Pronunciation ChallengeWhy Do We Drive On The Right? | WheelHouse | Donut Media

Intro:
Hi, VoiceTubers! This is Jeff Chiao. Have you ever seen someone driving on the wrong side of the road recklessly? While being outrageous and hoping the local police force would turn up in the next corner, have you ever also wondered: Why are we driving on the right or left in the first place? In such a homogenous world that almost everything in our car is standardized, why do we still have some countries drive on the left and others on the right? You are going to find out all the answers in today’s video, and the answer may really surprise you.

Personally, I have driven on the other side of the road while traveling abroad once, and… well, I managed to get back in one piece. I will discuss this unique experience further in the outro, but now, let’s get to our featured sentence first.

Featured Sentence:
“It's a combination of a lot of things: timing, convenience, or someone wanting to leave a legacy.”

Okay, let me repeat it one more time, just a little bit slower.

“It's a combination of a lot of things: timing, convenience, or someone wanting to leave a legacy.”

With that out of the way, let’s head to the pronunciation tips.

Pronunciation tips:
Now comes our first tip. With the start of sentence: “it’s a combination of”, we could combine “of” with “a”, and pronounce them like “of-a”. Likewise, we could then connect “lot” with “of”, pronounce them like “lot-of”. All combined then it will be: “It’s a combination of-a lot-of things”.

Our second tip is the word “combination.” Although this word is derived from its verb form “combine”, the pronunciation of “i” and their stress patterns are quite different. In “combine”, “i” is pronounced as a long /aɪ/ sound, while in “combination”, the “i” should be pronounced as a short /ə/ sound. As for the accent, in “combine,” it falls on the last syllable “bine”, while in “combination”, it falls on the second last syllable “na”. Combination. Combination.

Our last tip for today is the word “convenience.” It is worth noting that there are three “e”s in the word, and each of them should be pronounced differently. The first “e” is a long /i/ sound, and the second is a short /ə/ sound. The last “e”, combined with the followed “c”, should be pronounced as /s/. The accent should be put on the second syllable “ve”. Convenience. Convenience.


All right, with the tips sorted, let’s get to the vocabulary.

Vocabulary:

combination (n.) KK[͵kɑmbəˋneʃən] IPA/ˌkɒm.bɪˈneɪ.ʃən/
the mixture you get when two or more things are combined

The combination of high unemployment and escalating violence had the city win the unwanted name of “City of Sinners.”


convenience (n.) KK[kənˋvinjəns] IPA/kənˈviː.ni.əns/
the state of being convenient

Thanks to the convenience of delivery services, I haven’t stepped out of my apartment for a whole weekend.


legacy (n.) KK[ˋlɛgəsɪ] IPA/ˈleɡ.ə.si/
something that is a part of your history or that remains from an earlier time

Desperate to leave a legacy before her Alzheimer’s disease gets worse, the writer decided to write her last novel in a genre she had never challenged before: science fiction.


Outro:

So that wraps up today’s episode!

Upon graduating from college and after doing some research, my friends and I decided to go to Okinawa, Japan for our graduation trip. As most of the attractions we would like to visit were better accessed with cars, renting a car seemed like a more versatile solution than taking public transportation, and a more economical one than taking cabs.

So off we went to Okinawa, and as we arrived at the airport, a flashy Toyota was waiting for us. However, aside from the obvious fact that I would have to drive on the left side of the road, which I had no experience of, there was an additional little issue: the car was much bigger than I thought. It was a Multi Purpose Vehicle with 7 seats, and I had only driven small four-door sedans.

Needless to say, in the first few hours, it was definitely not a smooth ride. With a sticker which basically said “Foreigner driving, please be tolerant” on the back of the car, I had made all kinds of mistakes, such as turning on the wipers accidentally while switching the indicator lights or vice versa, getting confused by local street signs, etc. However, after a couple of days, I managed to get used to both the rules and the size of my car, and while it was the time to return, I was completely adapted to left-side driving that it felt strange to drive on the right side. Until this day, this experience still reminds me of how adaptive and even suggestible we could actually be.

That’s all for today’s episode! This is Jeff Chiao from VoiceTube. Hope y’all have a good one! Until next time, goodbye.

It's a combination of a lot things: timing, convenience, or someone wanting to leave a legacy.

It's a combination of a lot things: timing, convenience, or someone wanting to leave a legacy.

"It's a combination of a lot of things:timing,convenience,or someone wanting to leave a legacy