This is exactly what beginners look like at first when they try to hear the pronunciation of their English speaking language. interlocutor. And this is not surprising, because Wookiee English is an important point in learning. Language is a means of communication, primarily orally. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to its sound structure. In this lesson we will look at the sounds of the English language and learn what transcription is.

Transcription is a written representation of the sounds of a language using special characters, with the goal of accurately conveying pronunciation. With its help, you can record the sound of any word, regardless of whether it belongs to any language. That is, having dealt with transcription once, you will never lose this skill and will be able to use it when learning other languages.

Basic conventions:

• Transcription is usually given in square brackets [...] . Sounds that may not be pronounced are marked in parentheses. (...) .
• Transcription of the English language also helps in the correct placement of stress in words. There are two types of stress, and both of them are indicated in transcription. The first is the main stress ( main stress), unlike the Russian language, is placed not above the stressed syllable, but above it in front of it. The second stress is additional ( secondary stress) is placed before the stressed syllable below [‘,] .
• A long sound is indicated [:] colon.

In the last lesson we learned that there are 26 letters in the English language, of which 6 are vowels and 20 are consonants. It is very important to feel the difference between a letter and a sound. We write and read letters, and pronounce and hear sounds. Therefore, the next thing we have to remember is that the 26 letters of the English language convey 44 sounds.

26 letters = 44 sounds:

• 20 consonant letters - convey 24 consonant sounds,
• 6 vowel letters - convey 20 vowel sounds.

Transcription signs of English sounds

Reading transcriptions or pronunciation of English sounds.

Now let's figure out how these sounds are pronounced. Take a close look at these tables. They will help you a lot in the future.

Vowel sounds

Diphthongs (two vowels)

Just Letters and Sounds Just letters and sounds

The English have 26 letters in their alphabet - seven less than ours. Which already makes it easier for us to get to know English.

Square brackets indicate how each letter of the English alphabet is pronounced. In Standard British English the letter R sometimes it doesn’t “speak out” at all: car(car), star(star), door(door). In America, as well as in some areas of England, this letter sounds - a dull growl - and you can safely pronounce it if you wish: arm[ɑ:rm] (hand), form(form, form), turn(turn).

If you see a dotted line under the text, then there is a hint for that text. In this case, this is the approximate (≈) Russian pronunciation, represented in the English alphabet by parentheses. And now attention! Yours task for this lesson: learn to read as it is written in square in parentheses, not in round ones! Pronunciation in parentheses is given only for those who are new to the English language. Immediately after getting acquainted with all the sounds below, they will not be there. And if someone somewhere teaches you to read using Russian transcription, know that they are deceiving you. Below will be given text, audio, video explanations of each sound.

Alphabet need to learn by heart. Why? It happens that we are not sure how to spell a particular name correctly and we have to clarify:

Spell your name. - Tell your name spell by letter.
Spell it, please. - Tell his spell by letter, Please.

And the interlocutor, whose name is, say, Timothy, or, in short, Tim, dictates to us:

Timothy -

Additionally, to reinforce the English alphabet:

Word - Word

Spell- a useful verb that helps us clarify the spelling of any word, even the most “tricky” one. There is a city in England called Leicester. By ear, the name has five sounds: ["lestə]. Let's try to find it on an English map. Where is it? Let's check with our friend Tim:

How do you spell it? - How do you write it?
Spell this name for us. - Spell this name for us.

Tim spells the name. We write it down. We write down:

[ɑ:] - Leicester.

There are only five sounds, but nine letters! There are nine letters in Leicester . Historically, some letters in this name became “silent”.

Tim will name a few more cities, and you will write them - right here on the lines.

Notes - Notes

Names (Ann, Tim), names of continents (Africa, Asia), countries (England, Russia), cities (Bristol, York), villages (Pendrift), streets (Oxford Street), squares (Trafalgar Square) and alleys (Penny Lane ) are written with a capital letter.

Your Dictionary
Your dictionary

Your dictionary is English-Russian, it contains English words with Russian translation. They are arranged strictly in alphabetical order.

