Every time you open that grammar book you have in your shelf the same thing happens: you just find that the stories in it are kind of… artificial. When you think it can get any better – let’s listen to the CD the book comes with! –, it gets even more disappointing: they pronounce everything so slowly that you’re actually falling asleep. They were important before, sure, but now you are starting to think that the dialogs are superficial. How are you going to improve your listening for real? Maybe you have to choose more advanced English sources now that you’ve already mastered the basics. But, really, you don’t have any time, you think to yourself. Not when you’re swamped with work from college or studying engineering, for example! How are you supposed to learn English then? Well, how about kill two birds with a stone and learn both at the same time?

It’s time you paid a visit to the YouTube channels made by the world’s elite universities. If you thought you’d never get a chance to watch one of the classes they have there, it’s time to think again. For example, in the Stanford University’s channel, you can watch courses of Classical Mechanics and Computer Systems. And if you are a person who prefers letters than numbers, Columbia University’s channel has videos like the World Leaders Forum. And, well, we wouldn’t be talking about elite universities if there’s no Harvard University. Here’s one of the videos you can find on their channel:

Se você recebe as dicas por email e não conseguiu visualizar o vídeo acima, clique aqui para assistir.

Other universities which are on YouTube are Yale, University of Chicago and New York University.

This way, you can improve your English listening and study the topics you have taken a liking to – be it for your career or simply in order to be knowledgeable on the hot topics by specialists on the matter. Nice way to spend some of those minutes you have to chill out, and not feeling guilty about doing nothing – remember, you’re learning English AND another relevant subject! Feel proud of your hard work! After all, you haven’t gotten to this level by a miracle, right? And when you’ve seen one video of your interests, your well-earned rest will be more rewarding.

One warning before you go exploring: some videos have subtitles. Some don’t. Well, challenges are nice, aren’t they? Maybe you can brag about how you know simply everything about some-war-in-some-country-nobody-knows to your buddies. Just kidding, showing off isn’t really the nicest thing to do – but you could give them a one hundred percent free class and exchange comments among yourselves. How does that sound?

This is my tip. So, here are some questions: what are your main interests – Politics, Economy, History, Computers, Science, Engineering? What’s your favorite channel among those? Do you have another intellectual channel to recommend?

That’s all folks! Have nice studies and until next time!

Sobre a Autora: Mariana Fonseca é estudante de Jornalismo. Paulistana, tímida, leitora ávida e nerd até dizer chega. Fez alguns anos de curso de inglês, mas passou boa parte de seus estudos como autodidata. Atualmente, escreve crônicas e outros textos literários em seu blog pessoal, o Literando.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Improving your English and your general knowledge at the same time.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

A função que mais gostei foi o gráfico com todos os símbolos fonéticos, para ouvir o som do símbolo basta tocar na tela, para ouvir uma palavra com o som basta esperar alguns segundos. A App tem vários exercícios onde o aluno poderá: ver uma palavra em símbolos fonéticos e tentar identificá-la; ouvir uma palavra e tentar transcrevê-la em símbolos fonéticos e ainda gravar e comparar a sua pronúncia com a pronúncia do sistema (esse último recurso está disponível somente na versão paga). Veja o vídeo:

Se você tem um iPhone, iPad, iPod ou um dispositivo com Android OS; vale a pena testar.

• Sounds: The Pronunciation App

App indicada pela colaboradora Flávia Magalhães.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: App para aprender os Símbolos Fonéticos.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

Fique atento à pronúncia correta /maɪnd/ (entenda os símbolos fonéticos). O “a” recebe destaque e o “d” fica bem fraco, de forma grosseira a pronúncia é “máind”.

Mind pode ser tanto um substantivo (noun) quando um verbo (verb). Como substantivo mind significa: mente; cérebro; alma; pensamento; memória; opinião; intenção; vontade. Aplicada como verbo significa: prestar atenção; considerar; notar; vigiar; recordar; observar; impugnar; lembrar; contrariar. Preste muita atenção, quando o mind (verbo) vier seguido de outro verbo, este deverá estar no gerúndio (-ing). Confira alguns exemplos:

• Do you mind driving? I’m feeling pretty tired.
• I don’t mind at all telling people my age.
• Would you mind closing the door?

Alguns adjetivos que podem ser usados com mind (noun) são: human, subconscious, unconscious, best, brilliant e open. Dessa forma é permitido dizer “open mind” como na sentença “Try to keep an open mind until you’ve heard all the facts“.

Agora ficou fácil fazer a tradução do filme “uma mente brilhante” não é? Faça a tradução mentalmente. Ahh! Essa é fácil, o nome do filme é “a brilliant mind” of course. Errado! Foi apenas uma pegadinha, a tradução está correta mas o nome do fílme em inglês é “A Beautiful Mind”. Confesso que nunca só vi o adjetivo Beautiful usado com Mind como foi utilizado no nome do fílme. Fica como curiosidade mesmo!

Expressões com Mind

• My Mind just went blank: deu branco.
• Mind your own business: estar na sua, sem incomodar ninguém.
• I can’t get you out of my mind: não consigo te tirar da cabeça, não consigo te tirar dos meus pensamentos.
• A sound mind in a sound body: mente sã em corpo são.

Leia aqui todas as dicas da série Ampliando o Vocabulário

That’s all for today. See you guys!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Ampliando o Vocabulário: MIND.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

The following list, with explanations and examples, will help you in determining which words to use if you want to be correct in your writing and speaking, and you will be using a more correct form of English than many “Professional” writers. An added benefit of learning the differences in these words will be a marked increase in your vocabulary.

Homonyms – Words that sound the same

Accept – Except: Accept means to receive and Except means excluding or to exclude.

• I will ACCEPT all the results EXCEPT the last one.

Affect – Effect: Affect means to influence while Effect means result or to bring about.

• The drug caused adverse side EFFECTS, and did not AFFECT the infection.

Allusion – Illusion: Allusion is an indirect reference and Illusion is a misconception or misunderstanding.

• In my speech I made an ALLUSION to the Presidents speech. The magician’s ILLUSION was complete in that he appeared to make an elephant disappear.

Bare – Bear: Bear has many meanings including the animal, but bare has only one meaning and that is without clothing or covering. Never write “Bare with me”, as you are inviting someone to get naked with you.

• Please BEAR with me while I take a picture of the BARE ground.

Capital – Capitol: Capital refers to a city or wealth while Capitol refers to a building where lawmakers meet.

• The Senate meets in the CAPITOL building in the CAPITAL city of Washington.

Climactic – Climatic: Climactic is derived from climax meaning the high point and Climatic is derived from climate and refers to long term weather conditions.

• The drastic CLIMACTIC changes caused the end of the CLIMATIC period of the dinosaurs and their extinction.

Elicit – Illicit:  Elicit means to bring about or to evoke. Illicit means unlawful.

• During questioning the detective was unable to ELICIT information regarding the ILLICIT actives of the suspect.

Emigrate from – Immigrate to: Emigrate means to leave (Exit) a country or region and Immigrate (Into) means to enter another country with the intention to reside there.

• In 1907 my grandfather EMIGRATED from Italy and IMMIGRATED to the United States.

Principal – Principle: Principle means a basic truth, law or belief, while Principal is a person or a sum of money.

• As a matter of PRINCIPLE I could not lie to the High School PRINCIPAL.

Than – Then: Than is a conjunction used in comparisons, and Then is an adverb denoting time. (Then tells when)

• I told my girlfriend that I preferred hamburgers rather THAN pizza, THEN she ordered pizza anyway.

There – Their – They’re: There specifies a place, or is an expletive, There is a possessive pronoun and They’re is a contraction of they are, and normally is not used in informal English.

• THEIR keys are right THERE on the table while THEY’RE going crazy looking for them.

To – Too – Two: To is a preposition, Too is an adverb, and Two is a number.

• When you play golf, TOO many of your shots hook TO the left, but the last TWO were better.

Your – You’re: Your is a possessive pronoun and You’re is a contraction of you are.
YOU’RE going to get hurt if you don’t move YOUR foot inside the golf cart.

Other Problem Phrases and Words

Supposed to – Suppose to is incorrect keep the “d”
Used to - Use to is incorrect again keep the “d”
Toward – Not Towards there is no “s”
Anyway - Never Anyways again there is no “s”
Couldn’t care less - To say I could care less is wrong when you mean you do not care at all.
Chest of drawers - Never chester drawers, Chester is a man’s name.
Going to - Never use Gonna, it is a non standard word.
Want to – Never use Wanna, it is again a non standard word.

For more misused words and some good laughs see: Commonly Misused Words in the English Language.

Sobre o Autor: Bill Slayman tem 66 anos é americano e mora em Pensacola, Florida, USA. Ele atuou no exército americano e hoje está aposentado. Suas paixões são: andar de Harley Davidson, motocicletas, fotografia e qualquer coisa brasileira. Bill é um dos maiores colaboradores do EE.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Common Misused Words and Phrases.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

Why should we be concerned with the construction and content of a paragraph? As in all studies of grammar the ultimate goal is to improve our abilities to communicate effectively. Paragraphs accomplish this by allowing us to fully express a single thought, and to explain that thought in detail. Learning how to write good paragraphs improves our ability as writers, and communicators.

An essay is simply a series of paragraphs, with a central theme, an opening paragraph, body paragraphs and a concluding paragraph. If this sounds familiar, it should, I used the same terms to describe a paragraph. As paragraphs can be condensed into a sentence an essay should be able to be condensed into a single paragraph and then into a single sentence. In other words properly combined sentences make paragraphs and paragraphs make essays, or book chapters and so on.

Up to this point I have discussed; the ellipsis, agreement of nouns and verbs, types of sentences, and now the paragraph and essays. If you put all these together you will begin to communicate with your English writing much more effectively. As you can see I am working to present different aspects of the English language in small doses that you can use to improve your skills. English can be fun and easy!

Words to improve your Vocabulary

• Punctuation (second definition)
• Expounds
• Conclude

See also

• Grammar Help — Paragraphs
• Guide to Grammar and Style — P
• Things NOT to do in an introductory paragraph
• Concluding Paragraphs

Sobre o Autor: Bill Slayman tem 66 anos é americano e mora em Pensacola, Florida, USA. Ele atuou no exército americano e hoje está aposentado. Suas paixões são: andar de Harley Davidson, motocicletas, fotografia e qualquer coisa brasileira. Bill é um dos maiores colaboradores do EE.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Paragraphs and Essays.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

• Lista de Profissionais de TV e Cinema em inglês com tradução

Apresento hoje os termos em inglês para se referir aos profissionais que fazem esse mundo encantado “funcionar”. Enjoy!

1. Contra-regra: Stagehand
Ex.: A stagehand is a person who works backstage or behind the scenes in theatres, film or television, setting up the scenery, lights, sound, etc. (O contra-regra é uma pessoa que trabalha nos bastidores de teatros, filmes ou televisão, ajustando o cenário, as luzes, o som, etc.)

2. Diretor de arte: Art director
Ex.: An art director is someone whose job is to decide about the clothes, lights, and scenery for a play or movie. (O diretor de arte tem a função de tomar decisões sobre o que se veste, a iluminação e o cenário de uma peça ou filme.)

3. Camareiro: Dresser
Ex.: A dresser is a person whose job is to take care of the actor’s clothes for a play and help them get dressed. (O camareiro é uma pessoa cuja função é cuidar das roupas dos atores e ajudá-los a se vestirem.)

4. Cameraman: Cameraman, cinegrafista
Ex.: A Cameraman is someone who operates a camera for making movies or television programs. (O “cameraman” é a pessoa que opera as câmeras nos filmes ou programas de televisão.)

5. Diretor: Director
Ex.: A director is a person who is in charge of a film or play and tells the actors how to play their parts. (O diretor é encarregado de um filme ou peça e diz aos atores como desempenhar seus papéis.)

6. Apresentador: Host
Ex.: A host is someone who introduces and talks to the people taking part in a television or radio program. (O apresentador é quem apresenta e conversa com as pessoas que participam de um programa.)

7. Roteirista: Scriptwriter
Ex.: A scriptwriter is someone whose job is to write scripts for movies or television programs. (O roteirista é quem escreve textos, diálogos e orientações em filmes ou programas de tv.)

8. Repórter: Reporter
Ex.:. A reporter is a person who collects and reports news for newspapers, radio or television. (O repórter busca e informa as notícias em jornais, no rádio, ou na televisão.)

9. Fotógrafo: Photographer
Ex.: A photographer is person who takes photographs as a job. (O fotógrafo é o profissional que tira fotos.)

10. Comentarista: Commentator
Ex.: A commentator is a person who is an expert on a particular subject and talks or writes about it on television or radio, or in a newspaper. (O comentarista é especialista em determinado assunto e fala ou escreve sobre ele na tv, no rádio ou nos jornais.)

11. Crítico: Reviewer
Ex.: A Reviewer is someone whose job is to write articles giving their opinion about a new play, book or a movie. (O crítico é alguém que escreve artigos dando sua opinião sobre uma peça, livro ou filme.)

