Readable Blog

Happy new year!

Here’s a nice resource if you would like to know how to say the name of a client, a penpal, or even a character in a book that you’re reading: Hear Names (howtosaythatname.com). You can search for a family name (surname) or personal name (M=male, F=female), and then click for audio to hear it. They don’t have every name, but they have a lot of names. (They don’t have my personal name, but they do have my surname.) It’s not perfect, but it’s a good start if you don’t know how to pronounce a name at all.

There are some nice features, such as having different “origins” for one name. Names like “Laura” are pronounced very differently in English-speaking countries like the USA and Canada compared to how they’re pronounced in countries in Europe, South America, etc. There may be many pronunciations for one name.

If there’s no information for a name, you can click on Request a Name. I don’t know how quickly they add names, but I hope they’ll add my name someday!

There is another website you can try, Pronounce Names, but it’s less good. They use a strange way of spelling the names’ sounds that will only make sense to some native English speakers.

In an older post, I mentioned that there is a way to find out if a name is usually male or female.

Watch out for these two phrases. Many students confuse them, but their meanings are actually very different. When you use “almost all (of)”/”most (of)” with a noun phrase, and “almost” with a verb phrase, the meanings can be opposite!

“Almost all (of)” means 80-99% (not all, but close to all).

“Most (of)” means more than half, maybe 55-99%.

“Most” and “almost all” are very close to each other. You can use them in similar ways. “Almost all” is a little stronger. If I say “I liked almost all of the food I ate in Taiwan,” it’s stronger than “I liked most of the food I ate in Taiwan.” But both sentences mean that generally I liked the food I ate there.

Let’s talk about “almost all (of)” and “most (of)” only with noun phrases for now. Here are some examples, with underlined noun phrases: most of my friends, almost all of the movies, most of the shops, almost all people, most kittens.

“Almost” means nearly, not quite, close to.

“Almost” goes with verb phrases very often. Here are some examples with just verb phrases,in bold: almost married, almost won the lottery, almost miss the exit, almost bought a car, almost died, almost finished eating.

Anyway, here are some examples of a sentence type where confusing “almost all/most of” and “almost” can really change your meaning:

• Almost all of the students passed the test.
  Congratulations! The majority of the class members passed the test! There were 30 students and 28 received a grade of C or better. Great!
• Most of the students passed the test.
  Congratulations! The majority of the class members passed the test! There were 30 students and 22 received a grade of C or better. Great!
• The students almost passed the test.
  Oh, no. The students got very low scores. Their scores were close to a passing grade, but not close enough. All of the students got less than 50% on the test. They were very close to passing, but they didn’t, so they failed.

(And remember to use “all of,” “most,” or put “almost” in the right place every time. You can’t say “almost the students passed.” First, this is ungrammatical. Second, the listener will be confused and not know what you meant. The listener can’t guess whether you meant “almost all of the students passed,” “most of the students passed,” or “the students almost passed.” When you’re speaking English, you can often make small mistakes and still be understood, but not with this kind of phrase!)

• Almost all of the flowers died.
  I went on vacation for two weeks and didn’t water my 20 roses. 17 of the roses died.
• Most of the flowers died.
  I went on vacation for two weeks and didn’t water my 20 roses. 15 of the roses died.
• The flowers almost died.
  I went on vacation. After one week, I remembered that my roses needed to be watered. I called my neighbor and asked if she’d water them. She said the flowers looked very bad! However, she took care of them until I got back. When I came back, my roses were fine. My roses came close to dying because I forgot about them.

Does it make sense? You have to be careful with this one, because you can accidentally change your meaning completely. Watch out!

If you’re an adult, you should check out the Real ESL blog. This blog includes video conversations and explanations of normal spoken English (including slang). Kim, the blogger, makes her own videos to explain things to you. Currently, she has videos about everything from pronouncing “th” to ordering coffee at Starbucks.

You should be at an intermediate or advanced level to use these videos. You should be an adult, too, because Kim feels that it’s useful to be able to understand and use “swear words.” These are words that most English-speaking adults use when they are angry or joking or speaking very strongly, but you can also get into a lot of trouble if you use them incorrectly.

I hope you’ll check out Kim’s videos and make sure to visit her blog regularly.

(Another good resource for learning to speak natural-sounding English is the Speak English Like an American book and CD series. I’ll be reviewing these soon.)

That’s the question asked by Professor Joseph L. Mbele, who is from Tanzania but teaches English at St. Olaf College in Minnesota (USA).

The answer is yes. Everyone has an accent. I have an accent when I speak Chinese or Japanese, but I also have an accent when I speak English. The way you speak even your native language is determined by your family, where you grow up, your education, etc. I speak American English, of course, but my speaking is affected by my Californian parents, my Midwestern relatives, being raised in the South, and so forth.

Professor Mbele also asks this:

Why should someone with a proper Nigerian or Ugandan accent be pressured to speak like an American? Why should someone with a proper Jamaican or British accent be pressured to speak like an American? In Africa, no one asks foreigners to speak English like Africans: the British speak with their own accent; so do the Indians, the Australians and others.

You can read “Do You Have an Accent?” at The African News Journal. I highly recommend reading it yourself.

Anyway, happy New Year!

Recently I started using a new textbook with someone I’m tutoring. When I looked up the book’s website, I found out that the publisher (Cambridge) has put lots of free games online. You can practice with these games even if you don’t have the book, or to decide if you’d like to buy the book (naturally, the books are not free!). Although Cambridge is a British publisher, they publish both British English and North American English books. They’ve created a huge database of real North American English language in use, and many of their newer books are based on this source. The language in these books is more authentic and more useful because it’s based on the way people actually talk and write.

• This is the Level 1 book in the series I’m using with my student now:
  

  To play the games, go to the Interchange Arcade. Choose your level from the left. Then click on Unit or Sort by Activity, and choose what you want to practice. The games are simple, but have good graphics and sound. You can practice grammar, listening comprehension, and more.

• Touchstone is another series from Cambridge:
  

  You can try out the Touchstone Arcade. Again, pick your level of difficulty (1-4), and then try the activities. They even have some good listening/pronunciation activities, such as choosing which vowel in a word is silent. There’s a “Report” button that lets you see your progress.

• I haven’t used the Connect series with any students, because it’s for kids. But if you know a younger learner of English, maybe he or she would enjoy the Connect Arcade.
• Another book I use is Business Vocabulary in Use. It includes both American and British English, and is meant for self-study (so you can use it on your own). If you use English in your career, I really recommend these books. There are three levels. There’s no game site, which is too bad, because I think businesspeople like to play games, too! Oh, well. The activities in the books are creative and interesting, so give the series a try. Right now, I’m using the Intermediate book:
  

If you have a recent English textbook or dictionary from a major publisher, try looking up the title on the publisher’s website. You might find free downloadable worksheets, games, etc. These games are a nice change of pace from using a book all the time!