GULLIVER’S TRAVELS CHARACTER LIST

 GULLIVER’S TRAVELS 

CHARACTER LIST 

Gulliver

The narrator and protagonist of the story. Although Lemuel Gulliver’s vivid and detailed style of narration makes it clear that he is intelligent and well educated, his perceptions are naïve and gullible. He has virtually no emotional life, or at least no awareness of it, and his comments are strictly factual. Indeed, sometimes his obsession with the facts of navigation, for example, becomes unbearable for us, as his fictional editor, Richard Sympson, makes clear when he explains having had to cut out nearly half of Gulliver’s verbiage. Gulliver never thinks that the absurdities he encounters are funny and never makes the satiric connections between the lands he visits and his own home. Gulliver’s naïveté makes the satire possible, as we pick up on things that Gulliver does not notice.

The emperor

The ruler of Lilliput. Like all Lilliputians, the emperor is fewer than six inches tall. His power and majesty impress Gulliver deeply, but to us he appears both laughable and sinister. Because of his tiny size, his belief that he can control Gulliver seems silly, but his willingness to execute his subjects for minor reasons of politics or honor gives him a frightening aspect. He is proud of possessing the tallest trees and biggest palace in the kingdom, but he is also quite hospitable, spending a fortune on his captive’s food. The emperor is both a satire of the autocratic ruler and a strangely serious portrait of political power.

The farmer

Gulliver’s first master in Brobdingnag. The farmer speaks to Gulliver, showing that he is willing to believe that the relatively tiny Gulliver may be as rational as he himself is, and treats him with gentleness. However, the farmer puts Gulliver on display around Brobdingnag, which clearly shows that he would rather profit from his discovery than converse with him as an equal. His exploitation of Gulliver as a laborer, which nearly starves Gulliver to death, seems less cruel than simpleminded. Generally, the farmer represents the average Brobdingnagian of no great gifts or intelligence, wielding an extraordinary power over Gulliver simply by virtue of his immense size.

Glumdalclitch

The farmer’s nine-year-old daughter, who is forty feet tall. Glumdalclitch becomes Gulliver’s friend and nursemaid, hanging him to sleep safely in her closet at night and teaching him the Brobdingnagian language by day. She is skilled at sewing and makes Gulliver several sets of new clothes, taking delight in dressing him. When the queen discovers that no one at court is suited to care for Gulliver, she invites Glumdalclitch to live at court as his sole babysitter, a function she performs with great seriousness and attentiveness. To Glumdalclitch, Gulliver is basically a living doll, symbolizing the general status Gulliver has in Brobdingnag.

The queen

The queen of Brobdingnag, who is so delighted by Gulliver’s beauty and charms that she agrees to buy him from the farmer for 1,000 pieces of gold. Gulliver appreciates her kindness after the hardships he suffers at the farmer’s and shows his usual fawning love for royalty by kissing the tip of her little finger when presented before her. She possesses, in Gulliver’s words, “infinite” wit and humor, though this description may entail a bit of Gulliver’s characteristic flattery of superiors. The queen seems genuinely considerate, asking Gulliver whether he would consent to live at court instead of simply taking him in as a pet and inquiring into the reasons for his cold good-byes with the farmer. She is by no means a hero, but simply a pleasant, powerful person.

The king

The king of Brobdingnag, who, in contrast to the emperor of Lilliput, seems to be a true intellectual, well versed in political science among other disciplines. While his wife has an intimate, friendly relationship with the diminutive visitor, the king’s relation to Gulliver is limited to serious discussions about the history and institutions of Gulliver’s native land. He is thus a figure of rational thought who somewhat prefigures the Houyhnhnms in Book IV.