Let's find the translation of the word please- in the section under the letter R. A few simple rules:

1. In order not to read the entire section from beginning to end, we look at the second letter of the word - l. The alphabetical principle applies again: letter combination pl comes after combinations pa, re, ph, pi. Here are the words to pl: place(place), plain(plain)... It’s time to look at the third letter e. Then on the fourth A. And then after pleasant["plezǝnt] (pleasant), but before pleasure["рлеʒǝ] (pleasure) we find the word we need.

2. After please worth the reduction v , after pleasant - A . What kind of "secret writing" is this? The solution-explanation is at the very beginning of the dictionary - in List of abbreviations. Bukovka n stands for noun(noun); v - verb(verb); A - adjective(adjective); adv - adverb(adverb).
These pointers are not meant to "burden" you with grammatical terms. In English, there are cases when the same word can act as a noun or a verb, an adjective or an adverb. The dictionary will tell you what part of speech it is and then give you the translation.

help 1. v to help. 2. n help; assistant.
fast 1. A fast, fast. 2. adv fast.

3. Nouns in all dictionaries are given in the singular.

Some words do not have a singular number. The letters indicate this pl : from plural(plural).

clothes n pl cloth
scissors["sɪzəz] n pl scissors

It happens, fortunately, rarely that a word “looks” like it is plural, but in fact it is singular. The dictionary will not let you make mistakes: sing means singular(singular). For example, news(used as sing) news, news.

4. Verbs are given a stem from which other verb forms are formed - in particular, the past tense.

5. A word can have two or more meanings, so do not rush to take the translation that comes first on the list. Let's say noun letter translated as letter or letter. Let's read two sentences: the first one talks about letters, the second one about letters.

There are twenty-six letters in the English alphabet. - There are twenty-six letters in the English alphabet.

We write and get letters. - We write and receive letters.

6. It is useful to look at all the explanations for the paragraph in which the desired word appears. Let's quickly run our eyes through it, and something will be “deposited” in our memory.
Let's look at the paragraph (nest, as dictionary compilers call it) in which the word “nests” look. The first value is look. Second - to look like. And additional information: look in combination with after has the meaning take care(about someone) keep an eye on(behind someone). Combination look for translated search.
After some time, you come across a text with these combinations and, quite possibly, you will translate it from memory, without looking at the dictionary.

I look at my sister. - I look at my sister.
She looks fine. - She looks great.
I look after my sister. - I take care of my sister.
She looks for her doll. - She's looking for her doll.

7. The dictionary gives the transcription, that is, the pronunciation, in square brackets. Only with the help of dictionary transcription we learn that, for example, London(London) pronounced ["lʌndǝn], a Leicester(Lester) is read ["lestǝ] and nothing else.
If a word has one syllable, the stress mark is not placed in the transcription; there is no need for it.

If two or more syllables are pronounced, the stress must be indicated, and the sign appears before the stressed syllable.

alphabet["ælfəbət] n alphabet
England["ɪŋglənd] n England
English["ɪŋglɪʃ] and English
tomorrow n Tomorrow

In Russian, vowel length does not matter. In English, pronounce a long sound twice as long as a short sound. Otherwise fist will turn into feast, A pot- V port. The length of a vowel sound is marked with [ː] or simply a colon.

Transcription is especially necessary when there are letter combinations that are spelled the same but pronounced differently. As in these pairs of words:

The Sounds of English
Sounds of English

Click on the red button on the right to watch the video.
Also don't forget to point at tips, highlighted with a dotted line.
Different spellings of one sound are given through a fraction, i.e. for example, in dictionaries you may also find[i], And [ɪ] :)

Vowels - Vowels

Diphthongs - Diphthongs

(combinations of two vowels)

Consonants - Consonants

Notes - Notes

1. Double consonants in English words are pronounced as one sound.

2. Unlike Russian, English voiced consonants at the end of a word do not become voiceless. For example, in the word rub should sound clear [b]. In a word good also clearly pronounce the sound [d], and in the word dog sound [g].

