I am a CELTA-qualified teacher of English as a Foreign Language, a language enthusiast and I love maths and the power of the human brain that it represents. I see languages as pure sequences of mathematical functions: on Englogic we will explore how to approach a language by finding its mathematical patterns, which allows us to understand WHY we say what we say. Languages are not phenomena that we simply need to learn by heart but there is a logic and reason behind everything we say. Through this process I, as a learner, feel much more in control and, as a teacher, I have noticed that I can help students find structure and anchors in English, which can now be understood rather than simply memorised.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER! Apart from my CELTA I do not have any other official qualification: I AM NOT A SCIENTIST/LINGUIST AND I DO NOT CLAIM TO BE ONE. Everything I say is just a collection of my own observations as both a language learner and an English teacher.
What a riot, very well put. I enjoyed the part about tailoring your accent to whom you may be speaking. I grew up in the south of the USA and was ridiculed by friends in Boston about my accent. Little did they know their accents were as pronounced for their region of the country. They'd say; "you talk funny say something", I'd say "paak the caa in Haaavaad yaad."
@@binder098 Yes, it's funny how we tend to think that our own accent is softer than it is. I always knew I had the pronunciation traits of a northern accent in Italy (where I grew up), but it wasn't until a few years ago that I realised how strong my accent actually is and how clear it is to spot that I'm from the specific area that I'm from 😜
It's interesting how accents sound different but we (people without knowledge on linguistics) cannot tell exactly why they sound different. You make these differences clear. Thanks a lot!
Accents are so interesting. Now it makes sense why I sometimes subconciously "tone down" my accent when I speak to people unfamiliar with my own (Teesside)! I appreciate the inclusion that every pronounciation is correct and valid. I couldn't even begin to guess at the amount of times my accent has been brought up - both "jokingly" and sincerely. Also, is it naturally super easy for you to spot unnatural/"fake" accents, or do you still have to be paying close attention or familiar with it?
@@sarahdmitchell Hi Sarah! First of all, sorry for my late reply but I was on holiday. I can imagine how frustrating it must be to have to tone down your accent! I used to work with a Geordie girl and none of the foreign staff we had could understand her, bless her, so she had to enunciate everything the best she could 😱 If it's any consolation, the same happens in every country that has accents that stray a lot from the standard one. I'm originally from the north of Italy and if a southerner spoke with a very thick accent, I wouldn't be able to understand 😱 As for me spotting accents, I love pronunciation and my brain is always active when someone is speaking, trying to understand their pronunciation patterns, so I've become fairly attuned to spotting all sorts of elements and idiosyncrasies
Night & Right would also likely be pronounced as “Neet” and “Reet”. The “eye” sound often just becomes “ee” Also I have noticed in my accent (don’t know the pattern of it) that words like “window” and “yellow” end up as “win-duh” and “yell-uh” (schwa?) Sorry if the explanation isn’t good, don’t really know how else to represent the sound. Everything else I have observed in my own accent (am Geordie)
@@Amber-md8ut Thank you so much for the first-hand info! That's really useful! 🤩 And you explained it very clearly, indeed 😉 Sorry for my late reply but I was on holiday
Amassing video, as a non native speaker leaving in England I suspected the difference between American, southern and east midlands accents that I am used to, with your explanation I confirm it and see much more.
I've never such a great teacher. I just found your channel. After watching a couple of videos I fell in love with English. I really feel sad hearing this news. Best of luck sir
@@miriqbal8764 Thank you so much for saying that, what a beautiful comment! 🤩 Yes, it is a shame that I had to stop but you have plenty of videos to keep you company for a while 😉 And sorry for my very late reply but I was on holiday
Apart from the obvious fact that you're quite knowledgeable about the subject you teach (or used to teach), I can perceive you are a lovely human-being. Thanks!
