Transcription
Hello, friends. I am glad to welcome you to the second part of the first episode of our super-series on training the brain to recognize English speech by ear. After publishing the introduction to the course and the first part of the first episode, I received such a large number of responses. I received so many kind words addressed to me. I probably haven't heard so many kind words in my entire life. I am very grateful to those who joined our classes, to those who saw the rational kernel in my approach. Thank you very much. I am so grateful to you for your support and for finding the time and desire to write me kind words. Thank you again. It is very motivating. And despite the fact that I have been teaching English for 30 years and I have many students and, as you understand, a lot of experience. I always find it so pleasant when people respond to what I do. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We will move forward together. So, since I have analyzed the comments and received feedback, I want to react to it accordingly. The question that was asked several times is: how often and how long should basic exercises for the plasticity of transition be done? That is, to repeat l, l, t, t, n, n, d, d. First. How often? Not often, without fanaticism, five times slower than I showed you now. It is enough to do one to two rounds a day. When I say a round, I mean this cycle l l ta t na na d. This is a round, this is a cycle. One to two such cycles a day is more than enough. If you miss a day, if you miss two, nothing radical will change from this. Believe me, as they say, from an older comrade. Without fanaticism, without speed. Speed is our worst enemy. You understand, if pregnancy lasts not 9 months, but eight or seven - it is a pathology. You don't need to speed up the labor process. The same is true here. Don't try to do faster what cannot be done faster. And if it can be done, then with a loss of quality, health, motivation, and so on. This is the first point. Second. Is it possible to do this at night if there is no other time? But let's be honest, 30 seconds in the morning, 30 seconds in the afternoon. No, no, it's fine. Do it at night, drink a calming tea afterwards then. But it's okay, you understand, nothing terrible will happen. It's just natural that the brain will get into tone, and it will want to somehow get in touch with you. I don't know, or maybe on the contrary, it will fall asleep. My dad, for example, falls asleep from coffee. He has such a paradoxical reaction. Therefore, [music] just don't experiment. But if you want to, try it. Maybe it's okay, but 30 seconds a day is how often. The question is: how long? You see, the thing is, we have gotten ourselves into a situation that is stretched out in time. I really hope you understand this, because, judging by the comments, people who think, who reason, have joined our common process. Well, others will not join us. This is generally a distinguishing quality of my target audience, fortunately for me. And, uh, it's a long process. It is desirable to do this basic exercise for at least six months. This is the minimum. You can see for yourself, it doesn't take much effort, it doesn't take much time, but it switches the brain. It really switches the brain. I include this exercise in my course on English grammatical tenses. For what purpose? So that the brain switches. Therefore, well, set yourself such limits. Well, six months. If you see that you want to continue doing this exercise, please, there will be no harm. And there will be harm if you do it quickly, in a frenzy, with fanaticism, yes, it can cause harm, yes, if you do it a lot in a row, yes, it's not good. If you do it at a normal pace, at a pace comfortable for yourself, if you track how your tongue moves along the trajectory from the teeth to the palate, everything will be fine. And six months. Well, let's decide. After that, you will see based on your condition. Maybe you will see that you no longer need it, that you understand speech well anyway. That's it, voila. Why bother with extra movement? Let's set approximate deadlines. Now, as you understand, teachers, especially if they are involved in science like me, are tedious bores. And with the pedagogical tediousness inherent in me, I want to repeat the rules of the classes in our course. Please do not skip the rules. Listen to them, be patient. First and very important. Do not expect the result to come instantly, just like that, pop, and that's it. No, of course not. This is, you know, only in marketing stories. Conversational English in 2 weeks, in the first lesson you will speak English, or, after the first lesson you will start understanding a native speaker. Thank God, we have students who know that this will not happen with a snap of the fingers. I am not offering a magic wand, a head transplant, and so on. No. But, you understand, the process itself is already amazing. How can a person show flexibility? How amazing is his brain? What