Having problems describing things in English? Or expressing your opinion?

Learn this Tip for English Speaking

When you are asking a coworker to do a task do you tell them every little detail. Or do you tell them a little and understand that you have implied the rest?

Author: Siren Watcher – Published: 2021-07-28.

Having problems describing things in English? Or expressing your opinion?

Learn this Tip for English Speaking

When you are asking a coworker to do a task do you tell them every little detail. Or do you tell them a little and understand that you have implied the rest?

Author: Siren Watcher – Published: 2021-07-28.

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One of the main differences between countries is whether they are a high-context or low-context culture. When you are asking a coworker to do a task do you tell them every little detail? Or do you tell them a little and understand that you have implied the rest? These differences can make international business relations jarring. When there is this cross-cultural communication problem. So what is your country like and can you adapt to be able to express things both ways?

In a high-context culture speaking less not more is the proper strategy. In a high-context culture there is an unspoken cultural bond of understanding. This means that certain things are not needed to say. Or may even be impolite to say outloud. Saying less or staying silent are common ways to express your opinion in high-context cultures.

Multitudes of students seem to have the same issue in English. Their cultural way of speaking at home clashes with the low-context culture of English. These cultural contexts are built into languages. So an ESL speaker is generally required to speak in a low-context style to appear as if speaking like a native.

In native English speaker’s conversation. They might overemphasise a fact. To make sure that their speaking partner definitely understands what they mean. Using as many words as possible to get their point across.

Image by John Hain.

It is common knowledge that within the German language there is a “word for everything”. In English that is not the case. So often an English speaker will speak an entire phrase. For something another language could say in a single word. Words like Drachenfutter. Which means an apology gift that you buy when you know a person may be angry with you. The most famous word English lacks from German is Schadenfreude. Which means to have a mean idea of what you find funny. Such as something unfortunate happening to someone. The closest word to Schadenfruede in English is black humour.

English is a highly expressive language which can be described as being colourful. When an English sentence is written. There is many words included for emphasis and poetic quality. These common expressions have become ingrained as the default way to speak.

“What did you do this weekend?”

How you answer this question to a stranger is a great way to tell whether you are from a high or low-context culture. In a high-context culture you could safely reply: “I did nothing”. Assuming that the other person would fill in the gaps and respect your answer. In a low-context culture, this is considered impolite. As the primary assumption in a low-context culture is that the speaker may not be able to guess what you did. As there is less uniformity amongst the population.

This is the difference between individualist and collectivist societies.

If an English speaker wanted to say: “I did nothing.” They may say something like, “I just watched a bit of TV.” Or another non-specific answer that still provides a way to fill in some of the gaps for the listener. The context of your weekend can’t be implied within a traditional English conversation.

If in the workplace someone asks your opinion saying, “I agree” or “I disagree,” may not be enough. Saying, “I agree because ___.” Then making a statement. Specific or generalised doesn’t matter. This can make a big difference in sounding like a native speaker. As English speakers are known to add more words to their sentences. Rather than less such as in a high-context culture.

Once you see the difference between the two cultural contexts. You can start on using tips for how to improve your English speaking. Some great example exercises for learning how to speak in a low-context manner. Is provided in the ajoining video below on Youtube or Bitchute. There are English subtitles if needed.

Article is also published on Contena and is a Hemingway Editor Grade: 7.

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Sources

13 German words that English needs

15 Beautiful German Words and Phrases We Need in English

Cross cultural communication

What Is The Difference Between a High-Context and Low-Context Culture?

… leave Having problems describing things in English? Or expressing your opinion? Learn this Tip for English Speaking …

Siren Watcher

Issues with listening to different Accents?

4 Detailed Steps for Advanced English Listening.

If you are having problem listening to certain accents there are many lessons which can help you learn some of the hardest sounds in each language. Read through the steps in this advanced english listening guide for some useful niche advice.

Author: Siren Watcher. Published: 2020-08-25.

