Today is the Fourth of July. It is the day of the announcement by the First Continental Congress that the 13 American British colonies were formally independent from the British Empire and were in fact a separate nation.

Although the Declaration was officially adopted on July 2nd 1776, no public announcement was made until July 4th.

The Declaration of Independence built its ideas partially on the Virginia Declaration of Rights, partially on the Magna Carta (the idea that kings did not have a "divine right to rule" that could not be challenged came from the Magna Carta) and from other thinkers of the time.

Some Americans have stated that the Founders believed that the rights of man came from God; some have suggested that they believed that those rights came from "natural law" (a more humanist concept).

Still others have said that when they said, "these rights come from God" they were thinking in line with humanist philosophers of the day who ascribed human rights as springing from God without a specifically religious overtone.

Even others believe that the Founders of this nation were Calvinist Christians and believed that the rights that they termed "inalienable" sprung from a God that was the God described by Martin Luther and John Calvin.

This is a question that is far from settled in the United States today (and in fact when discussing America with Americans on July 4th, it's probably best not to get into the conversation of whether America is a "Christian nation" or not unless you know that you are among people who think the same way you do, whatever that is. It's not good beer talk, and AMericans drink *lots* of beet, eat *lots* of hamburgers, Italian sausage, hot dogs, potato salad, cole slaw, and ice cream.)

It's very hard to explain the stirrings that even the most extreme politically leaning American feels on the Fourth of July. It is the day that America became America, and Americans became Americans, as opposed to subjects of the British Crown. The morning of July 4th is often solemn--some even go to church to pray for God's guidance for this country. Pretty much everyone celebrates and is in a festive mood.

And yes, we shoot off fireworks. John Adams felt that fireworks were an integral part of 4th of July. Several state legislatures disagree. Shoot 'em off with care.

Good artists to listen to on the 4th of July are Frank Sinatra, John Mellencamp, Lee Greenwood, Toby Keith, Louis Armstrong, Bruce Springsteen, and others. These are all people who wrote and sang about America and the nature of America and Americans and who embody the American spirit.

So enjoy your Fourth here, remember not to drink and drive (to "drink and drive" means to drink beer or hard liquor or wine and then get in a car and drive--the alcohol in these things makes it difficult to drive safely, besides the fact that hundreds of drunken driving accidents happen on the Fourth and many fatalities. Be safe and know that drinking and driving is not legal and they will arrest you and put you in jail if they catch you!)

Enjoy the day! And don't forget! If you have any questions about American culture or if you want to set up a lesson to learn to speak American English or to reduce your accent, give me a call at (732) 776-7964, hit me up on Skype at david.berlin.esl, or drop me a line at david.berlin.esl@gmail.com.

Have a happy Fourth of July!

Hi everybody! This is your friendly neighborhood ESL/Accent Reduction tutor, David Berlin. This is a short podcast that explains, very briefly, the history of the English spelling system (such as it is), from Old English to Samuel Johnson's 17th century "Dictionary of the English Language".

I know some of you have trouble because English spelling is not phonetic the way it is in many other languages; words are often spelled in English in a completely different way than they are pronounced. Hopefully this podcast sheds a little light on why.

If you'd like to discuss your ESL/Accent Reduction issues with me and set up an initial consultation and appointment, call (732) 776-7964, buzz me on Skype at david.berlin.esl, or just drop me a line at david.berlin.esl@gmail.com. Once again, that number is (732) 776-7964, or Skype at david.berlin.esl, or e-mail at david.berlin.esl@gmail.com. Until next time, this is David Berlin, signing off...goodbye!

Click here to listen to the podcast: a short history of English spelling.

Intonation in terms of North American English refers to the music of speech. Have you ever heard the expression "to read between the lines"? Unlike, for instance, Chinese, which uses intonation--pitch changes in speech--to indicate content or meaning changes, Americans use pitch changes in speech to indicate emotion. So for instance to an American, there is a difference between "I have to go to the library..." (irritated) and "I have to go to the library!" (excited). We convey that difference via pitch changes and emphasis/stress changes.

Here's an example of "I have to go to the library..."with the speaker conveying to the listener that he is irritated about it.

Click here to download I have to go to the library (irritated).mp3

Here's an example of "I have to go to the library!" with the speaker conveying to
the listener that he is excited and happy about it.

