Hi,

Let’s begin to work on vowel sounds in pairs. One of my mistakes was that I couldn’t differentiate between two vowels: the long E vowel (like in sheep) and short I vowel (like in ship). Understanding the difference between these two vowels is very important, otherwise you can misunderstand others, or you can be misunderstood and get into an awkward situation. For example, if you say shit instead of sheet during a presentation, or bitch instead of beach, or piss instead of peace, you may seem offensive, vulgar or very rude. You have to be careful. In this article, I will mention Rachel’s English (including her video channel) and Mandy’s pronuncian.com podcast.

sheep vs ship.jpgYou can read more here.

Hi,
Let’s jump to a serious topic that I’ve had the most difficulties with in my English learning: the system of the American English vowel sounds. I won't tell you that I haven’t had any problems with consonants, But for now I’d like to concentrate on vowel sounds. This entry will be rather long. Sorry guys, I have to go through it. Hopefully it won’t be as painful as a tooth extraction! First, I must explain how I will name the American English vowels.  
I had some main problems relating to vowels when I learned them:

  1. Firstly, in school we weren’t taught at all how to correctly create  the English vowel sounds. For example, we didn't learn the difference in pronunciation between 'one man' and 'two men'. We were taught the same sound for these two words. We were told to use the Hungarian ‘e’ sound for both. But the Hungarian ‘e’ sound doesn’t equal either the vowel sound in man nor the vowel sound in men.
  2. Later in my English learning career, if something was taught in school, it was in British English.

You can read more here.

Interview with Gardeniafly

 2014.02.09. 15:10
Hi everyone,
jessica profile.jpgStarting with this post, I'm beginning a new series within my blog. I plan to conduct interviews with some teachers whom I work with or whose materials I use. The first teacher I spoke with is Gardeniafly. You can read her comments at the bottom of each blog post.
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gfly gardenia.jpg

Hi everyone,
I'm writing today’s entry because a lot of people have asked me to speak about idioms. What is an idiom? An idiom is “a group of words that have a special meaning that is very different from the ordinary meaning of the separate words” (from the Longman Dictionary of American English). Americans (and other native English speakers) use a great number of idioms. It makes the English language beautiful, varied and alive. However, it also makes the language learner’s life difficult. But believe me, it’s a great adventure. In this series within my blog, I’m going to introduce books, websites, and video channels that can help you. An important notice: I never use other people thoughts as mine. I always indicate the source. I can’t show all the idioms, it’s impossible, but I can show you where you can learn idioms from.
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My American life - Part two

 2014.01.26. 15:32
Hi everyone,

In the first part of this entry, I began to summarize the long period of time that I spent in the United States. I spoke about the greatest challenge, the first nice experience, the most frequent experience (diversity), and I showed pictures of the nicest places I visited. A great Hungarian blog called “My Life in America and Afterwards” (Élet Amerikában és utána) published my entry in Hungarian as well. Let’s continue.

You can read more here

My American life - Part one

 2014.01.22. 21:55

Hi everyone,

I’ve mentioned in other entries that I spent a long period of time in the United States. I’ve received several questions about it; in addition, I was asked to write a whole entry on what I experienced over there. Not only did readers of my blog ask for me to do this, but also the author of a great Hungarian blog called “My life in America and Afterwards” (ÉletAmerikában és utána). If you can speak Hungarian,  you should definitely visit it. So I decided to write the same entries in two languages: an original English version and a Hungarian version. So this is the second bilingual entry after “The Communist Army and the English Language”  & “A kommunista hadsereg és az angolnyelv”.
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American English University

 2014.01.16. 20:04
Hi everyone,

As I mentioned before, I spent a long period of time in the States. I wrote several messages on the thoughts and ideas I had over there which I use as a basis for my entries. Because I also get many questions from readers that I try to pay to attention to, I get new ideas from them as well. Today, I'm writing this post based on three questions I have received: (1) “Why do you prefer American English to British English?”, (2) “When I hear Americans speaking, I don’t understand them at all. How can I improve my comprehension skills?”, and (3) “Rachel’s English and Pronuncian.com are great, but could you recommend something that does not expand week by week? So, in other words, could you recommend a series of DVD's or a book that can help me develop an American accent?” So let’s get started answering these questions.

You can read more here.

Hi everyone,
I mentioned in my previous entry, I had an adventurous life between graduation in 1986 and beginning college in 1988. After graduation I received an order to serve one year in the Army. In addition I had to serve in the military base furthest from my home. What is the connection between the communist army and the English language? I’m going to tell you. On Friday (January 17th), this story will be available in Hungarian as well. Former soldiers are speaking about their experiences in the army on the Hungarian Milstoryblog

Hi everyone,

Welcome back. Now let’s begin to work seriously. For this post, I'll write about some methods that show the pronunciation of English words in written form. At the same time, I would like to talk about the wall that was built in my brain as a consequence of my first English teacher. Later, other teachers were able to demolish this hindering wall. I'll try to connect different methods with my personal experiences.

Hi everyone,

Some people might think, “Taking notes? Not a big deal! I just write down what I hear.” If you can do that, you’re lucky. Now consider writing down only a small part of what you hear. If you know any shorthand methods , you’re lucky again. Most people don’t know shorthand. You have to take notes as effectively as possible since this is a key factor in your success on the TOEFL  exam which, in turn, can be important in fulfilling your dreams of working or studying in the United States. Jaime’s  excellent course can help you learn how to take notes well.

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