Ex.: CNN reviewer Paul Clinton said, “Notting Hill stands alone as another funny and heartwarming story about love against all odds.” (O crítico da CNN, Paul Clinton, disse: “Notting Hill aparece como outra história engraçada e emocionante sobre o amor contra todas as dificuldades“.)

12. Âncora: Anchor
Ex.: An anchor is someone who reads the news on TV and introduces news reports . (O âncora é o apresentador de um telejornal. Além disso, ele introduz reportagens.)

13. Locutor: Announcer
Ex.: An announcer is someone whose job is to give information or describe a sports event on TV or radio. (O trabalho do locutor é dar informação ou narrar um evento esportivo na tv ou no rádio.)

Agora é hora de praticar

Responda no fórum (100% em inglês) as perguntas abaixo, não esqueça que o EE conta com a colaboração do Americano Bill Slayman, ele corrige os as mensagens enviadas pelos leitores na seção “Perguntas e Respostas” e também na seção “Correções de Textos”. It’s your turn:

• What’s your favorite movie quotation?
• What’s your favorite TV show/series?
• Did you cry when you watched Titanic?
• How often do you go to the movies?

That’s it for today. I hope you like it!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Profissionais de TV e Cinema em inglês.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

At its most basic level, informal English is the day to day spoken language, and formal English is the written form especially in business and academic settings or when a formal letter is required.

In informal spoken English many of the rules of grammar are relaxed, and some are even ignored, which makes learning the language even more confusing to students, especially adults. While in formal English the rules of grammar should be rigidly abided by in most cases.

So, what does all this mean? If speaking to a friend of about the same age and social status as you, then informal English is perfectly acceptable, but if speaking to a person who is older, or who is in a much higher social standing than you are, you should use a more formal spoken English. Some examples are:

• To a friend it is acceptable to say, “Hey Jack, how’re you doing buddy?”
• To a Governor you would say, “Good afternoon Governor, how are you doing today?”
• To your girlfriend, “Do you want to grab a bite to eat? I need to ask you something.”
• To your girlfriend’s father, “Mr. Jones, would you care to have dinner with me tonight? I would like to talk to you about your daughter, and myself.”
• To a coworker, “ Morning Joe.”
• To your boss or a client, “ Good morning, Mr. Smith or Good morning, sir.”
• To a friend, “Man! Was that movie really cool or what, we need to see it again!”
• To your drama professor, “Professor Bogart, the motion picture which you assigned us to watch was one of the most impressive that I have ever seen. In fact, I am going to view it again tonight!

Always use formal English when writing; a business letter, an essay, or other papers for work, school or publication.

You can use informal English when writing a letter to a close friend or a relative, when quoting informal usage, or in a novel or script, etc. Otherwise it is much less risky to use the formal form, especially if you have any doubts about the acceptability of the informal form, or if you need to be very clear or specific. Remember that you will never look or sound foolish by using proper grammar.

For more information see:

• Main Differences between Formal and Informal English

I hope you like it!

Sobre o Autor: Bill Slayman tem 66 anos é americano e mora em Pensacola, Florida, USA. Ele atuou no exército americano e hoje está aposentado. Suas paixões são: andar de Harley Davidson, motocicletas, fotografia e qualquer coisa brasileira. Bill é um dos maiores colaboradores do EE.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Formal or Informal English: That Is The Question.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

Depois de muita espera e de muita cobrança dos leitores finalmente chegamos à edição 11 do EE Podcast. Quem ouviu as edições anteriores vai notar algumas alterações, o podcast ficou mais enxuto. Outra novidade é o podcast 100% em inglês com transcrição. Assim fica mais fácil de acompanhar e estudar. Espero que vocês gostem do novo formato.

Hoje o prof. Adir e eu conversamos sobre 4 questões enviadas pelos leitores no fórum, para um melhor aproveitamento do podcast sugiro a leitura dos tópicos listados abaixo:

• A pronúncia do artigo “a”
• Como dizer “o computador travou” em inglês
• A pronúncia do T em inglês
• I lived x I’ve lived: Qual a diferença?

Ouça o áudio completo:

[Visite o blog para ouvir o audio]

Download do Podcast

Se você recebe as dicas por email ou orkut e não conseguiu visualizar o componente de áudio acima, clique aqui.

Transcrição do Podcast

Alessandro: Hello, everybody, welcome to another English Experts podcast and I’m joined today by my dear friend and partner Adir Ferreira. How’s it going, Adir?

Adir: Hi, Alessandro, things are great! How have you been?

Alessandro: I’ve been great and today we have very interesting topics to talk about. These topics are from the English Experts forum and I’ve picked them out because they’re questions a lot of our readers have and I thought it would be a good idea to talk about them.

Adir: Cool, let’s go for it!

Alessandro: All right, Adir, our readers have some questions about pronunciation and the first one is the pronunciation of the indefinite article “a”. Do we say “ah”, with a schwa sound or “ay”, like in the alphabet?

Adir: That’s an interesting question, Alessandro. Basically, we only pronounce it like “ay” when we are trying to emphasize or we are hesitating, for example, someone asks me what my friend was wearing and I’m not sure so I say, “Well, she was wearing a, um, red skirt, I guess.” Teachers also say “a” like “ay” when they’re dictating something for students to write. There’s been talk that higher class people say it like “ay” but that’s not the case, it’s just a matter of what you’re trying to emphasize in the sentence, it’s like when a teacher is dictating something to students in Portuguese, such as “o elefante comeu o amendoim”, in normal speak we say “u elefanti”, don’t we?

Alessandro: Ok I see. Do you think it’s an American English – British English thing?

Adir: Mmm, not really, I think it has more to do with how people speak in everyday situations, you know? So my tip is to keep an ear out to when you hear the article pronounced as “ay” and try to understand the context.

Alessandro: Adir, another question in the forum was how to say “O computador travou” in English. Well, I did some research and I came up with these expressions:

• “My computer frozed up” or “My computer locked up”.

Now, when it stops working altogether you can say:

• “My computer crashed” or “My computer died”.

And there’s even the slang expression My computer crapped out, though I wouldn’t recommend using it.

Ok, Adir, let’s move on to our next and controversial topic: the pronunciation of the letter T, the so called flap T.

Adir: Yeah, that’s a very interesting topic, Alessandro. A flap T happens when the letter T, in the middle of a word, sounds like a D. As we don’t have this sound in Portuguese, Brazilians tend to pronounce it as a trilled R, like the R in the word “camarão”, but that’s wrong, the flap T is softer than our trilled R. Words like “water”, “little”, “butter”, “writer”, among other show this flap T sound. My tip is: try to understand when the flap T is used and if you’re not sure how to pronounce it correctly, just do it with a pure T sound, like “water”, “butter”, “writer”, etc. It’s better for your communication in English. And while I’m at it, another tip: whenever you’re speaking English, you don’t have to speak fast, speak in the speed you feel most comfortable, ok?

Alessandro, I believe we have one last topic to cover here today, right?

Alessandro: Yes, Adir, it’s the old thorn in our shoes, the Present Perfect Tense. Now, the question in the forum is, when do we use “I lived” and “I’ve lived”. The reader’s name is Smithie.

Adir: Smithie, if “you lived somewhere”, you don’t live there anymore, you’ve already moved somewhere else. Now if you say that “you’ve lived” in São Paulo, it means that you started living there and you are still living there. Remember that the Present Perfect has a strong relation to the present time and it’s not used with totally past events.

Alessandro: I’ve heard we have some news right?

Adir: Yeah. So guys, now I’d like to talk to you about our ebook store, yes, we have an ebook store with four titles: Como melhorar seu inglês em 18 Dias, Verbo Get, Guia dos Palavrões em Inglês and Aprenda Preposições de uma Vez por Todas. These ebooks were specially written for Brazilian learners, have reasonable prices and I’m positive that you guys are going to love it! So check them out at englishexperts.com.br/ebooks!

Alessandro: OK, everybody, this is it for today so, stay tuned, because very soon we’re going to have another very interesting podcast answering some questions about grammar, vocabulary, usage and pronunciation.

Alessandro: Adir, Thank you very much.

Adir: No problem. See you guys around.

Alessandro: Take care and see you next time!

Aguardo sugestões e críticas nos comentários.

Bons estudos!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: EE Podcast 11: I lived x I’ve lived e outras dicas.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

Olá, pessoal, eu sou o professor Adir Ferreira e hoje vou fazer um podcast especial aqui pro English Experts sobre pronúncia, cobrindo algumas das dificuldades mais comuns que os alunos brasileiros têm.

Você pode acompanhar o podcast com o script também, ok?

Ouça o áudio completo:
[Visite o blog para ouvir o audio]

Download do Podcast

Se você recebe as dicas por email ou orkut e não conseguiu visualizar o componente de áudio acima, clique aqui.

Já leciono inglês e espanhol há muitos anos e vejo que uma dificuldade entre alunos e até mesmo professores de inglês é a pronúncia da letra S no final das palavras e hoje vamos ver porque isso acontece.

Vamos começar falando sobre algo que se chama voicing. Você vai me ouvir dizer essa palavra bastante no podcast de hoje. Todos os sons que emitimos são ou voiced ou unvoiced. “Nossa, Adir, o que será isso?”. Eu já explico. Já ouviu falar das cordas, ou pregas vocais? Então, elas são uns músculos bem pequenos que ficam na sua garganta e vibram rapidamente e criam sons, que vem a ser sua voz.

Quando suas cordas vocais vibram e produzem som, isso é chamado de voicing. Você pode sentir a vibração das cordas vocais colocando dois dedos na parte de fora da garganta, mais ou menos dois dedos para baixo do queixo. Agora diga a letra A, assim AAAAAAAAA. Viu como vibrou?

Todos os sons de vogais são voiced, faça o teste, diga A, E, I, O e U e sinta que a cada emissão de som você sente a vibração na sua garganta. Agora quando falamos das consoantes é a horse of a difference color, uma outra história. Algumas consoantes são voiced, ou seja, fazem as cordas vocais vibrarem e outras são unvoiced, não ocorre a vibração.

Existe um caso muito interessante que algumas consoantes têm quase a mesma articulação, são parecidas, e uma é voiced e a outra unvoiced. Veja por exemplo o som da letra P, ouça, P P P P, percebeu que as cordas vocais não vibram? Entao, o som da letra P é unvoiced, pois não ocorre a vibração. Quando adicionamos voicing à letra P, temos o som de B, que é voiced, existe a vibração. Escute: P P P P B B B B. Veja, o som do P não é voiced, o do B é. A articulação das letras é a mesma, a diferença acontece na garganta, tendo voicing ou não. Chamamos isso de paired consonants, consoantes pareadas.

Vejamos mais alguns casos. A letra T por exemplo, quando a pronunciamos, não usamos voicing, as cordas vocais não vibram, T T T T. Usando a mesma articulação, produzimos a letra D, que tem voicing, D D D D. Nesse caso as cordas vocais vibram. T e D também são paired consonants.

Mais algumas paired consonants são F e V, G e J, S e Z, entre outras. Tivemos toda essa introdução sobre voicing e unvoicing para tratar exatamente dos sons de S e Z finais em inglês. Muitos cursos de inglês negligenciam o estudo desse caso e hoje vou ensinar três regras básicas para você nunca mais errar a pronúncia dos sons de s e z no final das palavras em inglês.

Regra 01

Se o último som numa palavra é unvoiced, ou seja, não tem vibração nas cordas vocais, o som do S no final da palavra vai ser unvoiced também, S S S S. Vou dar um exemplo: a palavra cup (xícara). Cup termina com um som de P, que é unvoiced, então quando vamos fazer o plural dela, o S também é unvoiced: cups, cups, cups. One cup, two cups, three cups, etc. Este caso é mais fácil pois é assim que fazemos em português. Outros exemplos: cat – cats.

Esta regra também vale para os verbos, quando são conjugados na terceira pessoa do singular, he, she e it. Vejamos por exemplo o verbo to break, que termina com o som de K, que é unvoiced, K K K K, não produz vibração. Eu digo I break, e quando conjugo com he, she ou it fica he breaks, she breaks, etc. Um outro exemplo com o verbo to stop, I stop, he stops, she stops, stops, não ocorre vibração pois termina com o som de P, unvoiced.

Mais alguns exemplos com unvoiced sounds: a week, two weeks – a desk, some desks – a lamp, several lamps.

Regra 02

Pronunciamos o s no final das palavras como z, quando ele vier depois de verbos conjugados na terceira pessoa do singular (he, she e it), substantivos no plural, possessivos e contrações depois de vogais e consoantes que são voiced, os sons de /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, /m/, /n/, /ng/, /l/ e /r/, que são os casos mais comuns. Lembre-se de que todos estes sons são voiced, provocam vibrações nas cordas vocais quando são feitos.

Ouça as palavras e acompanhe com o script. Primeiro alguns substantivos no plural: cans (latas), dogs (cachorros), heads (cabeças), labs (laboratórios), leaves (folhas), potatoes (batatas), rooms (salas) e things (coisas).

Agora, algumas formas verbais: she breathes, he comes, Mary cries, Jack does, he leaves, she rides, Sue runs, Pat sees, the presenter shows. Ouça também alguns possessivos e contrações com is: Bob’s, Peg’s, Martha’s, his, hers, yours, ours, theirs, he’s, she’s.

