Re: Pronunciation differences

raindoctor — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:00:01 GMT

r after any vowel has a special place in english. oor usually end up as ʊɚ, ɔɚ, oʊɚ poor: pʊɚ moore: mʊ ɚ , mɔ ɚ , moʊ ɚ floor: fl ɔ ɚ , floʊ ɚ door: d ɔ ɚ d oʊ ɚ oo before any but r: boom: bum doom: dum hood: h ʊd good: gʊd wood: wʊd hook: hʊk food: fud proof: pruf school: skuo (the last o shud be transcribed as a satellite, since vocalized l shud be there). Now, you can notice the pattern.

Re: UK

califjim — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:28:21 GMT

I mean you heard it completely like this and wrote it down or with your experience you made the sentence in a way that is correct though having not recognised it clearly. The former. I actually heard it completely. I did not invent anything on the basis of my experience. The speaker's voice seems lower in volume in that part of the recording, but he does say "that", yes. Note that this is British, not American, pronunciation. For example, the final -er in "holder" sounds quite different in these two varieties of English, being (to my ear) more like "haulda" in the British variety. Maybe you are more used to American pronunciation. CJ

Re: Get To Be

cool breeze — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:49:39 GMT

You got to be like everyone else now. That's nonstandard English due to careless pronunciation. Better: You have got to be like everyone ellse. = You must be... CB

Re: Proper pronunciation of a person's name

anonymous — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:39:54 GMT

Anglicizing is the way to go, since it is not productive for native english speakers to remember phonological pecularities -- and they are not peculiar for the speakers whose language contain that word. mækyəl or məki əl

Re: Pronunciation of numbers?

bob m — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:16:08 GMT

I think you may be asking for explicit, black and white answers, to questions which don't lend themselves to such answers. There seem to be two problems in that there are: *Differences between British and American usages. *Differences in formality/register. Personally, and as far as British English is concerned, I would always use the "ands".

Re: Pronunciation of numbers?

ilrrr-n — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:43:35 GMT

So to recap, four digit numbers with two significant digits are usually read by first reading the first two digits and adding hundred, but this is a bit informal? I didn't really get a clear picture of whether in the same kind of informal situation you can read four digit numbers with four significant digits the same way e.g. seventeen hundred and seventy-six five feet, and would you use the word ‘and'. By the way, this way of reading the number was OK with my English teacher (the English one), he said it doesn't matter which way you read the number as long as it's under 2,000, but four digit numbers greater than that he always reads as A-thousand, B-hundred and CD regardless of the number of significant digits. Is...

Re: Pronunciation of numbers?

bob m — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:31:12 GMT

In British English one would say all the "ands" which you have asked about. Thus: two thousand six hundred and eighty four. I believe that American (and it seems Canadian) English is different. Americans may well make an exception for the year. I also agree with your English teacher as far as the decimals are concerned. At least for British English.

Re: Pronunciation of numbers?

charlene.bosiak — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 05:13:12 GMT

The web-site was not to practice mathematics, but English. Under the decimals link, it is the numbers with the English translation. I'm sure the person can add and subtract. I won't comment on your other comments as they are derogatory, and I think you are embarracing yourself enough at this moment by trying to make fun of me.

Re: Pronunciation of numbers?

clive — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:42:15 GMT

Hi, To the last poster, all I can say is that I'm a Canadian too, and there are so many statements I disagree with in your post that I don't even know where to start commenting. So, I won't. Instead, I'll focus on the original query. How would you read out the following numbers? 2,684 ft? Would you say 26 hundred and 84 or two thousand six hundred and eighty four feet? How about any other four digit number? I believe the four digit numbers with only the two first digits significant are read by first reading the first two digits followed by hundred e.g. 8,400 is read 84-hundred. Yes. But less informally, say eight thousand, four hundred. l But how do you read four digit numbers with three or...

Re: Pronunciation of numbers?

anonymous — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:11:05 GMT

Hi, let me help you, I am Canadian. First of all, there is the correct way to say numbers, and the everyday/slang way. The proper way is " and" means a decimal. You NEVER use "and" unless denoting a decimal. How about 1,415,926,535? Properly it is read: One billion, four hundred fifteen million, nine hundred twenty-six thousand, five hundred thirty-five. 2,684 ft = Two thousand, six hundred eighty-four 2, 684.2 = Two thousand, six hundred, eighty-four, and two-tenths. the "hundred" stuff is lazy and it is slang, however very commonly used. Most English speaking don't even realize this. 2400 = should be read as, Two thousand, four hundred. But they...

