Analysing speech patterns: Steve Jobs
By The English Farm, December 03 2022
There are many different ways to speak well and many different people who do so. Today, let's look at Steve Jobs's speaking style.
Pronunciation
When HOW questions are not questions at all
By The English Farm, November 28 2021
English speakers like to use strong language, and one way they do that is with questions that are not really questions.
Pronunciation as sport
By The English Farm, July 17 2021
Pronunciation is completely different from other language skills—pronunciation is a muscular skill.
Uptalk brings you down
By Di, May 30 2021
"Uptalk" is when you say everything with a rising tone like it's a question. It makes you sound weak and underconfident. Here's how to solve it.
The musical secret of intonation
By Diane, October 10 2020
Intonation is sometimes described as the music of language. Without it, our voices are flat and lifeless, but with it, even simple language can be funny, memorable or moving.
Pronunciation advice: start with your ear, not your mouth
By Kara, September 12 2020
Some pronunciation strategies are ineffective. But, by using the right strategy, you can sound much more like a native speaker.
How word stress can completely change meaning
By The English Farm, May 23 2020
Stressing a word when speaking, by saying it longer, louder or with higher intonation, will show the listener which word is key.
Courage vs bravery
By Hina, November 03 2019
Do you know what a foreign accent is? It's a sign of bravery. —Amy Chua
Many people think that accents are beautiful, a part of your identity, and as Amy Chua says, a sign of bravery. Learning a language doesn’t come easily but requires a lot of hard work and dedication. In addition to that, using the language even when it’s not perfect requires bravery!
The secret to pronouncing words that end in -ATE
By The English Farm, October 04 2017
Sometimes the reason we say words wrong is because we don't know the right rules. There are actually two ways to pronounce "-ate" words: /-eit/ (as in "eight" or "ate") and /-it/. To know the correct pronunciation, you have to know the function.
Your accent may be okay
By The English Farm, August 05 2017
There is no such thing as a "native English accent". English speakers from Boston sound much different than those from South London, Sydney or Delhi. Sometimes the differences in accents between native speakers can be so great, we can't understand each other!