Lord Munodi

A lord of Lagado, capital of the underdeveloped land beneath Laputa, who hosts Gulliver and gives him a tour of the country on Gulliver’s third voyage. Munodi is a rare example of practical-minded intelligence both in Lagado, where the applied sciences are wildly impractical, and in Laputa, where no one even considers practicality a virtue. He fell from grace with the ruling elite by counseling a commonsense approach to agriculture and land management in Lagado, an approach that was rejected even though it proved successful when applied to his own flourishing estate. Lord Munodi serves as a reality check for Gulliver on his third voyage, an objective-minded contrast to the theoretical delusions of the other inhabitants of Laputa and Lagado.

Yahoos

Unkempt humanlike beasts who live in servitude to the Houyhnhnms. Yahoos seem to belong to various ethnic groups, since there are blond Yahoos as well as dark-haired and redheaded ones. The men are characterized by their hairy bodies, and the women by their low-hanging breasts. They are naked, filthy, and extremely primitive in their eating habits. Yahoos are not capable of government, and thus they are kept as servants to the Houyhnhnms, pulling their carriages and performing manual tasks. They repel Gulliver with their lascivious sexual appetites, especially when an eleven-year-old Yahoo girl attempts to rape Gulliver as he is bathing naked. Yet despite Gulliver’s revulsion for these disgusting creatures, he ends his writings referring to himself as a Yahoo, just as the Houyhnhnms do as they regretfully evict him from their realm. Thus, “Yahoo” becomes another term for human, at least in the semideranged and self-loathing mind of Gulliver at the end of his fourth journey.

Houyhnhnms

Rational horses who maintain a simple, peaceful society governed by reason and truthfulness—they do not even have a word for “lie” in their language. Houyhnhnms are like ordinary horses, except that they are highly intelligent and deeply wise. They live in a sort of socialist republic, with the needs of the community put before individual desires. They are the masters of the Yahoos, the savage humanlike creatures in Houyhnhnmland. In all, the Houyhnhnms have the greatest impact on Gulliver throughout all his four voyages. He is grieved to leave them, not relieved as he is in leaving the other three lands, and back in England he relates better with his horses than with his human family. The Houyhnhnms thus are a measure of the extent to which Gulliver has become a misanthrope, or “human-hater”; he is certainly, at the end, a horse lover.

Gulliver’s Houyhnhnm master

The Houyhnhnm who first discovers Gulliver and takes him into his own home. Wary of Gulliver’s Yahoolike appearance at first, the master is hesitant to make contact with him, but Gulliver’s ability to mimic the Houyhnhnm’s own words persuades the master to protect Gulliver. The master’s domestic cleanliness, propriety, and tranquil reasonableness of speech have an extraordinary impact on Gulliver. It is through this horse that Gulliver is led to reevaluate the differences between humans and beasts and to question humanity’s claims to rationality.

Don Pedro de Mendez

The Portuguese captain who takes Gulliver back to Europe after he is forced to leave the land of the Houyhnhnms. Don Pedro is naturally benevolent and generous, offering the half-crazed Gulliver his own best suit of clothes to replace the tatters he is wearing. But Gulliver meets his generosity with repulsion, as he cannot bear the company of Yahoos. By the end of the voyage, Don Pedro has won over Gulliver to the extent that he is able to have a conversation with him, but the captain’s overall Yahoolike nature in Gulliver’s eyes alienates him from Gulliver to the very end.

Brobdingnagians

Giants whom Gulliver meets on his second voyage. Brobdingnagians are basically a reasonable and kindly people governed by a sense of justice. Even the farmer who abuses Gulliver at the beginning is gentle with him, and politely takes the trouble to say good-bye to him upon leaving him. The farmer’s daughter, Glumdalclitch, gives Gulliver perhaps the most kindhearted treatment he receives on any of his voyages. The Brobdingnagians do not exploit him for personal or political reasons, as the Lilliputians do, and his life there is one of satisfaction and quietude. But the Brobdingnagians do treat Gulliver as a plaything. When he tries to speak seriously with the king of Brobdingnag about England, the king dismisses the English as odious vermin, showing that deep discussion is not possible for Gulliver here.

