Pronunciation: 3 Principles On How To Make Your Spoken English Sound More Natural – A Guest Post I recently had the privilege and honour of being interviewed by my fellow English Language trainer, Elena Mutonono on her recent webinar “Accent Training for Business People“. For those of you who didn’t sign up for the webinar, here’s the recording. In that webinar we discussed the benefits of accent training for non-native business people and how accent training improves communication. I asked Elena, a pronunciation expert, to write a guest post for me to share her three tips on how you can make your spoken English sound more natural. Elena Mutonono I remember a few years ago I went to a beauty salon in New Orleans and was served by a nice lady from Brazil. The intonation and the word stress sounded to me as though I was watching a Brazilian soap opera without translation where one good sister loses the love of her life, and the other one steals him. What was worse is I felt ashamed that I couldn’t talk to this lady. “Hi, my name is Elena Mutonono, and I’m an accent coach. But how?
Perception of Spoken English (POSE) Test BBC Learning English | Pronunciation Tips The Primary Differences Among Major International English Dialects | Grammarly Blog The British Empire hasn’t been in existence for almost three-quarters of a century. At the peak of its might, it covered close to a quarter of the world’s land area and ruled a fifth of its population. But the empire changed, transformed, and passed as all things pass. When the territories Britain had conquered gained freedom, there was one thing that remained as evidence of how grand the empire once was—the English language. It’s the second most common language in the world in terms of the number of native speakers; it’s the most widely spoken language of all when you include people who use it as a second language. American English Out of all the international English dialects, American English has the most speakers. Indian English India is a country where English is one of two official languages, the other being Hindi. Nigerian English You don’t need a letter from a Nigerian prince to figure out that Nigerians speak English, and the English they speak is very distinct. British English
Today's English in the World | Policies, pedagogies, and practices Voiced vs. Voiceless Consonants Phoneticists (who study the sound of the human voice) divide consonants into two types: voiced and voiceless. Voiced consonants require the use of the vocal cords to produce their signature sounds; voiceless consonants do not. Both types use the breath, lips, teeth, and upper palate to further modify speech. This guide presents the differences between voiced and voiceless consonants and gives you some tips for using them. Voiced Consonants Your vocal cords, which are actually mucous membranes, stretch across the larynx at the back of the throat. An easy way to determine whether a consonant is voiced or not is to place a finger on your throat. These are the voiced consonants: B, D, G, J, L, M, N, Ng, R, Sz, Th (as in the word "then"), V, W, Y, and Z. But if consonants are only single letters, what are Ng, Sz, and Th? Here are some examples of words that include voiced consonants: traveledglovesshellsstartedchangedwheelsliveddreamsexchangedglobesphoneslistenedorganized Voiceless Consonants
American Accents and Dialects Public Domain / CIA NOTE: This guide uses the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For information about this notation, please visit my page of International Phonetic Alphabet Resources. There are obviously many North American accents. General American This refers to the spectrum of ‘standard’ English spoken by newscasters, TV actors, and a large percentage of middle-class Americans. Prominent Features: The short-a (as in cat) is raised and diphthongized before nasal consonants. Accent Samples: Eastern New England English This describes the classic “Boston Accent.” Non-rhoticity, as mentioned above.Fronted pronunciation of words like father and palm, so these are pronounced IPA faðə and pa:m (i.e. this vowel is close to the vowel in words like “cat” and “mad” in General American).Unlike most other American accents, the vowel in lot and rod is rounded as in most British dialects, pronounced IPA lɒt and ɹɒd (“lawt” and “rawd”). New York City English Mid-Atlantic English Accent Samples:
Clarity Speech Blog Sentence stress English is a stress-timed languageListeningListening activitiesSpeakingSpeaking activitiesConclusion English is a stress-timed language The English language is often referred to as stress-timed. This means that stress in a spoken sentence occurs at regular intervals and the length it takes to say something depends on the number of stressed syllables rather than the number of syllables itself. Try saying or listening to the sentences below: The four sentences take the same length of time to say and you will notice the numbers are stressed and the unstressed words in between are said much more quickly in order to keep the rhythm of the language. Listening In a recent class I discussed with my students the reasons they found listening difficult in English. "The words come too fast""I panic when I don't understand every word""Some words are swallowed" I think what students are referring to here, amongst other things, is the stress-timed aspect of English. Speaking
10 pronunciation books for DipTESOL trainees Here’s my suggested reading list for the phonology component of the DipTESOL. I don’t want to mislead you – the course is 9 months long (depending) and you’ve a lot to do during that time. I’m not saying you should read all of them, but it’s worth getting hold of a few – particularly the classroom-focused ones. I shared a few articles in this recent post which might also be of interest. Note: some affiliate links below. For the classroom Star Buy: The Book of Pronunciation (Marks and Bowen) I harp on about this so much – I really should be on commission. Recommended: PronPack (Hancock) I recently bought this 4-book set and will do a full review on the blog soon. If your budget allows… You can get gist of what Hancock offers in PronPack if you pick up Pronunciation Games. If you don’t want to part with any extra cash but you want some more examples of practical approaches to pronunciation, the preview pages from Understanding English Pronunciation (Boyer) might help. Bridging the gap Reference