The word funny in letters

We parse complex sounds of the English language: / æ /, / ʌ /, / a: /

Learning the correct English pronunciation is another challenge. The first difficulty is mastering the rules of reading, because words in English are read in a completely different way than they are written. By the way, there is a great video about this phenomenon in our Material Library. I advise you to look!

The second difficulty: even if the rules of reading bounce off your teeth, and you know exactly what combination of letters — what sound means, you need to learn how to pronounce this sound. At the same time, it seems that the most “invincible” sounds for us are those that have no analogues in our language (like / w /, / θ /, / ð /).

However, it turns out to be no less difficult sounds having «twins» in Russian, because we, willy-nilly, replace them with our own, relatives. In this article we will “polish” the pronunciation of three such sounds: /æ/, /ʌ/, /a:/.

Let’s do it according to the following scheme:

1. Let’s take a closer look at pronunciation in theory;
2. We will practice on a special set of words and tongue twisters for the sounds of the English language;
3. Finally, we will find an example of using sound in a famous song so that it will forever be imprinted in the auditory memory.

What’s wrong with these sounds?

Why exactly these sounds? Because we often replace them with one — Russian / a /, which creates our quite recognizable accent (/ æ / can also be replaced by Russian / e /).

Before starting, I will immediately make a reservation that I will not dwell on the reading rules: the question is quite extensive, and the task of the article is to «train» the correct pronunciation of the sound itself. Second caveat: the article will use British pronunciation words (below I will indicate which words are in question).

Sound / æ / — neither A nor E

It is pronounced in words such as Mon, That, dad etc. This sound is called “frog” or “butterfly” for convenience, but its scientific name is “Near-Open Front Unrounded Vowel”.

How the name is associated with the nature of the sound is well explained in the video.

How the speech apparatus works: the tongue is pushed forward, the tip of the tongue touches the lower teeth. The middle dorsum of the tongue is slightly curved forward and upward. The distance between the jaws is significant. The throat and tongue are tense. The sound is short.

Possible error: sound replacement /æ/ on / NS / or / a /, although this sound is neither one nor the other.

If we are looking for parallels with Russian phonemes, then it looks more like that sound / a /, which is used by us after soft consonants in stressed position (compare the sound in the word паlicks и пяlions — Agree, the sounds are different!). In this case, the corners of the lips move apart further from each other than for the word пяlicks (as if you want to smile).

Another tip: prepare your mouth for sound / NS / (for example, start speaking the word веcabbage soup), hold the speech apparatus in this position, but say the sound / a /.

If it is still difficult to understand, then I will describe one more technique: try to «push» lower jaw downwards with the tip of the tongue, but at the same time remember about the «looming smile» (the corners of the lips stretched to the sides). Happened? Approximately this position will have your articulation apparatus when pronouncing this sound (see the picture).

Follow the link to find a very useful video from Rachel’s English from which this screenshot was taken.

So, we learned how to pronounce, now it is necessary to consolidate the result. To do this, I propose to speak several dozen monosyllabic words with this sound. We adjust the speech apparatus to the desired position and start training:

bad / bæd /

map / mæp /

add / æd /

plan / plæn /

lamp / læmp /

fat / fæt /

back / bæk /

can / kæn /

man / mæn /

hand / hænd /

fact / fækt /

crab / kræb /

catch / kætʃ /

trap / træp /

Source: https://corp.lingualeo.com/ru/2016/09/28/razbiraem-slozhnyie-zvuki-angliyskogo-yazyika/

Books. List of English words # 2 (intermediate)

Even in our «information» world topic (topic) «Books» will never lose its relevance.

After all, only reading fiction allows us to analyze the experience of previous generations, submitted by the great hand of the master-writer.

Let’s learn talk about the books you have read and the impression they made on you. And of course about your favorite writer. By the way, here is a list of the best works of classical literature. 

Memorize common English phrases related to Books:1. I am fond of (kind of books) — I love 2. I prefer reading (kind of books) — I prefer reading 3. What kind of books do you reading prefer? — What books do you prefer to read? 4. I enjoy reading (kind of books) — I love reading

5. As for me, I reading (kind of books) — As for me, I

EXAMPLE I am fond of detectives. / I am fond of reading detectives.

Nouns related to “Genres. Genres of books «(Kinds of books)

There are the following types of books, which are often called genres. Try to remember nouns for which there is no translation. [/ orange]

1. the novel — novel 2. a historical novel — historical novel

3. a story

4.a detective story5. a love story6. an adventure story — adventure novel

7. a short story

8.a horror story9. a ghost story — ghost story

10. a fairy tale

11.a travel book12. a fantasy book13. a science fiction book — science fiction novel14. a legend / a myth — legend (myth)

15. a biography — biography

16. a poem — poem
17. poetry — poetry

Writing a review of the book in English

6. The title of the book — the title of the book 7. It is written by — it is written by (name of the writer)

8. interesting / exciting / funny / true-to-life / well-written / easy to read — interesting, engaging, funny, believable, well-written, easy to read

EXAMPLE. I find this book exciting and easy to read.

9. boring / sad / awful / badly-written / difficult to read — boring, sad, awful, poorly written, difficult to read
EXAMPLE. I find the book boring and difficult to read.

