Literate speech: how to pronounce English words correctly. From the editors how to correctly pronounce the names of brands and gadgets

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, they are confusing, and there are more exceptions than the rules themselves. In fact, these rules are so terrible only if you deeply understand them and try to learn by heart along with exceptions. In fact, everything is much simpler: reading rules do not need to be memorized.

Studying English, you will always be something, and soon you will learn to correlate letter designations and sounds without hesitation, automatically. Don't 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 that way.

Feature of English phonetics: we write "Manchester" - we read "Liverpool"

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

In the history of many languages, the following pattern can be traced: the phonetic structure becomes more complicated, while 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 similarly, but over time this discrepancy became more and more, the situation was aggravated by the variety of dialects, and now we are already in words though, thought And through read a combination of letters - ough completely different, although the words themselves differ by one letter.

No one is in a hurry to reform English spelling, there are many reasons for this. For example, the English language no longer has 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, meeting resistance among a significant part of native speakers. Much easier to leave as is.

What is transcription and why is it needed?

Transcription in English is the recording of speech sounds using special characters. It should not be feared or avoided, because it is a very good assistant in learning the language, which will be great to save time and help 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 out a new word that comes across in the text, you must definitely look at its transcription and / or listen to the pronunciation (for example, in), otherwise you may remember it incorrectly, and then you will not be understood.

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 of English words in Russian letters” - that is, writing English words in Russian letters. Like, why learn tricky badges, if Can convey sounds in Russian letters? Then what it is forbidden. The phonetics of the Russian language differs from 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 the help of 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 fully load, then click on the desired sound.

Please note that in 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 and short, longitude is indicated by a colon after the vowel. For example: .
• accent icon- if a word is transcribed, in which there is more than one syllable, stress must be indicated with an apostrophe (a comma at the top). It is placed before the stressed syllable. For example: – decision.

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

In English phonetics, there are no such concepts as softness / hardness of consonants, but there is a 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 (diphthogni): [ ai ], [ ɔi ],
• consisting of three sounds (triphthongs): [ aiə ].

Diphthongs and triphthongs are read and perceived as whole sounds.

Table of English sounds with examples and cards

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

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

How to learn to pronounce English sounds?

There are two approaches:

1. Theoretical- textbooks usually have a detailed description of how to press the tongue against the palate in order 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 it on your own: not everyone will understand what it means to “slide the upper teeth on the lower lip” and be able to perform this action.
2. Practical- listen, watch and repeat. I think it's much easier that way. You simply repeat after the speaker, trying to imitate the sound as closely as possible. Pay attention to articulation, try to repeat all the movements of the lips and tongue. Ideally, of course, someone should control, but you can just record yourself on a webcam and watch from the side.

If you want to repeat after the speaker, imitating his speech, I recommend using the materials on Puzzle English, namely the Video Puzzle exercises, which are aimed at developing listening comprehension. In video puzzles, you can slow down 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 the video, and then collect sentences from words.

Detailed overview of this service:

In addition, for practical exercises by various kind people, a lot of videos have been shot, available on YouTube. For example, in these two videos, the sounds of English speech in American and British versions are analyzed in detail:

British pronunciation

American pronunciation

You should not, having started studying English, strive to achieve a “perfect” pronunciation. Firstly, there are a lot of varieties of pronunciation (the above are, as it were, “generalized” British and American variants), 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 such a way that 1) it is clear, 2) it does not hurt your hearing 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 can, say, the letter “o” in different combinations and types of syllable be read in nine different ways, but 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 it.

If you look in different books, it turns out that the rules of reading, and indeed phonetics, by different authors can be told in different ways with varying degrees of immersion in details. I think that it makes no sense to delve into the wilds of phonetic science (you can dive there indefinitely), but the easiest way is to take as a basis the most simplified version of the reading rules, that is English reading rules for children.

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

What is open and closed syllable?

In English, an open syllable and a closed one are distinguished, it also matters whether it ends with the letter “r” and whether it is stressed.

A syllable is called open if:

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

The syllable is closed if:

• it is the last in the word, while ending in a consonant,
• after a vowel there are two or more consonants.

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

The most important reading rules

The table above looks very busy, intimidating even. Several of the most important rules can be distinguished from it, which have almost no exceptions.

