Pronunciation

PRONUNCIATION

To practice your pronunciation and listen to the correct pronunciation of the common sounds in English visit the Encarta Dictionary pronunciation section.

NATURAL PRONUNCIATION

When speaking English with a native English speaker you will find that we tend to blend words together and leave some sounds out. Try looking at some of the examples below to see which sounds to leave out and which words you should blend.

Reduced "and"

Practice the following pronunciation of reducing the word "and" to "n"

Try to say it
Mr. and Mrs. Brown.	Mr. and Mrs. Smith
John and Sally	Fred and Peter
You and Sam	Susan and I

Reduced "what are" and "where are"

Practice the following pronunciation of reducing the word

"what are" To "what re"

"where are" To "where re".

Strikes again	Try to say it
What are you doing?		What are they doing?
What are Susan and Peter doing?		Where are they?
Where are John and Sam?		What are you and Sally?

Deleting the sound "h"

Practice the following pronunciation of deleting the "h" sound in "his" and "her".

Try to say it
She's driving her car.	She's doing her homework.
She's washing her hair.	He's reading his e-mails.
He's cutting his hair.	He's brushing his teeth.

"you" pronounced as "ya"

If "you" is not stressed while speaking it can quite often be pronounced as "ya". try practicing some of the following sentences.

Try to say it
See ya later.	Will ya take care of my plants?
If ya give me some time I can.	Do ya need anything?
I'll talk to ya tomorrow.