What does the long o sound like
How To Teach The Long O Sound
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Long O can be a tricky sound to teach because there are a few different ways to spell it. But I’m breaking down how you can easily teach this sound and all its spelling patterns.
Plus, I got you covered with my free Long O Words List. You can download the list pictured by signing up below. If you don’t see the signup form, click here.
Five Ways To Spell Long O
The long o sound can be represented by 5 different spelling patterns:
- o – go
- o_e – phone
- oe – toe
- oa – boat
- ow – snow
Spelling Generalizations For Long O
O_E spelling pattern
The o silent e spelling pattern is the most common way to spell the long o sound so I would start here. Of course, students should be confident with the magic e syllable. These words are one syllable. Some examples of long o words with silent e are phone and joke.
Just O
In open syllables, the long o sound is represented by just the letter o by itself. They can be one syllable words but more often they are 2 syllables or more. Examples include go, total, and tomato. It often appears at the end of both short and long words.
Students must understand open and closed syllables to be able to apply this.
OA Vowel Team
The oa spelling of long o usually appears at the beginning or middle of a one syllable word. Examples include: oat, boat, and toast.
OW Vowel Team
The ow spelling of long o usually appears at the end of a one or less commonly two syllable word. Examples include: snow, tow, and window.
An exception to this is when the irregular past tense is formed with an n such as: grown and blown.
The original word does follow the rule, we simply add the n to make it past tense.
OE Vowel Team
The oe spelling of long o usually appears at the end of a word. Examples include: foe and toe. This is the least common and can appear in compound words in the base word. I would teach these in a group since there are so few words and remind students that these are rare and are short one syllable words.
Tips For Teaching The Long O Sound
When you start teaching long o, you really have to focus on spelling generalizations, homophones, and homographs. Teach one spelling pattern at a time, and once one is mastered you can add in another. It’s much easier to learn how to read these than to learn how to spell. Since they all sound the same and can appear in the same place, choosing the right spelling pattern can be tricky.
Teach the process for deciding on the spelling pattern.
Once students are familiar with all the options for spelling long o and they know open syllables and the silent e syllable, you can teach them the process for determining the spelling pattern a word has.
When students come across a word with long o and they need to figure out which spelling pattern to choose, here are the questions they can ask:
- Is there more than one syllable?
- Is there a base word?
- Where is the long o sound in the word?
- Could this be one of those rare oe words?
Break the word into its syllables, and go through the questions.
From there, they can go through the most common options first. So that would be the o_e or just o, then the vowel teams.
If it’s a one syllable word, they need to choose between o_e, a vowel team, or the less common option of just o. Figure out where the long o sound is. If it’s at the beginning, try oa. If it’s at the end, try ow.
If it’s more than one syllable, check if it’s an open o, which in that case would be spelled as just o.
If there is a base word, focus on that part of the word.
This will take some practice so try using the checklist below (it’s available in my freebies library) to go through a set of words with your students a few times, then have them do some more on their own.
This is the same process they will use with other long vowel sounds so it’s a great skill for them to have.
Also, because there are multiple options expect students to get them wrong sometimes, and tell them this! It’s ok if they make mistakes as long as it’s another valid spelling option and not something that doesn’t follow any rules. Through repeated exposure and practice they will eventually internalize the correct spelling pattern for words.
Long O Activities & Lesson Ideas
Picture cue cards – Create visual graphics of tricky words, homophones, and homographs. These picture cues really help students remember which pattern to use. I suggest you make these using flashcards and keep them in a baggie or box for reference. See an example below.
Sorting – Sorting is always a good idea when you have multiple options for spelling. You can play matching games like memory, just sort them into piles/columns, or create any game that requires sorting by spelling pattern.
This builds phonemic awareness so it’s always a good activity for all students.
I include 3 different sorting activities for the long o sound in my Long O Worksheets & Activities set.
Phoneme Grapheme Mapping – This is a great activity that really isolates the phonograms for students to practice. You can get the Phonics & Spelling Through Grapheme Mapping book and follow the long o lesson, or use my word list to do the same activity using sound boxes. See below for an example.
