Happy Wife, Happy Life Dictated By: Gulya, Roberto, Alex, Maha, Julya, Ivan and Svetlana

Podcast 45, September 2014

Happy Wife, Happy Life Dictated by: Gulya, Roberto, Alex, Maha, Julya, Ivan and Svetlana

Hello everybody! You're listening to Let's Master English and my name is Coach Shane. Hello everybody, welcome back. This is Let's Master English podcast 45. We're getting close to number 50. Thank you so much for downloading and listening to the podcast. Today, we have an interesting news story, very interesting, a fact from Country Shane, 5 questions from you. And that's it. Nice, short, sweet and simple. But Coach Shane, where is the book club? Yes, we have a new book club podcast and that will come out later on this week. So, that's another podcast. The same channel, so you're not going to miss it if you subscribe. Ok, let's go ahead and get started. I really like today's news story, it's about marriage. Let's check it out...

You may have heard that a happy marriage is good for your heart, emotionally and physically. The redaction in stress actually lowers the risk of heart disease. But, there is more. If the wife is happy the quality of life for the hubby will be great. And that means a longer, happier life together. The golden nugget - you're obviously gonna fight with your better half, but the key to happiness is how she feels after you fight. Then more she wins, the happier you'll be.

Wow! Very interesting news! Once again, the reader, it is assumed is the guy, if you are a woman reading this story, you have to understand that a man or a husband is reading the news. Ok? Listen to it again and it's not that difficult, but listen again. Here we go:

You may have heard that a happy marriage is good for your heart, emotionally and physically. The redaction in stress actually lowers the risk of heart disease. But, there is more. If the wife is happy the quality of life for the hubby will be great. And that means a longer, happier life together. The golden nugget - you're obviously going to fight with your better half, but the key to happiness is how she feels after you fight. The more she wins, the happier you'll be.

So I think, I, I think many married couples or married people who are listening to this podcast will agree. If the husband and the wife have an argument, if they have a fight, it seems to be better if the wife wins, even if she’s wrong hahahah right! Well anyway, I’m very curious as to what you guys think about this and not you young punks, I want to know about the people older than me, people in their fifties, their sixties, their seventies, anybody up there in their eighties? People have been married over forty years that would be really interesting. Thirty years is pretty good but forty years fifty years that’s amazing! If you’ve been married over forty years, over fifty years or more please tell us your advice. Is this true? Is this story sound true “Happy wife, Happy life”. Of..., I don’t know for me it’s sound like it might be right. Let’s go back to the first sentence: You may have heard that a happy marriage is good for your heart, h-e-a-r-t. Your heart, you, you’ve probably heard, maybe in the news from other people in a book that if you have a happy marriage it’s good for your heart emotionally. It makes you happy and physically, your physical health, you’re actually physically healthier if your marriage is good. Of course, if your marriage is happy then emotionally you’ll be happy too. It’s good. So, if you have a good happy marriage, it’s better for you, emotionally and physically. Of course you may have heard that. You probably already heard that. You might have heard that, you might have read that. And once again, how is it physically better for your heart? How is a happy marriage physically better? The next sentence: The reduction in stress actually lowers the risk of heart disease. So, the reduction in stress, reduction - the lower amount. So, if you are in a happy relationship, every time you go home, you’ll feel good, you’ll feel happy, you’ll feel relaxed. If you’re in a bad relationship – you don’t want to go home, going home is stressful, it’ll be an argument, it’s no fun, it’s not good and that extra stress in your life can actually cause heart disease. But if you are in a happy home that reduction in stress, that lower amount of stress actually lowers the risk, reduces the risk, it reduces the negative chance of heart disease. So, that’s good news. But there is more. There is more good news! If the wife is happy, the quality of life for the hubby will be great. So, in this happy marriage, specifically if the wife is happy… if you ask a woman who is married: “Are you happy?” “Yes!”… if she says “Yes”, if she believes she is happy in her relationship, then the quality of life for the husband is great. It’s excellent. That husband is living a very good life. And you know what? I think that makes sense. Because, not for every wife, not for every woman, of course, but many… my Mom, my aunts, yeah, I

