The Vocal Track!!

What makes listening difficult...

WHAT MAKES LISTENING DIFFICULT?

• Clustering

In spoken language, due to memory limitations and our predisposition for “chunking,” or clustering, we break donw speech into smaller groups of words…. Sometimes second language learners will try to retain overly long constituents (a whole sentence or even several sentences), or they will err in the other direction in trying to attend to every word in an utterance.

• Redundancy

Spoken language, unlike written language, has a good deal of redundancy. The next time you’re in a conversation, notice the rephrasings, repetitions, elaborations,and little insertions of “I mean” and “you know.” Learners can train themselves to profit from such redundancy by first aware that not every new sentence or phrase will necessarily contain new information, and by looking for the singals of redundancy.

• Reduced forms

Reduction can be phonological (“Djeetyet?” for “Did you eat yet?” / “Whachamacalit” for “what you may call it”), morphological (contractions like “You’d’v” for “You should have”), syntactic (elliptical forms like “Where are you up to?” “My room.”), or pramatic (phone rings in a house, son answers and shouts to another room upstairs, “Daddy! It’s for you!”). These reductions pose significant difficulties, especially for classroom learners who may have initially been exposed to the full forms of the English language.

• Performance variables

In spoken language, except for planned discourse (lectures, speeches, product presentations, et cetera), hesitations, false stars, pauses, and corrections are common. Native listeners are conditioned from very young ages to weed out such performance variables, whereas the can easily interfere with comprehension in second language learners. Imagine listening to the verbatim excerpt of a sportsman describing his current soccer game (France versus Senegal in 2002):

But, uh—I also—to go with this of course if you’re playing well—if you’re playing well then you get upright about your game. You get keyed upo and it’s easy to focus. You know you’re playing well and you know…in with a chance then it’s easier, much easier to—to, you know, to get in there and—and start to… you don’t have to think of this. I mean it’s gotta be automatic.

• Colloquial language (colloquialism)

Leaners who have been exposed to standard written English (SAE or SBE ) and/ or “textbook” language sometimes find it surprising or difficult to deal with colloquial languages. Idioms, slans, reduced forms, and shared cultural knowledge are all manifested at some point in conversations. Colloquialisms appear in boht monologues and dialogues.

• Rate of delivery

Virtually every language learner initially thinks that native speakers utter too fast! Actually, as Jack Richards (1983) points out, the number and length of pauses sued by a speaker is more crucial to comprehension than sheer speed. Unlike reading, where a person can always stop to take a breath and then to go back to reread, when listening some utterances the hearer may not too frequently have a chance to stop the speaker. Instead, the flow of speech will move on.

• Stress, rhythm, and intonation

Because English is a stress-timed language (unlike other language families such as Mandarine), English speech can be a terror for most EFL/ ESL learners as mouthfuls of syllables come spilling out between stress points. Also, intonation patterns are very essential not just for interpreting straitforward elements such as questions, statements and emphasis, but also for understanding and then perceiving more subtle messages like sarcasm, endearment, insult, solicitation, priase, doubt, command, and so far and so forth.

• Interaction

Conversation is especially subject to all the rule of interation: negotiatio, clarification, attending singals, turn-taking; and topic nomination, maintenance, and termination.

A fourth-century Chinese proverb says it more eloquently:

Not to let a word get in the way of its sentence

Nor to let a sentence get in the way of its intention,

But to send your mind out to meet the intention as a guest;

THAT is understanding.

New class for Listening!!

旅遊英語

出國旅遊，就一定得跟團嗎？

NO NO NO !!

讓您四週內,聽得懂、說得了！

 0987341074

New Class...For TOEFL, TOEIC, SAT, BULATS...and more...

托福寫作

Wednesdays and Fridayds，19:00-21:00

 新竹市東建功一路70巷12號4樓

098-734-1074, Mr. Lyin

 lyinzhongzhi@yahoo.com

適合程度：TOEIC® 300, iBT® 50, GEPT™中級，and

...anyone who loves writings...

Word stems-prefixes, suffexes, infrofexes...

字首與字尾

1. 在英文單字當中，存在著「字尾變化」之特定規則，例如單字末尾為子音+y，就必須把y改成ie，像是candycandies，treaty條約  treaties，century  centuries，family  families，duty職責；職務 duties。

2. 其實在「字首變化」當中，也有類似的規則：
   1. 字首ab： abnormal不尋常的， abuse誤用，abbreviation縮短
      遇到c開頭的單字時，改成ac  account帳號，accent音調
      遇到f開頭的單字時，改成af  affect影響
      遇到t開頭的單字時，改成at  attentions（對女人獻）殷情
   2. 字首sub：subway地下鐵，submarine潛水艇；海底生物
      遇到c開頭的單字時，改成suc  succeed成功；接著，success成就
      遇到p開頭的單字時，改成sup  supply提供
   3. 字首ob：object物體；反對
      遇到c開頭的單字時，改成oc  occur發生，occupation職業
      遇到f開頭的單字時，改成of  offer提供，offend激怒
   4. 字首in：inside在…的內側，indoors在室內，inhuman不人道的
      遇到i開頭的單字時，改成il  illegal不合法的，illiberal沒有教養的
      遇到b、m、p開頭的單字時，改成im  imbalance不平衡，immune有抵抗力的，important重要的
      
