E pronunciation. English sounds for children: we read the transcription correctly

Beginner to learn foreign language a person first of all faces the problem of reading and pronunciation of English words. Even many native speakers have a problem with how to read correctly, respectively, for learners given language it will be an obstacle. 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 rules of pronunciation.

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 english alphabet. It consists of 26 letters (6 vowels, 20 consonants). You can remember it with a simple song with 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 (but there are also similar ones). For correct pronunciation, you need to train your mouth and practice pronunciation.

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

Why is it difficult to read in English?

For example:

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

In fact, English is much easier than Russian, since there are no cases or declensions and speaking it (if practiced) is actually not difficult. The difficulty arises from the fact that the pronunciation of the usual native language is different from the one being studied.

English pronunciation and sounds of English

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

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 is different from British. And this is expressed not only in the accent, but also in the pronunciation of the same words or sounds. On the this moment the American pronunciation is still more relevant, since most students speak it.

tongue position

One of the features of the pronunciation of English words is the position of the tongue. That is why problems can arise when reading, since when pronouncing Russian letters, the position of the tongue should be the same, and when pronouncing similar English letters others.

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

They also have several characteristic features:

• Native English speakers open their mouths wide when speaking.
• For native speakers, the lips are in a tense state when speaking.
• Tongue during conversation is pressed to the lower jaw.
• The English pronounce words with the tip of the tongue.

The power of articulation

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

For native speakers, such 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, it's all out of habit.

Rules for reading words

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 syllable. There is no such rule in Russian. An open syllable is a syllable that ends in a vowel. It can appear in several cases: - the word ends with a vowel (lake - lake); - in the word, two vowels are in a row (cruel - cruel); - between two vowels in a word there is a consonant (education - ed`yukeyshn).
• Rules for pronunciation of consonants and vowels. To do this, you should familiarize 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.

Are you tired of learning English for years?

Those who attend even 1 lesson will learn more than in a few years! Surprised?

No homework. Without teeth. Without textbooks

From the course "ENGLISH BEFORE AUTOMATIC" you:

• Learn how to write good sentences in English without learning grammar
• Learn the secret of a progressive approach, thanks to which you can reduce learning English from 3 years to 15 weeks
• Will check your answers instantly+ get a thorough analysis of each task
• Download the dictionary in PDF and MP3 formats, learning tables and audio recording of all phrases

How to read consonants?

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

There are several special characteristics that you should pay attention to. It should be remembered that all consonant English sounds are pronounced only firmly, and voiced consonants at the end of a word are not pronounced dully.

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 - are pronounced with subsequent aspiration.
• About half of the sounds must be pronounced by touching the tongue to the upper palate.

How to read vowels: 4 types of syllable

When reading vowels, there are also several certain rules. In English, there are 4 main types of reading vowels (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.

The reading of vowels in such a syllable can be called alphabetic, since often the pronunciation practically does not differ from what it is in the alphabet:

• A-(ei)– lake, take, care, safe, late;
• O-(ou)– pose, rose, note, no, joke;
• E-(i)– me, she, creepy, delete;
• I (Y under stress) - (ai)- deny, dislike, nice, sunshine;
• U-(u:)– purple, pupil, autotune, youtube.

But there are also exceptions, of which the English language is full. You want to pronounce some words according to the basic rules, but in reality they have a different pronunciation. The words dove, love, none, done, some - in these words, the letter (o) must be read as a short one (a).

Closed

A closed syllable differs significantly from an open syllable. A closed syllable is a syllable that ends in one or more consonants. In words with a closed syllable, letters are read differently than in the alphabet. It all depends on how the consonants follow the vowels.

If the letter Y is unstressed at the end of a word, then it should be read as a sound (i): truly, ugly, spicy.

Vowel + r

Consider examples:

• A-(a:)– farmer, park;
• E - (e:)– service, perfect;
• I-(e:)– first, bird;
• O - (c:)– fork, morning;
• U-(e:)– church, turn;
• Y-(e:)- myrtle.

