ღFoN's Learning Logღ---tUAlEK●●

Date : 11/02/08

Time : 19.59 p.m.

Topic : Useful

Howjsay.com is a web tool for anyone who need a quick lookup on word's pronunciation. The usage of the tool is as easily as enter the word into the textbox and submit, the word will display on the gray box and pronounce immediately. If you want it to repeat the pronunciation, just move your mouse over the word. Cool!.
I was looking an utilility like this one for months!

Date : 1/02/08

Time : 7.51 p.m.

Topic :  Pronunciation and meaning

Today I watched the series, The Nanny VI, on TRUE VISION. I notice how drastically different our pronunciation of certain words is compared to the foreigners. I can notice three words.

• Waffles - We call it "waf-fers", they call it "woa-fers"
• Samples - We call it "sam-pers", they call it "some-pers"
• Tartare - We call it "tar-tar", they call it "tar-tare"

As soon as I hear how these three words are pronounced, I quickly imitate its sound for 5 times maybe so that I can absorb them^_^.. . I talk about this with my father. For the word tartare, my father told me about his direct experience. One day, he asked for tartare sauce to go with fish and chip one day, he pronounced it the Thai way and got a blank look. So, another customer in the line kindly clarified it for him, "Oh, he meant tar-tare sauce!" =.=". see, how pronunciation affects the meaning of words. If I hear any new interesting words, I will share further..

Anyway, can you think of more examples of wrong English pronunciation by Thai?, plz, share...

edit @ 10 Feb 2008 12:31:01 by fon--myheartisyou

Date : 28/01/08

Time : 10.05 a.m.

Topic :  How to improve your pronunciation

I come across with some tips about how to pronunciation correctly. They are very useful. So, I wil share with all of you also.

How To Improve Your Pronunciation

Pronouncing every word correctly leads to poor pronunciation! Good pronunciation comes from stressing the right words - this is because English is a time-stressed language.

Here's How:

1. Learn the following rules concerning pronunciation.
2. English is considered a stressed language while many other languages are considered syllabic.
3. In other languages, such as French or Italian, each syllable receives equal importance (there is stress, but each syllable has its own length).
4. English pronunciation focuses on specific stressed words while quickly gliding over the other, non-stressed, words.
5. Stressed words are considered content words: Nouns e.g. kitchen, Peter - (most) principle verbs e.g. visit, construct - Adjectives e.g. beautiful, interesting - Adverbs e.g. often, carefully
6. Non-stressed words are considered function words: Determiners e.g. the, a - Auxiliary verbs e.g. am, were - Prepositions e.g. before, of - Conjunctions e.g. but, and - Pronouns e.g. they, she
7. Read the following sentence aloud: The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance.
8. Read the following sentence aloud: He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn't have to do any homework in the evening.
9. Notice that the first sentence actually takes about the same time to speak well!
10. Even though the second sentence is approximately 30% longer than the first, the sentences take the same time to speak. This is because there are 5 stressed words in each sentence.
11. Write down a few sentences, or take a few example sentences from a book or exercise.
12. First underline the stressed words, then read aloud focusing on stressing the underlined words and gliding over the non-stressed words.
13. Be surprised at how quickly your pronunciation improves! By focusing on stressed words, non-stressed words and syllables take on their more muted nature.
14. When listening to native speakers, focus on how those speakers stress certain words and begin to copy this.
    

Tips:

1. Remember that non-stressed words and syllables are often "swallowed" in English.
2. Always focus on pronouncing stressed words well, non-stressed words can be glided over.
3. Don't focus on pronouncing each word. Focus on the stressed words in each sentence.
   

source : http://www.topblogarea.com/rss/Pronunciation.htm

edit @ 31 Jan 2008 10:04:47 by fon--myheartisyou

edit @ 31 Jan 2008 10:05:38 by fon--myheartisyou

Date : 27/01/08

Time : 13.00 p.m.

Topic : English practice for food-lovers and movie-lovers

I come across the new free source that allows me to practice my speaking skill(listening also). Here are two interesting sites that combine culture, images, sound, and reading:

• Mercury News Photo: Bite is a collection of audio "slideshows" from the San Jose Mercury News. Each entry has a series of photos, with audio. The person speaking is a restaurant-owner or chef, who will tell you about the restaurant and show you images of their delicious food. Near the bottom right, there is a CAPTIONS button you can click. It won't show you what the speaker is saying, but it will tell you a little more about the image. To practice speaking, I look at the caption and repeat after. You might want to watch the slide show twice: First, watch it with the sound off and just read the captions. Second, turn off the captions and watch the slideshow while listening to the audio. Mmm, looks delicious!
• English Trailers is a site specifically for English language learners, using movie trailers (sometimes called "previews"). There are several different ways to use this website. Go to the menu under Site Menu and choose "Trailer List." Pick a movie that you want to use and click on its name. Do the warm-up activities, then watch the trailer. After that, you can click on Activities (a menu between the two moving red arrows) to find more activities to do. This can help you make sure you understood the trailer.

Date : 25/01/08

Time : 11.00 a.m.

Topic : Reflection on speaking skill

I kept asking myself, "What do you want to study?", "What is your plan?" and "What problems do you have?". I know what my problems are and i'll have them fixed as soon as i can.

My major problems are articulation and pronunciation. For me, pronunciation has nothing to do with a particular way of pronouncing language, that is, accent. 

Accent can be understood if pronunciation is correct.

Bad pronunciation makes things difficult to understand. For example, doubt, it sounds like 'dout' not 'doub + t'. (No 'b' sound)

You "stun" your chatting partner when you pronounce wrong.

While he/she is thinking, this is when you "may" lose your confidence!

You are stunned back!

I really don't care if my accent is bad as long as i keep my pronunciation correct.

As you can see from people around the world, Indian English, American English, British English.

They have their own ways of pronouncing words.

For example, American 'R' is stronger than that of British.

Articulation is the formation of clear and distinct sounds in speech.

It is quite difficult for me to arrange such formation when i'm on Live Talk.

Another problem is grammar.

I think grammar is used to express one's feeling.

If you are unable to express your feeling correctly, no one can understand you.

I think, Grammar is also important.

It is said that grammar is not important when you are speaking. Just try to express yourself.

I agree if you are a beginner and if there is a prince/ princess who gladly corrects your mistakes.

Certainly, if you are taking an English course, speak like crazy!

I disagree if you want to use English as your second language.

You cannot express yourself and your feeling randomly, you have to prepare, when you are on some kinds of big presentation.

Good writing needs grammar.

Good speaking needs grammar.

Good grammar can improve your listening. You can guess!

Exactly, TOEFL iBT needs them all.

edit @ 26 Jan 2008 11:00:49 by fon--myheartisyou