How to read English transcription. English Transcription: Useful Materials

Greetings, my dear readers.

Today we continue to talk about how to learn to read correctly, so the topic of today's article is transcription of English letters.

We have already introduced you to the concept and dealt with the pronunciation of sounds in English. Today we will figure out exactly how they are pronounced in various combinations.

I have a clear table for you. It contains the letters of the English alphabet with transcription, Russian analogue letters and my notes so that you can immediately get the correct pronunciation. I also added examples of words with the sounds being studied and their translation.

What else can you find on the blog:

with letters and transcription (you can study them online, download, print and work with them);
for children I have a complete one.

Let `s start?

Features of English transcription:

it is always formatted with square brackets. I can’t say exactly where it came from, but I think it’s just worth taking it for granted;
to understand where the stress is, the transcription uses the sign [‘] before the stressed syllable;
It is important to remember that transcription is about the sound, not the spelling of words. Sometimes the spelling can be 90% different from what we pronounce;
to show that a sound is long we use a colon.

In general, I wrote about English transcription - please!

Letters of the English alphabet and their transcription in Russian and English:

English letter	Transcription	Russian equivalent
Aa		Hey
Bb		Bi
Cc		Si
Dd		Di
Ee		AND
Ff	[ɛf]	Eph
Gg		Gee
Hh		H.
II		Ay
Jj		Jay
Kk		Kay
Ll	[ɛl]	Al
mm	[ɛm]	Em
Nn	[ɛn]	En
Oo	[əʊ]	OU
Pp		Pi
Qq		Q
Rr	[ɑː] or [ɑɹ]	A or Ar
Ss	[ɛs]	Es
Tt		Tee
Uu		YU
Vv		In and
Ww	[ˈdʌb(ə)l juː]	Double
Xx	[ɛks]	The ex
Yy		Wye
Zz	,	Zed, zee

But do you know what is the most interesting thing about English?

If different letters are combined, they are pronounced differently!

That's why I prepared for you

Examples of English letter combinations in Russian and English:

Combination	Transcription	How to pronounce	Example
ee	/i:/	AND	bee - bee
ea	/ ı:/	AND	tea - tea
oo	/u/	U	cook - to cook
th	/ ð / / Ѳ /	Z, S (interdental)	thumb - finger
sh	/ ʃ /	Sh	shout - shout
ch	/tʃ/	H	chair - chair
ph	/f/	F	phone - phone
ck	/k/	TO	snack - snack
ng	/ Ƞ /	Ng	song - song
wh	/w/	Ua	why - why
wr	/r/	R	write - write
qu	/kw/	Kua	queen - queen
igh	/aı/	Ay	high - high
all	/Ɔ:l/	Ol	tall - tall
ai	/eı/	Hey	Spain - Spain
ay	/eı/	Hey	May - May
oi	/oı/	Oh	point - point
oh	/oı/	Oh	toy - toy
ow	/oƱ/	OU	grow - grow
ou	/aƱ/	Ay	out - outside
ew	/ju:/	YU	knew - knew
aw	/ Ɔ: /	Ooo	draw - draw
ee+r	/ ıə /	Eeyore	engineer - engineer
ou+r	/aƱə/	Aue	our - ours
oo+r	/ Ɔ: /	Ooo	door - door
wo+r	/ ɜ: /	Y/O	work - work
ai+r	/eə/	Ea	chair - chair
oa+r	/ Ɔ: /	Ooh	roar - scream
might	/Ʊd/	Oud	could - could
ound	/aƱnd/	Aund	round - round
eigh	/eı/	Hey	eight - eight
-y	/ ı /	AND	tiny - tiny
au	/ Ɔ: /	Oo	Paul - Paul
gh	/f/	F	laugh - laugh
aught	/Ɔ:t/	From	taught - taught

I know this table seems huge right now. Surely you think that remembering all this is unrealistic. I'll tell you this: at a certain point, when you have enough, you won't even pay attention to these combinations. Your brain will learn to quickly remember how exactly these letters sound. Moreover, even when you come across a word that is completely unfamiliar to you, you will be able to read it correctly. The only question is the amount of practice on your part.

How to remember combinations of letters?

Use cards. Visual perception is better developed in most people.
Read. Pay attention to combinations of letters when or just texts.
Don't get hung up. It is not necessary to immediately memorize these combinations and only then move directly to English. Learn as you go!
Buy paper or download a good e-book in order to quickly learn to recognize combinations and pronounce them correctly. Even if you, an adult, need it, don’t hesitate to take books for children - everything there is explained in detail and is not without interest.
Take the course « English from scratch» . This will make your path easier.

That's all, my dears. I hope you found it useful and understandable. I provide even more similar materials in the blog newsletter - subscribe and receive a dose of useful information regularly.

Learning correct English pronunciation is another challenge. The first difficulty is mastering the rules of reading, because words in English are read completely differently than they are written. By the way, there is something about this phenomenon. I advise you to look!

The second difficulty: even if the reading rules jump off your teeth, and you know exactly what combination of letters - what sound it means, you need to learn how to pronounce this sound. At the same time, it seems that the most “invincible” sounds for us are those that have no analogues in our language (like /w/, /θ/, /ð/ ).

However, no less difficult are sounds that have “twins” in Russian, because we, willy-nilly, replace them with our own, relatives. In this article we will “polish” the pronunciation of three such sounds: / æ / , / ʌ / , /a:/.

Let's do this according to the following scheme:

Let's look at pronunciation in detail in theory;
Let's practice using a special set of words and tongue twisters for the sounds of the English language;
Finally, let's find an example of using sound in a famous song so that it is forever imprinted in auditory memory.

What's wrong with these sounds?

Why these particular sounds? Because we often replace them with one thing - Russian / A /, what creates our quite recognizable accent (/æ/ can also be replaced by Russian /e/).

Before I begin, let me make a reservation right away that I won’t dwell on the rules of reading: the question is quite broad, and the purpose of the article is to “train” the correct pronunciation of the sound itself. Second disclaimer: this article will use British pronunciation words (below I will indicate which words we are talking about).