It's so sad to hear that Sam! Watching from Thailand and I caught every word in your video. I can feel you completely. ❤😢 Thank you so much for your time and dedication nurturing this channel. Firstly, I followed this channel because I love listening to your voice, your British accent and also your lessons on pronunciation. I used to teach English in my free time many years ago but with my busy work scheduled, I had stopped. Now, with the rise of online teaching, I've come across some online English teachers teaching incorrect pronunciation . This highlights the importance of good teaching and inspired me to help others avoid similar mistakes. I'm not here to tell my story, though. I just wanted to share that when I listened to you, I saw myself (we're not comfortable in front of camera, scripted not to miss the point, spent ages editing, not monetized as I just started). I whole-heartedly understand your journey and cried with you. 😢 The knowledge you've shared is valuable, but the time you've dedicated is equally important. To me, you are an incredible teacher. I will always come back and learn from this channel and will also recommend to my future students. Lastly, I wish you joy and tons of success with your new channel. Subscribed! ❤ P.S. Last night, I listened to your new ASMR channel to calm and relax before going to bed.😍
@@m.online3888 First of all, I'm really sorry for my late reply but I've been very sick (starting to feel better now, though 😊). Thank you so much for your wonderful message! 💖Being supported and complimented by other teachers is a great achievement 🤩 You are absolutely right: there is a lot of incorrect and/or superficial information out there and it's an absolute shame, and I'm glad my channel can bring some clarity amid all the inaccurate opinions out there 😉 I'm really happy that I gave Englogic a go because I'd been meaning to do it for years and I'm glad I'll never have the regret of not trying 😊 Thanks for understanding where I'm coming from and for following my other channel, too! 🤩 Today I've hit 1000 subscribers, which is one of the two steps towards monetisation, and I'm really happy! Thanks again for taking the time to write to me 🥰
@@EnglogicSam Thank you so much for your response. I'm very glad to hear that you're getting well now. I'm also sorry for my late reply as I had been not so well too.😌 I really appreciate your attention to details to my response. I can see you are such a caring and loving person.🥰 You did such a great job that you hit over 1000 subscribers so quickly on your new channel. Success is coming along your way. Always my support. Take care. Cheers !❤️
@@m.online3888 Sorry to hear you were sick, too 😔 I still am and it's now been almost 2 months 😱 But this time I was late to reply because I was on holiday 😜
@@m.online3888 I'm almost on the mend, thanks, and my holidays were very strange because I was ill, but I still managed to enjoy parts of them. I'm glad you are back to normal 💪
Do they evaporate "T" and "TT" so they sound swallowed so that seem to have a glottal stop so bottle sounds like "buh-le, I should think. And navy sounds "na-veh" Am I right? ✅
@@GADFLY53 yes, they use glottal stops but the O in bOttle is very open and doesn't sound like UH. You are absolutely right about the end sound in NAVY but A is pronounced like a long closed /ee/ 😉
Hello Sir, Could you tell me the difference of the use of: 1. If....happen to 2. If....should happen to 3. If....happened to The 1st and 2nd are used in the 1st conditional, right? And what about the 3rd one? Is it used in the 2nd or 3rd conditional? I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks.
Sorry for my late reply but I was on holiday. If a word ends on ST and the following one starts with a consonant, /t/ disappears so the trick I talk about in this video doesn't apply 😉
Th-fronting immediately suggests the speaker is illiterate and stupid-regardless of whether or not it is true. So for Heaven’s sake, give children a chance and correct their th-fronting as early as possible.
Hey, excellent video! I have a question. In rp accent I've heard people pronounce the word 'here' as hee-yuh but at 2:42 you're pronouncing it like 'heh/he' (like how you would pronounce the word 'there') Can you tell me why do you do that? And is this way of speaking considered as modern rp? Patiently waiting for your reply!
I'm really happy you liked it, Alex, thanks! 🤩 That sound that I make is considered more modern and current and less sophisticated than traditional RP and a lot of us make it. But careful: it's not the same sound as in THERE. The sound in HERE, FEAR, NEAR is almost more like a CLOSED /e/ rather than the very OPEN /e/ in THERE 😊
@@EnglogicSam I'm feeling lucky to get a quick response. Oh so is it like pronouncing h+/eə/ diphthong (but not pronouncing the 'uh' sound in the end which kind of makes it a monothong?) Like how you would pronounce the word chair, or as you mentioned near. Could you please do a short video on I explaining the concept? Thank you. Btw I love your videos!
