3. Understanding Pronunciation
Japanese vs. English Pronunciation
Japanese: 5 vowel sounds
12 consonant sounds
English: 14 vowel sounds
24 consonant sounds
To correctly speak and hear English, you must
learn the different sounds
4. English Pronunciation
S and Sh
BE CAREFUL!
S Words: see, seat, sing, single, simple, similar, senior, sea,
six, severe, sincere
*Like a combination of Japanese スand イsounds
SH Words: she, sheet, sheep, ship, show, shoot
* Like the Japanese シsound
5. English Pronunciation
H, B, F, V
These sounds use air and vibration
Don't attach vowels to the sounds
H: Like the Japanese はひふへほ- Hook
B: Put lips together like Japanese ばびぶべぼ– Book
Hug-Bug High-Buy Here-Beer
6. English Pronunciation
F: Top teeth touch bottom lip and blow...
fit, free, friend, fun, favorite, find, fox, fix, four
V: Same as "F" but vibrate in throat...
vitamin, voice, vacation, valentine, vegetable, value
Ferry-Very Fast-Vast Fat-Vat
7. English Pronunciation
L and R
L Words: Tongue touches back of top teeth
Drops to bottom of mouth as words come out
- light, load, glow, law, collect
R Words: Tongue is in back of the throat
Does not touch the top of the mouth
- right, road, rice, grow, raw, correct
Practice Makes Perfect: really, regularly, vocabulary, recently, roughly
8. Written English and Spoken English
CORRECT PRONUNCIATION is NECESSARY for UNDERSTANDING
Foreigner = for-en-er ??? Muscle = mus-ul
Connection - Some words attach when spoken
got it = gah-tit not at all = nah-ta-tal
Assimilation - Some combine for different sounds
Is your...? = i-zyur
9. Written English and Spoken English
Omission - Some sounds are dropped
sit down = si_down should be okay = shu_be okay
Weakened Sounds - Some words are stronger
a) Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives get emphasis
b) Articles, Prepositions, Pronouns, Conjunctions are weakened
Example: I’m going to the new store with my friends.
10. Different Vowels in English
Many different vowels in English
=
Difficult for Japanese to hear
Hard “a”: cap, bat, and
“u”: cup, but, under (similar to Japanese ア)
Middle “e”: except (like a combination of イand エ)
“a”: accept (similar to アbut not clear)
In many cases, words that have similar sounds close together are dropped in spoken English. There is a slight interval or space between the sounds. Phrases like “sit down” and “should be okay” where the “t” and “d” or “d” and “b” are close together are examples. Spoken English will also emphasize certain parts of speech over others. Nouns, verbs, and adjectives receive more emphasis than articles, prepositions, pronouns, and conjunctions in spoken English. Sometimes these weakened words are difficult or impossible to hear.
Example: I’m going to the new store with my friends.
As mentioned at the beginning of this lesson, there are many vowel sounds in English that are not found in Japanese. These sounds are difficult for Japanese to hear and make. Some of these vowel sounds are the hard “a” sound like in cap, which is a sound between the Japanese “ア” and “エ” but not found in Japanese, and the English “u” sound which is similar to the Japanese “ア” as well. Other examples are the middle “e” sound like in “except” and the light “a” sound that is also close to the Japanese “ア”.