Letras, acentos y demás líos del lenguaje

Reading is an impressive skill. Unlike many other skills that we take for granted (walking and talking, for example), reading must be taught through explicit instruction. It can take years of education to become an expert reader! If reading is so difficult, how can we read a STOP sign whilst driving, subtitles in the cinema or continual WhatsApp messages, without even thinking? Do we read letter by letter, or word by word? Is reading in Spanish the same as in French and English? This talk will explore how we learn to read, how we read as adults, and the influence of language on reading.

In today’s globalized society, we are constantly communicating with people who are not speaking their first language. How do we communicate so effectively with people who are not native speakers of our language? Does accent affect our perception of the person talking? And can our expectations about a speaker even influence our perception? This talk will explore how accent affects our ability to communicate, as well as how we process information heard in foreign-accented speech. Inform yourself about how you understand and are understood in a multi-lingual world.

“Beer”. “Bear”. “Bird”. No es ningún secreto que la pronunciación en inglés tiene su maña ¿Pero por qué es así? ¿Y qué podemos hacer para que se nos haga más fácil? En esta charla hablaremos de varios de los factores que pueden afectar a nuestra pronunciación en cualquier nuevo idioma. También hablaremos de lo que nos dice la ciencia sobre algunas estrategias que nos pueden ayudar a aprender nuevos sonidos y cambiar nuestra pronunciación. ¡Ven y aprende a diferenciar entre “sheet” y “shit”!