Describing a Picture will Help You to Speak English

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How Good Is Your Business English?

Become a Master of Business English

Useful phrases used on a business meeting

Hi

There is nothing exceptionally new or unusual in the English language that business executives use to communicate with their business partners.

English is still English whatever topic or subject of the talk you may speak about.

Granted, there exist some communicative formulas that business executives use on their meetings and if you want to become a successful English-speaking businessman, you should practice these formulas too.

          With this article I am starting the list of expressions that I have heard on a big number of business meetings, negotiations, presentations.

           Armed with a solid arsenal of business communication tools, you will in no time become
an outstanding English-speaking business executive.

 George Rusky

Part One. Chairing a Business Meeting.

Starting a meeting.

• Shall be start?
• Shall we begin?
• Let’s get down to business
• Let’s get started.

Opening a Meeting

• Thank you for coming
• Welcome to…
• It’s nice to have you here
• Today we will discuss
• As you can see on your agenda…

Agreeing

• I agree with you
• I think it’s true
• I think you are right
• I think we can accept it

Disagreeing

• I can’t agree with that, I am afraid
• I have to disagree with you
• I am not sure it could be the best solution for us
• I am afraid it is not exactly for we can accept

Giving opinions

• In my opinion
• As far as I can see it
• From my point of view

Interrupting

• Excuse me but…
• Could I have something?
• I’d like to add something
• Hold on a moment…

Preventing an interruption

• Could I just finish?
• Let me finish
• Could you wait one minute?

Suggesting

• I suggest that …
• What about …
• Why don’t we try this?
• Let’s do it …
• Wouldn’t it be better to…

Returning to a previous statement

• As I have said earlier
• That brings us back to…
• I wonder if I can repeat what I have said…

Asking for repeating/not understanding  

• Could you repeat that?
• Could you say tat again?
• What are you trying to say?
• I didn’t quite follow you.
• I am not sure what you mean

Reassuring

• I can assure you
• You needn’t worry
• Let me assure you

Giving reasons

• It’s because
• It’s due to
• The reason is that

Summarizing

• To sum it up…
• Before we finish, let me recap…
• I ‘d like to summarize

Ending the Meeting

• I think that’s all for now
• Let’s wrap it up
• Thank you for coming
• I’ll see you next time

Good luck with your business English!

George Rusky

georgerusky.net

Would you like to Discover the Secrets Of Learning English Grammar Tenses?

Dear Friends

                                                                                           

               After teaching English for more than two decades, I have decided to write a Manual called Discover the Secrets Of Learning English Grammar Tenses where I tried to analyze the most effective and simple ways to learn all twelve English grammar tenses.

              As a result of this work, I am absolutely sure that anyone who starts learning English with    a knowledgeable teacher, correct methods and appropriate learning materials  can speak              good English in a very short time. My experience proves that in one year of regular lessons even a total beginner becomes a good speaker of English.

               Who is this Manual for?

• Anyone, who has been learning the language for several years but hasn’t achieved any significant results. This Manual is a must for you.

• Business people who spend long hours at work and occasional lessons are the only chance to develop their English skills. Follow the Manual’s instructions and in a year from now, you will speak to your foreign business partners without an interpreter

• Those of you who have tried to learn English a good number of times but haven’t achieved any positive results. ”Everlasting beginners” as you may say.

            Here’s the chance for you too!

             Dear friends,

As English occupies now a significant position in communication among people in all areas of modern life worldwide, only with solid knowledge of English along with your professional skills you will be able to build secure personal and business life.

Without further delay, get down to work and improve your English with

                         Discover the Secrets Of Learning English Grammar Tenses!

Wishing you the best of success!

To receive the Manual 

 Discover the Secrets Of Learning English Grammar Tenses

Email me: georgerus@volny.cz

George Rusky

Georgrusky.net

Writing and Us. What holds us back from Blog writing?

 Writing and Us. 
What holds us back from Blog writing? 
      About writing has been written said and spoken so often and that it is really hard to find anything new or anything that had never been mentioned before.
Here's a trick, however: anything that has ever been engraved of writing has been learned by ones and never heard by others. One thing most of us can agree upon and that is : writing is the hardest part of human communication.
Why? What is so difficult in writing?
First.
The process of describing various events for keeping  them handy for next generations, had always been a serious and responsible process that demanded a chronically precise narration of the events with historically correct comments and details.
A Russian proverb says:"What is written by a pen can't be cut down by an axe"
So, I guess we can say that intuitively most of us recognize writing as something that needs a high level of seriousness and responsibility. What is written is kept in someone's archives and can be used against the writer. World history is full of such examples.
Second.
Writing more than is anything else shows an intellectual level of an author, her character, her inner world, in short her nature. Earlier it was even easier for a smart reader to learn a lot about a person after seeing her handwriting. Unfortunately, computers eliminated this very useful tool :-) But even computers cannot hide the culture of a writer. What can be said about an author of the message where:

There's no salutation, or it is not directed to a person, or the name starts with a small letter;
Spelling, punctuation mistakes in the text;
Ending of the message has no names, no final remarks, etc.
Third.
A very common among my clients 'philosophy' states:              
"If you have no talent for writing, you cannot, should not and even must not write!"                             Nonsense.
Everyone has the right to write, whether with or without a so called 'talent'. As any other skill, writing can be learned-practiced and as the result of training constant training, significantly improved.
Surely, not all writing people will ever reach the level of giants of world literature, but anyone can learn the elements of style and produce correct readable sentences.
Fourth. 
Writing is a painful process. Those of us who do not take writing lightly, try to create nice, logically developed, reader-friendly blocks of information always read and reread and edit and even send copies to professional proofreaders and editors. Naturally enough, not too many volunteers 'apply' for writing endeavors .

Fifth. Writing is a time-consuming business. A good number of my clients asked about writing, they would they had no time for it.

Sixth. Writing is often a problem of finding the subject, the topic. What to write about???
"Am I good enough to write about sport?" "No, I'm not a world champion."
"Do I have valuable experience in taking care of children?""Hardly so: I have just one kid"
"Am I, have I, do I, can I...?" " No, no, and again 'no" You see, I am not qualified, period!"
And here is the question of questions: "Do you wish to be qualified?!"

