English sounds with example words for children. English transcription: pronunciation of letters and sounds in English
Good, good, good morning, planet!
I don’t know about you, of course, but on my English planet (called ) it’s morning right now. And I decided to write an important informational and practical article about English transcription on a cheerful morning head. I think you don't mind). Then let's start analyzing this simple, but often raising many questions topic.
Is English transcription necessary at all?
What can I tell you about this?.. If in school curriculum in English they take her and force her to teach her, then of course you can’t get away with it! Speaking globally, its absence when learning English will not affect the results and knowledge in any way.
BUT! Since our children are still learning English, it is a matter of honor to know what transcription is in it. This is about the same as it is important to know that the Russian language has 6 cases (and this, by the way, is what makes it different from English and many others). But we can learn to speak and write words without thinking about which case should be used in them... "AND van R odil D little girl... Well, you understand me, I think.
Therefore, my verdict is that we will study it! But quickly and without any stretching for a year! A lesson or two - and "English transcription" will become the most pleasant phrase in the world...
In addition, having the ability to decipher English transcription, any schoolchild and adult will be able to read and pronounce any, even the most “terribly incomprehensible” word in English dictionary!!!
Why was it invented?
It was invented a very, very long time ago, by the British themselves, for themselves - when they realized that they themselves could not always understand how to read this or that word.
The point is that in English language There are, according to which you can read words correctly. For example, this rule: "In a closed syllable english letter“a” will be read like this (words ba g, la ptop)» . But at the same time, there are so many exceptions to these rules that sometimes it is impossible to remember them (for example, let’s take an exception to this rule with a word with a closed syllable t ask , in which the letter “a” is already read differently).
Well, they came up with such a concept as transcription, so that every English word could be read correctly, even without knowing the rules, but simply owning a set of transcription icons.
Sometimes you may see two variations of the same icon, this is normal. Both of them have their place. My analogies with Russian letters are very conditional. The main thing here is to hear the sound and imitate it as accurately as possible.
Transcription icons for vowel sounds
[i] or [ ı ] a sound similar to “i”, but more abrupt and firm.
[e] a sound similar to “e”, but more abrupt and firm.
[ ӕ ] a sound similar to "e", but wider.
[ ɔ ] or [ ɒ ] a sound similar to “o”, but more abrupt and open.
[ ∧ ] a sound similar to “a”, but more abrupt.
[u] or [ ʋ ] a sound similar to “u”, but more abrupt.
[i:] a sound similar to a long “i”.
[ ɔ: ] a sound similar to a long "o".
[ ɑ: ] a sound similar to a long and deep “a”.
[u:] a sound similar to a long “u”.
[ ə: ] or [ɜ:] a sound reminiscent of something between “o” and “e”.
In English there is only one transcription symbol that denotes an unstressed vowel - [ə] . It is pronounced very briefly and indistinctly. We often hear it at the end of words ending with unstressed vowels. Teacher, computer...
Transcription icons for consonant sounds
[p] sound similar to "p".
[b] sound similar to "b".
[t] sound similar to "t".
[d] sound similar to "d".
[k] sound similar to "k".
[g] sound similar to "g".
[f] sound similar to "f".
[v] sound similar to "v".
[s] sound similar to "s".
[z] sound similar to "z".
[m] sound similar to "m".
[n] sound similar to "n".
[l] sound similar to "l".
[h] a sound similar to an air "x".
[ ʃ ] a sound similar to "sh".
[tʃ] a sound similar to "ch".
[ ʒ ] sound similar to "zh".
[dʒ] sound similar to "j".
[r] sound similar to "r".
[j] a sound similar to "th". Softens vowels, e.g. [jɒ] [je] [ju:]
[w] sound made by lips.
[ ŋ ] a sound similar to “n” pronounced through the nose.
[ θ ] dull interdental sound.
[ ð ] sonorous interdental sound.
Transcription icons for diphthongs (double sounds)
[aı] or [ai] a sound similar to "ouch".
[eı] or [ei] a sound similar to "hey".
[ ɔı ] or [ɔi] a sound similar to "oh".
[aʋ] or [au] a sound similar to "ay".
