English learning

T he General "Rule" of English Pronunciation You know that it is difficult to know when to pronounce the written letter “s” in English like “s”, the sound of air escaping from your bicycle tire, and when to pronounce it as the letter “z”, the sound of an angry bee. This problem shows up in the plural of nouns. In the same way, the written letter “t” sometimes sounds like the letter “d”. This problem comes up in the past tense of verbs. There is a logic that is at work in both cases, that of the plural of the noun and that of the past tense of the verb. The two cases have a lot in common even though one has to do with the "s" sound" and other has to do with the "d" sound. There is so much in common that some language teachers say that there is one general "rule" for the two cases. This "rule" works in most of the cases that you will have to learn. In both situations, the ending of the word depends on the sound that it follows. ...

The "explosive consonants" Earlier we said that the vowels are an important factor in hearing a "foreign" accent. But it is not only the vowels. The consonants also must be mastered. When we say that English consonants are "explosives", we mean that they are pronounced with a sudden release of air. It is this characteristic that marks the accent of an English speaker when they try to speak your language. You should try to speak like an American and you will be reaching for the American English way of pronouncing the consonant. It is the characteristic explosive nature of the English consonant that is the basis of so many jokes about the pronunciation of the English speaker who is learning other languages. Pronounce the following sentence with the most exaggerated American accent that you can: "Peter, answer me! Can you talk?" Did you exaggerate the words Peter, can you talk? If you did, the sounds that sound bad in your language are correct in E...

The voiced and unvoiced consonants In this section we will try to clarify the difference between the voiced consonants and the unvoiced consonants. If you want to master English pronunciation you have to able to distinguish between these two types of consonants. This is necessary for you to learn the proper pronunciation when you learn new vocabulary. And more importantly you need to know the difference between voiced and unvoiced consonants to be able to pronounce the words of English correctly. What makes one consonant be voiced and another not? A consonant is voiced when it makes the vocal cords vibrate. It is voiceless when it is pronounced without vibrating the vocal cords. The sound of the letters "p" and "b" For example, the sounds indicated by the letters "b" and "p" differ only in their vocalization (voicing). The are both "bilabials", that is, they are produced by closing both lips. But the "b" is voiced and the ...