Like most Canadians, I love Russell Peters. HIs ethnic brand of comedy hits the nail on the head! He does great impressions of accents as well! Enjoy!
Russell Peters – How to Become A Canadian Citizen
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Category Archives: Speak English Better
What’s a Canuck and What’s a Bruin?
Hi folks.
This blog post is a little late – I should have written it a while ago, but I was busy watching the Stanley Cup playoffs. Yes I’m referring to our love of hockey, and right now in the NHL there are only 2 teams left – one Canadian and one American.
So if you are currently living or working in one of these countries, or are watching the playoffs because you enjoy hockey, you may be wondering about the strange names of the teams. We have the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins. But what do those names mean?
Well first off – the word Canuck is an old word, and is slang. The exact origins are not clear, but most of the research I’ve done leads me to believe it was first used to refer to early French-Canadians. However these days Canuck refers to any and all Canadians.
Is it bad, like “Yankee”?
No – 99% of the time we do not take offense to being called a Canuck. It is a soft term, and not only do we have a very good hockey team named the Canucks, but in our early history we had a character, almost like a super hero, named “Johnny Canuck” who would fight off the invaders of Canada and the Nazis during WW11 in comic books. As a matter of fact, the current Vancouver Canucks goalie, crowd-favourite Roberto Luongo, has a picture of Johnny Canuck on his goalie mask! I guess it’s for good luck – we’ll see soon if it works!
What does Bruin mean? A simple answer is it refers to a bear. It comes from Reynard’s fables. How it got to Boston, I’m not sure, but anyway it is a bear. And right now Boston is playing like bears!
Right now the series is tied 3-3, and the teams are travelling back to Vancouver for the final game 7 on Wednesday to see who will win the Stanley Cup for 2011. I of course am rooting for (cheering for) Vancouver. “Go Canucks Go!”
PS – if you are interested in hockey, you can find hockey vocabulary on this blog by searching it. The more words and phrases you know, the more you will enjoy the game.
Complete and Finished – An English Lesson for All
One of my Russian clients sent me this – enjoy!
*Complete and finished – An English Lesson for All*
No English dictionary has been able to explain the difference between
the two words ‘complete’ and ‘finished’ in a way that’s so easy to
understand:
Some people say there is no difference between COMPLETE & FINISHED,
but there is:
When you marry the right one, you are COMPLETE….
And when you marry the wrong one, you are FINISHED…..
And when the right one catches you with the wrong one, you are
COMPLETELY FINISHED !!!
Executive English Coaching is Valuable
If you a manager, leader or executive, and you have ESL (English as a Second Language), you may need my help. If you have immigrated to the Toronto area, or you are working here for a while, you may have noticed that we ‘do things differently’ here than what you had read in books.
Culture affects communication in a big big way. How we Torontonians/Canadians/North Americans use slang and cultural references even in our formal speeches can throw off a lot of people not born here. How we use our rhythm and volume of our voice while speaking can be very different from your home country. It might even seem ‘too excited’ or ‘rude’!
Body language is a huge deal here. How you move your arms and hands while at a meeting or giving a presentation can dramatically affect how you are perceived. Are you seen as trustworthy? Sincere? Confident? Or are you viewed as weak, gentle, too humble, or aloof (uncaring)?
If you are concerned about how you sound and present yourself at your job and in your career please connect with me for a free consultation in Toronto. It is not too late to get some very valuable coaching from someone who knows both your culture and ours. 🙂
YorkRegion Article: Newcomers learn accent reduction
I usually do not advertise my competitions’ websites and press releases, but this is a great article that helps explain why some people want/need accent reduction training, and also some of the benefits. I am available to help you modify your accent if you need to improve your speaking. Just contact me to set up a free consultation.
Here is the article:
“Should I Get Accent Reduction Lessons?”
This is a very common question I hear from immigrants and overseas workers as we discuss their coaching options. Though everyone’s case is unique, here is my general advice:
If your (heavy) accent is stopping you from being confident, from making friends and/or from making (more) money, then YES. Do some accent reduction for your own peace of mind and to become a more confident speaker.
