The Best Email Tips
Content
The Top Email Tips – Part 1
Here are some of our top tips, gathered from our email list over the last few years and
presented all together in this document for you.
Tip 1 pronouncing words containing “x”
Tip 2: How to say "le", when it is at the end of a word.
Tip 3: The letter combination "wh"
Tip 4: The letter combination "tial"
Tip 5: The letter combination “cious”
Tip 6: The strange combination "gh"
Tip 7: A useful Tool for visualizing vowels
Tip 8: The “th” sound
Tip 9: Visualizing the sounds “b”,“d”,“g”
Tip 10: The “r” sound
Tip 11: The vowel sounds of English
Tip 12: Voicing
Tip 13: Mute consonants
Tip 14: Consonant clusters
Tip 15: Syllable structure
Tip 16: Different accents
Tip 17: Pitch and stress
I wish you all the best with your English learning,
Best regards
Thor Russell
Managing Director
Visual Pronunciation Software Limited
Unit 6, 243 Blenheim Road
Christchurch
New Zealand
www.eyespeakenglish.com
Tip 1: Pronouncing “x”
How do you pronounce the following words:
six
affix
anxiety
luxury
Usually the letter "x" is pronounced like "ks" as in "books".
However, there are some surprising exceptions.
In the word "anxiety", the "x" is pronounced the way a "z" usually sounds.
So, anxiety is pronounced:
"ang zi e ty"
In "luxury" the "x" is pronounced "k sh" so luxury is pronounced:
"luk shu ry"
If you've never been taught this, and you haven't had a chance to hear a native speaker
say it correctly, then it's very difficult to get it right.
Here is a helpful link for saying words like this correctly:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com
Just type in the word you wish to say, and click “search”
You can then hear both the American and British pronunciations of the word.
You can also put the word in the link like this, to hear the word “anxiety”:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/anxiety
Tip 2: How to say "le", when it is at the end of a word.
Do you know that the letter combination "le" occurs very often at the end of a word.
For example,
able
apple
little
whole
Sometimes it has a separate syllable, and sometimes it doesn't.
For example:
"ab le" is two syllables, whoever,
"whole" is just one syllable.
Do you know when "le" means an extra syllable?
Here is a rule to help you decide:
When the following letters come before "le", it is not a separate syllable:
ailosu
What this means is that "whole" does not have a separate syllable because "o" comes
before "le" in "whOle", also "file" and "mile" are one syllable words, because in these
words, "i" comes before "le".
Here are some more examples:
Two syllables (a i l o s u do not come beforehand)
bub ble
ca ble
a ble
cir cle
One syllable
male
while
pole
If you learn this rule, you will know how to pronounce many common words in
English, and also many uncommon ones also. However there are some words that do
not follow this rule. To be sure that you get these words right, you will need to learn
them.
Here they are:
finale
facsimile
simile
said
said
said
fi na le
fac si mi le
si mi le
Tip 3: The letter combination "wh"
Like many examples in English, this letter combination has its own special rule.
The letter combination "wh" is usually said like "w" as in the words
white what meanwhile
However there are some exceptions, where it is pronounced like an "h" sound:
Here are the exceptions
who
whoever
whole
who'll
wholly
whom
who's
For example, "who" is said like "ho".
(the vowel sound is like in "too", so "who" rhymes with "too")
whose
Tip 4: The letter combination "tial"
This is another strange English letter combination that sometimes is found at the end
of words. How often have you seen it?
This letter combination is said like "shil"
Now some of you may wonder what exactly I mean by "shil" and you are right, it is
often hard to explain how to pronounce words via email, so I recommend that you
listen to how these words are said.
Here is a useful free link to let you hear how to pronounce the words:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com
Just type in the word, and then listen to how to say it. Both US and UK
pronunciations are provided.