Pronunciation of numbers?

ilrrr-n — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:42:53 GMT

How would you read out the following numbers? 2,684 ft? Would you say 26 hundred and 84 or two thousand six hundred and eighty four feet? How about any other four digit number? I believe the four digit numbers with only the two first digits significant are read by first reading the first two digits followed by hundred e.g. 8,400 is read 84-hundred. But how do you read four digit numbers with three or four significant digits e.g. 5,280 or 7,435? How about 1,415,926,535? Would you read it as 1 billion, 4 hundred and 15 million, 9 hundred and 26 thousand, 5 hundred and 35? My English teacher (he’s English) taught that the British pronounce these and 's, but Americans do not. I’m, however, not convinced since I have heard Americans say...

Re: Pronunciation of coat and quote

philip — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:16:33 GMT

When she gets into the que question, she is a little misleading. 'applique' and' bouquet' are French words taken into English. The qu is pronounced /k/ in both words; the sound comes from the French ending (é in the first example). "Bar-B-Q" is a relatively new spelling for barbacua , an American Spanish word for a method of cooking. The English pronunciation has almost always been with the last third sounding as the letter Q, and that's how the new spelling came into existence. The question of pronunciation of "qu" is irrelevant. "Barbe que is rarely used.

Re: Apon / upon

spaced_man — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:59:57 GMT

Apon is a Middle English spelling of upon . Many u- prefixes were spelt a- in Middle English. However after spellings were standardised, the a- prefix largely fell out of use. The correct spelling in Modern English is upon . Although, in many dialects, the pronunciation still has a distinct ah sound to it. spaced

Welsh accent (to be more precise, Tom Jones's)

colombo — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:47:21 GMT

I've been away from this forum for a while, and meantime I've enrolled for a five-year (gulp!) degree in English (which includes grammar, literature, linguistics, and so on) at a distance university. Right now I'm starting to delve into English phonetics (using "Gimson's Pronunciation of English", which is the recommended textbook), and while I like the subject, I find it very hard. I don't think it'll improve my pronunciation at all, not having an 'Enry 'Iggins to hand, but I'm doing my best. I suppose the internet's got many resources, but having no internet connection at home and not much time to search, I cannot take much advantage of them. I've written down a list of...

Re: English and spanish phonetic sounds with their phonetic differences

califjim — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:46:13 GMT

I'm sure they do compare -- somehow. But what is your question? Which 44 symbols are you talking about? Which Spanish sounds are you talking about? CJ

Re: English pronunciation

superblack — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:21:02 GMT

thank you so much. your information is very useful. Do the pronunciation have any rules?

English pronunciation

superblack — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:26:37 GMT

i think pronunciation in English is very difficult. Can you give me some tips which help me improve my pronunciation

Re: General AM Eng-pronunciation of talk, caught and bought

freekarol — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:24:59 GMT

So in Webster words talk, caught and bought are written as ˈtȯk, ˈkȯt, ˈbȯt but I also read in some textbooks on General American English accent that those words are also pronounced as ˈtäk ˈkät ˈbät. So I don't know what pronunciation is correct for General American English. What pronunciation of these words I can hear on CNN or Fox News Talk? Or better what pronunciation of these words is most used? But if it's true what is written in the last post in a following topic then I know the answer to my question: http://www.englishforums.com/English/AO/dlqxl/post.htm

Re: Do you use these?

mister micawber — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:34:57 GMT

These are OK: You want to let me help you?-- Very casual. Do you want to let me help you? Do not use ' wanna' (or gonna, coulda, woulda . etc) in ANY written English unless you are actually transcribing speech (i.e. writing dialogue). It is not a word; it is simply an orthographic attempt at representing pronunciation.

Re: Dictionary running in Linux with pronunciation

anonymous — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 05:38:53 GMT

Oxford Advanced learner's Dictionary 7th edition also runs well in Linux.

Re: The pronunciation of MERLE

raindoctor — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:42:53 GMT

What pakis do or any L2 learners to: L2-ize foreign words, the way L1 english speakers anglicize foreign words. Urdu, Hindi speakers may pronounce merle as mɛ rlɛ. Look at the syllables: mɛ and rlɛ. Observe two things here: (1) CV and CCV syllables; (2) -rl- cluster in the onset. -rl- cluster in the onset is not permitted in english. Second, vowel + r in english plays very important role. Third, cluster of sonorants need a special treatment in english: splitting em into different syllables. mer + le > mer + uh l > mur + ul > mɚ ə l or mɚ oʊ Look at some vowel + r combinations: ar > ɛɚ (this is true only when some consonant doesn't follow r. Contrast carbon, mars, art, etc) er, ir, ur > ɚ or > ɔɚ eer >...

