Transcription and reading rules in English are two closely related concepts. Reading rules explain how letters and letter combinations are pronounced in different cases, and with the help of transcription we record and read speech sounds.

Reading rules can confuse a beginner. There are many of them, they are confusing, and there are more exceptions than the rules themselves. In fact, these rules are only so scary if you understand them deeply and try to learn them by heart, along with the exceptions. In reality, everything is much simpler: reading rules do not need to be remembered by heart.

While studying English, you will constantly be doing something, and will soon learn to relate letter designations and sounds without thinking, automatically. There is no need to worry about exceptions either. Usually the pronunciation, spelling and meaning of a word are remembered as one whole - you just know that such and such a word is pronounced this way.

Feature of English phonetics: we write “Manchester” - we read “Liverpool”

In phonetics in English There is a noticeable feature: words are often read differently from how they are written, that is, from the spelling of a word it is not always possible to guess how it is pronounced. As linguists joke: “We write “Manchester”, but read “Liverpool.”

In the history of many languages, the following pattern can be traced: the phonetic structure becomes more complex, but the letters and spelling remain the same or change with great delay. English is no exception. At the dawn of its development, words were read and pronounced more or less similar, but over time this discrepancy became greater and greater, the situation was aggravated by the diversity of dialects, and now we are in words though, thought And through read a combination of letters - ough completely different, although the words themselves differ by one letter.

Reform English spelling no one is in a hurry, there are many reasons for this. For example, the English language has long no longer had a single “control center”. Reforms initiated in London may be coolly received in Sydney and rejected in Washington. And in general, spelling reform is always a painful process that meets resistance among a significant part of native speakers. It's much easier to leave it as is.

What is transcription and why is it needed?

Transcription in English is the recording of speech sounds using special characters. She should not be afraid or avoided, because she is a very good assistant in learning the language, which will be great for saving time and helping to avoid mistakes. One glance at the transcription of an English word is enough for you to understand how it is read correctly.

When you memorize or write down a new word that comes across in the text, you definitely need to look at its transcription and/or listen to the pronunciation (for example, in), otherwise you may remember it incorrectly, and then they will not understand you.

Is it possible to write English words in Russian letters?

Sometimes on websites or even in books you can see “ English transcription in Russian” or “pronunciation English words in Russian letters” – that is, writing English words in Russian letters. Like, why learn sophisticated icons if Can convey sounds in Russian letters? Then what it is forbidden. The phonetics of the Russian language differs from the English phonetics so much that the sound can only be conveyed very, very approximately. We simply do not have some sounds of English speech, as well as vice versa.

Transcription and pronunciation of all sounds of the English language separately (video)

With this interesting video table, you can listen to the sound of all sounds separately and see how they are recorded using transcription. Click on play and wait for the video to load completely, then click on the sound you want.

Please note that in the transcription, in addition to the symbols themselves denoting sounds, the following are used:

• Square brackets– traditionally, transcription is always written in [square brackets]. For example: [z].
• Vowel length icon– in English, vowels can be long or short, longitude is indicated by a colon after the vowel. For example: .
• Accent icon– if a word with more than one syllable is transcribed, the stress must be indicated with an apostrophe (comma at the top). It is placed before the stressed syllable. For example: – decision.

In total, there are 44 sounds in the English language, which, like in Russian, are divided into consonants and vowels. Among them there are sounds similar to Russian, for example: [b] - [b], [n] - [n], and sounds that have no analogues in the Russian language: [ ð ], [θ ].

In English phonetics there are no such concepts as softness/hardness of consonants, but there is longitude of vowels (not characteristic of the Russian language) - vowels can be short [a] and long. It should also be noted that vowel sounds in English can be:

• single (monophthongs): [ i: ], [ e ],
• consisting of two sounds (diphtogni): [ ai ], [ ɔi ],
• consisting of three sounds (triphthongs): [ aiə ].

Diphthongs and triphthongs are read and perceived as solid sounds.

