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WHY CAN'T I UNDERSTAND SPOKEN ENGLISH? PART 2

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WHY CAN'T I UNDERSTAND SPOKEN ENGLISH? PART 2

To be able to understand spoken English, it is important for you to learn how competent English speakers pronounce words. In why can't I hear English Part 1, I discussed briefly the inconsistency of English pronunciation, based on the fact that English is not a phonetic language. In this article, I will discus more examples of letters and letter combinations that are pronounced differently in different words.  More often than not, learners of English get confused when they hear a different sound than they expected to hear.

The combination th occurs in several words in English language. However, the pronunciation of this letter combination is not uniform. For example, the first parts [th]of the words thing and this do not sound the same. The sounds represented by the combination th in the word thing and the word this appear differently on the IPA chart. These sounds, although distinct units, have a lot of similarities. Firstly, they are both articulated at the same place, that is, they involve the tip of the tongue touching just under or just behind the top front teeth. They are both fricative sounds. This means that you produce them by forcing the air to pass through the small space between the tip of your  tongue and your upper teeth. They only differ in one regard; th  in the word thing is voiceless and the th in the word this is voiced. Voiced sounds involve the vibration of the vocal cords while voiceless sounds do not. Students of English should not expect to hear the same sound each time they come across the th letter combination.

Some examples of words with voiced th sound are them, their, they, and they. When practicing pronouncing  these words, make sure that your vocal cords are vibrating. You can check whether your vocal cords are vibrating or not by placing your palm on your throat. If there is vibration as you utter a sound, then that sound is voiced. However, if you don't feel any vibration on your palm, it means that the sound is voiceless. Examples of words with voiceless th sound include theme, think, thought and theatre.

Tips on how to know whether the sound is voiced or voiceless

As I have already indicated, you cannot tell how a written word,  combination of letters or a letter in a word is pronounced unless you learn through the two ways. The first one involves listening to competent English speakers saying the word. The second one requires you to analyse the phonetic spelling of that word. Remember, the phonetic spelling guides you on how to pronounce words correctly. At the same time, it trains your ear (provided you are practising saying the sounds out correctly or you are using an app that can say out sounds) to get accustomed to correct English sounds.

If you are an independent learner, preferring to figure out things on your own, I recommend that you buy a good dictionary which provides the IPA pronunciation guide.  However, if you can't interpret IPA symbols, you can download IPA apps. On the other hand, you can also find a tutor who can help you to pronounce these and other English sounds correctly. 

Although this article is about listening, it also touches on speaking because it explains how English speakers utter sounds. In my next article, I will give more aspects English which makes it hard for learners to understand spoken English.

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