Here is a list of some of the most common examples of the "tial" pattern:
differential
essential
impartial
evidential
inconsequential
initial
martial
nuptial
palatial
partial
potential
presidential
residential
substantial
Many of these words won't be familiar to you, so I encourage you to look them up,
study their meaning, and hear the correct pronunciation.
Tip 5: The letter combination “cious”
This letter combination is said like "shis" for example in the word
“a tro cious”
(This is a good one to look up if you don't already know it.)
Once again, here is a link that will let you listen to how it is said:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com
Just type in the word, and then listen to how to say it. Both US and UK
pronunciations are provided.
Here is a list of some of examples of this pattern. Some of these words are quite
advanced.
audacious
conscious
fallacious
ferocious
officious
suspicious
tenacious
voracious
Tip 6: The strange combination "gh"
The combination of letters "gh" is one of the strangest in English; it is never
pronounced "g h" like if the "g" and "h" were separate.
Sometimes it can have sound like "g" sometimes like "f" and sometimes it has no
sound at all!
At the beginning of a word, it usually sounds like "g"
Example:
ghost
ghastly
said like:
gost
gas tly
In the middle of a word, it often has no sound at all
Example:
bright
might
drought
miit
drout
said like:
briit
In these cases, the "gh" sound makes the vowel before it long. "Bright" is said "briit",
not "brit"
At the end of the word, it can sometimes be pronounced “f”
Example:
Cough
enough
laugh
rough
tough
e nuff
laaf
ruff
tuff
said like:
cof
Tip 7: A useful tool for visualizing vowels
While searching the internet for tools to help you, I found a web page, developed by
the University of Iowa that provides great help with the basic sounds that many of you
have asked me about.
Here it is:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html
If this web page looks a bit advanced, please note that this web page is intended for an
advanced audience, but don’t worry I will explain to you how to use it.
Lets start with the consonants, and a sound that everyone finds difficult, the “th”
sounds.
This is in words like:
thing
mouth
thank
thumb
Now here is how to find this sound on the web page:
• Just under the heading “Phonetics: The sounds of American English” click the
button saying “voice”
• Underneath that, click “voiceless’
• Now click on the symbol to the left of “Fricative”. This is the symbol for “th”
You will now see a diagram, and a picture of a real person that will help you say this
sound. We will start with the diagram.
1. Click on the “Play” button on the diagram. You will see an animation of how the
“th” sound is made. Note that your tongue needs to go between your teeth.
This is very important, and is the reason that many people find this sound hard.
There are few other languages in the world that have sounds where you have to do
this.
2. Now click on the “step by step” instruction. Don’t worry about reading the
instructions, they are too difficult, but notice the diagram showing the tongue between
the teeth. This is the important thing.
3. Now have a look at the picture on the right. This is of a real person making the “th”
sound. Click on the play button to see how that sound is made.
Notice the tongue between the teeth.
4. Now listen to the words “thing”, “toothbrush” and “with”, to hear how they are
made. Have a go at saying these words yourself.
Tip 8: The “th” sound
The “th” sound in words like “the”, “that” and “they”.
Do you know that the “th” sound in “the” is quite different to the “th” sound in
“thing”?
The important difference is called “voicing”. In the word “they”,
the “th” sound is “voiced”, but in the word “thing” the “th” sound is not voiced,
or “unvoiced”.
For voiced sounds, your voice box or “Adams Apple” vibrates, but for unvoiced
sounds it does not. To see how this works, put your finger on your Adams apple, and
say “aa”. You should be able to feel a vibration on your finger.
Now do that while saying “ssss”. You shouldn’t be able to feel any vibration.
Here is how to find the other “th” sound:
• Just under the heading “Phonetics: The sounds of American English” click the
button saying “voice”
• Underneath that, click “voiced’
Now click on the symbol to the left of “Fricative”. This is the symbol for other “th”
sound.
Like before look at the diagram, look at the video, and listen to the sounds.
You should notice that the diagrams and the video look the same as for the last sound.