10. writer — writer

• children’s writer — children’s writer
• short story writer — short story writer
• author — author
• dramatist = playwright — playwright (writes plays)
• poet — poet
• poetess — poet

11. world-famous — world famous

• well-known — well known
• great — great
• talented — talented
• modern — modern
• classical — classical
• medieval — medieval
• eighteenth- century — eighteenth century

12.he is considered to be
13. aplot — plot

• interesting — boring — interesting — boring
• simple — intricate — simple — confusing
• fast-moving — slow-moving — fast-growing — slow-moving

Source: http://englishinn.ru/topik-knigi-spisok-slov-dlya-nachinayushhih.html

Lesson 25. Reading the English letter U in four types of syllable

So, here we got to the last sixth vowel of the English alphabet letter Uu[ju:]. If you studied reading rules in English language according to our recommendations, you already have sufficient theoretical knowledge. However, practice is likely to be lacking. However, our reading course does not end there. Practice lies ahead. More on this later.

From lesson number 25 you will learn:

• how the letter is read Uu [ju:] in English;
• repeat the pronunciation of sounds [ju:], [ʌ], [ə:], [uə].

* * *

Rules for reading the English letter U

Here are phrases to help you remember reading letter U [ju:] in every type of syllable. A dictionary is connected to the site, and if in doubt, click on a word and listen to how it is pronounced.

Reading the English letter U in 4 types of syllables. Tongue Twisters

1. [ju:]: I don’t udual tunes in music. — I don’t like ordinary melodies.

2. [ʌ]: Have lunch with us. — Dine with us.

3. [ə:]: I have apurple purse. — I have a purple wallet.

4. [uə]: I am sure… — I’m sure.

* * *

Phonetic exercises for reading the letter U in an open and closed syllable

U(I,II):

fun, music, plum, cube, pumpkin, rubber, super, drum, student, stupid, hunting, hungry, tune, tunic, luck, supper, super, to return, curl, sunny, pupil, blue, uniform, summer, suck , unit, due, ugly, mutton, butter, struggle, to construct, to consult, cluster, dub, drunk, true, tulip, use, upland, under, computer, cucumber, buck, must, to amuse, mummy, truth, gum, bubble, much, huge

to — a sign of a verb. Most verbs stress the second syllable. Exceptions:

1.after letters l, r, j vowel Uoften reads like [u:]: blue, true, truth, June, July,

2.after letters b, p, f closed vowel U often read as [u]: full, bush, put, pull, etc.

Words to remember:

1. busy [‘bizi] — busy
2. study [‘stʌdɪ] — study
3. sugar [‘∫ugə] — sugar

Your browser does not support the audio tag!

* * *

Phonetic exercises for reading the letter U in the third and fourth type of syllable

U(III, IV):

church, turn, burn, to return, pure, curl, curb, fur, hurt, sure, nurse, curse, curt, burning, turning, turkey, lure

* * *

In an unstressed syllable, U reads like [ə]:

it’s su

Source: http://englishstory.ru/chtenie-angliyskoy-bukvyi-u.html

English sentences that drive you crazy

Learning a foreign language is not an easy task, at some moments it seems that your brain is about to explode. And at times like these, English can seem like the worst language in the world. Do you want to know why? Let’s look at a few suggestions that can drive you crazy.

(PS depending on the meaning, the words understood in this article can be pronounced differently. Watch the video to hear how).

The wind was too strong to wind the sail

In this sentence, the word «wind» in the first and second cases has different meanings. «The wind was too strong» is translated as «the wind was strong», that is, «wind» here means «wind» .. «to wind the sail» — «to roll the sails. In the second case, this word is a verb, which translates as «fold» (lit. to wind up).

We must polish the Polish furniture

The words repeated here, as in the previous case, are spelled in the same way. They also have the same pronunciation. In the first case, «polish» is to polish; in the second, «Polish» is Polish. We must polish the Polish furniture — we must polish Polish furniture.

We are too close to the door to close it

Similarly written words are pronounced in much the same way. «To be close» means to be close to something. «To close something» — to close something. We are too close to the door to close it — we are too close to the door to close it.

It might be wise to bow to a man with a bow

In the first part of the sentence, «bow» is a verb that translates to «bow down.» In the second half of the sentence, «bow» is a noun, as suggested by the indefinite article «a», and it translates as «bow» (for shooting). It might be wise to bow to a man with a bow — it might be wise to bow to a person who has a bow.

John had to write to the right people to keep his rights during his rites

Here we have several very similar sounding words that have completely different meanings. John had to write — John must write; to the right people — to the right people; to keep his rights — to keep your rights; during his rites — during the rite. Interestingly, «write» (to write), «right» (correct), right (right) and «rite» (rite) — read the same, fortunately, the context helps to understand the meaning of these words in one case or another.

She shed a tear when she saw the tear and her dress

In this sentence, we have the nouns «a tear» [ˈtɪə] — a tear; «A tear» [ter] — hole, tear. She shed a tear when she saw the tear in her dress — she shed a tear when she saw a hole in her dress.

Startled, the dove dove into the bushes

«A dove» is a dove, «dove» is the past form of the irregular verb «to dive ‘, meaning to dive. Startled, the dove dove into the bushes — frightened, the dove dived into the bushes.

The bandage was wound around his leg to cover the wound

In the first case, «wound» is the past form of the irregular verb «to wind», which we mentioned above (fold, wrap). In the second — «wound» means «wound». The bandage was wound around his leg to cover the wound — a bandage was wrapped around his leg to cover the wound.

The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert

This sentence is tricky because we have two words that are spelled the same but have different meanings, and another that is spelled a little differently but sound similar. «To desert something» means to leave, to leave something behind. «The desert» — a desert, for example the Sahara Desert. Dessert is a dessert. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert — a soldier left his dessert in the desert.