Lilliputians and Blefuscudians

Two races of miniature people whom Gulliver meets on his first voyage. Lilliputians and Blefuscudians are prone to conspiracies and jealousies, and while they treat Gulliver well enough materially, they are quick to take advantage of him in political intrigues of various sorts. The two races have been in a longstanding war with each over the interpretation of a reference in their common holy scripture to the proper way to eat eggs. Gulliver helps the Lilliputians defeat the Blefuscudian navy, but he eventually leaves Lilliput and receives a warm welcome in the court of Blefuscu, by which Swift satirizes the arbitrariness of international relations.

Laputans

Absentminded intellectuals who live on the floating island of Laputa, encountered by Gulliver on his third voyage. The Laputans are parodies of theoreticians, who have scant regard for any practical results of their own research. They are so inwardly absorbed in their own thoughts that they must be shaken out of their meditations by special servants called flappers, who shake rattles in their ears. During Gulliver’s stay among them, they do not mistreat him, but are generally unpleasant and dismiss him as intellectually deficient. They do not care about down-to-earth things like the dilapidation of their own houses, but worry intensely about abstract matters like the trajectories of comets and the course of the sun. They are dependent in their own material needs on the land below them, called Lagado, above which they hover by virtue of a magnetic field, and from which they periodically raise up food supplies. In the larger context of Gulliver’s journeys, the Laputans are a parody of the excesses of theoretical pursuits and the uselessness of purely abstract knowledge.

Mary Burton Gulliver

Gulliver’s wife, whose perfunctory mention in the first paragraphs of Gulliver’s Travels demonstrates how unsentimental and unemotional Gulliver is. He makes no reference to any affection for his wife, either here or later in his travels when he is far away from her, and his detachment is so cool as to raise questions about his ability to form human attachments. When he returns to England, she is merely one part of his former existence, and he records no emotion even as she hugs him wildly. The most important facts about her in Gulliver’s mind are her social origin and the income she generates.

Richard Sympson

Gulliver’s cousin, self-proclaimed intimate friend, and the editor and publisher of Gulliver’s Travels. It was in Richard Sympson’s name that Jonathan Swift arranged for the publication of his narrative, thus somewhat mixing the fictional and actual worlds. Sympson is the fictional author of the prefatory note to Gulliver’s Travels, entitled “The Publisher to the Readers.” This note justifies Sympson’s elimination of nearly half of the original manuscript material on the grounds that it was irrelevant, a statement that Swift includes so as to allow us to doubt Gulliver’s overall wisdom and ability to distinguish between important facts and trivial details.

James Bates

An eminent London surgeon under whom Gulliver serves as an apprentice after graduating from Cambridge. Bates helps get Gulliver his first job as a ship’s surgeon and then offers to set up a practice with him. After Bates’s death, Gulliver has trouble maintaining the business, a failure that casts doubt on his competence, though he himself has other explanations for the business’s failure. Bates is hardly mentioned in the travels, though he is surely at least as responsible for Gulliver’s welfare as some of the more exotic figures Gulliver meets. Nevertheless, Gulliver fleshes out figures such as the queen of Brobdingnag much more thoroughly in his narrative, underscoring the sharp contrast between his reticence regarding England and his long-windedness about foreigners.

Abraham Pannell

The commander of the ship on which Gulliver first sails, the Swallow. Traveling to the Levant, or the eastern Mediterranean, and beyond, Gulliver spends three and a half years on Pannell’s ship. Virtually nothing is mentioned about Pannell, which heightens our sense that Gulliver’s fascination with exotic types is not matched by any interest in his fellow countrymen.

William Prichard

The master of the Antelope, the ship on which Gulliver embarks for the South Seas at the outset of his first journey, in 1699. When the Antelope sinks, Gulliver is washed ashore on Lilliput. No details are given about the personality of Prichard, and he is not important in Gulliver’s life or in the unfolding of the novel’s plot. That Gulliver takes pains to name him accurately reinforces our impression that he is obsessive about facts but not always reliable in assessing overall significance.

