English with a Chinese characteristic - 005

English with a Chinese characteristic - 005
This is the "005" installment of this series.

This one is dedicated to the pronunciation difficulties experienced by many Chinese software professionals I am personally acquainted with.

From my old American housemate Dave in the 1970's, "If you cannot hear the difference, you cannot say it correctly." Find a native speaker or someone with good command of spoken English to work with you on the following examples. Listen very hard for the differences and then try to pronounce them so that you can reflect the differences you heard.

• [Long vowels]
  Try these pairs: Keith and kiss, feast and fist.
  
• [R versus L]
  Try these pairs: liver and river, world and word, war and wall.
  
• [Th versus S]
  Try these pairs: face and faith, think and sink.
  
• [Missing counterpart; there is no v sound in Chinese]
  Try these: very and vibrate.
  

Unlearn these pronunciations that are due to the Pin-yin imprints. Pin-yin is the most common standard for representing Standard Mandarin in the Latin alphabet. The correspondence between letter and sound does not follow any single other language such as English. Many Chinese have to anglicize the Pin-yin alphabet in their early learning to pronounce words accurately in the English language.
For example: c as in cang and cong, q in qing and que, x as in xiang and xue, r as in ren and rang.

I found that the college-educated group manages well the different pronunciations in English and in the Chinese Pin-yin.

English with an American Corporate Accent - 001

I was in Los Angeles for a business meeting this past March. The three-day meetings tested my endurance and adjustment to jet lag.

Since I had to ask to my non-native English-speaking colleagues from time to time for the subtle meanings of the word/phrase usages, I jotted down some of them to share with those who might be interested. It works best if you can find a native speaker with exposure to corporate America to elaborate on the finer points that I cannot cover well here.

• Put those projects in your list on the parking lot for now. [Put them on hold to wait and see.]
• That's skunk work to me. [That's labor-intensive work and is not too rewarding.]
• We are going to fiddle with the schedule in real time. [We are going to do the adjustment for the schedule on the fly.]
• Are you ready for prime time? [Are you ready for the real presentation?]
• Now, I see a perfect storm developing in that project. [The project is going to see lots of troubles soon.]
• Other than a few expected speed bumps we'll hit, this project should be easy to execute. [We expect to run into a few obstacles here and there in the normal course of execution; it will slow us down a bit when that happens.]
• If you two don't talk right away, I see a train wreck in the horizon. [A train wreck is a big disaster.]
• They are throwing a curve ball to us. [A curve ball in baseball jargon is a ball with unpredictable direction and speed.]
• Let's reconvene at 10 of. [Let's meet again 10 to 3 o'clock. We assume that now is 2:50 p.m. and at times people use the minus scheme to align with the hour.]
• We'll have to see when this new initiative gains traction. [We have to see when this new initiative gets accepted and gets visibility.]

English with a Chinese characteristic - 004

English with a Chinese characteristic - 004
This is the "004" installment of this series.

• Grammatical Errors
  
  (Verb that needs a preposition.)
  Almost everyone complains the bad traffic. -> Almost everyone complains about the bad traffic.
  He has to fill an application form. -> He has to fill out an application form.
  


• Odd Phrase Usage
  
  Even you have the time, don't do it. -> Even if you have the time, don't do it.
  
  
  
• Difficult Pronunciation
  
  (Tendency to add a vowel between successive consonants. Listen carefully and practice.)
  Edgar, against, chevrolet
  


• Choice of Words
  
  He refused to use throwaway chopsticks. -> He refused to use disposable chopsticks.
  
  
  
• Easily Mixed-Up Words
  
  train versus subway
  customer/custom/consume
  

English with a Chinese characteristic - 003

English with a Chinese characteristic - 003

This is the "003" installment of this series. (see http://blogs.sun.com/tpaullee/ for earlier installments)

• Grammatical Errors
  
  (Use definite article for the proper noun.)
  He used to live in United States. ==> He used to live the United States.
  


• Odd Phrase Usage
  
  The price will continue to rise in recent 4 or 3 years. ==> The price will continue to rise in the next 3 to 4 years.
  
  
  
• Difficult Pronunciation
  
  (This is a common problem for Chinese natives. Find a native speaker to say these two words, and listen very hard for the difference. If you cannot tell the difference between an 'l' and a 'r' by listening, you cannot pronounce them right.)
  
  flesh versus fresh
  


• Choice of Words
  
  Buy from a seller with good credit. ==> Buy from a seller with a good reputation.
  
  
  
• Easily Mixed-Up Words
  
  Eric is interesting in art. ==> Eric is interested in art.
  I am exciting about this. ==> I am excited about this.