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I don't watch a lot of T.V. I only watch things via Netflix, so I only watch the things that I'm choosing to watch. -- Gaby Hoffmann

What’s up my fellow Voictubers?! Welcome to the Pronunciation Challenge and my name is Hugh. I’ll be your host for today’s episode!
Let’s talk about Netflix! It’s crazy to see how far along this company has come. Did you know that they used to rent DVD’s to customers instead of the streaming service they offer now? When Netflix first started doing streaming many years ago, it was great. They had many Disney titles, HBO shows (The Wire is one of my favorites), and many different movies. Nowadays, we have Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, etc. Netflix lost all the good titles, so what do they have now? They have something called “exclusive” titles which means the TV series or movie that only a particular group can have access to. Stranger Things, for example, is an exclusive title for Netflix! What’s your favorite Netflix series so far? Let’s get to the featured sentence first before we talk some more!

Today’s featured sentence:
“But the company estimates that an additional 100 million households access the service through shared passwords.”

I’ll say that again.

“But the company estimates that an additional 100 million households access the service through shared passwords.”

Ok, now time for the Pronunciation Tips.


For the first word, we have
estimates
Three syllables.
“ES” sounds like the letter S, same sound. “TI” has a short U sound and “MATES” actually sounds like “MIT” with a short i sound instead. Estimate.

Next up, we have
additional
Four syllables
“A” actually has a short U sound. “DI” has a short i sound. “TION” is your typical “T I O N” sound, “SHUN”, and “AL”, if spelt out like how it would sound would be something like “U L L”, like “BULL” but without the B sound. Additional.

Lastly, we have,
access
Two syllables.
Despite how this is spelt, the first syllable has a K sound to give you “AK”. “CESS” has a short E sound with an S sound in front instead of the C sound. Access.


Moving onto Vocabulary!

The first word is:
1. estimate
Definition
to guess or calculate the cost, size, value, etc. of something
Used in a sentence you could say,
“Scientists estimate that there are about 10 million species on the planet.”

Next word,
2. additional
Definition
extra
Used in a sentence, you could say:
“I had to work an additional 3 hours last night.”

And lastly,
3. access
Definition:
the right or opportunity to use or look at something
Used in a sentence, you could say:
“This card gives you access to the VIP lounge.”

Funnily enough, my favorite series on Netflix isn’t an English- speaking one but a Korean one! When Kingdom first arrived on Netflix, I ignored it for a while. It wasn’t until I found out that it was about zombies that I was interested. Once I started watching it, I couldn’t stop! I actually watched it in quarantine when the pandemic first started. It was kind of scary how similar the situation with Covid was with the zombie outbreak.
I think it’s smart of Netflix to move into Asian markets. There are so many Asian films that are great but nobody knows about them. Whenever people tell me how great The Departed was, I always tell them that they copied a Hong Kong movie called Infernal Affairs, which, in my opinion, is the better movie. Andy Lau and Tony Leung were just as good in their roles as Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon, if not better!

Ok, that’s about it for today. Get your recordings in if you haven’t done so. Hit me up on Instagram if you want to see what I’m up to at Hughtran_. Until the next episode, see ya!

But the company estimates that an additional 100 million households access the service through shared passwords.

Day 258

Day 104.