English transcription, translation and pronunciation of frequently used words. English sounds

The sounds that represent are 44 English phonemes, which are divided into two categories: consonants and vowels. Since sounds cannot be written down, graphemes (letters or combinations of letters) are used to convey sounds in writing.

English alphabet

There are 26 letters in English. The standard one starts with the letter a and ends with the letter z.

When classifying alphabetic characters, they distinguish:

• 5 pure vowels: a, e, i, o, u;
• 19 pure consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, x, z;
• 2 semivowels: y, w.

Learning the English alphabet requires knowledge of both the symbol representing each letter and the phonetic sounds associated with that letter. Learning phonetics in English complex. Only a small number of letters have no exceptions in the main sound.

In most cases, each letter has several phonemes. The letter B sometimes sounds like bat (bet) or does not sound, for example, in the words crumb (krum), dumb (dam). The letter C sounds like "k" for cat (ket) or "c" for ceiling (si:ling), or "tch" for church (tche:tch). And the list of exceptions is endless.

Vowel sounds

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Features of English consonants

A consonant combination is a set of two or three consonant letters that retain their original sound when pronounced. Such sets occur either at the beginning or at the end of a word. For example, the word brave, in which both "b" and "r" are pronounced, is the initial combination. In the word bank "-nk" is the final combination.

Classification:

1. Initial combinations are classified into sets with "l", "r", and "s". In "l" the combination ends with "l". An example would be the letters "bl" in the word blind. Similarly, the final sound in "r" in combination with "r" when "br" and "cr", for example, in the words bridge, crane. On the contrary, in "s" it starts with s, "st" and "sn" - stap, snail.
2. The final combinations are grouped into sets with "s", "l" and "n": -st, -sk, -ld, -nd, -nk. Examples, first, desk, gold, sand, sink.

Digraphs

Consonant digraphs refer to a set of consonants that form one sound. Some digraphs are both at the beginning and at the end of the word - "sh", "ch" and "th". There are also strict initial and final digraphs - "kn-" and "-ck".

Examples of digraphs:

Ch-	-ch
Kn-	— ck
Ph-	-sh
Sh-	-ss
Th-	-th
wh-	-tch
Wr-

Features of digraphs:

Table of pronunciation of English consonants

b	b	bag, band, cab	bag, band, cab
d	d	dad, did, lady, odd [ɒd]	dead, did, lady, od
f	f, ph, sometimes gh	fable , fact , if [ɪf], off [ɒf], photo , glyph	fable, fact, if, of, foutow, glyph
	g	give , flag	givew, flag
	h	hold, ham	hold, ham
j	usually represented by y, but sometimes by other vowels	yellow, yes, young, neuron, cube	Yelow, ies, yang, n (b) yueron, k (b) yu: b - the sound j is similar to the vowel sound i:.
k	k, c, q, que, ck, sometimes ch	cat, kill, queen, skin, thick [θɪk], chaos	kat, kil, qui:n, sik, keyos
l	l	lane, clip, bell, milk, sould	lane, clip, bel, milk, sould - has two sound options: pure /l/ before a vowel, “darkened” /ɫ/ before a consonant or at the end of a word
m	m	man, them [ðem], moon	man, zem, mu:n
n	n	nest, sun	nest, san
ŋ	ng	ring, sing, finger [ŋ] is sometimes followed by the sound [g]. [ŋ] if "ng" is at the end of a word or a related word (sing, singer, thing), to "-ing", which translates verbs into participles or gerunds. [ŋg] if "ng" is not at the end of a word or in related words, also in comparative degrees(longer, longest).	/ring/, /sing/, /finge/
p	p	pen, spin, tip, happy	pen, spin, type, happy
r	r	rat, reply, rainbow,	rat, ripple, rainbow - movement of the tongue close to the alveolar ridge, but without touching it
s	s, sometimes c	see, city, pass, lesson	si:, pa: s, forest
ʃ	sh, si, ti, sometimes s	she [ʃi:], crash , sheep [ʃi:p], sure [ʃʊə], session , emotion [ɪməʊʃn], leash	shi:, crash, shi:p, shue, session, imashn, li:sh
t	t	taste, sting	test, sting
tʃ	ch, sometimes t	chair [ʧɛə], nature teach beach	t che e, ney t che, ti: t h, bi: t h
θ	th	thing [θɪŋ], teeth, Athens [æθɪnz[	t sing, ti: t s, et sinz - voiceless fricative
ð	th	this [ðɪs], mother	d sis, ma d ze - voiced fricative
v	v, sometimes f	voice, five, of [ɔv]	voice, five, ov
w	w, sometimes u	wet, window, queen	y in em, y in indeu, ku in i: n - [w] is similar to
z	z	zoo, lazy	zu: lazy
ʒ	g, si, z, sometimes s	genre [ʒɑːŋr], pleasure, beige, seizure, vision	genre e, plezhe, beizh, b:zhe, vision
dʒ	j, sometimes g, dg, d	gin [ʤɪn], joy [ʤɔɪ], edge	gin, joy, edge

