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Pronunciation,
pronunciation
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Free lessons Free exercises Exam information History of English |
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Accent and pronunciation are not the same thing!Your accent doesn't matter. You will always have your own accent, but if you pronounce the words correctly then you are half way there... First - learn PHONETICS. This is something that you need to do right at the beginning. You may think that
this is not
important, but remember - English, is NOT
spoken the way it is written ! (See Lesson 3 -
Phonetics.) Also
study 'Linking
and connecting' speech.
Oxford University
Press - A guide
to IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
Learning phonetics
will seriously help your pronunciation.
Every word
in the dictionary has its own phonetic spelling in parentheses
(brackets) right after it.
HowjSay is a
free on-line talking
dictionary of English (U.K. pronunciation)
NOTE:
Most of the pronunciation online is done
in American English. If you would prefer to speak the English from
Great Britain, then check out the BBC
(British Broadcasting
Corporation) and also the tips to be found on our Pronunciation page.
Another
good site is fonetics.
This is more for beginners (or children) and shows how to pronounce and
write all the letters of the alphabet together with
example words.
Many Things
is a clever little
programme for listening and repeating verbs. (U.S.)
Songs
are a good idea. Not because the pronunciation is good, but because the
music will help you to remember what you hear.
Children’s story books are also a good idea - they are nice and simple.
Read them aloud and if you can, record yourself doing this.
Ship or Sheep
- Try this page, and just mouse-over the words to hear the
pronunciation..
Follow the
diagrams
on UIOWA.edu
(courtesy of the
University of Iowa) and
watch yourself in the mirror as you pronounce the various phonetic
sounds.
Remember - learn the pronunciation FIRST - otherwise you
will pick up bad habits and nobody will understand you when you are
speaking.
Now the next thing to take a look at is our page on Grammar
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