This is important. Your tongue and mouth do exactly the same things for both of
these sounds, except in one sound you use your voice, but in the other you do not.
Can you hear the difference? Here are some words to help you:
Voiced “th” sound:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/the
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/they
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/that
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/smooth
Unvoiced “th” sound:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/thing
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/thumb
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/threat
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mouth
Tip 9: Visualizing the sounds “b”,“d”,“g”
Today I will provide some further help with the basic sounds of English,
using the website in your last email:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html
We will start with some sounds called “stops” or “plosives”, and then talk
about the difficult sound “r” in English.
In English, a stop sound is one with a sudden puff of air,
these are the sounds “b d g p t k” and are in words such as
Be
do
go
pat
take
kid
can
You will notice the last word, “can” starts with “c” but is a “k” sound,
like “kid”. Words that start with “c” are often said with a “k” sound.
In order to make these stop sounds, you need to put your tongue to the top
of your mouth, and build up a puff of air behind it, then release it to make the sound.
Here is how to find these sounds on the University of Iowa web page
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html
•
•
•
•
Under the heading “Phonetics: The sounds of American English” on the left,
click the button saying “manner”
Underneath that, click “stop’
Now click on the symbol for /p/. This is the sound in words like “pot” and
“cap”.
Like in the last tip, have a look at the diagram, watch the videos and listen to the
words.
Now do a similar thing for the sound /b/, next to /p/. You should notice that “b” is the
same as “p” except it is voiced.
Do you remember from the last tip, that the only difference between the “th” sound in
“the” and “thing” was the voicing?
Now have a look at the other sounds in this list, /t/ /d/ /k/ and /g/.
You will probably find that you already know these sounds, as they are in most
languages in the world. They aren’t as difficult as the “th” sounds.
Tip 10: The “r” sound
However we will now look at a more difficult sound in English, the “r” sound like in
“right”
The reason the “r” sound is so difficult is that while similar sounds do exist on other
languages, they are not exactly the same as the English “r” sound.
Here is how to see how the “r” sound is said:
•
•
•
•
Under the heading “Phonetics: The sounds of American English” on the left,
click the button saying “manner”
Underneath that, click “liquid
Now click on the symbol for /r/. This is the sound in words like “right” and
“red”
Once again, look at the diagrams, and listen to the video. However I need to tell you
something here that will make saying “r” easier. You need to curl your tongue.
This means that the front part of your tongue, the tip needs to be lower than the sides.
The sides of your tongue need to be almost touching the top of your mouth, but the tip
should be lower.
This is hard to explain in words, so here is a helpful video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Y_huMVd-A
This may also be useful:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKHYnavxMns
Tip 11: The vowel sounds of English
We will talk about some simple vowel sounds, then some of the more difficult vowel
sounds, the “moving vowels” or diphthong vowels.
As you may know, English have a lot of vowel sounds, and many of these are hard to
pronounce because they will not be in your native language. Correct pronunciation of
vowel sounds is ALL about how you hold your tongue. Some vowel sounds have
your tongue far back in your mouth, some with it at the front. Here are some
examples of how different they can be:
“sheep”
“pat”
“clock”
Your tongue it at the front and the top or your mouth.
Your tongue is at the bottom of your mouth, and you mouth is OPEN.
Your tongue flat, and near the back of your mouth
To say vowel sounds correctly, you need two things:
1.
You need to know where your tongue should be.
2.
You need to know where your tongue actually was, so you can fix it if you
made a mistake.
Today you will get help with number 1, knowing where your tongue should be.
Go to this website:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html
The “ee” vowel sound, in words like “sheep”
•
•
•
•
•
•
Click on “Monopthong” beside “vowels” at the top of the page
Click on “Front” below this
Click on /i/
Listen to the “animation with sound”
Watch the step by step instructions
Listen to the words “eat” “week” and “tree” provided.