English vowels

Each English vowel is pronounced in three ways:

1. like a long sound;
2. like a short sound;
3. as a neutral vowel (schwa).

In the English alphabet, there are 5 vowels, but sometimes y becomes a vowel and is pronounced like i, and w replaces u, for example, in the digraph ow.

Rules for reading vowels

Short vowels, which are characterized by a "short" sound, appear when there is one vowel in a word, either at the beginning of a word or between two consonants. For example, if, elk, hop, fan. A typical short vowel pattern is consonant+vowel+consonant (CHS).

Words are taught as families that represent groups of words with a common pattern, such as in the pattern "-ag" - bag, wag, tag or "-at" - cat, bat, hat.

vowels:

Sound	Letter	Examples
[æ]	a	rag, sag, ram, jam, gap, sap mat
[ɛ]	e	hen, pen, wet, bet, let
[ɪ]	i	pig, wig, dig, pin, win, tin, tin, bit
[ɒ]	o	hop, pop, top, hot, pot, lot
[ʌ]	u	bug, lug, tug, hut, but, cut

vowels:

Sound	Writing	Examples
A	ai, ay, a+consonant+e	name, mail, gray, ace
E	e, ee, ea, y, ie ,ei, i+consonant+e	he, deep, beast, dandy, thief, receive, elite
I	i, i+gn, igh, y, i+ld, i+nd	mine, sign, high, sky, wild, kind
O	o+consonant +e, oa, ow, o+ll, ld	tone, road, note, know, roll, bold
U	ew, ue, u+consonant+e	few, due, tune

The vowel sound in unstressed syllables is expressed by the abbreviated neutral sound ("schwa"), the phonemic symbol /ə/, especially if syllabic consonants are not used.

For example:

• a in about, around, approve, above [ə bʌv];
• e in accident, mother, taken, camera ;
• i c, family, lentil, officer pencil ;
• o in memory, common, freedom, purpose, London;
• u in supply, industry, suggest, difficult, succeed, minimum ;
• and even y in sibyl;
• schwa appears in function words: to, from, are.

Features of vowel sounds in English

Vowels are divided into monophthongs, diphthongs or triphthongs. A monophthong is when there is one vowel in a syllable, a diphthong is when there are two vowels in a syllable.

Let's take a closer look:

1. Monophthongs are pure and stable vowels., whose acoustic characteristics (timbre) do not change during the time they are pronounced.
2. - a sound formed by a combination of two adjacent vowels in one syllable. Technically, the tongue (or other parts of the speech apparatus) moves when a vowel is pronounced - the first position is stronger than the second. In the transcription of a diphthong, the first character is the starting point of the body of the language, the second character is the direction of movement. For example, you should know that in /aj/ the body of the tongue is in the bottom center position represented by /a/ and immediately starts moving up and forward to the position for /i/.
3. Diphthongs are often formed when separate vowels work together in rapid conversation.. Usually (in the speaker's speech) the body of the tongue does not have time to get to the position /i/. Therefore, the diphthong often ends closer to /ɪ/ or even to /e/. In the diphthong /aw/, the body of the tongue moves from the lower center position /a/, then moves up and back to the position /u/. Although single diphthongs are also distinguished, which are heard as separate vowel sounds (phonemes).
4. English also has triphthongs.(combinations of three adjacent vowels), including three sound types, for example, fire /fʌɪə/, flower /flaʊər/. But in any case, all diphthongs and triphthongs are formed from monophthongs.

