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How to Pronounce-5 Things You Must Know to Understand All English Pronunciation Guides

April 23, 2022 / / 0 Comments

When you look in an English dictionary, you probably only look at the word and its definition.

But did you know that dictionaries also give you a guide on how to pronounce the words?

Next to a word in the dictionary are some strange-looking symbols. These letter-like symbols are a pronunciation guide!

For example, here is how to pronounce the word dictionary:

\ˈdik-shə-ˌner-ē\

Wait, what? That doesn’t look like the word dictionary at all! How does this work?

Learning how to use the dictionary’s pronunciation guide is not as difficult as it looks. Once you understand the rules, you will be able to check the dictionary for the definition of a word, and you will know how to read it correctly.

But first, you need to understand…

Why Dictionaries Use Symbols

Letters are symbols—they are small drawings that represent sounds. So what is the point of creating a whole different way of writing these same sounds?

Try reading these words out loud:

pit

pie

Both are three-letter words with the letter i as the second letter. The letter i is read very differently each time, though! In each word, the letter i makes a different sound. Now try these two words:

garage

vision

In these words, the second g in the garage makes the same sound as the letter s in vision. We bet you never noticed that before!

As you can see, letters have different sounds, depending on where they are in the word or the sentence, or even which country the speaker is from. Some letters have many sounds. Some sounds don’t have their letter.

The International Phonetic Association

People who study language, called linguists, have come up with a pronunciation guide called the International Phonetic Association, or the IPA for short. Most dictionaries use a version of the IPA for their pronunciation guide.

The IPA on its own is not very easy to understand—it is mostly for scholars and linguists, people whose job it is to figure out sounds and how to write them down.

Dictionary pronunciation guides are a little different though. They are meant for anyone to use, so you can learn to read them too! They use some simple symbols, and they are not as complicated as they seem. You just need to learn what sounds the symbols stand for.

Why Should I Learn to Use the Pronunciation Guide?

Good question!

When you learn a new word, you learn what it means and how it is used in a sentence. You might even learn the different forms of the word. For you to use this word while speaking, though, you need to know how to pronounce it.

There are a few ways you can learn the correct pronunciation of a word.

You could ask someone to say it for you, or find an example of the spoken word in a video. 

However, a dictionary will still be very helpful to you while you learn English.

First of all, a dictionary allows you to look up a huge diversity and quantity of English words. Even if you have apps on your phone, there may be times when you need to use a dictionary. For example, you may be in a classroom or meeting where you cannot use your cell phone, or maybe your phone’s battery just died.

Maybe you do not like using apps, and prefer to have a paper dictionary!

No matter the situation, reading the dictionary pronunciation guide can be an incredibly useful tool for English learners. You will know at a glance that the two g’s in the garage make two different sounds and that the o in the boot is not the same as the o in the boat.

Take a little time to figure out the pronunciation guide, and you will be saving yourself a lot of time (and effort) in the future as you improve your English speaking skills!

British or American?

This guide will cover the American dictionary pronunciation guide. The American and British guides are slightly different—they use different symbols for the same sounds. The British guide uses more actual symbols (instead of letters) or old Greek letters, so it can be a little harder to learn.

If you are interested in British pronunciation, check out the Oxford English Dictionary’s guide to British vs. American symbols and sounds.

5 Things You Must Know About All English Pronunciation Guides

Before you start learning the pronunciation guide, here is a quick outline to help you understand how the IPA works:

  • Consonants: Consonants are all of the letters that are not vowels. The English language might have 21 consonants, but there are fewer consonant sounds. Letters like c and k, and c and s can have the same sound depending on where they are in the world. Other sounds are a combination of consonants, like ch and sh. These make different sounds too. There are not that many consonant symbols to learn, and they are mostly easy to understand—so that is a relief!
  • Vowels: The vowels in the English language are a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y. Vowels can be combined with other letters, and each other, to create new sounds. There are a few different ways of pronouncing each vowel, and a symbol for each of those pronunciations.
  • Diphthongs: Even if you have heard of vowels and consonants, you probably have never heard this word! Diphthongs are the sounds made by two vowels put together. Sometimes this is just one sound, like the oo sound. Other times the sound starts in one vowel and moves into the next, like the oa in soak.
  • Syllables: Along with pronunciation guides for the letters, dictionaries break up words into syllables. These make it easier to spell and speak the word, since they turn one word in a few easy to say parts.
  • Stresses: Words in the English language uses stresses. Where you put the stress is important to pronouncing the word right, and can even change the meaning of the word. For example, “when you addRESS the Internet, do not give out your ADDress!”. These two differently stressed versions of address mean two different things, just because of the stress! Dictionary guides show you where the stress goes, and they let you know when a different stress will change the meaning of the word.
  • Advanced Sounds: Linguists define vowels as sounds made without placing anything in the way (like your tongue or teeth). Syllables are also created around them—you can’t have too many voiced (non-silent) consonants without a vowel in between, or it is impossible to read. Consonants, on the other hand, are sounds made by partially blocking your breath when you speak. Some sounds, like p, b and g, are actually made by completely stopping your breath! (In case you are wondering, these are called plosives).

Now you are ready to start!

Pronouncing Consonants

You will recognize many of the letters in the guide. Most of the consonants are read exactly the way you would read a letter, and there are not that many of them.

Here are the consonants found in the pronunciation guide, which sound exactly the way they look:

  • b like in bed
  • d like in done
  • g like in grow
  • h like in hat
  • l like in lamp
  • m like in mat
  • n like in nice
  • p like in pat
  • r like in run
  • v like in view
  • w like in wet
  • y like in yes

All consonant symbols stand for just one sound, but some sounds can be made in more than one way.

When you see these letters in the guide, just remember the sound they make—even if the word doesn’t have that letter at all! It might help to read these words out loud, so you can hear how similar the sound is:

  • f like in fire, rough, or phone
  • j like in jump or dodge
  • k like in make, quit, pick, or cat
  • s like in stop or cent
  • t like in top or some -ed endings like mopped
  • z like in zebra or xylophone
  • zh like in vision or garage

There are some consonants that make a different sound when they are put together. These sounds are also mostly written the same way in the guide as they are in a word. They are:

  • ch like in chat
  • wh like in white
  • ng like in thing (this sometimes looks like this: ŋ) 
  • sh like in ship
  • th like in thin
  • th like in this

Say the last two words out loud to hear the difference.

The first th (in thin) sounds “soft,” and is made by placing your tongue between your teeth. The second th sound (in this) is “hard,” and is made by putting your tongue between your teeth but then moving it away. It is a very slight difference—most native speakers don’t even realize there are two different sounds.

A quick note about the wh sound. If you are confused about the difference between w and wh, don’t worry, you are not alone. These days, many people pronounce wine and whine the same way. The wh sound is supposed to be more stretched out, as though you are saying the letter h very slightly before the letter w. According to this blog, if you put your hand in front of your mouth, you can feel a puff of air for the wh sound, but not the w.

That is all for consonants. You are about halfway to being a dictionary pro!

Pronouncing Vowels

Vowels are a little tougher to read than consonants because they have so many different sounds. If you can learn all the different sounds, you will find it much easier to pronounce English words correctly. So it is worth the effort!

Some of the differences are very slight, and some are big. Also keep in mind that some dictionaries have different symbols for vowel sounds.

Below are the different pronunciations of English vowels. We have included one or two of the most common symbols for each sound. Which symbol you see will depend on the dictionary you use.

Here is a quick rule of thumb: A line above a letter means you say its name. A small v or nothing above a letter means it is a short sound. Two dots above a letter means it is a long sound.

The letter a

  • ă or a like in cat or apple. This is a short ah sound.
  • ā like in stray or vacation. This is pronounced like the letter’s name, ay.
  • ä like in father or calm. This is a longer uhh sound, like the sound you would make when you show the doctor your throat.

The letter e

  • ĕ or e like in pet or person. This is pronounced like a short eh.

The letter i

  • ĭ or i like in pit or hitch. This sounds like a grunt, a short eeh sound made in the back of the throat.
  • ī like in pie or bye. Say this the way you would say name of the letter i.

The letter o

  • ŏ or ä like in mop or bother. This is a similar sound to the a in father, a long “uhh” sound. (Some dictionaries see it as the same sound).
  • ō like in toe or go. Say this as you would say the name of the letter o.
  • ô like in paw or caught. This is the kind of sound you would say if something is cute, “aww.”

The letter u

  • ŭ like in cut or grunt. This is a short uh sound.
  • yü like in youth or cute. Say this as you might say the letter u.

All the vowels

There is one sound all the vowels make. Here it is:

  • ə like in about, item, edible, gallop, circus. This is a sound somewhere in between ŭ and ă. It is a short uh sound. It might be difficult to hear at first, so practice saying these words out loud and try to see the difference between these and other words using these letters.

Does this look like too much information to take in? Here is a quick cheat that usually works when you are not sure how to pronounce a letter:

  • If the word has a vowel, consonant, vowel pattern (like cute—u is a vowel, t is a consonant, e is a vowel), say the first vowel’s name. In the example of cute, this means you pronounce u like the letter u. 
  • If the word has a vowel, consonant pattern (like cut—u is a vowel, t is a consonant) or a vowel, consonant, consonant (like cutting), use one of the other pronunciations.

Of course there are exceptions and other rules. If you look at the pronunciation guide for new words, you will start to see the different rules and patterns.

Diphthongs

Don’t let the strange name scare you. Diphthongs are just sounds made by two vowels placed together.

Here is what they look like:

  • a like in out or about. This sounds like you just got hurt, “ow.”
  • ē like in bee or feet (or easy). This sounds like you are saying the name of the letter e.
  • oi like in noise or boy. This sounds like the letter o’s name followed right away by ee, or like you are saying “Oy vey!”
  • ū like in loot or boot. This is an oo sound made by making your lips into an o shape.
  • ʊ like in foot or could. To make this oo sound, don’t move your lips!

You can hear and see the difference between the two oo sounds in this video.

R-controlled Vowels

Vowels have a slightly different pronunciation when they are followed by the letter r. They are called “r-controlled vowels” and they sound like the letter’s non-name sound getting cut off by the letter r.

It is easier to hear than explain: say the word abound out loud, then the word around. Do you hear the difference? It is a very small difference!

