AJ Hoge's "effortless english" is a waste of money. I made the mistake of buying it for a friend who doesn't speak much English and she doesn't even use it. I don't blame her because it takes a lot of effort to learn with

(b) I really don't think that /w/ is a vowel-like sound at all... think of the difference in pronunciation between the word 'shah' and the name 'Shaw'. It's a subtle difference, but they produce different sounds. In my

Anonymous wrote: >> Only one exception, after (the attachment was from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary) after the sounds OK: /fd/ the sounds like /ft/ << Nope. There is no difference where it comes to the

>> Only one exception, after (the attachment was from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary) after the sounds OK: /fd/ the sounds /ft/ << Nope. There is no difference where it comes to the pronunciation in North American

>> whereas the General American pronunciation is /I'moudiKa:n/. d = flapped /t/<< Interesting. I would say it with a rather than an alveolar flap. I think it's one of those words in which the /t/ is pronounced as spelt. Perhaps

>> hat, bat, bad, bag, ad, add << In some dialects ad, add and or bag would not work. If you're learning North American English, you could use the Inland North pronunciation of for all instances of /æ/. Many dialects pronounce

>> In my experience egg=ayg is a regional American pronunciation, chiefly rural or Southern, but it may be spreading to other regions. This pronunction is usually used by the same people who say measure=may-zhur. << The

Hi Bluealbatross, I live near Newcastle, and answered your similar question in the thread entitled: "Received pronunciation and mid Atlantic English" ...but I've pasted it here in case anyone wants to continue on this thread: I don't

I don't think I'd recommend learning the Newcastle accent if you want to learn a British regional accent. Its often reckoned to be one of the most difficult of accents to understand - not only for non British, but for many British themselves!

I must be slow this morning, but I got there in the end. You are not the only one, even I did not get it straight away. As John seems to have noticed, in day to day life I am John Lawler. But when I first started posting to this group and