Pronunciation diary #2

Hey guys,

It is time to talk about pronunciation again. Yay, who does not like pronunciation? ;) This is the second part of my pronunciation diary.

I want to share with you my method that I used while studying for my oral exam on Thursday. The oral exam is over!!! :D I felt such a relief after I was done with it. It was not bad at all. I was afraid of it, but it turned out good. :) Besides learning the Porter words, I also had to work on my pronunciation.

In my last feedback Frank told me that my biggest problems are that I speak too fast and the “th” sound. I needed to work on those two things before the exam. I know that I speak too fast and it is really a problem because sometimes my own mother cannot understand me. Most people just speak really quickly in their mother tongue, but I speak like that in every foreign language I am fluent in. Now, I try to speak slowly and enunciate my words, but sometimes I forget, and slip back into my old talking speed. I worked on that with my roommate. I would get a text and read it out loud, if she could follow, then the speed was good, if she could not, then I had to do it again, but more slowly this time. We went through many texts. In the end it was worth it. I think that I am now able to speak in appropriate speed when I am talking in class or reading a text out loud. However, I think that I will still read/talk fast when I am not in class. Sorry, I cannot really help it. Blessing or curse? :S

Furthermore, I had to work on the “th” sound. It is not really that I do not know how to pronounce it, but sometimes I am lazy when I read/speak and I just mispronounce it. Since Youtube is a great source for basically everything I looked up how to correctly pronounce words that contain “th” and came across this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5LO0hHGfQg I recommend watching it. It is not long and it really helps. Side-effect, you might spit around while trying to imitate the guy but that is ok ;) After some time spent spitting around, I found this pronunciation practice sheet http://www.vitaeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/th-sound-Handout.pdf

Again, my roommate and I decided to do it together. Honestly, we looked like nutcases ready to be hospitalized while yelling out words containing “th”. We even made up our own language:

A: Three! (Hi!)

B: Three! Thirteen? (Hi! How are you doing?)

A: Thousand! There? (Great! You?)

B: Bathroom :( (Not good.)

As you can see we had a lot of fun practicing our pronunciation. As I said in my other blog post I wrote about pronunciation, practicing it can be really fun. It all comes down to your attitude. If you go in and start learning it while thinking “I hate this crap, let's just get it over with” you will hate it. However, if you have a positive attitude things will be much easier.

XOXO A.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”  Mahatma Gandhi

Reflection on Pecha Kucha

It feels like Pecha Kucha was ages ago, but in reality it was just before Christmas. We were working on many projects this semester and had to write a lot of homework. Since we are getting close to the end of the winter semester, it is time to look back at what we have done. One of our biggest projects was the Pecha Kucha project. Pecha Kucha what? Pecha Kucha is a presentation style in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each (six minutes and 40 seconds in total).

When Frank told us to research it for homework I had no idea what it was. I read through some blog posts and articles, but did not give it much thought until Frank told us that we will have to do a presentation like this ourselves! I thought he was joking. I do not know what to tell you. Usually I cannot wait to do a presentation, but that was not the case with Pecha Kucha. First, we got a partner for our project. Mine was Katharina and we got along well. Then, we were supposed to choose a topic. The topics were actually really interesting. Mine was the Maltese language. I loved my topic. When I was on Malta in 2011 I thought I would understand what they are talking because I assumed that the language is similar to Italian, which I speak a little. The truth is, I did not understand a single word because it is nothing like spoken Italian. When I was given the chance to do research on Maltese I was really excited. I learned that Maltese is the only Semitic language written with Latin letters. While preserving its Arabic roots, it the course of its history, Maltese pronunciation and words has been subject to strong influence from Italian and, more recently, English. Maltese, as well as English are the official languages in Malta.

