US markets tumble, FICCI says India may benefit from crisis

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

NEW YORK/NEW DELHI: The euro extended losses against the US dollar on Monday, hitting a session low as Wall Street stocks tumbled in the first session following Standard & Poor's downgrade of the US debt rating late Friday.

All major US indices tumbled at the open. The euro fell as low as $1.4148, according to Reuters data. It was last at $1.4178, down 0.7 per cent on the day.

The euro was already under pressure as initial relief over European Central Bank purchases of Spanish and Italian government bonds petered out and risk aversion took hold.

Traders said the ECB bought Spanish and Italian debt early in the European session after it said on Sunday it would "actively implement" its bond-buying program.

US crisis to benefit India

India will be impacted in the short term because of the US sovereign debt crisis, but it will also benefit from the economic turmoil as softening crude prices will bring down inflation, prompting the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) not to hike rates, a leading industry lobby said Monday.

"One positive fallout of the rating downgrade, we feel, could be the Indian market perception that a possible decline in crude prices may signal a pause in RBI rate hikes, buoying investor sentiments," the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said in a statement.

"Additionally, the spreads between a US sovereign and Indian sovereign paper of comparable duration may decline, thus acting as an enabler to foreign institutional investors inflows into the country. This may have a sobering impact on the current account deficit, even though this may not be exactly desirable."

Global stock markets continued to fall Monday after top credit rating agency Standard and Poor's downgraded the US sovereign debt rating last Friday and cautioned of a further downgrade if the fiscal position of the country did not improve.

As far as the impact of the crisis on the Indian economy, FICCI said some short-term impact would be seen in terms of market uncertainties.

"An uncertain global environment could, however, depress India's exposure to global markets (exports of goods and services, more than a quarter of India's GDP) and knock off percentage points from India's GDP growth," the industry lobby said while outlining some of the risks.

Tip to improve spoken english

ARTICLE BY GOWTHAM

Many deserving candidates lose out on job opportunities because of their vernacular accent.

Can I 'neutralise' my accent?

Yes, you can. All you need to do is train yourself to speak English as comfortably and perfectly as you speak your mother tongue.

How do you train yourself? By inculcating certain practices in your daily lifestyle. These will get you closer to sounding like a native English speaker and equip you with a global accent -- and you will speak not American or British English, but correct English.

This is the first step to learn any other accent, be it American or British or Australian.

Lisa Mojsin, head trainer, director and founder of the Accurate English Training Company in Los Angeles, offers these tips to help 'neutralise' your accent or rather do away with the local twang, as you speak.

i. Observe the mouth movements of those who speak English well and try to imitate them.

When you are watching television, observe the mouth movements of the speakers. Repeat what they are saying, while imitating the intonation and rhythm of their speech.

ii. Until you learn the correct intonation and rhythm of English, slow your speech down.

If you speak too quickly, and with the wrong intonation and rhythm, native speakers will have a hard time understanding you. 

Don't worry about your listener getting impatient with your slow speech -- it is more important that everything you say be understood.

iii. Listen to the 'music' of English.
 
Do not use the 'music' of your native language when you speak English. Each language has its own way of 'singing'. 

iv. Use the dictionary.

Try and familiarise yourself with the phonetic symbols of your dictionary. Look up the correct pronunciation of words that are hard for you to say.

v. Make a list of frequently used words that you find difficult to pronounce and ask someone who speaks the language well to pronounce them for you.

Record these words, listen to them and practice saying them. Listen and read at the same time.   

vi. Buy books on tape.

Record yourself reading some sections of the book. Compare the sound of your English with that of the person reading the book on the tape.

vii. Pronounce the ending of each word.

Pay special attention to 'S' and 'ED' endings. This will help you strengthen the mouth muscles that you use when you speak English.
 
viii. Read aloud in English for 15-20 minutes every day. 

Research has shown it takes about three months of daily practice to develop strong mouth muscles for speaking a new language.

ix. Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation mistakes.

Many people hate to hear the sound of their voice and avoid listening to themselves speak. However, this is a very important exercise because doing it will help you become conscious of the mistakes you are making.

x. Be patient.

You can change the way you speak but it won't happen overnight. People often expect instant results and give up too soon. You can change the way you sound if you are willing to put some effort into it.

Quick tips

Various versions of the English language exist. Begin by identifying the category you fall into and start by improving the clarity of your speech.

~ Focus on removing the mother tongue influence and the 'Indianisms' that creep into your English conversations.

~ Watch the English news on television channels like Star World, CNN, BBC and English movies on Star Movies and HBO.