Flimnap

The Lord High Treasurer of Lilliput, who conceives a jealous hatred for Gulliver when he starts believing that his wife is having an affair with him. Flimnap is clearly paranoid, since the possibility of a love affair between Gulliver and a Lilliputian is wildly unlikely. Flimnap is a portrait of the weaknesses of character to which any human is prone but that become especially dangerous in those who wield great power.

Reldresal

The Principal Secretary of Private Affairs in Lilliput, who explains to Gulliver the history of the political tensions between the two principal parties in the realm, the High-Heels and the Low-Heels. Reldresal is more a source of much-needed information for Gulliver than a well-developed personality, but he does display personal courage and trust in allowing Gulliver to hold him in his palm while he talks politics. Within the convoluted context of Lilliput’s factions and conspiracies, such friendliness reminds us that fond personal relations may still exist even in this overheated political climate.

Skyresh Bolgolam

The High Admiral of Lilliput, who is the only member of the administration to oppose Gulliver’s liberation. Gulliver imagines that Skyresh’s enmity is simply personal, though there is no apparent reason for such hostility. Arguably, Skyresh’s hostility may be merely a tool to divert Gulliver from the larger system of Lilliputian exploitation to which he is subjected.

Tramecksan

Also known as the High-Heels, a Lilliputian political group reminiscent of the British Tories. Tramecksan policies are said to be more agreeable to the ancient constitution of Lilliput, and while the High-Heels appear greater in number than the Low-Heels, their power is lesser. Unlike the king, the crown prince is believed to sympathize with the Tramecksan, wearing one low heel and one high heel, causing him to limp slightly.

Slamecksan

The Low-Heels, a Lilliputian political group reminiscent of the British Whigs. The king has ordained that all governmental administrators must be selected from this party, much to the resentment of the High-Heels of the realm. Thus, while there are fewer Slamecksan than Tramecksan in Lilliput, their political power is greater. The king’s own sympathies with the Slamecksan are evident in the slightly lower heels he wears at court.

Traits of A True Entrepreneur

 10 Traits of a true Entrepreneur 

1.Creativity: 

They think outside the box and come up with innovative solutions.

2.Resilience: 

They bounce back from setbacks and failures, learning from them and moving forward.

3.Risk-taking propensity: 

They are willing to take calculated risks to pursue opportunities.

4.Passion:

 They have a genuine enthusiasm for their work and their vision.

5.Adaptability: 

They can quickly adjust to changing circumstances and market conditions.

6.Vision: 

They have a clear long-term vision for their venture and the ability to articulate it to others.

7.Drive: 

They have a strong internal motivation to succeed and are willing to put in the necessary effort.

8.Problem-solving skills:

 They excel at identifying and addressing challenges and obstacles.

9.Networking ability: 

They build and maintain relationships with others who can help them achieve their goals.

10.Continuous learning: 

They have a thirst for knowledge and are always seeking to improve themselves and their businesses.

Poetic Devices 

Poetic devices are the creative tools and techniques that poets use to enhance the beauty, depth, and impact of their writing. These devices go beyond the basic elements of language and structure, adding layers of meaning and aesthetic appeal to the poem. Here are some commonly used poetic devices:

1. Metaphor: It involves making a comparison between two unlike things, without using "like" or "as." For example, "Her eyes are stars in the night sky."

2. Simile: Similar to a metaphor, but it uses words such as "like" or "as" to create a comparison. For example, "His voice was as smooth as silk."

3. Personification: Giving human qualities or characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, or abstract concepts. For example, "The wind whispered through the trees."

4. Alliteration: Repetition of the initial sound in a series of words. For example, "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."

5. Assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds within words. For example, "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain."

