Pronunciation: stress and intonation

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Sentence stress é fundamental para uma boa comunicação em inglês. Iniciantes no aprendizado da língua, devem aprender a respeito, desde as primeiras lições.

Ao aprendemos uma palavra em inglês, observamos significado, escrita (spelling), uso em diferentes contextos e pronúncia.

Fonética (estudo do sons da fala), foi até pouco tempo, negligenciada, sendo que boa pronúncia, ou uma pronúncia o melhor possível, é extremamente importante para não haver falha na comunicação, para se fazer compreender, para ser compreendido.

Stress é falar, soar palavras, ou partes de palavras, com mais ênfase do que outras.

E o inglês tem dois tipos básicos de tonicidade:

  1. Word stress (ênfase silábica)
  2. Sentence stress (ênfase de palavra)

O stress observado na sílaba da palavra, é o word stress. As sílabas em negrito nas palavras abaixo indicam qual é a sílaba tônica em cada uma delas, e falaremos mais sobre isso numa próxima lição:

  • important /ɪmˈpɔrtnt/
  • police /pəˈlis/
  • computer /kəmˈpjutər/
  • communication /kəˌmjunɪˈkeɪʃn/
  • interesting /ˈɪntrəstɪŋ/
  • difference /ˈdɪfrəns/
  • Brazil /brəˈzɪl/

Além do word stress, a segunda parte fundamental para uma boa compreensão e comunicação, é observar o sentence stress. Exemplos encontram-se no vídeo abaixo.

Sentence stress é o que ocorre quando uma palavra ou várias palavras, são ditas de modo mais enfático em uma sentença. 

A palavra ou as palavras principais da sentença – aquela ou aquelas que carregam o significado central do que está sendo dito – serão enfatizadas. Dependendo da palavra a ser enfatizada dentro da sentença, o significado, a ideia expressa, poderá mudar completamente.

Muitos falantes de português, queixam-se de que os falantes de língua inglesa falam muito rapidamente, ou “engolem” palavras. 

Em línguas silábicas como o português – SYLLABLE-TIMED LANGUAGE, cada sílaba tem igual importância e, portanto, igual tempo é gasto em cada uma. 

O inglês, uma língua tônica – STRESS-TIMED LANGUAGE entretanto, enfatiza as palavras importantes, enquanto passa rapidamente por palavras menos importantes.

E INTONATION, entonação, é o som resultante do aumento ou queda do tom de voz, sobretudo para enfatizar o sentido de uma frase.

Por exemplo, em perguntas, a voz se eleva em tom, no final da pergunta.

Hey Dylan↘️, how’s it going↗️?

Neste vídeo, Carina Fragozo, mostra alguns padrões de acento frasal (sentence stress) do inglês.

Passe a ouvir com atenção como os falantes nativos enfatizam as palavras tônicas. À medida que você começar a ouvir atentamente, você descobrirá que no inglês, palavras que você parece não entender, têm importância, mas não são determinantes para a compreensão do todo.

What’s your word for 2022?

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I believe that resiliency prevailed in 2021. 

Instead of making New Year’s resolutions that you probably won’t keep, choose a word that can make a positive impact and help guide your decisions over the next year to reach your goals. 

So, what word will you choose to guide you and give you focus in 2022?

In this video, January the first talks to us and shares a piece of advice.

And the word is movement.

Moving will help you get through the next 364 days with ease, she says.

Start the year doing that: moving. But not just the exercise kind of movement.

She means movement of the spirit, the soul, moving someone else’s heart.

January the first advises us to move to find the inspiration to create, to invent.

When we’re moving, there’s no time for fear, for doubts, because it pushes us forward, it makes us stronger, wiser.

Take her word. Write it down somewhere and put it into action.

It will make every single day of your year count.

It’s an inspirational message, but we can also learn the language we use in our day-to-day life. So here we go!

PIECE OF ADVICE

(Conselho) Advice is uncountable. We say a piece of advice (not ‘an advice’) and some advice (not ‘some advices’).

GET THROUGH​ something

(Lidar) To successfully deal with a problem or difficulty

I know we’re going to get through the pandemic.

WITH EASE

(Com facilidade) Without difficulty, easily

They won the game with ease.

TAKE SOMEONE’S WORD

(Acreditar na palavra de alguém) To believe someone without needing proof or evidence

I’ve lost my sense of smell, so I’ll have to take your word for any similarities to lavender in terms of scent.

WRITE (something) DOWN

(Anotar) To note, to scribble, to write (something); to put (something) to paper

I think I wrote it down wrong.