@@alexleonmridul Careful: CHAIR and NEAR don't have the same sound. CHAIR has the same sound as THERE whilst NEAR has the same sound as HERE. The sound I use in NEAR/HERE is a single elongated sound which I can describe as a long CLOSED /e/, not an open one like in THERE. I stopped making videos for Englogic a month ago, I'm afraid. But thanks for wanting to get my input on this 🤩😍
Thank you so much for the overview of some of the most controversial verb patterns, specifically 'recommend sb to do sth'. It's quite embarrassing first to teach students that such pattern doesn't exist and then see your students find it in their textbooks (Gateway B2, Macmillan, David Spenser) or in Practical English Usage by Michael Swan, or in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, or Oxford Learner's Dictionary, to name a few.
I'm really glad you've found it useful, Vladimir! I know exactly what you mean: sometimes things like this happen and I myself find it hard to fully explain or justify them to my students 😱 so just to be on the safe side, I tell them what the surely and certainly accepted rule is, but also the other versions they might hear, which I discourage them from using, at least in exams. There are quite a few similar elements in Italian and I have a whole book on mistakes that native German speakers make in German, so it's a much more common phenomenon than we think, but for us teachers it does get tricky
Ignore this man. His accent is contrived, unnatural, and bears no resemblence to ANY native accent in Britain. Also there is no such thing as "British English"... that is a fiction invented by Noah Webster, who is no more an authority on the English language than this charlatan.
Most people learning a second language only learn fairly formal vocabulary and usually won't be versed in the vernacular and cultural nuances. For example, French people think I'm very polite because I don't know how to be sarcastic in French. It's not my personality that changes when I switch languages, it's my ability to fully express myself.
Hi Sam, This is Wendy, one of your students on AT 3/4 years ago. Your videos are helpful and informative. Thanks for your sharing and great contribution to English learning community. Wish you all best with what you are working. Take care!
Sir don't stop uploading videos on this channel......I really appreciate your teaching.....you always give reason to use the things in english....i m from India sir.......your videos could be inspiration for other people........many of us have cleared their doubts through your videos
Intuitive R is actually pretty terrible sounding. I went to FloridER with LindER yesterday and we had a lovely time with LindER and RamonER after in the pool. Only some Brit’s have this hideous accent. Some Americans in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and New York have this ugly accent as well. When they’re eating PizzER on Fridays.
i am peruvian and for some reason i love the british accent , maybe this is because lots of english learning and teaching resources are in british English and i read them to learn English . lots of latin americans have told me that i have to learn the american one however i want to try the british accent . It's kind of discouraging to see many people around you telling you what accent you should really use and trashing the one you like .
Hi Christian, don't be put off by what other people tell you. If you like British, stick with it! At the end of the day you are the one who has to speak English (potentially for the rest of your life) so make sure you speak it in the way you like and feel comfortable with 😉😊
Thanks a lot for this. I'm an English teacher and I was looking for something about word order for my advanced students. This is super - very clearly explained.
FYI, most people who are searching for tutorials on traditional RP are fans of it, so to be five minutes into the video and still hear you basically saying it’s a bad thing for bad people, maybe it’s not something you should be doing a video on.
From Italy. Hi Sam. I was sorry to read that "Englogic is coming to an end" but, after seeing your video to the end (I watched it in 3 chunks) I understand the logic behind your decision. I was glad to learn that the channel will still be accessible so that we can continue to comment. Good luck in your future ventures.
Hi Francesco, sorry for my late reply but I was on holiday. Yes, unfortunately, it makes no sense to continue. Someone has mentioned creating a system based on a subscription fee: if I ever decide to come back, it will have to be through something like that so once I've had a good mental break from it all, I'll see if it's a feasible option. Don't worry: you'll be the first one to know 😊
11:22 If I'm hearing correctly you didn't change the diphthong sound here, so is the word "how" in cockney an exception to the rule/tendency about the aʊ diphthong changing, or can it also be applied here?
