Pronunciation and Process
There are sounds (phonemes) in English that are more about the movement between two sounds than the two sounds themselves. Specifically, /aɪ/, /aʊ/, /ɔɪ/, /e/, and /o/ (KK, as usual, although the first three are the same in IPA.) In some regional dialects and accents, the movement between the two sounds […]
The article “the” has two pronunciations. It can be either /ði/ or /ðə/. Most students were taught the rule for choosing the right pronunciation. Unfortunately, it’s easy to forget the most important part. Test yourself with these two examples: 1. the U.S. 2. the M.R.T. Which pronunciation should each be? […]
One of the worst things that a student can believe is that learning is a passive process – that being taught is the same as learning, and that the main thing that differentiates a student who learns little and a student who learns a lot is the skill of the […]
Many people use the words “practice”, “exercise”, and “train” as if they were the same. For many people that’s OK because the difference is not important in their lives. However, understanding the difference is very important for people learning a new language. Learning a new language is a lot like […]
Having good handwriting is as important as having good pronunciation. Why? When you’re communicating with someone, their minds should be focused on the content and meaning of what you’re saying or have written. They should not be consciously trying to figure out what words you’re trying to use. That effort […]
It always seems to be the short words which cause the greatest difficulty. The problem is not that they require more practice than longer or more complicated words, or (as sometimes happens) that their only vowel is reduced to a /ə/ in casual conversation, but because they look so easy […]
One of the important things to learn when learning English is how to guess at the pronunciation of a new word. This is one reason we spend so much time on KK and phonics. But there are other equally-important rules. Here’s one: If a word has a double consonant (two […]
“She” is one of the most mispronounced English words in Taiwan. There are two issues. First, the tongue is usually in the wrong place when the /ʃ/ sound is pronounced. Most people use ˹ㄕ˼ instead, which (in Taiwan) is usually pronounced with the tip of the tongue down behind the […]