[ əʋ ] or [ou] a sound similar to "oh".
[ ıə ] or [iə] a sound similar to "ee".
[ ʋə ] or [uə] sound similar to "ue".
[eə] or [ εə ] a sound similar to "ea".
Practice time
Well, we have looked at all the signs of English transcription. Children and adults remember most of them quite easily. Difficulties sometimes arise with icons indicating diphthongs or some sounds that are not at all similar to Russian ones. But this can be quickly corrected if you immediately consolidate everything with good practice and exercises, which is what we will do now.
I recommend buying and going online course English from scratch (from a well-known service LinguaLeo). There, the letters and sounds of the English language are discussed in detail. Transcription can also be well worked out. Register and try the course for free. If you like it, go ahead!..
Exercise 1
The first thing to do is to repeat several times the sound corresponding to a certain sign of English transcription. Go in order (according to the list I gave). Repeat one sound 3-5 times, while trying to associate the complex icon with the image. For example, repeating the sound [ ӕ ]
, imagine a cat, a hat, or any other image, but just let this image correspond to a word that is pronounced in English with exactly this sound. For example, I had an image in my head of a bag with such a branded badge.))
So how? Difficult? If yes, then I will share with you my ideas regarding the most “intractable” transcription signs. Please do not judge my clumsy pictures harshly. I swear, in my imagination they look much cuter)).
Icon [ ʋ ] — image of the foot and heel.
The word foot [fʋt].
Icon [ ɜ: ] - image of a bird.
The word bird [ b ɜ: d] .
Icon [ ʃ ] - image of a shoe.
The word shoe [ʃu:].
Icon [tʃ]- image of a chicken.
The word chick [tʃık].
Icon [dʒ]- image of a page in a textbook.
The word page.
Icon [j]- the image of a tick, the correct answer.
The word yes.
Icon [ ŋ ] - an image of a long and uneven road.
The word long.
Icon [ θ ] - image of the number three.
The word three [θri:].
Icon [ ð ] - image of a mother and baby.
The word mother.
Exercise 2
- Now we will read with you simple words with different sounds. Your task is to look at the word, listen to its pronunciation, repeat, and then guess which transcription icon from those presented below corresponds to the sound in the word (the required vowel letters or combinations will be underlined).
[ ı ] [e] [ ӕ ] [ ɒ ] [ ∧ ] [ ʋ ] [i:][ ɔ: ] [ ɑ: ] [u:] [ɜ:]
| b ir d | f a mile | c oo l |
| p i g | b utter | f ir st |
| d oll | ea t | s i t |
| l a st | b e d | c ar |
| a pple | cl ock | m e n |
| d augh ter | p u t | cl ea n |
| d octor | fr ui t | k i tchen |
| d ar k | g ir l | d i nner |
| d oor | trolley-b u s | c a p |
| f oo t | b oo k | b a ll |
- Now you will see other words that you will also need to listen to and repeat, and then select the required transcription sign from those presented below, which corresponds to a particular sound (the required consonant letters or combinations will be underlined in the words).
[p] [b][t] [d][k] [g][f] [v][s] [z][m] [n]
[l][h] [ ʃ ] [tʃ] [ ʒ ] [dʒ] [r][j] [w][ ŋ ] [ θ ] [ ð ]
| bet w een | v ery | w indow |
| v illage | s treet | z oo |
| th in | th en | tea ch er |
| sgar | tele ph one | fiv e |
| hundre d | mus t | nigh t |
| midd le | nu m ber | p resent |
| b lack | k itten | g ive |
| kn ife | h orse | r oom |
| pi n k | spon ge | ki ng |
| pa ge | facto r y | y ou |
- The following words contain diphthongs. Listen, repeat and choose the right sign transcriptions for underlined letters and letter combinations.
