Enrico C wrote on 21 Nov 2004: One can always record one's own speech and compare it with a native speaker's rendition. On the contrary, I think one can improve a lot if others listen to him/her attentively and make him/her notice ...

For example, the tutor told me when I say 'seem', it sounds like 'sim'. The same situation may exist in 'shoulder'. The problem may be common for Chinese because chinese syllables are short. Drawling the pronunciation makes

So too for me. "Theater" and "idea" (each two syllables) are, I think, the only words where I have a diphthong /i@/. Really? Did you mean to exclude words where that sound does not have primary stress (e.g. "area",

Well, there's Hangul, which I've seen explained as being pictographic at base, with the pictures representing the position of the vocal aparatus. Not for vowels it don't. As I understand it, hangeul does not reflect entirely the spoken

That's neutralization to an archiphoneme, rather than allophony, but whyever would you use (S) in "Asia"? What other consonants do you devoice between vowels? At a James Joyce affair I attended, they had a female member of the music

Possibly 'sh/zh'. I noticed recently that I pronounce 'Asian' with either, although 'Asia' always has 'sh'. That's neutralization to an archiphoneme, rather than allophony, but whyever would you use (S) in

That's neutralization to an archiphoneme, rather than allophony, but whyever would you use (S) in "Asia"? What other consonants do you devoice between vowels? "Pronunciation: 'A-zh&, -sh&" so they are presumably

That's neutralization to an archiphoneme, rather than allophony, but whyever would you use (S) in "Asia"? What other consonants do you devoice between vowels? "Pronunciation: 'A-zh&, -sh&" so they are presumably

Possibly 'sh/zh'. I noticed recently that I pronounce 'Asian' with either, although 'Asia' always has 'sh'. That's neutralization to an archiphoneme, rather than allophony, but whyever would you use (S) in

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