SOS – If you don’t already know what Simultaneous Oral Spelling is, then check out this post here. I love this multisensory spelling method for practicing spelling. And you can do this whole class or one-on-one making it really easy to use in any setting.
Dictation – This is another fantastic activity but I would do this after you have spent some time on long o because it is harder for students. Also when dictating words, give students a clue about the spelling such as telling them it’s a vowel team or open syllable.
Games – Of course, I always include games because it’s just so easy to add a stack of flashcards to any game and make it educational! Use an easy to play board game where students need to pick up a card on their turn and add a task like reading the word aloud and sorting it, or asking another player to spell it, or even something as simple as having them air write the word after reading it aloud. Or print off a teacher-made game from my Long O Word Work along with several other games and activities.
Constant Review – Remember to keep these spelling patterns in constant review after they are learned, so they are not forgotten. Using a sound wall is a great way to do this without it taking any extra time.
*I offer a free sample of these digital long o activities in my freebies library.
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English Pronunciation, Lesson 14 - Long O Sound
English Pronunciation, Lesson 14
Previous Lesson | List of Lessons | Next Lesson
The long O sound (IPA symbol: oʊ) can be found in English words such as:
most, vote, road, known, goat, hope, low, no, blow, and wrote.
Click Here for Step-by-Step Rules, Stories and Exercises to Practice All English Tenses
The Long O sounds is a long vowel sound. Long vowel sounds are vowel sounds pronounced the same as the name of the letter. Each vowel has a long vowel sound (Long A, Long E, Long I, Long O, Long U).
In English, long vowel sounds are usually the easiest vowel sounds to learn.
Watch the following video to learn how to pronounce the Long O sound correctly:
(Note that in the video the term "soft palate" will be mentioned.
Soft palate means "the soft part at the back of the top of the mouth".)
Have you watched it? Good! Let's practice...
Common long O spellings
There are five common ways to spell the long O sound:
1. o_e
(o / consonant / silent e)
Say these words out loud (the long O sound is bold):
1) bone
2) smoke
3) phone
4) cone
5) wrote
6) whole
7) vote
English Short Story: Reported Speech
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8) choke
9) rope
10) home
2.
ow
Say these words out loud (the long O sound is bold):
1) throw
2) row
3) blow
4) snow
5) bow
6) know
7) crow
8) glow
9) flow
10) show
3. oa
Say these words out loud (the long O sound is bold):
1) boat
2) moan
3) groan
4) oat
5) loan
6) loaf
7) toad
8) soap
9) oath
10) float
4. o (consonant / o / consonant)
Say these words out loud (the long O sound is bold):
1) hold
2) mold
3) folk
4) bolt
5) both
6) colt
7) fold
8) roll
9) holy
10) stroll
This spelling of the long O sound usually follows the format shown below:
consonant / o / consonant
However, it also includes words that end in O such as:
1) no
2) so
3) ago
4) go
5) zero
6) bingo
7) hello
8) disco
9) video
10) pro
Now say these sentences out loud (the long O sounds are bold):
1) Both of the colts ran home.
2) Throw the ball over the wall.
3) I will show you the video on my phone.
4) No, I will not go home with you.
5) The toad jumped on the road.
7) Hello! Do I know you?
8) Buy a loaf of bread and a bar of soap.
9) His boat will float in the ocean.
10) Please hold the rope.
Have you finished them all? Great job!
Final note
When some common long O spellings are followed by the letter R, the sound is usually pronounced as the OR sound.
For example:
- for
- snore
- boar
- core
- nor
The OR sound will be discussed in a future lesson.
Well done! You have completed the long O sound lesson.
Let's move on...
Your next lesson: Lesson 15, Long A Sound (say, pain, make)
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English vowels: pronunciation ɜː, ɒ, ɔː - tongue twisters, video, sound practice
Hello reader! 🙂 Today we have again prepared for you a whole training for setting the pronunciation of English sounds. In this series of articles (this is already the 3rd one in a row), we will analyze the subtleties of the English phonetic system and find the differences between the sounds of the English language and our Russians.