incredible abilities we have and how we can use them. But just observing this is already a pleasure. And participating in it. Therefore, be prepared for the fact that it will be stretched out in time, which is natural. One point. Second point. Do not rush. Please do the exercise slowly and without fanaticism. I will remind you of this every time. One always wants to do it faster, more often, more. No, you don't need to, it won't help. It will only bring harm. We have a strategy. I described this strategy in the introduction. And, uh, since you decided to take this course, it means you have accepted this strategy. Therefore, we move slowly, we move with joy, understanding what awaits us and enjoying the process, including. It is very important, actually, for the process to be enjoyable. Now it is very important not to skip episodes and parts, because sequence is important. And it's not by chance that we started with switching the brain to the English resource. Roughly speaking, I am not using scientific terms, because it will not help the process. Not by chance. That is, yes, this was the first step. We had to make this move. Next, we need to strengthen it, consolidate it. We need to develop our abilities to hear and recognize similar sounds. Today we will be doing just that. Therefore, please watch the series sequentially, do not skip. Now, regarding how the episodes are called, how they are numbered. Well, first of all, all episodes will be placed in one playlist, which is called: "How to learn to understand English speech by ear". And now we have the first episode. Then it is divided into parts. Why is that? Because this first episode is dedicated to neutralizing the Russian filter and recognizing basic sounds. That is, we learn to articulate them and at the same time we do exercises to recognize them, at least at the word level for now. That is, this is the first episode. And it will be divided into parts, because each part will have a new block of information, which is based on previous knowledge. And in each episode, or rather, in each part of an episode, we will repeat what we have already learned and include new information there. Into what has already been learned. That is, we have learned something, and based on this learned material, we add something new and practice everything. When we deal with the basic sounds, so that we have the English phonemes built up more or less in outline, and so that the Russian filter is already somewhat smoothed out, of course, it will not be completely neutralized immediately. The end of this first episode, which consists of several parts. No, do not have illusions, but it will weaken, it will no longer dominate, we will have an English trap for English sounds. We will train this with you. And then we will have the next episode, also consisting of several parts. The next episode will be dedicated to energetic transcription, which will help us establish the boundaries of English words. I will start talking about this partially in this episode as well, but the main work will be in the next one. This is approximately how it will be. Then the next episode will follow with its block of information. This is how our work will be structured. I am informing you just in case, if you have questions about why the numbering is so strange, why it is called this way, so that you are aware of where all this is leading. Well, the preamble is complete. We are moving forward. So, the first thing we are doing today in a practical sense is looking at the exercises that I have made for you in animated form, and working together with the plasticine tongue. Please watch the cartoon. I hope you are already familiar with it. Well, we have recalled the basic exercise. Now, my friends, we engage the hand. The root, the tip of the tongue. English position, Russian position. Say the sound l with me. Slowly, without rushing, crawl and say the English. L. Return to the Russian position and say the Russian sound T. English sound t. Russian sound N. English sound N. Russian sound D. English sound d. I hope your hand is tired. Now pay attention that when you say English sounds, it is good to stretch your mouth. Help yourself like this. You can imagine such an unnatural picture, as if you are not pressing your tongue against the alveoli, but the alveoli against your tongue. As if you are slightly flattening. Don't imagine a smile. This is not a smile, it is just an articulatory movement for a Russian speaker. A smile has an emotional subtext. Right? There are no emotional inclusions here. This is purely articulatory work. Therefore, I am not talking about a smile, I am talking specifically about spreading, stretching the lips. Done. We are great. This is important. This must always be done. Now we will start getting acquainted with three basic English vowel sounds. Why do I call them basic? I even call them the three whales of English phonetics. Because first, they are meaning-distinguishing. Today we will see that by changing this