6. Onomatopoeia: Words that imitate or resemble the sound they describe. For example, "buzz," "hiss," or "crash."

7. Hyperbole: Exaggeration for emphasis or dramatic effect. For example, "I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse."

8. Imagery: The use of sensory details to create a vivid mental picture or evoke emotions. For example, "The aroma of freshly baked bread filled the air."

9. Rhyme: Correspondence of sound between words. This can occur at the end of lines (end rhyme) or within lines (internal rhyme).

10. Symbolism: The use of an object, person, situation, or concept to represent something beyond its literal meaning. For example, a rose often symbolizes love or beauty.

Poets utilize these devices to create memorable, evocative, and thought-provoking poems that engage readers on multiple levels. By skillfully employing poetic devices, a poet can evoke emotions, convey deeper meanings, and paint vivid imagery, enhancing the overall impact and beauty of their work.

 Figures of Speech

Introduction 

A figure of speech is a creative use of language to generate an effect. Some figures of speech, like metaphor, simile, and metonymy, are found in everyday language. 

Others, like antithesis, circumlocution, and puns take more practice to implement in writing.

Figures of speech are expressions that depart from the literal meaning of words to create more imaginative, vivid, or impactful effects.

Some of the Important figures of speech are as follows:

Certainly! Here are a few more figures of speech:

1. **Metaphor:** 

 A comparison between two unlike things, stating that one thing is another to highlight their similarities.

   *Example: The world is a stage.*

2. **Simile:** 

 

 Similar to a metaphor, but it uses "like" or "as" to compare two different things.

   *Example: She was as busy as a bee.*

3. **Personification:** 

 Attributing human characteristics to non-human entities or objects.

   *Example: The wind whispered through the trees.*

4. **Hyperbole:** 

 Exaggeration for emphasis or effect.

   *Example: I've told you a million times.*

5. **Onomatopoeia:** 

 Words that imitate the sound they describe.

   *Example: The clock goes "tick-tock."*

6. **Irony:** 

 

 A figure of speech in which words convey a meaning opposite to their literal interpretation.

   *Example: The fire station burned down.*

7. **Oxymoron:** 

 A combination of contradictory or incongruent words.

   *Example: Deafening silence.*

8. **Alliteration:** 

 Repetition of the same initial consonant sound in a sequence of words.

   *Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.*

9. **Assonance:** 

 Repetition of vowel sounds within nearby words.

   *Example: The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.*

10. **Cliché:** 

 Overused expression or idea that has lost its originality or impact.

   *Example: Time heals all wounds.*

11. **Euphemism:** 

 Substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for a harsh or blunt one.

   *Example: Passed away instead of died.*

12. **Litotes:** 

 A figure of speech in which understatement is used for emphasis.

   *Example: Not a bad idea.*

13. **Paradox:** 

 A statement that appears contradictory but may be true in reality.

   *Example: I can resist anything except temptation.*

14. **Synecdoche:** 

 A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole.

   *Example: All hands on deck.*

15. ** Anaphora: 

 Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

Example: I have a dream...

16. Epiphora: 

 Repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.

Example: ...of the people, by the people, for the people.

16. Chiasmus: 

 A figure of speech in which the order of terms in the first half of a parallel clause is reversed in the second.

Example: "Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you."

17. Metonymy: 

 Substituting the name of one thing with the name of something else closely associated with it.

Example: The pen is mightier than the sword.

18. Apostrophe: 

 Addressing an absent or imaginary person or entity.

Example: "Oh, Death, where is thy sting?"

19. Pun: 

 A play on words that relies on a word's multiple meanings or similar sounds.

Example: Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

20. Antithesis

 Antithesis is a literary technique that places opposite things or ideas next to one another in order to draw out their contrast.

Example: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . .” —Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Feel free to explore these or ask about any specific ones you find intriguing!

