4.2 I’m All Ears – Renata
In this section, you will apply all that you have learned so far to listen critically to Renata’s recording, a former University of Washington student. This activity has three steps:
- Following the text provided, listen to a recording taking into account the questions from the Listening Guide.
- Answer general questions about Renata’s pronunciation.
- Take a quiz that will help you focus on the problem areas contained in the recording.
1. Below you will find the listening guide. While it would be practically impossible to focus on so many different aspects of Renata’s pronunciation, please do your best.
LISTENING GUIDE
Try to focus on as many of these aspects of Renata’s pronunciation as possible.
- Are her vowels short, tense, and abrupt?
- Are her vowels non-glidy?
- Is she able to eliminate the schwa?
- To what extent are her vowels free from the influence of English?
- Are her consonants generally softer than those in English?
- Is she successful in eliminating a puff of air when pronouncing /p, t, k/?
- Is she able to differentiate between /b, d, g/ and their variants [β, ð, ɣ]?
- Does she pronounce the letter “d” between vowels correctly?
- Is the distinction between the tap [ɾ] and the trill [r] adequate?
- Can she pronounce the “ll” and the “y” as a soft English “j”?
- Are her “h’s” always silent?
- Are her “u’s” silent in gue, gui, que, qui?
- Did she remember to pronounce the “z” as an “s” (Latin America) or a /θ/, as in “thing” (Spain)?
- Is her speech free of the sound represented by the English “z”?
- Can she avoid pronouncing the “s” in words like “presidente” or “prisión” like an English “z”?
- Is her pronunciation of the “v” exactly like a “b”?
- Is she successful in producing a Spanish sounding “L” by not raising the body of his tongue?
Durante miles de años, los pueblos originarios hemos sabido convivir con la naturaleza, respetando sus ciclos de vida y de regeneración. Desafortunadamente, cuando tienen que tomarse en cuenta nuestras sugerencias, proposiciones y advertencias sobre los daños irreversibles que está ocasionando el actual modelo de desarrollo, se nos ignora y se nos restringe la participación.
Reflexión sobre el racismo y la discriminación, Rigoberta Menchú Tum
Listen now:
2. Write your answers in the boxes below.
3. Now, take the quiz.