This is such a slight difference in most cases, that some dictionaries don’t have a special symbol for it. One symbol that does get used by many, though is this one:

  • ər like in butter or further. This is an er sound made in the back of your mouth with your tongue right in the middle of your mouth, not touching any sides.

And that is all for pronunciations!

You now know how to read the pronunciation guide for vowels and consonants.

If this seems like a lot of information, we recommend that instead of memorizing this right away, you use it as a guide. Whenever you are not sure how to pronounce a new word you just learned, look at the dictionary’s pronunciation guide and keep this page open.

You will learn the guide quickly this way, without even realizing that you are learning it.

Bonus: Dashes and Lines

When you look at a pronunciation guide you will notice that the words are broken up into parts with dashes and lines in between them. What do all these mean?

  • The pronunciation of a word is usually written between forward slashes: / Or backward slashes: \
  • Words are usually split up into syllables with dashes: –
  • The stressed syllable (the one that you say more strongly) is marked with an apostrophe: ‘
  • The secondary stress (a slightly stronger syllable, only found in longer words) is marked with a comma: ,

Now you try!

Whew that was a lot! Let’s see how well you can use the information in this guide. Can you figure out what words these are?

  1. \ˈdik-shə-ˌner-ē\
  2. \ˈal-fə-ˌbet\
  3. \vō-ˈka-byə-ˌler-ē\

Here are the words spelled in the guide above:

  1. Dictionary
  2. Alphabet
  3. Vocabulary

How did you do?

Practice reading the dictionary’s pronunciation guide with words you know, and then words you don’t know.

Before long, you will find it much easier to pronounce new words, even if you have never heard them before!

How to write a comment-Top ten tips for writing a great comment

April 23, 2022 / / 0 Comments

F1 Fanatic welcomes comments from readers old and new alike. The best comment received each day is featured as the Comment of the Day in the daily round-up.

To get the most out of commenting on F1 Fanatic, here are ten quick and easy tips on how to write a great comment.

Read the article

It sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many comments can be answered with the words “it says in the article”.

Respond to the article

…rather than just the headline.

Read the other comments

Admittedly this isn’t always easy, especially if there are several hundred of them. But if you’ve got a question to ask you may find someone’s already answered it.

Make it clear who you’re replying to

On F1 Fanatic you can address your comments to registered users. This notifies them that they have been mentioned in a comment. For information on how to do this, see here:

Use the return key

Nothing puts readers off like a wall of text. If you’re putting effort into a long comment, take a moment to ensure it is spaced out into paragraphs to increase its chances of being read.

Avoid sarcasm

Sarcasm is easily detected in speech but harder to use in writing. If you don’t point out when you’re being sarcastic there’s a good chance others will take it seriously.

Avoid unnecessary acronyms

You can take it for granted everyone will know what ‘F1’ stands for. But beware of confusing people by using acronyms when they aren’t needed or when it’s not obvious what they stand for.

Use facts

When used in the context you’ll find statistics, quotes, examples, and relevant links to credible sources that will make it easier for others to appreciate your point of view.

Don’t confuse facts with opinions

Not everyone may share their opinion. Complaining that other people don’t agree with you won’t get you very far. But explaining why you disagree is a great starting point for a discussion.

Don’t be Captain Caps Lock

No one likes being shouted at.

How to Train Your Dragon

April 23, 2022 / / 0 Comments
This is Berk. It’s twelve days north of Hopeless, and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It’s located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. My village. In a word, sturdy. And it’s been here for seven generations, but, every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have . . . dragons.”
 — Hiccup’s opening narration 

How to Train Your Dragon is a computer-animated comedic fantasy adventure film loosely based on the first book in a series by Cressida Cowell of the same name. The film was directed and written by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois and stars Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Gerard Butler, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Craig Ferguson. The film was released on March 26, 2010, by DreamWorks Animation/Paramount Pictures. It grossed an estimated $43.3 million in its opening weekend.

With the success of the film, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg formally announced in The Hollywood Reporter that How to Train Your Dragon will be further developed as a major media franchise for the company. DreamWorks announced a 2014 sequel named How to Train Your Dragon 2, a television series, an online interactive simulation, and a live touring show.

Contents

·   1 Plot

·   2 Transcript

·   3 Voice Cast

·   4 Dragon Characters

·   5 Dragons

·   6 Animals

·   7 Awards and Nominations

·   8 Trivia

·   9 Differences From the Novel

·   10 Videos

·   11 References

·   12 External Links

·   13 Site Navigation

Fandom Trivia

Quiz

How well do you know the first ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ movie?6 questions

Plot

How to Train Your Dragon is centered around a teenage Viking named Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) who lives on the island of Berk with the rest of his tribe. Over the course of seven generations, Berk has been continuously raided by dragons of all different species, prompting a war between them and the tribe. Like every other young Viking on Berk, Hiccup is expected to fight and kill a dragon in order to be considered a true Viking. However, he is very small for a Viking of his age, and can hardly lift and use traditional Viking weapons and even has a tendency to cause accidents. His father is Stoick the Vast (voiced by Gerard Butler), who is also chief of the tribe, and tries to keep Hiccup indoors as often as possible.

During one particular attack on the village, while working his post in Gobber’s (voiced by Craig Ferguson) smithy, Hiccup decides to prove himself as a Viking and capture a dragon using his own methods rather than standard Viking brutality. Using a bola shot from a cannon he designed and built himself, Hiccup is overjoyed when he hits a dragon in mid-air, thinking it’s the rare and dangerous Night Fury. Having not paid attention to in the chaos, no one else in the village believes him because no one ever even saw a Night Fury, let alone brought one down. Hiccup goes to the forest at Raven Point to bring back the dragon’s heart as proof to Stoick. Meanwhile, Stoick and Gobber discuss Hiccup’s behavior, after a meeting is held in the Great Hall, and how to make him into a proper Viking. Although initially hesitant, Stoick agrees to enlist his son into Dragon Training in the hope it will toughen him up and give him survival skills before preparing to lead an expedition to take out the Dragon’s Nest.

Despite being told to go home, Hiccup disobeys his father and heads out to the forest. He searches for some time but can’t find where the dragon went down. Luckily, Hiccup finds a broken tree and churned up ground, leading him to the downed dragon which is tied up in the bola shot. He psychs himself up in preparation to cut out the dragon’s heart with his belt knife, but after seeing the fear in the helpless dragon’s eyes as it looks back at him, he can’t bring himself to kill it. After cutting it free from the ropes, the Night Fury pounces on him and the situation is now reversed: Hiccup is clearly afraid and the dragon stares intently into his eyes for several moments. When it rears up, Hiccup cringes as he thinks it’s going to kill him, but it instead roars angrily in his face before attempting to fly off into the trees. Hiccup attempts to walk away but faints from the encounter.

On the first day of Dragon Training, Snotlout, (voiced by Jonah Hill) and Ruffnut and Tuffnut (voiced by Kristen Wiig and T.J. Miller) continue to mock Hiccup. He nearly gets killed by a Gronckle, but is saved in the nick of time by Gobber. As Gobber stows the beast away, he mentions a dragon “will always go in for the kill”. Hiccup returns to where he found the Night Fury, wondering why it hadn’t attempted to kill him. Following the path the dragon flew off to, Hiccup notices half of the Night Fury’s tail was torn off in its crash and can’t exit the small cove which it became trapped in. Attempting to finally record actual information about Night Furies, Hiccup drops his pencil and alerts the dragon to his presence, but the Night Fury only stares at him. Later that night, Hiccup reads the Dragon Manual in hopes to learn more about the creature, but it only says the Night Fury is extremely dangerous.

After barely surviving a Deadly Nadder in Dragon Training shortly afterward, Hiccup attempts to get closer to the Night Fury by offering a fish. The dragon’s attitude, on guard after spotting his belt knife, greatly improves after Hiccup tosses it away in the cove pool to prove his intentions. It cautiously takes the offering of fish using its retractable teeth and regurgitates some of it to share with Hiccup. To stay on good terms, Hiccup takes a bite of the raw fish (now covered with dragon’s drool), and is forced to swallow with some disgust as the dragon watches expectantly, and is surprised to see the dragon attempt to imitate a smile. However, his attempts to touch the Night Fury cause it to fly off to the other side of the cove. Later that same day while attempting to sleep, the Night Fury is curious Hiccup hasn’t left and walks over to see the boy drawing an outline of the dragon’s head in the dirt. Curious about the drawing, the dragon snaps off a large tree branch and attempts to do the same, making deep impressions in the ground of random scribbles to try to draw Hiccup’s head. Hiccup is amazed by it and when the dragon growls when he steps on it, takes care not to stand on the drawing before finally getting close enough to the Night Fury to touch it. It still doesn’t allow him to do so, but when he only holds his hand out, palm open and leaves it to the dragon to decide, it presses its nose into it.

Later that night, Hiccup learns from Gobber a dragon without its wings can’t fly, explaining why the Night Fury can’t leave the cove. Hiccup attempts to get the Night Fury, which he names Toothless after the dragon’s retractable teeth, to fly again through the use of an artificial tail fin. It soon becomes clear after a test run the design needs improvements and Toothless can’t fly on his own. Through testing new versions of the fin, Hiccup learns things about dragons from experiences with Toothless. He pushes a Hideous Zippleback into its cage through learning the dragon’s distaste for eel, incapacitates a Gronckle using knowledge of Toothless’ love of garlic grass, or “Dragon Nip“, leads a Terrible Terror into its cage by having it chase a beam of light like a cat, and incapacitates a Deadly Nadder by scratching it below the chin. The Viking adults see these feats of “subduing” dragons without actually harming them as a sign of greatness. The other Vikings teens watch in awe as Hiccup improves his skills, but Astrid (voiced by America Ferrera) her rivalry turns into extreme jealousy. As Hiccup becomes popular with his technique of incapacitating dragons rather than killing them, Astrid notices his strange behavior of leaving after every session. Stoick returns from his unsuccessful attempt to find the Dragon Nest and is surprised to hear how well Hiccup does in Dragon Training. Shortly after, Hiccup perfects his design of the prosthetic fin and helps Toothless take a successful flight around the island. After taking a lunch break with several wild Terrible Terrors, Hiccup realizes everything the Vikings know about dragons is wrong.

Hiccup is given a helmet for his triumph in the ring.

