Pronunciation diary - Nr 2

Hello guys :)

Just kidding. Here is the real post:

When it comes to pronunciation there is not only a huge difference between an English native speaker and an English learner but also between native speakers from different areas. The prime example for this is the difference between British and American English that is not only evident in certain expression but (what a surprise) also in pronunciation.

To be honest, I’ve always been fascinated by the American accents (probably because I watch so many American TV shows). So if you’re like me wondering what actually makes an American accent sound American, here are some videos I came across that give quite a good insight.

What I really like about these videos is that they explain every step slowly so you can follow it easily and talk along as well.

Of course there are many more interesting videos about this topic, especially on the Youtube Channel Rachel’s English. So if you want to improve your English pronunciation and acquire an American accent you should definitely check them out.

I’m definitely going to use them to improve my pronunciation and to sound more American.

If you’re not quite sure what exactly is the difference between an American and a British accent, here is a video that will clear things up.

Before I'll finish this post, I want to wish you all Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays :)

Pronunciation diary - the first

Well, today I’d like to talk about something that is essential when learning a language. No, I’m not going to write another post about vocabulary (I think I have tackled that topic sufficiently) neither am I talking about grammar although both of them are essential in order to master a language. The aspect I am talking about is pronunciation.

What good is it to know a wide range of vocabulary and different grammar structures if you cannot communicate what you want to say in a comprehensible way?

I recently got feedback on my pronunciation from my English teacher. Overall my pronunciation is okay. There are just a few little mistakes that I make and that I still need to improve. For example, I was not able to say the price $27.69 correctly. By now I know that the correct ways to say it are twenty-seven dollars and sixty-nine cents and twenty-seven sixty-nine if it is clear what currency you are talking about.

Another problem that I have is to pronounce the v-sound (like many other German native speakers have as well). Somehow I just never manage to pronounce it voiced when it is supposed to. So currently that’s what I’m working on in order to improve my pronunciation. One way to do so is with the help of the following video.

It is made by a Canadian teacher who is explaining the correct pronunciation with good examples in a humorous way. So if you have the same problem give this video a try.

How to improve your vocabulary - The sequel

One of my last blog posts was about how to improve your vocabulary and which strategies I use to expand my range of vocabulary.

Now that some time has passed by and I have read a few of my fellow student’s post about this topic I’ve come to the conclusion that I can learn a lot from their strategies. I have to admit that I am honestly impressed by their approach to studying vocabulary and I am certainly going to adapt a few of their strategies.

There was one idea that I encountered various times and that I found especially useful – to write down new words that you come across while reading for example a book and to keep it all in one place. To be honest, I used to be too lazy to actually pull through this idea but I’m definitely going to change that now. I came across a lot of other interesting notions as well but the one that I regard as the most important one is to keep trying to improve your language skills constantly by using them as much as possible.

I just wanted to mention that in addition to adapting these new strategies I still will stick to most of my own strategies to study vocabulary because I am already used to them and they have proven to work more or less efficiently. For example, I will continue using vocabulary.com because I really like that both the definition and example sentences of a word are presented in an appealing way.

Anyway, that’s all I can think of about the topic of studying vocabulary right now, so I’m going to end this post here.

Oh one last thing, if you were wondering about the blog posts of my fellow students that inspired me to change my study habits here are the links to them in no particular order:

http://aneladgamishere.blogspot.co.at/2014/12/how-to-improve-my-vocabulary.html

http://vbaklan-suk.blogspot.co.at/2014/11/every-language-learner-has-to-go.html

http://marli25.blogspot.co.at/2014/11/what-i-am-doing-to-improve-my-vocabulary_28.html

If you have time, read them, they are really worth it ;)

Mind map of "The economics of Robinson Crusoe"

Here are two mind maps I made of a text explaining simple economics with the example of Robinson Crusoe.

The first one is my first attempt and is a little more elaborated.

The second one, however, is reduced to the key points only.

Just in case you were wondering, I created these mind maps using a free software called xmind which I like a lot and I would recommend using it to any of you who like creating mind maps as much as I do.

Summary correction: Credit Crisis

Hi everyone!

Today I'm gonna present you a before and after of a summary of a video by Jonathan Jarvis about the Credit Crisis that I wrote.

Here is my first version (teacher's corrections included):

(Sorry for the bad quality - the camera of my smartphone sucks :/)

and now my second, corrected version:

First of all, I forgot to mention the source of information which is a rather crucial mistake. Then most of my mistakes are simply careless ones that I could have easily avoided if I had proofread my homework. Another thing that I still have problems with is register, especially formal register. Somehow I always end up using rather informal words and expressions, so I need to get a feeling for more formal ones.

Anyway, these are the things that I still need to work on to improve my homework and writing in general.