Afandi English
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Clever people don't study English, they use it! Welcome to AFANDI ENGLISH.

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#12 World Englishes: Euro English

❗️ Europe with its 500+ million inhabitants (excluding Russia) is a multilingual continent. Most of its countries are in the European Union and the EU has 23 working languages. Many Europeans speak several languages but English is still usually the first foreign language. It is no surprise then that Europeans tend to use English wherever they go in Europe.

🔘 Pronunciation: The sound of Euro English varies a lot depending on a speaker’s mother tongue.

🔘 Grammar: European languages share a lot of similarities, so Euro English speakers are quite good with this.

🔘 Vocabulary: French, Italian and Spanish speakers often use high-level vocabulary as they share these words with English. A French speaker might say something like I’m fatigued rather than I’m tired because fatigue is a normal word in French but a high-level word in English.

▶️ Check out what it’s like:
About English in the EU

👉@afandi_english👈 #world_englishes
#13 World Englishes: Japanglish

❗️ Japanese English is called both “Japanglish” and “Engrish”. You can see English everywhere in Japan but it doesn’t mean Japan’s 125 million people all speak it. Nevertheless Japan is a big player in international business and it’s good to be familiar with Japanglish.

🔘 Pronunciation: The English [L] can be [r], therefore the name “Engrish”. The English [v] may sound like [b]. Syllables in Japanese end in a vowel, so “screwdriver” becomes “sukurudiraiva”.

🔘 Grammar: Japanese word order is very different from English and the subject may be skipped. There are also no articles in Japanese. All this may be heard when Japanese speak English.

🔘 Vocabulary: There are many English words in Japanese, but they don’t always mean the same. Check jpninfo.com/30257 for a good collection.

▶️ Check out what it sounds like:
Japanese pronouncing English words
A song about Japanglish

👉@afandi_english👈 #world_englishes
#15 World Englishes: South African English

❗️ South Africa is the the most developed country in Africa and usually also considered an English-speaking country for its history as a British settlers colony. That said, it’s of course closer to British than American English, but it’s also got some special features. There isn’t just one single South African English but a bunch of ethnic and local varieties, and only 10% speak English at home.

🔘 Pronunciation: Similar to Australian and New Zealand English, the short e as in “better” is often sounds more like the French é; the ɜ: as in “girl” is also much more rounded, like the Turkish ö; 3) and the æ as in “apple” is pronounced like a straight e.

🔘 Vocabulary: “Ach!” comes from Dutch and just means “Oh!”, just like “domkop” for “idiot”; curiously, traffic lights are commonly called “robots”, “just now” doesn’t refer to something that just happened but means “later” and “now now” means “shortly” or “right away”.

👉@afandi_english👈 #world_englishes
#16 World Englishes: New York English

❗️ Known as Big Apple and The City That Never Sleeps, New York with its over 8 million inhabitants has it’s own dialect. It is in fact one of the more recognisable dialects in North America. Inside New York City there exist sociolects (rich and educated vs poor and uneducated) as well as ethnolects (Italian, Jewish, Hispanic, Black, etc). Unfortunately, the dialect is slowly dying out as the population is more mixed now.

🔘 Pronunciation: Unlike General American, New Yorkers sound almost British when they drop the [r] before vowels and pronounce the name of their city as “Noo Yawk”; they also have a special way of pronouncing the [ɔ] vowel, as in “talk” and “coffee”, making them sound like “twalk” and “kwoffee”. Watch the video below for a clever analysis of a politician from NY.

🔘 Vocabulary: There are lots of slang words that only New Yorkers understand. Some of them became wider American slang; for a list check out the link below.

👉@afandi_english👈 #world_englishes
#17 World Englishes: Received Pronunciation

❗️ Received Pronunciation or also just called RP is Standard British English. Other names of it are Oxford English and BBC English. It does not have any grammatical or lexical features and is historically based on the London accent of English but now used by anyone in England. But some people are against it, saying that RP sounds arrogant and not local enough. Nowadays local dialects are more accepted in society, even on the BBC.

🔘 Pronunciation: Most noticeable is probably the missing r pronunciation in words like “car” or “heard”. However, an r may be added between words in vowel linking where there is no written “r”, e.g. “the law ͜ r ͜ of nature”. The clear t sound in “water” and “butter” is thought to be a sign of RP. Generally RP speakers try to speak clearly at all times.

👉@afandi_english👈 #world_englishes
#18 World Englishes: Australian English

❗️ The 25 million people that inhabit (=live in) Australia are affectionately (=in a loving or friendly way) called “Aussies” ['ɒzi:z] by non-Australians. Their accent is similar to British English, especially among educated speakers.

🔘 Pronunciation: Aussie English is non-rhotic, meaning that the letter r is not pronounced after vowels – “car” is pronounced as [ka:]. The British [æ] sound (“apple”) is pronounced like a long e:, the short e sounds like a French é (“café”), and the double vowel [aʊ] (“cow”) becomes a triple vowel [eaʊ].

🔘 Grammar: As in parts of Britain, the possessive my can become me, e.g. “Where’s me umbrella?”

🔘 Vocabulary: Besides the greeting Good Day, Aussies really love shortening words, as you can see in the video below. Some of these have become fashionable elsewhere too, especially defo for definitely. Popular words include mate (AmE “buddy”) and bloke (AmE “guy”).

👉@afandi_english👈 #world_englishes
#19 World Englishes: Cockney

❗️ The Cockney accent of English originated in East London where most people were poor. Cockney speakers used to be discriminated for their accent but that has changed. Nowadays it’s cool to speak Cockney, and this accent has had a big influence on Standard British English, especially ‘street language’.

🔘 Pronunciation: Very noticeable is the “glottal stop” – not pronouncing the [t] in the middle and end of words, e.g. button becomes bu’on; the schwa sound [ə] at the end of words is a straight [a:]; the [h] in the beginning of words is skipped and the ‘th’ sounds are [f] and [v] – brother sounds more like bruvva.

🔘 Grammar: My is me, e.g. Me dad’s car and there are double negatives, like I don’t know nothing.

🔘 Vocabulary: Beautiful or handsome are both fit, money is dosh or dough, and girlfriend is missus.

👉@afandi_english👈 #world_englishes
#20 World Englishes: German English

❗️ German speakers come from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Many of them know English quite well and travel the world, both for business and tourism. So there is a chance that you will hear them or even talk to them at some point in your life!

🔘 Pronunciation: Like so many people on Earth, German speakers may struggle with the English ‘th’ sounds. They also tend to over-pronounce the [ɜ:] sound as in girl. Consonants in the end position are always hard in German, so dog may become dock and god may sound like got. [w] may be turned into [v]. German speakers are also bad with linking between words.

🔘 Grammar: Tenses are less complicated in German, so expect some trouble here.

🔘 Vocabulary: The word already and can be overused they use or as a tag question, e.g. You are already ready, or? Besides, there is often confusion with similar words that have different meanings, like become and bekommen (to get).

👉@afandi_english👈 #world_englishes
#11 A Good Laugh: Success

▶️ Did you know “Success” could be a name? Actually it is a common one in 🇳🇬Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation. Check out how a clever little girl named Success outsmarts (=be smarter than someone else) the adults around her.

👉@afandi_english👈 #good_laugh #world_englishes
#17 A Good Laugh: English that breaks the internet

▶️ Here’s some really explosive English from 🇮🇳India and 🇹🇭Thailand, hopefully not blowing up (=make sth explode) your device (=computer or phone)!

🔤 Subtitles provided (thankfully).

👉@afandi_english👈 #good_laugh #world_englishes
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#39 Know Your World: English-speaking countries' song

▶️ There are so many countries in the world where English is used as an official language. Hearing a presentation or reading about that is probably quite boring, so someone made a song out of it. Hope that makes it easier to remember!

Check out some of the “Englishes”, i.e. varieties of English, are spoken around the world: https://t.me/afandi_english/793

👉@afandi_english👈 #know_your_world #world_englishes
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#16 World Food: 🇳🇬Nigerian Street Food

▶️ Join us on a food tour through Lagos, Nigeria. Travel from the comfort of your sofa, imagine the tastes and enjoy the beautiful and infectious (=spreading like a disease) accent!

👉@afandi_english👈 #world_food #world_englishes
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#46 Know Your World: English from another world

▶️ Watch this short video about Emmanuella, a teenage 🇳🇬Nigerian comedy star who built a house for her parents at just 10 years old, and check how much Pidgin English you can understand.

Pidgin is a blend of English and local languages. It has become the #1 lingua franca (=language used for communication between speakers of different languages) of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous (=having a large population) nation. Pidgin is so big that the BBC broadcasts in it. Read more about this new language.

🔤 Subtitles provided (also in Pidgin).

👉@afandi_english👈 #know_your_world #world_englishes
▶️ Afandi English is over 3 years old now and there’s a ton of stuff you’ve missed. Here are some hashtags for posts about language learning:

#correct
Check if you can spot some common mistakes.

#grammar
Brush up your grammar.

#ielts
Get the DOs and DON’Ts of preparing for IELTS.

#learn2learn
Take advice on how to learn a foreign language.

#mistakes
The biggest collection of Uzbek learners’ typical mistakes in English – at your fingertips.

#oddmanout
See if you can find the mistake.

#pronunciation
Fix your pronunciation problems, one at a time.

#self_study
Sit down and help yourself. Interesting videos plus script plus activities.

#tongue_twisters
Work on your pronunciation and fluency in one go.

#uni_vocab
Understand university-related vocabulary.

#vocabulary
Learn about lexical problems and pick the right words next time.

#world_englishes
Realise that English is a world language and prepare for the worst. Or the best?

#writing
Say goodbye to your most common and unnecessary writing mistakes.
▶️ Afandi English is over 3 years old now and there’s a ton of stuff you’ve missed. Here are some hashtags for posts about knowledge:

#article
Stay informed about the world.

#economist
Grab information and vocab from the mother of news magazines.

#future
Feel the world of tomorrow even today.

#infographic
Let your eye travel across important topics.

#inspiration
See the world in a new light.

#know_your_world
Understand today’s world.

#know_yourself
Know thyself and live well.

#maps
Realise reality with maps.

#psychology
See the human nature so no one can fool you.

#talk
Hear what experts have to say in TED Talks, etc.

#talking_point
Sharpen your mind with controversies.

#travel
Travel the world while staring at your phone.

#uni_vocab
Get to grips with key concepts in higher education.

#wikipedia
Feel the weirdness of this world.

#world_englishes
Be sure you know really know the world’s first language.

#world_food
Check out some lovely meals that you may prepare at home, too.