Takako's great Adventure - Episode 01

Hey there!

Now I'm coming with a very helpful and interesting story named Takako's great adventure. It's a story about a girl named Takako, who is traveling to meet a girl in a different country. It sounds simple but during the trip, many interesting and amazing things happen to her.

This is the first episode out of a total of 10. It is intended for you to practice your English listening skills.

In the next post about TGA (Takako's Great Adventure) I will upload a file with the script of this chapter and in this post, I will publish some vocabulary that you will need to be able to understand it better.

As you all must know, I don't believe translation is the best way to learn English. So I will try to give the simplest possible explanation for the vocabulary and in many cases I will put a picture next to the word, so that you can understand it easier.

TIP: 
DO NOT TRANSLATE. 
Try to understand the meaning of the words without translating. For pronunciation references, consult the posts in the pronunciation section of this blog.

Here is the file to listen:


Here's the vocabulary for this chapter.

Landing: When the plane comes down to the ground. Figure # 1.
Fasten: To close || To secure || To immobilize. Figure # 2.
Upright (position): Straight in vertical position. Figure # 3.
Dotting: That looks like dots. || DOT is this symbol ( . ) [Like a point]
Pen-pal: A friend by correspondence, email, letters.
Baggage: Bags when you travel. Luggage.
Customs: The official department that administers and collects the duties levied by a government on imported goods.
Drizzle: Light rain.
Trudge: To walk with difficulty.
Dodge: To avoid touching something. || to avoid being hit by something. eg. When somebody throws a ball to you, you move to dodge it.
Hike: A long walk or walking tour.
Banter: A fiendly conversation with jokes.
Buckle up your seatbelt: Figure # 2.

Expressions:
Get by: To manage with difficulty. eg. I have a problem but I'll do what I can to get by.
At last: Finally.
Didn't mind: didn't pay attention || didn't care || didn't give importance.
Jet lag: To have jet lag, is to be tired after a long plane trip.

Read you later!
Emmnl Oblong.



Thanks to:
Takako's Great Adventure is copyright © by Brian Rhodes

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2 sonidos muy similares AUDIO

Hey there!

En este post, vengo a complementar una entrada anterior donde hablé acerca de dos sonidos muy similares y que a menudo se confunden con un par de archivos de sonido en donde incluyo ejemplos para que puedas escuchar la diferencia entre uno y otro sonidos. Son dos archivos de sonido muy cortos, donde solamente escucharás la pronunciación del sonido y unos cuantos ejemplos para que logres distinguirlos.


Aquí puedes acceder al post donde hablo más específicamente sobre estos dos sonidos. (En inglés, puedes practicar tu lectura también)
Aquí puedes acceder al post sobre pronunciación 3ra parte, donde incluyo una explicación en español acerca de estos dos sonidos.

Estos son los símbolos de los sonidos a los que nos vamos a referir en este post, con su respectivo archivo de sonido:



Estos son los ejemplos que se mencionan en el audio:
eat | eagle | team 







Estos son los ejemplos que se mencionan en el audio:
kid | it | I like it 
Al final lo que se escucha es solo una confirmación del sonido aislado y nuevamente la palabra it.


Insisto, igual que en los otros posts. Si quieres lograr una pronunciación correcta, necesitas muchas práctica, pronuncia los sonidos de manera aislada como se muestran aquí y escucha mucha música. Una canción (horrible por cierto xD) es That's the way (I like it) me parece que es de los Backstreet boys. Otra donde se nota muy clara esta diferencia es Beat it de Michael Jackson.

Read you later!

Emmnl Oblong.

¡La mejor manera de decir gracias es subscribirte o dejar un comentario o recomendar el sitio a tus amigos! :)

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Pronunciación - [ Schwa ] AUDIO

Hey there!

En uno de los posts anteriores hablábamos acerca de la pronunciación de uno de los sonidos más importantes del idioma inglés. El sonido denominado como "schwa" (click aquí para ver post en una nueva pestaña o ventana).  Este es el símbolo:

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Sonidos del Inglés, (AUDIO)

Hi there,

De vuelta por aquí, en esta ocasión, les traigo los sonidos del inglés con audio. Sólo den click en el reproductor y empezarán a escuchar los sonidos como se deben pronunciar correctamente.