Dica: quando a palavra terminar em som de vogal, o S também é pronunciado como Z.

• one tree, two trees
• one day, three days
• one boy, five boys
• I don’t fly, but a bird flies

Regra 03

Depois dos sons /s/, /sh/, /z/, /zh/, /ch/ e /j/, temos de acrescentar uma vogal fraca, um schwa /ə/ antes do –s. Muitas dessas palavras têm a terminação –es. Perceba que não é um som de “e” aberto, tipo “es”e sim mais curto, /əz/. Ouça, leia e pratique os substantivos no plural a seguir:

benches (bancos), bridges (pontes), bruises (hematomas), churches (igrejas), courses (cursos), garages (garagens), glasses (óculos, copos), lunches (almoços), oranges (laranjas), pages (páginas) , wishes (desejos)

Para terminar, mais alguns exemplos com as três regras:

• Com o som S – baths, booths, cakes, classmates, handkerchiefs, hats, marks, mats, parks, paths, photographs
• Com o som Z – carries, hands, hills, houses, innings, mangoes, pandas, scarves, ssentences, trains, tubs
• Com o som əz – amazes, arranges, blushes, boxes, exercises, foxes, matches, messes, pinches, switches, watches

O segredo de ter uma boa pronúncia e entonação em qualquer língua é ouvir analiticamente como os falantes nativos dessa língua a falam, prestando atenção na melodia e sempre que possível, imitar!

Eu sou o professor Adir Ferreira e este foi um podcast de pronúncia aqui no English Experts.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Podcast: pronúncia da letra S no final das palavras.

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Let’s see how well you know these common collocations. Match the intensifiers in column A with the words in column B.

Some other common substitutes for “very” in English are:

Terribly

I’m terribly sorry to disturb you, but I need to ask you something.
She’s terribly busy right now.

Horribly

We were horribly late to the wedding.
Jack was horribly drunk when he got in last night.

Awfully

He seemed awfully interested in the proposal.
Jane is awfully nice to offer her beach house for the weekend.

Absolutely

Are you absolutely certain it was John who took the laptop?
I’m absolutely delighted with the new sound system.

Utterly

I’m utterly exhausted from the hike this morning.
What an utterly ridiculous thing to say!

Also: entirely, absolutely, astonishingly, frightfully, tremendously, extremely etc.

We are waiting for your participation. The 3 first to answer correctly will win a brand new book.

Update 03/08/2010

Answers:

1) i
2) j
3) f
4) a
5) h
6) b
7) e
8) d
9) g
10)c

Winners:

Rogerio (comment number 1 – 17:10)
Luis Fernando Jr (comment number 2 – 17:11)
Patrícia (comment number 5 – 17:14)

Sobre o autor: Mark, canadense, reside no Brasil há quatorze anos. Possui mestrado em Teoria da Comunicação pela McGill University, bacharelado em Antropologia e Estudos Culturais e graduação em Semiótica pela Trent University. Autor de diversos livros da série Michaelis.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Mini-teste: Collocations.

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• Leia outros artigos da série 13 frases em inglês

Confira abaixo algumas frases sobre o tema:

1. Esperar bebê: Expect a baby
Ex: She is expecting a baby for the first time. (Ela está esperando bebê pela primeira vez.)

2. Período de gestação: Gestation period
Ex: Medical care during the gestation period is always necessary. (Cuidados médicos durante o período de gestação é sempre necessário.)

3. Teste do pezinho: Heel prick blood test
Ex: The baby had a heel prick blood test last month. (O bebê fez o teste do pezinho mês passado.)

4. Estourar, romper(bolsa): Break
Ex: She said her water broke when she was in the office. (Ela disse que a bolsa se rompeu quando estava no escritório.)

5. Depressão pós parto: Postpartum blues, depression
Ex: Do you know if she had postpartum blues? (Você sabe se ela teve depressão pós parto.)

6. Teste de gravidez: Pregnancy test
Ex: I really think you ought to take a pregnancy test. (Eu acho mesmo que você deve fazer um teste de gravidez.)

7. Dar a luz: Give birth
Ex: Angelina Jolie gave birth to twins. (A Angelina Jolie deu à luz gêmeos.)

8. Contrações: Contractions
Ex: She started having contractions this morning. (Ela começou a ter contrações hoje de manhã.)

9. Amamentar: Breastfeed
Ex: Breastfeeding can reduce heart disease and diabetes. (Amamentar pode reduzir doenças cardíacas e diabetes.)

10. Ultrassonografia: Ultrasound scan
Ex: The doctor told her to have an ultrasound scan. (O médico disse para ela fazer uma ultrassonografia.)

11. Trabalho de parto: Labor
Ex: She is in labor. (Ela está em trabalho de parto.)
Ex: She went into labor at seven. (Ela entrou em trabalho de parto às sete.)

12. Pré-natal: Prenatal care
Ex: Prenatal care is very important to your health and the health of your baby. (O pré-natal é muito importante para sua sáude e a saúde do bebê.)

13. Registrar a criança: Register the baby
Ex: You need to register your baby in order to obtain a birth certificate. (Você precisa registrar seu filho para obter a certidão de nascimento.)

Bons estudos!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: 13 frases em inglês sobre paterninade/maternidade.

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The Grand City and its Parks

When we think of European cities we frequently think of the grandeur of the past and London certainly delivers in this expectation. The palaces, the grand houses, the impressive museums, they are all there. Yet, it is also an accessible and family friendly city.

If you have not been to London before the video below should give you a quick overview.

…and the following shows you some of the chaotic life of the city but also the slow life in London that we enjoy as a family.

Amongst all the grandness of the city we particularly enjoy the fact that it is a very green place with many large parks dotted all over the city. Some of our favourite places within the city that we would like to recommend for a Sunday walk or a romantic picnic are:

• Kew Gardens – for a grand festival of colour in the spring and summer, truly beautiful place to spend an entire day. Kids love the colourful flowers. One of the times we visited there was an exhibition by a famous glass maker – the glass sculptures were all over the park in-between the trees and flowers and in the lake – fantastic.

• Richmond Park – you can find two different types of dear running around free. Within the park there is Henry VIII’s Mound from where you can see St Paul’s Cathedral some 15 km away. You can see a corridor all across the city as there is a law that protects the view so no building can be built that will interfere with this ancient view. It is a small thing with a big impact on the development of the city, but at the same time it is small things like this that make cities special.

• Bushy Park – near Hampton Court Palace – great place to get close to the dear and the ducks – kids love it.
• Hyde Park – remember the roller skating around the city – it starts from here.
• Regents Park – beautiful rose gardens and it has a great outdoor theater operating in the summer where you can watch a play while having a barbecue and drinking your own wine.
• Hampstead Heath – in the north part of town with good views of the city. You can also swim on the ponds within the park – very popular in the summer and a few swim even in winter.
• Greenwich Park – a very pleasant place for a walk or for great views of the city or just to let the kids feed the squirrels. GMT sounds familiar? This observatory in the park is where it comes from.

There are many others, but the above are just some of our favourites.

Museums

There are many museums all over the city. All government museums are free and many offer great places to just hang around or good public places to meet friends. Like the Tate Modern with its cafeteria in one of the upper floors with great views of the river and St Paul’s Cathedral. Some of our favourite ones are:

• British Museum – a great museum but also a great city space. The concept is that museums are not just places where you display objects but also urban spaces for the the people of the city to congregate and interact.

• Victoria and Albert Museum – there is a nice coffee shop within the museum, a good place to meet friends. Ok, not the best coffee but a great venue none the less.
• Natural History Museum – this is definitely the favourite one for the whole family. The building is truly amazing and if you take the time to look at the detail you will see little animals carved that appear to be crawling up the columns – a beautiful design. It is a great place to take the kids on a rainy day as you can spend the whole day looking at the dinosaurs or at the activity centre in the basement floor. Our little boys love it. As all the other museums it is free and you can take your own food as there is an area in the basement where you can have a picnic with your kids so it is a very cheap and enjoyable day out, not to mention educational as well.

• Tate Modern – a fantastic urban space inside and out. It is a converted factory with a large atrium that is used for a variety of rotating displays. The art can be pretty weird, but regardless of your taste in art, the place is fantastic.

So, yes a grand city in a traditional way but also a nice place to live with many green areas and activities for the kids. Yes, a pleasant city to live.

A Centre for Design Excellence

When people think about great design they think of Milan or Paris but actually, today London is one of the major centres for design of all types – from fashion to motor cars and everything in-between. Some of the greatest brands of cars have design offices in the centre of London and today London is synonymous with great avant-garde design in most disciplines, be it advertising, jewellery design or architecture. The Royal Academy of Arts for fine arts or The Royal College of Arts for modern design such as automotive – if you like design, good places to visit. Even great American icons of the automotive world have been designed in London in some pretty obscure designs studios below the railway arches.

Some great modern architecture and great architects in London such as Norman Foster or Zaha Hadid – see below.

Pubs ad Wine Bars

Just like the list of clubs there is a great variety across London – so it depends what you like. We like pubs as most of them tend to be family friendly so you go and have a drink and take your kids along. Some of our favourite ones in London are:

• Gordon’s Wine Bar near Embankment – a basement wine bar since 1890 with a wide variety of wines. Has an outdoor terrace next to the park so it is nice in summer as well.
• The White Horse in Parsons Green – nice upmarket pub
• The Captain Kidd in Wapping – relaxed atmosphere right on the river with an outdoor area for summer barbecues.

• The Roebuck on Richmond Hill road – nothing special as a pub but you can buy your beer and take it outside across the road and sit in the park and have some of the best views of the river in London. If you are in Richmond, take a walk up the hill and cool down with a few nice beers. Some of the famous people like Elton John, Madonna, Mick Jagger, some of the Who members and many others live in the area and it is not unusual to see them around the neighbourhood. Like I said, not the greatest pub but they are relaxed about you taking your glass of beer across the street and sit anywhere in the park. Everyone just returns the glass by the steps leading up to the road.

Well, there are literally thousands of pubs and wine bars in London and the above are just but a taste. Make sure you explore in which ever area you happen to be and you are bound to find an old pub with lots of history and character. In the past few years there has been an explosion of Gastropubs that serve very good food along with good beer in a nice setting.

There is a pub in East London where the captain of the Mayflower used to sleep and from where the boat was said to have parted for America. It is in an ugly area of town so only worth visiting if you are passing by.

A note about Pubs. Many pubs are tied up to a brewery and serve a certain range of beers connected with that specific brewery. However, if you see the sign “Free House”, it means that there is no connection with a brewery and they will have a different range of more unique beers. There are hundreds of beers in England, some of them only sell regionally and many in London serve beer from their area of London. If you like Ales, I don’t buy my husband does, then you can enjoy trying the hundreds of beers across the city as different pubs will serve different beers. Ales are not like lager beers, the best ones tend to be made in an artisan manner in small batches and do not have preservatives or any type of additives to keep them for a long time. A good Ale will only last for about 2 weeks and if not consumed it gets thrown away – little chance of that happening as beer drinking is one of the national British sports. A Real Ale will always be pulled by hand.

Remember, when you go to a pub you can always ask to taste the beers before you buy one. So try 2 or 3 before you choose.

If you want to find out about Ale, visit sites The Real Ale Campaign site: www.camra.org.uk It has a long list of beer festivals around the country – but make sure you don’t order a lager or you’ll be ushered out… ;-)

Just Hanging Out

But best of all, London is a great city to just hang out and to stroll through the great parks or next to the river. On a Sunday you can walk on the outside of Hyde Park to see the different painters selling their work or go to one of the many markets to see some creative people selling their wares. Or maybe just go to your local pub and have a drink and maybe a nice meal if you pick the right gastropub. Even if it is cold and rainy outside, you are bound to find something to do, a coffee at the grand coffee shop in the V&A or maybe a brunch with live music at the National Gallery, or even a walk in the rain followed by a nice Ale by the fireplace at some old pub.

Oh, better stop……there is so much more to write about, the many unusual shops, the great deli’s across the city, the unusual spots to hide away for a break…..but I may write about these in the future.

Just to end….not in London but a short drive away. If you ever dreamt of a castle when you were a small kid, then go to Leeds Castle about 1.5 hrs drive away, as if you were driving to catch the ferry to France. The whole setting is out of a fairytale, if you do go, make a day out of it and soak up the atmosphere, take a picnic and just relax by the lake.

But that would be a whole new article, what to visit within easy reach of London.

See you soon !

Sobre a Autora: Meu nome é Luciana, sou professora de Inglês, leciono em São Paulo e recentemente criei o Inglês Interact. Morei e trabalhei por alguns anos na Inglaterra (Londres e Cambridge) e espero poder aqui no EE contribuir e ajudá-los com questões que envolvam a Língua Inglesa.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: London: off the tourist trail – Part 2 of 2.

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London, one of the great cities in the world, in my opinion I don’t think there can be much debate about it. So, I will not dwell on the obvious things that make London a tourist destination, but rather I will discuss some of the more off the tourist path things that my family and I enjoy about London.