Issues with listening to different Accents?

4 Detailed Steps for Advanced English Listening

Author: Siren Watcher. Published: 2020-08-25.

Fifth Step: Practice

Fourth Step: Phonetics and Phonemes

Third Step: Origins of all spoken sounds

Second Step: Country of origin

First Step: Native or ESL?

First Step: Native or ESL?

Figure out whether you find native speakers or second language speakers (ESL) the most difficult. As these are totally different issues.

A native speaker is using sounds built into the English language, which can imply there are sounds you will need to learn. Whereas a second language speaker is using sounds from a foreign language you may not use in your native language, merged into their English speech. Such as the German and Indian pronuncation of the W sound (as an English-V sound). You do not need to learn these sounds unless you are dealing with a lot of these speakers on a daily basis.

See this English listening playlist from a commonly discussed country: India.

Second Step: Country of origin

Figure out which country is the one you struggle with.

A big issue some foreign language speakers have is in the difference between UK and USA speakers. Other native English languages come from that root, such as Australian English is at root British English with an extra twist. As it is said to be based most strongly on the Cockney British accent.

This means if you struggle with British English you may also struggle with Australian or Irish English too. If you struggle with the American accent, you may also struggle with the American accent from the south of the country, or the African-American (AAVE) dialect and accent. Canadian English is a great mixture of American English, with British spelling and some British accent.

This is a great English listening playlist for some of the variations with tips on different Native English accents:

Some of the origins for a person’s English listening issues is due to some countries focusing on either British or American materials for teaching.

In Japan, American English is predominantly taught. In India, it is British English. Therefore Indians may find it harder to understand accents from the US and Japanese may find it harder to understand UK accents. This is not always true but the sounds you have heard can make a huge amount of difference to how comfortable you are using those sounds in your speech.

Learn about the Myth of the Stork and the Baby.

Third Step: Origins of all spoken sounds

When you are born you know how to make every sound humans can make. Yet not every language uses every vocal sound. Over time we forget how to use those sounds that our parents have not used around us when we are babies. For the first 5 years of life children mimic their parents and we use these sounds to communicate within our environment. Eventually throwing away the sounds we don’t need to use.

Learn to say the sounds your struggling with listening to that may not exist within your host language. This will train your brain to associate the sound with the letters even if you rarely hear them around you. A great method to do this, is by following the International Phonetic Language (IPA) as seen in the video above.

To download the Chart from the video, see here:

Wikimedia IPA Chart.

Sounds to go with the Chart can be found here:

IPA pulmonic consonant chart with audio.

This is a list of all the Phonetic Alphabet sounds in the English language:

Wikipedia Help: IPA/English.

A list of all the Phonetic sounds for English listening can be heard below:

Fourth Step: Phonetics and Phonemes

Figure out what particular sounds you are struggling with listening to.

The next time you notice a word is particularly hard to listen to, ask the person speaking to repeat what they said again. If you still can’t understand ask them to spell the word so you can write it down.

Look up the word you have struggled with on thefreedictionary.com or a similar website which shows the phonetic language.

Figure out the particular sounds you commonly struggle with and practice them.

This is a list of all the IPA sounds linked with each letter in English:

Teach Phonetics.

Click each letter to get a list of example words with a sound video.

Fifth Step: Practice

Find materials to practice with.

Some great examples are tongue twisters. A few example websites:

71 Best Tongue Twisters to Perfect Your English Pronunciation

150 Funny Tongue Twisters to test your pronunciation!

20 of the Toughest Tongue Twisters in the English Language

Give These 75 Totally Twisted Tongue Twisters a Try to Test Your Tongue’s Talents

Or lists which provide words by phoneme.

Lists with the category “Words containing a certain phoneme”.

A great source is Rhyme Desk which allows you to search words by phoneme. Pushing one phoneme option and then the button Any, followed by Search will provide you with an extensive list of words containing that one phoneme sound.

Good luck in your advanced English speaking!