sound in a word, we change the meaning. That is, we radically change the meaning. We will encounter this today. Today we will do exercises for recognizing words. Unexpected discoveries and various conclusions related to this await you. This is the first reason why these are the three whales. Meaning-distinguishing sounds. Second, the fact is that in the next lesson we will be dealing with diphthongs. Diphthongs are double vowel sounds. There are no such sounds in modern Russian. They say that there used to be diphthongs in Russian, but now there are none. And there, in diphthongs, there is a specific intonation, that is, a change in the direction of the sound. And in order to do this correctly, today we will work with the direction of the sound and study those sounds that, among others, are present in diphthongs and set the direction. Therefore, we have very, very important and interesting work ahead of us today. Let's begin, perhaps. So, please meet. And this is the sound that I call the "annoying" or "hippopotamus" sound. There is no such sound in Russian. It is denoted in the signs of international transcription by this little frog that you see now. Very cute. And how to pronounce it? Well, it's not for nothing that I called it annoying, right? I apologize in advance for the not very pleasant associations, but nevertheless, you need to open your mouth as wide as possible now. So wide that it's not painful, but it's the maximum opening, roughly speaking. See? That's why a hippopotamus, with a mouth like a hippopotamus, is open. Try it, please. I know that Russian speakers don't like to do this. You were told in childhood: "Okay, close your mouth, a fly will get in." Well, at least half of you were told this, guys. A fly won't get in. Definitely, I promise. Open it. Good. And now try, yes, so that it doesn't hurt. Treat yourself here, well, with love. Do it like this. Here it is important to imagine that you want to touch your chest with your chin, without lowering your head. See? And you can even put your hand under it, right? And see what I'm doing? Practice, please, the only thing is carefully here at the joints, so again, without fanaticism, this is our hashtag: "Slowly, without fanaticism." Tried it, right? Saw your maximum opening. This is very important, right? Before we extract the sound, I must say that, naturally, what we are doing now is all exaggerated, because when you speak yourself and when you hear fluent speech, this exaggerated movement will already be blurred, but your brain will be able to read it, and you will be able to perform it, because, as you understand, we are working on your speech simultaneously, on your ability to speak well and articulate well. So, this will all be blurred, it won't look so bright, it won't look so ugly. And also, if you look at yourself in the mirror, you won't like it, it won't be beautiful, because it will look like an unnatural mask on your face. If these movements are not natural to you, then, naturally, the face will look strange. This is the first point. Second, I don't like mirrors for a second reason. The fact is that when you work with your physical body, you need to concentrate on your physical sensations. If you look in the mirror, you concentrate on how it looks, and not on what you feel. You won't always carry a mirror with you. Therefore, I recommend that you do not use a mirror for now. There was one question or comment that someone was using a mirror. Not yet. Rely on your sensations, enter your body, feel it. This is very important. So, we opened our mouths. Well done, we are great. Now let's start extracting the sound. A separate story. Imagine that you need to roll a ball out of your chest. I don't want to say it's like you're nauseous. But that's why it's annoying. See my movement. Yes, I want to say again, this is all very exaggerated. We need to explain to our body, explain to our brain, how it is pronounced. Try it like this. And the tongue needs to be positioned so that there is room for the ball to roll out. But, you don't need to make a "gla". See? Look at my mouth. You are not at an ENT doctor, right? To show your throat with your tongue. Like this. Try it, please, do it. It's not a pleasant movement. No, nobody likes it. I know. That's it. Now, with this movement, we try to say the sound "eh", what we will hear, we can't even imagine, because the vocal cords will be reconfigured now. It will be a croak, a quack, anything. I won't be able to make this sound because everything has been reconfigured, so it will be, well, relatively not annoying. Relatively, it should be annoying for you, it should be unpleasant for you. You are now doing something you don't like. Your Russian filter, your Russian-speaking personality is resisting. We will sort all this out, don't worry. It's just that the first impressions are unlikely to be pleasant, especially from this sound. Let's try. Ah, even I get this kind of croaking. Well, because I'm trying very hard. So, here it