Pronunciation Diary - Day 1

We all probably think that our pronunciation will improve naturally as time goes by and we continue to study English. Unlike grammar and vocabulary, though, pronunciation cannot simply be learned by heart. There are a number of rules to consider and an immense amount of time needs to be spent on listening and speaking practice in order to improve pronunciation. Most important of all, however, is to choose an accent that we want to copy to avoid using the accent of our native language.

I have never had problems understanding the phrases muttered by the other students in class back in my schooldays, of course. As we all shared the same mother tongue, we probably all had a similar accent, tended to make the same mistakes in pronunciation and confuse the same false friends. When I went abroad last year I finally realized how important pronunciation really is. I had a hard time understanding my Spanish, Korean, Chinese and Malaysian friends speak English. They were not bad in English, mind you, but if I did not completely concentrate on exactly what they were saying I could not understand a single word they said. Of course, this was mainly due to pronunciation problems.

My personal main difficulty in pronunciation is the fact that my teacher never settled for one accent – British or American English. Therefore it took me quite a while to understand the many subtle differences between British and American English. I tend to use American English mostly, as the accent is easier to imitate. My main problem remains that I watch British as well as American series, TV shows and films. Some words I have only ever heard pronounced with a British accent, consequently I use the British accent as well, confusing my communication partner.

Realizing this problem I decided to only concentrate on one accent to imitate in the future – the American one. I would still like to be able to use a British accent in the future, but as for now improving my pronunciation is my main goal. To improve my pronunciation I have done the different exercises mentioned in the week-by-week and searched for additional ones on the internet. Furthermore, I will try to find out the different pronunciation of new vocabulary before I start using them. 

Merriam-Webster Perfect Pronunciation

American English Pronunciation

Vocabulary Notebook

In this post I am going to concentrate on my vocabulary-studying techniques and on several websites that i consider important for broadening my vocabulary. Just as most of the other SUK3 students I had to prepare for the vocabulary section on PC1, the usage of Porter words. In most cases I despise studying vocabulary as it’s quite tiring and repetitive, but using vocabulary.com facilitated my old methods quite a lot. As vocabulary.com provides a great variety of different manners of checking vocabulary, I had to stay concentrated. This led to me not always falling asleep, luckily. Another thing that I like about this website is that I can see how much I have improved, how much progress I have made, which helps a lot in staying motivated. 

Apart from vocabulary.com I enjoy using websites such as merriam-webster.com or thesaurus.com for writing academic texts. Thesaurus.com is probably one of the best sources for synonyms and antonyms, while meeriam-webster.com provides a range of different games related to studying vocabulary. They offer, for eyample, a "Name-the-thing" and a "Vocabulary" quiz, which are not only fun to do but consist of quite interesting words (of mostly high register)

The Council of the European Union - Group paragraph

The Council of the European Union - Original Paragraph

As one of the major EU institutions, the Council of the European Union bears responsibility for a variety of different matters intended to create and promote unity between all EU member states. Not only is the Council of the European Union in charge of coordinating the broad economic policies of the EU member countries, it also approves the annual EU budget. In addition to this, the Council of the European Union passes laws proposed by the EU Commission, has the right to sign international agreements, concerning trade, environment etc. on behalf of the EU and is the main forum for a joint foreign and defense policy in Europe. Responsible for these tasks are the national ministers of each EU member state that gather at the Council’s assemblies. As the ministers in each country are appointed every few years, the Council of the European Union does not consist of fixed members, but instead each member country sends out their current minister of the policy field being discussed in the Council’s meetings. Just as there are no permanent members, there is also no fixed head of the Council of the European Union, leading to a system of rotation. Every six months a different country among the 28 member states holds presidency and consequently leads the Council’s meetings. Currently Lithuania is the head of the Council. Though the meetings are chaired by the relevant minister of the country holding the rotating presidency, decisions are made based on vote. Consequently the ministers that constitute the Council are directly responsible for the life of EU citizens, as in coordinating economic policies it influences the development of healthcare, education and welfare systems. Though the name of the Council of the European Union might easily be confused with other EU bodies, its effect on the EU makes it an irreplaceable institution in the European community.