Stoick sees Hiccup and tells about his surprise of him succeeding in dragon training. Stoick gives Hiccup a helmet as a reward. In the arena, Astrid loses out on the right to kill their first dragon in the final test: a Monstrous Nightmare. An angry Astrid follows Hiccup to the small cove where he plans to leave Berk with Toothless to avoid taking part in his final exam. While she interrogates Hiccup about his skills, Toothless, thinking Astrid is a threat, attempts to attack her and subsequently exposes Hiccup’s relationship with the dragon. In an attempt to keep Toothless a secret, Toothless pulls Astrid onto the top of a tree, and Hiccup offers her a ride on the dragon’s back to show her he means no harm. Astrid reluctantly accepts Hiccup’s offer, but a cautious and annoyed Toothless fakes extreme attempts to throw her off. After Astrid admits she’s sorry for what she tried to do, Toothless stops his acrobatics and takes them on a calming romantic flight above the clouds. Astrid’s view on dragons is changed and she comes to think Toothless is amazing.

Hiccup and Astrid are both surprised when Toothless changes course and flies alongside other dragons that carry food to their Nest. Toothless follows them and hides as Hiccup and Astrid discover the dragons aren’t eating their kill themselves. Instead, they feed it to the Red Death, a gigantic titan wing dragon. The dragons are forced to feed the Red Death with what they steal from Berk or else they will be eaten by it instead, as proven with an unlucky Gronckle and a Hideous Zippleback.

After they escape the Nest and return home, Astrid wants to tell Stoick and the village about the Nest, but Hiccup is adamant that she does not do so, otherwise they would kill Toothless. Shocked, she asks in disbelief if he would go that far to “protect his pet dragon”. Unlike the uncertain and hesitant Hiccup she’s always known, Hiccup looks right at her and tells her “yes”, causing her to see him in a new light. Astrid promises to keep Toothless a secret and punches Hiccup in the shoulder for “kidnapping” her before kissing him on the cheek for “everything else”.

Hiccup attempts to tame the Nightmare.

The final test begins. Instead of killing it, however, Hiccup tries to tame it to prove the dragons aren’t dangerous creatures. His father’s insistence on stopping the test makes the Monstrous Nightmare revert into its regular state into attacking Hiccup. Toothless hears his human friend’s cries of fear and help from the cove and rushes to save him, climbing out of the cove by himself and running through the forest. Astrid enters the battle arena in an attempt to save Hiccup but fails to fight off the Monstrous Nightmare. Stoick helps Astrid get out of the arena but Hiccup is stopped short when the dragon blocks him from escaping. Toothless arrives in the nick of time and saves Hiccup by fighting away the Monstrous Nightmare. The other Vikings are in awe at the Night Fury and jump into the arena to capture him. In defense, Toothless attacks the Vikings, including Stoick, to stop them from harming his human friend. Hiccup tries to order Toothless to leave before he is captured, but Toothless’s strong devotion to protecting Hiccup causes him to stay put. Hiccup barely stops Toothless from using his fire on Stoick before the Vikings eventually overwhelm him. Hiccup tries to explain to his father dragons are nowhere near as harmful as they think they are and why the Dragons were so fierce when they took the Viking’s livestock, but Stoick refuses to listen, outraged at his son for befriended his enemy. During his attempt to explain, Hiccup accidentally mentions the Dragon’s Nest, the Red Death, and its treatment of the dragons and says only a dragon can enter the Nest, giving Stoick the idea to use Toothless as the ticket to get there. Hiccup tries to explain again to his father about the Red Death but Stoick still refuses to listen and simply says to Hiccup that he is no longer his son and accuses him of siding with the dragons.

Hiccup talks to his dad about the Dragons’ innocence and the Red Death.

The Vikings prepare themselves and leave to fight the dragons, keeping Toothless chained up aboard one of their ships. Hiccup watches them leave from the village’s harbor just as Astrid comes to him and talks about his situation. Hiccup rants about being the first Viking in 300 years who wouldn’t kill a dragon, prompting Astrid to ask him why he didn’t kill Toothless. Hiccup explains he saw Toothless was as afraid as he was. Astrid encourages him to take action and get Toothless back. He teaches the other teens how to ride the arena dragons, then flies their way to the Dragon’s Nest.

The Vikings reach the Nest using a shackled Toothless as a guide, then use catapults to blow a hole in the Nest’s lower base. Upon doing so, the dragons flee from the enraged Red Death, causing it to break through the side and attack the Vikings, setting all of the longboats on fire, including the one Toothless is chained up on, leaving them with no escape. Stoick realizes the scale of the fight Hiccup tried to tell him and curses himself as a fool. He, along with Gobber, decide to sacrifice themselves to let the others escape. However, both them and the Red Death are halted in their efforts when Hiccup and his friends arrive on the dragon’s back and shoot at the back of the Red Death’s head. Hiccup instructs Snotlout, (riding the Monstrous Nightmare), and Fishlegs, (riding the Gronckle), to go to the Red Death’s blind spot and make noise to keep it confused while Ruffnut and Tuffnut, (riding the Hideous Zippleback), exhaust the Red Death’s shot limit and Astrid, (riding the Deadly Nadder), drops off Hiccup so he can free Toothless. However it turns out Fishlegs and Snotlout can’t find a blind spot due to multiple eyes on the side of its face but they continue to bash the shields, this works on the Red Death but also works on Fishlegs’ Gronckle and Snotlout’s Monstrous Nightmare. The Nightmare flings Snotlout onto the head of the Red Death while the Gronckle drops altitude. Fishlegs, before crashing, throws Snotlout his hammer which Snotlout uses to hit the Red Death’s eyes so it doesn’t step on Fishlegs. In the Red Death’s thrashing about in steps on the boat Hiccup and Toothless are on and Toothless sinks a few feet below water. Hiccup still tries to save him but passes out from lack of air. Stoick, amazed at what Hiccup and his friends did, dives down and saves them both. After apologizing to his son, he tells him he doesn’t have to face the dragon, but with a smile, Hiccup replies, “We’re Vikings: it’s an occupational hazard”, something Stoick said early in the movie. Telling Hiccup he’s proud to have him as his son, Stoick watches as Hiccup climbs aboard Toothless and heads toward the Red Death. Astrid instructs the twins to get Snotlout off the Red Death’s head which they do. However, Astrid is almost sucked in and eaten by the Red Death until Toothless and Hiccup stop it with a plasma blast. Astrid falls off her Nadder due to the force of the plasma explosion but Toothless catches her. After dropping her off, Astrid silently says “go”.

Hiccup and Toothless go to confront the Red Death

Hiccup angers the Red Death into following him with Toothless using a powerful plasma blast. After leading it up high enough into the dark clouds, they hide among them and while diving past at high speed, repeatedly blasting hole after hole into the Red Death’s wings. In pain and anger, the giant blasts a long stream of fire all around it, setting Toothless’ prosthetic tail-fin alight when the Night Fury can’t avoid the flames. Knowing they have little time left, Hiccup dives nearly straight down, the Red Death in hot pursuit. When he hears the sound of the Red Death heating its gasses to fry them, he waits for the last possible moment, then shouts to Toothless; Toothless spins around and fires a plasma blast directly into the Red Death’s mouth, prematurely igniting the gas and setting its insides on fire. Toothless twists away and slips past its head, as it realizes it’s about to hit the ground. However, when it spreads its wings to stop itself, all the holes in its wings tear into even bigger holes, rendering its wings useless.

As the huge dragon crashes at full speed and explodes, Hiccup is knocked off unconscious when Toothless is unable to turn away from hitting the Red Death’s tail after his prosthetic fin burned. Seeing Hiccup fall towards the flames beneath, Toothless dives into the inferno of the Red Death’s exploding body to save him. After the smoke from the battle clears, it is shown Toothless survived, with his prosthetic fin destroyed and his saddle empty and burned. Everyone believes Hiccup was killed in the explosion, reducing Stoick to tears. He apologizes, saying how sorry he was for not listening to his son. Toothless sees this and unfurls his wrapped up wings, revealing he has an unconscious Hiccup clutched to his body: his fire-proof dragonhide saved Hiccup’s life.

Hiccup after Astrid kissed him.

After about three weeks, Hiccup wakes up in his bed, which has been placed on the main floor at home, surprised Toothless is in his house to joyfully greet him. As he gets out of bed, after being licked by Toothless, he discovers he lost his left foot and lower shin (as Toothless was unable to fully enwrap those parts with his wings), which was replaced by a prosthetic made by Gobber. After taking a moment for the feelings of sadness and loss to pass by, Toothless helps him walk outside and where both of them are surprised to see the Vikings invited the dragons to live in the village. Hiccup is welcomed back as a hero and Astrid punches him for “scaring her” and gives him a kiss on the lips. After Toothless is fitted with a new fin and saddle that Gobber built, Hiccup, Astrid, and the other Viking teenagers ride their dragons through Berk as the new age of a Viking and dragon alliance begins.

Transcript

·        English: How to Train Your Dragon (transcript)

·        German: German transcript by AddyD

·        The transcript for the HTTYD Filmmakers Commentary is here.

Voice Cast

·        Jay Baruchel as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III

·        America Ferrera as Astrid Hofferson

·        Gerard Butler as Stoick the Vast

·        Craig Ferguson as Gobber the Belch

·        Jonah Hill as Snotlout Jorgenson

·        Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs Ingerman

·        T.J. Miller as Tuffnut Thorston

·        Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut Thorston

·        David Tennant as Spitelout Jorgenson

Dragon Characters

·        Toothless

·        Stormfly

·        Meatlug

·        Hookfang

·        Barf and Belch

·        Red Death

Dragons

·        Deadly Nadder

·        Gronckle

·        Hideous Zippleback

·        Monstrous Nightmare

·        Night Fury

·        Terrible Terror

·        Red Death

·        Boneknapper (mentioned and pictured)

·        Changewing (mentioned and pictured)

·        Scauldron (mentioned and pictured)

·        Skrill (mentioned and pictured)

·        Thunderdrum (mentioned and pictured)

·        Timberjack (mentioned and pictured)

·        Whispering Death (mentioned and pictured)

·        Snaptrapper (pictured)

·        Speed Stinger (pictured)

·        Grapple Grounder (possible statue)

Animals

·        Cat (mentioned)

·        Deer

·        Eel

·        Fish

·        Hippopotamus

·        Horse (mentioned)

·        Mouse (mentioned)

·        Mosquito (mentioned)

·        Parrot (mentioned)

·        Seagull

·        Shark

·        Sheep

·        Sparrow (mentioned)

Awards and Nominations

Main Article: List of Awards and Nominations for How to Train Your Dragon

Trivia

·        In the first battle with dragons, a Viking comes to Stoick, to tell him which Dragons are attacking. Stoick then asked: “Are there any Night Furies?” and the Viking responded: “None so far.” This could mean that Toothless wasn’t the last Night Fury at the time. It is possible that Stoick was only asking about the Night Fury fire shots, so Toothless was the only one already.

