Exercises with sound к word

With over 40 separate sounds to learn, it’s no wonder most ESL students struggle to learn correct pronunciation. Some of them find it confusing and many of them just don’t want to put in the time to learn something that’s “not strictly necessary” for communication.

And while most teachers are well aware of the importance of teaching pronunciation, come lesson time, there’s always so much to cover in the ESL classroom that pronunciation practice ceases to be a priority and it’s often relegated to a few rushed minutes in between activities or not covered at all. 

Why spend the time on english pronunciation exercises?

Fighting the temptation to consider pronunciation as an “extra” is hard, especially for the learners. Most students who first start to learn English, or any language for that matter, are usually in urgent need for things like words, expressions, maybe a few tenses.  At this stage, spending time trying to understand the difference between an S sound and a Z sound seems like nothing but a waste of time. Other students may have been learning English for years without ever focusing on pronunciation, so why would they start now? 

But, truth be told, does teaching pronunciation really make a difference? 

Absolutely! There are several precious benefits that come from learning correct pronunciation.

  • Contrary to what you may believe, learning correct pronunciation will improve your students’ listening comprehension. The obscure sounds that they couldn’t make out once finally take shape and watching a movie in the orginal language is no longer a self inflicted torture but a pleasant a rewarding experience.
  • Pronunciation will also help learners with their reading skills since reading, in the end, is the practice of saying things out loud, albeit in your head. 
  • It makes communicating easier. Not only does it lower the chances for misunderstandings or possibly awkward situations to happen, but it also helps break  down cultural barriers, both in everyday life and in business settings.

So now you see how not teaching pronunciation in your ESL classroom would mean doing your students a great disservice.

When and how should we start focusing on pronunciation?

When it comes to teaching pronunciation, the sooner the better. Whatever the age and level of your students, it’s important to include some sort of English pronunciation practice as early as possible in class. 

The space and time you decide to give pronunciation is up to you. Ideally, every time you introduce a new language, you should focus on the way it’s pronounced, but that usually ends up being incredibly time-consuming.  Instead, you could plan full English pronunciation lessons or dedicate just a few minutes in each class explaining how to pronounce certain words or focusing on specific pronunciation features. 

If your learners are teenagers or adults, you will also need to decide whether you want them to become familiar with the IPA (International Phonemic Alphabet). This could prove to be especially useful if you plan to teach the same students over long periods of time, let’s say at least a few months. In this case, correcting pronunciation mistakes becomes a lot more time-effective as, very often, all you’ll need to do is point to the symbol on the IPA chart to elicit the correct sound. 

Whatever you decide to do, just be patient. Learning to produce new sounds can be an incredibly stressful process, your students may often feel confused (But those two letters sound the same to me!) or straight up annoyed (Why won’t my tongue do as I say?!), so it’s your job as a teacher to make learning pronunciation as fun and enjoyable as possible.

In order to make it easier for you and for your students, we have put together a list of pronunciation exercises and videos as well as lots of useful ESL pronunciation worksheets for you to use in class and/or assign for homework. 

Individual sounds 

If your students seem to repeatedly struggle to pronounce certain sounds, they are most likely not doing it intentionally with the sole purpose of driving you crazy, they probably do not even realize those sounds even exist. This normally happens when you were raised speaking a language that does not contain one or more of the 44 English sounds.

For this reason, one of the best and most effective ways to start teaching ESL pronunciation is working with minimal pairs. By playing and contrasting two sounds, your students will learn to recognize them and eventually produce them.

Consonants

/b/ and /p/

  • Bee /b/ vs Pee /p/ – Video
  • Minimal Pairs /b/ and /p/ – Listening exercise
  • Big and pig – Worksheet
  • P and b pronunciation – Reading practice and tongue twisters

/b/ and /v/

  • Berry /b/ vs Very /v/ – Video
  • Minimal Pairs /b/ and /v/ – Listening exercise
  • Very and berry – Worksheet
  • B vs V Pronunciation Lesson – Podcast episode

/f/ and /v/ 

  • How to make the F and V Consonants – Video
  • Minimal Pairs /f/ and /v/ – Listening exercise
  • Fan and Van – Worksheet

/ð/ and /θ/

  • The Two TH Consonants [θ] and [ð] – Video 
  • Pronunciation of th – voiceless or voiced – Online test
  • Th – Collection of words and sentences
  • <Th> Pronunciation – Listening exercises

/n/ and /ŋ/ – Thin and thing

  • How to End a Word in N [n] or NG [ŋ] – Video
  • Minimal Pairs /n/ and /ŋ/ – Listening exercise
  • Thin and Thing – Worksheet
  • The sounds /n/ and /ŋ/ – Song worksheet

/l/ and /r/

  • Perfect Pronunciation! L and R sounds – Video
  • English Pronunciation: Light /l/ vs Right /r/ – Video
  • Minimal Pairs /l/ and /r/ – Listening exercise
  • Rice and Lice – Worksheet
  • Pronunciation Practice: L & R – Lesson Plan

/h/ (horse, hot, etc)

  • How to make the H [h] Consonant – Video
  • How to pronounce ‘H’ in English — not ‘A’ or ‘R’! – Video
  • H sound pronunciation – Worksheet
  • Hit and it – Worksheet

/s/ (Sue) and /z/ (zoo)

  • How to make the S and Z Consonants – Video
  • Peas and peace – Worksheet
  • Pronunciation s/z/iz – Online quiz

/ʧ/ and /ʤ/

  • How to Pronounce CH [ʧ] and JJ [ʤ] Sounds – Video
  • Jeep and cheap – Worksheet

/s/ and /ʃ/

  • How to Pronounce /s/ and /ʃ/ (sh) – Video
  • Minimal Pairs /s/ and /ʃ/ – Listening exercise
  • Mash and mass – Worksheet

/s/ and /θ/

  • Minimal Pairs /S/ vs /θ/ – Video
  • Minimal Pairs /s/ and /θ/ – Listening exercise

Vowels and diphthongs

/ɪ/ and /i:/ – Ship and sheep

  • Pronunciation of /ɪ/ and /iː/ – Worksheet
  • /ɪ/ and /iː/ – Video
  • Minimal Pairs /ɪ/ and /i:/Listening exercise
  • /ɪ/ vs /i/ – Listening exercises and reading practice

/e/ and /eɪ/ – Wet and wait

  • /e/ and /eɪ/ – Listening exercise
  • /e/ and /eɪ/ – Video
  • Pronunciation /ei/ – Worksheet

/ɛ/ and /æ/ – Bed and bad

  • /ɛ/ and /æ/ – Listening exercise
  • /ɛ/ vs /æ/ – Listening exercises and reading practice
  • English Pronunciation: Bad /æ/ vs Bed /ɛ/ – Video
  • Man and men – Worksheet

/e/ and /ɪ/ – Desk and disk

  • /ɛ/ vs /ɪ/ – Video
  • /e/ and /ɪ/ – Listening exercise
  • Ten and tin – Worksheet

/æ/ and /ʌ/ – Cat and cut

  • Bat /æ/ vs But /Ʌ/ – Video
  • /æ/ and /ʌ/ – Listening exercise
  • Cap and cup – Worksheet

/əʊ/ and /ɔ:/ – So and saw

  • /əʊ/ and /ɔ:/ – Listening exercise
  • /əʊ/ and /ɔ:/ – Video

/ɒ/ and /əʊ/ – Want and won’t

  • /ɒ/ and /əʊ/ – Listening exercise
  • /ɒ/ and /əʊ/ – Video
  • Want vs Won’t Pronunciation – Video

/ɜ:/, /ɔ:/ and /ɑ:/ – Fur, four and far

  • /ɜ:/, /ɔ:/ and /ɑ:/ – Worksheet
  • Far and for – Worksheet

/ə/ – The schwa sound

  • How to make the SCHWA Vowel – Video
  • The schwa – Lesson plan
  • Pronunciation schwa – Worksheet
  • Schwa exercise – Worksheet

Stress and Intonation

Even if your students have nailed every single individual sound in English, their accent may still sound a bit funny. If this happens, it’s likely due to an incorrect use of word stress, sentence stress or intonation. This often takes place when these pronunciation features differ a lot from the ones present in the learner’s native tongue. 

You need to remember that, just like with individual sounds, it may take your students some time to identify which syllable or word is stressed as well as if the intonation is flat, falling or rising.  For this reason, it’s always important to take your time to, first of all, raise your students’ awareness of these aspects through plenty of ESL listening exercises (as well as speaking activities) before you can ask them to produce the language.

Word stress

  • 2-Syllable Words Stress in American English – Video
  • Word Stress and Three Syllable Words – Video
  • Word stress – Quiz
  • Word stress – Worksheets and games

Sentence stress

  • How SENTENCE STRESS changes meaning in English – Video
  • Word Stress Rules – Listening exercise
  • Sentence Stress Used at Its Best – Funny cartoon to introduce the topic in class
  • Sentence Stress – Listening exercise
  • Practice Stress and Intonation – Lesson plan

Intonation  

  • Intonation in English – Video
  • Intonation – Worksheet
  • Intonation audio quiz – Quiz
  • Sentence stress/Intonation activity – Activity

Connected speech

Just like the other aspects of pronunciation, teaching your students how to effectively connect English words and sounds should be done as early as possible. Thanks to connected speech, not only will your students sound more natural and fluent but they will also see a huge improvement in their listening skills.