The “a” vowel sounds in words like “pat”
•
•
Now choose the vowel two below the /i/ sound, on the bottom left. This
symbol is for words like “pat”, “at” and “glass”
Like before, listen to the animation with the sound, watch the instructions, and
listen to the words “at” and “glass”
The “o” vowel in words like “clock”
•
•
Now choose “back” under “monopthongs” and choose the vowel /a/ on the
bottom left.
Like before, watch the animation, read the instructions and listen to the
example words.
Notice how different these three vowel sounds are. If you have time, you may want to
listen to all of these sounds.
“Moving vowels” or diphthongs
Now it is time to move onto the more difficult vowel sounds, the diphthongs. These
are hard because your tongue has to move in the right direction at the right speed and
from the right place all at the same time for them to be correct! No wonder English is
so hard.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Next to vowels, click on diphthongs
Click on diphthongs again underneath this
You will now see three diphthong sounds. Start with the /ai/ sound.
Click play, and notice how the tongue moves. Listen the sound and watch
how the tongue moves.
Watch the step by step instructions
Listen to the words “aisle” “mine” and “try” and see if you can say them right.
Do you think you have got them right?
Tip 12: Voicing
Today you will learn about “voicing” and how to make sure you are doing it right.
Voicing is when your voice box vibrates. Here is a simple way to see what this
means:
1. Press your hands against your ears, and make this sound:
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
This is unvoiced.
2. Now press your hands against your ears again and make this sound:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
You should feel a vibration or buzzing sound when making the
“zz” sound.
Now that you know what voicing is, please make the “ss” and
“zz” sounds again, but this time put your finger on your voice box.
This is also called your “adams apple” and is just below your chin.
This time, you should feel a vibration on your finger when making
the “zz” sound.
Now we will try some words that many people get wrong.
What is the difference between these two words?
bin
pin
That’s right, it is voicing at the start of the word.
The only difference is that the “b” sound at the start of “bin” is voiced, but the “p”
sound at the start of “pin” is not.
Try saying “bin” and “pin” a few times with your finger on your voice box to see if
you can feel the difference.
Now try these ones:
bus
buzz
This time the difference is at the end. When you say “buzz” you should feel that your
finger vibrates for longer than when you say “bus”
Here are some more words to try:
cap
sue
van
do
game
cap
zoo
fan
to
came
Tip 13: Mute consonants
Here is some information about these “mute consonants” A mute consonant is a
consonant that is not pronounced. For example:
calm
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/calm
The “l” is not pronounced, as you can hear from the link.
The tricky thing is to know when you have a mute consonant.
Here are some rules and examples to help with this:
Silent "b"
“b” is silent when "m" comes before, at the end of a word.
climb bomb lamb thumb
Silent "e"
“e” is often not pronounced at the end of words.
This usually makes the vowel before long.
fine
home tone
Silent "g"
"g" is silent when an "n" comes afterwards
design foreign sign
Silent "gh"
"gh" is silent if it is before "t" and at the end of many words
bright caught eight fight
Silent "h"
"h" is silent if it is after "w"
what
wheel whip who
"h" is also silent at the start of some words:
heir hour honest
honor
silent "k"
"k" is silent when followed by a "n" at the start of a word:
knee
knew knife knot
know knowledge
silent "l"
"l" is often silent when it is before d, f, m, or k
calm
half
salmon talk
balk
would should
Silent "t"
"t" is silent in these words:
castle Christmas
fasten listen whistle thistle
Silent "w"
"w" is silent at the start of a word, when followed by "r"
wrap
wreak wrist write wry
Tip 14: Consonant clusters
As there are many examples to listen to, a special web page has been made for you.
Here is the link:
http://www.eyespeak.info/EnglishHelp/non-native-combination-sounds.html
Tip 15: Syllable structure
http://www.eyespeak.info/EnglishHelp/syllable-structure.html
Tip 16: Different accents
http://www.eyespeak.info/EnglishHelp/accents.html
Tip 17: Pitch and stress
http://www.eyespeak.info/EnglishHelp/pitch-and-stress.html
Here are some of our top tips, gathered from our email list over the last few years and
presented all together in this document for you.