The Council of the European Union - Corrected Version

As one of the major EU institutions, the Council of the European Union bears responsibility

for a variety of different matters intended to create and promote unity between all EU member

states. Not only is the Council of the European Union in charge of coordinating the broad

economic policies of the EU member countries, it also approves the annual EU budget.

In addition to this, the Council of the European Union passes laws proposed by the EU

Commission, has the right to sign international agreements concerning trade, the environment,

etc. on behalf of the EU and is the main forum for a joint foreign and defense policy in

Europe. Responsible for these tasks are the national ministers of each EU member state that

gather at the Council’s assemblies. As the ministers in each country are appointed every few

years, the Council of the European Union does not consist of permanent members, but instead

each member country sends their minister responsible for the policy field being discussed

in the Council’s meetings. Due to the system of rotation, there is no head of the Council of

the European Union just as there are no permanent members. Every six months a different

country among the 28 member states holds the presidency and consequently leads the

Council’s meetings. Though the meetings are chaired by the relevant minister of the country

holding the rotating presidency, decisions are voted on by all ministers. As in coordinating

economic policies, the Council influences the development of healthcare, education and

welfare systems, it is consequently responsible for the living standards of all EU citizens. As

it has great impact on the lives of all EU citizens, the Council of the European Union is an

irreplaceable institution in the European community.

Comment on "summary55555"

Ambrose Evans-Pitchard’s article in The Telegraph of the 23rd October 2013 analyses the
approaching European deflation in connection with debt.

At the beginning of the text, the author mentions that deflation had already occurred before.  (lack of cohesion between this sentence and the following) Deflation can influence the economy of countries positively (did they author state this?) if they are not too heavily in debt. This, however, is not the case in Europe: As many countries are overburdened with debts, repaying it becomes more and more difficult if the inflation is too low. This problem does not only affect national but also private debt.

It is argued (by whom?) that the ECB should try everything to maintain an inflation of at least 2% in order to prevent from an economic disaster, but according to the author, Europe seems to be
paralyzed. Italy, France and Spain should gang up on Germany and dictate a new policy,
which combats deflation and could therefore help restoring the damaged economies. Yet, they
fear that Germany might leave the EMU and leave it up to the rest (whom?) to solve the debt problem.
Summing up, Europe is far away from a proper solution. It still seems to be in recession but
prefers to wait for an economic miracle instead of taking the initiative.

[201 words]

Feedback
The introduction of the student is quite clear and gives a general overview of the article. There are, however, some small mistakes (grammar etc.) in the text and once the cohesion between two sentences was not quite clear. The student should probably mention more often that the things mentioned in his summary are solely the opinion of the author. All in all, the summary still explained the maint points mentioned in the article, though I feel that some facts were not mentioned (for example that the last part were the solutions proposed by the author, what lead to debt crisis etc.)

Surprising Europe - "You're sitting on a white seat"

„You’re sitting on a white seat“

„You’re sitting on a white seat“ is just one of the many racist remarks that Angela from Sierra Leone had to deal with after moving to Düsseldorf, Germany. In Surprising Europe, a documentary about African immigrants living in Europe, she told about the dark sides of living within the EU as a foreigner. Encounters with skinheads that swear at her, spit at her or simply wave their fists at her are not a rare occurrence but an obstacle that almost all immigrants have to overcome.

With an increasing number of African migrants entering the EU every year, racism has become a hot issue once again. These naturalized citizens introduce Europeans to completely different customs and traditions as well as languages that are a complete mystery to most of the EU population, which leads to a culture clash. Europeans fear to lose their cultural identity that they take great pride in, while African immigrants try to adapt to Western culture and simultaneously attempt to preserve their own traditions. Some of these immigrants that were questioned in a survey agreed on the fact that because of racism it is challenging for them to find accommodation or employment. Many Africans stated that they also had been physically and verbally attacked. 