English sound table with examples and cards

Having studied how English sounds are pronounced individually, be sure to listen to how they are read whole words. It is often easier for students to understand and hear the pronunciation English sounds when they sound as part of a word, and not separately.

In the tables below, all sounds are given with example words. Using electronic cards you can listen to the pronunciation.

How to learn to pronounce English sounds?

There are two approaches:

1. Theoretical- usually in textbooks detailed description how to press your tongue against the roof of your mouth to form a certain sound. With an illustration showing a cross-section of a human head. The method is scientifically correct, but it is difficult to use on your own: not everyone will understand what it means to “slide the upper teeth along the lower lip” and will be able to perform this action.
2. Practical– listen, watch and repeat. I think it's much easier this way. You simply repeat after the announcer, trying to imitate the sound as accurately as possible. Pay attention to articulation, try to repeat all movements of the lips and tongue. Ideally, of course, someone should supervise, but you can simply record yourself on a webcam and watch from the outside.

If you want to repeat after the speaker, imitating his speech, I recommend using the materials on Puzzle English, namely the “Video Puzzles” exercises, which are aimed at developing listening comprehension. In video puzzles, you can slow down your speech and, as in Lingvaleo, watch the translation of words by clicking on them directly in the subtitles.

In video puzzles, you first need to watch a video and then assemble sentences from words.

Detailed review of this service:

In addition, for practical training in different kind people Many videos have been shot and are available on YouTube. For example, these two videos examine in detail the sounds of English speech in the American and British versions:

British pronunciation

American pronunciation

When you start learning English, you shouldn’t strive to achieve “perfect” pronunciation. Firstly, there are a lot of varieties of pronunciation (the “generalized” British and American versions are presented above), and secondly, even native speakers who speak professionally (for example, actors) often take lessons from special trainers in order to master the features of or another version of pronunciation - practicing speech is not an easy task.

Just try to speak in a way that 1) is understandable and 2) doesn’t hurt your ears too much.

Reading rules in English: table and cards

Reading rules in English are, rather, not even rules, but generalized recommendations that are not particularly accurate. Not only that, say, the letter “o” in different combinations and types of syllables can be read as nine different ways, there are also exceptions. For example, in the words food, too it is read as , and in the words good, look – as [u]. There is no pattern here, you just need to remember this.

If you search in different books, it turns out that the rules of reading, and indeed phonetics in general, can be told differently by different authors with varying degrees of immersion in detail. I think that there is no point in delving into the jungle of phonetic science (you can dive into it ad infinitum), and the easiest way is to take as a basis the most simplified version of the reading rules, that is reading rules in English for children.

For this article, I took as a basis the rules given in the textbook “English. Grades 1 – 4 in diagrams and tables” N. Vakulenko. Believe me, this is more than enough for both children and adults!

What is an open and closed syllable?

In English, there are open and closed syllables; it also matters whether it ends with the letter “r” and whether it is stressed.

A syllable is called open if:

• the syllable ends with a vowel and is the last in the word,
• a vowel is followed by another vowel,
• a vowel is followed by a consonant, and followed by one or more vowels.

A syllable is closed if:

• it is the last in the word, and ends with a consonant,
• A vowel is followed by two or more consonants.

In these cards and the table below you can see how different letters are pronounced in different combinations and syllable types.

The most important reading rules

The table above looks very busy, even intimidating. From this we can highlight several of the most important rules, which have almost no exceptions.

Basic rules for reading consonants

• The combination ph is read as [f]: photo, Morpheus.
• The combination th is read as [ð] or [θ]: think there. These sounds do not exist in the Russian language; their pronunciation requires some practice. Do not confuse them with the sounds [s], [z].
• The combination ng at the end of a word is read as [ŋ] - this is a nasal (that is, pronounced as if in the nose) version of the sound [n]. A common mistake is to read it as . There is no “g” in this sound. Examples: strong, King Kong, wrong.
• The combination sh is read as [ʃ]: ship, show, shop.
• The letter “c” before i, e, y is read as [s]: celebrity, cent, pencil.
• The letter “g” before i, e, y is read as: age, magic, gym.
• The combination ch is read as: match, catch.

