Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Hi everybody! Here is a new call widget! Now you can click on the call widget and Google will connect you with me for nothing! (Your cell carrier may charge you for time, though).

Try it! Give me a call! Schedule some lessons for Christmas, Diwali, or for the New Year! Improve your English! Make yourself better than what you were--better positioned in America to do business, interact with customers, talk to clients, make presentations, get along at work, live comfortably in America! You CAN do it! I believe in you! Give me a call!

Happy Christmas,

Dave

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Hi everybody! There's a great new podcast up over on the right hand side of this blog. The podcast deals with intonation. Intonation refers to the way American English native speakers indicate emotion when they speak. It's a very important part of understanding and expressing yourself with American English.

Essentially, American speakers indicate emotion by stressing certain words within a sentence and changing the musical pitch of parts of a given sentence. Sometimes an American will speak part of a sentence in a higher pitched voice than other parts. Unlike Mandarin Chinese speakers, who change pitch to change the word used, an American speaker changes pitch to change conveyed emotion. It's the difference between what is said directly in words and what is said "between the lines" or indicated without using words.

The podcast explains a basic rule of intonation, which is to emphasize the important words in a sentence. There are some examples. Give it a listen, and remember, if you have any questions or want to call me for your free phone consult and to set up a free trial lesson, give me a call at (732) 618-4135. Hope everyone is enjoying this moody, rainy day!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Hi all! Got a replacement phone. My new, permanent phone number is 732-618-4135.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Lost my cell phone...

Hi everybody. It's Wednesday, December 1, 2010. I seem to have lost my cell phone; I think it slipped out of my pocket when I was getting out of a taxi. That'll teach me to use a holster!

If you need to reach me in the next couple of days, you can do so at (732) 841-2969. I will be reachable at that number until Thursday night, December 2nd, around 8 PM or so. Since I am off contract with my old cell carrier, I now have to decide what I want to do for a phone and cell service. I'll post my new number sometime over the course of the next week, as this issue gets resolved.

Other than that, email communications are best. My email address is david.berlin.esl@gmail.com. Thank you for your understanding of this matter.

Onward! Life goes on!