每日口說挑戰想要向外國人尋求意見應該怎麼問呢？也許你該看看這部影片！(How To Ask For Advice From Foreigners?)

“I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.” - Oscar Wilde

What’s up listeners of VoiceTube! Welcome back to the Pronunciation Challenge! It’s always great to have all of you people practicing with me every week! My name is Hugh for all the new listeners and I usually have an episode every Saturday. Again, for the new listeners, we are introducing a new course from VoiceTube in which we present everyday situations to you listeners and teach you how you can use some of the phrases used in the video! It’s very useful stuff and I hope you can learn a thing or two from it! With today’s episode, we are teaching you how to ask people for advice! I’ll talk about a phrase used in the video after the featured sentence!

Today’s featured sentence:
Americans, on the other hand, like to be very direct to get to the point while avoiding criticism and conflicts.

I’ll say that again.

Americans, on the other hand, like to be very direct to get to the point while avoiding criticism and conflicts.

Ok, now time for the Pronunciation Tips.


For the first word, we have
Americans
Four syllables
The first syllable “A” simply has a short A sound. “Me” sounds like “ear” like the body part with an M in front. With “ri” this is where many people make the mistake of saying “REE”. It’s not a long E sound. Make sure to say the short “i” sound here. “Can” sounds like the word, “can” like “Can you please get me a cup of coffee?”

Next up, we have
Criticism
Four syllables.
“Cri” has a short “i” sound. “Ti” has a short “U” sound and “ci” has another short “i” sound. The last syllable, “sm” sounds like “sim” like a sim card.

Lastly, we have
Conflicts
Two syllables.
“Con” has a short “o” sound. “Flicts” sounds like the slang for watching a movie, “flick”. Conflicts.

Moving onto Vocabulary!

The first word is:
1. Direct
Definition
Someone who is direct says what they think in a very honest way without worrying about other people's opinions.
Used in a sentence you could say,
“We hired Stacey because of how direct she is with her communication style.”

Next word,

2. Criticism
Definition
the act of saying that something or someone is bad
Used in a sentence, you could say:
“One has to be able to take criticism in order to improve themselves.”

And lastly,

3. Conflict
Definition:
an active disagreement between people with opposing opinions or principles
Used in a sentence, you could say:
“The local war turned into a large-scale conflict.”

Ok, so let’s talk about the differences in communication styles! I don’t know if you listeners are aware of this stereotype but I’ll tell you anyway. Apparently, Canadians are known to be really polite too! We’re kind of like Taiwanese people! We’re very polite but I would say we’re a bit more direct than Taiwanese people. Americans on the other hand, from my experience at least, are known to just let out how they feel. As a Canadian, we tend to say, “sorry” a lot. Even the accent is different between Canadians and Americans! My acting teacher always told us students to stop sounding Canadian. Most of the productions are American so we have to sound American as well. A big giveaway that the person is Canadian is actually in the way they say the word, “sorry”. Canadians say, “sorry”, and Americans say, “Sari”. Hear the difference? Anyways, I’m a little off-track here. We’re supposed to be talking about differences in communication! Ok, simply put, sometimes foreigners (including myself) say things that are not what locals in other countries would say. If you travel to a new country, I think it’s out of respect that you should do some homework beforehand. I wouldn’t want to risk offending someone and ruin their day!

Alright listeners, get those recordings in if you haven’t done so yet! Find me on Instagram at Instagram @hughtran_ to check out what I’m up to. Until the next episode, see ya!

今天綠綠獻聲了??

Americans, on the other hand, like to be very direct to get to the point while avoiding criticism and conflicts.

Americans, on the other hand, like to be very direct to get to the point while avoiding criticism and conflicts.

Americans, on the other hand, like to be very direct to get to the point while avoiding criticism and conflicts.

Americans, on the other hand, like to be very direct to get to the point while avoiding criticism and conflicts.

Americans, on the other hand, like to be very direct to get to the point while avoiding criticism and conflicts.