MatthiasZ

I am a 29 year old Chinese who moved to Vancouver two years ago. I don't think my English is bad,

but I sometimes find it difficult to understand native speakers of English here. For example, I have no problem understanding a lecture given by my Canadian professors or a conversation on TV with Canadian accents at a medium speed, like the following one (it happens to be the first video i found on youtube about canadian english):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuFJdmLn1Ls

However, people around me, especially young people, usually talk really, really fast and somehow their English sounds so different from the English in the above video, and I can barely understand them. For instance, I couldn't always understand my aerobic teacher (a local vancouverite) as she gives instruction.

I have been listening to a lot of English learning podcasts but they don't seem to help: I can understand those podcasts perfectly but I still cannot fully understand many people in the real world

As a matter of fact, I got a call from a potential employer yesterday (the caller is a local Vancouverite) but I could not make out half of what he said. I managed to catch the keywords so the conversation did not go so bad, but I am not sure if this fake-it-till-i-make-it strategy is what I should take at this point:(

I think I have reached a plateau. If you guys have any suggestions how to improve my listening comprehension further, I would really, really appreciate. To give you an estimate of my English level, I scored 117 in TOEFL iBT test (30/30 in Reading; 30/30 in Listening; 28/30 in Speaking; 29/30 in Writing)

Thanks in advance.

Hi Guys,

I have been watching this old show 'Friends' lately. I noticed that many characters, Phoebe for example, pronounce the word 'comfortable' as

'comf-ter-ble'

However, I thought the way my teacher taught me was

'com-fur-te-ble'.

The way Phoebe reads this word doesn't make much sense to me since it does not exactly follow the spelling. Then again, I'm not a native speaker of English so I don't know which one is correct. So can you tell me which pronunciation is more standard/common/acceptable in American English? It would be even nicer if you can tell me how this pronunciation came around in the first place:)

Thanks in advance.

I have started reading Old Testament recently, and I found the sentence "it comes/came to pass", used extremely frequently in this book. Take the following paragraphs from Exodus for example:

"

Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.

And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.

"

Can anyone tell me what exactly "it comes to pass" mean? Thanks in advance!

I used to read this word with a clear "t", but it made me feel very awkward to pronounce the following "l". Then someone told me that I can just forget the t and read the word as "immedia-ly". However, when I talk to some Canadians, I swear I can hear an audible "t". Thus, I guess there must be a way to read 'tl' without feeling awkward, but can you tell me what it is?

I can't figure it out because people are speaking really fast when they come to this 'flap t'. For me, it sounds like a 'l' as in 'collar', so I always read "better" as "beller". However, my english teacher told me it is more like a quick 'd, so "better" would actually be "bedder". Please tell me which one is right?

I recently heard 'A Horse with No Name' by America. There is something I don't understand about the lyric:

I've been through the desert on a horse with no name

It felt good to be out of the rain

In the desert you can remember your name

'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain

Ok, what does the last line "'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain" mean? I presume the 'for' is redundant here, but I still can't understand it even without that 'for'.

Can any body help me? Thanks!

Hi guys,

I have some problems pronoucing "ths" as in "clothes" and "mouths". While reading "th", I put the tip of my tongue between the teeth. To pronounce the following "s", however, I have to quickly retract my tongue after "th" is produced. I feel this way of articulation is really awkward and jawbreaking. Is there someone who can tell me how to pronounce it properly? Thanks a lot!

Hi there

I am always confused by the phrases "in doing so\by doing so\(up)on doing so". Here are some

examples:

In doing so:

The truth is that he chose to save me from my destiny. In doing so he set me free…and doomed us all…

In all the circumstances, we have decided that we will each wear a black armband for the duration of the World Cup. In doing so we are mourning the death of democracy in our beloved Zimbabwe.

By doing so:

In this book, Jack and Annie must go and save Venice, Italy from a flood disaster, and by doing so prove to Merlin that they know how to use magic wisely.

On doing so:

An approaching mid-level trough caused the system to accelerate northeastward across Florida Panhandle, though upon doing so the thunderstorm activity quickly diminished.

It looks like "upon doing so" means something like "after that". But I can't tell the difference between "in doing so" and "by doing so". Can someone help me out?

I came across the phrase "or lack of it" for several times in many articles, but I have no idea what it means. Here are some example:

"I've really learned to appreciate comments like this. It's a wonderfully clear example of the relative value - or lack of it - that conservatives place on people's lives."

"In fact, most people do not imagine the role beliefs play in their financial success or lack of it."

Can anybody tell me what it means? Thanks a lot!