Blogging = Writing
As we have now identified six main obstacles on the way to writing,  are there any chances to overcome these barriers? 
Yes, there are.
I guess, you will agree with me that as in any human activity, before we start doing anything at all, we answer two main questions:
"Do I need it?" or
"Do I love it?"
The same holds true with writing. If there is no need and no love, hardly anyone will ever start writing.
But, if you love writing then... 
Just get down to it and start with blogging. Blog writing is more communication, reaction on the information that for blogging is Blog is the best place for practicing the skill of writing. Share your thoughts, concerns, ideas, comment on other bloggers' stories.
Try to avoid sending short about nothing messages just to show that you've been here.
Dare to dream. Trust yourself.
If you religiously believe that you can become a writer, if you learn and practice writing every day,
   You will become a Blog WRITER!
Then who knows where this great start will leads you!
You may one day become a best selling writer of all times! 

Resume
Dare to dream. Include writing into the list of your dreams.
Do you best to make your dreams come true, contemplate over all that comes into your life, make resolutions, follow your plans and goals and do everything with faith.
Believe and you...
You will become a WRITER!


Wishing you the best of blogging
George Rusky
a Blog writer
 Georgerusky.net

“Why to blog?” Ten Points in Favor of Blogging

As many times before, I ask myself a question that perhaps has also worried you for some time: “Why to blog?”, “What’s in it for a blogger?”                                          
 “Is this necessary, important, vital or what?!”

Dear Friends,

I believe that blogging is not too much different from any other channels of human communication, just a modernized way of sharing with others your thoughts, opinions…

After some time spent with contemplating about the subject, I have finally come with a few points in favor of blogging.

Here are my ten brief notes with short comments. Blogging is recommended…

First. To discipline your day: your blog messages should be posted daily. Every evening when you go to bed, scroll thru all day’s activities and check whether you performed all you’d planned. Blog posts are the best way to feel fine with your daily performance.

Second. Blogging is writing, perhaps our biggest worst problem of today’s communication. I do not mean the communication on the level of short SMS, phone calls or replicas we exchange with people around us, but writing as the process of producing blocks of information on various topics.

Third. To share with others your interests and knowledge and to get feedback from your readers who may enjoy the same topics.

Fourth. To develop new relations with your readers. I have a very good experience of making friends in one international photo community.

Fifth. To promote your ideas, ask for advice, exchange human wisdom and use life experience of your readers for your life too.

Sixth. To establish yourself as an expert in your area. Again, answering questions of your readers is a pleasure and a privilege of any knowledgeable person.

Seventh. To offer your services, products, consultancy in the areas where you know something worth sharing with others: they may use your advice for their professional and private life.

Eight., To have fun. Even though a good number of correspondents may react on your messages not entirely in a positive way, the number of fine comments is always bigger. Receiving lovely posts with positive opinions and ideas is very pleasant.

Ninth. To educate yourself. Very often among your co-bloggers few folks have pretty good experience with running blogs: their help may change your level of performance not only in blogging but in other areas of life.

Tenth. To become closer to the people of the whole world. As a massage therapist at a big hotel, I work with people around the world who not only share with me their health concerns but ask for help with other things in various sides of life. When I talk to them, I feel that we live with very similar, if not the same problems and concerns in different corners of the planet. That makes me feel a part of the world community!

"Have I forgotten anything here?"

Please, feel free to share with me your thoughts, ideas, opinions.

Sincerely, George Rusky

georgerusky.net

7 Practical Steps to Become a Speaker of Correct English

            The internet today offers us a vast variety of approaches and methods of learning English online.

What worries me, however, the modern trend that has appeared in the attitude to learning English grammar, which gains a lot of followers, especially among young learners who, I guess have a lot of grammar at school.

             Everything is fine with the combination of grammar at school and communication online, with just one exception: I can’t accept the statement of forgetting the grammar that you learn at school:

 “You do not need much grammar," some online educators say, "Listen and speak as much as you can and you’ll be all right!”...

            Dear friends, 

in this article I would like to say a few words of what I think about this method of learning English.

First, let me ask how you feel about following any life regulations and rules, instructions and commands, in general?

Do you ever break the rules that the society has set up for us to obey?

Well, yes and no, that depends.

          If so, why to ignore sets of rules of the language? The language we use is also a part of the rules the society has accepted for the territory where people who speak this language live.

The grammar is the Constitution of the language which all of us have to take very seriously. Almost all states in various historical periods had to make a decision which language to accept as the state language and which  language to teach as a foreign in state educational institutions.

Do you know, for example, that the only foreign language taught on the territory of Czechoslovakia before the velvet revolution in 1989 was Russian?

After the revolution, this language, as the main foreign language taught, was removed from all educational institutions in Czechoslovakia and substituted for English. 

        Now, back to English grammar. I would like to ask you, dear readers, to revise your attitude towards the English grammar and take it with utmost respect.

Please, remember: whatever is said or written is made according to the English grammar rules and it is your choice as learners of English to create your sentences grammatically correctly or just as you wish.

Now here are concrete ways that may be helpful for you to develop your speech:

• listen to well-educated speakers of English ( their language is equipped with correct grammar structures )and listen actively, repeat as many times as it is necessary so that to say something similar in your own speeches;
• read modern writers, mostly authors of newspapers and magazines, the carriers of modern English, the language that is used ( and checked carefully by highly-skilled editors ) today, not a century ago;
• find possibilities to practice your talk with language specialists and require their comments, not explanations. Ask them constantly: “Is that correct?” “Have I said that grammatically correct?”
• if you can, avoid learning English in groups, especially where a tutor encourages the students to speak and rarely corrects their mistakes: you will never know what had been said with mistakes;
• hire a language coach who will help you use the language for life, fast and effectively and surely correctly, who will listen more than speak. You must speak at least 80% of your lesson’s time;
• arrange learning sessions as often as you can: the oftener you practice the faster you become an owner of a solid arsenal of correct command of English.
• write regularly your thoughts in a journal, monitor your progress: it'll motivate and encourage you

          Dear Friends,
These are a few thoughts about learning grammar that I have gathered thru years of teaching people to speak English, but surely, you may have your own ways to grow a winning speaker.