Basic rules for reading consonants

• The combination ph reads like [f]: photo, Morpheus.
• The combination th reads like [ð] or [θ]: think there. These sounds are not in Russian, their pronunciation requires some training. Do not confuse them with the sounds [s], [z].
• The combination ng at the end of the word reads like [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 sh combination reads like [ʃ]: ship, show, shop.
• The letter “c” before i, e, y reads like [s]: celebrity, cent, pencil.
• The letter “g” before i, e, y reads: age, magic, gym.
• The combination ch reads like: 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. It can be monophthongs and diphthongs.
• In a closed syllable, vowels are read as short monophthongs: nut, got, ten.

How to remember the rules of reading?

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, they need to be able to use. But how can you use what you do not know? How else can you! Through 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:

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

So that trips to fashion boutiques and beauty corners do not turn into an illiteracy test, we have compiled a list of how to pronounce brand names that most often cause problems with correct pronunciation.

How to pronounce fashion brand names correctly

Buying clothes and shoes from famous brands seriously complicates our lives. Now we not only cannot live without our favorite Christian Louboutin pumps, but we also do not know how to pronounce the brand name correctly. You should not try to translate the name of the brand into Russian on your own, at best they will simply not understand you, and at worst, you will look ridiculous.

Azzedine Alaia- French designer with Tunisian roots. Usually difficulties in pronunciation are caused by his surname with a letter of the Latin alphabet. Azzedine Alaya- everything is simple and easy.

Balenciaga- correct answer " Balenciaga". Everything is very simple!

Balmain- according to English rules, it sounds “Balmain”, but the brand is named after the creator of the French designer Pierre Balma, so it’s correct to say Balman.

Chloe – Cloe- just like that, with an emphasis on "e". Don't tell me you thought "Chloe".

Christian Lacroix- brand name is correct Christian Lacroix with stress on the last syllable. Moreover, the sound “r” is practically not pronounced, as if you were burring.

Christian Louboutin- the name of the French shoe designer, recognizable by the signature red sole, sounds like Christian Louboutin. But even professionals are mistaken when they say: "Louboutin", "Louboutin", "Lobutan".

Givenchy- French Fashion House, created by designer Hubert Givenchy, respectively, should be said Givenchy.

Guy Laroche– the name of the French designer is correctly spelled Guy Laroche. But many sometimes call "Guy".

Hermes- the brand name is often pronounced Erme. It seems that according to the rules this is correct (the sound “c” in French transcription should be absent), but in this case it is correct to say Ermes. The same goes for the brand. Rochas- sounds right Rocha.

Herve Leger- French brand, which became famous thanks to the invention of the bandage dress. Previously Hervé Peugnet, but Karl Lagerfeld advised the designer to change the unpronounceable name to Léger. Pronounced Herve Leger.

Lanvin- I immediately want to say Lanvin, but correctly lanvan.

Louis Vuitton– the correct pronunciation of the brand name Louis Vuitton, not Louis Vuitton or Louis Vuitton.

Maison Martin Margiela– it is difficult for a beginner, even with good knowledge of French, to correctly pronounce the name of a famous French brand. And it actually sounds quite simple - Mason Martin Margiela.

Rochas – Rocha with stress on the last syllable.

Sonia Rykiel – Sonia Rykiel- this is the name of the queen of knitwear and the founder of the fashion house of the same name Sonia Rykiel.

Yves Saint Laurent is a French fashion house founded by Yves Saint Laurent, which is why we say nothing but Yves Saint Laurent.

Zuhair Murad- in Russian it sounds literally Zuhair Murad.

Anna Sui- very often the name of a famous designer can be heard as Anna Sue, but it sounds right Enna Sui.

Badgley Mischka- you might think that this is the name of one person. In fact, the name consists of the names of the two designers who founded the brand - Mark Badgley and James Mishka, and sounds like Badgley Bear.

Burberry Prorsum- an English company, recognizable by its brand name - "cage". Pronounced Burbury Prorsum, but not "Burberry" or "Barberry".

Carolina Herrera is a Venezuelan-American designer. Usually difficulties arise with the pronunciation of the surname. You need to speak in the Spanish manner, that is, Carolina Herrera.

Gareth Pubh- in Russian, the name of an English designer sounds like Gareth Pugh.

coach- many people love the bags of the famous Coach brand, but not everyone knows how to pronounce the brand name correctly. coach- this is the name of the brand known for its fashion accessories in Russian.