  • Linking: Consonant to Vowel – Video
  • Linking Consonant to Consonant – Video
  • Linking: Vowel to Vowel – Video
  • Connected Speech Practice Dialogues – Lesson plan
  • Use pop songs to learn connected speech – Lesson tips
  • English connected speech – Listening exercise
  • Pronunciation tips – Listening exercises

Extra resources

  • Interactive Phonemic Chart
  • IPA keyboard to create your own worksheets and exercises
  • Guide to pronouncing sounds in American English
  • Practice for individual sounds in American English
  • Pronunciation Games

To conclude, even though pronunciation is often overlooked, it is one of the pillars of ESL teaching. It’s a good idea to start focusing on all aspects of English pronunciation as early as possible in your class as it will benefit your students in many ways, increasing their listening, reading and speaking skills. So, regardless of the way you decide to teach it, it’s important to make sure you include some form of pronunciation practice in your lessons so you can help your students be on their way to one day becoming great English speakers themselves.

Top

/r/ in words
/r/ in sentences

Record your voice:

To make the /r/ sound:
The key to making /r/ is not letting the tip of your tongue touch the roof of your mouth. If you do touch, listeners may hear an /l/ sound instead. Pull your tongue back so the tip is positioned around center of your mouth. Point the tip up slightly. Now, vibrate your vocal cords and let the air flow around and over your tongue.

Use the record and play buttons above to compare your pronunciation to the words below:

store third track start

Problems with playback may be resolved by refreshing the page.

In Words

The /r/ sound plays an important role in the difference between the paired words below.

Listen to each pair, paying attention to how the first word differs from the second.
light | right fall | far bleach | breach jaw | jar

Record yourself repeating the words, making sure to focus on the pronunciation of /r/. Then, compare it to the model recording. If you need help, check out the animated video to see exactly how to pronounce the sound.

Repeat this exercise several times a day. As with any skill, improving takes repetition and practice.


Here are several common words that include /r/. It’s a good idea to be comfortable with their pronunciation.

Listen to how each word is pronounced, focusing on /r/. Notice how /r/ can appear at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.
real write fair order marketing contract lawyer

Record yourself repeating the words, making sure to focus on the pronunciation of /r/. Compare your recording to the model recording.

Repeat this exercise several times a day.

See the “What’s next?” section below for more practice tips.

In Sentences

It’s important to go beyond single words when you practice sounds in English. Tongue twisters (difficult-to-pronounce sentences) are a great way to train your tongue to pronounce /r/ in a stream of speech.

Listen to how each tongue twister is pronounced. Be sure to note the sounds or words that might be challenging for you, and how many times you will pronounce /r/.
Robbie rarely shared his gear.

Record yourself repeating each tongue twister. Try it slowly first, and then gradually increase to a fluid, natural-feeling pace.

Repeat this exercise several times a day. You can try creating your own tongue twisters, too!


Pronunciation practice is even more effective in a meaningful context. Here are several sentences with /r/ that you may find yourself saying frequently.

Listen to how each sentence is pronounced. Which word(s) include /r/?
I’m majoring in marketing at Baruch College.
I engineered several solutions to key problems.

Record yourself repeating each sentence, focusing on the pronunciation of /r/.

Repeat this exercise several times a day.

See the “What’s next?” section below for more practice tips.

What’s next?

Schedule a One-to-One Session to learn more about this sound and how to master it. Receiving direct, personalized feedback on your pronunciation is an excellent way to pinpoint your strengths and areas for improvement.
Also, here are some great ways to make pronunciation practice more effective and relevant to you:

• Compile important vocabulary with /r/ from your field of study, résumé, and other interests. Practice these words by recording yourself pronouncing them and writing authentic sentences that use them in context.

• Think of scenarios you are likely to encounter in your daily life (e.g. talking to a fellow student or colleague, interviewing for a job) and write role plays that could include words with /r/. This will prepare you to use them spontaneously.

• Attend Conversation Hour with the goal of focusing on your pronunciation of /r/.

• Check out the helpful links and resources that TfCS recommends for extra practice, particularly Rachel’s English.

◀ Back to Consonants and Vowels

english pronunciation exercises - lesson plans

English Pronunciation Exercises

If you’re a native-English speaker, one of your greatest natural assets to English Language Learners is your pronunciation.

Without a doubt, teaching the sounds of English is one skill you can bring to your classroom. And there are a variety of ways how to teach pronunciation in a classroom setting.

For example, you can adapt these English pronunciation exercises into “repeat after me”, in pairs or by listening to the teacher.

No matter which way you decide to teach, these English pronunciation exercises provide an excellent starting point.

1. Sounds of English

Sounds of English Worksheet

These English pronunciation exercises teach students how to place their tongues when they speak syllables.

For example, the /th/ sound puts the tip of the tongue in between your teeth. Whereas, the /s/ sound keeps the tongue behind the teeth.

2. Pronunciation Pyramid

Pronunciation Pyramid Worksheet

First, everyone starts at the top of the pyramid. Next, the teacher says at a level below. Individually, students circle the word they hear.

At the bottom of the pyramid, the teacher says the word, and the students circle what they hear. The teacher also keeps track going down the pyramid. Where do you finish? It’s fun to see.

3. Minimal Pairs

Minimal Pairs Worksheet

For each pair, the words sound extremely similar. But they are different. Students have to keep a keen ear on what they hear.

As the teacher reads the box of his/her choice, students circle the word they hear. When you go through all the minimal pairs, check their understanding by correcting the papers.

4. Minimal Pairs Game Cards

Smush It

Beforehand, the teacher has to print off the handout. They cut out every word and spreads them out on pairs of desks.

In pairs, students carefully listen to the teacher. Next, they have to find the word they hear faster than their neighbor. Finally, the student who grabs the card faster keeps it. At the end of the game, the student with the most cards is the winner.

5. Tongue Twisters

Tongue Twisters

Oddly enough, tongue twisters are an effortless way to get students talking. I can’t put my finger on it why… but they probably love the challenge of it.

First, students repeat each line after the teacher. Next, the teacher demonstrates the tongue twister with lightning speed. Now, ask for volunteers to try to do it faster.

6. Similar Sentences

Similar Sentences

How much do your students pay attention to detail? Each sentence sounds similar but they are different.

You can read each sentence yourself. Or you can have your students read them. Can they find the difference between them?

7. Listening Test

Listening Test ESL Worksheets

This is your basic type of listening test. Can they differentiate each unique sound when you read them?

First, mix up the sounds. Next, keep track of the sounds you say. Finally, correct their papers to test their syllable recognition.

8. Rhyme Time

Rhyme Time Worksheet

First, put students in groups of 3 or 4. Next, get your students to think of as many rhymes as possible for each box.

It’s the classic brainstorming competition. Bring out your stopwatch because the group with the most rhymes wins.

9. Tongue Twisters

10 Tongue Twisters

Oddly enough, tongue twisters are an effortless way to get your students talking. Practice each tongue twister, and have your students try to show off their English skills.

Pro tip: they love it if you can say a tongue twister in their native language.

10. Valentine’s Day Cards

Valentines Day

In our Valentine’s Day Card Sheet, students finish the rhyme from the classic poem “Roses are red, violets are blue…”.

First, hand out the paper with an example rhyme for the poem. Next, review it with your students. Finally, let your students create a rhyme for “Roses are Red, Violets are Blue”.

English Pronunciation Exercises

Speaking like a true native English speaker is one of the goals of an English Language Learner. A good place to start achieving this goal is by meticulously going through all the sounds of English.

Of course, just basic conversation is important too. That’s where you can practice these 101 ESL conversation topics to get them speaking.

These 10 English pronunciation exercises can be reworked in several ways – in pairs, individually, or as a class.

How do you like teaching pronunciation? What works and what doesn’t? Please let us know what are some of your English pronunciation exercises in the comment section below.

Vowel reading rules in English

как читаются гласные в английском языке

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Today let’s talk about rules for reading vowels in Englishyou need to know in order to successfully master both the oral and written aspects.

First, let’s review the English alphabet and do it using a nursery rhyme. I think rap style fans will especially like it! It is great if you add some of the typical movements that are typical of this style of music during your performance.

Alphabet song

AA, B, C, D, E

stand up and look at me.

F, G, H, I, J

I play football every day.

K, L, M, N, O

I Cake of All.

P, Q, R, S, T

Hey people, listen to me.

U, V, W, X, Y, Z

The alphabet is in my head!

recording: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or higher) is required to play this audio recording. Download the latest version here. In addition, JavaScript must be enabled in your browser.

As you may have noticed, in the English alphabet 26 letters: 6 vowels и 20 consonants.

They form 44 sound: 20 vowels and 24 consonants.