·        However, in the third film, Grimmel the Grisly was revealed to have hunted the Night Furies to extinction, also proving what Hiccup said in the film that no one ever killed a Night Fury was false (although Hiccup was unaware Grimmel killed off the Night Furies).

·        There are only seven species of dragons seen throughout the whole film.

·        The number of seven Dragons is very similar to the first Jurassic Park film where there were seven Dinosaurs.

·        Although based on the children’s book by Cressida Cowell, the film adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon has many fundamental differences in the setting and the way the characters are portrayed. It is said to be the prequel to Cressida Cowell’s books, since the books have Vikings and dragons friends already, thought the differences in dragon types between the books and movie (EXP: Book version Monstrous Nightmares are only about the size of a leopard, though in the movie they are large enough to ride) are too drastic for some fans to accept this answer, as well as the fact that movie-version Hiccup is repeatedly called Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, while, if this had been a prequel he would be Hiccup Horrendous Haddock I.

·        The Terrible Terror dragon was a tribute to the original Toothless by DreamWorks.

·        Toothless appears briefly in the DreamWorks opening logo.

·        Throughout the film, there are several cool details that may seem unnoticeable.

·        In the Downed Dragon scene, when the camera was panning across Toothless’ body, we can see his eyes were closed for a split-second but after the wing passes in front of it, his eyes are open. This was a mistake by the animators but they kept it because it looks creepy.

·        When Hiccup was reading the Dragon Manual in the Great Hall, a lightning bolt scared him. He continued reading the manual and if you look closely, we can see the dragon pictures moving. This is to show the fear Hiccup is experiencing.

·        After the Romantic Flight scene ended, Toothless takes Hiccup and Astrid to the Dragon Nest. Along the way, we see several dragons carrying food. But, if you look closely, you may notice that a Monstrous Nightmare was holding Gloria the hippo from another DreamWorks’ film, Madagascar.

·        Both Hiccup and Stoick said “I did this”, with their actions making Toothless and Hiccup forever crippled. Hiccup said it at the Downed Dragon scene, resulting in Toothless losing one of his tail fins. Stoick said it after the defeat of the Red Death, resulting in Hiccup losing one of his legs. It should also be noted that Toothless was lying in a state of semi-consciousness when they both said the line.

·        At the first Dragon Training, Gobber saved Hiccup from the Gronckle that is about to blast him and said to him that “a dragon will always go for the kill”. In the next scene, we can see Hiccup say, “So why didn’t you?”, similar to how Astrid said the same line to Hiccup when the Vikings are sailing to the Dragon Nest. Both Toothless and Hiccup are similar, neither could because they’re not monsters. When raiding Berk, Toothless only destroyed catapults and doesn’t steal food or kill Vikings. He spared Hiccup, while other dragons would kill him. Hiccup also has the same reason, he can’t kill a dragon. However, other Vikings would if given the opportunity.

Differences From the Novel

·        In the book, Toothless has no teeth, hence his name. In the film, he gets his name from his retractable teeth.

·        In the book, Toothless is a Common Dragon who is small enough to fit on Hiccup’s shoulder. In the film, he is a Night Fury, the rarest and most intelligent dragon, who is large enough to allow Astrid and Hiccup to fly on him.

·        In the book, it is part of the tradition to train a dragon or become exiled. In the film, it is part of the tradition to kill a dragon.

·        Astrid and Ruffnut don’t exist in the books.

·        In the book, Fishlegs is Hiccup’s best friend and is skinny. In the film, he isn’t friends with Hiccup until around the end of the movie and is chubby.

·        Common Dragons are replaced by Terrible Terrors.

·        In the film, the Green Death, a Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus, is replaced by the Red Death.

·        In the books, dragons can breathe underwater. In the film, Toothless nearly drowns, meaning they don’t have gills as in the series.

·        In the books, dragons are noted to be selfish and ungrateful, but this does not appear to be the case in the movie.

·        In the movies Hookfang is Snotlout’s dragon while in books he belongs to Stoick.

How to Take a Screenshot on your PC, Phone or Tablet

April 23, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Taking a screenshot is an important skill for young people and parents to have. This article will show you how to Screenshot an image on your mobile phone, computer and tablet. Not only are screenshots useful for demonstrating computer programs and accessing online resources when you don’t have an internet connection, but they are essential for recording evidence of cyberbullying.

It must be acknowledged that screenshots can be used to instigate bullying, as they allow the taker of the screenshot to copy incriminating photos and messages. However, in order for a young person to be prepared to handle cyberbullying situations, he/she must know how to record evidence of cyberbullying by taking screenshots.

What is a Screenshot?

But first, what exactly is a screenshot? A screenshot or screen capture is a picture taken by a computer, mobile, or tablet user, using the device in question, to record the visible items displayed on the screen. The image is stored as a graphics file. Screenshots can be taken using various programs or by using particular keyboard/button shortcuts.

How to Take a Screenshot on a Computer

Windows

  • Hit the PrtScn button/ or Print Scrn button,  to take a screenshot of the entire screen: When using Windows, pressing the Print Screen button (located in the top right of the keyboard) will take a screenshot of your entire screen. Hitting this button essentially copies an image of the screen to the clipboard. Where does it go? Well, you have to open Word, Paint, or some other image editing program to view, edit or save the image. For example, open Word and click Ctrl and v. This is a shortcut instead of right-clicking the mouse and selecting paste. If you’d like to capture only the active window press the Alt and PrtScn buttons together and paste them into your document like above.
    How to Screenshot
  • Use the Snipping Tool program to take and edit screenshots: If you’re having difficulty locating or using the Print Screen key you might prefer to use Snipping Tool. Snipping Tool is a program that is included for free with Windows 7,How to ScreenshotWindows Vista, and several other Windows products. It allows you to take screenshots easily by clicking New and then selecting the area that you’d like to screenshot. You can then edit the screenshot, using highlighter and pen tools. Snipping Tool is just one of the numerous tools available to assist you in taking screenshots.

Some laptops, in particular, mightn’t have a PrtScn key. The user manual that came with your machine should have instructions on different key combinations that can be used for taking screenshots.

Mac

  • Hit the Command, Shift, and 3 keys together to take a screenshot of the entire screen: When using Mac, pressing the Command, Shift and 3 buttons together will take a screenshot of your entire screen. This screenshot will be automatically saved to your desktop. Press the Command, Shift, and 4 keys together to take a screenshot of a selected area.
How to Screenshot
  • Use the Grab tool to take a screenshot: An alternative to the keyboard shortcuts on Mac is to use the Grab tool. Grab is a program that is included for free with Macs. It allows you to take screenshots easily by clicking Capture and then selecting the type of screenshot that you’d like to take. Grab is just one of the numerous tools available to assist you in taking screenshots.

How to Screenshot

How to Take a Screenshot on a Smartphone/Tablet

How to take a screenshot on a smartphone or tablet varies depending on the operating system and device used. The easiest way to find out how to screenshot on your device is to search online. The following videos, available on Youtube, show how to take screenshots with some of the most popular phones and tablets. Generally speaking, to take a screenshot on a phone or tablet, you press the power key and the home button at the same time. Your screenshot will add itself to your gallery.  

Android

View the video here: youtube.com/watch?v=Eirs0kCo7qs

iOS (Apple)

View the video here: youtube.com/watch?v=hDkyqLgyBkE

How to Take a Screen record on a Phone

Screenrecord

Please be aware that many phones nowadays can screen record, meaning that they can record videos on the screen. A third-party app is needed for Android phones or older IoS phones. The Apple iOS 11 or later, has built-in screen record capabilities. These can be turned on by going to Settings/ Control Centre/ Customise Controls/ Screen Recording. You can access the screen recording feature in your control panel by swiping up on the home screen. Recordings are saved onto the camera roll. For details on how to set up screen record on iOS: View the video

How to Order Food in German: What You Need to Know to Get Fed Right

April 23, 2022 / / 0 Comments

One of the most exciting things about adventuring around a new country is getting to taste all the great regional specialties that you might never have even heard of.

In Germany, that includes a lot of hearty meat dishes and regional variations on comfort food classics.

Even if you aren’t jetting off to Germany anytime soon, learning how to order food is still a really necessary part of language to have. 

So, with all that in mind, here’s our guide to ordering food in Germany.

Arriving at the Restaurant

If the restaurant is popular, it may be a good idea to call ahead or pop in beforehand to reserve a spot.

  • Kann ich einen Tisch reservieren, bitte? (Can I please reserve a table?)
  • Haben Sie Platz für zwei/drei/vier? (Do you have room for two/three/four?)
  • Wir sind zu zweit/dritt/viert. (There are two/three/four of us.) — In German, when you’re saying how many people you are, you need to use a different form of the number.

Reading the German Menu

Once you’re all sat down, it’s time to open the menu. Here’s the vocab you’ll want to know:

  • die Speisekarte (menu)
  • das Menü (set meal) — This is one can really baffle native English speakers who at first think the Menü option means ordering the entire menu! It’s actually a set meal. You’ll see this mainly in fast food takeouts—there’ll be a set price for ordering a meal plus a drink and/or side.
  • das Essen (food) — The word for “food” is exactly the same as the verb “to eat.” Just remember it needs a capital letter because it’s a noun.
  • das Hauptgericht (main course)
  • die Vorspeise (starter)
  • der Nachtisch (dessert) — Literally, “after table.”
  • das Frühstück (breakfast)
  • das Mittagessen (lunch)
  • das Abendessen (dinner)
  • vegetarisch (vegetarian)
  • Zum mitnehmen, bitte. (To take away, please.) — Almost all restaurants will offer their dishes to take out.

das Fleisch (Meat)

  • das Rindfleisch (beef)
  • das Schweinefleisch (pork)
  • das Lamm (lamb)
  • das Hähnchen (chicken)
  • die Pute (turkey)
  • das Wildfleisch (game)
  • der Fisch (fish)

das Obst (Fruit)

  • der Apfel (apple)
  • die Banane (banana)
  • die Orange (orange)
  • die Erdbeeren (strawberries)
  • die Trauben (grapes)

das Gemüse (Vegetables)

  • die Kartoffel (potato)
  • die Karotte / die Möhre (carrot)
  • der Pilz / der Champignon (mushroom)
  • der Kohl / das Kraut (cabbage)
  • die Bohnen (beans)
  • die Erbsen (peas)

das Getränk (drink)

  • das Wasser (water)
  • die Milch (milk)
  • das Bier (beer)
  • der Tee (tea)
  • Der Kaffee (coffee)
  • das Cola (Coca-Cola)
  • die Limo (lemonade)

German Specialties

If you aren’t so familiar with famous German dishes, this list will keep you right.

