English Audio: Speech and Pronunciation

A 'fruSHtrating demonSHtration'

DanielR — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:14:48 GMT

Hi!

Being a new member in this forum, I'd like to start with a specific question:

Only recently did I listen to an American lady, who I would have classified as a "Northerner" in the first place. But what struck and puzzled me was the fact that she pronounced the 's' in words like "frustrate" or "demonstrate" (thus before "tr") as if written "sh" (thus like "frushtrate" and "demonshtrate" respectively). Do you know whether this is specific to any regional accent of American English? Or did the lady simply have a minor speech defect?

Kind regards,

Daniel on the banks of the river Rhine

How to learn spoken english

Mshathik — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 16:07:20 GMT

Hello everyone help mee:

I am mshathik i am very poor to speak in english. so i want to improve my spoken english. plz...............help meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. please contact me through yahoo.com please help meeeeeeeeee. this is an <email address removed by a mod. Please write it in your profile.> this is an annoymyous account, please login if you wish to post replies.

ESL, Written English and Spoken English

Patricklui — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 23:15:12 GMT

Hello I am new to here. My mother tongue is Cantonese and I like to polish my English.

It's known that English has two different versions : spoken and written. I have been learning English since I was a child and my written English is not too bad because this is what I have to master in order to pass most exams. However, when it comes to speaking in English I often don't know what to say and struggle for words. Though I am in a city where many Englishes live and work in, I hardly make any native friends, what means, I lack an language environment. My problem is:

How can I learn more about the spoken version of English - the way that natives speak? Can you suggest some free online material focusing on spoken English?

Looking forward to your reply.

How do you pronounce ''Alys''?

Jackson6612 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:15:30 GMT

How do you pronounce Alys?

Is it A-Leez or Alice?

Larimer Sq

Pb03 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:08:24 GMT

Hello everyone,

How do you pronounce the place, "Larimer Sq" in Denver ?

And is there any website that I might refer the pronounciation of Proper names, like people's name or city names?

Thank you

pb

Correct Pronunciation of "Caroline" Kennedy

Caylor — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:23:15 GMT

It is the morning after the opening night of the Democratic Convention.

I remember the 1960s and President Kennedy. I have always heard
his daughter Caroline's name pronounced "Care-oh-line" in accordance
with the spelling of the word.

Now I am hearing young TV talking heads pronounce her name as
"Care-oh-lynn," which I think is incorrect.

Which is it?

Hoch (Last Name)

Druis2264 — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 01:54:54 GMT

Hi. My last name is Hoch and all my life I've been told it was pronounced like "hoke", but I have a philosophy professor that knows German and says it's pronounced "hock". I know the work "hoch" meaning "high" is pronounced to sound like "hock", but I mean my father has our family crest (and it's valid) and, seemingly, knows a lot about our history and last name and he swears to it being pronounced "hoke". I've also had another teacher that knows German and pronounced it "hoke" (the way I assumed it was pronounced correctly). I looked it up and the word branches off of an old high german word "hoh" pronounced "hoe" and I'm thinking maybe because it's a title for a family it may be pronounced differently than the word for "high". Anybody have any answers? (Also all of my relatives that share the name pronounce it "hoke" as well)

How do you pronounce ''Lopez'' in Jennifer Lopez?

Jackson6612 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:35:59 GMT

How do you pronounce Lopez in Jennifer Lopez?

How to change my accent?

sanycool4 — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:26:45 GMT

Am really struggling with my accent...English people can't really understand some words what am saying...So any body advice me how to change my accent?

How to get rid of Indian Accent

baski — Tue, 24 May 2005 17:43:51 GMT

Hi there,

Please suggest me the ways to get rid of Indian Accent. Any tips,suggestions, links will be appreciated.

Has anyone tried out AJ.Hoge"s course-EFFORTLESS ENGLISH.If so,How was it?

David Little — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:46:43 GMT

Just share with me how was the materials(I suppose some 100 mp3"s).How was the story-telling concept and such.Is there any free course such like AJ.Hoje"s(EFFORTLESS ENGLISH).

(***) Cheney

Jack-in-the-box — Wed, 21 Jul 2004 00:51:33 GMT

A question for the American readers: how is the surname of vice-president Cheney commonly pronounced in the United States?
According to the pronunciation dictionaries that I've consulted, the surname Cheney can have two different pronunciations: some people with this surname call themselves "chÃ¨ini" (with "Ã¨i" as in "grey"), others say "chÃ¬ini" (with a long "Ã¬i" as in "cheap").
Do you know how he pronounces himself? And, if you don't, do you know how he's commonly referred to?
Thank you very much for your answers.

