Merry Xmas!!

I just want to wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Enjoy this wonderful time of the year! Cheers!!!!!

 

Laughter is the best medicine!

I love people who make me laugh. 

I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh.

 It cures a multitude of ills.  

It's probably the most important thing in a person.

Audrey Hepburn.

Hoy cambiamos radicalmente de tema para, dejando a un lado los acentos, echar un vistazo a una web superinteresante que lleva por nombre Laugh and Learn English!
En esta web encontramos diferentes recursos para utilizar en clase -haciendo debates o discusiones- o para practicar y aprender nuevo vocabulario desde casa a la vez que pasamos un buen rato. Hay diferentes secciones (por ejemplo: Learn vocabulary through jokes, learn English from mistakes, learn English riddles...) y todas ellas trabajan con el inglés en contextos reales. Enjoy!

Algunos ejemplos tomados de www.laughandlearnenglish.com:

RIDDLES
Question: What travels all around the world and stays in a corner?

Answer: A stamp. Explanation: An envelope can go anywhere in the world which is very big and the stamp goes everywhere with the envelope. But an envelope is very small and the stamp never moves from the corner of the envelope. Got it? Question: A man rode into town on Tuesday. Two days later he rode home on Tuesday. How is this possible? Answer: His horse's name is "Tuesday". Explanation: The question said he "rode" into town. It did not say how. Now that we know he "rode in on a horse", the answer becomes obvious. Did you guess right?

JOKES
Three  mice are being chased by a cat. The mice were cornered when one of the mice turned around and barked, "Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!" The surprised cat ran away scared. Later when the mice told their mother what happened, she smiled and said, "You see, it pays to be bilingual!"

Sammy took Sally out dancing. Sammy was  having a good time when Sally suddenly said to him, “You could be a good dancer except for two things.”

Sammy eagerly asked, “What are the two things?”

Sally calmly replied, “Your feet!”

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain

O, ''La lluvia en Sevilla es una pura maravilla'' ...
Siguiendo con el hilo de los diferentes acentos, hoy vamos a trabajar con una de mis películas favoritas: 
My fair lady

 Es una película entrañable que recomiendo a todos los estudiantes de inglés (en V.O., obviamente!). En ella vemos como Eliza Doolittle, una chica con poco bagaje cultural y que utiliza el cockney accent (aparecía en el vídeo que os pasé hace unos días sobre los diferentes acentos, la variedad cockney se habla en Londres y es muy peculiar), acaba convirtiéndose en toda una English Lady. 

Con esto quiero haceros ver que, aunque cueste, tenemos que esforzarnos por conseguir una buena pronunciación. Será muy difícil que tengamos una near-native pronunciation (I'm an English teacher and I don't have it at all!!), pero al menos, lo intentaremos. Materiales como películas o canciones pueden servirnos de muchísima ayuda (aunque suene a tópico).

Mirad cómo Eliza se empeña y lo consigue. Ánimo!  Enjoy the video!

Hold yuh

Hoy vamos a ver algo diferente dentro de la amplia gama de English accents. Primero, me gustaría que escuchaseis esta canción:

Se titula Hold Yuh y la canta un famoso cantante jamaicano llamado Gyptian (existe también una versión en español). Como podéis comprobar, aunque sea inglés, pertenece a otra de las muchas variedades que existen, el English from Jamaica. Tiene vocabulario y estructuras gramaticales totalmente diferentes a las que podríamos encontrar en una canción en inglés estándar.
Os paso la letra en inglés jamaicano y en inglés estándar para que podáis apreciar las diferencias que hay entre ambas. Espero que os guste y os haya llamado la atención tanto como a mí!

Jamaican version:

Gyal mi wann fi hold yuhPut mi arms right around yuhGyal you give me the tightest hold me eva get inna my life
Gyal mi wann fi just squeeze yuhhPut mi tings all around yuhGyal yuh give me tightest hold me eva get inna mi life mmmm
Mi eye dem dry and mi nuh careMi tek it anytime, anywhereInna di squareSeh mi nuh fareAnd as a woman I will be dere
Me wanna gyal who cyan wine pon miMe want a gyal who cyan tek care a miWho cyan feel ittAnd mek mi feel ittMe afi really squeeze it
Gyal me wann fi hold yuhPut me arms right arounddd yuhGyal you give me the tightest hold me eva get inna my life
Gyal me juss wann fi squeeze yuhPut me tings all around yuhGyal yuh give me tightest hold me eva get inna mi life
Like a fast bike pon di road rooom rooom rooom rooomGyal pan di back and she boom boom boom boomGime di mawga one aand the fat coom coom coom coomMe na play ass one time iya coom coom coom coom
Mi out a controlA more fire shi want inna har soulShi seh more boy more, and stil she groanAn still mi mutilpy more
Gyal me wann fi juss hold yuhhPut me arms right arounddd yuhGyal yuh give me the tightest hold me eva get inna my life
Gyal mi juss wann fi squeeze yuhhPut mi arms right arounddd yaGyal you give me the tightest hold me eva get inna my life
Squeeze yuhAround yuhTightest hold me eva get inna my life
Squidle-idle-daddle-deh-eh (scat singing)Tightest hold me eva get inna my life
Ohhh
Me eye dem ah dry and me nuh careMe tek it anytime, anywhereInna di squareSeh mi nuh careAnd as a woman I will be dere
Me wanna gyal who cyan tek care a miMe want a gyal who cyan wine pon miWho cyan feel ittAnd mek mi feel ittShow me dat yuh cyan gurl
Gyal mi wann fi hold yuhhPut me arms right arounddd yuhGyal you give me the tightest hole me eva get inna my life
Gyal me juss wann fi squeeze yuhhPut me tings all around yuhGyal you give me tightest hold me eva get inna my life
Squeeze yuhhAround yuhhTightest hold me eva get inna my life
LawhhhYeahhhYeahhhYeahhh ehhh ehhh ehh ehh
(Tightest hold me eva get inna my life)(Mmmm)
[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/hold-you-lyrics-gyptian.html ]

English 'translation/adaptation':

Girl I just want to hold you, put my arms right around you,
Girl you give me the tightest hole I’ve ever seen in my life.

Girl I just want to squeeze you, put my thing right around you,
Girl you give me tightest hole I’ll ever get in my life.

Ohhh.

I’ll eye them dry and I don’t care. 
I’ll take it anytime, anywhere,
Into the spare, so we don’t care,
And as a woman you know I'll be there.

Do you want a girl who will take you away?
I want a girl who will wind on me,
Really good, and make me feel it,
Show me that you could girl.

Girl I just want to hold you, put my arms right around you,
Girl you give me the tightest grip I’ll ever get in my life.

Girl I just want to hold you, put my thing all around you,
Girl you give me tightest hole I’ll ever get in my life.

Like a fast bike her body’s like ‘vroom vroom vroom vroom’,
Jump on my back and she’ll go ‘boom boom boom boom’.
>>>Gime the maca van aand the fat tun tun tun<<<
>>>Me na rampaz Mi nozzle and get my boom boom<<<

She’s out of control,
I move first cause she’ll want a man soon.
She says she not a good woman and still she’s good,
And still I want it good.

Girl I just want to hold you, put my arms right around you,
Girl you give me the tightest hole I’ll ever get in my life.

Girl I just want to hold you, put my arms right around you,
Girl you give me tightest hole I’ll ever get in my life.

>>>Life ah past byy pon him and he guud guud guud guud<<<
>>>Jump pan hi back and gu gu gu guuhh<<<
>>>In the maca van 95 boom boom<<<
>>>Me na ramp when mi fi get mi goods.<<<

Still she’s out of control,
And more fire she wants in her soul.
>>>Ah seta moan pan yuh and still she good<<<
>>>And still them have it well good<<<


Girl I just want to hold you, put my things right around you,
Girl you give me the tightest hole I’ll ever get in my life.

Girl I just want to hold you, put my arms right around you,
Girl you give me the tightest hole I’ll ever get in my life.

Girl I want to just squeeze you, put my thing right around you,
Girl you give me tightest hole I’ll ever get in my life.

Ohhh.

I’ll eye them dry and I don’t care. 
I’ll take it anytime, anywhere,
Into the spare, so we don’t care,
And as a woman you know I'll be there.

Do you want a girl who will take you away?
I want a girl who will wind on me,
Really good, and make me feel it,
Show me that you could girl.

Girl I just want to hold you, put me arms right around you,
Girl you give me the tightest grip I’ll ever get in my life.

Girl I just want to squeeze you, put my thing right around you,
Girl you give me tightest hole I’ll ever get in my life.

Ohhh.

Ohhh ohhh yeah.

Hold you.
Right around you.
My life.
Right around you.

My life.
[From: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100721200532AAlf0i5]

English Accents

En la entrada de hoy, solo os enseñaré un vídeo genial que he encontrado en Youtube sobre los diferentes acentos que encontramos en inglés. Será útil para vuestro contacto con la lengua inglesa y para los contenidos que veremos en próximas entradas en el blog. I hope you like it!

P.S.: Bear in mind that this guy does not only imitate English accents (American, Aussie, British, etc.), he also imitates foreign people speaking English (French, German, Japanese...). He is amazing but BE CAREFUL! He tends to swear a lot...

If you want to watch the newest version of this video with more accents -up to 30!- and animated scenes, click here (it's a bit longer than the one you have above).