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English Transcription

Pronunciation of English sounds.

Pronunciation of English vowels.

The pronunciation of English sounds is presented in Russian letters; you should understand that it is not possible to convey the correct English pronunciation using the Russian alphabet.

• ɑː long, deep
• ʌ short vowel a, as in the Russian word run.
• ɒ = ɔ - short, open about
• ɔː - long o
• zː - long vowel e, as in the Russian word hedgehog.
• æ - open e
• e - like e in the word these
• ə - unclear unstressed sound, similar to e
• iː - long and
• ɪ - short, open and
• ʊ = u - short u, pronounced with a slight rounding of the lips.
• uː - long u pronounced without strong rounding of the lips.

Two-vowel sounds

Pronunciation of English consonants.

• p - p
• b - b
• m - m
• f - f
• v - in
• s - s
• z - z
• t - resembles the Russian sound t, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• d - resembles the Russian sound d, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• n - resembles the Russian sound n, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• l - resembles the Russian sound l, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• r - very solid sound, pronounced without vibration of the tongue. Corresponds to the sound r in the word lot
• ʃ - soft Russian sh
• ʒ - soft Russian zh, as in the word yeast.
• tʃ- h
• ʤ - similar to the Russian sound j (voiced ch)
• k - k
• h - inhale, reminiscent of a faintly pronounced x sound
• ju - long yu in the word southern
• je - sound e in the word spruce
• jɔ - sound ё in the word fir-tree
• jʌ - the sound I in the word pit
• j - resembles the Russian sound й before vowels. Occurs in combination with vowels.

English consonant sounds that have no approximate correspondence in Russianː

• w - formed with the help of rounded lips (as in whistling). It looks like a sound uttered with just lips. In translation it is denoted by the letters в or у ː W illiams - Williams, Williams.
• ƞ - Open your mouth slightly and say n without closing your mouth.
• ɵ - Move the slightly spread tip of your tongue between your teeth and pronounce Russian with
• ð - Move the slightly spread tip of your tongue between your teeth and pronounce Russian z

The English language is becoming more widespread every day. Today it is spoken by most of the world's population, which automatically makes it an international language of communication. In addition to the American continents, it is studied in Europe and Asia. Australia, being part of the former British Empire, has long recognized English state language. If in Western Europe American and British English are studied by children from the very beginning early age, then in Russia, Ukraine and other CIS countries they treat him very mediocrely. The school curriculum briefly goes over the most common words, but the rules for their use are not properly explained to children. All this forces people to learn on their own, which is much more difficult. Today we will look at how vowels are used English alphabet in words. They influence the quality of pronunciation and perception of the language.

The consonants of the English alphabet are the basis of all words. The total number of letters is 26, of which there are 20 consonants, and there are only 6 vowels in English. Despite such a meager number, they can take various shapes pronunciation, as a result, about 20-24 sounds are obtained from 6 letters. All vowels and consonants are listed in the table below:

As you can see in the picture, the vowels in the English alphabet are highlighted yellow. Next to each letter there is a transcription, thanks to which you can learn to correctly pronounce a particular letter. There has always been a need for transcription due to the fact that it is simply impossible to explain correct pronunciation using the example of the Russian language. If in Russian one letter is equal to one sound, then most of the vowels in the English alphabet are pronounced using a combination of two phonemes.

The final letter "Yy" can be a vowel or a consonant depending on the type of syllable. This should be taken into account when reading and morphemic analysis of words. Which sound will be determined by a particular letter depends on its position in the word and syllable.

Types of syllables of the English alphabet

In Russian language lessons, everyone learned an unshakable rule: the number of vowels in a word, the number of syllables in it. This also applies to the English language, which makes learning it much easier. For example, let’s take the word “octopus”, which means “octopus”. Oc-to-pus – three vowels and three syllables. The example is remarkable because it has everything we need: open and closed syllables.

Open syllable

This concept means a syllable that ends with a vowel or consists of one vowel letter:

1. A [hey] - indefinite article, consisting of one letter, is an open syllable. Therefore, the article is read as indicated in the transcription.
2. Rules (rules) - consists of two syllables, but only the first is open. Therefore, “u” is read as in transcription, and “e” practically disappears from the word when pronounced.
3. Far (far) – the syllable is closed. Therefore, instead of [hey], a long [a] is pronounced.

Consonants and their combinations often change the phonetic meaning of vowel letters in the English alphabet, forming different types of syllables.

Closed syllable

Book, cook, root, meet, flat and other words where a consonant closes a syllable are words with closed syllables. In the examples listed above, “oo” is read as Russian “u”, “a” instead of [ey] is read as Russian “a”.

