Download or read book Do You Speak American written by Robert Macneil and published by Nan A. Talese. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is American English in decline? Are regional dialects dying out? Is there a difference between men and women in how they adapt to linguistic variations? These questions, and more, about our language catapulted Robert MacNeil and William Cran—the authors (with Robert McCrum) of the language classic The Story of English—across the country in search of the answers. Do You Speak American? is the tale of their discoveries, which provocatively show how the standard for American English—if a standard exists—is changing quickly and dramatically. On a journey that takes them from the Northeast, through Appalachia and the Deep South, and west to California, the authors observe everyday verbal interactions and in a host of interviews with native speakers glean the linguistic quirks and traditions characteristic of each area. While examining the histories and controversies surrounding both written and spoken American English, they address anxieties and assumptions that, when explored, are highly emotional, such as the growing influence of Spanish as a threat to American English and the special treatment of African-American vernacular English. And, challenging the purists who think grammatical standards are in serious deterioration and that media saturation of our culture is homogenizing our speech, they surprise us with unpredictable responses. With insight and wit, MacNeil and Cran bring us a compelling book that is at once a celebration and a potent study of our singular language. Each wave of immigration has brought new words to enrich the American language. Do you recognize the origin of 1. blunderbuss, sleigh, stoop, coleslaw, boss, waffle? Or 2. dumb, ouch, shyster, check, kaput, scram, bummer? Or 3. phooey, pastrami, glitch, kibbitz, schnozzle? Or 4. broccoli, espresso, pizza, pasta, macaroni, radio? Or 5. smithereens, lollapalooza, speakeasy, hooligan? Or 6. vamoose, chaps, stampede, mustang, ranch, corral? 1. Dutch 2. German 3. Yiddish 4. Italian 5. Irish 6. Spanish

Download or read book Speaking American written by Josh Katz and published by Mariner Books. This book was released on 2020-09 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Did you know that your answers to just a handful of questions can predict the zip code of where you grew up? Speaking American offers a visual atlas of the American vernacular--who says what, and where they say it--revealing the history of our nation, our regions, and the language that divides and unites us.

Download or read book How to Speak Midwestern written by Ted McClelland and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pittsburgh toilet, squeaky cheese, city chicken, shampoo banana, and Chevy in the Hole are all phrases that are familiar to Midwesterners but sound foreign to anyone living outside the region. This book explains not only what Midwesterners say but also how and why they say it and covers such topics as: the causes of the Northern cities vowel shift, why the accents in Fargo miss the nasality that's a hallmark of Minnesota speech, and why Chicagoans talk more like people from Buffalo than their next-door neighbors in Wisconsin. Readers from the Midwest will have a better understanding of why they talk the way they do, and readers who are not from the Midwest will know exactly what to say the next time someone ends a sentence with "eh?".

Download or read book Mastering the American Accent with Online Audio written by Lisa Mojsin and published by Barrons Educational Services. This book was released on 2016-09-15 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mastering the American Accent is an easy-to-follow approach for reducing the accent of non-native speakers of English. Well-sequenced lessons in the book correspond over eight hours of audio files covering the entire text. The audio program provides clear models (both male and female) to help coach a standard American accent. The program is designed to help users speak Standard American English with clarity, confidence, and accuracy. The many exercises in the book concentrate on topics such as vowel sounds, problematic consonants such as V, W, TH, the American R and T and others. Correct lip and tongue positions for all sounds are discussed in detail. Beyond the production of sounds, the program provides detailed instruction in prosodic elements such as syllable stress, emphasis, intonation, linking words for smoother speech flow, common word contractions, and much more. Additional topics that often confuse ESL students are also discussed and explained. They include distinguishing between casual and formal speech, homophones (e.g., they're and there), recognizing words with silent letters (e.g., comb, receipt), and avoiding embarrassing pronunciation mistakes, such as mixing up "pull" and "pool." Students are familiarized with many irregular English spelling rules and exceptions, and are shown how such irregularities can contribute to pronunciation errors. A native language guide references problematic accent issues for 13 different language backgrounds. Publisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product.

