English Matters

Nithya, Speaking as an ESL speaker, I found that immersion is the only way to get the various accents. Watch movies, listen to news, go to conversation and coffee groups, etc. About other accents, it is difficult always, but maybe you could ask them to slow down. As you are clearly a fluent English speaker, you may have a tendency to speak too quickly for them to understand your accent**. Slowing down may help them understand you.

HTH.

**I know that I have this problem.

Nithya

I'm sorry that some people are rude and abrupt on the phone when you can't understand them immediately. For what it's worth, I think it's only natural for anyone in a foreign country to have to get used to understanding (and being understood), since there are so many aspects of language that differ from place to place, like accent, vocabulary, tone, etc.

It is very good that you are persevering nonetheless, and I don't think you necessarily need ESL lessons. Like Confused211 said, practice and time should solve your problems. Speaking on the phone can be especially difficult, since so many of the cues we use in face-to-face interactions, like lip-reading, body language, and facial expressions, are absent.

One thing you can try is try to repeat to the person what you THINK they said/want - if you get it wrong, hopefully they'll repeat their request. This will buy you some time as you try to process what they have said. Also, try to use humour or a light-hearted attitude to diffuse tension when you sense the conversation is not going so well. Sometimes, people respond better on the phone to a friendly voice.

Watching sub-titled movies is another great way to get a grasp of accents. Watch American movies with the English sub-titles on (sometimes called English for the Hearing-Impaired in the menu). When you hear dialogue, and read it at the same time, you will automatically become accustomed to the accent, since you will start to make connections between words as they are said in the new accent, and words as you know and can read them.

Some people have a great ear for accents, and some people really struggle. So, you may never become perfect at understanding all the different accents you hear in your volunteer job, but I think that's normal. Here are a few links to articles that may help you:

ESL Advices Blog: Best Way To Improve Your English: Using Voice Of America Podcasts to Improve Listening and Speaking Ability

Audio for ESL/EFL: VOA's Special English Programs in a Podcast RSS Feed

speech accent archive: browse
This is a good resource for you - click on "language/speakers" to browse recordings of different accents.

Irish tops 'World's Sexiest Accents' poll - Express India

The last link is a bit of fun - apparently the Irish are considered to have the world's sexiest accent!

Nithya, I hope this helps you in some way. Keep practising, and be confident in your own abilities. I think you are doing a wonderful thing by volunteering, and even though it may be hard sometimes, you are courageous to keep at it. Good luck!

Knot2Share

There is no queue for queries in English Matters as such, but what good manners you have!

I think both prepositions sound right:

first Tuesday in November

first Tuesday of November

So, I agree with you that either is acceptable. Prepositions are tricky creatures, and I can't think of a single good reason why either choice above should be wrong, or preferable to the other. Maybe someone else has more light to shed on this issue...

Thanks for your question!

Thank you very much Ansuya for clarifying that. I enjoy going through this thread. Very informative and all of you contributing to assist our queries are doing a fabulous job. Good Day to all!

I am trying to help a 15 year old with her English lessons - she is the daughter of our domestic help and the school believes that if you were to teach Shakespeare's love sonnet, then the children will be lead astray. But I find she finds it difficult to pronounce simple words and has no concept of what sound which letters make. I can start with starfall or something that I use with my child, but that'll be too elementary for her. Phonics flashcards again do not keep her interest. Are there are other resources for a teen, perhaps. She is so afraid of even greeting me in English, but clearly conversational English is needed for the career path she wants to go on. Any ideas on where I can start with her!
P.s. English is the only subject she is consistently failing...

Tikka, I'm thinking about your concerns and I'll get back to you as soon as I can (in-laws are here!). In the meantime, look at this - it hasn't got anything to do with English, but I love it :))

The ‘Slumdog’ factor - Ultrabrown

LOL, I love watching ice-skating (and I think this pair was really good). But the choreography is not my cuppa, too stereotyped. Not quite bollywood and not quite bharatnatyam, just the American interpretation of what is Indian. Thanks for sharing the link, anyway

Tikka, I'm glad you liked the video. I think they're Americans inspired by Bollywood/Slumdog, so authenticity would be too much to expect. It's Indian-themed choreography, and it doesn't pretend to be anything else. Now if they were trained bharatnatyam dancers who also happened to be American award-winning figure skaters, I might agree with you that this is "stereotyped". But I'm assuming they're not, so it just makes me so happy to watch this sort of thing. I love anything that's Indian-fusion, perhaps because that's the story of my life. I can see, however, how it would seem "not real enough" to a real, real Indian person such as yourself :)

LOL at the real Indian person! I am currently wearing a The Doors T-shirt and leggings.

I prefer this slice of Indian-a
Michael Jackson & INDIAN DANCE - Odissi Video
and MJ's interpretation of it .

Tikka, here's a really quick reply to your question - your young charge surely deserves better from me, but I'm swamped here ;)

I'm assuming she's hampered by adolescent self-consciousness. It is hard to learn to speak a language without practice, and making mistakes will necessarily follow. Can you explain all this to her, and create a safe environment in which she can practise? I'm not sure what's making her reluctant to speak with you, since I'm sure you are doing a great job of making her feel comfortable. Try to talk to her about what's bothering her, and maybe that will help you to address her reluctance to speak. She won't make much progress unless she masters those basic sounds, as you have pointed out.

I'm looking for resources for teenagers but can only find adult phonic worksheets. Here is an example:

English Is Soup! ...a phonics resource for ESL adults

I'm not sure if this will hold her attention, but at least there isn't anything childish about it. There are some good suggestions on this site:

Teaching Teens Phonics | eHow.com

but I'm not sure if you have the time to personally implement some of these measures with her.

Most of the really good lesson plans I see for teenagers online are class activities, so I'm not sure how you would adapt them for one-on-one tuition. This site

Onestopenglish | Teenagers: games

has great games to play for English learning. Maybe you can work something out. Good luck! Your maid's daughter is lucky to have you take such an interest in her. Hopefully, some of our other English Matters correspondents can give you more help :)