How are you doing? vs. How do you do?

Imagine you are in a party in England and someone approaches you and says: "How do you do?", what is the correct answer to that? As crazy as it may sound, the correct answer would be: "How do you do?" This expression is very formal but it is still used in the UK.

On the other hand, if you were in a party in the United States and you were asked the same question, you could easily answer "Fine, thank you" or "Not bad!". Americans don't understand the use of "How do you do?" the English have.

"How are you doing?", although it is mostly American, can be used in any informal situation. But, be careful, don't say that to your teacher or your boss!!

In case you don't know what to say, a simple "How are you?" or "Nice to meet you" is always alright. Don't get nervous!

Would you please?!

What would you say to someone that is annoying you but you don't want to sound rude or impolite?

This is my friend ____ !!

How (not?) to introduce your relatives and friends!

Whatchamacallit?

Have you got a _______?
What's the name of _______ in English?
Oh, it's at the tip of my tongue!

Rhythm

As you know, spoken English words with two or more syllables have different stress and length patterns. Some syllables are stressed more than others and some syllables are pronounced longer than others.

The same is true of phrases and sentences. Different words in a sentence have stronger stress and are pronounced longer and other words are weaker and shorter. This pattern of strong and weak stress and short and long pronunciation gives English its rhythm.

It is important for non-native speakers to understand and master the rhythm of English. If the wrong words are stressed in a sentence or if all words are pronounced with the same length or loudness, the speech will be difficult to understand.

Here you can watch some more nursery rhymes! See how children learn the rhythm in English since they are tiny!

Did you know any of these songs?

Get outta here!

We need to be familiarized with some expressions in English.

When somebody told you "Get out of here!" doesn't always mean that they are asking you to leave the place, it might be just an expression of disbelief.

The same occurs when some say "Shut up!", they normally are just expressing that they don't believe what they are hearing or seeing.

Hello, my name is...

How woud you introduce yourself to others?

This nice man gives us some tips about it!

Oh! And what if you went to a place full of serious and stiff people?

What's with you?

Each language has its own expressions or idioms.

"What's with you?"  is one of them and it means "What's your problem?" or "What's wrong with you?"

Let's watch an explanation about it!

Word Stress

Word stress is your magic key to understanding spoken English. Native speakers of English use word stress naturally. Word stress is so natural for them that they don't even know they use it. Non-native speakers of English who don't use word stress, encounter two problems:

1. They find it difficult to understand native speakers, specially those speaking fast.

2. The native speakers may find it difficult to understand them.

In these videos we look at the most important aspects of word stress:

How do they say HELLO in America?

Funny video about greetings in America!

"What the hell are you doing here?" Enjoy!

Intonation: The music of each language

Intonation varies from language to language. Intonation in English is very important because, although you master the grammar and vocabulary of the language, or even the pronunciation of each word, an incorrect intonation may change completely the meaning of what you are trying to say.

Here, you can find a very clear class in intonation:

Introductions and Greetings

First impressions are a very important aspect in British culture. Introducing yourself and others normally follows a rigid structure that must be used. A similar aspect occurs to greetings, you must know how to behave, in order not to provoke a tense situation.

Here you can find a very complete video in these two matters.

Intonation

Intonation is a very important feature in the oral aspect of any language. In this video you can find some tips to improve your intonation in English. Are you ready to practice?

Test yourself

Here I present you an amusing video from the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations that you can use to test your level of English. Is there anything better than enjoying while doing a test?

English Accents

You can find many different accents in English. There are differences not only among countries, but also among different regions or social classes. Normally, the most taught accents are either the standard British or American accents, but as you can see in this funny videos, you can find accents everywhere!

And, of course, Spanish people have our own and very particular accent:

Pronunciation Tips

BBC Learning English gives us some hints to learn about English pronunciation.

Why is pronunciation important?

This is the English phonetic chart:

Let's hear how some symbols sound!

You can learn more about English sounds here (BBC Learning English)