Intonation
What is Intonation?
Most students have difficulties understanding this subject, as it is hard enough learning set words and phrases. Intonation is a level of voice tone that is applied to the way in which we pronounce words and phrases.
It's not just the meaning of words that necessarily matter, but the way in which we say them. look at the following scenario:
David; " Hi Christina, how are you? I haven't seen you in ages!".
Christina: " Fine thanks, yes its been too long, what have you been up to?".
David wants to display empathy and generate a response, so he would demonstrate this by raising the pitch of his voice on the words hi, the phrase how are you and the word ages. This has been done so that those words carry emotion. Without this increase in tone, the very meaning of the sentence could be different.
This is an important factor for anyone who is learning English as a second language because we use this technique in both social and business context, so whether you are out with friends or attending an interview it can change the very meaning of how we interact.
Note that everyone has an individual pitch range however practice makes all the difference. My conversation classes teach you how to reflect this rise and fall in tone or a combination of the two, as the English language carries a very broad pitch range.
Correct use of voice tone used within an interview scenario can reflect your personality and help keep the level of interest from the interviewer. It can also focus attention to keywords used to describe your skill base. Many students have tried to memorise pitch tones from watching videos or listening to pod casts but when faced with a situation cannot apply.This is because its a lexical approach and the only way to better this skill is to practice with someone. If not the lexical approach can sound scripted and not natural, in may cases it can also sound arrogant or sarcastic.
My conversation classes may help you to identify and create an understanding of this topic, but more importantly how it is applied.
Sanj
Most students have difficulties understanding this subject, as it is hard enough learning set words and phrases. Intonation is a level of voice tone that is applied to the way in which we pronounce words and phrases.
It's not just the meaning of words that necessarily matter, but the way in which we say them. look at the following scenario:
David; " Hi Christina, how are you? I haven't seen you in ages!".
Christina: " Fine thanks, yes its been too long, what have you been up to?".
David wants to display empathy and generate a response, so he would demonstrate this by raising the pitch of his voice on the words hi, the phrase how are you and the word ages. This has been done so that those words carry emotion. Without this increase in tone, the very meaning of the sentence could be different.
This is an important factor for anyone who is learning English as a second language because we use this technique in both social and business context, so whether you are out with friends or attending an interview it can change the very meaning of how we interact.
Note that everyone has an individual pitch range however practice makes all the difference. My conversation classes teach you how to reflect this rise and fall in tone or a combination of the two, as the English language carries a very broad pitch range.
Correct use of voice tone used within an interview scenario can reflect your personality and help keep the level of interest from the interviewer. It can also focus attention to keywords used to describe your skill base. Many students have tried to memorise pitch tones from watching videos or listening to pod casts but when faced with a situation cannot apply.This is because its a lexical approach and the only way to better this skill is to practice with someone. If not the lexical approach can sound scripted and not natural, in may cases it can also sound arrogant or sarcastic.
My conversation classes may help you to identify and create an understanding of this topic, but more importantly how it is applied.
Sanj
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