBT. Good luck!

With the increasing level of competition and sophistication in the world, the desire to learn foreign languages has become more of a trend than a necessity. People want to fill their resumes with an additional qualification being the ability to speak french. Not only career driven folks but also those who wish to travel around the world and get the feel for the culture in its realistic sense.

When you barely have time to buy groceries, the idea of signing up for painting classes or French lessons is beyond the pale. The best possible alternative for one to learn french online in a convenient and quick manner would be to actually go for a french learning program online. You can learn the language in your own time and it doesn’t cost as much as it would to sign up for a class.

You can also try to learn french ONLINE. There are many french training blogs, articles, fun interactive games etc… that do a great job in teaching you the basics of french. Yet, the art of being fluent in french comes from understanding the grammar necessary in the language. It makes all the difference.

Ever got embarrassed when asked about a subject that you learnt about ages ago in high school? You may have totally forgotten about it after a few months of doing that subject. You can’t do that with french. If you need to be fluent with the language, you need to speak french very frequently to be mindful of the it at all times.

Using the language very often is key to remembering it for life and being fluent at it the same time. You can find a group that speaks french or maybe talk french at times with your friends and family. They will definitely think you’re nuts if they are not the understanding type, but hey, they are the ones lagging behind.

As such, the best way to learn how to speak french fluently would be to put yourself into a group of french speak people. Why speak to folks who know nothing about french when you can actually speak with the people in french while getting feedback at the same time? It makes a big difference.

With the difficulty level involved in associated with french speak natives unless you are located in France yourself, the less embarrassing thing to do would be to learn french from within the privacy of your own home. It’s more convenient to do it this way, and extremely easy especially with vast knowledge base of the language on the internet.

There are hundreds of online french learning software to help out with your desire to learn how to speak french, but not many have lived up to the requirements. Most are just plain dead expensive while teaching the simple basics alone. Some try to include everything in a small cheap package that isn’t enough to learn effectively. Yet, there was one program that stood out from the crowd. It was the right price, with the right amount of training including interactive games, audiovisual training plus hard copy grammar guidance as well.

If you have decided that you want to learn French, we wanted to share with you a few tips that will make your mission a lot easier. We came up with key tips that are sure to make your quest more exciting and hopefully will help you grasp the language a lot quicker.

Whatever your reason for picking up the French language, there’s probably a certain level of intimidation that you feel. Many of the students we speak with feel that they are embarking on an impossible journey and that it will take them years to actually be able to speak a new language.

However, that’s not really true. While many courses and schools out there use out of date teaching methods, making it seem like a chore to learn French, there are now a number of self study courses out there that are better. They use learning methods developed by psychologists, and can cut down the time it takes for you to learn a new language.

Although you might be tempted to enroll in a class at a school or go to a private tutor, this typically won’t deliver the results you are looking for. Most classes focus far too heavily on the reading and writing component as opposed to actually being able to speak the language.

Since most students’ biggest goal is actually speaking French, this fact can be pretty frustrating. That means that one of the best choices is finding a self study program that allows you to learn on your own, and focuses on teaching you conversational French.

Here are three tips to further enhance your learning experience:

1) Remember what your mom said and be sure to listen

It really is amazing how much information you’ll pick up about another language just by listening to it. Even though you might not understand everything, there’s still an enormous benefit from listening to other people talk in French. You’ll understand the flow of the language much better and gradually pick up structure and new terms.

Watching French movies with subtitles in English is another smart idea. This method allows you to listen to the language while reading the meaning, and eventually absorb the French words.

One of the students we worked with downloaded a whole season of a French TV program and watched them all. By the end of it, she had improved her French skills drastically and even had a grasp on the slang and nuances of the language.

2) Practice but don’t practice too much

You’ve probably heard that practice makes perfect, and this is true in many situations. However, one of the big reasons that people give up on learning French is because it begins to feel boring and like a chore.

You’ll need to vary how you practice, and make sure you do what’s needed to keep up your levels of motivation. It’s not a good idea to set a strict schedule to learn by unless that’s the way you learn best. Try to include a little French every day, in some form, instead.

That allows you to engage in the language without feeling restricted by a particular schedule.

3) Vary your practice and mix things up

Remember, you want to try to include French in you daily routine, but you don’t want to get bored by doing the same thing each day! Mix it up!

That means you could listen to a French program on television or on the radio, or do a lesson from your class or course. If you have French speaking friends, you can have a conversation. Daily newspaper readers can choose a few paragraphs and review how to translate them into French.

There are many different ways to engage with this language.

This last point is a crucial step in truly learning the language. By varying the way you learn, you are using different parts of your brain which helps you not only learn faster, but retain it much more effectively as well.

This is a big reason for the recent success of some of the online study courses. They do a great job of providing a variety of learning material which keeps students interested while stimulated the brain in the “right way”.

Learning French shouldn’t feel like a full-time job - in fact, it can be fun and exicting if you go about it the right way. Find a proven study course, follow the above tips and stick with it! You will find yourself able to speak the language in no time - all the best!