  • die Bratwurst — A grilled sausage, often served in a crispy bread bun with a dollop of Senf.
  • der Senf — A German-style mustard. You can also get Süßsenf (sweet mustard) which is traditionally eaten with Weißwurst (white sausage) and Bretzeln (pretzels).
  • die Kohlroulade — Cabbage roll. Cooked cabbage leaves are rolled around different fillings. Popular fillings include beef or pork.
  • das Schnitzel — Technically an Austrian specialty rather than German, but this is still widely eaten across Germany. It’s a thin slice of meat (traditionally veal but usually pork) that is covered in breadcrumbs and fried. You can usually have it as it is or with a sauce.
  • die Bratkartoffeln — A side dish of fried potatoes, often served with bacon and onions.
  • das Sauerkraut — Fermented cabbage, another very popular side dish.
  • die Schweinshaxe — Grilled knuckle of pork. If you also see Eisbein on the menu, it’s also a knuckle of pork but boiled instead of grilled.
  • die Käsespätzle — A popular vegetarian dish, especially in southern Germany—handmade noodles topped with cheese.

How to Order in German

The conditional tense is used in language to explain that something might happen. If there is a possibility something will occur, and we want to get that across, then we use the conditional.

In English we generally do this by using the verb “would.” This is also the case in German, and the verb is würden. 

Ich würde den Rock kaufen. (I would buy the skirt.)

Er würde nach Mexiko. (He would go to Mexico.)

We need this tense when ordering food because we want to say we would like something. However, we don’t use würden because there are two set phrases for “would like.”

Ich möchte (I would like)

Ich hätte gern (I would like)

It’s super easy to construct sentences using these phrases. You simply start your sentence off with either of these phrases. Here are a few (food related!) examples.

Ich hätte gern zwei Brötchen bitte. (I would like two bread buns please.)

Ich möchte einen Apfelsaft. (I would like an apple juice.)

Ich hätte gern 200 Gramm Käse. (I would like 200 grams of cheese.)

Ich möchte einen Tisch um 20 Uhr reservieren. (I would like to reserve a table at 8 p.m.)

Notice that, while these two phrases are almost interchangeable, hätte gern cannot be used with another verb. Thus you cannot say ich hätte gern einen Tisch reservieren (I’d like to have a table reserve), but you can say ich möchte einen Tisch or ich hätte gern einen Tisch (I’d like a table).

Making Special Requests in German

Here are some really useful German phrases if you have any special dietary requirements:

  • Ist das Gericht glutenfrei/nussfrei? (Is the dish gluten free/free from nuts?)
  • Gibt es etwas Veganes? (Is there a vegan option?) — Etwas is usually shortened to was and the entire phrase would usually be pronounced “Gibt’s was Veganes?”
  • Ich möchte es lieber ohne scharf. (I’d prefer it not too spicy.) — You might sometimes be asked “mit scharf?” (Would you like it spicy?) This is actually not “proper” German, but you’ll hear it at fast food kiosks in Berlin, for example. If you prefer, you could use the more grammatical phrase nicht scharf at a restaurant.
  • Ist es möglich, das Gericht ohne das Spiegelei/die Pommes/die Bratensoße zu haben? (Is it possible to have the dish without the fried egg/french fries/gravy?)

German Phrases for During the Meal

In Germany, it’s usual to greet everyone at the beginning of a meal.

  • Guten Appetit! (Enjoy your meal!)
  • Mahlzeit! — This word literally means “mealtime” and comes from the archaic phrase gesegnete Mahlzeit (blessed mealtime). Nowadays it’s used as a salutation, so if you bump into someone around lunch or dinner—especially if you’re on a lunch break from work—then you would greet them by saying “Mahlzeit” rather than “hallo” or “guten Tag.”

To respond, you can either repeat “Mahlzeit” or just say “danke” (thank you). Mahlzeit can also be used as a negative term; if two people see something that might put them off from eating, they may sarcastically say “Mahlzeit!” to one another. In Northern Germany this salutation can be used even when there is no connection to food or mealtimes, however in Southern Germany and Austria it’s only ever used when there is an obvious connection to food.

  • Kannst du mir das Salz geben, bitte? (Can you please pass me the salt?)
  • Schmeckt es dir? (Do you like it?) — This can also be translated as “Is it tasty?”
  • Entschuldigung! (Excuse me!) — To be really formal you can also say “Entschuldigen Sie bitte” (Excuse me).
  • Können wir mehr Wasser haben, bitte? (Can we have more water, please?)

At the End of the Meal

When you’re all done, it’s time to wrap up.

  • die Rechnung (the check)
  • das Trinkgeld (the tip) — To tip in Germany, you just need to round up your bill to the nearest euro.
  • Ich möchte zahlen. (I’d like to pay.)

Useful Resources for Learning How to Order Food in German

Here are some additional websites that provide a lot of extra information about ordering food in German. Check them out and see how many of the above words and phrases you see!

  • YouTube. There are quite a few videos in which actors role play a restaurant or cafe scenario. This one from “Get Germanized” offers a lot of great vocab and grammar tips.
  • FluentU. This language learning program uses authentic German web videos like travel guides and recipe videos to teach you the language the way native speakers use it. The videos on FluentU can be searched and sorted by topic, letting you easily find content about food and restaurants. There are also themed flashcard sets that will let you review key vocabulary about food and related topics.
  • WikiHow. This WikiHow on ordering food in Germany has handy pictures to help guide you through the steps.
  • Food blogs. German food blogs can inspire you to get into the kitchen. While you’re working through their wonderful recipes, you’ll also be picking up a lot of vocabulary you’ll be able to use when eating out.

If you want to practice ordering at home, one great idea would be to set up a scenario and role play with some friends or classmates. Role play is a great way to practice your speaking in real-life scenarios, while keeping it fun and laid back.

Now you can impress any German waiters you may come across on your travels! Is anyone else’s tummy rumbling? This post has got me hungry… time to pull out my best German cooking skills in the kitchen!

How to Open Task Manager in Windows 10/ windows 11

April 23, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Windows Task Manager is an advanced utility tool that helps you manage your apps that are running.

Task Manager lets you see which apps are open and which you’re using. You can also see which apps are running in the background that you didn’t open yourself.

One important reason that you might want to open Task Manager is to stop apps that are making windows unresponsive.

There are a few different ways to open Task Manager. So in this article, I will walk you through 7 ways you can open Task Manager on Windows 10.

1. How to Open Task Manager with Windows Search

The easiest way to find anything on a Windows machine is to search for it. Task Manager is not an exception.

  • Click on the search icon then type “Task Manager” in the search bar.
  • Task Manager will pop up as a search result, and you can open it from there.
search

2. How to Open Task Manager with Keyboard Shortcuts

Some apps might go rogue and stop Windows from responding, so you might not have access to Windows Search in such situations.

Windows has two different key combinations with which you can open up Task Manager in case you want to see running apps or stop an app.

  • You can open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc all together. This opens Task Manager straightaway
  • You can also open Task Manager from the GINA screen by pressing and holding Ctrl + Alt + Del.

Some apps might prevent you from accessing Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc, but pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del will always open up the Graphical Identification and Authentication (GINA) screen for you so you can select and open Task Manager from there.

gina-screen

3. How to Open Task Manager through the Control Panel

You can use the Control Panel search option to open Task Manager.

Type “Task Manager” in the search bar and you will see a link to Task Manager under “System”.

ControlPanel

4. How to Open Task Manger through the Start Menu

A lot of people prefer opening apps from the start menu. You can open Task Manager from there too.

  • Click on the Windows icon, or press the WIN Key on the keyboard.
  • Scroll to the bottom and open up the Windows system folder
  • Task Manager will be shown alongside some other apps – just select it there to open it.
startMenu

5. How to Open Task Manager with the Run Command

Many apps and folders can be opened with the run dialogue on Windows 10. There’s a command for opening Task Manager from there too.

  • Press the WIN + R keys on the keyboard to open the run dialogue
  • Type “taskmgr” and click “Ok” to open the Task Manager.
runCommand

6. How to Open Task Manager from the Taskbar

You can open the Task Manager from Taskbar too.

Right-click on an empty space in the taskbar then select “Task Manager”.

taskbar

7. How to Open Task Manager from the Windows Power User Menu

In addition to the 6 methods we’ve already seen, you can open Task Manager by right-clicking in the Windows logo and then selecting “Task Manager” from the menu that pops up.

You can also get there by pressing and holding the Win + X keys on the keyboard and then selecting “Task Manager” from the menu.

powerUser

Conclusion

Windows Task Manager is a very powerful tool that can greatly increase your productivity. With it, you can see which apps are running and stop those that are causing issues.

In this article, you’ve learned about several ways to open Task Manager on Windows 10 so you can have a better experience using it.

Thank you for reading, and have a nice time.

How to Open RAR and ZIP Files on a PC, Mac, or Mobile Device

April 23, 2022 / / 0 Comments

If you’ve ever gotten a mail with a rar or zip file attached, and have not been sure how to open it, then this guide can help clear up your doubts. These are two popular compressed file formats, which are used to reduce the number of space files take up – very handy when you want to send a mail, or are keeping data for long-term storage.

Even if you know how to open them on your computer, you might find it a little more difficult on your phone or tablet, but with the right software, it’s easy to do, no matter what device you’re using. On the Mac and PC, software like WinZip and WinRAR easily open all kinds of archives, but they’re not the simplest tools we found. Read on to find out the easiest way to unpack an archive:

Windows

Opening zip files is easy on Windows. If you have Windows 7 or 8, the OS can open zip files without any software. Opening RAR files will require a free tool called 7-Zip. Once you install 7-Zip, follow these steps to open rar files:

1) Right-click the rar file to be opened.