Vowel + r + vowel

The fourth type of reading is a combination of two vowels in a word, between which there is a consonant r, for example:

• A– (ea:)– parents, careful;
• E-(ie:)– cereal, here;
• I-(aie:)- dire, tire;
• O - (c:)– snore, bore;
• U-(jue:)– during, pure;
• Y-(aie:)– ture, byre.

How to read letter combinations and diphthongs?

Many vowel sounds in English depend on consonants standing together, let's take a closer look:

a + s + consonant - ;

ear - under stress if there is no consonant after -;

ear - before a consonant - [ə:];

eer - stressed -;

ew - if not after l, r, j - ;

ew after l, r, j - ;

oo + consonant - ;

u - after r, l, j, as well as before a vowel - ;

ui after r, l ,j - ;

Children perfectly remember and apply the information received in the form of a game or a similar format. Textbooks and manuals should be chosen bright, colorful, with all kinds of game or picture elements. Do not try to teach your child English and how to read it using standard textbooks for schoolchildren, as he will be bored and the study will not give results.

In more adulthood learning the language and reading it is more difficult. You should choose a single program in which to engage throughout the study. Practice how to read and pronunciation with the help of English-language books, films and videos.

How to learn to read in elementary school?

In elementary school, the study of English mainly consists of a playful and fairy-tale format. It will be easier for those children who have kindergarten there were foreign language courses or those with whom the parents were engaged.

Important! Parents need to take note that it is better to start reading in English with a child before school starts. Of course, in many Sunday schools English is provided as a separate lesson, but it is still better to follow the study.

Often, young schoolchildren as homework set the repetition of transcriptions. At runtime homework, the parent needs to study and read with the child!

Several Yet useful tips are listed below.

Learn English tongue twisters

Tongue Twisters is a great way to memorize and pronounce new English words. Tongue twisters are useful in that most of them are well remembered and allow you to learn slang, or colloquial phrases or words. They are useful to teach both adults and children.

Each tongue twister is aimed at improving the pronunciation of a certain sound or pronunciation of words. Each tongue twister has a feature associated with the pronunciation of any one sound. You should pronounce the tongue twister for several days and then the pronunciation problem will disappear, and the sound will sound clear.

Here are some useful tongue twisters with translation:

Learn to hear English speech

Many language learners have trouble understanding speech. The problem is related to the fact that the study does not take place in an English-speaking space or country. It is important to learn to hear and understand foreign speech.

To do this, you need to constantly train:

• listen to audiobooks;
• watch movies and series in the language you are learning;
• find video blogs on the Internet;
• watch British news online;
• use apps.

Try to surround yourself with English as much as possible. If possible, study with a tutor who will conduct dialogues with you or study with an English group. In it you can meet the same people who are learning a foreign language.

Find a person with whom you can study the language and have dialogues together, so both of you will practice your speech.

Work on your pronunciation

You need to work on pronunciation, because many English words are similar in sound, and with incorrect articulation, you can simply pronounce them incorrectly. To do this, you need to train the speech apparatus and get rid of the accent.

Learn the perfect alphabet and pronunciation of each letter. Practice pronouncing the transcription of letters, words and phrases. Pay attention to how the English speak, to the peculiarities of their speech.

Learn to pronounce phrases in English correctly

English differs from Russian in that many sentences do not have intonationally separated sentences, most of them sound like a single phrase. This also applies to individual independent phrases. To learn how to pronounce phrases in English correctly, you need to learn the transcription and pronounce it correctly.

If you pronounce incorrectly during a conversation, you can misuse right word, losing the meaning of what was said.

Conclusion

In order to learn how to read in English correctly, you must follow the tips for learning it. You need to constantly practice writing words, learn grammar, punctuation and phonetic rules. It is important not to forget about transcription.

These rules need to be taught to both children and adults learning a foreign language. Parents should practice with their children in learning the language before elementary school so that they do not have problems in the classroom and with homework.

Observing all the rules and tips, learning to read correctly is not difficult!

