Word pronunciation and sound

Correct reading in English. How to read English words correctly

A person who is beginning to learn a foreign language is first of all faced with the problem of reading and pronouncing English words. Even many native speakers have a problem with how to read correctly, and accordingly, this will be an obstacle for learners of this language. But, nevertheless, it is very important to be able to correctly read and pronounce the text in the target language, as well as to know and correctly apply the pronunciation rules.

How to learn to read English from scratch?

In order to learn to read English from scratch, it is first of all important to learn the English alphabet. It consists of 26 letters (6 vowels, 20 consonants)… You can remember it with the help of a simple song, with the help of which little Englishmen learn the English alphabet.

Those who start from scratch should learn the correct pronunciation of all sounds, since English sounds are different from Russian ones (but there are also similar ones). For correct pronunciation, you need to train your mouth and practice pronunciation.

After the pronunciation of sounds has been set, it is necessary to learn the basic rules for reading both vowels and consonants. When practicing reading, use transcription, it can be both in English and in Russian. Use dictionaries to understand reading, not online translators.

Why is it difficult to read in English?

For example:

• Some letter combinations are pronounced as a single sound.
• In Russian, a soft sign is used to soften the sound, in English there is no such sign. Instead, the place of the letter in the word or designation in the transcription appears.

In fact, English is much easier than Russian, since there are no cases or declensions and it is not difficult to speak it (if you practice). The difficulty arises due to the fact that the pronunciation of the familiar native language differs from the studied one.

English pronunciation and sounds of English

English pronunciation and sounds of the English language directly depend on their transcription (recording the sound of a certain letter or words). In turn, the transcription depends on the reading rules.

In English:

• 44 sounds;
• 20 vowel sounds;
• 24 consonants.

The English pronunciation of native speakers is also divided into several parts. It depends on the origin of the carrier. For example, American pronunciation differs from British. And this is expressed not only in the accent, but also in the pronunciation of the same words or sounds. At the moment, the American pronunciation is still more relevant, since most of the students speak it.

Tongue position

One of the features of the pronunciation of English words is the position of the language. That is why problems can arise when reading, since when pronouncing Russian letters, the position of the language should be one, and when pronouncing similar English letters, it must be different.

Native English speakers use their teeth, lips, and tongue for the necessary pronunciation.

They also have several characteristic features:

• Native English speakers open their mouths wide when speaking.
• For native speakers, lips are stressed when speaking.
• The tongue is pressed against the lower jaw during a conversation.
• The English use the tip of their tongue to pronounce words.

Articulation strength

Articulation is also important when reading English. With correct articulation, at first your mouth and, in principle, the entire speech apparatus will be in a tense state, and for a while the conversation will get tired. All this is due to unpreparedness and unaccustomedness, since in Russian speech the vocal apparatus is in a relaxed position.

For native speakers, this articulation does not cause inconvenience, since their mouth is in the usual position. But when pronouncing Russian letters and words, they will have a problem. Again, all from habit.

Word reading rules

It is very important to learn the rules of reading in English. There is a significant difference between the spelling and pronunciation of English letters, words and phrases.

There are a few basic reading rules to remember:

• The rule of open and closed syllables. There is no such rule in Russian. An open syllable is a syllable ending in a vowel sound. It can appear in several cases: — the word ends with a vowel (lake — lake); — in a word, two vowels stand in a row (cruel — cruel); — there is a consonant between two vowels in a word (education — ed`ukeyshn).
• Pronunciation rules for consonants and vowels. For this it is worth familiarizing yourself with the transcription table.
• Rule of diphthongs and triphthongs. This is the rule of combining 2 or 3 letters that have a certain sound.

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How to read consonants?

A large number of consonants in English sounds practically do not differ from the pronunciation of consonants in Russian sounds, but there is a difference.

There are a few special characteristics that are worth paying attention to. It should be remembered that all consonant sounds in English are pronounced only firmly, and voiced consonants at the end of a word are not pronounced dull.

Also, features are present in the pronunciation of individual sounds:

• The pronunciation of the sound W differs from V. The sound (W) must be spoken with two lips, and (V) only with the lower lip.
• Sounds P, T, K — pronounced with subsequent aspiration.
• About half of the sounds must be pronounced by touching the upper palate with the tongue.

How to read vowels: 4 types of syllables

There are also some specific rules when reading vowels. In English, there are 4 main types of vowel reading (E, A, Y, U, O, I). The pronunciation of a sound in a word or phrase depends on each type.

Open

An open syllable is a syllable that ends in a vowel, even if it is not pronounced.

Reading vowels in such a syllable can be called alphabetical, since often the pronunciation practically does not differ from what it is in the alphabet:

• A — (ei) — lake, take, care, safe, late;
• O — (ou)

Source: https://ik-ptz.ru/matematika/pravilnoe-chtenie-na-angliiskom-kak-pravilno-chitat-angliiskie.html

7 simple strategies to improve your pronunciation

If you want to improve your pronunciation in English, then you need to find the most appropriate way. The ultimate goal can be reached in different ways. We have selected 7 strategies for you to help you with this.

 1. Find out how you want to sound

There is a wide variety of sounds in the English language. Pronunciation can vary greatly from region to region. For example, the UK is small in size, but there are 17 different accents here that can be confusing.

Therefore, first of all, figure out where you are going and how long you plan to be there. Try to understand how local people speak. Practice. This will help you blend in with the local flavor and understand what is being said to you.

If you don’t know anyone who speaks with the right accent, then watch the video and learn to hear and understand native speakers.

 2. Focus on the words that get you in trouble

Are you confused by the sheer number of letters? Sometimes you forget how to pronounce certain words correctly?

As soon as you feel that you are hitting a blank wall and do not know how to pronounce a strange word, just stop, rest and pay attention to the peculiarities of this word. Features include spelling, number of syllables, and meaning.

All you have to do is take a long, complex word and break it down into several parts. And then collect it back.

For example, the most common mispronunciation of February is Feb-yu-airy. But if you read it carefully, we will see that r is in the middle, and when broken down into syllables, we get Feb-ru-airy. However, in the American version, English r does not sound at all. For fun, you can listen to how February is pronounced differently in the UK and the US.

However, using this method will give you an understanding of how to pronounce the words.

Do not forget that words in English are not always pronounced the way they are spelled. Practice, keep doing exercises to improve your pronunciation, and keep a dictionary nearby just in case. If you find it difficult to break words into syllables, then follow this rule.

 3. Read texts aloud and take voice recordings

To see progress in any business, you need to monitor the improvement. If you practice pronunciation, train yourself to take notes of how you read or speak loudly and clearly. Try this online service. You can record yourself, share a link to the recording, or download the file in mp3 or other format.