Sound /æ/ – neither A nor E

It is pronounced in words like man, that, dad etc. This sound is called “frog” or “butterfly” for convenience, but its scientific name is “Near-Open Front Unrounded Vowel”.

How the name is related to the nature of the sound is well explained in the video

The tongue is advanced, the tip of the tongue touching the lower teeth. The middle back of the tongue is slightly curved forward and upward. The distance between the jaws is significant. The throat and tongue are tense. The sound is short.

Possible error: replacing sound / æ / on /e/ or / A /, although this sound is neither one nor the other. If we look for parallels with Russian phonemes, then it is more similar to that sound / A /, which is used by us after soft consonants in stressed position(compare the sound in the word PA people And PI people – agree, the sounds are different!). In this case, the corners of the lips move further apart from each other than for a word P I people(as if you want to smile).

Another tip: prepare your mouth for sound /e/(for example, start saying the word V e uh), hold the speech apparatus in this position, but say the sound / A /.

If it’s still difficult to understand, then I’ll describe another technique: try “pushing” lower jaw down with the tip of the tongue, but at the same time remember about the “impending smile” (the corners of the lips stretched to the sides). Happened? This is approximately the position your articulatory apparatus will have when pronouncing this sound (see the picture).

You will find a very useful video from Rachel's English from which this screenshot is taken.

So, we’ve learned how to pronounce, now we need to consolidate the result. To do this, I propose to speak several dozen monosyllabic words with this sound. We adjust the speech apparatus to the desired position and begin training:

Now practice your tongue twisters. Just in case, the sound /æ/ is highlighted in bold:

H a rry a nd P a t st a nd h a nd in h a n.d.
A f a t c a ts a t on a m a t a nd ate a f a t r a t.
F a t P a t h a s a f a t c a t. P a t's f a t c a t is in P a t's h a t.
Ih a ve to cr a m for my ex a m.

In conclusion, the promised phrase from the song, which will firmly stick in your memory and will always remind you of the correct pronunciation:

I'm the Sc a tm a n!

Sound / ʌ / – let’s find it in Russian

Pronounced in words like but, love, blood, come etc. Linguistic people call it “lid”, but its full name is “ Open Mid-Back Unrounded Vowel”.

How the speech apparatus works: the tongue is not tense, is in the central part of the oral cavity, slightly moved back. The back of the tongue rises to the front of the soft palate up to half the distance. The sound is short.

This time we were lucky: the sound has an analogue in Russian - thispre-shock/A/ or /O/ in words like P O walked towards A whoa, m A tras etc. (compare the sounds in the wordlo ve And lO in and, or gu n And GO neither, Where /O/is located right inpre-shock positions).

It turns out that we don’t need to learn to pronounce this sound from scratch. Let's consolidate the result and compare this sound with the previous one (so that the information does not get confused in our heads).

Now it's time to practice this sound on a set of monosyllabic words.

such /sʌtʃ/

dull /dʌl/

gun /gʌn/

duck /dʌk/

luck /lʌk/

puck /pʌk/

does /dʌz/

cup /kʌp/

up /ʌp/

bus /bʌs/

bun /bʌn/

cut /kʌt/

fun /fʌn/

nut /nʌt/

hut /hʌt/

sum /sʌm/

numb /nʌm/

thumb /θʌm/

dumb /dʌm/

crumb /krʌm/

nun /nʌn/

done /dʌn/

son /sʌn/

We consolidate the result with tongue twisters:

D oe s the b u s r u n every o ther M o nday
Don't tr ou ble tr ou ble until tr ou ble tr ou bles you. It only d ou bles tr ou ble and tr ou bles o thers, too.
A f u nny p u ppy r u ns in fr o nt of a p u b. A fl u ffy p u ppy r u ns in fr o nt of a cl u b.

Traditionally, a line from a song. In my opinion, Robbie Williams’ composition “Come undone” is perfect for “lid”, where he pronounces this sound 5 times in a row at the end of the chorus:

Because I'm scu m. And I'm yourso n. I co meu ndo ne.

Find the full lyrics of the song.

Sound /a:/ – showing your throat to the doctor

Long / A: / or " Open Back Unrounded Vowel”pronounced in words likedance, ask, hard. In terms of articulation and sound, the sound resembles the one we make when showing our throat to the doctor.

How the speech apparatus works: from Russian / A / it differs in that the tongue is moved further back and down and lies as flat as possible (imagine the doctor pressing the tongue with a spoon). When pronouncing the sound correctly, you can see the soft palate in the mirror, which is impossible when pronouncing Russian . The sound is long.

Now let's move on to practice on a set of words. Please note that this is where the differences will be observed. between British and American versions pronunciation. As you know, Americans replace sound/a:/ to the sound / æ / in words like dance, ask, class etc.

Another difference: in words likecar, far, star- Americans use a short sound/ A / and say /r/ at the end. For convenience, we will stick to the British version of pronunciation.

car /kɑːr/

star /stɑːr/

far /fɑːr/

park /pɑːk/

dark /dɑːk/

class /klɑːs/

dance /dɑːns/

ask /ɑːsk/

task /tɑːsk/

fast /fɑːst/

last /lɑːst/

half /hɑːf/

bath /bɑːθ/

part /pɑːt/

hard /hɑːd/

glass /ɡlɑːs/

grass /ɡrɑːs/

chance /tʃɑːns/

aunt /ɑːnt/

grasp /ɡrɑːsp/

art /ɑːt/

calm /kɑːm/

laugh /lɑːf/

large /lɑːdʒ/

pass /pɑːs/

arm /ɑːm/

bar /bɑːr/

smart /smɑːt/

Now let’s practice the sound in tongue twisters:

B a rbara B a rton is a rt and p a rt of the p a rty.
C a rs c an’t be p a rked at the p a rk a fter d a rk
M a rgaret and Ch a rles a re d a cing in the g a rden under the st a rs.
M a rk's c a r's f a ster than B a rt's c a r. B a rt's c a r's sm a rter than M a rk's c a r.