When does are near a buck does funny things

«A buck» is a male deer, and «a doe» is a female. If we use the second word in the plural, we get “does”, which is spelled exactly like the auxiliary verb “do” in Present Simple for He / She / It. When does are near a buck does funny things — when females are near, deer behave funny.

Source: https://tryeng.ru/1920

English alphabet: table with transcription and Russian pronunciation

05.03.2019

Greetings, my dear readers.

Today we continue to talk about how to learn to read correctly, so the topic of today’s article is the transcription of English letters.

We have already met you with the concept of transcription and understood the pronunciation of sounds in English. Today we will figure out exactly how they are pronounced in various combinations.

I have a table for you to understand. It contains the letters of the English alphabet with transcription, Russian analogue letters and my notes so that you can immediately put the correct pronunciation. I also added examples of words with the studied sounds and their translation.

What else can be found on the blog:

Let `s start?

Features of English transcription:

• it is always enclosed in square brackets. I can’t say exactly where it came from, but I think it’s just worth taking it for granted;
• to understand where the stress is, the transcription uses the [‘] sign in front of the stressed syllable;
• it is important to remember that transcription is about the sound, not the spelling of words. Sometimes the spelling can be 90% different from what we say;
• to indicate that the sound is long, we use a colon.

The letters of the English alphabet and their transcription in Russian and English:

English letter	Transcription	Russian analogue
Aa	[eɪ]	Hey
Bb	[biː]	Would be
Cc	[siː]	Si
Dd	[diː]	Di
Ee	[iː]	И
Ff	[ɛf]	Eph
Gg	[dʒiː]	Gee
Hh	[eɪtʃ]	H
Ii	[aɪ]	Ай
Jj	[dʒeɪ]	Jay
Kk	[keɪ]	Kay
Ll	[ɛl]	E
Mm	[ɛm]	Em
Nn	[ɛn]	En
Oo	[əʊ]	OU
Pp	[pi]	Pi
Qq	[kjuː]	Кью
Rr	[ɑː] or [ɑɹ]	A or Ap
Ss	[ɛs]	Es
Tt	[tiː]	You
Uu	[juː]	Ю
Vv	[viː]	In and
Ww	[ˈDʌb (ə) l juː]	Double
Xx	[ɛks]	The ex
Yy	[waɪ]	Wye
Zz	[zɛd], [ziː]	Zed, zee

But do you know what is most interesting about English?

So I have prepared for you

Examples of English letter combinations in Russian and English:

Combination	Transcription	How to pronounce	Example
ee	/i:/	И	bee — bee
ea	/ ı: /	И	tea — tea
oo	/ or /	У	cook — to cook
th	/ ð / / Ѳ /	З, С (interdental)	thumb — finger
sh	/ ʃ /	Ш	shout — to shout
ch	/ t ʃ /	Ч	chair — chair
ph	/f/	Ф	phone — phone
ck	/k/	К	snack — snack
ng	/ Ƞ /	Ng	song — song
wh	/w/	Ya	why — why
wr	/r/	Р	write — write
qu	/kw/	Kua	queen — queen
igh	/aı/	Ай	high — high
ALL	/ Ɔ: l /	Ol	tall — high
ai	/eı/	Hey	Spain — Spain
ay	/eı/	Hey	May — May
oi	/oı/	Oh	point — point
oy	/oı/	Oh	toy — toy
ow	/oƱ/	OU	grow — to grow
ou	/aƱ/	Ay	out — out
ew	/ ju: /	Ю	knew — knew
aw	/ Ɔ: /	Ltd	draw — draw
ee + r	/ ıə /	Eeyore	engineer — engineer
ou + r	/ aƱə /	Aue	our — our
oo + r	/ Ɔ: /	Ltd	door — door
wo + r	/ ɜ: /	Y / O	work — work
ai + r	/ eə /	Ea	chair — chair
oa + r	/ Ɔ: /	Ooh	roar — scream
ould	/ Ʊd /	Beats	could — could
ound	/ aƱnd /	Aund	round — round
eight	/eı/	Hey	eight — eight
-y	/ı/	И	tiny — tiny
au	/Ɔ:/	Oo	Paul — Paul
gh	/f/	Ф	laugh — laugh
aught	/ Ɔ: t /	From	taught — taught

I know this table looks huge now. You probably think that remembering all this is unrealistic. I’ll tell you this: at a certain moment, when you have enough reading practice, you will not even pay attention to these combinations. Your brain will learn to quickly remember how these letters sound. Moreover, even when you come across a completely unfamiliar word, you will be able to read it correctly. The only question is the amount of practice on your part.

How to memorize letter combinations?

1. Use cards. Visual perception is better developed in most people.
2. Read on. Pay attention to letter combinations when reading books or just texts.
3. Don’t get hung up.

   It is not necessary to immediately memorize these combinations and only then go directly to English. Learn as you progress!

4. Buy paper or in order to quickly learn to recognize combinations and pronounce them correctly.

   Even if you — an adult — need it, do not hesitate to borrow books for children — it is there that everything is chewed up in detail and interesting.

5. Take the course «»… This will make your journey easier.

That’s all, my dears. I hope you found it helpful and clear.

I give even more such materials in the blog mailing list — subscribe and receive a portion of usefulness regularly.