is, this sound. This is the "annoying" sound. When you pronounce it, the sound you will emit may be more like "ah", or more like "eh". It's not "ah" and it's not "eh", it's "eh". There is no such sound in Russian. We already know that there is Russian and there is English. And there are no Russian sounds in English, which is characteristic. Although there is nothing surprising about this, agree. Tried it? Now we will try, and this is very important, to pronounce this sound within the framework of sounds that you already know. These are our favorite sounds. Ah, l, t, N, d. Let's try to say the word you see now. The thing is, in the signs of international transcription, in the formal transcription that you will find in a dictionary, it will look like this. Please look. So you see the sound "ch", then you see our hippopotamus "a". And then you see the sound "n". We need to try to pronounce each sound separately now. Let's say "t". Then say "eh" separately, then say "n" separately. Please pay attention that the tongue is always in the right place for the sounds "t" and "n". If you don't have time to move your tongue to the right place for "n" after pronouncing the sound "eh", speak slower, because if you have never done this before, it will be difficult for you to coordinate now. Don't get discouraged, it can't be otherwise. The tongue is not an organ that is easy to control. This is not a metaphor. In the literal sense, it is so. And we will encounter this all the time. And you yourself will find it funny. You are adults, and the tongue where? What to do with it? What to do? What to do? Nothing, just practice slowly. So, we tried to say it separately. T. Eh. N. Let's try to connect it so that it sounds more or less normal. Speak slowly. Ah, great. Say it yourself. This is not "ten". Not "ten" at all. Listen. T-n. Like heaven and earth. Let's listen to how this word sounds to native English speakers. Please listen. Well, how, did you like it? That's how it is. Now we can try to pronounce this sound. The hippopotamus sound. In another word, in the word "pen". The first sound is "p". Pan. See, I'm sort of spitting a little. Treat this calmly. You might not be able to do it. It's not important for us now. What's important for us now is that you have an "annoying" sound and that you reach "n" at the end on the alveoli. Correct pronunciation of these two sounds will pull out the "p" sound. If it's not like mine, but closer to Russian, don't be discouraged, it doesn't change anything. So, let's try. P-m. Well, how did it turn out? However it turned out, it turned out, the main thing is that the tongue managed to reach the alveoli for "n". If it didn't, slow down. Let's listen to how this word sounds to native English speakers. Let's try to pronounce this sound in one more word now. It will be the word "can". Here we have "k", again, don't strive to do it as I do. My "k" sound. See, as if I'm slightly "shooting". K. Can. However it turns out. What's important now is that you pronounce the hippopotamus correctly and reach the alveoli for the "n" sound. Correct pronunciation of these two sounds will pull out the "k" sound. But for us, this is not critical now. The "k" sound, just like the previous "p" sound, you will always recognize, no matter how you pronounce it yourself. But gradually, of course, it needs to be formed. And it will be formed by the fact that you will correctly pronounce the basic sounds. Moreover, the sounds "k" and "p" are pronounced differently in different positions and sound different. Therefore, achieving this "shooting" and "spitting" is not at all necessary, especially at the early stage. Let's try to say "can" together. See how great it turned out. This is not "can". Can, can. No, it's "can". Do you hear how my voice changes? Like this. And I'm not an actress. I'm just a normal, perfectly average person. And the voice changes. Why? I become a different sound source, because the entire sound production mechanism has changed. That's the story. Let's listen to how the word "can" sounds from native English speakers. [applause] [music] Now we need to take a small, small step towards understanding the energetic structure of an English word. Most of us know that sound is a carrier of energy. If you don't know this, then you studied physics poorly in school. Let's refresh our knowledge a bit. So, sound is a carrier of energy. And when we say that people exchange energy in communication, it's not a metaphor. It's actually true. You understand, if one sound is a carrier of energy, then speech flow is a huge carrier of energy. And we exchange these energies with each other. But from an energetic point of view, an English word is structured completely differently from a Russian word. Several years ago, I published a scientific article about this in a VAK journal, where I, in fact, introduced the concept of energetic transcription and began to talk about the energetic structure of a word, particularly an English word. What is meant? When