Vowel letters of the English alphabet: reading features

You already know that there are much fewer vowel letters in the English alphabet than their sounds. What else can affect the quality of phoneme pronunciation besides the type of syllable in a word? We will look at a few basic rules that will help you start pronouncing words correctly and improve your reading success in a foreign language.

1. The presence of the letter “R” in a word. If a letter is present in an open syllable, it is practically unreadable and merges with the adjacent vowel. This produces a sound similar to the Russian “e”. If the letter is in a closed syllable, then it affects the duration of the vowel pronunciation: long sounds become short and vice versa.
2. Emphasis. If the emphasis falls on the letters “a”, “o” or “u”, then their pronunciation is practically not performed. They are read casually; the duration of emphasis on these sounds is extremely short. The result is again a sound similar to the Russian “e”. For example, the combination sofa-bed (sofa-bed) is pronounced together, its transcription looks like [‘soufǝbǝd]. If the emphasis falls on “i”, “e” or “y”, they are pronounced like the Russian “i”. For example: city, enemy.
3. Pronunciation speed. When speaking quickly, it may happen that the stress in the word is not recognized at all. This results in the fact that a long vowel sound shortens the length of its pronunciation or disappears from the word altogether. All pronouns in English language are pronounced with short vowels, although according to the rules it is necessary to speak with long sounding phonemes.
4. Weak and strong forms. Short vowels are automatically considered weak because they cannot take on stress, but when combined with other letters they can form new sounds. Weak short forms are mainly expressed in particles, articles and pronouns. In full-fledged words, strong long phonemes are much more common.

The most incomprehensible thing for a Russian-speaking person in learning the vowels of the English alphabet is the analysis of diphthongs. The combination of two sounds to pronounce one letter is new to the Russian language. For a general understanding, it is worth noting that all diphthongs are pronounced briefly, but their position in the word relative to the consonants and the type of consonants themselves matter. Before voiceless sounds like “f”, “h”, “s”, “t” and others, diphthongs practically disappear from the sound pronunciation and become very short.

For a better understanding of speech and the rules of its origin, it is recommended to read texts in English with automatic voice acting. Special courses or films with subtitles are suitable.

Transcription is the transmission in writing of elements oral speech using a specific set of written characters. Phonetic transcription– this is the most accurate transmission of oral speech by graphic means (special transcription signs).

Each individual sound and its variants have their own designations. For recording, special characters are used, called transcription marks, which are enclosed in square brackets. Some of these signs repeat the letters of the English alphabet; the designations of others may differ significantly. However, a letter and a sound are completely different things. Letter- these are designations of sound in writing, while sound can be regarded as an independent unit. We write and read letters, we hear and pronounce sounds. The transcription sign indicates the sound and the features of its pronunciation. In writing, one letter can convey several sounds at once, and each transcription sign can convey only one sound.

What is transcription used for?

The spelling of a word and its actual pronunciation may vary significantly. Therefore, for correct pronunciation, only knowledge of the reading rules is not enough, because there are always exceptions to the rules. The same letters/letter combinations under the same conditions can be read differently. Thanks to transcription, if necessary, you will be able to correctly read an unfamiliar word. At the initial stage of learning a language, it is possible to use Russian transcription, but in the English language there are sounds that are absent in the Russian language, so Russian transcription conveys only the approximate sound of a word, which is why you may pronounce a word written in Russian transcription incorrectly. In addition, the quality of pronunciation of the same sounds may differ.

Perfect knowledge of transcription signs is not necessary, because it is unlikely that you will need to convey the sound of a word using these signs. But you may need to look up the correct pronunciation of the word in a dictionary. And for this it is important to be able to correctly read the transcription in the dictionary. In addition, most transcription signs are found in other European languages.

Factors influencing pronunciation

Word stress

The correct pronunciation of vowels in stressed syllables, where vowels are pronounced clearly, and the meaning of the word will depend on the correctness of their sound, can cause difficulties. In an unstressed syllable, vowels are not clearly articulated and may fall out (not be pronounced), so they do not pose any particular difficulties in pronunciation. Unlike the Russian language, where the stress is placed above the stressed syllable, in English the stress is indicated by a vertical stroke before stressed syllable. Monosyllabic words have one stress, long ones can have two. In this case, the main stress is placed at the top, the secondary stress is at the bottom.