Source: https://crownenglishclub.ru/dlya-nachinayushhih/anglijskij-alfavit-tablitsa-s-transkriptsiej-i-russkim-proiznosheniem.html

What’s interesting I learned from the book «Theory of Fun for Game Design» by Raf Koster

In this article, I will summarize the most interesting conclusions and checklists for me, which I found in the book by Raf Koster «Theory of Fun for Game Design». But first, just a little background information:

• I liked the book.
• The book is short, easy to read and interesting. Almost like an art book.
• Raf Koster is an experienced game designer who also has expertise in music and literature. But he is not a programmer, so one can feel “different” accents to development, especially noticeable for the programmer reading him. I started with MUDs.
• The book was published in 2004, which means that phrases in the book about the current state of the industry should be viewed with a fair amount of skepticism.
• The official website of the book: theoryoffun.com [1].
• Translated version of the book: Raf Koster: Game Development and Entertainment Theory [2]. I read the English version, so I can’t say anything about the quality of the Russian translation, but at least it exists.
• There are quite a few reviews of this book [3]. However, I set myself the task of collecting a short subjective summary of his recommendations, so this article should not be considered a review.
• This book is regularly recommended, including on Habré: 25 books for a game developer [4].

What is it about

according to its semantic structure, the book is divided into two approximately equal parts: the first. structured study of what is interesting in games: an attempt to define; why is it interesting to play; when interest leaves the game. very exciting and informative. many analogies and comparisons with other types of art: music, books, cinema. second. reasoning about the adulthood of the industry, the purpose of games, the responsibility of game developers to society.

there are rare interesting moments, but mostly boring and uninformative. amused the phrase: «now the time has finally come when you can freely talk about gender differences without the risk of being accused of sexism.» and he reasoned about these differences quite freely. the main indicated value of the book: to tell how to achieve interestingness in the game. and the book really talks about it. but here I have difficulty translating the fun keyword into Russian.

Russian publishers translated it as «entertainment.» Google offers «fun.» I will use the words «interest» and «interesting», although contentment and fun could have come up. but, in my opinion, this is one of those words that does not have an accurate Russian translation, and all the translations presented are unsuccessful. this interestingness can be not only funny, but also depressing.

in English, the word «funny» can mean «weird», and the phrase «funny words» can mean obscene words.

patterns in games

patterns in games are the basic patterns of behavior that our brains learn to recognize and train in them. the process of learning patterns is the main source of interest in games. when the player learns something new, he receives a chemical reward in the form of hormones of pleasure. when the player fully understands all that the game has to offer, the body ceases to receive such a reward.

this is the main idea of ​​the first half of the book, which is revealed from different angles with the help of different examples.

that is, the pleasure of playing comes from knowledge. cognition is the training of skills that the brain perceives as useful for the survival of a person or his tribe since ancient times, which means that a person must be rewarded for such training.

food for knowledge is provided by new mechanics (new genre or gaming platform) and content (plot, entourage, music).

from this it is concluded that any game is doomed to boredom when the player draws out everything new from it and becomes a master in it.

if the main source of new knowledge in the game is contained in the content (the author calls this clothing on patterns), then the game will become boring after the first passage or viewing on YouTube (The dangers of YouTube for story-driven games weren’t so obvious back then).

but the new elements of the mechanics not only last longer, but also attract new players who have seen someone else’s game. largely due to monkeying: when a person sees someone else’s success (fun), then he also wants to repeat it and compete.

(the usual translation of the word patterns is patterns, they do not fit well in meaning. Here, most likely, the same analogy as with design patterns in oop)

briefly phrases and ideas taken from the book

• The brain thinks in patterns, not real objects;
• The brain is greedy for new patterns;
• Too new patterns can be perceived by the brain as noise and discarded as too unfamiliar and complex. So the older generation often abandons new technologies or fashion;
• A completely new experience can be too unfamiliar and repulsive, so the updated old pattern is safer (in science there is an analogy «too far ahead of his time»);
• Repeatedly repeating old patterns leads to boredom due to routine;
• The process of perfecting the pattern is rewarded with pleasure hormones, but after reaching perfection, pleasure is given out for the last time and the output stops;
• Boredom is when the brain requires new information to learn. The brain does not necessarily require new sensations (unexplored experience), often new data is enough for it (a new set of enemies, bosses);
• A player can recognize an old pattern in a new game in 5 minutes. Clothes and surroundings will not deceive him. If it does not find anything new, it will find it boring and will close it;
• The player may recognize tremendous depth in the game, but may find it irrelevant to himself. Hence the boredom and the way out;
• You can’t please everyone. Too slow opening of new mechanics -> the player will notice that there is nothing new for a long time -> boring -> exit. Opening new mechanics too quickly -> too difficult, patterns are not recognized -> boring -> exit.
• The most basic source of pleasure in games is from honing your skill in patterns — that is, from cognition. But there are other additional ones: aesthetic; reflex; social.
• Aesthetic pleasure. Based on recognizing old patterns, not learning them, for example, as a result of a plot twist (example: the movie Planet of the Apes, when the main character sees the Statue of Liberty at the end).
• Social interest (optional multiplayer):
  1. schadenfreude when the enemy messes with something;
  2. praise, triumph for completing a difficult task, as a signal to the rest of the tribe that you are useful, significant and significant;
  3. patronage, when a student succeeds, it is important for the survival of your tribe;
  4. pride, bragging about your student. This is a signal to the tribe of your importance and general usefulness;
  5. intimate courtship, indicating relative / local social importance;
  6. generosity, such as sponsorship for other clan members, is an important social signal for a tribe to benefit from having such a tribe.