[aı] [eı] [ ɔı ] [aʋ] [ əʋ ] [ ıə ] [ ʋə ] [eə]
| f ear | n a me | beh i nd |
| wardr o be | ch air | t o ne |
| p oor | c a ke | t ow n |
| h ere | t our | c oi n |
| br ow n | th o se | h are |
| July y | b oh | t a ble |
| tr ou sers | yell ow | b i ke |
| c are | n ear | s o |
- The final exercise in this section is to choose the correct transcription option for a word from the two proposed ones. The scheme of work is the same: we listen, repeat, and then choose.
cup[kʌp] or [kӕp]
twelve[tvelv] or [twelv]
month[mɑ:nθ] or [mʌnθ]
rain[raın] or [reın]
farm[fɜ:m] or [fɑːm]
large[lɑːʒ] or [lɑːdʒ]
spoon[spuːn] or [spɔ:n]
fair[feə] or [fıə]
say[seɪ] or [seə]
now[nəʋ] or [naʊ]
June[tʃ uːn] or [dʒuːn]
Exercise 3
Well, it’s time to write transcriptions of the words yourself. I think you will succeed! A day or two - and the topic of English transcription will become so easy for you that you have never even dreamed of it)). Let me remind you once again that unstressed syllables are often designated like this [ ə ] .
after, box, write, with, open,
season, shut, round, tall, number,
shirt, plus, jam, song, yogurt, hate
Exercise 4
This exercise is to practice reading a lot English words by transcription. For children, the best option here would be cards with English words and transcriptions for them. Some authors (for example, Nosova, Epanova) specially develop such cards - after all, they help not only to consolidate the learned transcription signs, but also to easily replenish your lexicon. These are the interesting cards I found in the store Labyrinth. Here are the most basic topics and words:
Set “Wild Animals”
Set "Fruits"
Set "Man"
Set "Professions"
Set "School"
Set "Home"
Well, I did it, friends!
And you? Did you manage? If you have any questions, be sure to ask me. I will try to answer them.
And one more thing - on the right sidebar of my site you can find a convenient service "Transcription online"— enter any English word into the field and get its transcription. Use it!
In addition, I invite you to my delicious newsletter (you can subscribe to it at the end of this article - after the tutor selection form)! The most useful and interesting things about English and more...
Answers to the exercises:
| b ir d [ɜ:] | f a mily [ӕ] | c oo l[u:] |
| p i g[ı] | b u tter[∧] | f ir st [ɜ:] |
| d o ll [ɔ:] | ea t[i:] | s i t[ı] |
| l a st [ɑ:] | b e d[e] | c ar [ ɑ: ] |
| a pple [ӕ] | cl o ck [ɒ] | m e n[e] |
| d augh ter [ɔ:] | p u t[ʋ] | cl ea n[i:] |
| d o ctor [ɒ] | fr ui t[u:] | k i tchen [ı] |
| d ar k[ɑ:] | g ir l[ɜ:] | d i nner [ı] |
| d oor [ ɔ: ] | trolley-b u s[∧] | c a p[ӕ] |
| f oo t[ʋ] | b oo k[ʋ] | b a ll [ɔ:] |
| bet w een [w] | v ery[v] | w indow [w] |
| v illa ge[v] [dʒ] | s treet [s] | z oo[z] |
| th in[θ] | th en [ð] | tea ch er [tʃ] |
| s ugar [ʃ] | tele ph one [f] | f i v e[f][v] |
| hundre d[d] | mus t[t] | nigh t[t] |
| midd le[l] | nu m ber[m] | p resent [p] |
| b lack [b] | k itten[k] | g ive [g] |
| kn ife[n] | h orse [h] | r oom [r] |
| pi n k[ŋ] | spon ge[dʒ] | ki ng [ ŋ ] |
| pa ge[dʒ] | facto r y[r] | y ou[j] |
| f ear [ ıə ] | n a me [eı] | beh i nd [aı] |
| wardr o be [əʋ] | ch air[eə] | t o ne [əʋ] |
| p oor [ ʋə ] | c a ke[eı] | t ow n[aʋ] |
| h ere [ ıə ] | t our [ ʋə ] | c oi n[ɔı] |
| br ow n[aʋ] | th o se [əʋ] | h are[eə] |
| July y[aı] | b oh [ ɔı ] | t a ble [eı] |
| tr ou sers [aʋ] | yell ow [ əʋ ] | b i ke [aı] |
| c are[eə] | n ear [ ıə ] | s o [ əʋ ] |
[ˈɑːftə], [bɒks], [raɪt], [wɪð], [ˈəʊpən],
[ˈsiːzn], [ʃʌt], [raʊnd],[tɔːl], [ˈnʌmbə],
[ʃɜːt], [plʌs], [dʒæm],[sɒŋ], [ˈjɒɡət], [heɪt]
On our website we present to your attention a module that is quite useful in learning English: Sound Word. With its help, you can easily find out the pronunciation of English words and their transcription. In order to use it you need to enter the word you need and press the button "listen!".