Download or read book American Accent Training written by Ann Cook and published by Barron's Educational Series, Incorporated. This book was released on 2000 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Directed to speakers of English as a second language, a multi-media guide to pronouncing American English uses a "pure-sound" approach to speaking to help imitate the fluid ways of American speech.

Download or read book You Are What You Speak written by Robert Lane Greene and published by Delacorte Press. This book was released on 2011-03-08 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An insightful, accessible examination of the way in which day-to-day speech is tangled in a complicated web of history, politics, race, economics and power." - Kirkus What is it about other people’s language that moves some of us to anxiety or even rage? For centuries, sticklers the world over have donned the cloak of authority to control the way people use words. Now this sensational new book strikes back to defend the fascinating, real-life diversity of this most basic human faculty. With the erudite yet accessible style that marks his work as a journalist, Robert Lane Greene takes readers on a rollicking tour around the world, illustrating with vivid anecdotes the role language beliefs play in shaping our identities, for good and ill. Beginning with literal myths, from the Tower of Babel to the bloody origins of the word “shibboleth,” Greene shows how language “experts” went from myth-making to rule-making and from building cohesive communities to building modern nations. From the notion of one language’s superiority to the common perception that phrases like “It’s me” are “bad English,” linguistic beliefs too often define “us” and distance “them,” supporting class, ethnic, or national prejudices. In short: What we hear about language is often really about the politics of identity. Governments foolishly try to police language development (the French Academy), nationalism leads to the violent suppression of minority languages (Kurdish and Basque), and even Americans fear that the most successful language in world history (English) may be threatened by increased immigration. These false language beliefs are often tied to harmful political ends and can lead to the violation of basic human rights. Conversely, political involvement in language can sometimes prove beneficial, as with the Zionist revival of Hebrew or our present-day efforts to provide education in foreign languages essential to business, diplomacy, and intelligence. And yes, standardized languages play a crucial role in uniting modern societies. As this fascinating book shows, everything we’ve been taught to think about language may not be wrong—but it is often about something more than language alone. You Are What You Speak will certainly get people talking.

Download or read book A History of American English written by J. L. Dillard and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-09-25 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This impressive volume provides a chronological, narrative account of the development of American English from its earliest origins to the present day.

Download or read book Speak Business English Like an American written by Amy Gillett and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CD and book designed to teach idioms and expressions used in the American business world.

Download or read book If Only They Didn t Speak English written by Jon Sopel and published by Random House. This book was released on 2017-09-07 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'You see, if only they didn’t speak English in America, then we’d treat it as a foreign country – and probably understand it a lot better’ ‘the sanest man in America’ – Bill Bryson ‘Jon Sopel nails it’ – Emily Maitlis **With a brand new chapter, charting Trump's first year in power** As the BBC’s North America Editor, Jon Sopel has had a pretty busy time of it lately. In the time it’s taken for a reality star to go from laughing stock to leader of the free world, Jon has travelled the length and breadth of the United States, experiencing it from a perspective that most of us could only dream of: he has flown aboard Air Force One, interviewed President Obama and has even been described as ‘a beauty’ by none other than Donald Trump. Through music, film, literature, TV and even through the food we eat and the clothes that we wear we all have a highly developed sense of what America is and through our shared, tangled history we claim a special relationship. But America today feels about as alien a country as you could imagine. It is fearful, angry and impatient for change. In this fascinating, insightful portrait of American life and politics, Jon Sopel sets out to answer our questions about a country that once stood for the grandest of dreams, but which is now mired in a storm of political extremism, racial division and increasingly perverse beliefs.

Download or read book Speak With a New York Accent written by Ivan Borodin and published by Createspace Independent Pub. This book was released on 2012-06-01 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finally, the go-to handbook for pulling off a convincing New York Accent. Hollywood dialect coach Ivan Borodin invites you to benefit from twenty years of preparing actors for stage and screen. The New York born instructor outlines the major aspects of this famously aggressive accent, including: *Monotone delivery *Increased nasality *Favoring the upper lip *'Yuge' changes *Unraveling contractions After going through this program, you'll have the audience convinced you're a New Yorker mid-way through your first sentence. This course is innovatively supported by free-to-access YouTube videos. Study this book while a veteran dialect coach spoon feeds you the subtleties of the accent. Interested in mastering a New York accent? Then this course will take you there in a very different way. Benefit from the best of two decades of experience. Awaken the New Yorker in you with this straightforward publication from a dialectician with a profound love of accents. 'Speak with a New York Accent' takes the exotic art of performing with dialects and delivers easy-to-follow lessons. Break all barriers to learning the New York accent with this book, and at your next audition the casting directors will be scraping their jaws off the floor. This program is also extremely helpful for comedians and voice-over artists. Ivan Borodin has taught dialects and accent reduction since 1993 at Los Angeles City College and Los Angeles Valley College Community Services, and several other schools. He has worked as a dialect coach on several films, including 'The Truth about Angels'.