English sounds

Consonant sounds and their approximate Russian analogues:

• [b] - [b]
• [d] - [d]
• [f] – [f]
• [g] - [g]
• [k] -[k]
• [l] - [l]
• [m] -[m]
• [n] - [n]
• [p] - [p]
• [s] - [s]
• [t] - [t]
• [v] - [v]
• [z] - [z]
• [ʃ] - [w]
• [ʒ] – soft [zh]
• - [h]
• – absent in the Russian language (represents a very quickly pronounced sound [j]);
• [r] – the tip of the tongue is not tense, does not vibrate, is motionless, raised to the roof of the oral cavity, but does not touch the alveoli (reminiscent of the Russian sound [r], but not as clear);
• [j] - [th];
• [ŋ] – nasal [n];
• [θ] – absent in Russian, interdental (to pronounce it, pronounce [s], sticking the tip of your tongue between your teeth);
• [ð] - absent in Russian, interdental (to pronounce it, pronounce [z], sticking the tip of your tongue between your teeth).

The articulation of a number of English sounds is practically no different from the articulation of Russian sounds, but there are some features:

• English [t], [p], [k] are distinguished from their Russian counterparts [t], [p], [k] by their pronunciation with aspiration (aspiration);
• When pronouncing sounds [d], [l], [n], [t], the tip of the tongue is on the alveoli (tubercles just above the upper teeth);
• [ʃ] [ʒ] – softer than their Russian counterparts, for this you need to slightly raise the back of the tongue;
• [h] – the sound is slightly louder than an exhalation;
• [w] – lips are rounded and tense, the lower lip should not touch the teeth (quickly say [ui]).

Pronunciation of vowels

In English, vowel length is very important because it affects the meaning of a word. This means that words with the same vowel of different lengths will differ in meaning, for example: sheep [ʃi:p] - sheep, ship [ʃɪp] - ship, live live - leave - leave, leave.

The length of a vowel in writing is indicated by two dots after it. With 6 vowel letters you can form a wide variety of sounds:

• – long sound [a];
• [æ] - average between [a] and [e], the mouth is wide open, the jaw is lowered down;
• - long [and];
• [i] - short [and];
• [e] – average between [e] and [e], the corners of the lips are stretched to the sides;
• [ɔ] - short [o];
• [ɔ:] - long [o];
• [ə] - unclear, unstressed sound, reminiscent of [e];
• [ʌ] – short [a];
• [z] - resembles the sound [ё];
• [u] - short [y];
• - lingering [y].

Diphthongs

Diphthongs- these are two vowel sounds pronounced together, where the first is stressed, articulated more clearly and clearly, and the second is weaker:

• - [ay];
• - [Hey];
• [ɔi] - [oh];
• - [ay];
• [əu] - [оу];
• - [ie];
• - [ue];
• [ɛə] - vaguely similar to [ea].

Thrifthongs

Triphthong is a combination of three vowel sounds that are pronounced together and are part of one syllable.

- pronounced [aye]. The longest of the three sounds is “a”. The sounds “y” and “e” are pronounced almost simultaneously.
In writing it is expressed using the letter combinations “ire”, “yre”, “iar”, less often “ier” and “ie+t”:

ire - fire [‘faɪə] (fire)
yre - tire [‘taɪə] (tire)
iar - liar [‘laɪə] (liar)
ier - tier [‘taɪə] (binding)
iet - quiet [‘kwaɪət] (quiet)

- pronounced [aue]. In this case, the sound “u” is exactly the sound that is conveyed by the letter “w”.
In writing it is conveyed using the letter combinations “our”, “ower”:

our - sour [‘sauə] (sour)
ower - power [‘pauə] (strength)

- pronounced [yue]. The longest of the three sounds in this triphthong is "u".
In writing it is conveyed using the letter combinations “eur”, “ure”:

eur - European [ˌjuərə’piːən] (European)
ure - pure (pure).

Words in a stream of speech

In addition to the main stress, with the help of which emphasis is placed on a syllable, there is the concept of phrasal stress. Phrase stress- this is the selection in the flow of speech of words on the importance of which the speaker wants to emphasize. The placement of phrasal stress does not significantly change the essence of the sentence. Let's compare using the example of a simple short sentence (emphasis added in bold:) She has gone to the shop just now. She just went to the store (it was she, not someone else). She has gone to the shop just now. She had just gone to the store (walked, not used another means of transportation). She has gone to the shop just now. She just went to the store (namely the store, and not anywhere else). She has gone to the shop just now. She just went to the store (just now).

Accordingly, the stressed word will be pronounced as clearly as possible. As a rule, function words are prepositions, conjunctions, particles, pronouns, etc. are in an unstressed position. It should also be noted that colloquial speech tends to be minimized: it is characterized by the use of abbreviated forms, less clear articulation, sometimes deliberate mispronunciation of words, loss of vowels, etc.