Once you get used to the sound of your voice (we all hate the way we sound), you suddenly find yourself moving. If you record a month or a year later, you will really hear the changes.

 4. Listen to the music of words

We memorize and understand songs by listening attentively to the lyrics. The same method will help to master the pronunciation of complex words, listening to their rhythm and the sound of individual syllables.

Words change with emotion. Listening to how the words are pronounced will tell you a lot more than just their meaning.

Intonation affects the meaning of a word. The same word can be a noun or a verb. It depends on which syllable the stress falls on or where the word is in the sentence.

Understanding this will help you achieve a clearer pronunciation of words. For example, the words refuse and refuse. If you hear this word as REH-fyuz, then we are talking about garbage and this noun, but if you hear it as reh-FYUZ, then it means “to say“ no ”or“ to refuse something, ”that is, it is a verb.

The key here is to listen and pay attention to how words are used. Practice until you can confidently use the words in your speech.

 5. Chat with native speakers

If you want to sound like native speakers, look for a way to get in touch with them. If you do not have English-speaking acquaintances, then this is not a reason to give up. Moreover, on the Internet you can find various forums or specialized sites where foreign language learners meet and help each other. For example, the Language Exchange resource.

6. Watch the news

Even if you don’t like watching news, try using it as a good pronunciation tool. Announcers speak more slowly and clearly to convey information to viewers. When you watch the news, you hear English words placed in their familiar context. This allows you to hear them in real life. In addition, the news uses photographic and video footage to reinforce the message, making it easier to understand.

If you are interested in British English, then turn on the BBC news, if American, then CNN.

7. Make dictionaries your friends

When you are completely confused about how to pronounce a word, refer to the help of a dictionary. Download The Merriam-Webster dictionary app to your smartphone to quickly find the desired word and listen to how it is pronounced. Or use the Macmilan Online Dictionary (With British And American pronunciations).

Pronunciation is a tricky topic for anyone learning a foreign language. Try different ways to help you improve your pronunciation. Something will work better for you, some you won’t even want to try. This is fine! Don’t say it’s impossible. Practice and you will succeed!

Source: https://englishteacup.org/my_hobby/7-strategij-dlja-uluchsheniya-proiznosheniya

So, you have mastered the English alphabet. To read English words correctly, you need to learn transcription — pronunciation of letters, syllables. In most cases, words in English are read differently than they are spelled.

Read in English? No harder than walking!

The English alphabet consists of 26 letters and 44 sounds. Due to such a number of sounds, English acquires melody, but this is where the difficulty lies — you need to immediately learn the rules of reading in English.

The pronunciation and recording of individual sounds depends on which letters surround a particular letter. These combinations just need to be remembered. If you are not sure how a single word is read, be sure to look into the dictionary and memorize its transcription, that is, pronunciation.

First of all, pay attention to reading English exception words — there are not so many of them and they just need to be learned. Step by step, you will gradually learn most of the exceptions and pronounce the words correctly from the very beginning.

Useful articles on the topic:

• Pronunciation in english
• Pronunciation of numbers and numbers

How to learn to read words correctly. Reading rules

Below we present the main points to which you need to pay attention.

1. Learn the English alphabet (pay special attention to the transcription).
2. Always have a dictionary close at hand, which you can look into if you come across an unfamiliar word. It is very important to get the correct pronunciation from the very beginning.
3. English words have several types of syllables:

• open syllable — ends in a vowel, and the vowel is read exactly like in the alphabet. For example: lake, nike, bone.
• closed syllable — ends in a consonant, and the vowel in the word gives a different sound. For example: men, bat.
• third type — vowel + R. For example: sort, sport.
• fourth type — vowel + R + vowel. For example: cure, scare.

Pay special attention to letter combinations. Below we will consider the most common ones.

The most common combination ch [tʃ] и sh [ʃi:] — respectively Ч (pronounced softly) and Ш (pronounced softly and hiss).

For example: Shine — light, shine; Church is a church.

Below we present other letter combinations:

Ee — [i]: tree [si:]

Ea — [iː] lead, eat

Ay, ay [eɪ] may, play

Oo — [u]: too [tu:]

Qu before vowels — [kw]: quality [kwo: liti]

Kn at the beginning — [n]: knife [‘naif]

Ck after short vowels — [k]: back [blæk]

Wh before «o» — [h]: whose [hu: z]

Wr at the beginning before vowels [r]: wrong [‘rait]

tch [tʃ] catch

Ng [ŋ] bing, bring

ight — [‘ait] — right, might.

how to read english words

Below is a video where you can learn how to read correctly and quickly not only English words, but also various texts:

Source: https://www.comenglish.ru/kak-pravilno-i-legko-chitat-anglijskie-slova/

Pronunciation and transcription of English words: online translator

Mike	American English	20 words
Lela	American English	10 words
Jeevin	American English	3 words
Andrew	British English	8 words

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English transcriptions will help you improve your pronunciation

Mastering pronunciation of english words can be challenging for many people starting to learn English.

As you should be aware, there are no strict reading rules in English — one and the same english letter (or a combination of letters) can be pronounced differently in different words.

What’s more, the same English word is often pronounced differently by native English speakers from different countries and even from the same country! Because of this pronunciation of English words and listening comprehension of spoken language can be difficult for many beginners to learn English.

With the help of this online translator you can get phonetic transcription of English wordswritten by symbols International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

This translator of words into transcription will save you time, because you don’t have to look up the pronunciation of English words in a dictionary. When used regularly alongside educational audio and video materials phonetic transcription will help you improve pronunciation and listening skills in English.

Homographs (words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently) will be highlighted in light green. If you hover your mouse over such a word or touch it on your mobile device, you will see all possible pronunciations. Often you can also see which part of speech a given word belongs to.

Variants of pronunciation (in cases where a word is pronounced differently by different native speakers or when pronunciation changes in rapid speech) are highlighted in light blue. You can also hover your mouse over a given word to see all possible options.

The translator supports both dialects of English and works on the basis of two dictionaries:

1. Dictionary of Transcriptions of English Words (British English)compiled from various sources. Contains over 110 words. Homographs (over a thousand words) and pronunciations (over four thousand words) are fully supported in this dictionary.
2. Dictionary of Transcriptions of English Words (American English)compiled from various sources. Contains over 140 word forms. Homographs (000 words) and pronunciations (over 300 words) are also supported.

Highlighting frequently occurring English words

A special option allows you highlight the most common words of the English language with different colors… To do this, you can choose one of two lists:

• frequency word listderived from corpus of modern American English,
• frequency word listbased on movie subtitles.

Depending on the frequency rating, words will be highlighted in the following colors:

1-1000

1001-2000

2001-3000

3001-4000

4001-5000

If you want to carry out a detailed analysis of your text and see detailed statistics, you can use online tool for frequency analysis of English text.