However, in an effort to thinly masquerade or pretend that this is a balanced article ;-), I should start with the bad things about the city. First, it is a big city with all the normal big city problems that dwellers must face such as horrendous traffic, pollution, overcrowded public transport and expensive housing, and it certainly not a city blessed with good weather. So, those things out of the way, back to the main objective…

A Diverse City

London is a big and sprawling city with a metropolitan population of over 11 million (depending on where you draw the line) and it offers both visitors and residents an amazing array of diversity on anything form culture to food or activities for young people or families with kids.

If you are thinking of going to London to study English you have a great opportunity to not just practice your English but also, or maybe even more importantly, to explore new ways of life and new ways of thinking. If you are going to take full advantage of a city like London, you must travel there with an open open mind and ready to accept, or at least analyse and try to understand, new ideas.

In my previous article I touched on the subject of cultural diversity and certainly, from my point of view, this is an important factor in making London a fascinating city. This diversity is not just about the obvious racial diversity but it extends to all forms of thought and as a result the city is highly tolerant and an incubator for new ideas and ways of thinking. When you visit, make a point of soaking this diversity into your thinking.

A Safe City?

One could compare all sorts of statistics for violent and petty crime and come up with a figure that says that London, for its size, is a relatively safe city. However, just as important is how you feel when you move about the city, specially if you are a woman travelling on your own. Most large cities can be intimidating and aggressive but I have found London to be a place where I have never felt threatened or worried about ending up on the wrong side of town.

The London Bobby (nickname for the police) does not carry guns while out on the beat (on patrol). If the police need extra force, then there is a special unit that is called into service if guns are needed. I have found the police on foot in different areas of London to be approachable, friendly and helpful. It is also nice to see that many of the police walking the city are women. Police without guns, umm…that tells a story in itself.

Yes, there is violent crime in London, and of course there are serious encounters when the police uses excessive force. However, as a whole and certainly for its size, London is a safe place and when I have had to travel on public transport and walk home late at night on my own I have never felt threatened. My husband and I have also been out to clubs in areas that are considered dangerous such as Brixton but we happily walk at night from the tube station and, other than being offered all sorts of illegal stuff to buy, one never feels intimidated.

Food

This is certainly one of my favourite subjects and like many of us, I love my plate of rice and beans with a good piece of beef stake. However, when I spend time in London I like to explore new cuisines, new flavours and unusual foods. There is such a variety of choice, from Vietnamese restaurants east of Liverpool St station, to our favourite Pakistani restaurant behind the East London Mosque or the small Vegetarian food place near Covent Garden that is probably one of the few paces were you can eat well for a decent price in that area of London. Spanish, Thai, Cambodian, Peruvian, Venezuelan, Brazilian, South African, Jamaican, Burmese, etc, etc…are only but few of the cuisines represented – be adventurous and experiment new flavours, new textures, new combinations and most importantly experience new ideas through your taste buds.

However is not all about ethnic foods, London is also full of top quality restaurants, from the multi Michelin Star rated restaurants to top class but decently priced family run establishments. If you are prepared to go out to eat on a Monday or Tuesday and maybe go out for lunch rather than dinner you can eat at some top rated restaurants at a big discount, 2 for 1 deals as well as well priced set menus. There is a wide choice and you can use sites such as wwww.lastminute.com or www.london-eating.co.uk but there are many others. The deals change all the time so go back and check regularly and try different places.

Sunday Breakfast – there are lots of places for a nice Sunday brunch but a particularly pleasant venue is the restaurant in the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square. Most Sundays they have a live jazz band or a string quartet up until lunch time. Another choice just around the corner is at the restaurant at the top of the National Portrait Gallery where you can have a champagne breakfast with a “Marry Poppins” view of the city as you are just above the city rooftops and all the chimneys – a very typical London view.

Other Restaurants with a View – if you want to splurge and impress you girlfriend, then take her to the restaurant at the top of the Oxo tower for a fantastic view of the city – but you better have a fat wallet before you go.

For also a great view of the city at a fraction of the price then go to the restaurant at the top of the Tate Modern or just for a walk and a drink along Butlers Wharf.

Markets – The food markets in London also offer a wide variety of produce from all over the world. There are great markets such as Borough market behind Southwark Cathedral as well as many other open air markets around the city. Many of the neighbourhood markets specialise in ethnic foods depending on where they are located – if you look for it, you can find pretty much anything you want.

Cheese – Did you know that Britain has as wide a variety of cheese as France? Go to Neal’s Yard where cheeses from all over Britain are aged to achieve the optimum maturity. If you love cheese, well then, this is the place to go.

Coffee – Did you know that London is one of the top centres for speciality coffee in the world along with cities like Sydney and Seattle? No, I am not talking about the junk that Starbucks or other chains serves but truly outstanding Single Estate coffees from all over the world (Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Indonesia, Brazil, Bolivia, etc, etc) can be found in speciality coffee shops across London which are supplied by some of the best micro-roasters in the world. Some of our favourite ones include Dose, Fernandez & Wells, The Espresso Room, Monmouth, Kaffeine, Flat White and many others. A quality coffee made by an experienced Barista is like eating a dessert on every cup, it is a delight of an experience. Sadly despite Brazil producing over 35% of the world’s coffee we have hardly any places that serve outstanding coffee made with loving care.

Having Fun in the City

Well, this is entirely up to you and limited only to your own creativity and how much money you got in your pocket. London is an exciting city that offers something for most people. I want to keep it short so here goes a few of the places and things you may not read about on a guide book:

• Jazz – The 606 Club or Ronnie Scott’s for some of the best jazz in Europe.
• Theatre – yes, of course, the West End theatres but for something more unusual try The Tricycle Theatre for all sorts of unusual stuff including troops from Brazil.
• Guide – Timeout (http://www.timeout.com/london/) it is a good City guide. It is a London publication but now they do it for cities all over the world, including SP.
• Opera – no, I am not into it but you can sign up online for a ticket lottery which sells the tickets for £10. The building is amazing and the sound incredible so even if you don’t like Opera but you like performing arts, it is worth a trip, even if it to see the pomp spectacle.
• Dancing – well, there is truly endless choice and many with good live bands. From our very own forró to dancing the night away to the sound of a 12 piece Cuban salsa band or to experiment new dance rhythms from Angola or Zaire or maybe Caribbean sounds (all live bands). For something old fashion but lots of fun, go dancing on a Sunday during summer at the Royal Festival Hall public performing area where they play ballroom music. It is free, but make sure you make an old man or lady smile by asking them to dance. Lots of other free events at South Bank in and around the Royal Festival Hall – great area.

• Film – make your way to the British Film Institute (BFI) on South Bank Centre for pretty much anything you want to watch form anywhere in the world. Many libraries have a BFI centre where you can watch any film for free in a small booth.
• Live music – all over the place and all kinds, check Timeout or the local newspaper in the area where you live. The last one we saw was a Gypsy group from Paris at a small pub near Battersea park. Most are free as long as you consume a few beers. Or head to the Jazz Cafe in Camden for a wide variety of music styles.

• The Weird and the Wonderful – try Shunt which is an amazing venue underneath the railway arches near London Bridge tube station. It is like a subterranean wonderland of the weird and amazing performing arts. It is run by an artist cooperative and the best way to describe it is that you are bound to see anything and everything that you will see nowhere else. But hurry, it is due to close in June of this year….but then again, it has been closing for the past 2 years and it is still going strong and as weird and wonderful as ever. Definitely not for everyone and you never know what is going on – don’t go if you are not open minded.

Well, this all for the moment. I am afraid it is but a tiny drop in the ocean of stuff to do in London. I could go on and on but risk putting you to sleep.

Will leave you with one of the unusual and most fun ways to see the city during the day or the evening.

Do you know how to in-line skate?

If you do, then make your way to The Serpentine in Hyde Park and join the group that skates across the city. They follow a different route every week and some of them are at night.

Skating across the city, is there a better way to see and connect with the city?

They do the same in Paris. Both London and Paris events are completely free and all you need is to know how to skate well so you can negotiate all the obstacles in the city and to keep up with the group. They have minders to control the traffic and it is all pretty safe. However, if you fall and crack you head, you will not be able to sue the city or anyone (as you would do in America – sorry, could not help myself ;-). On the serious side, does anyone know if this is done in any American cities?

On a nice summer’s evening you can have several hundred or thousand skaters going across the city – and yes, traffic has to stop for them. Some of them have a guy on a bicycle pullig a great big set of speakers playing music for the skaters. It is all pretty well organised, it has to be to stop traffic in the centre of London, and it is all run by volunteers. Great fun – if you are in London, give it a try..!!

Here is a video to the sound of a band from California (not the best video but gives you an idea of what it is all about).

Ok, that is it for now, I shall continue on the next article and will touch on:

• A Centre of Design Excellence
• The Grand City
• Pubs and Wine Bars
• Just Hanging Out

I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about London. Remember, variety is the spice of life – if you travel to London, make sure you fill your time there with new experiences that you may not have a chance to experience back in your home town.

See you soon !

Sobre a Autora: Meu nome é Luciana, sou professora de Inglês, leciono em São Paulo e recentemente criei o Inglês Interact. Morei e trabalhei por alguns anos na Inglaterra (Londres e Cambridge) e espero poder aqui no EE contribuir e ajudá-los com questões que envolvam a Língua Inglesa.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: London: off the tourist trail – Part 1 of 2.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

Neste semana, vamos começar uma lição que será divida em 3 partes. Vamos falar do uso do Modal Verb “should”. Vamos rever ao todo 9 usos diferentes do should que dará um ótimo entendimento dos usos variados.

Notas de Pronúncia:

Esta palavra tem uma forma esquisita de ser escrita, mas sua pronúncia é simples, rima com a palavra ‘good’, é bem fácil de pronunciar.

Meaning 1:

We use ‘should’ when we want to say or ask what is the correct or best thing to do. (Usamos ‘should” quando queremos uma opnião sobre a melhor coisa a ser feita ou darmos uma opinião.)

Examples:

• You should drive more slowly in this freezing weather. (Você deve dirigir mais devagar neste clima congelado.)
• “Do you think I should invite them to my party?” “Yes, I think you should.” ( “Você acha que devo convidá-los para minha festa ?” “Sim, eu acho que você deve.”)
• This television player never works as it should. Look at the picture – it’s terrible!
• I should have apologised to him after I was so rude. I’ll call him later to say sorry.
• The baby is hungry – he should have been fed hours ago.
• “Should I have closed the door after I left?” “Yes, you should.” (note: there are 2 other possible short answers here. 1. “Yes, you should have.” 2. “Yes, you should have done.” The 2nd one is very informal.)

Meaning 2:

We sometimes use ‘should’ after ‘I’ when we are giving advice. We also use ‘would’ in the same way. (Às vezes usamos ‘should” quando queremos dar um conselho. Podemos também usar ‘would” da mesma forma).

Examples:

• I shouldn’t be concerned. It’s not a serious problem. (note: this means ‘I advise you not to be concerned’.) (Eu não deveria estar preocupado. Isto não é um problema sério.)
• If I were you, I should study English harder! (note: we can also use ‘would’ here, but ‘should’ sounds both a little stronger and slightly more formal.) (Se eu fosse você, eu deveria estudar Inglês com mais intensidade.)

Meaning 3:

We sometimes use ‘should’ after ‘why’ when we are asking the reason for something. (Às vezes usamos ‘should’ depois de ‘porque’, quando estamos perguntando da razão de alguma coisa).

Examples:

• Why should anyone want to be so cruel to an animal? (Por que alguém quereria ser tão cruel com um animal ?)
• Why shouldn’t they go on holiday if they want to do so?

I hope that this gives you a good introduction to the use of the modal verb “should”. Next week we will review 3 more meanings.

Remember, should you have any questions, don’t hesitate to write to me with your questions.

This week’s proverb:

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Meaning: What is useless to one person could be valuable to another. (O que pode ser lixo para alguém, pode ser de grande valor para outro.)

Até a Próxima !

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Modal Verb: Should.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

1. Num estalar de dedos: With the snap of a finger
Ex: Solve your problems with the snap of a finger. (Resolva seus problemas num estalar de dedos.)

2. Disponibilizar: Make sth available
Ex: Answers will be made available. (As respostas serão disponibilizadas.)
Ex: The government plans to make the money available. (O governo planeja disponibilizar o dinheiro.)

3. Disputa de penaltis, decisão por pênaltis: Penalty shoot-out
Ex: The game went into a penalty shoot-out. (O jogo foi para os pênaltis.)
Ex: Brazil won a World Cup in a penalty shoot-out. (O Brasil ganhou uma copa do mundo nos pênaltis.)

4. Marcar gol (de falta, pênalti, bicicleta): Score (on a free kick, penalty kick, bicycle kick)
Ex: I scored on a free kick. (Eu marquei um gol de falta.)
Ex: I scored on a bicycle kick. (Eu marquei um gol de bicicleta.)

5. Previsão do tempo: Weather forecast
Ex: The weather forecast says it´s going to rain. (A previsão do tempo diz que vai chover.)
Ex: The weather forecast says it´ll be fine. (A previsão do tempo diz que o tempo vai estar bom.)

