Pronunciation Diary 2

My second blog post about pronunciation is more specific than my first one because I already knew what my mistakes were. When I read my pronunciation feedback I was not surprised to find out that my unvoiced “th” was not perfect yet because I had never given it special attention. So I checked the pronunciation page to find videos or texts about the “th”. I was lucky to find enough information online and also asked my peer Natascha for help because she is very good when it comes to pronunciation. From Rachel's English I knew what I should do but I was not sure if I did it right. So I asked Natascha if my threes sounded any better now. She was very nice and always told me when it sounded right and when I still had to change something. So when I knew how it basically works, I practiced on my own whenever nobody could hear me, like for example on my way home or in the shower. ;) I know that my “th” is not perfect yet and it still does not feel completely natural. I always have to think about it and when I do not pay attention I tend to just ignore it and pronounce the unvoiced “th” like “f”. However, I will try to be more aware of the unvoiced “th” whenever I speak and hope that I will sometime be able to do it like a native speaker.

Essay Correction Link 2

http://videoabe.blogspot.co.at/2014/01/essay-corrected-corrected-version.html

Studying Vocabulary

In this blog I will explain how I study my vocabulary and what works for me and what does not. As we had to study the Porter words this semester, I will focus on how I studied those. To begin with, I do the exercises in the Porter book. Even though some of the exercises are very doable, there always are many words that I do not know or do not know well enough. These words I write on the Vocabulary sheet included in the book. When I am done with that I check all the words on my Vocabulary sheet online to get a quick overview what they all mean. Then I start studying the vocabulary list on “vocabulary.com”. I have really come to like this website during the course of this semester. I does not only include very useful definitions and example sentences but you can also listen to the pronunciation of the words, which is very useful for PC2. For pronunciation the listening and spelling question part is especially great. On this level you have to read through the definition of the word but without the word and you should guess what is meant by the definition. If you do not know what it is, you can listen to the word and then spell it. This level is very helpful for me because I can easily check if I would have pronounced the word the same way. While studying the vocabulary list I write down all the words that are especially hard for me.

When I am done studying the list because I have mastered it I read through my “difficult words” again and check if I know how to define, explain and use them now. Then I study the ones that I still do not know again. This basically is how I study my vocabulary. For the last PC, this precess worked very well. I hope it will work for this one as well.

Pecha Kucha Experience

The Pecha Kucha project proved to be very interesting and fun in the end. At first I was not so sure about my topic but the more I got into it, the more interesting it seemed and the more motivated I got. Working with my partner, Natascha, was great as usual and I think we both enjoyed it. Starting the research and coming up with a good structure was pretty hard in the beginning. We were not sure what to include in our presentation and getting information out of Hendrik was very hard but that was probably the case because we asked the wrong questions. ;) However, after that one session in class when Frank talked to us and proposed that we could do our presentation in a more lively way, everything turned out fine. We really enjoyed making up dialogues and had very much fun imagining how the audience would react. Practicing and recording out Pecha Kucha took us longer than we expected because the Welsh words were very difficult to pronounce and we made mistakes or started to laugh again and again. In the end we managed and came up with a quite good recording, at least in my opinion. Then for our big day we did not have to practice much because we had gone through it so often when trying to record it but I was a bit nervous because our presentation was so different from all the other ones. But everything turned our fine and I actually had fun presenting our Pecha Kucha.

Essay Correction Link

http://natisenglishadventures.blogspot.co.at/2013/12/why-republic-of-san-marino-should-not.html

My corrected Telegraph summary

Before

The article „Europe has one foot in 'Japanese' deflation grave” published on the 23th of October in “The Telegraph” and written by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, outlines the European deflation crisis. It explains that Europe is slipping towards the deflation problem Japan is in right now. France, Italy, Spain and other European countries are in the beginnings of a deflation crisis already while some rich European countries like Germany seem still unaffected. Yet inflation is too low and dropping towards zero percent throughout Europe. Deflation can cause extremely dangerous runaway debt which countries have no chance of ever paying back. One possible solution for this problem is raising the inflation rate but yet unaffected countries like Germany are not in favor of this proposal. The author then suggests that France, Italy, Spain and Club Med allies should force Germany to implement reflation policies because this seems to be the desperately needed solution. Instead of changing policies, however, Europe is doing nothing to escape the disaster. They hope for global growth to save them, even though this is far from secure. To conclude, Europe is far from safe from a serious financial crisis and is doing nothing to stop it.