English explanatory dictionary

The translator has a built-in English dictionary WordNet. To see the definition of a word in English, send the text to the site and click on any word in the translation results. The dictionary works only in the mode «Display transcription above each word» (it is installed by default).

You can also create your own vocabulary dictionary. To do this, select unfamiliar words by clicking on them with the mouse. After that click on the orange button «Create a vocabulary dictionary»… In the next step, you need to choose appropriate word meanings and transcriptions in the context. After that, you can export your dictionary to a file (Word, Excel, PDF, HTML).

You might be interested in phonetic english subtitle converter… With it, you can get the following output:

Alphabetical list of all words with audio or video recordings

abcdefghijklmnopqrstu vwxyz

To access all audio and video recordings, you need to subscribe!

Subscription on the site

Source: https://easypronunciation.com/ru/english-phonetic-transcription-converter

How to read English words correctly? — we learn English ourselves

Hello dear friends! If you are just starting to learn English, then the first thing you need to do is learn to read.

This can be done quickly and easily, as there are certain reading rules in the English language. First, let’s get acquainted with the English alphabet to find out how English letters are read.

English letters are accompanied by English transcriptions so that you can easily learn how to read English letters on your own. Why do you need to know the English alphabet?

First of all, while you are learning English and do not know many more English words, your interlocutors will often spell unfamiliar words to you, helping you to understand the word. You will do the same when the interlocutor does not understand you or does not know the word you said.

Rules for reading English words depending on the type of syllable

Syllable type
open syllable	closed syllable	vowel + r	vowel + re	unstressed syllable
А [ei]	[æ]	[a:]	[eə]	[ə]
make	cat	car	share	August
Е [i:]	[e]	[ɜː]	[ɪə]	[ə] [i]
we	bed	here	here	absent
I / Y [ai]	[I]	[ɜː]	[aiə]	[I]
time type	sitsystem	girl	nature	music city
U [ju:]	[ʌ]	[ɜː]	[juə]	[ə] [ju:]
tube	cup	turn	cycle	success
О [əʊ]	[ɒ]	[ɔː]	[ɔː]	[ə], [əʊ]
notes	Note	shorts	more	more

Why «spelled Liverpool, but pronounced Manchester» or how to read the word in English correctly?

To begin with, learn the 4 basic types of vowel reading E, A, Y, U, O, I in stressed syllables in English

Type I of a syllable is an open syllable, it ends in a vowel. For example: make, note. Type II of a syllable is a closed syllable, it ends in a consonant letter. For example: cat, system. Type III — a syllable, where the stressed vowel is followed by the letter «r». For example: girl, turn.

Type IV is a syllable, where the stressed vowel is followed by «re». For example: cure, fire.

Check your pronunciation of English vowels

Click on the image to listen!

Let’s reinforce the vowel reading with the following exercise:

I type of syllable — open syllable

Note, lone, mice, rice, type, tune, shy, lay, say, he, hay, name, same, nine, nice, game, came, make, Kate, Pete, five, tie, life, eve, me, size, no, cope, smoke, rose, nose, spine, sly, cry, vine, maze, home, tube, made, fume, cube, pace, lace, sky, hale, spine.

II type of syllable — closed syllable (a syllable ending in a consonant is considered closed). This is the second line in the table. Pay attention to the words rat, hot, red, bit, myth, run, at the end of which there is no mute vowel. These words sound like «Rat, Hot, Ed, Beat, Miss, Ran.»

Cap, pen, bed, ten, not, spot, lot, bad, rat, sit, send, test, pit, in, send, spell, tin, less, ban, mad, fat, Sam, land, did, fit, sat, pet, tin, slip, sad, glad, bag, jam, gap, lag, can, kin, Jim, Jack, yes, ink, cup, run, cod, spin, not, doll, hop, hot, bank, rank, spin, up, us, bus, bun, cut, fun, vet, well, but, nut.

III type of syllable — vowel + letter «r», which affects the sound of the vowel at the root of the word, giving it a certain length. So the words car, sort, term, fir, Byrd, fur sound like «ka: co: t, te: m, fe: be: d, fe:».

Source: https://valente-shop.ru/uroki/kak-pravilno-chitat-anglijskie-slova-uchim-anglijskij-sami.html

Silent letters. Unpronounceable letters in English

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We have all been convinced more than once that there are many oddities and incomprehensibility in English that can bring a lot of headaches to English learners. What was the most difficult for you? Grammar? A huge number of words and synonyms for these words? Pronunciation? At school, the most difficult thing seemed to me to spell words, the so-called Spelling. Why do we write many letters and pronounce fewer sounds?

In Russian, as a rule, everything is logical: there is the word «beautiful», say all the written letters, and it will be correct. In English, problems begin when you realize that the rules of the Russian language do not work here. A simple example: beautiful / ˈbjuːtəfl / — 9 letters and 6 sounds (ju is one sound).

I often wondered: why do we need silent letters in English? What is the point in them if we do not pronounce them? Are there any rules that might explain the use of silent letters? Let’s look for answers in the article.

The history of unpronounceable letters

If we look at English words from the point of view of history, we will see that earlier about 90% of words in English were phonemic (phonemic). That is, the words were pronounced the way they are written. Imagine there was a knight (knight), and the word was pronounced as / knight / (/ knight /, may the English teachers forgive me for writing the transcription in Russian letters).

Then there were almost no words with unpronounceable letters, but somewhere in the XNUMXth century, the trend began to change. During this period, English began to borrow many words from other languages ​​(French and Latin). Borrowings brought with them certain problems: the new words did not correspond to the pronunciation norms of classical English at the time.

Then there was a habit of «altering» the original English words in a new manner.

Also, the English language with open arms adopted the Latin alphabet, in which there are only 26 letters. These 26 letters were supposed to convey more than 40 sounds of the English language. Since 26 letters are not enough to convey 41 sounds, they began to use letter combinations to convey one sound. In this way, people were able to preserve all the meaningful sounds of English. Nowadays in modern English, only 40% of words are phonemic.

It turns out that 60% of words in English contain unpronounceable letters. This is why it is very important to learn to recognize when a letter is pronounced and when not. These subtleties can confuse us, for example, when we look up a word in a dictionary. Let’s take the word knowledge. If I do not know how it is written, but I am guided only by the initial sound, then I will look for this word in the section for the letter N and, of course, I will not find anything like it.

How to work with words with unpronounceable letters

There are many rules for silent letters, some of which I will explain in this article. In one sitting, remembering all the cases with silent letters, I think, will be impossible. Therefore, banal practice is needed. The more words you come across orally and in writing, the faster you will be able to establish for yourself a certain pattern of spelling words. For example, if you are already familiar with the word could, then would no longer seem so strange.