6. Ter/saber notícias: Have/get news about
Ex: We haven´t had any more news about him. (Nós não tivemos mais notícia dele.)
Ex: Did you get any news about her? (Você teve notícia dela?)

7. Usar/falar termos difíceis: Use big words
Ex: Stop using big words to sound smart. (Pare de falar difícil para parecer inteligente.)

8. Dar importância: Care about
Ex: You haven´t cared about your studies lately. (Você não tem dado importância aos seus estudos ultimamente.)
Ex: She has cared more about her job. (Ela tem dado mais importância ao trabalho.)

9. Conter-se: Contain yourself
Ex: She couldn´t contain her anger and shouted at them. (Ela não conseguiu conter a raiva e gritou com eles.)
Ex: I couldn´t contain my laughter. (Eu não consegui conter a risada.)

10. Reagir, resistir (a roubo, ataque, etc.): Offer resistance
Ex: If you ever get robbed, don’t offer any resistance. (Se for roubado, não reaja.)

11. Embaraçar, embaraçado (cabelo): Tangle/tangled
Ex: It tangles my hair. (Isto embaraça meu cabelo.)
Ex: Her hair gets tangled easily. (O cabelo dela fica embaraçado facilmente.)

12. Linha, ligação (telefone): Line
Ex: It´s a bad line and I can´t hear her. (A ligação está ruim e não consigo ouvi-la.)

13. Assunto delicado (que causa chateação, raiva,etc.): Sore point
Ex: Don´t talk about it. It´s a sore point with her. (Não fale sobre isto. É um assunto delicado para ela.)

Bons estudos!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: 13 frases para ampliar o vocabulário.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

Continuando, uma pessoa muito querida me informou que eu não deveria chamar o Donay de “teacher Donay”; nem ele e nenhum outro professor que eu conhecesse. Minha primeira reação foi achar que a pessoa querida estava maluca, mas essa pessoa conhece inglês “um pouquinho” mais do que eu, então eu achei melhor acreditar.

Pensemos nas seguintes situações (por favor, observem se existe algum erro nas frases abaixo):

A) Aula de inglês na escola XYZ
Maria: Teacher, qual a tradução de “table”?
Teacher: “Table” significa “mesa”.

B) Carol chega em casa
Mãe da Carol: Carol, como foi a aula de inglês?
Carol: A teacher ensinou o nome dos bichos em inglês. Sapo é frog, cachorro é dog.
(bastante comum, não é? Acho até que a gente aprende a chamar o professor de teacher antes mesmo da overdose de verb to be)

C) Comentários da Flávia em posts do fórum
“complementando a informação do teacher Donay…”, “Obrigada pela resposta, teacher Donay!”, é várias outras…

Você notou algo de anormal em alguma das três situações?

Bem, vou confessar que acabei de pesquisar por “teacher Donay” no campo de busca aqui do blog, achei 16 ocorrências, 11 delas escritas por mim, ou seja, 70%. Portanto, é bem possível que o que eu vou escrever abaixo não seja novidade para a maioria das pessoas (de qualquer forma, espero que seja útil para alguém, tanto quanto foi pra mim).

Lendo “Forms of Address in English” (indicação do Henry Cunha, link no final do post), descobri que a forma de se dirigir a um professor, em países falantes de inglês, difere bastante da maneira brasileira de tratamento. Em resumo, chamar o professor de teacher, na maioria dos casos, é fazer pouco caso do nome dele, é desrespeitoso. O correto é chamá-lo de “Mr + sobrenome”, e das formas mais detalhadas nos exemplos abaixo. Razão? “Teacher” é um título, é o mesmo do que chegar numa empresa e dizer “hey, analista de sistemas!”, em vez de usar o nome da pessoa.

Comentários sobre o assunto na Internet:

“To me, “teacher” is rude, it sounds like you don’t want to take the time to learn their proper name or address them correctly.”

“To merely address your teacher as “teacher” rather than Mr., Mrs, or Miss is quite impersonal… considered somewhat rude!”

“…it’s okay with the teacher, especially if you’re in kindergarten and can’t remember your teacher’s name. No if it’s not okay with the teacher. I would ask first. It may be disrespectful. If the teacher says okay, be ready to be called student, green shirt boy, etc.” (Adorei essa!)

“The use of the word “teacher” in a classroom setting in English-speaking countries may occur only in elementary school but very occasionally, perhaps only in the first few days of the school year, when the little ones haven’t memorized the new teacher’s name yet. Never in high school or elsewhere.”

“This is a typical case of idiomatic contrast and a common interference of Portuguese and for this reason it can easily occur in English schools all over Brazil.”

“(…) All through elementary and secondary school, we say “Mr / Ms So-and-So,” in addressing any teacher. (There’s nothing like “tia” also.) In university, it’s either “Professor, …” or “Mr. So-and-so,…” (when you know s/he doesn’t have a doctorate), or “Dr. So-and-so,…” (when you do know)., but “Professor” for anybody anytime, regardless of degrees. (…)

Ensino pré-universitário: “Professor” is “teacher”, addressed as Mr. or Ms + Last Name.

Universidade: “Professor” is “professor”, always addressed as Mr/Ms/Dr + Last Name or Professor + Last Name.

So you can see why I find it strange to see “teacher Donay.” It wouldn’t be used like that at any level.”

Looking forward to reading your comments about.

Links interessantes sobre o assunto:

• Forms of Address in English (recomendo principalmente para quem vai viajar ao exterior, ou tem contato constante com estrangeiros)
• How to Address People in English
• How do you call your teacher
• Is it right to call your teacher teacher?
• É errado chamar o professor de inglês de “teacher”?
• Nunca se chama uma pessoa de “teacher”
• Devemos chamar o professor de “teacher”?

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

Hi, this is Jason Bermingham on English Experts. First of all I want to thank all of you who have been reading this blog, and I want to thank you for your nice messages. As many of you know, I’ve been posting a series of tongue-twisters over the past few weeks. These exercises are meant to improve your pronunciation by putting your mouth in extreme-language situations. I doubt you’ll ever have to say anything this hard in real life, like say in a job interview. But that’s the whole point. If you can say this stuff, everything else will be easy.

So sit down if you aren’t already and stretch your jaw and lip muscles, because this week’s tongue-twister is going to be the most difficult of the bunch.

I first heard this tongue-twister performed by a voice-over artist on the audio CD of the book Voiceover: Tales and Tactics for Success. The voice-over (as we call these artists) claimed that this tongue-twister uses every vowel sound and vocal shape in the English language. Now, I don’t know what every vowel sound and vocal shape in the English language are, but I confess that after hearing this tongue-twister, I’m inclined to believe him.

I’m going to read the whole thing all the way through one time for you to get a feel for how it should sound after you’ve learned it. Then I’ll read it sentence by sentence for you to repeat after me and practice.

Now, if you like this sort of thing, learn it and use it. It’s excellent practice and it will sure impress your friends. And one more thing before we get started: don’t worry about understanding the meaning of all of it. Some of the sentence are just plain nonsense. But it sure is fun to say.

Listen

[Visite o blog para ouvir o audio]

Here goes:

Eleven benevolent elephants met Lily and Lucy in Philadelphia and went to see Camelot in Unique, New York. With guns and drums and drums and guns which they kept in a bodega, bodega, bodega they walked miles and miles and miles until they saw Manny and Nancy who danced hand in hand in the sand as they sang many a moon, many a moon, many a moon.

They came across brilliant Italian William from Tupica who kept murmuring mommala poppala, mommala poppala, mommala poppala.

They begged him to join them. “Will you William, will you William, will you William? Can’t you, won’t you, don’t you, William? Did you, could you, would you, William?” William simply said, “Lily Lolly Lily Lolly.”

Then round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran to be among culligan and calla lilies to let his tone hum down as easily as a sigh.

There, wasn’t that easy! OK, don’t run off just yet. Give it a try. Repeat after me:

Eleven benevolent elephants

(repeat)

met Lily and Lucy in Philadelphia

(repeat)

and went to see Camelot in Unique, New York.

(repeat)

With guns and drums and drums and guns

(repeat)

which they kept in a bodega, bodega, bodega

(repeat)

they walked miles and miles and miles

(repeat)

until they saw Manny and Nancy

(repeat)

who danced hand in hand in the sand

(repeat)

as they sang many a moon, many a moon, many a moon.

(repeat)

They came across brilliant Italian William from Tupica

(repeat)

who kept murmuring mommala poppala, mommala poppala, mommala poppala.

(repeat)

They begged him to join them.

(repeat)

“Will you William, will you William, will you William?

(repeat)

Can’t you, won’t you, don’t you, William?

(repeat)

Did you, could you, would you, William?”

(repeat)

William simply said, “Lily Lolly Lily Lolly.”

(repeat)

Then round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran

(repeat)

to be among culligan and calla lilies

(repeat)

to let his tone hum down as easily as a sigh.

If you can say that, you can say anything!

This is Jason Bermingham on English Experts.

See you next week.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Trava-Línguas em inglês: todos os sons de vogais da língua inglesa.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

Hi, this is Jason Bermingham—with a bit of a cold this week! Today we continue our study of tongue-twisters with three short warm-up exercises taken from the book Voiceovers: Techniques and Tactics for Success by author and voice-over artist Janet Wilcox.

The first warm-up will help you with the b sound, the second with the s sound, and the third with the th sound.

Make sure you click on the audio link and follow along. You should repeat each line after me.

[Visite o blog para ouvir o audio]

Let’s start with the b sound.

Big black bears
(repeat)

Bake brownies while breathing
(repeat)

Back black smoke
(repeat)

Good. Now let’s work on the s sound

Snakes smile so sweetly
(repeat)

When they see shiny
(repeat)

Snails sitting on the
(repeat)

Shore
(repeat)

OK. Finally, let’s work on the th sound.

Thank Theodore for
(repeat)

Those thatched roofs and
(repeat)

Thick thistles without thorns
(repeat)

Thorns, Thaddeus
(repeat)

I’m Jason Bermingham on English Experts. We’ll have more tongue-twisters next week.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Trava-Línguas em inglês: as pronúncias do B, S e TH.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

Air is the messenger of the spoken word. Air carries everything you say to one set of ears—or to many. But the airborne journey of the spoken word doesn’t start outside your lips. It starts deep inside you—as air leaves your lungs, passes through your vocal chords, and grabs hold of what you say before heading out your mouth for the ears ahead.

By picturing speech in this way, we see that we need to breathe right to speak right. Many stage actors, public speakers, and voice-over professionals take advantage of this insight. But others don’t give breathing much thought. Having done it every hour of every day of their lives, these people take breathing for granted. And they never imagine that they might be doing it wrong.

To speak well you need to breathe well—and that means doing what you did instinctively the day you were born. To practice, lie down on your back and relax. Let your stomach rise and fall as your diaphragm pulls air into you.

Finally, remember that speaking with deep, full breaths is not the same as shouting. Stage actors don’t shout when they perform a play. Public speakers don’t shout when they give a speech. And voice-over professionals don’t shout when they record in front of a microphone. The goal isn’t volume; the goal is resonance. If a weak and shallow chest breath grabs hold of your words, then your words will sound weak and shallow. If a strong and deep full-body breath grabs hold of your words, then your words will resonate inside every ear that hears them.

Pronúncia

Confira o áudio do texto:

[Visite o blog para ouvir o audio]

Note from the author: I am going to continue my series on tongue-twisters next week. This article is a “sneak peak” at an article I have written for Speak Up this month. You can read and hear the full article in issue 266 of Speak Up, which reaches newsstands this week.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Vocabulário: Breathing.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

This week Jason Bermingham offers English Expert readers a new tongue-twister. Learn more about Jason’s work at www.vozemingles.com.

This week we continue our quest to say things that are so hard to say that everything else we say sounds easy. What did I just say? I said we get to learn another tongue-twister!

This is a famous tongue-twister that I first heard when I was about three years old. It’s short, so you can practice it over and over again until it rolls off your tongue easily, impressing all those who are within listening distance.

It’s called the woodchuck tongue-twister and if you had to translate it to Portuguese, it would be something like, Quanta madeira um picapau iria picar se um picapau pudesse picar madeira. Something like that. Except that a woodchuck isn’t a picapau, but instead a kind of marmot. You can search for “woodchuck” on Google images and see for yourself.

Anyway, here’s how the tongue-twister goes. Click on the audio link below and repeat after me.

[Visite o blog para ouvir o audio]

How much wood…

(repeat)

would a woodchuck chuck…

(repeat)

if a woodchuck…

(repeat)

could chuck wood?

(repeat)

Not too hard, right?

So let’s try it again.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck?

(repeat)

If a woodchuck could chuck wood?

(repeat)

Good! Now a bit faster, without stopping.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck?
If a woodchuck could chuck wood?

(repeat)

That sounded nice. But can you keep up with a native speaker at full speed. Repeat after me.

How much wood, would a woodchuck chuck?
If a woodchuck could chuck wood?

(repeat)

OK. I admit it, I might have had a little help from the software!

Next week we’ll learn one more tongue-twister. And before the end of the year, we will study a tongue twister that claims to use every sound you can make in the English language.

