We will find that when a person speaks English, his pronunciation and intonation are ok and he speaks fluently, but it just sounds strange and nonstandard. Some people feel strange pronunciation when they speak, and dare not say it directly. I majored in English when I was in college, and I often had oral communication. Some students in the class speak English fluently, but they have a hometown accent and mispronounce /l/? /Wait for the sound that should not be rolled into a tongue. /θ/Don't bite your tongue, a mouth is simply a "car accident scene".
The position of the tongue in Chinese and English pronunciation is mostly different, so even if the pronunciation is similar, the position of the tongue, teeth and lips in the oral cavity is different when pronouncing. So if you only know "sound" and don't know how to pronounce it, you are just repeating your mistakes indefinitely. Especially for beginners, before practicing pronunciation and intonation, we must first make clear the tongue position and pronunciation method of each sound to avoid making mistakes skillfully.
There are 48 phonetic symbols in standard English (English phonetic symbols are all learned at school now, so this paper also explains them on the basis of English phonetic symbols), including 20 vowel phonetic symbols and 28 consonant phonetic symbols.
Let me tell you about the pronunciation of 48 phonetic symbols and the letters (combinations) that often correspond to the pronunciation in a simple and easy-to-understand way, combined with the pronunciation habits of China people. Finally, it took three weeks to sort out the following contents. Believe me, keep reading and practicing, and you will gain something: 1) standard phonetic pronunciation, clearing the way for later oral practice. 2) Remembering the correspondence between letters and pronunciations will greatly speed up the memory of words.
First of all, vowels (vowels)
Vowel is the sound made by air flowing through the mouth without obstacles during pronunciation. (I don't study technical terms here, but only the pronunciation method. Friends who want to know more about vowels can check the link. Almost all English words contain vowels, so the pronunciation of vowels is very important.
According to whether it is necessary to change the tongue position and lip shape when pronouncing a vowel, vowels are divided into vowels and diphthongs. All vowels in English are voiced, which requires the vibration of vocal cords. Moreover, vowels are unobstructed sounds, so there is no friction between the tongue, teeth and lips in the mouth when vowels are pronounced.
The skills to pronounce vowels well are: clear pronunciation and full pronunciation.
Monovowel (Monovowel) * *12:
According to the length of pronunciation, it is divided into: I://:/? ://? : //u: long vowel (long vowel: a vowel with a shorter pronunciation time and a slightly longer vowel). However, it should be noted that long vowels are not simply elongated short vowels, and long and short vowels with different phonetic symbols correspond to different tongue position changes, see below); ? //? //? //? //? //e//？ /is a short vowel.
According to the pronunciation position, it can be divided into front vowel, middle vowel and back vowel.
Let me briefly talk about the pronunciation rules of vowels:
1) is divided into high, medium, low and low according to the tongue lifting height.
2) According to the position of the highest part of the tongue, it is divided into front, middle and back.
3) According to the length of vowels, they are divided into long (tight) and short (loose).
4) According to the circular development of lips, it can be divided into round lips and non-round lips.
Note: In 3), the word "length" is only for the convenience of understanding. In fact, the difference between long vowels and corresponding short vowels is not only the length of pronunciation, but also the "tightness" in professional phonetics, such as [? The pronunciation of] is different from that of [i:], and the oral muscles are more tense when pronouncing [i:]. When long vowels are pronounced, the oral muscles are tense, so long vowels are also called "tight sounds" and the corresponding short vowels are also called "loose sounds".
So we can describe English vowels like this:
[i:] A vowel with a long sound before high is not round.
With the help of the description of vowels, we can quickly find the pronunciation position.
Pronunciation Rules (According to: Hu Zhuanglin Linguistics: A Course)
Prevost [? ][i:][e][？ ] pronunciation:
[? ]: a non-circular vowel with a high front and a short front.
This sound is not simply shortened [i:], but changes the tongue position and mouth shape. This sound is short and light, the upper and lower lips and teeth are slightly wider than when pronounced [i:], and the oral muscles are slightly relaxed, similar to the sound between the Chinese characters "one" and "ye".
Skills: This sound sounds like "1" in the military slogan "1, 2, 3, 4".
