After asking an impactful question last episode, we're broadening the scope this week and exploring how to navigate small talk. 

*I apologize for the drop in audio quality, I didn't have room for my microphone setup in my luggage. Working out better alternatives.*

The Art of Asking Questions

Episode 3: Small Talk

El nuevo episodio de hoy es sobre como la naturaleza es generosa, especialmente de un árbol sabio y con mucha empatía por todos los seres que habitan en el bosque.

Historias, leyendas y dias

El Susurro del bosque

This week, you’ll hear from the very first guest on the Express to Impress podcast. Allyson Plumberg, Founder of Rooted Accents: Solutions for Accent Modification, joins me to discuss accent modification. 

Allyson provides speech therapy services and accent modification coaching to students and professionals worldwide. She has a Master of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Arizona State University.

The episode is the first of two with my conversation with Allison. It’s packed full of useful information for English language learners. 

We kick off the conversation with a definition of an accent and have a quick discussion about the General American English accent and micro accents.

Then, we dive into a discussion about common beliefs about accents. Allison debunks common myths that limit people from being able to speak English effectively.

We also talk about speaking speed, word stress, content versus function words, stressed and unstressed syllables, reductions, contractions, and more! 

Episode originally published February 26, 2021.

Original theme music by Lucas Knutter 

Read the transcript at https://www.express-to-impress.com/american-english-accent/

Join the Express to Impress community on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/express-to-impress/.

See infographics for this episode on Pinterest at https://www.pinterest.com/ExpresstoImpress/_created/.

Express to Impress

Want an American English Accent? Allyson Plumberg Debunks Accent Myths

Singing in the shower? Yes, you heard this right!
In this episode, I talk about why singing in the shower is important and useful, along other tools and exercises that are helpful and fun at the same time. 

Enjoy this one, and let me know what you think in the comments! 

I Just Wanna Be Fluent in English!

ep7. Start Singing in the Shower

The head brewmaster for Weihenstephan, the world's oldest brewery, has a secret: he really likes alcohol-free beer.

Even though he's quick to say he obviously enjoys real beer more, Tobias Zollo says he savors alcohol-free beer when he's working or eating lunch. It has the same taste but fewer calories than regular beer because the alcohol has been removed.

"You can't drink beer every day — unfortunately," he joked at the brewery in the German town of Freising, about 31 kilometers north of Munich.

Alcohol-free beer has been gaining popularity in recent years as beer consumption shrinks.

At the Weihenstephan brewery, which was founded in 1040, non-alcoholic beer now makes up 10% of the volume. The increase since they started making alcohol-free drinks in the 1990s, mirrors the statistics for the rest of Germany's beer industry.

"The people are unfortunately — I have to say that as a brewer — unfortunately drinking less beer," said Zollo. "If there's an alternative to have the crisp and fresh taste from a typical Weihenstephan beer, but just as a non-alcoholic version, we want to do that."

This summer, Munich's first alcohol-free beer garden opened near the city's main train station. And even at Oktoberfest alcohol-free beer is on the menu.

The festival, which began on September 21 and continues until October 6, has 18 large tents and all but two of them offer alcohol-free beer. The sober beverage costs the same as an alcoholic beer — between $15 and $17 for a 1-liter mug — but saves drinkers from a hangover.

"For people who don't like to drink alcohol and want to enjoy the Oktoberfest as well, I think it's a good option," Mikael Caselitz, 24, of Munich said at the festival. "Sometimes people feel like they have more fun with alcohol, which is not a good thing because you can also have fun without alcohol."

He added: "If you want to come and drink alcohol-free beer, nobody will judge you."

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Alcohol-Free Beer Gaining Popularity, Even at Oktoberfest

L’horloge
Charles Baudelaire
Horloge ! dieu sinistre, effrayant, impassible,
Dont le doigt nous menace et nous dit :  » Souviens-toi !
Les vibrantes Douleurs dans ton coeur plein d’effroi
Se planteront bientôt comme dans une cible,
Le plaisir vaporeux fuira vers l’horizon
Ainsi qu’une sylphide au fond de la coulisse ;
Chaque instant te dévore un morceau du délice
A chaque homme accordé pour toute sa saison.
Trois mille six cents fois par heure, la Seconde
Chuchote : Souviens-toi ! – Rapide, avec sa voix
D’insecte, Maintenant dit : Je suis Autrefois,
Et j’ai pompé ta vie avec ma trompe immonde !
Remember ! Souviens-toi, prodigue ! Esto memor !
(Mon gosier de métal parle toutes les langues.)
Les minutes, mortel folâtre, sont des gangues
Qu’il ne faut pas lâcher sans en extraire l’or !
Souviens-toi que le Temps est un joueur avide
Qui gagne sans tricher, à tout coup ! c’est la loi.
Le jour décroît ; la nuit augmente, souviens-toi !
Le gouffre a toujours soif ; la clepsydre se vide.

Tantôt sonnera l’heure où le divin Hasard,
Où l’auguste Vertu, ton épouse encor vierge,
Où le repentir même (oh ! la dernière auberge !),
Où tout te dira : Meurs, vieux lâche ! il est trop tard !  »
Charles Baudelaire, Les fleurs du mal

The clock
Ye clock! Sinister, frightful, stone-faced god
whose hand threatens us and says "Remember!
Pulsating pains will soon pierce
your heart filled with fright,
 the nebulous pleasure will flee to the horizon
like a sylph disappearing in the backstage.
Every momenty bites off a bit of the delight
granted to every man for all his life."
 Three thousand six hundred times per hour, the Second
whispers "Remember!". Quickly, with its insect
voice, it now says "I am bygone times
and I sucked your life with my vile proboscis!
 Remember! Souviens-toi! Prodigue! Esto memor!
(My metal throat speaks all languages)
Ye frisky mortal, minutes are gangues
you shan't drop without extracting the gold within!
 Remember, time is a greedy player
.....
 


𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗞 𝗙𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗔𝗜𝗦 ? 😉

" 𝐋'𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐞 " 𝐝𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞 ( 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐆𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐫 ) 

Oi gente, aqui é Aneleh, sua tutora de português favorita. No podcast de hoje falaremos sobre algumas gírias cariocas. Se você é iniciante e está se sentindo perdido, pode pular direto para a parte em que explico tudo isso em inglês em dois minutos e vinte segundos. (If you are a beginner and feel lost, you can skip straight to the part where I explain all this in English at two minutes and twenty seconds). 
Se quiser você pode acompanhar a descrição do episódio clicando nesse link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OzuMAtLY8PkO3Ea4dPGrJBj0BtYFZBZA5zZXn8WoMms/edit?usp=sharing
If you want, you can follow the description of the episode by clicking on this link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OzuMAtLY8PkO3Ea4dPGrJBj0BtYFZBZA5zZXn8WoMms/edit?usp=sharing
Vamos lá?

Portuguese Drops 

Gírias 2 

En este podcast hablo de la última etapa de mi viaje en familia por la Costa Oeste de los Estados Unidos, los diferentes tipos de playas y lugares que se pueden visitar. Tiempos verbales: presente, pasado: pretérito indefinido, perfecto, indefinido, pluscuamperfecto. 

Viviendo entre dos lenguas 

Última epata Viaje Costa Oeste USA, Los Ángeles

In this episode, I offer a brief introduction to a way of approaching Sufi literature and read a poem by Yunus Emre, a canonical voice in Turkish Sufi literature.