Hello Jonathan, i have a few questions :)

IP: *.chello.pl 27.12.08, 00:07
Hello, (late) Merry Christmas by the way ;]
I study at the College, British english group :) And have a few questions to
ask you.

0. (lol). Why the word "Christmass" is pronounced "krisməs"- instead of
"kraistməs"? :) Coz if i'm correct, the word "Christ" when separate, is
pronounce "kraist", right?

1. Where have you been? I mean in Asia. I would be interested in Thailand :)
I'm wondering about how the teaching looks like over there. Do you happen to
know by any chance? ^^

2. I really like British accent and i would like to improve it, but
unfortunatelly i have no British friends who i could ask various of things
connected to my accent (and i like to ask a lot :)), so i have such a question
for you- do you know anyone with ordinary British accent (like in BBC) who i
could chat with? :) By MSN messenger or Skype etc. I'm 22 years old (male ;]).
Maybe you know somebody who really enjoys chatting and don't mind having a
friend from Poland who is hungry to improve his lg ? ;) I could help in Polish
in exchange, no problem at all :) I even kinda enjoy it if sb's asking about
how to say sth in polish or why is there sth like and not like that etc.
Or maybe you know some website designed for such a purpose :)

3. Do you know any site where i could learn about intonation? Falling, rising
etc. Coz i have some sentence to read for phonetics and i kinda don't know how
:/ There are some remarks for example : HF (high fall), depending on
situation, but i can't read it properly coz i can't memorize them during the
lesson (i mean each tonation).

4. Are you considered to be one of the "posh" people? :D You know, it's funny,
coz my teacher teaches us the british accent, but as i found out, it's
considered ash those used by "posh" Brits lol. And i heard that people who
speaks it, are not very liked by normal society, which upsets me a bit, coz i
like the accent heh. For example a word "cold" < i was taught to pronounce it
as "keuld", and one British guy i spoke some time ago- told me that normal
people don't say that ;) They say it to make fun only, he said it's used by
posh people and that if i said like that among some blokes (around my age)
they would look at me with an evil eye haha.

So generally i want to know how is it with that posh language ;] I should
learn it or not? Or nobody will like me if i speak like that? ;] Obviously i
will never sound "posh enough", coz i'm foreigner, but i don't want anybody in
future told me that i'm trying to brag, coz i don't, i'm just taught to speak
in that manner :)

I can give you the general idea by showing you the accent i'm currently
working on (i have to memorize it and try to say what the guy is saying, in
the same manner). As i heard from the native British, it's extremely fake
(artificial), the was even outraged when he heard that i'm taught to speak
like that! :)

The example:
rapidshare.com/files/177073915/threethings.mp3.html

5. If you can't help me (with finding a normal British guy who i could chat
with), is it possile to send to you some examples of my pronunciation from
time to time and you would tell me what to fix?

Sorry for very long post. When i start, it's hard for me to stop... As i said,
i'm interested in getting some improvements :)

cheers, i hope you can find some time to reply.
PS: sorry for the mistakes if accur, I'm kinda out of time to check the text.
    • Gość: Nevermind Re: Hello Jonathan, i have a few questions :) IP: *.chello.pl 27.12.08, 00:12
      occur* (this one i couldn't let go ;))
    • Gość: Nevermind Re: Hello Jonathan, i have a few questions :) IP: *.chello.pl 27.12.08, 01:34
      It's strange to reply myself haha, but i just wanted to add, that by "normal
      accent", i mean this which is no tinged with anything :P Heh. I mean dialects,
      like eg. Cockney i suppose.

      And by the way, your forum introduction is sligtly mistranslated (if it can be
      written that way :P). You know that for example :
      "I will do my best to anwer them!" is translated as:
      "I will try to answer even on the weirdest (strangest) ones!". Just to your
      knowledge, coz if you come across some weird question- don't be surprised then
      haha ^^

      cheers
    • Gość: Nevermind Re: Hello Jonathan, i have a few questions :) IP: *.chello.pl 27.12.08, 02:01
      Ah.. i need to add sth again, sorry lol.