Levi's- the creator of the famous jeans was called Levi and by all the rules you need to say Lewis, not Levi's. Although both options have long been in common use. By the way, in the states everyone says “Levis”. You can argue on this topic endlessly.

Manolo Blahnik is an English brand specializing in the production of women's shoes. In Russian, the brand name sounds like Manolo Blahnik.

Marc Jacobs The designer and founder of the fashion brand of the same name is Marc Jacobs. Although some manage to pronounce Marc Jacobs - it sounds funny.

Marchesa- an English brand, but its name is pronounced according to the rules of the Italian language - Marchesa.

Mary Katrantzou– despite the fact that the designer was born in Greece, the brand is English. Therefore, we pronounce it in the British manner - Mary Katranzu.

Monique Lhuillier- the name of a famous designer of luxurious wedding dresses is correctly pronounced as Monique Lhuillier.

Naeem Khan- the name of an American designer of Indian origin sounds Naeem Kan, but definitely not Khan.

Prabal Gurung- as it is written, so it is read - Prabal Gurung.

Proenza Schouler- no "Shuler", it's correct to say Proenza Schooler. That's the correct way to pronounce an American brand.

Ralph Lauren- despite the fact that the designer's surname is French and many mistakenly pronounce "Laurent", the brand is American. And it's right to speak Ralph Lauren with an emphasis on "o".

Rodarte – Rodarte.

Roksanda Ilincic- but the name of the brand Roksanda Ilincic, despite the fact that it is English, is pronounced according to the rules of Serbian transcription, since the designer was born in Belgrade. And it sounds like Roksanda Ilincic.

Vera Wang- the surname Wang is allowed to be pronounced as Wang and Wong, but the first option is still preferable. And the designer herself appears as Vera Wang. The same applies to the brand. Alexander Wang.

As a bonus, we present another name of a popular brand that does not get along in the minds of Russian fashionistas.

Nike Everyone knows the brand as Nike. In fact, it's correct to say Nike. But the first option has taken root in Russia so much that even the official representative office of the company sounds different from us, like Nike.

Bvlgari- the brand name is based on the Latin alphabet, where "V" is equivalent to "U". There is one more “but” - stress, so we say: “ Bulgari”, and not like many “Bulgaris”.

DSquared2- an Italian brand founded by Canadian brothers should be pronounced Discworth, but not Diskuared.

Ermenegildo Zegna- a real brain explosion. The first time it is quite difficult to pronounce, but after practicing, Ermenegildo Zegna pronounced as easily as well-known brands "Chanel" and "Christian Dior".

Fausto Puglisi is another Italian brand that can often be difficult to pronounce. speak correctly Fastu Puizi.

miu miu- an Italian brand that is pronounced according to the rules of Italian transcription - Mew Mew.

Moschino- this Italian brand is read according to the same rules. Pronounced Moskino, not Moschino, as it sounds in English.

Giambattista Valli- nothing difficult - Giambattista Valley.

Other designer brands and brands

Ann Demeulemeester- the Belgian designer will be correctly called Ann Demeulemeister and nothing else.

Dries Van Noten- It is difficult to make a mistake in the name of this brand. As you may have guessed, it sounds right Dries Van Noten.

Elie Saab- Lebanese designer, whose name sounds Elie Saab but not El Saab.

Issey Miyake- Finally, a Japanese designer has also made it to our list of “hard-to-pronounce brand names”. The name of the legend of Japanese fashion is correct to say Issey Miyake. Name of the second famous designer Yohji Yamamoto sounds from the land of the rising sun Yohji Yamamoto.

Loewe- when pronunciation should be something in between Loweve And Loewe.

Peter Pilotto– the name of the international brand is correctly pronounced Peter Pilato, and not "Pilot", as it seems at first glance.

Philipp Plein– German designer, so the name is pronounced Philipp Plein, not Plain. The same case as with Calvin Klein- because we are talking Calvin Klein.

To find out, the British magazine i-D decided to give a fashion lesson on illiteracy by releasing an educational video. In the four-minute lesson, along with the show of the collections, the models announce the names of the brands, starting with Azzedine Alaïa and ending with Zegna.

How to pronounce beauty brand names correctly

The same story with the pronunciation of the names of cosmetic brands. For example, everyone knows the brand l "occitane many of us even use it. But no matter how they call her: Lokitan, and Lossitane, and Lochitan. There is even a joke that the brand name has about 40 pronunciations, but only one is correct - Loccitane.