2) Select “7-Zip > Extract files”.

3) In the pop-up box that shows up, choose the folder where you’d like to extract the compressed files and click “OK”. If you choose “Extract Here” instead, then the files are saved in the folder where the archive is stored.

OS X

To open RAR files on Mac OS X, install a free rar extractor app such as RAR Extractor Free. Once installed, follow these steps:

1) Right-click the RAR file and select “Open With”.

2) Now choose RAR Extractor Free from the list of programs. This automatically extracts the contents of the archive in the directory the rar file is in.

After you’ve opened an archive with “Open With” once, future archives can be unpacked by double-clicking on the file.

iOS

Due to iOS’s restrictions on access to the file system, opening compressed files is not straightforward. Most apps will ask you to pay for access to cloud storage services such as Dropbox. However, there are ad-supported free apps such as Zip & RAR File Extractor Free that let you open compressed files. Here’s how to do it.

1) Open the app which has your rar file. If it was sent over email, then open the email app. If it is in a cloud storage app, then open that.

2) Tap the zip or RAR file you want to open.

3) Depending on the app, you will either see a menu pop up, asking you which app you want to open the file with, or you will see an error saying the app can’t open the file.

4) If you see the latter, hit the share button (a box with an arrow pointing upward).

5) This will show you the menu mentioned in step 3. Here, select Open in Zip Extractor to open your compressed file.

6) Tap Extract to see the files that were in the rar file.

Android

Extracting compressed files is very easy on Android. Here’s how you can do that quickly.

1) Install the free RAR for Android app.

2) Open the app and navigate to the folder that has your rar file. To find your SD card, tap the “three books” icon on the top left.

3) Once you’ve found the rar file, simply tap on it to open it.

BlackBerry 10

While there are a lot of apps to open RAR files on the BlackBerry App World, two of the free ones we tried didn’t open the files. Luckily, BlackBerry 10 users can install Android apps – we’d recommend installing the Amazon Appstore to simplify the process.

1) Head to Amazon and follow the instructions to download and install the Appstore.

2) Now, from the Appstore install Easy Unrar and open the app.

3) If you get a RAR file as an email attachment, tapping the file will open it in Easy Unrar.

4) If the file is on your phone, open Easy Unrar and go to the folder which has your file.

5) Check the RAR file you want to open, then tap “Open Archive”. Now select the files you want to extract and tap “Extract”.

Windows Phone

Microsoft’s Windows Phone has a free app to help you open RAR files. Go through these instructions to open them.

1) Install Archiver from the Windows Phone store.

2) Once the app is installed, it will open all year files in email attachments as soon as you tap those.

3) You can also open the app to open downloaded rar files. Swipe left to sign in to SkyDrive and open RAR files stored in the cloud.

That is how you open RAR files on any device for free. Did you find this useful? Is there any other app that you prefer to open RAR files? The comment section is open to all, feel free to speak up.

How to Not Die Alone: The Surprising Science That Will Help You Find Love-logan ury

April 23, 2022 / / 0 Comments

A “must-read” (The Washington Post) funny and practical guide to help you find, build, and keep the relationship of your dreams.

Have you ever looked around and wondered, “Why has everyone found love except me?” You’re not the only one. Great relationships don’t just appear in our lives—they’re the culmination of a series of decisions, including whom to date, how to end it with the wrong person, and when to commit to the right one. But our brains often get in the way. We make poor decisions, which thwart us on our quest to find lasting love.

Drawing from years of research, behavioral scientist turned dating coach Logan Ury reveals the hidden forces that cause those mistakes. But awareness on its own doesn’t lead to results. You have to actually change your behavior. Ury shows you how.

This “simple-to-use guide” (Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone) focuses on a different decision in each chapter, incorporating insights from behavioral science, original research, and real-life stories. You’ll learn:

-What’s holding you back in dating (and how to break the pattern)

-What really matters in a long-term partner (and what really doesn’t)

-How to overcome the perils of online dating (and make the apps work for you)

-How to meet more people in real life (while doing activities you love)

-How to make dates fun again (so they stop feeling like job interviews)

-Why “the spark” is a myth (but you’ll find love anyway)

This “data-driven” (Time), step-by-step guide to relationships, complete with hands-on exercises, is designed to transform your life. How to Not Die Alone will help you find, build, and keep the relationship of your dreams.

Click to get book

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How to negotiate Salary- How to Negotiate Salary After You Get a Job Offer

April 23, 2022 / / 0 Comments

It’s not surprising that many people aren’t comfortable asking for more money once their job search has ended and they have an offer in front of them. If the salary is reasonable, they don’t want to jeopardize the opportunity now that they’ve gotten this far.

But as the 2022 Salary Guide From Robert Half points out, hiring has reached or even exceeded pre-pandemic levels in many markets. On top of that, there’s a shortage of skilled professionals, which is increasing competition for top talent and driving up salaries.

If you have specialized skills and an impressive resume, you could be leaving money on the table if you don’t negotiate a salary offer.

Most hiring managers will allow you to do some thinking about the offer and won’t expect an immediate answer. So, do it! Here are eight tips for how to negotiate the salary that can help you tactfully and confidently ask for what you want.

1. Become familiar with industry salary trends

You need to enter a salary negotiation as informed as possible. Information is your strongest ally. To get a current, realistic view of the compensation landscape in your field, consult the Robert Half Salary Guide. You’ll find the going rate for your position and experience level and can adjust national figures for your geographic area.

Pay particular attention to the “hottest jobs” and “most in-demand skills” sections of the Salary Guide. You can respond more confidently if you find you’re in the running for one of those hot jobs. The employer may be having a tough time finding someone with enough skills and experience, and that opens the door to negotiating higher pay.

2. Build your case

Once you receive the salary offer, don’t just counter with a higher number. Even if your research supports it, you’ll be more successful if you explain why you feel you deserve more. Highlight your strengths, detailing all the extras the firm would get from someone with your track record.

Before negotiating, jot down concrete examples of how your skills and experience will benefit your new company’s bottom line. Possessing certifications or specialized technical skills, for example, can enhance your ability to do the job, so don’t fail to mention them. By tying your strengths to the role you’ll be taking on, you’ll make a solid case for why you should be paid more than the initial offer.

3. Tell the truth

Complete honesty is paramount when negotiating salary. There’s no better way to see your offer withdrawn than having a hiring manager find out you invented a competing job offer or inflated your salaries from past jobs.

4. Factor in perks and benefits

Salary negotiations often include some give-and-take on employee perks and benefits. It may be less costly than a bump in salary for the employer to give ground on extra vacation days, flexible hours, or, especially today, a work-from-home schedule.

Consider what’s valuable to you and what would make an offer more attractive. If you’re considering multiple offers, remember to directly compare health insurance coverage, retirement savings plans, and other benefits to make an informed decision. Also factor in perks such as professional development opportunities with the potential employer.

5. Practice your delivery

This may sound like overkill to some people, but it’s a good idea to ask a friend or mentor to practice with you the conversation you’re likely to have with the hiring manager. The ideal partner is someone from the corporate world — a business-savvy person who can coach you on projecting confidence and answering unexpected questions. Running through your delivery several times can make you feel more sure of yourself heading into the salary discussion.

6. Know when to wrap it up

A reasonable employer won’t withdraw an offer just because you tried to negotiate. But dragging out the salary negotiation can frustrate the hiring manager and start your relationship on a sour note. If the company can’t meet your requirements after a few discussions, respectfully withdraw and focus on opportunities that better match your compensation expectations.

7. Get everything in writing

Once you and the hiring manager settle on a compensation package, ask for written documentation. Besides the salary amount, it should include any special arrangements, such as a signing bonus or allowance for moving expenses, and a job description and a list of responsibilities for your new role. Ensure the document is signed by both you and the employer. Some companies may provide this automatically as part of an employment contract, but if not, request some type of informal documentation.

8. Stay positive

Remember that most managers don’t love negotiating, either. Your future employer is not your adversary. Keeping your tone positive while negotiating salary and perks will help you more effectively navigate these discussions.

If you’d like to get a better starting salary offer, you have to ask for it. Job seekers too often accept the first number that’s put on the table. But whether the economy is strong or uncertain, employers are eager to bring on team members with specialized skills and expertise that can help them the most. Homework, tact, and confidence are the keys to your success.

How to Meditate

April 23, 2022 / / 0 Comments

When we meditate, we inject far-reaching and long-lasting benefits into our lives: We lower our stress levels, we get to know our pain, we connect better, we improve our focus, and we’re kinder to ourselves. Let us walk you through the basics in our new mindful guide on how to meditate.

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We welcome you to our Mindful guide to meditation, which includes a variety of styles of meditation, information about the benefits of each practice, and free guided audio practices that help you learn how to meditate and incorporate meditation into your daily life. Keep reading to learn more about the basics of this transformative practice that enables us to find more joy in daily living.

What is Meditation?

A brief explanation of the practice.

How do you learn to meditate? In mindfulness meditation, we’re learning how to pay attention to the breath as it goes in and out, and notice when the mind wanders from this task. This practice of returning to the breath builds the muscles of attention and mindfulness.

When we pay attention to our breath, we are learning how to return to, and remain in, the present moment—to anchor ourselves in the here and now on purpose, without judgment.

The idea behind mindfulness seems simple—the practice takes patience. Indeed, renowned meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg recounts that her first experience with meditation showed her how quickly the mind gets caught up in other tasks. “I thought, okay, what will it be, like, 800 breaths before my mind starts to wander? And to my absolute amazement, it was one breath, and I’d be gone,” says Salzberg.

Why Learn to Meditate?

A selection of benefits that are associated with meditating.

While meditation isn’t a cure-all, it can certainly provide some much-needed space in your life. Sometimes, that’s all we need to make better choices for ourselves, our families, and our communities. And the most important tools you can bring with you to your meditation practice are a little patience, some kindness for yourself, and a comfortable place to sit.

When we meditate, we inject far-reaching and long-lasting benefits into our lives. And bonus: you don’t need any extra gear or an expensive membership.