The sounds of English letters are 44 English phonemes, which are divided into two categories: consonants and vowels. Since sounds cannot be written down, graphemes (letters or combinations of letters) are used to convey sounds in writing.

English alphabet

There are 26 letters in English. The standard English alphabet starts with a and ends with z.

When classifying alphabetic characters, they distinguish:

• 5 pure vowels: a, e, i, o, u;
• 19 pure consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, x, z;
• 2 semivowels: y, w.

Learning the English alphabet requires knowledge of both the symbol representing each letter and the phonetic sounds associated with that letter. Learning English phonetics is difficult. Only a small number of letters have no exceptions in the main sound.

In most cases, each letter has several phonemes. The letter B sometimes sounds like bat (bet) or does not sound, for example, in the words crumb (krum), dumb (dam). The letter C sounds like "k" for cat (ket) or "c" for ceiling (si:ling), or "tch" for church (tche:tch). And the list of exceptions is endless.

Vowel sounds

Vowels represent the main category of phonemes in English speech. There are 20 vowels in spoken English. This discrepancy (in relation to literal characters) underlies the complexity of writing in English.

For short and long vowels, additional vowels are used. For sounds a and e - when the vowel accompanies the sound r. For o, the options are varied.

Consonants

alphabet order

Transcription and stress

Phonetic transcriptions tell about the pronunciation of words. AT English dictionaries this is a necessary condition, since the spelling does not say how the word is pronounced.

Phonetic transcriptions are written in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), in which each English sound is assigned its own symbol. For example, the IPA-based phonetic transcription of the word home is /hoʊm/, the transcription of come is /kʌm/, despite the fact that the spelling of the words is similar (both end in –ome), but are transcribed with differences.

The rules do not fully cover aspects of stress in English words. The language is characterized by the presence of exceptions, and the English themselves make mistakes, especially in polysyllabic words.

But obviously some basic rules still apply:

Prefixes in two-syllable words are not stressed, except in certain nouns or adjectives. Two-syllable nouns beginning with a prefix are studied individually.

English consonants

There are fewer consonants in the English alphabet than there are consonants. Therefore, to expand the alphabet, digraphs of the type "ch", "sh", "th" and "zh", and some letters and digraphs represent more than just one consonant. For example, the sound written "th" in this is transcribed as /ð/, and "th" in thin is /θ/.

English consonants are classified according to their combination of functions:

In addition, there is a function "silent alveolar stop", /t/ when the mechanism air flow omitted.

According to the method of formation, consonants are divided into:

1. Approximants: j, w, r.
2. Nine fricative consonants: f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ,ʒ,h.
3. Lateral approximant: l.
4. Two affricative sounds: tʃ and dʒ.
5. Six explosive sounds: p, b, t, d, k, g.
6. Nasal consonants: m, n, ŋ.

The sound - [x] - a voiceless fricative - is non-standard for the English language. Although in some original words, such as ugh (ugh!), Is an additional marker of irritation. In writing, the fricative is represented as "gh".

Are you tired of learning English for years?

Those who attend even 1 lesson will learn more than in a few years! Surprised?

No homework. Without teeth. Without textbooks

From the course "ENGLISH BEFORE AUTOMATIC" you:

• Learn how to write good sentences in English without learning grammar
• Learn the secret of a progressive approach, thanks to which you can reduce learning English from 3 years to 15 weeks
• Will check your answers instantly+ get a thorough analysis of each task
• Download the dictionary in PDF and MP3 formats, learning tables and audio recording of all phrases

Features of English consonants

A consonant combination is a set of two or three consonant letters that retain their original sound when pronounced. Such sets occur either at the beginning or at the end of a word. For example, the word brave, in which both "b" and "r" are pronounced, is the initial combination. In the word bank "-nk" is the final combination.