How much time to devote to practice?

The answer is obvious. The more practice in the language, the better. The more time you spend practicing your pronunciation, the more authentic (more natural, as similar to English speech as possible) your speech will sound. Listening English speech, its imitation, reading aloud will help you with this. Record your speech on a voice recorder, which will help you identify your own mistakes, because your perception of your own speech differs from its perception by others. And remember that when studying foreign language Regular practice is extremely important. With shorter, but regular exercises, you will achieve greater results than with long, “jerky” exercises. We wish you success!

English alphabet with transcription
Reading rules in English

When you start learning English, the first thing you encounter is English alphabet (alphabet |ˈalfəbɛt |). Writing English letters is not something completely new even at the very initial stage of learning, because any modern man encounters English letters on computer and telephone keyboards every day. Yes, and English words are found at every step: in advertising, on the labels of various products, in store windows.

But even though the letters seem familiar, their correct pronunciation in English is sometimes difficult even for those who speak English quite well. Everyone is familiar with the situation when you need to spell an English word - for example, dictate an address Email or the name of the site. This is where the wonderful names begin - i - “like a stick with a dot”, s - “like a dollar”, q - “where is the Russian th”.

English alphabet with pronunciation in Russian, transcription and voice acting

The English alphabet with Russian pronunciation is intended only for beginners. In the future, when you become familiar with the rules of reading English and learn new words, you will need to study transcription. It is used in all dictionaries, and if you know it, it will solve the problem for you once and for all correct pronunciation new words. We advise you to compare the transcription icons in square brackets with the Russian equivalent at this stage. Perhaps, from these short examples, you will remember some of the relationships between English and Russian sounds.

Below is a table showing the English alphabet with transcription and Russian pronunciation.

← Move the table to the left to view in full

English alphabet cards

Cards of the English alphabet are very effective in learning it. Bright and large letters will be easier to remember. See for yourself:

Features of some letters of the English alphabet.

In the English alphabet 26 letters: 20 consonants and 6 vowels.

The vowels are A, E, I, O, U, Y.

There are a few letters in the English language that we want to pay special attention to because they have certain features that need to be taken into account when learning the alphabet.

• The letter Y in English can be read as a vowel or as a consonant. For example, in the word “yes” it is a consonant sound [j], and in the word “many” it is a vowel sound [i] (and).
• Consonant letters in words, as a rule, convey only one sound. The letter X is an exception. It is transmitted by two sounds at once - [ks] (ks).
• The letter Z in the alphabet is read differently in the British and American versions (as you probably already noticed in the table). The British version is (zed), the American version is (zi).
• The pronunciation of the letter R is also different. The British version is (a), the American version is (ar).

To make sure you pronounce it correctly english letters, we recommend not only looking at them and reading them (using transcription or Russian version), but also listening. To do this, we advise you to find and listen to ABC-song. This song is usually used when teaching children the alphabet, but it can also be useful for adults. ABC-song is very popular in teaching, it exists in various variations. If you sing it with the announcer several times, you can not only check the correct pronunciation of the letters, but also easily remember the alphabet along with the melody.

A few words about spelling

So, we have learned the English alphabet. We know how English letters are pronounced individually. But moving on to the reading rules, you will immediately see that many letters in different combinations are read completely differently. A reasonable question arises - as the cat Matroskin would say - what is the benefit of memorizing the alphabet? In fact, there are practical benefits.

The point here is not the ability to recite the alphabet from beginning to end, but the ability to easily spell any English word. This skill is necessary when you need to take dictation english names. If you need English for work, this skill can be very useful, since English names, even those that sound the same, can be written in several ways. For example, Ashley or Ashlee, Mila and Milla, not to mention last names. Therefore, for the British and Americans themselves, it is considered absolutely natural to ask to spell a name if you need to write it down (spell it) - hence the word spelling (spelling), which you can see in various tutorials.

Online exercises for learning the alphabet

Choose the letter that goes

Complete the letter with which the word begins.

Complete the letter that ends the word.

Decipher the code and write down the secret message in letters. The number corresponds to the order of the letters in the alphabet.

Well, the final, interactive exercise “Dictation”, you can follow this link.

You can apply the acquired knowledge in practice with the help. With the help of unique exercises, even entry level, you can master not only reading, but also writing English words, as well as learn basic grammar rules and continue learning further.

