Great idea!

Good question - highlights one of my fundamental philosophical points of "language learning," which is that you should STOP thinking of it as "learning a language" and instead think of it as "Learning to connect with a specific group of people". My understanding is that Arabic dialects are so different that you can no one and being almost completely unintelligible to the other. Which is basically like learning Italian to prepare for your trip to Spain, just because both were termed "Latin" at one point. So first start with the question "Which specific person/group of people/culture" do I feel most inspired to connect with?" Then figure out how to get samples of their voice, and stick with that. As for gender, practice mimicking the one you want to sound like, but expose yourself to the other one. In general, you start with depth, then expand variety as you get more mastery in one vertical.

Yes you are correct - prosody is the technical term for the stress and intonation elements of speech, be it poetry or prose. There are several methods for "prosodic transcription", and you can google the term to find a few. But they are mostly concerned with technical accuracy. And because prosody is so complex, these hyper technical systems aren't really useful for your every day language learner. I actually do have a method I use for transcribing it visually in a grid, so maybe I'll publish some videos on that soon.

Oh that would be great. I am very interested in your easy, low-stress, CLARIFYING explanation of the system that you use to make sense of it all. As you see it. Since being introduced to your teaching method on FI3M and KZfaq, I have been analyzing my language learning deficits. I have at least two that I, myself, can see. Both I feel that I must power through until the lessons can sink in. 1) I have no talent for music, but I do like to listen to it. I have what they call a 'dead ear'. I know now that I seriously need this ear training! 2) I am a life-long engineer and I seem to strive for understanding the structure of things before they sink in deeply. I did not "grok" what you were teaching in 'Clear Ear' and the 'Master Class' series until I understood the IPA, an then only after listening to you English lessons to get a reference point. The IPA maps the position of the tongue, etc., to make a certain sound. Now all I need is more practice to get the sounds down. I am hoping that I can reach that point with the prosody thing as you understand it. Perhaps I am outside the mainstream, but I bet there are other language learners like me out there. I will power through the technical jargon as I research this subject. However, to make it sink in, I would love to have your take on the structure of prosody transcription. After more than a decade of struggling, you are the only teacher that has made the breakthrough for me. You get the lesson across so I can understand it!

@@diannadearborn1117 Happy to hear that! Yes I just need to get more and better content out so its easier to understand these things. Funny enough I find that A LOT of the people who take my courses are engineers of some sort, perhaps for all the reason you just described. I'm not an engineer by trade, but I certainly am by temperament, so I too seek that structural understanding of things. Which is why I made this approach in the first place. Stay tuned for more content!

Chris Phillips Hey man it would be nice if you respond, I really have a question.

Music Videos Did you try the program

Thanks for feedback. Yes perhaps it would be useful to have several coaching sessions around different phrases so can see more examples.