Basic rules for reading vowels

• In an open stressed syllable, vowels are usually read as in: no, go, name, face, pupil, he, five. These can be monophthongs and diphthongs.
• In a closed syllable, vowels are read as short monophthongs: nut, got, ten.

How to remember reading rules?

Most people who are fluent in English as a foreign language will not be able to immediately name even a few basic reading rules. Rules readings do not need to be memorized, you need to be able to use them. But is it possible to use what you don’t know? As much as possible! Thanks to frequent practice, knowledge turns into skills and actions begin to be performed automatically, unconsciously.

In order for the reading rules to quickly reach the automatic stage, I recommend:

• Study the rules themselves - read, comprehend, speak examples out loud.
• Practicing reading aloud will help develop pronunciation skills, and at the same time, the rules of reading will be reinforced. Take the text with audio, video with subtitles so that you have something to compare it with.
• Do small written works – writing practice is good for development vocabulary, consolidating grammar knowledge and, of course, improving spelling.

Why is it so difficult for us to understand English speech, even if we know all the words? Because if you look closely, almost all sounds in English are different from Russian. Yes, they are similar - but just don't look at them in more detail yet. They are pronounced differently, they sound differently and they merge into words differently too.

Sounds in English

It may seem that the phonetics of the English language has many points of contact and that these sounds are interchangeable, however, when perceiving speech by ear, we cannot isolate individual words and distinguish those that are similar in pronunciation, but different in meaning. In fact, the phonetics of the English language has only three vowel sounds - [e]-(е), [ɔ]-(о), [u]-(у) and five consonants - [k]-(к), [g]- (g), [m]-(m), [p]-(p), [b]-(b), which can be called similar to Russian. You can add five more diphthongs to them: -(ey), -(ay), -(ау), [ɔi]-(ой), -(оу) (among which the combination does not occur in the Russian language proper). However, there are still differences - >th< в дифтонгах не произносится до конца, согласные более оторваны от гласных, которые, в свою очередь, по звуку более полые и переходящие. Всего теоретическая фонетика английского языка насчитывает 12 гласных звуков, 8 дифтонгов и 24 согласных.

Pronunciation of vowels

Single vowel sounds:

[i:] - extended >i< - /meal/;

[i] - short and hollow >i< - /if/;

[e] - similar to the sound >e< - /then/;

[ æ ] - >е<, стремящееся к >A<, но не переходящее в него, более полое, чем >uh< - /mad/;

[a:] - extended >a<, смещенное в заднюю часть ротовой полости - /start/;

[ɔ] - short, rather hollow >o< - /box/;

[ɔ:] - extended >o< - /all/;

[u] - short >у<, произносящееся со слегка округленными губами - /took/;

[u:] - extended >у<, при котором губы не выдаются слишком вперед - /soon/;

[ʌ] - short, reminiscent of tending to >a< звук >O< - /done/;

[ə] - a barely distinguishable, unaccented sound, close to [ʌ], always unstressed - /taker/;

[ə:] - extended sound, reminiscent of tending to >o< гласный >e< - /pearl/;

Just like in Russian, the phonetics of the English language contains two-part vowel sounds (diphthongs):

[ei] - combination >hey<, с неполновыраженным >th< - /sake/;

[ ou ] - merged sounds >оу<, где >O< более продолжительная, а >at< нечеткая - /show/;

[ai] - compound sound >ai<, в котором >th< не до конца выражено - /fine/;

[au] - passing sound >ау<, произносимый с более протяжной >A< поднимающуюся в самом конце к >at< - /found/;

[ɔi] - combination > oh<, с более очевидным >O< и малоразличимым >th< - /boy/;

[iə] - starting with a hollow >i< звук >ie<, переходящий в нечно среднее между >uh< и >A< - /here/;

[ɛə] - hollow sound >е<, переходящий ближе к концу в >A<, составляя >ea< - /where/;

[uə] - passing from slightly rounded lips >у<, превращающийся в >A<, близкое к >e, forming the sound >ea< - /poor/;

Pronunciation of consonants

In some phrases, consonants may sound differently. But in all cases, without exception, they are pronounced hard. The phonetics of the English language does not contain softened consonants.