Tip 1 pronouncing words containing “x”
Tip 2: How to say "le", when it is at the end of a word.
Tip 3: The letter combination "wh"
Tip 4: The letter combination "tial"
Tip 5: The letter combination “cious”
Tip 6: The strange combination "gh"
Tip 7: A useful Tool for visualizing vowels
Tip 8: The “th” sound
Tip 9: Visualizing the sounds “b”,“d”,“g”
Tip 10: The “r” sound
Tip 11: The vowel sounds of English
Tip 12: Voicing
Tip 13: Mute consonants
Tip 14: Consonant clusters
Tip 15: Syllable structure
Tip 16: Different accents
Tip 17: Pitch and stress
I wish you all the best with your English learning,
Best regards
Thor Russell
Managing Director
Visual Pronunciation Software Limited
Unit 6, 243 Blenheim Road
Christchurch
New Zealand
www.eyespeakenglish.com
Tip 1: Pronouncing “x”
How do you pronounce the following words:
six
affix
anxiety
luxury
Usually the letter "x" is pronounced like "ks" as in "books".
However, there are some surprising exceptions.
In the word "anxiety", the "x" is pronounced the way a "z" usually sounds.
So, anxiety is pronounced:
"ang zi e ty"
In "luxury" the "x" is pronounced "k sh" so luxury is pronounced:
"luk shu ry"
If you've never been taught this, and you haven't had a chance to hear a native speaker
say it correctly, then it's very difficult to get it right.
Here is a helpful link for saying words like this correctly:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com
Just type in the word you wish to say, and click “search”
You can then hear both the American and British pronunciations of the word.
You can also put the word in the link like this, to hear the word “anxiety”:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/anxiety
Tip 2: How to say "le", when it is at the end of a word.
Do you know that the letter combination "le" occurs very often at the end of a word.
For example,
able
apple
little
whole
Sometimes it has a separate syllable, and sometimes it doesn't.
For example:
"ab le" is two syllables, whoever,
"whole" is just one syllable.
Do you know when "le" means an extra syllable?
Here is a rule to help you decide:
When the following letters come before "le", it is not a separate syllable:
ailosu
What this means is that "whole" does not have a separate syllable because "o" comes
before "le" in "whOle", also "file" and "mile" are one syllable words, because in these
words, "i" comes before "le".
Here are some more examples:
Two syllables (a i l o s u do not come beforehand)
bub ble
ca ble
a ble
cir cle
One syllable
male
while
pole
If you learn this rule, you will know how to pronounce many common words in
English, and also many uncommon ones also. However there are some words that do
not follow this rule. To be sure that you get these words right, you will need to learn
them.
Here they are:
finale
facsimile
simile
said
said
said
fi na le
fac si mi le
si mi le
Tip 3: The letter combination "wh"
Like many examples in English, this letter combination has its own special rule.
The letter combination "wh" is usually said like "w" as in the words
white what meanwhile
However there are some exceptions, where it is pronounced like an "h" sound:
Here are the exceptions
who
whoever
whole
who'll
wholly
whom
who's
For example, "who" is said like "ho".
(the vowel sound is like in "too", so "who" rhymes with "too")
whose
Tip 4: The letter combination "tial"
This is another strange English letter combination that sometimes is found at the end
of words. How often have you seen it?
This letter combination is said like "shil"
Now some of you may wonder what exactly I mean by "shil" and you are right, it is
often hard to explain how to pronounce words via email, so I recommend that you
listen to how these words are said.
Here is a useful free link to let you hear how to pronounce the words:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com
Just type in the word, and then listen to how to say it. Both US and UK
pronunciations are provided.
Here is a list of some of the most common examples of the "tial" pattern:
differential
essential
impartial
evidential
inconsequential
initial
martial
nuptial
palatial
partial
potential
presidential
residential
substantial
Many of these words won't be familiar to you, so I encourage you to look them up,
study their meaning, and hear the correct pronunciation.