we see the usual formal transcription, and I started with it, when we started talking about the "annoying" sound, we see square brackets. This indicates that what follows is not the spelling of the word, not how it is written, but how it is pronounced. That is, there are phonemes, which we then realize into sound when we pronounce it. This is formal transcription. In this case, the word "formal" is not bad at all. In no case do I diminish the importance of the brilliant works of our leading phoneticians who brought all this into a system. In no case. It's just that for a person who is not a professional in linguistics, it can be difficult to read transcription. Furthermore, it is not very clear how to pronounce stressed and unstressed sounds. It's difficult. And when we convert this formal transcription into an energetic form, it will be much easier for us to learn to use transcription practically. So, please look at the picture. The nuclear element of a word is the stressed vowel sound. In our case, it's a whole word, consisting of three sounds, right? And there is only one vowel, it is, of course, the only stressed one. This is the nucleus. Around this nucleus is the periphery, the shell. And on one side of the nucleus, and on the other side of the nucleus. Only one sound each, or rather, one phoneme each. I called these phonemes, which are carriers of energy, that is, sound as a carrier of energy, "energemes", which is logical, right? Energy - energeme. So, our nuclear energeme is the sound "eh", our hippopotamus. The shell energetemes are the sounds "t" and "n", or "p" and "n", or "k" and "i". Understand, right? So far you have seen how it looks in energetic form. We have the same number of eneremes on both sides of the nuclear sound. That is, the word is in equilibrium. For now, this information is enough for us. I just wanted to introduce you to this topic a little, because for us, this will be one of the key positions. So, we have met the "annoying" hippopotamus sound "eh". If you are tired, take a break. You can pause. And then we will move on to the next sound. This is the "sly" sound "eh", right? Because it must be pronounced with such a sly expression on your face. This is a sound that, unlike the previous sound, our hippopotamus, which went out like a horn, did not have a clearly defined direction, so I didn't talk about it. The sound we are about to study now has a clearly defined horizontal direction. Horizontally like this. Help yourself with your hand. Try this movement that I am demonstrating to you now, right, so that you understand what a horizontal movement means. Like this. Like this. Excellent. Now pronounce this sound. With such a sly smirk, we say the sound "eh". Try not to stretch it, well, however it turns out. And you can help yourself with your hand. Eh, eh. You don't need to think about your tongue much. The main thing is that it doesn't fall out, that this is not happening. This is not needed. Keep it inside. Ah, eh, you see what's happening to my face? And help yourself with your hand. You remember that hands help us? They help. They hinder when they say: "Why are you gesturing?" I am gesturing because it helps me convey my thought to the interlocutor, solely for these reasons. So, it is important for us to feel the contrast between the sound "eh" and the sound "eh". I hope you hear this difference. Please look at the articulation. Ah, eh. In Russian, we would describe both sounds as "eh", but they are different. You see, they are completely different sounds. Moreover, when they appear in words, the meaning of the word changes. We will see this now. So, let's practice with this sound. We will now place it in the nucleus of words. We take the word "t-eh-n". Try to say it. First "t", then "eh", the sly one, then "n". Please don't forget that for "n", the tongue should reach the alveoli. And, of course, start with the English articulatory base if you are saying "t". Try "ten". Help yourself with your hand, "ten", so that you understand where the sound is directed. This is important. We are preparing for the work in the next part of the first episode. which will be released next Thursday. That's how it turned out. Excellent. Most of you, I don't even doubt, will stretch this sound. You will say "ten", or maybe even longer. This is normal for the beginning, but it is a short sound. The fact is that in Russian and English, the attitude towards sound length is different. In Russian, if you simply lengthen a sound, nothing changes. "Sobaka", "koshka", the meaning of the word has not changed. It's just like I'm being affected. But in English, if this sound is lengthened, the meaning of the word changes radically. Therefore, we need to understand, if the sound is short, then it is short. For now, we are learning. As it is, so it is, but we try to shorten it. "Ten". If the tongue doesn't reach the alveoli, lengthen the vowel. Nothing terrible. I want to say again, everything will fall into place over time. If it