The second method, which will help to remember the spelling and pronunciation of words, is suitable for real lovers of the English language: delve into the etymology (origin) of the word. Try to find the history of the word: where it was borrowed from, what it meant before, how it was pronounced.

You will not only remember the spelling of the new word well, but you will also learn a lot of interesting things about the history of the origin of the concept. For example, island has an unpronounceable s. Until the XNUMXth century, this word was pronounced / ˈaɪlənd /, as it is now, but it was spelled differently — aeland.

When French borrowings appeared, the first part of the word changed in appearance and began to look more like the French version of isle — an island.

Why silent letters are needed

How can unpronounceable letters help us, what is the use of them? They can be very useful when reading a text and need to understand the difference between homophones — words that are pronounced the same but spelled differently: no and know, their and there, to and two. Can you understand what is written here?

— Do you no wear my sun is? — Eye think his hear.

— Oh, know. His their.

Nonsense! But if you read aloud and write correctly, then everything is clear:

— Do you know where my son is? — I think he’s here.

— Oh, no. He’s there.

Unpronounceable letters also affect pronunciation, which seems strange at all, because we don’t pronounce them. For example: sin / sɪn / and sign / saɪn /, rat / ræt / and rate / reɪt /. Yes, it is important to know if we are committing a sin (to sin) or simply putting our signature somewhere (to sign).

The unpronounceable letter e at the end of a word affects the length of the vowel in the previous syllable. Tap / tæp / and tape / teɪp /, mat / mæt / and mate / meɪt /, fin / fɪn / and fine / faɪn /. In the first version, the vowel is short, in the second it is long. Accordingly, these are different words with different meanings.

Silent letters rules

I want to make a reservation right away, there are rules, but there are enough exceptions. We will focus on commonly encountered rules.

1. Silent B is not pronounced after M at the end of a word: limb / lɪm /, thumb / θʌm /, dumb / dʌm /. Also, we usually don’t pronounce B before the T at the end of a word: debt / det /, doubt / daʊt /, subtle / ˈsʌt (ə) l /.
2. Silent E occurs at the end of a word and affects the previous vowel (makes it a long sound): hope / həʊp /, drive / draɪv /, gave / ɡeɪv /.
3. Silent G is often not pronounced when it comes before N: foreign / ˈfɒrɪn /, sign / saɪn /, champagne / ˌʃæmˈpeɪn /.
4. Silent GH are not pronounced when they come after a vowel: though / ðəʊ /, through / θruː /, daughter / ˈdɔːtə (r) /. Exceptions: words with two roots: doghouse / ˈdɒɡˌhaʊs /, foghorn / ˈfɒɡˌhɔː (r) n /, egghead / ˈeɡˌhed /. GH is sometimes pronounced F: rough / rʌf /, laugh / lɑːf /, cough / kɒf /.
5. Silent H is not pronounced when it comes after W: what / wɒt /, when / wen /, why / waɪ /. The H sound is not pronounced at the beginning of many words, in such words it is important to remember that you need to use the article an: an hour / ˈaʊə (r) /, an honor / ˈɒnə (r) /, an heir / eə (r) /.
6. Silent K is not pronounced when at the beginning of a word before N: knee / niː /, knowledge / ˈnɒlɪdʒ /, know / nəʊ /.
7. Silent L is not pronounced after vowels A, O, U: calm / kɑːm /, could / kʊd /, yolk / jəʊk /.

Source: https://engblog.ru/silent-letters

Correct pronunciation of English words

The pronunciation of words written in English is fundamentally different from the pronunciation model in Russian. The English alphabet has 26 letters, of which there are 21 consonants and 5 vowels.

As a rule, all consonants of the English language represent one sound, with the exception of the letter «X», it means two sounds.

Vowel letters mean two sounds, in the same way, in English, there is the concept of «diphthong» — a double vowel sound, less often, in three cases, there is the concept of «triphthong» fusion of three vowel sounds when reading into one.

Recording sounds in text form is called transcription, it is required so that a person who does not know English can accurately read the words written in it.

What is transcription?

Transcription is a textual recording of sounds with specific characters in writing. There are two types of transcription — phonetic and phonemic.

Phonetic transcription is more inherent in the work of linguists, at least in English, as one mispronounced sound can change the true meaning of a word.

For people who study English for purposes other than scientific, phonemic transcription will be more useful, which conveys only the correct reading of a certain word, and not the meaning that is embedded in this word.

To record sounds, as a rule, a special system of written signs is used, which is called the phonemic alphabet.

With certain skills in reading transcription, no word written in English will no longer cause problems with its reading.

What is transcription for?

Transcription helps in reading words when their exact pronunciation is not known. In any dictionary of the English language, before the translation of a word, its transcription is indicated.

It is always placed in square brackets and written in certain characters, the so-called Latin transcription of the English language. Of course, when a person first sees the signs indicated in square brackets, he is confused — “What is this? What does this mean and how to read it? «

In fact, there is nothing difficult in reading the transcription, you just need to take some time and read the rules for reading the transcription. For example, shower is the classic notation for an English word, and [‘ʃəʉə] is its transcription.

Graphic symbols of transcription in English

As we found out earlier, transcription is written in square brackets with special characters. Depending on the purpose of the dictionaries, the transcription is recorded using the signs of the language according to which the dictionary is written.

If it is an English-Russian phrasebook, then the Russian word «Hello» will be written as [Pri: vet]. In English linguistics, the recording of the sounds of the language is customary to use the classic signs of the International Phonetic Alphabet, taking into account some special signs, such as: ɞ, ɗ, ɵ, ɷ, ʊ, ɮ, ʂ.

On the basis of such a means of recording transmitted sounds, learners of the English language learn the correct pronunciation of words, which subsequently entails phonetically competent communication in English.

Features of English pronunciation

Source: https://eng911.ru/words/transcription/kak-proiznosit-anglijskie-slova.html

20 English words that are sometimes mispronounced even by native speakers

Translation: short-term.

The pronunciation of this word is surprising even to native speakers. Many dictionaries indicate the transcription [ʹtrænzıənt]. However, transient has two syllables, so it is actually pronounced [ʹtrænʃənt].

2. Status

Translation: status, position.

The correct pronunciation is not [ʹstætəs], but [ʹsteıtəs].

3. Prelude

Translation: introduction.

The pronunciation of [ʹpreɪljuːd] is wrong. One should say [ʹpreljuːd].

4 Valet

Translation: chamberlain.

This is not a French word, so you cannot pronounce the last syllable as [eɪ]. Valet is pronounced [ʹvælit].

5. Strong

Translation: advantage.

If this word means someone’s strong side, then it is pronounced as [fɔːt]. If you mean a musical term, say [ʹfɔːteɪ].