Table of pronunciation of simple English vowels

All vowels are formed from only 12 monophthongs. Each, regardless of spelling, is pronounced using some combination of these sounds.

The table shows examples of simple English vowels with Russian pronunciation:

[ɪ]	pit, kiss, busy	pete, kitty, beezy
[e]	egg, let, red	eg, years, red
[æ]	apple, travel, mad	apple, travel, mead
[ɒ]	not, rock, copy	music, rock, copy
[ʌ]	cup, son, money	cap, san, mani
[ʊ]	look, foot, could	bow, foot, cool
[ə]	away, away	hey, hey
	be, meet, read	bi:, mi:t, ri:d
[ɑ:]	arm, car, father	a:m, ka:, fa:dze
[ɔ:]	door, saw, pause	to:, from:, to: from
[ɜ:]	turn, girl, learn	cho:n, gyo:l, le:n
	blue, food, too	blu:, foo:d, tu:

Diphthong pronunciation table

	day, pain, rein	dei, pein, rein
	cow, know	kou, know
	wise, island	visa, island
	now, trout	naw, trout
[ɔɪ]	noise, coins	noiz, coin
[ɪə]	near, hear	nee, hie
[ɛə]	where, air	uh uh uh
[ʊə]	pure, tourist	p (b) yue, tu e rist

Learn the transcription of English words

Let's look at some features English transcription:

The Internet has online a large number of video to listen to and you can also practice using the exercises.

Transcription is a recording of the sound of a letter or word as a sequence of special phonetic characters.

Transcription may not be interesting to everyone, but, no doubt, useful. Knowing the transcription, you outside help correctly read the unfamiliar word. In the classroom, you yourself can read the transcription of a word (for example, from the blackboard) without asking others around, thereby facilitating the process of mastering lexical material, etc.

At first there will be errors in the correct reading, tk. there are always some subtleties in pronunciation. But this is just a matter of practice. A little later, if necessary, you can transcribe the words yourself.

Transcription is directly related to reading rules. In English, not everything that is seen (letter combinations) is read (as in Russian and Spanish, for example).

When textbooks (mostly domestic) talk about reading rules, much attention is paid to the type of syllable. About five such types are usually described. But such a detailed theoretical presentation of the rules of reading does not make the lot of a beginner much easier, and can even mislead him. It must be remembered that a good knowledge of the rules of reading is a great merit of practice, not theory.

Your attention will be presented the basic rules for reading individual letters and letter combinations. "Behind the scenes" there will be some phonetic moments that are difficult to convey in writing.

A little patience! Both transcription and reading rules are easily acquired in a short time. Then you will be surprised: "How easy it became to read and write!"

However, do not forget that, despite its widest distribution, English does not cease to be a LANGUAGE full of exceptions, stylistic and other delights. And at any stage of language learning, and especially at the beginning, look into the dictionary more often.

You can download the tables. They are listed below on the page. We use and remember.

Table 1 - Letters, sounds, name and pronunciation of letters.