2 think almost all of my aunts and my Mom, oh... they pretty much do the cooking and the cleaning and they take care of the house, they make it nice and clean and they cook Dad’s favorite meal, they’re nice to Dad, they’ll even have breakfast and maybe some coffee ready for Dad in the morning. Life is good for my dad. My dad’s like a king. However, my dad does his best to make my mom happy. And that’s the key. If the wife is happy - she will probably work even harder to show her appreciation, to show her happiness, to show her love for her husband. No, I didn’t say husband. I said hubby, h-u-b-b-y. Hubby is the same as husband. And for wife – do we say wifey? Yes, we do. W-i-f-e-y is possible. So, that sentence again. But there is more. If the wife is happy, the quality of life for the hubby will be great! Next sentence: And that means a longer, happier life together. That sounds so nice. That sounds really nice to me. If the wife is happy, the husband will have a great life. And if that’s true then those two people will have a long, happy life together. And it will be long, because a happy marriage is good for your heart. Physically they’ll be healthier, emotionally they’ll be happier. Life will be great. How wonderful is that. Now, the next sentence is important: The golden nugget, the most valuable thing to learn or to remember. So, when we talk about gold, we think of a gold ring, or a gold tooth, or in the Olympics a gold medal, m-e-d-a-l, however if you go into the mountains and looking for gold, you find like a rock or a stone, it looks like a rock r-o-c-k, we actually call that a nugget, so a golden nugget, something very valuable, something you want to keep. When we talk about a golden nugget as information, it's something you want to remember. Nugget n-u-g-g-e-t, the golden nugget, the thing you need to remember. Here we go: You're obviously going to fight with your better half, but the key to happiness is how she feels, after you fight. This is the important information, every married couple that truly loves each other they’ll fight, they'll have an argument, and when we say fight, we don't mean... No, no we don't mean like boxing, no of course not, argue, argue, fight, a verbal argument. So every couple is going to fight, you men, and I am taking to men, you are going to fight with your better half, another excellent expression, better half b-e-t-t-e-r h- a-l-f the better half is the wife, yeah, that's how we say it in America, so we can have a... let's say for example, I'm married and I introduce you to my wife, I would say - hey John, this is my better half, and the idea is: a husband and a wife are one, they're a couple, but if you split a couple in half, you have the man half and the woman half, but everybody knows the man half is not so good, the woman half is the good part, so the better half is the wife, the woman. So every man, every husband is going to fight with his wife, but the key to happiness, the most important thing for happiness is: how she feels after you fight. So, during the argument,

3 you know you're gonna argue, you're gonna say stupid things, but after the argument that's what's important; she needs to feel relaxed, she needs to feel as though she has communicated her point and sometimes, she needs to feel like the winner, that's true, that's what the science says. The more she wins, the happier you'll be. And guys, you know, I'm not a young guy. I'm single, I know, but I'm not a young guy and I know, I know for a fact, many times, not always but many times, in those arguments with your wife or your girlfriend, she is many times correct, she is right, not always of course, not always. So what do you think? Do you agree with this? If you are married, if you are a guy and you are married, what do you think? Do you think your wife is happy? Are you sure? Do you do your best to make sure that your wife is happy? When you and your wife have an argument, does... when you finish the argument is she okay? Does she feel calm? Does she feel satisfied? Does she feel like the winner? If that's the case, are you happy? I'm really curious, I'm really curious! I hope you guys leave me lots of messages for this. You know marriage is a beautiful thing and so many people, they get married too young, they get married for the stupid reasons, they get married, they have kids, they get divorced, that's such a tragedy, so terrible! If ah ... if you’re single, if you’re going, going to get married, take it seriously, really seriously and remember it's not just one person, it's two people, both people need to be serious and both people need to know, if you want a happy marriage, you have to work even harder after you get married. Let's check out that's news story two more times but first let's listen to those vocabulary words again: You may have heard: you might have heard, you might have read Something lowers the risk: reduces the risk, reduces the bad chance of something Hubby: h-u-b-b-y, husband Better half: the wife The golden nugget: the most valuable things, especially information The key to: the most important thing

Here we go, the first time, nice and smooth, the second time normal:

You may have heard that a happy marriage is good for your heart, emotionally and physically! The reduction in stress actually lowers the risk of heart disease, but there is more- if the wife is happy, the quality of life for the hubby will be great and that means a longer happier life together. The golden nugget, you're obviously gonna fight with your

4 better half, but the key to happiness is how she feels after you fight. The more she wins the happier you'll be.

