Flipping through my notes from American English pronunciation lessons,
* it turns out that in English the emphasis in a sentence often falls on the last word. I had never considered this, and maybe I spoke that way too, but practice showed that this is not always the case.
* it turns out that I was terribly mixing up read (read) and read (read).
* also, it turns out that in yes/no questions the intonation always goes up, whereas in regular WH-questions it goes down.
* cosmetic – I was pronouncing it wrong. It should be “cosmetic,” with an “s,” not with a “c.” * At the same time, not epi-zode (episode), but epi-sode.
* know and home – I had been saying “naou” and “ham” instead of “nou” and “houm”.
* Own (own), not Aun
* also – darn, why didn’t anyone correct me, I was saying “alzo,” not “also”
* with us/with them – I always stressed us/them, whereas in most cases the stress falls on i in with.
* I had (and partially still have) issues with contractions – there’s, isn’t, and similar. To make a contraction work, the stress needs to be on the first syllable, but I always put it on not or is. It’s a minor point because you can stress on not too, only in that case, it’s not a contraction. Might have had is pronounced as “might of had,” not “might have had,” as I used to say.
* in many words, the vowel disappears – for example, I said opera, but it should be “oprah”. Or “evrij” (average), not everij; Useful (useful), not use-ful.
* significantly corrected my slushy “r” in words like rarely, rural, drawer, jewelry, February, regularly, scroll. It turns out Siri couldn’t even understand me with it. Now my English “r” is almost correct, and I didn’t even try to correct the Russian one.
* I didn’t know the difference between Access and aXcess, and always stressed the first syllable.
* I was stressing the second syllable in essay, but it needs to be on the first.
* I was saying week-end, but it needs to be weekend.
* I was saying cousin, but it should be cuzzin
* I was saying discOvered, but it should be discOvered. Same with wondered
* I was saying “appreciate it,” but it should be “appreci-ate it”
* I was saying “did you,” “would you,” when in the USA they say “didj you,” “wouldj you”
* not pretty, but prIty
* won’t is pronounced as “woant” (or woun), not wont.
* meanwhile not “I wont” (I want), but “I want” (or I wan)
* etiquette is pronounced with an E — “etikit,” not “etiquette”
* not “parents,” but “parents”
* at the end ones sounds “z,” not “s”
* not “nObodi” (nobody), but “nOubodi”
* ice cream is pronounced with emphasis on “ice,” not on “cream”
* guitarist, not guitarist and not guitarist (as I would have said)
* component, not component
* being, not being
* fast, not fast.
* favorite, not favorite. Close, not close
* post, not past. Postoffice is pronounced as postoffice, not as pastoffice.
* Fiancée is pronounced as fian-say.
#English #pronunciation #notes
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 