Letter	Sounds (for vowels: 1) open 2) closed)	(approximate) Name letters	(approximate) pronunciation sounds	Word examples
A a	, [æ]	"Hey"	"hey", "e" open	n a me , m a n [æ]
Bb	[b]	"bi:"	"b"
c c	[k], [s] before i, e, y	"si:"	"k", "s"	c at [k], ni c e[s]
D d	[d]	"di:"	"d"
e e	, [e]	"And:"	"and:", "e"	h e , p e n[e]
F f	[f]	"ef"	"f"
G g	[g], [ʤ] before i, e, y (excl. give)	"ji:"	"g", "j"	g ame[g], g ym[ʤ]
H h	[h]	"h"	"X"
I i	, [ɪ]	"ah"	"ay", "and"	l i ke, b i g [ɪ]
Jj	[ʤ]	"jay"	"j"
Kk	[k]	"kay"	"To"
l l	[l]	"el"	"l"
M m	[m]	"Em"	"m"
N n	[n]	"en"	"n"
O o	[әu], [ɒ(ɔ)]	"OU"	"oh", "oh"	g o [әu], d o g [ɒ]
Pp	[p]	"pi:"	"P"
Q q		"cue"	"kv"
R r	[r]	"A"	"R"
S s	[s], [z]	"es"	"s", "z"
T t	[t]	"ti:"	"T"
U u	, [u], [ʌ]	"Yu"	"yu", "u", "a"	p u pil,p u t[u], c u p[ʌ]
Vv	[v]	"in and:"	"V"
W w	[w]	"double you"	[w] sound between "u" and "v"»
X x	,	"the ex"	"ks", "gz"	fox, exam
Y y	, [ɪ] - at the end of a word [j] - at the beginning of a word	"wow"	"ay", "and", "th"	m y , bab y [ɪ], y es[j]
Zz	[z]	"zed"	"h"

Letter combination	Sounds	(approximate) pronunciation sounds	Word examples
ar/al		"a:”	car park calm
all	[ↄ:]	"O:"	tall, ball
ee/ea		"And:"	see, tea
er / or (at the end of a word)	[ә]	"e" weak	doctor, better
oo	[u],	"y", "y:"	book, school
oy / oi	[ↄɪ]	"Ouch"	boy, boil
ow/ou		"ay"	how, mouse
or /our /oar /oor	[ↄ:]	"O:"	horse, four, board, door
ir/ur/er	[ɜ:] (ә:)	"yo"	bird, turn, berth
ere/ear	[ɪә]	"ie"	here, hear
air/ear/ere	(ɛә)	"ea"	hair, wear, where
sh	[ʃ]	"sh"	ship, shop
tion / cion / sion (at the end of a word)	[ʃn]	"shn"	situation, suspicion, admission
ch	[ ʧ]	"h"	cheese, cheap
ph	[f]	"f"	phone, physics
th	[ð], [Ѳ]		this, thanks
dg	[ʤ]	"j"	judge
zh	[ʒ]	"and"	Voronezh
sure (at the end of a word)	[ʒ]	"and"	treasure, measure
ng	[ŋ]	"n" nasal	sing, song

Someday you may be asked to spell your first name, last name or any other word in English, and if you know english alphabet, then you can easily cope with this task.

Let's start learning the alphabet in English using the table below, and at the end we will do a small exercise to consolidate the English alphabet.

№	Letter	Name	Transcription
1	aa	a
2	bb	bee
3	cc	cee
4	Dd	dee
5	ee	e
6	FF	ef	[ɛf]
7	gg	Gee
8	hh	aitch
9	II	i
10	jj	Jay
11	Kk	kay
12	Ll	el	[ɛl]
13	mm	em	[ɛm]
14	Nn	en	[ɛn]
15	Oh	o	[əʊ]
16	pp	pee
17	Qq	cue
18	Rr	ar	[ɑɹ]
19	Ss	ess	[ɛs]
20	Tt	tee
21	Uu	u
22	vv	vee
23	www	double-u	[ˈdʌb(ə)l juː]
24	xx	ex	[ɛks]
25	Yy	wy
26	Zz	zed

Very easy to learn the English alphabet in songs

Below is the most popular song in the world for learning the English alphabet.

English alphabet exercise

Using the letters of the English alphabet, read and write down your first name, last name spelled out.

Historical stages in the formation of the English alphabet and the English language in general

English belongs to the Germanic group, and in its composition is included in the group of Indo-European languages. The official language is in the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Ireland. In addition, it is actively used in India, and many countries in Asia and Africa. It is the main one in the work processes of the UN mission.

Old English formative stage

The appearance of the English language dates back to the 5th-6th century. V. n. e., since during this period the ancient Germanic tribes began to move to Britain. The constant communication of the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and the native inhabitants of Britain, the Celts, leads to the appearance of dialectical forms. At this stage, English is called Anglo-Saxon and there are 4 dialects: Northumbrian, Mercian, Wessex and Kentish. The language of literature was mainly formed on the basis of the Wesex dialect.

