Hello and welcome!
My name is Erin Gabrielson and I am the writer for this new blog on English language and culture for Transparent Language. My “handle” or blog name is gabriele, which is a combination of part of my last name (gabriel) and the first letter of my first name (e). I am so excited to begin writing this blog and share with you all about English language, linguistics, and American culture! For this first blog post I would like to introduce myself to you and simple say “hello”.
First of all, I am a traveler and adventurer by nature and teacher and psychologist by profession. I have studied different languages since I was child and for as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by languages/words and culture/customs. Over the years have learned to speak and sign the following languages to some extent: Spanish, French, American Sign Language, and Portuguese. I studied Portuguese as my undergraduate major, then went on to study Linguistics for my Master’s degree. I finished my formal education in 2010 with a doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Since 2004 I have studied language acquisition and taught English as a Second Language to adults in Brazil and colleges in the United States. I currently work primarily in the field of psychology, but I continue to stay connected to the language learning and education field in many ways (this blog being one of them). I truly do have a passion for learning about different languages and cultures. Learning about other languages and cultures has also allowed me to examine my own native language (English) and culture (American) from a unique perspective. I look forward to sharing some of this perspective with you on this blog. As I mentioned at the beginning of this introduction, I am a traveler and adventurer by nature. My travels have in fact fueled much of my language learning and cultural exploration. I have traveled to 29 counties so far and will be stepping foot in my 30th new country (Costa Rica) in the beginning of 2012. I have also lived for extended periods of time in Uruguay, Brazil, Belgium, and Portugal over the years. I have included here a picture of me with a camel from my travels in Mongolia in 2010 so you can put a face to the person who will be writing this blog I hope you will be reading.
I hope this brief introduction gives you a little idea of who I am and where I am coming from in writing this blog. I am sure as you follow the blog you will be learning more about me, my interest in language learning, teaching, and culture. I welcome your thoughts, questions, and comments and look forward to sharing with you about the English language and American culture.
-Erin (aka gabriele)
In this first post I’m including a list of 5 common ways to say “hello” that you might want to work into your everyday vocabulary:
1) “Hi”
This is a very common shortened version of “hello.”
2) “Hey”
Another sort and casual way of saying “hello”, which is pronounced the same way as “hay,” which is horse food, but is obviously spelled differently.
3) “Howdy”
This is considered a very western or country greeting. You might hear a cowboy use it, but it is an appropriate informal “hello” for everyone to use.
4) “Hiya”
This is a particularly informal greeting. It is often used by someone in an excited mood and who know each other well.
5) “Greetings”
This is an older, slightly more formal “hello,” but one that certainly belongs in the family of “helloes” that you can work into your vocabulary.
