In Numbers^x, Pronunciation^x, Accents^x

Hi, according the British rules it isn't correct to use can't, there is only cannot. This is not accurate. Most Britons use the contracted form "can't" in rapid and informal speech. The British pronunciation differs somewhat between different British accents, the RP norm is /k ɑ ː...

According to John Wells at University College London: "I do not understand the proposed distinction between Mainstream RP and Contemporary RP (unless the writer thinks, wrongly, that ‘contemporary’ means ‘young’)." You can read more of what he says about it at:...

ScratchThat wrote: I'm an American, but my sister has lived in the UK for about seven years now. She has kept her "yank" accent since she's been there, but she admits that some UKers tolerate the "yank" accent while others hate it. When she's talking to people who hate it, then she "tones down"...

Thanks, anon. Without your post, I would have missed this thread. Goodman wrote: Hi CJ, What an impressive thread you have posted. You have slowly made me a fan of yours. Yep! CalifJim wrote: In any case, the struggle for the learner is always making the conversion from 'computing'...

Just a few thoughts: I don't think most native speakers would ever actually think "I can understand what he said, but I don't speak like that". However, if your English is quite broken and/or hard to understand, native speakers might think to themselves (or comment to others) "Man! He's...

This is really badly off topic but I couldn't resist the temptation to comment on your correct observation. I understand very well that native speakers of English mispronounce foreign words because foreign languages are not studied much in English-speaking countries. Well, can you really blame...

To tell you the truth, I've never heard any foreigner (unless they learned English when they were very young, or had lived in an English speaking country for at least a decade, and had extensive, and personalized accent coaching) ever be able to pull off either an American or British accent....

Is there a limit to the number of sounds a human voice can make? With that being asked can a phonic chart of characters be made to represent every sound a person can make? No. Human vocal organs are so complex that it is not possible to list all combinations. If you hear how people sing, all...

In my opinion, foreign students are taught the pronunciation of words according to the their first entry in the Pronunciation Dictionary (John Wells' Pronunciation Dictionary or Daniel Johns' English Pronouncing Dictionary - these two hold a good reputation in the field). I believe that the first...

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