If any of the above methods you may find helpful, I’ll be very glad.

That’s all for now and if you are interested in more tips and tricks to become a great English speaker, 

click the link below.

George Rusky

Georgerusky.net 

How to choose a book for reading?

How do you choose a book for reading? Do you use any special methods for reading?”  

Let’s start with the cover of a book.

I believe, it reflects the author’s attitude towards his work.
Even today when the modern books are enveloped in covers that can hardly survive two or three readers, there are still some works of the writers who believe that their novels will be read by more than one generation of booklovers.

On the contrary, the look of a tattered book will please the next library shelves’ explorer who may think:"Oh, that one’s been read by lots of folks. I should read it too"

The first impression may be deceptive!

Here are some suggestions for selecting the reading you look for.

1. Before you come to a library ( not a book-store):

a) Carefully identify the area of your interest. What exactly you want to read.

b) Know your purpose of reading: pleasure, research, etc.

c) Have a list of the authors who wrote or write about your subject. What aspects of the problem they are dealt with in their works. Spend time for the research.

d) Get a general orientation of the authors and/or their works you think may suit your interest.

e) Choose a day and hours when there are fewer visitors in the library.

f) Prepare some change for Xerox-copying.

2. In the library:

a) Find a librarian who works in the section where you suppose to find the materials you need.

b) In details explain to her what you need. Show her the list you have prepared (see 1c above)

c) Let her know how important these materials are for you.

d) Get all you are advised plus anything you may find on the shelves.

e) Sit at a quiet place, get ready to work. (Don’t forget to switch off a mobile phone :-)

3. How to work with the book/books you have on a library table.

a) Place a book in front of you. Feel it, touch it, guess what the book is about.

b) Read the title, think if the title matches your subject.

c) Open it and read all the information on the first page esp. where and when it was published/republished.

d) Read the back cover of the book where there’s information about the writer and the resume.

e) Go through the dedications and acknowledgements: you will know how the writer himself values his labor. (The same and deeper information you may get from a foreword) Try not to skip it.

f) Read the contents and make a general impression of the manual.

4. How to read the book.

Reading is a very serious process. Depending on the type of literature, you must vary the approach and attitude to the whole process of reading.

Some general observations before we get to the a, b, c points.

A book, any book, is an act of an individual or group men’s creative activity that may be compared to, say, delivering a baby, building a house, tailoring a suit or anything else that a human being may produce.

It’s an act of passion, hard labor, doubts, long chain of successes and failures, physical and mental efforts, sleepless nights, nerves breakdowns and so on and so forth.

It’s, after all, an act of a high responsibility of the writer before the readers of today and the readers of tomorrow.
Nearly all authors rewrite their sentences, paragraphs, even whole chapters several times, before their final versions are ready to meet the first readers.

After these comments, you may look at a book with more respect.

So, back to the reading.

a) Start with what directly related to your topic: go to the topic that is the closest to your theme.

b) Always read with a pensile in your hand and tick the phrases, thoughts, ideas that attract your attention, shed the light on the subject from another POV and so on.

c) On the sheet of paper fix accurately your thoughts that come into your head while you are reading.

d) Pay a special attention to the author’s ideas you may use in your work. Put them in brackets and write down a page on your sheet with notes: you will easily find them later.

e) Compare your own thoughts with the writer’s. Place exclamation/question marks next to the writer’s text. You’ll come back to them later.

Happy reading

George

georgerusky.net

How You Can Become a Good Listener

How to Become a Good Listener. 
One.

Before you begin a good listener, you should become a good Reader!
Another paradox? Come on George!
I feel you are getting angry with me and, the way the report is made makes
you nervous.
But, listen to this!
Trust me, I am serious.
In order to listen to a person worth listening, you have to READ as much as
you can about this person!
Agree?
        Listening is also the process of investing your precious time and surely
you must know that you invest your time wisely and effectively. So, go to the
website and read all you can about the one who offers you to listen to him.
       Being a good listener does not mean only having ears and mind open
toward the information, but know exactly that what you are looking for and
forward you will read in testimonials  of other customers.
Actually, I have built my list of who I listen to regularly.
       If you want to know the giants of Public Speaking industry, send me a
message and I will send you my list, it’s not that long.
       By the way, how often do you hear these questions?“How can you listen to this rubbish?”
“I don’t want to hear this BS”
“All I have heard was a complete waste of time…”
          And here goes the resume: Collect information about who you want to
listen to if you really want to be a good listener. A good listener listens to
wise people and valuable information.
NB: don’t listen to your closest who recommends you to listen to someone.
Try to read about the candidate and make your own opinion about this
concrete person.

How to Become a Good Listener. Two.
          Now let’s define concrete steps of getting a better speaker thru
listening to what others wish to hear from you.

Rule number One. Don’t expect anyone to tell you what they want to
hear from you.
I have noticed in some situations people don’t really know what they want!
Help them: ask questions. Be the master of asking questions.
And never say you are asking because you are curious as the majority of my
conversationalists do.
Ask questions because you want to find out what your potential client wishes
to hear.
       Develop your art of asking good, well formed questions that will lead
you in the direction you want and at the same time, help people to express
themselves.
The best questions are the ones I call ‘wh’ questions: what, why, when,
where, who…”
In short the questions that need more than just:’ yes-no’ answers.
So, become a master of asking questions.

Rule number Two. ‘Don’t interrupt’
How often we hear this:” Don’t interrupt, let me finish…”
It’s impolite in everyday, casual talks, it’s a ‘must not’ in business talks.
Do not interrupt a potential client, let her dominate the talk!
Go on with the conversationalist with nodding, showing your interest in any
ways you can think of trying occasionally direct smoothly the talk to the
destination you plan.

Rule number Three. Define the key points of the story you hear.While listening, define what the biggest concern of your conversationalist and
re-ask her what she has said, but say that in your own words. It’s a very
powerful tool of listening that shows better than anything else that you are
interested in what you hear.
Use the following short questions:
1. ” If I understood you correctly, you…?”
2. “Let me check whether I understood well what you have said…?”
3. “Do you mean to say that…?”
4. Or, the favorite question of Brian Tracy:  “How do you mean it?”
When you repeat the information correctly, the other person will be pleased
with her ability to explain and your skill of understanding all in the way that
it had been said.