As an auditory reminder, let's take a chorus from the unforgettable Beatles:

Baby you can drive my ca r
Yes I'm gonna be a sta r

You can find the full lyrics of the song.

Maybe we should start a regular column?

So, I hope these sounds are etched in your memory and will never be confused with each other. By the way, we decided to make such a detailed analysis of similar sounds a permanent blog section. If you are for it, mark it in the comments to the post :) See you!

Elena Britova

Academic manager of the TransLink-Education company, certified trainer in speed reading and memory development.

The English alphabet has 26 letters and 44 sounds. If in some languages each letter represents only one sound, then in English one letter can convey up to four sounds, and in some cases even up to seven. Hence the favorite English saying: “We write ‘Liverpool’, but we read ‘Manchester’.”

In addition, articulation (movement of the tongue, lips, mouth) differs significantly from Russian. There are sounds similar to Russian ones, but when pronouncing them, the organs of articulation work differently.

If you want to get rid of your accent or at least get closer to speaking English, all the differences need to be taken into account. Here are some tips on how to improve your English pronunciation.

1. Learn the alphabet

Many adults consider this a childish exercise. But one day you will definitely be asked: “Please, spell your name.” This is where knowing the letters of the English alphabet comes in handy. In addition, abbreviations, street names, house and flight numbers may contain letters, and, for example, at the airport they will definitely be pronounced as in the alphabet.

2. Practice articulation when pronouncing consonants

Once you have mastered the letters of the alphabet, feel free to move on to studying the sounds they convey. Train yourself to use correct articulation right away. First learn to pronounce sounds individually, bring them to automaticity, and then move on to words, phrases and sentences.

In the English language there are consonant sounds that, at first glance (or rather, hearing) are pronounced as in Russian.

1. Check where the tip of the tongue is when pronouncing the sounds [d] - [t], [n], [r], [s], [z]. Does it hit your teeth? Congratulations, you can pronounce the Russian alphabet. Among the native English, the tip of the tongue at this time is on the alveoli (the largest tubercle on the upper palate). Give it a try. Now you have purely English sounds. Practice: bed - ten, not, rat, sun, zoo.

2. Draw a hare when pronouncing the sounds [f] - [v]. The upper teeth must be placed on the lower lip. Practice: fat - vet.

3. Remember that the [l] sound is always hard: London [ˈlʌndən].

4. When practicing the [w] sound, take a candle: this is the best way to learn how to pronounce it correctly. Curl your lips and stretch them forward (like little children stretch out for a kiss), and then smile sharply. Then this sound will come out. When training, hold the candle at a distance of 20–25 cm from your lips. If the flame goes out when you make a sound, then you are doing everything right. Practice: say the word well.

5. Warm your hands when practicing the [h] sound. It has nothing in common with Russian [x]. Imagine that you are very cold and are trying to warm your hands with your breath. You bring them to your lips and exhale. During exhalation, a light, barely audible English sound [h] is formed. As in the word home.

6. Practice the sound [ŋ] when you have a bad runny nose or imagine that you have one. There is no such sound in the Russian language; it is conveyed by the combination ng in English. Press your tongue like a spatula against your upper palate and release the sound through your nose. It’s a bit like [n] if you pronounce it when you have a bad runny nose. Don't forget that your tongue is still touching the alveoli, not the teeth. Practice: interesting [ˈɪnt(ə)rɪstɪŋ].

7. Be the snake and the bee to practice [ð] - [θ]. These sounds are absent in Russian and are formed by combining the letters th in English.

[ð] - voiced sound. Lightly bite the tip of your tongue with your teeth and pronounce the sound [z]. If during training your lower lip and tongue are ticklish, then you are doing everything right. If not, you may have bitten the tip of your tongue too hard, loosen your teeth a little. Say the word this [ðɪs], does it work?

[θ] - dull sound. The articulation is the same, we just pronounce the sound [s]. To practice the dull sound [θ], say the word thank [θæŋk].

3. Learn four types of syllables for correct vowel pronunciation

The reading of vowels depends on the type of syllable in which they are found:

open (syllable ends with a vowel);
closed (syllable ends with a consonant);
vowel + r;
vowel + re.

In the first type of syllable - open - the vowels are read as in the alphabet (this is where knowledge of the alphabet came in handy for us!). For example: plane, nose, tube, Pete.

In the second type, you need to memorize the pronunciation of each vowel:

[æ] is an open sound, not long. The letter conveys it A in a closed syllable. Test yourself: sit at the table, straighten up, place one elbow on the surface, bend your hand under your chin. You will have some space between your chin and your wrist, if, of course, you straighten your back. Now we lower the lower jaw down so that it reaches the hand, and pronounce [e]. Practice with the word bag.
[e] is often confused with the previous sound. When pronouncing [e], you just need to slightly raise the corners of your lips up, as if smiling slightly. These are two different sounds, and they are not similar to each other, and especially not to Russian [e]. Practice: pet .
Short sounds [i], [ɔ], [ʌ], [u] are pronounced intensively, not into a chant: big, box, bus, book [bʊk].

In the third and fourth types of syllables the letter R is not readable, it only forms a syllable and lengthens the vowel sound: car, sort, turn.

, [ɔ:] - special sounds. Imagine that you are at an appointment with a doctor who is examining your throat. The root of your tongue is pressed with a stick and asked to say “Ah-ah.” This is exactly the position the tongue should be in when pronouncing the sounds [a] and [o]. If this makes you want to yawn, then you are on the right track! Try it now: car , sort .

4. Remember the correct accents

Most often in English the stressed syllable is the first. If you need to pronounce a word, but there is no one to ask or there is no dictionary at hand, put the emphasis on the first syllable. Of course, it’s better to immediately memorize words with the correct stress or check yourself in the dictionary.

5. Don't forget four important rules

The English language completely lacks soft consonants.
Voiced consonants are not devoiced at the end of a word.
Vowels can be long (in transcription they are designated [:]) and short.
No unnecessary - especially sharp - movements of the lips.