The pronunciation of MERLE

mr. tom — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 02:41:43 GMT

Hi Would it be difficult for a native speaker of English to pronounce the French name MERLE ? It's not easy for Pakistanis to pronounce this name--ie, ending a word with rle . I've seen many stumbling on this word. :) Many thanks, Tom PS: By the way, does it sound with curl ?

Re: Where do I put the stress?

raindoctor — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:57:10 GMT

Dipsik, Check M-W, Jones and Wells dictionaries, see whether 'seg' in segment does have a reduced vowel. I am not a fan of rule; however, I would like to look for an explanation that accounts many disparate pronunciation phenemona. Posterity, hostility, costectomy, nostolgia, cosmetic, etc--these contradict your hypothesis that in unstrssed syllables, vowels are reduced/neutral. For more, check this book Pronouncing english: a stress-based approach by Teschner.

Re: Pronunciation of surname

anonymous — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:19:22 GMT

hi my name is scott mcilquham, i am from scotland. McIlquham is a n Irish name, from Galway I believe. There is a n abundance of McIlquham`s in Scotland, we wear Lamont Tartan and we emigrated from Ireland to Argyll-shire in Western Scotland, we were Law men. You pronounce McIlquham- Mack-Il-Wham

Re: English speaking Help

coloraday — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:48:18 GMT

I'm not native but I do know that first of all you should learn the phonetic symbols and then with every word you look up you should try to pronounce it exactly.when you do this a lot then without any phonetic help you can read every word exactly. I think it would be a great help to listen all day long to The Beatles , then you'd love to repeat the way they sing and this will help your speaking.But remember just listen to The Beatles .

Re: Write poetry

emmeladelyn — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:01:58 GMT

You can do better than buying books if you're on the net. I know of an american site with loads of (kind of classic) poetry with recordings you can listen to or download. It's called "repeat after us" and could help you with pronunciation as well as helping you get to know english language poetry. It's also good to listen to english language music while reading the lyrics and there are lots of sites with the lyrics on them. Try it, I know I've learnt a lot of lyrics that way.

Pronunciation of Dacres

anonymous — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:25:17 GMT

Anyone know an early 19th century English naval officer spelled Dacres? DAK rus? Dah Cray? Dace Er? None of the above?

Re: Pronunciation of hurried

anonymous — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:11:50 GMT

Thefreedictionary.com says the word "hurried" and "married" for USA and UK accents. For USA they are HER-eed and MARE-eed, but for UK they are Huh-rid and MARE-id. Given that there are 4 times as many native English speakers in USA as UK, the USA version is most popular. 70% of the native English speakers in in USA.

Literature on allophonics

dokterjokkebrok — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:22:32 GMT

Hello I was wondering if there is any literature available on allophonic spelling of English words. Perhaps a book full of commonly heard phrases transcribed allophonically for people who wish to improve their pronunciation on an advanced level? Has anyone heard of such a thing/book? Or perhaps any other ideas to learn this? Thank you in advance! Dokterjokkebrok

Re: Pronunciation

raindoctor — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:57:23 GMT

What's your point? I made an implicit point: it is not cognitively productive to remember pronounciation for every word. What learners should be taught: a set of heuristics to find possible pronunciations for a word. Mastery of phonetics (or how to produce bilabial fricative, etc) does not help much. English phonology helps. Since it is a 3-syllable word, it can have two variations: stress-unstressed-stressed; unstressed-stressed-unstressed. When a syllable gets stressed, it usually attracts consonants to the onset as well as the coda; it also allows for consonant clustering (wis-'con-sin vs. wi-'scon-sin). Suffixes also give a clue on where stress falls (for instance, one can predict where primary stress falls in...

Re: English

dokterjokkebrok — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:52:09 GMT

I don't recommend that site for any one. It is full of crap when it comes to AmE. Use either M-W and reference.com dude in AmE = 'dud Notice the yod-dropping, that is, no /j/ (in IPA) after alveolar consonants. What do you mean? I think it isn't all that bad for a free pronunciation dictionary. Certainly not when it comes to the pronunciation of 'dude', which I checked for dissimilarities with my CEPD17. I found none. So could you please elaborate on that? Because I don't see any objection against using this site. Or perhaps give me a few examples of inaccuracies that you've found. Regards Dokterjokkebrok

Re: Surname pronunciation

raindoctor — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:42:44 GMT

The consonant cluster kj is not permitted in english. Since it is not in the middle of a word, k becomes silent. ˈdʒɑs is how you pronounce it.