After a short pause, the module will give you a transcription of the given English word, its pronunciation and, of course, translation. For the convenience of English language learners, there are two pronunciation options for the word: British and American. You can also listen to the pronunciation of English words online.
What is transcription?
Phonetic transcription is how the pronunciation of English words looks (graphically) in writing. Absolutely every single sound is recorded separately in the recording. Phonetic transcription is indicated only in square brackets, and special phonetic symbols are used to write it.
Why is transcription of English words needed?
English transcription is always useful to know for everyone, without exception, for everyone who studies the language. This will give you an advantageous opportunity to read with ease and greater accuracy and, as a result, correctly pronounce an unfamiliar English word on your own, without resorting to the help of a teacher. All students of the English language are well aware that reading English words is a rather specific process, which is based not just on the usual “folding” of words from letters, i.e. both it is written and read, but rather on the transformation of certain letter combinations into correspondingly certain combinations of sounds. Naturally, there are also certain rules reading, pronunciation of English words that need to be clearly known and impeccably applied in practice. But believe me, there are many more words that do not obey these rules in the English language. And here transcription comes to our rescue, allowing us to find out the correct pronunciation of an English word, and, as a consequence, its correct reading.
Pronunciation of English words online (listen) - 4.0 out of 5 based on 875 votes
Instructions
Transcription is the recording of the sound of a letter or word in the form of a sequence of special phonetic symbols. With its help, you can correctly read an unfamiliar word without outside help. When starting to study English transcription, errors in correct reading may occur. However, with practice comes skill. When used, both in reading and writing, reading rules are very important. As in Russian, not everything is read as it is seen and vice versa.
The easiest way to write is to use a service. In addition to all kinds of dictionaries on the Internet, it is also possible to transcribe words. One example of such sites is http://lingorado.com/transcription/. In a small window, just write or copy. A separate piece, a phrase, or a couple of words will do. After the text has been entered, click on the “show transcription” button. The transcribed version will appear below.
The service also offers several additional options. For example, the ability to choose classic English (“British”) or “American” version. In addition, you can choose the option to display the transcription: only the transcription itself, along with the entered text on one level (on one line), first the text, and below the transcription. And you can also add options “take into account weak position" and "transcription in Russian letters." For maximum convenience, the application with text transcription is available in the AppStore and Google Play. On the right side of the site there are relevant links.
The ability to transcribe and transcription will help when learning a language. And in such situations, a laptop with Internet access or a smartphone with an application will not always be at hand. This is how the English alphabet is transcribed: Aa [ei] - Bb [bi:] - Cc [si:] - Dd [di:] - Ee [i:] - Ff [ef] - Gg [dʒi:] - Hh [eitʃ] - Ii [ai] - Jj [dʒei] - Kk [kei] - Ll [el] - Mm [em] - Nn [en] - Oo [ou] - Pp [pi:] - Qq [kju:] - Rr [ a: ] - Ss [ es ] - Tt [ ti: ] - Uu [ ju: ] - Vv [ vi: ] - Ww [ `dʌbl ` ju: ] - Xx [ eks ] - Yy [ wai ] - Zz [ zed / ziː].
Vowels and consonants have their own characteristics. When a vowel sound is long, a colon is added to its designation. For example, the word "sheep" will be transcribed in the following way: [ʃiːp]. A sound that is similar to the average between a and e is designated [æ] (apple - [ˈæpl]). The open sound a is indicated by a checkmark [ʌ] (funny - ["fʌni]). The sound е also has its own transcription: [з] (girl -). Sounds that end in “й” are written together with “i”: ай - , oh - [ɔi], ey -. The sound “ou” is designated [əu], ie -, ue -, ea - [ɛə].