Learn a few phrases to practice correct pronunciation:

Very well [‘veri ‘wel].
World Wide Web or WWW [‘w əuld ‘waid ‘web www].
Eleven benevolent elephants [ɪˈlevn bəˈnevələnt ˈelɪfənts].
Stupid superstition [ˈstjuːpɪd ˌsuːpəˈstɪʃ(ə)n].
Pirates Private Property [ˈpaɪrəts praɪvət ˈprɒpəti].

And remember: different sounds have a meaning-distinguishing function. For example, man (“person”, “man”) and men (“men”); ship [ʃip] (“ship”) and sheep [ʃi:p] (“sheep”) and so on. Many people read the word three (“three”) as (and this means “tree”) or (“freedom”), not taking into account that th [θ] is read differently, it simply is not in the Russian language (remember the exercise "bee"). Knowing the correct pronunciation of words, you will definitely not get into trouble!

Hello reader! 🙂 Today we have once again prepared a whole training for you to learn the pronunciation of English sounds. In this series of articles (this is already the 3rd in a row) we will analyze the intricacies of the English phonetic system and find the differences between the sounds of the English language and our Russian ones.

Today we will look at the analogues of the /o/ sound in English. Or rather, they are not exactly analogues, but our phonemic hearing plays a cruel joke on us, and we:

replace all three English sounds with Russian /o/,
We don’t see the difference between these 3 sounds and, thus, we change the meanings of some words.

We will practice the sounds of the English language as before: with the help of educational videos, a special set of words, exercises, tongue twisters and a song with a standard pronunciation. Let's go!

Attention: The article uses the British version of pronunciation. I will indicate below exactly what differences Americans have.

Pronunciation of the sound /ɜː/ – long vowels in English

Pronounced in words girl, nurse, learn, etc. The sound is very complex: something between our /o/ and /e/ (indicated in the letter eate d) And e (me k) respectively), while being neither one nor the other.

I would say that you need to take the position of your lips as for /e/, hold your mouth in that position, but try to pronounce /o/. Reminds me e in a word Ge those. The sound is long.

The dorsum of the tongue lies flat, the middle part of the tongue is slightly raised, higher than the front and back of the tongue. The tip of the tongue is located at the lower teeth. The edges of the tongue do not touch the upper teeth. The distance between the upper and lower teeth is quite narrow. The lips are tense and stretched, slightly revealing the teeth.

Errors in pronunciation of English words in Russian

What are the main mistakes of Russian speakers:

1. Complete replacement of /e/ into Russian in words like pearl(obsolete Russian is pronounced like this pearl), were and etc.

Advice: you need to give the sound / ɜː / a hint of the Russian sound / o /. The position of the lips is the same as for /e/, but we pronounce /o/.

2. Complete replacement with the Russian sound / o /, denoted by the letter ё in writing, in words like, worse, sir etc.

Advice: give the English sound a touch of Russian /e/. The lips should be stretched, the teeth should be brought closer together, the tongue should be flat.

And, accordingly, do not round your lips, as for Russian /o/. It is recommended to pronounce / ɜː / with almost the same extended lip position as for the phoneme / i: / => see /si:/ – sir /sɜː/, fee /fi:/ – fir /fɜ:/, heat /hi:t / – hurt /hɜːt/.

A stretched lip position is especially necessary when pronouncing / ɜː / after / w / => we /wi:/ – world /wɜːd/, we /wi:/ – work /wɜːk/, we /wi:/ – worm /wɜːm/.

3. Also note that the consonant before this vowel does not need to be softened (we’ll talk about this). In words like girl, first, bird and other consonants will be hard.

Advice: do not raise the middle back of the tongue towards the hard palate when pronouncing a consonant. First pronounce the hard consonant, and then start pronouncing the vowel.

Examples for English vowel sounds

Got it? Now we move on to establishing the correct pronunciation of words in English. We adjust the speech apparatus to the desired position and begin training:

first /ˈfɜːst/

stir /stɜːr/

fir /ˈfɜːr/

Great! And now I’ll tell you about the difference in pronunciation performed by an American (I didn’t say it before so as not to confuse). American transcription looks like this:

firm – /f ɝ ːm/ (or /fɜrm/ as in our language).

In British pronunciation, we can only hear the overtone /r/ at the junction of words, when the next word begins with a vowel: si r A lec /sɜː r æ lɪk/.

English tongue twisters for vowel sounds will help us consolidate the result:

G e rman l ea rners l ea rnG e rman w o rds, T u rkish l ea rners l ea rnT u rkish w o rds.
An ea rl gave P ea rl a f u r and a c ir cell of p ea rls for h er th ir ty–f ir st b ir thday.
The f ir stsk ir t is d ir tier than the th ir d sh ir t, The f ir st sh ir t is d ir tier than the th ir dsk ir t.

Finally, let’s find this English sound in a famous song so that it is imprinted in the auditory memory. Since we took British pronunciation as a basis, the example will be exclusively British - The Beatles “Girl”

From 0:18 to 0:30

Sound /ɒ/ – pronunciation of short vowels in English

“Inverted a in English transcription” is pronounced in the words doll, hot, what. The English sound is similar to the Russian /o/ under stress (as in the word PO st) But:

our lips are more rounded (and protrude forward),
for our sound the language rises higher, therefore the Russian sound is less open,
our sound is longer.

How the speech apparatus works: the articulation is much like the sound /a:/, as in the word part(). But the root of the tongue is retracted back and down even more than with /a: /, and is not tense. The tip of the tongue is pulled further from the lower teeth than with /a:/ and is lowered down. The distance between the jaws is large. The lips are slightly rounded, lip protrusion is completely absent. The sound is short.

Advice: Since the English sounds /a:/ and /ɒ/ are somewhat similar, you can try this: start saying the word part /pa:t/(listen to the British pronunciation), but move the root of the tongue back as much as possible, DO NOT round your lips too much and make the sound short - you will get the correct pronunciation of the word pot /pɒt/(listen to the British version).