I’m Jason Bermingham on English Experts. Keep practicing!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Trava-Línguas em inglês: Woodchuck.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a tongue twister as “a word, phrase, or sentence difficult to articulate readily because of a succession of similar chiefly consonantal sounds varied by small changes“.

OK, translated to plain English, that means a bunch of words that are really hard to say.

Now, for voice-over professionals, tongue twisters are a great way to keep the mouth in shape. And they can help English students, too. After all, if you can say a tongue twister, you can say just about anything.

Every Monday for the next few weeks I’m going to post a new tongue twister here on English Experts. You can click on the audio link below the tongue twister to hear me do my best to read it out loud. Listen to me and then try to repeat the tongue twister yourself.

If it doesn’t come easy at first, don’t get discouraged. Just keep at it until you get it and have faith that your efforts will pay off.

We’ll get started with a famous tongue twister called “Betty Botter.”

Here goes.

Betty Botter bought some butter,
But, she said, “the butter’s bitter;
If I put it in my batter,
It will make my batter bitter;
But a bit of better butter,
That would make my batter better.
So she bought a bit of butter,
Better than her bitter butter,
And she put it in her batter,
And the batter was not bitter;
So t’was better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter.

[Visite o blog para ouvir o audio]

See you next week!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Trava-Línguas em inglês: Betty Botter.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

Here’s a little trick I wrote about in issue 211 of Speak Up magazine. It also appeared in Jornal do Brasil late last year. Essentially, it’s a fun way for teachers to show students how to pronounce the English th.

The problem with the English th is that you must do something with your tongue that you don’t have to do when you speak Portuguese. You must place the tip of your tongue lightly against your upper front teeth and then let air pass between your tongue and your teeth to make the sound.

(demonstration: soft th)
(demonstration: hard th)

Coincidentally, this is the same thing that happens to people who suffer from a lisp (língua presa). They mispronounce the letter s by placing their tongue lightly against their upper front teeth.

In Brazil, the most famous lisp belongs to President Lula. So why not let President Lula help us improve our English?

Ask your students the following question: How would Lula say sopa?

They should answer, Thopa!

Next, tell them to pay attention to what they did with their tongues. Then ask them to repeat the word thopa three times for practice.

Thopa! Thopa! Thopa!

Finally, remind your students that they can use the same tongue position to correctly pronounce English words such as brother, three, and thank you.

Listen:

[Visite o blog para ouvir o audio]

See you next week!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Aprenda a pronúncia do TH com o presidente Lula.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

Here’s a useful trick I learned from voice-over coach Pat Fraley in his book 56 Slick Tricks. When most of us want to emphasize a key word in a sentence or phrase, we simply say the word louder. But there are more ways to add emphasis to a word – and by learning all the possibilities, you make your spoken English more colorful.

According to Pat, there are eight ways to emphasize a key word (or words) in a sentence or phrase.

First, you can use VOLUME.

1) Say the word(s) LOUDER.
2) Or say the word(s) SOFTER.

Second, you can use PITCH.

3) Say the word(s) at a HIGHER pitch.
4) Or say the word(s) at a LOWER pitch.

Next, you can use TIME.

5) Say the word(s) SLOWER.
6) Or say the word(s) FASTER.

Lastly, you can use a PAUSE.

7) Add a PAUSE before the word(s).
8) Add a PAUSE after the word(s).

I demonstrate Pat’s eight means of emphasis here:

[Visite o blog para ouvir o audio]

The sentence I use is: BRAZIL WILL HOST THE WORLD CUP IN 2014. The part I emphasize is WORLD CUP.

Listen to the audio file and then practice the means of emphasis you use the least. I promise your English will sound more colorful.

PS: I want to thank English Experts readers for the nice messages you have posted on the blog. It’s a pleasure to be part of the team! I look forward to sharing more ideas and techniques with you in the months to come.

Transcript of the audio file:

“Hi everybody, this is Jason Bermingham on English Experts. These are Eight Means of Emphasis, a technique I learned from Pat Fraley. When you want to emphasize a word in English you can use volume. Say the word louder or say the word softer. For example: Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014. Or softer: Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014. You can use pitch. You can say the word in a higher pitch or you can say the word in a lower pitch. For example, higher pitch: Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014. Or a lower pitch. Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014. You can also use speed. You can say the word faster, or you can say the word slower. Here’s faster: Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014. Here’s slower: Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014. You can also use a pause. For example, you can pause before the word (or words) or you can pause after the word (or words). Here is a pause before the word: Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014. Here’s a pause after the words: Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014. Learn these techniques and practice the ones you use the least.“

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Jason Bermingham ensina técnicas de locução.

Destaques da Semana

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Caros leitores! É com orgulho que apresento Jason Bermingham, o nosso mais novo colaborador. Você já teve ter ouvido falar dele, isso porque ele escreve para a conceituada revista Speak Up. Já estudei muito com os artigos e os áudios de sua autoria. Você lembra do artigo “como encontrar sua voz inglesa“?

Bermingham, welcome to English Experts. Agora é com você!

Use voice-over techniques to improve your pronunciation

If somebody tells you to “stick a cork in it,” don’t take it as a compliment. The expression “stick a cork in it” is just another way of saying “shut up.” But there is one case in which sticking a cork in your mouth has its benefits. This technique can strengthen your communication skills by improving your articulation.

Author and voice-over actor James Alburger teaches a good way to improve articulation in his book The Art of Voice Acting, and variations of this technique have been around ever since the Greek orator Demosthenes put pebbles in his mouth to improve his own communication skills.

Here’s how it works: stick a cork between your front teeth as if it were a cigar. Don’t have a cork? Use your thumb. Now, read a passage of text out loud. Read slowly and pronounce ev-ery syl-la-ble. Really work your mouth. When you’re done, remove the cork and read the passage again. Do the words sound clearer and easier to understand?

Revised from an article published in Speak Up issue 264

Ouça abaixo a pronúncia do texto:

[Visite o blog para ouvir o audio]

Pessoal, Bermingham nos convida para assinar o twitter da Speak Up, lá ele vai dar dicas de vocabulário com pronúncia. O endereço é: twitter.com/revistaspeakup

Gostaram? Aguardo comentários!

See you!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Use técnicas de artistas profissionais para melhorar o seu inglês.

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Something I have noticed a lot in the world of English teaching is the misuse of the label “false cognate” to describe a pair of words in different languages that have a similar form, but different meanings. For example, many people might call the English word “parents” (pais) and the Portuguese word “parentes” (relatives) a false cognate. However, this is wrong.

Uma coisa que eu percebi muito do mundo de ensinar inglês é o mau uso do rótulo “falso cognato” para descrever um par de palavras em línguas diferentes que tem uma forma semelhante, mas significados diferentes. Por exemplo, muitas pessoas poderiam chamar a palavra inglesa “parents” (pais) e a palavra portuguesa “parentes” (relatives) um cognato falso. Porém isso é errado.

A cognate is a word that is related to one in its own language, or another language; that is, they share the same root. An example of a cognate in two different languages is the English word “name” and the Portuguese word “nome” which both originate from the Indo-European word “nomen”. “Name” and “nome” mean the same thing, but it’s important to note that a cognate doesn’t necessarily have to share the same meaning.

Um cognato é uma palavra que é relacionada a uma na sua própria língua, ou em outra língua; ou seja, elas vêm da mesma raiz. Um exemplo de um cognato em duas línguas diferentes é a palavra inglesa “name” e a palavra portuguesa “nome” que se originam da palavra indo-européia “nomen”. “Name” e “nome” significam a mesma coisa, mas é importante reparar que um cognato não necessariamente tem que ter o mesmo significado.

A false cognate is a word that shares a similar meaning or form to another, but whose root is different. An example of a false cognate is the English verb “to have” and the Portuguese verb “haver”, which do not have a common root. “To have” comes from the Indo-European word “kap”, while the origin of “haver” is unknown.

Um falso cognato é uma palavra que tem um significado ou forma semelhante a uma outra, mas cujo raiz é diferente. Um exemplo de um falso cognato é a palavra inglesa “to have” e a palavra portuguesa “haver”, que não tem raiz comum. “To have” vem da palavra indo-européia “kap”, enquanto a origem de “haver” é desconhecida.

What English and Portuguese do have a number of are “false friends”. A false friend is a word that looks or sounds similar to a word in another language, but has a different meaning. Take a look at some classic examples of false friends in English and Portuguese:

O que inglês e português têm em abundância são “falsos amigos”. Um falso amigo é uma palavra que tem uma aparência ou som parecido com uma palavra em uma outra língua, mas tem significado diferente. Dá uma olhada em alguns exemplos clássicos de falsos amigos em inglês e português:

O que vocês acharam da dica? Tem alguma crítica ou sugestão de melhoria? Aguardo comentários!

Until the next time! Até a próxima!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: A diferença entre Falsos Cognatos e Falsos Amigos.

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But what about pronunciation? When I was a kid, spelling bees (competições de soletrar) left me in cold sweats. Because of the complex history of the English language there are 24-27 consonant sounds and 14-20 vowel sounds, yet there are only 26 letters in the alphabet. And, unfortunately, English speakers don’t have the benefit of accents as Portuguese speakers do. So you can imagine winning a spelling bee was no easy feat (não era nada mole, não)!

Take a look, for example, at the letter combination “ough” in this sentence:

“Although I have a rough cough, I can still climb through the boughs of the tree”, thought the man.
(“Embora eu tenha uma tosse seca, eu ainda consigo trepar nos galhos da árvore”, pensou o homem.)

Let me give you an idea of how to pronounce the various oughs in the above sentence:

• In “although” it’s similar to that of “oe” in “toe” (dedo do pé).
• In “rough” it’s similar to that of “uff” in “puff” (sopro).
• In “cough” it’s similar to that of “off” in “coffin” (caixão).
• In “through” it’s similar to that of “ue” in “true” (verdadeiro).
• In “bough” it’s similar to that of “ow” in “how” (como).
• In “thought” it’s similar to that of “o” in “hot” (quente).

Others will tell you there are even more pronunciations to this letter combination, but these are the most commonly used. And as far as I’m concerned they’re enough (“uff” as in “puff”)!

Tchau for now!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: The Pronunciation of OUGH.

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O Professor Adir nos ensina dois conceitos muito importantes para quem quer aperfeiçoar a pronúncia do inglês, os sons voiced e unvoiced. Chamamos de voicing aqueles sons que fazem as nossas cordas vocais vibrarem, um exemplo disso são as vogais. Já com as consoantes a história é outra, algumas fazem as nossas cordas vocais vibrarem (voiced) outras não (unvoiced), mas isso eu vou deixar o prof. explicar no podcast abaixo, para acompanhar melhor baixe o arquivo auxiliar:

[Visite o blog para ouvir o audio]

Gostaram do podcast? Aguardamos feedback nos comentários.

See you tomorrow!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Podcast: Voiced and Unvoiced Sounds.

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Live it up, imagine a seguinte situação, uma pessoa já trabalhou muito durante um bom período de sua vida e agora ela deseja só aproveitar o que o mundo tem de bom. Podemos dizer que esta pessoa quer live it up, aproveitar a vida, divertir-se. Ex.: I decided to live it up for a while – at least until the money ran out. (Eu decidi aproveitar a vida por um tempo – ao menos enquanto o dinheiro durar.)

Right away, é utilizado quando você quer que algo seja feito imediatamente, com urgência. Ex.: She wanted to leave right away and not wait for her sister. (Ela quis sair imediatamente e não esperou por sua irmã.)

Safe and sound, você já passou por uma situação perigosa e conseguiu se safar? Já passou por algum perigo e escapou por pouco? Então podemos dizer que você está agora são e salvo, esse é o significado de Safe and sound. Ex.: After three days of searching for them, the hikers were found safe and sound. (Depois de três dias procurando por eles, os excursionistas foram encontrados sãos e salvos).

That’s all for today.

See you!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Expressões utilizadas pelos Americanos IX.

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1. Brazil is an alluring, exotic country with a rich past and amazing people;
2. North and South America will become an economic bloc in this century;
3. Music: understanding the poetry of Portuguese lyrics;
4. Travel. Most people don’t speak English in Brazil;
5. Brazil is the country of the future;
6. Because it’s what cool people (like you!) do;
7. The sound: Portuguese pronunciation is incredibly beautiful;
8. To impress your friends;
9. To meet new people;
10. Portugal isn’t half bad either.

Você sugere mais algum motivo? Aguardo sua participação nos comentários.

See you!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: 10 bons motivos para aprender Português.

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You can listen to the pronunciation at www.m-w.com.

Similarly another, cover, other, brother, hover all have the short vowel sound heard in ‘up’ .

Clover and Rover have a long o sound like in the word ‘over’.

I hope you like it!

Mary from USA

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Pronunciation: Discover.

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Let it be
Deixe estar

(Lennon/McCartney)

When I find myself in times of trouble
(Quando me encontro em períodos de dificuldades)

Mother Mary comes to me
(Mãe Maria vem até mim)

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
(Falando palavras de sabedoria, “deixe estar”. )

And in my hour of darkness
(E nas minhas horas de escuridão)

She is standing right in front of me
(Ela está parada bem na minha frente)

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
(Falando palavras de sabedoria, “deixe estar”.)