Today we will analyze the analogues of the /o/ sound in English. Or rather, they are just not analogues, but our phonemic hearing plays a cruel joke with us, and we:
- change all three English sounds to Russian /o/,
- we do not see the difference between these 3 sounds and thus change the meanings of some words.
Let's build the practice of the sounds of the English language, as before: with the help of training videos, a special set of words, exercises, tongue twisters and a song with a reference pronunciation. Let's go!
Warning: is a British pronunciation in this article. What exactly are the differences among the Americans, I will indicate below.
Pronunciation of the sound /ɜː/ - long vowels in English
Pronounced in the words girl, nurse, learn, etc. e (m e e) and e (m e l) , respectively), while it is neither one nor the other.
I would say that you need to take the position of the lips, as for / e /, hold your mouth in this position, but try to pronounce / o /. Reminds in the word D those The sound is long.
How the speech apparatus works: the back of the tongue lies flat, the middle part of the tongue is slightly raised, higher than the front and back of the tongue. The tip of the tongue is at the bottom teeth. The edges of the tongue do not touch the upper teeth. The distance between the upper and lower teeth is quite narrow. The lips are tense and stretched, slightly revealing the teeth.
Pronunciation errors of English words in Russian
What are the main mistakes of Russian speakers:
give the sound / ɜː / a touch of the Russian sound / o /. Lip position as for / e /, but pronounce / o /.
2. Complete replacement for the Russian sound /o/, denoted by the letter ё in writing, in words like, worse, sir , etc.
Tip: give the English sound a hint of Russian /e/. The lips should be stretched, the teeth brought together, the tongue should be flat.
And, accordingly, do not round your lips, as for Russian / o /. It is recommended to pronounce / ɜː / with almost the same stretched position of the lips as for the phoneme / i: / => see / si: / - sir / sɜː /, fee / fi: / - fir / fɜ: /, heat / hi: t / - hurt / hɜːt /.
The stretched position of the lips is especially obligatory when pronouncing /ɜː/ after /w/ => we /wi:/ – world /wɜːd/, we /wi:/ – work /wɜːk/, we /wi:/ – worm /wɜːm/ .
Useful article on the topic: The best podcasts in English, or Listen!
3. Also note that the consonant before this vowel does not need to be softened (we wrote about this in detail in the last article). In words like girl, first, bird , etc., the consonants will be hard.
Advice: do not lift the middle back of the tongue towards the hard palate while pronouncing the consonant. First pronounce the hard consonant, and then start pronouncing the vowel.
English vowel examples
Got it? Now we turn to the formulation of the correct pronunciation of words in English. We set up a speech apparatus in the right position and start training:
Worse / WɜːS /
Girl / ɡɜːl /
Firm / Fɜːm /
FIRST / ˈFɜːST /
HURL / Hɜːl / Hɜːl / Hɜːl / 9000 Lurk /
Curl / kɜːl/
bird /bɜːd/
world /wɜːld/
word /wɜːd/
sir /sɜː R /
Were / Wɜː R /
Heard / Hɜːd /
LEARN / LɜːN /
WORK /
Third / θɜːD /
9000 NURSE / NɜːS /STAR / STIR / STIR / STIR / STIR / STAR / STIR / STIR / STIR / STIR / STIR / STIR / STIR /
Turn / Tɜːn /
Earth / ɜːθ /
Verb / vɜːb /
Pearl / pɜːl /
Haurt /
FIR / ˈFɜː R /
-9000) /pɜːs/
curse /kɜːs/
earl /ɜːl/
her /hɜː r /
burn /bɜːn/
Excellent! And now I’ll tell you about the difference in pronunciation performed by an American (I didn’t say it before, so as not to confuse). The American transcription looks like this:
firm - /f ɝ ːm/ (or /fɜrm/ as we have on Lingualeo).
This transcription of the English alphabet / ɝ / denotes a similar sound, but with retroflection, that is, an overtone / r / (follow the link and listen to two pronunciations of the word firm). For more information about the American version, see the video at the link.
