English fluency through Self-study


A self-study system

When you learn from Prof. Kev Nair's fluent-English self-study books, you're actually using these books as lessons in a self-study course. A course that you can learn from... by yourself – without an instructor helping you. Yes, the self-study books are self-explanatory – clear and easy to understand. Without needing any extra information or explanation.

Who’s this set of self-study books for?

These self-study books are for people who already know English reasonably well or very well – but who can’t speak it fluently or as fluently as they’d like to. In particular, they're for you – if your mother-tongue is not English , and if you’re someone who has to speak English every day —

• With people who matter within your own country; or

• With people who don’t speak your mother-tongue

“Nair has designed this course for people who have already learnt English and are good at writing it. There are a large number of isolated pieces of language fundamentals lying scattered here and there in their minds. The lessons in this course bring all these things together. And the lessons organize these things into a systematic body of fluency skills within the minds of the learners.” – The New Indian Express.

You should buy this set of fluent English self-study books and use them as a self-study course in fluency-building – if you’re one among these people:

• You’re a public figure or a senior official or a senior manager. And you not only have to get things done, but also have to keep up an image... and make a strong personal impact on people you deal with. And you frequently have to have serious discussions and conversations with people who are quite fluent in English, including fluent native speakers of English. And you even have to give newspaper and television interviews or call press conferences now and then. You want a skill that can make sure people listen... A skill that can get you attention and respect.

• You’re in a profession (like law or marketing) and have to persuade people to your point of view... or convince them of things from time to time. Yet, you find yourself failing in your attempts, and even getting snubbed.

• You have excellent academic qualifications, and you’re eager to earn a superior job – a position of authority or influence – because you’re not the kind of person who’d be satisfied with the background jobs of life.

• You’ve learnt grammar very well, and have even built up a wide vocabulary. You’re even fluent enough to make one-or-two-line statements or to give one-or-two-line replies or to ask one-or-two-line questions. But when you sit at a table in a meeting or stand up to make a presentation, you keep wishing: “If only I could disappear”, because you’re not able to go on speaking in English – without long intervals of embarrassment and indecision between every two words. Words are on the tip of your tongue, but they just don’t occur to you readily when you need them.

• You’re a graduate or a postgraduate. And you’re good at writing reports and other things in English and at translating sentences in your mother-tongue into English. But when you want to speak about the same things in English, you find that you can’t – without stuttering and hesitating. And you feel forced to fall back on your mother-tongue... Or you become tongue-tied.

• You’re an applicant for a high-profile course like MBA or MCA, and you need to be quite fluent in English at group discussions, presentations and interviews. (Do you know one thing? The way you fare at a group discussion or an interview depends not on what you know... but on whether you know how to speak about what you know – in fluent English).

• You’re an educated person, and you’re expecting a call for an important job interview or promotion interview. And you can’t risk speaking in broken English.

• You’re a Civil Service candidate, and you’re determined to get selected. And you want to present yourself to best effect everywhere.

• You’re a TSE candidate, and you’re determined to go to the US.

• You’re a person planning to go to the UK, Australia or New Zealand for higher studies or for employment.

A dedicated fluency-building system

Now, here’s something important:

• This is not a conventional ‘English as a Second Language’ course or an ‘English as a Foreign Language’ course or a ‘bilingual’ course. Those courses are not dedicated fluency development courses. They’re mainly aimed at helping you increase your level of overall proficiency or knowledge in English.

• And this is not an ordinary spoken English course, either. Ordinary spoken English courses are not dedicated fluency development courses. They’re mainly aimed at getting you to speak limited or formulaic English – in routine situations.

On the other hand, the self-directed self-study course you do with the set of fluent English self-study books by Prof. Kev Nair — that is a dedicated fluency development course. A self-directed effort exclusively aimed at developing your fluency. Fluency in spoken English.

What does "Fluency in spoken English" mean?

By "Fluency in spoken English", Prof. Kev Nair's self-study books mean the skill of speaking English smoothly and continuously. Without hesitations preventing you from going on. Yes, it's the skill of speaking about something clearly. In English that is natural, appropriate and easy to understand.

Standard International English

Here’s something important. It’s about the kind of English Prof. Kev Nair's fluent English self-study books aim to get you to be fluent in.

You know... the English these self-study books aim to get you to be fluent in is not a geographical or regional variety of English. No. They aim to get you to be fluent in international English. English that cuts across geographical and regional boundaries, so that the English you speak will have absolute acceptability everywhere.

You see, standard English has certain core characteristics, whether it’s spoken in the US or the UK or anywhere else in the world. These core characteristics are the things that give “Englishness” to genuine English. And these core characteristics are the things that make the English you speak intelligible to native speakers of English... and make it sound natural to them. And Prof. Nair's self-study books aim to get you to be fluent in English that has these core characteristics.

In particular, these self-study books lay stress on the features that are central to both standard British English and standard American English.