Re: Pronunciation

raindoctor — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:26:13 GMT

It is a three syllable word, and there is a vowel cluster. Therefore, the middle syllable get unstressed. The vowel cluster -eu- is not an english one; anglicizing it leads to /u/, cf. deuce, Neuce, etc 'bɛt əl ˌdʒus, /t/ is a tapped t

Re: KK and phonics?

anonymous — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 05:48:18 GMT

KK is based on the A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English, which was written by John S. Kenyon & Thomas A. Knotts. So, KK stands for the last names of both of the people who wrote this dictionary. As for IPA and KK, there are only a few different symbols that KK uses which is different from IPA or Pronunciation Symbols used in other dictionaries.

Re: Non-native speaker's accent issue

kooyeen — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:59:47 GMT

1. Have you ever thought about retaining some aspects of your first language Generally speaking, no, because English is a separate language. Of course it's easy to make mistakes because of the influence of my native language, but as I said, I consider them "mistakes". That doesn't mean I expect perfection. I just want to be able to speak in a way I feel comfortable with, without accepting "mistakes" I don't like just because I'm too lazy to fix them. 2. Do you consider some foreign accents as better than others because they sound "cool" or something like that? And are some foreign accents more annoying for you to listen to? No, foreign accents and accents in general are cool because...

Re: The pronunciation of debris

califjim — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:53:43 GMT

Why is the s silent in debris? Silent letters are as common as mud in English. Why that one in particular? The t in ballet is also silent, and the t in depot and beret, and the w in answer and sword, and the p in psyche and pneumonia, and the b in dumb and debt, and doubt, and lots of others. CJ

Re: American accent

dokterjokkebrok — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:00:16 GMT

Get an electronic pronouncing dictionary and practise your pronunciation every day for 10-20 minutes, without exceptions. Use books with English idioms, and practise with your computer/laptop and a piece of paper. Pick out a word. Try to predict the pronunciation of this word the best you can by saying it out loud, and after you've done that, enter the word into the dictionary and listen to the correct pronunciation. These dictionaries are also availabe online. You will see that after you've been corrected many and many times, your ability to predict english sounds will improve markedly, as will your accent and pronunciation. Give it a try. Regards Dokterjokkebrok

Re: American Accent Training Books

freekarol — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:14:19 GMT

Of course both those books have CD's. Without CD's those books would be worthless... Both books are especially about intonation, linking words, reduced sounds and something about pronunciation you can hardly find in books on American pronunciation like for example the final L sound, the held T... I use a software called XMPlayer for listening and recording American radio stations so I can listen to my favorite radio stations on my mp3 player. By the way, I found only one book that really teaches you (and not just tests you)how to improve your listening comprehension, how to hear English sounds. The book is: Listening, Resource Books for Teachers by Alan Maley. I know there is not one American Accent but the same is with...

Re: Where's this ae accent from?

califjim — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 07:15:45 GMT

My guess is that one of the following is true. 1) He's not from the U.S., but he learned English very, very early in life. 2) He's from the U.S., but has picked up a tiny bit of the accent of his immigrant parents. 3) He's from the U.S., but has a distinctive, idiosyncratic way of pronouncing certain sounds and of phrasing his words. He doesn't have any of the major American accents (Southern, Bostonian, etc.). If the slight deviations from standard American pronunciation are from an ethnic group, that group is not Hispanic, but it just may be Asian. Or is that a Scandinavian sort of pattern that I hear? (The lengthening of the m in time is an example.) Hmm. Don't know. CJ

Re: Oppotunity

anonymous — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:02:33 GMT

I would say yes, you can do this. Pronouncing it like "opportunidy" would sound more North American. If you were to say "opportunity" and really make the "t" sound for the second "t", you would be giving it a more British pronunciation. I have never heard the term "flap-T" though. It's not a common term in English for the sounds that letters make.

Re: "a hydrodynamic" vs "an hydrodynamic"

anonymous — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:48:16 GMT

Using “a” and “an” Before Words Raphael asks: When should I use “a” and when should I use “an” before the different words? For example, should I say “a hour” or “an hour?” I stumble over this everytime and dont’t know if I’m getting it right, as I’m not speaking and writing English natively. The Rule The rule states that “a” should be used before words that begin with consonants (e.g., b, c ,d) while “an” should be used before words that begin with vowels (e.g., a,e,i). Notice, however, that the usage is determined by the pronunciation and not by the spelling, as many people wrongly assume. You should say, therefore, “an hour” (because hour begins with a vowel sound) and “a history” (because history begins with a consonant...