My peers had also good topics for their presentations. Laura and Andrina talked about the Slovenian, and Harald and Orsy about the Hungarian language in Austria. Another cool topic was bilingual schools in Austria. If I would have to judge Pecha Kucha on the topics I listened to, I would say that it was an awesome project and that I would love to do it again, but that is not the case. Honesty is the best policy, right? I hated Pecha Kucha. I hated the way I had to present my topic. I think that every single topic we had to do was fun and that we could have learned so much from the presentation, but it was not like that. In my opinion, the whole learning process got lost in the nervousness of presenting. I know how I felt, at least. I was really under stress because of it. It is not easy to have to present one slide in exactly 20 seconds. When practicing I was either too slow or too fast, or I could not remember my lines. I was also nervous because I did not know whether our videos are going to work or not. On presentation day, at least I think so; I and my partner lost it. She was too slow and talked into my slide, and then I had to be super-fast to catch up and stay within the 20 seconds. Whenever I would catch up she would again be too slow. On one slide I could not remember my lines so I had to leave out a sentence or two. I could not wait for the presentation to be over, honestly.

I never ever want to do a Pecha Kucha presentation again. It was no fun to me, on the contrary my heart started racing, my hands started sweating and a total chaos was in my head. I really love doing presentations; it is one of my favorite parts of class. For instance the last year’s Culture Project was one of my highlights from my first year in university. I really enjoyed doing that presentation. Everyone was so relaxed and looking forward to presenting something they have been working on for weeks. Though we had a limited time there as well, the pressure was not that big. If I would ever get the chance to do either Pecha Kucha or Culture Project again, my answer would be the latter. Maybe my peers liked my Maltese presentation, maybe they did not, I do not know since we did not get any feedback. What I do know, however, is that I am not satisfied with the way I presented it. I hope you guys are satisfied with how you presented your presentation and that you had more fun doing it.

XOXO A.

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone" :)

Pronunciation Diary #1

How do we pronounce words in a language? Pronouncing words comes naturally in our mother tongue. We learn to talk by imitating the communication of people around us. Sure, learning how to talk is not mere imitation, but is still a vital part of the process. The words and sentences we construct as children often do not make much sense and do not follow any grammatical pattern. As we are growing up our language skills are improving. We all speak our native languages fluently without being able to explain why that is so. The chances of speaking a foreign language at a fluency level are higher when we are children. It is a known fact that children learn by listening and jabbering, no declension tables or vocabulary lists. As we grow up and reach puberty, our ability to acquire a foreign language at fluency level gets lost. No one can really explain why that is so.

 A vital part of learning a foreign language is the pronunciation of words. As mentioned above when picking up a new language as a child, the pronunciation of words comes naturally, but if you start learning it as an adult, things become tricky. For instance, Croatians and people that start learning Croatian as children have no problems with pronouncing the letters č, ć, š, ž, đ and dž. However, others who start learning it later in life have troubles pronouncing words containing those letters. That is the same in English. Certain letters or letter pairs are hard to pronounce, such as “th”. German native speakers tend to pronounce “thousand” wrong because it is very similar to the German word “tausend”. I also have problems with pronouncing “th”. When I concentrate on what I am reading I pronounce it correctly, but when I am tired or do not concentrate on the text I make mistakes. Bathroom, throne, theory, thesis and thriller all contain “th”.  Essential to sounding like a native speaker is picking up the right pronunciation. Learning pronunciation cannot be left until later because it will be harder to re-learn the words we already know in the correct way. When talking to an English native speaker he might not notice your limited vocabulary or bad grammar at first, but he will notice your bad pronunciation.

So what can I do to improve my pronunciation? What can you do? One way is to watch YouTube videos that deal with that topic. Frank introduced us to Amy and Rachel, two women that have a series of videos where they are explaining how to pronounce words properly. It can be very helpful to look at those videos. I have my own method. Whenever I come across a word I do not know how to pronounce or an old one I am not sure if I am pronouncing correctly, I search for an online dictionary. Those usually have a sound button where you can hear how the word is pronounced. What also helps me and what is my favorite thing to do is skyping with my friends from the States. I usually have a list of words I want to ask them how to pronounce. First, I try to pronounce them and then they correct me if needed. I also love watching series and movies in English, as well as listening to music. Many times I realized, by watching a movie that I am pronouncing a word wrong by hearing the actor say it. What I find particularly fun while learning pronunciation is watching Ronnie's videos. Andrina, a very nice girl from my class, introduced Ronnie to us in class. I liked her videos so much that I looked them up at YouTube and started watching. Ronnie is so nice and makes learning proper pronunciation fun. I highly recommend watching her videos. This is her YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/EnglishLessons4U?feature=watch