Even though they are all met with racism, immigrants still believe in the “European Dream”. Most of them strive hard to adapt to the new culture of their respective countries by using a variety of methods. Interviews with participants of Surprising Europe uncovered the challenges that African immigrants have to face in the adaption process and how they deal with them. Mousse, from Senegal, succeeded in adjusting to the lifestyle in Amsterdam with the help of his Dutch wife and their children, while Wonda Wendy, living in France, considers both of her cultural backgrounds as equally meaningful.

The main problems in terms of intercultural understanding primarily derive from completely different concepts of relationships. These concepts include, for example, the idea of sharing household chores, as Europeans do, or the old-fashioned way of letting the woman work at home in Africa. Another common custom in Africa is to take care of the children of your friends or family while in Europe a paid childcare system needed to be established. However, African immigrants have found their own ways in overcoming these difficulties, racism and finally succeeded in adapting to a completely new culture without sacrificing their own traditions.

Zen Habits

I spent my first year at the ITAT practically burying myself in my studies and my second year in Korea basically doing nothing at all, except for studying the Korean language and Korean culture. Restarting my studies in Graz right now made me realize that both ways of these ways of living my life are far from optimal. Of course I am expected to be prepared for my exams, to do my homework diligently, to read through the links my teachers post and to spend at least part of my free time revising my homework and written tests. At the same time though, some of our teachers recommend us to not only live our lives trying to cram all sorts of information into our heads, but to go outside from time to time and enjoy life. I took these words to heart and stopped myself from getting stressed out all the time.

These days, when I can’t concentrate on my homework any longer I get my bike and go for a ride or take a walk. Whenever I don’t even have the slightest inspiration for writing just another paragraph or preparing a speech I start talking to my flat mates or go out to meet some friends. In the past I thought of these interruptions of my work as wasting time, but recently I realized that whenever I feel calm and relaxed I finish my work in half the time that I used to take. I also took up sports again, though I only chose one USI course for now – Capoiera.

Honestly, capoiera is so much more difficult and exhausting than it looks, but it feels good being totally worn out after one and half an hour of training. I can only share one important thing that I learned with all of you, reading this blog. Stressing yourself over your studies won’t help you at all, quite the opposite; it will prevent you from working well. I used to feel stressed about university matters all the time, but now that I learned to relax studying is fun, interesting and something I like to do even in my holidays. In the end, I just needed to find some balance between my personal and university life.

Final Draft of "The European Year of Reconciling Work and Family Life"

A recent, sharp increase in the number of dual-career families and a simultaneous drop in birth rate have led to the question of how to improve the current situation of families living in Europe. In response to this question the EU has taken action and designated 2014 the Year of Reconciling Work and Family Life.  Throughout the next year special attention will be given to the organization of the labor market and to the modification of company-specific policies. Regarding these policies more flexibility of the working cycle should be given to female employees and childcare provided by companies is planned to be expanded. Another main aim of the EU’s European Year 2014 is to promote family-friendly policies and their implementation as well as to respond to familial challenges. Inequality, social exclusion, and lack of economic efficiency are among the conflicts that affect the situation of dual-career families in Europe, a situation that the EU is planning to change quintessentially. In conclusion, a great number of the goals the European Union has set to achieve in the upcoming year are related to the improvement of the living standard of families living inside the EU borders.

[194 words]

Final Version II

A recent, sharp increase in the number of dual-career families and a simultaneous drop in birth rate have led to the question of whether the current situation of families living in Europe needs to be improved. In response to this question the EU has taken action and designated 2014 the Year of Reconciling Work and Family Life.  Throughout the next year special attention will be given to the organization of the labor market and to the modification of company-specific policies. These policies should be made more family-friendly, for example in providing more flexible working hours for female employees and in expanding childcare. Another main aim of the EU’s European Year 2014 is the implementation of these family-friendly policies, as well as to respond to familial challenges. Inequality, social exclusion, and lack of economic efficiency are among the conflicts that affect the situation of dual-career families in Europe, a situation that the EU is planning to change drastically. The upcoming year will prove whether or not the European Union can achieve the goals it set and bring about great changes in terms of the well-being of families in Europe. Until then the fight to reconcile family and work will continue.