Ship or Sheep?

A podcast for English learners!  Improve your listening skills, practice your pronunciation, learn new vocabulary!     
 
This episode, I'm chatting with Ling!  We chatted about starting English very young, teaching marketing, and the benefits of reading your writing out loud...

Pronunciation = the difference between the short / I / sound (ship) and the long / i: / sound (sheep).     

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

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

Artwork = Penny Rossano  @pennyrossanomusicart (IG)   www.pennyrossanoillustrations.com     
   
Oxford Royale reference:  https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/english-puns-wordplay/

Transcript

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EPISODE 18 = SHIP OR SHEEP?

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 Ling.  Ling is originally from Hong Kong and is now living and working in Finland.  We were online and, for the most part, it was a clear line but there are one or two moments when the sounds drops…but hopefully this won’t affect what you hear too much!

We chatted about starting English very young, teaching marketing, and the benefits of reading your writing out loud, but I started by asking Ling to tell me a little bit about herself…

INTERVIEW

L: Well, I am from Hong Kong and since English and Chinese, the Cantonese Chinese, are our official languages...so somehow, I don't know why, like we started to learn English since the age of three (Oh wow! that's early!) in kindergarten! (Wow!) I wish our kindergarten would be more laid back, but no, like, our kindergarten - there was kind of... I think they were as homework! But yeah, so I have learned English ever since 3 years old.

S: Gosh! Do you remember those classes as being fun or just hard work? 

L: I remember copybook[s]! 

S: So then, how does it progress through school then, learning English? 

L: [The] landscape in Hong, Kong is quite interesting, because it really depends on which school do you attend? (Okay) So I must say the English ability of Hong Kongers varies a lot because, for example, I was lucky enough to attend a pretty decent school and somehow its English as its medium. So I actually studied, I think - I mean from primary to secondary and at that time, we were still using the UK system. So I made like A levels, GCSE - so basically, those 13 years English was the medium to study (okay). Of course, except Chinese, Chinese history. What else? What else? I think the other subjects they were in English completely.

S: Okay - and so if you're using the UK education system, if you like, or the school system, would you say that the type of English you were learning was more UK influenced or more US influenced? 

L: Okay ...that is so interesting question because, I mean, supposedly, I mean, following the book we should have acquired a better UK variants, right? But I guess, like, you know, as a kid, as a teenager, what you grew up with actually, you know, that you were surrounded by pop culture and, at that time - sorry UK - but I mean at that time, like when I grew up and that it was no longer the UK Rock culture, or whatever, it's more towards to the US already. I guess that's why it's a mix, maybe, like maybe many Hong Kongers when they spell words, it's still following the English, you know - doubling the 'l'! (Yes!) But I'm not sure. I think we have a quite of a mix... 

S: And so did you continue studying English or have part of English as when you went to University?

L: I came to Finland to study after my high school graduation. Before I took my A-level exams, I went to Finland, rural Finland, for a high school exchange and I fell love with this country and that was my first time, you know, being in this country (Wow!) I fell in love with the country, the culture - not with a guy, okay! Just a disclaimer! And I was like, oh, I need to see the world, and that's why, upon graduation, besides applying to universities in Hong Kong, I mean locally, then I also applied to Finland and so I took English - English philology from the University of Helsinki, because it was the only... I mean, obviously ,yeah... like it was the only subject offered in English at that time (yeah, yeah). So that's that's how I ended up, technically, literally studying English. 

S: Yeah, so what type of things did you study?

L: I mean, it's a bachelor program, so we got to study a bit, a little bit of everything. (Okay.) There was, of course, Literature, Linguistics... well, basically Literature and Linguistics. Both were fun, but I guess I was more fascinated by linguistics at that time because I was intrigued [by] how we use language daily. Psychology can impact that, your culture can impact that, there are so many variables and factors and that's how I find it's fascinating. But with time now thinking back, I think I love literature more and more. 

S: Tell me about now then Ling - you work - your teacher, is that right? 

L: Yeah. So in the beginning, I was like "Na, na, na... I'm not going to teach" but I somehow ended up teaching, and also before these teaching somehow I....so let's say, I stayed in the private sector for five years working in Marketing and Project Management. So, I founded my my own Startup - I mean, I co-founded, there were other people as well, and then after that I jumped into another more established Startup. Yeah, to Head of Projects, it was a translation agency, so I got to learn a lot... a little bit more about languages but other aspects of languages. So it's kind of funny, like, how my degree got connected to these kind of things somehow, and then....and then I worked as a Social Media Manager in a Smartphone company (Oh, right?) That was the funny moment when I had such insights on "Oh educate, like teaching education and marketing, they are ... they are so related basically, you're trying to communicate effectively." I mean, in some sense like this, and you're trying to activate the audience to do something. So, you know, like, on so many levels I see correlations. And after that, and somehow, I end up teaching marketing!

S: So I presume that you teach Marketing in English? 

L: Yeah.  

S: Do you find that you use a specific set of vocabulary that everybody else uses, or how does it work? 