Tip 5: The letter combination “cious”
This letter combination is said like "shis" for example in the word
“a tro cious”
(This is a good one to look up if you don't already know it.)
Once again, here is a link that will let you listen to how it is said:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com
Just type in the word, and then listen to how to say it. Both US and UK
pronunciations are provided.
Here is a list of some of examples of this pattern. Some of these words are quite
advanced.
audacious
conscious
fallacious
ferocious
officious
suspicious
tenacious
voracious
Tip 6: The strange combination "gh"
The combination of letters "gh" is one of the strangest in English; it is never
pronounced "g h" like if the "g" and "h" were separate.
Sometimes it can have sound like "g" sometimes like "f" and sometimes it has no
sound at all!
At the beginning of a word, it usually sounds like "g"
Example:
ghost
ghastly
said like:
gost
gas tly
In the middle of a word, it often has no sound at all
Example:
bright
might
drought
miit
drout
said like:
briit
In these cases, the "gh" sound makes the vowel before it long. "Bright" is said "briit",
not "brit"
At the end of the word, it can sometimes be pronounced “f”
Example:
Cough
enough
laugh
rough
tough
e nuff
laaf
ruff
tuff
said like:
cof
Tip 7: A useful tool for visualizing vowels
While searching the internet for tools to help you, I found a web page, developed by
the University of Iowa that provides great help with the basic sounds that many of you
have asked me about.
Here it is:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html
If this web page looks a bit advanced, please note that this web page is intended for an
advanced audience, but don’t worry I will explain to you how to use it.
Lets start with the consonants, and a sound that everyone finds difficult, the “th”
sounds.
This is in words like:
thing
mouth
thank
thumb
Now here is how to find this sound on the web page:
• Just under the heading “Phonetics: The sounds of American English” click the
button saying “voice”
• Underneath that, click “voiceless’
• Now click on the symbol to the left of “Fricative”. This is the symbol for “th”
You will now see a diagram, and a picture of a real person that will help you say this
sound. We will start with the diagram.
1. Click on the “Play” button on the diagram. You will see an animation of how the
“th” sound is made. Note that your tongue needs to go between your teeth.
This is very important, and is the reason that many people find this sound hard.
There are few other languages in the world that have sounds where you have to do
this.
2. Now click on the “step by step” instruction. Don’t worry about reading the
instructions, they are too difficult, but notice the diagram showing the tongue between
the teeth. This is the important thing.
3. Now have a look at the picture on the right. This is of a real person making the “th”
sound. Click on the play button to see how that sound is made.
Notice the tongue between the teeth.
4. Now listen to the words “thing”, “toothbrush” and “with”, to hear how they are
made. Have a go at saying these words yourself.
Tip 8: The “th” sound
The “th” sound in words like “the”, “that” and “they”.
Do you know that the “th” sound in “the” is quite different to the “th” sound in
“thing”?
The important difference is called “voicing”. In the word “they”,
the “th” sound is “voiced”, but in the word “thing” the “th” sound is not voiced,
or “unvoiced”.
For voiced sounds, your voice box or “Adams Apple” vibrates, but for unvoiced
sounds it does not. To see how this works, put your finger on your Adams apple, and
say “aa”. You should be able to feel a vibration on your finger.
Now do that while saying “ssss”. You shouldn’t be able to feel any vibration.
Here is how to find the other “th” sound:
• Just under the heading “Phonetics: The sounds of American English” click the
button saying “voice”
• Underneath that, click “voiced’
Now click on the symbol to the left of “Fricative”. This is the symbol for other “th”
sound.
Like before look at the diagram, look at the video, and listen to the sounds.
You should notice that the diagrams and the video look the same as for the last sound.
This is important. Your tongue and mouth do exactly the same things for both of
these sounds, except in one sound you use your voice, but in the other you do not.