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1) I-kit, bid 2) Y-city, cherry 3) E-pretty, blank (e is often pronounced [? ]) 4) u-busy, business, minute (u is also often pronounced [? ]) 5) A ])5)a-village, private(a (A is sometimes pronounced [? ])
Example exercise: Stupid Billy is not stupid. Nothing is difficult if you try. Billy is a rich man.
[i:]: A long vowel with a high front is not round.
The upper and lower lips are slightly open, the upper and lower teeth are separated, the tip of the tongue is slightly pressed on the lower teeth, and the corners of the mouth are stretched as far as possible to both sides as if smiling.
Tip: I also call this kind of voice "smile", so foreigners always say cheese when taking pictures. The pronunciation of this sound is similar to the pronunciation of the Chinese word "one", but in English, the tongue position is higher and the lips are spread a little hard.
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1)ee - seek，tree 2)ea - eat，heat 3)ie - piece，field 4)e - Chinese，she 5)i - police，ski
(This phonetic symbol is also the pronunciation of the vowel letter "e". Vowel pronunciation has a common rule: if "vowel letter-consonant-silent e", vowel letters pronounce the letter itself. E.g. Chinese, Japanese)
Example exercise: Please keep it a secret. I'll believe that when I see it. She has a sweet dream.
[e]: short non-circular vowel in the middle and front.
When this sound is pronounced, the tip of the tongue touches the lower teeth, and the front of the tip of the tongue is slightly upturned; Tongue position ratio [? ] low, opening ratio [? ] The mouth is big and slightly flat, and the distance between the upper and lower teeth can accommodate about one index finger. Pronunciation is clean and neat, and it is not sloppy.
Tip: say "thank you" in Chinese, and the mouth that stops is the mouth of [e]. The sound is similar to the sound of "ah" in Chinese.
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1) electronic eggs, 2) electronic bread, are you ready?
Example exercise: Let's get ready for the exam. It's never too late. Don't beg men.
[? ]: low and short non-circular vowels.
When you pronounce this sound, your mouth is wide open, and your upper and lower teeth can accommodate your forefinger and middle finger. The tip of the tongue touches the lower teeth, the front of the tongue is slightly raised, and the corners of the mouth are stretched as straight as possible to both sides of the cheek.
Tip: This sound is loud and similar to the Chinese word "love". Say "love" loudly with your mouth open, almost like this "plum blossom [? ] ".
Common pronunciation letters:
A-cat, fat, bad (letter a is usually pronounced in stressed closed syllables)
Example exercise: The madman has a hat. A black cat caught a fat mouse. The bad guys are back.
Middle vowel [? ][? ][? ] pronunciation:
[? ]: low, medium and short non-circular vowels.
When this sound is made, the upper and lower lips and upper teeth open, the facial muscles relax, and the tip of the tongue gently presses the gums. (In fact, this sound itself is a postvowel. In modern English, this sound is traditionally pronounced as a low middle vowel (that is, a middle vowel).
Hint: Although this sound sounds very similar to Chinese "A" and English [ɑ:], it is actually not these two sounds. Compared with Chinese, [? ] pronunciation position is relatively backward, but not as backward as [ɑ:]. Practice/and you can start? /(similar to "forehead"), then the mouth slowly opens and the upper and lower teeth are separated, the standard [? ].
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1) u-shaped cutting, bus 2)ou-country, rough
Example exercise: Here comes the bus. Ok. Don't worry.
[? ]: short non-circular vowel in the middle.
This sound is completed in the middle of the mouth. When pronouncing, the tongue is flat, the middle part of the tongue is slightly lifted and extended to the hard palate (but not touching), the mouth is relaxed and the lips are flat.
Tip: This sound is similar to the Chinese "frontal" sound, but the position of the tongue is slightly higher than the Chinese "frontal" sound. But note that this sound is not a tongue curl. Many people will naturally pronounce it as a retroflex when they see this sound, which is wrong. For example, famous and idea don't roll their tongues in the end. Only people who end in R roll their tongues, such as teachers and workers.
