Word Stress (Part 1)

Once you've understood the individual sounds of English (consonants and vowels), it's time to focus on the music of English pronunciation. Alan gives an introduction to English rhythms with this lesson on word stress.

The Serial Comma

Writers and editors agree to disagree on this: whether the serial comma (also called the Oxford comma) is good for English writing. You can decide for yourself here.  If you have examples to share with us, we're all ears!

Consonant Practice, Part Two

An overview of the 24 consonants of American English, part 2. Alan gives examples of the "flowing" consonants.  In the previous lesson, he went over the "stop" consonants of English.

Consonant Practice, Part One

An overview of the 24 consonants of American English, part 1. Alan gives examples of the "stop" consonants.  In the next lesson, he will go over the "flowing" consonants of English.

Getting the Hang of Hyphens

In this follow-up lesson on English punctuation, Alan handles the pesky hyphen one on one.

Snowmen and Cultural Assumptions

How many balls does it take to build a snowman? How you answer says a lot about where you are from. Alan looks at cultural assumptions through the simple act of snowman-building.

Cultural Appropriation

Last Halloween, University of Louisville President James Ramsey apologized for dressing up with staff members in sombreros, serapes, and bushy mustaches. But many Americans wondered what the big deal was. The big deal is cultural appropriation. Find out why it's not okay for people to dress up as or parody other ethnicities.

10 Foreign Words That Are Hard to Say

Foreign words can  be tricky, especially at fancy hotels and restaurants. Join Alan as he untangles 10 commonly mispronounced words that English has adopted from other languages.

What's Wrong with Political Correctness (PC)?

According to Charlton Heston, “Political correctness is just tyranny with manners.”  With all respect to the actor who played Moses in the iconic 1956 film, "The Ten Commandments," this information does not come down from God Almighty.  It is instead the typical response by people who look a lot like Mr. Heston and (less famously) me: white, able-bodied, hetero, Christian males.  Watch here to find out why we need to lose the expression "PC" altogether in the new millennium.

Stereotypes vs. Generalizations

What is the difference between the following statements?

1. Latinos are closed to outsiders; they only do business among themselves.
2. Trust is important in the Latino community; to do business, you first need to build relationships.

In intercultural conversations, we make a big distinction between stereotypes and generalizations.  If you remember only one idea from this conversation, remember this: 

• Generalizations are helpful.
• Stereotypes are hurtful.

These two concepts are often confused because they both involve making broad statements about a group of people.  This is where the similarity ends.

When we make a generalization, we are attempting to look at the behavior of many people and note similarities.  While we do this, we focus on being descriptive and not judgmental.  We are also able to modify this broad view if we encounter new examples which disprove the description we are trying to make.

On the other hand, stereotypes tend to lock people into categories with the idea of limiting that group.  Stereotypes seek to make judgments rather than to describe.  Once we make stereotypes, we then are reluctant to modify them.  

In the examples we mentioned earlier, statement #1 uses judgmental words like “closed” and “only.”  By contrast, statement #2 gives examples to describe (and not judge) interpersonal behavior.  We can use this second statement to inform how we might approach Latinos for the purpose of doing business.  

The first statement gives us a negative view which doesn't allow any flexibility or growth; this negative view will be retained in our subconscious (where we don't think about it) and can influence our future interactions.  On the other hand, the generalization of #2 gives us actionable knowledge which may (or may not) be borne out in individual interactions with, say, Venezuelans or Mexicans, for example.  We don’t take the generalization as iron-clad, but it gives us principles to consider when we enter into relationships with members of that group.

Here’s a useful summary to keep in mind.

Generalizations are helpful because they

1. are used consciously and analytically
2. are descriptive and flexible
3. seek to be accurate
4. are an attempt to capture similarities and principles
5. are constantly modified by new input

Stereotypes are harmful because they

1. are used unconsciously and reactively
2. are judgmental and rigid
3. seek to be simple
4. are an attempt to limit and pigeonhole
5. are fixed and not open to revisiting

I hope this distinction is useful to you. Let us know if you have good examples of generalizations that have helped you in intercultural situations

You Call It Football, We Call It Soccer

This week Alan talks about the world's Beautiful Game and its place in the U.S. sporting hierarchy.

