ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

Looking at the terrible situation women are in, not only in far away countries, we should all stand up for the rights of women, which are human rights, aren't they? This means not only women, but men too showing solidarity for real rights, not just paying lip service. The best we can do is to look into ourselves, and realize our own failure to stand up clearly for what's right.   

One thing a lot of people don't realize when they learn a new language is that you must learn to use your mouth differently in order to pronounce words correctly. For example, one day in Spain our professor explained to us how to pronounce the "d" sound. I was shocked to learn that you do it differently for Spanish than for English.

This misunderstanding is very present in Japanese speakers learning English especially because of the katakana system of writing foreign words. I try to make it clear to my students that "ザ" does not sound the same as "the". In fact, you need to put your tongue between your teeth as in the picture above in order to pronounce "the" as a native speaker would. It seems silly at first, as if you are exaggerating, but it makes an immediate difference in your pronunciation. With practice it will sound and feel better and better and you will be more easily understood!