Hot Enough For Ya?

WOW!  It has been hot, too hot, really to go outside and do anything.   During the day at its hottest it has been 115° F with the heat index (the "heat index" or "RealFeel" is how hot it "feels" to a person, not what the temperature outside actually is.   The "heat index" includes factors like humidity, air pressure, wind/breezes, precipitation, and things like that.)  


115° F is too hot to do much of anything outdoors, and many people are simply staying inside where there is air conditioning.   One thing you may find unusual about America that may be different, for instance, if your native land is India or Indonesia is that most indoor spaces in the US are air conditioned--we have machines that fit in windows or on roofs that use compressors to draw moisture out of the air and blow cold air into a room.

(My understanding is that depending on where in India you are, air conditioning may not be common.   In the US it is everywhere--even the poorest people generally have air conditioning of some type.)

Anyhow.   I managed to get a new video up--this one is for all of my Chinese language speakers who always ask me how to pronounce the /ng/ digraph at the end of a word like sing or ring or singing.

 (A digraph is a two letter pair that represents one sound.)

This video:

May help you do that correctly.  Essentially the "g" at the end is not a hard g like at the beginning of the word "gold" or "good"--it is lightly--very lightly articulated if at all.   You touch the back of your tongue to the back of the roof of your mouth like the /g/ sound but you don't finish the sound, or if you do, you do it very lightly.

All right?  All right.   Remember, if you're interested in American idioms, check out my American Idiom of the Day Twitter Feed and if you're interested in taking English as a Second Language or accent reduction lessons head on over to David Berlin's ESL and Accent Reduction Training Website.

Also, for more tips and tricks related to the American accent and American English, as well as American cultural tips, check out my ESL and Accent Reduction YouTube Channel.  

All right?  All right.  'Til next time, this is David Berlin, your friendly neighborhood ESL/accent reduction tutor SIGNING OFF...goodbye!