Classification:

1. Initial combinations are classified into sets with "l", "r", and "s". In "l" the combination ends with "l". An example would be the letters "bl" in the word blind. Similarly, the final sound in "r" in combination with "r" when "br" and "cr", for example, in the words bridge, crane. On the contrary, in "s" it starts with s, "st" and "sn" - stap, snail.
2. The final combinations are grouped into sets with "s", "l" and "n": -st, -sk, -ld, -nd, -nk. Examples, first, desk, gold, sand, sink.

Digraphs

Consonant digraphs refer to a set of consonants that form one sound. Some digraphs are both at the beginning and at the end of the word - "sh", "ch" and "th". There are also strict initial and final digraphs - "kn-" and "-ck".

Examples of digraphs:

Features of digraphs:

Table of pronunciation of English consonants

English vowels

Each English vowel is pronounced in three ways:

1. like a long sound;
2. like a short sound;
3. as a neutral vowel (schwa).

In the English alphabet, there are 5 vowels, but sometimes y becomes a vowel and is pronounced like i, and w replaces u, for example, in the digraph ow.

Rules for reading vowels

Short vowels, which are characterized by a "short" sound, appear when there is one vowel in a word, either at the beginning of a word or between two consonants. For example, if, elk, hop, fan. A typical short vowel pattern is consonant+vowel+consonant (CHS).

Words are taught as families that represent groups of words with a common pattern, such as in the pattern "-ag" - bag, wag, tag or "-at" - cat, bat, hat.

Features of reading vowels:

The vowel sound in unstressed syllables is expressed by the abbreviated neutral sound ("schwa"), the phonemic symbol /ə/, especially if syllabic consonants are not used.

For example:

• a in about, around, approve, above [ə bʌv];
• e in accident, mother, taken, camera ;
• i c, family, lentil, officer pencil ;
• o in memory, common, freedom, purpose, London;
• u in supply, industry, suggest, difficult, succeed, minimum ;
• and even y in sibyl;
• schwa appears in function words: to, from, are.

Features of vowel sounds in English

Vowels are divided into monophthongs, diphthongs or triphthongs. A monophthong is when there is one vowel in a syllable, a diphthong is when there are two vowels in a syllable.

Let's take a closer look:

1. Monophthongs are pure and stable vowels., acoustic performance(timbre) which does not change during the time they are pronounced.
2. A diphthong is a sound formed by the combination of two adjacent vowels in the same syllable. Technically, the tongue (or other parts of the speech apparatus) moves when a vowel is pronounced - the first position is stronger than the second. In the transcription of a diphthong, the first character is the starting point of the body of the language, the second character is the direction of movement. For example, you should know that in /aj/ the body of the tongue is in the bottom center position represented by /a/ and immediately starts moving up and forward to the position for /i/.
3. Diphthongs are often formed when separate vowels work together in rapid conversation.. Usually (in the speaker's speech) the body of the tongue does not have time to get to the position /i/. Therefore, the diphthong often ends closer to /ɪ/ or even to /e/. In the diphthong /aw/, the body of the tongue moves from the lower center position /a/, then moves up and back to the position /u/. Although single diphthongs are also distinguished, which are heard as separate vowel sounds (phonemes).
4. English also has triphthongs.(combinations of three adjacent vowels), including three sound types, for example, fire /fʌɪə/, flower /flaʊər/. But in any case, all diphthongs and triphthongs are formed from monophthongs.

Table of pronunciation of simple English vowels

All vowels are formed from only 12 monophthongs. Every word in English, regardless of spelling, is pronounced using some combination of these sounds.

The table shows examples of simple English vowels with Russian pronunciation:

Diphthong pronunciation table

Learn the transcription of English words

Consider some features of English transcription:

There are a large number of videos online on the Internet to listen to the pronunciation of sounds, and you can also practice using exercises.

On the initial stage learners of English inevitably have to deal with the differences between their native language and a foreign language. Reading in English for beginners, children and adults, is usually one of the first steps in learning. And the first such differences between Russian and English are revealed as soon as you start learning to read in English. You are faced with transcription and rules for reading English. These two concepts are interconnected, since with the help of transcription we can write down and read the sounds that convey vowels and consonants in various combinations. But the rules of reading just explain how letters are pronounced in different environments.

