Camila Cruz
Rules to pronunciation in English!!!


May 26, 2018 12:30 AM
Comments · 4
2

Sorry, are you being serious? 

I naively supposed that someone claiming to have a C1 level in English should know what IPA, transcription and dictionaries are.

Moreover, the examples you are referring to don't have long or short sounds. They have different sounds which have to be pronounced differently technically. 

"but" has /ʌ/ in a strong form /bʌt/ and /ə/ (schwa) in a weak form /bət/

"butchery" has /ʊ/ /ˈbʊtʃəri/ 

"angel" has a diphthong /eɪ/ in a stressed syllable and /ə/ (schwa) in an unstressed syllable /ˈeɪndʒəl/ 

"and" has /æ/ in a strong form /ænd/ and /ə/ (schwa) in a weak form /ənd/ 

May 26, 2018
2
Yeah, there are no strict pronunciation rules in the English language, so I think you've got to learn how to read phonetic transcription and start using it if you haven't started yet. Or simply use websites where you can get the correct pronunciation. I actually use both methods.
May 26, 2018
1



I learned by learning the IPA pronunciation system. It teaches you how to place your tongue to make the required sounds. Then I'd look for the IPA pronunciation of words I didn't know how to pronounce. Another thing that help was the book Ship or Sheep by by Ann Baker, which teaches pronunciation by comparing pairs of sounds that sound similar. For instance, B vx V, G vs K.

I still have the accent but those two tips helped me improve my pronunciation. 

May 26, 2018
Have you ever tried downloading one of those online translator devices, like LEO? You can look a word up in English, push a button, and the translator will say the word with a native pronunciation. It’s not going to teach you how to say the word like a speech therapist would, but it will give you an authentic (usually American) pronunciation. I don’t know if they have this outside the US, (they must), but we have in schools (for young children) children speech therapists to help children with certain English sounds. I never had any problems with English pronunciation myself growing up, but I know my cousin, as a little kid, did have trouble pronouncing certain consonant clusters or vowels or something and needed to see the speech therapist at school to get help with it.  He eventually grew out of it. Many young kids have trouble with English pronunciation and someone tells the school, so they get special help. It’s seems odd to me for kids to have this problem, but it’s not uncommon. At least not in the US. 
May 26, 2018
Camila Cruz
Language Skills
English, Spanish
Learning Language
English
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