How to remove the stage fear

Tahira_noreen — Tue, 02 May 2006 09:48:03 GMT

Respectable All,

hello,

My English is not quite well but reading and writing are not matter for me. I wana remove my stage fear because I venât the confidence to speak before others. I think it is very difficult to speak English when you have dozen pair of eyes fixed on you and as many ears alert to catch your words which u speak and find where u tripped. I know confidence is key of success, for this u must be improve Ur but communication skill and English play the major role in communication. Can u people guide me how can I remove this fear??????? I am very upset now-a-days for this because whenever u go for interview , Ur spoken English must be fluent and perfect.

Regards

Tahira

Proper Names Pronunciation Site

Rambling Rose — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 22:29:47 GMT

Does anybody know if there is a site where a person can learn the pronunciation of famous people's names, including movie stars, politicians, etc.?

How to pronounce Pacino, Scorsese and Sean

Jackson6612 — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 22:08:01 GMT

Hi,

1: I think Pacino in Al Pacino is pronounced like pa-chee-no. But Why don't we simply pronounce it as pa-see-no?

2: How do we pronounce Scorsese in Martin Scorsese? Is this

i: score-see-se

ii: score-see-ze

3: Why do we pronounce Sean in Sean Connery like shawn? I think rather it must be pronounced like cean like sen in senate or like seen.

British pronunciation

Bogdan — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 17:40:01 GMT

Could someone, possibly a native speaker, help me with pronunciation of certain words? How do you pronounce words like watch, long and body, for example? I always thought it sound like long, bodi and wotch (hope you understand since I'm not using phonetic symbols) until I took a look in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English by A.S. Hornby where I found it sound more like lan, badi and watch (a sound between a and o) so I'm little bit confused

Voice chat

Guest — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 19:19:38 GMT

I'm wondering about where can I talk (voice chat) to english people online. I already tried pal talk, but I wasn't very satisfied about the program. So I prefer to talk to english people with Skype. We can learn each other the foreign language (I can learn you dutch and you can learn me english), and we can make an appointment every week.

So, I hope that someone is curious and like to talk to me.

Thank you,

Eric

Books for reference

nands_krish — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:07:42 GMT

Hi All,

I am a trainer for spoken english. Could someone suggest a few good books on phonetics?

Thanks,
N

How do Americans pronounce ....?

mubrik88 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:21:20 GMT

Hi,

How do Americans pronounce that word?

Peanut butter

It seems strange when I hear it

May be something like this

Peana barah

Could you help me?

First name pronunciation

Guest — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 08:44:31 GMT

My first name is spelled Jolyon. I have been unsure of how to pronounce it all my life. Throughout the years I have heard several variations, but I would ideally like to determine the "correct" form - or at least the most agreed upon version. I believe the name is of British origin, perhaps similar to Julian. I wondered if it should have 2 syllables, as in "jol-yen", or 3 as in "jo-le-en" or "jo-le-un". Typically, when someone asks me how to say my name, I admit that I do not know the correct way, and go by whatever is easiest for that particular person to say; I sort of adopted a version that slurs the first part to "jole" and tack on "yon" (like the word yawn) but, again, have no idea if this is preferred. A lot of folks back in high school would avoid the whole thing and just use Jolly as my nickname.

If anyone has an idea or some suggestions, I would really appreciate your help. Many thanks!

~Jolyon~

Phonetic Transcription

Veris — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 14:21:49 GMT

Does anyone know in which site can i find phonetic transcrptions ? or Dictation with its phonetic transcrption? Because i've to practice phonetics in English.
It would be very helpful.
Thank you.
Vero

How do I pronounce those words in American Accent?

Lincoln Punch — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:48:31 GMT

Regularly

Particularly

Order

Murder

Those bold r sounds are really hard to pronounce. How do you pronounce those words in American English?

Changing from American to British accent.

HaffiezMike — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 06:51:15 GMT

Is there any of you who used to speak American then finding out that you are eventually changing from American to British accent from time to time just by listening or watching any British-made programmes?

That's what happening to me...

Where can I find the pronunciation of people's name?

a5552 — Thu, 26 May 2005 06:57:58 GMT

Although there are lots of online dictionaries which have pronunciation alongside with the meaning, the problem is that you cannot find the meaning of people's name.

By the way, can anyone help me with the pronunciation of the name 'Danielle' ?
Thanks in advance

American accent

mubrik88 — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 14:17:56 GMT

I have a question please

How do you pronouns this word in the American accent

WATER

it seem's like this When I hear it

WARER

Is that correct