There are a lot of reading rules in English, and they concern both vowels and consonants. Besides, great amount words are not read according to the rules, that is, they are exceptions. Therefore, it begins to seem that it is extremely difficult to learn all this. In fact, the rules of reading need to be learned, but there is no need to memorize them. After doing a few exercises on the rules of reading, you will already know how exactly the same type of words are read. In the learning process, when you read and listen to a variety of educational materials, spelling, pronunciation and meaning of new words will be remembered as a whole.

Features of English pronunciation

Reading in English for beginners at first presents some difficulties due to the peculiarities of pronunciation - words are very often pronounced differently than they are written. Linguists even have such a saying - "We write - Manchester, we pronounce - Liverpool." This situation is due to the fact that historically in the English language there were, and still are, many dialects in which the same letters and combinations of letters were read differently, which eventually became fixed in official English. An example is the letter combination ough. Words though, through , thought differ by only one letter, and the letter combination ough is read differently in all words.

The role of transcription in teaching English to read

So, as we have already said, in addition to the numerous rules for reading in English, difficulties arise in mastering the transcription of the English language. Transcription is the recording of speech sounds using special characters. You should not avoid it, as it is the best assistant in learning a language, which, firstly, will save you time when learning new words, and secondly, it will help you avoid pronunciation mistakes. After all, when you write out or memorize new words, you definitely need to know how they are read correctly. There are two options for how to do this. The first is to listen to it in some online resource, and the second is to look at the transcription.

Now in some tutorials, as well as on training sites, you can find " English transcription in Russian". It is believed that writing an English word in Russian letters is much easier than learning some strange phonetic signs. Actually, this is a delusion. English phonetics differs from Russian so much that Russian letters can only approximately convey the pronunciation of English words, and mostly the simplest ones, the reading of which is not difficult even without this kind of “transcription”. Some English sounds in Russian simply do not exist, and correct pronunciation English and Russian sounds that are similar at first glance may have certain differences.

Thus, we recommend that you take the time to learn the transcription icons and read the sounds. This is one of the basic knowledge when mastering the rules of reading English for beginners. Transcription knowledge will serve you faithfully at all stages of your learning.

We analyze the rules of reading English

There are different classifications of rules for reading consonants and vowels in English. For vowels, as a rule, 4 types of syllables are distinguished. These are the 4 types of environments that a vowel can be in and that affect its pronunciation. Some textbooks consider only the first two types of syllable - open and closed, but take into account whether the letter r is involved in these types of syllable - since it affects the reading of vowels. Consonants in different combinations can also be read differently. I must say that the number of exceptions and reading options for the same letter combinations in different words give reason to consider reading rules rather as generalized recommendations that should be studied before you start reading.

To familiarize yourself with the rules of reading in English, we suggest that you take as a basis the table with the options for reading letters, which are given in your textbook for children “English. Grades 1-4 in diagrams and tables” N. Vakulenko. These English reading rules for kids cover just about everything. possible options reading vowels and consonants in English. But before we go directly to the tables, let's deal with two more concepts that you will definitely meet when you get acquainted with the rules of reading. it open and closed syllable.

The syllable is called open, when

• ends in a vowel and is the last word
• a vowel followed by a consonant and then a vowel again
• the vowel is followed by another vowel

Examples of words with an open type of syllable (you can listen with sound):

age, blue, bye, fly, go

The syllable is called closed, when

• ends in a consonant and is the last word
• several consonants follow a vowel

Examples of words with a closed syllable type:

bed, big, box, hungry, stand

So, let's formulate the rules for reading English for beginners: tables for reading vowels and consonants.

Vowel reading tables

Consonant Reading Tables

Intonation in English

Even if a student learns all the basic grammar rules and 10-12 thousand lexemes, this will not make him close to the native speaker, because. he needs to delve into the phonemic structure of the language, in particular, to learn in which cases to use which type of intonation.