To avoid accidentally replacing the sound with Russian /o/, open your mouth wider, lower and move your tongue lower. When rounding your lips, do not protrude them forward and reduce the sound.

Let's move on to practice. Let's put the correct pronunciation of the English language using a set of words:

Once again I draw attention to the differences in American pronunciation. In AmE there is practically no “short o”, and they pronounce the above words with the sound / a: / (we talked about it above) – not /nɑːt/.

Watch from 2:01 to 3:22

Let's reinforce the pronunciation with tongue twisters in English to practice sounds:

R o b o ften dr o ps his w a llet in sh o ps, T o m o ften dr o ps his w a llet at st o ps.
D o lly w a nts to w a tch n o vels o n TV, P o lly w a nts to w a tch h o rrors o n TV.
Kn o tt and Sh o ttf o ught a duel. Kn o tt w a s sh o t and Sh o tt w a s n o t. It w a s better to be Sh o tt than Kn o tt.

In conclusion line from a song. By the way, finding an example was not so easy... This sound is short, and I wanted it to be heard in the song. But singers have the right to stretch out even short sounds :) Therefore, we take as an example the rather fast and rhythmic song “13 Little Dolls” by British performer Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Fight them hard then keep them safe
Those 13 little do lls
One for each moodo f the day
Those 13 little do lls
Cro ss your heart and try to sleep
Leave them out to play
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 little do lls

From 1:00 to 1:18

Sound /ɔː/ – pronunciation of vowel sounds in English

The sound /ɔː/ is pronounced in words horse, wall, law and etc.

The articulation sound is similar to the previous / ɒ / - the tongue moves back and down, BUT the back of the tongue is raised half the distance (and in the previous sound the root of the tongue is relaxed), so in this sound you feel how the hole in the throat “closes”. The lips are pressed together into a small hole, as if you are planning to kiss someone. The sound is long.

That is, in essence, we pronounce a very, very deep sound /o/, but the position of the lips is the same as for the sound /u/.

Understanding the difference between these sounds is also important because replacing a sound can change the meaning of a word:

cock /kɒk/ (rooster) – cork /kɔːk/ (bark, wine cork)

pot /pɒt/ (pot) – port /pɔːt/ (port)

wad /wɒd/ (a pack of something – banknotes, chewing gum) – ward /wɔːd/ (hospital ward)

Correct pronunciation of words in English

I hope you were able to catch the articulation of this sound. Let's move on to training in words:

store /stɔːr/

shore /ʃɔːr/

floor /flɔː r /

chalk /tʃɔːk/

fourth /fɔːθ/

thought /θɔːt/

brought /brɔːt/

Note that here too there is a difference from British pronunciation. In words like ball, small, low Americans are pronouncing the sound /a:/ again, and in words like horse /hɔːrs/ and north /nɔːrθ/– /r/ is pronounced. Read more about American pronunciation at.

Now let's move on to tongue twisters:

A ll P au l's d au ghters were b o rn in C o rk, A llW a lt's d au ghters were b o rn in Yo rk.
F ou r expl o rers expl o re f o rty w a terf a lls, F o rty expl o rers expl o re f ou r w a terf a lls.
D o ra's d au ghter is t a ller than N o ra's d au ghter, N o ra's d au ghter is sh o rter than D o ra's d au ghter.

As a musical example, I suggest taking the British group Pink Floyd and the song “Another Brick In The Wall” (or rather, one word from it - wall).

From 3:05 to 3:25

We do not say goodbye!

There are 44 (!!!) sounds in the English language. We have already examined 10. In the next article of this section we will focus on consonants. We haven’t decided which ones yet, so tell us in the comments :)

Read the continuation of the section: .

Sounds of English- this is a difficult and quite voluminous topic that will require perseverance and patience from you. In order for you to master this level more easily and quickly, I suggest you work with English sounds in the table. If you remember, there are 44 sounds in the British pronunciation system, and it is with them that we will work. The peculiarities of American pronunciation can be found in a separate article. For convenience, the table is divided into separate theoretical blocks, which tell you how to correctly pronounce a particular sound.

Before starting work, be sure to read the following information:

British English has 44 sounds:

24 consonants:

paired, voiced and unvoiced:
/b/-/p/, /z/-/s/, /d/-/t/, /v/-/f/, /dʒ/-/tʃ/, /ʒ/-/ʃ/, /ð /-/θ/, /g/-/k/
unpaired, voiced and voiceless:
/l/, /m/, /n/, /j/, /r/, /w/, /h/, /ŋ/

With consonant sounds, everything is more or less clear: paired - unpaired, voiced - voiceless. We know about these categories from the school course on phonetics of the Russian language. We also know that in Russian consonants can be soft and hard. In English there is no concept of softness and hardness of consonant sounds. There is the concept of palatalization - softening consonants in position before some vowels, by raising the back of the tongue to the hard palate. What exactly is the difference? The thing is that in Russian the softness and hardness of consonant sounds affects the semantic meaning of the word. Compare: “empty” - “let”, “out” - “stench”, “weight” - “all”. In English, softening consonant sounds does not affect the meaning of words, but is only the result of a mechanical change in sound in the flow of speech.

20 vowels:

closed, long and short:
/iː/, /ɪ/, /uː/, /ʊ/
medium-open, long and short:
/e/, /ɜː/, /ə/, /ɔː/
open, long and short:
/æ/, /ʌ/, /ɑː/, /ɒ/
diphthongs:
/eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /aʊ/, /əʊ/, /ɪə/, /eə/, /ʊə/

With vowels it’s a little more complicated: closed, open, mid-open. What is it about? About the position of the tongue in the oral cavity. When pronouncing open vowels, the tongue lies low in the mouth and does not touch the palate. Pronounce the Russian sound /a/, which is open, and notice that the tongue lies low in the mouth. When pronouncing closed vowels, the tongue is very close to the palate. Pronounce the Russian sound /и/, which is closed, and notice that the tongue curves the back, like a kitten, and the back almost touches the hard palate. When pronouncing mid-open ones, the tongue takes an intermediate position. Pronounce the Russian sound /e/, which is mid-open and remember the position of the tongue. Long and short vowels. What is it about? About the duration of sound pronunciation. Long sounds last longer than short sounds. The longitude of a sound in English transcription is indicated as a colon sign, followed by the sound sign /iː/, /ɜː/, /ɑː/, /ɔː/. Diphthongs. What is this? This is a sound consisting of two vowel sounds, the first element of the diphthong sounds stressed, and the second weak. Well, now you can start working on English sounds in the table.