Can you hear the difference? Here are some words to help you:
Voiced “th” sound:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/the
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/they
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/that
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/smooth
Unvoiced “th” sound:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/thing
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/thumb
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/threat
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mouth
Tip 9: Visualizing the sounds “b”,“d”,“g”
Today I will provide some further help with the basic sounds of English,
using the website in your last email:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html
We will start with some sounds called “stops” or “plosives”, and then talk
about the difficult sound “r” in English.
In English, a stop sound is one with a sudden puff of air,
these are the sounds “b d g p t k” and are in words such as
Be
do
go
pat
take
kid
can
You will notice the last word, “can” starts with “c” but is a “k” sound,
like “kid”. Words that start with “c” are often said with a “k” sound.
In order to make these stop sounds, you need to put your tongue to the top
of your mouth, and build up a puff of air behind it, then release it to make the sound.
Here is how to find these sounds on the University of Iowa web page
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html
•
•
•
•
Under the heading “Phonetics: The sounds of American English” on the left,
click the button saying “manner”
Underneath that, click “stop’
Now click on the symbol for /p/. This is the sound in words like “pot” and
“cap”.
Like in the last tip, have a look at the diagram, watch the videos and listen to the
words.
Now do a similar thing for the sound /b/, next to /p/. You should notice that “b” is the
same as “p” except it is voiced.
Do you remember from the last tip, that the only difference between the “th” sound in
“the” and “thing” was the voicing?
Now have a look at the other sounds in this list, /t/ /d/ /k/ and /g/.
You will probably find that you already know these sounds, as they are in most
languages in the world. They aren’t as difficult as the “th” sounds.
Tip 10: The “r” sound
However we will now look at a more difficult sound in English, the “r” sound like in
“right”
The reason the “r” sound is so difficult is that while similar sounds do exist on other
languages, they are not exactly the same as the English “r” sound.
Here is how to see how the “r” sound is said:
•
•
•
•
Under the heading “Phonetics: The sounds of American English” on the left,
click the button saying “manner”
Underneath that, click “liquid
Now click on the symbol for /r/. This is the sound in words like “right” and
“red”
Once again, look at the diagrams, and listen to the video. However I need to tell you
something here that will make saying “r” easier. You need to curl your tongue.
This means that the front part of your tongue, the tip needs to be lower than the sides.
The sides of your tongue need to be almost touching the top of your mouth, but the tip
should be lower.
This is hard to explain in words, so here is a helpful video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Y_huMVd-A
This may also be useful:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKHYnavxMns
Tip 11: The vowel sounds of English
We will talk about some simple vowel sounds, then some of the more difficult vowel
sounds, the “moving vowels” or diphthong vowels.
As you may know, English have a lot of vowel sounds, and many of these are hard to
pronounce because they will not be in your native language. Correct pronunciation of
vowel sounds is ALL about how you hold your tongue. Some vowel sounds have
your tongue far back in your mouth, some with it at the front. Here are some
examples of how different they can be:
“sheep”
“pat”
“clock”
Your tongue it at the front and the top or your mouth.
Your tongue is at the bottom of your mouth, and you mouth is OPEN.
Your tongue flat, and near the back of your mouth
To say vowel sounds correctly, you need two things:
1.
You need to know where your tongue should be.
2.
You need to know where your tongue actually was, so you can fix it if you
made a mistake.
Today you will get help with number 1, knowing where your tongue should be.
Go to this website:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html
The “ee” vowel sound, in words like “sheep”
•
•
•
•
•
•
Click on “Monopthong” beside “vowels” at the top of the page
Click on “Front” below this
Click on /i/
Listen to the “animation with sound”
Watch the step by step instructions
Listen to the words “eat” “week” and “tree” provided.