Prof Abdul Rauf

Oracle_of_Delphie

 

#M_A_English_Part_1_Drama

#Oracle_of_Delphie

#Temple_of_Delphi

The Temple of Delphi, which is concentrated in English literature as the Oracle of Delphi, is of key importance in Greek literature, history, and religion. According to the ancient Greek religion, occultists used to sit in this temple or a specific building and along with issuing religious orders, predictions of the future were also made which proved to be 100% true according to Greek literature.

The Temple of Delphi, also known as the Temple of Apollo, was located near the ancient Greek state of Carinthia. The activities of the Temple of Delphi went down during the winter due to Apollo's absence. The temple is also central to Sophocles' epic drama Oedipus Rex, where Oedipus sends Creon, who is both his brother-in-law and uncle, to receive tidings of the unseen. The answer from the temple is that there is a wicked man in your city who has committed two of the greatest sins of Greece, one of them being the murder of his father. Until the city is freed from this filthy person, the city will continue to suffer from plague and many other problems including female infertility. This prophecy of the Temple of Delphi was half-baked because the reason was given but the cursed man was not identified. The prophecy is fulfilled by the blind psychic Terry, the representative of the temple.

  When Oedipus Rex goes to the temple at Delphi to find his identity, his woes are compounded when the temple warns him not to think about who your parents were, but about what Worry that you have committed two of the greatest sins of our society. Reading this mysterious and terrifying drama, one wonders how the prophecies of the Temple of Delphi are coming true. In BC, the nations living around the Mediterranean Sea had such a strong faith in the Temple of Delphi that no major decision was made without consulting the temple. The exalted goddess Pythia served as an oracle. We find mention of it in the 8th century BC. There is no doubt that Pythia is considered to be the most powerful female figure of ancient Greece. The importance of Pythia and Oracle of Delphi can be estimated from the fact that the great writers of the Greek and Latin period have mentioned them in their writings. These genius writers include Strabo, Levi, Scales, Xenophon, Pindar, Ovid etc. Apart from them, in the writings of Aristotle, Plato, Sophocles and Leocan, the temple of Delphi is presented with great literature and respect.

How to Be More Confident

 How to be More Confident by Yourself

A lack of self-confidence comes in many shapes and forms, and learning how to build confidence is an ongoing project for most of us – we are all a work in progress! Here’s some tips that you can use to learn how to build self-confidence.

Self Confidence is a key to Success

How to be more confident

Make lists of your achievements, and things in your life that you are proud of.

Acknowledge your personal strengths and talents, and remind yourself of them often.

Set realistic goals for yourself.

Practice positive self-talk.

Make time for your hobbies, and try out some new things to find out what you are passionate about.

Talk to a counsellor or mental health professional to learn self-management strategies that can help build confidence and self-esteem.

Seven ways to build up your self-confidence.

1. Boundaries.

How firm are you on your boundaries?

I once posted about boundaries and how it is supposed to be maintained. Your friends, family, or your boss do not have the right to cross your boundaries, but they will if you give them the right and green light to do so. The healthy boundaries that you set help your life go easy and smooth.

2. The idea of constantly nagging about things should stop.

Do you always feel that you are the victim or do you find ways out of the hard situation that you are in?

Think about this: Has nagging ever solved one's problem?

If constantly nagging has solved any problem, then I give you the go-ahead to constantly nag about your problems.

3. What people say about you doesn't matter.

The truth you should accept in this life is that people must always talk whether you are good, bad, beautiful, or ugly, people must talk and that's why they have their mouths. But, being affected by what people say is where the problem comes in.

4. Learn the act of communication.

One of the biggest ways you can be confident is when you learn how to communicate with people.

Know the right words and body language when communicating with people.

Your mode of talking with people is very important because you can leave an imprint on them and you can never know who you are talking to. It could be the person who can change your life overnight.

5. Your utterances.

The words that you utter from your mouth are extremely powerful. You become what you say to yourself. 

Do you often say that you are beautiful or ugly?

Do you say that you are good or bad?