6. Err

Translation: be wrong.

It does not rhyme with hair, as many people think, but with her. The transcription of a word looks like this: [ɜː].

7. Gala

Translation: festive.

The dictionaries say that one should read the word gala as [ʹgaːlə]. But it is pronounced like [geɪlɑ].

8 Applicable

Translation: suitable.

The stress should fall not on the second, but on the first syllable: [ʹæplɪkəbl].

9. Spherical

Translation: spherical.

Many people pronounce this word as [ʹsfiːrɪkl], but one should say [ʹsferɪkl].

10.Decrease

Translation: decrease, decrease.

In the noun, the stress falls on the first syllable: [ʹdiːkriːs], and in the verb, on the second: [diːʹkriːs].

11. Caramel

Translation: caramel.

The word is traditionally pronounced as [ʹkærəmel]. But the midwestern regional variant of pronunciation is also acceptable: [ʹkaːmel].

12. Mauve

Translation: purple.

The correct pronunciation is not [məʊv], but [mɔːv].

13.Regime

Translation: mode.

The correct transcription of the word looks like this: [reɪʹʒiːm].

14. Joust

Translation: Knight Tournament.

In the XNUMXth century, this word was pronounced as the word just: [dʒʌst].

15.Either

Translation: one of.

Are you used to saying [ʹaɪðə]? However, it is more correct to pronounce [ʹiːðə].

16. Almost

Translation: supposedly.

Today, the most commonly spoken word is [ʹkwɑːsɪ], but it would be more correct to pronounce [ʹkweɪsɪ].

17. Long lived

Translation: long-term.

Unlike the modern pronunciation of [ˌlɔːŋʹlɪvd], until the XNUMXth century, the word was pronounced as [ˌlɔːŋʹlaɪvd].

18. Comptroller

Translation: financial inspector.

The name of this position is pronounced [kənʹtrəʊlə].

19. Gyro

Translation: gyros.

This is a Greek dish that looks like shawarma well known to us. Therefore, it should be pronounced in Greek: [ʹjiːrɔ].

20. Victuals

Translation: provisions.

This English word is pronounced [ʹvɪtəlz].

Source: https://lifehacker.ru/20-mispronounced-words/

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

Pronunciation of English words with voice acting

English dictionaries have “learned” how to speak so that you can use them to practice your pronunciation of words in English. We have selected the most convenient online dictionaries with voiced transcription.

English pronunciation, phonetics of the English language give novice students a lot of work.

Therefore, we have devoted a whole series of articles to sound and pronunciation: on the phonetics of the English language, on the rules for reading in English and on how to train the correct English pronunciation (British and American). All of these themes overlap, but each sheds light on a different aspect of English phonetics.

And in this article we want to share a convenient technique that allows you to first recognize and then practice the correct pronunciation of English words. This will help phonetic transcription and «speaking» dictionary.

Phonetic transcription of English

Phonetic transcription is a graphical record of how a word sounds.

The task of transcription is to record the correct pronunciation of a word as accurately as possible. To do this, each pronounced sound is indicated by one or more symbols. They are called phonetic symbols.

English pronunciation is legendary. In the sense that the reading and pronunciation of English words is very specific and differs from the way these words are written. Unlike writing, words in oral English speech are made up not only and not so much of letters, but of letter combinations and combinations of sounds.

To read English correctly, it is advisable to fulfill three conditions:

1. know and apply the rules of reading in English; 
2. learn English words with pronunciation from the very beginning;
3. know English transcription.

The advice for memorizing the correct pronunciation is clear, but difficult. But why are reading rules not enough — after all, having mastered the rule, you can apply it at the right time ?! It seems logical, but the problem is that not all English words obey the reading rules. Many of them are exceptions that you need to either remember, or

This is where the transcription of English words comes to the rescue. It makes it possible to correctly read and pronounce English words, including unfamiliar ones. Therefore, all dictionaries contain exactly the words with transcription. But we want to talk about an even more convenient source of information about the sound pronunciation of English words — this is a “talking” dictionary, or the pronunciation of English words online.

Where to listen to online pronunciation of English words?

Practicing correct English pronunciation, British or American, is no trivial matter. All means are good here if they really help to instill in the student the correct pronunciation of English words. We have repeatedly mentioned various online resources that help you learn English better and easier. It’s time to remember about English dictionaries that use audio pronunciation as an additional feature.

You may disagree: they say, such a function is in any online translator! And you will be right. But the advantages of the worldwide web are precisely that we have a choice. You do not have to install special programs on your computer or smartphone to find out how to pronounce the English word of interest. And you can listen, compare and choose the voiced English dictionary you like:

• Sound Word: here transcription, pronunciation and translation of English words online in one service. An instant translator from English to Russian (and other languages) is at your service. You can read more about online translators in the article 6 Best Online English Translators. You can translate both single words and whole sentences. The service provides a translation of each English word with transcription and allows you to listen to its pronunciation. You can choose free pronunciations with British and American accents.
• The English speaking dictionary is also useful to practice correct English pronunciation. It is an extensive database of English words in audio format. There are almost all of the most frequently used words in the English language here, so you will surely find everything you need. Moreover, the voiced words can not only be listened to online, but also downloaded and listened to until you remember its pronunciation.

Source: https://enguide.ru/magazine/proiznoshenie-angliyskih-slov-s-ozvuchkoy

English reading rules for beginners

» English » Reading rules in English

If you set yourself the ambitious goal of mastering a foreign language, be prepared to face many challenges. One of them is correct pronunciation in general and learning the rules of reading in particular.

Some European languages ​​do not have this problem. For example, in German and Spanish, words are pronounced in much the same way as they are spelled.

But if you are studying English, then you will have to sweat a lot, mastering the rules of reading in English. However, do not despair: if you remember a number of rules, there will be no more problems.

At the same time, the English language has a certain layer of vocabulary that you just have to learn, since the pronunciation of these words does not fall under any of the rules.

A whole section of the science of languages ​​is devoted to the study of sounds — phonetics. She is seriously studied in specialized linguistic universities.

However, as practice shows, it is possible to master the rules of reading and use them correctly in practice without delving into such a jungle.

At the beginning of your English lessons, you will immediately understand that the differences between him and your native language are very large, including in terms of pronunciation.

Therefore, no matter how you would like to pronounce similar letters in the same way as in Russian, you need to remember that the laws are different here.

Linguists like to joke: «It is written Manchester — pronounced Liverpool.» In fact, everything is not so complicated and incomprehensible.

However, the complexity of reading rules has its roots in history. English developed in parallel with the country itself. In ancient times, Britain was repeatedly invaded by tribes — German and French speaking. In addition, while studying English, you will come across a lot of lexical borrowings that have affected the rules for reading words in English.

