Linking Sounds - An Introduction

Whether you are English, Chinese, Polynesian, Russian, or any other nationality, you share the same anatomy as me. This anatomy, in terms of our vocal tract, limits the sounds that we can easily say in a sentence. Of the two types of sounds in English, consonants and vowels, we cannot easily say two vowel sounds one after the other. Linking sounds bridge the gap between such difficult-to-say combinations of sounds. There are three linking sounds in English: the linking W, the linking J, and the linking R. This lesson will help you to see and hear how linking sounds work and how they can help you to improve not only your accent but also your listening skills.

A British English Sounds British Pronunciation Lesson

No matter how good your English grammar and vocabulary may be, if your pronunciation is so bad that nobody can understand a word you say, then you are at a grave disadvantage in regards to your English. These lessons have been designed to help you to improve your pronunciation, as well as other areas of your English.

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Random Sounds British Pronunciation British English Lessons

Here are some random Sounds British Pronunciation British English lessons taken from the 230 British English lessons currently in the Britlish Library.

What are Sounds British Pronunciation British English lessons about?

Pronunciation Activation Pack 37 - The / w / in Wasp and the / j / in Yellow

Activate the consonant semivowel sounds / w / in Wasp and / j / in Yellow. In this Pronunciation Activation Pack we will be looking at the consonant sounds / w / and / j /. We will look at the letter combinations that give the / w / and / j / sounds. We will look at lots of words which have the / w / and / j / sounds in them. Finally, we will activate your ability to hear and produce the / w / and / j / sounds correctly. The / w / and / j / sounds are semivowels or glides which are a type of approximant. The semivowels have characteristics of both consonants and vowels in different words. The / w / and the / j / sounds on the chart are shown in green, which means that they are voiced. Pronunciation Activation Pack 37 - The / w / in Wasp and the / j / in Yellow

Pronunciation Activation Pack 23 - / b / in Bubble

Activate the consonant sound / b / in Bubble. In this Pronunciation Activation Pack we will be looking at the consonant sound / b /. We will look at the letter combinations that give the / b / sound. We will look at lots of words which have the / b / sound in them. Finally, we will activate your ability to hear and produce the / b / sound correctly. The / b / sound is a voiced bilabial plosive made by completely blocking the air flow with the lips and then releasing it explosively. The / b / sound on the chart is shown in green, which means that it is voiced. Each of the voiced sounds on the first two rows of consonants make up an unvoiced and a voiced pair. The only difference between the unvoiced and voiced pairs is the use of the vocal cords while saying them. Pronunciation Activation Pack 23 - / b / in Bubble

Pronunciation Activation Pack 13 - The Vowel in Ear / ɪə /

Activate the Vowel in Ear / ɪə / with this English Pronunciation Activation Pack. In this Pronunciation Activation Pack we will be looking at the first of the gliding vowels / ɪə /. We will look at the letter combinations that give the / ɪə / sound. We will look at lots of words which have the / ɪə / sound in them. Finally, we will activate your ability to hear and produce the / ɪə / sound correctly. Now is a good time to introduce you to the concept of linking sounds in British English pronunciation. Spoken English is like a chain of sounds joined together in short sections. If we keep the sections linked, it sounds right. If we break these sections apart, it sounds wrong. Each link in the chain will be either a vowel or a consonant, and they can be joined in a number of ways. Because we are looking at a gliding vowel / ɪə /, we will look at vowel sound to vowel sound links in this Pronunciation Activation Pack. Pronunciation Activation Pack 13 - The Vowel in Ear / ɪə /

Changes in Fast Speech

Practice hearing the changes in fast spoken speech. When we speak quickly, sounds that we expect to hear may be missing. It’s not only sounds that go missing in fast spoken English. Whole words may disappear, too. Sounds also change in fast spoken English and some words will not sound the same as they do when spoken slowly, or the way they are shown in dictionaries. In these exercises, I want you to try to hear what changes are taking place in the fast spoken sentences. We will look in greater detail at the changes in later lessons in this Sounds British Pronunciation Course. Changes in Fast Speech.

Pronunciation Activation Pack 7 - Vowel in Bird / ɜː /

Activate the The Vowel in Bird / ɜː / with this English Pronunciation Activation Pack. In this Pronunciation Activation Pack we will be looking at the seventh of the pure vowels / ɜː /. We will look at the letter combinations that give the / ɜː / sound. We will look at lots of words which have the / ɜː / sound in them. Finally, we will activate your ability to hear and produce the / ɜː / sound correctly. Letter Combinations for / ɜː / - The long vowel sound / ɜː / can be found in the following letter combinations: ER, EER, UR, URR, IR, YR, YRR, W+OR, EAR, OUR, and rarely OLO, EU and EUR. Pronunciation Activation Pack 7 - Vowel in Bird / ɜː /

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