Pronunciation of English letters: rules, features, differences

English is very different from Russian. The difference is not only in the rules for constructing sentences, but also in pronunciation. The pronunciation of English letters has its own specific features, which can be difficult for beginner students to understand.

The fact is that the phonetics of the English language is very different from the phonetics of the Russian language. In English there are no soft sounds, which are full in Russian speech. In addition, a foreign language is rich in sounds that are absent in our native language (it is full of letter combinations, also known as diphthongs).

Consider the features of the pronunciation of English vowels and consonants, give examples of words as vivid instances and learn the features of English letter combinations.

Rules, features, international differences

English language has only 6 vowels, but they are able to form a greater number of similar ones, making speech rich and varied. Important! Please note that in different words the letters will be read differently. English language learning rule number one for beginners - always look at the transcription!

Owl, open, blossom, cotton, bowl - all these words have a component sound [o], only it is pronounced differently. Transcription makes reading words very easy, so beginning students are highly recommended to enlist the support of a dictionary. Look into it whenever you have a free moment. This will only benefit you.

An interesting case with the sound [ u ]. June, but, Gulliver, music… For children, the peculiarities of the English alphabet can be truly incomprehensible. But this is only at first sight. Practice, patience and work will bring generous results in writing and speaking.

Another striking example is the sound [ y ]. In addition to the standard yesterday, yellow, Jelly and Billy, there are also well-known yawn, yogurt, yarn, yacht ... Can you pronounce these words correctly without a dictionary? Or do you need transcription?

Pronunciation of English letters - vowels

Audio transcription in English	Correct pronunciation	Analogy with Russian sound	Phonetics
[but:]	The mouth is open almost as for the Russian sound [a], but the tongue should be moved back and down a little. The tongue should lie flat, the tip of the tongue should be pulled away from the lower teeth	[a] => so-so	a rm, f a ther Audio player
[æ]	The lips are somewhat stretched, the lower jaw must be lowered, and the tip of the tongue should touch the lower teeth	[—] => this	c a t, bl a ck Audio player
[ ɔ : ]	It is necessary to proceed from the position of the speech organs when pronouncing the sound [a:], then slightly round the lips and push them forward	[o:] => sort	c a ll, f ou r Audio player
[ ɔ ]	It should be based on the position of the speech organs when pronouncing the sound [a:], then the lips are slightly rounded	[o] => basketball	a way, cin e m a Audio player
[3:]	The tongue is raised, the lips are tense and slightly stretched, the distance between the jaws is small	[—] looks a bit like yo	t ur n, l ear n Audio player
[i], [ı]	Touch the base of the lower teeth with the tip of the tongue	[and] => needle	h i t, s i tt i ng Audio player
[i:]	The lips should be somewhat stretched, and touch the lower teeth with the tip of the tongue.	[and:] => Inna	s ee , h ea t Audio player
[ə]	All efforts should be focused on the stressed vowel	[-] neutral vowel, unstressed sound - final unstressed [a] => room, paper	a way, cin e m a Audio player
[e]	The tip of the tongue is at the lower teeth, the lips are slightly stretched, the lower jaw should not be lowered	[e] these, father-in-law	m e t, b e d Audio player
[ʊ]	Lips are slightly rounded, but almost do not move forward	[y] => fog	p u t, c oul d Audio player
[u : ]	The lips should be strongly rounded, but they move forward much less.	blue food Audio player
[Λ]	The tongue is somewhat pushed back, the lips are slightly stretched, the distance between the jaws is quite large	pre-stressed [a] => what, gardens	cup, luck Audio player

On a note! To pronounce English letters correctly, you first need to carefully learn phonetics. It is very important to approach the process responsibly, because relearning is much more difficult than learning something from scratch. All sounds must be learned with transcription.

The pronunciation of consonants in English also differs from the pronunciation of most Russian counterparts, especially since a foreign language has letters in its alphabet that are not in our native language. Consider the features of reading and pronunciation of English consonants.

