Step In The Same Pool
Despite widely spread resources and array of opportunities, a learner taking up a new language (English in our case) inevitably faces troubles. And the first one is pronunciation.
It shouldn't be forgotten that the language one starts learning is completely foreign, strange, unlike and knowing the alphabet itself, which may though entirely coincide with that of their own language, has nothing in common with saying words in that new language.
Letters and sounds are different. Spelling and pronouncing differ too (in English greatly). To listen and imitate is half the work. What about seeing a word on paper and interpreting it in speech correctly and naturally?
My piece of advice is:
- get familiar with symbols representing sounds of the language (here English);
(Those symbols or characters are known as IPA – http://www.stuff.co.uk/calcul_nd.htm and a substantial resource like this http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm
- then learn how they work in authentic sound by listening to various genuine recordings;
- after that just drill them )
There are two more helpful sites where you can find a lot of practice. Killing two birds with one stone, you'll learn IPA characters and master them in sound. Also you'll learn a lot about interesting phonetic terms and how sounds are formed in and produced by our speech organs :) Very useful, trust me.
Here are the links:
1) RP (Received Pronunciation OR British Standard English) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/
{youtube}D_zly3d1Baw{/youtube}
2) General American Pronunciation - http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/
{youtube}vhLBQyIIwQk{/youtube}
All good dictionaries of contemporary English have international phonetic transcription for words and contain both dominant versions of pronunciation - British and American. So if you learn the symbols and sounds, pronunciation will no longer be a stumbling block for you.
Happy studying!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