The “a” vowel sounds in words like “pat”
•
•
Now choose the vowel two below the /i/ sound, on the bottom left. This
symbol is for words like “pat”, “at” and “glass”
Like before, listen to the animation with the sound, watch the instructions, and
listen to the words “at” and “glass”
The “o” vowel in words like “clock”
•
•
Now choose “back” under “monopthongs” and choose the vowel /a/ on the
bottom left.
Like before, watch the animation, read the instructions and listen to the
example words.
Notice how different these three vowel sounds are. If you have time, you may want to
listen to all of these sounds.
“Moving vowels” or diphthongs
Now it is time to move onto the more difficult vowel sounds, the diphthongs. These
are hard because your tongue has to move in the right direction at the right speed and
from the right place all at the same time for them to be correct! No wonder English is
so hard.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Next to vowels, click on diphthongs
Click on diphthongs again underneath this
You will now see three diphthong sounds. Start with the /ai/ sound.
Click play, and notice how the tongue moves. Listen the sound and watch
how the tongue moves.
Watch the step by step instructions
Listen to the words “aisle” “mine” and “try” and see if you can say them right.
Do you think you have got them right?
Tip 12: Voicing
Today you will learn about “voicing” and how to make sure you are doing it right.
Voicing is when your voice box vibrates. Here is a simple way to see what this
means:
1. Press your hands against your ears, and make this sound:
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
This is unvoiced.
2. Now press your hands against your ears again and make this sound:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
You should feel a vibration or buzzing sound when making the
“zz” sound.
Now that you know what voicing is, please make the “ss” and
“zz” sounds again, but this time put your finger on your voice box.
This is also called your “adams apple” and is just below your chin.
This time, you should feel a vibration on your finger when making
the “zz” sound.
Now we will try some words that many people get wrong.
What is the difference between these two words?
bin
pin
That’s right, it is voicing at the start of the word.
The only difference is that the “b” sound at the start of “bin” is voiced, but the “p”
sound at the start of “pin” is not.
Try saying “bin” and “pin” a few times with your finger on your voice box to see if
you can feel the difference.
Now try these ones:
bus
buzz
This time the difference is at the end. When you say “buzz” you should feel that your
finger vibrates for longer than when you say “bus”
Here are some more words to try:
cap
sue
van
do
game
cap
zoo
fan
to
came
Tip 13: Mute consonants
Here is some information about these “mute consonants” A mute consonant is a
consonant that is not pronounced. For example:
calm
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/calm
The “l” is not pronounced, as you can hear from the link.
The tricky thing is to know when you have a mute consonant.
Here are some rules and examples to help with this:
Silent "b"
“b” is silent when "m" comes before, at the end of a word.
climb bomb lamb thumb
Silent "e"
“e” is often not pronounced at the end of words.
This usually makes the vowel before long.
fine
home tone
Silent "g"
"g" is silent when an "n" comes afterwards
design foreign sign
Silent "gh"
"gh" is silent if it is before "t" and at the end of many words
bright caught eight fight
Silent "h"
"h" is silent if it is after "w"
what
wheel whip who
"h" is also silent at the start of some words:
heir hour honest
honor
silent "k"
"k" is silent when followed by a "n" at the start of a word:
knee
knew knife knot
know knowledge
silent "l"
"l" is often silent when it is before d, f, m, or k
calm
half
salmon talk
balk
would should
Silent "t"
"t" is silent in these words:
castle Christmas
fasten listen whistle thistle
Silent "w"
"w" is silent at the start of a word, when followed by "r"
wrap
wreak wrist write wry
Tip 14: Consonant clusters
As there are many examples to listen to, a special web page has been made for you.
Here is the link:
http://www.eyespeak.info/EnglishHelp/non-native-combination-sounds.html
Tip 15: Syllable structure
http://www.eyespeak.info/EnglishHelp/syllable-structure.html
Tip 16: Different accents
http://www.eyespeak.info/EnglishHelp/accents.html
Tip 17: Pitch and stress
http://www.eyespeak.info/EnglishHelp/pitch-and-stress.html