Vowel sounds are divided into:

  • short [i], [e], [ɔ], [u], [ʌ], [æ], [ǝ]
  • long [i:], [ɜ:], [ɔ:], [u:], [a:]
  • diphthongs [ei], [ai], [ɔi], [iǝ], [ǝu], [au], [ɛǝ], [aiǝ], [auǝ]

The difficulty is that vowels are read differently, depending on which syllable the vowel occurs in.

It is generally accepted that in English there is 4 types of syllables.

Let’s analyze each of them, noting the characteristic features.

French Alphabet

I type of syllable (vowel + consonant + vowel):

open, vowel reads like this, how is shecalled in the alphabet… We consider only the striking position.

In words like bake, smile, Rope, tubefinal «e» not pronounced, it is called dumb (mute buttonletter).

 Monosyllabic words like we, go, hi, my are also of the first type.

Samples

a[ei] — name, face, cake, make, bake, take, mistake, lake, snake, lazy, crazy, nature, cage, potato

e [i:] — Egypt, Greece, tree, free, three, street, green, sleep, meter, fever, emu, lemur, he, she, we

i [ai] — five, nine,, ride a bike, drive, smile, time, nice, kite, diving, pine, spider, tiger, white

o [ǝu] — nose, rose, home, hope, rope, stone, sofa, notebook, October, composer, phone, model

u [ju:] — Pupil, Student, Tulip, Computer, Cucumber, Excuse, Music, Cuba, Future, Huge, Tube, Blue

y [ai] — why, sky, cry, spy, dry, fly, butterfly, my, shy, type, style, to rely on, July, xylophone by

IIsyllable type (vowel + consonant + consonant):

closed, vowel readable briefly. We consider only the striking position. The lexical meaning of the word depends on the length and brevity of the pronunciation of the sound in English. For example, take words like sheep (I type of syllable [ʃi: p]) and ship (II type of syllable [ʃip]).

Correct

There is a sheep On the meadow.

There is a ship in the sea

Incorrect

There is a ship On the meadow.

There is a sheep in the sea

(The poor lamb got it!)

Samples

a [æ] —  black, happy, cabbage, carrot, rabbit, daddy, granny, gallery, Africa, hand, cap, cat, map

e [e] — red, December, letter, kettle, pen, pencil, desk, address, left, cherry, chess, egg, hen, ten

i [i] — Pink, Six, Fifty, Little, Big, Pig, Spring, Winter, King, Finger, Kitchen, Milk, Fish, Children

o [ɔ] — golden, fox, dolphin, dog, hospital, doctor, bottle, box, clock, hobby, coffee, concert

u[ʌ] — summer, butter, hundred, number, brush, duck, club, jump, lunch, plum, mushroom, cup

y [i] — gym, gymnastics, lynx, myth, mystery, symbol, symphony, symptom, syllable, system

IIIsyllable type (vowel + r + consonant):

vowel is read long… Long sounds are indicated by two dots «:» to the right of the sound sign. We consider only the striking position.

Letter «r« in this type of syllable is not pronounced.

Monosyllabic words like jar, bar, here , sir, fur are also of the third type.

Samples

ar [a:] — farmer, garden, party, car, scar, bar, barber, marmalade, shark, garlic, parsley, starling

er [ɜ:] — Advertisement, Person, Perfect, University, To Prefer, Dessert, Germany, Term, Interpreter

ir [ɜ:] — bird, girl, the first, the third, thirteen, thirty, birthday, shirt, T-shirt, circus, skirt, sir, fir

or [ɔ:] — pork, orchard, orchestra, order, orchid, (un) fortunately, divorce, enormous, immortal

ur [ɜ:] — curl (y), curds, curtain, to disturb, purple, Thursday, turnip, windsurfing, surface, hurt

yr [ɜ:] — martyr (martyr), myrrh (myrrh), Kyrgyz, Kyrgyzstan

IVsyllable type (vowel + r + vowel):

reading like diphthongs. Diphthongs are combinations of two vowel sounds, the first of which is pronounced more energetically than the second. We consider only the striking position. In some words, the letter «r» is not pronounced, while in others it makes the sound [r].

Samples

are [ɛǝ] — parents, care, rarely, various, to compare, scarecrow, canary, malaria, square, share

ere [iǝ] — Here, Imperial, Serious, Mysterious, Nigeria, Serial, Sincere, Zero, Hero, Cereal, Interfere

ire [aiǝ] — tired, retired, to admire, desire, Ireland, iron, environment, requirement, biro, virus

or [ɔ:] — Ore, Store, Snore, Score, Bore, BORING, Shore, To IGNORE, To Explore, Story, Storey, Glory

ure [juǝ] — pure, cure, curable, incurable, during, Europe, euro, curious, mural (fresco), security

yre [aiǝ] — lyre (lyre), tire (US — tire tire), tyrant (tyrant), papyrus (papyrus)

Important! Research shows that total 30% words English can be read using the rules above; rest 70% words — historically developed vocabulary. Therefore, I strongly recommend actively using dictionaries in the process of learning English.

 I think the article is about rules for reading vowels in English will be useful for those who plan to take the exam in English. In the oral part of the exam there is a task in which you need to read the proposed passage of text (1.5 minutes), observing all the rules for reading vowels and consonants.

If you liked this article, please share it with your friends on social networks.

Source: http://smashtrash.ru/pravila-chteniya/pravila-chteniya-glasnykh-v-angliyskom-ya.html

Rules for reading vowels in English in tables with examples

как читаются гласные в английском языке

It is believed that reading in English is a rather difficult skill for the simple reason that there is no rigid system of reading rules in English and letters, in particular vowels, can be read differently depending on their position in a word or in a syllable. In this post, I will cover the rules for reading vowels in English with examples.

English vowels and reading features

There are 6 vowels in the English alphabet. But the sounds they transmit are many times more — there are 20 of them in total (including long vowels).

Vowels:

  • A — hey
  • E — and
  • I — ay
  • O — oh
  • U — u
  • Y — wye

The English language is characterized by the presence of diphthongs.

Diphthongs — these are sounds, when pronounced, one vowel sound passes into another, that is, in fact, they are pronounced as two sounds.

For example, the word in the word home, the vowel o is read as «oh», that is, in fact, it forms two sounds [əʊ]. The same with the word house, where the combination of letters «ou» reads «ay» and gives a double sound [aʊ].

Do not confuse diphthongs with two letter combinations. For example, in the word head there are two vowels in a row, but the combination of letters «ea» is read as «e», that is, we get a single sound [e].

Thus, vowels in English can be read as in the alphabet, and convey a number of other sounds.

Rules for reading English vowels and vowel combinations

For convenience, I will give tables for each letter with examples, descriptions and reading in Russian. In Russian, of course, it is impossible to convey the exact reading of this or that sound, but I will write approximately.

For correct reading, it is important to know such concepts as closed and open syllables.

Closed syllable in English, this is the syllable that ends in a consonant a letter… For example maponn, fatherg, bead and so on.

Open syllable — a syllable that ends in a vowel a letter… For example, take, py, bike and so on.

Please note that the syllable must end with a vowel or consonant, not a sound. That is, if in English at the end of a word there is e mute, then the syllable is considered open.

Letter A

Sound in transcription and its reading in Russian Examples
In a closed syllable — [æ]э Map, cap, pack, black, flag
In an open syllable — [ei] — heyreading as in the alphabet Name, game, flame, table, lake, pay
In a closed syllable followed by r — sound [a:] like russian а, long Car, bar, jar, start, farmer
In an open syllable followed by r — diphthong [eǝ] — ea Care, rare, prepare

Letter E

Sound in transcription and its reading in Russian Examples
In a closed syllable — [e] — e Red, vet, set, tell
In an open syllable — [i:] — and long Meter, complete
At the end of words e is not readable in English, but affects the reading of the word Table, plate, take For example, the words cap and cape — in the first case we read «cap», since the syllable is closed, in the second case, «cap», since the syllable is open
In short, monosyllabic words, these are mainly service parts of speech, e at the end of a word is read if it is the only vowel in the word and gives [i:] i.e и long He, she, we, me, be
In an open syllable followed by r — diphthong [iǝ] — ia Here, sphere, severe

Letter I

Sound in transcription and its reading in Russian Examples
In a closed syllable — [i] — and Sick, tip, limp, kit, trick
In an open syllable — [ai] — aylike in the alphabet Life, mine, line, pipe, time, kite
In a closed syllable followed by the letter r — [ə:] — similar to Russian ё, long sound Girl, bird, third, dirty, sir, first
In an open syllable followed by a letter r — [aiǝ] — aye Fire, tires

Letter O

Sound in transcription and its reading in Russian Examples
In a closed syllable — [ɔ] — oh Fog, nod, lock, log, got
In an open syllable — u] — oh Rope, nose, toe, vote
In a closed and open syllable followed by a letter r — [ɔ:]о long Nor, born, corn, torn, more, core
In an unstressed syllable — [ə] — uh, the sound is drop-out, therefore it sounds indistinct and short, fluently, for example, lemon is not a lemon or a lamen, but a lamn with a slightly audible «e» between «m» and «n» lemon, melon

In some cases, the letter «O» can be read like «A» [ʌ], for example, «love». And also like «U» [u], for example, in the word «move». These reading options do not lend themselves to specific rules and logic, so such words need to be memorized.