As we know, English sounds, of which there are only 44, and English letters, of which there are 26, are not the same thing. If in the Russian alphabet the name of a letter and the corresponding sound are approximately similar, then in the English language letters often make completely different sounds. Therefore, if you decide to learn English, then you will have to learn not one language, but two - written and spoken. Each of them has its own alphabet.

We discussed the written alphabet in the article, and the oral alphabet is presented in the table IPA(International Phonetic Alphabet) - international phonetic alphabet.

English sounds in the table

These tables may look different, for example, here is one of the views:


At the top are the short vowels of English, below them are the long vowels, then are the diphthongs, and at the bottom are the consonants, which are divided into voiceless and voiced.
What difficulties await us in mastering English sounds? Firstly, this is a different representation of sounds by letters. Let's take for example the word elephant [ˈelifənt]. It contains the first "e" pronounced as in the word egg [ˈeg], the second - as in eagle [ˈiːgəl].

In a word cough[ˈkɔf] the last sound is pronounced like "f", also in the word laughˈ, however in the word bough[ˈbæʊ] is a completely different sound at the end, although they are very similar in spelling.
Woman[ˈwʊmən] in the singular; however, in the plural, it is already women[ˈwɪmən], as in the word ink
In a word Station[ˈsteɪʃən] sound ʃ represented by two letters "ti"
In a word sugar[ˈʃʊgər] same sound ʃ represented by the letter "s"

Seam sound - Schwa

There is one tricky vowel sound in the English language that is the most common and also very important vowel sound. It is called schwa(seam) - ə. This is an unstressed vowel sound that can be found in almost every word more than one syllable in length. It is a very short neutral vowel whose exact pronunciation depends on the surrounding consonants.
For example in the word computer- two schwa- first and last.

Shva also used for weak forms of words such as: a, an, the, some, and, but, of, from, for, at, them, us, that, as, than, there, am, are, was, has, have, had, does, can, must(these words have both a strong and a weak form).
For example in the phrase: There was a call for you just a word call has no sound seam, we hear this word clearly. And all weak forms are a series seam sounds:

It is precisely the fact that the weak form of words is represented by sound seam, makes understanding spoken English so difficult.

English sounds when combining words

The next difficulty arises from the merging of words. Listen to Jane Lawson's recording of her pronouncing the phrases from Table 1, first separately, then together.

When combining words, sometimes the last sound of the previous word merges with the first syllable of the next one, for example ‘one egg’ (wuneg) And ‘five eggs’ (fivegz), that completely new non-existent words are heard 'neg' or 'vegz'. Table No. 1

The red letters in this table represent extra sounds that are not in writing and that are forced to be pronounced in order for speech to be fast and smooth. If you try to say it quickly 'two eggs' no extra sound w, 'three eggs' no extra sound y, or 'four eggs' no extra sound r, you will realize that it is difficult to do. This is a whole topic in English pronunciation, which is called Word Linking.

The following comic poem will help you understand the phenomenon of word fusion Word Linking. This limerick(limerick), written by Edward Lear, a famous English writer.

There are 5 lines, the first rhymes with the second and fifth, and the third with the fourth. Limericks are a good way to learn natural English sounds. Listen to Jane Lawson read this poem. She reads it several times - with and without merging words, separately working on the merging of two words highlighted in table No. 2 in yellow:

All stressed syllables are highlighted in blue bold font. The remaining syllables are unstressed - in other words, we pronounce them faster and more quietly. Try saying it yourself a few times until you get the rhythm right.

Limericks are also very good way understand the phenomenon of merging words, because merging occurs by itself if you pronounce them in the right rhythm. If you pronounce each word separately, it will not sound as natural.

Rule for merging words: When one word ends with a consonant and the next word begins with a vowel, the words merge together.

In table No. 2 this is marked with red arrows. The places where two consonant sounds from the previous one and one are found are highlighted in yellow. next word. If these two consonants use the same lip position when pronounced, we combine them into one sound, otherwise it will be difficult to pronounce them.

Linking sound R

The next feature of merging words is the use of extra sound R. If we pronounce words separately, we do not use extra sound R between them. However, if we pronounce them together, we use them, as this makes the pronunciation smoother and faster.

Let's listen to another audio recording by Jane Lawson, in which she explains this phenomenon using examples from table No. 3.

You can try to pronounce phrases that require a connecting sound R, without it, it sounds somewhat unnatural. More examples of phrases in which a connective appears R:

Sometimes this sound confuses students, for example the following phrases sound the same, but have different meanings:

So it is very important to remember the binder R, because otherwise you might misunderstand the meaning!

And now a little exercise in mindfulness: why does Ghoti = fish?

Answer: gh=f (laugh), o=i (wo men), ti=sh (stati on)