Elements of an interesting game

1. Preparation. That is, the player must be able to preliminarily increase the chances of winning;
2. Stable mechanics. A set of rules that are understandable and accepted by players;
3. A set of obstacles, conflicts. Players must face various obstacles that prevent them from achieving their goals;
4. There are many ways to overcome obstacles.

   For example, you can walk past the guards: performing heroic assignments, bribery, intimidation, or cleverly climbing over a wall;

5. The player’s skill affects success. That is, the decisions made by the player really matter and lead to different results;
6. The world. That is, there is room for expanse and / or clear boundaries. It’s not very good if you throw the player into an open field without any background information.

For the gaming experience to be educational, there should be:

1. Variable feedback on the player’s actions: there should be a better reward for better decisions;
2. An experienced player should receive as little reward as possible when solving the slightest problems. For example, if a player hunts other players that are significantly weaker than him, then it should be «economically» unprofitable for him;
3. Failure must come at a cost.

   In older games, this is a complete Game Over, but now it should at least be a replay requirement or loss of profits.

Checklist of questions for an interesting game

1. Do I need to prepare before an obstacle? (do preliminary reconnaissance)
2. Can you prepare differently and still succeed? (bribe or intimidate the guards)
3. Does the environment influence the obstacle itself? (do the guards of the castle entrance and the small town behave differently?)
4. Are there clear rules of the game and its mechanics for overcoming obstacles? (it is not good if the guards react unpredictably to open theft, or ignore criminal behavior)
5. Can a set of rules support a variety of obstacles? (too rigid / poor rules limit the possibilities for level design)
6. Can a player use different skills to succeed? (become a master negotiator or a brutal bouncer)
7. At higher difficulty levels, is the player required to use multiple skills to be successful? (that is, will he really have to sweat, and not just grind a dozen levels on boars)
8. Is skill required to use abilities? (calling shouldn’t be an effective strategy)
9. Are there multiple possible outcomes of success so that there is not one guaranteed result? (it’s boring to watch for the tenth time the identical beating of the guards when intimidated)
10. Advanced players don’t benefit from too easy obstacles / challenges? (for boars, you can stop giving a reward altogether)
11. Does failure make the player suffer somehow? (failure, bad ending or lost profit)
12. If graphics, sounds, history are removed from the game, will it still be fun to play? (i.e., is the basic game mechanics still interesting?)
13. All systems used in the game should work on the main idea (morality or idea of ​​the game). If the system is not conducive to solving the idea, the system should be thrown away. This is what the developer RimWorld [5] did, who didn’t add mechanics that didn’t improve his “story generation system”. Therefore, he did not add complex crafting systems.
14. Players almost always tend to take the easy path: counting, skipping stories and dialogues that do not work for their main interest, for which they downloaded this game. People are lazy. Does the game allow for such «lazy» behavior? For example, if a player launched your action RPG to swing a sword, and not for the sake of the plot, then maybe you should give him that opportunity without loading up with long backstories (especially if they are banal and repetitive in the game).

Conclusion

It took only 8 hours to read the book. I pointed out what I thought was the most valuable, so I might well have missed other important ideas. The book is easy to read and interesting, so I feel free to recommend it to all video game developers.

Especially for those who make games as a hobby, and they don’t have the resources for traditional methods of drawing attention with stunning images, mountains of high-quality content and tons of professional advertising.

If you are interested in such material, then please consider the possibility of subscribing to my subsequent articles.

References

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/453402/

English pronunciation of an open syllable. Types of syllables in English in a nutshell

First, let’s find out what is different open syllable in English from the closed one and, using examples, let’s see how to correctly read the letters in a particular syllable.

Open syllable in English

If a word ends in a vowel, then it is an open syllable.

name — name

my — my

take — to take

You’ve probably already noticed that in almost all cases, the vowel e at the end of a word is mute (unreadable). Let’s now take a closer look at how to correctly read vowels in an open stressed syllable.

In an open syllable, all vowels are read as in the alphabet. An exception is the letter y. There are 6 vowels in the alphabet. Let’s look at each of them in the table below.

English vowels and examples of their pronunciation in words

Aa

name — name
lake — lake
say — to say

As you may have noticed, the last vowel in the English word is not readable. It only says that the first vowel in a word should be read as in the alphabet.

Ee

be — to be
me — me
settle — bench

In most prepositions, we pronounce the last vowel, as in the example with the preposition be (to be) and me (me).

Ii

nice — to be
— me
line — bench

Oo

no — no
nose — nose
go — go, go

Uu

mute — mute
tune — tune

Yy

my — my
skype — skype

The vowel y in the English word conveys sound despite the fact that it has a transcription.

Closed syllable in English

If a word ends with a consonant, then it is closed syllable.

pen — pen

good [ɡʊd] — good

sit — to sit

Let’s analyze the rules for reading each vowel separately in closed syllable in English.

English vowels and examples of their pronunciation in a closed syllable

Aa

bad — bad
dad — dad
back — back
black — black
flat — apartment

The letter Aa in a closed stressed syllable is read like the sound [æ]. This sound is similar to something between the Russian A and E. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound. Practice well before moving on to the next letter.

Oo

stop — stop
box — box
from — from, from
shop — shop
hot — hot

The letter Oo in a closed stressed syllable is read like the sound [ə]. This sound is similar to the Russian sound O, but in Russian, when we pronounce O, we pull our lips forward, in English, when pronouncing the sound [ə], the lips do not extend forward. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.