The situation is aggravated by the existence of many English dialects, in which their own reading rules are sufficient.

Over the years, these dialectal laws have had a tremendous impact on the official pronunciation of the capital.

In them, the same letters can be pronounced in different ways, and these differences persist in modern pronunciation.

For example, ough can be read differently in words that differ from each other by only one or two letters.

But enough of the «lyrics» — let’s get down to specifics, namely, the study of the rules for reading letters in English.

Vowel reading rules

The English alphabet has the following vowels — A, E, I, O, U, Y. In practice, their sounds are much larger, taking into account diphthongs and dialects.

Moreover, all these letters are not always pronounced as they are called in accordance with the alphabet. It is important to remember that no English word ends in I or U.

Before turning directly to reading vowels, let’s dwell on the consideration of English syllables.

This is important because the vowel can be read differently depending on the type of syllable.

A syllable (or syllable) is one or more sounds pronounced together with one push of air. A syllable is a constituent part of a word that has a direct impact on pronunciation.

There are open and closed syllables. Closed is called such because it ends in a consonant. Open: eye, see

Closed: bad, plan

In an open syllable, there are no problems with vowels: they sound the same as in the alphabet, with the exception of Y, which reads «ah».

You can visually familiarize yourself with the rules using the table below. When this table becomes clear to you, we will give and analyze in more detail examples of all cases.

So, the first letter of the alphabet is A. In a closed syllable, it reads like «e»: fat (thick), cap (cap). In a closed syllable that ends in the letter R, it reads like a long sound «a»: car (car). If the word ends with a combination of letters -re, then A will be read as «ea»: care (care), fare (fare).

The English letter E can be read as «e» (in a closed syllable and when combined -ead: bread (bread)), «e» (when combining the letters -er or -ear: pearl (pearl)) or «ua» (while the same combination –ear: hear).

We will read the letter I in a closed syllable as «and»: big (big). In other cases, it all depends on the combination of letters: igh (ah: night (night)), ir (e: bird (bird)) or ire (aye: tired (tired)).

The rules for reading Y depend on where this letter appears. If it is at the end of a word, and the stress falls on it, then we read it as «ay» (cry — to cry). If it is in the same place, but there is no stress, then «and» (happy — happy). At the beginning of the word Y sounds almost like «y» in Russian (yellow — yellow).

Rules for reading consonants

The English alphabet has 20 consonant letters. Some of them are deaf and voiced pairs. At the same time, unlike Russian, they do not soften here and always sound solid.

The consonants c, g, s, and x have two different readings depending on which letter they are next to. For clarity, we present a table.

As we can see, the reading of consonants is influenced by the letters a, i, o, y, e, as well as consonants and stressed sounds.

There are also a number of rules that indicate how certain consonants are read correctly in different combinations. Let’s turn to another table, and then we will analyze it in more detail using examples.

If there are consonants sh next to them, then we read them as «sh»: sheep (sheep), bookshelf (bookshelf). At the same time, it is important that this combination is pronounced exactly like that, regardless of the place occupied in the word.

The combination ch gives us the sound «h», which is also always preserved, and the position in the word is not important: chain (chain) or March (March).

When reading the combination of consonants ck, correctly pronounce it as «k». However, this rule is true only in those cases when these consonants follow the short A and other sounds: back (back).

Th can be read differently depending on which word this combination is in.

If we see it at the beginning of a significant word or at the end of a word, then it is pronounced like «s», pronounced through clenched teeth: birth (birth) or thin (thin).

At the beginning of a pronoun or service word, this combination sounds more solid: this (this), they (they).

The consonant wh also has two pronunciations. If it is followed by the letter O, then it is correct to read it as «x»: who (who), whole (all).

Before the rest of the letters, it is pronounced as «in»: where (where), what (what).

Qu at the beginning of a word reads «q»: queue.

Compare the pronunciation of the combination of kn and ng: in the first case, we read it as «n» (knight — knight), in the second this sound is nasal (thing — thing). This rule is true for finding kn at the beginning of a word and ng at the end.

The same nasal «n» sounds in the combination nk regardless of the place in the word: bank — bank.

There are also two combinations that, although they consist of two letters, are read as one: ph (read as «f» — phone (phone)) and wr (p — wrong). Note that wr is only pronounced like this at the beginning of a word.

Separately, it should be said about the combination with the English letters a, u, o and i. These rules for reading English are clearly demonstrated in the following table.

As you can see from it, the combination with the vowel al before the letter k is read as a long «o»: walk (to walk). In other cases — «ol», where «o» is also long (small — small).

Regardless of the place in the word, gu turns into «g» (guard — guard). Finally, for the combination with the vowel wa, the pronunciation of «wa» (wonderful — wonderful) or «vo» (before r — work) is characteristic.

Now that we know about all the complexities of consonants in English, it remains for us to consider the staging of stress in English words. After that, you can safely say that you have mastered the rules of reading the English language, and all that remains is to tirelessly practice and hone the knowledge gained.

How to put stress correctly?

Stress plays a huge role in the rules for reading English words. It should be given special attention. If there are fewer problems with the French language in this sense (the emphasis is always on the last syllable), and in Russian you will have to memorize almost every word separately, then with English everything is different. There are a number of laws you need to memorize to help you stress correctly and make your reading of English words correct.

We put stress on the first syllable in most cases when it comes to two-syllable nouns and adjectives: table (table), clever (smart).

The last syllable becomes stressed in the bulk of trisyllabic verbs: to decide (decide). The penultimate is stressed for words that end in –ic, –sion, and –tion: solution, biologic.

The third syllable from the end will be stressed for words that end in combinations with the vowel Y: –cy, -ty, -phy, -gy, as well as –al: biblical (biblical), democracy (democracy), biology (biology).

While all of these reading rules are important and require memorization, keep in mind that English has many exceptions. You will also have to memorize them, or always have special dictionaries at hand.

Learning to read with Capital School Center

Classes at the Capital School Center are characterized by the fact that teachers try to equally combine the study of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. At the exit, all our students have already mastered all the rules of reading in English, and can also speak and write fluently.

A separate difficulty for beginners is the transcription, which is taught to compose in order to just read English words correctly.

It is an excellent tool for memorizing the pronunciation, but very few people will be able to learn how to compose it on their own.

We will help you to master it without any particular difficulties and not delve into the linguistic jungle.

To remember how certain words sound, you need to listen to English speech as much as possible. The auditory element is one of four that we use in our classes in accordance with the 4D methodology. Another element useful for practicing is visual. With regard to our theme, it is important that you have all the visual materials at your disposal — both the drawing and the table.

Of course, in the classroom, we are also directly engaged in reading in English.

