Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Re: how bad is my english accent?

 
 
Your accent is very strong. When I looked away from the readout I found it 
hard to understand what you were saying, and in fact I lost the thread 
entirely.
 
Among other things, you pronounce the last syllable of past-tense verbs as 
they're written (i.e., '-ed') when in many cases the 'e' isn't pronounced.
 
e.g.: you say "change-ed" when it's pronounced changd (no 'e' sound; soft g).
And in that sentence, 'pronounced' is pronounced 'pronounct' (no 'e' sound; 
soft c).
 
I noticed when the actual video started, the actors have terrible acting 
skills and I wonder if that's part of what gives you trouble.
 
-- 
Joey from New York
Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator,
but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
   -- WH Auden
 

 understand a word of what I'm saying of imcomprehensible english
 
Sorry to be blunt, but yes.


 DON'T FEED TROLL
 
I know who he is; we all do. His posts here might annoy some, but he's within 
the TOS for this newsgroup to ask for help with his English.
 
If he bothers you, just killfile or otherwise ignore him
 
PS: Your post was far more offensive than his. Cursewords are not nice. In 
Russian, Italian OR English.


 Thanks a lots
 
(You can say "Thanks a lot" or "Thanks lots" which is less common, but not 
"Thanks a lots.)
 
This one was better.
Some exceptions I noted were:
 
You still pronounced "jumped" with two syllables, where it has only one.
jumpt
 
The first 'I' in 'crisis' is a diphthong.
craisis
 
Same with the 'I' in 'climate'; the 'A' is a schwa.
claim@t
 
Both words, 'turned' and 'changed' are one syllable. 
toernd; chanjd ('oe' as in German; long-a in 'changed.')
 
I think some combinations, like the '-ped' and  '-ged' endings are difficult 
for a speaker of Italian because of the 'pt' and 'jd' pronunciation, but you 
did better with 'engaged' (see below.)
 
The word is 'lethal' not 'letal'.
The 'E' is an Italian 'I'; the 'th' is unvoiced.
 
There's that long-I again in 'blinded' and 'vital'.
blaind@d; vait@l
 
You did okay on 'engaged'; you elided the 'E' in the "ed" ending.
Do the same with 'changed' and the others, and you're there.
 
 
 
jumped =jampéd i/o jampt
crisis = crisis i/o craisis
climtate = climat i/o claim@t
turned = toernéd i/o toernd  (oe as in German)
changed =cheinjéd i/o cheinjd
letal s/b spelled lethal = lith@l with unvoiced 'th'
blinded = blinded i/o blaind@d
vital =vital i/o vait@l
engaged = GOOD!
 
Onward and upward! :)


 all right!, I'll try again, stay tuned! :-)
 
I didn't mean to include that last bit in my message; those were the 'notes' 
I was takingn while listening to your recording. I just forgot to delete it 
before sending.
 
In case you're wondering, 'i/o' means 'instead of,' and 's/b' means 'should 
be.'
 
Some people have natural a mimetic ability and for them, speaking, mimicking 
what they hear, is relatively easy. For others, not so much, so more work is 
needed: listen more closely and don't feel odd about producing sounds that 
you think are unnatural.
 
At the start of my Russian studies, words like 'ftornik' and 'vbanke' were 
nearly impossible to replicate. Now they're easy! Keep at it.


>> engaged = GOOD!
 
How diligent!
 
Kiuhnm

 tongue still speak italian language :-)
 
Try transliterating the words as they should be pronounced, just for this 
reading. Read from the altered spellings.
 
In other words: chang'd, engag'd, turn'd.
 
Here are some things I picked up:
 
Pronunciation:
You said
calléd x 2
turnéd
changéd
naméd
 
call'd
turn'd
chanj'd
nam'd (neimd)
 
blinnded =>blAInded
 
peniNsula (Not penisula; I didn't hear the second N)
I know it's penisola in Italian  we have an N in there.
 
Also:
 
In Italy a lethal decline began ("began" is better than "started" and 
"process" isn't needed here)
 
Remember the H in "lethal."
 
turned the situation upside down
Not "turned upside down the situation"
 
*The* Italian people didn't understand 
 
 one day *the* entire Italian peninsula
Not "one day all Italian peninsula"
 
*The* United States Europe Army (x 2)
 
*the* marines sprang into action ("sprang into" is better than 'get in')
Or at least use the same tense: got into action
 
in 2050 (not *the* 2050)
 
There are some other grammatical problems but I was focusing on the 
pronunciation.


did better with 'engaged' (see below.)
 