      I attend English TEACHERS Training college :P Maybe this explains my "hunger"
      for improving my l2 ;] And i asked about Thailand, coz i was thinking of going
      there in future as i have friends there; but my lvl is no sufficient enough yet
      of course, to teach anyone, especially that it's me who needs some lessons lol.
      I've never been to UK, and any English-speaking country, that's why it's a bit
      hard for me to learn it only with the books or with my Polish teachers. That is
      why i need to get some friend from UK who i can get instant replies from, not as
      from the books, which are rather mute ;]

      Sorry for 4 posts, but don't bother replying each of it. Reply just this one
      with question-points and that will do :)

      cheers (fourth time lol)
      • ann_a30 Re: Hello Jonathan, i have a few questions :) 27.12.08, 13:18
        I live in the UK and never attempted to try to speak 'posh'. If I had, they
        would have thought there's something wrong with me:)
        I will be waiting for Jonatham's reply as well as it is a quite interesting
        subject.
        My advice would be - just come to the UK, get a job here and your English will
        improve considerably.
        • Gość: Nevermind Re: Hello Jonathan, i have a few questions :) IP: *.chello.pl 27.12.08, 13:37
          Haha, yeah, i think so ;) (about posh lg). But it's hard for me to just stop,
          coz these word like "keuld" i had memorized (there are many like these i
          suppose). But yeah, it would be best to come and experience it by myself, but i
          can't afford that for the time being :/
          I need to study here. A few more years. So i really would like to get some net
          friend who wouldn't mind ME asking tons of questions sometimes ;] The best if he
          / she (prefer he, coz it's easier to catch male voice (accent) for me) would
          feel the same way, but to polish ;)
          Then- we would be effective i suppose lol.

          cheers
    • seth.destructor Re: Hello Jonathan, i have a few questions :) 29.12.08, 10:01
      I think the difference in pronunciation of Christ and Christmas is
      an accent: in Christmas "mas" had main accent. This happens in old
      compound words.
      Curiously, "shire" in "Gloucestershire Echo" may be pronounced
      as "szir" or "szajer", I heard both versions.
      BTW, I've seen a movie, where a British actor says: "sivilaizeiszn",
      and an American one: "sivilizeiszn"... (civilization).

      As of the "British accent". I think, you are taught the posh one,
      rather rare, I suppose. And it's true about an evil eye, especially
      when a foreigner speaks "posh". Although the true "posh" speaking,
      as I've read, means that you avoid uttering the vowels.

      You should try BBC Radio, (requires RealPlayer), there you may here
      many "British" accents.
      • Gość: Nevermind Re: Hello Jonathan, i have a few questions :) IP: *.chello.pl 30.12.08, 15:45
        Hi,

        Humm yeah, but how about "t"? :) ChrisTmas. And as we know- it's not pronounced.
        There is no glottal stop or anything i suppose. I wonder why :)

        Yes, as i checked there is a difference in Civilization in GB and US
        pronunciation, so you are right ;) It's good to know about that one coz when i
        had a lecture last time and my teacher said "sivilizejszn", i thought she's
        wrong coz i knew the another version of it ;] Anyway, there are a lot of such
        examples, differences between GB and UK pronunciation. Most often is with a word
        ending with "..our" (GB) and "...or" (US). eg. "valour" / "valor". The same is
        with "c" and "s", i mean there intertwine in those lg's. eg. "Cosy" (GB) and
        "Cozy" (US). But it's good to know about your example :)

        Yeah, i'm taught rather posh one. Humm yes, i don't pronounce long vowels but
        instead of that i put diphtong, like in "keuld" instead of "ko:ld"; but it's
        manner of speaking as well, it differs than normal brits i think. As you can
        hear in the rapidshare link ;]
        Yes, i listen to BBC sometimes, i like their accent the most ;]
        That's why i would like to find somebody with exactly the same one hehe.

        cheers
    • jonathan.oakley Re: Hello Jonathan, i have a few questions :) 30.12.08, 12:34
      Hi there and belated festive greetings. I am enjoying a holiday now until 08 Jan
      but wıll try to answer your question over the weekend.
      • Gość: Nevermind Re: Hello Jonathan, i have a few questions :) IP: *.chello.pl 30.12.08, 15:49
        Hi,

        no problem ;] I knew that you wouldn't reply instantly as i'm not lucky about
        such things, i'm kinda surprised that you answered at all haha ;) Thanks for
        letting me know about the delay. As i know you will reply someday, you don't
        have to hurry so much ;]

        Enjoy your holidays.
        Cheers
    • jonathan.oakley Re: Hello Jonathan, i have a few questions :) 02.01.09, 12:34
      HNY!! Lets get straight into your questions (İm using a Turkish keyboard so
      there may be some spelling mıstakes)