Here are five reasons to meditate:
  1. Understanding your pain
  2. Lower your stress
  3. Connect better
  4. Improve focus
  5. Reduce brain chatter

How to Meditate

Meditation is something everyone can do, here’s how.

Meditation is simpler (and harder) than most people think. Read these steps, make sure you’re somewhere where you can relax into this process, set a timer, and give it a shot:

1) Take a seat

Find a place to sit that feels calm and quiet to you.

2) Set a time limit

If you’re just beginning, it can help to choose a short time, such as five or 10 minutes.

3) Notice your body

You can sit in a chair with your feet on the floor, you can sit loosely cross-legged, you can kneel—all are fine. Just make sure you are stable and in a position, you can stay in for a while.

4) Feel your breath

Follow the sensation of your breath as it goes in and as it goes out.

5) Notice when your mind has wandered

Inevitably, your attention will leave the breath and wander to other places. When you get around to noticing that your mind has wandered—in a few seconds, a minute, five minutes—simply return your attention to the breath.

6) Be kind to your wandering mind

Don’t judge yourself or obsess over the content of the thoughts you find yourself lost in. Just come back.

7) Close with kindness

When you’re ready, gently lift your gaze (if your eyes are closed, open them). Take a moment and notice any sounds in the environment. Notice how your body feels right now. Notice your thoughts and emotions.

That’s it! That’s the practice. You focus your attention, your mind wanders, you bring it back, and you try to do it as kindly as possible (as many times as you need to).

How Much Should I Meditate?

Meditation is no more complicated than what we’ve described above. It is that simple … and that challenging. It’s also powerful and worth it. The key is to commit to sitting every day, even if it’s for five minutes. Meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg says: “One of my meditation teachers said that the most important moment in your meditation practice is the moment you sit down to do it. Because right then you’re saying to yourself that you believe in change, you believe in caring for yourself, and you’re making it real. You’re not just holding some value like mindfulness or compassion in the abstract, but making it real.”

Recent research from neuroscientist Amishi Jha discovered that 12 minutes of meditation, 5 days a week can protect and strengthen your ability to pay attention.

Meditation Tips and Techniques

We’ve gone over the basic breath meditation so far, but other mindfulness techniques use different focal points than the breath to anchor our attention—external objects like a sound in the room, or something broader, such as noticing spontaneous things that come into your awareness during an aimless wandering practice. But all of these practices have one thing in common: We notice that our minds ARE running the show a lot of the time. It’s true. We think thoughts, typically, and then we act. But here are some helpful strategies to change that up:

How to Make Mindfulness a Habit

It’s estimated that 95% of our behavior runs on autopilot. That’s because neural networks underlie all of our habits, reducing our millions of sensory inputs per second into manageable shortcuts so we can function in this crazy world. These default brain signals are so efficient that they often cause us to relapse into old behaviors before we remember what we meant to do instead. 

Mindfulness is the exact opposite of these default processes. It’s executive control rather than autopilot and enables intentional actions, willpower, and decisions. But that takes practice. The more we activate the intentional brain, the stronger it gets. Every time we do something deliberate and new, we stimulate neuroplasticity, activating our grey matter, which is full of newly sprouted neurons that have not yet been groomed for “autopilot” brain. 

But here’s the problem. While our intentional brain knows what is best for us, our autopilot brain causes us to shortcut our way through life. So how can we trigger ourselves to be mindful when we need it most? This is where the notion of “behavior design” comes in. It’s a way to put your intentional brain in the driver’s seat. There are two ways to do that—first, slowing down the autopilot brain by putting obstacles in its way, and second, removing obstacles in the path of the intentional brain, so it can gain control. 

Shifting the balance to give your intentional brain more power takes some work, though. Here are some ways to get started. 

  • Put meditation reminders around you. If you intend to do some yoga or to meditate, put your yoga mat or your meditation cushion in the middle of your floor so you can’t miss it as you walk by. 
  • Refresh your reminders regularly. Say you decide to use sticky notes to remind yourself of a new intention. That might work for about a week, but then your autopilot brain and old habits take over again. Try writing new notes to yourself; add variety or make them funny. That way they’ll stick with you longer. 
  • Create new patterns. You could try a series of “If this, then that” messages to create easy reminders to shift into the intentional brain. For instance, you might come up with, “If office door, then deep breath,” as a way to shift into mindfulness as you are about to start your workday. Or, “If the phone rings, take a breath before answering.” Each intentional action to shift into mindfulness will strengthen your intentional brain.

Some Basic Meditations

These are some meditation practices to get you going.

A Basic Meditation for Beginners

The first thing to clarify: What we’re doing here is aiming for mindfulness, not some process that magically wipes your mind clear of the countless and endless thoughts that erupt and ping constantly in our brains. We’re just practicing bringing our attention to our breath, and then back to the breath when we notice our attention has wandered.

  • Get comfortable and prepare to sit still for a few minutes. After you stop reading this, you’re going to simply focus on your natural inhaling and exhaling breath.
  • Focus on your breath. Where do you feel your breath most? In your belly? In your nose? Try to keep your attention on your inhale and exhale.
  • Follow your breath for two minutes. Take a deep inhale, expanding your belly, and then exhale slowly, elongating the out-breath as your belly contracts.

Welcome back. What happened? How long was it before your mind wandered away from your breath? Did notice how busy your mind was even without your consciously directing it to think about anything in particular? Did you notice yourself getting caught up in thoughts before you came back to reading this? We often have little narratives running in our minds that we didn’t choose to put there, like: “Why DOES my boss want to meet with me tomorrow?” “I should have gone to the gym yesterday.” “I’ve got to pay some bills” or (the classic) “I don’t have time to sit still, I’ve got stuff to do.”

If you experienced these sorts of distractions (and we all do), you’ve made an important discovery: simply put, that’s the opposite of mindfulness. It’s when we live in our heads, on automatic pilot, letting our thoughts go here and there, exploring, say, the future or the past, and essentially, not being present in the moment. But that’s where most of us live most of the time—and pretty uncomfortably, if we’re being honest, right? But it doesn’t have to be that way.

We “practice” mindfulness so we can learn how to recognize when our minds are doing their normal acrobatics, and maybe take a pause from that for just a little while so we can choose what we’d like to focus on. In a nutshell, meditation helps us have a much healthier relationship with ourselves (and, by extension, with others).

3 Guided Meditations for Beginners

Guided meditations are an excellent tool for beginners, as they provide a focal point and gentle instruction to help you connect and let go of self-judgment.

Try this 3-part guided audio series from Mindful Editor-in-Chief Barry Boyce:

How long would you like to meditate? Sometimes we only have time for a quick check-in, sometimes we can dip in a little longer. Meditating helps build awareness, fosters resilience, and lower stress. Try to make meditation a habit by practicing with these short meditations from our founding editor Barry Boyce. Find time to site once a day for one month and see what you notice.

1-Minute Meditation

  • 2:36

A short practice for settling the mind, intended for doing in the middle of the day, wherever you are out in the world.

10-Minute Meditation

  • 10:28

A longer practice that explores meditation posture, breathing techniques, and working with thoughts and emotions as they surface during mindfulness practice.

15-Minute Meditation

  • 15:54

A practice that explores sitting in formal meditation for longer periods.

More Styles of Mindfulness Meditation

Once you have explored a basic seated meditation practice, you might want to consider other forms of meditation including walking and lying down. Whereas the previous meditations used the breath as a focal point for practice, these meditations below focus on different parts of the body.

Introduction to the Body Scan Meditation

Try this: feel your feet on the ground right now. In your shoes or without, it doesn’t matter. Then track or scan over your whole body, bit by bit—slowly—up to the crown of your head. The point of this practice is to check in with your whole body: Fingertips to shoulders, butt to big toe. The only rules are No judging, no wondering, no worrying (all activities your mind may want to do); just check in with the physical feeling of being in your body. Aches and pains are fine. You don’t have to do anything about anything here. You’re just noticing.

Body Scan Meditation

  • 25:41

A brief body awareness practice for tuning in to sensations, head-to-toe.

Begin to focus your attention on different parts of your body. You can spotlight one particular area or go through a sequence like this: toes, feet (sole, heel, top of foot), through the legs, pelvis, abdomen, lower back, upper back, chest shoulders, arms down to the fingers, shoulders, neck, different parts of the face, and head. For each part of the body, linger for a few moments and notice the different sensations as you focus.

The moment you notice that your mind has wandered, return your attention to the part of the body you last remember.

If you fall asleep during this body-scan practice, that’s okay. When you realize you’ve been nodding off, take a deep breath to help you reawaken and perhaps reposition your body (which will also help wake it up). When you’re ready, return your attention to the part of the body you last remember focusing on.

Introduction to the Walking Meditation

Fact: Most of us live pretty sedentary lives, leaving us to build extra-curricular physical activity into our days to counteract all that. The point is: Mindfulness doesn’t have to feel like another thing on your to-do list. It can be injected into some of the activities you’re already doing. Here’s how to integrate a mindful walking practice into your day.

Walking Meditation

  • 8:58

A mindful movement practice for bringing awareness to what we feel with each step.

As you begin, walk at a natural pace. Place your hands wherever comfortable: on your belly, behind your back, or at your sides.

  • If you find it useful, you can count steps up to 10, and then start back at one again. If you’re in a small space, as you reach ten, pause, and with intention, choose a moment to turn around.
  • With each step, pay attention to the lifting and falling of your foot. Notice movement in your legs and the rest of your body. Notice any shifting of your body from side to side.
  • Whatever else captures your attention, come back to the sensation of walking. Your mind will wander, so without frustration, guide it back again as many times as you need.
  • Particularly outdoors, maintain a larger sense of the environment around you, taking it all in, staying safe and aware.

Introduction to Loving-Kindness Meditation

You cannot will yourself into particular feelings toward yourself or anyone else. Rather, you can practice reminding yourself that you deserve happiness and ease and that the same goes for your child, your family, your friends, your neighbors, and everyone else in the world.

A Loving-Kindness Meditation

  • 17:49

Explore this practice to extend compassion to yourself, those around you, and the larger world.

This loving-kindness practice involves silently repeating phrases that offer good qualities to oneself and others.