In italian almost all words end with a vowel, but we have many
syllables that end with a consonant. fer-men-to, ab-bas-tan-za.
 
And it's not too difficult to end a word where one could end a
syllable.
 
The worst case (for an italian speaker) is an ending obstruent (in
particular an unvoiced obstruent, because no syllable in italian ends
in that manner).
You hear better our "jd" than "pt" because the "@" that we tend to
insert in the voiced case can seem only a strong release of the
consonant while in the unvoiced there is a clear sonorization of an
otherwise totally unvoiced sound.
 
 
-- 
Ci sono 10 tipi di persone al mondo: quelle che capiscono il sistema binario
e quelle che non lo capiscono.

 in that manner).
 
This is good info for the OP.


 saying, and in fact I lost the thread entirely.
 
se penso che lo parla molto meglio di me... :(


Mi hai incuriosito. Dai commenti di Joe mi ero fatto l'idea che 
l'accento di 65C02 fossero *davvero* bad, ma il tuo post mi lascia 
perplesso.
Vado ad ascoltermelo anch'io e soprattutto a vedere se riesco a capirlo 
senza leggere.
 
Kiuhnm


I listened to it. Nope, I can't fully understand it without the help of 
the transcription. That "music" doesn't help.
I think that the main problem is the rhythm and the prosody.
 
Kiuhnm

 il tuo post mi lascia perplesso.
 
La cosa è presto spiegata... non ho mai avuto lezioni
regolari d'inglese (a scuola gli insegnanti sono sempre
stati latitanti E, soprattutto, a me non interessava). Poi
ho dovuto imparare qualche parola per gli articoli
scientifici, documentazione PC e simili. Troppo tardi ho
scoperto che per il mio bene sarebbe stato meglio
impegnarmi tanto e chiedere ai miei di iscrivermi a corsi
di una seconda lingua straniera.
 
Non parlando proprio l'inglese, mi sono fatto un'idea
tutta mia della pronuncia che ovviamente non è quella
reale. Da pochi mesi ho scoperto una serie di documentari
BBC in inglese coi sottotitoli in inglese e posso
associare il suono allo scritto. Un buon 30% delle parole
ha una pronuncia totalmente diversa da come credevo fosse.
E sì che, come noto, la pronuncia è molto più "regolare"
di come noi italiani crediamo che sia, il che la dice
lunga sul livello disastroso della mia conoscenza della
lingua.
 
ciao!
 
Apx.
 


Allora hai una conoscenza, come quasi tutti noi italiani, un po' 
sbilanciata dell'inglese. La pronuncia è un optional che spesso arriva 
molto più tardi del resto :)
Come sei messo con la comprensione orale?
 
Kiuhnm


 
pure peggio... :/
 

 Togli i sottotitoli quanto prima, perche' finirai per leggere
 
This is good advice. I would even go so far as to suggest not looking at the 
screen while you listen. I've mentioned this before: I discovered totally by 
accident that when I'm not specifically watching a report or program in a 
foreign language but instead I'm merely listening, I often understand more of 
what I'm hearing.
 
It's as though the act of trying to process the visual at the same time as 
the aural makes it harder for me to understand what I'm hearing.
 
Maybe it's just me. I've never pretended to be 'normal.' :)


 three: floor
 
:)
 
Or to quote Dorothy Parker:
 
I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most.
After three I'm under the table,
after four I'm under my host.
 
-- 
Joey from New York
Among those whom I like or admire, I can findï¿œno common denominator,
but among thoseï¿œwhom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
ï¿œ ï¿œ-- WH Auden
 

 host.
 
non resta che aggiungere "...and a gangbang after the
fifth" ^_^
 

         -- James Thurber 
 
It takes only one drink to get me drunk. The trouble is, I can't remember if 
it's the thirteenth or the fourteenth.
     -- George Burns
 
-- 
Joey from New York
Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator,
but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
   -- WH Auden
 

 thanks lots
 
Here you go. Go wild!
http://www.youtube.com/user/AccurateEnglish
 
 
-- 
Joey from New York
Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator,
but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
   -- WH Auden
 

 
http://www.youtube.com/user/AccurateEnglish
 
 
These are also interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc2Y7xxkp5s
    (this is just part 1)
 
Kiuhnm