Everything is a little simpler. The Russian sound “sh” is indicated by this symbol: [ʃ]. A few more examples of non-standard sounds: “j” -, “ch” -, “zh” - [ʒ], “yu” -, “e” -, “e” -, “ya” -, “n” - [ŋ ] (usually at the end of a word, when “n” comes before “g” - “king”), the sound between s and f is [θ] (thin - [θin]), the sound between z and v is [ð] (brother -).
The peculiarity of the English language is that it has a lot of exceptions. Many people are used to learning languages according to rules, strict patterns, and even memorizing all the exceptions. However, when meeting and talking with a living native English speaker, you may be surprised, because even the pedantic British do not always follow all the rules, both grammatical and pronunciation. For them, there are established practices and patterns of speech. And about a hundred years ago, the Dutchman Gerard Nolst Trenité, 1870-1946 for a long time observed the English language and was horrified by the disorder in English readings. And I decided to collect such disgrace. In the end, there were 800 of them, and even in the poem, which he called “Chaos”. Even English teachers cannot always read it according to all the rules. Her poem is presented here: http://lingorado.com/english-reading-rules-chaos/.
In the first field, type the word you want to translate, in the second field, select the direction of translation (the default is English-Russian translation), to translate, press the “enter” key or the magnifying glass icon. The translation with transcription will appear below.
English words with transcription and pronunciation
- Type Russian characters on your keyboard - turns on the on-screen keyboard for Russian letters;
- Show keyboard - opens the on-screen keyboard for Russian letters;
- Hide keyboard (to type in English) - hides the on-screen keyboard for Russian letters.
This electronic version Oxford Pocket Dictionary of English-Russian and Russian-English. An authoritative professional dictionary that contains about 210,000 words and phrases.
If you dream of learning English abroad, then this link is for you. Description of schools with photos and videos, duration and intensity of courses, as well as how much it all costs.
Applications to the online dictionary. Brief information on English grammar
1 The article in which is given. Gives an idea of how many letters are in english alphabet and how it is read.
2 These articles discuss phonetic transcription in English. The first part gives. In the second part - .
3 English verbs: correct and incorrect. What is the difference, as well as the three forms irregular verbs or .
4 In the article you can learn how to pronounce correctly English numbers, how to translate numbers from Russian into English, how to pronounce dates in English, and also consider mathematical formulas and expressions.
5 have differences. It is also useful to know about this so as not to be surprised why the same words are spelled differently in different texts.
About this English-Russian and Russian-English online dictionary with transcription
I have long wanted to put a good one on my siteonline translator with transcriptionand different meanings of words, and this one, in my opinion, is one of the most successful. Most sites use a text translation system using translator programs such as Socrates. But this is not the most suitable for learning English. online dictionary, because when we encounter an unfamiliar English word, we need to find out its transcription, stress, and multiple meanings of usage. When translating, it is important Dictionary. In pure machine translation we are in best case scenario we will lose the very meaning of the statement and its stylistic component, and at worst we will get an unrelated set of words. Computer servicesonline translatorsdo not provide the opportunity to watch different meanings words or their choice is limited, so machine translation must be corrected using such dictionaries. On the site "site" you are given the opportunity to take advantage of high-qualityonline dictionary completely free, that is, it is an English-Russian dictionary with pronunciation. It doesn’t matter what you wanted to find in a search engine: be itRussian translator online, or English online translator or translator online free– the dictionary presented here is exactly what you need. The dictionary will help you find answers to many questions that arise during translation. If you have the Internet, then you will definitely find the right word. And since you are reading this text, then you definitely have it. By the way, in addition to the English-Russian and Russian-English directions, the database of this dictionary contains many other languages, so thisfree online translator with- one of best options, which can be found on the Internet among English Russian translators with transcription and pronunciation! So if you don't have a paper dictionary at hand, you can always rely on an electronic oneonline English dictionaryon that website. Take advantage and achieve success in learning English.
