Today we talked about how to help Americans pronounce your name correctly. Because your name may be unfamiliar to Americans, either in the sounds, the spelling, or both, it can be helpful to learn some ways to make the correct pronunciation clearer to an American. Firstly, help your listener know where the syllables are in your name. For example, if your name is Beate, say it slowly with the syllables clearly delineated: Be- a -te Next, make sure your listener understands the sounds in your name. So Beate might say: Bay -ah - tuh or show her listener the name spelled with the sounds in mind. Someone named Nguyen might say their name is like “new win.” Even though this is not exactly correct, it will help Americans approximate your name more accurately. Lastly, you might try to pair your name with something more familiar to Americans. In the video below, the actress Saoirse Ronan tells Stephen Colbert that her name sounds like “inertia.” Not only does this help people say it correctly, it also will help them remember. People might be able to imitate your name correctly when they hear you say it, and then later they will forget how it sounded. The video below is a humorous look at the Irish accent and pronouncing Irish names.
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Today, we continued our discussion of difficult speaking situations. We talked about how to prepare for a job interview. Practice what you might have to say ahead of the interview. Don't write it down and memorize it, but answer potential questions several times. Actually say it out loud, so you feel more comfortable when it's time to do so in the interview. Record yourself practicing. Listen for your accent patterns. What words are difficult to say or to understand? Practice those words separately, and in short phrases. For example, if you're in marketing, and you're talking about a project where you increased customer engagement, practice "customer" and "customer engagement" and "increased customer engagement," etc. Come prepared to do some small talk. If you need help with understanding what it is, why you should do it, and how, take a look at the video and links below: Today we looked at difficult speaking situations. We talked about giving information over the phone. To learn more about spelling over the phone (eg, giving name, address, or email), view the video below: To practice giving numbers over the phone, consider writing out the numbers you need to say and looking at the sounds in the words. Check for your accent patterns - are there numbers which might be difficult for you to day because they have a th sound? An R? A vowel error pattern? Practice saying your number aloud. Record yourself, and listen to the recording. Do you hear any accent error patterns?
Be proactive, by practicing, and by asking for confirmation in the call. After you give your number, ask the person to repeat it back to you to make sure they have the information correct. In today's lesson, we looked at how to practice using pitch in intonation.
Many speakers tend to use their lowest pitch while speaking, which not a good idea for sounding American and being well understood. Use a medium pitch for your home base. Rise up in pitch to stress, words, and fall off in pitch to end thought groups. Try practicing pitch for statements and questions, without using any words. Try it using numbers for pitches: 1 for low, 2 for medium, 3 for high. In a typical statement - we rise to the stressed word then fall off to end. For example, try saying "I want it." I want it is medium, high, low 2 - 3 - 1 Other phrases with this pattern: I want it. I like it. He needs you. Now try saying "I don't want to do that" 2 -2 -2 -2 -3 - 1 We use the same basic pattern of medium pitch, then rising and falling on the stressed word near the end. We also speak faster on the unstressed part of the phrase, and stretch out the stressed word. 2222 -3 -1 I don’t want to d o that. I think I can m a k e it. I told her to c a l l me. We need that length on the stressed word, because sometimes it has 2 pitches if it’s the last word in the sentence. For example, try saying "I don’t know." 2 2 3-1 I don’t k n o w. Know has the both the rise to stress it and the fall to show the thought is finished. k n o w 3-1 Other examples for this pattern: I can’t g o . 22 31 It will h a p p e n. He’ll c a l l. If you have difficulty with these pitch changes, try just doing the numbers. Then add some sentences. Then listen for what you hear in a sentence. Can you hear the pitch rise and fall? Can you think of another sentence with the same pattern? In today's lesson, we talked about intonation and how we convey meaning using word stress. The words in a sentence can stay the same, but if we change which word is stressed, we change the meaning. We stress words using pitch and vowel length. Practice lengthening your stressed word:
I’m going to g - o- . I w - a - n - t to. I like the b - l - u - e one. Where a - r - e you? You can also use repeated phrase practice for intonation practice, as we typically stress the word we’re filling in: For example, I was _______, the word we fill in to the blank is stressed. I was w a l k i n g, I was l a t e. I was h a p p y. I was c a l l i n g. Those ______. Those p e o p l e, those s h o e s, those c a l l s, those g r o c e r i e s Are you _____? Are you s u r e? Are you c o m i n g? Are you t h e r e? Are you b u s y? |
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