Conversation - Conversation

I want to speak as quickly as possible. And the best way to start a conversation in English is hello. This greeting corresponds to Russian Hello, Hello, Hello.

Hello, boys and girls. - Hello, boys and girls.
Hello, everybody. - Hello everyone.

Use hello in conversation with close relatives, friends, classmates.

Hello Mum. - Hello mother.
Hello Dad. - Hello, dad.
Hello Nick! Hello Tim! - Hello, Nick! Hello Tim!

Speak hello, calling out to someone on the street, attracting attention, or answering a phone call.

Hello! - Hey!
Hello. - Hello.

Discussion - Discussion

English dad And mum correspond to our dad And Mother. When talking about your own parents, these words become like names and are written with a capital letter: Mum, Dad. There is a more affectionate way of saying: Mummy["mʌmi] (mommy), Daddy["dædi] (daddy).
On more formal occasions they are used father["fɑ:ðǝ] (father) and mother["mʌðǝ] (mother).

Exercises - Exercises

Exercise 1. Place the words in alphabetical order.

Dog, girl, go, acorn, tree, and, spell, sit, dad, conversation, well, he, what, take, egg, make, sorry, little, big, wife, question, word.

Exercise 2. Spell these words. - Spell these words.

Father, money, which, quarter, seem, jam, gust, peck, next, zebra, capital.

Exercise 3. In the famous book "Alice Through the Looking Glass", the chess White Queen boasts to Alice that she knows the alphabet (ABC) and can read single-letter words.

The White Queen says, "I know the ABC. I can read words of one letter."

Words with one letter are a very rare thing, for example, an article A. There are much more words of two and three letters, for example, go(go), do(do), in(V), and(And), but(But).

In the following text, without going into its meaning too much, select all words of two, then three letters.

London is a big city. It is very old. It lies on the River Thames. The history of London goes back to Roman times. London has a lot of sights. There are many parks in it. a

Phrases - Phrases

When saying goodbye, the British say:

Good bye. - Goodbye.
Bye! - Bye!
See you later. - See you later.
See you tomorrow. - Till tomorrow.

P.S. A little clarification for beginners:

• The lesson contains a description of the dictionary and an exercise for working with the dictionary. There is no dictionary on the site, only the lesson dictionary in the following lessons. You must have your own dictionary, whether paper or electronic, but you must have it. Among electronic ones, Lingvo X5/X6 and the Lingvo Live website are recommended. Google Translator is not a dictionary; it may or may not guess the correct translation; inexperienced people should not use it.
• In this 'English alphabet lesson' you only need to be able to read and reproduce sounds correctly. Start memorizing words from the following lessons.
• Lessons are free! Additional same lessons, incl. interactive ones, also free, but their number (free) is limited.
• Please update/change your browser if you have problems with your audio player. They only appear on something outdated.
• To go to the next lesson, click "Next >" below right or select a lesson from the menu at the top right. On mobile devices, the right menu drops to the very bottom under comments.

So, here we are at the last sixth vowel of the English alphabet letter Uu. If you have studied reading rules inEnglish language According to our recommendations, you already have sufficient theoretical knowledge. However, practice is most likely not enough. However, this is not the end of our reading course. Practice awaits you ahead. More on this a little later.

In Lesson #25 you will learn:

• how to read a letter Uu in English;
• repeat the pronunciation of sounds , [ʌ], [ə:], .

Rules for reading the English letter U

Here are phrases to help you remember reading the letter U in each syllable type. A dictionary is connected to the site and, if in doubt, click on a word and listen to how it is pronounced.

Reading the English letter U in 4 syllable types. Tongue Twisters

1. : I don’t like u sual t u nes in m u sic. — I don’t like ordinary melodies.

2. [ʌ]: Have l u nch with u s. - Have lunch with us.

3. [ə:]: I have a p ur ple p ur se. — I have a purple wallet.

4. : I am s ure. - I'm sure.