There are two main types - ascending and descending.

The first is used in sentences-requests, when referring to a person, when announcing the list (in this case, the intonation goes up on each of the words except the last one), after adverbs and introductory words at the beginning of a phrase, at the beginning alternative question, in a disjunctive question.

The second type of intonation, lowering the tone, is relevant in statements, when giving orders. It can be found in exclamations, in special questions.

How to train this skill?

• Listen to how native speakers speak, how a particular word, sound, phrase is read in audio books.
• Watch videos on this topic. Moreover, English should be the first and main language of the narrator.
• Use the learning materials and apply the acquired knowledge in practice. Read aloud in English, after listening to the recording, talk at least a few times a week.
• Record your speech and do a comparative analysis with the native language.

stress in english

With an incorrect accent in certain letter combinations, it will be difficult for a native English speaker to understand you. However, it is pointless to memorize stress for each word, since there is a certain systemic nature in this aspect.

Most words are stressed on the first syllable. But there are those who obey a different rule. For example, the suffix formations -tion, -cian and -cial require an accent in front of them (inform A option, opt i cian). The suffixes -(g)nomy and -logy (ge O logy, ec O nomy).

With prefixes it is still easier - they are skipped and remain unstressed. This works with prefixes in-, en-, con-, com-, re-, de-, ex-, etc.: exch A nge, enc O mpass.

Negative prefixes (non-, un-, in-, ir-, not-) also fall under this rule: un U irr E levant.

There are a number of words that change the stressed type of a syllable in English to unstressed depending on the meaning:

• to object - object; O object - object;
• to press E nt - give; pr E sent - a gift, a present.

Having learned the basic provisions that regulate stress, and with a little practice, you can easily reach a high language bar.

How to learn the rules of reading. Online exercises

As we have said before, there is no need to memorize the rules of reading by heart. You just need to use them. To begin with, go through several exercises on the rules of reading, reading aloud the same type of words in a row. This will help to consolidate the rules of reading and develop pronunciation skills. For additional control, you can take exercises with audio accompaniment. In fact, the reading rules are worked out automatically by themselves, since by regularly studying English, you listen, read, write - that is, practice to work out the reading rules is quite enough.

Choose words that have similar vowel sounds

Choose the words that have the same consonants

Make an English tongue twister from words

You can apply the rules of reading in practice on our website. By completing the unique Lim English exercises, you will be able to master not only reading, but also writing English words, as well as learn the basic grammar rules and continue learning further.

Phonetics is the branch that studies sounds. Its main goal is to teach you how to pronounce English sounds and words correctly, as well as to develop your ability to perceive the speech of native speakers. Therefore, in order to learn how to speak and read English competently, you need to know the English alphabet and learn the pronunciation of individual phonemes and the words in which they are used. English phonetics The English language is built on the Latin alphabet, has only 26 letters (instead of the usual 33), but these familiar letters are superimposed almost twice more sounds, namely 46 different phonemes. English sounds are very important for learners of this language, so you need to understand how they are used in speech and for what.

As stated above, distinguishing feature English is a huge number of sounds that do not correspond to the number of letters available. That is, one letter can convey several phonemes, depending on the letters that are nearby. Based on this, it is necessary to speak very carefully and accurately. Incorrect use of this or that sound leads to misunderstanding.

For example, the word "bed" (bed) and the word "bad" (bad) They are pronounced and spelled almost the same, so it's easy to get confused. At this stage of learning English, many begin to transcribe the pronunciation in Russian in order to facilitate the memorization process.

However, this "relief" is very misleading, as it often leads to even more confusion between words with similar pronunciations. After all, both words "bed" and "bad" in Russian can be transcribed exclusively as "bad", without displaying the duality of sound. Therefore, it is better to learn sounds separately.

Learning the phonetics of the English language will undoubtedly bring some clarity to the pronunciation and development of all the phrases and words that will come your way during training.