One topic that usually comes up around the water cooler is sports.  Americans love sports, and you can usually find someone at work willing to talk about his/her favorite one.  The one complaint I hear from internationals living and working here is soccer, or rather, the lack of soccer conversations.

As I said, we love our sports, but we have many to take our attention, including many that were invented here.

In order of popularity—based on revenue or participation, Americans like 

1. Football
2. Baseball
3. Basketball
4. Ice hockey
5. Soccer
6. Tennis
7. Golf
8. Wrestling
9. Car racing

The funny thing is that this is probably the only country in the world where soccer ranks so low.  On the other hand, American football is only played or watched by 5% of the world’s population.  With baseball, it’s only a little higher: 13% of the world has access to playing the sport or watching it professionally in their countries.

An accurate observation about American football is that it is seldom played with the feet.  The average professional football game has 70 plays, and yet only 9-10 of them involve kicking.  In this regard, the sport would more appropriately be called Handball since 87% of the plays involve holding, throwing, or catching with the hands.

The good news is that soccer is on the upswing in the U.S.  More youth leagues are being organized across elementary schools and communities.  In my case, I grew up never watching soccer, but when my daughter joined a youth soccer league, I was invited to be an assistant coach—which forced me to learn the rules!  Today, the U.S. has a professional soccer league, with both American and international players.

On the international level, the U.S. women’s team has won the World Cup, and the men’s team has started advancing into the knockout rounds.  If you want to keep up the conversation about the world’s “beautiful game,” you might try organizing a workplace betting pool for the World Cup.  During that monthlong event, you could schedule game-watch parties after work or on the weekends.  And there’s nothing like a friendly office-wide wagering to keep people’s attention.  With a little concerted effort, you might eventually get your American friends interested in the globe’s “other football”!

Should English Be Our Official Language?

What language do you speak at work?  What language do you speak at home?  For millions of immigrants to the U.S., the answer changes as they move from public life to private life.  When we’re in the marketplace—as sellers or consumers—we probably conduct a lot of our business in English.

But at the end of the day, when second-language speakers want to kick off their shoes, they probably go back to their native language.  For most of us, our mother tongue means familiarity.  Home is where we are comfortable.  It’s where we express feelings, not discuss spreadsheets.  We talk about Tio Jorge’s birthday party, or chubby-cheeked children, or whether the baba ghanoush has too much lemon in it.

Now, there are some Americans who don’t like it when they hear Korean or Punjabi or Spanish being spoken in public.  Their typical response is, “This is America, speak American!”  Of course, this is very funny, because "American" isn’t a language.  What we speak here is called English.

Those same people have tried over the decades to have English named the official language of the United States.  They have tried passing a variety of laws to restrict what people speak in this country or what language services are available in this country.  Each group is called something a little different and claim they have slightly different goals.

• English Only
• U.S. English
• Official English

The trouble is, many of these people are monolingual folks who don’t understand the difficulty of learning a second language.  And they want everyone to talk like them, without the understanding that speaking many languages is the natural way of doing business in the world.  We need to promote multilingualism, not discourage it!

Usually these English-only or official-English folks claim they want to unify the country under one language.  But how unifying is it to be told how you should communicate?  The fact is that living in the U.S. means needing to make some attempt at learning the English language to get along.  In other words, it’s a natural consequence of adaptation, but it doesn’t need to be a law.

It’s interesting that these same people don’t want the government to tell them what to do in other areas of their life; they call it intrusion or Big Government.  Sometimes they think it will save money because they can get rid of interpreters in courtrooms or hospitals.

Let me ask you something.  If you were traveling to another country and had to have surgery or go on trial, wouldn’t you want to understand—in your own language—what was happening to you?  In an advanced country, that is my expectation of how the system should work.

Of course, the longer that immigrants live in the U.S., the better their English will usually become.  Eventually, they may not need so much help.  But what about the 75-year-old grandmother who moves to the U.S. from India because her granddaughter just opened a business?  To be a good citizen and vote responsibly on ballot proposals like senior housing or school millages, they may need some help...unless you believe in a country that requires literacy tests for voting rights.