Phonetic exercises for reading the letter U in open and closed syllables

U (I, II):

fun, music, plum, cube, pumpkin, rubber, super, drum, student, stupid, hunting, hungry, tune, tunic, luck, supper, super, to return, curl, sunny, pupil, blue, uniform, summer, suck , unit, due, ugly, mutton, butter, struggle, to construct, to consult, cluster, dub, drunk, true, tulip, use, upland, under, computer, cucumber, buck, must, to amuse, mummy, truth, gum, bubble, much, huge

to– sign of a verb. Most verbs have stress on the second syllable

Exceptions:

1. after letters l, r, j vowel U often read as: blue, true, truth, June, July,

2. after letters b, p, f vowel in a closed syllable U often read as [u]: full, bush, put, pull, etc.

Words to remember:

1. busy [‘bizi] - busy
2. study [‘stʌdɪ] - to study
3. sugar [‘∫ugə] - sugar

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Phonetic exercises for reading the letter U in the third and fourth syllable type

U (III, IV):

church, turn, burn, to return, pure, curl, curb, fur, hurt, sure, nurse, curse, curt, burning, turning, turkey, lure

In an unstressed syllable U is read as [ə]:

to s u ppose ,`fig u re [‘fɪgə], `maxim u m [‘mæksɪməm]

Phonetic exercises for practicing reading the letter U with audio recording and answers (closed content)

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Title: Phonetic exercises with audio recording

Description: Access to restricted content *Repeat the rules for reading in English*

Reading the letter combination UI:

3. UI read – in a closed syllable after n, s: suit - suit, nuisance [‘nju:səns] - annoyance. Exception: suite - hotel room
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Reading the letter combination QU

1. qu read almost always: qu ick qu ickly qu iet, qu ietly, qu estion, qu iz, qu it, qu ite, s qu irrel, qu ail, qu ill, qu ilt, qu arter
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Don't be confused: qu ite — quite And qu iet - quiet

This was the last lesson of the course "Teaching English reading and pronunciation at the same time." In conclusion, I would like to once again draw your attention to the fact that in the first 20 lessons I relied on reading teaching method "from sound to letter" and in the last 5 lessons on reading teaching method "from letter to sound" and finally the circle is closed. There is an English expression “to round up”. I hope that you now have sufficient theoretical knowledge to, as a reinforcement, study on your own a few more articles, namely:

In the English (British) pronunciation system there are 44 sounds, which are divided into 24 consonants and 20 vowels, including 8 diphthongs. The following table shows individual English sounds and their corresponding English transcription signs, as well as examples of words in which they are pronounced.

Table of sounds of the English language:

Classification of English sounds

According to the mechanics of education, English sounds are primarily divided into vowels And consonants phonemes. The pronunciation of vowel sounds is associated with active vibration of the vocal cords and the free passage of exhaled air through all speech organs. Consonant sounds, on the contrary, are formed by overcoming various obstacles, cracks and passages formed by the muscles of the vocal apparatus when the air stream exits.

Let us consider in more detail the classification of the sounds of the English language according to individual signs of articulation (the position of the speech organs when pronouncing sounds) and their comparison with Russian sounds.

Consonant sounds of English

When pronouncing consonant sounds, the air encounters various obstacles on its way, formed by the active organs of speech: tongue, lips, teeth and alveoli.

If the organs of speech close so that they completely block the passage for air, then we pronounce stop consonant. Such consonants are also called explosive, because when the speech organs open, a small explosion is heard.

[ p ] , [ b ] , [ t ] , [ d ] , [ k ] , [ g ]
stop plosives English sounds

[ P ], [ b ], [ T ], [ d ], [ To ], [ G ]
stop plosives Russian sounds

If air passes out through the nasal cavity, then such closing sounds are called nasal.

[ n ] , [ m ] , [ ŋ ]
English nasal stop sounds

[ n ], [ m ]
Russian nasal stop sounds

If the organs of speech do not close completely, but leave a narrow passage - a gap for air, then we pronounce slotted consonant.