After

The article "Europe has one foot in 'Japanese' deflation grave" published on the 23th of October in "The Telegraph" and written by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, outlines the European deflation crisis.
It explains that Europe is slipping towards the deflation problem Japan is currently in. France, Italy, Spain and other European countries are in the beginnings of a deflation crisis already while some rich European countries like Germany seem still unaffected. Yet inflation is too low and dropping towards zero percent throughout Europe.
Deflation can cause extremely dangerous runaway debt which countries have no chance of ever paying back. One possible solution for this problem is raising the inflation rate but yet unaffected countries like Germany are not in favor of this proposal.
The author then suggests that France, Italy, Spain and Club Med allies should force Germany to implement reflation policies because this seems to be the desperately needed solution. Instead of changing policies, however, Europe is doing nothing to escape the disaster. They hope for global growth to save them, even though this is far from secure.
To conclude, Europe is far from safe from a serious financial crisis and is doing nothing to stop it.

Pronunciation Diary 1

To start my pronunciation practice, I tried to do Rachel's exercises. I picked a Youtube video I liked and took a sequence out of that. I start at 2:00 in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eobsfjFOqNk

With this half sentence I tried to do the Ben Franklin method and wrote down everything I could hear. I am not sure if my notes are clear for everyone but they make sense to me.

 

When I was done with that, I tried to repeat the piece of language myself and then recorded myself doing that. I think that the speaker, Jona Weinhofen, has a very nice English, even though is is hard to imitate.

I then tried to upload my recording to soundcloud and put the link here but unfortunately something did not work. I hope I will figure out how it works soon.

Paper progress

I can not claim that I am making a great deal of progress with my paper lately. I do know what I want to write about and I know my sources. I even know how my paper is supposed to be structured and I have already written an introduction for it. I am waiting to receive feedback on that and hope that what I did is not too far away from what an introduction should look like. What I have not managed so far, however, is starting to really write. Even if I know what will come first in my paper, I do not know how and when to start. For really writing my paper I would need time, which I unfortunately do not have right now. I suppose that the Christmas holidays will give me enough time for that as I am not making great progress right now.

Summary Correction

Europe already has one foot in ‘Japanese” deflation grave 

“The debt deflation theory” by professor Irving Fisher would take EU authorities far 

in the battle against rising debt. As the American Revolution has shown, deflation is an

underestimated danger with the potential to lead to economic disaster. If total debt 

grows too high, as happens in Western Europe, deflation gets mortal. The eurostat 

index depicts that deflation has dropped. The tendency of falling prices is seen in 

many countries. Similar to Japan’s crisis, the eurozone economy is in endangered by 

high debt ratios and sustained deflation. Zsolt Darvas from the Brussels think tank 

Bruegel equates deflation with bleakness. He accuses the European approach of the 

debt crisis and mentions the dilemma of states being pushed to “internal 

devaluations”. Vicious dynamics such as the “denominator effect” are witnessed 

in countries like Italy, where debt rises faster than GDP. The same is true for 

private debt, where with crash diets for erred states, economic self destruction 

was only enhanced. For Mr Darvas, let inflation elevate means escaping 

from the deflationary spiral. Responsible for money shifting to Germany is the ECB 

and non counteracting member states which fear Germany would leave the eurozone. 

Europe hope for global growth to fight the deflation virus.

Comments & Corrections

First of all, I thinks that the author and the newspaper in which the article was 

published should be mentioned at the beginning. There is no logical structure in the 

summary, it reads like a nice story but it is not clearly structured. I also think that 

there are several things that should be in the summary that were left out and that

there are many unimportant facts included in the summary. One example for this is

Irvin Fisher, he is not mentioned very often in the article, so I do not think that he

needs to be in the summary. I also think that Zsolt Darvas should not be in there.

I like it that the summary states that deflation is very dangerous, but I think that 

maybe the path to that deflation should be explained.What I do not understand is 

that the summary says that deflation has dropped. It should be the other way around. 

The article is about the danger of too high deflation in Europe.

If I had to correct this summary, I would rewrite the whole thing because I can not

make sense of the structure and the logic of the writer.