And finally, do you remember taking French or Spanish in high school?  Was it hard for you?  Maybe you quit after two years.  Well, guess what?  Just because you’re not good at language learning means that you’re a bad citizen.  It just means you stink at language learning.  I know you have lots of other skills you bring to your neighborhood or your workplace.

For Americans who grumble about “those people” speaking funny languages instead of English, I say let them alone.  If younger immigrants want to get ahead, let’s let the marketplace determine how they adapt to American English and culture, and not our xenophobia.

Oxymorons

I was driving home last week when I saw a sign that made me turn my car around.  (If you are a language nerd like me, you probably like to take pictures of signs.) At this housing complex, the owners are asking you to sign a twelve-month rental agreement, and the first month is free. What is funny about the combination of these two words—free rent—is that “free” means you don’t pay money and “rent” means you pay money. In English, we have a word for such mixed expressions.  They’re called oxymorons. The word comes from the Greek: oxy meaning sharp, and moron meaning dull.

Some oxymorons are famous.  JUMBO SHRIMP is one of them.  These are large shrimp we get from the seafood department.  It’s funny to think about because jumbo means large and a shrimp is a slang word for a very small person.  Fancy restaurants are criticized for their shrimpy—but expensive—portions. 

Here are some oxymorons that people say all the time.
•    pretty ugly (Now, is it pretty or is it ugly?)
•    a minor catastrophe (Is it small, or is it a major problem?) 
•    freezer burn (Is it frozen or is it burning?) 

Now, there is a second group of expressions that people CALL oxymorons, but I think they are just saying that to be cynical.  What do you think? 
•    student organization  (I think the person who put this on the list wanted to imply that students are not usually organized.) 
•    country music  (I think the wise-guy who included this expression doesn’t think this is a valid form of music.) 
•    airline cuisine  (Cuisine is a fancy word for cooking, but many flyers believe that food on an airplane is not very fresh or tasty.) 

We have many more oxymorons below.  And if you have a favorite one to add, please share it in our comment section.  The feedback we get from our viewers is...awfully good.  ;-) 
 
•    jumbo shrimp 
•    sanitary sewer 
•    a brief wait 
•    home office 
•    same difference 
•    free rent 
•    metal woods (golf) 
•    pretty ugly 
•    real fake               
•    awfully good 
•    terribly funny 
•    mighty weak 
•    conventional wisdom 
•    minor crisis 
•    painless dentistry 
•    limited success  
•    artificial intelligence 
•    grow smaller 
•    "I have something I'm looking for."   
•    plastic glasses 
•    only choice 
•    civil war 
•    constant variable 
•    act naturally 
•    freezer burn 

Are these true oxymorons or just cynical judgments? 
•    military intelligence 
•    student organization 
•    country music 
•    professional wrestling 
•    postal service 
•    honest lawyer 
•    a happy marriage 
•    consulting ethics 
•    airline cuisine 
•    Reagan's memoirs 
•    Obamacare 

Please share your favorite oxymoron with us!

Americans with Disability Act

When we talk about the good things and bad things about the United States, one thing that I am really proud of is how this country works with disabilities.  In particular, I’m referring to the Americans with Disability Act (or ADA).

The ADA was national legislation signed into law in 1990 by Pres. George H.W. Bush, and it outlaws discrimination based on a number of physical and mental disabilities, including ones you see on the screen here.  [They include deafness, blindness, intellectual disability, missing limbs, mobility impairments, autism, cancer, cerebral palsy, diabetes, epilepsy, HIV infection, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia.] The idea is to empower all citizens to participate in work and civic life as fully as possible.

This issue is particularly dear to me because my mom had multiple sclerosis when I was growing up.  Back in those days, we didn’t have curb cuts in the sidewalks, which made it difficult to push her wheelchair across the street.  Many buildings didn’t have public elevators, so we’d have to take her wheelchair into freight elevators in the back of the building.  Think about the message that sends to people with disabilities: that you’re not welcome here, or you can come in but you have to enter through the back where we load equipment and boxes.  Part of this inclusion, for me, centers on the notion of the dignity of all citizens.

[In the video we show] a number of adaptations of our environment that we make today in this country.  How many of them do you or your family members take advantage of so you have access to work places, public meetings, or recreation? Imagine the feeling of participation and belonging that these tools have added, not to mention the productivity that we achieve when so many more citizens are included.