/æ/	We open our mouth in order to pronounce the Russian sound /a/, but at the same time we pronounce the sound /e/. To avoid mistakes like the Russian sound /e/, you should open your mouth wider, the tip of the tongue remaining at the lower teeth. In case of an error such as the Russian sound /a/, you should press the tip of your tongue to your lower teeth and open your mouth wider. (open, short)
/ɪ/	We open our mouth in order to pronounce the Russian sound /и/, but at the same time we try to pronounce the sound /ы/. To avoid mistakes like the Russian sound /и/, you should not raise your tongue too high, you need to pull it back slightly and shorten the sound. If you make an error like Russian /ы/, you should move your tongue forward, stretch your lips and shorten the sound as much as possible. (closed, short)
/e/	We pronounce the Russian words “chalk”, “warmed”, “stump”, “cedar”. We remember how the letter “e” sounds when pronounced in these words and use it as the sound /e/ in English. If you make an error like Russian /e/, you should open your mouth less, stretch your lips slightly and move your tongue forward. (medium open, short)
/ɒ/	We pronounce the Russian sound /o/, but do not extend our lips forward. In case of an error like Russian /o/, you should open your mouth wider, lower and move your tongue lower, rounding your lips, do not pull them forward and slightly shorten the sound. (open, short)
/ʊ/	We pronounce the Russian sound /у/, but at the same time we arch the back of our tongue, almost touching the hard palate with it and do not stretch our lips forward. The lips are slightly rounded. In case of an error such as the Russian vowel /у/, which is an open sound, we monitor the position of the tongue, ensuring that the sound is closed and do not stretch the lips forward. (closed, short)
/b/	They practically correspond to the Russian sound /b/, but when pronounced at the end of a word, unlike the Russian sound, it is practically not deafened. Compare "oak" - /dup/ and "Bob" - /bob/.
/p/	It is similar to the Russian sound /p/, but is pronounced more dull. The dull sound is produced by aspiration. That is, the opening of the lips seems to be exhaled, and does not occur with an explosion. The sound is a bit like /pf/ or /ph/. In addition, at the end of words, English /p/ sounds strong, and does not weaken like Russian /p/.
/g/	It is similar to the Russian sound /g/, but sounds less sonorous at the beginning of words and is practically not deafened at the end of words.
/k/	It is similar to the Russian sound /k/, but sounds more energetic and is pronounced with aspiration. The sound is a bit like /kf/ or /kh/.
/d/	We pronounce the Russian sound /d/, but at the same time we do not touch the upper teeth with the tip of the tongue, but place it on the alveoli (tubercles on the hard palate, behind the upper teeth). Unlike the Russian consonant /d/, the English /d/ at the end of words is partially deafened.
/t/	We pronounce the Russian sound /t/, but at the same time we do not touch the upper teeth with the tip of the tongue, but place it on the alveoli (tubercles on the hard palate, behind the upper teeth). The English voiceless consonant /t/ is stronger than the Russian /t/ and is pronounced aspirated. The resulting sound is a bit like /tf/ or /th/.
/n/	We pronounce the Russian sound /n/, but at the same time we do not touch the upper teeth with the tip of the tongue, but place it on the alveoli (tubercles on the hard palate, behind the upper teeth).
/h/	It resembles the Russian sound /х/, but is not pronounced energetically with an explosion, but is only a light exhalation. Occurs only before vowels. If you make an error like Russian /х/, you should weaken the consonant until you exhale lightly.

pig, pet, put, pot, pan - /pɪɡ/, /pet/, /ˈpʊt/, /pɒt/, /pæn/

big, ben, book, bog, ban - /bɪɡ/, /ben/, /bʊk/, /bɒɡ/, /bæn/

dig, den, hood, dog, bad - /dɪɡ/, /den/, /hʊd/, /dɒɡ/, /bæd/

tip, ten, took, top, tap - /ˈtɪp/, /ten/, /tʊk/, /tɒp/, /tæp/

get, gig, good, god, gap - /ˈɡet/, /ɡɪɡ/, /ɡʊd/, /ɡɒd/, /ɡæp/

kit, Ken, cook, cod, cap - /kɪt/, /ken/, /kʊk/, /kɒd/, /kæp/

Nick, net, nook, not, Nat - /nɪk/, /net/, /nʊk/, /nɒt/, /næt/

hit, hen, hook, hot, ham - /hɪt/, /hen/, /hʊk/, /hɒt/, /hæm/

Don't try to work through everything at once. Yes, you won’t be able to do this, since the amount of work with sounds is designed for several astronomical hours, at a minimum. Work through the theory in blocks, be sure to complete the exercises at the end of the block. The main thing in learning a language is regularity. It is better to work 15-20 minutes every day than 2-3 hours once a week.

Pay attention to the pronunciation of long vowel sounds and the pronunciation of consonant sounds, which have no analogues in the Russian language.