In the 6th century, the establishment of Christianization in Britain begins. The Latin alphabet is introduced, writing appears, the names of geographical objects are left from the Celts. Periodic attacks by the Scandinavians since the 8th century. introduced many words from Scandinavian into the language and changed the structure of grammar.

Middle English stage of development

The Middle English period began in 1016 with the conquest of Britain by the Normans. And it continued until the end of the 15th century, until the end of the Wars of the Roses. English temporarily becomes the language of commoners, as the conquerors brought a dialect of French - the Norman language. During this period, three languages ​​​​function in Britain - English, Anglo-Norman and Latin. There are petitions for expanded English rights.

Printing is actively developing, which ultimately leads to phonetic and grammatical changes in the English language and sharply separates it from the Old English period. The morphological component of the language has also been simplified.

Modern stage of development

This period began in 1500 and continues today. There are two time periods - from 1500 to 1700. early modern English develops, and since 1700 the modern English alphabet has been formed. The main factors in the development of early modern English are typography and the development of learning. This is reflected in the change in the forms of words, the construction of sentences. The famous difference between printed and spoken text appears.

The language of literature based on the dialect of London is actively developing, adding its own differences to speech for conversation and for writing. In the 16th century, the Renaissance brought many words from Latin into the language.

The English language of modern times is constantly undergoing changes due to its wide distribution around the world. Simplified forms of pronunciation appear, phonetic forms change, but the English alphabet remains unchanged. There are many dialects associated with the area where English is spoken.

The vocabulary is constantly filled with borrowed words. There is also a tendency to restore the dialectical types of the English language as monuments of indigenous culture. In contrast to the desire for a standard form in the last century. The English language continues to change due to the expansion of the cultural community and the use of oral forms of communication in written speech.

Nowadays, there are variants of the English language for Britain, America and Australia, in which a difference in pronunciation and spelling of words has formed.

RELATED MATERIALS

Learn more about what dash, colon, parentheses, and other symbols mean.

You can see another version of the English transcription and, if necessary, print or copy for editing in Microsoft Word
English transcription

Pronunciation of English sounds.

Pronunciation of English vowels.

The pronunciation of English sounds is represented by Russian letters, you should understand that it is not possible to convey the correct English pronunciation using the Russian alphabet.

• ɑː long, deep a
• ʌ short vowel a, as in the Russian word to run.
• ɒ = ɔ - short, open about
• ɔː - long o
• зː - long vowel ё, as in the Russian word hedgehog.
• æ - open e
• e - like e in the word these
• ə - unclear unstressed sound, similar to e
• iː - long and
• ɪ - short, open and
• ʊ \u003d u - short u, pronounced with a slight rounding of the lips.
• uː - long y pronounced without much rounding of the lips.

Two-vowel sounds

Pronunciation of English consonants.

• p - p
• b - b
• m - m
• f - f
• v - in
• s - with
• z - z
• t - resembles a Russian sound tpronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• d - resembles a Russian sound dpronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• n - resembles a Russian sound npronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• l - resembles a Russian sound l, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• r - very hard sound, pronounced without vibration of the tongue. Corresponds to the sound p in the word lot
• ʃ - soft Russian sh
• ʒ - soft Russian zh, as in the word yeast.
• tʃ- h
• ʤ - similar to the Russian sound j (voiced h)
• k - to
• h - breath, reminiscent of a weakly pronounced sound x
• ju - long yu in the word southern
• je - the sound e in the word spruce
• jɔ - sound ё in the word Christmas tree
• jʌ - sound i in the word pit
• j - resembles the Russian sound й before vowels. Occurs in combination with vowels.

English consonants that do not have approximate equivalents in Russianː

• w - formed with rounded lips (as in a whistle). It looks like a sound delivered with only lips. In translation, it is denoted by letters in or y ː W illiams - Williams, Williams.
• ƞ - Open your mouth and say n without closing your mouth.
• ɵ - Move the slightly flattened tip of the tongue between the teeth and pronounce Russian with
• ð - Push the slightly flattened tip of the tongue between the teeth and say Russian

“I don’t understand transcription”, “How is it written in Russian letters?”, “Why do I need these sounds?”... If you start learning English with such moods, then I will have to disappoint you: it is unlikely that you will achieve significant success in English.