Letter U

Sound in transcription and its reading in Russian Examples
In a closed syllable — [ʌ] — a Cut — «kat», rubber, but, mug, but put reads like «put»
In a closed syllable followed by a letter r — [ə:] — similar to Russian ё, long sound turn, burnt
In an open syllable after two consonants — [u:]у long, as well as in an open syllable after j and r Blue, trueJuly, rule
In an open syllable followed by a letter r —[juə] — yue Cure, secure, mature
In an open syllable after one consonant (except for j and r) — [ju:] — yu Tube, mute, cute

Letter Y

Sound in transcription and its reading in Russian Examples
In a closed syllable — [i] — and System, sympathy, mystery
In an open stressed syllable — [ai] — ay Shy, cry, try, my, bye
In an open syllable followed by a letter r —[aiə] — aye Tire, byre
In an unstressed syllable — [i] — and Rainy, snowy, crispy
At the beginning of a word before a vowel — [j] — th Year, yellow, yet, yes

These are the basic rules for reading vowels in English. But do not forget that there are many exceptions to each of these rules.

In subsequent publications, I will cover the rules for reading consonants and letter combinations of vowels and consonants.

Source: https://my-opinion.ru/inostrannye-yazyki/anglijskij/pravila-chteniya-glasnyh-v-tablitsah/

Lesson 8. Pronunciation of consonants [f] and [v]. Closed syllable in English

как читаются гласные в английском языке

Hello! In this lesson, we again return to consonant sounds and now we learn to pronounce sounds [f] и [v] and accordingly read the English letters Ff [ef] and Vv [vi]. And let’s also remember what a closed syllable is in English, since this is one of the basic concepts in teaching reading.

So, from lesson number 8 you will learn:

  • how to pronounce english consonants [f] и [v] correctly;
  • what is a closed syllable in English;
  • and repeat how the vowel is read y at the end of the word.

If you have just joined us, then here is a link to the section «Author’s English lessons for teaching reading and pronunciation at the same time»

* * *

Rules for reading letters f and v in English

So, let’s begin! English consonants f и v transmit sounds [f] и [v]. The sounds [f] and [v] are labiodental, that is, to pronounce them, you need bite the lower lip with the upper teeth.

At first glance, the English sounds [f] and [v] are similar to the Russian “f” and “v”. But there is also a significant difference: the English sounds [f] and [v] are long.

To pronounce the English sound [v] correctly, it is necessary to pronounce it for a long time, as, for example, the doubled «v» in the words «up», «introduction».

To pronounce the English sound [f] correctly, bite the lower lip and exhale vigorously. The English sound [f] is very long and strong. In the transcription [f] should be designated [fff].

Listen to how the sounds [f] and [v] are pronounced — HERE

As for the concept of «voiced» — «deaf», the British do not understand at all what it is. They have the concept of «weak» (we call this sound «voiced» in Russian) and the concept of «strong» (we call this sound «dull»).

Now we need to practice a little. Let’s get down to the exercises. After that we will repeat again, how words are divided into syllables, which syllable is in the word MAIN and what is a closed syllable in English.

Now we start working out English sounds [fff] and [vvv]

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Phonetic exercises with audio recording (closed content no.19)

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Title: Teaching to read in English. Subscription code 19

Description: Access to a course of lessons on teaching reading in English and pronunciation at the same time. 50% discount until 01.01.2020/XNUMX/XNUMX. Author T.V. Nabeeva

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What is a closed syllable in English?

If you learn English from scratch on our website, then from lesson number 6 you learned what the third type of syllable is in English. Now we’ll talk about how words are divided into syllables. (1)which syllable in the word is the most important (2) и what is a closed syllable in English(3) (it was already mentioned in lesson 1)

(1) So, words are divided into syllables by the number of vowels… That is, how many vowels there are in a word, there are so many syllables in it. Take a word for example, happy Doubled consonant p divides a word into two syllables.

`hap — py

  1. hap — this syllable ends with a consonant sound, and is called closed;
  2. py — this syllable, ends in a vowel sound, and is called open.

(2) The main thing is the STRICT syllable. It is in it that the vowel sound is read according to the rules that you have already learned. By the way, I remind you that the unstressed letter y at the end of a word reads like [i], for example, party [`pa: ti]

(3) A closed syllable is a syllable that ends in a consonant.

Now let’s remember the passed rules for reading vowels in a closed syllable in English:

a is readAs [æ]. Examples. hat, happy

e readAs [e]. Examples. men, mental

i, y are readAs [i]. Examples. kit, kitty

u readAs [ʌ]. Examples. bud, buddy

0 is often read as [ʌ]. Examples. love, glove, lovely.

NOTE. How to read the vowel Oo in a closed syllable, you will learn further — Lesson number 9. Reading the English letter Oo in a closed syllable.

NOTE. Sonorous consonants m, n, l — also form a syllable, because they can be pulled. Try saying [mmmm], [nnnn], [llll]. Therefore, in the word apple there are two syllables: ap-ple (the second syllable is a sonor consonant — l).

Also, remember, in English vowel e at the end of a word NEVER readable.

Once there is closed syllable, then, accordingly, there is open syllable, but you will learn about it in the following lessons. For now, let’s figure out how unstressed vowels are read in English.

 * * *

The rule of reading an unstressed vowel in English

So, as a rule, there is usually one stressed syllable in a word, in which the vowel is read according to the rules, then a logical question arises: how is an unstressed vowel read?

In English there is a universal sound similar to the Russian «e» — [ə]… This is the most common sound, as it is read in all unstressed syllables. This sound is called «Seam». Sometimes it is replaced by the sound [i], as, for example, in the words above.

Exercise 5. Read two-syllable words with learned sounds:

apple, badly, balcony, happy, garden, party, hardly, carpet, dummy, funny, muddy, puppy, lovely, kitty, ditty, mitten, kitten, affect, Betty, heaven [`hevən]

Exercise 6. Finally, memorize a few English phrases:

  1. Have fun! — Have fun!
  2. Have tea. — Have some tea.
  3. Keep fit. — Keep in shape.
  4. Be happy! — Be happy!

Let’s sum up the results of the eighth lesson from the cycle «Teaching reading in English and pronunciation at the same time», from which you learned and hopefully remembered that:

  1. words are divided into syllables by the number of vowels;
  2. closed is a syllable that ends in a consonant;
  3. in a closed stressed syllable, the vowel is read according to the rules that must be memorized;
  4. in unstressed syllables, the vowel reads like [ə] or [i]. So, for example, the unstressed letter y at the end of a word it reads like [i].

* * *

And of course you now know how to pronounce sounds [f] и [v] in english is correct.

Lesson 9. Pronunciation of the English vowel [ɒ]. Reading the English letter O in a closed syllable. You will learn how to pronounce the very English sound [ɒ] and how to read the vowel Oo in a closed syllable. 

Source: http://englishstory.ru/urok-8-proiznoshenie-soglasnyih-zvukov-f-i-v-ponyatie-o-zakryitom-sloge.html

What are the syllables in English

The English alphabet has six vowels, but individually and in combination with each other, they form more than two dozen sounds, including diphthongs. The reading of a vowel depends on the letters adjacent to it and on the type of syllable in which it is located.

Open syllable

A syllable is considered open if it ends in a vowel (to-tal, ri-val, bi-ble, mo-tor). The vowel in this case gives a long sound — that is, it is read as in the alphabet. Words with a dumb «e» also belong to this type. For example:

  • take [teɪk]
  • Pete[pi:t]
  • kite [kaɪt]
  • nose [nəʊz]
  • cute [kju: t]

Some monosyllabic words also represent open syllables. For example, me, she, he and no, so, go.

Closed syllable

The closed syllable is the most common spelling unit of the English language; it makes up about 50% of the syllables in the text. A closed syllable ends in one or more consonants, and the vowel is read briefly in this case.

In English, there are many closed-type monosyllabic words (cat, pin, hen). If a suffix starting with a vowel is added to them, the consonant in front of it is doubled. This is done in order to avoid changing the sound. For example:

  • hat [hæt] — hatter
  • pin [pɪn] — pinned
  • hot [hɒt] — hottest
  • red [red] — reddish
  • cut [kʌt] — cutting

The syllable «vowel + r»

The third type of syllable is one in which the vowel is followed by the letter «r». The vowel makes a long sound, and the «r» itself is unreadable (in British English).

  • car [kɑː]
  • herb [hɜːb]
  • girl [ɡɜːl]
  • form [fɔːm]
  • turn [tɜːn]

The doubled «r» does not affect the sound of the vowel. In this case, the syllable is read as closed. Compare:

  • smirk [sməːk] — mirror [ˈmɪrə]
  • curl [kəːl] — current [ˈkʌr (ə) nt]
  • port [pɔːt] — torrent [ˈtɒr (ə) nt]

The syllable «vowel + re»

In a syllable of this type, the letter «r» is also not read, and the vowel forms a diphthong.