How're you doing everybody? This is Country Shane and I'm here to bring you the facts.

Why do Americans get married? 88% say love is the biggest reason. 49% for having kids and 28% for financial stability. What about you? Why would I get married? For good cooking, that's why.

This has been Country Shane bringing you the facts.

Thank you very much there Country Shane. The reasons Americans get married, 88% say love is the biggest reason. Wow! That's pretty good, but why do so many people get divorced? 49% want to have children and think that they should be married... Shouldn't that percentage be higher, 28% say financial stability, and that happens yeah, if you get married... you tend to be more financially responsible. Well that's a good reason, I guess for many people. 88% for love, what about you? What about in your country? Do you think the numbers are similar? What about perhaps religion or family pressure? What about for legal benefits for rights? What about for money? Getting married for money, or status in society. There are lots of reasons to get married. What do you think is the most important? In your country is love an important reason? Yeah, sounds like that it should be the best reason, but, maybe not all the time. Country Shane, I think he was being very honest by saying the reason he would get married - is for good cooking. LOL. That's a great reason! What about me? Why would I get married? Oh, for good cooking, me too. Good cooking, that's a damn fine reason. And I'm a good cook. So, if I got married my wife had better be a really good cook. LOL. That's it.

It's time for your questions and maybe I'll give you some answers.

Today's first question comes from Kwon Moky. "Can you tell me how to pronounce the word sure, s-u-r-e?" Good question. Yeah, actually there are two typical pronunciations for this word. The perfect pronunciation would be sure, sure, sure. Almost two syllables, right? Sure, Sure. But, most Americans will simply say sure, sure, sure, like s-h-e-r. Okay? Did I answer your question? Are you sure I answered your question? Sure. Great!

Next question is from Soarq. Is it Soarq? (I think it might be a q) 86. "When do you say the dark L? When do you say the light L? Is there any hard and fast rule?" It's a great question. So, remember the dark L - [L], [L], [L] is the L sound that we make when the tongue is inside the mouth. The light L - [L], [L], [L] is the L sound we make with the tip of the tongue between the teeth. When do we use which? Well, I'll tell you. For me I use both. For example - I love you. If I'm speaking in general not worrying about too much about my pronunciation, I'll probably say (I use a dark L) – I love you, I love you, I love you. However, if I want to be very clear with my pronunciation I will probably switch to a light L - I love you, I love you. And it sounds much clearer and cleaner. Now, like I've said in my videos about the dark and light L, some countries like Scotland almost only use the dark L. The L is always dark and their L sound sounds this. So it's actually quite difficult to copy the Scottish pronunciation of the L. Sean Connery uses the dark L when he speaks English. But on the other side the light L. Many people from Ireland like to use the light L. I think it's from Ireland. Some counties only use the light L, some countries only use the dark L. I shouldn't say only. Usually is probably a better word. Many countries, like America, use both. Is there any rule on when to use which? No. Not that I can think of. And once again to students who have a difficult time with the L pronunciation I always recommend first focus on the light L. Master the light L and then, after you understand fully the L pronunciation, then start working on the dark L. Thanks so much for the question.

Our next question comes from uyennn27 :Can You help us pronounce “percent”? Absolutely! p-e-r-c-e-n-t…. so, percent, 88 percent, 49 percent, 28 percent. Now, when we say it fast many times the “t” disappears. So, do you remember Country Shane's facts? He said 88 percent say “…love is the biggest reason”.