Kiehl's- an American brand founded by John Keel, and therefore pronounced the same way as his last name is read - Keels.

Sephora- most of us pronounce the name correctly, the only thing is that the stress should be placed on the last syllable, on "a", that is SephorA.

Babor- the name of the German brand also confuses many. Correctly read BAbor with an accent on "a".

La Roche Posay- the name of the brand of cosmetics is read according to the rules of French transcription - La Roche Posay.

Pierre Fabre- Another representative of high-quality pharmacy French cosmetics. Reading - Pierre Fabre.

Payot– I bet you didn’t even suspect that the brand has Ukrainian roots – its founder was born in Odessa. Only at the time of the creation of the brand, she was already Mademoiselle Payot, so the brand name is read in the French manner - payo, without the pronunciation of the letter "t".

Sothys – Satis.

La Biosthetique – La Biostetic.

Methode Jeanne Piaubert- it seems that French cosmetics strive to win the love of Russian beauties. Another popular beauty brand based in France is Method Jean Pubert.

Guerlain – Guerlain, and nothing else.

Estee Lauder – Estee Lauder- this is how the name of the founder and the very name of the brand are pronounced.

La Prairie- one of the best beauty brands for the production of luxury cosmetics reads like La Prairie.

Erborian is another cosmetic brand that combines traditional methods of Korean medicine and modern European technologies. Korean-French brand Erboria sounds Russian Erborian.

Oribe – Orbe Canales- a famous stylist and creator of the eponymous brand of professional hair products. By the way, this is one of any Jennifer Lopez stylists.

Essie- the brand of nail polishes popular all over the world is correctly called Essy.

Lalique- the name of the creator of unique fragrances is Rene Lalique, so we pronounce the name of the brand only Lalique.

NYX- the name of the American brand, consisting of three letters, is pronounced short and clear - Nix.

If you carefully read everything to the end, you will no longer make stupid mistakes in the pronunciation of famous brand names. Speak clearly and confidently, as if you always knew that it was Sephora to speak correctly, not Sifora or Sephora.

English is the central language in international communication. Learning English is not an easy task. At least, because the words in it are not pronounced at all the way they are written. Therefore, in this article we will talk about how to read english words.

The spelling system of any language is based on three principles:

1. Phonetic - written completely coincides with the sound.
2. Morphological - written coincides only partially with its sound composition.
3. Historical - written does not match the sound, its pronunciation is characterized by historical traditions.

The English language, like any other, has undergone changes, developed, evolved over a fairly long period of existence. Which entailed a lot of rules, subtleties, patterns in the study of the language, including the pronunciation of words.

Most people in school had English as a subject. As we know from the school curriculum, the English alphabet contains 26 letters, but the sounds it needs to pronounce words are almost twice as many. It contains 48 sounds. Just the process of converting letter combinations into sounds takes a huge amount of time. Of course, there are basic rules for reading. But, it just so happened that in English there are more exceptions than rules.

In order to master the difference between pronunciation and spelling, phonetic transcription comes to the rescue. This is a set of special characters that represent actually spoken sounds. According to the rules, it is written in square brackets. For ease of reading, correct pronunciation and ease of learning English, knowing transcription is not only useful, but also important. The designations of vowels and consonants of English transcription are shown in the figure.

English transcription signs

Let's look at some examples of letter combinations. In international transcription, the sounds ch / sh (sh / ch) are denoted as follows and [ʃi:]. For example, the word bench - a bench is read bench, and shirt - a shirt, like shyoot [ʃərt]. The combination of letters ck after short consonants sounds like K [k] (clock - the clock is read clock). The union of two EE is pronounced like AND [i] (street - the street in Russian sounds striit). A pair of letters OO forms the sound U [u] (book - the book will be beech).

The pronunciation of the letter W in various variations is interesting. W in a duet with H at the beginning and before vowels sounds simply W [w], i.e. H [h] is lost (white - white is pronounced white). The same W paired with H in front of the letter “O”, on the contrary, will lose the sound [w] and only [h] will remain (whole - all, like a hole). And the letter combination Wr at the beginning before the vowels sounds [r] (wrinkle - wrinkle, like rinkle).

A list of various combinations of English letters with the correct pronunciation and transcription is located below on the page.