Whatever you tell yourself, your spirit, body, and soul will soak it in.

6.Socialize with people.

Go out and socialize with people. You can't always be stuck in your room with the mindset of running away from people and trouble. You can also be inside that same room and trouble will find its way to you, so go out and socialize with people. 

Speak with people, chill with people, mingle with people, and you will get to know how to deal with different people who can be weird or kind, but remember to be sensitive when socializing.

7.Keep yourself clean and well-groomed.

All these steps I have listed above can't work out if you don't keep yourself clean and well-groomed.

Keep yourself clean and well groomed by bathing, shaving, brushing your teeth, having neat hair or haircut, keeping your nails neat, and using deodorants, in other words, keeping your WHOLE BODY neat. Nobody will want to associate with you looking tattered, irritating, and dirty.

Improving English Speaking

 

How to Improve Your English Speaking Fluently

Some Important tips on speaking English fluently and confidently

1. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

Your goal is to deliver a message, not speak perfect English, with the right grammar and vocabulary. Even native English speakers make mistakes!

2. Practise, practise, practise

Practice makes perfect. Constantly look for opportunities to test out your spoken English. Busuu's online English classes, for instance, are interactive, 45-minute group lessons, guided by a professional teacher. They are a great way to practise speaking English and learn faster in a fun, safe environment.

3. Listen

The more you hear, the easier it will be for you to speak better English. You’ll start speaking more fluently and confidently in English conversations, learning how to give your opinions in English with new expressions and idioms.

4. Celebrate success

Every time you talk to someone in English is an achievement. Every single interaction you have, no matter how small, will help you improve your skills over time. Be proud of your progress.

These first four tips help provide the best way to start speaking English with ease. The following three steps will help take your English speaking skills to the next level.

5. Think in English

Go from speaking good English to great English by thinking in the language. You’ll find it difficult at first, but after some time you’ll learn how to switch between speaking English and your first language.

6. Talk to yourself

It will look funny, but by talking to yourself in English in front of the mirror for each day, you'll learn to pronounce every letter in the English Alphabets plus when and how to use different expressions. You’ll also learn where you make most of the mistakes.

7. Tongue twisters

Tongue twisters help improve your diction teach you how to speak quickly. Practise with tricky sayings like this: “The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday".

Brush up Your English Language 

08 Reasons Why You Are Not Speaking English Well

Have you studied and had difficulty reaching fluency in English?

Do you feel like something important is holding you back, but you’re not sure what it is?

Today you’re going to learn about the most common excuses, attitudes and obstacles that prevent you from learning English. Whether you´re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced student, this is a good chance to check yourself and understand how you can be a better learner.

Excuses & Attitudes (to Avoid)

1. “I’m Not Good With Languages”

It’s true that some people are better at learning languages than others, but you have to accept that some people, with or without a gift, just want it more.

In this sense, the greatest gift you can have for learning is TO REALLY WANT IT. Unless you have some real serious learning deficiencies, you are fully able to learn English. It might take more dedication and patience, better strategies, study habits and awareness of your learning style, but to say that what is holding you back is because you aren´t good at languages is not a good excuse.

The grand majority of people who have learned English as a second language don’t have a gift. They’ve learned through persistent hard work, avoiding excuses, and overcoming obstacles that everybody faces.

2. “I’m Too Embarrassed to Speak”

If you don’t use it, you lose it. All the embarressment or laziness that prevents you from speaking will result in the forgetting of everything you´ve already learned up until that point in the process. This is the big problem with a lot of English schools. They don´t create enough opportunities to speak in authentic situations.

If you don’t use the basic stuff you learn, no amount of advanced grammar is going to help you remember what you superficially learned and forgot because you didn’t apply it.

Furthermore, not speaking contributes to the psychological blockage of your whole process. So what’s the best advice? Open your mouth. Whether it’s in the classroom, alone in the shower, with friends who speak a little or a lot, or even foreigners in real life or on Skype, just stop being embarrassed and OPEN YOUR MOUTH.