/ɑː/	We pronounce the Russian sound /a/, but at the same time we pull the tip of the tongue away from the lower teeth as far back as possible, without straining our lips. If you make an error like Russian /a/, you should pull your tongue back and lengthen the vowel somewhat and not open your mouth too wide. (open, long)
/ɔː/	We pronounce the Russian sound /o/, but at the same time we pull the tip of the tongue away from the lower teeth as far back as possible, without straining our lips or pulling them forward. If you make an error like Russian /o/, you should strive for a more open pronunciation and do not pull your lips forward. Compared to English /ɑː/, the /ɔː/ sound is less open. (open, long)
/uː/	We pronounce the Russian sound /у/, but at the same time we do not stretch our lips forward, we round our lips, but do not tense them. In the process of pronouncing the sound /u:/, we pull the tip of the tongue away from the lower teeth as far back as possible. In case of an error like Russian /у/, you should first of all ensure that the lips are rounded, but not pulled forward. (closed, long)
/l/	We pronounce the Russian sound /l/, but at the same time we place the tip of the tongue on the alveoli (tubercles on the hard palate). The English sound /l/ has two sounds: hard (at the end of words and before consonants) sounds softer than hard Russian /l/ soft (before vowels and before the consonant /j/) sounds harder than the soft Russian /l"/
/m/	We pronounce the Russian sound /m/, but at the same time we tense our lips more.
/r/	We are preparing to pronounce the Russian sound /zh/, but at the same time we are trying to pronounce the Russian sound /r/. To pronounce the sound correctly, we make sure that the tip of the tongue is behind the alveoli (tubercles on the hard palate), without touching them, remaining tense and motionless.
/w/	There is no similar sound in the Russian language. Vaguely similar to the Russian sound /ua/. To correctly pronounce this sound, we stretch our lips forward as for pronouncing the Russian sound /у/, while the lips are tense and rounded, in this position we try to quickly pronounce the Russian sound /v/. In case of an error like Russian /v/, make sure that the lower lip does not come into contact with the upper teeth and upper lip. In case of an error like Russian /ы/, we strain and round our lips even more.
/ŋ/	There is no similar sound in the Russian language. To pronounce this sound correctly, we press the back of the tongue against the soft palate and try to pronounce the Russian sound /n/. In case of an error like Russian /n/, open your mouth wider and make sure that the tip of the tongue does not touch the upper teeth or alveoli, but is located at the roots of the lower teeth.
/v/	Almost corresponds to the Russian sound /v/. English /v/ sounds weaker than Russian /v/, but at the end of words it is practically not deafened.
/f/	Almost corresponds to the English sound /f/. English /f/ sounds stronger than Russian /f/, especially at the end of words
/z/	Almost corresponds to the Russian sound /z/. But it sounds weaker. At the end of words there is almost no deafening.
/s/	Almost corresponds to the Russian sound /s/. But it sounds much more energetic.
/ð/	There is no similar sound in the Russian language. In order to pronounce this sound correctly, we place the tip of the tongue between the upper and lower front teeth and try to pronounce the Russian sound /z/. At the end of words, this English voiced consonant is almost unvoiced. In case of an error like Russian /з/, we make sure that the tip of the tongue does not hide behind the teeth. In case of an error like Russian /d/, make sure that the tongue is not pressed against the upper teeth; there should be a small gap between the tip of the tongue and the upper teeth. In case of an error like Russian /v/, make sure that the lower lip is lowered.
/θ/	There is no similar sound in the Russian language. In order to pronounce this sound correctly, we place the tip of the tongue between the upper and lower front teeth and try to pronounce the Russian sound /s/. In case of an error like Russian /s/, make sure that the tip of the tongue does not hide behind the teeth. In case of an error like Russian /t/, make sure that the tongue is not pressed against the upper teeth; there should be a small gap between the tip of the tongue and the upper teeth. In case of an error like Russian /f/, make sure that the lower lip is lowered.

lark, look, lips, last - /lɑːk/, /lʊk/, /lɪps/, /lɑːst/

mood, moon, mask, mast - /muːd/, /muːn/, /mɑːsk/, /mɑːst/
rude, red, rock, room - /ruːd/, /red/, /rɒk/, /ruːm/
what, when, well, wool - /ˈwɒt/, /wen/, /wel/, /wʊl/
sing, sink, wink, pink - /sɪŋ/, /sɪŋk/, /wɪŋk/, /pɪŋk/
zip, zink, zing, zoo - /zɪp/, /ˈzɪŋk/, /zɪŋ/, /zuː/
silky, swim, sick, soon - /ˈsɪlki/, /swɪm/, /sɪk/, /suːn/
vase, voodoo, vest, vast - /vɑːz/, /ˈvuː.duː/, /vest/, /vɑːst/
farm, fool, food, fast - /fɑːm/, /fuːl/, /fuːd/, /fɑːst/
thin, think, threat, theft - /θɪn/, /ˈθɪŋk/, /θret/, /θeft/
this, the, then, them - /ðɪs/, /ði:/, /ðen/, /ðəm/
four, store, fork, door - /fɔː/, /stɔː/, /fɔːk/, /dɔː/

If you are reading these lines, it means you have worked through the first two blocks and you have successfully mastered as much as 50% of this difficult topic. Please accept my congratulations and let me praise you for your diligence, hard work and patience! After all, these are precisely the qualities that will lead you to triumph on the path of mastering the English language. Starting work on the third block English sounds in the table, do not forget that “repetition is the mother of learning.” Therefore, be sure to return to the completed blocks and do not be lazy to repeat them!

Pay attention to the pronunciation of the neutral sound /ə/, long vowels, and diphthongs.