Now, the United States isn’t perfect when it comes to dealing with disabilities, but we’re moving in a positive direction.  Sometimes we are uncomfortable talking or working with people who have disabilities, but that is something we can overcome.  If you have questions about disability in the workplace or community, we’ll provide a list of resources for you on our website.  Because around here, we believe everybody belongs.

Resources

For my local friends: Disability Advocates of Kent County http://dakc.us                               

Drop the R-Word: http://www.r-word.org

U.S. federal government: https://www.disability.gov

Autism Center: http://hopenetwork.org/services/behavioral-health/autism/

Immigrant Senior Centers

How do aging immigrants fill their days when they don't speak English well and their kids and grandkids are busy with work and school? We take a look at the growing number of senior centers for immigrants across the United States.

What do you do if you’re a working immigrant and a member of the sandwich generation?  That is, you have children in school who need tutoring and shuttling about to music lessons or sports practice, but you also have aging parents who may not speak English well.

Luckily, there is a growing movement of senior centers who cater to the elderly immigrant population.  Take, for example, the Multicultural Senior Center of Snohomish, WA.  It holds regular meetings and activities for many of the area’s senior newcomers.  Korean seniors meet twice a week to enjoy karaoke in their native language, to play a familiar board game called janggi, or to savor a hearty bowl of a national beef dish called bulgogi.

Experience has shown that immigrants who uproot later in life, especially those who follow working children to a new land, have a hard time adapting to the new culture and new language.  These centers give them a chance to interact in their native language and support each other while their busy children and grandchildren engage in their daily routines.

The Center currently sponsors events for five language communities: Filipino, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, and Chinese.

While the seniors can come to play games or socialize, they can also access professional services from social workers or talk to counselors regarding health or housing issues.

And it turns out the Snohomish center is inspiring more than the immigrant community it serves.  Center coordinator Connie Hallgarth remarked on how much respect immigrants show for their elderly.  That is something, she says, we can all aspire to.

Choosing the Right Words

In the hustle-bustle of sending your emails, are you sure you're communicating the right message? Alan takes a look at one case where a nonnative-speaking manager scared his subordinate unnecessarily.  Learn how the right word choice in English makes a huge difference in how we communicate in the workplace.

A while ago, I was reminded about the importance of choosing the right words in our communication.  I was working with a South American client—let’s call him Antonio—on his emailing skills, and I read a note he had sent to an American subordinate.

Antonio started out the email like this:  “Tim, I wanted to give you some feedback.”

In the 3 short paragraphs that followed, Antonio (again, the boss) gave Tim a compliment, shared some information, and then expressed his thanks.

When I got to the bottom of the email, I was puzzled.  It didn’t contain what I expected, so I read it again.  And again.

It finally occurred to me, Antonio had set Tim up for bad news but then only shared positive things.  When a native speaker writes “I have some feedback for you,” the reader is expecting criticism.  If the message is from your boss, like in Tim’s case, you have that heart-sink feeling.  The thought is, “Uh-oh, I did something wrong, and now I’m going to hear about it.”

The situation here was that Tim had only done good things.  However, because the email had started with the word “feedback,” Tim was going to be reading the rest of the note looking for the bad news...which never came.

In this case, the right word choice would have been “update.”  When Americans hear “feedback,” they understand that as a warning.  In short, an update is for news (or something neutral), while feedback concerns quality or accuracy (and usually something bad). 

Below we are posting a transcript of the email, so you can read it for yourself.  In the meantime, pay attention to the words you choose in your communication.  You could be saving someone a small heart attack.

--------------------

From: Antonio Barrios [Antonio_Barrios@bidness.com]

Sent: Friday, May 24, 2014

To: Tim Robertson

Subject: Re: Project team

Tim,

I wanted to give you some feedback.

First, it was great seeing you earlier in the month. Carlos and I enjoyed the conversation and we appreciated the plant tour.

Gary both called and emailed Melanie, who has not gotten back with him yet, but he is really excited about the possibility of joining the project team.

I just wanted to thank you for making yourself available to Gary.  Independent of his joining the project or not, I thank you for your guidance in his career.