If your accent does not interfere with daily communications, and people are not constantly asking you to repeat yourself or say it again in a different way, then you are probably okay. You still may choose to modify your accent anyway, but at least you should know that it is not a pressing issue that will halt your career.
How can you modify and reduce your accent?
1. Watch English movies and TV. Rent DVDs of shows and sit-coms and play them over and over again, with and without English subtitles.
2. Listen to the radio and/or sing English songs. Look up the lyrics online.
3. Meet native English speakers and practice.
4. Buy a good pronunciation book, preferably with audio CDs, MP3s, podcast etc. Choose carefully BrE or AmE.
5. Attend Toast Masters or another public speaking practice forum.
6. Attend an ESL class that focuses on pronunciation or lots of speaking practice.
7. Hire an ESL tutor who has experience teaching the above, or whose voice you want to imitate. Don’t be shy to ask for details of experience, materials used, references etc.
8. Hire a professional Communication Coach with a solid background in ESL and accent reduction.
9. Hire a professional linguist or speech pathologist.
10. Practice practice practice.
Office Talk – Expressions
“The Office” can be used to mean any job or typical day. You do not actually have to work in an office.
Example:
John comes home tired, looking stressed and burned out. His wife asks: “Hard day at the office?”
He replies: “Oh yeah. We’ve got a new manager/supervisor/accountant/secretary/etc. causing me grief because…”
Once again, John doesn’t necessarily have to work at an office. It can be any job, white collar or blue collar, volunteer, etc. that he is coming home from.
I have also heard that there is a bar/pub called “The Office” so that when your wife or husband asks “where are you now?” you can honestly say “I’m (still) at the office!”
“Office Politics” refers to power positioning at your place of employment and the perceived route to career success and promotion. You have to have a good relationship with those in a position over your career. It also refers to the idea that you should get along with others at work, and not ‘burn any bridges’ (damage any personal or professional relationships).
How do we say this word? – Pizza
As you know pizza is popular around the world, and you have probably eaten it several times this year. But have you ordered pizza in a native-English speaking country before?
If you immigrate or study abroad, you probably will have to order it at some point, if not for yourself then for your friends or kids.
Looks can be deceiving. The word looks simple enough right? PIZZA. So you may think logically that you pronounce it as it is written, but that is not the case. In fact we North Americans pronounce this word like PETE-SA, with emphasis (stress) on the first syllable.
So even though the writing of the word suggests PEE-ZA, trust me, it is not pronounced that way. You must say PETE-SA when ordering it in English. Just a fresh tip. 🙂
Enjoy!
Asa on Larry King Live (Part 1)
This is a great interview of Larry King by ‘guest host’ and YouTube sensation Asa the comic. If you watch part 2 as well there is a very deep story about an interview Larry did with a paralyzed police officer many years back – powerful story. Larry is truly the king of interviews. Excellent voice and great story teller. Asa holds his own even though he was obviously nervous. (I would be too!) Good job Asa!
Accept, except, access, excess, etc.
This is a common speaking mistake. When English words have a double c (cc), we sometimes pronounce the first c as hard, like a K, and the second c soft, like an S. For example:
“Accept” is pronounced AKSEPT, not ASSEPT.
“Access” is pronounced AKSESS, not ASSESS. That’s a different word with a different meaning, right?
However English is not consistent. We do sometimes pronounce cc like a double k. Example:
“Accolades” is pronounced AKKOLAYDZ
“Accomplishment” is pronounced AKKOMPLISHMENT
So it can be confusing at times. Use a good dictionary which also shows you how to pronounce words (phonetics) if you are not sure.
We also have xc which sounds just like our first example of cc, which is to say the first letter is pronounce hard, the second soft. Example:
“Except” is pronounced EKSEPT
“Excess” is pronounced EKSESS
English can be fun but frustrating to learn, so try to have a sense of humour about it and use a variety of resources to enhance your learning.