English from Brasil # 26 | A vó (também) estrangeira
Na edição anterior: English from Brasil #25 | Um pão de queijo
Hello, hello!
Um causo
Minha avó paterna era portuguesa. Portuguesa de Portugal. Quando eu era criança, ela já estava velhinha. Eu, como uma boa criança, falava enrolado, não sabia projetar a minha voz ou falar com clareza. Que nada ajudava com a surdez da vó. Minha mãe, fazia as traduções simultâneas do meu resmungado infantil.
A mãe também me ajudava a entender o sotaque da vó, tão puxado, do norte. A infância inteira eu achei curioso demais que minha avó era estrangeira e a gente nunca aprendeu a falar a língua uma da outra.
A quote
"Words are free. It's how you use them that may cost you." — Unknown
A lesson
I talked a lot about phrasal verbs this week! If you have no idea what a phrasal verb is, this lesson is a good start.
A question
When was the last time you had to figure something out on your own? What was it? How did you feel?
(Aproveita a pergunta para praticar o seu inglês nos comentários!)
FIVE Random Things
🔇 You don't communicate with me! [link]
🪑 How much exercise should we do if we sit all day? [link]
🌉 A cat bridge! [link]
👴🏽 Old men for rent [link]
🍃 I cannot wait until I can what Season 3 of Heartstopper! [link for the trailer] If you like comics, I highly recommend them too [link]
Se você gostou dessa edição, encaminha para os amigos?
See you next week! 👋🏽
Karen Rito
English from Brasil 🌎✨
Answers
Here are the answers to last week’s Lesson.
You can find it here: #25 What do you have an accent in a foreign language?
The main topic discussed in the video is why people have different accents when speaking a foreign language and how various elements like sounds, stress, and rhythm affect pronunciation.
A Spaniard might pronounce "Spain" as "eh-Spain" because in Spanish, words do not start with the consonant combination "sp". Therefore, they add a vowel sound to make it easier to pronounce.
The difference in pronunciation of the word "Paris" in English and French is that in English, there is a puff of air when saying "Paris," while in French, the puff of air is removed, making the pronunciation softer and closer to "Par-ee".
In English, stress is often placed on a specific syllable with a secondary stress, whereas in French, stress is usually placed on the final syllable of each word with a higher pitch and greater volume.
A syllable-timed language is one where every syllable is pronounced with roughly the same duration. Cantonese and Italian are examples of syllable-timed languages mentioned in the video.
Gap-Fill Exercise: Why You Have a Different Accent in a Foreign Language
Word Bank: accent / stress / native / sounds / rules / syllable / foreign / pronounceable / language
The video explains why people often speak with a different accent when using a foreign language. The first reason is that different sounds are used in different languages. For example, the sound of "p" in French is not the same as in English. Sometimes, people follow the rules of their own language to make words more pronounceable. For example, Spanish speakers might say "eh-Spain" because "sp" at the start of a word doesn’t exist in Spanish.
Another reason is stress. In English, words often have a primary and secondary syllable, while in French, the emphasis is usually on the final syllable of a word. This makes it hard for some speakers to switch between the rhythm and stress patterns of their native language and English.