January 2011 – The Paris Savannah Connection

Cross Cultural Comments

Billy Liar

A. O. Scott looks back at John Schlesinger’s film about an inveterate daydreamer.

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Cross Cultural Comments

Paris: 13th Arrondissement

Blog – in French, oouf! – by folk in the 13th;

13envues

Enjoy it!

Newsletter: 20 January 2011

Every single language coaching session is unique. Year after year, I’ve been working with professionals who need, or who feel the need, to be more fluent in English.

Whether they need to improve their pronunciation so that it’s not too taxing for their listeners or whether they need to brush up on syntax and grammar or whether they need to improve their vocabularies, one thing is true: no two individuals are identical. Language is just that: individual.

When you look at others in your daily environment or in public, you’d be pretty surprised to see any two people look exactly alike, dressed exactly alike, walking and talking exactly alike … if you did, you’d think they were robots!

Most of us wear the same types of clothes from head to foot – yet with an infinity of styles, textures, materials, colours, shapes and sizes. Some neat, formal, fine, high fashion … some very original, others more casual, sometimes we wear unidentified “uniforms”: syles according to our jobs, our professions. Some fit … others don’t or are out of place for the occasion.

Your language is like the clothes you wear. It’s YOUR language. Your words, put together coherently … or casually, formally, young or not-so young, attractively, sexy or mysterious! Your stye. Changing according to your mood, yet constant from one season to the next.

Your vocabulary is your wardrobe.
Your grammar is your style.
Your pronunciation is how you appear to others.

Right now, clothes are on sale all over Paris. Time to restock your wardrobe!

Once you’ve done that … I can help you with the rest.
Coaching you in YOUR style … of English.
You are unique. So …
Go for it!

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Choosing words (more) carefully

On the front page of this morning’s International Herald Tribune, I read the following:

Congress members are choosing their words more carefully after one of their colleagues, Gabrielle Giffords, was badly wounded in a shooting in Tuscon, Arizona.

Words ARE powerful. And somehow, we are responsible for what we say.

There’s an English proverb that says “Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.”

Caution and precision in language are like that, too. Be careful of what you say. Someone just might hear it; someone might be attentively listening … to you !

homonyms = when words sound the same!

Listen to these:

nyms … like names, (comme “noms”) “homo” like the same.

just a refresher first:

homonyms are words which sound the same.
homonyms are words which sound the same but which mean different things.
homonyms are words which sound the same, have different meanings and are spelled differently.

“I” as in “I am” has the same pronunciation as “eye” as in “The one-eyed man is king among the blind.”

too bad … ? working too much?

If you’re interested in nyms … there are also … antonyms, synonyms, hypernyms, all kinds of nyms!

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New Year’s Resolutions

Tradition has it that as the New Year begins, we make resolutions; decisions on what we’d like to do differently this year from what we actually did last year. There seem to be some common categories. Getting better at … money, love, health, food … and maybe … faster thinking or public speaking in English?! That’s within reach: 06 75 12 85 55.

Here are some tips to make your New Year’s resolutions sustainable.

Comments welcome!