Pronunciation of letter combinations in English

In addition, having a great desire to learn English perfectly, you can study it on your way to / from work, at lunchtime, etc. There are many different apps for different levels of language proficiency, with a variety of trainings, interactive exercises, playful learning style, etc. See below a selection of mobile apps for learning English! We wish you all success!

English: learning words

Polyglot - English

English with Lingualeo

When you study a foreign language, you are not only studying a set of vocabulary and grammar, but in any case, you are faced with the culture and mentality of the people who speak this language. The best way to learn about language and culture is reading in original. And to read in a foreign language, you must learn to read in that language first .

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. You can just get people to stop reading them.

But, if at school or university you studied German or French, or your school base turned out to be smaller than you would like, and now you decide to learn English, then let's start with the most primary and basic and learn a few techniques where to start in order to master reading rules.

English alphabet

I think you know that English is different from Russian and German, in which we mostly read and write. In English, the system is a little more complicated. The very first thing we need to do is to learn the alphabet.

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet, of which 21 are consonants and 5 are vowels. Knowing the letters and the ability to pronounce them correctly is the key to successful and competent reading in English.

English alphabet with transcription of the names of the letters.

A very easy way to remember letters visually and aurally is with the help of a song. Watch the video and sing the song until you remember the letters of the alphabet.

You can use the same method to teach the alphabet to your children, and sing a song with your little ones.

Reading rules in English

After studying the alphabet, we will begin to study the combination of letters and read short words. In English, there are a number of rules that you need to learn, practice and remember if you want to read English words correctly.

Rules for reading English consonants

Many consonants read similarly to Russian consonants, such as letters m, n, l, b, f, z. You can see it in words like mom, lemon, finger, boy, zebra .

Letters like t And d sound similar but are pronounced with aspirated. For example words table, teacher, dad, dirty.

Letter c has two readings. Before letters i,e,y it reads like [s]- city, face, cyber. And before the rest of the vowels it reads like [k]- cat, cake, factory.

Rule with vowels i,e,y works with letter g. Before them, it reads as - gym, George, giant. Before other consonants, the letter is read as [g].

Letter q always found in a combination of letters qu and reads like - quick, queen, square.

Letter j always read as - jacket, jam, joy.

Table of the ratio of consonants and sounds in English.

How vowels are read in English

In English, a word can end in an open or closed syllable, which affects pronunciation. For example words cat, pot, sit end in a closed syllable and have vowels a, o, i give sounds .

Words such as name, home, five end in an open syllable, since the word ends with a letter e, which is unreadable. But, thanks to her, the vowels in the middle of the word are read exactly the same as they are pronounced in the alphabet, that is, the word name is read.

Types of reading English vowels in stressed syllables.

Reading vowel combinations in English

There are certain combinations of letters that have established reading rules, although English is the language of exceptions, and when reading more complex words, you should consult a dictionary. The table below shows combinations of english vowels with examples how they are read and what sound they make.

Table of combinations of vowels in English.

And of course, there are exceptions to all rules. However, do not worry and think that you will never be able to learn it. Everything can be understood, you just need to try a little and practice.

English diphthongs with transcription

When you learn the basic rules of reading, you will see that in English there are diphthong sounds that are quite difficult to reproduce, especially if you start learning the language not from childhood, but as an adult.

Table of English diphthongs with transcription.

Transcription of sounds in English

Practice shows that when children learn a language, they must necessarily study transcription, while adults do not want to learn it, and for them it can be difficult.

If you still want to learn how to write and read transcription, then great! And if not, then you can use online dictionaries where the word will be pronounced for you. One of the best dictionaries today is Multitran and the online dictionary Lingvo.

Important!

Remember that it is necessary to use dictionaries, not translators!

Here is an example of reading short words with transcription:

English vowel table and transcription.

The fact that we live in the age of the Internet has some advantages. Sitting at home, you can learn different knowledge online. For your attention video lesson which explains the basic principles of reading. However, even after gaining knowledge through an online lesson, they need to be consolidated in order to form a skill.

Learn English tongue twisters

Here tongue twisters can help you, which are often aimed at practicing one sound. Here are some examples you can use.

Don't worry it's tongue twisters! At this stage, when you are just learning to read and practicing sounds, it is important to pronounce them correctly, albeit slowly. You can always speed up.

Learn to hear English speech

After learning the basic, basic rules of reading, you can use the method of repeating after the announcer. Your auditory memory will also work and you will hear how words are pronounced correctly and what intonation is in sentences.

