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	<title>Tower of Confusion &#187; English</title>
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	<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com</link>
	<description>Language Learning and Multiculturalism</description>
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		<title>We Don&#8217;t Speak English Here</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/16/we-dont-speak-english-here/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/16/we-dont-speak-english-here/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Jun 2011 03:08:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Portuguese]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=1309</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetAt my very first dinner in São Paulo, I asked the waiter if he spoke English. He replied &#8216;não&#8217; with a cold face, as if I was ordering something off the menu. There was nothing wrong with him, just me. Most people in São Paulo don&#8217;t speak English, and they are not ashamed of it. [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/16/we-dont-speak-english-here/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Best Way to Improve Writing</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/19/best-way-to-improve-writing/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/19/best-way-to-improve-writing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Jan 2011 01:08:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=904</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetThe best way to improve writing is &#8230; to read more. This morning someone from Taiwan pinged me in Skype. I could not remember why she was on my contact list. I probably added her a few years ago when I was trying to improve my Mandarin. She told me she wanted to improve her [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/19/best-way-to-improve-writing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Speaking Practice Amongst Learners</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/11/speaking-practice-amongst-learners/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/11/speaking-practice-amongst-learners/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Jan 2011 23:50:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cantonese]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[French]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=849</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetToday, I had a chance to speak over Skype with Milan, the die-hard Cantonese learner. It must have been more than 3 years since we last talked. Back then we spoke in English and Cantonese. This time our conversation was purely in French and it lasted for more than an hour! When Milan proposed this [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/11/speaking-practice-amongst-learners/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Speak Only When Ready &#8211; But When Will You be Ready?</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/03/21/speak-only-when-ready-but-when-will-you-be-ready/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/03/21/speak-only-when-ready-but-when-will-you-be-ready/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Mar 2010 09:04:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mandarin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Motivation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spanish]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=588</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetThere was an interesting exchange between Steve the Linguist and Benny the Irish Polyglot. I downloaded the podcast more than a week ago but only managed to get through it on a red-eye flight back from Seattle yesterday. In brief, Steve thinks that we should first immerse ourselves into a lot of input activities and [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/03/21/speak-only-when-ready-but-when-will-you-be-ready/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>12</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>No More Skypecast</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/09/04/no-more-skypecast/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/09/04/no-more-skypecast/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:53:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Skype]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/?p=262</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetOver the weekend, another free on-line service was gone, not only the &#8220;free&#8221; part, but also the service itself. Skypecast was launched in 2006 to host public conference calls up to 100 people at a time. It was since being established as a meeting place for many to get to know others and talk about [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/09/04/no-more-skypecast/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Pronunciation-Wrestling</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/06/24/pronunciation-wrestling/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/06/24/pronunciation-wrestling/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:00:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Accents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/?p=216</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetIn my last project at work, we dealt with a US telecommunication company. We had a team consisted of about 6-7 colleagues from the US and 4 of us from Canada, all &#8216;locked&#8217; in a conference room somewhere in the vicinity of Seattle. Since our client was a telecommunication company, the word &#8216;Mobile&#8217; came up [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/06/24/pronunciation-wrestling/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Quadriplegic Mayor</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/03/03/the-quadriplegic-mayor/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/03/03/the-quadriplegic-mayor/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:17:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cantonese]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[French]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mandarin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Punjabi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/?p=206</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetVancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan caught the attention of the international media back in 2006, when he accepted the flag at the closing ceremonies of the Turin Winter Olympics. He is Canada&#8217;s first disabled mayor and also the first quadriplegic mayor of a North American city. The mayor was paralysed after a tragic skiing accident when [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/03/03/the-quadriplegic-mayor/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Statistical Machine Translation</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/01/07/statistical-machine-translation/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/01/07/statistical-machine-translation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:02:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[French]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tools]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/statistical-machine-translation/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetBack in last October, Google Translate completely switched to its own home-grown translation software, adopting the Statistical Machine Translation approach. Google Translate had been using SYSTRAN as the underlying translation engine, the same software Babel Fish uses. In the past, I used to get the same translation results from both engines, so I did not [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/01/07/statistical-machine-translation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>For the Sake of Conversation</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/20/for-the-sake-of-conversation/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/20/for-the-sake-of-conversation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:49:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Motivation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/2007/11/20/for-the-sake-of-conversation/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetKeith left me a comment on my previous post, asking why I would join so many language-exchange networks. In fact, I am not quite sure if I know the answer. May be they are free, or perhaps I keep joining new ones simply because none of them has met my expectations. When I look back [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/20/for-the-sake-of-conversation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>O Canada</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/15/o-canada/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/15/o-canada/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:12:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Accents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[French]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/2007/11/15/o-canada/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetLast week, I was compiling a collection of more than 25 different versions of the Canadian nation anthem &#8220;O Canada&#8221; for my daughter. The anthem is her favourite song besides, of course, the Alphabet song. I had been singing the anthem to her since she was 3-months old. Somehow, the tune worked great for a [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/15/o-canada/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Scarier Than Halloween</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/03/scarier-than-halloween/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/03/scarier-than-halloween/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Nov 2007 02:24:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Accents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toastmasters]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/2007/11/03/scarier-than-halloween/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetI just delivered a Toastmasters speech on the past Wednesday, right on the Halloween. No, this was not the scary part. It was my first speech in 11 months. This was not that scary either. The real scary moment was when I received the recording afterwards, and I watched myself delivering my speech. Many people, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/03/scarier-than-halloween/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Coalition Of The Willing</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/09/07/coalition-of-the-willing/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/09/07/coalition-of-the-willing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Sep 2007 16:58:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cantonese]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[French]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/2007/09/07/coalition-of-the-willing/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetNaturegirl left a comment on my previous post, mentioning a common scenario, where you want to practice your target language, only to find out that the other person always responses back to you in English (or your native language). This is indeed an extremely frustrating experience. This could be by far the number one enemy [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/09/07/coalition-of-the-willing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>More on Accent Reduction Course</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/07/13/more-on-accent-reduction-course/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/07/13/more-on-accent-reduction-course/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Jul 2007 20:36:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Accents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/more-on-accent-reduction-course/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetIn a recent comment from my previous post on “Accent Reduction Course”, Max asks if anyone knows a good course to help his friend on his English accent. His friend comes from Mainland China. Both Max and his friend are currently living in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, I don&#8217;t have any reference in Hong Kong, but [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/07/13/more-on-accent-reduction-course/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Business Languages</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/07/01/business-languages/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/07/01/business-languages/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:01:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[German]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/2007/07/01/business-languages/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetBusiness people can often communicate without knowing each other&#8217;s languages well. A few months ago, I had a chance to talk to a retired business man, who was a friend of my father-in-law. He grew up in Shanghai, China, and started a successful printing business in Hong Kong many years ago. He recently sold his [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/07/01/business-languages/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Hong Kong English Accent</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/06/08/hong-kong-english-accent/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/06/08/hong-kong-english-accent/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Jun 2007 20:24:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Accents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Phonetics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/2007/06/08/hong-kong-english-accent/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetA few days ago I was watching some Youtube video clips from the website 英文由F字學起 (Learn English starting from the &#8216;F&#8217; word). The series is for getting rid of the Hong Kong English accent. Unlike other typical accent reduction courses, the tutor specifically pinpoints the Hong Kong accent and talks about a lot of its [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/06/08/hong-kong-english-accent/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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