Pronunciation of consonants in English

English transcription	How to pronounce the English sound correctly	Analogue in Russian	Phonetics
[h]	Similar to the sound we hear when we breathe on frozen hands to warm them, exhale with added voice	deaf [x] as in the word => bread	how, hello Audio player
[f]	Pronounced more energetically than the Russian sound [f]	deaf [f] hard, as in the word => fraction	find, if Audio player
[l]	The tip of the tongue should rest against the alveoli	voiced [l] => linen	leg, little Audio player
[R]	Presence of aspiration	deaf [p] hard, as in the word => finger	pet, map Audio player
[v]	We pronounce with more energy than the Russian sound [c]	voiced [in] solid, as in a word => fan	voice, five Audio player
[z]	Tip of the tongue at the alveoli	voiced [h] solid, as in the word => star	zoo, lazy Audio player
[w]	Pronounced with only one lips, slightly rounded and advanced forward	[—] => Williams, goon	wet, window Audio player
[t]	The tip of the tongue rests on the alveoli	deaf [t] hard, as in the word => throne	tea, getting Audio player
[r]	The tip of the tongue rises to the front of the palate, as when pronouncing [g], the tongue is motionless	[r] as in the word => horn	red, try Audio player
[m]	The lips should be closed and make a sound, exhaling through the nose	voiced [m] solid, as in the word => soap	man, lemon Audio player
[to]	The sound is muffled, but energetic. The back of the tongue should be moved to the throat, while blocking the air flow, and make a sound	deaf [to] hard, as in the word => com	cat, back Audio player
[j]	Stretch the tongue along the palate, lips into a smile and when pronouncing the sound [j], as in the word May, return the tongue to its original position without touching the palate	[th] as in words => yorsh, major	yes, yellow Audio player
[d]	The tip of the tongue rests on the alveoli	voiced [d] solid, as in the word => smoke	did, lady Audio player
[b]	Labial sound	voiced [b] solid, as in a word => trampoline	bad, lab Audio player
[n]	The tip of the tongue rests on the alveoli	voiced [n] hard, as in the word => nose	no, ten Audio player
[ŋ]	The back of the tongue closes with the soft palate, pronounced "on the nose" with an open mouth	[nn]	sing, finger Audio player
[ʃ]	The tip and front of the tongue are closer to the alveoli, the middle part is raised to the hard palate, the teeth are brought together	[w] softened, as in the word => tire	she crash Audio player
[ð]	When the tip of the tongue is between the teeth, Russian is pronounced [з]	[-]	this, mother Audio player
[tʃ]	The tip and front of the tongue are closer to the alveoli, the middle part is raised to the hard palate, the teeth are brought together	[h] => tea, seagull	check, church Audio player
[θ]	th in English is pronounced when the tongue is between the teeth	[-]	think, both Audio player
[ӡ]	The tip and front of the tongue are closer to the alveoli, the middle part is raised to the hard palate, the teeth are brought together	[g] as in the word => jelly, liquid, tin	pleasure, vision Audio player
[s]	Tip of the tongue at the alveoli	deaf [s] hard, as in the word => catfish, cheese, glory	sun, miss Audio player

The table shows that consonants can be hard, deaf and voiced. In this case, one should take into account the fact that in English there are sounds that are quite similar in pronunciation, for example, v and w.

But! The sound v is voiced, it is pronounced much more energetically than Russian v. In turn, the sound w is pronounced in a completely different way than the sound v => you should slightly round your lips and push them forward.