Let it be, let it be. (2x)
(Deixe estar, deixe estar.)

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
(Murmura palavras de sabedoria, “deixe estar”.)

And when the broken hearted people
(E quando as pessoas com coração partido)

Living in the world agree,
(Vivendo no mundo concordarem)

There will be an answer, let it be.
(Haverá uma resposta, deixe estar.)

For though they may be parted there is
(Porque embora possam estar separados há)

Still a chance that they will see
(Ainda existe uma oportunidade que eles perceberão)

There will be an answer, let it be.
(Haverá uma resposta, deixe estar.)

Let it be, let it be. (2x)
(Deixe estar, deixe estar)

There will be an answer, let it be.
(Haverá uma resposta, deixe estar.)

Let it be, let it be. (2x)
(Deixe estar, deixe estar)

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
(Murmura palavras de sabedoria, “deixe estar”.)

And when the night is cloudy,
(E quando a noite está nublada,)

There is still a light that shines on me,
(Existe ainda uma luz que brilha sobre mim.)

Shine on until tomorrow, let it be.
(Brilhe até amanhã, deixe estar.)

I wake up to the sound of music
(Eu desperto para o som da música)

Mother Mary comes to me
(Mãe Maria vem até mim)

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
(Falando palavras de sabedoria, “deixe estar”.)

Let it be, let it be. (2x)
(Deixe estar, deixe estar.)

There will be an answer, let it be.
(Haverá uma resposta, deixe estar.)

Let it be, let it be. (2x)
(Deixe estar, deixe estar.)

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
(Murmura palavras de sabedoria, “deixe estar”)

That’s all. Gostaram?

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Música: Let it be – Beatles.

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Desde que passei a estudar os símbolos da fonética o meu inglês falado (Spoken English) melhorou consideravelmente. Para quem não sabe, símbolos fonéticos são aqueles “desenhos estranhos” que aparecem ao lado das palavras nos dicionários, eles têm uma função muito importante: indicar a pronúncia correta dos verbetes. Por exemplo, a palavra student tem a seguinte simbologia ‘stju:dnt. De grosso modo, o ‘ determina a sílaba mais forte, j tem um som parecido com o nosso i e o : indica que o som é mais prolongado.

A leitora Josiane Aquino enviou a dica de um site muito interessante, chamado Phonetics: The Sounds of English and Spanish. Através dele você vai aprender a pronunciar todos os sons do Inglês através de uma animação em flash e um vídeo real. O site Phonetics, também disponibiliza a pronúncia dos sons do Alemão e do Espanhol. Imperdível!

Recomendo para estudantes que querem aproveitar o curso de inglês e ainda para quem estuda sozinho.

Acesse o site phonetics

See you!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Fonética: Melhore a Pronúncia do Inglês no Phonetics.

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1. Fiz um curso de inglês para professores muitos anos atrás e naquela época (meados nos anos 90), xérox era muito caro então a maior parte do que tínhamos em mão era copiado da lousa mesmo. A professora brasileira, criada nos EUA desde tenra idade, Mariza Ribeiro, pega seu giz e escreve: RUN. Em poucos minutos ela tinha colocado umas 40 frases com vários significados da palavra “run”, tanto como verbo quanto como substantivo, entre expressões fixas e idiomáticas. Aquilo me encantou tanto que comprei um caderno universitário e fui pegando os verbos mais fortes como take, get, etc. e fui escrevendo todos os exemplos que havia no dicionário (da Cambridge, monolingüe). Cabe dizer que tal tarefa (árdua sim, porém proveitosa) me rendeu um vocabulário impressionante. Vale tentar!

2. Uma outra forma de aprendizado é ler e ouvir mais analiticamente. Isto é, prestar atenção como as palavras se combinam e formam conceitos mais elaborados. Dê uma olhada nestes binomials e veja quantas expressões prontinhas pra usar temos aqui:

- Trial and error
- Law and order
- In this day and age
- Pride and joy
- Food and shelter
- Peace and quiet
- Safe and sound

Você saberia completar os seguintes binomials?

1. facts and …
2. leaps and …
3. likes and …
4. apples and …
5. ups and …
6. shapes and …
7. odds and …
8. bits and …
9. pros and …
10. bells and …

Espero receber feedback dos professores aqui no English Experts ou no meu e-mail i2@adirferreira.com. Tenho um curso de vocabulário online especialmente feito para alunos e professores que estão no nível intermediário e querem aperfeiçoar-se, com um precinho bem camarada.

Escreva e peça mais informações!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Dicas para professores – Parte II.

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Hey there! How are you doing? Bom, nosso assunto de hoje é a pronúncia do passado terminado em ED (verbos regulares). Durante meus anos de magistério vejo que esse é um problema recorrente e muitos cursos (franquias e não-franquias) simplesmente ignoram o estudo da pronúncia nesse caso tão comum. Vou dar algumas regrinhas aqui, bem simples e sem entrar em termos técnicos:

1. Verbos terminados em p – k – s – ch – sh – f – x têm o som ED com a pronúncia de /t/.

• Look – looked
• Miss – missed
• Stop – stopped
• Work – worked
• Touch – touched
• Push – pushed
• Stuff – stuffed

2. Verbos terminados em som de l – n – m – r – b – v – g – w – y – z e terminados em ditongos têm o som de ED com a pronúncia de /d/

• Call – called
• Live – lived
• Clean – cleaned
• Perform – performed
• Repair – repaired
• Tag – tagged
• Allow – allowed
• Cry – cried
• Buzz – buzzed

3. Verbos terminados em T e D, têm o som /id/.

• End – ended
• Add – added
• Hunt – hunted
• Need – needed
• Fold – folded
• Sound – sounded
• Count – counted

Escute a pronúncia:

[Visite o blog para ouvir o audio]

DICA: De agora em diante, preste bastante atenção quando for fazer algum exercício de audição (na sua aula de inglês, assistindo filme, ouvindo música, etc.) e aparecerem verbos regulares no passado. Ser mais analítico e ouvir mais de perto a pronúncia compensa, just take it on trust!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Pronúncia do passado terminado em ED.

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Course rhymes with horse, and curse rhymes with worse.

(Course rima com horse, e curse rima com worse. )

Course (aula) sounds exactly like coarse (grosso).

The vowel in ‘course’ has the same sound as in the word ‘or’ .

To have an English course is a good thing.

To have an English curse (maldição) would be a bad thing.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Pronunciation: Course.

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Like capital and capitol.

Capital means the city where the government of a state or country is.

Capitol means the building where the U.S. congress meets.

So, now if someone asks you, “Where is the Capitol?” You can say, “The capitol is in the capital, Washington, D.C.”

Mary Ziller from USA

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Homophones.

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“Less is more” sounds like an oxymoron.

But it is actually (na verdade) a popular way of thinking in education nowadays (atualmente).

When writing, it is tempting for students to be verbose and use a lot of fancy words to try to impress the teacher.

But actually (na verdade), it is better to write clearly and simply in order to communicate effectively.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Sayings: Less is more.

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Change how you pronounce the ‘u’ in the word study. Most people pronounce study like stoody, or “stew dee” with a long u (like in the vowel sound in ‘you’).

Try to pronounce ‘study’ with the short u sound. It sounds like the vowel in cup, up, much, love, above.

Mary Ziller from USA

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: How to pronounce the word study.

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Outros vídeos em Inglês Verde Amarelo

Check it out, and practice along with me as I say the alphabet. It is harder than it may seem, and as we all know, training yourself to say the sounds of the language, or phonics, is key to developing speaking confidence and a convincing accent.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Vídeo com Pronúncia do Alfabeto em inglês.

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No vídeo abaixo o Christopher ensina de forma muito interessante e divertida como pronunciar corretamente o TH. Macete: tente imitar o presidente Lula! Não entendeu? Assista ao vídeo.

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: A pronúncia correta do TH.

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Here is Neil Diamond singing his ode to America.

Written by: Neil d’Diamond

Far / We’ve been travelling far / Without a home / But not without a star

Free / Only want to be free / We huddle close / Hang on to a dream

On the boats and on the planes / They’re coming to america / Never looking back again / They’re coming to america

Home, don’t it seem so far away / Oh, we’re travelling light today / In the eye of the storm / In the eye of the storm

Home, to a new and a shiny place / Make our bed, and we’ll say grace / Freedom’s light burning warm / Freedom’s light burning warm / Everywhere around the world

They’re coming to america / Every time that flag’s unfurled / They’re coming to america / Got a dream to take them there

They’re coming to america / Got a dream they’ve come to share / They’re coming to america

They’re coming to america (4 times)

Today, today, today, today, today / My country ’tis of thee(today) / Sweet land of liberty(today) / Of thee I sing(today) / Of thee I sing(today)

On the 4th of July, there are picnics, barbeques, patriotic parades and the fireworks shows. A typical picnic will feature potato salad, hot dogs or hamburgers, apple pie, games like a three legged race, relay race, and gunny sack race, and croquet and badminton. And here is the July 4th celebration with the Boston Pops. ( Click here )

When my children were growing up, we traditionally took them to see the parade in our local community and to have an ice cream cone out at Baskin Robbins. Some years they participated in the parade. They decorated their bicycles with crepe paper streamers in red, white and blue, and wore red white and blue clothes and rode their bikes in the parade, following the high school marching band, marching mothers who had decorated their baby’s strollers with crepe paper streamers and pushed their babies on a long walk in the parade, veterans, fire engines, police, and floats (big motor powered wagons that have been decorated with a theme to make a statement about the holiday). We made potato salad and packed sandwiches and filled the cooler with soda and perishable foods to barbeque and headed out in the van for a picnic at the Willows or to Ridley Park State Forest. We played soccer and badminton and ball, and feed the geese bread. This is a three legged race. You and a partner tie your legs together and run in competition with other pairs similarly encumbered. Our three legged races did not include the jug filling activity featured here in this video, but it looks like good, clean fun in the spirit that is felt during the 4th of July celebrations across the country. ( Click here )

After our barbeque picnic, we went to an official fireworks show. They start at dusk, and families camp out on blankets or on their car roofs for a better view, to watch the festivities. Fireworks shows at Pen’s landing and Narberth Park are coordinated with a soundtrack of patriotic music and local bands also perform before the fireworks display. The children love watching the fireworks, and one can see children waving sparklers in circular figure-eight patterns, wearing luminescent necklaces that glow in the dark, catching fireflies in jars, running around jubilantly, laughing, singing, playing tag, and feeling free. It is a very patriotic day. Some families bring their own fireworks to the public fireworks displays and set them off to entertain their children while they are waiting for the professional fireworks show to begin. Before they were outlawed, we used to buy firecrackers, roman candles, pop-bottle rockets, stink bombs, snakes, fountains, and exploding stars, and whirligig spirals (not the official name, but I can’t remember what they were called back then). Our dogs liked the picnics, but they barked at the noise of the firecrackers, which they didn’t like. This is the 4th of July Celebration at Disney-MGM Studios 2005. ( Click here )

Happy 4th of July, everyone!!!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: How my family celebrates the 4th of July in the United States.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
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Living in a foreign country where you don’t know the language is a challenge. It can be very rewarding, though.

It is very labor intensive and takes a lot of preparation to complete even the most menial tasks of daily life that we normally take for granted. You can’t be spontaneous, like you are in your own culture because you have to plan out what you will say. You have to take into consideration all the contingencies of what will happen in a transaction.

Staying in a country where you don’t speak the dominant language is like existing in a living language laboratory. Every utterance is communicative, real world oriented, hands-on, authentic, and goal-oriented because you want something. You are saying something to an actual person for a real reason.

It is so different from the sterile and hypothetical book learning exercises and drills that have little relevance to real world experiences. You always have something at stake, and a positive or negative outcome depends on your ability to establish successful communications.

My language lab was the beautiful, vibrant, dynamic, marvelous citey of Brazil: Rio de Janeiro. My teachers were everyone. From a professor to private tutors to volunteer literacy teachers to shop clerks to beach vendors and my online friends in msn, paltalk, and skype.

Since I lived there a whole year, I made a lot of acquaintances. I became a known entity on the beach and the vendors did not treat me like a tourist anymore after a while. The vendors were kind. They remembered my name and told me their names. They read sentences from my grammar to me so I could hear the pronunciation, and they sometimes even tried to explain to me the correct way to say what I had tried to say. Even sentences like, “If I had any money I would like this one the best.” Se eu tivesse dinheiro, eu gostaria este mais, ou eu achei este o melhor.”

I took my dictionary everywhere with me, and usually my verb conjugation book, too, 500 verbs in Portuguese. Upon returning home to the US, it felt strange to hear English on the streets. It was strange to be able to understand conversations I overheard. It was strange not to have to mentally prepare before every transaction (taking a bus, buying food, ordering from a menu, requesting information). It felt unnatural to not have to go through the mental gymnastics that were necessary for everyday life in a foreign land. My mind was still attuned, for several days after we returned home, to trying to formulate phrases in Portuguese that I would require in order to express my needs when I left my home to shop or do errands.