doesn't work out right away, that's normal. It would be strange. If you started practicing, and suddenly everything turned out well. Right from the first time. If it were possible, oh, how easy it would be. So, now we will listen to how this word sounds to native English speakers. "Ten". >> Well, how was it? Well, I like it. I generally like the English language, to be honest. So, now is the moment of truth, one of, I would say, moments of truth. We must feel the difference between the words "tan" and "ten" on our own skin, so to speak. Try to say the word. See how I open my mouth. I am exaggerating very much. For what purpose? To feel the contrast. Naturally, when I speak quickly, I don't open my mouth like that, but we are learning. So, now say "ten". Let's say them in sequence. I hope you feel the articulatory difference. If there is an articulatory difference, then, naturally, there will be a phonetic one, that is, the sound will be different. For us, this is very important, because these are different words. Let's listen to how the word "tan" sounds to native English speakers, so that you hear how contrasting it sounds in their speech. Did you hear? So, gradually we begin to distinguish this. Let's move on. We will now study the next sound. This is a sound that, unfortunately, is very often interpreted as the Russian sound "y". Please look at me in profile and say this sound, the Russian sound "y", yourself. Do you feel how the jaw moves forward, and the sound goes up accordingly? There is no such sound in English. And there is no sound like the Russian "y". Moreover, I will add a little about the sound "y". I have seen with my own eyes in America a textbook of Russian as a foreign language, where, you know, a student is drawn with a bandaged jaw. He is asked: "What's wrong with you?" He says: "I was practicing the Russian sound 'y'. It's hard for them to say it, but it's impossible for the English sound to correspond to the Russian sound or even resemble the Russian sound 'y'. No, it's impossible at all." What to do? We are learning. This sound, I will call it now, is a sound directed downwards. This sound is directed downwards. Let's try to understand what "direction downwards" means. Blow like this. Yes, understand. Down, down, help with your hand. This is the movement. Now, with this movement, with the understanding that the sound will now be directed downwards, try to say: "Eh, eh". You can see what I'm doing with my head, right? Help yourself with your head. Direct the sound downwards. Eh, eh. You see how my lips spread. It looks like the previous sound "eh", right, but this is "y". The sound "eh", "eh", "eh", they are similar to each other, these sounds are similar. And native speakers know, especially if they speak to each other from a distance, that the acoustics of these sounds change, the acoustic effect, and everything can merge into one general sound. This can happen even with native speakers, but we need to distinguish clearly. This and this is not "eh", this is "eh". Try it, please, it may not work out right away. Don't get discouraged, it's natural. Again, I want to tell you, it can't be otherwise. We are learning. The first indicator that a person is learning is that they are not succeeding. Or they are succeeding poorly, they are succeeding ungracefully. And what will be normal later? Evolution, you know. So, eh, you see, eh, help yourself with your hand. This is a short sound. Yours will be long. You will say, eh, well, maybe for now it's okay. The main thing is that you feel the difference between Russian "i" and English "eh", between Russian "y" and English "eh". You see, it's not "i" and it's not "y", it's "eh". Let's try to insert this sound into a word. It will be easier, because the surrounding sounds, this English environment, will pull it out, or rather, draw it into the correct English formator. Let's try. So, please look, this is the formal transcription and right next to it is the energetic transcription, so that you learn to correlate the formal transcription, the transcription you see in the dictionary, and the energetic transcription that I propose, right from the beginning. It will help us, I want to remind you again, to understand how to practically pronounce a given word. So, let's look. We say: "chana". Ch-eh. Try it yourself. How did it turn out? Here it is. "Ten". Let's listen to how this word sounds to native English speakers. Well, now for the most interesting part. Now you will hear first from my lips, and I am a native Russian speaker. Keep in mind, I am trying to make you hear me. If I were speaking with native English speakers, my English would be more English. The fact is that if you start with, let's say, English English, then you won't hear it. There is our Russian filter here, and it will be very difficult to catch the difference, very difficult to correlate with Russian sounds. Therefore, I have to, well, roughly speaking, adjust. This is simply necessary so that you can hear better. It's