“I don’t understand transcription”, “How is this written in Russian letters?”, “Why do I need these sounds?”... If you start learning English with such sentiments, then I will have to disappoint you: it is unlikely that you will achieve significant good luck in English.
Without mastering transcription, it will be difficult for you to understand the structure of English pronunciation; you will constantly make mistakes and experience difficulties when learning new words and using dictionaries.
Ever since school, the attitude of many towards transcription has been openly negative. In fact, there is nothing complicated in English transcription. If you do not understand it, then this topic was not explained to you properly. In this article we will try to fix this.
To understand the essence of transcription, you must clearly understand the difference between letters and sounds. Letters- this is what we write, and sounds- what we hear. Transcription marks are the sounds represented in writing. For musicians this role is played by notes, but for you and me - transcription. In Russian, transcription does not play such a big role as in English. There are vowels that are read differently, combinations that need to be remembered, and letters that are not pronounced. The number of letters and sounds in a word does not always coincide.
For example, the word daughter has 8 letters and four sounds ["dɔːtə]. If the final [r] is pronounced, as in American English, then there are five sounds. The combination of vowels au gives the sound [ɔː], gh is not readable at all, er may be read as [ə] or [ər], depending on the variety of English.
There are a huge number of similar examples. It is difficult to understand how to read a word and how many sounds are pronounced in it if you do not know the basic rules of transcription.
Where can I find the transcription? First of all, in dictionaries. When you find a new word in the dictionary, there must be information nearby about how the word is pronounced, that is, a transcription. In addition, in textbooks the lexical part always contains transcription. Knowledge of the sound structure of a language will not allow you to remember the incorrect pronunciation of words, because you will always identify a word not only with its letter representation, but also with its sound.
In domestic publications, transcriptions are usually placed in square brackets, while in dictionaries and manuals from foreign publishers, transcriptions are presented in oblique brackets / /. Many teachers use slashes when writing transcriptions of words on the board.
Now let's learn more about the sounds of the English language.
There are only 44 sounds in the English language, which are divided into vowels(vowels ["vauəlz]), consonants(consonants "kɔn(t)s(ə)nənts]). Vowels and consonants can form combinations, including diphthongs(diphthongs ["dɪfθɔŋz]). Vowel sounds in English vary in length by brief(short vovels) and long(long vowels), and consonants can be divided into deaf(voices consonants), voiced(voiced consonants). There are also those consonants that are difficult to classify as voiceless or voiced. We will not go deep into phonetics, since initial stage this information is quite enough. Consider the table of English sounds:
Let's start with vowels. Two dots near the symbol indicate that the sound is pronounced for a long time; if there are no dots, then the sound should be pronounced briefly. Let's see how vowel sounds are pronounced:
- long sound I: tree, free
[ɪ ] - short sound I: big, lip
[ʊ] - short sound U: book, look
- long sound U: root, boot
[e] - sound E. Pronounced the same way as in Russian: hen, pen
[ə] is a neutral sound E. It sounds when the vowel is not under stress or at the end of a word: mother ["mʌðə], computer
[ɜː] is a sound similar to the sound Ё in the word honey: bird, turn
[ɔː] - long sound O: door, more
[æ] - sound E. Pronounced widely: cat, lamp
[ʌ] - short sound A: cup, but
- long sound A: car, mark
[ɒ] - short sound O: box, dog
Diphthongs- these are combinations of sounds consisting of two vowels, always pronounced together. Let's look at the pronunciation of diphthongs:
[ɪə] - IE: here, near
— Uh: fair, bear
[əʊ] - EU (OU): go, no
- AU: how, now
[ʊə] - UE: sure [ʃuə], tourist ["tuərɪst]
- HEY: make, day
- AI: my, bike
[ɔɪ] - OH: : boy, toy
Let's consider consonants sounds. Voiceless and voiced consonants are easy to remember, since each of them has a pair:
| Voiceless consonants: | Voiced consonants: |
|---|---|