  • dare [deə]
  • mere [mɪə]
  • hire [ˈhaɪə]
  • core [kɔː]
  • pure [pjʊə]

The syllable «consonant + le»

Sometimes this syllable stands out separately — it occurs only at the end of a word. If -le is preceded by one consonant, the syllable is read as open. If there are two consonants in front of -le, it is read as closed. Compare:

  • table [ˈteɪbl] — dabble [dæbl], title [ˈtaɪtl] — little [ˈlɪtl]
  • bugle [bju: gl] — struggle [ˈstrʌɡl], rifle [ˈraɪfl] — sniffle [ˈsnɪfl]

Not every consonant is found in combination with -Le… Here are the ones that are typical for the English language:

  • -ble (bubble) -fle (rifle) -stle (whistle) -cle (cycle)
  • -gle (bugle) -tle (brittle) -ckle (pickle) -kle (tinkle)
  • -zle (dazzle) -dle (bridle) -ple (staple)

Vowel combinations (digraphs)

A digraph is a combination of two letters that are pronounced as one sound. In the case of vowels, it can be a long, short sound or a diphthong. Most often, digraphs are found in old Anglo-Saxon words, the pronunciation of which has undergone changes over hundreds of years: thief, boil, hay, boat, straw. They are read according to special rules, but there are many exceptions to them, so these words need to be learned gradually and systematically.

Basic vowel digraphs

Spelling Pronunciation Examples
ai / ay [eɪ] bait, hay
au / aw [ɔː] taunt, draw
ea [i:] meat, deal
[e] bread, steady
ee [i:] feed, reel
ei [eɪ] feint, vein
[i:] (after c) ceiling, receive
eu / ew [ju:] Feud, Strewn
ie [i:] thief, priest
oa [əʊ] coat, goal
oi / oy [ɔɪ] coin, toy
oo [u:] root, food
[ʊ] (before k) book, look
ou [aʊ] loud, noun
[u:] soup, ghoul
ow [aʊ] cow, howl
[oʊ] know, low

Source: https://skyeng.ru/articles/kakie-byvayut-slogi-v-anglijskom-yazyke

Vowels in English: Reading and Sounds — English in 5 Steps

Before teaching you to read vowels in English, I should note that due to its history, English has a sufficient number of exception words from almost every reading rule.

It just doesn’t make sense to list them all, but I offer you, dear readers, the following interactive: remembered the word exception for a particular item — wrote it down in the comments with translation (the most advanced can write with transcription).

Let’s help each other know the language better!

And, of course, I cannot help but warn you: in this rule there will be many transcription icons. Realizing that you are just learning, I duplicate it in Russian letters, but I do not recommend doing this all the time, and in one of the following articles I will explain why. If transcription is still too much for you, here you can make sure it’s not that hard to remember.

Vowels in English: reading open and closed syllables

Syllables are open and closed. An open syllable ends in a vowel. Closed — to a consonant. In this case, consonants work as locks (close a syllable), and vowels as keys (open a syllable). Thus, if there is a vowel after the last consonant in a syllable, the syllable is still considered open.

cat — closed syllable — at the end the consonant letter Tt;

name is an open syllable, because after the consonant «Mm» (lock) there is a vowel «Ee» (key), which, as it were, opens the syllable to us.

Reading vowels

In an open syllable, the stressed vowel is read as in the alphabet, and in a closed syllable it is read short. Each vowel has its own sound for the stressed closed syllable.

If there are two vowels in a stressed syllable, read the first as in an open syllable.

hear — [hiə] — [hia] to hear: the letter Ee is read as in an open syllable, the sound ə gives the buva Rr.

Lean — [li: n] — [liin] — lean against:: the letter Ee is read as in an open syllable

boat — [bout] — [boat] boat: the letter Oo is read as in the alphabet.

The Rr letter and vowels in English

The letter K affects the reading of vowels. So, in a closed syllable before Rr:

EUI vowels are read as [ɜ:] — a sound similar to [ё], only without the [th] overtones at the beginning.

girl — [gɜ: l] — [gol] — girl; burn [bɜ: n] — [ben] -burn; nerd [nɜ: d] — [nёd] -sound.

The vowels O and A stretch: read as [Ͻ:] and [a:]

car — [kа:] — [kаa] car; lord — [lϽ:d] — [lood] lord

All you need is love!

The vowel Aa before the letter Ll at the beginning of a word is often read as [Ͻ:]

always [Ͻ: lweiz] — [olways] -always, also [Ͻ: lsə] — [olso] — also, ball [bϽ: l] — [bol] — ball

Author of the material Kondratenko Anna

Source: https://eng5steps.ru/chtenie-na-angliyskom-glasniye/

Vowels and Sounds — Lesson 2 — English from scratch

Continuing the theme of the previous lesson about the alphabet about letters and sounds, it is worth deepening your knowledge of reading the vowels of the English alphabet. After all, they make up almost half of the total number of all sounds.

General concept of vowel sounds

As mentioned earlier, there are 20 vowel sounds, while there are only 6 vowel letters themselves. This is not easy to put into the understanding of a Russian-speaking person, because there is no such thing in Russian. Wider variety of vowels in the English alphabetthis is his distinguishing feature.

Namely, diphthongs, which are completely alien to Slavic languages, constitute difficulties in learning. But transcription comes to the aid of students — this is a recording of the reading of a word using phonetic symbols denoting a certain sound. That is, every English word in the dictionary is written with a transcription that will tell you exactly how it is read.

It remains only to learn to distinguish and read all sounds.

Reading vowels in open and closed syllables

The reading of vowels depends on their place in the word:

  • in the first type of syllable (vowel at the end), the letter is read according to its name in the alphabet,
  • in the second (consonant at the end) — as a short sound.

Consider reading all vowels of English letters with transcription:

LetterOpen syllableClosed syllable

Aa [ei] [ei

  • game[geim] — game
  • plane [plein] — plane
[]

  • fat[ft] — bold
  • plan[pln] — plan
ee[i:] [i:] 

  • be [bi:] — to be
  • he [hi:] — he
[e]

Source: https://www.lovelylanguage.ru/start/english-from-scratch/2-glasnyye

Reading vowels in English. Reduction. Reduction types

The stress in English falls on the root syllable. English stressed vowels are read depending on what type of syllable they are used in.

In English, there are four types of vowel reading in stressed syllables.

1 type of vowel reading

In this type of reading, the vowels are in open position, that is, the stressed syllable ends with this vowel. Vowels in this case are read in the same way as in the alphabet:

a [ei], o [əu], u [ju:] or [u:] if u is preceded by r or consonant combination + r.

e [i:], i [ai], y [ai]

Cases are possible:

1) The syllable ends with a stressed vowel. it completely open syllable… Examples: go [gəu], me [min ː].

2) After the stressed vowel, there is a consonant (not r), and then comes the «mute» e. It conditionally open syllable… Examples: home[həum], type [tp].

3) A stressed vowel is followed by a vowel including «mute» e… Examples: lie[lai], due [djuː].

2 type of vowel reading

In type 2 reading, the vowels are in closed position, that is, the syllable ends in a consonant. In this case, the vowels are read briefly, abruptly:

a [æ], o [ɔ], u [ʌ], e [e], i [i], y [i]

Cases are possible:

1) The vowel is between two consonants. it completely closed syllable… Example: man[mæn],hot[hɔt].

2) Cases completely closed syllablewhen there are two or more consonants after a vowel. Examples: lamp[læmp], rhy

Source: http://enjoy-eng.ru/chtenie-glasnykh-bukv-v-angliiskom-iazyke-reduktciia-tipy-reduktcii

Rules for reading English for beginners, table. Intonation and stress in English

At the initial stage of learning English, you inevitably have to deal with the differences between your native language and a foreign one. Reading in English for beginners, children and adults is usually one of the first steps in learning.

And the first such differences between Russian and English are revealed as soon as you start learning to read in English. You are faced with the transcription and reading rules of the English language.

These two concepts are related, since with the help of transcription we can record and read the sounds that vowels and consonants convey in various combinations. But the reading rules explain exactly how the letters are pronounced in different environments.

There are a lot of reading rules in English, and they relate to both vowels and consonants. In addition, a huge number of words are not read according to the rules, that is, they are exceptions. Therefore, it begins to seem that it is extremely difficult to learn all this.

In fact, the rules of reading need to be learned, but there is no need to memorize them. After doing a few exercises on reading rules, you will already know how exactly the same type of words are read.

In the learning process, when you read and listen to a variety of study materials, the spelling, pronunciation and meaning of new words will be memorized as a whole.

Features of English pronunciation

At first, reading in English for beginners presents some difficulties due to the peculiarities of pronunciation — words are very often pronounced differently than they are spelled. Linguists even have a saying — «We write — Manchester, we pronounce — Liverpool.»

This situation is due to the fact that historically in the English language there existed, and there are still many dialects in which the same letters and letter combinations were read in different ways, which eventually became entrenched in official English. An example is the combination of letters ough.

The words though, through, thought differ by only one letter, and the combination of letters ough is read differently in all words.