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1)er- sister, later 2)or- doctor, forged 3)a- about, China 4) e-seven, happy 5) o-collect, o-clock (vowel letters a, e, o are usually pronounced in unstressed syllables [? ])
Example exercise: I want butter and sugar. The famous doctor has a good idea (paying attention to fame and ideas). Mom and Dad love each other.
[? :]: medium-long non-circular vowel.
When pronouncing, the tongue is flat. The tail of the tongue is far away from the lower teeth, and the middle of the tongue is slightly raised. The gum is nearly half closed, which is the smallest vowel in Chinese. Lips are slightly flat. This sound is a long vowel, so it takes longer to pronounce.
Tip: This sound is basically [? Extended version], mouth muscles are more than hair [? ] voice slightly tightened. Because the letter combinations that make up this sound often have an R, this sound is pronounced as rolling tongue in American English. But when the tip of the tongue is rolled up, be careful not to touch any part of the mouth to avoid friction (there is no friction in the mouth when vowels are pronounced).
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1)ir-bird, shirt 2)ur-nurse, turn 3)er-her, serve 4)ear-learn, ear 5)or-worker, world 6)our-journal, a polite expression.
Example exercise: Her shirt is burnt. The early bird catches the worm. Who really hurt her?
Post vowel [ɑ:] [? ][? :][? ][u:] Pronunciation:
[ɑ:]: After the low long non-circular vowel.
When pronouncing this sound, your mouth should be as wide as possible, the base of your tongue should be lifted slightly, your tongue should be extended horizontally, and the tip of your tongue should not touch your lower teeth. Your lips will naturally open, your oral muscles will tighten, and the pronunciation time will be slightly longer.
Tip: When practicing this pronunciation, you can hold your tongue with chopsticks or cotton swabs, just like a doctor looking at his throat, and pronounce "A". Find the feeling of this pronunciation and the pronunciation will be basically correct. In Chinese, the pronunciation of "a" is in the front position, while this sound is the last vowel in English. Therefore, although English and Chinese sound the same, but the pronunciation position is different, according to the Chinese method of pronouncing "a" the sound is naturally not standard.
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1)a-last, glass 2)ar-far, dark 3)al-calf, which stands for.
Example exercise: Behind the bar is a big farm. The car is difficult to start.
[? ]: Post-low short round vowel.
When making this sound, the upper and lower teeth and upper and lower lips should be opened, and the lips should be slightly round, but don't pout and relax the muscles. The tongue is flat, adducted, slightly concave, and the tip of the tongue leaves the lower teeth. The pronunciation is short and powerful.
Tip: This sound is similar to the Chinese "ao" sound, but the English pronunciation is mellow, the tongue position is relatively high, and it does not touch any part of the mouth.
Common pronunciation letters:
1) o-hot, box 2) a-quality, quarrel (generally o is pronounced in stressed closed syllables [? ])
Example exercise: Bob took a hot pot. The fog is in the box. My job is to mop the floor.
[? :]: Middle-back oblong vowel.
When this sound is pronounced, the opening is slightly larger than half-open (slightly smaller than [? ]), close to a finger and a half. The root of the tongue is tilted back, the root of the tongue is retracted, and the tip of the tongue leaves the lower teeth; Lips are round and prominent, muscles are tense, and pronunciation takes a long time.
Tip: I also call this sound "round lip sound". When you send your lips together (but note that there is no friction between your lips when you send them), just like the sound when you suddenly realize "ao" in Chinese (but your mouth is much smaller). In American English, if there is an R (such as war, short) in the letter combination, the tongue will curl when pronouncing.
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1)or - short，north 2)au - audio，autumn 3)ar - war，quarter 4)aw - paw，law 5)our - floor，door 6)our - four，source 7)oar - board，hoard
Example exercise: More and more horses come from the north. Long Paul ran into the door.
[? ]: short round vowel with high back.
Pronunciation, lips slightly round, slightly prominent, muscles as much as possible to relax. The back of the tongue is raised to the soft palate (the tongue position is higher than [? ]), the base of the tongue contracts and the tip of the tongue leaves the lower teeth. The upper and lower teeth are separated.
Hint: This sound is similar to the Chinese "Wu" sound, but it is pronounced later than Chinese (English is a post-vowel) and clearer. The mouth needs a little force. In order to pronounce this sound well, you can put away your lower abdomen and make a short and powerful sound when practicing.