Rule number Four. Hold on!
Whenever you feel like adding something or trying to encourage your fellow
speakers, resist the temptation to do so. I have noticed that very often
instead of helping them to move on in the direction we want, they ‘jump’ into
another topic or just endlessly try to explain their point differently and fail to
find the right words and examples for it.
Be careful with providing this kind of support
.
 Rule number Five. Practice the three above described rules.
Yes, exactly so: “Take action!”
It’s never enough to be familiar with what should be done and how it must
be done. The crucial element of any activity is DOING.
Armed with the best possible knowledge of any existing subject, a man will
never become wealthy if he only enjoys his profound knowledge.
He must sell his knowledge, exchange his knowledge for another product.
So, take action!
George Rusky
www.georgerusky.net

Who are my clients?

Who are my clients?

In fact, everyone who desires to speak better English can become my student.

Most of my clients fall into three basic categories.

One.

Managers who had worked with their domestic business partners, till the moment they realized it was necessary to expand their spheres of business abroad.

They are loyal students, stay with me for a long time.

Two. Adult learners, who never studied English at school.

These people both men and women need English for getting better job.

They are the most diligent learners who work very hard  to become skillful communicators of English.

Three. University graduates who are looking for their first employment and need to go successfully thru a series of interviews.

These learners stay with me till the moment they find a reasonable job and then continue their language education at work.

Dear friends, if you want to become my client, go to the Coaching page to learn the general rules and regulations of our cooperation.

George Rusky

Georgerusky.net

How you can turn listening into a powerful tool to speak better English

 Listening is a powerful tool to develop your ability to speak English.
In this article I want to share with you the problems that almost all of my students come across, how we eliminate these problems and what work well for them and can work well for you too.

Dear learners of English
They say that even before the birth, a baby hears when their parents talk to her.
Then when the baby appears into the world she spends a year or more to turn her listening skills into the first shy efforts to produce sounds and short phrases.
Later, as a child grows her skills of listening and speaking grow with her.
This philosophy very often brings a lot of educators to a false, in my opinion, concept of learning English as a second or a foreign language in the way children do.
This approach finds a lot of resistance among adult students, first of all.
Why?
       Adults do not desire to play kids’ games and repeat childish sentences with which children start speaking. I tried this ‘modern’ method a few times and always failed because my university graduates with serious positions in their companies refused to learn English of ‘cats and dogs’ and always tried to say something more sophisticated, normally related to their business duties.

Now, a lot of speculations go around the best way of listening in order to boost speaking.
I believe that listening develops first of all listening.
Here what a lot of educators say: “Listen as much as you can!”
Great. What if I listen to Chinese 5 hours a day without knowing a word of the language?
Will it help me to start speaking Chinese?
In fact, after a week I will possibly be able to repeat most common words of the languages without knowing what they mean in the language I know from the moment I spoke to my parents.
That is why I stand on the position that if you want to improve your English, listening must be a very active process with a strict plan of exercises and desirably under control of an educator.

Here’s the program of listening with the description of exercises and drills that will ultimately guide both a student and an instructor to a desirable result of speaking better English.(Taken from my report: How to improve your English. Fast and easy methods.)

Listening. Element One.
A student listens to the whole text and tries to understand it without looking into the text.
In case she understands the text completely, she has to go to the element of the training on this stage.
If the student doesn’t understand the recording, she can read the text and find out the meaning of the unknown words and then to listen to the text again.
The main task of this element is to hear and understand all the words in the text.
I believe is important to hear all the words in the text, not only to catch the idea of the recording and answer true-false questions.
Why is it necessary to understand every word said?
The way native speakers in various countries pronounce the words in the same sentence may sound differently from the way our instructors pronounce them or we do.
That’s the reason we don’t understand native speakers of English when we hear how they speak. With movies it is even worse.
Yet, when we read the text of the conversation we have just heard, we understand everything.
That’s why we need to compare the written text to what speakers ‘make out’ of it when they speak, especially when we have no chances to ask a speaker to articulate, repeat the phrase or say the same phrase slowly.
I believe listening itself serves us less effectively than when we listen and repeat and check whether we understand correctly what has been said.

How to do so.
• Listen to the passage and try to understand what is said.
• Listen again, this time sentence by sentence.
• Repeat what the speaker says and try to understand the phrase completely.
• Check your understanding with the written text.
If you understand the phrases of the text in the way they are written and pronounced, well done!
If not, try again until you reach the point of complete understanding.
I know it seems like a lot of work and, not too creative and much fun…
                  But if you want to be a champion, that’s one of the ways to the top!

  As for the textbook and recordings, feel free to choose the one on your level of the language expertise.
Try to avoid too much of a challenge, as instead of even slow progress, you may get the feeling that you don’t go forward at all.

At this moment I would like to warn you of asking a language expert for help.
You may find the one who doesn’t accept my method and will try to offer her methods of teaching. In short, do it yourself, follow your intuition.
And remember. I do not promise ‘a rose garden’ to my followers as the most of teachers of English, especially native speakers of English do.
             The way how they learned to speak English does not suit us, for whom English is a second language.
Native speakers of English can educate only children who will learn the language in a similar way as they learned their mother tongue.
             For adults these methods may work only when they are in a community where only English is spoken, which is a rare case. At least for my adult students who always learn English thru their native language and always compare an English sentence to the same sentence in their language.
             Only non-native speakers, teachers of English know how to teach English, especially the ones who have not lived for years in English speaking countries.

Why?
Because the teacher usually says, that it is impossible to speak English without living abroad.(a very popular myth these days)
So, try to do all on your own. Following my instructions you will easily find what and how works for you better and you will start speaking good English even without living abroad.