[f] - sound >f<, который, в отличие от русского произношения, производится постановкой нижней губы за верхние зубы (по внутреннему краю), а не перед (по внешнему) - /fall/;

[d] - similar to the sound >d<, но производится не частью площади языка, а самым его концом - /drum/;

[v] - reminds >v<, но так же, как и при звуке >f<, нижняя губа уходит под верхние зубы, а не выставляется впереди - /revolve/;

[k] - similar to the sound >k< - /kettle/;

[θ] - played from the position between the sound >t< и звуком >With<, когда язык скользит с неба на зубы и попадает в щель между верхним и нижним рядами - /third/;

[g] - analogue of sound >g< - /game/;

[ ð ] - the principle of reproduction is the same as that of the sound [ θ ], i.e. the tongue, descending from the upper palate, falls between two rows of teeth, simultaneously pronouncing as if and >t< и >With<, но, в отличие от глухого [ θ ], здесь происходит подзвучивание, так что он опускается скорее не от >T< к >With<, а от >T< к >h< - /this/;

[tʃ] - sound consistent with the sound >h<, однако произносящийся не площадкой языка, а окончанием - /child/;

[s] - consonant >s<, но, если >With< воспроизводится при сложенной желобом площадке языка, находящейся у альвеол верхнего неба, то [ s ] - концом языка, находящимся у этой же точки - /step/;

[dʒ] - close combination of sounds >j<, однако произносимый с кончиком языка у верхненебных альвеол, а не путем примыкания к альвеолам языковой площадки - /joy/;

[z] - according to the method of reproduction, similar to >s<, т.е. при конце языка приставленном к выступам неба над верхними зубами, но доведенный до звонкого состояния, приближенного к >h< - /zone/;

[ m ] - analog > m< - /mild/;

[ʃ] - reminiscent>ш< звук, который осуществляется посредством примыкания кончика языка к альвеолам на верхнем небе - /shop/;

[n] - close to >n<, только >n< извлекается площадкой языка, а [ n ] - концом - /november/;

[ʒ] - a sound produced at the end of the tongue, similar to >ж< - /measure/;

[ŋ] - vaguely resembles >n< получающимся звуком и положением рта, но [ ŋ ] - более нечеткое, образующееся смыканием основания языка и верхнего неба - /morning/;

[h] - close in sound to >x<, производится выдыханием и более беспрепятственным прохождением воздуха - /hot/;

[l] - sounds almost like >l<, однако вместо площадки задействован конец языка - /laught/;

[p] - similar to >p< - /pork/;

[r] - like >r< без рокота, составляется основанием языка и верхним небом - /role/;

[b] - analogue >b< - /bird/;

[j] - sounds almost like >th<, однако более полый и твердый - /yellow/;

[t] - consonant >t<, произносится при помощи конца языка, подходящего к альвеолам на небе верхней челюсти - /tail/;

[w] - like sound >v<, стремящийся к >at<, только губы не касаются концов зубов, как при собственно >V<, т.е. губы округляются и немного вытягиваются - /wolf/.

People mainly learn English to communicate with foreigners in a given situation. However, if your pronunciation is low and you often confuse accents, then no communication will work.

At the same time, many people are sure that there is no need to learn the rules of pronunciation in English, since it is a waste of time. But even a wide vocabulary and extensive knowledge of grammar will not be enough for you to fully communicate.