      1: We do have an ırregular prounicıation of CH: Chrıstmas ıs an example so too
      are CHAOS CHRISTIAN CHASM CHEMISTRY and so on..but why do we have the K sound
      for CH? The symbols that we use for English today are from the Roman language.
      But English contains words from Old English, Middle English, German, Latin,
      Greek, Arabic, Italian, and French. This makes English pronunciation sometimes
      dıfficult to comphrehend. Sometimes dıgraphs were invented to show the orıgın of
      the word. İn English, the digraph “Ch” has three sounds that make up the ch rule:

      Original English words, which begin with "ch" are pronounced like tf
      Greek-English words, which begin with "ch" are pronounced like a k
      French-English words, which begin with "ch" are pronounced like f

      2: Re: Asia İ have to China..Hong
      Kong..Malaysıa..Indonesıa..Japan..Korea..Thaıland...Phıllıpınes...Sıngapore..Vıetnam..Australıa..New
      Zealand..etc!! The best place to teach Englısh-if you want to make money-ıs
      Chına or Hong Kong..workıng for the Britısh Councıl you can expect to earn
      GBP3000 plus. Thaıland the money may not be so good..perhaps around USD1000..and
      ıt ıs best to approach local schools dırectly to secure the best rates..

      3: The best to imprı,ove your accent ıs to lısten and repeat Brıtsh-Englısh
      audıo..www.expressteacher.com uses my British-English voıce..you can practice
      for free!! The most ımportant aspect of improving your accent is to be aware of
      the corrections and start to use them ımmedıately. Lots of students think they
      just have to be ın a class and-by some magıcal process-they wıll start to speak
      better Engşlish!! Awareness and immedıate ımplementation are the keys to rapid
      progress. Speaking wıth a native English person ın a natural way wıll also help.
      Try Skype and see whos around.

      3: You could take lessons that help you wıth ıntonatıon but these can be very
      expensıve...you can get the same results by lıstenıng carefully and replıcatıng
      what you hear.

      4: I wouldnt lıke to say whether my accent ıs consıdered posh! Theres no need to
      speak wıth such elevated tones ıe posh. Posh Englısh came about (lısten to how
      Prınce Charles speaks) ın Colonıal Indıa when Englısh people used to speak
      wıthout movıng theır lıps as they dıdnt want the servants to understand what
      they were sayıng...or so the story goes!!

      Thanks for sendıng your fıle. I wıll try to lıstenb to ıt later and yes..from
      tıme to tıme you are welcome to post up audıo..ıf I have tıme I wıll check ıt.
      • Gość: Nevermind Re: Hello Jonathan, i have a few questions :) IP: *.chello.pl 04.01.09, 02:06
        Hello Jonathan, thanks for the reply :)

        Are you in Turkey? lol.

        1. I kinda meant sth else about this word but your information is also
        interesting :D For what i meant was why Christ is read as "krAIST"
        but christmas is read as "kRISM..." (without "ai" and what is most important for
        me > without "T" in the middle as "Christ" is normally read).

        2. WOW, you have very interesting life then!! I wish i could do like that in
        future too! Anyway, i'm not so keen on money as i'm keen on Thailand ;) But you
        know, in Thailand if you earn 30-40k bahts- you are God there ;) So you know,
        maybe in Britain 1000 USD is not much, but in Thailand it's a lot of money and
        you can easly live there not worrying too much if you can buy a beer or not ;)
        (i assume).
        Which country do you like best from these you've been to? Sorry for the personal
        question, i know that this forum if for questions related to english, but i
        can't help my curiousity :)
        Did you teach in Thailand? Or you were only as a tourist? (how shall i ask,
        "have you teached" and "you have been only as a tourist" or past simple as i
        did? Because i'm asking about the past, but i'm confused as it's also
        experience.. Besides you can go there again as a tourist. But i was asking for
        the state in the past humm, tell me pls :)).

        3. Yes, you are right, the best is to listen and repeat, but you can't know if
        you repeat correctly :) But certainly i will learn from your page in free time
        :) But to have a friend from UK would be the best for me, because i can always
        send a voice message asking if i said the sentence correct or maybe it sucked or
        it was slightly wrong (which i want to improve to sound as native ;)).
        I did as you recommended and i wrote to some guys via Skype but... It's not the
        same as have a guy who is interested in languages too. They answered some of my
        questions but when i was keep asking they got bored i think ;] So i didn't push
        and even didn't ask for being friends as i knew that they won't help me at all
        if i wanted to.
        So you don't know any maniac like me? :)

        4. About intonation, you are right, i mostly do like that and i have no problem
        with that, but this time i'm to read sentences from a piece of paper and next to
        each sentence there is some remark eg. HF (high fall) or some changing tone
        etc... The same with the attitude of the speaker, i need to know which
        intonation goes where. I need rather theoretical knowledge now :) About all
        kinds of tones with one example of each. Do you know some website where i could
        find it?

