Sourov DEB

Author: Sourov

  • Vowel Sounds: The Secret to Clear Pronunciation

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    โฑ 5 Minutes ยท A2/B2 ๐Ÿ“– From Experience English has about 20 vowel sounds but only 5 vowel letters. When I arrived in Sydney, I couldn’t hear the difference between ship and sheep, or pull and pool. These are not the same word. Getting vowels right is less about accent and more about being understood.…

  • Intonation: Use Your Voice to Mean More

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    โฑ 5 Minutes ยท B1/B2 ๐Ÿ“– From Experience At the casino, tone of voice was everything. The same sentence โ€” ‘Is there anything else I can do for you?’ โ€” meant entirely different things depending on how I said it. A falling tone was sincere. A flat tone was tired. A rising tone was almost…

  • The ‘th’ Sound: Nobody Warned Me About This

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    โฑ 5 Minutes ยท A2/B1 ๐Ÿ“– From Experience When I first started speaking English seriously, the /ฮธ/ sound โ€” ‘th’ as in think โ€” was physically strange to me. Bengali doesn’t have it. French doesn’t have it. You have to put your tongue between your teeth, which feels ridiculous until it doesn’t. It takes about…

  • Connected Speech: Why Fast English Sounds Different

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    โฑ 5 Minutes ยท B1/B2 ๐Ÿ“– From Experience When Vanessa and I first met, she spoke French fast and I spoke English fast โ€” and neither of us could follow the other at full speed. Fast speech is not just quicker. The words join, change shape, and sometimes disappear. This is called connected speech, and…

  • Word Stress: Stress the Right Syllable

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    โฑ 5 Minutes ยท A2/B1 ๐Ÿ“– From Experience My first week in Sydney, I said reCORD when I meant the noun. My colleague said REcord and I thought he was pronouncing the same word. He was. In English, stress changes meaning โ€” and it changes whether people understand you at all. ๐Ÿ“š The Rule English…

  • Inference in Reading: What the Text Doesn’t Say

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    โฑ 5 Minutes ยท B2 ๐Ÿ“– From Experience When I read Dostoevsky as a teenager โ€” secretly, since books were not encouraged at home โ€” I had no one to explain the subtext. I had to infer. I had to read what was between the lines. That skill โ€” inference โ€” is one of the…

  • Speaking: Tell a Story in 60 Seconds

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    โฑ 5 Minutes ยท B1 ๐Ÿ“– From Experience One of the most useful things you can do in English โ€” in an interview, at a dinner, in a job โ€” is tell a short, clear story. Not a long explanation. Not a list of facts. A story: something happened, then something else, and here is…

  • Listening Skills: Predict Before You Hear

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    Sourov

    โฑ 5 Minutes ยท B1/B2 ๐Ÿ“– From Experience My daughter is 18 months old. Before she can speak, she listens with her whole body โ€” watching faces, anticipating sounds, filling in gaps. She does what every good listener does: she predicts. Teaching yourself to predict before you listen is the fastest way to improve your…

  • Reading Skills: Skim First, Scan Second

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    โฑ 5 Minutes ยท B1 ๐Ÿ“– From Experience When I was studying for my French C1 test, I had to read long articles in 40 minutes. There was no time to read every word. I learned to skim first โ€” get the main idea โ€” then scan for specific details. These two skills changed how…