3. “Adults Don’t Learn Languages Very Well”

While an adult is not going to have the same ability as a child to learn a foreign language, I think many of us just don’t give ourselves enough credit. There are plenty of advantages to being an adult language learner, including more self-awareness about our learning processes, the fact that we know what we want, and we can plan out our process.

It´s true that the vast majority of adult language learners will never totally lose their accent, but you can smooth it out with intelligent methods, and if you are communicating fine, what the heck is wrong with having an accent? It’s who we are, where we come from, and an important part of our identity. And it often makes you appear sexy and exotic.

The world is full of successful adult language learners who do a beautiful job communicating and there’s no reason why you can’t be one of them.

4. “I Don’t Have the Time”

You don’t need to sign up for an English school and pay a lot of money, nor do you need several hours of free time every day.

Signing up for and attending the right program can help you a lot and give you some added structure, but if you don’t have the time, use your imagination and learn with the technology at your convenience.

English for Life is an excellent place to start, and there are plenty of free podcasts you can download to learn in your car, in addition to blogs, youtube videos, and a ton of other free resources. If you look hard enough, you will find a ton of resources that will help you learn English without paying anything.

5.“I Need to Go to an English Speaking Country”

You simply do not need to travel across the ocean to another country to have contact with the language. There are English speakers everywhere if you actually take the time to look, and when you get to the stage in your learning where “immersion” is something that would give you a big push, there are other options.

You can find foreigners in your city. In Belo Horizonte, there are 3 international communities that I’m aware of: Real Life English, Minas International, and Couch Surfing. In addition to this, you can create a lifestyle with a constant flow of native speaking English sources such as podcasts, online radio, TV shows, movies, music.

The most important part is adding English into your daily life. Find ways to make it fun.

Obstacles (to Overcome)

6. Lack of Purpose

A lot of people don’t have a strong WHY to learn the language. Even if “I have to Learn English for my career” is the truth, if it’s the first thing you think about when you think about English, it’s gonna’ be a long, slow and painful process. This leads to a lack of love for what you’re doing and a mechanical approach.

People who think learn English in terms of external motivation don´t usually don’t enjoy learning English. They get bored and tired easily, and are often not very dedicated.

So what’s the solution? Look for a deeper purpose and cultivate it. Really look hard at why you are learning and use that as the source of your inspiration. Here’s an inspiring story of purpose and perseverance applied to language learning.

7. Lack of Responsibility

A lot of people want to pay somebody to learn English for them or to acquire the language as if it were a chip in the brain. They don’t understand that to learn a language, you need to take responsibility for your process, and stop placing it upon the shoulders of the teacher or school or life circumstances.

Of course, the school and teacher have their own responsibility they must follow through on, but the teacher is more of a facilitator and is only needed to show the student the door. YOU must be the one to walk through the door by your own will power.

Learning English is not a chip in your brain, but an intimate process that you must participate in every day. Yes, EVERY DAY. Excellence (i.e. fluency) is not easily, quickly or even likely to be achieved with a haphazard twice a week effort.

8. Lack of a Good Plan/Method

If you’re going to learn English, you need to decide, and then clarify your motives, investigate well the path to success, and then set your life up and execute. People often don’t organize their lives in a way that will lead to success with their English learning process because they don’t have a very good plan, they don’t make the time to learn every day (outside of class), and they don’t investigate what makes a good school and/or method.

People look for quick, easy fixes to problems that they have to face. If you’re not successful in learning English, first stop and ask yourself, “Why am I not learning?” and take responsibility for your own process. ONLY THEN should you start looking for people that can help you.

Think about the things I mentioned here and then talk with your friends that have been successful in learning. Ask advice from them, research on the internet, visit several schools, watch a class or two, and learn to tell the difference between clever marketing and real quality.

Follow me for more ENGLISH TIPS