Ii

big — big
film — film
milk — milk
sit — to sit
fish — fish

The letter Ii in a closed stressed syllable is read like the sound [I]. This sound is similar to the Russian sound I. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.

Ee

best — the best
bed — bed
dress — dress
egg — egg
get — get

The letter Ee in a closed stressed syllable is read like the sound [e]. This sound is similar to the Russian sound E. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.

Uu

cup — cup
sun — sun
run — run
fun — fun
up — up

The letter Uu in a closed stressed syllable is read like the sound [ʌ]. This sound is similar to the Russian sound A, but in English it is more intense. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.

Yy

gym — gym
myth — myth
rhythm — rhythm

The letter Yy in a closed stressed syllable is read in the same way as the letter Ii. This sound is similar to the Russian sound I. In the examples, you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.

Useful

A diphthong is when one letter contains two sounds. For example, in the letter a, there are two sounds.

Open closed syllable in English: exercises

Now let’s practice a little. Choose which of the sounds is present in the word.

Trainer for reading English vowels in open and closed syllables. For children who are just starting to learn English letters, it is very difficult to master English sounds.

The simulator is used to practice open and closed syllables and is intended for grade 2 students. According to UMK Biboletova (4th quarter). According to UMK Vereshchagina (end of the second quarter — the beginning of the second quarter). According to UMK Starlight (end of September). This simulator will not only help to remember vowels and sounds, but also help to distinguish in which position the letter is read in an open or closed syllable.

Aa cake, Kate, name, plane, plate, snake, take, Jane, sale hat, cat, bat, fat, Sam, cap, bad, parrot, carrot, rat, ant, many, black, map, cana black cat, a bad snake, many parrots, a fat rat, a black rat and a fat cat, a cake and a plate, a black bat hatTake a cat. Take a plate. Take a black rat and a fat cat. Take a map. Take a cake, Kate. Jane, take a parrot and a carrot. Take a fat cat and a black hat, Sam.

What »s your name? How many plates has Jane got? Has Sam got a map?

[əʊ] no, rose, stone, open, home, go, globe

[ͻ] on, not, hot, dog, frog, doll, hop, robot, box, clock

Rose, doll, frog, home, robot, dog, stone, box

No, go, globe, hop, hot, doll, doll, home

go home, a big dog, a big doll, a big box, a small clock, a box and a dog

go home. A big dog has a big clock. A small frog has a big box.

Open box. A frog opens a small box. I have at a doll at home.

Have they got a doll at home? — No, they haven’t. They have got a robot at home.

Kite, mice, bike, hi, Mike, nice, fine,, white, nine

[i] Tim, Bill, pink, kitten, big, little, pig, milk, it, his, with

a little kite, a little cat, a little pig, a little hat, little mice

a nice bike, a nice cat, a nice pet, nice mice

a big kitten, a big pink kitten, a big fat cat, a big plane

I my bike. I my cat. I my big fat cat. I my nice little pink pig. I am fine.

I my little nice mice. I my nice pink kite. I it.

I to play with my nice little kitten. Let’s play with his big bike.

Ee see, be, Pete, he, beet, she, bee, keep, we, green, sweet,

Ned, pet, let ‘s, hen, ten, pen, desk, red, bed, Bet, lemon,

Pete, bed, Ted, let, green, pen, bee

Peg, desk, see, keep, red, hen, beet

Green pen, red desk, Pete and a bee, Ted and his pet,

A black desk, a big red hen on the little black desk

Source: https://ik-ptz.ru/diktanty-po-russkomu-yazyku--5-klass/angliiskii-proiznoshenie-otkrytogo-sloga-tipy-slogov-v-angliiskom-yazyke-v.html

Lost in translation: cosmetics are not for ladies’ ears (18+)

An incomplete, but entertaining collection of names of beauty brands that drive even us into paint. When entering a foreign market, every brand should remember that, perhaps, not only advertising brochures, but also the name itself will have to be translated. They say that the Chevrolet Nova car suffered a fiasco in Spain, because «no va» in Spanish means «does not go». In the same Spain, they had to come up with a new name for Mitsubishi Pajero — it turned out that in the country of bullfighting and flamenco, this slang word is used for men who, mmm, prefer the society of their own hands to women

Source: https://www.beautyinsider.ru/2015/09/19/cosmetics-funny-and-naughty-brand-names/

English for kids from scratch — self-study of children in English

Modern educators note the importance of learning English early. And there are a number of reasons for this. Psychologists have long known that memory and thinking have unique characteristics in childhood.

Unlike adults and adolescents, who in any situation strive to understand logic, children think figuratively. They have no need for analysis, which means that they take any grammatical phenomenon for granted.

They do not have serious barriers (unlike older children) when practicing spoken English — they are not afraid to make mistakes.

In addition, kids have an amazing ability to quickly memorize information and retain it in memory for a long time, and this lays a solid foundation for further language acquisition at school.

Perhaps every school teacher will agree that the children with whom they were engaged in early learning of the English language are immediately visible.

Moreover, they not only remember the passed material and easily give out the words and constructions requested by the teacher, but also much easier and faster adapt to the language environment and acquire new knowledge. They do not need to explain elementary basics.

Nevertheless, there is only one way to arouse a child’s interest in learning a foreign language and a desire to study it seriously — by forming a positive attitude towards lessons. And this can be achieved by choosing a competent approach to teaching children the English language, corresponding to age characteristics.

At what age can children be taught English?

The popularity of language courses is growing today, but few ask the question «At what age can a child start learning English?»

