Target audience. General public with an interest in English; English teachers looking to enhance their subject knowledge; Key KT word: edutainment

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2 Target audience General public with an interest in English; English teachers looking to enhance their subject knowledge; Key KT word: edutainment

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6 2013 attendance Title of talk Pragmatics: How do we speak 161 appropriately and politely? Dangerous English 146 From Ace to Zero: What s so 121 attractive about an unconventional English name? Pop Culture English 143 Idioms: Revealing the Color of 120 English Expressions Why Language Rules Rarely Work 107 Total 798 No. of participants

7 2014 attendance Title of talk English spelling really does make cents sense No. of participants 190 Accents in English 188 Is English pronunciation really so difficult? What s in a word? History and culture as reflected in English vocabulary Language learning and technology 71 Total 745 (2-year total= 1,543)

8 Public Lecture Series 2014 Evaluation Report

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17 Budget 2014 General Expenses Advertisement on Newspaper and website 1 $12,000 Coach Services (transportation from Kowloon Tong to Tai Po Campus) 12 $2000 per round trip $24,000 Postal fee for promotion $5850 Stationery (letterhead and brown Envelope) $2000 Total : $43850

18 Examples So, what is the English you didn t learn in school?

19 Most difficult word What s the most difficult word to pronounce in the English language?

20 ⅓ ⅕ ⅚ [siksθs] Why is English so hard to sometimes pronounce?

21 English spelling really does make cents sense Paul Stapleton March 1, 2014 Faculty of Humanities

22 How many words are misspelled? 1. It was a lovely occassion. 2. We have no accomodation. 3. I received a promotion from my boss. 4. Try to seperate the fighting boys. 5. This word is definitely mispelled. 6. It s important to be consistant. 7. Do you have a 2014 calendar? 8. You need a good explaination.

23 How many words are misspelled? 1. It was a lovely occasion. 2. We have no accommodation. 3. I received a promotion from my boss. 4. Try to separate the fighting boys. 5. This word is definitely misspelled. 6. It s important to be consistent 7. Do you have a 2014 calendar? 8. You need a good explanation.

24 Why is English spelling difficult? 1. Many English words come from other languages and retain their original spelling. 2. English has 12 vowel sounds but only five letters (a, e, i, o, u).

25 A rather new addition Schadenfreude ( 幸災樂禍

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27 English and the alphabet So English has 19 vowel sounds and 24 consonant sounds but there are only 26 letters and two of those letters are pretty useless q (sounds like a k ) x sounds like a ks

28 Why is English spelling difficult? 3. And 24 consonant sounds but only 20 letters. 4. English is pronounced very differently according to where one comes from.

29 Why is English spelling difficult? Who s accent?

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32 How do you pronounce mandatory

33 Could there be some hidden logic to English spelling? Spelling helps to distinguish word meanings To, two too I, eye, Cue, kew, queue, Q,

34 5. Many homonyms

35 Homonym exceptions (Same spelling, different meaning) Can you think of two meanings for each of these words: Check Book Fat Glass Fire Seal Watch

36 Hidden logic Some spellings help with meaning and pronunciation Insane (inseyn) Insanity (insanity) Column (silent n ) Columnist ( n is pronounced) Christ Christmas

37 Why didn t Chinese develop an alphabet instead of characters? 㸃解

38 Hidden logic to Chinese too!

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40 These two languages are at the two extremities of a continuous scale of spelling transparency: Italian has relatively few sounds so the alphabet suits it well. Chinese is made up of single syllables and homophones are therefore relatively frequent. The alphabet is not suitable English occupies a middle position, (for short frequent sound spelling ( right write rite ) Chinese and Italian

41 Orthographic transparency (How clearly the writing system maps onto the sound system) Chinese French English German Finnish Spanish Italian Japanese* *for hiragana and katagana only

42 Why didn t English invent new letters? In English <th> sound is represented by two letters, but it has two different sounds θ think, without, both ð this, father, breathe þ (an old letter used for both forms of <th>) Why did these old letters disappear?

43 Answer θ ð þ were non-latin Printing presses imported to England from the European continent did not have these letters. Also, ð was considered to close to d and would cause confusion.

44 Idioms Revealing the Color of English Expressions Paul Stapleton

45 Hang up (the phone) 1930s 2013

46 Turn on/off/up/down

47 Idiomatic Language Phrasal verbs Classifying idioms Metaphoric patterns Idiomatic themes Universal idioms Deceptive idioms Epistemic particles (in Cantonese) Ironic expressions Agreeing/disagreeing expressions Reduplication Sophisticated idioms Understatement Humorous idioms Proverbs Inside language Conditions of life New idioms Politically Correct language

48 Understatement Euphemism Often used to avoid saying unpleasant words. Expensive A: Was the restaurant reasonable? B: It wasn t the cheapest in the world. (negative + superlative) Stupid (negative + using stereotypes of smart people) Ugly He s no genius/rocket scientist/brain surgeon. She s no Miss Universe.

49 Understatement I wasn t born yesterday.

50 Humorous ways to say stupid His elevator doesn t go to the top floor. A few cards short of a deck. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

51 Eat your lunch slowly." Cultural patterns of communication and language miscues Paul Stapleton April 11, 2015 Faculty of Humanities

52 Kinship terms to the extreme older sister s husband younger sister s husband husband s older brother husband s younger brother wife s older brother wife s younger brother 姐夫 妺夫 大伯 叔仔 大舅 舅仔

53 Task: Translate these kinship terms Mother's older sister's son Mother's older sister's daughter Mother's younger sister's son Mother's younger sister's daughter Mother's older brother's son Mother's older brother's daughter Mother's younger brother's son Mother's younger brother's daughter Father's older sister's son Father's older sister's daughter Father's younger sister's son Father's younger sister's daughter Father s older brother s son Father s older brother s daughter Father s younger brother's son Father's younger brother's daughter

54 Kinship terms Mother s older sister s son. ( 表哥, 表弟 ) Mother s older sister s daughter. ( 表姊, 表妹 ) Mother s younger sister s son. ( 表哥, 表弟 ) Mother s younger sister s daughter ( 表姊, 表妹 ) Mother s older brother s son ( 表哥, 表弟 ) Mother s older brother s daughter ( 表姊 表妹 ) Mother s older brother s son ( 表哥, 表弟 ) Mother s older brother s daughter ( 表姊 表妹 ) Father s older sister s son ( 表哥, 表弟 ) Father s older sister s daughter ( 表姊, 表妹 ) Father s younger sister s son ( 表哥 表弟 ) Father s younger sister s daughter( 表姊 表妹 ) Father s older brother s son ( 堂阿哥, 堂細佬 ) Father s older brother s daughter ( 堂家姊 堂細妹 ) Father s younger brother's son( 堂阿哥, 堂細佬 Father's younger brother's daughter ( 堂家姊 堂細妹 )

55 But generally English has a very rich vocabulary

56 Old English evolved out of Germanic languages after invasions in the 4 th century. During the Norman occupation (1066), about 10,000 French words were adopted into English French vocabulary is found in every domain, from government and law to art and literature. More than one-third of all English words are derived directly or indirectly from French English speakers who have never studied French already know 15,000 French words. French influence

57 Other examples (from Hinkel, 2000) Anglo get make be see get there leave cow French obtain construct exist perceive arrive depart beef

58 Food Snail Escargot

59 Which one is higher class? Kiosk Boutique

60 Spot the difference in communication styles: Manga vs. comics

61 Knowledge transfer