Aquí les dejo (otra vez) la imagen de la tabla de sonidos completa.

Y aquí está el audio:





Este es un curso de inglés gratis, si te ha gustado, deja un comentario, subscríbete al blog, o recomiéndalo. Es la mejor manera de decir "gracias"

Read you later!

Emmnl Oblong.

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Pronunciación - 4ta parte [ Schwa ]

Hey there!

Este post está dedicado únicamente a un sonido. Este sonido es muy importante para lograr una pronunciación correcta del inglés así que les recomiendo poner mucha atención y practicar su pronunciación en voz alta durante este post.

Antes de comenzar voy a poner las respuestas al ejercicio del post anterior.

Ejercicio: Pronunciación - 3ra parte.
   Respuestas:
   1. that | 2. three | 3. sir | 4. this | 5. these
   6. third | 7. war | 8. week | 9. rock | 10. thin

Ahora sí. Este post está dedicado a un sonido al que conocemos formalmente como "Schwa", y es el sonido de la imagen siguiente:

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Pronunciación - 3ra parte

Ok, finalmente está aquí la tercera parte de los posts sobre los sonidos del inglés.

Las partes anteriores fueron largas quizás pero sencillas. Antes que nada, te recomiendo empezar repasando todos los sonidos que has aprendido: Aquí está la tabla de sonidos para que los puedas repasar:

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Cho-co-leit !!?? WRONG

Ok, I know, it's been a while since my last update, but here it is -finally.

This time the post is dedicated to intermediate to advanced learners, and it is a pronunciation tip for words, like chocolate, that we normally pronounce wrong. PLEASE (!) DO NOT PRONOUNCE CHO-CO-LEIT.


First of all NEVER use this kind of pronunciation guides. They're absolutelly wrong. You don't pronounce "jaguar you" or "jaus". I mean, it's not German. Sounds must be much softer and this and there are many sounds whici we can't pronounce in Spanish. This is why I provide this pronunciation tool, where I list all the phonems of English with examples of words which use the correct pronunciation.

Ok. Now... I don't want to make this too gramatical, but I will mention some grammar rules though. Anyway, I'll try to make this the simpler I can.

WARNING: This is not a rule, and it musn't be listed as such. It is a standard, but there are plenty of exceptions.

Ok, now, just answer to yourself: what is the pronunciation of the word "chocolate"? If your answer is "cho-co-leit" you are absolutelly........ WRONG!

The deal is very simple.

I will tell you a couple of sounds which I need you to pay a lot of attention to.

This is the sound we use for words like late, cake, plate, ate (past of eat), play, say, etc. and the other sound is:
which is the sound of words like it (remember the song -veeery ugly song- "that's the way aha aha I like it" they don't say I like eat. Another example is Michael Jackson's song "Beat it" in this song it's very easy to note the difference, it's soft, not stressed. When you stress it, you must make a face like you're smiling. Beat which uses this sound  is stressed, it is not. Other examples are kit, kid, kick, sing, NOT SEE, EAT, KEEP, etc... remember, it must be soft.

Ok, with this basis settled we can start with the explanation.

Chocolate uses the same pronunciation of this sound in the end. Yes, that's right. It's pronunciation is the same as in the song "Beat IT" not stressed, and not like the action "to eat" in past "ATE". Get it?

The reason is simple: Chocolate is not an action (Verb)

The standard then would be explained as follows:

Actions finishing in -ate must be pronounced 
All other words (descriptions [adjectives or adverbs], names or concepts [nouns]) must be pronounced as(yes, like the song)

The same happens when you pronounce words like delicate, indicate, dedicate, etc.

She's a very delicate girl. (Not an action) 
I dedicate this song to you. (Action) 
He's a dedicate father. (Not an action)
I will indicate the instructions to be followed. (Action) 

So: How do you pronounce both of the following lines?

1. Waiter, can you separate our bills, please?
2. Waiter, can you give us separate bills, please?

Read you later!

Emmnl Oblong.

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By the way, this symbol @ is read "AT" my e mail is eoblong@gmail.com this should be read like this: eoblong at gmail dot com.

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Enjoy!

Read you later!

Emmnl Oblong.

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