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1)u-sugar, push 2)o-woman, wolf 3)oo-book, foot 4)ou-could, would.
Example exercise: That woman wrote a good book. Look at his feet.
[u:]: Long round vowel with high back.
When pronouncing, distinguish the upper and lower teeth, raise the back of the tongue to the soft palate (but not touch the soft palate), retract the back of the tongue, and leave the tip of the tongue from the lower teeth. Lips are convex and round, and mouth muscles are tightened.
Tip: This sound is not simply played [? ] elongation, hair [u:], tongue position ratio [? ] slightly higher, round mouth. When practicing, you can find the feeling of simulating a train flute with your mouth, and make a "whoop ……", which is almost the sound.
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1)u - rule，June 2)o-who，prove 3)oo - pool，tool 4)ou - soup，group 5)ui - juice，fruit 6)ew - drew，threw
Example exercise: Take the fruit to the room. He threw the ruler into the swimming pool.
Diphthongs * * * 8: [a? 】【e？ 】【a？ ][? ][? ][? 】【e？ ][? ]
In phonetics, diphthongs means that two vowels with the same pronunciation are combined into a whole. That is to say, the pronunciation in diphthongs involves two different tongue positions, which slide from one to the other. Pronunciation, the front vowel is strong and long, and the back vowel is short and weak. Pay attention to natural transition when pronouncing. And because diphthongs is composed of monosyllables, it is necessary to practice monosyllables first, and then diphthongs will follow suit.
【a？ ]:
Does this sound go from [a] to [? ], when pronouncing, open your lips and pronounce [a] first (use [? ] similar), then slowly lift your chin and slide to [? ] sound, the tip of the tongue against the lower teeth. In the process of pronunciation, the muscles of the tongue are relaxed, the gums are half open to half closed, the tongue position is from low to high, the mouth shape is from big to small, the volume is from strong to weak, and from long to short.
Tip: the sound [a] should be full first. You can find this sound through the pronunciation of "Auntie" in Chinese, and change the exit type from "A" to "Auntie". "A" is long and clear, "Auntie" is short and vague.
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1)i-bike, nice 2)y-style, type, sky
(This phonetic symbol is also the pronunciation of the vowel letter "I", and vowel pronunciation has a common rule: if "vowel letter-consonant-silent e", vowel letters pronounce the letter itself. For example: bicycles, kites, like)
Example exercise: He likes this beautiful bike. Why did you tell me a white lie?
【e？ ]:
The sound slides from [e] to [? ], when pronouncing, the corners of your mouth should be as far as possible to your ears. [E] The sound is long and powerful, [? ] The sound is short and weak, trying to be natural.
Skill: The phonetic symbol is the pronunciation of the letter A, and the transition must be natural when pronouncing, and the lip width will change from large to small.
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1) One eighth cake, eight.
(This phonetic symbol is also the pronunciation of vowel letter "A", and the pronunciation rule of vowel letter is "vowel letter-consonant letter-silent e". In this case, vowel letter sounds the letter itself. )
Example: Kate ate the cake made by my Jay. He weighs much more than Mei.
【a？ ]:
The sound is [a] to [? ] transition. Open your mouth wide and relax, put your tongue flat and retract, lift the soft palate behind your tongue, and gently touch your lower teeth with the tip of your tongue; Then the mouth closes, the tip of the tongue leaves the lower teeth, and the lips gradually protrude (because [? ] sound), the pronunciation slowly slides to [? ]。
Skills: I also call this sound "lion roar". When you pronounce [a], your mouth is wide open. Try to pronounce the sound at the end as full as possible, much like the roar of a lion. Many words indicating sound contain this sound, such as shouting, reading, loudly, loudly and vocally.
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1) oh-shout, loudly 2) ow-what's up, now?
Example exercise: Now read the word out loud. Don't shout in the house.
[? ]:
This voice is [? ] to [? ] transition. Tongue sounds from vowels [? ] marked with inverted vowels [? ], the lip shape changes from natural to round, the first sound is long and powerful, and the second sound is short and weak.