/ə/	There is no similar sound in the Russian language. We pronounce the Russian words “mint”, “guys”, “Volodya”, the sound of the letter “ya” in these words vaguely resembles the English sound /ə/, only it sounds unstressed, weak, unclear, almost imperceptible. In case of an error such as the Russian unstressed /a/ as in the word “summer” - /l"`et A/, raise the entire tongue to the hard palate. (medium open, short)
/ɜː/	There is no similar sound in the Russian language. We pronounce the Russian words “plait”, “bloom”, “chalk”, the sound of the letter “е” in these words vaguely resembles the English sound /з:/. When pronouncing this sound, we make sure that the tip of the tongue is at the lower teeth, the distance between the upper and lower teeth is kept small, we do not stretch our lips, we achieve their neutral position. (medium open, long)
/iː/	It vaguely resembles the Russian sound of “ii” in the words “strong”, “marked”, “rare”. Two-level sound, i.e. sounds heterogeneous in the initial and final positions. In the initial position, the tongue is in the front of the mouth, the tip of the tongue touches the lower teeth, the middle part of the tongue is raised high to the hard palate, the lips are somewhat stretched. During the pronunciation process, the tongue moves from a lower and pushed back position to a higher and forward position. (closed, long)
/eɪ/	It’s a bit reminiscent of the Russian sound of “hey” in the words “bolder”, “more cheerful”, “warm up”. The core of the diphthong is the mid-open, short vowel sound /e/. After pronouncing the nucleus, the tongue makes a slight upward movement in the direction of the sound /ɪ/, without, however, achieving its complete formation. Pronunciation of a sound like Russian /th/ should not be allowed. (diphthong)
/aʊ/	A bit reminiscent of the Russian sound of “ay” in the words “round”, “bounty”. In case of an error like Russian /ay/ we make sure that the second element sounds unstressed and weakened. (diphthong)
/eə/	The core of the diphthong is the English mid-open short vowel /e/, the second element is the unstressed English vowel /ə/. (diphthong)
/ʒ/	We pronounce the Russian sound /zh/ but at the same time soften its sound.
/ʃ/	We pronounce the Russian sound /sh/ but at the same time soften its sound.
/j/	It is similar to the Russian sound /й/, but has a weaker pronunciation.

pleasure, treasure, measure, leisure - /ˈpleʒə/, /ˈtreʒə/, /ˈmeʒə/, /ˈleʒə/
should, shake, shame, shirt - /ʃʊd/, /ʃeɪk/, /ʃeɪm/, /ʃɜːt/
yes, yet, you, your - /jes/, /jet/, /ju/, /jə/
world, work, heard, word, bird - /wɜːld/, /ˈwɜːk/, /hɜːd/, /ˈwɜːd/, /bɜːd/
never, ever, fever, river - /ˈnevə/, /ˈevə/, /ˈfiːvə/, /ˈr.və/
sea, eat, beef, these, beans - /siː/, /iːt/, /biːf/, /ðiːz/, /biːnz/
stay, hey, play, hate, game - /steɪ/, /heɪ/, /ˈpleɪ/, /heɪt/, /ɡeɪm/
how, now, about, round, ground - /ˈhaʊ/, /naʊ/, /əˈbaʊt/, /ˈraʊnd/, /ɡraʊnd/
wear, hair, player, repair, theirs - /weə/, /heə/, /ˈpleɪə/, /rɪˈpeə/, /ðeəz/

Hooray! You have to master the last block English sounds in the table. This means that very soon you will begin to easily read the transcription of English words in the dictionary and begin working with them independently in our word library, which was created so that you develop and expand your vocabulary.

Pay attention to the pronunciation of the short sound /ʌ/, diphthongs, consonants, which have no analogues in the Russian language.

/dʒ/	There is no similar sound in the Russian language. A bit reminiscent of the Russian sound "dzh". In order to avoid mistakes like the Russian “j”, we make sure that both components sound together and not separately as in the words “jam”, “jazz”. Prepare to pronounce the Russian sound /ch/, but at the same time pronounce “dzh”.
/tʃ/	It resembles the Russian sound /ch/, but sounds harder.
/ʌ/	Pronounce the Russian sound /a/, but at the same time pull your tongue back, keep your mouth half open and your lips neutral. In case of an error like Russian /a/, the language should be reversed. English /ʌ/ sounds shorter than Russian /a/. (open, short)
/aɪ/	A bit reminiscent of the Russian sound of “ai” in the words “paradise” and “boycott”. In case of an error like Russian /ai/, we make sure that the second element sounds unstressed and weakened. (diphthong)
/ɔɪ/	A bit reminiscent of the Russian sound of “oy” in the words “fight”, “hero”. The nucleus of a diphthong is something between a long /ɔː/ and short /ɒ/. In case of an error like /oy/, the first element of the diphthong should be made more open, and the second element weakened. (diphthong)
/əʊ/	There is no similar sound in the Russian language. The diphthong core is close in sound to English /з:/. After pronouncing the nucleus, the tongue makes a slight upward movement and moves back in the direction of articulation [ʊ]. In case of an error like Russian /оу/, we do not extend our lips forward. In case of an error like Russian /eu/, we do not stretch our lips, we round them. (diphthong)
/ɪə/	There is no similar sound in the Russian language. The core of the diphthong is the short vowel /ɪ/. After pronouncing the nucleus, the tongue moves towards the center in the direction of /ə/. To avoid mistakes like Russian /ia/, we make sure that the second element of the diphthong sounds weakened. (diphthong)
/ʊə/	There is no similar sound in the Russian language. The core of the diphthong is the short vowel /ʊ/. After pronouncing the nucleus, the tongue moves towards the center in the direction of /ə/. To avoid mistakes like the Russian /ua/, we do not round or protrude our lips forward, and make sure that the second element of the diphthong sounds weakened. (diphthong)

jug, jog, gem, general, jeep - /dʒʌɡ/, /dʒɒɡ/, /dʒem/, /ˈdʒenrəl/, /dʒiːp/
chest, chair, chain, choose, cheap - /tʃest/, /tʃeə/, /tʃeɪn/, /tʃuːz/, /tʃiːp/
why, tie, buy, fly - /waɪ/, /taɪ/, /baɪ/, /flaɪ/
boy, toy, joy, voice, employ - /ˌbɔɪ/, /tɔɪ/, /dʒɔɪ/, /vɔɪs/, /ɪmˈplo.ɪ/
near, dear, beer, here, gear - /nɪə/, /dɪə/, /bɪə/, /hɪə/, /ɡɪə/
pure, sure, tour, cure, lure - /pjʊə/, /ʃʊə/, /tʊə/, /kjʊə/, /lʊə/
cup, nut, mug, sun, bud - /kʌp/, /nʌt/, /mʌɡ/, /sʌn/, /bʌd/

Congratulations on your successful completion English sounds in the table! Now you can move on to mastering the second stage in learning English phonetics. Namely, learn the rules of word stress, the rules of copula and reduction of sounds, which will be discussed in our next article