First of all, you should have a dictionary in which you will designate all sounds in traditional transcription, and after that, next to them, their sound in your native language.
It is also worth pointing out special cases of pronunciation, indicating that this word needs to be pronounced somehow in a special way or written down, that it is impossible to give an analogy to the Russian sound. London - London For convenience, phonemes are best divided into groups. For example, consonants, vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs. You also need to constantly practice and perform exercises of this type:

The main city of Great Britain is London. London- 6 letters, 6 sounds. Let's find it on the map of England. Where is it? Then, let's check with our friend: How do you write it? How do you spell it? Now spell this name - Spell this name for us:

- London - [Landen]

Thus, you will not only practice the pronunciation of sounds, but also learn useful words and phrases in a foreign language.

Now let's move on to their spelling and pronunciation.

Sounds of English

Let's get acquainted with brief description all sounds using this table

• Double vowels are read as one sound: moon - - [mun] or bitter - ["bitǝ] - [bit]
• Voiced consonants in English, unlike Russian, do not become voiceless: in a word good [gud] sound [d] is pronounced clearly, just like [g] in dog [dog] etc.

The meaning of correct pronunciation

As I have already said, it is very important and absolutely necessary to improve English pronunciation, because a large number of words in this language differ by only one or two sounds. But sometimes, even such a small difference is critical for correct and accurate contact with primary native speakers.

“I don’t understand transcription”, “How is it written in Russian letters?”, “Why do I need these sounds?”... If you start learning English with such moods, then I will have to disappoint you: it is unlikely that you will achieve significant success in English.

Without knowing the transcription, it will be difficult for you to understand the device English pronunciation, you will constantly make mistakes, have difficulty learning new words and using dictionaries.

Since school, the attitude of many to transcription is frankly negative. In fact, there is nothing complicated in transcribing English. If you do not understand it, then you have not explained this topic 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 is what we write, and sounds- what we hear. Transcription marks are the sounds represented in writing. For musicians, this role is performed by notes, and for you and me, transcription. In Russian, transcription does not play a big role in you, as in English. Here are vowels that are read differently, and combinations that need to be remembered, and letters that are not pronounced. The number of letters and sounds in a word does not always match.

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 read at all, er can be read as [ə] or [ər], depending on the variant 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 you find 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, transcription. In addition, in textbooks, the lexical part always contains transcription. Knowledge of the sound structure of the language will not allow you to remember mispronunciation words, because you will always identify a word not only with its literal representation, but also with its sound.

In domestic publications, transcription is usually placed in square brackets, and in dictionaries and manuals of foreign publishers, transcription is presented in slash brackets / /. Many teachers use slash brackets when they write the transcription of words on the board.

Now more about the sounds of the English language.

There are 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]). Vowels in English differ in longitude by brief(short vovels) and long(long vowels), and consonants can be divided into deaf(voicels consonants ), voiced(voiced consonants). There are also those consonants that are difficult to classify as deaf or voiced. We will not delve into phonetics, since at the initial stage this information is quite enough. Consider the English sound table:

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 the vowel sounds are pronounced:

- long sound I: tree, free

[ɪ ] - short sound And: big, lip

[ʊ] - short sound U: book, look

- long sound U: root , boot

[e] - sound E. Pronounced the same as in Russian: hen, pen

[ə] - neutral sound E. It sounds when the vowel is not stressed or at the end of the word: mother ["mʌðə], computer

[ɜː] - a sound similar to the sound Yo 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. Consider the pronunciation of diphthongs:

[ɪə] - IE: here, near

- uh: fair, bear

[əʊ] - EU (OU): go, no

- AU: how, now

[ʊə] - UE: sure [ʃauə], tourist ["tuerrest]

- HEY: make, day

- AI: my bike

[ɔɪ] - OH: : boy, toy

Consider consonants sounds. Voiceless and voiced consonants are easy to remember, since each of them has a pair:

Other consonants:

[h] - sound X: hat, home
[m] - sound M: make, meet
[n] - English sound H: nose, net
[ŋ] - a sound reminiscent of H, 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]