To do this, you can use small dialogues and audiobooks for beginners. At this level, it will be ideal if the text is in front of your eyes, you listen, read and repeat at the same time!

You can use such a great resource as Oxford Bookworm Library, which features audiobooks for all levels. You can download the library for free

For those who continue to learn English, we recommend learning the language from films, which you can read about in the article

Work on your pronunciation

Reading is only the first step in learning a language. As well as learning grammar and vocabulary, learning how to pronounce and hear correctly is very important if you want to understand what is being said to you and say it in a way that you are understood. Especially if you're talking to a native speaker.

As we said a little above, one of the best ways is to listen carefully to native speakers and try to copy their pronunciation and intonation .

Particular attention should be paid to sounds that are not in your native language. Often, English learners have a problem with the 'r' sound, as in Russian it is hard, while in English it is more guttural and growling.

There are also difficulties with the pronunciation of two sounds, which gives combination of letters 'th'. Students stubbornly pronounce it as 'c' and 'h'. Although it is worth paying attention that in such words as this, that, there this sound is said as between 'z' and 'd'. And in words like three, think, thief, it is pronounced as a sound between ‘f’ and ‘s’.

This may seem strange to you, since there are no such sounds in Russian, but if you listen to native speakers, you will understand that this is what they say.

Don't worry if you can't get these words right the first time, it takes a little practice. But, try to learn correctly from the very beginning, because it will be more difficult when you are forced to relearn.

Learn to pronounce phrases in English correctly

In English, words in sentences are not pronounced separately, they often merge, as if into one whole, especially if it is a combination of vowel and consonant letters. Look and practice on these transcription examples.

The same applies to phrases where one word ends with the letter 'r', and the next word begins with a vowel. In such cases, the 'r' sound is pronounced. Here are some examples.

Are you sure you pronounce brand names correctly, such as popular cars, sneakers, or clothing? To check yourself and correct the existing errors, you should look at our selection.

Statistics show that more than half of people pronounce the names of popular brands absolutely wrong. In order not to fall into their number and not look like an illiterate person during the next trip to fashion boutiques, you need to learn how to pronounce at least the most popular brands correctly. We will gladly help you with this.

1. Hermes

The well-known brand of bags and scarves, which are very loved by women around the world, does not sound right "Hermes", and even more so not "Hermes". There are people who pronounce it like “Erme” and from the point of view of the grammar of the French language, this is correct, but there is one detail - the name was chosen not because of the god of trade, but in honor of the founder - Thierry Ermes, therefore it is correct to call it “Ermes ".

2. Levi's

In many countries of the world, the name of this famous denim brand is used in two versions: "Lewis" and "Levis". The second version is more common in English-speaking countries, since their name Levi (the creator of the first jeans was called Levi) reads like "Levi". At the same time, many do not know that at birth the founder of the brand received the name Loeb, but after moving to the USA, it was changed to Levy. Summing up, we come to the conclusion that, according to the grammar of the English language and the word source, the correct variant is still “Lewis”.

3.Dsquared

There are many versions of the pronunciation of a popular brand, since it is very difficult for Russian-speaking people to pronounce it. The most common but incorrect versions are "Diskvaer" and "Diskverd". Only one name is correct, which is worth remembering - "Diskuaed".

4 Philipp Plein

The most common version of the pronunciation of this brand is "Philip Plain", but this English version is incorrect. Since the designer was born in Germany, then his name must be pronounced in the German manner - "Plein". Here it would be appropriate to mention the famous brand of underwear - Calvin Klein, which is read as "Calvin Klein".

5. Moët & Chandon

The problems of correct pronunciation also affected the world-famous brand of champagne. Many are sure that it is necessary to remove the letter “t” in the first word when translating, but this is not so, since the second “n” in the second word is excluded. The ampersand (& sign) is read in the French manner, like "e". The result is "Moet e Chando".

6 Lamborghini

One of the most famous manufacturers of expensive sports cars is based in Italy, and it does not produce Lamborghini, but Lamborghini. At the same time, it is worth noting that it is the first incorrect option that is common in Russia, so even the Google automatic search system issues it.

7. Christian Louboutin

The shoe brand that many girls dream about is often misnamed. A huge number of people and even those who are interested in fashion make mistakes in the pronunciation of the surname, for example, "Louboutin" or "Lobutan". At the same time, the real name of the designer is translated as "Christian Louboutin".