
Playful Pronunciation Practice
On this page... | |
Introduction | The 24 Consonantal Sounds |
The 20 Vocalic and Diphthongal Sounds | Problem Sounds for Japanese Learners |
Introduction
In an attempt to take some of the pain out of learning the kind of
clear English pronunciation that reduces communication problems, I
have here devised a set of memorable sentences as practice drills.
The full range of English sounds is gone through systematically and
spoon-fed in a form overseas students will want to repeat to
themselves — and then to the world.
First they might think it's a kind of entertainment, but before they know it they'll be speaking like a native!
Depending on your browser, please allow 15–30 seconds for all the audio files on this page to load.
The 20 Vocalic and Diphthongal Sounds
ɑ: æ aɪ aʊ e eɪ eə ɪ i: ɪə ɒ əʊ ɔ: ɔɪ ʊ u: ʊə ɜ: ʌ ə
Sound | Mnemonic |
---|---|
/ ɑ: / | Famous stars smoke cigars
in cars and bars. |
/ æ / | That fat cat sat
on a rat. Now it's flat
as a mat! |
/ aɪ / | Mike
likes bikes
with spikes to ride
on ice. |
/ aʊ / | I doubt
he'll clout the lout
who stole his trout. He'll shout
out loud! |
/ e / | The clever never
ever say "Never
ever!". |
/ eɪ / | If there's a delay,
they pay
to stay another day. |
/ eə / | They dare to stare at fair hair because it's
rare there. |
/ ɪ / |
If the stick
isn't thick, you'll split
it when you hit
it. |
/ i: / | Don't freeze the cheese, please,
Louise. |
/ ɪə / | It's clear
the beer is dear
here. |
/ ɒ / | Doctor
Oscar
often
operates
on
opposition politicians. |
/ əʊ / | Joan won't go
home to Rome by boat
alone. |
/ ɔ: / | She caught her daughter
in the water with a naughty boy. |
/ ɔɪ / | The noise from Roy's
toys annoys other boys. |
/ ʊ / | The cook
shook when he took
a look at the cook
book. |
/ u: / | Whose
two new
blue shoes
did Sue lose? |
/ ʊə / | If the water on the tour isn't pure,
you can't be sure
there'll be a cure. |
/ ɜ: / | Bert
wasn't hurt but got dirt
on his shirt. |
/ ʌ / | If
Mother had another brother, I'd have another
uncle. |
/ ə / |
A moment
ago he
announced
a new
address. |
The 24 Consonantal Sounds
b p d t dʒ tʃ ð θ v f g k z s ʒ ʃ h j l m n ŋ r w
Sound | Mnemonic |
---|---|
/ b / |
Barry's
barrel of
beer was a
better
buy than
Bob's
bargain
bottles. |
/ p / |
Pete
persuaded
Pam to
pick up
Paula's
parcel at the
post office. |
/ d / |
Dad
does
detest
dealing with
dogs'
droppings in the
driveway. |
/ t / |
Toddlers'
toilet
training
takes
time. |
/ dʒ / |
Jolting
gelignite is
generally
jolly dangerous! |
/ tʃ / |
Charles
said cherries,
cheese
and chocolate are
cheap in
China. |
/ ð / | It's
the weather
there
that bothers
them. |
/ θ / | A
thirsty
thief
thanked
Theo for his
thermos. |
/ v / |
Vera
values the
variety of
vitamins in
vegetables. |
/ f / | Inefficient
farmers
fear
future
foreign
food imports. |
/ g / | The
giggling
girls
gradually
got a
grip on themselves. |
/ k / |
Cairo
kids
quickly
catch
colds in
Canada. |
/ z / | The
zippy
Zaire
zebra
zigzagged
through the Zurich
zoo. |
/ s / |
Super
salesmen
soon
succeed in
selling
something. |
/ ʒ / | We should treasure
leisure for its immeasurable
pleasure! |
/ ʃ / |
She
showed the
shy
shogun a
Shinto
shrine. |
/ h / | When
Helen
had
Harry,
her
husband
hurried
her to
hospital. |
/ j / |
You
used
your
yellow
uniform
yesterday. |
/ l / |
Larry
lured
lots of
lovely
ladies
to his lair. |
/ m / |
Most
managers
make
much
more
money than
me. |
/ n / | I'll
naturally
never
know
Naples like my
Neapolitan
neighbour. |
/ ŋ / | Karaoke king Bing sang a long song in
Hong Kong. |
/ r / |
Ronald
Reagan
wrecked his
red
Rolls
Royce. |
/ w / |
We await snowy
winter
weather
without
warm
winds. |
Problem Sounds for Japanese Learners
The Japanese language has roughly half as many sounds as English, but this doesn't prevent it from eagerly soaking up vast quantities of Western words and expressions. This process is uniquely facilitated by the existence of the katakana phonetic script, which basically compresses foreign words into the same limited range of sounds available for native ones. The Japanese themselves think that this system is very smart. The downside is that school children face an almost impossible task unlearning it when approaching real English in the classroom. They fail to distinguish between the separate English sounds in, for example, birth, bus and bath — all of which for local convenience are similarly transcribed in the katakana syllabary.
After more than a decade of teaching English in Japan, I have come up with the following series of contrastive sounds that Japanese speakers really need to learn to tell apart if they are to avoid comprehension difficulties with English speakers who are unfamiliar with Japanese.
Sound | Mnemonic |
---|---|
/ ɑ: / | Be fast to be first!
The firm farmer
ran his farm like a firm. |
/ ɜ: / | |
/ eɪ / | That lazy
lady is never
ready! |
/ e / | |
/ əʊ / | Polish
polish is popular in Poland.
We won't want it! |
/ ɒ / | |
/ i: / | He's
his own boss. The wheel will come off. |
/ ɪ / | |
/ ɒ / | He plays golf by the gulf but he's not a
nut. |
/ ʌ / | |
/ ɔ: / | Grandma
was born at home. Bowling isn't boring! |
/ əʊ / | |
/ ɔ: / |
All over Turkey I talked to Turks who
walked to work. |
/ ɜ: / | |
/ ʌ / | My
uncle's
ankles
give him trouble when he travels. |
/ æ / | |
/ b / | This
berry's
very sweet. Rival rebel
gangs. Travel troubles. |
/ v / | |
/ r / | Jerry
really likes cherry jelly. A
pleasant present. Arrive alive! |
/ l / | |
/ s / |
Sue's
shoes. It isn't
selfish to
sell
fish or shellfish. |
/ ʃ / |