Best,

Antonio

NOTE: The names and identifying features in the client email above have been changed, but the format remains the same. 

When You Need Some Elbow Room

In the city, I frequently drive by a tavern called the Elbow Room.  It always makes me smile, thinking about the meaning.  In English, elbow room is a place to spread out and be comfortable—maybe even a place to put your elbows up on the bar. 

It becomes even funnier when I remember the expression, “to bend a few elbows” – which means to have a few drinks.

In addition to these two expressions, there are a half-dozen others that include the word “elbow.” How many of these do you already know?

• elbow grease

• to elbow in

• elbow macaroni

• tennis elbow

• to rub elbows with

• sharp elbows

To check yourself, check the list below to see the definitions of these expressions and read example sentences of each.

In checking the internet for this story, I discovered there are dozens of Elbow Room bars, taverns, and lounges across the United States. Clearly, this clever name has inspired more than just the owners of our local watering hole. The welcoming message for patrons across the country: “There’s room for you here!”

Cheers! 

Did you know the meanings of the seven "elbow" expressions listed above? Check yourself here!

• elbow room = space to spread out and be comfortable
  If we’re going to work comfortably, let’s find a conference table with enough elbow room.

• to bend elbows = to have some (alcoholic) drinks
  Honey, I’m going out with the boys to bend a few elbows.

• elbow grease = extra work or physical effort
  To get this old jalopy ready for the antique car show, we’re going to need a lot of elbow grease.

• to elbow in = to assertively enter, to force one’s way into a space
  They elbowed their way into the crowd to get a better view of the accident.

• elbow macaroni = slender noodles with a bend in them
  Mac & cheese is usually made with elbow macaroni.

• tennis elbow = inflammation, pain, or tearing of the tendon inserting into the elbow from the upper arm
  I had to quit playing racquetball for six months because of a bad case of tennis elbow.

• to rub elbows with = to associate with (possibly sitting next to and drinking with)
  She has been known to rub elbows with some pretty influential people in this town.

• sharp elbows = physical toughness or aggressiveness
  Retired Red Wings hockey player, Gordie Howe, used to be called Mr. Elbows.
  In a 2010 pickup basketball game at the White House, President Obama caught a sharp elbow on the lip and needed 12 stitches.

Historical Note: Did you know that the “ell” is an old-fashioned unit of measurement? It corresponded to the length of a man’s forearm from fingertips to elbow. Elsewhere, it extended up to the shoulder and was used primarily in tailoring to measure fabric.

Girl, Lady, or Woman?

Many of my students ask, “What is the difference between the expressions, girl, lady, and woman?”

This is not a simple question, but I have checked with dictionaries as well as many native speakers.  Let me give you a summary of my research.

As a rule of thumb, use “girl” for any female up to college age, use “young woman” until about age 30, and use “woman” after 30. The word “young” can be added depending on the age of the speaker. The word “old” is not really appropriate; instead, give the female person’s age if it is relevant to the story you are telling. Sometimes the distinction between “girl” and “young woman” depends more on perceived maturity and less on actual age.

For feminists—especially many native English speakers who lived through the 1960s and 1970s women’s movement, the term “woman” is preferred in everyday speech over “lady” to designate an adult female for two reasons. 

First, “woman” is the linguistic counterpart to “man.” Second is the perception that the word “lady” has classist and sexist connotations; to them, a “lady” represents an inconsequential female of no personal accomplishment (other than perhaps connection to British nobility, think: Lords and Ladies). The modern assumption is that any female who can compete head to head with a man should have the parallel expression of “woman.” 

Older Americans of both genders who do not identify with the women’s movement or notions of legal/financial/political equity tend to use the term “lady.” This includes expressions which “mark” (and therefore diminish) the position of female professionals: lady doctor, lady mechanic, lady pilot, lady engineer. This group may also include speakers of lower education or more rural status who identify female office workers as the “office girls” (even though they would never say “office boys” to identify the males who work in the office).

One exception: In a public place, if a female is unknown to you, it may feel more polite to refer to a stranger as “lady.” For example: the lady who dropped her purse or: This lady was ahead of me in line (so please wait on her next).

