Pronunciation is one of the most important aspects when we try to learn a new language. You can use high level vocabulary or grammar, but if you are not capable to transmit a clear message, in other words to be easy to understand, probably you have a problem of pronunciation. Additionally, to have a good pronunciation will help you to listen well.
In this Guide, I will try to give the best things that work with me when I was a learner, but I still use now that I am an English teacher (if you are an English teacher you probably would like to read my post PRONUNCIATION: WHAT, WHY AND HOW IN THE VIRTUAL ENGLISH CLASSROOM). On the other side, if you try to find the ultimate key to improve your pronunciation, let me tell you that this key does not exist, but do not get discouraged you can still get better.
Also, in this guide you will find some theory, yeah I know that this does not sound attractive, but I have a point, so please continue reading. In fact, in this and the future articles, I will tell you exactly what to expect in the first paragraphs so you can invest your time wisely. To start, in this guide #1 you will read about what is learning pronunciation and learn how to say the twelve vowels in English.
1 What is learning Pronunciation?
To learn Pronunciation is to know how phonemes (Vowels, Consonant, Connected speech) work. Also, to learn suprasegmental or prosodic features (Intonation, Stress). In order to learn all these characteristics of Pronunciation, I will divide this guide in different parts, so you have enough and meaningful information.
2 Vowels
In written English we have five vowels: a, e, i, o, u.
It is important for you to learn them because in real life you will need to spell, for example, when speaking on the phone or when you want to introduce yourself and somebody wants to know how to write your name.
On the other side, in spoken English, we use more than five vowels, because there are different units of sound or phonemes. To represent these units of sound in English, we use phonetic symbols, here you have an example:
The word cat is formed by using three sounds (phonemes) /k/ /æ/ /t/. To learn these symbols will help you to depend less on your teacher and start using the dictionary more. Remember that you have to use an English learner's dictionary, because in these types of dictionary after you have the word you were looking up, you will also have the phonetics symbols, and also an audio with the pronunciation of the word.
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| Picture 1. Example taken from Cambridge Dictionary Online: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/ |
But, if I already have the audio, why do I need to learn the phonetic symbols? Because if the more senses you use, the easier you learn something new (you can learn a little bit about this topic on my post Virtual learning: 3 tips for multisensory teaching), obviously it is important to practice too.
Now it's time to start. Let's see the vowels first.
There are two different types of vowel: Short and Long.
2.1 Short Vowels:
Different from written, spoken English has twelve vowel sounds or phonemes. Here we have short vowels, watch the videos made by BBC English and practice:
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| Picture 2. Short vowels |
2.2 Long Vowels:
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| Picture 3. Long vowels |
Recommendations
When you practice use a voice recorder, in my case I love Vocaroo (www.vocaroo.com), does your record sound similar to the videos above? If so, try to do the same when you use a dictionary.
The next article, Guide #2, will be about diphthongs and consonants. Do not forget to tell me in the comments section if you like the article.
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