Let's talk about the pronunciation of English words. Yes it is hard. It is sometimes very difficult to copy their speech. Oh, I really want to say something like that right away, in English, but no, not so quickly. Our language is not as soft, not as varied in sound effects as English. It contains more than 50 sounds. And what to do with them? How to remember? But everything is not as scary as it seems. After all, all sounds are formed with the help of our mouth, which means it’s real. I have often seen how those beginning to study a language, finding literature in which the pronunciation of all English words is given in Russian letters, became wildly delighted. Yes, I don’t argue, this makes the work easier at first, and this technique has a right to exist. And since my site, after all, is designed for such people, you will find all the new words not in transcription, but written in Russian letters, and this will make your life easier at first. Although I am not a supporter of this method, I do it, one might say, at the request of the workers.

But what will you do when you come across an unfamiliar, never-before-seen word? You will, of course, use a dictionary. And in the dictionary... Fathers! But this is not something a mere mortal can read. In addition to English letters, there are some other icons nearby. In short, read this nonsense for yourself. But take your time. These icons, as you know from school, are called transcription. If you know it, it makes reading the word a lot easier. Even in Russian there is such a transcription, because After all, even in our native language, the spelling and pronunciation of words are far from the same. That's why we learn a lot of rules in order to be literate. And in English you simply need to understand these signs, otherwise you will not be able to pronounce a single word correctly. I advise you to arm yourself with an English-Russian dictionary and compare words with transcriptions as needed. It is necessary to gradually develop the skill of reading through transcription. And you will soon appreciate this knowledge and begin to read and pronounce words correctly.

Theoretical phonetics of English

Theoretical phonetics of the English language absorbs generalized information about parts of the phonetic structure of an English word. It explains the interaction between acoustic and written forms of speech. Phonetics pays attention not only to sound aspects, but also to the human articulatory apparatus.
When studying the theoretical phonetics of the English language, a person encounters the following topics:
1. Phonemes of the English language. Distinctive features of phonemes.
2. Cardinal type vowels.
3. Articulation abilities of sounds.
4. Correct interpretation of the phoneme.
5. Methods of conducting phonetic analysis of a word.
6. Phonological schools.
7. System of vowel sounds.
8. System of consonants.
9. What are alloforms?
Quite a long time is devoted to the method of carrying out phonetic analysis of words. Using analysis, sounds are broken down into consonants and vowels, and their classification is made. Special attention

Phonetic features of the English language in examples

The first thing you need to master in phonetics is transcription. English is a rather unusual language, in which there are a lot of rules for the pronunciation of words and letter combinations. And the first step in learning this is transcription.

The English alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, while the Russian alphabet is based on the Cyrillic alphabet. Hence all the difficulties: in English there are practically no sounds that would be similar to Russian ones. For example, in English there are often diphthongs (two vowels in one syllable): source, joy, team.

To pronounce these words correctly, you must know diphthongs and read the transcriptions of /ɔɪ/ and /aʊ/, as well as English phonetics pronunciation sounds transcription alphabet.

Interesting video about diphthongs:

It is very easy to get confused in the pronunciation of English sounds. For example, the word “lead” is read as “lead”. Here two vowels are combined into one sound. But the word “break” is pronounced like “break”, and here it is necessary to pronounce two sounds.

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In order not to get lost in the peculiarities and subtleties of pronunciation, we recommend always checking the dictionary. In addition, an excellent tool is Google Translator, which sounds all English words, observing intonation, stress and correct pronunciation.

Vowel Sounds - Vowel Sounds

In English there are long and short sounds, whereas in Russian all vowels are pronounced equally. So sometimes the entire meaning of a word can change depending on the length of pronunciation of a sound:

Port (port) – pronounced /pɔːt/

Pot (pot) - pronounced short /pot/

Wheel (wheel) - pronounced /ˈwiːl/, whereas

Will (will) - will sound like short /wɪl/

Therefore, to learn how to communicate correctly, you need English transcription and pronunciation of sounds in English.

After all, if you forget to lengthen one vowel sound in a conversation, you will talk about “ports” instead of “peas,” and all “wheels” will be replaced by “will.” That is why phonetics is very important in learning English, and the pronunciation of English sounds must be listened to and studied in any case.