I-to-i specialist modules assignments

sabrosa — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:16:31 GMT

I'm working on the i-to-i specialist modules and am a little crunched for time (i'm a worthless procrastinator). Since they only enable you to see one module at a time, I was wondering if anyone could post the assignments (specifically the lesson planning at the end) so that I can would on them in advance and save time. I've done the "Young Learners" and "Business English (waiting for it to be graded)" modules and still have yet to complete the following: Teaching with Limited Resources Teaching Large Classes Teaching one-to-one English How to teach Audio and Video Lessons Cultural Awareness in the Classroom How to Teach Pronunciation Any help is greatly appreciated :)

Re: Pronunciation of protocol

rayh — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:52:19 GMT

...something like pro-do-kol Yes. Here's a thread (including a video) that will probably be useful. http://www.englishforums.com/English/CloserGeneralAmericanAccent/jxbwm/post.htm#822832

Re: The word "often"

mrpernickety — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:20:40 GMT

I've heard a great many native speakers throughout my life and they seem to have been unanimous in their choice of the pronunciation of the word "often" - that is "of T en" (the letter T is pronounced distinctly). And I've never heard anyone say "ofn", except my Russian English teachers, but I have no trust in them, they are ignorant of certain aspects of the language.

Re: How to pronounce the word Tomorrow

califjim — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:51:57 GMT

I'm not aware of any differences in initial T in East Coast pronunciation compared with other varieties of American English. It should be an aspirated T, not reduced T or D. Perhaps you heard an unaspirated T. I'm puzzled about what else it could be. CJ

Re: "Bagel"

anonymous — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:16:53 GMT

I do not remember where this person claimed to have lived in England. I have not seen him in several months, as I have a new crew every trip. Per the "funny" part, I do find it interesting that the answer to a question regarding a question regarding a colloquial pronunciation of a familiar word is answered with academic sources that are an arm's reach from me as I post the question. I agree that someone from the UK should answer the question. We are only guessing and pontificating on our own great academic abilities here and while we all look very, very sophisticated, I think I still have a question

Re: "Bagel"

yankee — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:55:14 GMT

According to both the Cambridge Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionary, "bag'gel" is not the British pronunciation of the word "bagel". If those two dictionaries are any indication, the British pronunciation is basically identical to the American pronunciation. http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/bagel?view=uk http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=5571&dict=CALD Perhaps your co-worker's pronunciation reflects some sort of local dialect.

Re: The best way

kooyeen — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:07:38 GMT

Hi, In short: 1) Learn the basic grammar and learn how to build your sentences. Get a grammar book. 2) Learn the basic vocabulary to express yourself. 3) Try to avoid mistakes, that is, use the simple English you are comfortable with. 4) Use monolingual dictionaries like Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English or Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, and learn from their examples. 5) Learn about pronunciation, learn the sounds and get used to pronounce everything you say more or less correctly. 6) Lots of practice. Read and listen, then practice writing, and speaking if you can.

Search results for 'tag:Pronunciation tag:Speaking tag:United Kingdom' matching tags 'Pronunciation', 'Speaking', and 'United Kingdom'

Re: Dark L in American English

Re: Http://www.englishforums.com/English/AddPost.aspx?ForumID=12

Re: Pronunciation differences

Re: UK

Re: Get To Be

Re: Proper pronunciation of a person's name

Re: Pronunciation of numbers?

Re: Pronunciation of numbers?

Re: Pronunciation of numbers?

Re: Pronunciation of numbers?

Re: Pronunciation of numbers?

Re: Pronunciation of numbers?

Pronunciation of numbers?

Re: Pronunciation of coat and quote

Re: Apon / upon

Welsh accent (to be more precise, Tom Jones's)

Re: English and spanish phonetic sounds with their phonetic differences

Re: English pronunciation

English pronunciation

Re: General AM Eng-pronunciation of talk, caught and bought

Re: Do you use these?

Re: Dictionary running in Linux with pronunciation

Re: The pronunciation of MERLE

The pronunciation of MERLE

Re: Where do I put the stress?

Re: Pronunciation of surname

Re: English speaking Help

Re: Write poetry

Pronunciation of Dacres

Re: Pronunciation of hurried

Literature on allophonics

Re: Pronunciation

Re: English

Re: Surname pronunciation

Re: Pronunciation

Re: KK and phonics?

Re: Non-native speaker's accent issue

Re: The pronunciation of debris

Re: American accent

Re: American Accent Training Books

Re: Where's this ae accent from?

Re: Oppotunity

Re: "a hydrodynamic" vs "an hydrodynamic"

I-to-i specialist modules assignments

Re: Pronunciation of protocol

Re: The word "often"

Re: How to pronounce the word Tomorrow

Re: "Bagel"

Re: "Bagel"

Re: The best way