The answer is not obvious — right from birth. So the baby will absorb foreign speech from the first days. Use gentle English words when naming your child and sing lullabies. Actively introduce play techniques into training.

If you start teaching a child a language at 3-5 years old, then we will delight you: games for learning English and the use of characters (dolls or toys) as teachers will make the classes fun. At this age, children will already be able to learn by ear the names of flowers, numbers, family members, words from basic topics. When working with three-, four- and five-year-old children, entertaining stories and exercises that require physical activity are indispensable.

At 6 — 8 years old, you can approach lessons even more seriously: read short fairy tales, focus on children’s songs. For younger students, it is already possible to enter written assignments — let the child enter new words into the notebook and train them to write in the copybook.

At 8 — 10 years old you can move on to mastering the main base — grammar and vocabulary. For schoolchildren, games in English, songs, hymns, rhymes and rhymes will be a “tasty” addition to the main lesson.

The same can be said about cartoons — turn on for your little student first cartoons in Russian, and then the same episodes in English.

Use colorful textbooks and workbooks — for a child, the main factor in the study of any discipline is involvement.

Are you convinced that English is interesting and useful for toddlers? Well, start teaching your child too!

English for children «from scratch» — basic techniques

These methods are suitable both for teaching schoolchildren (primary grades) and for helping preschool children in learning English:

• Zaitsev’s method It is based on cubes with syllables that differ in color, size and ringing, from which the child composes words. Thus, the baby learns to speak and read at the same time.
• Doman’s method It implies the use of thematic cards, which necessarily display a photograph or drawing of an object and a word. As a result of classes with cards, the child simultaneously memorizes pronunciation, the graphic image of the word and its meaning.
• Game method It involves all kinds of games for memorizing vocabulary and grammatical structures. Moreover, it can be both calm interesting tasks for kids, which are held at the table, and outdoor games, during which children are allowed to run, jump and shout. Active actions help in the assimilation of the material. While on the move, the child does not realize that colossal work is being done in his brain at the moment.
• Combined method It is considered the most effective and therefore the most common. Its use makes the lesson rich and does not let the child get tired of monotonous tasks. It provides a variety of games, performing songs and dances, and even watching cartoons. The method is used by professional teachers. It literally «permeates» the school curriculum. Combination as a method is used not only in foreign language lessons, but also in the study of native speech, mathematics, history, social studies.

Basic principles of teaching children

In order for English for children to be successfully acquired from scratch, experienced teachers, as a rule, try to adhere to certain principles.

• Constant repetition of words and development of grammatical constructions. Of course, at each lesson, the teacher introduces new lexical units, due to which there is an increase in vocabulary. However, periodic repetition of the material covered is equally important. The rule should apply not only to preschoolers, but also to students of primary, middle and senior school age.
• Using different methods of presenting and memorizing material. Some children have better developed visual memory, others more easily memorize information through listening to it, and for others it is especially important to perform certain movements at the time of repeating a word. Therefore, we repeat once again, an integrated approach is the most successful option in this regard.
• The use of memorized words in sentences. Even three-year-old children who have the skills of speaking their native language can easily make simple sentences in English, which experienced teachers try to teach them from the first lessons.

Teaching children English in practice

Surely many mothers are interested in whether it is possible to organize teaching English for children «from scratch» on their own, without the help of specialists. Of course, yes. If you know the language at least at an elementary level, then you may well become a personal tutor for your own child.

To do this, of course, you will have to study some literature, delve into the teaching methodology and also decide on a textbook. For such purposes the educational complex “Kid`s box”, “First friends”, “Playway to English”, “Wonderland”, “Pingu’s English” are perfect.

On the Internet today you can find a lot of useful materials, including interesting texts, audio and video on various topics.

Alphabet

Hey, bi, si, it will not be difficult for a child to repeat simple letters after mom every day. So he will first learn the first 5-6 letters, and then the entire alphabet, which will later be useful to him for mastering the basics of the English language.
English alphabet with pronunciation

Numbers

Having studied the first ten numbers, your child can easily count the number of toys in his room and spoons on the kitchen table. Educational games in English will help him with this.
Numbers in English from 0 to 20

Colours

This topic is interesting for toddlers. It is not so voluminous, and the studied words have the opportunity to constantly train. Games in English for finding a color or identifying parts of a color palette in a picture are standard options for learning new tokens.
Colors with translation and transcription

Animals

One of the objects of love in children are animals. Now, when visiting the zoo and viewing the encyclopedia of species, you can safely include their foreign counterparts in the story about lions, dogs and cats. Little zoologists will like such an innovation — they will definitely be imbued with and first of all they will learn the name of their favorite animal.
Domestic and wild animals in English

Food

Among the exercises in English lessons for children, you can find the names of various fruits, vegetables, flour, etc. Memorization happens quickly due to the fact that English names are practiced during breakfast, lunch and dinner, in this way. Foreign words are brought to automatism by the guys unconsciously.
English words about food

Vegetables

Vegetables are used everywhere in Russian cuisine. From the first days of life, a child eats products made from them. For the topic «Vegetables» it is not necessary to select special tasks or exercises, it is enough for children in English in a playful way to use a few words at lunch, during dinner or the next lunch you will certainly hear what you said the previous time.
Vegetables in English

Seasons

There are only four seasons, however, these 4 words can be played up with different clothes, pictures, pay attention to the current weather. English for Kids Online provides an opportunity to expand on this topic to include months, weather and holidays.
Seasons and weather in English

Online word guessing game for children

Children love to explore the world through a variety of fun games. A riddle is one of the playful methods of learning new words. It is suitable both for mastering new information and for testing already known topics.