            Another thing that may also happen as soon as you share your plan of studying with other teachers, they may accept your idea painfully: every teacher is fond of her ways of teaching.
Let me repeat that: I have met a good number of serious educators in various countries and of many nationalities.
Most of them had their individual concepts of teaching their students.
But, it’s not about how intelligent the teacher is, it is about how well you are able to speak after being taught by your teacher, right?
My mentor Brian Tracy often says:
“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care”
In other words it is not enough to know the subject you teach, it is necessary to lead your student to the results she wants”
That’s the essence of the studying process as I understand it.


George
Georgerusky.net

7 Ways to Understand the actors in American movies

Hi

Dear learners of English, a question:

"How often have you been frustrated by your complete inability to understand American movies?

Well, I mean, understand what the actors are saying in the movies, of course :-)

I believe, to understand the whole movies not difficult: there are four parts in most of them: first a happy living of the heroes, the second-a problem, third a fight against the problem and the final part-happy ending.

But what the characters say is another pair of shoes, sorry for the cliche.

Why does it happen that learners of English do not follow script of the movies and should we be frustrated because of that.I receive this question from my students almost every Monday.

Here are my observations why it happens and seven ways to relieve you from suffering while and after watching American movies. 

• Observation #1.The genre  of the movies. If you follow the street-oriented conversations in the movies, you should learn English slang, about 25-30 words and expressions. I am afraid,teachers of English won't help you much with that: native are ashamed of their compatriots, non-native may just not know If, on the contrary, you chose the movie of learned native speakers of English, these films will bring you more pleasant moments and less head aches.
• Observation #2.Seeing/watching movies with subtitles. Helpful?   Not much, really. Translators feel free to turn English words and phrases into acceptable for the local audiences sentences. That's why bilingual speakers react very critically when they see the translations under the screen: sometimes the heard and written phrases are very different.
• Observation #3 Dubbing (when the movie actors speak in one language and the voice behind the screen translates into another language). This method is more beneficial: a student-spectator catches more from a language she learns while following the development of the plot of the movie.

Now, my recommendations to improve your understanding of what American movie actors say.

On your own:

-Chose the movies that were screened based on the novels of well-known writes of the past.The genre? Melodrama, autobiographies, and the best-documentary films.The language there pleasant for hearing, slow, solid and clear.

-Watch the films that were made in the sixties-seventies.They were more mindfully prepared and produced.

-Repeat watching DVD-versions as often as you can and in small portions. In no time you will feel more confident with the replicas of the actors and even learn by heart the phrases you liked.

With a teacher. A native speaker of English and preferably, a film fan.

-Ask her to select the movie she loves, the one she can offer you to watch.Preferably something close to your life or career orientation. In English all have their professional jargon.

-Require her to write the script of the segments of the movie and use along with the watching movie.

-Offer her to watch the movie in short sequences of no more than two phrases, stop the film and go thru all that the actors had said.

-Ask as many questions as you can to understand each and every word of what had been said.

-Repeat the phrases heard and ask for corrections.

-Imitate intonations, emotions of the actors, remember the background when and where the performers were playing: whenever you find yourself in a similar situation in life you may use the same phrases.

-Avoid watching chunks of the movie longer than 5-15min at a session of 45min. Quality here is more essential than anything else.

-Try to learn the phrases you learned and liked by heart and imagine situations in your life wherever you can possibly use them too.

OK, these are the methods that work for my students and will work for you as soon as you start using them. I wish you all to understand the modern movies much better with my ideas:-)

Sincerely

George

Georgerusky.net

Get Down to Business with Empower Network

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Want to know about this great chance? You are just a click away:

Wishing your financial dreams come true!
George
Georgerusky.net

How to Find a Mentor

Dear Fellow Toastmasters

I hope you have done your home work since my latest speech on the 27^th April when I asked you to think about having a mentor for you.

Hi

I am georghe Rusky and today I will tell you how to start searching a mentor and what qualification a mentor of your dream should have.

First you have to determine clearly in which area of human expertise you would like to achieve top results and if you can do without help. To be successful we need

By going to people who are ahead of you in the personal or professional arena you can save months (maybe even years) and thousands of dollars to learn what you need to learn all by yourself. To be successful, we have to find people who have already paid the price to help us learn the things, that we need to learn to achieve our goals.

The mentors you choose should be people you respect, admire and want to be like. The advice you seek should be guidance regarding your character and personality and specific ideas on how you can do your job better and faster. Remember, you can’t figure it all out for yourself. You have to have the help of others. You have to find men and women who will guide you and advise you on the road of life, or you will take a long, long time getting anywhere.

There fore the first requirement for the mentor is competence

The mentors you choose should be people you respect, admire, and want to be like. The advice you seek should be guidance regard­ing your character and personality and specific ideas on how you can do your job better and faster. Remember, you can't figure it all out by yourself. You must have the help of others. You must find men and women who will guide you and advise you on the road of life, or you will take a long, long time getting anywhere.

There are two vital qualities to look for in a mentor. The first is character and the second is competence.

Character is by far the most important. Look for a mentor who has the kind of character you admire and respect. Look for a person who has high degrees of intelligence, integrity, judgment and wisdom. The more you associate with men and women who are advanced in the development of their character, the more you will tend to pattern them and to become like them.

The second quality you look for in a mentor is competence. This means that the person is extremely good at what he or she does. A good mentor in your career is one who has the knowledge, skills, and abilities to move ahead far more rapidly than his or her peers.

The impact of a mentor on your life is dependent on two addi­tional factors. The first is your degree of openness to being influenced by another person. Openness is so important because many people, especially young people, are extremely impatient, always looking for shortcuts. When they get advice on something that another person has spent many years learning, they often try to add their own varia­tions and improve on it without ever having mastered the original instruction.

Remember, when you open yourself up to guidance and input from another person, concentrate first on understanding and learning exactly what that person has to teach you. Afterward, you can modify and change that lesson to suit your changing circumstances.

The second factor that determines the influence of a mentor on your life is the willingness of the mentor to help you in every way possible to achieve your goals. We know that the more emotionally involved someone is in our lives, the more susceptible we are to being influenced by that person. When you seek out a mentor, you must look for someone who genuinely cares about you as a person and who really wants you to be successful in your endeavors.

