January 11th, 2011 
admin After writing a couple of articles on stressed pronunciation and silent pronunciation, I got a lot of requests to write a note on pronunciation in general. To start with please not that it is pronunciation not pronounciation. Before jumping into deep waters, let us look at the basics of speech. Once you learn to strike the key note properly then you would have no problems in pronouncing.
English is not Phonetic
Before starting the exercise we should understand that English is not phonetic i.e. the words are not pronounced as they are spelt. To make matters worse, there is stressed/silent pronunciation also homophones (words having different meaning but same pronunciation) are to be taken care of. To start with we should therefore get a grasp of the syllables and their pronunciation. You can listen to the syllable pronunciation in many of the sites available over the internet. Make sure you practice as you listen to them.
Learning Phonemes:
Learning Phonemes
Phonemes help in getting the basics for pronunciation correctly. You may need to check few of the freely available software to get you phonemes correctly. Once your phonemes are in place, we can look to explore other things. The below table would help you to infer the phonemes and their usage.
Pronunciation — Sounds
After phonemes, we should look at their usage from the perspective of English usage. Remember English is not phonetic? So we need to take care of homophones, stressed pronunciation, silent pronunciation and likes. Remember this list is not exhaustive, but one may move to others once these are mastered.
Symbols sounds and examples
Phonetics Symbols sounds and examples
I hope this would sufficiently excite you to unravel the puzzle of pronunciation and set you apart in English speaking community.
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We have written a lot of articles about the English Grammar and its usage. We have got a few requests asking to tell more about spoken English. So, in this article, I would like to talk about two common mistakes made by even the native English speakers. English language is very tricky and it is tough to master it because most of the English words which appear to be correct while speaking but are incorrect when put on the paper. The English spoken by non-native English people overlaps with their local language and thus results in the improper usage of English. While speaking, making others o understand what you want to convey is important while writing the same should also take care of grammar, punctuations, proper usage of terms.
