Make Your Plosive EXPLOSIVE!

A podcast for English learners!  Improve your listening skills, practice your pronunciation, learn new vocabulary!     

This episode, I'm chatting with Cynthia!   We chatted about how English has evolved over the last 20 years, Cynthia’s favourite type of student, and future projects that will connect international learners online...

Pronunciation tip = Plosives!  Let's make sure there is a strong difference between / t /, / k /, and / p / (unvoiced) and / d /, / g /, and / b / (voiced)...     


Presenter = Sam  @_emaileng (Twitter, IG), @emaileng (TikTok)     

Music = "Baby Bloodheart" by Mara Carlyle  @MaraCarlyle   www.maracarlyle.bandcamp.com       

Artwork = Penny Rossano  @pennyrossanomusicart (IG)   www.pennyrossanoillustrations.com     

Guest = Cynthia at C.R.I.L.S = http://www.crils.com/en-US/     

Cynthia's YouTube Channel = https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9IbI1T6jFAGtjgnzxTyPhA/featured

Transcript

EPISODE 13 = MAKE YOUR PLOSIVE EXPLOSIVE!

Hello! And welcome to Chat ENG – a podcast where people chat about how they learn and
use English. My name is Sam, I’m a CELTA teacher and a performer, and I have a particular
interest in pronunciation and expression.

In each episode, non-native and native speakers will chat about their experiences with
English, share their advice and, at the end, I’ll give some pronunciation tips for you to take
away and practice.

So – ready? Let’s get Chat ENG!

This episode, I’m chatting with Cynthia. Cynthia, among many things, is a language teacher,
a translator, and a life coach. She’s originally from South America and now lives in
Belgium…and this was a collaborative project! We recorded half of our chat for Chat ENG,
and filmed half of our chat for Cynthia’s project “Talking with Friends” for her YouTube
channel, so after listening to this episode, you can find out how the other half went!

Unfortunately, a really important sentence was distorted and I couldn’t recover it… but at
one point Cynthia says “Eating is a crucial activity”… see if you can find where this sentence
should be!
 
We chatted about how English has evolved over the last 20 years, Cynthia’s favourite type of
student and future projects that will connect international learners online, but I started by
asking Cynthia to tell me a little bit about herself…

INTERVIEW

C: Okay, my name is Cynthia Rud. I was born and raised in Argentina.
I'm a technical, scientific literary translator. And I'm a Licentiate in languages and linguistics. 
But other than my job, language is how my passion! and it's what I do, and it's how I live in 
different languages. 

S: Fantastic. And so how many languages do you speak? 

C: Well, correctly?! Let's say between four and six, and I'm currently based in Belgium, 
where I've been living for the last I think, 15 years. 

S: Okay, well, alright, let's get back to the beginning then. So tell me about your English like, 
how did you start learning English? Was it just at school? Or was it before, in a family 
situation? How did you get going? 

C: So I started learning English at school, and then had a lovely time in a bilingual school I 
attended for four years in Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina. And we had the whole 
afternoon in English. So we had different, you know, subjects and music and activities in 
English. And that was really nice! And then growing up, I continued, you know, yeah, loving 
English, I'd say and until I prepared my test to, to be accepted to become a translator... 
translation school, let's say. And that was it, it never stopped. It just became deeper, and 
then it was English literature, and then it was just understanding English culture and... and 
then languages became a way of life because it's really, for me, they've always been a bridge 
between cultures, between people. And so we were chatting a while ago about the 
importance of dialogue, and I think languages are a vector for peace, they are crucial to 
achieve peace because they are a means for us to truly understand each other.

S: Yeah, absolutely! 

C: I became very philosophical all of a sudden!

S: Yeah, no, I like it! It's important, and it's amazing to be philosophical in a different 
language! So with your English then being in Argentina, would you say that your English was 
US influenced or UK influenced? 

C: I think at the time, even though I was studying British culture and British English, it was 
very much influenced by American culture, pronunciation, and I can see that now with my 
former students - when we talk or I hear them talk, and they are very fluent, the influence 
of American English in the continental area is just huge. But also, I think, in the last 20 
something years...yeah, during which I've been living abroad, the media and the 
technological advances, and the access to Netflix and YouTube videos and so much content 
in mother tongue, you know, series or videos you know, original versions and I think that 
has helped Americanize English for for the southern part of the world, but there's something 
about British English is.. that it's so elegant and, I don't know, it's become I don't know, I 
think my accent is more British than American.