And here are the vowels or Vowel Sounds, as well as the pronunciation of sounds in English in the table below:

Why is it important to learn English pronunciation? Yes, because pronunciation is the first thing people notice about your English!

Learn to pronounce English words correctly as early as possible. English pronunciation is unpredictable! If you give up on practicing your pronunciation, you will start making mistakes that will become irreparable over time. The longer you ignore pronunciation problems, the more likely you will never be able to get rid of them. So fight procrastination!

How to learn pronunciation: algorithm of actions

The sounds of the English language are different from Russian ones. Do you want to speak English well? Then you will have to learn to recognize and pronounce them.

1. Learn sounds and their phonetic symbols. Learn to recognize each sound - then you can learn pronunciation by ear. To learn how to pronounce a word correctly, you must know what sounds you hear. For example, /dɒk/ and /dʌk/ - can you hear the difference? We must learn to hear.
2. Learn phonetic transcription and word stress.
3. Choose a pronunciation model, American or British.

Several recording systems exist to convey the sounds of the English language. Russian-speaking students are more familiar with the international phonetic notation system IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), but American dictionaries use an alternative system different from IPA (see Merriam-Webster Dictionary, New Oxford American Dictionary, American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Dictionary of the English Language). So if you see the symbols ā, ä, ī in the transcription, don’t be alarmed: this is an American transcription.

A dictionary, half a kingdom for a dictionary!..

English pronunciation, as we have already said, is unpredictable, so guessing how to pronounce a word is a futile exercise that will also reinforce a bad habit.

This is why (and especially at the beginning of learning!) it is so important to carefully check how a particular word is pronounced. Think of every word as a potential trap—not just “difficult” words like “determine” or “process.” The simplest English words, such as “of”, “won’t”, “does” or “most”, may surprise you.

If you are not 100% sure how to pronounce a word, don’t guess - if possible, try to check the dictionary before saying the word out loud.

As you read, ask yourself, “Do I know how to pronounce this word? Can I make a phonetic transcription of it?” If you're not sure, look in the dictionary. If you are a beginner, you should repeat this procedure as often as possible.

1. Make it a habit to check your pronunciation in a dictionary. If you are not 100% sure how to pronounce a word, don’t guess - if possible, try to check the dictionary before saying the word out loud. As you read, ask yourself, “Do I know how to pronounce this word? Can I make a phonetic transcription of it?” If you're not sure, look in the dictionary. If you are a beginner, you should repeat this procedure as often as possible.
2. Listen and remember. Any source of spoken language will do: television, podcasts, films, audio books... While listening, pay attention to how words and sounds are pronounced. If a non-native speaker speaks, note his mistakes.
3. Practice! Practice can take many forms. You can work on a system (for example, 15 minutes with a dictionary or pronunciation exercises) or just repeat a few words while doing something else (watching a movie or taking a shower). It is important to do this regularly - then you will notice progress.
4. Develop a system for learning pronunciation for yourself. For example, find a list of the most commonly used English words and learn how to pronounce them.

Good English pronunciation - what is it?

There are three levels of English pronunciation:

Level 1. People around you often don’t understand what you want to say. You pronounce English words incorrectly.

Level 2. People around you can understand you, but for this they need to make an effort.

Level 3. You are easily understood. Your pronunciation is clear and pleasant to the ear.

Learn more about Level 3

There are only two standards of English pronunciation:

1. American - General American, or GenAm;
2. British - Received Pronunciation (RP).

If you speak with a GenAm or RP accent, you will be understood around the world by both native speakers and non-native English speakers. GenAm and RP are heard on television, in films, on - that's why they are familiar to everyone.

Note that not all native English speakers have GenAm or RP pronunciation and not all speak at Level 3. If you were born and raised in Scotland, any Scotsman - and most likely any Briton - will understand you, an American - not necessarily, but those for whom English is not a native language - most likely not. With this pronunciation, you are likely to experience a number of difficulties communicating with English-speaking residents of Houston, Berlin or Seoul.