So, for a good mentor-protégé relationship, you must be wide open to the influence and instruction of the other person, and at the same time, the mentor must be genuinely concerned about your well-being and your ultimate success. These are the two essentials.

Your ability to choose your mentors can be a crucial step toward achievement in all areas of your life. So here are 12 steps for building successful mentor-protégé relationships:

1) Set clear goals for yourself in every area of your life. Know exactly what you want to accomplish before you start thinking of the type of person who can help you accomplish it.

2) Determine the things you will have to do in order to achieve your goals, the obstacles you will have to overcome, and the roadblocks you will have to surmount.

3) Identify the areas of knowledge, skill, and expertise you will have to acquire in order to overcome the obstacles existing between you and your goals.

4) Look around for the most successful people in the areas in which you will need the most help.

5) Join the clubs, organizations, and business associations these people belong to.

6) Once you have joined these organizations, become actively involved and volunteer for responsibilities. This will bring you to the attention of the people you want to meet faster than anything else.

7) Work, study, and practice continually to get better and better at what you do. The very best mentors are interested in helping you only if they feel it is going to be worth their time. You will have no problem attracting people to you when you develop a reputation for being up-and-coming in your field.

8) When you find a potential mentor, don't make a nuisance of yourself. Instead, ask for 10 minutes of his or her time, in person, in private. Nothing more. Remember, most potential mentors are busy people, and they may be opposed to some­one's trying to take up a lot of their time. It's not personal.

9) When you meet with a potential mentor, express your eager­ness to be more successful in your field. Tell him or her that you would very much appreciate a little guidance and advice to help you move ahead. Ask for an answer to a specific question, for a specific book or audio program recommendation, or for a specific idea that has been helpful to him or her in the past.

10) After the initial meeting, send a thank-you note expressing your gratitude and appreciation for his or her time and guidance. Mention that you hope to meet again if you have another question.

11) Each month, drop your mentor a short note telling him or her about what you are doing and how you are progressing. Nothing makes a mentor more open to helping you further than your making it clear that the previous help has done you some good.

12) Arrange to meet with your mentor again, perhaps on a monthly basis, or even more often if you work closely together.

Over the course of your life, you will have many mentor-protégé relationships. As you grow and develop, you will seek out different mentors, the people who can give you the kind of advice that is most relevant to your current situation.

Successful people are very open to helping other people who want to be successful. This is especially true if they know you are willing to be a mentor to others who are younger and less experienced than you. The more open you are to helping others up the ladder of success, the more open others will be to helping you.

George Rusky VPPR, CC

Communication. A Draft for the webpage

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen

   Communication is a process of transmitting a message from one person to another or to a group of people.

How do you assess your ability to communicate with the world around you on the scale of one to ten?

Is it 9 or 3 or five?

Hi I am George Rusky and on this page I would like to talk about a process of communication as I see it.

             First I want to thank the Lord my parents forgiving me the gift of producing sounds and words in my native language and in a few other ones, for the miracle of articulating and producing the words in a sentence smoothly with out any verbal problems. In short for the ability to communicate.

            Now, as I have such a wonderful gift, isn’t is wise and logical to give the best use to this gift and learn how to communicate with others and gain an image of a pleasant expected-met-greeted everywhere individual, rather than a portrait of a boring unpleasant fellow whom people have no desire to invite and flock with.

But, you may say, if communication is a gift given to you, can it be earned or learned or trained? Isn’t it is something you either have or don’t have.

         And now we have arrived at the point where I always have problems with anyone I share my philosophy of self-development ad self-improvement.

   According to this philosophy, almost anything can be learned and improved if only a man or a woman badly wants to acquire a new skill. Be it the skill of playing the guitar or painting.

I personally strongly believe: it is possible!

I also believe that those who declare that if you have no talent, say, to be a writer, you will never become one.

I guess they say that because they want to hide their laziness to start doing something that goes beyond their daily routines.

And, what is more, they do not want let others to develop their new skills.

By the way, the strongest argument of the supporters “you will never…” is that they compare the enthusiast of self-development to champions in the field.

This approach is wrong. The only one way to compare is when a person compares herself   of today, to her as she was a week or a month ago and sees that she has made a great progress…

Now if you agree with my approach to learning new skills, we can easily move to learning the skill of communication and to learn it with Toastmasters International where the skill of communication occupies the central position, the core of the whole Toastmasters Educational system.

Why Toastmasters, actually? Aren’t there any other offers on the market?

No!

          Toastmasters is the only one organizational where anybody can start speaking to the audience in a friendly, supportive and positive environment of people who joined a TM club for the same very reason: to become a better communicator and leader. 

Dear friend

 If you really want to create your future success in personal and professional life, strong communication and leadership skills are a must, you aught to come to a meeting of a Toastmasters club and see what it’s like to become a strong and inspired leader.

Why is such a long introduction?

To explain to you my position of self development without borders, which is also true for learning the skill of communication and leadership, the two main educational directions learned and practiced at Toastmasters.

   Learning communication with the Toastmasters. What is so unique about that?

There is a number of serious benefits of the Toastmasters educational program that make it possible in a short time to become a better communicator an a leader.

              Let’s think about your own communication and leadership experience, the real people you met, the movies you have seen the books you have read and the stories you have heard, in short, all that has created I you a picture of people equally good at speaking and leading versus the ones who failed in both these skills.

What is your ideal portrait of a leader and communicator?....