S: No, I agree. Definitely. I think that your pron... do you think that's because you're now in 
Belgium? Like, had you stayed in Argentina, do you think you would be more American in 
sound? 

C: Probably. But it's now 50/50, you know! I've lived half of my life in Europe. So yes, maybe 
it's...this old continent has its charm!

S: I think so. So, tell me... you run a school C.R.I.L.S, in Belgium, sort of south of Brussels, 
what type of students come through your doors?

C: Now, all kinds I'd say, but we've been changing, you know, as languages do - language 
schools adapt as well. And so I opened C.R.I.L.S in 2010, if I'm not mistaken, and at that 
time, we focused a lot on children and we always had small groups and teenagers, then 
university or higher education students, professionals, of course, since day one, and then 
also adults who not necessarily needed the language or the other, because we teach more 
than just English, so some people just want to improve the level to be able to understand 
more, to communicate better and to maybe be able to read a book in English and that kind 
of thing. So it's... so I think it's all sorts of profiles. Now, since the pandemic started and 
C.R.I.L.S was already evolving, but I would say in last two years, we have concentrated more 
and more on youth - because they are the future! 

C: And then preparing and you've helped a lot, because we've been collaborating for a while

S: We have! 

C: for preparing them to sit TOEFL, or IELTS exams, or any other sort of English level 
examination that they needed for further studies. And then, of course, people who need 
English, either for work or to get a new job or to consider going abroad for a period. And so 
that's - I'll say that the audience now,

S: Which is, I mean, so varied. Do you have a favourite type of person that you like to teach?

C: Well, what a question!

S: I know, it's a naughty question!

C: Well, I love people who start by saying - in French, they always go "Je suis nul(le) en 
langue", so I cannot master a foreign language, I'm not... I'm not good at, you know, 
whatever. And I think everybody's able, I think everybody's capable! Everybody can learn a 
foreign language, and enjoy communicating with people and discovering, you know, places, 
and culture belonging to that language. So I'll say, it's not about a favourite type of student, 
it's just about the pedagogy that C.R.I.L.S has, which is 'heart to heart'. So it's not really 
about a set of grammar rules, intonation patterns, stress - stress, I mean, not stress as in nervous, but stress patterns, and pronunciation, you know, a language is so much more and it hasn't stopped me. It hasn't prevented me from making friends, running a business, travelling 
around the world. And so I think students who are open to being guided into enjoying what 
a foreign language can do for you and the doors it can open that - well, that's my kind of 
student! 

S: Absolutely, I totally agree. So tell me about your new project, then, looking forward -
you're launching, hopefully, a project that people can come together online. 

C: Yes, so I'm putting it together, because I've been teaching online for a long time. But just 
like you, you know, we were used to maybe a 'one on one' phone lessons, or blended 
learning, hybrid systems. But now it's like, the whole activity's online and we're teaching 
groups, and groups of sometimes colleagues, or groups of people who don't know each 
other and meet during the lessons. So my first project, which I'm putting together, is for 
non-native speakers of English from across the globe, and trying to create these 
international language lessons. And so this idea is to have people sign up, and we are trying 
to defy, you know, time zones and all that, but create small groups of tops 10 people and 
with similar levels, and then have a series of four or five weeks, one lesson a week, talking 
about things. So this is the newest project!

S: It's exciting!

C: I think it is - we'll see!

S: You said that, you know, the focus is 'youth' - are you hoping that it will be young people 
that come and take part, or are you hoping anybody who fancies a go...?

C: Funny you should ask and the answer is 'no', because I want it to be international, 
intergenerational and inter- everything. I want it to be exchange- bound, and I want it to be 
= look people have different difficulties with the language, but we're all human beings with 
the same kind of experiences, and also to proudly share things about your culture in a 
foreign language that, you know, might interest people and create... Yeah, bridges of 
friendship and happiness all around.