Here is another link about 5 key areas in which non-native English speakers have problems

http://www.callearning.com/blog/2011/03/5-problem-areas-in-english-pronunciation/

“Dearest creature in creation,

Study English pronunciation.

I will teach you in my verse

Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.

I will keep you, Suzy, busy,

Make your head with heat grow dizzy.

Tear in eye, your dress will tear.

So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,

Dies and diet, lord and word,

Sword and sward, retain and Britain.

(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)

Now I surely will not plague you

With such words as plaque and ague.

But be careful how you speak:

Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;

Cloven, oven, how and low,

Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,

Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,

Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,

Exiles, similes, and reviles;

Scholar, vicar, and cigar,

Solar, mica, war and far;

One, anemone, Balmoral,

Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;

Gertrude, German, wind and mind,

Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,

Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.

Blood and flood are not like food,

Nor is mould like should and would.

Viscous, viscount, load and broad,

Toward, to forward, to reward.

And your pronunciation’s OK

When you correctly say croquet,

Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,

Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour

And enamour rhyme with hammer.

River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,

Doll and roll and some and home.

Stranger does not rhyme with anger,

Neither does devour with clangour.

Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,

Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,

Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,

And then singer, ginger, linger,

Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,

Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,

Nor does fury sound like bury.

Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.

Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.

Though the differences seem little,

We say actual but victual.

Refer does not rhyme with deafer.

Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.

Mint, pint, senate and sedate;

Dull, bull, and George ate late.

Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,

Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,

Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.

We say hallowed, but allowed,

People, leopard, towed, but vowed.

Mark the differences, moreover,

Between mover, cover, clover;

Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,

Chalice, but police and lice;

Camel, constable, unstable,

Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,

Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.

Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,

Senator, spectator, mayor.

Tour, but our and succour, four.

Gas, alas, and Arkansas.

Sea, idea, Korea, area,

Psalm, Maria, but malaria.

Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.

Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,

Dandelion and battalion.

Sally with ally, yea, ye,

Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.

Say aver, but ever, fever,

Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.

Heron, granary, canary.

Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.

Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.

Large, but target, gin, give, verging,

Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.

Ear, but earn and wear and tear

Do not rhyme with here but ere.

Seven is right, but so is even,

Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,

Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,

Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation (think of Psyche!)

Is a paling stout and spikey?

Won’t it make you lose your wits,

Writing groats and saying grits?

It’s a dark abyss or tunnel:

Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,

Islington and Isle of Wight,

Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough,

Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?

Hiccough has the sound of cup.

My advice is to give up!!!”

Gerard Nolst Trenité, Drop your Foreign Accent

XOXO A.

Vocabulary notebook #1

Learning new words can be hard and time-consuming. However, having a solid vocabulary is essential for learning a foreign language. Sitting at home, locked up in my room with a vocabulary list on my screen is not my favorite thing to do, but it is something I have to do in order to improve my English. In order to learn the vocabulary necessary for the progress check, Laura has been organizing a Google Spreadsheet. Laura is a friend of mine from class. We are a group of students who are working on the spreadsheet regularly. Laura assigns each of us a unit and a grammar chapter. We then have to work on it. We fill in the words we need to know, the definitions, synonyms, antonyms, translations and example sentences. Sometimes we also fill in the “further info” box when attention needs to be drawn at something in particular, such as the pronunciation. As soon as we are done with it we can start studying.

These are the links to our documents from SUK1 and SUK2:

SUK1: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ai-faUvNNlKPdDctTWxXWUVMVnA3UFVSZTFiY2lBV3c#gid=26

SUK2: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ai-faUvNNlKPdE1vTWRiQjVBZTJCWTUtdHZSeDhobmc#gid=26

SUK3: I cannot give you the link to the SUK3 document because we put a lot of work and effort in it and it we want to keep it private.