English pronunciation: complete chaos

And yet, mastering English pronunciation is not an easy task. At the beginning of the last century, the Dutch linguist Gerard Nolst Trenité (how to pronounce his name is a topic for a separate study) wrote an entire poem on this topic in his heart. And it’s called (you won’t be surprised): “Chaos”.

If you can correctly read every word in this wonderful poem, you speak English better than 90% of native English speakers in the world. One Frenchman, having tried it, said that he would prefer six months of hard labor to reading six lines out loud.

8 Pronunciation Mistakes That Helped the Development of Modern English

If you didn’t make a single discovery for yourself while listening to the previous poem, congratulations! You have mastered all the intricacies of English pronunciation and have reached a level that many native speakers will envy. For the rest of us, let’s note: your mistakes in pronunciation can serve the English language well!

There is a well-known story about how an emeritus English professor gave a speech. Addressing the students, the professor said: You shouldn't worry too much if your plans go oary after graduation. During his long career, the respected professor incorrectly pronounced the word “awry” ([əˈraɪ] - obliquely; to one side; incorrectly; unsuccessfully).

Unfortunately, this can happen to anyone. A striking example: recently the public relations service of the English railway station St. Pancras (named after Saint Pancras) has released the results of a survey on the topic “The most common pronunciation errors.” By the way, the station itself is regularly called the pancreas - no wonder they had to hire PR specialists!

So: the researchers revealed an unjustified preference for the prefix “ex-”: out of 1000 English people surveyed, 340 pronounced “ex-cetera” instead of “etcetera”, and 260 ordered “ex-presso” instead of “espresso”.

Prefixes are also confused: in one case out of five, the doctor is asked not for “prescription,” but for “perscription” or “proscription.”

For better or worse, in real life English speakers quite often make mistakes in word usage and pronunciation. The 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains 171,476 common words. But the vocabulary of the average Briton is on average tens of thousands of words more modest, and even fewer are used in everyday life. The situation when an Englishman does not know how to correctly read a word that is essentially familiar to him does not surprise anyone.

However, there is nothing more fickle in language than what is “right.” Errors force the language to develop: today it is an error, and tomorrow it is a norm recorded in dictionaries. Here are some of the most obvious examples of how incorrect pronunciation has become normative.

Words that once started with "n"

In the words "adder" (viper) and "umpire" (judge, mediator, arbitrator), the first letter was originally "n". However, in everyday speech, for example, “a nadder” was heard so often that the sound “n” was heard as part of the previous word: [æn] adder, umpire. In philology, this phenomenon is called re-decomposition.

When the sounds change places

Let's take examples from zoology: the word "wasp" (wasp) once sounded like "waps", "bird" (bird) - like "brid", "horse" (horse) - "hros". Remember this the next time you want to complain about people who say “aks” instead of “ask,” “nucular” instead of “nuclear,” or “perscription” instead of “prescription.”

This phenomenon is called “metathesis”.

When the sounds disappear

Although it is often difficult for a learner of English to make the connection between the writing of an English word and its pronunciation, in reality the English writing is a repository of information about the history of pronunciation. The ancient Britons would have thought their descendants lazy if they heard them pronounce the name of the third day of the week. Wednesday was named “Woden's day” (in honor of the Scandinavian god Odin), so the letter “d” in the word “Wednesday” is not for beauty - until recently it was voiced. No one pronounces the “t” in “Christmas” anymore - but the name of this holiday comes from the name of Christ.These are examples of syncopation.

When foreign sounds invade a word

Often the cause of phonetic changes is our physiology. When we move from a nasal sound to a non-nasal sound, a consonant can be inserted between them. Thus, “thunder” was once “thuner”, not “thunder”, and “empty” was “emty”, not “empty”. Now with the word “hamster” (hamster), in which the sound “p” slips through, the same process is happening.