Some of you who frequent the blog chat may have already heard the story I am about to tell. It is illustrative of how helpful having online friends in msn can be. They can be life saving. One day my husband and his friends had planned to go to Búzios for the weekend. I was supposed to go too, but on the day of our departure, I was too sick to go with them. since we had not planned on being home that weekend, we had not bought any food. I was too ill to go shopping, and my husband couldn’t because he would miss his bus if he shopped for me. I decided to order a pizza by phone to be delivered to the apartment. But I didn’t know how to order. Luckily Alessandro was online and he told me what to say. He practiced the sentence with me until it sounded understandable. Then I called the pizza place and was able to place my order. They understood me well enough. Success! It was the best tasting pizza I had ever eaten because it was flavored with success.

That’s how it is when you live in a foreign country. Feed back is imediate. If you can make yourself understood, you win a pizza. But if not—no donut for you, as they say in Orkut.

See you!

Mary Ziller
From USA to English Experts

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: A page from Mary’s diary.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
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crazy talk: uttering illogical irrational statements or trying to justify unreasonable ideas that will fail have a negative or injurious outcome);

silly talk: funny, whimsical patter that makes children giggle;

victory talk: politicians talking about winning elections or wars;

trash talk: Someone is trash talking when he tries to intimidate his opponent during a game using insults and boasts–definition courtesy of Gustavo;

back talk: talking back to your parents or other authorities, disagreeing with an authority figure in a disrespectful tone. Usage: “Don’t give me any back talk” or “don’t give me any lip”.

Parents want to talk sense into their children, when they want to set them straight or dissuade them from making a wrong choice.

When parents and teachers give their children a talking to, they are scolding them (reprimanding, lecturing them).

When you talk down to someone, you are patronizing them (being condescending) or using a lower level of language so that they will more easily understand you.

When you talk someone up you are praising them or trying to sell someone on them.

Although “small talk” ( cocktail conversation) exists in the lexicon, I thought there is no such corresponding concept of “big talk.”

But I stand corrected. Tio Google turned up such collocations as “He talks a big talk, but doesn’t deliver” and “big talk among small systems,” which I admit sound perfectly logical to me. Live and learn. (It’s a large lexicon out there, but hey, someone’s got to catalogue it).

Beijinhos,

Mary

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Expressões e Collocations com a palavra Talk – Parte IV.

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Begin saying d…d…d… With each “d” stick you tongue further out until it is protruding from your mouth between your teeth. The sound should change to the voiced th sound when the tongue is far enough out of your mouth.

To produce the voiceless th sound, begin repeating t…t…t… as you extend your tongue further and further through your teeth. Eventually, the t sound will change to a th sound when the tongue is extended far enough outside the mouth and between the teeth.

For more pronunciation tips visit: Cross Culture Communications

There is an exercise in pronouncing th.

Three terrible thieves threatened to throw thirty thousand stinging thistles through the thinly shielded thoroughfares of the thatch roofed theater. thankfully several quick thinking thespians thwarted the thieves with deft thrusts if their Thallium swords in the thieves` thalamencephalons with thundering thumps, Thus driven hither through the thalweg, those thoughtless thieves tried to thwart the thespians from tumbling the thistles into the Thames, causing the thieves fall in. The Thames was frozen with thirteen—no—thirty thawing frozen ice floes and other things floating freely before thundering themselves down a roaring waterfall. The thieves tried to flush themselves from the thalassography of the thalassian thickets, emerging rather weathered and withered from their marathon. The thespians threatened the thieves with the thought of smothering in the Thames and suffering a terrible death bereft of theandric compassion and made them swear to never bother the thespians or their thatched theater again or risk being thumped in their thalamencephalons with thallium hatchets and be thrown in the thicket or the thawing ice floes of the Thames.

Dictionary References – Pronunciation
thespian – thalweg – thalassian

Try to practice these sentences:

I think I will be a teacher.
I think I will teach art.
I think I will be a nurse.
I think I will make sick people well.I think I will be a dancer.
I think I will tahnk my fans.
I think I will be a farmer.
I think I will grow things.
I think I will play baseball.
I think I will throw the ball to third base.

and these words:

the that this their these three thirty thing third thumb thunder thigh thick thought thank thanksgiving thursday three thrifty throw threw thread throat thorne thorugh thrill thrash them

See you!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: How to pronounce the TH sound.

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• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
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Fast talking is talking slick, using smooth lines to persuade or convince or mislead or get (obtain) something. Salesmen are accused of fast talking potential customers to boost sales. Usage: “He tried to fast talk me into making a deal that I didn’t want because it was not in my best interest.”

Baby talk is gaa, gaa, goo, goo or speech that imitates the way babies sound when they try to communicate (emerging developmental speech sounds). Baby talk is also called motherese when used by adults addressing infants and is sometimes used between lovers affectionately.

Girl talk conversation that interests women. We talk about make-up, fashion, life issues such as menopause, raising children, and even men.

Happy talk according to wikipedia is the upbeat commentary that news anchors use during news broadcasts to transition from one news story to the next. Last night on the news I heard them mention “happy talk” as a synonym for politicians putting a “positive spin” on negative events.

Double talk is meaningless, ambiguous verbalizing used by politicians and salesmen to distract or impress potential clients or constituents.

Beijinhos,

Mary

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Expressões e Collocations com a palavra Talk – Parte III.

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• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
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Regra geral para o DO

Nós utilizamos o do para descrever atividades indefinidas, frequentemente junto com thing, anything, nothing e assim por diante. Outra aplicação é quando estamos falando de deveres, trabalho, atividades, lazer etc. Exemplos:

I didn’t do anything. Don’t look at me like that! (Eu não fiz nada. Não me olhe assim!)
Can you do the homework? (Você pode fazer o dever de casa?)
She always does the dishes. (Ela sempre lava a louça.)
Please, do your best. (Por favor, faça o seu melhor.)
Can you do me a favor? (Você pode me fazer um favor?)

Regra geral para o MAKE

Nós podemos usar o make para falar sobre a construção, criação ou execução de alguma coisa.

I made a cup of tea for breakfast.
(Eu preparei uma chícara de chá para o café da manhã)

Did you make that wonderful bread? (Você fez aquele pão maravilhoso?)

Muitas vezes a regra é deixada de lado, portanto a melhor forma de não errar é se habituando à utilização correta. Veja alguns exemplos extraídos do site da BBC.

do the cleaning and the cooking
make a lasting impression (on someone)
do the shopping and the washing-up
do some serious work
do a lot of damage (to something)
make an announcement
make an application (e.g. for a driving test)
make a sound or a noise
do one’s hair or one’s teeth
do a lot of harm rather than good
do business (with somebody)
do (somebody) a favour
make love, not war
make a mess, a profit or a fortune
make fun of someone or a fool of someone
make amends for one’s behaviour

Leitura recomendada: about.com

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: MAKE ou DO: aprenda a fazer a escolha certa.

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Alguns dias atrás aconteceu uma situação interessante. Eu mostrei uma dessas gravações para minha irmã, que também está estudando Inglês. Adivinhem o que aconteceu? Ela não reconheceu a minha voz. Eu achei isso interessante e ao ouvir com mais atenção percebi que ela tinha razão, a voz que eu uso para falar em Português é diferente daquela que uso para em Inglês. Esse episódio me lembrou de um artigo escrito por Jason Bermingham na revista Speak Up. Veja o que ele diz:

Portuguese is a more nasal language than English [...] If you are a Brazilian who speaks English, you need to reduce the amount of air entering the nasal cavity. But remember no air is as bad as too much air. If you cut off the flow, it will sound as if you have a stuffy nose.

Traduzindo… O Português é um idioma mais nasal do que o Inglês [...] Se você é um Brasileiro que fala Inglês, você deve reduzir a quantidade de ar que entra na cavidade nasal. Mas lembre-se nenhum ar é tão ruim quanto muito ar. Se você cortar totalmente a corrente de ar, ficará parecendo que você está com o nariz entupido.

Esse mesmo artigo apresenta um teste muito interessante. O teste revela se você tem uma voz nasal (ideal para quem fala Português) ou não (ideal para quem fala Inglês). Siga as instruções: comece a contar em Inglês (é claro) de 1 até 10 (one, two, three…), quando você chegar no 5 (five) feche o nariz e continue contando. Se a mudança for quase imperceptível isso quer dizer que você está pronunciando corretamente. Interessante, não é?

Talvez isso explique porque a nossa voz muda de acordo com o idioma que estamos falando. Só uma dica, não faça esse teste no trabalho. Os seus colegas poderão achar que você está pirando. ;-)

That’s all folks!

Gostou da dica? Receba dicas de inglês como esta por E-mail, Twitter, RSS feed, Orkut ou Facebook. Bons estudos!

Se você gostou desse artigo provavelmente vai apreciar também as dicas abaixo:

• Curso de inglês online grátis
• As palavras mais comuns da língua inglesa
• Aprenda a pensar em Inglês
• 14 dicas para turbinar o seu Inglês
• Quanto tempo é necessário para aprender Inglês?
• 400 palavras em inglês num minuto

Best Regards,

Referência: Revista Speak Up Nº218

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Como encontrar sua Voz Inglesa.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
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• Aprenda inglês com músicas
• Livros e Dicionários indicados pelo EE
• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

Veja:

All that glitters is not gold.
Nem tudo que reluz é ouro: as aparências enganam.

Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.
Não há uma montanha em um grão de areia: não exagere.

Fortune favours the brave.
A fortuna favorece o valente: quem não arrisca não petisca.

Empty vessels make the most sound.
Vasilhas vazias são as mais sonoras: quem muito fala pouco sabe.

A bad workman always blames his tools.
Um mal trabalhador sempre culpa as suas ferramentas: não culpe a ninguém sem razão.

Every cloud has a silver lining.
Toda nuvem tem um fio de prata: sempre há algo bom no fim de tudo.

Birds of a feather flock together.
Diga-me com quem andas que te direi quem és.

Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.
Não conte os seus pintinhos antes que são chocados: não conte vitória antes da hora.

More haste, less speed.
Mais pressa, menos rapidez: a pressa é inimiga da perfeição.

It’s no use crying over spilt milk.
Não adianta chorar o leite derramado: o que está feito, está feito.

Never look a gift horse in the mounth.
Cavalo dado não se olha o dente: não reclame do presente recebido.

He who pays the piper calls the tune.
Quem paga o flautista pede o tom: quem paga, manda.

Beauty is only skin deep.
Beleza não põe mesa.

The early bird catches the worm.
Deus ajuda quem cedo madruga.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Os bobos se metem onde os anjos têm medo de pisar.

Familiarity breeds contempt.
A familiaridade cria desprezo.

Veja uma definição.

“A proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorizable form and which is handed down from generation to generation.” (Mieder 1985:119; also in Mieder 1993:24)

Keep in touch.

See ya!

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Os provérbios fazem parte de qualquer idioma: conheça alguns.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
• Como nosso cérebro aprende inglês
• Aprenda inglês com músicas
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• Receba outras dicas de inglês pelo Twitter ou Facebook.

There are thousands of phrasal verbs, and the number is growing everyday. It’s impossible to know them from the top of your mind. You will learn them with time. Listed below are some of them:

• to look after: cuidar de;
• to look at: olhar para;
• to look for: procurar;
• to get away: fugir;
• to get away with: livrar-se;
• to get back: voltar;
• to get down: descer, baixar;
• to get off: descer (do trem, do ônibus);
• to get out: sair;
• to get over: recuperar-se (de doença, de um problema);
• to get to: chegar;
• to get up: levantar, subir

See, phrasal verbs are very common and if you want to make yourself sound more natural use them.

See you again, next week.

Hugs.

Collaborator: Maria Brasileira

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: Phrasal Verbs: Introduction.

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A couple of months ago, I sent an email to BBC Learning English asking about the English accent in American movies. Specialists from UK answered my question. If you want to hear it, click below:

[Visite o blog para ouvir o audio]

Transcript

Host Man: I’ve just…got had an email just come in from Alessandro, is that the correct spelling? Alessandro. Great pronunciation yes (lots of laughs). And nice question, it’s about English… British and American English I guess. I would like to know if the British have problems with American movies, I mean the English and the grammar. And then…he says: you are top notch. Talking about the program (lots of laughs) that’s very nice Alessandro. What about that?

Guest Woman: That’s interesting, ‘cos we’ve been talking about spelling but we do find the American accents difficult to understand.

Guest Man: I find that some American accents, especially in Movies, especially with the sound may be kind of indistinct, very difficult, and increasingly difficult actually.

Guest Woman: I saw Broke Back Mountain the other day, and I have to say I really enjoyed it, but in the first fifteen minutes I couldn’t understand what was being said at all.

Presenter Woman: Although I having said that though, I think even within in the UK we also have difficulties understanding each other. For example, I sometimes find Scottish people quite difficult to understand. (Lots of laughs)

I hope that helps,

Keep in touch.

Thanks to: Adam, Antonia, Josney and Mary

Atenção: Para acessar os recursos de áudio, vídeo ou enviar um comentário neste post, clique no link a seguir: British and American English.

Destaques da Semana

• É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
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