English Audio: Speech & Pronunciation

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

abdo24king — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:14:15 GMT

really it's important thanks a lot

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

tya — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:57:15 GMT

The link seems to be broken.

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

moduffycobb — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:32:14 GMT

To Martin: In my ESL class, people have difficulties with all sorts of things. "F" becomes "p", "i" becomes "a", etc. "Not" may easily become "nat" for people, especially if they are used to their own regional dialects, not English. My students listen to me, see my mouth, and still are unable to prounounce things sometimes. It takes time and practice to get it right. The point is that we're all here to learn together. Practice, practice, practice. :) Maureen.

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

Yankee — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:43:18 GMT

Hi TMN111 The way some people pronounce "knot" and "naught", there is no difference. Listen to the two recorded pronunciations of "nought" here and tell me whether you can hear the difference between the two: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nought The first one is the way I pronounce naught/nought, and the second one sounds like the way I pronounce "knot" and "not".

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

tmn111 — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:45:44 GMT

Hi Yankee, I'm not a native English speaker and I just cannot distinguish any difference in pronunciation between "knot" and "naught". :(

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

Yankee — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:12:00 GMT

Right you are, Kooyeen. My cots and caughts have not merged, but it's not too unusual to hear people say "caught" the same way they say "cot" here in Connecticut. Even though your map shows Connecticut as being "not merged", I'd say that in southeastern Connecticut the pronunciation is a bit mixed. I imagine my own pronunciation of words such as "naught" and "caught" reflects my Mid-Atlantic linguistic roots. http://www.englishforums.com/fs/1244250656790.mp3.at.ashx

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

Kooyeen — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:21:47 GMT

Haha, now Amy is having fun with audio clips, huh? Well, at least now we can give and get more accurate replies, as far as spoken English is concerned. And from that clip, I guess you just don't have the cot-cought merger. So I bet you pronounce cot and cought differently too. Here's a map (but don't think there is really a clear-cut distinction: it seems some speakers are not consistent).

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

Yankee — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:14:13 GMT

Hi Alex Yes, I pronounce the words "knot" and "not" exactly the same way. It's the word "naught" that I pronounce differently.

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

MrPernickety — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:24:11 GMT

Hi, Amy Am I to understand that you pronounce "knot" the same way as you do "not" ? (at least on the record you did, or so it seemed to me) Thanks !

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

Yankee — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:25:13 GMT

It sounds the same as knot or naught. Hi GG I'd say that depends on where you're from. My pronunciation of "knot" does not sound like "naught". Surprise (Webster's lists two pronunciations for "naught", one of which is the one I use. The other one appears to be the one you use.) http://www.englishforums.com/fs/1244222691858.mp3.at.ashx

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

Grammar Geek — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:49:08 GMT

Why would you do that? "not" is pronounced "not", not "naat". At least it is in the north of England where I live. It's the American way of pronouncing "not" ))) They say "NAT" in place of "NOT" It sounds the same as knot or naught. There is a small insect called a gnat - what you wrote looks like that - it rhymes with "hat."

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

MrPernickety — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:07:57 GMT

Why would you do that? "not" is pronounced "not", not "naat". At least it is in the north of England where I live. It's the American way of pronouncing "not" ))) They say "NAT" in place of "NOT"

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

maha45 — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:36:30 GMT

Here you can learn about English Pronunciation. This section of the site is divided into several sections. Please click on the one you are interested in. * How to pronounce specific sounds in English. * English word stress. * English sentence stress and intonation. * Pronunciation exercises and activities. Accessibility: Information about the sounds of English is provided in text, audio, and graphic formats. While we understand that some people may be unable to see the pictures or hear the sounds, we hope that by providing multimedia content, we have made our website as accessible as possible.

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

elindn — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:45:06 GMT

This is the first time i join this forum. It is very hepful for me. i am from Vietnam. Our students work very hard on English but so far, they have not got much progress.