Click here to download I have to go to the library (excited).mp3

It's important because if you don't intonate the sentence correctly, an American won't know how to react to it--in other words if it sounds like this:

Click here to download I have to go to the library (no intonation).mp3

Then you haven't conveyed to the American listener how you feel emotionally about it, and he won't know how to respond. An American responds partially on how you feel about it; it's very important to an American. If you can't convey it with your tone, you miss out on a big part of ordinary communication with Americans.

For Chinese folks, I have an easier explanation. Say out loud, the Chinese words for "mother", "horse", "hemp" and "scold". There is a difference, right? You have made sounds and pitched those sounds differently for each word--but the actual *sounds* are the same. (To an American ear, they all sound like "ma"). In America we don't change pitches for content--we change them to indicate emotion. Emotional content is very important to us in our speech.

If you'd like some information about the specific rules and system of intonation in North American English (because there really are specific codified rules and a specific system) feel free to give me a call at (732) 776-7964 OR buzz me on Skype at david.berlin.esl or just drop me an email at david.berlin.esl@gmail.com to chat about accent reduction and to set up an appointment. There's no long term commitment necessary; you can pay me on a per session basis for as long as you like--although I do give a discount of $5/hour for a monthlong commitment.

Take care everybody and enjoy the summer!

Stay tuned ladies and gents! The Dave just got a digital videocamera AND a Sansa for audio recordings and podcasts! Soon you can experience a whole new dimension of accent reduction action from Studio Dave! There'll be YouTube posts, Twitter posts, and podcasts.

Get ready to speak the best English there ever was!



The Dave

Dig those crazy /p/ and /b/ sounds...

For those of you from the Indian subcontinent, whether you speak Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, or any of the other many languages spoken in India, you may find that you have trouble distinguishing between the /p/ and the /b/ sounds in English. This is because those sounds do not exist as seperate sounds in most of the Indian languages. So for instance, when you try to say "Bombay", to an American, you might be saying, "Pompeii"--very different!

Essentially the difference between /p/ and /b/ is that /b/ is a voiced /p/.

Here is how you make the /p/ sound:

Push your lips together, stopping the air stream as you speak. Then open your lips. The /p/ sound requires a firm lip closure. The air comes out in a strong puff.

Try saying now:

sip

pip

clip

In each of these words you interrupt the air stream coming out of your mouth as you speak by closing your lips, and then opening them while you expel air.

To make the /b/ sound, use a less tense closure of the lips (with the /p/ sound you close them firmly. With the /b/ sound, less so) and vocalize in the back of your throat.

Try these words:

sib

bib

nib

See you in a few! I'm trying to get my camera fixed so I can put up some video with sounds. Stay tuned!

New York at Christmas is one of the most beautiful sights in the world--the city is lit up twenty four hours a day with multicolored Christmas lights, thousands and thousands of them, from Harlem to Wall Street. People watch movies like "Miracle on 34th Street" and "It's a Wonderful Life". We give to the poor and the homeless, and we are grateful for the things we ourselves have.

Pronounciation tip: Christmas is pronounced with a hard "k" sound at the beginning: Krismas (the 't' has no sound; it is silent.) But often in English, the 'ch' is a voiceless 'j'--take the front of your tongue, put it to the roof of your mouth, and vocalize in the back of your throat using your vocal cords--say, "judge" or "joker". Now try it without your vocal cords, just using your mouth and throat to shape the sound, so there is no vibration when you put your hand to your throat. Try "joker" without your vocal cords. It should come out "choker"! Now, try "jeer"--sounded with the buzz at your throat, with your vocal cords. Now try "cheer"--same word, sounded without your vocal cords.

Again, I am going to post some YouTube vids, or at least some sound samples, as soon as I am able. Stay tuned! ("Stay tuned" means, keep watching this blog--it comes from something radio hosts would say--"Don't touch that dial!" meaning, "don't change the radio station!")

If you are a native Arabic speaker or a native Hebrew speaker, or a speaker of Persian or Pashto, you should be aware that the glottal stop as an accented consonant--ie the "ch" in the Hebrew "chrain" (horseradish) or "chai" (life or the number 18)--or the "h" in the city name Bahrain or the "ch" in the Arabic for "after tomorrow" (baad bachra) does not exist in American English as a separate consonant.

Those of you used to greeting people with "shalom alechem" or "was salaam aleichem" will find that when Americans do pronounce these words they come out as "shalom alaikum" or "salam aleikum". If you are learning English and your native tongue is Arabic or Persian or Hebrew or Pashto, you'll find that you'll have to get rid of the glottal stop to truly sound American or unaccented.