How To Become A Public Speaker. By George Rusky

Introduction
                     As a business, Public Speaking appeared in the middle of the last century and
since that time it has attracted attention of various people who wanted to
join this business.
Hi
I’m George Rusky and I’ve been a Public Speaker for more than two decades
and have spoken before people of different countries, various age groups and
walks of life.
Now, as I think about the business, I come up with some interesting
observations.
          Suppose you want to become a teacher, a lawyer, a doctor, an
engineer, etc. you can study this craft at various educational establishments
of all ranks and standards.
With Public Speaking the picture was different.
           There are no establishments where the subject of public speaking
occupies an equal position with other school subjects. The craft and
profession of speaking publicly was started and developed by a small group
of American enthusiasts lead by Mr Bill Gove who considered as the Father of
Professional Speaking, the first president of the National Speakers
Association, one of the most out standing professional speakers of the 20th
century, the founder of so called Workshop for training professional
speakers.(1947)
          It was him who gave this art and business life and determined
development of it for the next decades for those volunteers who wanted to
become public speakers.
          Twenty years later, I stepped on the path of public speaking activity
that was kind of a part-time job I enjoyed doing both for money and free and
had never thought of sharing my experience of speaking on public with
anyone who might be interested in this business.
           So, this short report is my first attempt to write about some of my
observations about this magnificent business of Public Speaking and how you
can possibly join us.
Enjoy!
George Rusky


Chapter One. 
A Public Listener versus Public Speaker.
How to become a public speaker?
First you have to become a public LISTENER.???
Let me explain why I am saying that.
       I will start from the idea that a Public Speaker is not only a person who
speaks in front of audiences on press-conferences but anyone who at least
once has spoken to a group of people trying to achieve one of the following
basic goals:

• Giving information (any kind of meetings);
• Persuading listeners to make a decision (sales presentations);
• Inspiring the audiences ( sermons);
• Motivating people ( joining organizations);
• Entertaining the public (shows);

        Apart from these best known human gatherings where one group is
listening, and an individual/group of individuals is speaking, we may think of
all possible kinds of social events where the above mentioned goals will take
place in various imaginable combinations: debates, forums, educational
meetings, celebrations, weddings, funerals and so on and so forth.
      As you can see now, a public speaking is a huge sociable phenomenon of
human society that penetrates all spheres of everyday life and very often a
speaker address to the audience after she had made a few essential
preparations, has done her ‘home work’
In the majority of cases an orator collects information, does the research and
listens to others on the subject of her talk, just not to repeat what has been
said and to say something new.
       In short, before someone acts as a public speaker she has to become a
public listener, she has to know what the public wants to hear from her, what
might be worth listening.
It may also happen, and it does indeed, that the speaker says what she
believes is interesting for her and what she is patient about but the group of
people she talks to, needs something absolutely different.
      James Malinchak advices to ask and listen to what a potential client will
agree to accept as a subject of the talk for her audience, rather than
persuade her to accept the speaker’s topic.
If you want to earn money, do what the client wants: the CLIENT is always
right!I still insist on becoming a Public Listener first!
Not convinced yet?
OK, read on! The following almost true life stories will help you to get to the
point.
Situation One.
At the Doctor’s.
Imagine: you enter the doctor’s office and from the moment he sees you he
starts his speech:
“Mr Smith, isn’t it?
Before you open your mouth to reply, he goes on:
“As I can see, you have a serious problem with your stomach, headaches
every morning, you don’t sleep well and what is even worse, you have…”
You are still hoping to say something, but the Doc is unmerciful…
“No, no no, please, don’t say a word! I can see that you have a high blood
pressure and so on and so forth…”
Situation Two. 
At a shoe store.
You are buying a pair of shoes. No sooner than you are entering the store,
you are literally attacked by a shop assistant who is giving his speech
“Good morning sir/madam and welcome to our store.
My name is John Smith and I am a senior shop assistant.
Let me tell you what you are looking for and help you with all you need.
I guarantee that you will be pleased with our services and will buy minimum
three pairs of magnificent shoes.
First, let me guess your size and favorite color. Then we will go on with the
model that suit you and finally you will try our products on and buy.
While this dazzling sales presentation, you feel that you have no chances but
shut up and wait what is going to happen next because to your complete
amazement while the senior shop assistant is talking, a junior one is carrying
the shining boxes with footwear, leaving you no chances but to sit and try
the shoes-candidates on, or to try to run away.
Situation Three.
A Dating agency.
A usual thing: He is looking for her. She is looking for him.
An agent is looking for money from him and her and that is why he doesn’t
care whether he may like her, or she may like him. The agent knows
everything even before the candidate crosses the door of his office and starts
explaining what kind of the only one he is hoping to find, the agent has predestined the newcomer’s life: he knows exactly who is the real candidate
for the poor soldier of life mis-adventures.
               I can go on showing you the importance of listening before
speaking, but you get the point: the doctor, as well as the shop assistant and
surely the dating agent must first listen to their clients, ask dozens of
questions and only after that give the best options for their clients.
   “No one cares how much you know, unless they know how much
you care”
            Do you think the situation is very much different in the craft of a
public speaker?
Don’t you believe that before one even think of becoming a public speaker
has to become a public listener?
Or, perhaps, listener to the public.
Chapter Two.
How to Become a Good Listener. One.
Before you begin a good listener, you should become a good Reader!
Another paradox? Come on George!
I feel you are getting angry with me and, the way the report is made makes
you nervous.
But, listen to this!
Trust me, I am serious.
In order to listen to a person worth listening, you have to READ as much as
you can about this person!
Agree?
        Listening is also the process of investing your precious time and surely
you must know that you invest your time wisely and effectively. So, go to the
website and read all you can about the one who offers you to listen to him.
       Being a good listener does not mean only having ears and mind open
toward the information, but know exactly that what you are looking for and
forward you will read in testimonials  of other customers.
Actually, I have built my list of who I listen to regularly.
       If you want to know the giants of Public Speaking industry, send me a
message and I will send you my list, it’s not that long.
       By the way, how often do you hear these questions?“How can you listen to this rubbish?”
“I don’t want to hear this BS”
“All I have heard was a complete waste of time…”
          And here goes the resume: Collect information about who you want to
listen to if you really want to be a good listener. A good listener listens to
wise people and valuable information.
NB: don’t listen to your closest who recommends you to listen to someone.
Try to read about the candidate and make your own opinion about this
concrete person.
How to Become a Good Listener. Two.
          Now let’s define concrete steps of getting a better speaker thru
listening to what others wish to hear from you.
Rule number One. Don’t expect anyone to tell you what they want to
hear from you.
I have noticed in some situations people don’t really know what they want!
Help them: ask questions. Be the master of asking questions.
And never say you are asking because you are curious as the majority of my
conversationalists do.
Ask questions because you want to find out what your potential client wishes
to hear.
       Develop your art of asking good, well formed questions that will lead
you in the direction you want and at the same time, help people to express
themselves.
The best questions are the ones I call ‘wh’ questions: what, why, when,
where, who…”
In short the questions that need more than just:’ yes-no’ answers.
So, become a master of asking questions.
Rule number Two. ‘Don’t interrupt’
How often we hear this:” Don’t interrupt, let me finish…”
It’s impolite in everyday, casual talks, it’s a ‘must not’ in business talks.
Do not interrupt a potential client, let her dominate the talk!
Go on with the conversationalist with nodding, showing your interest in any
ways you can think of trying occasionally direct smoothly the talk to the
destination you plan.
Rule number Three. Define the key points of the story you hear.While listening, define what the biggest concern of your conversationalist and
re-ask her what she has said, but say that in your own words. It’s a very
powerful tool of listening that shows better than anything else that you are
interested in what you hear.
Use the following short questions:
1. ” If I understood you correctly, you…?”
2. “Let me check whether I understood well what you have said…?”
3. “Do you mean to say that…?”
4. Or, the favorite question of Brian Tracy:  “How do you mean it?”
When you repeat the information correctly, the other person will be pleased
with her ability to explain and your skill of understanding all in the way that
it had been said.
Rule number Four. Hold on!
Whenever you feel like adding something or trying to encourage your fellow
speakers, resist the temptation to do so. I have noticed that very often
instead of helping them to move on in the direction we want, they ‘jump’ into
another topic or just endlessly try to explain their point differently and fail to
find the right words and examples for it.
Be careful with providing this kind of support.
 Rule number Five. Practice the three above described rules.
Yes, exactly so: “Take action!”
It’s never enough to be familiar with what should be done and how it must
be done. The crucial element of any activity is DOING.
Armed with the best possible knowledge of any existing subject, a man will
never become wealthy if he only enjoys his profound knowledge.
He must sell his knowledge, exchange his knowledge for another product.
So, take action!