Tip: this sound is very similar to the Chinese word "ou", but there is no sliding sound in Chinese, but it is issued directly. English has smooth sounds and mouth changes, and English [? The pronunciation starting point of] is behind the pronunciation starting point of Chinese "ou" ([? ] is a middle vowel).
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1)o-nose, note 2)oa-road, coat 3)ou-soul, shoulder 4)low-low, show.
(This phonetic symbol is also the pronunciation of the vowel letter "O", and the pronunciation rule of the vowel letter is "vowel letter-consonant letter-silent e". In this case, the vowel letter sounds the letter itself. )
Example exercise: Show this coat to your friend on the way. Please pay attention to this stone.
[? ]:
This voice is [? ] to [? ] transition. Pronunciation of vowels after the tongue [? ] vowel before [? ] natural transition, the lip shape changes from round lip to spread lip, [? ] long and strong, [? ] short and weak.
Hint: This sound sounds a bit like the sounds of "ao" and "one" in Chinese. Pronunciation must be natural and not broken.
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1)oi-voice, avoiding 2)oy-boy, toy.
Example exercise: The overturned boy lost his toy. The noisy boy's voice made everyone announce.
[? ]:
This voice is [? ] to [? ] transition. Prelingual vowel [? The position of] naturally transitions to the middle vowel [? ], mouth from small to slightly open ([? ] than [? ] the opening is small).
Skills: Compared with other diphthongs, [? ] a little shorter, [? ] longer and clearer. You can find this sound with the help of the Chinese "Yi Er" sound. American English pronounces this sound. If there is an R in the letter combination, you need to roll your tongue, for example, dear, sheer.
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
Honey, listen to the deer, here and there.
Example exercise: Honey, come here. I heard a deer there.
【e？ ]:
The sound is [e] to [? ] transition. When pronouncing, the tip of the tongue touches the lower teeth first, and then lifts upward, and naturally transitions from the front vowel [e] to the middle vowel [? ]。
Tip: This sound is similar to the pronunciation of "love forehead" in Chinese, which needs a quick transition. American English sounds like this. If there is an r in the letter combination, you need to roll your tongue, such as bear and hair.
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1) yes-dare, compare 2) air-hair, fair 3) ear-pear, wear.
Example exercise: I dare to compare our hair. I have blond hair.
[? ]:
This voice is [? ] to [? ] transition. Pronunciation, tongue from vowel [? ] vowel [? ] naturally slides, and the lip shape changes from round lip to spread lip.
Tip: The key to pronounce this sound well is to play [? ] full voice, natural transition to [? ] sound. You can find this sound with the help of the Chinese word "Wuer". American English sounds like this. If there is an r in the letter combination, you need to roll your tongue, such as tour and poor.
Common pronunciation letters or combinations:
1) our tour, detour 2) ensure, guarantee 3) poor people, rough people
Example exercise: A trip to a poor village is unusual. Make sure that everyone helps the poor boy.
Some people say that I have been wrong for so long, can I correct it? Sure! When I first started learning English, because the teacher's own pronunciation was not standard, and the school didn't teach tongue position when teaching phonetic symbols, I had to learn "sounds", but every sound was not right. So I went to college to learn English, and found that how I practiced was very different from what foreign teachers said. At that time, I realized that it was the position of my tongue, so I bought a book to teach pronunciation. I asked a foreign teacher if I was not sure.
I remember why I couldn't send [l] or [? After a few times, I practiced walking, taking the bus and queuing. It took me a year to finally correct all my pronunciations. So don't worry about starting too late. There is an English proverb that says: Better late than never. And everyone must practice pronunciation by combining words and sentences. Many times, we pronounce a pronunciation correctly and put it in a sentence to "return to its original shape." This must be corrected consciously. Practice makes perfect.
If you are not sure about the sound, you can download apps such as "Youdao" or "Oxford", click on the "trumpet" after the word, listen to its pronunciation and find out the difference. Finally, once again emphasize the skills of pronunciation standard: vowels must be full and clear, and consonants must be clean and tidy.
Pronunciation cannot be achieved overnight, because we are used to the pronunciation position of Chinese, and when we speak another language, it will definitely be affected. The important thing is to persevere. As long as we practice hard, it will be effective. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.