Without mastering the transcription, it will be difficult for you to understand the structure of English pronunciation, you will constantly make mistakes, experience difficulties in learning new words and using dictionaries.

Since school, the attitude of many to transcription is frankly negative. In fact, there is nothing complicated in transcribing English. If you do not understand it, then you have not explained this topic properly. In this article, we will try to fix this.

To understand the essence of transcription, you must clearly understand the difference between letters and sounds. Letters is what we write, and sounds- what we hear. Transcription marks are the sounds represented in writing. For musicians, this role is performed by notes, and for you and me, transcription. In Russian, transcription does not play you big role like in English. Here are vowels that are read differently, and combinations that need to be remembered, and letters that are not pronounced. The number of letters and sounds in a word does not always match.

For example, the word daughter has 8 letters, and four sounds ["dɔːtə]. If the final [r] is pronounced, as in American English, then there are five sounds. The combination of vowels au gives the sound [ɔː], gh is not read at all, er can be read as [ə] or [ər], depending on the variant of English.

There are a huge number of similar examples. It is difficult to understand how to read a word and how many sounds are pronounced in it if you do not know the basic rules of transcription.

Where can you find transcription? First of all, in dictionaries. When you find a new word in the dictionary, there must be information nearby about how the word is pronounced, that is, transcription. In addition, in textbooks, the lexical part always contains transcription. Knowledge of the sound structure of the language will not allow you to remember correct pronunciation words, because you will always identify a word not only with its literal representation, but also with its sound.

In domestic publications, transcription is usually placed in square brackets, and in dictionaries and manuals of foreign publishers, transcription is presented in slash brackets / /. Many teachers use slash brackets when they write the transcription of words on the board.

Now more about the sounds of the English language.

There are 44 sounds in the English language, which are divided into vowels(vowels ["vauəlz]), consonants(consonants "kɔn(t)s(ə)nənts]). Vowels and consonants can form combinations including diphthongs(diphthongs ["dɪfθɔŋz]). Vowels in English differ in longitude by brief(short vovels) and long(long vowels), and consonants can be divided into deaf(voicels consonants ), voiced(voiced consonants). There are also those consonants that are difficult to classify as deaf or voiced. We will not delve into phonetics, since on initial stage this information is sufficient. Consider the English sound table:

Let's start with vowels. Two dots near the symbol indicate that the sound is pronounced for a long time, if there are no dots, then the sound should be pronounced briefly. Let's see how the vowel sounds are pronounced:

- long sound I: tree, free

[ɪ ] - short sound And: big, lip

[ʊ] - short sound U: book, look

- long sound U: root , boot

[e] - sound E. Pronounced the same as in Russian: hen, pen

[ə] - neutral sound E. It sounds when the vowel is not stressed or at the end of the word: mother ["mʌðə], computer

[ɜː] - a sound similar to the sound Yo in the word honey: bird, turn

[ɔː] - long sound O: door, more

[æ] - sound E. Pronounced widely: cat, lamp

[ʌ] - short sound A: cup, but

- long sound A: car , mark

[ɒ] - short sound O: box, dog

diphthongs- these are combinations of sounds consisting of two vowels, always pronounced together. Consider the pronunciation of diphthongs:

[ɪə] - IE: here, near

- uh: fair, bear

[əʊ] - EU (OU): go, no

- AU: how, now

[ʊə] - UE: sure [ʃauə], tourist ["tuerrest]

- HEY: make, day

- AI: my bike

[ɔɪ] - OH: : boy, toy

Consider consonants sounds. Voiceless and voiced consonants are easy to remember, since each of them has a pair:

