MakiMaki Triglot Newbie Poland Joined 4270 days ago 11 posts - 16 votes Speaks: Polish*, Spanish, English Studies: German
| Message 1 of 6 27 May 2014 at 10:11pm | IP Logged |
Hi everyone!
I was wondering for so long if I should start a logbook. At the end, after months of
hesitation, I decided to start one. It'll be mostly about English. But as I've recently
gotten new family member - native German speaker, I think it'll be covering German as
well. Last but not least - Spanish. So, here are some facts:
1. Background:
Despite the fact I've been studying English for 10 years or more, I can barely speak
it. I'm okay with writing as I don't find it hard. But when it comes to speaking, I can
barely speak. Here's the prove: click!
2. Goals:
-achieve RP-like pronunciation, but more importantly to get closer and closer to it
-rehearse my Spanish
-generally improve my German
It'd be great if you'll find my logbook nice to read. I hope this logbook will be
another source of motivation for me.
To the administration: it's my first time writing a logbook, so I apologize if I made
mistake with choosing the type of my entry.
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
MakiMaki Triglot Newbie Poland Joined 4270 days ago 11 posts - 16 votes Speaks: Polish*, Spanish, English Studies: German
| Message 2 of 6 28 May 2014 at 8:10pm | IP Logged |
So today I've started to read "Get Rid of Your Accent" by Linda James & Olga Smith. I've
done some training as well. The first lesson covers the /a:/ sound, which exists in my
native language, and thus it wasn't so hard for me, I guess. But still, as always, I'm
looking for some room for improvement. So here's the
link for my "training".
So, that's it. I can wait till I get to the first new sound - the schwa sound!
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
MakiMaki Triglot Newbie Poland Joined 4270 days ago 11 posts - 16 votes Speaks: Polish*, Spanish, English Studies: German
| Message 3 of 6 29 May 2014 at 6:36pm | IP Logged |
Hello!
So today I've done the /u:/ sound training. It didn't find it hard. Here's the
link. I noticed I have
hard time pronouncing voiced consonants at the end of a word. I guess it's because in
Polish there's a loosing of voicing rule (correct me, it's called "utrata dźwięczności"
in Polish). So, e.g. the word "chleb" is really pronounced like /xlɛp/. And assuming the
fact that I have really hard time pronouncing /θ/ at the end of a word, it'll be
difficult for me to pronounce there a /ð/ sound. I hope I'll make it. Well, I need to
make it.
See you probably tomorrow!
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
MakiMaki Triglot Newbie Poland Joined 4270 days ago 11 posts - 16 votes Speaks: Polish*, Spanish, English Studies: German
| Message 4 of 6 30 May 2014 at 5:33pm | IP Logged |
So after the /ɔ:/ sound training, I've got only 2 more sounds to train before the schwa
comes. As always, here's the link: https://soundcloud.com/makuslaw/sets/o-sound-training
(I can't put BB code here, because I'm getting an error).
Edited by MakiMaki on 30 May 2014 at 5:55pm
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
MakiMaki Triglot Newbie Poland Joined 4270 days ago 11 posts - 16 votes Speaks: Polish*, Spanish, English Studies: German
| Message 5 of 6 31 May 2014 at 5:15pm | IP Logged |
Today I've done something more than just learning English pronunciation. Recently, I
got
interested in the FSI tapes, so today I checked the German ones and I must say they're
nice to listen to! Despite the fact that it was the first unit, so naturally it had the
very basic phrases like "good morning", I really enjoyed it. I've also noticed that
"Tag"
was pronounced as something like /tax/, and it made me wonder whether it is just
dialect-
depending, or my teacher at school was wrongly teaching me to pronounce it like /tak/
(IPA symbols).
Back to English. Today I did the /i:/ training. There's only /ɛ:/ sound left. And then
will the real "work" start for me. As always, here's the
link.
Edited by MakiMaki on 31 May 2014 at 5:16pm
1 person has voted this message useful
|
MakiMaki Triglot Newbie Poland Joined 4270 days ago 11 posts - 16 votes Speaks: Polish*, Spanish, English Studies: German
| Message 6 of 6 01 June 2014 at 10:12pm | IP Logged |
So, today I did the last training before schwa. Tomorrow will the real training begin.
Here's link to my today's
training. I must say curiosity took over and I've done some of schwa training today. So,
see you tomorrow. I hope I won't fail!
1 person has voted this message useful
|