Consider another table where we give examples of consonants with their sounds and a few examples:

	Lips (Bilabial)	Lips-Teeth (Labio-dental)	Tongue-Teeth (Dental)	Tongue-Gum Ridge  (Alveolar)	Tongue-Palate (Palatal)	Tongue-Soft Palate  (Velar)	Throat (Glottal)
Stops	p b		Value	t d		k g
Fricatives		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ  ʒ		h
Affricates					tʃ dʒ
Nasals	m			n		ŋ
Liquids				l	r
Glides	w				y

The table shows that transcription plays an important role. This is an important factor that plays a key role during the first stage of learning English. It is he who helps to read the word correctly and learn how to pronounce it correctly. With the help of transcription, even the most difficult word can be read correctly.

Pronunciation of English sounds

The correct pronunciation of English sounds is impossible without a correct understanding of the role of the organs of speech. When we pronounce this or that sound, a certain organ of speech occupies one or another position. To pronounce sounds, we use the entire oral cavity - not only the tongue, as many believe, but also the lips, palate and even teeth. Yes yes exactly. And there is nothing strange in this. Remember: that we are talking about a foreign language, and not about our native language, and in other languages there are always many interesting things that are not in our speech.

When we pronounce English sounds, we use not only the tip of the tongue, but also the back of it, along with the root. When the sky is involved in the pronunciation, then the alveoli play an important role. They are small tubercles behind the upper teeth.

What role do the vocal cords play? With their help, we can pronounce deaf and voiced sounds. Moreover, for the pronunciation of deaf consonant sounds, the vocal cords do not need to be strained, they are freely moved apart. But when we strain the ligaments, they are set in motion with the help of air flow, as a result of which they begin to vibrate. This vibration is the cause of the appearance of ringing sounds.

Features of the pronunciation of vowel sounds. The role of monophthongs and diphthongs

Unlike Russian, English has monophthongs and diphthongs. Monophthongs are vowel sounds during the pronunciation of which our speech apparatus is characterized by the preservation of a certain fixed position. In this case, the articulation will not change throughout the whole period of sounding.

Diphthongs are vowel sounds that are formed using two elements, for example, diphthong [aɪ]. To pronounce a diphthong, the organs of speech first acquire one position, and then another. It should be remembered that the first part of the diphthong, which is also called the core, will have a longer pronunciation and distinctness. As for the second part, it will be less loud and shorter.

Important! You should also pay attention to the longitude of vowels. In transcription, it is denoted by a colon (:). An incorrectly spoken word, or rather, with a broken duration, can lead to a violation of the meaning of the whole sentence.

For example:

• ship [ ʃɪ p] - ship and sheep [ ʃ i ː p] - ram .

If you perceive a sentence with these words by ear, without seeing them, then you can misunderstand the meaning.

Features of the pronunciation of consonants

First of all, I would like to note that the consonants of the English language are pronounced more energetically than the consonants of Russian. Let's take the sound [m] as an example. To pronounce it correctly, you should close your lips more tightly than if the sound m was pronounced in Russian speech.

A striking example:

• bad [bæd] - bad
• bat [bæt] - bat .

The example shows that if you deafen the last sound, then the meaning of the word will be completely different. If a person does not read, but listens, then it is very important to pronounce words correctly. Otherwise, you risk being misunderstood.

Summing up

The pronunciation of English words is an interesting and rather difficult topic, especially for beginners. Not only must the alphabet be learned, it must also be learned to pronounce it correctly. Letters and sounds, monophthongs and diphthongs, vowels and consonants ... Each listing item has its own rules and pronunciation features. Moreover, it is important to remember that English vowels and consonants form marching sounds. For example, if there are only six pure vowels, then there will be more of them with diphthongs.

Why is it important to learn how to pronounce sounds correctly? To understand us! When the tongue becomes confused, the organs of speech are misused, and one sound is similar to another, speech turns into mush. Words should be pronounced clearly, correctly, with the correct longitude. Remember: competent speech gives the impression of an educated and intelligent person. but most importantly - you can easily communicate with foreigners. You will understand them, and they will understand you. Traveling abroad will be a pleasure, not a punishment.

Good luck and new achievements! Remember: luck smiles on those who go towards it.