Language Lunch: ''Sounding English'': Stress, Fillers, and Interjections

Now in its fifth year, the Language Lunch series is a fun and time-saving opportunity to improve your English-language competence over lunch! In the summer semester, the series continues with the following three workshops:

• Participating Actively in Meetings Held in English
• “Sounding English”: Stress, Fillers, and Interjections
• Little Building Blocks of the English Language: Prepositions, Pronouns, and Determiners

These workshops are part of the “Language Lunch” series and can be booked individually. Please note that even if you would like to attend all three, you must still book them separately. If you want to sign up for "“Sounding English”: Stress, Fillers, and Interjections", please click "Register" at the bottom of this page. If you want to sign up for the other ones, please click on the respective workshop title above.

Content

“As a native speaker of English, I am often asked how language learners can ‘sound more English’. There is no easy answer, because much of this comes down to cultural knowledge (e.g., in the case of idioms), and upbringing (e.g., in the case of accent and dialect). However, in this workshop I will offer an honest response to what I think is meant by ‘sounding English’, and suggest some tips and tricks that may be useful. It will explore issues around English pronunciation and vocabulary, but also focus on stress patterns, fillers, and interjections.” – Mathew Gillings

In particular, in this interactive workshop, participants will:

• Discuss the main pronunciation differences between English and German
• Recognise the most common fillers used in English and understand how they are used to aid the flow of conversation
• Explore different phrases that can be used to delay answers and buy time
• Learn about English stress patterns
• Use interjections to express emotions and sound more natural

• Main pronunciation differences between English and German
• Most common fillers used in English and how they are used to aid the flow of conversation
• Different phrases that can be used to delay answers and buy time
• English stress patterns
• Interjections to express emotions and sound more natural