So how do I learn vocabulary? I read through the list a couple of times. The first time I read the words and the definitions. The second time I look at which words I already know and which still need working on. Knowing a word does not mean knowing only its translation. It also means knowing how to use the word, its synonym and antonyms, as well as knowing how to use it in a sentence. After I know how many words I have to learn, I start re-reading the list. Repeat, repeat, repeat. There is no other way. Since I prefer to hold a piece of paper in my hands I also write certain words on sticky notes. Usually those words are the ones I have problems with, in terms of pronunciation, knowing their meaning or using them in a sentence. What also helps me is making connections to my mother tongue, Croatian. Some words sound similar and have the same meaning so that helps me a lot too. Another way to remember new words is to use them in a sentence. Make the sentences as fun as possible. You are likely to remember a fun sentence with a new word than a sentence that is a mere definition of the word. I hope you can apply some of my study techniques yourself. Studying vocabulary is not the most fun way to spend you weekend, but believe me, in the end it will be worth it.

XOXO A.

 “As vocabulary is reduced, so are the number of feelings you can express, the number of events you can describe, the number of the things you can identify! Not only understanding is limited, but also experience. Man grows by language. Whenever he limits language he retrogresses!”

Sheri S. Tepper, A Plague of Angels

Culture presentations...

Last week was scheduled for the culture presentations me and my colleagues at the ITAT were working on.  We had to choose a topic from the Irish or American culture and write an 800 word essay on it, make a presentation and a handout. Someone also made a Facebook event for our presentations. The introduction to the event was a short story written by one of my colleagues (I am sorry I don’t know your name otherwise I would have given you credits). The intro is really awesome and it is definitely worth reading!

"Once upon a time the American Eagle accidently bumped into the Irish Leprechaun. The Irish Leprechaun was furious and shouted “You’re so full of yourself! Just because you’re huge, doesn’t mean that you don’t have to pay attention to the small things!” The American Eagle raised his eyebrows in surprise and responded “For a small fairy, you have a big mouth. Don’t you know how important I am, Tinkerbell?”.

Enraged, the Leprechaun shouted “You're going to regret saying that! Ireland is at least as important as America. I will call Fiona and she will teach you that Ireland has more to offer than the US!” “Oh yeah?”, asked the American Eagle. “I know Frank and he will impress you with facts about our awesome country!”

From this day on, Fiona and Frank summoned their SUK-superheroes and superheroines to inform the world the cultural aspects of both countries. Every year, their armies of superheroes gather to tell the world the most interesting stories about Ireland and the US.

Meet these heroes on Wednesday, 19th June and Thursday, 20th June on neutral territory in the ITAT headquarters.“

 I have been to twelve presentations, even though we were only asked to go to ten.  I listened to 9 American and 3 Irish presentations. Here is a short info about every presentation:

1)      Ireland vs. Austria - Whiskey Distilleries - Challenge accepted!

This was the first presentation I listened to. Two distilleries, Jameson Whiskey from Ireland and Waldviertler J.H. from Austria, were compared. Verena told us something more about their history and about the process of making whiskey.

2) American High school & its reputation in Austria

The second presentation I took a look at was from Katie. She was talking about the American and Austrian school system. I decided to listen to this presentation because I myself was going to an American high school for 6 months. Katie was talking about the general reputation of American high schools in Europe, extracurricular activities and peer class. She also compared the teacher-student relationship in Austria and the US. 

3) Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse: how a mouse conquered the world)

Max from my group was talking about Mickey Mouse. I loved his presentation. The idea to play "When you wish upon a star" as the intro to his presentation was simply brilliant. The song has like Mickey Mouse become an icon of The Walt Disney Company, used in the opening sequences of Disney anthology television series and in multiple versions of Walt Disney Pictures' opening logos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqvF85T4vCg) . You could really see on Max that he liked his topic and that he knew what he was 

talking about. 