You can see riddles at this link, and below is a classic online word guessing game for children, which our parents played on paper.

Prompt —

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Fairy tales in English and Russian

And also, you can read fairy tales to children in English. After your child has mastered the initial level, you can offer him fairy tales in English, which he knows well in Russian. A familiar plot, told in English, will undoubtedly interest the child.

After putting on the English version of your favorite fairy tale, you can take the Russian book of the same name with illustrations and try to follow through the pictures what the announcer is talking about. During listening, the child does not learn to perceive someone else’s speech by ear, but also learns the correct pronunciation.

He unconsciously memorizes how foreign words should sound correctly. Below is an excerpt from the fairy tale «Three Little Pigs» in English with translation into Russian, as well as a very short fairy tale about a princess for beginners.

By the way, you can find the whole tale about the three pigs as part of the training exercise on our website.

The three little pigs

Source: https://lim-english.com/posts/sekreti-obycheniya-detei-angliiskomy-s-nylya/

Pronunciation of English words in Russian letters

›Grammar

Everyone knows that any language is difficult in its spelling and pronunciation. And English is no exception. Indeed, in it the spelling of many words is sometimes very different from the sound. Therefore, many beginners to learn this language very often have a question: How to pronounce English words in Russian? Today we will analyze common words and phrases and find out how to read them correctly. Thus, it will be easier for you to understand the transcription and reading rules of the English language.

Nuances of English phonetics

Correct pronunciation plays a big role in language learning. For this, it is necessary to develop the appropriate articulation. After all, the pronunciation of English sounds practically does not coincide with the Russian pronunciation.

Phonetic transcription is one of the difficulties in learning any foreign language. There are 26 letters and 48 sounds in English. This is almost 2 times the number of letters. Here, not only individual letters, but also letter combinations can form a new sound. In any English dictionary there is always a graph: transcription.

Sounds are enclosed in square brackets so that you can understand how to read English words in Russian. Of course, the spelling of English words in Russian is not done in the dictionary. Accordingly, before you start using the dictionary and learning English words, you need to know how sounds are read and pronounced correctly.

To do this, you need to familiarize yourself with the reading rules.

Reading rules, along with transcription and articulation, are also very important in pronunciation and learning new words. Without knowing them, it will simply be impossible to read the words correctly, even if all sounds are known.

 Reading rules

Now it is necessary to discuss some rules for reading English. Since our topic today is a little different, we will consider only the most basic rules. And we will dwell on them in more detail later.

Firstly, in the English language there is a certain division of syllables into types: open and closed. What does it mean?

An open syllable is a syllable that ends in a vowel sound. Usually, if a syllable ends in «e», then it is not read. Since this occurs quite often, the letter «e» is also called «dumb». The vowel, which stands at the root of an open syllable, is most often read in the same way as it is called in the alphabet. For example, the word make. The letter «a» reads like in the alphabet [ei] — hey.

A closed syllable is a syllable that ends in a consonant. The vowel at the root of a syllable is usually read according to the rule. We will consider these rules below.

Letter	Transcription	Reading	Example
A	[æ]	Uh — short, open your mouth wide	Bat, cat, map
E	[e]	E — lips in a smile, closer to e	Pen, hen, ten
I	[ɪ]	и	Bit, tip, pink
O	[ɒ]	о	Pot, hot, spot
U	[ʌ]	а	Cut, cup, gun
Y	[ɪ]	и	typical, synonym

We suggest that you consider the rules for reading English consonants, in case you still have not memorized.

Letter	Transcription	Reading	Example
B	[B]	б	boat
D	[D]	д	dog
F	[f]	ф	fork
K	[k]	к	kitten
L	[l]	л	leo
M	[m]	м	monkey
N	[n]	н	nest
P	[p]	п	pig
R	[r]	р	ribbon
S	[s]	с	stay
[z]	h — after voiced consonants, between two vowels and in the -ism suffix	Vase, symbolism
T	[t]	т	take
V	[v]	в	purple
W	[w]	uv	wine
Z	[z]	З	zebra
C	[s]	c (before vowels i, e, y)	Cinema, celebrate, cycle
[k]	to (in other cases)	Crocodile
G	[dʒ]	j (before vowels i, e, y)	Giraffe, gym, gentle
[g]	r (in other cases)	garage
H	[H]	Very weakly pronounced Russian X (almost just a strong exhalation)	hippo
Q	[kW]	square	queen
X	[ks]	ks (before a consonant or at the end of a word)	fox
[gz]	z (between two vowels)	example
[z]	z (at the beginning of a word before a vowel)	Xerox

Now is the time to talk about the rules for reading some English letter combinations. We think that if you’ve been learning English for a while, you probably already know how the individual letters are read. But with letter combinations, some problems may arise.

Consonant combinations

Letter combination	Transcription	Reading	Example
ck	[k]	к	rock
ch	[tʃ]	ч	teacher
tch	[tʃ]	ч	butcher
ng	[ŋ]	nasal n	morning
ph	[f]	ф	photo
sh	[ʃ]	ш	fish
th	[θ]	middle sound between s and f (tongue between teeth)	theme
[ð]	the sound is average between z and v (tongue between teeth)	this
wr	[r]	р	Wrongs
wh	[w]	uv	what
[H]	x (just before o)	who
qu	[qw]	square	quarter

Source: https://englishfun.ru/grammatika/proiznoshenie-anglijskih-slov-russkimi-bukvami