The role of transcription in teaching English reading

So, as we have already said, in addition to the numerous rules for reading in English, difficulties arise when mastering the transcription of the English language. Transcription is the recording of speech sounds using special characters.

You should not avoid it, as it is the best assistant in learning a language, which, firstly, will save you time when memorizing new words, and secondly, it will help to avoid mistakes in pronunciation. After all, when you write out or memorize new words, you definitely need to know how they are read correctly.

There are two options for how to do this. The first is to listen to it in some online resource, and the second is to watch the transcription. 

Now in some tutorials, as well as on training sites, you can find «English transcription in Russian». It is believed that writing an English word in Russian letters is much easier than learning some incomprehensible phonetic symbols. In fact, this is a delusion.

English phonetics differs from Russian so much that Russian letters can only approximately convey the pronunciation of English words, and mostly the simplest ones, the reading of which even without this kind of «transcription» is not difficult.

Some English sounds in Russian simply do not exist, and the correct pronunciation of English and Russian sounds similar at first glance may have certain differences.

Therefore, we recommend that you take the time to study transcription icons and read sounds. This is one of the basic knowledge in mastering the rules of reading English for beginners. Knowledge of transcription will serve you faithfully at all stages of your learning.

We analyze the rules for reading English

There are different classifications of the rules for reading consonants and vowels in English. For vowels, as a rule, there are 4 types of syllables. These are the 4 types of environment a vowel can find itself in and which affects its pronunciation.

Some textbooks consider only the first two types of syllables — open and closed, but take into account whether the letter r is involved in these types of syllables — since it affects the reading of vowels. Consonants in different combinations can also be read differently.

I must say that the number of exceptions and variants of reading the same letter combinations in different words give reason to consider the reading rules rather general recommendations that should be studied before starting to read.

To familiarize yourself with the rules of reading in English, we suggest that you take as a basis the tables with options for reading letters, which are given in his textbook for children “English. 1-4 grades in diagrams and tables «N.Vakulenko.

These English reading rules for children cover almost every possible reading of vowels and consonants in English.

But before we go directly to the tables, we will deal with two more concepts that you will surely come across when you get acquainted with the reading rules. it open и closed syllable.

The syllable is called openWhen

  • ends in a vowel and is the last in a word
  • the vowel is followed by a consonant and then a vowel again
  • the vowel is followed by another vowel

Examples of words with an open type of syllable (you can listen with sound):

age, blue, bye, fly, go 

The syllable is called closedWhen

  • ends in a consonant and is the last in a word
  • the vowel is followed by several consonants

Examples of words with a closed type of syllable:

bed, big, box, hungry, stand 

So, let’s formulate the rules for reading English for beginners: tables for reading vowels and consonants.

Vowel reading tables

A
A [ei] — in an open syllable lake, make
A [æ] — in a closed syllable rat, map
A [a:] — in a closed syllable on r car, bar
A [εə] — at the end of a word vowel + re care, fare
A [ɔ:] — combinations all, au all, tall
O
O [əu] — in an open syllable no, home
O [ɒ] — in a closed stressed syllable lot, boss
O [ɜ:] — in some words with «wor» word, work
O [ɔ:] — in a closed syllable with r horse, door
O [u:] — in combination «oo» too, food
O [u] — in combination «oo» good look
O [aʊ] — in combination «ow» in the stressed syllable Now, CLOWN
O [ɔɪ] — in combination «oy» boy, joy
U
U [yu:], [yu] — in an open syllable blue, duty
U [ʌ] — in a closed syllable butter, cup
U [u] — in a closed syllable put, bull
U [ɜ:] — in combination «ur» Purse, hurt
E
E [i:] — in an open syllable, a combination of «ee», «ea» he, meet, leaf
E [e] — in a closed syllable, combination «ead» head, bread
E [ɜ:] — in combinations «er», «ear» her, pearl
E [ɪə] — in ear combinations near, dear
I
i [aɪ] — in an open syllable nice, fine
i [aɪ] — in combination «igh» high, night
i [ɪ] — in a closed syllable big, in
i [ɜ:] — in combination «ir» bird girl
i [aɪə] — in combination «ire» hire, tired
Y
Y [aɪ] — at the end of a word under stress my cry
Y [ɪ] — at the end of a word without stress happy family
Y [j] — at the beginning of a word yes, yellow

Consonant reading tables

С
C [s] — before i, e, y Place, Cinema
C [tʃ] — in combinations ch, tch children, catch
C [k] — in other cases cat, picnic

Source: https://lim-english.com/posts/pravila-chteniya-angliiskogo-yazika-dlya-nachinaushih/

Open and closed syllables in English — vowel reading tables

Consider an open and closed syllable in English. As you already understood, the reading of vowels in English is closely related to this concept.

The main trick here is that vowels can be pronounced differently depending on which syllable they are in. In English, there are two syllables in total: open and closed.

Open syllable in English

What is open syllable? This is the syllable that ends in a vowel (more often this е, but it itself is not pronounced). In such a syllable, vowels are read only as they are named in the alphabet (see table 1).

Table # 1. Open syllable in English Vowel (listen) Transcription

A a [eɪ] Hey
E e [iː] long and
I and [aɪ] ouch
The o [əʊ] OU
U u [ju:] long y
Y y y [wai] wye

examples:

me [MAnd:] «to me»;
nice [HAIC] «pleasant»;
sky [SKAI] «sky»;
soda [COУDE] «carbonated drink».

Closed syllable in English

Finally, consider the vowels in a closed syllable… Here their pronunciation may seem more familiar to you, perhaps, with the exception of the letter uwhich is pronounced like a sound like [A]. A letter a — [E] (see table # 2).

Table 2. Closed syllable in English (listen in the examples below the table) Vowel letter Transcription Russian pronunciation

A a [æ] э
E e [e] э
I and [ɪ] и
The o [ɔ] о
U u [ʌ] а

examples:

lip [LИP] «lip»;
but [BАT] «but»;
pet [PЭT] «pet»;
hot [XОT] «hot».

Note: Consonants at the end of words in a closed syllable are not stunned, as in Russian. So, we write «horn» and we say [ROCK]. There is no such thing in English, otherwise there would be confusion:

mad [MEД] «Crazy» — mat [MEТ] «rug».

Combinations of letters with the letter require special attention. r  (see table # 3):

Table 3. Closed syllable. Letter combinations with rCombination vowel + r (listen) Transcription

ar [ɑː] long a
er [ɜː] long yo
urr [ɜː] long yo
or [ɔ:] long about
ur [ɜː] long yo
yr [ɜː] long yo

Examples of words with syllables from the table:

bar [BA:] «bar»;
her [Hyo:] «her»
fir [ФЁ:] «fir-tree»;
for [FO:] «for»;
fur [FOO:] «wool»;
Byrne [BYO: N] «Byrne» (proper name).

The letter itself r not pronounced, and the vowel in front of it is pronounced for a long time.

Source: https://englishforeducation.ru/otkrytyj-i-zakrytyj-slog-v-anglijskom-yazyke.html

English Sounds: The Complete Guide to Reading and Pronunciation

This article will help you understand the features of the pronunciation of English sounds, and what combinations of letters they can be expressed in writing.

For a more detailed study of the rules for reading words in English, use our «Reading Rules Guide».

English pronunciation

English often sounds more dynamic compared to smoother Russian. It is a little faster (about 10% — 15%, according to various studies), and sometimes it seems to us that not all words are pronounced in fast speech.

Despite the fact that the languages ​​come from the same Indo-European family — which means that they are based on the same pronunciation system — there are a number of significant differences in the pronunciation of Russian and English sounds, words and phrases.

English has more vowel sounds than Russian. They are usually pronounced with less lip strain.

We have 6 of them: [a], [y], [o], [e], [and], [s], in English there are 12 of them: / ɪ /, / ɪː /, / ʌ /, / ɑː / , / æ /, / ɛ /, / ɜː /, / ɒ /, / ɔː /, / ʊ /, / ʊː /, / ə /.

English sounds generally come in two flavors:
short and long: / ɪ / and / ɪː /, / ɒ / and / ɔː /, / ʊ / and / ʊː / light and deeper: / ʌ / and / ɑː /

open and closed: / æ / and / ɛ /

Unique English vowel sounds:
/ æ
/ Is a cross between A and E
/ ɜː / (soft O) — a cross between O and Yo
/ Ə / — weak schwa (extremely weak sound, a cross between A, O, E — pronounced in most unstressed syllables).

In English, our compound vowel sounds e [ye], yo [yo], yu [yu], i [ya] are absent, but there are diphthongs

English diphthongs are double sounds / aɪ / (time), / eɪ / (space), / ɔɪ / (boil) / ɛə / (care), / əʊ / (know) / aʊ / (now) / ɪə / (fear), and / ʊə / (priest).

The first diphthong sound is pronounced more clearly than the second. That is why we often have a hard time hearing or confuse words with diphthongs when listening.

English consonants often differ in their pronunciation, even sounds similar to Russian

In Russian there are as many as 36 consonant sounds (with 21 letters), but in English there are only 24. It is important to remember that even such sounds (for example, / p / or / d / pronounced differently than in Russian — see the table below for details).