Here is a quiz you can take to test yourself...and don’t forget to share it with the other females in your life.

Choose girls, ladies, or women for the sentences below.

1.     We encouraged as many ______________ and boys as possible to audition for the play.

2.     Good afternoon, ______________ and gentlemen.  Thank you for inviting me to speak here today.

3.     Two ______________ just joined us on the senior advisory board this past week.

4.     I met three young ______________ in their 20s with a really interesting new product.

5.     In 2015, there were 20 ______________ serving in the U.S. Senate.

6.     Kids, if you can’t act like ______________ and gentlemen, I’m going to cancel Friday’s special trip.

7.     Over 50% of the medical students at the university today are ______________.

8.     Do you know those two ______________ talking to the President?

9.     Penny told Amy they were having a ______________ night out.

10.  How many members of the President's Cabinet members are ______________?

For a longer list of examples, including many nuances, go here.

Noun Compounds: Pronouncing 2 Words Together

What do a light bulb, door knob, and coffee mug have in common?  Yes, they’re all things that you would find at your workplace.  But I wasn’t referring to the items themselves.  Instead, I wanted you to think about their pronunciation.

Each of these words is called a noun compound, and they have a special pronunciation in American English.

Whenever you put two nouns together, like light + bulb, you make a compound, and the first word is pronounced stronger than the second: LIGHT bulb, DOOR knob, COFFEE mug.

You can tell the difference in the stress because if you change the first word to an adjective, then the second word gets stressed.  Listen to these examples: a broken BULB, a shiny KNOB, an empty POT.  Did you hear the difference in stress?

The rule is pretty simple, but students of English don’t always say these combinations right, which can confuse their American friends.  For example, can you distinguish a PIG barn from a big BARN?

Noun compounds are all around us: ink pen, book case, table leg, camera operator, a haircut...  Once you get going, you’ll notice them everywhere.

If you’d like to see more examples of everyday noun compounds, check out the list below.  In the meantime, keep up with your homework!

More noun compounds (Remember to stress the first word of these compounds!)

• parking lot, washing machine, driving school, thinking cap, rocking chair, moving company

• conference room, coffee break, school bus, grocery store, ice cream, case study, taxi cab

• chairperson, airport, wastebasket, cowboy, fieldgoal, firefly, deadline, teamwork, driveway

When Something's Wrong in Public

What do you say when you notice something is wrong with someone's appearance? Do you ignore it and say nothing? Do you tell the person that something is wrong? If you want to say something, do you know the right words in English?  Alan gives examples of several embarrassing things that can go wrong in public.

We’ve all been in this public situation. Some person—a co-worker, a client, or a stranger—has “something wrong” with his/her appearance. You notice he has food in his beard. The tag on the back of her blouse is sticking up. What do you do? What do you say?

There are two ways of thinking about this problem. One way is, “It’s not my problem. I won’t say anything.” The second way asks, “Would I want someone to tell me if I were in this situation?

My niece told me a (now) funny story about an embarrassment that happened to her. A while ago, she was working in an office building and went to use the restroom. Upon leaving the women’s room, she failed to notice that she had tucked part of her dress into the top of her panty hose. She spent the next hour working without noticing something was wrong. Finally, a customer pointed out her wardrobe malfunction—something she was both horrified and grateful to hear. 

If, like my niece, your answer to the above question is yes, I would want to be told, there are specific ways to express “what’s wrong” in English.

Here are a five awkward situations that sometimes happen. Some of them have happened to you. Do you know the proper English words to alert someone to this situation?

How about this situation?

What about this one?

Or this one?

And this last one: what do you say in English for this?

I suggest you share these situations with your American friends and ask whether they would point out any of them to someone in public. Maybe it depends on who is involved: a close friend vs. a stranger vs. your boss. This can be an interesting conversation.

If you’re the kind of person to speak up, remember to practice these new warning sentences (see list below).  And before you head out the door today, check yourself in the mirror!

1. Your zipper is unzipped.  (or: Your fly is open.)

2. There's toilet paper stuck to your shoe.

3. You missed a belt loop (in back).

4. Your shoe(lace) is untied.

5. Your shirt is untucked.

6. You have spinach in your teeth.