[ θ ] , [ ð ] , [ ʃ ] , [ ʒ ] , [ s ] , [ z ] , [ h ] , [ f ] , [ v ] , [ w ] , [ r ] , [ j ] , [ l ]
English fricative sounds

[ With ], [ h ], [ f ], [ V ], [ w ], [ sch ], [ and ], [ l ]
Russian slot sounds

Among the consonants there are octopus-frictional sounds. They are called so because the opening of the barrier occurs slowly; the complete obstruction becomes a gap.

[ tʃ ] , [ dʒ ]
English stop-friction sounds

[ ts ], [ h ]
Russian stop-friction sounds

An obstacle to the path of exhaled air can be formed by various speech organs. If the lower lip gets closer to the upper lip, then labiolabial consonants.

[ p ] , [ b ] , [ m ] , [ w ]
labialial English sounds

[ P ], [ b ], [ m ]
labiolabial Russian sounds

If the lower lip touches the upper teeth, then such consonants are called labiodental.

[ f ] , [ v ]
labiodental English sounds

[ f ], [ V ]
labiodental Russian sounds

If the tip of the tongue is between the lower and upper front teeth, then it is pronounced interdental consonant. There are no such sounds in the Russian language.

[ θ ] , [ ð ]
interdental English sounds

Russian consonants [ T ], [ d ], [ n ], [ l ] - dental, since the end of the tongue rises to the inner surface of the upper teeth. English consonants [ t ] , [ d ] , [ n ] , [ l ] , [ ŋ ] - alveolar, as the tip of the tongue touches or rises to the alveoli.

[ k ] , [ p ] , [ s ] , [ t ] , [ f ] , [ h ] , [ tʃ ] , [ ʃ ] , [ θ ]
voiceless consonants of English

[ To ], [ P ], [ With ], [ T ], [ f ], [ X ], [ h ], [ w ], [ sch ]
voiceless consonants of the Russian language

[ b ] , [ v ] , [ g ] , [ d ] , [ z ] , [ l ] , [ m ] , [ n ] , [ r ] , [ ʒ ] , [ dʒ ] , [ ð ]
voiced consonants in English

[ b ], [ V ], [ G ], [ d ], [ and ], [ h ], [ l ], [ m ], [ n ], [ R ], [ ts ]
voiced consonants of the Russian language

Vowel sounds of English

To classify English vowel sounds, various positions of the tongue relative to the hard palate are considered, as well as which part of the tongue is involved in articulation and how high the back of the tongue rises to the hard palate.

Distinguish front vowel sounds when the tip of the tongue rests against the base of the lower teeth, and the back of the tongue comes quite close to the hard palate: English vowel [ i:] and Russian [ And ].

If the tongue is pulled back and the tip of the tongue is lowered, and the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate, we pronounce back vowel sounds: English sound [ a:] and Russian sounds [ O ], [ at ].

By the position of the lips they distinguish rounded And unrounded vowel sounds. For example, when pronouncing the Russian sound [ at] lips round and move forward: [ at] is a rounded vowel. When pronouncing [ And] lips are slightly stretched, but not pushed forward: sound [ And] - unrounded vowel.

The quality of the vowel depends on the tension of the muscles of the speech organs: the more tense the articulation, the clearer and brighter the sound. Accordingly, vowels are distinguished tense And relaxed. For example, the English vowel sound [ i:] is pronounced with more tension than [ i ] .

Pronunciation of English sounds

By turning to the contents of our guide to English phonetics, for each of the English sounds you will find a detailed description of the features of its pronunciation and articulation, methods of transmission in writing and examples of sound, as well as comparisons with other sounds and their Russian analogues.

“I don’t understand transcription”, “How is this written in Russian letters?”, “Why do I need these sounds?”... If you start learning English with such sentiments, then I will have to disappoint you: it is unlikely that you will achieve significant good luck in English.

Without mastering transcription, it will be difficult for you to understand the structure of English pronunciation; you will constantly make mistakes and experience difficulties when learning new words and using dictionaries.