not for nothing that I later include the speech of native English speakers, so that after my explanations and demonstrations, you can switch to them. So, now I will say three words in contrast, and then we will listen to how it happens with native English speakers. Agreed? Let's begin. Pen. Well, how was it? And now let's listen to the natives. And now we will take the word "tan". >> Heard it. Here it is. Now we will conduct a small phonetic dictation. Don't be scared, I don't give failing grades. This is my principled position. How will it proceed? You will now hear words that contain the sounds we have studied today. This will be the "a" sound, the hippopotamus, the sly "eh", and the "eh" sound. Please number the columns or how you will write. Yes, I forgot to tell you. Everyone prepare sheets of paper and pens. Dictation is dictation. Keep this in mind, please. So, please number them. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. There will be 10 words. Numbered 10 words, right? Now listen carefully and write under the corresponding number which sound you heard: "eh", "eh", or "y". You will write them down as dictated. The person read, well, in the sense, said the word, right, you wrote it down. The person said the word, you wrote it down. And then you will do self-checking. I will give you the answers, I will give you the keys to this dictation immediately, and you will see if you guessed correctly or not. Then what to do? Mark what you didn't guess, so you understand where the mistake was. If everything was wrong, then you will have to re-listen to everything, pay attention to everything. And now you will have to listen to this dictation one more time. Now it will play for you. Now I will add the recording so that you don't have to rewind. And especially where you didn't hear it clearly, try to understand what, why you didn't hear it clearly, what prevented you. Maybe the second time you will hear it better, or it will seem strange to you. Wow. So, obviously, why did I write this sound there, or write this sound? What was wrong with me? The brain works so interestingly. This is an amazing story. We are about to get acquainted with it. We have such a long journey of getting acquainted with our own brain. What do you think? Very interesting. Fed [music] Berg. >> Here are the keys. Please check. Well, how was it? Checked. Now please listen to this same dictation one more time and see how you do the second time. Did you hear better or worse? Look, reflect on this with yourself. [music] friend T. >> Well, you see, we already have some information about ourselves, because we are studying not so much English as ourselves. You see, what an amazing thing. We study ourselves against the backdrop of English. Yes, what could be more interesting? And English against its own background. That's the thing. Moreover, we are studying English against the backdrop of Russian. We will now perceive Russian completely differently, especially if you delve into grammar and vocabulary. Oh, you, there will be so many discoveries in your own language. So, what happened with us today? A lot of important things happened with us today. First, we reviewed the English articulatory base. Second, we recalled the rules of the course. And then we proceeded to study the three whales of English phonetics, three basic English vowel sounds, which are meaning-distinguishing. You have already convinced yourself of this today. For a Russian speaker, these sounds are very similar, so we need to learn to distinguish them. Now, there is a positive aspect to all of this. The fact is that for an English speaker, the words "moshka", "myshka", "mishka", "moshka", "mushka" are one word. They don't hear the difference, so we are even. If you hear "pan" and "pen" as one word, don't be discouraged. English speakers also have problems perceiving our language by ear, but these problems are solvable, and we are moving steadily and confidently forward towards solving these problems, which will soon cease to be problems. So, if you have any questions, don't hesitate, please write in the comments. If I don't answer immediately, it's not because I don't want to answer. The fact is that I don't see your comments immediately. I see them in a strange way. That is, not in the order of their publication. I haven't been able to figure out how it works yet. I will answer everything, but not immediately. Next, I would ask you to write feedback. That is, not only questions, if they arise, but also how you managed it, whether you managed it, what worked, what didn't work, in what sequence. Please practice on your own at home, at home or in the office, wherever you can, outside of our lesson, I mean. Please write in the comments under this post, write your reflection. This is very important for you, and for your colleagues who are studying with you, and for me. It's really very interesting. It's a whole story. And, basically, we are moving forward. See you later. Thanks for being with me.