Unique English consonant sounds:
/ w /
— semi-vowel sound, a cross between U and B
/ ð / и / θ / — interdental sound (voiceless and voiced variations), a cross between B and Z (F and C in a voiceless variation)
/ ŋ / — nasal H

The main difference between the pronunciation of Russian and English consonants is that in Russian we often deafen the final consonants (for example, year and goth may sound the same), but English doesn’t. It is important to remember this, as we can confuse pairs of words (for example, bed — bet) and it is difficult to hear final consonants.

Also, the so-called «Clusters» — combinations of several consonants inside or at the joints of words. Words like three, sixth and others can cause pronunciation problems.

I recommend using the interactive sound table or the Cambridge mobile app to practice pronunciation and accent.

The same letter can represent several sounds, depending on the position in the word

The biggest challenge in learning English is mastering its reading rules.

Despite the fact that there are only 26 letters in the English alphabet (in contrast to the Russian 33), learning to read words and phrases in English is not so easy.

1 / Vowel sounds in the alphabet have a so-called «open» pronunciation, which is different from other European languages.

How to read the sounds of the English alphabet

2 / Vowel sounds in stressed words are read differently, depending on the type of syllable in which they stand.

3 / Unstressed vowel sounds are pronounced with a very weak sound schwa / ə /.

This sound is so weak that we often simply cannot hear it. In our English pronunciation, we often pronounce it too intensely.

For example, a word vegetable pronounced not VEDGETABL with the same intensity of all sounds, but / vedʒt (ə) b (ə) l /, that is, after a clear stressed syllable VE, there are reduced syllables, all the sounds of which are read with schwa, and they are almost inaudible (and often not at all).

I will tell you more about this feature of English stress in the article «How to learn to understand English by ear».

4 / Many vowels and consonants in writing are indicated by letter combinations that need to be remembered.

Errors in pronunciation lead to problems with listening to fast English speech. I recommend purchasing our «The Complete Guide to Reading Rules»… It will help fill in the gaps in your knowledge of pronunciation rules and help you avoid common mistakes.

Pronunciation and reading of vowels

Sound Pronunciation feature Typical combinations Exception words
/ Ə / A weak unstressed sound is a cross between a very weak A and E Any vowel without stress, mostly a, o, u, e
/ ɪ /   «And short» Lips are slightly stretched in a semi-smile, tongue in front of the mouth. We pronounce light I. i in a closed syllableif, film,hise in endingsdancees, starte owomeneEnglish, decideawantsage, chocolateate
/ ɪː / «And long» Lips are slightly stretched, tongue in front of the mouth. We pronounce a long I. We do not strain our lips. eesee,sleepmost words with easea, RESPONSIVEead, eat,pleasee in open syllabletree, be,these i under stress in borrowed wordsdoine, policeiefie

Source: https://stordar.ru/angliiskie-zvuki/

How to quickly learn to read English from scratch on your own. Tips for English learners

When you study a foreign language, you learn not only a set of vocabulary and grammar, you in any case come across the culture and peculiarities of the mentality of the people who speak this language. The best way to learn language and culture is reading in original … And in order to read in a foreign language, you must first learn to read in that language.

You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. You can just get people to stop reading them.

~ Ray Bradbury

Does it exist an easy way to learn to read English ? If you studied English at school, you should have gotten an idea of ​​how English letters are read, you know what transcription is and how basic letter combinations are read. If your level is not beginner, but for example intermediate, then you will be interested in the article «Books in English for intermediate level»

But, if at school or university you studied German or French, or your school base turned out to be smaller than you would like, and now you have decided to learn English, then let’s start with the very primary and basic and learn a few methods of where to start in order to master reading rules.

English alphabet

I think you know that English is different from Russian and German, in which we basically read and write. In English, the system is a little more complicated. The very first thing we need to do is learn the alphabet.

The English alphabet has 26 letters, including 21 consonants and 5 vowels. Knowledge of letters and the ability to pronounce them correctly is the key to successful and competent reading in English.

English alphabet with transcription of the names of letters.

A very easy way to memorize letters visually and by ear is with the help of a song. Watch the video and sing the song until you memorize the letters of the alphabet.

You can use the same method to teach the alphabet to your children and sing along with your little ones.

After studying the alphabet, let’s start learning the combination of letters and reading short words. There are a number of rules in English that you need to learn, practice and remember if you want to read English words correctly.

The same letter can be read in different ways, depending on the letters that surround it, as well as whether it is closed or open syllable.

Rules for reading English consonants

Many consonants read similarly to Russian consonants, such as letters m, n, l, b, f, z … You can see it in words like mom, lemon, finger, boy, zebra.

Letters such as t и d sound similar, but pronounced with aspirated… For example, the words table, teacher, dad, dirty.

Letter c has two reading options. Before letters i, e, y it reads like [s]— city, face, cyber. And before the rest of the vowels it reads like [k]— cat, cake, factory.

The vowel rule i, e, y works with the letter g… In front of them, it reads like [dʒ]— gym, George, giant. Before other consonants, the letter is read as [g].

Letter q always occurs in a combination of letters qu and reads like [kW]— quick, queen, square.

Letter j always reads like [dʒ]— jacket, jam, joy.

Table of the ratio of consonants and sounds in English.

How vowels are read in English

In English, a word can end in an open or closed syllable, which affects pronunciation. For example, the words cat, pot, sit end in a closed syllable and have vowels a, o, i give sounds [a, o, i].

Words such as name, home, five end with an open syllable, since there is a letter at the end of the word ewhich is not readable. But, thanks to her, the vowels in the middle of the word are read in the same way as they are pronounced in the alphabet, that is, the word name is read [neɪm].

Types of English vowel reading in stressed syllables.

Reading vowel combinations in English

There are certain combinations of letters that have well-established rules for reading, although English is the language of exceptions, and when reading more complex words, you should refer to the dictionary. The table below shows English vowel combinations with examples how they are read and how they sound.

Table of combinations of vowels in English.

And of course, there are exceptions to all the rules. However, do not worry and think that you will never be able to learn it. Everything can be understood, you just have to try a little and practice.

English diphthongs with transcription

When you learn the basic rules of reading, you will see that there are diphthong sounds that are quite difficult to reproduce in English, especially if you start learning the language not from childhood, but in adulthood.

Table of English diphthongs with transcription.

Transcription of sounds in English

Practice shows that when children learn a language, they must necessarily learn transcription, while adults do not want to learn it and it can be difficult for them.

If you still want to learn how to write and read the transcription, then great! And if not, then you can use online dictionaries where the word will be pronounced for you. One of the best dictionaries today is Multitran and the Lingvo online dictionary.

Remember to use dictionaries, not translators!

Here’s an example of reading short words with transcription:

English vowel table and transcription.

There are some advantages to being in the internet age. Sitting at home, you can learn a variety of knowledge online. For your attention video tutorial, which explains the basic principles of reading. Nevertheless, even having received knowledge through an online lesson, they need to be consolidated in order to form a skill.

In this section, we want to share with you the experience that was gained in practice, teaching students of different levels. These tips have proven their effectiveness and usefulness in language learning. They can be used for beginner to advanced levels. Use)

Learn English tongue twisters

Here tongue twisters, which are often aimed at practicing one sound, can help you. Here are some examples you can use.

English translation

Source: https://ienglish.ru/blog/interesno-ob-angliiskom/kak-viuchit-angliiskiy-bistro-samomu/kak-bistro-nauchitsia-chitat-po-angliiski

Vowel english letters

The phonetic system of many European languages ​​is generally of the same type, has a certain structure.

Of course, intonation plays a big role in the pronunciation of vowels in English words. There are certain rules for running it up and down, as well as for individual turns, for example, there is and there are.

However, in the phonology of the English language, the presentation of the English letters and their corresponding phonemes is in order.

Let’s try to process and structure the existing extensive material for compact and easy assimilation, applying the principle of comparative studies — comparison with the phonetics of the Russian language where possible.

There are 6 vowels in English:

If you look closely at the uppercase and lowercase versions of the same letter, you will notice that vowels such as O and U have identical spellings.

Vowel transcription in English

Absolutely everyone who has come across the study of English phonetics has difficulty in correctly understanding the transcription of vowel sounds.

The fact is that in the transcriptional embodiment, the pronunciation of English vowels is not similar to the pronunciation of, for example, identical Russian vowels. This circumstance is primarily due to the different history of origin.

So, the system of English vowel phonemes goes back to diphthongic combinations of sounds.

For reference: diphthongic combinations (diphthongs) are a combination of two or more sounds. In this case, they can have different overtones and are designated by one letter.

Graphically transcribed sound is indicated by enclosing it either in square brackets ([]) or in oblique brackets (/ /)

Consider the transcription of English letters:

Letter Designated sound
— A a [ei]
— E e [i:] *
— I i [ai]
— O o [Where]
— U u [ju:]
— Y y [wai]

The sign «:», standing after the vowel sound, denotes the so-called longitude. This means that the sound needs to be pronounced continued, somewhat lingeringly.

Rules for reading vowels in English

However, the table above does not yet indicate that all sounds denoted by five English letters are transcribed in the same way.

