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Note : If you right click on the audio buttons, you can select 'save target as' - this will download the file and save it on your computer which means that you may access it later without the need to download it again.

Transcribe the following dialogues :

Audio 1 : modesty (state of being modest)

Audio 2 : grieve (to express grief), ritzing (colloquialism, American, making fun of)

Audio 3 : Felix Unger (name)

Audio 4 : Joseph of Aramathea (name), Holy Grail (Christian artefact)

Select an audio file from above. Listen carefully. How many schwa's can you hear?

Try and find a short dialogue from your favourite film. Recent film clips can be found through Paramount (for example) but there are a number of web-sites that cater for film-fanatics, so you shouldn't have any difficulty in finding an audio file using normal search techniques. Download and submit the audio file, with a transcription and a brief paragraph stating your opinions. Submissions from this exercise will be the subject of our next IRC conference, so be sure to attend!

Listen to the following quotations :

What do the quotations mean?

Do you agree or disagree with the speakers?

If you hold a piece of paper approximately 2 inches away from your mouth and say the following sentence, what should happen?

POST THE PERUVIAN PARCEL TO PANAMA.

Thanks for the comments regarding last month's audio files. After returning the corrected transcripts, we had a long IRC discussion regarding English dialects and it seems that some of you would like to hear more. I will try to do my best for next month although my time will be at a premium until mid-September. Also, I have been asked to provide authentic material for pronunciation exercises. Again, I will try to do my best and secretly record conversations at a bus-stop (thanks for that idea Gabi!). If you don't hear from me in a while it'll probably be because I've been hospitalised as a result. :)