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 ;)

Odd girl out...

So I was just surfing the internet the other day when I came across this movie. It’s called “Odd girl out” and deals with a very frequent problem at schools – bullying.

Now you might think, so what another movie that shows how mean schoolgirls/boys can be. Well then think again. “Odd girl out” is an amazing movie because it doesn’t only make aware of the problem but also gives solutions how to stand up and make it stop. Besides that the leading actress, Alexa Vega (you might know her from “Spy kids”) is simply awesome.

So if you’ve got some time just take a look at it, you surely won’t regret it ;)

 

Here’s the trailer of the movie:

You're never too old for an advent calendar

Since it’s already December which means Christmas is not too far away, a lot of people especially kids have an advent calendar to make the time until this special holiday go by faster. But not only children are fond of these little pictures or treats which can be candy (mostly chocolate), little toys, scented candles or pretty much everything you’d like to have in it. If you’ve got the time you can even make your own, unique one.

 

I personally think it’s a very nice idea especially in such a cold and sometimes also dreary month and I have to admit that I got one myself ;)

What are you thankful for?

Now that Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I thought “Why not write a little bit about this famous American holiday?” So here we go.

In general, thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November which means this year’s Thursday the 28^th. At this very special day families gather together to celebrate and have a large dinner. This usually involves roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and corn. Some families also watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or a football game on TV.

But why do people actually celebrate Thanksgiving? Well, the first Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims to thank the Native Americans who helped them harvest food in order to survive. Nowadays, however, people express their gratitude for the simple things in life at this special holiday. 

If you want to know a little bit more about Thanksgiving, I found this video on youtube: 

It is a little bit ridiculous since a rock tells the story but nonetheless it sums the history of Thanksgiving up pretty well.

Traveling the U.S.

I’ve always wanted to go to the United States and visit all the famous places people keep talking about. If I ever had the opportunity to actually go to the U.S., I would try to make sure to visit at least a few of the famous cities such as New York or Los Angeles. I think it would really be awesome to go shopping in a huge mall in New York, see Times Square and The Statue of Liberty or enjoy the view from Empire State Building. Another city I would like to visit at the east coast is Miami. There are told to be very nice beaches and parks but also marine aquariums and zoos.

I would, however, love to see some places at the West Coast as well. First of all, I’ve always wanted to go to Los Angeles to take a look at the places where TV shows and movies where filmed and if possible take a guided tour through the sets of a film studio. I know it sounds very unlikely to happen and also somewhat weird but it would be simply amazing if I ran into one of my favorite celebrities as well. I also would love to visit San Francisco to see the Golden Gate Bridge in real life and all its majesty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Somehow I think it would be great to make a road trip through the U.S. not only to get to know to country better but also the people and their culture. I just hope to be able to make this dream of mine come true someday and until then I just keep on dreaming…

Supernatural Halloween

In honor of the upcoming Halloween I thought of writing about a show that deals with all the creepy creatures that can also be seen on Halloween.

It’s my currently favorite show and is called “Supernatural”. It is quite difficult to describe and even one of the main character’s actors himself stated that the best description is given by watching the DVDs. Nonetheless I’ll try to sum it up shortly and hopefully also understandably. Supernatural is a TV drama series about two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, who fight ghosts, demons and other supernatural creatures. They are portrayed by the actors Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. In addition to the ghostlike beings the show also tackles the lives of the two brothers and how hunting demons changed it. I can only recommend it to anyone who isn’t scared of seeing a lot of blood and also hearing a lot of swear words.

 

For a more detailed description have a look at this website: http://www.supernatural-fan-wiki.com/page/About+Supernatural

 

Now back to the topic I brought up in the beginning. Since Halloween is already in a few days I picked my top five creepiest creatures of the show:

So here comes number 5: Werewolves

Werewolves were human once but now have the power to transform into a wolf when there is full moon. People become werewolves by being bitten by one and there is no cure to get normal again. Besides being stronger and faster they also have night vision.

 

 

 

Number 4: Zombies

Zombies are one of the most known supernatural creatures especially since there seems to be a hype about zombies lately with all the movies and TV shows. Like widely known they are the living dead brought back by some kind of magic spell. But of course they come back in a very different way then they were before as zombies are stronger and faster than humans.

 

 

 

 

Number 3: Wendigos

Wendigos were once human but after they had to eat human flesh in order to survive they turned into this type of supernatural creature. A few of their abilities are enormous strength and speed as well as the fact that they are invulnerable to most knives and weapons.

 

 

 

 

Number 2: Hellhounds

Hellhounds are deadly creatures which are often described as demonic pitbulls. They are kind of like reapers but are especially after the humans soul. Hellhounds are amazingly fast and have an excellent sense of smell. Probably one of their creepiest abilities is to become invisible.

 

 

Number one: Shapeshifters

Shapeshifters are human-like creatures who can change into any shape or form of a person they want. This is also the reason why I chose them as the scariest creature because you can’t really distinguish them from the real human being they are impersonating. The only way to do so is by filming them, especially their eyes since they kind of glow then.

 

 

My first blog :)

To be honest I really found it difficult to get started with blogging since I had to do a lot of thinking to find an appropriate topic to write about. Many bloggers simply write about the stuff that tackles them the most others start off with introducing themselves or their home town. 

Because of this, I decided to start of with a little description of my home town Villach.

Villach is a little town in the center of Carinthia. It has not only a lot of historically interesting monuments especially on the main square but also a beautiful landscape with mountains and lakes. Because of this Villach is a very appealing tourist destination which offers a lot of hiking and swimming facilities in summer as well as skiing facilities in winter.

 Dobratsch (nature reserve

and former skiing area)

                                            

                                            Lake Ossiach

For any further information click the link below:

http://www.villach.at/inhalt/englisch/7682.asp