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

gyg4339 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:45:58 GMT

Yes especially when u talk with a teacher, he/she can tolerate almost all of ur mistake as long as they can understand u, because they know all kinds of mistakes and got stronger comprehension.

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

elvenchun — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:49:47 GMT

I'm not sure what do you say. I'm new here. I wanna to improve my english on here.

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

Beyo — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:27:30 GMT

what a good post !!!

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

sambitkumar — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 11:44:40 GMT

thnx u r absolutely right habit makes man perfect/imperfect it depends on him/her bcoz habit is good or bad u hav given a good lesson sam

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

Silsil — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:35:07 GMT

It's funny think obut it, my teacher once ask me: "How do pronunce this: I can't". And i say I k-ent or something like this. She say: "no it's I can't", the true it's that I don't get it realy ^-_-'.

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

Pomegranate — Mon, 25 May 2009 00:35:07 GMT

Its easy to read a newspaper but we've to keep in mind all those new words. Two years ago, when i was at school, I was looking for them in the dictionary and then I liked writing them down and trying to build up some sentences immediately .(using the new words.) For me this was the best way . I'm writing using past tense as after school I haven't done aaaanything in English =( And.. my teacher used to examine us by using some " cards".. on one side there was a word written in English .. on the other one in Georgian . The card's amount was always enormous. We had to tell her the opposites of the word given, if i couldn't, the card was passed on to the pupil sitting next to me and so on.. . Then we...

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 01:35:07 GMT

Does anyone know how to improve Vocabulary skill. It's quite easy to read the words on a newspaper but sometimes I couldn't use these word to writes an essay and So how to remember the stress of every word ?

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

eslkorea — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:35:07 GMT

useful indeed...thank you for sharing...

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

Quangtn03 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:35:07 GMT

"You may be told that the best way to improve your English is to practise it every day. True, but what if you are practising something in the wrong way and nobody corrects you? You are reinforcing a bad habit which will become increasingly difficult to undo." "YOU NEED TO READ AND HEAR A WORD IN ENGLISH AT THE SAME TIME" yeah. Thank you very much for your post. I think is a good way for me to learn speaking correctly and faster. Have a better day. ¥

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

Edison1610 — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:35:07 GMT

Yes, I agree. Therefore, we should find a good English teacher to ensure your English is completely correct, more than just enough for communication. Kooyeen wrote: Hi, I just wanted to comment on some points: Punkybrewster wrote: Here is something which I am sure that any student will readily understand. Good and bad habits, once formed, are difficult to undo. Yes, it took me a lot of time (several months) to start pronouncing "not" with an "a" like in "father". Punkybrewster wrote: You

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

Eimai_Anglos — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:35:07 GMT

Yes, it took me a lot of time (several months) to start pronouncing "not" with an "a" like in "father". Why would you do that? "not" is pronounced "not", not "naat". At least it is in the north of England where I live.

Re: Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

Kooyeen — Mon, 25 May 2009 00:35:07 GMT

Hi, I just wanted to comment on some points: Punkybrewster wrote: Here is something which I am sure that any student will readily understand. Good and bad habits, once formed, are difficult to undo. Yes, it took me a lot of time (several months) to start pronouncing "not" with an "a" like in "father". Punkybrewster wrote: You may be told that the best way to improve your English is to practise it every day. True, but what if you are practising something in the wrong way and nobody corrects you?

Read, listen and then pronounce - help for ESL students

Punkybrewster — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 01:35:07 GMT

READ, LISTEN AND THEN PRONOUNCE HELP FOR ESL STUDENTS By Josie Whitehead, Cert Ed. Understanding principles of learning can be as important for students as for teachers – especially adult learners. FORMING GOOD HABITS WHEN LEARNING ENGLISH Here is something which I am sure that any student will readily understand. Good and bad habits, once formed, are difficult to undo. It is hoped that the things which you learn in connection with reading, speaking and pronouncing English will be correct, because psychologists tell us that if you do a thing a certain way three times in succession, a habit will be formed which will be difficult to undo. After all, we may be intellectually superior to other animal species,...