| Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Ask Alisha, the weekly series where you ask me questions and I answer them, maybe. |
| Let's get to your first question this week. First question this week comes from Trish Garbe. Hi, Trish. Trish says, "How do you validate the correct pronunciation of a word when a variety of English exists and is accepted in one's culture and society? Thanks. I'm really curious about your thoughts on this." Yeah. Super great question. There are lots of different English accents, lots of different ways of speaking English. There are lots of different ways of expressing ourselves. So, how do we know what the correct pronunciation is of a word. My answer to this would be that you choose the pronunciation that fits with the type of English you are studying or the type of English you are trying to apply. |
| So, for example, I'm an American English speaker. That means I'm going to use American English pronunciation with all of the words in my vocabulary. I'm not going to choose British English here, or Scottish English there, or Australian English there. Maybe if I want to practice those accents, I can do that for some reason. Or if I'm talking to a friend that uses that accent, I might want to try it out for something. But, generally, in my everyday speech, I'm always going to use American English. You can kind of think of it as like a set, right? I'm studying American English, therefore, I should always use American English pronunciation. So, the same thing can be true for anybody else. Anybody studying any type of any language, really. If you want to study English and you want to study British English, great. Make sure you study British English pronunciation. If you're studying English and you find yourself surrounded by lots of Australian English speakers, you'll probably want to practice Australian pronunciation. |
| So, I would say it's not necessarily about saying, "This one is correct," or "This one is incorrect." Because depending on where you live or depending on the kinds of speakers that are around you, there might be one way that's preferred, right? So, I'm not going to tell a British English speaker that their pronunciation is wrong of a certain word just because they are a British English speaker. That doesn't make any sense. So, again, in summary, my answer would be that you use the pronunciation, the correct pronunciation, for the type of English you are studying or for the type of English that is spoken in your community or in your circle. |
| And, of course, there are lots and lots of different dialects that use lots and lots of interesting pronunciation. There are maybe very small communities that use certain words or maybe certain pronunciations in very different ways from kind of standard English. And that's okay. So, it's really up to you. But I would say just make sure that as you work on your pronunciation, you try to create kind of a global type of pronunciation for your English speaking. So that means that you're not mixing and matching pronunciations from lots of different dialects of English. Make sure that you stick to one kind of English. So thanks very much for this question. It's super, super interesting. I would say just make sure that you follow the established rules of the English that you are working on studying. Thanks very much for sending that question along. Okay. Let's move on to our next question. |
| Next question comes from Harry. Hi, Harry. Harry says, "Hi, Alisha. I hope you're well. I wanted to know the meaning of 'alas.' I read this in my textbook, but I don't know what it means and I thought it would be better to ask you than to search on Google. Thanks." Yeah. Great question. "Alas." This is kind of an old-fashioned word. You do see it used sometimes. And actually, I use this sometimes, too. Basically, the meaning of "alas" is like, "Oh, no!" Or, "That's too bad," or we use it to express some kind of disappointment. So, "alas" is typically used as like a response to something like, "Alas! I forgot this important thing I need to do," or "Alas! This thing didn't happen in the way that I expected it to." |
| So, there are a couple of situations in which you might see "alas" used today. We tend to use them in very formal situations, extremely formal situations, or in casual situations where we want to make a kind of joke. By using a very formal word in a casual situation, we kind of create a joking feel. It's not super funny, but it just kind of creates a funny situation. So, for example. If I'm trying to cook something and I realize I don't have the ingredient I need in my kitchen, I might say something like, "Alas! I have no carrots." So, it's a very simple -- like small problem. But if I say "alas," which sounds very formal and serious, it kind of makes it sound a little bit silly. It sort of makes a small joke in this way. So, this is probably how you'll see "alas" used in everyday conversation. You might also see it used in more formal situations to express serious like disappointments, something like that. But, generally, this word just means "It's too bad," or "That was disappointing," or "I'm upset about something." So, it shows that there's some kind of disappointment about the situation. But, I hope that this helps answer your question about the word "alas." Again, it is very old-fashioned, but we do still use it in some situations today. "Alas." Okay. Let's move on to your next question. |
| Next question comes from Naushad Boedhoe. Hi, Naushad. I hope I said your name right. Now, Naushad says, "You should know the film 'The Bridge on the River Kwai.' This bridge isn't on the surface of the river, but above it. So, why not 'over' instead of 'on'?" Super great question. Yeah, great! So, "The Bridge on the River Kwai." Yeah, very famous movie. But, let's talk about this use of the preposition "on." Let's go back to like a very basic English lesson to talk about this. Remember, when you were studying directions, giving directions for something in a city and you had to say sentences like, "The store is on Fifth street," or "My house is on this avenue."? We use "on" when we talk about the street that something is located next to, right? So, we don't say "next to" or even "over" in these cases. When we talk about something that runs alongside a street, we use the preposition "on" to do that. We can apply the same logic in this case. So, yes, you are absolutely right. The bridge goes over the River Kwai. It makes sense to say "The bridge over the River Kwai," right? I completely understand that. But, we can also use "on" to mark the thing that another object is alongside or is kind of connected to in some way. |
| So, in this example "Bridge on the River Kwai," we're kind of showing that the bridge is like connected to the river or it runs alongside the river. We can also use this in other kinds of situations. So, not like roads but for example, borders between countries. Like there's a wall "on" the border of country A and country B. So, yes, it is over the border as well. But, we use "on" to have this kind of feeling of running alongside something. Just as we use "on" to talk about a house being alongside a road, or a store being alongside a highway, right? So, the same "on" applies in this case. The bridge "on" the River Kwai, the wall "on" the border of country A and country B. That's the reason that we use "on" in this movie title, and that's why you'll see "on" used in similar situations. So, thanks for a great question. Thanks very much for thinking about this, I love that. Thanks for sending this along, too. |
| Alright. That is everything that I have for this week. So, thank you as always for sending your awesome, awesome questions. Thanks very much for watching this week's episode of "Ask Alisha," and I will see you again soon. Bye. |
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