Voiceless consonants:	Voiced consonants:
[ p ] - sound P: pen, pet	[ b ] - sound B: big, boot
[f] - sound Ф: flag, fat	[ v ] - sound B: vet, van
[ t ] - sound T: tree, toy	[d] - sound D: day, dog
[ θ ] - interdental sound, which is often confused with C, but when pronounced, the tip of the tongue is between the lower and upper front teeth: thick [θɪk], think [θɪŋk]	[ð] - interdental sound, which is often confused with З, but when pronouncing, the tip of the tongue is between the lower and upper front teeth: this [ðɪs], that [ðæt]
[ tʃ ] - sound Ch: chin [ʧɪn], chat [ʧæt]	[dʒ] - sound J: jam [ʤæm], page
[ s ] - sound C: sit, sun	[z] - sound З:
[ʃ] - sound Sh: shelf [ʃelf], brush	[ ʒ ] - sound Zh: vision ["vɪʒ(ə)n], decision
[ k ] - sound K: kite, cat	[ g ] - sound Г: get, go

Other consonants:

[h] - sound X: hat, home
[m] - sound M: make, meet
[n] - English sound H: nose, net
[ŋ] - a sound reminiscent of H, but pronounced through the nose: song , long - a sound reminiscent of P: run , rest
[l] - English sound L: leg, lip
[w] - a sound reminiscent of B, but pronounced with rounded lips: , west
[j] - sound Y: you, music ["mjuːzɪk]

Those who want to learn more about the phonetic structure of the English language can look for resources on the Internet, where they will tell you what sonorants, stops, fricatives and other consonants are.

If you just want to understand the pronunciation of English consonants and learn how to read transcription without unnecessary theory, then we recommend that you share everything consonants sounds into the following groups:

• The sounds that are pronounced almost the same as in Russian : this is the majority of consonants.
• The sounds that similar to those in Russian but are pronounced differently. There are only four of them.
• The sounds that not in Russian . There are only five of them and it is a mistake to pronounce them the same way as in Russian.

Pronunciation of sounds marked yellow, practically does not differ from Russian, only sounds [p, k, h] are pronounced with "aspiration".

green sounds- these are the sounds that need to be pronounced in the English manner, they are the cause of the accent. The sounds are alviolar (for sure, you heard this word from your school teacher), to pronounce them, you need to raise your tongue to the alviols, then you will sound "in English".

Sounds tagged red, are absent in Russian at all (although it seems to someone that this is not the case), so you should pay attention to their pronunciation. Do not confuse [θ] and [s], [ð] and [z], [w] and [v], [ŋ] and [n]. The [ r ] sound is less of a problem.

Another aspect of transcription is stress, which is marked with an apostrophe in transcription. If the word has more than two syllables, then the stress is always present:

Hotel -
police-
interesting - ["ɪntrəstɪŋ]

When a word is long, polysyllabic, then it may contain two accents, with one upper (main), and the second - lower. The lower stress is indicated by a comma-like sign and is pronounced weaker than the upper one:

disadvantaged - [ˌdɪsəd"vɑːntɪʤ]

When reading the transcription, you may notice that some sounds are presented in parentheses (). This means that the sound can be read in the word, but you can not pronounce it. Usually in brackets you can find a neutral sound [ə], sound [r] at the end of a word, and some others:

Information - [ˌɪnfə" meɪʃ (ə) n]
teacher - ["tiːʧə(r)]

Some words have two pronunciations:

Forehead ["fɔrɪd] or ["fɔːhed]
Monday ["mʌndeɪ] or ["mʌndɪ]

In this case, choose the option that you prefer, but remember that this word can be pronounced differently.

Many words in the English language have two variants of pronunciation (and, accordingly, transcription): in British English and in American English. In this situation, learn the pronunciation that corresponds to the variant of the language you are studying, try not to mix words from British English and American English in your speech:

Schedule - ["ʃedjuːl] (BrE) / ["skeʤuːl] (AmE)
neither - ["naɪðə] (BrE) / [ˈniːðə] (AmE)

Even if before that you couldn’t stand transcription, after reading this article you saw that reading and transcribing is not at all difficult! After all, you were able to read all the words recorded in the transcription, right? Apply this knowledge, use dictionaries and be sure to pay attention to transcription if you have a new word in front of you, in order to memorize the correct pronunciation from the very beginning and not relearn later!

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