In British pronunciation, the /r/ sound can only be heard at the junction of words when the next word begins with a vowel: si r A lec /sɜː r æ lɪk/.
to fix the result will help us with English tongue twisters for vowel sounds:
- 9000 G E Rman L EA RNERS L RN G E Rman W O RDS, T U Rkish L EA rners l ea rn T u rkish w o rds.
- AS EA RL GAVE P EA RL a F U R and A C IR CLET of P EA RLS FOR H ER IR TY - F ST B IR .
- The F IR SK IR T IS D IR Tier THET IR D SH IR T, The F IR IR T IR TIR th ir dsk ir t.
Finally, let's find this English sound in a famous song so that it is imprinted in the auditory memory. Since we took the British pronunciation as a basis, the example will be exclusively British - The Beatles "Girl"
The sound /ɒ/ is the pronunciation of short vowels in English
“Inverted a in English transcription” is pronounced in the words doll, hot, what . The English sound is similar to Russian / o / under stress (as in the word p o st ) but:
- our lips are more rounded (and protrude forward),
- for our sound, the tongue rises higher, because the Russian sound is less open,
- our sound is longer.
How the speech apparatus works: the articulation is a lot like the sound /a:/, as in the word part (remember when we learned to show the throat to the doctor and move the tongue back and down?). But the root of the tongue is drawn back and down even more than with / a: /, not tense. The tip of the tongue is drawn further from the lower teeth than with / a: /, and lowered down. The distance between the jaws is large. The lips are slightly rounded, the protrusion of the lips is completely absent. The sound is short.
Tip: since the English sounds /a:/ and /ɒ/ are somewhat similar, you can try this: start saying the word part /pa:t/ (listen to the British pronunciation here), but move as far back as possible the root of the tongue, DO NOT round your lips too much and make the sound short - you get the correct pronunciation of the word pot /pɒt/ (listen to the British version here).
In order not to accidentally change the sound to Russian /o/, open your mouth wider, lower and move your tongue lower. Rounding the lips, do not protrude them forward and reduce the sound.
Let's move on to practice. Let's put the correct pronunciation of the English language using a set of words:
lodge /lɒdʒ/
doll /dɒl/
what /wɒt/
pot /pɒt/
not /nɒt/ 9000 cough3
/ rock /rɒk /r Kɒf/
WAS/ Wɒz/
Stop/ STɒP/
HOT/ HɒT/
GOT/ ɡɒT/
CLOCK/
BOX/ Bɒks/
Shot/ ʃɒt/
KNOT/ NAM
job /dʒɒb/
Want / Wɒnt /
BOX / BɒKS /
Stop / STɒP /
DOG / Dɒɡ /
Bɒb /
Lost / LɒST /
SWAT / SWɒT / SWɒT / SWɒT / SWɒT / SWɒT / SWɒT / SWɒT / ɒF /
Golf / ɡɒlf/
Lot/ Lɒt/
ODD/ ɒD/
Wash/ Wɒʃ/
Fog/ Fɒɡ/
BLOCK/ BLɒK/
Watch/ Wɒtʃ/
I again pay attention to the differences in American pronunciation. There is practically no “short o” in AmE, and they pronounce the above words with the sound / a: / (we talked about it above) - not / nɑːt /. a tch h o rrors o n TV.
At the end of , a line from the song . By the way, it was not so easy to find an example… This sound is short, and I wanted it to be heard in the song. But singers have the right to stretch even short sounds 🙂 Therefore, we take as an example a rather fast and rhythmic song "13 Little Dolls" by the British singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
Fight them hard then keep them safe
Those 13 little d o lls
One for each mood o f the day
Those 13 little d O LLS
CR O SS YOURE CHEART SLEEP
1 8, 910, 11, 12, 13 Little D O LLS
Sound / ɔː / - pronunciation of vowels in English
Sound / ɔː / pronounced in words HORSE, WALL, LAW et al.
The sound is similar in articulation to the previous /ɒ/ - the tongue is pushed back and down, BUT the back of the tongue is raised to half the distance (and in the previous sound the root of the tongue is relaxed), so in this sound you feel like " closes" opening at the throat. The lips are drawn into a small hole, as if you are planning to kiss someone. The sound is long.
That is, in fact, we pronounce a very, very deep sound /o/, but the position of the lips, as for the sound /u/.
Understanding the difference between these sounds is also important because changing the sound can change the meaning of the word: pɒt/ (pot) - port /pɔːt/ (port)
wad /wɒd/ (pack of something - banknotes, chewing gum) - ward /wɔːd/ (hospital ward)
Correct pronunciation of words in English
I hope you managed to catch the articulation of this sound. We move on to training in the words:
or /ɔː r /
All /ɔːl /
North /nɔːɔː /
Law /Lɔː /
Ball /Bɔːl /
Small /
STORE /STAM r /
horse /hɔːs/
saw /sɔː/
bought /bɔːt/
draw /drɔː/
walk /wɔːk/
CLAW / KLɔː /
Talk / Tɔːk /
Four / Fɔː R /
Door / Dɔː R /
BOOARD / BɔːD /
Lord / Lɔːd /
FɔːTɔːT / FACHT / FACHT / FACHT / FACHT / FACHT / FACHT / FAC SHORE / ʃɔː R /
Call / Kɔːl /
Course / Kɔːs /
Floor / FLɔː R /
WARM / Wɔːm /
CHALK /
9000 2 ɔːl/wall /wɔːl/
more /mɔː r /
thought /θɔːt/
nor /nɔː r /
court /kɔːt/
brought /brɔːt/
warn /wɔːn/ In words like ball, small, low , Americans again pronounce /a:/, and in words like horse /hɔːrs/ and north /nɔːrθ/ - /r/ is pronounced. Learn more about American pronunciation in the video.
Now let's move on to tongue twisters:
- A LL P AU L'S D AU GHHTERS WERE B O RN in C O RK, A LL W AU AU GHHTERS WERED RN RN Yo rk.
- F OU R EXPL O RERS Expl O Re F O RTY W A TERF LLS, F O RTY O RERPL O Rexpl O Rers Expl ON r w a terf a lls.
- D O Ra's D AU GHHTER IS T A LLER N O RA's D AU GHTER, N O RAS D AU RH O RTER THANDE au ghter.
As a musical example, I propose to take the British band Pink Floyd and the song "Another Brick In The Wall" (or rather, one word from it - wall ).
We don't say goodbye!
There are 44 (!!!) sounds in English. We have already analyzed 10. In the next article of this section, we will focus on consonants. On which ones - we haven't decided yet, so tell us in the comments 🙂
Read the continuation of the rubric: Consonants th .
8 mistakes in the pronunciation of English sounds that most Russian speakers make / Sudo Null IT News
When learning foreign languages, much attention is paid to the pronunciation of sounds and words. The correct pronunciation is set for a long time - it is almost impossible to catch the correct sound of words in a few lessons.
The reason is very simple. Sounds and sound formation in different languages differ dramatically.
There is no [l] sound in Japanese. And at the first stages of learning English, they replace it with the sound [r]. This is because in Japanese the sound [r] is percussive, not vibratory. During pronunciation, the tongue touches the palate for only a fraction of a second, so the output is something between the familiar [r] and [l].That is why it is difficult to understand what the Japanese mean: “law” or “raw”.
Of course, with targeted training, the Japanese begin to pronounce the sound [l], but very few English learners practice pronunciation so deeply.
Absolutely the same situation with English and Russian languages. There are a number of sounds in English that are very difficult for Russian speakers. Simply because they are not in Russian. And there are also nuances between similar sounds that the Russian ear simply does not notice.
Often such nuances completely change the meaning of the sentence.
And instead of “I like this beach” (“I like this beach”), the interlocutor will hear “I like this bitch” (“I like this girl with reduced social responsibility”).
In this article, we will talk about 8 pronunciation mistakes that are common among Russian speakers, as well as tell you tricks that will help you get rid of them. Go.
