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Improving my English pronunciation | ||
Tags: Pronunciation | English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Ibryam000 Diglot Newbie France Joined 4667 days ago 37 posts - 50 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Bulgarian, Spanish | Message 1 of 15 17 February 2012 at 12:06am | IP Logged |
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Hi everyone!
I am new on this forum and hope that I post in the right place. I would like to master the american prononciation. The reason for this is that I like the american English phonology. I just like the way Americans speak, and would never think about mastering another accent. Although I think I know more or less how to pronounce the right sounds, I need a lot of concentration for doing them correctly and my pronunciation goes wrong when I try to speak faster. It actually tires me very quickly, as you can hear at the end of the audio file below. Could you please tell me what sounds/words should I change or improve ? Is the intonation correct ? Am I easily understandable ? http://dl.free.fr/getfile.pl?file=/EC4pGP2v (1.2 Mo) I'm reading the first paragraph of Moby Dick : http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moby-Dick/Chapter_1 You will try to take advantage of your advices and post a new audio file every few days. Thanks in advance! Edited by Ibryam000 on 17 February 2012 at 8:32am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| lazyday Newbie United States Joined 7155 days ago 21 posts - 25 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 2 of 15 18 February 2012 at 5:03am | IP Logged |
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I'm not a linguist or anything so everything I type here is worth what you paid for it.
Some observations: You were understandable for the most part. The biggest problem in my opinion is the text you are using is not how Americans talk. It is very literary and old fashioned sounding. Since speaking is important to you perhaps using a more modern text would be beneficial? With that out of the way, I'll give it a shot. I would say that your pronunciation of the r sound is a main point to focus on. From digging around on youtube, this seems like it might be informative http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq_yIbrD01c&feature=relmfu Call - The l's on call sound off to me. Can't be more precise than that. Ishmael - mael should sound like mail (as in mailman). . years - 'ear' sounds off. In this case the 'a' makes the 'e' into a long e sound like how we say the ee in cheese (or how you say the name of the letter i in French) and the a isn't really pronounced. So it should sound like yeers. never - close but 'er' sounds a little off to me precisely - sounds a bit off. The 'ise' should sound like the word ice (not like ize in prize) little - In this word the i should be short like in hit, pit, kit, etc. purse - close, maybe the r is off a bit particular - r again. interest - the first e doesn't make a sound here (at least how I say it). So, int-rest shore - r watery - r sound is a bit off part - ar is off world - 'or' is off OK you probably hate me by now for over analyzing your pronunciation and then giving suggestions that are confusing. I hope this is helpful any way. Good work, and keep at it. I think if you get the r closer to how we say it, that will be the main thing. Edited by lazyday on 18 February 2012 at 8:59am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Ibryam000 Diglot Newbie France Joined 4667 days ago 37 posts - 50 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Bulgarian, Spanish | Message 3 of 15 18 February 2012 at 12:07pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks, that's very helpful. I needed to know how it sounds to an American, and I thought my main problem was about the vowels but apparently it's more a "r" sound thing. I will work at it and post another audio file (reading another text!) when I have the time, probably tomorrow.
Thank you and keep posting if you notice others frequent pronunciation mistakes. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| lazyday Newbie United States Joined 7155 days ago 21 posts - 25 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 15 18 February 2012 at 4:13pm | IP Logged |
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I can see the concern with vowels (little, years, etc.). Perhaps where I hear a problem with r is also how some vowels behave near it.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Hampie Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6661 days ago 625 posts - 1009 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Latin, German, Mandarin | Message 5 of 15 18 February 2012 at 4:29pm | IP Logged |
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L’s after certain sounds, like the a in all and call, is what is usually referred to as the dark l, and sounds not like the
l in little at all. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| lazyday Newbie United States Joined 7155 days ago 21 posts - 25 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 15 18 February 2012 at 6:51pm | IP Logged |
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Did a small comparison.
Will send it in personal message. Edited by lazyday on 18 February 2012 at 6:55pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Ibryam000 Diglot Newbie France Joined 4667 days ago 37 posts - 50 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Bulgarian, Spanish | Message 7 of 15 19 February 2012 at 12:24pm | IP Logged |
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@lazyday : Wow, thank you for this comparison. The vowel in "part" is definitely off. The word "world" is also very hard to pronounce for French speakers because of the succession of unknown sounds. But these are very common words! I have to work on them.
@Hampie : I know that, but in the word little, the first l is light and the second l is dark, right? Edited by Ibryam000 on 19 February 2012 at 12:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5058 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 8 of 15 19 February 2012 at 5:19pm | IP Logged |
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It's funny that Americans say there is no difference between hard and soft L, but
immediately hear when L is not velarized in English words. 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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