Chapter Three. Becoming a Public Speaker. Dos and Don’ts.
      As soon as you understand what is the interest of your potential client,
time to start preparation for your speech.
There are scores of good advice how to manage the time for the preparation
of your talk, what to do first and so on.
Let’s divide the whole process on several stages.
I. Identifying the main goal of the talk. What am I supposed to bring into my
audience? Remember: the goal/goals of the talk must be based on the
opinion of the one who orders the talk. II. Find out all you can about the audience. It’s a well-known rule: know
your audience. You should become one of your future listeners knowing their
worries, their likes and priorities. All monsters of public business recommend
working with one or two targeted groups of people: you become an expert in
serving these specific audiences.
III. Write the text of the talk in as many details as you can imagine. It is
said not to read the text of the talk and I won’t say any different with just
one remark: you need to know the contents really well to speak on memory.
It doesn’t work at the beginning of the career of a public speaker.
IV. Do not show your manuscript to a native speaker of English. Even if you
lucky and your ‘judge’ or helper is good at speaking and writing she may
completely change your text in accordance with what she things she could
have said in this sentence or paragraph. On this stage is important to start
and be the best you can. The rest will come later.
V. Prepare all supportive materials for the talk. Think of anything that could
make your performance more important for the audience.
VI. Practice as long as you can afford. If you want to become a top speaker,
a Michael Jordan in public speaking, you must practice 2-3-4-5-6-7- and
more hours a day. It’s just tough. You decide where you want to be, it’s on
you.
VII. The last and very important. The English language.
Try to make it perfect. Check my materials in the section English Training.
You will find there all you need to develop your language skills.
Don’t be discouraged: practice makes miracles. Find a coach. Don’t hire just
a teacher of English, native or non-native. You need a trainer, the person
who will be your sparring partner for becoming an excellent speaker, your
Professor Higgins, if you will.
Chapter Four. Where to Start. The First Steps of a Future
Champion.
         Now, as you have learned that much about how to prepare a speech, it
is the right time to think of the listeners, your audience. You cannot just give
speeches to people in the streets.
But even before finding a place, I still strongly recommend you do something
else which might sound a bit unserious or unnecessary, yet has proved to
make wonders for lots of people. I’m now talking of a very simple exercise.
        Look into the mirror and ask you a simple question:
“Do I really want to become a Public Speaker?”          Then listen to your answer and be sure that the one in you who is
answering is not lying.
Without that step, the rest of your efforts make no sense. Wait for a few
days and ask the same question again and again unless you precisely know
that it is what you are thinking about most of your time.
       A word of warning here: don’t ask anyone’s opinion! It’s your personal
business. Others have their own problems and they may have their own
understanding of business of talking on public.
      As soon as you are absolutely sure that it is what you want to start
doing, go to a place where public speaking is taught, learned and practiced.
There is only one place I can think of: a Toastmasters club in your locality.
Start your trip into the business from this organization. Whenever you join a
club, the rest is there: the mentoring, the manuals, the support of fellow
toast masters and your personal growth.
For a symbolic amount of money you will check whether speaking on public is
what you have come into this world for should continue with this or do
something else.
Chapter Five. ‘Tell Them What You Have Told Them.’ Conclusion
        Well, time to revise briefly what we have learned so far. I think it could
have been possible to load you with more materials about the craft but let’s
leave it for the next report or an e-book. One of the best ways to boost your
knowledge of the subject is to
           subscribe to my Newsletter and receive all you may need for
                developing your business right into your e-mail box.
       OK, what has been said and learned about the main point of becoming a
public speaker.

• We have answered several basic questions:
• What is public speaking business?
• Why do I want to start this business myself?
• Where can I find listeners to start my career?
• How can I begin my public speaking business?
• Who can help me with my first steps in the business?

      The only one question out of the six ‘wh’ questions was left.
It’s ‘when’ question.
When do I start this business?
         If I you asked me to answer this question I would have most probably
said: “Now!”
        Public speaking industry is still in its age of infancy, so many ways and
chances for the years to come. The sooner you arrive at the trade, the
better. And, don’t forget: as any serious business, it needs time to get to the
top, unless you want to stay in the bottom.
But, I hope, you want to join the champions of the stage, right?
So, do it now!
The best of luck and success to you,
George Rusky