Now, what word will you choose to guide you and give you focus in 2022?

  • CONNECTION? It can mean a relationship or bond with another person, and it can also reference connecting with the present moment. 
  • CONTRIBUTION? It could mean an act or monetary donation, but it is about generosity.
  • CONFIDENCE? Focusing on what we are good at and what compliments our personality can help us achieve goals and boost confidence. We learn what we can do and when we need to ask for help.
  • OR MAYBE YES? A simple word, but it can have a strong impact.

My wish for you is to go forward and make a difference in anything that you choose to do. 😉

Do you have a 2021 gratitude list?

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The end of the year is a great time to look ahead and draw up (make/put together)a plan for what to do next. But first, let’s go back to what happened this year.

What are you most grateful for in 2021?

How did this person/experience/thing impact your life?

What are the other things you’re grateful for in 2021?

Gratitude benefits us on many levels. It’s good for emotional balance and positively affects our personality. 

It also helps us appreciate the things we have, do, and are in our lives, giving us the chance to feel good about them rather than focusing on the feeling that keeps telling us we need to have, do and be more.

Cultivating gratitude increases well-being, happiness, energy, optimism, and empathy.

This is what makes it onto my 2021 grateful list:

  • Being alive: my family and I, and all the people I care for;
  • My daughter: so proud of her! She’s facing challenges, in a foreign country, all by herself, and beautifully achieving her full potential;
  • My dear students, former and current ones. Each one is unique, and I’m grateful for the chance to help them with their goals;
  • Every person or being who made me smile, who offered me help, who taught me something, who showed me a better way to be or to do something;
  • Food and shelter;
  • My effort to set the time to make progress in my studies, to think, to self-reflect;
  • New challenges and accomplishments, although simple for others;
  • Making the most out of good and bad experiences;
  • Finding joy in the most simple, tiniest details and this world’s natural beauty;
  • What has gone and what is yet to come.

This video, A Good Day, was recorded fourteen years ago and watched over 1 million times. It features Brother David, a highly-respected Benedictine monk, author, and spiritual leader, and is a blessing to all those with “eyes to see and ears to hear.” Look, listen, and feel inspired by this powerful message on grateful living. 

And if you want more, Brother David says that the one thing all humans have in common is that each of us wants to be happy. And happiness, he suggests, is born from gratitude. Below is an inspiring lesson in slowing down, looking where you’re going, and above all, being grateful. 

It is a listening and reading practice if you work on the transcript. You can find it in English and Portuguese if you need it. Look up the words you don’t know.

Where are you from? Countries and nationalities

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Where are you from?

Where did you come from?

We say our nationality with “I’m”. We say which country we are from with “I’m from…”

“I’m…” + nationality
“I’m from” + country

I’m Russian. 
I’m from Russia. 

We use “she’s”, “he’s”, and “they’re” to talk about other people’s nationalities.

NationalityCountry
I’m Turkish.I’m from Turkey.
He’s English.He’s from England.

⚠️ Learners of English often confuse the words for nationality and country. ⚠️

We can tell the difference between nationality and country by looking at the ending of words. Many nationalities end in “-ish“, “-an” and “-ese“.

Nationalities ending in “-ish“:

NationalityCountry
EnglishEngland
TurkishTurkey
PolishPoland
SpanishSpain

Nationalities ending in “-an“:

NationalityCountry
Americanthe USA
RussianRussia
BrazilianBrazil
MexicanMexico

Nationalities ending in “-ese”:

NationalityCountry
ChineseChina
JapaneseJapan
PortuguesePortugal

If you haven’t seen your nationality or country this lesson, you can look them up.

Look at a dialogue between two people.

Dialogue

Sofia: Hi, I’m Sofia. You’re Alex, right?

Alex: Hello Sofia, yes I’m Alex. Are you from the USA?

Sofia: Yes, I am! Are you American too?

Alex: No, I’m not American, I’m from Russia!

Now the listening practice:

Next, some more language for those who feel that can go a little further.

Anna interviews tourists on the National Mall in Washington, DC. She learns about where they are from and the languages they speak. Listen carefully and write down what you hear.

“Teacher, I need more five minutes.” Is that right?

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“Teacher, I need more five minutes.”

A lot of English learners say that to me.
I understand that they say the same way they would say in Portuguese, but it’s incorrect.

More is a modifier, a word that gives additional information about another word. It is used in a variety of situations.

In this situation the structure is number + more + noun

Listen carefully to this famous song by Phil Collins (1984) and work on the lyrics by playing this fun game.

Look at some combinations below: