I had to give a speech on the lumber business at a recent conference here in Vancouver. I was preceded by three speakers, two of whom were Chinese. It reminded me of how difficult it is to make an effective presentation, especially in a foreign language. The first speaker was an English speaking Canadian who did not have problems with the English language, but who made no effort to make his presentation interesting. (He is, by the way, the head of an institute of higher learning!)
While listening to the two next speakers deliver their talks in English, which was to them a second language, I decided to make notes of the words that were either mispronounced, or used incorrectly in the context of their speeches. I can assure you I was busy taking notes. I have composed a few paragraphs here, below, that are full of some of the words and phrases that caused problems for the speakers, either in terms of usage, meaning or pronunciation.
I suspect that many learners at The Linguist have problems pronouncing or using these words correctly. So I would like some of you to try an experiment. Import the paragraphs below into The Linguist. Read these paragraphs and save those words and phrases into your Linguist database that you are not fully confident in using. Then check your "words I am learning" area for examples of these words in use, from the content you are studying. The text is artificial but if you read and listen to the following text over and over again, and learn the words and phrases, I believe you will be better able to handle the discussions of more difficult subjects. Let me know if you find this exercise useful.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I appreciate this opportunity to present to you an overview of the ongoing development of innovative forms of government and industry cooperation. One of the major examples involves a joint venture in an environmentally friendly value-added manufacturing facility with a total capitalization of 3,534,565 dollars. This project is considered one of the most progressive operations of its kind in this part of the country. It has been developed to meet world-wide demand for its products.
This plant is authorized to go into operation in an environmentally sensitive region, one which has been protected from industrial development in the past. The people who are behind this new production facility hope to show that the proposed plant can operate in such a way that the local community will be satisfied and have no reason for complaint. The level of government support which this venture has achieved is unprecedented. Largely as a result of that support, certain regulations were waived. There are those who think that environmental values were violated. It seems that through successful lobbying with the government, the investors have created a precedent, undoubtedly one which other entrepreneurs will want to emulate. They claim that the economy of the local community will benefit, without causing undue long term disruption to the environment. Time will tell.
