Speak American

Is American English in decline? Are regional dialects dying out? Is there a difference between men and women in how they adapt to linguistic variations? These questions, and more, about our language catapulted Robert MacNeil and William Cran—the authors (with Robert McCrum) of the language classic The Story of English—across the country in search of the answers. Do You Speak American? is the tale of their discoveries, which provocatively show how the standard for American English—if a standard exists—is changing quickly and dramatically. On a journey that takes them from the Northeast, through Appalachia and the Deep South, and west to California, the authors observe everyday verbal interactions and in a host of interviews with native speakers glean the linguistic quirks and traditions characteristic of each area. While examining the histories and controversies surrounding both written and spoken American English, they address anxieties and assumptions that, when explored, are highly emotional, such as the growing influence of Spanish as a threat to American English and the special treatment of African-American vernacular English. And, challenging the purists who think grammatical standards are in serious deterioration and that media saturation of our culture is homogenizing our speech, they surprise us with unpredictable responses. With insight and wit, MacNeil and Cran bring us a compelling book that is at once a celebration and a potent study of our singular language. Each wave of immigration has brought new words to enrich the American language. Do you recognize the origin of 1. blunderbuss, sleigh, stoop, coleslaw, boss, waffle? Or 2. dumb, ouch, shyster, check, kaput, scram, bummer? Or 3. phooey, pastrami, glitch, kibbitz, schnozzle? Or 4. broccoli, espresso, pizza, pasta, macaroni, radio? Or 5. smithereens, lollapalooza, speakeasy, hooligan? Or 6. vamoose, chaps, stampede, mustang, ranch, corral? 1. Dutch 2. German 3. Yiddish 4. Italian 5. Irish 6. Spanish

Did you know that your answers to just a handful of questions can predict the zip code of where you grew up? Speaking American offers a visual atlas of the American vernacular--who says what, and where they say it--revealing the history of our nation, our regions, and the language that divides and unites us.

Directed to speakers of English as a second language, a multi-media guide to pronouncing American English uses a "pure-sound" approach to speaking to help imitate the fluid ways of American speech.

CD and book designed to teach idioms and expressions used in the American business world.

“Amid the ugly realities of contemporary America, American Hate affirms our courage and inspiration, opening a roadmap to reconciliation by means of the victims' own words.” —NPR Books “The collection offers possible solutions for how people, on their own or working with others, can confront hate.” —San Francisco Chronicle An NPR Best Book of 2018 A San Francisco Chronicle Books Pick One of Bitch Media's “13 Books Feminists Should Read in August” One of Paste Magazine's “The 10 Best Books of August 2018” A moving and timely collection of testimonials from people impacted by hate before and after the 2016 presidential election In American Hate: Survivors Speak Out, Arjun Singh Sethi, a community activist and civil rights lawyer, chronicles the stories of individuals affected by hate. In a series of powerful, unfiltered testimonials, survivors tell their stories in their own words and describe how the bigoted rhetoric and policies of the Trump administration have intensified bullying, discrimination, and even violence toward them and their communities. We hear from the family of Khalid Jabara, who was murdered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in August 2016 by a man who had previously harassed and threatened them because they were Arab American. Sethi brings us the story of Jeanette Vizguerra, an undocumented mother of four who took sanctuary in a Denver church in February 2017 because she feared deportation under Trump's cruel immigration enforcement regime. Sethi interviews Taylor Dumpson, a young black woman who was elected student body president at American University only to find nooses hanging across campus on her first day in office. We hear from many more people impacted by the Trump administration, including Native, black, Arab, Latinx, South Asian, Southeast Asian, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, undocumented, refugee, transgender, queer, and people with disabilities. A necessary book for these times, American Hate explores this tragic moment in U.S. history by empowering survivors whose voices white supremacists and right-wing populist movements have tried to silence. It also provides ideas and practices for resistance that all of us can take to combat hate both now and in the future.

If you're a native Chinese speaker wanting to improve your conversational English, this book and audio CD set is for you... What's the secret to speaking English better? It's mastery of those tricky idioms and phrases that are so common in English. And learning these idioms and phrases will not only help you speak better, it'll help you understand Americans better. In this course, you'll join an American family as they go about their day-to-day lives. Along the way, you will master over 300 of today's most common English idioms and expressions! All idioms are defined in both English and Chinese. Discover why thousands of students from around the world are turning to Speak English Like an American to improve their everyday English skills...this book & CD sets is a fun and effective way to improve your English.

More Speak English Like an American brings you another 300+ idioms and expressions you need to know. Maybe you have already read Speak English Like an American. But this is not a necessary requirement. You can start with this new book, if you like, and work back. This popular ESL book features a new story and new American English idioms and expressions. In More Speak English Like an American, you'll follow the story of an American business as its employees come up with new product ideas, travel to China, throw themselves into office romances, and have exciting adventures. This book contains dozens of exercises and includes hundreds of usage examples, including some from American newspapers. Complete with illustrations and an audio CD of all the dialogues. Most books teach classroom English. When it comes to everyday life, this can seem unreal. And make you seem unreal. Our emphasis is on helping you talk, sound, and think like a native speaker. We also help you pick up more native English from movies and TV, newspapers, books, and the Internet. More Speak English Like an American helps you recognize and understand idioms whenever you see or hear them.

அமெரிக்கன் ஆங்கிலத்தை அறிந்து கொள்ளுங்கள்

Speak It Louder: Asian Americans Making Music documents the variety of musics-from traditional Asian through jazz, classical, and pop-that have been created by Asian Americans. This book is not about "Asian American music" but rather about Asian Americans making music. This key distinction allows the author to track a wide range of musical genres. Wong covers an astonishing variety of music, ethnically as well as stylistically: Laotian song, Cambodian music drama, karaoke, Vietnamese pop, Japanese American taiko, Asian American hip hop, and panethnic Asian American improvisational music (encompassing jazz and avant-garde classical styles). In Wong's hands these diverse styles coalesce brilliantly around a coherent and consistent set of questions about what it means for Asian Americans to make music in environments of inter-ethnic contact, about the role of performativity in shaping social identities, and about the ways in which commercially and technologically mediated cultural production and reception transform individual perceptions of time, space, and society. Speak It Louder: Asian Americans Making Music encompasses ethnomusicology, oral history, Asian American studies, and cultural performance studies. It promises to set a new standard for writing in these fields, and will raise new questions for scholars to tackle for many years to come.

Can a house renovation in the gorgeous Napa Valley let two bereaved parents learn to love again? A moving and engaging debut novel . . . shortens the dark nights' Santa Montefiore. An emotional and uplifting story of starting again, perfect for fans of Hilary Boyd and The Tea Planter's Wife. Having suffered in silence since the tragic death of their young daughter, Lola and Duncan Drummond's last chance to rediscover their love for one another lies in an anniversary holiday to the gorgeous Napa Valley. Unable to talk about what happened, Duncan reaches out to his wife the only way he knows how - he buys her a derelict house, the restoration of which might just restore their relationship. As Lola works on the house she begins to realise the liberating power of letting go. But just as she begins to open up, Duncan's life begins to fall apart. After all the heartbreak, can Lola and Duncan learn to love again? 'A heartrending story, well-told, about coping with unimaginable loss. Dartford evokes strong, sympathetic characters while writing fluently and from the heart. I raced through it.' Hilary Boyd, author of Thursdays in the Park 'A beautiful read, lyrically written, poignant and emotional' - Nicola Cornick, internationally bestselling author of House of Shadows 'Does everything a good book should do; it made me smile, it made me cry, it taught me lessons about life and love I didn't know before' - Claire Dyer, author of The Moment