4) Reality TV - Jersey shore and beyond

Manueala presented two reality shows to us. She brought the concept of a reality show, especially Jersey shore and Big Brother, closer to us. Manuela also played a short clip from Jersey shore. This gave us the possibility to once again see what kind of idiots these people are.

5) Fort Knox

Patricija talked about Fort Knox. Fort Know is used to refer to the United States Bullion Depository, a building near the military base, which is a vault housing a large percentage of the United States’ gold reserves. It was very interesting to listen how it is protected and how often guards and codes change. What I especially liked was when she talked about the conspiracy theories. Even though we heard a lot about fort know the majority of it still remains a secret.

6) Witchcraft in Ireland

Another Irish presentation that I chose to listen to was about witchcraft. I really find it interesting how people could believe that someone has magical powers or is worshiping the devil or whatever just because someone else told them so. The period of witch hunting can easily be labeled as one of the darkest periods of our history. Hundreds of thousands of innocent women were burned at the stake or hanged. Even more were tortured till admitting they are “witches”. I don’t want to get into the details here but witch hunting and the witch trials are really fascinating, at least for me. I learned more about it in school  while in the US by reading The crucible from Arthur Miller. A movie was made based on the book. I highly recommend watching the movie (the 1996 film). It really shows how a community was dealing with witchcraft back then.

7) Delta Blues

Lejla introduced us to Delta Blues. The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. She mentioned famous musicians and played us their songs. I really liked the last song she played with which she let us go home called „I am going home“.

8) The Integration of Islam in Ireland

Islam was the third choice of mine that was connected to the Irish culture. Alexander was talking about the growth of the Muslim communities in Ireland. He explained us how Catholic and Muslim children go together to school and how that works and told us something about the ICCI (Islamic cultural center of Ireland).

9) Oprah Winfrey: perhaps the most influential woman in America

One of our Spanish Erasmus students admires Oprah; therefore she decided to make a presentation about her. Oprah being one of the most influential women of today inspires hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. She is to be admired for everything she achieved in life considering where she comes from and what her childhood and teenage years were like.

10) Scientology: A Religion Made in America

Harald from Hungary tried to explain scientology to us. Most of us know it only as something Tom Cruise is fanatic about. But Harald told us more about the history of scientology and what they believe in. 

11)  Racial Segregation as depicted in 2 movies

Racial segregation is a big part of American history. Tiana wanted to show us what it was like by talking about two movies, The Help and the secret life of bees. These movies clearly show how hard it was for African American back in those days. Tiana made a great connection to the audience by asking us questions which I think is great.

12) TV shows depicting social issues

Christine informed us about social issues depicting from TV shows. She took 5 very well-known shows and explained on their example what she means. In the end we even got to see a short clip from one of her favorite shows - Breaking bad.

The five presentations I chose for my KGP are:

1) American High school & its reputation in Austria

2) Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse: how a mouse conquered the world)

3) Reality TV - Jersey shore and beyond

4) TV shows depicting social issues

5) Oprah Winfrey: perhaps the most influential woman in America

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."
Nelson Mandela

XOXO A.

:)

20 quick questions about food!

We were going in class through food questions. Some were general questions about food, some were about breakfast and restaurants or simply about eggs. Our task was to choose one set of questions and blog about them. I chose to answer the general questions about food because they seemed the most interesting to me. Let’s go. :D

1) What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘food’?

2) How often do you think about food?

- All day every day.

3) Can you eat anything?

-Almost anything. I don’t think I could ever eat fried cockroaches, ants or anything similar to that. Oh and the intestines of animals. Or the liver or heart or, I better stop now because I am getting sick.

4)Can you go without food for a whole day?

-I can but the question is why would I want to?

5)Do you have to watch what you eat?

-Unfortunately I do. It’s not so much about what I eat but how much I eat.

6)What is your favourite breakfast, lunch and dinner?

-I don’t eat breakfast. Not only am I not a morning person but I also can’t eat anything in the morning.