Schengen Final Version

Schengen 1

The Schengen Agreement is a 1985 treaty which caused the removal of internal borders (suspension of border controls?opening of national borders?) in the EU. Since 1995 there is (MNN: has been) one single external border for all the countries in the Schengen Area instead of many national ones. That (this) means that there are no longer passport checks (check: 8.000 google hits, control: 113.000) when you cross (when crossing more formal) the border from one country which has signed the treaty to (with) another one (redundant- leave out). The Schengen Area has a common visa and asylum policy and the police forces of the countries in that area work together when (for example) a criminal (criminals sounds more generic) crosses borders.(needs changing)  Nearly all the (Almost every country in the EU) countries which are in the EU are (is also)part of the Schengen Area. Exceptions are the UK and Ireland. The UK prefers to be independent (from the Schengen agreement) and since the Irish economy depends more on the UK than the EU, it (Ireland decided to keep its free movement arrangement with the UK) would rather keep its free movement arrangement with the UK than join Schengen. Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus are also (leave out) not part of the Schengen Area yet, because their external borders are not secure enough. Even though they (one would think that they refers to the sentence before, swap clauses) are not in the EU, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are also part of the Schengen Area.

(conclusion)

[185 words]

The Schengen Agreement 2

In 1985, an agreement was signed by five of the ten member states of the European Economic Community, namely Belgium, France, Netherlands, West Germany and Luxembourg, in Schengen, near Luxembourg. This agreement, later known as the Schengen agreement, was set up to permit the free movement of persons within the Schengen area. It includes free travelling from one member state to another without the obligation to show (present a) the passport or identity card. However, there are two exceptions: Some countries, like Norway and Iceland, are not part of the EU but also signed the Schengen treaty. Others, such as the United Kingdom and Ireland, are part of the European Union, but do not belong to the Schengen area. One reason why these two countries disapproved of the agreement was that they fear (their fear for an ) illegal immigration if they opened their borders without any frontier controls. Additionally, the UK and Ireland had already signed a contract known as the Common Travel Area long before the Schengen agreement was set up. Ireland preferred to preserve its free movement arrangement with the UK and therefore is not in favour of signing any other treaties concerning border restrictions.

Schengen our version

The Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed in 1985 which permits the free movement of persons, goods and services within the Schengen area. Since 1995 there has been one single external border for all the countries which means that there are no passport controls when crossing the border between countries who signed the treaty. Countries within the Schengen Area have a common visa and asylum policy as well as an intertwined police work coordination in order to make collaboration easier when, for example, criminals cross borders and need to be tracked down. Almost all EU member states are part of the Schengen Area, with two exceptions, namely the UK and Ireland. The UK prefers to be independent from the Schengen agreement and since the Irish economy depends more on Great Britain than on the EU, Ireland decided to keep its free movement arrangement with the UK. Another reason why these two countries disapproved of the agreement was their worry for illegal immigration if they opened their borders without any frontier controls. Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus are not part of the Schengen Area yet, because their external borders are considered not to be safe enough. In contrast to the UK and Ireland, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are also part of the Schengen Area, even though they are not in the EU. In short, the Schengen Agreement enables EU citizens to move freely within the Schengen Area, which excludes Great Britain, Ireland, Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus.

Schengen revised final version

The Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed in 1985 which permits free movement of persons, goods and services within the Schengen area. Since 1995 there has been one single external border for all its member countries which means that there are no passport controls when crossing the border between countries who signed the treaty. Countries within the Schengen Area pursue a common visa and asylum policy, as well as coordinated police work in order to make collaboration easier when, for example, criminals cross borders and need to be tracked down. Almost all EU member states are part of the Schengen Area, with two exceptions, namely the UK and Ireland. The UK prefers to be independent from the Schengen agreement and Ireland, depending mainly on the British economy, decided rather to keep its free movement agreement with Great Britain. Another reason why these two countries refused to sign the agreement was their preoccupation concerning illegal immigration if they opened their borders. Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus are not part of the Schengen Area yet, because their external borders are considered not to be safe enough. In contrast to the UK and Ireland, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are also part of the Schengen Area, even though they are not in the EU. In short, the Schengen Agreement enables EU citizens to move freely within the Schengen Area, which excludes Great Britain, Ireland, Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus.

EU individual paragraph

The reasons for founding of the European Union

Brainstorming

• World War II – prevent war
• ECSC – economy ( 1962 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany)
• then EEC and Euratom
• 1967 – Merger Treaty in Brussels joined the three
• 1993 - named European Union
  
  

Original Paragraph

The European Union was created to unite and stabilize Europe after the second World War. When World War II had ended in 1945, Europe was devastated and shocked by the unethical results of National Socialism. To prevent such a thing from happening again, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was founded in 1962 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany to ensure free movement of coal and steel in Europe. This was the first step toward reconstructing European economy and ensuring peace. In 1957 the Treaty of Rome put forth the European Economic Community (EEC) to create a European common market and the Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) to develop nuclear energy. In 1967 the Merger Treaty in Brussels combined the ECSC, the EEC and Euratom and produced the European Communities (EC). After many enlargements the EC was finally named the European Union (EU) in 1993 through the Maastricht Treaty. Many more countries joined the EU after that to ensure a democratic, equal and prosperous Europe. Back then and still the EU stands for stability and peace in Europe.