L: I guess, of course, in the beginning of the class for the course, I was quite conscious not to use marketing jargon too much in the beginning, because I knew that among my students, many of them just switched industry. So marketing is something new and I know that I need to introduce them, you know, gradually. But, of course, after working in this field for a while, it's become natural. And so sometimes, even though I was conscious and I just.. words just slipped. So I was just like "oops! I need to explain that, like, they don't understand". But then I think another layer is, I am quite a creative person, so I tend to have some word play or pun. It's also just part...it's just natural in my communication. Well, and so sometimes I ... but that may not be the best thing to do when you're teaching - I'm doing self-reflection here right now! - because maybe when students are trying to grab the idea and they may take the term literally. You know, like back in the days when you must learn something, there is always some definition, like a term and a definition in a textbook it's like separated - okay, remember that! And so, yeah, I think maybe it's nice to be still, like I mean, when you're teaching down, it's better to be clear. Yeah. Until they get to a certain level of understanding and then you can start to spice things up. But on the other hand, I think marketing is one of the most confusing industries ever, because basically language used in marketing, I mean, how marketers describes something - there can be many terms for, on many things. I mean, it's not, it's not like, I don't know. it's not like Economics or other fields that one term means one thing. Like it's ... I'm not a big fan of jargon because, I mean, who understands you? Come on! And in the end, when you communicate among your teammates, or maybe like to your seniors, you still need to speak proper English. Like, if you keep on throwing all the jargon, like, do people really understand you? Maybe not.  To me, as long as you know, how to use things and apply things onto different levels, then I think that's the best way. 

S: Okay, let's bring it back to you, then Ling.  If you could, what of your own English language would you improve? Would you try and improve your grammar, or your pronunciation, your vocabulary, or your punctuation? What would you improve if you could?  

L: Nowadays, I am quite interested in punctuation. I mean, I'm on... I'm serious! I'm interested in punctuation. I mean, it's part of grammar, but I think when I write, I like to read it aloud as well...so, I mean, not everything, of course, not a business email, but like when I write out a proper essay or like a speech, or a blog, because to me, what you write should really be human. But I think punctuation is a very underrated element of writing because it really creates the... It can change to whole atmosphere, let's say.

S: Yeah, I agree. Definitely. 

L: I'm just being romantic here, so...

S: No, that's... you be as romantic as you want to be! 

L: (Laughter!) Exactly like what you want to convey in a sentence but how you break it down can change the whole meaning, like it can turn opposite or I think that's the fun part of punctuation. 

S: Final question then, Ling, What advice would you give an English learner to help them?  

L: To me, basically, just speak it. I... if you have any chance to use it, just use it because I think in the end language is just a means to interact, to communicate, to express your thoughts. I personally don't really care how fancy or fluffy words you use... it's more about the main core message that you are conveying, so... But I know that I have observed, as well, so many language learners, they are very conscious...they don't want to make any mistakes, and so they kind of hinder themselves, (Hmm.) which I think is not so healthy. I mean, of course, we can try to perfect as much as possible, but what is perfect in the end?

S: Yeah. What is perfect in the end? Fabulous! 

(Music)

I think Ling’s habit of reading her writing out loud is a really good one.  When we write, we look for varied vocabulary and complicated sentence structures to show people how good our English is…but if we read it out loud, we sometimes find that our message isn’t as clear as it could be… perhaps a sophisticated but rarely used word doesn’t actually convey what we want to mean, or we’ve not used the punctuation needed in the right place.  So, try reading your work out loud and aim for a clear, concise message.  

Ling also mentioned that she likes to use wordplay and puns.  Because English has many words that sound the same but don’t look the same (homophones), look the same but don’t sound the same (homonyms), or look and sound the same (homographs) and all have different meanings, it’s a fun language!  There are many examples of wordplay, such as Acronyms, where abbreviations pronounced as words made with the first letter of other words, an example could be NASA (= National Aeronautical and Space Administration). Internet abbreviations is another example, like ‘LOL’ (which can be L-O-L, or ‘LOL’). There are many more examples of wordplay online, I found a good page on the Oxford Royale Academy website, so I’ve put a link on the podcast’s webpage: https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/english-puns-wordplay/

Puns are the funny end of wordplay – so, you might see a fish restaurant called “The Cod Father” (cod is a fish, and sounds like God) or I could say “I had eggs for breakfast – they were ‘eggcellent’ (‘eggcellent’ and ‘excellent’ sound similar).  You can find millions more funny puns online! 

So, this episode’s pronunciation tip looks at another minimal pair - the small difference between the short / I / and long / i: / sounds.  It can be quite difficult for some learners to hear the difference, and even more difficult to say, so let’s think about it like this = the short / I / is a vertical sound, it goes up and down the face, and the long / i: / sound is horizontal, it goes across the face.   So, up and down for / I /, across for / i: /. I have 3 sentences now for you to practice:

First = this (singular) and these (plural)

Try this sentence = “This person is Finnish, these people are Greek.” (Also here, Finnish = short / I /, and Greek = long / i: /)

Next = ship (a large boat) and sheep (the animal that says ‘baa’!)

Try this sentence = “The ship was full of sheep!”

Finally = Chips (potato fries) and cheap (not expensive) 

Try this sentence = “The chips are cheap here!” 

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