| [p] - P sound: pen, pet | [b] - sound B: big, boot |
| [f] - F sound: flag, fat | [v] - sound B: vet, van |
| [t] - T sound: tree, toy | [d] - sound D: day, dog |
| [θ] is an interdental sound that is often confused with C, but when pronounced, the tip of the tongue is between the lower and upper front teeth: thick [θɪk], think [θɪŋk] |
[ð] is an interdental sound that is often confused with Z, but when pronounced, the tip of the tongue is located between the lower and upper front teeth: this [ðɪs], that [ðæt] |
| [tʃ] - sound Ch: chin [ʧɪn], chat [ʧæt] | [dʒ] - J sound: jam [ʤæm], page |
| [s] - sound C: sit, sun | [z] - sound Z: |
| [ʃ] - sound Ш: shelf [ʃelf], brush | [ʒ] - sound Ж: vision ["vɪʒ(ə)n], decision |
|
[k] - sound K: kite, cat |
[g] - sound G: get, go |
Other consonants:
[h] - sound X: hat, home
[m] - M sound: make, meet
[n] - English sound N: nose, net
[ŋ] - a sound reminiscent of N, but pronounced through the nose: song, long - a sound reminiscent of P: run, rest
[l] - English sound L: leg, lip
[w] - a sound reminiscent of B, but pronounced with rounded lips: ,west
[j] - sound Y: you, music ["mjuːzɪk]
Those who want to gain a deeper understanding of the phonetic structure of the English language can look for resources on the Internet where they will tell you what sonorant, stop, fricative and other consonants are.
If you just want to understand the pronunciation of English consonant sounds and learn to read transcriptions without unnecessary theory, then we recommend sharing everything consonants sounds for the following groups:
- Sounds that pronounced almost the same as in Russian : This is the majority of consonants.
- Sounds that similar to those in Russian , but are pronounced differently. There are only four of them.
- The sounds that no in Russian . There are only five of them and it is a mistake to pronounce them the same way as in Russian.
Pronunciation of sounds marked yellow, practically no different from Russian, only sounds [p, k, h] are pronounced with “aspiration”.
Green sounds- these are the sounds that need to be pronounced in the English manner; they are the reason for the accent. The sounds are alviolar (you probably heard this word from your school teacher), to pronounce them, you need to raise your tongue to the alviols, then you will sound “English”.
Sounds tagged red, are not present in Russian at all (although some people think that this is not the case), so you must pay attention to their pronunciation. Do not confuse [θ] and [s], [ð] and [z], [w] and [v], [ŋ] and [n]. There are fewer problems with the [r] sound.
Another nuance of transcription is emphasis, which is marked with an apostrophe in transcription. If a word has more than two syllables, then stress is required:
Hotel -
police -
interesting — ["ɪntrəstɪŋ]
When a word is long and polysyllabic, it may contain two accents, and one is upper (main), and the second is lower. The lower stress is indicated by a sign similar to a comma and is pronounced weaker than the upper:
disadvantage - [ˌdɪsəd"vɑːntɪʤ]
As you read the transcription, you may notice that some sounds are presented in parentheses (). This means that the sound can be read in a word, or it can be left unpronounced. Usually in brackets you can find the neutral sound [ə], the sound [r] at the end of a word, and some others:
Information — [ˌɪnfə"meɪʃ(ə)n]
teacher — ["tiːʧə(r)]
Some words have two pronunciation options:
Forehead ["fɔrɪd] or ["fɔːhed]
Monday ["mʌndeɪ] or ["mʌndɪ]
In this case, choose the option that you prefer, but remember that this word can be pronounced differently.
Many words in English have two pronunciations (and, accordingly, transcriptions): in British English and in American English. In this situation, learn the pronunciation that corresponds to the version of the language you are studying, try not to mix words from British English and American English in your speech:
Schedule - ["ʃedjuːl] (BrE) / ["skeʤuːl] (AmE)
neither - ["naɪðə] (BrE) / [ˈniːðə] (AmE)
Even if you couldn’t stand transcription before, after reading this article you will see that reading and composing a transcription is not at all difficult! You were able to read all the words written down in the transcription, right? Apply this knowledge, use dictionaries and be sure to pay attention to the transcription if you have a new word in front of you, so that you remember the correct pronunciation from the very beginning and do not have to relearn it later!
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