1. Wrong pronunciation [æ]
If you love cats, you must learn how to pronounce this sound correctly.
The sound [æ] is somewhat similar to Russian [e], which is why many do not even bother to pronounce it correctly.
However, in English there are two sounds, which in Russian are denoted as [e]: [æ] and [ɛ].
To correctly pronounce the sound [æ], you need to open your mouth wide and press your tongue as low as possible. Imagine that you are looking at something disgusting and say "Beeee" but with a tight tongue. The sound seems to be born in the larynx.
In addition, the [æ] sound is pronounced with a falling intonation.
- Explanation for musicians: the sound moves down chromatically and ends 1.5-2 tones below the starting point.
- Explanation for everyone else: just gently lower the intonation of the sound. The beginning is the top point, the end is the bottom.
The sound [ɛ] almost completely corresponds to the Russian [e]. Just like in the words "these" or "tin".
To feel the difference, you need to practice on pairs of words
Bad [bæd] - bed [bɛd]
"The fear of being bad in bed".
(Fear of screwing up in bed)
Or head [hɛd] - had [hæd]
"I had a hat, it was on my head".
(I had a hat and it was on my head)
2. Wrong emphasis
Very often, students incorrectly name the stress in words of three or more syllables.
For example, EN-gi-neer instead of the correct en-gi-NEER. Or CA-tas-trophe instead of the correct ca-TAS-tro-phe.
The most common cause is inattention. There are many words in English with an accent on the first syllable, and “feeling” it may seem that everything is correct (in fact, it is not).
It's easy to check - a spelling dictionary. Take the Cambridge Dictionary for example.
Please note! Stress in English transcription is indicated by an apostrophe and is placed before the syllable. That is, "catastrophe" - [kəˈtæs.trə.fi].
3. Mispronunciation of diphthongs [oʊ] and [ǝʊ]
A diphthong is a fusion of two sounds. Formally, the diphthong [oʊ] can be designated as Russian [ou], but this is only formal.
Informally, many Russian speakers generally omit this sound, replacing it with a neutral [ɔ] (similar to the long Russian [o] as in the word "zoo").
Although it is very easy to learn how to pronounce this diphthong correctly. In it, one sound flows smoothly into another. The initial sound [o] should be pronounced with a slightly more open mouth than in Russian. And then smoothly lower your jaw and at the same time stretch your lips into a tube, transforming the sound into [ʊ] - long [y].
To put it even more simply, it's like adding W to O. For example, GOw, DOwN'T.
In this ADAM "Go to Go" video, almost every line ends with a diphthong [oʊ]. For the idea of the clip, by the way, a separate plus to the creators :)
4. Wrong pronunciation of sound [w]
Since we mentioned the sound [w] in the paragraph above, we must say that it does not exist in Russian.
Russians often replace it with hard [c], but this is wrong. As a result, the English "Why?" acquires an Armenian accent - “Wai?”
The sound [w] is something between [y] and [v]. As if [in] was not pronounced to the end.
Imagine that your friend is about to do something crazy, and you stop him with the phrase "Woah, take it easy!". In this exclamation, the sound [w] will be well heard.
Simple mechanics - pronounce the sound [v] without touching the upper teeth with the lower lip. In this case, the lips must be folded as if for a kiss. This will be the desired [w]. Quite simple, right?
But there is also a downside. Often those who have learned to speak the sound [w] use it everywhere. Including in words where you need a solid [v].
So it turns out:
Wery instead of very
Ewen instead of even
Native speakers who teach at the EnglishDom English school often say that one of the most difficult phrases in terms of pronunciation for Russians at the initial stage of learning a language is the banal “very well”.
There is another interesting point, because it is not always necessary to say the sound [w] when you see the letter W. And vice versa - for example, the word Queen - the sound [w] is here, but the letters W are not.
5. Wrong sound [h]
An extremely common problem, because in Russian and English the formation of the sound [h] differs dramatically.
In Russian, the root of the tongue is pressed tightly against the palate and the sound [x] is produced on exhalation. The English often compare it to the sound of sandpaper.