When the "l" sound goes to the dark side

"Dark l" in linguist jargon is the sound "l" that is pronounced with the back of the tongue raised. In English it occurs after vowels, such as in the words "full" or "pole". You can raise your tongue so that the “l” sounds almost like a “w”. Once upon a time, the words “folk”, “talk”, “walk” had the sound “l” pronounced. Now almost everyone pronounces them with a “w”: “fowk”, “tawk”, “wawk”.

“Ch-ch-ch-changes,” as Bowie sang...

Your elderly second cousin from England would probably not like the way you pronounce the word “tune.” Rest assured: she will definitely insert the sound “y” - “tyune” into this word. The same applies to the words "tutor", "duke" and the like. But the process of formation of affricates is ongoing, whether someone likes it or not. The younger generation already knows this pronunciation as the norm.

Looking for familiar words

Borrowings from other languages ​​can be a source of quite predictable and quite funny mistakes. Knowing a foreign language poorly, we try to find an analogy for foreign words in our native language - the result is a kind of compromise between the sound of words and their meaning. This is the so-called folk etymology.

Let's take for example the word "female", which is not at all derived, as one might assume, from "male", but comes from the Old French "femelle" (woman). Or "penthouse", which is not related to the house, "house", but comes from the Anglo-Norman "pentiz" - an extension (by the way, the building term "pentice" is preserved in modern English).

We speak as we write

Alas, when learning English spelling, we all face many difficulties. This is because the pronunciation of so many English words changed after their spelling became fixed.

For example, in Norwegian "sk" is pronounced like "sh", so early English-speaking skiers "went shiing" rather than "skiing". And those who later read about it in magazines began to pronounce this word as it is spelled.

Based on the spelling of the word “salmon” (salmon), some modern Americans, when ordering a salmon roll at a sushi bar, pronounce “l” - by the way, this is exactly how this word was originally pronounced.

Your head is spinning, right? Let's stop here. And in your spare time, remember: what English words are you tempted to pronounce incorrectly? What pronunciation mistakes do you personally consider excusable? This could serve as a topic for independent study or discussion in English courses.

My accent is my enemy... How can I get closer to the ideal?

If you speak with a slight foreign accent, you will, of course, be understood. But keep this in mind: the more foreign signs in your accent, the more difficult it will be for your interlocutors (everyone is accustomed to the GenAm/RP standard, which cannot be said about a Russian or Spanish accent). The less your accent resembles the pronunciation of a native speaker, the more often you will be misunderstood and questioned.

Interesting fact: Native speakers, especially Americans, understand a wide range of foreign accents very well because they have to communicate with immigrants every day in their own country. For an American, a slight Spanish or Chinese accent is not difficult.
It's a different story for non-native English speakers - if you speak Chinese-accented English to someone from Germany or India, they'll have to work hard to understand you.

Not all pronunciation errors are equally serious. It's not a big deal if you pronounce a couple of English sounds a little differently than native speakers do.

It's much worse if you:

• speak too fast to show off;
• swallow sounds (worl instead of world);
• you put the emphasis in the wrong place (DEvelop instead of deVELop);
• pronounce the wrong sounds (determine as if it rhymed with mine, or target with the j sound);
• you confuse two different sounds (pronounce ship and hit as sheep and heat, and hope as hop).

“A foreigner will always speak with an accent”

This argument can discourage an English learner from taking pronunciation seriously! You were born and raised in a country where English is not the official language, so why bother trying to get the vowels right?

It's a fact that most foreigners speak with an accent, but no one is forcing you to be one of them. Many comedians perfectly imitate the speech of actors and politicians. Hugh Laurie as Dr. House speaks with a perfect American accent, although he himself is British.

Believe me, there are no barriers between you and perfect pronunciation. It's great if you have a talent for imitating sounds. If you can imitate the speech of those who speak the same language as you, this is already a good start. But even without this kind of inclination, you can achieve anything with perseverance and modern technology.

You may not end up being considered one of our own, but your clear, soothing pronunciation will undoubtedly earn you sympathy and respect among native English speakers.

And here are some more tips on how to achieve perfect English pronunciation from an Engvid.com teacher named Jade:

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