Help a fellow atot member out with becoming more adequite at reading and talking

[iLEktron]

Wow guys I must tell you that iam very thankfully for all your responses. This is the reason I visit this online community everyday, I can count on the best from you guys. I'm diving into this adventure this weekend.

Ps.new year brings more than I expected. I'm about to ask out this lovely girl I met at the NY party, she's also Polish however she flew over here when she was 10. She speaks like a native born American, and alsovery fluently in Polish. We'll be speaking English all the time though. YOU HAVE BEEN MUCH HELP

 

[theprodigalrebel]

When I was a kid, my teachers always recommended we watched the BBC to get English right. (Indian kid, went to an Indian school in the Middle East, always wanted to sound like Jeremy Clarkson ) It didn't help that most of my teachers didn't really have a 'neutral accent' and we weren't taught how to break down multi-syllabic words and pronounce them.

When reading, this general set of guidelines works right when you come upon a new word: break the word down into its syllables (think of it as every time the shape of your mouth changes). So something like 'establishment' becomes es-tah-blish-ment.

For words with:
1) One syllable - well, that's easy.
2) Two syllables - stress on the first syllable (HELL-o, not Hey-Low; EN-gine, not en-GEN; KEY-board, not key-BOARD; SOFT-ware etc.) (Indians are notorious for doing this the opposite way)
3) Three-syllables - stress on the middle syllable (im-PORT-ant; com-PU-ter; ci-GUH-ret etc.)

And so on...

Edit: Not trying to point out errors but (someone correct me if I am wrong) you emigrate FROM a country/immigrate TO a country.

 

[paperfist]

Watch out those Polish girls are hard-headed

 

[tynopik]

So something like 'establishment' becomes es-tah-blish-ment.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/establishment

[ih-stab-lish-muhnt]

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I read the paper to gain vocab. I talked to my brother in English and had an English tutor