-For lunch I LOVE to eat pasta. Pasta is my favorite dish ever!

-For dinner I usually eat a salad. Not only is a salad carb-free but it is also very delicious especially if you shred cheese on it or put cherry tomatoes in it, or maybe tuna.

7)Do you think your country’s food is the best?

- My country’s food is definitely among the best!

8)Do you think “you are what you eat”?

9)What do you think about canned, frozen and processed food?

-I can’t really say that I am a big fan of those but they can come in handy and they don’t even taste bad so I say why not?

10)What kinds of international cuisine do you like?

-I have a lot of fun trying out new cuisines. I love Thai food, Chinese food, Mexican food and Italian food. :D

11) Are you fussy or particular about the food you eat?

-No, I eat pretty much everything.

12)Have your favorite kinds of food changed over the years?

-Not really. I have just been adding more and more favorite dishes to my list. ^^

13)Do you like fast food and slow food?

-I like both. :D

14)What do you think about food additives?

-I don’t like them. If they can be avoided in food then yes please!

15)Do you care where the food you eat comes from?

-I do. I hate seeing that my onion came to Europe all the way from China. Come on, you can’t tell me that we can’t plant onions here in Europe. -.-

16)What national dishes from your country would you recommend to the world?

-Probably „paprenjaci“, „pašticada“, „pršut“, „panceta“, „purica i mlinci“, „sir i vrhnje“, „burek“ and many more!

17)Do you worry about the rising cost of food?

-Of course I do because if this continues people won’t be able to afford their food anymore and what are they supposed to eat then? Sand?

18)Do you think the world’s food will ever run out?

-No, I don’t think that. Even if meat would run out we would still have fruit and vegetables.

19)What do you think of genetically-modified (GM) food?

-I despite it. It tastes awful and it’s not good for our health.

20)Is your food bill big?

-It depends on my mood. :D

XOXO A.

Hello everyone and welcome back! :D

A new semester has started and blogging is one of our tasks again! Some of you may know me from SUK1 but for others, that don’t know me, here’s a short info about me.

Name: Anita

Home town: Zagreb, Croatia

Living in: Graz, Austria

Birth date: 24.12.1993.

College: Karl-Franzens University of Graz (transcultural communication)

What else is there to know about me? Well nothing special, honestly said. I am just an ordinary girl that dreams big and works hard on achieving her dreams.

I enjoy travelling and spending time with my family and friends. Since I moved back to Austria in October I came to realize how lucky I am to have such a great family and wonderful friends. Both my family and friends have been a great support to me since I left Zagreb. I am very thankful on every single member of my family and on my friends. They make me happy. J

I also enjoying shopping (what can I do, I am a typical girl :D), reading, drinking coffee (typically Croatian, I know), listening to music and watching TV.

Another great passion of mine is volunteering. Back when I lived in Zagreb, I volunteered for half a year in an orphanage. The kids there were aged 7-14. My actual task was to help them with their German and English homework but we would always end up playing soccer or dodge ball. Now, that I am not living at home anymore I only volunteer from time to time when I get back to visit. I think that volunteering gave me another perspective on life and the people around me. I realized how blessed I am and also how volunteering is not just about giving but also taking. I don’t care how much time I “lose” on playing with the kids and not being paid for it, the smile on their face when do something together is priceless to me.

My biggest dream is to work as an interpreter for the UN or EU. I am working hard on getting there and who knows, I might really end up there one day. J

Last semester I would end every post with a quote and this semester I am continuing with this tradition. :D

XOXO A. :)

Dragon dictation app or how to make your life easier...

During one of our English classes a few weeks ago we were introduced to a free text-to-speech app called Dragon Dictation. We were asked to try it out if we have smartphones. Later we should write a blog post about our experiences with it.