S: Oh, that's so nice! Oh, imagine then that we were in a call, what would you share about 
your culture - about Argentina - what would you tell me about it?

C: What a question! Oh, I would share that eating is a crucial activity - so from the cooking 
from the get go, from the - Yeah, even buying the food, it's a social activity. And it's been 
very difficult not to share that, you know, even from a far. I would also share that it's a 
culture where friendship is at the centre of your life, really - your friends are family, are your 
chosen siblings for this life.

S: Okay, let's go back to your English then, Cynthia. What would you improve about your 
own English - vocabulary, pronunciation or grammar - Is there anything about your English 
that you would improve?

C: I think it's about keeping in contact with the language and keeping in contact with native 
speaking opportunities - be it TV, be it books, which I love, and people and keeping in touch 
with how the language is evolving, and what kind of new vocabulary - now something comes 
to mind, like "to Google something", you know, things like that. So it's really nice to 
incorporate that. For myself, I'll say I'm pretty proud of my English, but if there was one 
thing, one of my former colleagues and friend said, is that sometimes the /g/ and /w/, like 
'wood' or 'good', that when I'm very tired or not paying very much attention, sometimes 
maybe I'll go with a more guttural sound for the W. And so place and manner of articulation 
have always been important to me - I love phonetics. So maybe that would be my weakness, 
I don't know...

S: Less weakness, more things that can always improve, you know, we're always working, 
aren't we, to improve our English. If you're aware of that in your own English, are you much 
more aware of that with your students?

C: Not that specific sound. I'm originally a Spanish native speaker. But I actually concentrate 
on each student. There are some sounds - Yes, I will teach to everybody, like plosives are my 
first love, you know, and this aspiration in English is very particular to English. And so French 
speakers, or Spanish speakers for that matter, will pronounce words like 'cake', I cannot 
even do it without the aspiration. Wait, let me try again 'cake' Well, so, but more like 'CaKe' 
and you go /k/ = "CaKe" and they are very surprised that this hasn't been taught before! 
And so things like that - I think maybe as a non-native speaker, I pay more attention to that 
it sounds English enough for people to understand but that they don't get traumatised by 
the fact that they are non-native speakers. 

S: No, absolutely. Yeah. Because it's not about having the perfect accent, you know, people I 
think...

C: What is the perfect accent, anyway? 

S: Exactly! Exactly. Be your own accent. Yeah. All right. Final question then, Cynthia. What 
piece of advice would you give an English learner to help them?

C: Enjoy! Just enjoy. Relax. And practice, you know, practice makes perfect! And just do that 
and enjoy! That's all. I don't know - I cannot think of anything else!

S: I don't think you need anything else - I think that's okay!

(Music)

Enjoy, just enjoy! Positive advice from Cynthia! You can find more details about Cynthia’s 
school C.R.I.L.S, and Cynthia’s YouTube channel, in this episode’s show notes!
So – this episode’s pronunciation tip is about ‘plosives’. A ‘plosive’ when we stop the air 
with our lips or tongue and then release - like a burst or an explosion. The basic plosives in 
English are / t /, / k / and / p / (unvoiced – just air) and / d /, / g / and / b / (voiced). Now, 
for many learners, it’s difficult to make the difference between the voiced and the unvoiced,
it takes more of your energy than you realise, so I have 3 example sentences to help you 
practice: 

First: / t / for tin (a metal) and / d / for din (a noise)
Try this sentence: “when I bang the tin, it makes a din!” 

Next: / k / for card and / g / for guard (someone who protects you!)
Try this sentence: “The Christmas card is for the guard!” (Christmas is an extra /k/ sound!)

Finally: / p / for peach (the fruit) and / b / for beach (sand and sea and holiday!)
Try this sentence: “I found a peach on the beach!”

When repeating these sentences, put your hand on your stomach or around your waist and 
feel your muscles working as you say the plosives… speaking English is a whole body 
activity!

Over to you to practice!

So there we are! The transcript of this episode is available to read on the podcast’s 
webpage, so take a look!
 
Join me next time for more pronunciation and grammar tips, more advice and, most 
importantly, more chatting!

My thanks again to Cynthia and, for her music, a massive thanks to the wonderful Mara 
Carlyle. Bye for now!