Pronunciation
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Special offer, the American English pronunciation |
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Pronunciation is how we pronounce or produce the
sounds of words. When learning English, one of
the most difficult subjects, besides grammar and
vocabularies, is pronunciation. To master the
English pronunciation, an English learner needs
to practice speaking words every day. Before he
or she can say the right sounds and intonations
of words, first, the English learner must listen
to how the words are spoken by native speakers.
Learning English Pronunciation from Native Speakers
This is an ideal way to improve your
pronunciation sounds. Try to find native
speakers of English in your town. Ask them
whether they can help you with pronunciation
exercises. The easiest way will be going to an
English language courses or schools and check
whether they provide native English teachers.
Most often, we find that these schools cannot
afford to pay native English teachers because
they are too expensive to be hired.
Pronunciation Software
With the improvement of technology, at present
time, various computer software and cassette
recordings about English pronunciation have been
available on the market. They are offered by
English schools or certain companies. Go to a
bookstore to find out whether such software is
available or not. If you cannot find the
pronunciation software at the bookstores or
language schools, you can still get them from
the internet. This kind of software can be
expensive but it's worth buying.
Phonetic Symbols in English Dictionary
When buying a dictionary, English learners must
check whether the pronunciation of the entries
are described using International Phonetic
Symbols. Read the
Pronunciation Dictionary
Learning the pronunciation from video
This is what I strongly recommend. There are a
lot of English learning videos available for
free on the internet. Just log on to Youtube and
type "pronunciation". A few seconds
later, you will get a lot of videos that are
related to English pronunciation. Their
durations can be as short as 1 minute to as long
as 10 minutes. Due to bad internet connection,
sometimes the words pronounced by the English
speakers are not clear enough. Wait until all
the streaming video has been downloaded into
your computer and play it again. By then you
will have better video with clear pronunciation
or explanation. It is also important for you to
make sure that the loud speaker of your computer
is in well condition so that you can practice
the pronunciation the exercises easily. One good
point of learning from the internet or the
software is that you can repeat it as many times
as you need. But learning from Youtube video or
computer software has some disadvantages. They
are not as flexible as learning pronunciation
directly from an English teacher. If you are in
a classroom, you can ask your teacher about how
to spell or pronounce a word or phrases and
immediately she will answer it. The interaction
between English learners and and teacher in the
classroom is more dynamic.
British Pronunciation and American
Pronunciation
Although the phonetic symbols of English words are universal, the way the words
are spoken may be different from British to American pronunciation or accent.
Actually, the difference in pronunciation does not reflect that these two
continents speak different language. In American speech the sound of /r/
is usually stronger than in the British speech.
According to my own experience, when practicing British pronunciation, the sound
of /r/ in the middle of a word is usually weaker with vowels before the
syllable is
usually pronounced longer or with stressed.
Also read:
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How to Improve your English Pronunciation The English Pronunciation of R |
Pronunciation Dictionary | |