As you know, there are only six vowels, but the sounds that can graphically represent these letters are much more — about 24.

To learn the rules for reading such sounds, scientists came to the conclusion that the reading of vowels depends on the type of syllable.

There are two types of syllables:

Speaking about the openness / closedness of a syllable, it should be understood that this is an organized phonetic system of phonemes in one word in a peculiar way.

A word can have from one to several syllables, and both open and closed can be present. According to statistics, almost all English words end with a closed syllable.

The theory of dividing a word into syllables in almost all languages ​​is based precisely on vowels. When studying our native language, we always say to ourselves or out loud when we have to divide a word into syllables: «How many vowels there are in a word, so many syllables.» This really fits well with the division into syllables of English words.

So, to determine the number of syllables in a syllable:

  • find vowels in the word,
  • mentally or graphically draw vertical bars after each vowel. How many cut-off sectors will turn out — there are so many syllables in the word.

For example, let’s take the word independent:

  • count the vowels: 4 (i, e, e, e)
  • draw perpendicular lines: in-de-pen-dent
  • there were also 4 segments, hence 4 syllables containing 4 vowels.

Vowel letters in open syllable type

An open syllable is a syllable that either consists of one vowel or ends in a vowel.

For example: in the word bar there is only one syllable, in the word ru-ler there are two syllables, the first of them is an open syllable, since it ends in the vowel u.

English vowels should be read in an open type of syllable as in the alphabet:

Letter Designated sound
— A a [ei]
— E e [i:]
— I i [ai]
— O o [Where]
— U u [ju:]
— Y y [wai]

Closed vowels

A closed syllable is a syllable ending in a consonant.

For example: in the word book — one syllable, ends with a consonant k, in the word dif-fi-cult — three syllables, the first and third of them are closed (in f and t), the second is open.

Features of the pronunciation of vowels in English

The vowels are read differently depending on the type of syllable. The letter R r stands apart in the reading rules. It greatly influences reading in both syllables.

For example, in the open type of syllable, the sound [r] seems to merge with the diphthong and sounds neutral —  [ǝ]. And in the closed type, the so-called short vowels are combined with a semi-consonant sound [r].

It turns out this combination:

  • [A]  — [a:],
  • [ɔ]  — [ɔ:],
  • [e], [I], [at][ǝ:].

That is, the short ones turn into long ones.

As for the rules for reading stressed vowels in a syllable, the letters u, a, o acquire the ability to reduce (that is, become super-short) and even drop out completely. The sound is neutral [ǝ].

For example: in words like sofa [‘soufǝ] or today [tǝ’dei]. Letters i, e, y, when reduced, pronounced as a sound [i]. For example: enemy [‘enimi].

If the vowel is unstressed, then the corresponding vowel sound can manifest itself in the fact that its length is shortened. Therefore, one can often observe (especially in colloquial speech) how pronouns she, he, we, me often not pronounced with a long [i:]and with a short [I].

Also, the absolute dropout of sounds (when it is not heard at all) can be observed in examples such as: lesson [‘lesn], open [‘ oupn], pencil [‘pensl].

Short vowels in English, examples

Before characterizing short and long vowels, it should be noted that they differ from each other not only in the time of pronunciation, but in articulation — by the means of the oral cavity that are involved in their formation.

Under stress, vowel sounds are read in a truncated form, that is, they are closely adjacent to the consonant sound following them.

Brief sounds (otherwise — reduced sounds) may differ in quality and quantity. Basically, they manifest themselves in prepositions and other official parts of speech.

There they are usually unstressed, so theoretically they cannot assume longitude. But depending on the pronunciation situation, they can be pronounced lingeringly or when emphasized in a rhythmic manner (phrasal stress).

Qualitative reduction is a weakening of a vowel, accompanied by a change in its quality and transformation into a sound of a neutral type.

Quantitative reduction is accompanied by a reduction in the duration of the vowel sound.

There is also a reduction of zero (full) when the vowel drops out completely.

Thus, all reduced forms can be called weak.

For example:

weak forms — you [ju ·, ju], at [әt].

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Long vowels in English, examples

There are much more long vowel sounds in the language. For the most part, they are pronounced in monophthongs — the articulation does not change during the entire duration of the sound.

As already mentioned, in transcription such vowels are denoted by the «:» sign.

For example:

  • Good [gu: d]
  • Arduous [a: djues]
  • Green [gri: n]

Diphthongs in English, examples

Diphthongs (or two-vowel sounds) are not peculiar to the Russian language, therefore it is not so easy to assimilate them.

They are such complex (composite) sounds that consist of two vowel sounds that must be pronounced as closely as possible. It turns out that the two sounds simply merge into one.

The percussive and syllabic sound is the first of the sounds to be merged. This is the core of the diphthong. The second vowel in the diphthong is called a glide. It complements the core, makes the combination more harmonious and easier to pronounce.

Due to the fact that the core is a long sound, and the glide is short, the pronunciation of the diphthong in terms of the degree of expenditure of pronunciation efforts and duration is approximately equal to the classical English monophthong. Although, in general, we can say that diphthongs are pronounced not long, but drawn out.

Affects the pronunciation of the diphthong and the position in the word in relation to the consonants. So, before voiced consonants, it is pronounced shortly, and if the consonant is voiceless, then very briefly

For example: sofa (influenced by a voiceless consonant f).

English diphthong table

So, there are 8 diphthongs: [ai] [ei] [iə] [eə] [ͻi] [ʊə] [əʊ] [aʊ].

They are read more than clearly — as in the above transcription. However, there are words, such as dear (dear) and deer (deer), in which the vowel combinations ea and ee are pronounced the same — [iə].

Such cases must be memorized. Thus, we see that phonemic difficulties in English lie in wait for the learner at every step.

There can be only one advice: compiling for yourself a «cheat sheet» with tables of English vowels, as well as tireless practice in the pronunciation of sounds. This can be achieved by reading texts aloud.

It is best to ask an experienced tutor about the correct pronunciation of certain vowels or diphthongs, who will carefully and painstakingly show how certain sounds are pronounced in various types of syllables.

Source: https://eng911.ru/rules/alphabet/glasnye-bukvy-v-anglijskom.html

English Long Vowels in the IPA 


What you need to know. 

– English long vowels have two dots like this – /:/ after the vowel symbol. If it has /:/ after it, you know it’s a long vowel!
– English long vowels are noticeably longer than short vowels.
– distinguishing between short and long vowels is very important in English because they mean different words. eg ship and sheep, sh*t and sheet, wick and week and so on. 
– an English long vowel is only one symbol in the IPA because it is one mouth position. 

KEY POINT: When you are looking at the vowels in the IPA to help you with your pronunciation, if you see the two dots /:/ you need to check you are making a long vowel, not a short vowel or a double vowel. 

English Vowel Examples – IPA Long Single Vowels


Vowel Phonetic Symbol   &    IPA Examples in Words

/i:/     week /wi:k/, feet /fi:t/, media /ˈmiː.di.jə/
/ɑ:/    hard /ha:/, park /pa:k/, article /ɑː.tɪ.kəl/
/ɔ:/    fork /fɔ:k/, walk /wɔ:k/, August /ɔːˈɡʌst/
/ɜ:/   heard /hɜ:d/, word /wɜ:d/, surface /ˈsɜː.fɪs/
/u:/   boot /bu:t/, group /gru:p/,  beautiful /ˈbjuː.tɪ.fəl/

What are English Long Vowels in the IPA? There are 5 IPA symbols for English long vowels. The IPA for English long vowels are: /i:/, /ɑ:/, /ɔ:/, /ɜ:/, /u:/. 

More Examples of Long English Vowels in the IPA 

Use the boxes below to revise and practise each of the long English vowels phonetics.

See the phonetic symbol for each vowel sound at the top of each box, see IPA vowel examples of it in 4 common English words, click to hear it pronounced and record your own pronunciation. 

ACHTUNG!

As you listen to the IPA examples and practise out loud, pay careful attention to the length of each vowel. 

Many non-native speakers of English make many of these vowels too short!

Before you start with the activties below say the words below out loud and pay attention to the length of the vowel. 

Here are some examples of long vowels in contrast with a shorter version, which actually means another word!

Notice that the long vowels all have the two dots /:/. All of these short vowels and long vowels are SINGLE vowels  – they ony have one IPA vowel symbol. This means they only have one mouth position. 

Short Vowel    vs     Long Vowel

hit /hɪt/           –      heat /hiːt/
pick /pɪk/       –      peak /piːk/
lick /lɪk/          –      leak /liːck/

duck /dʌk/     –   dark /da:k
stuff /stʌf/      –   staff /sta:f/

When completing this English vowels practice, make sure you are clearly making a short vowel and a long vowel. For example, heat and hit should sound different. Peak and pick should sound different. Duck and dark – should sound different. 

If they are sounding the same, do some more English vowels practise with the IPA Short Vowel Examples and the IPA Long Vowel Examples until you can more easily hear and make the right vowel length.  

Click to below to listen to English vowels exercises on long English vowel phonetics with IPA.

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