At your disposal are excellent adapted English texts on different topics and with different levels of difficulty, suitable for both beginners and those who have been studying the language for a long time.

It is believed that in order to formulate the pronunciation of words and texts, it is best to study with a native speaker. This opinion is fair, because who knows better than a person who speaks English since childhood about all its intricacies and laws in general and the rules of reading in particular? However, it should be borne in mind that such classes are not always suitable for those who are just starting to learn English.

Those who plan to take the IELTS or TOEFL exam are also required to familiarize themselves with the reading rules. 

Another way to practice English is to travel to his country. Our school offers study trips to the UK and the USA, during which you will listen to English language and speak independently with the locals all the time. 

Our school offers its clients a wide range of services. Depending on your needs, we will select the format of teaching English that is convenient for you. We have courses for those who are just starting their studies or want to continue their studies.

Upon completion of the courses, all of our students are tested and receive a certificate proving their level of English proficiency. 

Sign up for a free trial lesson online or by phone. We will be glad to see you and are ready to answer any of your questions!

Source: https://capitalsc.ru/pravila-chteniya-v-anglijskom-yazyke/

Phonetic exercises for transcription of English words for children

The English alphabet has 26 letters, but there are twice as many sounds. A letter can have two or more sounds at the same time. But there is no need to be afraid of this — a list of exercises for transcription of English words for children will help to remember how to read and pronounce certain words correctly. In order to fulfill them, each student in English classes has a separate notebook, divided into three such columns:

1. «Word»
2. «Transcription»
3. «Translation».

New words are entered into it to be learned later.

«Association» is the best transcription exercise

In learning something new, the method of association is best of all. Here are some examples of how you can relate sounds from transcriptions to objects that children are familiar with.

• ʊ — short [y] (resembles a horseshoe)
• æ — wide [e] — open our mouth and say «e» (the symbol resembles a crawling bug)
• ŋ — [ny] — you need to read «in the nose» (as we often talk when we have a runny nose)
• ð — interdental [h]
• θ — interdental [s]

To learn these sounds, you can read a small fairy tale: “Once upon a time there was a little rabbit (tongue) who was afraid of everything, so he always sat in a house (in his mouth). But one day he decided to show the tip of his nose from the house (we stick the tip of the tongue between the teeth). First he uttered a quiet [θ], and then a sonorous [ð]. » The pronunciation rules are as follows:

• s, d, n, t — [s], [d], [n], [t] — when pronouncing the tongue touches the upper palate (closer to the row of teeth)
• ɜ — medium-length [e] — pronounced like ё (remember the word «ice»).

Writing exercises for transcription of English words for children

The list of English transcription exercises for children provided to our students allows them to easily navigate the above rules and hone their correct pronunciation.

Exercise No. 1

Write a transcription of the vowel sounds of the following words:

• be, feel, we, me, see, meet
• it, is, in, ill, sit, fill, live
• bed, pen, ten, tell
• tie, lie, my, pie, die, life
• man, bad, hat, lamp, fat, cat
• day, late, tale, main, rain
• park, mark, arm, are
• air, chair, care, fair
• there, where
• here, near, mere
• hire, fire, tire, buyer, flyer
• our, flour, power, flower, down, town
• her, term, bird, turn, learn
• story, warm, door, taught, talk

Exercise No. 2

Write a transcription of the consonants of the following words:

• think, thing, thin, thought, death, threat
• sing, song, bang, long, something, going, hung, wrong
• this, that, those, the, these, there, other, another
• ship, shop, she, clash, sharp, shine, shame, shape
• chess, chop, chamber, charm, charity, future
• phone, photo, phenomenon, phantom, pharos, phase
• knife, know, knock, knit, knight, knee, knack
• what, where, when, wheel, whiff, whip, whim.

Exercise No. 3

In the Russian language there are no unambiguous analogs of the English sounds [ð] and [θ], which is why students have difficulty in their pronunciation (for which it is necessary to stick out the tongue a little), due to a certain constraint. To remove this fear, learn a cute rhyme about kittens.

Source: https://englishgood.ru/uprazhneniya-na-transkripciyu-anglijskih-slov-dlya-detej/

Reading letter combinations th, ph

Th gives two sounds: voiced [ð] and voiceless [θ]. In Russian, there are no sounds similar to [ð, θ], and the correct pronunciation of these sounds can cause problems. Incorrect pronunciation of the sounds [ð, θ] is part of the «Russian accent». If you pronounce these sounds correctly, it will be much more difficult for an Englishman to guess that you are a Russian.

How to pronounce and read all this correctly?

We pronounce [ð, θ]

When pronouncing the sounds [ð, θ], the organs of speech (tongue, lips, mouth) are relaxed. Slide the tip of your tongue between the front row of your teeth and blow the air out of you into the gaps between your teeth and with your tongue. It is important to ensure that your lips do not touch your tongue. You don’t need to stick out your tongue too much, just stick out the very tip. You should not, also, strongly clamp the tongue with your teeth, remember that air must pass between the teeth and the tongue.

When pronouncing the sounds [ð, θ], the tongue is relaxed, the tip of the tongue is between the teeth, the exhaled air passes between the tongue and the teeth.

The English sound [θ] is voiceless — essentially just the sound of air passing between the tongue and teeth.

Sound [ð] with voiced voice. You seem to say «h», but the tip of your tongue is between your teeth.

Remember that your lips should not touch your protruding tongue.

Try pinching the tip of your tongue and blow out the air. You should get a dull sound [θ]. Without changing anything, and without moving your tongue, try to pronounce the Russian «z». Here you have a clear-cut English [ð].

It is advisable to practice quickly removing the tongue from the teeth to pronounce the next sound. For example, you can practice pronunciation on the word this [ðɪs]. Here [ð] sounds between the teeth, then the tongue jumps back into the mouth, and the sound [s] already sounds on the alveoli, as it should.

There is a great tongue twister:

This is the eleventh sentence

— it just combines the sounds [ð, θ] and [z, s]. The main thing is to ensure that all these sounds do not merge into one mess, but are clearly audible. Sounds [ð, θ] between the teeth, and [z, s] on the alveoli.

Be sure to watch the video tutorial. There is an exercise for you to practice your pronunciation!

This video lesson is part of the RealStudy Starter Level Online Course.

I want try course for free

What is the correct way to read the combination th?

The sound [ð] sounds in the service words:

in the definite article (the) in pronouns (this, that, these, those, they, them, theirs, there)

at the end of words before the letter e (breathe [briːð])

In most other cases, it sounds deaf [θ].

