English in Brazil

English in Brazil by Carina Fragozo is a very popular place online for Brazilians who are trying to improve their English. She has a YouTube channel – where there are hundreds of videos (mostly 10-15 minutes long, in Portuguese).  These explain English grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary, and also offer encouragement and general study tips.

There are videos about many different topics for people with some English experience – such as this one about silent letters (letters that aren’t pronounced) in English words.  But there are also videos with “survival English” for beginners – like this one about shopping in a supermarket.

Pronouncing Someone’s Name

If you don’t know how to pronounce someone’s name, or you have difficulty repeating their name, here is some help.

One good place to listen to the common pronunciation of many names is YouGlish.

  • Type in the name (first name or last name)
  • Choose “US”  to see only videos using American English
  • Below the video, you can change the speed to “slower”, to listen more carefully
  • Listen to the name pronounced as part of several videos

For example:

Visit YouGlish.com

Try to pronounce these names by yourself, and then try them in YouGlish, above:
Elijah, Genevieve, Zachariah, Reynolds, Holmes

Finally, if you would just like to hear the pronunciation of a lot of common names, you can try these:

Synonyms

A synonym is a word that has the same, or almost the same, meaning as another word.
Synonyms for “cold“:  chilly, icy, frigid, and frosty.
They are good to learn because:

  • They improve your vocabulary
  • They make your speaking and writing more interesting (not always using the same words)
  • They make your speaking and writing more clear (closer to what you really want to say)

One good place to find synonyms is Thesaurus.com   A ‘thesaurus’ is a synonym dictionary.  Type in a word such as delicious, or enjoy, and they will show you several synonyms – with the most common synonyms listed first.  You can also check the pronunciation and definition for each of these words. (It’s important to check the definition for words that you don’t know.)

There’s a popular thesaurus that’s part of the Dictionary.com App – available for free for IOS and Android.  After you install the app, you can switch to the thesaurus to find synonyms.  There’s also a special tab for English learners, with more explanation.

Here’s a basic list of synonyms for almost 100 very common English words.

Google Images as Your Dictionary

    There are some good, regular dictionaries for English language learners – including the Learner’s Dictionary, which explains 100,000 words and phrases in simple language, with sentence examples, and pronunciation.

However, there are many times when some pictures will help you understand a word better, and more quickly.  Perhaps the easiest way to see a word in pictures is with Google Images.  Here are some examples of words that are easier to understand with a picture, or a set of pictures…