        5. Haha, that's a good story ;) (about posh accent).

        6. Of course the guy talking there isn't me- mind you :P
        But i have to memorize everything from it.. starting from accent, ending on
        pauses he makes (!). It has to be as close to the oryginal version as possible
        lol. I would LOVE to hear you imitate this guy :D:D Do you think you could give
        it a whirl? :D You could record and send me by some site like rapidshare. It
        would be really cool.

        7. (new question) I memorized an idiom from the movie "blew sb's top" and i used
        it in narrative i was to write during the lesson. But unfortunatelly the women
        told me that it's informal and i can't use it (only in direct speech if wanted
        to) :| And it was such a coincidence that i came across this idiom in a book one
        day after! And there was no annotation that it's informal (and next to some
        others- it was) so i assume that it's not informal, what do you think? It's a
        book for the students from Mark Skipper (Advanced grammar and vocabulary).
        Should i believe my teacher now or the book? (i'm inclined to the latter..). And
        the second idiom which she considered wrong was "get the jiters" which i know
        only from the movie so i can't judge her.

        Sorry for the poem again ;)
        cheers
        • Gość: Nevermind Re: Hello Jonathan, i have a few questions :) IP: *.chello.pl 04.01.09, 02:14
          PS: and if you can record it, would it be possible you to say it in a normal
          manner? Like you yourself would explain the reporter of what should be done in
          car accident ;] But of course if you find some free time.

          Here you have the "lyrics" (:)) from it (i marked the paused, but you wouldn't
          have to apply them in normal manner of course):

          "Yes, hmm, three things. First of all, you should check that the victims..
          abreathing. I mean if they not, give artificial respiration. The most common
          injuries in car accidents are in fact, fractures and bleeding. So the second
          thing to do, is to stop.. the bleeding. Thirdly, aa, very important, don't move
          the victim.. unless it's absolutely necessary, i mean if any bones are broken,
          the injury.. could be made much worse, by by moving, the victim. You should keep
          them warm, loosen any thight clothing and try to reassure them. They'll probably
          be suffering from shock, so just to stay with them.. until expert help arrive,
          is very good thing to do."
          • Gość: Nevermind Re: Hello Jonathan, i have a few questions :) IP: *.chello.pl 04.01.09, 02:17
            There are some mistakes in it as i see now ;] And the pauses are not properly
            marked, but i can see it just now as i've uttered these sentence like hundred
            times so far... I know it by heart (and we have to say it without reading it,
            just from memorizing).
        • jonathan.oakley Re: Hello Jonathan, i have a few questions :) 09.01.09, 19:51
          Looks like i have got some cathcing up to do after my holiday!
          Thanks for your patience:

          1: We sometimes don't pronounce consonants in certain words for the
          simple reason that it makes them easier to say. For example: 'I used
          to play football every Sunday.' You may notice that we don't
          pronounce the 'd' with 'used to'...because its easier to to say.

          2: Thanks for the compliment. I have favourite places rather than
          favourite countries. I like Hanoi in Vietnam. Great food and used to
          resemble a French provincial town from the 1930s..though I know it
          has a very pronounced skyline now. I never taught in Thailand. I
          went back and forth a number of times on business but loved going
          down to the Chao Praya river for coffee. Thai food must the hottest
          in Asia!

          3: Have a look at this site for some intonation games:

          www.englishmedialab.com/pronunciation.html
          4: Sounds fun but pls excuse me if I give it a miss this time due to
          schedule.

          5: I would definately buy a copy of the 'Oxford Dictionary of
          Idioms'though a good teacher should always say if a source is not
          reliable or they are unsure about something...
    • seth.destructor List of names in English with counterintuitive pro 03.01.09, 15:30
      List of names in English with counterintuitive pronunciations

      I thinkthis is interesting:>
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_names_in_English_with_counterintuitive_pronunciations
      • Gość: Nevermind Re: List of names in English with counterintuitiv IP: *.chello.pl 04.01.09, 01:27
        Ah, cool, thanks :)
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