[182 words]

Feedback Summary 1
The first problem we found was in the second sentence. I wrote of "unethical results of National Socialism". We discussed if the word "consequences" would fit better because consequences sound broader and not as small as result. The third sentence was written in a German word order so we agreed that I should change that. Another mistake we found was that I used "ensure" three times. I will use grant and maintain instead. In the last sentence I wanted to say that something started a Long time ago and still lasts. Dominik knew the Phrase "up until today" for that purpose. All in all my colleagues liked my paragraph.

Rewritten Paragraph

The European Union was created to unite and stabilize Europe after the second World War. When World War II had ended in 1945, Europe was devastated and shocked by the unethical consequences of National Socialism. To prevent that cruelty from happening again, in 1962 the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was founded by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany to ensure free movement of coal and steel in Europe. This was the first step toward reconstructing European economy and maintaining peace. In 1957 the Treaty of Rome put forth the European Economic Community (EEC) to create a European common market and the Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) to develop nuclear energy. In 1967 the Merger Treaty in Brussels combined the ECSC, the EEC and Euratom and produced the European Communities (EC). After many enlargements the EC was finally named the European Union (EU) in 1993 through the Maastricht Treaty. Many more countries joined the EU after that to grant a democratic, equal and prosperous Europe. Up until today the EU stands for stability and peace in Europe.
[180 words]

Feedback Summary 2
The main problem me and my partner found was that there are so many numbers and names in the paragraph. We felt that my text seemed like a listing of events and was hard to read. So we agreed that I could leave out one date and replace it with "later  on". My partner also thought that "after that" sounded too informal and we replaced it with "from that point on". I still think that there are many dates in my text so that it is a bit difficult to read but I could not leave out all the important names and details if they are my paragraph's topic.

Final Version
The European Union was created to unite and stabilize Europe after the Second World War. When World War II had ended in 1945, Europe was devastated and shocked by the unethical consequences of National Socialism. To prevent that cruelty from happening again, in 1962 the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was founded by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany to ensure free movement of coal and steel in Europe. This was the first step toward reconstructing European economy and maintaining peace. Later on the Treaty of Rome put forth the European Economic Community (EEC) to create a European common market and the Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) in order to develop nuclear energy. In 1967 the Merger Treaty in Brussels combined the ECSC, the EEC and Euratom and produced the European Communities (EC). After many enlargements the EC was finally named the European Union (EU) in 1993 through the Maastricht Treaty. Many more countries joined the EU from that point on to grant a democratic, equal and prosperous Europe. Up until today the EU stands for stability and peace in Europe.
[184 words]

Final Version 2
The European Union was created to unite and stabilize Europe after the Second World War. When World War II ended in 1945, Europe was devastated and shocked by the unethical consequences of National Socialism. To prevent such cruelty from happening again, in 1962 the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was founded by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany. This was the first step toward reconstructing the European economy and maintaining peace. Later on the Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community (EEC) to create a European common market and the Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) in order to develop nuclear energy. In 1967 the Merger Treaty in Brussels combined the ECSC, the EEC and Euratom and created the European Communities (EC). After many enlargements the EC was finally named the European Union (EU) in 1993 through the Maastricht Treaty. Many more countries joined the EU from that point on to ensure a democratic, equal and prosperous Europe. Since then the EU stands for stability and peace in Europe.
[172 words]

EU Paper Topics

• What did Austria do to put  the EU Water Framework Directive into action since 2000?

I would like to write about that topic because I have been active in an action group in Graz for about four  years. This action group tries to prevent the "Energie Steiermark" from building a hydroelectric power plant that would offend this Directive.

• How would the new EU animal health law that was proposed in 2013 change the life of Austrian animals?

This topic is interesting to me because I am vegan and am also active in a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals.

• EU and the deaf: What did the Brussels declaration in 2010 change?

My second language at the ITAT is Austrian Sign Language, so I am very interested in "deaf issues" and how fast or slow things are moving in this area.

• The path of "Ode to joy".

This song has a really catchy tune and I have always liked it. So it would be interesting to find out more about it.

• The path of an "Innocent Smoothie" (from Britain to Austria) without the EU.

I love Innocent smoothies and I thought about what the EU does for me. So the logical answer was: The EU brings Innocent smoothies to Austria!