Ever since school, the attitude of many towards transcription has been openly negative. In fact, there is nothing complicated in English transcription. If you do not understand it, then this topic was not explained to you properly. In this article we will try to fix this.

To understand the essence of transcription, you must clearly understand the difference between letters and sounds. Letters- this is what we write, and sounds- what we hear. Transcription marks are the sounds represented in writing. For musicians this role is played by notes, but for you and me - transcription. In Russian, transcription does not play such a big role as in English. There are vowels that are read differently, combinations that need to be remembered, and letters that are not pronounced. The number of letters and sounds in a word does not always coincide.

For example, the word daughter has 8 letters and four sounds ["dɔːtə]. If the final [r] is pronounced, as in American English, then there are five sounds. The combination of vowels au gives the sound [ɔː], gh is not readable at all, er may be read as [ə] or [ər], depending on the variety of English.

There are a huge number of similar examples. It is difficult to understand how to read a word and how many sounds are pronounced in it if you do not know the basic rules of transcription.

Where can I find the transcription? First of all, in dictionaries. When you find a new word in the dictionary, there must be information nearby about how the word is pronounced, that is, a transcription. In addition, in textbooks the lexical part always contains transcription. Knowledge of the sound structure of a language will not allow you to remember the incorrect pronunciation of words, because you will always identify a word not only with its letter representation, but also with its sound.

In domestic publications, transcriptions are usually placed in square brackets, while in dictionaries and manuals from foreign publishers, transcriptions are presented in oblique brackets / /. Many teachers use slashes when writing transcriptions of words on the board.

Now let's learn more about the sounds of the English language.

There are only 44 sounds in the English language, which are divided into vowels(vowels ["vauəlz]), consonants(consonants "kɔn(t)s(ə)nənts]). Vowels and consonants can form combinations, including diphthongs(diphthongs ["dɪfθɔŋz]). Vowel sounds in English vary in length by brief(short vovels) and long(long vowels), and consonants can be divided into deaf(voices consonants), voiced(voiced consonants). There are also those consonants that are difficult to classify as voiceless or voiced. We will not delve into phonetics, since at the initial stage this information is quite enough. Consider the table of English sounds:

Let's start with vowels. Two dots near the symbol indicate that the sound is pronounced for a long time; if there are no dots, then the sound should be pronounced briefly. Let's see how vowel sounds are pronounced:

- long sound I: tree, free

[ɪ ] - short sound I: big, lip

[ʊ] - short sound U: book, look

- long sound U: root, boot

[e] - sound E. Pronounced the same way as in Russian: hen, pen

[ə] is a neutral sound E. It sounds when the vowel is not under stress or at the end of a word: mother ["mʌðə], computer

[ɜː] is a sound similar to the sound Ё in the word honey: bird, turn

[ɔː] - long sound O: door, more

[æ] - sound E. Pronounced widely: cat, lamp

[ʌ] - short sound A: cup, but

- long sound A: car, mark

[ɒ] - short sound O: box, dog

Diphthongs- these are combinations of sounds consisting of two vowels, always pronounced together. Let's look at the pronunciation of diphthongs:

[ɪə] - IE: here, near

— Uh: fair, bear

[əʊ] - EU (OU): go, no

- AU: how, now

[ʊə] - UE: sure [ʃuə], tourist ["tuərɪst]

- HEY: make, day

- AI: my, bike

[ɔɪ] - OH: : boy, toy

Let's consider consonants sounds. Voiceless and voiced consonants are easy to remember, since each of them has a pair:

Other consonants:

[h] - sound X: hat, home
[m] - sound M: make, meet
[n] - English sound N: nose, net
[ŋ] - a sound reminiscent of N, but pronounced through the nose: song, long - a sound reminiscent of P: run, rest
[l] - English sound L: leg, lip
[w] - a sound reminiscent of B, but pronounced with rounded lips: ,west
[j] - sound Y: you, music ["mjuːzɪk]