I completely forgot about it this till last week. Getting ready for my linguistics exam on Thursday I somehow needed to summarize everything we have been doing this semester. Since my notes were in English I remembered Dragon dictation. I downloaded the app and started talking with it. At first my roomie wasn’t sure about what I was doing. Sure, my iPhone has Siri (a really great friend of mine ;)) but I honestly don’t talk that much to her. Don’t get me wrong, she can be really helpful but she can also make one laugh with her wrong answers. Once me and my friend were joking around and said to her: “I am going to jump of a bridge!“ and everything she did was answer: “This bridge is little ways from you...“ and gave me a map of the nearest bridge. Well thanks a lot Siri. You cannot imagine the amount of tears that were rolling down my cheeks after I read her answer. I couldn’t stop laughing.

Anyways, back to Dragon dictation. After my roomie gave me the are-you-crazy look I explained to her what it is about. She actually thought it is a cool app and wanted to try it out with me. The recording part was easy and also figuring out how to send the text via SMS or e-mail, put it in your notes or even publish it on Twitter and Facebook. Learning how to get it to capitalize and punctuate the text was a little harder but we got it in the end. My notes were summarized really quickly that way. Typing it on my laptop, even though I am fast typer, would have taken ages.

After doing some research about the app itself I found out that it is available in some other languages too, like Croatian for instance. It is really a helpful app and I am still very surprised by the speed and some other characteristic it contains. It’s definitely worth a shot. They don’t call the smartphones smart without a reason ;)

"Try to learn something about everything and everything about something" Thomas Huxley

XOXO A.

A new beginning :)

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog :)

As you may know (if you have read the short info on the left) my name is Anita and I am 18 years old. I am a freshman in college and am currently (well, at least for the next three years) living in Graz. I am studying transcultural communications with the languages Croatian/Bosnian/Serbian, German and English. My hometown is the capital of Croatia, Zagreb. I love to hang out with my family & friends, travel, go shopping, read books, watch movies and so on. You will find out more about me if you are willing to stick with me and my blogging till the very end. :D

Let’s get this thing started then!

My blog is part of my English class, which means that I will get graded based on it. Sometimes my post theme will be given to me by my teacher (like todays one) and sometimes I will be able to blog about whatever I want. I will try to keep the blog as interesting as possible. Here you will find posts about family & friends, traveling, fashion, music, books and everything else that I have lately been into. My posts will also include pictures and music videos so it won’t get boring, I promise. Another thing that I hold dear to my heart is quotes, which means that every post will be ending with a quote that you will hopefully like and be able to relate to. 

Our first task was to check out one of the following links and write a blog post about our experience.

http://breakingnewsenglish.com/

http://eslnotes.com/synopses.html

http://www.lyricstraining.com/

I checked them all out and had a really hard time deciding on which to blog because I liked all three of them. Every single one offers a unique and fun way of improving your English. After changing my mind a couple of times I settled on the lyricstraining.com page.

What is the page about you must be asking yourself now. Here comes the answer: Lyrics Training is a website utilizing imbedded YouTube music videos of popular songs to provide language learners with a new way to practice their language skills. Language learners can choose from 6 different languages (English, German, Italian, Spanish, French and Dutch) and three levels of difficulty (easy, medium and hard). I will take you now step by step through the whole process of choosing a song.

1. When opening the page you will see videos dived into three categories: Try it!, Recently Played and Most Played (Today). You can either choose a video from right there if you like one or you can type into the "search box" on the top of the page the name of the song you want to listen to. 

2. After writing the name of the song you will get offered the videos that can be found under that name so you can choose the one that you want. When you find the one you were looking for simply click on it.

3. The video will open and offer you to choose which difficulty level you would like to play on.

4. After choosing your difficulty level (in this case the level was medium) the video will start playing and the lyrics will be displaying underneath it. As the video plays, you are expected to complete the missing lyrics. The video will not continue until the missing word is filled in. 

That is all, simple as that! It is really easy and fun to work with. This simple tutorial was made just as an example (showing only the difficulty level option) but of course the page offers more features on the videos (such as sharing it on various social networks), so please feel free to check them all out if you have the time! Just play around with it. Plus, you can always register on the webpage and unlock new stuff!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to write them down, it would make me very happy!  :)

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." George Bernard Shaw

XOXO A.