Now, let me say that quickly: 88 percent say, 88 percent say, 88 percent say, there’s no “t” I do not… …you cannot hear the “t”. 88 percent say “…love is the biggest reason”. 49 percent for having kids, 28 percent for having financial stability. So once again: percent, percent, percent, you don’t need to really heat the “t” pronunciation. The American pronunciation however, the ‘r’ is very clear percent, percent. I hope I answered the question. Now our next question comes from Alejandro Vasquez: “Mr. Shane, I have a question. When do we use the [θ] and [ð] sound for the th? Is there any rule? I'd like to know please.” Oh boy! That's a good good question! The “th” like the “l” we have the dark ‘’l”, and the light “l”. The “th” also has two pronunciations: the [θ] - aspirated, no vibration, and the [ð] – vibration very heavy th –sound. [wið] or [wiθ], which is correct w-i-t-h? Yes, aspirated [wiθ]. [ðis] or [θis]? Which is correct t-h-i-s? - [ðis], right, the vibrated. So, is there a rule? I couldn’t really find any rules. Perhaps some teachers like to make a rule: words that begin with “th” are vibrated, words that end with “th” are aspirated. Maybe that’s true. But I couldn’t find anything specific. As a native English speaker we listen to our parents, our family, our friends speak and we mimic, we copy the sounds. We never think about [ð] or [θ]. It’s just natural for us. So for you as an ESL-student learning pronunciation, if you are a young person, please, start listening to as much English as you can and mimic. Copy a native English speaker. If you are an older person, you have bad habits. You do, but I know go ahead use the dictionary, write it down try to memorize it, but it’s the same thing. Listen to a native English speaker and mimic their pronunciation. It’s the best way to learn the “th” –sound. Sorry, it’s the best way to learn when to use “th” –sound: should it be [θ] or [ð]? Listen and repeat, mimic the native English speakers. OK?

And our final question comes from Ева Бонева: “Can you help me with the pronunciation of the words HURT, HEART and HEARD?” Yeah, these are tricky. These are tricky. H- U-R-T HURT, H-E-A-R-T HEART and H-E-A-R-D HEARD. Ok, so, first of all H-U-R-T and H-E-A-R-D are the same, except of the T and the D. So, HURT, HEARD. I heard you were hurt. I heard you were hurt. So that’s perfect pronunciation. But in regular daily English we say it faster and this is what it sounds like. So, I am going to say it slowly and then normally. Listen carefully. I heard you were hurt. I heard you were hurt. I heard you were hurt. I heard you were hurt. So, in this case what’s happening is- the D will come to a stop,

7 but it’s a stop D. HEAR---D , we got a little vibration there. HEAR---DDD. Can you hear the vibration HEAR---DDD. And HURT, HURT, HURT H-U-R-T, we stop very clear at the T, there is no vibration. I heard you were hurt. I heard you were hurt. The native English speaker has no problem catching that. Now H-E-A-R-T HEART, that’s very different. The sound is very different. HURT, HURT, HURT-the lips are together. HEART, HEART, HEART- the mouth is very open. So, actually you need to see the pronunciation. It’s kind of hard to just hear it. But maybe if your ears are really good, you can mimic my sound. So, let me try this sentence. I heard your heart was hurt. I heard your heart was hurt. I heard your heart was hurt. Can you hear the difference? That’s the biggest key, is being able to hear the difference. Now the next step is being able to pronounce the difference. So, why don’t YOU try that sentence? Make an mp3 file, mp3 audio file and upload it to our community: Let’s Master English on Google+. Just make this sentence, ok? Just record this: “Hello everybody. I’m testing my pronunciation. Please dictate this sentence: I heard your heart was hurt. I heard your heart was hurt”. Say it 2 or 3 times and then see if people can understand what you are saying. Ok? That’s the best way. The best way to test your pronunciation is to pronounce it. Thank you guys so much for those questions.

And that’s it. Another podcast is done, finito, it is finished Let’s Master English 45. I hope you enjoyed it. Lots of great questions, pretty interesting facts from Country Shane, and a very interesting story about “Love and marriage. Love and marriage. Go together like a horse and carriage”. You know there’s another song I want to share with you. This is not my song. It’s an old song, I think the name of the song is “The banana boat song”? And it goes something like this. And it’s for guys; it’s a guy’s song. So, guys check this out: “If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life. Never make a beautiful woman your wife. Believe me what I’m telling you is true. Get an ugly girl to marry you”. Oh boy! I think there’s gonna be a lot of angry women about that song. I don’t know. Anyway guys thank you so much for downloading, listening and hopefully enjoying my podcast. I wanna hear from you. Leave a message. Join my classes. Don’t forget about PIRF, P-I-R-F Pronunciation Intonation Rhythm and Flow, my new speaking class. If you want my PIRF class for free. I’ll give you 3 PIRF classes for free. Send me an e-mail: [email protected] in the subject line write PIRF P-I-R-F, and I’ll send that out to you. We’re gonna kick that class off in October. And I wanna make the best possible speaking class for everybody. So, I need your input. I need your feedback. Thanks a lot everybody. Together, Let’s Master English!