Dr. Han's Spoken English Exercises

Foreign Restaurants

noreply@blogger.com (Mieko S. Han, Ph.D.) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:18:03 PDT

Dear Friends:

First, I want to respond to the comment I received on my previous lesson. I understand that some of the spoken expressions are hard to understand, and make the audience frustrated.

My friends, I checked the original recording and found that it is in good quality. The audio file was converted to the mp3 format. I checked it and found that it is still good enough, though some of the voiceless fricative sounds bother me a little. As the audio file travels beyond it must go through a lot of junctions, which is beyond my control.

Secondly, I have a linguistic thought. English is a stress-language. In spoken English, stressed syllables and unstressed syllables are different in acoustic signals. To make the stressed syllables to stand out in speech, the native speakers pronounce unstressed syllables softer, shorter, and lower in pitch. Over the internet, some of the unstressed syllables may be reduced further in sound qualities.

I have some suggestions. (1) Please consult with your friends and compare the notes. (2) Please ask your English teacher if the sentence is clear. (3) Ask a native speaker, if you can find one.

Please let me know how you make it out. This is a part of the very important listening skill.

Now, today's dialogue. Here it is. The place is at Mr. and Mrs. Johnson's home. At the dinner table, a conversation continues.

Listen carefully and find out what Mr. Johnson likes to do; where they went lately to find an interesting thing. Does Mr. Takahashi know a good place to find excellent foreign restaurants?

Please write the script for the dialogue. Practice speaking aloud in the repetition part.

Here is the link to the audio part of this lesson.

I'll be back again.

Dr. Han
Institute for Intercultural Studies

At the Dinner Table

noreply@blogger.com (Mieko S. Han, Ph.D.) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:24:59 PDT

Fall is the social season in Los Angeles. The schools begin their new academic year and the students and parents meet new friends. Offices and labs may have new workers. People often invite each other for dinner and enjoy conversation with new acquaintances.

Today's episode takes place at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. The dinner guest is Mr. Takahashi from Japan.

At the table, there are a couple of fixed expressions that Americans say before starting to eat. Listen carefully and write down the expressions so that you can remember. Also it's good to know how to describe the wonderful dinner you are about to enjoy. Be sure to repeat after each expression several times. You have to train your ears and your tongue to speak English fluently.

Here is the link to the audio part of this lesson.

I'll be back again.

Dr. Han

Shopping for a Young Lady

noreply@blogger.com (Mieko S. Han, Ph.D.) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:20:35 PDT

It's good time to go shopping in Los Angeles. "A Big Bargain Sale," "A Special Sale," "A Weekend Sale" and all kinds of attractive sales are going on. Let's go shopping, everyone!

Today's episode is at a nice gift shop in a shopping mall. A young man is looking for something.

Listen carefully and find out what he is looking for. What are the three things the sales lady recommends. What is the item he decides to buy.

Be sure to write the dialog for further practice. Here is the link to the audio.

I'll be back again with the new lesson.

Dr. Han