Download or read book Talking Back Talking Black written by John H. McWhorter and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authoritative, impassioned celebration of Black English, how it works, and why it matters

Download or read book More Speak English Like an American written by Amy Gillett and published by Language Success Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More Speak English Like an American brings you another 300+ idioms and expressions you need to know. Maybe you have already read Speak English Like an American. But this is not a necessary requirement. You can start with this new book, if you like, and work back. This popular ESL book features a new story and new American English idioms and expressions. In More Speak English Like an American, you'll follow the story of an American business as its employees come up with new product ideas, travel to China, throw themselves into office romances, and have exciting adventures. This book contains dozens of exercises and includes hundreds of usage examples, including some from American newspapers. Complete with illustrations and an audio CD of all the dialogues. Most books teach classroom English. When it comes to everyday life, this can seem unreal. And make you seem unreal. Our emphasis is on helping you talk, sound, and think like a native speaker. We also help you pick up more native English from movies and TV, newspapers, books, and the Internet. More Speak English Like an American helps you recognize and understand idioms whenever you see or hear them.

Download or read book The Hacking of the American Mind written by Robert H. Lustig and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-09-12 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Explores how industry has manipulated our most deep-seated survival instincts."—David Perlmutter, MD, Author, #1 New York Times bestseller, Grain Brain and Brain Maker The New York Times–bestselling author of Fat Chance reveals the corporate scheme to sell pleasure, driving the international epidemic of addiction, depression, and chronic disease. While researching the toxic and addictive properties of sugar for his New York Times bestseller Fat Chance, Robert Lustig made an alarming discovery—our pursuit of happiness is being subverted by a culture of addiction and depression from which we may never recover. Dopamine is the “reward” neurotransmitter that tells our brains we want more; yet every substance or behavior that releases dopamine in the extreme leads to addiction. Serotonin is the “contentment” neurotransmitter that tells our brains we don’t need any more; yet its deficiency leads to depression. Ideally, both are in optimal supply. Yet dopamine evolved to overwhelm serotonin—because our ancestors were more likely to survive if they were constantly motivated—with the result that constant desire can chemically destroy our ability to feel happiness, while sending us down the slippery slope to addiction. In the last forty years, government legislation and subsidies have promoted ever-available temptation (sugar, drugs, social media, porn) combined with constant stress (work, home, money, Internet), with the end result of an unprecedented epidemic of addiction, anxiety, depression, and chronic disease. And with the advent of neuromarketing, corporate America has successfully imprisoned us in an endless loop of desire and consumption from which there is no obvious escape. With his customary wit and incisiveness, Lustig not only reveals the science that drives these states of mind, he points his finger directly at the corporations that helped create this mess, and the government actors who facilitated it, and he offers solutions we can all use in the pursuit of happiness, even in the face of overwhelming opposition. Always fearless and provocative, Lustig marshals a call to action, with seminal implications for our health, our well-being, and our culture.

Download or read book Raise Your Voice written by Kathy Khang and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2018-07-31 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It can be hard to speak up when power dynamics keep us silent and marginalized, especially when race, ethnicity, and gender are factors. Activist Kathy Khang roots our voice and identity in the image of God, showing how we can raise our voices for the sake of God's justice. We are created to speak, and we can both speak up for ourselves and speak out on behalf of others.

Download or read book Speak Better Business English and Make More Money written by Amy Gillett and published by Language Success Press. This book was released on 2010-06-25 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Amerika jin No Y ni Eigo O Hanas written by Amy Gillett and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Last Lecture written by Randy Pausch and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.