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The dreaded IPA | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5452 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 9 of 30 13 May 2010 at 1:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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In Norway IPA (or some modified version thereof) has been used in the English teaching for generations. In every
vocabulary list in the text books, the phonetic transcription is given right after the English word. As a result Norwegians are accustomed to IPA from an early age. IPA is also used in all English–Norwegian dictionaries. Personally, I find any phonetic transcription not based on IPA confusing and annoying. Edited by tractor on 13 May 2010 at 1:15pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6948 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 10 of 30 13 May 2010 at 4:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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Learning IPA is one of the best decisions I've made as a language learner. It's been indispensible to me.
For example, I'd say the 'q' and a few other consonants in Mandarin are probably impossible to pick up by mimicry alone. It would take staring at a native speaker's mouth and demanding, 'say that again? One more time? Mine sounds exactly the same to me! Show me where you're putting your tongue....' and then even after that many people still wouldn't be able to get it. And this is just for the ones that we REALIZE sound different... few beginners realize that Mandarin ch', 'sh', 'j', and others which may sound the same as English actually have different qualities. Yet for someone who knows IPA, literally one glance at the 'Mandarin phonemes' chart on Wikipedia will show you where to place your tongue and how it's different from similar sounds in your language. You can also draw comparisons across languages - for example, the Japanese pronunciation of 'h' in 'hi' is sometimes the same as the German 'ch' in 'ich' (not to be confused with the 'ch' in 'ach'). And the Spanish 'r' is more or less the same as the American English 't' in 'water'. After looking at the chart and producing the sound on your own, all that's left is to fine-tune it, and that's where the skill of mimicking a native speaker should come in (you might notice that they're putting a tiny bit more 'air' into it than you are, or things like that.) Even this fine-tuning will be greatly helped by your awareness of phonetics. When it comes to pronunciation, nothing beats combining intuition with science. It's like going to art school or studying music theory - polishing up your natural skill by understanding the laws and structures behind it all. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6010 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 11 of 30 13 May 2010 at 6:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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The IPA's great, but you need to understand a bit about phonetics to start with it.
It's not much of a tool to the absolute beginner (except perhaps the absolute beginner of English, because it's the only means available of accurately notating the language). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ubik Senior Member United States ubykh.wordpress.com/ Joined 5315 days ago 147 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Latin, Arabic (Egyptian), German, Spanish | Message 12 of 30 13 May 2010 at 7:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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Does anyone know if there is one of those laminated cheat sheet things available for the IPA? Im sure someone knows what Im talking about...they mainly make them for math equations and stuff and they sell them at college bookstores, Office Max, etc. Ive never seen one on the IPA though...
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| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5452 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 13 of 30 13 May 2010 at 8:43pm | IP Logged | ||
If you have access to a laminator at work or school, you can just print out an IPA chart from Wikipedia and laminate it yourself. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ubik Senior Member United States ubykh.wordpress.com/ Joined 5315 days ago 147 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Latin, Arabic (Egyptian), German, Spanish | Message 14 of 30 13 May 2010 at 10:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well I dont have access to a laminator or I surely wouldntve asked the question in the first place.
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| egill Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5695 days ago 418 posts - 791 votes Speaks: Mandarin, English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 15 of 30 13 May 2010 at 10:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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This is a great resource. It has
flash charts with all the IPA symbols, which when clicked on play the sound in different positions.
I don't think you're gonna have much luck finding a laminated version on sale—were linguistics only that popular! I don't see the problem with just printing it out on some paper. You can do it as many times as you want. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ubik Senior Member United States ubykh.wordpress.com/ Joined 5315 days ago 147 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Latin, Arabic (Egyptian), German, Spanish | Message 16 of 30 13 May 2010 at 10:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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Oh yeah, Ive already printed one out that is formatted very nicely and all, but it would just be nice to have one of those handy dandy laminated dealies. Ill probably just put this two-sheeter into a page protector and call it a day. Thank you guys for your suggestions. I appreciate the link! I will check that out when I go home.
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