  1. You can start by taking delight in your goodness—calling to mind things you have done out of good-heartedness and rejoicing in those memories to celebrate the potential for the goodness we all share.
  2. Silently recite phrases that reflect what we wish most deeply for ourselves in an enduring way. Traditional phrases are:
    • May I live in safety.
    • May I have mental happiness (peace, joy).
    • May I have physical happiness (health, freedom from pain).
    • May I live with ease.
  3. Repeat the phrases with enough space and silence between them so they fall into a rhythm that is pleasing to you. Direct your attention to one phrase at a time.
  4. Each time you notice your attention has wandered, be kind to yourself and let go of the distraction. Come back to repeating the phrases without judging or disparaging yourself.
  5. After some time, visualize yourself in the center of a circle composed of those who have been kind to you, or have inspired you because of their love. Perhaps you’ve met them, or read about them; perhaps they live now or have existed historically or even mythically. That is the circle. As you visualize yourself in the center of it, experience yourself as the recipient of their love and attention. Keep gently repeating the phrases of loving-kindness for yourself.
  6. To close the session, let go of the visualization, and simply keep repeating the phrases for a few more minutes. Each time you do so, you are transforming your old, hurtful relationship with yourself, and are moving forward, sustained by the force of kindness.

Beyond the Beginning

What to know and where to go when you’ve started.

Frequently Asked Questions About Mindfulness Meditation, Answered

When you’re new to meditation, it’s natural for questions to pop up often. These answers may ease your mind.

1) If I have an itch, can I scratch it?

Yes—however, first try scratching it with your mind before using your fingers.

2) Should I breathe fast or slow or in between?

Only worry if you’ve stopped breathing. Otherwise, you’re doing fine. Breath in whatever way feels comfortable to you.

3) Should my eyes be open or closed? 

No hard-and-fast rules. Try both. If open, not too wide, and with a soft, slightly downward gaze, not focusing on anything in particular. If closed, not too hard, and not imagine anything in particular in your mind’s eye.

4) Is it possible I’m someone who just CAN NOT meditate?

When you find yourself asking that question, your meditation has officially begun. Everyone wonders that. Notice it. Escort your attention back to your object of focus (the breath). When you’re lost and questioning again, come back to breathing again. That’s the practice. There’s no limit to the number of times you can be distracted and come back to your breath. Meditating is not a race to perfection—It’s returning again and again to the breath.

5) Is it better to practice in a group or by myself?

Both are great! It’s enormously supportive to meditate with others. And, practicing on your own builds discipline.

6) What’s the best time of day to meditate? Whatever works. Consider your circumstances: children, pets, work. Experiment. But watch out. If you always choose the most convenient time, it will usually be tomorrow.

7) What if I get sexually (and physically) aroused by thoughts in my head?

No big deal. Meditation stokes the imagination. In time, every thought and sensation will pop up (so to speak). And come back. Same old story. Release the thought, bring awareness and receptivity to body sensations, and bring attention back to your chosen object (the breath, in this case). Repeat.

8) Do you have any tips on integrating pets into meditation practice?

While meditating, we don’t have to fight off distractions like a knight slaying dragons. If your dog or cat comes into the room and barks and meows and brushes up against you or settles down on a part of your cushion, no big deal. Let it be. What works less well is to interrupt your session to relate to them. If that’s what’s going to happen, try to find a way to avoid their interrupting your practice.

How to make Pancakes- Easy to do steps

April 23, 2022 / / 0 Comments

How to Make Pancakes at Home in Nigeria: Step-by-Step Guide

How to Make Pancakes, Diet, or Nigerian pancakes, is one of the world’s most popular recent trending meals. It is valued by millions of people every day.

It’s simple, quick, and delightful ~ check out YouTube videos on How to Make Pancakes at Home in Nigeria

Nigerian Pancake Recipe, is a snack and a delightful breakfast meal bundled into one.

Everyone enjoys a delicious Nigerian pancake, young and elderly alike. Nigerians love it thereby making it a popular snack.

How to Make Simple Pancakes  – Nigerian Pancake Recipe

It’s shallowly fried rather than deep-fried like most Nigerian treats. To put it another way, you fry in the same way that eggs are.

I grew up eating mostly homemade Nigerian traditional foods, especially Nigerian Pancakes for breakfast.

The African Pancake is a simple but delectable dish.

The African pancake, like most pancakes, is made out of “dry ingredients” such as flour, leavening, and sugar, as well as “wet ingredients” such as milk, egg, and butter.

How to Make Pancakes in Steps

Nigerian pancakes are often created with pancake mix, flour, eggs, evaporated or powdered milk flavor, pepper, onions, and you can also add carrot, green pepper, and nutmeg.

Trust natural ingredients to take the pancake to the next level and make it taste delicious.

Though some people believe that adding onions and pepper to fried pancakes makes them taste local – are you one of them? Please let me know in the comment section below.

Other spices and ingredients can be included in addition to the aforementioned ones; it all comes down to personal preference.

Do you know that some people explore pancakes without using eggs, baking powder, flour, milk, or other ingredients?

Nigerian fluffy pancakes are simple to prepare. You may make the batter the night before, keep it in the fridge, and fry it the next morning for a quick breakfast.

Here’s a simple Pancake recipe from scratch that you’ll love. Enjoy!

How to Make Nigerian Fried Pancakes at Home: Pancake Recipe

Breakfast recipe for Nigerian Pancakes – step-by-step instructions on how to cook pancakes in Nigeria (6 steps)

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/3 cup or 5 tbsp sugar
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1/3 cup Margarine
  • 1½ cups Milk (3 tablespoons powdered milk)
  • ¼ teaspoon grated Nutmeg
  • Some Chopped pepper
  • Some Chopped Onion
 Method
  1. Firstly, measure out the flour and baking powder and then, sieve them together into a bowl. Grate the nutmeg into the flour.
  2. Secondly, melt the margarine, beat the egg, and then, mix the milk in water.
  3. After that, mix all the wet ingredients, then, add sugar into the wet mixture to dissolve.
  4. Fourthly, pour the liquid mixture into the flour and blend well. Add the pepper together with the onion and then, mix.
  5. Now, allow the pancake batter to rest for about 10 minutes before frying in small quantities till golden brown.
  6. Finally, serve warm.

FAQs and Answers

Is baking powder necessary for pancakes? 

Is it true that baking powder cannot be used to make pancakes?

Yes, you can do so by following this recipe. Even if you don’t use baking powder, you can make a fluffier pancake by mixing beaten eggs into the batter.

What happens if you don’t add baking powder to your pancake batter?

These no-baking-powder soufflé pancakes are unbelievably light and fluffy! Whipped egg whites replace baking powder in the pancakes, giving them a light and airy texture.

In pancakes, what is the purpose of salt?

In cake recipes, the major purpose of salt is to bring out the flavors of the other components. As the components merge, it brings out the depth and complexity of the other flavors.

Salt balances the sweetness of cake batters, but no perceptible salty flavor should be allowed.

Is it necessary to use baking powder when making pancakes? Is it true that baking powder cannot be used to make pancakes?

Yes, you can do so by following this recipe. Even if you don’t use baking powder, you can make a fluffier pancake by mixing beaten eggs into the batter.

What happens if you don’t add baking powder to your pancake batter?

These no-baking-powder soufflé pancakes are unbelievably light and fluffy!

Whipped egg whites replace baking powder in the pancakes, giving them a light and airy texture.

Why do pancakes in restaurants taste better?

This is due to a chemical reaction that occurs when the liquid ingredients in a batch of batter are warm or at room temperature.

They create a chemical reaction by boosting the temperature of the gluten in the wheat, giving the ‘cakes a too bouncy quality.

What increases the fluffiness of pancakes? What makes pancakes fluffier?

When chemical leaveners like baking powder form bubbles in a cooked pancake, the gluten network captures them, allowing the pancake to rise and stay fluffy while yet maintaining its structure

What’s the secret to making great pancakes?

Pour your choice amount of batter (I use a four-ounce ladle) onto a dry, hot griddle or pan, flip once set bubbles appear around the edges of the pancake, and finish cooking for a few minutes on the other side. Transfer to a platter and serve.

In pancakes, what role does milk play?

Aside from flavor, the aim of milk in a pancake recipe is to dissolve the wheat and other ingredients while also providing a liquid structure

This implies that any liquid will suffice.

What happens if you forget to add baking soda to your pancake batter?

The absence of baking soda stops the cake from rising, however, baking powder can be substituted.

Baking soda is a salt that adds lightness and fluffiness to cuisine. Use a baking soda replacement if you don’t have this product on hand.

Your cake will not rise if you don’t use it, and it may turn out flat.

Baking powder or baking soda: what makes pancakes fluffy? Baking powder vs. baking soda

The baking powder is commonly used in pancake batter because conventional pancake batter lacks the acid necessary to activate baking soda.

This fluffy pancake recipe, on the other hand, calls for both baking powder and baking soda. The acid in the buttermilk activates the baking soda.

In pancakes, what role do eggs play?

Due to the lack of gluten in pancakes, the additional structure required to hold the bubbles and allow the pancake to rise is provided by eggs.

The yolk’s fat adds richness and taste to the dish. However, too much egg will make the pancake dense and custard-like, while too little would make it drier and biscuit-like

In pancakes, what is the most important ingredient?

Flour

The main ingredient in any pancake is flour. It gives the framework.

Because some flours absorb more moisture or produce more gluten (which ties the structure together), the structure changes

What is the science behind pancakes?

(For the acid/base reaction, use buttermilk and self-raising flour.)

Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas is produced when lactic acid combines with the bicarbonate in self-raising flour.

As the batter cooks, gas bubbles are trapped in the batter, resulting in a fluffy pancake.

What was the most expensive pancake?

Chef Matthew Downes of Manchester, England’s Opus Restaurant, has developed the world’s most expensive pancake, costing $1,300.

Pancakes with Scottish native paradise lobster, Russian Beluga caviar, Hulle Verge truffles, Scottish mussels, and langoustines are prepared by the chef.

Why does the first pancake turn out to be a flop? Why does the first pancake fail?

“As the metal heats up, it expands on a molecular level, so as you wash the warm pan, you’re seasoning it,” says the author.

You’re filling in those minuscule fissures so that the wet pancake batter doesn’t soak into the holes and stick to the pan, causing tearing and uncomfortable flips.

Is it possible for dogs to eat pancakes?

Yes, dogs can eat pancakes, to put it simply. There should be nothing in the pancake batter that might damage them.

"How

Thank you for taking the time to read How to Make Pancakes at Home. Go ahead and start cooking! Enjoy the offering

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