3. 字首變化規則總整理：

	b—	c—	f—	g—	l—	m—	n—	p—	r—	s—	t—
ad-	ab-	ac-	af-	ag-	al-		an-	ap-	ar-	as-	at-
sub-	sub-	suc-	suf-	sug-				sup-	sur-
ob-	ob-	oc-	of-					op-
in-	im-				il-	im-		im-	ir
con-	com-				col-	com-		com-	cor-
syn-	sym-				syl-	sym-
ex-			ef-
dis-			dif-

4. 和「人」有關的字尾：
   1. aire  millionaire百萬富翁，commissionaire看守人，occupationaire軍閥
   2. al  arrival到達者，rival競爭者，criminal罪犯，official官員
   3. ant  participant參與者，attendant助手，occupant占有者，merchant商人
   4. ar  scholar學者，beggar乞丐，liar說謊者，registrar管理登記的人
   5. ard（大多含有貶義） drunkard酒鬼，dullard笨人，laggard落後者
   6. arian  humanitarian人道主義者，equalitarian公道主義者，vegetarian素食者
      doctrinarian教條主義者，fruitarian以水果為食的人，veterinarian獸醫
   7. ary  secretary秘書，revolutionary革命家，dignitary居高位者，adversary對手
   8. ator  valuator評價者，continuator繼承者，aviator飛行家
   9. ee  trustee股東，electee候選人，employee員工，committee委員，standee站票觀眾（或乘客），
      attendee參加者
   10. eer  volunteer志工；自願者，rockeer火箭專家，marketeer市場分析專家，puppeteer幕後黑手
   11. ent  student學生，president總經理（President總統、總理），correspondent記者，resident居住者
       agent仲介人
   12. er  farmer農夫，adventurer冒險家，dancer舞蹈家，reader讀者，banker銀行家，teenager青少年
       Tailander泰國人，Icelander冰島人
   13. ese  Chinese中國人，Japanese日本人 ，Taiwanese台灣人
   14. ess（表示女性） poetess女詩人，waitress女服務生，princess公主，stewardess女空服員
   15. ette（表示女性） sailorette女水手，typette女打字員，undergraduette女大生，conductrette車掌小姐
   16. i Israeli以色列人，Bengali孟加拉人，Iraqi伊拉克人，Pakistani巴基斯坦人
   17. ian  Arabian阿拉伯人，Parisian巴黎人，Egyptian埃及人
       guardian監護人，civilian平民，historian歷史學家
   18. ie（表示暱稱） oldie老人，cutie小可愛
   19. ier  clothier布商；織布工人，cashier出納員，bombardier砲手
   20. ior  savior救星，superior主管，warrior戰士，inferior低下的人
   21. ist  communist共產主義者，socialist社會主義者，capitalist資本主義者
       tobacconist菸草商，specialist特種專家，stylist設計師，artist藝術家
   22. ite  socialite社會名流，Islamite伊斯蘭教徒，Tokyoite東京市居民，suburbanite郊區居民
   23. ive  detective偵探，captive俘虜（＝hostage），native本地人，fugitive逃亡者，representative代表人；仲介人
   24. logist  zoologist動物學家，oceanologist海洋學家，climatologist氣候學家，technologist工藝學家
   25. or  oppressor殖民者，constructor建造者，inventor發明家，educator教育家，visitor訪客
       director導演，conductor指揮
   26. yer  lawyer律師，sawyer伐木工人，bowyer弓箭手
   27. 其它特例 fisherman漁夫，sportsman運動家，spokesperson發言人，salesperson銷售員

5. 表達「多」與「少」的字尾
   1. less表「少，沒有」 priceless無價的（＝invaluable），valueless無價值的，worthless無價值的，limitless無限的，boundless無界線的，flawless無缺點的，meaningless無意義的
   2. ate表「多」 considerate顧慮很多的，moderate禮貌很多的
   3. ful表「多」 helpful幫助很多的，wasteful浪費很多的，fruitful果實很多的、成果豐碩的
   4. ive表「多」impressive留下很多印象的，successive延續很多的，passive錯過很多的
   5. ous表「多」dangerous很多危險的，various很多變化的，numerous數量很多的
   6. y表「多」 tasty很多美味的，juicy很多水分的，trendy很多流行感的

6. 和「數量」有關的字首
   1. half, hemi, semi表「一半」 semiconductor半導體（僅在極低溫下能導電），semifinal準決賽，
      semitropical亞熱帶的（＝subtropical），hemisphere（南、北）半球，half-hearted冷淡的，half-sister同父異母的姊妹、同母異父的姊妹
   2. uni, mono表「一」 universe（旋轉的ㄧ體）宇宙，unity單一、統一，unit單元、單位，
      unison（ㄧ個聲音）齊唱，monologue獨白，monopoly獨占，monotheismㄧ神教，monotone單調，
      monorai單軌電車，monogamy一夫ㄧ妻制（bigamy重婚），monosyllable寡言的
   3. bi, di, tw表「二」 binary二進位的，bifurcate分叉的，bilateral雙邊的，bilingual雙語的，billion（ㄧ百萬的二次方）ㄧ兆（英），bisect將…平分，bisexual兩性的、雙性戀的，bipartisan兩黨制的
      dilemma困境，diploma文憑，dichotomy二分法，twice二次的、二倍的，twilight黃昏，two-dimensional平面的, twin一對之物、雙胞胎
   4. cent表「百或百分之ㄧ」 centigrade攝氏溫標，centipede蜈蚣，centimeter公分，cent一分錢
   5. kilo表「ㄧ千」 kilogram公斤，kilometer公里
   6. milli表「千分之ㄧ」 milliliter一毫升，millimeter一毫米