If the letter combination th is the ending for the formation of ordinal numbers, then it is pronounced as [θ], for example: fifth [fɪfθ]

Practice sounds with the following words:

Source: https://realstudy.ru/articles/50-phonetics/165-read-pronounce-th-ph.html

Working with the alphabet

Many adult learners of a foreign language think that working with the alphabet and studying it thoroughly is an activity for children that should not be spent too much time. Of course, this position is erroneous, because there are often cases when in an English-speaking country they are asked to dictate their data by letter (for example, a name).

“Please, spell your name” — a native speaker will tell you and you will immediately understand how important it is to master the correct pronunciation of the letters of the alphabet.

Some do not even imagine how often individual letters are found in countries with English: abbreviations, abbreviations, house numbers, street names, airports, train stations and any other flights — you will come across English letters here and should be ready to hear them correctly and pronounce them if necessary … That is why it is worth taking a few lessons on how to pronounce the letters separately.

Articulation development

Only after you are convinced that the alphabet is mastered, you can move on to the peculiarities of pronunciation of sounds that the studied letters give — that is, to the rules of articulation. It is necessary to accustom yourself to pronounce sounds correctly from the very beginning of training.

First, you study them separately, so much so as to bring the process to automatism, and after that you move on to whole words or even phrases, forming sentences from them.

Some consonant sounds can confuse you, because by ear it will seem that they should be pronounced like the Russian counterparts — but this is not so.

First of all, consider sounds such as [d], [t], [n], [r], [s], [z]. Pronounce them and memorize the movements and trajectory of the tip of your tongue. With the «Russian» pronunciation, he will rest against his teeth — this is not what we need. The British, on the other hand, fix the tip of the tongue on the so-called alveolus — this is the name of the tubercle in the upper palate. Pronounce sounds differently and immediately feel the difference. You can train with such simple words as red, ten, not, ray, spot, zoo, and so on.

The next group of sounds is [f] and [v]. You need to pronounce them as if you are depicting a bunny — with front teeth on the lower lip: fun, vat and others.

It is worth remembering the rule that the sound [l] will always be solid. For example, the word London is [ˈlʌndən].

The pronunciation of the sound [w] is practiced in an interesting way: for this, teachers and students use an ordinary candle. The lips must be folded in a tube and pulled forward, as if you are reaching for a kiss. In this position, you need to smile sharply — this is how we get the sound we need. During training, try to keep the candle at a distance of about 20-25 centimeters from the edge of the lips. Your task is to blow it out, because only in this case you will be sure that the exercise has been mastered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1-vn34eV6ou0026list=PLSFN5BEcPifKFzdwBRZ9LWYvfnQq4KMAI

With the sound [h] there is an equally fun exercise: try to warm your hands! You need to understand that this sound is in no way similar to the Russian [x] we are used to, so it makes no sense to copy it in English. What does it mean to warm your hands? Depict the gesture and breathing with which you are trying to warm yourself: bringing your hands to your mouth, take a breath, during which lungs will form and subtle, but we need [h]. For example, let’s take the word home — [həum].

Sound [ŋ] in Russian, but it will sound like everyone’s familiar [n], but only during a runny nose. By the way, if you have a cold, it will be much easier to hone a complex sound: it will remind Russians of a combination of the letters n and g. In order to pronounce it correctly, form your tongue into a spatula and press it against the palate, blowing the sound through your nose. It is important to remember the position of the tongue: as usual, it remains on the alveoli, and not on the teeth, as in Russian. An example would be the word interesting — [ˈɪnt (ə) rɪstɪŋ].

Sounds [ð] and [θ], which are formed when the letters t and h are combined, will become no less difficult for native speakers of Russian. To train them, try depicting the sounds of a snake or a bee:

• the voiced [ð] is pronounced as follows: the tip of the tongue is bitten by the teeth, and at the same time the Russian sound is pronounced [z]. You should feel ticklish during your workout — this is a good sign that you are not mistaken in pronunciation. If there is no tickling, then the tongue is pinched too tightly — relax it and practice on the word this — [ðɪs];
• the voiceless sound [θ] is pronounced in the same way, only with Russian [s]. The word thank — [θæŋk] will help to train you in reading it.

Four types of vowel reading in English

The basis of correct pronunciation of English syllables is an understanding of what they are and what types of reading you need to know for the best knowledge of the language. In order to understand how to pronounce a particular vowel, you need to consider four types of syllables in English:

1. Openending in a vowel. Here we read vowel sounds as they are read alphabetically (again, the benefit of knowing it cannot be overemphasized): safe — [seif], cube — [kjuːb].
2. Closed with a consonant at the end. In this case, you need to learn each vowel separately:

• an open and not long sound [æ] is conveyed by the letter a in a closed syllable. In order to check if you pronounce it correctly, sit down at the table and straighten up, and let your hand stand with your elbow on the surface and with a hand bent under the chin — there will be space between them (provided that the back is straightened). It is necessary to lower the jaw so that it reaches the hand, while uttering the sound [e]. For example, the word bag is [bæg];
• the first sound is often confused with [e], but it is pronounced differently: lifting the corners of the lips in a slight smile. The sound is completely different, and, of course, not at all similar to Russian [e]: pet — [pet];
• such a group of sounds as [i], [ɔ], [ʌ], [u] is not pronounced in a chant. On the contrary, they are short, clear and intense: gig — [gig], fox — [fɔks], gus — [gʌs], book — [bʊk].

1. Vowel + r… The consonant r is not readable, but simply lengthens the vowel in front of it: far — [fɑː], curl — [kɜːl].
2. Vowel + re… The same thing: we do not pronounce r: dare — [deə], pure — [pjʊə].

Particular attention should be paid to the sounds [a:] and [ɔ:] — their pronunciation remind you of a doctor’s appointment when your tongue is pressed with a stick and asked to pronounce a lingering “A”. This is exactly how these sounds should be pronounced — pressing the tongue down: car — [ka:], sort — [sɔ: t] and so on.

When pronouncing syllables, do not forget how to put the stress correctly. Most often, the very first syllable is stressed — so if in doubt, put the stress there. Exceptions should be memorized gradually.

Important features of the language

There are four simple points that every foreign language learner must know. First, forget about soft consonants in English. Secondly, do not deafen the voiced vowels that appear at the end of a word.

Thirdly, remember that vowels can be both long and short — the first in the transcription will be indicated with the [:] sign.

And one last thing on articulation: try to get rid of too abrupt lip movements and movements in abundance in general — this is not in English.

Practice and work with difficult words

As you know, any skill requires constant practice — so constantly work with interesting and difficult phrases that will make your brain pronounce the words correctly:

Very well [‘veri’ wel];

World Wide Web or WWW [‘w əuld’ waid ‘web www];

Eleven benevolent elephants [ɪˈlevn bəˈnevələnt ˈelɪfənts];

Source: http://top100lingua.ru/blog/alfavit/pravilnoe-proiznoshenie-anglijskih-slov