English [h] open. It's like you're breathing loudly at a therapist's office, or like you're exhaling heavily after a hard day's work. And for a Russian speaker, it can be very difficult to adjust to this most open [h].
So it turns out that "Hello" is pronounced with the same sound as "Refrigerator".
To practice the [h] sound, here's a tongue twister. And if you say the sound correctly, at an open output, then even for a native it will seem rather difficult:
A housewife, who holds her house by herself,
Has a home help, who helps her.
If the housewife didn't hold her house by herself,
How could she have a home help, who helps her?
6. Insidious sound [l]
In Russian there are 2 sounds [l] - hard [l] and soft [l ']. As in the words "moose" and "leaves". At the same time, they can occur in any part of the word - both at the beginning and at the end ("salt" and "count").
There is only one sound [l] in English. It's always firm, but it doesn't sound as hard as Russian.
It's all about mechanics. The Russian sound [l] is formed when the front of the tongue is pressed against the palate and upper teeth. In English, only the tip of the tongue is pressed, which makes the sound much softer. But not as soft as [l '].
Americans also often reduce the sound [l] if it is at the end of a word so that it is not heard. Mechanically, they seem to pronounce a sound, but do not touch the palate with their tongue - an indefinite sound is obtained, something between [l] and [s]. But in fact, this is redundant and students should not try to reproduce it. One sound [l] in English is enough.
7. Difference between [i] and [ɪ]
Pupils do not immediately comprehend the difference between tense [i] and relaxed [ɪ], replacing them with the usual Russian ear [and]. This is a common mistake and it is not easy to get rid of it.
If primitive, then the sound [i] is long, and [ɪ] is short. But they differ not only in length, but also in intonation. It is intonations that Russian-speaking students often ignore.
Sound [i] is pronounced as if you are trying to pronounce the sound during the widest "Hollywood" smile. The tongue is tense and raised to the palate, but does not touch it. Facial expressions are an important part of sound production; without tense buccal muscles, it is simply impossible to get the desired sound. Imagine that you add [th] to the end of the sound - this will give the necessary softness.The sound [ɪ] is similar to Russian [i], but it is pronounced a little harder, a little closer to [ы]. The tongue is relaxed, the lips are slightly stretched. It is important that the root of the tongue is also relaxed, otherwise the sound will turn into Russian [and].
Let's start with an example.
Sheep - ship
If you speak in the same intonation, then the interlocutor will not understand where the sheep is and where the ship is.
Sheep [ʃip] - the sound is tense, high, long.
Ship [ʃɪp] - the sound is relaxed, short, as if chopped off.
Just one inaccurate sound, and you are no longer sailing on a ship, but on a sheep.
And yes, this is where the beach-bitch pair comes in.
If you want to go to the beach, speak through the high [i].
If you want to call someone, a short [ɪ] will help you.
8. Incomprehensible th
There are no sounds [θ] and [ð] in Russian - there are no analogues either. Despite the fact that the pronunciation of this sound is put in the first lessons, many experience problems with it.
As it turns out, Russians often cannot get used to the fact that in order to form these sounds, you need to stick out the tip of your tongue. Because of this, they are replaced by more familiar [s] and [s].
In this case, confusion arises. One of the classics: "think - sink". And it becomes unclear what the person is doing: thinking or drowning.
By the way, it is this sound that dialects of English most often scoff at. For example, in the Cockney dialect, the sound [θ] in conversation almost always changes to [f], so they say [fɪŋk] instead of [θɪŋk].
Many students find it psychologically uncomfortable to make sounds with their tongue hanging out, so they unconsciously try to pronounce the sound in a more comfortable way, albeit not quite correctly.
This can only be solved by training and self-control. So arm yourself with tongue twisters - and go ahead.
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Proper pronunciation is as important a part of the language as grammar and vocabulary. But the attitude towards it is a little different, because only a small percentage of those people who study English in the world are trying to achieve a perfectly clear pronunciation of sounds. The majority stops at the level of “once they understand, it means they will do it.
